Monday, February 22, 2016

February 22, 2016 - so much love!

Hi!!
It was a super great week! The best thing...Karen y Ricardo got married!!!! Karen got baptized in June, but was like less active when her boyfriend Ricardo moved back in with her. They have a kid of like two months who is so cute. And Saturday was their wedding!!! Haha, it was kinda crazy planning a wedding when neither me or my comp have ever even seen one, and we had no idea what we were doing...but it worked out good!! And lots of members helped, and Karen and Ricardo were so so happy. Yay!!! Haha. it was just kind of funny. they didn't have rings, but I had some HLJ (CTR) rings in the house....so we used those! Anyway. Ricardo thinks they're super cool so it's great. But yeah. So happy!!!! And then Ricardo will get baptized this week! :) 
 flowers! I promise the bouquet is prettier in real life. haha. we didn't have flowers, so we went running Saturday morning and saw some pretty flower bushes. and there were some old guards there, and we asked if we could have some flowers...and they went and cut so many flowers for us! They were so sweet. yay! now I know how to get free flowers whenever I want too.

decorations!  Kiana had asked for the reminder of how to make these (since they were part of the decor for the homecoming dance she was in charge of), and I was glad to hear that the Relief Society ended up making them, not her.
Ricardo has been super fun to teach. He used to go to an Evangelical church, but we taught him the Restoration and he believed everything, but he went back to his old church just one more time to see, but he said they were just asking money..when he told us that Karen yelled from the other room ¨there's your answer!!!¨haha. it was super funny. And, Karen has helped a lot. Then his problem was just coffee. We committed him to not take it...and he said yes, we threw out the rest of the coffee they had in the house and everything. But then after like 3 days he said and went and searched in like 5 pulperias (like little stores that are like every ten houses of the street here) for just one packet of coffee, cuz he didn't want to break the WOW a lot, just a little....but he couldn't find a single one! yay! But then the mom of karen moved back in and she drinks SO much coffee...... and they drank coffee...so we had to change the baptism to this week instead of right after the wedding. But, he felt super bad about it after, and now they're so great and he is so so excited for his baptism. Yay!! They're so cute. They've been going to Institute for the last month and have loved it too, and read the book of mormon every night as a family. We love them! 

yay! Love!!
Also, yesterday at church, Richard showed up in a white shirt and tie and passed the sacrament!!! We were dying, it was just so cute. I loved it.

Also something cool, that kind of only makes sense if you've been a missionary and seen the District videos. We've been teaching Jose, a dad of two girls and a wife who got baptized in October. He goes to church a lot, but he has another church where the pastor is kind of crazy and says bad stuff about Mormons. But he really wants his whole family to be in the same church. So we've invited him to read the book of mormon a lot, but he hasn't read it ever. So we seriously had a lesson exactly like in the District 2, when Elders Christensen and Moreno are teaching Jynx? and we say, the answer to all your questions is here, and you haven't read it! And he says, and you think they would have told me that before! ....haha, we were dying laughing because it was literally like the same. Super cool! Yay for The District! We've decided that they should make a District #3 in Guacimo. 


I really love these people here. It's so crazy to think that three months ago I didn't even know that these people existed, and now I just care so so much about them all. It's really cool. I've just been thinking...if I can feel this love for these people, and also feel sorrow when they don't do what's right...how crazy it must be for our Heavenly Father, who has billions and billions of kids, and feels this love when we obey and feels sad when we dont do what's right...I don't know. I can't really imagine it. But it's been really cool thinking about it.  I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ so much, and the love that they have for all of us, and the opportunity that they've given me to be here with these people in Costa Rica! And I'm grateful for the gospel, and for families, and the scriptures, and everything. so much love! 

yay! Love!!
Love you!!! Love, Hermana Moon

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

February 15, 2016 - More consecrated, more loving . . .

Zona Atlantica

Richard and Raymond :)
This week was kind of crazy, but good! We barely spent any time in Guacimo...it was raining super super hard, like all week, and we have to go through like the mountains to get to San Jose, and we had a conference there on Thursday so they got scared so we had to leave on Wednesday, and then we had to stay til Friday later....but it was still good! And the Conference was amazing. Elder Ochoa from the 70 came, and he talked a lot about how we can be better. More consecrated, more loving, work harder, teach repentance, be one with Christ. I don't know. I left so motivated to be so much better!!! There's so much to do always to be better, to act more like Christ would act, to say what He would say. Christ's will is that we teach repentance and baptize converts here. There's so much work to do! 

