Sister Peterson Week 30

Happy Pday! woop! One of my favorite 7 days of the week!

I feel like these past couple weeks have been a blur. They are going by both very slow and a little fast. I am thankful for them though, don't get me wrong.

I think 2 weeks ago the elders found a woman for us to teach! Okay, I already have a hard time understanding Japanese, but this woman's Japanese is like impossible to understand. Luckily we have Elder Akiyama (Japanese) and Elder Spillett (half Japanese) to help us with lessons! This woman is super faithful and is progressing so fast. She is already on date for baptism!! October 20th! Please pray for her! It is so cool to hear from her how the knowledge of the gospel has already blessed her life so much!

Like I mentioned last week, for Pday we went to the Nagoya Space and Science museum! It was so fun! It was kinda like the Discovery Center in Meridian, but 10x bigger. Lots of fun! Unfortunatly the big planetarium presentation was in pure Japanese (I do not know space related Japanese) and the lights were dimmed just perfect for a nap. hehe, dont ask me what I learned during that.

I understand why people say they grow the most when they are training. I mean obviously my Japanese is SOOO FARRR from where I would like it to be, but you guys. This week I taught lessons, testified, taught people on the streets, etc. all in Japanese. "Sister Peterson, shouldn't you have been doing that your whole mission?" Well, yes, but this time, I am the more experienced companion out of the 2 of us. I have the responsibility. I am being relied on. I lead. This week has been cool because I have really been able to see my progress. I still have lots to work on, but I am proud of myself for this week! 

Japan Tips

- People still look really scared when we say hi to them

- Every doorbell has an intercom. It makes getting denied at the door a lot easier when not face to face.

- It's true, Japan is very stylish. I am constantly impressed by people's day to day outfits!

#usacouldnever

We had a lesson this week and a member joined and she commented something really good! I will explain. She said has always been a people pleaser. Before she found the church, she sought people's love and approval. It was like a jar that would get filled up, but it had a whole at the bottom. She never felt satisfied with that love from others. Worldly love. Once she found Gods love the jar was filled and even overflowed. She said she now wants to share the love she knows from God with others. 

I loved this comment so much because we can seek love from the world, but it wont last. The only love that will last is Gods. 

1 John 4

16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

I love you all! 

God Loves You! 

Make it a good week!

<3 Sister Peterson

09/30/24

The Quilt Show

Saturday morning I was getting ready when Kefford came in saying he wanted to go and do something today that he didn't want to sit at home and do nothing. I asked him what he had in mind and he didn't have anything so I said I have an idea. There was a quilt show going on that weekend and I really wanted to go but I didn't have anyone to go with so I brought it up to Kefford and he was game to go. I was surprised but really happy and soon after I finished getting ready we headed out. It was at the Idaho Expo Center which was basically the fairgrounds in Garden Valley and when we arrived I saw signs for the Quilt Show and I also saw signs for a Renaissance Fair. As we parked we saw a lot of people dressed up clearly going to the Renaissance Fair, we were not positive about where the Quilt Show was so we headed towards the fair grounds and walked through the gates. The fairgrounds are outside and it was obvious pretty quickly that we were not in the right place. To the right was the expo building and I said that was where we needed to be. We went out the way we came in and then headed over to the Expo Building where we found the Quilt Show.

Kefford and I spent time walking around looking at all of the quilts and I took pictures of the ones I liked the best. I was really impressed with the talent and skill that people have and saw some really cool things. I knew Kefford had to have been bored but he was so great about not complaining and just tagged along with me looking at the quilts. 

I love Halloween quilts and this one on the right was a fun one with lots of different details. The quilt on the right I took a picture of because I really liked the bottom panel. The pumpkins, frog and caramel apples were so cute. The rest of it didn't appeal to me but a quilt with just those elements would be lots of fun.

This was the sweetest quilt and I absolutely love the little dresses and clothes hung on the clothesline. Since the show I have tried to find this pattern so I could make it for myself but so far no luck.

This argyle quilt was a fun one, I really liked the colors in the design and love that it looks like an argyle sweater.

Obviously this Harry Potter quilt is in my top favorites. Each design element is so fun and I can tell took a lot of work. There was a lot of paper piecing involved and paper piecing takes time. I would do different fabrics for some of the parts of the quilt but this is a quilt I would love to have the pattern for. 

