"This week, I had my first baptism!!! Ahh, yeah that happened!"

Oh my gosh, being a Gringa is dangerous! A creepy man came up to me and Hermana Pérez waiting for our taxi and we tried to talk normal like missionaries and he just stared at me... and then last night same deal but this guy just got out of prison! Hahahahaha, even still Mom its fine. You know me...I usually feel things are super unsafe fast, but weirdly I don't feel anything!
 
Mom, I heard your package that your friends delivered to Costa Rica is here, and I'm going to get it after I send this email! hahahahah, I heard it has my picture on it hahaha!!
 

Oh, and tell Brother and Sister heaps that I met their nephew!! Elder Olson! He's awesome and gave me great advice:) 

 

 

So, I officially have 3 months in the mission!! This past week on my 3 monthaversary (came out July 22nd), I woke up and went to my desk to find a giant poster and letters from my companion all for my 3 months. She wrote me individual notes with advice for all 13 months that she has in the mission. It was so sweet and I was so surprised. I'm grateful for such an amazing companion that teaches me everyday and has helped me incredibly with my first 8 weeks that I have been here in Costa Rica!

 

 This past Tuesday we had the opportunity to attend the face to face broadcast that the Piano Guys had in Salt Lake City with youth. It was so amazing! Each member of the Piano Guys shared experiences that have helped them with their testimony and their love for music and their families. They mentioned their missions which you know, always makes me feel good and played a couple songs. The crazy part was realizing that they were in Salt Lake. One year ago, I was too! It seriously felt like just yesterday that I was studying at BYU. Every moment like that helps me realize the essence of time. Yes, I have 14 more months here, but time is quick. I'm looking forward to every experience and want to enjoy every second no matter how difficult.

 

Also this week, I had my first baptism!!! Ahh yeah that happened! His name is Josue and he's 22 years old. I was so happy for him. In the time that we have taught him, he has obtained such an amazing testimony. He has made the atonement the center of his life and has changed so much in his life already. He is such a strong person and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to help him join the church and make the covenant of baptism. The other Hermanas had baptisms too. The man who got married last week and his little brother in law were both baptized. Saturday was such a happy day!

 

With this baptism I also learned such an incredible lesson. Actually its something that I knew but I needed to be reminded of. After the baptismal service, my companion and I had an amazing conversation. Baptisms are such an amazing thing. They are the first covenant that we make with our heavenly father that allows us to return to him once this life is over. It's the key to living with your family for eternity. It's the membership into the true church of Christ. Its something that I want for everyone. However, Its something that cannot be rushed. In the mission we believe in numbers. Usually numbers signify success. Hermana Perez shared with me her feelings and told me to never let anyone make me feel like I am a bad missionary because I don't have enough baptisms. This is the work of the Lord. Everything is in his timing. I loved that so much. Its the truth. I'm here to help, serve, and teach. I want these people to see the happiness that the gospel brings me and can bring them. Baptism or not, I'm here to change lives!

 

 

Silliness...."Now you look like your Mom"

 

 

And that's my message for you this week. Haha I love this work so much. I feel myself getting more and more adjusted everyday. I'm grateful for my savior and for the opportunity that he and the atonement provide me with the better myself everyday. I love you all more than words can say. You are always in my prayers. 

 

A special thanks to my amazing friends... Har, Brent, and Jacob who send me emails every week, and last week I got one from Nick and Josh! I even get to hear from Maddie, Spencer, and Kyle who are currently serving missions in Chile and Tonga,  and Elder Hill (whom I met at the MTC). I love you all and am so thankful for your support!!

 

Pura Vida!

Hermana Zerilli

"This is tough but you raised a tough cookie!"

 

"Be strong" that's the thing I have been telling myself every day haha. Seriously, it's funny how my Patriarchal Blessing is everything! It tells me of my strengths and then it tells me of my feelings of inadequacy. Seriously....It's like right when I think I can't do this...I start doing it because I can and The Lord knows I can!! 
  

