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

The Power of Prayer!

Hello my dear family and friends! my time is short but i want to share my favorite thing about this past week with you. and it is prayer!

as missionaries we have the awesome opprtunity to invite our investigator to pray! we always ask them to give the closing prayer on the very first visit! they are often a little startled and most of the time decline the invitation. but then we teach them he simple way of prayer and the reason for it. then we kneel and they offer their first prayer to their Father in Heaven. It is a blessing to hear their first prayer! there is such a spirit. i think its so sad that theyve never prayed before , but i feel so lucky to share with them how too! one sister we taught this week gave a prayer, she stopped in the middle and said she couldnt continue without crying.i said thats okay to cry! her name is annabelle she is 48, i can tell by just looking at her face that shes hurt and lonely. shes really acceting the gospel and accepted the invitation to be baptized in may. i know the goospel will make her feel whole again through th Atonement of Jesus Christ.we also come into contact with people who don't know much about Jesus Christ. we were teaching someone about the godhead and she said "But Jesus isnt really important, right?" when she said that my heart kind of dropped. she didnt know really anything about Him. but i had the opportunity to share my testimony of the Savior and the things he did and who He is. i really love seeing people meet their Savior and Father in Heaven more while im here in the mission. Heavenly Father really does have an individual love for each of His children. I love the gospel, i love this work and i love my Savior and Father in Heaven! here is a short mormon message on prayer!

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2013-06-002-origin?lang=eng

Teaching the Elect

HELLO ALL! im excited to sharewith you my experiences from this week!

1> march in moncada.....ITS HOT! you cant ever get out of the heat here! it actusally rained the other day wich felt great. it hasnt rained in my mission since like decmember! i thought it rained every day in the philippines! but i guess thats only in the rainy season! ive considered sleeping outside in my hammock but my blood seems to be a delicasy here beacuse the mosquitos attack me!!! so ill just stick with a fan i guess! enjoythat air con for me!

2>Finding and teaching the elect....of course being a missionary you meet and teach all kinds of people! but the key is to find those who are ready to hear accept and act on the gospel they learn! so to find them we talk to everyone! its really awesome being a part of peoples conversion! latelywe have been finding alot of future potential priesthoodleaders! when we teachthemi feel a special spirit because  theyre future holders of the priesthood andmaybe even future missionaries! we found one who was laying outside his house on a bench. he let us teach him and it went really well. he is one of those that you can just tell is ready. he told us after the lesson he might move to manila to work. it was werid because i felt totally at peace. i thought i would feel upset or sad because we found someone who i really felt would progress but now he might leave. but i left that lesson feeling so happy! because even if he does leaveandgoes somewhere else, me and mycompanion got to have the opportuninty to introduce the restored gospel to him! i love finding people! its just awesome i cant explain it! you just meet random people you dont know then you start teaching them and feel Heavenly Fathers love for them being Hischild. so you reallygetto know them! i really love beingamissionary!

3>another language?....so in this area there is another dialect! sometimes i dont understand what people are saying but then i feel better when my companion tells me its another dialect that a lot of people speak here. but sometimes iwont understand whatpeople are saying and i say tomy companionthats not tagalog right? and then she says that one is tagalog then we both laugh! hahaha the main lanuguage is tagalog in the philippines but a bunch of different dialects. my comapnion speaks tagalog,cebuano,and antoher dialect. im just trying to get tagalog! 

well this is justa short view of my week here! love you and thanks for your support! 

The Plan of Salvation

hello all! im excited to tell you about my week here in the beautiful land of the Philippines! March is a good month! we are preparing to have baptisms in april! so hold your excitement cuz the baptism are coming next month!! but every day is exciting being a missionary!!

1.) the plan of salvation! so we all have drawn the plan of salvation a million times either in seminary or in sunday school. i remember once we drew it in 9th grade seminary and we drew everything but the atonement! my seminary teacher told us that we dropped out the very event that makes the whole plan possible! well this has been on my mind lately. the plan of salvation is actually one of the hardest lessons for me to give in tagaol so ive been focusing on it more so i can get it down! well we taught it to one of our investigators this past week. there was a really special spirit as we discussed and testified of the atonement. Hevaenly Father gave us this perfect plan. but its impossible without the Savior. first because we all sin. but we can repent. second we all have trials. but we can be strgthened in our trials through the atonement. so there's two parts! anyways now that i think about it its a blessing that i needed to study that lesson more to be able to teach it better in tagalog. cuz now i appreciate it and understand it better. its really so simple! Heavenly Father gave us this life so we can return to HIm and enjoy all the blessings He has! and He knows we cant do it alone so He gave His perfect Son! I am so grateful to know this plan! we are so blessed!

here is an awesome video! watch it!

 http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/moments-that-matter-most-2

this is all the time i have to write! but oh! i got a new companion! she is from cebu her name is sister canencia! she is awesome and really sweet! i'll send our picture soon! love ya all! thanks for your love and support! 

love sister peavler :) 

The atonement isn't just for sinners

hello all! im excited to tell you about my week:)

LAST WEEK! so this is the last full week in this transfer! it has flown by so fast! im sad because my awesome companion will be finishing her mission and goinghome! but im excited to meet my new companion! 

ive learned alot in this transfer but here are a few things....

1.) the atonement. there is so much more to the atonement than we really understand. its not just for sinners. its our key to overcome the natural man to qualify to live with Heavenly Father again. the natural man is so strong! our natural desires our against God's will. but the atonement and grace (or the enabling power) is the key to overcome that natural man. not just with sins but with any sorts of pains,trials,sickness,or sadness. when there are tirals, the natual man is weak, but with the help of the Savior we can be made strong. we just have to ASK. thats another thing iv'e been thinking about latley. i was reading in the book of mormon and i read a verse (sorry i forgot where) but it was saying to ask Hevaenly Father for the things we need. He already knows what we need, but we need to assk. oh i remember its in 3 nephi! anyways sometimes my prayers can get lazy then i remember how important prayer is! all of this, the enabling power of the atonement, any blssings you want have to start with prayer. i know the Lord hears every sincere prayer. i know becasue i have received several answers. and here on my mission my investigators have received things i have asked for them in my prayers. the key to our prayers tho is alligning them with the will of God. what does He want us to pray for? i never thought of that. but in preach my gospel there is somewhere that says to listen what the spirit would have you pray for! anyways its just interesting to me! 

SUMMER! so its close to summer here in the beautiful land of the philippines! basically it feels like an arizona summer but more humid! but the great thing is that in the morning and night its perfect weather! the people here call it "cold"but i love it! 

being summer that means more fruit! my companion and the othersisters i live wth make fun of me cuz im kind of obsessed with the fruit here! thats like all i eat! 

in every neighborhood there are these little stores called 'tindahans' and now thats its close to summer they all sell "halo-halo" its a cold treat but kind of weird! its like an cy but has beens and potatos in it. it sdounds weird but is actually good! oh! i tried that icecream they eat inside the bun or bread here! it ws actually really tasty! dont judge! ;)

well my time is up! love you all! 

Sister Peavler