Roadbumps

We don't see many stop signs here, but the road bumps are endless.  

This week was not as peachy as the last, I hate to say.  Our investigators are hitting some road bumps that are causing them to wobble.  This is a hard fight we are in, to fight for our salvation.  Just when we think we are about to find safety the adversary comes and clotheslines us!  But Jesus Christ is always stronger and He is always there to reach out a hand and help us up, or carry us the rest of the way.  That is the beauty of it all.  No matter what happens, Jesus Christ is our Savior and we can always turn to Him.  That is the lesson of the week, my friends.

Saturday was Felíz Día de Primavera!!  And it rained all the day!  So spring is here but the cold spouts are not over.  Some days it feels like we are in an oven and some days we are all decked out in our winter wear.  Today it is nice, the sky a lovely celestial blue. :)

The other hermanas in the ward had a beautiful baptism this week.  A man of 83 years entered into the waters of baptism, leaving his cane on the stairs.  After he came up out of the water his wispy hairs were all askew and as he ascended the stairs he turned to the ward mission leader, who is bald, and said, "Che, hermano, do you have a brush?"  Well we had a good laugh at that.  He is so prepared.  After a lifetime of smoking and a month of trying with all his might to quit, he was ready for that baptism and the whole ward rejoiced.  I love baptisms.

Well family, the work is always moving forward and we are working, working, working!  I am excited for all the good that the gospel brings to the world.  There is nothing better than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It can turn frowns into smiles.  We see it day by day.  I send my love!!

Hermana Peterson

Amor

This place is full of it.  There is love everywhere.  And this week I really felt it.  Hermanita Henao se fue a otro barrio and the big surprise was that Hermana Salas, who left on Monday, returned with me on Wednesday!  So now we are working together, just us two, and it was weird for the first day or two.  We are learning well together and we had a wonderful week.

We worked hard to have daily contact with our investigators this week and the results were miraculous.  Juana and Gabriel have told us that they have no doubt that this is the truth and are excited for their baptisms this month.  They came to Church and everyone welcomed them with open, loving arms.  Jonathan and Angie are living la Palabra de Sabiduría and Jonathan began praying for a new job so he can keep the Sabbath Day holy.  They came to Church and Jonathan told us he has a new job in a bakery, Monday-Saturday. :)  Silvia, who has been meeting with missionaries off and on for months, read Alma 34 four times this week and came to Church for the first time.  The hand of the Lord is undeniable in the lives of these wonderful people.  We were all smiles at Church yesterday.

The Lord really prepares people to receive the truth.  I love watching Him work in the hearts of people as they put it all on the line and trust in Him.  The blessings that come from going to Church are incredible.  I dont think I noticed the blessings from church attendance much before, but here I can see it clearly.  In our District Meeting this week we talked about the blessings of church attendance and how we can help people to attend.  The truth is that the Lord promises us the fulness of the earth if we sanctify this holy day, which basically means He promises us everything if we will take this time to worship Him.  I love it.

I am happy.  I am learning. I am seeing that we are all children of God and that He has so much more for us than we can imagine.  In a world of darkness He offers us light.

Family, I love you.  You are the greatest blessing in my life.  Be well.

Singin' in the rain

When it rains it really RAINS here!  Everyone kept talking about the rain and how it rains all the time but after six weeks here and hardly seeing a drop I was beginning to doubt.  Well the rain finally came.  And it rained and rained and rained.  And we got wet.  The best part is that in bad weather here everything shuts down.  Nobody goes to school, nobody goes to work.  Everyone stays inside drinking mate.  Luckily we had lots of citas the day of the rain so we were content.  The next morning the power went out in the whole town and we planned by cellphone-light.  It came back on that night and people say it is fairly normal that that happens after rain. So now I know that everyone was telling the truth- it rains a lot here in Buenos Aires.  Which I am pretty excited about.

Well the dear Hermana Salas got a phone call today that she will be leaving us today.  We thought for sure she would stay with us until Wednesday when we have transfers, but apparently the Lord needs here elsewhere ahorita.  So now we wait and see what Wednesday will bring.

