Look Out Oregon

I am finally in Oregon! 

It is a lot prettier here than anyone has described to me. It is so green and so far it has only rained once so I've been blessed! 

So the day I got to Oregon all of the new missionaries got to go and teach with the missionaries who have been serving in the area. I went out with Sister Wood. We taught a lesson to a family who was recently baptized, but haven't been coming to church since. There was a mom and her two kids; her daughter is 15 and her son is 11. We taught them about the temple, and eternal families. Since I was new I only had to share my testimony and experience of baptism for the dead and eternal families. I shared when I was baptized for my family and how we can all be sealed now and be together for eternity! How cool is that! They seemed to really enjoy that story and also the fact that we get to baptize for those who have passed on and were not able to receive the blessings in this life. At the end of the lesson the boy said the closing prayer. He needed some help and so his mom started it by saying "Dear Heavenly Father" and he followed by saying "thank you for the TV amen." And I was like AMEN. It was just really cool to be in the member’s home teaching them about eternal families and temples! 

I met my trainer (A missionary who has been here longer than I have who helps me know what to do as a missionary) on Thursday. Her name is sister Sowter and she is from England so yes she has a cool British accent. 

I am in an area called Grants Pass which is far away from Eugene. We had to drive 2 ½ hours from the mission home and we showed up to a cute little cottage behind someone’s house where we live now! 

I found out quickly how amazing the members here are because our heater went out my first night and it gets so cold! So we told one Member and she sent out a message to everyone and by the end of the day we had 4 heaters and a bunch of blankets. This area is amazing. 

On Thursday we went tracting (walking around knowing on doors and talking to people about Jesus!) right after we dropped my bags off inside. It was a little weird at first because I was never trained on what to say. Sister Sowter did the first couple and then let me take over. The first door I knocked on there was a man who opened it and he had like the flu so he told us it wasn't a good time and I was thinking oh good now I don't have to say anything! But then we went to the next door and it was still my turn. A man opened the door and he had this huge dog which is something I learned quickly, that everyone has cats and scary dogs. And he seemed nice then he said I'm an atheist so no thanks. Dang! It really confuses me how people become atheist, but no fear because they will one day believe! 

It kept going like that. No one really wanted to talk to us. But I started loving tracting! It's so great walking up to a random house and knocking on their door and they open it so confused and give you the weirdest look ever and we just smile and say Hi I'm sister Peterson and Sister Sowter and we are missionaries!!! Let us talk to you about Christ and that's when they say no thanks but it's so great because at least we got to brighten up their days with a smile!

I got to meet some members and they are so nice and amazing. They are also amazing because we have a dinner appointment every night and they make some good food. 

On Friday I met my zone and we had a meeting and President Russell our mission president decided to show up! It was a nice surprise and he talked to us about talking to everyone we meet which can be really had, but I have to learn how to do that.

We decided to go tracting because we didn't have any lessons. We met a young man named Levi and we asked him about Jesus. He told us he loves Jesus and what he taught because Jesus is all about peace and love. It was really cool because we were all like exactly!! Jesus is peace and love! We were going to meet with him on Sunday, but he cancelled last minute! Dang. But we kept going and knocked on a bunch of doors and no one wanted to listen. Then we got to one door, and this woman opened it and pointed to my name tag and said "oh the Church of Jesus Christ." and sister sowter and I were like yeahhhh that's us! How do you know us? She told us her parents took lessons from the missionaries when she was 13. They were living in the Philippians and her parents almost got baptized. Her mom read the Book of Mormon cover to cover many times and taught her about it. Her mom died when she was little and her dad was abusive, so she kind of got away. She also wanted to take her picture with us so that was nice, but she had this amazing spirit about her and I really hope we get to teach her one day because I know that the blessings will come to her and her family’s life.  

Saturday we visited past investigators (People who used to get lessons from the missionaries, but then stopped for reasons). We got to a family’s house: A mom and her three daughters. They were all super cute! And we were talking to them for a while and they want to meet with us to talk this week so I am so excited to get to know them. Also they have a Bengal cat and I am excited to pet him. Then we went to Mary’s house. She is an older woman who works at a nursing home. She basically bore her testimony to us without realizing it about service. She loves serving the people she works with and sees how her service has blessed their lives. She is pretty excited to talk to us this week too! 

On Sunday we had church and the Beacon Hill ward is so amazing. Everyone is so nice and welcoming it felt like I was home! It was really cool because in sacrament meeting two brothers spoke. One who is leaving on his mission on Wednesday and the other just got back! It was nice to hear their testimonies and experiences from the mission. So when I was walking towards the church doors I saw this guy without shoes on and long hair. Longer than mine riding down the church parking lot and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world and had to share it. 

We went to an investigators house after church named Lila. She is an older woman whose husband died a few years ago and hearing how she knows that even though there are hard times we can all get through them and realize the good made me so happy and showed me that there are bad times yes, but they don't last forever. This woman lost someone so dear to her yet she is so string. The spirit was definitely present in her house when we were there.

We had dinner with the Hopsons. They are a part member couple. They are an older couple. Sister Hopson is a member, but Brother Hopson is not. We taught on the Restoration of the Gospel and since I am new I got to teach! So this was my first lesson pretty much. I started by asking them how they know God loves them, and their answers were amazing. Brother Hopson told us that he knows that God answers everyone's prayers and it doesn't always mean that you get the answers you want. Sometimes it means God gives you His answers and you have to be open to seeing whatever the answer it whether it is what you wanted or not because God knows what is best for you. Getting to teach them was so amazing because the lesson was amazing and they are amazing people! 

I am really excited to meet and teach more people and for the next 18 months! 

I love you all so much and hope everyone has a great week :)

With much love,

Sister Peterson 

P.S. I'll send pictures next week. And it's Jbs birthday tomorrow. Enjoy!