Sister Peterson Week 15

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!! I am so very grateful for my Dad, my Grandpa, and all the other amazing people who get to celebrate today. I am also grateful for a loving, forgiving, sensitive Heavenly Father! 😊I will be honest, this week was pretty hard. But I was also able to witness so many miracle and have seen God's hand in this work so much! 🍓It is hard to see progress when learning a language because it feels like I am learning so slowly. But I have been able to pick out a few words I recognize when 3rd wheeling conversations haha. I believe that is God giving me breaths of air when it feels like I am drowning. Let me just say, learning a whole other language is very difficult and can be exhausting. Im trying to find ways to make it more fun, if you have any tips please send them my way!! 🎈On thursday our mission did a Book of Mormon finding day. A day where we find people only using the Book of Mormon. Last transfer they did this I think they handed out about 205ish as a whole mission. That's about 4 books a person. Me and Takahashi 姉妹 handed out 6! It was so fun. I handed out 1 English Book to a tourist family which made me real excited. Our mission as a whole handed out 278 books! So exciting!! 🙈That same day me and Takahashi 姉妹 were taking a break in a shaded area to practice my Japanese (i was feeling very discouraged) when a lady with earbuds in AND black tape over her ears came up to us looking amazed. I only understood what my companion translated for me, but she told me I had a presence of one of my ancestors, a man, around me and was supporting me. He never went on a mission and is very proud of me and helping me. I told my mom this story and we decided this crazy lady was talking about my Great Grandpa Lutes! He was never a member on earth, but my mom said he would enjoy ny personality which is very fun to hear. 😌The crazy lady also said I had saved someone before I came to Earth and I am supposed to save them again on Earth. 😅That was interesting. The last impactful thing that was translated to me was that I have the Spirit of a women AND a man. Ha. Not sure how I feel about that, but I think that's kinda fun... right? While she was talking I had tears streaming down my face bc even though this lady was an absolute crazy woman, she talked about things that I hold close to my heart. Things only Heavenly Father would really understand about me. Very odd experience, but I was reassured that Heavenly Father is always watching over me and supporting me. Even if He has to show it to me through crazy people. We tried to give her a Book of Mormon but she told us she already knows everything. Which I honestly do believe haha. ❤Japan Tips!!❤ -I would marry the 7/11s here if I could. The Melon Pan and Coolish are a MUST try. The snacks are so fun and yummy and mmmmm - 100 yen store is basically the dollar store but 1000000 times better. If the USA's dollar stores were the like 100 yen store, let me just say, the popularity scale would be right up there with Costco. Plus 100 yen is equal to about 60 cents. SCORE - Literally everyone here is short. In the USA I am an average height, but here... I am tall. It's funny when I talk to a women and her 2 kids and her head barely reaches my shoulders. If you ever feel too short... come to Japan ;) ❤️woop woop❤️ 1 Nephi 16:29 "And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things" I read this during my personal study this week and felt so grateful. Heavenly Father knew I needed this. He knows the desires of our hearts and how hard we are trying, sometimes with what feels like no success. I want to emphasize 2 main points. 1) We have heard that he loves effort. He can take our small efforts, small knowledge of a language, small understanding of the scriptures, small amounts of self confidence, and magnify them. Make it great! Trust Him. Ask Him. Rely on Him. 2) He has a plan for you. I believe that when you trust this simple sentence, you can go so far in life. Take risks and be patient. Let His plan fold out and trust He knows what is best for you. As I am slowly learning Japanese I have to keep reminding myself of this. Everything works out in the way He needs it to. Trust in that. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have a love so deep for us we can't even comprehend it! That is crazy! I love you all so much and please know that you are all in my prayers. Have an amazing week!! <3 Sister Peterson 06/17/24 *when I show people the Pic of little me with a potato, they are AMAZED at how big the potato is haha *I'm a professional tennis player now *I just love the kids here