August 25, 2014

Dear Familia,

Hola! I am definitely not in America anymore! But... I LOVE IT! Don´t worry about this too much mom, but I am already looking around to see if I can move back here one day... But it is only my first week, so maybe with time that will fade. I currently live in Concepcion de Tres Rios. This is the only area in the entire mission with NO humidity! Lucky me! We are in the mountains. It is good and bad. No humidity is amazing! But it still rains a lot. It is cold during the mornings and night, and hot during the day, but not bad at all. There are lots and lots and lots of hills though... So my calves are getting a good work out. For exercise every morning, we run up and down our street several times and it is worse than the street by Pleasant Grove High. So really I just jog/walk the hill for exercise. But the miles of walking and mountain climbing during the day also count. I like this area a lot so far!

All of the houses here have gates and barbed wire and locks. It is a safe place, but Pura Vida ruined Costa Rica."Pura Vida" or "Pure Life" is a very popular saying here. It started out as a simple, "No worries" to an extreme "YOLO". And now if you don´t protect your house with barbed wire and gates and locks, you are inviting people to enter your house and take what they want. So literally almost every single house in Costa Rica is locked up. But they still open their doors to us, so no worries.

The food is good. The members who feed us lunch everyday receive blessings for feeding us. So if we don´t finish the food they give us, we are taking away their blessings.. And they give us A LOT of food... Most of it tastes good, but I am definitely going to get fat. Even with the walking and giant hills. Like I almost die from overeating everyday at lunch time. It´s all good!

My companions are great! I am in a trio with Hermana Garner, the current Mission Nurse Specialist, and Hermana Uribe. Hermana Garner is from Meza, Arizona and studied at ASU for her BSN. She does not know Bri though. Hermana Uribe is from Central Mexico and was studying to become a Veterinarian. They are both amazing teachers, but I am going to "kill" them both. Seriously. Both of them will end their missions with me. They still work hard and are not super "trunky" yet, but we will see. We get along great! Except for one thing... President Wilkinson made them promise to only speak to me in Spanish... I have no idea what they are saying most of the time. It is loads of fun!

I am learning a lot, and my Spanish is much better, but I still have a lot to learn! When my companions talk to me, they speak slowly and clearly, so I understand several words and get a lot from context. But when our investigators speak... I understand nothing. So that is fun. It is hard to understand their needs, how to teach them, and how to pray for them if I don´t understand a word they say. But I try anyways! I teach my equal part of each lesson and sometimes they even understand what I am saying! Hahah Spanish is exciting.....

Our ward is amazing! They just built a big new chapel, so we have great attendance! And great means about 110-120 each week. We had two of our ify investigators randomly show up to church yesterday! It was great! We have two others with baptismal dates, but one just pushed hers back two weeks until her kids get here from Nicaragua. Most of the people in Concepcion are from Nicaragua. Everyone here is very friendly and most are open to listening to us. At least once. Less listen more than once, but we will find them!

Oh right, I will be the new Mission Nurse Specialist for the Costa Rica San Jose Mission as soon as my companion goes home in 9 weeks. She extended her mission an extra 4 weeks to help train me. Apparently they called Church Headquarters and asked to have me a transfer early, but headquarters never did anything about it. They have know I was going to be the Nurse this whole time, so I am guessing my call was supposed to say Nursing Specialist, but oh well. I was greeted warmly as soon as I got off the plane and everyone was excited to meet me in the office. The whole mission knew I was their new nurse except for me! It was funny! Basically it means that I get my own phone, which is a smart phone, and I answer calls all day from sick missionaries! I set up appointments, diagnose and give advice, and make sure everyone is staying healthy and clean. There is lots of extra paper work and phone calls, but I am also a regular proselyting missionary. So far we have only had maybe 10 calls this week, so we still have plenty of time to teach and find and invite. I will keep you updated on my new nursing duties, but for now they are focusing on training me how to be a missionary.

