Welcome to Andrews!

Hey y'all!

It has been a good week getting adjusted to Andrews! Definitely a smaller town but I am loving it so far! It was hard and sad to leave Odessa! I love my new companion Sister Christensen! She's great! She is from Shelly, Idaho and comes from a family of 9.

​

We really only have 1 investigator. Her name is Becca and she is the daughter of a less active sister. Becca is 13 years old. She is basically ready to be baptized, her mom just wants her to show a little more commitment before getting baptized which we totally agree with.

For a lot of our service hours we go to a nursing home that is right by our house. The people there are hilarious. We get to play bingo with them, help with singing time and snack time and stuff like that. There is one man named Bill who we eat lunch with on Wednesdays at the hospital. We then go back to the nursing home and eat warm banana pudding with him. It is disgusting! Apparently we do it every week though because he loves it. Haha!

​

I hit my 7 month mark this week, crazy!! I have 7 months down 11 to go so we took a 7-11 picture.

​

It hit triple digits this week and we were dying!

We got to help out at a part member families ranch this week and that was super fun! They live like 45 minutes out of town. It was actually really pretty out there! (West Texas is definitely a different definition of pretty!) This week we helped her stain a bed frame but next week we might help them brand their cows. Their ranch is 55,000 acres so it is huge!!

Church was definitely a different experience in a branch. There was 22 people at church. Our whole building is about the size of a normal chapel. I spoke in Sacrament meeting, led the music, and taught Sunday school! I do already have a love for the members I have met though!

Hope y'all have a blessed week!

Hermana Peterson

The Lord loves you!!!

Music Recording at Carlos' Studio

Hermanas Walker & Peterson with Sisters Overson & Tolbert

Transfer News!

Hey y'all!!

Yep, you read that right! After 6 months in beautiful Odessa I am being transferred to Andrews, TX. It is actually only 30 minutes North of where I am right now and I will be in the same zone. Sister Walker is staying here in Odessa 1st East and she will be training!

Andrews is a pretty small town. It sounds like the average attendance on Sundays is between 20 and 40 people. My companions name is Sister Christensen and she has been in Andrews for 2 transfers and just finished her training. Since we are in the same zone I actually already know her a little bit! She seems awesome and I can't wait to get to know her!

Drunk George asked us to be "one of his wives" this week (because you know us Mormons and our many wives!) But a miracle happened and he actually came to church....what!!!???? He came with Gilberto to the Spanish branch and he only stayed for about 15 minutes but that is way more progress than we thought we would ever see out of him!

And Carlos came to church because Sister Lincoln was speaking. Sister Lincoln's daughter also came that is not a member. And the recent convert, Ebb, received the Priesthood on Sunday!

This week we set 3 1/2 baptismal dates! That is the most I have ever set! (the 1/2 is because Alison is just praying about the date she hasn't actually committed yet). Calvin is committed to June 10. Maria is committed to June 10. And Taylor is committed to August 12! They all have their struggles but I know that the Lord will bless them as they continue to progress in the gospel!

Our lesson with Calvin this week was the BEST!!! Calvin is cool but the reason it was really the best is because we brought Ebb Smith (the other sisters recent convert) as a member present! They were able to bond over their lack of teeth and their worldly habits (: It was seriously the coolest because the last lesson I taught Ebb before our area got split was the Plan of Salvation and then he came with us and was teaching Calvin the Plan of Salvation!!! It was the coolest experience ever!

We had a small miracle last night as well! We had about 2 hours to try people and we didn't have the car so we were just trying a bunch of people close to our apartment. No one was home so we decided we should go look through some formers instead. It just so happened that our neighbor that we were teaching came home for the first time in a month and a half and because we were looking through formers instead of out finding someone we were able to see him and rush over there! He has been reading the Book of Mormon and is so awesome!! We were putting a bookmark in it for him and he had the page turned down in Alma, that is so far! No one ever reads that much! He is out of town for work all the time so that stinks but we set a return appointment for next weekend!

Well, that was our week! Hope y'all are doing fabulous! Read and pray every day!!

Also send me letters (: here is my new address!!
101 Teakwood drive Apartment H
Andrews, TX 79714

Love ya!
Hermana Peterson

Some of the people I will miss in Odessa:

 

  

Blooming Cactus!

Texans love their football!

The books will need their own suitcase for transfers!

Holding a first edition Book Of Mormon at President Vores house.

Trying to stay cool! Thanks Mom!

Lubbock in Odessa!

Is the whole town of Odessa for sale?

Skype Home!

Hey y'all!

Obviously the highlight of the week was when we got to Skype home yesterday! It was so good to hear and see my family! 

This week was kind of crazy. On Tuesday and Wednesday we were up in Midland for exchanges (being trained by other missionaries). It is always good to see what other areas are like. On our way home we stopped at Whataburger for the first time which apparently is a huge thing here in Texas.

​

We got to see Savechi (not teach a lesson though because his dad is NEVER home). It was really cute, we have given him the 3 main pamphlets to read and we asked him what one thing he learned was and he told us "I learned that Jesus got baptized in the water". He told us he doesn't have any questions because "it just all makes sense." Haha! He is so cute!

