"Missing mi mamitas!!! A few pictures from my previous area, Pococi"

Mi Mamita Kim :):)

Hermanas forever

"Instead of yelling in my sleep, I now have good dreams of baptisms."

Feliz Navidad ya casi! les amoooooooooo!!

Let me just start off with a picture of the rain!

That's the street!!!

Look how cute! This is Maxy, the son of an investigator.

So HI.

How are you? I am doing so well. First and foremost, I can decide to talk through skype either 24th or 25th. We can choose. So which do you prefer? I know my companion wants to talk with her family on Christmas Eve, but it is whatever you want. I am just excited to see all of your gorgeous faces and hablar and hablar and hablar and laugh. :))) I am so excited! Just let me know, and I am fine either way.

The view from our little apartment. I love it!

This is an area where we work. It's called La Suiza which means "The Swiss"...like me!

I love my new area! We live in San Rafael and it is really cool because all the houses are really colorful, and there is a gigantic gorgeous church practically right outside our window. We live in this cute little apartment on top of an internet cafe, a video store, and a pizza place, and an ice cream shop. :) I love it. Our branch is really cute and I really like it.  And this week we have truly seen miracles. Also I really like Hermana Medina. She is very tranquila.( that means like calm or chill. haha like my spanglish? yes, i am totally completely missionary right now. :)) We work really well together. It has been interesting, the change. In my other areas, I took the more passive role, and here I am the more assertive one. It is interesting that your companions bring out different roles in your personality. But it has been good. We are working really hard and striving to be exactly obedient to feel the Spirit at all times. :) 

Eating with a wonderful lady named Dylana. She is sooooo spunky.
We ate Mexican food because of Hermana Medina.

This week was a week of miracles. First, I read a talk that Nathan sent to a lot of our friends who are serving missions. He said that this talk was helping his entire mission with their goals to baptize every week. It is called Faith in Jesus Christ. I want to encourage everyone to read it because it really is incredible! I read it and studied it and have strived to apply it.

It is all about faith and truly believing without needing evidence. Believing and applying principles from the scriptures, from leaders without doubting. Not needing evidence, just doing it. The next thing is disciplining yourself completely. Decide what you want to accomplish, and hold your word sacred to God. Make specific plans, and commit to achieve exactly what I truly desire. The next thing is to do your part. Do everything in your power, sacrifice, work, do everything. And finally pray. Pray because this is the work of the Lord and really everything is in His hands. Ask with all the strength you have, and believe that you will receive.These steps are simple, but so powerful. 

This past weekend we were going to have a baptism for an hermana whose name is Griselda and her daughter Fiorella. I'll just add a little pic of me swinging on a swing at Griselda's house.

On a swing at Griselda's house

They are two incredible people who have lived lives that I cannot even imagine. They live in one room. She and her two children share one bed to sleep. She doesn't have work right now, and her husband left her. But they are very faithful and kind. Not to mention hilarious and full of sassy Tican personalities.

But they were about to be baptized and we went to visit her my first day here, and she said that she didn't want to get baptized because she was scared and still had doubts. And she also said that she didn't want to have pressure. We were both praying so hard to know what to say. We spent an hour talking to her and we prayed with her and the Spirit was so strong, and we helped her understand that it is a leap of faith. But even after feeling this peace, something held her back and she couldnt do it. But she agreed to come and have the baptism interview and everything. (huge miracle.)

After, we tried and tried to visit her but she wouldn't answer her phone and wasn't at home and we were just praying. On sunday she came to church! And then we made a plan to have a family night with the president of the branch and his wife, and other members. Last night was so spiritual. It was amazing because Hermana Medina and I didn't hardly teach anything, the members were encouraging her and sharing testimonies, and finally her son who is a member bore his testimony and told her "Don't be scared, mom." And at first she said not yet, not yet. But they didnt stop. They kept encouraging, sharing, lifting her, and she felt the spirit and said completely and surely that she would get baptized this coming Saturday. She even said who she wanted to give the talks and everything. It was truly a miracle. 

Also through visiting members we found a family!! And a lovely young woman named Charlene. :)) 

I am so happy. I love talking to new people every day. Instead of yelling in my sleep, I have happy dreams of baptisms. Haha!  But there really is no time like this. And we meet fantastic people. I want you to meet all the amazing people I have met here. But thank you for your prayers. I am so excited to see you all sooooooooooooon! 

And now some more pictures......

Maria Paula and I. We click so well and we
laugh our man laughs all the time! I love this girl!

This is right before I left Guapiles.
MAKING TORTILLAS with Noria,
a very sweet investigator.

Hey! It's Michael from SOAR!!

"The people in the city are a little more rushed, but I know we are going to baptize here."

Tuesday, December 9th

Muy bien ma y pa! Que buena espanol! Guess what? I’m in a new area. I had changes yesterday. My new companion is Hermana Medina and she is from Mexico. She has 3 months left in her mission. I am still getting to know her, but she is kind and calm and very spiritual. I have a feeling I am really going to like my time with her. She is very obedient and we are very obedient together. 

