Starbursts, Baptisms, and Birthdays

(Dec. 30, 2013)

Dad!!!!!!!!!! HAPPPPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope this day is rockin'!

 

And also HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to you guys tambien. Mom and dad.

 

Well, like always, I have a BILLION things to say and never enough time.

 

It was soooo good to see your cute little faces on Christmas!!!! I know none of you could really hear me, but it was still such a blessing :)

 

This Christmas was AMAZING. At our Fiesta de Navidad con todos los misioneros, my companion Hma. Rodriguez told me that Juan Carlos got baptized and I got to see pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Juan Carlos was a referencia de un menosactivo and I taught him for a while before translados. Best Christmas present ever. 

Also, you all sent me Starbursts and I seriously could have DIED HAPPY. I don´t know how long I have been craving those. Haven´t made the pumpkin cookies yet but I´m so excited about those. :)

 

Thank you so much for your love and gifts and letters!

 

Alright, so excitement. Our air conditioning is broken so during the day we freeze water bottles and at night we strip down and sleep with our frozen water bottles by our sides ha ha. 

Oh man. 

The life of a missionary. 

I love it. :)

 

Oscar came to a baptism and to church. He asked us if he had to wear long pants. We told him that if he didn´t want to he didn´t have to. He came wearing swim shorts, tank top, soccer shoes, a baseball hat and sunglasses... I think all the members were jealous because the fans and air conditioning were broken. 

Oscar- the only one that´s got it figured out. :)

 

I love you guys!!! 

Merry Christmas!

Happy New year! 

Hermana Peterson

Milagros

Milagros [miracles]. Cada dia [each day]!! En serio [seriously]! It´s amazing. Se que esta es la obra del Senor [This is His work].

God is always helping us out. Sunday we went to go pick up Victor for church and his kids were crying because they wanted to come too. So we ended up waiting para siempre [forever] for them to hurry and shower and get dressed for church. We missed the bus. When Hermana Melton and I make that walk it takes about 20 minutes if we are almost running. (We would know).  But, with Victor and his kids, at the rate we were walking... we would still be walking. 

We were both praying so hard that some how we could get to church on time and take the sacrament. We were talking about calling a taxi but in the past we´ve had to wait about 15 minutes for them to come get us and there were some problems with the number we had that I won´t take time to explain all that. Haha ANYWAY. Praying hard. 

We got to the place where we would normally catch the bus and at the same time we were passing the bus stop a taxi was pulling up to drop someone off right there. Miracle. Got to la capilla [the chapel] at exactly 9:00. 

Otro Milagro de Domingo [Another Sunday miracle]. Ultimo Domingo [Last Sunday], Victor´s kids didn´t make it through Sacramental and he ended up missing about half the meeting. So this Sunday, I was praying the whole time that his kids would be good so he could be there for the entire meeting. They were little angels. But God likes to stress me out a little because the speakers talked PARA SIEMPRE and the meeting went 20-30 minutes over time. HA. Milagro. Literally, a miracle because me and mi companion were getting way more antsy than Victor´s kids were. 

While Solidad was being confirmed in sacrament meeting, Victor leaned over to me during the blessing and was like, "How do you feel right now? Do you feel that?"  I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.  It´s seriously THE COOLEST THING EVER to see people being able to feel the spirit for maybe the first time in their lives and help them recognize what that AWESOME feeling is.

Did I already talk about how HOT it is here? I can´t remember the last time I was dry. Rexburg is sounding like HEAVEN right now. 

I started reading the New Testament last week! I love it. One thing that I always have thought is SO cool is how Jesus does so much for people. When he´s sad and tired and hungry and hurt he is still performing miracles and still teaches and is still an example. Even though our life as missionaries is NOTHING compared to what Jesus went through, I feel like we have had a little taste of that this week and I´m trying so hard to respond as Jesus would. 

It´s HARD to act happy and be happy for the next lesson after an investigator tells you not to come back, or it´s hot or your fasting or people are super mean or all of the above at the same time! Haha But Jesus was a PERFECT example of this and I totally want to be like that. 

I don´t think I will have the opportunity to email you next Monday, so hasta Navidad [until Christmas]!!

Love you all!

Meg

Doing SO GOOD

We got to see a little bit of the First Presidency Christmas message. All the missionaries in our zone that speak English crowded around a computer in the church to watch it in English. :) Haha, it was cute. I LOVE hearing from the prophet. 

This week, this random guy came out of his house while we were walking by and was like, "Hey! Can you come teach me and tell me about your church sometime?" HA. Can we? We walk around in the HEAT all day looking for people who will listen to us. Can we come teach you? joke. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon a little bit and are going back to see him again this week. STOKED. 

Edgardo. He is hilarious. He didn't come to church and later yesterday while we were walking he flagged us down on his bike. He was apologizing for not coming to church. And was telling us why he couldn't come. Someone in his girlfriend's family found out they had cancer.
And then the other excuse was because his bird died. I thought he was kidding, so I laughed out loud...  

Oh man. This bird. It flew into their house and so he caught it and has been keeping it in a shoe box feeding it bread & water.  "...and my bird died. It's been a rough day." He's like 30 I think. 

Legit excuse though. He's coming next week.

Love you all!!! Sounds like you are doing so good!!! I'm so jealous that I'm not there to go skiing and snowboarding with y'all. Have fun!!!!!

Lovs. Hermana Megan Peterson

Megan's Address in Argentina

WRITE ME!!!

My address in Argentina:
(This is the office address. So it should be good the rest of the time I am in Argentina).
Hermana Megan Peterson
Mision Argentina Resistencia
Entre Rios 435
Resistencia Chaco CP 3500
Argentina

You can also send a letter through DearElder. It is free.
-Go to DearElder.com
-Enter the mission:  Argentina Resistencia
-Type away & they mail the letter!

Wake up! It's time to hear the Gospel!

I´m so glad you guys had a good Thanksgiving!!! It sounds like it was fun!

