#DivineDesign am I right?

I got to see my Sister Smario and she goes home in 4 days and it makes me want to rip my soul out because she has it in her hands most days! Anywho. Yeah I love her!

Ok this week we skipped over to Fort Walton Beach and I got to see a family I worked with when I served there. They are so special. It was funny because the elders tried to see them last week and they said no and wouldn't let them in. And then I showed up. (: I feel like the Lord truly sent me there to be a door wedge to help keep an open line for the Kammers' to have the gospel (:

Katy is doing so amazing. Yesterday we talked with her about her relationship with God. She has grown so much and I love her so so much. She knows God is in her life. She knows that she met us for a reason. We had her read Elder Rasband's talk called Divine Design a few weeks ago and whenever she gets an answer or feels the spirit of something that can't be a coincidence she says "Divine Design, am I right?" Hahah I love her so much. It really has been divine design that we got to meet her and teach her. I love the time that I have been able to pray and watch over my friend. Campus has been crazy because everyone is taking finals and such and not very many people want to talk with us about Jesus but we have still found some really cool people. This week on campus.. there was a Coke Hug machine! You hug the machine and get a free coke!!! It was so fun! We didn't get to do it though.... the line was too long I guess but it LOOKED really fun haha. We had souls to save, I can drink coke in heaven.. hopefully they don't distribute Pepsi or something in the celestial kingdom.. Sorry Slacks (:

On that note at Tropical Smoothie this week the workers started singing "Yeah!" by Usher and it was so funny and then they noticed us busting up and now we're best friends with them so hopefully they get baptized or something one day (:

Sister Gale, a sister on another campus, got proposed to.. hahahahahaha it was so funny! . Um Sister Boyce busted her ankle playing ultimate frisbee so all of us are ready for it to get banned in our mission, she's like the 10th person who has gotten injured hahahah. and other than that I really got nothing. (: I hope you all have a great week! I love you all mucho! You are where you are for a reason, don't doubt that God is using you every single day to help His children come home!

"Muslims are okay in Sister Gale's book."- Sister Gale

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n

- that awkward moment when the only ones who show up at
district meeting are us and Elder Miller.... hahahaha

-Sister Mifflin next to a really larger than life picture of Jesus.

-My current favorite sisters ever I love them and this swing was artsy

-This is the elders investigator Bree. She is so elect! We LOVE her!
She told us this week that she's only getting married in the temple
and she's gonna walk around with a tag like us that says
 "Only getting married in the Mormon temple." HAHAHA she's awesome!

T? As in Troy?

This week was BUMPIN. And as my subject suggests, it ALWAYS comes back to High School Musical.

-TRROOOOOOOOOY, right now I can hardly breathe.... oh oh 

So we had some crazy transfer stuff and we ended up going to TROY ALABAMA on a quick little exchange with our sisters there! Not many know, but Troy has been my secret dream area of our mission. I have wanted to serve there sooooooo bad. And wahhhla! All of my wildest dreams came true! It was everything I hoped for and MORE! There were Asians, Baptists, and Mormons! It was a great time. But I learned a valuable lesson this week.

Whilst out in a service project, weeding for 5 hours, I thought to myself, "Self, it doesn't matter if you do service if you are not doing it with a willing heart." Just like Troy in HSM. His head was in the game, but his heart, his heart was in the song....

- Literally Katy is my favorite human,
just look at her!

THE LORD REQUIRES THE HEART! Brother Bigler in high school seminary always told us your heart is like a parachute it can't help you if it's closed! So I opened my heart more and this whole week was just awesome! We worked and it was long and hard but it was so enjoyable. I remembered why I am here and I was so excited to share the restored gospel!

Katy is doing amazing. She is reading the Book of Mormon and always wants to read more. Right now she is really searching for an answer from God. I know that she will get one. Please please pray. She is my person.

- look at how cute little Miff is

I've seen way too many missionaries throw away their last few weeks, but you can tell the devil, no, not today. I am on the Lord's errand doing small and simple things, and hey guess what, so are you! Make today count. Have some passion in your life! And if you don't know what it is, find it, and do it well.

ps... Sister Mifflin is the most mellow companion 

I've ever had. Literal spiritual giant. I LOVE HER! 

Funny moments: 

• We didn't have enough missionaries for church tours so the Elders investigator Bre started teaching these people the Plan of Salvation haha. 
• Our landlord Dan said I'm the anchor of the household so I keep using that unrighteous dominion over everyone. 
• I've recently added humus to my diet, it doesn't sit too well with us hahahaha. 
• We met a guy on campus who was painting with his feet. That's about all. (:

ps read this talk. just do it.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/10/choosing-charity-that-good-part?lang=eng

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n

- Her name is Liv Fast, die hard.
She's the best soul I know.

- Sometimes when your hair looks like a rat and you did a billion hours of service
 in the melting sun you just need some ice cream #thankyoubluecard

Adventures of Miff & Petey: Pt 1

There's this episode of The Office when Michael drops Holly off and the whole way home he sings/cries "Life is a Highway" by Rascal Flatts. I don't know why but this week has kind of reminded me of that scene. IT'S BEEN A TRIP MY FRIENDS!

We had back to back, to back, to back, to back, exchanges. LIKE A BILLION AND A HALF. But it was actually bumpin. We're going up to Troy, Alabama tomorrow after church and I actually couldn't be more excited to see my favorite Troy sistas! MMMph I love them! 

So I just have one quicky, quick story to tell you! Basically I thought my tooth was having a seizure because all week it has been hurting so bad! Well I went to the dentist and my dear friend Dr. Dransfield told me that my tooth WAS having a seizure and I need to get it pulled out real quick! Sorry buddy but I can't be toothless, I'm a MISSIONARY! Well in the midst of all these back and forth dentist appointments, and exchanges with sisters, and praying really hard that Katy will understand the gospel and get an answer to prayers, and trying to preach the restored gospel, I was so lost with the noise of life.

