Week 37: What A Week!!!

Monday we had interviews with President Burt. He's seriously the best!!! He is so inspired!!! It was like I was being interviewed by the Lord himself!!! I love the Burt's!!!!  Tuesday we met with a former investigator named Sharon...we walk in

and she pulls out this Tuxedo cake she bought for us!!! Then she says everyone that comes here gets a glass of Hot Cocoa...it was like 26*C {78*F} outside and we were DYING,, but we drank that hot drink and had cake...at 10 in the morning!! hahahah After our cake and cocoa we visited Jolene!!! She had read halfway through 1 Nephi!!! SHE'S CRUSING THROUGH THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! We did a lesson on Lehi and the vision of the Tree of Life...GREAT DISCUSSION!!! She just wants to learn learn learn!! She said she is reading the Book of Mormon and still learning and just waiting for something to convince her that she needs to join herself with a religion...specifically ours! She said she feels good energy from the Book of Mormon and she believes it has truth she just has to read the whole thing! So we are just trying to make sure we have the spirit with us in lessons so it can bear testimony to her of the truthfulness of our message and that she will feel the desire to be baptized!!! She is such a great person and I admire her for thoroughly researching it out!! It takes lots of work and faith to keep reading and praying and searching!!! Keep praying for her please :) We visited Cathy too :) She's doing so good!!!! She loves the gospel even more than
last week!!! :)  Our ward is having a Luau in a few weeks and she has joined the women in a Hula dance!!!! hahaha We were surprised to see her at the church dancing away hahaha But we're so glad she has friends and feels comfortable enough to just go by herself! Wednesday I had African food again!!!!!!!!! It was really good!! This family makes us "americanized african food" They are so sweet to us!!! This family will hit their 1 year mark of being baptized at the end of this month!! It's awesome to see how they have progressed and how the gospel has blessed their lives!!! Thursday we met with Jolene again :) Love her! I think I mentioned it before, but she runs a talent agency and so she is just super busy all the time but she is so calm and collected!! She gets calls during lessons some times and it stresses me out how she has to figure stuff out quick and get people to set but she's just cool as a cucumber!!

SIDE NOTE:

{Sydni...a few weeks ago she was sending people to a Prison Break set....yes!!!!!!! I thought it was over!!!!! BUT IT'S NOT!!!!!}

Back to Missionary stuff :)

Thursday we met with Sunita!!!! We brought Sister Tusi because they are both from the South Pacific...well they just bonded like that {finger snap}!!!! They started singing songs from their childhood...it was really funny!!! Anywho...so we had a really good lesson with her! We taught her about Baptism and Sister Tusi started talking about the Temple and how in the temple we do work for the dead...she was like wait what?!?! You do what?!? So we had to explain how baptism is essential and we do proxy baptisms for people who have passed on and haven't been baptized! SHE THOUGHT IT WAS THE COOLEST THING....it really is!!!  She said her parents were never baptized and she wanted to do the work for her parents....we said okay you can do that... but YOU HAVE TO GET BAPTIZED FIRST!!!!!!! She said YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We set a date for June 5th :)  She said "How do I prepare?"...perfect question my friend!! Meet with the missionaries and let the spirit work with ya!! We are really excited!! She was so excited to read the Book of Mormon where before she wasn't. And she said she wanted her whole family to learn about the gospel so it could help them!! It was a tender moment!! We love her!!!

Friday we did some SERVICE!!! Sweet!!! Did you know Plastic Grocery Bags can dissinegrate?!?! Needless to say it was a very static-y project!! we had to use tape to get all the little pieces of the bags!!! hahah It was fun!

Saturday was our walking day we walked all the way from our house to the mall! You don't know how far that is, but it was a decent walk northward!! We contacted in the mall and had some really good conversations. I met a girl who served a mission {for another church} in Uganda so I told her all about Derek and his fun adventures!! We had some funny and awesome experiences that day:

1st- We were standing on a street corner and this lady in a car was staring at us...so a little voice said make sure she can see your tag and just smile really big hahah so I did...when she passed us it was a Less Active we had been trying to see!!! She

definitely saw my badge so hopefully she will remember us and give us a call!

2nd- It was HOT and we walked past this park with sprinklers....WE WANTED TO RUN THROUGH THE SPRINKLERS LIKE 2 YR OLDS!!!!!!! We didn't... but I can't wait to swim next summer!!!

3rd- We had a Purdy's Ice Cream Bar! Purdy's is like See's Candy! They take a vanilla ice cream bar...dip it in white chocolate...then 2x in dark chocolate!!!  OH MAN IT WAS SO GOOD!!!! So messy though!! We got it everywhere! Sister Brimhall had some on her face and I told her to wipe it off, but she had even more ice cream on her hand so she couldn't!!! We probably looked like hooligans!!! So funny!!!

4th- We went to stake conference!! President and Sister Burt were there and gave great talks!!! We love them :) We got home SUPER late from Abbotsford, but it was great to hear such good speakers!! Sunday was crazy!! Stake Conference was broadcast to our chapel in Langley but it didn't work!! We sat there for an hour while they tried to figure it out... They tried Skype, phone calls, apparently they had all these iPhones on the podium at the Stake Center but eventually it all didn't work :( So they sent us home!! We were bummed!!! Overall it was a GREAT WEEK!!!!!! Lots of fun and lots of work getting done!!! Hope you all have a great week!