So, we found this taxi.... and it was the jankiest taxi we've ever ridden in. We were laughing the entire time. the seats were practically broken!

 

We are teaching an investigator who is so amazing. Her name is Maria and she is my Great Grandma Laguna here. She is a miracle investigator and everything we teach her, she knowingly believes and agrees with. I love her, and every time I am with her I think of gran! I am pretty much Mexicana now. People tell me that I speak like a Mexican because of Hermana Perez! Oh, I love chile! She gives me these lollipops that are chile flavored and they burn my mouth but are sooo good, haha! I put hot sauce on everything!

 Mom, everyone tells us it's dangerous here but honestly we don't do anything but pray for safety, be friends with everyone,  and walk fast. Holy heck the other day I pulled a tendon in my foot walking down a hill, and my bed here has springs that keep me from sleeping. Physically...life is a little rough hahah but its ok. Prayers!! So you know how missionaries in our ward have dinner with a member every night of the week, that doesn't exist here. We work all the way through dinner and don't eat until 9:30!

So I went to the office the other day, and one of my favorite elders, the secretary, told me that you called. He was so excited for me and was like YOU ARE HER! YOU HAVE THE SAME VOICE AND PERSONALITY: So I could've cried!! I just miss you a lot. I held back tears haha... 67 days until our Christmas Skype haha!!

 

Seriously for Christmas I just want things that remind me of home; notes or something, pics like of the Sacramento Temple or something. This is tough but you raised a tough cookie! 

This week was super great! It was the first official week of my 2nd cambio! It was really different but I had a bunch of great experiences. 

First, I got to see the setting apart of a missionary in our ward. It's different here. Everyone comes to the chapel to watch. It was really special and I was brought back to my setting apart. What a special privilege and responsibility this is. All of us hermanas couldn't hold back tears. We were happy to see one of our friends join us in this work. 

This past week Hermana Perez and I taught so many lessons. The more I teach, the more I am grateful that we have the only true restored gospel on the Earth. People surprisingly ask Hermana Perez and I all the time, "You two are from the same church?" Yes, she's from Mexico and I'm from California, but we are both members of the same church. I think its incredible that we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and that there are members all over the world; Missionaries serving all over the world. My testimony is strengthened everyday of the restored gospel.

This past week I've had a few run ins with the boldness of this Latin culture. Ok I'm not overly self conscious but I'm from the States. People don't walk around calling you out on all of your flaws! One of our investigators told me that I looked Gordita! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! I was speechless! Gordita is like telling someone that they are a little fat. Oh my gosh I don't want to touch another plate of arroz, haha! No, I had to take a deep breath and realize that some things are just not in my control here. I can go to the gym after my mission and The Lord will help me. And if I'm gordita...I don't know what to call everyone else:)

 

 

The bride and all of us with the mini missionary that returned home, Hermana Campos!

On Saturday I got to attend the wedding of one of the other Hermana's investigators. The woman is a member but her now husband is not. To be able to be baptised, they have to be married or live in separate houses. They want to be an eternal family and decided happily that they wanted to be married. It was so beautiful. I am so happy that I got to witness such a marriage. Not only is this man now able to be baptized but these two people and their family can be sealed for time and all eternity. What an incredible blessing and many more are waiting for them. 

Yesterday, we had testimony meeting and practically half of the testimonies were about missionary work. My heart was filled with love for not only this work that I'm doing, but for the members and their support. We are building Gods kingdom here. Im so grateful for this opportunity and for the miracles that I see everyday. That's  my invitation to you today and always. Share the gospel!! It will bless the lives of others and you too will recieve so many blessings. 

I love you all more than I can express. You make me want to be better. I think of you and pray for you everyday.

I love you! Pura Vida!

Hermana Zerilli

"Sigua Adelante"

HOLA!!

This is Hermana Campos...the mini missionara from Costa Rica and all of us together... yes I'm the only gringaaaa!

 

Oh, a few more answers to random questions:)

 

Q.  Where do you send your emails from?

A.  We are currently in a computer store hahahah you pay by the hour. No one here really has computers so they come to these little stores.

