week 39

I've got some awesome news! On Tuesday Manfred finally got his mission call to Mérida
Mexico! WoooooHoo!!! He's going to be such an amazing missionary!

Ok...
This week was way out of the ordinary with all the stuff that's going on with that pesky virus. We
 had a zone conference on Thursday the 12th and while our President was giving his training he
 got a call. He went to cancel it, saw who it was, and said he had to answer it. He left the room
without another word and about 10-15 minutes later came back and said "Change of topic!" and
 the rest of the training was about the virus. The country is going to do the quarantine thing so
us missionaries have to buy food for two weeks for when it happens. We watched some cheesy
 hygiene videos, they gave us a big ol' bottle of hand sanitizer per companionship, and face
masks in case of if we get sick.
***Oh wow what a coincidence! I just got a message from my mom saying that the president of Costa Rica announced that we are quarantined! ***

After the conference we left and went directly to a Walmart to buy the 2 weeks worth of backup
food and that was really fun:) We filled the whole shopping cart.

The ceiling at a house we use to call home sometimes has a short ceiling.   haha

Friday the 13th was pretty boring apart from the fact that our phone finally has WHATSAPP!!!
 WOOHOO! Finally people RESPOND to us!!! A message that would take people 3 days or
more to respond to, they now answer in 2 minutes! It's actually the best thing ever
Yesterday (Sunday) was very unique because the church was cancelled and we have to give the sacrament to various families. Each time we shared a little scripture (Helaman 5:12) and shared a spiritual thought, and I actually liked it a lot more. It seems like we connect with the members in a more personal way. Also it was March 15 and I saw that the President declared it
the national day of Prayer which was super crazy! Also yesterday Manfred surprised me for my
birthday and came all the way to our area - about 2 hours of traveling in a bus - to say hi and
happy birthday and he gave me a tie! (I'm wearing it in the picture above).

 

Manfred is in the middle. 

And today (16th) is my brother's birthday!
I'm sure that things are only going to get weirder around here so I'm trying to really enjoy every
 moment outside proselyting in case if we get stuck in the house.
Also this week I met the most well-behaved dog ever and his name is Scrappy:

For my birthday my companion gave me these cupcakes and we made a sign to use as a candle and lit it on fire for me to blow out!  

week 38

Hello! Sorry for neglecting to write this past month, I have kind of been taking advantage of the videocalls and and other stuff we only get to do on preparation days. I have really been enjoying my mission with Elder Sosa. He is the best teacher and has taught me so many new things! His conversion story is truly amazing (something really similar to Alma the younger) and he is the most humble and cheery person despite his physical disabilities. Our first week together (feb 18) we made a goal of finishing the Book of Mormon before General Conference and we are already about to finish! We've seen lots of mini miracles in this area in the short time we've had here and I'm going to see if I can remember some of them:

Jorge Vargas

This man is a true SAINT. He has such a strong testimony and met the missionaries a long time ago. Since then, he hasn't missed a single sunday and he has a beautiful family of his wife and two kids. Except his wife isn't officially his wife, and that's why he isn't able to be baptized. It's a really sad story because he can't get baptized until he is married to her and they can't be married until his wife first divorces her first husband. And she can't do that because the first husband is hiding from the law in another country and is not willing to negotiate. My companion and I almost cried when they expressed to us their desires to be sealed in the temple for eternity and watch their son recieve the priesthood and their daughter go on a mission. However, the ward doesn't really help them at all anymore because they've been in this situation for 14 YEARS now. And even though they can't take the sacrament, they go to church every week without fail for their kids because they know that what is taught is true. We've been helping them to rekindle the dying desire to contact lawyers and proactivley chase their dream of going to the temple. 

Lefthy Jimenez 

This guy is  like 45 and he has diabetes. Because of a problem, the doctors had to cut off all of his toes on his left foot. He's also the boyfriend of the Young Women's President, except i dont know if that's the right word because they're both older and she already has kids, etc. anyways we started teaching him and he's really interested in the doctrine and does want to be baptized but he can't get his foot wet. We'll have to wait until it heals to baptize him and that might not be until the end of April or until we can get authorization to put a bag around his foot to prevent it from getting wet - potentially never. So pray for my amigo Lefthy that his foot can heal fast!

Marielena

One sunny day - like every other in Costa Rica - we were walking in a new place that neither of us have been before to familiarize ourselves with the area and a guy yelled out at us 'Elderes'! He had lots of energy and said he met Elderes a few years back and he had lots of questions about temples. We talked with him and before we left he said "I think Marielena would like it if you stopped by" and he showed us where she lived and then he left. We shouted "Upe!" behind the gate and nervously waited for this 'Marielena' and were about to leave when the door slowly opened and a short, old (like really really old) lady poked her head through. She saw us and smiled and then disappeared again behind then door. My companion and I look at each other like wut... and then the lady appeared again and said "let yourselves in" and energetically tossed the keys towards us which landed like half the distance. We were stuck because we couldn't reach the keys and the old lady couldn't walk down the stairs to get them so we found a stick and were able to retrieve them. We let ourselves in and talked a good while with her and heard another really sad story. She was too old to go to church and the priests used to bring the sacrament to her, but about a year and a half ago they all stopped coming and she she's too old to use her phone so she lost all contact with the church and felt really lonely. She shared lots of funny stories with us about old missionaries she met and we connected with her so well. We promised her we would return Wednesday and share some more and she told us that we were a direct answer to the prayers of a lonely widow. On Sunday we stopped by her house and asked if anyone had brought the sacrament and she told us no. We said we could do it and she tossed the keys again - they still only went halfway - and we got to share some more time with her and her son. She has so much faith and absolutely no fear and it really inspires me.

Sometimes I feel like I can't describe the spiritual experiences I have in a way that shows even a tiny part of what I felt. I feel like Moroni when he spoke about his weakness in writing in Ether 12: 23-25. Changing the words a little it would be like this "Lord, thou hast made my words powerful and great, even that I cannot write them, wherefore, when I write I behold my weakness in the placing of my words." We all have our weaknesses, Moroni with his writing, Moses with his speaking, and me with both of those. But one thing that Moroni guarantees us is that if we humble ourselves, those weaknesses will become strengths. 

 fresh mangos we picked and made into juice!!!  YUMMY!