I´m definitely grateful for you guys and I´m so grateful that my family can be together forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dora has a ton of kids and then random people live with them so we always run into some interesting people over there. None of them really like us. When we went over there this week, her crazy son came to the door holding a GIANT knife. The biggest kitchen knife I´ve ever seen. It was slightly intimidating. And so hard to concentrate on what he was saying because the whole time we were watching the knife. After we were done talking to him, we were both laughing SO HARD because neither of us really knew what he said. Hopefully nothing super important... :)

Ok, so we were talking to this atheist guy. Super nice, but totally not interested. He was like, "I like to read books from the United States." He kept trying to describe these books to us and I had NO idea what in the world he was talking about. Then he goes into his house and brings out a John Grisham book. haha SO funny. Reminded me of that one Christmas when mom and dad got the same John Grisham book for each other.

Anyway. Random.

Same guy, his friend pulls up on a bike and Atheist man is like, maybe you will have better luck with my friend. His friend is like, "Ya! totally. What church are you from? Do you have something to write down my address? When can you come over? Right now? You can come over right now?" 

HA! Of course we could. 

We went over to teach his wife, who is un pocito crazy, but when we went back yesterday we had THE COOLEST lesson with them. He loved everything and told us that he thinks everything we are saying is true. They are preparing to get baptized on the 21st.

They have what they call siesta here. Where EVERYONE sleeps from like 1 to 4ish or later. It´s super hard to work during this time because people always come to the door and say, "Don´t you know it´s siesta right now. Everyone is sleeping. Stop bothering us." It´s especially bad right now because it´s summer and so we are LITERALLY the only people walking the streets at that time. It´s basically a ghost town. Wake up!!

SO. Presidente Heyman changed our horario that we work. We get up at 7:00 now (It´s like God knew me when he called me to this mission or something), work in the mornings, study during siesta and work again at night until 9:30 instead of 9. 

Still hot. 

We had a SUPER rough day this week. But at the very end of the day, our last leccion of the night, Raquel told us that while reading the Book of Mormon she felt the spirit and reading the Book of Mormon made her feel so good. She was so excited to tell us about it. It´s funny how that .5% of our day that was good made up for all the hard stuff. I don´t know how the math works out but that´s how the entire mission is. Those small moments of joy and happiness make everything worth it (Alma 26:30).

Love you guys!!

Hermana Peterson

Prayers. Don't Forget.

Family!!!

Ok. Exciting news. Dora is getting baptized this Saturday! She is the coolest person ever. I seriously love this lady so much. The first time we met her, she was super skeptical and she told us she wouldn't get baptized. So. When we asked her again to be baptized, not gonna lie, I was surprised when she said yes. Haha, I was kinda shocked so there was this long pause before we said anything or got excited for her. Hahaha, oh man. 

Other news. This last week at a multi zone conference, my companion and I got the "Award" for the mas joven companerismo. Ha. Not sure how I feel about that. Panic. 

Saturday, we finished everything we had planned and we had time to visit one more person, so we said a pray to guide us to who we needed to visit. My companion instantly thought of this couple we had contacted before, so we started walking to their house when we "accidentally" passed by the house of Victor and Raquel. Their puerta fue opened, so we stopped to talk to them. We have been thinking about dropping them because they haven't come to church. We had an awesome leccion and talked about el dia de reposo. AND GUESS WHO CAME TO CHURCH THE NEXT DAY. Victor, Raquel and their two little kids. 

I know God answers prayers. I know God listens to our prayers. Mormon 9:2. Usually we just have to ask. That's all! 

One of my favorite things here on my mission is listening to people offer their first prayer. I feel so blessed that I've had prayer my whole life that I could always rely on and it´s so humbling to teach other people how to communicate with their Heavenly Father. 

Don't forget to pray! It's such a blessing!

Love you guys!

Hermana Peterson

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Ok, so I think I have been talking about how much I love meeting people and how that´s my favorite part of my mission so far because God gave me a ton of interesting people to talk to this week. We have been praying that we can talk to some "Plain Janes" now because this week we have had so many INTERESTING lecciones.

Grandma and this other kid play the piano so church is ten times less stressful. 

Martin came to Sacrament Meeting this week! Apparently we didn´t explain well enough to Martin that he could eat the bread and water/he probably couldn´t understand our Spanish... haha... It´s super hard to try to communicate in a different language and whisper.

My companion and I were asked to teach primary. We started out trying to teach a little leccion, but that kind of seemed like it was failing. We basically just sang the whole time. I definitely got a workout doing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" a hundred times. SO fun. People were watching through the window and were probably thinking that the new sister missionaries are CRAZY. But esta bien. I think I´ll opt out of Gospel Doctrine from now on. 

Oh! And speaking of workouts, we live with two other sisters and one of them likes running so I finally have someone that will run with me! 

Exciting news for the week. Someone thought we were from Brazil. Not sure if it´s because our accent is so bad or so good. But I think people see that we are white and automatically think that they can´t understand what we are going to say. So it was super nice to talk to someone that could understand what we were saying. 

Not really sure if I´ve already told you how hot it is in Argentina? It´s HOT.

Right now I´m reading about the brother of Jared. He is so cool. I was trying to picture myself finding some rocks, climbing a mountain and having the faith that somehow God could make the rocks glow. I´m trying to build my faith to be as strong as the Brother of Jared and also the prophet Nephi, the prophet at the time of the coming of Jesus. His faith was so strong that angels ministered to him EVERY DAY. Legit. And to build our faith, we have to do those things we ALWAYS talk about. Like reading scriptures, praying, going to church and living the gospel the best we can! 

LOVE YOU ALL!

Hermana Megan Peterson

When I Grow Up, I'm Living in the City

I´m glad you guys had fun at Disneyland!

This week is a blur. And I can´t remember everything.

We had transfers. And I´m in a new area: Reconquista, Santa Fe. I LOVE IT. It´s way different than my last area. It´s in the city and there are all these cute shops and stuff. I´m way sad though because I loved Clorinda and I´m gonna miss the people there and my missionary friends in my Zone!! And especially the esposa de presidente. She is Hilarious. I´ll try to send a picture of her.

My new companion is Hermana Melton. She´s from Washington. She's awesome. She came straight from the MTC so we are working on our Spanish together. :) Our life is HILARIOUS. Sometimes I say, "Somos misioneras de la iglesia de Jesucristo," the FIRST THING we learned how to say in the MTC basically, and people are like , "Sorry, I can´t understand what you're saying." Joke. But it´s good for us. Learning lots. 

