Makall's new companion

Hola Familia!! (: well Today was changes and I obviously got a new companion but things did not go how we thought at all. So the whole time I have been here We have had 6 missionaries in our district. One companionship in each branch and then one that was in both branches. Well my companion is going home this week and one of the other Hermanas so we were thinking we were both going to get new companions but they decided to close the are of the other Hermanas so we are only going to have 2 companionships. One of Elders one of Hermanas.

So  my new companion is the companion of the other sister. Her name is Hermana De Leon. She is from Guatemala. She has one change less than me in the mission so this is her third change. We will just be in the same area i have been in for the last 3 changes. So that is the update about my new companion. Also we moved yay! The other hermanas had a way nicer house than us so we moved all of my stuff to their house today so we can live there. Not going to lie it is going to be so weird without Hermana Garcia but I know that the Lord has something that I need to learn here.

So this saturday was really awesome! We had 3 baptisms (: yay!!! Two Chiquitos and one    Abuela! I will send pictures! Also we got to see the Womens Conference so that was really awesome! We don't have many investigators right now but that is our goal for this week to find some new people to teach! This week for General Conference the mission has a goal to have 500 Investigators in the sessions so we are working really hard to get people to come to that. 

Well family.... Nothing to exciting  I am still alive and well. (: This week will be hard but I am sure it will be worth it. I am learning so much about how we need to put our trust in the Lord. That really he is the only one who knows what we need to do  and who is prepared for this message. I know that everything happens for a reason and that we have to do our part to recieve the guidance of the spirit and his help in our lives.  Hope everything is going well. Love you all like crazy! 

Love Hermana Chatwin

This week has been good!

Hey family (: 

Oh my heck those pictures in the dropbox for sure made me cry a little (: I love you guys so stinkin much! How exciting is this! What a crazy exciting week you all had!! I was so happy to see all the pictures! 

Well this week has been good! We have been working really hard! And it has been showing!  So We always tell people that If they are reading the Book of Mormon, praying and coming to church they will have the desire to be baptized, That they don't have to listen to us just through these things they will have this desire. This week we have been teaching two investigators who have been progressing really well! We were in a lesson with one of them and he told us yeah I know have a lot to change before I am baptized but I really want to do it. He has been doing these three things. The other investigadora come to church and we had only taught her one lesson. Then the next day in church they talked about the work of wisdom. She told the class that she drinks coffee everyday and that she didn't think it was addicting but now she can see that is really something that she has an addiction to. Then we went to her house the next day and she told us she had stopped drinking coffee... and that she had ended things with her boyfriend that she had been with for ten years..... We had taught nothing about the Word of Wisdom or The ley of Chastity. But she had been reading the Book of Morman, Praying, and Coming to church. In these two experiences I really got a witness that the Gospel is so simple. That really we are not the ones teaching but the spirit is the one. When people start to do these things that are so small the spirit starts to work in their lives and starts to help them to change themselves. I just love seeing the spirit change these peoples lives! 

Also we have a family that the Grandma got baptized a few weeks ago but her grandkids still had to wait a while and we were always at their house sunday morning to tell them Vamos Vamos. But they never wanted to come. Then yesterday they still didn't want to come. But they told us that they had been reading the book of Morman and we went to get them in the afternoon and guess what they were READY TO GO!!!!! This never happens so we were all really happy. Then we watched a little bit of the testaments with them. Just the Part where Jesucristo comes to the Americas. They were all really atentive and actually excited about going. They should be baptized this saturday!!! Yay!!! 

So my companion leaves next week :( How weird is that. She is awesome! We have been together almost six months so it will be really weird to get a new companion. We get a long so well so that will be weird but I am excited to see what will happen. Well family I hope all is well! I love you all so much! MIss ya like crazy but I know things are right where they need to be! The church is true! And as long as we are always doing the little things the big things will be easier. Always always always read your scriptures especially the book of morman every day! Say your prayers every day and go to church everyweek. And have family home evenings and go to the temple (: These things will change your lives and make you converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know this is so so true! That when we do our part the lord does his part too. Love you all so much! 

Love Hermana Chatwin

Me and Hermana Garcia for my 5 months!!! Yay!! We went and got smooties.... well mine was a mint chocolate oreo milkshake but still (: she jsut said you are such a gringa..... I love this girl!! (: 

Hola Familia (: Como estan??

Feliz Día de independencia!! Que loco es que Jenna ya llegue esta semana?? Solo tengo un poquito de celosa para ella. (: Y Sus hijos que lindas son!!! <3 Les Amo tanto <3 

How crazy Jenna is coming home this week! I am only a little Jealous of her. And you kids how cute are they! I love them so much!  This week hasbeen great!! 

It has been raining SO much! This week we were in a lesson and it was raining cats and dogs. The roofs of the houses here are like tin so you can hear everything that is happening. Which means you could hear nothing inside the house. We were going to watch the video of Jose Smith and the Resturation. So we were watching it with subtitles. Everything was great until all of the sudden yeah the lights went out.... it was like 6:30 so it was really dark already....It was pitch black and this family had no lights to use. Then the roof started leaking..... so that was awesome.. Finally the lights came back like 30 minutes later but then we were like okay we have to go so a member of the other branch came to pick us up so we could be with the other missionaries in our district. We walked out of the house and we were soaked in one second. Then we had to step of the curb into the street..... Literally there was a foot of water so you steped down and it was like a river for a second until your foot hit the ground. So that was a little entertaining. Hermana Garcia was like ah hermana Give me your had....it felt like we were in a movie. But we finally crossed te street and got in the car. You couldn't see anything while you were driving but we made it to a house of a Recent convert who lives likein the jungle.... Their house was so small and we had like 20 people there. But we had a nice little lesson then we ate some food..... We were not expecting to eat anything but we ate this stuff it was like stew but gross.... haha (: 

I don't think I will ever adjust to the food here.. it is not bad but it is not good either. There was some chicken in the thing and you all know how much I love chicken that is on the bone..... But luckyly when they weren't looking I put it in the bowl of the Elder next to me (: That was a pretty fun day! Thank goodness for elders!  

Well this week we had 4 people come to church!! Yay (: One of them even came BY HIMSELF. We were so happy (: we don't have many investigators right now but we are working really hard to find them! We had a lesson with one of our investigators who is not married but living with his girlfriend ( Like everyone here in Costa Rica) but he has been progressing really well. He loves the church and wants to learn more always. We always feel the spirit so strong with him. (: Hopefully we can help him get things figured out with his "wife"   

 My companion is great (: we have so much fun together! I will be so sad to see her go in 2 weeks I can't even think about it. It is going to be so weird to have a new companion But i am kind of excited to a change! 

Oh today is independence day here so everyone is out of school and they had a parade thing this morning. We couldn't go because you know we are missionaries but we went to help one of our investigators get ready for it this morning. We braided her hair and everything. Mom you should be proud my braids are getting pretty darn good here! 

Also one more thing about the food..... you guys wont believe this.... Last night we were with some members. We went to drop of our clothes to the Hermana who washes them. They told us they had something for us to try to eat.... it is called frito.... I was like ew what the heck it that. It looks like just a bunch of little pieces of meat cut up.... But no.... It is a pigs face!!!! Like all of it the cheeks, the nose, the ears.... all of it... They told me before i ate any so yeah i didn't eat any... But it was so gross! I really think i might be a vegetarian here... (: 

Well family this week has been good! Just keep praying for me! Love you all so much! This week i have really gained a love for the Book of Morman. I was reading in 3 nephi 11 where Christ comes to the Nephites. Honestly you can learn so much from just that chapter. I learned that Christ is the perfect missionary in this chapter. Maybe I'll just share a little of what i learned with you. The fact it takes them 3 times to understand the voice only when they were paying attention to the voice and listening they could understand what Heavenly Father was saying to them. Then The first thing Christ says to them is Yo Soy Jesucristo. Because he didn't want anyone to be confused about who he was. I learned that that how we all need to be we need to let people know that we are diciples of christ the minute they meet us. Then the next thing Christ says is he died for the sins of the world. That shows us that the Atonment is the most important part of what he did for us. Then he invites them to come and see and feel the marks in his hands and feet. We should always invite others to come to christ. To feel his love and use his atonment. That is from like the first few verses. I would invite all of you to read this chapter and think how can we be more like Christ and invite others to come to him I just love the Book of Morman so much! I know it is the word of God! 

