Things Are Good 02/25/2013

It sounds like everyone is having a wonderful time wherever they are. I wish you all the best, hope all is going well. Thanks for keeping me updated, I enjoy hearing how you all are doing. Things down here are going well. The work continues! It’s getting hotter; we find ourselves all ways crossing to the shady side of the street to avoid getting too toasted. We have been enjoying ourselves though. Sometimes the neighborhood dogs follow us around, we enter a house to teach and they wait outside for us and then we continue on to the next appointment. People here are very friendly and supportive. The members love to feed us and try as much as possible to make visits with us. I would have to say that it’s not the biggest town (it’s called Pemex City, but really it’s just a town) but its never boring here. We always have things to do and there are lots of people to visit.


We passed by this week to say hello to Rodolfo, a recent convert.  During the conversation I happened to ask him how old he was. He pondered for a moment, and then asked me what day it was. We responded well it’s the 22nd of February! Shocked, having had forgotten the date, told us it was his birthday, he was turning 71! So his grandchildren, my companion and I all sang him happy birthday which he enjoyed very much!


One of the members brothers passed away rather suddenly and it’s been pretty hard for him. I feel grateful though to know that he knows the Plan of Salvation and that this isn't the end. We have spent time with him and we try to teach but really all he wants right now is just someone to listen, so we listened and he seems to be doing better. Another members father passed away and she got sick at the same time. Things get tough sometimes, people go through so many things and it just amazes me how people can handle situations, however difficult they may be. I know the gospel surely helps.


Someone from the stake came to visit the branch and he shared a talk about afflictions, relating a story of a swordsmith. Someone asked the swordsmith how he made such marvelous, strong swords that never broke. He said the secret is knowing exactly how many times to hit the sword while making it to end up with the strongest, most refined sword possible. And so it is in our lives in comparison to swords, The Lord knows exactly how many hits we need to become the most refined people we can become, each hit has a purpose. As we turn to the Lord he will strengthen us spiritually and we will progress here on earth. He doesn’t promise we won’t have afflictions, but he does allow us to learn from them, if we so choose.

Love you all!

Elder Peine

Just me!

Rodolfo and his grandkids

Enjoying the Gospel 02/18/2013

We had a wonderful visit from one of the quorum of the 70 this week, Elder Daniel L. Johnson. Teaching the principals of the Gospel to investigators, less active members, and active members so that they understand was the main topic of the conference.


The primary had a baking activity and they asked us to join them at the end. We got to try there concoctions which actually turned out quite delicious. It was good to see all the kinds having a good time together.


We passed by to see on the members and it pleased us to see that one of the investigators was there when we arrived! The member had started making friends with the investigator which made us both rather happy!


We taught a less active member the Plan of Salvation who replied with surprise saying how he had never really thought to much about the plan before. We talked about the Savior and His atonement. He replied saying that he really needed to focus his life more on the Savior. He pointed out that He is the center of everything, for example even how we calculate time before and after his birth, and that he should be the center of our lives.  It was touching to realize how much Christ really should be at the front of our minds more and the impact that He can play in our peace, family, and everyday life.


I love the work. It’s fabulous. After having spend a day and a half in Villahermosa (away from my area for the conference) coming back to my area, it really did feel like home sweet home. I love you all so very much, may you all be guided by the Spirit, and may you recognize the many blessings the Lord gives us. I know he cares and works to bless us in so many ways.


With much love,

Elder Peine

Us with the branch president

Sunset

Primary!

A Childs Prayer- 02/11/2013

A little boy named David, who's family are members, was baptised this week. Brother Manuel, the Sunday school president baptised him and everything went wonderfully. To finish David was asked to say the prayer. With sincerity and love he thanked God for his baptism, for everyone that came, and for his family. He asked that everyone could be blessed and it was rather sweet. I think we all had a moment of silence right after, just in shock of the simple tenderness of a child's prayer.

My companion and I were asked to speak in Sacrament meeting about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I enjoyed the wonderful spirit that was present in the small little sacrament room and am thankful to know such loving, wonderful people. Living the gospel has not been easy for most of them but their diligence and service is outstanding. They strive every day to be able to have a happy family even though setbacks do arise. We continue to work with the members in helping their friends learn about the gospel.

I love you all so very much. Enjoy this week!

Elder Peine

Sunset (its not This is The Place park, but its still rather wonderful)

Davids baptism

Congratulations David!

Apostle week! 01/28/2013

We had a memorable family night this week with a less active family. They live basically on a ranch and all the members seemed to sort of flock in from everywhere to be present for the lesson. The boys of the family prepared refreshments and I think the family got excited about everyone being together and just enjoying a good night together.


I got to see brother Rodolfo a recent convert, whom I haven't seen for a while because he had to move to be with his family for a while. It was great to catch up with him and to know that all is going well.
On Saturday as missionaries we had a meeting with the Apostle Russell M. Nelson and we each got to shake his hand and enjoy his remarks. It was a wonderful meeting. It surprised me as well that Elder Clayton of the presidency of the 70, who was accompanying Elder Nelson could speak Spanish!


Then on Sunday several stakes met together to hear the Apostle. It was a wonderful event full of emotion and the spirit. It just made me so happy. The apostle might look a little old, but his spirit is as young as ever and he demonstrated in the most wonderful way the love he felt for the Mexican people. I felt highly blessed and highly grateful to God for the wonderful servants and blessings he sends to all people in all nations. Elder Nelson who had an interpreter the entire meeting, finished by bearing his testimony in Spanish and I felt SO grateful that he could connect with the people and that he prepared so that they could hear his testimony in their own language. I will never forget it. I love the Lord so much. I know this is His true church. I cant believe how blessed we are to have his restored gospel here on the earth.


