September 28, 2015 - Ticas!

I loved Women's Conference!!! I loved realizing that even though it was in Spanish, I could still feel the Spirit, and still feel the power behind the words that were spoken.And it was SO fun seeing people I recognized!! Haha when I realized that I knew these people I started freaking out and wanted to tell everyone in the room that these are people from my home!! so fun to see. I loved the messages about our divine nature, about love for everyone...I don't know. I am just so, so excited for General Conference this weekend. 

I love telling people about General Conference, that we have a prophet today, someone who really talks with God, who will help us with the challenges that we have today!! We have an investigator, Christina, who is buenissima, and when we told her that, her eyes just filled with light. I love seeing that, so much--seeing these people, when they hear these gospel truths, their eyes just light up, their countenances getting brighter! I read this week, I think in True to the Faith, that part of the Plan of Salvation, was that we learned to love the truth in the premortal life. And it's so true! And I love seeing these people hear these truths, and loving them. And I'm learning to love the truth more and more every day here, also! 

We just had a miracle, today, before writing, so I'm just super excited about it still haha. We were getting on a bus a day last week, and we just gave one of the mormon.org cards to a pareja, a couple, that was behind us in the line, and then on the bus we talked to them....their names are Joab and Laura. And Laura said the missionaries visited her like 7 years ago, and they invited us to their house today for lunch, and to talk. And holy cow, so prepared!!!! They want to know everything about the gospel. When we asked when we could come back, they said tomorrow! and usually people say like, well...maybe next week. They just want to know everything now! And Laura still remembers all the videos like the Testaments they watched, still has a Book of Mormon...and she wantred to get baptized, so so bad, 7 years ago, but wasn't married, because can't get divorced because her first husband left her years and years ago, and they have no idea where he is to do the paper work. But, Joab and Laura really really want to get married, so we're going to pray a lot a lot that a miracle can happen....that they can get married, and that they keep being excited to learn the truth of this message.And Joab is so incredible...he wants to follow Jesus Christ, so much. Anyway. So pray for them too that they can figure out all the stuff with the paper work? :)

Oh something exciting! This week my comp and I got our sedulas..I don't know what that really translates to, but it means we're legal! Ya somos Ticas, yay! :) 

I love this work, love seeing that God is always preparing people to receive the truth, love seeing miracles every day. I hope everyone has an incredible Conference Weekend, listening to our living day prophet and apostles! 

They're legal!

I love you all a whole lot, 

Hermana Moon 

September 21, 2015 - Independence Day

Independence Day

Hi everyone!! 

So, this week really flew by and I can't really remember what happened... but it was a good week! :)

another pretty sunset

So, the mom of Maria Jesus (who got baptized in July) was baptized in June, the week before I came here! And it was incredible...she has multiple sclerosis, and has to stay in her bed always, and has been like this for the last 12 years!! So she got baptized in a swimming pool and it was incredible, I wish so bad I could have been there! Anyway, this week the Relief Society did an activity at her house (oh, her name is Vera) so that Vera could meet the whole Relief Society! Ah, it was so incredible. She was SO happy to meet everyone, because she can't ever go to church...it was so cool. Vera shared her experience of when she got baptized, and she just said she felt so happy, such peace...her testimony is so sweet!!! I'm so grateful that I've gotten the opportunity to meet her here. They're such an amazing family! And the ward here is so amazing...so many sisters sacrificed to go up to where they live, because they live like a 40 minute bus ride in bus from Cartago Central, and it's pretty expensive...but everyone was so willing to sacrifice and serve to go meet one of their Relief Society sisters! I love Cartago. 

con Vera

There's a quote by Joseph Sitai (I think...I can't remember his name) in the last General Conference that I love, and it's really helped me in the weeks that are kind of hard! It's "Laboring in the spirit of charity is not a duty but a joy. Challenges become opportunities to build faith." I love thinking about this!! If I'm laboring in the spirit of charity, this missionary work really isn't work at all! The days that are hard, when investigators aren't progressing, when we can't find people to teach, really are all just opportunities to build my faith, my trust in the Lord!! And I'm learning every day that I need to rely on the Lord more and more in this work..if I try to do it on my own, things really don't work out, but when we listen to the Spirit, we're guided to the people who are praying for a message of comfort. It's been so cool to see experiences like this...after teaching a lesson to someone, or praying with someone, they tell us that they'd been praying for someone to come, to bring them a little peace! The Lord really has a plan for everything, it all worked out. 

