Hasta Ver

This last week, one of our conversos recientes was feeling really down. It's been a little rough start for him in the church and he was feeling a little disanimado. While we we talking to him, I was thinking a lot about the beginning of my mission when I first got to Argentina and how it was hard. I couldn't understand anyone and everything was WAY different. I kind of got a little unexcited at first because it was something really new and weird. I'm so grateful that I stuck it out to the end because of all the things I've learned, all the amazing experiences I had, the happiness I've experienced, all the people I've met and all the blessings that I've received and will continue to receive. It's the same concept. We have to stick it out through the rough patches before we get the blessing and see results. Ether 12:6:

"And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until AFTER the trial of your faith."

Thank you for all of your support throughout my whole mission. I have loved hearing from you all every week!!!!!!! I especially want to thank you all for your prayers. Thank you for keeping me in mind. There were many times as a missionary when I literally felt those prayers.

I think the hardest part about being a missionary is leaving the people you love so much when it's over. I absolutely love the people in Argentina. Sarah mentioned the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants this last week that I love and have been thinking about as well. D&C 18:15. "And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!"  I know this is SO TRUE. I have received that joy as I've become converted myself and as I've seen people change and helped them come unto Christ.

I know the church is true.

I know Jesus Christ is my savior. That through his atonement, we can return to live with God.

I know that through the priesthood of God, we can be sealed in the temple and be eternal families.

I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. The most special and correct book in the world. That the Book of Mormon has the answers to our questions and opens the door to personal revelation.

I know God listens to our prayers. What's important to us is important to him.

Thank you thank you thank you for everything. I'm so excited to see you all!!!!!!

Mucho amor,

Hermana Peterson

Representative of Jesus Christ

I love being a missionary. I love it. It´s like being superman. All day we go around saving souls and helping God´s children. Day after day we pray to be instruments in His hands and He leads us to people that need help, to people that are praying for hope and relief. There is nothing more amazing or more satisfying than seeing someone's life change for the better and seeing them baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The only baptism that leads to the Kingdom of God.

Some of the things that I´m gonna miss more than anything in the world: The moments when we meet someone and after talking for 2 minutes they tell us their desires, their hopes, their dreams and their problems because they know as representatives of Jesus Christ we have answers and solutions. Or teaching someone how to pray and listening to the first prayer they will ever offer. Being lead time and time again to people that tell us, "I was praying for someone to come." Seeing lives change. Seeing people be baptized and confirmed. Learning with someone as they read the Book of Mormon stories for the first time. Teaching the PLAN OF SALVATION and that each of us can live with our family forever. 

Jesus Christ is absolutely ESSENTIAL in the Plan of God. Without Him, there´s no way we could live with God again. The Atonement IS REAL. It´s possible to change. The Atonement is for everyone. I´ve seen it in the lives of my investigators and converts and especially in my life. I´m so grateful that we can repent. 

I´m here in Argentina because I know that all this is true. It would be selfish to keep it to myself. I came with the purpose to help people have the same happiness that I have through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. To help people receive all the blessings that God has for them. It´s humbling to know that God trusts me with his children. God trusts me to find, teach and baptize His children who are looking for the truth. 

I love this Gospel. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ.

Hermana Peterson

Halloween as a Missionary

Oh. man. Where to start.

Halloween. When we went to teach the family Aramburu we had it all planned out that we were going to show them, "The Restoration." The video of the first vision. It's about 20 minutes long. When we got there we realized that we hardly had any time and we had to hurry to another appointment so we could make it home in time. They pulled out their TV and everything so we felt like we needed to still watch something.

The Restoration is on a CD that has a ton of other videos and clips and while we were skipping through the other clips we saw a clip that was a lot shorter and the title said something about Joseph Smith. We had never seen it before! So we clicked on it instead... 

Hahahaha. It starts out with the death of Joseph Smith, so it´s SUPER CREEPY at the beginning. I just looked over at my companion and tried realllly hard not to laugh. It really was like Halloween!

The good thing is that after the creepy part, it talks about all the blessings that we have thanks to the restored gospel and Joseph Smith, which lead to a really great talk about the temple and how we are trying to help them become an eternal family.  :)  

They weren´t too traumatized because they came to church! So all is well. 

Always an adventure. 

Maria de los Angeles is 8 years old and she is ADORABLE! She came to church yesterday all by herself! The ward is preparing to have their primary program the week after I leave!! So sad I won´t be here. She has her own little part and they are going to sing I´m a Child of God in Russian. But she is preparing to be baptized on the 15th!!!! So I´m excited about that.

Pray for her!!!!!

Besos!

Hermana Peterson

So Content

This week we taught Gustavo, a menos activo. We invited him to read his Book of Mormon everyday and he kept telling us, "There´s no way hermanas. I´m way too busy. There´s no way I can comprometerme to read the Book of Mormon every day and follow all these commandments." We told him, "Just a verse a day; it is nothing!" But he was convinced that there was no way that he could read a verse a day. So, trying to make a point, I flipped open the Book of Mormon to have him read one verse to see that it would take less than 30 seconds to read a scripture and think about it. He picked a scripture on the page and read, "Those that keep the commandments of God will prosper in the land." Haha! We were laughing way hard. 

Julio got baptized this Saturday :) 

The best part is his sister is a member, menos activa. He had no idea until he invited her to the baptism that she was a member and now she wants to come to church and her kids want to be baptized! We won´t be teaching them but they will come to our branch :) 

I wish I could explain the change in Julio´s life. I wish you could see how happy he is now compared to before! I know the gospel blesses lives!!! I know that when we keep the commandments we are happy! Sometimes it might seem like the commandments are a long list of things we can´t do, but I know that when we keep the commandments, we "prosper in the land."