The week before last week we had a baptism! Two brothers, Richard and Raymond, got baptized! :) Richard is 12 and Raymond is 9. They're seriously such good little boys, so so fun and so cute. And it was really cool how we found them! It was like the first week with Hermana Tabora, and it was like 8:30 at night, and lots of times at that time we just go visit a member who is sort of less active by our house and read the book of Mormon with them. But we decided we wanted to use every minute, and we just talked to a girl who was sitting outside, and invited her to church! And she and Richard came on Sunday, and then Raymond and Richard started coming every Sunday, came to a baptism and loved it, and asked to be baptized! It was super neat to see them. They LOVE learning about the church, Raymond loves Primary, they love to read the Bibile and Book of Mormon together. But, they couldn't go to Church last Sunday, so they got confirmed yesterday. But it was funny, haha usually they come right on time, but yesterday they came late. And I was freaking out while playing piano, playing the opening hymn so slow so they could get there on time for the confirmation, and we were so lucky that the Bishop got up and started talking and talking...and they walked in just in time! Haha it was such a miracle. I love the family a lot, they're a family of 8 kids all under the age of 15, and we're teaching two of the sisters now! It's so great.

Also, this week was super interesting. Since we were on buses a lot, I got to talk to a lot of different people. And for the first time in my mission, I met someone who didn't believe in God, or Jesus Christ. I was so surprised!!! That someone could not believe in them, I almost didn't know what to say. But I just testified. I'm so glad for the knowledge I have that Jesus Christ really lives, and that He loves us. That we really do have the opportunity to change our lives and be better and become more like Him through the power of His Atonement. And I tried to invite the man to pray, but he said no. But at the end, he accepted taking a mormon.org card, when at first he said no way. But seriously it was just so interesting and so sad to talk to someone who didn't have hope of living after this life, of being with their families forever, because without Christ, we can't have those blessings. I love my Savior Jesus Christ, andwhat He did for us.

I love you all soooo so much!! Have the best week!!
This world's so cool!
Love, Hermana Moon


February 8, 2016 - Plan of Salvacion, a tribute to Granddaddy

Hey family!! 

It was a good week. Haha honestly I don't remember much what happened! But it was really good, we found some good people to teach, been working hard. Also it's been super fun. I've been teaching my companion adn the elders in the area english, and the other day they learned how to sing all the words to Nephi's Courage. now they go all around singing ´´I will Go, I will do!`` haha. I'm a proud teacher ;)


Also, we live in such a beautiful world!!! We went last Monday to a waterfall and it was cool. But I forgot my camera so I can't send pictures haha. And, it's cool! I thought autumn didn't exist here! But it totally does. the leaves in San Jose are all turning orange. Heavenly Father loved us so much to make this world so beautiful for us here. :) I feel my Savior's love in all the world around me!


I've been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvacion these last couple days. I'm so grateful for the knowledge that we have of eternal families!! That we know that we can all be with all the people we love, forever. And I've been thinking, there's so so so many people in the world who don't have this knowledge...who have no idea really what happens after this life! people I'm sitting with in this internet cafe who might not have the idea of their purpose. We are so blessed to have this knowledge, and we have this responsibility and blessing to share it :)


I love my Granddaddy so much. I've been thinking about him and just sharing stories with my companion and the Elders these days. I love when we went to the temple for Kaylie's wedding and we look and he was just comparing shoe sizes with another cute old man. I love his example in being healthy--going walking and doing 45 pullups even on the day he died and eating fruits and vegetables and working in his garden. I love his ability to write. I love that he taught me the importance of conjugating Spanish verbs back in seventh grade, for his love for the arts.  I love  his love for Mima. I love knowing that he's now doing the work of the Lord on the other side, and I know he's doing great things there. I hope everything goes really really well on Thursday, send my love to Mima and everyone there.


I love you all a whole lot. I hope your week is full of love! 

Con amor, Hermana Moon
Kiana with Gdaddy, July 96

Oops - he grabbed the wrong shoes at temple

Mima and Gdaddy, Aug 2013

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

February 1, 2016 - the Spirit is the most important aspect of this work

The entire East Mission 
Dear family,
Happy February! :) 

Elder Cook came!! So we had a meeting with the other mission in Costa Rica with him. It was so cool to hear the testimony of him. I know that the prophet and apostles really are special witnesses of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ really lives, and loves us. I know that the prophet and apostles are really called of God to help spread the gospel to all the world! It was a really neat experience being with him. This work is real!


