Week 77: Beware the Ides of March

Yup...it happened people....I got to sit down and read pages and pages about when I'm going home MARCH 22ND. How to pack my bags, what and what not to do, write your testimony, send in this, do this do that, but also this.....it was a really emotional week. One minute I'd be super happy about the day and then the next minute

someone would remind me about my "expiration date" and I would get so sad and cry!!! Ugh...it's literally the worst! I have felt like Heavenly Father is testing me. We have no one to teach right now. None. It's like I'm being re-trained. I have to start from the beginning (door approaches, study, prayers, teaching....) and try to adjust some of the things I did in Kelowna because it doesn't work here in Port Moody. I'm having a mini identity crisis. What kind of missionary am I???? I want to make sure I become the best missionary I can be by the time I leave....am I even close???? THERE IS SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT!!!  So I've been having this internal battle, but on Wednesday we had Zone Conference with President and Sister Burt and it was such a big answer to my prayers!  President's opening remarks answered all of the questions I had come prepared with!!!!  It was amazing!!! The whole Zone Conference was about how we can better testify of Jesus Christ and focus on our missionary purpose! The whole meeting I just kept thinking...do I have a powerful enough testimony??? We all kind of think that at one time in our lives...or maybe multiple times...do we really have a testimony???? I was worrying about this, then Sweet Sister Macaso one of my past companions commented and brought up an experience we had in Surrey where she felt the Spirit so strong from my testimony of Jesus Christ our Savior. During this

experience I almost passed out on the door step because I was so exhausted from bearing my testimony of the Savior. It was such a powerful moment in my mission that I am so glad she brought up! I remember talking to those Bible Bashers! (I think I called them Mormon Doctrine Slayers in my journal hahahah) I remember they were attacking all aspects of the gospel and I, with literally all the energy of my heart, mind, might and strength, and soul, testified that I knew this was true and that Christ was the center of my life and of God's plan. All those emotions came rushing back as Sister Macaso talked about it in Zone Conference and how that built her testimony at that time and has stuck with her. It was a tender mercy and answered my question and silenced my doubting about whether I had a good testimony or not. I cried because the Spirit was so strong. The Spirit was confirming Heavenly Father's love for me and my testimony :) At the end of Zone Conference President stood up and asked Me, Sister Graver and Sister Yang to give our testimonies. This is a "mission tradition" in our last meetings we give our testimony. I was really grateful for this opportunity because I had just had my testimony validated by the Spirit and now I had the opportunity to share it...now....whether that

testimony was audible or not.....I'm not entirely sure...I was A WRECK!!!!!!!!!!!! I CRIED LIKE CRAZY!!!!!!! MY MISSION HAS MEANT SO MUCH TO ME!!!!! JUST THINKING ABOUT LEAVING IS REALLY HEART BREAKING. I tried so hard to get some good words out. One of the Elders said, "Thanks for being real." Hopefully that's a good thing! hahahahah Anyway, we had some great lessons this week with members!!! Because we don't have anyone to teach we are practicing with our members. We learned at Zone Conference how to use silence in our lessons and let me tell you it's super powerful!!!!!!! Saturday was walking day and I'm pretty sure I walked up every hill in Coquitlam ahahahhaha OUR LEGS HURT SO BAD WE COULDN'T EVEN GET OUR LEGS IN THE CAR AT THE END OF THE DAY!!!! HAHAHHA I ALMOST FELL DOWN THE HILL BACKWARDS BECAUSE THE HILL WAS SO STEEP HHHAHAHAHAHHA Sunday is wonderful as always :) Yesterday we were working because today (Tuesday) we are going to the temple!! We stopped by our potentials John and Donna an old couple that said we could come back. They invited us in and we chatted and they were telling

us about their family. Donna said that her son lives in West Kelowna and he has adopted 8...yup 8...kids from Haiti!!!! Most of them have special needs! Bless his heart! As she spoke it sounded familiar to me. The Spirit brought to my remembrance a family I tracted into before. Then John grabbed a photo from the mantle. I took one look and I recognized one of the daughters Kendall who is severely handicapped. I immediately said I KNOW THEM!!!! When I was with Sister Hoffman and Sister Steele we were tracting in West Bank (I only tracted about 3 streets in West Bank while I was with them) and we knocked on the door of this family and talked with them for quite a while! The daughter Kendall is a teenager and can't walk. When we were at the door she crawled out of her room so she could see us!!!! I TOLD JOHN AND DONNA ABOUT IT AND WE BOTH WERE AMAZED!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so cool!!! What are the chances!!!!!!! We taught John and Donna the Restoration but they weren't interested :( but it was good! I got to testify of Christ :) Here's another miracle! So my mom has been doing a lot of genealogy since I've been gone and almost every place I go she finds someone that is related to me that lives there! Well she found a man who lives here in Port Moody!!! I talked to President Burt

