Last week at MTC
Hello everyone! (I feel so awkward starting these emails, bear with me)
This past week was my last week at the MTC! It honestly went by so fast and I was not ready to say bye to the friends I made. But I am also so excited to start the work in Phoenix!
Remeber last email when I joked about thinking our service would be serving food? Well I guess the joke was on me because we did another service where we literally were serving food. Honestly, how much service does one girl need to do, they should just hire me at this point. It was actually quite a lot of fun, and after serving all the missionaries we got to clean the cafeteria (seriously, don't they hire people for this?!) I got to wear a fun backpack vacuum that got me a lot of Ghostbusters comments. After a while it got a bit heavy but it was still fun to use. Despite the jokes, I was grateful for the opportunity to serve and help others, and I feel like I got closer with my district! So all in all, service is good! Even if it is just unpaid labor...
Unfortunately this week was pretty uneventful. We had a lot of classes, and we were able to go to the temple one last time. It was a great experience and I am so glad I will be able to attend the temple while in Arizona. My district was able to go to the gym quite a few times to play volleyball and even though only two of us were good, we all had fun (No, I was not one of the two that was good). 
On Monday me and Sister O'Loughlin were asked to help with a tour group that would come in. We of course agreed and got to sit in a room with a bunch of parents, teenagers, children, and older folk while we answered questions and bore our testimonies. It was a really cool opportunity and experience because I remeber being those teenagers a year ago, trying to decide if a mission was right for me. Luckily for these people I did a pretty awesome job and helped some of them decide to serve a mission probably...
I am actually currently writing this email on a plane believe it or not. I am flying to Phoenix right now and I am so excited. I know I am where God has sent me and He has been preparing these people for ME! How cool is that. I can't wait to serve these people and to bring more of His children home. One thing has been on my mind lately, a phrase my professor once used: "My salvation is mine". I feel like this is relevant because while I will be here trying to teach people about Jesus, their salvation is their own. I cannot force anyone to turn to Jesus, all I can do is invite them. God gave us agency for a reason, and I have to be mindfull of that when people turn me down. I will also have to work towards my own salvation by serving God and becoming more and more like Jesus the best I can. I invite you all to think about how you are working towards your own salvation, because it is yours and you control it. Find ways to do be more like Jesus, and just keep doing your best. That is all He asks!
I know Heavenly Father and Jesus love all of you so much, and so do I! Please send me updates or any kind of mail, it makes my day! Love, Sister Peterson
Me, Elder Roberts, Elder Melton, and Sister Wilkinson absolutely serving
Me, a Ghostbuster
Us sisters decided to fast for our missions on Sunday and this was my long awaited meal at the end of the day
Me and Elder Gius on the plane to Phoenix AZ!!
I realized the picture I sent last week of my district didn't have all the elders... woops haha. So here is all of us
We've been to the temple twice since we got here and both times it was so fun and good. I LOVE THE TEMPLE, and the Mount Timpanogos Temple is so pretty. It was also HUUUGE haha. I swear I got lost just in the dressing rooms, it was a maze.
General Conference was so good! We were all sitting in this big room on these hard chairs (my rear is still recovering) but I think it was the first time I actually paid attention to the entire 8 hours woohoooo. I got such good notes and man there was so much good stuff! I hope most of you listened to it but I will highlight some of my favorite things:
Easter night we had a music devotional and man it was so good. The first three people got up and I was thinking it was going to be another long hour in the hard chairs, but then this one man got on the piano and my jaw dropped. IT WAS INSANE! They got three random songs for him to play about Jesus - I will walk with Jesus (suuuuch a good song) Jesus Wants me for a sunbeam, and Amazing Grace - and this guy whipped out a beautiful medley of all three songs on the spot. I swear I could hear angels singing, I am not joking. It was the most beautiful thing ever, I was crying my eyes out. Then this one Elder got up and His voice was a m a z i n g. So so good.
Today I was put to work. We got a service assignment and I was like oh, maybe some gardening or helping with meals (IDK I'm used to young women activity service) and it turns out I would be elbow deep scrubbing toilets. I was like are you kidding me. It was only an hour and it went by fast due to the fun girls in my district but still. But then I was thinking about it and I was like if I owned a training center, yeah I would make the people attending clean for "service". It's actually pretty smart. I would also make it a lot harder than what we had to do... that's all I can say. So no hate to the MTC, I get it.
To end on a spiritual note, I want to say I know I am doing what Heavenly Father needs me to be doing right now. During the Easter Music Devotional I said a prayer saying "here am I. send me" (Susan Porter' talk ;)) and I felt confirmation that I am where He already sent me. He needs me here right now and that I am doing the right thing by serving a mission. I love my Heavenly Father and I love Jesus. I love that I get to spend the next year and a half teaching about Him and bringing others home. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
