STEVEN WAS BAPTIZED...YAYYYY!!

Wow this week was awesome!!

I am so exhausted but it was really great!!

Well, as I mentioned in the other email, last P day we had checeo del mes (Check of the month, which is check in with President Hayes for the new missionaries once they've been here for one month) and that set off this week on a really crazy schedule. We returned back home to Guapiles just in time to have family home evenings with investigators that Monday night and everything worked out just great.

Then Tuesday, Steven had his baptism interview and passed!! We were sooo excited for him and you could definitely see that he was too. Hermana Tejeda then started planning the agenda and everything for Saturday. Wednesday, we had to go to Guacimo for our district meeting as we do every week. That's when things got crazy. It turned out that President Hayes wanted all of us in Zona Atlantica to head in San Jose for the Conference that we had there, Thursday morning. Normally we only need about 2 hours to get to San Jose but this week we had continual down pours of rain for 4 days straight. Not joking, it didn't stop. With the rain, sometimes the buses can't pass through the normal way because the mountains start to fall and it's dangerous! We didn't know if that was the case and we didn't want to get stuck on a 5 hour bus for another route. So with those options in mind, the zone leaders told us that we had to go home to pack and head to the bus for San Jose as fast as possible. We let our district meeting and did just that, it was about 4:30. We didn't end up getting to visit anyone. We got to the bus terminal and all of the zone was there! It was really fun to walk around San Jose as a huge group of 20 missionaries!! It was freezing and we had a whole lot of bags to carry but it was fun. We got to the office and saw everyone that had come for the conference. It was Zona Limon, Zona Sur and us. I got to see all of my friends again! We slept in the Casa de las Hermanas? House of the sisters? Yeah you get it:)

Thursday, Elder Ochoa from the 70 and the Presidency for Central America, and Hermana Ochoa came to have a conference. Wow, what a conference! I learned so much about what I need to do to have the best success possible. Not going to lie, Elder Ochoa is really blunt and was pretty strong about the things he said to us. He didn't want to sugar coat anything. This isn't our work, it's the work of the Lord. It needs to be done right. During the conference we had musical numbers and I got to sing with Zona Sur. They sang in English and it was so cool to see all of the Latinos singing my language, haha!

In the end, Elder Ochoa picked 2 missionaries to come up to the pulpit and speak on faith and repentance. I was really nervous because I was literally right in front of him. Well, he chose Hermana Tejeda!! She got to go up and share her thoughts with everyone. I was so proud of her. She did great! The Conference was about 5 hours long. President Hayes and Elder Ochoa answered so many questions and I loved it. I feel that I am able to understand so much more doctrine than ever in my life. The scriptures are perfect, read them. After the conference, we all said our goodbyes. It was so tough because I feel like so many people I will never see again but I have learned so much from them. I know that God puts people in our lives for a reason. We returned home really late Thursday night.

Friday we got to have a whole day to play catch up and then it was Saturday! Saturday was such an exciting day for us,. Steven was baptized!!! He is officially a member of the church. I am so happy for him and grateful for the opportunity that I had to teach him. He now is attending seminary and preparing for a mission in 4 years. I am so grateful to his best friend and member, Daniel. He wasn't afraid to introduce his friend to the gospel. What a huge difference that he made in the life of his friend. He is an example to me.What I also loved was that his mom came to support him. She got to watch him be baptized and feel the Spirit that we all felt. He is the only member of his family but I know that the Lord is preparing his parents and siblings. Ahh the gospel is true!

This week was full of amazing experiences. I know that I will never forget them. Thank you for the undying support and love that I feel. I love you all.

Les amo.

Hermana Zerilli

We made crepes with a family for noche de hogar (Family Home Evening)

Last checeo de mes for Elder Nelson and Nielson.

They are leaving the office after 1 year as secretaries. 1 year is sooo long! That never happens!! They are headed for Zona Sur with all of the outcasts near Panama, just kidding...but they are so far away out there!