There is this tube in our apartment that birds fly into. We shoved plastic bags in the opening so they couldn´t come in the kitchen. Sometimes they get stuck in there and we have a little chorus/thumping going on every once in a while. So that´s nice. 

Probably my favorite moment this week was when we went to visit a menos activo yesterday. Her daughter is actually a returned missionary and she was there too. We started talking to her and Grandma looks at us and says, "Yep, we are completely inactive!" I lost it. I laughed out loud. They are good people. 

Epi´s daughter is supposed to get baptized this week, so I´m kind of sad that I won´t be there for that. But I´m so grateful that I got to teach their fam. Missing them a lot this week!

We started listening to Christmas music. Kind of old news actually. I started listening to it with Hermana Rodriguez but I don´t think she actually knew it was Christmas music.

So, in Preach My Gospel, there is a page that has a huge list of things that the Holy Ghost does/is. The Holy Ghost is A TON of things. One thing that I´ve learned while I´m here on my mission, is that the Holy Ghost isn´t just a feeling or thoughts or "Conscience," the Holy Ghost is SO MUCH. Which is why God promises us that if we keep his commandments and always remember him, we can have the Holy Ghost with us. Coolest gift ever. Especially in the last little bit, one thing that I´ve noticed is that the Holy Ghost can be a good desire. When people have the desire to change their lives or the desire to do good things- Holy Ghost. You guys should look up the list because there are a ton of great things in there. Chapter 4.

Love you lots!!!

Hermana Peterson

Look who I taught to smile in Pictures!

 Sister Rodriguez! (on the right)

Keeping Busy!!!

FAMMMMMMMM Oh man. This week has been crazy.

We had two other sisters stay with us in our apartment for two days.
PARTY!!!! We got to go on splits. So fun and so crazy. Mainly because
Hermana Morris has been here in Argentina for the same amount of time
as me. We had rockin' leccions, totally lead by the spirit. Honestly, I
don´t know how else people would be able to understand us. SO cool.

This week we have been trying really hard to talk to EVERYONE. And
also to remember to ask for referencias. Miracles. We prayed over our
Member list about who we needed to visit and we haven´t even really visited
any of them because on the way to their house or trying to find their
house we always find other people to visit or get references. God´s plans are a
lot more complicated than ours. I´m pretty grateful that I don´t have
to figure all that out.

Juan Carlos was a referencia de una menosactivo and he seriously is so
cool. He has been addicted to cigarillos por 20 years and wants to
change his life SO MUCH. When we clapped at his door, my companion
says, "Hola, como esta? somos missi..." didn´t get to finish what she
was saying when he goes, "Pueden pasar?" and opens the gate and goes
to get chairs for us.

Juan Carlos is the most sincere investigator I think I´ve ever had. He
listens SO INTENTLY. It kind of stresses me out a little bit because
every word I say has so much meaning. If he doesn´t understand my
spanish he says, "No entiendo, por favor otra vez."

We promised him that if he read the Book of Mormon everyday, he could
stop smoking. Kind of a scary promise to make. But we have faith that
it´s possible! He´s been reading and praying and I´m so excited to see
him progress! Please pray for him because he wants to be baptized but
has to stop smoking. He needs all the prayers he can get.

I was laughing at Sarah´s letter because the same part from Preach My

Gospel has been the theme of our week too. "Nothing happens in
missionary work until you find someone to teach." This is true for
missionaries but it´s also true for members too!!! In this last
conference one of the talks focused on how we need to speak to
everyone! And as missionaries this is something that they tell us over
and over again. But this applies to EVERYONE! So this week try to talk
to more people and you will have more opportunities to share the
gospel :)

I love you all!!!!!
Hermana Peterson

TRAVELERS

What are you guys going to be for Halloween?! I want to see pictures!!!

I read the talk by President Uchtdorf from last general conference about being travelers ("Your Wonderful Journey Home," April 2013). Love it. I´ve been thinking about it ALL WEEK.

Basically, I was thinking about how nervous I was to come to Argentina. SO NERVOUS. I didn´t know what I was getting into, didn´t really know anything... except that there are a lot of dogs and bugs. Both not so good things haha.

Then, I think about how nervous all of us probably were to come down to earth. We knew that Earth was going to be hard and there would be lots of "bugs and dogs" but that it would be the best thing for us. The hard part though is that WE WOULDN´T REMEMBER ANYTHING and we could be born into a family that didn´t have the gospel, or who knows what country we would be going to live in and who knows if we would have the opportunity to EVER hear the gospel. 

All of us here are travelers, trying to make it back to our Heavenly Father, and I am SO lucky AND feel SO BLESSED to know that plan! There are people here still trying to figure out why they are here! It kind of stresses me out. I just want to run around and tell everyone, "Hey! I know why we are here! We have it figured out! I can help you!"  Well. Basically, that´s what I´m doing here. 

Exciting events of this week:

4 people in Relief Society this week! 

New Apartment! The past three weeks we have been washing our hair in the spit (just like Epi and Ignacio). We have transfers this week and next week so it´s possible that paradise will only last for three more days...

My companion said "Panic."

Anyway, 

Love you all!!!

Hermana Peterson

October 21, 2013

Hey fam!!!!!!

It sounds like you guys are doing so good!!! 

I just want everyone to know that your letters and thoughts always brighten my day and make me want to be a better person and missionary!!!! I am so blessed to have such good family and friends!!!!

This week. Oh man. 

Yesterday was Mother´s day here in Argentina! Shout out to mom! The most amazing mom in the world! In honor of Mother´s Day, I gave a ten minute talk in Spanish in Sacrament Meeting. Here, everyone was drinking and doing bad stuff this weekend... which was really sad!! I like Mother´s day in Utah a lot better.

Epi and Ignasio are planning on getting their papers and everything for their wedding this Thursday so they can get baptized! So excited about that. Epi is such a good example to her grand kids. She brings them with her every Sunday. Love her.

Something I´m trying to do this week- 

Pray out loud! 

