3-25-15

Hello Family!!

Well! This week was a crazy week! I forgot to let you know that a General Authority came to our mission this week. He's in the presidency of the area seventy and his name is Elder Zwick. We had a huge zone conference on Thursday the whole day and it was just sooo inspiring and uplifting. And get this! Our mission is getting Ipads! He announced that he had gotten the news that our mission was going to be getting Ipads in May and that he would be coming back to give us instructions on how to use them and what to use them for. Which is crazy exciting and a little scary too!! So... I'm probably the most spoiled missionary ever, but I'm really excited for them :P

We also ended up going on exchanges this week and I was companions with Sister Chapman for a day who is actually from Mesa, Arizona. Her brother Jarred was in orchestra with me! Which was crazy fun and exciting! :P Do y'all know any other Chapmans? She graduated at Mesa High and is 29 years old. She's also really good friends with Amanda Nicoll. (But I was a silly head and completely forgot to ask her first name!!!) She also only has one leg and has a prosthetic leg that she uses if that helps to identify her :P I was thinking that maybe Amelia might know her. She also has dark curly hair.

Anyways, work wise, there isn't a lot to report for this week. It seems like everyone is just really busy to meet with us, but we're going to try and get in with that family tonight and teach them, so cross your fingers that we'll be able to see them again tonight! 

Other news, we also just found out that the ward that we're in is going to be splitting!! So there's going to be a special meeting this coming Sunday all about it and what the new boundaries are going to be! It's crazy and a little sad, but I'm interested to see what the new changes will bring. This ward has a lot of really awesome people and I'm sure that they'll be able to adjust to the changes well, I just hope that it'll all work out. 

As a whole things are going well. I've been going through the Book of Mormon over again in my studies. I'm at Mosiah nineteen right now, and it's just really interesting to me how reading it slowly and highlighting certain things really brings the experiences to life. I really like taking it slowly and studying the verses in depth because I feel like I'm gleaning so much more out of them. Especially with what Abinadi says to King Noah and how brave he must have been to have been able to say all of those things when he knew that he was going to die. It's just awesome and really inspiring. :)

Anyways, I hope y'all have a blessed week!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

3-16-15

Hey Fam!!

Well! There were lots and lots of miracles that happened this week! The first one actually happened last Monday evening when we taught the Restoration to a family. It was a really powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. After we shared the First vision we invited them to be baptized and they said Yes!! It was Amazing! Me and Sister Davenport were on cloud nine! We don't have them on date, but we're hoping that we'll be able to meet with them tonight so that we can go over it again (Their dad wasn't there the last time, so we're hoping that he'll be there this time and we can teach all of them). But they were SO sincere! It was wonderful :) and Sister Davenport was happy because their 14 yr old girl is on the softball team and Sis. Davenport LOVES softball. We asked if we could practice on a Monday sometime and they said that they would totally be up for it! So Awesome! And they're also a black family and Sis. Davenport has been dying to teach and baptize a black family. It's so fun!

The other miracle was that we got to teach another family the Restoration as well. We actually weren't planning on seeing them, we had gotten in their area to see someone else, but Sis. Davenport suggested that we try and see them since we were in the neighborhood. So! The dad ended up answering the door and let us right in. We sat down and began to teach him and his wife. The lesson was a little crazy (Their two boys are nuts, but Super cute :D ) But at the end of it, they asked really sincere questions about the prophet and us and wanted to know more. Their schedule is super busy, but they seemed really interested and invited us to come back anytime. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get in with them again soon. And what's also super cool is that they're from Haiti :D

What else? Oh yeah! Our zone is trying out an experiment that we've been implementing the last few days. We're going on a forty day fast. Not of food and water ;) But a fast towards those things that are most distracting to us and keep us from the Spirit. We ended up fasting a real fast the very first day and made a list of ten things that we truly felt like we needed and could give to the Lord for the next forty days. And that we would work with Him and rely on Him to help us truly change and become better people and missionaries. And in return, if we are worthy, that we'll be able to become the most effective missionaries that we can be and truly be guided by the Spirit. It's been Really interesting! A couple of my goals have been to stop quoting movies and songs and BOY!! I didn't realize how difficult it would be and how much I actually think about it!! Hah! But I really feel like because of it, miracles have been happening and God has really been blessing us. It's been an incredible experience and I'm exciting to see where things go from here.

