Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Wednesday, June 19, 2013
We had Temple Day - so our P-day was changed around.

San Jose church...waiting in a park...

 Us waiting to do divisions in San Jose.

Our cute division sisters Hna. Ochoa left hand side was my comp and the other Hna. Dickson was with Hna. Marquez.

We are teaching this man who is scheduled to be baptized next Saturday...fingers crossed. These are his nieces and nephews. Super great guy from Nicaragua. His wife and children come in two weeks. Very humble man.

Divisions with Hna. Rhoden. Such a cute girl. We saw a party in a park with cotton candy and decided to be like little kids and eat some. Ha-ha. Not as good as in the states. : /

Hna. Rhoden and I in front of the temple.

Tons of rain brings out tons of frogs. This one was the first tiny one I had seen. We saw two      huge ones hopping on the sidewalk in front of our house. 

Crazy! 

 My district. Yeah....my companion doing bunny ears. That’s our relationship. Ha-ha. I look tired in this pic. Sorry....not my cutest.

Rainy day and humidity does wonders with my hair.

My old zone at the temple with us today!!!

Me with Hna. Ponce and her "step mom" (companion – after me) who is also super sweet. 

Ok.....so sorry.....Totally should have told you that we wouldn't be writing on Monday because of today as temple day. My bad. I hope all of you were sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for my letter. Ha-ha. I'm always waiting for your letters. You guys are so funny. I can totally hear each of your voices in your letters. They say similar things because you all talk with each other so much but you say it in your own way. I love it! Thank you so much for writing me and supporting me. I have two really good friends here in Belen who are missionaries and don't receive letters from their parents. One is a convert and the only convert in her family. The other is my comp and doesn't really have a whole ton of support but it's a long story. So basically just thank you for being my number 1 support! I am so grateful for you guys. Many things have been going on these past few weeks. I have been stretched, shaped and am still in the process of being molded. This whole division’s thing is an.....interesting experience. No...It’s really great...just trying sometimes. I sometimes want to ask President why he called me to do this. I have no idea what he was thinking. There are so many sisters who have better numbers than we do...why aren't they leaders? It was definitely a week of ups and downs. Ha-ha. Which I guess is usual on the mission. I just sometimes feel like what in the world am I doing? Am I helping? Am I the solution or the problem?

Well...I'll just start explaining about divisions. We had three divisions this week. The first one was with Hna. Ochoa. It was awesome! I felt like I actually could help her and she helped me. She has some serious problems with her companion so I was able to help her to just relax and have a fun day. The first thing I said to her is...this is your day to shine. Be you! It was great. I am grateful for the difficult companions I have had because I have been humbled and have learned from them in how to help other girls in their missions. It was a very cool experience.

Second divisions were with a sweet gringa girl who is super inadequate with her Spanish. She
feels that she has lost her personality and who she is because of Spanish. She is trying to gain her testimony in Spanish. It was so cool because I could help her understand that Spanish comes to each person differently. But that the spirit can overcome any barrier or roadblock - so to trust in Heavenly Father. It was also fun to work with her. The third division was with Hna. Rhoden. She helped me more than I helped her. Basically her trainer...my friend, Hna. Garcia who helped me a ton in Rio Claro had given Hna. Rhoden advice that maybe my mission isn't baptisms but it's helping other missionaries have more success. It was exactly what I needed to hear.

President is hitting us hard with the work. Lots of goals to achieve.  So, just kind of crazy.  I think....do I have sufficient faith that we can do this or am I lacking? I'm trying so hard to believe. Just getting a little frustrated at times because we teach and teach and teach yet have hardly anyone in church on Sunday. We have four people with baptismal dates in these next two weeks. We are trying so hard to be obedient in every way possible and do everything asked of us. I just don't know why we don't have very many baptisms like other areas or "success" like the other areas. In Paraiso, they baptized Brenda and this weekend they are baptizing Marleni and Fabiola. Trying hard not to be jealous. Ha-ha. I love my area and my comp and we are giving this area everything that we can. I feel like I never worked this hard before in my mission. I'm giving my last section of my mission everything that I possibly have to give. I have seen a lot of miracles in my mission and I had a really special time in the temple today. It was exactly what I needed. I just want to feel from Heavenly Father that the work that we are doing is acceptable. Ya, I get side-tracked sometimes but that doesn't mean I'm not a dedicated missionary. I'm trying so hard to show Heavenly Father that He can count on me. I'm trying to practice what President Monson does and really listen to impressions from the Spirit. I'm doing the best that I can on my mission but that doesn't always show in our numbers.  I'm happy and we are definitely having fun teaching and helping people.....and pray that we can help people change their lives through baptism. :) Anyway......I promise things are great. Heavenly Father has been so good to me and my companion.

