Transfer: Alejuela - with Hermana Lopez
AHHHHH new baby!!! So exciting! Shoot I am so excited to
meet all these little ones. You guys have all sure been busy while I've been
gone. So how are all you guys doing? I hope that you are all having fun and
enjoying the fall weather. It is crazy cold here. Raining like crazy! And the
rain is not like anything in Utah. It's downpour times 10 with lightning and
thunder. Every time there's lightning...I always think…Ka-chow like Lightning Mcqueen.
Right kiddos? Or that Heavenly Father is taking pictures so I better do a cute
pose. Ha ha. Ok...you guys can say it....I'm a dork but you love love love me!
Ha ha. Anyway. So....going to answer your questions. I always answer the
question of...How are you. But with other questions...I did receive my package
and have really enjoyed the cookies. I'm not a huge fan of raisins but I LOVE
THEM in mom's cookies. SO GOOD. Just have a craving for pumpkin chocolate chip
cookies. mmmm....we went to Pricesmart – (like Costco) today and saw that they
have pumpkin pie and apple pie and lots of Halloween decoration stuff. There's
a woman in our ward who is gringa and married to a tico. She said she loves
living with her kids in the states because there are pools nearby and libraries
where they can go and read. There are no public libraries or fun kid parks to
play at here. All the parks are sketchy and meeting places to sell drugs.
Ok...not trying to scare you all but that is Costa Rica. However, we are so, so
protected here.
I got my EPI pens...THANK YOU!!!!! I put them in a safe
place where I KNOW they are. Ha ha. I will not lose them.
Me....well....the day after Stella was born was awesome
in the states and in my heart but here in Costa Rica mission...it was not the
best day. We did divisions and the area where my comp went was terrible! I had
been there several times and nothing ever happened. But....well...she had a bad
experience. So we had to switch back and Hno. Spencer helped us to go and pick
her up. Then later when we got home, I found out that I had changes or
transfers. President is doing random changes before the six week changes to
help missionaries stay focused on their area. You never know what is going to
happen. So it was quite a shock. But he called and said that he has been
fighting this inspiration he had received because he didn't want to change me.
Finally, he submitted and did it. He wanted to send me here to Alejuela, where
I am now, to help spark an energy in a finishing sister who goes home in three
weeks. He wants me to help her finish strong and on fire. I trust in his
inspiration and of course accepted it and am now in Alejuela. Belen is like 30 min away – on the bus and 15
minutes from the airport. I hurried and called people in Belen to say bye. I
was seriously so so sad! I had been there for almost 5 months! The bishop cried
when I said I was leaving and so did President Brenes (our neighbor and owner
of the apt). It was hard leaving them and all the investigators that I had
there. Which actually, tonight they are baptizing one of our investigators....Naun's
brother. It was super super hard to leave. But this is a copy of what I wrote
my mission President.
President!
Well....I hope all is well with you and that you enjoyed General Conference. I received many answers to the questions that I had. Things are going great here in Alejuela...at least from my end. I'm not sure what kind of letter you are going to get from my companion. We were all kind of surprised with changes but I am adjusting just fine. I will miss seeing you each month and learning from your teachings in the leadership meetings. Thank you for having given me the opportunity to become stronger as a leader and learn from all the sisters around me. Thanks to that experience, I have been able to apply much of what I learned in this new companionship. I will of course miss working with all the sisters and especially your sweet wife but I'm excited to learn from and work with Hermana Lopez. I trust in the inspiration that you receive and I’m learning to move forward with all that happens. As I learned in conference from Elder Dube...changes are part of life. We receive callings and are released from callings but move on and try to lift where we stand. I am trying to do just that. I am helping to lift the area of Trinidad and my companion. I want Hermana Lopez to finish her mission with fire! She wasn't too excited about that as I'm sure you could already imagine but I believe that she will adjust just fine. We had a good companionship inventory and I explained why I work so hard and move at a quicker pace. I explained that the work is not about numbers but it's about love and we just find a balance of putting both goals and love into practice. I told her...if you love people than teach as many as you possibly can...spreading this great joy of the gospel around.
Throughout this week, it has been revealed to me even more why I needed to be changed here. I needed to strengthen my patience and love. I believe I had gotten complacent and comfortable that I needed something to shock my system so to speak. This experience with Hna. Lopez is stretching me and helping me to be a better person and a better missionary. Now, I'm not going to lie....it is taking a lot of prayers and trusting in the Lord. But I believe that's what Heavenly Father wanted from me. He wanted me to depend on Him more. Whenever we have trials, it pushes us to depend on Heavenly Father. This is a struggle but we will make it through. As for the work, it is moving along just fine. We challenged people to baptism and three have accepted in two days to be baptized this month. When I first got here, the area book was...well...just not how it should be and no one had a baptismal date...just MANY progressing and MANY investigators. We are getting started working with the members. There are still many that I need to meet and that we need to work with. We are putting forth the Plan Duncan in this area. We are going to depend A LOT on Heavenly Father to please help these people make and keep the baptismal covenant and be converts. I trust in Heavenly Father. I am working on helping to motivate my companion to have more faith in the Lord and His work. We are starting to talk a little bit more and laugh a couple of times so that's progress. I'm trying to just be patient with her and not force her. I figure it will come with time. Well...we are working hard and I strongly believe that Heavenly Father is happy with our work. I do apologize for not a whole lot of lessons but that is starting to improve as well. We are practicing a lot of shorter lessons. I am receiving a lot of revelation on how to better relationship with my companion. The biggest help has been the scriptures. I was reading in Alma 29 verse 13 and 14. It says basically: Yea, and that same God did establish his church among them; yeah, and that same God hath called me by a holy calling, to preach the word unto this people (in Costa Rica) and hath given me much success, in the which my joy is full. BUT I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi (Alejuela). They have brought forth much fruit... (maybe, not TONS of baptisms but much fruit). I joy, President, in the success of Hna. Lopez - as we work TOGETHER, we will see even more success. Right now, I just am trying to find a balance between helping her and helping the area. I know that Heavenly Father will help us out. I'll miss hearing from you in little texts and phone calls but I heard we'll see you in a few weeks for the Area Presidency Conference. Thank you for your love, support, and trust which I feel I have from you. I hope you have a really good week and I know we are going to see a lot of success this month! By the way, tell your sweet wife and kids I say hi!
Conference was great. It was just what I needed. I have
been working hard – but getting a bit tired and pretty serious. I just really
needed to hear from our Prophet President Monson, apostles and other church
leaders. It has helped a ton!!!! Gave me a little bit more to keep going. And
the scriptures do too. By the way, I was able to watch Conference in English
which was AWESOME!
I just love Heavenly Father so much that I want to give
Him my absolute best and do all that I can to make Him proud and bless the
lives of the people here in Costa Rica. The church is so true! I love the Book
of Mormon and love to see how it changes people's lives. It has changed my life
and I hope to be able to use what I have learned from my experiences to help me
after my mission and the rest of my life and the lives of others.
Well, got to go. But love you all. Hope you have a great week. You're all in my prayers. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
Hna. Jones
Saying goodbye to Hermana Cardenaz!
Hermana Cardenez trying to make me laugh by tickling me.
Hna. Noj is doing a white wash to an area in our semi-zone...super close so got to see each other! She's great.
My new comp...Hna. Lopez.
Me and halloween!!!!! In Pricesmart which as you can see is basically Costco. Ha ha!
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