June 27, 2022 - Que Washington!

 Week 44

What a crazy week with lots of changes! 

My companion, Hermana Brown and I had emergency transfers because she has had a recent convert following her to all her areas. And this time, on Sunday we called the big guns in, President! And so in our meeting we had the President of the mission, the president of the stake, one of the counselors of the mission president, and our bishop. And to be on the safe side we had emergency transfers. So Tuesday I got a new companion, Hermana Fuentes! She has 7 months in the mission which we celebrated this week and is from Guatemala. 

In equipo de los sueños this past week we had such a touching lesson with someone. I don't think I have ever seen such a corazón quebrantado. She was so sweet to share a few experiences with us. And another miracle was that after our first call we got to call some elders in Limon and tell them they needed to call this person right way to put them on date for baptism. And they did! 

A few miracles with members this past week: we found a member to give us lunch! We always eat better when we don't have to cook for ourselves! And Friday we went looking for a friend of a member and it turned out we found 2 new people referred by members and something even crazier.. this member was baptized in Guatemala but lost contact with the missionaries that baptized him. One is an elder Jaime Miranda from San Marcos Guatemala and the other is Shane L. Carlson from Bountiful, Utah! The same hometowns of me and my companion! Crazy right! Que Washington (wow in the language of hermano Marco). We are definitely going to help him find them!! :) 

Sadly, after sharing about the importance of coming to church and that he had to come to church to be baptized, our friend that we had on date said he no longer wanted to be baptized. But in ward council our ward leaders directed us to someone who the sisters were teaching before who may want to be baptized, so we have hope again!! 

"El poder para cambiar es muy real, y es un gran don espiritual que proviene de Dios." 

"Ahora, cuando camino, lo hago con la cabeza bien alta porque sé que mi Padre Celestial está conmigo a cada paso que doy…" - "el poder para cambiar" (the power to change) por elder James E Faust. 

I was assigned to speak in church on Sunday and loved reading and learning from this talk. I learned so much about my personal conversion that was reflected in a few lessons of the talk. Haha also I liked reading in Alma 8 this past week. Definitely felt the sadness as a few people rejected the church of Jesus Christ, but then the help and strength from members in the work this past week. 

Mucho amor y cuídense mucho, 

Hermana Warburton 

The Hno. 

 

Part of our area 

Getting lost in the rain 

 Exchanges

 Hna Fuentes  

 Mirror selfie in old navy 

June 20, 2022 - chunche: basically means thingamabob

 Week 43

This week at the zone conference, president had everyone crying. Haha or at least a little uncomfortable because of the pain. During lunch we each were highly recommended to receive the flu vaccine. It wasn't that bad and Larry who was doing the vaccine was super nice, but it did kind of hurt for a few seconds.  

Monday for pday we went to the first catholic church here in Costa Rica. It's in Cartago. And it's so pretty. What was also interesting was seeing the way people worshiped. We watched as people crawled for 20 minutes, some with their babies strapped to the front, to kiss the floor of the virgin Mary. 

Wednesday was probably my favorite day of equipo de sueños. We talked to someone who had already met with the missionaries in the past so we knew we had to share the first vision. And this guy was literally like ya I know that's true I prayed about it. Those lucky missionaries in the other mission. Someone else asked us about baptism out of the blue. And then in our final call/lesson, the sweet person was so confused by the bible so we shared the first vision and how there is a Book that is the most correct book because it teaches with clarity! (The Book of Mormon!!!) 

Back to zone conference, I quite enjoyed the challenge we received to look for the little kids in primary that aren't baptized. We had such a great time with the primary president and her husband learning about these kids as well as the primary president and her family. Her husband is basically a celebrity missionary. He baptized a whole native tribe in Ecuador on his mission, about 180 people. I think if you look up Wilson and Ecuador or something like that you might be able to find a short video. 

I'm having such a great time strengthening our relationship with the members and even though at this moment no one has references, I look forward to the day they do. I got to sing at the fathers day activity and let's just say it wasn't that bad because now they have me booked for mothers day in August if I'm still here. 

On Thursday we were driving to our zone conference in an Uber and we always try to talk with each driver but usually they don't progress. We shared the first lesson with our driver on Thursday and talked a little about the church. And well it didn't seem like he was super interested, but on Saturday night we sent him an invitation to church and he came! And he said he could only stay for one hour but he was there for the whole thing and said he had never felt like he felt then. He felt lost and like he was missing something, and he felt something here. Oh and on our ward I'm also the new ward chorister, but luckily no one really pays attention to what I'm doing haha!

3 nefi 13:32-33

"Porque vuestro Padre Celestial sabe que tenéis necesidad de todas estas cosas. Mas buscad primeramente el reino de Dios y su justicia, y todas estas cosas os serán añadidas."

God knows what we need and when we need it. What we need to do is look for Him first, put Him first, and He will help us with the rest.

Mucho amor,

Hermana Warburton 

Member lessons are so fun! 

 

Zone Conference 

Ward baptism of Emma

 Mamo something, I can't remember the name of the fruit...whoops

 It rains everyday! 

 Inside 

 And outside the church 

June 13, 2022 - pionera en la obra del Señor

 Week 42

This Monday I started in Montelimar, zona Toyopan, and now I am in Tres Ríos, zona Cartago. Some fun facts about Tres Ríos: it's near Cartago which is actually the old capital of Costa Rica. The weather is about the same. But I have heard there's lots of fun things to do here on pday. 

Anyways this past week pday was so fun because we got to go roller skating. I really haven't ever been so I was learning, but I only fell once and in the end could go around doing laps. And we got to skate to Mamma Mia @sistermaddiestewart! Sadly, later that night we were walking quickly to visit about 4 members to say goodbye. And I slipped and fell backwards like in the movies. Haha sadly I've been feeling that fall all week long.  

This past week we put someone on bap date.  So exciting and we are praying that he won't let his doubts get him down. There is also such a sweet family here and they said they would all be coming to church Sunday but sadly they all got sick. But we still had three friends that came!  Our president gave the whole mission the goal of each companionship baptizing the first 3 weeks of July, so please pray for us!

I also feel so humbled when we enter houses and people say we are the first missionaries to visit them in over 3 years. The Lord counts all his sheep that have entered His flock and I think sometimes the members don't feel counted. I look forward to counting everyone in this area and then involving them in adding more sheep to the flock. 

As for equipo de sueños, I now know more about what it is haha. We are basically trying a new way to contact media references the mission receives. Only 5 sets of companionships contact the media referrals and we have consecrated time each day to do it. We are the first contact with these people. And what's even cooler is that we're the OGs! I am also thankful to be a pioneer! We've been told that other missions may start following our example. 

Mosiah 28:3 Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.

I always love to think of this scripture as a example of charity. The sons of mosiah are desirous to serve a mission to invite others to experience the joy they have felt as members of the church of Jesus Christ. And we don't need a paper of plack to share that joy! 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton 

It's a little greener here

 New zone 

 A statue in the center of cartago 

An old castle there too

Oh and the costa rican flag obvio

 My new companion 

 roller skating

June 6, 2022 - Nos vemos el domingo hermanas

 Week 41 

We loved the progress we saw this week with Aylin, a joven. Wednesday we challenged her to read the book of mormon even when she has reasons not to. We can always read one verse. Saturday her and her friend told us in the youth activity that they had both read each day and told us what they had learned! They had a new light and we loved seeing them talk about Christ. 

This week we had a great conference with Hermano Corbitt from the general young men's presidency. It was amazing. We analyzed Alma 5:15. 

"Do ye exercise faith in the redemption of him who created you? Do you look forward with an eye of faith, and view this mortal body raised in immortality, and this corruption raised in incorruption, to stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?"

He showed us multiple examples in the book of Mormon when la gente miró hacia adelante con el ojo de la fe y vieron la promesa cumplida. This is grand faith and he reminded us that studying and looking forward (not to the side, back or down) can really help us strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. In Mosiah, the people looking forward to the birth and atonement of Jesus Christ, received a remission of their sins in the moment, before Christ was even born. Look forward as if you have already received the completed promise and then make plans to receive it and the Lord will do the rest! 

Afterward we ended up having a fire lesson. With transfers we asked if we could come over and share a message because for some reason or another our lessons with this family keep getting canceled. Well not this week! 

We got to share a message and answer some questions of the boyfriend of a member who is less active. And her final words at the end of the lesson were nos vemos el domingo hermanas! The Spirit was also so strong as I got to share the words of the first vision. The restoration really is such a powerful message all on its own.  Sadly they forgot to set the alarm and slept in yesterday, but this next week I have hope they'll be there. 

I also have transfers. After 8 months in Zona Toyopan, I am off to Zona Cartago in Tres Rios with Hna. Brown! Sadly, I didn't get to see all the fruit of my labors. But as a member told us after learning about our transfers, in our next area we will see the hand of the Lord greatly in our areas for the work we did here in Montelimar, and I believe it! 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Warburton 

Zona Toyopan 

 Lots of goodbyes

She made us hearts 

Conference with Hermano Corbitt