D&C 19:28. Vocal prayers are SO POWERFUL. And Joseph Smith is an awesome example of that. It´s hard because I have a companion and all that, but:

1. She doesn´t speak English so that works out. 

2. When she´s in the shower I think is a good opportunity, too. 

I love you guys!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Peterson

Moroni

Fam!!!! Hope you guys are rockin' it. 

Ok, I have a ton of random things to tell you about so prepare for whiplash.

I want you all to know that I´ve been eating bananas like crazy. I don´t know what´s wrong with me, but all of a sudden I like them. I eat them with everything. My new favorite thing for breakfast is Pan con Dulce de Leche, bananas with cinnamon sugar. 

This week we walked along the border of Paraguay. Legit. Also, because we are so close to Paraguay a lot of people speak Guarani. A lot of the missionaries have been trying to learn Guarani because a ton of people here speak it. We teach some people that speak Guarani and Spanish so every once and a while we have them translate some words for us. Honestly it all sounds the same to me, like a jumble, so I´m trying to focus on Spanish first, haha.

My mind gets so confused. Sometimes I think I´m talking in English but it comes out Spanish and sometimes I think Spanish and it comes out English. The hardest is when we are teaching a lesson and there is North American music playing in the streets. English in one ear and Spanish in the other. My brain literally hurts at night when I go to bed. 

Epi and Ignacio. Oh man they are champs. They have 12 kids, and then those kids all have a bunch of kids and then they have three pigs, a ton of dogs, 30 chicken/roosters and a parrot that talks. They all live in the same house. We go to pick them up for church and they are like, "Oh church! Let us get ready!" All the hundreds of children strip down and hop into this giant bucket and they take a bath and wash their hair in the spigot in their front yard. Exactly like girls camp when we wash our hair in the spit. Except for at camp, that´s not real life, it´s just a week. Luckily Epi and Ignacio only washed their hair. But. Good news! They want to get married. Yay! It´s awesome that there are so many people in their family because there are lots of people to bring the gospel to! But. The hard part is we never know who to plan for because cada vez we teach a differente persona. 

Sabastian. Oh man. He came to church on Sunday and now he doesn´t drink or smoke. Holla. He is awesome. I'm so excited about him. He reads and he understands and he is just SO ready. Totally prepared. Pray for his sister! She has a crunchy shell.  

I seriously get nervous every time we sing in Sacrament Meeting because it's always an adventure. SO, as for this week- I´m playing the piano and we are singing Senior Te Nessicito or I need thee every hour and an investigator of the Elders who is a little drunk, I´m pretty sure, stands up and starts praising God, Hallelujah Style and runs to the sacrament table. There are only like, 15 people there so the songs are quiet anyway, but everyone stop singing in shock and didn´t know what to do. I just kept awkwardly playing through the song and about the same time I played through all the verses, the Elders had her sitting in her seat again. Interesting. 

It´s been raining like crazy!!!!!! We´ve been rockin' the block in rain botas and jackets. So much mud!!!! 

This week I´ve been studying in Alma. Moroni is in charge these days and there are two different times that he´s like, "If you are going to fight against the people of God and not help us out then we are going to kill you." And then he does. At first, I was like, uhhh, he´s crazy. But God knows that everyone is probably going to think that and so He says right there in the scriptures that we need to be like Moroni and that if everyone is like him, Satan won´t have power over us. I was thinking about it a lot. There is NO room for bad in our lives. And we can´t be slack or accepting of ANYTHING bad. We have to get rid of everything bad. Kill the bad habits. Kill the bad thoughts. We can´t just put it to the side or ignore the little things, we have to ELIMINATE everything that isn´t of God. Gotta kill 'em.

Anyway,

I love you all!!!!

Have the best week ever!!!!

Megan

October 7, 2013

Fam!!!

Miss you guys!!!

I sent you a picture. I´m in Clorinda. Hence the first picture. Here is a scripture to keep in mind as you see pictures of me. Proverbs 28:25. I have a lot of trust in the Lord :) 

Second picture is me and my companion. She is from Peru. She doesn´t smile for pictures. Just stares at the camera. And is kinda of serious. Sometimes it´s funny how opposite we are in pictures. I´m trying to teach her English and she is trying to teach me Spanish. She has the STRONGEST Spanish accent I´ve heard yet... and I'm as American as it gets... so our language study/life is hilarious. 

Conference was soooo good. I was super lucky and got to see it in English!!!!! Me and three other American missionaries. Lots of my questions were answered. I thought of you guys when the choir was singing "Love at home" especially when they zoomed up on grandpa on the high note. It reminded me of our family all loosing it in sacrament meeting every time that song was sung. Made me a little homesick. haha AND I just wanted to tell you guys how grateful I am for you!! I feel like the most blessed person in the world. Seriously, though :) I love you guys like crazy!!!

Can´t believe it snowed and I´m not there for it!

haha

This week we worked super hard to get people to come to General Conference. We found a family that has 12 kids. TWELVE. And all of those kids have kids... and they all live in the same house. 3 of them came to conference Saturday afternoon. So excited. Love them already. Hopefully I will have more time to tell you about them next week!!!

Love you guys!!

The other pic with my companion didn´t attach! Next week!

Hma. Peterson

Mom: letters and packages. I can receive 4 packages for my mission. Packages as in boxes. You can send small things in those padded envelop things. Letters are awesome as always and we get those about once a month when our District Leader goes to Resistencia and can pick them up. I´m not positive but I think DearElder might work too!

Here´s the address:

Hermana Peterson

Mision Argentina Resistencia

Entre Rios 435

Resistencia, Chaco 3500

Casilla de correo 1

Argentina

Caliente!

Fam!!!!

I love you guys.

Ok, so this week has been crazy. 

Beatriz got baptized this week!!!! But of course baptisms never go 100% smoothly. Always an adventure. She was going to get baptized on Saturday but Satan has been working super hard on our District this week. There were a ton of people that were supposed to get baptized but on Thursday EVERYONE fell through. So Beatriz y su hija were the only ones scheduled for baptism. So sad. Anyway. We were getting nervous because her mom, who doesn´t like the church was coming this weekend so we were praying really hard and fasting and the zone leader called us on Thursday and said, "Your investigator has to get baptized tomorrow." Ha. So we went to talk to her about it. Friday, she and her daughter literally had a window of 1 hour to be baptized. Her daughter got home from school at 4 and she had work at 5. And, randomly, she made a big deal out of the water for the baptism needing to be caliente. 

Friday we went early to fill up the font and all that and the water from the last baptism was still in there. Super gross and FREEZING cold. And... wait for it... the drain was broken. Broken. Like the water couldn't drain. Elder Solis and Elder Yaicate were there to help, but no one from the branch or stake could come help. We called EVERYONE. Normally, I would have just been like, "It´s fine. People get baptized in ice cold water all the time." But remember how she made a big deal about the water needing to be hot? We used buckets. BUCKETS. And threw the water out the window, in the toilets and in the sinks frantically trying to drain the water. HILARIOUS. We got half way through and had to start filling it up again.

First problem solved. Second problem. No one from the branch could come so it was literally the elders doing the baptism, us, and the presidents wife. We didn´t have another witness! We called the other elders but they were super far away, so they started running from their area to the church while Beatriz was getting nervous because she had to leave to go to work. We stalled for as long as was possible and then just started the baptism with faith that someone would come that could be a witness. We said the prayer, song, talk and then Elder Yaicate says, "And now we will have the baptism." They walked back to get in the water, and the other elders ran in and stood at the doors to witness. Miracle. 

Her daughter was super scared of the water and didn't get baptized :( Super sad. But it was a huge miracle that Beatriz was baptized on Friday. 

This week I´ve been thinking a ton about the Atonement. I studied Alma Chapters 14 and 15. This is when Zeezrom leads all these people astray and everyone is super wicked and the righteous people are killed. Basically, it´s Zeezroms fault. He feels so bad and has so much guilt that he gets super sick. K this guy was SUPER bad.  And all these bad things happened because of him. BUT. The coolest thing is that through the atonement of Christ, Zeezrom was healed from his physical AND spiritual sickness and became clean again. Even after all the bad things he did. I know that no matter WHAT we do, as long as we are truly repentant, we can be clean again. And this is only possible through the atonement of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Love you all

Remember who you are

Hermana Peterson

Small and Simple Things

oh hey fam!!

Hope life is good!!! I want to hear about your missionary experiences!!!

This week, two of our investigators were supposed to be baptized. But right after the interview and the night before the baptism she broke some commandments. And her daughter didn´t want to get baptized without her mom. She was too scared of the water. Satan BACK OFF. So annoying. But it reminded me of something that Pres. Holland said when he came to talk to us. He talked to us about how Satan tries extra hard during changes in our lives or in "pass offs." Whenever there is a break in the chain of our lives, this is when Satan tries super hard to get us. Most of the time it isn´t enough for us to just stop doing something bad, but we have to fill in with good. Whenever we are trying to do something good, or whenever we are trying to change, Satan is gonna be there. SO we have to be ready!! And prepare. By doing the small and simple things. CADA DIA. Alma 37:6. 

Also, now that she couldn´t get baptized, she´s embarrassed to come to church. Another lesson to learn. It´s so much harder to fix bad things than it is to just not do bad things. 

The food here. SO GOOD. The problem is that people literally feed us enough food for like, 12 people. They don't eat dinner here. We eat lunch with the members instead of dinner. But it´s probably best because some days, the members feed us so much food that I am literally full, like full full, for two days. Good thing I love the food or it would be so much harder! The bishop's wife makes us these fried potato tortillas and milk and rice with cinnamon and vanilla. HEAVEN. I haven´t really had anything weird yet. Just this dessert stuff that is a super sweet jello thing wrapped in cheese. Ya. It´s usually dessert that I get nervous for haha. A couple of my friends have had some horrible food haha but I´ve been super lucky. 

I´m learning a ton about opening my mouth and letting the spirit fill it. It´s so hard, but my Spanish is getting a lot better in lessons. Sometimes, I literally have no idea how I´m going to explain something because I don´t speak Spanish, but somehow it always works out alright. Pray for Johanna! I´m super excited about her ;)

Love you guys!!! 

Hermana Peterson

Cheetah Pants

Fam!!!

Life is great!

We live 6 hours away from the mission home in Resistencia and had to go there twice this week. So we wake up at 2 am, get on the bus, have meetings and get home again at 10 pm. Longest days ever! That´s also why I couldn´t write yesterday :) Next week, I will be writing on Tuesday as well.

Anyway. How is everyone doing? How is the missionary work going in Provo, Utah?? If you are looking for something to do to help the work along, go out with the missionaries! We are always looking for members to come to lessons with us! Investigators need friends in the wards and friends that are members!! Maybe it´s different in Utah because everyone is basically a member, but it would be cool to hear about your experiences with that!

HA! So it´s always hit or miss if we will have hot water or not. This week though, we didn´t have ANY water at all!! We had the hottest day of my entire life. I was so sweaty and all I could think about was how much I wanted to shower. Sometimes God is super funny. Ya. Literally no water. So we went to bed thinking that in the morning the water would start working again. The water stops working every once and a while and we usually just have to wait a few minutes....  nothing. We traveled all day because we had to go down to Resistencia. Another super hot day. Got back at 10. STILL NO WATER. OK. Not funny anymore. You guys. I can´t even explain to you how bad I needed to shower. And how bad I wanted to. Anyway. We had to wake up early the next morning and walk to a member's house to shower and then come back. O man. Argentina. 

We have an investigator that will hopefully get baptized this Saturday!!! So cool, especially because she can´t read.  It´s kind of hard to have people read the Book of Mormon when they literally can´t. But I felt prompted during a lesson to promise her that if she tried to read a verse out loud everyday, she would learn how to read AND gain a testimony. No joke, the next lesson we were reading a scripture and she was reading right a long with us. MIRACLE. 

Also, I have this favorite investigator. I´m not sure if we are allowed to have favorites, but I totally do. Adela. She´s like 60 probably. She's a star. She asks the perfect questions, studies and reads and has spandex cheetah print pants. And the other day she gave us so much food from her little tienda. Nicest lady ever.

