Week 6 in Munoz Guimba

Helloooo!!!
    Well this has been my 6th week in my new area. I have really loved it! this is the area where i have been rejected the most but its okay cuz the miracles have been so worth it! our emailing time in this mission got cut in half. so if my letters are shorter now ,that's why. but anyways one of our investigators is getting baptized on this coming sunday! hopefully i stay in my area to see it! he is 15 years old and his name is marvin. he is very smart and loves learning about the gospel. we also have this investigator who is a lady in her 50s i think i mentioned her last week. her name is paget. but anywas weve only taught her twice and she has come to church the past two weeks. she really loves it. she will be getting baprized the first sunday of august! we also have this investigator visa. we met with her yesterday to teach the plan of salvation. she said when she reads the book of mormon the teachings sound familiar to her. but when people teach the doctrine it doesnt sound as good to her. shes having a really hard time when she hears that this is the Lord's true church. we've tried to teach ad reteach the apostacty and restoration. because really if the apostasy and restoration happened then everything else has to be true. but she is very "energistic" she is into yoga and meditation. which is good. but she likes Buddhism. but she said when she reads the book of mormon ans comes to church she really likes this church. but she likes to think deep. after teaching her the plan of salvation she said the teaching was too simple. and i said that's the gospel of Jesus Christ-simple. but she likes to take everything and go under the surface. which can be dangerous when gainging a testimony. im not sure what will happen with sister visa, but hopefully she will gain a testimony of the restoration and joseph smith. so im going to go now*********************** but this message is for all senior couples*************** my mission is running short on senior misionaries. WE NEED YOU! if you can come to this mission(not if you can but if you will) please let me know whoever has read this nd is able to come. my prsident asked us to ask people from home. our mission is shrinknig little by little. and we need senior couples! well love you and thanks for your love and support!

love sister peavler<3

One Year Mark!

hello all! im excited to share about this week!:) the time is going by so fast! i hit my year mark! less than 6 months remaining......crazy! my companion surprised me with a cake at 6:30 in the morning! we had a good breakfast!  anyways heres the good stuff...:)

1.)nanay paget. she is our new investigator! she came to church yesterday and we just started teaching her last week! she actually has been taught before by other missionaries. anyways there really is a perfect timing for everyone. this is her time. she was in so much despair in her life. when she told us of her life, the painful stories weighed heavy on myself. what am i supposed to do? this lady wass 3 times as old as me and been through a lot. but thats the amazing thing about being set apart as a missionary. Heavenly Father can give you exactly what you need to say. we taught her about the atonement. how its not only for our sins but also for our heavy burdens. until recently i have wondered how do i access this part of the atonement? the lifting my burdens part? my mission has been studying a lot of the atonement. especially during january. well until now i just couldnt get it, but i finally get it! i prayed to understand and the thought passed through my mind "obedience" thats actually what my mission is studying now obedience.the key to accessing the atonement is obedience. if we obey God and his commandments then He will give us the strength to overcome our trials.even if they wont go away he will give us strength to live a happy life despiter of what we are going through, as long as we are obedient. it sounds so obvious but it just clicked! like moroni 10:32 says come unto Christ ,deny yourself of ungodliness and then His grace will be made sufficient for you. (somehting like that:) doing all we can is not being perfect. its following the promptings of the Holy Ghost by yielding to the will of God. before we make a wrong decision we usually have the thought we shouldt do this but then we have two choices to follow or to not. if we yield to His will we will be blessed, if not,we wont. its so simple but so difficult sometimes! anyways the lesson went really well. she ended with a really sincere prayer that left us pretty much all in tears. we taught her again and said she felt important because we went to her home. we said of  course your important! anyways her goal date for baptism is in august! 

2.) hot,cold,dry,wet? the weather has been changing everyday. one day we are so hot, literally dripping, the next day its cold and rainy! but im just glas i havnt got sick from it! (knock on wood;) 

3.)FINDING/TEACHING EXPERIENCE..... so i was on splits with a member,mel, yesterday after church. we had a return appointment from someone we met casually the other day. well we went to there home and they wernt home. we had 2 hours until a planned teaching appoinment. so i thought ...okeedokee its time to find! finding in this area is a lot different than my other areas. its the most established area ive been in. there is poverty still here but there are many wealthy people. so the people here have big houses with gates. its kind of intimidating. i guess ive just been spoiled being in the philippines where usually we just find people on the street.we harly ever go knocking on doors.  but here we were in a neighborhood of houses with gates with two hours on our hands. this was only my second time finding in this area and i knew i couldnt do it alone. so i said a quick prayer in my mind to Heavenly Father asking where we should go. we started walking and the first house i saw, we stopped at. we could tell someone was home because the door was open. so i said "tao po" here in the philippines you dont knock...you say "tao po" and then the people will come outside. anyways this lady came outside and asked who we were and we told her. she said," sorry we are methodist." and i said, thats okay we would like to meet you! haha. well it was raining and i didnt have an umbrella so she opened her gate and told us to come inside. well this appointment was AWESOME!!!!!!! it was one of those golden apponitments! we started getting to know her and found out her husband recently died. before that she took care of him for 4 years after he had a stroke.before that her marriage was him mostly coming home every day drunk. anyways she said that she's recently become more religious, and by the things she was telling us we could tell she had been prepared to receive the fullness of the gospel. we started by teaching about the plan of salvation because of the death of her husband but then she asked what is different about our church. so then we started teaching the apostasy and restoration. she asked the golden question that every missionary like to hear.After telling her Christ established 1 church she said "so , if there are so many churches,how do we know which one is the truth?" then BOOM we told her the story of joseph smith and the restoration of the church and priesthood. i have never been in a lesson that long..she had a lot of quuestions which was awesome! anyways she was really open to learning and we have a return appointment with her! it was a really good experience! 

