Changes are coming!!!!!!BAH!!!!!!!
Hey family!
Um....so....kind of have
some news. Changes are tomorrow. And I have changes. Well.....sort of. I'm
still training Hna. Noj but we are getting ANOTHER newbie that I will be
training at the same time. So....we have to go to the changes meeting to pick
up the new girl. We don't know if she's from the states or is a Latina. But
I'll finish training Hna. Noj and then stay in the area (Paraíso) after she
leaves in 6 weeks to finish training the other sister. So it will be
interesting to train two newbies at the same time with different weeks. We'll
see how it goes. Hope you understand what is about to happen. I'm kind of
nervous but know that Heavenly Father will help me somehow. This will
definitely be a learning experience of patience and love. We'll see how it goes.
I've never been in a trio or trained two girls at the same time. The zone
leaders gave me a hard time like usual. We always joke back and forth and are a
little sarcastic. Anyway so that's the big news for this week. We found out
this morning and have been trying to prepare everything for the new sister. We
don't really have any room for a third bed so we'll see how it all goes down.
All the Elders told me to NOT STRESS. Ha-ha. So I'll probably be here in Paraíso until my year mark in July. Which is totally fine because I love this
area--the people, weather but will probably get tired of it by that time. Ha-ha.
Other things going down
in the big Costa Rica. The weather is awesome! Loving it! It's not too hot and
not too cold. All you need is a light jacket. Ha-ha. And it is April. So the
weather is great. Happy to hear that the weather is getting better where you
guys are at. Easter looked way fun! A little jealous of looking for Easter
eggs. So fun! Livy scored big time! Ha-ha. And the park! Wow...so fun! You guys
have legit spring fever. It’s probably nice to get rid of the snow for a while.
Can you believe that there will be snow once again when I get back? Crazy!
Also, I almost have 9 months! I'll have 10 months the day before I talk with
you guys for Mother's Day. The time is starting to pick up and go a little
faster. There are still very slow moments but overall, things are going along.
I was starting to get a little trunky like in my last email. It's funny how
when that happens, Heavenly Father just sends you more work to do. I always
think of the quote from President Hinckley...Forget yourself and go to work.
That's what I am trying to do. I told the Zone Leaders that I'm just trying to
be a good missionary. They gave me a hard time about that one too. Thankfully
the zone leaders don't have changes. They always make me crack up. I told you
they're both from the states right? Well yeah and they are hilarious. Spanish
is coming along too. There are still so many times that I mess up but I'm
trying to get better. I really need to study Spanish more. It's really been a
humbling experience. I can kind of feel how the Hispanics feel in Utah when
they try to talk with us and we can barely understand. But hopefully like you
guys say, I'll get it down before I come home. My comp helps a lot and people
are super patient with me. You get used to the little corrections that people
say.
My hair is driving me
crazy. I would like to get it styled – because the sides are thick – and I
always have to pull my sides up. I know that I will no longer agree to any free
haircuts (like in Rio Claro) ha-ha. At least my hair is growing out. I don’t
know whether to wait until I get home – or attempt to find a salon. What are your thoughts? I really probably
won't do anything and will chicken out. I need Debbie Curtis at home to come here to cut my hair - please!!!!!!
This past week, we have
been teaching a lot about overcoming addictions. And how ironic that this Sunday,
all the talks were about the Atonement. Our fast Sunday is after conference.
The talks were so great! They were basically thoughts from the General
Conference talks but still good. We have been helping Jackie and her husband.
