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