Panama and the baptism that almost didn´t happen

Oh haaaaaaaaaay.
Whew! What a week. (I feel like I maybe say something like that every week. Do I? Pfft, welcome to the life of a missionary I guess.)
First of all, this Thursday is changes.  Do you know what that means? I have been in CR for 12 weeks!!! I am finishing my training!!! I’m a real missionary! (Please tell me you read that in Pinocchio’s “I’m a real boy” voice) This is exciting. This is also truly terrifying. This means that I will most likely have a new companion in a few days. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I love Hermana Hernadez so much and I am not really ready to let her go. We are both kind of having separation anxiety, and we haven’t even been separated yet.  We are best friends here in CR. I feel like we know basically everything about each other. She has been so patient with my pathetic Spanish and we really love and care for one another. I’m scared that I lucked out with such an awesome companion this time…. Does that mean that the next one will be hard? #prayforme
This also means I will be left in my area alone with someone who doesn’t know anything about the area. Terrifying. I  hope my Spanish doesn’t let me down. I hope our investigators aren’t devastated. I hope Rosa and Bernal let us keep coming (Oh yea, I forgot to mention, Rosa is reading the BoM. HOLLA!) I hope I remember all the bills we have to pay. I hope I remember the bus schedules.  #gulp
Also, this week we had a Baptismal service that almost didn’t happen. We were on track to baptize Adriana, her brother Alex, and a little girl with a testimony twice her size named Niyeli. 

Niyeli was never really a worry for us. She gave up coffee, goes to church by herself and reads the Book of Mormon on her own. Oh, also, she is only 9. We knew she was excited. (Also, how adorable is she?)
Adriana and Alex were a different story. Okay, to be honest only Adriana.  The elders started teaching her before I got here. They realized that she just wasn’t progressing because she has some serious trust issues with men.  We picked her up about 6 weeks ago and have been teaching her a could of times a week. She has the hardest life.  I won’t go into to many details but we have cried for her many a times.  She makes me realize how easy  my life is. I feel guilty for ever complaining about anything after I talk to her.  Adriana has a testimony. She knows the Savior can, and has helped her with her pain. But she was TERRIFIED to be baptized.  Satan really had a grasp on her fear and some how manipulated it so she didn’t want to be baptized. We told her she was doing the right thing, and that Satan was just trying to stop her. She knew that this was true.  The morning of the baptism she called to say that “she was just too sick to be baptized today”.   We knew she was scared again.  Hermana Hernandez talked to her for a LOOOOONG time on the phone. This was the last week she had in the area and she wanted to see Adriana baptized. We convinced her to come to the usual church services prepared to be baptized . If, when the moment came, she didn’t want to be baptized no one was going to force her to do anything she didn’t want.
Church ended and Adriana said no. She just couldn’t do it. We tried not to act too devastated, but we helped Alex and Niyeli get ready for the baptism.  At one point, Adriana pulled my companion aside and told her exactly why she was so scared.  Again, its probably a little too sensitive to post on the internet for all to see.  She told my companion she couldn’t live with the pain any more, that she needed a new life,  that she wanted to be baptized.  WE were so happy!

