Week 7

Hello everyone!!

This week was good. I was thinking about you all a lot this week with the wedding and everything, and the day of the wedding i felt nothing but happiness - I was so grateful for that. We had some really powerful lessons this week. We´ve both been feeling the spirit a lot in the lessons and ive been able to express myself and explain things better in the lessons so thats really awesome. We´re trying to work hard, and Hermana Montoya said that this week was a lot more successful than her past weeks so that is so awesome!! We both have the desire to work hard. Even though we get tired and are weak haha the Lord helps us out.

So Fernanda, who got baptized this week, has a grandpa who´s been at her house a lot and we have been teaching him! We gave him a pamphlet of the restoration, and the next day he had read the entire thing and was spewing off all the information about it - that never happens! People rarely read anything we give them haha.  He was asking sincere questions, not about whether it was true or not but like detailed questions about what happened and it was awesome. he already knows its true, and he has a baptismal date. The only problem is he doesnt live here all the time so we´ll have to see what happens.

Another girl we´re teaching is Alejandra. We were going to stop visiting her a while back because she wasnt progressing or doing anything about our lessons, and right when we were  going to have our last lesson with her she accepted the invitation to be baptized. she came to church on sunday and said she knows that this is right, but she lives with her boyfriend and he doesnt want to get married. She knows that she cant get baptized until she´s married so she can live the law of chastisty, but he doesn´t want to. However!! We taught him yesterday! Haha he is a little hesitant but Alejandra  really knows that this is true, and I think that he will come around one day.
These two experiences have taught me that not everything is going to go smoothly. There are some really big obstacles that are in our way, but everything will work out in time.

Church on sunday was great because the chapel was  completely full!! With investigators and less active members. It was awesome. Its been hard to work with the members because something happened a while back where the members got super offended and that is all they talk about. We went to visit a member last night (because we were trying to find someone to give us food hahaha) and she talked for like a half hour about the same thing - i  finally had to tell her that we dont want to hear or talk about these things, because it distracts us from  our purpose. Hopefully everyone can just move on and realize that Jesus Christ is the head of this church and if HE forgives everyone, so should we.

here´s some random things about life in Costa Rica:

Me and Montoya are both terrified about bugs. luckily our house is pretty nice and we dont get a lot of nasty bugs. But a few nights ago there was a huge flying cockroack in our house and we were like screaming and running away from it and had to get our neighbor to come and get it out. hahaha it was hilarious.
It is REALLY HOT here. Like really hot. It has been soo dry, but at this moment it just started pouring rain haha. and i dont have my umbrella...oh well pura vida.

I miss the US!! going grocery shopping today made me miss it especially...everything is so expensive....and there is nothing healthy to buy....but hey it all works out haha.

Good thing i practiced piano because i´m going to start playing in sacrament meeting! they only have a keyboard so we´ll see how it goes. they might not like it because they sing the hyms reallyy low...they are not musical here haha its painful. But they still love to sing their hyms!

Im just so grateful for this gospel and the happiness it brings! My testimony has grown immensely and i could not be more grateful for that.
I love you all lots and thank you for everything!! Have a great week!

Week 6

Well I´ve now been in Costa Rica for over two weeks! Crazy right. Yesterday we took a 6 hour bus ride to San Jose to drop off Hermana Christensen. She soo does not want to go home haha. And guess what we ate for lunch...SUBWAY. I was in heaven. Thank you Heavenly Father! :)

So on Saturday a little girl we´ve been teaching got baptized. Her name is Fernanda, and she is ten years old. She is adorable. Her mom says she is always reading her book of Mormon, and when we set her baptism date she clapped her hands for joy. She is an amazing example to all of us to be so excited and passionate about the gospel at such a young age!

I also had a really cool experience last week. We were walking home after a lesson and we passed a house that we pass everyday, but this time the door was open and the lights were on. I kept on looking back thinking we should go talk to them, but they looked like they were eating so I didnt want to bother them. But I kept feeling like we should go back. So I told them we should go talk to them, and we did, and it was awesome. They were super receptive and invited us back, and the mom and the two year old son went to church with us on Sunday. My companions said they were so happy that I followed the spirit because neither of them felt that impression. They said that new missionaries seem to have the spirit stronger with them, but I think it should be the opposite! I hope that the spirit grows stronger the longer that I am out. But the only way it can become stronger is if I follow the promptings I am given. If I dont follow them, I´ll stop getting promptings.

