The Promised Land

Helloooo!

I have news. I know you are all wondering if I had changes this last
week...and the answer is YES!

I am in a new area called The Promised Land! It's located in The City of
Enoch. Somewhere in Bountiful. It's just over flowing with milk and wild
honey.

Guys, this place is magical. I am in a WARD with hundreds of people. They
all just sit by their phones and wait for us to call and ask them to come
on visits with us. It's awesome. They feed me American food because they
know that pigs feet isn't my most favorite dish in the world. They are so
nice huh? We have hot showers, and you are not going to believe it,
Mosquites just dont exist here. Oh and the best part, everyone can speak
English!

Hehe juuuuust kidding. Okay, so none of that is true. I am still in
Orotina. I repeat, I AM STILL IN OROTINA. Yep, 6 months lata and this girl
is still rockin it in Orotina, Costa Rica.

Why? Not too sure. But the Lord does, and I trust Him pretty well. So I am
excited to see what else He has in store for me here. It's gonna be great I
just know it.

So even though this magical land of promise doesn't actually exisit, lots of
happy magical things happened this week!

First, I am happy to announce that I can now check "teaching a lesson in a
hammock" off the mission bucket list.

I recieved a cute letter from one of my favorite boys in my EFY group from last
summer and it made my whole day! He said I was the best counselor ever. The
kid doesn't lie!

Our investigator Mariano wants to get baptized. Great right? Until we found
out that he drinks 30 cups of coffee a day. Sadly, Mariano does not lie. He
really drinks 30 cups a day. Thats about even with Grandma Patsy and her Dr
Peppers! Haha love ya grams!

Mariano was also quite concerned when we wanted to give him a date for his
baptism because he told us he doesn't know if he is still going to be alive
in October. Super worried I said, POR QUE!?(WHY?) And then he told me that we
never know when we are going to die, so who knows! Better not to make plans
in case they fall through later. It was defintely the most interesting
excuse I've heard in the mission, ha!

Also, I have a new favorite scripture of all time! D&C 100:12 :))

"Therefore, continue your journey and let your hearts rejoice; for behold,
and lo, I am with you even unto the end."

So I am going to be like my buddy Nefi and liken this scripture unto myself
and go and do what the Lord has commanded. Which is teach and preach the
gospel to the people of Orotina! Thanks for all your love and support along
my journey. I love and miss you all. And I know that the Lord is with me
even unto the end.

Hermana Starke

17 Miracles

Family!!!

Not to fear, I am still alive and happy and well over here in CR. Sorry for
the worry! Our zone had the opportunity to attend the temple today so our P
day got changed.

Sad news is, I only have about 30 minutes instead of the normal hour and a
half because we spent most of our day traveling. So this email is going to
be short and sweet.

So as I said, we went to the temple today and I bought the movie 17
miracles (In Spanish, obv) and we are going to watch it tonight with some
recent converts for family night!

As I was thinking about this movie and how much I love it, I decided it
could apply to my life right now as a missionary! Because I see and witness
miracles all the time. So today I want to tell you about the 17 miracles of
my week.

1. We found people to teach!
The 15th of Sept was the Independance day here in CR, but they don't just
party on the 15th. They party hard all week with candles and parades and
dancing and bands. So it was a miracle this week that we could actually
find people to listen to us.

2. CR won!
Well this week was also the BIG GAME between USA and CR in soccer and
people go crazy over this stuff here. I mean loco! CR won and people were
running through the streets screaming and I was just like, "ok now who wants
to hear about Jesus?!".

3. I didn't gain 10 pounds
Well this week everyone was celebrating, and my comp and I thought we
should celebrate too. Ya know what I'm sayin? So we bought a giant chocolate
cake and ate it between the 2 of us. Don't judge.

4. We were saved
The heat is the worst in the mornings. So when we were walking to church
sweating our little guts out, Marcos and his family swooped by in their car
and picked us up. It was awesome. (Oh side note...gas is $8 a gallon here,
yiiikes! What is it in Cali these days?)

5. People actually came to church!
37 to be exact...people take their Independance celebrating preeettty
serious around here.

