February 10, 2014

Familia!!! Man I love Mondays!! I'm glad to hear you guys had an awesome week! I did as well!!! It was full of many surprises and adventures!! Monday night was super awesome!! Lately we've been really struggling with people not being home or just not answering their doors. I just prayed that we'd be productive and that people would be home. Well that night, everyone with the exception of one person answered their door!! The first was a woman whose name we got from a ward member. She was super sweet but was busy so asked us to come back later in the week. After that we decided to try the people who saw us at their door last week and then drove off. They answered and although they were on their way out they seemed genuinely happy to see us and agreed to let us come back later in the week! We were also able to visit a former investigator who invited us back for this week! After that we headed to correlation. it was so awesome! We have a really awesome involved ward mission leader and he's making a big difference in the work here. Tuesday was a blast! We got asked to do a practice teach for our District meeting on following up. since I did the practice teach last time, my companion did it this time. after that meeting we had a visit with a sister in the ward! She's had a crazy week this week! on Sunday her husband was cleaning the bathroom and he mixed some chemicals and he inhaled so much that he had to go to the E.R. and he's still having issues! then she told us the craziest thing! So first of all she cleans with gasoline. GASOLINE!!!! she said it kills all the germs...I'm pretty sure that's super unhealthy! anyways, they had a water bottle full of gas sitting on the table and she accidentally DRANK IT!!! so crazy! ha ha we had a great lesson with her though. one of the members gave them a simplified version of the book of Mormon so we read the story of Alma the younger with her. it was cool because her son is the only family member who hasn't joined the church yet so we talked about how her prayers can make that happen. from there we came home and ate and did some language study. then we got on FB. we then went to the pajuelo's for dinner. we sat there and talked to the wife for a good 30 minutes and she was talking all about her bad health and things. then she asked us if we were coming back at 7. we were really confused and she goes "you said dinner was at 7." we didn't, but luckily her husband got off work early and was bringing food then. it's really humbling eating with that family because they struggle with financial problems and yet they still feed each companionship of missionaries once a month. I had Inca cola for the first time. it's really popular in Peru i guess. it was tasty! we had an awesome message with them as well. from there we attempted to check on a few people and they weren't home. we then saw the price's. sister price had a really rough day health wise. she recently found a tumor. we could tell it was really weighing on the family. we had a really great visit with them though. there are certain times on my mission where i really struggle with finding things to talk to people about. it was cool how when i felt that way that night my mouth was immediately filled!! I'd say that's a version of the gift of tongues! Wednesday was great! we got a call from the office Tuesday telling me i needed a copy of my drivers license made at the office. so we started the day with our studies and then we checked on a referral and then got on FB. we drove to the office and i asked if i needed background check so they called the visa office in Utah and they said i didn't need it. we came back to our area, checked on another referral and then 2 other people. we had about 15 minutes til dinner . i really didn't want to go in early so i just prayed that we'd find some people to talk to. we ended up meeting Elmer, Jod, and Joseph. they are 3 of the service guys for our apartment complex. we had a good talk with hem and left them all with a book of Mormon. after dinner we went and saw 10 yr old Elizabeth and had a pretty awesome lesson with her. we told her about activity days and that's something she is definitely interested in. we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went awesome. she was super involved which is not the usual for her!! she also gave us valentine's which were so adorable!! Thursday was SUCH an amazing day!! unexpectedly amazing! we got a text at 8 that said that everyone needed to come to transfer meeting and that we'd be watching a movie. i expected to watch some sort of training but boy was I wrong! I'm getting ahead of myself though. so we got to the meeting and it was so much fun to see everyone again. i love that i actually have friends in the mission now! so president Riggs spoke to us and told us that he saw this movie "The Saratov Approach" last week. it's about these 2 missionaries who were kidnapped while serving in Russia. well both the director of the movie and one of the elders who was kidnapped were both at the movie premiere and the next day they came to the mission office and talked to president and they gave him a copy of the movie. he then received permission for us all to watch it! seriously that movie was AMAZING! I loved it so, so much! it taught me a whole lot about this work. I mainly was impressed with the fact htat both Elders stayed on their missions after the kidnappers released them. i was seriously blown away! it really inspired me to vie my all in the field despite any circumstances! after the conference we drove back to Alexandria and had dinner with the ward mission leader. he gave us some awesome ideas on how to improve the work in this area. we also got to talk to his daughter and prep her for coming to the lesson with Teya and La'vonne that night. since we didn't get to have FHE with them on Monday, we decided to do that that night. la'vonne had made a request for us to talk about women in the scriptures. Sister Phelps and i came up with a few examples, but Maddie (the ward mission leaders daughter) had some amazing ideas! i don't know where the youth today came from because they are SO spiritual and amazing!!! having Maddie at that lesson was so incredible! it completely changed how Teya acted and how she received what we shared. Maddie is young enough to relate to teya, but old enough to be an example for her. we talked about Rebekah, Esther, Sariah, Emma smith, and Martha. it was really an awesome and fun lesson! Friday was a really busy but awesome day. after our studies we had a lesson with sister c. we had checked on her Monday night and she told us to come back. she has had it pretty rough. she and her husband were married and divorced not once, but