"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.

Yendry and Erika = Yerika

Saludos de COSTA! 

Im here sweating my little face off. :) Its so hot!  But I like it. My friends have been sending me pictures of the snowy utah mountains and I forgot that its snowy and cold! :) Its completely opposite here. Its green and there are palm trees everywhere and mosquitos still eating me alive at night. But dont worry Mom, I wear repellent. Another random thing that made me smile this week was we were waiting for the bus and there was this groovy salsa music playing. (There is always bachata or salsa playing in the street in el centro) Then I looked across the street and some people gathering together to dance. They were so good! And I was so tempted to just go DANCE!  But it made my whole day to hear and watch street salsa.

BTW, My new email day is Tuesday - But my P-Days are still on Mondays.

Anywho, this week was real nice. We had an AWESOME multi zone conference with president wilkinson and wow....the spirit was so strong and I learned so much. I just felt like jumping out of my seat and putting everything into practice. He taught us how to teach better and emphasized really strongly that teaching is not talking. Its truly listening and discerning and asking inspired questions. And another thing is to simplify. Even teaching simply that God is a loving father in heaven and thats all is more than enough if they feel the spirit testify of truth. I love our president and this mission. Every day I wake up grateful to be here.

I have a confession. I am crazy in my sleep. My poor mom, Hermana B, wakes up every night to my wild things I do. She told me the other night that I said (In spanish always) Im going to sing you a song. Its called: Te quiero. And then I started singing super loud TE QUIEROOOO TE QUIEROOO! And then after I said. Did you like my song? I wrote it for you. Te quiero mucho. And then I woke up to her saying: Hermana. Now is not the time to be singing. And I said, okay. And then we both went back to sleep. But its every night!! Hahaha. 

We have the best ward in the entire world. They always feed us and mess around with us and our bishop is crazy and amazing. We call him obipo (instead of obispo) and we are planning on taking a selfie with himtomorrow. We are so lucky. Also Hermana B and I have been assigned to be in charge of the retention for the zone. So we call everyone in the zone to see how the recent converts are doing and if they are coming to church. And we also work muy fuerte with the recent converts and less active members.

This week we had a miracle. We are good friends with a less active member, C. We have been talking to him and he went to church again for the first time in 4 years and we are planning on helping him get married because he has a girlfriend. And also we were messing around with him and took out his earring and Hermana Bram is wearing it right this second. Haha! But its a miracle! 

K hasn't had her baby yet, but we are hoping today! Did I already tell you that they are naming their baby Yerika? It is a mix of my name and hna B's name. Yendry and Erika. Yerika. At first we were just messing with them that they should name the baby Yerika, but they are serious! And its so sweet! Im so happy. She told us she is going to call us as soon as she has her. :)

The pictures of max are priceless. And I like what you did to my room!  Its weird to see my room have a boyish twist but it rocks. It's perfect for Maxwell while they are in Tonga. I wish I could hold him! When Kelly and Mark skype, what does he do? 

Also your poor eyes Mom! Please try not to strain them and rest them because Im worried. Ill be praying! And for grandmama and Grammy as well. And youre not going to continue driving right? You're such a strong person. I love you soooo much.

Yes I am still playing my uke a lot! I play for almost every baptism and wedding. :) Its really fun and Im happy to do it. YES I GOT ALL THE LETTERS! I was going to tell you. I loved it so much. Thank you to everyone.

Been wearing my glasses lately
 because I have a little eye infection..
But don't worry, Mom! I have eye drops.

Well, I love you all so much and thank you for everything always. I pray for you everyday and I love hearing about everything. And all the pictures too! 

"She can't do anything because she's Gringa!"

Four months on THE Mission!

Hola todos :)) How is everyone doing? Are you excited for the holiday season? People have already started putting up Christmas decorations here and a huge tree in the park and everything! I cant believe its almost here. The time really does fly! Where does the time go? (I sound a little like a granny but its true. :)

Today I am really really happy. This week was a great week and the Lord is always blessing us and helping us endure. We are continuing to work with J and K and B. They are going to get married this weekend and right after, K and B are going to be baptized. :) They are such cool people. They are really humble and live in this teeny house, but they are so nice to us and receptive. We always like to mess around with them. She is the one that is 9 months pregnant. Its kind of crazy, but possible. We have been trying to convince them to name her ¨Yerika¨ because its the name of Hermana B and I. They actually like it! Haha I really hope they name her that. Thats on my bucket list as of now. Today after we write, we are going to make cupcakes to sell for their wedding. 

M is doing so well! I always admire her so much because she is an example to her family, and strong through everything. Ever since her baptism, she has come to church every single sunday. We see her everyday and always have so much fun. Everybody asks why our nails are always cool and painted, and we just say....M. She is our best friend and I am going to miss her like crazy when we leave this area. Maybe I just wont leave. That would be the best. 

Hermana B and I are continuing to have adventures. We have this joke that I cant do anything because Im gringa. (Cookin? Dont even ask.) Yesterday we were with Faride and Cellso (Our neighbors) and they asked me to make tortillas with cheese. Really simple right? And Faride was trying to explain it to me how to make them and I told her that I know how to do it but they had their doubts. So I was a little jokingly mad, and I had to wash the thingy to cook with but I couldnt disconnect it, so I pulled really hard and knocked down a huge thing of rice alllllll over the floor! They laughed and laughed and then said SHE CANT DO ANYTHING BECAUSE SHES GRINGA! It was so funny. Oh wow. 

This week was stake conference and we had 8 invesigators come to church! It was the best!! Also we sang in choir. I love singing in church here because people SING their hearts out. This morning for P day we played soccer with the elders and it was so funny. Then we did a bunch of cartwheels and drank coke. haha. :) 

I know the Lord answers our prayers and in mysterious ways. We just need to look for the blessings and see the positive in everything because its everywhere. The people here are amazing. I wish you could meet them all. 

"This place rocks. I love seeing how people change."

I am so happy to hear from you!  I GOT YOUR PACKAGE, Kel!!! And I loved it!!! It was just what I needed to bring me sunshine. Thanks for being the best sister ever and not forgetting about me. :)) Also guess what? I ate the gum in like a week.........thats my life. My companion literally thinks Im addicted. And maybe I am....haha. NICE story bin with the numbers on the watch......hahaha!  P days go by so fast. Today we had a really fun P day with the whole zone. We played soccer and ate arroz con pollo and it was the best. I am planning on sending a really cool package for christmas so look for it!!! 

Love the pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It looks like your halloween was the best ever. I laughed out loud at your pictures, Mom!!! And the lobster bisque guy was perfect! 

I know what you mean when you say the week is a blur. I feel like that every week. HOW CRAZY!! Pococi is great. I love my zone and I love my ward. We have a ton of help and support from the members which is awesome. Right now we have some amazing investigators.

We are teaching a lovely sweet woman, named Kyla. She is 20 years old and has two kids. We have visited with her two times and both times were super excellent. She is very receptive and wants her children to grow up in the gospel. The only thing is that she is living with someone right now and they need to get married before she can be baptized. We haven't been able to meet her boyfriend yet, but we are praying really hard to be able to teach him too so they can get married and have the same goals.

We also have a family that is going to get married on the 15th! He is a member and she and her daughter are not. But she is also 9 months pregnant but wants to get baptized and married before her baby is born on the 22nd. Kind of crazy but possible! Also we have an 18 year old named Paula. Her boyfriend is on a mission and she has the goal to get married in the temple with him when he returns. So she is getting baptized!! Whoooooo! This place rocks. 

I am learning a ton here. A mission has brought out every single flaw and weakness that I have and up to this point, I have been so focused on the things that go wrong or how hard it is or how Im feeling and MY comfort and have had moments of hard anxiety. Its kind of intense sometimes. In those moments I have seen that I have been so self centered, when really this mission is completely for God and to focus completely outward like the Savior would. A mission is about truly letting yourself go and thinking completely about others, Its a little hard to explain but I am truly learning how to not be such a perfectionist and see the positive in absolutely everything, see the best in my companion, see the best in everything. The time fliiiiiiiiies. And this is just a time to completely be dedicated to the Lord. 

I love you and I love this gospel. Keep doing so much good and know that this gospel truly changes lives and its a gospel of peace and happiness. I love seeing how people change.