Week 31: Quest For the Raspberry Milkshake

Hola everyone! So this week, we got some bad news and some good news: our investigator Maribel told us that she didn't want to take the missionary discussions anymore. We were sad, but kind of saw it coming, because she's been a little flaky on us lately, and also hasn't been progressing a whole lot. It's okay though, we know that this just isn't her time right now. Her husband and daughters are active members, so hopefully they will be able to rub off on her in a positive way. The good news though, is that we've been having all these super good interactions with her two sons, Tony and Eric! Tony used to take the missionary discussions a while back, and is this SUPER smart kid and knows he needs to read the scriptures,  go to church, etc. He's just an 11 year old boy and talking about Jesus isn't as fun as playing video games I guess. But, this week, we've started having a little soccer group for all the kids and youth in the area, and they both loved it! Tony even told us all about some of the things he read in the Book of Mormon this week. Good things are brewing here y'all. 

 Late night shakes

We also had an AMAZING lesson with this wonderful less-active lady, Barbara! She went inactive when she was a laurel but now she just has the strongest desire to learn and to know if the church is true or not. We read the intro to the Book of Mormon and the first chapter of 1st Nephi with her and she just soaked it all up and asked all these wonderful questions! She even connected her phone to her bluetooth speaker so she could listen to it while she was cleaning her house? And yesterday at church she told us that she is already on 1st Nephi chapter 13 and that she even went and found her patriarchal blessing. Her son and granddaughter who live with her are conveniently not members of the church, so even MORE things are brewing here in Bear Lake and I am just so excited for this next transfer you guys.

 I know how to fill the tires of our car with air!! I hope every man reading this email is proud of me.  

Speaking of transfers, both me and Sister Gutierrez are staying here in Bear Lake! It was kind of expected, since I gotta finish training her. I have now spent more of my mission in Utah than Idaho, whoa how crazy.

So, in my past emails, you have seen me talk about how everything tastes like raspberry here in Bear Lake. Specifically, the most popular thing is their raspberry milkshakes. Since it's getting a little warmer here all the restaurants have started to open up again, so it has been my personal goal and mission this week to try every raspberry milkshake and decide which one is the best. I will just tell you guys right now - they are all good. I can't pick a favorite! I will tell you though, the ones made with real ice cream and real raspberries are significantly better. But they are all good so if any of you decide to come up here for vacation (and to possibly catch a glimpse of your favorite missionary hint hint), you can't go wrong anywhere you go!! My mission is actually one of the highest weight gaining missions in the country and this week I have figured out why. 

A fun sign our friend Laura from Laketown has in her house

One of my favorite quotes from general conference this past week was by President Nelson. He said that "regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true". Here in this area, I work with a lot of less-active members of the church, who most likely don't go to church because something someone once said or did may have hurt them or caused them harm, so they no longer choose to go to church. It breaks my heart to see and work with so many people who voluntarily miss out on all those wonderful blessings in their life. The gospel is the most joyful thing on this earth, and they are choosing to turn away from it! But, like with our dear friend Barbara, you can always choose to turn back. God still loves you and wants the best for you. Don't continue to miss out on all He has offered you. (Another good talk about this is "And Nothing Shall Offend Them" by Elder Bednar. If you wanna go check that out). We shouldn't choose to ignore the soft whisperings of the Holy Ghost in our lives. I've seen too many people do that and all the suffering they have gone through because of it. 

Practicing our baptizing (a lady we have been working with's husband works there so we went to go chat with him)

Okay y'all I hope you have a lovely week I love you so so much!! 

- Hermana Peterson 

Week 30: Pascua y Conferencia

Hola! 

This week, especially this weekend, has been absolutely amazing. This weekend was both General Conference and Easter! Along with celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, we were able to listen to the words of our apostles and sustain our new prophet, President Nelson. It brought so much joy to my soul and I raised my hand to sustain him as the one to lead us and guide us. I feel so grateful that we have a living mouthpiece from God to help show us the way back to Him. I feel like a good summary of this conference was that, even though we are all different, we are all children of God and we are all in this together. We are meant to be disciples of Christ, so why wouldn't we do all we can to try and be like Him? Christ was all about unity, but also about helping people with their individual needs and struggles. These changes with priesthood classes and with home teaching and visiting teaching will help us all as members of the church to grow closer and to be more unified! Ultimately conference was dope and, if you somehow missed it, it will probably be up on lds.org soon so go check it out :) 

Us and some milkshakes

Some other neat things that happened this week! I went on exchanges with Sister Pressley over in Paris, and we spent the whole day delivering Easter treats to the people in their area! Their area is so gigantic, and our area and their area used to be one giant area. I literally have no idea how the missionaries used to cover all of it. We also found this super awesome less-active lady, Barbara. She is SO prepared and SO ready to come back to church. She signed up to feed us this week and we just had so many awesome conversations about church history and the gospel. She actually asked US if we could come back and help her relearn stuff about the gospel and about the Book of Mormon, which is super exciting!!!! Also, her granddaughter who lives with her is not a member, so hopefully we can start teaching her soon too. 

