Qualicum Beach, Transfer 12, Week 3, August 11, 2014

So... I know that a lot happened this week, but I can't tell you basically any of it. Sorry. My memory seems to be going the longer I spend in Qualicum Beach. I think my body and brain are just adjusting to the average age of the population here. :) I do remember a few things, so bear with me.

E is doing so great and she will be getting baptized on Saturday! It is so exciting, and the branch can barely believe it. Everyone seems so shocked. I guess it has been a bit of a really dry spell for them, and they are really happy to finally have people coming out to church and getting baptized. E has changed so much since we met her. She is so much more confident in herself and she is so much happier too! I love it. Seeing people change and seeing the gospel lift them is the best thing ever.

G finally came to church too! She looks a lot better, and she can actually walk pretty normally now too. It was a bit of a surprise, because she has said that she would come for several weeks now, but hasn't made it due to health. I'm so glad she was finally able to come!

Also, Friday was crazy. I finally got to go to Victoria! John Bytheway was speaking to the youth in Victoria Friday night and President Burt arranged for him to do a missionary meeting right before. So it was a day of meetings. Zone meeting in the morning, John Bytheway in the afternoon and again in the evening. Lots of driving. But super fun. Brother Bytheway was very good to listen to. He made some very key points about the Spirit and coming to Christ. I wish I had my notes with me so that I could share them with you. One of the things that I remember strongly though was that often, we don't even recognize that we are feeling the Spirit, and that most of us don't ever feel a strong "burning of the bosom" as in a caloric heat. Usually that refers to an intense emotion. But even that doesn't have to happen for it to be the Spirit!

We got to have some sisters stay with us on Thursday night before that, and two of them had been out for a year, and they brought a cake, so after planning, we were able to celebrate with cake and decorating their faces. Sharie gave me some oil face paint crayons, so we had fun with that. :) That's what the picture is from.

Also, this week coming is going to be super crazy. It's Sister Gibb's last full week as a missionary! Crazy! In 9 days, I won't have a companion any more. I still don't exactly know what will happen. Hopefully by the time I email next week I will. Otherwise I will be extremely lost as to what to do with myself without a companion!

As I said earlier, a lot of other things happened this week, but I honestly do not remember most of them. Sorry! I love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 12, Week 2, August 4, 2014

It has been the most crazy week this last week, and I don't think it is over yet!! Everything is going great, but it also keeps trying to fall to pieces. Luckily, Heavenly Father is very kind, and has blessed us immensely, so everything held together, even if only barely. Also, it seems to be a thing that every time we have mission leadership council, we also do a blitz exchange, so we have almost no time in our area. But we see so many blessings, so I really don't want to complain. We were with the Nanaimo Sisters all day on Tuesday, and I got to work with Sister Teeter. She came out the same time I did, and I think she is just the best missionary. She is so inspired, and she works so hard. She is going home at the end of this transfer, and instead of being trunky or slowing down, she is working harder than ever before. She has had some really difficult times on her mission, but you would never know!! She is just a fireball. I love working with her, and I am so glad we got to do this exchange so I could work with her!!

Then on Thursday, we took a ferry over to Vancouver, because we had mission leadership council on Friday. The only problem: Today is a holiday (BC Day... I don't know why. Canadians really like long weekends.) so everyone was trying to ferry over to the mainland for the long weekend. Luckily, we got there early enough that we were able to make it onto our ferry. :) We also had Sister Holbrook with us because she needed to go to the airport to get her visa fixed, because they spelled her name wrong on it, and she couldn't get her license. So she came with us, and her companion stayed with some other sisters. Then we had to drive through Vancouver, and we did some street contacting with our last 45 minutes of the day. Street contacting in Vancouver makes me so anxious, because no one speaks English!! And if they do, I'm so surprised, I don't even know what to say. I'm just not a big city person, which would be why I am in Qualicum Beach! :) But it was really good. We were able to talk to some amazing people, and it was a really good experience for Sister Holbrook, because her area is teeny, so she was able to learn some new things. I'm starting to enjoy the city more each time, but I don't know if I'll ever be super comfortable with it!!

Friday was the best. Hands down. I love love love attending Mission Leadership Council. The Spirit was so strong and it just great. That's all I can really say. We talked a whole ton about increasing our faith and our vision. I love the Burts so so so much!!!!! They really are exactly what this mission needs, and exactly what I need right now. I learned so much from them and from the others in attendance. It really was so special. I am so grateful that I get the privilege of attending these meetings. There really isn't anything else like them. 8-9 hours with a short break for lunch of straight Spirit-driven counseling on what this mission needs and direct revelation on what we need to train our stewardships with. I stand in awe of the power that is contained within those meetings. There is a huge difference, just walking into the room. If you are in tune, you can just feel the Spirit humming. Usually, I would leave events like that just interested in the things I learned, and maybe motivated to do more, but every time I leave MLC, I am ready to run and I feel like I can conquer the world, but I am also dead tired. It's just the best.

Friday night was the real adventure though. To explain, there are two different ferry location in Vancouver, one south of Richmond, and the other at the northern end of North Vancouver. It's about a 40 minute drive with no traffic between them. Both ferry locations have ferries that go to Nanaimo, where we were headed. So we tried the one south of Richmond first. Not a chance. We got to the ticket booth at 5:45, and they said the ferries were full until 10:30 (which is the last crossing) and we might not even make that one. The one in North Vancouver was still pretty open, so we decided to head to that one. Unfortunately, we were going through rush hour, so it took us a little longer than we wanted to. We got there at about 7:05, and they were selling for the 9:30 ferry (their last crossing) and it was full. So no crossing Friday night! We went to Deep Cove and stayed with the sisters there for the night. We planned to catch the 6:20 ferry in the morning, so we left at 5:00 am and got there at 5:25, and the ferry was all sold out. We missed it by just a few minutes! So we caught the 8:30 instead, and made it back to Nanaimo. The Nanaimo sisters were absolute gems, and brought us smoothies, because we hadn't really eaten, and off we went. Honestly, I would be so happy if I never have to drive through Vancouver again. It is so stressful. Lots of traveling this week!

To top it all off, our kitchen sink is backing up. It's really fun, because today is a holiday and the plumber can't come until tomorrow. So until then, buckets under the sink, and plugs in the drains, and washing dishes in the bathtub! Always a new adventure.

