October 21, 2013

YELLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

I have about a billion things in my head and 100 things to write about so I just hope I don't forget anything!

 

Most importantly is that we had transfer calls this week: and I'M BEING TRANSFERRED!! :( I may or may not have cried about it. Mostly just when thinking about leaving M. He was progressing so well and I just don't want that to stop. But I know Heavenly Father has a plan for him, so it will all turn out alright! So yes, I am leaving and guess who is replacing me?! None other than Sister S who I trained!! All of the sisters here will have had ME for a companion at one time. A common enemy shall we say?! No... the three of us are really sad to separate, we had a REALLY good transfer and I love these girls so much! (oh they will also be switching areas with the elders we share the ward with... cool right?) But L here I come. Oh yes, I am going to L. That is the YSA there to serve with Sister O. All I know about her is that when I was there last she was just being trained and in that exact ward. So she has been there for like 7 months. Also I found out that she will be my senior companion since she has been in the area so long! Funny right? I guess I spoke too soon when I said I would be senior for the rest of my mission!!!  

 

I do have some reservations about going to L. Especially since I don't have super warm feeling about the last time I was there. But I feel like a completely different person this go round so I am excited. I just look at the positives and am going to go and visit the people we were teaching and loved up there and tell them to meet with the missionaries again if they aren't!! Plus a few that we loved like K and C are YSA age anyway!! I am grateful to get out of the allergies here but then just to go to a windy cold city... But we will be sharing the ward with the Assistants... Which should be fine but is just intimidating! Also I feel like a kid on the first day of school. The YSA is my age!! Will they like me? Will we get along? What should I wear? hahaha no.... but I loved the YSA aspect of the New Mexico ward, but this is total YSA here. It will be good it is all just the unknown.

 

We leave here (we are the first stop) on a charter bus tomorrow morning at 7 and it is like a 9 hour bus ride since we have to stop at every zone along the way! I am almost done packing and am happy about that! It hasn't been that bad this go round and just hate the packing side of all of this!

 

So apparently it is this transfer all of us will be able to go to the temple! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I have dreams about being home after the mission all the time. And about half way through EACH of the dreams I realize that I have been home for x amount of time and haven't gone to the temple yet and start freaking out!! So this will be awesome!

 

We had an awesome lesson with M this week. He said that he doesn't believe that this church is any different from any other one BUT he said that in the first lesson we had with him I told him that if he will read the Book of Mormon he will come to know that this is true!!! And he said he is holding on to that one thing, and hoping that it is true. He told me I have been honest with him so far so he is going to believe this too! I told him that he will never know that it is true unless he prays about it, and though he isn't yet to the point that he will commit to praying this is major progress!! He also came to gospel principles on Sunday!! Miracles are happening!

 

We also felt inspired to heart attack a family (our assistant ward missionary) he went through 2 surgeries last week and her sister is currently in the hospital. So we heart attacked them Thursday night and on Friday she called us (she said she immediately knew we did it) to say that it was crazy because he was feeling really bad so they had taken him to the hospital and during the time that they had left the house to the hospital and she came back to get clothes for the kids we had heart attacked them!! I am so grateful for promptings of the Spirit to do random acts of service!!

 

I love this place and am so sad to leave, but I know that Heavenly Father has great things in store for me! I love you all so much- and Mom and Dad I keep telling everyone we 3 will be back to visit them!! Yay! Can't wait!  Love you all!! I'll let you know my new address as soon as I get it!

 

xoxoxo Your missionary!

Sister Peterson!  

October 15, 2013

It's raining it's pouring the missionaries are soaring!

What a BUSY day!! I have had the busiest last 3 days of my mission ever. Period.

And yes it is pouring rain here. I am just glad I have water proof boots. I don't have to worry about wet socks thankfully!

Funny you should say that Columbus day is a funny holiday. All the schools here were out yesterday. And of course the library was too. So here I am emailing you tonight- because this is the only time we had free today!! So yes the work is going wonderfully- but hopefully my head doesn't fall off. Sunday we left for church in the morning and didn't come home until 9:00 that night. Then Monday we cut p-day an hour short to go to an early lesson and then didn't get home until 9:30 (which is allowed when in a lesson) and then Today we left for district meeting after studies and haven't been home since, and now here we are. We don't have such a hectic day tomorrow, which will be good.