4.) oops we slipped! this is actually a funny story......me and my companion were walking on the sidewalk close to the market. well we were passing a firestation and there was water all over the ground. there was an elderly lady holding a heavy bag and i was like i hope shes okay hopefully she doesnt slip or get hurt. then next thing i know i was on the ground! and me and my companion were walking with our arms linked so right when i slipped she slipped. it was quite the scene! we had a good laugh! and the kind elderly lady helped us get up hahaha.

well...until next week!

love sister peavler <3

My companion and the other sisters who we live with surprised me on my year mark:) i woke up to a cake!! 

sister sabaupan, sister tumala, and sister casimero , they are all from different parts of the philippines

Found some flower crowns while walking!

Baptism and exchanges

Hello! well its been quite the pday....we started at another computer shop then the power went out so we traveled like 30  minutes away to come here. this week was so awesome im so excited to share!!!!!!!!!!!!

1.) Baptism! the father and two daughters of the san pedro family were baptized! their baptism was at 7:30 sunday morning and they showed up about 6:30! they were the first ones at the church! the father was really emotional. he is so humble. when we gave him the picture of Jesus Christ that we give to all those who are baptized he could barely hold himself together. if you remember he has had two strokes and has a blood clot in his head. this whole week his head hasnt hurt. that has never happened before. he bore his testimony after he was baptized and said it was a day he and his family would never forget. it was so cute cuz after church he stood at the door to shake everyones hand who was leaving like he was a missionary haha. im so happy for him, he truly has been changed through the atonement. 

2.) im 17 and from europe! so a lot of people ask how old i am and where i am from. i usually tell them to guess. about half the people say america and the other half say somewhere in europe like germany or sweden. but lately a lot of people have been saying i look 17. ouch......i guess my baby face hasnt gone away yet!

3.) ITS SO HOT...just thought i would say....

4.) i had an interesting experience yesterday. we were teaching a recent convert outside and before that we met this other man. we actually did meet him ,we just walked by him and he yelled out "MORMONS!" "JOHN SMITH". well we sat down to teach at our appoinment and he followed us and sat down in our appointment with us. i thought he was just kind of slow so i introduced us. but then he started blurting out bible verses and anyways i realized maybe he is drunk. at one point of the lesson he said he would be right back , he was going to get his camera to take a picture of me. as soon as he left we prayed and then closed the appointment and were out of there! it was strange.....he kept saying john smith! thats one funny thing here in the philippines! a lot of times you will just be walking and people (usually kids) will blurt out "mormons!" and say nothing else. it makes for a good laugh.

5.) on thursday i got to go on exchanges! It was a really good experience! i felt the spirit really strong. and its because i used the book of mormon more. in the lessons and just talking to people on the street. i have really come to love the book of mormon. we dont realize how much of a blessing it is. one thing that i have come to really love is the introduction of the book of mormon. we always read it or have our investigators read it. its pretty amazing when you ponder what it says. it says that in the book of mormon we learn the gospel of Jesus Christ,the plan of salvation, and what we need to do to have eternal life. everything we need to know how to be happy is in the book of mormon. i know its true with all of my heart. i have felt it stronger than ever as i testified of it this week.dont take the book of mormon for granted! 

love sister peavler<3

Use our time wisely, our exaltation depends on it!

hello family! 

well this week was an eventful one~!

1.) we had a mission tour with elder bowen of the 70! he spoke to our whole mission. he taught us a lot but the thing he wanted us to understand is WHO WE ARE SO WE WILL ACT ACCORDINGLY. he reminded us that we are the descendents of abraham which means we can possess all that he has! one thing that he said really stuck out to me about this. he said that for him the term "hell" would be the feeling if when he gets to the other side and see what he could have become but wasted time on earth. we were called and set apart before this life, we are inheritors of God' kingdom, we have to do all we can to be blessed with that. i dont want to get to the other side of the veil and see that i sold everything on earth "for a mess of pottage" as older bowen said. we need to use this time wisely. our exaltation depends on it!

