Email from Hermana Peterson, Senior Missionary in Costa Rica

Hi Shauna,

Yesterday, we welcomed about 10-11 new missionaries. Only 1 was North American. Every time we get new misionaros in, the nurse or nurses talk to the newbies about how to stay healthy & a few other health related instructions. The young Mission nurse usually talks to the Latinos & I talk to the Gringos, but this time there was only 1 Gringo, so we combined everyone. I just wanted you to know that Hna. Markle did a great job talking to them totally in Español. She got a little help a time or 2 from her companion, but I think she did a great job for only being here a month!!

Also, this foto tickled me & the reason why is that your sweet daughter is being 100% obedient. She's definitely an arm's length away from Elder VanderMeyden : )

I can tell already that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy working with her. From 1 Mom to the next, I wanted you to know!!

Love, Senior Hna.Petersen
P.E.F./Self-Reliance Misionara
Retired R.N. & Assistant Mission Nurse Specialist (M.N.S.) to Hna. Markle ; )

October 27, 2014

Familia,

Dia de combios! I have a new area and a new companion! Her name is Hermana Villanueva and she is from Mexico! I guess President really wants me to be companions with people from Mexico. :) So I am not in a Trio anymore either! We will see how this goes! My area is called Escazu, and that is about all I know... I haven't been there yet, we are still in the office. I did hear there are a lot of Gringos there. It is a wealthier area of San Jose and there is lots of English... I will let you know what it's like next week!

Last night I got about 2 whole hours of sleep! We stayed up packing forever! Hermana Garner let me go shopping in her closet and I now own 2 new dresses, 2 new shirts, and 6 new skirts. :) My suitcases that didn't have space, now have even less space... But I have more clothes? :) Lucky me, my stuff was already half packed, because I live out of my suitcases, so that was pretty nice. Hopefully my new house has space to do the same... I said goodbye to Hermana Garner this morning! Sad! And now I am on my own! My new companion understands a little English, but doesn't speak much, so this will be fun! Poor sick missionaries, who I can't understand, who have to call ME when they are sick, ... Hahah no one has died yet, so I must be understanding "enough"! I am getting better and better every day. :)

I am sad and happy for changes... I will miss my ward! And our recent converts! And the investigators I am working with right now! And I will miss their baptisms and progression! But... I am excited to see a new area and meet more people and help other people too! So I will let you know how things go next week! I made Hermana Gallegos promise to send me photos of our investigators at their baptisms, so that almost counts as being there! 

Happy Halloween!!! I love you all! Have a great week! Sorry for the bum letter with zero information!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business....

1. No, they don't celebrate Halloween here, or Dia de la Muerte. That is Mexico mostly. But some people still have decorations like in los estados. But we will see! Maybe some will even give candy!

2. Congratulations Kami on your concert! Good work!

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

4. I miss you! :)

5. I still love it here and am learning more every single day!!! :)

Milagros' Baptism

My shoes grew mold on them! Ewwwww!

Saying goodbyes with Hermana Garner

More goodbyes with Garner

Milagros - she is Amazing!!

October 20, 2014

Hello! What is up!?

Spider update: Good news, I only got one bite this week, so I think my friend finally died. Bad news, I found a nasty, huge, scary looking spider right outside our house! It was green with neon orange spots and a white belly.. Super pretty colors, but definitely not a friend. So I killed it.

Today my companion asked me how much my backpack cost. I said, oh it was pretty cheap! Only 90 mil colones! (which is close to $180) when I meant to say 9 mil colones. ($18)... My bad! This happens almost daily when people ask for the time or anything involving numbers... Oops.

OHHHH!!!! There was an earthquake! Last week while using internet there was an earthquake but we didnt feel a thing... A member called to make sure we were okay, but seriously I didnt even know it happened... BUT THEN! Later that night while planning in our house, there was another earthquake. And I definitely felt it. At first it was kind of fun, and we were like Oh cool! An earthquake! And then it got stronger and it wasnt fun anymore.... And we were making plans to hide under the table and in the door ways, and we were pretty sure we were going to die. But that might be an exageration. And then it stopped and all was well. Nothing broke, it really wasnt that bad at all, just a little scary for a bit!

