Week 31- El Tiempo Se Va Demasiado Rapido! (Time is going by too fast!)

Hello everyone!

Honestly these weeks are flying by. I cant even believe that we are already halfway done with January basically. Its almost scary how fast the time goes by! Time has never gone so fast, I keep thinking about how in High School the year would just drag on haha but not here! 

This week a lot happened and it went by super fast.

On Thursday we had Zone Conference, and then after that we did divisions with the Sister Training Leaders (or Hermanas especialistas). Hna Carrera came to Nicoya with me and Hermana Perez stayed in Liberia. It went well! It was interesting because Hermana Perez and I both realized the things that we do really well together - and of course things we can improve on. But yeah, I'm grateful for my companion! :) We've already planned a Disneyland trip in a few years ;)

Yesterday for Pday we got up super early to go on a hike with the Elders and Maria and Stuart. Its a famous hike here in Nicoya (maybe because its the only one) but its super steep and high! And Maria is in a wheel chair right...so the Elders and Stuart pushed/carried her the whole way! It was not easy but we all made it! And it was super pretty at the top. We could see allll of Nicoya.

After that we went grocery shopping and then went to Vivian and Jose's house, the one we went to for Christmas eve that we have to take a bus to get to. We made pizza and then later went to a river! It was really pretty. So it was a full day but a lot of fun! We are realizing that we have the rest of our lives to rest and sleep, so why waste a Pday just resting?! Haha ;) we want to do all we can!

We are working really hard to find a lot of new investigators. And we have found a ton! We just have to work hard with them so that they can progress. Getting people to church is not easy, even when they have nothing else to do. So we are going to work more with the members, because that is the key to everything.

We've been working a lot with Letty, who was going to be baptized in December. We have had so many spiritual experiences with her and she has always said, Yo voy a bautizarme ya! Always super excited and what not. Well, she's been going through a lot of trials lately, and instead of turning to the Lord to help her, she has turned away. She says that she's the only one who can get through her trials, but that's not true!  We NEED the Lord to help us, we can't get through anything alone. It's been hard because we can see her heart hardening and there's nothing we can do about it. She doesn't believe that if she puts the Lord first, He will bless her.
She doesn't believe that no matter how much we testify of it. So everyone, let your trials soften you, instead of harden you. We can either be humbled or hardened, as it says several times in the Book of Mormon. This life is a time of trials and tests so we are going to be tried. And we can only get through our trials with the Lord by our side. And he will always be there if we ask him to be.

Well thank you for all of the support, I got some more Christmas cards at our last Zone Conference last week.  I just loved getting all of them - Grandma Joanie, Stephen & Jessica, Alissa & Jordan and the Fallentines, Kirbys, Stohs, Wilkes - your families are just beautiful! And to the RB Young Women again, thank you :) I love you all!)

Have a great week!! 
Love, Hermana Geis

Hiking up the mountain (The Elders carrying Maria)

Hermana Perez and her stick!

View of Nicoya

Week 30- Feliz Ano Nuevo! (Happy New Year!)

Feliz ano nuevo everyone!
It is so weird that it is 2015. 2014 seemed to just disappear because i left for my mission halfway through it! And its cool because almost ALL of 2015 (minus december, so weird) will be dedicated to serving the Lord. And 2015 will be the fastest year of my life, im betting. So yeah its super weird to think about!

So it is really really hot over here. Luckily, there´s a lot of wind too. But they say in February-April, its like miserably hot. No wind, just sun and heat. People say they just dont even leave their houses cause its so hot. Haha so good thing ill leave right before that comes! (unless i end up serving my whole mission in nicoya, who knows ;) ) Haha.