PRAY FOR MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 36: Cathy Got Baptized!!!!!

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday night was Cathy's baptism interview!! It went great! while we were waiting for the interview Sister Tusi (member) and all the other missionaries were singing "Ye Elders of Israel" in the foyer....IT WAS THE BEST EVER!!!!!!!!! It was like I was back in Chamber Choir hahahah

Monday we also went on exchanges I was with Sister Lai again! We had fun and found some cool people! One of them is Gurj! We were walking past him on the street and we said hello! He said, "What are you doing?" We said, "We'ere missionaries!" He said that was SO COOL!!! He had to run, but we got his number and we're going to meet with him again!!! That all took place in like 1 min!!!

Tuesday we had lots of lessons!! We met with this 90 yr old Japanese lady! She cracked me up!! She wasn't too interested in gospel conversation, but afterward she just gave us a bag full of food!!!! EVERYONE THINKS MISSIONARIES ARE STARVING!!!!!! haha We probably aren't because everyone just gives us food!!!!!!  Just a little bit of food is good...don't get carried away people!! We had a lesson with Cathy every day this week to prepare her for her baptism on Saturday!! We read the Book of Mormon everyday and the Spirit just got stronger every day!!! Tuesday we also had dinner with a part member family and asked the husband to take the lessons just to see what we are about and he said YES!!!!!!!!!!!! That made us happy :) Wednesday we had a good day...we saw Beth :) She is our Brookswood Mom! She is just the best!! We read The Living Christ with her and then we got lost in Jesus the Christ looking up all sorts of deep doctrine stuff!!! It was quite fun!! I realized I know my scriptures and doctrine better than I thought!!! Thanks Preach my Gospel :) Thursday we met with Sunita!! She is from Fiji! We taught her the Restoration again and she wants to learn more and said she would read and pray about the Book of Mormon!!! It was a good lesson!! She said, "He doesn't believe...do I have to leave him??" We said OH HEAVENS NO!!! haha She said well he needs to believe...she seemed kind of bummed...hahah I think she wanted us to play along and force him to believe hahaha After we went and helped the Primary President prepare for the Mother's Day Breakfast on Saturday. She had made Soap Roses and I had to hand write every tag!! My inner creative self was in heaven!!! We had a great lesson with Cathy that night and we talked about Baptism and Confirmation! We showed the video of Jesus being baptized to the kids and her and her son said, "Mom you have to wear white and look like Jesus." It was so cute!!! Then he said he didn't want to be baptized (he's 4) we asked him why he said he doesn't like putting his face under water hahha he is so adorable!!! Good thing he has 4 more years to practice!! Friday we met with Jolene!! We invited her to be baptized, but she said she still wants to learn more!! Which is fine with us!! Baptism is an important thing to work up too!! We also met with Betty...if you recall she's the one who stopped us on the street 2 months ago and asked if we were on our break and if we could answer her question about the Book of Mormon!! Turns out she has been reading the Doctrine and Covenants! We asked her where she got ahold of a triple combination {Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price} and she said she ordered it....WHO ARE YOU?!?! AWESOME!!! She also said, "I know I should read it everyday." It was almost like she was a member trying to test us....hahah she could flip open to the chapters quicker than I could!!! We'll keep you posted on her!! hahah

FINALLY SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CATHY GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our day was SO busy!! It takes 5 hours to fill the font so we had to clean it and start it early!! It was a great service!! Every baptism I've had has minor crisis! This one we didn't have a pianist!! We called everyone in the ward and no one could play!! LUCKILY Canada is awesome and has digital pianos in every building it seems like! So I got to press the buttons and make it look like I'm Mozart or something :) It was fun! Cathy asked me to give the Baptism talk before she is baptized! I talked about the symbolism and the covenants we make when we are baptized

1) Take upon us the Name of Christ

2) Keep his Commandments and Always remember him

3) Serve the Lord

It was fun little talk! I tried to make it short so she could get baptized faster!! I used this quote from General Conference 2 years ago from Jean A. Stevens: Covenant Daughters of God:

"Think back and picture your own baptismal day. Whether you can remember many details or just a few, try to feel now the significance ofthe covenant you individually made. Having been called by your own name, you were immersed in water and came forth as God’s daughter a covenant daughter, one willing to be called by the name of His Son and promising to follow Him and keep His commandments, Covenants with God help us to know who we really are. They connect us to Him in a personal way through which we come to feel our value in His sight and our place in His kingdom. In a way we can’t fully comprehend, we are known and loved individually by Him. Think of it each of us holds such a place in His heart. His desire is that we will choose the path that will bring us home to Him."