and got permission to meet him and his family!!! SOOOOO...... I called him last night. What in the world do I say! "Hi this is Sister Peterson....I'm a missionary here in Port Moody...we're related....somehow...uh..." Well that's basically how it went hahahaha He said, "OH YES! YOUR MOM TALKED TO ME!!" So we set up a time for TONIGHT to meet and talk about our family and stuff!!!! SUPER COOL!!!!! It will be him, his wife, and hopefully his daughter!!! I'm so excited!!!! What are the chances that I would live 10 min away from a long lost relative!!!  Heavenly Father definitely works in mysterious ways! I know that he is guiding each one of my footsteps these last weeks! He is crafting me into the missionary I need to be and the person I need to be for the rest of my life.  I know lots of blessings are going to come. All my blessings come as tender mercies....so I'm just here in Port Moody...trying my best to work my very hardest...testifying of Jesus Christ...and having fun...waiting for those blessings to come!! I know they will!!! Today we were able to go to the temple! That was a big blessing!!!!! I haven't been in almost a year and a half!! I saw some members in the temple that I knew!! It was great!!!! I received so much revelation today!!! About school, life after mission, and what I need to do these last few weeks to make it the best!!!

Love you all so much!!!

Things are going so good!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 76: Culture Shock

This week has been an emotional roller coaster! Leaving Kelowna was pretty much the hardest thing EVER!! 

I left my <3 in Kelowna

Monday I went and said goodbye to people and cried!!! Uh...it's the worst! We met with Sandra M. briefly! At the end of our little chat we were leaving and I felt really prompted to give her an Articles of Faith card that has a picture on it that really helped me through this last week in Kelowna. It's called Security Blanket. I just found it in the supplies one day and I love it! Anyway so Sandra is going through some really hard things right now and I just felt like she could use it. I really loved it so I wrote down the name in hopes that I would find that picture again. She really liked it and put it on display in her entry way next to all her Las Vegas pictures hahaha  Tuesday we left for the airport at 5:50am.....SUPER EARLY!! We dropped Sister Hoffman off for her flight and then we went to go get my stuff to check me in..."where's my purse???" Oh my goodness...I left my purse
on the seat of our car which was back at the chapel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 20 min drive both ways!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVE ONLY DONE THIS ONCE IN MY LIFE WITH CAMBRIA AND IT WAS SO STRESSFUL!!! SO WE GOT IN THE CAR SUPER FAST AND DROVE OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND THROUGH THE HILLS....FINALLY GOT THE PURSE....AND WE MADE IT BACK TO THE

AIRPORT WITH 50 MIN TILL MY FLIGHT. So I go to check in....the kiosk isn't working....so I had to wait in line and by that time...I missed the 45 min deadline and I couldn't check in...so I MISSED MY FLIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I told the lady what happened and she ended up giving me another flight for free!!!! IT WAS A MIRACLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I ended up waiting in the airport for 3 hours until my flight left!!! I read SO MUCH of the Book of Mormon it was quite wonderful! I talked to some cool people too!! Anyway when I got to Vancouver Sister Tripp and Sister Pitts picked me up and we rocked out to "The Circle of Life" MoTab version on the way to the mission office. Those sisters are crazy!! hahaha They were blasting it with the windows down.. Everyone was like...THESE GIRLS MUST BE BONKERS!!! I met my new companion, Sister Amat, at the mission office and we got to Port Moody later that day!!! IT IS SO BUSY HERE!!!! driving a different car through the streets of Vancouver and the lower mainland was not my favorite part of the day! It's so different here! So many cultures! Especially Chinese and Korean people! It snowed so everyone is driving like crazy because they aren't used to it! Anyway we stopped at DQ for some lunch and I look out the window and behold ....IKEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY HEART WAS SO FULL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHH I WAS SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The rest of the week was good!  We don't have a ton of people to teach right now,

