October 15, 2012

Man, do I have news for you this week!! Remember how I commented that at some point I could be training a 19 year old???? Well, I'm not training a 19 year old, but transfer calls came and I'M TRAINING!!!!! I'm staying here, and Sister L is transferring to be companions with none other than my MTC companion! And lucky ol' me (I'm scared to death!!) will be picking up my greenie tomorrow: Sister S from Sandy, Utah. And that's all I know about her! President calls the trainers to give them the news and I was shocked when he called me! I seriously just finished training! But I know that with Christ, I can do all things, so I'm choosing to have faith instead of fear, and just praying that Sister S and I will be able to make this all work! It is scary not knowing who this girl is, and then having to be in charge and lead her too! But I do know that this is God's will, whether I am supposed to learn and grow lots in trials, or in good times it will be for my benefit! But CRAZY RIGHT?!  Who knows what this week will hold.

On the flip side, I know I will be here for the next 2 transfers while I train so I will be here for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

I am sad that Sister L and I are splitting, change is hard, and it is scary when I don't know what to expect! But I think this is the next step for me to grow and learn more. I am just nervous because the "mission mojo" says that everyone's first transfers are always hard with investigators. I've seen it. My first one we didn't get anyone to progress. We have about 3 stellar investigators right now, so I'm just nervous to see what happens. I've decided that I'm going to be exactly obedient, and leave it in the Lord's hands. Right now I'm having a hard time with that, I know it is Satan working on me, but I've already told the Elders that my companionship is going to be following certain rules, that we were not before (Sister L was the senior, and no, the rules aren't anything huge, but I gave her that respect to lead our companionship), but now I am already getting opposition from my district. But I can only put my trust in the Lord. That is the only way I will get blessings as a missionary. Not by doing the "cool" thing and being lax on certain things. It's hard, but it's all I can do. It does bring me lots of comfort to know that Mitch, and Jordan and lots of my girlfriends have served missions. No, I don't know what kind of missionaries they were, but I know what kind of people they are. So if they can do this, I can do this!

 I thought my exciting news for the week would be that I had a fun adventure at a pumpkin patch this week... Little did I know! But I am sending pictures! Our ward mission leader knows this farmer, and after they go through and harvest THIS is the leftovers that they will just go to waste! So we got to go and pick some! SO FREAKING FUN! and so much orange! I've never seen so much in my life! This country life is really fun! :) I love you all! Can't wait to hear from you soon! Mom, I'll probably want a letter from you in the mail this week, since my life is going to be CRAZY-TOWN!

 

And the last pic is of our district. Yes, really classic, but at least I look semi ok right? gag!

love you alll!!!!!!!!!! xoxooxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoox

 

 

October 8, 2012

First off:

Conference: AMAZING!!! We watched it at the church and there were about ten of us there on each Sunday session, and only us missionaries on Saturday. (excluding the member of the bishopric who had to come and be with us during each session) The Sunday sessions we had 2 investigators at the first session and one at the second! The spirit was amazing, and they said they liked it. Especially President Monson's since they could see that he is a real person!

And with his first announcement there was a sure shock in the room, but we could feel the excitement! I guess I'll be possibly training a 19 year old at some point! So crazy! Especially because when all my friends at 19 were leaving I was so jealous, so that is so cool for all those sisters right now!! It just shows how we are in the latter days! Jacob 5 talks all about this and especially verses 61-62!! Sister L. is pretty sure China is gonna open up soon, so we need more missionaries to cover that too!!

Conference was all about aligning our will with God's and is something that I am really going to try and work on. To leave behind my previous life, as talked about by Elder Holland. To not be a fisherman anymore but a fisher of men. And with that I decided I need to have complete and full purpose of heart, so I decided to just write friends at the end of each month. I still want and love letters, but this way I am not writing all Monday, and not wishing I could be back home. So don't stop the letters by any means, just know that I am not ignoring anyone, the letters are coming, just not as frequently.

Last week we went right after grocery shopping to FEED BABY COWS!!! Life goal done!! I have pictures to send! It was like Christmas morning I was so excited!

Also, I've been hating my clothes and having dreams about shopping, and we stopped at a consignment store here, and I bought 3 new cute skirts for $11. Happy day!!

This was a crazy busy week: with cows, and conference, and then we had interviews with President on Wednesday. I was nervous because I didn't know what to expect, but it went well. President was so supportive and is just so nice. It was good to talk to him, and hear how I can improve and be better.

Yes transfers are next week on Tuesday. This Saturday at 9 pm they call to tell us what we are doing. Sister L. thinks she is leaving because she had a dream about it. I really do love this girl, and we do have similar likes and senses of humor, so if we do separate I will be sad. But I'm also ready for more. So we'll see what happens. It's not in my hands anyway.

Sister L. is doing better. We are working hard, and seeing great things happen here! The thing that has hit me most this week, since the bishop here asked us to go see some Less Actives, is that people are just lonely. If they had a friend they would not be in the place they are. So my push to each of you is to do your home/visiting teaching! To not just go and check it off your list but get to know the person and love them! It would help the world be a better place, and help us missionaries out too!

Hope you know how much I love you all! Sorry for being a slacker this week! and I hope you like my pictures! I am so grateful for family and friends who are so supportive and loving! I hope you know how grateful I am for every little thing you do for me! The Church is True.

Keep the Faith!

Love Sister P.

Oh ps pictures: me feeding a new born (like a few hours old) with the owner's son. He was 4 and knew everything about the farm! Then we helped fill up the bottles and distribute them into their little holes in the cow homes. Super fun! With my whole district.

Also I am growing out my bangs, this is Sister L and I doing our pretty faces. Don't you want to hear about the gospel from us beauties?!

And my shrine to my nieces and nephews :)

October 1, 2012

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOO!

First off I want to share something I am so excited about with you: I GET TO FEED A BABY COW A BOTTLE TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Since this is dairy land I have been dreaming about these cute little calves. And yesterday the EQ President came up to me and told me that he heard I wanted to feed a bottle to one (this has not been something I have kept secret!) And he told me that they feed them everyday at 2 and that I could come over!!! He said they also feed them at 4 AM and I told him I'd be there at 2 :) I have been so excited all morning! I cannot wait! (yes it will probably be stinky, but I am still so excited! I will send lots of pictures next week!)

And the RS broadcast was great! We went and had baked potatoes with the ward, and had 1 inv. with us. The funny thing was that we had a mix up with a new satellite thing so we ended up watching it on the bishop's I-pad. A new experience for me! A lot of women left and went home to watch it on TV, but there were like 10-15 of us who stayed and watched it like that! Every day is an adventure out here! 

I had a really tough week this week. Not even sure exactly why, since the work is moving nicely along (5 inv at church on Sunday and such amazing spiritual lessons!), but I cried a lot the beginning of the week. I started wearing waterproof mascara because I was so emotional. And it all led down to homesickness. Missions are hard, and I never have done well with being away from home, we all know I cried every time I went to girls camp, even when Mom, Dad, and Cami were all there. But we are given trials to humble us, to stretch, and strengthen us. And I am feeling MUCH MUCH better. When there is a problem in life prayer is the cure. And everyday it has gotten a bit easier, though I was still so excited to write today. :)

Sister L is doing much better. We saw the therapist on Friday, and the day or two leading up to that she really pulled back. She was not very social, and was really nervous. But prayers were yet again answered, and she was able to open up to him, and talk to him. He is the therapist for this mission and quite a few other ones (like Oklahoma too) and is based out of Lubbock. He will drive to see her every other week, and gave us homework until then. He actually told her to tell me a lot of the things he teaches so I can benefit from them too. I am excited to grow from this too. He told her that sister missionaries really work differently and have to have different support to work well. We aren't boys and don't work like they do. So we are working on transforming our companionship to work more efficiently, and he is working with her to reduce her stress. He said that by he end she will be sleeping through the night (right now she only gets about 2 hours a night.) He also said a great quote "If you're out here for a baptism you are out her for the wrong reason." Perspective is everything.

I was so excited to write home today! Because I love you all and miss our quirky family! Thank you for all your support and constant prayers and fasting. I can feel the love all the way down here! Until next week:

xoxo Sister Peterson!

September 24, 2012

Hello-

 

Some weeks I'm just more homesick than others. And sometimes people say "oh I don't want to make you homesick by telling you too much about home etc." but it is actually worst for me when I don't think or talk about or look at pictures from home. Weird right? So I look at the pictures I have on the wall, and Sister L is so good and I think has caught on and asks me about home. I think it is just a stress release for me, and helps me to chill. But the weeks that are especially hard are the ones that Sister L is so sick and we spend a lot of time inside. When I am busy and out working the weeks go by fast, and are so fulfilling, but with everything going on lately that is not everyday.

So like I said Sister L has not been sleeping. And on Tuesday after District meeting her face and ears were hot and she had rashes. We called Sister Augustin, and she took benadryl, and then could not sleep one bit that night because she was congested and couldn't breathe. (yes I worry about her not sleeping and lately have not had very restful sleep.) But then in the early morning she took more Benadryl and then slept in until 1:15 that afternoon. She always stays in bed for a long time, and I still just get up at 6:30 and go in the living room and do as much quiet exercising as I can. I try and strengthen my back, since I have pain there, and do lots of sit ups. This week I realized I can "jump rope" (I don't actually have a jump rope) in one corner of the room where it doesn't make the floor squeak. That has been a good work out. :) So I do that for a half hour then shower and get ready for an hour. Then at 8 with my cereal in hand (or oatmeal, you should be so proud) I pray and start personal study. Then at 9 is comp study where we read out of the white handbook and sing a hymn and prepare for our lessons. The first 12 weeks of a mission the new missionary is "training" so we have a training book that tells us what to focus on for the week and we have 2 hours of comp study instead of the one. So we do that until 11. Then have lunch usually and go teach until dinner then go out again until 9 and then come home, plan, get ready for bed, and lights out at 10:30.

But on the other side of things, this place is booming! We have about 5 progressing inv. and we met with one girl Ashley yesterday and she told us how much she loves the Book of Mormon. We have met with her once before and at that appointment we gave her Alma 32 to read and she said she read it like over 5 times. She is just so hungry for the gospel. We are so excited for her, but we just have to help her boyfriend see how important it is too. And seriously can I tell you how much I hate that people live together! We have another couple we are teaching who are living together too (they have 2 kids) and the whole need to get married to be baptized thing is throwing everything off! Marriage is a big deal so they don't take it lightly. Stupid Satan and the modern world of living together!! gah!

Anyhow, that is my basic schedule. Mondays we are free after we comp study for an hour, and then we email and go shopping and then have to go out to teach again at 6. Tuesdays we have District meeting from 10-11:30 at the church. Wed at 11 we come and email President for an hour and go on Mormon.org or LDS.org. Then Thursdays nothing, Fridays we weekly plan till like 2. And Saturdays nothing. Then Church on Sunday at 10:15. There is the Spanish branch who starts church at 9 and then we come and have sacrament last. yep. That's life here in the land of enchantment.

Love you all!

Until next week

Sister. P.

September 17, 2012

Thank you so much for putting Sister L's name on the temple roll. She just said thank you so much. She has improved this week, but still is not sleeping much. She is getting a cold too, so that doesn't help. Did I tell you I fasted for her this past Monday? I haven't shared that with her yet, I am waiting for the appropriate time. She doesn't like that she is sick and then to add upon that she doesn't like that others worry and care about her. She is pretty independent, but she's stuck with me, so she's got to let me love her whether she wants it or not.

