Short, But Sweet Week!

Dear Family,

This week's email is going to be short, sorry!

Katalina was baptized Saturday, it was a great baptism service!  My companion and I sang "Nearer my God to Thee"  and we had members give talks.  Katalina was so happy, we really saw how the Gospel changed her life!

We just got back from making pizza at the branch president's house.  It was sure yummy, and mine was definitely the yummiest!

Saturday a recent convert of the Elders brought his mom and brother to the Church for a lesson.  His mom could be his girl-friend, she looks so young! (He's 29, she's 38).  It was a great lesson, they accepted a baptism date for the 13th of June.  

We've been teaching a family that were Jehovah's Witness, well at least were studying with that religion for years.  The dad, Ronald came to church Sunday and in gospel principles we shared stories of times that our prayers were answered.  One investigating couple shared how the father doesn't have work right now, but that they have been praying a lot and know that he will receive work soon.  Then, after the class, I saw Ronald talking to them and telling the father that he could work in construction under him.  That was their answer to their prayer!

A drawing I did for an Hermana in my region

Katalina's Baptism

Making Pizza

This Work is AWESOME :)

Dear Family,

This week we weren't able to work in our area for 3 days due to that we got to go to San Jose for a monthly leadership conference and we had to go to Liberia twice for a zone conference, and divisions with the Sister Training Leaders there (on account that my companion couldn't come to san jose with us). That ment that I was with Hna Cook and her companion for a day!!! WOOOOOT :) (Woot is something all the missionaries say here.)

However, we were able to still see miracles this week!

One of which is Katalina, she is going to be baptized this Saturday, but because of conflicting schedules we weren't able to see her for a whole week. Which was a little worrisome. Saturday night we finally taught her a lesson, in which she broke down, crying about her trials and how she couldn't come to church the next day because of work. That lesson definitely lasted more than an hour, but by the end through testifying and sharing our love she was able to have the courage to tell her boss she couldn't work. Yesterday she was ready to come to church when her baby fell and her head cut open. Katalina had to rush her to the hospital, but luckily the hospital is across the street from the church and so she was able to arrive...45 mins late, but she got here!

Then in relief society she shared her testimony about the Book of Mormon and how God answerse prayers. One day, after we invited her to baptism she prayed to know what she should do, opened the Book of Mormon to a random page and read:
  3 Nephi 23:5 And whosoever will hearken unto my words and repenteth and isbaptized, the same shall be saved. Search the prophets, for many there be thattestify of these things.
It was so spritually rewarding. This work really is the best!

IT WAS SO GREAT TO SEE YOU ALL YESTERDAY! I'm not ready to come home, but I can't wait to see you again in 6.5 months!  Miss you guys!  Thank you for your love and support!

Hermana Bratt

Divisions with Hermana Cook

My New Name Tag!

Finding Inactives and New Investigators Through Miracles

Dear Family,

Well, all in all this week has been great.  We have had a lot of rain. FINALLY.  After my last area I never wnated to see rain again, until I came hear and was under the hot sun all day long.  It's been nice because the rain makes it a little cooler usually, sometimes there's more humidity though and so it's even hotter.

This week we've seen a lot of miracles in finding inactives.  We've been focusing a lot of finding new investigators, and almost everyday we found new investigators, only to find out that they actually were already baptized in the church.  We are working now on reactivating 4 new inactives each with their own families. We are hoping to be able to convert their families as well. :)

Speaking of inactivse, guess what! Beatriz is actually a member.  We have been teaching her for more than a month and she was super excited about her baptism, but about 3 days ago she commented:  I was baptized in the mormon church a long time ago...WHAT!  At first we didn-t beleive her because she doesn-t have a very good memory,but it turns out that she is a member.  We laughed for the rest of the lesson.  So she wont be getting baptized this month,. one less option for a goal of 7 baptisms, but I guess its a good thing we found out now rather than after the baptism.  Her grandaughter Monserat is going to be baptized the 23rd.  We also met three of her other grandkids.  Nicole, Sharon, and Jean Carlos.  All of them want to be baptized the 8th of June.  Sharon, the oldest, is 16 and she is awesome.  When we met her we had such a Spirit filled lesson.  We finished the opening hymn and prayer and the next thing I knew she was bawling.

We have been trying to use stragem to convert our cook, Hermana Marisol, and her family.  They are really catholic, but amazing people.  Today we are going to have a family night and teaach them about the Plan of Salvation.

Yesterday we had a goal to find 5 new investigators. At about 7:30 pm we still hadn't found a single one, so we said a prayer and asked God to put a famliy that was prepared in our pathway as we walked in the street towards the church.  Well, about a minute after the prayer we passed a couple sitting outside of their house. My companion and Iwere both sure that hte missionaries had already talked to them, because they live really close to our house.  We walked past them without saying anything, but I felt prompted to return and talk to them.  I think my companion said "Hi, we are missionaries.  Can we share a message with you?"  And well, they said yes, let us in, and after a super short but great lesson they accepted a baptism  date for the 30th of May.  The funny thing is that the girl friend, Marielos, is someone that we have contaced in the street many times.  We've even had appointments set to teach her, but both times that we passed by her house she hid from us or said she was Catholic.  Well yesterday she was a little embarassed to recieve us, but her boyfriend was very welcoming and she warmed up to us as well afterwards.  Hopefully this time she listens to God's call!

We have been teaching two parents and their daughter.  Ronald, Sigri, and Pricila.  Sigri and Pricila were Jehovah's Witness and Catholics before and so they have a lot different beliefs that are making it difficult for them to acheive a testimony of the resotred gospel.  But they have both come to church and are progressing slowly.  I think they'll be baptized soon.

Katalina coudnt come to church this wee because of work, so she won-t be getting baptized this Saturday.  We were a little bit bummed.  It was definitely the opposicion working against us!  We are planning her baptism for the 16th.

This week we had 43 lessons!  YAY!  I finally had more than 40, now we will have to shoot for 50 ;). 

Costa Rica is so amazing!

Love you all!

Oh, and last but not least.  I am shooting for calling home Sunday at 4, but it could be anywhere between 3:30 and 4:30.  Is that alright with you guys if not please send tell me within 20 mins!  Also, can I have your skype user ID again?

Hermana Bratt

Miracles and Apostasy

Dear Family,

Well this week we focused sooo hard on helping Nidia to be baptized.  She was really excited at first and then she started making up excuses for why she couldn't see us and told us that she didn't feel prepared.  It was a little frustrating and sad.  However, we are picking ourselves up again and starting over. 

Now, ready for the miracle?  Our investigator Katalina is going to be baptized the 9th of May. I've aready told you a bit about her, but let me tell you her story: 

About a month ago we were walking down a street when I noticed a woman sitting in her house entrance holding a baby.  She smiled at us when we walked past , but we lept on walking.  we were searching for a house of a referral.  The referral wasn't home so when we returned down the street my companion and I both felt the impression to talk to the woman with the baby.  Well it turns out the Katalina told us that her cousin was a member and that he had told her that he was oging to send the elders over to talk to her about the gospel.  The next day we showed up unexpectedly!  To which I am very greatful, because if we hadn't shown up the elders would have taught her.  Not that it matters if the elders or the hermanas teach someone the gospel, but I feel that we were meant to teach her because we canr relate to her problems better than the elders.  She's really great.

Yesterday she came to church and told us that her daughter was sick and that she had a dream the night before of hands on her baby's head and asked if we gave prayers that way. And so...last night the elders passed her house to give her baby a blessing!  It's amazing the evidence you can see everyday of the existence of God.

We also had two other investigators come to church. One was Sigri who was a Jehovahs witness and when we teach her she talks sooo much and asks SO many questions, but she progressing little by little. The other investigator is Beatriz. Beatriz is an investigator we've been teaching for about a month as well.  She learns really really slowly.  One night she couldn't learn the word apostasy (apostasia) and so we all started saying the word together.  By the end we were chanting "Apostasia! Apostasia!"  (Yes, it was as bad as it sounds!) but gave my companion and I a good laugh afterwards.

What else...we had a multizone conference with President Wilkinson.  They made us breakfast and afterwards we capacitated us about how to plan and teach well.  It was amazing and I think we are now going to improve our teaching a ton.

Well I think that's it for now.  Love you all to the moon and back!

Hermana Bratt

Agiant iguana.  Really it was giant and

just chillin' in the park.  It was probably 5 feet long with it's tail.

Presidente Wilkinson's Birthday

A Week of Frantic Searching!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week we found 15 new investigators.  It was a nice number, although I goal was to find 20. We also have 18 Investigators progressing, the goal for the mission is 25.  We are falling short, but just a few weeks ago we only had 4!

This we were searching and trying every means messasary to find people that could be baptized this month.  People that already have attended church.  Well it seemed that at every turn we found old investigators that could be baptized, but they didnt accept to be baptized.  Finally, Saturday night we had our final lesson for the day with an ex-investigator, Nidia.  Nidia was taaght the missionry lessons about 2 years ago, but then she moved to San Jose and the missionaries lost contact with her.  Last week we contacted her daughter-in-law in the street and Nidia walked in to our first lesson with her.

Well Saturday we started asking her questions and after teaching her a small prinicple that God is our loving Heavenly Father I asked her why she never had been baptized.  She told us that she didnt know, and so we asked her if she wanted to be baptized in a week. And her response was...YES!

We were pretty happy, however the storms not oever yet, because we have to help her preapre for baptism in only 5 days.  She doesnt remember too much about the missionry lessons, but shes really good and has a lot of faith in God.  Her husband has alzheimers.

Theres a rule that if an ex-investigator wants to be baptized they still have to attend church at least once while you were in the area.  Yesterday morning we passed by Nidias house to see if she was going to come to church, but she couldnt come because no one could watch her husband and he didn-t want to come to church.  We invited her to come for a least one ohour and she said she would try.

Well at 10 o clock she still hadnt shown up.  i sent her a message to see if she was going to arrive and after a few minutes she called us saying she would arrive in 5 minutes.  It turns out that she passed by at about 9:05 but the doors were closed!  Luckily, though she didnt make it to sacrament meeting she can still be baptized this Saturday.  PLEASE pray for her!  As well as Runia, and ex-inv.  that could be baptized as well, but is a little stubborn and doesnt want to accept a date.

We also had one other investigator in church, Katalina.  Katalina is the cousin of a member.  She is progressing a lot and tentatively accepted a baptism date for May 9th.  She has a lot of fear to change religions because she-s always been Catholic, but shes reading the Book fo Mormon and has found answers to her questions.

Friday  we had a Noche de Herrmanamiento, and played the orange game.  Our inv. and members loved it!

Sorry If Im missing punctuation, I cant find the apostraphy on this keyboard.

Talmage just sent me a few pictures,  WOW he looks really grown up.

Well, Im about out of time.  Love you all!  Dad I hope you and Spencer enjoy our free fishing trip!  Lucky Lucky Luvky.

Spiritual Hint:  If you want to feel the Spirit more, put more effort into your prayers!

Love you all!  Yes, mom I should be able to call home Mothers day....When is mothers day?

 ¡Hasta la proxima semaña!

Hermana Bratt

Paola and her kids,  an awesome investigator that had to move to Limon.

These giant ants were infesting our apartment!  
Luckily our neighbors/owner of the house came over with
ant poison. We are ant free finally!

There's No Time!

