The church is true. The end.

Hey y'all!!!

What a week!! I will try to write as many details as I can!! Lots of lasts!! :(

We said goodbye to Kai on Tuesday. He started crying! I didn't think he actually cared about us! It was so sweet! The only problem is that the Fish family hasn't been back to church since Kai was confirmed....ughhhhhhh! AGENCY................we were afraid this would happen. The worst part is that Kai doesn't really have a choice. If his family doesn't come he doesn't either.

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Jaide is still the freaking best!!!!!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!!!! She  has been getting so much negative talk from meeting with us. She posted a picture of herself on instagram and you could see the Book of Mormon in the background I guess so everyone was making comments and asking if she was Mormon. She said, "I kind of am!" haha! Her grandparents also called her mom and told her mom to not let her learn anymore (they are Church of Christ). Jaide is withstanding all of it though!! She is truly amazing! One of the people who commented on instagram turned into a referral! Not our area, but still exciting! We were teaching her on the phone and she was getting choked up as she told us that nothing in her life has ever brought her lasting happiness and she is SO excited that she has finally found something that will last!! Jaide also came to mutual this week without us even inviting her!! And while she was there she got a priesthood blessing for a concussion she got a week or so ago and it was a super spiritual experience for her!

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Jessica. Yet again, AGENCY. We did get to meet with her. She is going through a really hard time and is turning away from God and everything really. We did get to meet with her and she committed to say 1 prayer outloud everyday but we haven't been able to contact her since and she didn't come to church :(  

Kacey is still on fire!!! She passed her baptismal interview with flying colors!! She is pumped for her baptism! We got the songs and everyone to participate in the baptism all figured out. Yesterday we got the jumpsuits and everything. Next task is cleaning the spiders out of the font.....good thing I'm leaving!! (: haha! Just kidding! I wish so badly that I could be hear for it!

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Savannah is doing great as well!! We texted her about mutual this week and she decided to come with us instead of the first baptist church! That is so huge y'all!!!!!! She even asked a member to pick her up without us saying anything!!! WAHOO!!!! She is so cute!! We taught her the word of wisdom this week and of course she was just as shocked as everyone about coffee and tea but she committed to live it! We asked her in our next lesson if she had prayed about it and she said she had! "I was going to athletics and I always pray before that class so I just decided to throw it in there!" We asked her if she received an answer and she said, "well I walked past the jug of tea so I guess so!" haha!! She is so cute! She told her friend that she couldn't drink it anymore and her friend said, "I don't know if you can drink anything at my house then!" We also watched the 20 minute restoration movie with her this week and she really connected with Joseph Smith and trying to find the truth! She said she knows it is true! We were warning her about some of the crazy things people say and we invited her to invite her best friend to come to church with her and she said, "well I think her parents would let her come as long as I'm coming. If I'm there they won't sacrifice her on a cross and cut her open." We chuckled  and then did a double take..."they don't really say that.....do they??!"  She just looked back at us and hesitated. OH MYYYYYYYY no wonder no one wants to talk to us! haha! If we really sacrificed people I think something would have come out by now folks. Lets be real.

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Juan, one of the members texted us asking to borrow our key to the church so that they could clean the church on Saturday and we said, "only if you give us a referral :)" (jokingly) and he texted us back his dads name and address (he is less active) and we just about died of laughter! But it turned out really good! We got to have dinner (Mexican tacos) with the Ayalas and we talked to him about his conversion story and how it has blessed his family.

Another highlight of the week was that we got to go to the temple with Patrick!!!!!!!!!! (new convert that went to Colorado to be baptized) It was so great!!! We had to get up at 4:30 (that part wasn't to great) and we drove to Clarendon and then from Clarendon to Lubbock. We were in the car for 7 hours that day. Patrick absolutely loved it though! We knew he would! He was just smiling ear to ear in the font! We didn't get to see him baptized the first time but we did get to see him this week! He got out of the font and we told him he could go change but he didn't want to leave so he stayed and watched us too!

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Also! Sister Allart is staying and will be training a brand new missionary!

I love all of these people to death!!!! I know how much the gospel has blessed my life and theirs. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church on the face of the earth. The most happiness lies here. Celestial kingdom here we come!!!!

See you soon!!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

My Heart Isn't Coming Home

Hey y'all!!

