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

 

                         

Let it rain, Let it pour

Blessings come through raindrops and this week we had MIRACLE HURRICANES! Miracanes? Hurricles? I've heard it both ways.

Friday we had an awesome day. Everything we planned actually happened. Well by 5:00 we had planned to go contact people at the park and it started pouring rain, thus nobody would be outside at a park. We brainstormed for a minute and both agreed that the hand of the Lord was in our planning and we needed to go to the park even if it was a hurricane outside! 

grateful for gazebos

When we got to the park not a single car was there. We still got out and ran to get cover under the gazebo. Not even 10 seconds after we sat down this twenty something guy gets cover under the roof to like a smoke. Like I have no earthly clue where this dude even came from! NONE! So of course I'm like, "Hey you" and immediately we dive into a lengthy discussion about God. After about 20 minutes of talking about who/what God is and how Jesus Christ plays a role in that, along comes another fella. His brother! Both of them smoked about 3 packs combined by the time we finished our conversation, but we taught both of them about the Restoration and gave them Book of Mormons. They were on vacation from North Carolina so we sent them as referrals up there. 

Here's the miracle of the tale: It was pouring rain and thundering = captive audience under the gazebo protection. They were searching for understanding about God = very open to the spirit. They were on vacation in Marianna = HUGE MIRACLE BECAUSE WHO IN THE WORLD VISITS THIS PLACE ON VACATION. Miracles come in thunderstorms. 

oh mercy, I had some divine meals this week. I'll just leave it at that. mmmmmm. ok.

national cat day with Southern

Southern legit sobbed when we taught her the Word of Wisdom... it was a rough lesson. Send prayers. HAHAHA. "I am a basic white girl who needs her coffee." HAHAHAHA

Sister Housel my STL from Dothan spent the day with me here, and she gave me a really remarkable talk that gave me a lot of understanding about the atonement of Jesus Christ and Repentance. 

"Living perfectly is not the plan. Repentance is the plan. Jesus Christ is the plan." I think we erroneously equate perfection with living a perfect life, with never failing or falling short, but Jesus Christ is the only one who ever did or ever will do that. Perfection for us, then, must be about something else.
When we turn our broken pieces over to the Savior, our gaps are filled with Him—with His perfection—and we are made complete; we are finished by the Great Creator through the restorative power of “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). We come to know the Savior not just by recognizing and reverencing His scars but by recognizing and reverencing our own. We are bound to the Savior through our mutual scars, “and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5; see also verse 4).
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, desires to mend your broken pieces, fill your empty spaces, and make of you a vessel that is more beautiful and whole.
May you each find the strength to fail and, in the hands of your Savior, the power to finish."

I love y'all so much. Keep it fresh and ranchy and FINISH STRONG.

SISTER  p e t e r s e n  

life in photos:

sis Cobart makes costumes for Civil War reenactments and gave us confederate flags lol

trying to get some webbed feet contacts

secret to missionarying: make 'em laugh

What a wonderful, spirit filled week..!

Let me just tell you a thing or two about the Marianna ward. 

1. They are more jolly than anyone I've ever met

2. They know how to cook!

So I got two stories for y'all. Saturday night we had a ward pioneer celebration. There was tons and tons of BBQ'd meat. OH MY YUM!!! Holy canoli kids it was divine! So here's the hitch, it started at 5:00 but our Ward Mission Leader insisted on doing the pioneer/restoration program beforehand, to make sure we had everyone's attention before it got crazy with the food. Debatable. Anywho! This program lasted and hour and twenty five minutes. I am not kidding right now. Meanwhile the whole gym smelled like brisket and baked beans. My dad would've had a cardiac arrest. Halfway through this program I was about to lose it, seriously I was mad. And then, I looked back, and half the crowd was filled with non members who were engaged in the video that was being played. It was a call to repentance for me! The whole night ended very well! SO many people came and the food.... oh the food... I don't think I can ever live anywhere besides the south and that's a fact. But a plus to the program was that our primary marched into the gym singing "The Pioneer Children Sang As They Walked and Walked and Walked..." It was super cute to see all five of them singing their hearts out.

Alright alright alright. Sunday morning during ward council they were asking us about the situation when we got a gun pulled on us. I thought they asked, "What did you do? (Meaning how did you react to the gun)" but what they meant was "What did you do? (Meaning WHY did they pull a gun)" So I answered saying, "We just said Howard Wimberly" THE ROOM EXPLODED WITH LAUGHTER! Everyone thought that's why we got the gun, Brother Wimberly is our ward mission leader ps, it was so funny! Bro. W knew what I meant but everyone was laughing so hard I couldn't correct myself. The stake president was attending and he leaned over and said "I think Sister Petersen has been in this ward too long, y'all are rubbing off on her!" Everyone thought it was so funny, they even patted my back and commented on it the rest of the day. They all think I'm very witty. 

Moral of this story: I felt extremely bad because I hate jokes at the expense of another person, but the ward has officially accepted me as their own. #worthit  Bishop Sims pulled an audible for 5th Sunday and gave us a missionary pump up speech. Coincidence that I get them on my good side and then they help us....? Perhaps. There is no secret ingredient..... but the ward thinks I'm funny so that's a win.

This week has been very humbling and inspiring. Our investigators are all struggling right now with various issues. It really hurts my heart and some nights I just don't know what more to do for them. In Fort Walton a member told me "the difference between grieving and discouragement is the lack of hope." I learned in zone conference that we have to have faith, but not just faith, Faith in the savior Jesus Christ. I have faith that He succors his people. I have faith this is his work, his children, his timing. 

