February 18, 2014

Family!!! I hope you all had an AMAZING week! I'm so grateful for all the packages and letters I received! You are all so supportive and I'm so grateful for the constant reminders of your love! This week has been ca-razayyy! It's been so much fun though and I'm so grateful to be out here! Monday when P day ended, we decided to get out and do some finding. We've been really focusing on that lately and so we picked out this street and got to work. The first people we talked to were Charlie and Sandy. I think they were Baptist. They were really happy to see us though! we asked him how he developed his faith and had a really great conversation with him. sadly he had a meeting so our talk was cut short. it started to get pretty dark but we wanted to keep tracting! at the next house, sister phelps had a feeling we needed to go back to the car. i'm not sure what would have happened if we would have kept tracting, but i'm grateful we chose to follow the spirit! we tried to check on a few other people but none were home. We went and checked on a less active woman we've been trying to visit for weeks and she finally answered! she was happy to see us and was having a book club meeting so she gave us some food and then told us to call her and set up an appt for later in the week so that was some awesome progress! then we went and checked on a family that comes to church occasionally. we always end up just talking to the wife, which i don't mind at all cause she's amazing! she has a wonderful testimony so we just want to get her coming to church more! on tuesday we had zone training in the morning. it was all about working with members and teaching the members the lessons. i know it's something we really need to do, it's just hard to plan ahead for it. but i know it'll really help the work in this area so we're going to work on it. after the meeting we ate and studied and did FB. then we attempted to visit a member who wasn't home. so we checked on a less active member. she told us that we should try and come back during the mornings. we got to eat with the little's that night. they are such an awesome family! their kids are awesome missionaries. after dinner we did some tracting. it was going really bad!! everyone was grumpy and this one lady got really mad and scared because last week this guy knocked on a random woman's door in downtown Alexandria and shot her and they still haven't caught him so a lot of people are on edge. this lady was so mad at us so we were really discouraged. i just kept praying that we would be led to a family. the next door we knocked on , this guy answered and said that his wife would be home in an hour and would love to talk to us. we were so excited! we decided to go do our visits we'd planned for the next hour. they both fell through so we came back and this woman answered the door. we told her where we were from and how her husband had said she'd want to talk to us. she was pretty shocked and laughed a little and told us she is a member but doesn't attend and wasn't really interested in a visit. it was pretty funny and i think it was important that we saw her! from there we tried to visit a few people who weren't home and then we visited a member family who the Elders told us about. they are from Bulgaria. it was just the mom and the daughters there and we had a really great visit with them. they are so sweet and were pretty excited to have the missionaries stop by! wednesday was great! we were supposed to do service for a member whose pipes burst last week, but that fell through so we did our normal studies and FB. we then went to see a woman named Sister Marler. she's older and doesn't get out to church very much. shes a very interesting woman! her dad was an aerial photographer so she showed us a bunch of pictures of what D.C. used to look like! it was pretty amazing. after that we headed to dinner. we ate with the womack's who were recently called as ward missionaries and sister womack is the "sister coordinator". she's from Equador and met her husband while he was serving his mission in Pennsylvania. they are actually getting ready to move to Oklahoma for his job. after dinner we decided to go check on the Aquino's. Brother Aquino answered the door and he was super friendly and awesome! he actually served his mission in Brasil so we had a good conversation about my visa and the language. he served in Recife. They were having a Valentine's Day party so we didn't get to share a message but we made a good connection with him so that was exciting! from there we attempted to visit a few people with no luck and then we went and visited the Velez family. i love them more and more each time we visit them. sister velez, the mom, kept feeding us and feeding us...i thought i was going to explode! but we talked to them about the work and they each agreed to start praying about someone for us to teach. Thursday we woke up to lots and lots of snow! it actually started snowing wednesday night and didn't stop til Thursday. we woke up to a text informing us we couldn't drive and that our zone conference was cancelled! a little later, the Mclaughlins, who we were going to do service for the day before, called and asked us to come help! so we did our studies and i finished the Book of Mormon for the 4th time on my mission! i have grown to love that book more and more as I've read it each time. i never used to think much of it, but now I really can't imagine my life without it! Something i ate the night before made me very sick....i don't know if the Lord was trying to prepare me for Brasil.... anywho, the members picked us up after studies and we got to work! their house had flooded so they got new carpet and drywall so we had to clean up all the mess the workers made. it was quite the project! the mclaughlins are awesome though so they made it lots of fun! they took us home and we ate and then brother rosenberg picked us up for our lesson with teya that we had at his house. it was an awesome lesson! we talked about church attendance since that's something teya has been really struggling with. we talked about where the sabbath day came from and why it's important to God that we keep it holy and the blessings that come from church attendance and lastly the things that prevent us from going to church. i was so grateful that Maddie (the rosenbergs daughter who is teyas age who we bring to lesssons with teya) was there. she talked about how she's never had a really life changing experience of having to choose between the soccer championship and church or anything like that, but that she made the choice when she was younger that she'd always attend and she feels like that's really blessed and guided her life. i think a lot of times we get scared of sharing things or feel pressured to have these miraculous stories in order to share an experience. what maddie shared was just as powerful as sharing the first vision! it doesn't really matter what we are sharing. it matters why we are sharing and the feelings that we have about what we share. if we open our mouths, the Spirit will do all the talking! right now i'm just focusing on her knowing without a doubt that we love her and care about her! we'll see what happens. Friday morning we woke up to more snow!!! unfortunately that conflicted with the dr. appt sister phelps had set up. thankfully the womacks rescued us and gave us a ride. while in the waiting room, i got a call from the mission office about my visa and background check. sister riggs told me she'd call me back when she found out more. we found out that the sinus infection sister phelps had hasn't quite worn off so she got some medicine and it'll all be better! sister reeder picked us up and took us to lunch with she and her son. sister reeder gave me the message that i do need the background check. to be honest I was very frustrated and discouraged at first. i thought about how every other visa waiter i talked to had gotten theirs all figured out and I just felt mad and forgotten. but i just prayed and i thought about all the visa waiters there are right now and how hard those people in salt lake work for me and i just let it go. yeah, sometimes it really stinks to think about how i've been here for 7 months and it's not where i was called to. but when i think of all the incredible people i've met, and how drastically my life has changed, and all the miracles i've witnessed, i can't even think about complaining! i really am having the time of my life out here. deep down I know I have been sent here for a reason. so i don't feel forgotten. i know that the Lord is in every detail of my life and my visa will come when He knows it's time!!! so sister reeder took us to lunch with she and her son. then she took us to pick up our packages! i got moms that day and it was so cute!! after that we went and did a little weekly planning, did our progress report, and then went to dinner with the Jensen's. the parents have been called as ward missionaries. they are amazing. they have a ton of kids but only 2 are at home now. one is 14 and the other is an RM. we had a great visit with them! while we were at the dr we got a text from 10 yr old elizabeth telling us she was moving the next day! we told her we'd come see her that night so we went over there after dinner. her grandma is staying here and elizabeth might stay to finish school but most likely she'll go with her family. she gave us these krispy kreme coupon valentines, it was so sweet! we gave her a book of mormon we both signed. i'm hoping she stays but we'll do whatever we can to keep her in contact with the missionaries. saturday was so wonderful! i learned a lot of valuable lessons. i got a package from aunt b that day which was awesome!! definitely made my day! we had to finish our weekly planning that afternoon. sister phelps and i both came out with a strong resolve to keep working hard. these last few weeks we have been tracting more and earnestly trying but we haven't seen success. i think i let that get me down, especially when i saw how many people the elders in our ward were teaching. i realized that i really shouldn't compare myself to them and i just need to have more faith and determination to find. it's amazing how much better i felt after i just talked to my companion. before my mission if something was bugging me i'd just bottle it up and wallow in my misery until i broke down. i am learning to really rely on others for that support and i'm learning how precious and valuable my relationships are and how open communication keeps them good! after weekly planning we got to work. we tracted in the freezing cold! i saw this one street with a yellow house with