Week 9

Hey there family and my devoted fans,

What a week it has been! So we're having P-day today on a Tuesday because yesterday was Columbus day or whatever.... haha kidding grateful that he found 'MERICA! Just sayin...

 

So here was my week!

 

Oh, S.... we are still teaching him and he is getting closer. We can feel it! Invited him to be baptized again but he still wants to know everything and doesn't want to join the church yet because he is afraid of falling away. So he has really good intentions but we explained to him that he needs to have the faith to act first and then see the miracles.

 

Wednesday, Sister Mangisi and I taught the other half of the Activity Day Girls. They were so cute and excited about missionary work! They wanted to roleplay and be missionaries and investigators, it was precious!

 

T and his grandmother are doing well. We went over the first topic in Duty to God with him which was really neat for us to do! Just needs to have more friends in the ward in his quorum. Friends are important, ya'll!

Okay so Sunday was so awesome because Sister Mangisi and I walk into the chapel and notice this guy in jeans so we walk up to him and find out his name is J and that he came to the church building last week and listened to General Conference. And he said that the elders called him and told him to come to church and he did! And we are pretty sure he is in our ward boundaries because he had just moved from the area next to ours. And we have an appointment to teach him on Thursday. Miracle!!

 

It is currently snowing.. wait I thought I left Rexburg? Haha apparently not.. so maybe I'll build a snowmen later. I'll keep you posted next week on my adventures in the snow. Hey, mom so all the elders think your name is legit because of the football player, Adrienne Peterson hahaha. Keep up the good work in those games!

 

Well, I love you and miss you all! Hope everyone is doing well!

 

Hugs and Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 8

Hola Familia! 

How is everyone doing? I just wanted to say that I am doing well and loving life! I love being on a mission and the happiness that it brings to me! 

Our week...

We taught S on Tuesday about the Word of Wisdom and he committed to live it! Super exciting! He says he drinks coffee and this Chinese tea that he's grown up with but he said that he would try not to this week so we need to follow up and see how that went.

We also visited T and helped him make a mormon.org profile because our stake really wants everyone to make a profile for themselves. It's a really great missionary tool to use! And we have a ton of mormon.org cards that we hand out to people! So I think it would be a great idea for you all to make one if you haven't already. (Don't worry dad it isn't like Facebook at all...haha) It's just so neat how the church can use technology these days!

On Thursday we went over to the Power's house for dinner and taught her friend R about the Holy Ghost and answered any questions that he had (mainly about the temple). It is just so neat to teach him because he is SO ready to be baptized! He finally told his parents that he wanted to be baptized into the LDS church and I guess they didn't take it too well.. it's really sad to see but we are so proud of him in the righteous choices that he is making!  I don't know if I mentioned this before but the only sad thing is that he isn't in our area so we have to pass him off the missionaries in his ward :( But we are taking him to see a baptism of two eight year olds in our ward on Saturday. I am super excited!! I love going to baptisms, especially as a missionary!!

Well, transfers are this Wednesday so that means that I am half way through my training program which I can't even believe! Time just seems to double when you're on a mission but I have been loving every second of it! It's hard but soo worth it. Just like Elder Holland said "Why would we think it would be easy when it was never easy for Him (Jesus Christ)?" It's so true but as long as I put my faith and trust in The Lord and listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost then I know that I can do all things. With God, ALL things are possible!

 General Conference was so amazing and super spiritual!! It's like a birthday weekend to us missionaries. Happy birthday to us!!! I especially loved Elder Holland's talk (of course) about mental illnesses and that if we understand that hope is never lost and utilize the precious gift of the Atonement that we can overcome all things. 

Last P-day we went to a little town called Manitou Springs. It was a very interesting town because they are all pretty much hippies and witches. No lie. We actually had to take our name tags off (which I did not like!!!) because people would say weird things to us... The town had seven different springs of water that you could drink from but it was nasty because it tasted like seltzer water. 

Shout outs!

Souderton Sunday School- thank you so much for the card! It was very sweet. Love you all!

Well, I miss and love everyone and I am glad that everyone is doing well!!

xoxo
Sister Peterson 

 

Week 7

Hey family!! 

Well, it has been another great week on my mission. Missions are just the best and I have never been happier! Sharing this good news of the restored gospel is what truly brings happiness to others and I am so grateful to share it every day with everyone around me. 

