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