But there are still so many miracles!! See what I mean about everything barely holding together? I think Heavenly Father is just giving Sister Gibb an exciting end to her mission. :) Honestly, I am so grateful for this last week, challenges and all, because it puts us exactly in the right place at the right time, to talk to the people we need to talk to. There was a person on the ferry Saturday morning that had talked to missionaries in Vancouver, but he drove a summer tour bus, so he hadn't been able to see them again, and had mostly forgotten about it, until we saw him while going back to our car! Crazy! If we had made the ferry we wanted to, we would have totally missed him. Heavenly Father has a plan, and we rarely, if ever, see all the pieces of it. We just have to trust that He knows what He is doing, and not question it. Everything worked out great. We met who we were supposed to meet, and talked to the people we were supposed to talk to, and if I have to lose sleep and eating time and my mind to do Heavenly Father's work and to fulfill my calling, well, I'll worry about that later. You only get one mission, and it is so short!

I love you all!!! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 12, Week 1, July 28, 2014

So... no transfers!! Sister Gibb and I stayed together, and I will be her last companion! No idea what will happen after I go home, but I'm not really worried about that yet. I'm sure they will tell me when they figure it out! Until then, I am going to enjoy every minute that I have with Sister Gibb. I am definitely a little better off when it comes to sending a companion home than I was at the beginning of my mission. Honestly, I had no idea about anything at all then!! It's amazing what time and experience can do for you. :)

Also, I'm staring at the computer right now, trying really hard to remember what happened this week, but honestly, I have no idea. I know Sister Gibb and I have had a lot of fun, and that we have worked really hard and seen a lot of blessings. I think one of my favorite things about being a Sister Training Leader is having a front row seat (well, not really a seat... we don't do much sitting!) to all of the miracles that happen with the sisters in the Nanaimo Zone and really seeing so clearly how God is hastening His work and blessing everyone so much! It really just makes me so grateful to be a missionary, and to know that God is there, that He loves me, and that He will help me! It simply requires diligent effort and lots of faith!

We've been teaching E a lot this week, and it is really making such a difference for her! She is changing so much, and she is really excited to come to church and to continue learning more!! Unfortunately, she wasn't able to make it yesterday, because her silly dog has either severely sprained or broken her foot. Also, that dog loves me. It's a little hard to teach with a big dog trying to crawl into your lap! But I am so excited for her!! This is making such a difference in her life, and she is so so happy!!

I love you all so much! Have a great week!!
Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 11, Week 6, July 21, 2014

And here we go again... Transfer calls tonight! I honestly have no idea what to expect. Sister Gibb is going home in the middle of next transfer, so we have a billion and one options running around that could happen. One of us transferred, no one transferred, becoming a tri, closing the area for the last two weeks of next transfer, getting a new companion for the last two weeks of next transfer... or any combination of those possibilities! It's so exciting and just really anxious. I just want to know. I don't care what happens (I probably actually do...) I just want to know!

But it was an amazing week. So much fun. We spent a ton of time tracting, but I love it! There really isn't anything better than getting out and talking to people about the gospel, even if they don't want to hear you! I think in this last week, we have spent anywhere from 2-9 hours tracting. It's bizarre, but that is really the thing that lifts my spirits. You honestly see so many miracles tracting, and sometimes you see things that are simply hilarious. Having a bad day? Just go talk to people and bear your testimony. You would be absolutely amazed at the difference that it makes in your whole outlook on the day!

Also, E is doing just great. Sister S is such a good friend! She came to church yesterday, and although she wasn't able to stay for all three hours because she was in a lot of pain, she really enjoyed the first two hours. I was a little worried about gospel principles, because the subject was something that was a little sensitive, but she was great. I just love her so much, and you can really see the difference that this is making for her. The gospel is just so true!!!

Also, we had a zone meeting this last week, and we decided to try something new. Both the zone leaders and our companionship really felt that the zone needed more companionship unity and help following the Spirit, so that was what we were training on. Usually one companionship will train on one part, and the other will take the second half. But in the spirit of more unity (which is one of President Burt's big areas of emphasis), we decided to have all four of us train together. It was fantastic!! The Spirit was so strong and I learned so much! Honestly, one of the most powerful meetings I have ever been in! I can't wait to do it again! This emphasis on unity is truly inspired, and I am so grateful to serve with both President Tilleman and President Burt, so that I can learn exactly what I need to learn!!!

I love you all! Have a great week!!
Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 11, Week 5, July 14, 2014

It has been so so so hot here this week!!!!! Like crazy hot. It is so humid and I am just dying. Somehow, when I was packing to come to Canada, I didn't think about the summers, even though I had two of those, and only one winter! However, the last summer, it wasn't as humid where I was, so I didn't sweat as much. Good thing we aren't worried too much about how we look! The most consistent comment we get at doors is "Aren't you hot?" Oh, yes, we are. But that's okay! Because it is worth it! There are some really nice people though, and a lot of them will give us water if we need it. Because there are so many grandparents who live here, they are always worried about us, even if they aren't interested! It's really funny!

We have really seen so many miracles this week. It's such a blessing. The week started off really really slow, and we kinda got in a rut. But towards the end it really picked up and finished off with a bang. I was really able to see the Spirit leading us to exactly the right place at the right time for everything! We had a couple drop by lessons with people who really needed us to show up then. So special.

We taught this one lady who we met several weeks ago about prayer and how she can have a completely open conversation with Heavenly Father, and it totally changed her completely. She had never heard of praying in such a personal way before, and it has really helped her. She said she woke up the next day excited for the day! Such a blessing. I love being a missionary!

So, the pictures are from a challenge to take a picture daily. You know you are getting to the end of your mission when your socks have holes! We are just hoboing it around here, because both Sister Gibb and I are getting ready to die! And we were tired. It's great. :)

Sorry it's so short this week! I love you all so much!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 11, Week 4, July 7, 2014

This last week has been one of the most busy weeks of my mission, but also one of the most fabulous! I love being a missionary so much. It is honestly been the best thing ever. Heavenly Father just sends so many amazing miracles to us and helps us so much, especially when we follow his promptings, even if it doesn't make sense! This week was totally a case in point for that. Monday night, we were out finding, and Sister Gibb got the strongest prompting that we needed to do an exchange with North Island the next day. So we did. It's a four hour drive to their area, so we left Tuesday morning and were there for the afternoon and evening and then left the next morning. But while we were there, the sisters were able to find 8 new investigators! And they are so so so solid!!!! It was amazing. Heavenly Father needed them to be in Port McNeill and Port Hardy that night, and they couldn't do it on their own, so He sent us to help them. I am so grateful that Sister Gibb listened to that prompting! We also had mission council this week and Sister Gibb was sick for a day, so with all of that, we only had about 25-30 hours of work time in our own area this whole week. But Heavenly Father just showered down the blessings, and we were still able to find so many people to teach and see the people we needed to see. It just doesn't make sense, but it really doesn't have to. Heavenly Father just provides when we are obedient. We work as hard as we can, and He magnifies our efforts. I just love it so much!!

Also, mission council was amazing. We got to meet the Burts for the first time that Friday, and they are honestly the best. I love them so so so so so so much!!!!!!!!! They are just amazing! The Spirit at mission council was just so strong. It was so cool. It felt no different from President Tilleman's mission councils. And their vision for the mission, is exactly what we are already doing. their theme/motto/focus is "Love, Serve, Obey" which is exactly the same as Love Everyone, Be Exactly Obedient, and Work as Hard as You Can! I honestly don't even know how to describe the Burts. I really do love them so much and I am so excited to get to know them even more. We actually had a zone conference this morning, and we are waiting to have an interview with President and Sister Burt right now.

Also, coolest miracle of the week. So, the Burts flew into Nanaimo last night, and they hadn't had any food because they were fasting, and they didn't have any food waiting for them. The original plan had been for them to fly in that morning and so the Assistants had asked us to provide lunch if they needed it, so we had prepared food, before we found out they weren't getting here until later. So the Assistants called us, and we left our finding to go take them food. That first off was a blessing, because we got to see the Burts again. Secondly, we decided for the sake of our k's that it would be foolish to drive out past our apartment, and since we don't get to Nanoose (a part of our area) super often and it was on the way back from Nanaimo, that we should stop and spend the rest of our night there talking to people. So we did. And we found 4 new investigators!!! Biggest miracle ever. We could have seen it as an inconvenience to stop and bring the food, and complained about the lost time or the lost k's (which we desperately need!), but Heavenly Father totally made up for it. The very first door we knocked on was a lady who was interested. And even better, no one was rude for the whole 3 hours. That was a huge miracle too!! You just don't tract for that long without running into someone who is rude. Blessings!

Also, in district meeting this week, we were challenged to take one picture as a companionship every day to help with comp unity. Sister Gibb and I get along great, but we are just laughing so much more with all of these pictures. I'll send some of them along. Basically all of them are taken late at night, so don't judge!

I love you all!! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 11, Week 3, June 30, 2014

G got baptized!! It was so cool. This was literally years in the making. Apparently, the first time G was introduced to the Church was back in 1961, when he went to church with his girlfriend, who was the bishop's daughter! Crazy! And he was finally able to get baptized. It was just really really special. It was a little weird though, because he called us on Sunday night, and he now wants us to have someone follow us in a car when we go knocking on doors, because he doesn't think it is safe for us to be going to houses where we don't know people. We convinced him that we would be okay though, mostly because Sister Gibb is a black belt. :)

It really has been a crazy, blessed week. We saw so many miracles, and were able to consistently find new people to teach, but something just came up consistently as well, and none of them were able to make it to church, so all of our baptismal dates were either dropped or in G's case, got baptized. It was a little weird, but it will all work out. There are going to be some amazing miracles that happen this next week as well, which will more than make up for what happened this week.

Also, crazy story of the week! So one of our investigators who was progressing moved to Chilliwack on Saturday. So we got her information, and we are about 95% certain that she lives in the 2nd ward, which is where Sister Ellgen and Sister Smigel are currently serving. So we called them to pass her off to them, which was a blessing by itself, because I love them, and I was so glad to talk to them! But it gets even better! That night, as they were finding, they were talking to this woman who was really interested, and it turns out that she is from Qualicum Beach!! It was so cool! So we got to trade investigators. Heavenly Father is so generous in his miracles, and it really is just so amazing to see how He works. I mean, what are the odds, that someone from Qualicum Beach, who is prepared to learn about the gospel, would be in Chilliwack (which is at the eastern most part of the Lower Mainland!) on a Friday night, right where the Chilliwack Sisters were finding? And that they would have our number to give her because we had texted them earlier that day? Missionary work is so inspired, and sometimes, we don't even realize it! It is just so crazy!! Miracles like this just wouldn't happen if the church wasn't true! It just couldn't work. I am so grateful that I know about the truth, and that I can share it with my brothers and sisters!

President Burt gets here tomorrow! And I get to meet him on Friday! I am actually really excited for this! It's going to be a great 4th of July!

I love you all! Have an amazing week!
Sister Peterson

PS The picture is from a field we saw the other night. It was just so pretty!

Qualicum Beach Transfer 11, Week 2, June 23, 2014

What a wonderful week! Full of crazy stuff, but great all the same. G's baptismal interview was on Friday, and he passed with flying colors! Now all we have to do is wait for the S family to get back from Switzerland, and he will get baptized on Saturday. I am so glad. It was a little crazy at his interview though. We almost couldn't go, because we couldn't find a female member to come with us. We had a male member, so that the zone leader who wasn't interviewing G wouldn't be alone with females, but we couldn't be alone with them! Luckily, we were able to find a member last minute. But when we showed up, G was having an allergic reaction to aspirin! Nothing super serious, but his hands were really red and itchy. He told us a few days before that his doctor told him that he was allergic to aspirin, and that he needed to stop taking it, so he did. But then he decided Friday morning that he needed to make sure that he was allergic, so he took some! AH!! Luckily, it wasn't any worse than itchy red hands! Crazy. That is just so G though.

So, President Tilleman only has one full week left on his mission, and it is definitely an interesting adjustment. It is really cool though, because I already feel like I have a connection with the Burts. I am really excited to meet them. I actually get to meet them for the first time on the 4th of July, at our mission council. The assistants also called yesterday, and they told us that we are going to have an interview with them on the 6th, and then have a zone conference on the 8th. So, I will get to see quite a lot of them right after they get here! They also asked Sister Gibb and I to be available to help them with anything they need and to make sure they get to their plane and other places on time and show them around. No pressure. None at all. But it will be great. As sad as I am about President and Sister Tilleman leaving, it doesn't feel bad. It's not like I'll never see them again. They live in Arizona, and that's super close to Utah. :)

Oh, I forgot to mention last week, but Sister Gibb cut my hair! It was getting super long and lots of split ends, so we just chopped it off. It took two or three tries to get it all done, so I just wore it in a braid to hide the uneven parts. No one noticed at all (or at least, they didn't comment if they did!).

So, we are also teaching an older man named D, and he is doing so well. He came to church this week, and he brought his niece as well. They are super great. He tried to come the week before, but somehow, times got mixed up and he thought we had said that church started at one, when it actually started at 10! So he showed up for the last 5 minutes, which was a little awkward. But this time, he was there on time. :) Sister Slocombe, our branch president's wife, had come with us to one of his lessons, so as soon as Sacrament meeting was over, she came over and grabbed him and his niece and dragged them off the meet President Slocombe, and one of our recent converts who lives really close to them, and then continued to introduce them to everyone else she could. It was actually really funny, because she would get them talking to one person, and then look around, and go grab another person by the arm and bring them over to introduce them. It was fantastic! We didn't have to do a single thing!

