Love of the greatest philosopher of all time.

Dear family,

Not a lot has changed. Still here. In Provo. School. I punched a few tests in the face in the last few weeks. That means I did well. Man it feels good when you study. I realized how much the Lord is willing to help you ESPECIALLY  when you have done your best to prepare. He literally fills in the rest. I feel like I am getting a much more spiritual insight into my scholastic study. As much as I loved USU, I feel like I was never who I wanted to be. I never gave it my all. I am in love with BYU and this experience. I feel like finally my work is accepted by the Lord. A GREAT FEELING!

I am working now at an assisted living center. I love old people. They make me feel like I'm in Brasil again. Just so loving and telling me how pretty and wonderful I am all the time. An adorable 80+ year old man came to me and put up his arm. He wanted me to feel his bicep. He looked at me and said, "I just got done exercising!" I loved it. Another gave me a nickname-PJ and took a picture with me. It is a positive environment and I am enjoying it.

Still think about Brasil everyday of my life. And miss it everyday of my life. Realizing a little bit more how beautiful and wonderful my mission experience was and just how much the Lord loves me. I am a broken record, yes, but I will never cease to be grateful for those 18 months.

My Book of Mormon class gives me amazing opportunities to continue to further my study of the gospel. Just a few things I have been reminded of and have seen them realized in my life.

THE LAW OF JUSTICE:
If you are wrong, you must repent so that Christ can make you right. If you have been wronged, trust in the fact that Christ has made retribution and WILL MAKE IT RIGHT. 
-it is true. seen it in my life, and in the lives of many and hope to see it even more in the lives of those that I love.

Forgiveness:
"Failure to forgive retards spiritual growth." I see this and it hurts to see it. I am learning everyday to be more forgiving and I see how it sets me free. I am not tied down or held back as much as we are when we hold a grudge. It is a natural REACTION to being wronged...but that doesn't mean it is right.

We went over when Christ visits the nephites in the americas in 3 Nephi. When Christ died, there was great destruction for three days. Many died. Many suffered the loss of loved ones. More than that, the people realized that they had been wrong, and because of their lack of willingness to change, they had suffered the consequences.
I always thought that Christ appeared after those three days. It is much more probably that he appeared MONTHS and months later. It makes sense the setting. At the time of his arrival, the people were talking about him. They were MARVELING. Instead of mourning. What gets me here is that Christ truly gives us the opportunity to stop, reflect, repent, and then go about the changes WE NEED TO MAKE and prepare ourselves to have him come into our lives. Again, have seen this in my life and others lives.
These people were prepared spiritually for him. When he arrived he gave EVERY SINGLE person there the opportunity to feel for themselves the prints of his Atonement. Or rather, he gave each of them the opportunity to gain a testimony for themselves of WHO he really is. Being that close they could feel him, hear him, smell him, and they were able to literally get to know the Savior personally. Christ wants to do that with us to. He is more than willing to reveal himself to us, but we must prepare ourselves spiritually like these Nephites did.

We are spiritually needy because of our weaknesses, but he also gives us time to stop and to feel and to reflect and ultimately to repent and prepare ourselves. In the right state he will come to us. That is a huge thing that I miss about my mission. I felt it easier to feel his presence and learn about Christ there. Every day I was able to study his life and his teachings profoundly and I truly was able to understand more about him. I was in the frame of mind adequate to feel his presence. And I am not saying that I cant do that now, it just felt more frequently as I was his formal representative. WHAT A BLESSING. I cannot imagine the Lord's infinite patience and love for us. He gives us the benefit of the doubt. We just have to recognize what we need to change, and constantly, maybe slowly but continuously change those things and draw nearer to him.

It is interesting as Christ says, "I sense that ye are weak and do not understand all that I have been commanded to speak to you..." he then gives the command to go to your HOMES (he did not say houses but homes) and ponder (my I interject with your families here?) and on the morrow he would return.  Ponder pray seek. He then desires to give them more. As he says, "Your faith is sufficient that I may heal you."

Although they didnt understand everything, he gave them the opportunity, but even more he points out that the faith of these people was sufficient. And that is what I need. It is what we need if we are to grow closer to him. if we are to find TRUE HAPPINESS.

So that is just a few things I have been reflecting upon. So my challenge, Think about what is holding you back from being the best version of yourself. From being like Christ, and then make a list of what you need to change.

