Week 21: More Miracles and More Shenanigans :)

This week started out GREAT! We had lots of lessons planned and we taught a lot of new people and we ended the week with 5 NEW INVESTIGATORS!!!! Unheard of in these parts of the woods {literally}! It was so cool! We are now teaching 4 families WHAT A BLESSING!!! It's been cool to see how the first 2 transfers we seriously had like 1 person to teach but these last 2 transfers have exploded and we've been finding people like crazy! I hope they continue to take the discussions we are meeting with all of them again this week :) YAY!  Wednesday was the Worldwide Missionary Broadcast! IT WAS SO GOOD! It was cool to hear Apostles like Elder Bednar, Elder Oaks, and Elder Andersen address just the missionaries. I took like 6 pages of notes! One of my favorite parts is when one of the Apostles said he considers himself equal with the missionaries in spreading the gospel and trying to follow Jesus Christ...I was like WOW!!!! It was a great broadcast and I think it really helped missionaries to focus on teaching repentance and baptizing converts...not just baptizing to be in the newsletter or to get the numbers. It was really good! This week we have been doing something super cool in most of our lessons!!! In Chapter 5 of Preach My Gospel {should be everyone's Family Home Evening Manual by the way :)} it talks about how the Book of Mormon answers the Questions of the Soul. We've been going to appointments and as a group picking a question of the soul and then opening up to a random chapter in the Book of Mormon and then reading it and trying to get the answer to our question. IT'S BEEN SO LEGIT!!! I, of little faith, get nervous every time that we'll open up to a war chapter and we'll be trying to answer how do we gain happiness in this life? hahaha but every time we have been able to answer our questions. I think it's an excellent way to study the Book of Mormon. 

Here's how to do it: 

1) Before you study just think of a question you have 

2) Then after reading that chapter try to apply it to your life and see how it connects. 

Heavenly Father answers our prayers not just through thoughts and feelings but through the scriptures as well. I think the scriptures are one thing that are hard for people sometimes. We slack off and we don't read...just pray occasionally or something...but we can get super awesome personal revelation from just reading a verse or a chapter a day. I'VE SEEN IT!!! I promise that reading your scriptures will help you answer those questions you have and bring a ton more blessings as well!  Saturday we were trying hard to set something up so we wouldn't have to knock doors all day, but we weren't having much luck! Then in the middle of lunch we get a call from an investigator Doug and he said he wanted to meet up! SWEET!!! We scheduled it for that day!!! It seriously amazes me how the miracles just roll in when you're in a tough spot. Sunday was SO GOOD!!! Our investigators didn't come to church and for the first time ieeks we sat ALL ALONE!! It was really weird! But that might be a good thing because we had a super awkward moment in sacrament meeting! LOL So up here they tend to sing all the verses because the meetings run short and the songs just sound better when you sing all the verses...well out of my whole 5 months being here I didn't know that...so we are singing the intermediate hymn and after the last verse Sister Christensen and I sit down....well everyone keeps singing and is still standing...and staring at us!!! OH THE EMBARRASSMENT!!!!!!!!! We always sit right in the front too so ALL 40 PEOPLE SAW US!!! I couldn't stop laughing...you could hear people laughing amidst the singing and it was just great haha. Even Bishop couldn't hold his tune! Uh...anyway we had to sit through 2 MORE AGONIZING VERSES...we got in trouble for not watching the chorister...hahaha In Sunday School the teacher brought up a really neat "idea" or "concept". We talked about the Great and Spacious building and Lehi's vision and how everyone has super nice things  (and according to my dad's Sunday school lesson many years ago they all have helicopter pads too :)) So all these prideful people are standing on their fancy balconies leaning over and scoffing at the people trying to hold to the rod and reach the tree and partake of the fruit (see 1 Nephi 8) and then...{this is the cool part guys}....the teacher said BEHIND THEM THE MISSIONARIES ARE KNOCKING AT THEIR DOOR.....HOLY SMOKES... Just try to envision that...super cool right?!? I want a painting of that...one side Lehi's vision...and on the other side the missionaries! I never thought of it like that before and I LOVE IT!  We had a super good week :) Before I wasn't really sure why I was staying here another transfer...but I'm starting to see lots of miracles come from it and people are starting to come out of the woodwork and it's cool that I get to be apart of it!