The weather here got cold this week. (we are only talking about in the 50's) But we were way cold. It is colder when you can't wear pants! We turned off the AC and brought out our winter jackets. It was raining and windy, but that was only middle of last week. Now it is sunny and warm again.

We had an amazing week. We had 3 inv. at church on Sunday and have about 5 people that are really progressing and we can see the way that this message is impacting their lives. This is an amazing work and this place is so prepared! I am so grateful to be a part of these people's lives and helping them come closer to the Savior. Some of them have addictions to overcome, and life changes to make, but I know that God can cause miracles in peoples lives.

Funny story from this week:

We went to stop by an inv. house to see how her and her husband are doing. When she answered the door she told us that it was not a good time and to come back later. We asked her if everything was alright and she told us, "We lost our dog last night, we'd had her for ten years." To which we reply that we are so sorry and if there is anything we can do to help we are here, and as we are about to go I say, "hopefully you find her!" To which I get a weird look, but we leave. After she closed the door Sister Lao turns to me and said "THEiR DOG IS DEAD! NOT LOST!" (I am so totally blonde!!!) I seriously thought the dog ran away, and thought (but gratefully didn't say) that since they had had it for 10 years it should know the way home. Yep, I am that cool. I laughed so hard that whole night, and yet again am laughing. At least I really care about people right?!?

I love you all! And am loving how busy we are here!  Thanks for all your love and prayers!

xoxo- Sister P.

September 10, 2012

Hello From the Land of Enchantment!!!!

Well this week has been an interesting one. I feel like I don't have a week go by that things happen as I would expect them to. But that is the way of mission life, and I'm coming to expect the unexpected.

We are teaching this family right now and I am actually super excited about it. Our first week here, we were going through a list of former inv. and went to go see some lady named Sandy. Well, Sandy had moved and Rudy and Lisa live in her house. Rudy answered the door and told us that right now was not a good time (the common answer) and set up an appointment for us to come back. We weren't expecting much, since everyone says that and then usually blows us off. But when we went the Spirit was SO strong, and I knew that they have been prepared for the gospel. After that amazing lesson, when we went over for our second lesson I was SO NERVOUS. Since I have been out on my mission we haven't had any progressing inv. so no one will consistently come to church or do any of the commitments like read the scriptures or pray. (this is one reason I was excited to be here in this town) And each time before that we had an inv. that was actually progressing they would call us and drop us. This has now happened twice before and once here. Satan is so evil! So I was so worried that this was going to happen again. And when we went to that second appointment, no one answered the door, so I was sure it was doomed. :( BUT all is well, because we went to visit someone else and on our drive back, we saw that their front door was open, so we stopped by. And they weren't avoiding us! Rudy had been asleep and Lisa forgot and went to the library! But the lesson went well again! The Lord is really preparing people for us, and I am so happy to be here.

Funny story:

One night we went to go see a member, but couldn't find the road she lives on. We were in the dark, and basically lost, so we prayed to be able to find the road or to be lead to where we needed to be. After our next turn we found it. (miracle of being a missionary!!) So anyhow onto the funny part. We got lost again on her street and thought we might have the wrong house because the car's plate said North Dakota and we knew the lady was from Idaho. So I said maybe the house number is mixed up, so we drove down the street a little bit, and as we are looking at houses, this man who had been standing outside came over and knocked on our window. He was just making sure we weren't "casing the houses" but then we explained that we are missionaries and how we are lost and started talking to him. He said he was interested in coming to church and such, and then at the end of our conversation he stared asking about the car: "Is this a rental? or do you own this car?" and we told him it is owned by the Church. His response to that was, "Oh! You guys are so lucky. Mormon's only have bikes!"  To which we started laughing and told him WE are Mormons!!! He was so embarrassed! And told us that he wasn't sure he wanted to come to church anymore because now he doesn't believe what we believe (whatever that means, 2 seconds ago we're all good, we mention our church's nickname and it's all over?) But we addressed his concerns and so he's not weirded out anymore. BUT SO FUNNY!

