Impending Holiday Season

Hey,

This week was rather uneventful. It was freezing until Saturday, staying in the 20s and low 30s. And that windchill- dang!! But it didn't snow any more and now it's just really rainy. Today we actually went to the Columbus Zoo, since it's in Powell only 15 minutes away, and that was pretty fun. It was like a ghost town on a Monday in November! But we figured that it would be our best opportunity to go to the zoo at this point, since today it got into the 50s. It may be one of the best zoos in the nation, but still doesn't even compare to the world-famous San Diego Zoo! Every other one I go to seems super small in comparison! And it's weird for parts of the zoo to close during off-season, imagine that!

The bar is set pretty low for us in Lewis Center, it was the biggest deal that we had a member at a lesson with us, to teach Dan and Wes about prayer. That was the first member present lesson I've had in Lewis Center. We also taught Laura twice as well, which was a big deal because we've made it to the third lesson with her and I've never done that with someone I've found. I've only taught the Plan of Salvation about 3 times on my mission, so that lesson was kind of rough, haha. But Laura is incredible and is really serious about her gospel studying! She actually filled out all the questions at the back of the pamphlet and looked up the scriptures! I have never known an investigator who actually does that!! It will be a challenge to get her to church though, since she works at a flea market in west Columbus every weekend. But we really feel that if we get her to church she will be baptized, she said yes to our baptism extension this week. She is honestly such a miracle.

Our ridiculous story for the week is that we got locked out of our apartment. Our lock has been difficult to work with for a long time, but on Friday night we couldn't even get our key in all the way. Tim, the recent convert who lives by us, lubricated the door lock for us, but nothing worked. We found out the number for after-hours maintenance from him and his wife Linda, and waited in their apartment since it was 20 degrees outside. The maintenance guy showed up with a blowtorch, said our lock was frozen (even though it's been sticky for a long time), and started torching the door. It worked, and we got in our apartment close to 11 pm. That's officially the latest I have been out on my mission, haha. 

We had a cool moment on Saturday night. We were sitting in our car, hating life because we had nothing to do (I mean NOTHING, you can't/shouldn't even go tracting when it's later than 7 pm and dark), and Sister McCarty suggested we try seeing a family where the wife is less-active and struggling, because we hadn't seen them in a few weeks. It was our last hope before going in early. We got there exactly when the wife got home, and they welcomed us in and fed us dinner. Then they offered to take us with them to see "Fantasy of Lights," this Christmas light display up at Alum Creek that you drive through. They kept saying how glad they were that we came over, and the wife warmed up to us a lot more. The next day the husband left us a voicemail saying that he didn't know what prompting we had that caused us to drop by, but he was so glad that we followed it and told us to keep following those promptings. He said that we could come by anytime we felt like we should. That was really cool for us, and we knew that Heavenly Father was looking out for us as missionaries and also looking out for this family. 

This week isn't supposed to be too bad on our bikes, temperatures will be in the 40s and 50s, so I don't think we'll die (yet). We're also having Thanksgiving with a member family and were invited to a couple other parties/gatherings. So it should be good. It's a good thing we'll be biking that day, haha. 

Love you all!

Sister Petersen

Pictures from the zoo: The gorilla exhibit was definitely the best. They ran up against the glass and we got some great pictures. Had to take this one "Hear No Evil" haha. Also had lots of statue photo-ops.

IT'S SNOWING!!!

Hey everyone, 

So as you may have seen on the news, it's snowing here a ton already. There were snow flurries the past few days, but it didn't stick and accumulate until last night. We woke up this morning with quite the surprise! We were VERY lucky to get the car back yesterday right before it hit. Unfortunately, after a week of tracting every day and biking in freezing temperatures, I got totally sick yesterday, for the first time on my mission. This is probably going to be the longest winter of my life. 

The one highlight from the first half of the week we taught Laura, our new investigator from Mexico. For Sister McCarty and I, it was one of the most "Preach My Gospel" perfect lessons we've taught on our missions, and Laura totally felt the Spirit and wants to keep reading the Book of Mormon. We have another lesson with her tomorrow night.

The big news of the week is that STEVEN GOT BAPTIZED!!!!! I got to go back to Westerville and be there, and give the talk on baptism. No one in the ward knew I was coming, and Steven didn't either, so when he saw me he jumped!! Haha. After he was baptized, he bore a powerful testimony of the Spirit and the Book of Mormon. He's very spiritually in-tune, and he said how the Spirit was what brought him to church, and that the Spirit in the missionaries had a huge impact on him. He's definitely matured and grown in the gospel a lot since I first met him, the change was incredible. It was so rewarding to see him get baptized, especially since I was the missionary who taught him the most. Afterwards he thanked me for my patience in working with him and that of the missionaries he's met, he would never forget me. How tender!

Have a great week!

Love, Sister Petersen

Pictures:

#1: Steven's baptism!

#2: Us and the New Albany sisters, Sister McCarty and I look kind of similar to Sister Ogletree and Sister Russ, haha.

#3: Me with one of my favorite Westerville members

#4: Biking, cold, and not too happy....

#5: Messing around with giant stuffed animals at a dinner appointment with the kids

#6: Another day of biking... and it got colder....

 

 

Hump Dayyyyyy!!!! (Halfway Done!)

Hey everyone, 

Last week I reached my halfway point on my mission, and it was even on a Wednesday, haha. As I thought about my mission so far, I understand how some people can be really prideful about their missions, because you learn a lot and go through a lot! And if the winter here doesn't kill me off, I'm feeling pretty good about the rest of my mission!