S is coming along! Last week he brought his comparison chart and we cleared up any questions that he had. He really seems to understand this gospel but is just waiting for his answer. I told him that I know that Heavenly Father has answered him and that maybe he just hasn't recognized the answer yet. We invited him to pray and ask Heavenly Father if Joseph Smith is a true prophet because if he is then the Book of Mormon which he translated is true and this church is true. Hoping for good things for S! 

Taught T and his grandmother about the Holy Ghost on Thursday. He told us that he recognizes the influence of the Holy Ghost in his life and that he has been kept out of danger for heeding the promptings. They also came to church again on Sunday and got his membership number to start his family history.  I am so proud of them!!! 

On Thursday, we went over to the Powers family for dinner and she always has her friend R (30's) over so this is the second time that we have met with him. Last time we taught about the ten commandments and this time we talked about The Book Of Mormon. He is in 2nd Nephi and wants to be baptized!! It's crazy because he was raised to not like Mormons and now he is investigating the church!! He just wants to see a baptism before his own so good thing there are two in our ward coming up on the 12th! Miracles!! The only sad thing is that he isn't in our ward so we will probably have to pass him off to the missionaries there :( But he is a great person! He loves watching videos on mormon.org and he has watched The District. Cool, right?!!

Wednesday we went on exchanges with the sister training leaders. I went with Sister Empey and it was cool/a little scary because I was now the "senior companion" since it was my area. We went around to visit less-actives because there are quite a few. A few didn't answer but we one of the ladies, her husband who isn't a member, let us leave her a note with our number which was super nice of him! We had an appointment with the S family. They are an older less active couple and they are having their doubts so we read out of The Book of Mormon with them. We read the story of the Tree of Life which is all about God's love and how we need to hold fast to the iron rod and to have faith! They are a very sweet couple and the husband wants to come to church but his wife isn't ready yet so we are praying for them. After that I went tracting for the first time.. dun dun dun... we went into an apartment complex and it really wasn't that bad! People are super friendly and willing to listen to us. We placed two Book of Mormons and handed out a mormon.org card!!!! Miracles!! The coolest thing was that we were knocking on one door but no answer so we went to their neighbor's door and talked to him and then the other guy came out of his apartment so we finished talking to his neighbor and went over to the apartment who we had been knocking on before and he said he went to high school with Mormons and let us in! So we went in and met his wife and one year old daughter. We found out that he is a devote Christian and he had a TON of questions so we talked with them for awhile and he was very interested in learning what we believe. And he gave us their number to call to set up another time we can go meet them. That was such a cool experience with knocking doors. 

We have been working with less-actives to bring them back to church. We need to bring the sheep back into the fold so to speak. That is just as important as finding and teaching investigators because they too are lost and wandering. Also, we went to a family history fair on Friday and it was awesome! Family History is becoming huge and it is so neat to teach people about because everyone loves learning new facts about their families. Saturday we went over to sister powers to help her chalk paint her son's dresser and it was so much fun! I think I may have found a new hobby of mine haha. 

 

The Relief Society Broadcast was amazing! It is so important that we keep those covenants that we make at our baptisms and in the Holy temple. I am so grateful for our prophet, Thomas S. Monson and the love that he has for all of us. Let's all strive to keep our covenants that we have made. What wonderful blessings will come when we do! I am SO excited for General Conference this weekend. Have a question in mind, like mom always taught us to do, and I can promise you that Heavenly Father will answer your questions. 

 

I love my mission and Colorado Springs. It is gorgeous here and I can't believe that my first transfer is over this week and that I am half way through the training program. Thank you for supporting and loving me. I love and miss you all!!

Shout-outs!

Jenna- HAPPY BIRTHDAY Thursday!! 19?! I can't even believe it! I love you sooo much little one. Party it up giiiirrrlll!

Adie-Happy birthday on Wednesday! We are getting old, my friend. Better bust out the canes soon haha love you woman!

Hays- GREAT JOB on making jazz and wind ensemble again. We all knew you could do it ;)

Have a great week! Thanks for all your prayers! 

xoxo

Sister Peterson 

Week 6

Family,

This week flew by and a ton happened. So I have a lot to talk about but that's not anything new... haha. It was a great week and I am loving my mission!!!

People we taught this week...

