I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus

Bring on the May flowers! 

We talked a lot about fasting and tithing this past week and it was so perfect considering the fact that yesterday was fast Sunday. It was such a good testimony meeting because almost everyone who got up to bear their testimony talked about eternal families which is what I was planning on bearing my testimony before the meeting even started! It's amazing to see how God works our meetings. The spirit was so strong and hearing everyone say how excited they were to be with their families again and to see those who have passed on was amazing, and it's times like that where I am grateful to know gods plan for me and my family. There is an elder Im serving with who was baptized almost 2 years ago, and he is the only one in his family who got baptized, so he was sharing how at this point in time he can't be sealed to his family, but the covenants he made with God at his baptism is so important to him. It made me really think about those that I teach, and how some of them are in this alone, but when they love God and feel the spirit testify the truthfulness of this gospel they make huge sacrifices to do what God wants for them because he only wants what's best for us, and sometimes that is really hard and we have to make extremely difficult sacrifices, but the blessings we receive are far beyond our comprehension. 

We taught M a couple times this week. On Tuesday we taught him the follow the prophet. Since he was able to watch general conference with us for the first time ever he heard president Monson speak, and what the prophet spoke about that day was exactly what M needed to hear. We talked about how we need a prophet to guide us in the time that we are in now because Heavenly Father wouldn't just leave us alone. He had prophets back then, so why not now? It just makes sense that we have a prophet on the earth today because our time now is a little different than when Moses was on the earth. M knows that what president Monson talked about during conference last month was words from God. The spirit was definitely testifying the truth of that message to him while he listened to the prophet and while we taught him. 

We taught him again on Thursday night at the bishops home on tithing, and fasting. It was such a good lesson especially because we were able to have the bishop share his experiences dealing with tithing and the many blessings that come from paying an honest tithe. We read Malachi 3:10 which talks about how when we pay tithing we won't have room to receive the blessings which are promised of God. How amazing is that? We did a cute object lesson where we gave M 10 pennies and asked him how much is gods money? He said 1 penny. So we took the pennies, and put them in two piles. One pile had 9 pennies in it which is our money, and the other had the one penny which was gods money. And we asked him if the amount that we give back to God was a lot compared to what we have left. And he said no. Then I told him that I look at it as God isn't asking much of us pointing to the pile with the one penny, yet we receive an extreme amount of blessings because we paid our tithing pointing to the pile with the 9 pennies. God doesn't need the money, but he needs to see our willingness to follow every commandment and show our love for him no matter how difficult it may be. Then we talked about fasting and how fasting magnifies prayer. We give up food and water for 24 hours, or two meals to show Heavenly Father that we are willing to sacrifice for a special purpose. Whether it be to help someone else, or to help yourself. Fasting works and I've seen so many blessings and miracles happen in my life because I fasted and prayed. We shared the story of when Alma the younger was visited and basically owned by an Angel because he was so wicked, and he couldn't speak for a couples days and his father was so excited because he knew his son had experienced something amazing, so his father got a bunch of people to fast and pray for Alma to be able to speak and share what he witnessed. And after a few days of fasting and praying Alma spoke to the people and his entire life was changed. It's such an amazing story! This past Sunday was fast Sunday so we invited him to fast and he did and I know that because he gave up food for the day he will be blessed.  

We had another lesson with M on Sunday afternoon on the Ten Commandments. We have some cute hand signals when we teach so we got to use them while we explained every commandment. We talked about why we obey the commandments and that's to show God we love him. It was really funny cause when we got to thou shalt not kill M was like I don't know if I can follow that one and we were like don't kill anyone! And then we all laughed and it was a good time! 

We had another great lesson with L! It was all about repentance. We were able to talk to her about how the atonement is there for everything and we have to repent for the small things as well as the big things. We talked to her about how we repent daily and we have to continue working towards being like Christ. We read in Alma 34 and 36 about how after Alma the younger was wicked and then visited by the angel he was in so much pain because of the horrible things that he did, but he prayed and asked God to forgive him and after a lot of prayer and a willingness to change Alma was free from the pain he felt and he knew God had forgiven him. The atonement is real! Repentance can take away any pain that we feel when we know we have done something wrong. I have such a huge testimony of the power of repenting. No one wants to live with the guilt and the pains of our every day lives and because Jesus suffered and died for us we don't have to. It's still something that I have to wrap my head around because he suffered everything so we never have to go through anything alone. I love teaching about repentance because the feeling of being clean and forgiven is the most indescribable happy feeling in the world. 

