Week 11

Hola everyone! 

This week was pretty eventful! Im  just going to tell you about some experiences that I had.

So we had intercambios this week with other pair of hermanas  in our  district. Hermana Garcia came  here to nicoya, and my comp Hermana Montoya went up to Santa Cruz with the other Hermana. Hna Garcia has been out for 6 months and served a mini mission (5 months) in her country, Honduras, before coming to Costa Rica. I learned a lot from her! She got here at 7 am on Thursday, stayed the night, and then left Friday morning.  We had a lot of success that day! One thing she taught me was to alllways follow the spirit - if a scripture or experience pops into my head during a lesson, I need to share it. I really like that, because I always have ideas pop into  my head during lessons but dont always share them. 

One really cool experience happened that day. We were with Fernanda and her family, and her mom Cyndi  loves us coming and is very receptive but doesnt have the desire to go to church or get baptized. We taught them about following the prophet, and after we ended the lesson with a  prayer and everything, Hna Garcia asked her why she hasnt taken the step of getting baptized. Cyndi said she´s  kind of waiting for a sign as an  answer that she should. Then Garcia pulled out a scripturein Galatians that says that the  fruits of the spirit are joy, happiness, peace, etc -- Cyndi has said that she´s felt all of that, so that was perfect for her to hear. Then we challenged her to pray again for an answer of if this church is true. I felt the prompting to invite her to kneel and  pray right now, with all of us together. But we had already said a closing prayer! So I was like, nahh  i wont we can do that next time...but then  I thought, no! Why not now. So as Hna Garcia was getting up to leave, i asked, ´Hermana Cyndi, could you offer a prayer right now, kneeling, with that specific question of whether you should get baptized and if this church is true?¨And surprisingly she was more than happy to do so. The spirit was very strong. After we left, Hna Garcia said that she had felt the same prompting to  invite Cyndi to do that! So that was cool.

The rain storms have started! They are crazy. Crazy thunder and lightning!! And the people here have tin roofs, so when it rains hard during a lesson no one can hear a thing. We were with new investigators that same day, and there was a crazy  storm. It even started hailing!! Apparantly that happens here!  Hna garcia was literally shouting  the invitation to be baptized to them - and they couldnt even hear it. That was really frusterating- Satan will do anything to prevent people from accepting the gospel.

We  had another lesson with Alejandra and David! We talked about the restoration. It went soo well. It was raining really hard so we all scooted our chairs really close together to hear each other haha. And guess what.....David accepted the invitation to be baptized!!!!! For september 20th. He said, ¨Do you think I´ll be ready by then?¨Thats  awesome that he asked that because that means he has the desire. Now they just need to get married. He didnt come to church, so  we´ll see if he´ll make the effort to come next week.
On Sunday afternoon we went over  to their house for their two year old son´s birthday celebration! It was so fun, we ate arroz con pollo, ice cream cones and cake, and there was a pinata and everything haha. We felt so special to be invited :) And we know practically everyone on their street (and teach a lot of them) so that was fun. I´ll send pics!

We had a ¨noche de hermanamiento¨ on friday night at the church, and it was way fun! last time, two people came,so this  time was a lot better haha there were like 15 people there. We shared a message and then played a game - everyone took off their shoes, put them in a pile, and divided into teams. We all went outside the room, and whoever´s team got all their shoes on first won. So simple and yet so fun. Haha its funny because it was mostly older people and a couple kids, and then us and the elders. Such a random group and yet we bonded together! Tonight we´re having a noche de hogar at someones house and I so excited! The relief society sisters are making pizzas, we´ll have a message,  and then play a game. This is so great because our little branch really needs to bond.

Here´s a funny story: we were talking to a guy on the street and he was talking about his family and how he just lives with his kids.  He said something like, ¨A lot of people think its the men who fall but this time it was the woman!¨ meaning that she left him. But he used a verb that apparently can also mean to die, and my comp only heard that word and so she was like, ¨I know that you will see your wife again!¨ And he  was  like, ¨No i dont want to see her again!¨ hahaha oh gosh...and it was the native speaker that made the mistake! ;)

I was with some kids that we´re teaching and they were all begging me to tell them my first name. Haha it was too funny. And they were asking in that Dominican way that made me think of you family hahaha. I told  them it started with an A and they were guessing all these spanish names...its super weird because they really have never heard my name before most likely - it will probably sound so weird to them! Heck it sounds weird to me now! Haha i told them i´d tell them before i leave!

well everyone, thanks for your love, prayers, and support. I love you all :) Pray every day, read the book of mormon, and trust in the Lord rather than in yourself. Have a great week!

Hermana geis :)

                            Alejandra, David, and their son Diron!