I'm With Sister Pollock!!!

Hey everyone,

So transfers were on Thursday, and it was the last transfer meeting with the Nilsens, which was kind of sad. When the Assistant said, "In Westerville 1A, Sister Petersen will be receiving a new senior companion, Sister Pollock," I was like, NO WAY!!! Sister Pollock was one of my sister training leaders in my last zone, and I was pretty tight with her and Sister Burton. I was surprised because this is actually her last transfer before she goes home. She's my same age, she just came out right after the age limit was changed for sister missionaries while I waited a year, haha. 

So basically it's been a blast with her, and she's probably my favorite companion thus far. She is just what I wanted for this area as well, as she's a really good teacher and very bold and upfront with people. At the end of last transfer, I was feeling pretty stagnant- my teaching skills were awful, my door approaches started to be terrible, etc. So I'm pretty excited to learn a lot from her and become a much better missionary. We're also similar in a lot of ways, and we've been getting up at 6 to exercise instead of 6:30, so we can get a real workout. I also wrote on our meal calendar "No desserts" towards the end of last transfer, which is actually what Sis. Pollock did in Newark, because I'm done with being fed too much sugar and whatever. What's funny is that her first night here, the family we had dinner with gave us an entire chocolate cake to take home with us, but we handed it off to the elders because what were we supposed to do with that?!

We've done a mix of things over the weekend. We went to Fourth Friday, which is an event in Westerville on the 4th Friday of each month where street vendors and community organizations set up booths and whatnot. There were actually a TON of people there, so we were able to talk to some. We have also had some interesting encounters with investigators and less-actives, but I won't put the details of those incidents in this email. However, Teri is realizing that she is able to quit smoking (the secret: grapefruit juice). Steven is being ridiculous though, and wants us to come visit his church. We just don't know if he gets it. 

The biggest slap-in-the-face for me as a missionary is that I can put in all this effort, dedication, and hard work, and still not be successful. We did everything we could to get 3 people to church yesterday, and showed up with cinnamon rolls and bacon at this family's home, but no one even answered the door or phone, and it was obvious that people were home. It's a hard pill to swallow, and I have to remember how I can personally be successful, since there are things that are simply out of my control. 

Other than that, Sister Pollock and I are having a great time. Tomorrow though we have to take our car in to get the bumper fixed. What's funny is that this happened a year ago in Zanesville, where Sister Pollock was also trained, and she was the one who scraped the bumper! The car just never got fixed because people got transferred and whatever, but our vehicle coordinator was nagging me so much that we are finally getting it fixed. Karma is real though, because Sis. Pollock is definitely paying for it now, haha. We'll be walking and hitching rides from people the next two days. 

Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Petersen

I Love Westerville!

Hey everyone!

Transfer calls were today and I'M STAYING!! Woohoo!! Seriously, the past couple days I have just fallen in love with this ward and would've died if I had to leave already. However, Sis. Baldridge is leaving. Slightly anxious about a new companion, we'll see what happens!

Last week we had Specialized Training, the last training with the Nilsens before they leave. It was so bittersweet. Most of it was a Q&A session where they answered questions about anything and honestly, they ARE AWESOME. I'll miss them a ton, and I'm really excited for the transfer meeting tomorrow since it will be the one they leave from. 

A couple miracles this week. First, Teri is cutting back on smoking, and really wants to put in the effort to change. Also, she's the funniest story teller; I wish I had recorded her acting out the story of her daughter's graduation party, because it's totally something I would listen to on a bad day to make me laugh! Secondly, Steven showed up at church when he originally said he wouldn't have time (he still needs to leave the Lutheran church though...). We gave him a ton of pamphlets to reread everything that has been taught to him, because we were wondering if he was actually understanding everything with the slight language barrier. 

I love love love the members here. They are just so awesome and I'm so grateful to be able to work with them longer. One of the pictures I attached is with Sis. Buxton (we have an unofficial Sis. Buxton fan club, haha). On Saturday, we also helped a family in the ward move in to a new townhome. We were actually out knocking doors when the ward starting driving in, and we didn't have anything else to do, so we moved some stuff in. It was funny, because we hauled in one of the couches in our skirts, and the men were like, "No seriously sisters, you don't have to!" 

It's been soooo rainy here lately, even completely down-pouring, but I like it a lot. Tons of lightning storms too, which that's a little unfortunate because it keeps me up at night. It's also been rather humid. But really, Ohio is so beautiful right now!!!!! 

Today we had a zone fun day, and played softball. I actually wasn't too bad, considering I haven't played in who knows how long! But right now, I'm emailing in my filthy P-day clothes, because we don't have time to change or clean up until we get ready to go to our dinner appointment tonight. It will be crazy getting Sis. Baldridge all packed up in time! 

I'll email you soon again, on Monday!

