First Letter home!! :)

The MTC is amazing. I dont even know how else to say that. Everything about being here in incredible and I am so glad that I got to come her. My teachers are amazing, one is engaged (haha) and the other is pregnant with her 1st! She married one of the teachers that she would co-teach with.. They are both awesome and I learn sooo much from them at the spirit. Expect some letters everybody! :) I wrote letters yesterday and so the letters might be a repeat of what I say here but I am doing great! They say that if each week if you can just "make it til Sunday" then you can make it through anything. The food was soo good the first 3 days. Now I am a little bored of those tastes. We eat a salad at almost every meal along with 5 bowls of fruit. Honey dew, cantaloupe, pineapple, yum yum yum! Sunday's are my favorite so far because we get cordon blue and unlimited BYU creamery ice cream. You all know how much i Love ice cream. I might gain 76 pounds while I am here. But it's all cool! Also on Thursdays is papa johns pizza. Here they mix beans into the rice.. ew ew ew. But I was brave enough to eat it. And I ate tortilenni again. Mom I definitely like Mandarin salad better than half the foods here.... if you know what I mean ;)

To help me ease into the fact that I cant go shopping everyday like I have during the past 2 months, I go to the bookstore with sister Majors everyday. Sometimes we just buy a pen or something silly like that. Today we bought shirts. Tomorrow we'll probably buy the famous MTC water bottle. I have no idea how I am going to pack it up so I might get on the plane wearing a few shirts and a few skirts. haha!  I love my companion. If you want to stalk her on facebook her name is Julie Majors from Salt Lake. She is a ball of sunshine! She's little with short hair and a huge testimony! I really enjoy learning from her and teaching her as well. We started doing lessons with investigators. At first we were both a little nervous but we are getting more in the hang of things and its awesome! 

Thanks for the love from the letters and dear elder emails! Its so fun. I am the most popular one and the first day i got like 20 letters.. No joke... I cried from happiness. Now, the bad thing about that is not all of the letters were for me. They said my name on the outside, but on the inside of the dearelder letters they were addressed to Kimberly Peterson. No idea who she is. Some girl in Utah who is dating this boy named Brayden. In one of the letters he said, "will you marry me? ... I am just practicing saying that for the future!" hahaha. It's so funny. Because on dear elder they print all of the letters in continuations so my letters and her letters mesh together on one sheet, depending on how short or long the emails are. It's exciting though. I feel really blessed!

Also, I saw this girl and she recognized me from the Tomnod group. There was a post about if amber and jonathon would be seal and I was commenting a lot on it (go ahead and go look for it) and I was just talking about eternal marriage and the church and stuff, and she recognized me and said "Sister Peterson, are you the peterson that was commenting on the tomnod group about jonathon and amber being seal? You are such a great example and I love how you were able to share your testimony with those who are not of our faith." It was super sweet! Also I know everybody here from the facebook group. I feel kind of cool. I ran into Elder Penrod. We got a picture with our companionship's- I will try to attach them. Also I say Monica Leftwich's brother! He has been here since the 18th and he finally leaves to Korea tomorrow! I went and talked with him and it was fun!

Mom can you send me that quote on your bathroom cupboard in the toilet room that talks about how we are more afraid of our light than our darkness. Can you send that through dear elder? Thanks. Also, you know the neighbors that live in Hannah's house directly across the street and to the left of the guy with the mini cooper? The Auna's? What is there first names? An elder in my zone's name is Auna and he thinks he's related so I wanted to be able to tell him their names.

