A Conquista da Conquista: Vol. 3 Chpt 6 : In which Sister Petersen gets very tired, goes on a division, and has 8 investigators in sacrament meeting

This week was really hot, and its amazing what the heat can do to my energy.  We had to stop a couple of times for me to get my strength back, and I wasnt very happy about that, but I survived and I know that my health is important for me to be able to keep working.
I feel like my grammar is horrible, but I dont know exactly what is wrong with it... besides the fact that portugues is dominating my life!
We had two families come to church this sunday!  I would have been jumping with joy if I had had the energy.  I am SO excited to be working with them, and they seem really enthusiastic about everything, too.  We still need to talk to them and see what they thought of church, but I think it went really well.
And i hope the fact that I have pictures makes up for the fact that my email is short, once again.  Please forgive me, because I love you LOTS and I dont want  you to be mad at me =D

Tchau!

Sister Petersen

                        Yes, it is an avacado.  And you know what else?  Its a small avacado.  arent you jealous of me?

A Conquista da Conquista: Vol. 3 Chpt. 5: In which, unfortunately, Sister Petersen stayed in the sun a little too long and her mind is not working as she writes home

I hope that tells you a little of how I feel right now.  This week was good... was hard... we worked a lot... found a new area to work in... lost a lot of our investigators.... and found out about the power of the Sacrament.  Unfortunately, thats all I have.  Dont hate me.

Love you!

Sister Petersen

A Conquista da Conquista: Vol. 3 Chpt. 4: In which we have to call three times a day, come home before dark, a strike ends, and we do more work than any other week

Oi pela casa!

Yes, the strike has ended, and, my dearest Mother, I didnt tell you more about it because I didnt know more about it.  Conquista is pretty calm compared to the other parts of Bahia.  I know that in Sumaré there was a lot of gunfire in one of the neighborhoods where the sister were working... I did fail to tell you that someone tried to rob us, but you will have to forgive me for that.  I am telling you now.  I think the guy didnt know what he was doing, because he asked for our cellphones, Sister Andrade said we didnt have any, that we were missionaries and all we had were books and she showed him her bible, her felt her bag a little bit and let us go and apologized.  He didnt even look at me, (which is really weird because EVERYONE looks at me) but I am pretty sure thats because there of your prayers being answered for my safety.
Other than that, we had to call in three time a day letting our leaders know we were alive and in the middle of the week we started having to come in before dark.  But all in a days work.  We were still able to get a lot of things done, find a lot of people and work hard, which is all I can ask for.  And the end of the greve happened sooner than I thought it would, but I think its because of Carnival, too.  There is no way that the state could function during Carnival without the police.  They timed their strike very stratigically.
As for the missionary work, Sister Andrade and I are working and studying so hard.  There were so many times during this week when we left lessons and she told me that I had said exactly what she was thinking or when she said something that I was thinking.  Por exemplo: we were teaching a kid about the Book of Mormon and how to apply it to our lives, and I thought to share the story about Nefi when he breaks his bow.  We read a little, and then I asked him what he would do in that situation, and he said "Well, I would just make another one out of wood."  Woah.  Yeah, thats EXACTLY what you should do.  I have never used the story before on the mission, and when we left his house Sister Andrade told me that before I said anything she thought that we should share that story with him.
I know that this gospel is true, that this church is true, that the Holy Ghost tells us exactly what we need to do and how we need to do it, and if we follow his whispers, we will have peace in our lives.  Sei que é a verdade.  Deus é um deus de milagres.

Até mais - guarda a fé!

Sister Petersen

A Conquista da Conquista: Vol. 3 Chpt. 3: In which we learn the reality of "when the cats away, the mice come out to play

This week was once again full of hard work and miracles.  We were able help 4 youth get to church on Sunday and they are all friends taking the discusions together.  It gets a little rowdy at times... so we will have to figure out how to keep the Spirit in our lessons a little better.  But I like them all a lot - our ward is lacking a bit with youth, and I think the entire ward liked having them there.  Sunday we also found a family that looks very promising.  Its always great when you explain the Book of Mormon to someone and they understand and have intelligent questions.

We have also learned a little about faith and hope, and that when we set righteous goals, Satan doesnt want us to reach them.  To explain: the police here in Bahia are on strike.  All of them.  Which means there has been a little... disturbance of the peace in a few areas, and today we were informed that we cant go into one part of our area... which would happen to be the part that we are working in.  It made me think a lot about the Book of Mormon and the war chapters, and the idea that when our political leaders are corrupt, the entire civilization is in jeoperdy.  It also made me realize that those war chapters are a whole lot more applicable to our days and the future than I ever thought before.  They really are there to guide us and to help us figure out what we should be doing and who we should be standing with.  They talk about the leaders on both sides of the fight and the qualities and arguments that the leaders have for doing what they are doing.  It is interesting to compare to what leaders are saying and doing now... its quite the reflection.

But in everything, I still have an unshakeable hope in the things we are doing.  The Great Jehovah has not said "The work is done", and therefore I know that there is much work to do, and that He is here working with us.

Obrigada por suas orações - elas ajudam mais do que vocês sabem.

Um grande abraço -

Sister Petersen