This week I fell into a hole. A hole filled with nasty dirty water and slimy green stuff. Luckily we were on our way to drop off our laundry, so I was able to change into a dirty skirt my companion had, and put my dirty clothes in to be washed that day. A dirty skirt from a companion is better than a skirt covered with green slime, trust me. Fun adventure! But I probably wont try it again.

OH OH! Other great news!! Someone thought I was Tica!!! They saw me writing a note on the bus in English and asked if I was studying English! Hahahha! No, I am not studying English, I know English just fine, but thank you! I guess my red hair and blue eyes and super white skin got mistaken for Costa Rican. :)

Fun story... There was a dog in our chappel this Sunday! It followed one of the members to church and wouldnt leave! It kept running inside so they tied it up to a tree in the shade with water. But in the middle of sacrement, in came running the dog! It was pretty funny... That kept happening throughout the whole 3 hours. And then later that night we stopped by the church to grab something and the dog was trapped inside the gates! And it was raining and cold! Poor dog! He couldnt leave and had no food or dry shelter! So we walked him back to his house. It was about an extra hour of a walk there and back, but we got to visit with the family and they are going through some hard times, so that was good. Poor puppy.

Scripture of the week. For my mom and dad, 1 Nephi 17:55: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God shall give thee".  Second Scripture: 1 Nephi 17:13 (in my own words): If you keep the commandments, you WILL be led by God. Your way WILL be prepared for you. Life is not easy, but there is always a way to keep the commandments. Which means there is always a way to receive direction from God and have your path prepared for you. Sounds pretty good to me!

This week we are teaching the mom of Rigo and Kevin! And her boyfriend too! They want to get married and baptized next month!!! Super exciting!!! They are great! Without us even asking or teaching the Word of Wisdom, they said they are working on not drinking Coffee anymore! Excellent!

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

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business...

1. I sent two letters home this week! One for the family and one for Madi. Save the one for Madi until she gets home please. It is a welcome home slash happy birthday card. I have pictures of both in case they dont make it home.. Let me know when you get them!

2. Mom, can you save all of my emails in a folder in your email please? I want to print some of them when I get home. They are better than my journal sometimes... My bad.

3. My acid reflux is back... What did I used to take for it? The food here is bad for it so I might need to buy something to help.

4. FEEL BETTER KATIE!!! I hope the green spiral dudes die soon!!!

5. Thanks Kam. I love you too.

6. Good luck with the Festival of Trees! I want pictures when you are done!!!

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

October 13, 2014

HOLA!!

Don't worry, a member in our ward cut my hair last night and fixed it for me! It was a little scary looking all week, but its okay. :) I don't plan on cutting it ever again. Well, at least while I am here. So it should be back to normal when I get back! I told the Elder who cut my hair today that I had my hair fixed and he got sad! He said it was perfect before and he is offended! Hahaha - he also told me I owe him 50 dollars for letting him cut the pony tail off. I gave him 50 colones instead... (That is like 10 cents). Oh other good news, I bought a new brush today!

Kevin was baptized!! He is the little brother of Rigo. He is only 9 years old and he begged and begged to be baptized like his big brother! He has come to church 6 times, conference, and can answer all of the questions during our lessons. He is young, but if he and Rigo go to church together every week, he will learn more quickly and stay strong in the church. They need more love in their life, so the church is really good for them. And the adults give them the attention and support they need. It is a really good environment for them and will help them grow up with good influences! I am excited for both of them! We are working with their mom, but nothing yet... And their dad "works" in Limon... 

I am pretty sure I have a pet spider in my bed... I haven't found him yet, but he has found me... Every morning I wake up with 2-3 new bites. All on my legs, and one on my neck. So I guess one night he got brave and tried to come say hi. But currently I have about 13 bites on my legs. And they will all scar because I like to itch them a lot... And sometimes when I don't have time to shave my legs, it is a good thing because I can itch my leg with my other leg. ;) Hahaha - good times... Sorry... I think I will try to find my pet and kill him soon. My bad.