There is an elder (Elder Taylor) in my District, he is the DL and he is from Canada. Everytime he opens his mouth me and sister majors cry from laughing and everything funny he says. Sis Majors got a letter and in the return address in the top left corner it said "Sir Michael DR." So, he tells sis majors "you got a letter from sir michael doctor" hahahaha. She goes "Sir michael drive?! Thats my address!" it was a hoot. A few seconds later we ran to the restroom and had almost peed our pants. I feel bad because I know I distract the group a lot because everything is so funny but I just cant help it!! I made it 5 days. I am happy. It was fun to have andrew pick me up. He dropped me off at Hilary's and then me and Hil went and picked up Amy and then she treated me to lunch! We went to Slab- this super delicious pizza place and they give you these huge slices. We got this buffalo wing pizza and a bacon chicken ranch I think. I am grateful. The three of us had a lot of fun. It reminded me when I used to go get frosty's all the time, I was like a celebrity in Wendys. That's how Hilary was in the pizza joint :) So exciting!! 

Anyone of my BYUI Friends reading this, Sister Cheney went to BYU-I and she knows most of all my roommates and like everybody on my facebook friends. I listed them off to her. She lived in apt 24 so she was in the other ward when she was up there but she was in nursing school and went to byui for like 7-9 semester straight and graduated with her license. She will most likely be her mission nurse :) Tempe is lucky to have her! She's incredible! unfortunately half of our zone leaves tomorrow for AZ but Wednesday we will get a new district to join our zone and it will be fun getting to know them! We have this sharing box on our floor and basically if you get a package and you get a lot of candy and you cant eat it all, then you can donate it to the sharing box. Let's just say me and Sis majors have made trips to the sharing box quite a few times. We got doritos, Cake balls, gormet cupcakes, krispy cremes, starburst, sugar babies, Reeses cups, popcorn, rolos, and more! We are stocking up for fast Sunday!!! hahaha.  Also in the donation box I got myself some biologe shampoo and some other things like that. I am set!! The sisters on our floor are so sweet. Other floors don't have anything in the sharing box. haha. We raid all the boxes on each floor. Except floor 2 because its always empty! :)

We went and did a session at the temple this morning and the Provo temple was absolutely beautiful!! Then we went back and I took a nice wonderful, long nap. I realized once I put ear plugs in I fall asleep real quick! I can tell that I get a good sleep because I drool everywhere on my pillow slip!  I love being here in the MTC. There are people all around to lift each other up and inspire us! It's fun to be around so many people with so much potential and the same goal: Bring others close to Christ. I just love it. I love everybody here. There is this one sister that is in the same building as me and she is almost always crying. I think she's having a hard time. I just want to go up and give her the biggest hug ever! I know she will be amazing. I've already heard her bear her testimony and she will do amazing. We just have to make it through 1 more Sunday! I love everything that I am learning and going on splits with the missionaries DEFINITELY helped! It gave me an insight to how things really are going to be. I miss them a lot! 

Well, Here's to another great week! I hope you all are doing well! :)

P.s. Ashleigh Peterson- Happy Early Birthday!

Love, 

Sister Peterson.

Kinsie entered the MTC today!

Right Before Kinsie got dropped off at the MTC.