I´m so grateful for this opportunity I have to be a missionary. There is nothing more rewarding. I wish that everyone could experience this. 

Read your scriptures!!!!!!!!!!!

At least a verse a day. Porfavor.

Hermana Peterson

Mobster to Mormon

It was so great to talk to you guys yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for hurrying home to be able to skype with me:)  You all look great :) 

I feel like I pretty much covered all the basics of the week yesterday. So, there aren´t really a ton of stories to tell.

The music show for the rama turned out really good. We had a couple of investigators come and they had a really great time :) They needed a few more people to perform and a guy in our rama brought this cool violin with a lion head... so, I obviously couldn´t pass up the opportunity the play it! haha, my camera died! So I didn´t get a picture of it :/  I just played a little fiddle song that was like 30 seconds long, no mas, and since then, everyone that we have visited has pulled out their phone to show us their recording. haha! So maybe you will get to see it on Facebook.

Julio is a CHAMP. He stopped smoking and drinking, is cruising right along living the gospel and being a missionary while he´s at it! Yesterday he brought a friend to church with him :) 

This last week we had a charla with Julio about Alma the Younger and his experiencia with repentance. I LOVE that in the Book of Mormon there are so many examples of the love God and Jesus Christ have for us. Alma the Younger was among the VILEST of sinners and received forgiveness. The Atonement is something that I don´t think we will ever really understand exactly, but I know that people can change because of it. I know that it´s possible to be better people. I know that it´s possible to be happier people- through Jesus Christ. It´s been so cool to see Julio change his life and become happy!

It´s such a blessing that we don´t have to be the same people for the rest of our lives. We don´t have to keep making the same mistakes. I´m so grateful for that!  

Pray for Julio!

Mucho amor!

Hermana Peterson

Taking His Yoke Upon Us

October 13, 2014

FAMILY!!!!

Well, I can skype you guys on Sunday. :) It sounds like you will be driving though???? It´s Mother´s Day in Argentina and this year we are all allowed to skype on Sunday. We will probably skype at 7 or 8 pm our time. I don´t know if it would be possible to talk to you guys then?????????? That would be 4 or 5 pm your time?? or California time?? No idea. haha 

We have so many awesome investigators. We are teaching this family that was a referencia de members in our rama. They have a son who has 10 years that has this enfermidad. One day he was normal and the next he couldn't move or talk or see. Before this happened, the mom didn´t believe in God and the family didn´t really care about religion. Now they accept every religious person that comes to their house. They really are looking for a miracle or some kind of relief. They are up day and night taking turns taking care of him and helping him and watching him. Their 2 daughters came to the conferencia and loved it! They could use your prayers :) 

I know that when we take the yoke of Christ upon us our burdens are lifted.

I love being a missionary. I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being here in Argentina and teaching the people this message of hope! This is the greatest gift I could ever give anyone. I´m so grateful for all your love and support. All of your letters and prayers. All of your spiritual thoughts and scriptures that keep me going :) Thank you!

Tons of love!!!!!
Besos!
Hermana Peterson

Prophets

The guy that said the closing prayer for the Saturday morning session prayed for all the missionaries. I´m so grateful for those prayers and for all of your prayers. Seriously. I FEEL those prayers. 

This week we had the cutest little FHE with the family Bertinat. Hermana Bertinat. Her husband and 3 children and daughter-in-law are all menos activos. She feeds the missionaries every Friday, comes out with us to teach, does family history, reads the Book of Mormon everyday and goes to church every week by herself. She is such an example to me. 

For FHE we talked about profetas to prepare and invite all of her family to the conferencia. And after the lesson we played a game. ALL of her family was there together and everyone participated and Hermana Bertinat seemed so happy. We wrote out a little program for her husband and taught him how to conduct the Family Home Evening. And guess who came to the Sunday Morning Session of Conference??? Hermano Bertinat, her husband. How special that must have been for her to go and be able to sit with her husband and not alone or with another family. 

I know Pres. Monson is the living prophet that receives revelation directamente de Dios. I know the Book of Mormon is the Word of God translated by Joseph Smith and that through him Christ could put his priesthood here on the Earth again. I know the Church of Jesus Cristo of Latter day Saints is the same church that Jesus establicio when He was here. 

Love you all!

Hermana Peterson

Pictures:

Selfie with the cookies that saved our life during conference. When our investigators have little kids we prepare ourselves with these galletitas to give to the crazy children. 

Me and my companion, Hermana Lanfranco. And the Little TV for the US missionaries watching conference in English! 

Rain and Humidity

Hi family!

Life is still going super great over here. IN Argentina. In the heat and humidity. 

This week when we were walking to an appointment we saw a lady outside with her GIANT dog. We went over to talk to her but since we had another appointment we weren´t going to teach her right then. We were just getting ready to set an appointment to come back to her when it started raining super hard. God´s way of telling us that we needed to teach her right then. :) "Chicas! Pasen pasen!" haha

She told us how she had all the debt that the hospital said she had to pay but it shouldn´t be as much as they were telling her and they were cheating her out of money. She was going to have a pay an attorney and all this stuff and was so stressed. When we started talking to her, we said a prayer that she could get everything figured out and wouldn´t be so nervous. Just then, in the middle of talking to her, someone called from the hospital to tell her that they were going to clear all the debt and they were sorry. She was like, "Your prayer totally worked."

