Email sent Monday 18 July 2011
What a roller coaster crazy week! This week I realized how much my mission has taught me about handling stress and just being chill in the face of huge challenges. So as you know last Sunday night I got the news I would be white-washing this area that formerly belonged to elders here in Port Isabel. Port Isabel is exactly that - a port, or basically, it is right on the bay, the ocean you can see from my apartment. South Padre Island is part of my area...but we are not aloud to go over there really. But we can see it, and the bridge to get there is right by our apartment. This town is so interesting! It is really pretty! It's population is only around 5000 something, which is less than Raymondville by 3000 but it feels like a bigger, more civilized city I guess you can say. It is a touristy town. On the weekends it is packed because everyone and there dog is going to the island. There are tons of cool places that will be fun for us to go to on p-days. Today we are going to kinda go and explore and really see what there is to do here, cuz it seems there are lots of things.
So basically, when we got here on Tuesday, we followed the elders to our new apartment, which is the one that they lived in before. Our apartment is SUPER cute. Sister Trayner says it is the cutest apartment in the mission, but I had been told from Sister Swayne that elders had lived in there for too long and that the inside was going to need some cleanup work. The elders left us and went to the car to get more of our luggage, and we explored the upstairs. We smiled and laughed and called em out on the cleanliness a little. The elders then showed us around town to the members here in our area. We began to realize that we have someone scheduled to feed us like every single day. So much food. We asked them about our investigators. They took us by two houses and told us that in one of them lived this family and two of the people had baptismal dates. We asked if that was all of our investigators, and they said...ya. En serio elders?!!?!?! So ya, we had two investigators.
This city is awesome. On wednesday after district meeting, our district leader actually called us and told us that those 2 investigators they had told us we had weren't really investigators and didn't have baptismal dates. So the reality of it set in that we literally have NO investigators. So instead of white-washing this area, we are basically opening it up, starting from scratch. So we have a big task ahead of us but we are so excited about it! The members are so awesome here! And all of the people we ahve met are pretty receptive. It actually isn't really a rich area. It is pretty much trailers and little homes for the most part. We also ahve this city called laguna vista though, and that seems to have the big fancy houses on teh beach and stuff. But here in Port Isabel and Laguna Vista it is mostly lower class and TONS of spanish! So after being with a native companion for 6 months I am now with Sister Perkins, who has only been in the field for about 3 months and is still very much learning spanish. So I get to practice a lot.
Sister Perkins is an awesome missionary! She had a ton of success in Weslaco before coming here and is so ready to get to work. She is from Colorado, her name is Kathryn and she went to BYU before the mission and I look familiar to her, and we decided we think it is because we both always used to go country dancing at the Center in Provo. Maybe we saw each other before. haha.
The ward here is combined with Los Fresnos, 25 minutes north. There used to be a branch in Los Fresnos and Port isabel, but in march they closed the Port Isabel branch because it was small, and combined it with the Los Fresnos one to make a ward. So we have a spanish ward there. It's cute. THe members are really really excited for sisters to be here. Everyone was freaking out. Some people can never ever remember having sisters in like 14 years, so they were really happy to have us. I felt bad for the elders, cuz everyone kept saying how excited they were for us to be here.
But anyway sounds like ya'll are pretty busy. Girls camp, uintah camp etc. Have so much fun. Remember to relax, even if things get stressful at camp. haha. Just laugh at the unfortunite situations.
Love you tons!
Love,
Sister Petersen
ps everyone should check out my profile on mormon.org and make one for yourselves
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
A whirlwind....of surprises
Email sent Monday 11 July 2011
Hey y'all. This week was another great crazy week here in raymondville. Happy Birthday to Quinton yesterday! I thought of you and celebrated in my head. haha Also today is 7/11 so I want a free slurpy, but I have't seen any 7/11's. :( Oh well.
So I had a lot of things written down to tell y'all, but I left my planner at the church in harlingen and so I am lost, but I will try to remember all of the things. In random order.
This week was crazy, our numbers last week were sooo good, but this week a lot of people fell through on stuff. One of our investigators even went to jail. It was so sad, we are praying for him. We have a lot of good things going in this area, we have 5 people who could get baptized any day, literally, they are all ready adn willing, but are just waiting on mom's permission, or 1st presidency permission, or grandm's permission. Those five people are so important to me.
