Sister Peterson Weeks 1 and 2

Konnichiwa everyone!!!

I made it to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) officially! Woohooooo. 

I came on Wednesday and my bestie big sister Kenedy dropped me off which was a very hard goodbye. But I was so excited to meet my district. And oh do I love them so much! Funny thing is there are 12 of us and only 2 elders. Poor elders dubbed us the "sistrict" which we all love. Its been so fun getting to know all of them and even though its only been 4 days (in person) we are all besties!

Little recap of home MTC: It was pretty hard only because I was half in missionary life half out. But it was also amazing getting to know my district before and the classes were pretty good. I cannot imagine doing it for longer than I did, but it was definitely a very good way to ease into the MTC. 

I know everyone is wondering how the Japanese learning is going and so far so good! I was lucky and able to do pretutoring before I came here, so the things we learn in class I have known for the most part already. I can say a simple prayer in Japanese for you, introduce myself, and say simple greetings. It has been fun to learn and I am so excited to learn more! We start full immersion next friday (the 22nd) which means all our lessons will be purely in Japanese. Gospel lessons included. I am very interested to see how that will go and to see how I will do. 

We studied Enos the other day in class and I have loved it so much. I'd encourage all of you to read Enos 1: 1-12 in the Book of Mormon! Enos was struggling with feeling guilty about something and he turned to the Lord and prayed his heart out to him. He immediatly felt comforted and relieved. My story does not do him enough justice so read the scriptures!!! 

I love Jesus Christ and I am so happy to be learning more about His work. I am also so soooo excited for when I am in Japan and able to fill the holes in people's lives. 

I also LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!! Hehe Please feel free to email me whenever because it makes my day when I hear from home. The only downside is I will not be able to respond until my Prep days which are on Saturdays. But I will try my best to respond when I can on those days:)

<3 Sister Peterson or Peterson Shimai in Japanese ;)

p.s. I really apologize if there are typos. Still getting used to this buggy samsung hehe I also do not have very many pictures because I forget to take them... but I will get better!

p.s.s. WISH RYLEE HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY!! My baby sister is 17 

Pictures below!!!

-Read Enos!

-One of the girls in our district got cookies and shared them all with us!

-We were able to go to the temple today! So fun

Happy 17th Birthday Rylee!

An instagram account I follow does reading charts every year and I printed off the one she made for 2023 and kept track of all the books I read. I just wanted to see how many I read in a year and I read over 100 books, I ran out of books to write the titles on and would write them on other spaces on the chart but then gave up on that so I know I read over 100 but am not sure how many after that. I had the paper up in m y craft nook and was going to save it but then I thought why and what would I do with it and decided to take a picture and then I threw it away. 

Rylee turned 17 on March 16th and my baby is not a bay anymore. I can't help thinking that we only have her here at home for about another year and a half and it makes me sad. I love having Rylee around and will miss her when she grows up and moves out.

The Young Women ut a yard sign up for her birthday which I thought was fun. Rylee did not like it because it brought unwanted attention to her but I would not let her take it down and made her take a picture with it. 

Her Birthday was on a Saturday and it was Stake Conference weekend with the adult session being that night and Kefford having a meeting at 4:00 he had to be at so our schedule was a little cramped. We decided to go out for lunch for Rylee's birthday instead of dinner and she chose Red Robin...yummmmmmm. 

After a yummy birthday lunch Rylee opened up her presents, she received... money from Grandma bonnie, a new brush, hair bows, a Lost Boys t-shirt, new jeans, a wallet, a tiny deck of Uno playing cards, and make up. Avynlea also had me wrap up and give Rylee her pair of pants that Rylee likes to borrow with the understanding she has to give them back when Avynlea gets home. Rylee liked all of her gifts and I told her we could also redo her room for her birthday.

For her Birthday cake Rylee picked a chocolate cake from Costco and she told me she wanted me to put sprinkles on it so I did.

I made a collage of pictures to put on Instagram for Rylee's birthday and I had fun going back and looking at pictures of the two of us. 

After we ate cake Ryker took Rylee to the golf course to go golfing. I wouldn't think she would have liked playing Golf but she had fun and I think they enjoyed being together.

Rylee's Favorites:

1. Dinner: spaghetti and meatballs
2. Dessert: chocolate cake - no frosting
3. Candy: Gummy Worms
4. Color: Pink
5. Scripture Story: Alma the younger being forgiven
6. Primary Song: A Child's Prayer 
7. Radio Song: Lovely Darling - Benson Boone
8. Book: Percy Jackson Series
9. Movie: Emma (2020 version)
10. TV Show: Phineas and Ferb
11. Thing to do: Lacrosse
12. Place to go: Beach
13. School Subject: History
14. Store: Target
15. Drink: Lemonade

5 things I love about Rylee

1. I love Rylee's laugh. Her laugh is one of my favorites and it makes me feel joy every time I witness her laughing. She laughs with so much joy and it seriously is infectious. I love when she is watching a favorite cartoon or something that delights her because you can see the delight written all over her face. She exudes joy and I love that about her.

