Put On Your Combat Boots. You Are A Warrior.

Hi ....: )

I'm really sad to hear about Kel Kel. You are such an amazing warrior,
Kel! I can't believe it. :( I am going to fast for you and you are in
all my prayers. Seriously that is devastating. But I have faith that
you are going to get your hearing back. You are amazing.

Also I just have to say I love the pictures!! Kendra's garden is 
beautiful!!!! 

I am so excited for you to meet
President and Sister Wilkinson. They are incredible. You are going to
cry hearing them. They are some of the most amazing, powerful,
Christ-like people I have ever known. 

On Tuesday we had our last
meeting as an entire mission before it splits tomorrow. Half of my
friends from the MTC are in the East mission and half are in the West. I
am with President Laborial from Honduras and I am staying as a
sister training leader in Tejar. The meeting was one of the most
sacred I have been in. There are so many things I have learned from my
mission president that I will never forget. At the end he gave us a
blessing and bore his powerful testimony. It was one the most
incredible moments I have felt here. Then each missionary, one
by one, got to say goodbye to the family and the sisters could hug
President Wilkinson and the elders could hug Sister Wilkinson! It was
incredible. Hugging him felt like what hugging Jesus would feel like.
I cant wait for you to meet them.

Well...there was also a huge curveball this week. My companion woke up
in a panic and she told me that she thought she had lice. So I checked
her head and she did!! It was absolutely horrible. I didn't get it. 
We went to the store and bought special
shampoo and treatments and pills for protection. But I felt soo bad
for her! She got really bad depression from it and couldn't eat like
the whole week. Every day I combed out the lice and had to squish it
with my fingers so it pops and dies. Sorry if this is TMI. But last
night I took out the rest and we were both crying because it was
something really emotional that happened this week. But she is okay
now. And we are like sisters because we have gone through so much
together. We love each other and would do anything for each other
and that is true Christ-like love. I have no idea how she got it but demographically 
we are in a very humble place. 
 But this pill we took protects us for 6 months. Sooo that was not fun. 

Last night we both got fevers and a cough. So right now we are coughing 
and stuff but we are going to take naps after this. It's going to pass by fast.

The mission is so crazy sometimes but so wonderful! Because its like a
bootcamp to shape you into a better person and always serve. Always
think about others first. I love that because its just the best thing.

We have a whole family getting baptized on saturday!!!! 4th of july
will be the best day ever. 

I Love you and I just want to say thank you
for everything and all the support and you all are warriors.

ps. Funny random thing for your entertainment. Guess what we did last p
day? We took a tour of McDonalds with hairnets on. BEST P DAY EVER. We
were just eating there with the other hermanas and this worker said,
'hey do you want to take a tour?' and we said 'um of course!!!' 

Ok bye!!

Bonus: "10 Fun Father's Day Facts About My Dad."

AH! I have so much to fill you in on! Lets just start off with the business shall we? 

Ok, prayer works. The Lord really does take care of everything and its incredible. I am assigned to serve in the Costa Rica West Mission! My new president is President Laborial and he is from Honduras. The secretary in the mission told us that the West Mission changes are a little before the East Mission. So that means that I am finishing my mission in December!! SO I can end my mission and also go to school for Winter semester!  Can you believe it? Miracles.

I am doing so good. I really am. There are really hard things, Im not going to lie. But we are trying. The zone this month did soooooo bad. We had baptisms but they all fell for different reasons. So that was hard. And we are the leaders so we have the guilt and we are going to have to give accounts for that. But for some reason, I am filled with peace because we are trying hard and constantly trying to find ways to improve. 

The good news!!! We are teaching an AMAZING FAMILY. A complete family. They were previous investigators from the elders but they never progressed. Then we started going and they have completely changed. They came to church 3 times and love it! And they love praying. We made this little guide for them to help them learn how to pray and they are so excited to use it!! And wow its just awesome. They had a baptism date for the 20th of July and then they were like....we cant wait for our baptism! So we changed it for the 4th of july. :) 

We are having fun. We had an amazing stake conference and I sang a solo in it! I sang the primary song Whenever I Hear the Song of a Bird. And the missionaries sang Army of Helaman and Sisters in Zion. It rocked and Im so glad it turned out because we only had like two days to practice it but it all came together. I loved it! I wake up feeling so happy and ready to work every day. 

There is this family in our ward that reminds me a lot of our family, just younger. There are two girls and a boy like us and the dad is our ward mission leader. He coughs and clears his throat like you do, Dad, and also has back problems and wears this corset thing for his back and we make fun of it. He really reminded me of you! I was thinking about you all day. Happy Father's Day! I love you and you're the best!! Thank you for supporting me on my time here!

10 Fun Facts About My Dad:

1. He cant yell. His yells are like whispers, they just can't carry.

2. He loves treats just as much as the kids do. When we ask my mom for treats, he's just as excited. (I know he has a secret candy stash because I may or may not have found it.)

