Extra pictures?

Last Supper

Well family here it is..... the last email as a missionary!

Well family here it is..... the last email as a missionary! Who would have thought that time passed SO fast! I can´t believe i will see you all this week! 

Last monday we went to my old area and visited some of the members there. It was really fun to see everyone! I love them! This week has been great! We had a baptism sunday morning. It was the best baptism i have ever been in. She was so ready! The bishop baptized her and the ward was really supportive! We had a few despedidas with the members and a few more today... :( I am going to miss Costa Rica and the people here so much but I can´t wait to see you guys. I just had my last interview with President Hayes. I love that guy :) He is the best. We are going to san jose right now to buy some stuff then tomorrow we have dinner at presidents house and wednesday we are going to the temple then thursday we go home..... HOW CRAZY!!!!! 

Well family I Love you all so much! I don´t have to much to write this week but we will have more to talk about soon I am sure! I love you all so much!! Thanks for everything you do for me!!! :) 

Hermana Chatwin

Where do I even start!

Hi Family!!!!

Where do I even start! This has been a crazy week!

We went to the temple on Wednesday and it was the sweetest experience of my mission. I love the temple. I felt so much peace walking in and when we sat down to start the session I just felt the Love of my heavenly father. I knew that in that moment he was happy with me. I know that he knows I am not perfect and that there are SO many things I need to change but I know that he Loves me and he is so patient with me. I was sitting there waiting to go into the celestial room and I just remembered the first time I went to the temple and walked into the Celestial room and saw you guys there waiting for me. That Dad gave me a great big hug! I thought of the last time I went to the temple with you mom and we just sat on that couch crying. I was just sitting there thinking of how much I love you guys and how grateful I am for the gospel in my life that because of the gospel we can have an eternal family. Then i thought if I am this happy to see my family and I know how sweet that reunion will be just imagine how much sweeter the reunion with our Father in Heaven will be when we get to see him again. I can't wait for that meeting. I just hope that we will all be able to come into his presence and find every member of our family there waiting for us. Because it sure wouldn't be heaven without you guys!!! I sat in the celestial room just crying because of the joy I felt. The love that I could feel from my heavenly father was so clear and so strong. I know that the temple is the house of the Lord and that there we make covenants that will help us come back to the presence of our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ. President Hayes and Sister Hayes did the session with us and they were the witness couple. It was such a great experience. I love them SO much! After we had left we went to a little meeting with them. President shook my hand and said I saw you crying hermana how are you?? I said good I am really good. Those were happy tears. Hermana Hayes said tears from a Job well done. I know that I have not been the perfect missionary and I still have time to work :) it's not over yet. But I know that I have fulfilled my one purpose as a missionary. To inivte others to come to Christ. When I was in the MTC Elder Holland came and talked about that purpose. He said you can't invite someone to come somewhere you aren't. The first person you have to bring to Christ is yourself. That is 100% true. I coudn't be an effective missionary until I had come unto Christ. After that I understood so much better the purpose of missionary work and the purpose of the Gospel. I have come to know my Savior over the past few months. I have come to know for myself that the Gospel is true. That we have a living Profeta. That the Atonement is real! And it works! I know that we don't have to be perfect to get home to our heavenly father we just have to do our best! I am so grateful for the blessings I have recieved in my life. Going on a mission was the best decision I have ever made! I know that Heavenly father sent me on a mission to help other people but honestly he sent me on a mission because he loves me and he wanted to make sure that I would be able to come home to him. He sent me here to realize what is REALLY important in life and to go home and LIVE the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the past few weeks I have realized that there is 1 difference between members of the church and disciples of christ. It is not the number of times you go to church or the temple, or the number of times you read the scriptures and say your prayers. It is the way you LIVE the gospel. The gospel is not a list of checks it is a constant process of change and Love. It gives us hope that no matter what we have done or no matter how many times we fall that we can get back up and try again, and again , and again! In confrence they talked a lot about living the gospel and I have come to realize that if we truly live it everything will be okay! Also in the letter that Mom sent me today she was my second witness of that. Really the little things in life matter so much more than we think they do! We sometimes think that watching a movie with a little bad in it or being on facebook a little to long or playing video games a little to much is okay. But these are things that drive the spirit from our lives. If we are not careful we will fall right into the trap that satan is setting for us trying to distract us from our one goal in life. Which is to return and live with our Heavenly Father. When we remember that every other choice is a lot easier to make.

