Week 17: Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

First, Let me tell you as a missionary you come to dislike holidays because everyone is gone or busy! BUT! Then

Wintry Ocean/Icy Roads

Christmas Eve Dinner

Hermana Wilson

you have a Christmas miracle and it's super cool! Earlier in the week we got a call from this potential who we had gave our number too but we had no way of contacting him. He called and said that he was in the hospital and wanted to talk to us! We went and ended up saying a prayer with him and telling him about the plan of salvation! It was so cool that he reached out to us! On CHRISTMAS EVE EVE! We drove down island for a meeting and by the time we got back around 5pm Campbell River was a winter nightmare!!! It had snowed like crazy and because it's right next to the ocean it was VERY ICY!!! My driving skills are improving though :) no crashes yet! It's still on the ground 4 days later! Every one says it's not super common. I much prefer the snow than the rain though :) it's so pretty!Christmas Eve was fun!! Here in the mission we don't get "holidays" and we work right through them! I've heard other missionaries say that they get the day off on Christmas!!! WHAT?!?! Anywho...on Christmas Eve we dropped goodies off at Less Actives houses and met a lot of new people! We had dinner at a member's home and we acted out the Nativity! I was an angel!!!  Hahah Sister Macara {we were at her home} surprised us by emailing our moms and asking what our family Christmas tradition was. All night I was like...oh my goodness I wonder what my mom said ....then she brings out the little cups of rice pudding. I instantly said "Oh man you guys are going hate me!!!" We were playing Ricalamande a.k.a. Rice Pudding. It was so fun to play a game that we play every year as a family!! Thanks Weaver Family for the fun tradition!! We got to open a little gift too! It was a really special night and made us feel right at home :) We spent the rest of the night with our favorite member Sister Mills :) We sang and shared lots of great stories!!! Christmas Morning we awoke promptly at 6:20am and had a little Christmas! I got some great things! New knit headbands to keep my ears warm! Bath and Body works my fav! Hot hand warmers {lifesaver thanks Mom and Emma!} It was lots of fun and I felt very loved by Home :) Christmas morning we spent with another member family and we had Santa Crepes! Yum!! Side note: here in Canada they have Christmas crackers which are like little poppers that have a crown, a joke, a sticker or a toy in them! We got to open 3 or 4!! So fun!!! We watched mormon messages and opened some presents and it was so fun!!!! The members in the ward here take really good care of us :) Love them!! Then the best part of Christmas....I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY!!!!!!! IT WAS THE BEST!!!! I love them so much and it was great to see that they are still normal :) Haha Being away from Family is VERY hard and email just doesn't make up for it so my Skype call was pretty much the best thing in the world!! AND I only cried at the end!! Hahaha The Sister Training Leaders cam Christmas Night to do exchanges and we got to carol to some people! So fun! I love going on exchanges and seeing how different missionaries do the work! I went with Hermana Wilson from California and we had so much fun trying to walk around

Christmas Crackers!

downtown on the icy sidewalks!!! Hahah great memories! On Sunday we were asked to help teach PRIMARY AND RELIEF SOCIETY!!! We gave a little talk in primary about how we can live with Jesus again and our RS lesson was on the talk "God is at the Helm" it ended up being pretty good!! Sister Christensen and I were so unified in our teaching we just bounced right off each other! It was a cool lesson! This next week we are preparing for Diane's baptism!!! She is so ready and we are excited for her to take this big step!! It's my first baptism on the mission so I'm kinda freaking out with everything we have to do but it's so fun!!! I can't wait to send pictures! Diane's the best!!!

That's it I think!! Lot's of good things happening here!

Hope you all have a fun and safe New Year!!!!

Love you :)

Santa Crepes

Sister Peterson

P.S. There was another bear in our yard and I HEARD IT BUT WAS SO TIRED I DIDN'T GET UP TO SEE IT! These bears don't hibernate apparently!

Okay I'm finished :)

Week 16: Best Week Yet!

Sister Bratt! We love her!

