July 19,2014
HIIIIII everyone :)

Well the MTC is still just as great as ever :) haha this week we got on our regular schedules which goes about like this..

6:30- get up, and don't worry Hermana Larsen hasn't had to drag me out of bed yet. I've been working very hard on being exactly obedient. :)7:00 we have breakfast and then head off to class.  Basically the rest of the day is spent in our classroom. It is the front room of the Raintree apartment and we have 11 desks squished in :) i'm with my district all day, and we never move to other classrooms unless we are going to teach an investigator or something then it feels like real life because we go knock on an apartment door, they let us in and we talk. Haha my Spanish is still pretty rusty, but I can still contribute a little bit to our lessons. We have gym time at 10:30 and that is a much needed break. My district and I go play volleyball a lot which is AWESOME. I have now stuffed/blocked/killed the elders like 10 times. It is a much needed humbling experience for these little 18 year old boys. Haha :) But really it is so fun and so nice to get out for a little bit :) The last 3 hours, are our own to have personal, companion, and language study which is one of my favorite parts of the day. It is so nice to be able to just sit back and not worry about Spanish for a little bit and only worry about myself and the Lord. 

My mom sent me some questions and i thought you'd all like to hear my answers :) plus i don't really know what else to say right now.. haha

How is it going?

it's going really good :)

Now how is it really going? :)  we want real answers

haha i really am doing great. i had a big cry this week, but it was just what i needed. i remembered what you said mom and cried for a few minutes and then put a smile on and kept working

I asked you about your schedule because I am really quite clueless and what goes on behind those fences and walls:)  So what do you do?

hopefully that schedule up top is enough for you ;)

Do you really go for a walk around the temple on Sunday or is that a wild story?

the people on main campus MTC do, but we don't because it would take us like our whole time to just walk there. But we do go to the temple on Saturday mornings. This morning was way cool! I got to see the new video and loved it.

So do you speak spanish in your apartment?

we are trying very hard to... haha but sometimes english does come out.. haha

Do you get fed inside the raintree complex?

Raintree is just where all the missionaries live, and wyview is where everything else it. so i eat in this little portable thing, and we have gym time in these little bubbles.. hahaha

Is the chocolate milk as good as they say?

YES. MMMMM:)

How is the other food?'

pretty good, not as good as your food mom :)

What is you favorite food there?

the cold cereal :) hahaha

Do you avoid some foods:)

yes. they had fish two night in a row here so i definitely avoided that.

Did you really get a huge stack of books?

Yes!! We have like 4 big spanish books and then like a spanish preach my gospel and scriptures. 

How are the clothes?  I kind of hope you didn't unpack them all.

my clothes are all great! everyone keeps asking me where i got my clothes and i just say, "My mom made it":) the hermana's here want you to start a business mom and make them all everything i have. :) haha

Are you sleeping?  

oh yaaaa. i literally lay down and am out. and then it feels like my alarm goes off like ten minutes later. 

Did the church do any changes to Raintree? any improvements:)

ummmm i don't reallly think soo... haha i don't really remember them before, but they aren't bad.

So Camerons brother Josh is there in the spanish complex now.  Have you seen him?  I guess that is like a needle in a haystack!

I did :) i saw him his first night at dinner and haven't seen him since! But i did see him!

So I was impressed with all the smiling missionaries at the drop off.  They looked so happy, so really happy.  Some people joke it is because they are not in class, but I think it must be fun.  Do you get to do that?

hahaha no i haven't but i would love to get out of class and do that! It honestly feels like finals week every day. like study as hard as you can all the time . but it is good :)

How is the spanish going?

eh it's coming.  I have learned a lot but still have a lot more to learn.

So I thought of more i can say.. haha I'm part of the MTC choir which is so cool. It is honestly the best feeling ever to sing with an army of missionaries.  :) I love it! 

Last Sunday we all went to relief society and were waiting for it to be broadcasted into our room from the main campus, and it wasn't working. so we all waited for a while but then on of the sister leaders stood up and said that we would have a hymn testimony meeting while we wait, which ended up being the whole time. it was just what i needed that day. They say if you make it till sunday at the MTC, you can survive anything on your mission, and so i was so happy i made it, and was so ready to have a break from spanish.  One of the hermana's in my zone got up to share her favorite hymn and it was be still my soul and i cried the whole time which we all know i don't do very much.  the spirit was sooo strong and i knew that my heavenly father was there for me. that he wasn't going to leave me alone to learn spanish, or to teach my investigators. I am his instrument, and he will put the right words in my mouth. I love this gospel and am so grateful for the atonement in my life. I don't know how anyone could survive without this wonderful and amazing church, and that's why i'm so excited to share it :)

