December 7th 2015

My heart is so full of emotion as i come to realize that this will be my last time, emailing as a missionary. I wish there were words to express how i feel right now but there really aren't.

First off i need to tell you all about our huge grand miracle from this week, that brought tears to my eyes that it really happened. i dont know if you remember Dana, but i will tell you her story really quick. She is amazing. Okay so it all started with her boyfriend, who is a member of the chruch. They were dating for a while and then he left on his mission, but by him, his example and his words she started getting interested in the gospel. So after he left she started to investigate and for the Book of Mormon online and started to read it. For reading it her whole life changed, she used to not even believe in God, but by reading the Book of Mormon, and feeling the power of it she started to believe and then started to pray that she could find some missionaries. About 7 months ago she found the missionaries, they contacted us here, and ever since we have been teaching her. Every lesson we had the spirit was so strong as she told us that she knew everything was true, and wanted sooooo badly to get baptized but her mom said no. She´s 22 so she could easily get baptized but didnt want to go behind her mom´s back. So we have been fight for my whole time her to get her baptized, but nothing happened for a long time. But when i met her when i got her she told me that she was going to get baptized before i left.

Last week i got a message from her asking when i left and i told her and she was a bit upset because didnt believe that she´s be able to get baptized that fast. We talked to her and said everything is possible with God, just ask your mom. so she said okay. so we all prayed and prayed and prayed and then waited. On Tuesday we got a message from her that said "Guess who is getting baptized??;)" AHHHHHHHHHH Dana got baptized yesterday and was the happiest day of my life. I will tell you more about my week on Thursday :) because i want to share some thoughts i´ve had.

As i look back and reflect on my mission, i cannot help but just be soo full of gratitud for my Heavenly Father. I feel so very blessed for the day that i took time to pray and really see what Heavenly Father´s plan was for me, and that i followed what i felt and came out on the mission. And that every day since then i have seen my Heavenly Father continue to show me His plan for me. He really does have everything planned out PERFECTLY, and sometimes we think we know better, but His way is always better. Always better, yet sometimes harder. But the hard times are what makes us so much stronger. i really can now say that i am so grateful for every hard day in my mission. I am grateful for every sweaty day, when i was sweating so much that i thought it must be raining because i was so wet, and then could stop and think about the time Jesus sweat blood from every pore. I am grateful for every door that got slammed in my face, for every day i was called crazy, because from that i was able to understand a little bit more about how Christ felt being rejected and mocked. I am grateful for every fast i had, and the times when i felt so weak that i had to just completly put my strength on my spirit forgetting all about the natural man,  that i could think about the time Jesus Christ fasted for 40 days. I am grateful for every heavy backpack, that maybe at the time i complained, but then was able to think about the time Christ carried the cross on His back. I am grateful for every night that i feel to my knees, pleading for help, and sometimes wondering what more i lacked, wondering what i was doing wrong, and pleading like Jesus Christ, asking to please "if it´s possible take this cup from me" and then realizing that the Lord has a plan, that he wants me to grow. That really all these things were for me to understand who i am. i know that my Heavenly Father loves me, and that he is completely aware of everything i go through. I am so very grateful for this time i have had to really get to know my Heavenly Father, know who He is, and that He really loves each one of us so much. What a great blessing i have had to testify from the top of my lungs to the whole country that God loves them, and He wants the best for them. What a great blessing i have had to tell the world that God has a plan for them, and that He wants us to be happy. To tell everyone that i am the happiest person in the world, because i live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

2 Nephi 4:34

I know without a shadow of a doubt that Jesus live. I know and have felt so many times in my mission that He is hear with me. He already walked my path, and knows exactly what i need to do to get back to live with my Heavenly Father again. I know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that becasue of HIm and His sacrifice, all is possible. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God, and that the Book of Mormon is a book that changes lives. It has changed mine, and changed soo many more here too. I know that this is the only true church, i know that the gospel blesses families, and i cant wait to see it bless my family again. I know that i wasnt the best missionary in the whole wide world, that maybe i didnt baptized millions like Peter, Alma and Amulek, but i know that i did what my Heavenly Father wanted me to do.

