Oct. 27, 2014

Family :)

Well i dont have very much time today but i will try to write fast. 

First, a funny story. :) remember that little girl Alison that got baptized like 2 weeks ago? okay she is the cutest. this week we were visiting here and just talking for a bit about Utah and about snow. She was asking me to describe what snow is like.. this happens a lot and its hard to describe snow... haha but anyways i tried for a bit and then she was like ¨well did you bring me some?¨ i was so confused for a second and just sat there and then asked again ¨did you bring me some snow?¨hahaha the way she looked at me was like i must have been stashing some in my bag or something.. Hahaha i was laughing so hard. :)

I got a bunch a dear elders this week which was so great and just what i needed :) so thank you mom, Annalee and Michael :) also grandma and grandpa peters for all your letters! i just got your Halloween card so thank you!

Remember how Hermana Holmes and i are the primary choristors? And most times the sunday school teachers? well now we are also the seminary teachers here... Haha we only teach once a week and the other missionaries do the other days, but wow i have such a greater appreciation for seminary teachers now... That is hard work.... Haha but the kids love the gospel so much. And im so excited to help them gain a testimony of the great book in the world, the book of mormon. This book really is so important, the keystone to this gospel. Without is someone cannot be fully converted to the gospel. I really learned that this week with 3 of my investigators... 2 of them are about 15 year old girls. 2 times this week we went to their houses and found them reading the book of mormon. Probably the best feeling in the whole world :) And what a change i have seen in these two girls this week. They have such a great desire to learn more and more now. One of them read the chapter that we gave her 3 times!! And the other read the chapter that we assigned PLUS started in 1 Nephi and read 6 chapters!! Ahh i love the Book of Mormon. I could go on and on about that book.

We also saw the downfall of this too though. We have an investigator, Ivania. I dont remember what i have said about her but she is amazing and like a mom to me here. But we are struggling to get her baptized. She has now had 3 baptismal dates where the night before she backs out, or something comes up. As it happened for the 3rd time this past week, i was feeling really down, because all of her desire and everything is starting to leave... I was blaming it on all sorts of things in my head after the lesson, like on her family who are all very catholic, or things like that. But now i realize the real problem. She doesn't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. We will be working hard to help her gain a testimony of this book... but the problem is that she cant read... sometimes her son would read to her, but not very often. We have been praying a lot for her and will work extra hard with her to get one of the greatest things she can in this life, a testimony of the book of mormon. 

Well we think we may have found an apartment, but we have to get permission from President. We had to go house hunting during our lunch hour a few different times this week, which has been crazy, but good. I just want to get moved out of where we are as fast as possible. We are still fighting all types of opposition here, but it makes me happy to know that there's a reason Satan is so angry. There was a man that followed us for the second time this week, and we have seen him two more times since, but all is well! We have had permission to have men from the branch accompany us to be safe. Wainer came with us one or two times, so that´s been a blessing too. :) 

Yesterday we got a new branch presidency!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited about the change. President Duran was wonderful, but he deserves to rest now. He lives far away, his wife is pregnant, he's out of work, and he's super super stressed  The new presidency is fresh, energetic, and ready to take on the challenge. They are also very eager to help us with the work. I feel so much support and positive energy, and I am super excited to work with them! 

I am out of time now... But know that i love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers. i can feel them. And know that i am safe here :) I am protected! 

Love you all :)

Love,

Hermana Peters

Oct. 20, 2014

Today we went to the beach with a member family in our ward :) the Piña´s :) i love them and it was soo fun, and then the rain came... jajaja

Hermana Peters has had some interesting experiences this past week.  She says that Satan really is working hard to stop the work and in ways that she never expected.   

Here are her words:

 Hello Family :)

How is everyone? I really hope everyone is good! This past week I have been saying a lot of prayers, a lot. And prayed a lot for all of you. Satan is working really hard here in Santa Cruz because we are soooo close to getting a ward here, which means a stake in Guanacaste. And of course Satan doesn´t want this. And I know that he will do anything to effect the work, and also that he is working hard on all of you too. PLEASE don´t let him win. Keep reading your scriptures every day. EVERY day. And read them together as a family. Sooo many blessings will come from the. Also pray are really talk to Heavenly Father. He wants to listen and I promise that he is listening. AND he answers your prayers. Sometimes in ways that we don´t expect, but he does. Basically I just love you all so much, and I don´t want any of you to let Satan win. Okay?

