Hey hey hey! It was another great week in Springfield. The weather cooled off so much that I had to wear my coat one day! Regardless the sun still appeared at night. Sister Rhees and I are doing amazing and we are still so excited to be serving together again. I don't think I'll every get used to the greatness of it. It's so good!
Monday night we had a lesson with the givens family. It was the most amazing lesson. I felt so much love for this family and I'll tell you why. The parents are members of the church and their children are not, so missionaries have been teaching the kids for a long time. We talked with them about the things someone needs to do before they are baptized. Such as come to church and be living the commandments and finishing all the lessons we have to teach and gaining a testimony for themselves. As we talked about it I could see how much the parents had a desire for their children to come to know what's true. We showed B(9 years old) and A(12 years old) a video of kids talking about baptism. We asked them why Christ was baptized and they told us it was because he was obedient to gods commandments. Then we told them that we keep the commandments because we love God! They both told us that they love god and we invited them to be baptized. Beth said yes and Alley told us she isn't ready right now. We found out that she isn't sure if God God is real and that he loves her. This is when I felt the spirit so strong to the end of the lesson. It's when their dad taught Alley how to pray and recognize answers when they come. And then as a family (and us, but I think we count!) we knelt down together and Beth she Alley prayed to know when they needed to be baptized. We gave them a calendar and they looked at the next couple months trying to pick a day that felt right. B said August 25 and her parents felt really good about it. A said she wasn't ready to pick a day yet and so we committed her to pray on her own and see what god had to say. But as this family was on the floor kneeling together and looking at a calendar I had so much love for them all, and I could feel the love of god for them.
Tuesday was a day full of miracles!! In our daily planning sister Rhees and I set a goal to find three new people to teach and we were determined! We went to contact people in a trailer park near our dinner and we had about ten minutes before dinner, and we were super close to their trailer, it I felt like we should have gone the longer way, so we did and then nothing, and nothing but there was a little boy and we asked him if he wanted a picture of Christ and he was so excited so he ran to sister Rhees and snatched it up and then I thought ok maybe that's why we came this way, but then I saw a house that really caught my eye, and I felt promoted to knock it. Sister Rhees told me she's met the guy that lives there and he never has answered when they came to knock, but we did it anyways and this girl opened up and then she ran to get someone, and it was the guy sister Rhees was talking about. His name is F and we talked with him about prophets and we had a great conversation with him and he invited us to come back!
Then we had dinner and after dinner we were walking to our car and we walked past this house and I thought I heard someone outside, so after walking past a couple houses we turned around to try and catch them and as we were walking we hear "hi sisters!" To our left and sister Rhees seemed like she knew his woman who just called to us from her porch. We went and I introduced myself and we had a nice talk and then this woman named J came up and we've been trying to set up a lesson with her for a couple weeks. And J told us that she was sorry she wants at church she's not been feeling well but she promised to be there this Sunday and then this woman named W said that she wanted to come too, but she would be the next week! They were both going through some hard times because oh j health and W lost her husband a couple months ago. We showed them the "because of him" holiday video. They talked about how Christ is their strength and helps them through it all. They are amazing women. I'm so grateful to have had that experience!
Then we went to have a lesson with T, who we met a couple weeks ago, but. He was busy and forgot so we told us to come back tomorrow. And we were standing by our car trying to see if there was anyone close by we could see and this guy starts walking past us so Sister Rhees says hi to him and we Introduce ourselves and he told us he wanted to talk but he had to catch the bus, so of course we ask him if we could walk and talk and so we did! We walked him to the bus stop and talked about the restoration and he told us he has a copy of the Book of Mormon and we invited him to read it and promised it would bless his life and bring him closer to Christ. And on our way back from our walk we met a guy named C. He was having a rough time. He felt like he couldn't be forgiven and that he's made too many mistakes. We talked about Christ's atonement and repentance with him. I know sister Rhees and I were supposed to be in his path so we could tell him that God still loves him and there is a way to relieve the guilt that he has. Unfortunately he doesn't live in our area but he gave us his number to contact him and missionaries for him! It's amazing how when you follow the simple promptings that you may not understand at first, you come to see he biggest miracles and blessings that god has in store for his children and for you to be a part of.
Wednesday we had two of our lessons fall through and then we weekly planned and drove out to Lowell to have a lesson with Y. We read 1 nephi 11 with her and talked about the love of god and how he sent His son to die for us so that we can be forgiven of our mistakes and return to live with Him again. In the middle of the lesson she got a phone call and all we heard was " I have the missionaries over... oh you go to that church too?... I didn't know that!... are you going this Sunday?.... could I get a ride with you?... thanks bye!" Best interrupted phone call ever!!!
We had a lesson with T and a sister from our ward came with us. We talked with him about our purpose and then we talked about the nature of God. He told us that he believed god was a spirit, but we talked about how we are all created in gods image so we believe god has a body which is perfect! and it all made sense to him! We talked about our savior, and His atonement and how Christ suffered so that we don't have to and so we can have someone there for us when we go through challenges. I still love teaching about Christ's atonement! It's one of my favorite things to talk about :) He had so many really good questions about Joseph smith and the Book of Mormon and when we recited the first vision the spirit was there and you could see it working on him. Sister Rhees asked him if he believed Joseph smith really did see god and Jesus Christ and Tom said yes! We invited him to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it and about what we taught him to ask god if it was true, and we asked him that when we got his answer will he be baptized? And T said yes!!! We invited him to be baptized on September 9 and he was so excited! And we talked about it for a little and let him know that since it was a good thing the adversary would try extra hard on him, but if he kept his commitments and stayed close to god he would be ok! And he said "so September 9th?" And we said yes!! He's so great!
Thursday I found out it was Sister Rhees's birthday so I made cake cookies and we had service! we had a lesson with Je. who has been meeting with missionaries for a while. We talked about the Book of Mormon with him and taught him where it came from. He really enjoys reading it! We also met with a less active family in the ward that we love so much! We read about prayer in the gospel principles Book and talked about how all our questions will be answered when we ask god, but in His timing. They're amazing.
Friday we had district meeting and were told about finding new investigators and then we all tracted in 1st wards area for an hour. Sister Rhees and I met a guy named D who said he's talked to missionaries before but right now he wouldn't be interested and about an hour later we saw a different person in his yard so we went to talk to them but they weren't interested either and when we turned around to leave we met Ds mom as she pulled in to the driveway. She told us she would love to talk with missionaries and get her daughter involved in church activities. Amazing miracles! We later had a lesson with the givens and talked about recognizing the influence of the Holy Ghost. B is still excited and A still isn't sure.
Saturday we saw T and he told us he was telling people about our church and told them he believes it's true! We went tracting later and then talked to a really nice kid at the park. We showed him "the prince of peace" and he told us he has a string faith in Christ and wants to go back to church. Then the rest of the night we walked on Main Street to try and OYM people.
Sunday we went out to contact people in the morning and met this guy named J while we were trying to contact someone else. He stopped to talk with us and we had a great talk with him about all that Christ can do and invited him to church. At church the givens came and so did Jonni!! It was such a good testimony meeting. The spirit was so strong all of Sunday. And we had dinner with our ward mission leaders family. They are amazing!
I love you all so much! Have a great week and a happy fourth. I'm so grateful for the freedom that we have in this country and for all those who fought to make it this way. It makes me think about the religious freedom we have and how everything lined up perfectly for the gospel of Jesus Christ to be restored. I am so grateful for the perfect timing of god.
Love,
Sister Peterson
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