Week 47: Another Email :)

This week was good!!! I definitely gained a testimony of trials :) I know that Heavenly Father gives them to us because we need to grow in some way. He is slowly shaping me into the daughter of God that he needs me to be. As I come through these trials, I see that while I was sad then I am even more happy now! It's AMAZING!!! I really felt the love of my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ this week as I had to do hard things. As I prayed, I felt support. I randomly opened my scriptures and it fell to my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon Chapter 24 that I ALWAYS read when I am down or need some comfort. I know that wasn't a coincidence. I felt God's love surround me. The words from the Primary Song "A Child's Prayer" were just running through my head the whole week "Pray he is there, speak He is listening. You are His child, His love now surrounds you." I learned so much this week about my commitment to Heavenly Father and this missionary work. I surprised myself as I made decisions that PROVED that this experience as a missionary HAS changed me. I am becoming more like Christ and I have never been so happy or at peace with my life and the way I'm living it :)

So on to how my week went and what happened!!! Monday, Sister Magleby and I basically lived at the mall. We needed to do some much needed shopping on P-day. I bought a new skirt and I, of course, had to stop at my fav places....Bath & Body Works AND Charming Charlie's!!! 

We had a great day and got ourselves ready for the week ahead!!!

***Future Sister Missionaries. Don't take tons of clothes because when you get to my point 10 months (or earlier) you will get sick of wearing the same clothes every day. You will just want to get rid of them and never wear them again. Bring the essentials and then you can add cute things to your closet throughout your mission. Then you can avoid a crazy shopping trip where you just want to buy everything...like what happened on Monday with me :) ***

Mission tan lines :(

Monday night we met with an older lady in our ward Belle Curd! She is the greatest!!! I love her so much!!!! She LOVES the gospel and is the funniest lady!! We're meeting with her again tonight and talking about how she can share the gospel with her friends!! YAY!!! Tuesday we helped the McGonigals with some service!! They are tearing out their kitchen and putting in an all new IKEA KITCHEN!!!!! It was lot of fun!!! Their kitchen looks great!!!! We met with an investigator Lily Tuesday night and she said she was hoping this (meaning the gospel) would change her life around. She is so prepared!!! We just have to build up her testimony of the Book of Mormon and get her to church!!! It was really cool because President Burt always promises us that if we will just sacrifice a little something we will be blessed...he always talks about dinners with this. and he promises us we will be fed!!!!! So we had lesson after lesson Tuesday and didn't get a chance to eat dinner...but when we showed

Sister Grant

up to Lily's house she said, "I didn't know if you had eaten so I made you dinner!!" PRESIDENT'S PROMISES ARE TRUE!!!!!!! It was awesome!! Wednesday we had District Meeting and Sister Magleby gave an AWESOME TRAINING on diligence and faith!!! We read in Alma 37 about how Nephi and his family used the Liahona and they had lots of diligence and used so much faith to follow that thing around to the promised land!!! My favorite verse was 46: O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

It was super good!!! Friday was good! We went on EXCHANGES!!!!!! I went to Surrey 1st ward with Sister Grant!! We had a great exchange and got so much work done!!!! Their area is on FIRE!!!!! Sister Grant is seriously my best friend!!!! We were meant to  be on our missions at the same time because we will be friends

The Royal Family Coloring book!!

forvever!!  In the middle of our exchange we realized our phone wasn't ringing and their phone is really busy!!! So we looked and the phone said IT WAS JANUARY 1ST 1980!!!!! That's a problem!! So we run into subway to grab a quick dinner and we ask the lady if it's still 2016...she says uh yes...OH MY GOODNESS THANK GOODNESS!!! So we had to find a members house so we could call our "phone guy" in the office and get it fixed. Well he wasn't in the office!!! So we took it into the mall kiosk and the tech guy took out the battery and the sim card (we had done that 20 times before!!!!!) and BAM it just works!!!!! CRAZY EH?!? It was so funny!!!!!! Saturday we had Stake Picnic in White rock!!! It was so fun!!!!! Lots of members and lots of fun!!! None of our investigators could come :( Saturday I had the opportunity to sit down with President Burt for a little bit! Let me tell you He is just the best!!!!! I definitely needed him as my Mission President!!! I love him so much!!! He always tells us he's our mission president for Eternity!!! I'm happy about that hahaha Sunday was good we got told we had to teach Relief Society!!!  It was about Temples and I think we did a pretty good job for not going to the temple in 10 months!!! Goodness I miss it!!!

This week was good! Sorry I don't have more time but I hope you all have a great week!!! 

