We had a great week here in Aserri.
This last week the mission recieved new missionaries from the MTC (we recieve and send home missionaries every 6 weeks). My companion was excited because she doesn´t feel like a baby anymore! There are missionaries in the field who have less time than her. Haha. I remember feeling that way too. On tuesdays we always have district meetings. Hna Bay and Hna Roundy (The Sister training leaders who share an area with us) couldn´t make it to the meeting, because they were going to bring some new girls to our area to work for a day. While at the district meeting, the office called us too, letting us know that we would be taking some of them to our area as well. It turned out that we each got a new sister missionary, including my companion. She was nervous, but did GREAT. I was with Hna Holbrook from Alpine, Utah (no relation to Alee) and I am sad now that I am realizing that I didn´t take a single picture with her.... booooo. They all looked so overwhellmed and tired, I totally remember my first few days in Costa Rica, and I am sure I looked even MORE worn out. All the gringas actually had pretty great spanish for being so new, but it helped me remember how far I´ve come. I felt especially bad when our last lesson together was with a very intelligent youth pastor of another church who asked a lot of profound questions. Lets just say I did most of the talking, but at the end, she shared a very sweet testimony that he appreciated a lot.
This week our ¨mom¨ Aura (A member who cooks and does laundry for us) Was on vacation for Semana Santa (Holy Week.... observations to come) in Nicaragua. We ended up eating with a different family in the ward every day. It was really fun! We got to know a lot more families and it was a good experience for everyone. This is the first place in my mission that the members get excited and have a sign up list to feed us! How we love the members in Aserri!
On friday, we had a ward missionary work BBQ. It had a great turn out and quite a few investigators came and got to know members of the ward. SUCCESS! One of our investigators even asked someone he met at the BBQ to be the one to baptize him! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAayeeeeaaaa. Also, Jose (with the jacket on his face.... goober), Kelli (Ricks future wife), and Limber came. They are some of my new favorite investigators. WE have a lot of fun teaching them because they are very spiritual people. Their whole lives they have been trying to do what god wants for them. They read the bible AND apply to thier lives (They DO exist! haha). They always have very thoughtful and deep questions which shows us that they are really understanding and applying the things we are teaching them. Lets just fill up the font now, shall we? 
We had our first baptism yesterday! What a relief! Its been kind of a crazy ride, but it finally happened. Her name is Dayana. Her family was all baptized in Nicaragua about 7 years ago, when she was little. They were all very active and were even preparing to enter the temple to be sealed as a family. Before they could go through, they moved to Costa Rica and lost contact with the church, so they have been inactive for their entire time here. W really love their whole family. Its fun to watch the parents re-learn the gospel principles they already knew and apply them to their lives again.
Our first week here in Aserri, we decided to sing. All 4 of us like to, sOo it seemed like a good idea. Now, we have become the ward choir singing almost every week. (Ain´t no body got time for dat) and each time feeling the need to be prettier than the week before. This week we tried to get a little fancy and Hna Bay was singing the tenor line an octive higher of How great thou art. We ended up going way flat.... awkward. Thats what happens when you ask sister missionaries who dont have time to practice to sing. haha. NO, we love it. It always brings the spirit, and its fun to invite people to come to church to see you sing. 
On Sunday morning, at 6:30 am on the dot, there was a loud knock at the door. Being in the middle of my morning prayer, it honestly scared me. I went to go open the door, and this is what the Easter bunny left.....
Easter in Costa Rica has honestly surprised me. First of all, the big occasion isn´t actually Easter in itself, it´s the week leading up to Easter. Everything shuts down and everyone goes on vacation. They party ALL week long and if they aren´t members they drink the week away (way to celebrate the resurrected Christ guys.....). I was just excited to have Reeses peanut butter cups! I forgot how GOOD those things are! American candy come back!
The best part of my Easter was getting to church and finding CLAUDIA! Her mom drove her all the way from Escazu to come suprise me and bring me a cupcake for my birthday and a m&m Easter egg for Easter! I was so excited I almost started crying! I love her so much! Thanks for the surprise Clau! I am so excited to spend the fall semester at BYU with you!
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