Transfer calls are Saturday and we will see how that goes! I am hoping to stay. We are doing so much here that it will be heartbreaking to leave, but I know that Heavenly Father will inspire President to send me (or keep me) where I am needed most. So we shall see.

  

Welp, it was Sister T's 23rd birthday on Saturday. So our district leader and his companions decorated the bedroom for her! I'm sending pictures. It is about 150 balloons! We got rid of a few of them yesterday, but it was really fun. I think she enjoyed herself. We went out to Applebees for dinner to celebrate.

This past week we also had exchanges. Sister D (who is our Sister Training Leader) and her two companions: Sisters C and D came for 24 hours. It is so fun to serve with other missionaries. I am sad to say that I will forever be the senior companion- since there are no sisters "older" than Sister L and me out. It is so crazy to me how many sisters are now in the mission, and how young they are. But they are definitely ready for service. They are so much braver than I was at their age. (and yes some Elders do call me Grandma- remember how they are 5 years younger than I am. And how BP is their age- and how I babysat him. Oh yeah I remember that! - But don't worry, I don't let 'em forget it either haha)

Things are coming along with our investigators. M is out of town for the week, but we had a few lessons with him this past week so things are looking good. His hardest struggle is recognizing the Spirit- but isn't that common for all of us? :) He has sincere desire so I know things will change for him. Then also we have been working with a part-member family. We are teaching the dad M. He is atheist but he isn't. We had a breakthrough lesson with him yesterday where the Spirit guided are questions and we found out that he groups ALL religions together. So if he sees one hypocritical person who believes in God he doesn't want to be associated with them at all and so he just chooses not to believe all together. We were able to testify to him that we are the one TRUE church. That this is it. He still won't pray since he doesn't believe anyone is listening, but we are getting there.

I love you all lots! Xoxo!

Love Sister Peterson

Exchanges with the sisters Sister C is up top, Da in the middle and Du in the bottom. 

You should recognize the rest of us. 

and our District picture today

October 7, 2013

Hello!!!!!!!!!!! From TEXhasss!!!! It is finally (kinda) cooling off here. It is like August in Utah. Not like any October I can remember!! Even Portales got cold since there is a wind there... but not here.

 

Wasn't conference just splendid?! How wonderful it is to have living day Prophets! It was such a miracle because L is having such an issue with tithing- and then this past week C brought up tithing and it was what we had been praying for: Elder Bednars talk!! It brought tears to my eyes! Heavenly Father sent that talk just for us down here in San Angelo! But each session, each talk was that way! M was with us during the sessions and kept saying, "this talk is just for me" and then the next speaker, "this one too!!" and on and on. Each one applied so perfectly to this area and to me!! We visited a less active last night and she was sick and ended up watching all the sessions. She knew that she was sick for a reason and it allowed her to not have to work and to watch. She now wants to return to the temple and we set up an appointment with her to meet with the Bishop. What an amazing weekend!

 

Also we had an amazing lesson with M between sessions on Sunday. We with the bishopric and the ward mission leaders all fasted for this sweet man. And his heart is changing. We asked him to say the closing prayer and it was beautiful! He asked for help to understand what we are teaching him (which this is the first time he has admitted that he is willing to be taught) and he asked for help to know the TRUTH! This is a huge step! I was on cloud nine! 

 

We did have interviews this past week, and President didn't give me much to work with. He said that it was something I needed to decide though it is not an easy thing for him to request. I was really hoping that he would give me some fatherly advice, but I'm afraid I didn't get any. But I think I already had my answer. I felt as Oliver in Doctrine and Covenants 6:23. I had peace about January but not about December. I don't understand why, because I miss you all SO much. And it just makes sense to go home when all will be around, but our ways are not God's ways. So I will go and do and hopefully we will all see and understand why. I love you all and am sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.  

 

Mom: less actives I LOVE THEM! We spend a lot of time with them. We see about 5 or 6 a week. It really all boils down to visiting teaching though. If people would diligently do and magnify their visiting teaching then what a difference this all would make. It all starts with love. They just need love and then you need to love them enough to help them change. Yes it is good to be their friend and see them once a month and talk about the kids or work or whatever that is important. But no one is going to see change until they are invited to act. Invited to come to church, to read their scriptures. Out of love we need to ask them about their spiritual work also. "did you read anything interesting in your scripture study this past week?" And then you can see how they are being nourished. And if they aren't you be the one to say "well I know this isn't the easiest thing to do- but it will come with time. So how about we text each other every day to remind each other to read and pray." It really is that simple, but sometimes people forget that. They let all the what if's cloud the way. These people want to understand and come back, but they need our help. And in Utah this is especially what missionary work is about. And in Alma 31:34-35. Notice the word again. Most in Utah have already heard the good word of God, but they need to come back and again taste of it's goodness. Okay that's my two bits!

 

Love you all see you soon (3 MONTHS! GAHH!!)

xoxox Sister Peterson

 

September 30, 2013

Hello Fam-

We had a great week! It was a little slow in the missionary work side of things. Sister T was sick one day and we had Zone Conference and traveling to that (it was a bit of a mess because we had to caravan... but it all worked out). Zone Conference was AMAZING! Elder Walker is over all the temples including designs and locations and training temple presidents and everything in between! He said that next to the councilors he meets with the Prophet more than anyone else!! How amazing it was to be taught at the feet of this amazing man!

And RS session was grand! It was so great to hear all about covenants when (hopefully soon) we here will be able to go to the temple! And I loved President Monson's talk on prayer! It was all so good! And one of the less actives who attended told her fellowship that it had touched a lot of her concerns, and when we asked her about it on Sunday she said that it touched her in a lot of different ways! She attended all of church yesterday for the first time since she was in young women!!!

And church all around was so great yesterday. We had that less active PLUS C who was baptized about 5 years ago and then fell away-and a member asked us to go see her and we have been for the past few months (she is basically totally active now! rediscovered her testimony!) Well her husband who has never been interested and is a sneak and somehow disappears from the room whenever we start talking about religion- he told her that he would like to come to church!!! We have high hopes and plans to work on that this week!

Then H and M also came to church- less active mother and daughter and M hasn't been to church since she was in High School probably- so like more than 10 years! They had SUCH  a warm reception when they arrived yesterday! It was amazing!

And C is doing awesome too! She is the one who hadn't been to church in 13 years until she started coming with us! Well she had been out of town for a few weeks and is now back and we helped do service at her house this past week and she is SO GRATEFUL! She is getting rid of all the old (no more alcohol or cigarettes in the house!) and ready to move forward with the gospel! It is so rewarding to see these amazing sisters grab hold with both hands to all that the Savior has to offer in His restored church!

Other than less actives L and R: R is doing really well! She is announcing to everyone that she is getting baptized and is SO EXCITED!! Then on the other hand we have L... who well is in a hold up. She has a real problem with Tithing and we are trying to help her build her faith but Satan is tricky and is really working on that whole household to create distractions! We dunno what to do, but Heavenly Father does and He will help us.

Grandma is excited for you all to come up to the cabin! That sounds so fun! I miss the cabin so much. And I am so excited for General Conference!

We had a lot of rain again this week, which everyone is excited about here in Texas but makes for a wet Sister Peterson. Missionary work in the rain is not so fun- I am just glad I wasn't called to serve in like Seattle or something. haha

Welp, not much else to report. I will talk to President Thursday and let you know next week what's up!

Love you all!

xoxoxo

Your missionary-

Sister Peterson

September 23, 2013

HELLO FAMILY!

 

Welp once upon a time I live in Texas. And Texas is currently in a drought. And so everyone prays for rain and God hears and answers prayers so mid week it down poured. And since I live in Texas they don't believe in drainage systems. So it all pools in the middle of the streets and becomes rivers. Never ending adventure around here for sure! But I was excited to pull out my colder clothes and wear my boots and today I am wearing a cardigan. It is cooler and nice in the mornings- but the sun is out today so I will probably have to ditch the cardi later today.

 

So Zone Conference is this Wednesday and it is going to be in Midland, and I'm excited because it will be about half the mission! We never get the whole mission together here because the land mass and travel is too large, so this will be fun! There will be a lot of sisters there I don't know so I am excited to put names with faces. Also Elder William R. Walker will be there.  So no I haven't talked to President yet, and each day it changes but today I feel like I want to stay till January. I still don't have a firm feeling on what I should do, but we also have never confirmed anything with President so who knows. I currently feel like my old life is a dream, and right now I am busy doing the missionary work I need to do so sorry nothing finalized yet.

 

Also MOST EXCITING THING EVER!! This is a clip from President Augustin's email!!!