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 46: New Transfer, A Birthday Surprise, And SO MANY Tender Mercies

So this week started out CRAZY CRAZY!!! {Side note from Sydni: when you're on the mission apparently you haven't heard of the phrase cray cray Hahahaha} So after we emailed we went about doing our normal P-day things and we got a call about 2:30pm that Sister Macaso needed to be packed and gone ASAP!!! We were out and about with our Investigator Reina so we were like OH NO!!! We didn't get home until 3:30pm and she had 1 HOUR!!!!! 1 HOUR MY FRIENDS TO PACK AND GET READY TO LEAVE!!! Poor thing was so stressed!!! But Heavenly Father slowed down time because we were just sitting around for 10 min before the car came for her!!! SWEEEET!!!! So instead of getting Sister Magleby Wednesday, I got her Monday night!!! It was crazy but I totally know why she needed to come that early!!! Anyway...before Sister Magleby came I was with Sister Grant and we met with the Rameka's a super sweet AWESOME couple from New Zealand and Australia. We had such a good lesson with them!!! They are so funny!!! I love Australians!!!!! So I got Sister Magleby at like 9:30pm Monday night!!! Poor thing had only 12 hours to pack up everything in Vanderhoof and get on a plane!!! She thought she was staying so she had nothing packed!!! SURPRISE!!! Tuesday Sister Nelson came with us part of the day because she didn't have a companion yet and we went and visited a potential named Michiko. She's from Japan and {reason why Sister Magleby came early...I'm convinced...here's why....keep reading.} Sister Magleby's dad served his mission in Japan and SHE HAS A JAPANESE NAME TAG!!!!!!!!!!! AND CAN SAY THINGS IN JAPANESE!!!!!!!!!!!! It was fantastic!! Because of that Michiko is interested!!! We had a sweet lesson with Bhupinder and we watched the Restoration DVD in Hindi!! It was cool!! I could even recognize some words as we watched it!! I'm learning!!!! Us missionaries are doing a scripture study class now so Tuesday night we went and did some spying on the Delta ward's study group muhahahah. It was good! Jean came with us :) Then we ended our night with a visit to a sweet little family! They met each other on their missions and have an amazing story!!! It was so cute!! Wednesday was crazy! We were still trying to get all settled in so we had to unpack and organize a little. We had Sister Tripp with us today :) Sister Magleby and I thought we would have our first day together!! hahah then the STL's {sister training leaders} called and said they needed us to be in a tri {3 companions} today. #missionterms  Oh well!!

Add caption

It was a ton of fun!! We REALLY wanted Wendy's and we started driving...and driving...next thing you know we're CLEAR ACROSS TOWN IN DELTA HAHAHAHAHA good thing we had our Sister Training lLeader with us so we didn't break any rules :) The Wendy's was good :) totally worth it. Later in the day I got a super bad migraine!! We ate at a members house and I felt so bad because I was so sick I couldn't eat!!! They remind me so much of my Mom and Dad!!! haha Anyway so we left and went to our next appointment with Sister Tanner a member and she could tell I was so sick...so she got me some cucumbers to put on my eyes and started giving me a massage!!!! hahahaha It wasn't funny then!! I was so sick and out of it!!! She commanded me to drink more water and go straight home...so I called the Mission nurse and we called it a night :( I had to go home and lay down it was really bad!!! That headache lasted for the next day too :( It was really weird!! Anywho! Enough with that! Thursday was fun! We got to meet with Lee Jones again! She's the best!! She has been getting so excited about the Gospel lately!! I gave her some smiley stickers to put in her scriptures whenever she finds a good one and HER SCRIPTURE STUDY HAS SKY ROCKETED!!!!!!! Man she texts us everyday about how her studies went that day!! She is so wonderful :) No longer less active either so that's AMAZING!!!!! So proud of her!!! Friday we went to a lesson with our Zone Leaders so they could pass off an investigator to us. Her name is Sainaaz and she has 2 boys and a 2 month old little girl!! The Boys LOVE the Elders and were sad to see them go, but i think they are warming up to us too! One of the boys is 9 yrs old and he was just glued to us as we taught him and his family. They are very promising!! The little baby is adorable too!!! Man I really miss holding babies!!!! Saturday was THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!!! IT WAS SISTER MAGLEBY'S 21ST BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! She was sad to leave her last area because she had so many awesome birthday plans so

Meet Sister Magleby!!!!