2.) Baptism! this weekend we will be having a baptism! it is a father with two daughters. the father has had 2 strokes. because of this his head constantly hurts and he forgets almost all the lessons we teach him. the day of his interview we had a fast for him, and after the interview he and  the district leader said he remembered everything! that was truly a miracle! :)

3.) RAIN!!! the rain is slowly coming! its a pain cuz it interferes with the work! one day it rained so hard we were stuck in someoines house for about an hour then we went home to have dinner then it rained again. on those days its a race against the rain! one day we were walking and then we saw someone we needed to teach because we can never find him. right when we went until their house it started storming really bad! this happens alot! like we will be walking then we go inside to teac a lesson and it starts pouring then when we go back outside it calms down and eventually stops. Heavenly Father takes good care of His missionaries!!

4.)bible basher! only twice in my mission have a ran into someone that wanted nothing to do with us but argue. well this week was one of those times! this man came up to me and asked where i am from. thats the benifit of being a foreigner in the phillipines as a missionary. people come up to you! anyways...i told him where i am from and why i am here. when i started telling him why i am here through a short overvuew of the restoration, he interrupted me several times for me to show him a bible reference. i said please wait because i just started to talk and he kept jumping in! anyways the member went to go get her bible so we could share to him. but then we just realized it was no use cuz he didnt want to know anything just argue. but it was really exciting! its so awesome standing there while he is telling me that he has more experience then me and im just thinking oh but if you only knew......i asked him if God changes and he said no. then i said he can find out the truth through prayer and he said God doesnt speak to man. so i said he did back then and he doesnt change right? anyways it was interesting!

well the power went off in the computer shop i better send this before it goes off again

sorry i got to go....................love Sister Peavler

This was after zone conference 

my zone went to a milk factory this morning....this is the first fresh milk ive had in a year!

Transferred!!

hello family and friends! hope all is well there in hot arizona! all is well here in hot philippines :) 

1.) TRANSFERRED! so yup i got transferred! theres two sides of my mission. cab side and tarlac side. my whole mission ive been on tarlac side but i got transferred to cab side! which is exciting! this side is closer to the beach! but my area isnt close to the beach....anyways my new area is in guimba zone. the area in which i serve is MUNOZ,GUIMBA. when i told other missionaries where i was going they all told me i was super lucky!! because the branch here is appararently "zion". well ive only been here a few days and they were right! the work here is awesome! but even more awesome is the support from the members! being a missionary you really learn what we as members should do to help the missionaries with the work. the members here work with us, fellowship the new members or investigators, and feed us....alot. anyways im excited and grateful to be here! 

2.) new area-new companion! my new companion is sister Tumala! she is from midenow (i dont know if i spelt that right) but its the most southern island of the Philippines! Anyways...shes awesome! she is one of the kindest people ive ever met! and she cooks! its like eating at a restaraunt everyday! the two other sisters in our house are also philipina! im the only american! its fun! 

3.) ive only been here for a few days so i dont have much to write but i guess i do have a funny experience. there is this elderly man here who recently got baptized. everytime he sees me he says "sobrang maputi" which means so white haha! he tells me when he sees me its like when joseph smith saw the first vision. i have gotten tanner! but to the people here im so white. 

4.) we are teaching another elderly man too they call the old men here "tatay" and the old women "nanay" anyways we are teaching a recent convert who is a tatay. its really interesting because he is deaf! the lessons are made really simple and we write down everything on paper then he reads it then responds. he's really sweet! its a sweet spirit cuz its so quiet! 

5.) we were sad yesterday because none of the investigators came to church. but there is this one lady who isnt a member but shes been coming to church for about a month now. so right after church we taught her. her name is visa shes about 5o years old. shes really smart! she speaks mostly in english.which is nice;) but our lesson went really well and she commited to be baptized on july 11! she has so much faith. she told us one time she didnt come to church and she had such a bad feeling so she never wants that feeling again. she said she feels so happy here in the church!

well im excited to tell you my experiences more next week! love ya all! remember SUPPORT the missionaries in your ward:) ask what you can do! the gospel is true, the Lord lives and knows us!

peace.love.rockNroll.

love,

Sister Peavler 

After a long and hard day's work we went to a showing of Meet the Mormons!

this is tatay apdan in my last area before i left. he is less active. you can usually find him and his wife sitting on there front door step:) 

       You all will be surprised but this is a typical phillipino meal! spaghetti with fried chicken...no joke!!! one of the members fed us before we were transferred

This is the arceo family in my last area.....they are the ones i told you about who he is less active and his wife is an investigator....i think i will miss them the most ;(

this is sweet jarielle and her siblings. this is the last day we taught her before i was transferred

This is nanay norma and her grandson who is the branch mission leader. nanay norma loves the missionaries! she washes our clothes and works with us whenever we need her! a couple weeks ago she thought i was going home because a sister in our house was going home, anyways she came to our house crying and said "sister peavler i came to say goodbye" and i kind of laughed because it was so cute! i told her transfers arnt until next week and im not going home haha! shes so sweet.

