September 19, 2016 - Day 1, Year 0 of his new life

Hi!!!

This week was good!!! Some great things! 

1. New companion! :) She is named Hermana Vargas, and is from Tegucigalpa! She´s the tallest companion I´ve ever had, so that´s exciting (.....I´m still taller, but, she´s almost as tall as me)...and with that, she walks the fastest! so it´s been fun haha. It´s been fun seeing her do things for the first time... yelling UPE to knock the doors, teaching the area, studying and teaching and everything. I´m remembering a lot my first few weeks as a missionary. I´m excited to learn a lot from her, and to see miracles together. 

2. Humberto got baptized!!!! He´s been so excited all week. He kept saying, that 17 of September is Day 1, year 0, of his new life. And that before he was a mason... (like the freemasons, in national treasure! haha. I don´t know a lot about them... just that they are very smart and that Joseph Smith and a lot of the prophets have been them)...but now he´s going to be  a Mormon. And on Saturday night, he was baptized!! And lots of members came to support, and it was just such a wonderful day. I am so so grateful for the opportunity to be a missionary, for the huge miracle we had in finding Humberto and seeing his conversion process. Being a missionary is the best life ever. 

3. It´s been super sunny!!! I love the sun. It rains a lot a lot here... and I like the rain. But the days where it´s sunny all day it just makes me feel even happier. :) 

4. It was independence day here the 15.......so that means..... now Christmas is coming!!  Therés no Halloween or Thanksgiving here, so right after independence day it´s just time for Christmas, and Christmas decorations! haha so it´s fun seeing stores starting to put Christmas stuff out, singing Christmas hymns always. 

....and I know a lot of other great things, I just can´t remember and there's not a lot of time. But, everything is going really well. We´re ready to learn and work a lot more in the work of the Lord this week, and see more miracles and invite more people to come unto Christ. 

And, I love you all!!!!!! Have a great week. :) 

​the money is so cool in costa rica. and in those little animals it totally says pura vida in letters super super small. it's so cooool!! i just found that out this week. it's so neat. ​

and humberto!! yay! 

la zona.... before changes! 

September 12, 2016 - adios, Hermana Madrid!

Hola familia!!! 

This week was good!! Best news....Humberto said he is getting baptized the 17th!!!! So, it's super sad because Hermana Madrid flies out of Costa Rica on the 15th..... but it's okay, she knows she helped so so much in his conversion. And, he is so happy to finally have decided, and is telling everyone, and it is great. :) We are so grateful for the decision he has made!!! Thursday he told us that he was watching the news and seeing stuff about the wars and everything and all the problems in the world.... and he said he had the thought, why am I still doubting about making this step? if there's so many problems, why will I add more to the world? So he stopped smoking, and yeah! :) yay!! I'm so amazed by how the Spirit has worked in his life, and his love for the scriptures, and learning, and repenting, and becoming better.   He is seriously incredible. and hahah now I think the goal of the ward is that he gets married.... we're going to do a family night tomorrow with another woman in the ward who is single with the familia Jimenez haha, they planned it out.... so it's great! Haha I love this ward so much. 

And....everyone else is doing well! Maria Else and Alejandro came to church again! But, it was sad.... they live super far away, and have 4 little kids, so they got there late again, like at 10:45. But, I love seeing how much they are trying to do the right things, to keep the commandments and receive the Lord's blessings. :) 

We had the leadership meeting this week, and I can't say enough that President Hayes is the best president of mission in the whole world. He asked us, what our mayordomia... I think that means like stewardship or responsibilities as a leader are. And everyone was saying like, have a perfect area, be a good example, be perfectly obedient.... lots of things. And he told us, that it's to love. That we need to learn how to love the Lord, love the other missionaries, love our areas perfectly. That he is here, because he loves us and loves the Lord. And, that we should learn to develop so much love for the Lord that we are always perfectly obedient, that we can help the other missionaries have this same love so they can have all the success the Lord wants for them. I don´t know, I wish you gys could all just sit and listen to him teach!! !! He just has so much love, it's so inspiring, and listening him makes me want to be so much better. So, I want to be better, want to learn to love more...love the Lord, my companion, the whole mission, the people of Costa Rica. 

  ​last day with the compañera!!! so sad. 

we have a cosechas like 2 minutes from our house. it's the best. 

