Thursday, March 31, 2011

Bring on the Heat...Summer is Coming

Email sent Monday 28 March 2011

Wow, you got to talk in sacrament meeting. I don't think I can remember you talking in sacrament meeting. it is been a long time huh? what did you say about us? About me? The poor ward is probably sick of hearing about me. haha. Wow and a camp director. That's cool! For the crafts part you should make cute headbands. I bet you could find some cool patterns to make cute flower things with fabric. They would love them.

That's too bad that BYU lost. But that's good it was a good game. Go out fighting. That's the way. Sorry you lost too dad. :) Good job Brandy at running. Good job Quinton...at I don't know what because I haven't heard from you. Yes when there is RS conference we get to go. But we didn't get to go to the YW one, only if we had had a YW investigator. Good job brandy at getting your YW medallion! That's awesome. Just in time for your 18th birthday. Just like me. The month before. Are we procrastinators or what? I'm gad you follow in my footsteps. haha

Ok, so this week...wow. Some funny things happened this week. Ok, so you know how sometimes people ask "what is your most embarassing moment?" Well usually when people ask that I have nothing to say, because I can't really think of things that are that embarrassing that I have done. If anyone can remember one they should tell me so I can remember, but really I usually have nothing to say. But this week...now I have somethign to say. So, one evening we were eating dinner at a members house with my district leader and his companion too. We were seated at this table outside on the back patio. We had finished eating the meal and were serving and eating ice cream, and ice cream cones for dessert. So I was sitting on this wabbly yard chair, and the back leg of it happened to be in a crack on the cement. (but I didn't know it). So we are sitting there adn then the elders start fighting over the ice cream. They both had spoons and they were trying to take each others ice cream of each others spoons and they were standing up and lifting the ice cream higher and higher. We were all telling them to stop and then...I see the ice cream start to fall. I think I was afraid it was going to hit me, so I kinda jumped back a little. But if you remember, I was sitting in a wabbly chair with the back legs in a crack, and so the momentum made the chair start to tip, and somehow I could not catch myself. I had an ice cream cone in my hand, and my chair toppled over backwards. Yup. My legs when straight up into the air, and I was all of a sudden lying on the ground and the ice cream from the elders had splatted all over the table. Keep in mind that this happened in a skirt in front of two elders. Ya it was funny. Don't worry they didn't see anything, just a couple inches above my knees, but ya it was a bit embarrassing. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. It was a great little moment. ha not. But it was funny. Pretty sure Sister Villareal (the member) peed her pants. I don't know, but she was laughing really hard. Oh it was great. I want to forget it, really bad, but it happened, and now you know. So it's funny right. Now I have an embarrassing moment.

We also had the funniest door contact ever this week. Funniest! Basically we were talking to this guy and then this bee came, and it wouldn't leave us alone. It kept coming back to the door, and the guy would keep closing the door to make sure the bee didn't go inside the house and we would try to swat it with gospel pamphlets. But it wouldn't go away, then I told him, "I think he might have a home in your door hanging" and he lifted it up, and sure enough there was the starts of a bee hive there, but then the bee came back and so the guy went inside again, and we basically after trying to talk to him and trying to swat the bee, we were laughing so hard, and we were really far away from his door because the bee chased us away, and he yells from inside his house, with door open only a sliver, "I believe in Jesus Christ. Thank you for coming, but I'm ok." And we just couldn't stop laughing and I said, "Ok, we'll try back another day, I think you should get that taken care of." And he yelled, "ya I will." And we left. It was really funny. Poor guy. Our contact was ruined by a bee. I think Satan sent it. And that's what made it even funnier is cuz when the bee first came, the guy said, "I think the devil is sending me a sign." oh wow. it was crazy.

Mom there is this lady in our branch here that reminds me a lot of you. She is awesome! Sister Bjerkoe (sounded out Bee-ack-er, it's from norway) is super cool. And she is in charge of somethign for yw camp too. But you are kinda the same person. It's funny.

Ok, well, I must go. I hope you get all ready and prepared for conference this weekend. Think of some questions that you have and listen for answers as you watch conference. Take notes. Ponder, and pray. I promise you blessings.

Love you all!

Love,

Sister Petersen

Monday, March 21, 2011

Scorpions and baptisms

Email sent Monday 21 March 2011

Yes, we found a scorpion in our NEW apartment. We thought we had it bad with little cockroaches in teh last one. haha jk sort of. I really did find a scorpion in our apartment, but it was dead. So I hope there are no more. But it was kinda scary to find.

That's awesome that BYU is doing great. Why do they do good when I am gone. Ni modo, I hope they take it all the way to the top. How is yor brackets doing? Anybody make one?

I haven't gotten mail in like 2 weeks. I am starting to get really sad. :( haha, it is sad, but I'm not sad.

That's weird that both Quinton and Brandy have macs now. Take care of my por outdated HP for me.

