October 19, 2015

Hello! Happy Monday!

Time for another surprise... After I emailed and said that we did not have transfers, they told me we had transfers... Awkward... But only for 1-2 weeks. Hermana Gividen was not happy at first, but then she was okay with it. They sent her to Concepcion to work with Hermana Woods (friend of McKell and Josh) for a week or two while I take care of the injured Hermana Mendoza. She sprained her ankle pretty bad and got stitches, so President wants her to rest as much as possible and heal up before going back out to work. And since I am in the office working some days, she can rest even more!

Some days I do divisions and go out and work with a member while she stays in the house of another member, and some days we work in the office, and some days we stay home and I clean the giant house while she watches The District. :) It's going alright so far. :) Hermana Gividen came by the house today to get more clothes and it sounds like they are doing good! As soon as Hermana Mendoza can walk again without crutches, I'll send her back and get Hermana Gividen back. :) But for now, we are doing well! Plus, I get to take her stitches out here pretty soon! Wahoo! :)

Laura got back from vacation last night, so I am pretty excited to go visit her this week! She doesn't know it yet, but we are planning to set a baptismal date with her for my birthday... Birthday present to myself! ;) Hahah but first we are going to make sure that she is progressing well and is ready to make the covenant with God to follow Christ. :) I will keep you updated on her. But for now she is doing awesomely.

Yesterday I went out with a member to do a visit or two, right? And as soon as we stepped outside, it started to pour..... buckets... And we got drenched! And when we got to the investigators house, we sat in their doorway dripping for a good 20 minutes while ringing out our clothes and then she let us come in and sit on towels. :) It was funny. Poor member... She didn't bring an umbrella, so we shared. It didn't help much. But after we finished and picked up my companions, we went back to the members house and she made us hot chocolate and gave me slippers to wear. :) So all is better. :)

While in church we were learning about families and eternal marriages and kids... And teacher said something about how it is our responsibility to have children and raise families and work together... And I was thinking. I used to only want like 3 kids, because I wanted to work part time and then full time as soon as I could. But then I realized that we are not here to work and work. But we ARE here to create families and to learn and grow together. So now I want like 5-6 kids... :) And I still want to work when I can, I love working, but I hope I can have an awesome family too. :) So that is exciting news. Can't you just imagine 6 of me running around! How great, right? ;)

Well this week we have meetings planned, one hospital trip planned, visits to awesome investigators, and then switching back companions! Sounds like an adventure! I hope you all have a great week as well! I love you all! Be good! And stay healthy!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

A burrito and fries we bought... The fries have cut up hot dogs and lots of mayo and ketchup... It was over kill... But that is what they like here. I still ate them. :)

I found chicken in a can from Costco here! LUCKY! I love that stuff! (And I hate tuna...)

Cute little baby bananas!

 

October 12, 2015

Hey!

 

It's transfers week.... Ready for the big news?? Well that's too bad, because there is none... I get to stay to finish training Hermana Gividen! :) Which means I will probably finish my mission here in San Francisco because the next transfer is only 4 weeks long and that would be silly to move me for 4 weeks.......

 

This week went really well! The last week we were so busy moving . . . we were so happy to have a great week of teaching this week! :) We saw some pretty awesome miracles.

 

Did I tell you about the missionary lady that we gave a Book of Mormon to?? Well she read the whole thing. And prayed about it. And got an answer and now wants to be baptized! She LOVE it! She is going on a missionary trip to Africa in January and she says she wants to learn as much as she can from our church before she goes so she can bring them this knowledge! We are going to make sure she gets connected to the missionaries in Africa! She is awesome! But... She doesn't live in our area. So we won't be there at her baptism. But we are still pretty excited for her. :) I sent you a picture of her a few weeks ago I think...