tons of cars in front of it. i felt like we really needed to knock on that door. we tracted our way over there and no one was very receptive. one lady opened the door and asked us if we were lost haha. we finally made it to the yellow house and a man named Jose answered. he didn't speak great english, but he spoke enough for us to share the first lesson with him. he's heard of the book of mormon before and we invited him to take the lessons from the hermanas.even though we passed him to other missionaries, i'm still grateful that Heavenly Father led us to him! after that we headed to our dinner. we ate with a young family in the ward. when we shared our message after dinner, the spirit was especially strong. both of the parents are RMs and we got on the subject of how missions can be hard and the husband just looked at us and said. "Sisters, your missions will get harder. but you have to remember that you will only have these experiences once. you will never be able to touch people the way you do as a missionary ever again." he went on and it was really cool for me to hear that because there are times I really envy the members and think they have the ability to touch lives in a stronger way. the truth is that we both change lives in very different ways. but these 18 months are so short and I only have these opportunities now! after that we went and saw sister ketch. we taught her the first part of lesson 1 and she told us how she would pray on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet because she likes to pray out loud and that was her space where she could pray without being heard! she did that almost her entire marriage! she's so awesome! sundays are always so amazing! exhausting, but awesome! during ward council our bishop asked us if we've received a referral from a member this month. we said no and he told all the ward council to find someone for us to teach this week. it was really powerful! teya showed up to church which was great! sacrament meeting was so awesome. it was all about missionary work and so brother rosenberg the ward mission leader and sister jensen spoke. bishop told brother rosenberg "not to mince words" over the pulpit. he did a great job though and so did sister jensen! the thing that stuck out to me the most was actually in the youth speakers talk. she shared an experience that Dallin H. Oaks had when he was younger. he got called to home teach a much older less active man. he was really anxious to get 100% home teaching and so he'd go and visit the guy very half-heartedly. one day, towards the end of the month, he called up the man to see if he could come home teach him the next day. the man told him he was tired and that he didn't really care if he got a visit because he knew his only purpose was to get 100% home teaching. Elder Oaks was shocked that this man knew his true intentions and it completely changed his life! hearing that experience was such a great testimony builder for me because i've been really praying lately to try and develop more charity and to do all i'm doing out of love, not obligation or to meet certain expectations. i felt like hearing that was Heavenly Father's way of saying, "you are focusing on the right thing!" after church we came home, ate, and studied. then we had dinner with Sister May. she's an awesome lady! she's very bold in her opinions, but in a loving way. we had some really great conversations with her. since we're teaching the lessons to members we created these little cards with all the subtitles of the lessons on them so we can teach shorter lessons to our members. we taught her about priesthood and auxiliaries. it was awesome! from there we checked on a referral, got some addresses for our ward mission leader and then went to ward correlation. i'll write about yesterday in next weeks email since i'm short on time, but some exciting news we got last night is that we will be a trio starting tonight! we're getting a new sister in the mission, so the sister who is training her companion is going to be companions with sister phelps and i! pretty exciting! i've never been in a trio so we'll see how it works! i'm going to the office tomorrow to start my paperwork so we'll see what happens with the visa. thanks for all the prayers and love this week! this work is seriously THE best. I am so happy out here and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! I love you all and wish you the best with all you do this week! Love you! Sister Pehrson

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

February 3, 2014

Familia!!!! Man it's been an awesome week! it was so good hearing from all of you and I'm glad all is well back home! I'm glad to hear that Seattle won and most of the members here were glad too! :) On Monday evening before we went to La'vonne's we went and checked on some people. The first house we went to we were standing at the door and had just knocked when we saw a van start to turn into the driveway but then quickly speed off when they saw us!! it hurt a little but it was also pretty funny! So for FHE we did that object lesson. it was scary because we only had one chance to get it right so the pressure was really on!! Everyone except La'vonne knew what was going on!! it was really fun! it was really awesome because i think la'vonne sometimes feels like we forget about her since she's become a member now and so since we really focused on her in that lesson we were able to show her how much we really love and care about her still! that night reminded me of how much fun this work really is!! Tuesday was awesome!! we had district/zone meeting in the morning and our zone leaders talked about how we will be "crowned with righteousness" for our obedience so then they had us make crowns with construction paper and markers it was so funny. district meeting was really awesome! it was all about helping our investigators keep commitments and understand the "why" behind them. one thing i especially liked was the idea of telling our investigators that Satan doesn't want them to do what we're asking them to do and so they need to be aware that he'll really be working hard on them! i thought that was a good idea and I'm super excited to try it out. we had a really great day that day on FB because someone that we've been trying forever to get in contact with messaged me on facebook so that was super cool!! after that we went and did language study and then went to check on an investigator who wasn't home. then the member who brought us dinner that night called and said she was at our apartment so we headed home. we ate and then saw sister B! that was a really awesome lesson for me! we talked to her about how much our Heavenly Father loves us and asked her what it means to her that she has a Heavenly Father. as we were teaching I had this realization that I was teaching a lesson and not a person. i knew that needed to change so I immediately started to pray. after that i felt the spirit so strongly and i felt so much love for sister B! it's amazing how easy it is to just get stuck in the rut of just teaching a lesson and not feeling enough! from there we went and saw a family in the ward who were baptized about 9 years ago. we got to know them a lot better and they really appreciated our visit so it was really cool! Wednesday was super fun! we were supposed to have a lesson with sister Abbas at 11 30 that morning but we got there and she wasn't home. it made us sad! we came home ate and then got on FB. I talked to Erik for awhile and we set up another skype lesson! after that we saw Sister Ketch. she told us she has "halfsheimers." not full alsheimers, but just half. she is still a very sharp lady though! from there we went to dinner at a young families home. from there we checked on two investigators who were TOTALLY home but didn't answer! but that's okay because we were supposed to be out tracting!! we chose a street where we felt we'd have success. the first girl we taught was pretty young. she said she was comfortable in her faith and so we asked if she'd prayed to know if her church was true. she said no so we shared some of the restoration and invited her to pray about her church and about what we shared. she started arguing a little and then said she was busy so we prayed with her and left. a few other people were "not interested" and then we ran into Robert!! we first talked to his friends who were leaving his house and they told us they had to leave but they threw their friend under tot bus and told us to go see him! we knocked twice and out walks the VERY inebriated Robert.... he was definitely on something...maybe a few things! he told us we were crazy for being out in the cold and so we told him we were out there because we have THE MOST AMAZING message to share with him!! we had a great lesson with him and he said he was baptist and just "wasn't into the whole Mormon thing" we tried to leave him with a Book of Mormon and he's like "I don't wanna hurt your feelings or anything, I'm just not interested." he started to try to go inside so we asked if we could pray with him. he said no and we kept asking so i just started "dear heavenly father." he then walked into his house and I go "amen!!" just as he closes the door! it was really funny. he was SO out of it. we'd ask a question and he'd go, "wait...I'm really confused." i told sister Phelps after that I'd just been praying he wouldn't go crazy and kill us. she said she was praying he wouldn't throw up on us!! i love tracting... after that we were supposed to go meet a friend of one of the members but she just ended up cancelling so we tried to visit tons of people who weren't home! even though pretty much everyone rejected us, we were still happy because we knew we were doing the Lord's work! Thursday was one of those days where i realized both how far I've come and how much i still have to learn! after studies and FB we went and checked on Sister Franchialfaro. she ALWAYS talks about dogs. she hasn't been to church in a long time and she is such a spit fire! she's great. that days conversation however revolved around her experiences with dogs....she's a unique individual. we talked for about an hour and SHE WOULDN'T LET US IN!!! my toes were so numb and frozen that when we got in the car i had to take my boots off and stick my feet on the heater to thaw them! after that we visited the Reeders. it was just sister Reeder and her son so we had a great visit! we then ate and tried to check on lots of people and none were home. by then it was time for our lesson with Teya!! we had a really awesome and fun visit with her. in that moment i realized that it really didn't matter to me when Teya gets baptized. it