August 12, 2013

This week has been absolutely nuts. Just crazy. Monday night, we got a call from the Assistants, wondering if we would have room for another sister. They said they would call us on Tuesday if she was going to be staying with us. So on Tuesday, at 1:45ish, we got a call from the Assistants, saying we needed to be in Richmond at 4:30, to pick up a new sister, Sister Mullen, who was going to be our new companion for the next little while. Sister Mullen is from Calgary, and she is assigned to the Portugal Lisbon mission. She was there for 3 transfers, but the government gave her a tourist visa, so she had to come back here to get a new visa, so we are in a trio for the next two or so months. It has taken a little adjusting, because our apartment is very big, but I love it! It is so much fun. Not to mention, on her second full day here, we found a new investigator from Portugal. She speaks really good English, but I think it is easier for her to talk about some things in Portugese.

 

We have found so many new investigators this week! Before this week, it was super amazing if we found 2, and that was usually our goal. This week, we found 8! It's kinda funny, because the second week of the transfer, Sister Ellgen and I set a goal to quadruple our numbers, especially when it came to the key indicators. We have key indicators for baptismal dates, sacrament meeting attendance, member present lessons, progressing investigators, and new investigators. Well, as of this week, we have hit the goal of quadrupling our number of new investigators. Now we are going to focus on sacrament meeting. Once you find them, you have to get people to church. If you can find them and get them to come to church, everything else will start falling into place. They will meet members, who will come to the lessons. They will be more willing to keep commitments, which means they will be progressing. They will have a greater desire to be baptized, which means we will set a date with them. Church is so important!

 

L has continued to be such a miracle! She comes with us to so many lessons, and she is always willing to come on short notice, which can be really nice when a member cancels last minute. She just gets it, when it comes to just about everything with the gospel. There is an unendowed member temple baptism trip on the 21st, and she is going to go! I am so excited for her to be able to do baptisms for the dead. I can't wait to here about her experiences in the temple!

M came to church yesterday, and she hadn't smoked for a day. So we are going to see if it holds for a few more days, and then we are going to pick her up again. I really really want to be able to help her! Heavenly Father can do so much to help and bless her, she just needs to let Him! It is so frustrating sometimes, to see these people who need His help, but they won't let Him! Gah!

 

Anyways, I love you all! Transfer calls are in a week, and I'm a little afraid I'm going to get transfered out of Surrey. There are times when I don't think I would mind just staying here my whole mission. I love Surrey, and next transfer is going to be great. They are sending another set of elders to this ward. Right now, we cover half the ward, and the elders cover the other half. But next transfer, the two sets of elders are going to split the ward in half and we are going to cover the whole ward. Something crazy is happening is Surrey, and I can't wait!

 

Love,

Sister Peterson

August 5, 2013

Anyway, things are going a little crazy here. Saturday was my 4 month mark from entering the MTC. Crazy isn't it, how fast everything goes! Everything moves so fast. I feel like I am already running out of time, which is scary. Every day and every week seems to move so fast!

M is done. She is just not doing anything, she isn't willing to work for anything, nothing. She told us last time that she doesn't care that her smoking controls her, and she doesn't want to control herself. It breaks my heart. She is struggling so badly right now. She is getting evicted tomorrow, and 5 of her 6 kittens have died in the last three days. She just won't do it, so we are waiting for her to contact us, and we will move on from there.

L, on the other hand, is doing amazing! She was confirmed yesterday, and she is already doing missionary work. She came to two lessons with us last night, and she also told us after church that she has someone she wants us to teach. So we are going to her apartment on Tuesday afternoon and we are going to teach this woman she met on the street! She totally gets the idea of member missionary work! I don't know how I got so lucky as to be able to teach her and work with her. Her sister, Sister M, also came with us to the two lessons, and she is thinking about going on a mission! So cool! I am so excited to be able to see this family progress in the gospel. Sister M has been the only member for 12 years, and now she has her sister, and they are working on the rest of their family. They just get it.