 

Also! The Bishop gave us a reference this week so we went to go find her. And she said she has been waiting for us for 2 months! Sorry! We had no idea! She says she is very very interested in studying with us and joining our church. Her neice is a member and has helped her out a lot. She went on vacation this week to the beach and won't be back until next week, so she can't come to church with us until the next next week, but we are still pretty excited! :) She is awesome as well. :)

 

Olga went on vacations as well, so we haven't seen her in a while, but I am sure she is great... :) Marco called us this week! The one we were teaching months ago! He had surgery and asked for a blessing. We are starting to work with him again. :) Also another guy named Ernesto called us this week and really likes the Book of Mormon we gave him last week! So basically this week was full of bunches of great things. :)

 

Hermana Gividen and I are excited to stay together and help all of these great people we are finding together! :) I hope you are all seeing miracles in your lives every day as well! God doesn't only love his missionaries or the people we are teaching, He loves you too! Ask and you shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Do your part, repent, change, serve, and love, and you will start to see the miracles every day. :) Love you!

 

Love,

 

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Items of Business...

1. Madi is having an EFY party without inviting the best EFY nurse/BC/Counselor ever??? Lame... ;)

2. If Kami is baking so much now, maybe she should bake me something and send it to me... Maybe it would still taste good by the time it got here...? :)

3. Good job on Ponderizing your scriptures! I am ponderizing too!

4. Kami is going to another dance?? And you didn't ask Nathan to make it all funny and cute and be twins with me? Lame... You'll have to ask him to Morp... Who are you going with???

6. Still nothing from Brandon.....

7. GOOD LUCK DADDY!!!!!! WIN WIN WIN!!!! :) :) :)

8. Have a great week! I love you and pray for you! :)

October 5, 2015

Family,

Conference was the BESSST! :) And yes, I got to watch the whole thing in English. :) Luck me for having a new companion. :) I understand the talks in Spanish, but listening to their real voices is so much better. And some of the good quotes get translated funny. Like Ship-shape and Bristle ready, doesn't work well in Spanish hahah. I loved it. It is like Christmas for missionaries (quote by Alli). :)

I feel like 2 main themes were about the importance of the Holy Ghost and Spiritual Progression. I loved all of the talks about receiving personal revelation each day or each week about the little things you can do to improve or the little bits of service you can add into your day. And when they said that the faith and knowledge that we have right now is not enough. We need to be continuosly progressing and learning and improving. And the best way to do that is with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. To do it in God's way, and not man's way. It is never to late to become a little better or learn a little more. :)

This week was crazyyy busy.... We had a full day in President's house with the news, temple trip and multi-zone conference, general conference, hospital trips, and moving our giant house and taking down and putting up lots of bunkbeds.... We are super tired, and will probably sleep all day today if we can. :) And we are ready to get back to work in our actual area again. :) We missed our investigators.

This week while working with a member, we found the coolest lady named. We were looking for a reference that a different member had given us the week before, but the directions were bad as usual... So we knock on the house we thought it was. No one answered. So we knocked on the next house we thought it was, and no one answered. So we sat out side of that second house for a second thinking about where it could be and looking at my planner... And then a lady peeked her head through the curtains of her window, so I waved at her and she quickly hid. That happens a lot... Where they think we don't see them looking at us, so I wave at them to let them know that we really do see them and are going to sit out here until they answer... Hahah anyways she answered the door! And came out to talk to us. We asked her if she was the lady we were looking for and she said no. But she showed us where the real house was! :) And we talked to her for a minute. (Pause... While watching the district last week during training time with Hermana Gividen I learned a new line we could say to try to get people interested in listening to us... So I tried it out... Play..) And it worked! She said after visiting the reference, we could come back and visit her. So we did. And we had a great little lesson. :) And at the end of the lesson, I had her say the closing prayer and it went something like this.... 'Heavenly Father, I don't really know why I let these people into my house, I have my own religon and was not looking for something new, but I know that thou hast a purpose in this visit, I didn't even hear them at my door, but my dogs heard them at the door, so I went to go see who it was but I did not have my glasses on, but they waved at me, so I thought it was one of my friends, so I answered the door, and I know thou hast a purpose in all things, and I don't know what that purpose is, but I know that you do, so please help me to know why they are here visiting me today, I put my life into your hands and I will follow your direction, please help me to know why these people are visiting me today.'...... Probably one of the best prayers I have ever heard in my entire life. And I have heard a lot of prayers. She was sincere. She had a full on conversation with God and it was obviously not the first time she has had conversations with Him. She is open to His will. She knows He knows all, and she knows He will guide her and has a plan for her. She humbily asked her Heavenly Father for guidence and is willing to change even when she was not looking for change, if it be His will. She is pretty awesome.