matters to me that she knows i love her! i tried to tell her that but who knows if she believed it! i definitely hope so! it's hard teaching a 13 yr old girl who hasn't had much opposition in life. she said she still wants us to come over and teach her, she just wanted us to know how she really feels about baptism. it was a much needed conversation!! Friday was a really awesome day! we had weekly planning and we had a great companionship inventory as usual. communication is so important! I'm grateful I've become a better communicator on my mission. we spent all afternoon frantically trying to find a place to skype Erik that night when Casi, a recent convert, finally texted us telling us we could go there! we went after dinner and helped her set everything up and then had a great lesson on the Book of Mormon with Erik until Casi's computer restarted right in the middle of our lesson! sadly we weren't able to reboot it fast enough. but we had an awesome talk with Casi while we waited. she talked about how glad she was that we came over because we showed her she can still be herself and be a church member. she has felt like there's this mold she needs to fit and there are parts of her personality she needed to get rid of to be a good member. she said we showed her we can still have fun and be goofy! kind of ironic that she said she learned that from us when that's something I've really struggled with on my mission! i love Casi so much! we got the computer all fixed and Erik was gone, but we messaged him and i really feel like it was meant to happen! Saturday was sooo great!!! we went on a field trip to the visitors center with sister Thompson. she has recently started coming to church again and so on our way there we had a great talk about the book of Mormon! the visitors center was really awesome though! there was a section on temples so that was good for her to see since she's preparing to go there eventually. we watched bunch of I'm a Mormon clips as well as 8 stories, which is stories of 8 missionaries before, during and after the mission. after that we walka ed around the temple and took pictures ! we didn't have to wear coats it was so nice out! it was like 40 degrees!! on our way home we cut through D.C. which was super awesome! i got to see the Brazilian embassy and the national cathedral. we then went straight to dinner. we ate with a cute young family in the ward. after that we went and saw the Days. we mainly talked to sister Day. she has such a great testimony! from there we saw sister Francisco. I looove Sundays!! we had ward council yesterday morning so we went to church at about 9 15 right after personal study. it is very interesting experience to be in the ward council meeting... my last Bishop was more relaxed, but my new bishop is a business guy and he just likes to get stuff done! i have learned a lot through my experiences with the ward council!! teya showed up to church on crutches. the youth went on a ski trip Friday and she hurt herself...testimony meeting was especially wonderful! la'vonne got up and bore her testimony! we got invited to help a youth class plan lessons they're teaching to their friends they invited to come to church next week. that was super fun! i love the youth! it's still so weird to me to have them ask me for advice and to trust what i say simply because of my calling! it is so humbling! we also got asked to come into the 4 yr old primary class and share how we made the choice to serve a mission. that was so fun! after church we went to a ward members for "Linner". there were several members there. one is from Ghana and she served her mission in St Louis so she had lots of crazy stories to tell! after that we came home and studied a bit and then went to lav'onnes to go to the new member fireside! our mission has a fireside once a transfer where new members bare their testimonies and we can bring investigators and members and other people to it! it was so awesome! it was my first time going! there were about 5 people who spoke at the fireside, and i know I'm biased but la'vonne was my favorite for sure!! it really hit me hard as i listened to the other people speak how truly prepared la'vonne was for the gospel! there is no better joy than doing this work and seeing the fruits of my labor!! on the way home, i was feeling sort of sad and lonely and I'm not sure why. i had just had such a peaceful spiritually uplifting experience, so I'm not sure why i felt this way! i had the ipod set to random and in my mind i thought "heavenly father...if you're there and you're really listening..put this song on." it was really silly and i thought "this won't happen. why am i even testing Him!" i was really preparing myself for it not to happen! lo and behold, the next song to play was "he knows me better." the exact song i had prayed to come on! it was so simple, but it means a lot to me that Heavenly Father is willing to show me signs!! even when my faith feels weak, He is there to help me strengthen it and I think that is pretty darn amazing!! I found out that night that sister Knowles, another visa waiter here, just got her visa. i wish i could say I was immediately super excited for her, but i wasn't. i was jealous.... i wanted to know why!! and yet, i didn't feel like i needed a reason since I've been given SO many since serving here. but still, it hurt. so i knelt and prayed and i just know that NO MATTER WHAT, I am here because God needs me here. i am on a mission because God knew that was best for me. And even if I never get to Brasil, I will forever be grateful for my mission and the knowledge I've received. I know i am not forgotten. I know he Loves me and that I'm here in Alexandria because that is where Heavenly Father has placed me! these are things I truly KNOW, and they carry me through any hard times I go through!! As you saw in the heading, it is transfer week. i don't think I'll be transferred but ya never know! I'll find out tomorrow! so hold off the mail for this week! I love you guys so much...I say this all the time but I honestly could not be out here if it weren't for you! keep being amazing! love you so so much! Sister Pehrson

January 27, 2014

Hello family!! I still have tons to tell you about!! This week was AMAZING! We got to hear from a general authority, found a new investigator, and had so many miracles happen! This work is the best!! Tuesday morning I studied and waited for the snow to come! At 9:30, we got a text that said district meetings were back on but we couldn't drive after that! Zone training was all about being elect. We studied D&C 25 and then watched this amazing video! It's off the new seminary/institute video. it's all about Emma Smith and her life and the amazing woman she was despite all of the hardship she experienced in her life! It was reallyy inspiring. Then in district meeting we did an "investigator inventory" and we helped each other out with finding solutions to some of the struggles our investigators have. we then practice taught door approaches! after that we came home, ate, and studied. I was trying to think of members we could call and how we could still be productive. but then my companion didn't feel good. I was disappointed because I wanted to be out working. I knelt and prayed one of the most heart felt prayers i've ever prayed before! then i kept doing studies and a member who fed us that night came and picked us up. They are a young couple who are both RM's (returned missionaries). they are super awesome! they dropped us off at a teaching appointment with elizabeth. we taught her the 2nd half of the plan of slavation. i think it's the best lesson we've had with her so far! she was a lot more talkative than usual and when we brought up baptism, she seemed mcuh more open to the idea than ever before! we couldn't find a ride home so we walked home. it was about a 30 minute walk in the snow and wind...it felt good to be productive though!! that night we had a really awesome planning session and we had decided to text bethany and try to have a lesson with her. She set up an appointment with us for the next day! it was a miracle!! Wednesday was also awesome! i learned so much! we studied and we weren't allowed to drive until 1 because of the snow, so we had a member pick us up. last week I got an email from tasha that was a complete answer to my prayers!! she talked to me about how a lot of my mission is learning to love others and to take care of my relationship with my comp. I love my companion and i want her to leave this transfer knowing without any doubt that i love her! i'm grateful that heavenly father allowed me to have this change in perspective!! it reminded me of the quote "never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." so i'm really working on my charity these days!! :) we had the member come pick us up from the the family history center. she is a seahawks fan and one of the elders int he ward is a patriots fan. so the member went to rub it in his face that the seahwaks are going to the super bowl and the patriots aren't. iTheir exchange was really funny. On the way to the car, i slipped and my foot fell into a storm drain that was hidden by the snow! I was not hurt and that too was pretty funny! after we got home we shoveled off our car and headed to the lesson with Bethany! oh my gosh she is amazing! she said she really doesn't like transfers and thats why it took her so long to come back to church and meet with us. She is currently working and going to school so she's really busy. She really wants her daughter to grow up in the church. She brought up baptism and said it is something she wants to work towards. it was so cool because i just immediately felt this great love for her and i'm so excited to get to know her better. She's helping her inactive dad return to church as well! We ate dinner and then had a lesson with The Abbas family. it went really well and they were glad to see us since its been a few weeks! Thursday was a really good day! someone sent me a general conference liahona in portuguese so i studied that! although i had to read very slow, it was awesome to be able to understand what i read. it's funny too because i had been praying about how to improve my language studies and then BOOM ! it shows up in the mail....heavenly father is awesome! :) after studies we went on FB and erik asked me our churches view on alcohol. i explained that we believe our bodies are gifts from God so we don't put anything in them that can harm them. after that we tried to visit TONS of people! we ended up being able to see 2. one was a former investigator who let us in for a few minutes and then the other was a less active member. After dinner, we had the exact same thing happen! we knocked and knocked and knocked and NO ONE WAS HOME! we had an awesome lesson with Teya that night though! it was the most frustrating, intense, yet great lesson ever! We taught the plan of salvation. it's funny how during the really intense, important parts of the lesson, there's always some sort of distraction! We had a talk about Alma 34:32 and how Teya can perpare to meet God. we told her that baptism is one of the BEST ways to prepare to meet Him. we talked to her about setting a goal for a day to be baptized and that we felt March 8 is the day for her. She sat and thought about it for what felt like eternity but then she accepted it! Friday was super awesome! we studied and then had weekly planning! Sister phelps and I are ready to set this area on fire! I just love being her companion! She is so full of love and positivity!!! We went and updated the progress record after that and got on FB. i tried to contact erik but didn't have much luck. i left him with the message with the time we would Skype and hoped to see him then! One of the senior missionaries messaged me on fb and told me how much she loved my page and told me that i'm changing more lives than i think! it was so sweet! A member brought dinner to us. We then went and saw a family in the Ward. The wife had just found out she has cancer.