Saturday, February 28, 2015

Bryan's Baptism

From Brother and Sister Turner:

Bryan's Baptism! Bryan is almost 13 years old. What a sweet heart! He loves coming to church and we love having him there!

Elders Pape and Sejournet with Bryan
I just love this picture. These two ladies are the heart and soul of the branch.

Such a beautiful place to make an eternal covenant

Elders Lewis, Chidester, Peterson, Pape, Roberts, Sejournet, Savard, and Rowley. Sisters Tenney and Riley. Elder and Sister Turner.
Bryan and his new "Cantique". (Hymn Book)

Monday, February 23, 2015

Contact Miracles

Another super sweet week! I don't really even know where to begin! This past week, we did a lot of exchanges with the other missionaries in our zone and that turned out being really great! We were able to work together and see how thing are going! Tuesday I was with Elders of Lamentin and we had a great time together! Those two missionaries are awesome and they have a ton of people to teach and the all lived really close so I thought that was pretty great! Wednesday, Elder Lewis and I went out to Trinite to blitz their area for the day and we saw some great miracles. We actually met a bunch of people that are now in their teaching pool! We were at one door and across the way we saw a lady siting on her porch so we decided to wave and then we felt impressed that we needed to go talk to her! We went and found her house and she let us in and her daughter came and joined in and they were very interested in the lesson and they were really understanding everything that we were teaching! It was great! The same thing happened for Elder Lewis, they ran into someone who had always wanted to talk to the missionaries and was also very interested!

This weekend, we have been trying to find some more people to put into our teaching pool and we have seen blessings with that as well! We have been finding families that truly desire to change and put their lives in accordance to the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We met two guys who told us that they want to be baptized and get married to their girlfriends! It was super sweet! Last night, we were walking up a hill to get to our house and here comes this guy walking and he actually ended up stoping us. It turned out to be a man who had not yet been baptized but had recently started studying the bible. He told us that he studies it in French and in Spanish to be able to see the different translations. The second we metioned the Book of Mormon and how the Book of Mormon truly holds those important doctrines that were lost from the Bible due to all of the translations, he was super interested and we will be heading back this upcoming week to bring him a Book of Mormon and to teach him about it! That was a great miracle! We also met a lady, after contacting 3 floors of an apartment building and no one answering, who ending up being the very last door and ending up inviting us in. She explained that when she was a teenager (now being in her forty's) she was taught by the missionaries and couldn't remember anything. She now has a family and is now one of our investigators! Miracles all over the place!

We are looking forward to a new transfer starting this week! Elder Lewis and I are going to do some work together and we aren't going to let anything get in our way! Elder Lewis truly has been inspiring me and I'm thankful for him as a companion! I have truly been blessed with such amazing companions! Things are going great here and I'm really looking forward to this transfer!

I just received a Christmas card from the White family, 3 months later haha! Thank you for the Christmas cards! :) Such cute families and I have been blessed with amazing family and friends! I love you all so much and have a fantastic week!

Monday, February 16, 2015

Carnival Season

Well, it was definitely a great week up here in Fort-de-France! We even had a Russian investigator at church! Which was a huge blessing because Sunday morning we called her and her phone was off so we were pretty worried, but then at the last minute we got a hold of her and a member was a champ and went and got her! She loved church and said she wants to keep coming so that she can progress towards her baptismal date! It was great because in Principals of the Gospel, she read a couple verses out of the Book of Mormon in Russian! We all were pretty amazed! Her story is actually pretty great! One day, the sister missionaries had to go to the prefecture (a place where we have to go to be legal here in France). While they were in there they met Irena and she was interested to learn more about this message. So the sisters gave us her information and we started teaching her every now and again and Elder Lewis ordered her a Book of Mormon in Russian. Well one day we invited a member to come. While we were waiting for Irena to show up, we were talking to him about what we were going to teach and we were explaining a little bit about Irena and it turned out that he knew her and he always thought that she would make a great member in the church but he never had the chance to share the gospel with her. But by God's will, she was found by the sister missionaries and now has a baptismal date! We were gave the member a hard time telling him that because she wouldn't talk to her about the gospel, the sister missionaries were sent to contact her, it was pretty funny! This past week, we had some really interesting lessons! We were teaching Stephan, one of our investigators, and he truly wants to know the truth of all things but just doesn't know how to find the truth. So we were teaching him the Plan of Salvation and the minute we introduced something that he didn't know about, he became so defensive. People have a hard time understanding that we aren't there to argue with them, we are just there to share a message and to invite them to know for themselves. These are the lessons that I get out of and say that my blood pressure just shot through the roof! But not really! We are still praying for him and we know that all will work out!