I tried to make it the best day ever!!! The Sister Training Leaders showed up at 6:30am to exercise with us!! It was fun but we all are SO sore now...Sister Magleby and I look like old people as we try to sit down in lessons hahahhaha It takes us forever!!! Then we had a Birthday breakfast with the Prasads who we live with!! They invited us up and fed us so much food!!! Then one of their Birthday Traditions is that each person in the room has to feed the Birthday Girl cake...imagine the Grinch when he's eating all the pudding and cake and stuff!!!! hahaha IT WAS SO FUNNY!!!!! Sister Magleby was so worried someone would shove it in her face but even the 3 yr old was nice and didn't do that!! hahaha I'm totally going to do that in my family!!!! Then the best part: So before Sister Magleby came we had set up a surprise birthday lunch for her with the Benincosa's. So I had to figure out how to still keep it a surprise! So I told her that I felt like we really should go visit this potential investigator that lives by the Church (the Benincosa's live out of our area in Delta...kind of far hahaha) So she was all game! I said her name was Sarah and she had a cute little baby boy and she was really interested in the gospel!!  It was all good!!! I felt really bad though because Sister Magleby was praying so hard all day that "Sarah" would become a new investigator!!! hahaha oops!!!! So it comes time for us to drive there and I was worried she would realize we were driving far and out of our area so I told her I wanted to read Neill F. Marriott's talk from Conference and asked if she would read it to me as we drove...GENIUS!!!! The spirit definitely gave me that idea!! So she's reading..in a southern accent... hahaha and I'm trying so hard to drive fast and not let her see where we were actually going. We get there and all is good...We walk up to the door and ELDER BENINCOSA answers the door hahahhahaha SHE WAS SO CONFUSED!!!!!! Then all the sisters yell "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She was so surprised!!!!!!!! It was so fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!!!!! We had CAKE and PIZZA!!! It was a blast!!! Afterward we still wanted to see a birthday miracle and get a new investigator since...Sarah was fake and all...so we were finding and the thought came to me to stop by Jessica's {a potential we've been trying to see for a while} So we stop by and she had just gone through a really rough thing and we showed up at the right time! She invited us right in and was so open for anything that would help her in her life right now!! So we got a new investigator!!!! IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! BIRTHDAY MIRACLE!!!!!! 

Time For A Funny Story <3

One funny thing that happened today... was we were walking along and I said my Cousin (Derek) is in Uganda...Sister Magleby starts singing opera.....I stop "What are you doing?!" she said "I'm on a Uganda!!!" LOL HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH "THAT'S A GONDOLA SISTER!!!!" hahahahaha it was so funny!!!!!!! 

Sunday was good too!! Sister Magleby had to speak in Hindi sacrament (it's like initiation into Surrey 3rd ward) So we went to that! Always good and spirit filled!! We had some great lessons with some members. I swear one lady is Rhonda Johnson's Sister...they are twins (looks and personality) hahah We had an awesome dinner with a family that reminds me of the Weavers (Matt and Kaylene). Their boys are too funny!!!! We saw lots of miracles this week and had a fun time!!! I love my companion!!! She is so great!!!! We are going to have a great transfer!!! Get ready for lots of funny stories and tons of great spiritual experiences!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson

My favorite quote from this week<3

Your Heavenly Father knows that you will make mistakes. He knows that you will stumble—perhaps many times. This saddens Him, but He LOVES you. He does not wish to break your spirit. On the contrary, He desires that you RISE up and become the person you were designed to be.

-Preident Uchtdorf

Week 45: Transfers & Last Minute Miracles!!!!!

FIRST TRANSFER NEWS: I am staying in Surrey 3rd another transfer!!!!!! Sister Macaso is going to Abbotsford!! My new companion is Sister Magleby! She was serving up North! I think she's from Idaho...not too sure on that...I'm usually safe on Guessing Idaho or Utah :) hahhaha

Okay now for the BEST WEEK EVER...well Best WEEKEND ever!!

So...the week started out GREAT with the 4th of July!!!!! We had a GREAT BBQ at the Benincosa's with hot dogs, burgers, potato salad, beans, root beer floats...the works man!!! AMERICAN FOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful!!! We had so much fun together!!! I bought all of us Kit Kat Chunkies as a present because they are red,white, an blue..... well I realized after that those are a Canadian thing...THEY ARE THE BEST INVENTION EVER!!!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope by the time I come home they will be in the states...if they are in the states let me know ASAP!!! Anyway...So Monday was so good! After our BBQ we went and taught Simon and Josephine! They are from Burundi Africa and speak Swahili!! We met them at the bus exchange and they invited us right over!!  It was a good lesson! He was a pastor in Africa for 37 years!!!!!!!  Monday night we got a text super late...from our investigator Reina!!!!!! She's been MIA for a while so we were SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said she wanted to meet up!!! So Tuesday we had a big breakfast with her and had a great lesson about how we need to put God first!! She is so stressed!!! She is

Lee! Our Sticky Note Miracle

from El Salvador and living in Canada isn't the easiest thing at times. The rest of the week was a little crumby....cancellations again :( We were so stoked about our plans, and then all at once it all crumbles! But we just got to move on and keep working!! No time for that!! So we did! Friday we had Zone Meeting!! It was FANTASTIC!!!! We got two new pamphlets for missionaries to use when teaching recent converts and less actives!!!!! 1st: Families and Temples and the 2nd: Serving in the Church!! THESE ARE GAME CHANGERS!!! We've already used them a few times and it is just helping people understand so much more about "church culture" and helps them see why the temple should be our goal! After Zone Meeting we met with a potential who we've been trying to catch for a long time! We met her at Superstore. She's from Iran and she's Muslim! We started our lesson...all was going good then we had the impression to ask her why she wanted to meet with us...she thought that we taught people English. She was so happy to meet with us. We thought man she really wants to

Making Cinnamon Rolls! I mean Buns...

