Word of the Week: "vale la pena" (it's worthwhile)

(This is last week's letter. kp) We had a busy week, but a happy week! The Lord blessed us in many ways this week, starting with the cool down of the weather! Woohoo! A summer cool down equals RAIN and STORMS! Almost everyday this week, we had some sort of thunder storm. Thankfully, we really only got caught out in one storm one morning when it started raining unexpectedly about 20 minutes after we started working in the morning. We had a good laugh as we huddled under a tree trying to stay dry while the rain passed... it didn't pass, so we decided to run from tree cover to tree cover. That lasted for about 15 minutes, and then we really pushed to get into someone's home. We got in finally and taught a little lesson to a woman. By the time we finished, the rain had stopped! PERFECT!

Tuesday was our day of miracles! We taught 8 new people that night, twice as many as we had set as our daily goal. Later in the week, my attention went in another direction to help another hermana, and I was so greatful that we did not need to worry as much about our weekly goals because we had been so blessed earlier in the week that I could focus on helping her. Of those 8 new people, we found a woman named Valeria and her sister Liliana. We talked to them on the street last week, and they welcomed us into their home this week. We had them in our plans, but as we walked past their house and looked in the window at the huge group of people---mostly older men only wearing shorts---we debated moving on to another plan rather than risking that awkward situation. Hna. Anderson and I just smiled at each other and walked up to the man sitting in the open window and asked for Valeria, to which she warmly welcomed us into her home. She was taught by Elders years ago in her home near Buenos Aires. She had some questions, particularly about the Word of Wisdom. She asked me if she were a bad person for smoking, to which I replied that she was not. She then asked why she was not "allowed" to smoke and drink on occasion. I love the promises of the Lord because my first instinct was to be nervous because I felt like I'd gotten into a pickle, when the words just started coming out. I told her that the Lord gives us commandments to protect us, not to restrict us. Smoking and drinking is bad for our bodies and being under the influence of such substances restricts our abilities, etc. It was perfect and she understood and calmed down. Then, as her sister asked why there are so many churches in the world and how she can know which one is true, I was able to testify to Valeria of the power of the Holy Ghost in the conversion process and how if we are under the influence of drugs/alcohol, we will never be able to hear the soft and quiet voice of the spirit telling us what is the truth and how we need to be living our lives. It was a fabulous lesson and the spirit distilled on us. Hna. Anderson gave a powerful testimony about how she received the answer from the Lord that this is his true church.

I also had the opportunity to bear my testimony to another family that night about my personal conversion. When I told them that I'd been to other churches and just didn't like them (for lack of better words), their response was that I felt better in this church. I just looked at them and said "No. I go to this church because God told me that this is His church...it's not just the church that I like more...and I'm going to do what God tells me." That quieted them up a bit.

I had great experiences bearing my testimony this week. One in particular stood out to me: We knocked a door and a woman came to the window and started talking to us. She "didn't have time", but we ended up talking through her window a bit to which she said she'd heard about all the religions. When I asked her if she'd listened to our companions she admitted that she had not. The conversation evolved and she asked what the difference is between our church and the Catholic church. I testified to her that we have a living prophet on the earth today that leads and guides the true church of Jesus Christ. I was able to testify to her of the authority that the prophet of God holds and that God knows His chosen servants and He will tell her who is true servant is on the earth today. She said that God doesn't just answer people...and when I rebuttled she changed her stance and said that maybe we are just to hard-hearted to really listen to the quiet and subtle answer...DING! I love bearing testimony in the mission because it is always such a reassuring experience for me and the spirit testifies to me again, every time, that what I'm saying is true. I love it!

As another side note, I had my first speaking assignment in Sacrament Meeting. We found out Friday night and took what little spare time we had to write something up. Poor Hna. Anderson was a little stressed, as was I, but it all turned out well. We spoke about Missionary Work and I used Grandpa's story about the difference in value between a dime and a drill bit. I thought it turned out pretty good for being written here and there and on the fly....mission blessings!

Love to you all! Hope everyone enjoyed the cruise! We are going to "La Caverna de Las Brujas" next week for our P-day...google it....it's in Malargüe, Argentina....we're super excited! Stay tuned for a mission adventure! (with that being said...not sure when I will be emailing next week because the cave is 4-5 hours from San Rafael....)

Love you!