Last night, at about 10pm the zone leaders informed us that we were going to have to pick up 3 mini missionaries at 10:30 am this morning. We told them NO because we could not fit them all in our car, so they figured it out and said we would only have 2. So then we were still scrambling trying to figure things out how the driving situation would work witht the elders and everything and how we now had to plan two activities for the whole week. Then we talked to the zone leaders again, and Elder Haskell said, "Sister Petersen, it gets even more confusing." I was confused and didn't know how it was going to get worse. He then proceeded to say, "the ap's just called me and we have news for you. You are being transfered on Tuesday. You are white-washing Port Isabel with Sister Perkins." WHAT THE?! For real?!?!?!?!? No way. My mind started racing, and freaking out. I'm still freaking out just trying not to think about it. haha The worst part of it is leaving D... and his family. I have loved working with them so much. And his mom and grandma are so close to embracing the gospel as well. But ya, he told me that I leave tomorrow. Port Isabel is on the ocean. For real. It is an elders area right now, but as of tomorrow it belongs to sisters. Sister Perkins has only been out for 2 transfers I think. I have never met her, so I don't know anything about her, other than that Sister Zamora, my former comp in Laredo trained her. I am white-washing!!! Oh my gosh. THat is kinda scarey, but I have always wanted to do it. But it is going to be really hard. I hear the people are really rich and don't want to listen. But I don't care. It's the gospel, they have to listen.
So ya, that's the biggest news. I am so sad to leave Raymondville, especially on such short notice. I am not going to be able to say good bye to hardly anyone. I don't want to think about it. I love it here and will miss it a lot.
Another big news, I did something today that I have thought about doing for many many years. So many people are going to be so excited when they hear I finally did this. Can you guess what it is? Well, my two companions finally talked me into it. And now is the perfect time because I don't have basketball games I have to take my jewelry off for...So guess what? Today, I got my ears pierced!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yup. For realls, no lies. Ali Bytheway is going to be so excited. My comp's are so nice they even split the price of it three ways. So I have to wear these earings for 6 weeks and then I can take them out and wear whatever I want. I was scared ad my heart was racing, and they took pictures of me in the process of it, so you'll see them soon...er or later. It hurt a little, but it wasn't that bad at all. Now I just have to make sure I clean it. And don't worry my comp's asked president if we could do it, before we did it, and he said, "only one whole in each ear sisters" so i think that was permission. haha. So I have my ears pierced. At the age of 22 finally.
What else? hmmm, I think I like salads. They are good sometimes. No tomatoes though. Those are still gross. And avocados.
Oh thanks again for the package. Those cookies you sent were so good. I actually made teh bar things it had a recipe for on the back and they were awesome. I tried to go buy more at the store but I don't think they carry that brand here in Raymondville walmart. :(
Dad, that's fun that you went up to the Uintah's again. Sorry no one goes with you. But 18 fish, that's a lot!
Well I love you all, I hope I will have good things to tell you next week about my new area and new ward and new companion, and new everything. Pray for me. White-washing is tough. But it will be fun.
Love,
Sister Petersen
P.S. White-washing means both me and sister perkins are new to teh area. There are two elder in there right now, but they are leaving and we are taking their spot. We have to figure it all out and get to know the members and investigators all on our own. We are starting it fresh with no one to help us. hah
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
A couple days late...that's how busy we are haha
Email sent Wednesday 6 July 2011
Sorry it took so long to write this. But obviously the library was closed on Monday for the fourth and yesterday we had scheduled too many appointments to be able to come and email. So it got put off till today. Sounds like y,all are having way too much fun with out me. Except for all of the things going wrong with our house adn cars and sprinklers and such. I hope dad's back gets fixed. Chiropractors work miracles. My headaches are doing fine. I still haven't gotten a really bad one since the blessing. I'm doing good. My ear still bugs me, but whatever.
Wow that's a lot of people getting married. I didn't have any idea who some of them are though cuz you didn't say some last names. If they were sending me requests for my address to get a wedding invite you should go on again and give them the La Vista address. Please and thank you!
I can't believe that Nathan Black is home! I didn't remember that he was almost done. Wow. That's weird. I can't wait to hear all about his mission.