Welp...we got our first snowfall!!! It was so pretty :) I much prefer the snow!! So much easier to tract in :) This week started out slow! Everyone is leaving for Christmas and we weren't sure we were going to have enough plans to last us for the next two weeks! But people have started popping up and miracles have been happening in this area! First, I road the public bus for the first time this week. We decided we should use the bus because we are running out of K's! At first I was nervous to talk to people on the bus because lets be honest...people on buses just keep to themselves and sometimes look angry. 
HOWEVER, as I just started conversations it became super easy! I met some cool people! One

Sister Christensen! My new companion!

of the coolest days was when a potential called us to set up an appointment! Most potentials or new people we meet forget to call us or just can't be bothered BUT he remembered to call us back and wanted to meet THAT DAY! We scrambled to find a member to go with us it was so last minute we were scared!!! But the Lord provided and we were able to have a lesson!!

Side Note: WE HAVE THE BEST BISHOP IN CAMPBELL RIVER, HE JUST SURPRISED US AT THE CHURCH AND BROUGHT US ICE CREAM TO EAT WHILE WE ARE EMAILING!! Love him!

The moment we hit standards!

We worked super hard this week and I tried really hard to just focus on the work and not think about Christmas time and Home and I found that as I focused on the Atonement and Jesus Christ I became happier. In all of our lessons this week we tried to share the Atonement and I was amazed at how much more participation we got from non-members. Seeing them talk about what the Savior did for them was an AMAZING experience and brought such a wonderful spirit. Diane's baptism is officially 2 weeks away!!! She was able to come to

This rock is from the Ice Age!

church yesterday and stayed all 3 hours!! We are so excited for her! We meet with her tomorrow and she has her Baptismal interview!  I've never planned a baptism and I'm stoked!! I want to make it the best day ever! We are also going to start planning an MTC night for our ward to get them excited about missionary work! It sounds SUPER cheesy but I promise it's legit and it's going to be SO GOOD!! This week was way good and we were busy and got a lot done! We were able to HIT STANDARDS for our mission as a companionship! We had the right amount of member present lessons, Gospel Conversations, Investigators at church, and baptismal dates!  It's amazing how one week can be really gloomy and then the Lord blesses you the next week with the best results of your mission thus far!!! I've never hit standards before so this is a BIG DEAL to me!! The area of Campbell River is being BLESSED and the work is starting to pick up! I'm happy

Sister Foote - I love her!

that I was able to stay another transfer to see Diane get baptized and to meet all of our new investigators! Heavenly Father knew that I needed to go through some tough times in order to see how MIRACULOUS this week was.  Christmas is coming and I'm stoked!!! First, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO GET SNOW!! Second, I'm SUPER excited to see my family and talk to them!!! I've missed them so much!! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and can take some time to remember our Savior Jesus Christ and all he did for us. The Video "Why We Need a Savior" helps me to remember him and is my favorite one to share with people! 

I better go! My Ice cream from bishop is melting! 

Love you all,

Merry Christmas

Sister Peterson

Week 15: New Companion, CRAZY STORM, and some Miracles!

Because of transfers this week was quite different! We drove down to Nanaimo Wednesday to get Sister Ricks on the ferry but before that we met with Diane and taught her about tithing!!! She is so solid and prepared for the gospel!!! We are excited for her baptism on January 2nd!! It's going to be great! Her lesson also took our minds off the fact that we were splitting up and everything was changing! The drive down to Nanaimo was fun and we talked about all the good times we had in Campbell River :) After Sister Ricks got on the Ferry I got my temporary Companion Sister Wright from Payson, Utah! Our new companions weren't coming in until 10:15pm so we got to visit some people in Nanaimo and knock some doors! We decided to knock this door that had pretty Christmas decorations..She just felt inspired :) and it ended up being a long lost Less Active lady!! It was so cool!!! We were also able to set up an appointment with a past investigator for the Sisters in Nanaimo!! It was lots of fun and super successful :) We also talked to this girl about missionary work so it was a successful visit!!!! We also were able to go to the MALL!!! We talked to people there and one of the best parts I GOT TO GO TO BATH AND BODY WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven't been there for a