learn about this!!! But nope...she just thought we were English teachers. So that was a little funny! We met with Sandy, a former investigator, the one who bakes us TONS OF TREATS EACH WEEK!!! She bakes on Wednesdays, and then delivers treats on Thursdays :) She is so great!! We went back to return her tupperware. She's not interested in the gospel AT ALL...or anything God related, BUT we were praying we'd be able to get to her some how!! Well, we show up and she gives us treats :) (I really feel like Hansel and Gretel at her house...) and I see an ancestry.com DNA test on the table!!! FAMILY HISTORY....MORMONS LOVE FAMILY HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had to contain my excitement and slow my brain down and I started talking to her about how we have one of the largest family history libraries in the world...SHE WAS INTERESTED!!!! Thanks Heavenly Father!! SO SATURDAY WAS THE BIG DAY!!!!!!!!!!!! It started out with a super fun Relief Society activity at the church. We made homemade jam and cinnamon buns (rolls...Canadians call rolls buns...LOL). Jean came and she LOVED IT!!! She was not shy at all, and just got in there and started helping out!! The dough had to rise for like 30 min, so we took her aside and taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We asked her about baptism again....she still wants to learn more...we're hoping she will read the Chinese pamphlets and be able to understand that way and then we can teach her in English! Side note: the STICKY BUNS WERE SO GOOD!!!!!!!!! After the activity it was a walking day and we decided to walk to Beatrice's house {one of our investigators}. We've haven't been able to meet with her either!! So we took a short cut through these trees and we had to cross the train track {later we found out that's a huge spot for "crime"...oops...we did feel a little

My pin from Ted Kendall! Thank you! My new way of
getting people to the waters of Baptism!

weird, so we ran through the trees...never again though...never again!!!} So we got there and SHE WAS HOME!!! She had just gotten home from a funeral {perfect timing Heavenly Father}, so we asked her about her beliefs and where she thinks her friend is. She said, "He was good, so he's probably in heaven." It was perfect because it gave us the opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation with her. SHE LOVED IT!!!!!! We told her about eternal families and she said she wants that. :) YAY!!! She also told us that she read the Book of Mormon we left with her, but she couldn't understand it because she reads better in Arabic!!!!! I was so happy she still tried to read even though it wasn't her language!! It shows that she really wants to learn!!! So now we have an Arabic Book of Mormon and pamphlets, and we are so excited to give them to her!!!!! As we were leaving Beatrice's house a man hopped out of truck and said "LADIES!!!!!" IT WAS RISWAN!!!!!!!!!!!! Another investigator who lives on that street {we call it Miracle Lane} hahahah He was in a really bad car wreck last week, 

Sister Wilson! She's going home next week!

but he invited us right in! We retaught the Restoration and clarified the Book of Mormon. Once we said the Book of Mormon has only been translated once (he added...like the Koran...) he said "Now we're talking! I'm going to read this book!" IT WAS SO COOL!!!!! Saturday night was transfer calls!! I always pray and ask Heavenly Father about transfer news a few days before and he ALWAYS TELLS ME THE RIGHT NEWS!!! hahahahh So I prayed one night and was told that I was going to Stay in Surrey and Sister Macaso would go...i didn't share this with her because I knew she would be sad :( She's excited for an new area, but sad to leave her first area!! I'm excited for her though!!!! She's going to do great!!! My Filipino BFF!!!  So we got the call around 10:00PM Sister Macaso freaked out hahahahahhahh So like I said my new companion is Sister Magelby..hopefully I'm spelling that right...I am so stoked for this new transfer!!! Especially after this killer weekend!!!! We taught so many lessons to people we've been trying to meet up with for weeks and it all just got served to us on Heavenly Father's silver platter!!!!! Literally fell in our laps!!! Hard Work pays off!!!!!!!

Sunday I gave MY SECOND TALK IN THIS WARD!!! 1st was a month ago in Hindi Sacrament and this one was in English Sacrament. I talked on Pioneers and my Family History! We always get these kinds of talks in the States, so I just did my best with the limited resources I had and shared some sweet family history stories. As I talked people were crying and afterward everyone came up to me and thanked me like I had given  THE BEST GENERAL CONFERENCE ADDRESS OF ALL TIME!!!! I asked them why they liked it so much...I was SHOCKED!!! They said that most people in the ward are 1st generation Converts or

Our American  Sisters!

from Other Countries and they don't have stories like that...let alone know people that have stories like that!! It was really eye opening to me. I am so grateful for my family history and that I was raised in a family that kept good records and loves genealogy!!! I talked about the 2 treks I went on and cried so hard!!! That was such a great experience for me!! I will never forget!!! So all in all this week was GREAT!!!! We are trying to hurry, so we can get everything ready for Transfers tomorrow!!!  Since Sister Macaso is going, so close and Sister Magelby is coming from so far I will be companionless {is that even a word?}for all Tuesday, so I'm going to be in White Rock with Sister Nelson!! BACK BY THE OCEAN!!!!!! Whoop Whoop!!! Then I get my new companion on Wednesday!! Here's some great quotes from this week:

-At the Relief Society activity we introduced Jean to everyone, and she was talking about her life in China and her recent travels there. Then Lee our favorite ever whispers to us, "Can you imagine going to China!!!! Everything's made in China!!!!!" Oh  my goodness it was so hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Then on Sunday we were learning about keeping the Sabbath Day holy and a member of the class noticed how it said no fishing...she said, "Why don't the animals get to rest on the Sabbath????" hahahahh We then had a 5 min conversation about how hunting should be banned on the Sabbath...all in good fun... hahahahahahahhha

That's it!!! Great week!!! So stoked for this new transfer!!!

