Sticking Around in Lewis Center

Hello!

We just got our transfer calls, and Sister McCarty and I are staying together another transfer in Lewis Center! This is exciting because I've had a new companion every transfer so far, but I get to keep her for 2 transfers! We're hoping that something big happens here, because Sister McCarty will be here for 6 months and Lewis Center is a rough area to be in for a while. Hopefully we can come up with good ways to use our time here. 

There were a couple things that happened last week. We had interviews with President, and mine was super fast because I didn't have much to say, I've been feeling pretty good. We also went to the temple on Thursday which was SO NICE. The Columbus temple is the tiniest thing though, it's hard not to get claustrophobic, and with our zone it felt like the place was bursting at the seams, haha. 

We actually got a new investigator who actually has promise, which is the news of the century for us. It's Laura, a Mexican lady we tracted into and wants us to come back for a third time after giving her a Book of Mormon. We have an appointment set and we're excited to teach such a sweet, spiritual lady. With Lenn's, we haven't been able to contact him this week and he hasn't gotten back to us by phone either. But we'll try to see him this week. 

We've had some random days where we don't even feel like missionaries, though we are technically doing missionary things. We've done more service recently and spent all of Monday wearing jeans. And President Daines told us to avoid tracting as much as possible, so we're doing anything we can for the members because it's all we have. We went to the ward Trunk-or-treat on Friday and that was so much fun. Also, ward chili/soup cook-offs are really good. The cool thing was that a ton of people invited non-member friends, and told us about it too. 

It's a pretty comfortable life here in Lewis Center, when we're not caught in the rain on our bikes or being told to go away. This area is the closest thing I've come to being home on my mission, maybe it's because everyone's house smells more similar to ours... autumn candles for the win. Members also take care of us really well and we've had some great meals lately, along with going out to Panera Bread and California Pizza Kitchen. It's pretty sweet. We're trying our best not to turn into civilians, haha. 

ALSO, I was notified by Sister Malloy in Westerville that Steven, the Vietnamese guy I taught during my whole time there, is on-date for baptism for November 15th. It's kind of a big deal, hopefully he actually makes it there and decides to take that leap of faith.

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures: Sister McCarty and I bought cheap animal headbands to wear at the Trunk-or-treat and and we also switched nametags, haha. 

Also, here's part of our area. And I decided to be like Dad and start taking bike pictures. Might as well!

 

 

Highway biking, grills on fire and crazy dogs!

Hey everyone!

This past week was rather ridiculous on our bikes. On Tuesday it down-poured like crazy and we didn't even make it out of our apartment complex. It rained periodically throughout the week, and Saturday was also freezing cold along with the rain, and I don't even own a rain jacket but apparently it's a good thing to have in Ohio. At the end of Saturday we collapsed on the floor and called it a day, haha.  

We have been tracting for a specific amount of time each day to find more people, because when our ward mission leader said that our teaching pool has become a "teaching puddle," that was a stab through the heart! Through knocking doors, we have found a few potentials and it's been great, but those were all in the one apartment complex in our area. Knocking the doors of big houses still isn't getting us anywhere, but we're not complaining. It's quite an experience sometimes. But with only teaching one or two actual lessons this whole transfer, my teaching skills have been going down the toilet, and my door approaches were getting even worse because I'm just seeing how long I can make it until the person shuts the door on us, haha. 

One of of my biking adventures this week was while I was on exchanges with one of the Sister Training Leaders. We biked to a member's house for dinner, and had to ride up State Route 23, which is this big busy road with fast drivers. I thought it was a piece of cake because there was actually a big enough shoulder lane for us, but after seeing a huge truck go by us at 70-80 mph, I started questioning my life decisions! All I know is that if I'm still supposed to be here and serve, I will be protected on my bike!

One night while leaving a dinner appointment, I realized that my socks were missing by the front door of the house. The member's dog ate them... or at least hid them somewhere, so I rode home sock-less, haha. And then as we biked down the street, Sister McCarty and I saw a grill that had flames shooting up out of it on someone's driveway!! And it was almost 8 o'clock at night. We knocked on the person's door, and the guy was like, "It was supposed to be simmering....". False.

Fall is officially the best season ever, I wish it was year-round. 

Love, Sister Petersen

My time cut short on the computer and it logged me off, but I also wanted to mention that we found these "dramatized" Church history CD's in our closet and we've been listening to them whenever we're in the apartment. They were recorded in the 70's and they're hilarious. But then again, it's all we have for entertainment so of course missionaries find it funny!

Pictures: we saw a great Kodak moment as we biked past a small lake one day. 

