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