Funny Moments from this week:

We were tracting and we kept getting super lame excuses for not wanting to talk to us...but this excuse was....well....you decide... We were knocking at this door and there was no answer but we could hear this little girl saying there's someone at the door to her mom/dad. As we were about to put the card in the door it opened...this guy was like What do you want? We said who we were and he was like well it's not a good time I was just in the middle of going to the bathroom....WHY DID YOU EVEN OPEN THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness we were DYING laughing for a long time TMI man....you meet the strangest people and experience the weirdest things on your mission. 

Cool Stories from this week:

So I recently found out from my super awesome Family History Loving Mother that I have a lot of relatives that served IN THIS MISSION! One of them baptized one of the first members in a town just south of here! I'm on the hunt to talk to all the old people in this community to figure out some more information! Apparently there are Gillingwaters (mom's side) in my mission area as well so I'm going to look through all the phone books!! haha Should be fun :)

Things are going really good!

Thank you for all the prayers and emails :)

I really like hearing from everyone!

Hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 20: Lots of Lessons and Transfers

Sister Foote @ Zone Meeting

This week ZOOMED by guys!!! At the beginning of the week we had 4 LESSONS IN ONE DAY!!! That may not seem like a lot to some other returned missionaries reading this but HOLY MOSES that was a GOOD DAY FOR US!!! We taught our New Investigator Trevor! He requested a Book of Mormon online! He's super cool! He is 70 and is just curious about different religions! I may have said this last week...maybe not but when we met with him we asked him if he'd read the Book of Mormon at all he said YES! SCORE! I asked him how far he had gotten he said he read ALL THE CHAPTER HEADINGS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK OF MORMON!!!!!!!!!! DOUBLE SCORE!!! It was so cool!! We are meeting with him again tomorrow!! He LOVES hockey so we are trying to find a member that loves it too so they can be best buds! We have been doing a lot more teaching and less finding which is SO GOOD!!! I love teaching...it makes me feel more productive. Unlike other missionaries, I like tracting but I'll totally take teaching over knocking doors!! Later in the week, we had a lesson with Marilyn! She's a miracle!!! So while we were emailing last week we got a call from a random number and it was this lady (Marilyn) that I had talked too 3 months ago just down from the church. Sister Ricks at the time was on the phone so I just chatted with her as she was walking her dog and gave her our phone number on a mormon.org card if she was ever interested. WELL HOLY COW SHE CALLED!!!! 3 MONTHS LATER!! It was SOOOO cool! I felt so awesome! Not to be vain or anything...but to see that a little seed that I myself had planted...turned into something was REALLY COOL!!! Anywho...she said she just wanted to talk about our beliefs but she wanted to meet with the "Elders" {old people of the church} and not us young vibrant missionaries! Haha So we set everything up for her to meet us at the church. Usually missionaries lead lessons but she sat us down and just started telling us her amazing life story and how she's been on this spiritual journey for a while. She said that she just likes meeting with

Cooking Steak!