CATHY WAS SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!! We ran down the hall of the church to the baptismal font!! She was jumping and just so happy to be baptized!!! It was a great moment!! After she was baptized and we met her in the changing room {this is the best part because you get to talk to them right after they are baptized!!!!} She said she was sad it was over and she felt so clean and pure!!! Then she said I'm so cold hahahahhaha Love her!! Sister Brimhall and I also sang a musical number with two little girls in our ward they are 4 and 7 and IT WAS ADORABLE!!!! We sang I Am A Child of God! They did the first verse and then we joined it! Little kids just bring the spirit!!!! Cathy's non-member friends came and her parents, so we had a great night socializing and just seeing how happy Cathy was!!! Us missionaries, Elders and Sisters, pitched in to buy her a Quad so she could have her very own scriptures!! It was such a fun day and she was so excited to read her new scriptures!!! Sunday Cathy was confirmed and you could just tell afterwards that she is totally different!! The Holy Ghost really makes the difference!!! She was different in every good way possible!! She just gleams with the Spirit!! The Elders Quorum in our ward held a CREPE BAR BREAKFAST for all the mom's and sisters!!! IT WAS DELICIOUS!!!! Best Mother's Day ward present ever!!! Better than little candies because then the kids won't steal them from their mom, better than flowers because...lets be honest CREPES ARE THE BEST!! It was really fun and such a treat!! Sunday we also got to SKYPE HOME WITH OUR FAMILIES!!!!!!!!!! It was great!!! I love my family especially my mommy so that was great to talk to her and wish her a Happy Mother's Day in person!! Next time I Skype it will be Christmas!!!! After Skyping we went to dinner and we had Mushu Pork {excuse the spelling...probably wrong but it's pronounced like the little dragon from Mulan :)} IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!!! I'm trying lots of foods her in Canada I would never eat a home!! They also served us corn on the cob MY FAVORITE!!! haha They are a really great family! They serve at the Bishop's storehouse and help us with missionary work :) I have a funny joke to tell ya.... I shared it with my family last night. Cathy told it to us...

She said do you know how they named our country? 

They put letters in a bowl and picked some out....

 "C" eh?    "N" eh?    "D" eh? 

Thus we get C.A.N.A.D.A!!!! 

HAHAHAHHA we thought it was hilarious!!!!!!!!

We ended our night at Cathy's because no one else was home and they all had Mother's Day plans!!! We had a scripture chase with Cathy, so she could learn how to use her Scriptures!! It was fun!! Overall it was a great week!!!!!!!!!! We got to see one of our friends get Baptized!! She is so happy and excited to learn!! I hope you all had a fantastic mother's day!! I especially love my mom and I'm so grateful for her and her sacrifices in my behalf!!! I love you Mum!!!
Love,
Sister Peterson

Week 35: My Week in Review

8 months today!!!! Holy Moses....this is going faster than I thought!!! This week didn't fly by....it literally felt like a month!! Haha Oh my goodness I've never been so stressed on the mission!!! But all is good now :) Just pray all will continue to go good

Sister Holbrook! Yay!

with our investigators and that we will find more people to teach!!! Monday we had the priviledge of being taken out to dinner by Sister Patriquin the most lively 90 year old I've ever met!! She is so sharp, and she owes that pink cowboy hat of hers!! She is so funny!! I love her! She took us out to dinner because she doesn't cook anymore. Man does she have some crazy and funny stories to tell!! We had a blast! haha

Tuesday we had a good day! Taught lots of lessons and kept pretty busy!! Tuesdays are becoming our most busiest day!!! We barely have time to grab some lunch to take with us sometimes!! We had dinner with a less active member that night and we are sharing our message and she says quite boldly,  "I am a Catholic and I tell everyone that because it means universal, it's a universal church." She kept going on about how the Catholic church was set up first and all this stuff...in our minds we go "oh snap!!" Sister you are LDS NOT CATHOLIC haha It was funny we didn't know what to say...we kept thinking "do you know you are feeding MORMON missionaries??? hahahhaha We ended up on a tangent and couldn't reign it back into THE RESTORED GOSPEL, so we had to leave. We left her with a reading from the Book of Mormon hahaha

Secretariat's Grandson

Wednesday was AWESOME!!! We met with Kerry and we talked more about her baptism and told her the only thing stopping her from being baptized is her not being married!!! She is SO funny I love her!! She says I want to get married in Vegas by Elvis and then take my kids to Disneyland {sister that sounds like a fun trip...but do you want to be baptized soon?!?!?} So I said that our Bishop could dress up as Elvis and marry them in the Church :) hahaha She said she'd talk about it. We then asked her when she wanted to be baptized and what she wanted to accomplish or do before then. She said, "I want to have regular scripture study and prayer with my family, go to church every Sunday, and be a good person for God!! WE WERE LIKE....KERRY YOU ARE SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!! She seriously is SO ready for the Gospel it is the way she will accomplish all of that and more! She just was waiting for a way to implement that in her life and taking the lessons with us is one of the best ways to do that! We are going to meet with her this week and see how the marriage talk went :) She's so awesome I can't wait for her to set a date to work towards! We also found this lady to teach who has 13