2 Timothy 4:7, 17

Thank you all so much for your love and support these last 17. Thank you for your fasts and prayers. for you emails and letters. For letting me leave and grow to become who i needed to become. I am a changed person and know that it is all throught the Savior. I cannot wait to see you all soon!!!! VERY soon!!! :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Love and signing off for the last time,

Hermana Peters

November 30, 2015

Heeeelllllooooo family :) 

I hope you allll ate soooo much food on Thanksgiving :) because I did!! So ya I will just get straight to it. Here is Escazu there are a ton of gringos like I`ve already said, Our Bishop (who is gringo) planned a big Thanksgiving dinner and invited all of the families in our ward and also invited 2 other gringo families, so i basically felt like i was in the states again. They were playing football and everything!! Soo weird but it was nice to really celebrate Thanksgiving. And have REAL food. (ya mom i will be honest, I am soooooooo excited to eat your food again) So ya i got to have a real Thanksgiving dinner in Costa Rica. But wanna hear the coolest part??? Okay i am sure you all remember Noel Paysen, she was the Mormon that won the skeleton in the winter Olympics. Ya she was there!!!!! i ate Thanksgiving dinner with an Olympian!! :):) she`s soo cool and super humble. soo humble that I didn't even know that she was famous until she had left. So I don't have a picture... but it was cool to meet her :)

So onto the real good stuff. :) For the past month we have been visiting a cute couple, and their 6 year old daughter. They weren't progressing super fast, but we just went with them once a week because we could feel something special with them. So on Tuesday we went over to see them. We were talking a bit, had the opening prayer and then before we started to teach the lesson we had planned, we asked them if they had any questions that we could answer for them. Claudia said yes, her eyes got teary and started asking us why there is soo much wickedness in the world. i don't really know what is going on in the world right now, but sounds like a bunch of wars, and innocent children are dying. That is what effected her the most, is that young kids were dying. This is a question i think many people in the world have, but in this moment we were able to testify to her that even though there is a lot of things going on in the world, God still loves us, and has given us a way to live in the world and not be of the world, through the way we have our homes. I have seen from our home, that no matter what is going on outside, if we have a Christ centered home, we will never need to feel scared or worried. Also we taught her about the seconding coming, because everything that is happening in the world is telling us that we need to prepare now!! it was the perfect chance for us to ask them how they felt, if Christ was to come tomorrow, and in this moment they opened us to us. And told us they want to change. There process will be slower, they need to get married and she works on Sunday, but i know that one day they will be members of the church and will be able to feel the peace and joy that comes from the gospel.

Also this past week the Municipalidad, like the city council, had activities in the church all week so we set up a little table and with the other 4 missionaries we took turns being there and were able to talk to sooo many people, over 200 contacts. It was amazing. Also something cool this week was having Jennifer Lopez leave with us to go on visits and hear her testify about her conversion, and about how she overcame her doubts. I love her!!!

So everyone has been asking me how i feel, and well I feel sooo ready to have the best week of my life, I know that there are more people waiting for me this week and I am going to find them. I am sooo happy to be a missionary, and am going to work harder than I`ve ever worked this week.

I love you all!!!!!!

Have a wonderful week :)

Tell Michael i say hi if you talk to him :) I am sooo excited he is getting out to his mission now :)

Love,

Hermana Peters 

soo we had an amazing thanksgiving and silly me, i didnt take any pictures.. just this one... haha i will tell you all about it in my big email. but ya loca=crazy :) haha

November 23, 2015
HELLLLOOOOO FAMILY :D

so first off, my keyboard right now is pretty dumb, and a few keys arent working and i cant do i real smily face or a exclamation point... so it´s keeping me from expressing myself as i would like but oh well... hahaha

This week was great. I know that i always talk about them, but i am just soo happy about my converts right now. i love seeing them grow and progress. They are all doing soo good. Even though we cant visit Lubi and Ramon in San Jose, i am still talking to them, and they always tell me what they are learning in the Book of Mormon, or experiences praying and i just love it. Also Tony and Leodan are happy and progressing with the priesthood. Oh and Axel, remember him? on Sunday he passed the sacrament with the biggest smile i have ever seen. Lets just say i am pretty much the happiest missionary in the whole world.