Our ward is so awesome.  We had some incredible lessons this week, thanks to the testimonies and friendship of the members.  Jonathan and Angie are progressing well and last night we had a mini FHE with two young married couples.  It was exactly what they needed, I believe.  My heart gets so happy when I see members befriending and testifying with the Spirit to our investigators.  It is so critical and beautiful.  It makes everything better.  These two young coupes testified that obeying all the commandments of God brings blessings, it brings love, it brings happiness.  Then we all ate popcorn and avocado sandwiches and smiled at eachother because the Gospel is so true.  People grow up fast here.  They have to.  This life we all live is not fair, it is not easy, and often it is not so pretty.  But with Jesus Christ things get better.  With Jesus Christ and His teachings we really can have a new heart and we really can have peace.  The peace that Jesucristo brings is different than anything else we an feel.  It is powerful.  It can change us.

We went around to the houses of our investigators yesterday morning helping them to get to Church.  I couldnt keep the smile off my face when Gabriel opened the door, ready to go in a suit.  He wasnt sure if he wanted to go on Saturday afternoon and yet something helped him decide and act.  Way to go, Gabriel.

I love Argentina, I love Castellano, I love Jesus Christ.

And thats all I have to say about that. (Mentiras, I could say a lot more! Until next Monday, entonces.)

Con mucho cariño,

Hermana Peterson

Out of the comfort zone

Hermana Salas is pushing us to become better missionaries here and now!  And it hurts a little.  My heart is so stubborn and wants to stay where it is comfortable, but waiting to change for the better is often just another way of never changing.  So we are sucking it up and making changes.  This is the last week of the transfer and we have to be prepared for anything and everything.  We are working hard.

Gerardo is doing great.  He accompanied us in a lesson last night and bore a beautiful testimony of his very favorite thing- prayer.  It touched the heart of an investigator that we had not been able to reach for a good while.  Everyone was edified.  

We are teaching a young couple, Jonathan and Angie, and Angie reminds me of Heidi.  All the young people dress just like you, Heidi.  And Angie is actually the same age as you.  They are both very kind and I love having lessons with them.  They both work in the ferria all weekend so it has been a challenge to get them to Church.  We had a lesson in the church though, and it went well.  People can feel the Spirit in the church.  Stepping out of the world and into a holy place.  They are reading and praying together.

We are also teaching a family that is progressing well, but they were all super sick yesterday and couldn't make it to church. Bummer.  Juana.  Her heart is big and her faith bright.

We have a lot of wonderful people to teach and love right now.  People are good.  People love their families.  They want the best for their children and they try to give them the best they can. People want to believe in God and in truth, but sometimes they don't know how.  That is where the Spirit brings its power.  I am so grateful for the gifts of the Spirit.

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and He knows just how to comfort His people.  He is the light.

Bautismo

Family, this week was one of the very best weeks of my life.  Hermana Salas arrived Tuesday morning at 8am and from there, it was wonderful miracle after wonderful miracle. 

Hermana Salas is from Peru, is 30 years old (though she sure doesnt look it!), and has 16 months in the mission, and she´s so awesome.  Since both hermana Henao y yo are still baby missionaries there were a lot of skills that we were lacking, things that come with experience.  So hermana Salas is whipping us into shape and I love it!  We dont know how long she´ll be here, but due to a series of events in her old area, and the ever-so-perfect timing of the Lord, she´s with us right now and I´m pleased.  She arrived and we told her about our investigators and the area.  Talking about Gerardo so said, ¨He´s ready to be baptized this Saturday!¨  And shortly after it became apparent that not only was he ready, but that he very much needed to be baptized as soon as possible.  So we met with him every day this week, went to the temple grounds on Friday, and he was baptized on Saturday!  It was such a great service and it was so real.  I don´t know how else to describe it.  When he came out of the water it really was a new birth, he really did enter into the gate, he really was made clean.  

Before the baptism he absolutely refused to take a picture.  Said he has never liked pictures and he would not do it no matter how we begged.  So we took one with Antonio, a recent convert of three months who was the one to baptize Gerardo, leaving a space for where Gerardo should have been.  I´ll send the pictures, they´re great.  After he came out of the water he couldn´t keep the smile off his face and we took a picture right there in the door of the bathroom! He was so happy.  It was incredible.  

He was confirmed yesterday.  Family, I feel so happy!!!!  Heavenly Father prepares people.  Not just a few people either, but lots and lots of people.  Now we are teaching Juana, another incredibly prepared hijo de Dios.  She attended the baptism and felt the Spirit.  She came to all three hours of church on Sunday.  Miracle after miracle after miracle.