-sister  P E T E R S E N 

ps. I know I sound like my father in this entire email, don't remind me :):):):):)

my favorite humans send me my favorite things :) :) :) 

Frankly Scarlett this is my dream house!

(PICTURES ARE NOT LOADING!! I'll try again later, mom)

I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I gotta, I GOTTA POCKET FULL OF SUNSHINE

well not only did it storm like crazy this week, but we had tornado warnings and ALL that fun stuff. It was great.

So tender mercies all arounnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd towwwwn. Wednesday night Sister Ramadhar realized she had lost her wallet some time that day.. Thursday morning after searching everywhere we set out on a wallet man hunt.

 We went everywhere, called everyone, even the police. It wouldn't be that big of a deal typically but since my comp is from Trinidad her ID cards are like uber important to get home haha.

We prayed a lot as you can imagine missionaries would. And both bishops in our building stopped by the church to see if we needed anything. As Sis Ram called everyone she had to in order to get her cards cancelled we gave up hope on finding the wallet. As we knelt in prayer one more time the phone started ringing, we both paused in the prayer and I hurry and said "In the name of Jesus Christ Amen!" 

WELL THE WALLET WAS FOUND! We rushed back to the church to contact everyone again! to not cancel the cards! It was a miracle and a half that no one took money or anything from the wallet! Anyway she must've left it at this smoothie shop ( SMOOTHIES ) we went to which turned out to be owned by members and they were so awesome! It was really cool and I know our prayers were heard!

In other news...

- I had a frosted lemonade from chick-fil-a

- I jumped in rain puddles

- I picked up scrap-booking as a hobby 

- I bought a pillow pet

ok keep it classy. some people dance in the rain.............others just get......wet.

-sister  P E T E R S E N

Those MTC Days, Where have they gone, Where did they go???

Wowza my time here in the MTC has come to an end. I cannot believe I am leaving for the field. That's straight crazy sauce. I love it here. The only other place I would rather be is Tallahassee.

ok first off, me and sister e completed a little experiment with the Orange Juice and we have concluded after straight chugging it for a meal that it does nothing to your system. Feel free to drink it, all you future MTCers.

So, ok, story time with Sista P, duh duh dun duh duh dun dun...! So last Wednesday the 11th, me and sister E were like "hey let's host next week because it's our last week" and I wanted to be Emma's host when she came in. So we went and asked if we could host and they gave us all these reasons why we couldn't, some of the reasons were legit so we dutifully accepted the defeat of our hosting quest. Not five minutes later after moping my sadness to Sis E,

we were walking down the sidewalk to pick up a package and there was a host name tag laying on the ground!!!!! Fate?? Destiny?? A Horse?? Who can say? So I quickly picked up that tag and the scheming began. We decided we would make a copy of the name tag so me and Sis E could both host and we wouldn't have to break any companion rules, next thing we know we turned the corner and A SECOND host tag was laying on the ground!!!!! I could not believe the manna that had been delivered from the sky!!!!!

This was the creation of our perfect hosting plan. (But really Heavenly Father knew all along this was going to happen)

Wednesday the 18th, 6:13 am, *beep *beep *beep (imagine the 24 theme song playing) I spring out of bed and me and Sista E get our morning crunches done, then I quickly get dressed and I am ready for the day. Also Sister E put sticky notes all over my mirror because she really is the sweetest comp in the world gosh I love her. We tuck away our stolen host tags and set off for the adventure of the MTC lifetime. When we get to lunch, all the assigned hosts were leaving to go help the new recruits, so after forcing Sista E to eat faster, we ran outside, stopping at the bathroom to stick on our fake credentials. Disguised as hosts, we got out there at 12:25, twenty minutes before Emma's reporting time. Of course there was no way to know which direction they would point the Hansen vehicle and we didn't want to get assigned as hosts to the wrong missionary... so we waited in the middle of the two lines where the cars split. Both of us cheerfully greeted incoming missionaries that we knew and it was very exciting to see their beaming faces. I loved standing there watching God's soldiers file in. It was chilling. SO COOL.

After a while of standing there, this older gentleman came over and got after us. He told us that as hosts we were not allowed to wait for a specific car. Reluctantly we chose to go to the right, where other hosts were waiting. My friend Elder Hansen from USU was also standing there hosting and he is over six feet tall. We told him what we were up to and he was our watch out for Emma's Ford Focus. We spotted the Hansen's car and as I was getting ready to sprint to the other side to make sure I could greet her, we saw the usher point them in our direction. I was able to jump the line and open Emma's car door greeting her into the Missionary Training Center. 

Sisters Emma Hansen & Mollie Petersen

Sista Emma 

Sometimes things don't work out how we want them to, sometimes we are given trials that we do not understand, but the Lord knows the little things that matter to us. He knows that I would give anything in the world to be Emma's Host as she entered this sacred ground. He is so very mindful of the things we are going through. He knows the righteous desires of our hearts and He knows what will be the greatest blessing for us. I promise this. 

The MTC has been the best weeks of my life. My district is my family. My companion is my best friend. I have been so blessed with the valiant spirits here and I don't know what I would do without all these fellow missionaries in my life. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior. Missions are for everyone, it's the whole reason we are here, to build the kingdom of God on Earth. You're mission might not be serving as a full-time missionary but all of us need to do our part, the Lord is counting on us to bring to pass his great and Marvelous work.

I love you all. 

"Destination Celestial Kingdom. DCK." - Elder Batman Starnes

Love, your soon to be southern soul, Sister Petersen (: