Final Words

Hey everyone!

I come home in 2 days! I am so excited! The past week or two I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my mission and what it's done for me. For a while I questioned if I had done enough or did well enough, but increasingly I have come to feel calm assurances from the Lord that all is well, and that I should be satisfied in finishing my mission. The past year and a half has been the experience of a lifetime, both good and bad. While it seems sometimes that missions are outrageous, ridiculous, and often a waste of time, I wouldn't change a thing. I am so happy that I followed the Lord's will to serve a mission! It has blessed me and will continue to bless me throughout the rest of my life. I have come to love the people I worked with in Ohio and will miss all of them along with the physical beauty of this state. When I first received my mission call to Ohio, I was like, "Wait, seriously?" But now I KNOW why I was assigned to this mission. I don't know ALL the reasons, and won't know until the next life, but I know there were specific people I needed to meet. There were lives I needed to touch, and there were people that blessed my life in return. I have made so many friends here that I can't even count them. 

Though this is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, I know that all the opposition I faced throughout my mission was worth it.  A survivor of the ill-fated Martin Handcart Company once said, "The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company." Looking back on my time here in Ohio, I realize that my mission was nothing what I had expected it to be. But after all the blood, sweat, and tears, I can honestly say that I am privileged to have served in the Great OCM. I feel privileged to have become more acquainted with Heavenly Father and my Savior, and I am overwhelmed by their love for me. I know the Atonement is real because I have experienced it here in Ohio. I know this is Christ's true Church, and that He is with me every step of the way. He is the one who is carrying me across the finish line. I know I have only been able to finish my mission by His enabling grace. 

I love you all, and thank you for supporting me on my mission! I can't wait to see you all soon! 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

 

 

11 Days!!!

Hey everyone,

It was a pretty normal week. It's still been very rainy though,
and I
can't wait to leave all the gloominess behind soon. It rains so
much
it's ridiculous, if only I can make all the storms move out West
where
they need it so much more!

The biggest news from this week is that we
had two people at church,
our new investigator Jenny, and her 15 year old son
Shane. Her son has
really been thinking about being baptized this past year,
and so he
joined our lesson this week and was really interested to hear what
we
had to say and read the Book of Mormon. It was honestly a miracle for
me to
see two new people come to church this week, because throughout
the entire
course of my mission, I had only brought one other person
to church that I had
found myself that had not been previously taught
by other missionaries. What a
positive way to end my mission! Jenny
and Shane stayed the first two hours, and
we don't have a return
appointment yet and honestly have no idea what they
thought or if they
will be coming back. But I feel good knowing we did
everything we
could, and the topics for Sacrament and Sunday School were
really
good, so if they decide not to come back for now, then they are
just
not ready yet. I feel at peace with handing them over to the Lord
and
seeing what happens from here.

I only have one full week left of being a
missionary, and I am looking
forward to seeing you all soon. :)

Sent from my
iPad

18 Days

Hey, 

So you've probably heard about that tropical depression storm that hit Texas and Oklahoma. Well that moved east and then north of that, and we've been under flash flood warnings. It rained all day Wednesday, then on Thursday, Friday, and especially Saturday. Thankfully, Wednesday was our P-day and we enjoyed going to the temple in Columbus, and throughout the week we stayed busy with just enough appointments, meetings, and other things to do that kept us inside. Lucky us! It really did rain a ton though, and we noticed that there's part of the carpet in our bedroom that's sopping wet, because we're in a basement apartment in the corner of the building. We should probably call maintenance about that!

One thing that's keeping us busy is now we are using our planner and Area Book (all the teaching records of people in this area that we keep) on the digital app on our iPads. So we had ANOTHER training meeting, and now we have time set aside each day where we just input all of our records for the next two weeks. That's mostly what I'm doing until I go home, haha. 

We have a new investigator who is really promising. A couple weeks ago with our mini missionary, we were walking along the sidewalk when I felt like I should stop and at least give this lady our card. Normally I would've just kept walking, because she was busy with a garage sale and was with a group of people. But it turns out that Jenny, the woman we talked to, is super interested to know what we believe. We finally came back this past Saturday for an appointment, and answered a lot of questions she had. She had read through the Restoration pamphlet and loved it all. She's really concerned about how to best raise her family in this world, and wants to come to church next week. Wow. Talk about a miracle! She's really seeking for the truth and we are excited to meet with her again on Thursday. 

Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures: A pretty field after the rain cleared up. Also a sign that's in the parking lot of a church building across the street from us. We should have this sign at our church parking lots too. 

 

 

25 Days

Hey, 

This last week was pretty good. I forgot how fun it can be when you are in a tri-companionship. Our mini missionary, Sister Groover, made things so fun! We had some good experiences too with talking to people and just living the missionary life. We also got a new investigator, Pat, who is this super nice older lady who we taught the Restoration to. She was amazed by the First Vision, and we are going back tonight to see her again. 

This transfer is busy with meetings and trainings. We had a "mini" zone conference last week where we role-played a ton using the iPads. This weekend we are rolling out the Area Book/Planner app, which means that we will start inputting all of our paper records by hand into the digital format, and our planners will also be on our iPads. That will be exciting! 

I'm out of time, but here's some pictures! Also, Sister Malloy, one of my old companions, was here this weekend for a visit and attended the other ward that meets in our building, so she caught me at church yesterday, that was fun!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

 

Mini Ipads and Mini Missionaries

Hey, 

This was a pretty good week. On Wednesday, we finally received our iPad Minis, and have been doing a lot of training and set-up for those. In another week or two, we're going to input all the information in our huge area book binders with all the records. It's good to know there's extra stuff to keep me busy these last few weeks! I'm also grateful for the opportunity to see how missionaries are integrating the more advanced technology into their work. The Church has produced these new digital pamphlets in place of the paper ones, and they are SO cool for teaching, whether it's in a sit-down lesson or on a doorstep. Anyone can download the app, it's LDS Pamphlets, and I totally want to use them for anyone who has questions about the church after my mission as well. Everyone should check this out! I'm also becoming acquainted with everything on the gospel library app and relearning how to use technology- it's been 16 months since having my own device, and I struggled a bit the first couple days! How embarrassing! On the bright side, it won't be hard for me to make the adjustment when I come home, haha. 

We received a "mini missionary" for the week on Saturday, Sister Groover, who is a 17 year old youth from a different ward in the stake. She's pretty cool. As I work with Sister Gustaveson, and now with our mini missionary as well, we have been seeing some miracles happen in this area. Sister Gustaveson has also put a fire under me, which is helping me finish my mission strong. As we've committed to talking to more people (which is SO much easier to do during summer, I'm telling you, being a missionary during winter is THE WORST), we've been getting return appointments with several potential investigators. And that makes everything so much better. 

We currently meet with 3 less-actives weekly, and have had great experiences with that. Isaiah is also going to the temple for the first time this Friday, and we're trying to pull together a ride in order for us to get to Columbus as well. 

I am grateful for this final transfer because I am finally noticing some positive changes in myself and I am finally feeling the power that can come as a missionary again. Missions are probably the hardest thing you can ever do, but I can't deny that I've learned a lot from it. It may not be the best 18 months or 2 years of your life (let's be honest, it's not), but it's the best 18 months/2 years FOR your life. What I've gained (and what I am still gaining) from my mission will shape the rest of my life.

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures: 

#1: First selfie on the iPad. You should have seen the missionaries in our zone that day, people were skyping each other from different rooms and were SO excited, haha!

#2: Some cornfields down the street from us. Actually, this field is technically in the Cincinnati mission, that's how close we are to the edge. 

#3: A huge dead bee we found (and Sister Gustaveson's thumb)- check out the detail in those iPad cameras! Haha!

 

So just kidding... I actually got a new companion!

Hey everyone, 

So on Thursday morning at 6:35 am, we got a phone call from the mission home. I was already on the treadmill when Sister Fox ran into the living room, freaking out and pointing to the phone. I hopped off the treadmill as fast as I could! Sister Fox got transferred a few hours later (thankfully there were some members who were already going to transfer meeting in Columbus to see other missionaries, so we just snagged a ride from them), and I got a new companion. So yes, believe or not, I am finally the senior companion! I almost went my whole mission as junior companion, haha. But basically President told me that I would be getting a newer missionary so the area could be built up when I go home. 

So I am now with Sister Gustaveson from Cedar Hills, UT. She went to BYU for a year and a half, and has been in Ohio for 3 transfers now. She still has enough greenie fire to kick me into gear. I was definitely forced to step it up a bit the past several days! We get along pretty well and the transfer should go smoothly, at least I hope. 