Round 8 here we come!!!!

Love, Sister Peterson

Week 44: HAPPY CANADA DAY AND HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!!!!

So...let me just say...IT RAINED ON CANADA DAY AND IT'S RAINING ALL DAY TODAY!!! What's up with that?!?! Anyway!! this week was fun and patriotic!!!!

Monday was so good!!! One of our members gave us a referral!!!!!! She was at a pool with her family and she started talking to this lady and she gave her a mormon.org card and she wants to learn more!!!! It was so awesome!! she's so cute she called us right away and told us!!!!! Member Referrals are the best!!!!! Tuesday we had a busy day!! It started out with tons of HILARIOUS STUFF!!! So First...we are tracting...and this man opens the door...picks up his dog...then his dog jumps out of his arms and does the biggest leap of faith I've ever seen and just falls!!! IT WAS SO SAD BUT WE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO RECOVER FROM THAT SO IT TURNED SUPER AWKWARD.... hahahahhahhahahhah The dog is okay...I think it learned it's lesson!! Then we went to stop by one of our potentials and I didn't feel completely right about it so I said lets just park outside and we'll call (Missionaries are the best stalkers in the universe FYI) So we call her and she said "Sorry I can't meet today we are just headed out the door" Sister Macaso and I look at each other in a panic!!! WE ARE RIGHT OUT THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I keep her on the phone...frantically search for the

keys...turn the car on and we peel out of there!!!! hahahahhah just in time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We escaped and she doesn't know we are stalkers yet, so she still wants to meet with us tomorrow :) phew!!! Then we got a call from the Sister Training Leaders and they asked us to come over for lunch...on them. We were like "Sweet!! Free lunch!!" They said they used the rest of their money to buy this meal for us...because it was so good...it was fried chicken and french fries lol!!!!!! They had been craving it all week and didn't want to eat it all alone hahahahhahahah We had dinner with the Benincosa's and they made us Mexican Casserole and surprised us by bringing our favorite recent convert Lee!!! {this computer is telling me "favorite" is spelled wrong and trying to spell it "favourite"...Oh Canada} Wednesday was a good day too...nothing too exciting happened today except we shared the gospel with tons of people and had a SWEET district meeting!!!! I love our district!! We all got American Skittles and took a picture :) It was a nice little surprise from one of the missionary moms!! We had dinner with the Prasads (Bishop of Surrey 3rd ward)  and they got us pizza...and they told us we had to eat 4 pieces each with fruits, veggies, and lots of other stuff!! DO THEY THINK WE'RE ELDERS!!!!!!! We tried so hard but didn't make it...too stuffed!!! It was really funny!!! Thursday  was awesome!! We met with Sandy a former investigator and she made us treats and homemade ice cream and tons of yummy things!!! She is so talented!!! She bakes all day Wednesday and then delivers free desserts to people in Surrey!!! She is also like Snow White and feeds all the animals that cross her path hahaha She wasn't interested in the gospel but she is just the sweetest lady ever!!!

**later that night we took those treats and shared it with the elders in our coordination meeting...they ate them all...IT WAS 3 PLATES OF TREATS!!! At least we still have the homemade ice cream :) FRIDAY WAS CANADA DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure if I just wasn't in the right part of town but people are not as excited about Canada Day up here as they are about 4th of July in the States...we would say "happy canada day" and people would just stare at us like we were crazy ahhahahah

Anywho....Thursday night we pull in and we are doing our k/miles report and I see the Sister Training leaders in their car in the rear view mirror jamming out to EFY music hahaahahahha  I got out and they asked if they could have a sleep over!!! hahahahahahh So funny!!!! We of course said yes...It was awesome we got to be together for Canada Day and we had lots of fun adventures spreading the gospel at the bus exchange and downtown. 

We even found a piano on the sidewalk downtown!!! There was an old man playing {HE PLAYS JUST LIKE GRANDPA!!!!! IT ALMOST MADE ME CRY!!!!} Then he gave us a turn!!  I tried to play...I literally forgot every song I have ever played hahahahaha Then this random guy came along..wearing a Carrot Top shirt from the Strip...so I mentioned I was from Las Vegas and we started chatting it up told him I was a missionary up here!!! Then we played the dun dun dun....song...I hope you know what I mean hahahahah he played the hard part I played the easy dun dun dun part and it was really fun!!!