6. I talked for 20 minutes straight in ESPAÑOL BABY!
That's right. About 3 and a half min before church started, the presidente
over here asked me to speak. Ummm. So I spoke. With no notes, no index
cards and absolutely nothing prepared. Just me and the spirit, man! It was
scary but I did it. And people understood me! Hermana Macha (a member in
the rama) said she wishes that she could have recorded it and sent it to my
parents because they would be so proud :) To be honest, it was a great
experience because I was able to see how much I have grown since I gave my
first talk here when I first arrived. HEY! I'm really doin this, guys!

7. I really made a difference
Remember Mario that I met on the bus? Well if not, I met this guy Mario on
the bus one day after having a super strong feeling to talk to him. Turns
out he was less active. But guess what, not anymore! He faithfully comes to
church now every Sunday. Happy happy happy

8. Ireni is my hero
Ireni is a strong, awesome member of the branch. She has 3 littles and is
going through a super rough divorce. She isn't recieving the money she
deserves from her almost x-husband so things have been really hard lately.
This Sunday she only had enough money to pay for the bus ride to church,
but not back. Relying on her faith she decided to go to church anyway and
they would walk 2 hours home afterwards. After staying the full 3 hours of
church and teaching the 3rd hour class, Ireni and her kids started the walk
home. Her oldest son, 7 years old, kept begging her to check the card to
see if there was money. He said he just knew there would be something for
them! Just to make him happy, she checked it and almost like magic there
was 30 dollars on the card! With tears and smiles they were able to take
the bus ride home and enjoy the rest of their holiday together as a family.
She told us she felt like the mother from 17 miracles where food just
appeared out of no where along the difficult journey! It was the perfect
reminder she needed to know that Heavenly Father is fully aware of her
situation and will pour out miracles according to our faith.

9. I am learning oh so much
I learned how to cut grass with a machete. I guess that's how ya do it when
you aren't so blessed to sit on a machine and that does it for you. We
thought we would lend a helping hand and serve this family first like Ammon
in the BOM (Book of Mormon) to find some new investigators. Let's hope it works! (And that we don't have to cut off anybody's arms:)) We are gonna
visit them again next week :)

10. I kept down my seafood surprise
So, sweet Hermana Macha makes us din din every Sunday. This week it was
OCTOPUS SOUP! With a friendly side of squid, oyster, clams, and shrimp. I
dont know how I managed to eat it all. Really, this is the BIGGEST miracle
of all.

11. Tried somethin new
I drank milk this week. But no, not the regular milk. I had straight up
real, raw milk FROM THE COW and I actually liked it. This is coming from
the girl who made her parents pick out the green specks her top ramen.
Welp, I have come a loooongg way my friends.

12. I don't have a disease, yet.
It's dengue season apparently. Which is a disease from all the mosquitos.
You would think with the millions and millions of bites covering my legs I
would have gotten sick by now. But I haven't! It's a miracle!

13. I have the cutest investies
Aka investigators. Aka the 4 cutest girls that set up a whole table and
chair ordeal in the backyard complete with drinks and cookies ready for us
to come visit them and share the good word.

14. We went to the temple!
And it was amazing :) as usual. So blessed to have a beautiful temple in
the mission.

15. NO Rice and Beans

Mcdonalds is all over the world
Even here in CR :) and we happily enjoyed it on our 2 hour bus ride home!

16. Made it 5 months with the same umbrella
You can't go ANYWHERE here without your umbrella. It's an essential,
cant-leave-the-house-without-it item. And this week I got a new one! I was
sooooo excited about it. It's clean and shiny and purple. Free from holes
and months of usage. The material is strong and it was the best purchase
I've ever made in my life!

17. Made it an extra 3 days!
I look forward to my Mondays, gosh dang it. So it was a miracle I made it a
few extra days without hearing and talking to you guys :) but hey I gotta
pratice what I preach. Endure to the end, yeah?!

Love you alllllllllllll
Thanks for my 47 emails this week in the inbox :) you all are the best!

Hermana Starke

Here's a link to the movie trailer 17 Miracles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SResQFe35S8

THE BEST CAKE EVER!!!

