Don't Worry, Be Happy!

Hola, every Juan! 

I can't believe I've been in the field for six weeks! Time flies when you spend it focusing on the needs of others. That's probably the biggest priciple I've learned since getting out here. Focusing on your own problems and turning in makes time slow down and life seems impossible. On the other hand, when you focus on others and "lose yourself in the work" time speeds up, it's easier to focus on the positive, and the day to day struggles suddenly seem manageable. I encourage you to take some time to step outside yourself and focus on how you can make someone else's burden lighter. 

We had an amazing experience with one of our investigators. She is a sweet and spunky older woman. I may have talked about her in previous emails. She is a "non-conformist". We went by just to check on her and ended up having a deep discussion about her concerns and she opened up that she believes we two are angels sent specifically for her. She is a wonderful person and I also believe we were sent to find her. 

We got helmets for our bikes last Monday so we have been trying them out this week. I really... really... don't like biking... In a skirt... In the rain... BUT THAT'S OK! SACRIFICE BRINGS FORTH THE BLESSINGS OF HEAVEN! (Our anthem as we ride.) blessings that have come so far: I'm getting toned... or I soon will be toned. We have met so many awesome people just from being out and about. We have been able to get places faster, and do more service. And actually it hasn't been very rainy this week. Yay! 

Now your weekly advice from Sister Peterson! Trees. Trees are an amazing conversion starter, especially here in Albany where there are giant historical trees. You could approach a couple who is just staring up at the trees and ask them what they are looking at. You could pass someone on the street and say "aren't the leaves beautiful!" and they will gladly agree. You could hug a tree and people will think you are crazy but hey everyone is a little crazy so they can relate! Oh also I'm sending pictures of the most amazing trees. You'll be obsessed with all my forest expertise. 

We had dinner with one of the ladies we are working with, they are really into native American culture. The husband was telling us about reincarnation and spirit animals. He said that whatever animal you see the most of is your spirit animal. Well that might not be accurate for everyone but I think it's safe to say I am a cat. I don't know if I mentioned this before but I'm constantly pointing out cats to Sister Quinton. 

Oh speaking of Sister Quinton she just got called as an STL (sister training leader). Not sure exactly what that has in store but I know she will do great. We are still staying as companions and still in Albany so that's good. But half of our district is going home in a couple of days!! Ahh! I can't even imagine it! Crazy. 

Anyway Halloween is tomorrow and we have to be in by 6, so no candy for us. Just kidding we have bags of candy (thanks fam!) 

Oh yes we also taught primary sharing time at church. Children are so funny, and give the best answers (when bribed with candy). We taught about the Holy Ghost and how he can help you choose the right. 

This email is all over the place, sorry! It was a good week and it just flew by. Sometime this week, in your personal study, I encourage you to read Alma 36. It is an amazing chapter and currently one of my favorites. It is Alma the younger telling his son his conversion story, and of the joy that he found through Jesus Christ. 

Adios! Have a wonderful week! 

-Sister Peterson :) 

Blue skies and sunshine!

Good morning!

It's a beautiful Oregon fall day! The sun is probably shining behind the clouds, and it's not raining... yet. There are still colorful leafs and birds singing in the trees. Life is good.

This week I will tell the story of Tony. Tony is probably the nicest old man you will ever meet. We met him on one of our first days in the area looking for one of his roommates who had previously been meeting with the missionaries. He was on his porch and we got talking about Jesus Christ and how he had just recently come to know his savior for himself. We stop by often looking for the other guy but always just ended up talking with Tony. He always calls us "fishers of men".

Well we made a deal with Tony, it was actually his suggestion, that if we went to one of his church services he would come to ours (We think he is trying to convert us). Of course we said yes.

On Wednesday we went to his addiction recovery program. It was a very interesting experience going into a different religions chapel. It is in an old refurbished theater and had such a different vibe. We started by just socializing, eating nachos, and talking about demonic possession (you know normal dinner conversation.) we made lots of good connections. Then the service started. Let me just tell you all the rumors are true.

We started by rocking out to some Christian rock. Hands in the air, or face down on the floor, whichever you like best. There were lots of "YES Jesus!"s and " Ummhum!"s throughout the night. 

We talked about taking an inventory of your friends, and of yourself as a friend. We talked about how we are commanded to love our neighbors as ourselves, but we can't give love to others if we don't love ourselves. 

We talked about Job and how his story was one of the first a lot of them had read when they were in a really low state, and how it really touched them. 

We talked about the kind of friend Jesus was to his apostles and everyone around him. 

It was different, but good. The people are so sincere, humble, open, and they definitely love Jesus!

Well after our end of the deal was kept Tony eagerly was ready to keep his end of the deal. We preped him on Saturday by sneakily teaching the restoration and setting up a ride for him to get to church. 

Sunday was the most prefect Sunday to introduce Tony to church. It was the primary program!! The children sang gospel truths about choosing the right and gave short testimonies in their own words. Tony cried through the whole thing, it was great! 

It is exhausting having investigators at church! We had two this week, and we are constantly looking at everything through the eyes of the investigator wanting them to have the best experience and hoping they are listening because seriously those meeting are meant just for them! But yah I was emotionally drained after church. We hope he has a good view of Mormon now, even if he isn't ready to be one. And that is the story of Tony. 

We got bikes this week!! But no helmets... So we walked them home in the pouring rain. It was super fun.

OK spiritual though...

Luke 21:25-28

25 ¶ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

   26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

   27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

   28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

There are going to be perplexing situations in the world around us that no matter how hard we just can't justify or explain but don't worry, Look up! Lift your head and believe that God has a plan and we don't need to have a complete understanding in order to trust Him.

Hey!! I just went to a corn maze/pumpkin patch! (pics included) why are hay rides so relaxing? And hey, I was wrong, the sky cleared up and there is not a cloud in sight!

Have a great day! Love you all!

-Sister Anna Peterson :)

Pics include:

Halloween decorations provided by my fam! 

At the pumpkin patch!

City of Albany!

Bikes!

And right at this moment! 

October 16, 2017 Many tiny Miracles

Sorry everyone! I'm really scatter brained right now and can hardly remember what happened this week. I'll do my best to recap it though... But this might be a shorter email.

