September 29, 2014

Well Hello!

6 weeks down and lots more to go! One of my mommies (companions) leaves this week, so sad. :( My new companion is Hermana Gallegos and she is also from Mexico! Right now I still like Hermana Uribe more and I will miss her, but that is because I haven´t met Hermana Gallegos yet. I am sure I will love her too! She only knows Spanish though... Hermana Uribe knew both and that was nice.... But this will help me? Right? I get Hermana Garner for 4 more weeks, and then maybe no more English at all! Ahh!

General Conference is this week!!! Yay! I don´t think it plays on the TV here, so you either have to go to the Chapel or use the internet in your house. So we will go to the chapel. ;) It will be in Spanish though... The Relief Society Broadcast was in Spanish too... Weird, I know. It was good, I took some notes, and asked my companion for more details after. :) Maybe they will let me watch it in English? I can understand Spanish okay... But I learn way more when it is in English and can take better notes because I don´t have to focus as much... But everyone watch it! Be super excited! I am super excited!!!!

We went to the temple this week!!!! It was great!!!!! But that is probably because I cheated and listened to it in English... Oops... Next time in Spanish, I promise! I am learning Spanish, I promise, I still just like English more right now. :) But the temple here is tiny and mostly little old ladies and little old men from the states work there. They are serving temple missions and it is adorable. I think I get to go about every 3 months and I am excited to go back and try Spanish this next time! I love the temple!

Oh funny story... I got out my Thank You cards to write notes to my recent converts and my companion who is leaving, and I realized they all say "Thank You" on them... In English... So that is kind of fun I guess. Hahaha I didn´t even think about that... Thanks mom! ;) They will just remember me as the gringa for forever I guess, hahah

Pamela was baptized this week!!!! Yay Pamela! She skipped work this week to go to church, she feels bad about her tattoos, and she really wanted to clean up her life and she did! She is wonderful!

This week I almost died.... I was sooo sick. My stomach felt like it had knives in it and every time I ate it got worse, so I stopped eating. Plus I had a horrible headache, plus a swollen lymph node in my armpit, plus bathroom issues, plus my neck was super stiff. But then I got better and all is well. :) Only three days of death, not too bad. But I was able to work the whole time, so no big deal.

We went on divisions again, but only a 4 hour bus ride this time! But.. We had to sleep on the floor for two nights and no showers for a few days.. And we were out of our area for 3 days for the temple and divisions, so our poor investigators didn´t get to see us...BUT.... Since we were serving our fellow missionaries, and helped their area while we were gone, we were blessed with miracles when we got back!! It was amazing! Everyone we needed to teach was miraculously in their house and had free time, we found a bunch of new people to teach, and one girl even asked us when she can be baptized during her first lesson!! It was great. When you are serve others, you are serving God. And when you serve others, you are always blessed. We were able to meet all of our goals and help all of our investigators even after missing 3 days! Oh and we missed the bus and had to walk to lunch, but found a family teach on the way! It was no accident that we missed the bus, and I am excited to see this family progress! I know the whole mission is service, but extra service makes a big difference!

Have a great week! Enjoy Conference!! I love you all!!!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Real Churros! Made by Hermano Max!

Hermano Max is a Professional Chef and is even on a TV show.

El Templo!

Our whole Zone at the temple.

Pamela's Baptism

Brownies in Spanish! (It took me a while to translate!)

September 22, 2014

Hola!

Three baptisms this week!! I always get a little worried that something is going to happen, but all three have amazing faith and everything went well! You might think 5 baptisms is a lot for my first 6 weeks, but it is because our area hasn´t had any baptisms for two or three months, so there are more people ready now. But these three I taught all of the lessons to, so they weren´t from that drought. Pretty exciting stuff! All three are great! "R" and "J" are excited to learn more and our Young Mens program is great in this ward, so that will be good for them. "C" has been ready for years, and she will be a great addition to the ward as well!