I just love missionary work! it really is the best. Even when you have ups and downs, everything works out the way it is supposed to. I know there were definitely times this week when I was lacking faith in some things, but then Heavenly Father sent us the help we needed. Even when I didn't have enough faith, as I started and asked for help, He provided. We aren't meant to do anything in this life on our own, but we are meant to ask for the help we need. God will provide.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 11, Week 1, June 16, 2014

It has been a crazy and blessed week. So many miracles! I don't even know where to start. I finished off my 10th transfer, and this transfer has probably been one of my favorite transfers of my mission. I don't know if I have ever worked so hard, or been blessed so much by Heavenly Father. Honestly, I just love Sister Gibb so much! I have learned so much from her, and it is just so easy to talk to her. This is her last transfer, and she is probably going to stay for about 3 weeks into the next one, but in all likelihood, I am going to kill her. But I am so grateful that we both got to say. Qualicum Beach is a little paradise. I just love it here.

G is doing so well. He is just so excited to get baptized. We ended up moving his date back a week so that some of his true friends would be home from vacation for his baptism. They have been working with him for years, and we didn't think it would be right to baptize him just four days before they came home. I would be so sad if that was me.

Also, the lady that I talked about a little while ago who met missionaries in Winnipeg is doing great. She and her husband are Catholic, but super open. She just doesn't get it yet. She really wants her husband to be baptized though! Our last lesson was probably one of the weirdest ones that I have ever had. We invited them both to be baptized, and she said no because she has already been baptized and confirmed in the Catholic church (so she didn't understand when we explained about the priesthood and apostasy...) but she really wanted her husband to say yes. She actually spent about 5 minutes telling him why he needed to say yes. She doesn't think that his baptism and confirmation in the Catholic church was really valid, so I'm a little confused about that. But it's great. She came to church yesterday (her husband was sick so he couldn't come) and it turns out that she knows one of our members who used to be Catholic, and our branch president had some of the same teachers in high school back in Winnipeg! That was a crazy coincidence. Or just a crazy miracle. She is so awesome.

Also, I'm probably going to get fat this transfer! So many people are feeding us. The branch has finally caught the missionary spirit, and they keep inviting us over for dinner WITH people for us to teach! With the meals from this past transfer and what we have scheduled, in two months in Qualicum Beach, I will have been fed more by the members than the whole rest of my mission combined! I'm not used to this at all, and it seems really weird to me. But I am so grateful that the branch is so excited to do missionary work. I think they finally realized that they don't have to invite someone over who wants to be baptized, just someone who we can teach, and if they aren't interested, we will leave it at that. Blessings!

I am just so happy. I really don't know when I have been more happy (besides other times on my mission). This is seriously the best thing that I have ever done, and I am so grateful that I have this opportunity to serve my Savior, my Heavenly Father, and my brothers and sisters.

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 6, June 9, 2014

So, they did transfer calls last night for some reason, and I get to stay in Qualicum Beach! So does Sister Gibb, so we won't be going to transfer meeting. That will be the second one that I miss, which is kinda sad, but I am glad that we both get to stay!

This week was absolutely amazing. We had mission council on Wednesday, and it was President Tilleman's last mission council. It was so powerful and spiritual. We sat in council for 4 hours without a break, just being trained by President and Sister Tilleman and Dan Tilleman (one of their sons who returned from his mission about a year ago). It was just such a powerful meeting, and I learned so much. Even as I have reviewed my notes and as Sister Gibb and I prepared a training for zone meeting, the Spirit came back again and bore witness to me of the truth again. I really am so grateful that I have this opportunity to serve with and learn from President Tilleman, but I am also so excited to serve with and learn from President Burt. It is just going to be amazing.

I think one of the biggest things that was reemphasized for me was obedience, and how we simply have to be obedient. Dan Tilleman talked a little bit about the Spirit and obedience and miracles. Something that he said really struck me. When we are being exactly obedient, if we need to, we can call miracles down from heaven. It's an interesting concept, because we can't just demand things from God. But when we are being exactly obedient, our hearts are in the right place, and we won't ask God for things that we don't need, and we will have the faith to work the miracles. I have definitely seen that in my mission. But the miracles that I have asked for that I have received have never been directly benefiting me. when I am asking for me, that's being selfish. But when my heart is in the right place, and I am humble, it works. It doesn't always happen right away, although it has done that before, but it happens. God does answer prayers. But we have to be in the right frame of mind to hear the answers, and that requires obedience. Sister Tilleman also said that obedience is God's love language. That is how we show that we love God. We can't just say it, we have to do it too.

We really just saw so many miracles this week, and I really am so grateful to be serving a mission in this little corner of paradise that God has sent me to. Vancouver Island is something else. It's just magic. People here will tell us that they are in their 70s, 80s, and sometimes even 90s, but they look like they are in their 60s, maybe 70s! It's crazy.

Oh! Also, I don't know if you remember N, who I taught in Westbank on and off again. She sort of progressed, but then she didn't and it just went back and forth and she was in reflection when I left, but still coming to church. She got baptized yesterday!! It was complete out of the blue miracle that I totally didn't see coming. When I left Westbank six weeks ago (it seems like years...) she still didn't think she wanted to get baptized, and she had a ton of concerns that we just couldn't resolve. But Sister Manaso and Sister Biggs were the right combination! The Spirit softened her heart, and she got baptized. Such a cool miracle!

I love you all! Have an amazing week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 5, June 2, 2014

This last week was such a miracle week for us! I love Qualicum Beach more and more every day, and I am so grateful that I get to serve here with Sister Gibb! She really is just the best. this week we have really focused on following the Spirit while finding. It's really cool. We focused super hard on our goals, but when we were talking to people, we tried our best to make it all about them, and what they needed, not just teaching them about the gospel, and it has really helped us. We saw a ton of really cool miracles, and we were also able to identify things that we can work on to become better missionaries. I feel like this was one of the most productive weeks of my mission, even if my key indicators weren't as high as they usually are.

