Pictures from the Mission Blog [Sep-Oct]

HELLO!! [Letter 44]

Well Hello Again!

Here is a shout out from the other side of the pond!

Okay well This week has been good. First off I sent emails last week on Tuesday because we changed out Preparation day to Tuesday so we could go to the Castle. I don´t remember if I told ya´ll that or not. I attached some pictures. :D  It was really cool. There are two parts to it. The part that the Moors built when they invaded Spain and the older part which is Spanish. They had some cool cannons and great views. Also about every picture I took the Elders walked into the them. Enserio que pesados! They rest of the week was pretty normal. We had a specialized training in Granda which was fun. Got to see some other missionaries and learn from our leaders. So when we started out the year our Goal was 404 baptisms by the end. Well we are only 40 away or something like that. So we have a new goal to have 404 baptisms by the 15 of November. We are all praying and working hard to realize this goal. its amazing the faith of the people here. I am learning how much more I need to have confidence in the Lord. It truly is Awesome and I am grateful to be part of such a great work. Well dear family generally when I write I try to not show some much the downs of the mission but the more uplifting parts but I would like to share something with you and explained what I learned and I hope that it helps a few of you.

For the past two weeks we have been working with a family, namely the mother and father. Their two daughters are baptized but the parents just can´t seem to make up their mind. Well two weeks back we were able to set baptismal dates with them. One of my strongest spiritual experiences yet. But even then they were a little bit ify. So every other day for two weeks we have been at their house teaching, testifying and praying. When we weren´t with them we were praying and fasting. We needed a miracle.

Their baptismal date was Sunday the 28th of this month. As Sunday rolled around we made preparations for the baptism but we knew they weren´t ready. Sunday morning while at church we went into yet another lesson fasting and praying. Our amazing ward mission leader sat with us in this lesson as well. He did most of the teaching and we testified and taught as well. As the lesson came to a close they still had given us a yes, a no. We prayed and Pablo left. I finally asked straight out. "So today are you getting baptized?"  They looked at each other and then "no but some day." I finally found the courage to ask and say, "if not today when? If its not today its not going to happen because tomorrow will always turn into another tomorrow and you will never be baptized." My companion then said "We have everything ready. All you have to do is say yes." The father then said "let me talk to my wife and we will give you an answer."

As we left that room the entire world came crumbling down. Every lesson, every fast, every second thinking and praying for them seemed to be a giant lose. We went downstairs and into another room and prayed. We cried, gave thanks and begged for a miracle. As we talked with them after the meetings were over they asked if we could come by on Tuesday. So it was a no not today. My dear family why? Why are they still waiting to have all the blessings of the Lord? Do they not understand? Or do they out right refuse for some other reason? As my companion and I talked We searched for some mistake that we may have made. We know that we aren´t perfect teachers. So yes there was mistakes but we know the Spirit was there. We know it testified. We did everything we could do. So why did they say no? We come to the consensus that they are not ready to repent, to change. They have decided to play in the mud even though they have been offered the chocolate cake. They are pridefully living their own will instead of following the Lord´s.

They more we discussed it I began to wonder in what areas am I holding on to my mud pie? What small habits or transgressions do I  continue to commit that keep me from following the Lord more exactly and from being a better more profitable servant? I am still working on it. But I know that I can become better. I have faith that the Lord can make we white without spot if I continue to try and repent. We can change. The Lord has His hand stretched out still. No matter what you have done you can find the peace, joy and light that is the gospel of Jesus Christ offers. Even if your sins be scarlet they can become as white as snow. My dear loved ones, Christ Lives. He loves us. His burden is light. He is waiting to help you, console you and lift you. But He has to wait for you.

I Love you All!!!

Hermana Petru

Mis Quiedros Amigos! [Letter 43]

SUP!?!?!?!

Well its been a really good week. We have been working really hard, finding, teaching, and BAPTIZING!! We had a fecha set with a couple but the husband was called to work. He is a truck driver and will be gone for at least 15 days. So we lost that fecha. Well Hermana Brimhall and I were really sad. We had a goal of 2 baptisms this month. It was going to be a strech but we thought that truly this family was going to be it. After we lost his fecha we didn´t know what we were going to do. So we fasted. We fasted to find who was prepared to be baptized this month and that our other fecha continued to progress toward her date. As we opened the fast we had no idea what was about to happen. Saturday morning we recieved a call from the elders in Huelcalavera. They aren´t in our zone and we weren´t sure what was up. Anyway as we listened to Elder Barhona everything changed. He began with a great statement. 
E.B "Hermanas I have a present for you."  
US "okay what would that be?"
E.B "A baptism."
US "WHAT!?!?!"