We've done more finding, and finally gained a new investigator, Cliff. He was sitting on his porch when we met him, and his wife passed away 3 weeks ago. He was very receptive to what we had to say, and we'll meet with him again this weekend. 

....and I come home in 39 days. That is all. :)

Love, 

Sister Petersen

PS- here's a picture of me with some chocolate scones I made this week for people. I can bake anything now! haha

6 Weeks Left!

Hey everyone, 

So it's down to the final transfer of my mission, and Sister Fox and I are staying in Beavercreek for a third transfer! The hard thing about that is that we both go home in 6 weeks, so motivation is wayyyy down, but we'll make it good as we finish out our time.

Several good things have been happening. We've done a few more service projects, one of which included gardening work and we got to drive a riding lawn mower for the first time ever! We are now true Ohio-ans. Think our front yard at home is big? That's nothing compared to people's lawns in Ohio, I've never seen so many riding lawn mowers in my life. 

Between teaching a couple of lessons, we have done some other fun things as well. We spent the end of our evening one night at this park with the coolest slide ever. And today, we went to the National US Air Force museum with a couple of members and the Fairborn sisters. You guys would really dig this place, I think it's the biggest air and space museum in the country, and we will have to go through it when we come back to Ohio. 

Last week was our mission-wide conference in preparation for getting iPads. It was different than what we expected, and very principle-based, especially about the Atonement. It was really good and I got a lot of things out of it that had nothing to do with technology. However, we still have not been given the iPads yet- we will receive them in a week at zone meeting and be trained further on setting things up. Sister Fox and I will literally get a month with them before our missions are over, haha.

Also, there was a tornado that touched down just outside of our area yesterday, which ripped off the building of a gym and flipped a few cars. What's funny is that we were less than a 20 minute drive away, and we had no idea that there was even a tornado watch, but we got some good rainstorms out of it, haha. 

Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures:

There was this plane called "The Fiery Ginger IV"- obviously needed a picture of that one. 

And the Air Force is spot-on, "return with honor?" "self before service?" Their slogans were totally ideas from a Mormon 

 #6: Me in front of a Beavercreek sign/painting. It was slightly awkward as this was outside of an alcohol carry-out place. But we needed a picture of it!  

#7 and #8: Evening at the park! (these are only 2 of the many that we took, haha)

 

Brief Review of the Week

As you can imagine with 8 1/2 weeks to go, most of our Skype session was spent talking with Whitney about plans for returning to college and her return home.  We had some fun questions such as "What's the worst/best thing you've been served to eat?" and "What was your worst/best door knock experience?" She reminded us of the man who fainted face first right in front of them after opening the door -- that was right at the start of her mission!  She looked and sounded great!

*************************************************************

Hey everyone, 

Since I got to Skype home yesterday for a good amount of time, I'm just going to be brief in listing off what happened the past week. We've been out working and trying to find people to teach obviously, but in other news it's been a really good week. We me this lady named Barbara on the street, and though she wasn't interested in learning, she called us right away for us to do some free manual labor, haha. So on Wednesday on Saturday we went over and did some of the most random yard work I've done on my mission. But we think it's softening her heart towards us a lot and so we'll see. Missionary work tends to be a very slow process, we also taught two less-actives this week, one's a single mom and the other is a 22 year old guy. We've been making some progress with Amy though, the single mom. 

Zone conference was this week and it was awesome. I actually had fun for once doing some role-plays with other missionaries, haha! But what was really good is that President Daines discussed with us the importance of understanding the Atonement more and digging deep through all the layers of it. There's a lot of different powers of the Atonement, like cleansing, healing, redeeming, sanctifying, etc. What I liked the most is how we talked about the ENNOBLING power of the Atonement. Of course there's the enabling power that helps us move past our own abilities and strengths, but the ennobling power is what helps us to eventually become NOBLE. We were sent to Earth to do something great and to become something great. My biggest takeaway from zone conference is to remember to look UPWARD and FORWARD to what we can become. Because we all have so much potential. 

Love you! Have a great week!

Sister Petersen

 

 

What would you know....Ipads!

Hey everyone,

Not too much to report this week. But at our zone meeting on Wednesday, we were told that we will be getting iPads at the end of this month in the mission. They're finally going to start testing it out in our mission! I wasn't sure whether to be mad or laugh at the fact that I only get to use one for the last month of my mission, haha!! Oh well, I'm still pretty excited, maybe it will help me stay interested in things my last transfer! 