Anyways... This week I experienced my first real earthquake!! Haha it was Monday night and Hermana Holmes and I were doing our planning for the next day when we heard a giant boom/crack and then about 2 minutes later everything was shaking!! It was a good 15 seconds long or so which is pretty long! But all is good and everyone was safe :) 

Also this week we had divisions again, but this time I was with Hermana Jensen who has been out the same time as me... So Ya 2 gringas with very little Spanish experience... I was scared out of my mind. But I know that my Heavenly Father knows me, knows what I can and can´t do, and wouldn´t give me anything I couldn´t handle. So I moved forward with faith, literally faith in every footstep, in every word, and in everything I do. And let me tell you, I understood and was able to communicate better that day than ever before on my mission. Honestly was a miracle and I know that Heavenly Father blessed me with that strength. :)

So I was supposed to have a baptism this past Sunday but it fell through, which happens a lot here. I was super sad though because this lady, Ivania, had become like a mother to me. As we went to go visit her, she was fine at the start, but as we started to talk to her, I couldn´t see the light in her eyes anymore, the light that we had helped her find inside was gone again. And then she started to say how she doesn´t believe in all this stuff. She doesn´t believe in Joseph Smith, or any prophet here on the earth, and just ah crazy heart breaking stuff. I don´t know what happened, and we are not going to give up on her. I know that she knows this church is true, we just need to help her find the light once more. 

Well I just want you all to know that I love you so much. I wanted to share a quote with you all the helped me a ton this week.

¨Sometimes we become the lightning rod, and we must take the heat for holding fast to God´s standards and doing His work. I testify that we need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine. We may experience misunderstanding criticism and even false accusation, but we are never alone. Our Savior was despised and rejected of men. It is our sacred privilege to stand with Him.¨

Stand with your Savior and you will never stand alone.

I know that to be true with my whole heart. 

Keep working hard family :) i love you all!!

Love,

Hermana Peters

A young women’s activity in our tiny little church

In messages to Mom Hermana Peters wrote:

Well this week was crazy... Satan is working so hard here. And it ways that i wasn´t expecting. We have had some scary experiences with men this past week, all of us hermanas. And all of us haven´t really been able to sleep at night because we are scared. We talked to president and he wants us to find a new house. And we might have to have a man member of our ward with us in the evenings while we are out now. 

On top of that you know how Satan just plays with people’s minds, makes you think the worst of yourself all the time. Yeah it´s been a fight all week.

We are moving in 15 days... So still have a bit of time. We have 2 apartments right now. Me and Hermana Holmes live in one, and Hermana Garcia and Hermana Jensen live in one next to us. 

And well twice this week we had guys following us as we were trying to go home, asking us were we lived and stuff like that. The men here are constantly yelling stuff at us like trying to get us to come over and talk to them, but this week it was a lot more. We had a man that stopped me and Hermana Holmes and asked us to marry him. At first i just thought it was funny and kept walking but he wouldn´t leave us alone and by the end was saying how he just wants a baby, and kept saying just give me a baby. By the end it wasn´t funny and i just felt gross that he was saying stuff like that. 

Also weird things at night. Like one night this week i suddenly woke up and i thought i heard someone say my name. And then as i laid there i had a very VERY strong feeling to go shut our front window. I didn´t even know it was open. So i know I’m being protected when things like that happen, but it´s just hard feeling scared. (This is an experience like Samuel in the temple)

We have been playing hymns at night this week which helped! And thank you for praying extra hard for us. You were inspired to pray harder. And I’ve thought a lot about that scripture, D &C 84:88 " And whoso receiveth you, there i will be also, for I will go before your face.  I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in our hearts and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."  And also about Grandpa White. I really can feel him here with me, and i know that there are so many other angels here. And Hermana Holmes and i were talking and we know that Heavenly Father won´t let anything happen to us that isn´t supposed to happen. And that as long as we are obedient, we will be okay. 