It has been so extremely hot here. Its supposed to be rainy season and it´s rained like twice since I´ve been here! It´s really weird. 

here´s to answer some of your questions mom: We teach probably about 3-5 times a day. Our area is a long ways from our house so we walk a lot, and are supposed to make 20 street contacts a day. We have around 10 investigators, but some arent progressing. In a typical day, we get up at 6:30, exercise, and then do various studies from 8 to 12. Then we have lunch at our neighbors and head out for the day. We dont go back home until 9 or 9:30. And no one feeds us so if we want food we have to buy it, which we dont have enough money for every day! buut its okay because obviously the lord will bless us and provide a way for us :)

Well i´m out of time but I love you all!!

Hermana geis 

One Month Down!

Well everyone, I celebrated my first month anniversary in the mission!! And one week in Costa Rica! haha. 

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who as emailed/written me. Reading everything today on my first Pday in CR completely lifted my spirits. So thank you!

So who wants to hear what I had for dinner my very first night in Nicoya...PIGS FEET. It was the most disgusting thing of my life. I was just trying to force it down, trying not to gag. And its not just the meat from the foot, is the entire foot. Bone/toes and all. And it is just pure fat. My companions foot had hair on it....she ended up waking up in the middle of the night and throwing it all up. I wish I was that lucky...haha but really it was awful. The food here is definitely not like Cafe Rio! :(  haha. They eat white rice (weird) and beans with everything, and everything is fried in oil. So yeah thats hard. We get fed lunch by our neighbor everyday and then we never know about dinner - there´s not sign up sheet at church or anything so we either get it randomly or we dont. And usually I hope we dont get fed because its so unhealthy!

So. Let me try to tell you everything about Costa Rica. Where I am in Nicoya is suuper hot. Like really hot. And no air conditioning. But I am always cold and I hate being cold so I´m really okay with it! We live in a house thats totally better than I was expected, and bug wise we only have cockroaches every once and a while (luckily my comp is brave and gets rids of them while I go hide in another room) and lots of ants (just like the DR) and some geckos haha. So yeah I am pleasantly surprised about the bug situation. I´ve gotten bit by mosquitos like twice, which is a miracle - I guess they dont like my blood! There is no hot water in my house...but the cold showers actually feel soo good. That was something I was super worried about because hot showers are my favorite thing ever, so Heavenly Father is blessing me by making them enjoyable haha! 

This whole area is super poor. Different from the DR because there, there were really nice houses and what not but here there isnt any at all. Mostly dirt roads, etc.

My companions are Hermana Christensen and Hermana Montoya. Christensen is from  Arizona, leaving in a week, and Montoya is from California! But her parents are from Mexico so she´s fluent in spanish and what not. Teaching wise, its different from what I expected because I´m so used to teaching at the MTC and teaching a whole lesson in like 20 minutes but here we teach like not even half of the lesson in like 30 minutes. Thats really hard for me because I just want to teach them everything! And its hard to feel like we are progressing with them. But my comps told me that that is just how it has to be done here - they process these things more slowly so we have to teach it little by little.

Church was different from what I´m used to of course! Very small branch, but a nice chapel. Going to church made me miss my home ward so so much! So tell everyone hello for me mom! Sundays are definitely not relaxing like back at home, because we still go out and work. I have been thinking about the missionaries back home a lot and thinking how lucky they are to have people like you and dad, mom, who reach out to them and love them! They really appreciate it i know! :)

So guess what happened on saturday! We had a WEDDING and TWO baptisms!! ! It was so amazing. Jacqueline and Gustavo. It was really stressful planning everything for this wedding because we had to buy stuff for it, get a lawyer to come marry them, get them clothes because they have no money, make sure they were actually going to show up, etc. But it all worked out! And they looked so happy ¨:) Their son pablo was baptized the week before, so all three of them were confirmedon Sunday, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. They looked even happier then.