Well family I hope you know I love you all so much! I can't wait to see you! I am going to miss my mission SO much! All of the people I have met here and the Spirit you feel as a missionary is the best. But I know that it doesn't end when I go home. I still have a lot to do. Thank you so much for all the love and support you guys have given me these past 20 years of my life. I don't know what I did to deserve such a great family but I love you all so much! See you soon!!!!! :)

Con MUCHO Amor <3

Hermana Chatwin 

Hi family!!!! :) 

What a great week we have had. Seriously I don't know how to describe how great  being a missionary is. This week has gone SO fast!!! I don't know how the days go SO fast!! It is crazy! 

We have been teaching this refrence from a member who is a 16 year old boy named Marco. He is AWESOME! He loves the church and really wants to get baptized. We have been teaching him for a while and he always comes to church with this family.But he told us a few weeks ago that he wanted to wait to get baptized on his birthday. He thought it would be a good experience. We thought about it and didn't really say anything, because his birthday is in November. But we had been praying that he could change his mind.So he had a little chat with the Bishop ( who is awesome by the way! We have the best Bishop in the world!!!) He just told him that he should pray about it and ask the Lord if he wanted him to wait until november. So he did. Then we had a lesson with him on Saturday o sea 2 days ago. He told us he had prayed about it and that he was ready to get baptized this month. So we were really happy! Then yesterday he came to church in a white shirt and tie. He is really just the greatest kid. At the first of my mission I thought it was kind of silly to baptize jovenes. But the more I have been here I have learned that really some of them have the strongest testimonies and they help their families to become members of the church ask well. It has really been a testimony builder to me that you don't have to be an adult to know the church is true. You can know it when you are a little kid and then your testimony just grows and grows. 

Things are good with my companion I love her. She reminds me A LOT of me when I first got here. A little stressed and felt like I was never going to be able to do it but now I can look back and say I did it with the Lords help. So i just tell her everyday she can do it. She just has to be paciente and do her part so the Lord can help her. She is really great though! 

I have just come to love the people here in Costa Rica so much. One thing that I love is that members of the church in all places of the world are the same. You can always feel their love for you and know that they believe exactly what you do. That even though we are from very different places and cultures that we are all children of God. That he knows us and Loves each and everyone of us. 

Well family I hope everything is good. Everything is good here. We still can use your prayers to help us find some new people to teach as always but I love being a missionary with my whole heart. I can't tell you how grateful I am for the oportunity that my Heavenly father has given me to serve his children!! I love being a missionary!!! 

Thanks for everything family!!! Love you all!!!

Hermana Chatwin

Mission conference?

Well another crazy week in Costa Rica!

Hi family!!!! 
Well another crazy week in Costa Rica!! I love it here. I can´t even tell you how much I love it here. This week we had the oportunity to see two of our investigators be baptized. It was a very special baptism because they were refrences of a less active family. The boy that baptized them was inactive but started coming back to church with them. He had already been ordained a priest so after a few weeks of preparation and some goals with the Bishop he was ready to baptize them. It was such a neat experience. Also his parents came who are both members but are inactive as well. It was such a neat experience to see that he really has wanted to change and to be active in the church for his own decision not for his family. He is really excited! I love seeing how the gospel changes peoples lives. And how people come to know the savior so much better through church attendance. Also in the gospel principles class we were talking about going to the temple and basically all ofour recient converts are getting ready to go to the temple and do baptisms in a few weeks. 

I love seeing them be worthy and ready to go to the temple. It is really just helps me to remember why I am here. That it is not about numbers that these are real people who are preparing to go home to our father in heaven. My whole mission I have been very focused on numbers and always trying to be the best. Which I don´t think is bad because it has helped me to learn to work really hard. But now I have realized the reason behind the hard work.That everysingle one of the people we meet is a child of God. That he loves them just as much as he loves me. 

I am so grateful for the experiences I have had here and how it has helped me to know what kind of member i want to be when I get home. I went on divisions this week with some hermanas and I met some members that have like a family home evening but it a noche de groupo. So they invite all the members that want to and the recent converts, menos activos, and investigators. It was the coolest thing! I love the feeling that members get when they start working in the Obra misional. I can´t wait to go home and start working there as well. I just wish that all members could feel that love for missionary work. 

Well family I love you guys!!! Today was my last day of changes..... the next one i will be going home....how weirdis that! I can´t believe it! But I am going to give my heavenly father everything I have this change! I want to finish my mission happy :) I love being a missionary!!! Miss you guys! Love you!!  I hope you all have a good day! 

Hermana Chatwin

First of Happy Anniversary mom and dad!

Hi family!!! 

First of Happy Anniversary mom and dad!!! Thanks for being such great examples to us of how to have a righteous family and to have a happy marriage! I love you guys and I am so grateful for the opportunity the Lord has given me to be part of your family!

I can´t believe how fast the time goes!!! 

