This Week Changed My Life.
Last Monday I had the opportunity to participate in an extended exchange that went from Monday to Thursday! Yeah it was a crazy long time not being with my sweet Sister Ramadhar. In those few days I was with Sister Saunders. SHE IS SO AWESOME. you know those people who you know for a fact God handpicked and placed in your life?? Yeah that is Sister Saunders. We had so much fun in her area in Crestview and I learned a lot from her. I love how much you can learn from others and how the Lord uses people to answer our questions and prayers. HE IS SO MINDFUL OF US. Meanwhile down here in Fort Walton her companion Sis. Jamison and Sis. Ramadhar were organizing our area. It was so fun being on exchanges! But I love love loved coming home to my sweet Trinidadian comp hahaha. I love when she says my name "sista peta sen" hahaha she is so cute!
ROAD TRIP: Friday afternoon we drove to Georgia and stayed with some sisters so we could go down to Tallahassee in the morning for a mission conference... basically it was party central the whole way there.
drum roll please....... I got to shake
Elder Stevenson's hand.
Elder Maines. and
Elder Parker. Three General Authorities of the church. One of them an Apostle. WHAT THE WHAT! It was so so so so so cool. Definitely an experience I will never forget. We all go to the chapel and I went straight for the front row but after some disagreement and bargaining we settled for the second row. But like c'mon, and apostle of the Lord was coming to speak to us, what can ya do? When he walked in with
President Smith the Spirit in the room overwhelmed us. We all went through a line very reverently and shook their hands.
When I shook his hand, he looked deep into my soul and said "Sister Petersen thank you so much for your service." Whether by mine own voice, or by the voice of my servants it is the same.
All three of them addressed us and we learned a lot that morning. When Elder Stevenson was talking he came off the stand and stood right in front of me. Obviously no one sat on the front row because they all though the same thing as my companion, so the only thing separating me and an apostle of the Lord was a pew. The power that he spoke with was insane, it was a good thing I was as far as I was because I almost couldn't handle it!
When he started speaking he told us he knows that many of us feel inadequate, maybe because we're new, or we hold a leadership position, maybe because we have never been this spiritual before or we're uncomfortable with all the experienced people around us and we feel like we don't know what we're doing..... and then he paused a moment and said............."I have absolutely no sympathy for you." hahahahahaha. He said when he was called into the Quorum of the 12, he replaced three apostles who combined had 112 years of experience, between him, Elder Renlund, and Rasband, they almost have 3. Hahah. He told us that his first meeting he participated in the Quorum he sat in a room with Elder Holland and Elder Oaks and Elder Bednar, and all of these spiritual giants and he has never felt as small as he did in that meeting. haha. It made me feel a lot better about being in my first transfer still. haha it could be so much more intense!
He gave us an apostolic blessing and he specifically said "Since you are here on the Lord's errand, He is sending special specific angels to your families and life back home to take care of them and protect them." I know Heavenly Father is ultra aware of my family. He is sending countless angels to uphold them on their left and on their right. When I was driving to the MTC I thought to myself "Oh man, what is my family gonna do without me" haha. I know the Lord is taking care of them while I take care of His children in the Fort Walton Beach 2nd ward.
Heavenly Father blesses us every single day. The sacrifices we make are sufficient. I am making a sacrifice being out here and the blessings of heaven are being poured out to my family and all the people I love in my life. God is so so very aware of us and the things we struggle with. He allows us to have these experiences to help us grow and learn and rely on him. Don't forget who you are and your purpose when you wake up in the morning. Have a perfect brightness of hope and love those around you. I'm so incredibly grateful for all of you in my life. I am grateful for every sacrifice that has been made so that I could be here in this moment. I love serving God's children. I find so much joy in serving and sacrificing. So here's my challenge to you, if you are struggling, if you are hurting or lacking something in your life, if you feel distant from God, or you feel lost, Find some way to sacrifice to God. Whether it be your time in serving others or something you need to let go of to allow yourself to grow. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven. But while you thing about the changes you can make...
"Remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are build, which is a sure foundation, and foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Jesus Christ was the ultimate sacrifice. Through the atonement we have access to the boundless blessings of heaven. Angels are surrounding you my friends. Heavenly Father is blessing you. Stand Tall and Remember that YOU are a child of God. I love y'all
DCK.
-Sister P E T E R S E N
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| Sis Ramadhar & me |
(Hahaha the Georgia State line pics are a straight joke. Lol we def struggled on that)