I got to go on exchanges with Sister Cho and Sister Lee in Burnaby YSA this week. Driving in Burnaby is scary! The roads are super narrow, the turns are sharp, and the drivers are crazy. If I never have to do that again, I will be grateful. I was driving their car, and it has such a wide turning radius! I'm just grateful nothing happened. We found a new investigator for them! Her name is B, which means smile in Egyptian! Her name definitely fit. She was so happy. We also found a potential for the Burnaby family ward. She was so excited about the idea that she could have a personal relationship with God, and when we gave her a Book of Mormon, she held it like it was so precious. The missionaries who get to teach her are going to be so lucky.

Heavenly Father has really poured out his tender mercies on us this week. We found 4 new investigators, which is the most I have ever found in one week. On Saturday night, some of the Filipino ward members were having a BBQ, which they invited us to. Unfortunately, it was during finding time, and there wasn't going to be anyone there for us to teach, so we decided to go tracting instead, which was kinda sad. Anyway, we were knocking on doors, and one woman opened the door, and we started talking about having questions answered, and she mentioned that she had several questions that she really hadn't ever figured out, like where are we from, why are we here, and what happens after death. Funny questions to ask missionaries! Anyway, we had a great discussion about answering those questions, and we got an appointment to come back this next weekend. So we kept knocking doors. After a few more doors, we got a call from one of the members, who was at the BBQ, who said she had some friends for us to come meet, who wanted to learn more! So not only did we end up getting to go to the BBQ and to meet and teach some nonmembers there, we found a new investigator! Not to mention the Filipino food they fed us. It is so good. We are spoiled with all of our wonderful members. We really are blessed as we are obedient. It's so cool!

Love you all,
Sister Peterson

July 29, 2013

L was baptized last night! I've attached the pictures, but I realized a few minutes ago, that I forgot to take the date stamp off. Luckily it's not covering up anything important. I guess I'll never forget the date. For more reasons than just one. :) Her baptismal service was absolutely amazing. She asked me to sing The Lord is My Shepard, and I was really kinda nervous, because I wasn't sure how well I would be able to hit the high notes, but it ended up working out well. The elders also had an investigator baptized last night, A, and so it was extra special. Two baptisms this week and two confirmations next week! L was so prepared for this and she is so happy. It was such a spiritual experience.

 

The Surrey 1st ward has also started something special in the last few weeks. Every Sunday, right after church, the missionaries, ward missionaries, ward leaders, and any members who want to, gather in the kitchen, have a quick lunch, and then divide up into groups of 2-4 people and go out and visit as many less actives and recent converts who weren't in church as we possibly can. This has already seen some success. One of the members who was visited last week actually came to church this week and came out with us afterwards. The elders last week were able to have a wonderful experience with one of the members and give them a blessing to help with some issues they have been dealing with. Yesterday, we were able to teach a woman who was baptized just over a year ago who has been struggling quite a bit lately, and by the end of the lesson, she was fully committed to reading the Book of Mormon everyday. As we were leaving she said that she would try to, but then she corrected herself and said she would, no matter what, and then she repeated it several times. Missionary work is never over. She may have been baptized, but she still needs help. And her fiancee is expressing interest in the church. It never ends, it just keeps on giving.

 

M is still struggling. We have taught her, as simply as we possibly can, everything that we can and everything that the Spirit leads us to, and it is up to her now. If she can't keep her quit date for this Wednesday, we are going to have to place her in a reflecting pool. Every time we go to teach her, we start with our lesson plan, but the Spirit leads us back to how much her Heavenly Father loves her and how she needs to give up smoking now. But I don't think she is really listening. It's up to her to exercise her agency and make the right choice, but I don't think she is. She kept telling us on Saturday that she wasn't ready to quit yet, and I don't think anything is going to change dramatically enough between now and Wednesday to make her ready. But I don't know that. There may be a miracle. I desperately hope so. She needs this so badly.

 

This has been so hard, but so good. And yesterday was just the thing I needed after an exhausting and long week. We have three appointments for tonight, and hopefully all of them will go through. If they do, we should have at least two new investigators, on a Monday night. That would be a wonderful miracle.

 

Love you all!

 

Sister Peterson

July 22, 2013

This has been both a wonderful and bad week, all at once. We almost hit the standards of excellence. Once again, we were just one short. We only had one new investigator this week instead of the two we aim for. But we will get it next week. It's going to happen. I feel like I am constantly bordering on overexhaustion, but I am feeling wonderful about it. We are working so hard, and having so much fun together and I am absolutely loving it.

