Another crazy week in Texas!

Email sent Monday 9 Aug 2010

Let's see where to begin. Monday was fun. We got to play basketball with some of the Elders. Brandy: do you know a like Kayla Hawkins or something. Cuz this elder (Elder Austin) comes up to me and asks me if I have a sister named Brandy, and I was like ya, and he said that that girl is his cousin and that you told her to tell him to look for me. So ya we are in the same zone. And he is TALL. And I played basketball with him. He's quite good...he will play for BYU when he get's home. funny.

Then came the Mini-missionaries. We picked them up after some miscommunication on Monday at 3:45pm. And we had them with us all week long till yesterday at 6:30pm. There were four of them for each of our companionships in our apartment. So that meant that there were 12 people in our apartment, except they didn't sleep there, they slept at member's houses, but the members would drop them off at 7:30 am and pick them up at 9:30 pm. So, basically, after only one week of being trained by my companion, I became a trainer because we had to split up. We were split up all week. I had two 16 year old companions all week. It was quite an experience for me. They were awesome and I loved working with them. But it was really hard to all of a sudden be the one who was expected to know what to do, especially when I couldn't even understand the people who were speaking to me in Spanish. It was so hard. I felt very inadequate to be in the position that I was in, but I just kept working anyway.

We had some great experiences. One is that we found an investigator on Monday, taught on Tuesday with siblings and cousins. Had another appointment on Thursday and taught the Plan of Salv/Restoration..BOM. This investigator then says, "I think I want to get baptized into your church." I knew this investigator was golden the first day we taught, was really looking for truth, and was already reading the bible and everything.

So even when I don't know what I am doing I know that the lord can guide me. It is the spirit that does the teaching. Some people are prepared and others are not. But the field is white. We are not here to plant seeds, but we are here to harvest. This week we will be focusing on finding and teaching those who are ready and helping them make and keep their committments to come unto Christ.

We had a lot of other really cool expeirences this week too, but I don't have time to tell them all. There has been a huge emphasis in this mission about setting baptismal dates. This is something that to me is somewhat scarey to do, especially when we are supposed to try to do it on the first or second lesson. But if we are not inviting people to change, we are denying them the opportunity to act. This is part of our Mission Zone "hulk-up." Our zone leaders invented a new word in spanish "hulkearse" which means we are hulking up when we set more baptismal dates. It is quite exciting.

Actually, mom, I haven't gotten to buy bedding yet. Last week with the mini-missionaries, the shopping trip was too crazy, but we will be doing it today. :)

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Go to the temple! Our ward here took a temple trip this week...8 hours to get to San Antonio. It is so easy for y'all.

Love,

Hermana Petersen