so we are doing a lot of finding!!! We taught one investigator this week though Rose and she has been baptized 3 times before in different churches so convincing her of why she needs to baptized again was kind of difficult. She finally said, "Are you saying the ones who baptized me are not qualified???" YES!!!!!!! Your baptisms were great acts of faith and spiritual moments in your life but we need the proper priesthood authority!!!!! IT WAS A GREAT BREAKTHROUGH!! She said that she will pray and ask God if she needs to be baptized for the 4th time!!  Thursday we met with a returning less active Sister Chen and her husband is taking the lessons! They just had a baby and she is SO CUTE!!!! Then we had coordination! This ward just got a new ward mission leader and he is AWESOME!!! So on top of things and he has a degree similar to mine, so he always ties everything that happens in the ward back to social work, family structures, or psychology...IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!! HAHAHAH We all had to go around and introduce ourselves which was awkward because the Elders were there.We try not to tell the Elders things about our lives...it's kind of like

a secret. So it was really awkward, but I learned that one of the Elders that's new to the ward is a Japanese rock star and was on the front of the Japanese Rolling Stones magazine!!!!!!! hahahha I learned that Sister Amat was an accountant back in Malaysia. And I learned that the rest of the people there like basketball hahah Friday was good! IT RAINED ALL DAY!!!!! CRAZY!!! I learned about a condition here called "SAD". It's seasonal depression and a lot of people get it here because it's so gloomy. I'm taking some Vitamin D as soon as I can!!! Basically this is all so new to me...so different! I'm having a hard time understanding people. I thought this young man said he couldn't speak English, so I continued to make a fool of myself trying to communicate, but he actually asked if we knew each other....he then ran away from us....FAIL.  Sister Amat is great though! She is helping me out so much! She's teaching me her Malaysian ways. I've learned how to call a chicken and a pig if you want to feed them. I've learned how to speak some Malay, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and all sorts of stuff! Sister Amat cracks me up! She is still learning English and sometimes she'll mix up words and says the funniest things!!! 

                                

Example: "Today I'm going to teach people to pray in the dark" hahahhahaha

"Wait I mean how to pray when we're on the street!!" hahahahhaha 

Sunday was good! The ward is interesting! They love to take care of missionaries!! I'm so surprised at how much I'm remembering about the area! The Spirit has quickened my mind and I am remembering people's names, addresses, areas, all sorts of stuff! It's really a blessing!! Yesterday was family day and it was so fun! IT WAS SO SUNNY!!!!!!!! SO WARM!!!!!!!!! We talked to so many people about the church, and I felt so successful!!! Today we are going to go to Metro Town which is in Vancouver!!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!! Also we were told this week that WE ARE GOING TO THE TEMPLE NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I HAVEN'T BEEN SINCE I WAS IN THE MTC SO I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all your prayers and continuously praying...I need a lot of help hahahah

I'm loving it here and I'm so excited for this transfer!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson!

Also HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Week 75: Peterson Tears it up in Port Moody

Welp....I am getting transferred!!

I'm going to Port Moody, BC!!! It's East of Vancouver and Burnaby! To be honest when I first got the call...I was heart broken. I

literally felt so SAD to leave Kelowna!! Sunday was really hard for me! I bore my testimony and I'm not even sure if it was audible....I was a WRECK!! After sacrament I had a receiving line hahaha  People were coming to give me hugs and I was trying my best to write down people's emails through my tears!! I literally have given my heart and soul to Kelowna and I am going to miss it so much! I call Kelowna my "Refiners Fire." I have changed and repented and become so refined since I've been here. It's been SO HARD but SO GOOD at the same time. I have learned to trust Heavenly Father more than anything. I've learned how to use the Atonement appropriately in my life (I know I can always learn more and will!). I've learned that people are soooo different from on another and I've learned what I want in my eternal companion and what I don't want!! Lol I've learned how to help others, how to comfort those that need comfort, and how to recognize the Holy Ghost.....oh my goodness the list goes on. All of these things came about because of trials. They were all tender mercies. I've been promised many times in my life that the

majority of my blessings in life will come as tender mercies. I know that when I think I can't continue, when I think all hope is lost....THE BLESSING COMES. And it really is a tender mercy!!! Ah...Kelowna!! I've learned so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's so special to me!!! Anyway.....it's time to move on and I know that there is a really good reason I'm being sent to Port Moody for my last 6 weeks!!! God needs me to do great things! President Burt called me this morning to "pump me up" for transfers Lol He's so in tune with the Spirit!!! He told me "GO TEAR IT UP!!!" He told me that I need to just work so hard and that there are so many miracles awaiting me there!!! NOW I'M EXCITED  HAHAHAHAHA So today is just crazy!! We have so much to get done!!!! I'm kinda stressing out! Staying 6 months in an area makes it hard to pack because you've accumulated tons of stuff!! So I have 3 piles "donate because I never wore it/never will," "send home because it's too heavy," and "to

