Up to our elbows in stuffing!

Hey y'all!!

Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful! We have had another amazing and so insane week! Tuesday we got 3 new investigators!!!! We were out in Memphis after district meeting and we went to stop by a part member families house, the Moores, and the member wasn't there but her son, daughter, and daughter-in-law were there. It was such a miracle! Her daughter, Sabel, came to church a couple of weeks ago with another family so we knew she might be interested. The night we were there the son and daughter in law, Joseph and Adrianna, were moving in and we weren't sure what their opinion of the church was so we were pretty nervous but Sister Toki was amazing and so bold and asked them if they would meet with us and they all said YES!!! It was so cool! They had met with missionaries before but it was hard with their work schedule but they just moved and aren't working so they have plenty of time and seemed very interested! Now the trick is just getting out to Memphis to see them! We also taught a solid investigator Adam while we were out there. HE IS THE BESTEST!!! He is a 19 year old guy who is trying to see if God is even real. We have had so many cool experiences and miracles with him!! Just last night he texted us apologizing for not coming (he had work) and asked how our talks went. He also said he loved the chapter we left with him AND (drum roll please.......) HE PRAYED!!!!!!!!!!! I seriously can't describe our excitement!!!! (:   This has been such  a cool experience!

Wednesday morning we went to the Quanah hospital to help make some Thanksgiving meals for people in the community. It was pretty fun! We were there with 4 service missionaries from the Triangle Ranch (church ranch in Paducah) and 2 elders from the Oklahoma City mission that were close. We mixed stuffing, cut turkey, scooped cranberry sauce, and cut pies!

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On Thanksgiving we had lunch at the Methodist church and also lunch with a member family, Mark and Marilyn Keys. I played football for the first time ever. All the 9 year olds were better than us but they let us win! LOL! Our neighbor also invited us over for pecan pie (a delicacy here (:  )!

We committed our investigator Bill to baptism!!! (yes the one who asked if sister Wilson was single, don't worry we cleared that up ;)  ) He committed to be baptized on December 30th and he has already started inviting his family!!

Saturday we ended up having to stay in all day because sister Wilson got pretty sick. It is much funner when you are in a trio haha!  We got lots of studying in and we watched Meet the Mormons and I straightened sister Tokis hair. She says I have done better than any other white girl so I guess that is a success haha!

On Sunday we all spoke in church and it went well! We are totally gaining the trust of the members, it is so awesome!! Our branch president had the branch mission leader report on our work in Priesthood and he said that the men started to get teary eyed because they have been praying and fasting for missionary work for so long!

Tonight we are going to drive to Amarillo for zone conference and then we will drive to Canyon for exchanges so we will be gone for most of the week.

Have an amazing week!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!!

Love y'all!!

Hermana Peterson

Miracles!

Another crazy awesome week here in Childress! (and  all our other towns)

So we got a referral from one of our recent converts named Danna and we tried to go visit them on bike day but we couldn't find the address so we just decided to go somewhere else. On our way Sister Toki felt prompted to stop and talk to a family that was outside washing their car and it ended up being the family we were looking for. How crazy?!  

This week for service we helped deliver some meals on wheels. That was exciting! We also helped out at the nursing home Thanksgiving party. We had dinner out at Triangle Ranch which is a church ranch out here. It is huge! It is the biggest ranch out here they said.  There is about 4 service missionary couples that work there and come to our branch! 

We met a guy named Bill this week, he is kinda different but he was willing to listen and he came to church!! Unfortunately last night we had to tell him that Sister Wilson isn't single (:  We ended up getting to meet with Adam again! It was super quick because it was already 9 and he lives in Memphis which is 30 minutes away from Childress. He read the chapter we left multiple times! He seems genuinely interested in finding God! The only catch is that he works 7 days a week in the cotton fields 7-9. 

Saturday night we went out to Quanah for an event that a member thought would be good for us to meet people at. Quanah is also about 30 minutes away in a different direction. It was a stargazing event and it was pretty cool! 

We saw a miracle yesterday at church too! Last week we committed a member family to pray for missionary opportunities and they brought a nonmember family to church and it was so awesome!!!! Pray for the Pierce family to continue to desire to learn more about the church!! The mom and son had such a great time and expressed their thanks multiple times she just told us to pray that her husband feels the same way. She said she felt her burdens lifted as she came into the building for church! Last night we got to watch the YSA face2face event! It was super good! We watched it at our branch mission leaders house and we invited Bill (the investigator that likes Sister Wilson), Kasia, and Shayla (members). You can check it out  https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/oaks-ballard?cid=HP_SU_19-11-2017_dPFD_fBCAST_xLIDyL1-B_&lang=eng
Hope y'all had a fantastic week as well!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!
READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!
Hermana Peterson

Childress doesn't know what hit them!

Hey y'all!!

This has been the best week yet!!!!! Childress has been great!! My new companions are the bomb!! We are hoping and praying we get to stay together through Christmas!!! This week has also been the busiest yet!! We have seen SO many miracles  I don't even know which ones to tell you!

Transfers were super early Tuesday. We were on exchanges all morning (like 6 of us together) so we had breakfast at Chick-Fil-A since we were all ready for the day and just waiting for our new companions! It took about 2 1/2  hours to get home from Amarillo. Lot's of driving here!! My new companions are Sister Wilson and Sister Toki. They are amazing! Spiritual giants and so much fun to be around! Best of both worlds! Sister Wilson is from Grantsville, Utah. She went to a year at BYU studying exercise science. She has 4 siblings (she is in the middle). She has been out for almost 15 months Sister Toki is from Taylorsville, Utah. She came straight out of high school like I did. She has 7 siblings (she is in the middle as well). She has been out for almost 8 months. Yes, she is Tongan!

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Most eventful part of our week was definitely Wednesday morning. So our district meeting was in Pampa which is 2 hours away so we have to leave pretty early. (they just moved it to Borger so it is 30 more minutes away). We kind of forgot to check our gas before we left and also didn't really realize quite how far we were going. We are in West Texas so of course there isn't like any gas station between here and there (seriously....). So by the time we realized we had 35 miles of gas left (and at least 45 miles until Pampa) we looked up on the gps to see where the nearest gas station was and it said there was a tiny town a little out of the way (but it was still the closest thing we found (our only hope!) It said the gas station was 22 miles away so we prayed that we would make it! It ended up being totally more than 22 miles so we were coasting on neutral down the hills (luckily there was no cars around us because we were in the middle of nowhere) At this point we had called our district leader and informed him that there was a great chance we wouldn't make it to the gas station so he was trying to figure something out. Meanwhile we actually do get there (or so we thought) so we tell them we made it. We then go in to pay and the lady tells us it doesn't work and that the nearest gas station was still 9 miles away in Pampa.....at this point we had probably been going on 0  miles for 15 miles. So we get back in the car and somehow it miraculously still starts! We continue coasting our way 9 miles to Pampa! We almost made it! We got to about 1 1/2 miles from the gas station when our car gives out. hahahaha!!! So sister Wilson and I get out and start pushing! Not even a minute later a guy stops and has a gas can with him and saves the day. LESSON LEARNED!!!!! GAS UP IN CHILDRESS!!!!!!!!!   (:   We were somehow miraculously only 30 minutes late to district meeting!!

The population of Childress is only about 6,000 but we cover over a dozen outlying towns! On Wednesday we got to meet a pretty solid investigator named Sue. Sue lives in Clarendon. Her story is super cool but I don't have time to explain! She is getting married and baptized on January 13th to a member in the Dallas area.

Some of the service opportunities here include delivering Meals on Wheels, painting nails at the nursing home, and helping out at New 4U which is a thrift store.

There was seriously so many miracles I don't have time to tell y'all!!!

We got FOUR new investigators this week! Childress (and the surrounding area ) is popping! One solid one is Jaime. He is a single dad with 2 kids. We taught him the restoration on the door step and then had a church tour with him on Saturday and he and his kids came to church on Sunday!!!!!!!! We are so excited for him!

Other exciting news, the Hales came to visit us this weekend! (that never happens!) They came for interviews at our house so that was kind of intimidating! Church was good though! We love them!

Have an amazing week y'all!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

love you!

Hermana Peterson

When you step in poop and your shoe smells!

Our next door neighbor "mama bear" she made us a nativity cake

With Mama Bear's grandson

Our little house

One and Done in Borger

Hey y'all!

Yep, you read that right! I'm getting shipped out already! I am pretty sad! I was really liking Borger! We are getting white washed by Elders! This is like deja-vu! I am headed to Childress, TX which is in my same stake and district (the deja-vu continues) It is about two and a half hours away. I am going to be in a trio!!!!!! I am so pumped!!! I am going to be with Sister Toki and Sister Wilson. I know Sister Toki because she is there right now, she seems super awesome!! Sister Garcia is going 7 hours South to Brady, TX. We have to be in Amarillo by 6:45am tomorrow so I kinda want to cry, haha! Amarillo is over an hour away! Early start tomorrow! This weekend (especially today!) has been nuts trying to get everything ready and say goodbye!

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Halloween was a normal day for us! We had district meeting in Pampa and then came back to do service at the nursing home halloween party! We were out until 6 and then came home to do studies and have dinner the rest of the night.

Well, we have a bunch of super awesome investigators that I will be leaving behind. We are crossing our fingers that the elders will take good care of them! Crystal told us that she knows everything is true! I smell a baptism coming soon!!! Moses and Esther are still doing good, she is just stuck on the gift of tongues still. We taught a lesson to Donna this week about the word of wisdom and how our bodies are temples and she said, "well, I guess I need to lose some weight, I'm stretching my temple out!!" hahaha! It was pretty funny!

I feel like this week has been super long and flown by all at the same time! That is all I can think of that happened! Hope y'all have a blessed week!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!! 
Hermana Peterson

Donna Joy

Jason Owens

Simmons Family

Crystal Daw

Morrenos

The elders, Sisters Garcia & Peterson, and Brother Rangel (WML)

Moses and Ester

Francisco, Sis Marmalejo, Noel, and Kimberly

The Longs and Amy

Volleyball with Noy Hawley, Anita, and Marisol Hernandez

The Thayn's

Sis Moreno

Sis Mota

Sis Moreno

The Martinez's

The Nelsons

Our buddies Bobby and Bubba from Walmart