Halloween

1. Me and my comps failed carved pumpkin

2. My zone with Elder Carlson and his wife. 

Cambios Nos da Ayuda Para Crecer

Hola Familia! 

What a change it is being up here serving in the cities! It is very beautiful in a different way, I love it! There are so many missionaries up here and you get to see everyone a lot more its really fun. In st. peter we were like the outcasts haha which isnt always a bad thing but its good to be getting this change. Its super fun! 

Let me first tell you about Gera. He is just the cutest thing ever. He is such a smart 9 year old. Yesterday was the primary program and he was soo nervous to sing in it because he isn't a memeber and doesn't really know the songs. I told him just to say watermelon the whole time and no one would notice. He looked so handsome and did a great job! (just like my bros do) I am SO EXCITED that he is getting baptized this upcoming Sunday. His baptismal interview was yesterday and he did great. We were able to take him and his dad who isn't a member to 
President's fireside last night and the spirit was great there. We are still working on softening his dad's heart to change. Elder Carlson is doing a tour of our mission this week and so he was able to talk last night. He opened it up to questions from the crowd and it was awesome because there were so many non members there. 

Things have still been hard here but we are getting more ground under our feet and we are running with it! There is a lot of work to be done here in the ward to strengthen it and there are a lot of other challenges here right now but I know that we can do. I am learning very clearly about patience and humility. I am nothing without God. I am everything because of him. I am learning that we have no other choice than to rely on him completely! Also we have to exercise our faith and not just wait for answers!

This week we were trying to work with the members as much as possible and get to know them and gain there trust. I also had been praying all week to find a family to teach by the end of the weekend. We stopped by a LA families house Saturday night around 8:00 pm. When we pulled up it looked like no one was home. It was pitch black and I was getting nervous we weren't going to find our family because our Sunday was full of plans. But we had trust and we prayed to find that family even though we didn't have time. When we went up to the house someone came to the door, a lady who brought her whole family into be taught. We found out they weren't the LA family they were Catholics. The missionaries had visited them before but stopped coming. We were able to teach them and commit them to coming to a ward activity and to learn more from us. I know Heavenly Father always provides the way! He always answers prayers! And he is always there for us! Our prayer was answered and I know he has good things in store for this cute family.

I love you all VERY much! Thank you for all of your support email, letters and packages. Sorry if I don't always respond very fast. I will eventually I promise things are just super busy but you are important to me! 

Make it an awesome week. See miracles :)

xoxox

Hermana Pentelute :)

Feliz Noche de Brujas!

Pictures:
1.  We had a bday party with a member and their daughters so cute and fun!
2.  Our zone put up 2,000 feet of fencing around lake Calhoun this week!
3. We got cereal from a member but didn't want to leave there apartment so we could find and because it was a lock out we just hid our cereal behind the door, hahahahah

  

Primero Semana en Richfield...Craziness!!!!!!

Hola Familia!!

I know you are all dying to hear how things are going in Richfield. This week has been sooo crazy trying to get settled and figure things out. I will start from the beginning. So last Monday and Tuesday I got everything packed and ready to go. It was super sad leaving everyone I love so much in St. Peter but it was also happy and I promised them all I'd come back so I have no other choice now! :) Then Wednesday we went to transfer meeting and also the training meeting. After I went and worked in Bloomington for the day because my Hermana didn't get in until 9 pm that night! So we got to the mission home and my hermana was talking with her parents....she was a little homesick but we were ready to roll! We got things in the car and I didn't even know where our apartment was or have a Gps...you all know how good I am with directions! So thanks to the awesome ap's they gave us there Gps. We made it home and by the time we got home it was like 10:10 and we have to be in bed at 10:30 so we got as settled in as we could and got to bed. Oh and I guess I should tell you about my cute cute trainee. Well her name is Hermana  Hougaard and she is from Cove Utah. She graduated 2013 and went to USU as an ambassador for a year (sweet huh?) she has an average size family and she loves them a lot! She also cheered in high school and we are practically twins. She is about the cutest thing and I just love her to death! Its so fun helping her with her Spanish...I remember those days. She is very paranoid about being obedient because her grandpa was a mission president and I guess scared her about the rules. I told her that's why you got put with me! ;) 

Richfield is so great. Everyone here is pretty much Hispanic like holy cow. It is a COMPLETELY different world than little safe St. Peter. You hardly see white people. I love that. Its pretty much just a suburb. I am getting to use so much spanish haha especially because my comp doesn't know the language yet! We are in the twin cities spanish ward. It seems like it will be a great place to be. It was so exciting to be there and have church all in Spanish yesterday. I felt bad for Hermana Hougaard she by the end just tuned it out hahaha. 