 So, Wednesday we met with our beloved S. Sister Mangisi and I taught him about tithing and fasting. And he is seeming to understand the importance of it. Smart guy! He is still struggling with knowing EVERYTHING like every little detail of the Gospel so the Masseys, a couple that are his fellowshippers, have been helping a ton with answering those question for him. Thank goodness for them! They are awesome. Yay member missionary work!! So near the end of the lesson the spirit was SO strong like I physically felt a punch in my stomach strong. And everyone was bearing rock solid testimonies to him. And Sister Mangisi and I had talked about it ahead of time to invite him to be baptized and we decided that me, the greenie, would take the lead in extending that invitation to him.To say the least, I was NERVOUS. This in fact WAS real life (David after dentist anyone? hahah). I said a prayer in my heart and had the thought "he is going to say yes." So with that, I invited S to be baptized if/when he received his answer. And... he said YES!!! Without hesitation. So then I asked him if we could set up a date for him to work towards... and.. he said no, not yet. He didn't want a date because he wants his answer. So it was a really high and then a low. But it's okay! Because we both have faith in Heavenly Father's timing and we know that He will answer S. So we are crossing our fingers for Tuesday!!!

We met with T and his grandma on Thursday and taught them about the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood. Such a neat topic, right?! Thank goodness Jamison was there to tell them about how having the Priesthood has blessed his life and his families life. They agreed to come to church AND THEY DID!! This is a huge deal for T because of his not wanting to socialize and this was his second time coming to church in four months. So I was so happy when we saw them there! Baby steps in the right direction...

We also met with a less active member this week, L and what is neat about that is that she doesn't really let anyone in and no one has been able to meet her because of that. So, when we set up the appointment with her and then when she let us in we were beyond thrilled. She is a great lady but she needs the motivation to go to church. Her whole family (husband, a son and a daughter) have all been baptized but are all older and inactive. She said her parents are great examples to her but that she just doesn't go to church. The awesome thing is that she agreed to have us back later this week to role-play a lesson to her!!! We are so happy!!!

Brother White from our ward has a friend from work, W and we met with him on Friday and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He had met with the sisters before I came so we picked up where we left off. He is a super goofy guy, in his fifties and has this laugh that just... you just gotta hear it hahaha. Super funny guy! So I appreciated that. He was a Christian but now is a Methodist and so he does read the Bible and has knowledge about it. We are not really sure if he is just being polite to Brother White by taking the lessons but hey he's there and listening and learning with us then that is seed is being planted. It's all about the invitation!!! 

Shout outs!

Hays- Good luck in band auditions. Rock the house little one!!!! Also, a letter from you would be nice... just sayin' haha.

Jenna- How's school!??! Ah BYU-Idaho is the best!!! I am so much more grateful for that little town of Rexburg. It is truly such a special place! I bet the boys are just knocking your door down seeing this new cutie in town so swat them away like flies! hahaha.

Joy- Happy birthday on Thursday Joy Joy!!! They grow up so fast... *sniff sniff* Love you, sister!! 

I am so humbled and grateful to be on a mission. I know that this is where I need to be right now and that my Heavenly Father trusts me enough to send me to His prepared Children. I love and miss you all soooo much and love hearing from you all!!!

Infinite X and O's (cute, huh?)

Sister Peterson 

Week 5

My beautiful family! How is everyone?

 

Another week has gone by. Where has the time gone?! Can't believe I have been out for over a month now. Time really does fly when you are serving the Lord. (that should be the new saying) But, I have been loving every second of it! There is nothing like a mission! I am so blessed to be here in Colorado Springs and to serve the wonderful people here. 

So let's see what has happened this past week...

We met with S. on Wednesday and he is coming along. The language barrier makes it a little bit more difficult for him. But he comes to church every Sunday and we sit with him in gospel principles and he is eager to learn. He knows so much already but we think that he is doubting his knowledge because he doesn't know everything. But he just needs to work on the faith and the knowledge that he does have. We are meeting with him again on Wednesday and I want to share with him the talk "You know Enough" given by Neil L. Andersen. I was reading it in personal study a few days ago. In his talk he taught “Our spiritual journey is the process of a lifetime. We do not know everything in the beginning or even along the way. We first build a foundation of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.” First, we need to have faith and that is part of my purpose as a missionary. To help others build their faith. And when we do have that faith we need to act upon it. It is so important that we act and are not acted upon! He is a great person and we are hoping he will want to be baptized soon! He is so ready! 
 

We also met with T. again and we taught him about the priesthood and the program Duty to God. We printed out some activities for him to work on until we see him again on Thursday. He is so smart and he wants a better relationship with God but he just needs to come to church. He's a great kid! Not to mention they have a really cute puppy...