KIDS!!!!!! She has an uncle in Abbotsford that is LDS and she is just curious! AWESOME!!!! Can you imagine how much the gospel will help her family and her 13 kids!!!!!!! Holy Moses...Hopefully we'll get to meet with her this week!! Thursday was pretty good! We met with Cathy and talked about her Baptism and continued to prepare her for this Saturday!! We stopped by lots of potentials in hopes of finding a new investigator, but we didn't have any luck! That's seriously the worst!! You want to teach so bad but finding the people to teach is SO HARD!!!! We've been going through a dry spell lately and it's frustrating sometimes. You think to yourself, "Am I spiritual enough?" Am I being exactly obedient? What are we doing wrong?! Don't worry I know this is a test of patience...I just don't want to feel like I'm not doing my part by finding new people to teach. Just have to remind myself it's all in the Lord's timing and it will all work out if I'm doing what I'm supposed too! Friday we met with Jolene. We were excited after our awesome lesson last week! We talked about the Book of Mormon with her and after we were done she said, "Was there something wrong last time? I noticed that the energy was off." We panic...she said after we left she noticed

that none of us drank her tea...so she googled Mormons and Tea...OH THE EMBARRESSMENT!!!!!! hahah jk It was just really funny! She read up about the word of wisdom online and then said next time we better tell her we don't drink anything but Herbal tea hahaha She is a genius! I think I said that before, but now we think she's some sort of energy wizard. She senses things so quickly and she can read us like a book . She has some mom super powers that's for sure!!!! haha She is so great and we love teaching her because she expands our minds and helps us think about what we are teaching more deeply...deeper...meh whatever! You know what I mean!

Friday night we had dinner with the Layton family! They are so fun!! We had CORN ON THE COB!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY FAVORITE!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently Canada grows lots of corn so you can't even bring it over the border...they will confiscate it!!! We taught a lesson on the Plan of Salvation and we talked about how we can be with our family's in the celestial kingdom forever. Well one of their daughters said yeah mom and dad are TIGHT! We were like, "Awesome! Yeah they are they

are pretty cool!" She says, "No they were sealed so their like....tight!" hahahahhahahahhaha It was so funny!!! Then as we were leaving they have this dance they do when their dad leaves every morning and they did it for us....we were DYING laughing!!! Dad, mom, and all 3 kids were just dancing and waving goodbye to us! It was awesome I wish I could have recorded it!! We could barely leave the driveway it was so funny!! Saturday was the crazy day!!! I got a VISIT FROM SISTER HOLBROOK!!!! Remember her!?!? My 2nd companion!!! Trio in Campbell River!!!! She came to visit with her parents and got special permission to take us out to lunch!! It was THE BEST!!! We got to laugh about our crazy stories and catch up! It was so fun!!! I miss her a ton!! Can't wait to hang out with all of my companions after the mission!! The rest of the day was alright, I mean how can you top that! ;) Sunday was good! We got a new investigator!! She's from Fiji and very sweet!! After we met her we SO kindly got kicked out of the trailer park for "soliciting." Welp! At least we found the reason for being there!!! We had an impromptu lesson with Alyssa one of our investigators we're working with! She lives on a farm and she let us pet her horses! One of them is the Great Great Grandson of Secretariat!!!!!!!!! Horse Genealogy...who knew....everyone except for me apparently! Then we see the Clydesdale horses...seriously the most majestic looking horses ever!! They come over the ridge...see the action photo attached!! They are GINORMOUS!!!!!!!!!!! It was fun :) We had dinner with a great family! They make us laugh so hard whenever we go over! They have 2 young boys who are non-stop comedy! haha he's 4 years old and he says to his dad, "Give me another patty, yo!" hahhahaha We had one of the boys draw the 1st vision while we described it...it was fun! Sunday night ended with a bit of Bad news :( One of the less actives here that we visited quite regularly to read the Book of Mormon passed away yesterday! She was so sweet :) I'm glad that she is not in pain anymore though!

This week was crazy, and stressful, and fun! SO GLAD IT'S OVER!!!

This next week is Cathy's Baptism!! May 7th!!!

And then......Sunday I get to Skype home to my family!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for all your support and prayers :)

Love ya all

Sister Peterson

Week 34: Say What!?!?!?!?!

Another week down!!! This week was cool! Monday was my last day with Sister Hawke!! We had a blast!!! We said our last

goodbyes with helium so we just laughed and laughed!!! hahaha We sang God be with you till we meet again like chipmunks...aww...I miss that girl!!! Tuesday we dropped Sister Hawke off at the ferry and picked up Sister Brimhall!!! Sister Brimhall is so funny and she's a great missionary!!!! I love her to death!! She is from Highland, Utah but GUESS WHAT!! She used to live in Vegas :) Awesome! Tuesday we had a lesson with Cathy about CPR {church.pray.read} It's the stuff that keeps our spirit alive :) Cathy is so good!! She's being baptized May 7th  and we couldn't be more excited!!! It was cool to see her at church this Sunday and she was just so bright!!!!! Everyone noticed a change in her :) I definitely have since the first time I taught her! I'm so proud of her!! The gospel really changes lives people!!! Wednesday we met with Jeff an investigator, he saw an add on Facebook and requested a Bible!! Thank you social media :) It was funny we were walking up with our member and he was outside and he started booking it inside!! I yelled and said "Hey! Stop! Don't you dare!" hahaha I was like,  "wow, am I his mom or something?!" hahaha It was funny!!! He was of