And the end of this week, Sister L had a kidney infection. She has always had weak kidneys, and with how stressed out she is, it just flared up again. So Saturday and Sunday we stayed inside all day. It is teaching me a lot of charity, and how to serve, and I am just so grateful that I do not have such problems. It makes her throw up, and she has lost 4 pounds this weekend. She also can't sleep because her back hurts where her kidney's sit, and her stomach hurts because of her kidneys too. We did go to Stake Conference on Sunday though, and a member drove us. It was all the way down in Roswell, and was nice. The Augustin's were there and spoke, and afterwords I made Sister L spill things out for S. Augustin. She is so SO sick. I am fasting for her today, because she is so miserable. But I feel better now that someone else knows so that it can be taken care of. :(

Family and Friends: I was reading in this past Conference Ensign and read  Was it Worth it by Elder David F. Evans. THIS TALK IS AMAZING! I urge each one of you to re-read it and to apply it to your lives. Just like it says: it doesn't matter if we are reactivating a less active member, or sharing the gospel with friends who do not have the truth, it is all the same in the Lord's eyes. This is the great work that we can all take a part in!

So to explain a few of the pictures:

 The black cat is Samuel. We named him after Samuel the Lamanite. The elders found him on the side of the road, and thought dropping him off at our house would take care of our mouse problem. It was out of the kindness of their hearts that they dropped the cat off, BUT it was a kitten, and cried like all night. So after a half hour of that, we called the elders and told them to come get the cat. PLUS the cat across the street decided to attack the kitten and it was just maddness until the elders came about an hour later to get the poor thing. So much drama!

The spider (yes that huge ugly thing!) is another gift from the other elders. They were driving down the street and saw it going across the road so they thought they would catch it and bring it to us (so nice right?) Sister L actually likes spiders so she thinks this is cool, and I in fact do not. We named it Charlotte as in Charlotte's web, and took pictures with it. (not my favorite day)

Then there is my district, before transfers.

The L family (a mom and her 3 daughters) live here, and are members. She invited all of the Korean exchange students to her house for a lesson. One of these things in the picture is not like the other... any guesses? ;) 

And I think that's it!!

Love you all!!! xoxoxoxo! 

September 5, 2012

Hello Utah!

Since Monday was Labor Day we just couldn't email since the libraries were all closed, but we still had P-day. Which includes cleaning the house, laundry, writing letters, and grocery shopping. Then we usually get together with the elders at some point and do something. This week they made us a smoothie, and we went to a big baptist church and played pool in their activities room,  with one of their investigators. The activities place is kinda an after school program building to keep the kids there out of trouble. Being there just reminded me of a well run business as she was explaining how things ran. So interesting.

Wednesdays we always write President, so we just are emailing families today too.

The ward here is quite small. I asked a girl if there were a lot of people missing since it was labor day weekend, and she said no. Seriously it was about the size of our chapel, with the curtain closed, and enough room between each family that everyone could have fit in just the big center rows. (I might exaggerate a little) But small.

With sisters not serving here in the last about 17 years, our area book needs a little TLC. Sister L and I are not super stoked about having to organize and get the ward pumped, everything we just did in our last place, but I realized the other day that maybe that is something God has given me and though it stinks not to be able to bask in our organized, trained area: I am not here to lay back and relax. So if I can be used, and work in this way, then I'll do it. :)

I luckily am dealing with this all really well, my stress is fine, except when Sister L. has a little break down and I think I have to do it all alone. Then I pray and I'm good. Really I have been blessed to know how my body is feeling so I can address my stress as it comes up.

I know we are out in the middle of no where, but I love it! There is a college here, and every day I am jealous of the college students. I miss school. But it is fun to be in a college community where there is so much life!

Anyhow!

I love you all!! Can't wait to hear from you again... until next week! xoxoxo