 

Sister Mangisi and I really want to get to know our ward better so yesterday at church we decided to sit separately with our ward members (don't worry we always stay within sight and sound of each other...haha) and the difference it made was incredible. We were able to meet twice the number of people as we would have if we would've sat together and only talked with ourselves. It was a great experience for both of us with talking with the awesome members in our ward and getting to know them better. 

 

I love the people of Colorado Springs. They are all so wonderful! We have been asked in our mission to study the talk "What If Love Were Our Only Motive?". It was a Devotional given at BYU two years ago by Russell T. Osguthorpe. It is seriously an amazing and inspiring talk! I would encourage all of you to read it and study it together. He asks the questions: what if love were our only motive? What if everything we did was out of love? And the more I think about it and apply it to my mission, the more possible it seems to do everything out of love. Love is the two greatest commandments. We need to love God and we need to love others. While on my mission, I have been trying to see everyone through God's eyes and it really has helped to learn to love those around me. I have been striving to have love be my only motive because it is that love that the people who meet me will feel even before I open my mouth. I want people to feel the love that Heavenly Father has for them emulating through me. Love CAN be our only motive if we pray for help and as we serve others. 

I love you all so much and I am so grateful for each of you. When I tell everyone I have five sisters and no brothers they all say "oh your poor dad." But I just say no, he's lucky and he knows it :) Thank you for being such wonderful examples in my life and for supporting me! I miss you all and pray for you all daily.

 

xoxo

Sister Peterson 

Kyra's candy drawer! Of course...she is a Peterson after all!

Week 4

My wonderful family!

Another P-day is here and it has been a great week! Time seems to be picking up. Like everyone said, the days seem long but the weeks seem short and it's so true! So this past week was very busy. Sister Mangisi and I are going around to the homes of the ward members to get to know them (because there are about 400 some members in our ward and we want to know all of them) and asking if they need any help with anything. Last week we helped two families with their family mission plan. It's so great to see how willing they are to share the gospel with their friends and family. It's been so neat to see families coming together and uniting in a common goal. Please make family mission plans and help the missionaries in your ward. We can't do it alone. We need the help of the members. It is so vital that investigators have a friend in the ward like President Hinckley has stated before. 

 

So, last Wednesday we taught S. about the fourth lesson which is The Commandments and he really seems to get it! He is very smart and he knows what we are telling him to be true. We went over the history of the Book Of Mormon and showed him the pictures inside the Book Of Mormon. We then asked him the Baptimal interview questions even though he hasn't agreed to a date yet. We wanted to see where he is at and to see what we need to cover. He is still struggling with tithing because he had a bad experience at his old church. But he is making his way and I am just so proud of him! He came to church on Sunday and the gospel principles lesson was on baptism. And then the Gleneagle sisters (which is the area next to us) had an investigator named R. get baptized last night and we asked S. to come to that and he did! The Spirit was so strong and S. was so happy, grinning ear to ear. Sister Mangisi and I know that he is ready to be baptized and we are going to ask him again on Wednesday when we see him. I am so excited for him! 

 

The Spirit was so strong at R.'s baptism and while he was getting dried off and changed, Sister Mangisi and I did a missionary moment where we taught the first lesson which is The Restoration and it was beautiful! It was so powerful. I memorized the First Vision and was able to recount it and I was so thankful to my Heavenly Father for helping me to speak with clarity and with the Spirit because without it I would have not been the same. That experience just helped strengthen my testimony of Joseph Smith. I know that he is a true Prophet of God and I am so grateful to him for sacrificing his life to bring us the restored Gospel in these last days. What an amazing man he is! I am so thankful that he was willing to share his experience of his first prayer with us and with the world. The church is true and the book is blue!

 

On Thursday we went and taught a less active named T. He is fifteen years old and so smart! He has Asperger's so he doesn't like to socialize much. The fact that he went to church for the first time in a few years the week before I got here is a miracle! We taught him about the 12 tribes of Israel and it was so neat to talk about their history and lineage. It made me think of the Prince Of Egypt which is a great movie with an awesome soundtrack!

 

Later that night we had dinner at the Powers home and they had their friend R. (40's) over (different R.) and he is so ready to be baptized! He knows who the Prophet is and he knows what General Conference is and he told us that he is going to watch it. He is a great guy! He watches the Mormon Channel all the time. He's been to church a few times but the only thing is that he works every Sunday so we are going to meet with him again this week and just try to build his faith about going to church and see what we can do there. 