Amy Peterson, Hilary Thomsen, Kinsie Peterson

Kinsie's Farewell Talk

Hello everybody! Like bishop said I am headed to the Santa Rosa California mission on Wednesday and I am thrilled. I never thought I would EVER be the one up here giving a farewell talk, or be the one leaving on a mission. But here I am, and I am happy! Looking back, I have seen some things happen in my life that without knowing it then, I think have prepared me for a mission.  Today I just wanted to share with you about the experiences that let me to know that I should serve a mission. After I graduated High School I moved to Thatcher to go to college. I learned many things there. But probably the most important lesson that I learned was that I needed to depend on heavenly father. I moved up there about a week before all my roommates did to start work. The first thing I did was pray to have friends and that I would find friends who were uplifting and good people! About the 2^nd night I was there, I met up with one of my friends from hair school that was also going to be starting school with me and we went out and met tons of people! I instantly made friends and it made my transition from home very easy. But it didn’t stay easy. About a week later I went with some friends to this big pond with a rope swing and went off this rope swing into a pond, and after landing, I realized it was only about 8 inches deep in the spot that I had launched my whole body into, and I broke my foot. It made for a rough beginning to the semester. I then had to quit my job, and change my schedule so that I didn’t have to walk the half mile to campus and back all day on crutches. I got a blessing and at the point I knew that I had to have the faith to be healed and trust that Heavenly Father that he would take care of me. He did.  My testimony of the priesthood was strengthened as I turned to him in prayer often and relied on the power of my healing blessing to help me get better. The following semester I moved to a different complex and I became best friends with my roommate. I learned a lot from her.  She was always excited about the gospel and I admired that a lot. We both had really heavy schedules, I was taking 22 credits and she was taking almost the same amount as me, but we made a goal to go to the temple each week. The first time we went it was awesome. There is hardly ever anyone in the Gila Valley Temple so we became great friends with the workers. The next day we both finished our homework and both were just like “hey. Lets go to the temple again!” So we did. We made this a routine. I started noticing that the more we went to the temple, the more time we found to do homework, and the better our grades got! We would go to the temple so much and it turned into an amazing experience. It really helped me learn the importance of temples on this earth.   In the church news there was an article written about temples, and in there the author said about the temple, “Instead of feeling like I was merely meeting some requirement, a deadline that loomed repetitively on a self-written checklist, I suddenly felt, in a way, free. My motivation for attending the temple no longer came primarily from a sense of duty. Instead, I was going because I honestly desired the peace that comes from temple service—and I found it.”   End quote. The Gila Valley Temple became home for me.  It became the place I went to if I was stressed, if I was struggling, or if I needed to feel more at peace. Just as Jenny Ewald said, “The comfort, the learning, the quiet strength, and the eternal perspective that come from the temple are blessings beyond my ability to describe.” I love that because that’s exactly what I felt was happening to me. It was during this time in my life that I decided I would start getting a blessing each month just to keep me on the right path during school and my personal journey through life. In August 2012 I got a blessing and it said that a life changing event was going to happen and that I would be prepared for it. Two months later the mission age changed. I sort of found it annoying as every girl in the town was talking about how they were going on a mission. It was soon after that I began getting the dreaded question, “Are you going on a mission?” My immediate answer was always No! I wasn’t planning on serving a mission. I dreamed of going to school, getting a boyfriend, getting married, having a child, and having a worry free life. Clearly we all know that most of the time those plans don’t go very smoothly and they usually don’t go the way we want them to all the time. After the announcement in general conference I didn't think anything of it or connect it with the words and promises from that blessing I had previously received.  The following Spring semester came around and I wanted to go to the temple more often and get back in a routine like I had in the past. I started the semester off walking to the temple with my roommate and throwing the idea around of going on a mission. I was unsure if this was a path that I should take. I wrote about it in my journal saying that I would fast about it, but that was about as far as I got. I never got some big answer or revelation after that point guiding me to go. But at the same time, I never did my end of the work; I never went back and reflected on it, and I mostly just pushed it aside for a long time. In doctrine and Covenants section 9 verse 8 it reads, “ 8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must ^astudy it out in your^bmind; then you must ^cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your ^dbosom shall ^eburn within you; therefore, you shall^ffeel that it is right.”   