Thursday, June 18, 2015

Moving on....

Well I had changes. It was kind of hard to leave Tena. I had been there for a long time and have really come to love the people there. I will definitely miss it. Things will be in good hands though. Elder B stayed there as the district leader and he will be a good leader. He is the best companion I have ever had and definitely one of my best friends. I am in Ambato now with Elder H as a zone leader. Elder H is a great missionary. I've had a chance to talk to him on a few occasions. It should be a great change. I'm excited. There are 16 missionaries in the zone here and there will be four new missionaries coming. Things are good here. The weather is much nicer in my opinion. Its not too hot. I'm not sweating every second so that's a nice change. 

On Sunday there were some members of the church doing charity work in Tena from Twin Falls. I didn't know any of them, but one of the kids of one of the families is a good friend of B and D. I'll send a picture. 
The C family couldn't make it because they had to go to the hospital for one of their boys but he is fine now. This week they will definitely be there. Those boys are great!
 
Other than that there is nothing new to report. I'll send some pictures. Hope you have a great week! Love you!









When the spirit speaks...

This week was one of the most spiritual weeks I've had in the mission. We did not have a ton of lessons but the lessons we did have were very spiritual and edifying. At the beginning of the week we had a lesson with the C family. We have been working with the family since I got here and the two older boys (ages 17, and 15), have been coming to church faithfully now. They have to travel about an hour to get to church. And I imagine that they have to get up pretty early as well. Whenever we are with them I put my arms around both of them which is pretty easy because they not terribly big and tell them that they are my hero's! They truly are! This week we had a great lesson with the whole family. I remember distinctly during the lesson when the spirit entered the room, not little by little. It was very sudden. I have never felt the spirit like that during a lesson before. Hopefully, they will be in church this week. We had another lesson with JC as well. He has always been somewhat closed to the missionaries. The missionaries have taught his family for a while now, but Elder C and I were the first to be able to teach him. This week the Lord really prepared him to receive our message. Little by little, we have been able to gain his trust. For about an hour he stared into my eyes, occasionally looking down but almost the whole time he looked me in the eyes, and explained his thoughts and feelings and what he is struggling with right now, as well. He's not someone I can really picture crying but he cried as well. It was such a good lesson. Last night we taught him and his wife together. They have a lot of problems and need to decide whether they should give it another shot or separate. They have 4 kids. It was a very good lesson and the spirit was there. As we answered their questions and taught accordingly and really tried to listen, understand, and help the spirit grew stronger. As I testified at the end of the lesson I have never felt the spirit stronger. As I was speaking, I felt like a strength just entered into me like I had never felt before. It was like a convincing power that comes from inside of us, but that doesn't actually originate from us. Hopefully that makes sense or at least you understand what I mean. It really strengthened my testimony. It was a wonderful lesson. I felt honored to be a part of it. It was a very successful week. We had nine investigators in church and 12 less actives. Most of the less actives are progressing well. 

This Sunday we have changes. I have been here almost six months now. I have learned a ton. Part of me wants to stay. The people here still need a lot of help. But whatever the Lords will is, will be fine with me. My companion is awesome as well. I consider him one of my best friends. I hope everything is good. Love you! Have a great week!

Elder Peterson