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