My time is running short and  while my body will be coming home in a short 9 days my heart will be staying here. Just thought I would warn y'all!  (:   There has been such a range of emotions the last little bit. There is no possible way to describe it.

We taught Kacey the word of wisdom on Monday night and she was weary about coffee because she really loves it but was more than willing to give it up for the gospel!! She has been seeing miracles! She hasn't had a cup since and she hasn't even had caffeine headaches!! She is amazing!! She is so pumped for her baptism! Her grandpa (in-law) is flying in to baptize her. The baptism will be on April 28th so it is only 3 days after I leave and it hurts my heart so much!!! We are thinking about figuring out a way that I could come back when she goes to the temple for baptisms. I will miss her sooooo much!!

Monday night I also taught Jesus about the Book of Mormon (solo espanol) and 2 of his roommates also came out to listen. That isn't intimidating at all! So it was me against 3 Hispanic men from all different countries (so all different accents). It was good though. I wasn't sure what exactly they were interested in at first....#sistermissionaryproblems But JR read the Book of Mormon! Dios said he did but I'm not too sure about it. Jesus didn't but he seems the most sincere out of all of them. Jesus even texted us saying we should talk to Eddy, one of their other roommates! So we taught Jesus, Eddy, and JR yesterday with Juan (a member). It was intense and I didn't catch a lot of the conversation but Juan was able to take control and I just testified! I'm not really sure what they will do once I go home because I am taking most of the Spanish sisters with me haha! Hopefully Juan is ready to be a missionary again!

Tuesday we saw Sister Hatcher in Clarendon for the last time :(

We also taught Jaide again on Tuesday!! She is my absolute favorite!!!! She is the sweetest human ever!! Tuesday we taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ and used sin pins on Brother Jaussi (don't have time to explain that now but ask me when I'm home (:  ) It was great! Repentance is amazing!! We also taught her over the phone last night and it was AMAZING!!! We taught her about prayer and scripture study and she got excited and asked if she could share an experience she had earlier in the day with prayer to which we of course said, "YES!!". Jaide is only 17 but she has been struggling with a smoking addiction. She said she is not proud of it and she is trying to quit. She hasn't smoked for 2 weeks (right when we met her! Coincidence....I think not!!). We haven't even mentioned the word of wisdom to her yet! She said that earlier that day she was in the car praying for help and strength. I don't think anyone else knows that she is going through this :( She said she just got an overwhelming answer and that the thought of a cigarette now sounds like the most disgusting thing ever. Jaide is amazing and she holds my heart!! We talked about baptism again and mentioned that we could move the date back, or forward and she freaked out! "FORWARD!! Y'all have been holding out on me!!" She is so cute! The earliest we could move it to is probably May 13th but she is sooooo excited! She said she was dancing and jumping up and down in her room! haha! We were too!!!! I seriously don't know how to describe those feelings! She thought that we would think of her differently after we knew about her struggles but of course we didn't and that meant so much to her!!

Savannah is still doing great!

On Saturday night we got permission to go to a play, "Relative Strangers", that Sister Jaussi, one of our members, was in and invited us to as a way to get seen by the people in Memphis! It was really good! We got to talk to lots of people from the first baptist church in Memphis and we got to talk to the members less active son so it was great!

Sunday we finally got in contact with Jessica. It was really sad! She is still interested in meeting but is just having an extremely hard time right now. She has been battling with depression and a bunch of family problems so her progress has declined but she is still here!

Anyways, that's all I can remember for now! I love y'all! I love my Texans! Have a great week!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

Next on the baptism by fire . . .

Hey y'all!!!

Another great and crazy week in the panhandle!! Jessica has been MIA.....we are so sad. Of course we will keep trying!! 

Tuesday on our way home from district meeting we ran into closed roads again! There was a fire near Clarendon, the next most prepared town is about to be baptized by fire (: haha! We had to take like an hour long detour so that means we were in the car for a total of like 5 hours on Tuesday...ew. But we did get to see the biggest cross in Texas in Groom, TX!

Tuesday evening we got to go see Kai and he is doing great. He got the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday!! 