Another fun Pday (preparation day) at the Pina´s home in Tamarindo!

Hermana Holmes and Hermana Peters

Words from Hermana Holmes about the week:

Dear people,

Welllll I don´t actually have a ton of time to write today, but I´ll get whatever I can into this letter.

This week has been insane. Satan is furious with us (all of us missionaries in Santa Cruz) and has resorted to just about everything at some point or another this week to discourage us. Lessons have fallen through, creepy men have followed us, dogs have almost attacked us, we have felt bad spirits try to come to our home, we haven´t been able to sleep, more creepy men, temptations to think negatively of the certain people etc. BUT all is well. We are happy because Satan is not. We are fighting and fighting for this ward here in Santa Cruz, and we´re not giving up! :)

We have talked to President Wilkinson in regards to our physical safety, and are now searching for a new apartment, but in the end, we have the promise that if we´re exactly obedient, no harm will fall upon us. I am SO grateful that I can say I am exactly obedient. I know that is keeping us safe from harm. I have felt the Lord protecting us from both the seen and unseen, and I have felt strongly the presence of His angels surrounding us. I have absolutely no doubt that this is His work. We are so so close to the goal of a ward here in Santa Cruz!!!!

This week Hermana Peters and I were able to bring some young women on visits that have never accompanied the missionaries before. In each case, the young woman had a struggling testimony and a difficult family situation. It was incredible to see the change in them at the end of the day. Both loved coming with us, the parents of both girls were VERY grateful that we would take the time for their daughters, both now have a great desire to serve missions, and both commented on the spirit they could feel in the lessons. They were a great aid to us and the investigators, but the experience for them has the potential to change their lives. I feel so strongly that this is one of the keys to strengthen the members here in Santa Cruz. Working with the members is so important! They need the blessings of missionary service just as much as full time missionaries do. It´s part of our responsibility as members to share the Gospel, and I know that few things can bring more conviction and growth to someone´s testimony than sharing it with others.

Hermana Peters is amazing, and is an incredible example to me. She is also amazing at talking to everyone--and not just that, but also talking in such a sweet and kind manner. This sister has a strong, righteous spirit, and it´s a great blessing to work with her. She and I are going to be great great friends for the rest of our lives. I have no doubt about that. :)

Oh, and Pday was awesome. We went to Tamarindo and had breakfast with the Pina´s. They took us to the beach afterwards to take pictures and enjoy looking at the water....because we can´t swim. But it was way fun! :D

Oh, and for all who were wondering, yes, Victor and Greisy came to church and were confirmed with the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was so sweet. :) :) :)

Ok, now I´m out of time. I love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Have a great week! Go fight Satan and stuff! And do missionary work!

Love,

Hermana Holmes

Some thoughts:

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it."

"If the kingdom of God is not first, it doesn't matter what's second." Maxwell

"Today's trial is tomorrow’s testimony"

"Hardships often prepare ordinary people to do extraordinary things." cs Lewis

Oct. 13, 2014
Dear Family,

Okay wow, this week was a week that i will never, EVER forget. So the family, Victor, Gracy, Dani, and Kiani. We had one of the craziest weeks ever with them and i don´t even know where to start..

