4/28/2011

Hola mi familia!!


How is everyone doing!?! It sounds like you are all so so happy and doing great!! I all hope you had a great Easter!! It was wonderful to get your emails! They made me so happy to read about your cute little lives!! Oh Brynnie your story made me so happy about what Tanner said, that Faythie needs to learn to ride a bike so that she can become a missionary and that Tanny stood up for sister missionaries. I loved that story thank you for sharing it with me!!

So my Easter was absolutely wonderful!! So on Saturday we with the elders had 8 baptisms!! 3 for us and 5 for them! It was so wonderful to have so many people in white! Many members came to support our new converts then on Sunday they were given the Holy Ghost which was so special!! Our recent converso se llama Lupita after she was baptized she gave me a big hug and just cried because she was so so happy!! It was so wonderful! What an incredible experience that we had that we got to see the Atonement in the truest form. Watching eight people make promises with our Heavenly Father that they will take upon them the name of His son Jesus Christ!! And use the Atonement in their lives. That is why Christ suffered and died for us that we might repent be baptized and always turn to him!! It was a very special day and on Sunday as well, guess what? I had to give my first talk in Spanish in sacrament meeting about the obra missional! It went really well. I talked though for about 20 mins all in spanish! But it was special and I am glad that I was able to speak!

Here in Costa Rica Easter is huge! They celebrate the last week of Christ life for 8 days. They call it the semana santa and then on Friday and Saturday everything I mean everything shuts down! The stores are not opened. There are no buses or very little taxis as well! They also on Friday have a big parade and a play kind of where someone carries the cross upon a hill! It is neat to see the values they have here. They don’t talk about the Easter bunny, just the life of Christ it is very special! All that week I tried to understand the Atonement just a little bit more and I had some very spiritual experiences, but the most spiritual was seeing 8 people go into the waters of baptism and truly applying the atonement in their lives!!

Yes I had changes!!! I am in an new area called Nicoya in Guanacaste. It is super super hot here and it doesn’t rain to often so pretty hot. It is in the campo or country so not in the city which I really like!! My companion is names Hermana Lozano she is from El Salvador and her trainer just finished her mission so I am her 2nd companion. But she is awesome. She is a great missionary and very nice. I can feel we will get along and have a loti of exito here in this area! But let me tell you how hard it was to leave my last area and especially my little Hermana Martinez! She was so so sad. She cried for 2 days and when anyone said that I was going to leave she would cry it was hard! It was hard to leave my recent conversos and the meimbros. I grew to love them so so much. It was like I was leaving my family! I kind of know how you felt when I left mom. It was hard to leave Hermana Martinez, I was like what if she gets scared or lonely or fights with her new companion and what if they don’t have a lot of success. I won’t be there to talk to her and to help her feel better! Her life now is truly out of my hands and all I can do is pray for her because she has to learn to herself now! It was hard. She was truly one of my very best friends! I will miss her so much!! Also do you remember Marisol the women you wrote that sweet letter to? Well We were really close and she cried and cried and said I will call President because you need to be in this area! She gave me a picture that has her and her children together with me and it says your family in Costa Rica!! It was very special. She said she promises never to get so attached to a missionary because its to hard to have them leave!! It was very hard to say good bye! Then a little recent converso not of mine but other missionaries that we helped was outside our house waiting for us to say goodbye to me and with tears in his eyes he took my hand and said we will both be strong! It is hard in the mission. I never thought I would love this people so so so very much! Before my mission I would hear how missionaries loved the people but I guess it never meant anything to me until now. I love them! I love them with a love that I can’t explain. They are so truly my family now! I desire for their happiness and I want them to feel the Saviors love!! I cry for them. I love them and so thankful and I understand why I am here in Costa Rica because I made promises to them before this life that I would share this message with them! This message of hope and love!!!

I love you all so very much. I am so thankful that I have this opportunity in my life to be a represent ante de Jesus Christ. That I can everyday do as He would have me do!! I love all of you so much. Thank you for your love and prayers!! Love always and forever

Hermana Turnbaugh