Love,

Sister Petersen

Westerville Update

You can write Whitney @ whitney.petersen@myldsmail.net or her current address is:

 

4302 Executive Pkwy #223

Westerville, OH 43081

 

She would love to hear from you and I hear she is really good at writing you back!

Hey everyone!

So we'll see how this email goes because I forgot to bring my journal and am trying to remember what even happened this week! To start off, we had another crazy P-day last week, with a zone fun day. We showed up with our mini missionary and 80+ water balloons, just to be told that Pres. Nilsen had just vetoed the water balloon fight. Not sure why, but somehow all of our balloons were used up during the games we did. 

Having a mini missionary follow us around all week was really good for me, and put me in a leadership/role model position that I haven't been in yet as a missionary (picture attached of our trio companionship). She refused to role-play during companionship studies, and I realized how much I've grown and no longer despise role-plays as much! I have also done some of my best role-plays and have been more bold and confident on doorsteps and in lessons, as noticed by my companions. On Thursday evening, Sis. Baldridge went to the Columbus Clippers minor league baseball game to sing the national anthem with a group of missionaries, and was gone for the night (so not fair that she got to kick back and have fun that night while I still worked myself into the ground, but whatever), which meant that I got to DRIVE that night and be the senior companion. It was awesome, and we found 2 new investigators that evening. 

On Tuesday night we had dinner at the Davis', and Janel's family came! It was so awesome to see her again! I attached a picture of the two of again, it was a great night! I am also continuing to get to know the members and I just love them! I refuse to leave Westerville for a while, haha. 

Sooooo about Steven. First of all, he's hilarious in his text messages to us (especially with broken English), but that's another story. We brought him to a baptism happening at our church building on Saturday morning. Afterwards he told us how powerful the Spirit was in the room, and that it pressed down on his head when the person was baptized. For the first time ever, I understood everything he said. A couple hours later, we met with him and a member at Inniswood Metro Gardens for a recap lesson of the Restoration, then extended a baptismal date. Crazy thing is, the date we chose is his birthday. He was unusually quiet through the lesson and I could tell he was uncomfortable with making the commitment, because he still attends Lutheran and is unsure about leaving the people he knows there. But he totally knows the LDS Church is true, just by how much he's felt the Spirit!! And he's always saying how the Spirit is really powerful with Sis. Baldridge and I. We gave him two BoMs, one in Vietnamese and one in English, so for now we are praying that he will continue to feel the truth of the message and make the decision to be baptized into Christ's church. 

Love you!!!!!!!

Sister Petersen

Zone Conference, Temple Dreams, Rats, and Mini Missionaries

 

Hi everyone!

So this week was one of the best of my entire mission so far. On Wednesday with had a zone conference (with half the mission), and President and Sister Nilsen addressed us for most of that. It's sooo sad they go home at the end of the month!! I've learned a lot from them and it's incredible how much they love their missionaries. 

Our ward served the lunch for zone conference, and guess who surprised me that day??? JANEL!!! She heard from Sis. Davis that the Westerville Relief Society was serving lunch to the missionaries, so she came and helped out! I was so excited to see her that I almost cried. Home, and BYU, didn't feel so far away! 

We've had a lot of lessons this week. We met with Troy, an 18 year old kid who wanted to come to church. So we got him a ride, and I worked my tail off yesterday morning making homemade cinnamon rolls,.. but when we banged on his door and called him, no one answered the door though people were obviously home. What the heck. We also met with Rick, who's just an interesting person in general. Yesterday we had 5 appointments in a row after church, but 3 fell through, which was a little frustrating. 

Steven has amazed us this week, but he is also a very difficult investigator because we barely understand anything he says, and we have to figure out how to pull him away from the Lutheran Church, where he has a lot of friends. After the zone conference on Wednesday, we dropped by to see him. After him talking and us not getting it, he grabbed a piece of paper he typed up, and showed it to us. He had recorded some dreams he had in past years. The second one was incredible. He dreamed last year of being at a big, castle-like building, with lots of people outside in bright, Sunday-best clothes. When he looked up inside the building, the upper levels were full of people dressed in white, all the same. As we read this on his porch, I started crying, because the Spirit was so strong. He definitely dreamed about the temple. When I showed him pictures of temples yesterday at church, he related the San Diego Temple to be similar to the one in his dream. We had a lesson with him after church, and he described receiving answers from God and being drawn to this. However, he came to the 1 o'clock Sacrament Meeting yesterday (not our ward), because he goes to the Lutheran Church first. We're getting him a Vietnamese Book of Mormon, and pray that he will receive a spiritual confirmation that he needs to commit to the true church. 