We also saw Jaide again!!! She is SO SOLID!!!!! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she absolutely loved it! We followed up on her reading and like the idiots we are, forgot to follow up on her prayer to know if it was true. She said, "I also prayed about it like you asked!" and......drumroll please......" and I know it is where God needs me to be. I believe it's true!" She was filled with so much love and joy, it was truly amazing!!!!!! She then talked about how she is ashamed of her past life and we talked about how through the gospel we can receive a remission of sins and it is like it never existed and then we invited her to be baptized on May 20th and she accepted!!! She wasn't able to come to church yesterday because her family took a road trip to Dallas but she texted us saying that she would be there next week and every week after that!!! We are so excited for her!!  We also texted her to tell her about the Gospel Library app so that she could read on their drive to Dallas and she said she was already on chapter 12! and that was on like Friday!! Sam (the member that referred her) texted us and thanked us for bringing joy into her life and it was amazing!! We were on cloud 9! 

We have another new investigator named Savannah. She is 13 years old and she is also friends with one of our young men. We knocked into her family but she was the only one interested. We taught her three times this week and it went great! She came to church and loved it and she accepted the invitation to be baptized as well!! 

Kacey accepted the invitation to be baptized on April 29th!!!! Sadly that is only a couple days after I leave :( she is bummed and so am I!! She had us over for dinner and then we taught the law of chastity and she said "I just have one question that I've been thinking about, what exactly is the process for getting  baptized and who would baptize me?" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We tried to keep our cool lol! On the inside we were screaming for joy!! On the outside we only screamed a little haha! 

Church on Sunday was amazing!! The Hales came into town for departing interviews for Sister Timmins and I. Kai got confirmed a member of Christ's only true church. Patrick passed the sacrament for the first time. Kacey, Savannah, and Terrence all came to church!!!  We got to teach primary again this week! This week we taught the sunbeams that sharing the gospel is almost as cool as sharing your goldfish!! It was great!!  

I can't believe that my time is almost up! I love it here!! These people hold my heart!!

Love y'all!!

Have a great week!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

Sister Allart biking and texting - no time to stop!

Burning letters from Sister Allart's ex-boyfriend :) Don't worry, we had permission!

Visitors Center in Childress Texas!

Watch Out, He Likes to Run!

Hola everyone!

Wow! Another week has flown by!! I can't believe it! I guess we will start with the email title! (: We were on bikes a couple of days this week since we were out of miles and on one of the days Sister Allart says, "don't look back sister!" so of course I glance back only to see a very large dog making his way towards us. We pick up speed and some kids from behind a fence a couple houses down yell, "watch out! He likes to run!!" haha!! We are alive everyone! Somehow we out biked the dog! Only by the grace of God! haha!

WE HAD A BAPTISM!!!!!!!!!!!! It happened everyone!! I didn't think I would see a baptism on my mission but it finally happened!! Remaliah Kai Nevada Jennings Moon Fish was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the 28th of March 2018!!! It was a great day! He said he was happy but nervous! He will be confirmed next Sunday!

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Unfortunately Lupe texted us this week and said he had some personal matters come up (we think something to do with his parole) and we won't be able to meet right now. He said it would be until we resume though so that means it isn't permanent! We are still in contact with him just not officially  meeting right now. We are going over this afternoon to show him how to rewatch conference.

We had our last zone conference this week! It was great as usual! We had an awesome steak lunch provided by some really sweet members! It was delicious! I still can't believe that I already have given my departing testimony.

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General conference was great!! I loved being able to hear from our new prophet and his amazing apostles! The main message that I loved was just that we need to be unified. Unity brings the spirit and I have been able to gain a testimony of that as a missionary. WOW SEVEN NEW TEMPLES!!!! What a blessed generation!! I am so grateful for the covenants made in the temple and for the ability we have to come closer to our Savior that way!

We got to watch conference on Saturday with the Stingels in the morning (Jessica was supposed to come but she didn't wake up) and then Danna for the afternoon (Adam was supposed to come but he didn't text us back). Sunday we went to Memphis and watched with the Jaussis and their teenage son invited his friend! Jade came for both sessions and we taught her the restoration in between sessions!! It was awesome! She is only 17 so she has to get her mom's permission but she is excited to meet with us again this week!! Kacey watched conference on her own! She's the best!!

We talked to Shawn (Jessica's boyfriend) alone this week and he asked us how much a marriage license is!!! But now Jessica seems to be backing away so who knows what is actually happening here.

Hope everyone had a great Easter! I know that my Redeemer lives!!!

Love y'all!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

Get Ready for Conference

Hey y'all!