He went on to explain that they had been teaching a man there and that he had a baptismal date for this weekend. They found out that he lived in Almería. But they figured they could baptize him there and then transfer his records. Elder Barhona didn´t feel right about it so he called president. President told him that Benito, the investigator, would have to be baptized here in Almería. So we got the call saturday morning and by Sunday night we had a baptism. The Lord works miracles. After this phone call my companion and I dropped to our knees and gave thanks. We were so astonished. We felt kind of like this.

"And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure." Helaman 3:25

My dear friends the Lord is with us. He listens to our prayers. He listens to our desires. He truly loves us. And when our desires are just and true He does all He can to help us. I am so grateful to be part of this great work. I know that this chruch is true. I know God loves us. I love you all and hope that this message finds you happy. If not have patience in your afflictions and turn to the Lord. He will deliver you.

Lots of love and besos

Hermana Petru

P.S. I attached some pictures. 

1- first baptism Alegandro
2- third baptism Benito
3-left to right Abraham, Maria Cintia, My companion Hermana Brimhall
4- second baptism Hector

[Due to an error, the other three pictures will not upload, I will repost if I am able to get them to work]

Hey there! [Letter 42]

PEEPS!!!

How is everyone doing? I´m doing very well now that the temperature has gone down. Still working hard in this lovely land of Almería. Life is good. Hermana Brimhall and I definately are having fun and seeing miracles.
Let´s start with the fun:

Saturday morning we went out for our morning run. The streets were pretty much empty because only we are privledged to get up early on a Saturday morning here in Almería. Anyway as we were running up a street a young girl came into view holding on a gentleman´s arm. As we got closer, she stumbled around on her ridiculous 6 inch heels and it become obvious that she had been drinking a little to much that night/moring. But here comes the best part. As we ran past all of a sudden we heard her heel clicks pick up. I´m not joking she started to run after us giggling like crazy. She ran with us for like a minute then we rounded a cornor. Needless to say that kind of made our morning.

And Sunday we got called 30 minutes before a noche de hogar (FHE) with the ward to tell us that we had the special musical number with the elders. Welcome to the mission!! In the Spanish hymn "called to serve" the chorus reads "Listos siempre listos" meaning "ready always ready." People here take it seriously. Luckily they ended up changing up the program and they didn´t have to witness a very patchy and pitchy "Venid a Cristo" (Come unto Jesus).

and now the important stuff. Miracles:

We were priviledged to set fechas with parents of two girls that are already baptized. This family has recieved missionaries for almost 3 years. I am excited to be here to see this amazing family become even more united and watch as they take the first step to having an eternal family.

15 year old girl continuing to learn and grow in the gospel even through opposition from her family.

Less active testifying of the power of fasting to a stubborn indifferent boyfriend.

Forgetting something in piso and having to return but running into a lost recent convert on the way.

The Lord´s hand is in this work. I am blessed to see it everyday. In the smallest things the Lord has a hand in this work. My dear loved ones, count your many blessings. When you begin you will not be able to stop. With the knowledge of God and Christ in our lives we truly can say that we are the richest people in the world. Come to Him in gratitude. He can bless you even more. I love my mission. I love everyday. I love who I am becoming  I pray I am making a difference. Making the world a better place. Thank you all for you support, your love, and your prayers. Especially thank you for this opportunity. I love you all and pray that this email finds you well and happy.

With Love,

Hermana Petru

A NEW TRANSFER [Letter 41]