So this week was another crazy one. It is weird working in a trio, and interesting being back with my greenie. haha. She is cute. Trios are a bit difficult because you ahve to re-learn how to teach together. It was a rough week and Sister Salan got overwhelmed by the status of everything in the branch here. But we are doing good and now that there are 3 of us, if we can just find one member to work with us we can do splits and do twice the amount of work. This week is full of changes and we are still adapting, but for some reason, president has sent 4 experienced missionaries and one with 6 months under her belt, and a senior couple to Raymondville texas. We are needed here, and we are doing His work. I will have quite the stories to tell about this place and the faith of these people. I am learning so much about the organization of the church and the proper order of things. God needs each one of us here for a specific purpose. It is interesting how things work out.
For the fourth of july, well, it was sort of just a normal day. Well raymondville had a parade, if you can call it that, on Sunday and then I don't think much really went down on monday here. It was pretty quiet. LIke everyone left town or something. But we all went to harlingen, and played basketball a bit, adn tehn we went to teh mall, and my companions got some perfume and lotion from victorias secret and when the elders saw the bags int eh trunk they freaked out. it was funny. Then all of the missionaries in our zone we had a little bbq at a members house. It was fun. But we had to leave because we were all supposed to be in our houses by 7 pm. So that was our fourth of july. Nothing much. Just a normal day really. I didn't even get to see any fireworks. :(
But ya, thakns for always writing and telling me what's going on at home. I hope you all had a great independence day and keep having fun.
Love,
Sister Petersen
Sorry it took so long to write this. But obviously the library was closed on Monday for the fourth and yesterday we had scheduled too many appointments to be able to come and email. So it got put off till today. Sounds like y,all are having way too much fun with out me. Except for all of the things going wrong with our house adn cars and sprinklers and such. I hope dad's back gets fixed. Chiropractors work miracles. My headaches are doing fine. I still haven't gotten a really bad one since the blessing. I'm doing good. My ear still bugs me, but whatever.
Wow that's a lot of people getting married. I didn't have any idea who some of them are though cuz you didn't say some last names. If they were sending me requests for my address to get a wedding invite you should go on again and give them the La Vista address. Please and thank you!
I can't believe that Nathan Black is home! I didn't remember that he was almost done. Wow. That's weird. I can't wait to hear all about his mission.
So this week was another crazy one. It is weird working in a trio, and interesting being back with my greenie. haha. She is cute. Trios are a bit difficult because you ahve to re-learn how to teach together. It was a rough week and Sister Salan got overwhelmed by the status of everything in the branch here. But we are doing good and now that there are 3 of us, if we can just find one member to work with us we can do splits and do twice the amount of work. This week is full of changes and we are still adapting, but for some reason, president has sent 4 experienced missionaries and one with 6 months under her belt, and a senior couple to Raymondville texas. We are needed here, and we are doing His work. I will have quite the stories to tell about this place and the faith of these people. I am learning so much about the organization of the church and the proper order of things. God needs each one of us here for a specific purpose. It is interesting how things work out.
For the fourth of july, well, it was sort of just a normal day. Well raymondville had a parade, if you can call it that, on Sunday and then I don't think much really went down on monday here. It was pretty quiet. LIke everyone left town or something. But we all went to harlingen, and played basketball a bit, adn tehn we went to teh mall, and my companions got some perfume and lotion from victorias secret and when the elders saw the bags int eh trunk they freaked out. it was funny. Then all of the missionaries in our zone we had a little bbq at a members house. It was fun. But we had to leave because we were all supposed to be in our houses by 7 pm. So that was our fourth of july. Nothing much. Just a normal day really. I didn't even get to see any fireworks. :(
But ya, thakns for always writing and telling me what's going on at home. I hope you all had a great independence day and keep having fun.
Love,
Sister Petersen
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
mini missionary surprise
Email sent Monday 27 June 2011
Ok, so write as we finished emailing y,all last week we found out that we were getting two mini-missionaries 1 hour later. haha. We had no idea and kinda freaked out at first. But this week was a super awesome week. The two girls that we had with us all this week were from the valley as well, one from Edinburg and one from McAllen. They were so cute. It was super fun to work with them and for them to see what mission life is like. They are so cute.