Seafood Surprise... Squid

Cutest Candy Store

September 15 Independence Day in CR

Yes!  I took these Pics!  Gorgeous flowers and Butterflies

My Companion Hermana Ochoa made me REAL MEXICAN FOOD... It's much better then CR Food

Temple Day

"I'M LOVIN IT"

Silver Linings

Dear all,

Today is a very special day here in Costa Rica, Día de los Niños! What's
that you ask? Well, it's a holiday here completely devoted to celebrating
children. Kids day! Now, please tell me why we don't have this in the States?
All the kids dress up as princesses or whatever they want then sing and
dance in parades! They go to school...but not to learn...to party and eat
food! How great is that?

Holiday or not, the days are passing so quickly. I have 5 months in my
mission and 5 weeks with my awesome companion, Hermana Ochoa. We are loving
our time togther.

At first I thought that since I had a Latina companion the stares would
decrease because 2 gringas weren't walking the Costa Rican streets anymore,
only one. But I was wrong! She is beautiful and we are missionaries dressed
in missionary clothes and plaques...haha so I don't know what I was thinking.

You know that scene from mean girls when Regina almost gets hit by a bus?
Well that literally happened to this creepy old man in a purple belly shirt
this week. He was so busy starting at us he almost got hit by an on coming
bus. We had to turn around to hide our laughter.

Haha we have lots of laughs together. And also lots of yummy treats. We
always find ourselves stopping at the bread shop on our way home after a
long day. And everything is half the price after 6pm. How could we not? It
just makes the day so much better.

And along with all the good times and the laughs, this week we have also
had our fair share of tears.

Tuesday night we recieved a call from our district leader telling us that
he and his companion had emergency changes and were leaving Orotina at 5am
the next morning.

At first, through all the panic, I thought he told us that WE had changes
so I started hyperventilating and crying because it was just too much to
handle. But then once I made sense of his words, my sadness quickly turned
into fear as I realized exactly what was happening.

Ever since I arrived here in CR this branch in Orotina has been blessed to
have a set of Elders and Hermanas, 4 hard working missionaries. But as I
have mentioned, the members here are prideful and hard to love. They are
not giving us the help and support we need to be successful so President
took action and took out the Elders.

So what does that mean for us? Well, our area just doubled and we are now
responsible for ALL the work here in Orotina. We will now be doing
everything alone and making all the decisions. Who will plan all the
activities? Us. Who will deal with the members? Us. Who will each lunch
together and enjoy pdays together? Yep, just us. Us again. Just assume that
everything from here on out is our responsibility. So please, send your
love and prayers this way. Because it's not going to be easily.

In fact the last few days have been some of the hardest, ever. We had a
zone meeting and had to travel to a place called Puntarenes. After the
meeting, everyone left, and once again we were left to wait ALONE for our
bus that came much later. With our luck, we accidently took the wrong bus
back. The one that makes lots of twists and turns and stops. Or in other
words, "to grandmother's house we go". Once we took off, we looked at each
other, realizing what just happened and laughed and laughed. And I taught
her the song "ridin solo". I thought it was rather appropriate. Don't you
agree?

Sometime during our journey I looked out the window up at the clouds and
around the edge of the clouds was a bright, beautiful silver lining! I
thought a sliver lining was just a clever phrase people say. But it's a real
life thing, and especially beautiful here in Costa Rica. I got such a
peaceful comforting feeling that the Lord is aware of me. He knows my time
here is a crazy rain strorm, one might say, but there is always a silver
lining. Things will get better. My efforts are not wasted. The Lord is my
light! He is ever with me to comfort and love me.

And Saturday was a stressful, happy day. Genesis, Jesus, and Kiara were
baptized! We were so worried we would not have enough preisthood leaders
(due to the lack of elders and support of the members ) but our prayers
were answered and everything worked our just perfect. The spirit was felt,
and 3 more of Gods children were baptized!

During the baptism, Jesus could NOT stop smiling and Genesis could not stop
crying. As for me, I could not stop praying. My heart was filled with so
much love and gratitude for the Savior who is helping me do this everyday.
I am so grateful for the chance I have to be here and to learn and grow and
be pushed to my limits. To do the impossible. To be given the opportunity
to excercise my faith and rely completely on the Lord for his help. His
help to go forward and to love the members here that arent so easy to love.
His help to better myself as a person and a missionary.


