3-3-14

Dear Mom,

Bahahaha, don't worry, I love all the letters that I'm getting :) I feel very spoiled but I'm grateful to have such a loving family :) That's awesome that you were able to hand that Book of Mormon out! Well done! Haha, now if you see him again you should invite him to church :P I'm glad that you were able to do that. 

I'm been learning a lot out here. A lot about the gospel, about myself, and about other people. It's interesting being with a companion 24/7 because your actions can directly affect your companion. Like you can't go anywhere without them, and you don't often get too many moments to be alone (unless you get to the bathroom haha) so I'm really just learning more about how to be open. Which is really good and something that I definitely need to work on so I'm grateful for that. I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful trainer. She's so compassionate towards me and everyone around her. I'm so very grateful that she's my companion for this first while.

The people here are awesome. I don't think I've ever met so many people from India before in my life! Seriously, there are a lot of Muslims and Hindus. I think when you go more towards South Georgia that you get more of the true blue Southerners, but I've been meeting a lot of diversity here. I love it though. (They have the coolest names too!) I'm learning a lot more about other faiths and what others believe. It's really cool. And thanks Mom for the packages! I love everything that I got and I'm so glad it all came when it did :) 

The mission is truly wonderful. There are a lot of hard days, but I have an awesome, understanding trainer and so it's manageable. It often scares me to think that I'm supposed to be teaching the gospel. That I'm actually on a mission. I have moments where I have to pause and think I'm actually here in Georgia. I'm actually going to random strangers' houses, knocking on their doors, and talking about Jesus. Haha, it'd be the craziest thing ever if I didn't know that what I was doing was right and true. 

I already feel like I'm changing. I'm not quite sure how, but being plopped down in Georgia and asked to serve the Lord is really molding me into something different. Of course I'm still me, but I don't know. You kind of have to learn fast here if you want to be able to become the best missionary that you can. There's still SOOOOOO MUCH that I need to learn. And SOOOOO MUCH that I want to learn. But I love it. Haha, it truly is the best decision that I ever made. 

I hope that everyone is doing good back home. I hope that you have fun on your trip mom and dad! And have an awesome girl's night :) I'm glad that you were able to see the celebration! It's been raining here too! (It was kind of miserable this morning when we went to exercise, but I it's all good. It makes me want to drink hot chocolate. Thanks for all of the letters and the support. I really appreciate it. 

There's a lot of work to be done here in Webb Bridge. I feel that if the fire could be ignited in the ward, there would be a lot of great missionary moments. No Baptisms, but we did have a man named Carl come to church with us the Sunday before yesterday. He's our investigator that's progressing the most. (I can't remember if I told you about him or not) But he's an awesome man from South Africa. We just had a fast for him on Sunday because he's going through a pretty difficult divorce. Luckily, the judge postponed the court date to be in May, which is exactly what he wanted. His wife keeps pushing for the divorce, but he doesn't want it to happen mainly so his boys don't have to suffer through it and have a broken family. He's an awesome man and if you met him you would think that he's a member!! We've asked him to be baptized, but he's still hesitant with how things are. But we're hopeful that he'll stick around because he's amazing. And he's definitely seen a lot of miracles since we knocked on his door. So we're hopeful :)

They are feeding us very well here. (A little too well :/ ) So far, my experience with Southern food has been excellent :) I miss you all! I hope that you have a wonderful week and thanks for all that you do! Keep up the missionary work. (Seriously it's the members that make missionary work possible. Tracting hardly does anything. If more members were willing to reach out towards others, the work would hasten even more. But! What's awesome about that is because so many of us rushed out into the field, that means that when we get back, there are going to be more members that have gone on missions. More members that will have that experience which hopefully will mean that there will be even more work done once they all return. Just got to cross our fingers :) 

Anyways, I love you! 

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen