May The Fourth Be With You

I just have to start out by saying that we had a HUGE miracle on Thursday. It was the first time we had seen A in three weeks and I just flat out asked her if she had been thinking about baptism and she looked at us and said "I have. I want to get baptized" Boom! Just like that. It hit us so strongly that Sister Clawson and I started tearing up. The Spirit was so strong and I am so happy for her because I know how much this will bless her life. So this week is going to be a busy one with planning for her baptism. She asked me to give the talk on the Holy Ghost. I am so excited!!! :) She came to church on Sunday and everyone was so nice and welcoming to her so its going to be a full house at her baptism. She told us that she was going to tell her mom last night at dinner so we will find out how that went. I told her about when mom told grandma and she said that mom is so cool for being so bold and honest. Way to go, ma!! 

A member in one of the wards brought her friend, A.l to church yesterday and we gave her a copy of the BofM. She is coming to family home evening tonight so we are hoping to teach her soon! I love member missionary work because that is where the most success comes from! 

I had my last interview with President Anderson on Tuesday because he goes home in July :( He is the greatest ever and has taught me a lot about how important missionary work truly is and  how the work is being hastened more then ever before. He is a convert to the church and it took him seven years to join so he really gets the whole "eternal investigator" thing haha. He told me that I will be staying in Pueblo one more transfer with Sister Clawson to finish up her training so that way she will get the whole 12 weeks of the training program. We are both really excited to have more time together because we have become really good friends, love that sister! 

We also when to Raton, New Mexico on Saturday! What an interesting day... The three of us kinda got attacked by two dogs. Poor Chelsea, the member who came with us got pulled by her skirt by those evil dogs! #thefearisreal. Don't worry though because we are all alive and well!!! Thank goodness! Also, dad I need to learn more Spanish for the next time that I go down there. I was pulling out the only words I knew which isn't very many haha. 

I just wanted to let you all know that I know this church is true and as we live the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we WILL be happier and that is a promise. Thank you for all of your prayers, love and support. It means the world to me! I love being a missionary and bringing the world His truth!! I am so excited to skype soon for Mother's day! Get ready ;) I love you and I miss you all!! 

P.S. Oh guess what, mom! We taught seminary on Thursday morning because Sister Peterson (the other one!) is the seminary teacher and she was out of town. Proud? :)

Stay strong!
Sister Peterson

8 Months!!!!

Ahh can I just say that I love that mom, dad, Hailey and Jenna went to the temple to do work together! That makes me so happy!! I am so excited to go through the temple for grandma next month :) :)

This week was great! Tuesday was a really neat day. Sister Clawson and I were going around visiting the ysa on our list trying to clean up the records (basically what we do all day errey day) and finding out that a lot of the ysa have moved. Of course we don't pass up any opportunity to talk to anyone so we were able to talk with everyone on that street, love me some good weather! We gave out three copies of the Book of Mormon in about thirty minutes. We really were blessed to see many miracles that day because we were willing to open our mouths and share the Gospel. I want to share a really cool experience, so we met a really cool older mountain man named B who was really excited to read the Book of Mormon. He kept talking about how much he loves Mitt Romney and always wondered "what the Mormons believe in" Well, B we are happy to tell you! He's way cool so we are planning on going back to see him soon. I gave him 3rd Nephi 11 to read when Christ came to the Americas and read some verses with him on his front porch. Its just so amazing to meet just really awesome people that are willing to learn more. We had just met him but we already loved him because sharing the Gospel with him brought us so much happiness. 

So cool!! I just started talking to a guy next to me at the computer and we got to talking and I found out that he grew up in the church and is a YSA! Sister Bush and I actually ran into him last transfer back in February when we were going to visit someone in his apartment complex. He was just pulling out of the parking lot and talked to us a little bit before we drove off. He remembered me and told me and the other elders that are here too that we can come back and talk to him more. We gave him a BofM and he said that he would read and pray about it because he never did that before. That just strengthened my testimony of talking to EVERYONE because you really do never know what could come of it! 

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell y'all last week but you NEED to listen to "Life is like a football game" by Troy Dunn. He's basically like a John Bytheway speaker and its soooo good and hilarious. Look it up!! 

Random but hilarious: An 80 year old woman whom I love wore a red and black boa to church yesterday. Oh that's just Pueblo for ya...