I know God answers prayers! And I know that there isn´t a problem that God can´t fix. Don´t forget to pray. Not just in the morning and night, but "pray always." 2 Nephi 32:9

Love you!

Hermana Megan Peterson

Love Life

September 22, 2014

I can´t remember the name, but you know that church movie, the one where at the end Jesus Christ comes and the prophet that waited to see Jesus his whole life gets healed and gets to see him?... Sorry if I ruined the ending for someone. Anyway. That movie. 

That movie always stressed me out at the end because there are hundreds of people that want to see Jesus and I just was thinking about all the people that were far away or that couldn´t see him very well. Or, when Jesus comes again and there are millions of people in the world and all of us are gonna want to talk to him and see him... but I´ve been reading in 3 Nephi this week about when Jesus came to las Americas. 3 Nephi 11:15 and 17:21. Talks about how Jesus healed EVERY ONE of the children, and every single person could come to him and feel the marks in his hands and feet. Jesus didn´t forget about or pass over a single person. 

I know that was true then and also now. That not a single person is forgotten or passed over. Every prayer that is offered is heard. Every person is attended to. Our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love us more than we even know. 

Speaking of love. This week we talked with a sister here that has a hard time loving a couple of members of the rama. She has this hate in her heart that is literally ruining her life. Matt.18:15. 

We are happy when we love others. When we aren´t centered in ourselves. And when we forgive other people. There is a scripture in 1 Peter that is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES. I think it´s 3:10. But basically it says that those that don´t gossip and choose to say good things about others will LOVE THEIR LIFE. If you want to love your life, love other people :)   

On the investigator side of things, it´s going great. Julio is just crushing it. He´s my fav. He´s dejaring to smoke. He used to smoke 40 cigarillos a day and now we are at 13 a day. He´s so excited to get baptized. We just have to cut the cigarillos first.  

Saturday we did divisiones with a couple members so we could visit twice as many people and with the 4 of us we got a couple menos activos to church. So excited about them. Monica is gonna be a lider someday. I just know it.

Still loving life. I love being a missionary. 

Don´t forget your scriptures. 

Hermana Peterson 

Good Living

Abi!!!!!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You guys are all grown up these days. I hope you had an awesome birthday and week!!!!!!!!!!!!

It´s comforting to know that I can find all the respuestas I need in the gospel. This week we talked to a Lady, Ruth, who was telling us that her daughter has TONS of questions relating to religion and church. Stuff about what happens after death, what a profeta is, how do we know if the church we are going to is right. And she was like, "After she goes to bed, I pull out the bible and try to find the answers to her questions." She found the right people to answer her questions, right? Haha, we teach those things EVERYDAY. A bunch of times a day. But I really do know that por media de el libro de mormon and profetas hoy en dia, we have all the answers we need!!!!! We don´t have to live in confusion!

Another guy, Carlos, told us that he feels like a bad parent and wants to help his family but doesn´t know how. Through the gospel, we find all these answers! There isn´t a manual for good parenting or good daughtering or good living, but we have the scriptures and the profetas to guide us and help us out!! We really don´t need to stress out about that if we are trying our best to follow Jesus Christ. 

Speaking of profetas, are you guys stoked for General Conference???? It´s like Christmas for us here. We´ve got our count down going. Be thinking of your questions!!!

I love you all. Muchas gracias por sus oracions!

Amor!

Hermana Peterson

Gone to the Dogs

I feel like it´s about time I said something about the dogs here. Hopefully, this doesn´t turn into a venting session. haha 

So the very first night I got here to Argentina I remember that I couldn´t sleep because of all the dogs that were barking right outside the window. I remember thinking, "This is going to be a really long year and a half."

This week I was thinking about how I hadn´t really heard the dogs barking outside lately. That same night when I went to bed I realized that there were still hundreds of dogs barking outside but we are just so tired at the end of the day that we fall right asleep. 

Every time we walk past a house, the dogs run up to the fence jumping and barking. Every time we knock a door, the first thing we do is close the fence or look to make sure the wall is high enough that the dogs can´t jump out. We have weekly scares of almost dying and fighting the stray dogs off. 

This week I had the biggest scare of my life. Honestly nothing even happened, but I really thought in my head, "This is it." Haha! So, nobody ever ties up their dog unless they are REALLY bad. If they are bad, they roam, free to bite and attack. But if they are REALLY bad, sometimes they tie them up. My comp wanted to clap this one house that had the meanest, scariest, blackest, biggest dog I´ve seen in Argentina. It was chained up and had this full on harness thing and the chain was attached to two different stakes in the ground. Obviously we examined the situation before we knocked. We started clapping and the Dog started running FULL SPEED at us. The first stake ripped out of the ground and I literally thought I was dead. I started bookin' it. The dog got super close to us and luckily the second stake held in the ground. #almostdied

We had a lesson with this really sweet family. All the children have special needs and problems. They live in a really humble home with hardly anything. We introduced ourselves and were asking the mom about her family and she asked us if we would go in and see her daughter. We were a little confused, but we walked to the back of the house and one of her daughters that is handicapped was laying on the bed. The mom was asking us to try to get her to get up and bathe herself and talk to her. The daughter, Fransica, has been there for months and wouldn´t move or talk to anyone. We talked to her for a little bit and she started crying and got up to take the picture of Jesucristo. When we left, she was on her bed but sat up for a minute. That moment humbled me so much. 

I couldn´t help but think of the people that begged Jesus Christ to help their sick and afflicted. It is so amazing to me that we are complete strangers but because we represent Him, this lady invited us into her home and wanted us to help her daughter. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary. 