 

 

Q.  Are things expensive there, or less expensive than at home?

A.  The cost of things isn't even bad because I'm used to high prices! The Latinas think EVERYTHING is expensive and I'm like um no...its normal. They really look at me at times like I'm a spoiled brat I think. I saw someone burning trash yesterday and freaked out! I explained the garbage trucks that we have at home, and they were like "because in the states you have money"... hahha, ok. and a drought!

 

 

Q.  Is your shower fixed?

A.  Our shower and water is fixed!!! This morning was a miracle. I had 3 minutes of hot water. I smiled.

 

 

Q.  What do you do on P-Days

A.  On P-Days we write...clean, rest, and hang out. We buy a tortilla de queso...its a cheese tortilla, at a shack next to our apartment. SO YUMMY!

 

 

Q.  Still eating mostly rice and beans?

A.  YES rice and beans...I'm learning to eat way less. No more rice pleaseeee.

 

 

Q.  How do you wash your laundry? Do you have to wash it by hand?

A.  We have a lady in the ward do our laundry. We pay her. It's great but I ran out of socks and she wasn't done. soooo yeah. haha:)

 

Wow,  so I survived my first transfer!! 11 more to go!! Luckily Hermana Perez and I are in this again for another 6 weeks! I am so, so grateful. I need her to help me throughout the entire 12 weeks of training! Hermana Mungaea is training a new Latina missionary so that will be fun. Just when I thought there was a possibility for another English speaker...nope haha. The Lord is challenging me but I don't think there's any better way to learn Spanish than to spend 24 hours a day with people who only speak Spanish. However, I do feel really lonely at times. Put someone who loves to talk in an environment where she doesn't know how and its slightly tough haha. I will continue to pray for patience and the gift of tongues!

 

Something however that keeps me going when things get tough, is the phrase "Sigua Adelante". Pretty much it means keep moving forward, better yourself, don't give up. My companion taught me it and I've been trying to remember everyday. Take things one step at a time. Also, smiling! Smiling is the most simple and yet impactful thing you can do. Its really hard to be sad on the inside when you are smiling on the outside. I have made the decision to continue to smile. There is so much to smile about!

 

This week I saw the impact that Satan can have in the lives of our investigators. Remember our investigator Augustin? This week we had another lesson with him and decided that since he had been progressing so much and had learned all of the lessons, we would ask him the baptismal interview questions to see what else he needed to know. As we asked these questions, he was so certain and had such a strong testimony. "Joseph smith was a prophet. We have a prophet today. The Book of Mormon is true". We felt inspired to ask him if he would like to move his baptismal date from Nov 7 to Oct 31. He accepted! After, we walked to something called Noche De Grupo...group night (haha) where members, recent converts, and investigators have a class; an activity and food of course. During the class, Augustin told us that he needs to think about baptism more because he's not sure. Our hearts dropped. After the class, we met with Augustin outside of the church and asked him how he was feeling. We knew that he had made some big mistakes in his life and that's why he wanted so badly to change. However, we watched as Satan put in his mind that changing wasn't an option. That he couldn't do it. He was very hesitant about everything and left us saying he just needs time. This was coming from someone who calls us every couple of days for a lesson. We couldn't hold back tears as we thought about how we could help him. These past few days we prayed really hard that Heavenly Father would strengthen Augustin and help him come to the realization that the gospel is what he needs in his life. Yesterday, Augustin called us about coming to church. We were ecstatic! Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He loves his children and wants them to find happiness in this life just as Augustin is!

 

So everyone knows about my love for Christmas! Well what I didn't realize is that here, apparently Halloween isn't a big deal  here and there were no pilgrims in Costa Rica (so no Thanksgiving)! Ok, well what does that mean? It means that the people here already started putting up Christmas lights! No joke! And yes, I've started my countdown!! 74 days family, until I can talk with you on Christmas day!! Ahhh 10 more weeks! I'm so excited! I love Christmas and although it's going to be hard away from family, Its a time to celebrate the Savior,  something that I do everyday!

