Week 58- Full of Miracles

Hello everyone!

So this week was pretty good, full of miracles.

The first miracle happened on Monday. The mission office called us and the secretary said, ¨Do you believe in miracles?¨ ¨Yes...¨ ¨Well you just got a reference from Utah!!¨  Haha we were like, what?!  So a guy from Utah had called the office that morning and gave them a reference of someone who lives here in Cartago.  He said that it was urgent, and that she needed to be reading the Book of Mormon that night!  So for some reason that I will explain later, Elder Saavedra, the Assistant, called her before we did, and said that she was super excited. So we called right away and set up an appointment for that night!

Her name is Andrea. She was embarrassed to take us to her house because she said she hadn't cleaned, haha, so we met at a McDonalds so her son could play in the playcourt or whatever it's called.  So we felt a little weird being in McDonalds with this new investigator haha, and she bought us food and everything. Then she started to explain her story:

One of her good friends is named Christian, and he's a member of the church. He served a mission in the states, and then after getting married he and his family moved to live in Utah. Andrea has known him basically their whole lives, but they have never talked about the church really.  So a little bit ago she asked him a random question about the church, and so they started to talk a little more about it. Then one day she said something about how she wanted to read the Book of Mormon, so he told her, ¨Well, I will send you a surprise.¨ Then that same day Elder Saavedra called.  And she said that she has been having a lot of doubts about the church that she is in right now.  She has been taking a course to get baptized, but has been having a lot of doubts. So she said that she took Elder Saavedras call as a sign!  So that just shows how much following the spirit is so important. Because Elder Saavedra had no reason at all to call a reference in OUR area, but he did. And he was supposed to!  To answer Andrea´s prayer.

She said that she knows it isn't a coincidence that right before she was supposed to get baptized in her church, her friend Christian starts talking to her about the church after not talking about it for 30 years. So she told us that she wants to learn everything she can, and she asked US about baptism. So we put a date for August and she accepted.

That was Monday, and then we went with her again on Wednesday. She told us that the day before she was thinking and praying alll day, and she said, ¨I made my decision...¨ (and this is when I got a little worried because sometimes that's when they say that they'd rather not receive us anymore) ¨I decided that I'm not going to get baptized in my church. I want to be a part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.¨  So Hermana Moon and I were just speechless...and we just looked at each other beaming and trying not to giggle because that's what we do when we´re happy or when we feel the spirit haha. So yeah it was amazing.

On Saturday we had the baptism of Maria Jesus!  The daughter of Carlos and Vera, the one who has MS and who got baptized a month ago. Maria Jesus has changed soo much, and just like with Carlos and Vera, we have seen a light come into her eyes.  So the baptism went great, and the best part was that Carlos baptized her!  It was so awesome!  And Andrea came to the baptism. She had texted us that morning telling us that she wouldn't be able to come because she had to go to another part of the country to take care of her grandma, but she traveled 2 hours just to come to the baptism and then go back!  She's so amazing!  We´re going to visit her tonight again so we are super excited.

Yesterday was Stake Conference, and the last Stake Conference of that Stake, because they officially announced the division and creating of the new Cartago Stake!  They had a transmission of another Stake Conference that was also being affected by the Stake changes, so that we could hear the releases and callings for them to. It was super interesting. And super historical. President Hayes and his wife were there, as well as Kevin R. Duncan, the area president. It was awesome. They are going to start building the new church building here in Cartago this year, because ours is waayy too small to be the Stake Center. So that's awesome!  And these Stake changes also made a bunch of Zone changes. So Costa Rica is just full of changes right now!

I'm hoping this email is making sense because I'm writing this pretty fast

This week I have also recognized a lot of my weaknesses...and sometimes when that happens we feel weighed down with our imperfections. When I was feeling weighed down, just like that a scripture from the Book of Mormon just popped into my head: ¨And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.¨

So I have heard that scripture for years. But it has never really meant much to me until that moment that it came into my head - it finally made perfect sense to me personally. God was showing me my weaknesses because He knows that I can do better, and He knows that I can make those weaknesses become strong. So we should be grateful when we recognize one of our weaknesses - that is God reaching out to us, telling us that He is there to help us change and make that a strength if we are willing to turn to him.