Love you!

Daily Plans

Hi family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well.

I just have such a strong testimony that this is God´s work. He literally leads us and guides us and all we have to do is be willing to follow the spirit. We make plans every night and then carry them out the next day. Not gonna lie, I don´t think there´s been a SINGLE day on my mission that our plans have gone exactly as we planned them at night. But, it´s cool, because God´s really the one making the better plan and it works out the way he wants it. 

We were looking for an address this week and we knocked on this door, and a lady came out and was like, "Can you guys come back and teach me tomorrow? Right now I can´t listen but I want you to come back." OK. So. We hear that every day. "Maybe another day." But. She talked to us a little longer and it turns out that her husband is a member and they just moved here and she wants to listen and come to church. 

There´s no way that we just "randomly" found her. There are thousands of houses in our area. 

Felix and Carlos. They were our other miracle this week. I wish I had time to explain every miracle that happened up to the point of meeting them. But. Carlos tambien is a member who isn´t on our list of members. We talked to a chain of people until we ended up at their house. The next day, we passed by their house for church and Carlos was all ready. (Uhhh. That alone is a milagro). When they got to the church Carlos was like, "Wait, I got baptized here when I was 8." Hahaha! So cool. 

I love you guys!!!!! Read your scriptures! Say your prayers!

Besos!

Hermana Peterson

Watch This Video!

I love you all. 

https://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/members-and-missionaries?lang=eng

Hey, Check out this clip!!!! I love it!! We watched this in a conferencia that we had this last week and I absolutely love it.

Pray for missionary opportunities every day! As a family and individualmente!  

We had a talent show this week in the branch. SO FUN. Every one participated! I´m in love with our branch. My favorite little girls danced and sang. I was dying of cuteness. And us four hermanas changed up the words to this song that they love here. And then the branch made pastafrola. SO HEAVENLY.

Have an awesome week!

Mucho Amor!!

Hermana Peterson

Be Like a Little Child

This week was really great. We´ve been putting a lot more emphasis on Menos Activos and retention as a mission so it´s definitely been a little different with some new rules and goals and stuff, but I love it. 

Our branch wants to be a ward so badly. They are the most amazing members ever and are working so hard. (Something Sarah said last week) I LOVED how she talked about her Mission president saying that it wasn´t HIS prayers and faith but the prayers and faith of his stake that helped him get better. I totally felt that way this week. We have been having a lot of success with menos activos but I know it´s because of the effort of everyone here in the branch. Because of all their prayers and visits and fasts and meetings and studying. We´ve got a couple returned missionaries that are coming home now that are gonna help out a ton in the branch! 

After we get baptized we have to perseverar hasta el fin! You can´t just stop right there and think everything is done. If you aren´t going to church, get back to church! Repent! You can´t be fully repented or clean until you participate of the sacrament. Nothing unclean can be in the presence of God.   

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I love being a representative of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite things in the world is teaching or talking to little kids. We were walking away from a lesson with these adorable children and they waved and yelled goodbye to us until we couldn´t see them anymore. They were jumping up and down and wanted us to wave at them for so long. I can´t help but think about His teachings to be like the little children. And when I see Him again, I´m probably gonna be jumping up and down like that too. :)

I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Have an awesome week!!!

Remember who you are!

Hermana Peterson

Waste and Wear Out Your Life

HAPPY DAUGHTERS DAY!!!

Cool! Yesterday was Daughters Day for our family & "Dia del Nino" [Children's Day] in Argentina. We didn´t even plan that! haha! But, they also have a holiday for just about everything here. My companion and I made heart shaped cookies to celebrate. Keeping the Peterson tradition alive... Argentina style.

We always invite the investigator to say the closing prayer in lessons. Fabricio has had a TON of lessons so he totally knows the drill. This week we had our first lesson with him as a member. When we asked if he or his wife wanted to say the closing prayer he put his hands up and was like, "Ya me bautice" or "I´m baptized now!" hahaha! They have some friends and family they are going to bring to the next lesson so maybe we will have someone to say the prayer then. :)

This week we went to visit a family menos activo [less active] and, I´m not gonna lie, I walked away from their house super sad. They told us that they just didn´t want the responsibilities that come with church attendance or to DO anything: Scripture study, FHE, church, nothing. The mom felt like the church requires too much. Just that morning I was reading the talk from Pres. Uchtdorf, Come Join with Us. 

He says, "We do not require anything, but the Lord asks that we consecrate all." And it reminds me of a quote from Joseph Smith that says, "A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things, never has the power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation."

I wish I could quote that whole talk for you because it is SO GOOD. So maybe you can read it this week!!! Ya? 

And also, we are focusing on family history a ton these days. I know that everyone feels like there isn´t missionary work to do in Utah... but there is! Also, don´t forget that family history is the same work= Missionary work for the other side!

D&C 123:13, "Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all hidden things of darkness, wherein we know them." Waste and wear out your life sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ! We are so blessed to have it!!!! 

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I miss you tons

I'm so grateful for you guys

Mucho amor,

Hermana Megan Peterson

Foto:

Selfie with Daughter's Day cookies  

"So ganster you can find us bakin' cookies at night..."

[technical difficulties- sadly, I can't load this year's Daughter's Day selfie] Sooo-

 

Last Year's Daughter's Day Selfie :)

& ...a bonus pic...

Daughter's Day 2006  :)

Very Good!