Sad story... My puppy, the one that follows me home every night and licks my legs, and the one that I named Amigo, got hit by a motorcycle. :( We watched it happen and he yelped and ran to his house and into his bed and it was sooo sad! But the next morning he was back in the street licking my legs, so he wasn´t hurt too bad.. Still pretty sad though. :( I miss my puppy Suki.

Funny story... I hear people here say " Gracias adios" a lot. And that means "Thank you, goodbye" right? We yesterday I figured out they are really saying "Gracias a Dios" which really means "Thanks to God"... And that makes a lot more sense....... Oops.

I had my first real interview with President Wilkinson today and it went well! He is great and he is doing an amazing job here in Costa Rica. Hermana Wilkinson is awesome too! I am sad I don´t get to be with them for my whole mission, but I am sure the next President will be good too. We talked about the importance of staying sane and recharging your spiritual battery. For me, he suggested I read from the Book of Mormon for 15 minutes every day in English. And to not worry about Spanish for those 15 minutes, I will have plenty of time during the day to worry about Spanish. I haven´t been doing this yet, and I loved his advice. I have been trying to read in Spanish, and I am not getting as much out of it. It is very important to recharge your spirit every day. And in the language you understand best. ;) Hahah. The scriptures are giving to us to learn, feel the spirit, and understand Gods plan for us. We have been asked to study our scriptures every single day. Not just for fun, but because it is what we need. I hope you all have a great week!! And learn from your scripture studies! Thank you for all of the love and support! I love you all! Be safe and happy and healthy!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business... 

1. Hermana Garner goes home in 5 weeks, she extended 4 weeks to help train me. But Hermana Uribe goes home in one week. We will probably get a new Hermana next week. They like to keep the nurse in a Trio.

2. I like my little umbrella for now, it is easier to carry. And you get wet either way, so it doesn´t matter much.

3. I take the English medical calls now, and still listen to the Spanish calls. But I am supposed to be taking all of them. I have 5 more weeks until I am on my own completely though!! Good! We still get about 4 or 6 calls every day, but nothing too serious.

4. Look at you being all famous mom! But now that Elder Oaks posted a picture of the missionary map you and Marleen made, everyone will be copying you, or think you copied him!

5. Brandon. You would really love the sour cream here. It looks like Mayo, but tastes like amazing sour cream. Its a little sweeter, but still really good. I could drink it. So I think that means you could eat a bucket full.. You should try it one day! I forgot what its called though, sorry...

6. Kami you look older. Stop growing.

7. I love you all!!!!!! Adios!

At the Mission Home

La Casa del Presidente Wilkinson

Divisions

Divisions

Ice Cream to celebrate Hermana Uribe passing her English test!

"C"'s Baptism

"R"'s Baptism

"J"'s Baptism

I found Hermana Fowler!

I love this Hermana!

September 15, 2014

Hola mis amigos y familia!

Como estàn?? How is the good old United States of America? Today is Independence day for all of Central America, so basically Happy 4th of July for me again! Costa Rica´s colors are red, white, and blue also, so it even looks the same here! How fun! There were parades and parties last night, so we did not get many visits in, but we did our best!

Spanish story for the week. After our morning workout, I tried to ask my companion if I could shower first today, but instead I asked, "Can I shower you first?" So close... But not quite the same... She laughed and said no, but that I could shower first. Good ole Spanish... :)

Fun Costa Rica story for the week. Banks here have scary guards. With really, really big guns. And their guns are loaded and ready to go. So we are super, super nice to the guards. There are guards at most stores as well, but with smaller guns, so it´s all good. I never hear of much crime though, so that is good!