people to hear their side of their religion and tries not to make any assumptions. So we talked to her about EVERYTHING!!! She had so many questions for us!! We talked for an hour and a half and just answered questions and talked about the Restoration. At the end, I was like, WOW... pretty sure my jaw hit the ground! It was so good! I'm grateful for all the knowledgeable people in our ward!!! I think she started to warm up to us young missionaries too :) We're going to teach her again this week! After this lesson, our Thursday was going pretty good! We decided to do some finding in the north part of Campbell River and we pulled over on the side of road for like 30 minutes to do some paperwork. Well I went to go turn the Subaru back on and IT WOULDN'T EVEN TURN OVER!!! It had completely died!!! It was the middle of the day so we didn't even have any lights on that could of made it die...we were worried because we had a dinner appointment in an hour, a meeting, and then we had to drive to Nanaimo!!!!!! We got out of the car and called a few people and finally the member we live with said he could leave work and come rescue us!!! YAY!!! While we were waiting a member drove by and we waved our hands high like we were stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean or something...and she saw us!! She turned around and let us sit in her warm car until we got saved! She said she never drives down that road, but just happened to go back to work that way!! MIRACLE!!!! Anyway....we got our car jumped and made it to our dinner appointment on time, to our meeting, and then drove straight to Nanaimo with NO STOPS so it didn't die again! We made it there okay though! Phew! It was a beautiful clear night to drive though! The roads were perfect and I could see TONS OF STARS as I was driving :) so peaceful and lovely! The next day we had Zone Meeting where we learned about teaching Repentance and Teaching to Convert NOT to Baptize! IT was SO GOOD! After the meeting we got our car looked at and the guy said our battery was basically useless! So we had to wait for them to fix it so we got to spend some time in the BIG city :) 

Dinner of  Champions

On our way back we scheduled a lesson on the borders of our area with Finley and Robin! They have been investigating the church for a long time and I just love them! We had such a good lesson and we left with our arms full!!! They gave us a slow cooker {SCORE!!!} Deer meat to make stew in our new slow cooker!!! Salmon!!!! Yum!! Bacon, soda, and some Triscuits Hahahah they just kept giving us things!!! We are going to eat the stew tonight so hopefully it tastes good :) I've never cooked Deer meat before! #canadalife

Later that night, we had a lesson with Dorothy who we haven't been able to meet with in a long time! We decided to just have a neutral lesson so we would figure out where she's at and stuff. We talked about Peter and being converted to Jesus Christ and how Peter said he was converted but when the time came he denied Jesus Christ. We talked about how it's important to not just desire...but to act! It was a really good discussion! Read the Talk Full Conversion Leads to Happiness or something...by Elder Scott. At the end we invited Dorothy to church and she said she didn't want to join the Mormon church :( This was hard to hear especially since she was supposed to be baptized this month! I love her so much and she is AMAZING, but she's had a very hard life! I admire her so much :) On Saturday we usually walk to save K's and to meet people on the street! Well that ended quickly...my eye has been having problems for about a month now and so we decided I better go to the doctor! So we spent our walking day in a walk in clinic in Walmart! I felt so bad that I ruined our day, but that didn't last long because we found this super awesome lady in Walmart and we gave her our number! We talked to like 15 people in there about the fact that we're missionaries! I also talked to this lady for about 30 minutes about Vegas and all of her adventures there while we were waiting for our prescriptions to be filled! Haha it was a good day! Saturday was also TRANSFER CALLS!!!! IT WAS BASICALLY TORTURE!!! Everyone said I would probably go so I was planning on that...but 10:30 rolled around and we didn't get a call...to be honest I was a little bummed :( I wanted to experience a new area and different things. BUT! I came to the conclusion that God needs me here for some reason this transfer. At the end of this transfer I will have spent 1/3 of my mission in Campbell River! I LOVE CAMPBELL RIVER!!! The people are so nice and we are starting to see the work pick up! I'm going to try to make this my best transfer yet and work my hardest even though I've been here for a long time. I am grateful that I didn't have to cancel the appointments we have this week with our new investigators due to transfers, and that Sister Christensen and I get to keep working on things here. Starting over would be really hard!

That's about all that happened this week...Things are going good!