Exchanges

Ahhhh this week was just so good. I hope you guys all had a wonderful Easter and General Conference weekend. I love you all and I love being a missionary! 

A bag of candy as big as my face (bless u Mom)

Cariñosamente,

Hermana Peterson

Conference as a district

Look at what working with Hispanics have done to me? They make me put spices on my pineapple?? (It's actually so good)

Week 29: Jimmy Timmy Power Hour: Garden City Edition

Hola a todos! This week was a very crazy week. We were super busy trying to find all the less-active ladies in the area so that we could invite them to the Relief Society birthday party!! There are two wards here in Garden City, and the wards decided to have a combined party this year, so that all the ladies in Garden City could get to know each other better. It was so fun to see all my favorite people from each ward interact with one another - it was like a crossover episode of your favorite tv show. Not that many less-active ladies ended up showing up, which was kind of a bummer, but you know who did show up?? MARIBEL. That's right, our investigator who barely knows any English (and who kind of fell off the face of the earth for a few weeks) came to the party and had so much fun!! Milagros all around.

Having a blast at the RS party

That was on Thurday, and Imma just say right now, Thursday was a crazy day. Our poor truck got a flat tire? Thankfully the Elder's quorum president drove by and noticed and changed it for us! Also, we were sick and tired of doing weekly planning in our house, so we just went to the local gas station and did it there. haha 

Baby had her first Bear Lake raspberry shake awww 

This week we also found a lady who was very, very Catholic and described to us in detail what Lent is and how Catholics celebrate Easter?? I was a little sad she didn't want to listen to our message. But I also felt more informed, so I guess it was all good. This lady was probably the first non-member lady I have met (other than our investigators) the whole time I have been in this area. I never thought that having TOO many members of the church living in one place and finding new people would be a problem I would ever face on my mission, but it is, and it's actually kind of funny if you really think about it. lol 

Yesterday, we were both assigned to speak in the Spanish group, and there were like, 3 people there! Awesome. I guess during my talk, I started to speak a little too fast, because I saw Carolina (the group leader's wife) in the back making very huge motions for me to slow down. Hey, Hispanic people like to talk very fast. I was just trying to blend in.

 I wasn't kidding about the addresses look at how many stamps I have! Please send me your addresses! 

Okay, so for a spiritual note for this email, i just wanna talk about the priesthood for a second. Have you ever gotten a blessing from your mission president? It's probably one of the most spiritual experiences you can have while on your mission. The priesthood isn't just this fictional, made up thing; it is the power of God on the earth. Isn't that the coolest? Our all-knowing, all-powerful Father in heaven has given us access to the power that he holds. I am so so grateful that, through Joseph Smith, the priesthood authority has been restored and we can be properly led and guided. Okay that is all for this week. I love you all so so much. byeeee 

-Hna Peterson 

p.s. Hey hey hey please send me your addresses because i want to send you all letters?? Please this is actually not a joke letter writing has become my new favorite hobby as a missionary.

p.p.s. Go listen to the talk "Come unto Christ" by my pal John Bytheway. It'll change your life 

p.p.p.s. GENERAL CONFERENCE IS THIS WEEKEND GO WATCH IT 

We got the prettiest area in the mission hands down yo

Week 28: Adventures With the Refrigerator

So, to explain my email title: our refrigerator broke this week. Like, completely stopped working. We woke up one morning to notice that our house smelled kind of funny, only to open the fridge and see that all our food had rotted and the fridge was no longer cold. We tried everything we could to get it working again, but nothing seemed to work (my comp's dad fixes fridges for a living so she felt like she let him down lol). We called the mission housing office, who called our landlady, who sent some guy over to check it out. Turns out, our fridge actually DIED out on us, and it was time for us to get a brand new one. Since Bear Lake is a pretty popular tourist spot, there are a lot of condo rental places, and that guy brought us a loaner fridge from one of those condos  to have for a few days while they got us a new one. And then a few short days later, this giant Lowe's truck pulled into our driveway, and now we have a nice brand new fridge! Okay halfway through typing out this story I realized it was actually super boring so I am sorry you all had to read that.

Lake adventures! 

This week was pretty crazy, but pretty funny as well: here are just a few highlights: 

- A 12 year old girl told me she wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader when she grew up and I think I found my new dream job.