long time and It was AWESOME!! I got new hand sanitizer {I use it a lot because people have germs...gross!} and I bought the new scent!  {Cambria and Emma will understand my Joy from the Bath and Body works visit...they think I'm addicted...maybe} This may seem silly...but Campbell River has a Walmart and a superstore...this Sister was deprived!! hahaha So...late at night...we picked our companions up from the Ferry and all of the sisters in the zone stayed the night at the Sister Training Leaders' apartment in Nanaimo! Always a fun time :) Sister Christensen...my new companion is from Logan, Utah!! She has been out 15 months and is a year ahead of me! She loves to bake and I love that she loves to bake :) hahaha today we are going to make some yummy treats! Our first day in the area we hit the streets and found 4 potential investigators!!! They said we could come back and teach them more! It was a miracle!! We have been looking for potentials for a while and then we found a lot!! Our first night we met with this lady Michelle and she became a new investigator!! First one in a while! It's wonderful to meet people who are interested in the gospel and want to learn more!! There are super exciting things happening in the area! Saturday it was SO STORMY!! LIKE A HURRICANE!!!! Saturdays are park the car days so we started walking and within 10 minutes we were SOAKED!! I officially dislike rain and wind :) We were walking along the Ocean to get to a street and I was LEANING BACK IN THE WIND AND IT WAS HOLDING ME UP!!! We tried so hard to brave the storm but after changing our outfits 3 times we decided to just grab the car and warm up! It was tough! Mother Nature was having one heck of a tantrum!! The members said that it usually doesn't get that bad and this week we should get snow!!! Much rather have a little snow than CRAZY RAIN!!! That night when we finally dried off...we met with Dorothy and Wayne!!! They are so good! We taught the Plan of Salvation again and we had a great conversation about living with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Before Dorothy didn't really think she could live there but in our

lesson she started to gain some hope and it was SO COOL!!! The gospel really changes people's lives and gives them hope that they couldn't find before. Heavenly Father really does have a plan for us and it's a plan that brings happiness to his children US!!! He loves us so much that he provided a way through his Son Jesus Christ that we can be cleansed from sin through faith and repentance. I know that as we follow Jesus Christ we can live with Heavenly Father again and that he will be SO HAPPY to have us return home :) 

I've been thinking a lot about HOME lately, especially with Christmas coming up. I think about the feeling of safety, comfort, love, and joy that we feel when we are "home"...I imagine that our Heavenly Home is going to be 10million times better than our Homes here on earth and how I want to do all that I can do make it back home. While it's hard to be away from my home and family this holiday season I know that the wait and the experiences will one day be worth it. I hope you all hug your families a little tighter this Christmas and remember the true meaning. Without a Savior, we would be completely lost, but because of Jesus we are able to return back Home and be made perfect in God's eyes...that will be a wonderful reunion :)

Love you all 

Sister Peterson

Week 14: End of the Trio :( and TRANSFERS

First things first....TRANSFER NEWS:

I am STAYING in Campbell River and my new companion will be Sister Christensen who is coming from the very cold Kelowna so she will probably be so grateful to come to the Island!!! Sister Ricks is going to Surrey on the Mainland!!! Today is our last full day together!! :( I'm glad I'm staying and I'm excited to see what's going to happen this transfer! We have a few people who have committed to baptism in the next couple months and I'm excited to find new people to teach!!! This week started off AWESOME!! We had a Senior couple drive up and take us out to lunch which was so nice!!! We don't see other missionaries very often or senior couples so it was very lovely!!! It feels like we are so secluded sometimes :) 

Tuesday the three of us did a service project for a lady in our ward and put up 2 Christmas trees!!! It was so fun :) Sister Holbrook and I did the white one and Sister Ricks did the Green one. We had some good lessons this week and saw our investigators faith grow! We met with Dorothy and had a great lesson about how the Book of Mormon is what holds it all together! Once we pray and have a spiritual confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true that it means that everything we've been teaching her is true. The the Church has been restored through Joseph Smith, That God has indeed called a modern day prophet, and all the good stuff!!!! It was super powerful! We had another lesson with her about prayer and she is sometimes scared to say prayers without writing them down but we asked her and she said THE MOST HEARTFELT BEAUTIFUL PRAYER!!!! She is such a gem!!! She has such a strong desire to know if all of this is

Dorothy & Wayne <3

true and she is so motivated to keep on praying and reading her scriptures. She knows an answer will come :) She totally embarrassed me this week too! She said in a lesson that I've changed that she can see I'm more committed to the mission...I almost cried!!! I told her it's because I had a very strong spiritual experience with the Book of Mormon and it's changed my whole outlook on the Gospel. I told her that a witness from the Holy Ghost can change everything!!!! The gospel is amazing and I've seen how living it everyday has influenced me :) The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to have true happiness!!! I've been trying so hard to be happy and to soak everything in {except the rain} and I'm glad that it's working :) Wednesday I hit my 3 month mark!!! I'm 15 in mission years!!! {add 5 years for each month : )}

To celebrate we got those yummy soft sugar cookies which I love! We found out Thursday that Sister Holbrook had to leave earlier than planned so we had to take her to Nanaimo to ferry out on Saturday not Sunday...it was one of the hardest things! I love her so much!!! She has helped me understand the gospel and the Book of Mormon better than I ever have and has helped me develop a real love for them!!! 

