March 17, 2015

Buenas Tardes! ¿Cómo están? :)

Yes, yes, there was a volcano eruption... And yes, it was raining ash. And yes I breathed in a lot of ash and I will probably die one day in like 60 years because of it... Oh well! Hahah The funniest part was all of the calls I got from Elders complaining about their burning eyes and throats and how they were too sick to work and were really scared, buy I didn't get a single call from Sisters! We are tougher! :) Some missionaries did have to go home and stay indoors and wear masks, but we stayed out and worked because it wasn't tooooo bad here. When we were up in the mountains visiting a family, you could look down on the whole valley. The skies were blue and beautiful in most areas, but there was a huge dark cloud of ash covering San Jose, like San Jose was being punished for something, it looked pretty cool! No, no lava! Just burning eyes and throats.

 

Oh and for now I did not have transfers! I am still in Escazú with Hermana Flores! They are doing transfers differently now, so I am not sure what will happen. We don't have transfers every six weeks, we have transfers when President calls and says we have transfers. So it could be this week, or it could be in 3 months! Who knows! But I am happy because I love Escazú. :)

 

We are changing email day again, so please write me Sunday night again! :) I should be getting on Monday mornings or so... We will see. :)

 

I was reading in Mosiah this week and I liked this part.... Mosiah 2:20-25, We are in debt to God. He has given us everything. And he continues to bless us. But all he requires from us to repay him is to obey his commandments. We are given families to help teach us obedience. And he can bless us even more if we are obedient. That is all he asks of us... We can show our love to Him by obeying Him and we can thank Him by obeying Him. :) Not always the easiest, but always the best.

 

I love you all!!! Have a great week!!! :)

 

Love,

 

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Cleaning up the ash from the volcano eruption

We love Denisse!

Planner covers I made for an Elder that is going home. It is a mission tradition to make a "Trunky" planner cover for missionaries on their last transfer. I was pretty proud of my skills. . .

This is our kitchen.

Liliana

The Monge Family. They are so good to us. Great people!

Monica - She is the Sister that took me to dinner on my Birthday.

Liliana gave me a Harley jacket! Don't I look pretty cool now?!?

Denisse! She is awesome!

My name badge with ash on it - it is raining ash constantly since the volcano erupted!

The other half of our kitchen. All of our appliances in one view: a blender, a hot plate and a mini fridge. (Dad asked if I have an oven in this apartment. Nope. - and no microwave and no toaster. We make it work!)

I was so excited to find oatmeal! I accidentally made it "floody" though!

 

March 10, 2015

HELLO FAMILIA!!!! :)

This was a FANTASTIC week!!! :) Do you want to know why??? Well it doesn't matter, I will tell you anyways! :) :) :) First off, we had two surgeries this week. With probably another 20 hours in the hospital. Then we had Multi Zone Conference with a member of the 70 who is in the Area Presidency for Central America: Elder Alonso. Which meant more time out of our area. And we were at the office all day Wednesday like normal to work with the insurance claims. Which meant even more time out of our area... Needless to say, we didn't have very many lessons this week... BUT that is not why this week was fantastic, because that would mean I am a horrible missionary rejoicing in little work. I like to work, no worries. :) 

The Multi Zone Conference was amazing! It was centered in obedience and converting ourselves before trying to convert others. This was Friday.

Miracle number 1: Friday after the conference we had a little time to actually work in our area! We were walking home for the night after a few visits and a lady said hi to us as we walked by. Normally we are the ones to say hi to them and not them to us, so we stopped to talk to her. She invited us to walk with her to her house, so we did. She told us she has been having troubles with her teenage son and has been looking for a good church to send him to. They both want to be baptized and find help through the gospel. We said yes! Her son, Fernando, came to church with us this Sunday and loved it! He already made friends with the youth and is excited to learn more! The mom, Carla, had work, but is going to come next week! :)