I started the Book of Mormon over again... And I think I will include my favorite scripture for the week in each email... So here you go...

Jacob 1:2, And it came to pass that Nephi got dead. Amen. (inside joke - this is what Makensey said once when she was 4 years old and was "reading" the scriptures to her little sister).

Nah, just kidding! Here is the real one!

1 Nephi 16: 36-39... (paraphrased in my own words) . . .Lamen and Lemuel want to go back to Jeruselem, even though they know it will be destroyed. They want to kill Lehi and Nephi because they don't want to follow their advice. They say they are crazy and lie about the visions and angels, even though an angel visited them one time. BUT God was with them, chastened them, and then blessed them. They repented and were blessed by the Lord after about 10 million times of rebelling, repenting, rebelling, repenting, rebelling. 

I like this scripture because it shows that we can always learn, repent, and receive blessings from God because he loves us and wants us to succeed. :)

Nothing too exciting going on here, just working hard every day! I have the nurse phone to myself now, so that is fun! I am better at listening to Spanish and kind of responding in Spanish... I still cheat and ask to talk to their gringo companion if they have one though... But no one has died yet, so that is good news! I guess that means my Spanish is half way decent! ish. 

I love you all! Thank you for your support and love! Have an amazing week!!!! :)

Love,

Hermana Markle.:)

Items of Business...

1. Good luck mom!!!! Your calling is a big one! Here the RS President doesn't seem to do quite as much as you though! Keep up the good work! GOOD LUCK!!! I will pray for you and the families in our ward!

2. Happy fall break!!!!!!

3. Yes it still rains every day. Currently I am sitting in a puddle from my dripping hair and clothes. But I like it. No worries. :)

4. I miss you all and I love you! I pray for you every day! I wish you could all be here right now!!!! :)

5. Have a good week!!!! LOVE YOU!

Kevin's Baptism

Gallegos, Kevin, Garner, Markle

Rigo and Kevin

Look what I made! It made me so happy!

My usual daily breakfast - yogurt and granola.

Look who I found - Hermana Bratt!

I found Hermana Fowler - Again! Miss her!

Email from Hermana Peterson (Senior Couple serving in Costa Rica)

As I walked into the Mission Home the other day, I saw Hermanas Garner & Markle, as you can see, & had to take their picture. I thought they looked so sweet, sitting their sleeping. This was at about 9 in the morning & I thought they must be reeeeeally tired! Turns out, this was their study time & they were saying their personal prayers. The young missionaries are such good examples to us older couples for sure!!

Love, Hermana Petersen

October 6, 2014

Our new companion - Hermana Gallegos.

Hola!! 

 

How was conference?? I hope you all loved it as much as I did!!! A lot about Prophets! And tons of other good things! I cheated and watched it in English.... In the office with my gringa companion while my other companion sat with our investigators in the chapel! It was great!!!!! Even when I know Spanish, I will want it in English, hearing their voices and personalities is the best!

This week we saw more miracles!! Our goal was to have 10 investigators watch conference. The mission goal was 500. We only had 4 by the Sunday afternoon session... BUT we prayed and called people, and prayed some more during the break. And at 3:00pm, a family of 6 walked into the chapel!!!!!! That makes 10!!!! And even more, Elder Bednar's talk that was directed to non members was in the last half of the last session, just for them!!! It was amazing! God truly answers your prayers when you do your part and work as hard as you can. He loves his children and he wants them to find the truth. And he did! :)

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. He wants to help you, and he wants to give you personal revelation, you just need to seek for it. I loved all of the talks! And I am sad I used to accidentally fall asleep occasionally during conference before... It is the best!

I love you all! Have a fantastic week!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

P.S. I chopped off my hair... I am not really sure why... I miss it already... But it will grow, right?

10 inches -- chopped!

My hair broke my brush, so I chopped it off!

This kind Elder cut my hair for me!

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!)