This past week was good! We are working hard! One night, I think it was saturday, I was the most tired i have ever been in my mission. My body was just aching and I was so tired. After we got home and after planning for the next day, I went to bed and fell asleep in like 2 minutes, or so said my companion haha. But being tired is good! Because it means we are trying to give it our all!
We found a lot of new investigators last week - 16! Its always hard to know if we should continue with some or not, because a lot of people here will talk with anyone of any religion to ^escuchar la palabra de Dios^ but they dont really want to act or do anything about it. So we just have to keep praying to find the people who are really prepared and who are ready to accept the restored gospel.
Theres a member here who we just LOVE who always helps us with missionary work who´s named Heidy. Shes awesome. One of her daughters is married in the temple (her daughter is Geiry, wife of our ward mission leader who i sent a pic of a couple of weeks ago), but her other daughter is inactive. Her name is Angee. We talked with her a really long time ago, and she was super closed off about everything. But weve been talking with her just normally when we go to visit Heidy and everything, and then we started to teach a friend of Heidy, Danilo (the son of the member who doesnt remember being baptized haha) in their house so Angee started listening. And in one lesson, Angee´s boyfriend Arturo was there so we started teaching them all the restoration. And basically Angee expressed a lot of doubts that she has about prophets and what not, and her boyfriend whos not a member started like clearing up her doubts! Haha it was perfect! And then when he had questions, she would answer them! And then she started to express all these things that she really likes about the church. So it was really great. But she kept on saying she has doubts about Joseph smith. And i asked her, Do you know the whole story about joseph smith? And she admitted that she really didnt know anything. So last night we went over and we watched the Restoration movie with her and danilo (arturo couldnt come). It was so good. Afterwards she said that she wants the movie! And we committed her to read the book of mormon - she said that she hasnt even ever read it - so theres the problem! So we are really excited about her. Ive never seen some really get reactivated here, so ive always felt discouraged about reactivation. But she is really progressing.
I seriously love watching that movie. That movie really helped me with my own testimony of the restored gospel. So many people died for the gospel, and for the Book of Mormon, so we need to be grateful. And we need to read the book that so many people died for. And pray about it! I promise you´ll get the answer if you read it, and really pray about it, believing that God will give you an answer.

A funny thing that happened this week: We were looking for someone with the lovely directions of costa rica (aka going to each house asking if they know the person) And we yelled buenas (how we knock doors here) in front of one house and someone yelled back buenas but i couldnt see them. Then they did it again, and i could not figure out where they were. And then my comp said, its the parrot!! Haha i really have never heard a real talking parrot before! And they totally sound like people! Its the weirdest thing

Another funny thing: we started visiting some people on a new street and there are like 20 dogs that want to kill us every time we walk down the street. so we have to get big tree branches to fight them off as we walk down the street.

So we have started to have meals with members on sunday afternoons! I am so glad we started to do that! Because theres never been a list that goes around in relief society like in the states haha, but the new elder here suggested doing that for sunday afternoons so thats what we´re gonna do. We had our first meal on sunday and it was so fun! It reminded me of all the times we´ve had the missionaries at our house for dinner. Im excited to go with the different members and gain more of their trust and strengthen them as well, and get them excited for missionary work. 

We went to the beach yesterday for Pday and it was awesome as always. The beach just makes me so happy. And we ate at a vegan restaurant - when we have the option of healthy food we take it! 

Well times up so i hope everyone has an amazing week! I love you all! happy new year!
Love, Hermana Geis :) 

Marielos making our casserole type thing

Our casserole got a little burned but it was still good!

With Marta, a member

With Marta and Nolasco (he's the first counselor to the branch)

With Marielos and the card we gave her

Christmas breakfast

A perfect pic of my family!

Visiting Dayton and Yerlan on Christmas. Thy gave us gifts!

Yerlan gave me a stuffed bear! His name is Felpy, apparently.

They framed the Christmas card we gave them hahaha.

Our New Year's Day dinner at Heidy's!

With Maria, a recent convert of the Elders

The branch Christmas activity. They gave us food first

The branch Christmas activity

The branch Christmas activity

The Christmas party

Vivian's backyard leading up to her mom's house

The snowman cake!

With the family who threw the Christmas party

Marisol, neighbor and cook, heating up tamales for Christmas

Making pizza with Vivian, a member

At the beach with Maria

A live sand dollar.  I didn't even know they could be live! They were all over the beach.

Me and Maria

Maria and her baby

Almost 2015!

Well I hope that everyone had a very merry christmas! :) It was good here!! 

