God Bless America!

It's transfer day again! Although it feels like sister Dobbs just got
to Grants Pass! But this time I got moved to a new area. It was sad to
say goodbye, but I know I'll see all of the amazing people I met
again! I got transferred to Medford which is only about 30 minutes
away from Grants Pass. I'm in the Medford 2 ward with Sister Alldredge
and she's pretty great! I'm excited for this new transfer!

Happy Fourth of July everyone! It's amazing the focus that we put on
the freedom of our country and the religious freedom that we were so
blessed to gain. I know that this freedom was necessary for Joseph
smith to be able to restore the church of Jesus Christ. Without this
freedom I wouldn't have this amazing gospel and wouldn't be on a
mission helping others come closer to their father in heaven. I love
this country and know I am so blessed to live here.

Well let's take a blast to the past and go back to the cool things I
got to do when I was still in grants pass. Sister dobbs and I did a
ton of walking last week and it's a great way to talk to everyone that
passes us! Cool story. We almost took the car and drive to this
members house, but decided to walk and that's when we met F! He
just moved to town two days ago and stopped to talk to us before we
could stop him! We brought up the Book of Mormon and he said " it's
funny that you brought that up. I was actually talking to my aunt
about that the other day, and I wanted to know more about it." So we
were able to introduce it to him and invited him to church on Sunday.
It was such a miracle to be able to meet him, and he was really
anxious to learn more. Then Sunday rolls around, and we were sitting
in church then we get a missed call and voicemail from a number we
didn't know, so we go outside to call them back and it's F and he
was on his way to church! It was so cool because he got in contact
with us which usually doesn't ever happen first so if you know what
I'm sayin you know that's pretty amazing!

We had district meeting on Friday, and it was the last one with
district leader elder best. We learned about how to begin teaching
which is something we as missionaries do to establish what we do. It
was really good and it helped me to understand the importance of why
we let people know who we are. I got to role play with the AP which
was legit! That is an assistant to the president and I learned a lot
from him too. It's amazing what we learn in our meetings and then
being able to apply those things in to our own work.

On Sunday we had a lesson all about compassion. We talked about doing
the simple things just to help someone out. Having this lesson really
helped me to understand how important it is to look for opportunities
to help others. To lift someone up when they are feeling down. That's
what our savior would do and we are all trying to become like him
aren't we? I really enjoyed that lesson and one of the questions asked
was "what blessings have you seen from showing someone compassion" I
said to See someone smile is a blessing for me. It's about bringing
someone else joy even if it's only for a moment. To know that it'll
get better and to see that hope in someone's eyes is the biggest
blessing I could ever ask for.

I love you all and wish me luck in my new area!

Love,
Sister Peterson