I have a lot of goals for this new area because it’s like a brand new start. I am in San Jose...the city...in San Rafael. It is super beautiful!! I love it already! I am going to send you a picture of the view outside our window. I am ready to change and become better everyday. 

Changes are really hard. :( It’s hard because I really, really loved Pococi. The ward was amazing and I have a lot of friends that I am never going to forget. When I left yesterday, Hermana Bram and I cried and cried. But everything we went through and all that happened made a relationship that I can't ever forget. My time with Hermana Bram was a time of great growth and understanding and expanding my compassion. And now I am stronger. 

My goal for this new area is really to always be exactly obedient, to be more bold while teaching, have more faith, and really get to know my area. The people in the city are a little more rushed, but I know we are going to baptize.

It sounds like you had a very Christmassy week! Your questions made me laugh :) Did you like the Christmas devotional? I thought it was beautiful but I didn’t really get to pay a lot of attention because I was running around. 

Have you seen the little video clip HE IS THE GIFT? We are sharing it with the whole world right now - with people on the street, with investigators, members, and just everyone! We have had some really spiritual experiences because of it.

My dad asked me some questions:

   
1. How's the language coming along? Do you feel like you can express yourself?

   2. Do you still burst out laughing your man laugh sometimes? Can you make the Costa Ricans laugh and do they appreciate your humor?

  3. What do you eat every day? What is your favorite food?

  4. Is Costa Rica pretty? I hear it is beautiful there. Have you seen the ocean?

Okay now for your questions. :) 

1. I can understand practically everything and speak a ton. I still feel more myself and my personality when I speak English, but I am starting to feel more like myself in Spanish. Sometimes I can't say exactly what I would say in English because I don’t know how to say it. I still make a lot of language mistakes but I can communicate or give a talk. I always pray in Spanish now and I dream and talk in my sleep in Spanish and sometimes I think in Spanish, but not always. 

2. Hahaha! I have laughed really hard at times, but not as much. But yes we laugh. Ticos LOVE to tease.

3. We eat rice and beans every day. But it is not plain white rice. It has tuna and vegetables and its really, really good. Platanos and a type of meat. Really yummy soup with potatoes and platanos and yuka. There are a lot of exotic fruits here too.

4. Costa Rica is beautiful. Here in San Rafael the houses are all colorful and there are palm trees everywhere and beautiful green hills. Pococi wasn’t as pretty, but I loved it because of the people.

I can’t wait to skype with you too! Thank you for everything! I love you! I am sending a package with gifts from Costa!

"A delicious Thanksgiving feast of rice, beans, and platanos."

Hi Fam,

First, Happy Thanksgiving a little late! :) Im glad you had a nice time in good ol Casa de Bret! I lovvvvvvvve the pics and Max is the cutest, sweetest little guy in all the world. He reminds me of Clark when Clark was a little bean.

As you probably know, they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here, but in the morning, Fari called me. (My next door neighbor) and she said in perfect English with no accent or anything, "Good morning. Happy thanksgiving. And then she invited us over for lunch and we celebrated thanksgiving by eating fried chicken. And then we sang happy birthday" for no reason. Yep. Thats our lives. :)

At night we also were invited to eat dinner with some of our investigators and we ate a thanksgiving feast of rice and beans and platanos. :) It was delicious of course. Super fun. These people are so nice. They are very Catholic but always are welcoming to us and always listen. They always tells us, "when you go home and then come back to Costa Rica, you always have a bed to sleep in when you come." :) 

Second, I GOT MY PACKAGE!!! Yesterday we went to San Jose because Hermana B had an appointment at the doctor for her feet. (But everything in just fine.) On the bus ride home, we were all so anxious to open it that we all just ripped it open. But I didn't open the wrapped things yet, I controlled myself. But thank you soooooooo much. I cried a little because I felt so much love and I am so grateful that I have a camera now! Thank you so much for everything! Also I love the ctr rings and GUM. Haha for the house only, I promise. :) Wow I wish I could put into words how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family.

I GOT MY PACKAGE!! WOOO!

We had a really cool spiritual experience this week! A sister in church brought her friend Fernando from Madagascar to church. He is interested to learn more about the gospel. He is learning spanish because he is going to be studying here for four years. He doesnt speak very much spanish yet, so I was able to translate for him in english. It was such a spiritual experience. He has a ton of questions and I felt truly like the spirit was using me as a tool to help answer his questions about the gospel. We are going to start teaching him. He is really amazing and very receptive.

K and J and B have been coming to church regularly and guess what? She went to the doctor and they told her that she still has 4 more weeks until the baby is born! Can you believe that!

4 MORE WEEKS TO GO! Say whaaat?

Well, I love you all so much. The Lord is always near and hears and answers our prayers. He is always blessing us and even though there are trials every day, remember that they are things that are helping you become who He wants you to become and there is no way to fail. Keep on keeping on! This gospel is true and changes lives. There are so many things I wish I had time to share, but I will talk to you next week!

Us and our Zone Leaders. Last day with
Elder Tai (far right). He is the best
leader I've ever had.