Week 16: Paz y Buena Voluntad

Hola everyone! I don't have a lot of time for today (because this morning we had to make a trip to Pokey to get new tires for our car), but I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!! My Christmas was very fun, the highlights were probably talking to my amazing fam, having a nerf gun fight with the people we live with, and eating lots of yummy comida Mexicana. Oh yeah, and making Christmas cookies with my district and delivering them to people! (fun fact: Elders cannot bake!!) Christmas as a missionary has been very interesting to say the least; I feel very lucky to be able to spend this time in my life focusing on the Savior, and learning to actually understand the true meaning of Christmas. A mission helps you to look at the life and atonement of Jesus in a whole different light - despite not being with my family, this Christmas was a very good Christmas for that reason. 

Me with a giant potato

Other than going on exchanges otra vez and having some bomba lecciones with our investigators, I think that is all I'm gonna write for this week. I love you all so much. I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I hope you all have a Happy New Year! 

- Hermana Peterson

Christmas aftermath

Pics from our nerf gun fight (I got shot in the eye! It was so fun!)

Look at this sweet pillowcase I got. Thank you Aunt Kristi.

So, if you did not know, Blackfoot, Idaho is actually where most of the the potatoes in the world are grown. it is considered the potato capital of the world. So, naturally, there is a potato museum, and naturally, we decided to go there and take a bunch of sweet pics.

Me when i got my mission call 

It's true though 

It has certainly changed MY world

World's largest potato crisp?

Can't believe they would trap all my homies in here smh 

Me climbing onto a tractor with a "do not climb" sign: a two part story

Us in front of a giant display of potato mashers 

Hey, Spanish! 

Me displaying a potato cellar; aka my new home 

The worlds coolest eagle scout project 

My comp got our car stuck IN THE SNOW. Good job Hermana Gleason

Week 15: In December Drinking Horchata

Hola everyone!! Shoutout to anyone who got my dumb, hipster music reference there, but this week we had our branch Christmas party, and obviously, there was horchata there. Horchata is actually one of my favorite drinks ever and my companion almost had to drag me away from the horchata table lol. But the Christmas party was actually amazing; Rebecca and Guillermo and their kids came to the party, and they stayed the whole time! It was so fun to see them all mingling with the people in the branch and enjoying the party. I have really grown to love this wonderful family; right now considering if they will get baptized in the future, it's a "when", not an "if". This family is just SO prepared and so ready, even though they might not feel like it yet. They love everything we teach to them, and Rebecca got so excited when we were telling her about the Doctrine and Covenants, because she was so excited to get more scriptures and get more knowledge!! It has been amazing to see this family grow in the knowledge of their Redeemer, and I am excited to continue to see them to grow and learn. 

Selfies with horses round 2: winter edition

Another cool thing from this week, we had a 4-zone zone conference! At this zone conference, my mission president talked a lot about the charity we need to have for others. He talked a lot about how, when you have adopted charity into your life, it is not something you receive as a gift, it is something you are constantly giving away. If you spend your whole life judging others, you have no time to try and love them. Also, there was a zone talent show, and all the missionaries from the Pokey North zone put on a nativity, and made all the Spanish Elders be Mexican angels haha. 

The Mexican angels lol 

 All the Spanish missionaries at zone conference!! Look at how cute we all are!! 

This email is a little short, but, many of our investigators have gone down to Mexico for the winter, so this week was a little slow. Next week, my p-day will be on Tuesday, so I guess I will just take the time now to tell you all I hope you have a wonderful Christmas! My mission has really helped me to see the reason for the season and the purpose of Christmas, which is the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is our older brother, our friend, our Savior and Redeemer. I am so lucky to be able to call myself an official representative of Him this Christmas season. 

Feliz Navidad! 

Us at the Christmas party with Santa haha

-Hermana Peterson 

Actually almost stole this puppy because these people just leave it out in the snow??

Week 14: Love in the room from floor to ceiling

Hey there everybody! The title of this week's email comes from a popular Christmas *NSYNC jam that me and my comp have been listening to all week, and it's how I have been feeling about all my investigators!!! Even though I only have a short 3 months as una misionara, I have grown to have so much love for this area, for the Spanish language, and especially for the people. I can really recognize why my Padre Celestial (Heavenly Father) put me here in tiny little Blackfoot, Idaho, at this time in my life. Missions have their ups and downs, there have been bad times definitely, but the good will always, always outweigh the bad. Heavenly Father knows us so perfectly, He really does!!!! One of my favorite scriptures on the mission has become 1 Nephi 21:14-16   But, behold, Zion hath said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me—but he will show that he hath not...Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee, O house of Israel. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.  He will never, ever forget us, and I can promise you that! He literally has us engraven upon the palms of His hands, and He will never, ever forsake us. Never. Please turn to Him. He wants you to come unto Him, and I can promise you, that if you do, your life will never be better. 

A couple fun things that happened this week:  

-Transfers were this week!! Me and my trainer are staying here, but one of my district leaders left, and I may have written in his transfer journal that I thought he had beautiful eyes. Whoops.

-Our investigators, Rebecca and Guillermo, came to church again this week and they STAYED ALL 3 HOURS WOOOOOO and Rebecca signed up to bring dessert to the Christmas party???? Milagros all around here in Blackfoot.

I try to be artsy with my name tag and it doesn't work 

Love you all so much!! And keep going out there and lighting the world. WOOOOO

Hermana Peterson

It snowed! And the snow actually stayed!! All my new mission friends from Arizona are not happy. lol 

The people we live with gave us a giant Christmas tree! I had to break out my Christmas onesie. lol 

Week 13: Robbing, Breaking, and Entering

Hola everyone! I hope everyone has had a good week, and I hope everyone is keeping up with #LightTheWorld!!! As a missionary, it has been super cool to share this Christmas initiative with everybody, and to follow up and see the joy that it brings to everyone to do service and to draw closer to our Savior. As a missionary, I do a lot of service for others. My entire 18 month period is just me doing service for the others around me, whether they accept my message of the gospel or not. I've really grown to appreciate the work that I do and the services I perform over this past week, especially as I've tried to share Light the World with others. I can promise you guys that, as you do Light the World and do more service for others this Christmas season, you WILL grow closer to our Savior and that your life overall will be better. 

Our zone leaders volunteered us for bell ringing

Speaking of service, the meaning for this week's email is that we helped the Spanish elders do some service for some people in their area this week. This lady (who is the sister of someone in the branch) was moving to a different house so she could be away from her abusive husband. So when he wasn't home, we all snuck in and took all of her things and loaded them into a trailer. So basically we helped her rob her husband. Then, when we were driving to her new home, no one had any keys to open the door, so we had to break a window and jump through the window. So we also were doing breaking and entering. Awesome 

Our neighbor's dog ran into the house lol

Also, I got to go on exchanges again this week, and I got to lead my area, which means I finally got to drive our car!! It was actually kind of freaky because we have a very new car, and I haven't driven in like 3 months so I didn't know how it was going to go. But it was actually pretty great! My STL actually served in my area when she first came to the mission, so she already knew where everything was and who all the people were. So I didn't have to *completely* lead the area, thank goodness. Tender mercies are so real!!!!!! 

Missionary work is very hard, I'm not going to lie. But it's all good because God knows us perfectly and exactly what we need, and this mission is definitely what I need in my life right now. Love you guys, hope everyone has an amazing week! 

-Hermana Peterson 

My district is literally full of major weirdos 

Our tiny Christmas tree!! Thanks Mom