And, I'll be having a new companion, because Hermana Madrid is leaving! I'll be training a new missionary. Haha, I always get super nervous training.... but I'm excited, it'll be a great adventure. And all the new missionaries come from Honduras, so I'll get to keep enjoying baleadas, the typical food of there, and hearing her say cheque, pues. haha it'll be fun. :) 

and with Humberto and a family who has been so wonderful to let us always teach in their house!! he kept saying to her, ''foto sin pila''.....picture without the baptismal font haha. we will send her lots of pictures on saturday. 

Anyway, I love you all so much!!! Have a wonderful week :) 

September 5, 2016 - campeonas de zona toyapan

Hi family!!

All is well!! Yesterday we had Stake Conference. I love seeing the strength of the Church here when lots of members are together. And, it was great, Humberto could go to both the adult session Saturday, and on Sunday! and Hazel and Ariel came on Sunday. We hope they could feel the Spirit we felt, and that they can receive answers about baptism. 

Humberto is doing really well....but he still just says he hasn´t felt an answer about being baptized, and he says always he´s a man of his word, and so he is scared to be baptized if he can´t keep the commitment! But, we feel he´s so ready!! He hasn´t missed church for 2 months now, hasn´t missed a day of reading... so, we just keep praying for more faith that he can pray and really get his answer!! Because he is so, so good. 

We also had a good lesson with Maria Elsa and Alejandro. They work in selling clothes, and Sunday is the day when most people are in their houses, and they really do need money, because they have four little kids. But, we shared the lesson with them about Elijah the prophet when he told the widow to give him food to him first, and then after they didn´t lack in food ever. So, we talked about sacrifice, and having faith in the promises of the Lord, with not working on Sunday and going to church. And...it was a really good lesson. they said that after this Sunday, they will not put appointments for Sundays, so they can go to church, and not work and keep this commandment of the Lord. and, they also committed to getting married!!! So, it was a great week with them. They are loving reading the book of Mormon as a family, and I love visiting with them. 

And yeah! Everything else is great!! It´s been raining a lot, so that´s been fun! :) And we´re ready to have fun the last week of Sister Madrid´s mission and see miracles!! 

Bye, love you all lots!! 

​I had one of the proudest, best moments of my mission this week

There´s this game we play here, where someone goes in front and starts reading a scripture and we all look for it and when we find it we stand up and start reading from there. we play for like 10 minutes, and give points and everything

anyway. I´ve been dying to win!!!!! I always win a couple of times, but my zone leader always ends up winning. 

but finally, finally, this Wednesday, in zone meeting, WITH President Hayes there watching..me and my companion finally won!!!!!! so we have the honor of having the cup with us this week. campeonas de zona toyopan por fin!!! ​

August 29, 2016 - a big sacrifice for them to come to church

Dear family, 

This week was good!! 

Humberto is still doing well. He´s completely stopped drinking coffee, for a week now, and he says he doesn´t miss it anymore, and that hot chocolate is the best thing ever haha. But..he is still having troubles with stopping smoking. But, he´s working so hard to be able to do it!! He understands repentance so well. We´ve been having lessons about that in gospel principles, and I¨ve loved listening to his testimony about the Atonement, and that we learn and progress from the mistakes we´ve made. And, this week is Stake Conference, so I don´t think his baptism would be this weekend. But we´re hopeful for the next! 

This week the ward did a Noche de Grupo...it´s like family night but as big groups. It´s so fun. And, Hazel and Ariel and Humberto could come. After, they all commented how they loved that the church focuses so much on families. Humberto shared with everyone that he felt like he was now part of a family, and that he had never really felt that way before. I´ve loved seeing how the ward has really loved these new people, and showed charity and service to them. Moravia really is such an incredible place. 

We´re also teaching a family, they could only make it for the last hour of church last week...but the husband said he absolutely LOVED it, because he could see that the church is a church of order, and he knows that God is a God of order. They have five little kids under the age of ten, and it was a big sacrifice for them to come to church last week. And, we had talked to them about baptism a lot before, but they said they needed to come to church to see.... and they accepted a date this week! It´s not til like the end of October, because there´s a lot of things to work out with them...they need to get married and everything....but we´re so happy because they have really shown that they want to be closer to God and have sacrificed to be able to keep commitments. 

And....I don´t really remember what else happened this week! But everything is going well! :) We keep working on finding new people, and strengthening our own testimonies in the restored gospel. I know that the Church is true, and I´m grateful for the opportunity to share this message every day. :) 

Love you all!