I love you ps.

JP

PS everyone should watch kid history on youtube. I LOVE IT.

life as I know it

Exactly one month since I set foot on my home soil. Why don't I feel like that is a true statement? That is rhetorical and you don't need to answer it.

So let me update those one or two people who actually read my blog/family posts.
I ended my missionary service March 22nd 2011. My mama, my brothers and my sister in law came to pick me up. Amazing opportunity to share a little bit of my experience with them. There was a miracle, ISABELLE. At the beginning of the transfer in Benedito we taught her but after a little couldnt get in touch. Well after we hadnt talked to her for a few weeks she told her member friends that she wished she would have been baptized on the date we had marked for her and that she truly had a desire to be baptized. Amazing. So we baptized her SUnday. Mama and Jerry got to see it. Jerry sang with me in the baptism. It was an amazing experience.

I was so happy to bring my family to meet my brasilian family. We visited a few other sites, but the best part of brasil is the northeast for this little galega.

So I am here in the states. It is different. And I miss Brasil. I miss those people that I love. It just feels like I've been on vacation or something... I do get sad when I think that I can't go back soon. Some days are better than others. But my mission changed my life it changed me. I am so incredibly grateful for that experience. IT WAS ESSENTIAL for my life, I am sure of it.

Vamos focus on the positive:
-I value much more my family members. I am absolutely in love with my neices and nephews. What a bummer they live so far away now...

-I started school at BYU this week...I still cant bring myself to say that I am a BYU student.
--Dear family, I have a confession. I tried, really I did...but I just cant bring myself to hate BYU.
--my classes for the spring term (its short) are Microbiology and The Book of Mormon.
I am a total nerd. I am LOVING microbiology. 

-I am in love with the gospel more than ever before. I find myself talking about it in almost every setting possible. It is just something that moves me. Before it was a very strong belief. Now it is more of a fact a certainty. The gospel is written in my heart. It is more a part of my identity than just a part of my life. I am in love with it. Now I just need to be in love with someone who is just as in love with the gospel as I am.

Today in Relief Society we talked about service and a thought came to mind. When we serve other people we start to gain understanding and that understanding leads us to love. Understanding of the people we are serving comes as we strive to understand their perspective and their personal needs in order to serve them according to their needs. We develop compassion. We develop patience. And through this we come to understand God better. We are striving to be like him, therefore we have more contact with him. And then we understand just a tiny bit better the type of love that he has for those people we are serving. The type of love he has for us and for all of his children. And then we grow stronger in our faith and knowledge because we can FEEL the difference in our lives as we draw closer to him. Service is essential for our progression.

If you have any other ideas about it let me know.

Well folks I love you!

Proud to have worn the tag,
JP Peterson

goodbye brasil, i love you.‏

You know that feeling that comes right before a big change? Where you feel excited, anxious, maybe even nauseous, happy, and depressed all at the same exact moment leaving the rest of your mind and body completely confused. Add exhausted and completely in love with your setting and you have what this 22 year old Sister missionary is feeling. Sister Peterson-only for a little more time.

This is it. 18 months is such a short time even though there are moments that feel like forever. It is my way of life and I am comfortable. Sorry for the word vomit but I guess I am still trying to decide how I feel. Grateful I guess would be almost good enough to spell out what is going on inside. How could the Lord be so patient so good to me as to give me this experience? How in the world would i be able to get along in the rest of my life without these 18 months? The best preparation for the rest of my life.

I thought that I knew pretty well the gospel. That I knew what it meant to love others. Repentance, Faith, Hope, forgiveness, patience, hard work, prayer and truth. In reality I knew nothing. In reality I still know little. I had a testimony of the church. But now I feel it in every part of me that Christ IS THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD and that he guides his people today through a living prophet with the real truth, not just some of it. I have felt what progress is and I have seen it in others but mostly in me. I have seen the gospel of Jesus Christ change my life and those around me. I never really deserved this, but my Heavenly Father knew that I needed it.

I guess I understand maybe a tiny bit better what Christ did when he was here. or maybe i just understand it in a different way. How did he love people so perfectly? He gave me so many experiences that led me to understand at least a little more. He has taught me how the first thing to do is pray and then how to pray. Patience is a way to show your love. Repentance is not just for our investigators. Hard work is what comes from being faithful. And forgiveness, how can i not forgive when the Lord is so very forgiving for my many weaknesses and imperfections. And faith...well I know much better what it is and what it is not and how to show it. How everything winds down to that simple and profound truth. The first lawof the gospel.