3. When we get in a family fight, he's the first to say sorry and ask for forgiveness. He always takes correction.

4. He has a sense about boys. He ALWAYS knows.

5. He laughs when he's tired. 

6. He has a gift for cooking. But NEVER uses a recipe. He likes to invent and be creative and most of his creations are tasty tasty tasty.

7. He knows about the gospel and has a gift for answering the questions of my soul. He explains in such a way that is so correct that you can't deny it.

8. He CANNOT latin dance. (He does a ridiculously good robot though.) and his Spanish sounds Finnish. hahahaha! I have no idea where his latina hija came from!

9. He loves my mom. He will just pop out random comments out of nowhere like: kids? did you know mom is the most beautiful woman in the world? and he protects her. If we are disrespectful to her, he will do something. He will do anything for her. 

10. He is................THE BEST DAD ON THE PLANET!!!

Keeping it real.

Hellooooooooooo!

I am just writing to say that today the internet was a little crazy because my computer didn't work for most of the time and now I have to get off!!! So Im sorry for not writing! I will write next week and I just want you to know I love you and I am doing so well. Talk to you soon!!

These two girls are the sweetest. They love the Book of Mormon!

Taco Bell with the Hermanas

Our zone. Best Pals!

Our last leadership council with our dear
President before he leaves Costa Rica.

If you work hard in the rain, THIS happens.

This week it RAINED … I mean RAINED. You know in the movies when someone is walking on the side of the road and then a car comes by and
splashes water ALL over the person? That happened to me. TWICE. haha!
Good thing we ain't here on missions to be in a fashion magazine!

Sometimes its really hard to work in the rain because nobody wants to
let us in their house to get their stuff wet. So we were just out for
hours trying to teach and find. 

But you know what a returned
missionary in our ward said? That when you work hard under the rain,
your husband is going to be super attractive! So we were like....YES!
And we may or may not have sent that to the other hermanas to give
them a little encouragement! 

Our investigators are doing so well! We are teaching a family right
now. We found them on the street and then the dad called us
(which is rare).  He wanted to learn English. So at first we
started teaching them English and then they started asking questions.
He has two step daughters and they are the
sweeeetest girls and they have all these questions. They LOVE reading
the Book of Mormon and they even shared it with their teacher. They
have been coming to church and we are helping them be baptized this
Sunday!

Something spiritual I learned and had experiences with this week was repentance.
I just know that its something that we really should do every day and
there is a true peace from doing that.

This week was kind of hard. I realized this week that there were some things that I
didn’t like about myself and was feeling anxious for mistakes. I had a
long talk with Heavenly Father, and now I feel a lot more peace after
repenting.

My companion is amazing and I love her and
we get along super well. We are both helping
each other become the people that God wants us to be. And like you said,

I really have turned a corner in my mission. We are trying to be diligent and

work super hard and try to be really obedient.

Mom,  I know you have
that special mom sense. Thank you for all your prayers and fasts.

Also I miss you all a lot. I think we are always on the same wavelength! When you

dream about someone it’s because they are thinking of you. And also,

Its so hard to not have you!
Sometimes I just want to be hugged because it’s very rigorous. Good
thing I have an amazing companion. We talk all night and we can be
ourselves.

We had a little scary experience with almost getting robbed. But God
really protects us and we have elders in our area who are always
willing to help.

It was kind of funny because we called the Elders and they
came with 4 other big guys who know the streets and they were like “we
will protect you! “ So its good because they know who the elders and
sisters are and look out for us. Because yes, some parts of our area
are kind of like the hood. But don’t worry, we really are safe. We know
what areas to be in and what areas to avoid.

I guess that is part of the experience. You have to be tough to be a sister
missionary. I am thankful for prayer and God's protection.

Well that was my week! I love you! Have a wonderful week.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY.

Hello my lovely family y friends!

This week was miracle week! Maria Mercedes, Elizabeth and Jennifer were baptized!! Can I just say that before someone gets baptized it is a race, a war, and a just the craziest time. So on Thursday all the missionaries in our zone went to their house to help them with their paper work because they had a ton! So we were all just laughing and having a good ol time and then one of the sisters told my companion that she was leaving to Nicaragua the next day! and inside we were like noooooooooooooooo! so we made a bunch of phone calls and we were able to do the baptism on friday...the next day. It was a wild ride to make a really long story short but the day of their baptism was sooo special! We have something very special with this family and I wish you could meet them someday because they are just so amazing and FUN.  Like Hilarious.

This week was also amazing for the hermanas because we were able to meet our goal for this month as a region and I just have to say that I now have a true testimony of fasting. Because this month we really put it to the test and every night and every prayer I just pleaded God for these people and that everything could be okay. He makes everything happen. My trust in Him is continually growing because He never leaves us and if there is one thing that Ive learned, we always have reallly strong trials of faith right before the miracle. :) (ether 12:6) I cannot tell you how grateful I am!!!