Sister Brimhall

course joking and wanted us to come and teach him, so we did and he said he would pray about the Book of Mormon!!! That's seriously the key!!! So many questions an concerns would be answered if people would just set aside their pride and just read the Book of Mormon and pray about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Goodness! Sometimes as missionaries we think it's SOOOOO easy we are kind of in a Gospel bubble! The 'read and pray with real intent' part is kind of hard....but Satan is so strong so he makes it very difficult! Little stinker!Anywho...Jeff's lesson went great!!! We passed him to the Elders though so we won't be teaching him anymore :( We also met with Kerry and her son! Kerry lost her dad not that long ago and her son is having a hard time understanding where his grandpa is and how not to be really sad. So we taught both of them the PLAN OF SALVATION! Seriously so good! I love God's plan for us!! Everyone we teach it to says, "Wow...that makes sense!!!" YES, YES IT DOES!! It was so sweet to teach this little boy about the spirit world and how we have nothing to fear and how we will live with our families forever!!! Aww....it pulled my heart strings!! <3 Thursday was pretty good! We got back

in contact with a potential, Ryan, and when he answered the door he said, "Aw...man I'm so embarrassed I didn't do the reading you left with me...." Way to be honest man!! So we recommitted him and told him we would come back next week! He's so solid though! Going to be a new investigator for sure!!! Friday was good!! We met with Jolene again :) She studied the Plan of Salvation and had some great questions for us! We were able to take a member that was already her friend and let me tell you it was 10 x better than trying to take someone new!!!! MEMBER'S REFER YOUR FRIENDS TO THE MISSIONARIES EVEN IF YOU'VE DONE IT BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WE WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER!!!!

We met with a member family Friday night and taught them the gospel of Jesus Christ! I made my own cut outs!! It was a school {to represent earth because it's like a big school where we come to learn}  and a home {heaven} and separating the two was a river and we needed the gospel or 5 steps to get across the river so the little figurine could get home! It was so cute! They loved it especially the 4 year old!! Today we actually got a text from the mom saying, "On our way to preschool this morning my daughter says "why do I have to go to school?" and i explained that everyone does, to learn and she says "but this whole earth is a school that Heavenly Father made, so I shouldn't have to go to preschool" HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHH we were dying laughing!!!!!!!! Little kids are just the cutest!!! haha At least she still remembers our lesson ;) Sunday was Ward Conference, so it was full house!!! Cathy came to church with her mom :) and like I said above she just looked so happy and bright!!! We had a good day and had some really good conversations with people but no one was really

interested!! We've been trying SO hard to find new people to teach and they are so good at hiding in Langley!!! So feel free to say some prayers that we can find more people :) Sunday night we had dinner with a Filipino family and we had Hot Pot!!! It's kind of like a homemade version of The Melting Pot where you just throw things into this boiling pot in the middle of the table and it cooks right there!! We had shrimp, crab, steak, veggies, all sorts of stuff!!! Yummmm...it was delicious!!! I've been trying lots of new food lately!!!

This week was really good :) I'm happy that I got to stay in Brookswood Ward :) It seriously is the best!!! My new companion is great and we are going to have so much fun this transfer!!!! :)

Hope you all have a great week!!!!

Love,

Sister Peterson

Week 33: Transfers, Movie Sets, and the Temple!!!

Are you ready for another weekly letter of GREATNESS!!!! THIS WEEK WAS SO GOOD!!!! Ahhhh!!!! I only have 30 min to write!!!!! FIRST.....TRANSFERS!!!!!

**I AM STAYING IN LANGLEY, BROOKWOOD WARD but Sister Hawke is going to Sooke, BC on the island :( Oh my goodness!! My heart about broke!!! We retired to bed on Saturday and we hadn't gotten a call so we were SAFE then...10:55PM we get a call...we both woke up and yelled YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!! Then the assistants gave us the news.....sad day!!! I love Sister Hawke so much!!!!!! She is the funniest person you'll ever meet!!! We were two peas in a pod!!! We completed each others sentences and even dressed the same 6 out of 7 days a week! Seriously we had so much fun this transfer {probably why we're being split up hahahha} She will love it on the island though! My new companion is Sister Brimhall. Not even sure how to spell it...or if that's right. The assistants called so late I don't really remember! She has been out 3 months! We're going to have a blast though!!! This area is so good you can't not have fun!!! So here's the play by play for this week!!!

Monday....{our P-day} Sister Hawke got a SUPER BAD  migraine! We we're emailing and she says "uh...sister....I can't see! 

"OH MY GOODNESS!!! My pre-motherly instincts kick in!

