April 11, 2016 - I love Costa Rica and the children of God here!

I feel happy. :) This week was really, really good. 

So like back in February, Hermana Tabora and I knocked the door of a house, and there was a lady there, Marcela. We later went back in the week with her whole family, her husband Marvin and their daughters Mariana who is fourteen and Maria Fernanada who is four. And we visited with them like 2 times a  week for like 3 or 4 weeks, and they were really good, and really liked everything...but they never came to church, and we always invited them and they'd said they'd try, but never came! And we just got really busy, and we didn't mean to not go back, but there was just a lot of things to do! And we had like 3 weeks without visiting them! And, I wasn't sure if we were going to keep teaching them. But when Hermana Dominguez got here, we went to introduce her to them...and it was super cool. Marcela said she had felt bad for not going to church when we had invited so much, and she had had a dream with me in it, and she said she knew it was a sign from God saying this was the right church..and they came yesterday!!! And they loved it. It was a really really good testimony meeting, and all the members were super good with them, and it was awesome. 

Also, Javier and Ivannia and their three kids, also came to church for the first time yesterday too!!! And they really liked it too. And now we need to start planning their wedding! haha we'll see what we do... 

I've just loved seeing the hand of the Lord in working with these two families, and all the other investigators also. It's just so cool, seeing how the Lord's timing is just perfect, how the Spirit really tells us which houses to talk to, what to say, where to go. We've been super, super blessed with incredible investigators, who are so willing to change their lives and do things that will help them come closer to Christ. 

Also, this week I was thinking a little bit about remembering. Jose now has more than 2 months of being baptized, and we were talking to him. He was saying how the other day, he had gotten mad at someone..someone he'd had a problem with for a long time. He said that normally he would have said some really mean things, maybe even physically fought wit him...but this time, he remembered his baptism. He said, 'I remembered how I felt while I was preparing for my baptism, and that I had the goal of getting baptized, so I avoided all the bad things. And I remembered all that, and my baptism...and decided to walk away, avoid saying or doing anything mean to this guy.' I just loved seeing how he remembered his baptismal covenants. When we were baptized, we covenanted to be a witness of God at all times, and in all things, and in all places. And every week, as we take the Sacrament, we promise that we will always remember Him. Jose was a super good example to me, in showing that when we make covenants with God, they should really change us. We should be different people after the covenants, than who we were before.As we make decisions every day, we should remember those covenants. I'm grateful for all the things that I'm learning from the faith of these people here! 

But, yeah. It was a great week. And the weather was super great and sunny and really hot and beautiful too! and I love Costa Rica! and the children of God here! and love you all!! :)