Day 20

I will have to make a collage or something of each day out in the mission field. She takes a picture of herself everyday with a sign.

Week 4! :)

Hello Everyone!!!!!!

 

This week has been amazing!!!! We taught a lot of lessons and contacted a lot of people! We have been getting a lot of return appointments from contacting (tracting) and we have met some very very sweet families. This week I was reminded about the power Satan tries to have over us when a member of our ward shared a story with us. He and his wife were suppose to get sealed in the temple on this particular day and That week thier whole family got sick with the flu. They called the bishop and told him that they were probably going to need to reschedule their sealing. (they were both converts). But the bishop called them back and told them about how Satan is going to try to do anything to stop their eternal progression here on earth. The bishop advised them to keep their temple date and just go anyways. When they got their recommends scanned and walked into the temple the flu symptoms left and they were feeling 100% better! They were able to get sealed and they werent sick at all. After the sealing after they walked out of the temple they were both so ill again that they couldnt get pictures. but they were so amazing at the Lord's hand in their life, and that their sickness was taken away from them for a short amount of time so they could be sealed. I know that as we all strive to do the Lord's will, He will bless us and carry us through these hard times. We cannot let the adversary stop us from progressing eternally. It just amazes me how hard Satan pushes us to rebel, and how Gentle God commands us to do good.

 

During exchanges on Tuesday, I was with sister Warnock (from Washington) and we were tracting this street and after about the 3rd house she said that she didnt have a good feeling about this neighborhood and that we should leave. I agreed and we quickly left. Then, on Friday, my comp and I had a rather scary experience as we were trying to contact a referral. As we walked into this particular home, it was as if we walked into Darkness.  The spirit could not be felt in this home and it was so strange. The house was old, vacant looking on the outside, and hoarder looking on the inside. This creepy lady let us in and then she asked us to follow her through the house to go get her son. I phyiscally could not move. I tried to take a step, and I couldnt. I looked at my comp and said "let's just stay here." The lady went through a door and called out for her son (30's ish) and as he walked into the room this super dark feeling overcame me and my companion and we were so lost/confused. We tried to be friendly to this man and he wasnt accepting of it. We took that as a clue to get out asap. We quickly ended the conversation and tried to head for the door. Well, the old creepy lady locked the door after we walked in and we tried to unlock it and after a few seconds we shuffled out. My comp and I talked about it and she said "DID YOU FEEL THAT!?" I said YES!!! It was just so scary and you could tell that satan was within the walls of that home.

 

I was reflecting back on how I felt on tuesday when we didnt have a good feeling about a different particular street. I learned about the importance of following the promptings of the spirit, even when we don't understand why! There probably wasnt anything wrong with the first street that we went to on Tuesday, but Heavenly Father taught us what "that feeling" feels like when we need to leave a certain area. As we were in the scary home with the creepy lady I felt the same prompting from earlier last week and was able to recognize it. I am grateful that we are able to use the spirit not only to guide what we say, but also to guide us where we go or where we shouldnt go! I am so glad to be a member of this church and to be able to have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion each day. I love being a missionary and planting seeds in the hearts of these people in Vacaville.  :)

 

Sister K Peterson

Lessons learned from a homeless man

Check out more of Kinsie's Pictures here.

This past week has been awesome. We have seen many miracles and talked to a lot of people about the church. Sometimes approaching others and talking to people about the gospel is hard for me. I have sometimes struggled walking up to random people here and telling them that we are servants of Jesus Christ and that we are out sharing the message of the restored gospel. One thing that has really helped me over come that, is thinking about Jesus Christ at my side. For some people we come in contact with, they may have never heard of the restored gospel and may never hear about it again! To help me gain confidence to speak to them, I picture Christ next to me, pointing to them, and saying "that is my brother. Tell him about the gospel. Help him please." Heavenly Father wants all of his children back with Him but in order for that to happen we need to open our mouths! We need to have courage to share the message of the restored gospel with everyone that we love and know.