I´m learning so much and I love seeing how the Gospel of Jesus Christ changes people.  Faith is a real power.  God is aware of each child and does everything possible to bring us to Him.  He has a plan and it is perfect.  Jesus Christ is our Savior.

I love being a missionary. What a privilegio. 

Besitos,

Hermana Peterson

okay so from left to right it goes Salas, Catillo, Henao, yo, Davis. We all live in the same apartment, cover the same ward.  We have a lot of fun.

                                                            My mini companion.  I am a giant.

                                                                  choripan, close up

                                                                                           gifts from Gerardo!

I love Argentina! Good pic, no?

Meet the wet Gerardo!

funnies

Hermana Henao and I were walking to an appointment and I read a sign and didn´t understand what it was for so I asked and she told me, it is where they sell pañales, which I knew meant tissues, but thought that was a strange thing to advertise so I asked, Like the pañales I use for my nose?  Well hermana Henao thought this was very funny and then she told me pañales are diapers.  Then we talked about having little diapers for our noses and we laughed because we are funny.

We taught an investigator the law of chastity and it went very well.  Afterwards he went home and told his mom he learned about the law of castration. Yikes.

Something that has been happening too frequently is that I´ll be teaching something, completely focused, and an English word will come out of nowhere! It´s horrible because it throws me off, catches me off guard and everyone looks at me all confused. jajaj.  It is so strange.  It´s always with words I know well in Spanish, too, like cuando. Why?

The work is progressing here in Buenos Aires and it is wonderful.  We are working hard to have a baptism before the end of the month and so far everything is looking great.  The Lord is in this work.  The Church of Jesus Christ has been restored and I love it!  We just received news that we will be receiving a third companion tomorrow night, not sure who it is. Exciting!

Love you all.  Keep following Christ and all will be well.  It´s true!

Loves,

Hermana Peterson

La Puerta

It is baptism! And the Spirit testifies it to people every day. Being a missionary is hard and so awesome.  I want to tell you every detail and yet time never permits it!

We went to transfers last Wednesday and it was incredible.  President Carter invites everyone to the transfer meeting every six weeks whether you are being transferred or not.  We are all in a huge gym, sitting with our zones, watching slideshows on a huge projector.  We watched a video of the past month with pictures of all the baptisms, of testimonies of the recently departed missionaries (powerful!), and then after all that- the transfers!  It is dramatic, with each companionship going up on the screen one by one and then the Assistants announce, "Elder Soandso se va and Elder Whatshisbucket recibira..... Elder Whatshisname!!" And then all the missionaries clap like crazy.  It was so fun and exciting.  We are a united team.  President Carter knows what he is doing.  I love it.  We have a mission song that makes me cry every time.  I love being a missionary.

We were waiting for el colectivo (bus) one day this week and hermana Henao stopped a man walking by to invite him to Church.  He told us he has a step-brother that is mormon and that he was willing to meet with us and tehn the colectivo came and we quickly wrote down his address.  Our plans fell through later than day and we were near his house, so we decided to stop by and see if he was home.  He came out and talked to us at his gate for a while, saying he had verguenza to let us in his house where his family would hear.  He had lived a rough life but had recently had some powerful experiences that made him make some drastic changes.  He kept telling us that he couldn´t believe we had actually come.  We really wanted to share the Restoration with him so we asked if we could just sit outside so he went to get some chairs when his mom came out and said, "What are you doing? They can come in the house- we´ve had lots of mormons in the house before!"

Turns out half the people that live in that house are mormons and he had no idea!  His step-dad started pulling up videos on their computer that they had taken of some missionaries singing them a song and everything.  He was just as astonished as we were.  It was great.  We had a great lesson with him and his little step-brother accompanied him to Church yesterday.  He has been so prepared.  He is reading the Libro de Mormon and preparing well for his baptism.  He felt the Spirit so strongly in the capilla.

The Lord is opening our mouths and leading us to prepared people.  His hand is leading this Church and this work.  He helps us to realize we can do so much more than we ever thought possible.  I love these people!  I love seeing the Spirit teach someone what it means to believe in a Savior, that baptism really is the gate through which we must enter, that families really are eternal, that the Book of Mormon really is the word of God.  I know it is true.

I love you. Thanks for being so wonderful and loving and supportive.  Have fun and be safe!! So excited to see the pictures!  You´re all just the BEST!

besitos,

Hermana Peterson