Faith conquers fear once again! TAKE THAT SATAN! (Name that movie)
That afternoon (Sunday) we also watched the missionary broadcast. HOLY COW! Was it amazing or what? It made me so happy to be here on a mission. The world is changing, one heart at a time! Its so neat to be in the mission field at such an amazing and historic time for the church! #bringtheworldhistruth
And last, but not least, me and my companion just got home from Panama. Okay. That is only half true. Friday my companion got a call that she needed to leave the country and return to renew her visa.  I was invited, and because we couldn’t stand the thought of being apart on our last few days together, I went along.  We left Sunday for San Jose. Monday morning we woke up at four a.m. and road tripped to Panama.  I actually really loved the car ride. COSTA RICA IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I got to see my first glimpses of the ocean here and we basically drove down a rode that followed the shore line all the way down into panama. It was about a 6 hour drive. 
Once we got there it was kind of a joke. First of all, PANAMA IS SKINKIN HOOOOOOOT. Costa Rica can be hot too, but holy cow. Panama takes the cake.  What we had to do was legally check out of Costa Rica at Boarder patrol, Check in to panama, check out of panama and then check back into Costa Rica. Sounds simple. Apparently they have done this before.  But this day Panama boarder control decided to enforce a law that says each person must prove that they have at least $500 to prove they “can make it” in panama.  The immigration secretary for the mission started having a conniption fit with the boarder control, with our immigration lawyer on the phone  but luckily, not with us.  The problem is that as missionaries, we don’t exactly have $500 in our pockets.  Okay, so we can’t check into panama. But technically we are only here to check back into Costa Rica.  Problem. Its hard to check into a country if you don’t actually check into another country. So this was like a five hour drama of running back and forth over the boarder from Costa Rican Boarder control to Panama Boarder control. Also, remember how its like stiffeling hot? Super fun.
We eventually got everything all straightened out, and my visa has been renewed.  12 hours in a car ride was almost fun.
And now Questions from our readers:
What is dyai?
dyai is a word.... that is used for everything. When you are surprised, you say dyai. When you are frustrated, dyai. When you are excited you exclaim "dyai!" Dyai is Dyai. Also, I am not sure how it is spelt. Possibly Diay? Pronounced Deeaye. D.I.
What happened when you arrived at the temple with no recommend? As a missionary, do they just assume you are worthy? Or a call to the mission president? 
Well, I had to fill out a form for the Temple president to look me up I the system and make sure I was worth and such. But as a missionary, they weren’t too worried about it and let me in while we waited for him to get off the phone.
Last but not least I wanted to share my new favorite scripture with you all.   Shared with me by a dear friend, and fellow missionary  serving in  Texas, Houston East.
Luke 4:18-19

18 The aSpirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath banointedme to cpreach 

the dgospel to the epoor; he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted, to fpreach g

deliverance to the hcaptives, andrecovering of sight to the blind, to set at iliberty them that arebruised,

 19 aTo preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

I hope that I can serve an acceptable year and two more months of the Lord.
Love, Hermana Patterson

Templo

Hola friends and family.
Good news. These last 10 days have been sooooo much better than the week before!
Today I am writing you from a stinky internet café in San Jose where the space button doesn´t always work! Why you ask? TODAY WE WENT TO THE TEMPLE!!!!!!!!
First time IN the Costa Rican temple, and who forgets their recommend? THIS HERMANA! Que verguenza! My excuse is we left the house at 4 am this morning.  We bused to San Jose, and then took a train to Belen, which is actually where the Temple is. Such a pretty area. Perfect mixture of city and countryside. I am super jealous of the missionaries in this area.
First thing cool about this temple, its only one level. I have never been to another temple like it. Its so crazy that the baptistery and all the ordinance rooms are on THE SAME LEVEL. Weird. But I think I like it!  It was pretty cool to see so many other missionaries from other areas. And I have missed the temple so much. There have been so many times in these 4 months (wooo! Tomorrow is my 4 month mark! Can you believe that you have lived without me this long? Haha) I have wished I could just sit in the temple and feel the peace of the spirit that is so strong there.  We did the session in Spanish (obvi!) which was cool. I was happy with how much I understood, so that is a blessing right there.  Me and my companion spent so much time just sitting in temple, enjoying it that we actually got kicked out for the workers lunch break. It was awesome.  It was also a little bit sad because I was hoping to buy a couple of things in the distribution center at the temple, but it was also closed when we left. Super bummed.  Maybe next time.
This week has been crazy preparing for 3 baptisms. 3!!! This Saturday! I don´t want to give too much information on who because I need something to keep you coming back each week. Consider this your cliff hanger!
We had a multi-zone conference last week on pride. Wow. I got a spiritual thrashing. If any of you haven´t read the talk by President Ezra Taft Benson Beware of pride . Read it. Read it right now. I have done some serious repenting and will continue to repent forever and ever.  Its amazing the different forms pride can take, and we don’t even realize it. Life. CHANGER.
I have been #hashtagging in my mind lately, and I want to start writing them down in my planner and share them with you when I feel like it. #letsstartnow

#superhispterecofarm

 #dontpooponmebabychicken

#mycompanionlovesme   #shethinksimcrazy   #dyai
#allweeatisbread   #breadmakesyoufat
#goingtothetemple

 #alexisisaboynameapparently 

Apparently Alexis is a boy name here. RUDE. 

