Week 42: Agridulce (bittersweet)

Hola! Today, I wanted to start off my email with a scripture: John 15:13-15. 

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

In these past few days, I have really grown to love this scripture a lot. Jesus in not only the Christ, our Savior, and Redeemer, but He is also our friend. He is our dearest, most best friend we can ever have. And because He loves us so much, He laid down his life for us. For you, the person reading this right now. He laid down his life for YOU because He loves you and you are His most cherished friend. His work and his glory is to bring to pass YOUR immortality and eternal life (see Moses 1:39). What are you doing in your life to live up to the sacrifice He made for you? Are you following the commandments? Jesus is a good friend to you, but are you being a good friend back? I invite you this week to remember that thought: Jesus Christ is your friend. He is your BEST friend. And don't let anyone else tell you other wise.

Holding a bunny

Speaking of friends, one of my dearest friends I have made on my mission is my mission president, President Hancock. No matter how silly or superficial my problems may seem, he has always been there to give me counsel and to encourage me to work harder and to do better. He and his wife are going home this week, so we had a special zone conference to hear their testimonies one more time and to say goodbye to them. I'm really sad. I will miss them a lot, but I know that our new mission president, President Southward, will be great too. 

Saying goodbye to President

Sister Shill

I made my mom and daughter take a generational pic with me 

Some other neat things that happened this week: 

• Last p day we got to go golfing! Since golf is so boring to watch I thought it wasn't going to be fun, but I actually loved it! I also got permission from my mission president to drive the golf cart, so that was fun too. The only bad part was I forgot to tell them I was left-handed, so I had to golf with my opposite hand. But it was still awesome!

Golf!

• Here in Aberdeen there is a special little festival they hold every summer called Aberdeen Days, which is just to celebrate the town. There were SO MANY PEOPLE here, I think the town grew 3 sizes. We got to meet so many people, get a free breakfast, and eat lots of yummy comida mexicana. 

Comida mexicana (elote and mangoniada)

Italian soda

• I made Sister Bernal teach me a bunch of Phineas and Ferb songs in Spanish ( in-verano )
• When we went to Pocatello for zone conference I mayyyy have gone back to Bath and Body Works and bought more candles. (I have a problem). 

Candles

• We volunteer at this senior center all the time and this week they played bingo and I won!! Proud of myself 

Also, we got transfer calls, and I am staying here in Aberdeen with Sister Bernal for another 7 weeks. Who knows what the future has in store for me! Love you all so much! Take care! 

Love, Hermana Peterson 

I'm low key glad I haven't served in Pokey yet because I know I would spend all my money at Soda Barn 

Aberdeen days! Including my dream car

My family had a family reunion and my grandma had everyone write me notes and this is all my cousin wrote to me

Week 41: despacito

Hola! This week was a little slow (hence my Justin Bieber song subject line), so I don't have much to say today. But I will do what I can.

- We have this investigator, Arturo, and he is so so prepared to receive the gospel. Every time we go over and teach him, he's just like "wow, that makes so much sense!" and he even reads all the chapters we give him out of the Book of Mormon. The only thing though, is that his wife isn't a huge fan of learning about the church right now and he keeps telling us "if my wife wants to go to church, then I will go". So, obviously, that means he hasn't been to church yet. We invite him every lesson and he says he will come and then he doesn't! I feel like those 2 sisters in the district 2 who just need their investigator to come to church and she never ever came.

- I was telling Sister Bernal about Avatar the Last Airbender and I was trying to tell her about this one episode and I just started laughing because I remembered how funny it was and I couldn't stop laughing for like 5 minutes.

A ramen/pho movie party 

- We went to Pocatello last Monday and I may or may not have spent all my money on candles (Bath and Body Works was having a sale okay, don't judge me.)

Candles

- Thought we were going to get a really cool referral but then found out it was someone who lives in American Falls so we had to hand over to the Elders over there. That seems to happen a lot.

A giant dandelion

- We do a lot of service at this senior center here in Aberdeen and this cute old lady kissed my forehead one day and it was the cutest thing.

Some flowers

- Discovered the Korean ramen from Walmart is actually really good.

Okay, so not every week as a missionary is very glamorous. Some days, being a missionary actually kind of stinks, I will not lie to you. But a thing to remember is that not only are my investigators learning, but I am learning too. There is a story from the July ensign called "Failure is Part of the Plan" that I really really love. It gives all these examples of people in the scriptures who failed, but they were able to learn from it. In the Doctrine and Covenants, there is this guy named Oliver (not Oliver Cowdery) who was given what he thought was an impossible task by the prophet Joseph Smith. He felt like a failure and turned to Joseph for comfort. Joseph went to the Lord and He said “I remember my servant Oliver Granger; … and when he falls he shall rise again, for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase” (D&C 117:12–13). From Oliver, we learn that the result God is looking for is not always for us to come up with the right solution to our challenges, but for us to grow from facing them. Lately I have felt like I've run into more failures and challenges than solutions and successes. But it's okay. I am here as a missionary to learn and to grow closer to my Heavenly Father. I encourage all of you this week to take a trial and learn something from it. I promise you that when you do that, your weak things can be made strong through the power of the Savior (Ether 12:27)   also here is that article, check it out yo

Love, Hermana Peterson 

A sunset

Week 40: Should've had a baby

Yes my dear friends: this past Wednesday I hit my nine month, or halfway mark of my mission. 50%!! Woah!!!!!!! I honestly cannot believe that I'm officially halfway done with my mission. Not gonna lie to you guys, I honestly didn't think I would make it this far. I thought it would get too hard one day and I'd be like "You know what? That was fun, but I think I'm done now. I can't do this anymore". There have been a few days like that on my mission, but something important that  I've learned is that the good always outweighs the bad. These past 9 months haven't been very long, but I've learned so much about myself and about the gospel of Jesus Christ that I never would have learned if I hadn't gone on a mission. One of the most important things I've learned is that the only way to be truly happy is to live the gospel. Nothing else in your life will bring you more joy. I've seen so many people on my mission look for that happiness in all the wrong places (even myself a few times), and they never find it. Sometimes it's even sitting right there in front of them and they choose to ignore it for other things. If I can tell you to do one thing in your life it would be this: go live the gospel of Jesus Christ. Go read your scriptures and pray about them. Go partake of the sacrament. Go minister unto your neighbor. Give someone a hug. Go pet a dog. The gospel is something that will bless your life forever, and I know this is true, not because someone told me it was, but because God has made it known to me by the power of the Holy Ghost. Come, "let us live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Your life will be better, I promise :) 

Love, Hermana Peterson 

A selfie

My mom sent me a hump day package

 

We found the American Falls! (It's really just a reservoir smh)

Went on exchanges over in Pocatello with Sister Pressley and she took me to Costa Vida and Soda Barn for my 9 month

Found my old comp's Preach my Gospel in our house

I held a two week old puppy in the palm of my hand??

I met a dog that looked like Toby

On exchanges I learned some Chinese (4 languages under my belt now baby)

Stamp connoisseur Hannah Peterson