I was waiting for something more profound to happen so that I would KNOW that a mission was for me. It never came. Little did I realize that I got my answer way before I had the question. I graduated at the end of that spring semester and moved home to get a job before heading up to BYU-Idaho for my next semester of school. My plans were to work and earn money in Mesa for a while, then move up to Idaho in early September and begin school. Then halfway through the summer I got fired from my job and panicked! But within hours of being fired I rearranged my plans and had a new plan of moving up to Idaho way early and getting a job up there & I felt good about it. August 1st rolled a rounded and I headed up there and got moved in. I applied at every place in Rexburg. I walked the town everyday giving companies my resume and spent hours online filling out applications everyday. I was beginning to get discouraged. Meanwhile, the first two weeks of being in Idaho, one of my best friends was in the MTC and so I wrote her on dearelder.com for free each morning. I would tell her about my scripture study, different interviews I had, but I mostly told her about how I couldn't find a job. She would email me each week in reply to my letters and tell me that she’s praying for me, and that I need to just depend on Heavenly Father and keep praying!!  I interviewed at a few places but those companies mainly just needed morning shift workers which didn't work with my school schedule. I fasted a lot about getting a job, and spent long nights in prayer asking Heavenly Father to guide me to a job.  My patience was definitely tested and I had to really learn the lesson of doing all that I can, and trusting that Heavenly Father would help me out with the rest. And he did. But first, I had to learn the lesson for myself. On LDS.org under the topic of revelation it says, “We should be patient and trust in the Lord's timing. “  I had a hard time doing that. I needed a job to be financial stable while attending school and I couldn’t understand why nothing was working out. Eventually my prayers were answered, but it was in a different way. I didn't get a job that I wanted, I didn’t get paid as much as I would have like, and it wasn’t with a company that I particularly was proud of, but I had a job and I had a lot of fun. I worked with mostly LDS people and learned many lessons. I learned what it felt like to get hit by a car on my way to work. I learned what frozen nose hairs feels like. I learned how to ride a bike on the icy roads in the snow in -10 degrees. Anyone who’s ever had to go through that definitely knows the struggle I’m referring to! I had a job that I was happy at, and it was an answer to my prayers.  Since I moved up to Rexburg about 7 weeks before school started, most of which I spent jobless until shortly before school started, I had a lot of free time on my hands. My sister and I were roommates and we would hang out all day. We would go on campus a lot. Whether it was just to use the printers, turn in applications, or go workout, we were on campus often. There is something special about campus at BYU-Idaho. You can walk on campus and feel the spirit. It’s really amazing. President Boyd K Packer described this perfectly. He said, “Perhaps the single greatest thing I learned from reading the Book of Mormon is that the voice of the Spirit comes as a feeling rather than a sound. “ I definitely felt the spirit on campus often. Also I spent a lot of time day dreaming. I wanted to get into the college Disney program and intern at Disney world and also go on a cruise to the Bahamas before I started my internship. I figured out my life for the next year. And I was really pleased. I also met some awesome friends and really learned and grew from them, and convinced them all to apply for the internship with me! It all was going to be perfect. I was excited for my new adventures that would take place the following year. I paid my deposit for my housing which was about $400 nonrefundable, and I searched for my cruise to the Bahamas. I was dead set on going. I found the best deal online. A 4 day cruise to the Bahamas for $169. I check everyday online for about 3 weeks to make sure that cruise was still there. Finally one day I was like “ok! Well I am going to buy this cruise, so I cant change any of my life plans because I’m going to reserve my spot!” Later that night I log into the cruise website, entered all of my information, put in my debit card number and sat there for a few minutes. I had this feeling that I shouldn’t book the cruise. I pondered about that feeling for a few minutes thinking to myself “well, if this doesn’t feel right Heavenly Father, then am I still going to do my internship? It’s all happening in Florida…” Once again my patience was tested as I tried to figure out how much longer I needed to wait until I booked this cruise. Life went on by the cruise was on the back of my mind everyday.  