No doubt that what I am teaching is true

        So this week was awesome! so many great experiences!! i will summarize but try not to leave out many details:)

I'm excited to report this week. i usually always am but my mind is just reflecting of the experiences of this week and they are so great! i really love being her in moncada especially with sister canencia. we are getting to become really great friends. its been a blessing to be with her every day. In our studies,promptings and other ways we are becoming one.this is the most unified ive felt in a companionship before. 

we are working with one particular family. the husband was baptized when he was very young and is now less active. the wife is an investigator. i really love this family. i have seen their growth so much. but its usually when we are there. they have a hard time keeping commitments. they always makes commitments but dont keep them. so yesterday i studied in preach my gospel about helping them keep commitments. last night when we went to them we extended commitments a little differently. we really emphasized the promised blessings. the spirit was so strong. because i remembered about what is says in preach my gospel about we should read often with our investigators. so last night we focused on 3rd nephi chapter 11 with them. i felt so much peace. i know with all my heart the book of mormon is true.after we read i asked hoe she felt from reading the book of mormon. she said that she felt that our father in heaven lives. i thought that was so awesome! thats the purpose of the book of mormon! to bear witness of the father and the son! and she got it! she understood it! there was so mch peace in their home.  i have such a testimony of preach my gospel. it is truly inspired. one day in my personal studies i had the feeling to study some of the chapter on the book of mormon. and how to use it to respond to objections. then in language study i had the feeling to study 3 nephi 27 where it talks about Christ's church being called after his name. im so glad i followed those promptings. our first lesson is one i will never forget. we were teaching an older women. her husband came in in the middle of the lesson. he had a very hard heart. he wanted evidence. that the church is true and has authority because all churches say that. president the lesson was so exciting! me and sister canencia bore witness through testimony about his questions. then i remembered what i studied earlier about using the book of mormon to respond to objections. then i remembered the chapter i read in language study. we opened our scriptures and we read where i studied earlier. the older man did not want to beleive anything but i know i was prompted to study those things for a reason! he wasnt very kind but there came a point when he said where does the authority come from? sister canencia taught clearly about the restoration of the priesthood and the church. until this he wasnt very happy. but at this moment he got so angry. he said he wouldnt believe us because we lack one thing....a degree in theology.i thought that was kind of a strange thing to say...anyways i said we dont need a degree to share the message of God. we have been called by a prophet.i dont think he really liked me...but anyways  we bore testimony ,invited him to pray and ask, then closed the lesson. i love this work. theres nothing else like the feeling of being a missionary! usually people just accept what we teach. they dont always act, but they usually always kindly accept what we teach. but this man was different and it was exciting! because we had all the answers! although he didnt beleive anything we said, i have no doubt in my mind what we taught was true. 

we also had a one day mission with the branch missionaries! that was fun! they spent the whole day with us. we got to teach them about missionary work and then we had lunch together. then we went out to work! a lot of them are preparing to go on missions so it was a good experience! but i leanred a lot from them. i worked with two youth nessy, and joshua. nessy is a recent convert of about a year and is 17. she is so knowledgable about the gospel and so confident in teaching and bearing testiomony! joshua is awesome at earning peoples trust. he is sincere and has charity to all the people. i learned from them again to enjoy missionary work even when things are going hard. somtimes its easy to get caught up in everything thats not going right. but that day i realized sister peavler relax and enjoy! :) anyways this was a great blessed week. love and miss you all! 

love sister peavler 

this was before branch conference. this was everyone in the choir. we sang "becvause he lives" and "come unto Christ"

we had a fashion show at the sister conference and me and sister norman represented our zone! it was fun! this is sister daly , janae jone's cousin...shes coming to mesa for the wedding this week. look for her!

My companion eating our favorite dessert halo halo

Me and my companion

this is sister laiti.she is samoan and from australia! she has become like a sister to me. shes making a sad face because her mission is over and she goes home tomorrow:( but im so grateful to have met her! this picture was taken at an FHE 

We has a mission sisters conference! this was the first time i got to see all my sisters together that i went into with in the MTC. it was fun seeing them! the mission presidents wife put the conference together. it was a really special day! she reminded us that we always need to remember how much we are loved.

This is brother Bong and sister Rosie. this morning we went to go withdraw money from the ATM being the first of the month. well the atm was down in our area. so these two angels drove us to another town to withdraw. then we had breakfast. they are the best! always helping us out!

         I'm excited to report this week. I usually always am but my mind is just reflecting of the experiences of this week and they are so great! I really love being here in Moncada especially with Sister Canencia. we are getting to become really great friends. its been a blessing to be with her every day in our studies, promptings annd other ways we are becoming one.this is the most unified I've felt in a companionship before. 
we are working with one particular family. the husband was baptized when he was very young and is now less active. the wife is an investigator. i really love this family. I have seen their growth so much. but its usually when we are there. they have a hard time keeping commitments. they always makes commitments but dont keep them. so yesterday i studied in preach my gospel about helping them keep commitments. 

        Last night when we went to them we extended commitments a little differently. we really emphasized the promised blessings. the spirit was so strong. because i remembered about what is says in preach my gospel about we should read often with our investigators. so last night we focused on 3rd Nephi chapter 11 with them. i felt so much peace. i know with all my heart the book of mormon is true.after we read i asked hoe she felt from reading the book of mormon. she said that she felt that our father in heaven lives. i thought that was so awesome! thats the purpose of the book of mormon! To bear witness of the father and the son! and she got it! She understood it! There was so much peace in their home.  i have such a testimony of preach my gospel. It is truly inspired. one day in my personal studies i had the feeling to study some of the chapter on the book of mormon. and how to use it to respond to objections. then in language study i had the feeling to study 3 Nephi 27 where it talks about Christ's church being called after his name. im so glad i followed those promptings.