pack...the bare minimums." I've never been good at packing light....my overnight backpack usually weighs 50 pounds. Hahahaha Today I get to start something called MY PLAN! It was introduced like 2 years ago or something to help missionaries transition from mission to home. It is like little online tutorial things and then you have to make goals for home like scripture study every day, temple attendance, service, school, dating {oh heavens}, and all sorts of things! At the end of the 6 weeks we share "My Plan" with President Burt and he gives us commitments for our LIFE and helps us, so we can stick to the plan that we have set. I'm excited but this is all so surreal. I can't believe this is happening....here I go...I'm going to cry again. TIME FLIES BY SO FAST!!! I am just going to try and make my last weeks here THE BEST EVER!!  I know that I can ENDURE TO THE END and that I will see great things happen in Port Moody!!!!  As for other things that happened this week....IT HAS SNOWED SO MUCH LIKE 2-3 FEET OF SNOW!!! SO CRAZY!! IT'S GOES PAST MY BOOTS SOME TIMES!!! On Tuesday we had

specialized training with President and Sister Burt! I love them so much!! My interview with President was great! He gave me such good advice and dropped some hints about transfers...but I still was holding on that I would stay in Kelowna hahahah We also had Zone Meeting on Friday and I got to sing a musical number! Whenever there's a musical number...I get transferred.....it's like an omen hahahaha Zone Meeting was so good! We learned about teaching about the Doctrine of Christ and how we can incorporate it into our lessons!! Everything we do is centered on Christ and when we focus on his Doctrine (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End) OUR LESSONS GO SO MUCH BETTER!!!!! We spend the whole time focusing on teaching them how they can gain that personal relationship with Christ instead of just focused on teaching the facts. I love it! That's the way it was supposed to be the whole time, but we need to be reminded of these things sometimes!! Repetition is important!! Saturday we had lots of things happen!! It snowed a ton so it was really slippery!! We walked out in the morning and our car was cleared off....we could see the foot prints around our car! It was either the Elders or our British friend that lives in our apartment that keeps me updated on Football. Then later that day I shoveled a drive way!!! It was a less active and they weren't home, and their shovel was right there. I've never shoveled a full drive way, so I just decided

Peterson's SuperBowl Sunday Salutation to their Missionary!

to have that experience. MY BACK HURT SO BAD!!! LOL IT WAS SO MUCH FUN THOUGH!!!! Later We were walking down a street and we hear "ahh!!!" We look behind us and this old lady had fallen in the street!!!!! I STARTED RUNNING THROUGH THE SNOW!!! "I'M COMING I'M COMING!!!" We got over to her, and she was so weak she couldn't get herself up. We tried so hard and she kept slipping!! Finally we got her up!! She was shaking like a leaf and she clung to me as we walked across the road! Oh my goodness!! I made sure she wasn't hurting or had anything wrong! She was so sweet!!!! As we were making sure she was okay this man came up to us and asked if we were okay. He saw what ha happened, then he said "YOU CAN ALWAYS COUNT ON THE GIRL SCOUTS!!" HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHA I DIED LAUGHING!!! WE AIN'T GIRL SCOUTS....WE ARE MISSIONARIES!!!!! HAHAAHHAHAHAHAHHAH He said we were girl scouts like 5 times hahahahahhah She did read our tags though, so she knew who we really were!!!! It was such a scary, but sweet moment! I know we were in the right place at the right time!! No one was close to her and she would have been there in the road with no way to get up!! Miracles!! Anyway!!! That was my week :) It was really great! Lots of changes, but I'm ready to embrace them!

Pray for me :)

Love you lots,

Sister Peterson

Week 74: CHANGE

Well I always thought I was someone that enjoys change, but this week I'm second guessing that. On Wednesday we had a worldwide Missionary broadcast where we were invited to attend the Missionary Executive Council meeting held at church

headquarters! It was really cool!!! We learned about the Doctrine of Christ and how each person has their own timeline for their conversion and how we can't force people to have faith or repent just so we can get a baptism. Just for the record, this has been my thought process the whole time. I DO NOT LIKE pushing people into baptism. I like them to make that big decision on their own and I want to make sure they are converted to the gospel first before making that commitment. Second, we learned that there are now changes to the missionary schedule!!! We still arise at 6:20am, but they took companion study from the morning and it's now "as needed" throughout the day, so we have a whole other hour in the morning to get ready and prepare for the day and Plan!! Yup they moved nightly planning from the night obviously to the day now!!! It's so weird!! I feel so unprepared for the day, but I'll get used to it soon! Now we come in at 9pm and write in our journals, pray, and go right to bed! IT'S SO WEIRD!!!! We definitely have to use our agency more! We aren't told exactly what to do anymore! It's up to us and our individual companionship. It's been hard because I've been doing it the same way for who knows how long now and now it's all different!!! CHANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!