This week has been good! We have started to find more people to teach and things are getting better. But my poor companion has been having problems with her knee. It started on monday but she was toughing it out. Then on friday she could hardly walk. Saturday it got worse. We walked like 2 minutes and she had to sit. Then we would walk 2 minutes and she had to sit. Then yesterday also she was having trouble walking just the same. So we are going to the office today to talk to PResident Hayes and she has an appointment at the doctor tomorrow. So pray for her that things will be okay. She doesn´t want to go home at all! So we need all the prayers we can get! 

This week we did have a few miracles! We were on divisions with some other sisters and we went to visit this lady that told us we could come back another day. So we went and visited her. She let us right in. We talked for a few minutes about her family and about her life and she told us that she just felt like she was not worthy to be with God that she had committed to many sins. So we talked about the atonement and repentance. You could see this light just light up in her face. It was really the neatest thing. That helped me remember why I am on a mission. To help other people feel the love of our Savior and to help them understand that repentance is possible.

That we can be completely clean of all our sins. Also we found another Hermana that we just started talking to her and asked if we could share something and she said yes. So we just started talking and she told us her story... she told us that before she didn´t believe in God and that she has had A LOT of problems in her life. But that there came a point when she decided she needed to change and started going to the Catholic church. She said God saved my life. We invited her to come to church and we also invited her to be baptized. She paused for a second after we invited her she said, I think that maybe I haven´t gotten an answer from God because I keep telling him I want to be Catholic but maybe he wants me to change. I am going to read that folleto and I am going to pray and ask God if he wants me to go to your church. It was a really amazing experience. It taught me that The Lord knows who he wants in his church. A lot of the times the missionaries say well they are really catholic so i am sure they wont listen. But that is not true. The Lord and the spirit work in ways we can´t understand. He is the teacher. If we are worthy of his companionship we will be able to be instrument in the hands of the Lord.

I love being a missionary. I can´t tell you how much I love it. I love feeling the spirit and being able to know that the Lord wants me to be here. There are a few sisters that have been struggling and want to go home. They are just starting there mission. So it has been amazing to see that the Lord has been able to help them through me. That the Lord knows his children. I have not done anything but the Lord has helped them to feel the spirit. It has made me reflecionar. That the mission is the hardest thing I have ever dont but it is the best thing i have ever done!  I wouldn´t change it for the world. 

Well family I love you guys! I hope you have a great day!!! Pray for my companion!! 

con amor, 

Hermana Chatwin

There is no greater joy than to hear that your children walk in truth!

Good afternoon, I am Elder Ron Sparks and my wife and I are Temple missionaries in the Costa Rica Temple. As part of our assignment we have the opportunity each week to visit different wards in the Temple District and give talks to help the members come to the Temple. One of my favorite things about these visits is getting to know the wonderful Elders and Sisters who serve in the Lords vineyard in Costa Rica. As you can see from this picture we had the opportunity to speak in Barrio La Concepcion today and meet your daughter. What a sweet young lady she is. It was interesting to watch her with the other Sisters and the members. In the Principles of the Gospel class the chairs were in a circle and that gave me the opportunity to observe these missionaries with their investigators. It was very easy to see the love that they had for each other, for their investigators and for the members.
I know your daughter comes home in a few short months and I can only imagine how excited you are. We had 4 sons serve and we know first hand the joy in receiving them home after faithfully serving. She is a great missionary, she was definitly on top of things in church today and is teaching the other sisters well and setting a great example for them to follow. Her spanish is very good and I could see she understood what was being said and asked of her and her ability to respond and express herself was excellent. She is a wonderful young lady and I know you are proud of her and love her with all your heart. Enjoy being missionary parents for the next few months and then rejoice in receiving her home after having served so well. 

Elder Ron Sparks

So we are offically in a trio

Hi family!!! 

What a crazy week! I don´t even know where to begin.... So we are offically in a trio. That is different but It has been fun. I am not going to lie this has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission... But I have learned so much about the Love of my Savior and the Atonment. 

My companions are great! We are working really hard on learning how to teach better and to have paciencia with everything. I have been a little bit stressed this week. During our language study we have been reading the Confrence talks in English so my companions can practice their english. I just listen and correct their words. I was getting extremly frustrated the other day because I just wanted to read the Book of Mormon in Spanish but I know that I need to help my companions. So we were reading a talk from the last confrence that someone gave and they were talking about their son who was on a mission. That he was getting frustrated with his companion and they were having issues. That they were riding bikes one day and he looked back and his companion had gotten off his bike and was walking. He got really frustrated and thought why can´t he just do it the right way! Then he said that a voice came to him and said You know you two aren´t so different from me. When we were reading that I had the most overwhelming feeling that My savior knows exactly what I am going through and that my companions are my companions for a reason. That there are no coinsidences in this life. The lord has everything planned out! 

We had a great week! Seriously I have never had so many lessons in my life. We almost taught 60 lessons this week. We usually teach 40. We have been practicing a lot with my companions how to use the scriptues better so that we can learn how to apply them in our lives. I have grown to love the scriptures so much and I know that the more we read them and APPLY them to our lives we will be able to change and do what the Lord would have us do. 

This sunday we had a special confrence where they split 3 stakes and made 2 new stakes in Costa Rica. It was a historic event for this country!! It was awesome to be a part of it. Elder Ochoa from the 70 came and spoke. HIs talk was awesome! It really was like my heavenly father was talking to me. He talked about the sacrament and how we have the chance every sunday to be forgiven of our sins. That ever day we can repent and change. I can´t tell you how grateful I am for the sacrafice that My Savior made for me. That through his Atonment I can be forgiven. What great news that is to all of us who are not perfect people. That no matter how many times we fail and how many times we think we cannot do it the Lord is always there to help us.  He is the only one that knows exactly how we feel in every minute. He can take away our burdens and he can help us change to become the people that Heavenly Father wants us to be. I have come to understand that the Gospel is all about change. Muchas Veces Change is uncomfortable and it is often a stressful process but If we can learn that change is really a good thing and when we can feel the need for change we know that the Lord is helping us to grow we can understand that the Lord always has a plan. So I am grateful for the chance the Lord has given me to change and to become a different person. To learn from my mistakes and to want to be better. I am grateful for the Atonement and that through the saviors love we can all become perfected in him. I love my Savior and I know that he knows what I need. I know that through him is the only way to get back to our heavenly father. And I love his gospel with all my heart. I am so grateful for the chance the Lord has given me to serve his children here in Costa Rica! I love having the privelegde to represent my Savior! This is the best decision I have ever made in my life. Even if is has been hard and I have had to change lots of things I know that the Lord is helping me become who he wants me to be. I love you guys! Thanks for everything! You are the best!! 

Love 

Hermana Chatwin

NO TIME!

HI family! Well here is a picture of me and my companions.... I don´t have much to write this week!!! So hope you know I love you all!!!! 

Love herman a Chatwin

What a crazy week!

Hi family!!! 

What a crazy week we have had. I love being a missionary with my whole heart!  Well this week we had our Zone confrences and our first interviews with President Hayes. I can´t say it enough that their family is AMAZING! Our Zone meeting was a lot different but he taught us about how it will be when we live with God and how that is the goal really to help everyone get back and live with God. That we have to be worthy to have the spirit always. That really that is the key to happiness in this life. Then we had our interviews and I learned a lot from him! He is great! 

This week was a little rough but My companion and I are really seeing that the Lord is preparing his children to accept the gospel in every moment. That Sometimes we don´t know exactly what is the best thing to do but when we put our confidence in the Lord and trust in him we are going to be okay and everything will work out! 

Today we had our 1 month meeting with President Hayes and his family for the new missionaries and their trainers. It was the best meeting I think I have ever been in. He talked a lot about how the point of this life is to love the people you are with and to be happy.  I have learned a lot about that on my missions. Like all of you that know me know I have always had a hard time with this concept. I am a happy person with everyone but you guys.... Before my mission I thought that I couldn´t change that- that is was just how I was but I have learned on my misison that that is a lie that Satan tells people so that they never change and never improve. I have learned that happines is a choice. That every day we have the chance to choose to be happy. I know that maybe is is something small but it is the reason we came to this earth to be happy to learn to be happy and to love our families! To love the Lords children! When we learn this then everything else falls into place. Everything else becomes possible when we know WHY  we are doing the things we do. We understand that Charity is the only thing that gives us the drive to do hard things. When we love the people we are with.  I know that Charity changes everything! I am so grateful for the chance I have had to learn that lesson in my life so that I can be a better person and help other people to come to christ. I love you guys so much! I hope you all had a good week! 

Hermana Chatwin

My Testimony

Hi family!!! 

Well this week has been crazy! President Hayes got here on Monday and we had our first leadership council with him on Friday. It was awesome! He is really amazing! We are so excited to have him here in our mission. And his family is really great! We learned a lot in the meeting. We were all a little nervous but the coolest thing is that even though he is not President Wilkinson you could feel the same spirit that was there when he taught us. So that helped me to understand that it is the Lord that is directing the mission and the work in Costa Rica. That the same success we have been seeing will keep going and increase because this is the work of the Lord. 