Two crazy stories for the week, both including animals. We met with a former investigator this week (who is now a current investigator again!), and I gave a brief Restoration lesson using the pamphlet. Summer has 5 kids, two big dogs, a guinea pig, a hamster, and a couple rats. Her kids kept bringing us their animals, so I was holding a rat as soon as we entered the living room. While I was teaching, another rat was crawling over to me, and I kept pushing one of the dogs out of my face. Somehow I made it through with a rat on my arm!! (Mom, you would have been freaking out!) The second story involves me pulling weeds at a member's house on Thursday morning. As I yanked out this giant weed, a toad jumped out at me from the ground and freaked me out! But then I caught it, so of course I attached a picture of it for you!

One more thing: we have a mini missionary this week! In Ohio they do "mini missions" where youth 16 and older can stay with a companionship of missionaries for a week and do everything they do. So we have Sister Curl, from the small country town of Picqua outside of Dayton. She's really nice, but also really shy so far, so we're working with her on that! 

Oh, and today for P-day we're having a zone activity- WATER BALLOON FIGHT!! We spent our study time this morning filling up 80-ish water balloons.

Love you! 

Sister Petersen

(I also attached pictures from Sis. Baldridge's camera- the toad, and someone has this carved-out tree trunk of Brutus the Buckeye, Ohioans are crazy); the first 2 pictures are out the back of our ward building, lots of Canadian Geese here.  Last picture is with Janel, former BYU roommate.

 

 

New Investigators!

Hey everyone!

Great stuff happened this week, and also not so great stuff. Linda won't be baptized for a while, she got really overwhelmed with having to stop smoking and her anxiety was going through the roof. We met with her twice this week and had some good lessons though. Another cool investigator we had, Stanley from West Africa, apparently moved to Washington DC for a couple months to live with cousins there, so we can't teach him for a while. 

However, the miracle of the week is Steven, a Vietnamese investigator who's really hard to understand when he talks. He goes to the Lutheran church, and got out of there at noon, so he came to our ward for gospel principles class, then we took him to the Big Walnut Creek ward's Sacrament Meeting at 1 pm. It was a super small ward, and when no one was getting up for the testimony meeting, I felt impressed to go up and bear testimony of the gift of the Holy Ghost. Sister Baldridge told me that Steven said "Wow" while I was up there, and after the meeting, he kept saying how the Holy Spirit was in me. Then he said he would come to our 11 am Sacrament Meeting next week! Even better, we got a text yesterday from him that read (his spelling included): 

"Hi Ballrige. I am thankful. Let me join your church. God bless you. Peterson. See you next time. Steven." 

We were in shock. I asked Sister B., "Is this some kind of cruel, sick joke? This can't be real!" We are SO putting him on-date for baptism, and hope we can meet with him really soon. 

When we were out teaching one morning with Sister Davis (Janel's aunt!), we went by a part-member/less-active/recent convert family. We met the wife's brother, who was visiting from Sierra Leone. We talked to him about the Church, and gave him information to find a meetinghouse in Sierra Leone. He said he would definitely go to our church when he got home, and wanted to know more! So we could potentially baptize someone in Sierra Leone. Legit. Working with the Africans is the way to go, because they are more open to talk about religion. I've learned that state-side missionaries are the missionaries up for a challenge, because the rejection level is very high. 

We were low on miles this week to drive, so we walked a ton. It's been warm too, and on Fast Sunday we deeply regretted not having water with us after church! Comfortable shoes for a mission are a must, and I'm happy to say that the pairs of Clarks I got hold up just fine, since you asked. No blisters and no pain. I did get a little sunburned though, and I also think I'm getting some allergies because there's so much stuff in the air from all the trees. I was sneezing like crazy the past couple of days.

Amanda, a recent convert, is awesome. She came teaching with us and loved it, and wanted to keep going. She also fed us twice this week. Which, funny story about the members, we had no meals for the upcoming week and the elders got fed once last week. So over the pulpit on Sunday, the bishop encouraged everyone to sign up to feed the missionaries. Then our ward mission leader reasserted the same issue during his testimony. The ward was totally chastised!! It was hilarious, because then everyone was coming up to us afterwards like, you're having dinner at our house this week!! 

One more funny thing about the ward. Most of the members here (and in Ohio wards/stakes in general) are related to each other in some way or form. One of the families the other day joked, "But hey, we're not in West Virginia!" People joke that West Virginians intermarry a lot, I heard about that in Zanesville too, haha. But other than that, this ward reminds me more of our ward at home, and I like it a lot. 

Today is a crazy P-day. We played indoor soccer with just our district, which was fun, and went out for lunch. We also had to deep clean the whole apartment and car, they're cracking down on cleanliness on the mission. I also have to send in pictures of everything, they're seeing which companionships are the cleanest. 

Missionary work still isn't easy (never will be!), but it's gotten a lot more fun! The Church is true!

Love you!

Sister Petersen