TWICE! she also has MS which prevents her from regular church attendance. she is such a sweet lady though and we're going to try to visit her once a week from now on. after that we had lunch with a member at the sliver diner. that place is sooo good. when we come back and visit, we're eating there! we then had an awesome lesson with our investigator Bethany! she is 18 and had her baby her senior year of hs. i don't remember if i told you that. but she talked about her past and how she's changed so much because of her daughter and how if her daughter was never born she would be on a much different path and how grateful she is for her baby! it amazes me all that she's been through and she is just super prepared for the gospel! she talked about how all her friends drink and smoke and do all this stuff and now she sees how pointless it all is! her dad is an inactive member and he's coming back to church now because of her. he came in in the middle of the lesson and was like "alright, 5 more lessons and then we're dunkin you right?" ha ha. but it was funny because she asked us a ton of questions about our missions and what we do every day. she was really shocked and asked how we don't get bored! it made me laugh because i never really stop and think about the crazy rules i follow or anything. but when i thought about it i told her how amazing it is to be 100% focused on others. my life is all about people! it's so much fun and every single day is a new adventure with new challenges and amazing new blessings! it was a good reminder for me!! after that we had a couple minutes to do weekly planning and then FB. we then had a dinner appt with the relief society president. they invited another family over so there was like 7 kids running around! it was fun! from there we checked on a few people that we didn't know on the ward list and then we saw sister ketch. she just amazes me more and more as i get to know her better. our goal right now is to get her to come to relief society again. we had a really great visit with her and when she said the closing prayer she said "thank you so much for these sisters. we need more missionaries like them." it was so sweet and made me so happy! Saturday was wonderful! we got to attend a relief society conference with all the women in our stake. the theme was "a perfect brightness of hope" it really was a wonderful experience! one of my favorite things that was said was "hope connects the present pain with the promised future and doesn't deny either one." after the conference we got to send la'vonne off for her first trip to do baptisms for the dead. she told us she'd felt really uneasy that morning so she texted this guy and cancelled plans with him that night but she was still feeling uneasy. we told her it was probably just because it's a new experience! we then sent her on her way! some members then took us to lunch and then we finished weekly planning! during weekly planning we felt prompted to text La'vonne and see if we could go over that night. she gladly agreed! after that we went and checked on a referral who wasn't home. we then met Chris, the kindest atheist I've ever met! seriously...he explained why he believes what he believes and we had a super pleasant conversation and then we both went on our way. after dinner we checked on 2 people from the ward list that we didn't know. the first answered the door and literally looked like the poster child for Miami ink....he just smiled and said "not interested." then we went and checked on the other guy. he was so sweet! he said he is "very inactive" but loves visits and doesn't have anything against the church so that was awesome! he was telling us all about his famous pioneer ancestry ha ha. from there we got to go see La'vonne! we hadn't had a one on one lesson with her in quite a while so that was much needed. she Loved the temple!!! and when i say she loved it i mean she LOVED IT!!! she loved seeing everyone in White and she said it was just as amazing as her own baptism. she was just glowing! i love seeing how she is progressing! i love how enthusiastic she is about everything because it reminds me of how truly blessed i am and to never take any of this for granted! we had a really amazing talk with her and I'm so grateful that i have been able to be here to see her experience more growth in the gospel! Sunday was great! i felt really sick in the morning, but as i put my focus on others, i didn't feel sick at all! it was awesome! none of our investigators were at church. 2 were sick and one was out of town! that was a bummer! we went to help in the youth class for Sunday school to help them teach the lessons we'd helped them plan. no one they invited showed up so we got members to volunteer and be "investigators." this one girls companion didn't show up so sister Phelps and i were her companions and we taught sister graney! it was so much fun! the girls name is Clara and she is such a great missionary! she goes to a high school where she is the only female member in her grade and there are only about 10 other members in her school. you can tell how that has really impacted her testimony! i love working with the youth! after church we had lunch, studies, and then ate dinner at the reeders! sister reeder sent us off with several coupons, as she always does :) after dinner we checked on a former investigator. on our way my comp and i were talking and she started to cry and told me how grateful she is to be companions with me.When we became companions she was able to be herself. I'm thankful for that experience. so we went to check on the lady and she was busy but told us to come back another time! from there we went and had ward correlation. our ward is on fire right now! we got 2 new ward missionaries who really get it. they are in charge of our meal calendar and they're tyring to get us in members homes for lunch and dinner! not sure if my waist line can handle it... ;) but they want us getting in more members homes so they feel like that's the way to do it! I'm excited for this transfer though. I'm staying with sister Phelps and there's a ton of good stuff going on right now! Being a missionary during this time is really the best. it's so cool to be a part of something that is so tremendous. I've never felt like my life has so much purpose and I've never been able to see so many miracles every day!!! I love you guys so much! I'm grateful for your prayers, for your love, for your letters, and for the people that you are. You have all made such a difference in my life!!! I hope you have an amazing Valentine's day! I know I will because that's the day i go back on the sugar!!!woot woot! Well.... have a fantabulous week! this sister loves you!!! love, Sister Pehrson