Poor Sister Hawke I probably smothered her hahaha but she slept it off all day and I FINALLY got to write in my journal...my poor posterity will hate my journals hahahahaha :)

Anywho...Tuesday was AWESOME!!! We went on exchanges so I went with Sister Lai to Abbotsford!!! Sister Lai was born in China, but is from Australia SO OF COURSE she literally has the coolest accent you ever did hear!!!! They work with the YSA there in Abbotsford, so we got to contact on the University of Fraser Valley Campus. IT WAS SO WEIRD TO BE BACK ON A CAMPUS!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! It's hard to believe I graduated almost a year ago!!!  TIME IS FLYING BY!!! Later that night Sister Lai and I met with a recent convert named Jasper. He's super cool! Hasn't been showing up at church lately, so we just dropped by. We shared a of Book of Mormon chapter with him 2 Nephi 32 and THE SPIRIT WAS SO STRONG!!!!!! We asked him what part he liked and he said how we have to ask and knock in order to receive. Then I

had a really cool experience where the Spirit seriously took over! I started saying things and I don't really remember much of what I said, but it was something like we need to rely on Heavenly Father and sometimes we can't do it all on his own. Next thing you know he is tearing up and opened up about some tough experiences he was going through and how he grew up having to do it all on his own. I HAD JUST MET THE KID HAD NO IDEA ABOUT ALL THAT!! It was so neat to be able to connect with him through the spirit. It made me feel so good!! He said he would try harder to come to church and ask for help so it was REALLY GOOD!!! Yay!!! Wednesday we ended exchanges and we both saw lots of miracles while we were separated!! Wednesday night we met with a family in the ward who is preparing their daughter to be baptized!!! They want us to teach her the lessons!!! So we had dinner and then taught her the Plan of Salvation using the cut outs!! It was so special to have her and her parents talk about the plan of salvation together. They were so proud of their daughter and 

at the end she pointed to the celestial kingdom piece and said I

want to live there!!! Her mom and dad were so happy and it was a tender moment!!!! I just love kids!!! They surprise me all the time!!!! They are so close to the spirit!!!! Thursday WAS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!! If you recall for the past hmmm....8 months Thursdays have been SO UNEVENTFUL, but today was a different story!! So we didn't plan til later...so we got up and went tracting!!! We had chose the street the night before. We show up and there's a FILM CREW set up right on that street. We of course were curious and we wanted to tract the street so we continued knocking doors. They would tell us to move at times so we weren't in the shot hahahah so funny!! Anyway when we were done we started walking back to the car and this guy says "Can you wait here we have to lock it down you have to wait till they say cut." WE PANIC WE HAVE A LESSON IN 5 MINUTES!!! WE WERE STUCK ON A MOVIE SET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

haha Our investigator is going to totally BELIEVE that excuse for our tardiness!?! Right!? We waited for about 5 minutes and they yell cut and we high tailed it out of there!!! hahah Everyone was staring at us!!! Good way to share the gospel eh? Turns out they were filming a Hallmark show called Aurora T Gardens: Julia's House. It's like a murder mystery with Candace Cameron (DJ TANNER in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Mom you need to watch it and tell me how it is hahaha Anyway we get to our lesson with Jolene and she is like, "Yeah they film movies all the time..." 

Cool Streak Over....Cut. Edit. Roll Tape.

BUT! Nonetheless, we had a super good lesson with her! We taught the Plan of Salvation and she had so many questions!! We went into some deep doctrine stuff!!! She's pretty much a genius!!! The best part was when we talked about the spirit world after we die. She asked if we believed our ancestors/relatives could visit us from the other side. We said we believed that the veil is really thin, and that we both have 

felt the presence of ancestors especially in the temple as we are

doing their work. She started crying and shared a cool story!! So her grandma had been very sick and her son when he was a toddler used to wave and blow kisses to the grandma when she was in the hospital. After she {the grandmother} had passed away, Jolene saw her son one day wave at the corner of the room and blow a kiss!!! She said she belived her Grandma was right there. It was amazing!! The spirit was so strong after she told the story!!! The Plan of Salvation is so great!! I love teaching it to people because it fills in all the holes and brings so much comfort!!! She loved it and the lesson was so good!!! One of my favorites on the mission!! Friday we had Zone Meeting with President Burt!!! Always good! I learned a lot!!!! After we went tracting and got kicked out of a complex by a preacher...not very Christlike preacher man!!!! One thing we learned in Zone Meeting was to pray with investigators on the street!!! So all day Friday we tried to do that, and we got some really solid potentials!!! Also, on Friday we learned that #hashtags aren't cool anymore :( This young woman in our ward told us "only the old people use hashtags" OUCH!!!!! HAHAHAHA IT WAS HILARIOUS!!! Saturday was so good!! We had a great lesson with Cathy about the Holy Ghost and then took her into the Temple waiting room to just sit and feel the spirit! COOLEST EXPERIENCE ON THE MISSION!!!!!!!!!! She was just hit with the spirit and so was I!!! It's been 7 months since I've gone to the temple and let me tell you I just miss it! It was so great to just sit and feel of that sweet spirit :) She had so many questions about the temple and she's already planning on attending the temple when she can!!! She has the temple set as her goal!!! Keep praying for her!!!! She is amazing!!!!

That's about it for this week!!! I don't have much time, but we had so many more cool experiences :)

Here's to another 6 weeks in Brookswood!!

I'll be here for sure until May 31st!!!