I am doing well and loving my mission!! Have a happy Easter Sunday and remember what its all about! I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ that has helped to heal me through the power of the Atonement. We should all remember what he did for us and what he continues to do for us each day. I love you and miss you all so much! Have a safe week and share the Gospel with someone :) 

xoxo
Sister Peterson

Charity Never Faileth

What a wonderful weekend! General Conference always gives me that boost that I really need. I loved everything that was said. Its always cool to pick out the main themes in each of the talks and I noticed that a lot of the talks had to do with loving people! It may seem like a small thing or "yeah, yeah I do that" but its so much more then just saying you love someone. As President Uchtdorf has put it "In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time." That can go for any relationship and any person. If we truly understand how much our Heavenly Father and the Savior loves us then we will want to be better for them and we will want to love them by giving them our time. 

Okay so I obviously loved M. Russell Ballard's challenge for everyone to obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel and to study it with your missionary which is me, lucky you :) I thought that was the coolest thing. I already told Mom and Lauren to start to study Chapter 6: Christlike Attributes because we can always be working on developing them. And once we start to we will naturally want to share the gospel with others around us because we start to love them as we see them through God's eyes. I know that we can't fully comprehend how much they love us and those around us but that as we try to be more like Christ, that we can tap into that love just a little bit. 

This week was cool because we met a ton of less active ysa that the sisters who opened this area 8 months ago had never even met. Its just good to let them know that "hey, I'm here and I care about you." So we just invited them to all of the activities that we have going on during the week and got their contact information. Our prayers were answered in a few ways last week. A few people called and texted us because they were going through hard times and they just wanted a visit from the sister missionaries. Those times really humble me knowing that I CAN make a difference in someone's life and that we are all here to strengthen and uplift and that "charity never faileth". 

A's birthday was on Wednesday so we surprised her at work only to find out that she got the night off but we did get to meet her sister! Her sister actually called A for us and A said that we could go over to her mom's house that she just moved back into a little while ago. So we went over there and pretty much met the whole family! Her devout Catholic great grandma asked if I was religious and I said "Oh yes I am!!" and then she told me to pray for her, it was funny. They were pretty nice to us but the whole thing was pretty funny because they don't really know that A has been meeting with us. She told her brother and one of her sisters a few weeks ago which was huge!! Right now she is just trying to pray to see what day she wants to be baptized. She said that she likes the month of April and wants her friend (who introduced us to her who is leaving for his mission at the end of the month) to baptize her. So it is going to happen soon!! Sadly she wasn't able to come to Conference because she works all day Saturdays and Sunday she was at the hospital with her great grandma and the library. We will just have o watch it with her then :) I'm totally fine with that! 

I know this church is true! And you do too, so go share it with someone this week :) And like Elder Ballard taught us, I will follow-up with that!! haha. I love and miss y'all so much!! Stay strong!

Oh yeah so we are moving in with the Peterson's (oddly enough) on the 16th of this month so my new address will be:

2 Portmarnock Pl

Pueblo, CO 81001

XOXO
Sister Peterson 

Pictures:

On the "red carpet" for fhe! We were the hostesses so we got roses! 

We pranked the zone leaders for April fools day. We blocked their truck in and wrote "Just Married" on the back with window marker haha

The Month of March Was In Like A Lion and Out Like A Lamb

This subject is for you, mom. Mostly because I have absolutely no idea what that means hahaha.

What a week! Lots of interesting things have happened! That's good ole Puebs for ya. 

Last week for family home evening we split into two groups and went to visit some less actives. Its awesome tko see the young single adults get involved because they want a branch just as much as we do! Oh that is going to be a happy day! 

Transfers were Wednesday so I said goodbye to Sister Bush :( It was sad but I pray that we will be companions again! Transfer meeting was awesome though because I was able to see all of my missionary friends that I have made so it was like a mini reunion!

Sister Clawson and I were able to be detectives (some call us the FBI, sh!) this week. We have lists of the ysa in all of the wards so we pick a ward to work on each day and go out to meet as many people as we can. We were able to find out a lot about the people that we stopped by to see. Some had moved, some hated us (we got kicked out of a house.. that was awkward) and some were really happy to see us (love those people) kidding.. we love everyone :) I love being on the ysa rescue team because it is basically the most legit calling ever. Its so important that we go back to find that ONE person every time. 

I loved the Relief Society Broadcast! If you haven't seen it, you should watch it :) and take notes, notes are always a good thing. I loved that the speakers really empathized making those sacred covenants with God.I remember that they talked about that in October as well. Its cool to see how all of their talks tied in that way. I know that its so important that we make the temple our ultimate goal. 