The spiderweb quilt on the left was cool and according to the info sheet about it was designed by the quilter, that is talent and I admire her abilities. The ballerina on the left was so different, I loved the flowing dress and ballet shoes. According to the info paper this quilt was hand painted which is so cool.

Finally this cross stitch looking quilt was so cute. I love the look of it but I don't know if I would ever want to do something like this, cutting out and sewing all of those tiny squares together would take so much time.

WE looked at all the of the vendors and booths after looking at the quilts and I did find a Halloween print and a Christmas print that I couldn't leave behind so I bought them. While I was doing that Kefford was spinning a wheel and won a back scratcher. He enjoyed using it to point things out to me the rest of the time we were there. 

Once we were done at the quilt show Kefford wanted to go back into the renaissance fair so he could get some food from the food trucks. What we didn't see before was we had to pay admission to get into the Fair, we didn't realize that and nobody stopped us going in. We knew now but Kefford just wanted to get to the food trucks so we went back in the same way we did before and headed over to the food trucks. Kefford got octopus balls from the Japanese food trucks and while they tasted good he was disappointed his meal did not come with the noodles that the other meals came with, he just needed to read the menu better. We took a picture of Kefford with the Tanooki to send to Avynlea and then we headed out. As we were walking through we saw a lot of people dressed up and it is crazy to me that adults get into this level of playacting and dressing up and are not self conscience about it at all. I guess when you are around this many people doing the same things that you are you just feel like you are with your people.

Spooky Season and Emmaline

Rylee is doing an online psychology class for her associates degree and I get sent updates though email. I took a screen shot of the kind comments Rylee's teacher left for her and sent it. I am sure she gets the same notifications but I don't know that she really pays attention to the notes.

  

Jessica Heslop asked me if I would watch Emmaline last minute because Jeff was out of town, her older girls were at various activities and she had to drive kids to their choir class and did not have room for Emmaline. I was happy to help out but I was a little unsure about how I would entertain her, Rylee was at work so I couldn't rely on her to help out. When Emmaline arrived I asked her what she wanted to do and she asked me if I would show her my quilts. I had helped her big sister Hazel make a quilt and she must have told her sisters about my quilts. While I was showing her my quilts she was super complimentary and was amazed and loved every single one of them. She was adorable. After the quilt showing we were sitting on the couch chatting and I told her Rylee was going to be so jealous that Emmaline was here and she wasn't going to be able to see her. I said we probably shouldn't tell Rylee and Emmaline put her hand to her chest and said "oh we best not", seriously she is the cutest little 6 year old and has the cutest sayings. Shen asked if she could jump on the trampoline and after a couple of minutes of that she asked if she could make a handkerchief. We did not have that much time left and she did request a small one so we looked through my fabric and she found a piece she liked. I had her cut it and then I let her pick a stitch on my machine and I helped her sew a fancy design around the edges. We did not have time to hem the edges so I put some fray check around it and then had her dry it quick with my hand fan. 

I got an amazon package in the mail that I was not expecting and upon opening it I found a Halloween sweatshirt that I had seen online but did not think I ordered. It was a size extra large which is the size I like to get in my sweatshirts because I like them big, comfy and cozy. I really thought I might have ordered it and did not remember so I looked in my amazon history but it was not there. The only one I know who really knows how big I like my sweatshirts is Ashleigh so I figured it was from her but was still confused about it. I finally remembered to look in the package again for a gift receipt and sure enough I found one with a note that is was an early birthday gift from Ashleigh. Mystery solved! I love it and am excited to wear it during spooky season!

Rylee found me lying on my bed watching clips of say yes to the dress and joined me for a couple of episodes. Of course she had to take some .5's of us, her favorite hobby. 

Sister Peterson Week 29

Good day everyone!! 

This week was like so long and exhausting, but it was alright.

Training is hard, but not as hard as I thought it was gonna be. Probably because my beanchan is so amazing. She is super understanding and laughs with me when I make a mistake. Like that one time when a lady talked to us for like 20 min and we had no idea what she was saying so we kept bearing (is that the right spelling?) our testimony of the Book of Mormon haha... ohhh that was pretty awkward. But it is hard having all the responsibility and being the one who is always relied on. It's okay, I take it day by day!

When I first got to this area, the member × missionary relationship was a little rough. Not very many people talked to us. But recently, it has been so good! Everyone is willing to help us and bare with us through our rough Japanese. The support and love has been soooo helpful.