Another chapter that has been applying to me is 2 Ne 4:
27 ¨And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy? 28   Awake, my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul. 29  Do not anger again because of mine enemies. Do not slacken my strength because of mine afflictions. 30  Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord, and say: O Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee,   my God, and the rock of my salvation.¨

So we have no reason to sorrow for our sins or imperfections. We can change, and we can become better.
I hope you all are doing well and are trusting in God!

Les quiero mucho!!

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Geis 

In front of "Las Ruinas."  It is an old church that was built during the war and burned down like three times.  In the center of Cartago.

Sitting outside of the church building.

Vera got to come to  Maria Jesus' baptism! :)

Carlos got to baptize Maria Jesus! (Father and daughter)

With Maria Jesus

A tico hot dog!! It's a hot dog type meat with ketchup, mayo, and lettuce on a tortilla haha

In Bermejo, where Griselda and Gleny live

 

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!

Week 55- New President!

Hello Everyone!

So this past week was really good. 

President Wilkinson left last week, and it was really emotional for everyone to see him go. But on friday, i got to go to the leadership meeting with President Hayes! It was cool because now the group of leaders is a loott smaller!! 

President Hayes is SO awesome. One cool thing he said was that when he was at the MTC with all the other mission presidents, he said that all of them were important people with big jobs and all that, and then he just choked up and held up the scriptures and said, ¨This is all i have. And im going to give everything i have to you guys.¨ He is seriously such a humble, and approachable guy. You just feel like you can talk to him like your friend. I am so excited to work with them these next few months. 

So yeah things are going good! We are trying to improve on a lot of things and are having really good experiences with the people.

Hermana Moon and i are always laughing at something....one funny thing that happened: we did a contact in a bus one time and so we called her to go visit her, and she told us basically just the direction to go and that she lived in an orange house. So we were walking along and its an area thats like surrounded my mountains and we see this orange house farrr away in the distance on the mountain and hna moon was like, ¨Is that it?¨And we just laughed like it was a joke...and then the lady called us and said ¨Hey i think i see you!¨ And then we saw a lady waving her hand from that far away orange house....so then we had to go over there hahaha

Also i keep on slipping or falling so thats kinda funny...like on friday it was raining and i was wearing a new white skirt and then i totally slipped and fell in the mud so i had to borrow an investigators skirt haha. And a dog kinda bit me this week. So you know those things just happen! Haha

BUT on the spiritual side of things its going great :) we are really trying to follow the spirit more, and we are really focusing on families. President Hayes said that we need to find families that can really build up the kingdom of God here in Costa Rica. And living the gospel is a lot easier with your family to support you :) 

Time is going by so fast....but just because a full time mission ends, doesnt mean that we can stop being disciples of Christ. Thats a calling for our whole lives.

Well sorry i dont have much to say!! But i love you all soooo much! :)

Have a great week!

Hermana Geis :) 

My skirt after falling in the mud....and this was after cleaning it a little bit...

Hermana Moon and I after the district meeting

Hermana Chtawin!

Sister Hays, President Hays, Hermana Chatwin, and I at the leadership meeting

Our district!

Hermana Moon fell asleep writing in her journal hahahahaha

Happy 4th of July!

Week 54- Costa Rica East Mission

Well, it happened. The mission is officially split! The new mission presidents get here today. 

On Tuesday, we had a conference with the whole mission - a final meeting all together. We took a whole mission picture and a lot more pictures haha, and President gave us his final advice and taught us a bunch of awesome things. He is so great! We are going to miss him so much. But i am WAY excited to get the new mission president as well! Because I know that he is called by God to come to the Costa Rica East Mission. He is President Hayes, from Idaho. Im way excited to meet him and learn from him. And about how they assigned us to the missions, president made all the changes for who he thought should be in each mission, and then sent the list to the apostles for them to review each name. And they didnt make any changes :) Im just so grateful for all the time ive had with SUCH amazing people and missionaries

The big mission meeting was kind of sad, just because there are a lot of people i know who are going to be in the other mission, who we wont be able to see anymore. But it is so amazing for Costa rica, to be able to have to missions, two mission presidents, more stakes, and more missionaries. The work is going to explode even more here, i cant even imagine it! 