All is well and I am loving it so far! The Spanish is a little frustrating, but I am getting used to the schedule and work nicely. I am safe and alive and healthy!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Markle  :)

President and Sister Wilkinson

My New Companions! Hermana Garner and Hermana Uribe.

Hermana Garner from Mesa, AZ

Hermana Uribe from Central Mexico

It is so very GREEN here!

Our House! (all houses have bars and gates).

Our Street

Our Room

Our desks.

Our Kitchen

About 500 colones equal one American dollar.

El banyo

We have hot water in the shower!!! yay!

Still living out of my suitcases, but this time it is because we don´t have any more coat hangers or hanging space. And no dressers or drawers. So not my fault..... But I like it!

Our Frontrunner/Trax ride from the MTC to the airport!

My last photo with Hermana Fowler.

My meal First Class meal in the First class section.

Cute little bananas!

Another classic from the MTC!

August 19, 2014

COSTA RICA!!!

This is to let you know that I am alive, safe, and in Costa Rica!

Address:

Makensey Beth Markle

Mision San Jose Costa Rica

Apartado Postal 249-2010 Zapote

San Jose, Costa Rica

All mail and packages come here and I get them once a month. When claiming what is in a package, be very simple and general! (treats, missionary supplies) Never put medical supplies! Customs holds them and it costs money to get them if they decide to search my packages. (tell alli this soon please).

DearElder still works! Do that if you want! You just put my mission instead of MTC.

Join the facebook page Costa Rica San Jose Missionary Parents for pictures and updates.

I left my journal on the plane... Sad day. Kinda like deleting my photos. I guess I am not supposed to remember the MTC... BUT will you please get on Delta.com and make a claim for me?

It is a light blue journal with silver stiching of a temple. It has my full name in it. I left it on Delta flight DL14, Seat 32C, 18Aug, From SLC to ATL, 9:44am departure. Let me know how that goes please! Maybe they can send it to you? I dont need it right now, but I want it back when I get home for sure! Thanks!

My P-day is Monday and I will email you more then!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

P.S. I am the new Nursing Specialist for the Costa Rica San Jose Mission. All 230 missionaries here are now under my care... And Hermana Garner until she trains me and goes home. Fun stuff!

August 13, 2014

Familia,

So this week I have good news and I have bad news. Bad news, I don't have a Visa yet. Good news, I have plane tickets for COSTA RICA BABY!!!!! :) So they felt comfortable enough to buy all 28 of us going to Costa Rica plane tickets for Monday, so hopefully that means they are not worried about the Visas... That would be a lot of money wasted if they get delayed! So I am thinking we are all good! They said we will find out by Friday for sure though if we need to Visa wait or if we are good to go. YAY COSTA RICA!!!!! Wahoo!!!

Oh yeah, other bad news. I wasn't able to buy any sweet MTC sweat pants. Sad day. They finally got them in and I tried them on and the XS was super small and tight and the Small was super big and baggy. So I decided I will just buy a nice pair of Walmart sweats when I get home instead. Maybe even draw "MTC" on them with a sharpie. ;) They will be just as classy, right?

There are a lot of people here from Pleasant Grove. And they always come up to me and ask me who I hung out with, or someone from their district comes up to me and asks me if I know that Elder from their district. The answer is always no. You were in Junior High when I graduated High School. And The four years you spent in High School, I spent at College. But it is pretty entertaining. :) I did run into one of the Cook's cousins tho! Elder Stirling. I know his older sister Jessica, and Brian used to talk about the Sterling's occasionally, so almost a connection! 

Yes I got the packages!! And I loved it!!! Thank you!!! The binder was adorable and the baby PMGs were perfect! And Hermana Fowler says thank you too! She loved hers! And also, the peanut butter bars were still in perfect condition and I ate them all!!!! I only shared a few... That's why we had to punish ourselves with our new "health contract" (see photo). We ate wayyy too much last week. But they were delicious! :) And I also loved the photo books and laundry basket and racquet balls!!! We play with them every night... I am sure our neighbors hate us now... Oh well! And Thank you Katie for the battery!? I am assuming that was from you and not just your beautiful drawing of a camera! That will be perfect and it was very needed! It works in my camera great!

