It's a beautiful day to save lives

Yes. Elder Holland spoke to my face. And yes, because I had the will and the Lord provided the way, I was standing RIGHT behind him in the full mission picture. And yes I am one happy little clam now.

-THAT'S MY COMPANION

Elder Holland was obviously the highlight of the week! Absolutely incredible! He just came and told us how lucky we are to be missionaries. It hit me in that meeting that heck yes I am! I am probably one of the luckiest most blessed people in the world. He told us we will NEVER do anything MORE important than serving as a missionary. We will have kids and families but that is AS important, not MORE important. That gave me a huge perspective on what we're actually doing. We're saving souls people!

So many spiritual experiences came from that meeting a lot of them very personal. One thing I want each of you to know is that I felt the spirit of God speak to me through Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He is a man of God. Yes he is imperfect, I was on the front row with my glasses on I saw a lot of his physical imperfections over 2 hours, but imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with! What a wonderful thing that we don't have to be like Elder Holland or Mother Theresa or your older sibling or your neighbor or your spouse, the only person you are trying to be like is the Savior. I want to share this quote from Elder Holland's last conference.

"Every one of us aspires to a more Christlike life...If we admit that honestly and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites, we are human."

THE GOSPEL IS FOR EVERYONE

Get it? Everyone of us. Quit turning inward and thinking about yourself. I gotta quit being so trunky sometimes and realize I only have 3 more months to give my heart out! It is a beautiful day and age to be a member of Christ's kingdom. IT'S JUST SO AWESOME! AHHH I WANT TO SCREAM AT YOU BECAUSE I LOVE WHAT I AM DOING SO MUCH. Everyday I now wake up thinking, "What can I do to save a soul today?" We all need to decide what team we're on and then, play our hearts out. I love you all so much. I am grateful for every person and experience the Lord has blessed me with to be His refined, humble, servant. I love my Savior and His gospel is perfect! 

-THAT'S OUR DISTRICT MEETING THAT WE SKYPED INTO
 BECAUSE THE A/C REPAIR MAN CAME IN THE MIDDLE OF IT!

I will not lie, the plans were changed and Elder Holland did not ride in our mini van..... ): (: don't be sad, be happy!

We went to Dothan Zone Conference and Sister Wilson taught us some Australian songs on the way and made us sing in rounds #bestroadtripever haha on the way home I may or may not have explained the Lord of the Rings trilogy to those living in darkness *cough *cough Sister Smario and Sister Wilson.

-THAT'S OUR SIDE KICK SISTER WILSON

Anyway I just love everything about my life and you should too because the Savior suffered so you could enjoy it, and if you are miserable, that's a little pathetic that you are wasting the gift of the gospel. Seriously, find some dang joy brothers and sisters. (: I LOVE YOU!

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n☀

-THAT'S MY HOT MOM

THAT'S HOW I FEEL ABOUT MY MISSION

Ain't no rest for the righteous

What a week my friends. Truth be told the Lord used me as an instrument this week because I would have died if I was supposed to orchestrate what we accomplished!

-Sometimes you have this kind of week where all you want to do is
get your groceries inside and you drop them everywhere and then
your companion takes a picture instead of helping you. HAHAHAHAHA

Highlight of the week! Due to some last minute transferring situations, we now have Sister Wilson in our little #POUND of sisters! WOW I LOVE HER! She is probably the happiest little Australian gem I've ever had the pleasure of being around! Gosh I love her and we have Marianna in common and I love Marianna, so sorry for everyone else but she just jumped to the top of my A-list (;

Ok, ok, ok, I'll tell you a story! So Valentine's day was absolutely nuts on campus! So many booths and people and the spirit was just NOT there. We were feeling pretty weird so we decided to head back to the institute and on our way there we see these SCARY AS HECK catholic priests walking towards us! I'm talking full dark cloaks with huge crosses on their necks, it was like Da Vinci Code, Voltaire, paranormal activity scary status! Like the spirit WOOOOOOOSH left us! Yeah......we ran. hahahaha but then we decided Satan was not going to scare us off campus there's only room for one of us in this town! Next thing you know we find this super prepared girl who's looking for a church and read the Book of Mormon one time that was in the nightstand in her hotel room. Moral of the Story, when you think your soul is about to get sucked out by death eaters, just remember there's a cool girl ready to talk to you just over that mountain!