Love you all so much :)

Sister Peterson

Week 32: Miracles and Hope {British Columbia}

WOW....WHAT A SUPER GOOD WEEK!!! Monday was our awesome P-day...stressful and busy as always!!! We had lunch with Beth { she's a recent convert} which is always nice :) she is so lovely!!! After she drove us in her convertible to feed

the Chickadee's at Campbell Valley Regional Park!!! THE BIRDS WEIGH LIKE NOTHING AND ONE LANDED ON MY HAND AND ATE THE BIRD SEED!!! Remember...I'm from the desert, so this is all new to me!!!! It was so cute!!! We had a lot of fun being bird ladies for the day!!! Monday night...THIS IS THE BEST PART!!!!!! We went and had a member visit with THE MASONS FROM CAMPBELL RIVER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brother and Sister Mason were coming to see their sister, Sister Gomerich, in our ward and attend the temple and so we got to meet with them and catch up!!!! They filled me in on Campbell River!! I miss it so much!!!!! It was such a bittersweet night!!!! I love them so much :) Monday we got a text from one of our investigators that she had read a BUNCH of stuff online and wasn't sure if the church was for her now...OH NO!!!!!!!! We were so nervous!!!! I don't like lots of confrontation and anti stuff because it just makes me upset and frustrated!!! I was really not looking forward to our lesson the

next day!!! When I was praying that night I flipped open my scriptures and it opened to Mosiah and on the side I had written "Hush Your Fears." It talked about how the people prayed that the Lamanites' hearts would be softened so I inserted the investigators name. The next day we met with her and her mom. She said that she had prayed that night and she had her Bible and Book of Mormon and just asked God to help her and she got a CLEAR IMPRESSION that she was doing the right thing. So she said I don't have any of those questions anymore!!!!!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! She is doing so good now!!! She had that spiritual experience and it is totally motivating her to press forward and overcome anything in her way!!! She's being baptized May 1st or 7th....haven't decided yet :) Wednesday we had a fun day! Started with District Meeting and after we decided to go tract down near the USA border! It's

in our area :) hahaha We did lots of walking there's like a mile between each house her, but it was super pretty though!!! When we knocked on doors they kept asking if we were with the derby race...we were like, "No silly we are missionaries!" Eventually we learned that a church in town does an annual car derby race thing on that road every year and it was that weekend. LIKE LITTLE RASCAL STYLE CAR RACE!!!!!!!!!!!!! So cool!! hahaha We had dinner at one of our favorite member's houses and we did a role play restoration lesson with them! We sat around and taught one of their daughters who was the investigator. It was HILARIOUS yet SO GOOD!!! Every member should practice teaching the lessons out of the Thursday was slightly more eventful this week we had an awesome lesson with Cathy our May 1st or 7th baptism date!! We did lots of finding too.....see more eventful :) hahaha jk Friday we met with Jolene!!! She's an investigator we have been trying to get a hold of for a month! This was our last time! AND she was

home so we got to teach her!!!!! It was so good!! She asked us all these questions and why we wear skirts and it was funny!! Later in the day we had a super good miracle! We were tracting in a trailer park and we knocked on a random door. We actually said we would pick the trailer that looked most "grandma like" because most grandmas are nice to us :) So we knocked and started talking to this lady and she said well do you want to come in. I was stoked!!! We went in and taught her the restoration and gave her a Book of Mormon to read and she said she would!!! She is from Fiji!!!! It was awesome!!!  SATURDAY WAS THE BEST!!!!!!!!! So all the missionaries in the Langley and Abottsford area drove to HOPE, BC!! Hope is this little quiet town and is surrounded by mountains!!!  SO BEAUTIFUL!!! We gave HOPE SOME HOPE!!  

Sister Vermeran

So there were about 27-30 missionaries and we each got paired up with a member and we TRACTED THE WHOLE CITY!!!!!!! The church is really new there, so we passed out invitations to an open house!! It was so much fun!! We found so many people for the Senior Missionary Couple there to teach!! It was a miracle packed 2 hours!!!!! I was paired up with the best member ever from Abbotsford Sister Vermeran! On the second door she was starting the conversations and totally loved it! We had a lot of fun!! She said her husband trained the family to invite people. She said they will be out at dinner and he'll slide a card to their daughter and say "You're up!" and whoever he chooses has to pass the card out to the waiter/waitress!!!!!!! haha I was Sunday we had 2 investigators at church!!! Cathy came with her two kids and they did so great!!! Her daughter HATED nursery though...haha!!! They all want to come back next week!!!! Overall it was a great week!!! Lots of miracles and fun moments!!! I hope you all had a great week as well!! I've heard it's been POURING in Vegas!! All I have to say is HAHAHAHH!!!! It's been so WARM AND SUNNY here!! We switched weather :) It's kind of hot though...like 75 degrees!!!

FRIENDS & FAMILY! If you want/need to send me something can you PLEASE send it to the mission home address! Please and Thank You!

Sister Shelby Peterson

8440 Williams Rd.

Richmond, BC

V7A 1G6

Bye for now!!!

