I Scream, You Scream, We ALL Scream for Ice Cream!

So really random story... we were tracting a neighborhood and Sister Harrop was like "did you hear that? some bird just fell from the sky and hit the ground". So we walked over and in the middle of the street was a bird just laying there with one of its wings tucked under it and there were feathers everywhere and it was so sad!!!! So I was like oh heck no we have to save this bird!! So we went back to our favorite door that we knocked on and we told this guy what happened and he's like "I'll go get my shovel and trash can and just put it out of its misery and I was like "uhmmm...I just meant to pick it up and let it fly away or something..." Awkward. So he grabbed his killing tools and we showed him where the bird was and he was really sad to do it and we were like "wait until we drive away to do it." So we got in our car and drove away and Sister Harrop looked back and saw that he had bent down and we like screamed... it was so sad!!! But it was like the weirdest thing ever. So, now we can go back to visit that guy with cookies or something to thank him and start teaching him and he'll get baptized. BOOM. 

The ward carnival was on Saturday and it was a huge success! Sister Harrop and I decorated our missionary booth complete with a baby moon bounce behind it. You can see it in the pictures! But it was way fun to be able to talk to a bunch of people in the ward and all of the non-members that they brought. Go team Lone Tree! Okay I know that you are all going to be proud of me....Sister Harrop and I were contestants in the ice cream eating contest. One of the members that I'm close with yelled out "Sister Peterson will do it! She loves ice cream!" Challenge accepted. They know me so well. Sad to say that I don't know who won but I'm pretty sure it was me. I downed that thing. Thanks to mom for always providing ice cream over the years. I'm probably a million times heavier because of the contest but hey I still got my pride! They brought out this huge trough of ice cream and filled it full with donut holes, cookies and sprinkles. We had to put our hands behind our backs and eat with our faces!!!! Didn't see that one coming... It was really fun though and totally makes for a great mission story, haha. 

So in our mission, they are focusing on doing the lessons with all children that are eight and preparing for baptism. So last night we met with a family in the ward whose daughter is getting baptized on the 6th. The daughter invited her non-member friend and mom to sit in on the lesson. Golden right? It was a pretty neat experience! We gave them a BofM and the mom was like "let me see that" like right away she was interested in looking at it. She's very interested in learning about different religions so hopefully she will be at the next lesson which is on Wednesday. Member missionary work, its the way to go! Also, we were totally secretly/not so secretly teaching the mom as well #sneakymissionary

Still helping J move/pack her house because now she needs to be out by Saturday. She had a garage sale on Saturday and we went over to help her. There was an LDS family that heard about it and they thought she was LDS and she said "Not yet!" Ohh yeah, J will come around someday soon! She just needs to get through all of this craziness so we can start teaching her. 

Everything is going well! I love what I'm doing and I love who I represent. Even though its the hardest thing ever, its the most rewarding so that keeps me going on those tough days. I love you all so much and miss you all a ton. It makes me happy to hear how well you are all doing.

I think I know why they call it a TESTtimony....because you have to have it tested for it to become stronger. I have seen that more then ever on my mission. Satan really works hard to get us missionaries down and there have been plenty of trials and tests but each time, I come out with a personal conviction of this gospel that cannot be shaken. So, even though its extremely hard, try to become grateful for your trials because Heavenly Father knows what He's doing and He knows what you're capable of. You're all so great so keep it up! 

SHOUT OUT to Laur Laur on her golden birthday tomorrow! Twenty six on the twenty sixth! Enjoy the cruise gurrrrll! :) 

xoxo

Sister Peterson 

The Week of Cheesecake

Hey! How are my favorite people doing? :)  

Monday- A bunch of sisters went to CastleWood Canyon in Franktown to hike and walk around. It was super fun!

Tuesday- S was baptized!!! It was so neat to be apart of her special day. Six of us sister missionaries sang "When I am baptized" and while we were singing, S started bawling and that got us all going, haha. She is just so cute and when she feels the Spirit, she really feels it! She left for school in Florida on Thursday so that was sad but she said that she will keep in touch. Her mom and younger sister are still being taught by the sisters so we are hoping that they will get baptized as well :) Its so cool to see how the Lord works and I know that He truly does put those that are prepared in our paths if we are paying attention.

Wednesday- All eight of the sisters in the zone went to mutual in Castle Rock to teach a ward of young women about modesty. Obviously, Sister Harrop and I taught the fashion portion of the lesson. We brought examples of how to make our clothes modest. It went really well and the girls seemed to really like it so we might do that again in different wards throughout the stake. 

Thursday- MY YEAR MARK! Sister Harrop, me, Sister Muro and Sister Murdock went to the mall for lunch and then we got cheesecake at the cheesecake factory, so delish! Sister Muro came out with us too so we are celebrated together. It was a lot of fun being about to talk about the MTC when we all met and to see how far we have all come in our missions. 

Friday- We had zone training and played minute to win it to teach us that sometimes we may only have one minute to testify. I did the magic carpet game where you had to sit on a towel and weave in and out of chairs and then slide under a table to reach the finish line. Yeah, what a great idea in a skirt right?? Clearly elders came up with that one. My knees got all scraped up and they were burning!! 

