Hello my family! 

It's going good here. I sometimes find it frustrating that my companions sometimes treat the mission like a vacation away from home...but they're also trunky (only have 2 months left), so there's that....I've been told by my district leader over the phone, that I need to try and be an example to them and step it up, because my comps an be a bit lazy sometimes....but it's hard when I'm the greenie and they have each other and will both be returning to Guatemala in 2 months. I love them though, and will do my best to get us all to be more productive.

        Despite our slacking-ness, however, we have a beautiful family of investigators (i mentioned last time) that came this week for the second time to church, and after we mentioned that they should get married (no one here gets married...it's just the way it is in Costa Rica) Juan Antonio (the father) went and bought a ring and will propose soon. We're going to help them plan the wedding! I love seeing them progress, especially since their daughers are so adorable and remind me of our family a little bit. Especially Loida, who is six, and acts and even looks a bit like Emma (other than the fact that emma is not a tica...ha). I hope to send pictures of them sometime. The father smokes and drinks, but has promised to quit...and as fate would have it, the lesson in the principles class this sunday (which he attended) was about Ayuno (the fast) and how fasting can help us to overcome addictions and become more spiritually strong. It was really awesome. We text him every night at around 6pm, when he said his urges to smoke are strongest, to help him remember his promise. One good thing is that his soon to be wife, said she won't marry him unless he stops smoking :) I love this family so much, and hope to find more like them.

I will be going on splits this week (wednesday) to Belen so I will get to see how another companionship works. I'm pretty excited and nervous because I will probably have to go way out of my comfort zone...it's good for me. 

Thanks so much for your prayers and examples of a happy family! I love you all so much and want you all to continue growing and learning! Spiritually especially, but it's awesome that you're learning sign lanugage mom! Everyone should have a desire to learn something new and challenging. 

Mucho amor, 

Hermana Sarah Flake