December 30, 2014

Dear Familia,

 

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!! :) Do you all have awesome goals to work on next year that you probably wont really work on?? I do! :) Holy cow! 2015?? Really?? I still remember the 90s! And my awesome poofy bangs! (Thanks mom!)

 

This week I almost died... We were at the bus stop waiting to go back to Escazu after a district meeting... I was talking to an Hermana, saw the bus, and took two steps towards the line. Within seconds, a coconut fell from the tree and landed right where I was standing 2 seconds earlier! It hit the ground hard and we all jumped and screamed. I am fairly sure that if it hit my head I would have died... Falling coconuts are scary things you know! I am sure that is something you all have to worry about as well. Even though I did not recognize it as a prompting and just thought I was walking closer to the bus stop, I know Heavenly Father is protecting me. :)

 

I FaceTimed my family!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) Yes, FaceTime is a verb. But really, there is a verb for texting in Spanish! Textear. I like to congigate this verb and use it in random sentences. It sounds pretty funny, kinda like Spanglish.

 

I tried to help (an investigator) choose a date for her baptism and she said no... It was really sad... And a little bit awkward... But she is progressing super great! I am sure she will say yes soon! I am still LOVING Escazú! :)

 

Have a happy happy New Years! 2015 baby! Stay safe and happy and healthy! :) Love you! Make one of your goals to write me more! ;)

 

Love,

 

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Items of Business...

1. Happy Birthday Brandon! Tell me all about it!

2. Happy Birthday Katie! What did Derek give you???

3. Good luck living together Katie and Madi! I cant imagine you two sharing a room... Will there be a floor??

4. Hey Kami. :) Hows your movie star self doing? Are you driving now??

5. I was so happy to see you all this week!!!!! But it was too short!!! Lets do it again next week??

6. Did you like the platanos? And candy? Did you donate my braids to Locks of Love? 

7. I wore my new necklace from my package to church and afterwards in the street a woman came up to me and wanted it.. She just kept staring at it... creepy... I didnt give it to her. Oops. 

8. Thanks for writing me letters for Hermana Peterson! I guess I will find out soon who wrote me and who didnt... But thanks anyways! :)

9. I miss you already and I love you all! :) Tell me more about the Christmas cabin and all of your holiday fun!

CHAO!

December 23, 2014

Family,

FELIZ NAVIDAD!!!!! Two more days!!! I hope you all have the best Christmas ever!!! :) I am LOVING Christmas time here in Costa Rica! Everyone is so nice, they are willing to listen to messages about Jesus Christ, and we are having great success! Good thing I get to have two Christmases in the mission!

Virginia was baptized this week! This was a miracle! The story is too long to share, but just know that it was a miracle. And you can ask me about it when I get home. ;) I know you all love hearing mission stories from returned missionaries, don't lie!

This week we had a mission Christmas Devotional slash Dinner slash Temple Night. It was great! We might have gotten home at 11:30pm though... Oops... BUT! President Wilkinson gave us something very special for Christmas this year. He received permission form the First Presidency to make this announcement.... This July they are splitting the mission!!!!!! Costa Rica San Jose West and Costa Rica San Jose East!!!!! An Apostle will reassign each of us to a new mission soon! I have no idea which one I will go to, or if I will be training a new nurse soon, but I am excited! The work and the gospel is progressing fast here!! :)

I love you all!! Merry Christmas! :) Stay safe and happy and healthy!!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of business...

1. We had gift exchange with our district... Two people had my name... I got two gifts and someone didn't get anything... Awkward... 

2. SKYPE SOON BABY!!! I AM EXCITED TO SEE ALL OF YOU!!!! :)

3. My companion thinks I am super super patient. I must get it from mom. :)

4. SEE YOU SOON!!!! :)

Virginia's Baptism

Virginia's Baptism

I passed my Training! Time to celebrate!

Trits to celebrate passing training!

My companion is crazy! (kids - don't try this at home!)

