Week 30: HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

Kind of glad this week it over.... We were quarantined to our apartment until Thursday!! Wednesday we decided to go to District Meeting! Man Who knew that 2 hours of sitting and getting trained would tucker you out!?!? We were beat again and had to go home :( We watched some great church videos about the Savior!! It made it so real to me! I tried to make an extra effort this week while we had some down time to really reflect on the Savior and the Atonement! I had some great realizations and I ended up having the Best Easter! It was the first year where it really meant something to me and I felt such gratitude for the Atonement of Christ! It was so cool!!! Thursday = FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We talked to our lovely mission president and told him we seriously had nothing else to do in our apartment and he said that we just needed to get back to work then and fight through the sickness! We were fine with that!!! So Thursday we went out and worked!!! Let me tell you it was hard!!!! As a missionary you get so used to the schedule and running here and there and using every ounce of your being! Well it was hard to get back into the swing of things!!! I was so tired by 9pm!! So tired!!!!! But Thursday was awesome!! We went and saw our friend Irene at the hospital and we were reading the Book of Mormon with her and her other friend in the hospital came over and started reading with us! By the end she was like "Can I just read the whole page!?" Hahaha It was funny! She loved it! Then we had dinner with the cutest family! They are from Africa and have 3 kids that are seriously so adorable!!!!!! It was a lot of fun! The food was good too!!! In between appointments we called our investigator Helen who was wondering if there was even a God and why he would cause us to suffer. She said she had thrown away our pamphlets :( BUT every time she went to go throw something else away she would see Jesus' face and she felt bad so she went around her house and picked all the pamphlets out of the trash and read them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHA we were laughing so hard and so happy!!! she said that she believes in God again and her sister called her and made her kneel and pray over the phone!!! We aren 't the only one's working with her!!! Heavenly Father has many people trying to help Helen right now!!! She's so sweet!!! Friday we went tracting in the middle of nowhere kind of and we knocked into this lady and she said "come In" we were surprised but that's like a missionaries dream so we went in! She said she is less active and hasn't gone to church in a long time!!!  It was awesome to get her story and to teach her a little bit. I'm not sure if it will make any difference but she enjoyed the visit and we did too!

Later, we went to a lesson with a media referral Alyssa! She requested a Bible and already had a Book of Mormon! Awesome!!! So we drove...and drove...and drove....48 blocks into the wilderness and finally found her family farm :) We got to pet her horses and she has MINI HORSES!!! and lots of other farm animals!! So cool!!

Anyway so she is a teenager and she is interested in Christianity in general and wanted to know what made us different! Boy did she ever like our message!!!!! It was so cool to see how it was clicking in her head! She didn't want us to go! She wanted us to keep teaching her hahaha we didn't want to leave either! We were sitting outside on this beautiful farm with the sunshine and we were preaching and teaching! It was great!! She said she was excited to read the Book of Mormon and learn all about our church! MIRACLE!!!!!!!! After our awesome lesson we went to dinner with a member and her adorable son! We had a roast dinner and she made these carrots that were to die for!!! she put WHITE CHOCOLATE in her carrots!!!!!!!!!! She learned it while in Australia! She didn't tell us until after we ate it but it was so good! Anything with chocolate is good!! Hahaha Saturday was our walking day or should I say wheezing day! We were still trying to beat our sickness and we walked a lot so we could barely breathe but it was such  a good day! It was the first Saturday here that it didn't rain on us!!!!!!!!! Wooohooo!!! In the morning we went and knocked a complex and met a guy that knew all about us Mormons!! he was drilling us with questions and deep doctrine stuff and right in the middle his phone timer went off and he said sorry I have to check my scones and dashed off....we were so confused!!! Hahahahah IT WAS SO FUNNY!!! He did it like three more times during out conversation! he was really concerned about burning his precious scones!! On a spiritual side though, we had a great conversation with him! he had a great testimony of Jesus Christ! It was cool to hear a complete stranger bear their testimony to you!! He wasn't too interested but it was a great start to our day! Later we went to the General Women's Broadcast! IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! SUPER SPIRIT FILLED!!! I loved every talk!! Especially Neill F. Marriott!! I love how she is so funny but so filled with the spirit!! President Eyring's talk was spot on too!! You could just feel the power coming from him! When he said You have felt three things tonight...I was like WOW HE REALLY KNOWS US!!! I felt all those things he talked about! It strengthened my testimony so much to know that even an apostle whom I'm never met can be so in tune with the spirit that he can touch my heart all the way up here in Canada!! It was so cool!! Easter Sunday was good!!! The Choir and primary kids sang this song called Gethsemane! IT'S MY NEW FAVORITE!!! It was so powerful! Then I got the chance to teach sharing time on Sunday and I stayed for Singing Time so I got to learn it!! Yay!!! My lesson was about How Jesus Christ was chosen as our savior! I hid Easter eggs and we sang songs It was so fun! The kids are so close to heaven and know all the simple truths we are trying to teach people every day!! I miss my primary days!!! Sister Hawke had to teach Relief Society (everyone was out of town for Easter Hahaha so they called upon us to fill in!!) but both of our lessons went good!!! I had a great Easter! I taught about the Atonement all day long and Sister Hawke and I even did a little Easter celebration for ourselves! We had a lot of fun finding eggs in our tiny apartment!! Overall it was a great week but I'm glad it's over so that we can have a normal week of no sickness!!!!! Today we have Zone Conference in Abbotsford, BC so you'll probably hear all about that next week!!!

