Yay for shenanigans 
Hiii everyone!!
We were in Matsumoto for exchanges and I had an amazingly wild week!
I think I will just make a bullet point list if the shenanigans then I will go into detail on the real miracles!
We love frogs! After Eikaiwa, we went with the Matsumoto missionaries, Rintarou, (I will talk abt him later) and his friends to catch some frogs! We caught lots!
While housing, a 16ish yr old girl LEPT from her front door to catch her cat. The whole neighborhood could hear the sound if her barefoot hitting the concrete. It was amazing
We asked this teenager a question and he was like uhh while scratching his head. We stood in silence waiting for him to answer and stood there for like 20 sec. Just in silence. Me and Crockett ε§ε¦Ή were dying holding back laughter because what. Unable to speak she points at an eikaiwa flyer, hands it to him, we all bow in unison, and walk away. 
A few old people were a little shocked when they saw 2 American teenagers with their faces pressed against the glass windows watching them swim like they were in a zoo. Then the next moment they looked back and the girls were gone. We were those girls.
We made it a goal to sing "I am a Child of God" to someone on the street. Finally an 18 year old let us but it quickly turned into a solo. Crockett ε§ε¦Ή was laughing too hard standing with her legs crossed, she could not join. There were also a lot of times during the song I too had to take a break to let out my giggles. Luckily our guy was also giggling and having a good time. When we walked away Crockett ε§ε¦Ή turned to me and said LOOK. She wasn't crossing her legs for nothing because she had full on peed her pants. We rushed home.
I waved at some teenage girls while they were driving and they rolled down their windows and yelled "beautiful". Just added to the happiness of the day.
Took a picture with an old man rioter holding a sign that says "no nukes". Picture will be below
Those are all the shenanigans for now! Yayyy. Also, yes, all but one of those shenanigans happened with my girl Crockett ε§ε¦Ή! We have too much fun.
RINATAROU! Okay, when I was in the trio in Matsumoto we invited these 2 young boys to come to Chosen watch night and they came. Well, one of them, Rintarou, has been meeting with the missionaries and has become pretty close with all of them. Apparently one time at eikaiwa he was with a bunch of his friends and when the missionaries asked who wanted to give the closing prayer, HE RAISED HIS HAND. He is amazing and I feel so special that I was able to be there for that first interaction. Pray for Rintarou!
Another miracle Crockett ε§ε¦Ή and I saw happened while streeting! We talked to this guy, ended up taking him to see the church and talked all about Jesus Christ and 3 Nephi 11 with him! He seemed really excited and even ended up going to church. It was a bit odd when he asked for a single photo of me when he found out I'm not a Matsumoto missionary, but we will just pretend jt wasn't a little weird!
With no intentions of talking past this, I told a woman I liked her shoes. Her face lit up and she immediately started talking to us and asking us lots of questions about ourselves. It turned into a really good contact and it was so amazing to see the light coming off of her as we got to know each other. We got her contact info after she expressed her interest in our eikaiwa classes and she left with a bunch of thank yous and how much we made her day. It was a simple compliment that turned into something big and meaningful for all of us! I loved it.
Okay, sorry long email! Let me leave you with one of my fav quotes I might have already put in one of these. "When I see people showing Christlike love for one another, it feels to me as if that love contains more than just their love; it is love that also has divinity in it. When we love one another in this way, as completely and fully as we can, heaven gets involved too."
Crockett ε§ε¦Ή and I had a long talk about this because the true deep love we can have have isn't ours. It comes from God. That kind of love is something we felt before we were born. It is so deep down that our souls can feel it. It is a love that doesn't come from earthly, worldly things, but a Heavenly and eternal love. I have been thinking about how much I love people and especially right now people in Japan. I don't know most of them, but I have these deep love for them and this country. A love that God has blessed me to be able to feel! I love love. SO MUCH
I trully love you all too, even if you are not Japanese hehe.
God loves us all too yay!
Make it a good week!
Love, Sister Peterson
06/23/2025
Quote~>
God’s Favourite
Nagano Zone (from last week)
My dream is to catch a pigeon
I look terrifying, but that is Rintarou in the back! My pal Greg in my hands! And my girl Crockett ε§ε¦Ή！
Happy Matsumoto exchange!
Heyyy pretty clouds
Nagano District! <3
Period
First thing, I was humbled yet again. I am no bueno at tennis. δΈζγγγͺγ. An eikaiwa friend invited us missionaries to go play with him and even though we were terrible, it was still really fun! Thank you Kenji!
We spent almost everyday this week at the Nagano train station with a nice sticker board that says "what are you interested in? Purpose of life, happiness, or life after death?" They would then put a sticker under what their answer was. We had a lot of really good contacts and spread a lot of happy things! We were out there in the rain, clouds, sun, everything. It was tiring but accomplishing! Please pray for our new friends Kaiya, Hitzuki, and Naomi!
Zone conference in Matsumoto!! It was an amazing zone conference and I wish all of you could have joined. We talked so much about the things we are able to do because of Jesus Christ (His enabling power) and how Jesus Christ is Joy. I loved it.
We all went to Matsumoto Castle after and had a splendid time. We walked by 2 ladies and to the other, one said "a school trip?" Haha mmm no just people trying to change everyone's lives
The biggest thing I learned this week is that Jesus Christ = true Joy. For our survey, the most stickers were under happiness. It confused me so much. Are these people just not happy? Do they not know how to feel joy? After zone conference my answer came. They don't have lasting joy because they don't have Jesus Christ. What is this light that members of this church carry? It is the Joy of Jesus Christ. I love this gospel and I love the Joy it brings. I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this gospel my parents have taught me and the gospel that has been confirmed to me of its truth through the Spirit.
Remember last week where I said we didn't have much luck finding people to teach? Well, this week blessed us! This may not seem like a lot to other missions or even to other areas in our mission, but we found 4 new people! That is really good considering I am in Nagano! I have hope for these people and I pray that they will have the Spirit to want to learn more!
We visited a returning inactive member with Ezaki ε§ε¦Ή and let me just say, God never ceases to keep me humble. I have been studying and speaking Japanese for over a year now. I can get by pretty good and I understand the main ideas of most conversations. While we were talking to this lady, I legit understood 2% MAYBE. I don't know what it was but I was not picking up on what was going on. Plus I was fighting for my life to not fall asleep because that time of day should be designated nap time worldwide. It was a struggle, but we made it out. Oh and this lady loves drawing cartoon cats, so she gave us some stickers of her own drawings!
We do lots of finding obvi which means we get to meet interesting humans and have many interesting experiences. More commonly we have lots of experience with people telling us no. Here were some of my fav ways this week..
We visited the Jesus Freaks church! There were a good amount of people there and the lady was very happy to give us a tour. Let me just say, their church looks very fun. I mean, the pastor was wearing a flame suit with flame shoes. Idk what we were expecting, but they were all normal people. I think they were suspicious of us which is reasonable. We might go back again on Friday! We will see.
This is something I have seen over and over again on my mission. We hear all the time "God loves effort". Nothing could be more true. When we show him we are willing to work, we are willing to sacrifice things for Him, He will bless us. Most blessings do not come right away, that's where patience comes in. But He is always eager to bless us as long as we are eager to work for the blessings!
