Hello!
HERE'S MY NEW ADDRESS:
1201 Colony Dr. #42
Zanesville, OH 43701
(you can also send things to the mission home, letters from there will be forwarded to my current address)
So on Wednesday, we got up at 2:30 am to get to the travel office on time. A bunch of missionaries were loaded onto a huge bus, and then we were off to the Salt Lake airport. We were soooo tired, I honestly got 2 hours of sleep the night before. The first picture I attached is of Sister Mathis and I holding our boarding passes in the airport. Last day as companions :(
Our first flight was to Atlanta, which was fun. As we got off the plane, we could feel the sticky humidity of the South, and as we had descended, we could see a lot of mud, and a lot of trees that looked very different than what I was ever used to seeing. I also got to hear some Southern accents in the airport, while we waited to board, this one lady was like, "Where y'all going? Y'all look so nice!"
The first flight was kind of long, but luckily I could sleep through half of it. The second flight was only an hour and a half, but though I tried to sleep, it just wasn't happening. When we landed in Columbus, we pulled ourselves together and went down to baggage claim, where we met President and Sister Nilsen there! They're awesome, I really like them!
We drove past Columbus, and into Powell, where the mission home is. The APs who drove me and the other 7 sisters in our travel group, told us that Powell is in the top 10 cities in America with the highest average income per household- it's nice. The 15 new missionaries ate dinner at the mission home with the Nilsens, and then we were lectured for a while about certain rules/regulations/expectations/motivations, etc. We were falling asleep, and Sister Nilsen made us stand up a lot to wake up! We also had brief interviews, and then we could go to bed. The sisters stayed there, in the basement which had 3 or 4 bunkbeds and 5 regular beds, with more in another room. I had the best night of sleep that I've had in a while, because those MTC beds and pillows just weren't doing it for me!
After breakfast the next morning, we piled in the vans and went to a church building that's right next to the Columbus Temple. That is the TINIEST temple I've ever seen! So cute though! In the church, us new missionaries went through orientation stuff on safety, finances, and health. We then were introduced to our trainers. My trainer/new companion is Sister King from Highland, UT. She's done 2 years at BYU and is studying history. We're getting along, and things are getting better, but at the beginning I felt like I had to be the one to really break the ice, because she doesn't talk quite as much when it's just the two of us. Things didn't click as instantly as it did with Sister Mathis and I. However, we're getting to know each other better, and like I said, we both get along fine. We have different interests and personalities, but we're both very neat and organized, so that's good enough! :D
We then sat through a big transfer meeting and saw a lot of other missionaries get transferred. We all get cars here, except for several pairs of elders who are not so lucky! What was really cool is that three Amish convert couples attended, and three individuals were called up to bear their testimony. It's really incredible, because they sacrificed a lot to become LDS, and many even get shunned from their communities. They also still were wearing the Amish garb and hairstyles with beards, apparently they like to still keep their culture.
A member had given Sister King and her former companion a ride, so she took Sis. King and I to lunch, and then drove us out to our apartment in my first area. The day before, one of the AP's said, "Some of you will be in nice areas, and some of you... in not-so-nice areas." Well, I'm in a not-so-nice area. It's not super bad or poverty-ridden, but it's definitely not what I'm used to. It's the random town of Zanesville, which is the very far eastern part of the mission, almost an hour away from Columbus. Some areas are suburban, and then some parts go out into the boonies. It's hilly though, not flat. Also, it's very forest-y, lots of trees, and I expect that it will be a lot nicer looking in the late spring and summer. The architecture and homes here are very different than what I'm used to, very Northeastern styles. A lot of them looking like they're literally crumbling, most houses and buildings look really old and could use a fresh coat of paint. I haven't really taken pictures yet, but I will have to send some next week so you can have a better idea of what my area looks like, I think you'd find it really interesting. In one area, there's even cobblestone and brick streets, by these larger houses that look like they could be haunted. It's kind of cool. We've been told by various people to avoid the south side by Pine Street, because apparently there are heroin addicts and drug lords down there. Don't worry, we're safe!
It's just Sister King and I in an apartment, on the north edge of town. It's not too tiny, and we have an upstairs loft with a piano in it! So it's kind of fun! The ward here is more spread out, and while the Great OCM is the most successful mission in Northeastern America, I'm not sure if that says anything for our area. It seems like the work is kind of slow here. The past several days I've been here has consisted of driving around, trying to visit part member families and less actives, but NO ONE IS EVER HOME. Or they don't answer the door. Our records really need to be updated, and since Sister King has only been here one transfer before me (six weeks), we're trying to get our footing. We were supposed to go teach someone who's trying to stop smoking, but she wasn't home and we couldn't get ahold of her, so that was canceled. Other plans were canceled too, or rather, they just didn't happen. Last night, we actually came home over an hour early just because there was nowhere to go, and after going to tons of houses, we didn't get to actually see anyone. We need more people to teach.
Our normal days generally look like this: 6:30 exercise (there's jump ropes, weights, and other equipment left behind in the upstairs loft I've been using!), 7-8: shower/get ready/breakfast, 8-9: Personal Study, 9-10: Companionship study (we read aloud from the missionary handbook, Preach My Gospel, and the Book of Mormon), and half the time we do training together from 10-11 (I just do my training material stuff for the first 12 weeks of my mission). So I could be doing studies up to 3 hours in the morning. At that point, we'll just have lunch at about 11:30, and then go to see people (or drive around aimlessly just trying to find someone....). Every evening, somewhere from 5-6:30pm, we get fed by one of the members for dinner. The members really care about us here! It's been interesting to go into so many homes and see how people live. One family, the Gills, well the mother is from the Big Island, and actually remembers knowing Grandma and Grandpa Petersen when they served their mission in Hilo!!! Small world!
Church went quickly yesterday. We had a ward mission meeting, then the block meetings. I saw some guy wearing a kilt- guess he's straight from Scotland. One old guy in the ward asked me if I could sing Gaelic since I look Scottish- I told him that no, sadly I can't! The ward consists of some younger families, and then a lot of older couples with kids who moved out. Relief Society mainly consisted of women over 55 years old!
There's wildlife here for sure. We almost ran into two beavers crossing the road, and there's deer everywhere, just walking along the homes.
Spiritual story of the week. We visited this member family, the Laulusas, who have a daughter that's Hayley's age, and got attacked by an auto-immune disease a year and a half ago. She lives almost like a vegetable, except she's alive and it's not a machine keeping her vitals up. The mother introduced the girl's nurse to the Book of Mormon, and she's made it into 2 Nephi. So after visiting for a long time in the daughter's room, we briefly discussed that. But then the mother liked to talk a lot and we'd get off track, and we got distracted by Emma (the daughter). It was heartbreaking to see though, because you could tell Sister Laulusa was really worn down. Then Emma's tutor arrived to work visually with her and keep her brain learning, so it got a little busy. Sister King didn't seem to be doing much at this point, and while we originally planned to teach Cayenne, the nurse, that day, it didn't seem like it would happen. I had the impression that Cayenne wanted to talk more about what she learned in the Book of Mormon, but was afraid or shy to bring it up. So I turned to her and asked how she felt about it, etc. She said that she felt lighter and happier after she read it, when her family usually considered her to be a grump. I explained that was probably the Spirit or Holy Ghost giving her those feelings, and asked if she wanted us to teach her so she could learn more. She said yes. That was a really cool moment. She came to church with the Laulusas to help with Emma, and we hope to start teaching her really soon.
Now for a random story of the week: when we were visiting part member families and less actives, we came upon a house where the mother was sleeping before a late shift of work, so we asked the husband when we could come back. Right as we were about to leave, the husband falls out through the door and onto his face on the porch. I almost thought he had a seizure, heart attack, even died- but then a second later he breathed, and couple seconds later he woke up and got back up, saying he just got really lightheaded and passed out. We told him he should go lay down and get some water, and then left. It was a very freaky/horrifying/very awkward moment.
Something else random: one of the member's homes we dropped by at does a lot of hunting, and there's a deer head mounted on the wall. The wife told us, "Yeah if you eat here, you'll probably be eating venison!!" I've seen a lot of people in camo too, haha. Oh, and the dinner we had yesterday at the Morgan's house was really good, kind of like what we would eat at our house for Sunday dinner, so that was awesome.
Today's P-day (obviously). We went to Newark to have a "zone fun day," and played volleyball, dodgeball, and soccer together. Then some of us went to Taco Bell for a "taco party." Fun stuff. I like the missionaries here a lot, but it will take me a little longer to adjust to the area. I'm not stressed though at all, more like underwhelmed because it seems like we haven't done much yet! Anyways, I need to get off e-mail, so talk to you later!
Oh, and I'm cold a lot- I've definitely been using that electric blanket! It's in the 20s today, but feels colder!
Sister Petersen
Sister Petersen & Sister Mathis at the Airport; Sister Petersen in front of the Zanesville Water Tower outside her apartment
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