Also i am loving my time with my companion Hermana Flores. She´s incredible and is helping me soo much. She is so humble, smart and loving. She is teaching me so much, and sometimes in my head i think, man i wish i would have learned this stuff earlier in my mission. But then i remember how God has His hand in everything, and that put people in our path when we are ready for them. I am grateful that He put Hermana Flores in my path for 4 weeks.

We had a cool experience the other day. We were walking around, trying to find new investigators, and lets just say we weren't having too much success, which happens sometimes. There are days when you knock on 3 doors and they all want to listen and want to come to church. There are other days when you knock on a million doors, and talk to a million people, and don't see very much success. So one night we felt kinda lost in the sense of what we should be doing. So we said a pray, asking for direction on what to do and where to go. My comp pointed in a direction and we went to the first house we saw, and i said, we are just going to ask if we can sing a hymn. The lady at first said she was too busy, but we said that it was  minutes that she would be giving to the Lord, and nobody else, so then she let us in. We sang Nearer My God to Thee, and the spirit was sooo strong. She was almost in tears after saying how we were angels sent to her in a time that she needed most and a bunch of stuff. i will be honest, i LOVE it when people tell me that i was able to the hands of the Lord for them. That we were able to be angels in her time of need. After she said she wanted us to come back to meet her whole family. Prayer is real, the spirit is real. music is REAL. 

Another miracle this week is about Melvin. I don't think i have told you all about Melvin, but he is one of our investigators. He is engaged to a member of the church and so he´s been investigating the church, but about a month ago had a heart attack and was in the hospital for  weeks in critical condition, and said that he´s never felt closer to dying, but in that time he was able to read half of the Book of Mormon. Ahh i am out of time so i will finish this story next week 

I LOVE YOU ALL :D

Love,

Hermana Peters

We got to decorate the Christmas tree in the Mission Office!

Pipa Fria!!!!!

While driving in Costa Rica you will pass numerous fruit stands and you will miss out if you don’t pull your car over and partake in these fun fruits. Pipa fría is fresh chilled green coconut. It’s a perfect refreshment for a hot day – it is loaded with vitamins and gives you an instant burst of energy.

Just can pass up the opportunity for a selfie in the bathroom:)

These pictures are of the zone activity today!

Nov. 16, 2015
Hello to the Best Family in the whole wide world,

How is everyone doing? Sounds like you`re all doing good, and preparing for the cold ;) the weather here is great, not to hot, not too cold, all you need is a little sweater when it rains ;) hehehe sorry just had to rub that in before it`s too late and i am dying from the coldness in Utah... haha

So this week was super crazy!!! Lots of long days with many very short nights, but i loved it. :) From Monday afternoon to Thursday morning we had all the sisters that were finishing the mission staying with us. And sad day... Hermana Holmes has now officially finished her mission... :( my mom in the mission, and the one who taught me everything i know. I am super grateful for her, and for all the things i learned from her. Her family came to get her and all i have to say is thank you family for not coming to get me. It`s not something i would want. But we went with her to the church to leave her with her family, and lets just say i was crying with them. It was a super happy moment for her :) So with the sisters here with us meant lots of early morning and late nights. Also for one night the newbies were here with us too. Yeah we had a full house!! But i was nice because they were able to work with us for a bit everyday and help us with our investigators.