Hope you all are doing good too :)

Love,

Sister Peterson

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Ahhhhh! I totally forgot so for the brave souls who want to continue reading, I have a couple of funny stories:

So, one day this week we were walking through the woods and we decided to turn right instead of going left to go down the main path...well we ended up going down this FOREVER long path that took us through mud, up hills, we were definitely NOT DRESSED for this adventure...bad day to wear my fav pencil skirt guys :( !!!! We hiked for like 15 min and we didn't know if we should go back or not but I decided we should just keep going! We eventually made it back to the main clearing...turns out it's just a loop...anyway we got to see some things we hadn't before! Like super pretty trees, the other side of the river :) Hahah

 So about 3 weeks ago when it snowed really bad we were tracting and when we got back to the car I realized I didn't have my pencil...my favorite green pencil...that writes perfectly and has never failed. I was DEVASTATED when I couldn't find it! We had somewhere to be but Sister Christensen said we could go back and look for it on all the streets we had tracted later. This made me happy because I didn't want anyone to take it or run over it. Well we forgot to go back...I ended up buying new pencils and all was well again. Then a few days ago we were walking down one of the streets we had tracted the day I lost my pencil. We were just chatting about this Jehovah's Witness lady we had just talked with and I stop dead in my tracts and exclaim MY PENCIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My poor green pencil looked like it had been run over about 232928365986 times!! Oh it broke my heart!!! Sister Christensen was laughing so hard and snapped some pics of my last moments with my pencil. I was thrilled I found it but it was too far gone to ever be used again!! It was a sad day on Gemsbok Rd....Look at the pictures...they'll break your heart! I love you green pencil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 19: #Interesting Adventures

The perfect word to describe this week is....#INTERESTING! We had days that were SUPER AWESOME and days that were NOT SO AWESOME! Tuesday we drove down to Nanaimo..our favorite 3 hour vacation spot :)

|| side note from Sydni...I finally figured out how to pronounce this and I figured most of you were struggling along with me...so here you go ;) {Nah-nEYE-Mo} ||

We have to go down again this week too! Lot's of road trips! We drove down because President and Sister Burt came to give us a training! IT WAS SO COOL! We seriously just sat down with them and talked about missionary work for 4 hours! I LOVED IT! He gave us some good ways we can improve and keep working to make our mission on fire! After meetings I always feel so motivated and ready to go get things done! It was great! It's also fun to see the other missionaries :) The meeting ended at 5:30pm and it had been snowing all day so I was not excited to look outside! Well...Heavenly Father made a beautiful ice rink :) We started driving home and it was okay...but as we drove further North and closer to Campbell River I was on the verge of loosing feeling in my fingertips from gripping the wheel! I was so stressed out!!! On the highway the speed limit is 120 {kilometers people....don't loose your heads! = 75mph} and I had to go between 40-60 {25-40mph}! If I went over we would slip on the road! UGH I WAS SO SCARED!!! It usually takes us around 1hr and 30 min to drive from Nanaimo but we didn't get back until 9PM!!! I made a new rule the moment we got home that we are having sleepovers in Nanaimo if it gets that bad because I refuse to drive Hahahah We made it safely back

thank goodness! If anyone has any winter driving tips besides DON'T DRIVE I'd love to hear them :) Hahah This week we did a lot of service and not as many lessons! I love doing service though it always makes me happier and it's a great way to share the gospel with people who may be struggling or stressed. We got to help a ward member prepare to move and we got to help our Recent Convert Diane sew! She has to make little night gowns and she has a TON to make! Mom you will be proud I actually sewed a straight line :) hahah We are going over today to start our own little quilting squares so that will be fun! Thursday night we had a MIRACLE! We've been asking members about their missionary work and if they have anyone they are working with. Well one member pointed to her grandchildren as they weren't looking! Haha it was great! We taught the granddaughter and she said that we could come back and teach her more. She's about 9 or 10 years old and she said she loves coming to church! She's so cute! Friday we decided to try doing missionary work out in the boonies! #interesting We met with some less actives which is always a PLUS!!! After we decided to tract...we were at one door and while we were waiting for an answer I saw this weird looking animal out of the corner of my eye...it was NO JOKE LIKE half raccoon half cat!!!!!! We decided to call it Catcoon. We