Another stressful and good week! On Monday we got to teach Kacey about Temples and families. It went ok, not as well as we wanted it to though. She wasn't able to come to church because she had some family in town. Kai passed his baptism interview on Tuesday!! Hallelujah! He didn't make it to church because he was sick but he is still planning on being baptized Wednesday. We got to teach 2 of our recent converts, Sue and Patrick, about patriarchal blessings this week! 

Wednesday we got to teach Lupe the word of wisdom in the branch presidents home. It went so well! The only things he currently struggles with is coffee and tea. He said that if you weigh coffee and tea to the message we share the choice is clear! He has been clean since Wednesday!! We broke the news to him about baptism and how he may have to wait and he started to tear up but said he understood. It about broke our hearts! Lupe got to attend the baptism of one of the kids in our branch on Saturday and he felt the spirit so strong there! 

We had a RS birthday party this week! Jessica and Kacey were both able to come to the activity and had a great time! 

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We stuffed a bunch of Easter eggs at the nursing home this week!  We have been teaching Tommy Pierce phone lessons this week so hopefully that continues to go well! We got a referral for a guy in Memphis who may have some potential. He requested a Bible online and we were able to meet up on Saturday and deliver it and teach him the restoration! 

That has been our crazy week! It continues to get crazier this week as usual! Hope y'all are doing amazing! Don't forget to tune into conference this weekend!! I am so excited!! I love the opportunity we have to receive continued counsel and guidance from the wise leaders of our church!

Love y'all!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/live-viewing-times-and-options?lang=eng

P.S. My crazy mom mailed us this Easter egg AS AN EGG and it made it without getting broken!

#ItsNotEvenEaster

Hey y'all!!!

Hope you've had an amazing week! We have had a good but stressful week as usual! Monday we got to go to the farm with Shayla!! It was so fun! We fed and brushed the horses and then went hiking/exploring around! Shayla left this morning back to Utah and we were so sad! 

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Tuesday we went to Amarillo to pick up Sister Timmins. Trio life is pretty good, still just trying to adjust back! She is 20 years old and she is from Nibley, Utah (Logan)! She hasn't gone to school yet but is planning on going to Bridgerland Technical College in Logan when she gets home.  She is also the oldest of 6. Her family has lots of animals in their yard but she hates cats.

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Church yesterday was PACKED!! I said that the chapel was as full as my heart!! We had 4 investigators come and there was several nonmembers and less actives there! We also had 3 big Mormon families passing through during spring break! I leaned over to Sister Allart and said, "it's not even Easter yet!!" haha!  So that has been our joke ever since! #itsnoteveneaster

Our peeps!

Hayt family :( the have asked us to no longer come over. No explanation but they said they may still want to be involved in scouts which is run through our church.

Jessica- doing good! She came to church! She loved it! She says she knows it is the only true church! BUT she still is having a hard time wanting her family to be united so she is swaying towards the first baptist church.......ugh! The 4 year old is controlling her decision! We used the "conversion of a catholic" line on her, "do you want to show your family that you love them right now, or for eternity?" Pray for Charlie to have the desire and/or courage to come to our church instead! And Shawn is still not super on board either.

Kacey- she is doing amazing! We had a really great lesson with her on Monday with Kasia! We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited her to pray about baptism on April 29th. She said she would and we will follow up tonight! She came to church again yesterday with her mother in law!

Kai- everything is a little up in the air. We are still planning a baptism for the 28th. His interview is tomorrow so pray that goes well! Also, the branch president told us yesterday that his dad may not be able to baptize him so that may throw a wrench in things. We just aren't sure if Kai is comfortable enough with anyone to baptize him. We are still planning for the 28th until something changes though!

Lupe-still on fire!!! We taught him all 3 of the first lessons and we taught about prophets. He came to church and loved it! We got the sweetest text from him Saturday morning! I will attach the pics of it! So he is solid and wants to  be baptized and everything.....BUT he is on parole for 10 years so that kind of screws things up. We will hope for the best and give him a strong foundation to build off of!

 

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Patrick (recent convert)-great!!!! Yesterday he had his interview for the priesthood, temple recommend, and a patriarchal blessing recommend. He is so pumped to be a part of all on this finally! We even helped him find a name to take to the temple already!!

I hope y'all are doing great!

Love ya!!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

Patrick is a Member!

