Week 18- On to be a trainer

Hello!! 

This week was pretty crazy. So we went to San Jose Tuesday afternoon, got to the mission office later that night, and Hermana Burningham had her last interview. He also interviewed me since I was there - it was really good! He asked me to share spiritual experiences and what ive been studying and what not. And then he said...¨Now Im just going to be straight with you..next week youre going to get a brand new missionary. Youre going to be training.¨ I was sooo excited to hear that! Im going to be training a brand new missionary :) I dont know if she´ll be latina or gringa, so we´ll see! We´re going to San Jose tomorrow, I´ll go to a trainers meeting on wednesday morning, then to breakfast at the President´s house, and then they´ll announce the companionships. I really wanted to train, but more and more ive realized what a big responsibility that is! On wednesday I started to feel that weight on my shoulders but I have asked the Lord to give me the strength, patience, and love that´s necessary to train someone. Today we cleaned the house and organized stuff to make sure she feels comfortable in the house and I put up decorations and am going to make posters with scriptures and quotes on them to make the house an uplifting place :) I am going to really try to serve her as much as I can and to make her feel like she is loved! As they say in the mission field, she´s my ¨hija¨ so I´ll have to treat her like that! Im excited!
So on wednesday morning we got up super early and went to the temple :) it was great. I did not want to leave haha because I did not want to leave the peace that is in the temple. I bought some pictures at the temple store, then we ate lunch at KFC, and then headed back to Nicoya. Our district leader came with us to do the baptismal interview with Keisy, and that went totally well! Arlyn however....she wasnt there. We found out that her dad said she couldnt get baptized or something like that...we really dont know. This has happened before with her, and maybe shes just not ready yet. But we focused on getting keisy ready for her baptism on friday! And everything went well with the baptism :) She was super excited and seemed really happy! Im very happy for her! But our work isnt over yet - we are going to teach her everyything over again so that she really understands everything and we need to continue to work with her to make sure she stays strong. She got to church late on Sunday, but was confirmed and recieved the holy ghost :) In her confirmation blessing, she was blessed to serve a full time mission and eventually be sealed in the temple! How amazing is that! We need to work super hard with her to help her reach those blessings :) her boyfriend went to her baptism and church with her and we are teaching him and his family! So we have high hopes for them too. 

So we have been visiting a couple that has like 6 or more kids under 10 haha. They have had a lot of questions and a lot of doubts, but I honestly see them progressing in the future. Poco a poco. The mom, Lendy, does not like the idea of religion or church because she has had a lot of bad experiences in different churches. Last night, we were trying to get her to pray to end the lesson. She did not want to at all. She was refusing. But after expaining how to do it and waiting for a long time, she finally did it. And after she ended, we asked her how she felt, and she said, ¨I feel good. I have never prayed before in my life, because I have never known how. Ive asked my husband how to pray because I wanted to, but Ive never known how.¨ So that was a cool experience to be a part of :) her first prayer! Theyre going to take a lot of lessons and work to help them progress but I really do have high hopes for them. 

Last night we had dinner at the branch presidents house and we had roast, a bunch of vegetables, and mashed potatoes. I was like, This is what we eat the United States! I was so happy! 

Well everyone, wish me luck with my new companion! This week will be crazy!

Keisy's Baptism

Beautiful Keisy

With Hermana Burningham at the temple

Decorating the apartment for the new companion

Guiselle--the Branch President's Wife

Week 17-- The Bus Ride and El Templo

Hola!

I feel like i have a ton to say in these email. A ton has happened and will be happening this next week!!!

So this week we had divisions again. This time I was with Hermana Garcias companion, Hermana Jensen and we worked here in Nicoya. I was a little nervous at first because Hna Jensen has only been here a month in the mission and doesnt know a lot of spanish! But i looved it. It was so much fun, and she was really fun to work with. I learned a lot because I had to take charge and really really listen to the people, since Hna Jensen doesnt understand a lot, and I really had to listen to the spirit to guide us. I said multiple times to Heavenly Father - I dont know where to go right now, please guide us! Because HE knows a lot better than me who needs us at exact moments. I really felt the spirit in the lessons that me and Hermana Jensen had. We had a suuper good lesson with an inactive member, and afterwards I couldnt remember like anything I said - that is evidence that it was totally the spirit that was teaching! I loved that. 
We also had a member gringo couple who are living here for the next 3 months come and go to a lesson with us. It was fun! They speak practically no spanish so we translated for them haha but the husband, Fred, doesnt care that he knows no spanish - he will talk to anyone and shares his testimony in any way he can. Afterwards they took us to dinner so that was fun too!