I went to meet with the bishop after the semester started and I got a calling. I was called to serve as a ward missionary. I was honestly a little disappointed! I specifically told them that I needed a calling that dealt with food. Either the meals after church, or Family night meals on Monday night. SOMETHING. But nope, ward missionary it was. And to add to the disappointment I was over the Italian indexing. ITALIAN. I don’t know Italian. I barely like Italian food either. I downloaded my first batch of Italian names. I couldn’t read one thing on there! There are 15 names per batch and it took me over 6 hours to fill out half a batch. I definitely didn’t have time like that to spend indexing.  I don’t know if any of you have tried a bath of Italian indexing, but they aren’t really easy! But, I knew it was my calling and that I needed to do it. I prayed and told heavenly father that this needed to start making sense to me really fast, or else I was going to give up. I stuck to it and eventually I could do a whole batch in less than 2 hours. I thought it was such an accomplishment. I went to our indexing meeting and shared the good news with everybody. Then I heard some girl say “I can do it in like 30 minutes.” I was like no way. I have to step it up and be faster than her. That week I got my times down and was able to do a batch in less then 1 hour. Then 30 minutes. Eventually I made it down to less than 20 minutes a batch. I was officially a pro. I would report my indexed names to a girl in my ward and she would give everyone’s numbers to the bishopric. Me and that girl started to become really great friends. I learned to trust her, and she became someone that I could talk to about many things and someone that I could turn to for advice. One day we were talking and I was telling her about my Disney Internship which I was scheduled to attend this upcoming April, and about how I was so excited and that it was going to be THE BEST THING OF MY LIFE. She, being the wonderful return missionary that she is, said something like, “Kinsie. That’s not the best thing. Remember the good better best talk? I think that would rank on the ‘Good’ part of the scale.” After a few talks about missions and her wonderful uplifting spiritual conversations we would have, a thought crossed my mind that maybe, just MAYBE, I could go on a mission and be a successful missionary. I eventually found myself visiting her apartment often in hopes that she would tell me more stories about her mission! And she did. I looked forward to talking to her more and more because I loved hearing her stories and feeling the spirit. Finally I decided I was going to do it. I was going to serve a mission. That night I prayed a lot about serving a mission.  One late night on November 3^rd, after having another inspiring talk about her about how awesome her mission was, I went home and prayed. I felt prompted to read my patriarchal blessing. I’ve read my patriarchal blessing every Sunday since I received it. I’m to the point where I basically have it memorized. But that night, so many more things stood out to me. As I read those sentences and paragraphs in my blessing they basically screamed out GO ON A MISSION.  I never really saw that in my blessing before until that night. I was still nervous about it though so I turned to the scriptures. Of course, that gave me so much more comfort and peace and the scripture that I randomly turned to and read was about missionary work. It was no coincidence to me. But before I made my decision permanent I decided it would be best to take it to the temple and ponder it a little more. I knew that in the temple I would probably get the same yes answer again, so without hesitation on November 4^th I called and scheduled my dental exam and shots. Monday the 4^th seemed to just drag on ever so slowly. It meant that I had to wait a whole day to go to the temple, since it wasn’t open on Monday. Meanwhile, I scheduled to meet with the bishop and had an appointment to talk with him about started my papers and it was scheduled for a few hours after my Tuesday afternoon temple trip. Finally Tuesday came around and I went to the temple. As I sat in the baptistery (explain the Rexburg temple) there were no scriptures for me to read. So, I did that obnoxious thing where I read over the shoulder of the girl next to me, because she was reading the book or Mormon. She was in Alma 32. So I started with verse 1 which reads, “And it came to pass that they did go forth, and began to preach the word of God unto the people, entering into their synagogues, and into their houses; yea, and even they did preach the word in their streets.” This was an answer to me. Missionary work. That’s my answer. I need to become a missionary. This is real. I was going to prepare for a mission! So that night I met with the bishop, unfortunately he couldn’t open my mission papers without talking with previous bishops who were both out of town so I had to wait a few days to start my papers. Meanwhile I prayed and told Heavenly Father that if a mission is what I need to do, that I need to have time to get all of my paper work and appointments finished, while working 30-35 hours a week and going to school full time with loads and loads of homework on the side. I don’t know how it all worked out so well, but it did.

