Puuuura Viidaaa!!

Dear all,

Sooo much happened this week I don't even know where to start! Maybe I will
begin with I take it back about what I said about all the delish fruit
drinks we have here. This week I had the privilege of drinking fresh
raddish juice, carrot juice, some green plant, and jello. Not my
favorites... haha but it's all part of the pura vida life and I love it.

Speaking of pura vida lifestyle, the parties have not stopped since I sent
my last email. They have gotten bigger, wilder, and crazier. They opened up
a fair, they have parades going all day long and classical music concerts
at night. People from all over Costa Rica have to Ciudad Colon to party!
They also have Zumba nights where the whole town comes out and does Zumba
in the park, it's awesome. I smile because it reminds me of my mommy :)

All this week I have been studying the Christ like attribute, HOPE. Because
I think I could use a little more of it. I always just throw it into the
same categoy as faith and call it good. But the truth is, hope is very
unique and different and equally important. Preach my gospel tells us that
hope means to trust in the Lord and his promises. So I decided to study it
out and realize what exactly are the promises the Lord has given me as a
missionary. And after reading D&C 31 I got my answer...



* 3 Lift up your heart and rejoice, for the hour of your mission is come;
and your tongue shall be loosed, and you shall declare glad tidings of
great joy unto this generation. 7 Yea, I will open the hearts of the
people, and they will receive you. And I will establish a church by your
hand; 13 Be faithful unto the end, and lo, I am with you. These words are
not of man nor of men, but of me, even Jesus Christ, your Redeemer, by the
will of the Father. Amen.*

So I learned that having hope doesn't just mean believing in Christ and
hoping that he might follow through with his promises to us. Its so much
more. Its knowing with assurance that he is there. That he lives. And that
he will give us his promised blessings because we are his servants. Then we
must act on that belief.

In the mission we have a goal to have 10 L.P.E.´s which stands for
lecciones para encontrar...or lessons to find. They consist of teaching a
principle, giving a committment, and asking for a reference. Well this week
with all the fiestas going on and my increased desire to have more hope we
ended up having 70 this week! And we saw soo many miracles. We also met
some very interesting people...

Felipe. An 11 year old boy who loved our message because he is crazy
inteligent and knows all about Jesus and the bible. He told us to come
visit him at his house and asked for all the pamplets so he could study
them all before we came! He then proudly told us he was name after an
apostle. So sweet.

We then got to talking with a mom and her 2 daughters who were super
interested! She gave me her number and then as she was walking away told me
it was actually her sons cell phone number, and that he really needs a
girlfriend........hahaha sorry sista can't help ya out there.

When we were in line for ice cream I started chatting with a man and told
him I was a representative of Christ. He then went on to tell me that he
already knows Christ personally and that they hang out on the weekends.
Well that's pretty cool.

We then met a happy grandma with her granddaughter in the park. And when I
asked for their address, I didn't understand a thing. So then I asked them
what color their house was hoping to get a little more details. At the same
time the grandma said "yellow" and the granddaughter said "pink". Obviously
the grandma didn't want a thing. Welp, maybe we will get lucky in finding
the yellow-pink house next week...

But we also saw lots of miracles this week as well :) we watched the
restoration video with a family we are teaching and the spirit was crazy
strong. NO ONE could deny it. We taught the plan of salvation to our
neighbors who lost a daughter and they all cried of happiness. I read
chapter 5 of Helaman and realized it is the best chapter of the Book of
mormon. After waking up with a migraine, I said a prayer and it afterwards
it instantly went away. We hiked up a mountain today and enjoyed the pure
beauty of Costa Rica. Miracles!!!

Hope you all have a happy, pura vida, miracle filled week :)
Hna Starke

Craziest looking spider

Party

Oh hello Virgin of Los Angeles

Raspberries... they taste like Strawberries