May 30, 2022 - One step closer to eternity

 Week 40 

Last Monday, the 23, we went to President and Hermana Johnson's and we made cinnamon rolls. Why cinnamon rolls you may ask… Well, a few months ago in a face to face with President and Hermana Johnson, we learned that the moment President knew he should marry Hermana Johnson was when he found out she was the one who made the cinnamon rolls in the apartment. So, the sisters in my zone went to take note to prepare us a little better for our lives after the mission and for forever  

Then we had exchanges Tuesday which also brought miracles. I was on exchanges here in Montelimar with Hna González. She was my companion about 4 transfers back, so it was fun to catch up. And we had some great miracles as we helped remind one sister of the power of repentance and another family the importance of baptism. We saw miracles as now this family is really thinking and praying about the baptism of their daughter. We also found a new person while street contacting. She is a young mom and seems super cute! 

This week we also had our first ward activity since I'm not sure when, and it was amazing. We talked about the Book of Mormon and how one very important thing that we may not have without it is a testimony of Jesus, the living Christ. We also had two less active members there who haven't been to church in years! Slow and steady wins the race. We were also so excited to see that one of them came to church too! 

Other quick miracles are we put someone on bap date for the end of July! And a less active member family let the missionaries and maybe even members of the church, into their house after 2 years! 

A few thoughts from my studies this week that I would like to share: 

-Remember Him, even after His work was done here we had work to do on the other side of the veil. Christ suffered and had a longer day than I'll ever have, so I can keep working for Him. 

-"Él no espera hasta el fin." Our Heavenly Father isn't waiting to the end to rescue His sheep. He has been trying to rescue them all this time, so we should be trying all the time too. 

-"A Dios no solo le interesa lo que hagamos o lo que no hagamos, sino lo que estemos llegando a ser. Si estamos dispuestos, Él nos enseñará a acudir como Él actúa, en vez de que meramente otras fuerzas actúen sobre nosotros." - Elder Christopherson. "Our life is more than a multiple choice test." 

Les queremos y con mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton

Lindsey.warburton@missionary.org 

Delicious chocolate chip cookies from the wings 

 House inspection, apparently our house is quite nice compared to the others. 

 

Intercambios 

 Intercambios 

 Do we look ready? 

May 23, 2022 - Working in the rain brings miracles

 Week 39

This week we saw some miracles contacting. On Tuesday we had been going house to house asking if we could share a message about Christ. The responses range from no response, I already attend a church, to ya i'll hear a scripture. But of them all no, one is really prepared to listen to our message. Well we were about to finish and decided to yell at one final door. Turns out living here was a nice mom who these past few days had been loosing her faith, and now almost didn't have any at all. She said that about 4 years ago she was receiving lessons from missionaries but when she got married she stopped and her mother took away her book of mormon so she never got to read it. We are so excited to help her find faith and hope through Christ again. 

Wednesday the Elders in our district came to our area and we had a finding activity in which they help us find lots of people! 

Thursday we contacted for an hour in the rain and were getting ready to walk back when someone was outside doing their laundry. So we yelled to get their attention and ended up sharing a lot of random things to answer her questions, many focused in our lives after this one. We had a full on lesson with her in her house and she accepted a return visit. 

Sunday I was praying for just one person who wasn't a member to come to church, literally any one person. And the most unexpected person came to church. A youth in our ward brought his little 8 year old neighbor to church. Literally we were shocked to see her there because it was only her from her family. 

" Nothing you do—or do not do—can change that. God loves you because you are His spirit daughter. Sometimes we may not feel His love, but it is always there. God’s love is perfect. Our ability to sense that love is not. The Spirit plays a pivotal role in communicating God’s love to us. Yet the influence of the Holy Ghost can be obscured…" Elder Renlund April 2022. 

After studying talk I have loved reaching this powerful doctrine that we are children of God and always will be, but the blessing we receive in this life and the life to come are based on how we choose to live our lives. Isn't the plan so perfectly beautiful? It really does help us understand the love our Heavenly Father has for us! 

My companion and I are also part of the dream team! At this moment we really don't know what that means haha but for the most part, we will be helping the mission contact references we receive from social media. We'll see how dreamy this dream team really is this coming week. 

Mucho amor,

Hermana Warburton 

9 months last week! 

District working together 

Washing hands in the rain because the owner forgot to pay the water 

Conference with Elder Godoy 

They were just so small

Such a great family in the ward!

 

May 16, 2022 - Hump day (9 months today!)

 Week 38 

With less restrictions from COVID, we are now able to contact however we want. Here in this area there are rarely people in the streets so we have taken to knocking on doors. We have had some interesting conversations, 2 in particular. One neighbor went to ask his neighbor if they were interested in learning more about God, and they said they believed in Satanás. Don't they know there are always 2 sides. We also talked to someone else who believed that the good and the bad were the same being and that this being is literally in all the things. Let's just say we had a great conversation, and tried clearing up how our Heavenly Father has a body like us and gave us agency, but it's a lot to take in in just one visit. We hope this person will slowly come to know the truth. 