So G is doing really well. Last week (the week before the one we just finished) he ended up going into the hospital because he had some really bad chest pain. Turns out some of his arteries were blocked and his one stint was failing. So on the 29th, they put four stints in his heart, and he was back home by the 1st! It was actually a super cool miracle, because he has been struggling to quit smoking, and because he went into the hospital, he couldn't smoke! He was there for about a week, and while there, he decided since he had already made it the first few days, he just wasn't going to pick up with smoking when he got home. When we talked to him the first time after he got home, he was super excited, and told us that in not smoking for those 8 days so far (10 now!) he had saved $80! That is a ton of money! he even said that he could pay tithing and still save money not that he is not smoking. He's just the best.
Also, super cool miracle yesterday where we got to see a seed that someone else planted begin to blossom. We tracted into this woman who was going through a bit of a hard time. She told us the coolest story. Back when she lived in Winnipeg, she was going through a rough time, and ended up talking to her sister who passed away, asking for some help. Well, a couple hours later, the sister missionaries showed up at her door. One of them had the same last name as this lady's sister! No joke. She spent a little bit of time with the sisters, but it didn't really go anywhere. So yesterday, when we knocked on her door, she thought it was crazy, because she has been going through a hard time again, and she was looking for help, and we showed up. And apparently her maiden name is the Polish version of Peterson. I kid you not. I don't know if it means anything, but she was blown away. Anyway, she is super excited to see us again. Then, a little while later, just before 9, we were trying super hard to talk to everyone and use the last few minutes of the day to our best ability. We spotted two people walking down a street, so we ran over to talk to them. Lo and behold, they are investigators from Los Angeles who are on vacation! So we were able to teach them a short lesson. I am almost positive that their missionaries were praying that these two would run into missionaries on their vacation, because that is exactly what I pray for when my investigators go on vacation. I am so grateful that we were being obedient and trying to talk to everyone and using every moment of our day wisely. Unfortunately, I probably won't ever know what happens with them, but I am glad that I was hopefully able to play a small part in their journey into the gospel. this is really the best work ever. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have the gospel. Yesterday, we had a special stake conference, which included a Canada wide broadcast from Salt Lake, with Elder Perkins of the Seventy, Sister Linda K Burton, Elder Holland, and President Eyring. I was especially touched by part of Elder Perkins talk. He told the story of an Elder Johnson from Alberta, serving in the Toronto mission. Several months into his mission, he was struck by a car, and carried 50 feet. They thought he wouldn't make it, and he was nursed for 5 months in a Toronto hospital before he was able to be transported home to Alberta for additional recovery. He underwent 18 hard months of rehabilitation, learned to live with one blind eye, and one deaf ear, and WENT BACK TO FINISH HIS MISSION. He could have accepted an honorable release, and no one would criticize him. But he knows this is the only place to be. He knows this is the Lord's work. At the end of the story, Elder Perkins made a very pt point. If Elder Johnson can do all of that, we can give up anything, be it job, school, hobbies, relationship, whatever we need to, to do what God has asked us to do. We just can't hold back. God has given us too many blessings for us to hold ourselves back when He asks for our help. When the Lord commands ( or just asks, it's the same thing!) we need to do it.

I love you all so much!! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 4, May 26, 2014

Who says you need an ipad to use technology? Not that I'm knocking ipads or anything. But out "dumb" phone works miracles. It was so cool, we were able to have two member present lessons with an investigator over the phone, which meant we were also able to include members that we normally couldn't. For instance, it can be really hard to take our ward mission leader to lessons with male investigators, because our ward mission leader is single and we need another female, and we don't want to overwhelm the investigator. But we were able to have him on a call last night, and so he is able to be more involved in the progress of the investigators. It is awesome. Technology can be such a blessing, but it doesn't have to be the latest and greatest to work. I love it!

So on Monday, we got to go to this place called Goats on the Roof for part of P-day. Super cool. I've included some pictures. :)

Also, we had an awesome zone conference on Tuesday. Unfortunately, it was my last one with President Tilleman. I am so glad I get to go to mission council, otherwise, that might have been my last time seeing him. I am so sad that he leaves soon, but I am also so excited to meet President Burt. Mixed feelings all around.
I'm just so grateful for miracles. I see little ones every day, and I can't even begin to count them. It is the best.

Also, we saw this really funny sign while I was on an exchange in Duncan and we just had to take a picture of it. It's the best.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 3, May 19, 2014

This week went by so fast!! Time is so weird on your mission. I feel like everything is going twice as fast and twice as slow, all at once. One day will seem like a week, and then you blink and you are almost halfway through a transfer! It's nuts!

Also, this branch is amazing. So the whole thing with member dinners is that for a little more than a year now, our mission has had the rule that if members want to have us over for dinner, they have to have a non-member, less active, or recent convert for us to teach as well. Since that rule has been introduced, member dinners have been a very rare thing, which most of the time, I feel okay about. I feel super awkward at them, probably because it is still a very new situation for me. But in this last week, we had two member dinners, we have two this coming week, and one the week after, with more to come! And all of them have people for us to teach!! I've been trying to think, and with just the ones that we have scheduled so far, that might be equal to or more than all the member dinners that I have had my entire mission so far. It's crazy, but a really good crazy. Also, the whole branch council yesterday was dedicated to the question "How can we as a branch council hasten the work?" It was amazing! by the end, our branch president extended the invitation for everyone to study PMG daily and to pray daily for missionary opportunities. These ideas did not come originally from Sister Gibb or me! They came from members of the branch council sharing their experiences they have had, and discussing what they can do to help us hasten the work. I don't know if I have ever had that many members so focused on hastening the work in one unit! I'm just blown away by it still. I love my branch! :)

Also, I have developed a huge testimony on the power of specific requests in prayers. The more specific you get, the more specific your answer. One thing that I have seen is that periodically throughout my mission, I have asked specifically in every prayer that I have said, for Heavenly Father to send me and my companion to someone who we could help. I've done it multiple times, and it has always had amazing answers. E, A and S is one of those examples. So for the last week or so, I have been doing the same thing again. Now, in my defense, I am always praying for missionary opportunities, and I probably should always remember to be very specific in my prayers. It's something I'm still working on. But for the last week, I have made a conscious effort to pray specifically to find someone who needed our help, trying to use that particular phrase in my prayers. And it worked! On Friday, we tracted into this woman who is so prepared. She has recently had some very traumatic events in her life, and she has been looking for and praying for help. And she said that we showed up at her lowest point. But there is another part to the story. Every Thursday, we sit down and plan. We look at the rest of the week we are in, and make sure our plans are solid, and then plan out the next week. When we looked at Friday, we realized that we were in Parksville all day, except for during finding time, where we had scheduled Qualicum Beach, which is 20 mins away. It just didn't make sense. So we chose some streets to go finding on in Parksville. And one of the streets was her street. It was so inspired, but we didn't know it at the time. But I am so grateful for inspiration and for the opportunity that I have to be a missionary, to serve my brothers and sisters around me and to help them in any way I can. It is the greatest thing that I have ever experienced. I just love it.