This week I have learned a little more about hope. How it is so intwined with faith. I dont have anxiety for the future anymore. I know how I want to live. I know how I WILL live. I know that all the blessings the Lord has promised me are completely dependent on my faithfulness to the covenants that I have made. Eter 12:4-Hope for a better world. A better life. I have seen how obedience and faith have changed the lives of my investigators and converts and in my life as well. There is always a choice to make- I will constantly choose the better part.

"To become who we desire to be, we have to be, constantly each day, the person who we desire to become...a righteous character is a manifestation of the person who you are becoming." -Richard G. Scott
In my job, school, family, marriage etc, I am not so insecure anymore, I know that the Lord will bless me as long as I am being obedient and doing my part. I guess that is a little more concrete or "written in my heart"-if you do your part, the Lord will do the rest. TENDER MERCIES.

I needed to come to Northeast Brasil to find these things out. My heart hurts to leave them but it is time. The only thing constant in life is that life is constantly changing. I guess Im off to a new adventure in life. I love these people. I love this culture. I love this language. I love the gospel and I love my mission.


Thank you, all of you who have supported me and helped me to be able to be here. Thank you to those who have written me and supported me. And mostly for those who have prayed for me. I have a certainty that it was your prayers that gave me the strength that I needed in the moments that I needed something more. I am eternally grateful to all of you and to the Lord for allowing me to be his servant here and to wear this tag that is ever so sacred and important to me. To represent the people that I love most, my family-I feel like i have never loved you all more than I do now, or maybe that before I wasnt as capable of loving as I am now- and my Lord Savior and Redeemer Jesus Christ. I know that I am his representative here in Maceió and I know the importance of an example. "Let your light so shine before this people.." (3 Nephi 12:16). I am determined to live this for the rest of my life.
Sei que Cristo é meu Salvador e Redentor. Sei que essa é Sua obra e ela é essencial no plano de Deus. Sei que as famílias podem ser eternas. Temos as chaves do sacerdócio para fazer essas ordenanças TÃO sagradas. Sei que Cristo guia essa igreja por meio um propheta vivo, Thomas S. Monson. Sei que aquele rapaz Joseph Smith verdadeiramente viu Deus e Jesus Cristo. Aparte daquele momento, o mundo mudou. Tudo começou com uma simples oração. O Senhor ouvi essas orações de seus filhos. Ele nos ama. O Livro de Mórmon é a palavra de Deus assim como a Bíblia. É o livro mais correto no mundo. Tudo isso eu sei, é mais uma certeza do que uma crença agora. Acima de tudo, sei que Cristo vive e é o Filho de Deus que expiou por nossos pecados.
I only have a few more days to be Sister Peterson and i will take advantage of each minute.
Proud to wear this sacred tag,
Sister PETERSON

one more week...‏

Dear family.
I have so little time to write. just a few things.
Sunday after a lot of disappointment our trio entered the church with heavy hearts. every person who said they would go...didnt go. we had one more hope, Alisson (the ukileili guy) and his family...we looked in the relief society and she wasnt there. Alright so I am used to this...but i sat there thinking, the Lord knows what he is doing. Its gonna be alright. Soon after that I went to the principles of the gospel class. Alisson was there. his wife and kids were sick but he came alone! he then participated intensely in the class then started asking profound questions about the book of mormon he even mentioned the Urim and Thummim and how it is also mentioned in the Biblia...and I was impressed. He loved church he said its a lot different than what he is used to that the church is structured so well that the members literally understand the doctrine and each day can go deeper and deeper...exactly why I love the church.

it was a great feeling.

one thought i had. i remember my first transfer in bebedouro with murbaki i was making a contact in my horrible portuguese and said the words "you are invited to our church". After murbaki corrected me. "Sister, it is not OUR church but Christ's." I have always remembered that. It has stuck with me my whole mission. We are representatives of Christ's church. This work is not our work. It must be done in His WAY. That is why the church is so perfect, because it is his.
Proud to wear the tag,
Sister Peterson

Biu-pronounced byew‏

Dearest Family,

Another week. Full of the Lord's tender mercies. I don't have time to really write much this week but I would like to write a few things.