Half unpacked . . .

Halfway still living out of suitcases!

Temple trip a few days before Christmas

Temple trip - so very blessed to have a temple in our mission!

December 2014 - new missionaries! (as the mission nurse, I get to meet all the new missionaries!)

December 16, 2014

Buenas tardes! Cómo están?! This week we switched houses! There used to be 5 Elders and 2 Hermanas in our ward, and now there are 2 Elders and 4 Hermanas. We searched and searched for a new house for the other Hermanas, but just ended up switching with the Elders instead. That was a bad choice. Missionaries have lived in their house for 20 years, and most of those years were Elders. We have cleaned and cleaned and it still smells like Elders... Hahah but its not bad! We now live with our cook, so we are never late to lunch! We just walk outside, over like 5 feet, and poof! We are there! And she does our laundry too, so that is nice! We had to wash our own at the last house. The Monge family is great!!! They always love to help the missionaries!

I went on my first divisions this week! To Aserrí with Hermana Cuevas! It was great! Super cold there, but I learned lots! Hermana Zapata came to Escazú to work with Hermana Villanueva. It was like having a sleep over at a friends house, but not really because we still worked hard all day. But I still had fun. :)

Divisions with Hermana Cuevas my STL :)

We went to visit our investigator M this week. She has been attending the church for over a year, but has not been baptized yet because she is not married. Earlier that morning I was watching an episode of the District (Oooo, exciting! A soap opera for missionaries) and one of the Elders made a promise to their investigator as a representative of Jesus Christ. Well during the lesson I was thinking about that and I felt like I should make a promise to M as a representative of Jesus Christ. I told her that if she attended Stake Conference this week, and prayed to receive guidence, she would receive an answer from one of the talks. Well, she attended stake conference and one of the speakers gave a beautiful talk about the importance of marriage and eternal families, and she loved it! I know that if you listen to the Spirit, you can receive guidence. And God really does answer prayers.

E is doing good! But she still doesn't have permission from her mom.. But her mom invited us over for dinner tonight, so that is a good sign! N is doing good as well! She understands a lot and believes it could be true, but still hasn't decided to act on any of it yet, so she hasn't received an answer yet. L is great!! She reads and reads and loves it all! And came to church this week! And she fed us second lunch, which is a great sign! And V is doing better! She might be baptized this week! She has had problems with tobacco, but she is 4 days clean right now and really wants to change her life!

Have a great week!!!!! I love you all! Keep your houses clean so they don't smell like Elder if the sister missionaries ever have to move in! Chao!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business....

- Dad! Someone gave me a bag of Munchie Mix! And I didnt pick out the good pieces, I just took out handfuls and ate it all like a good girl! 

- How is Suki doing? Does she miss me?

- We have a Christmas party and Temple trip Thursday!!! YAY! :)

- Thanks for all of your love and support! I LOVE YOU ALL! :)

CHAO!! :)

December 9, 2014

Hola!

Nothing too exciting this week... Just the usual! They are taking out two of the Elders in our Area and adding two Hermanas instead, so that will be fun! This week we will have a meeting with the Bishop to find out what areas he wants each of us working in. So there were a few changes with transfers, but not much!

 

This was a slow week nursing wise, no cool surgeries or bloody stories for you, sorry... Maybe next week!

 

The lady we found on my birthday is doing great! She just accepted a date to be baptized! Her name is "L" and she is super sweet. She thanks us every day for knocking on her door, and she is doing great in the Book of Mormon! We are still working with "E" and her family, she will be baptized soon! I love Escazu and everything is great!

Have a great week!!!!!! :) Happy almost Christmas!!! :) Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business....

1. Congratulations on the new job Madi! Have fun!

2.Good luck on the surgery on your face Dad! Third time's the charm!

3. We had changes this week! But I am still with Hermana Villanueva in Escazu. So not much changed. But these changes will last 8 weeks! Until Feb!