- We saw this guy feeding the wild turkeys that live here in Garden City?? We also went up and talked to him and he was talking a lot about the church, and science, and how the Book of Mormon is either "a scam or the real deal". You guys, this guy is a member and he's been through the TEMPLE but thinks we evolved from alien microbes coming to space. He was super nice though I will not lie!!!!! 

- Okay, we've started a new tactic: since Hermana Gutierrez is brand new to the mish, and there are lots of less-active members in our area, we've been going around and asking them if we could "practice" teaching them, and most of them have accepted! One I am super excited for is tomorrow. It's this couple who got baptized a few years ago, but the dad had a accident that left him in a wheelchair, and they have not been back to church since. But they are super nice and wonderful, and their 15 year old son is not a member, and he said he wanted to listen to our lesson too!!! Wish us luck!

-We had our first mutual where we taught the kids about being a missionary through social media! It actually went super well, and we helped them get over their fear (and the leader's fear) of sharing the gospel with their friends. It's SO easy you guys, just go share a video or a scripture with one of your friends. They will love, it, i promise! 

-I went to the dentist this week. Don't worry, I am fine!! My teeth are still good!! (for now at least.) 

Cuties

I've been thinking a lot about trials this week. Trials in our lives sure aren't fun, and I'm sure we all have experience with trials in our lives. Even though they may stink, and we might even want to give up, I will tell you, right now, don't! Keep going! Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 says,"And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."  Everything will be alright in the end, I promise. Life is hard, but it was meant to be hard. How could we progress and learn and grow if our lives were meant to be easy?? I hope you all are able to take the trials you face this week with confidence and the remembrance that the Lord is on your side. I love you all! Have a wonderful week! 

Love, Hermana Peterson 

The truck in our driveway delivering our new fridge!! 

This little girl is literally like the Hispanic version of my sister no joke

Turkeys? 

 So, this is the old Relief Society building in Laketown. Back during the pioneer days the RS ladies spent a lot of time and efforts trying to raise money to build this building so they could have a little space of their own!! Now, the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, which is just this giant organization of older ladies (kind of like Daughters of the American Revolution, that thing Rory's grandma was in in Gilmore Girls) meet here! History! It's neat!

Week 27: At the feet of the Savior

Holaaaa!! 

So this week we had zone conference!! We talked a lot about using our phones and about using Facebook, and how they are still just another tool that we get to use as missionaries. Sister Gutierrez actually had the awesome idea of going around and helping the youth in our wards learn how to use social media for missionary work too!! So stay tuned for those mutuals that we are going to plan. haha

This week, I feel like I have really learned on how to put my trust in the Savior and fully rely on him. I have been a li'l stressed recently about a lot of things that have been going on in my life lately (missions can be stressful sometimes! who knew!!). But, I can promise to you guys that as we lay our problems at the feet of the Savior, he will help us and he will ALWAYS be there lead us and guide us. We were not meant to come to this earth to suffer. Yes, we are supposed to go through hard things, but this life is meant to be a happy one. All we need to do is trust in the Lord, and He will help us make it through. When I have learned to rely on the Savior, my life never got easier, but it did get better. 

A random goat

ps Go read the talks "Trust in the Lord and Lean Not" by Bonnie H. Cordon and "We Never Walk Alone" by President Monson!! They are both so good and will bless your life!!!!

Love, Hermana Peterson 

Zone conference

Mountains

They sent me the wrong tag again!

A pretty sweet sign 

Week 26: Two birds with one stone

Two birds: So, Sister Smith and Sister Medina left this week. To my fellow missionary friends, I hope you never have to kill off one of your companions, and I pray that you don't have to kill off two at the same time!! It's so rough. On our last day together, we all went over to Claudia's house for breakfast and she made us huevos rancheros AND waffles with Mexican caramel. Her whole family was there (minus Mama Vicki, who desired to take a quick trip to Mexico??), and it was just so fun and special. A few hours later, they had to drop me off so I could stay with the other sisters while they went to the mission home. It was hard to see them go, but I love them a lot and I know that we will all see each other again someday.

One stone: So my new companion (or daughter, I guess you could call her), is Sister Gutierrez!! She's cute and short and is from Springville, Utah - and now she is serving her mission in Utah, pobrecita. But, she was born in Mexico and lived there until she was 10, so she already knows Spanish and English, so that is super good! We've already gone on so many fun adventures, such as: 

- Eating pizza for like, every meal this week. (People love to give missionaries free pizza here.) 