( she has such a positive attitude about it) she is an incredible woman! i had a really cool experience with that visit. It is interesting how the Spirit works in our lives. We were driving to go visit someone else and I had this feeling of "no. go visit this family!" i tried to ignore it at first, but it wouldn't go away! oddly enough, it is very rare that i receive such strong promptings! i'm still not sure why we were meant to go see that family, but i sure hope it helped! from there we headed to sister graney's for our skype lesson. sadly, erik never got on, but we had an amazing visit with sister graney! honestly, when i think of the type of person i want to be after my mission, i think of sister graney! she is so selfless and loving! she talked to us about setting up a new and returning member class for people. we thought that was such an incredible idea! it was cool to see that although the lesson fell through, we were still very needed in that home! we attempted to visit the other Elizabeth after that with no luck! Saturday was incredible!!! i am so so blessed to be serving in this mission! saturday morning we were blessed to attend a whole mission conference! Sister Riggs spoke first and talked about Nephi and some of his life patterns we should follow. then President Riggs spoke all about our faith and what we need to do to accomplish our goals. what an inspired man! the biggest treat was hearing from Elder S. Gifford Nielson! What an amazing man!!! His talk was so inpsiring! he is such a great speaker!! he helped us understand the true importance of our call and how we cannot waste our time. he said over and over again "this is your time. don't waste a second of it!" he talked about how this mission is what will carry us through the rest of our lives and that we must use this time to gain a strong relationship with Christ. when speaking about the importance of our call, he talked about how we've all been called to the Washington D.C. South Mission. he then said, "I know we've got some visa blessings in this room" and he told us that we are where we need to be right now! honestly and thankfully, i haven't felt too brasil trunky this transfer. but it was still so powerful to hear those words from him and to realize that i am doing what i was called to do. i am still doing the Lord's work and I am where I need to be! after the meeting, elder nielson came up to me and a few other sisters. he told us to keep working hard and being rays of sunshine in people's lives. President Riggs then came up and said "this is one of our visa blessings! the one i told you about who taught a woman in portuguese who was then baptized!" Elder Nielson talked about how he's sure those consolates are just wondering why our church is sending so many of us over there! it was a really cool experience for me because i felt my mission presidents love for me! he doesn't see me as just a visa waiter. i am another one of his missionaries and i'm special to him! it meant so much! it was so amazing to see my old companions-especially sister stott! it was great to give her a huge hug and say i love you! sister butts told me she met Andresa and Andresa started crying when she talked about me. i think time has really dimmed the true brilliance of that experience for me, but i was so thankful for the remoinders i received from both president riggs and sister butts. i left that conference so inspired!! our first attempted visits of the day were unsuccessful. we then saw sister ketch! she has some incredible stories! i love learning from her. she told us taht she really appreciates our visits. on our way to the ward potluck we called and got permission for elizabeth to come to church and then at the potluck we set up a ride for her. the activity was so amazing!! it was the best activity for me so far on my mission! i felt so inspired by elder nielsons talk and i knew that i could find someone for us to teach at this activity! that opportunity was provided (sort of). one of the members told sister phelps and i to come by her table and meet the friends she had brought. there is a blind couple in our ward and they invited their blind neighbors to the party! i got to talk to samantha, the wife. she is amazing! she's from the bahamas and has only lived in the US for 2 years. she and her husband are raising her niece. i honestly had one of the most powerful short lessons with samantha. she gave us her information and we got her okay to try and visit her! sue also came to the activity which was great! The member family then came and thanked us for talking to samantha and said she wants us to help her when she visits them because she reads to the niece and helps her learn since her aunt and uncle are blind. after the potluck we went and had a lesson with sister thompson. she's making amazing progress and we cahllenged her to read one chapter of the book of mormon a day! sunday was super awesome! church was pretty intense that day!! we had teya, bethany, and elizabeth come, and then sue showed up at the end! i've never had 4 people at church before! we sat by teya and elizabeth and so i explained the significance of sacrament to them. after sacrament was sunday school. we talked about the spirit world. it was such an awesome lesson! la'vonne had a few questions and so we all helped her use the sciprtures to find answers! she was really really excited! bethany helped her cousin in primary for the second hour, but she came back for relief society. After church was crazy hectic as always! yesterday was probably one of the most productive days of church i've had though so it was a really cool experience. we then came home, ate, studied, and then went to dinner at the smith's. sister smith is a single mom of 2 teenage daughters! i admire her a lot! after that we went to check on 2 people our ward mission leader told us about with no luck. then we visited kaira. shes only been to church once since being home from school so we're a little worried about her. she is super amazing and i want to do all i can to help her come back to church! after that we had ward correlation! it was a really great day! i have learned a ton this week and i wish i could have just had you all in my pocket for the conference with Elder Nielson! it was one of my favorite talks i've ever heard! i hope your weeks are amazing...i love you all so so much and am grateful for all you do to support me out here! love you!! Sister Pehrson

January 22, 2014

hello! sorry for the late email!! apparently we are allowed to email at the church, which me and my companion didn't know. so Monday we didn't email, and Tuesday we got snowed in!! so here I am, emailing on Wednesday. This week was super awesome!!! I feel like every week goes faster and faster and I learn more and more. Yet the more I learn the more I realize I need to work on and improve on!! Last Monday we had dinner with the a ward family. they are a really awesome young couple in the ward. they are both RM'S and are expecting their first baby next month! they are the one's who brought the Christmas tree to another ward family. we had a really good visit with them! after dinner we worked on a list of names our Relief Society President gave us. the first woman turned her light off when she saw us. the second wasn't home and it was a good thing she didn't answer the door cause sister Phelps and i had a random laugh attack when we got to the door haha! the third woman has apparently been moved out for about 5 years! it's always sad meeting people like that because it's like really no one has checked on them for so long. after that we went and had FHE with La'vonne and Teya! they are so much fun! we talked to them about seminary since Teya will be in 9th grade next year. La'vonne thought it sounded really great, but Teya was not as convinced. I can't really blame her since 6 am scripture study sounds a little bit insane to a teenager! I really wanted Teya to know how much it would help her though. at first I thought "well, I didnt' really take advantage of seminary like i should have. doesn't this make me a hypocrite?!" but then i thought of the testimony I gained because of seminary. i thought about the times in high school where i made dumb choices and didn't hang out with the best people. my seminary friends never judged me for that and they always showed their love for me, no matter the decisions i was making! Who are my high school friends that I still actually talk to? Friends I made in seminary. I shared this with Teya and testified of what a true blessing seminary was and still is in my life! Teya agreed to at least give seminary a try! it was a really great lesson and made me realize what a powerful influence seminary had on me! Tuesday was a good day! But that night i was up all night coughing, so that wasn't very fun. our zone meeting got cancelled so we only had district meeting! it was really good! we talked about recognizing if our lessons are being led by the spirit or not. we also talked about introducing and inviting to read the book of Mormon. sister Phelps and i did our practice teach in front of the whole district. i learned a lot that i need to improve on! i got to evaluate the other missionaries practices and it was interesting to see the difference between when a sister teaches and when an elder