Now for a random little story for your enjoyment. Our bishop rocks. He is a really big guy, talks really loud, and he was giving a talk and said a little joke and for some reason it just made me do my man laugh. AND NO ONE ELSE EVEN CRACKED A SMILE. So everyone looked at me and I went red. End of the story. Maybe it was something that you had to be there. I appreciated that moment.

Guess what? I got asked to sing a solo in stake conference! Im excited and nervous but Im sure it will be fun. And yesterday a little accident happened and I bit my lip really hard and it bled and now I have a nice swollen lip that looks like i put purple lipstick on. But I like it! Makes me look tough and its not that bad. Also random thing. Here we like to do fun handshakes with people and then we rock it. i taught them to do the snail and they love it! hahaha. It rains a lot. And thats about it for the news of this week!

I heard about Elder L. Tom Perry yesterday. He was an amazing man and Im so grateful for his life and all his council. :)

I love you all!

Some things never change. I'm referring to my disability with directions.

Hello. :)) I love all of your emails. I was excited to hear about the family campout. Thank you for keeping me up and whenever I hear about max and everyone I just want to see you! 

Mom I received your extremely honest letter. I just about died. It was a top 10 best letter I have ever received in my life. I enjoyed that girl chat.

Well today, Im not sure why but I feel a little anxious and overwhelmed with email time. I just feel like I cant get back to everyone and say what I really want to say. So that is the worst. Hope you can forgive me for some scattered emails. 

I love my camera! Im taking a lot of pics but there's always something that happens...for example today I brought the wrong chord so I cant send them. Thank you for your lovely patience.

We had double divisions this week. So I stayed here in this area for the whole week and let me just say that some things never change........I am referring to my disability with directions. hahahaha! I took like 5 wrong busses and we got lost a lot but in the end we ended up having some great adventures.

We are still working with 2 wonderful ladies. They were so READY to be baptized but one of the dear sisters got REALLY sick with a high fever and other terrible symptoms for days. It was the worst! It was a trial of faith! She was able to get a blessing from the Elders and we prayed and fasted for them. Yesterday night she was healed! So this week they will get baptized. :) We have been working so hard with them. They are amazing.

What else? I am eating, and breathing and preaching the gospel. :) Thank you for all your support. I hope you all know I love you. HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

The cutest little chunk! Her name is Sarai. :)

My cray cray companion. I love this woman!

In our house. :)

On P-day with the missionaries and our lovely investigator.

In a really tight alleyway..

Shell-shocked.

HI YALL!!!

I am so excited for your home campout you are going to have!! Make sure to send some pics if you can!!! :)

There's a lot of things to say. We had some crazy fun times this week. We had a big talent show in the stake, and our zone did a silent musical. I was on divisions so I wasn't there when they did the practice, so they made me a rock. And then I got updated to tree number 2. I was a tree in the Sacred Grove so I appreciated that. I was joking around beforehand saying that I have prepared my whole life for this moment and I was so nervous. Hahaha!

 And we also sang and I got the chills the whole time and just felt so happy and grateful to be with these missionaries. Also, I accidently stole an elders plaque and put it on because we were scrambling because in the skit we didnt have them. Long story short, I was an elder for approximately 5 mins.  And then my companion signed me up to sing with my uke and I sang the song that Hermana Acosta and I wrote about missionary work. And she told me I had a shell shocked look on my face because I didn't realize there was so many people! But it was really fun. I have videos of both these things but I cant send them right now. After my mission you can see them!

We went on divisions and I went back to San Carlos....my first area. Well not exactly but really close. It was so weird to be back there. I felt this weird feeling in my stomach to be there again. It was like all the memories from starting my mission flashed before my eyes. But it was great. :) 

We had to go on emergency divisions because some hermanas were having a hard time and really discouraged. When I got there, the hermana I was with was really sad and I was praying to know what I could say or do to help her. We ended up having a really amazing talk and we both felt a lot of peace. And then we WENT TO WORK! We talked to everyone in our path and invited people to be baptized and the Lord blessed us with a ton of new investigators that day. 

At the end, she was so happy and we could see the hope. 

Do you remember that talk the 4th Missionary? I read it again recently and I want to be like that - just to be able to give everything to God. You have to give up everything, all your fears, or weaknesses and just say...I'm weak but with Thee I can do it. I truly love being a missionary. Its the best shaping experience for my life.

Welp, one thing I am definitely learning is patience because we are working so hard with an amazing family and they were so excited for their baptism and then all of a sudden they said that they dont want to. :( So we are going to work really really hard this week to help them. I know the Lord will work everything out. I trust Him. 

Other than that, I am well. And happy. Thank you for everything. I love you with all my heart. And even though life can be so stressful, just give everything to God and He makes us strong. You all are the best...

Talk to you soon!!