Hna. Pelton

Word of the week: Vendimia ("Harvest of the grapes")

This was a busy week as we had divisions with some visiting hermanas as well as the annual "Vendimia" which is a Mendoza tradition where "princesses" in the form of a beauty contest are chosen from each city. The Vendimia happens between February and March as the grape harvest starts. It's a HUGE deal and conveniently, the San Rafael parade of the princesses--introduced by gauchos on horses--passed right in front of our apartment. It unfortunately was a bit rainy and stormy Friday night for the parade, but that didn't stop us. To celebrate, we got empanadas and alfajores to eat in the street before the princesses started down the street in their floats. It was amazing to participate in such a rich cultural event! We even snag some fruit from the floats!!! (As the floats pass, they hand out their harvests to the people on the street. There were a few kids with baskets on the ends of sticks to help them get more fruits. I got a pear and a bunch of grapes :) ) Wednesday, we did divisions with a pair of hermanas that are traveling the mission right now and helping train all the hermanas like the elders get trained as well. It was a lot of fun and a good chance to develop our abilities to teach and invite people to be baptized in a more effective manner. We taught lots of new people and invited many to follow Christ by preparing to be baptized. They were days full of laughing and miracles. This week, I had a wonderful experience with learning to listen to the spirit. On Wednesday morning, Hna. Anderson had planned the whole day...and it was packed full of people to visit and goals to meet. In the morning, we headed towards the opposite side of our area to visit some investigators we are helping to progress and no one was home and we weren't having any success getting into any doors. I felt like something was off, as if we were in the wrong place. I stopped and decided that we should say a prayer so I could feel better or so that we could know where to go or what the Lord wanted us to be doing. As we prayed, the name of a less active member popped into my head. We had planned to go by her house later that afternoon. We had tried to contact her at least 3 times to teach her son (who is 8 and wants to get baptized. They had never been home. They also lived back on the other side of our area. Well, Hna. Anderson and I just looked at each other and said, "I guess we better walk to their house then..." And so we went. I was looking for people to talk to along the way or open doors to get into, but their weren't any openings. We got to Virginia's house and sure enough she was home! But, Bruno, her son was not. So we sat down and drank some juice and just got to know her a little better. Her son wasn't home, but at least we found her, though she was cooking and couldn't really sit down and chat. About 5 minutes later, her non-member husband walked in. We invited them to sit down and listen to a short message/scripture. As we chatted, her husband Christian opened up. He is very friendly and very open to talking about the church. He has studied a lot about the church and really respects the organization and formation of the church as a whole, but has a few doubts. We chatted with him and invited him to get baptized with his son at the end of the month. We also told him that we would come back and address his concerns--if God really has a body of flesh and blood, why we do baptisms for the dead, and the deal with Kolob. I was just smiling inside...those sure are easily resolvable concerns...I've heard way worse!!! He told us that he wants to have a softer heart, a heart that believes more easily and he wants to have more faith. We turned right back to the Book of Mormon as the resolution to all of his questions and doubts. He accepted the challenge to read and pray for more faith and understanding. His wife was a wonderful asset in the lesson as she is a woman of faith. It was wonderful to see her teach him how to pray and how the church has helped her personally. I left their house completely humbled. Had I not listened and heeded that small prompting to visit them, we wouldn't have found Christian (he is a police officer and rarely home) and would not have been able to help him and his family. I felt like I had really listened to their spirit and had been lead by the Lord to find one of His children at the exact moment. Had we waited to walk to their house or had gone earlier, we likely would not have been there right as he was to walk in and sit down to listen. What a miracle! On Thursday, we had another great miracle: we were walking towards an investigator's home when we passed an open door. We backed up and knocked at the door and were nicely let in by a teenaged girl named Belen. We sat down and started getting to know her. I felt prompted to show her the list of "questions of the soul" from Preach my Gospel that I have in bookmark form. She stopped and looked at the question, "Does God exist?". She told us that she was raised Catholic, but has never been able to understand what they said about God and His nature. We shared Alma 22 with her and Ether 3 and testified that we know that God is like us with a tangible body. She just nodded her head and told us that she loved what we were sharing with her and believed us and believed what we read together and that she understood now. It was so cool to see the spirit work through us and in her through our testimonies and the scriptures. She accepted a baptismal date and was eager to learn more! We saw lots of miracles this week and are eager to see more!!! Thanks for all the love and support! Con Amor, Hna. Pelton

Word of the Week: "Estoy enferma" (I'm sick)