teaches. Elders are much for matter of fact and use logical examples. sisters seem to be more about feelings! but it was good to see some elders teach and see how i can improve. after out meeting we ate and then did language study. then we got on facebook! i was super nervous because the last time i got on i asked a fried if he wanted to learn more and I knew there would be a response from him that day. well...he said yes! we made plans to have a Skype lesson with him on Friday and give lesson 1. that day was definitely the most productive and fruitful day I've had on FB so far! after fb we checked on several less active members from the list our RElief Society President gave us. then we went and had dinner with her! it was good to have names to talk to her about becuase she knew we would do what she asked us to do. after dinner we checked on a few more people and my sickness got the best of me. i needed extra rest so we went in at about 7:30. Wednesday was super awesome!! i didn't wake up on time because I had taken NyQuil, so I woke up later and was feeling really crummy. not like sick crummy but "i didn't get up on time!" crummy. i did my personal study and i received the exact direction and council i needed at that time!! i read 2 Nephi 2-4. these are some amazing chapters! the part that really helped me was when Nephi talks about how this life is for us to repent and prepare to meet God. It was a great reminder to me that this life is NOT for us to be perfect and to always do everything right and to understand everything! we came here as imperfect beings and we were given the gift of repentance to use for our growth! If I'm not repenting, I'm not changing. so we shouldn't get down on ourselves if we need to repent! it just means we are trying to be better! after our studies we headed to the church and got on FB. i spent a lot of time on www.mormon.orgsince there wasn't much going on on FB. after fb we went and checked on a former investigator. he said to check back later because his wife and him are both out of work right now and don't have time for the lessons. we then decided to see a member who we just met on Sunday. turns out she'd just gotten her wisdom teeth pulled! her husband answered the door and told us that, so we went to leave and he's like " I'll see if she's up for visitors". she was! she was in a lot of pain but she said our visit was really helpful for her. it could have just been the drugs she was on, but i hope it really helped :) we came home and ate, then went to check on a 10 year old girl we are teaching. no one was home so we left a sticky note! the rest of the night was full of attempts to visit people! no luck though! the funny thing is, i was not discouraged! i was just grateful to be out working! i had to take NyQuil that night, so I just prayed that i would have the strength to wake up at 6:30 the next morning. you'd think after reading all those "ask and ye shall receive" scriptures, I'd expect my prayer to be answered! but i doubted! more in myself than in the Lord. but nevertheless, 6:30 came and I was ready to take on the world!!! it was such a simple thing, but i can't even tell you how much it really meant to me to know that the Lord would help me with a silly thing like that! that afternoon was another "no one is home!!!" marathon. so we knocked. and knocked. and knocked some more! we got some people with a lot of potential so that was exciting! we had been waiting all day for our dinner appt to confirm, but no one had called us! we called her husband who gave us her work number. she apologized and told her her phone had broken, so we should meet her at the Verizon store at 6:30 and then we'd go to dinner. we checked on a couple of investigators. the first person had the flu. the other didn't open her door! by that time it was time to head to Verizon. we got there and were waiting outside and one of the Verizon employees was out smoking so he asks why we were standing outside. we explain and have a good chat with him. we then see a woman in her military uniform trying to get her car to work. we didn't have jumper cables, so we didn't offer to help. she got out of the car and the Verizon guy talks to her and she walked away. he told us that no one would help her! we told him we would if we had cables! he told us she had cables. so he yelled after her and we jumped her car! i couldn't believe that no one would help her. she had asked several people and they all said no! and she was in her uniform! but it was a great service opportunity and showed me that i always need to offer my help, even if i don't think i can really help! the member finally got there and we went in to Verizon's with her to drop her phone off. we ended up having a really awesome gospel discussion with the Verizon guy.after dinner we had our lesson with teya! we taught her about the book of Mormon and it was a powerful lesson! Friday was awesome!!! we did weekly planning and we spent some time frantically trying to find a place to Skype. we finally found a place and so we went and updated the progress record and then did FB. A recently baptized member called and invited us for dinner! we had a great visit with her. our Skype lesson was supposed to start at 7 but he got caught up with work til about 7 50. i was sooo nervous!! he didn't really have questions or objections and he said he'd like to keep learning more! we challenged him to read the book of Mormon and i am super excited to continue teaching him! it's so cool to see how powerful of a tool facebook really is! Saturday was FUH REEZING!! it was in the mid 20s all day, but it felt much colder!! we had forgotten to attach the progress record to our email the day before, so we went and attached that. we then saw sister ketch! she is such fun! She has an incredible testimony! we shared an article with her about prayer. she still prays every single day! someone told us the other day that she took care of her husband for 5 years before he passed away. she is a tough lady! i really look up to her a lot! after that, Sister Jordan called and invited us to her friends house to try some Filipino food! it was pretty tasty! it was fun because there were about 7 or 8 people there and they asked us about our missions and the church. from there we went and had a lesson with a lady from Ghana. i love that lady more and more each time i talk with her! we talked to her about the book of Mormon and i felt the spirit very strong! she talked a lot about her family and she said her mom always said "if you're not happy in your home, you'll never be happy anywhere else." I thought that was awesome!! after our lesson with her we went and visited sister Thompson. she only started coming back to church in march. She feels like she forgot a lot. so we've started teaching her the missionary discussions. we started with lesson one. i never ever ever!!! get sick of teaching the restoration. especially when i share the first vision. it's amazing how much teaching that really strengthens my testimony and reminds me of why I'm on my mission!! Sunday was so wonderful! we had ward council which is always an adventure! it was brother Rosenberg's first ward council as our Ward Mission Leader. he's amazing! i am so excited to have him lead out the work in this ward. his plan for the ward mission is "pray. serve. share. invite." it's simple but powerful! one of our investigators showed up for church! she was taught by the last sisters in this area and once i showed up we could not get in touch with her, i thought she dropped of the face of the planet! it was so cool to see her there and see that we should never give up on people because they will eventually come around! sacrament was all about organizing ourselves. Sunday school was about temple work and family history! La'vonne got a calling that day as well! she'll be serving in the young women ! she is sooo excited! I'm excited for her! we got to see Teya's reaction to La'vonne being called to serve in young women...priceless! she acts like she's not excited but I know she will love having her mom in there with her! we got double booked for dinner that day :( dinner number 1 was a potluck type meal at sister May's. she invited several of the single women in the ward. it was a lot of fun! dinner number 2 was with sue! on our way there we received a text telling us that S. Gifford Neilson is coming to our mission for a special mission conference this Saturday! hes' the one who gave the exclamation point talk!!!!! soooo excited! so sue fed us some delicious authentic Chinese food! she made this egg/tomato dish with tofu. it was so good! we had a really incredible lesson with her as well! she talked about how afraid she is right now and how if God helps her survive, she'll believe in him. we talked to her about prayer and encouraged her to pray for protection. we talked to her about baptism as well. normally it's a pretty touchy subject with her, but she seemed honestly committed to think and pray about it! she may be finally coming around! from the lesson we rushed over to the Rosenberg's for ward correlation. brother Rosenberg is super on top of things!!! our goal is 20 lessons per week per companionship! Monday I deep cleaned the apartment to get all the sick bugs out! i think mom would be impressed :) then i wrote a bunch of letters. funnily enough the weather was gorgeous that day! we had our windows open all afternoon and it wasn't even cold! we tried to visit a few former investigator that night but neither were home. La'vonne was late to fhe, but I was still an awesome time! we did "stump the missionaries' where La'vonne and Teya asked us anything they wanted to. I'm not sure why we chose to play this with La'vonne since she pretty much always stumps us :) but she asked some cool questions like if there must be opposition in all things will there be opposition in heaven? mind boggling! I'll tell you about Tuesday next week since I'm running out of time! basically it snowed all day long:( today it's just super freezing but not snowing so that's good!! I love you all so much and hope your week is WONDERFUL!! Love, Sister Pehrson

January 13, 2014