Hello my dear loved ones,

This week in the missionary work was good. We saw miracles. The first being in me. This week we had transfers. Which always begins with a new companion. Let me introduce her. Her name is Hermana Brimhall. She is from West Jordan, UT. She is about my height with brown hair. She was studying at Utah State before the mission majoring in Spanish. Needless to say her spanish is amazing. And she has been out for about 6 months. Meaning I´m senior companion (Hit 9 months this week). and I stayed in the area. So I had the humbling experience of keeping an area going. I can not lie and say I wasn´t terribly nervous. The last time I stayed in an area with a new companion the area pretty much died. We had to start all over again. So with this in mind I had an opportunity to turn the Lord and beg for guidance. As this week has transpired I realize how much the Lord knows us. How much He trully loves us. and How much He wants us to reach our potential. God is the one walking beside us cheering "Yes you can!" until we climb the hill like the little engine that could and we can say "I know I can, I know I can."QUE BENDITOS SOMOS! and if you don´t know what that means HOW BLESSED ARE WE! I am not perfect by any means but I learned that with the Lord we truly can do more then we thought possible. Hermana Brimhall is awesome. She is always there to help and lift and serve. As we have worked together we have seen miracles. This week we had the opportunity to teach a family home evening. As everyone settled down and we began to teach Hermana Brimhall counted and later told me that there were 16 people seated in that living room. We had the powerful and wonderful expierence to testify of our Savior and the Restoration of His chruch through the profet Joseph Smith. Later as we were sitting in a little four seater car we were able to witness a father bear testimony of prayer and personal revelation to a young teenage daughter preparing to make life decisions. And finally we were able to see the faith of a little 8 year old boy as he declares his desires to be baptized in a family a little broken. Oh How Great Thou Art. Truly this is the Lord´s work. His hand is in it. Not only His hand but also His heart. que benditos somos. He delegates this work to us here on earth. We can be His hands. My dear Family I love you. I know that this chruch is true. I know that only through living according to the gospel of Jesus Christ we can find the joy we long for. "And we atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our cchildren may know to what source they may look for a dremission of their sins." (2 Nephi 25:26)
Boy its been a really good week. And we are still starting from ground zero. :D I love you all.

Now to an intersting analogy that Hermana Brimhall and I found in the war chapters of the Book of Mormon (yes this is what sister missionaries talk about in our spare time). Okay so it all started with a discussion of Amalickiah and how he is a type for Satan and how he works. As I read through Alma 46 and 48 I found an intersting thing. Read through those chapters but put the name Satan for Amalickiah and Christ for Moroni. Then think pre-mortal exisitence and earth life, more or less. BLOW MY MIND!!!

Love you all.

Hermana Petru

ITS THAT TIME AGAIN... [Letter 40]

HELLO!

Well, that subject kind of says it all. Its time to write again. Its also time for TRANSFERS!!!! Pretty sure that word is the dread and the joy of every missionary. Seriously.
Okay well on the transfer news. Hermana Torres is leaving. Sad day. But she is amazing. She has done amazing things here in Almería and I am excited for her to share this things with the people in Murcia. I have learned so much from her, not only Spanish. We are definately going to be friends for a long time. Well with her leaving that means I´m getting a new companion! Her name is Hermana Brimhall. She is from West Jordan. She is awesome. I´ve met her a couple of times and I´m excited to work with her. She came into the mission the transfer after I did. So it will be fun to get to know her and share the amazing place that Almería is.

Okay on the work front.  ITS AMAZING!!! It´s that Lord´s work which means that there are miracles everyday. This past week we had intercambios or exchanges with the hermanas. Hermana Torres went to Cartagena and I stayed here. Hermana Woodward came to work with me. We had a lot of fun. She is from Spanish Fork, UT. It was great to be able to use my utah slang and twang and have her understand me. But also we saw some amazing miracles. For me because I was from that area I had to plan, start lessons, and speak up. I don´t think I have ever talked that much in lessons before. It was amazing to see how much the Lord really is willing to do to help His children. I learned really to trust more in the Lord. Also we found a FAMILY. Oh my goodness. It was awesome. I felt strongly that we really needed to pass by this future that we had even though it was kind of far. So we trucked over there and rang the intercom, praying someone answered. 1st miracle they were home. 2nd miracle they let us in. As we started to talk with them more and more people appeared to listen. By the end of the lesson we had 6 people crammed in this little room. Oh it was wonderful. 

They are from Bulgaria. Their spanish is small but they are eager to learn about the gospel. When I looked in our stash of books I found 2 copies of the Book of Mormon in Bulgarian and several pamphlets. When we went back the second time we taught the restoration. They had some great questions. With the scriptures we read the ones out of the pamphlets in spanish and then in Bulgarian. They are amazing. They have been prepared by the Lord. I feel blessed to be able to teach them. I love this work. I can think of nothing else I would rather be doing. Some days are hard. But the small flashes of light dot everyday. Look for them in you life. As you begin to recognize the hand of the Lord, you will see more and more the evidence of His love.

Okay so a story about my intercambio now one from Hermana Torres. As they were ringing door bells nobody was answering. Hermana Torres had been studying faith during her study and she remembered that faith is power. She then turned to a Hermana Martín and said if we had enough faith we could open this door. Hermana Vasquez turned and said well lets pray then. So they prayed. Just as they finished their pray a man came down the walk unlocked the door and let them in. God loves us. He answers prayers. He lives.

I love you all!

Hermana Petru