Okay well first, Monday we couldn´t go visit them, then Tuesday Gracy and Victor were both gone, so we taught the kids a lesson but not them. And Wednesday we went by again and they still weren´t home. The kids said that Victor was sick in the hospital. This is when i kinda started to panic. We had a lot more we still needed to teach them for baptism and they weren´t ever home, and now Victor was sick. So then Thursday we FINALLY found them home. As we walked by there house i saw Victor. He was hunched over, holding onto his side, and i could feel that something wasn´t right. As we went over he started to explain to us the on Tuesday night he had gone over to someone that he had lended money to a while back, and wanted to get his money back. (by the way, Victor still doesn´t have a job) It must have gotten heated some how because the man hit Victor in the back with a branch or something, and also Gracy in the face. This is why they were in the hospital!! Victor was in a lot of pain, physically but he was also very mad. He told us that this man needed to learn his lesson, and that he was going to do something really bad to him, so bad that they family would probably have to leave Costa Rica. OKAY. How does someone go from wanted to get baptized to that in a few days? I don´t know. Hermana Holmes and I sat down with him, talking about how this isn´t the solution to his problem. He needed to love everyone, even his enemies. Nothing seemed to be sinking in, he was still just so mad. Luckily right then the Elders showed up. It was supposed to be for their baptismal interviews, but obviously that wasn´t going to happen. One of the Elders here, Elder Stewart was able to talk to him, man to man. Which was very nice, and then he gave him one of the most incredible blessings i´ve ever heard. It was so inspired and the spirit was so strong. I KNOW that Victor felt something in that moment and there was a little change. Still not a big one, but he wasn´t as mad. We had been there for a really long time so we left him with the challenge to pray. To really pray. And talk to his Heavenly Father about this. He agreed to do this and we left. As we left i felt at peace with what had happened, but thought for sure we weren´t having baptisms for this family this week.The next day Victor was at the doctors again, and so once again we didn´t visit them. 

Hermana Holmes and I have been praying so very long and hard for this family, and really giving it our all and so Friday night as we returned to our apartment, we felt peace. We didn´t know if they were going to get baptized the next day, but we new that whatever happened was part of the plan. So Saturday rolls around. We left the house really early and went to see Victor and his family. They weren´t home. So we went to visit the little girl Alison because we were for sure going to have her baptism. She was ready and so excited for her baptism.:) ah she´s the cutest :) and then we went back. There were all home finally and we went in and talked to them all with the Elders. Right as we started to talk to them i saw a change in Victor, and i knew that he must have prayed, and he had. He knew that this church was true! But said he couldn´t get baptized because of the pain in his back. He said it would hurt way to bad to go backwards like he needed to. But Elder Stewart decided to go forward and do the interviews. By now it is 9 and the baptism was supposed to be at 10.... Ya wow. But we decided to go forward. After the interview with Victor, Elder Stewart pulled me aside. He said he is SO ready. He knows. Help him find the faith to get baptized today, and not worry about the pain his back. And Elder Stewart went in to interview Gracy.  And after her he said she knows too! Miracles, Miracles, Miracles. Oh and the kids... yeah they are golden, and have wanted to be baptized for a long time now. Just not without their parents. So we talked to Victor, we told him that he needed to press forward, show his faith, and get baptized today. It was a fight, a fight that i will never forget, especially as we all left the house for their baptism. 

Watching them all get baptized was probably one of the happiest moments i´ve ever had in my whole life. :) :) This family is amazing. 

So basically, miracles happen. This family from day one has been so very special to my heart and i knew that i needed to work hard to not only get them baptized but also to get this family to the temple in one year. so this fight is not yet over. But i cannot wait to keep working with this family and continue to see the transformation in all of them :)

Thank you all for your prayers for this family. I really could feel them, and they could too :) 

So on top of this crazy week with Victor´s Family, Hermana Holmes and I had our best week ever. :) like number wise, and just in general. :) We taught 41 lessons this week, found 12 new investigators and put a baptismal date with 6 of them :) :) We feel very blessed and know that this is a little taste of the fruits of our hard work. :)

Well thank you all for the prayers and support. I feel so blessed to be here and be serving my Heavenly Father. It´s incredible how much i learn every day from the people i am surrounded by, and by really talking with my Heavenly Father. I love Costa Rica :) I love Santa Cruz :) and i love this gospel :)

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all sooo much!!

Love,

Hermana Rachel Ruth Peters :)

          Victor, Gracy, Dani, Kiani and their baby, Victor :) 

                          Alison :)

Oct. 12, 2014
Here are some more pictures from zone conference at the mission home.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!

(this is a picture and message sent to home as a surprise!!! That's all we got, but it was GREAT!!!!)