With all my love,
Hermana Starke

P-Day...... Fun day

Making Beans and Rice

Teaching Jesus in the Park

Jesus Baptism Day

Genesis, Jesus and Kiara Baptism

The Most beautiful sunsets here in Costa Rica

Dreamin'

Hello all!

Okay Dad, are you ready for this.......

I HAD A DREAM IN SPANISH!

Dad has been asking me just about every other week if I have dreamt in
Spanish yet. And so now, I am so happy to finally announce that I have.
Apparently that's when you REALLY know Spanish. Hope you're proud Dad :)

I also have been noticing how there are many instances in the Book of
Mormon where relvelation is recieved in Dreams. We can recieve answers and
wisdom and all that good stuff.

Well I dreamed about eating some weird soup and trying so hard enjoy it
while expressing my gratitude in Spanish. I then went running next to a
horse in a pretty green field. We had a nice little chat in Spanish. Yeah,
that's right I was talking to a horse...

So hmm not sure what that means, but hey! I finally dreamt in Spanish.

A few weeks ago I started over in the Book of Mormon. With a fresh, brand
new book. I decided to mark it all up and look specifically for instances
in the scriptures when it talks about the Holy Ghost, because along with
dreams, we can recieve lots of answers, wisdom and good stuff through the
Spirit.

As missionaries we are taught and told repeatedly that we cannot do
anything or teach anyone without the Holy Ghost. And it's is so true, he is
the real teacher.

So as I have been reading the Book of Mormon with this purpose I have
learned so much! It's been incredible.

With my wonderful latina companion, I have found that there are lots and
lots of quiet moments, due to the language barrier. At first I hated all
the awkward silence and found myself racking my brain trying to come up
with things to talk about in Spanish. But I have come to learn and love and
enjoy these peaceful, quiet moments.

I have so much time to think and reflect and really feel the influence of
the Spirit in my life. I have recieved answers and comfort and peace.

When we cut out the loud noises, distractions, and business of the day,
that's when we can really be close to our Father in Heaven. We can feel the
companionship of Spirit more fully in our lives.

As a missionary I don't have school and studies to worry about. I don't have
a cell phone to answer or tasks to accomplish on the computer. I don't have
work or the radio. Yes, these are all things that I miss. But not having
them here has allowed me to learn and be uplifted through the Spirit so
much more than I ever could have imagined.

So to any of you reading this, if feeling the Spirit in your life is
something you are lacking, or something you desire to improve, take time to
think and refelct. Take more time for prayer. Have quiet, personal
scripture study. I promise it works :)

Me and my beautiful companion Hermana Ochoa

We have been teaching my favorite little buddy, Jesus, this week. He is 8
years old and getting ready for baptism! When he sees us walking down the
street to his house he drops what hes doing and runs as fast as he can to
greet us with hugs. It makes my heart melt. He feels so special that we
come just to teach him.

He's a not the fastest learner...so we spent a whole lesson asking him the
same 5 questions. He had such a hard time with the last one though...

"Jesus, what do we get after we are baptized"?

"The gift of God!"

"No..."

"The gift of Jesus... ME"!

"No Jesus!"

"The gift of... sins?"

"NO Jesus. The gift of the Holy Ghost!"

"Ahhhh ya ya ya ya ya Hermana, I KNOW!"

Haha it's so hilarious. I love the kid. We also start and end every lesson
with his favorite hymn, "Jesus es mi luz" (The Lord is my light). Teaching
him was probably the highlight of my week.

Jesus

I have also felt words just come to me as I testify. I find myself knowing
the needs of my investigators even though I can't fully understand their
words. The gift of the Holy Ghost is a real, true thing, and it has been
amazing to be able to recognize and use His help as I do the work of the
Lord.

"And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day,
for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they
endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day, and shall be saved in the everlasting kingdom of the Lamb;and whoso shall publish peace, yea tidings of great joy, how beautiful upon the mountains shall they be. (1Ne. 13:37)

Love you all and hope you have a fabulous week,
Hermana Starke :))

This is Genesis 

Costa Rica's Independence Day is September 15-raising of the flag ceremony