Why did the chicken cross the road? To be hit by Sister Slade

(Sister Slade)

Now I know what you're thinking, but let me explain. Yes there was a chicken in the road. Yes I was driving. No I didn't actually hit the chicken. We actually found out later that locals call them the magic chickens because they are always in the road, but none of them ever seem to get hit.

So yesterday we were pretty certain that we would have no one at church. Most of the people that usually come were sick or out of town. But we ended up having 5 people at church! One man that came was actually a walk in. He said that for a few weeks he's been prompted to come to our church. So he told his dad about it and his dad said he would support him. So they both came to church. And then three members brought nonmember family members or friends. It was wild. We also got a new person to teach out of it! It's amazing when the Lord does all the work but we get all the credit.

On Saturday Sister Brown sprained her ankle, so that was unfortunate. She is the most unlucky person I've ever met. In the last two weeks she's had kidney stones and a sprained ankle and has gotten super car sick. Pray for sister Brown. ;)

God is good!

Sister Slade

A nice hay field

Sister Brown's ankle

Service at share n care

A ward service project at the sharing kitchen

Service at share n care again

What this lady want?

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Week Four Email

(Elder Petersen)

I am very excited to announce that I have finally left the MTC as of last week and I have been given a trainer companion by the name of Elder Coupe. He is great I have been learning so much with him as my trainer so much so that I have realized that it is going to be a very tough time learning all of it. But I am persevering and am having a great time in my mission I managed to memorize the Joseph Smith's first vision within my first three days in my mission. I got to go to church on a fast Sunday which was an interesting experience. It has been a very interesting first week full of first experiences that has made my first week amazing. It has been a tough week and I have a biking mission which means that I am out of the house by ten thirty because of studying and on my bike for roughly five to fifty miles a day. Hours are hard to keep track of do to appointments and talking to people all day other than that I am having fun sorry for the short letter but I am at the end of my P-day so I have to cut this email at short.

Emergency Preparedness

(Hermana Ellsworth)

This week the big talk of the Island was the Tourmenta that was going to pass over the island. A tropical storm that could have taken out the lights of Puerto Rico and the water. As a mission rule we have to always be prepared to be without power and water for at least 4 days. When we went to the store to buy our normal groceries on Monday the store had nearly run out of bottled water and there was a line of 50 people waiting to get water so they could be prepared. The day before the storm was supposed to hit the gas stations had lines that were 4 blocks long. There were limits on how much water or gasoline people could buy. The stores were low on canned food as people rushed to the store to buy what they needed. I learned something in all of this, I was really grateful that when we went to the store we were already prepared for 4 days of gasoline, water to drink, water to bathe, and we had all the food storage that we needed in our mission apartment. There was an amazing sense of security because I was already prepared.

Now relating this spiritually. In the parable of the 10 Virgins only those who were prepared for the Bridegroom with oil in their lamps were able to enter. If we are not spiritually ready, with temple recommend in hand, when the Lord comes or when a trial hits we are going to be spiritually running to the gas station or store to frantically get what we need but will not have sufficient time to obtain it. Now is the time to be prepared with a testimony. If you have questions, GREAT!!! QUESTIONS ARE HOW THE RESTORATION STARTED. But now you need to look for answers.

(Also please be temporally prepared with food storage and emergency kits. :)  )

AND the Tropical Storm didn't even come to the island so ... we were prepared and stuck in our house all of Wednesday and it drizzled a little bit :)  

We are teaching the Cousin of Miyito and he gave us Avacados :) Tortuga (Turtle) is a very humble man and he came to church this week and told us that he has never felt such peace in his life before. I am really excited to see how he progresses and changes in the Gospel :)

Talito and Miguel are doing really well. Talito brought his family, grandchildren to church this week!!!