Anyways, that is about all for this week! There were a lot more things that happened but that is all I can remember for the moment! It is carnival season so that will be changing up how we work the next couple days but things will work out! :) I love you all so very much and have a fantastic week! Also, thank you for the tie Curt and Shirleen! I can never have enough ties! ;) Have a great day! Love Elder Peterson!


Saturday, February 14, 2015

Valentines Activity

From Brother and Sister Turner:
Today the Relief Society had a little Valentine activity. They had different people get up and tell a little bit about the love in their life. Afterwards we had pan de beurre (a type of bread) and hot chocolate. (I told you it was cold here!) Then we started clowning around with some glasses that Jackie Hudson Miller gave me and some stick on mustaches that Sister Riley's family sent her. I sure love the people in this branch!

Elders Galati, Pape, Savard, Peterson, Roberts and Lewis with Sister Riley and Tenney and Juliette and Sonia Sainte-catherine

Friday, February 13, 2015

Valentines Packages

From Brother and Sister Turner:
Elder Lewis and Elder Peterson received their Valentine Packages

Monday, February 9, 2015

P-Day

From Brother and Sister Turner:
For P-day this week we all went up to St Pierre! It's one of my favorite places! First we visited a church. Most of it was destroyed when the volcano erupted. Not from lava, but from the force of the explosion and the hot gasses. The first floor is all that remained. They built on top of that. Then we went to the other church that has not been restored. It's amazing how much force came out of that volcano!

What's left of the "Fort" church
1st floor is from before the volcano.
Pape, Savard, Sims, Roberts Riley, Tenney, Brother and Sister Turner, Lewis, Sejournet, Galati, Peterson
Elders Lewis, Roberts, Pape, Sejournet and Brother and Sister Turner
Sisters Turner, Tenney and Riley on the pier
Pretty stained glass windows
Just up the road from the churches in St Pierre is a big sugar cane plantation that you can visit so we did that on the same day. The high light was the big rubber tree that you can play Tarzan on! They had a blast!

Fasting Brings Blessings

Dear family,
Today I would like to testify of the power of fasting and of the Book of Mormon. This past Sunday, one of my goals for fasting was to receive inspiration and revelation on how I could become more sanctified and converted to the gospel. I've been noticing a lot lately how easily the things of the world can corrupt us and bring darkness into our lives. I've really been longing to have a way that I can constantely find peace in the Gospel. Anyways, sacrament rolls around and I felt like I should read the sacrament prayers really slowly and meditate about them during sacrament. I ended up reading all of Moroni during sacrament and I received a lot of revelation on what I need to be doing to become more converted to the Gospel. In Moroni chapter 7 verse 6-7 it says: for if he offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent itprofiteth him nothing. 7 For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness. I instantely knew then that my prayers have really been lacking. I meditated a lot about my prayers and I asked myself in I pray with real intent. I thought of all those times that I kneeled down beside my bed and how I was too tired to really thank the Lord for the things that I have been blessed with. I definitely have came a long ways with my prayers but I know that I could do a lot better. Prayer is so powerful and all over in the scriptures we learn about how prophets of old truly received revelation through the power of prayer. I love the example of Enos: 3 Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into myheart. 4 And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all the day long did I cry untohim; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens. 5 And there came a voice unto me, saying: Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed. 6 And I, Enos, knew that God could not lie; wherefore, my guilt was swept away. 7 And I said: Lord, how is it done? 8 And he said unto me: Because of thy faith in Christ, whom thou hast never before heard nor seen. And many years pass away before he shall manifest himself in theflesh; wherefore, go to, thy faith hath made thee whole.