Speaking of which, we also had interviews with President this week and I was able to get the adjustment made for my release date. So I am officially coming home on July 10th!!! Woohoo!! Now that it's May, going home seems more and more real! Weird!

Anyways, here's a picture of Sister Fox and I at the Astin's house for dinner last night. Their son is currently serving in Taylor's mission in Argentina, and he sent his mom a picture of him and Taylor at a zone conference (which I forwarded from her to you guys). That was really fun. 

Oh, and missionary moment highlight of the week was that Isaiah blessed the sacrament yesterday! Unfortunately though he has also moved to a new apartment that is just outside of our ward, and the mission... we're getting him to stay in this ward for a while since he's a new convert (and we want to teach him the new member lessons, haha). 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

 

Spring

Hey,

This is going to be the shortest email ever because I'm almost out of time and I don't have much to say! But this week was really good! We just walked around and contacted some people, didn't do too much teaching though. It was cold and rainy for a few days, but it's been really nice here and there too. 

We had Stake Conference yesterday, and it was a broadcast from Salt Lake City. Elder Andersen and Elder Hales talked about how much the Church has progressed in Northeast America in the last 50 years. We have over 20 missions and 9 temples with a few more coming! The Northeast is a great place to be. 

The pictures I attached are of some spring flowers- when trees bloom here, they actually have these huge flowers come off of them! I never saw anything like it until coming to Ohio, it's really pretty. The other picture is of Sister Fox and I walking around one afternoon with these leaves on our noses- if you peel back these certain leaves/seeds, you can stick it to anything haha. 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

A Baptism!

Hey everyone, 

Isaiah got baptized on Saturday, then on Sunday was confirmed and also ordained to the Aaronic priesthood. Though really, this was the easiest baptism ever. Sister Fox and I literally just showed up, put him on-date for baptism, and were like, "this is your thing, you choose how you want this all done" because he's been taught by a few different missionaries and never made it all the way to baptism. Guess he was ready now! Everything went great with the baptism, and he's doing well. 

The other thing that happened this week is I went on companion exchanges to Springfield and stayed with Sister Bromley. Springfield is this old town half an hour away. It's full of these old Victorian houses that are literally crumbling, some of them were really cool! However, we saw some of the scariest people I have seen in my whole mission. Definitely some humbling circumstances there. 

Enjoy the baptism pictures! 

Love, 
Sister Petersen

 

Living in a Horror Film

Hey, 

This week was pretty eventful. We've had more service opportunities recently, including setting up for a wedding reception and then spending half of our Saturday moving a member's neighbors out of their house. The wife, Jennifer, was amazed at everything we and the elders did for them, and Sister Fox and I got to answer some of her questions and give a brief Restoration lesson as we were fed lunch. She wants to come to church and has sooo much potential... then we realized that she is moving to a house that is only a couple blocks outside of not just our ward boundaries, but mission boundaries... we don't know what will happen with that yet. 

Isaiah passed his baptismal interview and should be baptized on Saturday. Our fingers are crossed as he literally just quit smoking 2 days ago. We have also found two new investigators this week, which has not happened to me since I was in Westerville- that's a really long time! One of them is Nick, a father with two little girls who is going through a divorce. We came by on Tuesday to teach a first lesson in connection with the "Because He Lives" video that we introduced to him. He gave us a tour of his house, because it was built in 1906 and has a historical plaque on the front since it's one of the first homes in Beavercreek. It had 3 stories and was really cool! The staircase to the third floor was secretively hidden in what looked like a closet in a tiny room on the second floor. Fun stuff. 