Oh yeah!!! Funny story for the week. This week we were standing at a bus stop and a big semi truck drove past us and the ground rumbled a bit. Then later we found out that it was really an earthquake! How fun! We just thought it was the truck! So it must have not been that bad of an earthquake, but that was the first one I have felt. Most of them are at night and I definitely sleep heavy enough to skip every single one. :) 

Good story for the week. (One of our converts) begged us for more lessons! We used to visit with him very often before his baptism, and hadn´t for a few days after his baptism and he was super sad! He wanted to learn more and ready for more responsibility! He got the priesthood this Sunday and they will probably give him a calling soon too! But I just loved how he was sad that we weren´t going to visit him as often anymore, but lucky him, recent converts get to receive all of the lessons again after their baptism! He is going to be a great addition to this ward!

Sad story for the week. I don´t laugh as much anymore... Maybe I had a laughing problem in the MTC, but I laughed A TON there... Here not as much. Probably because I don´t understand the jokes they tell. But it is getting better! I have laughed more this week than the last few weeks and it feels good! Life is way more fun when you have fun! Who would have thought!

Awesome story for the week. We have two investigators getting baptized this week who are really young. My companions are always worried about the young ones because sometimes they don´t understand as much, or just do it because someone told them to. So we only like to do it if they have a parent who is getting baptized as well. "R" is 12 and "J" is 13. "R" has cousins who are members so that is really good, and "J"s grandma, will also be baptized this week, so that is good too. But this week was great. We were walking in the street and "R" came running up to us and said "I got an answer! I want to be baptized and I know it is true!" and then later that same day we went to meet with "J" and her Grandma, and as soon as we walked into the house and sat down, " J" said, "I got an answer! I know it is true and I want to be baptized!" Both of them in the same day!!!!! It makes me so happy that they know what they are doing and they have real testimonies for themselves. Joseph Smith was only 14 years old when he received an answer as well. God loves his children. 

So if you didn´t catch that, we should have 3 more baptisms this weekend!! Wahoo! All three of them are awesome and so good! The last two baptisms were basically ready when I got to this area because the hermanas before us had been teaching them for a while. I still got about 10 lessons in with each of them, but these three I have seen almost the whole process! Way cool!

This week we went on divisions with the Hermanas in Rio Claro... Which is by Panama... Which means one day I had to sit on a bus for 7 hours to pick up my companion and then another 8 hours to bring her back to our area... And then the bus tire popped and we sat some more! So after a day of over 15 hours on a bus, I felt very car sick, my feet were super swollen, and I needed to take a shower from all of the bus germs. But it was an adventure! Rio Claro is beautiful and green! But way more hot and way more humid.. So I am happy with my area. :) The bus reminded me of the bus rides I took with my mom in Mexico though! But no English translations this time.. Bummer.. But we got brakes to use the bathroom and buy treats and everything! I tried to study on the bus, but it made me sick, so mostly I talked to the cute little Costa Rican girl I was sitting by and "slept". What a long day! Chitzen Itza was more fun. 

Cool fact for the week. We have a member in the ward who makes us lunch almost every day, and another member in the ward who does our laundry every week! We are pretty spoiled! But we pay them and help give them work, so that is good!

Inspirational thoughts for the week? This week I have been thinking about our next life. And why we are here and what we are supposed to be doing here. And the answer is always to learn and grow, right? So why do service? Why help others learn when they should be learning for themselves? And this is what I have come up with... Why are we learning? What are we learning to become? We are learning to become Gods and Goddesses. And if you are focused on yourself in this life, you might be a very smart God one day, but you will probably be more of a dictator. When you are focused on your progression only, you will be focused on your progress after this life as well. But when you turn outwards, and focus on others, you will learn to be a kind, loving, caring, personal, friendly, helpful, charitable God. Our Heavenly Father is not a dictator. He does not worry about himself, he is focused on us and our salvation and progression. And in order for us to learn and grow and become like him, we too must turn outwards, follow the perfect example of our Savior Jesus Christ, and serve others. Our purpose in this life is to learn to make good choices always and to progress into becoming a God or Goddess. What kind of God do you want to become? What kind of God do we have now? How can you learn more to become like Him one day? Just something I was thinking about.

