Just another day in Paraiso!

This week was one of those weeks that just seemed to fly by! Monday was really fun! My adopted parents, Rocio and Alejandro, bought us fireworks! We had a family home evening and then did them after. I made chocolate rice krispy treats which really is a foreign concept here and It felt a little like home. I cannot explain to you how happy I was with the fireworks!! People started watching from their houses and screaming "Happy 4th of July!" I went to bed smiling, haha!

Our 4th Of July Rice Krispy Treat Cake!

Rocio and Alejandro trying the chocolate rice crispy treats I made!

Celebrating 4th of July in Costa Rica with Gringos, I was so happy!

This week was what Moroni likes to call the "Trial of faith." Hahaha! I have learned in the mission that after every stellar week...The Lord shows us challenges so that we can be humble and grow. He obviously does that because He loves us, nonetheless, it's still tough. This week, we knocked doors for days... We showed up for appointments just for them to not be home. Then, we had one the WORST experiences of my mission.

So, last Friday we were in the park at night. I felt like I needed to talk to a dad and his 2 boys that were going to pass by us. Luckily, they talked to me first. In English they said "Hey how are you!" That's about as far as our English conversation went. However, they were really interested in learning about the church. It was a sincere desire and I felt it. We took down their name and direction and went home. This week, Wednesday, I called to see if we could go visit them. The dad said that he was working but that Thursday, the next day, we could. We were happy with that and kept working. We visited a new area to look for new investigators and stopped to take a picture. We received a phone call in that exact moment from one of the sons from this family. He said that we were right in front of their house! We had no clue! Inspiration? I think so! So we went over to see this family working in front of the house. They were building a gate...that's why we couldn't visit them. We met the mom and other members of the family. 12 family members live at that house! I WAS IN MISSION AWE. (Parker remember how you told me that I just needed to find a family of 12 christians? hahahaha) Well, we met them and then left planing to go back Thursday. And we did! WE got there and the little boys came running in because they were so excited to learn. We had the whole family there gathered around perfectly. I felt really good and excited about the lesson. The man's mom came out to meet us because she hadn't and she told us to go on teaching and that she was going to be cleaning in the kitchen. We started to sing "Families can be together forever"--Mid chorus, while everyone was signing and the spirit was so strong, BOOM SATAN! The mom came back out screaming "WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO BE HERE PREACHING IN MY HOUSE. I OWN THIS HOUSE....." The man stood up and said "OK leave" and he went on working with his electric saw immediately. She continued to scream at us about how she's a minister and blah blah blah, while all we heard was the saw in the background. He did not want to hear his mom that's for sure! After, they apologized and said that they had our number. I'm not going to lie, we left with tears:( IT was rough being so excited and feeling the spirit so strong and then having to leave like that. It's ok though, one day they will know!

Thursday, my companion and I had to go to the office for her cedula (license to be here legally). We were a group of about 10 missionaries, and about 10 from the other mission (Costa Rica San Jose West) came too! OK funny story... Practically all of the other missionaries were gringos so I went to go talk to them. I was speaking English and they were responding in Spanish. I finally got to the point where i just asked them why they weren't speaking English. They told me that they can't! The minute that they step foot out of their apartment everyday, they can't speak English. Hahaha good luck to every single one of them when they go home. also, they can't drink coke! So everyone from our mission went and bought Coke...its a little cruel but was really funny in the moment. One table of Coke and the other of apple juice. HAHA!

Saturday we had a ward mission activity! There were 2 sessions, 9am and 2pm. We were put in companionship and went out looking for the less actives of the ward. Each companionship needed to contact the people, invite them to church, and then ask references for us. It was awesome! The first time I was with Hermana Sabrina! Her step son is serving in Riverside California!! Her family is so cute! Her husband is Filipino and was born in the States, so her whole family speaks English. She asked me a lot about BYU and we talked about how much we love the States WOOT. The second round I was with my comp hahaha. We recieved a direction for a bar...yeah that was weird. Haha, I think the people moved. Overall, the activity was amazing. It was great seeing the members come together to reach out to the less actives♥

Today was P-day and all of the hermanas needed to go to Cartago to meet with a hermana from Heredia who is going to make all of our pants!!!!! She had us try a size on and then said..."ok its perfect! So we are going to make a size bigger for you!" Hahahaha no seriously! They are so worried that these pants are going to be tight that they are making them big. But hey things are happening, LOL.

Hermana Pacay, Hermana Freeze, Hermana Mendoza and I went exploring Cartago today since we were there. We went to the famous ruins! They were pretty but are closed on Monday...OH NARDS!

The Ruins of Cartago!

Praying to a Saint...haha, with respect:)

When they don't let you into the kingdom...

We ate at KFC...dad I think of you every time, Then guess what....WE WENT TO WALLY WORLD!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH! THERE ARE ONLY 2 WALMARTS IN ALL OF COSTA RICA AND ONE OF THEM IS IN CARTAGO!!!!!!! To say that Herman freeze and I were happy is an understatement. I bought everything that I needed to and that I haven't been able to buy for almost a year. Can we say fruit snacks? Yeah, they don't exist here...sad childhood these kids are having. The Walmart workers laughed as we ran through the parking lot and even went as far to take pictures. Cartago really is a Holy town. It's true what they say hahah:)