The other new investigator is a older man named Joe. We had also given him a Because He Lives card, and had a return appt. We wanted to teach the Plan of Salvation because his wife passed away from cancer and he seemed receptive. We brought a recently returned missionary and he invited us in to sit down on the couch in his living room. Within the first two minutes, I noticed a bug on Sister Fox's shirt, and flicked it off. But I recognized it right away as a bed bug (other story, one of our other investigators, Robert, has a bed bug infestation so we had a member look up pictures of them for us so we could recognize them)(we haven't been over to Robert's in a while...). So then I looked behind her at the couch we were on.... AND THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. Bugs were ALL OVER the back couch cushions, and holy crap I got SO squeamish as Sister Fox obliviously went into the Plan of Salvation. Then Joe had to take a phone call, and while he was talking on the phone, I turned to Sister Fox and whispered, "BED BUGS.... LOOK BEHIND YOU." Then the both of us, along with the member we had, were all fidgeting and squirming as we found bed bugs crawling on US. Sister Fox tried to keep going and make the lesson brief, and Joe was surprisingly receptive and feeling the Spirit as bed bugs WERE CRAWLING ON HIM. He looked like a creepy crypt-keeper or something. It was weird. We were only in his house for about 20 minutes and felt bad about cutting things short, but we said we had to go. Outside his house we were lifting up our clothes and pulling bugs off of each other before getting into the member's car. Sister Fox and I immediately stripped down, threw our clothes in the washer, and took a shower when we got home and were majorly panicking. After that, we sat down to finally get around to our weekly planning, and Sister Fox found a bug on her arm and freaked out. I vacuumed the entire apartment as my companion was almost crying. 

The good news is, we (along with our apartment) are clean! We have not seen any more bed bugs. However, Sister Fox has bite marks up and down her body- I think I was only spared because I was wearing tights and my arms were covered with a cardigan. That is an experience I never want to have EVER AGAIN. I have had other things happen in lessons, such as children throwing their pet rats on my lap while teaching the First Vision, but this was absolutely repulsive. 

Anyways, here's my only picture for the week- Sister McCarty finished her mission and is home now- this is us the day before transfers. 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Possums and General Conference

Hey everyone, 

Wasn't General Conference so good? If you haven't seen it, go to lds.org RIGHT NOW. I was amazed at how all the talks were just so spot-on, and answered questions that I came prepared with. Because of Conference, I feel more of a desire to understand the Savior and the Atonement more, and to recognize the Lord's hand in my life. There are many other things that stuck out to me, but it's too much for me to type out right now. General Conference weekend is always nice, and Sister Fox and I spent all four sessions at the church building (see attached picture for Conference selfie, haha). 

The miracle of the week is that Isaiah is back on date for baptism. The other week he had dropped us and didn't want to be involved with the church anymore, but later it turns out he just offended by something, and his desire to move forward has been restored again. Just goes to show that the adversary will always try to push us down because he doesn't want good things to happen in our lives, especially for Isaiah to join the church. We shared the talk, "Cast Not Away Therefore Thy Confidence" with him, by Jeffrey R. Holland. If you haven't read it, look it up. 

The funny thing from this week is that we played a prank on the elders for April Fool's Day. When walking along the side of the road the day before, we saw a dead possum completely intact. That evening, we ran into a member who told us prank stories from her mission, and Sister Fox wanted to run with one of those ideas.... so the next day when we got the car back, we picked up the possum and put in a box outside the elders' apartment, with a note that said "Take care of my baby" stuck on it! Oh my gosh that thing smelled SO BAD, Sister Fox was gagging as we drove with all the windows down! The funny thing is that a Restoration pamphlet flew into the box when we drove over, but to our surprise the elders didn't know it was us! They thought it was this one crazy lady or some anti-Mormon person, and told the Daines about it when our district leader was on the phone with President, hahaha! We broke the truth to them later, and now everyone in our district is making all these possum jokes. I attached pictures for your viewing pleasure. :D

If you just got totally grossed out, look at the picture of the golden-doodle puppy that I held at a member's house a couple weeks ago! The other picture is one of all the sisters in our zone, after zone meeting on Wednesday. 

Have a great week and review those Conference talks! We have definitely been blessed with modern-day prophets and apostles to lead and guide us today!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Not a bad week!

Hi,

It's a been a pretty decent week. We kept busy with various things, including doing service for some members by filling up and tying over 300 balloons for a party they were having (but thankfully, they had an air compressor to blow them up!). We also met some new people. On Saturday we met Robert, who is 45 and dying from liver problems due to alcoholism. We sat in his mother's old home in the REALLY run-down neighborhood of our area as he cried and cried to us. His life story is pretty sad. Moral of the story, don't drink or do drugs. We talked a lot about the Atonement and invited him to church- and miraculously he came! 

However, we weren't actually at church when Robert was there- we had planned on taking a returning less-active member to the singles branch. That was fun, I miss being in a singles ward, though some singles wards/branches can be pretty weird! 

