365 Days!

Hey y'all!!

Yes, you read that right! I hit my year mark this week! I still can't really believe it!

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Last Monday we decided to carve pumpkins! It was pretty fun! Sister Garcia carved "Texas Lubbock Mission" into one and I carved a face on one side of mine and painted the Texas flag on the other side! We had a ward trunk or treat this week and it turned out really well! Only one of the people that we invited came but the elders had a couple of people there! We "dressed up" as old ladies. We painted our hair white and wore our most old lady looking dresses and jewelry and we borrowed canes from Salvation Army!

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We had a super good lesson with Ester and Moses on Monday! I feel like they really have a desire to learn and I am so excited!! She is currently Pentecostal and was asking us questions about the gift of tongues and when she was trying to find a scripture to prove her beliefs she actually disproved them. So she found an answer to her own question! She is really interested in the idea of priesthood authority which is awesome because it is so important!

Last week we had a bet with our district of who could get the most contacts. We came in second with 27 contacts and so the elders had to buy us pizza after district meeting because they lost!

We had a really good lesson with Crystal this week when we taught the Restoration. She kept saying that it all made sense and that we were angels and she knew God had a plan for her. Turns out for the 4 years she was in Utah she even went to Seminary and everything. She doesn't remember much though. Then we went back a couple of days ago and had a soso lesson. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't that great. We taught the Plan of Salvation and she seemed more distant. She was still really nice though! We have a return appointment for Wednesday!

We had a little scare this week when I accidentally flipped the breaker by plugging in both heaters at once haha! We thought we broke the oven for a bit so we had to call our landlord but he came over and fixed it for us (:  The weather here has been nuts! Thursday it was freezing and there was 40 mph winds (at least that's how fast people told us it was). Yesterday it was in the 80's and today it is back to the low 40's! We aren't ever quite sure how to dress. The best we can do is stick our hand out the window to see what the weather is when we get dressed and hope it stays that way for the rest of the day (it never does, haha!)

I taught Francisco the Law of Chastity in Spanish by myself on Saturday. It was pretty scary but I think it went well! Now we just have to see if they're willing to actually live it!

We had a surprise visit from the Lovett's at church yesterday. President Lovett is the second counselor for the mission. That was the first time I actually met him. He taught our third hour lesson about member missionary work and then we had a really good meeting with him after church. Some of the things he taught us is that we need to work on personalizing the Atonement, "ask and ye shall receive" it is a commandment, our mission is training ground for marriage-learn to be kind and to communicate, and make God'd preference mandatory for yourself. It was super good!

Hope y'all have a good week and a happy Halloween!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Hermana Peterson

Espanol Everywhere!

Hey y'all!!

It has been a great week here!  We have met a bunch of cool people this week, I will tell you about some of them! We met a girl named Martha (she was more funny than cool) she asked us if we were JW's and we said "no, we're mormons" to which she let out a fake "scream" and acted like we were a cult and laughed haha! She then said "well I have a lot of questions. Have you watched TV lately?" So we are a little concerned and excited to meet with her again haha! She was leaving town but we are going back this week.

We have been helping a girl named Jessie redo a house. This week we helped her sand and stain her kitchen cabinets and our hands are stained black.

We had a cool member missionary work fireside this week. It was awesome! The leadership here is so so great! We used some videos from the "Missionary Next Door". She does a great job of explaining the  members role vs. the missionaries role. Members are there to introduce and fellowship and we are here to do the teaching!

We have done service at the Opportunity center this week. That is the senior citizen center here. We serve the people there lunch. They love to talk to us!

A member invited us over to a party this week where we got to have some real Mole. It was pretty good!

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We met some other cool people named Ester and her husband Moses. She only speaks Spanish (we have found that a ton this week!) She was asking us lots of questions and was interested in reading the Book of Mormon! We are going back tonight!

We have been playing volleyball at the park on Saturday nights and this week we had a bunch of people there! It is a great opportunity to get people talking!

We also met a super cool lady named Crystal!! We knocked into her last night and she told us that she actually grew up in Utah and since she got married she has lived in several different places. A couple of months ago she was visiting her sister in St. George and she went to Deseret Book so that she could BUY a Book of Mormon??!! No one does that! So we invited her to our Halloween party this week and she was excited to bring her kids! We can't wait to start working with her!!

Hope y'all have a great week!

don't forget! READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!

Hermana Peterson

Lake Meredith

Hey y'all!

It has been a pretty good week here! Last Monday we went to Lake Meredith! It is in an outlying town called Fritch that the Elders cover. It was fun! We went on a little hike and everything! It is the most scenery I have seen in 11 months! I don't know how these west Texans are living without mountains and beautiful things! haha! 

