Lauro de Freitas: Vol 2 Chpt 1

Sooo!  This week started off with a bithday - Sister Nascimento is officially old now.  Well, at least shes as old as I am, I am not sure if that really old or not.  But I was a good companion, I talked to memebers and investigators and she had TWO parties and 3 cakes for her birthday.  Thats right.  She is pretty darn blessed, isnt she?  =) it helps that the members here love her so it was pretty easy.  We had a lot of cake in our fridge for a while.  Actually, we still have a lot of cake in our fridge.

I am trying to think... this week was really long and really short at the same time, so I am having a hard time remembering things.  Oh!  We lost power in our apartment one night; that was exciting.  It was a good thing that Sister Nascimento had her birthday, because that means that we actually had candles to burn so we could see as we were getting ready for bed.  The power came back in the middle of the night, so it wasnt too bad.

The week went well - I have been sick with a cold, so there was one day that we ended up staying in the house for most of the day, but it was still a really productive week in comparison to some others we have had recently.

oh!  we went to talke to a family this week who is relatives with a member of the church.  The mom wanted us to come by and talk to them because she realized how different her sister-in-laws family is, how happy they are, how they dont see to fight, how it always seems calm in their house.  She is really active in her church, but she really wants what her sister-in-laws family has.  It was so neat to see that others notice that we are different, and when they actually think about it, that they realize that they want what we have.  It was such a good lesson, and the next day in church we went and talked to the irmã and she started crying because she has been praying for such a long time that her brothers family will accept the gospel.  Its moments like this that I know what I am here for, and its amazing.

I love you all!  I hope the pictures make up for the lack of a letter!  Have a great week - Amo vocês muitooooooo!!!

Sister Petersen

ps Where is Loren going on his mission?


Lets see if I can tell you about these pictures...

                           The first one is Sister Nascimento and I in Pelourinho - take a close look at the chairs =)

                                                                  The next is a photo of the street we had to swim across

                                                                                               My broken umbrella

                                                       A pic of us and Jaqualine, one of our wonderful investigators

                                                                               Look at our lunch!  It was soooo yummy!

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chpt 6

Well... thanks for letting me know Brian is pregnant....  Thats about the only thing I got out of that email, just so you know =)

Let me tell you about this week.  It started out with the spider, which you already know about, and the week proceeded in good stride.  We bought umbrellas because it has been raining buckets (I would send you pictures but the computer wont let me) and after a week of use our umbrellas broke.  It has been reatively cold here this week and we dont have hot water, which means we have been heating up water on the stove to take showers (we will call someone to get that fixed this week).  Half of our house doesnt have water, the half with the sink and the washing machine.  The streets here have been flooding and so almost every day we have had walk in water up to our ankles at least once during the day.  We found that a mouse has been living in our house and the bird that was living in our house has tried to come back and we keep having to kick him out.

In short, our week was rough, and tiring.  Sunday rolled around and we went to get an investigator.  He is a little special (he actually reminds me alot of Devin) and we have been teaching his family, but he is the one who is always ready for church and always listens to us when we come.  We were walking to church with him and he starts talking about how he was reading the Liahona about baptism, how he  has always wanted to be baptized but every time he prayed about it in the past (before meeting us) he felt like he shouldnt, that he should wait until he found "the waters of the Lord".  And he asked us how he could be baptised, because he feels like he should be baptized in the church.  It was amazing.  We have never ever spoken about baptism with him at all.

When we got to church two of our other investigators got there at the same time and the came and watching the classes and went to sacrament meeting and as we were waiting for it to start one of the senhoras was talking about how much she liked the church, that its so great, that she feels so good here, and she knows she was already baptized the Catholic church, but she is going to get herself baptized in this church because its so great.  Yet another person we have never talked about baptism with.

The Lord is amazing, and we works miracles every day. Every single day.  I love being a part of them, I love seeing them, I love feeling the power of them.

Até o próximo!

Sister Petersen

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chpt 5

Let me think of something I can tell you about the week.... oh!  When we got home last night there was a spider the size of my hand on the wall.  Yup.  Unfortunately, Sister Nascimento was really worried about it and she killed it before I could take a picture.  So I only got to take a picture of it after it was dead.  But I will send the picture to you soon.  I feel so fufilled here on the mission - I finally saw a really big spider.  And I saw monkeys the other day!!!  That was pretty darn exciting, I wont lie.  Monkeys... its kind of amazing.

