Anna's Mission: Learning to Dance in the Rain: ...something clever and inspirational... 😛

Good morning everyone❤️

How was your week? Mine was somewhat uneventful, we did a bunch of talking to people on the street and a lot of our lessons had to be rescheduled, but after digging through the last week's schedule, my journal, and Sister Cornell’s memory I have put together a small list of things to share!

It rained a lot this week! Now it always rains a lot here but it is usually this light misting spit like rain but this week it poured! Vernonia has a history of flooding and Sister Cornell and I really want it to flood... OK we sound like horrible people but it would be so cool to see! We have been singing "the rains came down and the floods came up!..." as our rain chant all week! No flooding though and now it looks like the sun is coming out.

As a result of the rain, and our stubborness with not using an umbrella, we have been wet more often than we have been dry this week. But that hasn't stopped us from waving at everyone! It's become an unspoken rule here in Vernonia that we will wave at every car that passes us. Its a good way to brighten people's day and test the friendliness of people but I didn't think it would have any significant impact. This week however we have been told by multiple people that they really appreciate our waving to everyone and it makes them feel special. Also as a result of talking to everyone we have been endearingly nicknamed "the girls" by random people in town.

It’s the smallest acts of kindness that soften hearts and open doors!

Jared really enjoys deep doctrine, it's very easy to slip into topics of speculation with him and it takes a lot of effort to stay with the basics. To help us stay on topic this week we decided to do a "faith in Jesus Christ week." We sacrificed some pamphlets for the greater good, and made the pictures inside a special week long lesson for him. Because everyone needs more pictures of Jesus! (picture below)

In our minds this was going to be the most amazing thing ever that would totally change his life forever! In reality I think we talked about more deep topics this week than we ever had in the past. Jared did of course appreciate the pictures and he hung some up in his garage and in his room so that part worked! But our actual lessons turned into discussions about what our heavens look like and what is the purpose of eternity?!

The best part about this though was that we originally planned to do seven days to make it a full week thing but as we went through the week we switched up some things and a couple pictures just didn't feel right to share so we ended up stopping on day five with the picture of Christ in the Garden on Gethsemane. When we told Jared this was the last day he said "Why did you stop on the number five?" in a very surprised, concerned, and serious tone. We told him no particular reason it just felt right, and he then told us that the number five to him is always connected with good things. So though it didn't work out in the way we thought it would it still did make an impact on him!

This week we had Zone Conference! I love Zone Conference! It is always just what I need to pump me up again! Our focus in this Zone Conference was the Book of Mormon. We know from Preach My Gospel that the Book of Mormon along with the spirit is our most powerful tool in conversion. So with that in mind we have been encouraged to use the Book of Mormon even more in our teaching and finding.

A new approach we have been taking as we talk to people on the street is sharing a scripture right off the bat, and it actually works! There is power in the Book of Mormon and I am just so grateful for it.

We were also challenged to start over the Book of Mormon and mark these four things: Any reference to Jesus Christ by name, title, or pronoun (and I decided to expand that to references of Heavenly Father as well), His direct words (or "thus saith the Lord"), the attributes of Christ, and doctrine and principles found in the Book of Mormon.

When this challenge was introduced I was already half way through Alma in my personal reading. But now I am back in first Nephi and I am loving it! It did take a leap of faith to go back to the beginning but I know I will be greatly blessed as I take this challenge!

One thing I've noticed so far in my scripture marking adventure is how constantly there are references to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! The book of Mormon really is another Testament of Jesus Christ. It all leads back to coming closer to Him.

Hope you all have a great week! Love you!

-Sister Peterson

📷Pictures

1- Making messy cake pops on my birthday! (OK so we got a little experimental and we used our resourses... We made oreo cream, reeses peices, and Cadbury egg flavored cake pops!)