Sister Peterson Visiting Santa!

Heart

Well, the Wind is keeping us sane out here in Coredlia! And we love

wind! :)This week slowed down a little bit. We still taught more lessons than

last week but most of them were online!

Monday we only taught one lesson, to our investigator named Rico. We

gave him a restoration DVD and told us that when he was little he
watched it and he didn't ever really remember what it was called, so
when we handed him this DVD he said that he would watch it right away.
After the lesson he texted us and said he loved it.

Tuesday we taught a lot of lessons. The coolest one was Tania. She was
a referral from another investigator and she is sweet. She has 3
children and is going through a lot. She should be evicted  because
she can't afford rent but for some reason they are letting her still
live in her apt still.  We did a house blessing with her and it was
way sweet. After I was done saying the house blessing I looked up and
she was in tears. We talked about the Holy Ghost and she could
definitely feel it!  We also invited her to be baptized. She is a
non-practicing Jehovah's Witness but is open to learning more!

Wednesday we taught a few homeless people. My favorite was Arthur. He
is a sweet man, maybe early thirties. He is going through a hard time
being homeless and all, and letting go of his past. He told us he
wants to go to church but he doesn't want people to judge him if he
doesn't dress like everyone else. He has a nice heart. We are getting
him connected with the ward employment specialist so help Arthur get a
job and get his life turned back around. He has a bright future ahead
of him, but he just needs to get things squared away first. Wednesday
was also the day we were having a contest as a zone for who could get
the most contacts. Obviously, my companionship won. We ended with 110
contacts, and 6 lessons. Score!!

Thursday we taught some awesome lessons. Started off with our weekly
service project for sis Kirkland and Book of Mormon lesson. Then
headed off to the hassells for a lesson with her grand daughter Mika,
who is loving with them for the summer. Mika was baptized at age 8 but
that's it. No follow up gospel discussions or anything and her parents
are not active anymore. We are teaching her all the lessons during
lunch time each week and they also feed us. :) good combo. She is
grasping the lessons really well and we also gave her a young women's
necklace, the torch one, and challenged her to start personal
progress.  Then we went and taught Steve Arendez. He was an
investigator in the area before we got here so he got passed off over
to us. He has been taught about 4 or 5 times and he is progressing
smoothly.

Friday was weekly planning.. Anyone who's been on a mission knows how

exciting that is.... haha. 

Saturday we did service basically all day. Sunday was relaxed. This was a 

calm week. This upcoming week we have back to back lessons schedule 

almost everyday. 

Here are some of our investigators to pray for: 

-Steve

-Karen

-Tania

-Tyesha

-Rico

-Mark

And pray for the Elect to be found all over the world :) Love you all!

♥♥Sister Peterson

Cordelia and our windy adventures

This week has been great! Slow, but great! We are having a fun time
opening up this area. Our ward loves sisters! :) hope you all have a
great week! Love you!! <3

450 Pittman Road #826

Fairfield, CA 94534

New address. Goodbye Vacaville

This was a bitter sweet weekend. We found out transfer doctrine. I am
leaving vacaville.

My new address will be:
450 Pittman rd. #826
Fairfield California 94533

I will be serving in Cordelia and opening up a new area there. I am
pretty excited. My new companion will be Sister Vanderniet. We both
love chick-fil-a and we now will be serving together in a city that
has one :) #sostoked. I love vacaville a lot and I cried during relief
society when they had me say the closing prayer. But I know there is
plenty good ahead for me in Cordelia so I am excited and happy for the
change!