Finally, I sat back. I sat still and I waited. I waited a long minute to just hear from my Father in Heaven and feel His peace. And it came.

As we went home one evening I had 6 letters from my mission buddies, and suddenly Sister Smith was calling us on one phone, and President was calling on the other, and Dr. Dransfield was calling us from his personal phone!  Everyone started reaching out to make sure that I was being taken care of. The love of Heaven was overwhelming. I know that angels are real on this side of the veil. I know that God hears His child. He knows me by name. He knows our pains and our struggles and He is the constant comfort. I know that God works through His children to work miracles! 

I was reading Alma chapter 26 and it's good and all about not being discouraged, but even better it's about being worthy to be an instrument in God's hands. 

ALMA 26:11- I do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; but behold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God.

12- Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

I love you all so much and I am so overwhelmingly grateful for your prayers and your love! I know God because I know you!!! <3

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n

 

                         

PACE (:

Hey I just have one thought for you today.

"Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm." 

-Elder Lynn G. Robbins

So just remember when someone throws a McCafe at you, or yells out their window that you are a polygamist, or the Walmart self checkout keeps giving you errors and has to notify the attendant, it's all part of mortality and we gotta keep our heads and hearts up! Keep Katy in your prayers she is so special to me (: I love you all! Have a great week!

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n

Nailed it.

"Sisters you have a flat tire" said the Fairhope Sisters' Scottish neighbor, as we were pulling out to drive back to Tallahassee.

TWO DAYS EARLIER . . .

I was sitting in Institute learning about Celestial Marriage, trying to take good notes ;), and suddenly MY TOOTH FALLS OUT OF MY MOUTH! Needless to say I was very, very calm, as I always am when my teeth fall out of my mouth, and I called a dentist and they scheduled me and appointment 3 days later on Friday morning.

-some of my favs

With my aching jaw, we ventured onward to the Mobile Zone Wednesday morning for our exchange. This isn't really important to the story but I love Sister Hart and Sister Johnson like they were my own. THEY ARE GOD SENT PEOPLE! Anyway, we have a wonderful exchange in my sweet home in Alabama and we depart at 2:00 pm Central, Thursday afternoon to make it home at 7:00 pm, Eastern, with two hours to spare for curfew and we would be in Tallahassee for my dentist appointment the following morning. This is when Ms. Rose informed us of our tire. Trying to be calm and practical we figured it might just be low so we went to the gas station and put air in the tire. Obviously, two sister missionaries who are stressed and totally know how cars work, looked completely calm with the raging wind storm while we tried to pump our tire with air.

-Bishop Boxx was not amused. HAHAHA

Thankfully the spirit told me we did not do a sufficient job at filling the tire. So I pulled in a favor from a long time friend. Bishop Boxx answered the phone and with a long deep sigh he said "Sister Petersen? I thought we got rid of you" HAHAHAHA he acts like we're not best buds! So he meets us at the gas station to inspect our tire and SURE ENOUGH WE HAD A NAIL! WELL THAT JUST WASN'T GONNA WORK BECAUSE BY THIS TIME IT WAS ALREADY 4 PM AND WE WOULDN'T MAKE IT BACK TO TALLAHASSEE BY 9 PM AND THEIR WAS A TROPICAL STORM ROLLING IN AND WE NEEDED A NEW TIRE AND I NEEDED TO GET TO MY DENTIST APPOINTMENT. But don't worry I was totally calm cool and collected through this entire saga. 

Well, we get to PepBoys. They change our tire. We share the gospel in the waiting room with Hasten. He's gonna get baptized. Then we ate dinner at the Boxx's because they missed me, then we drove 2 hours to Crestview. Then we got up at 5 AM to drive 3 more hours to Tallahassee. We ran inside, changed into proselyting clothes, ran to the dentist, got my teeth drilled, ran to the institute for a lesson and at this point it was 1:00pm on Friday and the only thing we had eaten was a McDonald's hashbrown and a Krispy Kreme donut! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA - We get to the institute and BAM, I got to be a part of one of the most spiritual lessons in my whole mission.

-probs how I broke my tooth.
But MMMMM I love me some crawdads hahaha

Right now we are teaching a girl named Katy and she is the elect. She was chosen to hear the gospel. I love her so much. We talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ and about our pre-mortal existence and I know without a doubt I knew this sister before this life. I know that I was sent here specifically for her. Please, please keep her in your prayers. She is so ready for the healing of the Savior. After our lesson, Katy told us she couldn't make it to General Conference because she would be out of town, but because this is the Lord's work we set her up with the missionaries for Saturday morning session where she would be. It just so happened that Katy ended up hearing the words of the prophet sitting with Sister Evensen and Sister Smith in Fox Run, Florida. This is a mighty work and a wonder. This is not a fairy tale.

-Members made all the missionaries in our district
cinnamon rolls for conference, that's what I call ministering!

I know this was a long drawn out story. We made some crazy memories this week. But, I couldn't help but reflect on our lesson with Katy all throughout conference. So many people think that the Savior simply "died for our sins", but there's so much more. Jesus Christ suffered everything. His crucifixion was only one element of His atoning sacrifice. And with nail scarred hands, He rose again. I know that Jesus Christ lives. I know that He is coming. I know that the work of the salvation of souls is rolling forth and one day soon each of us will feel the prints of His hands and feet from the merciless nails that scarred them. He is life eternal and I promise you can know that for yourself. Listen, hearken, to the counsel of the Prophet and your days will be brighter and brighter even until that perfect day. 

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n