It was such an eventful week!! There were people shooting off fireworks all week late at night. The celebration never stops. But there were so many tender mercies and love from God. I know he is aware of me and my needs. He loves me and wants me to know it! Just like he loves all of us and we can see it in the every day little miracles. Sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.
Tuesday was the fourth and it actually felt like a holiday! Most of the holidays feel like normal days for some reason while you're on a mission but this time was different. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood! Sister Rhees and I went to our ward breakfast and the givens came too! We used Facebook and I got a message from Amilina saying that they moved her baptism date to this weekend!!! I was so excited. I remember when sister Udall and I met her on campus: We had a prompting to go and talk to her and her friend while they were doing homework while sitting on a bench and she told us she wasn't sure if God was real. We talked with her about God's love and prophets and then that Sunday she showed up to church and they talked about the Book of Mormon and she asked us about it before she left and we gave her a copy and she told us she loved church and never felt like she did at any of the churches she went to when she was younger. Then we had a lesson with her on the nature of God and Jesus Christ and how they really do love her and that she's a daughter of God and then she moved home to Portland and has been meeting with the sisters there ever since! I feel so blessed :)
We went out to contact people and the biggest tender mercy/ miracle happened! Sister Rhees and I were walking up to this driveway with a couple men in it and they turned to head inside but then one guy saw us and we waved and then he came to talk to us. He told us his name was Simon but he said it in Spanish and he told us he was from Houston, Texas!! He's from Houston and he speaks Spanish! It made me think of my parents and also a reminder that God is very aware of my situation. Simon was super cool! We talked with him about his faith and he hasn't been to church in a while but we talked with him about the Book of Mormon and he said he would like one! We got his contact information, but He was only here visiting so he'll be back in Texas soon.
Wednesday we had a lesson with Jonni and oh my word it was amazing! We taught her about the restoration and about her and God's relationship and about Christ's ministry and Joseph smith and it was so spiritual. She was very open to learning. Elders knocked on her door a couple months ago when they were doing a zone power hour where the whole zone was in our area tracting and since then she's been to church twice and she loves it more every time. We finally got the chance to have a lesson and I remember when we shared Joseph Smiths experience and the first vision the spirit was so thick in her living room. She told us that was amazing and when we invited her to pray and ask God if what we taught was true she said "I already know it is" but she committed to pray and confirm the feelings she felt when the spirit taught her. Then we invited her to be baptized and she said yes and we told her we were going to hold her baptism on August 19 but before we even said the date she already said yes! It felt like the spirit was working so strongly in her that she was ok with any date the Lord picked for her. It was so amazing!!! She was so excited to read the Book of Mormon and she told us she wanted to strengthen her relationship with god and we know she will as she enters the waters of baptism and keeps her commitments!
Thursday we went to see his woman named Vera who we had on our list to contact, and she let us right in and we taught her about the restoration and invited her to pray about Joseph smith and about the restoration and she told us she already believes it is true! It's been a good week and the spirit was been working so hard here in Springfield.
Sister Rhees and I got permission to help with the youth tri-stake activity and we helped the kids sign in and get registered. And this one girl just started talking with us and she was so open and nice, and then right before she left she asked me how I liked my mission and I told her I loved it. The mission is hard sometimes but the good and the miracles make you forget about the hard things. She told us she was thinking about going on a mission but she was on the fence. We told her that is was so amazing and she would love it, but that is was up to her. I love being a missionary and you never really know the impact you make on someone, and I don't know if we did or not on that girl but either way God puts us where we need to be.
Friday we were supposed to have district meeting but it was cancelled because the Ortons were having meetings throughout the mission. So since sister Rhees and I didn't know that we showed up to the church but then it all worked out because about ten seconds away were people we needed to see. We saw a less active woman who sounded like she really needed to talk and then we saw a woman in our area Book and I actually know her sister from the ysa who got baptized a couple years ago! She invited us in and had questions about our church. She told us she's been going to different churches trying to find the right one. Sister Rhees asked her what she was looking for in a church and she told us she wanted s good community. We thought "oh perfect!" And talked with her about relief society and she loved it! We talked with her more about it and then about the Book of Mormon and we invited her to read it. She was so nice and we are so excited for her and her family! So everything worked out!