Today we went to the beach! It was so gorgeous...Im pretty sure I want you guys to pick me up mom and dad because mostly everyone has their parents come! We can talk about that later ;)

Btw let me explain how mail works: first of all if you send a package it should get here fine, just never declare what you put in it. Declare it as missionary supplies or something. They said that letters/packages usually get here in two weeks (maybe longer for packages if they get held up at customs) and then I get my mail about once a month. 

Well I guess thats all for now. I love you all so so much and miss you so much!
Have a great week everyone!

Love, Hermana Geis

 

     Before their marriage! (they also have an adorable 7 year old girl not in the picture)

                                     Pigs feet!!
 

                               
          At the beach with the hermanas from my district

I made it to Costa Rica!!!

Wow. Everyone. I am in Costa Rica. I feel so weird. And so excited. My mission pres and his family picked me up from the airport last night - they are very loving and awesome! I was expecting to be suffocated by the humidity like the DR but it wasnt bad at all! They say that the climate in San Jose is a lot like San Diego! Its really not that hot in San Jose. However, where Im going, (ahhh!) is apparrantly suuper and hot and more dry (rain wise). I am going to Nicoya, in the Guanacaste zone. They said the missionaries there are really awesome and strong, and that the missionary work is thriving there. He also said I should be ready to be a trainer in 12 weeks! So crazy.

Right after they picked me up they took me to the San Jose temple! So pretty. And the Mission President talked to me about what he expects and how to be successful. it was really cool (By the way dad, he is a hardcore Ute fan so he loves that I am too and that you still have season tickets haha). Also Mom, his wife said you can totally add her on facebook and ask her any questions you have! Her last name is Wilkinson but I dont know her first name.

Also something really funny, they didnt get any updates on when i was coming either, so their daughter got on my facebook and was looking at my letters and thats how they knew when i was coming hahaha. Pres Wilkinson was all, Yeah so we heard about your breakdown! Hahaha i told him he wasnt supposed to see that! But they assured me that was normal ;)

My two companions are about to pick me up - one is leaving in two weeks! Im about to take a 5 hour bus ride (the mission presidents wife told me to bring a ziplock to throw up in hahaha) and then Ill be in my new area! I dont know what to expect so thats probably a good thing.

By the way I took a cold shower this morning and am really proud of myself. Haha :)

Well thats probably all Ill say for now, until next week! :)

Love, Hermana Geis

 

Week 3- I'M GOING TO COSTA RICA!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

Wow. So much has happened this week. This is going to be a crazy email. Here it goes!

So after I wrote last week, we went to the devotional and Quentin L. Cook spoke. It was way cool! Then, that night, I moved in with three other hermanas. Let me just say, I know why I stayed an extra week. This trio was having some major issues...not getting along, not planning well, not knowing what to teach. I was feeling really discouraged about being in a new district but the next day, I felt in my heart that that was where I was supposed to be. I was paired with Sister Gonzales Herrera. The sweetest girl ever. She told me I was an answer to her prayers because of the issues she was having with the trio. She also said that she is not very self confident and that that was why I was there. But trust me, I did nothing. It was only the spirit working through me to comfort her. We got along really well and it was nice to have someone who I could comfortably talk to. I was blessed to have her as a companion for only a short time, and it was really sad to say goodbye!

So yeah, that district that I joined all left monday morning. So that was really hard because I moved to another apartment with some sisters who were leaving the next day. Then, last night, I was trying to figure out where I would be moving next and who I would be staying with, and I completely lost it. Everyone says you lose it once at the MTC, and I was feeling all awesome and strong because I hadn't cried yet hahaha and then it all came out. It was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced - I was like hyperventilating. It got to the point where I was literally half laughing half sobbing because it sounded so WEIRD hahaha. The two sisters were so sweet trying to comfort me. I felt so bad for them to see that haha but they were great. One of the sisters later told me I was apparrantely having a panic attack...which actually makes a lot of sense because I have never experienced anything like it. We finally started to walk back to the classroom, and I was still gasping uncontrollably, and then when the elders ran up to come talk to me I lost it again. So we all went in the room, and I tried to explain what was wrong - btw I'm only telling you this awful story so I can tell you how I got better. One of the elders talked for like 20 minutes saying amazing things that made me feel so much better. I finally started to breathe normally and actually couldn't stop smiling. Why? Because I could feel the spirit in that room. Heavenly Father was comforting me through the words of that Elder. They also gave me a blessing - the most beautiful blessing, and so specific to what I need. I felt really good after that, free even, probably for getting all those tears out. And anyone who knows me knows I HATE crying, and having people see that. So this was definitely an experience. I also felt so so close to our small group in that room. It's crazy how close you can feel to people you don't even know after going through an experience like that.