Hermana Carrasco is such an amazing companion and we got to visit the beach this morning with our zone. She is a spiritual giant and I have never seen so many people burst into tears with the strength of her testimony. I love her so much :)

Why Hard Things

(Hermana Ellsworth)

My companion is from Peru and she is such an amazing person. Sometimes we have questioned together as to why we have certain challenges and I remember a story of Elder Neal A. Maxwell and how he struggled with Leukemia for 8 years and when he struggled with something so hard and was in the depths of despair asking "why" the Spirit whispered, "I have given you Leukemia that you might teach my people with authenticity." I know that the people here in Puerto Rico have gone through hard things and it is just one more reason to have member presences in lessons because they know how to teach with Authority. When Shawn, Recent convert 20 years old, was struggling with job, school, and church the member we brought with us shared a story of how Heavenly Father helped her get through so much more than just those three things. It really hit me.  It does not matter how hard it gets or where we have been the important thing is that we are were we are now because of it and we have to decide how we are going to use our past experiences.

With Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017 the missionary work came to a complete stop. The island was shut down. The Hurricane was really hard for the people here in the island. But, one year later President Russel M. Nelson came to the island. A few months later, the temple was announced. Hard things are used to prepare us for greater things. Like a temple. They test our commitment to our covenants and our Heavenly Father when times are hard.

Puerto Rico is doing well and the mission work is still moving forward. I love my Heavenly Father and I love my companion. I don't have much to write about because I was sick for half this week. I LOVE YOU ALL :)

Sister Slade, You're Old!

(Sister Slade)

Sometimes when I'm writing my weekly I think about something that happened in the last week and then think oh that happened months ago, but in reality it happened yesterday. I feel like too much happens in one week to actually give all of you a glimpse of what actually happens in my week. Sometimes it feels like I live a week in a day, a month in a week and a year in a month. ;)

This week I hit my one year mark! Yay! It was really weird looking back and seeing how much I've grown in just 365 days. I can't believe how fast it has gone by. My mission is going to be over before I know it and that makes me kind of sad. This week's title comes from sister Brown who thought that because I hit a year, it suddenly makes me really old.

This week we had a special zone conference. Elder McKay from the 70 was visiting our mission. It was a really good zone conference. Afterwards I was chosen to be 1 of the 6 missionaries to be interviewed by him. It was a really neat experience.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned a family whose son in law wanted to be taught. Well we had our first lesson with him this week and he told us that he wants to be baptized because his ultimate goal is to be sealed to his wife. He didn't have any kind of religious background, so we taught him about Heavenly Father and prayer. I'm really excited to see his spiritual progression!

We also found a family to teach! We were street contacting at a farmers market and one family we talked to told us that they believe in the Book of Mormon and want to do a book of Mormon study with us. They're a really neat family and they've been through a lot recently, so I can't wait to teach them about the gospel and how it can help them.

Also, remember from last week the miracle I shared about using facebook. Well, in the week since then he's read HALF the Book of Mormon. He said he likes how he feels when he reads it and that it goes with everything he's been reading in the bible. And now he wants to learn more!

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures!

all the missionaries at zone conference

Zone conference lunch

Someone we knew saw us at Walmart and wanted to send a picture to someone else we know

Sunset pictures

Someone took a picture of us at one of our services

Sister Brown and I at zone conference

Week Three Letter

(Elder Petersen)

So I leave tomorrow for Ogden my travel Itinerary is basically hop onto a bus to the train station (front runner) from leaving the MTC at 7:15 in the morning and am scheduled to arrive at the mission home at 8:17. Most of my district left today at 10 o'clock so it is just me and my companion and a companion of sisters that are still at the MTC. My companion is going to Pocatello Idaho for his mission and will be leaving at 9:30 in the morning for a 3 hour bus ride. I just counted my ties today and apparently including my temple ties I ended up bringing 45 ties on my mission. I decided that I would document my companions by having them sign their favorite tie in my collection so that I will remember them every time that I wear the tie that they signed. So that is my life right now hope you like it.