Family!!!! I am soooo excited to hear the news that I have another niece on the way!! We need more Pehrson girls in this world! ;) Super excited for David and Tasha!! This week was a little bit cray cray...but it was fun! I definitely learned a lot as I always do... Yesterday after emailing we went coat shopping! since Tuesday was the coldest day it's been in 20 years (allegedly..) I needed a coat super bad! Found one at Burlington for 35 dolla!! Pretty good deal and I can use it at BYU I later on! On the way back to the area we got lost but we found T.C. Williams High School that's where Remember the Titans was based off of! We both freaked out and got out and took pictures! we then did our grocery shopping and baked like crazy. I decided to make splenda banana bread since I'm off sugar. IT turned out a little sketchy looking but tasted decent..you'll have to tell me what i did wrong, I'll send you a picture! We had FHE with La'vonne and Teya! it was good to have Teya back. she was at her grandmas all winter break. her mom was really proud of her because she found 5$ that day and turned it in instead of just keeping it! we watched a Mormon message about the restoration with them and talked about how we can all receive answers to our prayers no matter our age. we talked to Teya about having lessons with her and La'vonne told us she wants it to be just us and Teya so that Teya can make the decision to be baptized on her own! we set up a lesson for Thursday with her. Honestly I don't know how anyone related to La'vonne could not get baptized! she is so powerful!!! but we'll see what happens. Keep her in your prayers! Tuesday was super awesome! I had a really amazing personal study! the assistants sent out a text telling us to study D&C 121,122,123 and Hebrews 11. They are all pretty much my favorite now! 121-22 are when Joseph Smith was in jail and had been in terrible conditions for a pretty long time and he is basically asking the Lord why he is letting him suffer and he's at a very discouraging point in his life. The Lord reminds Joseph of the story of Job and tells Joseph that he doesn't have it as bad as Job did and showed Joseph the many blessings he had and comforted him with promises for the future. it was really comforting for me to read this because I have had many discouraging moments in my life--mostly on my mission where I've thought "why me?" or "why isn't the Lord doing something about this!" this verse really reminded me to look around and see what others are going through or have gone through and then to count my blessings because my trials have not been that severe at all! it's always nice to study things like that and start the day with a new perspective. we had zone training that morning and it was super amazing! they showed this video of a bunch of quotes and a few of them really stuck out to me. one was "being realistic is the most commonly travelled road to mediocrity." i loved this, especially when applying it to missionary work. i feel like I often go about this work just hoping to meet people to teach, but I have these thoughts in my mind like "well, not many people will listen" or "no one will accept this in this area!" i am putting a limit on what the Lord can do! after hearing that quote and reading Hebrews 11, I realized I am lacking a lot of faith!! of course I have faith, but not enough to work miracles, and that's something I really want to develop here in the mission field. the other thing he said that struck me was "if you're not making someone's life better, you're wasting your time!" this is applicable for everyone, but I think it is especially true for me as a missionary. i have 18 full months to give my ALL to the Lord! Am I really doing so? as you can see, that day was a day of much self reflection and evaluation! i am obviously not perfect, but I have a good foundation to build on, and that matters a lot! I think that's one of the hardest parts of the mission to get used to...never being fully satisfied with what you're doing, yet still loving yourself and being positive! after the meeting we ate and i did my language study. I'm going through my Portuguese hymn book and figuring out what the songs are in English. it's fun! after that we did facebook. we came home and I cooked a pretty impressive meal of shrimp, rice, and veggies! it was pretty delicious! after dinner we saw a less active member. She was busy so she couldn't let us in, but at least she knows we love her! we then tried to see another less active member. Her husband answered the door and told us she was in bed so he told us he'd tell her we stopped by. he looked at our name tags and told sister Phelps he'd remember her name because he has cousins who are Phelps. she said "yeah, it's a cool last name." He was like "man you guys are cool missionaries" it was pretty entertaining. after that we went and saw some members and shared a message with them about social media. we ended the night attempting to visit Elizabeth from Ghana, but she didn't answer the door! Wednesday was a good day! we went to see our investigator Doni, but she wasn't at home. So we decided to try and see her at work. she was really happy to see us but she didn't let us set up a return appointment! after seeing Doni we decided to do some visits to some people on a list our RS president gave us. we visited the first family who hasn't been to church for awhile. they were really sweet! they have 3 cute little boys.we talked to the husband about his mission in Minnesota and we will definitely go see them again soon! after that we knocked doors with no luck! we then had dinner with the Bakers. brother baker served his mission in Japan and met his wife who is from Japan after his mission at BYU. they are a really cute couple. they are both ward missionaries! after dinner we went and taught Elizabeth (the ten year old). we had planned on teaching the restoration but sister Phelps felt inclined to teach the plan of salvation. I realized we're both on the same team and she should follow the spirit when she feels it! We also taught Elizabeth to pray and it went really well! she's such a sweet little girl! after that we went and taught our other Elizabeth! Ghana Elizabeth! she is a member of the new apostolic church. as we taught her the restoration, i realized that i am now at the point on my mission where I know the doctrine. i know what to teach, i know how to teach it! but the thing I need is love! if we just go through the motions, this work is meaningless!! I'm grateful for this realization I had. I've been praying to have more charity for those I teach and not to fall into the trap of being a robot missionary! Thursday was so wonderful! we had interviews! they are my favorite!! President Riggs asked us to set goals before our interviews so i worked on that during my personal study. after studies we headed to our interviews! My interview with President Riggs was SO amazing though!! I told him my concerns and he talked to me about how everyone struggles at times with being motivated and that during the atonement even Christ had to pray "more earnestly". he needed more motivation! he told me to pray more earnestly and he talked about Corianton- whose sins were much greater than my sin of lack of motivation and how after his father Alma counseled him he told him to return to the ministry he was called to! the same thing happened to Joseph Smith when he lost the 116 pages. he then laughed a little bit and said he enjoyed seeing the difference between interviews with Elders and Sisters. Sisters feel like they're not motivated enough! he told me that I am still in his "trust box" and I'm still in the Lord's trust box! that made me feel better! he then told me about this district who taught 137 lessons last week! there are four missionaries in that district! FOUR!! Blew my mind! but it also really motivated me and reminded me that I am serving during "the hastening" and I need to expect the miracles that will come because of this! President then told me "Sister, you're amazing and you're doing great things! your companion adores you! keep working hard and pray more earnestly. you'll continue to do great things!" I left feeling SO inspired and ready to conquer the world! I LOVE my mission president! :) we went home and finished our studies, did facebook and then it was time for dinner. we had dinner with the elders and our ward mission leader. we went to this Thai place that was pretty tasty! it was slightly awkward because the Elders aren't really good at making conversation so it was up to us and Brother Lindsay to make the conversation! luckily we were eventually able to get the Elders to talk and it was really funny because Elder Egly, who is from Germany, and he ordered something and asked for it to be REALLY spicy. he definitely regretted it! he was crying and sweating! it was entertaining! after dinner we had our first one-on-one lesson with Teya! it was sooo awesome!! she had a bad day at school so we helped her out with that and then we taught the restoration. sister Phelps has this awesome visual aid she uses called the apostasy cups. it really helps people see WHY there needed to be a restoration. the spirit was so strong during the lesson and Teya was able to ask all the questions she needed to! we talked a lot about baptism and why we invite her to be baptized. i think she'll feel less pressure now! Friday was probably the craziest day of my mission thus far! it started out pretty normal! we studied and then did weekly planning! I'm so thankful i don't have to dread comp inventory anymore! i used to think it was just my companion criticizing me but now I realize that it allows me to recognize weaknesses I don't see in myself and then to work on them! one of the biggest things I've learned is that people can and do change!! i was a little too judgmental before my mission and I just assumed if someone was a certain way they'd never change! that was very wrong of me. I've seen changes in myself that I never thought would happen...that i never thought needed to be changed! and I've seen my companions change in ways i never thought they would! so I'm grateful I'm learning this now and that I'm learning how to communicate with others. we set some really good goals and talked about ideas to improve our teaching and working with members. after planning we did FB. after FB we had dinner with a member. on our way home we called sister Riggs because sister Phelps has been having health issues. we then called them Mission Dr. he told sister Phelps to take 3 Advil and then to call him in the A.M. since we couldn't go back out, i was trying to find way to be productive still. we called sue, who will be at church on Sunday! then we called Elizabeth's mom who gave us permission to bring her to church on Sunday! i made a few more calls when sister Phelps face started turning bright red and her throat was closing up! we called sister Riggs and i got permission to drive sister Phelps to the ER. she had an awful sinus infection and had a bad reaction to the Advil she took. we got home at about 2 in the morning. I'm glad she wasn't dying or anything! definitely an adventure though. Saturday was basically a day to