This week I learned a great lesson from a homeless man. For anyone who doesn't know, I have a soft spot in my heart for the homeless. As we were talking to him and his wife, he told us that his son is a member of the church and lives in Preston Idaho. We told him that we are servants of Jesus Christ and we are out sharing the message of the gospel. We asked him how his faith in Jesus Christ helps him in his life. He told us that he believes in Jesus Christ, and that they always have enough it get by. They never have extra, but they have enough.(he and his wife are not members). He told us that if they get too much food, it will spoil quickly and go to waste. But he kept mentioning that he always has enough. This reminded me of the "daily bread pattern" Mormon message. When the people were eating manna, they always had enough, but they could only get enough for 1 day, and then they trusted in The Lord that the next day they would be able to receive some more. This homeless man exemplified this lesson in real life. He told us to keep preaching about God and to never give up. He said "when things start to get bad, don't give up. That's satan trying to convince you to quit. Just keep doing what you are doing. God bless you." Talking to him put me in tears. He has nothing and he is so grateful for the little that he does receive, and he gives the credit to God. What a wonderful lesson to learn from.

Now on to the funny things that happen this week. When sister agura and I were out contacting, we knocked of the door and this lady answered it. We introduced ourselves and asked if she lived with her family. She had 3 children. She was holding one on her hip and there was another one running around and and the third child was in one of those bouncers. I looked twice to at baby in the bouncer and said, "She is so cute! How old is she?" The mom then proceeded to tell us that her Three SONS were 7m, 2, and 4. Hahahaha. Strike one. I felt so embarrassed. But we had a good laugh.

Another funny story that happened. We were contacting this cute new developed neighborhood and after theorist house I put a life saver in my mouth. But then I quickly realized that I have to talk at the next house. So I took my life saver out of my mouth and held it in my left hand because we always shake hands with our right hands so I thought I was a genius for thinking ahead! (because its hard to talk with a life saver in your hand). We rang the doorbell and a older man answered. This was strike 2. His right hand was bandaged up and it was in a cast covering up to his fingers! So we had to shake with our left hands, except I had wet sticky candy in my left hand...Awkward... haha. I looked at my candy, and looked at him. and smiled! :) Afterwards we laughed for like 20 minutes. that WOULD happen to me. hahaha.

It's been a great week. We laugh through everything and are even attempting to speak spanish. I can now say "missionary Jesus Christ" and "Message about families" in spanish. I think I am improving!! :) I love you all! Don't forget to pray.

Xoxo Sister K Peterson!

First Week in the Field!

Holy Smokes! I've finally been out 6 days. I am serving in the Vacaville 5th ward! It's so fun! Shout out to Becky if you read this, you make me Famous!!

 

A few highlights for this week:

Wednesday when we arrived we got to sleep in hotels and it was the most amazing 10 hours of sleep. Probably the last time I will get that much sleep for the next 18 months. I enjoyed every minute of it. We then met up at the mission office and got our companions! Sister Agura is my companion and she is from the phillipines. So sweet. She is a registered nurse and its 22. Her bday is on April 3rd and she hardly gets any mail so be sure to hook a sista up for her bday everybody!!! :)  On the way to our apartment on thursday I puked out the window twice! Oops! :) The car behind me kept watching me and so we became friends. I kept waving at him and laughing, then i'd puke again. hahahaha. I managed to not get any in the car. brownie points for me! Friday was a little rough but it brightened up really quick as we went to visit less actives. A LOT of this ward is inactive it seems... We go visit at least 8 less actives each night. Crazy stuff! I love it! I am getting to know the ward and they are so sweet! Saturday we did what is called a "blitz" with everyone in the zone (20 missionaries) and you split up the companionships and are assigned 2 streets with in the 1 particular ward that we tract out that day and we do tons of contacting and that's how we help all the ward get investigators! I was paired with Sister Eisert and she's is a hoot! I love her a lot. We came across this guy who was living by himself. His grandma died about 5 years ago, then his mom died like 3 years ago and his best friend (who was living with him), named Paris died about 2 months ago. I bore my testimony on the plan of Salvation reassuring him that he would see all his loved ones again soon. He said he would love to talk to missionaries and we are excited to have someone reach him! Sunday I got to meet the ward and it was stake conference. Becky when I asked your dad if he knew who I was he was so puzzled. So i explained and then later sunday night at the stake presidency "eat meet and greet" he introduced me as his "kind of relative" haha. it was so sweet. The first sunday of each transfer we meet with the stake presidency and discuss one topic and have a lesson and then get to ask those deep elaborate questions that no one else ever has time to answer. it was amazing! Today we got our laundry finished. We do it at a members house to save money since we get like hardly any money each month... The "missionary struggle" has officially begun! Our apt kitchen is a lot like the Sunrise apartments i lived in at BYU-I except with no tools. ha. I am used to having all these options of kitchen gadgets to use. It has been a humbling experience going through this and knowing that a lot of people in the world dont even have what we have as missionaries, and we have like nothing!!! But I am grateful for what we do have. Being a missionary is awesome. I am the driver of the Cruze 2014 and I am a beast! Our nice car makes  up for our lack of "home-i-ness" in our apartment. I am happy that I am out here serving and I hope you all are doing missionary work. Growing up the missionaries would come over all the time and say "do you have any neighbors who need the gospel?" and we would always say, "no..." well guess what family and friends. GET THINKING AND GIVE REFERRALS TO THE MISSIONARIES!!! Pray about your friends who need the gospel and tell the missionaries about them! Don't hold back because that is something Satan wants us to do. Share the light with everyone. Love you all!