Anyways! Other than that, all is well and life is grand :) I hope that all is well for you too! I love ya'll!! Have a blessed day! :D 

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

3-9-15

Dear Fam,

Hello hello! How is everyone doing?? Things in Suwanee are going wonderful :) The work in and of itself is a little slow at the moment, but I love it here and I'm loving my companion, so I have no complaints :D

A lot of what we've been doing this week is just following up with our potentials and going through the area book to see if there are any former investigators in our old teaching pool that we can try and see again. Ha, all of the investigators that we did have, have basically been dropped/given to members to work with (there's been a lot of talk about faith and works and grace and a lot of dialogue that we thought would be better for the members here to work with rather than us :) ) But we've been getting email updates about them, so maybe eventually they'll enter the waters of baptism :)

Well, had another lovely encounter with dark forces from the other side and we had to get our apartment here blessed. It was nothing super serious or intense except that I had just had one of the most intense nightmares of my life and Sister Davenport kept getting a lot of anxiety at night. I kept feeling nervous at night as well and it just felt like things were off. When the elders came to bless it, they agreed that it felt really heavy in our apartment. But now it's blessed and things feel SOO much better which is definitely nice (And I can get a good night's sleep without freaking out!!) So that's been a huge blessing.

Since we've been getting a lot of people who have been talking about the difference between being saved by grace rather than works, I've been doing a lot of studies on it lately. I still don't completely understand it, but it involves the Atonement, and my mind has a hard time grasping all of that, so it makes sense :P. But I would say that it is completely and 100% that we are saved by grace. We would never be able to return back into the presence of God without his Grace and Atonement. We are asked to be obedient and to do certain things in order to receive the full blessings of the Atonement, but even then, we wouldn't be able to do any of those things without the mercy and Grace of God and Jesus Christ and the Atonement. It all seems to really tie into together. I don't know, it's just interesting stuff :)

Anyways, things are going good :) I hope that all is well with y'all! (I also learned that I've been spelling y'all wrong my whole mission... Oops :P) I love you! I hope y'all have a blessed day!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

3-6-15

Hey Fam!

Hah! Alright, alright, before I forget here's my new address :) It's 2115 Breton Hunt Lane, Suwanee, GA 30024. And Oh My Goodness, I am in LOVE with Suwanee!! This is the absolute most amazing ward that I have ever been in! Like everyone that I've met here has been so friendly! At church on Sunday, so many people just came right up and introduced themselves. The bishop announced that I was here, and I was asked to give the opening prayer. People sign up on our dinner calendar months in advance. It's almost ridiculous how amazing it is here!! I've almost been feeling like it's been too good to be true :P 

I love my new companion Sister Davenport. She's from Utah and is the middle in her family of all girls :) She's been out on her mission for about four months now. She loves to sing (she's been in choir for a lot of her life) and is So funny :) we laugh all the time! (We've already started a quote wall :P ) And best of all, we both want to work. I love it :) And let me tell you, she has been an answer to my prayers.

Can I also tell you how many other tiny little miracles that this area has? One miracle is that I have a comfortable bed, our apartment is small and cozy, which means it's so much Warmer than all my previous ones (I don't have to wear a sweater and sweat pants to bed!!!!! :D ) And our apartment doesn't have ANTS Hallefreakinlujah!! The people are great. We have a car. We listen to music all the time. The area is big and the members are so wonderful. Like just the other day, we went over to a member's house to print something off of their computer and then they asked us if we had a lunch. We said "No, we were just going to go and get Chick-fi-le" and they were like, "I think it's time for lunch. How do you feel about going to Chickfille?" And they totally took us and paid for our lunch!!! I'm just amazed every single day by the members here and by how generous they are to us! 

As for the work, we've got a lot of potentials in our area, but the couple of investigators that we have been working with are very strong baptists. Our lessons with them, kind of turned into a small bash. They have a hard time with Grace and Works and would often pull out verses from the bible that say you only need faith in order to be saved... Which is frustrating, but we've been doing a lot of research on it. I remembered there was this great talk called, "My Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox that I was able to find. And there's this amazing talk by Tad R. Callister titled "The Blue Print of Christ's church" (That one is a bit of a smash down, but it was so amazing to listen to when we found it :) ) We also had some great team ups who were able to answer their questions and explain things in a way that we couldn't. So That was a blessing! 