I just wanted to leave you with my testimony of our Savior.

I love my savior so much!!!! I know that we lived in heaven before with our Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ was chosen to be our savior. I know we were so happy when we learned of God's plan for us and that a Savior had been provided so that we could return to live with God again. I'm so grateful that I was raised with the knowledge of Jesus Christ. I'm so happy that I know of God's great plan for us and of Jesus Christ's Atonement that makes it all possible. I know that because of Christ's suffering in the garden for us we are able to overcome any sin, suffering, or pain. His Atonement covers everything even the happy times!!!! I'm so grateful that my Savior knows exactly what I am going through at any given moment. I know that he loves me. I'm especially grateful that he was Resurrected! That he overcame physical death so that we can too! I know that we will be resurrected just like Christ and that we will be able to live with our families forever and return to live with our loving heavenly father! I love Jesus Christ and I'm so grateful that he was worthy and willing to endure it all for us. I know that God's plan is real. That Jesus Christ overcame all so that we can live God's plan and return to live with him again. I love my Savior! I love his perfect example! I can feel his support and his love everyday while I'm on my mission. I wouldn't be able to do any of this without his help.

I hope you all take some time to reflect on your testimonies of the Savior and do everything you can to improve your relationship with your Savior! Just ask God and he will tell you what you need to do! It's amazing! I have much to work on but I am grateful for my simple testimony about Jesus Christ and how it guides me each day!

Happy Easter!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 29: SUPER SICK WEEK!!!

As usual we had another crazy week :) 1/2 of the week was good 1/2 of the week was spent inside because we got sick :( but we still had some miracles and funny stories :) So P-day this week was also PIE DAY!!! So instead of buying a whole pie we didn't

Pie Day!

need we bought Oatmeal Cream Pies! They are so good!! After an awesome P-day we had dinner with a lady in our ward who is sisters with one of the best members in Campbell River so that was fun!!! She has an organ where you have to pump the peddles. It was so hard at first but after a few minutes I got the hang of it!! So cool!!! Monday night we were kind of confused as to what we should do! BUT the church just came out with the new Easter Video #Hallelujah so we decided to stop by some investigators and give them the new cards to watch it. Well we were able to get in contact with Kim and her kids that were supposed to be baptized last week but weren't! And we set up a return appointment which is so good because we have been trying to contact them FOREVER!!!! Tuesday we got to see another investigator who's husband isn't doing well and we walked in and she said she just didn't believe in God anymore. WOW...It's really hard to try to convince someone of God. I just KNOW there is a God and have never really doubted it. We really didn't know what to do

Magnolia Tree

so we just testified of what we knew to be true and let the spirit do the rest! By the end she said she felt better and said she didn't know what had come over her. Phew....crisis averted! Still working with her though! She is going through such a hard time!!! We met up with Kim and her kids and it was CRAZY!!! There were so many kids because they were with cousins and friends! They all sat on the floor and listened to us tell about Joseph Smith. It was cool! Even though we thought they weren't listening they so were and learned a lot!!! That night we had dinner with a part-member family! LET ME TELL YOU OUT OF EVERYONE ON MY MISSION SO FAR I HAVE COME TO LOVE PART-MEMBER FAMILIES!!! I feel like it's my "duty" to teach them and help them! I just love them so much!!!!! Anywho...so this family they have a cat and they were telling us how it was 20 yrs old! I started busting up laughing and said Wow...Sister Hawke their CAT is older than YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAHHHAH it was