recover from Friday. i got up and cleaned and studied, and then studied and cleaned some more while my comp slept. When she woke up, she felt better so we got ready and headed to the Rosenberg's they are such an incredible family! they invited some recent converts over for dinner with us! after dinner we decided to go check on sister ketch. she had brother Calhoun over, who is a less active member due to his health! we had a really great visit with them and it was nice to see that brother Calhoun still has a very strong testimony. after that we went to see sister bryk but she wasn't able to visit with us! we did have a good visit with her husband though so that was good! it was good for me to realize Saturday that i can still be, and need to be productive when my comp isn't feeling well! Sunday was a really great day, as always! let me just tell you...the first Sunday in the mission field i was sooo excited to go to church and just relax...but Sundays as a missionary are NOT relaxing! you have to make sure every investigator at church is having a good time and then yo have to try to get something out of it yourself...so help the missionaries out and try and take their investigators under your wing at church! but Sunday was awesome! Elizabeth (the 10 yr old) came to church for the first time!!! SUPER EXCITING!! she is so shy, but hopefully church will help her open up a little! sacrament was amazing! it was all about obedience since D&C 130 : 20 and 21 is our new ward theme. my favorite talk was by brother pinkney. he can really captivate an audience! he talked about 3 scriptural shirt rippings! my favorite was captain Moroni's shirt ripping where he creates the title of liberty. he talked about how bishop is our captain moroni and we should obey his counsel. he also talked about picking and choosing which commandments to obey and how wrong that is. bishop spoke after that and told us all to think of one thing that we need to be more obedient in. it's a cool challenge he issued and he told us to pray about it for 30 days. then pray 30 more days. and at the end of 60 days spend the next 30 days thanking heavenly father for helping you be more obedient. it's something i really want to try! Sue showed up to church and told us she wants to come on a regular basis now, so that was exciting! Sunday school as about the law of chastity. lets just say the teacher was VERY bold! 3rd hour was combined and was more about obedience. we found out Saturday night that our WML brother Lindsay is moving to the mid singles ward so our new WML is brother Rosenberg. I'm sad to see brother Lindsay go! but he deserves to be happy and married! after church we had correlation and then came home and finished studies. someone had signed up to feed us but then taken their name off the list, but then decided to drop dinner off to us, but since they took their name off the list someone else signed up so we had 2 meals last night! we had to stick the one in the fridge. we went to sister May's house for dinner. she's a real sweetie! we had planned to tract after dinner but it was too dark to knock. we ended up seeing Kaira, who wasn't at church today. after that we saw sister Olsen. we told her we'd visited her son and she was pretty shocked! she was very happy, but surprised! it made me feel glad that we could help such a sweet lady's family! tonight i read a talk by Quentin L. cook where he quotes "what ere thou art, act well thy part." it really stuck out to me as I pondered some of the things I haven't done as well as i should on my mission. i think the lord gave me this companion to test me. he wanted to see who i would be with a sick companion. so far, I'm positive I've let him down! but as I read that quote I realized that I need to decide now who I am. I need to choose the type of missionary I am and be that person no matter who I'm serving with or where I'm serving! I'm grateful for this realization and I feel like it was one of those "turning points' of the mission where I'm really becoming someone. I don't want to be "Sister Phelps companion" or "Sister Stott's companion". I want to be remembered as Sister Pehrson and be the same person no matter who my comp is or where I'm at! this morning I studied a really awesome talk. it was about personal prayer and improving personal prayer. it was in the ensign awhile ago, but it's a really great one you guys should look up! it talked a lot about how prayer is not just asking god for what we want and telling him what he needs to do, but it's figuring out who he wants us to be and asking him how to become that way....it's by elder Pearson. I'll try to get the title to you but yeah it was amazing! I'm super excited for this upcoming week! I love you guys SO much and pray for you daily! let me know what I can do to help you guys out. Keep the ward missionaries in your prayers and do all you can to find people for them to teach, or to fellowship those they are already teaching. Remember that being a missionary is simply being a friend. that's one of the greatest things I've learned on my mission! Love you all! xoxoxoxoox

January 6, 2014

Wow!! I can't even believe 6 months is almost up! These last months have really gone fast (in retrospect) :). I love my mission SO SO much and I know that I am serving here in D.C. for a reason! This week was really great! On Monday we deep cleaned the apartment. It has been pretty messy since the day I got there but Sister B always wanted to do a bunch of stuff on P day, so it was nice to get everything all clean and fresh! I never believed it before, but the Spirit really is stronger in a clean house! Sorry for my room back home mom... :) After all of that we went and had family home evening with La'vonne! Teya was supposed to be there but she was at her Grandma's house. we shared a Mormon message as well as personal testimonies of the Book of Mormon. We encouraged La'vonne to keep reading and to stay strong! we then played a game called "book of Mormon scramble". it's hard to explain the rules, but you basically build your own crossword puzzle using letter tiles and if you use book of Mormon words, you get extra points! the funny thing is that none of us actually used book of Mormon words..haha. we had a great time though! it reminded me a bit of Quiddler...you'll have to look it up! Tuesday was such an awesome day! being the last day of the year, I was thinking about all that happened in my life in the last year! I've gone through some of the most difficult moments of my life, but I've also experienced joys I never imagined I'd experience! i am so thankful for the way my life has turned out so far! the mission is hard, but I wouldn't be this happy anywhere else! It was funny because the only reason sister Phelps and i realized it was new years eve was because a member told us. we had zone and district meetings in the morning. we talked about getting members to lessons. i was really dreading district meeting because i felt like the district would see our numbers for last week and think badly of me or think I'm not doing well taking over the area. thankfully i was just being paranoid. our district leader told us how our district had their best week yet and he said he knew that some of us (me and sister Phelps) probably felt discouraged by this week, but that we should just stay positive and keep working hard! it was something I needed to hear. it's funny because I feel like when I make a mistake or don't do my best, I feel hopeless. I teach people all the time that they are not their weaknesses, and that through Christ they can overcome any and all obstacles, yet I wasn't really believing this myself! it was a much needed reminder and helped me stay positive the rest of the week! the rest of the meeting we talked about diligence, church attendance, and inviting to baptism in ALL lessons. Sister Phelps and i were the only ones who didn't invite last week so we all committed to do better this week! after our meeting we did language study and then facebook. after that we went and checked on some potentials. one was home but was "busy" and the other wasn't home. we started knocking on doors! we talked to an older Methodist woman who was very friendly but definitely not interested. we stopped and saw a ward family and they ended up feeding us dinner which was sweet! we saw Doni, who is an investigator, for a few minutes but she'd just gotten off work and was tired. we then had a lesson with Elizabeth. she's from Ghana and is a former investigator. we tried to figure out all that she believes and tried to help her see how our beliefs are similar! she's hard to read. we had had to be in by 8 due to the holiday so we planned for about an hour and looked through all the former investigators and chose some to visit. we watched the restoration and i tried to teach sister Phelps how to do a sock bun! i love holidays as a missionary! they are memories i will definitely treasure for the rest of my life! it's just fun to look back and think of what we would be doing if we were home. but these moments out here are so irreplaceable and I love them!!! Wednesday was a great start to the new year! after studies, sister graney invited us over to make cookies with her, la'vonne, and 2 of her friends, jeff and tara. it was so fun and a really good opportunity to meet people! when we first got there it was just us la'vonne and sister graney. the night before we were texting la'vonne and told her to remember who she is and make good choices, etc. we were just teasing her because we knew she was going to sister graneys. well she told us that morning that she almost really needed that advice! she said that she had planned on going to sister graney's with teya, but then teya called and told her she wanted to stay in d.c. with her aunt and grandma. this is the first time teya has ever chosen someone else over la'vonne so it was really hard for her to take. she was feeling very sad and vulnerable and one of her ex's was trying to get her to go to a new years eve party with him. she knew if she went she would be tempted by many different things, but she also felt like she just wanted to get out and forget her worries. she prayed for the strength to make the right choice. she told the guy that her friend was expecting her to come over for the holiday and she'd be sad if she didn't come. Sister Graney was like "la'vonne, i will gladly be your "out" ANYTIME!" it was so cool and it made me so proud of la'vonne! it has to be so difficult to give up things that were such a big part of who you were for the gospel. I'm pretty used to making these sacrifices because I've done it many times in my life, but for La'vonne this requires