Well to start of we had 5 baptisms yesterday!!! :) It was a great day! It was a family 4 kids and then their vecina. The mom is going to be baptized too but she wasn't quite ready. But the best part was to see how happy she was for her kids that they made the choice to follow Jesus Christ. Also it was pretty cool because President Hayes and his family asked on Friday who had a baptism this week they could go to so they came to our baptism and to our ward on Sunday. It was really the neatest baptism! The best part was they were refrences from the ward so the ward was also really excited that they were getting baptized. 

We had kind of a rough week because I was doing divisions with some hermanas this week but it was a really great chance to get to help them and see how they were working. I love being able to help other missionaries to feel the spirit and to remember why we are here. Also this week our Bishop invited us to share our testimonies in the testimony meeting so that the members could listen to our testimonies. I have really grown to love sharing my testimony. It is the best way that we can feel the spirit and that our testimony can grow is when we share it with other people. So i guess I will take the moment to share my testimony with you guys because you weren't here on Sunday. 

I know that this it the True church. That it was restored through the profeta Jose Smith. I know that the book of Morman is the word of God. That if we read it and apply it to our lives we will come closer to our heavenly father and we will have a sure knowledge that Jesus Chirist is our Savior. I have always had a testimony of the gospel and the church. But In my mission I have come to have a sure knowledge that these things are true. That the gospel is the only thing that is important in our lives. That if we live it and apply it in our lives we will be able to return and live with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again. I know that the Family can be eternal. Before my mission I thought that eternal life was just a wish that no one would be able to recieve it but the more I have learned about the Atonment and the Plan of Salvation is that God wants everyone to come and he has set up his plan so that we can win. So that every person if they choose can come back to his presence. We just have to decide where we want to go and remember that this is the only reason  we are here in this life to return and live with God. When we lose sight of that goal is when the things start to fall apart in our lives. I know that God listens to our prayers. He knows us and is aware of every single on of his Children. I know that Jesus Christ is our savior and that through the Atonmnent we can be forgiven of our sins!  That he can bind us up when we are broken and that we cannot do it alone. We may think we don't need his help but we always need him to help us. I love my Savior and I am grateful for the chance i have to be a Representative of Jesus Christ for 18 months of my life. And for the rest . I will never stop being a missionary. We are all missionaries and have the Duty to share the gospel with everyone we know. To be examples to those around us and help them to feel the Love our Savior has for them. 

Well family I love you all a lot! I hope you have a good week!!!!

Con Amor 

Hermana Chatwin

This is the picture of the baptism :)

Well this week we had an AMAZING week!!!

Hi family!! 

Hopefully everyone is doing well! I saw the pictures of your graduation Kendal FELICIDADES now you are a real doctor not just a pretend one.... :) 

Well this week we had an AMAZING week!!! I love being a missionary SO MUCH!!! We had our mission confrence on tuesday with the Wilkinsons and it was so nice! President and Sister Wilkinson taught us a lot about what we need to do with our lives in the future to be successful and to be active in the church. It was a really great meeting! We are going to miss them so much! We love them!! Also it was the last time that we saw some of the missionaries from the other mission so that was kind of sad. A lot of my friends are going to be in the other mission. 

Also this week we had a lot of miracles! We had 3 baptisms!!! :) we were so happy! And they were so happy also! One of them is the mom of one of our recent converts so that was a really neat experience. She shared her testimony and said that her daughter was her example and she was grateful for the help that she had recieved and the love she recieved in the church. She is really awesome! The other 2 are brothers who are older but we have been visiting them for a while. We always have to take a sister with us when we visit so they basically know the whole ward :) everyone was so happy to see them get baptized! We we all really happy! It was a great week! 

Also we had a great spiritual experience with President Wilkinson this week. He had to come and do an interview for the hermanas in our area. We were on divisions so he was talking to us a little bit. When he left he told the member we were with Hermana you have 4 of the best missionaries in Costa Rica in your ward no in the World. Then we were with him in the car and we said goodbye. We all started  crying and he told us Hermanas you are my heros. I love you! We were all just crying. It was really a neat experience. We are going to miss them a lot!  

My companion is great! She basically came pre trained I am pretty sure. We are having a lot of success so that is always helpful! But she is really awesome! 

Well family I love you a lot!!! 

Hermana Chatwin

A week of miracles!!!‏

Hi family!!!

What a crazy week it has been! Sorry last week i didn't have time to write you all an email but today will be a good one! This has been the best week of my whole mission I think. We have seen SO many miracles I can't even tell you all the things we have seen!

