January 21, 2020

(Elder Petersen)

So this week we contacted a lot of people to try and find some new people to teach and to set up some more lessons with both non-members as well as members. It has been a great week filled with a lot of walking and talking as well as a few more inches of snow last Wednesday. This next week we will be able to go to the temple with one of my recent converts whose name is Heather. She is a very dedicated lady in what she believes and has had a bit of a rough life but through the gospel and the sacredness of the baptismal ordinances in which she participated in I know that her life will only look up no matter the challenges that will beset her in the rest of her life. I know just as well as she does that it is only through the Holy Ghost that we can truly come to know Heavenly Father and the plan that he has for us in this life and in the life to come. My one bit of Council to anyone who might be struggling right now in any way is to pray about your struggles because even though sometimes it may be hard to believe that Heavenly Father is listening to each and every one of our prayers, he is and although we may not see his answer in our lives right now it will come sometimes without you even knowing that it is there. Love all of you have a great week! Wherever in the world you may be!

Shook!

(Hermana Ellsworth)

Hello Family and Friends!

We are doing well in Puerto Rico. This week we have been experiencing some major earthquakes but all missionaries are accounted for and my companion and I are safe and sound in Humacao.  We were out of power for 3 days after the 6.4 earthquake on Tuesday. We have been working on the relief efforts for the south with food, water, and hygiene products. The mission always makes us keep and emergency bag and 72 hrs of food and water incase of earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes.  We have everything packed inside the car incase we need to leave. To learn more about the mission and how we are doing we invite you to look up the church news room article....

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/church/news/missionaries-latter-day-saints-reported-safe-following-early-morning-quake-in-puerto-rico?lang=eng

I have learned a lot on my mission and it seems I keep learning about the importance of emergency preparedness.  I sat in ward Council listening to the testimonies of our ward leaders and their experiences during Hurricane Maria. One of the testimonies that touched me the most is when our ward mission leader mentioned how important it is to be spiritually prepared for emergencies too. I know that each person is on their own spiritual journey but we all have the same goal. We are here on earth to repent and to prepare ourselves to dwell with God again. Alma 34:32 32 For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.

Elder Christopherson in the world Wide young adult broadcast spoke about how this life is to also meant to be a time to make connections with others. To spend the time with loved ones and to help our brothers and sisters grow in their journey towards our mutual Father in Heaven. I have made friends, nearly family, here in Puerto Rico and it hurts me to see my friends and family here suffering and going through similar fears from Hurricane Maria. I know that God is looking out for this Island and He, the almighty and All knowing, is preparing more than just the island but the people for a Temple. I know all things point to a God that exists and He is moving forward with His great work.

"Alma 26:5 Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed are ye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might, yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of your sheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they are not wasted.

                             

               6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm at the last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by the whirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gathered together in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them; yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoever the enemy listeth to carry them.

                                            7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, and they are his; and he will raise them up at the last day.

                                             8 Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever."

I hope you are able to ponder about about how Good God really is and how Good our fellow men are. Slow Down and wait on the Spirit of the Lord. Be still and Know that God is God.

And our Beautiful Julian was able to pass the sacrament with his fellow Deacons this week :) #ProudMissionary

Are the Clouds Green?

(Sister Slade)

The beginning of this week was fairly boring. I wasn't quite as recovered from having 3 ear infections as I thought. I got really tired really easily so every couple of hours I would have to sit down for a bit. It was especially bad on Tuesday when we did service at the restore. They always have us move a lot of heavy furniture and equipment so I got really worn out. But I'm better now!

On Friday we had a tornado warning. It was terrifyingly fun. The sky turned green. It was POURING. We got soaked running from the car to our apartment. Our mission leaders recommended that we shouldn't leave the apartment for the rest of the night, so we sewed some dresses. The next morning everything froze and there was ice everywhere and a skiff of snow. It made the Coloradan in me happy. It was a tender mercy.

The next day was interviews and all my mission president and his wife talked to me about was that I was going home in 9 weeks and my plans for going home. I thought i was ready to go home until they started asking for the details of my plan and I couldn't answer. Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Even though I'm panicking a little (a lot) there's also a sense of peace. The Lord's going to help me figure things out and they will happen exactly the way they need to.

After interviews we helped with a youth service project. It was really fun and I was able to build relationships with some of the young women in our ward. We packaged 40,000 meals to go to 3rd world countries. It was really neat to talk to the youth and share a little of my testimony of service. Doing service has changed my mission. For the first 6 months we didn’t do very much but now we do scheduled service almost every day. Service softens hearts in ways that other things can't.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures!

1. Johana's daughter sat on my lap and before I could take her off (because it's against the rules to have children sit on you lap) sister Jelderks took a picture

2. At service with the youth

3-4. This cat really liked our shoulders

5-7. Sister Jelderk's phone has a fun camera filter so during phone audits we had too much fun

January 14 2020

(Elder Petersen)

So this week we did a few interesting things going on. The most exciting thing about it would be that we put one of the people that we are teaching by the name of Olivia on date to be baptized! Olivia is a 12 year old girl who seems to be really wanting to be baptized. So this happened on Sunday night and it just went really well! On Wednesday we had District Council where we learned how best to make Jesus Christ the center of everything that we teach. We also had service at a place called Blacksmith Fork Assisted Living where we called bingo for those living there. Other than that we really did not do all that much. But one thing that was nice is that in the past few days we have gotten around a foot of snow so now everything is just covered in snow making everything just look white and nice. Hope you all have a great week!

