Feliz Navidad! - December 24, 2016

Hola Todos!! First off, I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and that you can all feel the joy and peace that comes through this special time of year. I know that we are all in different circumstances but the love of our Savior Jesus Christ applies to everyone, and the peace and joy that is felt through all of it is the eternal gift that he has given us that will never go away as long as we remember him, what he did, the promises he has made for us, and the path that he has paved for us to walk. Once again this week we didnt have the chance to be in our area. With several things that have happened this week in the mission and the travels of the President we have had to be in the offices for this week taking care of everything and making sure that everyone is taken care of. On Wednesday we were the Christmas postal service and had to take all of the Christmas packages that got here late to all of the people that arent here in the city. We went down to Juchitan with about 10 packages and delivered them to everyone and it was a great opportunity to check on a lot of missionaries to make sure that they are happy and doing well. It made the 5 hour ride worth it to us to see that they were happy that there were people thinking about them and it was fun to deliver those packages to them. Afterwards we got to do splits with some of the Zone Leaders down there in one of the zones, Elder Madera and Elder Ringle. That was fun because we got to go to a little town called Comitancillo to teach some people and visit the members there. It is a little farming town that is in the middle of all the cow farms outside of Juchitan, it was fun to see the agriculture down there in the itsmo. On Tuesday we got to have our Mission Christmas party here in the city. We ate Ham and mashed potatoes (Elder Moore and I got to choose the menu) and it felt just like a normal Christmas dinner. During the activity we got to play games, sing Christmas songs, see the talents of the other missionaries, and at the end the office staff surprised President and Sister Madsen with the Thank you Video that we made for them. It turned out so good and at the end Sister Madsen was so emotional and the "Christmas Spirit" was so strong. It felt like in those moments the mission really came together, even though there is a lot that is going on and we have a lot of challenges, we could realize that we have each other, and that we have our Savior Jesus Christ who came to this world to unite us, to strengthen us, and to love us. I have met so many people here that dont believe in a Christ, that dont believe that he really came to this world. But I know that he did, the evidence is so strong through this time of year when we can feel the eternal love that he has for us, it is the only explanation of the joy and peace that are felt during this time, is the love and unity of Christ that we feel in our families. I am so grateful for him and the eternal gifts that he has given us and I hope that you all can feel these same eternal gifts that he has given us. Merry Christmas Everyone! Love Elder Peterson

A little kid that I made friends with at the ward party in Juchitan

Divisions with Elder Madera

Luis and Erika, Luis is the miracle baptism that we had in Tecnologico. He is going strong in the church still.