     Our first lesson is one I will never forget. We were teaching an older women. Her husband came in in the middle of the lesson. He had a very hard heart. He wanted evidence. that the church is true and has authority because all churches say that. president the lesson was so exciting! me and Sister Canencia bore witness through testimony about his questions. then i remembered what i studied earlier about using the book of mormon to respond to objections. then i remembered the chapter i read in language study. we opened our scriptures and we read where i studied earlier. the older man did not want to beleive anything but i know i was prompted to study those things for a reason! he wasnt very kind but there came a point when he said where does the authority come from? sister canencia taught clearly about the restoration of the priesthood and the church. until this he wasnt very happy. but at this moment he got so angry. he said he wouldnt believe us because we lack one thing....a degree in theology.i thought that was kind of a strange thing to say...anyways i said we dont need a degree to share the message of God. we have been called by a prophet.i dont think he really liked me...but anyways  we bore testimony ,invited him to pray and ask, then closed the lesson.

       i love this work. theres nothing else like the feeling of being a missionary! usually people just accept what we teach. they dont always act, but they usually always kindly accept what we teach. but this man was different and it was exciting! because we had all the answers! although he didn't believe anything we said, i have no doubt in my mind what we taught was true. 

       we also had a one day mission with the branch missionaries! that was fun! they spent the whole day with us. we got to teach them about missionary work and then we had lunch together. then we went out to work! a lot of them are preparing to go on missions so it was a good experience! but i leanred a lot from them. i worked with two youth nessy, and joshua. nessy is a recent convert of about a year and is 17. she is so knowledgable about the gospel and so confident in teaching and bearing testiomony! joshua is awesome at earning peoples trust. he is sincere and has charity to all the people. i learned from them again to enjoy missionary work even when things are going hard. somtimes its easy to get caught up in everything thats not going right. but that day i realized sister peavler relax and enjoy! :) anyways this was a great blessed week. love and miss you all! 

love sister peavler 

Heavenly Father Loves his Children

hi family and friends! this week was awesome! i will share one of my many experiences!

      We had a investigator a long time ago that we stopped teaching. shes always at school and her husband isnt really fond of us. well for the past days i kept having the prompting to go to her. so the other day we visited her. i just happened to be the only day she would be home in her busy schedule. anyways she wasnt very happy to see us. i dont know why. her whole countanance has changed. its really sad. anyways we taught her about faith in Jesus Christ by acting to follow him. She took it hard and would not accept almost anything we said. She wasnt happy when we told her if she just puts the Lord first things will work out. she said she cant give all her time and effort to the Lord. she said what about my family? I have to take care of them too! i thought this was kind of funny brcause our family is the Lord! Its the most imporant unit to Him! she didnt understand that. she saw the church as taking her time away from her family. we shared the scripture n 3rd nephi 14 about not worrying but trusting the Lord because He knows what we need. she didnt accept that and refused to make any commitments. but my heart really hurt during this lesson. i cried. and this tiime not because i felt the spirit. but because i see her and what she could be. but she wont try to even listen hardly. and it just hurts my heart. i know ive said this in many of my emails but here on the mission i really feel how much Havenly Father loves His children. and how important they are to Him. even tho she wasnt really accepting to what we said, im glad we went because i had the feeling we needed to go. we will not be going back to her,which is the reason my heart hurts. but i know at the right time she will accept the gospel. 

           You know that anology we always use about sharing the gospel? like its like if we have something really good to eat then its soo good we want to share it with all those around us. i never related to that story cuz if i have something really good to eat i dont want to share it! haha! but with the gospel i see the blessing in my life, and i imagine what my life would be without the gospel and i would be no where. i would not be me. i would not know my purpose. i see how blessed i am then when i meet people i just want them to accept it. i see how many problems people have, we all have problems. but if we just will act on our faith we will be blessed. thats what i wanted lovely (that investigator we went back to ) to understand. but i cant force anyone to understand. im just an instrument. but its okay, cuz its not about me. as long as they understand who Heavenly Father is and who they are, im content. they just have to choose to act. the mission stretches you in all ways. but i  really really love my mission. if anyone is debating about wether or not to go GO! if anyone is debating wether or not to learn more from the misionaries CALL THEM. yeah we are young, but a prophet of God called us and we have the message that will save you and make you happy. just act on your faith and you wont regret anything. love you all!

love sister peavler

Baptism Picture

Farm where we met Megan our investigator!

fillipino kids playing games

This is what me and my companion get around in! 

an investigator's house

baptism

Patiently waiting for miracles

Hello my dear family and friends! Like always I have some awesome experiences to share with you all! First I have two things to say....It's so hot!!!!! The second....it's mango season! I love mangos!!! okay now I will tell you the good stuff:)