 Miracle number 2: I cant remember what I have told you about Yerly already, but she is one of our investigators as well. She has been investigating the church for about 2 years ever since her son was baptized. Her husband is from New York, but she is Tica. We have invited her and invited her to be baptized and she keeps saying no. She wants to, but is scared. She knows the church is true and has received several answers from God, but says its not her time yet. Last month she had a surgery scheduled for the 18th of February. It was a fairly big surgery. A few weeks before her surgery, I felt prompted to invite her to be baptized before her surgery. We kneeled together and she prayed to know if this was her time. Everyone in the room felt the YES. I knew she needed to be baptized before her surgery, and honestly felt like something bad would happen if she wasnt. She too knew she should, but chose not to. I was soooo sad. She received an answer, and chose not to follow it. Well the day before her surgery, I called to wish her luck and see if we could help with anything. She told me that the surgery got postponed and would actually be the 9th of March! I immediately felt like this was her chance! This was a blessing from God to give her one more chance to follow her answer. We visited with her and brought the Elders to give her a blessing for the surgery. During the blessing, the Elder felt very strongly to invite her to be baptized before her surgery. She said no again... Well... Friday night I was thinking a lot about her. I prayed for her and wanted to find a way to help her. Saturday morning I felt like I needed to send her a text to invite her to be baptized one last time. (I know, I know, a text..? But seriously, a text. I knew if I called, she wouldnt answer. If we stopped by, she would say no to our faces. But with a text, she could read it, think about it, pray about it, and take her time in privacy..) So at 3:00pm Saturday afternoon I sent her a text inviting her to be baptized Sunday morning, the day before her surgery. We didn't receive a reply until 8:00pm...... And I was too scared to open the text message from her... So I waited until we were on our way home around 9:00pm....

Friday night Yerly had a personal problem come up. She didn't sleep. She woke up early Saturday morning and researched How To Fast on the internet. (apparently we didn't teach her about fasting very well... hahah) and she started to fast. She prayed and prayed for help. She said she finally opened her heart and gave her pride to God. She asked for guidance. And then she got my text... She said this was an answer to her prayers. She knew this answer came from God. She invited her whole family over, and told them about her decision. They read scriptures together, they prayed together, and then at 8:00pm she replied with a, Yes Hermanas, what do I need to do?

When we finally opened the text we were in shock! She said yes! What??? She said yes? We called the Bishop and the Zone Leaders and got the baptism scheduled for 8am Sunday and the interview for 7:30am. Yerly was baptized and confirmed Sunday. Her surgery was Monday. This is why our week was fantastic. :) We didn't have much time to work in our area this week, but I saw more miracles this week than I have seen in my entire mission. And I know without a doubt that my Heavenly Father loves me. And that He loves each one of His children more than we can imagine. He is there and He is guiding us. And when we are obedient to Him, He can give us more blessing than we have room for!

I hope you all had fantastic weeks as well! :) I love you all! :) Keep practicing your texting skills, they might come in handy one day! Mom, that is really why I texted so much before my mission, I was just practicing so I would be really good at it so I could help people receive more blessings from God though texting!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Items of Business....

1. I really really really miss Suki. I was thinking about her this week... Will you send her to me? :) I MISS MY PUPPY!!!!!!

2. Transfers are this week... Everyone says that its my turn to leave Escazu... But I don't want to... So I guess we will find out what happens! Out of the 6 here, I have the most time in Escazu. But I LOVE Escazu!!!!! They cant make me leave!!!!! Okay, maybe they can, but whatever.

3. My companion is cute. I still don't think she understands a thing I say. Oh well.

4. Did you ever get the card I sent for your anniversary???

5. There was more I wanted to write, but I ran out of time... Maybe next week...

6. How are you all doing?

7. Anything new or exciting?

8. I love you!!!! :)

9. And I miss you too! Not just my puppy! But I do really miss my puppy too!

 

Our new apartment in Escazu

Making pupusas!

Making pupusas while talking to sick missionaries on the phone . . .

No big surprise - I am still living out of my suitcase in the new apartment!

Yerly's Baptism

Multi-Zone Conference

3 of the 11 Zones - the chairs are for President and Sis Wilkinson and Elder and Sister Alonzo. They only let us use our cameras before the conference - so sorry, no pictures with President and Elder Alonso.

The best text in the whole entire world!

 

March 3, 2015

Mi Familia!!!

Les amo muchísimo!!! Another great week! And really busy... Hermana Wilkinson told us we needed to move out of our house Friday night, and that we had one day to do it because Sunday was the start of a new month! Well that didn't happen because we were in the hospital with other missionaries all Friday night and Saturday. And Monday as well... So Saturday night we looked and looked and looked for apartments and we had about 5 good options. We looked at them all again with the other set of Hermanas and prayed and then looked again and then prayed again... Finally we narrowed it down to two! And after more praying the other Hermanas chose the apartment closer to the chapel and we chose the apartment closer to the park. They are both still within a 5 minute walk of each other. And they are WAY nicer than our last place!!!!!!