On the good news side, we had a baptism yesterday of the cutest girl ever! Her name is V...... She is 19. (Again, I think my mission in life is to help youth. I hope one day I will be able to find and baptize a nice mexican family, but up to this point it has been mostly youth) But V..... is awesome. She is a beautiful young women and I have high hopes that one day she will marry in the temple. She has a very strong testimony of the restored gospel and is going to be a huge example to her friends who are less active members of the church. Through her faithfulness they will make changes in their lives to live the commandments and be strong in the gospel as well. It was a great day yesterday to be able to see her make that promise with God. Her dad was able to come and witness the service and was from what I could tell, very impressed by it and how all of the people here already love, care for and look out for his daughter.

This weekend alone we had 5 baptisms in Laredo. Laredo is really starting to catch fire. With the help of the Lord and his guidance given to us through his servant President Trayner we are seeing miracles.

Well that's all for now. Until next week.

Love,

Sister Petersen

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The crazy week! Trios, dos verdecitas, moving, and more!

Email sent Monday 14 March 2011

Wow, this week was interesting. So for wednesday, thrusday and friday, sister Ruano (who I live with) got to go to McAllen for a leadership training because she is training right now. I begged president with everything I have that he would let me go to. I really wanted to go back and work in my old area and see all of my people and sister Morrill. But he told me I couldn't because I already had the training and I had to take care of Laredo and our two areas. So for three days that left me with Sister salan and sister Adams. Sister Adams has only been out about 3 weeks now. She's from Riverton, we actually have some mutual friends. It's funny. But she's super green. So the three of us were in a trio, trying to take care of both of our giant areas for three whole days. It was craziness. We hardly had time to find any new people we were just going from appointment to appointment trying to help the people we already had. Teaching in a trio is crazy. No me gusto. I hope president knows to never put me in one. I didn't like it. :0 Being with two greenies was interesting two. They wouldn't talk. ugh. It was a crazy week.

Then to add to the craziness...we moved on Saturday! Ya. The four of us had to move completely, furniture and everything to a new apartment. The zone leaders moved into teh one we were in before. They told us on Friday night that we had to be completely out on Saturday. It was crazy. Our new apartment is like a palace though. It is super nice. I think it is brand new. Never lived in before. So that is super awesome. The elders were amazed as they were moving our stuff into it. We lucked out/have sister trayner who treats us way to well. It's a really nice apartment. The bad part is that we left our beds and desks for the elders and the elders just moved their beds and desks into our new apartment and lets just say that their beds and desks are less than desirable. They kinda stink. Well two of the beds squeak like crazy and two of the desks are just tables that have been carved on by too many elders. But we did get to take the washer and dryer. You should have seen the look on their faces when they found out it was ours and not theirs. They were devastated. It was sad. I don't know why we got such a good deal.

But as for right now, our apartment looks like a tornado. Literally, it is a mess. That is our task today, to put everything away and organize and stuff. If we don't do it today we won't ahve the spirit in our house all week. It is kinda stressful to look at. I'm sore from lifting so many boxes and moving stuff. Moving is a pain. But oh well. We have a super nice apartment now. And hopefully no cockroaches at all. :)

Glad you had a good birthday dad! 58 huh?! Nice. Spence is engaged! Sweet. Why do I have to miss the wedding? Man. Enjoy spring break. :) Hey don't know if you've sent that package yet, but could you include like 5 scripture marking red pencils with erasers?  Just one. Thanks!

BYU is ranked 3rd. That's cool!

I love you all, I'll try to write a letter today...but don't know if I will hve time with all the moving to do.

Love,

Sister Petersen

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Changes.../Happy Birthday

Email sent Monday 7 March 2011

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You never told me how old you are turning. This better not be your 60th. Is it? Or are you 59 or 58. I really don't know. Sorry. I hope you do all sorts of fun things, like listen to that cd I gave you for your birthday years ago, and go golfing, and fishing, and skiing, and eat some steak, and popcorn, and icecream and cashews, and lay on the floor and sleep, or lay on the grass and sleep, and write me a letter. Things you should not do: fix lawn mowers, fix trucks, fix any broken thing in the house, clean up random clutter in the house, pick up dog poop. etc. Doing/not doing these things will make your birthday very special. I love you dad!

This week we saw a lot of miracles. I will tell you about one of them. On exchanges on thursday with Sister Ruano, we found someone who was really looking for the gospel. The background on how we found him makes the story all the more amazing. Sister Ruano had forgotten that we had mormon.org time on thursdays at 11 am. (for an hour every thursday president wants us all to just get familiar with the new mormon.org) So she had accidently scheduled an appointment with a lady that they had contacted earlier that week right at 11am. So on wedensday night when we planned, we couldn't decide what we should do. We had no way of contacting this lady to reschedule, so we were torn between mormon.org and the appointment. So as we left the apartment on Thursday at 11 and started driving we continued questioning if we should go to this appointment with this lady who probably forgot or just go to the library. We decided/the spirit said go to the appointment. So we did. She had forgotten and was on her way out because her mother-in-law is dying in Nuevo Laredo. So we talked with her for a moment and then she left. We decided we would knock this one other house on the street. We found a really cool girl there, so that was awesome. But then we were heading back to our car and literally were about to get in, when we saw this guy outside working. He was clearly really busy, but we both said, hey, let's go talk to him. So we did. We said hi, he came over. We told him we were representatives of Jesus Christ and that we had a mesage that God wants him to hear. He was somewhat surprised. He asked us where the church was and we told him. He then said that when he looks at us he sees peace, and wants to feel that for himself. We testified of how at the church he can feel that. We got his phone number and committed him to come to church. And we left. It was a short 5 minute conversation.