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

 "And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe -- that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power." Alma 57:26

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 2, May 12, 2014

This week had been crazy! Qualicum Beach is so different from any other area I have been in my whole mission! But it is so pretty and I just love it. Everything is super green and there are so many trees and bright colored flowers. It is awesome. But sometimes, when we are finding a little closer to the ocean, I can smell the salt water, and it throws me off a little bit. But it is great. :)

We spent a lot of our week finding and following up with former investigators that the elders found. They have some really solid people in the formers. Some of them have turned out to not be truth seeking, but some of them are super solid. One of them came to church yesterday and he said he "just wants to be a brother." he's an older man, and except for his word of wisdom issues, he is a member in everything. He thinks like a member, acts like one, everything. Apparently if he is at church on a Fast Sunday, he will even go up and bear his testimony! He's such a cute old man. And he wants to stop smoking, so we are going to work on that. It's just perfect. Obviously, that sort of thing usually isn't an overnight change and it takes a whole ton of work, but it can be done with the Lord's help. God is more powerful than any addiction, and He can help us overcome anything, as long as we are willing to let Him help us.

We also got to do an exchange with Courtenay and North Island Sisters this week. It was really cool, because Sister Carroll (my trainer) started in North Island, and she absolutely loves it there. That was all she ever talked about. So being able to go and see the place and do some missionary work there was super cool. Sister Shelley and I went out to Port Hardy, one of the towns that North Island covers, and we had a super cool experience. It was raining quite a bit, and we were just walking around. It was still Sister Shelley's first week in North Island, so she doesn't quite no everywhere yet. Anyway, we parked in the shopping center at Port Hardy, and decided to walk to where we were going to tract, so that we could talk to more people. Well, we took a wrong turn, and by the time we realized it, we were on the opposite side of town from where we had originally planned to go finding. So we just decided to find somewhere over there. There was a man walking down one of the side streets, so we went to try and talk to him, but he wasn't interested. But because we went and talked to him, we saw a woman working in her garden. So we went and offered to help her. This is where it gets really cool. She looked up and saw us, and said yes! She was so excited that we offered to help her! So we got down in the mud and started helping her pull weeds and haul branches. It was definitely a little difficult, because my shoes got super slippery with all the rain and mud, but so worth it. Apparently, she had been working in her garden earlier, but had gone inside to dry off. While she was up in her room, she said that God told her that she needed to go back outside and start working again. She hadn't been outside for more than two minutes when we walked by! While we were working, we started talking about church, and God, and the Bible, and then Sister Shelley asked if she had ever read the Book of Mormon. Turns out she had dated a member a long time ago, and she had read a little of the Book of Mormon then, but nothing came of it. But about a week ago, she had been in a thrift shop and they had a copy of the Book of Mormon for sale. She had looked at it, and felt like God wanted her to buy it but she hadn't, and then when we brought the Book of Mormon up, she said it was a sign from God and that she was going to go back to that store and buy the book. So we gave her a free one instead. :) Super cool. She is so solid, and I know that was definitely a miracle and a tender mercy from Heavenly Father.

Missions are just the best thing ever. I love being able to be a missionary so much. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything in the world. There is just so much you learn and so much you can do to help others that you would never be able to do anywhere else. It is just amazing.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Qualicum Beach, Transfer 10, Week 1, May 5, 2014

I got transferred! Surprise! I am now on Vancouver Island, serving in Qualicum Beach. It is a little branch and it is just so cute. I think the average age is probably in the 50-60 age. We have a couple youth, but no active primary. So we are working on that. My new companion is Sister Gibb, and we are both Sister Training Leaders. So it's kinda cool, but also a lot of work. We are always so busy!!! Sister Gibb is from Edmonton, Alberta, and she came out the transfer before I did, and she has been a Sister Training Leader for a long time. So at least one of us knows what is going on. :)

This week has been nuts! We got the phone call Monday night. Sister Manaso gets to be with one of her old companions, so she was super excited about that.They are going to do a stellar job in Westbank. So Wednesday we bused down. This was potentially the last bus ride of my mission, unless they send me back to the Okanagen. I don't know why, but this bus ride seemed longer than all the other ones, probably because it was just so pretty outside!! I've attached a picture from the bus ride. Summer is definitely coming to the Okanagen!

Transfer meeting was absolutely amazing, as always. So many of the sisters that I know really well were there. It was just awesome. I love transfer meetings. It was President Tilleman's second to last transfer meeting, so it just seems to get more and more intense, because there is so much they want to do and to teach us, but there just isn't enough time! And then on Friday, I got to go to my first mission council. That was super cool. I love President Tilleman, and the way he teaches us so clearly is absolutely amazing. It was also really cool, because I have attended many zone meetings, where the sister training leaders and the zone leaders teach us the same things taught in mission council and to now attend mission council and to realize the exactness that my leaders have used in communicating President Tilleman's instructions and trainings was so wonderful. Definitely such a blessing!

And then I got to take my first ferry! It was super cool. Usually we drive onto the ferry, but since our car was parked in Nanaimo, we walked on. We had sent most of our luggage over with the Nanaimo sisters when they went back on Thursday night, so we only had to take our carry-ons with us. It was just so pretty!! I've attached a picture of the sky from the ferry. It was a lot more beautiful than the picture shows, but it tries. 

I am so grateful to be a missionary. This is just the most amazing thing that I can think of. No where else can we get the experiences and knowledge that we get on a mission. So many of the trainings that we were given this week apply not only to our mission, but to our life. And I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to help people learn about Jesus Christ! It is just so amazing to watch people change and grow and feel the love of their Savior. It is just so great!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!!

Sister Peterson

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 6, April 28, 2014

I can't believe how fast this transfer has gone! Holy cow. Six weeks has never seemed so fast. This week has seemed super short as well. It was both good and bad. Lots of finding time. We really didn't have very many appointments this week, which was sad, but we were able to meet some really cool people, so that was awesome. One woman is Buddhist, but she says her son has been asking who Jesus is, so they are going to look into Christianity. Lo and behold, the missionaries show up at her door. Coincidence? I think not! :) Sunday night we had a super cool experience though. We were 4 key indicators short of the standards of excellence, and 31 QGCs (quality gospel conversations) short of the 140 we are supposed to get every week. So we decided to find like crazy and find 4 new investigators and have at least 31 QGCs in about 3 hours of time that we had. Heavenly Father blessed us so much, and we were able to find 4 new investigators and have 36 QGCs, exceeding the goal that we had set for ourselves. It was such a tender mercy, especially considering the fact that the most new investigators we had ever found in a day before was 3. So cool. On the sad side, there was a little boy riding around on his bike where we were tracting. He was probably about 7 or so, and he kept watching us. As we were leaving, he asked us "So what are you doing anyway?" We told him that we were talking to people about Jesus Christ. His response was "Who is that?" It broke my heart, especially since we weren't allowed to talk to him. I just wanted to cry.

We also had a member missionary workshop/fireside to help the members learn how/become more comfortable with talking to people about the gospel. A grand total of 9 showed up. I was kinda disappointed, but it also allowed us to do more one on one and have more of a discussion with them. I wish there had been more people though. Some of the members just don't care, which makes me sad.