We got to do a service project with some girls in our ward tying fleece blankets so that was really fun! They are all so funny and we love them!

​

The Young Women made jam at their activity this week and gave some to us. It turned out really good!

​

We got to have lunch with Sister Lincoln, Carlos, and her granddaughter Charlotte. It was so fun! We went to a good Mexican restaurant called Mamasita's.

Yesterday was the hottest day yet! It stayed at 98 degrees all day! It is crazy!!

That is about all I can think of for this week! Hope y'all are doing well! Read and pray everyday!!!

Love ya!

Hermana Peterson

Baptism!

So the most exciting thing this week was that we got to go to a baptism on Saturday! It was technically not for our investigator but it was someone on the West side who I had started teaching before our area got split. It was awesome! His name is Ebb (as in Ebeneezer) and we found him because he had requested a bible online! He is a funny guy. As he was coming up out of the water he yelled "yee-haw!!"

​

We had zone conference up in Midland this week and it was our last zone conference by the Heaps! So sad but I am also excited to meet the new mission presidents too! It was a great conference where we talked about repentance and finding a lot. We also talked a lot about accountability. We should always be accountable to the Lord in our prayers. There has been a change to the temple policy so unfortunately that pretty much means that unless we get to go with a recent convert we won't get to go because of the distance from the temple :(

​

We also found out some sad news that there isn't anymore Spanish sister areas so that means that if I do get transferred somewhere Spanish speaking we would be white washing (where both missionaries are totally new to the area). President Heap did tell us that SLC is going to stop sending Spanish missionaries for awhile though so there are only going to be 8 Spanish sisters in our mission which means we are the chosen few!!

We were knocking a bunch on Saturday (no one is ever here on Saturdays) and we were excited because someone was finally coming to the door and we suddenly realized that this was a members home. Ooops! haha! So we just played it off like we meant to knock on their door (:

The man that we got to teach in Spanish last week, Gilberto, came to church!!! He came to our ward but we convinced him to come to the Spanish branch next week. He really felt the spirit even though he couldn't understand what was going on.

Taylor stayed for all 3 hours for the first time yesterday!!! It was awesome!! She has been officially investigating for almost a year now and she usually comes to Sacrament but this was the first time she stayed for Relief Society and it was great! We are so excited for her! And Alex got the priesthood yesterday!!! His parents came into town for it too so we got to meet them which was cool!

I really learned how important the priesthood is this week. Our church couldn't run without it! I am so grateful for the power and the order it brings! I would suggest that anyone who wants to learn more about it should go and read "Our Search for Happiness" there is a really good chapter on it that I read this morning.

Thanks for all the love, prayers, and support (but especially the mail (: )

Have a great week y'all!

Hermana Peterson

​

We Went to Jail!

Hey y'all!

Hope life's treating you grand!

We got to do family history with sister Lincoln this week and she loved it! She met with the bishop yesterday and is working towards being able to go back to the temple! It is kind of cool to see someone start their family tree from the very beginning! Also, she has female and male names so of course we told her we would keep working on Carlos so that he could do them! We have an appointment with him on Tuesday for him to "help us with our Spanish pronunciation" by reading the Book of Mormon with us! Sister Lincoln told us that he is on to our plans but hey, he's not stopping us!!

On Thursday we went to the jail to visit Jessie. We only got to talk to her for about 10 minutes but it was good. She looked better than we thought she would. She said she found a Bible but she was frustrated because everyone who she asked for a Book of Mormon was confused and didn't know what it was (: we told her that someone in the ward was sending her one as soon as she gets transferred to the prison.

Possibly the most exciting news of the week was that we got to speak SPANISH!!!!! The most Spanish I have used since I got here! No one was answering so we were walking around our complex and some guy at the pool yelled at us and asked us why we didn't come visit him. We told him we would love to but then realized he was VERY drunk. His friend wasn't though so we went into the pool and sat and talked to his friend for about an hour!! It was so awesome! Of course we then had to refer him to the Spanish elders but it was so awesome to be able to finally use our Spanish!

We got to go play volleyball again this week and we brought Sergio and Xiao and Alison was there too! It was so much fun! We got a picture with the whole crew too.

We had a crazy miracle this week! So about 2 months ago we knocked into a man named Ahmend. He has been out of town looking for work but had asked us for the missionaries and the church address in Frisco, TX. On Saturday he called us and told us he was back in town and wanted to meet with us that day! We had a pretty good Restoration lesson and he came to church yesterday! He loved it!! We had a short lesson with him after church and he was asking us what he needed to do to be baptized and how it all worked. Unfortunately for us he is moving to Frisco next weekend but he is already in contact with the missionaries down there and he knows where the church is! How cool?! The Lord really is sending us those who are prepared!

There is a member here that got us the cutest matching TX shirts!! We love them!

Also, we might have gotten a little bit sunburned this week! The day we finally remembered to put on sunscreen of  course was Saturday which it ended up being freezing and cloudy all day!

Well, I think that's about all! Have an amazing week y'all!! Read the scriptures and pray every day!

Love,

Hermana Peterson

Things to avoid in Texas: Tornadoes!

This week's milestone: