Sister Peterson Week 4

Miracle Cactus!

Hello everyone!!!

I just completed my second week in Arizona! And I finally have some color on me, I don't look sickly pale and out of place now, thank goodness. Every day here makes me love the people so much more! I got really lucky with my wards, they are so involved in our mission work and everyone is so nice! They set the bar really high for the rest of my mission!

We are still doing a lot and a lot of knocking. It is really hard to get friends in this area so we just find and find. It is getting me real good at talking to people who are annoyed with me being there. We are good at getting phonenumbers from finding, but then the people do not respond when we reach out. It is unfortunate but we keep going because we know there is someone out there waiting for us!!

I was apart of my very first Bible Bash! Whoo it was exhilerating, my heart was pounding so fast. Luckily me and Sister Mansius were doing such a good job, the spirit helped us bring up some superb scriptures. It wasn't the best use of our time, but it was good to talk to someone, even if they weren't the most pleasant.

We were able to make some new friends! Eric and Melanie! We were knocking and when we got to their house they had us come inside to talk about the Bible! They were so sweet and Eric asked so many questions, it was such a good time! We gave them our contact information and then left thinking that would be it. However a couple days later, I was trying to take a picture with a cute cactus, and they saw us! They called us over and we were able to meet the rest of their family and talk with them again! They are interested in our Bible study class, and the Young Women Activities for their daughter! Please keep them in your prayers! Thank you miracle cactus!

This week I have been listening to a lot of amazing General Conference talks but the one that stuck out the most was "Forget Me Not" By Elder Uchtdorf (The link is down below!). Please go and read it, it is amazing, but what he talked about was blessings! Sometimes when we are too focused on the big beautiful roses we miss the little but equally pretty forget me nots sprinkled in throughout our day! God blesses us so much, but when we are too focused on getting these huge blessings, we tend to forget to stop and admire the little things He does for us. This has been huge for me while on my mission, and my goal is to start looking for the "forget me nots" because I know they are everywhere!

I love you all so much! Please send me emails!

Sister Peterson

Miracle Cactus!!!

Comp Sudy Park!

After a relief society service activity, they gave me the leftover fruit! YUM

Bainbridge Ward Talent Show

 Our Ward put on a talent show and in addition to performing talents they had signups for members to display their talents. I signed up to display some of my sewing projects and I thought it was fun that I could show some things I can do without getting up in front of everyone. Avynlea was in town and she came to the church with me in the morning to drop off my stuff and she took a picture of me with my items. I put out two quilts, my duffle bag and a red riding hood costume I made for Rylee years ago. I am pretty proud of al of this and had fun putting it out for people to see.

The missionary Moms had fatheads of our Missionaries and we got up on stage and danced with them in front of our faces to a rock version of "I hope they call me on a mission". I was ok doing this because I was not alone and because I had a big fathead of Rylee covering my face. 

the missionaries... Allie Hansen, Rylee Peterson, Garrett Eberhard, Preston Olsen

Cam Givens, Micheal Winter and Addie Bjorn

The Bishopric did a stick figure dance where they dressed in black and had the stick lights on them to look like stick figures when the lights turned off. At first it was hard for me to tell which one was Kefford but once they started dancing I was able to pick him out of the crowd. They did a good job and I love that our Bishopric isn't afraid to have fun and look silly.

Kefford is third from Left

Sister Peterson Week 3

🌞Home Sweet Arizona🌞

Hello everyone!

🌄☀️I am in Arizona!! It is so crazy to look out the windows and see cacti and palm trees but I love it. It is pretty warm here (yeah I know it will get hotter don't worry, I've been warned) but I have been soaking up the mild sun time. My favorite is when the sun has gone down but it's still warm, it's the perfect temperature. I will sit out on the deck and write in my journal or read my scriptures. It is heaven.

🫂🤗My trainer is Sister Mansius and she is awesome! She is so patient and understanding when she is teaching me, I love her so much! I feel slightly overwhelmed with everything I have to learn and do but I think I have been catching on pretty quickly. It helps that everyone here is so nice.

🙏💪We don't have many friends but we have been putting in the work knocking on doors. We have met some really interesting people, and a few have been interested! Please pray that we will be led to the people who are ready to hear our message! I am so excited to start teaching people!

🥙🥖🥞THE FOOD oh man. It is so so good. We get fed every day for dinner and I fear it's not going to be good for me. Nobody has to worry about me starving out here, that's all I can say. The members that feed us are so so nice and christ-filled. After each meal we leave and I say to my trainer "oh my goodness I just love them so much" because they are all so nice and fun! They have been so loving and welcoming to me, it is great.

🎂✨️Fun story real quick, I was sitting in ward council and I was sooo hungry. I didn't eat breakfast and we had been doing a lot that morning. The bishop had this bundt cake on his desk and the entire time I was thinking about how good it would be and hoping it was for us. I deciding that there was no way it was for us, but that didn't stop me from lingering a bit after the meeting, and HUZZAH he started cutting it and gave each of us a slice! It was probably because he saw me staring at it and basically drolling, but I dont care! I have been trying to be more aware of miracles and that definitely made the list! God is good!!

❤️❤️My spiritual thought for the week:

Moroni 8:16

16 Wo be unto them that shall pervert the ways of the Lord after this manner, for they shall perish except they repent. Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear.

I love this verse because something I have been working on is being bold. I have been given authority by God to go out and teach of Jesus Christ! I should be bold! His power is with me, and therefore I should not fear what man can do. I also love the reminder that perfect love will cast out all fear. I willkeep going with boldness and love! I love Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and this Gospel. I also love all of you! Have a good week!

- Sister Peterson

I haven't been taking a lot of photos, IM SORRY!!

All of us new missionaries with the Mission President and his wife! Also, this is in front of the Phoenix AZ temple which is SO BEAUTIFUL!!

My district! Some of you might recognize my district leader... Elder Givens (its a small world)

Pretty sky! I have more sunset and temple pictures but they are currently stuck on my digital camera! 

Me and my companion Sister Mansius!!

Sister Peterson Week 2

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

Lutes's Come to Visit

 Joshua and Mallory wanted to come and spend time with us during the last half of their spring break and it was so fun to have them. We went to some parks, we played outside, we did a house tour of a house for sale in our neighborhood, we loved having them come and really enjoyed them being here.

Leona, Kenedy, Fredrick and Amos

Kenedy found a vintage market to go to and Mallory was super excited to come with us. 

Elizabeth, Mallory and Kenedy

There were lots of fun things to be found but I bought one item and it is a vintage recipe card holder that is the exact same one my Mom had when we were growing up. It mysteriously disappeared one day which was devastating because my Mom lost all of her recipes. We think it might have fallen in the trash somehow and get taken to the dump. It was a sad loss and I was so happy to have found this holder because of all the memories it brings back for rme.

One n night after dinner we went to get ice cream at Reeds Dairy and it was all delicious of course

Leona rode home with us and Kefford let her take over the wheel when we got to our neighborhood. I think she really liked having a turn "driving" Kefford's Raptor

Jessica Pace asked me if I would be willing to make a t-shirt quilt for her daughter Makayla's graduation. I was happy to take this on and I think it turned out pretty cute. She did not have a lot of shirts but I was able to find some fun material, to put in between the short to help make it a bit bigger. She is going to give it to her as a graduation gift and I hope she really likes it.