Do the words of prophets, apostles, Church leaders, and teachers in the Church truly sink deep into our hearts? Do we kneel before our maker and truly cry unto him in mighty prayer and supplication. I know it is something that will change lives, just like it changed the life of Enos. We can receive the forgiveness of our sins and truly build a Relationship with our father in Heaven through prayer. In the talk by Elder Holland "My words Never Cease" we read: The ultimate source of knowledge and authority for aLatter-day Saint is the living God. I love the gospel, there is so much peace that comes from the true and living gospel! :) I will definitely be working a lot on my personal conversion in the weeks to come! Fasting is such a blessing! anyways, that's a little bit of what I received in my fast! 

We had great week! we set another baptismal date and that was a huge blessing for us! We are going to go out and go hard this week and see what miracles the lord has instore for us! :) I love you all so much and I hope that everyone has a fantastic week filled with joy and love towards others! I thank everyone for the love and support! Love Elder Peterson!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Sunday at Church

From Brother and Sister Turner:
Brrrr!!! Do you know how cold it gets in the Caribbean in February? People were wearing sweaters. Yes! Sweaters! It got all the way down to 73! That is chilly! And we couldn't even see the ocean because of the rain clouds. frown emoticon I hope spring comes soon.

Sisters Tenney, Turner, Riley and Martial. Elders Lewis, Pape, Sejournet and Peterson with the Martial boys.
Our church building. Part of the top floor.

Friday, February 6, 2015

The Bridge

From Sister Turner,
We went with Elders Lewis and Peterson to look for an apartment. We came upon this bridge! Now it may look to you like there is just grass on the side of the road and in the middle, but that is actually tree tops! There is an 8 foot drop on each side and down the middle! The bridge is only wide enough for the car. You would not want to make any mistakes on this road! The apartment was nice, but we just don't want any missionaries driving that 3 or 4 times a day!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Teaching a Lesson

From Brother and Sister Turner:
We dropped Elders Lewis and Peterson off so they could teach a lesson. A densely populated hill. There are no roads. But there are 489 stairs from the bottom to the top! There was the most beautiful full moon!
The moon where we dropped them off, near the hospital

Monday, February 2, 2015

The Blessing Came

That was a super legit week! There were tender mercies all over and Elder Lewis and I firmly believe that Lord saw where our desires were and the changes made and also that we humble ourselves enough to accept his Council and because of that we saw miracles! One of them happened this past weekend. So, we had a couple appointments planned and all was going well, we even had a member coming to one of them. Well when it came time to waiting for the bus, we were well behind Schedule. The Bus didn't come for a very long time and that made us almost 40 minutes late for the appointment we had scheduled. We made it to the place that we were meeting and neither the investigator or the member was there. About 10 minutes later here comes the member with another member. The huge blessing about this was the fact that we were able to do splits so that we could teach two lessons with a member present! It was super sweet! Then Sunday rolls around. Sunday afternoon, we called a contact that we had a couple weeks ago and asked him if there was a possibility that we could see him and he said sure why not. We get to the lesson with him and he is just completely ready for baptism. He explained that he wanted to change his life and that he wanted more that would help him progress towards God! We were blessed to have been able to set a baptismal date with him! It is pretty cool to see how desire can really change a lot, especially attitude with diligence and obedience! :) these are just some of the stories of the week, there are many more!

Also, we had an appointment this past week and we ended up being taught by the missionaries of another religion, it was super interesting. But we will never be seeing that contact again :) This past week, I learned a lot about teaching skills and the importance of listening to the spirit. We were doing a shadow with the sisters (just this thing where we go see how the sisters are doing) and in one of the lessons we were teaching the spirit really inspired me to teach or to talk about NĂ©phi. It was not only inspiring for the investigator but I felt very inspired as well! It was super sweet! The goal of this upcoming week is this: Alma 34:26-27, 39. Sanctification!

I love you all so much and thank you for your words of encouragement! I'm so thankful for all of you and I hope you have a great week filled with awesome studies in the Book of Mormon! :) Love Elder Peterson!

pictures with some members!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Area Conference

From Brother and Sister Turner:
Today was a special day! There was an area conference and Elders Packer and Holland spoke. It was awesome! We also had 7 people from Utah join us. They were on a cruise ship that ported in Martinique so they came to church. It was so fun!