Hello Family :)
Well this week was great! we worked very hard, and saw so many milagros. One of them was last Monday night. We were walking home from a noche de hogar with one of the families here and Hermana Holmes stopped to do an LPE, it was a family :) so we started to talk to them just the normal LPE stuff and then we asked where they lived, and they told us they lived in Estocolmo, super close to where we live! So we were both just like walking together and they were telling us about their family. They have 3 kids, ages 6, 4, and 3. so then we asked them how long they´ve been together and they said 5 months and the women, Keila, explained how she was married before, then got a divorce, and then got together with Gerald, the man. so we asked them if they were married or plannning on getting married. They looked at each other and smiled and then turned to us and told us that they had got married today!!! HOLLLY COW! So ya we both were like no way. this is a dream. But we continued to talk to them, and then asked if we could come by and visit them. They agreed and we gave them a folleto. 2 days later we went and stopped by their house. Keila had already read the whole folleto and loved it. So we started the lesson like normal doing some of the CCE points. We mentioned how whatever problem or trail you have in your life, this gospel and Jesus Christ can help you overcome that. Right then Gerald said "I have a problem." and he went on to tell us about an addiction he has had for 4 years now to a pain killer of some kind. He has tried many times to get over it but nothing has ever worked, but then he said " But i´ve never tried God before." Right then the spirit was so strong and Hermana Holmes and i were able to testify and promise that with God he can over come this, that with the power of the Atonement, and his faith, he can do anything. The spirit was so strong and you could see hope in this families eyes, a hope that i couldnt see at the beginning. they then both accepted to be baptized 29 of November, which we will have to push back because they didn´t come to church. But this was such a testimony builder for me to know that God is preparing people, even if it is in a different way than we think.
We went back and visited them again and the first thing they said was " are we allowed to get married in your church?" so then we were like werent you already married? and they were like yeah but we want to get married in your church. so then we explained a little bit about temples and when we told them they could be sealed for eternity, lets just say i have never seen happiness quite like the smile on their faces. They are amazing and so ready to have a life free from Geralds addiction. I am so excited to help them too :)
So like i said, they didn´t come to church. This was a heartbreaker for me. It is so hard to be sitting there, waiting and have them not show up. We usually go out sunday morning and bring everyone with us, but this sunday morning we had a meeting with President. Oh did i tell you guys the presidency changed?? well it did and it was actually great because our new president has such a drive and desire to help us as missionaries. Our old one did too, but this is like the whole new energy thing and i love it!! it the best feeling to have support from your branch. :) But ya we only had 2 investigators at church.. and we had 9 that we thought for sure were going to come. I was sitting there during the sacrament meeting praying soo hard for at least one because at this point we didnt have any. i was begging. pleading. just one please. Right then one of our investigators walked in which was such an answer to my prayer. I would have liked more, but i know that i worked my very hardest to get people to church, and that God has a plan for everyone and if they were supposed to be there, they would have been there. I am learning a lot about patience.
Another lesson i learned this week is one that i will never forget. We were teaching our seminary kids this week about 2 nephi 9. This chapter is all about the atonement, and ahh i have such a great love for it. But anyways while i was studying for this i had so many feelings about the atonement come to me. I remember times in my life when the Atonement was something more than just something that we talk about at church, but a real part of my life. I had such a great desire to share all of this with these youth. i wanted so badly for them to understand, but in the end, i think i was the one who came out with a better understanding of the atonement. For the lesson we decided to do the example with the push ups. One person has to do push ups for everyone for them to get a treat. But the thing is even if they don´t accept the treat, the push ups had to be done, and there were different amounts for every person. we forgot treats... haha but we started doing this example, and Hermana Holmes turned to me and said "Will you do the push ups?" I agreed and got down on my hands and feet. she started and turned to the first person and said "How many push ups does Hermana Peters need to do for you?" He said 10. so the fight began. And she went through and asked everyone. Luckily the cap was 10, but once we had gone through everyone, i had done about 65 pushups. I was sooo tired. I stood up and then Hermana Holmes said "10 more for me." this is when i had a tiny tiny taste how Jesus felt. Every single one of the pushups was sooo hard. i felt my whole body shaking. but i kept thinking of Hermana Holmes and the love i had for her. It was a love that i cant desribe, and it is hard for me to put it into words right now. But lets just say i have such a greater understanding now of the Atonement.
We are working sooo hard for this ward too. We spent today searching for people here by the beach and getting rid of as many names as we can!! We are sooo close, i can feel it. i feel so honored to be apart of the work here, to be a hastening the work missionary, in Costa Rica, in Santa Cruz, helping these people get a ward.
Thank you for your love and prayers :)
I will be at the Tolmans tonight if you need anything ;) haha
Love,
Your missionary Hermana Peters
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