The morning that divisions ended, on Friday, me and Hna Jensen took the bus to Santa Cruz to do the switch with the other hermanas. And guess what we did. We contacted the bus!! Haha a lot of people in our district have done it - we stand at the front in the bus and introduce ourselves and the church, share our testimonies and invite everyone to church. I soooo did not want to do it because I felt like it makes people uncomfortable and I dont want to send the wrong idea to people, BUT i surprisingly really felt the spirit and felt love for the people. Haha it was an experience.

On saturday we had lunch with Jakeline and Gustavo, our recent converts. We had what is called Chicarones...or something haha. It is basically deep fried pig fat! Ay ay ay...

So weve had some miracles this week - we have the possibilty of TWO baptisms this friday!! One is a girl named Keisi who is living with Jakeline and Gustavo, who totally has the desire to be baptized. Gustavo was going to baptize her, but he didnt go to church on sunday so he couldnt recieve the priesthood. Satan is working really hard to prevent Keisi from being baptized.
The other a 16 year old named Arlin who is the daughter of an inactive member - she believes everything is true and also feels totally ready to get baptized! We are meeting with them tonight to verify everything. Keisi has started having some doubts so well have to really help her tonight. The problem is that we are going to san jose tomorrow!! Because guess what...IM GOING TO THE TEMPLE ON WEDNESDAY!!!!! Hermana Burningham and her group are going that day for their last time and i get to go too :) I am soooo happy. The only problem is that we are going to miss a ton of appointments and arent going to be able to focus on Keisi and Arlin...but I know everything will be okay. We are leaving tomorrow at noon and will get back wednesday night.   I am so excited to go to the temple and feel so lucky.

Hna Burningham has been having a really hard time lately because she really doesnt want to go home. She was crying a lot yesterday :( its so sad. Shes also feeling like she hasnt been good enough. But she has been working hard and I am trying to help her feel proud of herself! She only has like a week left and she hates thinking about that. We set really high goals this week so she could end her mission awesomely but its going to be a little hard with losing two days! Its not really losing two days because we get to go to the temple haha but losing two days in nicoya!! This week will definitely be craaazy.

So we have been trying for like weeks now to visit a referral from the elders named Anayansi. We went to her house on saturday night and she was FINALLY there. So we started with a prayer, and right after that she just started crying. She cried the entire  time we were there. She basically is going through extremely hard times economically and with family and everything. We tried to really help her understand why we go through trials and how we can get through them, and she said she knows that God is always there. So thats really good. We promised her that if she came to church the next day, she would find a miracle there. We both really felt the impression to say that. So she came!! And basically the wife of the branch president talked to her and found out everything, and talked to president, and they ended up buying her a ton of food and supplies and we delivered them to her later that day :) that was really a cool thing to see happen.

So yeah i will be getting a new companion next week! We will see what happens :) Its a good thing to know that the Lord is in charge and that i will get whoever i am supposed to be with! Its funny because it will techincally be my fourth companion! If you count Hna Christensen, who i had for two weeks haha.

One scripture i read this week that i love is Helaman 3:35. It tells us basically steps that we can do to sanctify and purify our hearts, and what will happen when we yield ourselves to God. I love it.
Anyways I love you all so much! Have an amazing week :)

"Pig fat (chicharrones) cooking"

"Pig fat on the plate with plaintain and yucca"

"Me and Hermana Burningham today (Monday) at Conchal"

"Me and Hermana Jensen at Pollo Campero with Fred and Carol!"