Well that is about it for this week. This is the last week of the transfers. Who knows what will happen next week! I hope I get to stay with my baby for at least one more! Have a great week!!! Watch conference online if you missed it! It is the best! :) Love you all!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business:
1. Good job on the marathon dad!!!! :) Wahoo!

2. I love our new house! Wayyy better than the last one! And it's cheaper too! But I never want to move again.....

3. IT'S OCTOBER ALREADY!!!! Holy guacamole!!!!

4. Speaking of guacamole, I ate some pretty good guacamole yesterday... :)

5. Brandon is running out of time to send me his email.... It better be a good one....

6. Still haven't gotten Kami's letter yet... :( I hope it did not get lost... I will give it another week or two to show up!

7. I love you all!!! 

Selfie on our way to the temple!

We Love the Temple!

Our new apartment - bedroom. Very Nice!

Our "study closet" -- we actually love it!

Bathroom - the best one I have had so far!

Kitchen

Awesome Bathroom

After conference Ruth took us out for Chinese food! This is the first time I have eaten Chinese in like 15 months! It was pretty good. :)

This is a conference selfie... We watched conference in English in a separate room and ate snacks. :)

I did it!!!!! I can now solve a Rubix Cube!!!! This Elder taught me how. He carries 2 or 3 of them around everyday, so we practiced for about 5 minutes after every district conference for a few weeks. And then he gave me my own cube after I graduated from the classes. :)

Lunch at the Mission home, for our "One Month Check Up" with the new missionaries.

September 28, 2015

Hello!

 

It is conference week!!! I am SOOO excited!!! :) I hope you can all watch it and take really good notes! It is going to be sooo good!

 

Well this week I ate cow tongue for the first time! Eww!!! But it actually tasted pretty good.... Just weird to think about....... So don't think about it much. It looks like normal meat, so you wouldn't even know unless someone told you what it was... Try it! They say it is really fancy and expensive.

 

BEST WEEK EVER! I got to stay the night in the hospital and we had a baptism all in the same week! :) Hahah It felt like home in the hospital. I did not really like the nurses coming in every 15 minutes to check on the recently operated on Hermana, but it was still fun. She had a simple knee surgery. Neither of us slept well. But all is well now. :) And our new convert is already wanting to go to the temple and we might get to go with her next week! She is doing great! She loves the Young Womens in this ward and is starting to read from the Book of Mormon every day! Oh and I also got a package from my mommy this week! Triple awesome week! Oh oh and Womens Conference was this week too! Super great week. A member took us out for Taco Bell after the conference and we watched it in English for Hermana Gividen so we are all happy.

 

Today we had the 'One Month Check-up' for Hermana Gividen. :) It was great! President Hayes grilled us hamburgers and hotdogs and we learned lot of cool stuff. He knows everything about everything. He's been an institute teacher for a long time... Asweome. :)

 

In my studies this week I really like a scripture in Alma. And then they talked about it again in the Womans Conference... So it is fate. Alma 13:28 (27-29). It talks about how we need to pray continually to be able to handle the temptations given to us. I hear people say all the time that 'God does not give trials too big for you to handle' or 'Satan can not tempt you more that you can handle' But that is not ture... A lot of trials are too hard for us to bear and a lot of temptations are too strong for us to bear. Alone. If we are alone, we will almost always fall. We will fall into sin, saddness, depression, mistakes, darkness. But if we look to God, pray always, and use the Atonement of Christ, THEN there will be no trials too big or temptations too strong to bear. With Christ, all is possible. By ourselves, life is too hard. Pray continually for protection, for help, for knowledge, for love, for guidence and direction, for the Spirit. And you will be able to bear all things. :) And you can be happy through your trails with Faith, Hope, and Charity. :)

 

Have a great conference weekend! I love you all! 

 

Love,

 

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business...

1. THANKS FOR THE PACKAGE! I have almost finished the Beef Jerky and the Tic Tacs... Thanks!! :)

2. Katie gets married in 4 months from today!!!! AHHH!!!! I haven't even met him yet!! Do I at least get a fancy dress to wear to the wedding??