All day we wanted to find a lady in the stores that was wearing purple...we just felt like we were going to find her...WELL we walk into Dollarama and this lady is hardcore staring at our tags...she says "I used to be a member of your church!" SAY WHAT?!!? She says she's been

less active and wants to start going back to church!! So we exchanged info and we are meeting with her this week!!! BEST PART!!!! SHE WAS WEARING PURPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! Saturday we walked SO much!! I haven't had a solid walking day since Campbell River and the first bit of my time in Brookswood, so I thought I'd show Sister Macaso what the old days used to be like...BAD IDEA!!! It was so hot!!!!!! We only walked 8k's but man oh man we were dying!! At first I thought I was doing okay..then we got home I started getting super cold even though I was hot...I got really nauseous...so i had to call my best friend Sister Rolfson the mission nurse. Not fun!! I was really dehydrated and too overheated!! We endured and ended up having a great day!!  Sunday was good too!!! We had church and Sister Macaso and I got to bear our testimonies in Hindi sacrament. Love that little twig (not a branch or a ward yet...we're working on it!!) 

Jean our only progressing investigator came to church for 5 min then said she had to leave lol We gave her some chinese pamphlets to read over to make sure she understands what we are teaching her!! Then...she told us the greatest story known to man. She said this man was on her street trying to sell her and her family some illegal substances aka drugs hahah and she walked right up to him and said "no drugs are bad" and gave him her WORD OF WISDOM PAMPHLET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We were laughing so hard!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome!!!!! She asked for another one so she could read up on it because she gave hers away!! I'm so proud of her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Our Sunday was a good one...we tried so hard to find a new investigator!!! We got close a couple times we taught the restoration a lot on the doorstep yesterday, but no one wanted us to come back :( But this is a new week!! And we're kicking it off with one of the BEST HOLIDAYS ON THE PLANET!!!!!! 4TH OF JULY!!!!!!! Sister Macaso is trying to understand my excitement...this is her 1st July 4th :) Today all the Surrey Sisters are going to the Benincosa's and we're having an old fashioned BBQ!!!!! Whoohooo!!!!! We were so happy when we got invited!!!! Holidays as a missionary are not the best, but when we have things to go to it's AWESOME!!!! And it's p-day today so it's going to be super fun!!! Also...congrats to The Kendalls who had their little adorable baby this week!!!! He is so precious and handsome!!!!!!! I can't wait to meet him when I get home!!!!! 

Hope you all have a safe and awesome 4th of July in the Best Country in the World!!!! GO USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 43: Hardest Week - Best Week!

Well I don't have much to talk about this week because ALL OF OUR APPOINTMENTS CANCELLED!!!!!!!!!!!!! We had 12 cancellations!!!!!! It was hard :( Every day we got a call saying sorry I can't meet or some of the crazy things would happen to the people we were going to see!! We tried really hard to figure out where Heavenly Father needed us to be! We endured to the end and tried our best :) We did have some really cool experiences this week! Heavenly Father always provides little miracles when we are struggling! Here they are:

1)The Benincosa's are the Senior Missionary Couple in our ward and they are just so thoughtful and take such good care of us!! We live in a basement suite and sometimes it's SO DARK!! Even in the middle of the day!! So we are always tired and blah...but the Benincosa's took a trip to Ikea and bought us lamps while they were there :) OUR APARTMENT IS NOW LIKE A CELESTIAL ROOM {if you don't know what that is ask a mormon :) } It's great and it's helped us to stay more awake!!! 2) We were checking out at a superstore and we said "Hi" to the lady...and then she randomly asked us...Do you believe Christ will come again? We said um...YES!!!!!!!!!! She said oh good me too!! Then she smiled and kept ringing up our stuff it was cool!! People recognize us as representatives of Christ!!! 3) Tuesday we were again at a store {trying to talk to people haha} it's where our Bishop works and the Manager came up to us and said "YOU GO SISTERS!!!" We were like "you know us??? hahahah" he said "I know all about you sisters!!!" hahhahah it was SO FUNNY! He kept following us around and saying "whoohooo you go sisters!!!!"  4) OUR CAR DIED....We were tracting and we go back to the car to run to an appointment and the thing wouldn't even turn

over...I was all too familiar with the sound of a dead Subaru from my Campbell River Days... So we called the Benincosa's and they saved us hahahhaha Kal Tire says there's nothing wrong...so we'll wait until it dies again I guess!!! 

5)  Saturday we realized that there is only 6 MONTHS TILL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6) We also had Stake Conference!!! IT was so good!!!!! It was like a huge Seminar/Workshop on the Restoration. We got asked: What is the Restoration? They even asked the little kids in Primary. Here's some of their funny answers: 

"When God and Jesus Christ...like...showed up" hahahhahahahhahah BEST ONE!!!

"When the church got broken and he built it again." 