We are teaching a family named Laura and Moises. They are preparing for their baptism. We had a really good talk with them about marriage and how to do an inventory. I swear we are sometimes more like marriage counselors with the gospel. Ha-ha. I am learning so much about relationships and how to prepare for marriage. It's great! We have a lot of fun with them. Their kids told us they want to go on missions too just like us. Laura loves what we teach. Moises likes it too just wants more time with the process to make sure it's right. Great family!

Jose...kind of already told you about. Oh, but we had a really neat experience that I feel I can share with you. This was really special to me so please be nice. :) We stopped by Sobeida's house and she wasn't there. I was frustrated with all the noise outside and just wanted everyone to stop talking so I could have a moment of quiet to think with all the trucks driving by. Well...I said to my comp...Can we say a prayer? I prayed that I would be able to calm down and feel the spirit again and not feel overwhelmed. That we would be able to find people who are ready to hear the gospel. On our way out, we saw a man sitting in front of the neighbor's house. We started talking with him. His name is Herson. He's thirty and from Nicaragua. We talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation with him. He said that he had had a dream the night before and had prayed for help. He said he smokes and drinks but wants to stop. I asked him directly if he wanted to change. He said yes. WE COMMITTED HIM TO BAPTISM AND A DATE (first week in July)!!!!!! FIRST MEETING AND HE SAID YES!!!!!!!! We are going to teach him as much as possible to prepare him. Right after our lesson with him, I asked my comp if we could say a prayer and thank Heavenly Father. It was so cool. Heavenly Father really does know His children and who is ready. Also, it was a testimony to me that He hears and answers our prayers. All of us. It was so cool. I asked in the prayer if we could remember this blessing even if the rest of our day was blah. And it was blah but we remembered this small blessing that might seem insignificant but was HUGE! I hope and pray he will progress. Pray for him.

Well...that's pretty well – what is going on. Just teaching and trying to help people. I would recommend reading the talk given in the October General Conference by Prophet Monson called "Consider the Blessings". I'm trying to recognize the small blessings that are actually really big. It's interesting how Heavenly Father works. This really is His work not mine. I love my mission so much. I am learning so much about myself and Heavenly Father. My relationship with Him is so much stronger. And hope you all had a fun Father's day. Yes, we celebrated it here. We have an activity in the ward this Saturday and I have to teach my comps the boot scooting boogie line dance because it's cowboy theme. Ha-ha. Should be fun. The ward is getting better with us. The bishop is so AWESOME! After we talked with him about how we are here to help...he is nonstop missionary work. All of his lessons and activities are focused on missionary work. He invited us to share our testimonies in the Elder’s Quorum on Sunday. Also, he had me surprisingly give the closing prayer in sacrament. Our relationship is really great with him which is awesome. And we have some families really helping us out. We are just trying to kick butt. We do have our moments of inadequacy but then Heavenly Father does something to help us have confidence in Him. The temple was just what I needed today. Sometimes a good trip to the temple can cure any problem or feeling that we have. I love that about the temple. Plus, I got to see all my friends from Cartago!!!!! That was really fun! I got to sit next to Hna. Ponce in the session. She’s doing really well. I guess the ward isn't that friendly with her which was weird because I saw the entire ward from Paraiso on Saturday for Dayanna's wedding. I saw her for a second on Saturday which was special. The ward gave me hugs and said they miss me. I felt very special and loved by the members in Paraiso. I hope that Hna. Ponce and her comp can have a good relationship with them too. The elders are the same and still goofy. They made zone jerseys for everyone which is SO AWESOME. They each say our name and our nickname. Mine is “sass”. Ha-ha. Well...I have to go. But I love you guys so much. Talk to you on Monday. Promise it’s Monday. Love you!!!!!!!! Have a really great rest of your week.
Love Jen

Part of a note Jennifer sent to me (Mom)

P.S. Thanks for encouraging me to serve a mission. I love my mission and I love the people in Costa Rica. The other day, two little girls walked up to me and started talking to me. I knelt down and talked with them and bought them a little treat. They were so cute. Then we contacted their mom. I felt for a moment what Christ may have felt or done….in the videos when he kneels down and talks to children one on one looking in their eyes and paying attention to them. It was so special. Then we had another contact where I played with the little girl and she was giggling......I love my mission so much! I feel like Heavenly Father is making me a much better person than before. Sorry....just some of my thoughts and feelings. Thank you for putting the word mission in my mind. This is such an incredible experience. I hope that you are proud of me and I'm so excited for you to see the person that I am becoming. Heavenly Father really knows what he is doing.