Love you allll :)

Thank you ALL  for the love, support, dear elders, letters and packages! they all mean soo much!! Keep em coming :)

LOVE,

Hermana Peters

July 12, 2014
Well I did it. I officially made it through the hardest 3 days of the MTC, or so i've been told! Haha but i have absolutely loved every minute! So i got here and felt like an ant for a little bit just walking through the ant hill picking up all this stuff i needed and then was shipped off to the West MTC.  All the Spanish missionaries are over here and it's basically Spanish Happyville.  Haha everyone is constantly speaking spanish and saying hola to everyone. At first i couldn't help but laugh, just picture a bunch of white people walking around saying "Hola" and trying to sound like they know what they are doing. Haha but now i'm just like everyone else constantly saying Hola :) haha 

My companion's name is Hermana Larsen! She is from Texas and has wanted to go on a mission her whole life.  She is super smart, and has taken 3 years of spanish before this, plus tested out of 9 credits of spanish in college. She has helped me a ton and is VERY patient with me.  I love her :)

So right after i dropped off my luggage on the first day i went straight to my first class. In class our teacher only speaks spanish. No English at all.... Well i figured everyone would be just as confused as me, but everyone in my class (which is my district) has taken at least 2 years of Spanish.  yaaaaa i'm a little behind... but i've learned very quickly to just laugh it off.  To not worry about being the best as long as i am doing my best, right Tyler? ;) haha anyways so i've been trying to learn as quickly and as much as i can everyday.  I now know how to pray, bear my testimony, carry on a very basic conversation and teach a lesson.  Actually i don't know if i'd include the lesson... haha me and Hermana Larsen taught a lesson yesterday and lets just say i could see the investigator holding back laughter at my spanish.  Especially when i couldn't remember the word for work and instead of trabajo, i said trelbono. so i asked him where he toleits. cool right? haha thank goodness Hermana Larsen was there to correct me and help me! she gave most of the lesson, but i did ask him some questions, say the prayer, and tried to teach him how to pray.  Hermana Larsen keeps saying she's really impressed with how quick I'm learning and that when she was at my point in school, she had already finished a semester! So that made me feel good! And yesterday we made some personal goals with our teacher, Hermono Ream, and he told me that he's already seen a huge improvement in me, especially in my accent. So I know that if I keep working hard, I will be able to do what the Lord wants me to and teach the people of Costa Rica! Whenever it's hard, i try to remember that i just need to trust in the Lord and through him i can do ALL things. Even learn Spanish. 

So i live at Y View and all my classes are at Raintree so that's where i spend most of my time! it really is great to come home to a real apartment at night and be able not have to be so squished. I lived with two other sisters besides my companion, Hermana Henrie and Hermana Van Overbeek.  They are soooo funny and we all just laugh all day long.  We have all being trying very hard to use corrects words here. We are supposed to call each other Hermanas, Heremonos and Elders and not guys which is a really hard habit to break, so we decided to do what they do on the best two years for the word flip.  Haha so if any of us says "guys" or "crap" or anything that a missionary shouldn't be, we just hit each other :) haha don't worry we are all girls and can't punch very hard anyways to it's actually really helped. I've only been punched twice today ;) hahaha

i see people I know all the time here which is great! Me and Hermana Fowler aren't in the same zone or anything, but we bump into each other every so often which is always a very happy moment :) and i see all the little high school boys all the time, oh and i say Ashley Eyring today when i went to main campus for a bit and we both were just talking way fast and jumping up and down! it's always great to see a familiar face! 

My camera isn't connecting to the computer so you'll all have to wait til next week for some pictures!

The church is true. I love it so much and am so grateful for the opportunity i have to serve my Heavenly Father. I know that he is looking out for me and is blessing me with the gift of tongues and with understanding. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family that i know i can be with for eternity.  This gospel it truly incredible and I can't wait to get out and share this message of joy and happiness with people! 

Thank you everyone for the support and love! i love receiving dear elders, and letters :) they make my day! :)

I love you all!!

Hermana Peters

Just a quick note.  You can write a letter and send it same day to the MTC at DearElder.com.  Make sure you select MTC as the mission for now.  Also for the future you can write a letter for free to Costa Rica through DearElder.com.

 Today was the beginning. Today it all starts! We are at the Provo Temple right before entering the MTC!

This is how it is done!  You drive up, you unload, if you are lucky you get a picture and a hug. Then they bandage is pulled off quick!