Peter the Apostle :)

Lots of miracles this week!! We started off the transfer really well with 4 new baptism dates for our investigators Mica, Claudia, Caro, and Aníbal.  Of course not everything is set in stone and they are just dates, but with faith we will be able to help these 4 children of God come unto Christ and be baptized!  I am super excited for them and even more grateful to be able to help them enter on the path to return to their Heavenly Father.

This week I have studied a lot about the apostle Peter and I really have come to love him and the great faith that he had.  In the Bible Dictionary it says "Peter was one fo the greatest of men.  It is true that the New Testament recounts some mortal weaknesses, but it also ilustrates that he overcame them and was made strong by his faith in Jesus Christ."  Peter was a simple fisherman who with his brother "straightway left their nets, and followed him" after the Savior had called them to be His disciples bye the sea of Galilee.  Working side by side with the Lord, Peter tried his best to exercise his faith- Christ "saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God."- but Peter still fell short due to his mortal weaknesses.  Some of these well-known incidents are when Peter "was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.  But when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried, saying, Lord, save me.  And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"  Or when "Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.  And he (Peter) went out and wept bitterly."  Of this incident Elder Uchtdorf in a recent instruction to new mission presidents said, "Perhaps Peter overestimated his own ability to withstand oppostion.  Perhaps he underestimated the severity of the trial of which the Savior warned him.  Perhaps he simply needed to learn to trust himself a little less and trust the Lord a little more."  But our merciful, forgiving brother Jesus Christ overlooked the weaknesses of Peter and put Peter's faith to the test once more as Christ and His disciples were dining at the sea of Tiberias after His resurrection.  "He saith to him the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?  He (Peter) saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee.  He (Christ) saith unto him, Feed my sheep."  And that is exactly what Peter did.  He baptized 8000 people in one day, and was even selected by the Lord to hold the keys of the kingdom on earth.  But more importantly, Peter was able to do these things because he overcame his natural weaknesses through his great faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  

And that is the invitation I want to extend to all of you as I do to myself, that perhaps we need to "learn to trust ourselves a little less and trust the Lord a little more."  As members of the church we as well have chosen to "leave our nets and follow Christ."  To leave our worldy habits behind and do the best we can to follow the example of our Savior.  But if we truly want to overcome our natural weaknesses, and work miracles in our personal lives and the lives of others, we need to have a powerful testimony of the living Christ.

I love you all and I hope you all have the best week!!! Smile! :)

quote of the week:

Not what I have but what I DO is my kingdom.

-Thomas Carlyle

xoxo

Hermana Anika Van Boerum

pics:

-the baptism of one of the elders' investigators! I am now in a district with pure latins:  Two Mexicans, two Argentines, and one Peruvian!

-my comp and I startin off the new transfer!

-found this cute puppy so I just had to take a pic :)

-us in the bus on our way to Zapala last night!