So we have been working with Gleny, griseldas sister and roxanas mom. And she has been progressing like crazy. Her baptismal date was for the 11th of july, but we felt like we should move it up to the 5th because she was so ready. So when we were teaching her on thursday we told her that we wanted to move her date up, and she was like, ¨To this sunday?¨ And we were like, ¨Umm....do you want to do it this sunday?¨ And she was like, ¨Yeah!!!¨ haha so we said well okay great! So on saturday she had her interview and on sunday she got baptized!!!!!!! Just so you all know this is a complete miracle. I told hna chatwin today that she got baptized and she couldnt even believe it. Gleny was SO happy, and so was griselda :) Gleny is so amazing and is already an amazing member of the church. Now we want to help her husband accept the gospel, and thats what she wants as well, so they can one day be sealed in the temple. 

hermana soto came yesterday for the baptism of gleny! so that was super fun to see her :) I am soo excited for her to go to new york, she will be so amazing! 

Well sorry i dont have that much to say, things are awesome and things are going to be a little crazy these next few weeks with the mission split and everything. Im way excited.

I hope you all have an amazing week! Trust in the Lord always :) Miracles happen all the time.

Con muchisimo amor,

Hermana Geis :)

Some of the best missionaries in the world :)

Hermana Soto gave this to me as a gift!

Gleny's Baptism

Week 53- Mission Split

Hello everyone! 

Well this week was really good of course :)

On tuesday we had the zone conference and i got to talk to everyone about becoming a Preach My Gospel missionary. I love that subject! And David A Bednar gave a really good talk about that so i gave everyone a copy and we studied. Preach my gospel is so amazing. 

After the zone conference we all went to taco bell (because its the cheapest place haha) and then i got to do my first division as a sister training leader. It was really good! My companion went to another area, Paraiso, and one of the hermanas from Paraiso came with me - Hermana Montepeque. She has 2 months in the mission and is from Guatemala, and is super sweet. It was a lot of fun because you always learn so much in divisions, and you can really help each other. They lasted till thursday, and on thursday we went to Paraiso to meet up with the other hermanas and we sat in during their weekly planning session to see how their planning is. It was awesome. 

So with divisions and all this week just flewww by. We have found a lot of amazing people to teach. The mom of Roxana, the girl who just got baptized, accepted a baptismal date! Her name is Gleny. She loovees the church. Me and hna chatwin taught her a little a long time ago, but she ended up telling us she didnt want anything because she didnt want to ¨change her religion¨ and what not, but she now loves everything about the gospel and wants to be baptized. A miracle :) And this is Griselda´s (recent convert) sister, so grisela is extremely happy to have her family in church with her! Her mom is also coming with them :) So now we are traveling a lot to where they live, which is kinda far away. But its worth it! Its funny because we have really seen that the people who are really prepared live farther away - but they are the ones who get baptized! And they are all active :) so its amazing! I have seen SO much success in cartago, and everyone was telling me how hard of an area it was! I LOVE cartago!!

So tomorrow we have a meeting with the entire mission! But im soo sad because it will be the last time i see a lot of people :( including president wilkinson. I have learned so much from him. His wife wanted us to send her what we have learned from him so this is what i sent: One thing i learned from President Wilkinson is to forget myself and go to work. I remembe rthat when he got sick and they wanted him to go to Salt Lake, he said that he wanted to stay and work, and that he would rest in the Millenium. That is just amazing! I learned from him that what we want doesnt matter at all! That everything should be for the Lord. Ive learned that i have all of eternity to enjoy myself, as Parley P Pratt said, so i should give my whole heart to this work! Hearing president´s testimony has strenghthened mine so much. And i have really learned about exact obedience - not just for the mission rules, but  for the commandments of God. I am so grateful for every single thing i have learned from president and i know that my future has changed because of what ive learned from him.

But really...my mission prep teacher at BYU told us that our mission calls have a lot to do with the mission president God wants us to have - and now i really understand that. I have just learned a lot of life changing things about discipleship and giving all to the Lord.

This is a historical time here in Costa Rica! The best mission in the world will soon be two :) 

Also, the prophet and apostles, in the temple, reviewed the papers for CARTAGO to be its own stake this past week. So we will find out tomorrow what they decided! :)

Thank you for all your support! love you all so much!

Hermana Geis :) 

My two daughters: Hermana Moon and Hermana Perez

The girls in the zone

Zona de Cartago