Week 16

Dear everyone,
Hola! How was everyone´s week? Amazing i hope :)

This week had some ups and downs! We found a lot of new investigators, but a lot of them dont show a lot of progress - we will see what happens! We found some things we can work on and we are ready to be better and work harder!
Its crazy because Hermana Burningham is leaving suuuper soon. She leaves in 2 weeks! But the good thing is she really wants to end her mission feeling exhausted from working so hard. Its hard at moments to hear her talk about home because I have a lot longer to go than she does haha but time is going by fast and she´s teaching me to enjoy every moment because it really does fly by!

On wednesday we had zone conference, and President Wilkinson came again. He and the area presidency really want a stake in our zone by october - so we talked about what more we have to do to reach that goal. It is completely possible and that is very exciting!
Ive been trying more and more to put my whole heart into this work and I have really gained a love for the people here! We are getting closer to the members and that feels really good. I realized this week that my whole world revolves around the people of Costa Rica - i only have this 18 months (now almost 14) to not worry about anything back home (school, work, etc) and just focus on the Lord and la obra misonal! So thats a pretty great blessing when you think about it that way.

We´ve been working with a new investigator named Kenneth. He owns an internet cafe close to our house, and one day he started asking questions about what we do and all that and then we ended up basically having a lesson with him and gave him a book of mormon. The next time we went he had read a good amount! And he came to church that next sunday. His curiosity has been driving him to find out more, and we hope that he can really gain a testimony of this gospel. We had a lesson with him and a young member couple this week, and it went really good but there were a lot of distractions at the most important part - the restoration. that ALWAYS happens, almost without fail. Because satan never wants us to teach that part because it is the most powerful!!! But it turned out good :) We´ll have to keep working with him.

Today is independence day for costa rica! So i wore red and blue to be patriotic haha. We´ve been hearing drums all week from kids practicing for the parade haha. 

So ive been studying the new testament more, and i´ve been loving it! I mean it is just all about Christ´s life. It feels awesome to learn more about that.
I also gave a talk in church yesterday about adversity. And basically the message i want to share with you about that is that you never have to feel alone. Christ suffered everything FIRST, just so he could know how to comfort us. God doesnt do anything unless it is for our benefit. and although we may never understand how we benefit from what we go through, that is a promise from God. So just know that whatever you are going through is truly for a reason. All that God asks is that we are patient through our afflictions. If we are patient, he will bless us. And if we ask for comfort, he will give it to us immediately.

Well i think thats all for this week, love you all! Thank you all for your support!
Love,
Hermana Geis :)

Laundry day!

Yay for a package!

Week 15

​I feel like i just wrote two days ago! This week went by very fast. We´re already in week four of this transfer, and my comp goes home after this transfer! Only like two and a half weeks left with her!! So sad!

So it has been storming like crazy over here. We get soaking wet, even with our big umbrellas. Its true what they say - the umbrellas are just to help you see. Oh my gosh i have never seen thunder and lightning like this. A few days ago it was insane - the lightning was so close that the thunder happened at the same time as we saw the flash. It was scary! The thunder sounds fake, and like shakes everything! Theres a crazy storm right now and we heard people like scream outside when the thunder clapped hahaha.

On tuesday we got soaking wet and went to go visit a less active, Marielos, the one who always gives us food and who we always help make pastries. She made us wear her skirts and let ours dry haha and she gave us hot chocolate! I was so happy. I´ll attach a pic.

That night we had a lesson with a new couple, William and Jenni, at a members house named Cyndi. We visited her a while ago and asked her who the first name was that popped into her head of a friend that needs the gospel. She said, Jenni! So she had the idea to invite jenni and her husband over for us to help them all with their english - they have a big oral test coming up - and then share a message with them. So they came over, and theyre actually really good with their english! It was so fun just talking to them in english. They are seriously hilarious, we were laughing all night. And then we shared a message and cyndi started crying saying how much she loves them and wants them to be a united family. And basically it was amazing and a miracle! They invited us over to their house on friday. So we went and they fed us dinner (with no rice - i felt like i was in america) and they are just super nice. They want to take us to a national park or something on a pday. Her husband had to leave before we could have a lesson, but we taught her and we´ll have to see what happens - she has some doubts but i know with the help of cyndi she can feel the spirit and the truthfulness of this gospel.