Since they were helping us in our area, by Wednesday we had already almost met our weekly goals. So we decided we wanted to spend a day out of our area helping other hermanas. We are in charge of 4 hermanas that are in Puntarenas which is an area that is like 2 or 3 hours from our area. So we just had been calling them every once in a while but werent able to do divisions. One set of sisters were having some trails, and hadnt been able to bring anyone for church for almost 8 weeks. So we called the assistants and got permission to go spend a day in Esparze, Puntarenas. First off, i forgot how hot it can be in Costa Rica. Puntarenas is super hot, not like Guanacaste, but hot. My body had gotten used to my area, which is the coolest area in the mission. When we got to Esparza it was like a flash back to the heat.. and sweat, and sun. Haha but it was great!! We spent the whole day there and i went with one of the sister, and my comp with the other. We went crazy and found a bunch of new people and really focused on helping them invite people to church. We were sooo happy yesterday as we called then and found out that they had brought 4 people to church :)

I have been thinking a lot this week on being guided by the Spirit and have been asking to be guided more. Since we had a lot of baptisms the last 2 weeks, i felt like we didnt have anyone more to teach, so we went out and found a bunch of people this week, that are great! My companion is teaching me a lot on how to be a better missionary, and my testimony is growing stronger and stronger of the importance of changes in the misison, and also in the life. The quote that says there is no growing in the comfort zone is soo true, I was getting comfortable with Hermana Garcia, we had the way we taught, found news, and worked down, but my Heavenly Father knew that i needed to do more. So He sent me another companion that is going to help me grow so much more. I know that i dont have a ton of time left, but i am going to use every second I have to keep changing, to keep working and to give everything i have to the Lord. I sometimes wish i had more time, more time to keep changing because there are soo many things that i still need to change, but i know that that is going to be a process of a lifetime. ANYWAYS enough about that :)

Lubi and Ramon moved to San Jose.... ya i was super sad but they are still going to come to the ward here. i am amazed by them and all they do :) next week Ramon is going to get the priesthood!! i am sooo excited for this family to start receiving the blessings of the priesthood in their home :)

Also Osvaldo got confirmed yesterday :) i am sooo happy for all of them :):)

Well have a wonderful week! i love you all and am praying for all of you!!!

Love,

Hermana Peters :)

a fun night sleeping on the floor in Esparza :) haha
(Trust in the Lord is the blanket Mom made me to take on my mission)

This past week we went on divisions with the Hermanas in Esparza :) 

 divisions with the Hermanas in Esparza :) 

sooo i wanted to send you a cute picture of me and my comp but we still haven't taken any cute ones.... haha we will try again next week :) but she`s great!! i love her sooo much!!!

Nov. 9, 2015
Hiii family,

Elder Peters is super cool and gave you all a personal note at the beginning... sorry i am not that cool but just know that i love you alll!! :) And i am so proud of MIchael, he`s sooo smart to be learning Spanish sooo fast.

So this week was another sacrifice week and it went great!! I think it was a bit harder on a few, and sooooo many got sick. LIke you probably heard about Anna, she`s was super sick, and then just about every other missionary here has the flu. So ya 5 out of the six missionaries here are sick, i am the only healthy one, but i feel great! I am being super careful, but ya the bug is going around and it`s catching everyone. But i am supèr fast so it`s not going to catch me ;) just call me flash!! haha but ya so that`s not fun... We had to come home early only night because my companion felt super sick.. i feel soooo blessed to not be sick and i know that God is blessing me and protecting me right now. 

We were able to see a lot of really cool miracles with week. On Tuesday morning, my whole zone and another zone got together to sing in san jose. So we all went to parts of san jose that there were a lot of people, we`d stop and just start singing. So just picture 30 teenagers in the middle of a huge city singing Nearer My God to Thee, and The Spirit of God. It was soooo cool. So the first time we did it we all felt kinda weird, but then we had like 3 people stop and start taking pictures, maybe it`s because they thought it was funny, but then others started to stop and listen. It was actually really cool because if someone stopped, a companionship would stop singing and go talk to them We found a lot of people that were ready and open to listen in that way! And i know that even though we were in a huge noisy city, that people could feel the spirit.

Also another day we went to a shopping mall and had a whole bunch of pamphlets and things to give out to people so that was cool, and i really liked it! I also went to Ciudad Colon this week on divisions and i really enjoyed my time there. We found a family that is GOLD. so hopefully the sister there can work with them! 