Lets start with Maira she is the mom of one of our Recent Converts who was baptized last month. Her daughter is 12 and LOVES the church. She told her mom that if she couldn't stop her from following Christ and she wanted to be baptized. The mom never let us in before but she gave her daughter permission to be baptized and the next Sunday she showed up at church on her own. She said she can see the change that has happened in her daughter and she LOVES the church also! She has a fecha for this thursday and she is really excited to be baptized! Yesterday we were talking to her and she said she was talking to a friend who told her Hey i haven't seen you for 2 weeks but now you look different. You just look happy and you have this light in your face... She was like I think it is because of the gospel... It was the neatest experience. I love seeing that people really can change and the gospel brings light to their lives!

Another family we are teaching. They are a refrence of the Relief Society President. They have 4 kids and they have all come to church for about a month. The parents aren't married so we are still working on that but the kids all accepted a fecha to be baptized on the 5th of June. They are the sweetest family. The mom was catholic but she never went to another church because she never felt anything there but  she said the first week she went to our church she felt like she was coming home. She felt like that was where she was supposed to be. I know that they have a lot of problems and still a long way to go but they really have the most sincere desire to learn Not just her but her kids also. Her husband didn't want to listen to us but he started you can see the change that has happened in him from just a few weeks. He has come to church once and he loved it too! We were teaching about the plan of salvation and he started crying and said I love my kids. I want to live with them forever. What do I need to do? So we gave them folletos or the law of chastity and word of wisdom. Then yesterday we talked about the word of wisdom and all of them committed to live it! It has seriously been a miracle to see them change!!! They have strengthened my testimony in that the Lord is preparing his children to hear the gospel and that the members of the church are the best way to find them not the missionaries knocking doors.

Also another investigator who we have been teaching for a while told us that he has never felt the spirit or recieved an answer but he is totally ready for baptism. He is keeping all of his commitments and stopped drinking coffee. Is reading the book of Mormon and comes to church everyweek. So we called our district leader to come and give him an interview because we know he is ready. Then after they talked for a while he came out and said well I felt peace and I know that that is an answer. So he hopefully will be baptized this week also! With him i have learned that the Lord works in his own time. We can't force people to recieve answers but we can help them to recognize the answers God is sending.

Well 2 weeks ago we had our last Lidership council with President Wilkinson. It was really sad but really awesome! He taught us a lot about how to be good leaders and how we really just need to love the missionaries and the investigators that really that is the most important thing. To help them feel the love of the lord! I have learned so much from President Wilkinson! Honestly he and his family are amazing! They all bore their testimonies and it was extremly spiritual! Ah i wish you could hear President Wilkinsons testimony. Just listening to his testimony strenghthens everyones testimony. He is amazing! He also said that he had an interview with Elder Christoferson and that President Wilkinson told him that when he got to Costa Rica he prayed that the Lord would send him the best missionaries he had. He said the Lord has answered his prayer. And Elder Christoferson told him that the First Presidency and the12 are really happy for all the work he and his missionaries have done. Tomorrow we have our mission confrence with him. It will be like the last thing... Then on Monday the new mission presidents will be here.... How weird!!!

Oh also my new companion!! She is from Costa Rica!

She is 26 Her name is Hermana Osorio! She is really awesome! She is always wanting to learn and to be better. She helps me a lot and we are having crazy success!!! I love her!! 

Well family I just want you to know that I love you all so much! I am so grateful for all of you! The more i get to know people and see their lives it makes me so grateful for my family and for all the blessings we have. We are SO blessed. I am so grateful that Heavenly father sent me to your family. Thank you for all you do for me and for all yours prayers!!! I hope everything is going well with all of you! Lots of changes but I know that the Lord always has a plan for us! He knows what he is doing we just have to trust in his plan!!!

Love you all Hermana Chatwin

This is a picture from the birthday of our investigator. This is that amazing family!! She said she hadn't had a cake since she was 14 so we made her a cake!!! They are the best!!! 

HI family :) 