decided we should just go tract somewhere else so we started walking away and then a man answered the door! We talked to him for a while and he told us that we need to wake up every morning and raise our arms to the sky to let the energy in!! I have been trying to incorporate that into my morning routine :) I'll update you next week :) Haha After Catcoon and the nice energy man we were at a loss of what to do! We just felt like we were just in the wrong place...we decided to try this less active family one more time. I'd never been able to contact them. WELL THEY WERE HOME AND WE GOT TO GO IN!!!! It was super cool to meet the family and share a gospel message with them. Lesson learned: be patient and miracles will come! Saturday we WALKED A TON!!! and MIRACLE...I FINALLY FOUND A GOOD WATERPROOF JACKET!!! Dad you will be very happy :) Hahaha it hasn't rained much this week but I'm ready for it to pour now!!!!!  I love it when we walk all over town because we get to meet very #interesting people :) One guy was like, "Hey are you witnesses!!" We said, "No we're Mormons!" He did a fist pump and said "Yeah Mormons!! Go Team!!!" Hahahha it was so funny and brightened our day!!! Sunday was good!!!! We had our new investigator Jenna at church! She seemed to like it!! The talks were SO GOOD!!! One of the talks was on service and the member shared a little story I had never heard but I LOVE!! (I may tell it wrong,but whatevs!)

One day this man was walking along the beach and millions of starfish had washed ashore. He began picking them up one by one and throwing them back into the ocean. Along the way, another man walked up and asked "Why are you throwing them back? There are millions of these starfish! You won't even make a difference." The First man bent down picked up another starfish tossed it into the ocean and said "It made a difference to that one."

Sometimes I feel like service has to be some grandiose thing and I have to make a BIG difference. But one thing I've loved about my mission is the little acts of service I do everyday.  I'm going to focus on being more happy with those little things. We may not be able to pick up all the starfish on our own, but we can make little differences that add up. There's a lot more that happened this week but for the sake of your iPad and iPhone batteries and your poor eyeballs I'll save those :)  I'm hoping I never have to drive on those scary roads again or go back out in the boonies and see Catcoon {although I would like to get a picture} BUT the lesson I got from this week is no matter how #interesting things get or how scary situations are there is always some sort of deliverance at the end. It's all about just pushing through those crazy times to get to the better things that await! 

Love you all!!!
Sister Peterson

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**TRANSFER CALLS ARE THIS WEEKEND SO WE'LL SEE IF I LEAVE OR STAY!!!!**

AHHH SO NERVE WRACKING!!!

Week 18: BEST. WEEK. EVER.

WE HAD A BAPTISM!!! This whole week we were preparing for Diane's baptism and inviting everyone we met!!! We saw some miracles too! We did a lot of finding this week and got in contact with some people who didn't want anything to do with us before so it was pretty successful! It's cool how a baptism softens the area and makes people a little more Christlike :) SUPER AWESOME MIRACLE ON THURSDAY!! We were store contacting downtown and we couldn't decide if we wanted to go visit a potential or walk to Walmart, so we decided to pray! At the end we went 1...2...3... and said our "revelation" out loud we both said WALMART!!! It was so cool because before we were divided but the spirit wanted us to go there! So we started walking and we see this young kid coming towards us (he had actually just ran across the hwy to our side) as he passed us he saw our name badges and said quietly "I go to that church" I didn't hear so I stopped him and we started talking and turns out he goes to church in the North Island Branch (Port Hardy/Port McNeill) I asked him if he was baptized and he said

YES!!! His name is David and he's in the process of moving to Campbell River and so we were able to give him the church address and all the info so he could come to church here! He doesn't have a phone so it was really a miracle that we were able to talk to him and invite him to church! After we waltz around in Walmart, on a spiritual high from before we went to a lesson with a former investigator who said we could visit...SWEET! It was the definition of what Preach My Gospel calls Teach People, Not Lessons! The spirit was thick, the emotions were so real, and we were able to testify and really help this woman!!! She's going through some CRAZY stuff and really needs divine help and we just happened to call and set up an appointment right when she needed it! God is so good people!!! Saturday was Diane's baptism and my 4 month mark!!!! All was going well in the morning then we heard a clank...didn't think anything of it...then the spirit prompted us to go take a selfie and we realized the stand that plugs the font FELL OVER AND