Until next week,

Elder Petersen

January 7, 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey everyone how's life going? I hope all is well in the lives of those who read my emails. To start off my email today I wanted to give y'all two quotes that may be helpful to you if you are struggling at this time. The first quote is from Orson F. Whitney

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude, and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God...and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we came here to acquire and which will make us more like our father in heaven..."

The next one is from Gordon B. Hinckley

"Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he's been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration; most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey...delays, side tracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."

These are a couple of quotes that have helped me come to terms with changes that have been happening in the last couple of weeks. I hope these will help you as well in any times of struggle that may beset you.

Now to my actual letter there has not been very much that has actually happened this week. All in all it has been a pretty boring week. One thing that was interesting though is that I was out Proselytizing on both new years eve and day. It was interesting to because I found it very interesting to see how many people were actually home on new years eve and new year. I hope y'all have a good week this next week and I will try and make this week a little more exciting for y'all!

The Square is Backwards

(Sister Slade)

I know what most of you are thinking. You're thinking, "How can a square be backwards. It's a perfect shape and would be the same forwards and backwards." That's what I thought too. Sister Jelderks and I were doing an escape room game that we found in our apartment and got the correct answer but the machine kept telling us it was wrong even after the game told us what the correct answer was. We tried flipping the other shapes around like the rhombus and triangle that were not the same of they were backwards. But no, the answer was that the square was backwards.

Holidays as a missionary are always kind of awkward because no one wants their family time interrupted and all of our services are closed. So on New Year's eve and on New Year's day we worked on the magazine and sewed some dresses. We also made bread to drop off to a few members.

But then on Wednesday night I started coughing. On Thursday morning, I had a fever and a really bad cough. On Friday we had zone conference but I still had a fever over 100° and a cough. On Saturday we went to urgent care and found out that I had not one, not two, but THREE ear infections. I didn't even know that was possible. I still had a fever and a bad cough yesterday so we weren't able to go to church. But I feel much better today. I think the antibiotics finally kicked in.

Even though it was a kind of miserable week, I had an interesting experience. Someone asked me yesterday why I'm on a mission. But then they asked me why I'm still on a mission. It struck me kind of hard. There are so many reasons why I could have gone home. I've struggled with anxiety and depression for most of my mission and at two different points it got so bad that I thought about going home. Everything with the headache fiasco at the beginning of my mission. The two times I've been to the ER and the three times I've been to the urgent care. I could have used any one of these and gone home but I didn't. I stayed on a mission because of the joy it beings me to bring joy to others. The gospel has blessed my life so immensely that I have to share it with others.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1-2. we helped set up for the youth new years dance and had to take a picture

3. At the urgent care with 3 ear infections

4. Sister Jelderks laying on the floor

5. Creepy shack on our way to a meal with some members

6. I was too sick to do much so we watched the Life of Christ videos

Blessings Come in God's Time But They Do Come

(Hermana Ellsworth)

Hello Family and Friends,

I hope everyone knows that I love them and that God is Good. I know during this Christmas season there can be hard times for many people. I know that each of us go through our own trials but I know that God will never give us more than what we can handle. While on the mission I have been able to put myself in many different types of homes and situations and I am really grateful for the perspective that comes from looking through another person’s eyes. These last couple of weeks have been some of the most rewarding times in my mission. I have been able to cry, pray, and perform miracles through the grace and power of Jesus Christ. I know that God is real and that he loves his Children.

This is Liliana, Julian (11) and Ian (8 years old). Hermana Allred and I were able to start teaching them. With their permission they said that I could share a little bit of their conversion story.

We first met Julian (11 years old)  at a members house and were able to teach him the 10 commandments with a hand game. He was so excited to show his mom what he had learned that we all had to walk over to his house to show his mom. After a month of teaching them we were able to help them take the steps necessary toward baptism. Julian and Lililina were always so ready to be baptized but Ian was having a harder time praying, reading and getting answers to his questions and therefore did not have a desire to be baptized.

One day when we were stopping by to talk about the baptismal interview questions with Liliana and Julian I was able to sit in the kitchen with Ian (Still able to see my companion and Liliana)  who was having a hard time. I got to ask him what was going on as we sat on the kitchen floor and why he did not want to be baptized with his family.  He just told me that he didn't feel ready and was scared of messing up after baptism and that he didn't know if God wanted him to be baptized. After listening to his cute 8 year old concerns I invited him to kneel down with me to ask God what he wanted him to do. Kneeling with a young child as he asks God for an answer to a prayer was the most sacred opportunity that I have had on my mission. He quietly whispered the simplest prayer and would stop everyone once in a while to ask me what he should say next. The spirit was so strong and so peaceful. At the end of the prayer he pauses and says, "HE DIDNT ANSWER!!"'

I wanted to laugh because I realized there that he didn't understand what it meant to feel the spirit. After asking a few questions about how he felt and if his mind was a little clearer he was able to understand what God wanted him to do. He told me that God wanted him to be baptized but to wait until his mom and brother were baptized so that he could see how it is and so he could have his own baptismal service.

So this weekend

Liliana and Julian were baptized, Julian received the Aaronic priesthood and this is him with the two other deacons.  and Ian will be moving toward baptism this next weekend. Thanks to God and his mercy this family has been able to make huge changes and become united in Christ through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful to be a part of this moment with them. Thanks to the members and family that has been helping me on my mission God is able to work his best work in the hearts and lives of the individuals.