1.) Chito and Vina! I love this couple! So chito is a less active and his wife is an investigator. We are preparing him to return and for Vina to be baptized! They're such a fun family! Sometimes  being a missionary, you want to see the miracles happen NOW! Like I want brother Chito to return NOW and  sister vina to be baptized NOW! But just like Heavenly Father is patient with me, I remember I need to be patient with them and see the miracles that are already happening. When we first offered to teach brother Chito he would say "Bukas na lang!" which means tomorrow or in the future. Which really means he didn't want to be taught. But now when we go to their home right away they say "Come in! Are you going to teach us tonight?" It's so awesome! Being with their family is always an adventure. They are a young couple with a baby and a energetic 4 year old..so you can imagine what i mean by "adventure" haha. We have seen their family grow closer as they have been learning the teachings of Jesus Christ. We found this family because we were teaching his brothers (the twins.)

      Now we are just teaching one twin cuz the other one is always gone. Anyways the one  we are teaching is michael. He's 21 or 22. We have seen huge changes in him. He's progressing so well. but he cant be baptized yet because he wont come to church! I look at him as my brother and i just want him to understand he's so close! We had him identify changes in his life since he's been listening to the missionary lessons. He identified many. Our past couple of lessons have been really spiritual with him. I really expected him to be at church yesterday, but he wasn't. It's a hard feeling knowing how close people are they just have to take one more step. It's a good lesson to me of how Heavenly Father feels about me and each one of His children. Anyways I have a question for you all how has keeping the sabbath day blessed your life? please email me and share so i can share these blessings with others!

2.) Jade! Jade is 14, she will be baptized this friday!! We are so excited! I remember the first day I met her and now she'll be baptized this week! It's been an awesome journey with her!! I'll send pics next week :) The awesome thing is that we found another 14 year old girl really close to jades house and she will be baptized in June! Her name is Megan! We found her because we saw a really pretty farm so we were going to explore. Then megan was sitting on a bench by herself. Anyways we have been teaching her and she came to church yesterday! and now her and jade have eachother for support, so thats great! 

Well these are the main highlights of my week!!!!!  love ya all and thank you for your support!
love sister peavler 

Tender Mercies

hello family and friends! hope all is well back home! im still livin the good ole missionary life here in the philippines! :) 

 i came down with something really bad earlier this week. we think it might have been something i ate. but today im healthy and happy to report about this week! i only got  a few minutes so i will talk about yesterday which was the best day of the week! everything just went in our favor! you come to really appreciate  everything on the mission, and start to notice the tender mercies of the Lord. 

1.) Rowena....so we met this sister rowena yesterday. we were going to teach this man but then we invited her and she said she will just listen. but we ended up teaching her! she was like an angel that came out of no where! another one of those "golden investigators" that missionaries hope for! she was ready to hear the gospel! she told us she has started a new life recently. she wants to change. shes trying all she can do to make up for her past.we told her that nothing will change her more than the gospel of Jesus Christ. at the beginning of the lesson she asked when we could meet with her again. and teach her family. she gladly accepted the invitation to be baptized at the end of may! we receive a lot of people who accept to be baptized but only a few make it to the finish line. all depending on their agency and the time of the Lord, and how well we teach. but sister rowena will be baptized may 30 theres no question.

2.) the other man we were teaching kind of humbled me! we asked what the most important things in his life are and he answered "being able to eat 3 meals a day". sometimes we forget how much we have. while we are worried about what to eat, others are worried about eating at all. we are truly blessed.

3.) so my tender mercies are usually fruit..sounds funny...but Heavenly Father knows what i like on a hot day! early yesterday i told my companion "i really want coconut juice" but being sunday we didnt go and buy it. so we stopped at a members house on the way to a lesson to ask for water. well she just happened to be making coconut juice! with bananas and sweet milk! it was just a great surprise! then we were walking down the road when all of the sudden there was a beautiful ripe mango apple in front of us. ive always wanted to try one but they havnt gotten to the ripe season yet. but then i tried it and it was delecious! its like a mango but kind of sweeter! anyways i have to may fruit stories....the other sisters laugh at me cuz fruit really makes my day....haha

we also had transfers this week. but me and my companion stayed here! which im happy about i love it here! this is my 3rd transfer here in moncada! 

well until next week! love ya all!

The Right Place at the Right time

Hello my dear friends and family! hope all is well in the good ole AZ! if its hot there...just know its hotter here!!!!!!! but it finally rained yesterday after months! but today it is back to hot and humid! haha but i cant wait to tll you about my week! cuz it was aweomse! probably one of my favorite weeks here in this area. so i will tell you why....!

