Become As A Little Child - May 16, 2016

Hello Everyone! Well transfers came this week and I am continuing here in Huatulco for another 6 weeks! I am super excited because things have started to open up here and there is a lot of potential that we are beginning to find. I am so blessed to be able to serve in this area and for the time that the Lord has given me to be so blessed here. Anyways this week was awesome! We got to do so many cool things and have so many great experiences! On Tuesday we were talking to a guy in our branch and he was telling us about a town called Coyul. It is a town that the missionaries got pulled out of because there wasnt anything going on there. Anyways it has been a part of our area but we have never gone and the church is thinking about closing the branch there. And so we were talking with him and he told us lets go! And so the next morning we left and we got to a part in the road that was blocked off. He told us that the only other option was a 3 hour drive through the jungle to get there and that we would only have 1 hour to visit there. We didnt know what to do and so we just prayed and we all got a strong confirmation that we should go. So we drove on a dirt road through the jungle for 3 hours to get there. When we got there we met up with the branch president and he took us to some of the members. It was so amazing to see the way that they lit up when we visited with them. We had 15 minutes with 4 families and each one was amazing to visit with. They were all so humble in recieving the messages and with being willing to go back to church. Today we heard that the attendance there yesterday went up by 20 people and it was the most they have had in a year. It was awesome to see the fruits of what little time we had there. The second awesome experience that we had this week is that we had a baptism! This baptism taught me more than I could have taught our convert. Her name is Jenifer, and she is 8 years old. We got to know her through her Mom who is working on getting baptized. Jenifer has been the force for her Mom of coming to church and helping her keep going. Irene the Mom has been listening to the missionaries for a year now and a month ago told us that it is going to be longer for her to be baptized but that she wanted Jenifer to be baptized so that she could have a member in her family. Jenifer wakes up each Sunday at 7 to make sure that her Mom and brother are ready to go to church. We had to teach so simply and basic but as I heard Jenifer answer her questions in her interview, I have never heard answers so pure and sweet. It taught me a powerful lesson that it doesnt matter how much we know, but how pure it rests in our hearts. It was a lesson of Christ as he always taught to become as a Child. Jenifer taught me the way that I could do that. It was amazing to see her come up out of the water giggling and smiling. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my mission to see that. I know that we can develop our testimonies through trying to become as a child, submissive, meek, humble. And with that our lives will be blessed with happiness in the gospel. I am so grateful for this opportunity and for the opportunity I have to see these experiences. I hope that you all have a great week. Elder Peterson

The baptism of Jenifer

The church in Coyul. It is a converted house. It was an awesome experience to be here!