I don't have a lot of time to write today because I have to do the scholarship thing. And because teh library closes in 20 minutes. But so many funny things happened this week. For example. One day the office elders called me and asked, "White or red?" I didn't know what they were talking about but I finally said, "red" and they said, "you are getting a new car tomorrow and you chose for it to be red." YAY a new car. And not just a new car for us but a NEW car. I have never driven a NEW car before in my life. So ya the next day, which was Zone conference in Harlingen (with the mini-missionaries) we switched out our cars, which was cool because I didn't like the giant boat of a malibu that we had, and now we have a 2011 Ford Fusion. And it's not really red, but burgundy. It's cool. Smells new. The elders were like, you picked red, that means we are going to get pulled over a lot. But it's not really red.
But then today...guess what happens? It was super lame, I got pulled over for the first time in my life. Thanks to the spirit the cop let me off with a warning. I really think it is because our car is red. That thing really is true that red just looks fast. I was so scared when I saw the lights behind me. It was lame because it was on teh freeway were the speed limit keeps changing and so I got caught after it had gone down, and ya. The end. Sad day. But I was warned.
So this week D... got his interview with Pres. Trayner and Elder Piena. He is set, well he just has to come to church one more Sunday and then pres can send the letter for 1st presidency approval. D... is doing awesome. He is making a journal of his whole story.
This week with the mini missionaries we had a lot of success. It was really cool. We exceeded all but two of our goals. And those we were super duper close.
We also found out transfer news this week. Tomorrow is transfers and we are not moving, BUT we are now going to be in a trio. A trio. Sister Salan (who I trained, two transfers ago in Laredo) will be my other companion. Weird that we are going to be back together but it will be fun.
Just to clarify - we do not go on double dates. It is just nick-named the "double-date district" because it is just us two sisters and us two elders here in Raymondville. And we are together a lot, because we have to drive them places. But don't worry, nothing happens. And plus. Starting tomorrow, this district is no more. We are now going to be combined with San Benito. Weird. We are sad, but it will be ok.
Seems like you all are having fun doing lots of cool things, going to Oregon, selling on ebay, basketball reffing, and fishing. Sounds fun.
love,
Sister Petersen
Ok, so write as we finished emailing y,all last week we found out that we were getting two mini-missionaries 1 hour later. haha. We had no idea and kinda freaked out at first. But this week was a super awesome week. The two girls that we had with us all this week were from the valley as well, one from Edinburg and one from McAllen. They were so cute. It was super fun to work with them and for them to see what mission life is like. They are so cute.
I don't have a lot of time to write today because I have to do the scholarship thing. And because teh library closes in 20 minutes. But so many funny things happened this week. For example. One day the office elders called me and asked, "White or red?" I didn't know what they were talking about but I finally said, "red" and they said, "you are getting a new car tomorrow and you chose for it to be red." YAY a new car. And not just a new car for us but a NEW car. I have never driven a NEW car before in my life. So ya the next day, which was Zone conference in Harlingen (with the mini-missionaries) we switched out our cars, which was cool because I didn't like the giant boat of a malibu that we had, and now we have a 2011 Ford Fusion. And it's not really red, but burgundy. It's cool. Smells new. The elders were like, you picked red, that means we are going to get pulled over a lot. But it's not really red.
But then today...guess what happens? It was super lame, I got pulled over for the first time in my life. Thanks to the spirit the cop let me off with a warning. I really think it is because our car is red. That thing really is true that red just looks fast. I was so scared when I saw the lights behind me. It was lame because it was on teh freeway were the speed limit keeps changing and so I got caught after it had gone down, and ya. The end. Sad day. But I was warned.
So this week D... got his interview with Pres. Trayner and Elder Piena. He is set, well he just has to come to church one more Sunday and then pres can send the letter for 1st presidency approval. D... is doing awesome. He is making a journal of his whole story.
This week with the mini missionaries we had a lot of success. It was really cool. We exceeded all but two of our goals. And those we were super duper close.
We also found out transfer news this week. Tomorrow is transfers and we are not moving, BUT we are now going to be in a trio. A trio. Sister Salan (who I trained, two transfers ago in Laredo) will be my other companion. Weird that we are going to be back together but it will be fun.
Just to clarify - we do not go on double dates. It is just nick-named the "double-date district" because it is just us two sisters and us two elders here in Raymondville. And we are together a lot, because we have to drive them places. But don't worry, nothing happens. And plus. Starting tomorrow, this district is no more. We are now going to be combined with San Benito. Weird. We are sad, but it will be ok.
Seems like you all are having fun doing lots of cool things, going to Oregon, selling on ebay, basketball reffing, and fishing. Sounds fun.
love,
Sister Petersen
Friday, June 24, 2011
Museum Treasures and the Awesomeness that is D...
Email sent Monday 20 June 2011
So this week we had an awesome opportunity. The whole time I've been in Raymondville we would drive by this old school that is now the Raymondville Museum and I always wanted to go inside. Sister Ruano and I tried one pday but found out it is only open for a couple hours on wed and saturday. But we know this guy, the owner of the best restaurant in Raymondville, (boot co.) and the maker of the best bacon cheeseburgers ever, and he is over something at the museum and he always gives us free food, and so he asked us if we could help them clean out some old stuff at the museum. YES! We were excited. The four of us went there and they showed us all around and took us to this back room FULL of stuff and we had to help them carry stuff to the garbage. And they said we could have whatever we wanted. So...Elder Piena walked out of there with this giant life size donkey made of basket stuff, and a real stuffed snake and some picture. It was super funny. Mostly it was just cool to look at all the cool old stuff they have in there. I loved it. We were really sweaty though. That's how we are about 90% of the time here though so what can you do? nada.
This week I hit my 6 months left on the mission mark. We burned a skirt. haha. Ya it was cool. I can't believe I only have six months. That is way too short. Not that I don't love y,all, I just love this too.
Ok so remember D..., that I told you about? He is still so awesome! He is the find of my mission. This man is prepared, Golden. He should be getting his interview from Pres Trayner this week. He is so legit. Remember how I told you that he is an amazing artist? well he is and the elders told him that he should go big with this. Favorite quote of the week, he responded saying, "No. My priorities right now are baptism, marriage and temple." He tells us all the time, "I know where I'm going. Celestial." And he has this look in his eyes you know that he will not back down for anything. He has a very strong testimony of the gospel. He came to church on sunday with his nephew D... and loved it. He heard a lot of really deep doctrine and he survived. Man we weren't scared about how he would take it, just a little nervous, but it just gave him even more fire. He is awesome. I really can see him being in the branch presidency here in the near future. The old branch pres was here this sunday and thought that D... was a long time member and was trying to put him to work donig home teaching and who knows what and everyone was like, chill, this is his first day. of all the priesthood holders that were there on sunday, which was like 7, he was one of the only ones in a white shirt and tie. THis guy is awesome.
Dad, I'm glad you could have a good Father's day. sounds fun all the stuff yall are doing. Sad to miss it. Sorry brandy I haven't written you. You won't get one this week either. Thanks mom for the package!
Raymondville...man, the stories I will ahve to tell you when I come home. This place is great. We are working hard to help it, and God is blessing us with miracles.
Brandy have fun in Oregon, tell quinton hi, if he still exists. I love yall, tell the ward hi too.
Love,
Sister Petersen
So this week we had an awesome opportunity. The whole time I've been in Raymondville we would drive by this old school that is now the Raymondville Museum and I always wanted to go inside. Sister Ruano and I tried one pday but found out it is only open for a couple hours on wed and saturday. But we know this guy, the owner of the best restaurant in Raymondville, (boot co.) and the maker of the best bacon cheeseburgers ever, and he is over something at the museum and he always gives us free food, and so he asked us if we could help them clean out some old stuff at the museum. YES! We were excited. The four of us went there and they showed us all around and took us to this back room FULL of stuff and we had to help them carry stuff to the garbage. And they said we could have whatever we wanted. So...Elder Piena walked out of there with this giant life size donkey made of basket stuff, and a real stuffed snake and some picture. It was super funny. Mostly it was just cool to look at all the cool old stuff they have in there. I loved it. We were really sweaty though. That's how we are about 90% of the time here though so what can you do? nada.
This week I hit my 6 months left on the mission mark. We burned a skirt. haha. Ya it was cool. I can't believe I only have six months. That is way too short. Not that I don't love y,all, I just love this too.
Ok so remember D..., that I told you about? He is still so awesome! He is the find of my mission. This man is prepared, Golden. He should be getting his interview from Pres Trayner this week. He is so legit. Remember how I told you that he is an amazing artist? well he is and the elders told him that he should go big with this. Favorite quote of the week, he responded saying, "No. My priorities right now are baptism, marriage and temple." He tells us all the time, "I know where I'm going. Celestial." And he has this look in his eyes you know that he will not back down for anything. He has a very strong testimony of the gospel. He came to church on sunday with his nephew D... and loved it. He heard a lot of really deep doctrine and he survived. Man we weren't scared about how he would take it, just a little nervous, but it just gave him even more fire. He is awesome. I really can see him being in the branch presidency here in the near future. The old branch pres was here this sunday and thought that D... was a long time member and was trying to put him to work donig home teaching and who knows what and everyone was like, chill, this is his first day. of all the priesthood holders that were there on sunday, which was like 7, he was one of the only ones in a white shirt and tie. THis guy is awesome.