Well let the stress begin haha not really but pray hard for me this week! Sorry i don´t have much time to write but i will just tell you a few things that happened this week.... We had a great week! I know that the Lord is really blessing our area. I am grateful President for the chance I have to serve in Concepcion. I know that the Lord has big plans for our ward. Thank you also President for this chance that I have to grow. I am really excited to train! I am a little nervous for this new experience but I know that the Lord will help me and that all I need to do is trust in him and lead by example. I know that our region is going to have a lot of success. We are all really excited to work and to be part of the miracles the Lord has waiting. 
This week we had 9 investigators that came to church. One is a family of 6. They are really incredible. We have been teaching them for 3 weeks. They were a refrence of the Relief Society President. The Hermana told us that she loves the church. That from the first minute that she entered she felt like she was coming home. That she had found what she was looking for. I know that they are all really excited to learn more about the gospel and to follow Christ. They have a fecha for the 4th of July. I know that they are going to reach their goal! 
Also this week one of our converts invited her mom to church and she showed up. She is not religious at all but she LOVED the church. She was in the class the last hour and they were talking about Family History and she LOVED it. She wanted to know all about it so we went over that night and explained about it and put a fecha for the 27th of June. She is really ready to follow Christ. Which is interesting because at first she wouldn´t even open the door for us. But I have learned that the Lord has his timing. 
Also we went with another family of 5 this week and we were talking about why they wanted to come to church. We have taught them a few times but they weren´t really positive. But in this lesson the Hermana said ¨I like their church becauause, Then she started crying, Because they are focused on the family. And my family is the most important thing I have. So i want to go to their church becaue I want to be with my family forever.¨ It was such a powerful spiritual moment. You could just feel that she was really serious and wanted to change her life. That is why i love being a missionary. To see how the gospel changes people. 
I think the last few weeks I have kind of forgotten that it is the Lord that does the work. We are only his servants. But i know that he is in charge of these things. We just have to be obedient and do our part. Then he will do his. 

HI family :) 

Well things are really REALLY good here. I am so privileged to be a missionary here in Costa Rica. Seriously it is the best thing I have ever done in my life. This month the mission had a goal to have 200 baptisms. Yesterday we were all waiting for the results and we heard from the ZL that we only had 199 that we needed one more baptism. So we were calling all the Hermanas in our Region asking who was ready to be baptized. But nothing.... :( So we were kind of bummed. But at 9:00 we got a text from President Wilkinson saying that we did it! That we had 203 baptisms and confirmancions. What a miracle! I know that the Lord is always preparing his children! 

This week we had 1 baptism and 2 confirmacions. Our baptism was this little Joven who is 12 seriously I have never seen someone who has such a desire to follow Christ. She is incredible. When she left the water she just has the happiest face. I have never seen someone so happy to be baptized. She is so great. Then on Sunday her and the Other Joven who was baptized last week got confirmed on Sunday. In both of their blessings it talked a lot about serving a mission and being an example to their families. It was just a really spiritual experience. 

Also on Sunday we had to go to get some investigators that said they were going to come to church. But they don´t have a phone so we went to go to their house and they weren´t home. So we were kind of bummed. But then when we got to church we have been teching another family that is a refrence of the Relief Society President. They live next store to them. So we were sitting in sacrament meeting and look back and in walks her and her husband with all of our investigators. There were 7 of them. One is only 7 years old so we had 6 But it was seriously a miracle. We both just started crying when they walked in. It was amazing. I know that Heavenly father knows us and he is always willing to help his children when we do our part. 

Also Hermana Geis and her Companion are going to have a miracle this week!! I am going to send you what she sent me because it is AMAZING!! They are teaching this couple and background story... When i was with Hermana Geis the other week we were on a bus. We were waiting in line to get on the bus and we started talking to this guy. His name is carlos. I sat next to him on the Bus and he started telling me about his family. His wife has MS and can´t leave the house. She is basically almost a vegetable. He was telling us a whole bunch of stuff about his family and we just felt So strongly that we had to invite him to church. This was saturday. So sunday morning we were out side the church waiting for other people. And he called us. He said He i am here by the church. He lives an hour away!!! So we never thought he would come. But he came and He LOVED IT! He sat down and said I just feel so much peace. So Then i left and the Hermanas kept visiting him. They started visiting his wife also. She can´t go to church but she LOVES the gospel. Yesterday they had their baptismal interviews and they are going to be baptized this saturday.They got special permission for the wife to be baptized too even though she can´t go to church. I am going to put what hermana Geis told me too. It is A MIRACLE!!!!

¨Ok so now i just want to talk about Carlos and Vera. Vera is the one with MS. Seriously i cant even explain all that has happened with them, because it is all such a complete miracle. Since the first day we went they have loved everything and have said how much joy they feel when we talk about the gospel, and Carlos just absolutely loves church and the people and everything. This week when we were visiting them, Carlos told us that he has always felt like he has been waiting for something more, and that he is searching for the truth. When he said that, Vera lifted her hand up and pointed at her self. Carlos said, ¨You too are searching?¨ And she said, ¨Yes.¨ carlos said that she had never admitted that, ever, and that he felt so happy that she was in the same boat as him. We then committed them both to baptism again, and vera accepted! Carlos was SO happy, and he literally always talks about how badly he wants eternal life with his whole family. He said to Vera, ¨I just keep picturing us on the other side, hand in hand, you walking, and us with our kids, forever. I want to have eternal life with you.¨ Seriously everyone, I cant tell you how amazed i was at seeing all of this. Heavenly father as blessed me immensely to be able to even see this. Then we knelt down next to vera´s bed, and he offered the prayer. it was the most amazing prayer i have every heard. 