He still works at a bar and has an addiction to drinking alcohol. Not the best
idea to work in a place where it's everywhere. That's like me working in a
bakery. We explained that they need to drop the bar and he needs to find a new
job. But their faith is pretty low and they don't trust that he can find a new
job. They said they need money for the house and food. One of the Elders
explained pretty directly about how if they don't sacrifice and show their
faith, their family won't reach the goal of being in the temple. It's really
sad. Jahleel is struggling again with his addiction to coffee. We had him meet
with a trusted leader and write a list of goals and obstacles. Hopefully he can
get back up and going. He finally came to church again and ended up bringing
his mom. It was awesome! Hopefully we can get back into teaching her and help
her be baptized too. We had taught her before with Jahleel but she didn't want
the responsibility of being a member. So we'll see. Yeudi and Pricila were at
church!!!!! Their third time! They are so getting baptized next weekend! April
13th! I love love love them! I can't wait for you to meet them! They are
excited to meet you all too in a year. They want me to build/buy a house next
to theirs for when I come and visit them. Ha-ha. We helped them move to a
nearby city (still in our area hallelujah) and got them all settled in. They
had some problems with demons on Sunday in their house. Just some weird things
happening. In their baptismal interview tomorrow night, we are going to have
the District Leader and his comp bless their new home to protect them. We
explained about the priesthood and how it will bless their family. They are
getting excited for General Conference and are going to the meeting on Friday
about how to strengthen your marriage. Their family has changed completely! They
have so much love and kindness in their home. It is amazing the changes that
can happen with the gospel. We taught them the law of chastity with members and
they were awesome about it. Tonight we are teaching a little bit more about
tithing and Sabbath day. We are just praying that this last week before their
baptism, they can stay strong. They are seriously such a blessing. I have
really enjoyed teaching them. We are teaching another teenager named Alondra. I
think I already told you a little bit about her. She has a baby and is 15, but
we are teaching her and preparing her for baptism April 27th. She has a lot of
doubts and concerns. First we need to explain about the fall and that Christ
was/is perfect. She believes that Christ had the sins of Adam and Eve. So we
have a lot of explaining to do. Ha-ha. But she's great and the spirit is always
so strong when we teach her. We might be helping her plan a wedding to her
boyfriend before her baptism but her boyfriend is super catholic. So we'll see
about that. Our other investigators are all new. We've had to move on from a
couple that always drop out of appointments. It's sad but we just pray and move
forward. We can't take time to focus on people who don't want the gospel when
there are many waiting who do. Our investigators are fine and plugging along.
We had a fun Relief Society activity for the birthday of the program. We ate
cake and sang Happy Birthday. It was pretty fun. Pricila and Alondra came. We
had a piñata and all the women acted like little children trying to get the
candy. We took some pictures. This ward is seriously like the wards in the
states. They are all so close.
My comp is doing so much
better. She is so awesome. She's really progressed and is teaching more. We are
having a lot more fun together. I have just tried to be a good example to her. She
is studying more and doing much better. It's been great. We'll see how a third
person goes. Oh...cool experience. We were heading to an appointment but on our
way saw a family. They were all so happy and the dad and mom were holding hands
(which you don't see much). I told Hna. Noj that we need to talk to this
family. She said that we were going to be late for our appointment. I
said....yeah but I feel like we need to talk with this family. So we followed
the family and contacted them. We have an appointment with them this week. When
we contacted them, in front of where they live was another investigator playing
with his friend. We were able to talk and visit him too. Just think if we wouldn't
have followed that family, we wouldn't have seen our investigator or gotten a
contact. We were able to teach our appointment after where we received two new
investigators (cousins of our appointment). Such blessings when we follow the
spirit. I always try to live so that Heavenly Father will trust me enough to
follow the promptings. Just a little something that happened this week. I am
learning more faith and trust in the will of Heavenly Father. He knows what
needs to be done better than we do. I am also learning confidence in myself.
It's been a great week and we are working along. We will be able to watch
conference in English....I think. Ha-ha. If not here, we'll go to Cartago with
the zone leaders and watch it there. I'm
excited to see/hear what they say. Oh almost forgot, in the week before Easter,
we watched the various processions of death of Christ, resurrection and others.
When we saw the one group of Young men go by, I told my comp I wanted to jump
in the middle and start preaching repentance like the prophets in the book of Mormon.
Then she said they would crucify me too. It was funny. After, I got this deep
and powerful feeling of the fight that we are in. I watch all these people who
would be excellent missionaries and members. It made me want to cry. I told my
comp that we need to get to work because we are in the fight of our lives. We
need to push and knock on every door and give EVERY person the opportunity to
listen. So....I'm pushing it a bit more this week. Anyway...better send this
off to you all. Have fun. I'll be writing you on Monday. Good luck this week in
all you do with work and with children. Keep being an amazing family! I miss
you all so much. Love you all so much. You
are all in my prayers. Be happy! Have fun! Give the kiddos a kiss from me!!
Hna. Jones
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