2. Rylee has a strong testimony of the Gospel and I admire her so much with her knowledge and grasp of Gospel topics. She is an active participant in Seminary and her Young Women class and I often get feedback from her teachers saying how much they appreciate her participation in class. Rylee is class president for her class and when we were told that she was wanted for that position I couldn't think of anyone better to lead. Rylee is a natural leader, is a good friend, is kind and inclusive and has a strong testimony she is perfect for the job and already has done so much good and is such a good example.

3. I love watching Rylee play Lacrosse. She has a natural ability and has improved so much since last year. She loves the sport and is always excited to play and participate. This year she has been playing the entire game and I love watching her defend and not be afraid to get in the action. She loves her teammates and has made some really good friends o the team which is a big plus. Lacrosse has been good fro Rylee and I am so glad she has found a sport she is good at and loves to play.

4. We have a new Library closer to us and I love that Rylee loves to go to the Library. She goes to check out books but lately she has been going randomly to study and get school work done. I love that she loves being there and utilizes the space to help her get her school work done. I will always love that Rylee is a lover of reading and that we have that in common. 

5. Rylee does so well in school and I love that she just naturally works hard to get good grades. I never have to get after her to do her school work or to go to school. She might not like all of her classes but she likes getting good grades and works hard to keep her grades up. She is still enrolled in the associates degree program and has never complained about the harder classes she has to take. Most of her classes are college level class and she is able to keep up in the work and maintain good grades, she is so smart and I love it.

Goodbye Avynlea

 On Wednesday March 13th Avynlea flew out tented the Provo MTC for 8 weeks of Japanese learning and Gospel studying. Her flight was at 6am and so we had to get up really early to take her to the MTC. Kefford got a picture of Rylee and I hugging her goodbye which was awesome, I didn't think to get a picture of him and Ryker hugging her goodbye, oops. It was an emotional goodbye and of course Rylee and I and Avynlea were in tears. I am so excited for her and know she will have really amazing experiences and will grow so much in the gospel but I will miss her so much.

Rylee and Avynlea                                                          Avynlea and Elizabeth

After the goodbyes she joined the security line and we watched her until we couldn't see her anymore, she is in the blue backpack.

Avynlea wasn't due to check min at the MTC until 1:00 so Tyler picked her up from the airport and brought her home to spend some time with him and Kenedy. After a while Ty had to say goodbye and leave for school and Kenedy took Avynlea to see Emily at school. It was a surprise for Emily and it made her so happy to be able to see Avy before she left. I spent the morning doing what I did the day Ryker left which was deep clean the missionaries room. A lot was left out from packing and it gave me something to do. After a while I was down in the kitchen putting stuff away and I looked at the clock and it said 12:55, I immediately started crying and then got on my phone to track Kenedy taking Avynlea to the MTC. It was sad to see her take her and then leave but I am glad Kenedy was able to do it. She texted me after she got home to tell me how awful it was dropping her off and she did not want to ever do that again. She said that a missionary was waiting for Avynlea and as soon as she got out of the car Avynlea hugged Kenedy and then was whisked away. Kenedy said she started crying watching her walk away and then had to get in her car and leave. 

Ty and Avy                                               Kenedy and Avynlea

Emily, Avy and Kenedy

Rylee has not been eating the sandwiches I have been packing her and after I called her out on it she sent me a picture of her eating her sandwich to show me she was doing it.

Kenedy got 2 tickets to a Utah Jazz Basketball game from her school, Tyler wasn't able to go with her so she invited Gaby. They had a lot of fun and enjoyed being at the game.

For mutual that night the class 14 joined with class 16 to paint Book of Mormon covers. Rylee's turned out really pretty and I had to get a picture of her with it because she did such a good job.

Avynlea's Last Night; Japanese Dinner and Owyhee Lacrosse

 The night before Ryker left for his mission we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. In following tradition we started with him we planned on going out for Japanese the night before Avynlea left. Rylee had a Lacrosse game that night which made scheduling very tricky so instead of going to eat at the restaurant we ordered the Japanese food and I picked it up with Ryker and brought it home to eat at home. It was good food and fun to eat food that Avynlea will probably eat a lot of on her mission.

The game was in Middleton and it was a rainy night which wasn't super fun but it could have been worse. We had fun watching Rylee and she did really well and is improving so much in her game. 

We took pictures of the double rainbow and Ryker and Avynlea went to the roof of the stadium to take pictures of the sunset.

Owyhee did not win the game but they scored 8 points which is more then they scored all of last season combined so we were happy. I love watching Rylee play and am really glad Ryker, Kefford and Avynlea were able to be there to cheer hero on. She played the entire game which was super fun.

