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

Week 1

FAMILY!

How is everyone doing? Finally it's P-day! It felt like it took forever. So my P-days are Tuesdays in the MTC so this will probably be my only email here since I leave next Monday. It's crazy how time has felt so slow yet fast at the same time here. It has been a whirlwind experience that's for sure. 

So what does everyone want to know? It was so sad to say bye to everyone but I know this is where I need to be. I love the MTC and being a sister! I love wearing my name tag and I feel weird whenever I have to take it off to sleep haha. My companion's name is Sister Fonua and she is from Magna, Utah which is like an hour from Provo. She's 19, Tongan and so awesome! We became fast friends because we bonded over how gangsta we both are hahaha just kidding but we are basically like twins! I love her! She has such a sweet spirit and we work really well together. I'm blessed to have her! My district is made up of eight elders and four sisters including me and my companion. Eight of us are going to Colorado Springs (represent!!) and the other four elders are going to the Michigan Lansing Mission. We became close so fast because we basically all have the same sense of humor so we're always laughing and cracking jokes (but we work really hard too, Dad. Just had to throw that in there for you). We have made a few District goals and sit together at every meal. In my room there are only the four of us sisters so I have like three closest spaces all to myself...sorry not sorry.

 So there is Sister Muro from Orem, Utah and she is Mexican and then there's her companion Sister Woodruff from Kings City, California. I really lucked out with such fun, sweet, hard working roommates. We all get along really well! And then my Zone is made up of three Districts. Most of us are going to Colorado Springs so it's really cool! A couple of them are going to Michigan and the West Indies. I told them that my grandparents served there a few years ago. A day in the life of Sister Peterson basically consists of usually waking up at 6 (is everyone proud of that fact or what?!) getting ready, eating breakfast, study time, class for three hours, zone teaching (depending on the day), lunch, study time, class for 3 hours and so on. Needless to say it is a very busy busy schedule and took some time getting used to. 

Sister Fonua and I got to teach our teachers twice as he acted like an investigator named Kirk. It was really neat to see the way he reacted to us and he seemed to love everything we have been saying so far! Yesterday we got to teach a real investigator for our TRC. Let's be honest...I was nervous at first! I felt like I had just arrived here and I didn't know what I was doing. But I can promise you that if you have that Christlike love that we are all searching for and you can convey that to your investigators with the Holy Ghost then you have no need to fear. Her name is H. and her family moved here to Utah about five years ago. They are Catholics and they met a member friend name Pedro who referred them to the missionaries so here we are. Sister Fonua and I taught her that she Heavenly Father loves her so much and that He just wants whats best for her and her family. She told us that her family is going through a really difficult time in their lives concerning one of their daughter's health. I KNOW that God has prepared H. to hear the message of the restored gospel and I can't wait to teach her again on Wednesday. Please pray for her and her family though this time in their lives!

 I love this gospel so much and I can already see the necessary changes in myself. I have not one single regret about coming on my mission. This is where I need to be and I wouldn't change that for anything. Later today we are going to the temple and I'm so excited to see the new film! 

SHOUT OUTS!

Tammy- Happy birthday!! Thank you for always being a great example to me. And thank you for being such a great friend to my mom. Love you!

Lauren- I leave on your birthday girrrrll! My flight is hideously early at like 6:44 in the morning and we have to be at the travel office at like 2:30am for who knows what reason. So happy birthday! One year older and wiser too but mostly just one year older hahaha I'm kidding. Thank you for setting a great example for me by serving a mission. Love you sister!

Ami and Matt- Happy anniversary! Of course I remembered! I wrote it in my calendar when I made it. Mhmmmmm.

Jenna- I got your letter yesterday and I will write you back asap! No worries my little one! Take care of Hays for me will you?

Ma- Thanks for spoiling me with letters. You all spoil me with dear elders and letters that when my District Leader is passing out the mail at night he says with a chuckle "Sister Peterson" and then hands me like 5 or 6 at a time hahaha and I'm just like "my family is obsessed with me okay?!" And I'm obsessed with them too! 

Dad-keep those father knows best coming! I love to read them! 

I'm alive and well and loving this work! PLEASE share it with your friends because I know that it can change their lives like it has changed mine! Well I gotta run soon so I love you all and miss you loads but I love being a sister!!

P.S. Sorry no pictures this week because these computers don't use cords so I need to buy a usb or something like that :(

xoxo

Sister Peterson

The letter that started it all

The day my call came was actually the day before I got to open it (Friday the seventeenth) but my dad had to go to a stake father/son camp-out (typical) so I had to wait until the next day to open it. Talk about TORTURE. I waited it out patiently (I'd like to think so) until Saturday afternoon. That night I could hardly sleep. Thoughts raced through my mind like "I wonder where I'll go. It could be anywhere in the world." "I hope there aren't huge nasty bugs." "What if I have to eat something gross?" And of course the question on everybody's minds... "Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?"I woke up the next morning ready to know where I was being sent to serve the Lord for the next eighteen months because I had waited long enough (still working on that patience thing)

FINALLY that beautiful day/time arrived.

May eighteenth two thousand and thirteen
12:15 pm

Everyone I wanted there started to show up and I had all my friends and family on FaceTime and Skype. Everything was ready to go. I took my place at the front of the family room and my dad handed me a letter opener and I had never really used those soooo....that was a fail. My mom's friend, Tammy, had to finish opening it for me because 1. I was shaking and 2. like I said, I never use letter openers. I flipped the booklet on top of the letter and started reading aka hyperventilating...REALLY THOUGH. It was the craziest feeling. But here goes nothin, right?? And then I read these sacred words: 

Dear Sister Peterson:

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the COLORADO COLORADO SPRINGS Mission. You report to the Provo MTC on August 14th.

Side-note: I will be speaking English which I'm almost positive I already got that in the bag.

COLORADO SPRINGS!! WHAT. I CAN'T BREATHE!! Everyone was cheering and there were so many people taking pictures and talking to me all at once. Whatta rush! 

I know this is where the Lord needs/wants me to be. I am so excited and anxious to serve the people of Colorado! And my mission even extends into New Mexico! How legit! All the love and support has made me so grateful and even more happy for my mission. I cannot wait to go!!!! And I am SO lucky that I will be home for a lot of fun events this summer with my wonderful family and friends. Time to get my shop on! As that creepy child in the Macklemore song would say "Poppin tags!"

SISTER MISSIONARIES RULE. 

xoxo

Sister Peterson