Before we drove Sister Holbrook...we went tracting...it was SO RAINY and WINDY!!! But it was cool to see how Sister H. didn't even care...this was her last time to be a missionary and she was singing and stomping through puddles and basically running to all the doors. Her enthusiasm made me realize how awesome it is to be a missionary. At no other time in your life can you do something quite like this!! It

was just Sister Ricks and I this weekend and we both agree that it was weird!!! We miss our trio!!! Saturday it rained like crazy and it's our walking day so we couldn't use the car!!! Sister Ricks umbrella broke and so we bought her a new one then 30 min later mine broke!!!! We had to walk all the way to the store...by then I was SOAKED!! I could literally wring the water out of my skirt!!! IT was so cold and we still had to be outside!!! We went to a lesson and it looked like someone had gotten out of the bathtub when we were leaving...oops!!! I found out I have a decent hole in my rainboots and that my jacket doesn't keep any water out!!! What a blessing ;) hahaha Sunday was the same crazy weather and it was so hard to work up the motivation to go out in the rain and tract but we had nothing else to do :( We looked like wet dogs and people gave us the funniest looks!!! I found out that my hair naturally curls itself when it's extremely wet and wind blown!!! my jackets and purse are still wet...and today is Tuesday hahaha We were soaked, but I was reminded that the sacrifices we make for our missions just shows our dedication and love for Heavenly Father and

the Savior. It's not easy to voluntarily get pelted with rain and soaked but when you have the right perspective it makes it worth it! We were able to find some people who are interested and we ended up getting a lot done!!! 

There are a lot of changes happening but it's good!!!! We don't have to worry so much when we put our trust in the Lord :) I've heard about some crazy things happening in the world and I just think how different everything would be if people just put their trust and faith in the Savior. One thing we have been sharing with people is the new Christmas Initiative "A Savior is Born" it's one of my favorite videos!!!! So good!!!  I challenge you this week to share that with others. Let them know of the Savior and that He was born for all of us to save us and allow us to return to live with God again. It's a perfect time of year to share this message! Help your local missionaries out and tell your friends to watch this

video and learn more about Christ. They have these cool red cards that you can give out too!! I am so happy to know that I have a Savior who knows me and loves me more than I can comprehend. That he was born 2000 years ago to save me and to save all of us. I've seen how the Savior changes people's lives how His teachings and gospel brings happiness and joy to all those that exercise faith in Him. 

It's been a GREAT WEEK!

Until next time,

Sister Peterson

Week 13: Freezing Cold -BUT- Lots of Fun!!!

This week FLEW BY we were busy talking to people and we had a ton of fun! It's been so cold so we have been walking fast and getting things done!! I'm going to have to break out my big winter jacket soon! There's no snow here in the "tropical" {yeah right!} part of Canada as the people say but it's still FREEZING!!!

On Tuesday all our plans fell through so we ended up tracting and finding all day which was super awesome! The standard for the mission is 140 Quality Gospel Conversations {QGCs} a week and this week we got 176 all thanks to our finding on Tuesday! That night we had two funny things happen. First, we were tracting and we knocked this door and this little kid peeked through the window..next we hear him yell "DAD...there's someone here and their wearing something...strange!" Hahaha we were dying laughing! We tried so hard not to giggle when the dad finally answered the door! As missionaries we are kind of oblivious to the fact that we look awkward and weird walking around in skirts at night. Also, when we got back to the apartment we were so tired and we were getting ready for bed and all the sudden we hear the member we live