So today I am with yet another new district, and even know I feel a lot better it has still been hard. One thing I have definitely learned: you are put with specific people for a reason. Every group I've been in has been COMPLETELY different. That just shows that Heavenly Father knows what kind of people you need and you'll always be put in the right place. Every group has had a totally different personality.

Anyways, today we were up at main campus after going to the temple, and I decided to go to the travel office to ask them if there were any updates. The same girls who I always talk to were there, and as always, they were not helpful at all and said, "no we haven't heard anything." didn't look anything up, didn't check anything. One of my temporary companions told me to tell you how they were doing nothing Mom, so you could call and get mad at them hahaha. After coming back to west campus, I felt like I should go to this travel office hoping that different girls would be there. And there was - so I asked, and she looked up my info, called the travel office downtown, and guess what....I AM BOOKED TO LEAVE ON MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY VISA FINALLY CAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like seriously....the two sisters i was with literally screamed and jumped up and down when she told us that because they knew how much i wanted to go. I can't even believe it honestly. I leave the MTC at 4:30 in the morning, go to dallas, have a 4 hour layover (yay i can talk to you family!!) and then arrive at costa rica at 7 pm! And I am the only one going haha so that will be fun!!

So basically, this has seriously been a rollercoaster of emotions. It is so crazy.

Happy fathers day on sunday everyone! (Especially you dad hehe) They showed a fathers day video in church and pretty sure that was a bad idea because everyone was crying missing their dads hahaha. Dad you should be getting two things in the mail :D i hope you like what I picked out for you! :D 

So this past weekend I did all the departure things for the second time - in field orientation (an all day thing filled with info and practices and role plays), departure devotionals, etc. I really didn't mind doing it all again because I was able to learn more, but it is hilarious because I will be doing all that for the THIRD time this weekend haha. One of the teachers I got at In-Field was one of the missionaries from The District! (a documentary of missionaries in San Diego) - Elder Christensen. We were all freaking out like he was some celebrity haha but he was an awesome teacher. Very funny and animated, unlike how he seemed on the documentary.

I want to share with you all an amazing thing I learned this past week. I was studying the parables of Christ (btw I was only doing that because Maddie Parker gave me that as advice and it seemed like inspiration so I couldn't not do it haha thanks Maddie!) and i read the parable of the lost sheep. Wow. Everyone go read that. It is so beautiful. Luke chapter 15. In verse 7, it says that God will have more joy over one repentant sinner than 99 just people. That is so amazing - God loves every sinner more than anything. His hand is outstretched to them, always ready to receive them and forgive them. He has so much joy when we repent - think of this in a personal sense and you will feel more fully God's love for you. He is so happy when we repent and will always forgive us.

Well, i think I have said enough :) haha i love you all! Every bit of support helps me so much! 

Love, Hermana Geis 

                       Love her!

                   The group that helped me live through my breakdown :)

Week 2- Still at the MTC!

Hi everybody!! 

Well, I am still at the MTC. Visa problems...I've gone to the travel office a lot to check if anything's changed, and yesterday they said, "We don't know what to do with you." Haha so it is interesting! They have no idea when it will come so I guess they don't know if they should reassign me stateside for a little bit (which they don't think they'll do) or just keep me at the MTC. I wouldn't mind staying at the MTC if my district was staying with me! They're all gone and I miss them! It will be weird being with a new group but I'm sure they'll be great too. I realized today that I'm actually really nervous to go to Costa Rica...haha the MTC is a much different environment than it will be there. So maybe staying a little while longer is a good thing, so that I can learn more and be extra prepared. But the other part of me just wants to get on a plane and go to Costa Rica right now!

