"Now have we not reason to REJOICE?"

Hey!

The leaves are falling, the temperature is cooling down, and the missionary work is about to explode! i am SO happy, and i am in awe at the miracles that are flooding Ralston/La Vista. "Now have we not reason to rejoice?" :)

The week truly was incredible, and i am so thankful. So so thankful to have a loving Heavenly Father. I know that He answers prayers. This week Sister Barton and I have been working on praying specifically for people, blessings, experiences, and answered prayers... and we have been BLOWN away by the miracles that have come from it.

For example:

1. I have been praying the past few days/week that we would be able to find someone to teach. I realized though, that that was way too vague. i needed to be more specific. So i acted in faith and prayed specifically that we would contact someone who was prepared to hear the message of the Restoration, who would be willing to have us teach them, and that we would be able to prepare them for baptism. Well, that day, we received a referral for a woman named Shawnda, who is wanting us to come teach her so she can get baptized! ...the Lord answers our prayers.

2. I was studying one morning this week, and was so touched by Alma 14, where Alma and Amulek are smitten, ridiculed, and imprisoned because of their beliefs. I was moved to tears imagining the pain that they were going through, which is exemplified in verse 26 where they finally cry out to the Lord for help. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to please guide us to someone who needs the knowledge i had gained from reading that chapter. Well, sure enough, that morning we met a less active member, Dani, who has been going through awful trials and is wanting to give up on God. In answer to my prayer, i was able to recount to her the story in Alma and help her understand the love God has for her. it was incredible... and i just cried and my spirit was so uplifted by the experience.... the Lord answers our prayers!

3. We were about to go see Walt and have a lesson with him (which by the way, he is doing GREAT! he is progressing slowly but surely... i love that man so much), but we had 5 minutes before the lesson so we prayed to know what we should do. we were prompted to visit a less active that we had never met. well, when we got to her home, a woman answered the window (hahaha, really though... she didnt answer the door, she started talking to us through her side window?... at least she was talking to us!) and told us her name was Terry, not the woman we were looking for. well, she then told us she was 7th day adventist, and she had mormon neighbors once. she also said that she used to live out in the bay area, so when i told her that i was from Danville she got super excited and let us in! haha the Lord truly uses our individual life experiences in order to do missionary work. But anyway, Terry is incredible and she has invited us back over "any time we want!" ... guess what? the Lord answers our prayers.

even just typing all of these miracles out, it is amazing me once again how good the Lord is too us! man!

4. We met an awesome family a week ago who said we could come back. well, when we came back for a lesson they weren't home so we were super bummed. We decided to pray and ask the Lord where He needed us. We both were then prompted to visit a less active who we have been trying to meet for weeks now, but our appointments keep falling through with her. We got to her house, and Sister Barton and i were THRILLED that she was home! she let us in, and oh man.. she is amazing. Her name is Jinx, and she was a faithful convert for about 10 years, but because her family wasnt part of the church she made the decision to leave it. It was so cool to hear her talk, and bear her testimony to us of her conversion (and let me tell ya, there is no doubt heavenly father wanted her in this church!). She then expressed how in even just the past few days she has been thinking a lot about her decision to leave it, and how she has never felt fully confident it was the right decision. We were able to bear testimony to her of the love our father in heaven has for us, and how when he tells us, like He told her, to join the church and make a covenant with Him, He would not then turn around and tell her to break that covenant. The spirit was so strong, and she invited us back. do i even need to say it?? the Lord answers our prayers!

That is just a TASTE of what has been happening this week... i wish i had time to write down every miracle. but honestly, i wouldnt have enough time for that even if i was given 10 hours to email! Our Heavenly Father loves us. and i KNOW that he loves me personally, individually, and eternally. I am so thankful and grateful to have His trust.

Fun Happenings:

- this week after district meeting, my district leader was doing a car inspection on our car and he dropped his pen into the hood of the car. well, for the next hour i had my hand crammed into the engine of the car fishing around for a pen. haha. we didnt find it...

- we visited this less active/ part member family this week, Tim and Terry. we were outside their house laughing hysterically because of what we saw through the window haha. Tim (the dad) had his shirt off, he being a big guy, and was walking around shaving all of his head hair off!! hahaha it was quite the sight, sister barton and i were worried about meeting this guy, but decided it was too funny NOT to knock on his door. we had a lesson with them again last night, and i am super excited about their family.

- We had the feeling yesterday that we should bring our service clothes with us in the car.. not knowing why. well, we were driving down the street by presidents house later that day, and we saw a woman raking her leaves by herself. and she had a TON of them. we instantly knew we had brought our clothes for her. we changed into our service clothes at presidents house, borrowed his rakes haha and then walked up the hill to help this woman. she gladly let us help her, and for the next hour and a half were able to brighten her day. it was so cool. she is recently widowed, lives alone, and i know that Heavenly Father sent us there. i was reminded of President Monson, caring for each widow in his ward. it brightened my day to help her!

i am so happy. the church is true. We have a father in heaven who loves us, answers our prayers, and knows us better than we know ourselves.

Alma 18:32 "Yea, and he looketh down upon all the children of men; and he ^aknows all the thoughts and ^bintents of the heart; for by his hand were they all created from the beginning."

I love my savior. I know He lives. i am grateful for our ancestors, and have loved learning about their lives and their love for this gospel. i love it as well.

Sister Peterson