We played apples to apples with our Eikaiwa class which was pretty fun. My favorite part was hearing them try to say hippopotamus. Hahahaha I was dying. The best part is they are all older people and so hearing them talk like 5 year old English is amazing. I have great respect for people who learn a language for fun. Because it is HARD WORK!

Last Pday we walked around Nagoya and it was so fun! The city is so big and there are so many things to see and do! Today we are going to the Nagoya Planetarium space museum thing. Yay!! I am super super thankful God put me here!

Japan Tips!!

- The Police cars are literally silent. They kinda just drive around with their lights on. It confuses me.

- all the traffic lights are horizontal, not vertical.

- it is pretty normal to have like a phone strap and you wear it like a bag. It's kinda smart if you ask me.

"Good evening" in Japanese is こんばんは！Konnbanwa!

Thats all for today!

Okay everyone I am sorry again, this email is short because you know, we went to the museum today.

Leave Love! This is something my amazing coworker taught me before my mission and my mission president's wife just recently talked about it. I love it because we should always try to leave a person feeling good about themselves and ourselves. Do whatever you can to leave a little love wherever you go! 

God loves you all!

I love youuuuu

Make it a good week!!

<3 Sister Peterson

09/23/24

Uncle Roy

 On September 19th I woke up and was looking at Facebook on my phone when I saw a post from my Aunt Carol saying that my Uncle Roy had passed away on the 17th. This was a shock to me and I screenshot the post and sent it to my Mom and siblings group chat. This was the first any of us had heard about the death and we were sad for Aunt Carol but we did not have a relationship with my Uncle so it wasn't a devastating thing. He lived a long and good life and I can be happy that he is in a better place. Since my Dad's funeral I have see him once which was at Ashleigh's wedding and that was also the only time we have talked. I have good memories of him from when I was little and just have an image in my head of being at Grandma and Grandpa Lutes's house and seeing Uncle Roy playing Pool with his two sons, my Cousins Don and Robert who were much older than me. Uncle Roy was always nice and did his fair amount of gentle teasing when we was with us kids but we really did not see him a lot and that was ok. I think after my Dad's passing he could have done more to help my Mom or at least check in on her regularly but he did not and I wonder if my Dad is going to ask him about that when they see each other again. I do think he was a good man and probably just did not feel he had to worry about my Mom or our family. I wish we could have seen him more to have a better relationship but maybe that is something that can happen after this life.

Kenedy saw this post on Facebook which was a jump scare for her and very strange. I don't know who put it there, Kefford says maybe AI, and while I think it is weird I just had a thought that maybe it was a good way for the friends and family who only follow him to find out about his passing. 

Ryker and Anna, Bonnie the bunny and Stake Conference

 Ryker and Anna have been dating for a couple of months now and he is becoming more and more smitten. Because she is going to school in St George and he is in Logan they don't get to see each other often but through FaceTime and the occasional weekend visits they are coming along just fine. Ryker got a ride with a friend who was going to St George so he could visit Anna and I told him to take pictures. These two are not the best about taking pictures and so he made sure to take one before he left to send to me. The lack of pictures is disappointing but I will just have to keep bugging them about it and hopefully they will get better. 

A couple of days later Ryker sent me a picture that Anna had sent him of her new hair color to find out what he thought. He said he thought she looked so beautiful but that he sounded like an idiot when he saw it because of how pretty she was. I thought that was a sweet reaction and am sure Anna liked it as well.

With Rylee being busy with School, work and friends her bunny Bonnie has been pretty neglected. We decided we needed to find him a new home and I took some pictures of Rylee holding him that she could use to make a flyer for Kefford to put up at work advertising our free bunny. He is a sweet little guy and it has been fun having him but with Rylee leaving for college next year we don't want to have to worry about him. It is the end of an era and we will finally be pet free.

We had steak conference weekend and it was nice to have Kefford sitting with us for a change. It was also nice to have another person in the .5 photos that Rylee likes to take. 

(Rylee here, my most favorite thing EVER is to take 0.5 pictures of my mom and dad. No matter how much they hate it, I am so excited for the day when I get to do 0.5 on my phone (the one I have isn't new enough for that) but until then I have to keep using my mom's phone. But trust me, once I get 0.5 on my phone, I will be an unstoppable menace.)