Yesterday we were at the hospital in the morning, ran home, packed up, signed new contracts and paid rent, and then moved houses, and then ran back to the hospital before an Elder went in for surgery. And it all worked out perfectly! We are still working on unpacking, but its all good. :)

Today we were talking to a member and it turns out that she knows both families who we are renting from! And she loves them both and trusts them both! She said we made excellent decisions! They are both safe, clean, and cute. :) I will send pictures next week after we unpack more. :)

Oh the owners of one of the apartments is actually a devout Jehovas Witness, but he was really excited to rest to us because he knows we are good people! That was pretty cool!

In other news... Last week during our District meeting I was part of an object lesson... I had to do 35 pushups and my whole district got doughnuts... (Girl pushups, don't be too proud dad). And then for the next 4 days my arms and chest were killing me! And they still hurt today, but not as bad.... I think I should probably work out more.... It was really really pathetic.

Also, There is an Elder here who was born in 1997. What???? That is 2 years before my baby sister was born??? And he is serving a mission??? How did that happen??? I was born in 1991 and there is an Elder who was born in 1997!!!!!!!

I was in the hospital this week with an Elder and found a German lady trying to communicate with the nurses, but failing. She knew English okay, but no Spanish. So I helped translate everything for them and got to talk to the German lady about the gospel as well! It was great! Who knew that learning Spanish would help a German lady!

Well. All is well here! Still working hard and loving every minute of it! I hope you are all doing amazing! You should come visit me in Costa Rica!!! :) Yes??? :) Okay! Love you! Chao!

Love,

Hermana Makensey Beth Markle. :)

 

Items of business...

1. GOOD LUCK Kami on the ACT!! Tell me what you get!!! And just tell me more stuff in general! You stopped writing me... And Katie and Madi and Brandon.... Weird..

2. We are SOOOOO happy to move out of the nasty house we were in. The landlord crazy and it was disgusting! Ewwwww.

3. Katie someone just saw a picture of you and asked if you were my twin! So that means people have said Katie is my twin and Kami is my twin and Madi is my twin. It's like we are sisters or something... Weird... I guess that means none of us were adopted. No one has ever said anything about Brandon being my twin though....... Oh and I like the box a lot! :)

4. It is March already!!! Holy cow!!!! The semester is almost half over!

5. LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

We are all official! We got our Cedula's!

My Cedula! This means I am a Tica now!

Fowler and Markle together Again!

It happened to be Fowler's Birthday on the day we got our Cedula's - so we had a little party!

This is the hardware removed this week from one Elder's elbow. The hospital has become our home away from home!

Hermana Peterson and I working on Insurance Claims in the Mission Office.

After a meeting with Sister Wilkinson and Sister Coleman.

Hermana Fowler's Birthday cake!

We spend WAY too much time in the hospital looking after sick missionaries lately!

February 24, 2015

Hello!!!!!! :) 

 

This was a great week! We met all of our goals and even passed some of them! I wanted to work double this week to make up for the lost time last week, and we did great! :) We started a fast together as a companionship to find new investigators, and within 2 hours, we found 8 new investigators and 6 of them accepted baptismal dates! It kinda made me want to fast every single day, but then there wouldn´t be a nurse anymore to help the other sick missionaries... So I will still eat. And just work really hard. :) But it was a great miracle!

 

There was´t anything too new or exciting this week, sorry.... We are working hard to help our investigators be ready to get baptized in March. :) Maybe next week I will have a cool bloody nursing story to share with you...

 

This week I am going to go get my Cedula!!! That means I will be Tica!!!! Its like their social security card, but mine will only last for one year. :( But one year of being Tica is cool with me! :) Don´t worry, I will send a picture of me being Tica, I am sure. Maybe people will start to think I am from Costa Rica now! ;)

 

I may or may not have went to Gringo Ally this week and bought a few things to bring home....

 

I love you lots! Stay happy, healthy, and safe! Do good things!

 

Love,

Hermana Makensey Beth Markle. :)

 

Items of business...

 1. Katie! Your hair is long!!!! Almost sick-nasty long? You should cut it. ;) That´s a lie, I am just jealous, I miss my hair... Oh and send me a picture of your cool box thing you are making. And other artsy photos if you'd like.

2. Madi! Your hair is still blonde! I forgot about that! Next you should try dark brown. You tried red, medium brown and blonde already. Just don't try the tiger stripes...