4. I love you all! Have a great week!

The Arch Bishop of the Catholic Church (of Costa Rica) attended our Christmas activity at church - and loved it!

Christmas Activity at Church

Companionship Selfie!

Jungle photo

Writing home from the Don Bosco Capilla

December 2, 2014

Hello! 

 

How was Thanksgiving?? Back to school and work? Fun stuff! We had a great time over here in Costa Rica! My Birthday slash Thanksgiving adventure started with nursing paper work in the office, Birthday doughnuts from the secretaries, Papa Johns Pizza for lunch (My favorite!), we found two solid new investigators and a great new area to contact! We named it Mormonlandia because we are sure they will all want to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and then dinner with Monica, an awesome member in our ward! It was a great day! Thanks for all of your love and Birthday wishes! :)

 

This week, we were minding our own business, teaching a lesson, and I felt something tickling my arm. I ignored it and continued with the lesson. Finally I looked down and screamed! There was a giant poisonous caterpillar crawling up my arm!! The family we were teach laughed a lot, killed the caterpillar, and then we proceeded with the lesson. I am sure my screaming helped them feel the Spirit. :)

 

We reached our goal!!!!! 200 Baptisms in November!!!!! It was close! The Elders in our ward had a baptism before church this Sunday, but our chapel didn't have water! So after a lot of phone calls and running around, we found a pool to use! So we all ran over to the pool, had the baptism, and then ran back to church just in time for sacrament meeting! There were several stories like this, but we reached our goal just in time! I believe it was even 200 exactly! :) The Lord is definitely preparing Costa Rica for a great work! Now we will slowly work up towards our next goal of doubling our baptisms!

 

Well, that is it for today I think. My Spanish is finally getting better thanks to my companion! And we are finding new people to teach every day! Everything is great! I hope all is great with you as well! Love you!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Items of Business:

1. Here they call Black Friday "Black Weekend". But one of my investigators asked what it means? Was this the weekend Jesus died? Wasn't that in April? Hahah I had to explain that it is just a day to go shopping, not a holiday!

 

2. This week I almost got sent home. (but not really;) -  I broke 3 rules in less than 24 hours. First, my investigator called me and wanted to know who these new missionaries were trying to visit them. They recieved texts from some Elders, so they gave me the number and asked me to call them. So I called them. And then I remembered we aren't allowed to call missionaries who aren't our leaders. Especially not Elders..... Oops. My Zone Leaders said I had two more chances. Next, we finished teaching Neelam and she gave us some juice and cookies. My companion tasted the juice and said it tasted funny, so I asked her what kind of juice it was. She said it was just normal juice, probably apple. So I drank it. Afterwards my companion told me it was Ice Tea.... Oops. My Zone Leaders told me I had one more chance. Next, while walking between appointments, we ran into my biggest fan! He is a homeless man who is usually drunk. Once he asked me to be his girlfriend. But usually he just calls me pretty names and we walk away. But this time he kissed me! On the cheeck, no worries. But I am fairly sure that is still not allowed... Oops. My Zone Leaders said I need to go home, and they will get around to talking to President about it . . . . . one day ;)

 

3. Thanks for the birthday wishes Mom and Dad! I love you too! Thanks for maybe thinking about me on my birthday Madi, Katie, Kami, and Brandon! I love you too!

 

4. Have the best week ever!!!! :) LOVE YOU!

See Mom, I didn't open any Birthday gifts until my birthday!

Thank you for all my Birthday surprises!

Papa Johns and Burger King fries for my Bday lunch (and a random clown!)

AND . . . a KFC shake. Yum.

For Madi - the movie poster . . . en Espanol.

Birthday dinner at Italian restaurant

Birthday dinner with an awesome member, Monica.

My new birthday pet

How cute is this guy?!?

Awesome selfie

Cool Money

Random information - my nails grow super fast here for some reason!

For P-day this week, we were feeling rather artsy.

I got him to smile!