 

 

 This is the family of our Ward Mission Leader

and us after Stake Conference

 

 
 

I want to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your thoughts and prayers. I love you all so much. I couldn't do it without you! Until next week! Pura vida!

Hermana Zerilli

"I am in awe at how the Lord prepares people to receive the gospel."



It doesn't just rain, it pours!

 

So, I noticed that I haven't answered half of your questions so here it goes...

 

• I loveeee my backpack and other people do too. Patagonia doesnt exist here and its waterproof!!

 

• They give us 220 mil every month which is bout 440 dollars. After paying rent and everything...its about 40 dollars a week but things here are twice as expensive as back home, so 20 dollars a week haha.

 

• My clothes are perfect even though I'm scared I will outgrow them! I use my raincoat when it's cold enough. when I'm hiking I sweat...hiking as in proselyting... hahahah its a mountain so I'm always hiking:)

 

• I lost my umbrella last week and I'm soooo sad because it was the perfect size and Tote brand. I have to use another big black one and it's kinda difficult:(

 

• The store we shop at is the "chino" across the street. It's ok hahaha, things here are just different. They sell cleaner in bags! You have to buy bottles separate and pour it in (what the heck)

 

• I figured out yesterday that I MISS AMERICAN CANDY! The chocolate here is awful. WHAT I WOULDN'T DO FOR A REESES!! Oh and just normal Oreos and things are weird...not like home.

 
 
These pictures were taken by the President and Hermana Hayes at their home last week...
"Chequeo de Mes" with a special special group of "month old" missionaries and their trainers!!
Misioneros con sonrisas!!!
 

 

 

It has been such an interesting week! Really we only had 2 normal days, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday we had the opportunity to go to the temple! I was soooo grateful for that. Apparently, its very rare that we go. It was my companions 2nd time going and she's been here 13 months! The temple was absolutely beautiful. Its smaller than any temple I've been to. The Temple President is from Idaho apparently and they had a slot of gringos working in it. It kinda felt like home haha. I was so grateful for the peace that I felt in the temple. Even though I chose to do everything in Spanish, I still learned new things. President and Hermana Hayes went through the temple with us and it was really special. I needed the temple!

 

Conference yesterday and Saturday was incredible! One of the little boys here let me use his tablet to watch in English! I was sooo grateful. I sat in my own row of the chapel watching with earphones as everyone else watched on a TV. I loved conference and I learned so many things that I want to apply to my life and the missionary work. I loved the talk about "Ponderizing". My companion and I are starting to do that now every week, my scripture this week is Alma 26.27. I want to better my patience and I absolutely love that scripture. I cant wait to see what it does for my week having a goal to ponderize it!

 

I am starting to feel more and more comfortable with my Spanish. Our lessons are getting so much better because I am sharing more. We usually have about 6 lessons a day. Our investigators are great and just recently we met a man named Augustine. We met him 8 days ago by him actually walking up to us and asking who we are! In those 8 days, he has called us for lessons, something that NEVER happens has read The Book of Mormon and gained a testimony and has attended church and 3 sessions of conference. I am in awe at how the Lord prepares people to receive the gospel. Also, I am so happy about Augustine's desire to change his life for the better. He is a miracle in itself. I love this work. Although every day brings new challenges for me, every day is better and better!

 

I love and miss you all so much! Oh and a special thanks to Delia! I received a card from her 2 days ago that totally made my day! I'm so grateful!

 

I pray for you all every day!

Les amo mucho!!! Pura Vida!

Vaya con dios!
Hermana Taylor Zerilli

 



Oh, and apparently I'm the nicest gringa these Latinas know...I'll explain next week:)

 

 

Hermana Geurts last night here in Costa Rica:(

That's a spider not an animated character

After president's house with my MTC BFF Hermana Gividen...at the Temple

 

My companion and I at the San Jose Costa Rica Temple

My area, it's beautiful!!

 

 

This is me watching General Conference...In English!! Yay!!