Week 69 :Enjoy Every Moment !

Hello everyone!

So this week was pretty awesome! We really tried to use every second to work hard and find people! We had the blessing of finding 18 new investigators!!!! So that was amazing. We met up with one couple who we talked to a while ago, and we had a lesson with them in the park! So that was pretty cool. It was actually a really powerful lesson. I just love when we can testify boldly, not being afraid. Because they cant say anything about a powerful testimony. We have the privilege of testifying of truth! So there's no sense in being soft, or shy about it. That's a lesson that I've learned - to not be ashamed, and to testify boldly.

 We were visiting a member whose like 80 years old named Daisy, and she was telling us about a lady that she was visiting that just had a surgery where they amputated her legs.  She told us that she had been talking to her about the church. We were like, we would love to go visit her!  And so Daisy said, Lets go right now!  So this 80 year old lady took us to where the lady lived (and it was pretty far for an elderly lady to walk) and it was awesome. This lady, Marielos, lives with her husband and two kids and they are SO prepared for the restored gospel. We are so excited for them!

So that family that we have been visiting that has the mom who is less active and who we had a really spiritual lesson with them where she was crying, is doing really well. We visited them on Saturday and the dad Mauricio, did not want to go to church. He said that he didn't know how he felt about changing churches and all these things. So we talked a lot about prayer, and how he can only get the answer from God and the Spirit. He basically said that he wasn't going to go to church the next day. But guess what...they all came to church the next day! It was so beautiful to see them there. It was testimony meeting, and almost all the people talked about what we had taught him the day before (prophets and apostles) it was perfect. So we are going to do EVERYTHING to help them progress and keep coming to church. We already have planned to go with a ton of members to help teach them.. Oh by the way, this family lives super far away and it is like a forest. Its awesome.

Time is going by so fast! I really can't believe it. There are so many missionaries who are ending their mission in these changes, its so weird. We just have to enjoy every moment!!

Well I love you all!!  Thanks for everything!

Love, hermana Geis :)

Sunday Afternoon

P-day Water Balloon War !

It rained right after our game

With Elder Toledo and Elder Miller

With Elder Olsen and Elder Lewis

Week 68: Come, Come Ye Saints

Hello everyone! 

This week was so crazy! But really good :)

So one cool experience: There's a less active member named Angela. She talked to another member and said that she wants to come back to church, but her husband and her kids aren't members of the church and have never gone. So she wanted us to go visit them. So we went, and we were extremely happy and surprised to find them as a complete, unified family. So we sang a hymn, and Angela said the first prayer. She could barely get through the prayer, because she started crying. We asked her why she was crying, and she said it was because she felt the Holy Spirit, and because she wanted her family to accept the gospel. So it was extremely spiritual. Her family accepted the challenge to be baptized, but her husband has a lot of doubts and doesn't want to rush things. So we`re gonna have to work with them step by step to help them progress and accept the gospel, so that they can be an eternal family.

We`ve been working a lot with Luisa and Abigail, I wrote about them a couple weeks ago. Luisa has been praying a lot to know if these things are true, but she said that she hasn't gotten the answer yet, and she has felt that her other church is keeping her from having an open heart and receiving the answer. But this week she asked us to tell her how she could pray more correctly to get the answer. So we told her that all she needed to do was direct the prayer directly to God, as the specific question, and end in the name of Jesus Christ. So she said, ¨Wow...I haven't been praying that way. So I'm going to do that and get the answer.¨ I don't think I've ever seen someone who wants to know so badly whether or not these things are true. One time praying with us, she said, ¨Heavenly Father, I NEED to know if these things are true. Please help me know.¨

So we were really praying that she would come to General Conference, so that she could feel the spirit as the prophet and apostles were speaking. And she did go!  She went to the Saturday morning session and she said that she felt really good. After the Conference we asked her how she has felt as she has prayed about everything, and she said, ¨Well I felt enough that I wanted to come today!¨  We were like, hallelujah!  So we are super excited for her progression.

On Friday we had the Leadership meeting. It went really well!  It was the last time Hermana Chatwin and I were gonna see each other :(  It was so sad!  And other missionaries are leaving too.  It's always hard to say goodbye to other missionaries because you don't know if you'll see them again. But you really meet the coolest people on the mission.

Then of course we watched General Conference!  And of course it was great. I really loved the talk about asking the spirit to tell you what you need to change to progress. It is not easy to be so open to the spirit and so humble to accept what it's going to tell you, but I love the promise that the spirit will tell us specifically what we need to change. I know that there's a ton of little things like that that I need to change to progress.

I'm so excited about the 3 new apostles!  They seem so awesome, and so humble. I know that we will all learn so much from them. 

Another really cool experience we had last night: It was pretty late and we were far away from our house, and as we were walking out to the main street we missed the bus....and then another one came behind it but we missed that one too!!  So we were like, why did we just miss two buses in a row!!  Haha so we started walking down the road thinking of who we could visit and we passed by a really big and pretty house. I thought, ¨that'd be cool to teach the people in this house!  But how scary it would be to knock this door!¨  But I recently put a goal to be more brave! and so I stopped and said, ¨Hey let's contact this house!¨  And a lady like in her 50's came out. Usually we ask them a random question to start the conversation, but we just said, "Well we are missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and we have a message for the families about Jesus Christ. Can we share it with you? and she said, "Yeah come on in!"  Haha  I was soo happy and surprised!  

So we taught her and her 23 year old son.  And they LOVED it. We read from Alma 7:10-14, and she was all ready with her Bible so we told her it was in the Book of Mormon. After reading the scriptures we asked if she had any questions, and she said, ¨No, but I'm still in awe about this book!  I really like it!¨  So anyway, the lesson went great and we invited them to be baptized. as we asked them if they would prepare for a specific date, she said ¨Honestly, no. because I am used to my religion.¨ So then we let her talk for like 5 minutes about how she wasn't interested in changing, and as she was talking, she led herself into accepting the challenge haha. So then we asked, "Hermana, if GOD tells you that you should do it, will you do it?"  And she said, ¨Yes absolutely.¨ Haha so we didn't do a lot- we just let her talk and let herself realized that she really would do it. It was great! 

This week as a Ward activity we watched the movie "17 miracles", about the pioneers who crossed the US after joining the church. It was AMAZING to watch that. It was mostly amazing because my great great great grandma was in that exact company. And she lived through it all. And I realized - if it weren't for everything that happened in that movie, i would not be here on a mission in Costa Rica. I would not even be alive. Thanks to Julia Hill, THOUSANDS of lives have been blessed. My mom went on a mission, my brother did, and so many cousins who are all descendants of Julia.  If she didn't give up everything to follow Christ, none of us would be here. 

So just think about the Legacy we need to carry on, and everything we owe to the early Saints who gave everything to follow God. We owe to them to do the same.

Anyways I love you all!!  Please go listen to Conference again, I'm going to do the same. And we can really try to apply what they taught and change.

Thanks for everything!

hermana geis

Hrm Pena

Leadership Conference

Elder Saavedra, Slder Macias, Hermana Davidson, Hermana Chatwin and I

Saying goodbye to Hrm Chatwin :(

Trainers Meeting

Taking a short cut to Luisa's house !

P-Day Pizza

Week 67- The Only Way to True Happiness is Giving it All to the Lord

 Hello everyone!

So this was a super crazy week....

On Tuesday night we had to go to San Jose to stay over night there, because we were going to the temple on Wednesday!  But before we left on Tuesday it just started POURING rain. it was crazy. I will attach a picture.

So we got up suuper early on Wednesday and got to go to the Temple with President Hayes, his wife, and two other zones. It was so awesome. I had never felt the spirit so strong, probably in my entire life. And it was awesome to have President there with us as well. Then after the Temple as a Zone we went to San Jose and ate and then walked around San Jose and bought some souvenirs!