This week was Independence Day here, and so we were a little worried that no one would want us to come over...but, it's amazing how the Lord guides us to people in their houses, who didn't want to be out celebrating! So that was cool to see. And it was fun to see everyone go all out here!! They all dress up in traditional Costa Rican attire, and do big parades, and build little traditional Tico houses out of cardboard....it's so cute. :) 

I love you all a whole lot, and hope you have an amazing week!! 

Love, Hermana Moon 

September 14, 2015 - never give up on people

I just really love the colors of these flowers!! We live in such a beautiful world. 

Hey ya'll! :)

Dance!!

So something super fun this week, the ward had an activity for people to bring nonmembers, and it was a dance!!:) Oh my goodness. I don't know if there's anything I love more than watching Tico couples in love dance. I don't know how to describe how they dance here, it's like swaying or something..I don't know, but so so cute. But, it was so hard being there, just sitting in my seat, and not being able to dance!!!!! Because dances are like my favorite things in the world...Haha, seriously might have been one of the hardest nights of the mission so far....like when they turned on Uptown Funk, all I could think about was me and Spenstarr rocking out to Dark Lord Funk. Haha, but really it's okay. This mission is totally worth the sacrifice of no dance parties for a while. It really was such a great experience, for the members and investigadors....there's seriously some incredible people here in Cartago. 

Oh, yeah, haha I forgot to say in my email last week...Yeah, I'm still in Cartago! :) yay! I love Cartago. 

Oh, and big news!! Every companionship got a microwave here in the mission!!! Things are changing here in Costa Rica. 

So something cool from this week! So there's a member, Nuria, who is incredible and super active. Nuria got baptized when she was like 12 years old, and her little sister Ileana did too, when she was like 10...but Ileana never went back to church after her baptism! The Hermana Geis and I tried to go with her a couple times, but she just hid from us every time and never answered her phone, because she was too scared to come back.But yesterday...she came to church! She hadn't gone for 22 years, and yesterday she came! And she was so SO happy...it was so incredible to see. It just makes me think of all the General Conference talks where it talks about don't give up on anyone. Nuria's been trying for years, just being a good example, inviting her to activities and things. And, Ileana has 2 daughters, Valerie and Bianca, who are 10 and almost 8, and they've been going to all the Primary Activities for a few months...and Ileana said she's seen how happy they've been going to these, and she wants them in the church! So we're starting to teach them the lessons, so Valerie can get baptized, and so Ileana can learn everything again...ah, it's such a miracle. Such joy. Never give up, on anyone! 

Investigadors Anna and Tabaret. I like them. 

There was another miracle at church yesterday...an investigator, Maritzah, and her son Abraham, came!! and, it's a big deal when we can get people to come to church, we fight so hard for it! And, we'd only visited them one time, and Martizah's friend said that she was super Catholic and would never change...but, Maritzah is going through a really hard time, and really wants hope and faith. And they said they really liked church, and learned a lot. So we're really hopeful for them, and excited to visit them again tomorrow!! 

September 7, 2015 - new companion!

Hola ya'll! 

Me, mini misionary, Hna Geis.  Love them!

These couple weeks have been a little crazy with transfers, mini misionera, y todo, but they've been great weeks full of miracles! I LOVED my mini misionera, so so much. It's crazy how close you can grow to someone in five days! I love the people I'm meeting here. 

and new companion!!!! Her name is Hermana Mendoza, from Mexico! She's 24, and has the exact same time on the mission as me! So that's super fun. We're both learning a lot together! And it was cool because that was exactly what I wanted....I wanted someone with the same time as me, and a Latina! Haha, she puts up with me, a lot. Whenever we go to houses and they give us soda, I really really have a hard time drinking it....so she drinks mine for me. Poor thing yesterday drank like 7 glasses full of soda, I think. But I'm excited to learn more Spanish!! Haha cuz...Hermana Geis and I ...did not really speak Spanish haha. It's funny, cuz every night I fall asleep on the chair after the prayer ending planning, and when I get up I just start speaking English to her because I"m half asleep....haha it's interesting becase I really am having a hard time distinguishing between words in English and Spanish now!! Like....is plenitude a word in English? I really can't remember. 