OK starting with Wednesday (because this last P-day was on Tuesday) we spent the morning with a nice older lady feeding feral cats and she bought us ice cream cones. That was fun. The rest of the day was insane we were scrambling for rides from here to there. Not really seeing who we wanted to see. We had dinner at a restaurant that took way longer than our alotted dinner time and just nothing seemed to be going our way. We got back to the apartment exhausted and then DING DONG! the pizza lady! Sister Quinton's mom had ordered her a pizza for her half way day! She didn't even know it was her half way mark. It really helped end the day on a good note.
Thursday we had another lesson with Amanda. This girl is driving me crazy, sister Quinton and I feel like her exasperated parents. We love her but she is a handful. We even set up a curfew with her and she's been following it!
Friday was ZONE CONFERENCE!!! we got smart phones, which we are still getting used to, and we were taught the new way of planning. It makes so much more sense now and I'm so greatful for it! The whole zone conference was just a wonderful experience. We got to hear testimonies from all the departing missionaries, it's so inspiring to hear from missionaries who have actually made it through because sometimes that feels impossible.
Saturday was a special day (it's the day to get ready for Sunday). The first half of the day really dragged. I felt myself getting frustrated every time we would pass someone and I didn't open my mouth, or we would be talking to someone and I just didn't know what to say. I was really done with the whole day at this point
 We had tried to contact everyone we planned on seeing but almost no one was available so we were done with our daily plans by noon. Just when I was feeling super unmotivated and just wanted to go home sister Quinton suggested we say a prayer to know where to go. Well it felt a little awkward praying on the street corner but we did and then just started walking. We turned the corner and a lady from across the street started to yell to us. She said "Hey! Do I know you?" Turns out she thought we were Jehovahs Witness, but she's OK with the Mormons too. She was super sweet and eager to hear what we had to say. We will definitely be meeting with her again. Just after that we remembered a referral that was given to us and we went to find her. Outside her house we met Molly and Lance instead. They were super willing to hear us and we shared a video and message right there. The spirit was so strong as we talked to them it was amazing. Also going to meet with them again.
 Sunday was stake conference! Amanda came and even said she liked it though it took giving her my fruitsnacks to get her through it. We also met a lady when we were lost. She is 30 and single. She has a cat named Lawrence. She has a testimony of the book of Mormon. She knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. She's taken some of the missionary lessons. She's not baptized... WhAt?!? We talked to her for a long time and can't figure out why she never got baptized. Oh well we will find out soon enough, cuz she invited us over for dinner! So yah we are kind of confused about her, but we are so glad we met her!
A couple other things that deserve mention this week though I can't remember when they happened...
I pet a snake! It was a white king snake (if I remember correctly) not dangerous but still pretty intimidating.
Sister Quinton sounds like a smoker haha! because she's sick :(
We had dinner with a homeschooling family, it's so fun to hear other homeschoolers perspectives, and apparently some parts of Oregon have big homeschool communities.
Shout out to the young woman of my home ward!!! They put together an amazing box of goodies, letters, bookmarks, and stickers! It was really a sweet surprise! Love you guys!
OH so in our area there is a Jefferson Street, a Washington Street, a Madison Street, and a Lafayette Street! It's super hard not to break out into song when passing them.
We got fortune cookies that really sums up our personalities so we had to take pics with them. (Pic of us and cookies attached).
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT! We were looking for a talk to send to Amanda and found this gem by President Thomas S. Monson. It's called "We Never Walk Alone". Super good talks about the importance of prayer and scripture study. This is a quote from the end of the talk but I recommend reading the whole thing." He says:
"My dear sisters, your Heavenly Father loves you—each of you. That love never changes. It is not influenced by your appearance, by your possessions, or by the amount of money you have in your bank account. It is not changed by your talents and abilities. It is simply there. It is there for you when you are sad or happy, discouraged or hopeful. God’s love is there for you whether or not you feel you deserve love. It is simply always there.
   As we seek our Heavenly Father through fervent, sincere prayer and earnest, dedicated scripture study, our testimonies will become strong and deeply rooted. We will know of God’s love for us. We will understand that we do not ever walk alone. I promise you that you will one day stand aside and look at your difficult times, and you will realize that He was always there beside you."
Trust God, seek Him through prayer and the scriptures and you will be able to feel his hand in your life on a daily basis.
Hey! my email actually turned out to be a decent length! :P
Love you all! Have a grand week!
-Sister Anna Peterson



(Editor's note from Genevieve: In case you can't read it, Anna's fortune cookie says, "In silence man can most readily preserve his integrity." And Sister Quinton's says, "You have enough energy and enthusiasm for two people."

(Editor's note:  Here are a few pictures that a wonderful member of her ward has sent to me.)

October 10, 2017: TEMPLE TRIP!!

Hey everyone! It's been a looong week, a good week but definitely one of the more challenging ones. But it's all OK because we get to go to the temple today!! Yay!! (so currently I am drafting this email from the car as we drive up to the temple. I won't be able to send it until we get back so you get a little before and after kind of email.)