Fabricio got baptized this week!! He has demasiado verguenza so he didn´t want anyone there at his baptism to see. So it was a VIP baptism. Just the people that were necessary to hacerlo were there. And guess who he wanted to baptize him. The abuelo in the branch that is SO OLD. Hilarious. He didn´t want anyone else to do it. Only the abuelo. Haha! Apparently they are BFFs. We asked him how he felt after the baptism and he said, "Very good." In English. hahaha! That kid.

Our Sunday School class was SO HOT this week. At the end of the class one of the guys finally turned on the fans. An investigator that came to church for the first time this week was asked to say the closing prayer and said, "Thank you so much for the air." We were cracking up. He definitely understands the concept that we say the things of our heart.

At the baptism on Saturday, there were HUNDREDS of little children. And while we were waiting for the people to change the rama was singing some hymns. Justo, the first hymn we start singing is Love At Home. There were children screaming, running up on the stand, car alarms going off right outside, moms yelling at their children and this super loud toy going off the entire song. I was dying. That song. Classic.

Sunset- You can´t tell very well in the pic. Argentine sunsets are my new obsession. Right after the Book of Mormon, of course. ;)

Isidora, her daughter and her nietos at the Relief Society Activity.

Permiso

Hey!!!!

 

I seriously love being a missionary.

 

This week at church, Isidora came all by herself and she brought her daughter and her 3 nietos. After church the members were SO GREAT. They were all talking to them, inviting them to the Relief Society activity, and the Young Women were all holding the baby... haha, YW are the same in the United States and Argentina. I was so proud.

 

Vicenta said the closing prayer this week in one of our lessons! She always has a ton of verguenza to do it and she has a hard time remembering how to do it.We explained to her a bunch of times and helped her remember and when she finally agreed to say it and did it perfectly I was seriously SO HAPPY. The things we get excited about.

 

There´s this word in Spanish. "Permiso." It means permission. Basically if you say permiso before you do something you can do whatever you want. I wish I could explain this concept to you a little better because it´s hilarious. It´s like inviting yourself to do something. For example, if you are standing at a fence and talking to someone and you want to open the door, you just say permiso and walk in without asking.

 

We have this adorable lady in our ward that reminds me of Grandma Peterson and whenever we eat at her house she always serves us up a ton of food. Then when we are almost done with our plate she will say, "Do you want more?" And before we can say anything she says, "Permiso" and puts a ton more food on our plate.

 

Love you guys so much!!!!

Hermana Peterson

 

Love You All!!!

Family!!!! I love you guys. Hope ya know that.

I´m scared to say this, because I don't wanna get jinxed now, but my companion and I are experts at baby distracting now. We had a ton of lessons where there were crying/crazy babies this week. One of us starts talking and the other immediately starts baby distracting until it´s time to switch. 

I feel like every missionary understands this, but so many times as soon as we start talking about Joseph Smith or the first vision SOMETHING happens. Someone drives by playing loud music, dogs start going crazy, someone knocks on the door, the phone rings... and the list goes on. But this week was the week of crying babies.   

We are teaching this lady, Vicenta. She´s so chill. The first time we met her and invited her to church she agreed to come and she actually did!! 

I´m so grateful to know how to read. She can´t read anything and I never even realized that there are a lot of basic things that you can´t do if you can´t read. For example, she couldn´t tell what bus to get on to go home. Or which sign was the bus stop and which was the street sign. I´m so excited for her and for Isidora because the church and the Relief Society will help them both out a lot. 

I love this scripture in D&C 123:13. It´s a new favorite! Look it up!

Don´t forget to pray for missionary experiences!!

Love you bunches.

Besos!

Hermana Peterson    

 

Plans

Family!!!

Izidora got baptized and confirmada this weekend! It was absolutely beautiful. When she got el don del espiritu santo she came back to sit down and was crying and was just like, "I feel so relieved." 

Of course, we were running around like crazy to get things worked out for the baptism like normal. I think it´s a pretty standard rule that you shouldn´t leave things cooking in the oven while you´re gone. It´s also pretty standard to not leave the font going while you're out working. Haha... we didn´t have a ton of time this week because of Mundial! So we had both the brownies for the baptism and the font going at the same time in two different places with the eternal investigator in the middle of the two that talks a TON. Luckily, the font didn´t overflow. BUT, we didn´t have brownies at the baptism...:)

Argentina is a little depressed. This week we were encarceladas and couldn´t leave the apartment for forever. But, we had on our Argentina Jerseys and our neighbor Sergio was keeping us updated. Por sus gritos. 

I don´t have a ton of time so I´m just gonna copy this thought from my study journal this week. Hopefully it makes sense cuz I won´t have time to go back and help you understand what I was talking about Haha. 

Alma 47:13. Lehonti. Kills me. It´s so important to stay firm. To be steadfast and immovable. (Mosiah 5:15). Lehonti had good intentions when he fled to the mountains but when Amalickiah got there he couldn´t resist the temptation. I feel like as the reader we are like, "Lehonti! What the heck?! What are you doing man?!" And it´s like that in life too. People are watching us and can see danger we can´t.  How nice it would have been if Lehonti had talked to some people about his decision before, but instead, in that same night, in a split second, he made the worst decision of his life. He made a plan without taking it to the Lord or talking to anyone else about it. Pres. Heyman was ALL about plans. And, obviously, the most important part about making plans is having the Lord´s help to make them and then to have his approval. 

No one make any crazy life changing plans without talking ém to the Lord first. Don´t be dumb like Lehonti. 