with yell "Sisters!!! Sisters!!!! THERE'S A BEAR!!!!" {said w/ a British accent} She comes running up the stairs runs in our apartment and ran to the window!!!! THIS HUGE BLACK BEAR WAS JUST GOING THROUGH OUR TRASH RIGHT IN THE FRONT YARD!!!!! HOLY SMOKES!!!! I was shocked! I thought they were in hibernation and all I had to worry about now was the cougars and the wolves but guess the bears are still up! There was trash everywhere! :( We met with Diane this week who is preparing for baptism on January 2nd! She is great!!! She always gets so excited about the gospel and she understands everything we teach and has such a strong desire to live it!! She came to church on Sunday for the first time in 30+ years! It was the primary program (always hilarious and so cute!) So we think she loved it! She downloaded the "mormon apps" and was showing us everything she had looked at! She's the best! We also met with Dorothy!! Cool Experience Alert! We had planned to teach the Plan of Salvation lesson again, but we started talking about prophets and ended up having a great spirit-filled discussion about that. It was so cool to realize afterward that the spirit really does teach these people and that we are just the instruments in God's hands. Dorothy needed that discussion at that time to help her progress and because we were willing to leave behind our lesson plan and focus on her and her needs we ended up helping her more and having a great lesson! 

During the middle of the week the three of us were basically tired of tracting but we had nothing else to do. It's especially bad at night when it's like -6*C {21*F} and we're freezing! One night we lost it and started doing the Macarena (sp?) dance at the door...hahahaha we were laughing so hard!!! Luckily the people weren't home so we didn't get caught but gosh...we were driven crazy by the cold! Thursday was American Thanksgiving but it just felt like another day to us! One member family had us over for Thanksgiving dinner and we were so happy!!!! She even got us little chocolate advent calendars!!! Then on Sunday another family invited us over to celebrate again!!! I LOVE Turkey and Cranberry sauce and stuffing so I was just fine with that!!! The members are so good to us and really try to help us feel at home during the Holidays which is so sweet! 

Saturday was Sister Holbrook's 18 month mark!!! We got a big chocolate cake and just had fun! It finally dawned on us that she is leaving in a week!!! We are so sad to break up our trio!!! I LOVE BEING IN A TRIO!!!! Going back to a regular companionship is going to be hard :( Transfers are coming up and we're pretty sure Sister Ricks is going to be transferred :( and I'm going to stay and either train a new missionary or just have a regular companion! AHHH!!! Stay tuned for next week :)

This week was so good!!! We had a blast and had some super cool spiritual experiences as well! Tonight we are going to put up our Missionary Christmas tree!!! A member gave the missionaries a full size tree a few years ago with prophet ornaments and everything hahaha Guys...it's going to be grand!!!!

Side story: We were walking down the street and we talk to everyone {shocker!} so we said 'Hello' to this man. We noticed that he was carrying a box and Sister Holbrook asked, "Whatcha got there?" He talked to us a little bit then opened the box and gave us TWO BAGS OF COLD SMOKED SALMON!!!! Not joking everyone gives us salmon here! #canadamissionlife Our freezer is filled with hot smoked salmon, cold smoked, regular coho salmon....oh my goodness! We cooked some salmon up the other night with a little lemon and lemon pepper and man was it divine! Can't wait to try the cold smoked salmon! 

Overall it was a great week!!! 

Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving :) Stay tuned for transfers next week!

Love you all,

Sister Peterson

Week 12: Faith leads to Miracles!

Frozen Leaves People!

This week was full of surprises and cool experiences! It started off pretty crumby...we still had to walk everywhere because we didn't have any K's {kilometers}. So our days consisted of walking to appointments, to the apartment, to the church...just back an forth all day! Good news! I broke in my new boots in like 2 days! We weren't teaching very many lessons...just walking! We were tired and our feet hurt so bad!! One night we were determined to have a lesson. I'm really not sure what we were thinking when we planned this but we ended up walking like 5 miles and we only gave ourselves an hour to do it...CRAZY US! We walked so fast and we were walking close to the bush {woods} so we sang primary songs {SO LOUD} so the cougars would be scared away! We may have scared some humans too...the whole neighborhood probably knows Follow the Prophet now... :) We ended up making it but had to teach fast that way we could walk back in time for curfew! We walked a total of 16+ K's that day!!! Walking and tracting was the start of our week...then on Friday we had a meeting so we had to use the car.  We went outside and it was {WELL} below 0*C and our car was dead!