New companion, Sis. Mendoza

I love the experiences I have out here as a missionary. This week we were teaching a lesson in a really, really humble house, and we were singing Come Follow Me at the start of the lesson...and right at the fourth verse, where it says, "dejad venir, los ninos a mi"...sorry I can't remember how it goes in English, but where it talks about blessing the children....Like seven little kids came running in, and just gathered around us singing, and were just standing there staring at us, and I just started crying! It was so beautiful. I could just feel the love that Christ has for those kids, and the loves He has for all His children! And no one in that house can read, but we gave them folletos to look at the pictures, and all the kids wanted one so we gave them a bunch...I don't know if this family will get baptized, but I sure hope that when these kids grow up, they'll have a stash of these folletos, pamphlets, and search out the Church, search out the missionaries. I really feel that this will happen. 

There's a lot more to learn now as a missionary! Before, honestly, I was a really good follower. I was good at following Hermana Geis, letting her plan where we were going, plan the lessons...and I was so content following. But now, I'm really learning to become a missionary. Really learning to feel for these people, feel sad when they don't keep their compromisos, feel so much more joy when they do, dedicate my thoughts and everything so much more to the work, rely on the Spirit more! It takes a lot more faith, a lot more prayer, a lot more effort...but it's so much more rewarding, too. I'm super excited to learn and grow more every day here, learn more about the gospel, share this with these incredible people here. 

I love you all a whole lot!! Haha, so glad to hear about the BYU game!!! haha seriously I loved that every email I received talked about it....rah rah rah rah rah goooo cougars!!!!!!!!!! I hope you all have an amazing Labor Day, and an incredible, blessed week! 

Love, Hermana Moon 

Tribute to the Hermana Geis. What a stellar person.. Couldn't have asked for a better first companion!! Family, it's your job to make sure she doesn't get married when she gets home so I can be roommates with her at BYU! 

Pretty sky in Costa Rica! There's hardly ever sunsets here, so I freak out when the sky is a different color than blue or gray! 

August 31, 2015 - donde esta esto?

I think one of the most beautiful things in this world is seeing someone clap their hands for joy when they're talking about baptism. I didn't know that that really happened, like it talked about in Mosiah 18, when the people clapped their hands and said that this baptism was the desire of their hearts...but it really does! Andrea was SO excited for her baptism, she seriously was clapping her hands when we talked about it. It makes me so happy!! This gospel is so happy!!  And the baptism was so incredible and beautiful--so many people from the ward came to support her. I'm so excited to see the rest of her progression in the church and everything...she has the strongest testimony. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to know her...Hermana Geis and I have no idea why we're so lucky to have gotten to teach her! She's just incredible. 

It's been kind of a crazy week besides the baptism! Hermana Geis's ankle is super hurt, so she can't walk anymore, so she's been staying at a member's house and I have a mini missionary! They sent someone from San Jose, an 18 year old girl who wants to serve a mission, and she's been going out with me! It's really fun, but kind of sad that me and Hermana Geis [mom edit: Hna Geis and I] can't work our last days together, because we know she transfers this week out of Cartago. Which is crazy!! haha she's been here for eight months...haha I have no idea what the ward is going to do without her. It was like a funeral yesterday at church when she said she was leaving! But no, it's been really fun with the mini missionary, Laura. It was super cool to hear her story...she's only been a member for nine months, and then her brother got baptized a month ago, and her mom just two weeks ago! so it's super cool. But yeah....I'm so sad Hermana Geis is leaving!! But I know it's important to get used to changes, and I am excited to get a new companion to learn and grow with!

Haha, so, here's to hoping that with transfers this week I get a Latina...because I still don't understand Spanish a lot! Haha we were eating lunch with an investigator, Viviana, and we asked where her mom lived, and she said, en el cielo,  (in heaven) but I didn't really understand, so I said, "donde esta esto?" haha....luckily she laughed a lot and thought it was funny, and doesn't just hate us now and is still willing to meet with us! 

I'm so grateful for all the learning experiences I'm having here on the mission...loving being able to focus on the scriptures, on gospel principles. I love you all a lot, and hope you all have an amazing week!!!

Andrea's baptism day