ATTENTION: READ ALMA 36 & 37 :)

Hey!

i loved the wedding pics from Amy's wedding. what a gorgeous bride and person. i am so happy for her! and you all look so great and happy :) i love it.

This week was wonderful. We have been running crazy trying to squeeze in everyone we are seeing! definitely a blessing. i love being busy teaching people about the gospel. it is the best.

i had the greatest answer to prayer this week. i dont know if you remember my MTC companion Sister Pettyjohn. just kidding, i am sure you do! ha. well, i received an e-mail from her last tuesday saying that she would be in Nebraska on Friday. at first i was thinking it was to visit, but to my wonderful surprise she returned to finish her mission!! i wish i would have recorded our reunion, but to give you the visual there were many tears shed. I am so grateful she is back. i can't even describe in words. i am so grateful for our Heavenly Father who loves us and looks after us and gives us the strength to do hard things. what a miracle.

On Sunday we finally saw some of the "fruit" of our labor. We had 5 less active members at church and an investigator. i probably looked so ridiculous with my ecstatic welcome to each of them, but i dont care. it was comparable to seeing Daniel baptized watching them be loved by the ward and take the sacrament. it was heavenly.  and i am so grateful that Heavenly Father has been softening the hearts of these wonderful people, enough to act on their faith. it is inspiring to me to think of their faith in coming back to church. The Lord always strengthens us if we trust in Him.

We had zone conference this week, and the focus was on personal revelation and prayer. i thought it was so fitting, and no coincidence, that the past week or two my testimony of prayer has been strengthened, and that i have seen the numerous blessings from prayer. the Lord was just preparing me for zone conference... ha isn't Heavenly Father so amazing? I was so inspired and uplifted by the different trainings given. i know that relying on God is the only way we can live a happy, beautiful life. one of my favorite things about being a missionary is seeing others realize that too. it is the only way. period.

We had a powerful lesson with Walt this past week  at the Trail Center. Our ward mission leader, Brother Randall, came with us and we watched the Joseph Smith and the Restoration video. i love the Trail Center, and the spirit that is there. as we finished watching the movie, tears just began to flow as we talked about the sacrifice of the pioneers, and the undeniable experience that Joseph Smith had seeing God the Father and Jesus Christ. i was filled with gratitude for our savior, and for the power of the atonement. Walt is making tiny steps of progression.. he is still hung up on Christ being our Savior. but i am so grateful he is struggling with it (as odd as it sounds) because i have studied more than i ever have about the life of Christ, and His influence. My testimony of Him is unshakable. and something that i have learned this past week is that truth ALWAYS makes itself manifest. So Walt will come around.. because the TRUTH is that He IS our Savior.

Fun things:

- This week was Halloween! ha which was really fun. We weren't allowed to be out in our area that night, so the Trail Center sisters all came to the trail center and had dinner and we watched 17 miracles. it was so much fun! Sister Barton and I dressed up like old grandma's for the party... it turned out pretty funny. it was fun because I was also able to see sister Palmer on Halloween. i love her. She and her companion are doing well in Glenwood, and it makes me so happy!

- Last night we were at a members home having FHE with them. The grandmother of the family was there as well, who is devout Catholic. so it was really fun. Well, one of the boys in the family is autistic, and struggles with anger and listening to authority. so. ha. we are having a lesson, and the boy is over in the corner just messing with some things. all the sudden he goes "why isn't this working!?". We look over at him and see that he has built/set up a ROCKET IN THE LIVING ROOM! i know... it sounds CRAZY, because it was!! he was pushing the button for the rocket firework thing to take off! i instantly said a prayer that the button he pushed would not work... and we were able to get him away from it before anything happened! ha. the house literally would have exploded. i dont even know how he got his hands on it, but nonetheless. the Lord protected us. thank goodness! you better believe sister barton and i ran out of there as soon as we could haha.

I am so grateful to be on a mission. my heart has been full of gratitude this week for the wonderful opportunities that i have been able to have the past 8 months. I love our Savior Jesus Christ. i KNOW He is the Savior. i know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and is the most correct book on the earth. my love for the Book of Mormon is indescribable. i ask myself all the time WHY i didnt read it every day before my mission! to think of all that i  could have known and learned. but. thank goodness for repentance.

i love you all! thank you for your prayers.  i feel them and love them. Read the Book of Mormon. i promise you it will make you happier than you were before.

Sister Peterson