Canada = Foggy Camera Lens

:( We tend to leave the light on at night because we are filling out reports and what not and we left it ON ALL NIGHT!!!! The one day we need our car and its dead. Luckily the members we live with took pity on us and came out into the cold and jumped our car for us! They were laughing at us so hard!!! I was praying all week that we would find someone to teach. It seemed like we were just walking around and not finding ANYONE! So frustrating! I also prayed to ask Heavenly Father if he was pleased with my missionary work up here...it took some time but we finally started to see some glimmers of success and then by the end of the week it was AWESOME!!! We found a young lady who said she would like for us to come back and teach her more about Jesus! SWEET!!! 1st one in a few weeks! Then on Saturday we met with this lady Diane who was baptized before but there aren't any records and we asked her to be re-baptized and she said YES!!! We're planning for January 2nd!!! She is awesome and we are so excited for her! I 

realized I haven't talked much about our investigators! The main people we teach are Wayne and Dorothy. Wayne is a recent convert was baptized in September and now passes the sacrament and is AMAZING and such a great example! Dorothy is his mum and she is 83 and the cutest old lady EVER! She looks alot like my Great Grandma Ruth :) Last week she got back from the hospital and she agreed to be baptized!!!! This week we thought it would be good for her to work towards a date so we set a date for January 30th and she was hesitant because she needs to recover but she said the sweetest thing, "I guess there are still miracles and I don't see why I can't have one" AWE!!!! Touched my heart! She is a "cry-er" just like me and you know when the spirit is strong and when she feels it! So we set a date with her too!

2 Baptism dates set all in one day!!!!! WE WERE SUPER BLESSED!!!! It's been amazing to see how the gospel changes people's lives and how it gives people hope. I can't wait for Dorothy's baptism!!!!! Hopefully I'll still be in Campbell River! On Sunday, the Montreal Temple was rededicated so there was no church and we got to attend a broadcast of one of the sessions. It was my first Re-dedication and it was very neat! We got to hear President Eyring and other members of Seventy speak and because it was in Montreal most of it was in

Roadtrip to Victoria

French! Cool! It was a great way to end the week. For missionaries Sunday is the end. Mondays are the beginning because it's our personal day :) haha Something else cool that I thought I'd share! Our mission has been challenged by President Burt to memorize the Restoration pamphlet and after that the rest of them! AHHH!!!!! That's some hardcore studying! However...it has been going so good!!! I'm amazed at how the spirit helps us learn so much faster! I've been able to memorize the whole first page and it helps so much in lessons! Before I was always worried about what to say or that I'd say something blasphemous, but this week I haven't been as worried! The words just come out of my mouth and I know it's true doctrine! SUPER SWEET!!! Hopefully by the end of my mission I'll have all 6 pamphlets memorized!!! 

Another random sidenote/story:

Do you remember the talk What Lack I yet? from General Conference? We've been challenged as missionaries to ask that in our prayers...What Lack I yet or How can I improve? This week I was told I needed to study better!! So I've been trying to read the Book of Mormon in all my spare time! and I've really come to LOVE it!!! Before the Book of Mormon didn't make much sense but one of my wonderful companions Sister Holbrook explained each story to me and IT'S AWESOME!!! Now I have the desire to read the scriptures all the time...while we were walking to an appointment I wanted my companions to tell me Book of Mormon stories and what not...BIG CHANGE FOR ME!!!! I LOVE the scriptures!!! They are such a great tool that we have in our lives and they can help us with everything!!! My testimony of the Book of Mormon has been strengthened and I made a goal to finish reading it by the end of Year. I'm in the middle of Alma (pg. 269) and there are 531 pages in the Book of Mormon so I have a lot to read but I want to start at the beginning in the new year!!! I'm so stoked!!! 

One thing I learned this week is to have faith through the hard times!!! While things may seem discouraging and you don't think it will get better just WAIT and KEEP YOUR HEAD HIGH! Heavenly Father loves us more than we can comprehend and he wants to bless us and he will never let us go through anything we can't handle! One thing I've learned from the Book of Mormon is that he always delivers his people out of bondage..we just have to have faith, keep praying, and do what's right. I know Heavenly Father is looking out for all of us and that we have crumby weeks so we can recognize the miracles when they come! I'm so excited that the work is picking up and that our investigators are progressing!!! God is great!!!

Till next week,

Sister Peterson

Week 11: Busy week = Short Scrambled Letter!

Hi all!

