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
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