We got to go on an adventure to the doctors office for my follow up from sinus surgery! That was exciting!! The doctor saw me for like two seconds and said it was all good, but the adventure was great! Oh and the random red thing on my chin is gone, so it's all good.

I leave in 5 days!!!!!! So unless you want to send something immediately, stick to just emails from now on! I will assess the mail system in Costa Rica when I get there. :)

Ohhh yeah... Other super bad news... I accidentally formatted my SD card and it erased all of my pictures... But now I know what buttons not to push while on my mission... And at least it was only my MTC pictures.. But still. Will you please save all of the pictures I have sent home in a really safe place please?? :) Thank you! 

Now for some good news to counter that terrible news.. I had an excellent week this week! And I have learned so much more! I am almost ready for Costa Rica! Not in Spanish, I still need lots more Spanish learning. But this week was good. We had a feista for my teacher when he left, but not a normal feista, it was un espiritual fiesta! And I had some good pondering time. Before this week, I knew missions were good things, and service is super important and needed, but I sometimes I wondered what made me choose to do this, and 18 months seems like a super super long time. And maybe like it would be hard to get married and find a job when I get home. But those thoughts are no longer there. (okay, well maybe I still think getting married will be hard) But I now realize how amazing this opportunity really is. And I have realized that besides my decisions to follow our Heavenly Fathers plan and join my amazing earthly family in heaven, this is the best decision I have ever made. In my entire life. I have made some good decisions in my life, but serving a mission will bless my life more than anything has yet. And now I can bless the lives of others more than I ever have before. I am learning so much, and progressing towards my eternal goals so much more than I would have been at home. And even if getting married is hard and finding a job is hard when I get home and am old and moldy, this is worth it. I already love the people of Costa Rica and I haven't even met them yet! I am so excited to serve them and help them gain relationships with their Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ and feel their love in their lives! 

Have a great week and always be happy! I love you all and I miss you all! But not enough to come home, sorry! 

Love, Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business....

1) No, I do not have a Visa yet. But neither do the other 27 going to Costa Rica.

2) Good luck indexing! It was way too hard for me last time I tried.

3) Brandon, you are a bum. Why only one to two replies? Don't limit yourself, just send letters!

4) Yes, Please send me another package! Thursday please! Hopefully you got my long list of things I need... Thanks!

5) Earlier this week I realized it was the fist time in 10 years I had gone an entire month without sending one text! But no, I haven't gone through withdrawals. Texting is super convenient and I wish I still could, but I never think about it at all here!

6) Feel better mom! Quit getting kidney infections! And go see Dr. Snow!!!

7) That is it for now! LAST EMAIL FROM THE MTC!!!! WAHOO!!! COSTA RICA HERE I COME!!!!

8) I love you all!!!! Have a good week!!!!

One of our teachers left us early because he was going to NC to visit his family, so we had a goodbye fiesta!

The PILLOW ROOM!!!!! It has 283 pillows in it! And they gave us 2 minutes to jump around inside while they took pictures! So comfy and so fun! I need a pillow room in my future house FOR SURE!!!! Easily entertained.

We got to take a shuttle to Provo for my doctors appointment! We felt like real missionaries out in the city for a little bit! We love adventures!

People drew "me" on the whiteboard. Apparently I am bossy? What?

We decided to punish ourselves for overeating last week. So Hermana Fowler made a contract for us to sign!

August 6, 2014

Hola mi familia y amigos!

It's been another fabulous week in the MTC! And we have less than 2 weeks until we fly out to Costa Rica! Yeah baby! We should get our flight information this Friday! If our Visa's come in... 

Mom, you now have two daughters in the family serving as Sister Training Leaders! Congratulations! For two more weeks at least! Hermana Fowler and I are now over all of the sisters in the Zone and help the Zone Leaders out with the Elders too, because they definitely need help. Tonight our assignment is to welcome 22 new missionaries into our zone! We are so excited to meet them! They are all going to Mexico except for two are going to Spain. Oh and I am also the new Senior Companion, so that is pretty cool I guess too! I am not sure if leadership assignments really count in the MTC, but oh well! 