So on wednesday we had divisions! I went up to Santa Cruz, and i was with Hermana Garcia again. It stressed me out to leave our investigators haha but it ended up being really refreshing to be in a new area and experience new things. I was there until friday morning. We taught some really hard hearted people. It was exhausting! With one lady, we offered her a book of mormon and shes like, no way i dont want that. Its crazy because she was like, Yeah i know the bible is missing a lot and has been changed a lot but oh well we´ll work with what weve got. I was like, we have the book of mormon to fill in those missing pieces and it is such a blessing! Why would you not want that?? So i thought of some scriptures that talk about how just because God wrote his word in one book, doesnt mean he cant write more in another (i cant remember where it was) and i just asked her to read one verse, but she kept reading out loud until the end of the chapter hahaha. She totally loved it. But yeah divisions was fun!
Theenn i got really sick. The flu or a really bad cold or something. Im getting better though! The elders gave me a blessing and my neighbor made me really yummy soup today :) its my favorite costa rican meal! and she knows i love it haha. 

Well time is going by super fast! We have a baptism set for the 27th with a golden investigator named Dinia. Pray for her! :)

Thank you for all the prayers and i just love you all!

Hermana Geis :)

Costa Rican rain!

Drinking hot chocolate and wearing Marielo's skirt haha

Drinking coconut juice with Hermana Garcia

Tarantula!

           

3 Months Down!!

Hello everyone! How are you all :)

This week was a little crazy again!

On monday night we had noche de hogar. It was super fun! We gave a message about the holy ghost, and then played a charades game. I love seeing the branch all having fun and bonding together. It was crazy because the power went out that night at like 6 30 in like the whole city - it was COMPLETELY dark - we were in like a remote neighborhood. No light anyywhere. It was so weird. Bonus to that was that I got to see a ton of fireflies! I was so happy.

Tuesday we had the multi zone conference in san jose. got up at 2 am, left at 3, and then got to the office and we were there from 8 am to 3 pm. President talked to us about how he wants everything to double. Its scary hearing that because we really have to give it our all, which isnt easy. I really need to work on forgetting myself and focusing everything on this work, specifically in nicoya right now. We got back late that night (dont worry i got subway before we left ;))

So long story short, Mariela and Andres did not get married. It was extremely dissappointing. We texted them tuesday making sure everything was set and they said that they werent going to get married because they didnt have enough money. We went to talk to them the next day and we said we would make the desserts and help them out with that - they said okay and everything was fine. Not even 10 minutes after we left their house, mariela texted us saying that andres told her he loved someone else and was kicking her out of the house and that she was leaving in the morning. We were like, what?? What on earth happened? We were so confused. The next day we went to visit them, and andres was acting totally normal and we were so confused. Then we started to talk about what happened and if they still wanted to be an eternal family - Mariela said she wants to be with her kids and nothing else. Apparantly they have had problems and she doesnt want to marry him when she cant trust him. We left very disapointed, i was emotionally exhausted. They were so close to the gospel and Satan completely attacked them. But, I know that God has a plan and we did all that we could to help them. Maybe its just not their time.They both know the church is true and we are hoping that one day they will take the steps necessary to receive all of the blessings from it.

The elders still had their wedding on saturday though! It was so nice. A young couple, the girl is in a wheelchair because she cant walk. When the lawyer told them to make a promise to each other they could barely talk because they were both crying. It was so special. They got baptized after, and I gave a talk about the holy ghost. It was so cool to see all that. They invited us over to their house that night for dinner too! So sweet.

We´ve been trying to work really hard to find the people that are really prepared to accept the gospel. We have found a lot of new people to teach, and we hope that we can really help them progress. I have been continuing to try and follow the spirit! one cool experience: We went to buy snacks in a store, and then a little while after we left i realized i left something in the store! Without hesitation i said, well i guess the Lord wants us to go back there for some reason! So we went back, got what i left, and then prayed to know where we should go. I felt prompted to go to a specific house, but nothing happened. We waited a while for someone to answer, but no one did. So we left, and then there was a dad walking with his little girl. We started to talk to him and he said we can come over and teach him and his family! Im so excited! We really are trying to find families and future leadership for the branch and we found one! We´ll be visiting him this week.

