Estrella

Buenas!

Well, I have a new name. Hermana Estrella. Estrella is "star" in Spanish.
And aparrently that is WAY easier than pronoucing the incredibly difficult
name Starke. Haha ok. I'll take it.

Special shout out to my Daddy for giving me that name and also because
Sunday is Father's Day. Happy Father's Day, Dad! I hope you have a great day.
Just know that I miss you and think about you everyday! Love ya

I had the craziest Sunday of my life, and it goes a little something like
this:

Wake up at 5am to write a talk on Obedience. No, I am not a procrastinator.
In fact, I spent the whole week writing and perfecting a talk only to have
the President change the topic the night before. Haha thanks Prez Sandy.
Leave the house at 7am. Walk to the church. Wonder how it's already 95
degrees. Fill up the Baptismal font. Call a Taxi. Get ripped off by the
Taxi driver because we are Gringas. Walk all our investigators to church. Make it
to church with 5 min to spare. Hug, kiss and shake hands with every single
person in the room. Meet a happy American family on vacation. Church
starts. It gets really quiet and everyone looks at me. I realize it's my
turn to give my talk. I dont know how, but I spoke a different language for
15 minutes. It was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life. Church
ends. I get thrown into the Primary room. Find out I'm teaching primary.
Look at the manual. The lesson is on the Law of Consecration. They are 8.
We sing songs and draw pictures instead. Church ends. A baptism starts.
Bryan gets Baptized! We walk our investigators home. Get dinner #1. Catch
the bus to dinner #2. Walk to dinner #3. Meet my new friend Elvis who went
to EFY in Costa Rica. He shows me pictures. I find my new calling in life.
Eat dinner #4 with Elvis and his family. My companion rolls me home. What a
day!

But besides all that, I am starting to get used to my new life here. Before
it felt like I was camping in church clothes but now Costa Rica is my new
little home sweet home, and I love it.

I'm used to all the cat calls and stares we get. My favorite is, "Beeby I
marry you." Oh really? Haha bye. I'm used to my feet feeling like the just
had a whole day at Disneyland #firstworldproblems. And I'm used to being wet
all day from the wet and rain. Pura vida baby!

The rain is so loud, but it's ok, because my companion and I sing louder!
"Let it rain, let it pour, she don't love me anymore..."
"Raindrops keep fallin on my head..."
"It's rainin men, hallelujah..."
"You can stand under my umbrella ella ella..."
And many, many more...

Then the saddest thing happens. We forget the rest of the song. Because it
feels like YEARS since we listened to real music. And it's not like we can
look it up... Haha sometimes I miss you, America!

We have some rather interesting investigators at the moment. When we gave
the Book of Mormon to Celia she was soooo excited! Because now she had new
bathroom reading material. Hey, as long as she reads it right? Then Jose
told Hermana Anderson and I that we remind him of the girls on The Little
House on the Praire. I don't know if its because of the clothes or the
braids, but I'm pretty sure it's just cause we are white. Hahaha Jose.

But then something great happend. We tapped on a gate and met a family who
let us right in. They fed us dinner and each one of them sat around us as
we taught them. I have faith this could be the family we have been
searching for. Super excited to see what happens with them. Their Grandma
just passed away which was basically begging us to teach them about The
Plan of Salvation! I will keep you all updated :)

As far as the language goes, I am learning more and more every day. Poco a
poco!

There are 2 very common phrases here:
1. "Gracias, a Dios" (Thanks to God)

Whenever I meet people, I say hello, how are you? And I thought they were
all saying, "Bien, Gracias. *Adios*." (Good, thanks, bye) So this week I
learned they actually weren't all saying bye to me like I thought. So that's
good.

2. "Si, Dios Quiere" (If God wants)

When we ask people to pray, read or come to church they all say, "Si, Dios
quiere." (If God wants) And we are like, "Sí (yes!!!!) Dios quiere!"

Goooood stuff.

My comp always does a great job of quizzing me on my vocab during the day.
And somtimes we make up our own words too. We just add an AR to everything.
It works for now.

For example
Act=Actuar
Macoroni= Macoroniar
And guess what, half the time we are right!

And thanks to Pitbull I know random words too. Like fuego=fire. Who knew
Pitbull could be educational?

Even though every day is still so hard, it's awesome because I know the Lord
has been preparing me my entire life to do this. And he is helping me every
step of the way.

Not to worry about my ugly, swollen legs and feet because they are getting
better! And the people here are so great, too. They have given me creams,
plants, leaves, and LOTS of advice. Hopefully I will be healed soon! Thanks
for all the concern and advice from home, much appreciated!

I am so excited to find the people the Lord has prepared for me! And I am
also learing to love the people the Lord has placed in my path for who
knows why. But something I do know, is that we are ALL children of God and
we all need to make it back to him someday. I hope while I am here I can
help as many people as I can be able to do that.

Hope you all have a great week!

Hermana Starke :)


aka (Estrella)


A worm in our Apartment 


A park by our apartment


Teaching Freddy the Frog a lesson
We got this fruit all in one day from the families we taught.  They are so generous. We love them!








Our Church building


Our chapel
Filing the baptismal font where Bryan was baptized
Bryan's family
Property for Sale incase anyone wants to buy
I spy something long and brown and hidden in the dirt



Mango and more Mangos... YUMMMMMMMMEEEEEEE
Walking our investigators back home
This is Margorie, we are teaching her and her family
Marjories house


Our Apartments
Making Guacamole... LOOKS AT THOSE AVACADOS