Also, I just feel like I should put this in here too. Everything in the church goes back to the Book of Mormon and the Prophet Smith. If you have doubts or a problem with a commandment, PRAY to know if the Book of Mormon is true and then look in the scriptures for an answer. (PMG chapter 5) 

Love you all!!!!!

Besos!

Hermana Peterson

When There's Love at Home

Fabricio and Marcela got married this week!!! It´s super weird. All you do is go into this old building, sign some papers, say I do and you're married. How hard is that?!? It kind of surprises me that more people don´t just get married here. They were super cute. We are way excited for Fabricio´s baptism this Saturday!

Izidora is adorable. She told us this week that she´s excited to be baptized because she wants to be clean from all her sins and wants to start over. It´s so cool when people really understand about baptism. Who doesn´t want to be completely clean?? 

She can´t read, but she always looks at the pictures in the folletos and at the beginning of the Book of Mormon and prays. She´s a champ. She´s getting baptized this Saturday too with Fabricio!

It´s cool that when we walk into people´s homes, we really can tell if the spirit is there or if someone is a member or not. We have lunch with this member family and every time we go, the spirit is so strong in their home. It´s a really humble house, but we feel more comfortable there than most of the homes we teach in. 

Our homes are the only other places on earth that can compare to the temples. And when we are living the Gospel of Jesus Cristo it´s obvious. That´s one thing that is so easy to see as a missionary. We are in hundreds of different homes, but the ones that always really feel like "home" are the homes of members where the spirit is present. I´m so grateful for family and that my home really is a refuge from the world.

I love you all!!!!

Hermana Peterson

BYU Pride

American Pride

I hope you guys go crazy for the 4th. Just be as American as you can get. I hope you are listening to country music all week. Drink some root beer. (Totally don´t have that in Argentina). And watch the fireworks... they have those here but that´s more of an every night explosives thing. Not too unusual.   

We found this family this week that was just so excited to talk to us. They were so excited that they were all talking at the SAME TIME. No joke, both the padres were asking us tons of questions and then the hijo was trying to speak English to us. We could hardly take a breath. Most stressful lesson of the week. 

All I know is that we are going to have some serious speaking problems when I get home. It was 100% easier to understand the parents than the kid that was trying to speak English. 

There´s this verse in Mosiah 12 that I love. It´s when Abinadi is teaching King Noah and his priests. Verse 19 and it says that when the priests were asking Abinadi a ton of questions and trying to trick him up, he knew every answer and they couldn´t make him say anything wrong. What I love about being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ is that everything makes sense and there isn´t anything that´s weird or wrong. And God is always looking out for his servants. I never am scared of the questions people are going to ask because I know that we have answers for them. 

I know this is the Church of Jesuscristo. I know the Book of Mormon is true. If we have questions, go to the Book of Mormon. I always find respuestas there!

Love you all!!!

Hermana Peterson

Le Amo Messi

Guys. I always have 8 million things to tell you and like two seconds to tell it all in.

We aren´t allowed to watch Mundial either. We have to stay inside. But, like Sarah said, we always know exactly what happens. It´s like the same as watching it I feel. 

In the last soccer game when Messi scored in the last minute our vecino was screaming at the top of his lungs, "LE AMO MESSI! LE AMO MESSI!!" He´s like 40 probably. People here are really passionate about futbol. It´s so cute though. Everyone has their Argentina jerseys and flags and faces painted.

THE REGISTRO CIVIL OPENED THIS WEEK. Which means that Fabricio and Marcela are getting married July 4th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so much for all your prayers for them. We are so excited. Best fourth of July celebration ever! ha

We had the farewell for the Heymans. Super sad. Our new mission president, The Francos, will get here and officially start being our mission president July 1st.

This Friday was Dia de Bandera here. So to celebrate, everyone and their pet goldfish makes Locro. The white handbook tells us not to write anything negative about where we are serving, so I´ll just let you google that. Seriously though. :) Milagros. We got out of eating Locro TWICE. In the same day. God answers prayers. 

I´ve been studying about Nefi and also about Ammon because we were trying to find "exciting chapters" digamos, for Fabricio to read because he was having a hard time getting into it. I can´t get over how cool Nefi and Ammon are. One of the things that they have in common is that they are both problem solvers. 

I always thought it was so funny when the sheep of King Lamoni get scattered and the siervos of Lamoni panic and start crying and Ammon's just like, "K, calm down. You start rounding up the sheep and I´ll go fight the bad guys."

A similar thing happens with Nefi when he breaks the bow and his family is a little dramatic and he´s like, "I guess you guys just cry while I make another bow and talk to God about the situation." 

Both these guys take control of the situation, make a plan and act. Presidente Heyman always says, "Plans plans plans. We follow the man with a plan." It´s important to make plans and follow through; act, and not be acted upon; and solve problems instead of accepting maldad. 

Have tons of fun at girls camp this week!!!

Love you all!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Peterson

The Gospel Blesses Families

Johanna. We contacted her this week and she let us in to teach. We just felt like we should teach lesson 2 about the Plan of Salvation and we focused a ton on families. Her 8 year old daughter left the room for a sec and came back with a paper she had written on. She stood super close to my companion and sneakily showed her what it said without anyone else seeing. It said, "Mis padres se van a separar, me pueden ayudar?" (My parents are going to separate can you guys help me?) I hate that her family is struggling, but I love that she could recognize that the gospel of Jesucristo bendice a las familias.