Hey y'all!!

Hope you've had a great week! It has been a really warm week here! It has been in the 80's for several days and then today is back in the 40's. Transfer News! We both get to stay!! We are so pumped!! We will also be in a trio again! Her name is Sister Timmins and we will be going home together.

Updates:

Hayt family- we woke them up for church again and they said they were getting ready but they still didn't come. Breaks my heart. Ryan's dad was there when we went over this week (he is a self proclaimed preacher) and just wants to bash. He was looking for anything we said that he could turn on us. They have been getting a lot of crap from everyone around them for meeting with us. They went to a bbq last week and mentioned us and got chewed out.

Jessica- she was doing amazing! We taught her the Law of Chastity with a member and it went really well. She was pretty nervous to talk to her boyfriend because they have been together for 10 years and she has asked him to marry her before and he just fights it. We went over again and read the story of Esther to help prepare her to talk to him and when we finished she said, "I already talked to him!" He said he would think about it which she said is a huge step for him! Then on Saturday we taught the word of wisdom and it went well. Saturday night she texted us saying she was going to a different church on Sunday. We were so sad!! We don't have any idea what happened.

Kacey is still doing great though!! She came to church again and even though Aurora was crying and fussy again she said she really enjoyed it! She was even able to stay for all three hours!

Kai- he is doing pretty good and actually wants to be baptized on March 28th so we have to finish teaching him the lessons this week so he can be ready for the baptism interview next week!

Lupe- we just met him this week. We deliver meals on wheels to his mom and this week he stopped us as we were walking away and said he wants to know more about our church!! He said that something told him he needed to know more! So cool! He just got out of prison a month ago. He is probably in his 50's and he has been in prison more than he has been out. He is on the uphill and he is extremely humble. The process of getting him to baptism will be pretty hard considering the circumstances but it is something he desires so if he shows the commitment we will find some way to make it happen!

Stacey- we are no longer sure how solid she is. She told us she would come to church too and she didn't show. She does have a lot on her plate though, her house burned down this week so it has been pretty rough. The members that live next door to her are helping her out a bunch. We had dinner and a lesson with her in their home on Saturday night!

Oh ya! And PATRICK WAS BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!! We are so happy for him! He said it went really well! We can't wait to hear more about it when they get back this week! 

That's about everything I can think of! I hope y'all are doing great!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

Where is He, Momma?

Hey y'all!!

Hope you are having a great week!

Here is a quick update:

Patrick is still getting baptized this Saturday in Colorado!

Jessica came to church and absolutely LOVED it!! She is just the cutest! She was wrangling kids the entire 3 hours and she left church absolutely exhausted but she was still able to feel the spirit somehow and she is super excited to come back next week and hopefully convince her boyfriend to come! We are having a potluck next week after church so they were getting a count and when they asked, "who will be here next week?" she looked at us and her hand shot right up! (:  Her 4 year old daughter Charlie kept asking, "Where is He, momma?" the whole time because she told her that they were going to visit God! haha!

The Hayt family. They are killing meeeeeee!!!!!! They came to the pinewood derby which was awesome! We were able to give them a church tour and they were all able to make friends so we thought we would for sure see them at church. We gave them a wake up call at 8 am on Sunday and they were up but they didn't show. We had just talked to them the night before about how excited they were!! It is so frustrating!! I wish they could see what they are missing out on! We went over yesterday afternoon and Ryan and Brylee were gone but the boys looked all ready for church and everything but they said they fell back asleep after they got ready :( So we will have to push their date back.They did both commit to quit smoking though!

Kai at the Pinewood Derby:

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David and Josie-he was the Pentecostal bible basher that called us back. They came to church! And then he called us and bashed on how terrible our church was for like an hour. Josie is so sweet and we wish we could teach her but it just won't work.

Kacey Lacario! I don't think I have talked about her but she is doing great and came to church!! Her husband is a LA member. She is looking for stability and answers for her little 1 year old daughter, Aurora!

Stacy, Sophia, and Alyssa!! They are new this week and SO solid!! Stacy is the mom and Sophia is 8 and Alyssa is 7! They were so pumped to come to church yesterday but they got sick :(  They live in Memphis right next door to a member! They have lived there for about 2 years and before that they lived in.....UTAH!!! Yay! Her dad is a convert of about 7 years! They were going to church when they were in Utah and we think she already has a testimony we just have to  help her act on it! We invited her to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was true with us at the end of our second lesson and we had an experience very similar to Jessica's last week! It was awesome!!! They have been reading the Book of Mormon and love it! We are excited to see them again soon!