*By the way, since my district is gone, if you send me a dear elder or anything put the unit number as 842 instead of 838. :)

I said goodbye to my companion Sunday night which was so sad! She was great, and we worked really well together. She altered like 5 of my shirts - how awesome is that? They were all too big and she fixed them perfectly. What would I have done without her!

So after my companion and the other two sisters left, I was the only girl left in my district. So I stayed with some other sisters in their apartment but they still let me be with the elders in our class! I was way happy about that. So I was a "Solo" missionary. I got a nifty little "solo" sticker on my nametag haha and got to have class with all the elders! However, one sister in my district actually came back from the airport that night because her flight was cancelled from storms in the south - so I was only a Solo missionary for half a day haha but it was still fun. 

It was soo hard to say goodbye to the elders. They are all so sweet! And they always kept us laughing. They'll all be amazing missionaries. They also gave me and Sister Cole blessings last night. It was so special and the spirit was so strong.

It was way sad to have the last classes with my teachers because they're so great. They bore amazing testimonies to us and I can only hope to be the kind of missionaries they were!

The last thing Brother Dean taught us was the key to him having a successful mission: Charity. Charity means having the pure love of Christ for other people. Charity seems like a really hard thing to achieve, so we can only get there one step at a time. The first step is humility. That is definitely something I am trying to work on - being humble so that I can more fully love other people and give them the hope of the gospel.

Well all, I think that's all for now. There is so little time and so much I want to say! Not much has happened since last week though. I will keep you all posted about when I leave. If I find out before next P-Day I think they'll let me send a quick email to let you know. I love you all!! Thank you for the support <3 

-Hermana Geis 

     Big map at main campus during "In-Field Orientation!"

    Last night with the district! 

     Hermana Francom and I

Week One!

HELLO FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!!

I am so excited to be writing you. We look forward to writing these emails all week long, and then when it comes I feel super anxious because there's so much I want to say and so little time! I had to write and outline of my email before to make sure its organized haha...so let's see how it turns out!

First of all, I apparently did not get some of the emails you guys sent me...but I got them all now as you resent them! So if anyone sent me an email you might want to try to resend it (Family, I got all of yours now :) ) Also, I did not get some of the dear elder letters you sent me...I only got one from Mom (the first one) and the one from alissa about when lucy got out. Dad, thank you for the letter in my suitcase! That was very nice to see my first night. Emily Sciammarella also sent me an email! That was so sweet of her to check in on me!! And thank you for sending me letters through dear elder - **If there is anyone who wants to email me, you should use dearelder.com! You write it as an email but then they print it out for me and I can read it that day! Otherwise I wont be able to read it until P-Day. It's like Christmas when we missionaries get a letter haha. But emails are great too :) 

SO, my first day definitely started out crazy. For those who havent heard, my plane was delayed FOUR hours, and had to get a new flight. So I was way late to the MTC (training center in provo) but it all turned out completely fine of course :) I am on West Campus instead of the Main MTC campus and am soo glad...everything is outside except the classrooms and apartments and what not just like a college campus so that is wayy nice. We can study outside in the beautiful utah summer weather and also only spanish speaking missionaries live here! So it's much smaller, everyone is trying to speak spanish, and everyone is super friendly. Yes the food is sooo good! Really. But...(alissa and jordan you will enjoy this) I heard a rumor they put extra fiber in all your food. That is not a rumor. Everyone feels it....hahaha I wont go into detail. Except for that the orange juice apparantly has laxatives in it as well..

I have seen lots of people I know here! A couple people from BYU, Aanika Fraga, and I see Jacob Farnsworth all the time! We have all our meals together and we talk a lot, so that is so nice to have a familiar face here to talk to. He's been here like 3 weeks, so he helps me know all the ins and outs of the MTC.

So I am in the advanced group right? There's only about 20 in the whole West campus right now. And I'm the only one going to Costa Rica in the group. Most are native speakers,  but there are a few like me which is good. 

