Light The Bay

This past week was wonderful! Thanksgiving was amazing. We ate lunch with the Roberstons, which are the nicest couple you'll ever meet! And the elders were in a competition to see who could gain the most weight throughout the day. Pretty sure by the end we were actually the winners. After lunch we had the privilege to sing thankful hymns in a nursing home with our district. The spirit was so sweet and pure there. It was one of those moments that you want to hang on to forever. We got the chance to sing for a woman from the north bend ward who lives there and she sang along with us and then we all went around and talked about one thing we are thankful for.

Everyone's thanks revolved around the gospel. It really testified to me that this is a lifestyle not just a religion. Sister Peck and I made cookies for people that we are teaching and were able to drop them off throughout the day. We saw a woman who we met a month ago and has been trying to come to church. We showed her the he lives video and talked about all that we can be thankful for because of Jesus Christ. She told us an experience that her family is going through at the moment, and how the knowledge of her Savior is helping them all through it. She's amazing! He's amazing. Later that night we had dinner with a family in our ward. It felt just like being home. We were so blessed and full of thanks that day. And Sister Peck and I ate more than the elders I'm pretty sure... 

THE HOLIDAY VIDEO CAME OUT ON FRIDAY! If you're not pumped you better get pumped because the church put out the Christmas video for this year last Friday. We have been showing it to everyone who will watch and have seen SO many miracles come from it. It's all about uniting the world with acts of service. Although everyone may not agree and be untied with religion we can all unite with the desire to serve others. That's why this video is so amazing. Because it shows us that all around the world we can #lighttheworld by serving those around us just like Jesus Christ did. So get on your computers or phones and light the world this Christmas! Help others in need and help them to come unto Christ. 

On Tuesday we went on exchanges and I was able to spend the time in north bend with sister Mills! We had the best time and even though it was pouring we were out walking! We found so many really cool people to teach and we met this one guy sitting in his car so we walked up and started talking to him about how much this gospel will bless his family and he really enjoyed that and told us if he doesn't end up going back to his church that he took a break from then he would come to ours! 

On Wednesday sister Peck and I went tracting in the rain. We were looking for service opportunities all morning and we happened to walk into this huge candy store. For some reason we were led there... and the woman who owned the shop used to take the lessons with elders! She was really nice and told us there were free samples of chocolate all around the store, so we had to be nice and eat the chocolate. Then we continued walk in the rain and wave to every car that passed us. We probably looked really weird with only our eyes showing from out of our hoods but people waved back! We tracted an apartment complex and met some members from our church that don't come to church very much. We had a really good talk and then they drove us to the church for our lesson with C.C.! When we got there a woman was standing outside asking if this was a worship church.  Then the members explained to her how church runs and how Important it is to come! It was fantastic!! The woman told us she would come on Sunday but I don't think she was there. We had our lesson with C. on keeping the Sabbath day holy. It was really important to teach that we need to have our focus on Christ the entire day and give respect to him and god by doing reverent activities. At the end of the lesson we asked Christian's mom if she wanted to set a date for baptism and she said yes! So we looked through our calendars and she picked January 7. Now this little 9 year old and his family are working on coming to church and he is working towards baptism! 

Saturday afternoon we were driving to a lesson that we had set up, and we saw this man walking down the street and so I said to sister Peck "that man needs the gospel!" And she said "should I pull over?" And that ended in us pulling around the corner to accidentally "run into" this man. Literally right when we shut the car door he rounded the corner, and as we walked up to him he saw our name tags and said "oh are you really sisters?" And we said not by blood but by God! Then we explained what a missionary is and he said that he had friends in high school who are LDS. we asked him if we could show him the new Christmas video, and keep in mind that it is pouring outside and the rain falls sideways here. So we are standing next to a greet trying not to get my iPad wet, but as the video played nothing around us mattered. You could feel the spirit so strong and we know that he could because he told us that he wanted to learn more about Christ's restored church. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he almost didn't take it because it was raining and he had another 7 miles to walk! But then he paused and said "I should take it now to study it before we meet again." He was so cool! He also told us that Mormons have the best smiles. Can't disagree with that! The rest of the day we were out walking in the rain and were soaked from head to toe, but it was all worth it! 

Now as you can tell it literally rained every day this past week, and we have to make the most of it. This work is wonderful and this gospel is TRUE! I am so excited to be here in Coos bay inviting and teaching people about the restored gospel. Thank you everyone for your support and service to me! Have a great week! I love you all! 

Love, 

Sister Peterson