We also met Paulina. We were contacting during the siesta... haha and she was sleeping, but her son went in to wake her up. We had an awesome lesson with her and when we were getting ready to leave she told us that she hasn´t had ganas to do anything this week. I think a little depressed, BUT when her son went to get her she just had this feeling that she needed to get up because whatever it was was going to be super good. And it was :) NO ONE ATTENDS TO US IF THEY ARE SLEEPING DURING THE SIESTA. Milagro.

We had district conference this week. Isidora, one of our investigadores came to church for the first time for the conference. I was a little nervous that she would be bored from sitting there for two hours, which she might have been a little bit, but after the meeting she found some friends from the city over that she knew and was way excited about that and was like, "We need to talk about when you guys can come by again."

Fabricio could use a lot of prayers. It´s hard not to drink during Mundial.

Love you guys a ton!!

Hermana Peterson

Back to the Bucket

Jack!!! Happy Birthday Bro! That´s crazy. My little brother is 6?? Say what? Time is FLYING. 

AND Happy Father´s Day! on Sunday!!! Love you Dad.

Speaking of time going fast... We had transfers this week. I was sad to leave Corrientes. But I´m excited to be here in Saenz Peña. I think I was getting a little too comfortable living in paradise. I´m back to showering with a bucket and cold water! But hopefully not for too long :) We just moved apartments this morning and they are working on hot water... 

We are teaching this super chill kid, Fabricio. His girlfriend Marcela is a member and we are working on getting them married so he can get baptized. The only problem is that the marriage place here is on strike. So if you guys want to include them in your prayers that would be so awesome. 

My companion Hermana Young is so great. Her family just moved to Provo. Super close to us! We are loving it and having a ton of fun! 

Man. I miss you guys! Hope you know I love you like crazy!

I´m so grateful to be a missionary. I love it. I know this is the work of the Lord. If I didn´t know this was THE church of Jesus Christ, there´s no way I would choose to spend a year and a half away from ya.

Don´t forget to read your Book of Mormon everyday!  

Love you!

Hermana Peterson

Say Your Prayers

June 2, 2014

Hello family!

This week we had an unusual amount of people stop us in the street to ask us questions and stuff. It's the best when other people want to talk to us. Usually it's the other way around haha. 

Alejandra stopped us one night because of our accents and was like, "Where are you from?" We started talking and then when we asked her if we could write down her address she was like, "Vengan chicas!" So we followed her around the block through this gate that locks behind us, down this creepy passageway with another automatic lock gate and up a ton of stairs to her lair... I mean apartment. haha 

Only as missionaries do we just go into strangers houses like that. Anything to teach the gospel. haha (Don't worry mom. We are always safe).

We taught her and her husband yesterday and when my companion said the opening prayer, MiguelAngel started crying. BECAUSE HE FELT THE SPIRIT! They are awesome.

I'm so grateful for prayer. It's crazy to me that there are a lot of people that have never prayed or don't realize that they can pray anywhere, anytime and we can say what we want! We don't have to say a written out prayer or be in the church. We can talk to God right there in our home. I loved what Sarah said about praying in her letter. It's the coolest thing to teach people how to pray. I'm so grateful that we can talk to God. I can't imagine doing this life without that. 

Say your prayers!!

Hermana Peterson

It Gets Cold in Argentina Say What???

May 26, 2014

Here´s a pic of us all bundled up. IN THE COLDNESS. I broke out all the hot chocolate you guys sent me in the summer... haha thank you for that :)

I LOVE meeting people and talking to people. So fun. SO interesting. We did a ton of contacting this week in the city part of our area so we had a lot of interesting experiences.

It´s a written rule that every time we fast people offer us food. Super good food. The record goes unbroken this week! With the lady that was having a party when we knocked on her door and she gave us Pasteletitos. Que temptation to carry those around all day. 

We also met catman. He has over 40 cats that live in his house. He feeds the animals so people always bring him stray pets.... there are a lot of those in Argentina...

Our elevator also broke this week. We live on the top floor, and there are also a bunch of oldies that live in our building. We have a lot of opportunities to serve and get some exercise in... haha

The work is going great. We are doing good. I love it. Love being a missionary.

Love you guys!!!!!!!!!

Hermana Peterson

Cutest Little Moments

Guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were a lot of little moments this week that I loved. Basically all of them had to do with Rocio and her husband.

Rocio got baptized this week! So cute. Her husband Alcides is THE CUTEST. They got to the church before we got there and when we walked in, Alcides just started tearing up and was like, "Thank you, thank you." They always tell us that we are angels that fell from heaven into their house. 

We were waiting for one of the members to get to the baptism, so I just told them we would wait and start in about 5 minutes and Alcides is like, "I´ve been waiting 13 years for this moment." HOW CUTE IS THIS GUY?!

And then we were waiting outside while Rocio had her baptism interview and when she came out she was just like, "I´m getting baptized!" with her hands in the air and she hugged both of us so hard. And then Alcides was like, we need to pray. He´s always reminding us to pray. :) oh man.

Hermana Benitez is learning how to read!! If you guys want to pray for her that would be awesome. She´s a single mom with four kids and they have nothing! She can´t read. She doesn´t even know the basics. So some of the Hermanas in the relief society have been helping her and we were invited to their little family home evening this last night. I was sitting next to her and was reading the words in the Book of Mormon and following along with my finger and then she would repeat the words after me. (Kind of funny that out of all the people that were helping her, I was the one that was reading for her haha #soygringa) We had to leave before they started the actually teaching part. But. I´m so grateful for education. And for the basics like knowing how to read. Such a blessing. 

