“When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past.”

Hey everyone!

This week the lesson was, Communication is Important!! It was really interesting how the Lord taught me this principle time and time again. He also taught me how communication can be used for good and for bad. I love communication! I guess that's why I plan to study communication at BYU. The way we talk, the way we write, the way we sing....The power of words to transform the human mind and empower people to think or act! The most ironic thing that I have experienced is how my love for communication has been tested and tried as, at times, I cannot communicate in the way that I would like to! Spanish is an amazing language but man is it tough, haha.

The first experience that I had with this lesson was exactly a week ago. My companion and I headed to Subway for lunch. Okay, shout-out to Guapiles for building a Subway sandwich shop here. LOVE IT (and you would to in the land of beans and rice)! We ordered and then sat down to eat. We were doing fine until I paid a little more attention to the song that was playing. "Forget You" by Cee lo Green. Innocent right? ha ha no! It got to the chorus and I quickly learned that Subway was using the explicit version of the song that repeats over and over again the F word. Within seconds I felt so uncomfortable. I asked my companion if she understood the song and she told me no. She quickly noted what the problem was. I sat there really not knowing what to do. The song was loud! I looked around searching for someone with some sort of sign of worry like I had. That's when I realized, that the people dont understand!! I was alone! It was as if I was presented with 2 options; 1. let it go. I mean, no one understands and I can just act as if nothing is wrong. or 2.Tell the workers! I thought of one of my favorite talks by President Monson where he says, “When the time for decision arrives, the time for preparation is past.” Another chorus past by and I decided that I needed to act! I got up and went over to the register. The workers were really busy helping the long line of customers, but one lady saw me and from far away asked what I needed. I nervously asked her if she understood the lyrics of the song that was playing. At that point and with that question, all of the workers looked at me and they all just seemed to shake their heads. I told them that I felt uncomfortable because I understood, and that the message that the song had was really negative and vulgar. She apologized, thanked me, and quickly changed the song, taking it off the playlist! This experience wasn't really anything big, but for that 3 minutes and something seconds I felt like it was. I felt pressure that the Lord was waiting for me to say something! That pressure was good, that was the spirit:) I know that we are all going to have moments in our lives like that. Do we ask them to change the song, movie or TV show? Do we ask them to stop using bad language or using the Lords name in vein? I invite you all to think about that and decide now. Yeah its a little scary but we need to surround ourselves with uplifting language.

The second experience that I had was a big one! We got a phone call Thursday from the Elders that a teacher from a school in Bella Vista, who is the sister of a member in La Rita, needed help; and that it was a service opportunity. We called and she explained that they were having an English event and wanted to have a real gringo come. haha thats me!! We agreed to help and Friday the principal of the school came and picked us up at 9:30 in the morning. Well, Bella Vista is far! We had no idea. We kinda laughed as we drove with this stranger up a mountain, far away from our normal area. When we got there, it was so beautiful! There were many houses and the people were really humble. We arrived at the school and we met the teacher, Gendry. She told me that the event was a spelling bee and speech competition...in English. Also, some classes from the school had prepared readers theater presentations such as The Three Little Pigs. She told me that all of the kids were excited but a little nervous because she had announced that a real gringa was coming. I held back my laughter. A REAL GRINGA!! hahaha. We entered the room to see so many kids and parents!! Gendry directed us to a judges table where we would be. They had candy and glasses of water prepared for us. We felt really special. Hermana Velez and I had the opportunity to judge with 2 English teachers, one from the school and the other from Roxanna. I can go on talking about this experience but let me just say that it was incredible! Everything was in English!! Gendry directed the event in English. We and the other two judges introduced ourselves in English. The children all spoke English. I felt like I was home haha. About 6 students presented speeches about various topics. These kids were from 1st to 6th grade. Their vocabulary and pronunciation was so good. I was in shock! They weren't perfect but you could tell that they had learned a lot. I had such a hard time judging them because I wanted to give them all 100% just for trying! I couldn't have gotten up and given a speech in Spanish! Then for the spelling bee, it was my responsibility to say the word and repeat it however many times they wanted. I tried my hardest to articulate every letter because I know just how different the sounds are in English than in Spanish. I was really impressed with these kids. We wrapped up the event watching the readers theatre which was so cute!! Safe to say, I was really happy to be there! The greatest part for me was to be able to get up in front of the kids in the end, give out the awards, and then share with them how proud I was of them in front of all of their parents and the staff of the school. I did that part in Spanish. I told them that I understood their frustrations and their nerves to get up and speak another language. I told them that I wanted them to continue and to never give up on themselves. I testified to them that with patience and hard work, they could master English. Then I invited them to come to California after my mission and talk in English with me hahaha, they laughed! After, all of the little kids wanted to take a picture with me like I was Mickey Mouse or something hahaha! That event was something so special. I felt a little special to be honest, and I felt God's love for his children. In the end, it doesn't matter what language we speak or what our culture is, He loves us all the same. He wants us to reach our goals! I know that He is incredibly proud of those kids. I won't ever forget that day♥