We've also got transfer calls, and we're both going to be staying in Suwanee for the next little while. Thank goodness!! All I can say is, is that I feel so truly blessed and humbled to be here. I am so grateful that God put me here. I am so grateful that I've been through the experiences that I have been, so that I can see how great of a place this truly is. God is so wonderful. I feel so so SO blessed. I know that the gospel is true! And I know that God does answer our prayers. Even in the most difficult of trials, God is always there, providing miracles, even if they're sometimes too small to even see. He's always there, and He always is listening. And I just wanted to tell ya'll that I love you so much! I know that we met for a reason and each of us was supposed to come down here at this time to be with each other and learn from each other. 

"Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men (or women ;) ) that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name." 

"Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, and has been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land."

"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen"  (Alma 26:35-37).

Can I get an Amen to that? :]

Thanks for all that you do. I love you! Have a blessed day!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

2-23-15

Dear Family,

That sounds like SOOO much fun :) Mom we will definitely have to go again the next time!! I'm glad to hear that things are going well back home! 

It is definitely cold! But thankfully we have a good heater in the car, and I've been staying warm :) Cyriacus came to church!! That was SO wonderful to see! I was so happy to see him there. He missed the Sacrament, but made it to the rest of the talks. We also had a lesson with him last week. Haha, when we tried to put him on date, he was like "Yes! Yes I want to follow the example of my Savior!" And we didn't even get to the part of baptism. But then Sister Roundy brought up baptism again and he said that he would have an answer after he went to our church. So we're going to meet with him again this week as soon as possible to find out what he thought. 

Well, I've got some interesting news for ya'll. I'm being Emergency transfered to Suwanee. I head out this Wednesday to be with Sister Davenport. I haven't heard anything about her, so I don't really know what to expect :P Her companion is having to go home due to some kind of disease with her heart (I didn't quite grab all of the details on that). But yeah... :) I'm a little bummed about it, but President came over to our apartment himself and told me that I was being sent over there. We're the only trio in the mission so it makes sense that one of us would have to go. However, I'm moving forward towards another adventure!! I'm excited to see what Suwanee is like. I know that it's further north, but other than that I have no idea. It's not as far as Dahlonega was, but it's in the same zone.

So off topic :P, in our study room, we're right next to a window. Since Spring is coming closer the birds are singing again outside. It's weird to think that it's been a year since I first came out. It just made me reflect a little bit. Everything in Georgia is the same. It's the same mission. The outside is the same. The seasons are still the same and the trees are the same. I'm still on the same mission, doing the exact same thing. But I'm not the same :P It's just kind of funny the difference of feelings that I have now. My worries and concerns are different than what they were before. I just feel a lot calmer inside and more at peace. I am sad to be leaving after such a short time, but I'm satisfied with how I've worked in this area. I've done a lot of clean up here (the area book was a mess, we had two of them and most of the records weren't in our area anymore). And I just feel so blessed by the Lord. I feel like each circumstance I'm going through is preparing me for the future. Having companions that were Emergency Transferred here, has prepared me a little for this transfer. What kind of an attitude that I want to have, and how I want to deal with this trial. It's going to be hard, but God is near and I am so grateful for that :) 

I hope that ya'll are having a good one! Have a blessed day :) I love you and I am so grateful for all that you do! Thanks for the letters. Thanks for the emails. Thanks for the stories and the pictures :) I appreciate them all so much! I miss ya'll! Take care :)

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

2-18-15

Hello hello Fam!

Boy! It sounds like things are really crazy back home! I'm glad that things have been so good as well! Please send me a picture of that hummingbird and let me know how ANWA goes! I've always wanted to go to one of those! (And if you can get me an autograph of someone I would love it :P ) And you've been called as President! (I'm not surprised :) ) That's awesome! And that's so great that Renea has been able to help you get another name Dad!! Man! I seriously want to learn how to do that!

Alright! This week, it's been crazy, but it's been a good week :) Yeah I'm still in a threesome, transfers aren't until the beginning of March. When that hits one of my companions (Sister Roundy) will be going home. After that point I'll probably just stay with Sister Osburn. Let's see, we've got an investigator that we're working with which I'm Super stoked about! His name is Cyriacus and he's from Nigeria. He's super sincere, black, and awesome! I love his accent :) He's got a family still in Nigeria that he's working to get into the states (he has a five year old that he hasn't even met yet!) We're planning on teaching him tomorrow and putting him on date! Wish us luck! 

We've also had a lot of success getting in with more Less Actives in the area who are receptive to us, so that's been Really needed. We've got some return appointments and hopefully we'll be able to help them come back to church.

Also, our ward did this Crazy missionary blitz thing where there was just Sacrament meeting and then every family had two to three names of less actives or people on the ward list that we didn't know who they were and they were asked to go and find them for an hour and a half and see if they were still home. It seemed like a lot of people had a really good experience with that, which was so good to see! 

