Week 61- Stove Top Heaven

Hello everyone!

Well this week I did divisions with another area and mi hija, Hermana Perez got to come to Cartago with me!  It was really fun.  I think it really helped her because she has been feeling super stressed and so she got to come here and de-stress for a few days!  Those two days of divisions, I really had no idea where we should go or who we could visit - we had a lot of options, so I just didn't know what to do.  And it was amazing because I just kind of decided on a spur where we should go, and we seriously were exactly where we needed to be. The spirit completely guided us. It was an awesome experience.

Andrea, the one I wrote about last email, is just counting down the days until her baptism. how amazing is that?!  Such a miracle, to see her listen to the spirit and make these decisions despite all of the opposition she has gotten from everyone around her.

Time is flying soo fast. Its crazy.

This Saturday we have a satellite conference with Elder Russell M Nelson!  Just for a few missions in Central America.  So way excited about that!

So something funny....I have just been clumsy and fallen a lot on the mission, and I never really thought anything of it, but recently my ankle started hurting really bad and was super swollen and its possible that I have damaged tendons....so I get to wear a huge boot around everywhere!  Haha it is so not fun...because we walk so much!  But hey it is an experience...and it looks funny, let's be honest!

Hermana Moon and I were just really craving some chocolate chip cookies and we found a mix at Walmart last week, so we tried making them on the stove in a pan. And guess what it's possible! Hahaha it was like heaven for us. That's what you get when you have two girls who are desperate for American dessert - stove top cookies.

Well sorry I don't have too much to say this week. The mission is amazing, time is flying, and we can see miracles every day. The Book of Mormon is true and this Church is true, and families can be together forever :)  I love you all!  put God first, over EVERYTHING else, and He will provide. That's something I will always take with me - that if we ¨sacrifice¨ to put Him first, we will never lack anything. So always trust Him!

 I love you all a lot.
Have a great week :)
love, Hermana Geis

     Creative Cooking

Stove Top American Heaven

                                                     

Hermana Perez on divisions in Cartego

                                               

My clumsy boot

                                                                 

Our furry friend

                                                                 

Week 60- Miles de Milagros

Hello everyone!

Ok so I have a TON of miracles to write about...

Remember Andrea?  The reference we received from the guy in Utah.  So she's been amazing and a complete miracle right? Well on Thursday this past week we got a text from her saying that she was very thankful for all of our time and for all that we taught her, but that she had decided to go back to her other church.  When I read that, I was just like ¨no no no....¨but we were not about to accept that as the end.

So we went to her house that night, and she wasn't there.  So we went back the next night, and she was there!  We were with a member who is 24 years old and served in El Salvador.  She let us in, and just started to listen to what she had to say.  Andrea said that she felt extremely confused, and had just been crying all the time the past few days because she didn't know what to do. The people from her old church came and visited her and talked to her about everything which made her really confused. But she said that even after she had sent us that text she kept reading the Book of Mormon and was still keeping the Word of Wisdom and everything.  Darim, the member, really helped her and said a lot of awesome things. We read a scripture about Christ, and how he wants us to come unto Him, and not unto anyone else.  So we needed to ask God what we should do and not any other person.  It was really special, because at one point Darim said, ¨Can you feel the love that these to girls have for you?  It is INCREDIBLE the love that they have for you.  And that is because they are representatives of Jesus Christ, and they can feel his love for you.¨  And its true. We love her so so much.  And of course Satan was going to try to get her off the right path. But he never wins unless we let him win.

So at the end of the lesson, we said a kneeling prayer and she said it, but she could barely say it because she was crying so much. It was such a special experience. When we left, my comp and I said to each other, ¨We didn't lose her. Satan tried, but we didn't lose her.¨

I was really thinking about her during studies the other day and was trying to figure out how we could help her recognize her answer.  When we were first meeting with her she was suuper happy and suuper excited and loved the Book of Mormon and she said in every prayer that she knew that this church was true. Those feelings of happiness and joy come from God. 

When the people from the other church came and started talking to her she started to feel confused and sad - those feelings do not come from God.  Because God never answers a prayer through fear or sadness - we must always follow what God tells us through those positive feelings.

We went with her again last night and she was super happy!  And wanted to read and pray and do all these things - I was in awe from the change from the night she was crying and confused to last night. She is coming to church on Sunday and is excited about the gospel again.

So we didn't lose her!!  The spirit always wins, if the person is willing to listen :)

Another miracle: Like 2 months ago, we did a contact with a guy and his son. He said we could pass by but for some reason we never called him - until two days ago. We were surprised he even remembered us, but said that we could pass by the next day!  So we did, and it was awesome. He lives with his 18 year old daughter and his 8 year old son.  And they are super prepared to accept the gospel. They want to come to church and are just ready.  But the miracle is that like the week after we had first talked to him, he went to Nicaragua to go bring his daughter here to Costa Rica. He was in Nicaragua for a month!  And he didn't have his phone or anything. So if we would have called while he was in Nicaragua, we would have called a bunch finding that the phone was turned off or didn't exist, so we would have just given up and not called again. But we didn't!  For some reason we waited, and called right after he had gotten back!