-IZAILDA: an amazing investigator. She is paralyzed and is confined to a wheelchair but this is anything but confining to her. SHE DOES EVERYTHING. She was going to an assembly of God church just because it is infront of her house. But as we taught her she felt the truth. She went to church and she loved it. As she participated in the activities she shared her experience when she prayed to know if the church was true. She said, "I go to the assembly of God church-no i used to go to the assembly of God church..." It is amazing to see how she went from believing all the ridiculous things people believe about the church to getting excited to be baptized in only a few days.

-Benedito Bentes (biu) is a difficult area to baptize. It is mostly an area to strengthen the ward members. I thought i would be lost because my experience at aeroclube of learning the roads was rough...but here i feel so accostomed and i dont have any problem. The members are great and help a ton. We are helping a family Poliana and Hercules and their 4 beautiful children get back into church. We had a family home evening last night that was great.

-The Scriptures wow. I am reading the war chapters in Alma. They apply directly into my life. Symbols and connections that I never before recognized. They help me to be "armed" and ready always.

I am learning to be more like Christ this transfer. I literally am amazed by that man and all that He did. I now more than every dont understand how he could love so much that he did what he did. Amazing. I know that Christ is my Savior. I have always known it but on my mission I have learned to trust him and I have gotten to know him better. I know that he truly suffered for my sins and that he took upon himself my pains and weaknesses. He knows me. I know that the love he has for us is unconditional. I have felt that love. This week I have felt the Lord helping me to get through trials. The atonement is very real. I have felt it in my prayers in lessons in the hardest moments and in the better moments too. This is the Lords work I know it. I know that his restored gospel will bring peace and happiness into the lives of so many if they just let it and strive their best to live it.

Proud to wear this tag,

Sister Peterson

bye bye aeroclube‏

Dear family,


The Lord is giving me an opportunity to really practice what I preach. I teach about faith. everyday. how we must trust in the Lord and his timing and his plans. Isaiah 55:8-9. Well this week I was transfered from my home. Aeroclube. I was almost positive i would stay. this transfer is only five weeks. in fact, even though i am not one to ask for things from president, i wrote him saying, "If it is the Lords will, I would like to finish my mission here in aeroclube". apparently that isn't the Lord's will.

saturday night after we received the call lima and i sat in silence. we finished planning and i went directly to bed. i didnt want to murmur but my brain was going out of control. i prayed and the Lord comforted me. It is always hard to say goodbye to an area...but to your home its even harder. All my families, all my converts, and all my investigators. sunday we taught an amazing lesson with Luana and Kelvin. Kelvin went to church with us the afternoon. in fact, we had 7 investigators there. I truly feel like I left this amazing ward, that althought was always amazing, better than i found it. I know the Lord is happy with the work I have done there.

It was hard to leave lima, my filha. She cried, spontaneously for two days.

we had a family home evening monday at a members house, a majority of my recent converts and our progressing investigators were there. because i and elder cordeiro (he arrived in the area with me) are leaving they went around basically telling us how we influenced there lives-through tears-and thanking us. It was another tender mercy of the Lord letting me know that it is okay to feel sad to say goodbye, but not okay to complain. The love that I feel for all those people is uncomparable. it is true, i have learned how to truly love people.

so i arrived here yesterday in benedito bentes. i have five weeks to find my purpose here. i am actively seeking it. I am with sister feitosa and sister de souza all both have less than 5 months here. I am doing my best to establish a feeling of unity and happiness in a trio. Trios generally are a little rough but we are excited to make this the best transfer yet. i want to die dying-morrer morrendo. we have established goals and we are seeking the Lord's elect here. the members are excited and I am determined to act diligently to the end.

Each time i get sad, i pray and the Lord reminds me that He knows what is best. And I am sure of His love for me just as I am sure of His love for all of His children. it is because of this love that i am here

I know that this is the best mission in the world. I know that I was sent here for a purpose and this is exactly where I should be. I know that Christ leads this work through his chosen leaders and that He loves us. I know that He understands me and knows me and that he will give me every opportunity possible to grow and progress. I know that this gospel is the only true and full gospel. I know God lives and loves us.

proud to wear the tag,

sister Peterson

i remember the transcendentalist in me‏

Another week flew by. how does that even happen.




