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!

August 31, 2015

Hello!!!! 

Today is transfers day! Any guesses...? Hermana Montepeque has transfers and she is leaving me here all alone in San Francisco. :( And I still don't know who will be my new companion until Wednesday. :( There are trying it a new way this month. They tell us who has transfers, but not where or with who until Wednesday. And then we all meet together and it's a surprise! So I guess you will find out next week! Exciting stuff! But I am sad. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Hermana Montepeque yet.. We only had 5 weeks together - And she is so nice. 

But no worries! I am sure the next companion will be nice too, right?  Speaking of nice, a member in our ward gave us goodbye presents yesterday in case we had transfers! She gave us both a full work out uniform! With sweat pants and shirts.  And new running shoes for Hermana Montepeque because she didn't have any.  They are so nice!!!!! :) I love the members here! They are all sooooo great to us!!! :)

Nothing really new happened this week... You will have to be patient to hear about transfers... I think I will probably finish my mission here in this ward.... You usually have two transfers with new companions, and then I only have one left! AHHH!!!!

We are in a trio for 3 days until transfers because one Hermana went home last night - so her companion is with us. :) Exciting stuff! We will have a full house for a few days during all of the changes... That means lots of cleaning afterwards! On the bright side - I think I get to give flu shots to the whole mission this month!!! I am SOOO excited!!! :) Yay! I love giving people shots... (a whole lot more than they like to get them!)

My mom shared something she learned at church with me today, so I will share it with you too. :) Enjoy! 

''In church today, one of our High Counselors shared an analogy that his Mission President told him when he was on his mission. He said that we really can't be a good instrument in the Lord's hands if we are trying to counsel Him on how and where and when we want to work. We are not a true instrument if we try to put "qualifiers" on our service. A true "Tool" does not tell its master how to use it. Would a hammer ever tell the carpenter that it does not want to hit the nail, or that it would rather hit a different nail, or that it would like to hit the nail softer, or maybe tomorrow? A good hammer is a tool in the masters hand, and does the will of the master. The master knows how to best use the tool, and has a plan that is bigger than just the hammer. The master uses many, many tools, and the hammer is just a part of a very big picture, and doesn't get to orchestrate the project. I like that analogy, because I think we all too often try to counsel the Lord on how we would like to serve, and where, and when. We forget that in order for us to be a true instrument in His hands, we needs to surrender ourselves to His wisdom and to His plan. It won't be easy, and it will definitely take us out of our comfort zone, but the Lord knows what He is doing. We owe him everything. We need to be good little hammers and do the work of the Lord!''

I hope everyone is doing awesome! Enjoy the new school semester!! Work hard and be good! Let the Lord guide you in everything that you do. :) Love you all! :)

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

My hair has horns! (the joys of humidity!)

August 24, 2015

Hello!

MY LITTLE BABY SISTER IS GOING ON HER FIRST DATE!?!? WHAT??? What is happening while I am gone??

Well this week was cool! We had a conference with President Nelson! :) He gave an amazing talk! He was in Hunduras and it was broadcasted to 5 missions to watch. :) He spoke in English and had a translator next to him for Spanish. Sometimes he got so excited to say something he would cut off the Spansih and say something new! So the translator was trying to keep up with him so everyone could understand what he was saying. :) It was cute.

He gave us marraige advice too! He said, 'I know you shouldn't be thinking about marriage right now, but do it anyways!' Hahah so he gave us some good goals. For life and for the mission. :)

Nothing else too exciting happened.. You can't really beat President Nelson, my second favorite apostle.... Maybe I will let you read my awesome notes after the mission...

We are teaching awesome people right now. :) That's all.

Have a great week!!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Here is a picture of us with Elder Duncan during the big conference!

Before . . .

During . . .

After! My cute companion had me cut her hair for her!

August 17, 2015

Hello family!!!

What's up? Besides going on two family vacations without me!!!! It's okay, we will just have to go on a mega-family vacation when I get home! Wahoo! :)

Guess what I did last week?? Went laser-tagging! Guess what else? I wore jeans for the very first time in over a year!!!! They kinda still fit... Almost... It was weird.

Also! Tomorrow is my one year in Costa Rica mark! Wahoo! :) And now I speak Spanish like a boss! But I still should probably study more... We don't quite get our hour every day to study.. Sometimes my companions still looks at me with a blank stare... Oh well. :)

Currently I am being eaten alive by bugs. I can feel them biting my legs and they itch really bad. Probably just flies though, not mosquitoes because we are in a building using internet... That's a lie. I just found it. It was definitely a mosquito and now I have like 16 bites... I tried to kill it, but it flew away...