Other children just stared at the camera and refused to answer hahahhaahhaha

We got asked so many good questions!!  Just imagine a room
full of people remembering the first time they came to know the Restoration was true!!! IT WAS SO AWESOME!!!! They showed a video of the Sacred Grove and It took me back to when I was in the Sacred Grove on the Back East Trip and I knelt by myself and prayed to know if the Restoration was true and I felt so good! I remember the peace I felt and how I had this assurance that it was true. My new motto in my life is "Remember the Grove" I was lucky enough to get an answer to prayer in the sacred grove, but we don't have to be there to have an answer. We ask people every day to pray in their homes and ask if it's true and they get the same feeling I did. It just spiritually recharged me!!!  

7) Jean came to Stake Conference!!!!! She's so good!!! She brings her Chinese Book of Mormon wherever she goes!!!!

8) After Stake Conference we went to a Filipino luncheon at the park!! Sister Macaso was in heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahahaha There are so many Filipino members in Surrey Stake and I guess they do this every time after Stake Conference!! IT was fun!!! 

9) I had one of the most powerful experiences on my mission Sunday. Here's a little excerpt from my journal last night:

We tracted into this couple today and they just started drilling us with questions. Usually, I am not so patient during these "encounters" but this time I just prayed so hard that I would be kind and find some ounce of love for these people who were so devoted to tearing down my faith in Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel. There were so many emotions going on inside, I was shaking like a leaf, but outside I remained calm and collected. I just listened. I knew I had a testimony, It had just been confirmed and strengthened the night before at Stake Conference, all I needed to do was rely on the spirit. Instead of whipping out all the "evidence" I had that the Restoration is true to support me. I simply testified of my experience with praying to know it's true. They twisted all my words,  they used the classic Bible Verses, and used every tactic...This went on for what seemed like forever. I was praying so hard that I would be calm and just find some love for them. My awesome Companion Sister Macaso was doing the same. She was out of things to say but prayed so hard for me to say the right things. I just kept testifying the whole way through. I can't recall everything I said and that's how I know it's from the spirit not me. At one point, I was done, it was just going in circles. So I paused...too long apparently because I started crying!! I testified again through my tears, they were tears of sorrow that this couple wasn't getting it and wouldn't soften their hearts to accept such a simple and powerful message of truth. It brought me to tears how much I wanted them to believe." As we walked away from them, I broke

down. I was just overwhelmed! It took everything I had, all my energy to stand there and testify. I had never been so "attacked" before. I've also never been so sure of my testimony of Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and the Restoration before.I know I was protected spiritually because my testimony of the Restoration was fresh in my mind. I had prayed to God Saturday night after Stake Conference to help me never doubt my testimony of the Restoration. This was an answer to my prayer it's something that will stick with me forever. The fact that we kept going and preaching the gospel after proves to myself that I do have a testimony of this Gospel and that it is deep rooted in my heart. That experience strengthened me and helped me so much!!!!!!!

So those are my small miracles this week :) It was the hardest week, but the best week!!! I love this gospel. I can't even begin to describe how much it has blessed me and how much I want people to accept it. I KNOW THIS IS TRUE!!!!!!!!! This is why I serve...to help others learn about this and accept it into their hearts. I don't think I could testify so strongly of anything else in my life. This Gospel and God's plan for us to be with our families for eternity is  the only thing that matters in this life because that is "this life". We are preparing ourselves to meet God and to live with him for eternity. I am so grateful for this!!!  If you are reading this and you haven't met with missionaries before...PLEASE DO IT!!!!  You will be so glad you did :)

Love,

Sister Peterson :)

Week 42: Exchanges, Sticky Note Miracle, and International Night!!!

Another week...I know I say this alot but...THIS WEEK FLEW BY...the weeks are going by so fast!!! I was warned of this at the beginning of my mission...Better make the best of every day!!

This week was good! It started out with EXCHANGES!!! I stayed in Surrey 3rd with Sister Grant from Utah and Sister Macaso went to Surrey 1st with Sister Tripp and Sister Herd! We had a lot of fun! Sister Grant is in the same boat as me...she's been out almost 11 months and so we are experiencing similar things!!! 

{ Side Note: when you go on exchanges you have a lot of heart-to-heart talks and see lots of miracles :) Haha }

So Sister Grant and I had a good talk about our missions and how we want to make everyday count and all that fun stuff. I learned a lot from her! We had an awesome day together! We saw more Peacocks...Sister Grant flipped out!!!! hahahahah SO funny!!! We also went tracting and we were talking to a Sikh (said like seek) man and he put his hand up like he was going to slap Sister Grant...we were both like OH SNAP!!! What's going on!!! hahahah but then he grabbed her hand and kissed it!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH  After we went home for lunch and

realized we actually wanted some breakfast for lunch , we went to Denny's!!! We had these yummy berry pancakes with cream cheese frosting!! Oh my goodness...it was heaven on earth!!!! It was an excellent choice :) While we were there we chatted it up with some of the servers and ended up leaving our number with one of them who was asking a lot of questions about the church! SWEET!!! Sister Grant and I also taught our investigator Bhupinder and we had such a good lesson about The Book of Mormon and how the Book of Mormon is the key to it all... how everything is weighing on whether that book is true or not! We recommitted her to read the Book of Mormon and to give it a chance! She said she would and she even came to the church activity this Saturday!! It was awesome!!! We brought a Hindi speaking member with us to the lesson and it really helped because she was able to explain things that we couldn't!!! So good!!!