Something that Sister Clawson and I have been talking a lot about this week is found in John 4: 8 & 11. Those verses talk about how "God is love" and that we "ought to love one another". That is something that is rare to find in the world today. The natural selfish man takes over and doesn't want to care about anyone but "number one". Its sad to see the world heading downhill in that direction but on the other hand, its comforting to know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ never leave us and that they are ready and willing to help us with out shortcomings (Ether 12:27). I want to challenge you to think of some ways that you can put off "the natural man" and be more like Christ. I can promise that you will find greater peace and happiness in your life as you do this. 

Life on the mission is good! I am so exhausted but so happy at the same time. Still haven't been able to figure out how that works but the Lord sure is blessing me with extra energy! If you can imagine that family ;)

I love you and miss you! Y'all are the best!! Thank you for your prayers and support. It means everything :)

XOXO
Sister Peterson

The Call That Changed My Life....

...just kidding. But not really. So the assistants to the president called us last Tuesday and started out by saying "do you have room in your apartment?" "....yes?" some whispering went on... "Good cause you're going to be in a trio." So we now have a new companion! And she's awesome! Her name is Sister Clawson, 19 and from Provo, Utah. She just came back out on her mission because she got sick after only being out for a month but now she's back. I am going to finish training her so she's like my "step daughter" I am so honored and excited to have the opportunity to train again and for my mission family line to grow! Sister Clawson and I will stay in Pueblo and Sister Bush is headed to the Springs. I will miss her terribly but am so grateful for the friendship that we have!!

Sad news! A didn't get baptized yesterday :( She said that there are a few things that she is still working on plus she still needs to tell her family. Its super frustrating when you see someone who recognizes that the gospel makes them happy but won't take that leap of faith. I love her so much though and know that she will get there eventually and I won't give up on her. So she might get baptized on April 6th or 13th. Its kind of up in the air right now but I have no doubt that it will happen!! Its all in God's timing anyways, right?

K and C are still awesome! We go over to visit them every now and then. We pray and read scriptures when we are there. Funny story about that actually. So we had asked the ward mission leader's wife to pick them up for church yesterday since we were going to a different ward to be with A. We called him after church to find out if they went and he asked us if K went with C (another lady who lives in the home) and we were like nooo.... Apparently this other girl who lives there named C got confused on what church she was going to and stormed out of sacrament meeting demanding to go home. So that's awkward...

I know that the church is true with all my heart. I know that Heavenly Father looks out for us and puts people in our lives to help us along the path. Its not easy by any means but by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our burdens can be made lighter. 

MAAAA! I am so proud of you for inviting that lady to talk to the missionaries. You are so great!! That deserves an ata girl haha! I love and miss you all!! Talk to you next week :)

xoxo
Sister Peterson

7 months!!!

I just gotta say.. Daylight Savings is not a missionary's friend. I'm already really missing that one extra hour.... but in other news ROB GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY! That is so amazing!! (Rob is Kyra's best friends Dad who lives in PA) I am so happy for him and their family (which is my family!) I loved the pictures of everyone and of course the pictures of Nicki on skype! I was there in spirit! Couldn't you tell?! Everyone looked so happy! It was so wonderful to see :) I love seeing the gospel change lives! If I could ask Rob to type up his conversion story and send it to me, I would love that :)

Another busy week in Peubs.... 

A is doing great!! We met with her on Saturday and Sunday and are seeing her again on Tuesday. We are trying to have daily contact with her because we see how hard Satan is working when someone is doing a good thing. He really is giving us a run for our money, dang him! It was hard though because she didn't come to church on Sunday so we might have to push her date back again and then it wouldn't be until April. I know Nicki talked about this in her letter this week. She said that its all within the Lord's timing and we have to humble ourselves and accept it. I know that A is ready and when it happens it will be an amazing experience for all of us. It will happen just in His way and timing. We have no doubt about that!

The other day when we were stopping by to try to meet a less active ysa, there were two older people outside smoking on their porch so we walked over and started talking to them. We found out that the older guy, C was a member! He said that he wanted to go to church and that he had a Book of Mormon that he reads (he didn't know where it was so we gave him a new one). The ladies name was K and she said that she would be baptized! We've met with K and C twice already but the sad thing is that they live in a group home so we aren't sure if she was just having a "good day" because when we went over on Saturday she was saying random things and laughing at them so who knows what will happen. They are so awesome though! They call me Miss Colorado and Sister Bush is President because of President Bush, hahah. They crack us up! I've already been called that and Covergirl and I'm like "Man, I just LOVE Pueblo!"