Yesterday all the Hermanas danced in the rain! It was pouring outside last night so we danced for a good 10 minutes and then went and showered and got it bed. It was the best! We were preparing ourselves for Costa Rica baby!!! :) 

We may or may not have all fallen asleep in the temple... Hermana Fowler laughed at us after three of us woke up, and then two minutes later, she was out cold! The Spirit is so strong, we just felt so peaceful and couldn't help it! Our bads! We still learned a lot and enjoyed the beautiful temple though! :) 

After the temple we went and ate giant cheese steak sandwiches and they were delicious! And then made a stop at good old Sub Zero. I saw someone there from Hurricane and her mom used to be a nurse at Diamond Ranch Academy with me! So she called her mom and told her! And then she took a picture with me and sent it to her mom. I liked her mom, so it was cool!

We eat a lot of watermelon here. It is some of the only fresh fruit so it's the best. Like I think I eat a bowl of watermelon with every single meal. It's basically just water though, right?

Well, I am still learning a lot! Spanish is still really hard, but it is coming along.. And I still love my companion a lot! We are learning together! Something I thought about during my studies this week was how important the Holy Ghost is. Three things you need to gain eternal life are Baptism, Repentance, and the Holy Ghost. Baptism is usually a one time thing, but in order to have the Holy Ghost with you until you die, you have to be worthy of His presence until you die. And in order to be worthy of His presence until you die, you must continually repent, change, improve, and progress in this life. And conveniently, if you are doing your best to keep yourself worthy and clean, The Holy Ghost will help you to continue to stay worthy and clean and progress and improve and learn. So although baptism is super important, and that is one of our main goals as missionaries, an even more important goal is to make sure all baptized members are stay worthy of the Holy Ghost, making it to the temple, and enduring to the end. And all of this is made possible through our Savior Jesus Christ. It's no wonder our Missionary Purpose is... Invite others to come to Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of The Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It all makes sense!

I hope you all have a super great week! Stay safe and happy! I love you all!

Items of Business... 

1. If you haven't sent my package yet, I thought of a few things you could send... Hermana Fowler has a mini English PMG, but she said she would love a mini Spanish Preach My Gospel if you want to make her one! She would love that! Also, maybe a package of face pads.  And maybe ... racquet balls? Someone sent their son a can of three racquet balls, and they have been super fun to play with. Maybe that is just because we are in the MTC and anything is fun.

2. Mom - how many names have the Young Women indexed verses the Relief Society? When does the contest end? And of course the YW are winning, half of your ladies are super old! I am sure your lesson was great though! 

3. Good job Katie on your fireside! Did you talk for the whole hour?? Did you mention me??

4. Cousin Maddie still didn't email me, will you just send me her email and I will send her one? She will be way too busy once she gets married this week!

5. Mom you know you can screen shot your InstaGram posts and email them to me right? How many likes did you get on your train story??

6. Brandon hasn't emailed or written me yet. I will send you a letter soon, but still. Do you actually read any of my letters? I know you don't read Madi's....

7. I think that's all for this week... I ordered MTC sweat pants and they haven't gotten here yet... I hope they do before I leave! I might mail them home and just wear them when I get home instead! we will see. 

Bye!!! LOVE you all!!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :) The only real Hermana Markle.

You just gotta love Hermana Fowler!

A GIANT letter from Kaitlin!

I got flowers! How cute! They were even from a boy! The fact that he is related to me and is my cousin, doesn't matter. Jake and Jodi sent them in a package with chocolates and candy and cards. So Sweet! :)

This tends to happen in class . . . .

It worked!!! My roommate got ALL my hair into sock bun and it worked! Everyone loved it! But it gave me a headache and ripped out some of my hair.. So that was the one and only time I will do a sock bun. It was fun while it lasted.

More photos of us at the temple.