Today we had our "One Month" check up with the President and they fed us yummy lunch! And he answered all of our questions and gave some really great advice! We have an amazing Mission President and family! They are awesome!! Just sayin.

Well, I hope all is well and you are all super happy all of the time!! And I hope you are learning and growing every day! And I miss you all! Have a fantastic week, I love you all! :)

Love,

Hermana Markle. :) :) :)

Items of Business...

1. GOOD JOB KATIE!!! Your "Chalk The Block" art was beautiful!! Were you super messy after?? Did you win a prize?? Was yours the best one there??

2. Thank you for depositing money into my account! That is welcome at any time! Tell them thank you for me! Or send me Marleen´s email or something.

3.Someone just told me that when her parents send her a package, it costs them close to $100!!! That is ridiculous!!! Don´t send me packages if it is going to cost that much! You can just write me really good letters for my birthday and Christmas and stuff! I have everything I need here, and I have extra money if I need to buy stuff here. That is way too much for a package!!!

4. That church building in the photo is our ward building! It is brand new and super nice! Super small compared to Utah church buildings, but it is still nice. So yes, we have a real font and everything! We have a HUGE ward for here, so we got a nice new building. A whole 130 members show up every week! Wahoo!

5. Madi just wrote me... And yes, it really is my companion's cousin! Small world! My companion is super excited!!! 

6. Thank you for your letters! Mom and Dad! And for your funny pictures Kami! I love you all! I hope life is good and you don´t miss your two daughters / sisters too much! And that you aren´t doing toooo many fun things without us - But still have fun . . . . it's a fine line to walk!

7. Have a great week!!!! BYE!

September 8, 2014

Hola!!

Another amazing week here in Costa Rica!! First off, Thank you to the airline worker who found my journal, and then found this Blog, and then mailed my journal to my parents! You are the best! Second off, we had 2 baptisms this week!!! Yay! What a great week! Oh and I think this is my 2 month mark!? Wow, time flies!

Random fact #1: There are a lot of dogs here. In houses, guarding houses, and on the streets. The ones on the streets make me super sad. They all look so sad and beg for attention and it makes me miss my puppy... I wish I could keep all of the dogs I find on the street as pets... But It´s against the rules... And they probably have rabies... One almost bit me this week. Twice. It was one of the ones who guards a house. But we needed to get in the house. So I used my umbrella to protect myself, but it was still pretty scary...  My companions were hiding behind me and were scared for me too. I don´t want that dog for a pet.

Random fact #2: Sometimes bathrooms don´t have toilet paper or soap. It kinda feels like I am camping. Fun! But no worries, I have hand-sanitizer. But still ... Eww. 

Ooohhh this week we ate at KFC, and Pizza Hut... :) Yum. We were traveling, so we couldn´t cook for ourselves or eat lunch with our normal cook. Dang it... Oh and I tried an Empañada! It was like a giant taquito! Yum!

Yesterday I got left on the bus. Twice. Once on purpose, my companions left me with a ward member and two investigators to go to church while they went to pick up another investigator. But I got to church 15 minutes before them and awkward greeted everyone and shook my head when they asked me questions in Spanish. I missed hiding behind my companions for the Spanish questions.. Hahaha I need to learn quick! This is bad! The ward members might think I don´t like them! But we actually have an amazing ward!!! And the second time was not on purpose. There was a sad crying girl sitting across from me on the bus, so I was trying to grab a pamphlet for her about the Plan of Salvation, because I am a cheesy missionary, and I looked up and my companions were gone! They got off the bus without me! So I ran to the front and asked the driver to stop quick! In English I am pretty sure... Usually they don´t stop that soon after a stop, but he could probably tell I was worried, maybe the English helped, so he stopped and let me off! My companions were freaking out and gave me big hugs! Hahaha it was pretty funny. Hopefully that sad girl on the bus is happy now though?