Oh, and I gave a talk in church yesterday! Elder Lee was supposed to speak, but because of missionaries going home, Elder Rios was transferred to the Lower Mainland a week early, and Elder Lee is in a tri in Kelowna, so he couldn't speak in church. So they told me on Friday that I was the replacement speaker. My topic was Joseph Smith, a very appropriate talk for a missionary. Unfortunately, that was all they told me, so while very appropriate, it was also very broad, with little time to prepare. So I studied what I could, mostly using Preach My Gospel and Joseph Smith History, and went by the Spirit. Honestly, of the 5 talks that I have been asked to give on my mission so far, 3 of them have been a by the Spirit kind of thing. This one worked out well enough. I felt like I was all over the place, but the members loved it. Over and over, they told me that they felt the Spirit so strongly. One even commented that it made her want to have her friends listen to the missionaries. So, what was the point of me saying all of this? Doing something by the Spirit is the best way to do it. Yes, we should prepare ahead of time, we should do everything we can to complete our task, but when it comes down to it, God knows best, and as we are open to the promptings of the Spirit, we will say exactly what we need to say. It is not so much the words that we say, but the testimony behind our words, and our preparation, our attitude. The Spirit will work through us, if we are prepared. He is the one that touches people's hearts, not us. It is so wonderful!!

I love you all, have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 5 April 21, 2014

R GOT BAPTIZED YESTERDAY!!! Surprise! Yeah, didn't know this one was coming when I sent my email last Monday. We hadn't visited her in a while, but we got permission from President Tilleman to do so (because of the reason she had been reflected, he asked us to clear it with him first, which we did, and he okay-ed it), so we stopped by last Monday night. Come to find out, her male roommate has moved out. We don't know why, he just gave her notice and left. So we reset her date for Sunday and she got baptized. Such a miracle. We had to get everything cleared, and we didn't get the complete go ahead until Friday. Such a blessing and a huge miracle! This has been a long time in coming. I first met her my second day in Westbank, way back in the middle of November. I am so happy for her, and she was so excited to get baptized. She kept calling us and telling us how happy she was and how excited she was. It was such a blessing. I don't even know what else to say about it. That was kinda the focus of my whole week. :)

So Easter was good. :) One of the less active sisters that we are working with fed us a wonderful Easter dinner on Saturday. It was so good! We spent a couple days this week going around and dropping off Easter eggs with jellybeans and scriptures inside them at members, less-actives, and investigators homes. It was supposed to be a secret, but we kept getting caught. I guess sister missionaries just aren't that sneaky. Of course, the skirts and conspicuously clean white car don't do much to hide. Meh. We also heart-attacked an investigator's door. She was in Creston, and she is going through a bit of a hard time, so we left hearts all over her door with uplifting scriptures. That was fun. Hopefully it will help lift her up a bit.

I got to go down to Osoyoos/Oliver on Wednesday. That is the other companionship in our district, and one of the sisters down there has been really sick for the last few weeks. So Sister Manaso and I drove down there Tuesday night and spent all day Wednesday with them, so that one companionship could go out and the other could stay and rest. I was so grateful that we were able to go down and help them out, especially since they did that for me when Sister Smigel was sick. It really is such a blessing to be able to serve, not only those in your area, but other missionaries, and to be able to return the service that was rendered to me just a few weeks ago was so wonderful.

So, here's a few pictures from this week.  One was of Sister Manaso and I outside our car. Brother Carullo loves taking pictures, especially of missionaries! He is the ward mission leader, after all. So many pictures this week!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Mary Peterson

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 4, Apr 14, 2014

This transfer is going so fast. I can't believe we are already starting week 4! I feel like I just barely got back from transfer meeting!

Winter is over!! I feel like I can say that now, without jinxing it. :) But seriously. It is getting so warm. This last week, at one point, it was up to 16-17 degrees Celsius, which is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit. So nice. And it means that I don't have to worry about freezing. Except when I think it is warmer than it really is and I walk outside with short sleeves and then remember to grab at least a light jacket. It cools off pretty fast still after the sun goes down. But I am so blessed to be in the Okanagan right now. The Lower Mainland and the Island right now are super rainy, and the North is still cold. So it is perfect right now. I am so grateful that I only have one winter and that I get two summers. I'll take a Canadian summer over a winter any day. I don't mind the heat, but I can't stand the cold. :) And I'm starting to get my foot tan back already. Blessings!

We had so much fun this week! We got to help the P's (a family in our ward) cut down the huge tree that was in their front yard. What I wanted to know was why the only ones helping were the missionaries! Brother P is 89! And no one was helping him! So the elders went over on Wednesday morning for an hour and we went over in the afternoon for two hours and cut and piled branches. Then we went back on Friday morning for just over 2 hours and piled the branches that were already cut in the truck and then helped him cut the rest of the branches. It was a blast! And the Ps are super cute. I love them so much! And they are working on introducing their neighbors to the gospel. There is a couple who lives next door who they have been helping out quite a bit recently, because the husband fell down an old elevator shaft and nearly died. So they've been helping them with errands and getting to the hospital and all sorts of things. And they've talked a little about the gospel, and they are going to give them a Book of Mormon this week! It is so wonderful to see how Heavenly Father gives everyone an opportunity to do missionary work. I remember a while ago Brother and Sister P telling us that they couldn't do missionary work because they didn't know anyone, and they never met anyone because they didn't go out much. But Heavenly Father has opened up the way for them to share the gospel with their neighbors through service, and their example, and now by sharing the Book of Mormon. So wonderful. And they are so excited about this. They have been asking us all these questions about how they should give them the Book of Mormon, and if they should mark favorite passages and so on. It is so cool! I love member missionaries! Prayer makes all the difference! I've included a couple pictures from the tree. The one with Sister Manaso and the pile of branches is what we cut and piled on the first day. The one with the truck is all of those branches, plus the elders' pile in the truck. There is a lot more in the truck than it looks like. Sister Manaso had a lot of fun jumping on and tramping down the branches. :) The last one with me is what we cut and piled on the second day.

E didn't come to church. :( She went on a weekend trip with her daughter instead. But she is going to go to church in Creston next week (she promised!). And we are going to see her again tomorrow. She is going to get baptized soon. She knows it is true. The elders in Fort St Johns have taught her a bunch, but she wants to start over, because it has been a while. So we need to teach her everything (that shouldn't be too hard) and then we need to get R out here to baptize her (that's the hard part. Why does he have to live in Calgary?) But we can totally do it! Heavenly Father has been blessing us so much lately, it is unreal. I am so grateful for all of the blessings that He has showered down on us lately!