Haha, we still have an ant problem (Raid is our best friend :P ) I've had to sleep on the couch because they've been on the wall next to my bed. I'm planning on moving my bed over today and getting my sheets washed so I don't have to worry about it. Oh! And we ended up having to switch our car. The car we were driving had this crazy oil leak that was dripping out of the engine and we ended up losing all of our transmission fluid. Our car was smoking super badly, we had to go to the Pep Boys place and then call Elder Residori. But super miracle, because he couldn't get a tow truck there, we had to keep driving it to the mission office. We weren't sure if we were going to make it, but we kept praying and it ended up making it to the office. (It was crazy too because this silly train blocked our path so we ended up having to go the LONG way around in order to get to the office.)

Anyways, lots of stuff, but it was a good week. I hope that ya'll are having a great week too! I miss ya lots and lots! Have a blessed day :)

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen

2-2-15

Dear Fam,

I'm Sorry I'm Sorry I'm Sorry!! This week and last week have been insane, so I'm sorry that I haven't sent you my address! It's 7103 Dunleaf Arc Way. Norcross, GA 30093. 

Okay, I've got a lot to update you on. So last week on Friday, my companion Sister Summerhays ended up going home early due to her depression that was really affecting how she worked. She was really struggling badly, so she ended up talking to president and got a blessing and she felt like she really needed to go. I had a feeling that it was time for her to go too, she was just so exhausted and ready. It reminded me of when I had to go home for my back. It was just so hard to get out of bed and so exhausting to go to work. So, I'm grateful that she was able to go home and hopefully she's getting some help. She was out for about fifteen months, so she's officially done. Now, that being said, I have two new companions! Sister Roundy and Sister Osburn! And they are the best :D We are laughing every day and we're all super excited to get to work. Since I've only been in the area for about a week, we're whitewashing which is definitely intense and crazy, but it's a really good experience too :) We're kind of starting from ground zero.

Probably one of the biggest miracles right now is being able to have some good companions who want to work and who are obedient. Sister Osburn has been out for about five months now, and Sister Roundy has been out for seventeen months. Both of them like to work hard and with the three of us, so far we've been getting along well :) Haha, and when we have our initials in the right order, it looks like Sisters PRO. It's awesome :P 

It's kind of funny, all three of us have gotten the impression that we really need to work on helping the ward become more unified. Most of the missionaries are making goals for getting more baptisms and finding people to teach. While I was fasting on Sunday, I thought about fasting for that, but it didn't seem like the right thing to fast for, at least, not right now. And then we talked about what we want our goal to be and it really came down to the ward. It just got split in December and so it feels like everyone is still trying to adjust and get used to new callings and so forth. It's a REALLY small congregation, but really gung ho about missionary work. Except it feels like there's kind of a disconnect among the members in wanting to work together. It seems like a lot of the members' friends are in the other ward now, and so nobody really knows each other, and possibly don't know quite how to bridge the gap. So! We're planning on meeting with the Relief Society president on Tuesday and hopefully suggest some ideas on how we can help. At the moment, we've only got one progressing investigator who's part of a part member family. We're meeting with him tonight actually, I've never met him before, but his name is Scott and he seems like he's really interested in learning more. So we're going to be showing him the Restoration video and just find out where he's at with everything. 

We just figure, if the ward isn't unified, it's going to be impossible to retain new investigators. The Elders in our ward, are doing an awesome job at bringing more investigators and people into the ward, but I'm wondering how the fellowshipping is going among the members. I love it here though. There's a lot of great people in the ward, and there's a lot of potential! It'll probably take a while for things to get settled down and for people to make new connections, but we'll see how it goes. There's also a Relief Society get together this Thursday called Speed Friendshipping, so Hopefully that'll help with everything. 

Anyways, things over all are going really well. I'm loving the work, and I'm learning lots. It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Summerhays, but I love my new companions :) And I know she needed to go home too. The Gospel is true and the book is blue!! I'm glad that things are going well! I hope Andrew and Amy can get to feeling better! (I'd really like some pictures of those puppies by the way :P ) haha, I'm glad you've got chickens and that you're loving primary too!! Fog is awesome :D I love it, and of course I remember the fog in the pines!! How could I forget? That was so epic! 

Anyways, I love ya'll and I'm praying for you! I hope ya'll have a blessed week! Love you!

Just Believe,

Sister Petersen