The winners...

The 2 teacher judges...

My lunch, the meal that smiled back;)

Then last night, we had a lesson with Pamela and Alan. We sat at their kitchen table with Pamela, Alan, Steven, and Yanpul (the 2 year old). I was watching the YouTube video that Yanpul had on Pamela's phone. It was a video of video games of superheroes or something with baby music in English in the background. I started singing the wheels on the bus with him, teaching him the song and the motions. Alan then asked, "what kind of music can members of the church listen to?" I then pulled out my mini For The strength of Youth book and asked Steven to go grab his! I love it when the Spirit tells us what the needs of our investigators are..through the investigator hahaha. We read with them about music and dancing. He was a little relieved to know that we don't listen to hymns every day, haha. We taught about how we listen to music that invites good thoughts and enables us to listen to the Spirit. Thatttt was when things got a little funny. Pamela kinda threw Alan under the bus saying that he listens to bad music. I got to play judge once again. He told me that he didn't know if the music was bad because its in English. He started to tell me names of singers and names of songs. I then told him yes or no. If it was a good song or no. Really the majority of the songs were so obvious based on the song title and if it said explicit next to it, LOL. I taught them what explicit means. In the end, I told them that I couldn't say yes or no to a lot of songs. That's why its really important to recognize how we feel when we hear the song. If you feel like you could play that song in front of Christ, go for it! If not, you should reevaluate your choice of music. I told them that I understand how difficult it is. I remember so many times in my life where I have liked a song for the rhythm or beat, and the words have been absolute dirt. I'm guilty but I dont want to do that anymore. We all came to a conclusion that we are going to listen to good music and if they don't understand the words, they aren't going to listen to it!

Communication. It's important. It's the cause of so many problems and the solution to so many problems. Our phone doesn't work very well and members always say "hey why didn't you answer the other day?! I called 3 times!" They are always so angry at us until we explain that our phone doesn't work very well. Hahaha Communication can cause a lot of worry also. Right now I'm experiencing that. "The volcano is going to explode!" "We are going to have another giant earthquake like Ecuador!" "We are in a terrible drought, there's no water in the house, we all need to buy water!!"

I'm so glad that I can be a missionary at this time. Yeah maybe I fall into all of that worry but at the same time, I get to communicate a word of peace and comfort to the people who live here.

I love you all so much. I'm thankful for the opportunity that I have to communicate with you all every week. Lets use our words for good this week:)
♥Hermana Zerilli

MORMON HELPING HANDS...Saturday, we woke up and headed to a part of my area to do some service. This area doesn't have a lot of money and the parks have gotten really really bad. No one takes care of them! We spent about 5 hours painting and picking weeds. In the end, we had paint everywhere. It was on my face and in my hair! The worst part was that the paint was made with oil...so bye bye leggings :( In the end, the one park that we were all working on turned out so nice. I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to provide service to the kids and families in this area. It was a huge improvement. :)