Number Nine!!

Buenas!! March 11, 2013

The sun has been shining and people think I’m crazy when I say I love the heat here! But it’s funny because I think the Costa Ricans are crazy when they have big warm coats on when it’s like 70 degrees outside, haha too funny. We finally caught the two rats that were in our house on a sticky pad. Our 90 yr old apartment manager beat them to death with an iron rod,haha...oh how I love Hermana Elvita. She is a devout Catholic, like most old people here, but before I leave this town I’m determined to convert her. She calls me and Hermana Portillo her two other daughters. Every morning we spend our time studying and then we have lunch at Hermana Patricia’s house, who lives right across from our house. Then the rest of the day is filled with lessons and finding people along the streets, however finding families is our main goal as a mission.

Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m making progress in the language but I just keep praying that I am. There is a part in Preach My Gospel that says, “part of seeking the gift of tongues is to labor and struggle and to do all you can to learn the language.” “Trust that the Spirit will help you as you live the way you should and do your very best.” I think that is true with many gifts of the spirit that we seek to obtain. Yes, we are going to struggle and even have temptation and deception in our life, but we will be blessed when we work hard and strive to do our very best and recognize good and evil!

It was a Tender Mercy yesterday to meet Elder and Sister Flake from Snowflake (As soon as I heard their name, of course I knew they were from Snowflake). They told me that they knew Jessica’s grandpa, Lewis Tenney, very well. They worked under him at the Snowflake Temple. They raved about what a wonderful family the Tenney’s are...and of course I agreed because I am so happy to have a Tenney as a sister-in-law!

We had a lesson with Arelis and her husband and Elder Flake and sister flake joined us, since they had found Arelis. The lesson was awesome as they accepted the invitation to be baptized on March 31st. Arelis had gone to the full block of church and stayed for the baptism afterwards. I asked her what she thought of the baptism, and I think she said that she loved it...at least something like that, haha. But I know that she felt the spirit very strong and is excited to prepare for her baptism. She is working on reading the whole book of mormon right now. Thank you for your prayers for these people in Costa Rica! They really are all so kind here...but I found out that not all people in Costa Rica are like the people here in San Rafael...Whenever we ask if we can share a message people usually always say yes. Apparently there are some other cities where that is not the case, ha...I don’t know how I got so blessed to serve here with an awesome trainer! Well there are families we need to teach! The gospel is true and I pray that we can all hold firm to the truthfulness of the gospel, because that is what is going to hold our families strong! Love, Hermana Pease