The Missionary Next Door

Hey everyone, 

Not a whole lot has happened this week, but we are trying something new with the members. We borrowed a copy of a talk called, "The Missionary Next Door" by a lady named Diana Hoelscher, which is about how simple and easy it can be to share the gospel. The missionaries take care of the spiritual conversion and the members take care of the social conversion. By simply inviting people to church activities, activities or occasions at their homes, or even church itself, non-members can be in a good place where missionaries can meet them. There's other suggestions as well, such as having gospel-related art in your home and knowing how to explain it to others in the form of a simple testimony, to give others the chance to feel the Spirit and learn more about our faith. It's really good and so we organized a hand-out that members can put on their fridge, and we are starting to teach members and help them more in their missionary work. We realize that working with the members is the key in this area, because this ward is missionary-minded and ready to go if we just give them a little push. If you can find the talk on YouTube or something, I REALLY recommend listening to it. It's really entertaining too. 

We taught one lesson this week, to an investigator named Lenn's (I can't remember if I've mentioned him or not)(also, he's black, hence the apostrophe in the name, haha). We went through the Restoration in more detail this time with him and we're using a new method of teaching with the pamphlet, where it's all question-based and we can find out what a person's religious background and knowledge is. It went pretty well and we're meeting with him again this week.

We also ran into one of our potential investigators while he was walking his dogs. We used the opportunity to teach him more, and he was interested in a Book of Mormon so we gave it to him on the spot. He's been interested in searching for the truth so we think that if he makes it a priority, he will read and find out for himself. He's a professional pool player and went out of town this week, but we're looking forward to meeting with him next week. 

Also, I finally bought my own bike. I called the mission office and it just so happened that there was one bike available that was a ladies' frame with a low bar. Some members in a different ward bought it for a sister who ended up going home early, so it was basically unused. It's a Schwinn and looks pretty classic, but still has gears and rides really smoothly and fast. It's likely I'll take it to a bike shop at some point to get better tires on it with a little more tread, but so far it's working out great. And thanks again Dad for sending me the headlight, it makes a humongous difference. I don't know what I would do without you! Also, I am sorry for shaming the family by owning a bike that was purchased from Wal-mart, haha. I am a little sad though that I will need to sell it to someone else before I come home, because there's no way I can ship that or fly it home. I would totally bring it with me to college otherwise. 

I hope everyone has a great week, I love you!

Sister Petersen

Pictures: 

#1: Tim and Linda, the recent converts who live in our apartment complex, own a tiny clown bike for some reason I don't know why. Of course we had to try it out.

#2: Us with our bikes, me with my new one and Sister McCarty is currently stuck with the clown bike because she had to give back the one she was borrowing from a member. Just kidding, she was able to borrow someone else's for the rest of the transfer. 

#3: Us in front of a true Ohioan barn that's in a random pocket of our area. Classic mission picture.

 

I will never eat steak again!!

Hey everyone!

This week has been really weird. Our work has not picked up in pace in any way, but somehow we've kept busy and had quite the eventful week. 

To start with, we were shown the new movie/documentary "Meet the Mormons" at a Specialized Training. It was REALLY good. Sister McCarty and I were a little doubtful because the trailer was kind of cheesy, but really, it was worth watching and very enjoyable. Mom and Dad, there's a segment at the end about a missionary mom... you will cry just as all the missionaries in Ohio did! 

The crazy and dramatic story of the week was from our dinner appointment on Tuesday. The family was having a family gathering/birthday dinner for their teenage son and we were invited. The story is really awkward and detailed but I'll keep it brief. Not too long after everyone began eating the dinner, the husband got a piece of steak stuck in his throat. Then he was choking/gagging/vomiting in front of everyone.... and I know I lost my appetite!! Sister McCarty and I had front-row seats at the kitchen table and we didn't know what to do. 20-30 minutes later, he was still gagging and grossing out everyone and we couldn't be like, "peace out everyone!" and leave (if only we had other appointments to go to like some lucky missionaries out there...). Then the PARAMEDICS came and shooed out the huge group of people that were just sitting in the living room and watching, and we were able to make our escape. Before going home, we saw him wheeled out on a stretcher and loaded into the ambulance, still gagging as they drove away. Very disgusting. I never want to eat steak again!!! But don't worry, he survived and was fine. 

We also have to give our bikes back to the members who lent them to us. Bummer. We're hesitant to buy bikes when it's getting cold and will probably start snowing next month. Because really, what kind of person can ride a bike in ice and snow? No one. 

We got to do some other service this week, including cleaning a basement and doing yard work. Then on Friday the weather got in the way and we weren't able to do much on bikes. It got cold this weekend, which is nice but also scary. 

General Conference was pretty good, and we watched all 4 sessions in the church building with some recent converts who drove us there. Since we didn't have the car to do other things in between sessions (our church building is way out of our area), it felt like we were living as "civilians" this weekend, but it was enjoyable. General Conference is always great. 

Other news includes obtaining Insanity from Tim and Linda, the recent converts who took us to Conference and live in our apartment complex. We started it this morning and are super excited to get into great shape. Hopefully our neighbors below us don't mind, we're doing a lot of jumping at 6 am :)

Pictures: we got Buckeye necklaces from a member! Also, we went to Cabela's this morning... I couldn't resist taking a picture with a fake rifle because missionaries are not allowed to go shooting :D

Love, 

Sister Petersen