The Good Life: Mosiah 2:9

Written April 1, 2014

Hello from Omaha!

It has been one of the most miraculous weeks of my mission. I am so grateful for the Lord's hand in this, His work. He is so aware of us, His children, and i can't get over how thankful i am to be here!

I think Sunday was the best Sunday on my mission. It was incredible. We have been working with all of these different people for a transfer, and they all FINALLY came to church! ahh!

it was so amazing. Our investigators Lena, Kendra, Charlie, and Joshua were all there, along with several less active members who havent come to church in months. There were moments when i was either sitting in gospel principles listening to Charlie answer questions, or watching Kendra sit with our Relief Society president's family, where i literally felt like weeping. my emotions were like those in 3 Nephi, where the people were "gushing" tears of joy.

I will never forget the look on Joshua's face as we picked him up from Primary. We had peeked in before his class was over, and seeing the little kids in his class sharing their book of mormon with him honestly melted my heart. When we asked him afterwards what he thought and if he liked primary, his hands clenched up and he threw his head back and was smiling from ear to ear. He LOVED it. what a miracle. Charlie, his dad, showed up in a suit and tie, and he looked so good. He felt super comfortable in class and the spirit was so strong i knew it touched his heart.

The Lord answers our prayers, and i know that He loves each of His children. I was definitely disappointed last week, as some of the investigators who had told us would come to church didnt attend. But i have been humbled as i sat in church this sunday and came to the strong realization that this is the Lord's work, not mine. This was the perfect sunday for all of them to attend. I need to trust in HIS timing, and recognize that all things happen for a reason.

We also had an incredible experience with one of our investigators, Dionna. We had an awesome lesson with her earlier in the week, and then invited her to come to the Trail Center. She got SO excited and told us that she is always looking for fun activities to do with her 3 kids. They came and took a tour/dressed up as pioneers with us on Friday, which went SO well.

.... at the lesson with Dionna earlier in the week, we taught the Restoration and while teaching i had the strong prompting that we needed to give her a Family Proclamation. Well, i didnt have one with me, so i prayed and asked Heavenly Father to put one in my purse! ha. that prayer was not answered at that time... but. As we took the tour on friday, i had the prompting once again to give her a Family Proclamation. Once AGAIN i didnt have one on me, but lo and behold as i looked down while standing by the wagon, there was a Family Proclamation LAYING ON THE GROUND under the wagon! i honestly almost fell over. And almost started crying because i know God had answered my prayer, in HIS timing, and had provided a little miracle. So cool.

The trail center has been SO great the past few days! I was able to take this darling family on tour that were traveling from New Zealand, and were on their way to conference! they were so kind, and the spirit was so strong on the tour as the mother bore her testimony of missionary work, she having two children out on missions. Sister Brough and i took a tour last night of a non member woman who had kind of just wandered in. She made it very clear at the beginning of the tour that she only wanted the "history"... so. we taught her the "history" of the church! ha. it was awesome bearing testimony of the restoration, and literally seeing her countenance change right before our eyes. She had come into the Trail Center ice cold, but left with a Book of Mormon in hand, hugging us and a huge smile on her face. "True doctrine, understand, changes behavior". I love what the spirit can do.

We have an investigator named John, who all of the missionaries in our ward our teaching. ha. He lives with a recent convert named Kitty, and she loves going on team ups and feeding the missionaries, so we are all over there, with John, quite a bit. John has warmed up SO much to the church, and every time one of us goes over there, he always says "each time you missionaries come over i get more and more interested.. i am getting THIS (puts his fingers together) close to joining your church!" ha he is so cool. He came into the Trail Center on Saturday, ha and he took a 5 HOUR TOUR. i have been laughing about it ever since. It has been an ongoing joke since, but in all seriousness i cant wait to see how he progresses. And, it is super fun to all be in on teaching him.

On Saturday we got to watch the General Women's meeting! We were able to broadcast it at the Trail Center, and had desserts and punch for all the visitors. it was incredible. I dont know what got into me, probably the spirit, ha, but i literally could have balled through that whole meeting. I guess i was just so touched by the unity between all the women of the church, no matter their age. Watching the little girls hold their mother's hands and sing together was like a stab to the heart. i loved it. I was SO uplifted by the comments on covenants, and being willing to say "Here am I, SEND ME" to the will of the Lord. That is my goal, to have that be my attitude always.

Watching the Women's Broadcast made me even more excited for this weekend! I am SO EXCITED for General Conference, ah! We are SO blessed to have a prophet on the earth today, and to be able to hear from him and the 12 apostles! it is Christmas in April. Since last conference, President Weston has committed us to read a conference talk from the fall conference every day. i have now read all of them many, many times over, and have learned so much from the words of our leaders. i can hardly wait for a new conference to learn even more!

In preparing for conference, i just read Mosiah 1-4, and have been so touched by the words of King Benjamin in his "general conference address" all those years ago. I especially love Mosiah 2:9

9 And these are the words which he ^aspake and caused to be written, saying: My brethren, all ye that have assembled yourselves together, you that can hear my words which I shall speak unto you this day; for I have not commanded you to come up hither to ^btrifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should ^chearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your ^dhearts that ye may understand, and your ^eminds that the ^fmysteries of God may be unfolded to your view

I know as we prepare our hearts and minds to actually hear the messages this weekend, that we will be able to receive answers to our prayers, and that the Lord will let us know what we need to be doing with our lives. I will forever be grateful for the conference address in Fall 2012 that helped me receive the revelation to come on a mission. I know that these men and women are inspired by God, and it would "be wise for us to heed their council" :)

Love you all! Pray for me this week with transfers... it often sends the sisters into an uproar! ha. just kidding.. but seriously.

Love,

Sister Peterson

ps. Happy April Fool's Day!

-Sister Brough thought it would be funny to set our alarm at 3 am, in hopes that i would get up thinking it was time to go work out. Well, it worked.. to an extent. I got up, went to the bathroom and saw it was only 3 am, so i went back to bed. Unfortunately, her April Fool's day joke backfired as she wasnt able to sleep for the rest of the night! haha.

- We also came to the trail center this morning a little early before working out and dressed up in pioneer clothes. We hid in the gallery so as the sisters ran by us it became like "night in the museum". it was a riot, and got some good laughs. Ha. what a ridiculous holiday.