We had quite the full week here in San Rafael! The week started out great and by Wednesday, we had already found 6 new investigators and put baptismal dates with 5 of them! Then...Wednesday...the plague moved into our companionship. Wednesday night around 3am, I had a fever of 102 and slept about 20 minutes over the course of the entire night. By Thursday morning, Hna. Anderson had the same symptoms. We made the executive decision to stay in bed since we hadn't slept and since we physically couldn't get out of bed. So, needless to say, we spent a couple of days fighting some sort of flu or food poisoning...we still aren't sure. Either way, it was miserable, but we survived while still suffering some of the aftermath. But, that's over and done with and was bound to happen at least once over the course of an 18-month mission in a foreign country. Tuesday, the Lord richly blessed us to find a 17-year old girl named Andrea who let us right into her home. We were looking for a less active woman who apparently lived at that address. While the address for the less active woman ended up being incorrect, it led us to someone who was willing to listen. Doesn't the Lord work in mysterious ways??? Tuesday we also taught an older woman who had been taught by the missionaries years and years ago. Again, we were looking for someone else and when we couldn't find them, we asked to visit with whomever came to the door. As we started talking with Asencion and her life, we started sharing the Book of Mormon with her. In the course of explaining what it is to her, I included a small statement without really thinking much of it, but which in turn, changed the lesson completely and helped us really tap into her needs. I was explaining how the Book of Mormon includes the account of when Christ came to the American continent after he was resurrected. "We know that because Christ was resurrected, we too will be resurrected and live again." (I said something to that extent. I normally don't say anything like that when explaining the Book of Mormon, but I did for some reason). To which Ascencion replied, "well, that's where I have a doubt. I believe that everything ends after this life." As we continued listening and testifying to her, she expressed what might be closer to the heart of her issue, being that she has never received an answer from the Lord, that she prays and prays and He never responds. We testified to her that there is life after death, that God has a plan for all His children, and that she is well known by the Lord and He is listening to her. It was a wonderful lesson to me from the Lord and a testimony that the Lord will literally put the words in your mouth when you are on His errand. Then to see the power in listening and really trying to reach the needs of the people and not just reciting a lesson to a cookie-cutter investigator. Who knows if she will progress, but we shared our testimonies with her and the Lord taught me that He is leading us every step--and every word--of the way. Wednesday we taught a first lesson to a woman who is spiritual rather than religious and when we had her read in Moroni 10:4-5 and then asked her what she understood about receiving answers from the Lord, she silently closed her eyes, put her hand delicately over the verses and just hovered there for what seemed like an etermity, but what was probably 20 seconds. There Hna. Anderson and I sat. I was trying hard not to crinkle my forhead in confusion...and then she opened her eyes and said that "the answers are inside you...". Uh...thanks...hmm...not quite what I asked, but also insightful. She has great faith and a lot of her personal beliefs are right in line with ours, but she threw me for a loop with the whole osmosis process she was doing with the Book of Mormon. I know a lot of early morning seminary students might pull a similar trick...but...I don't think it really works that way. Anyway, I thought that was a funny story to share. Maybe you had to be there. The real miracle of the week came on Saturday afternoon. After not having worked for 2 days, we were behind with our weekly goals. I knew that we had been diligent all week and worked very hard to reach our goals and then had gotten sick out of the blue. So, with only 2 working days left in the week, we set out to catch up on our goals. We were still not quite back up to 100% working speed, but I was sure counting on the Lord to help us. Plan after plan was falling through and we kept ending up at addresses that didn't exist, but in asking for help by knocking on the doors where the addresses should have been, we ended up teaching 5 new people in one afternoon! I have only seen that happen a couple of times in a my mission...I'd say that the Lord was watching out for us. We set baptismal dates with all of them and the lessons really helped re-energize us after a hard few days in bed. It's amazing what you can accomplish by righteously setting goals with the Lord, doing all that you can, and then trusting in Him. Why is this so hard to repeat....? Ha...I guess if it were that easy, we would have advanced to the next grade and ended up with Enoch and his city...I guess I still have a ways to go! Happy wintery days my North American loved ones. Hopefully a healthier week is in store for me! :) Love you, Hna. Pelton

Word of the Week: Tango

(we spent a little time every day in the park behind our apartment. it's the best park around and I LOVE IT. a few nights ago, some people were dancing the tango...it was so cool!)

This was a very successful week in lots of ways. The Lord greatly blessed us this week in reaching some lofty goals we had set! Tuesday morning and nearly all afternoon, we WORKED and didn't get into any doors. Then, at lunch with the bishop's family, the bishop's wife gave us the name of a woman who had come to church that past Sunday who hadn't attended in a long time. She suggested that we go over and visit her. Since we weren't having tons of success with our plans, we went and found this woman. After her neighbor waved us off--thinking that we were Jehovah Witnesses--she let us in. As it turned out, her visiting teachers were there as well. We sat and chatted for a little while, then I suggested that they teach their lesson and we'd listen. As it turned out, the visiting teachers kept looking at me...I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, so after their lesson about the history of the Relief Society, I tied it into the scriptures and the general importance of learning from the past, as we do in the scriptures. At about this point, her neighbor walked in and sat down to listen and then the member's son (who isn't a member) came in and listened a little too! From that one lesson, we did visiting teaching, taught 2 new people and a less active member, as well as a lesson with a member! I felt so humbled after that lesson. Here I was, trying to stay excited throughout the day while walking in the blazing heat, trying not to complain about how we hadn't taught anyone all day, and the Lord gently led us to this home where we were able to help more people than I could have expected or would have imagined by myself.