 "And if this isn't enough great news, we announce the blessing of attending the temple.  For two years we have tried every which-way to have our missionaries blessed with at least one temple session here at the Lubbock Temple while they serve.  But because of the temple's inability to host such a large number, distances, housing, weather, and mission president's being reminded missionaries are here to serve as missionaries, preaching and teaching, we have never been able to offer this.  But after much, much discussion and planning, we think we have finally arrived at a workable method of permitting you to attend the temple at least once during your service here.  This will be an added blessing to attend the House of the Lord and be part of a new, recently released film version of the endowment.  It is also a blessing to be able to come and be reminded of the sacred covenants each of us has made to our Heavenly Father.  We believe the work will increase even more after you have revisited the sacred instruction of a House of the Lord.  We will have to work out exact times, days, due to weather, temple availability, etc. so have faith and lots of patience.  This is a blessing!"

 

We had the whole C family at church yesterday! That is our recent convert T and his wife L (who has troubles getting Sunday's off) and her daughter R. Then also A their friend came with them. All three of those have baptismal dates set! T has the fire of conversion burning and is helping others come closer to Christ!

 

Most amazing story this week: In our ward is a part member family. They are a senior couple and we had been working with her with her neighbors. She had told us upfront about her husband and so I thought that was a closed case- but then after a few weeks something she said struck me and I asked her if we could talk to him about the gospel and she said that we can try... So finally we were able to set up a time for us to go to their home! And can I just say how nervous I was for this appointment. I want him to understand the importance of the truths we teach so SO BADLY! I want it for him and I want it for his family! We prayed so so hard and I know that it was all because of that effort that the lesson went well. M confessed things to us about the church that surprised his wife. That he doesn't know how to recognize the Spirit and that in his 79 years of living he doesn't think he has ever received an answer from God. He was not really open, but not disagreeable which is a huge difference and we were able to convince him to try again. To try and read and pray this time, and allow us to help him!! And so far so good!! We have been leaving him sticky notes with reading assignments on his front door because when I asked if we could call him to check up on his reading he told me he wouldn't answer the phone :) haha and I guess when we left the first one (on the door not the one we left the night of our appointment) he mentioned to his wife that he had already read this very first assignment!!!! We have another appointment tomorrow with him and I am hoping so hard! His wife started crying at church yesterday when I talked to her and she said she is afraid to hope- so I told her not to hope that I would do all the hoping for her! :)

 

That was all on our crazy day Tuesday where we had 6 set appointments that all went through and district meeting in the morning! I love this area and wouldn't mind one bit if I stay till the end!

 

Love you! xoxo

 

attached is a picture of a cake we made L for her birthday! We made it during lunch and dinner breaks. It is two cakes carved into a butterfly and such! Someday I'm gonna make a good wife! haha 

September 16, 2013

Hello! Hello!

 

I wish we had that much rain down here! Luckily the days are cooling off- but that means in the 90's here. I am just happy to be able to wear my hair down, I used to get SO hot I had to wear my hair up to try and help stay cool. I guess I wouldn't actually like that much rain here either though, because with the rain comes the humidity: and it gets bad here. Not China bad, but still no fun. This is for sure not Utah.

 

Though I would like some fresh peaches!! Next time you send a package feel free to put in a large bag of dried peaches. We will eat them right up! :)

 

Well exciting news this week: T, our recent convert from July: his step daughter R and his wife L have both accepted baptismal dates!!! It is for October 19th because L works every Sunday so we are all fasting and praying for some changes at work for her! So far so good... we are very excited! R has gone every week with T to church, but wasn't dedicated in actually learning for herself, and testing the gospel out. But now she is!!! We are so excited for this family- and we are now just working on finding more prepared people! T blessed the sacrament for the first time this past week and he did so well! He had a stroke (before we knew him) so he has a hard time reading- and would practice like everyday. He had a really hard time with the word sanctify but he said it PERFECTLY in church yesterday!!

