4/28 Letter

Well Hello Family and Friends!! 

Over here has been nothing but rain! we have had more rain then London this year!  so i have not felt like a missionary cause all last week we have just been moving and going crazy doing not missionry stuff so this week im excited to get a hold on things and move the work forward!  we just came from teaching english to the mentaly handicap which was so fun! i love being around these special child of god! But yep for the most part it was just packing and getting our lives together! we have not had the babptisims yet because of things that have happen but we will see how things turn out!

Please keep Antonija Barič and Filip Todorovic in your prayers. Fillip has been in the hospital for medical problems with his brain because of a cist that is causing him to go blind and could be fatal. This is preventing this couple from having enough time to take the steps toward being baptized, even though they want to. All they want right now is for their son to be healed and to be baptized. So please keep them in your thoughts, fasts and prayers this upcoming Sunday. Thank you so much. 

 i need to go but u love u all and wish u the best of luck!!

s ljubavlju
sestra peterson 

4/21 Letter

Sretan uskrs!!!! Happy Easter!

Well things are a lot different here for easter! its cool when they color there eggs thy color them with onions  crazy right! well lets get to the good stuff!!

For the most part they just have a lunch here and thats it!  this week started off with an exchange and while we where on the exchange the unthinkable happened..! well with my luck  anything is possible so two weeks ago i almost in jail then i got interviewed by the police and then this week i got.....EVICTED!!! TAKO JE ZIVOT!!! THAT IS MY LIFE!!!   I JUST COULD NOT HELP BUT LAUGH ONLY TO ME! i told everyone and they started dying because i just attract trouble!  Well i guess something will never change!   Because we are in the middle of moving no one ever paid for our apt but that night the mission paid up so we got let back in our house=)  Then we have been seeing anonija cause she is back in the hospital with her son and she was so happy to see us cause the nursed treated her so bad=( he we planed this big aktivnost  all about Christ and his last week  with the bible videos and set up all these pictures  and a slide show.

Then thank you mom we did the scavenger hunt with scriptures and Then we dyed eggs it was really fun! Then we made cookies to give to people and they loved it! Then me and my companion sang in church together for Easter! its was the best Easter gift as antonija and her husband came with the baby!!! they feel like family in the branch now!! So they brought there family and then there  was a less active who has not been to church in ten years come back or the first time!!! he members are really good about making people feel welcomed here!  so we had a branch dinner after and then we went home and planed and then the senior couple had us over for Easter dinner!  so w had 4 investigators and 2 less aktives!  they dont have any decorations here for easter but its cool. well i love yall and keep up the good work! 

love

 sestra peterson 

Visting Some Sites!

Exploring the city on P-day.

An old war tool from way back.

4/14 Letter

antonija kids aka my nephews here! they are studs best family ever!

This week was crazy cause a lot of our plans got changed because i had to go to the police like for 3 day and then i got interviewed but now i am fine... we all joked that we would be like Alma and amulek singing and breaking down the prison cell ahah but then my comp was like sorry your alone on this one haah!  But this week we went to our Jewish investigator house and gave her a book of mormon and talked about how the book of Mormon is a fulfillment of the Jew  and came from jew!! i just love the woman and love talking about the old testament!(maybe cause it reminds me of  my amazing old testament teacher i had=) so she was so excited! She just gets it!  we are going to have passover with her and im so excited! Then we had an amazing aktivnots  as we played a ton of min it to win it games! it is every hard to find people here to teach but when u do they are just golden and change your world. like Antonija and her family!they truly are part of my family and i love them so much,  we went to the grave with her and her for the anniversary of the death of one of her twins and as we were gathered around you could just feel the spirit so strong and how this child was so perfect that she just had to come to earth to get a body and that her parents are very special people. I am truly grateful for the plan of happiness and how after this life we can live with our families forever! the plan of happiness is the best thing in the world.then antonija got a blessing before she goes in the hospital with the other twin and i started crying during the blessing cause i was so bless to be teaching  to be given this blessed soul form god. she has the most faith i have ever seen in my life she is such a strong women and i learn so much from her! she will be a leader to these nations and  im so blessed she was placed in my life!  his is what this work is all about!   i love this work cause it true  and i dont have to see angles to know the feeling i get everyday about this work truly has blessed my life and gave me more happiness then i could have ever though in my life!   god is great  the savior is my best friend and brother and im so grateful for atonement and for this last week of his life this week.  Christ is not a person in the past or a legend... HE LIVES i have seen miracles work today i have felt this love and his truth!  And i am so great fun we have his restored gospel again on the earth!

love 

sestra peterson 

The Last Week of Christ's Life

The Last Week of Christ’s Life

*While each of the gospels contains accounts of most of the events, only certain references are used here.

Palm Sunday

This is celebrated on the Sunday before Easter. 

Christ rode on a donkey into Jerusalem. This was symbolic because kings rode donkeys into cities. The people praised Jesus by waiving palm leaves, throwing down their coats for him to walk on, and shouting Hosanna (Matt 21:1-11), 

(John 12:12-19).