Something that I've been learning the past few months is that we really can't do it all on our own. I can't do the area on my own, can't work through my weaknesses on my own, and can't finish my mission on my own. In a lot of what I studied this week, I kept receiving the message that we all need to trust more in our Heavenly Father and let go of what we can't control and give our burdens to Him and our Savior Jesus Christ. They love us so much and that love is always there, whether we feel that we deserve it or not. Yes, we need to develop self-reliance, but being self-reliant also means that we need to learn how to work with others and trust in God. 

I am feeling blessed though.... because some members just gave us a treadmill for our apartment this week! Woohoo!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

PS: We had a zone activity today, here's a picture of us. I'm back with Sister McCarty, I've missed her!

Spring is here!

Hey, 

It's 62 degrees outside- it may as well be summer! :) It's been really nice outside this week, I haven't even had to wear a coat the past several days! Which is good because we were on foot this week. 

We had a couple of lessons with our progressing investigator, Isaiah. He has committed to quit smoking so he can be baptized on April 18th. He's a very chill, big black guy in his early 30s, and we're excited for him if he can stop smoking. The ward has been amazing in fellow-shipping him and having him over for dinner all the time. 

We've had a couple of other lessons this week, but not with anyone super solid. We are also working with a recent convert and her family, and trying to teach her husband Will. He's really funny, but also hard to work with. He's coming to church though every week so we hope that the Spirit will finally sink into him deep enough to where he's finally like, "I get it now!" So stubborn!

The highlight of the week was that we got to go to the temple! Our temple day for our zone was on Wednesday, which also became our P-day. Didn't have much of a P-day because it's over an hour drive to get to Columbus, but it was so worth it. I love the temple, there are so many blessings to enjoy there. I'll be at the temple a ton after my mission for sure. 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures: some "sights" I saw when we were walking through town on Saturday. They have these beaver statues all over, they usually are brown and are standing on a tree stump, but the one I have a picture of is "Biking Beaver" at a local military memorial... I knew I had to take a picture of that one for Dad!

I'm not in Columbus anymore.......

    

New Address: 

3702-A E. Patterson Rd. 

Beavercreek, OH 45430

Hey everyone! 

I got transferred! Again! At 13 months I'm in my 5th area! Sister King and I got out doubled-out of Hilliard, and our area got shut down (there were a few areas that got closed because more missionaries are going home). That was my third time getting doubled transferred with my companion, and my second time shutting down an area. Man I can never have a normal transfer, haha. 

As I've moved westward across the mission, I wasn't surprised when I was assigned to my new area in the Dayton East Stake- Beavercreek! I figured it was about time for me to get "exiled" to Dayton, and now I'm at the very edge of the mission, the opposite end of where I started in Zanesville. It was really nice to be in the Columbus suburbs for the past 11 months, but it's good to have a change too. Our area consists of part of the town of Beavercreek, and parts of Riverside (the ghetto section of our area) and Dayton. It's a lot woodsier out here, it will be great when the leaves come back. We're close to the air force base in Dayton as well, so there's a lot of military families here. 

It's been a good change so far, after my last 2 areas being some of the hardest places to serve in the mission. We actually have multiple lessons in a day- it's weird! I haven't been this productive for a very long time!! We just put an investigator on-date, and we have a few others along with a few less-actives that we are consistently working with. It's great. 

It's also weird how I knew so many people from the mission before even coming to serve here. I met someone that was in my ward at BYU, who's about to go on a mission herself, and met the mother of a friend I had in my mission prep class there. Craziness. 

Oh, and my new companion is Sister Fox! She's been out a transfer longer than me, and has been what I need this transfer. I feel like a greenie again and realize I really don't know a whole lot! I feel pretty lost when we're in lessons sometimes, haha. She's from Springville UT, but is originally from Thousand Oaks, CA! She's 23 and went to UVU before her mission.

Also, this transfer is only 5 weeks, which means that I would get another week at home before starting school again in the fall. So I probably won't come home mid-transfer, and just ride it out until the end. In that case I will be home on August 14th (sorry Mom and Dad, don't book any vacations!!!).

And I promise I'll send pictures next week... haven't taken any....

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Winter Adventures

Hey everyone, 

So it may be March, but winter isn't over yet! On the first day of March yesterday, it snowed all day and church was canceled. Go figure. I also got sick AGAIN, Sister King and I must be passing illnesses back and forth now. 