I don't have much time this week! So I'll just give you the highlights:
-On Monday we were teaching one of our investigators Mrs. D (remember from last week!) that just got out of the hospital and we were having a great lesson!!! THEN...She agreed to be baptized once she recovers!!!!! It was so awesome!!!!!!! Her son got baptized in September and we have been teaching both of them and it's amazing to see how the gospel really does bless our families.

-On Tuesday, we met one of our investigators, Mr. B at the family history center. He had {literally} no information on his family and we were able to find his dad's line! How sad! Could you imagine not knowing anything about where you came from! And guess what....TEMPLE WORK HAD BEEN DONE! Oh yeah! Turns out, Mr. B's sister is a convert and has been doing some family history work! WE were so happy for him!

-Wednesday was Remembrance Day! Here in Canada they wear a red poppy in remembrance I thought that was nice! They have a little ceremony downtown and you could really feel the spirit of remembrance throughout the town. It helped me to reflect on how I am sacrificing so little and how grateful I am for those that sacrificed their lives.

-It's starting to get cold here and the other day it was night time and we were walking home from tracting and I realized I couldn't feel my feet. For real guys, like I could have stepped on a Lego and it wouldn't have hurt! Holy Cow!!!!

-On Friday we drove down to Nanaimo for a meeting! Road-trips are so fun on the mission and being the northernmost area on the island we have a lot of road-trips.

-We also drove to Victoria yesterday {Monday Nov. 16th} for our Zone Conference! with Elder Teh of the Seventy and President and Sister Burt! We got to drive with other sister missionaries and have a sleepover with the Sister Training Leaders which is always FUN!!!!

-One thing I have learned this week is to live for the little moments of joy. On missions you go through so many ups and downs!! However, it's important to recognize those moments of joy we have in our crazy lives. Whether it's a super cool roadtrip, laughing and looking like a hooligan because you can't feel your legs, or singing hymns at the top of your lungs. Always look for those moments! If you come to a crossroad where you can choose to be miserable or be happy...BE HAPPY!!!!!!! 

Next week, I'll write about some things I learned at Zone Conference which were AMAZING!!!! And hopefully I'll have more to write about! I don't have much time today but something I'm working on is being happy and trying my best to have a good attitude :) Hope you will too :)

Till next week...hopefully I won't freeze! 

Love ya!

Sister Peterson

Week 10: Knocking...Walking...Talking

Don't know what happened this week but we had no solid plans!! People couldn't meet, things fell through, and all we had left was FINDING!!! We tracted and walked around what seems like all of Campbell River this week. THE THREE OF US WERE EXHAUSTED!!!!  We tried so hard to find people to teach, but sometimes you just have weeks like this! It rained EVERYDAY!!! It's to the point where I don't even feel the rain/wetness anymore! Haha It's only when we come home after a long day and I realize how wet my jacket is and I wring the water out of my skirt that I realize how bad it gets! It's starting to get more "wintry". It's usually about 4-6*C {40*F} but being close to ocean makes it even chillier!! Today is sunny though so hopefully it will stay this way!!!

Here are some cool things that happened this week:

One of our investigators D. has been in the hospital and Wednesday was her birthday!!! We called down to Victoria General Hospital and got to sing her happy birthday!!! It was so fun!!! We love her! She's like our grandma :) She is now home from the hospital so we can start meeting with her again! She is just like me and cries about everything and laughs away the hard things so I can't wait for us to visit again and see how she's doing! She's very special to me and I love helping her come closer to Jesus Christ!

WE HAD A RANDOM ROADTRIP!!!! Seriously the funnest part of being the north most area on the Island is the Roadtrips!!! We got a call that our car had to be in Richmond THE NEXT DAY!!! We live like 5 hours away from the mainland! Well luckily our Sister Training Leaders were going there for a meeting so we got to drive to Qualicum/Nanaimo area to drop it off! While we were driving back at night I realized I left my International Drivers Permit in the CAR!!!! OOPS!!!! Sister Ricks left hers too THANKFULLY we are in a trio and Sister Holbrook had hers and was able to drive us home!!! Whew!!! Two days later we got a NEW CAR!!!! It's a Subaru and IT HAS A USB OUTLET!!!! Heaven sent let me tell you :) I can finally play all my new church music and listen to something other than the same 12 EFY songs...mind numbing sometimes Hahaha

Later in the week we got a referral from a member but she said it was like the 2nd or 3rd house on this street. So we hit both sides and talked to all hoping to find the one referral! We couldn't find her!! Then Sister Ricks said "didn't she say something about a purple door?" Sister Holbrook and I didn't remember that part but said eh whatever! So we went around...it was dark now...using our flashlight to look at the color of doors...CREEPY WE KNOW!! Haha anything to find a child of God though :)

Finally we found a purple door!! We knocked and this elderly man opened the door NOT THE REFERRAL! However, he was lonely and talked about how his wife had passed and his family didn't visit much. We didn't find the lady we were looking for, but we're pretty sure that man behind the purple door needed to hear our message. God works in mysterious ways! 