I absolutely love my teachers, Brother Dean and Brother Adlish. Served in Argentina and Chile, and are way good. And they make you feel really good when you give a mediocre comment in spanish..haha. Btw, Brother Dean is Lee Whatcott's nephew! How crazy is that. At first I was way too scared to give comment in class because everyone's spanish is so good, but I've gotten better and now have no fear! That's a relief. Also, when giving lessons to fake investigators (actually our teachers) I wrote down word for word what I was going to say the whole lesson. But yesterday, all I wrote down was the topics we would talk about. So cool that after only 6 days here I feel comfortable to do that! Time has gone by really fast, but it also seems like I was in San Diego a lifetime ago. In a good way! We have class for 6 hours a day, and then study for 3 hours a day. I love it not going to lie haha.

My companion is Hermana Francom, from Idaho. (Btw mom, her mom served in Dallas Texas! Sister Balarezo) She's way nice and a great first companion. Her mom is peruvian so she's totally fluent which is good because she can help me get better and always helps me correct myself. We teach really well together! We both agree on what to say and we get really excited and passionate when we teach and when we plan what to teach. I get really nervous when we're about to go teach someone a lesson, but afterwards I feel so good. I struggle saying what I want to say in spanish - Seriously if I was teaching in English, it would be a piece of cake (or so I think). Because I have the perfect response in my head but cannot formulate it in spanish. But I am getting better, and yesterday when teaching "Martin" I went off my outline and just tried to speak what came to my heart. Brother Adlish gave us some feedback and he said my spanish is really good, but of course he is just trying to make me feel better ;)

I love my district (the people I go to class with everyday). Another pair of sisters and then a trio of elders. The elders are way funny - one is from the DR but moved her a while ago.

So here's something exciting....a few days ago everyone in my district got their flight information to their missions except me. I am going to cut a very long story very short: they are still working on my visa. First time I went in to talk to them they said I might have to stay in the MTC for six weeks because I might not get my visa in time. WHAT?! I was not about to let that happen! But, I had no doubt that whatever happened was what the Lord wanted to happen and that I would learn so much either way. I went in again today, and the verdict is that I actually will be leaving next week!! They just don't know when, and I might not know until the day of. So that's a little crazy, and I will just have to be prepared to leave whenever. The two other sisters in my district just got reassigned to the states for 6 weeks because their countries just changed their visa requirements. So i'm lucky Costa Rica isn't too hard to get into.

So today is Preparation day! We got up early, went to the temple, and then went to Brigham's Landing and ate at Burger Supreme. It was SO FUN to see jessica there!! She's too sweet! I loved being able to talk to her!!

On Sunday night we went to Main Campus to go to the devotional/watch a film. We watched a recording of a devotional given by the apostle David. A Bednar, called "Character of Christ." Seriously, it is profound. I dont know where you can find the video but please everyone go try and find it and watch it. It is so amazing and will change the way you think about yourself and others. It talks about how in the very moment we would turn in to ourselves and think selfishly about us, Christ would turn out and think of others. For example, when Christ was betrayed by Judas, Peter cut of a guard's ear, right? Christ had just gone through so much pain in the Garden of Gethsemane and had just been betrayed by his apostle. That is a moment where any normal person would not even care or think about the guard's ear, but instead would think about themselves and how much despair they were feeling. But the only thing Christ did was heal the guard's ear. How amazing is that. That is the character of Christ.

I'm sorry this email is so crazy and long...ahh its hard to know I wont be able to tell you anything else for a week, but all is well! I love you all sooo much and i miss you! But i love it here. 

Love,

Hermana Geis :) 

 The girls in our district! Ignore the fact that I'm pointing to the wrong country....hahaha. My comp is on the far right in the pink skirt!

                                                     "In the classroom!"

                                           "After going to the provo temple! :)"

"Me and elder farnsworth! He's bending down about two feet. also this picture is illegal because you're not supposed to take a pic with one elder and one sister alone! We didnt know haha"

                                         "THANK YOU MOM"

  (Hermana Geis and her district got to go out to lunch at Great Harvest! One of the perks of being in the West Campus MTC)                           

    (Jessica works at Great Harvest and was lucky enough to see Amy there!)    

​                  "Jessica generously gave me a free loaf of (my favorite) pumpkin chocolate bread!"