So after getting back to our area Wednesday night, I ended up not even being able to walk on my ankle basically...so those next two days I had to rest it, and we only went to the most important appointments. Which really stinks,  because of course, all appointments are important. Then on Friday we went to San Jose again to finally see a doctor, and he found that I do have damaged ligaments/tendons and some liquid in my ankle. So he prescribed some insoles for me and we will see what happens! :) 

On Saturday, we had a baptism! The granddaughter of a recent convert got baptized. Her name is Keydelin. she was terrified of the water, and for that reason didn't want to get baptized. But she got over her fear and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ :) After the baptism we had an activity with the Relief Society. A talent show!  So I got to sing and play la guitarra! it always feels good to do that. Then we watched the General Women's Conference. 

Today we had the monthly check up with all the trainers and new missionaries. It was great. And then we got to eat American food which is always awesome.

So this week we are going to work extremely hard. Something President told us today was that when we don't want to work, we have to work even harder. When we don't want to pray, pray harder. Its so true. At the beginning of my mission it was always tough to give up my desires. I went out to work, but didn't really want to. I think that happens with every missionary. But then I learned to give it all up and do it because God wanted me to do it. That's when our desires become His desires. There's a talked called The Fourth Missionary, that talks about the type of missionary that is the most happy and gets the most out of his mission. The talk says that there are days when he doesn't want to go out, and there are days when he gets discouraged. But he goes out anyway. But he doesn't go out resenting it, deep down wanting to do something else or be somewhere else. He does it because ¨it is the only intelligent thing to do.¨ Maybe this doesn't make sense to you, but I love that lesson!  We must do what God wants not just because it's our duty, and we can't be hating it the whole time, really wanting to do something else. We must do what God wants because we know that that is the only way to true happiness and salvation. 

Well everyone have a great week! I love you all! 

Hermana Geis

With Hermana Pena

Yummy food made by President Hayes!

Pouring Rain...

Eating our favorite fruit--mamon chino

River

We bought these dresses in Gringo Alley! All of the elders call them our "multi-use dresses".  They say we can use them as sheets,curtains, chair coverings etc...hahaha :)

At McDonalds

With Hermana

Keydelin and her family

With Keydelin

At Subway!!

The funniest secretaries ever-- Elder Nielson and Elder Nelson

Almost all of our zone: Zona Atlantica!

With some members

In Gringo Alley!!

With Hermana Moon and Hermana Chatwin :) We saw them at the office on Friday because they were getting some residency stuff done

Back with mi hija!!

Week 66- He is in Charge

Hello everyone!
So this week was good! We really focused on finding this week. Like a ton of finding. And we found a lot of people!! We just need to find more of the people who are ready to accept the gospel. 

A missionary who used to be here gave us a bunch of references of people she used to visit, so we called a bunch of them. And one of them is named Luisa. Shes in her late sixties probably, and her son is a member! But hasnt gone to church for years. And she lives with her granddaughter, Abigail, whos like 10. She we get to their house and the first thing they do is bring out the book of mormon. I was like, what?! And they said that they read it all the time. Hahaha so crazy! Shes gone to a couple different churches, and right now goes to a baptist church. But as we were talking about the Restoration of the gospel, she said, ¨Well with my age, i really get myself thinking, Am i in the true church? Because i really dont know!¨ So then we just told her to read, and pray. The second time we visited her she read a lot and prayed, but said that she hadnt gotten her answer yet. So we asked her how she felt as she read, and she said really good. So then we read Galations 5:22, to help her realize that they spirit has been talking to her through her feelings, and telling her that this is all true. So she keeps on reading and praying and we are really excited for her progress. :) 

Yesterday something pretty cool happened. We were really struggling with having lessons yesterday and no one was home and we were like, why is this happening! Haha. In the afternoon we felt to talk to some people that were sitting outside their house. One of the ladies was really nice and said we could share something another day. we didnt ask to share something right then because we were looking for a different family, but after leaving i asked myself, ¨Should we have asked to teach them right then?¨ but when we passed by later they werent there anymore. So the day passed on and it was kinda late, and we had about 20 minutes to spare until the bus came. So we were standing on the sidewalk and the house in front of us had their door open, and i just pointed to the house and said, ¨Lets go talk to them!¨ So we did, and a lady came out and we asked if we could share something. She said, ¨Im the one that you talked to in that other house earlier today!¨ Haha i was like are you serious!! God really wanted us to teach her! So she let us in and found out that she met with the missionaries like a year and a half ago, for a really long time, and her family loved it when they came over. So we are hoping that this time she is ready to fully accept the gospel :)

This week we also did divisions! Hermana Herrera, from Mexico, who also has 3 weeks in the mission like my companion came here with me. Its always fun to mix things up and do divisions.

