Earthquakes, Pineapple and a little faith!!

Dear family,

Yes it's true. This week I experienced my frist Costa Rican earthquake. We
didn't feel the first one because we were walking home... but when we
kneeled down to pray and began planning at the end of the day we felt the
second one. All of a sudden the desk started wobbling and the floor starts
moving so I start freaking out. And screaming. Because let me remind you,
we live super high up in a little apartment. So the whole apartment starts
swaying and then I hear our neighbors laughing.

Guess earthquakes are really common here and the kids think they're fun.
Umm yeah...........no.

But don't worry, my faithful companion just kept on prayin!

Another problem about our apartment, we unfortunately haven't had water like
all week. So I have gone days without a shower or brushed teeth. Yeah, I
know. It's horrible. It's like camping hardcore, sister missionary style. It's
a good thing I don't have to worry about getting dates out here, right?

But even though we have little or no water out here, we have tons and TONS
of fruit. It just grows in the streets here basically. Every store, street
corner, and home is filled with fruit. And the best part is, they make the
yummiest drinks with it. This week some of my favorites were
rice/pineapple, melon/strawberry, and papaya/mango. They are so delicious
and fresh and I love that every house we visit feels the need to give us
something to drink. Fine by me!

This week I fell in love...........with the bible! Ha, gotcha. This week I
have been studying and learning so much from the old and new testament. It's
amazing. I love the epsitle of Paul to Philemon, one of his converts. He
writes...

* 4 I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers,*

* 5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus,
and toward all saints;*

* 6 That the acommunication of thy faith may become beffectual by the
acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.*

So I decided that If I want more miracles, I need more faith. And if I want
more faith I must acknowledge every good thing which comes from Christ. So
this week I have started offering more prayers of gratitude to increase my
faith. Instead of asking for baptisms, I thank Heavenly Father for the
baptisms I am going to have! Instead of asking for the ability to know the
needs of my investigators I express my gratitude that I know Lord will
bless me with the words my investigators need to hear. It's been a really
cool experience for me and I have been able to increase my faith in Jesus
Christ, especially at the end of the day when I look back and realize how
much the Lord blessed me that day.

And this week, as always, we have seen lots of miracles!

Karen. An investigator that I love finally came to chruch this week. And
she loved it. Now we gotta get her married!

Reina. The mom of one of the strongest members we have here, came to church
as well. She isnt the biggest fan of Joseph Smith but hey, she came to
church!

Veronica. This beautiful, happy lady I met on the bus this week. She sells
nail polish so I called her and asked if I could come see it. Little did
she know we would end up teaching her and her family and leaving them all
with book of mormons... classic! Ok, ok, and I bought some purple nail
polish too :)

Samantha. A happy single mother that gladly accepted her baptismal date in
the first lesson. We later found out her mom is a less active and wants to
come back. Saaweet!

Jolie. A recent convert that reminds me of grandma Patsy. Rocks the
sunglasses and falls asleep all during church. We stop by and sing hymns to
her and she just loves it.

Daniela. A less active 15 year old. This week we helped her do some of her
personal progress and talked about the plan of Salvation. It was all pretty
new to her because she hasnt been to church in forever. This week her 30
year old cousin committed suicide. His wife was pregnant with twins.
Danilela called us crying saying how grateful she is for the plan of
salvation.

The Chacon family. A family of 5 who has been inactive for years because of
problems with members. Ive never visited them because everyone has always
told me they dont accept visits from members or missionaries. And if you
get lucky and they do let you in, you cant say anything about the church.
But this week Ive been praying for more faith. More miracles. So what did
we do? We visited them this week, expressed our love for them, shared our
testimonies and asked them how the joined the church.

Carol, the mom, was born into a family with the gospel because her parents
saved up their whole lives to journey to Salt Lake temple and be sealed. At
this time, it was the closet temple! They were so poor they had to take
their baby brother in a box. I guess the apostles still talk about and
share the story in conference! Her husband, Eduardo, was driving to his
baptism when his car broke down. He offered a prayer and said, Father, if
this is the right decision please bless me. Please help me get there. And
after the prayer he started up his car and was baptized later that day! A
year later, Carol and Eduardo were both sealed in the temple and they have
3 beautiful children. And guess what? All 5 of them came to church this
week and stayed the whole time. For the first time in years! Soo much
happiness.

I know these miracles may be small and simple but they are truly miracles!
This is the Lords work and He is truly over all. I feel a little bit like
Ammon when he said,

*Yea, I know that I am anothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I
will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his
strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have
wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.*

AMEN!!!
Hermana Starke