...Then comes Sunday. During sacrament meeting, we see him walk in. I went over to him and had him come sit by us. He cried through most of the meeting. After he told me that he feels something different here. He proceeds to tell me that that day while he was working he had been planning on getting his money and going and doing bad stuff after. But then we stopped and talked to him and all of his plans changed. He wants to rearrange his whole work schedule so that he can come to church always every sunday. He stayed for Gospel Principles and part of Priesthood. He felt the spirit the whole time. We then called him at 2 just to invite him to the baptism at 2:30. He dropped everything and drove the LONG distance to the church and missed the actual baptism, but knew that he just needed to come back here. He feels different here.

We then taught him a lesson, the doctrine of christ, claro. I have no doubt that the Lord has been preparing this man, and that he put us in his path at this time of need. Just two weeks ago he was about to commit suicide. He wants to change his life. He wants to be good. He wanted to be baptized next saturday. He now has a bd for March 27. Some elders down south are going to be very lucky to get this prepared investigator.

I feel like there is a big change coming to laredo soon. Randomly, today, two new sisters just got to the mission. So they need to open 2 new areas asap, like tomorrow. And I think one of them is going to be in Laredo. The zone leaders have been asking us weird questions about our apartment, so I think that there might now be 6 of us living here. I don't know if he is going to do some transfers or something, but somebody has to train these new people and it's weird because the transfer just started, and so there are already like 5 people training. And on friday President took part of my area and gave it to the elders. :( All of our awesome people were in that tiny area that he took. It was sad. But ya. Who knows. I think we'll find out today what is going on. Hopefully. Or maybe nothing is really going on. I don't know.

It wasn't that hot this week. Just a little. It's pretty cool today though. I'm glad you are all into basketball adn stuff. Sorry it's over for brandy. Good job at cleaning the church. My headaches weren't bad this week, just had a little one yesterday. Wearing my contacts is annoying because I don't blink enough. It dries out way bad. But I will be better about wearing them.

Well I love you all, have another great week!

Love,

Hermana Petersen

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

The heat returns: 102 degrees yesterday

Email sent Monday 28 February 2011

And you thought Utah weather was bi-polar. It was snowing a few weeks ago, and now it is 102 degrees. It was super hot yesterday. But I was trying to guess what it was and I was thinking it was high 80's. But apparently it was 102. I think that I was wrong because the 100's I was used to in McAllen were also super humid. But it's not humid here in Laredo. But there should be a cool front coming soon. "Cool front"

So Quinton has time to come home for the weekend but not write me? Silly boy.

Church ball is brutal. I hope that person is ok. Last week on p-day we played basketball, and it was the first time I had played in over 12 weeks. I played for at least 2 hours straight. The next day...I was so sore. SO sore. Every part of my body was sore, but I loved it. I think that's why I didn't have any headaches this week. Real exercize relieves stress. Basketball is awesome.

Brooke Larsen is 21? Wow, that's so weird. Tell her congrats from me on her mission call. That's super awesome. We will have another sister from our ward! Yay!

D-will and Booz are gone. What are the Jazz going to do. My team is going to be unrecognizable when I get home. Even the coach is different.

Go BYU. I hope they don't choke in the tournament like they seem to do sometimes.

!!!I got your package!!! Thanks so much! It was full of all sorts of goodies! I love those cookies. They were so good. But they are gone. :( You wrapped the package very well. Everything was intact. Even the fake potatoes. I'll try them, and see if miraculously they are good. But I know the cookie dough will be good.

I OFFICIALLY HIT 9 MONTHS ON SATURDAY! Wow. I can't believe it is half over. Well not quite, because I still have about 9 months and 2 weeks left to serve. So in about one week, I will really be 1/2 way. I burned a shirt on saturday night to celebrate. But it was kinda a lame celebration because we were all super tired. Saturdays are tiring days.

Laredo had a miracle this month of February. We baptized 15 people in the month of February. Laredo has not had that many in a month in over a year and a half. I wish I could say I was part of that, but we didn;t baptize anyone in February. :( It was a really hard month for us, but we were able to help our zone and our prayers were answered as yesterday 9 people were baptized. Everyday for the past week, all of the missionaries here in Laredo were praying for a list of 16 people by name so that they could get baptized yesterday. 9 of those people were baptized and some of those were miracle baptisms. One of our investigators, V....., was able to come and witness the baptism of five of them yesterday and she was so excited that we were able to mover her BD up from April 3, to March 13!!! She is awesome.

Oh, I got a letter from Tyler Walker the other week. It is a miracle it got to me because the envelope was ripped almost in half and whatever cool thing he had sent me from Chiapas was gone, but somehow the actual letter was still inside. The mail in mexico is super sketch.

Well until another week, I love you all. Dad how old are you turning? I can never remember.

Love,

Melinda