Dad, I'm glad you could have a good Father's day. sounds fun all the stuff yall are doing. Sad to miss it. Sorry brandy I haven't written you. You won't get one this week either. Thanks mom for the package!
Raymondville...man, the stories I will ahve to tell you when I come home. This place is great. We are working hard to help it, and God is blessing us with miracles.
Brandy have fun in Oregon, tell quinton hi, if he still exists. I love yall, tell the ward hi too.
Love,
Sister Petersen
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Miracles in Raymondville!
Email sent Monday 13 June 2011
We have truely been so blessed this week. Sometimes on the mission, you are trying your hardest and nothing seems to happen. But that is when you just keep trying, keep your head up and miracles come. Sometimes we have to step a little bit into the dark before the way is lit up before us. That was kinda like this week. Well these past few weeks we've been working hard, but with no apparent success. But this week we prayed and prayed to be able to find prepared people. And guess what? The Lord answers prayers.
On Wedensday all of our appointments in the morning fell through, so we knew we needed to find someone. We ran into a street that neither of us has ever noticed before it seemed. And that is weird because our area in Raymondville is chiquito, so we've knocked like every street. But we found this one and knew we were supposed to knock there. It wasn't before we had only knocked a couple of houses that we found who God had sent us there to find. A man named D... was outside working in a yard with his friend and his little nephew D...
We began to talk with them and one of the first things that D... said to us once he found that we were missionaries from teh LDS church was "I am what you would call an investigator." We were surprised and excited to hear the story behind that. He then started telling us some of the things that he knows. Among some of the things he said were about how he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom, that baptism is the gate, somethign about high priests, and temple marriage, and the doctrine and covenants, an priesthood linage, and how the Holy ghost is only your companion after baptism and priesthood blessings that felt really good.
Come to find out he had been being taught by this guy while he was in jail. His storry is really amazing. D... got out of jail 2 weeks ago and is on house arrest for 5 more weeks. But while in jail he found this guy who was different from all the other inmates and wanted to know why. The guy began to share with him the gospel. He taught him lots of things. The guy's wife sent D... 2 triple combinations (book of mormon with D&C and Pof GP) and he would get the ensign and stuff). He studied with this guy for four or five months in jail and they guy would tell him to pray about everything to see if it was true. His story really is miraculous.
I am so excited for D... He will be getting his baptismal interview on the 26th and after getting first presidency approval he will be baptized in July. He is the most prepared person I have ever met. And now we are teaching even more of his family, actually he is teaching his family. I can see him being an amazing leader in this branch in the near future. He is so cool.
And this week we also got to do exchanges with the San Benito sisters. Team Jordan reunited!!! Yay! Sister Morrill and I got to be together again for a day. She actually goes home in like three weeks. I'll try to get her to tell me about her homecoming so you can go. But anyway, we worked together on Saturday and it was another miracle day. I love working with her, we teach really well together. It is just easy. We saw a lot of miracles that day as well. And we got to catch up on how my people are doing in mission and how her people were doing in laredo. It was cool.
Happy Fathers day to all you fathers! Hope yall have a great week.
Love,
Sister Petersen
We have truely been so blessed this week. Sometimes on the mission, you are trying your hardest and nothing seems to happen. But that is when you just keep trying, keep your head up and miracles come. Sometimes we have to step a little bit into the dark before the way is lit up before us. That was kinda like this week. Well these past few weeks we've been working hard, but with no apparent success. But this week we prayed and prayed to be able to find prepared people. And guess what? The Lord answers prayers.
On Wedensday all of our appointments in the morning fell through, so we knew we needed to find someone. We ran into a street that neither of us has ever noticed before it seemed. And that is weird because our area in Raymondville is chiquito, so we've knocked like every street. But we found this one and knew we were supposed to knock there. It wasn't before we had only knocked a couple of houses that we found who God had sent us there to find. A man named D... was outside working in a yard with his friend and his little nephew D...