Saturday- We did service by helping a family pull weeds in their backyard. Are you proud of me Dad? Haha. And visited a ton of people in the ward to hand out flyers for the carnival on Saturday. 

Sunday- Yesterday was a really awesome day! We  saw two referrals that seem pretty solid. One of them is an aunt and uncle to a sister missionary in AZ. They were eating dinner when we went by but the lady was so nice when she found out that we were missionaries and that her niece sent us. And the other was from a lady whose dentist is a Bishop in Castle rock, she was super cool and asked a lot of questions and took everything we gave her like a Restoration and Plan of Salvation pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. She was really nice and said that we could come back anytime. So there's more and more potential popping up here! 

SHOUT OUTS! 

Happy anniversary to Jared and Lauren last week and to Matt and Ami this week!! 

I'm grateful for all of you and love you all!!! Keep being awesome!

Love,

Sister Peterson 

The year of a missionary

Hi everyone!! 

Okay confession: I had to pull out the planner for this email because I couldn't remember anything. Sleep deprived? I think so. But it was a really great week! We saw J and should start teaching him again soon. We also did service for J (different J) and hopefully will begin teaching her after all of the craziness of her move settles down.  We had zone conference with another zone last Tuesday. We focused on teaching the lessons to children that will be turning eight soon so that they can know more before they are baptized. We already have appointments set up to teach an eight year old girl in our ward. She is going to be bringing a friend with her when we teach and hopefully her parents will be there as well. 

A girl in our ward gave her mission farewell talk yesterday. I really appreciated that it was a farewell talk rather then a homecoming talk. Can't take those anymore haha. But, her talk was so great and it helped remind me why I am out here serving the Lord. And it also rekindled that flame to work harder and to be better. I know that I am out here for a reason and that there are people that I need to meet.  

With my year mark coming up on Thursday, I have been reflecting back to this past year that I have spent as a missionary. I have seen so much change and growth within myself and I will ever be grateful that I have had this opportunity to serve the Lord thus far. I don't really know who I would be without a mission. It has helped to start to shape me into the person that Heavenly Father knows I can become. I have been able to witness miracles and to walk side by side with my Savior, Jesus Christ and catch just a glimpse of what He had to go through. I know that Jesus Christ went through torment and pain just for me. I know that He loves me and that because of Him, it is possible to achieve eternal life and to live with my family forever. It is only through Him that I am saved from my sorrows and sins. I owe it all to Him and to my loving Father in Heaven for sending him to earth to die for us. Watch this video and allow the Spirit to touch your heart. I know it did for me. I can't really put into words how much the Savior means to me and how strong our relationship is now. I know that because of the mission that my relationship is so much stronger with them because sometimes, yeah, you feel completely and utterly alone being away from your family and friends. But, I can testify that we are never alone. I have felt God's love for me on those days that I wanted to give up and I have been told to not quit because He loves me and I am worth it. I know that He loves each and everyone of you and that you are worth it to Him. You matter to Him and He should always matter to us. 

https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

I hope that you all have a wonderful week! I pray for your safety and happiness each day. Oh, and also that you will share the gospel with someone. Gotta throw that out there. I love and miss you. Thank you for all that you done for me and continue to do for me. 

Stay sweet! (This ones for you, Allly B!)

Sister Peterson

I love to see the Temple!

Another transfer is here! This past week was a whirlwind but that always seems to happen at the beginning of each transfer. I am so happy to be here with Sister Harrop. Already, she has taught me a lot and I just love her so much. Its going to be a great transfer!! :)

It was so sad to say goodbye to my friends who had completed their missions last week but I am so grateful that I was able to meet and learn from them. Good luck in the "real world" and please try not to be too awkward haha. 

We were able to visit a lot of less actives this week. Our bishop asked us to visit each family and pass out flyers for the carnival that the ward is putting on at the end of the month. Okay, I'm super stoked for it because I love carnivals and free food so its pretty much the greatest combo ever. I'm just hoping there aren't clowns there cause then I would peace out like nobody's business. My companion and I are even having a booth set up so its going to be a perfect missionary opportunity. I'll keep you posted on how it goes!

On Saturday I was privileged to go to the temple with A, a recent convert from Pueblo to do baptisms. They rolled up to pick me up in this huge van full of a bunch of YSA that I served with. It was so good to see them all again! I just loved Pueblo...kinda obsessed with it? It's fine. Probably my favorite moments on the mission is being in the temple with someone who is there for the first time. You can't really describe the Spirit felt there but I just feel so close to my Father in Heaven when I am in His house. Every heartache, every hard day, every tear shed is all worth it when you go with someone to the temple. The mission is extremely challenging and stretches you in so many different directions but there is nowhere in the world that I would rather be. It is all worth it knowing that you made a difference in someone else's life. Because in the end its not about us, its about OTHERS. 

SHOUT OUTS!

Happy birthday to Hermana Boody tomorrow! I tried to type that in Spanish but I'm just too dang white....lo siento. Te amo mucho baby girl!!!

Amskiiiiiii, you knew this was coming. I hope that you have a fabulous birthday on Friday. What are you turning? Like twenty five? Sounds good to me ;)

You all light up my life and I couldn't do this without you. Have a great week and stay happy. Share your testimony of the Savior with someone this week because you never know who needs to hear it!!

Much love,

Sister Peterson