Pot of Gold

Hello all,

First off, let me just tell you what I'm doing right now at this very
moment. Sitting in a little Costa Rican internet shop, in front of the
computer, just crying and crying as I look at the pictures from Jordan and
Troys wedding.

It was so beautiful, and they are so beautiful, and my beautiful mom is so
dang talented. And I am the saddest that I wasnt able to be there.

I love you Jord and Troy! You guys looked so happy.

Everyone is just busy being beautiful and married in the good old CC...and
then theres me.

Covered in dirt, sweat and bug bites. Topped with a long skirt and a Book
of Mormon in my hand. Gotta love the life of a missionary!

I mentioned before I cried a lot in the MTC, but not here. There's no time,
really. Only on Mondays. I am allowed to let myself miss home a little bit.
Just on Mondays :)

Sooo as I start to learn a little more Spanish I start wondering things
like, what does Santa Clarita really mean?

So my buddy Elder Gonzales from Mexico told me it means "holy people"

HA

I think I like the meaning of Orotina better:

Oro = gold

Tina= pot

I am literally living in a pot of gold. Now who's jealous?!

So speaking of Mondays, last Monday my companion and I were in the super
market buying our food for the week when all of a sudden the song by
Enrique Iglesies comes on

"Do you know? Do you know....."

So I hold up my fist as a microphone and burst out the next part of the
song. Then I realized something wasnt right. I freeze, stop and look
around. THE SONG WAS IN SPANISH. Did you guys know he made one of those in
Spanish too? Well you do now. So yeah theres a little fun fact for ya.

Ok, and here's another one. It's my favorite fun fact really. Everyone here
is OBSESSED with Dora the explorer. I was really confused at first though
because everyone here already knows Spanish. So why would they enjoy it so
much? Then i learned something. Dora here teaches them English! Isnt that
great? I think it's pretty great.

People here would kill to know English. And a lot of people try to learn.
You can get a better job, better money, and all the good songs and movies
are made in English.

Hmm that's funny cause I would kill to know Spanish! Guess you always want
what you cant have.

This week there was lots of celebrations going on. Finally figured out they
were celebrating the birthday of Virgin Mary or something weird like that.
I really have no idea. Costa Ricans will take any excuse to party.

I like to party too. Sometimes when I am eating rice and beans I mix it up
and pretend its the bottom of my Cafe Rio salad.

And sometimes when we are on the bus and its raining so hard and the driver
literally cannot see in front of him, I pretend I am on Splash Mountain at
Disneyland. Mixed with a little Indiana Jones when lightning strikes right
in front of the bus.

Really it's quite the same, the people behind me are yelling we are going to
die! The only difference is that these riders actually means it.

So after we survive the bus "rides" on Saturday, we get to President Sandys
house. He is the President of our branch.

(Oh side note, by accident I often use the ward. But I am here in a branch.
K, I just wanted to clear that up)

So President Sandy and his sweet wife made us dinner. They served us first
using their nicest plates for us and ginormous portions of some spaghetti
soup vegetetable thing.

So then they brought their food to the table with a much smaller portion on
their not so nice plates.

It just touched my heart that they would literally give us all they have.
It may not seem like much as I try to explain it to you. But really some
people here have so little. But yet they are still happy. And still so
giving. And even just such a small, kind act like that meant so much to me.

Many times I feel so undeserving of all I have been given in this life. My
life of growing up with an awesome family filled with real Disneyland
trips. And fun fair food in Star Valley. The people here dont even know
what those things are.

But yet, we are the same. Children of God with a purpose here in this life.

For example, Nume.

We met Nume a few weeks ago because both Hermana Anderson and I had the
strongest impression to stop at her hot pink house. The lesson went well
and she told us to come by anytime.

This last week we decided to stop by again, but she made it very clear she
was no longer interested. As Hermana Anderson tried to find out why I
looked down an my feet and saw that they were COVERED in ants. Covered.
They are the little black ones that sting and burn and bite. They were
eating my feet off and I wanted to scream.

Before I knew it, I was sitting on her couch and Nume was pouring some
liquid all over me to get rid of the ants. It worked, and we had also made
it in the house. Nice work, ants.

So we get to talking. And meet Nume´s son. Danny is 12 years old and is
crippled with a disability. He cant walk or talk and has to lay in this bed
all day.

We start to tell Nume that her son is perfect in Gods eyes and that he
trusted her so much to be his mother. She covered her face and began to
weep.

She has been angry with God. Burdened with the responsibility of taking
care of her fragile son. Feeding, changing and entertaining him, every day
of his life. She cannot leave the house, she cannot go out with friends.
Her life is played out for her.

Holding her hand we testified of the love that God has for her and her son.
My heart felt so heavy as I tried to imagine this woman´s circumstance.
Never on my mission, have I truly felt so much of God´s love for this woman.

It was a sad, tender moment. I hope that something we said helped Nume´s
day be a little brighter.

Because really, that is what I am here to do. I may not have any baptisms,
I may not have the scriptures memorized, I may not ever speak Spanish
perfectly. But if I can brighten someone´s day, then that day was worth it
to me.

As for our work in the branch is going, this week has been full of a lot of
ups and downs.

As I have previously mentioned we have focused our efforts to less actives
and to strengthening the members.

One of the less actives we have been working with, Zillah, has been to
church the last few Sundays which is really exciting. We have also been
working with her boyfriend, Oscar. This week we set a date with them to get
married and for Oscar to get baptized. They are so happy. And so are we!

We also have been working with a recent convert family with 5 young kids.
They stayed the entire 3 hours of church this Sunday and the kids loved
primary. This is HUGE because they now look forward to church which makes
it much easier for their family to get there!

Unfortunately, one of our investigators, Daniella, decided to call off her
baptismal date. She is 14 and doesnt really have the support of her family,
which is really hard for her.

There is lots of gossip, rumors and pride in this branch which is making it
really hard to work with. But I just hope that somehow our continual
efforts to strengthen the members will help eliminate it.

I know the church is true. I know it because I have felt it. And I have
seen how its message can change lives. I have seen it brighten someones
day. I have seen people reject it. And I have seen people hate it.

But I LOVE IT!

Until next time,

Hermana Starke


P.s. I have 4 months here!!! Sayy what??


 

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