So the elders that were here before us......they tried hard to clean but our apartment was really filthy. I didn't even feel safe showering. Apparently they took 2 days cleaning it and there was still mold and hair everywhere. This morning we did a good clean. It still has some to go..but at least I now feel comfortable. Also there was one progressing investigator here so pretty much our teaching pool is 0. BUT with that being said we are here to find the prepared and baptize! I know its going to happen. We had a super cool miracle this week we were going to visit a less active part member family but we saw a man named Joel out working on his car. So we talked with him and we were able to teach him the restoration and find out he's came with a LA member twice to church and he lives with this Less active member! He is very interested and excited to learn more. His work schedule is pretty crazy he works pretty much from 8 to 10 at night. It was a miracle because his car was having problems and the day we found him was the first day his boss let him off early to work on the car. He even recognized that, that we were sent there at that time for a reason or we would have never met him.
Gerado Rodriguez is a 9yr old boy who is the son of a recently re-activated mom. He is getting baptized November 2cnd!!We were able to teach him for the first time yesterday (that's who the elders were teaching) and he has a really good understanding and is very excited to have his sins washed away and receive the Holy Ghost! So thats really exciting! His dad is a non-member so we are hoping to start teaching him as well and complete the family in the Gospel!!

This is a really long letter this week but I have a really great story to tell!!! So our church is in Minneapolis and wow let me tell you I will never live there haha. So we were driving trying to find the church and I was lost. There are sooo many people out on the roads and I have never drove in any thing like it! So I made a quick left hand turn and all the sudden we feel something move the car. It felt to me like we ran over something. It was really weird so I kept driving and then a man behind me honks so I thought oh no we just got in an accident and I didn't even realize it! So we pull over and our first instinct was to lock the doors and just roll down the window a little bit. The man got out of his car and was swearing at us and so I felt really bad like It was my fault or something so we got out of the car. Let me remind you this is hermana Hougaards first day in the field. So we start talking to this man and he's like did you not feel that? We said we did but didn't know what had happened. Apparently he hit the back of our car which had hermana hougaards bike on it. He had a white scratch from the bike on the front of his car. He told us it was my fault and I was in the wrong lane and yada yada so I felt awful and for some reason believed it. He said it's fine we don't have to get the police involved but do you have some money on you? That was a red flag that went off for me. I immediately said no we don't he's like 20 bucks? I said no we don't sorry we are missionaries representatives of Christ in the area and he started to get uncomfortable. He said oh don't make me feel bad..meanwhile he was smoking some sort of something. We both felt uncomfortable so we said sorry bye and got in the car and drove away. A few minutes after the experience we called our mission president and told him the experience. Not to freak you out mom but he told us he has heard a lot of sad stories of things happening in situations like that. Sometimes they do that on purpose as a tactic. That man had other intentions and the accident was his fault. So of course we were freaking out a little bit hahah poor hna hougaard is scared out of her mind on her first day and so was I but I tried to act fine. In the end I was soooooo grateful nothing happened and that we were safe. Heavenly Father protected us I know and I now know some more safety procautions! I have the pepper spray g-ma gave me on hand all  the time hahah. The cities are a big change!!

Well that is all for now, I love you very much!!!! I hope you have a great week and remember the reason for everything. Our Savior, Lord, Redeemer and King. 

P.s. here is my new address:
080 12th Ave. S. #111 
Bloomington MN 55425

xoxoxo
Hermana Pentelute

Pictures from Richfield:

1. Elder Berry from PG

5.The Spanish missionaries in the cities at our cultural activity

6. I got to see the temple for the first time

ADIOS SAN PEDRO HOLA RICHFIELD

Hola Familia!! 