We had 6 investigators at church on Sunday!! It was awesome! We were bummed because we were expecting 12, (the Hayt family and Stacy and her kids) but we were still so excited!

Love y'all!

Have an amazing week!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

When your area is so prepared that it is almost baptized by fire.....

Hey y'all!!

It has been a week! We are exhausted to say the least!! Lin is doing amazing!! She said a prayer on her own in English and in Chinese!! It was so awesome!! We also got her talking to Chinese missionaries on mormon.org finally!! Yay! 

Friday we got to meet President M Russell Ballard (acting president of the quorum of the 12 apostles). It was amazing!! He and the other 2 general authorities gave us some great counsel! On his way out of the chapel he said, "adios amigos!" We even got to shake their hands! 

On Saturday we taught one of the most spiritual lessons I have taught my entire mission!! Her name is Jessica and she is a 22 year old mom of 2! She is so cute! She just wants the best for her children. After we taught her the restoration we invited her to kneel and pray with us right then and there to ask if the Book of Mormon is true and it was amazing! I have never heard a more sincere prayer in my life!!! It brought her to tears and she just kept thanking us for coming over! 

Patrick passed his baptism interview on Sunday!!! He is the greatest! We stayed the night in Amarillo on Saturday night since we had church there in the morning. Since we would be traveling back and stopping in outlying towns on our way back we got a pizza Saturday night to eat for lunch and dinner on Sunday so we each had "pizza rations" haha! Our appointments fell through so we decided to go meet some less actives out there! It turned out great! One family was just sitting down to eat so they invited us in and we had some awesome enchiladas (my favorite!)! It is so crazy the things we do as missionaries! Who would have thought this random person's house we knocked on would invite us in and feed us-and how crazy that we didn't even have to worry about it! As we were sharing a spiritual thought they informed us that the road home was closed due to a fire. We had a couple other appointments so we were just hoping it would be reopened by the time we got there because we had no idea how else to get home haha! Luckily when we went home they had it controlled enough that we were able to go through! It was about 15 miles outside of Childress so we were joking around that Childress was just so great that God decided to baptize us by fire! haha! This week was full of crazy miracles! This is only scratching the surface! Hope y'all had a great week!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Love y'all!!

Hermana Peterson

Some good thoughts from the amazing meetings we had this week!

"Obedience brings blessings but exact obedience brings miracles"

"Take home from your mission a humble heart, a burning testimony, a greater capacity to work hard, and a loyalty to the Lord" -Elder L Whitney Clayton

-We teach to change lives-hearts not heads

"It is possible to do the work in ANY condition if you remember who's church this is" -President M Russell Ballard

"We don't worship our leaders, we reverence them" -President M Russell Ballard

"Knock your investigators out with the love of the Lord" -President M Russell Ballard

"When life bumps you, what spills out of your cup?" -Sister Hales

"Do you want to be right or do you want to have peace?" -Sister Hales

"He doesn't expect us to be perfect but we do need to try" -Elder L Whitney Clayton

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What books?!?

From: Jessica May Peterson <jmpeterson@myldsmail.net>
Date: Wed, Feb 21, 2018 at 11:44 AM
Subject: What books?

Hey y'all!! It is absolutely freezing here this morning. My fingers are still trying to warm up and I'm having difficulty typing haha! We are having freezing rain and it is pretty windy too! We asked someone if it is supposed to warm up and they said it is supposed to get worse all day it is already 20 degrees...at least bike day is not until tomorrow! The ridiculous part is that Monday it was literally perfect weather...like it was 80 degrees.....

Other than the weather swings it has been another great week! We had zone conference yesterday and we get to see President Ballard Friday and have another special meeting in Amarillo on Sunday. 

Valentines was good. We made some awesome heart cookies thanks to my awesome family! 