We had a great multi-zone conference this week as well as Elder Godoy from the area presidency visiting our weekly mission study zoom call on Friday. In our zone conference we talked about the importance of counting. The Lord counts his sheep to be able to save them all. And with Elder Godoy we talked about how we can teach the gospel with power through the Holy Ghost. 

We have been trying to get people to come to church, and let's just say es duro. But I am thankful to have learned a little bit more about how Christ felt when the joven rico (the rich young ruler) couldn't give up the world to follow him. Christ suffered and suffers so much for us, and still he forgives us and helps us.

We have been talking to many members and all want to have activities, but it is the actual act of having the activity that is challenging. soon! We hope this will help bring back less active members because when we can, we keep contacting less active members that members refer and they always seem to have a desire to come back, but there is something standing in the way. 

I got to try a new food here in Costa Rica. It's called Chifrijo. It has chicharrón, chicharrón de concha, rice, beans, avocado, tortilla chips, and pico de gallo. It was quite good and this featured down below in the pictures.

2 Nephi 33:1

"And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men." 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton 

Zone conference

Zone conference

  

Tequeños

Chifrijo

 Contacting in the Rain 

 Bountiful! 

 Presidente y Hermana Johnson

May 9, 2022 - scary story and member glory

 Week 37

This week we received so much help from members. One member helped us get back in contact with a few youth we were teaching. During the past few weeks they have been studying and didn't have time for lessons, but with her by our side, we had 2 great lessons and have another scheduled for the coming week! 

We also went looking for less active members this week and we went looking later at night one day. We were trying to figure out which house was the right one and I scared my comp and me as I talked about someone off to the side who was peaking out of a second story window like a scary movie. Well turns out that was the house of the member, so we were both a little freaked out to knock on that door... jaja it doesn't sound very scary but we were both a little freaked out. 

We also had a great lesson with a family we found knocking doors. The wife has a great survivor story from COVID and each time we come back to visit them and share a message, she gladly accepts us into their house! We invited them to church and on Sunday, we sped walk to their house at 8:30am to make sure they were still coming, but at 8:45am they said they couldn't come because of a problem with their kids. So we sped walk back up the hill, stopped by a members house to say hello because it turns out she had a cold and then got to church at 9:02am. We have no idea how we traveled so fast on the way back, but it was a miracle or maybe not because I was assigned to give the talk that day. 

On Sunday we were also inviting each class to help us with missionary work. And when we went to the primary the teacher had us share a little bit about a mission and how we can be doing missionary work right now. Well it was the cutest thing when after church one of the primary kids came up to us asking for something to share with her friend. She picked a photo of Christ. It's true that missionaries start young. 

Mosiah 3:19 "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

I love the attribute in this scripture "is willing submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit." The Lord really does know what is best for us. He knows what we can handle and knows what will prepare us. He knows us! 

Mucho amor,

Hermana Warburton 

Apartado Postal 249-2010

San José, Zapote,

Costa Rica

Hermano Alex Oporta from Tibas came to visit montelimar!

 

 Arepas from a familia venezolana 

 Lunch at a members house, she makes some of the best food :)

A recipe from a member that we tried... wasn't too bad 

May 2, 2022 - you were a missionary?

 Week 36 

I can't believe it is already May. And while in Utah the seasons are changing soon from spring to summer. We here in Costa Rica are changing from a cooler summer than usual to winter. Haha the weather is still great though, winter just means that it now rains everyday. 

We had some miracles this week as we went to visit a member of our ward who we have never visited before. Turns out she was very thankful for the visit, and after we visited her, we caught some of our favorite friends at home. We started teaching the mother and her kids and this week the father was home and joined us. He joined us late so we got to watch part of the restoration video 2 times. And the best was after the second time the kids took on the role of missionary and asked the Dad if he had any questions.

After more than 12 weeks here someone we are teaching came to church in person. They have been receiving lessons from missionaries before too. But when a whole family that are members showed up on Sunday with this person we are teaching, you could see the power of this family!! We also had a kid say that he wanted a plaque like us! His mom told him, "well you have to be a missionary to have a plaque." Then he turned to us and asked, "you were a missionary??" Haha his mom then proceeded to explain that we are missionaries right now. It's so exciting to see how young missionaries start! 

We keep looking for and finding people to teach, and will soon find those who are ready to listen to our message. 

I found that Jacob 5:22 really helped me see what success we are having in this area, in my last area and in many other areas around the world... "Y le dijo el Señor de la viña: No me aconsejes. Yo sabía que era un lugar estéril; por eso te dije que lo he nutrido tan largo tiempo, y tú ves que ha dado mucho fruto."

We are here helping to nurture the Lord's vineyard. Only the Lord knows how long it could take, or the best way to do it, but that's just things, it will take time and we are learning and He is letting us learn by helping Him. So we keep working as hard as we can, trying old things, new things, and all the things. And one day we will see that these areas are bringing forth much fruit. 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton 

 

Haha less pictures this week so I'm having to send the one I took with the clock from beauty and the beast 

 "Anyone can cook"

Street contacting

 My trainer and me after I finally became legal in Costa Rica