So yesterday, us, the elders, and Jorge our ward mission leader went over to have their baptismal interviews. Vera at the beginning said that she didnt feel ready - that she wanted to wait to feel more prepared to take this huge step. But she agreed to have the interview anyway. So Elder Gomez had the interview with her, while us missionaries helped their daughters cook and clean the house. Then when he finished that interview he started the interview with Carlos. Jorge was talking to vera and then called to me and said, ¨Hermana geis, come in here right now!¨ So i went in and Vera was explaining how she was feeling. She said that the interview went really well, and that she was able to be really open with Elder Gomez - she said that she felt so light and filled with a peace and joy - we were like, that is the spirit! That is your answer! She then said that she also felt scared...because she knew that her family would be completely against it. But we just let her talk, and didnt say anything. Then she said, ¨Well who do i listen to....my family, or God?.....I need to listen to God.....Im going to get baptized.¨ It was AMAZING to see the spirit work in her that way. Then when Carlos finished his interview he came in, and we said to Vera, ¨Do you want to tell him?¨ And she said to Carlos, ¨Im not going to let you do it alone:¨ Carlos just said, really?! And then he leaned over and gave her a kiss! The room was filled so stronly with the spirit and warmth and such joy. Carlos was SO happy, and Vera was just beaming.¨

This just has helped me realize that Heavenly father knows ALL of his children. He knows who they are and when they need the gospel. That if you ever feel a prompting from the Lord to talk to someone or do something you should never wait to follow it. The Lord knows who he wants in his church and he is going to do everything he can to get them to be part of his church. I love the gospel so much! 

Also this Sunday Elder Cordon spoke in sacrament meeting. He talked about being Diligent. He talked about how we need to be diligent in ever aspect of our lives. That being diligent means doing what God wants AND having a good attitude about it. Not just to do the right things because you know you should but to do them because you want to follow God. We also ate dinner at their house this week. How weird to eat dinner with a member of the 70.... Their family is really nice! I have learned so much from them about keeping the sabbath day holy. I don´t think that any member of the church really keeps the sabbath day holy. We all have a lot of things we need to do better that day. We need to remember that the sabbath day is not just a day of rest it is a day to do the Lords work. To visit less active members or family and to spend time with our family doing things that bring the spirit and are productive.... That we shouldn´t watch movies on sunday and we shouldn´t just sleep all day.... I know that there are SO many things we need to change to keep this day sacred. But i would invite you to all think about that. What can you do to make your sabbath day more spiritual. 

Well family I love you all I hope things are well!! Talk to you next week!!! 

con amor

Hermana Chatwin

Te Rooster Guy?

this is the rooster guy..... he walks around all day with a rooster on his shoulder.... even in the bus. I wish i would have taken a picture in the bus. It is so funny. :) also i cut my hair in case you noticed. 

HI family (: 

Can you believe that on sunday I get to talk to you guys again? How weird is that! How fast has the time gone?? I think we will be calling around 3 so hopefully everyone will be able to arrange their schedules so we can talk. 

Well family we have had a week of miracles! Seriously i can't even tell you how great our week has been! Lets just start off by saying that we had 7 people in church! 7 people! What a miracle! Last week we had no one so this week was really great! we have been working really hard and trying to have daily contact with our investigators and helping them to understand the blessings of the sabbath day and the atonment in their lives. 

Also we went on divisions with some new sisters who just got here. That was a really fun experience. They were extremly prepared and really good teachers! me and this little baby found 6 new investigators and she invited them to be baptized! It was really great! 

We had some really great lessons this week and we are really seeing miracles. I can't share everything that has happened this week there just isn't enough time but i will share a little bit!

we have been teaching this hermano who has had a lot of problems with his family and with the gospel and everything. But this week we had the most amazing experience with him. We had an activity in the church and he came. He loved it. Then after we taught him a lesson abut repentance and baptism. He read a scripture and we asked him well what is the invatation that Christ is making to you? He said I know.... when can i get baptized.... (: we were so in shock we just looked at him for a minute and said on the 23 (: he said okay! Then after he said the most heartfelt prayer and I know that he really accepted this invitation to come to christ. 

Also we have had a lot of success with the youth in our ward they LOVE sharing the gospel. They are always inviting their friends to church and to the mutual activities. It is really great. We had like 4 youth that came to church on sunday and they really love it. 

well family I know that it is short but I love you all a lot! I can't wait to talk to you on sunday! How crazy is that! Well love you all so much!Love you all!

Hermana Chatwin