My cute converts are doing sooo good!!! i am sooo happy for them all and really am just in aww with all that God has been blessing. I really feel so blessed.

So to finish, we had transfers today, and my companion is leaving to Guanacaste, Lucky duck is going with Hermana Fowler, but i am sooo grateful for the time i had with her. i was able to learn sooo much from her and hope that one day i can go to Guatemala to visit her. She is such an amazing person!! My new companion is Hermana Flores and she super pretty, :) haha that`s about all i know about her, so i will let you know more able her next week :) 

I love you all soo much and hope you all have a wonderful week!!

And Cam and Tyler... HAPPY BIRTHDAY :):)

Love,

Hermana Peters

we got zone tshirts!! 

And yes i don't know why they chose to put ray ray petes... the Elders picked the names and wanted nicknames for everyone.. haha  ...one day they asked me what my nicknames were so i said things like red, and rach, but they like ray ray petes the best. 

hermanas in our zone :)

                 Escazu 3 zone!

this is osvaldo, he was our baptism :)

More baptisms in escazu :) we 6 missionaries in the ward have now set the record for the number of baptisms in one month, and the month is just starting :) we hope to keep having more!

I LOVE HERMANA GARCIA!!!!

These are the 6 missionaries of escazu!! Elder Black is leaving and also Hermana Garcia... but we will always remember the super six :):) 

Nov. 2, 2015
Dear family,

So as you all saw in the picture, we were blessed to have 8 baptisms in the Escazu ward yesterday. All the members were super happy, and they were saying that they can`t ever remember seeing soo many people get baptized on the same day. I will back up and explain what happened with our 5th baptism...

It was Osvaldo who was doing super good!! He used to have a huge problem with drinking but had gone 4 weeks without anything... but then on Monday he fell again... It was crazy how the spirit works, because on Monday my companion and i felt that we needed to go see him. The weird thing was that it was at like 4 in the afternoon, so that means it still was pday, and that we had 2 more hours to go rest or something. But we both felt the need to go see him, and when we got there he wasn't home. His brother came out and said that he wasn`t home, that he was out drinking. i thought it was a joke, because it was a Monday afternoon, but then his sister came out and said the same thing. My companion and i were both super sad... and mostly just frustrated with Satan... He knows just how to make us fall and in the moments least expected... So on Tuesday we went back. Poor guy felt soooo bad, which was a good sign for us. He really knew what he did was bad, and said he didn't even enjoy it, that it isn't going to happen again. So then we explained to him that sometimes it`s important to fall, so that we can get back up even stronger. He now is stronger, and we can see it in his heart and his actions. So this past week we stopped by everyday and almost every time he was reading the Book of Mormon. So he will be getting baptized this Sunday and i know that now he knows how to fight off Satan.

So then the rest of the week we were helping Leodan, Tony, Lubi, and Ramon. Leodan and Tony were both also in the fight with temptations of addictions, so we needed to also be checking up on the daily... But they really showed that their spirit is stronger. Tony has smoked since he was 7.... and about 2 packs per day, but he gave it all up in 2 weeks. Leodan just had problems with coffee, but also was able to give it all up :) 

Luvi and Ramon also had their far share of problems this past week, they got kicked out of their house, but God helped them to find another one super fast, and we were actually able to help them move :) and if you were wonder, my companion and i moved a fridge together with Ramon. Yes we are super bufff :) haha so they got all moved and were super happy in their new house. Also right now Ramon doesnt have a set job right now, he has just been selling things in San Jose in the streets, i didnt know this but it`s illegal, and so one day we went over and were surprised to find him in the house, and so we asked him why he wasnt working and he said there were a few cops out, and that normally he`d just keep going just sneakily, but he told the guy he was with they he couldnt because he  was getting baptized on Sunday :) haha he is the best and i know that he is going to be a future leader in the church!! They all will be!! Tony and Leodan have super strong testimonies, and i hope to be able to see them both leave on missions. Also my companion and i are already planning on how we will be coming back in one year to be able to see Lubi and Ramon go to the temple to be sealed for time and all eternity :)

Thank you all for your prayers for all my friends here in Costa Rica. I know they can feel them. i am soo grateful for this time i have to be a missionary and feel sooo blessed right now. I know that God loves us, and that everything happens for a reason. I hope you alll have a wonderful week and never forget that with God all things are possible.