We began to talk with them and one of the first things that D... said to us once he found that we were missionaries from teh LDS church was "I am what you would call an investigator." We were surprised and excited to hear the story behind that. He then started telling us some of the things that he knows. Among some of the things he said were about how he wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom, that baptism is the gate, somethign about high priests, and temple marriage, and the doctrine and covenants, an priesthood linage, and how the Holy ghost is only your companion after baptism and priesthood blessings that felt really good.
Come to find out he had been being taught by this guy while he was in jail. His storry is really amazing. D... got out of jail 2 weeks ago and is on house arrest for 5 more weeks. But while in jail he found this guy who was different from all the other inmates and wanted to know why. The guy began to share with him the gospel. He taught him lots of things. The guy's wife sent D... 2 triple combinations (book of mormon with D&C and Pof GP) and he would get the ensign and stuff). He studied with this guy for four or five months in jail and they guy would tell him to pray about everything to see if it was true. His story really is miraculous.
I am so excited for D... He will be getting his baptismal interview on the 26th and after getting first presidency approval he will be baptized in July. He is the most prepared person I have ever met. And now we are teaching even more of his family, actually he is teaching his family. I can see him being an amazing leader in this branch in the near future. He is so cool.
And this week we also got to do exchanges with the San Benito sisters. Team Jordan reunited!!! Yay! Sister Morrill and I got to be together again for a day. She actually goes home in like three weeks. I'll try to get her to tell me about her homecoming so you can go. But anyway, we worked together on Saturday and it was another miracle day. I love working with her, we teach really well together. It is just easy. We saw a lot of miracles that day as well. And we got to catch up on how my people are doing in mission and how her people were doing in laredo. It was cool.
Happy Fathers day to all you fathers! Hope yall have a great week.
Love,
Sister Petersen
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Air is flowing again.
Email sent Monday 6 June 2011
As of about an hour ago air has been flowing again in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! So we moved back in this morning. (So you can send packages here). We stayed with the same member for the whole two weeks that the air was out. So we didn't have to suffer the heat that much just driving back and fourth to and from her house which is in a town called Lyford that is 5 miles from Raymondville. But it really was a fun two weeks. She is such a sweetheart. She made us breakfast every single morning and dinner pretty much everyday as well. She took good care of us and we probably gained a pound or two. haha We are kinda sad to leave. She became like our grandma. It was kinda like a long sleepover at grandma's house. We enjoyed it a lot and I think that things happen for a reason and maybe that is why our air had to go out for two whole weeks - because we needed to be with her. It was a fun experience but now I guess we are back in our house.
Don't worry mom, everything the missionaries do regarding living situations goes through the office and is approved by President Trayner. The reason it took so long to fix the air was because we had to communicate to the office senior couple and they talked with the Landlord and had to work stuff out and he reports to President and blah blah blah and back to us. There is now a senior couple that is assigned to do member support here in Raymondville and so they also helped us look for a new place to live. Problem was that here in Raymondville there is only one apartment complex...and the elders live there. And so, we couldn't. But anyway, the problem is fixed and its all good now. Everyone did a great job fixing it and the house we live in belongs to a member so ya.
Sister Ruano's first name is Wendolens. She was born in Guatemala. Moved to Cali when she was like 1 1/2 and to Utah when she was 12. She lived mostly in Salt Lake, but now her mom and bro are in Layton.
As far as spanish, yes pres has this thing to help us learn spanish where we can earn awards: captain, higher captain, and chief captian. I have my captian, and hopefully will get my higher captian soon. :) It's a cool little program. And yes we get the ensign and the liahona. Each companionship gets one, so I don't need my own. I just like you to send me the english conference ones so that I can have it for myself and take it with me and mark it up and stuff. But I don't need a spanish one.
Biking is cool. It's not too bad, well sort of but not really. I got a bit sun burnt the first day. But there is always a nice cool breeze here so it is nice. But we are always sweaty. I don't get hat hair too much. We only ride the bike for like 5 minutes adn then park it and walk around so it's not bad. I clip my skirt together so it looks like a big diaper, but when I'm riding you can't tell. haha. But it is funny. It might get caught in the spokes some day. Sister Ruano has had it happen quite a bit. But it's fun.