I love you all,

Elder Peine

Family Night!

The branch on Sunday when we went to see the Apostle Russell M. Nelson!

Rodolofo! (a recent convert)

Thank you for the goodies!

Today is the best day of my life! (why not?) 01/21/2013

 We visit Sister Mercedes, a recent convert, and she always asks us to sing a hymn with her. So we all pull out our hymn books and then she asks us: well which page? We tell her the page and she says: Oh that’s a beautiful hymn! This happens every time we visit and I happened to notice that she really doesn’t know which hymn corresponds with each page number but she loves all the hymns and thinks they are all just wonderful! It made me smile because she is always so excited to sing whatever hymn whatever we choose and she says its just great.

We were coming home from visiting another town nearby and in the van/bus that brought us home there happened to be a drunk (absolutely harmless) and we tried not to pay attention to him even though he wanted to strike up a conversation. We soon arrived at the drunks destination and has he got out he handed a bill to the driver and said: that should cover my ride and the Mormons also! He paid for our bus ride! I was a bit shocked, considering we didn’t even speak with him. I hope hes as kind when hes in his normal state as well. But it caught me off guard because I'm not going to say I had the best of thought of him but he was charitable enough to pay for us even though he didn’t know us.

We stopped by to visit an inactive member and he came out to great us but said he was too busy and couldn’t visit at the moment. So we put and appointment to come back and then he started talking with us about how hes doing and how our day has been going. So we talked for another 5 or ten minutes and then shook hands to depart then another comment was made and we continued talking. What had started out to be a brief hello at the front gate, apparently turned into a 30 minute conversation. I found it interesting because at first he really didn’t want to spend time talking with us but I could feel that he had missed coming to church and he liked the feeling he had when he was active.

Life is wonderful, I couldn’t say much more. I find myself enjoying everyday. I have a wonderful happy optimistic companion and the branch is starting to really work hard in doing their visiting teaching and working with investigators. So things are going well. And Saturday we have a meeting with Elder Russel M. Nelson with the missionaries which we are excited for, and Sunday the whole branch is traveling by bus to hear him speak.

Love you all!

Elder Peine

Manuel (our wonderful member friend who lives nearby), Elder Morales and I

Hello Hello!! :)

What a great day! 01/14/2012

Thank you! (and just to let you know I had help eating all those cookies)


Hey Family,


This week  we had a wonderful family night with some of the members about love in the home. My companion and I sang Love at Home and I accompanied on the guitar (Thanks parents for starting me off young). It was a wonderful night as a less active, now getting active father gave his lesson about how we should demonstrate or love for one another. He mentioned how often times its easier to give love to those outside of the home and how we can tend to forget to demonstrate it to those who really we most deeply cherish.


While we were at a doctors consult (my companion has a bad blister or something on his foot) we started talking to the doctor and he mention how he had heard about the Mormons and said how he hadn't really been attended his church seriously and could be interested in learning more. My companion gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to read the introduction. We will see what happens with that at our next appointment (medical or religious, I'm not really sure, but I hope things go well on both ends.


We visited an inactive in the hospital who has between 90 and 100 years old who fell out of his bed the other day and fractured his hip. It was good to visit him, he was happy to have visitors, I don’t think he recognized us but it was great to see that he was still with it and doing his best to recover.
I received my Xmas package from Jordan and from Kay! It was so great thank you so much I loved it!! And the members loved the jellybeans, its new for them! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love, Elder Peine

Thank you! (and just to let you know I had help eating all those cookies)

Happy New Years to all! 01/07/2013

Well as of yet I still haven’t received any Christmas packages but I heard there is at least one waiting for me in the mission offices and I should be able to receive it this week.
This week was passed by to visit an old investigator (in the fact that shes been listening to missionaries for a long time, shes not that old). We hadn’t been to visit her for about two months and we decided it would be a good time to see how she has been doing. She told us that she has been feeling quite sad lately and that coincidentally the very morning she had said a prayer to help her be guided in the right direction. It was a little miracle that helped her get on her feet again. She came to church this week and really enjoyed it.

In district class we spoke about love and charity. It was a wonderful class and to finish we had several practice teaching circumstances. But this we different than pretending to be teaching investigators, we were to teach other as who we are. So my companion and I taught Elder Restrepo (as Elder Restrepo, from Colombia). We talked about the mission, the difficulties, how we’d like to have things easier, but then we talked about how the Lord is preparing us and guiding us through these experiences so that we can learn and grow. Elder Restrepo has had ups and downs but I love him so much. I shared D and C 64:33 with him (about laying a building a strong foundation) and he looked up at me and smiled. He said he shares this scripture with everyone but had never really applied it to himself. He started to tear up. He thanked us but really it was us who needed to thank him. He is a wonderful hardworking missionary who loves the work and it was a joy to be able to share our appreciation for him.

We visited a referral, a single mother of three kids. She said when she was younger she and her friends had always laughed about the missionaries, but now that she is a bit older has grown a curiosity as to what it was that they taught. We shared about the plan of Salvation with her and we had a great conversation. She thanked us for taking the time to talk with her and found herself surprised to find out that many of our beliefs are similar to hers.

I hope you all find yourselves surprisingly happy. Thank you for all of your prayers and support. We are enjoying our time here in Pemex City and look forward to another 6 weeks here. (Transfers happened today but we are both staying). I'm sorry I can’t send warm weather to those in the cold so bundle up! Stay happy fam! You’re so great!

I love you all!

Elder Peine