3. Kami! Your hair is WAY longer now! Someone said you look like me now.. Carter maybe? Lookin good!! ;) Good job on dancing good!

4. Brandon! Your hair isn't any longer... But still looking good! How is your job??

5. My companion is very sweet and kind and cute and adorable, but does not know how to plan or make decisions for herself. I still try really hard not to make all of the decisions and I am trying really hard to teach her and help her grow. She is very sweet, and we get along great.

6. I think I want to live with Hermana Fowler on BYU campus when I get home... Maybe starting the second semester though... We will see. Or I can live with my sisters in the fun sister apartment if they will let me!!! ?

7. I LOVE YOU ALL!!! Have a great week! :)

EWWWW!!!!!!! They tried to make me eat this soup!!!! I cant remember what it is called! But it was NASTY!!! It is made with the colon of a cow!!!! I ate the vegetables and drank the broth. And then when our convert left the room, I poured the ´meat´ into my companions bowl. She likes it and ate it for me. I owe her BIG TIME!!!!

Hermana Fowler! We are so hoping to be companions again some time!

P-Day fun

View from the tallest building in San Jose

Senior Hermana Coleman's Birthday in the office. . .

Slumber Party!

Virginia with her scriptures all marked like a pro!

 

February 17, 2015

Buenos Tardes! 

 

No Mom, I didn't get any Valentines cards this year... Not even a little sucker with a cheesy card taped to it... Next year for sure, right? :) I hope you all got lots and lots of Valentines this week! And everyone feels loved and stuff!

 

This week we spent about 20 hours in the Hospital. 13 in one day for a hernia surgery, and the other 7 throughout the week at different appointments with sick missionaries. So we lost a lot of working time... Our recent converts and less active members are still doing great, but we haven't found many new people to teach for a while. That is our goal this week. To find new people who are ready to make changes in their lives and receive the blessing from God. :)

 

Ahh man! I went several months without thinking about Abraham Lincoln once! But then I looked down at my phone and it told me that his birthday was this week... And now I have thought about him at least 3 days this week. Bummer. Someone once told me that every American thinks about Lincoln at least once every day... I don't think that is true.. until you read the statistic...

 

Tomorrow is my 6 months in Costa Rica day! And also my 1 year from opening my call day! Wahoo! To me the time is going by fast! And slow... I am not sure.. But I am enjoying it!  :)

 

Ohh someone asked me if I was from Ukraine this week! That was pretty cool! But no.... Not even close. I do have a couple of friends from Ukraine though? I have been getting Ukraine, Germany, England, and other European countries recently... Cool. :)

 

Oh cool story for the week! I bought a few cheep pairs of shoes from Walmart that are like fake crocs, but with cute colors, right? Well I wore them and now I cant feel my big toes... Crocs are made out of a soft material that forms to your feet... These are made out of hard plastic and they pinched the nerves on the top of my feet... I have had about 9 days without feeling now... I am not sure if they will heal and I will get feeling back or not... They kind of itch, but I cant itch them. Yes, I still wear the shoes. But I am hoping after a few times I can break them in?

 

I think learning Spanish has been a bad thing... At the beginning of my mission I was very quiet and shy and only said a few things I knew how to say. And now that I know Spanish well enough to have conversations, people are starting to know my personality.. :) Oops. :) Now I get comments like, ´you aren't afraid to say what you want to say!´ ´usted es bien directo!´ ´Wow, I thought you had more time in the mission than that! You seem like you have been here for almost 18 months!´ (probably because I act like I know everything..) Hahaha. Well now I am working on being more humble and following the example from our Savior. :) When Jesus Christ lived in the earth, I am sure He knew a lot of things. I am sure He had very good communication with God and had a lot more information than we did. And He used that information to help us. But He lead by example. With love, patience, and kindness. He was perfectly humble and recognized where His knowledge came from, where His perfect attributes came from, and shared the Love from God with everyone.

 

Today we had a district meeting. And my goals for this week are to.. Focus in the work 100% and limit the distractions. Share my testimony with everyone I meet. And to invite all to come unto Christ with specific commitments during each lesson or each contact. Missionary work is amazing and can change lives for the best. The lives of those we teach and our own lives. But dont be too jealous, I hope you are all finding little ways to be missionaries everyday! I love you and miss you and want to hear from you! Have a fantastic week!!! Love you!

 

Love,

Hermana Makensey Beth Markle. :)

 

Items of Business...