And even more miraculously - the day that we talked to him was a super crazy day, and all of our plans that day had fallen through so we had no idea what we were going to do. then a lady in a far away town called us and said that we could go over, so we decided to go. We like ran to the center to catch a bus, and needed to do a bunch of contacts so we saw him and did a super fast contact haha and so the point is, if all of our plans hadn't fallen through, and that lady (who we don't even visit anymore) hadn't called us, we wouldn't have even met him!

Another miracle: Yesterday when we went to go visit Andrea and she didn't answer the door at first so we assumed that she wasn't home. We really needed some new investigators so we talked to the people who live in front of her but they didn't let us in- haha. 

So then we started to leave the street. But something just told me that we should go back. So we did and we talked to some other neighbors of Andrea. the lady let us right in!  She said that she had seen us leave and then come back and had wondered why, and that ALSO we had walked past her like a week before and had said hi to her - and I totally remember doing that but not feeling the need to talk to her more. AND that a few days before we were talking to someone who lives by her, while they were on the phone with her!  and they told her that they had just talked to some ¨Northamerican girls¨ haha.  So basically Heavenly Father kept on putting us in her path until we were able to teach her!  Sooo crazy!  And she said that they weren't even supposed to be home then, and that they had neever let missionaries come in before. I hope this story makes sense...because its just crazy to see God's plan.  And as we left, Andrea called us and said that she was just sleeping and didn't hear us knocking the door. So if she had been awake and had opened the door we wouldn't have even gone with her neighbor....

So as you may be able to tell it is hard to explain these crazy miracles!  But I hope you could just understand that God has a plan, and that we are just His instruments. We just need to follow the spirit!!

This week was also crazy because we had a Multizone conference on Wednesday with President Hayes and Elder Duncan, the Area President. And on Friday we had the Leadership meeting also with Elder Duncan. So lots of learning and improving!  At the Multizone conference,  Hermana Chatwin and I got to sing "I Know that my Redeemer Lives", in Spanish. Hermana moon played the piano - the really pretty EFY version!  Thanks for sending me the sheet music mom. I also got to sing that in Sacrament meeting this Sunday as well, and I cried at the end again...haha... pretty much everyone in the room was crying.  Music brings the spirit.

Anways I love you all :)

Con mucho amor,

Hermana Geis

At the Multi-zone Conference with Hermana Chatwin

The leadership of the Costa Rica East Mission

We actually did plan to match this day haha

With an awesome member who is like our big sister, Graciela :)

With Gleny, the most amazing convert ever!

Carlos got a white shirt and tie!!

Week 59- Miracles Every Day

So this week was really good!  We are continuing to see miracles every day. 

On Sunday night as we were walking home we were trying to do a bunch of contacts on the street. We talked to a mom and her two daughters and they said we could totally go visit them.  So we put an appointment for the next day excited to meet their family! 

So we went the next night and found out they are a family of 5!!  We were so excited!  And we also found out that they had received the missionaries like 7 years ago and went to church A BUNCH and loved everything, but then the missionaries got transferred or something so they just stopped going to church. But they were excited to have missionaries again and they all accepted a baptismal date. We were way excited.

So we called them a few days later and the mom, Lorena, told us that something horrible happened and her husband left them. So when we went to visit them they said they were okay, and Lorena said that she knows that it wasn't a coincidence that we showed up right before this all happened - as in God sent us right when this was going to happen to help their family and show them the way. So that is seriously awesome. We are hoping that Lorena and her three kids will get baptized this month.

Andrea, the reference from Utah, is just amazing. In all her prayers she thanks God for the church and says that she knows everything is true. And when she talks about her old church she says ¨my church....well it's not my church anymore, the church that I USED to go to¨ haha she's so awesome. She went to church on Sunday and she said it was really different from what she is used to but that she knows it's true nevertheless.

This weekend was super crazy here in Cartago because it was the ¨Romeria¨. don't know how to say that in English.  It's a really big Catholic holiday. People WALK to Cartago from ALL of Costa Rica to the big Basilica or Catholic church that's here in the center of Cartago. So there were THOUSANDS of people in exercise clothes in Cartago haha- it was insane. The main roads were shut down because of all of the walkers and we had to walk like 3 miles to our house at night on Saturday night because there were like no buses. So that was super interesting! --pictures attached haha

This week we are going to have a Multi Zone Conference and also the Leadership meeting, both with Elder Kevin R Duncan, the President of the area of Central America. We are way excited! 

Well thanks for all your support, I love you all

Hermana Geis

The Romeria

We kind of might have slipped these chicharrones (deep fried pig skin/fat) into this bag while eating at someone's house...

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!