This week has been challenging for two reasons. One, we have been working very closely and delicately with Amanda who is going through some really hard things. We have had daily emotional phone calls and texts and met in person a couple days. It's left sister Quinton and I both so drained we just don't know how to handle it. But we have had so much support from the bishop, the family that found her, and even President Tateoka who came for interviews this week. Sometimes it's hard to realize that it's not up to us. It's her decision in the end and all we can do is give her love. So this comming week is going to be very telling. It's going to be her turning point for one way or another.
The second reason why this week has been challenging is because it turns out we are a walking area. So no more car! Though the sisters in the area next to us are very kind and give us rides sometimes. But we are now on foot. So my flabby legs are going to get buff (after a lot of soreness and feeling like an old lady). Even though it's been hard physically it's been great for our prosoliting! We have met so many more people just from being on the street longer.
So our area covers downtown Albany, the surrounding blocks, and the more wide spread hill country across the river. So for walking its pretty big. Thank goodness we have an awesome ward who is so willing to give us rides.
Quick story, one night we couldn't find a ride back into town from the hill country so we walked in the dark next to the creepy woods all the way back to the river where we couldn't cross the bridge so the other sisters picked us up from there, it was fun. Don't worry though thankfully we had flashlights because of a sweet lady we met one night who invited us into her house for cocoa. She gave us a flashlight and we got to share a video with her, it was great! There are so many sweet people!
Last night we got blessings from the elders. It was very needed and comforting. Don't hesitate to ask for a blessing when you need one!
We got to spend family home evening with our dinner appointment family last night. It was fun, they are a middle grade fiction reading, cartoon (like over the garden wall) watching, whovian, Hamilton loving family. It felt good to talk to my people ;)
Annnnd... I'm out of the temple! Super pretty, super renewing! The temple is always so good for refocusing your perspective. Six more months until I can go again!
It's raining now. We've been lucky to have the sun last this long into the fall, but I think that may have been it and now it's rain from here on out.
We have been helping this nice older, socially awkward, non-conformist, narcoleptic (but not in the sleepy way), viking, family history loving lady. She has been working on cleaning out her gutters so we have been helping her with that and putting on gutter covers and so forth but now that the rain is coming we are going to get her to come to the family history nights and take the lessons. Sneaky.
So I randomly ask sister Quinton "what am I thinking" and she guessed waffles! The other sisters were really confused and most of you are probably confused but some of you will know what we are talking about. Love my people!
OH so we got a new areabook app and it is awful!! BUT we are trying to be positive and just pray that they will fix it soon. I'm not sure if I said this in my last email or not but we are about to be an technology mission so we get Facebook and smart phones soon!! Yay no more dinosaur flip phone!!
OK spiritual thought of the day...
This week I've been re-reading some of my favorite talks from this last conference. I was reading Uchtdorfs talk from Saturday morning called A Yearning for Home and I loved this paragraph from it....
"I testify that when we embark upon or continue the incredible journey that leads to God, our lives will be better.
    This does not mean that our lives will be free from sorrow. We all know of faithful followers of Christ who suffer tragedy and injustice—Jesus Christ Himself suffered more than anyone. Just as God makes the “sun to rise on the evil and on the good,” He also allows adversity to test the just and the unjust. In fact, sometimes it seems that our lives are more difficult because we are trying to live our faith.
    No, following the Savior will not remove all of your trials. However, it will remove the barriers between you and the help your Heavenly Father wants to give you. God will be with you. He will direct your steps. He will walk beside you and even carry you when your need is greatest."
This is so important to remember! And it is something that our investors has been struggling with so hearing it talked about it conference and then finding it again after conference was a great blessing. I encourage you all to go back and read your favorite talks from conference. Don't wait! Renforce the things you learned while it's still fresh in your mind.
I love you all! Have a great week!
-Sister Peterson
Ps. Pics will be in a separate email.

Trials, Troubles, and Kittens!!

I feel like I'm finally sort of, almost, maybe, a little bit getting the hang of this whole mission life thing...