This week I have been thinking about how blessed my life really has been so far. I have amazing parents and an amazing family. I have been raised in the gospel and had great teachers and leaders. I have been blessed with a great education and the opportunity to further my education even more after my mission. I have great friends. I received the best call in the world to serve in Costa Rica and learn a language that will help me in my career as well. I have had great companions. This week I wanted a little extra study time, and then my companions had a meeting to go to and I was able to sit outside and study for a few hours. I wanted to spend more one on one time with Hermana Uribe to practice Spanish, and then Hermana Garner got called to go on splits with a sick missionary. Heavenly Father has given me everything I have ever needed. I realized I do not always take advantage of all of the blessings, but He always gives them. He knows each one of us personally and blesses us personally. He will always help you learn and grow if you let Him. I am so grateful for all of the many blessings in my life and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to learn and progress more and more everyday! I know the the Plan of Salvation is a perfect plan, and we are so blessed to have a loving Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have an amazing week! Look for the blessings in your lives and use them! Learn and grow every day! I love you all!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of business..

1. Thank you for finding my journal!! Yay!

2. Yes I am super tired always. And yes I sleep like a rock at night. It is great. No Spanish dreams yet though... I don´t really speak Spanish yet, let alone dream in it.

3. Thank you for your prayers mom! I am still struggling with Spanish a lot... And I can´t re-read the blessing because it was in my journal... Maybe you can send me a new copy? Thanks! I am praying and fasting and trying to learn!

4. Poor Kami!!! Quit getting sick!!!!! Feel better!

5. Keep up the good temple work! Sorry I can´t help any more! Good thing Carter is there!!

6. Thank you for every thing!!!!! I love you all!!!!!!! :) :) :)

7. Have the best week ever!

Fabricio's Baptism!

Fabricio

First time filling the font!

Cleaning font, getting ready to fill!

My first "Trits" ice cream sandwich

What I look like every day - ready for cold and wet!

We all wore the same shirt!

Maybelin's Baptism

Maybelin's Baptism day

September 1, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!

Como le va? Just another week in Paradise! But not really, we have been working hard and we are not in an area with beaches, monkeys, and mango trees. But maybe next transfer! Actually, I will probably stay in San Jose or close by for my entire mission, so cancel that. I guess it is important to have the nurse close to the mission office and the hospital. Weird. But it is still beautiful here, so no complaints! This week I learned what rain really means in Costa Rica. Holy cow. RAIN! It is kind of fun, but I feel bad when we sit on people´s couches and leave puddles behind us.. And most people have tin roofs, so I can´t hear our lessons durring the rain, but it´s all good! I don´t understand Spanish anyways!

My Spanish is better... I understand MUCH more, but I don´t speak much more yet. But It is slowly coming. I wish I had more time for Spanish studies in the mornings. My companions are helping tho! Actually, they wake me up every morning at 5:30am and we read from the Book of Mormon in Spanish for an hour. So that is fun. It is really good, but I almost feel asleep during church, and on the bus, and during a lesson... So I need to get used to it quick!

So Zone Conferences were this week. We went to all three Multi Zone Conferences because the Area Doctor was in town and gave a presentation and wanted our help. So that ate up a lot of our study time and teaching time. But they were fun and I got to see every one who is serving in Costa Rica right now! Including Hermana Bratt and Hermana Jenkinson and Hermana Fowler! Yay! :) But yes, we did get food posioning. Everyone was dying. First we thought it was the dinner I cooked the night before when we were all up in the middle of the night dying, but then when we got a million calls in the morning from other dying missionaries, we realized what had happened. It was hillarious! The president had to take breaks while teach the next Zone Conference to use the bathroom, and our phone was ringing constantly! But no one really died, so it is all good.

I thought I was tone deaf, but here in Costa Rica, I am a beautiful singer! Most people have not grown up singing hymns, so they don´t really know how to sing at all... So they think I sound good! Wahoo!

