December 28, 2015

Hello Everyone! Well this week was awesome, one of the best weeks by far of the mission. It was amazing to see the focus that was put in to help everyone realize the true meaning of Christmas this year. This week we had the stake Christmas musical program that I was asked to help with in regards to the piano. It was somewhat of a miracle that it was able to be put on. The Sunday before the choir didnt have a pianist. That is when the Young Mens president found me and asked me to help. We practiced for 2 hours Sunday afternoon trying to get songs down. We practiced 5 songs from the hymn book and came up with arrangements for them. On Tuesday we had another practice (the night before) and the Young Mens president came up to me and said that there were 3 more songs that we were going to do, the problem was that there wasnt any piano music or arrangement for them and that I needed to find the music for it then and there. We went into the family history center and began to look everywhere to try to find this music. Eventually we found the arrangements that would work but the problem was that I had never practiced the songs before. For another 2 hours Tuesday night we practiced and practiced these three songs of Carol of the Bells, White Christmas, and the Little Drummer Boy. I could not seem to get them down and was super stressed out that I would ruin the program. The next day we got there an hour early and everything just seemed to click, the songs became easier to play and everything with the choir sounded amazing. We put on the program and I felt a spirit there that I have only felt in very few places in the mission. It is so hard to describe the happiness that I saw with each member and investegator afterwards and to hear that the music inspired them to remember Christ more this season. It was one of the best experiences of my whole mission to be able to play the piano and see the miracles for this program. And one of the best Christmas presents I could recieve. For Christmas Eve we got to eat with a family here in the ward that night and got to spend a little time with them. We ate enchiladas, chicken and rice with a pasta salad but it was even better to spend it with the Marin Family. The normal Juchitan tradition is to light fireworks for Christmas but we couldnt do that so we just ate dinner with them and headed home for the night. One of the greatest parts of the week was in a lesson with an investegator Diana. We found her through a referral that we recieved from other missionaries. Her Mom is an active member in the church but her husband is part of the Catholic church. When we first met her we extended the baptismal invitation and she accepted but asked how she could know everything was true. I felt inspired to promise her that she would know for a surety in 1 month that all of this was true and that she would have a desire to become a member of the church. That was 3 weeks ago. In the second lesson we gave her The Family a Proclamation to the World to read with her husband and pray about this. She read it with her husband and the part that confirmed everything to her was "Families can be together forever" When she read that she knew that this was a true promise that she could have through the church. She told her husband that she needed to go to church and he told her that he was going to come with her and together they would be part of this. It is such an amazing story in which she recieved an answer in what she specifically needs with Heavenly Father. For this it made talking to my family this week so much better to know that I am part of an eternal family and that all of this is true. I know that through the birth of Jesus Christ I can be part of an eternal family. I hope that you all had a merry Christmas and have a safe New Year! Elder Peterson

Our Ward Caroling Group

The Choir Director with her Fiancee and Alejandro the Ward Mission leader next to me.

The Weather Christmas Day here...95 degrees.