We've been teaching how to become more like Jesus Christ to members for our dinner message. I've been focusing on developing Christ like attributes since I was in the MTC, and I started with Christ like love and once I kind of got the hang of it I study and apply another attribute in my life. It may sound cheesy, but once I understood how to see everyone around me through gods eyes I've been so happy. It helps me to love them, but also to love myself more because I'm understanding how God sees me. So during these dinner messages we talk about our savior and his qualities and when I ask the question "what are words you would use to describe Jesus Christ" their answer is always loving. Every single time. Because Jesus is a loving savior. He loved everyone he met whether they loved him or rejected him. I love getting to share this message because it helps the members to think of how they can be more like Christ every day. And I know that it takes a long time to develop these attributes, but the more we work towards becoming like him in time you will be able to see the change in yourself and those around you. 

We made cookies with J on Wednesday, and then we got to read from the Book of Mormon with her. We finished 1 Nephi 13 which is my favorite... Well it's really confusing, but we still made it through! The end of the chapter was about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the other amazing Scriptures that we have today. It's a really great chapter just a little confusing at first. I just think it's amazing how much the prophets knew about the restoration of Christs church before it even happened. 

I got to attend a wedding on Saturday! A couple that the elders in a different ward are teaching got married so when they get baptized they can be together. It was the cutest thing in the world because they were married in a beautiful grass field outside of the church. It was adorable to see how happy they both were and the steps that they are making to come closer to God are amazing! 

I got a fresh haircut from S the recent convert from California! She's basically a professional and she cut our hair for free, and it felt so great to get it cut. At the same time we were able to talk to her about how she noticed this gospel helping her family. She's been through so much and she has such a strong testimony. She knows that God is always looking out for her and her family even though she is going through a hard time. She told us that her youngest child will bring her the Book of Mormon and always ask her to read with them. I'm so excited they moved to grants pass so we could meet them. 

We were able to teach Sa. again on Wednesday about the plan of salvation. I Can tell how much she loves her savior, and Heavenly Father because she is so willing to learn with us. Her situation at home isn't the best, and yet she comes to church and wants to meet with us and is so in tune with the spirit. Teaching the plan of salvation can be a little hard at times because with Samantha she doesn't know if she will be with her family again, and that's sad to think about but we know that she will be in the celestial kingdom, and as she continues being an example to her family they will want to change for the better.  She's really working on building the courage to share her testimony with people and so her goal is to write it down and we are going to have a mini testimony meeting where we all share our testimonies! 

We went on exchanges Friday, and I stayed in my area and sister Geisler came with me! We went tracting in a neighborhood that sister Sowter and I started one day, but didn't get to finish so we went back and we passed by this house that had about 10 no trespassing signs on it, so of course we went to the door... Jk No we didn't we went to the neighbors door. And we knocked and heard a little dog barking which happens every time we knock on someone's door. But this guy comes out of the house with the signs and said no one is home there, and we said thanks and started to walk away. Then as he was going inside he asked us what we were selling and we said nothing we are missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! And I was thinking wow we got this like he came outside to talk to us because the spirit and God has a great plan and will show us the prepared people, but he told us that we were evil because we worship on Sunday and he is a seventh day Adventist. We tried to explain to him that the day doesn't matter as much as who we are worshiping and where our focus is as long as we set aside one day to show respect to God, but he told us that the 4th commandment says "keep the Saturday holy" so I said "it's keep the Sabbath day holy" and he said Saturday, and we had to keep moving at that point. But it was ok because down the street we met a really amazing woman named D and she introduced herself as a wicken, and sister Geisler and I were like what do you believe? She she told us that she is a witch so I was really interested to hear more, and I found out they believe in healing and we were like so do we! and she told us that she had always been interested in the lds church. We talked to her about the word of wisdom and also that we believe all good feelings come from God. She was really involved in the discussion and liked the beliefs that we have. I gave her a restoration pamphlet and our card and she said to come by any time so I know we will because she was amazing and she is being prepared by God. 

I love you all have an amazing week and try focusing on how you can become more like our loving savior Jesus Christ. 

Love, 

Sister Peterson 

Shoutout to ma because her birthday is on the 5th! I love you mom thank you for being so amazing and for everything you've taught me and for loving me through it all. You're the best