Week 12-- Transfers

Hola!

Well, transfers happened. I have 6 weeks left in my training, so me and Hermana Montoya had no doubt we were both staying. But no...Hna Montoya got transferred! She was bawling...so sad :( She loves nicoya! Has been here for 6 months. So yeah we were shocked! They called us Sunday night to tell us she´d be leaving the next day (thats how they do it here) so she said goodbye to who she wanted to that night and then packed up all her things. We left early the next morning to Santa Cruz, where other hermanas in our district are. Montoya left from there with other hermanas getting changed (it was pretty sad) and I stayed with another hermana. It was nice because I just got to relax in the apartment for a little bit! But my new companion got on the bus super late to come here, so i ended up having to go to Libera (2 hours away) to pick her up! And then we finally made it back to Nicoya at like 8 at night where our lovely neighbor fed us as she always does :) (our lunch cook) My new comp is Hermana Burningham from Highland Utah. She is ending her mission in 6 weeks! Which means i´ll get another comp in 6 weeks haha so weird! Its funny because every gringa missionary I´ve talked to has only had latina companions, and i´ve only had gringa companions!

So last monday we had noche de hogar with the ward! It went well, we ate yummy homemade pizza :) and David came with alejandra! That was a miracle let me just say. We´re going to do noche de hogar every other week, so that will be great.

We are working with a couple, Mariela and Andres, who are my age! They accepted a date to get married and later baptized!! :) Theyre great. We stopped visiting them a while ago because we didnt think they were progressing, but when we started again they were very accepting and they actually asked us to come and teach them more frequently - we were like, um, we would love to!! haha. It was cool because Andres said that he received his answer about the Book of Mormon through his grandmother who passed away - we wanted to ask what he meant but didnt pry haha. He meant like through a dream or something. Cool right? Its because she has accepted the gospel and his waiting for him to take his step on earth to help her receive the blessings of the gospel :) So awesome. But yes they are getting marriedaugust 30th :D they have a baby girl and she just told us she´s pregnant! So its way good they are getting married :) Then theyll get baptized on september 7th. It worked out really well because we have to find a lawyer to do the wedding, and theres a lawyer in san jose who´s a member and does it for a lot cheaper, but he only comes if theres two or more weddings - luckily the elders here are also having a wedding that day!! Un milagro! So that will be great. They dont have a lot of money, so we are going to make cinnamon rolls with Marielos to sell and raise money. Its a lot of work but the hermanas before me did that for another wedding and they raised a good amount. Please pray that it will all work out okay! Haha :) 

Dia de las madres was on friday - happy costa rican mothers day mom! We made some cards for some of the moms we visit. Also on sunday after church, the branch president served us all a mothers day lunch! It felt so good for them to do something like that without us being in charge - woohoo rama de nicoya! 

The weeks are going by real fast. Im almost to my three month mark! It seems little when you think about how much you have to go, but i really dont think about it that way. I think about how i already have 3 of the months down! Thats crazy. I only have this short time to use the authority of a set apart missionary to preach the gospel. When i think about that i feel a lot of responsibility which is scary, but I know that with the Lords help, and only with his help, I can do it. I have so many family and friends who have served, are serving, or are going to serve and thinking about all of you gives me strength and comfort :) Im so grateful for my family and the blessing we have to be an eternal family. I see so many broken families who dont have the gospel and wow, i am so lucky. And im so grateful for everyone who has helped me stay strong in the gospel - yw leaders, bishops, friends, etc etc. Seriously thank you.

well, all for now :) love you all! have a great week! pray always!

hermana geis :) 

        drinking out of a bag at noche de hogar! (They say only in costa rica)

              ​hermana montoya saying goodbye to denis, fernanda, and evelio

                 Weird fruit

              Happy mother's day mom!!!! :) :)

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!