The Good Life: Because of Him

Hello!

What do you call bunnies who are walking in a line backwards? ......

A receding "Hare" line!

haha Happy Easter!!

It has been a wonderful week, especially because it was a celebration of Christ's Resurrection! I know that He lives, and that it is only because of Him that we are able to find any peace or happiness in this life and in the next. It was a wonderful week for me to reflect on why i even care about Jesus Christ, and how my life has been influenced by His atonement. I am so grateful for Him.

Probably the highlight of the week was having two trainings by Rus Rasmussen and Jason Mitchell from Salt Lake. They came to observe the Trail Center, offer suggestions on how we can use the facility better, and to provide some trainings for the sisters. They were wonderful. Sister Brough and i were also able to sit down with Brother Rasmussen and the Cleverly's for an hour or two and receive guidance and council on how to do scheduling, what to train the sisters on, and how to take more "effective" tours. I learned so much, and it got me extremely excited for the upcoming weeks of "course correction". It is an exciting time to be here at the Mormon Trail Center! :)

- Pray that the sisters have a softening of heart, as there will be many changes that will directly effect many of them. It often is hard to change things that have been "the way of life" so hopefully the spirit will guide us to say/do what the Lord wants.

This week we saw a lot of "course correction" as well in our area. We have been abundantly blessed with many people to teach, and many experiences that have strengthened my testimony and trust in God. The past few days have come more humbling experiences, in that the Lord is helping us really focus on those investigators who will progress, by helping "weed out" those who wont. It is sometimes hard to shift focus, but at the same time my trust in God is great, and i know that this is His work and He knows His children way better than we do.

On that note, we had a really neat miracle. We went out with a member of our ward, Brother McCune, to try and visit some people he home teaches who he had never met before. We went to the first house, and we saw two people outside in a U-HAUL truck. We went up to talk to them, and discovered that they were not the people we were looking for. However, we continued talking to them, and we asked if we could come back a few days later to help them with their move. They agreed, and we went on our way. We weren't able to meet any of the people planned, which at the time we thought of as kind of a disappointment. Well, a few days later came along and we went back over to help the couple we had met, (Tudie and Cynthia). The visit was wonderful, and Cynthia opened up about some of the trials she has been through in her life, and how she feels like there is little hope for her life. The invitation was made to come to church with us, and to be healed through the power of the atonement. She accepted, and she came on Sunday! We were able to have a great talk with her after church about her feelings there, as she visibly felt the spirit in Sacrament meeting as tears were running down her cheeks the entire time. It honestly broke my heart to hear how broken she really is.. but is was incredible to see the light in her eyes as we bore testimony of Jesus Christ. It was amazing. I know that it was NO coincidence that we met her, and as always, the Lord works in small and simple ways to bring about His work.

Sister Brough and i gave the Zone Training this week on "Following Up" and having daily contact with our investigators. It felt like a relief society lesson ha as we brought a center piece and made little treats/quotes for everyone. it was fun. We related following up/daily contact with running a marathon. If we only run for 45 minutes once a week, there is no way we would be in shape/ready to run the marathon. We need to have our "daily exercise" and "eat healthy" in order to keep the "spirit" (of running) in us... anyway. it was cheesy and cute, and i think it went really well. We have seen the miracles this week as we have implemented the things we taught about.

We were stopped at a light on our way home, when we saw a girl and a boy, across the street, run towards each other at a dead on sprint. It caught our attention, of course, and we busted up laughing as we saw them jump into each other's arms, and the proceed to do a full on hand shake/dance that lasted at least a minute long! ha. it was so funny, and very typical for Florence ha. We were laughing so hard that we figured we needed to go and talk to them. So we pulled over in front of their house, and started chatting with them. Their names are Kay-Kay and Lawrence, and they are probably 15. We invited them to come to church, so hopefully this next week they will come! ... anyway, it just was another testimony builder for me that the Lord uses our individual personalities (He knew that we would get a kick out of these two and go talk to them) in order to lead us to people who are prepared. ah, i love being a missionary.

I am so thankful for our Savior Jesus Christ. I am grateful to be a missionary. Even though i am exhausted every day, i have never had more energy to do what the Lord wants me to do. It is so much fun!

Love you all!

Sister Peterson