Ryker, Avynlea, Kefford, Rylee and Elizabeth

Family Game Night

 Yardley told Avynlea that when she was on her mission in Mexico her Mom had friends and family write letters to her and she sent them to her for Christmas. Avynlea really liked that idea and told me I should do that for her. One day while I was at the Post Office I asked about international shipping and I learned that to ship a box about the size of a large shoe box started at $80. I didn't really want to spend that money shipping a bunch of letters so I decided to secretly gather letters from friends and Family and send them with her when she left for the MTC. I spent about a month before she left getting letters and got a pretty good amount,  I didn't count them but it was a good stack. My intention was to give them to her while at the airport and have her stick them in her carry on but as she was packing I saw that she was not going to have room for them. She was maxed out on space and had to leave some things at home for me to ship to her. My plans changed and I decided to send them in the St Patricks Day box I was mailing her. 

Ryker came home for the week because he was on Spring Break and it was fun to have him around. He went to the store with me to find green things to stick in the St Patricks Day box for Avynlea and he had me buy a lime to put in there from him. On Monday night we played Settlers of Catan. It is a 4 person game and Rylee did not want to play so we started the game without her. Shortly into the game I remembered I had book club that night so Rylee had to replace me in the game while I got on the google chat call with my Mom and Sisters. After book club I took my place back in the game and within 10 minutes of joining back in Ryker won the game. I missed out on most of the play time but its ok, I am glad the rest of them were able to have fun playing.

After game time Kefford spent some time showing Ryker and Rylee and sometimes Avynlea funny reels on his phone. I love my family and love any time we can have more of our kids here at home.

Avynlea starts Home MTC and Owyhee Basketball

 Sadie, Madison and Avynlea went to the temple one night to get some missionary pictures of Avynlea. This is one that I got that I really liked, sh his such a beautiful girl and I am so excited for her to start her mission.

The Owyhee Boys Basketball team made it to the State finals and Kefford and I wanted to go watch them play. Rylee had no desire to go and instead went to support her friend who was competing at the Distinguished Woman Competition. Avynlea was hanging out with Bodi and they were both down to go to the game with us so we met them there. Owyhee played against Timberline and dominated the entire game. I was hoping for a more exciting game and it was just not close at all, we ended up leaving in the middle of the 4th quarter to beat the rush out and because the game was basically over. The final score was  57-36

On Sunday March 3rd Kefford, Rylee and I went with Avynlea to the Stake Center so she could be set apart as a missionary by President Kropf. Heather asked me earlier if they could zoom in and I asked President Kropf who was more then happy to agree. He met with Avynlea privately for a couple of minutes and while he was doing that I called Heather who was with my Mom so they could listen in and Kefford called his parents. Avynlea was given a really nice blessing and one thing Kefford and I both noticed was President Kropf blessing her with the gift of tongues. I love that for her especially in learning the Japanese language. I am so proud of Avynlea and love her so much and am so excited to watch her grow on her mission, She is amazing and is such a good example for me and others and is going to accomplish great things.

When we got home from her setting apart I made sure to get a picture with our new missionary.

The next day Avynlea started her home MTC, she met her companion, Sister Merrill, and they seemed to hit it off right away which is nice. She is in a district with 12 missionaries two of whom are Elders, that is a lot of Sisters.

On March 6th Avynlea, Rylee and I went over to the Temple house to see it and Bob and Alison who were staying there. Bob and Alison are in the Meridian Temple Presidency and with the hours they need to be there sometimes it is hard to go back and forth from Nyssa so they get to use the Temple House. It is a cute little house about a mile down the road from the Temple and it is there for the presidency to use. We got to tour the house and visit with Bob and Alison for a bit. Avynlea was on a break from her classes but we couldn't stay long because her break was not that long. 

Jeremy's birthday was on the 7th and I found some pictures to post with his birthday message on our family group chat. I love these two pictures of us at our weddings.

On Friday March 8th Rylee had a Lacrosse team bonding and they went to get ice cream from Reeds Dairy. In the picture Rylee is third from the left wearing the black and red lacrosse jacket.

Sweet Georgia

 This sweet little Georgia is in my 2's dance class and she is the happiest, sweetest little girl and I love her so much. I have her big sister, Caroline, in the class right before hers and a couple of weeks ago their Grandma brought Caroline to class and told me that Georgia would not be there that she got severely burned over the weekend and had to be taken to the burn unit in Twin Falls. Her Mom put the two girls in the bathtub and then plugged in her curling iron to get ready for a date night with her husband she heard the baby cry and rushed out of the room to grab the baby. While she was out Georgia got out of the tub and ran across the room on her way through she got caught in the curling iron cord and the barrel somehow got trapped on her arm with the barrel against the upper part and her forearm clamped against it. She got burned so bad it burned her nerve endings and she had to be rushed to the burn unit. I was so sad for Georgia and her Mom when I heard the news and kept the both of them in my prayers. On Wednesday I sent her Mom a text message checking in and giving my support. She responded a couple of days later with this picture and to let me know Georgia had surgery, is doing good and will hopefully be home really soon. The next Monday I asked Caroline how Georgia was doing and she said that she was good and that she was here. I said here, here like at the studio here and Caroline said yes. I was surprised but at our break I went and talked with her mom and she said Georgia was doing great and was good to be back at dance. She was bandaged up on her arms and had long sleeves on but I was so happy she was doing good and back to her happy, sweet self.