Monday

Jesus presents the parable of the fig tree (Matt 21:18-19). He cleans the temple and casts out the Money Changers for the second time during his ministry (Matthew 21:12-16).

Tuesday

Jesus went into the temple to teach the final public sermons of his mortal ministry. The Pharisees asked, “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” Jesus shows them, a gold coin and says “Render what is Caesar’s unto Caesar, and render what is God’s unto God” (Luke 20:19-26).

Jesus presents these parables: 

Wicked Husbandmen (Matt 21:33-46, (Mark 12:1-12), (Luke 20:9-18).

The Parable of the Royal Marriage Feast (Matt 22:1-14).

The Widow’s Mite ( Mark 12:41-44), Luke 21:1-4).

The Ten Virgins (Matt 25:1-13)

The Entrusted Talents (Matt 25:14-30)

On this day Christ declares the purpose of His mission. 

(John 12:37-50), and gives the Great Commandment

(Matt 22:34-40), and Laments over Jerusalem (Matt 23:37-39). 

Jesus also foretells of his own betrayal and crucifixion-but no one, not even the disciples understood. The pharisees plot against Jesus, and Judas arranges the betrayal (Matthew 26:1-5 and 14-16).

Wednesday

There is no scripture record of Christ’s activities on this day.

Thursday

Arrangements are made for the Last Supper. 

During the Last Supper, Jesus washes the apostles’ feet

(John 13:1-20). Jesus then indicates the Betrayer, (Matthew 26:21-25, (Mark 14:18-21), (Luke 22:21-23) and his apostles ask, “Is it I, Lord?” Christ acknowledges that it’s Judas, but all the apostles, except Judas don’t understand who it is, or what is to come. Judas then leaves the room and the others think nothing of his leaving (John 13:27-30). Jesus then foretells his own death, but the apostles don’t understand (John 13:31-35).

Christ and his disciples have the fulfilling meal where Jesus introduces the sacrament (Matt 26:26-29)

& (Luke 22: 15-20). After the sacrament Jesus gives the disciples a new commandment, “...that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” 

(John 13:34-35).

Jesus and the apostles sing a hymn and then proceed to the Mount of Olives.

Then comes the Atonement in the garden of Gethsemene (Matthew 26:36-46) & (Luke 22:40-46). After

the Atonement, in the garden, Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss. Then Peter cuts off an ear of a guard,

Jesus heals it back instantly. Jesus is then arrested (Matt 26:47-56), (Mark 14:43-52), (Luke 22:47-53),

(John 18:2-12).

Friday

Once Jesus is arrested he is taken to the House of Annas for questioning for a small amount of time, then He is taken and questioned by Caiaphas. Around this time Peter denies knowing Jesus, just as Jesus predicted (Luke 22:55-62) and Judas Iscariot commits suicide by hanging himself from a tree.

The 30 pieces of silver (about the price of a slave) that he received for betraying Christ are on the ground.

Jesus then goes before Pilate then Herod, and then Pilate again (Luke 23:2-23). Pilate finds no wrong in Jesus and does not want to put Jesus to death, but the people cry out, “Crucify him!” Jewish tradition enables the releasing of one prisoner during Passover. 

Instead of releasing the innocent Jesus, they decide to set Barabbas, a murder and insurgent (Matt: 27: 26-30). Pilate washes his hands and sentences Jesus to be scourged and crucified (Matt 27:11-30), (Mark 15:20-23), (John 19:1-18).

To complete the abuse, Pilate prepared a sign and had it nailed on the cross above Jesus’s head. It was written in three languages: Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, with these words, “Jesus of Nazareth The King of the Jews” (John 19:19-22).

Once on the cross, Jesus speaks his first utterance from the cross, “Father forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34).The soldiers divide Jesus’s clothing while they mocked him. Then the second utterance (Luke 23: 39-43), and the third utterance (John 19:25-27). At this point darkness covers the earth.

Then Jesus speaks his fourth statement from the cross (Mark 15:34-35). Then the fifth (Matthew 27:48-49), and the sixth statement (John 19:30).Then around 3:00 in the afternoon Jesus says his final statement, “Father, into Thy Hands I commend my spirit...” and Jesus dies (Matthew 27:50).

A centurion then gives testimony by saying that Jesus was truly the Son of God (Matt :27:51-56).

After Jesus died his side was pierced with a sword to ensure that he was dead. Normally blood would

have come out, however, instead, water came out. This was fulfilling a prophecy (John 19:31-37). Jesus

was then taken to a tomb supplied by Joseph of Arimithia (John 19: 38-42).

Saturday

Guards were placed at the tomb. D&C 138 gives an account of what happened in the spirit world between His death and resurrection.

Easter Sunday

Early in the day Mary Magdalene and other devoted women brought spices and ointments for the body. They found the stone of the tomb was rolled away, and the guards gone. Jesus's body was also gone from inside the tomb. An angel appeared unto the women (Mark 16:1-18) and told them that he had risen, and to tell the disciples what had happened. 

