Sister Peterson's Idaho Pocatello Mission Blog: Week 32: There is hope smiling brightly before us!

Hey there y'all. This week in Bear Lake? It's been a li'l tricky. But it's also been an amazing week for spiritual growth. So many things happened! And so many miracles as well!

Breakfast with our friend Ashlee

Barbara: So, we did not end up having another lesson with Barbara this week. But, she invited us out to lunch with some of her friends and then invited us to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) meeting. It was the neatest thing! It was cool to me to see how many ladies in my area care so much about their heritage. We also sang a really neat song called Echo Canyon that was about building the railroad in Utah. It was out of this old pioneer songbook just overflowing with neat pioneer songs. I may have purchased one right there in the meeting. We also had a lesson all about Chesterfield, Idaho (fun fact: I think 2 people live there). Also all the ladies there got so excited when I told them that my grandma was once part of the DUP (shout out to Grandma Peterson

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The pioneer songbook

Clint: Clint is this really neat guy who lives near Laketown. He literally has like, an entire zoo that lives on his ranch. I'm not joking. He has lots of big fluffy dogs, lots of cows and horses, all that good stuff. But he also has turkeys, llamas, alpacas, llama-alpaca mixes (did anyone know that was a thing? I did not), ducks that hiss instead of quack, an African cow, African geese, fallow deer, raccoons, you name it. He also has over 100 peacocks. I think a white peacock (not albino, white) might be my new favorite animal. Also, you know that movie, Napoleon Dynamite? You know his pet llama, Tina? Well clint owns Tina's SON and now I feel like I've officaly come as close to fame as I ever will in my entire life.

Here is me with Tina's son (his name is Elvis!)

Lacey: So, Lacey is this lady that I hear about back when Sister Smith and Sister Medina were here. She just moved to Garden City and her son is super interested in learning about the gospel, so we got her phone number and would try to text her and call her, but she would never answer. We even found out where she worked? and where she lived?? and we would always try to visit her but she would be busy and could never talk to us. We assumed that the people who told us about her were just excited to find someone who wasn't Mormon and tell us about her but that she wasn't really interested. Well, this week we had lunch with some people who work with her, and they were like "yes she is actually interested! She's just bad at answering her phone, please don't give up!!" So I was like, "hey, we can use Facebook now, why don't we just friend her?" So we did that and then Lacey MESSAGED US and was super excited for us to come over. Still haven't officially met her, and still haven't officially set up an appointment, but now we have officially made contact with her and I think that is a huge achievement.

Playing soccer while it was SNOWING

Mel: So, our ward mission leader asked us to go visit his good friend Mel. Mel is actually our neighbor, and I had actually been to his house once, but I had never met him because he is on hospice and has to stay in his bed 24/7. Well I guess he had a bad fall this week and wasn't doing too well so we thought we should pay him a visit. A few zone conferences ago, my mission president talked a lot about charity and how when you truly adopt the principle of charity into your life, you will never be the same as you were before. During this visit I just felt so much charity and love that his wife had for him and that his Father in Heaven had for him as well. It was very spiritual and sacred the things I learned and felt but I don't think an email is the best place to talk about it so maybe after I get home I will have to take you out to lunch and tell you all about it.

Some fun guys

So, one of my new favorite scriptures is D&C 123:17, which says "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." When Jospeh Smith wrote this, he was in Liberty Jail, which was literally just this tiny little room with no food, no bathroom, just 5 other people. I can't imagine him being cheerful or hopeful in this situation, but somehow he was. That is the message the gospel brings: a message of hope, a message of peace, a message of cheer. Life isn't easy! But it is good when you have the gospel of Jesus Christ by your side.