 

Sister T is great! She is from Rexburg, Idaho so we get along great- since I was born right there at Madison Memorial Hospital! She has been out about 9 months, and is a great missionary! She loves to laugh and I love when people think I am funny so life is good! haha

 

Right now we have cleaned out our potential list and are starting fresh! I have been thinking and studying a lot about the temple- since we can't go I have been reading from the temple prep book and the bible dictionary and loving it! So I realized that Heavenly Father, like we always say, is a God of order. So I studied a lot on stewardship- and we have come up (as a companionship) the way to better be accountable to the Lord and over the stewardship in our area here. I have always struggled with letting people own their own stuff, by being the control freak I am- but I am really trying to work on that. Heavenly Father has always let us learn from our mistakes- even when it hurts him! I often think about the 3rd hosts of heaven and how sad that must have made Him. So I have to not control the situation but allow our investigators, my companions, the members, and other missionaries learn for themselves: even when it effects me and is hard for me. :)

 

We met with the bishop here yesterday to ask him for some less actives to go see. As we were talking to him he said something to the effect of, "oh I don't need to worry about you- you are the hard working ones!" Our bishop is great here and we are hoping this transfer to really get the members involved. One hard thing with that is that 75% of the members live in the elder's area. Meaning when we meet with them to talk about referrals: they are usually working with their neighbors... so they will all go to the elders. BUT it's all the same work, and we really like the 3 elders we share a ward with.

 

 Okay well that's all I've got. Yes mom I got your package- not on monday though it came a day or two later.

 

Love you all! xoxo

 

 

 

September 9, 2013

Hello!!

 

Well transfer calls came and Sister P and I are staying here and getting another companion: Sister T! She is currently companions with Sister R, so I know her pretty well. And then Sister C is being transferred over to Midland. She is excited and a bit nervous. We were all pretty sure that I would be the one leaving and so now Sister C is having a harder time saying goodbye to everyone. But I know that this will be a great experience for her.

 

My one sadness about staying is that the members say the allergies only get worse in the coming months. I was taking a daytime 24 hour allergy pill but it was giving me like mood swings with bursts of energy and then lows of tiredness. So I stopped taking that one and since most of the allergy pills have that same active ingredient I am only taking an allergy pill at night. So far I am doing better- since it helps to have my sinus cleared at least once a day. So I dunno what to do about all of that. Everyone says that this is the worst place and gives everyone allergies. I am on a man hunt for local honey but no luck yet. :/ If I get desperate I figure I can pay the extra money for the name brand allergy pills but they are like a dollar a pill. So yep that's that.

 

Sounds like you all had a fun week. I am glad you saw Jessica, I love that girl. And we heard about the BYU game at church. People were pretty upset- but that is really funny about firing the defensive coach! haha too great!

 

Kate I got all your blog updates! I laughed so hard at the slip n slide one! Too funny that baby girl!! I am excited to love on her one day!

 

I was hoping to hear about what President said. If he answers you early enough in the week you should shoot me a letter and let me know. I am very curious.

 

We met a really cool guy yesterday as we were coming out to our car after visiting a member of the ward. He was taking out his trash and called over to us, "So whatcha selling?" haha I answered, "nothing just the good word of God!" We went up and started talking to him. He is a man in his 60's probably and very well-to-do. He had a gold fancy FANCY watch and his hands were decked out with gold rings. We explained to him that we are missionaries and he told us he had a good friend who was a member and they used to fly their planes into Salt Lake to visit sometimes. He then asked us if we were married or had fiances and when we answered no he said, "Well, do your parents have to choose your mate?" And we all laughed and told him no, and explained how we just focus on missionary work for these 18 months. He then said, "Well, I have 11 grandsons... and I'm pretty sure some of them will be your ages!" He then turned to Sister C and asked her how old she was, "Well, you all look so young- are you 16?" (HAHAHAHAHA yes my poor little companion. She looks young.. real young. But at least this is a huge improvement from when we first were companions. She used to get asked if she was 12 all the time!) Major improvement. But we had a nice talk with him and we are going back this week to talk to his wife, who he said has read the Book of Mormon before. We meet the coolest people on the mission.

 

We had another baptism this past Saturday. It doesn't really count in mission numbers but this one was a big one for me. A member referred us to her next door neighbor who was excommunicated 30 years ago. We had been teaching her all transfer, and finally she was baptized Saturday. It was so awesome because all her family came too. None of them have any association with the church and we know they are already seeing the change in her and hopefully will follow her example! The gospel of Christ is amazing and does change lives like nothing else can! 

 

I am grateful to be out here were I can also try to be better and focus on smoothing out my faults also. I know that Heavenly Father hears our prayers and that Christ will take our pains and afflictions upon him. He lives. I know it.

 

Love- Sister Peterson