 #obsessedwithdyai
Im tired of typing. This space bar is the worst. But I hope you all have a superb day!
Love, Hna. Pat.

Costa Rica Screamin'

Hola todos!

I am not even sure where to start. If life on a mission is an emotional roller coaster, then I would name this week California Screaming. Okay, no, Costa Rica Screamin'. It started out peacefully. We had a goal of 30 (¡!!) lessons this week. We were nervous, but we had faith it could happen. As we started out we thought, ´´Now this isn´t so bad, I can totally handle this¨. Then just like California Screamin', we shot off and we couldn´t really breathe because we were moving so fast.

The ups-

We had another baptism this week. It was an easy one.

An 8 year old who has gone to church all his life with his grandma and was just waiting to turn eight.  It was fun to teach the lessons in ¨kid form¨. I passed the interview with FLYING colors. He´s a totally sweet kid named Isaac, and it was fun to spend time with him this week. He was so excited. His grandma told us he was informing EVERYONE on the bus ¨this Sunday I am getting baptized¨ and really I am not surprised. The kid is a HOOT.

Also we worked out tails off this week. All day ér day. We had a mission goal to hit 30 lessons this week. We prayed and went forward with faith. Um…. No big deal or anything but we ended the week with 43. HOLY MIRACLE. I am a little worried that we started out so strong, and it might be a little unrealistic to have that many every week, but we were so happy! We worked so hard for it, and we BLEW IT OUT OF THE WATER. Awwww yeeeeeeea  boooooi.

Also we have a solid 6 investigators with secure baptismal dates. I am optimistic that almost all will be baptized.

The Downs- 

This week was the most frustrating yet. We were working out tails off, but it felt like everyone in the world needed to tell us we weren´t good enough. We weren´t working hard enough. The Elders are better than the Hermanas (Machimso, male chauvinism, is a problem in CR. Sadly, even in the church) and much much more. We got a load of criticism this week when we were having the most success. Ironic isn´t it? We were seeing more miracles and hearts changing in one week, and I guess Satan just needed to try and stop us. TOO BAD SATAN. THIS ROLLERCOASTER HAS ONLY GOTTEN STARTED. We spent more that one night in tears, comforting each other, praying for strength and asking for advice from our Zone leaders (Who are awesomely protective).  They are absolutely LIVID. Hopefully things change this week.

Also, Isaacs baptism was…. interesting. Okay, it was so sad. The pool decided to give us more issues than ever. The most it would give us was half and it was full of cold hose water, like usual. The poor kid could not get his entire body under water. He kept kicking his legs up. He was freezing, embarrassed and started to cry. Finally they kicked everyone but the two witnesses and his grandma out. He was not a happy camper after. Poor kid will always remember his baptism as a trauma.  The part that makes you want to throw up-  

Knowing that you need another 30 lessons this week. Also, you have 10 or more days until your next Pday. Gulp. Let the prayers begin.

And now begins the part where you exit the roller coaster, a little dizzy, giggling with joy and trying to decide if you would do it all over again. Lets pray that this week is more mild with only sunshine and roses. Ha. No way a mission is that easy.  

And now, Questions from our readers:

How are you doing? Good. Very good. I am happy. Basically healthy (minus a mild cold) and loving Costa Rican life.

Are you sick of your companion yet? Depends on the day. Its hard to be with anyone for 24/7, but I am lucky to have her. I know she is DEFINITELY one of the easiest companions I will have. We are besties. We laugh and cry together. We have never had an actual FIGHT, (knock on wood) and I will be super sad when our time together ends in a few weeks.

 Are you sick of rice and beans?  Sigh…. Getting there.

Any new things that you've discovered and love? Oh ho ho yes. I have a running list that I am saving for my 100^th day in CR.

Any monkeys yet? Bitter bitter bitter…. No.

Favorite scripture lately? 

I find myself quoting this part of 1 Sam. 2 :30

30 Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the ^ahouse of thy father, should ^bwalk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that^chonour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly^desteemed.

Snail out!

Hermana Patterson 

Ps one of our investigators was sending dollars to their family in Nicaragua. We took a picture and I think Bernal's face is funny in this one... haha.