Oct. 6, 2014
Hello Family :)

I hope all is well with everyone at home and that you all enjoyed conference weekend! i know that i did. Let me just tell you, conference is a whole new ball game here, haha but i love it. I have NEVER learned so much from conference in my life. I think thats because, one because my mind was so focused on finding answers. i was thinking about my investigators, and how i can be a better missionary here. As i watched i had so many answers come to me, and it was so amazing to receive revelation. Wasnt it cool how much that talked about the importance of our prophet here, and that he really is called of God? I loved that and was so happy that some of my investigators got to here that. Oh and wasnt it cool how they had people speak in their native language?!? i had such a greater appreciation for this as i sat in on a few talks in spanish. It is a lot harder to pay attention when the speakers mouth and the words dont line up. Well plus i had a hard time anyways... Haha but dont worry, most i watched in english. I just thought it was cool for people around the world to be able to listen in their native language :)

This is one of our investigators, Yenzel. She is the sweetest girl, only 14 years old, but with such a desire to know the gospel :)

This is where I wash my clothes

This is a turtle egg, with some sauce. Yes i did drink that last night. Don't worry i didn't through up.

Okay so anyways... This week was great! We have a new district now, and we are offically the youngest district in the whole mission! The oldest person in our district has been here for 7 months... And all of the companionships have one of the two in training.... Crazy right? I was thinking about it for a while and was a little confused, because here in Santa Cruz, as you know, we are working super hard for a ward. And i thought, Why so many baby missionaries in a place that needs so much help? Right after that i repented because i know that my mission president has been called of God and i shouldnt think twice about anything that happens with things like that. Because its all straight from God. But then my question got answered in our district meeting as our district leader explained the power of a ¨baby¨ missionary. Right straight from the MTC, with a fire in your heart, is what the people need here. I realized in that moment that this isnt a time for me to just sit back and use the excuse of spanish to keep me from giving my all, from doing my very best all the time, and being the best missionary i can.

The tall one is my district leader who has finished his mission and is going home. Sad Day.

We are still working very hard with the family of Victor. They are the ones with a baptismal date for this Saturday, and for part of this week, we were doubting on whether it was going to happen or not because we had a lesson that just wasnt as good as we wanted. And victor once again was having a lot of doubts. And we were having a hard time responding to his doubts, and i felt like it was turning into more of an argument... Which means the spirit is not there. And when the spirit is not there... Our teaching is not what He wants. So the next time we went back, we made sure to pray right before, and then went in with prayers in our hearts. This was last night and the lesson went a lot better. We will be working very very very hard this week, with this family. They are so ready for this gospel. i can feel it. And i hope that they will continue to listen to the spirit and not the world around them.

We are also teaching this little girl right now named Alison. Her mom is less active, and her dad isnt a member. But one day she came and found me and hermana holmes and said ¨Hey i want to be baptized. When can I?¨ She turned 8 like 2 weeks ago so we are teaching here now and preparing her for her baptism on Sunday :) She is adorable and i love teaching her because it really is just the fundamentals of the gospel, the basics, and she loves it all!! We taught her yesterday about how she is a princess, a daughter of a king. And her face light up like it was Christmas morning. It was sooo cute :)

Speaking of Christmas, since they dont celebrate Halloween, or Thanksgiving, so know what that means? Yep i have started to listen to Christmas music :):) haha dont know if i will keep doing it like daily, because i only have a few songs on my ipod... Haha but why not right? haha 

Also some other good news this week.... I got ice cream :) hahaha me and hermana holmes found some in this little store this week and decided we deserved some ice cream and ahh it tasted soo good. OH and something that didnt taste to good was that turtle egg i sent. Yeah when i got handed the cup, and just kinda looked at it, said a little prayer, and drank it. ewwwww.

Haha but dont worry we are working hard. This week we taught 31 lessons, plus had 6 investigators at general conference which is incredible. :) i was soo happy! We will be working hard this week to find more investigators. Right now we have about 26 or so and our goal is to get that up to 40. We will be working VERY hard. But hard work has never felt so good :)

I love you all so much and hope you all have the most amazing week! Know that you are all in my prayers every night, every morning, and many other times in the day too :)

Love,

Hermana Peters