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We got another solid investigator named Patrick. He is getting baptized March 10th!! But, he is getting in baptized in Colorado when he travels down to see family over spring break. His whole family are members and he grew up going to church and seminary but just never felt right about being baptized. He fell off the path and for 15 years he was a meth addict. He has been clean for a year next week! He lives with his cousin who is an active member in Clarendon and he has been coming to church with her and reading the Book of Mormon all the time. We asked him what he does in his free time and he said, "read" so we asked what he reads and he looked at us like we were stupid and said, "the books...the Bible and the Book of Mormon...."  It was pretty funny! He has already read the whole Book of Mormon but still reads it everyday! Right before I got here the sisters had asked him if he wanted to take the lessons and he said no but we asked him if we could come teach him about 2 weeks ago and he said yes! Things didn't work out right away but we got to see him this past week and we were very careful and cautious because we had been warned not to push him. We did some how to begin teaching and then we talked a little about our expectations and then asked what his were and he said, "to prepare me to be baptized...." so we asked him the baptismal interview questions and he knows everything and that it is true! Literally he couldn't be more prepared!! After we asked him the questions he asked us what a patriarchal blessing was and when he could go to the temple. Our next lesson he told us about his past and how far he has come. He cried as he told us that this has always been right in front of him the whole time but he finally realized it! He has such a strong testimony (probably stronger than a lot of members!!)!

You know you're area is prepared when even the bashers call you back.....that's right folks! We got a call Saturday night from a man named David. It was 10:45 at night so we didn't answer but we listened to the voicemail the next day and he just said that he needed to speak to someone. We played some phone tag the next day but finally got ahold of him and he said, "we want to come to y'alls church"........is this the same David who was a Pentecostal and was trying to bash about the gift of tongues???? He was super drunk when we were talking to him the first 2 times and we had decided never to go back but we had left him a pamphlet that we had no faith he would read! He did and then he called us!! Crazy!?!?

We saw the Hayt family this week. Brylee is soooooo prepared!! Satan is working sooooooooooooooo hard against her though :(  She was so excited to come to church on Sunday and we went by to wake them up but her mom answered the door and said that they were sick. We came back by later and she said that actually her and Ryan had got in a fight. She told us that as soon as things cooled down she immediately recognized that it was Satan trying to get her not to go to church but it was too late :(  We were able to have a lesson in a members home this week which was great! Unfortunately yesterday Brylee texted us and said that Ryan has been on a drinking binge for 2 1/2 days. He is coming up on the anniversary of his moms death (she died when he was in high school) and it is really hard for him. Please pray that they will be able to overcome these trials and addictions!! They were just telling us this week that next month they will have been clean from drugs for 2 years. We know how much they need the gospel in their lives at this point and how ready they are for it. We just have to be able to overcome Satan's strength!

That is the main points of the week! Thank you so much for all of your love and support!!

Love ya!!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY

Hermana Peterson

"Perfection isn't earned. It is a gift from heaven." Elder Holland

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Teaching with the JWs!

Hey y'all!!

What a week! WE FOUND ANOTHER FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are so pumped! The Hayt Family has accepted the invitation to be baptized on March 24th!! They are so excited for this! They just moved to Childress last week and we met them on Tuesday. We never see people in Childress on Tuesday! Total miracle!! We were in Estelline (one of our outlying towns) and we got a no bueno feeling from the spirit so we tried the person we were there to see and got out of there as quick as we could back on over to Childress. We were going to go home to finish our studies but decided to try a guy that we had already dropped (why would we do that??) and of course he wasn't home but his neighbors were!!! Brylee let us in right away and we taught the Restoration to her, Ryan, and Brylee's mom that night! Then on Thursday we brought an awesome member and we taught the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom to Brylee, Ryan, Shelly, Kaden (11), Landon (9), and Brylan (1)!! We committed them to baptism and Ryan and Shelly were hesitant but the rest of them are excited! Then Friday we taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and committed Brylee, Kaden, and Landon to baptism. When Ryan got home at the end of the lesson Brylee said, "I am going to teach you about what we just learned about and then will you work with us to be baptized on March 24th?" SHE COMMITTED HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!! What the what??? Shelly is still hesitant but willing to learn more (she doesn't even live here but is just here helping them move in). Brylee loves us coming over because we bring the spirit and after we committed them to a date Landon said he got the goosebumps. These people are amazing!!!! They went out of town this weekend to get the rest of their furniture so they weren't able to make it to church but they were so bummed about it! We are meeting with them again tonight! Brylee texted us Saturday and said she has been telling her sister about what she has learned and her sister wants to meet with us too!!!! (unfortunately her sister doesn't live here, she will be here for the weekend though and we will hook her and Shelly up with the missionaries where they live!)