Kiddos Drawings

SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wednesday we had another awesome district meeting...no dinosaurs but it was still good. It was all about Charity and Love! That was something we needed to hear!!! Thursday was St. Patty's Day!!! It's not that big of a deal up here so I was really bummed :( We planned, visited a few people, and then we had dinner with a Less Active!! WE LOVE HER!!! she is so funny! She has her grandbabies with her and so we planned to teach them "Jesus Wants me For a Sunbeam" well our idea was shot down. HER OLDEST GRAND DAUGHTER IS A FREAKING GENIUS!!!! She told us the story of Noah in complete detail....told me things I didn't even know!!! Hahaha So we switched up our lesson and told her the story of Jonah! When Sister Hawke told her that Jonah was in the whale she looked at us like "you've got to be kidding me!" Hahahaha It was so funny!!! Anyway she's 5 and drew us the cutest little pictures of Jonah and the Whale. Thursday night we were also struggling as to what we should do so we just wandered around some stores...we were really frustrated that we weren't finding anyone to talk to THEN we walked past this lady and IT WAS ONE OF OUR INVESTIGATORS THAT WE HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO GET A HOLD OF !!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!

Sickies :(

MIRACLE!!!!!!!! She said she was still interested and that we could come back!!!! Whoohoo!!!! Friday was a crazy day!! We decided to do a Service Power Hour where we just walked around and tried to do as many random acts of kindness as possible. It would have turned out great but there wasn't a soul downtown...so it kinda failed!!!  BUT I STILL HAVE FAITH!! Hahaha We'll try it again next week!!! Basically everything we planned for Friday fell through...which was kind of a blessing because SISTER HAWKE GOT REALLY SICK!!! She had a terrible cough and fever! So we called Sister Burt and she told us to go home! :( Sad day!!! So we stayed in Friday night, all day Saturday. Then on Saturday I started to get sick :( and then we went to church on Sunday but slept all day after church!!! It was not fun!!! We're still sick, but today we went and got some medicine for Sister Hawke because she is so much worse!!!! Sunday was cool though!!!!! We dragged our sick selves to church and our investigators Kerry and Martin brought their family to church!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALL 6 OF THEM CAME!!! It was so cool!!!!! The ward here is so great! Everyone started talking to them and becoming friends, the

little kids showed their kids to primary....oh my goodness it was just so great!!!! They loved it too! They want to come next week!!! Tonight we are going to see them and talk to them about Baptism!!!! :) It's gonna be great!!!! The rest of Sunday was spent taking a nap and drinking lots of Gatorade and taking lots of medicine!! HOW FUN!!!! NOT!!! Hopefully this next week we can see lots of success and we can get better so we can get back to work!!!!!!!!!!! Hope you all have a WONDERFUL EASTER!!!!!!! Watch the video #Hallelujah SO GOOD!!!!

CRAZY COOL FACTS:

Today is the last day I can say "a year from today I'll be in Canada" wow......weird

1 YEAR FROM TOMORROW I WILL BE HOME!!!!!!!!! Even Weirder!!!!!

Love you to Canada and Back {which is about 2,300 miles I figured out this week :) thanks tomtom :) hahah}

I love you much more than that I promise!!!!!

Sister Peterson

Week 28: Rain + Helium + Dinosaurs + Miracles = Great Week

HOLY COW!!! Another week gone!?! I swear now that I'm in the city things go much faster and I feel like our weeks are so much busier!!! I do miss quiet walks through the forest and the ocean!!! GAHH!!!! I MISS THE OCEAN SO MUCH!!!!! Anywho...I'll save you from all that...this week was good! Monday we had a rockin' P-day

Missing the Ocean :(

filled with laundry, email, and cleaning...nothing better! We ate at a members house and she is from Nigeria and she always feeds us authentic African food! Derek....Elder Lechem would have been proud!!! Haha Tuesday we did some service for a lady who is moving! It was quite sad! She's lived in the same house for 40+ years!!! So it was fun to go through her old pictures and hear of her memories! Tuesday night one of the recent converts here Beth...went to the temple to do baptisms!! We wish we could have been in there but we couldn't so we just took a picture outside as we ran to our meeting in the church!! Hahaha Tuesday night Sister Hawke and I bought helium balloons from the Dollar Store and well....we made a HILARIOUS VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!! It was the first time I tried sucking helium so it was SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't send the video home because it's too big so after the mission i'll for sure post it on Facebook AGH so funny you guys!!!! I said "Sorry mom...my brain cells are going" then we sang

Hey there Moroni...

Called to Serve in a super high voice!! Oh my goodness...if only you could watch!!! Sister Hawke and I HAVE WAY TO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's great!!! Wednesday we had a district meeting!! I gave a training on OUR POTENTIAL it was really cool! I got those magic capsules that disolve and grow in hot water! I got dinosaurs of course! and used that as my object lesson! We all see ourselves as something small like one of those little capsules!! BUT when we put it in water or nourish it, it grows into something 10 x better!!! Let me tell you...those Elders were so happy!!!! Hahaha after the meeting they went to the other district and said look what we got in our training!! They were like little kids...they're only like 18 yrs old...still children I guess! hahah After District meeting we had a lesson with Kerry

our new investigator who had a mighty change of heart and set up a lesson!!! We met with her and taught the

Bad Weather in B.C. 

Restoration and she LOVED it!!! She totally thinks it could be true and when we gave her the Book of Mormon she WAS SO EXCITED TO READ IT!!!!!! Legit!!! She even said she hadn't been baptized and wanted to be and so she wants to find out if our church is for her!!! MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thursday we woke up and I swear it was like a Vancouver Island Storm outside!!! Crazy like a hurricane!!!!!!!!!! LUCKILY, we had planning so we stayed in all morning and by the time we left it was clear!!! Thursday was a hard day. We met with a lot of people who are facing really hard life problems and it was just SO SAD!!!! It's awesome that they are reaching for the gospel though, and that we are able to teach them and talk with them to help them through the hard times!!! I feel like I can't do much to help them so lately I've been asking "Is there anyone I can pray for" instead of how can we help? As I pray for those people by name I really feel like I'm helping and it strengthens me and makes me happy because I know that God is hearing my prayer and is blessing those

Matthew 5:16

people. Friday not much happened except we tracted into a member...she gave us spaghetti...super funny!!! Saturday was #walkingday and of course Mother Nature decided to bless us with rain :) We walked super far!!!! As you go south in my area the number streets go down all the way to 0 which is the USA/CANADA border!!! We walked all the way down to 40 something from our apartment! Let me tell you my feet hurt so bad!!!! One of these P-days we're going to go the border!!!!!!! Later after we had walked all the way back to downtown we were wet, tired, and kind of defeated and this Indian man said "You shine with the light of God! I can see it in your faces! Keep Shining!!!" OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That man was sent from Heavenly Father!!!!!!!!!! Totally made our day and helped brighten our spriits! So for our lesson that night we were teaching kids and we decided to share Matthew 5 where it talks about being an example and a light and we talked about that awesome Indian man and gave the kids some glow in the dark stars (my personal fav thing!!!) It was really cute to see them light up!!! Sunday....let's just say it was the time change and time change for missionaries is....mmmm....BAD!!!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha It was an interesting day! We ended our day visiting a less active and she had her grand daughters there. I LOVE KIDS!!!!!!!!!! One of her grand daughters grabbed a picture and brought it to us and said this is my brother Wyatt...he's in heaven...he passed away. Oh my goodness....my heart...Sister Hawke said she had a little sibiling in heaven too and the Grand daughter (5 yrs old) said oh my goodness they are playing together!!!!!!!!! IT WAS THE CUTEST AND MOST SPECIAL THING!!! We taught her about Jesus and used her stuffies {stuffed animals in the states} to illustrate how we are like little sheep and Jesus loves us all and knows us! It was so great!!!

Overall it was a crazy week but super good!!

I'm loving Langley and we are having so much fun!!!!

Love and miss you all!!

Sister Peterson

Week 27: First Week in Langley

WOW...this week has been AWESOME!!!!!! Langley is seriously great!!!

Last pic w/ Sister Foote

Let's start from the beginning though! So Tuesday I got on a ferry and left the island :( really hard!!!! While we were leaving the captain said "Look on the starboard side and you'll see killer whales!!" SERIOUSLY MY DREAM WHILE I WAS ON THE ISLAND WAS TO SEE A WHALE!!! So me and the two elders I was with on the ferry book it to the starboard side (actually didn't know what that was we just followed the people) hahaha AND I SAW A WHOLE POD OF KILLER WHALES!!!!!!!!!!!!! So cool!!! Later I met my new companion Sister Hawke at the TEMPLE!!!!!!!!! Our chapel is like 50 ft from the temple so cool!!!! Sister Hawke and I couldn't contain our excitement ahhahah we were so happy to be companions!!! We still can't believe this is real life!! hahaha That night the Achievement Day girls fed us dinner!! It was so cute! It was like an interview kinda thing and they said they wanted to go on missions and be like

