Hey!
Grandma Win, Grandma Bonnie, Patti: thank you for your
letters this week! i absolutely loved them. thank you!!
the definition of tornado is: "a violent outburst, as
of emotion or activity"
Wow what a week. haha. Probably the toughest week of my
mission. But let me start off by saying that the Lord is so mindful of each of
us. I am so thankful to be here, and I am so grateful to be a representative of
Jesus Christ. I love it... even when there are tornadoes both physically and
emotionally.
Let's start with the baseball game on tuesday! Ah it was so
fun! we sang the best we ever had, and a man who was from the pacific coast
league came over to us after and said that he hears renditions of the national
anthem every night, and this was the best he has ever heard! it was awesome. We
actually got asked to sing at a football game, the Omaha Beef (funny/fitting
name, huh?) on Friday so we got to do that as well. It was so cool. When we
walked into the Beef arena the spirit was instantly gone - i literally wanted
to run out of there. But, we prayed to have the spirit with us and that our
music would touch the hearts of those in attendance. Right as we began singing,
the spirit was instantly brought into that arena. it was incredible.
So. You can start calling me Dr. Lauren because i have felt
like a psychiatrist all week haha. I have learned so much this week. My
companion has had a really rough week, which has made it hard on our
companionship as you can imagine! please pray for her. She has had anxiety
attacks that turn her into a completely different person, which has been really
hard. But it is incredible to see how when we are able to completely trust in
Heavenly Father, He can provide us with peace and comfort that cannot be
obtained from anything else. I have also learned that the way to be happy is
through forgetting yourself. I am so sorry for being so selfish. i am not
perfect at being selfless now, but man have i realized how bad i was before. I
am so grateful for the atonement and for the ability we have to change each and
every day. this week has helped me see that when i am focusing on others, i am
happy - and their concerns and problems can be comforted because of my
willingness to be there for them. Remember my companion sister pettyjohn?
please pray for her as well. She has had a really rough week and thankfully i
have been around to help comfort her. she only opens up to me, which is a great
responsibility but also a wonderful blessing. Everyone knows if sister
Pettyjohn is having a hard day to call me ... haha. but i am so thankful to
have her as now one of my best friends.
We had a woman come into the Kanesville Tabernacle (we are
on shift there once a week) this past week, which was quite the experience. she
came in extremely panicked, and almost insane, rambling about how there are two
prophets and she is so confused and she has been reading anti material. she is
a recent convert of about 3 months, and man have i never seen someone so crazy.
but it was an incredible experience. i was able to talk with her and calm her
down. the other missionaries there serving at the time all kind of backed away
from her, but it was amazing for me to instantly feel of Heavenly Father's love
for this daughter of His. He strengthened me like never before. all i kept
thinking was, "what would Jesus do?" He loves His children, and he
strengthened their faith. so that is what i tried to do, and it was amazing to
see the spirit come back into her countenance. it was insane. but also really
neat.
So. there was a tornado here on sunday night - i am so glad
that you were all camping and probably had no idea. haha. it was INSANE! so we
go to bed sunday night, and it was raining like always and it was thundering:
nothing unusual. The trail center was crazy busy on sunday, and i had taken so
many tours that i was absolutely EXHAUSTED. i crashed right when my head hit
the pillow haha. But at 1:30 am the two sisters we live with came knocking at
our bedroom door saying "sisters?? ... umm, there is a tornado? so we need
to go. right now." how is that for a nice surprise?! i hadnt even heard
the tornado warning/siren go off which is saying something because i am a
pretty light sleeper! but thankfully we live with another companionship! so i
threw on some shoes and a jacket, and we drove over to the trail center. they
had given us 15 minutes to get there before we would have to just stay in our
house and hope for the best haha! so we drove over there, and stayed there with
all the other sisters until about 3:30. thankfully, the tornado didnt pass by
us, but still it was quite the night! i am still so tired haha. President let
us sleep in till 8:00 the next morning which was heavenly. Kind of crazy,
huh?
ok. enough talk about how hard it is here. haha
I had an amazing tour this week. A family came in with two
daughters, aged 15 and 10. they were moving to indiana from Salt Lake, and the
15 year old girl i could tell was extremely nervous and upset about the move.
At first i didnt know if i should confront her about it, but the spirit
prompted me to ask her how she felt about what was going on. It was amazing to
see her open up. i had the opportunity to bear testimony to her about how aware
Heavenly Father is of each of us, and how Jesus Christ has felt every single
feeling that we feel. if we utilize the atonement, we can find peace and
assurance. It was so cool to see her countenance change and help her not only
feel ok about the move, but excited about the opportunities she will have in
indiana. I talked to her about early morning seminary, and i know that she was
able to feel of God's love for her. it was amazing. isnt it so cool that i get
to talk to people like this all day??? i LOVE it.
We also have a new investigator named Danielle. She is
GOLDEN. we taught her this week for the first time, and all she kept saying the
whole time was how good she felt while we were there. She believes everything
that we do, and is super excited to continue to learn more. I know that the
Lord has blessed me with Danielle because of the craziness of this week. He
always reaches out to us. isnt it amazing? i am so thankful to be a missionary
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love my Heavenly father,
and His son Jesus Christ. there is no way i could be here if i didnt have
them.
i love you all. and guess what? the church is still true!
Love,
Sister Peterson
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