This week we get to go to the temple :) President Hayes wanted us to go this week so that we can prepare ourselves for general conference on the 3rd and 4th of october. I cant believe that its already time for general conference!

Well i hope you all have a great week and that you always trust in God! Because He is in charge! And he was a wonderful plan for each and every one of us, if we are willing to be obedient and give everything to him :) 

Love you all!

Hermana geis

p.s. the sky is like black right now because of rain clouds....we are not excited for what is about to come...

On divisions with Hermana Herrera

Pretty Guaplies

A bridge we cross haha

Hermana Pena completed 1 month in the mission!

Week 65- A Microwave!!!

Hello everyone!

So this week was good :) 

Its been raining a lot, we even had to buy some little rain boots. I didn't have any last year so these help a lot!  But luckily when there have been complete downpours we´ve been in someone´s house.

We´ve been continuing to get to know the area. We found a lot of new investigators this week! Not all of them are super interested, but there are some who were complete miracles!

Something that we have been practicing this week is following the spirit. One thing i love about missionary work is following the Spirit - if I don't know what to do, all I have to do is say a little prayer and then see what the spirit tells me!  Or the spirit will just tell me where to go as we are walking. Like getting a feeling to go to one house, or who to visit first, etc etc. I love it because it doesn't have to be logical - its just about what we feel!

We saw a lot of that last week. For example yesterday we had an appointment to visit a member, and we were in this one big area and were about to go with the member, but we were wondering if we should try to contact a reference that we had gotten that lived in the other direction. So my comp asked, ¨what do you feel?¨  and we had walked A TON that day and were super tired, but I felt that we should go contact the reference, even though we didn't even know exactly where she lived. So we went to find her, and she received us and accepted a baptismal date.

Another hilarious thing that happened. We were in a neighborhood for the first time and were trying to find some inactive members. We walked past a house with a bunch of people inside and my comp said, ¨we should contact that house!¨ and so we said we would on the way back. So on the way back we passed and I was like, ¨ok we gotta contact it if you felt like we should!¨ so we got their attention (here in Costa Rica you yell ¨upe¨ or ¨buenas¨ to ¨knock the door¨) and we were trying to figure out how we could start the conversation. so I was like, ¨do you know a....umm....Edwin?  that lives around here?¨ which was the first name that popped into my head. And the guy was like, ¨umm just a sec.¨ And then this old man comes out and said, ¨Edwin who? whats his last name?¨ and we said we didn't know his last name. And then he said, ¨Well I'm Edwin!  Who sent you here?¨ Hahaha. It was pretty hilarious. So he said we could come back and teach his family.

Today on the bus to San Jose I got to teach a preacher of another church about the Book of Mormon. It was pretty cool. It's funny because it was the only empty seat in the whole bus when I got on, and he said that before he got on the bus he felt that a young person who knew about God was going to sit next to him...haha

WE GOT A MICROWAVE THIS WEEK. Another miracle. ;)  I haven't had a microwave for 15 months!  It makes live so much easier!

Time is going by so fast! I cant believe it!  I'm so grateful to be here on the Lord´s Errand. I know the Lord is with us and guiding us!  I feel very happy - a little stressed at times when I start to think about all we need to do, but then I just take a breath and feel calm again.

The church is true and Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation - He, and obedience to His commandments.

I love you all!!

Hermana Geis 

Rain boots!

Rain!

Making cookies in the office while our companions were getting fingerprints for their visas!

The cookie sheet didn't fit in the oven hahaha