Hermana Rachel Ruth Peters

Dec. 23, 2014
Dear Family,

Well to start off, i am soooo excited for Christmas, and that i get to talk to you all soon! It feels like a dream that i actually get to see you guys.. i am soo excited!! I only have 40 minutes... So think of questions and everything before! Ahh i am so excited :):)

So last week i got to go to the temple. I don't have words to describe how amazing my experience was there. i felt the spirit sooo strong just walking in the front door. I know without a doubt that temples are the house of our Lord, and that they are the most sacred places in the world here. We did a session there and it was all in Spanish so that was a bit harder, but i understand basically all of it so that was a blessing. As i was sitting in the celestial room, i couldn't help but cry. I was thinking about how blessed i am. I was born into a loving family, to a dad that holds the priesthood, and a mom who loves me, and siblings who are my best friends. I never had to worry if i was going to have food the next day, I always had enough, if not more than what i needed. And soo many other things. Yeah i really don't know how to describe what i was feeling, but it was something i will never forget.

After we had a big lunch as a mission, well half a mission. And after President got up and started to talk to us about Christmas and everything and then he started getting all teary. He didn't speak for a bit then looked at all of us, and said, ¨This morning i received the news that in june we will no longer be the Costa Rica San Jose mission. We will be the Costa Rica West and Costa Rica East Missions.¨ AHHHHHHH. so in the next few months i will be receiving another mission call, that will be assigned by an apostle, saying which mission i will be in!! :) All i can say is that i know that this was a miracle, and that i am so honored to be a part of it. It is a big testimony to me that this is where i am supposed to be right now in my life. That i receive my answer to serve a mission because I was needed here. I was needed to get those last few things ready to bring 200 more missionaries into Costa Rica. To help Santa Cruz become a ward, and Guanacaste become a stake, and now to have 2 missions here in Costa Rica. President said that this will completely change Costa Rica, and the church will grow like never before. How amazing is this church, this gospel, and our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

So ya after that i was on the biggest spiritual high that i have ever had. :) I couldn't help but just want to work even harder. So that's what we did, especially with our little branch soon to be ward. Our president of the branch had planned this Christmas dinner on Saturday for the branch. I have soo much respect for the president of our branch, and know he is working hard because he has such a huge responsibility supporting the people here. So we decided to surprise him by decorating our ¨church¨that is just this building. So all of our missionaries put our money together and bought some decorations and gifts for the ward. I felt like i was back in high school decorating for a dance because all day Saturday we spent decorating. But it looked so nice and i could tell that the people were so happy and grateful. The only problem we had is that our church has 2 bars next to it. so we kept having drunk people come in and ask for food... And this one crazy lady came in and started screaming at me because she thought i was the mom of one of the kids in the branch that i guess did something to her.. i don't really know what was going on.. but i guess she wanted to fight me.. haha yep only in Santa Cruz... haha

I am glad you got my package from the Tolmans :) i have been wanting to tell you guys about it but then thought it would be better to have it be a surprise :)

I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity i have to be a missionary. I know without a doubt this is where i need to be right now, not only for the people, but also for myself. i am learning so much and growing in ways that i could have only done here. I am honored to be able to give my life to the Savior right now, walking the path that He already walked and is walking again with me. I know He lives and the He is the reason for the season. I know that because of Him, we can become the people the our Heavenly Father wants us to be. That because of His grand Atonement, we can be cleansed from our mistakes and shortcomings, that we can become new. And that because of Him and this great plan, we can be a family forever.

I love you all sooo much!

Merry Christmas!! :)

Love,

Hermana Rachel Peters