On Monday night, Sister King parked in a really bad spot on the side of the road and our car got stuck. So at 8:30 pm, I knocked on some random person's door (but hey, that's what we do), and got this lady to help me push out the car, after using her shovel to dig out the wheels and pouring cat litter everywhere to create traction. Aaaaaand it was zero degrees outside.

The other day while walking around, I had my glove off for not even 5 seconds before my hand started going all numb and tingly, and it stung. Frostbite warning???? Thankfully that day was filled with service and other indoor activities! 

The other random story of the week was that when we dropped by a less-active family's house, their boxer jumped on us on the couch, and was so excited that he peed all over our coats that we were wearing. Lovely! But it gave me a good reason to finally try washing my down coat, haha! 

But anyways, blessings still abound! When we went outside today, I was like, IT'S SO WARM OUT HERE! Then we called the weather line on our phone and found out it was 28 degrees outside. But I took off my down coat anyways and wore my peacoat instead. So maybe spring IS coming, haha!

Transfers are this week, and we feel that big changes are coming. Have a great week!

Love, Sister Petersen

More Snow

Hey everyone, 

It's been another cold week! But with the 8 inches of snow that came on Saturday, it warmed up to 30 degrees and it felt balmy! So nice and pleasant, haha. What a contrast to the beginning of the week when we were trudging through snow in 9 degree weather at 8 o'clock at night! But don't worry, I haven't gotten frostbite yet.

We taught Chase again this week, and he's feeling good about being baptized. Unfortunately he didn't make it to church this week because he got the flu. Everyone and their dog is sick in Ohio- Sister King was consistently sick as well the second half of the week. Saved us from being in the deathly cold temperatures though for a while! 

We had another musical missionary fireside last night, which was good. I didn't participate in the choir this time, but enjoyed it a lot. Tony showed up to this one too, and it's always to great hearing how the Westerville ward and its recent converts are doing. 

This week we were invited to come see Bethany, a former investigator who is really complicated and I honestly can't figure her out. She's known for giving a lot of missionaries anti-Mormon stuff in the past, and studies religion and the Bible intensely. She was nice when we came and visited her, seemed like she just wanted company. But she handed us each a copy of Spencer W. Kimball's "Miracle of Forgiveness", apparently she keeps extra copies on hand.... she also gave us an in-depth biography of Emma Smith. Being the Women's Studies scholar I am, I couldn't resist digging through it! But don't worry, I have thoroughly checked the sources and it's actually a very legit account, not anti at all! I'll be bringing that book home with me for sure.

Well that's it for this week! 

Love, 

Sister Petersen 

Snowstorms

Hey everyone,

This week was a little ridiculous. We actually had some teaching appointments set up, and EVERYTHING fell through last minute. Our service project for some members canceled last minute too. Even our dinner appointments canceled! The only thing that didn't cancel was our Friday night dinner- I don't even know anymore, haha!

But it was also a good week too, in a weird way. Last Monday night, we contacted a former investigator we hadn't met before, Andrea. She invited us in, and after talking to us for a while about how she'd gone to our church before and read most of the Book of Mormon, she said she wanted to be taught again, from the beginning. And asked if her sons and husband could join in too. And go to church. I was like, "wait.... what" and kind of just stared at her while Sister King set up the appointment for two nights later. That's never happened on my mission before! Unfortunately, we showed up on Wednesday and a note on the door said that last minute plans came up and she had to reschedule. We're currently trying to contact her to do so, should be able to see her again this week.

Zone conference this week was pretty good. We were forced to "break the mold" and completely relearn how to contact and talk to people. My main door approach from the past year has now been thrown out, that was hard! But it's good. We emphasized accountability and made goals of things to accomplish the next day, then on Friday had a follow-up meeting where everyone in the zone stood up and reported what they did. We were able to tract like crazy in a brief amount of time on Thursday and talk to 10 people at the door- lucky considering it was so cold that no one wanted to talk to us!

Speaking of cold, it has been COLD. SO COLD. It is currently 8 degrees outside, and snowing. On Saturday, we got this freaky snowstorm with all this wind- I recorded it on my camera, but unfortunately LDS Mail won't let me attach videos. But we were "blessed": Sister King felt sick all weekend so we weren't out when the storm hit. Especially since we were on foot that day, we walked in the morning, then came in right before the insanity. Just walking to the grocery store this morning, it felt like my face was going to freeze off within 5 minutes. 