Oh yeah! Happy Mother's Day mom!!! Saturday was mothers day here in Costa Rica. So we made little boxes and filled them with chocolate to give to all of the mothers in our ward! Yours is on it's way mom! ;)

This was a pretty bad week... My investigators called me old and fat all in the same lesson.... And they were being completely serious too... I asked, 'How old do I look?' and the 14 year old said, '27! or maybe 28!'....... And then at the end of the lesson the mom asked, 'Do you really walk a lot every day? It doesn't look like you walk very much at all... Be careful, because if you stop walking, you will get even fatter!'...... It was pretty sad... So I cried while eating a tub of ice cream. ;)

Good news! We found an adorable little girl who wants to be baptized! She is 13 and adorable! Her aunt is a member and she loves coming to church with her and going to Young Women's. :) We are trying to teach her mom too, but she's been pretty busy. But we will try again. :)

That's about it for this week... My companion was sick so we stayed home for two days and then had to work really hard for the other days to make up. But it all worked out. :) I hope you all enjoy starting school again! Have a great week! :) Love you!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

 

Items of Business.....

1. Kami, your hair is WAY better now! Thank you for changing it! I am happy now. :)

2. Congratulations on getting your license!!! You can drive! Wahoo! Are you taking over Brandon's car now that he's moving out??

3. Madi is a giant mermaid! ahh!

4. Brandon is moving out of my new bedroom! 

6. I think my intestines are finally catching up to moving to Costa Rica... I haven't had many problems with the food at all until now... But now my stomach is hurts lots every day, and other not fun stuff. It hates me. The food here is NOOOTTT healthy.... Oh well.

7. I miss you all and love you lots!

Yummy Mango Cake!

Our newest Investigator!

Maybe he will wait for me?

We played with the chalk at the mall!

mormon.org

Lazer Tag on P-Day!

Lazer Tag fun!

I ate this whole thing and then got very, very sick! . . . my bad! It was really good though - Peanut butter banana shake!

The twins that we are teaching.

I got fried! Where is my sunscreen??

Ouch!

The Andino Family. They are so good to us!

We love this family!

The Andino's feed us every Sunday! How sweet they are!

August 10, 2015

Hello!!!!

We had an amazing week over here in Costa Rica!!! :) Apparently there is a drought right now, and it hardly rains... But drought for them means, just less rain. So there is still rain. But it is really pretty here right now. :) A great week for a baptism! :)

Myriam is amazing! Her baptism was beautiful and we had a great turn out! President Hayes and Hermana Hayes even came! Afterwards lots of people got up to bare their testimonies and it was really special. :) She invited us over for dinner afterwards and we got to talk to her mom about the baptism a little. :)

We had a conference this week with Elder Duncan and President Hayes and it. was. awesome. I learned lots and lots and am excited to apply it to our area to help this ward and our investigators. :)

One thing they talked about was our motivation factors. Why do we do what we do? For ourselves? For someone else? To get gain? To improve quality of life? To do things the easy way? Or do things the Lords way?

'Para mi o para ti?' 'For me or for Thee?' For every decision we make, big or little, we should be analyzing our motivations and the outcomes and remember our Saviour Jesus Christ. If it is backed by love, obedience, progression, or service, DO IT! If it is backed by greed, pride, selfishness, laziness, or could hurt the progression of someone, DO NOT DO IT!

I know we are here to learn to be obedient, to learn to want to be good, to learn to help others, to learn to love and serve, to learn to learn and improve. And we have a loving Heavenly Father to help us at ever step. We have a loving Saviour to show us the way. We have the Spirit to guide us and to protect us. And we have our family and friends to give us support and love us. I love my life, this Gospel, and my family and I am happy! I hope you are all happy as well!

Have a great week!

Love,

Hermana Markle. :)

Items of Business....
1. I think we are going lazer tagging today! Wahoo! Pictures next week if it works out....
2. ITS AUGUST!!!! Almost time for school again!!!!
3. My new phone is too fancy. The pictures it takes are sometimes too big to send through email...
4. GOOD LUCK mom at the new job and training at the old!
5. Kami your hair is still REALLY blonde!
6. Brandon, if you stayed home with Suki, where are all of my cute Suki pictures for the week??
7. MY COMPANION IS TINY!!!! Now no one bugs me about being short any more :)
8. That is all..... I ran out of things...
9. My sickness is going away, but now my companion has it... So I bought her antibiotics too... :)
10. Be good!
11. Love you! Chao!

A family in our last area started a wall (in their house) that they wanted all the missionaries to sign. We got to be the first!

Pizza with my new companion!

A great ward member who takes us to pizza every time their is a new companion!

Removing stitches from an Elder's leg! Wahoo!

Look! This little restaurant sells IN n' OUT burgers!!! YUM! ;) Hahahah

An awesome family in our ward!

MYRIAM! My new best friend for life! :)

President and Sister Hayes were able to come to the baptism!