Whatever will be....

Hey everyone,

First of all...............HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMY :) I have been thinking a
lot about you this week and how much I love you. On Sunday I was feeling a
little bit discouraged wishing that I could celebrate with you and give you
a big hug. But I know I am where I'm supposed to be.

The 23rd was a rough day for us here. As we were walking back to our
apartment at the end of the day, I said a prayer in my head to help me be
happy. Suddenly I remembered my sweet mom and the lyrics of a song she used
to sing to me before bed not so long ago:


"When I was just a little girl I asked my mother, what will I be.  Will I be pretty, will I be rich Here's what she said to me. Que Sera, Sera,"

Whatever will be, will be The future's not ours, to see Que Sera, Sera

Whatever will be, will be."

I smiled and felt happier. And also felt awesome because I now understand
the song is not talking about a girl named Sara. "Que sera" is spanish for
whatever will be! So my new outlook on my mission and on life is that
whatever will be, will be. I will continue to work hard and do my best and
trust in my Healvenly Father to bless me in the future. The gospel is true.
The Lord is my light. And life goes on!

I'm not really sure how to sum up this whole week so I'm gonna break it down
for yall day by day...

Monday: P-DAY. My comp has scoliosis so we have been going to the Chiropractor 

here every Monday. He's a member of the church and doesn't charge the
missionaries. Awesome right? So after my companion finished I asked him if
I could please have a turn? :) and then I got my back all snapped,
crackled, and popped. It was my first time ever going to a Chiropractor and I
was like why have I never done this before. Haha it was great. One year of
missionary life and stress all cracked out of me!

I then made my very first walmart trip and even took a picture. Don't laugh,
this was a historic moment for me. Sadly Costa Rica hasn't adopted the
greeter position here so I did the honors and said, "Hi" to all my fellow
walmart shoppers. I bought some random stuff that I didn't need so I would
say it was a definite success!

Later that night we taught our new Investigator Carolina who is a real
toughie. Shes 28, single, and pregnant. She did not like what we taught her
about Joseph Smith because she  didn't think it was fair he got to see God
and Jesus Christ and no one in the bible did. So that's when my seminary
scripture mastery days come in real handy and I whip out Exodus 33:11 with
my personal favorite Numbers 12:6. She must of liked something we taught
her because she came to church this Sunday! Yayyy Carolina.

We then celebrated the birthday of Jan Carlos with tres leches and a fun
family night. I like Mondays in the mission.

Tuesday. God truly blessed us because we came home and our aprtment door
was just wiiiiiiiide open. The wind was crazy strong it blew it open, for
who knows how long! But, everything was still there, all good and in it's
place. Thank goodness!

Wednesday. For our zone meeting we had a little presentation of the book of
mormon. Ok, I shouldn't say little because it was 4 long hours. It was given
by this guy who has done years of research and investigating all through
Central America to find evidence and artifacts of the book of mormon. I
know my Dad and Loren would have LOVED it. It was way cool but my testimony
from the book of mormon comes through the spirit, not from facts. But here's
what I got from it...

"wee wee" means elder in some ancient Indian language
Mexico means Messiah
Supposedly we are all decentants from Mexico. Maybe that's why I love mexi
food so much?
There WERE elephants in the Americas! (I never knew there wasn't?)
Everyone drew pictures on the walls of caves and talked about a "white God"
decending from heaven. Jesus really came here!

But basically......The church is true, the book is blue!!!

Thursday. We had a busy day so we decided to wake up at 5:30am so we could
leave the house earlier and get to workin! We had 9 lessons that day and
put 3 baptismal dates. Hollaaa. President Wilkison also called me... I may
or may not have sent him a discouraging letter the past Monday that may or
may not have been really dramatic. I thought

President was going to put me in my place but instead his phone call was
full of lots of love and encouaging words. It really helped me so much and
meant the world to me. He's awesome.

Friday. We celebrated the anniversary of the Relief Society with a fun ward
activity and I learned lots about the history of RS. Super interesting. We
as missionaries demonstrated how to give a spiritual, proper, and effective
visiting teaching lesson it was fun. But the best part was chicken crepes
and strawberry salad for dinner! Yuuum.

Saturday. I cried when I remembered Genny Gustin got married and I wasn't
there. So to make things better we decided to go out to lunch and have
fried chicken haha. Next to Kentucky, the fried chicken here is the BEST.
It's super, super popular. The ticans love their fried chicken!

We had a "rescate" (rescue) activity and went out with ward members to
invite less actives and investigators to church to help get our attendance
up. Almost everyone that we visited came on Sunday. Our attendance was
81... much better than the 69 we had last week.

Later that night we got a phone call from the favorite family of 6 we are
teaching and they told us they were done.  They don't want anything do with the
church. Their baptism was sceduled for this Saturday 29th. Needless to say we
were sad. So then I cried again. But I know everything will be ok. One day
they will thank me for trying to bring them the truth.

I love reading the words of the prophets to recieve guidance and comfort.
Here's one of the bests by our beloved prophet, President Monson:

"Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon
us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of
our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we
walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this
world that can defeat us. My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of
good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith."

So be of good cheer. Whatever will be, will be. Que sera, sera!
Hermana Starke