Hey there Moroni

us!! Ah...it was so cute!!! We also taught Kim and her kids! The kids have baptismal dates for the end of March so we are super excited about that!!! They are so stoked and keep counting down the days!!! Wednesday was my  6 MONTH MISSION BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo!!! It was cool to be serving with Sister Hawke because we were celebrating the same thing!!! We decided to get a treat! and we both decided blizzards turns out we like the same flavor! Chocolate x-treme with cookie dough....mmmmm it was basically a hard attack but that's okay because I've started running :) hahaha We have been so busy!!!!! This ward loves to feed us!! We have dinner appointments every night!!! So far I've eaten German food (Rouladen) SUPER GOOD!!!!! English food,Samoan food, good ole meat and potatoes, and tonight we are eating at a members house and she's from Africa!!!! Should be exciting!!! One of my favorite things I've eaten so far is Donair

Donair

It's like a Greek Gyro IT'S so good!!!!!!!!!!!! oh my goodness!!  We've had a lot of success this week! We have 3 new investigators and we found a lot of potentials. One day we decided to let the spirit tell us where we should go (we do that everyday but we just relied solely on the spirit hahah) and we found 3 potentials in less than 30 min!!! SWEET!!! At one house we met two brothers. they were super stoked to hear we were spreading the gospel. One of them (who was obviously first in line when Heavenly Father handed out good looks) said we should pray together! It was awesome! We told him about the book of mormon and he thought it was so cool and he's going to read it! After we did our spirit finding we were kinda lost and abandoned in Surrey area because we didn't have our car...well our ward is so awesome that we just called up a member who works in the mission office and she came and saved us!!!!!!! wooohooo!!!! We also got to ride in Beth's convertible on Saturday!!! She's a recent

Blizzards

convert here and is so good!!! She reminds me of Diane!! I miss Diane so I just love Beth!! hahaha She drove us to a lesson and we put the top down...let me tell you it was so fun!!!! My hair was destroyed but it was SO FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sunday of course was fast and testimony meeting and it was so good!!!! totally needed it!!! There were so many people though! I'm used to 40 people at church and here in Langley there's 2 ward and like 200 people in my Brookswood ward!!! CRAZY...EH!!! Sunday we taught a potential named Helen! Her husband is not doing very well and so we planned on teaching her the plan of salvation!! Well she said "i just don't understand. If jesus could do miracles where has that power gone!?" The spirit was like TEACH THE RESTORATION NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha so we did and she totally liked it and agreed with it and we are meeting with her again!!!! She said she didn't understand why that power of God would be gone and why we can't have miracles

Beth's Convertible

too. It was seriously the best lesson!! We're going to visit her husband with her at the hospital this week! She needs the gospel so much!! All the questions she has can be answered through the gospel!!! She also has this little dog named sparkles. Sparkles is a Maltese and it doesn't have any teeth so her tongue hangs out of her mouth...it's the silliest looking dog I've ever seen!!!! hahah Sister Hawke and I are still laughing hysterically!!! Another cool story!!! wow...i'm running out of time!!! Yesterday we were walking through a complex and we saw this lady. Sister Hawke whispered just keep walking she yelled at us bad last time. So I just casually walk by. Well then I hear sister hawke say Hello what are you doing there today? (she was planting a garden with her kids) So i turn around and join the convo (very confused hahah) This lady didn't even remember the missionaries and was totally nice and talked with us about our beliefs for like 30 minutes!!! She wants to 

Pink Jello & Silly Girls

She wants to come to church and meet with us more!!! WOW....God is seriously preparing people more and more everyday to accept the gospel!! She literally went from chewing the sisters out one day to friends and wanting to learn more! She has 4 kids and her husband was pretty interested too!! when we were leaving her young son whispered to her "who are the new pretty girls and are they our friends??" hahaha so cute!!! There are so many fun and exciting things happening here!!! I feel so blessed to be able to serve here!!! Sister Hawke and I have WAY TO MUCH FUN!!! hahha we are loving every minute this transfer!! We hope we get to stay together for another transfer after this!!! Ah!! I can't even write about all the fun and awesome things that went on this week!! We are just having a blast and seeing so much success!!!! This area is so different but so good!! Sometimes President and Sister Burt even come to lessons...talk about nerve racking!!! GEEZZ!!!! It's going to be so good though!!! I had my first Purdy's chocolate this week! It's

like Sees candy except better!! Canadian choclate is so good!!! This young guy (found out he's in the YSA ward) bought us frosty's ....after we had already eaten frosty's how sweet!! now I'm just staring at it debating if I should eat it...it's probably melted.....Their's this specialty candy store in downtown Langley called Sticky's and they have Idaho Spuds!!!!!!!!!!! super random I didn't buy one but it's so cool!! Then we went to the mall and there was a golf shop called Nevada Bob's....super random!

Hope you all are having a great week!!!

Love you to Canada and back!!

Sister Peterson