Well family (: i love you all so much! I hope you have a great week! I am sure you will with so much going on! Give Jenna a big hug from me! 

Love Hermana Chatwin

My shirts came!!!! (: Yay!!!!

Any my new bag! it is great!(: And it has the costa rica flag! (: 

Hi family (: How is everyone doing?? Ah Felicidades Morgue!!!! (: Talmage is freakin adorable! I can't believe we have two new babies!!!! Yay (: 

Well this week has been good we have been having more success every week. ONe thing i have for sure learned is that your attitude changes EVERYTHING! I think it takes me a few times to learn a lesson from my Heavenly Father. But i am slowly learning how to do things better. 

This week I have been studying a lot about the Atonment and how we can apply it in our lives. There are so many things I still don't understand about it but before my mission I didn't really know how to use the atonment at all. I am learning little by little how to apply it and I have realized that that is my real goal as a missionary to help people learn to apply the Atonment in their lives. Because really everything else in the gospel is just a part of the Atonment of Jesus Christ. I can't explain how much my testimony has changed about these things I am teaching.

Also this week i have learned a lot that we need to forget our will and do the will of the Lord. That he has a plan and if we are always thinking about ourselves and how inadaquite we are that is one way that Satan tries to get us to think that the Lord thinks we are not good enough to help in his work but that is not true. The lord knows that we are not perfect. He knows that we all have weaknesses and that we need to change the way we are thinking. We just have to lose ourselves in the service of others and that is when things will come into perspective for us. 

This week we had 2 people who came to church (: one of them is a older Lady who came and has been actually progressing pretty well. We only have taught her two or three times but she came yay!! And then they talked about the word of wisdom in Gospel Doctrine so that was awesome... She had lots of questions about why we don't drink coffee because EVERYONE HERE DRINKS COFFEE!!!! She was really confused about that..... And then in Relief Society they talked about the plan of salvation.... so yeah she was really confused.. Hopefully we can help her understand a little better but she is great! 

Well Family Love you all!! Hope you have a good week! Give your kids a big hug from me! Including you mom (: Yay for Jenna coming home next week!!!! (: How crazy is that!!!!!!! (: Love you all so much! Talk to you next week!

Love Hermana Chatwin

Hi Family!! How is everyone doing?? The kids are getting so big! I love seeing them (: This week has been good! We are having a little more success every week. Lets see we had a baptism this week for our Abuela Flor (: yay!!! She is such a nice lady.  We were a little hesitiant because she kept saying yeah i want to be baptized but she is really afriad of everything. And she wanted her grandkids to be baptized too but they have only been to church once so they need a few more times.  So we had the interview with her and she decided that she was ready to be baptized. So saturday came and we went to her house to get her and she was still deciding..... But she ended up deciding she was ready (: yay!!!! It was really the neatest thing every.  After the baptism the ward mission leader invited her to say something and she stood up and just said thank you. Thank you for helping me make this step in my life. I feel like I am right with God now.  I asked her how she felt after it was all over and she told me I just feel so peaceful. It was so great to see her so happy. And she said of course my grand kids are going to follow me. So we are working really hard with them to get baptized this month (: 

We also were looking through some of the old resisteros of the other missionaries who had been here before and found a girl who was never baptized so we went to find her.  We went to her house and found her step dad and her.  He told us that he had been praying for someone to help him find the light in his life.  And guess what.... HE CAME TO CHURCH SUNDAY!! All by himself. We called him but we had the wrong number.... so we were waiting and Yeah he came by himself!!!  So that was pretty exciting (: 

This saturday we had a talent show with both of the branches so everyone danced or sang and played songs. It was pretty fun. We ( the hermanas) sang a song that one with the cups... so that was fun (: i have a video. So things are good! My spanish is coming that is probably the least of my worries now... My teaching on the other hand still needs a lot of help. But it is coming! 

Well Hope everyone is good! Crazy Jen will be home in 4 weeks. I can't believe how fast it went... Well i love you all (: hope you have a good week! 

Love Hermana Chatwin