Thanks mom! i loved your picture you sent in your email about the hard days turn into best days. Last night i was reading in my journal from a time that was really hard, and i could not help but feel sooo grateful for those hard times. In the darkest nights is when you search more for the light. and now i feel soo blessed with so much light and blessings. I really do feel like God is opening his windows of heaven and letting them pour our upon us here. 

my life is really good. i am super happy and really can feel myself sprinting right now for the finish line. President was talking to me the other day asking about our baptisms and then said "What a great way to finish your mission, with these 5 baptisms." all i could think is that i have 5 more weeks, i`m going to finish with even more. :) so i feel super motivated to finish super strong and to give it all i got :) 

 We haven't been able to do divisions for the last few weeks, but we have been calling them a lot. They are doing good! And right now we are working with 2 companionship here, and also have 2 more that are in a zone super far away, but that don't have stls. So we have 8 sisters, but 4 of them we only call to see how they are doing every so often

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Hermana Peters

Coolest day ever.

8 baptisms in Escazu :):)

back row: Leodan, Tony, baptisms of the Elders and then Lubi and Ramon, Estrellita is behind me haha.

Front row: the Elders, 2 members that have helped us a ton and the cutest sister ever :)

so you know which ones were ours...:)

so we ended up only having 4, but we will be having the other next week. 

and ya i dont know why i look so red in these pictures.. haha

Oct. 26, 2015
Hello family,

Well i am glad everyone could make it through another goodbye. I am so proud of Michael and his decision to serve. I hope all is well is Mexico and i cant wait to hear from my fellow missionary :)

So this week was AMAZING!!!!! We had the great honor and privilege of having Elder Duncan, one of the seventy, here with us and all i can say is that he is a man called straight from God. I wish i had a recording of all that he taught us because it was amazing. I was very blessed to also hear from him twice. We had a multi zone meeting with him and then after the next day we had our Leadership Meeting with him. I Loved every second of it and if i had more time i would write down everything he told us to all of you. But one thing i would like to share with you all was some motivation he gave us. I want you all to think about something right now in your life that maybe seems "hard". Maybe it`s the load you have at school or work, maybe it`s dealing with dumb friends, maybe it`s starting to serve a mission, learning another language, maybe its doing your morning prayers, maybe it`s studying the scriptures daily, maybe it`s having charity, or having positive thoughts. Whatever it is, i want you all to think of something and then go read these scriptures....

Matthew 19: 26

Luke 1:37

Phil 4:13

Mark 10:27

Mark 9:23

Matthew 17:20

Isiah 41:10

Mark 11:24

1 Nephi 3:7

Romans 8:31

Alma 36:3

Gen 18:14

Jeremiah 32:27

1 Nephi 19:50

WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE.

This helped everyone here. Because our mission President is really helping us to stretch and grow. i know that personally it is exactly what i needed to finish my mission strong. That i needed him to help me realize my full potential. He has set goals for us and i am here to say that they are all inspired by God. And i know what all these scriptures are saying are true. My companion and i have really seen it, and this next Sunday we are going to show that faith, diligence and prayers bring many miracles. We will be having 5 bapitsms the next Sunday, which is the monthly goal that President has set for every companionship. Everyone said he was crazy, but we are here saying that it`s possible. So Lubi, Ramon, Leodan, Tony, and Osvaldo will all be getting baptized on Sunday. So please pray for them :):)

Well i am all out of time but i love you allll sooo much!! Thank you for all your love :)

Love,

Hermana Peters

Leadership meeting!

Jennifer and Cristina are going to the temple this week!!! i am sooo proud of them :)