1. I dont have parasites! Yay! But my companion does.. But not that big ugly one, just a normal one from living in Guatemala her whole life. Our pet died.... We didnt feed it or give it air... So it died pretty quick. :( We didnt have a funeral, I just threw it in the trash... Super sad.

2. Did you get the card I sent for your anniversary? I hope it didnt get lost..

3. GOOD LUCK KAMI!!!! I hope you dance awesomely this weekend!!!!!!! (p.s. I never got the letter you sent...)?

4. (I didn't get the letter Madi sent either....)?

5. Yeah that Hermana went home for surgery, and another Elder had surgery here this week.  Mucho tiempo en el hospital esta semana...

8. Madi, Elder Chub wants to write you... Actually, I think he wants to marry you, but he wants to start with a letter at least. ;) He started calling me his sister-in-law already... Look forward to that!

7. I love you! And miss you! Send me letters in the package please!!!! :) :) :) 

8. President is back! And doing well! Yay! :)

9. LOVE YOU! HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!

Cute baby avacodo. . .

A bird pooped on my head!

Green bird poop!

My horrible new shoes made holes in my socks!

Cheap new shoes -- no bueno!

Beautiful view

Selfie with companion!

 

February 10, 2015

Dear Familia,

Happy 78th Birthday to Grandma Markle and Happy 80th Birthday Grandma May! I love you! :) (Someone might have to read this to her, I am not sure if she knows how to read my blog..;) And Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 30 years!!! Holy cow!!

Julia got baptized this week! It was beautiful! Her favorite part was receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday. She is doing great! :) It did take the Elder 3 tries to get her under the water though. She was a little scared.. Hahah but its all good!

A lady in my ward asked me, What happened to your face??, this week... apparently my acne is getting pretty bad...

During personal studies Saturday, Our neighbors started to play Phantom of the Opera... I couldn't help myself, and I started to sing along... My companion laughed at me. But after hours and hours and hours of our family singing along in the car when we were little to Phantom, Wicked, Aida, and Josh Groban -- I just have to sing when I hear them...

We watched Meet the Mormons for P Day yesterday! I loved it! Have you seen it? Did you see how beautiful Costa Rica is??? Maybe one day after my mission I will get to see how beautiful Costa Rica is too! ;) But really it was a cool movie! I almost cried! That says a lot, you should watch it!

My companion has never been to Walmart before... Or PriceMart (Costco)... So I took her! What a good companion I am! She was amazed. We are also working on her English. Soon she will be a gringa just like me! ;)

Bueno, I carry an umbrella with me at all times, right? Like everyone should do in Costa Rica. Its small and sits in a water bottle holder in my backpack. Well apparently it is Summer here right now and there should be rain until May. This week 3 people asked me why I had my umbrella in my backpack if there is no rain. Well... Yesterday it started to pour buckets. And I pulled out my umbrella and it was great. But then I felt really selfish and awkward that I was the only one who had an umbrella and the other 3 Sisters were getting soaked. I felt bad for being prepared... I tried to shared with them of course, but still. Awkward... But I still plan on carrying my umbrella with me at all times. :)

President Wilkinson should be back next week! :) That is good news! All is well over here in Costa Rica, it was a good week! Well minus the comment about my face. But we are still working hard and loving it! Happy Valentines Day!!! Have the best week ever! Am I allowed to have a Valentine? Will someone send me a cute note or something? Hahaha I love you all! :) Chao!

Lots of love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business...

1. Madi, why are you learning Russian? Brandon, are you helping her?

2. I think my nose fell out of place... It hurts and the inside looks all crooked... But I can still breathe, so thats good. How is your nose doing Katie?

3. Can you maybe send me some more Crystal Light? That orange strawberry banana stuff your sent last time was really good... :)

4. Are they making crazy laws in the states right now? I keep hearing rumors...

5. How is the snow treating you?? Come visit me in Costa Rica!!!!!

6. My companion starts to sing hymns in the middle of our lessons while I am teaching... Its strange... But I like her.

7. Thanks for sending me a package! Will everyone please put a note in there for me??? Brandon too??? :) :) :) Please???? :) :) :)

8. I love you all! I am glad we sang like crazy people in the car as a family! Good memories! Have a good week!!!!!

Julia's Baptism!

Oops! I guess I should not wear white to a Baptism! My bad!

Yay for PriceMart (Costco)!

We caught one of our pets (from the toilet) and named him Randall. . .