5 more weeks of miracles comin' right up!

HOLA!!!!!

Como estan todos!? I'm good, just slightly freaking out at all my welcome
home, come home now, you're almost home emails. I STILL GOT 5 LONG WEEKS
PEOPLE. Let me love and enjoy them :) doesn't help that my companion points
to every airplane in the sky and tells me that will be me very, very soon.
And I just say no no no. I am in denile!

Speaking of my companion... she has the craziest story and the strongest
testimony I have ever heard or felt. I admire her so much and am just
learning a ton from her. I wish you could all meet her and feel her amazing
spirit.

Hermana Martinez has had a rough life but it's made her fierce and strong.
Her Dad passed away when she was younger leaving her Mom to provide for her
and her family. They struggled to get by and faced a lot of challenegs, but
it's what prepared and led her to finally find and recieve the gospel.

Her family has always believed firmly in the Catholic faith. She was taught
to be very dedicated in all she does, especially to God. She was baptized,
had her confirmation, did the bible classes, went to church 5 times a week,
and everything else a real Catholic does.

When she was 15, a friend invited her over for a family night with the
missionaries and she watched the restoration video. She thought it was all
nice until they gave her a book of mormon. She thought it was ridiculous
and weird that there could exist any other scripture than the bible. And
that was that.

Time passed and the book sat in box under her bed for 6 years. She
continued life with little purpose and even less happiness.

One day when she was walking home with her little brother, 2 boys with
white shirts, ties and nametags started talking to her brother about
soccer. They asked if they could visit him one day and he replied, sure.
Why not?

Within a few days the two young elders came looking for her little brother.
But he didn't actually think they would come! So he ran upstairs and hid
himself in his room. Annoyed, hermana Martinez had to open the door and
tell them that her brother was busy and to come back later.

Luckily these elders were persistant and Hermana Martinez ended up
recieving all the lessons. But this time was different because she recieved
a very powerful witness from the spirit that it was all true and was
baptized 3 weeks later. Sadly, she is the only member in her family and has
done it all alone. But knows its true and loves it. The day she completed a
year as a member of the church she sent in her mission papers and was
called to Costa Rica!

She figured she would have to enter the mtc late because the day before she
reported, she still hadnt recieved her visa. Discouraged she was about to
call her bishop when he called her and told her that her visa came in that
very morning! It was 12pm and her original flight was scheduled to leave at
4pm. So what did she do? She said a prayer, got ready, borrowed a suit case
from a neighbor, packed the few skirts she had, said her goodbyes and took
a taxi to the airport. She barely made her flight but made it just in
time and knows without a doubt this is where the Lord wants her to be.

She loves and embraces the gospel because she knows understands what life
is like with out it. When she shares her conversion story I just get
goosebumps because its so powerful and she teaches and testifies without a
single doubt. She is amazing talking with and teaching Catholics (aka every
person that lives in Belen...) and even though she only has a year and 7
months as a member she knows way more that I do and for real this girl is
incredible.

It's been such a blessing to be able to learn, teach, and share with her.
She loves teaching the plan of salvation to everyone because its her
favorite part of the gospel.

Which prepared us to meet Mariana. She moved in about a month ago to an
apartment above one of our current investigators and weve been wanting to
teach her since then but shes always been so dang busy.

Well on Saturday, we finally found out *why* she's always so busy. She let
us into her tiny home and we met her two children. Her 3 year old daughter
was laughing, playing and running around, but her son, Issac was contrained
to a bed.

It's a miracle that Issac is even alive, because children with the desease
he has normally only live to be 3 years old, and Issac is 5. Mariana has
struggled so much over the past 5 years taking care of him and trying to
pay for all the medicine and medical bills. Her husband works all night
long and then comes home in the morning to help her during the day. Issac
cant walk or talk and must be fed through a tube connected to his stomach.

But when I met him, I could just feel something so special inside of his
crippled, defected body. You can feel his sweet spirit when you look into
his eyes. We began to teach the plan of salvation and where we were before
this life. We explained to Mariana that Issaic was an angel before this
life and only needed to come to earth to recieve a body because he was
perfect and didnt need to be tempted or tested. We testifed that God loved
him and trusted her enough to be his mother. She began to sob
uncontrollably because she had no idea... She had been burdened with 5
years of questions and doubts, but hearing this made her feel so relieved
and filled her heart with peace. Many other pastors have told her other
things and even said that it was her fault for not having enough faith to
heal him. She had no idea what to believe until the spirit testified to her
that what we were teaching was true.

It was a miracle. Issac is a miracle. I love missionary work because it's
not always just about how many people you baptize but how many people hear
the true message of the restored gospel. We are called and sent forth to
preach this message and I know it will be taught and preached until every
child of God hears it.

Hermana Starke