3. We got like 140 flu shots this week! I have already given 4. :) I am sooo excited to give the rest. :) :) :)

4. We also move houses tomorrow I think... We will see... And Temple trip on Wednessday! Another busy week!

5. I love you!

6. GOOD LUCK ON YOUR IRONMAN RACE DAD!!!!!! DO AWESOME!!!!! :)

7. Have a good week! :)

We went to Subway for 2X1 day. :) Worth it!

Creepy Spider. . .

Beef Jerky from home! (The words on the bag say it all!)

Pizza!

We ate cow tongue this week.... it was pretty good.... :)

September 21, 2015

Buen día! :) 

Do you want to hear another miracle story?? I am sure you do!! Well.... 

Our investigator had a date set for her baptism and everything was good. Then her mom said no... She said she could wait until she was 18 if she wanted it. (5 years..). So she started to hide from us and did not show up to her baptism interview. She felt embarrassed and did not want to tell us that her mom had said no.... So she ignored our calls and had her brother lie to us and say she wasn't home...So we gave up hope. If the mom says no, the mom says no. And plus, I am pretty used to investigators hiding and lying to us, so I got over it. But it was new for Hermana Gividen. So there we are, with no hope.... And our district leader Elder Henry suggested that we fasted for her. And I was seriously doubting that it would do much... But I knew I had to set a good example for my baby, so we did Saturday night. Yesterday she came to church! And she begged us to let her be baptized on her original date! So we talked to the bishop and got it all set up. She called her dad and got permission from her dad. She passed the interview. And then she told her mom.... And her mom said she will support her and even come to the baptism!!! :) With fasting, praying, and working hard, we were able to see how important Faith and Hope are in missionary work. :) And now she will be baptized today! :) We are so excited that she made the decision and was brave enough to stand up for what she believes in. She is great. :) 

Afterwards, Hermana Gividen asked me why fasting and praying for others helps them? If everyone has their own agency? And that is something I learned here in the mission too... It talks about this in Mosiah when Alma the younger was being wicked. He did not want to change. He wanted to destroy the church and was doing a good job at it. But his father prayed and fasted for him and an angle visited his son, helped him repent, and then he turned out to be one of the best missionaries ever! Alma the younger had no intentions of changing, but the faith and hope of his father helped him get where he needed to be without taking away his agency. So yes. Praying and fasting for other people really does help. God wants us to progress together as families and friends. He will help us to help others. Always.

Everything is going pretty amazingly here. It's P-Day. Hermana Gividen has her first baptism tonight. And we are full of faith, hope, and charity again! I am grateful for the opportunity I have to help train because it is helping me to remember the little things and be strong and to rely on my Heavenly Father. :) Hopefully Hermana Gividen doesn't think I am too bossy yet. ;) 

Well have an excellent week! Do good things! Help, love, and forgive others! I love you all and am excited to see you soon! But not too soon. 

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

 

For Independence Day, a member of our ward had us dress up for a photo!

Independence day food!

Hermana Markle and Hermana Gividen

Hermana Petersen's last day. I am glad she lives in Utah - so I will still see her again! She will me missed!

Independence Day.

September 14, 2015

Hello! 

Guess what I did this week?? That's right! I bought a giant box of 36 individually packaged baby travel sized peanut butters. :) I pack them in my backpack in case no one feeds us. The first day I found crackers and dipped them in peanut butter. The second day I didn't have crackers, so I just stuck my tongue in the little container and ate it peanut butter plain. :) Maybe this week I will find an apple or cookies to eat with them. :) How exciting! And the best part is that the whole box only cost $2.50. Best deal ever!!!!

Other news, we saw an awesome miracle of faith yesterday. We had a busy day planned. There was a baptism for the ward, several appointments, studies... We did not think we would have time for everyone. But we were also really behind on our goal to find new investigators this week and our busy schedule left no time to look for news. So we were worried. Hermana Gividen looked at me and said, 'We will never find news!' And I said, 'Don't worry Hermana, we just need to have faith and work hard and God will help us find a way.' So we did. We prayed about it and asked for help. And then one of our set lessons called and changed the lesson to Tuesday, so we now had a 45 minute block open. So we started to look and pray. We knocked on a few doors and everyone said, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' We almost gave up and went to the next lesson, but we decided to knock on one last door... And a family of 5 answered! And invited us in! And we were able to share our message with them and have a return appointment. :) It was a much needed miracle and we were very grateful for the Lord's hand in His work. :) We met our goals and got all of the other things we needed to get done at the same time. :) And now we have a new awesome family to teach. Bonus. 