1.) In the right place at the right time! so me and my companion were buying some food the other day and i saw this man ride by on a bicycle. i said hello and then he just kept going. but he looked so familiar! i couldnt get over how familar he looked! anywasy the next day we were walking towards our house to go home for lunch. so we stop to unlock the gate, i turn around,and boom! the same man is right behind us! sp i asked him his name and introduced who we were. we offered him the pamphlet fpr the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He refused to take it and said he had some at his home already. so we gave an overview of our message. he started asking questions like how we know joseph smith is really a prophet and where the truth went during the apostasy. he was obviously pretty familiar with religious topics. he brought up some weird things , things we didnt understand but anyways we just keep teaching him about the restoration. he didnt have the bet attitude.but anyways he said he didnt want us to come to our home and i asked him why. ( i dont know why i said why haha i just was wondering why doesnt he want us to come?) anyways he said he's heard things about the church. so we bore our testimonies. at the end, he pointed to the pamphlet and said "sa akin ya" which means that  he wanted it. so he left with pamphlet. he said he was going to discuss it with his pastor,he said some one who is higher up. but then we talked about authority again. it was a good conversation. at the end i felt so great that i was able to explain difficult things in tagalog! but i know it wasnt me! it was the spirit. yesterday i gave a talk in church last minute. i preayed fervently for the gift of tongues. when i was speaking words woud literally come out of my mouth without me even thinking of what i was going to say. and it made sense! im tellin ya people it aint me! if i were to do it alone, my tagalog would sound like that missionaries dutch on the best two years! haha! this language isnt easy to learn. but the Lord untwists my tongue for this great work which i love!!

2.) last week conference was shown at the stake center. our recent convert came who was baptized the day before. i prayed that she and the other members would feel the spirit and understand even tho it was in english. when we went to her home the next week we asked about her experience. she really enjoyed it. in the lesson she later told us she had an answer to one of her questions answered at conference. the spirit was strong as she told us , and i started to cry. it may seem like something simple. but you really get to love these people when your on the mission. and when you see them change and receive answers it just maes you so happy! anyways thats my sweet jerielle! shes only 12. she was confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting. 

3.) so we are teaching a few different people in this one little compound in therir neghborhood. they are all related. probably half of them are members. but a few are less active. but the other half arnt members. we go there every nigh to teach. they are the Arceo and Vallejos family. i love how here in the philippines the extended family lives so close! its such a fun and spcial environment! anyways we are teaching one sister vina whose husband is less ctive. we are also teching michael and mark who are twins. we are teaching marks girlfriend. and we are teaching a young man name ariel. his sister is a member. anyways we went to teach them this week and they brought out spaghetti and cake! it was awesome! haha spaghetti might sound like an unusal filipino dish but filipinos love spaghetti! but it aint like the italian spaghetti! the sauce is really sweet then they cut up hot dogs to put in it. its pretty good...but i prefer the italian kind....

4.)there was one day where a member came by our house and was like hey! i have some referalls! so of course we were excited! we were taken to three of her friends. they are all 17. well they all accepeted the message and received the baptismal goal date! the sister who reffered us to them is named nessy. she is a recent convert. she is the only member in her family. super strong and converted! the youth here are super strong! anyways so that day we received 3 new investigators! so im excited to see their progress!

5.)jade! jade is our investigator who is 14.but she will be baptized next weekend! so thats exciting! shes really smart like jerielle! its fun teaching young women aged girls! 

 

anyways this is just a little of my week! love you all!

love sister peavler :)

 

The Invitation to be baptized!

hello my dear friends and family! i am excited to share with you about my week! because it was awesome! 

Monday...we went to SM which is the huge mall in tarlac city. its about 40 minutes away from my area! but we got pizza hut!! so yeah that was a great change from good ole rice! that was the highlight of my pday haha oh and of course emailing! 

Tuesday... me and my companion worked with some members(WORK WITH YOUR WARD MISSIONARIES) anyways...it was a great expereince. we went on splits and i worked with one sister return missionary and one brother return missionary. we have one investigator jade who should be getting baptized end of april. well we have been really been wanting to teach her brother(hes 19) but he always goes in the other room or is gone. but this day he was home and we taught him! at the beginning of the lesson we asked what his expectations were or what he wanted to learn. One of the things he said was he wants to learn how to praise God. and also the process of becoming a member of the church. this is what we missionaries call a "golden investigator" he was obviously prepared. he was one of those who wants to know truth but just doesnt know where to find it. so we taught him, and he accepted an invitation to be baptized! :) 

"THE INVITATION" so in my mission my mission president has counseled us to extend the baptism invitation on the first visit! so we teach the first lesson which is about the restoration, and other beliefs. then we ask if they will follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized. some people are a little shocked we ask this on the first visit. i used to feel nervous to extend on the first visit. but being out longer n the mission has changed that! i have learned how much they need baptism and how much it will bless their lives! so im just excited now! i can barely wait to extend before the end of the first lesson! not gonna lie, its pretty awesome having the opportunity to invite people to come unto Christ by being baptized! no, its not so there can be more mormons on the planet. its for our salvation. and seeing that first step in people lives is just awesome! i dont know what other word to use besides that! 