Wednesday, we again were blessed in unexpected ways. Since we are white-washing this area, we decided to just start from scratch by getting to know the members. We slowly started building trust with some of the members, which didn't yield direct results, but later Wednesday night, we taught 4 teenagers about the Book of Mormon. One of the boys is homosexual, which made the lesson different than any before I've ever taught. The lesson changed and really started to touch them when they started asking us questions. Throughout the lesson we were asking them questions, but as soon as they started feeling comfortable enough to ask us what they were really thinking, the whole quality of the lesson changed. It was really neat to see their interest spark and their attention turn more to us and what we were saying. One of the boys even offered the prayer (despite his embarrassment in front of his friends) before we left. Again, the Lord led us to these 4 people near the last hour of the day.

Thursday followed a similar pattern. The Lord again blessed us to find people to teach, including one woman whom we taught sitting on the steps of her home. We taught her, asking her questions all along the way, but when she started asking us questions, the whole lesson changed like the day before. She had serious questions about the spirit and how we feel the spirit in our lives. She is starting to attend an Evangelical church and had questions about how people "know" they are feeling the spirit. She asked if people can cry when they are feeling the spirit or if they have to cry to know that they are feeling the spirit. As we testified to her that the spirit speaks to us softly and fills us with joy and peace, it was almost as if a weight was lifted off her shoulders and she began to understand and recognize times when she's felt that way. We committed her to read the Book of Mormon and to pray to the Lord to know if she needs to get baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, to which she first hesitated then agreed.

Friday we had zone conference here in San Rafael. Hna. Anderson and I sang a duet of "Come Thou Fount" while one elder played the guitar and another played the piano. I thought it turned out really well! In the conference, we learned how to work more to activate less active members and how to look forward with hope and faith. It was a great conference and I learned a lot. In the afternoon, even though we didn't have a lot of working time, we taught some GREAT people and put more baptismal dates with them all. I tried some new approach tactics and we saw lots more success! We're going to try more of the sutble, conversational approach this week. Example: Hna. Anderson started talking to a woman sitting outside her house one night. She denied the invitation to hear a message about Jesus Christ, so I started talking to her about some flowers that were growing along side her home. As we got talking and after a few minutes, I asked her a question from Preach My Gospel about how she knows that God exists. After listening to her, I asked if we could sit inside and share a scripture with her to which she welcomed us right in. After teaching her for about 15-20 minutes, we invited her to pray and ask God if she needs to be baptized on February 26th....it's all about being friends!

We also taught a woman and her son (who were former investigators) and committed them to get baptized as well. I've never taught a lesson with more distractions--the door bell 2 or 3 times, a cat, her niece cleaning, the phone 2 or 3 times...you get the idea. But, as we talked about baptism and their purpose to prepare themselves to meet God sometime, it was still. It was beautiful.

Saturday, we taught a 20-year-old guy named Marcelo sitting outside on a cement block. He stopped us while we were walking and told us how he plays basketball in one of the church buildings. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and just started reading it when we showed it to him! He seemed really interested and paid close attention.

(side note: we also taught a slightly crazy woman who was stroking my companion's hair and sobbing for most of the lesson...it was really wierd/funny! don't worry...we aren't teaching her again!)

Sunday, we didn't get any investigators to church, but a recently re-activated member came to church with her nearly 9 year old son who she'd like to get baptized. We'll teach him and help him get baptized :). Then, Ana...a former investigator, who we visited last week and who told us not to pressure her because she wants to get baptized, just not now. When we went to visit her last night, she sat down and before we said anything, told us she wants to get baptized now. I was stunned! She has seen the change in her friend (recent convert who lives with her) and wants the same change. Maruca (the recent convert) might be the happiest person I've ever met and always has a smile on her face. Ana says that she changed and became a permanently happy person after she was baptized. Ana just told us that she's been thinking about it and talking with Maruca and wants to get baptized now. WOW! Miracle. She needs to stop smoking and figure things out with her boyfriend, but she has the fire and excitement to get baptized now.

That's this week in a nutshell...love to you all! It's gonna be a hot one down here in San Rafael....I'll send warm thoughts to the rainy northwest!

Les Amo!!!

Hna. Pelton

(The pictures that I posted yesterday are still showing on my PC, but they don't show on my laptop. I even downloaded them and created a file which I used to post them yesterday, instead of cut and paste which is how I am doing it right now. )