My companions are also sister training leaders! So we are crazy busy! We travel for that, and they have more meetings and phone calls, so I haven´t had a normal day yet! It is hard for them to train me, but I am still learning. Just crazy schedules every day!

Fun fact, queque means cake! And it is pronouced like KK. So Katie, You are cake! Yummy! Good nickname Kami! I don´t know what YaYa means yet. Ya means now, so maybe NowNow? Could be cool?

Well. We have several solid investigators. We found some really great new ones this week, and has some really great lessons with old ones too. Fabricio and Maiblin are scheduled to be baptized this weekend! I am so excited! I saw a huge change in Fabricio. My first few lessons with him, he sat quietly and listened, and didn´t like to pray, but now he has a huge smile on his face every day and participaties and has a great testimony! I am excited to learn more Spanish so I can understand more of what my investigators are saying to me.. :)

We teach English and Piano classes every Saturday! I invite about 10 people a day to our free classes from the bus or the streets. My companions invite even more than that. Not many actually show up, but I love teaching them English while my Hermana Uribe teaches Piano. It is a fun way to meet new people, and a good way to start conversations on the bus. My conversations don´t get much further past that, but I am working on it. I teach much more during our lessons now, and I am learning lots.

I wish I had more time to study. I am learning new things every day and could stay home and study for hours every day in Preach my Gospel, Jesus the Christ, The Book of Mormon, and other scriptures. I should have paid more attention during Seminary and Institute, because this is some good stuff. Hear that Kami? Studying is good for you. Pay attention during class. But I will have years and years to study, but only one and a half to be a full time missionary. So that comes first. And I learn from teaching and hearing testimonies from our investigators too, so it is all good. 

Well I hope all is well with all of you! I love you all! And I love being a missionary! There is always more to learn, more people to find, more to do, more to say, more to share, and you can always become more close to Christ. Always be happy, but never be satisfied. We are learning and growing every day, and we have so many blessings in our lives, so always be happy! But never be satisfied. Go out and do more! There are more blessings waiting, I promise. 

Love, Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business:

1. I didn´t know there was an earthquake.... So no, I did not feel it.... Oops...

2. I forgot to say, don´t ever send packages from UPS or FED-EX. Only the normal USPS has worked good for them. They loose other ones sometimes. Not that you will send me any anytime soon, but maybe tell the blog? Oh and tell them to send DearElders still. That way I can read them outside of email time. I don´t get them very often, but it saves timee. You can still send emails though!

3. Also, Spanish keyboards are hard to type on, sorry for all of the errors.

BYE! Have a good week!!!!

Letter from Hermana Peterson

Hermanas Garner, Peterson, Markle, Cragun, Elder/Dr. Cragun

Dear Sister Shauna,

I'm Senior Hermana Petersen & am from South Weber, Utah. My husband & I are technically called as Perpetual Education Fund/Self-Reliance Missionaries here in C.R., but I'm also a retired R.N. & have been helping Hna. Garner (on the right below). She was fielding the phone calls from all 240-ish missionaries here plus a Sister-trainer when I arrived in April. I've been fielding the calls from the English-speaking missionaries to help out. We've known for some time that one Hna.Markle was coming in August & the day has finally arrived : ) As you might know, Hna. Garner extended her mission 1 month to train your daughter. We also have a Latino Elder that's also an R.N. I believe the plan is to get him involved.

We're all VERY fortunate that Elder/Dr. Cragun, the Doctor over all the missionaries in Central America & his wife are here this week for all 3 days of Zone Conference. It'll get Hna. Markle off on a good start, because hopefully the missionaries will take to heart all the reminders that the Cragun's have given them to stay healthy. That equals less phone calls to the Mission Nurses & more productive missionary efforts.

I can tell already what a bright ray of sunshine she is! Thanks for your sacrifice in supporting her on her mission. I  LOVE THE HERMANAS!!

MOST WARMLY,

Hermana Petersen

Hermanas Markle, Peterson and Garner