Mary was the first to tell Simon Peter and John about the events. Peter and John then came to the tomb and saw the empty tomb (John 20:3-10).

After Peter and John went home, Mary wept outside the tomb. She saw two angels, and then Jesus.

Mary thought that Christ was the gardener and didn’t recognize him at first, but after recognizing him,

she called him “Rabboni”, which means master. Jesus told her to go and tell the apostles what she had seen (John 20:11-18). Christ then appeared to other women, while the chief priests were told of the resurrection by the guards guarding the tomb. (Matt 28:9-15).

Then comes the story of the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32). 

Shortly after Christ appeared to all the apostles except Thomas (Luke 24:33-49). Thomas saw Christ a week later. Forty days after his resurrection Jesus was taken up to heaven on a cloud accompanied by two angles dressed in white.

Not long after being in the middle Eastern part of the world. Christ goes and visits the Nephites in the Americas. A full account is given in 3rd Nephi in the Book of Mormon.

4/7 letter

This week i don't have a whole lot of time to talk cause we are headed to Pula. (Check some pics on line- its so cool!!) I'm so excited but i will try to be back later!! 

 

This week was amazing. We had zone conference we saw Ellen and had a lesson with this girl named Mataja!  Mataja was a referral from this contact that we met she loved the bible so we talked about the bible and our favorite scriptures and then at the end we gave her a Book of Mormon and her face just lit up! when someone is really interested and takes the book a Mormon its the best feeling.. after she left i just screamed, "I love my life i love my life!!!" Then i just hugged my companion cause this joy is amazing! and the best part of the lesson was that we just asked her to pray and we didn't even explain how to pray but she just when into and started off saying dear heavenly father and in the name of Jesus Christ amen!!! what!! she said she was praying for people like us to come into her life!   

 

At zone conference president asked me and my comp to do a role play. He pulled us aside and said i really want u to go pray for her right and truly use this role play as as lesson with her to try to figure out her concerns. the spirit was so strong to the point where my legs were like shaking like i was nervous. it was so cool cause we really did receive inspiration for our investigator! Well conference was great! but i felt so said for the people here cause the first session we didn't have it translated so they tried to watch it in English. 

 

It amazed me that sometimes its hard to fit all sessions in our lives cause we have baseball games or other events but yet then u have people here who are so excited to watch to just see the prophet  that they watched it in English! it really made me think how lucky are we! well then the next day they finally had it in Croatian so we watched all then sessions in Croatian! 

 

well im so sorry but that's all i have for today cause i have to go but i love u all and hope y'all have a good week!

s ljubavju

sestra peterson

3/31/14 Letter

I'm in the City of miracles!!!  

So first off I'm so blessed to be serving in Rijeka and love it here. Everyday is just a blessing from the Lord! This is the Lord's work and his hand is truly in it! If he want to bring forth his work and the gospel then it will be done! 

This week we had 4 new investigators and one more Baptism date!!  Not to many people came to church but our two investigators came! So we are shooting on the 26th or may 5 for antonija her husband (who i am planning a wedding for!) there friend who she introduced us to and zdanka who is preparing for that date! I cant wait for that! 

To have 4 people get baptized in one day is a record for one city is a record!!! I just love them so much and cant wait! 
 

So really cool stories for this week: Tuesday night we had about 30 min before we had to be in so i had the thought, you need to see find this English student. I knew she lived in this one of these 5 building but i had no clue where to go so i said ok lets just try! So the first door was locked to the apt building so i went to the second one and it was locked but i had a feeling to try to get in the building. Someone let us in! Then the thought came in my head that she has a hurt leg so start on the bottom floor! Well 3 doors when by and no answer.  but then i heard a lot of noise from this one door, i was not sure to knock but i said, "Ok there totally is a family behind there," and when they open the door it my surprise- it was there family!!!! It was truly a blessing cause I had no clue where she lived! So we talked about the Book of Mormon and they brought up questions  and then we sang and they said the door is always open!  

Then President Rowe came to talked to us and man i just learn so much from that man!! Then Antoninja Husband came to aktivnost  and in the church for the first time!! Then last night we met with a less active and we had such a strong meeting with her as we found out that her parents were divorced when she was a baby and then her mother left her when she was 11 then now she was to take care of her grandpa and uncle and her grandmas  death day is coming up who she loved soo much. we talk about how through the BOM she can feel that love again and that she is a daughter of god! I just felt really prompted to tell her that her grandma is very proud of her. Then i just hugged her and was her crying shoulder. 

As missionaries we are not only a mouth piece for the lord but also his arms to reach out to his children to hold them like we would want to do. And that is one of the best things is that we can hold them and truly help them feel his love. im so grateful for that so honored that the spirit was so strong and that i truly can be a servant of the lord , my savior a loving brother and king.

have a great day!

s ljubavju

sestra peterson