Dear Family,

Well today I don't have any time to write!  We came to San Jose for the month checkup for Hna Miriel and all the newbies.  We had to stand up the whole way in the bus again!  Woot!

We are teaching an investigator named Katalina.  She has had a lot of problems in her life, but she's the cousin of a recent convert and is reading the book of Mormon.  She wants to come to church, but right now is working Sundays.   She is a single mom and is really sincere in her desire to change her life/character.

Paola moved Sunday :(

Mom, have you made plans to come down here next june yet!?  :)  I got the ballet DVD.  Thank you!

My companion, Hna Miriel, is an example in a lot of ways. She always gains so much knowledge in her personal study time. It's made me realize that while at one point in my mission I was like her "hungry for knowledge". I haven't been studying as efficently as before. That's going to change! This week one day we studied in the church because we had to fill up the baptism font. The Spirit we felt there was really beautiful and we are planning to study as much as possible in the church because it helps us focus more and have better estudios. The only problem is we live about 15 mintues away ad have to bring all of our books, however it's worth it to wake up early and lug everything there!

We have to go take our bus back to Nicoya!  Sorry my email is so short!

Love you all!

Hermana Bratt

A Tough Week

Dear Family,

Well Tuesday I went to my first leadership meeting with all of the Zone leaders and Sister Training Leaders.  They've got me pretty scared!  Luckily because I was new I didn't have to give an account of my area or the sisters I am over, but next month I will have to.  If my numbers aren't amazing, or the statisitcs of the sisters I'm over it's pretty shameful.  We are going to have to start working EVEN harder.

This conference weekend we did almost everything to help our investigators come to church, called them, passed for them, had members pass or call, we even made breakfast for Hermana Paola and her children so that she could get ready on time.  Well, only one persons came to church.  Danilo, who is an old investigator that a member invited.  That means the only person that came to church was a person that we didn't even talk too!  It's a little frustrating, because we've also been working with less actives/inactives and three of them came to church.  But it seems that our investigators just won't come.  The mayority of them say they will come to church and they are really positve about it, but they just don't show up. 

We have the goal of 4 baptisms this month, but investigators have to come to church three times before they can be baptized.  While we are still working towards our goal we don't have any possibilities right now.  Unless a new family that has come to church moves here we are kind of out of luck. 

Also, Paola is moving about 7 hours away!  We were pretty sad, bacuase she is progressing a lot, reaading the Book of Mormon, etc.  I don't think the new town she is going to live in has missionaries, but I'm going to check.

Okay, sorry if the last few paragraphs sound a little gray/ pessemistic.  Really, I know that the Lord can perform miracles.  My companion and I read an article in the Liahona for this month that has made us re analyze faith.  In it the writer said that "Faith is hope in a true principle"  Well, something like that.  In spanish it said "La fe es la esperanza en un principio verdadero".  For example, to say "I know the Lord can heal my arm" isn't faith rather faith is to say " I know that the Lord has the power to heal".   Really, you should just read the article! I don't remember what it's called though.  Sorry!  Look in the Liahona for this month.

And so, we have hope that the Lord can help us, will help us if we do our part. 

We've been teaching a new family Jesus and Carmen, that live on the same street as the branch president.  They look pretty promising. Jesus is really receptive of everything we say, but Carmen is a loittle bit tougher.

Well, today we went fishing!  However, no one caught anything.  The fish did keep on eating my shrimp though.  I was the only one that was getting any bites.  (Sorry if I sound boastful, but I am a fisherman's daughter!)  We did happen to see a bunch of iguanas and monkeys though.  They told us that the river we were fishing in has aligators in it.  But we fished on high river banks and so weren't close to the water. (AKA Don't worry mom) I'm getting pretty good at fishing with just a block of wood and a line!

Thank you all for every pray you say for me! I hope you enjoy Mexico and say hi to everyone for me!

Love love love you!

Hermana Bratt

Monkeys we woke from a nap

Me fishing