November 30, 2015

Hello Everyone!! Well this week came and went and it was tiring! More so than I have had thus far in the mission. Elder Martinez came into the mission on Tuesday and we immediatly went to work with him. It was weird because he is trying to get used to the mission language of things. We would be contacting a house and they would say something and we would try to reply to it. Afterwards he would ask me "What did that person say?" and I would say "I dont know your the one who speaks Spanish here" haha he is awesome though. It is a huge blessing to have him because he was prepared well before his mission. He came into the field ready to teach and we have taught with power this week. It was definately the most succesful week of the mission thus far. We began the week with trying to find the people that we had given up on a while ago. We found many of them that didnt have the desires to come to church before. We taught them the importance of the Sabbath Day with the lesson that is found in Matthew 26:40. How Jesus Christ in the middle of the performance of the Atonement had to return back to his disciples 3 times and ask if they could simply give him 1 hour. This is the connection to the Sabbath Day. Christ asks us to give him 1 hour each week to stay by him and watch with him through the Sacrament. This lesson proved powerful. We had 6 of these people come to church this past week that we had been teaching for 3 months, and it was all their first time as well. Elder Lee returned to the ward with his parents and so I was translating for his Dad a little and he was translating everything for his mom. It was fun to see him one last time and he finally spoke English with me!! Many people have been asking how was Thanksgiving in Mexico. Sadly enough here the only things that they celebrate are their weddings and birthdays each week. Its not unusual to find big tents in the middle of the streets with boxes of beer stacked 6 high and 6 across. So to be honest, we didnt really celebrate Thanksgiving. It was actually our hardest day that many people didnt accept us. We returned to the apartment and ate some cake that night and went to bed a little early. Yesterday was awesome with celebrations though because Elder Lees parents brought down various Christmas decorations from my family and so we got to "decorate" the apartment today. Elder Martinez thought it was pretty cool the way that Americans celebrate Christmas. It was also weird to walk into the store today from 70 degrees and hear Christmas music. It really doesnt feel like the holiday season without snow. I didnt realize how much I would miss the snow and even the cold (what?!?) but nonetheless Juchitan Oaxaca is beautiful in its own special way for the holiday season. I hope that as this season starts that as everyone feels of the happiness of the season, remember that it is through Christ that this season of happiness and love is only because of him and his love for us. Remember always the happiness in this time and try to connect it with him. Everyone have a safe holiday season. Elder Peterson Thanksgiving dinner -- a cake. Eating a tlayuda They decorated for Christmas with Christmas decorations we sent!