So like I said earlier everyone celebrates the 24th here instead of the 25th. So on the 24th we took a bus to a members house that lives a little further away for a christmas party that they were having with some of their neighbors. We helped set up and make the pizza and it was fun! But wow they had sooo many sweets there and they waited until the very end to give us the actual pizza...haha ohh ticos.
After that we came back and visited a member family who gave us tamales to eat later, and then we went with Marielos to make some food! We werent very hungry haha but we made this casserole type thing - something veryyy different from normal costa rican food! 

On Christmas morning we got up and opened presents :) It was fun!! It was amazing to get american candy mom...And i absolutely LOVED getting letters from so many of you! Cathy and Brooke, Heather and Chris, Emeli, RB Young Women, Maya, Lizzy, thank you so much! I looved reading what you all wrote to me. And thank you soo much to my little cousins for drawing those beautiful pictures for me! :) Then we made some pancakes for breakfast, then did studies, then left to visit a few people but we were not very focused because we were about to talk to our families! Haha we were both so nervous. And of course it was SO AWESOME to talk to you fam! Hard to say bye, but afterwards I just felt peace because I was able to see that youre all still there and havent changed too much without me ;) But really that was a comfort to see. After talking we visited some other people and thats about it! Oh and dad, the funniest thing ever: Presidente and Guiselle said, Your dad has such a perfect accent! Muy claro. He sounds like hes been living and working here in Costa Rica! Hahaha so good job dad! :)

It was weird to have Christmas end because Ill only have one christmas in the mission and its already over! its so weird. The time is going by way too fast.

So yeah this past week was good. We are working hard and trying to find the people who are prepared! 

Heres a funny story: So we found this old lady, whos the mom of a guy who weve been teaching who has a really good friend in the church. She said that she used to go to church with her brother and really liked it but has been going to another church. So we taught her, she accepted a baptismal date, and came to church ALL by herself last sunday! And its like really hard for her to walk and everything. So we were super excited about her. And then we found out....shes already a member! Hahaha. President solis looked her up and pretty much her whole family is baptized. And she doesnt even remember. Hahaha. But her son who was the reference from a member isnt a member and we are teaching him so theres an opportunity! Haha

Well anyways sorry there wasnt much to say but i love you all!! And hope you all have a very happy new year! cant believe its going to be 2015!
Love, Hermana Geis :) 

Thank you cousins!!

Feliz Navidad!!!

Hello everyone! 

This week has been crazy, like always. We went to san jose tuesday night, and went to the temple wednesday morning :) It was great of course. After the temple we went to a chapel to have a christmas lunch! And it was SO AMERICAN it was great. Turkey, mashed potatoes, salad, i was in heaven. After we ate Presidente wilkinson showed us some christmas music videos that were awesome and gave a devotional. And he told us something absolutely amazing:

He said that he had recieved news that morning from the First Presidency. And then he told us through tears, that we are going to have two missions in Costa Rica. Everyone just gasped, and cheered, and cried. Tears were literally streaming down my cheeks. Why? Because President has always said that thats been his goal for costa rica and all of the blessings the people here would get with double the missionaries in every area. It is amazing that this is happening. And i feel so honored to be able to even be here when that happens. Quentin L Cook said that if there would be any new mission in the world in this next year, it would be costa rica. The Lord is looking down on costa rica and blessing us so much. The mission is going to split in June! San Jose East and San Jose West - they told us the zones that will be in each one and the two missions will literally be so different!! He said that an apostle is going to assign each current missionary to one of the two missions - so its like getting another mission call! Haha ;) but really it is so amazing. 

We have been really working hard here in Nicoya. Ive been really tired haha but with more determination! Satan is working hard here as well, and he always puts things in peoples minds to confuse them and literally it has been hard. All we can do at times is stop and pray, asking the Lord to take the wheel and help us out. Because the Lord knows the people a lot better than we do, and knows exactly what they are thinking. 

So we have 5 baptisms this weekend. Letty and Mariam, Genesis who is Jakeline and Gustavo´s daughter who just turned 8, and Dayton and Yerlan. And let me tell you satan is working hard on every one of them. But I know without a doubt that God is more powerful, and that he can do anything if we have faith in him. Faith is literally the key to everything on the mission. And i was studying faith today and learned something new. We always say that we have faith that something will happen. But Faith is to believe in Jesus Christ, that he is our savior and redeemer. Hope is different. Hope is believing that that the things we hope for will come to pass. Its believing that Christ will fulfill his promises to us. So faith must always be centered in Jesus Christ - after we have faith in HIM, we can have hope that all things will work out in the end, because of him. 