ALL THE WATER (AN HOURS WORTH) HAD ALL DRAINED OUT!!!! It takes 2 hours to fill the font and we only had an hour till the baptism!!!! Oh man!!!! Satan really didn't want Diane to be baptized Hahaha So we called our Ward Mission Leader and we had to sit by the font and hold the stand until it filled up!! I called through the whole ward list (35 active people) haha and said it was postponed!!! It was crazy!!!!! But eventually it filled, people still came, and we had a great baptism service! I helped Diane get ready before/after her baptism and it was soooo cool to get to talk to her and get the "inside scoop" on what she was feeling and experiencing!! Watching her go into the water was priceless! The mission became so real!!! I finally realized how all the lessons we teach, all the hours planning, all the doors slammed, and all the conversations lead to this...Baptism...being cleansed from sin and staring anew...and it's only possible through our Savior Jesus Christ. I am so happy for Diane and that she was able to be baptized and this time IT'S OFFICIAL!! NO LOST PAPERWORK THIS TIME!!! (she was baptized at age 12 but the missionaries somehow

didn't file the paperwork...). She bore her testimony after her baptism of how blessed she was to finally come "home" after all the years of going to other churches and straying from the straight and narrow path she finally made it back (her words not mine...she's that good SO PREPARED FOR THE GOSPEL!!!). She considers this a blessing that she's able to get baptized again and now she's fully committed! I will always remember her :) She's very special to me! One of the reasons for going on a mission is because I had never helped anyone "get baptized" or join the church. That really bothered me that I hadn't helped anyone in that way. But now I can say that I have done that. I'm so grateful for the hand of the Lord in preparing Diane to be baptized. It was the best experience to be an instrument in the Lord's hands to help him carry out his purpose for Diane. I'm excited to find more people to share the gospel with so they can experience the joy that Diane did this weekend. The gospel of Jesus Christ is REAL. Baptism is REAL. Heavenly Father's love for his children is SO REAL!! I'm so grateful for the Restoration of the gospel and  the knowledge I have of God's plan for me and each of his Children. I'm happy I'm able to be a part of something so great :)

Today as a part of P-day we decided to go on an adventure!!! We drove to Elk Falls where there is a Suspension Bridge!!! It was SO BEAUTIFUL!!! There was a sign that said "danger...enter at your own risk" it was SO ICY like an ice rink so we laced up our tennis shoes (didn't even think to bring our boots) and started sliding!! Totally worth the near death experiences on the way ;) It was a HUGE waterfall, the bridge went right over and it was one of those bridges that moves when you walk on it! So cool!!! Not sure why I wasn't terrified but it was so fun!!! We got some good pictures and no one else was around! We even saw an eagle! It was trying to kill something but it was still cool to see!! It was a good break/adventure :) This next week we're just going to work hard and find more people to teach!! Tomorrow we have a training meeting in Nanaimo with President Burt so that will be fun!!!! Hope everyone is having a happy new year!

Love ya,

Sister Peterson

P.S. So this week decided to do some beach contacting and we found a whole line of tires just washed up on the beach!!! IT WAS GINORMOUS!!!! Also had my first Slurpee in Canada!!! It was freezing but super yummy!!! I also did my first TIM-TAM SLAM...let me explain...you buy Tim-Tam cookies...apparently their Australian or something. You bite off two corners and you stick the cookie in hot chocolate use it like a straw and then shove the WHOLE COOKIE IN YOUR MOUTH!!! It was so mushy!! It was good but kinda gross haha I took some videos that I'll send home somehow but it was soooo funny!!!! You'll have to youtube it or something!

We had a lot of fun this week :)