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