The people here. Amazing. People always said that the people here would literally give you the shirt off their back. SO TRUE. The nicest, most humble people. Always offering us water, always giving us food, always taking care of us when I know they are struggling themselves.

I´m trying to be more like this.

I love you all

Hermana Peterson

Attacked

Fam!!!

It´s so good to hear from you! I feel so blessed and I´m so grateful for all your support and love :) Thanks to everyone that prays for me. I really can feel your love. Especially this Friday I could really feel the prayers of all of you so thanks to who ever was praying for me, haha. 

Happy Birthday Abby!!! On the 14th!!!! I´m sad I can´t be there!!! But have the best day ever!! I love you!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

I always have a million things to tell you so I´ll just start from the top and hopefully I can tell you everything!

We are teaching this family with 10 girls. TEN. And they are crazy. I honestly get a little nervous when ever we go over there. The first word that comes to mind is Attacked. Ya. Attacked. Every time we go over there I get attacked with little girls hugging me and kissing me and holding on to me, pulling on me and playing with my hair and touching my face. TEN OF THEM. I always have to make sure I don´t have anything I want or need in my bag, too, because basically all the contents of my bag are used or pulled out! I have like a million pictures on my camera from the girls taking pictures that I haven´t deleted yet that are hilarious, so maybe if I can figure out how to send pictures, I´ll send you a couple. haha

Everyone here drives motos or little mopeds. You usually see whole families of four or five squished on them. HILARIOUS. Also, everyone just hangs outside their house and drinks Mate all day long. And people always have music blasting. It´s like a constant party over here. 

The other day we were walking over to a menos activas casa to do service and while we were jumping over this river thing one of my feet landed in mud and sunk like super far down so my whole leg and shoe was covered in mud haha. When we got to the members house, I think they did more service than we did because she cleaned up my shoe for me and we just washed down a couple chairs. But hey, they came to church on Sunday. HOLLA. 

Also, they have this annoying dog that always wants to sit on my lap. And it licks me. Ew. And my companion is in love with it. So basically, every time the lady isn´t looking, I have to two hand shove it off my lap. I don´t understand why it keeps coming back to me. 

Also, my companion uses her middle finger for everything. So uncomfortable, haha. I have to try not to laugh sometimes when she is teaching and pointing or counting with her fingers. Obviously, a difference in culture. ha

A member made almuerzo for us one day and it was super hot outside and we didn´t want to walk all the way back to our house to eat it, so as we are passing the house of an investigator that we have taught like once, my companion walks in and asks if we can eat our feast in their house. AWKWARD. I can´t tell if it´s just my companion that´s like that or the culture yet. Probably a little of both. These people don´t have a lot! They set up a table for us, even got out a table cloth and chairs. Then my companion asks them for two plates and silverware and I felt so bad. It took them a super long time to find any and then clean them once they did. AND this whole time they are just so nice and giving and asking if they can get us anything. 

Anyway. Their drunk son came home while we were there and kept insisting that I play the guitar, HA. He kept handing it to me and finally I pulled out the one and only song I know on the guitar. Our Song by Taylor Swift. (siempre) I guess that was my worldly thing of the week. Singing Tay Swift for a drunk guy in English. 

I love you all! I hope life is going good in the estados unidos!

Meg

A Million Things...

Ok, so I literally have like a million things to tell you. And there is no way I will be able to tell you everything. Especially because this keyboard is crazy!

Ummm, first off. Did I tell you Elder Holland came and talked to us? SO COOL. That was in Washington on Saturday before I left. He shook hands with all of us and then talked to us about missionary work. AWESOME.

Then, I had the longest days of my life. We traveled from Monday morning at 7:30 am to Tuesday at 5 am. Slept and then woke up, got our companions and traveled another 5 hours to get to our area. Rough Stuff. But it was so cool because the airplane to get to Buenos Aires was at least 3/4 missionaries.

I´m in Clorinda. It´s super close to Paraguay. We are whitewashing the area (which means my companion & I are both new to the area) and we are the first girls in this area. On the bus ride over here, the other American girl was telling me about all the bugs and the stuff here in Clorinda and was like, "they sent us girls here because they must know that we can handle stuff like that." I think I accidentally laughed out loud because that brought back a ton of my camping experiences...  

Anyway, ya. That´s basically what it´s like. Camping. Haha for the first couple days we didn´t have hot water so we used this thing that heats up water and a bucket.  My companion showed me how to wash my clothes here. We just use the bucket for that, too.

My companion is from Peru and only speaks Spanish.  The only time I hear or speak English is when I see the three other missionaries that speak English at church. They are in different branches, though, so I only see them for like a couple of seconds. It´s so nice though. It's like a little treat- someone being able to understand what I´m saying.

I guess if someone was watching my companion & me communicating it would be pretty funny because we have to act out a ton of things to be able to figure out what the other person is trying to say. Good thing my companion is super patient, because she usually has to say things a hundred times before I understand, haha. Esta bien. It´s good for me. I'm learning fast. 

I'm the designated pianist at church. HA! I don´t really know where to start on this topic. Normally, I wouldn´t be super nervous if I didn´t really know a song very well, because in America people just keep singing the song if the pianist fumbles a little because they know how the song goes. Here... well, first lets just start with saying that... I don´t know how to say this. Basically, the sacrament hymn was a DISASTER and I had to try super hard not to laugh. The singing was all over the place and my companion who was the chorister struggles. haha. She finished and sat down while I still had a whole line left of the song to play! Awkward. But it´s fun. I love it.

Also, Coca Cola is never going out of business. They have signs and chairs and stores and stuff EVERYWHERE here. 

I had on my little paper to tell you how cold it was here because the first night I was FREEZING and I looked like a goon walking around with my long johns and tall socks and a million layers. But it´s actually SO HOT. SO HOT. And it´s winter. So ya. So hot. 

My favorite scripture for this week: Mosiah 24. I can´t remember the verse. Maybe 13-16. But it´s about how the Lord doesn´t take trials away, but He strengthens us. I know that´s true. He doesn't take away the bugs and spiders, but He make us able to endure them :)

I love you all!! Miss you!!