The people we are working with here are so amazing - its really great to be able to see their growth in the gospel and realize how it has helped them change who they are and reazlie their self worth.  This gospel really is amazing.

It was sooooo good to see you guys yesterday!  Its amazing to see how everyone has grown!  I love you all!  Hope you have a great week!

Beijios -

Sister Petersen

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chpt 4

Sorry that my other email took forever to get to you... I'm not sure why that happenned.
We have good news!  Sister Petersen will be going to a doctor tomorrow and she will receive exactly what kinds of drugs the mission wants me to use!  There is a doctor who has worked with the mission for a while and he know more of the program that the church uses to help the missionaries, and so basically I will go in with Presidente Vecchi and will explain a little of how I have been feeling and Presidente will tell him what medicines our doctors have recommended and he will write us a prescription.

 I dont really know if I am getting better or worse or staying the same... I dont feel normal, that much I know, and I am completely and utterly exhausted.  And there are times when everything seems a little... surreal.  I dont know how else to describe it.  I think its more the the depression side of things kicking in, which I am not thrilled about, but I know that everything will get better soon, so I am not too worried.

The best thing that happened this week... I dont know.... there were a lot of little things.  I kind of was district leader this week, which was kind of neat - our leader lost his phone, and he lives close to us, so I got to talk to him and get his numbers for everything, ask him how his week was and if he wanted anything passed on to the Zone Leaders, and then I passed the numbers and information on the Zone Leaders, who were very impressed that I had thought of asking and passing along information about how the week was.
And today we went to Pelourinho - I will have to send pictures next week, but it was really pretty.  And the ocean is soooo pretty - have I mentioned that?  I love that we are close to the ocean and I get to see it and smell it every once in awhile.

I am having a hard time thinking of things right now... we knocked down a birds nest that was in our house - we let them raise their little chicks and once they knew how to fly we kicked em out.  Because its our house.  And I dont think we are allowed to have others living there =)

Sunday I will be able to talk for an hour - no more, but no less =)

Love you all!  Muito obrigada por tudo!

Sister Petersen

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chpt 3

 1. Did you get your Easter package finally?  If so, what sort of condition was the bread in?  I hope you enjoyed it.
I did!  Thanks so much!  Everything was great... except for the bread =( it went moldy, which I am really sad about.  (I tried an experiment, I vacuum sealed a small loaf of homemade bread, obviously it still took too long to get to  her)

2. Have you made plans yet for us to visit on Mother's Day?  Our church is still from 9-12noon.  It appears that we are once again 2 hours different, so our church is from 11-2pm your time.
 Ok, yeah, we are going to skype at an investigators house.... and probably at about 230 or 30.  I need my password for one of my gmails so that I can talk to you through that - so you NEED to send it to me next week!

3. You asked me to update you blog, do you want the stuff in your emails put on it about your anxiety and such?  I wasn't sure if you would want that posted.
Yeah, I dont have a problem with you putting it up there.  Who knows?  Maybe it will help someone out someday

4. How are you doing, better, worse, the same? Have you been put on medication?  How often are you scheduled to see the psychiatrist?
Medication is a hassle - I still havent been because the mission wont allow me to use the one that was prescribed.  They are trying to talk to the doctor about that and get me on a differnt one.  Still, Sister Stull talked to me and told me that it will take about 3 weeks for the medication to take affect, which I think I knew but at the same time... it was a rough day.  I really just want to feel better.  I am scheduled to see the doctor about every 15 days, so its coming up again.  I am just kind of feeling... numb, and trying to keep myself going.  Talk to Sister Stull helps, because she lets me know that how I am feeling is normal.  But at the same time its no fun not feeling like myself.

Sister Nascimento is great - really really great.  She is really understanding, really upbeat, and really proactive - all things that I need right now.  It makes me wish I was feeling better at times, because I know how great we would work together.  Now its just a little frustrating, and I am trying not to get frustrated about it, because we make plans and goals and I dont feel like I am helping because there is absolutly nothing in my head.  I cant remember people that we have talked to or what we talked about...  And I am very thankful for Elder Malloy, because he has been helping me out because he isnt stressed about numbers and he already knew me, too. And that always helps.

This week Elder Clayton of the 70 visisted - so we all went to Salvador to listen to him.  And Sister Cornwall, Elder MacDonald and Elder Higley and I sang "Come thou Fount" for him, and it was soooo beautiful.  Not to mention that I had a prayer answered, too.  About two weeks ago I was really craving tacos.  Yes, crazy I know.  When Sister Cornwall and I went to practice the song the morning of the serão Presidente Vecchi had a council with the ZL and they always have lunch afterwards.  Guess what they had for lunch.  Yes.  Tacos.  And guess who was invited to eat with them.  Us!  It was pretty great.