Also!!!!! I got the best Facebook message from josh who sister Udall and I found in the ysa and he moved back home to hood river. He told he that he was probably getting baptized next month he just has to pick a day!!!!!!!!!!!! I tried to hard not to break Sister Rhees's ear drums when I got that message because Josh had the most amazing story. When we met him he was struggling with his relationship with God and we worked so hard with him to help him know God loved him and wanted to hear from him, and also to recognize the spirit when we prayed. Wow it was an amazing journey with him that I will never forget and I'm sooooooooooooo excited for him!
Saturday was the big day!!! We contacted people in the morning and then we went to meet the Ortons!!! The spiritual confirmation hit hard that they were called by God right when I saw them. They came to meet us each one by one and they were so excited to see me because they met my parents in the MTC. We were the last zone that they met within the mission so Sister Orton told me that she asked the Assistants if I would be there. They are the kindest people you'll ever meet. So much love was flowing through them to us. They are so excited to be here! We had a small meeting where they told us about themselves and I got called out a lot because they knew my parents. He served his mission in Australia and told us about how he got called to this beautiful island, and regardless of the area he chose to be obedient. He shared about how Important it is to be exactly obedient regardless of the temptation around you. Then we had an interview with him and had a few minutes to tell him anything we like. And we got to meet with Sister Orton as a companionship and get to know her better. Wow they are just so wonderful. Very humble and grateful for all the lord has blessed them with.
Sister Rhees and I then went to Donnys baptism since she taught him his first couple lessons. That was exciting! Sister Rhees and I went to see Tom since he missed our lesson this week and while we were outside we OYMed a guy named Salvador. He said he had a faith in Christ and sister Rhees asked him how he has shown his faith and appreciation to Christ and sal told us with his job. He works with the forest and preventing forest fires and we talked about how serving others is definitely showing God your love! He was just so cool and his testimony was amazing. I could feel the spirit as we talked with him and as he shared his stories about helping others.
Sunday morning we went out to contact people before church and I felt prompted to go and see this woman named Ashley and when we got there this man opened up and told us she wasn't home and so we talked to him about the gospel and he said he and Christ were in a rocky place and all I felt prompted to say was to tell him that God and Jesus Christ love him no matter what. And if we were prompted to go over to see Ashley right before church started just to tell this man that God loves him then I'm so grateful that we did. It was worth the ten minutes we had for lunch.
Before that we saw our investigators husband and their baby boy and the baby kept reaching out for me to hold him and it was the hardest thing because he had these little blue eyes and the cutest smile but I had to explain to the dad that we weren't allowed to hold children while on our missions and he was fine and then we got to church and the sacrament talks were on obedience and so I was reminded that I had a choice to make when this adorable little boy was persuading me to hold him and I chose to obey even though it was hard because if anyone knows me they know I love kids! But I also had to laugh because it reminded me that the smallest decisions can make the biggest difference.
Church was so good because Jonni and her friend Winnie came to church and they said they loved it and Jonni said she was reading the Book of Mormon and she was so excited to meet with us this week! And we talked more about obedience in relief society and the quote that Lauren trapp always used "we are not obedient because we are blind we are obedient because we can see."
Sunday night we went to contact some people and tried to see Ashley again because they said she would be back that night and we saw a guy outside cleaning his motorcycle and we stopped to talk to him. His name was Allen and he told us he and his wife used to talk with missionaries and sister Rhees asked if he's ever read the Book of Mormon and he told us the missionaries gave him one and so she talked more about the importance of reading it, but he told us that he doesn't really have time to read. And I felt strongly that I needed to share with him my exact experience when I came to know that the Book of Mormon was the word of God and how it forever changed my life. I've never shared the exact experience with anyone. I've never felt prompted to except for this time and I know that the spirit was putting in my mouth the words do speak because I knew it wasn't me talking. I've shared my testimony so many times of how I know the Book of Mormon is true, but for some reason I needed to share my experience with Allen. Who knows maybe one day he will remember the sister missionaries who were confident in their testimonies and he will pick up the Book.
Today has already been a good day! Sister Rhees and I talked to a guy while we were cleaning out our car and he moved her a year ago and we gave him a pamphlet and he sells pest control so he told us a lot of members of our church are good for door to door sells hahah. Then we met this woman named Donna in the Safeway parking lot and she explained this amazing experience she had with coming closer to God. Wow the spirit was so amazing that it felt like the world around us stopped.
I got a message from Amilina and she told me she was confirmed!!!
I love you all! Have the best week. And remember to look for the simple every day miracles. They truly do make the biggest difference.
Love,
Sister Peterson
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