Ooh!!! Monday was also a good day because we stopped by our friend Lee a less active in our ward. We usually meet with her two times a week, but she hadn't been replying to us and we knew she was going through a hard time. So we stopped by and she didn't answer the door but we knew she was in there!!!! So after 10 min we decided to go buy some sticky notes and DECORATE HER DOOR!!!!! Lee loves simple things like that!! So we wrote quotes, scriptures, encouraging things. Then we snuck up to her door and PLASTERED IT!!!! It was so good!!!! Here door was like a rainbow!!! Then we knocked and ran away!! Well later she came outside and saw the sticky notes!!! She called us crying and said she was so thankful for them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She said it snapped her right out of it and she went to every church activity this week and came to church!!! SO GOOD!!!!!!!!! It was really cool because I shared with her my fav scripture Mosiah 24:13-15. It reads: 

 13 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage. 14 And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions. 15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.

So I just love this scripture...I found it at a really hard time in my life and it gave me the strength and the comfort I

needed at that time! I have shared it with everyone ever since. She texted us and said she opened the Book of Mormon {BIG STEP} and read this scripture and now it's her favorite scripture as well. THIS SCRIPTURE WORKS MIRACLES LET ME TELL YA!!!! I know that it's so true!! That the Lord knows of our struggles and he knows the promises/covenants we have made with him and he will help us through anything and all that weight will be lifted!! I love the end... the Lord did strengthen them so they could bear up their burdens with ease... and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord. The Lord will not take all of our burdens away, but he will make them light and give us the strength we need to deal with them we just have to submit to his will..cheerfully :)  SO that was a miracle!!! Wednesday we met with Jean our investigator who speaks Mandarin :) She is the cutest thing ever!!! We taught her the Word of Wisdom and she accepted it no problem! Whoohoo!!! 

We brought the Benincosa's {senior missionary couple} with us and they have a 6 yr old grandson who speaks Mandarin so they are going to Skype him next time and have him bear his testimony in Mandarin!!! HOW CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a new investigator named Susan!! We did some service for her this week to help her get ready for a garage sale {it ended up raining so no garage sale :( } but it was good! We were able to do service and teach her about the gospel WIN WIN!!! Saturday IT RAINED AND RAINED AND RAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!! All day!!! It was like winter again!!!! I had my jacket on, my cute rain boots, and my leggings {Thanks LulaRoe} !!! Brrrr!!! We had a really good day though! We found some new people to teach and had fun jumping in puddles and trying to keep dry!! I BROKE MY 5TH UMBRELLA ON THE MISSION THAT DAY TOO!!! Goodness...I don't even know how it broke!! It wasn't even windy this time!!! :( sad day!!! I'm going to buy a new one today maybe they will have some

bright fun colors because it's summer now :) {it's summer but still feels like winter up here hahahahahahahahah} Saturday we also had our INTERNATIONAL NIGHT!!!! We had food from Fiji, India, Philippines, Japan, China, USA {literally the only things on the table were potato salad and funeral potatoes... hahahahahhahaha}, Canada, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, England....the list goes on!!! It's so cool that we have all those people in our ward!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knew Canada was so diverse!!!!!!! We had a great night and we had 2 investigators come and they had fun getting to know the members :) Sunday!!! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is so bad...but we totally forgot...hahahahah we don't keep track of holidays as missionaries...so we interrupted so many people's dinners while tracting hahahahahaha Oh Well!! The Gospel is Important!!! It was also Elder Benincosa's Birthday so we went over to the Benincosa's House for Cake and Ice Cream!! It was so good!!!!!!! I LOVE the Benincosa's!!!! They are from Utah and they are so fun!!! They just love the gospel and want to help us all the time!!!  It was a good night!!! We had dinner with a Filipino family in our ward! The missionaries knocked into their door 8 yrs ago and they were baptized 2 months later!!!! THEY ARE THE REASON WHY WE DO THE WORK WE DO!!!! They were sealed as a family two years later and are some of the greatest members in our ward!!!! We taught them the plan of salvation and they said that that's one of the reasons why they joined the church. Before

they just believed that we were BORN, we LIVE, and then we DIE but the Plan of Salvation cleared everything up for them.

 We had some good food at their house and while we were eating their dog Ben (Labradoodle) STARTED EATING OUR SKIRTS!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently he does that to all sister missionaries lol He did it all night it was really funny!!!! This week was good! Just doing what missionaries do and trying to work hard and seeing miracles along the way!!!  Today we are driving to White Rock, BC because it's right on the water and I found out THAT'S WHERE THEY FILMED PSYCH!!!!!!!!!!! I am stoked!!! Only Sister Grant and I are Psych fans so the other Sisters don't realize what a big deal this is hahaha We are buying a pineapple and taking it with us to take pictures...only true psych fans will understand :)

That's it for this week!!!!

Love you,

Sister Peterson