giving up things she's been doing for years! it made me admire and respect la'vonne even more than I already do! she's amazing! so after awhile Jeff and Tara showed up. they are both great people. we gave them our facebook info. I'm so grateful we have facebook as missionaries because we probably wouldn't have easily gotten in contact with those two again! we headed to a ward family's home after that. we brought some clothes, shoes, and makeup for the daughter to try. it was fun and she was really grateful. as we left she told me "you guys are the best sisters we've had! you dress so cute and your nails are always done. it was so sweet! it's really hard to find the balance of being friends with and teaching people. but the friendship part is so very important! if people don't know we love them, they won't really care about what we have to say! i know i have a ton to still work on, but it made me feel good that I'm doing one thing right! after that we went and did FB. we then went and had dinner with a ward family. we had a great visit with them and then we went and had a family fun night with another family! they are awesome! we played apples to apples. I'm not sure if i told you about family fun nights but what they are is we get to go to a members home and play a game with them and their family and then we share a spiritual thought. the first time it can be just the member family, but the next time an investigator or less active member has to be there. it's a lot of fun and we're trying to get the ward to do these so that people can get to know us in a less intimidating way! i think they are really great missionary tools! Thursday was awesome. we had to do weekly planning that day because we had an exchange on Friday. we had a really great companionship inventory and it's good to know i can be open with my companion. after our weekly planning we went and did FB. i got to have a really great conversation with a person about his religious beliefs and background! definitely making progress there! we then had dinner with a ward family. they had their sister there who is not a member. we had some good conversation with her and invited them all to add us on FB. we then decided to check on our potential, who lives in the same area. he didn't answer so we just started knocking doors. it was dumping snow at this point and the second door we knocked was a woman i met at the stake Christmas program. she shared some encouraging thoughts with La'vonne and is a convert herself. she attends the Potomac mid singles ward. she lives with her mom and sister who are also converts! they dried our coats off for us and helped us warm up. when we left they thanked us for coming over and said it had been way too long since the missionaries knocked on their door! sometimes the members need just as much encouragement as investigators. tracting in the freezing snow is one memory I will always remember! :) Friday was crazy! we weren't sure if we'd have exchanges due to the bad weather. but as we were finishing our studies the other sisters called and told us we were still exchanging and i would be leaving and working with sister Billman in Fort Belvoir. I was excited because I've never left the area for an exchange before! so we packed, ate, did some facebook and then exchanged! i was honestly a little nervous but luckily like always i was just over thinking everything! sister billman and i had a really good talk and i told her some of my concerns. she told me that i should work on figuring out the "why" behind all i do as a missionary. do i get up at 6:30 because i know I'll get in trouble if i don't? do i knock doors because I have to? or do i do these things because I know it's what the Lord expects of me and I want to do His work? she also talked about having the faith to find. Am I expecting each person I contact to accept what I tell them or am I just filling time finding? this was all exactly what I needed to hear! Then she talked about being proactive. i told her how this is my first time leading an area and being the more experienced companion. it's been hard because I'm not a great self motivator! she explained that the Lord is allowing me to lead this area and to have these experiences because He wants me to become something. the other thing she mentioned is to not dwell on it when i screw up! so after our talk we went and knocked doors for awhile! Friday was definitely THE coldest day I've experienced on the mission thus far. i didn't actually get to see what the temperature was, but everything was covered in ice and it was seriously so painful! but we kept trekking on! we knocked doors with no success, but we had fun with it! we ate dinner and then went to see this less active woman. she's from Greece! We had a great lesson with her after that about prophets and then we headed out to do more tracting in the dark and dreary wilderness! we talked to tons of people and it was cool seeing all the backgrounds they came from. we talked to Muslims, Christians, Catholics. You name it and we probably talked to one! sadly none wanted to hear our message! we ended then night visiting a member. the husband has been a member for a little over a year and is from England. he is waiting on his visa so he can live here with his wife permanently! I'm glad I'm not waiting on a visa in that situation! it makes my visa situation seem pretty miniscule in comparison! it was fun going to another area and seeing that even the sister training leaders have struggles to find people. I've been feeling down about finding new people to teach in my area but it was good to see that the work just ebbs and flows and you have to be positive through it all! Saturday we did our studies and then exchanged back. exchanges make you grateful for your companion! sister billman is great, but sister Phelps and i have a special bond! I was excited to get back and improve the work in our area and implement all i learned into the work! we went and tried to visit an investigator, but he wasn't home. we knocked a few doors and then tried to see Makila and Kaira. no luck there either! we ended up seeing sister ketch. her neighbor Alan was visiting. he's in the military and his family is living in Georgia. we had a really great talk with them and then had dinner at the Pajuelo's. they are a great family! strange, but great. it's really cool because brother pajuelo is from Peru and is a convert to the church of about 5 years. his dad was recently diagnosed with cancer so brother pajuelo called his dad and asked if the missionaries could come give him a blessing. he agreed. they came and since then have begun teaching him! this would have been a great story, but it doesn't end there! at the next appointment his dad had, the doctors told him the cancer was gone!!! how amazing is that?! miracles still happen today! after that visit, we went and saw sister Thompson. we had a really awesome time with her and taught about setting goals. we shared some of Elder Uchtdorf's talk "the best time to plant a tree" and we all 3 set goals in 3 areas: physical, mental, and spiritual. I have been off sugar for over a week now so my physical goal was to not have sugar until February 14th. my mental goal was to not dwell on the past! and my spiritual goal is to finish the book of Mormon by the 1st of February! elder Uchtdorf talked a lot about recognizing the fact that we will fail at first as we strive to accomplish our goals. a lot of the times if i fail, i just give up! but this is a journey and as we make small improvements every day we will become the person heavenly father wants us to be and we want ourselves to be! it's funny because a lot of times when i am teaching, i find things in the lesson that I really need to hear! it's a good reminder that this mission is helping me become someone the Lord needs me to be. Sunday was wonderful! we had church at 11, so we got most of our studies in before church. teya came to church and so did our investigator regassa. there was a senior missionary couple in our ward and we were talking to them after and they asked me about my visa. a few times this past week people have seemed super upset after i tell them that I have been waiting on my visa for this long. it's funny because i think it upsets other people more than it upsets me! it made me realize how grateful I am for the time I've had here in D.C. I used to always identify myself as a "visa waiter" and i made sure all the members and everyone knew i was waiting on my visa. but now it just doesn't seem that important!! I'm grateful that the Lord has helped me see how important the work is, no matter where I am serving. it was fast Sunday so that meant testimony meeting! sister Orme bore her testimony and it was very entertaining! she's a sassy old lady! probably in her 70s. she talked about how awesome it is to have 3 sets of missionaries in the ward and she goes, "not to discriminate, but we especially love the sisters. they have been helping us with our daughter and they've made a big impact in her life!" it was really sweet! in relief society we talked about tender mercies. it was really awesome! it made me think about all I've experienced on my mission and just my life in general! they have been full of those mercies. this one woman was talking about a rough time she went through and her sister said "i can't fix it for you, but I can love you through it!" she talked about how that's what heavenly Father tells us during our trials in life. la'vonne told us she wants to find some moms in the ward who have raised teenagers. She would like to get some advice right now. it was cool that she recognizes where she can turn for help! after church we did language study and then had dinner at the reeders! we then went and saw some investigators, tony and Barbara. they told us the elders had just knocked on their door a few minutes earlier. they were getting ready to leave so we went to visit someone else and we saw the elder's bikes. we left them some encouraging sticky notes! we ended the night seeing Karia. her sister makila was home but was tired so we had a visit with kaira. she will be home for the next few months so we hope we can help her stay active! the work definitely picked up this week and I know that I just need to stay positive through all the ups and downs! it's been a ton of fun working with Sister Phelps. We are a lot alike and have a lot of great laughs and have a really good friendship, so it's fun serving with her! I hope you guys have a wonderful week and find some people for the missionaries to teach! member referrals are DA BEST! i love you all so so much and will talk to you in a week! love, Sister E Star :)