Hermana Peterson

Clorinda, Argentina

I Made It to Argentina!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Fam! Well I made it to Argentina. So that's good. Thought I would never make it.  We got here to the mission office at 8 pm Tuesday.  We've been traveling since 7:30 am on Monday. So tired, but SO EXCITED. There are 30 of us that got here today in Resistencia.  Plus 2 other buses full of missionaries going to other places in Argentina. A la obra!

Peeps here drive on the grass at the parks and there are bars over all the windows & doors, & gates around everything. Sketchy! But I love it.

Basically yesterday & today were the longest day/s of my life.  I hate airplanes. They are always freezing, I get no sleep and I always get so sick.

But, esta bien.  I'm so not looking forward to flying home.  The plane from Buenos Aires to Resistencia is SO SMALL. I was sandwiched between two giant ladies who had SO MUCH STUFF. HA! I wish someone would have taken a picture. HILARIOUS. I guess you can just imagine that.

Miracle: I ended up checking my mini bag last second at the gate. BUT. I left stuff I had to have for Argentina in it. Panic! I thought I would be able to get it in Salt Lake City, but it was checked all the way to Argentina. This super nice airport guy went out to the plane, found my bag & got the folder I needed out of the suitcase before the plane left. Prayers totally work.

I love you guys SO MUCH! I miss you!

I'll tell you more about my adventures later. Keep reading scriptures together as a family. It will bless every aspect of our lives. :) 

I LOVE ALL OF YOU SO MUCH!!

Love, Hermana Megan Peterson

Hermana Peterson & Hermana Rodriguez

Visas Really Exist

Family!!! I miss you guys!!!

 

I'm off to Argentina on the 24th. So, THAT'S EXCITING.

 

Anyway, crazy week.

 

Mara got baptized this weekend! Most beautiful and stressful day of MY ENTIRE LIFE. The DAY OF the baptism, like ten in the morning, we found out that there was a miscommunication with the building scheduling and there was a stake dance at the building we were planning to have the baptism. At the same exact time. All day. ALL DAY. We were calling people and planning and stressing over stuff we already had had planned but had to change. The only other time in my entire life that I've ever felt that stressed, was when I was in that professional presentations class and 10 minutes before one of my presentations my slide show audio stopped working. A baptism is like a million times more important, though. Like eternal salvation important. 

Same day. We got locked out of the house because we left our keys inside. STORY OF MY LIFE.

 

Everything worked out good in the end. The baptism was beautiful and the spirit was super strong. Mara's daughter sang "Families Can Be Together Forever" and I played the piano for her. SO CUTE.

 

We have been tracting in this trailer park a little bit these past couple weeks. Everyone has these giant gates, or things blocking their doors and porches, or giant signs that say BEWARE OF DOG. Super sketchy. Ya, everyone in Vancouver has a dog, or twelve. Good thing the Bonewell's dogs have slowly eased me into dogs because now I'm off to Argentina where apparently they are everywhere.

 

I love you guys!!

 

Huge favor? Could you copy my mission call and send me a copy by mail or email. And a copy of the talk "Opportunities To Do Good"?

 

Thank you so much!!!!!!

 

Miss you!

Hermana Peterson

 

Pahoran

Haha. Alright, alright! I'll send a picture or something!

I've been avoiding that because I look like an orphan child most days. Sorry mom. But hey! Good news. My hair is growing super crazy long because I never straighten or blow it dry...

Thank you for the Daughters Day stuff!!!!!! I loved it. It was such a blessing because it came on a day that we were having a rough day. And then on Sunday night we ate our Daughters Day cookies driving home :) Thank you! You guys are so good to me :)

So, there are miracles like everyday. And I always have a million that I want to tell you about. But here is one. So my companion and I are in charge of going up to Battleground. It's like 20 minutes away so whenever we go there we usually try to stay the whole day or schedule lessons up there on the same day to save miles. We had a lesson on Friday during our studies so we planned to go to the lesson and then study outside a church building and do weekly planning after the lesson up there instead of driving home. We finished the lesson and on the way to the church it started raining! We pulled up at the church at the exact same time as two sets of English Elders from Battleground arrived to do a quick exchange in the parking lot and leave. They had a key to the church so they opened it for us to study inside and left. They were there for approximately 30 seconds. The exact 30 seconds that we got there. Crazy stuff.

OK, Yesterday. BEST DAY EVER.

Yesterday we got the program and everything figured out for Mara's baptism. So excited!!! Her baptism is this Saturday. AHHH. Amazing AMAZING person. I absolutely LOVE her and her family. They have the cutest little kids. When we were leaving yesterday they were like, "Can you stay longer?!" "Ummm, ya can I stay forever?!" Love them. Esmeralda, Mara's daughter, is singing 'Families Can Be Together Forever' at the baptism, so when we go over there we practice with her. She's so excited.

So my favorite Book of Mormon story is Alma 59-61. I totally remember reading this story together with our family when we were reading the Book of Mormon together and I remember dad acting it out or "rephrasing it" so we understood what was happening. haha. The story is about how Moroni is kinda totally mean to Pahoran in his letter and then Pahoran is totally cool. "And now, in your epistle you have censured me, but it mattereth not; I am not angry, but do rejoice in the greatness of your heart..." Trying to apply this in my life. I want to be more like Pahoran.

Life is great! Don't even worry about me. I love you all!

Hermana Peterson

Yes, in the picture I actually looked like that. Judge me.

Hermana Megan Peterson & Hermana Patton

Oh, Man!

Oh man! Crazy Life. Just always on the go. I just can't ever sit down because the second I sit down, I start to fall asleep. Like yesterday. In Sunday school. The good thing is, I know they would never call on me, because they know I don't understand half of what they say so that takes away all the stress of paying attention. The bad thing is, our investigator noticed that I started to nod off a little. Awkward. HAHA After Sunday School she was asking me if I understood what they were saying and she was making fun of me for falling asleep. No harm done hopefully... Also, yesterday I forgot my name tag (I know, I have no idea how that happened!) but we had meetings and stuff all day at the church. 10:30am-7:30pm. So, we didn't think we should waste miles by driving back to the house to get it. Everyone in the branch was teasing me about that as well.  