- Trying to drive to Pocatello for a meeting, and then getting caught in a blizzard!! That was super scary. I thought we were going to die for a little bit, especially while driving through Soda Springs. But, we made it there safely and then we got Costa Vida for lunch after and then it wasn't even snowing when we drove home!!! Miracles 

- Yesterday, we had stake conference, and we got to go the the very famous, highly esteemed, Paris Tabernacle. No but for real, the Paris Tabernacle is super pretty and has a lot of cool church history behind it. Well we were there for stake conference, and it was special because it was actually a broadcast from President Nelson to the entire Idaho area. Just like in his talk this past General Conference, he talked about the Book of Mormon, and the role it plays in our lives. It made me really reflect on my work as a missionary and how I can make a bigger focus on the Book of Mormon in my daily proselyting efforts. 

- This morning, we were driving to email, and I forgot something at home, so we went to go flip around in this cul-de-sac that wasn't plowed and I got stuck!!! Thankfully some nice people who had a big tractor were able to pull us out.

Yo y mi nueva compaaaa

This week, I've been thinking a lot about change. I feel like, in my own life, I've been super bad about dealing with change. I've tried to get better at it on my mission, but it is still been hard, especially this week. Job 23:10 days, "But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold."  Heavenly Father has led me and guided me through my whole life and especially on my mission; just because I may have a change or a trial in my life doesn't mean that something good won't come from it down the road. Welp, that is about it for this week, I love being a missionary, and I love all of YOU! Have a wonderful week this week!! 

-Hermana Peterson

Before Medina left she made us flautas but we didn't have anything to put on top of them so we had to eat them with our hands! They were still good though.

Us with Lesha!!!

Some pics from the Paris Tabernacle 

Week 25: Virgin Hair

So, I just have to confess something to you right now: this long hair thing? I tried it, and I made it a good 6 months without cutting my hair while on my mission. But, my love for short hair resurfaced, and, while Sister Smith and Sister Medina were at their departing temple trip, I had to stay in Paris with the other sisters (one of who was a cosmetologist before her mission), So now my hair mayyyy be short again. It may also have a few highlights in it now too (Sister Pressley said it was super dark in the back, what was I supposed to do??). I literally told myself I wasn't going go do this, that I wasn't going to cut my hair again until after the mission. Even when cleaning out my Facebook a few weeks ago, I was like "wow, I didn't look that great with super short hair after all", but here we are. So yeah, I no longer have virgin hair and that explains the title of my email for this week. 

Okay this week has been just absolutely CRAZY as I've been helping Sister Smith and Sister Medina get ready to leave. We've had to set aside a lot of time so that they can pack, visit all their favorite people one last time, and also still somehow get missionary work done this week. Every day I think I've just come home and collapsed on the floor, no joke. Sister Medina was also sick on Tuesday, so we were all trapped inside not doing anything for an entire day. Me and Sister Smith finally put our entire area book online though, and I baked a cake, so some good came out of that day! And, on Thursday, I had to go to a special training meeting up in Pokey, so our whole day was spent road tripping up to Pocatello and back. I guess some good that came out of that day was 1. I feel more prepared to train a new missionary now 2. We got Cafe Rio out of our trip so it ultimately became a good day. 

My cake!

This week has been a very stressful week of my mission you guys, I'm not going to lie. With both of my companions going home, and trying to prepare for a brand new one straight from the MTC, I've just become very frazzled. There were plenty of times this week where I thought to myself "Can I...even do this? Can I keep doing this missionary thing?" I love being a missionary, so I think that just goes to show you how stressed I have been. One of my favorite lines from the hymn I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go is: 

"So trusting my all to thy tender care,

And knowing thou lovest me,

I’ll do thy will with a heart sincere:

I’ll be what you want me to be."

Us and li'l baby Hannah (and kitty!)  

There have been so many times in my life where I have had to put my will into the Lord's hands. So many times where I have had to learn that His plan for me is not the plan that I have for me, and that's okay. Heavenly Father knows me and loves me perfectly, and anything He has in store for me is so much greater than anything I could have in store for myself. 1st Corinthians 2:9 says, "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him". I love my Heavenly Father so much, and I know that no matter what happens in my life, my reliance on Him will help me overcome anything and everything -and I just want to make a simple promise to you, that, as you put your will in the Lord's hands, you will see so many great things come from it. That's kind of the whole reason why I'm out here on a mission. I love you all so much, and I hope you all have a wonderful week. 

- Hermana Peterson 

Before, during, and after

Our district tried to take a High School Musical picture

My plan

So, I think I've already said this before, but every single week Sister Smith and Sister Medina have had to do something called My Plan, which is where missionaries in the final transfer of their mission have to plan what they are going to do once they go home. So, while they were doing that each week, I took these ugly/sad photos, and I finally want to share them with you. Enjoy!