 

My address is
293 Shasta Drive Apt 210
Vacaville, CA 95687

 

It is so pretty and green here. Enjoy the Pictures!

 

Sister Peterson

Last Letter in the MTC

Well Folks! My time is ending real soon at the MTC! But I am so excited to Head to Cali tomorrow at about 4 AM! 

Funny story, so my companion wakes me up every morning, so I just trust that she is waking me up at the right time. So on Tuesday she wake mes up and we get in the shower. While I am getting dressed, I grab my watch and put it on and (keep in mind I am like out of it in the morning times haha) I stare at my watch for about 3 minutes. I realized it was 1:10 in the MORNING!!! ONE TEN!! Haha. SO I yelled to my compaion in the shower, "SISTER. WHY IS IT ONE TEN!!!" Hahahaha. For some reason the alarm went off at 1 in the morning. I did think it was interesting as we got in the shower and there wasnt a line and we were the first ones.. Anyways. We got a good laugh and went back to sleep. Getting readying in the morning went by super fast since we didn't have to shower! hahaha. Moral of the story: Don't trust your companion to wake you up. Ha!! I love her so much. 

Mom (and everyone!) I know you were looking forward to hearing about the devotionals so here is what I learned. Sis Snow spoke about how we all need to have the courage as Nephi did, "I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands. I know he will provide a way he wants me to obey." I am going to sing this song during the mission a lot! Brother Snow spoke to us about how is it JUST AS IMPORTANT to reactivate an inactive member as it is to baptize a nonmember. I thought that was really neat. I hope I get to work with less-active members because I want them to come to church with me! I will be there friend!  Also Mom, every day I cry during the lessons. Thanks for the Gene... haha. I think of you every time I start getting teary eyed!

Julia and I eat together everyday almost every meal. Today we got breakfast to go and had some fun laughs in the hallway. I love seeing her everywhere. We are in different zones but see each other basically all day. We decorated the other Sister petersen's door for her bday with balloons and filled the shoe bag with candy, she loved it! :) Thanks mom!

We had an investigator named Sarah who we were teaching. She was very stubborn!

She talked about different points in the bible and was fighting us on what we believed (sort of). It was intimidating, very very intimidating. She said that I didnt know what it was like to lose someone and if i did understand what it was like then I would show emotion! like hello. I'm so emotional. I can show her some emotion. So I cried and bore my testimony. About how God loves us. And She said that ever since her son died she has felt distanced from God. It broke my heart. I reassured her that turning away from God would not help her, but turning too him would. Then I kept crying during the lesson thinking about the family who died in the plane crash. I think about them alot. But its great that families are forever and I am glad that I know that. Afterwards she said that she liked how I was showing emotion and I was like oh bother hahaha. 

Fast and testimony meeting was incredible. I have never felt the spirit so strong and felt so much love for everyone in the room. I am going to miss my district so much. Half of them are going to Montana and they are remarkable and have changed my life. I have learned and grown so much from them and I am sad to part. Sister and I were talking about how we just want to give them hugs and tell them how much we love them. But I guess we can just hug each other since we cant hug the elders.. haha

Anyways. The MTC has been amazing and the spirit is so strong her. I wish you all could experience what I got to experience here and love it as much as I did! I hope you all are doing well! I love you! :)