Also, Jose got baptized this week. Yay! It was such a neat experience too. He was so happy. It was crazy...we had our first lesson with him January 9, and he got baptized Janauary 29...changing your life completely in 20 days! But he was so so ready. The district leader said that after he didn't know if there was another person that understood so well the importance of being baptized. And he went to Institute also on Saturday, and loved it, and just wants to know everything! I'm so so grateful for the miracle that we had in finding him, in having the opportunity in teaching him, the help from the members that we had with him!


And I learned really, the Spirit is the most important aspect of this work. Thinking back on the first day we found him...if my companion hadn't said that she wanted to go back to talk to him, that she felt we needed to talk to him, who knows when he would have found the church! And he said he'd been praying to God for help to change his life. Anyway. God really, really answers prayers, and the Spirit is so real! Lots of times we're running from appointment to appointment, but we need to give time to listen to the Spirit, even when there's lots of voices in the world trying to distract us, but we need to focus on the most important things.

Anyway, love you lots!! Have a great week!
On the bus to the mission conference
Jose's baptism
Love, Hermana Moon

January 25, 2016 -- the Atonement working in the lives of these people

The sloth and baby in a tree
Closeup of sloth and baby
Hey family!! I love you! It's been another really good week.

Our investigator Jose is seriously incredible! He is progressing so so fast it's kind of crazy. He wanted to know all the commandments at once so we told him...and he dropped coffee and drinking, he had stopped using drugs after the first day meeting with us, he had had a girlfriend (we had no idea...) and after teaching the law of chastity he said he went with her the next day and left her because she wasn't a good influence! And he passed his baptismal interview yesterday and is so, so excited for Friday. We're so excited!! It's so incredible how the gospel changes lives. And he's so strong! Everyone at work and all his friends are making fun of him for going to this church, but he says he knows it's what he wants to do. It's so great.

Things are also good with Karen and Ricardo. They're going to make empanadas, and we're going to start selling them to members to help them earn money so they can get married!! It costs like 100 dollars. So yeah. Also we have no idea what we're doing in planning a wedding, like with decorations and everything...haha. Pray for us? :) Oh well. It's an adventure!  We put the date for the 13 of february for the wedding and the baptism. So it's coming fast!

I'm so grateful that I'm getting to see the Atonement working in the lives of these people. I'm so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ, that we can change and better our lives through His sacrifice, that we don't have to be stuck in the same situations we've always been. I know that Christ lives, and that He loves us, and that He wants all of us to return to live with Him. I know that if we trust in Him, He will help us know what we need to do. I know this gospel is true, and that is changes lives.

And I love you all a whole lot! :)

Love, Hermana Moon
Small world: The boy knew Kaylie and the girl knows Erika




January 18, 2016 -- The Lord really has people so prepared!

Hi everyone! 

It was another really good week. 

Kiana got another nametag!
Jose is so incredible!!! We're teaching him in the Bishop's house so that's great, because the people he lives with really are not a good influence on him at all. This week President and Hermana Hayes came to teach with us! haha, it was kind of crazy, it was President and Sister Hayes, my companion and I, the Bishop, the Bishop's son who got home from his mission, all of us teaching him haha. I was kind of worried that he wouldn't want to like talk a lot because there were so many of us, but it went really really well, and he accepted a fecha to get baptized the 29th! We asked him how he felt during the lesson, and he said, Marvelous!! And oh man. He is working for that goal so hard! We invited him to the baptism of an 8 year old on Saturday, and before he decided he wanted to read about baptism in the Book of Mormon. So he looked in the guide about baptism, and foudn Mosiah 17 and 18, and read them all by himself! And he loved the baptism, and said that every time he is tempted to do something bad, he just thinks about that goal. He's seriously such a miracle!! I don't know. It's so so cool. The Lord really has people so prepared! 

We're also teaching Ricardo, his girlfriend Karen got baptized back in June when they weren't living together, and now they have a baby of two months, and they're such a cute family. He came to church two Sundays ago, but last Sunday he went back to his old Evangelical church, but he said they were just asking for money. Karen yelled from the other room, that's your sign!! Haha. So he came to church again yesterday, and really loves it!! And, he said, ÿo me bautizo, yo me caso." (I'll get baptized, I'll get married!) But, we just have to convince Karen, because she says she wants a wedding on the beach, something super fancy. But we explained that getting sealed in the temple is a million times better than any wedding ever could be. So hopefully we can see them get married and see Ricardo's baptism in February!! Haha, I don't know anything about planning a wedding. But I'm excited to see how it goes! 

Anyway. Being a missionary is the greatest. I love you guys all a whole lot and thanks for everything! 

Love, Hermana Moon