So it's been a long week fully of long days, as always, but it's felt so long because it's been packed full of amazing experiences.
Like I said I'm sort of adjusting. It's still a little weird to get up every morning and put on a dress and a name tag, then go talk to a bunch of strangers and tell them about the gospel. But I'm slowly getting into the swing of it. I've taken the lead in asking people to come to conference, accept a Book of Mormon, and asking for a return appointment. It's the small talk that gets that all going that still has me confused. How do you go from Hi and talking about how you like someones hat to teaching them about the restoration? (true story) I just don't get it yet.
But on the bright side once we get into a lesson I can teach... by the spirit. That's the key thing I've learned this week you can't teach a single truth without the spirit. I can't even find any words to say without the spirit being there directing me. I'm so grateful for the spirit.
We have been going to this one house everyday looking for our only listed "progressing investigator". His name is Isaac, and every time we went he wasn't there. Something important to know about this house, it's a half way house so its got 13 or more guys living in it, all rough and tumble and a bull dog and a sweet little girl who is one of the guys daughter.
Whenever we go up to the house there is always someone sitting on the porch smoking. We've actually had some pretty good discussions with the people there just on the porch. We met a man who is really supportive of us and knows what we share is important (he calls us "fishers of men"), but it's just not for him. He's already saved in his church. ITS SO FRUSTRATING!
but we'll get to him, we were thinking of starting a Book of Mormon reading night with the whole household... probably not... I think it would be fun...
Anyway we finally got to meet Isaac this Saturday. He is still interested and he said he would come to conference and bring his grandma. (sadly he didn't do either.) We are still going to keep meeting with him though. He's a good guy.
The biggest part of the week was working with Amanda. She has had a hard life. Every time we meet with her we learn something new that has happened to her and how that has affected her. Its just super painful to hear about. I won't go into details because trust and privacy, but she is having identity issues and it's all become a very delicate balance of helping her understand gospel truths while also not trying to make her feel awkward or alienated.
She came to the Sunday afternoon session of conference and loved it, and we immediately went into a lesson after. The entire Bridgewater family (the members who are her friends) were in the lesson with us. Because of the delicate nature of the situation and just because of the number of people commenting our lesson went two hours long. Normally lessons aren't supposed to be more then 45 minutes long, so we are afraid we over loaded her and she isn't going to remember anything we taught.
At the end of her lesson I got to take the lead and invite her to be baptized. She said yes! BUT... turns out she might already be a member... yup. So her biological dad who she doesn't want anything to do with anymore was a Mormon and she may have been baptized when she was eight. We were so shocked and had no idea how this hadn't come up before. So we are figuring that out with the bishopric.
CONFERENCE!! I loved conference so much! Sister Quinton and I both agree its just like Christmas morning. I actually wrote down my questions this year and it worked so much better then just keeping it all inside my head. I got so many answers, some direct but some were simply answered with the thought that I don't need to know everything right now and I will know when it matters.
Some of the common threads I saw throughout conference were the themes of divine nature and eternal destiny. These talks really helped me and my companion who have both been struggling with self criticism. They were also a really great boost for going into the lesson with Amanda. The other common thread I saw was of the scripture Proverbs 3:5-6. I love this scripture and was using it before conference, but i'm going to use it even more now. It was used in three different talks directly and the themes within it were talked about in a lot more. It says; "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."
A couple short stories...
THERE ARE CATS EVERYWHERE!! On the streets, in every house, in our own backyard!! We've gotten to play with kittens in three different houses (in one of them 5 kittens at once), We have started shouting "CAT!" every time we see a cat and we really need to start counting because we see one almost every block. We also have a Siamese cat that lives with us now. We found it napping in the bushes and when we have the door open it tries to walk in so we are feeding it a little tuna every once in awhile and are going to put out an extra blanket for it to sleep on. (pics included)
We've been fixing up our apartment with simple decor so pics included.
Had some yummy shakes at a sketchy burger joint. We were the only ones in the restaurant and it was run by a little Asian lady who we could hardly understand.
We also got force fed almond milk by another little Asian lady we went to visit. Super sweet and almost impossible to understand.
We met and are teaching Peter a super enthusiastic recent convert who is just such a strong spirit. He now has the calling to lead the Addiction Recovery classes run by the church, so we went to that to support him and met some cool people.
We've been living off of Nutella so that's pretty great.
We've met lots of sweet people, and just a few not so sweet slam the door in your face people.
We visited a young part member family who just had their first baby a couple days ago. They are both theater people and actually met doing a production of Les Miserables. He was playing Jean Val Jean and she was working backstage. He says he is introverted but being on the stage allows him to be himself. My thoughts exactly! I love when other people understand!!
I'm super grateful for my companion, Sister Quinton. She has helped me through the hard days and we have grown so much together being thrown into this new area together. She is a great trainer!
Remember you are a child of a Heavenly Father who loves you! Negative and self degrading thinking is from the devil! and have hope because YOU ARE NOT ALONE, Jesus Christ knows your sins, sicknesses, and sorrows perfectly and he is always there for you!!
I love you all so much! Have a great week!
BYE!!
-Sister Peterson :)