On the 6^th I got my mission dental exam.

At 11pm the night of the 7^th my papers were officially opened and I started them the next morning.

On the 8^th I got my immunizations

On the 9^th I had all of my information online completed

On the 10^th I had my friend take some cute pictures for my mission

On the 11^th I completed my medical paperwork and doctor visits

On the 12^th I got 2 cavities filled and my dentist signed my dental work off, then later that night I took all my papers to the bishops and he entered some stuff and turned it into the stake president.

Then I had to wait until the 19^th to meet with the stake president. That was the longest 7 days of my life. He pushed submit on my papers after my last interview and I went home and celebrated. I didn’t really tell many people, except a couple roommates and my parents. After that I called home to tell all of my siblings that I was going on a mission.

On the 22^nd my call was assigned which meant it was going to be mailed out just a few short days later!! This was definitely the longest but fastest 3 and a half weeks ever. But the fun doesn’t stop there. I waited at the mail box all morning the day after thanksgiving and the mail man showed up and gave me my mission call. I carried that thing around ALL DAY. We went to Idaho Falls to go shopping, and to red robin to celebrate. Because it was thanksgiving there was only like 8 people in Rexburg during the break. I decided I was going to wait til Sunday night to open my mission call. That idea didn’t last. My family here in Arizona was having a party for my grandma and my dad suggested we skype during the party and open it. THE PARTY WAS AT SEVEN PM. SEVEN! After carrying it around all day I couldn’t wait til seven, so, I decided to steam it open. I took a pot and a butter knife over to my friends empty apartment (because nobody locks their doors in Rexburg!) and started steaming it. I should have thoroughly watched the YouTube video because for some reason it wasn’t working. So I left it on the pot of boiling water and my sister turned their shower on thinking that maybe I could just stand in the bathroom with it and that the steam and heat would make it open faster. Meanwhile, as I come out of the bathroom I smell something burning. It was my mission call. Sitting on top of a pan of boiling water with a little flame and some smoke. I had lit the envelope with my mission call it in on fire. I knew there would be no explain this to my dad so I had to fix it! I had to cover it. I had to do something! But before I fixed the problem, I HAD to look and see where I was called. Because the Lord had prepared me all semester with doing Italian indexing, I KNEW that I would get called to Italy. I just knew it. I also had become the #1 Italian indexer at BYU-Idaho and I just figured that was Heavenly Fathers way of hinting me. Boy was I a little off on my assumption! I opened it up and read that I was being called to California. I cannot even explain the comfort that I received knowing that I didn’t have to go to Italy. At that moment I realized I was happy that I didn’t have to leave the country, and I was happy that I didn’t have to learn a language.  It was one of those “Yep, California is where I am supposed to be going” feelings. Some of you who have been on missions know the “feeling” I am referring too! I knew it was right for me, and that California is where I needed to go teach the gospel to His people.  I didn’t look at anything else in the envelope because I semi-felt guilty for opening it early, and for burning it on fire a little bit! Now it was time for Operation “get this mission call looking normal for Skype in 3 hours!!!” We were able to make it look new again by gluing copy paper down to the large flat back and creating a new envelope flap with a 2^nd piece of paper. It looked excellent after that. That night I opened it on Skype with my family and did a pretty good job of looking surprise if I say so myself! I figured over the pulpit was the best way to tell them all so this is news for most of them!  It was a really fun experience discovering that I would be serving a mission and teaching others about the gospel.

I hope that I can change people’s lives as much as the gospel has changed mine. I have a testimony of this church and I love this gospel.

And I am grateful for all of the ward members who help strengthen my testimony through their talks and sharing their testimony during fast Sundays, and for my friends and family who have supported me thru out my life.

I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet.

And I am so excited to teach the people in California about the gospel and to share my testimony with them that Christ lives and love each and every one of us!

 And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Afterwards for announcements say:

Also, this is an unofficial announcement that tonight at my house there will be treats and a party from 6-8 if you want to stop over and say BYE! I’d love to see you. My address is in the ward directory and on facebook! 

Kinsie Opening her Mission Call