It does not feel like christmas at all!! Haha its so weird. I cant believe tomorrow is christmas eve. Its weird because the people celebrate christmas on the 24th...some people understand that the 25th is actually christmas but other people when we ask what theyre going to do on the 25th theyre like, What about the 25th? Thats just a regular day. Haha its so weird. We are going with a couple of families on the 24th - both members that live far away. And then we are going to visit other investigators and what not.On the 25th we are going to make breakfast for ourselves (pancakes woohoo!) and then talk to the fam (woohoo!) and then i have no idea what! But it will be a great day :) 

There are trucks that always drive buy with speakers on them announcing the food they have to sell and we flagged one down and bought watermelons and pineapples the other day...we felt pretty cool. Local ticas! 

Tonight is the christmas activity with the branch - we´re having a dinner and i think thats all but it should be fun!

I have been feeling very grateful lately. Grateful to be here in Costa Rica, grateful to be a missionary. The time really does go by too fast.
I love you all, and i hope you all have a very very merry christmas.
Feliz Navidad from Costa Rica :)

LOVE, Hermana Geis 

At the temple!

Got to see Hermana Montoya at the Christmas Devotional

Fruit :)

Week 27- Casi Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas...Almost!)

Hello Everyone!

I cannot even believe christmas is next week. Like not at all. It is so weird. 

We bought a christmas tree! Hehe that was fun. And decorated it with what we could afford hahaha. Im excited to pass christmas here and focus on the birth of Jesus Christ with my comp and the members and everyone else.

This week was a little more difficult. We had lotsss of lessons, but almost every new person we found was super hard and rejected us haha. Its hard because we explain everything, and they agree with literally everything, but dont want to act on anything. Mostly because of their religious tradition - not beliefs, but tradition. We were talking to one lady and she was like, Ive been catholic my whole life. I really like the christian churches and dont really like the catholic church, but my family doesnt want to go to other churches so ill just keep going to the catholic. Like what....we have free agency so that we can be happy and choose for ourselves! But for lots of people its hard to stand up to their family and break tradition, as many converts know. 

Our investigator, Letty, is doing great. We had a great experience with her this week. At the end of the lesson we all knelt down and had her offer the prayer, with the specific question of whether or not these things are true. We told her before to stay kneeling with her eyes closed for a few moments after the prayer, to really listen to the spirit. So she did, for a good amount of time. Then she finally opened her eyes, and said that her heart was beating como nuna antes - like never before. :) 

We did the same thing last night, because she doesnt know whether or not her daughter mariam should get baptized the same day - her ex husband doesnt want it to happen. So we prayed with that question and stayed quiet after again, and i did not even want to open my eyes. I felt such peace and love. I was getting a response right along with her - that these things are true. Missionaries grow and progress right along with the investigators.

The time is going by so fast. the weeks fly by, the months fly by, and before you know it the year has flown by! We really need to live one day at a time, and enjoy every day. We have been talking about goals, and how we cant say, oh ill complete that goal tomorrow, or the next week. because before you know it the month is over and you never completed the goal. We have to think in TODAY, because each day is important. 

So we are going to san jose today, staying the night, and then we get to go to the temple tomorrow! Yay! Then after we have a christmas lunch. Im super excited!

I hope you are all enjoying the christmas break and can all spend some extra time with your families. Families are so important and we should never take them for granted! God loves you all and wants to bless you all so much - just have a little more faith and a little more trust in him, and exercise your faith. One thing i like that ive learned is that when we pray, we are exercising our faith. Because we are talking to someone we cant see. When we read the scriptures, we exercise our faith, because we are showing the lord that we believe they are true or can learn something, or will be blessed by reading them. when we go to church we are exercising our faith because we are showing god that we believe we will be blessed by keeping that commandment. So exercise your faith! :) 

I love you all! Have a great week! :)

Love, Hermana Amy Geis :) 

with the familia torres that i love :) (members)

Our tree! Haha

With the familia torres that I love :) (members)

Week 26- Cambios

Hello everyone! 