Theres this one street where we know pretty much everyone on it haha and we´re going over to Fernanda´s house to watch the Restoration movie! We bought popcorn yay :) we´re doing this for Evelio, her grandpa. He loves reading the book of mormon and doesnt question anything but I think hes just scared to change. This movie honestly helped me so much and gave me a very strong testimony of the restoration so im hoping it will do the same for him.
The book of mormon is such a blessing. We are lucky to have it and I invite each of you to share it with someone you know. Everyone who reads the book of mormon with a real intent will be converted, so theres no need to be afraid to share it.

I love you all a lot! Keep your faith and be strong! Thanks for everything,
hermana Geis :) 

my lunch! (when we get veggies we PILE them on haha)

the wedding

Almost Three Months!

Helloo!

This week i hit my three month mark. Weird right?

This week was a little disappointing at times, just because a lot of people arent progressing. Its really sad to see that.
One thing that I have come to have a very strong testimony of is following the promptings of the spirit. We allwaayys need to follow the spirit. I have always had problems figuring out what are my thoughts, and what are promptings of the Holy Ghost. And as Elder Bednar has said, it doesnt matter! If there is any possibilty a thought is from the holy ghost, we need to follow that thought. I have been really trying to do that. Even when i dont want to haha or when it doesnt make sense to me. One cool experience was last night. We had talked to a lady outside of her house the night before and she wasnt very interested, but I felt like we should go visit her. So we went over, and they looked like they were getting ready for bed so we didnt talk to them - but the people next door were outside! Now backtrack - we talked to a girl named Elisabeth about a month or so ago in this next house and she was super great, but every time we went back to her house no one was home. But i kept on thinking about her and wanted to visit her. Since we tried so many times i forgot about her - if we didnt pass by last night i wouldnt have talked to her again! She came out and is super interested and we have an appointment with her on wednesday! She said that she had been out of town helping her dad, and she was waiting for us to call her because she didnt have our number! So the spirit works in mysterious ways. I needed to go try to visit the other girl so that we could talk to elisabeth.

Something else really special happend last night. We had visited a lady a few days ago, and she was a little doubtful about everything, but we went back last night to see how she was. She said that she read the pamphlet about the restoration and she said, I did not like it. She began to tell us why she didnt like it and all these things...it was really sad to see that. My comp was getting kind of flustered and contention was building up so I offered to say a prayer to leave. It was so weird - i felt nothing but pure love for this woman. Shes a daughter of god and is just trying to do whats right! She wasnt trying to be rude, she was sincerely concerned for our salvation (hahaha). But honestly i felt the spirit so strongly during the prayer and she was sincerely grateful for the prayer and ended up saying, maybe one day ill go to your church to learn more. Im grateful for that experience! Because I know that God loves her so much and contention does no good for anyone.

So we have the wedding of Mariela and Andres on Saturday! Woohoo! And guess what. They asked me and my comp to be the witnesses of the wedding haha. So thats cool! Were going to try to have food after the wedding. And we still need to make cinnamon rolls this week!! They said they dont need us to do that but i feel so bad, i think they really do need the help. We had to push their baptism back because they didnt go to church :( But he said the closing prayer in our lesson last night, and it was amazing. He asked God to help them get married and eventually go to the temple. Wow. :)

Weve been working with a girl named Crystel. She totally knows the Book of Mormon is true. The last time we visited her, in the words of my comp, There was a light in her eyes. She totally knows. But she doesnt want to pray and ask if its really true, because she says shes afraid to receive the answer that its true - that would mean she has to change, and that shes been in the wrong church her whole life. We are trying to help her, and hopefully shell find the courage to change her life for the gospel :)

Here are some funny experiences for the week: we were at a taco place, and everything here is deep fried. I saw that they had a burrito and i was so excited! but they fry that too. so i was like, Can i have it not fried? They look at me like i was crazy. Hahaha but they gave it to me not fried and it was delicious! seriously though who fries a burrito! ;)

Also, we were at a members house and she gave us empanadas! but they werent soft of course. they were deep fried (you should have seen all the oil she used) and inside was cheese and sugar. Sugar?? My tastebuds were so confused.
Tomorrow we go to San Jose at three in the morning for a conference! We will talk about how to better teach, and also a doctor is going to talk to us about our health. Apparrantly a lot of people are getting sick - especially hermanas. But no worries I am healthy :D

Well i love you all a lot. Have the best week, and trust in the lord. Thanks for everything :)

Love,

Hermana Geis :)

         Eating ice cream out of a bag! :)

Week 12-- Transfers

Hola!