Well I have some big news! I am being transferred to a place called Richfield and well I am opening the area and training....!!! I am very excited and also very nervous! It is going to be very hard leaving all these people I love but I also am willing to follow what the Lord has in store. I know that this is going to be a challenge opening an area while also training a new missionary but God gives us challenges to grow and I know this is going to be a great blessing. Lets see what Richfield has in store!!! Adios St. Peter!!!!!

This letter will be a short one today because I am being transferred but I can not believe I am here again writing. This past week has flown by but it has been great. Last night we had an amazing lesson with Tana. We taught her in the home of the Snow family and a miracle happened there. The spirit was very strong and the Snow's can relate very well to Tana that was such a blessing. We shared the restoration of the gospel and after the first vision we had a moment of silence. After we asked how everyone felt in that moment. Tears started running town Tana's checks. She didn't know why she was crying. She was having a very personal and very spiritual experience with gaining a personal testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. I feel so extremely blessed each day to be having my personal testimony strengthed and to be witnessing other's being strengthed as well. There is no other feeling comparable than knowing that you have been the means through which someone is finding the truth. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that we have the restorted church here again today on the earth. We are SO blessed with this knowledge. Please take advantage of is and make the gospel apart of your daily life. We are here to learn, grow and progress. We need to search for ways to do that. I promise as you do and council with the Lord, you sill be strengthened and his blessings will pour onto you.

Everything else is going well here, travis is on track for baptism, david is getting very close as well as CJ. Pablo and Brother Woodrum are the best missionaries ever and I am going to miss them dearly! Hermana Rawlins is also training here so it will be awesome and in good hands! St. Peter is one of the greatest places in the world and I have been truly blessed with the opportunity to work with the members, investigators and missionaries here. Sorry I sometimes cant answer all of your questions but I promise I will get to them and they are important to me. Each of you are very important to me and to our Heavenly Father!!

MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK! Remember Luke1:37

I love you all:)

xoxox

Hermana Pentelute

Pictures:
1. My District
2. Marvel
3. Why I a Serving a Mission

Los Testimonios de Conversos Son Instrumentos Para Todos

Hola Familia! 

I hope all is well back in the casa and that you all enjoyed conference weekend just as much as I did. It was amazing to be able to hear from the prophet and leaders of the church. They are inspired men of God and I encourage you all to read, study, ponder and pray about the words they shared!! They will lead us to happiness and an easier path while here in this earthly life!

This week Hermano Pablo Maldonado River was baptized! Yay! It is always amazing to be a part of a conversion to the gospel and a start of a new spiritual journey! His service was very beautiful and even better because it was in Spanish! :) My very favorite part was when he bore his testimony. Wow we were all blown out of the water. He has grown and learned SO much. It made me very proud to have been apart of that. I was smiling so big of course. Its like each time I probably look goofy but I am filled with so much joy and the spirit!! Pablo loves being weird and taking crazy pics so ill send some.

Travis was able to come to conference this week as well as David and both are doing great! (we teach almost all men!) Travis is still set for baptism on the 1st of November and I am just so happy for him. Brother Woodrum has taken Travis on and is being the best missionary ever. He is really just being a great friend and support to him and helping him understand all we teach. It is so cool that he is already taking such an active role in our ward. Travis brought a ice cream cake to conference because he works at dairy queen. The pieces he cut were about 1/4 of the cake without exaggeration, I wanted to take a picture for mom because she would have died! The boys would have been in Heaven.

CJ and Tana are both also doing well. The Word of Wisdom is holding them both back right now. We have a little concoction we are going to make for Tana and we'll see if CJ wants some too. Hopefully that will help haha but more so the help of God. It is very frustrating to have awesome people you love struggle so much. And you know the way their struggling can stop! We all have agency and have to choose for ourselves if we want healing from God or not!

We have been SO busy with all of our progressing investigators and really it is such a blessing. I am always ready for a goods night sleep when I get home but I also am always so ready to get out and work again. Sharing the gospel is like the best medicine there is. It heals and strengthens your soul. It brings peace and joy and light. I hope you all can find a time to share that light this week!!
Les quiero mucho!!!

Have a wonderful week! :)

xoxox

Hermana Pentelute

Pictures:
1-5. Hermano Pablo Maldonado River was baptized!

6-13..Pictures of the Scarecrow Festival