We taught Daniel again this week.....his understanding still isn't all the way there....also, when we got there he invited us in (we usually can't go in because he lives alone), I saw a woman so we walked in and I immediately know who it is! LOL! It was the JW's. So ya, I had no idea what to do so Sister Kirchoff (we were on exchanges) asked them if they were almost done and they were close so we just sat there and waited for them to finish....mission life is great! #awkward!

Friday morning we got some pretty awesome news! Next week we will be in Amarillo twice (zone conference and a special stake meeting) and Lubbock once (another special meeting). We are making history in the TLM! The whole mission has only ever gotten together 3 times and I was there for 2 of them! Make that three once we go to Lubbock to see President M Russell Ballard!! how cool!?? He's visiting us! This will only be the third time an apostle has ever visited our mission! It will be on the 23rd!

Have a great week y'all!!

Happy Valentines day!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!!

Hermana Peterson

Sister Kirchoff, Walker, Allart & Peterson

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Change of Plans!

Hey y'all!

Hope you had a great week! We had a change of plans and I ended up getting a new companion on Tuesday afternoon. Her name is Sister Allart. She grew up in Indianna but came from Farmington, Utah. She is super sweet! She came from Lubbock so she is having to adjust to being in a small town again (:  we actually came out together but I am still a transfer ahead of her because of the CCM. She also graduated in 2016 so we are both 20. She is the oldest of 5. She absolutely loves being a missionary more than anyone else I have ever met!

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This week has been kind of a blur. We went to Amarillo to drop off Sister Toki and get Sister Allart on Tuesday and then we saw the Fish family on the way back. Kai still hasn't chosen a day to be baptized yet but he pinky promised that we could choose a date together this week! Other than that nothing too exciting has happened this week. It has been super cold! It looks like there is snow forecasted tomorrow and then Friday is supposed to be mid 70's again but who knows haha! We are back to having district meetings in Borger so that is fun to get to go back just not the extra driving haha!

Guess I forgot to tell you, Sue got married and baptized on January 13th in Fort Worth. Now they are back in Clarendon and will be moving back to Denton in the summer probably.

We have been asked to set a 6 month baptism goal with our branch president. We have decided on 8. It is going to require a whole ton of hard work but we know that there are prepared people here. It will be a stretch as Childress has only seen 2 baptisms in the past 2 years but we know that with the Lord anything is possible! We still have 4 people on date and Kai is pretty solid!

Hope y'all have a great week!

Love ya!!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

The Leastest People and the Mostest Guns

Hey y'all!

Wow, it has been quite a long week. I will give you the good news first! I am staying in Childress with sister Toki!!!!! (:  We are excited! I love her so much! This will be the longest I have ever been with a companion (this is our third transfer together). We set 4 baptismal dates this week!! Next is the bad news. We started off the week by Adam not wanting to meet with us anymore. It crushed us. It has made the whole week kind of hard. He was the most solid person I have taught my whole mission. The sad part is that we feel like he knows what he is giving up. It totally came out of nowhere. He texted us that he had just been going along with what we said even though he didn't really believe it and he just decided he didn't want to do it anymore. We went by his house Monday night and testified to him and told him that the church would always be here and then we left. I just hope he comes around one day. He knows the Book of Mormon is true and that this would improve his life. I think he is just scared of the changes he would have to make. Literally everything we do reminds us of him. It is so hard to lose him!! :(

So our investigators have been dropping like flies this week but we still got 4 new baptism dates! We committed Daniel to April 7th and he has been reading and he came to church yesterday! He is an older baptist man. We also committed the Pierce family (Elizabeth, Tommy, and Blayze) to April 14th! We are so excited for them! They weren't able to come to church yesterday due to sickness :(   (everyone here is sick! they even closed the schools here until Thursday) they have already been to church like 4 times though so we know that they are serious! Elizabeth called us last night crying when she found out that we both get to stay!! She was so excited!! It was so cute!!

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So my title this week....haha! That's Texas for you! (as summed up by a bearded Texan at the food pantry (:   )

Love y'all!!

Thanks for your support!

You can still send me letters!! (:  1305 Ave E NW Childress, TX 79201

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

Our District Meeting at the park in Clarendon:

Lin:

Gotta love Texas!

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