I'm glad graduation was nice. Brandy is awesome. 3.945 GPA way to go! What was mine, I think you got pretty close :) Mom, you have 10 students! Wow that's a lot. You should have brandy take over some of them for the summer since she doesn't ahve a job and needs money. just a thought. Tell Spence congrats for me at his wedding.
The small branch is different but fun. It is not necesarily harder here to find people. It's pretty much the same I guess as McAllen. We have a church building it is just really small. Really small. I'll take pictures someday so that ya'll can see it. But the missionary work is pretty much the same.
We don't ever get discouraged. We may be disappointed sometimes, but discouraged means lack of courage and that is not good, that is what Satan wants. We have had a couple of rough weeks in finding people, but we are working on it and we know that there are prepared people here. Yes we do have a member list of all the members and we are going by them to reactivate and baptize part-member families.
So this week was just another great week. We taught primary this week. It was fun. Our primary president left church in an ambulance. But she is doing better now. Not much eventful really. It was interesting week.
Thanks I love you,
bye
Love,
Sister Petersen
As of about an hour ago air has been flowing again in our house!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yay! So we moved back in this morning. (So you can send packages here). We stayed with the same member for the whole two weeks that the air was out. So we didn't have to suffer the heat that much just driving back and fourth to and from her house which is in a town called Lyford that is 5 miles from Raymondville. But it really was a fun two weeks. She is such a sweetheart. She made us breakfast every single morning and dinner pretty much everyday as well. She took good care of us and we probably gained a pound or two. haha We are kinda sad to leave. She became like our grandma. It was kinda like a long sleepover at grandma's house. We enjoyed it a lot and I think that things happen for a reason and maybe that is why our air had to go out for two whole weeks - because we needed to be with her. It was a fun experience but now I guess we are back in our house.
Don't worry mom, everything the missionaries do regarding living situations goes through the office and is approved by President Trayner. The reason it took so long to fix the air was because we had to communicate to the office senior couple and they talked with the Landlord and had to work stuff out and he reports to President and blah blah blah and back to us. There is now a senior couple that is assigned to do member support here in Raymondville and so they also helped us look for a new place to live. Problem was that here in Raymondville there is only one apartment complex...and the elders live there. And so, we couldn't. But anyway, the problem is fixed and its all good now. Everyone did a great job fixing it and the house we live in belongs to a member so ya.
Sister Ruano's first name is Wendolens. She was born in Guatemala. Moved to Cali when she was like 1 1/2 and to Utah when she was 12. She lived mostly in Salt Lake, but now her mom and bro are in Layton.
As far as spanish, yes pres has this thing to help us learn spanish where we can earn awards: captain, higher captain, and chief captian. I have my captian, and hopefully will get my higher captian soon. :) It's a cool little program. And yes we get the ensign and the liahona. Each companionship gets one, so I don't need my own. I just like you to send me the english conference ones so that I can have it for myself and take it with me and mark it up and stuff. But I don't need a spanish one.
Biking is cool. It's not too bad, well sort of but not really. I got a bit sun burnt the first day. But there is always a nice cool breeze here so it is nice. But we are always sweaty. I don't get hat hair too much. We only ride the bike for like 5 minutes adn then park it and walk around so it's not bad. I clip my skirt together so it looks like a big diaper, but when I'm riding you can't tell. haha. But it is funny. It might get caught in the spokes some day. Sister Ruano has had it happen quite a bit. But it's fun.
I'm glad graduation was nice. Brandy is awesome. 3.945 GPA way to go! What was mine, I think you got pretty close :) Mom, you have 10 students! Wow that's a lot. You should have brandy take over some of them for the summer since she doesn't ahve a job and needs money. just a thought. Tell Spence congrats for me at his wedding.
The small branch is different but fun. It is not necesarily harder here to find people. It's pretty much the same I guess as McAllen. We have a church building it is just really small. Really small. I'll take pictures someday so that ya'll can see it. But the missionary work is pretty much the same.
We don't ever get discouraged. We may be disappointed sometimes, but discouraged means lack of courage and that is not good, that is what Satan wants. We have had a couple of rough weeks in finding people, but we are working on it and we know that there are prepared people here. Yes we do have a member list of all the members and we are going by them to reactivate and baptize part-member families.
So this week was just another great week. We taught primary this week. It was fun. Our primary president left church in an ambulance. But she is doing better now. Not much eventful really. It was interesting week.
Thanks I love you,
bye
Love,
Sister Petersen
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