I finished off strong in vacaville. Taught a ton of lessons and
definitely felt the spirit a lot. We had some great lessons. We guilt
tripped our investigators into coming to sacrament meeting for my last
Sunday here. It worked! (Miracle.) We actually used that excuse for
everything we did all week long :)  We did have a really great lesson
with our investigator named Tom. He has been taught the restoration
and the Plan of Salvation and now we are teaching him a few
commandments. We gave him a baptismal date (yay!!!!) for August 23
(miracle) and are so excited. We invited him to our ward Fourth of
July breakfast at the park and he came. He knows a few people from the
ward because they all go golfing together. Small world. :) He has
awesome fellow-shippers and that will help him feel more support as he
progresses. We taught a lot of lessons to less actives and part member
families. It is fun to help them find their testimony again and to
help them gain that desire to strengthen it. I had my last lesson with
the Ruckers and it was so sweet. They have gone from inactive to
ACTIVE!!!!! (Miracle.) It was an exciting journey with them and I am
grateful I got to be apart of that. I have felt the spirit really
strong during several lessons with their family and have learned a lot
from them as well :)    We had a solid lesson set up for Tuesday with
an investigator named Kassidy that wants to be baptized! The only
thing that is stopping her is her parents. Well a few weeks ago the
first presidency released a notice saying that lesson five is going to
be taught before baptism now, instead of after. Since Kassidy has had
all the other lessons already we decided to start with Priesthood and
Auxiliaries. Five minutes before the lesson she sent us a text saying
"my dad, tony, wants to come. Is that okay?" We said yes. It made us
so nervous because her dad has been reading anti Mormon literature. We
immediately called Ben Kroes- a return missionary who is a bible
scriptorian. Ben luckily was available at minutes notice (miracle) and
was the perfect fellow-shipper because he was able to answer tons of
Tonys questions about the Book of Mormon and the Bible. Tony said he
would like to learn more. (Miracle.) Then later that night we got a
text from Kassidy saying that her dad has been a lot more open with
her and he was starting to be more accepting. (Miracle.) This week was
just full of miracles.

Everyone tells me that leaving your greenie area is hard so my address
is at the top for when you feel inspired to send me a pick-me-up
letter :) love you all!!

Sister Peterson

Teachings from the Scriptures

This week we have been able to see our investigators progress. It is fun to see them immerse themselves in the scriptures and use the book of Mormon to gain answer to their questions as well as peace and comfort in their lives. I too am thankful for the Book of Mormon in my life. As I get to study it each day it reminds me that We are loved so much by our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. This wee I have been Studying Helaman and 3 Nephi. In Helaman 11. I love the repetition "Oh, Lord" (8 times). It is a gentle reminder that we need to council with the Lord in ALL of our doings. I know that prayer is 2 way communication with Heavenly Father and as we turn to him for guidance he WILL answer us. He WILL guide us. He WILL comfort us. He WILL help us. But we have to turn to Him first. To all of you doing missionary work, keep it up. To all of you not, today is the perfect day to start! I love you all! Thank you for the letters and packages. It is amazing how much of a boost a little love from family and friends can do! :)

Sister Peterson

5301 Badger Road
Santa Rosa, CA
95409

P.S.
If you would like to help me out with the missionary work in Vacaville, here is what you can do:

1) Pray specifically for the investigators by name and pray that they will come to sacrament meeting. 

2) Pray that they will progress towards the waters of Baptism!

Here are the names of our current investigators:

-Judy Frendo

-Rachel Meier

-My Lisa Meier

-Cozette Pyeatte

-Nick Neal

-Bob Wallan

-Kassidy Ha

-Gail

-Don Frost

-Tom

-Bella Jackson

Finally-High Key Indicators! :)

This week has been yet another great one! We ended with 5 new investigators and 29 lessons! We also had TWO INVESTIGATORS COME TO SACRAMENT MEETING! Yay!! It was so fun yesterday. I couldn't stop smiling. One of the boys, Logan, committed to baptism and we are going to give him a baptismal date. He said that he has never been baptized and that baptism is something he's always wanted but never knew which church to get baptized in. He stayed for all 3 hours and during priesthood meeting he was even participating and raising his hand asking questions! But bummer thing is that he is 21 so he will be passed off to the singles ward missionaries. But non the less, it's all the same work and we are so excited!

We had a great lesson with Judy Frendo about temples. She said that she often feels the presence of her husband and we told her that 4 days after she gets baptized, she can go to the temple and get her husband baptized! She had no idea that she could get herself and her husband baptized in the same week. We talked about how in the temple the veil is even thinner and she asked us how we felt in the temple doing baptisms. We each shared an experience about when we have felt the presence of the people who's work we were completing. It was a very special lesson.  Everything seems to be going well in Vacaville. I think my time here is winding down ever so rapidly. I love Vacaville and the people here.

