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

What a Way to End the Transfer

Hey everyone, 

The weather warmed up enough that the rest of the ice and snow melted, so we were able to go back out on bikes after a couple of days of walking (I slipped on ice about 20 times, but never fell!). A ward member also came by to fix my tire- he couldn't find anything wrong with it either, but after I put in some of that "slime" stuff that is supposed to seal any damage, and getting my tire blown up again, my bike has been fine. 

Still pretty slow work. We had interviews with President Daines on Thursday, and he asked me about taking out a set of missionaries in Hilliard because our area is so small and neither us nor the elders have enough work to do. Transfer calls came today, and to my surprise, our entire district is staying except for one sister. Which is weird, considering how President Daines likes to transfer people all the time. So Sister King and I will still be here another transfer. 

I have adjusted better to the ward though, and we both gave talks on Sunday. We both got pretty rave reviews too, apparently. That was good to get to know the members a little more. 

So yesterday after biking in the morning, I was feeling pretty achy and laid down for a while. A few hours later I felt pretty nauseous and then suddenly came down with some sort of 24 hour stomach flu, no idea where that came from. It was pretty bad and I have never been sick like that in my entire life, and it was terrible timing with transfers this week. So we called over a couple of priesthood holders in the ward late last night to give me a blessing, which worked! Faith and priesthood power are real! 

Though my fever and chills went away, I still have a massive headache and will probably go back to bed soon. Praying I survive!

Love, 

Sister Petersen 

Brrrrr!!!!!!

Hey everyone, 

So this week was a cold one! It snowed all night on Monday, so waking up on Tuesday was a great surprise! I was on exchanges that day, so one of my Sister Training Leaders, Sister Wagstaff, and I just walked around all day through the snow. Good thing, since I got a flat tire for the fourth time the night before, even after buying a new tube, and our air pump is broken. So it was okay that we couldn't bike. 

For the first time in my life, I shoveled a driveway. That was some good service for a member. Also for the first time in my life, I pushed a car out of the snow (our car). I've had someone push my car out of the snow and ice in Provo last year, but when Sister King tried to pull a U-ie on a country road and we went into the snow on the side, I got the opportunity to do so (thankfully some hunter guys pulled over in their trucks and helped me push the car, haha). 

Also, one night we went to Jeni's ice cream, since Sister King had never had it before (it's really good ice cream, look it up), and 10 degrees is officially the coldest weather I have ever eaten ice cream in. But then again, ice cream is good all year round, to be honest. 

The work is certainly slow when it's 8 degrees outside (and one day it was one degree!!). People are like, "it's cold, go stay warm!" and they shut the door. One "investigator" told us, "Not now, it's too cold, come back in the summer." What the?!?! If your wife is home, we can teach you inside!

But something else fun about the week is when we went to do service at a member's house and then ended up making bread with her. We were sent home with all this bread dough and a container full of home-ground whole wheat flour (I've missed that!!). We baked one of our loaves the other night, and it turned out to be amazing, I think it's the best whole wheat bread I've ever made! 

We actually taught two lessons this week, which is the news of the transfer as far as our missionary work has been going, haha. We had a good lesson with a recent convert, and we taught the first lesson to a less-active/part member family after they had us over for dinner. That went pretty well.  

Anyways, we give up the car again this week, and we'll see how I survive when temperatures go down again. Today is not bad at all, but overnight we're getting a ton of freezing rain. Should be exciting. And go Buckeyes! The digital billboards around town have been saying thing like, "Go Bucks! Pluck the Ducks!" And in Kroger today, there was a display advertising frozen duck meat, saying, "Roast some duck for the big game!" Haha. 

Love you all!

Sister Petersen

Pictures: 

#1: View outside our apartment/townhome. Our car is the white one on the left. 

#2: Ready to shovel some snow!

#3: The town of Hilliard (and its really cheesy slogan....)

Getting colder......

Hey everyone, 

Happy New Year! I'm still working on what my New Year's resolutions should be, especially as I'll be home later this year. Today is my 11th month mark, almost a year! Woohoo!

We biked it for most of the week, and a couple nights were very cold, but then not so bad. The first night, my water bottle froze (picture attached), and another night, we rode by some lakes that all the Canadian geese were just standing on because they were frozen over... too cold for riding a bike? Yeah, probably. Today got MUCH colder though, it's 16 degrees outside during the middle of the day. And we should have several inches of snow by tomorrow, it's been snowing here and there. I have no idea what I will be doing here tomorrow with one of the Sister Training Leaders on exchanges. 

However, I was so thrilled to be getting a real workout that I was biking like a madwoman this week, leaving my companion in the dust on several occasions. Definitely turning into Dad.... 

The first night biking, Sister King was still recovering from sickness from the previous biking week, and it was cold enough where she couldn't even breathe. Literally dying. That happened on-and-off throughout the rest of the week, and when it poured rain ALL DAY on Saturday, we didn't leave the apartment because she was still pretty wasted. So there's not much to say for this week. 

Today we had a zone activity and played volleyball. It was SO MUCH FUN. I was killing it, everyone on my team was like dang Sister Petersen, and then they were like, "Oh right, she's from San Diego, that makes sense then." Haha. 

Sorry for being lame and not taking many pictures... I'll send more of Hilliard next week, I promise! For now, you get to see my water bottle and my desk (it's the most elaborate picture wall I've done yet on my mission, haha). 

Love, 

Sister Petersen