I think thats about everything for now.  Oh!  I am going to need to buy shoes, and I have no idea how much they are going to be... I havent looked at how much I have on my card yet but I will.  If you could look and if you think I might need more just put it on that would be wonderful.

Love you all!  Hope Emma feels better soon!

Amo vocês!

Sister Petersen

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chpt 2

Yes!  I am here in Salvador!  Actually I am in Lauro de Freitas, but it is a city right outside of Salvador, and it is soooo good!  Its a lot hotter - more like Itabuna - and the mosquitos have found me again... I had forgotten about the mosquitos.  Sister Nascimento is my new companion, and Sister Petersen has finally become a senior companion!  Not that that really means much - I have no idea what to do here still because the area is huge and the ward has a lot of people in it, but they all seem really nice and really helpful.  And Sister Nascimento is great - she is really up beat and on top of things and I am really excited to work with her.  She also told me that one of the people that I found on an exchange in Ilhéus was baptized and he is preparing to serve a mission!  That was amazing to hear.  I already knew that he had been baptized, but to know that he is getting ready to serve a mission.... that is so amazing.  Also, I dont know if you remember Elder Malloy from the MTC, but he is my district leader!  Oh the tender mercies of the Lord....  He really does love his children and know whats best for them.

Lets see... we had a sisters conference again, and it was really good.  I dont know if they exist in the USA, but here they have short time missionaries who are called to serve in the same mission that they are from and usually for only a few transfers.  We have 6 of them right now, which brings the number of sister missionaries up to 21!  There are a lot of us, and we are doing good work.

I went to see the psyciatrist... that was a little interesting just because of the language barrier - I think he thought that I understood less than I did.  But it was good.  We are getting things all figured out.  At one point he said to me "So, tell me about your childhood..." and I thought of Silly Songs with Larry.  Who would have thought that Veggie Tales was helping me prepare for my life?

It appears that Matheus understood your email just fine - he wrote me a little today and shared some things that helped a lot.  But I wouldnt have a problem with someone translated for him.

Well, I should write to Presidente - love you!!!  Glad you are all safe!!! Update my blog!!! =]

até mais -

Sister Petersen

Lauro de Freitas: Vol 1 Chap 1

I wanted to send a bunch of pictures, but for some reason it wont let me attatch files... you'll have to do without.  Again.  Sorry about that.

I thought I would fill you in on a few things that have happened that I have forgotten to mention.  I have officially fufilled two of the things that I wanted to do while on my mission. Number One:  I helped someone move!  I am not sure why, but I always think of missionaries helping people move.  Sister Andrade and I were working one afternoon and we saw a family moving in so we offered to help.  We stayed there a good hour moving things out of the truck and into the house.  Afterwards guess what we found out?  The people were less active members of the Church!  Who would have thought?  Oh the Lord works in mysterious ways.... they didnt seem too excited about the invitation to come to church, but we have their address and we will go back and see how things are soon.

Number Two: I washed clothes by hand.  Yessiree, I learned how.  And I learned that I didnt know how to wring water out of clothes the right way.  Who knew that their was a right way to get the water out?  Well, I know now.  I also discovered some muscles that I didnt know existed... they hurt a little bit the next day.

Also, something else you asked last week was about Easter traditions here.  There arent many, but one thing that everyone does is they get chocolate easter eggs, and some of them are huuuuge.  They are hollow and are usually filled with other little chocolates or sweets.  Sister Andrade and I received a few, and lets just say that I am a little sick of chocolate at the moment.

We had Zone Conference this past week, and afterward the Zone went out to eat and I got açaí e cupuaçu - you are going to have to look that second one up, because I dont have a clue how to describe it, other than the fact that its delicious!

As for how I am feeling, I am doing pretty good.  Presidente told me to relax and I am doing my best. Our numbers werent great this week, but I felt wonderful when I passed them to my district lider because I know I did what the Lord wanted me to do.

As for transfers, I am pretty sure I am still going to Salvador, but we havent heard anything officially yet, which is a little strange...  But Presidente told me that they are setting up appointments for me and such and that I would be transfered there, so I am just waiting to hear what area.

I love you all!  I hope youre doing great!  Give Nicholas a hug for me!  I wish I could be there.... take a lot of pictures!!!

Love you!  Até logo -

Sister Petersen