This week in my scripture studies (I am still doing the 90 challenge, and I am in Alma) I decided that to make my studies more productive each day I would pick a different attribute of Christ and find and look for different ways that the people in the scriptures use or live that certain Christ-like attribute! It really has made me scripture study more effective as I am able to see how the people in the scriptures are abiding the teachings of Christ and living by them. It's been such a cool experience. Well, That's all for this week!

Love you all!
Sister Peterson

P.S.
If you would like to help me out with the missionary work in Vacaville, here is what you can do:

1) Pray specifically for the investigators by name and pray that they will come to sacrament meeting. 

2) Pray that they will progress towards the waters of Baptism!

Here are the names of our current investigators:

-Judy Frendo

-Shelly and Kent

-Cozette Pyeatte

-Nick Neal

-Bob Wallan

-Logan Bahr

-Christina

-Gail

-Bella Jackson

Missionary Fun

On Friday elder Falabella, from the quorum of the seventy came and
spoke to us. He told us that we need to be full time missionaries. He
started telling us characteristics of a full time missionary. We all
raised our hand in commitment to raise the bar and be even more
committed.
The next morning we committed to give it more effort and enthusiasm
than we had yet!

Saturday we had some special experiences. We headed out to the country
to find less active families. The first family we went to let us in!
One day they decided that they "were taking a break from the church."
We were determined to teach them, but they decided instead that they
wanted to explain to us how they became atheist. We tried to talk more
about their experience of getting married in the temple, but the wife
persistently kept informing us of why the church was wrong. Finally I
pulled out my iPad and wrote a note that said "testify and get
out!!!!" and got my companion's attention and we left as quickly as
possible. It is sad to me to watch someone, who was sealed in the
temple, not keep their covenants. We wanted to help them. But first,
they need to help themselves. After a few more lessons, we headed over
to the last family's house. Right when we got to the intersection, I
could see this less actives family's house off to the left in the
distance that we had planned to visit. It was at that moment that I
realized that they were not less active. I sat & had this feeling
"don't visit them. Go find someone else." But I was so clueless! My
companions don't know the area too well, so I feel a lot of weight on
my shoulders often. As I sat there for about 45 seconds finally one of
my companions said pointing straight ahead "can we knock on that
house?" It was this pretty blue country house/mansion. I was all for
it! I love pretty houses. We pulled into the driveway, said a prayer
and knocked on the door. This lady named Covette answered the door.
She was SO nice. We taught her the restoration on her doorstep, gave
her a Book of Mormon, taught her how to pray, and invited her to be
baptized. She said she would read the Book of Mormon, pray about the
restoration, and be baptized if she got the answer from God that she
should! Awesome possum! She has three children, 12, 10, and 6. We were
so thrilled and are excited to teach her family.

I know that God placed us in her path. I know that He was behind
everything that happened Saturday night, and that he is leading us
to those prepared to be baptized. But just like how He is leading my
missionary life- he is also leading your life. When we search for
answers, ponder, and pray about different choices we have to make in
life, I know that Heavenly Father WILL reveal to us the answers. He
knows what is next to come in our lives. Why not go to the true, all
knowing source? :)


An elder in my ward shared this with me:
    "A basketball in my hands is worth about $20.99. A basketball in
The hands of laBron James is worth about 19 million per year; It
depends on whose hands it's in. A tennis racket in my hands is worth
about $17.00. A tennis racket in the hands of Serena Williams is worth
about 20 million; Depends on whose hands it is in. A baseball in my
hands is worth about $3. A baseball in the hands of Derek Jeter is
worth about $35 million; It depends on who's hands it's in.
    Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands would make a few fish
sandwiches. Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in the Saviors hands will
feed about 5000 people until they're full, and still leave twelve
baskets left over; it depends on whose hands they're in. Some nails in
my hands are worth about five cents. Some nails in the Saviors hand
will provide eternal salvation for each person who has ever lived on
this earth and all of heavenly fathers children. It depends on who's
hands they're in.
    When we put our life in the hands of our Savior we can achieve
infinitely more than we ever could on our own. It depends on who whose
hands it's in."

Love you all! Have a great week!!! :)
Sister Peterson!!