Baptism! so we got to experience one of our investigators baptism this week! (investigator is someone who is learning about the church and taking the lessons from the missionaries) anyways shes a cutie! shes 12 years old, but has the brain of about an 18 year old! her mom is a less active but jarielle walks to church every sunday usually by herself. when we were siting down before her baptism i asked how she felt. she said nervous.i gave her a hug and i told her not to be nervous but to enjoy cuz this will only happen one in her life. as i reflect on this experience, i remember my baptism. i was lucky to have my dad baptize me. i was lucky to have my dad sit beside me before my baptism and put his arm around me. im so lucky. and because i was baptized i got to put my arm around sweet jarielle and help her prepare. this is pure evidence God loves all His children. even tho her father wasnt there to do the things mine did, she still received the blessing. and because my father did what he did, i am here and my companion and i got to help her prepare.Heavenly Father has a different plan for all of us. but you will never miss out on the blessing. there might be another way for you to get to the blessing. but youll always get it if your doing whats right. so she was baptized! months and months of preparation and then into the water! she bore a sweet and simple testimony after. i cant explain my feeling but there is nothing like seeing someone you have come to love so much be baptized. its truly a blessing. 

friday we had interviews with our mission president. he asked me and my companion how our house is. i just started laughing, i couldnt hold it in! cuz we had quite the funny experience just minutes before at our home! we were leaving to go to the interviews and we locked the front door but left the keys inside. well we were surrouded by two more gates with locks (yes we are very protected:) so we couldnt get in or out! we were in panic mode! we couldnt be late to the interviews! so my companion and i did what must be done in times of desperation.....we knocked down the door.....my companion literally kicked the door open. it was quite the scene. but none the less we got the keys and were not late! the door is not broken just the lock and hinge. someone is coming to prepare it today :). missions are full of crazy exciting experiences! a couple weeks ago me and a couple other sisters took down a banana tree! no joke! we have pictures to prove it! there was a whole bushel of bananas and the only way to get it down was to bring the tree down. so it was me the american, my companion the filipina, and another sister who is samoan. needless to say the bananas are now in our house:) banana trees are actualy weak and small so dont worry its not like i climbed a building or something! ;)

dont mess with missionaries and general conference! .....so the highlight of my week was general conference! yes we had to wait a week later than ya'll!! all of us missionaries were like kids on Christmas morning! sometimes there would be bad signal and there would be no image or voice and all the missionaries would let out a big sigh. but luckily we got to here all the messages i think but one! i cant choose just one to talk about because they were all amazing. but something that sticks out to me is elder kevin w pearson! he was so energetic and you could just tell he really knew what he was testifying of! he said twice "read the book of mormon EVERYDAY EVERYDAY EVERYDAY!" i want to leave with my testimony. the book of mormon is the word of God. to those who are not members and even to those who are that are reading this...trust the church leaders when they say it will bring strength into your life. i promise thats true. sometimes it akes some humbling to realize how much we need the Lord. well on the mission i have learned to lean on the Lord through the book of mormon. there is so much i knew and beleived before my mission. like i always believed truths of the gospel but here on the mission they just make sense! like heavenly Father never changes! he gives testimonies of His Son being the Savior of the world in the bible and book of mormon! two witnesses! the book of mormon is a blessing. I love it.I Love the Lord.I love the gospel.And i love being a missionary!!!

love sister peavler :)

oh wait i have one funny story....so in tagalog heart is pusO but cat is pusA. i once invited someone to listen to josephs smiths experience in the sacred grove with an open pusa...or cat....yeah then the laughing came...but its just part of the missionary experience! ;)

thnx for all your love and support!

Happy Easter!

to my dear family and friends,

HAPPY EASTER!!

i'll tell you a little about easter in the philippines! first they have Holy Week. Friday EVERYTHING was closed. we went to go buy food and the whole town was like shut down! they make friday a huge deal but then dont really pay attention to easter ! it was sad! its like easter doesnt even exist here. it was quite a different easter! but how lucky am i to share the wonderful truths of the Savior and how He lives now! we havnt been able to watch general conference yet unfortunately. i watched one talk while at the computer shop. it was by elder holland! it was AWESOME! and of course, a tear dripper! but i add my testimony to his. the savior lives,and he is always there for us. this life isnt to fail.but to succeed. because we have a loving Heavenly father! oh! so there was supposed to be this huge super typhoon! the missionaries in my mission by the ocean got evacuated. they had us preparing for what seemed like world war 3!(okay im a little dramatic!) but anyways the typhoon nevercame! its a good thing...but i was kinda excited for a little adventure....but nobody in this country needs a typhoon right now! its a crazy world out here! itreminds me a lot of NYC.everyone is going so fast. not really knowing why they are even here.then there is me....a 20 year old who knows the message thats most worth knowing! i feel like the definition of when the Lord said that he calls the weak and the simple! thats me! oh! we will be having baptism this next week! im excited to send pictures! her name is jerielle. she is 12 years old but has the brain of an 18 year old! here mom is less active but we are working on her to return! i know jerielles baptism will be the key! one spiritual experience i would like to share is of my testimony of the many scriptures that say seek and ye shall find,knock and it shall be opened unto you.  i know this scripture to be true. because its happening in my life. through the workds of the scriptures and modern prophets my questions are constantly being answered. I know if the Lord sees us doing our part, he will bless us with knowledge. we just have to put Him first. this world doesnt put Him first. but we have to learn how too. and only blessings come from it!

well love yall and thanks youfor your love and support! ingat! (take care)

love sister peavler