Well, transfers happened. I have 6 weeks left in my training, so me and Hermana Montoya had no doubt we were both staying. But no...Hna Montoya got transferred! She was bawling...so sad :( She loves nicoya! Has been here for 6 months. So yeah we were shocked! They called us Sunday night to tell us she´d be leaving the next day (thats how they do it here) so she said goodbye to who she wanted to that night and then packed up all her things. We left early the next morning to Santa Cruz, where other hermanas in our district are. Montoya left from there with other hermanas getting changed (it was pretty sad) and I stayed with another hermana. It was nice because I just got to relax in the apartment for a little bit! But my new companion got on the bus super late to come here, so i ended up having to go to Libera (2 hours away) to pick her up! And then we finally made it back to Nicoya at like 8 at night where our lovely neighbor fed us as she always does :) (our lunch cook) My new comp is Hermana Burningham from Highland Utah. She is ending her mission in 6 weeks! Which means i´ll get another comp in 6 weeks haha so weird! Its funny because every gringa missionary I´ve talked to has only had latina companions, and i´ve only had gringa companions!

So last monday we had noche de hogar with the ward! It went well, we ate yummy homemade pizza :) and David came with alejandra! That was a miracle let me just say. We´re going to do noche de hogar every other week, so that will be great.

We are working with a couple, Mariela and Andres, who are my age! They accepted a date to get married and later baptized!! :) Theyre great. We stopped visiting them a while ago because we didnt think they were progressing, but when we started again they were very accepting and they actually asked us to come and teach them more frequently - we were like, um, we would love to!! haha. It was cool because Andres said that he received his answer about the Book of Mormon through his grandmother who passed away - we wanted to ask what he meant but didnt pry haha. He meant like through a dream or something. Cool right? Its because she has accepted the gospel and his waiting for him to take his step on earth to help her receive the blessings of the gospel :) So awesome. But yes they are getting marriedaugust 30th :D they have a baby girl and she just told us she´s pregnant! So its way good they are getting married :) Then theyll get baptized on september 7th. It worked out really well because we have to find a lawyer to do the wedding, and theres a lawyer in san jose who´s a member and does it for a lot cheaper, but he only comes if theres two or more weddings - luckily the elders here are also having a wedding that day!! Un milagro! So that will be great. They dont have a lot of money, so we are going to make cinnamon rolls with Marielos to sell and raise money. Its a lot of work but the hermanas before me did that for another wedding and they raised a good amount. Please pray that it will all work out okay! Haha :) 

Dia de las madres was on friday - happy costa rican mothers day mom! We made some cards for some of the moms we visit. Also on sunday after church, the branch president served us all a mothers day lunch! It felt so good for them to do something like that without us being in charge - woohoo rama de nicoya! 

The weeks are going by real fast. Im almost to my three month mark! It seems little when you think about how much you have to go, but i really dont think about it that way. I think about how i already have 3 of the months down! Thats crazy. I only have this short time to use the authority of a set apart missionary to preach the gospel. When i think about that i feel a lot of responsibility which is scary, but I know that with the Lords help, and only with his help, I can do it. I have so many family and friends who have served, are serving, or are going to serve and thinking about all of you gives me strength and comfort :) Im so grateful for my family and the blessing we have to be an eternal family. I see so many broken families who dont have the gospel and wow, i am so lucky. And im so grateful for everyone who has helped me stay strong in the gospel - yw leaders, bishops, friends, etc etc. Seriously thank you.

well, all for now :) love you all! have a great week! pray always!

hermana geis :) 

        drinking out of a bag at noche de hogar! (They say only in costa rica)

              ​hermana montoya saying goodbye to denis, fernanda, and evelio

                 Weird fruit

              Happy mother's day mom!!!! :) :)