Today we went to the countryside with Cinthia, who was baptized this week, the sister of Joalison, and their mom. It was beautiful and reminded me of home. instead of cars and pollution there were fields (granted instead of corn and hay it was sugar cane and macaxera) and open sky. We ate so many mangoes directly from the tree, Papaya and we knocked coconuts from the trees and drank directly from the coconut. i feel like it was a true northeast brazil experience. it was beautiful and i felt so happy to be in nature again...man i need to go camping this summer!

As i was riding in a van, returning to my area I talked with the driver. Even before the day began i remembered our new counsel to carry a Book of Mormon with us everywhere we go. It is PDAY but i decided to leave one in my bag. As i entered into the van i had an impression to take out my Book of Mormon. I ignored it but thought, why, should i talk to this driver? as he drove he started talking to me. he is A deacon in the Assembly of God church. We talked about my mission and how he also is a missionary in his church but most of all we talked of Christ and how important he is to us. it flowed perfectly and I had the opportunity to bring up that Christ ministered among the people here. i bore my testimony of the Book of Mormon how it helps me to get closer to my Savior daily. I asked him if i could give him the book. He was really excited and said yes. I wrote a dedication in the front for him and he said that his daughter could read english so i wrote in english. i felt the spirit super strong as i talked to this man about the thing that makes me most happy.

I have had a lot of great experiences this week in fact. I feel like a brand new missionary. Excited to talk to people. I made a contact with a young man after completing my goal for the day of contacts, and I felt the Spirit very strong as I talked to him. We will meet with him tomorrow, i dont know if it will go anywhere but it was a huge reminder that the Lord's elect are all around me and if I am not paying a attention they will pass me by.

As i said, Cinthia was baptized and also Fernanda. They are already super integrated into the ward. Cinthia is already working on personal progress each night and Joalison told his sister that he would like to serve a mission. WOW! Fernanda lives in the countryside during the week but stays with Flavia (my recent convert) on the weekends. she is going to bring a bunch of her friends to church on sunday that live in the countryside.

Sunday Katia (my recent convert) bore testimony the first time. She bore testimony of how the gospel has changed her life. how it is true. and the Spirit was SO STRONG. I then thought of Cristiane (another rc) who during the past weeks has told me how she falls in love with the gospel everyday and how even though it is difficult she pays her tithing FIRST. Then I think about Flavia who faces all sorts of comments from her family about the church but as soon as i told her that we dont buy things on sunday...she stopped. And then I hear her testimony to another member about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Then I look at her children and how even they have changed, more obedient and helpful. Excited everytime we walk by there house, holding my hand as we walk to an activity at church. Then I think of Beto and Joalison and oscar being sustained to receive the aaronic priesthood. I think of my recent converts in SErgipe that changed my life and of Martas family in Arapiraca-after almost one year the father was baptized and they are working on going to the temple. It could have been any other missionary, and for many it would have been any other missionary who got to teach these people...but i still have this feeling so amazingly strong each time i think of these people that I love so much and as i see them KEEPING their baptismal covenants. My joy is full.

Read Alma 24-30. I feel like Amon as he witnessed the Anti Nefi lehites literally sacrificing everything to keep their covenants with God. That they didnt even fear death because their faith and hope in the resurrection and Christ was SO STRONG. I feel that happiness that he talks about. I never really understood it. I always admired Amon and Alma but right now i can relate. Can their really be a greater feeling than this? I can only think of when I will see my children living up to their covenants because of their choice to keep them and walk rightly before the Lord.

Amon felt like this in Alma 26:

15Yea, they were encircled about with everlasting adarkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting blight, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great and marvelous work.

16Therefore, let us aglory, yea, we will bglory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his cmercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel.

Alma too felt this (Alma 28):

10 And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember awhat the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me.

1 O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the atrump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

2Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and acome unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

Want world peace? It is the gospel and I have seen it change the world or at least each one of these peoples worlds.

I know that this is the Lord's work. It is so very essential to bringing to pass his eternal purposes. If we dont do it, who will? I know that we are His chosen servants and that through the Spirit we can be tools in the Lord's hands to help these wonderful people accept the gospel. i know Christ lives and guides this church. I know God hears and answers our prayers. He is merciful and full of love. He wants to help us. But we, like the Anti Nefi leitas, MUST bury our arms of rebellion and strive to live what Christ taught us. These teachings are found through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it is true. It just is.

I love the scriptures. read these chapters in alma this week!

Proud as ever to wear the tag,

Sister Peterson