 

 

 

Every Saturday we do service so my district went to Black Forest where all those fires were a few months ago. They have this area called the "slash pit" and it is where people come and bring their branches on the back of their trucks and we unload them. It's a way for the community to come together and clean up the mess that the fires made. It is so sad to see all of the burned branches but it is also so nice to offer our service to them! We set a goal in our district to hand out mormon.org cards and we accomplished that goal! It is a little scary at first talking with people but the more you do it the more you realize just how easy it is. I just think of that quote "I'm a Mormon. I know it! I live it! I love it!" I LIVE IT. We need to be constantly living our standards because others around us notice it. I love this gospel so much and am so excited to be here serving the people and my Father in Heaven. Colorado Springs is awesome and so beautiful! 

 

I love you and miss you all!!!

My home!



those tigers I mentioned in my letter last week haha. They look so real right?!

 

Shout outs!

Hays- How in 9th grade?! I can't believe you are in the high school years now. Makes me feel old! And I heard that you started Seminary today. Now that's just crazy to me. Be sure to really pay attention even though it can be really hard not to (just ask Sister Anderson. I said some strange things) but the things you learn in Seminary are important and useful. Remember the Scripture Masteries and try not to forget them. Go get em, tiger. 

 

Souderton Young Women and Leaders- Thank you SO much for all of your letters! They made my day! You are all so sweet and thoughtful. 

 

Jenna- Excited for school?! You are going to have so much fun at BYU-I! And study a lot too of course... haha. It is going to be a blast!!

 

I pray for you all daily.

 

xoxo

Sister Peterson 

Kyra and her district serving at the Slash Pit

 

Week 3

Family!!

How is everyone? What's new? 

My last week in the MTC was amazing. I became really close with my zone and I miss seeing them every day. Funny note-Vai Sikahema came and spoke at a Sunday devotional and it was like my claim to fame. He mentioned Philly a few times and I was like "that's my home!!" It was pretty cool. 

 

So I'm in the field now!! I am in the Northgate ward in Colorado Springs and we have a car (thank goodness) Everything is great. My trainer/companion's name is Sister Mangisi (Mong-e-sea) and she has been out for three months so she just got finished training and is now training me! She's half Tongan, 19 and from Pennsylvania. Crazy, right?! They knew to put the PA sisters together because we're tough and will get stuff done haha. We get along super well and she has helped me learn the ropes.
 

We live with an 87 year older widow named Sister McAllister and she is just the sweetest. I will send pictures of the house next time. She loves tigers so she has this HUGE stuffed animal tiger with a baby tiger under her piano and when I first walked in the house I legit thought it was real and slightly got freaked out....and every time after that. So just to make sure that it wasn't real, I pet it one day. No big. 

 

Sister Mangisi and I are teaching one progressing investigator right now that she was teaching before I arrived. We have a few more people that we teach but I haven't been able to meet with all of them yet because they cancelled last week or won't get back to us yet. 

 

1. S.- He is about 40 some years old and is Vietnamese but speaks Mandarin Chinese. He has a lot of questions and is basically searching for more knowledge  So we are trying to teach him that he doesn't need to know everything but to have more faith in the things that he does know which Elder Holland gave a great talk about in General Conference last April. So we are meeting with S. again tomorrow. 

 

We are focusing right now on working with the members in our ward (Northgate Ward) because it is crucial!! We can't do it without them. The ward is huge like about 400 people come each week and their wards in the stake are constantly changing and growing with new families moving in each week. I was able to bear my testimony on Sunday so it was a great way to introduce myself to the ward. We are so spoiled here because we have dinner appointments with a family in the ward pretty much every single night. So don't worry mom. I'm getting well fed!
 

Colorado is beautiful! I love it here! The sky and mountains are amazing. I will have to send pictures.
 

Well I love and miss you all so much!!!! Please share the gospel with everyone that you know because we are so blessed to have it! 

xoxo

Sister Peterson 

 

District 47-C at the Provo Temple!

Kyra and Sister Fonua  at the MTC planning a lesson

Current address:

Sister Kyra Peterson

c/o McAllister

2051 Fieldcrest Dr.

Colorado Springs, CO 80921 

Kyra and her roommates in the MTC

 

Kyra and her companion in Colorado