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Tuesday night we drove to Canyon (just past Amarillo) for exchanges. They went well! We have good STL's (sister training leaders). On our way home Wednesday night it was pouring rain and windy all the way back so that wasn't too fun. It is about an hour and fifteen minutes away. It was raining all day Thursday (bike day) but we luckily managed to get rides to most of our stuff that day thanks to our awesome members! 

A couple times this week we went and helped a lady we know remodel her house. We cleaned the kitchen and sanded down her cabinets for service. For service they have basically just been sorting clothes at salvation army (not very fun!)  so we are trying to find new things to do. The elders went and helped out at a food pantry (or tried to at least) and got told they couldn't come back because of our beliefs. We got applications to volunteer at the nursing home. We tried to volunteer at the hospital but we aren't allowed to wear our tags so that's a no go.

Saturday I taught my first solo espanol lesson! I was way nervous! It went alright. His name is Francisco and he works in Oklahoma so he is only here on the weekends. He is engaged to a LA member here in Borger (Sister Marmalejo). He was super understanding of my lack of Spanish knowledge and super grateful that we knew even the little I do! 

Saturday morning we helped out at the church waving signs for a hurricane Harvey food drive and we got sunburned. Today it is freezing cold though! (okay, so again, it is only like 50 degrees but with the wind it makes it worse (:  ) We had about 70 people at church which was pretty good! The members here all seem awesome and super into trying to help us with our missionary work, especially the Bishop which makes things awesome!! That was about all we did this week! We have zone conference this coming week in Amarillo! We are excited!

Have a great week y'all!

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!!

Hermana Peterson

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There are hills here people!

Hey y'all!

I had given up hope of seeing any variety in terrain until I got back to good old Utah but BORGER HAS HILLS!! Hahaha!! Also there is green things and trees! I haven't seen any in 11 months! It was quite a shock! Borger is good! 

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The population is about the same size as Andrews was but this seems a lot bigger. We even have a Walmart! My companion, Sister Garcia, is good! She is as white as they come and jokes with all the Hispanic Garcias that they must be cousins! Her dad is Hispanic but didn't teach her any Spanish so we are learning together! It has been so scary being the only Spanish missionary! I feel like I don't know enough but I know the Lord will help me! Pretty much everybody here is Hispanic it seems like! Being a Spanish missionary is like day one all over again in the teaching category...and I have to do it by myself!! Yay for zebras! (English and Spanish companions together)

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Last Monday there was a tornado watch in Andrews so we weren't sure we would actually make it out of Andrews (: It ended up just being a thunderstorm though. Last weekend was insane trying to get everything ready for transfers! It was sad to say goodbye! But, I am excited to be here in Borger! We also cover a town called Stinett, about 15 minutes away.

It has been rainy and cold (ok, so it's only like mid 50's but we're freezing) all week. It poured rain the whole way from Andrews to here when I was on the transfer van. Speaking of vans, that is what we drive! We may or may not feel like soccer moms! It is pretty sweet though! I feel like I am  back in the good old days of my first car, a white mini van!

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We had burritos for lunch the other day at this little place called Rosas. When the man handed the bag to us he looked at us and said "this is the mildest hot sauce I have" hahaha! He knows us white girls pretty well because it was pretty hot!

Conference was so good this weekend!! I love hearing messages from Heavenly Father for our days!! My favorite talk was probably Elder Rasband's because I have seen that to be true on my mission. Nothing is an accident. Everything that happens is part of God's divine plan for us! When we were sustaining Pres Monson I just got the most overwhelming feeling that he really is called of God. It is pretty amazing that we are able to hear from him and his apostles! I can't wait for the conference Ensign to come out so I can continue to study them more! If you didn't get a chance to watch it go do it now!!

here!

The work here isn't crazy busy but it has felt so so so good to actually be teaching people!! 2 of our main investigators are Donna and Sylvia. Donna has been excommunicated and so we are teaching her again until the Bishop feels she is ready to fully commit. Sylvia is English/Spanish. She has been meeting with the missionaries for a year now and loves us but doesn't want to stop drinking coffee. It is always hard with people like Sylvia because you know she knows what she should be doing but she isn't and we know she will be held accountable for that.

We were driving and saw this tarantula making its way across the road. Apparently they are common here...ew. 

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That's pretty much been my week! Hope y'all have had a blessed one!

Here is my new address! I would love to hear from y'all!

1408 Hazelwood Apt C

Borger, TX 79007

READ AND PRAY EVERYDAY!!!

Love y'all!

Hermana Peterson