November 23, 2015 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Dear Family, 

Happy Thanksgiving this week!!!!!! I love this holiday a lot, and it's sad that people here don't celebrate it! I love having a day just to think about what we're grateful for, spend with family and friends, and think of all the blessings God has given us!! We are so blessed. And, even though they don't celebrate the day here, these weeks we've been sharing this scripture with people: 

Änd ye cannot bear all things now; nevertheless, be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours. 

And he who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious, and the things of this earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold, yea, more." Doctrine and Covenants 78:18-19

I love this scripture so much!!!! We're going to have hard times in this life. But if we take all things with an attitude of gratitude, really everything is so much easier, and God will bless us even more, and we'll just be happy!!!! And, it says, these people will be made glorious!! So I love this a lot. And it's helped me a lot during this crazy change that I've been having, to try to just have a good attitude, and I've noticed such a big difference when I try to think of what I've learned this month, think of the blessings and miracles I've seen, rather than complaining. I don't know. We have been given so so much!!! God is good. 

Miracle of the week.....Nelson got baptized!!!!! He's an investigador in Jardin. and he's 79!!!!! And so incredible. My first day in Jardin we put a fecha for his baptism with him, and he's so so great. I just am so happy when we go with him!! All week he was talking about how Sunday would be the most beautiful day of his life, and he couldn't wait. And his baptism was so beautiful!!! That at 79 years old someone can be born again :) I'm so so grateful that I got to see this miracle!! 

 President gave me permission to go to Cartago with Hermana Geis! Best day ever

My sister!! both trained by Hermana Geis :) 

 yay for being missionaries! 

Anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Love you all so so much!! 

Love, Hermana Moon 

 

November 16, 2015 - the Lord is teaching me a lot here

Hey ya'll!!! 

Haha....everything really is kinda just crazy here.... I'm onto my sixth companion, third area, third zone in this change....and there's still two weeks left! But it's all good, just everyday is an adventure :) 

Companion number six this change!;) She's so so cute. But. I seriously look like a giant next to her!!!! 

My mini missionary went home last Monday...haha she wrote her family and they told her that they wanted to come home soo she left that night! So I then joined a trio with the other hermanas in Concepcion.... but then another girl went home, so I"m with that girls companion, Hermana Montepeque! Aaand we're working in the two areas, Jardin and Concepcion==President said we could take taxis back and forth to do what we needed to do! But it's super super expensive, and takes like 30 minutes in taxi, so mostly we are working in Jardin because President decided he wants elders where there are hermanas, so he's gonna take my area out of Concepcion just because everything's so crazy we don't really have investigators :( sooo everything's kinda weird, and I don't really know where I belong.... it's been kind of hard, I just fall in love with the people so fast and then I have to leave!!!! But it's okay. I know the Lord is teaching me a lot here, and that really I'll end up where He needs me to be always!! 

Also I was at the Bishop's house here in Jardin and they made me pray in English....it was so hard!!!! I seriously had to stop for like 30 seconds in the middle of the prayer because I really didn't know the words to say! Haha so that was fun

We had a cool experience while in a taxi from Jardin to Concepcion this week! We became really good friends with the taxi driver...they were trying to teach me how to teach Spanish, asking about Utah...super fun stuff! Then he really wanted to know what we believed. And so we explained the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. And he said that all was good, but that really, no one can really know for sure that something is true...religion is just something that people do because they want to believe something! And I am so so grateful that I was able to testify 100% that I know that this is true!! What a blessing it really is to know that what we dedicate our lives to isn't something just created by men, but it really is the Church of Jesus Christ, the way to happiness in this world, that we know that we can be with our families forever!!! 

 Everyone thought that we looked a lot like siblings...I guess he kinda looks like Spencer! I don't know. My goal by the end of the mission is that people really think I'm Tica. 

Oh!! And we had the Primary Program this week!! So so cute. And it's even cuter in Spanish too. 

Anyway, I love you all so much!!!!!! 

Fun with hair.

Love, Hermana Moon 

November 9, 2015 - sleep talking in Spanish

This week has been kind of crazy, a whole lot of changes, but it´s been good! I¨m learning to trust in the Lord, and trying to learn to trust in the plans that He has! 

I have another mini missionary!!! She´s super cute. Her name is Hermana Hurtado and she is a convert of like a year! It´s been super fun. She´s so great...haha every free minute she has she pulls our Preach My Gospel to read! I think she´ll be here for like a month, until the next changes! She´ll also probably get her mission call while she´s here with me, so that´ll be fun! 

Ha, something funny... I´ve totally started just sleep talking in Spanish just missionary stuff. My companions have told me I´ve prayed, started teaching the first lesson, and I´ve woken up a few times in the middle of the night finding myself asking for references in Spanish.... haha 

A lot of what we´re doing is just trying to learn the area and just get new investigators because the two of us don´t really know the area! So it´s been a good experience. And I´ve noticed something really cool! Honestly talking people doesn´t bother me usually...but still sometimes I feel a little scared to approach some people, or knock certain doors, and I don´t know why... and this week I´ve decided to just talk to those people when I haven´t wanted to... and almost every time, when I´ve felt this fear, or this pareca (little bit of laziness) to do it, and then we actually do it, these are the people that receive us!! Honestly, we shouldn´t feel afraid to talk with anybody to share the news of the gospel! Because it really is the way to happiness in this world, and really, I know that this message is for everyone, and that there are always people to receive it! This week in leadership meeting I loved what someone said.... Elder Ochoa, a member of the Seventy for Costa Rica, said that there are thousands over thousands people prepared in EVERY area...hard areas really don´t exist. We just need to work and find those people that are waiting for us! 

Some days are hard, but I really love being a missionary. Sometimes I find myself walking down the streets, looking at the beautiful world, and just feeling SO happy!! Even on days when things aren´t working out, and days that are hard... I just am so so grateful for this opportunity I have to share the gospel with the beautiful people of Costa Rica! 

Love you all so so much!! 

with Hermana Geis at Mission Leadership Council

Concepcion

Love, Hermana Moon 

November 2, 2015 - becoming

Happy November!! Haha, everyone here is going crazy decorating for Christmas. Ticos go all out. Well, it all started actually in September because Halloween and Thanksgiving don´t exist here...it´s so fun haha. I love Christmas!! 

We had a cool experience this week with an investigator named Olga. She´s from Russia but has been here for years and years. And it was really interesting and cool because it was the first time ever that I¨ve taught someone who really didn´t know for sure if God existed, who didn´t have faith. Because the people of Costa Rica, all of them really have a lot of faith. Basically everyone goes to church, mostly Catholic, and everyone loves talking about religious stuff. But Olga wasn´t sure if God´s even there. Because her daughter has been super, super sick now, for years, and her husband died, and she just wasn´t sure. And it was so cool to be able to testify and feel that God really did exist, that He really did love her and He really has a plan for her. And she´s starting to read the Book of Mormon, and she really wants to learn more. 

We had Zone Conference with President this week and it was incredible. We talked about how the Plan of Salvation isn´t really like the drawing that everyone draws on the Sunday School blackboard...but it´s more like a ladder, going up towards heaven. And every day, we should be striving to move up the ladder. Everday, we should ask, ¨Que mas me falta?¨ Or, what more should I be doing? What´s holding me back on our spiritual progression? And as we do this, every day we should be feeling the love of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ more and more as we move up the ladder. And, we won´t be perfect, probably not in this life, but every day we can try more!  Really this whole life is just a journey of spiritual progression upward. I love something that Brother Griffin told us last year in Book of Mormon class....that the Plan of Salvation isn´t only about getting somewhere, but about becoming something, someone. He tied it to the story of Nephi at the beginning of the Book of Mormon...if the Lord really wanted them to get to the Promised Land, why did they keep having to go back to Jerusalemn? He didn´t want them to just get to the Promised Land, but to becomemore obedient, more consecrated, to change on the way, to become better disciples of Christ. And I love that!! We are trying to get somewhere...the Celestial Kingdom, but on the way, we do need to become someone new too, through the experiences we have here! Super cool. 

Rainy season ended!! At least, that´s what everyone says, that in November! Haha, we´re pretty excited about not having to blowdry our agendas every night now.....now we´re just geting ready for it to get really cold! well, really cold for Costa Rica haha.Probaly isn´t like Utah. But I´m excited to see what it´s like! 

K! Love you all so so much!! 

