Week 57- New Stake in Cartego

Well things are going great in the Costa Rica East Mission :) 

Hermana Moon and I have been really trying to figure out how we can improve and what we need to change to see more success. This past week was really hard working wise - yesterday was a really hard day because pretty much everyone rejected us...one lady let us in but didn't let us pray hahaha. But good think Hermana Moon and I are such good friends, because we were still laughing throughout the day at what was happening. We don't get discouraged, just a little frustrated when some people don't understand what they are missing! But we never let that get us down - we are always looking at the bright side and trying to make the best out of every situation!  And we are always happy :) 

So they officially created a new Stake here in Cartago! We are all soooo excited!  Everyone used to have to travel like an hour to the Stake center, but now here in Cartago is going to be the Stake center!  So that is seriously amazing!!!  We are having a special Stake Conferencethis Sunday to tell everyone and explain the new Stakes and what not. Guanacaste is also now officially a stake :) that is amazing, because we all worked sooo hard to help it become a stake when I was there.

So changes were today, and we thought no one was going to have changes but basically everyone did haha!  Because of the new Stake, our Zone now has two more areas in it. Its all really exciting because things are going to be super different now. Cartago is just going to explode with missionary work!  As President Wilkinson told me, I have the privilege of being in Cartago in a historical time.

So this Saturday we will have the baptism of Maria Jesus, she is the daughter of Carlos and Vera, the couple who got baptized a the beginning of June :) She has changed a lot, and its been amazing to see that. I've been able to see a light come into her eyes - and that's exactly what I saw with Carlos and Vera.

Gleny, who just got baptized last month has been going through some really hard trials. But she has SUCH a strong testimony of the gospel, and is being SO strong. We visited her this past week, and we read a story in the Book of Mormon about a group of people who were slaves to a king, and were extremely afflicted. But they turned to the Lord for help. This is what we read with her: Mosiah chapter 24:

10 And it came to pass that so great were their afflictions that they began to cry mightily to God.

 11 And Amulon commanded them that they should stop their cries; and he put guards over them to watch them, that whosoever should be found calling upon God should be put to death.

 12 And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.

 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.

 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

So God didn't take away their trials, but he strengthened them enough that they could handle them with ease. We also sang ¨Come, Come Ye Saints.¨ We told her about the pioneers, how they went through so many trials but kept going because of their faith in Christ. As it says in the hymn, ¨Oh esta, todo bien.¨ I love that hymn.

Anyways I hope you all are doing great and are trusting in the Lord always.

I love you all a lot!

con amor, Hermana Geis

With Hermana Moon in Picayas

Meeting at Pres. Hayes' home

Week 56- Count Your Many Blessings

Hola everyone! 

So this week was pretty crazy. 

On Wednesday, we had a Zone Conference with President Hayes. again, he is SO awesome. We had the meeting in the mission office. Then we had interviews, where he just got to know us and gave us some good advice. Then we ordered pizza and ate it as a zone :)

After the meeting, we started divisions. I went to a place called Turrialba with Hermana Perez, mi hija! Aka the Hermana I trained in Nicoya :) so that was pretty fun haha. And Hna Perez´s companion went to my area with Hermana Moon. But Hna Moon and I did not want to go on divisions because we just have lots of fun together haha. But anyways after the meeting we split up and went to catch the buses to the areas. But all the taxi drivers were on strike in San Jose so it took a while to be able to get on a bus, and we ended up getting to Turrialba at like 8 30 at night. I was there all of Thursday, and then Hna moon and the other Hermana came to Turriabla on Friday morning and we all studied there, and I got to watch their weekly planning to see how it was. So overall the divisions went good - there's lots to improve, as always, so its always good to learn from each other and help each other out.

But yeah I was really happy to get back to my area - I love Cartago!!  I have been in Cartago for 6 months....like what!?  I honestly feel like I have been here for ONE MONTH. So I can't even believe its been six. Which makes me feel a little pressure, because I don't know how much longer I'll be here and I want to help Cartago in every way that I can. But I really love it here.

So yeah with the divisions the week flew by and it didn't seem like there was enough time to get everything done!  But it all turned out well. We've found some good new people and are getting some really good references from the recent converts - its awesome. 

Today was the ¨chequeo de mes¨ for the trainers and new missionaries, which is when we all meet up again with President and the Assistants a month into training (even though its been like 6 weeks - so weird) to see how we've been doing, and really talk about obedience a lot. It was way fun. We all went to President Hayes´s house!  Its in the other mission boundaries haha so that's kinda funny. He talked about obedience and he mostly talked about being HAPPY. Which is actually something that we talked about in my interview. Because I told him that I was really happy!  But that at the beginning of my mission I wasn't. Because my first District Leader told us, ¨If you aren't stressed, there is something wrong.¨ So I spent a ton of time thinking that was true!  But then Emily Sciammarella, my cousin who served a mission in Brazil, sent me a letter and said that we should never feel stressed, because the Lord is in charge.

So I came to realize that stress is really BAD. That is something that Hermana Chatwin and I really learned together as well - that we should feel the opposite of stress. We never felt stress together, and we saw a lot of success and worked really hard. But we didn't see it as work - we saw it as spreading the gospel and bringing people to Christ.  And that is exactly what President said today in the meeting - he doesn't want us to feel like this is WORK, but that we should see it as fulfilling our calling as disciples of Christ.  And that is something that I have felt my whole mission: that if we see this as work, something stressful that we have to do, we are not going to enjoy it. If we really love God and the people here, it will be something that we WANT to do and something that brings us joy.

So yeah President Hayes is just AWESOME and we can just feel so much that he really loves us. We just feel like we can talk to him about everything and he is super approachable. Then HE cooked us hot dogs and hamburgers and we had a delicious American lunch! :)

So anyways things are going great and time is literally just disappearing. Its so weird. 

Its pretty rainy here right now, and pretty cold!  Now I'm totally used to the cold and when we were in San Jose today it felt way too hot. 

People are feeding us way too much...its a problem...but its okay ´cause Hna Moon and I run a bunch every day ;)

Well I hope you all have an amaaazing week!  And please, count your many blessings!  That is one lesson I've learned this week and what we have been trying to share with people - if we focus on what we don't have, or all that is going wrong, we are going to be miserable. But God gives us so many blessings every second of every day, that we can be happy in any circumstance. So look for the things that you do have and forget about what you don't have.

Ok well i love you all sooo much!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Geis 

President Hayes cooking the food!

Turrialba

With Hermana Chatwin at Chequeo de mes

At Chequeo de Mes with Mermana Moon!

With the whole zone and Hermana Hayes and Lizzy!

 We made pancakes!