So changes were yesterday right....and i am still in nicoya!!

I was shocked for real. I had accepted that i was leaving haha. I washed all my clothes on saturday, took a bunch of pictures, like i was ready hahaha. And then they FINALLY called us at 8:30 on SundayNIGHT and told me that i was staying. I was like, ¨What??¨ Haha. I guess Im still needed in Nicoya - I think this will honestly be a challenge because after being in an area for so long you start to wonder what else you can do here. And this change is 8 weeks longs, so i will be in nicoya for HALF of my mission. The people are going to get so tired of me! Haha. Everyone companionship in our district got one changed out, except me and hermana Perez. Its so sad to see the other missionaries go! When i told presidente solis i would be staying he said, ¨Yesss youll be here for the christmas dinner!¨ Oh presidente...

So I told you all that the mission reached 200 baptisms right? Well we had zone conference on thursday and they read a bunch of stories about the CRAZY things that happened - a couple churches didnt have water (what are the odds) and the missionaries were like calling the firemen hahaha but ended up using garbage cans to fill up the font with water, and other missionaries had to go to someones pool and had the baptism there! Crazy things like that...but it was so awesome to hear how the missionaries didnt give up and how they still had faith to have the baptisms and bring these souls to Christ.

So we found some miracles this week! We found some people who are really prepared to accept the gospel :) One hermana is named Letty, and she lives with her 8 year old daughter. She recently separated from her ex husband, and is going through some hard times. And she is so willing to accept the gospel. She came to church on sunday despite many difficulties that could have kept her from coming, and she and her daughter are going to get baptized the 27th of this month :) She even knows a bunch of people in the branch, and luckily lots of people reached out to her on sunday as well.
We also found another single mom and daugther - Maria and Eva, who is 11. Maria has doubts, and feels confused about the different religions. But she really wants to learn and we know that she is going to get baptized as well. Eva has already read 10 pages into the Book of Mormon and loves everything about what we teach.
We are also teaching some neighbors of Eva, Dayton and Yerlan, theyre brothers who are 14 and eleven. They make me laugh, they are so cute! And Dayton has been reading the book of mormon and underlining the verses and all of these things, and they are super excited about their baptisms for the 27th as well. Weve been wanting to talk to Daytons mom, but she doesnt have the desire to listen.But she told us, I want them to listen to you so come whenever you want! haha. poco a poco con ella :) 

Time is flying! I cant believe christmas is so soon. We bought a fake tree the other day to put in the house haha so that will be fun! Sunday night there was what is called Festival de la Luz. Its like a huge parade where everyyyone is in the street watching, and its to start of Christmas or something. We didnt get to see it thought because we watched the Christmas devotional in the church - it was so good! Have you all seen the video that the church put out for christmas? In spanish its El es La Dadiva i dont know what it is in english haha but we have cards that we pass out to everyone to go watch it. And i heard that on sunday, the Church took over youtube!! How amazing is that!!! The front page of youtube was only things of the church. So awesome. AND theyre advertising the video in times square!!!

I am very grateful to be a missionary this Christmas. I am able to focus on whats really important - That Christ was born. Im so grateful to our heavenly father for sending us his son, as his gift to us. We owe everything to him. We should all think about a gift that we can each give our heavenly father and his son Jesus Christ for christmas. 

I love you all and am grateful for all of you in my life.
Have a great week :)
Love, Hermana Geis 

(click pictures for full size)

With Dayton, Yerla, and Eva!

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

Little bananas!

P-day at the beach

Hermana Perez and me

Service! Cleaning el lugar de los ancianos

This couple just got married in el lugar de los ancianos

Hermana Holmes and Hermana Jensen who just got transferred 

Saying goodbye to Elder Toledo.  The people on the left are people that he baptized a few months ago--Maria and Stwart.  They just got married a few months ago.  They are AMAZING converts to the gospel.

Us and the elders

Floribeth and her grandson,Yane

Yummy food from Maribeth

Stress relief mask from cousin Emily. ( She may or may not have been requested not to share ;) )