June 24, 2013

So, I was going to record something on my camera and send it to you, but I didn't. Well, I did, but it is super shaky and crazy and everything, and for some reason, I turned the camera on it's side halfway through, so I decided not to send it, because it probably would have made people a little dizzy. It was just the view from my apartment and me talking, and I can say the same thing in a letter and it might make a bit more sense. I'll send a few pictures instead.

 

This week has been ridiculous. You know how I said last week we had that referral? Well, we got a hold of her and taught her and she is absolutely amazing! Super golden, one of those miracle investigators. But she is 22. So we had to hand her over to the YSA sisters, which is kind of a bummer. In fact, in the last two weeks, we have had 11 people that we have found that we have had to hand over to other sets of missionaries! These people range from genuinely interested to absolutely golden. We even had appointments set up with some of them, and when we got their address, they lived outside our area! We have absolutely no idea what is going on and why we can't find anyone in our area to teach! We are finding so many people for other missionaries. It's a little discouraging. A few of those people even contacted us, or approached us first. That so rarely happens. Almost never do you get a call from someone who wants you to come teach them, and very rarely do you have someone come up and ask you about the church. It just doesn't happen. So when it happens and you have an amazing conversation and set up an appointment, only to realize you won't have the privelege to teach them, it can be quite a blow. And it has happened repeatedly. These people are so prepared, but they aren't prepared for my companion and me. They are prepared for others and we are just a conduit to get them to the right place.

 

We are hoping that the fireside will help us find people to teach. It is this Sunday, and we are desperately hoping everything works out. The ward is supposed to be doing a potluck dinner thing after, and we haven't heard anything about that yet, and yesterday was Stake Conference, so we are desperately hoping we are just out of the loop on the food. Otherwise, we could have a little bit of a problem, since it says on the invite that there will be refreshments afterwards. Hopefully, everything will come together and we will be able to have a lot of success. We really need it, not only for investigators, but for our ward. There are so many less actives and inactives and not a lot of support in helping them. We don't even know where some of them live, so it can be a challenge to visit with them. Lots of detective work going on here.

 

On the upside, M. is doing so much better. We think we finally figured out what her problem is with getting answers to her prayers. Usually, she prays and read the Book of Mormon, right before she goes to sleep and after she has taken her sleeping pills. No wonder she doesn't get much out of her reading and she can't get an answer to her prayers! She isn't even really concious when she is reading and praying! We also got her to commit to come to church next week. She wants to be baptized after she kicks her smoking, but we couldn't get her to come to church. So we just told her that she can't be baptized if she doesn't come to church. She looked a little shocked at that. Apparently she hasn't ever been told that by the missionaries that she has met with before. But she said she will work out the things with her meds so she will be able to come, so I guess it worked. She has also cut back to 6 cigarettes a day! She is timing herself to see how long she can go and right now, she can go up to three hours without smoking! That is amazing. She used to smoke 10-15 a day and she has almost cut that in half in the two and a half weeks we have been meeting with her.

And we finally got to meet with the T's. They are so awesome and we are going to be seeing them again tonight. They are kinda at that point where it is not "will they be baptized?" but "when will they be baptized?" I think they already know it's true, they just don't know that they know. And Brother T. smokes, but we can get past that. We just need to teach them the Word of Wisdom. Tonight is going to be great. They are coming to Bishop C's for family home evening and the kids are going to have a blast. M. and C. T. are 4 and 18 months and I. and G. C. are 4 and 18 months, plus Bishop's two older girls. I'm a little afraid of what the house will look like when the kids are done with it, so we told Sister C. we would help her clean up if they made a big mess.

 

And the broadcast yesterday! That was absolutely amazing. So often, missionaries have to fill their own spiritual buckets at the same time as filling others, but with the stake conference we had on missionary work and then the broadcast, I feel like mine has been filled more than it has lately. I am so excited for the changes in missionary work. I get to be a part of it! President Tilleman got a notice from the missionary department that they are going to be implementing those changes and that they are going to be complete by this time next year! I get to serve at such a changing time! It is so exciting! If you haven't seen it, go watch it! There is so much about what members can do to help missionaries. And we need the help of members. We need them every step of the way, because there is only so much that we can do. We need those who can truly befriend and lift investigators and less actives. I can't wait to see what happens as we all follow the advice and counsel of our leaders.

 

Love you all,

Sister Peterson