i love conference!‏

WHOA!


That is all i have to say about this last conference. alright not all because im going to talk about it a lot today, but seriously AMAZING!

Literally God spoke through these amazingly inspired people and unless you didnt catch it, the message is: Families! Plain and simple the importance of families and the HUGE responsibility of parents. A TON of these messages were directed towards mothers. Literally explaining that Moms are the first line of defense in the world today. Because, lets face it, society loves to put the wrong ideas in our heads about what is important and more importantly WHO is important, the decay of society is a direct result of this. Parents play the star role in helping their kids understand WHO THEY ARE, WHY THEY ARE HERE, AND WHAT THEY SHOULD BE DOING. Now imagine if you are never taught these things, HOW LOST WOULD YOU BE? Robert D Hales talked about the importance of parents to not only talk to and love their children, but to literally strive to understand the hearts of their children.

Some ideas and quotes that i loved were these: "women should be women and not babies who need petting and correction all the time."-Julie B Beck. "A mind, if not exercised, will become weak." "Your actions speak so loud that i cannot hear what you are saying"-Ralph Waldo Emerson. "The idea of true love must include the idea of permanence." "opposition and joy are not contradictory but complimentary."-donald l hallstrom (d&C 122:7-9).


My favorite quote that truly touched my soul was by Bradley D Foster when he said. "If you stay on the road of truth, the end will be better than the beginning." i can personally testify with everything i have in me that this statement is profoundly true.

I loved Deiter F Uchtdorfs talk on compassion. I love all of his talks! He started out saying that it is not good to make people feel deficient. Love them, lift them. I started thinking, how many people have i made feel deficient, was it my intention? what can i do to be better? He explained the worth of people as in D&C 18:10. He said, "you cannot measure the worth of a person like you cannot measure the span of the universe." he then continued sayind that NO ONE DESERVES TO SUFFER. often we think, oh he or she deserves what they get, but suffering, although necessary for our eternal progression, is not something that we have the right to judge. And then he talked of Christ, that Christ did not only speak of love or teach about love, but showed it. And that is what we need to do.

Yesterday i didnt write this email because we had zone conference. Have i ever told you all how much i love the Beynons. Because i do. The thing that stood out most was, take the desire of your hearts and put them into your minds. Look at what things are limiting you: Doubts, fears, laziness, disbelief. REcognize the limits and then make goals. goals to exercise your faith and take action. And then most importantly, goals that require the help from the powers of Heaven. Exactly what i needed to hear. Sis Beynon gave an amazing talk. That lady is such an example to me in almost everything. She has never had formal training in Portuguese but ALWAYS does her best to speak with the Brasilieros and her talks are always so perfect even in Portuguese. one part of her talk was, You might feel inadequate, because really you are inadequate for this work if you were to do it on your own. BUT we have the power of God with us. He will take what we do and magnify it. Make it great. Again what i needed to hear.

So the past few days=spiritual high. love it.

Funny stuff: We only have water four days during the week. I lost my breath as i poured water from a bucket to shower. Oh but here we have a nice shower head so that when we actually HAVE water i can take a warm shower. Really this house is so nice and i am very thankful for it. This week we went to a ladies house and she asked if i wanted juice. i said no thankyou. Then she said the juice was teh same color as my green shirt. I asked what kind of juice is it. She suckered us into drinking some. It was horrible! it was some sort of ginger root and weird brasilian leaf with sugar. After i drank it all i said thankyou what is in it. She told me and poured another glass. me and my companions almost died a little bit. that is all. So i love my companions they crack me up. The only part that is difficult is that i have a constant reminder of home in Sister Porath. In Bebedouro i rarely spoke english or even thought much about home outside of PDAY. So needless to say i have been a little trunky, or missing everyone A TON this last week. BUT i got peanut butter in my package and reeces so i think i will be good for awhile. Aunt Jeane being the faithful lady she is sent me a recipe but seriously I NEED MORE OF YOU TO SEND RECIPES!!!!

other than that i am good. i love you all.

Proud to wear the tag,

Sister J Peterson