Yesterday, some members showed us this thing that aired on ABC Nightline (maybe it's called something else, some sort of nightly news show), on January 27, that's about sister missionaries! I highly recommend looking it up, it was actually done pretty accurately. The member was like, "well of course those missionaries are happy, they're serving in Florida!!!" (while it was single digit temps in Columbus, haha!). 

Anyways, should be a good week (fingers crossed!). Talk to you later!\

Love, 

Sister Petersen

I Made it a Year!

Hey everyone, 

I have officially made it a year through on my mission. How weird. And that morning after we left the apartment, I realized I forgot to put on my name tag. Classic. And thanks Mom for the package, I liked your party sign, it made me laugh. 

Chase, the 9 year old boy we're teaching, was at church again and apparently loves going to Primary. We taught him the Plan of Salvation, which was pretty rocky because I've barely taught that on my mission and it can be a hefty lesson if you're not careful. But he's been really receptive and we think he'll end up getting baptized, maybe next month. 

Until the weekend, this place was a frozen wasteland. I finally slipped and fell on ice, banging up the right side of my body. But then it was 50 degrees yesterday and it all melted... then today is 25, and after a brief warm-up on Wednesday it will be at 14 degrees on Thursday. This is literally the most up-down weather I've ever experienced. I also was told at church yesterday that Columbus OH has over 80% cloud cover during the winter. I've been taking double-doses of Vitamin D, to say the least.

 

This week we have zone conference and a few other things, so my next letter will probably be more eventful. Have a great week!\

Love, 

Sister Petersen

We had someone at church!

Hey,

The biggest news of the week is that we have a real, live, investigator! It's Chase, a 9 year old boy who is the son of less-active parents. His mom heard from a member of having their kid take the missionary discussions to decide whether they really want to be baptized or not, and she liked the idea. It's been put off for a while because of the holidays and other stuff going on, but we finally went over and taught the first lesson this week and it went really well. And then Chase and his mom came to church yesterday for all 3 hours. I haven't had an investigator at church since September, so it was like, wait I can't sleep through church anymore? (kidding!!!) But it would be pretty cool if we reactivated the family in the process. 

In other news, I went on exchanges this week to Riverside, which goes into downtown Columbus. It was just nice to be busy and learn from a different missionary, I had a blast with Sister Ure. In the morning we went running in the snow and ice- I was dying because I had the stomach flu the week before and it's been a while since I've gone on a long run! And running in snow is like running in sand, definitely more difficult. But it felt great. 

We've been in a nasty cycle of snow/freezing rain/snow flurries/more rain that later freezes over. It was an adventure just walking to the grocery store this morning! And today there is a windchill that's supposed to feel like zero degrees. Oh man. Only one more day left before we get the car back, haha. 

Have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Missionary Fireside with Elder Christofferson

Hey everyone!

So last night was really awesome! We are doing a mission choir, and performing in various missionary firesides. Yesterday was the first one, and Elder D. Todd Christofferson came! And I sat less than 2 yards behind him! I honestly just do choir for the social aspect (kind of like in the MTC), so I definitely dropped out on some of those higher notes- don't want to sound tone deaf in front of an apostle! Haha. A lot of us were able to shake his hand among a mob of people down in the pews before he left afterwards. Elder Christofferson talked a lot about baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and how the Atonement applies to everyone and ANYONE can change. It was good. 

The fireside was at the New Albany stake center building, which is where I went to church when I served in Westerville. So I saw EVERYONE from Westerville 1st! It was so much fun!! I felt pretty popular as people ran up to me and freaked out, haha. Both Steven and Tony, my converts from that area, were there too. Also, since I sat right behind Elder Christofferson, I was on screen for everyone sitting in the cultural hall and the overflow, so random people afterwards were telling me that they saw me, and "good job for not falling asleep up there!" 

Last night it was really snowing, and it was a heavy, wet snow, so it took us a while to get home to the opposite side of Columbus. But I'm happy it snowed, it was so ugly outside!

Not much else to say about the past several days, I was bedridden for a couple as I got my strength back after being sick. But I'm okay now! 

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Pictures: 

#1: Me with Sister Santillan!!!! One of my Westerville favorites, she lent us the Trek mountain bikes last summer. 

#2: Sister Santillan, Emmy (her daughter who just got back from her mission), and I 

#3: Sister McCarty and I! It was a joyous reunion

#4:  Sister King, Kali (Tony's girlfriend) and I