This Sunday is Easter, and I am so excited. Easter is such a wonderful time of year. I am just so grateful for everything that Christ has done for me, and for everyone. Over the last year and a bit, I have come to know my Savior even more than I ever thought possible. He has been with me through it all, every heartbreaking, impossible, defeated or just plain old hard moment. But I think what means even more is that He has not just been there for the bitter, but also the sweet. I have felt Him in the moments when my soul was overflowing with joy and thanksgiving, so much that I couldn't even say a single thing. Jesus Christ didn't come just so we could get through our hard times, but so that we could have joy and gladness! We were created to have joy, to soar, to love and to live! We don't have to spend our days in sadness. Even when times are rough, through Christ we can be happy! He knows our pains, but He also knows our joy, and because He knows our joy, if we let Him, He will magnify that joy so that it reaches the point that it is almost too much for us! It is such a wonderful gift, and I am so grateful for this Easter season that we have to celebrate that gift!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 3, Apr 7, 2014

Conference was so good!!! I feel like that is all I can think about right now! I love General Conference, and there is something so different about conference as a missionary. It is just so special. And E and her family were there as well. S was so cute. He kept waving and giving us thumbs up. 

And we were able to hit the standards of excellence again this week. That was such a blessing, especially since at one point, we weren't sure that we were going to make it. But we were able to. Now we just need to get our new investigators to keep their return appointments! That is the frustrating thing. We talk to people, they are interested, we set a time, they agree, we come back, they aren't home or are busy. It can be frustrating. But a few of them are starting to have something come of it, so it's all worth it. I would rather be talking to people and trying to catch them at home then not working at all.

Anyway, I loved conference! It was so wonderful. I loved Elder Ballard's talk about following up. Using the full name of the church can be difficult, because people don't give you time to say it all, but it is so worth it! Last Sunday (March 30) we talked to this man who was convinced that we weren't Christian and that we didn't believe in Christ. But using the name of the church and passages from the Book of Mormon, my companion and I were able to testify powerfully that we are Christian, we do believe in Christ, and that He is the head of our church! He wouldn't let us set an appointment, but he has a copy of the Book of Mormon, and he said he was going to read it to see if what we said was true. So the seed has been planted, and hopefully will be harvested at some future date. And it was so wonderful to have Elder Aidukaitis and then Elder Christofferson speak back to back. There is something special about listening to someone speak in conference after you have been able to meet them and shake their hand. It was such a blessing to be able to hear them testify of the Savior again. They are the same in conference that they were in BC! They are don't put on a persona for people. The men and women who lead and guide the church are called of God and conference was such a powerful witness of that for me!! It was such a blessing to be able to watch that, and I wish it wasn't over!

I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 2, Mar 31, 2014

So crazy thing that I realized this morning. I got set apart a year ago today. If that doesn't make me feel like an old missionary, I don't know what will. Actually, I probably feel super old when I hit my year mark on Thursday! It's so crazy. Especially since for elders, it seems like a year mark isn't as big of a deal as it is for sisters. But then again, we have 6 months less than they do. I just don't want to think about it anymore. :)

It has been such a blessed wonderful week! Sister Manaso and I have worked so hard, and we have definitely been super blessed! We were able to hit almost every single standard of excellence! We were short a few people in church, but we found so many new people to teach, taught a bunch of member present lessons, and set one baptismal date! It was so amazing and I am so grateful. Heavenly Father has been showering us with blessings. And with the blessings come the crazy experiences again!

Back in my first transfer in Westbank, I was on exchanges with our district leader Sister Petersen in Westbank. We were tracting and we knocked on this door and a lady opened it and started yelling at us and chastising us for knocking on doors. She said some super crazy things, and eventually we just walked away. Well, on Tuesday, Sister Manaso and I were tracting, and one of the doors looked super familiar. We knocked on it, and the same lady opened the door (I guess I've been here long enough to re-tract!). But this time she was super friendly and really nice, and she became a new investigator! When she told us her name, I nearly fell over with shock. She had a complete turn around. But then at our return appointment she was using the Bible to underhandedly insult Joseph Smith and imply that we are following false prophets. She said she is going to come to General Conference to see for herself. Hopefully she will be open to the Spirit!

Rb is doing okay. Her incision got infected and started to open up a little, so she has to be a little more careful and she can't be moving around a ton. We have set a baptismal date for her of May 19th and I know she can make this one. She has been given some amazing promises, and she has so much faith and is trying so hard! Hopefully we will be able to move it up, because as soon as she is healed and has a new roommate, she can get baptized!!

I am so grateful for the gospel. So many people are just so lost and we are so blessed to have the knowledge of God's commandments. One of our investigators is an alcoholic, and is constantly drunk. Like from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to bed. It is super sad, and we have to reflect her, because she can't understand and won't listen. It's completely ruined her life. It's so sad.

I know this is true! I wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't! Heavenly Father has so many tender mercies that he showers upon us each and every day, and we just have to look for them!! http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=911029453001

I love you all!!

Sister Peterson

Westbank, Transfer 9, Week 1, Mar 24, 2014

So, I stayed in Westbank! And my new companion is Sister Manaso. She is from Bangkok Thailand, and is the first Thai missionary to serve in Canada. She has been out for four months, and she came here from Surrey 3rd, one ward over from where I was in Surrey 1st! She is such a hard worker and an amazing teacher. I am so grateful that I get to be her companion. We are going to work so hard and see so many miracles this transfer, I just know it!

Because it was transfer week, we really weren't able to get a whole lot done. But I did learn so much. Transfer meeting are the best. I love them so much. I always learn so much, and then I have so many things that I want to apply and change in my missionary work! But you have to start small. If you set too many goals, you will overwhelm yourself and then you won't get anything done at all. And the what was the point of setting any of those goals? :)

Interesting thought about goals. In Preach My Gospel, it tells us that "Goals reflect the desires of our hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish." As I've been thinking about it, I realized it not only shows our desires and our vision, but it also shows our faith and the extent of our vision. We should set realistic goals, but we should do our best to uncap our faith, because that is when we truly see the miracles in our lives. The miracles will increase in direct proportion to our faith, and it takes a lot of faith to set high goals. And then when you don't hit your goals right away, you need to continue to have faith and try again. Eventually, if you rely on the Lord for help, if your desires are in line with His, you will succeed. It's a beautiful thing.

In transfer meeting, while talking about exact obedience, someone said that to be exactly obedient is to act in such a way so that if the Savior were to come to our mission or our home or work or wherever we are, we wouldn't have to change a thing. That really struck me. President Tilleman doesn't stress obedience so much to make us follow all these little rules, he does it so that we are doing this work the Savior's way, which is so important, as this is His work! I loved that, and thinking about that has just increased my desire to be as obedient as I possibly can. I have seen so many blessings from it!

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Sister Peterson

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Psalms 46:1-2