Sister Bush and I taught a ton of lessons, invited everyone we saw to be baptized and shared our testimonies every second of every day. Working hard and seeing success! 

This week we thought a lot about our relationship with our Father in Heaven and how we can help those around us better theirs. How can that be done? How can we make it stronger? What can sometimes hold us back from having a better relationship with Him? We considered all these questions throughout the week. Something we thought of was prayer. We need to remember to pray to our Heavenly Father every chance we get and to always have a prayer in our hearts as we go about our day. I know that the power of prayer is real and that if we communicate with our Father, that He will bless us beyond imagination. You can't really have a solid relationship with someone if you don't talk to them or care to talk to them. And its the same with Heavenly Father. If we aren't communicating with Him through the blessing we have of prayer, then we aren't trying to better our relationship with Him. He wants to hear from us! We are His children and He loves us! More than we will ever know. I have seen the reality of the power of prayer work in my life and especially since being on a mission. If we humble ourselves and talk with Him, we can see those miracles in our lives. 

10 ysa at fhe and institute last week (I've started writing it down so we know who comes and who we need to visit more)

Oh! You have to watch the new Mormon message! It is soo good! Its a must see! 

I just love being a sister missionary! It is the greatest calling in the world! I love and miss you all! Talk to you next week :)

xoxo
Sister Peterson

It's Always A Good Time

FAMILY,

How was your week? Is baby Leah walking or talking yet? It must be hard for her missing her favorite auntie and all :) This week flew by and I always wonder where does the time go and how in the world is it already March!?! Still going on mini road trips around the stake trying to meet or touch base with as many ysa as we can. We are so close to getting a mini branch started here, we can feel it!

 

Remember A I told you about last week? Well, she has a baptism date!!! It was for March 15th but since she was sick yesterday and couldn't come to church it will have to be on the 16th now. She's already been to church once so she has to come two more times. Sister Bush and I are so excited!! A is so great and is so ready to hear and receive the gospel. After we taught her the Plan of Salvation she says to us "I want to be in the celestial kingdom with you all sitting around a table as friends" and we were just like "YES! We want that too!" Its been so neat to see how everything makes sense to her. She wants to go to General Conference and meet President Monson. She kept wanting to talk about prophets and what they do, she thought it was the coolest thing! She read Joseph Smith's testimony and really liked it. Why is she so great! I know that Heavenly Father does prepare His children to hear the gospel and that things will start to sound familiar to them just like what you said mom when you heard the missionaries talk. You were a solid investigator, if only more people were like you! haha. No one is as great though :)

 

 Miracles!

 

We have a new ysa investigator named P! We tr-acted into him and are going back for our appointment on Thursday!

There were 15 young single adults at institute on Thursday (not including us!). Its a miracle because 7 months ago there were only 3 ysa coming and they almost shut it down.

Two less actives that we have been working with came to church on Sunday! There names are B and T and they are two of the regular ysa that we have lessons with once a week. Its awesome to witness faith and desired grow in people and how you really can make a difference in someone's life! Like it says in Preach My Gospel, as missionaries we have a front row seat to witness the greatest miracles of all: to see the Atonement of Jesus Christ take full effect in others lives. I got the best seat in the house hahah. And you can too! We all can witness those every day miracles as we strive to live our life's in a way that our Father in Heaven has asked us too. Sharing your testimony doesn't always mean that we get up and say "I want to bear my testimony" but it can mean that we share our testimony by talking about the simple truths of the Gospel like "I went to church on Sunday" when someone asks you how your weekend was. I know that its talked a lot about in the book "The power every day missionary work" which I've mentioned before because I have heard nothing but great things about it. And I know that to be true, that we can bear our testimonies in the most simple yet powerful ways and it is by our example that its usually noticed. 

Well, time to run! Thank you for all the support and love that you all give me. I love y'all so much. Miss you tons!!! The pictures are from this scenic outlook called "Liberty Pointe".

 

Quote of the week:

"When my dad became first counselor, I knew that I am going to grow up to be a counselor too."

-little boy bearing his testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday

 

Have a fabulous week! Remember to share the Gospel with someone!

 

 xoxo

Sister Peterson