I know I never send pictures. And I never really even plan to send pictures. But, I want you to know that I really did plan on it today. I just can´t send pics on this computer. haha lo siento. Maybe next month ;)

Love you all!

Besitos!

Hermana Peterson

Happy Mother's Day

Oh my. It was so good to talk to you guys yesterday! Sorry I talked so much. I realized that you guys hardly got to say anything. I guess that´s what happens when you are deprived of speaking English... :) lo siento.

This week seriously. THE BEST WEEK EVER. You guys. I´m so happy. I seriously love being a missionary. I feel like I´m the most blessed person in the entire world. I just can´t believe that I was so blessed to live in the United States and be born to an AMAZING family that has the gospel. I´m so grateful that my family can be forever. That I know the Plan of Salvation and that I have this knowledge so I can enjoy blessings and felicidad right now in my life. I just hope that I can live worthy of the blessing of having the gospel in my life and share with others. A great responsibility. 

Sarah sent me the story from Sister Dalton about her marathon experience. (You guys should totally read it. Good stuff.) And I LOVE it. She talks about how she was running and she got to "Heartbreak Hill" and was tired and realized she was lost. The people on the sideline were cheering her on and encouraging her. And she also prayed for comfort and help from Heavenly Father.

The word´s to How Firm a Foundation came to her mind and she was comforted. "Fear not I am with thee oh be not dismayed. For I am thy God and will still give thee aid."

I´m so grateful for the support that I feel from all my friends and family. I can feel your prayers and support. I want you all to know that God is only a prayer away. I have seen over and over again that God is SO aware of us. He´s our God, our Heavenly Father, and he won't leave us without aid.

We are teaching three Young Women right now, the family Sanchez. Every time we come over, their little brother runs out and gets so excited to see us. I seriously smile so hard when we teach them. Elizabeth has been praying and reading and is SO prepared. She told us when she prays she feels paz and tranquilidad. 

This week I was reminded a lot about the Young Women Theme that says, "We are daughters of our Heavenly Father who loves us and we love him." I love my Heavenly Father. I love the gospel. I love being a missionary.

Love you all!

Read your Book of Mormon.

Hermana Peterson 

The Book of Mormon and Cake

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20!!!

Awww, you guys are the best. I have the best family and friends! Thank you for the birthday wishes and pictures. I was dying at the pictures from Nan. The one with her and Ab with the crazy hair. And of course, the pic when Nan fell off the bench. That will never get old. I still laugh about that. haha

I think I already told mom this story. But, the other day we were talking to this lady outside her house and inside her daughter was listen to music really loud. And guess what song was playing... 22. By Taylor Swift. Coincidence?? I might have teared up a little. First tswift song I´ve heard since Washington. #coolhuh?

I hope you guys eat a chocolate cake from Costco in my honor. :)

Guys. This week was so great. We had some ROCKIN lessons. And two super awesome activities at church. We played games and had food. Took me back to all the years and activities we had in Young Womens and EFY and Youth Conference and Seminary... We got casi todos of our menosactivos to come. #cloudnine

The other activity was for the Sociedad de Socorro. It was about how the Relief Society was formed and stuff. They took some pretty embarrassing pictures of us wearing these ridiculous bonnets. The next day one of the members was like, "It looked like the activity was really fun!" Now we have Bonnet pictures floating around on Facebook. #howembarrassing #blackmail 

We had this great lesson about the Book of Mormon with a family menosactivo. I am obsessed with the Book of Mormon. But, while we were preparing our lesson we were thinking about and sharing experiences that we´ve had with the Book of Mormon. I´ve been thinking a ton this week about all the times that I´ve been blessed through the Book of Mormon.

I can´t tell you the amount of times that I received answers to my prayers through the Book of Mormon. Every time I´m sad and need comfort, I turn to the Book of Mormon. Every time I have decisions to make, I turn to the Book of Mormon. Every time I want to feel God´s love, I turn to the Book of Mormon. I can´t get over it. 

I´m so excited to talk to you guys next week!! Happy Mother´s Day to Mom! I think I´ll skype you around 6ish here in Argentina. I´m not sure what time that will be there. What time do you guys have church? Will that be a problem? Hopefully I´ll get to see Sarie tambien!

Guys. Read your Book of Mormon everyday.

Love you!
Meg

Tarantulas

I love you guys!!!!!!

I love being a missionary!!!! I love the people here in Corrientes. I love our little branch. I seriously feel so blessed with the people that I get to work with and teach.

This week we found Rocio. She´s awesome. Her husband is a menos activo but when we found them he was like, "Just this week I was thinking about reactivating myself." SO great. They both came to sacrament meeting. 

We can't receive packages or padded envelopes right now so don´t send them to me!! Letters yes! Packages no. #argentinaprobs

Tarantulas. In all of my missionary experiences, I feel like I´ve been pretty calm. All the scary or weird things that happen, I don´t think I´ve ever really had a "freak out" haha. All I have to say is. There are tarantulas. Here in Corrientes. And last night we saw two. IN the middle of the road. And all kinds of other giant spiders and gross bugs. I just wanted to let you know that living here in Argentina hasn´t cured me of my fear of spiders. 

It kind of reminded me of the time when mom and I were hiking to the "Y" and we saw that Tarantula and ran the entire way down the mountain... 

Bueno.

I have a testimony of this church. I know God loves us.

Read the talk, "I will Not Fail Thee, nor Forsake Thee," By Pres. Monson. SOOOOO good. I think one of my favs. "...the stronger the wind, the stronger the tress."

I love you all!!!! I hope you have an awesome week. 

Hermana Peterson