I went on an exchange with one of the Sister Training Leaders this week in Worthington. It's been a while since I've seen lower-income housing, haha. We've been struggling with filling in our slow hours in Lewis Center, and the exchange didn't give me a lot of ideas. We just simply don't have any old people in Lewis Center to visit! And there's only one single lady in the entire ward! Anyways I'll stop complaining. However, the exchange helped me refocus a lot, because I've honestly felt very aimless since coming to Lewis Center. I've realized that I don't trust in the Lord enough and don't pay attention to what the Spirit tells me as much as I should. So when we're wondering, "What the heck are we supposed to do right now aside from tracting for 10 hours?!?" I need to be more willing to give in to the Lord's will of what we should be doing and where. 

Though President Daines told us to avoid tracting when we can, we just had to go back to tracting each day for a set amount of time, because right now it's all we have when we're not seeing members. However, we saw some miracles happen because of it. When we had a lesson fall through with Lenn's on Saturday, we were with Todd, a high school senior who came for the lesson. He was like, well should we go knock some doors? Sister McCarty and I were a little reluctant because it was Saturday morning and most people don't answer their doors, but we tracted for about an hour. Todd was inspired, because out of the 4 people we talked to, 2 of them were interested and we're coming back to teach them this week. 

We've also been teaching this one guy, Dan, who lives with his adult son Wes. Dan is a pretty good guy, and was a potential investigator, but when we saw him outside one day he agreed to learn more about the Book of Mormon. His son Wes though is one strange cookie. He'll bring up all these random topics and just go off, but he is reading the Book of Mormon to examine and research it for himself. So who knows, maybe he'll feel something!

Our crazy story of the week happened on Friday night at 8 pm. We had planned to go to Worthington Arms, the random trailer park way out in the corner of our area, to visit some less-actives. Bad idea. A minute after we left the car, we witnessed a drug deal. A few teenagers went up to a trailer, knocked on the window, a hand came out, and there was an exchange and the teenagers walked away. Then some other teenagers were making some comments as we walked by (we're pretty well known up there) and said some snarky things about Christians as they were smoking and who knows what else. We booked it out of there shortly after, cutting through people's yards so we could avoid them, haha.

Sorry I didn't take any pictures this week! We went to OSU today for a zone activity, and played soccer by the football stadium and then hung out at the institute building. And when we were out on campus, I had left my bag with my camera in the institute building. 

It's supposed to snow by the end of the week, but before then, it will be in the 20s and 30s. That should be quite the adventure since we're on bikes this week. No one instructs the missionaries on bike safety or what to do in bad weather, so we kind of just wing it and see how we feel about the situation. It will be an eventful winter.

Love, 

Sister Petersen

Great Week!

Hey everyone!

First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes!!!! And Mom, that banner you made with all the notes on it from everyone was fantastic, I don't even know how much time that probably took to put together. It's hanging up in my bedroom and covers more than one wall because it's so long! I've been feeling very loved with all the mail and packages, and have been feeling very loved by the ward here as well. 

Someone posted my birthday on the Lewis Center ward's Facebook page, so the ward really reached out! After church yesterday we also had a great dinner with an awesome family, who made some of my favorite kinds of food and yellow cake/chocolate frosting for dessert because Sister McCarty texted them about my birthday, behind my back :D Speaking of Sister McCarty, she's awesome as well! She sticky-noted the whole apartment and decorated with balloons when I was in the shower. There were some funny notes, I attached some pictures. 

What was really cool about having a birthday during a mission is that I was not focused on myself. Lewis Center has taught me how to really love others and realize the worth of serving others, especially since we haven't been teaching anyone. Also, most new 21-year-olds go out to drink and party... and I went to church. It's great! It was probably the best birthday I've had in a couple years

Anyways, Halloween was this week, but Ohio... who does it think it is?! Each town here has a designated time set apart for trick-or-treating, and Lewis Center did it on Thursday, not Friday which was actually Halloween. Apparently Halloween on Friday would conflict with high school football (alright....) and in some areas, Halloween is moved to a Thursday whenever it falls on a Saturday (because you can't mess with OSU football) or Sunday (NFL). I didn't realize that we were living in Texas.

President Daines said that Halloween evening was a great time to contact people.... so after our dinner appt. we went out on our bikes. However, it was pitch black outside and there's no street lights in Ohio neighborhoods (seriously it's creepy), and we actually scared some people when we came up behind them on one of the bike/walking trails. We also got some snarky comments about bikes, as if they were part of our costume or something.... so no success that night, haha. 

With the work, we've had some small miracles happen here and there. On Halloween, the last day of the month and also the last day of the ward's month-long fast for missionary work, we were able to visit and talk to more people in a day than we have for a while. We actually have 3 investigator appointments set for this upcoming week, which is a really big deal for us. 

Love you all!!

Sister Petersen

PS: We went out for Mexican food the other night, and it was good but I know Dad probably would've said, "What are these grocery store tortillas? Stinking white-man Mexican food!" That's what you get for getting Mexican food in the Eastern US, haha.

Pictures: Sister McCarty got a Halloween package, don't you love our glasses? And Mom, thanks for buying out Trader Joe's!!! Pumpkin butter, pumpkin pancake mix, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin granola, pumpkin scones.... you are crazy but also the best!! I love it (pumpkin pancakes for dinner, say what?)! Mom and Dad, you are seriously the best missionary parents ever!!!!

 

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.