Love you all,

Sister Peterson

Week 31: Week of Conferences

Just when I thought I was getting better.....WHAM!!!!!!!!!! Sickness strikes again!!! Even worse than last week!!! BUT we had GREAT WEEK!!!!!! Tuesday was Zone Conference with President and Sister Burt and it was so good! It was 7 1/2 hrs long!!!! We were so spiritually tired but man was it needed!!! We learned how to better our studies and how to exercise better...dun dun dun!!! It was the funniest and best training given by lovely Sister Burt!!! We have been trying really hard this week to do  better and to eat more healthy...somehow it turned into a points system and a competition between Sister Hawke and I {partly my doing....oops!} But we are doing good and trying to be SO HEALTHY!!!!! Across from The Abbotsford Stake Center there is a Punjabi (Sikh) Temple and it looks like Aladdin's palace!!!!! So cool!!! I will send a pictures as soon as I can!! Hahaha Wednesday we had a great day!! Got to ride in the convertible with Beth again!! Top down AWESOME!!!!!!!!! We got lost in Surrey and Beth was like lets ask this man...well after we drove away we ended up driving in a circle and passed the man again...AWKWARD!! Beth was like give him a mormon.org card!!! She's the best recent Convert ever!!! So....Sister Hawke stands up in the back of the convertible and says "hey we forgot to tell you we're missionaries and we just talk to people about God!!!  IT WAS SO FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Convertible Contacting = Check! He said he would look at the new Easter video!! It was awesome!!!! We finally found where we were going :) Later that night we had an awesome lesson with Alyssa! She read the Book of Mormon and only read till 1 Nephi 3 but she said she felt a good feeling and she felt like it was TRUE!!!!!!! SO AWESOME!!!!!!!!! she's so young but man is she in tune with the spirit!!! She said she wants to be Mormon! Somehow we also taught Word of Wisdom and tons of other things!! Hahaha She had so many questions that just tied together!!! She's a gem!!!

Thursdays....I swear the most uneventful days of my mission....we tracted...planned...I promise to make them eventful from this week forward that way I have something to write Hahaha Friday!!! our Bishop texted us and told us he had a family of 5 that want to take the lessons and want to be baptized...at first we were stoked then I opened my planner and realized it was APRIL FOOLS DAY!!!!! Bishop Towns is so funny!!!! We had a great Friday though! We met with Kerry and as we were teaching her she said "one thing on my bucket list is to get baptized"!!!! We were like SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!! We told her that's what we wanted to help her to do!! So we're hoping to have a baptism soon!!! Even her husband who isn't very religious really liked church and liked Elder's Quorum (i was shocked at the latter Hahahahah) She has such great faith and said that our church feels like Home!!! SO excited for her to prepare for baptism!!! We had dinner with an Awesome member family and we had a sweet lesson!! We handed the whole family Restoration Pamplets and we each took turns teaching a point!! THE SPIRIT WAS INTENSE {inside joke sidenote for Cambria: "like camping"} We committed them to take the point they described and teach it to a friend they were excited to do it and invited us back to do the Plan of Salvation the same way!!!!!! It was so cool!!! After we visited a member and their 4 year old daughter Levi...super cute name btw was so excited for us to come!! She told her mom "My hair has to be perfect the missionaries are important. Like the most important on earth" OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!!!! So cute!!!!!!!!! We taught her the plan of salvation and she wanted us to sing Families Can Be Together Forever!! I almost cried :) it was so cute!!!! Saturday was GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best day of the year!!! I really liked this conference!!! I LOVED Eyrings talk!! I Went to conference with questions and all of my questions were pretty much answered by his talk!!! It was so cool!!!!!!! I loved the quote by Holland that Donald L. Hallstrom shared "You can have what you want or you can have something better" we have been sharing that with everyone and then teaching the plan of salvation!!! It's amazing!!! Funny story: so after the 1st session we went to leave and go work again and I COULDN'T FIND THE KEYS!!!!  Seriously lost them!!! All the elders and sisters were cracking up because of Gary E. Stevenson's talk!! I was laughing but so worried because I seriously couldn't find them! Anyway we said a prayer and then found them...the Chinese speaking sisters thought they were theirs Hahahaha So many good talks!!! So much revelation!!! I could send a whole email about that!!! I loved the simplicity of Thomas S. Monson's talk!! Love him!! I LOVED GERRIT W. GONG'S TALK!!! That's something I've really wanted to get better at is Remembering the Savior and he just answered all my questions too!!! As always I loved Holland's talk!!! WE DIED LAUGHING AT THE MEME HE SHOWED!!!!!!!!! He is so genuine and real and so spiritual at the same time!! Love him to death!!! I loved how he said we get credit for trying even if we don't succeed. That makes me feel good!! Especially as a missionary! We try so hard to be so Christlike and do all these things that are expected of us but we aren't invincible and we aren't perfect (even though we want to be) So that gave me great hope that it's a continual thing! That I am blessed even for my simple efforts and small successes!! Conference was so good and so needed!!! Saturday was my 7 month mark!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Moses!!!!!! Less than a year!! It's going by faster now I think!!! SCARY and CRAZY!!!!!

This week was so good!!!! We are doing so good!!!

Hope you all have an awesome week!!!

Love you,

Sister Peterson