Hey hey hey everyone! It's been a cooler week in Springfield. Still hadn't rained yet! Sister Banner is waiting to experience her Oregon rain.
Tuesday we had a lesson with a woman named Pam and her husband and their son. They were really interested in what we had to teach and they wanted to know more about why we have the Book of Mormon and it was funny cause Pam kept saying "but the Bible says you shouldn't add anything to it, but I guess I haven't read the Book of Mormon so I don't know" and then whenever she would say that she wasn't sure her son would say " but you haven't read it yet!" It was pretty funny but it motivated me to read it together when we left! And the spirit was definitely there during the lesson so we have no doubt that as they read they will come to know the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
Wednesday we had a lesson with this guy named Steve. He's a returning inactive member and he lives out in Dexter which is a super far away spread out part in our area. As we walked inside the unexpected (but probably should have been expected) happened! Five wiener dogs came from behind chairs and couches and the kitchen and ganged up to bark us out of the house. Luckily they moved but all I could think of was this movie (open season) where this little dog would bark and then speak in English and then bark again. When the dogs were away we had such a good lesson. We taught Steve and his son, who is also named Steve, about how much God loves them.
There were even two girls there and we asked the older one if she believed in God and she told us that she went to church with her grandma when she was younger and used to pray with her mom, but now sometimes she prays on her own and we asked how that went and she told us that it helps her when she does pray. She got so excited when we had the biggest smiles on our faces when she told us that. We gave her a Book of Mormon and committed them all to read and pray. That night we had dinner with some members and while we were eating sister Banner looks over and sees their two year old sticking his head in the dogs water dish to get a drink. I remembered then why we have dinner with members. Haha jk but it was so funny. We had a lesson with the G Family. We taught them about tithing and fasting and keeping the sabbath day holy. When we talked about tithing we named everything that timing goes to and Alley said "10 percent? I would pay 50 percent to the missionaries." And Beth talked about how she wanted to be a missionary. It is so amazing to see how much they are growing every time we meet with them.
Thursday I hit my year and a half mark as a full time missionary. I feel so blessed to have made it this far and I know it's because of the Lord. Each day had new trials but it also was full of tender mercies and miracles. Christ has helped me so much to take another step every day. He kept telling me to keep going that it would be worth it. And it has been! I love being His missionary. So Thursday we partied it up missionary style. We tracted and we had an amazing lesson with Tom on the word of wisdom. The spirit helped Tom to see that living this commandment would bless him in so many ways and he committed to live it and step by step with the Lords help give up those things that may seek challenging, but he knows that with Christ everything is possible.
Friday we had a great district meeting on how to plan and the importance of planning. And how to make great lesson plans, so Sister Banner and I have really been focusing on the needs of our investigators rather than just teaching the lessons to get them done. It's such a blessing to teach to peoples needs rather than our own. We had a power hour in the fifth ward sisters area after and we found the biggest black berries, so naturally sister Banner emptied her water bottle and we filled it up with giant blackberries. Oversized Blackberries for the win! When we got to our area we did a lot of tracting and met some nice people, but no one had time to talk. Later that night we saw Jarrold and he gave us some grapes that are growing in his yard and we saw Tom and he was doing really well!
Saturday we went contacting and we saw Kyra and set up a lesson with her which is a miracle because we've been trying to set something up for this whole transfer and then some! As we were contacting I saw brads house and we went to knock. When we did he opened up and let us right inside! He went to go get ready for a birthday party but we got to talk with his wife, Samantha, for a while and she's so nice! We learned more about how they met and she even told us that when she was younger she went to her parents church but as she was older she stopped going, but now she goes with Brad and his family. And we started talking about the restoration since she hasn't heard much about our church and Sister Banner taught so well! And I was sitting next to Samantha so I couldn't see her face, but sister Banner later told me that when she recited the first vision she saw sparks in Samantha's eyes as she said "that's amazing" we have a lesson with them this next week and we are so excited!
Later Sister Eichner took us to Lowell which is a far out place in our area and we had a lesson with Travis. He's ten and his parents are returning less actives. We taught him about the restoration and he's just so adorable. We had a lesson with the Given family and talked about Beth's baptism which is in two weeks!! She's so excited and the whole family is. They told us that they've been reading their scriptures every day. And they've been keeping the rule that you have to read for 30 minutes before you watch tv or play video games. Their mom has been a huge supporter too and example because the kids see her read every day! We had a lesson with Tom that night and taught him about keeping the sabbath day holy. He was super excited to come to church!
Sunday guess who came to church!? TOM!!!! And he stayed for all three hours :)) he loved every second of it! Later he told us "its like bible study for three hours" haha because he always calls meeting with us "bible study." The G family came to church too. It was a good day! We even saw Joni after dinner with the Jeffs and she told us she would want to meet this Friday and we were so happy because she isn't avoiding us! We had a lesson with Tom too and we taught him the law of chastity. It was so powerful and we talked so much about how we are blessed when we live this commandment.
Sister Eichner (our home girl) came too and shared the blessings she's seen in her life and we know Tom could feel the spirit. We could tell that he had a broken heart and a contrite spirit. It was amazing. Tom brought up how all he wants to do it help people and he's trying so hard to be surrounded by good people. He gives, gives, gives and people use that, and I remembered my personal study from the last couple days when I read Mosiah where king Benjamin talks about how we should always help those in need no matter what. He talks about how we are all beggars because we plead to god for forgiveness. I hadn't really realized that before. But I know we are all her together to help each other out. Times get hard but when we support each other and remember that God Is on our side then we will have the strength to endure and keep helping those around us no matter what.
Today we went and played mini golf! And I tore it up. Okay I did pretty well. It's been a good day so far!
Have the best week everyone. Make the most of it and help someone in need. Mosiah 4:16-21. I love you all.
Love,
Sister Peterson
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