So we live in this gated community. Everyone has clicker things that open the gate when they drive through to their houses, but since we don't have a clicker we just type in the code every time we come home, which is just once at the end of the night. No big deal. Except that the code thing broke this last week... We parked our car on some random road. Threw our stuff over the gate and squeezed through the gate to get home a couple of nights. Apparently, no one drives home to their house at 9:00pm these days.

Also, this week we were teaching a lesson to these two girls. Their family is moving so they had all their stuff everywhere in the living room. They were both sitting on the couch and we were sitting on two kitchen chairs. Their mom and dad came home during our lesson with some friends to help them move their stuff. They were like, "uhhh sorry can we take that?" "What?" oh. The couch. haha Within like 2 minutes their living room was emptied.

This week is going to be a huge finding week! Clean slate. I'm excited. We gave all our investigators away to other missionaries because we drew new boundaries. Or just made the boundaries more solid. It's been crazy because of the new mission and new missionaries and all kinds of things and we were driving EVERYWHERE. Now we won't have to do as much driving. SO HAPPY about that. We drive so much.

Anyway. Love you all!

Hermana Peterson

Hermana Megan Peterson & Soeur Alexis Caldwell

Weeding the Garden

This week has been crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We went to a less active family to visit and see what their dealio was this week. Grandpa was chillin' on the porch so we talked to him and shared a message with him. When we were talking to him we noticed that he had a bowl of weeds next to him and a shovel was right there in the garden so we told him we would come back the next day and help him in his garden.

 

HAHA.

 

So we came back the next day and Grandma was just pulling up right when we got there. Perfect. So we taught her and they both committed to come to church... which they didn't, by the way. Anyway, after our super spirit lead lesson, we went to the garden to do some weeding. OK. SO. I have never really liked weeding. Actually, I kind of hate it. I don't do it very often. BUT. I know what weeds are. We start pulling up the weeds and Grandpa comes out and just to be safe we ask him if we are pulling out plants or weeds. WE DON'T SPEAK SPANISH. So it took us a while to figure out he was telling us that he eats this stuff. Awkward. I had a handful of weeds. OK. I know they are weeds. He is just from Mexico and eats the roots of some things. But anyway. That explains why he had a BOWL of weeds instead of a BAG of weeds next to him.

 

So we are teaching this other lady. O my word. She talks SO MUCH. Usually, you are supposed to asked inspired questions and all that but we were scared to ask any questions because LITERALLY after every question, or even a comment, she would go off for twenty minutes. K, lessons are only supposed to be like 40 minutes. HaHa. Our lesson lasted FOR EVER, but we didn't even finish or get through the whole thing. We had a member with us, who is pretty assertive too and she only got a couple of words in. I felt so bad for this investigators kids because she woke them up to come in and listen. And she just talked the ENTIRE time. We had been trying to figure out why her kids were so quiet the last time we taught them...

 

Anyway. We are coming up with a game plan for next time.

 

K, I love you guys so much!!!!!!!!!!! Have an awesome week! 

Moroni 7:48 Pray with all the energy of heart

 

Love you all!

Megs

 

Washington's So Chill

O my goodness!! Sorry!!!! Everyone wants pictures! But it stresses me out because the computer literally shuts off after 1 hour!! And you know me. It's just a struggle when it comes to figuring out the camera and cords and all that. So I'll try really hard to figure it out! I always panic when I get here to the library. But, I'm glad mom gave in and finally sent me a picture. You guys are adorable. I love it.

 

Life is great. Sooooo crazy. Always an adventure. My companion and I get lost approximately 800 times a day. Vancouver is huge! And we locked our keys in the trunk the other day, too. That was fun.

 

I hate it when people are rude to us and slam the door. I don't think I'm ever going to become immune to that. So every day is pretty emotional. haha. But, I'm slowly learning that we aren't here to teach EVERYONE. We are here to teach the people that are prepared. And you can totally tell who is prepared. There are so many times when we have been teaching people and they will say things like, "That's crazy that you came by today because I was just reading a little bit in your book yesterday," or little things like that. SO COOL.

 

Ya. EMOTIONAL. Not even just day to day, but within the day. We will be totally stoked and high on life and then the next second be crying because of lessons.

 

Hardest day in the mission:

 

We were so excited because we were planning on asking two people to be baptised. Our lessons were all planned out and they were really great investigators.

 

This lady has been taught by the missionaries so many times. She's had every lesson plus some. Tons of different missionaries have taught her. She still doesn't come to church. We set it up so someone would pick her up and take her to church. Members are so great in helping her out and Hermana Garcia comes to the lessons with us. We were super excited and when we got there and started teaching it all went DOWN HILL. Both of us during the lesson knew we were going to have to drop her. Wouldn't commit to a date and it's been several times that she's been asked to be baptised. So we were super sad about that.

 

Then, we got in the car to go to our next lesson with Maritza and her mom called us and canceled. We were so excited about her lesson because she seemed to be really interested but her mom just keeps getting in the way. AND our phone died, so we couldn't call Hanny, the member that was coming to the lesson with us, to tell her not to come. We stopped at a gas station to try to call Hanny. She didn't answer, so we left a message and prayed that she would get it in time.

I'm on the verge of tears and: Tender mercy. TAYLOR SWIFT WAS PLAYING. I know I know, it's the small things. Also, guess what else happened. Hanny's dad told her she couldn't take the car so she ended up not driving all the way to the lesson! Oh man. God is great.

 

We are teaching the cutest little girls ever. They are adorable. 8 and 9. They call us to say hi and see how we are doing. Love them. Also, there are these little girls in our ward and they drew us little pictures and cards. Um SO CUTE. I just about die every time they give us little notes.

 

Sarah goes to the MTC on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU SAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to email me on your mission email so I can email you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are gonna rock it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, have mom get you one of those blankets she got me. It's my favorite thing ever.

 

I love you guys sooo much. I miss you!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be good. Make sure you guys all read scriptures together and say prayers and all that :)

 

Meg

 

Also, I don't have Emily Lambs address or anything so I can't tell her congrats, but tell her that I love her and I'm so excited for her that she is going to Chile!!!! That's awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sarah, Natalie, Abby & Jackson Peterson

Myrtle Beach, SC