Hermana Gividen is learning Spanish... It reminds me of when I was new and hated life all day every day and did not understand a single thing! But she is doing great. :) She sits there and smiles and participates as much as possible. :) She is a good little daughter. :)

Tomorrow is Quince de Septiembre! That is like 4th of July for Costa Rica and all of Central America. It's pretty exciting. Everyone is partying and having parades and dances and there is Red, White, and Blue all over everywhere! We probably won't be able to work very much tonight and tomorrow, but we are going to try! Or maybe we will just pass out Book of Mormons at all of the dances and parties. ;)

We found a new house this week. We might be moving again! We will see. It's cheaper, nicer, safer, and better.... so yeah. 

Tell Brandon to write me -he still hasn't written me his one letter yet!Well that is about it! Have a great week! Do good things! Help the missionaries in your stake! Love you all! Happy 15th of September!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Hermana Gividen and I with Yoana (Johanna)  :)

An Elder gave me a bag of expired beef jerky - because he knew I liked beef jerky . . . . uh, no thanks!

We found Spunky again!!

Encontramos a Spunky otra vez!!!

September 7, 2015

HELLO!!!!!

GUESS WHAT???? I HAVE A BABY!!! AND SHE IS FROM UTAH!!! LIKE 15 MINUTES AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!!! She is awesome! :) Her name is Hermana Gividen. :) She actually speaks really good Spanish for only having 1 week in the field! She got up and bore her testimony yesterday and the whole ward was so impressed with her braveness and her Spanish! That's my baby! ;)

Hermana Gividen likes to run, so we are going to start to run... Maybe I will lose some of the weight I have gained from all of the rice and beans! Yay! We are also going to wake up an hour early every morning to read from the Book of Mormon in Spanish together out loud. :) This is great! Having a baby who speaks English and likes to run is going to help me lose weight and learn Spanish even more! Bonus!

I was pretty scared to be a trainer... But now I am just really happy. :) It is helping me remember all of the little rules and obey them more, work on my Spanish more, remember what I learned at the begining of my mission and try the new ideas again, patience, humility, love, faith, asking for help from my Heavenly Father, and we are having a blast. :) Christ always taught us to become like little childern. Being new in the mission is like being a child, and I am learning from Hermana Gividen's example and trying to become like a little child again as well. :)

So far, so good! We cheat and talk in English sometimes, but it helps me explain things really well so she doesn't have questions with other Latin companions later. But we are still working on Spanish, no worries. :) I still miss Hermana Montepeque, but I have the best new companion in the whole world! It's just a little scary for her that I am her mom... Hopefully I only teach her my good qualities and not the ify ones. ;) I am trying super hard not to be bossy. :) Hahah

Well be excited to hear about all of our fun adventures and spiritual experiences in the future! Everyone makes fun of me for being so short again... My last companion was like 4 inches shorter than me. But  Hermana Gividen is like 10 inches taller than me...BUT! I am finally a redhead again! :) Now that they can see her blonde hair and have something to compair my hair to, people are finally asking me if I am a redhead instead of just assuming it is blonde! Exciting! :) I am me again! :)

Have a super great week! I love you all! Enjoy life! And be good!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

On our shopping trip - one Elder got stuck in the back with all the groceries!

We went on a big shopping trip with Sister Hayes, her daughter, and the office secretaries!

My name on Coke bottles! (Everyone here pronounces my name "Marco")

These are the trainers waiting patiently for their babies to be done with paper work... Look! It's Hermana Bratt!

Hermana Montepeque and I very sad to say goodbye . . . :(

My new companion discovered Mamon Chinos! Yum!

Here is me, my sister, my baby, and my mom all in one photo! Family reunion!

My new companion! Hermana Gividen!

Trainers and new companions! Yay!

So excited to serve together!