Little Sister Yodi

This week also had a lot of change because we passed off the majority of our investigators to the Elders because they were men and it's easier for them to relate lol. So we have about 1 investigator right now and she's not really that solid....rough. BUT I know the Heavenly Father is going to bless us just like he did when this has happened before!! Monday we continued making our rings!!!! Now they are made!!! We had to melt down our own metal and use a centrifuge thing to make it!!! Today we will polish them to make them pretty!! Wednesday we saw a miracle! A few days before we were tracting on this road and we met a Telus guy going door to door (similar to Cox cable or Charter!) We talked to him about door approaches and what he sees that works best. He was SUPER COOL! HE'S AS OLD AS US AND HE HAS READ THE BIBLE 5 TIMES!!! That was before he was 12 or something! CRAZY!! So we told him about the Book of Mormon and gave him a pamphlet! Well I wrote him down on my little prayer role I have in my planner (everyone I say "i will pray for you" to or anyone that asks us to pray for them I write down!) SO I wrote Brody down and on Wednesday we come in at 9pm and guess who is standing in the lobby of our building....BRODY THE TELUS GUY!!! He

Little Sister McDowell

says "fancy meeting you here!" hahah He asked if we were going to knock the doors of the building like they just did...we said uh...no we actually live here....hahahahah We were able to follow up with him!! It was super cool!! Thursday we had dinner with the Lambs!! They are this awesome family in our ward!! We did a Plan of Salvation game where they have to put together a Plan of Salvation puzzle as fast as they can!! Their son was going on a mini-mission this weekend so we gave him a pamphlet and told him to study it and it will knock the socks off of the Elders he's going with hahah

Friday we met with Bishop at his office!!! IT WAS SO PROFESSIONAL!!! It reminded me of college!! hahah We talked about the ward and how our new focus is to get people to the temple!! Later we got our mini-missionaries!!!!! {Quick reminder: these are high school aged kids} First we had Sister Yodi! She's in the Kelowna 2nd ward, but then we had to switch and we got Sister McDowell for the weekend!!! SHE IS SO FUNNY!!! She was playing pranks the whole weekend! She put syrup in my apple juice....tried to put a mormon.org card in someone's car! Oh my goodness it went on and on! She's so full of energy!! She is so bold too!!!! She has no fear!!!! She was talking at doors and she even defended her testimony to a random guy on the street who was saying we were a

cult and that we were mislead...it was interesting, but she was so strong!!! She also got a door slammed in her face...IT WAS ONE OF THE WORST DOOR SLAMS I'VE EVER HEARD! Sister Limb and her were at the door and I was in the street on the phone and all the sudden I hear "Hi!" SLAMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR THE EARTH SHOOK WHEN THAT LADY SLAMMED THE DOOR!!!!!!!!!!!!! So crazy!! She didn't even shed a tear! She just talked about how she knows that it wasn't anything personal...and it built her testimony!! We had a ton of fun!!! We tried to show her what missionary work is really like, and she said she has a pretty good idea now! Today she goes back to high school and she still has 3 years until she can go on a mission, but I hope this experience was something she will look back on when she is making her decision!! Over the weekend our district leader was calling and giving us the new missionary schedule. He says "6:30 arise, pray, SHAVE....oh wait...you're not elders....uh......oh man....pretend that didn't happen....." hahahahhhhahahahahhahah I COULD NOT CONTAIN MY LAUGHTER!!!! POOR ELDER I WAS LAUGHING

SO HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sunday we went and tracted down in South Kelowna and we found the most amazing view!!! I took a panoramic photo on my camera!!! Hopefully it turned out good!! We had dinner with the Purnells that night and they have a dog Beja that is about to have puppies!!!! We are so excited!!!! They always have their family over and the little kids thought it was so funny to tickle me on my neck during the lesson hahahaha I AM SO TICKLISH!!!! So my companion Sister Limb had to take over while I engaged in a pillow fight and tried to get them to stop tickling me hahahah They are 2 and 4...they won...I ended up on the ground with a blanket over my head and they just thought it was the funniest thing in the world!!! hahahah  Overall this weekend was super good! We had some tough times, some awkward moments, some miracles and some great laughs!!!!!! 

Love you all!! Transfers are coming up so pray that I stay in Kelowna 1 more transfer!!!!!!!!

Sister Peterson