Another cool story: I was praying...I think it was the morning...and I was kind of tired not super sincere in my prayer and THEN the name CYNTHIA  popped in my head! That woke me up! I don't know a lot of people named Cynthia and I hadn't heard of anyone in the area named that. I left it for a day but it still kept coming back. One night during planning I decided to search for this name! I looked through all of our Formers {lots of people who used to investigate, but stopped for one reason or another} and found NOTHING! Then I looked through all of our Potentials {people we've met on the street that are interested in learning more} NOTHING AGAIN!!! I was beginning to think I was crazy!!!! I finally decided to look back at the Elder's Potential Records from 2012!! Then as I was almost done BAM! I found a CYNTHIA!!! I was so happy!! BUT! She lived on Quadra Island and we aren't allowed to ferry across to go to that part of our area :( Next I looked for a number! THE ELDERS DIDN'T GET HER NUMBER!!!! {are you kidding me} AHHH!!! I was so mad :( There was no way to contact her! While I may not find another Cynthia...one thing I learned from this is that I am willing to take a prompting crazy or not and run with it until I find something. I want Heavenly Father to know that he can trust me with promptings to go here or there or talk to that person or knock on that door. Promptings from the Holy Ghost are so important and I've been trying really hard to follow each one I get. Promptings have helped me to have courage and trust in God. 

Cool Experience: One of our Investigators C. has been going through some rough times!!! We had a lesson planned but thought we should just help her realize she can find comfort through prayer and communicating with her Heavenly Father. At the end we had a kneeling prayer and we asked her to say it! IT WAS SO SWEET AND SO AWESOME!!! You could feel the Spirit! You could feel her desire to communicate with Heavenly Father and how she needed to feel comforted and needed some answers from on high! She's so amazing!!!

This week as we walked door to door there were many people who slammed the door or called us names.....#missionarylife, but we started doing something cool! Depending on what the person said "Joe Smith is a liar" or "I'm an atheist leave me alone!" We would leave and start singing a hymn that strengthened our testimony and lifted our spirits! 

We sang Praise to the Man when this guy bashed Joseph Smith.

We hummed I believe in Christ as we treked up a hill after someone told us God wasn't there. 

We sang Come Come Ye Saints when we felt like giving up.

HOLY MOSES WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE!!!! 

This was one of the BEST days because we didn't let Satan bring us down! We had faith in Christ and knew of our purpose! We didn't find anyone who was interested in taking the lessons this week but we had 161 Quality Gospel Conversations!!! 21 more than standards!!!! Whoop whoop!!! 

What I hope you get from my crazy disorganized and semi-bipolar letter this week is that anything for the Lord is worth doing! No matter how hard things get or how downtrodden we feel CHRIST can always lift us up and bear our burdens! When you know who you are and know your purpose you CAN AND WILL do anything for God. I hope that I will always be WORTHY AND WILLING to do what God would have me do. Are you WORTHY AND WILLING? I'ts hard to put off the natural man and not think of Home, sleep, or Disney songs...the struggle is real!! Haha but anything that helps us become closer to Jesus Christ is totally WORTH it in the end! We receive so many blessings when we align our will with God's will. He knows what's best for us, he knows us better than we know ourselves, he knows what we need and will pour out blessings upon us as we are WORTHY AND WILLING to do whatever he asks. 

While the mission is hard, I have learned SO much!!! My faith in Jesus Christ has gone through the roof! My excitement for missionary work has grown and it's becoming such an amazing experience!!! I hope that I'm inspiring and sound excited and not sad because I had some hard times this week Haha because I really am DOING SO GOOD!!!!! The Gospel blesses us and I've seen that first hand as I've learned more about it and applied it to my life.

Do what God would have you do...ALWAYS

Love,

Sister Peterson