Elder Chad Peterson: Adventures in San Blas, Oaxaca

Well this week has been very interesting that have come with a lot of changes. So on Monday I stayed in the city to help Elder Caballero and Elder Vasquez with the changes. I ended up sitting in the bus station for 4 and a half hours waiting for the busses with missionaries to get there. There were road blocks all over Oaxaca that day and it was a nightmare. At 9 we got back to the office just in time to pack up my stuff and get ready for the next morning. On Tuesday I traveled down here to sunny San Blas and we got right to work. Wow did I miss working here in the Istmo. Everyone is so humble here and willing to listen and we found so many people to teach this week. It has been fun to work with Elder Clark this week. He is a great missionary that is so willing to learn. It has been fun because he just asks me to teach him a bunch of stuff that I have learned throughout my mission and then he puts it into practice the very next lesson. He is still trying to learn spanish and it is understandable why...here in San Blas they speak nothing but Zapoteco, like I mentioned in my last email. Yesterday we were in church and a lady got up and gave a talk in Zapoteco...we didnt know what was going on and a lot of the time its the same story. It is wierd to be walking through a small rural Oaxacan town and have people be speaking in some weird language and you know they are saying "Look at those two white boys what are they doing here" but it is fun trying to learn it. It is nearly impossible to learn it through books, and hearing it is even harder, but we will see where it all leads to in the end. So a huge change here is that it is sooooo hot here. The difference from the first time is that my companion and I are the only people in the whole town that have an air conditioner. So we turn that thing down every night and we sleep really good. Really this week has just been so worthwhile and I have enjoyed it a ton. I havent had the opportunity to do normal missionary work like this for a long time and I have loved it. Really the Lord is guiding us where we need to go and we have had people come up to us in the street saying that before they have had the missionaries come and talk to them but now they need to hear us again. The members are so willing to help us in the work and are willing to give up everything for the gospel. It has been a week of trying to get to know the area, the people, and how to help the branch to progress. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be able to come down here to finish my mission and to be surrounded by so many amazing people. Really my heart is full for the gospel and the blessings that it brings to us. This week Elder Clark and I were talking about how our purpose is to invite others to come unto CHRIST, and that everything that we teach are instruments that allow us to do so. Heavenly Father has blessed us with a church, a gospel, the priesthood, and so many other things so that through those we can come unto Christ to be perfected and one day enter into his presence. I feel like this week in the many people that we taught, we were able to learn how to promise them blessings and invite them to come unto Christ, to enter into his pathway that leads to eternal life. We are so blessed to be able to have the restored gospel, that has everything we need to understand the perfect plan of happiness that Heavenly Father has for us and the many blessings through covenants that we have upon the earth today. I know that I wasnt able to say a lot about the area or people that we have met, but next week I look forward to doing so, when I know a little bit more about everything here. I hope that you all have a great week and Ill talk to you next Monday!! Elder Peterson

A quick note, leaving Casa Blanca was one of the hardest things that I have had to do in my mission. After 7 months there I had made a huge family, the members there had come so close to me and it was hard to have to say goodbye to them, especially Hermano Gil, our ward mission leader who always supported us and helped us to keep going even though it seemed that all of our hard work would never pay off. This last day with them was the greatest thing that I could see, to see Maria and her Family there and so involved in the church and to see the ward had grown and was spiritual once again. I am so thankful for this experience. This is a picture of Hermano Gil and his family along with Maria and Max.