 

L had her baptismal interview on Saturday night. She is all set to go and will be getting baptized next Sunday at 5:30! I am over the moon about this, in case you couldn't tell. I love it. She is soaking everything up and just loving it all. She is so prepared, she really doesn't need the missionaries. Her sister did a lot of it, and we just showed up. So cool.

 

Our new investigator, My, is golden as well. She has three kids, and the oldest turns 8 tomorrow, so we are hoping that she will start listening and participating in the discussions so that she can be baptized as well. They came to church yesterday, and I was reminded of how our family used to be when everyone was smaller. Her two other kids are 3 and 1, and they were a little wiggly and crazy. The only difference was that I couldn't hold them and help keep them still. But My enjoyed church and we are going to see her hopefully tonight. Her baptismal date is currently for August 18th, which we set after the first lesson!

 

M, on the other hand, has dropped her baptismal date. She's still smoking, and I don't think this is going away overnight at all. She has been smoking for over 40 years! We just found that out. She told us last night that the church is for her and that praying and reading the Book of Mormon has helped her moods and makes her feel good, but she can't seem to give up the smoking! She is under so much stress from different situations, which just makes it worse. But we challenged her to throw it all away and to trust that Heavenly Father would take care of her, and she almost did it, but backed out at the last second. She did say she would pray about doing it when we came to see her tomorrow. I honestly feel like she is one of the big reasons that I am in Surrey, and I desperately want to help her. I don't know if I have every wanted something so badly! Please pray for her. She needs every last bit of help she can get right now.

 

Sorry it's a little short, but I am out of time. Love you all!

 

Sister Peterson

July 8, 2013

I have an awesome foot tan. I'm attaching a picture that I took during dinner at the library the other day. Guess that's what happens when it is summer and you are out walking all day. It looks a little weird though. But I like it. :) Everything has been crazy this week. It's our final week (fingers crossed really tightly) on the bus, so hopefully that will help with my exhaustation. I also get to take a long nap today, because Sister Carroll is going to spend most of the rest of P-day packing. I drop her off in Richmond tomorrow morning, and then I have no companion until Thursday, so they are putting me in a tri with the Langley sisters! I am so excited to get to work with Sister Wright and Sister Stewart. They are absolutely amazing and I love them so much.

There is no time to even breathe right now. M is still progressing towards baptism, but I'm a little worried. This week is critical, because her cigarettes run out either today or tomorrow, and after we see her on Tuesday, we won't have the chance to see her again until Saturday at the earliest. I am so grateful for cell phones, because we can stay in touch, but I am worried about her being alone with nothing to distract her this week. I am just praying that she won't buy more cigarettes and that she will come to church this sunday. She has to do something, or baptism on the 4th won't happen.

On the other hand, K and L are amazing! Not to say that M isn't, but they love it all!! They came to church, stayed for all three hours, and L actually particpated in answering questions in Relief Society. They believe that the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet and everything! They are so golden and sweet and just amazing. The only thing holding them back is that some of their family is a little disapproving, but they have Sister A, who already has done all this on her own, who is supporting and helping them with everything. It is a little ironic that we have been working our hardest and searchign everywhere to find people like K and L, and they live right down the hall from us, and we already knew them. Right under our very noses. Gah!

Please, please please! Be careful about the example you set! There is always someone watching and you never know what it might do! One member slandering another on facebook nearly lost us the T's. They came so close to telling us not to come back, because one member had an immature moment on facebook. It is only because several other members have been wonderful examples that they are still willing to learn. It is so important that we always always set a good example in everything we do. When we are baptized, we covenant to take upon ourselves Christ's name, and nonmembers know that. As a missionary, I wear his name everyday. We have a high standard to live up to and we have to do it! Just as a member found us the M's, a member nearly lost us the T's. Everything in missionary work is intertwined with the members.

Anyways, I am so excited for this week. Transfers, the sister conference on Friday and just meeting new people and teaching them! It's going to be a great week. Also, the other pictures are from last night as we were walking home. Sometimes Surrey is just too pretty. It just needs less power lines :)

Love you!

Sister Peterson