Love, Hermana Moon

Zone Conference

October 26, 2015 - Gabby

Hola familia, 

I'm here in Concepcion!!! I got here on Saturday. Holy cow. It's beautiful. And it's so so small...haha Cartago was like seven times the size of it, we'll basically never take buses here! So it'll be a fun new experience.  But it's crazy how close someone can grow to a place, to people in such a short amount of time....I miss Cartago so much!! Weird that you can feel homesick from a place that's not even really your home. I learned and changed so much in that city, met incredible people I will never forget, learned so much about myself. But I'm super excited to grow and learn and change and trust in the Lord more here in Concepcion.

Concepcion

We're basically starting over here in Conce, we don't have many progressing investigators, and don't know much about the area...but we're excited to start learning! Hermana Woods and I have already seen some great miracles here! We were knocking doors on Saturday night. And it's super crazy. Because she and Hermana Chatwin, who was her companion before, always knocked on doors and asked the people if they knew a Gabby who lived around there, jsut as a way to swtart talking, see if we could share a message with them. And we knocked on a door and did taht, and the lady actually said yes!! That two doors down!! Soooo we went and tried, and asked if Gabby was there, that someone said she'd be interested in a message in Jesus Christ, if we could share it with her! And she said yes!!! So we shared it with her and holy cow she is so great!! She's like 27, and studying nursing, and LOVES English...she jsut wanted to talk English with us. Which is actually a tender mercy, becauser Hermana Woods sitll isn't super comfortable with her Spanish 100%, so it was fun just sharing in English! Kinda confusing though haha. I'm getting really bad at grammar in English. And Gabby loved it, then came to church on Sunday!!! So it was so so cool. A huge miracle for us. 

with Hna Woods

And, it's super funny. Having our last name Woods and Moon...haha Gabby asked what were our real names,  if everyone had to have new names like that in the church, if there were some like Sun and Wind.... haha we explaiend and all laughed a lot :) 

K. I love you all a whole whole lot. Thank you for all your love and support. :) 

Until next Monday, con todo mi amor, Hermana Moon 

October 19, 2015 - it's tan hermosa

Hi family!!! 

So...I'm actually still in Cartago!!!!  I do have changes. But since Hermana Mendoza can't walk, they called me Tuesday and said I'll be staying here for a week or two. Hermana Mendoza couldn't have her new companion here with a mini misionera because she doesn't know Cartago at all....so I"m here this week showing Hermana Chen from Guatamala around Cartago!! She is so so cute. She's always been in the city here, and this is her first area that has like mountains and campo...and I just love watching her when we go to a new place and she just says..."Ahh...It's tan hermosa!!! Really we live in such an incredible, miraculous world!! 

And my new area is Concepcion!! It's really close to San Jose, the capitol. I don't know. I"m really, really anxious and excited to go there and start working, so it's been kind of a trial of patience this week staying here in Cartago!! I love Cartago so, so much, but it's kind of like my heart is in Concepcion, with my new companion...I don't know. It's been a good experience for me to have faith in the timing of the Lord!! And my new companion is Hermana Woods!!! We are so, so excited. She's from Ogden, and she left on her mission June 10--the day I should have left! So we would have been in the MTC together, and so yeah, she has 3 months here in Costa Rica!! It's super funny, because we got our sedulas together so spent that whole day together, and just talked about how we wished one day we could be companions...and it happened!! Well, haha we haven't had a day together yet....but I'm so so excited. But my Spanish is going to go downhill again...haha oh well. 

We've seen some cool miracles this week!! So, our goal is to get more than 10 new investigators every week. And because this week was kind of crazy, with the transfers and everything, and I was not being super good for a few days and didn't know how to balance teaching the area with finding, we only had two news when Saturday started. But we made a goal to find a lot of new investigators and Saturday...and it was incredible, the Lord really led us to people who would receive us, and be wanting to change!! The first person we talked to on Saturday was a woman whose name was Luz, and it was incredible--she expressed to us how much she wanted to change, how she and her husband have been looking for a church to go to for their children, how her mother-in-law always told her that she needed to baptize her kids in the Catholic church but didn't feel like she should....it was amazing! and she came to church the next day too!! It's amazing how the Lord leads us to the people who are waiting to receive the restored gospel. 

I love you all so, so much!!! Have an incredible week. :) 

Love, Hermana Moon