-FSU because I love it with my life!

Next! Katy is doing so awesome! We had a great lesson with her and she's hopefully going to make it to church this Sunday! She throws the hardball questions but she's genuine and she doesn't know how close she is!

Elder Holland is riding in our Mini Van next week. Yep. We're basically famous.

My last and final note of the evening. I serve in a foreign country where people have shortcut phrases you don't typically hear in the civilized world. This week's newest term of endearment refers to a VW Beetle. Aka Herbie. When they want to nickname it, instead of the normal person term "SLUG BUG" they call it "PUNCH BUGGIE". Yes, I repeat, "PUNCH BUGGIE". 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I have an ongoing feud with this kid in our YSA ward about which is more politically correct haha. Cast your vote.

-This is my pal Willie. Willie has a 7ft arm span. Willie is cool.

All I have to say is,  Acts 17:30 "And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent". Saying Punch Buggie was cute and fun, but this is the real world where we say Slug Bug. I have mercy on my brethren though, His truth I will proclaim! 

-SISTER  p e t e r s e n

Sister Smario's Valentine for when people
bash us on campus!!!

-SISTER WILSONNNNNNNNNNN eating
Chips and Salsa in the car hahahahaah I LOVE HER!

Mind your y'alls and all y'alls

Elder Uceda visited our mission this week and that was really amazing. He gave us great insight on how to go about the Lord's work. He is from Peru and we had the opportunity to hear from his wife as well. Sister Uceda speaks Spanish so one of our Spanish elders had to translate for her. She talked about what mothers hope for their children to gain on a mission. Her whole topic was very moving as each of us thought about the people we want to become and the missionaries our families back home pray that we are being. I was particularly touched by the thought of sacrifice by all the missionaries and their families that are serving the Lord as best as we can. The spirit was very overwhelming. Afterward, I ran up to Elder Uceda and talked to him for a moment. In the fall he actually spoke at USU and I had the opportunity to listen to him in the crowded Spectrum. We talked about his talk he gave on prayer and he shook my hand and looked me in the eyes and the spirit was very piercing. I am very grateful for the servants of God that I get to work with. 

So the funniest experience happened! We went to visit a less active, and boy are southerners TALKERS! Phew.. ok so we go up to her porch and the moment we get out of the car, mosquitoes ATTACK! We try and make the conversation short but this lady, not even inviting us in, just keeps gabbing on and on about her life. Finally Sister Viola cuts her off and offers a prayer before we leave and she agrees....... Sis V- "Our dear Heavenly Father," "Wait one more thing I need you to pray for! (Followed by a long list of things to pray for)" Hahaha we didn't even know how to stop this one! 20 mins later we were back in the car with more bug bites than I've ever had in my life. But it was totally worth it that this sister was able to have the spirit on her porch. 

Ok, so tonight we went to a member's home for dinner. They have a few kids and man I just love the south! We talked about accents and all the kids giggled telling me I have an accent! The one daughter about 9 goes, "Yeah, you sound like you're talkin out of your nose!..........Ma'am!" Hahah I love how respectful everyone is here! Even little kids makin fun of how I talk! 

I've joined in a lot of street prayers with people and we commonly join hands in a circle because that's typical here for group prayers. This isn't something we normally did in my family and sometimes it can be kind of weird. But the more I do it, the more I love being connected spiritually and physically with my brothers and sisters. I am constantly reminded that our prayer language is very important. Mind your thee's and thou's, we gotta respect and love God the same way my cute friend respected me even when she was laughing at my voice (; God is always listening!

Also last thing, Marianna has some DANG HUGE hills. I'm talking San Francisco stuff here. Yeah I biked up a super steep one and needless to say I'm gonna have thunder thighs pretty soon. Hahahaha.

Y'all have a good day. (: (: (: (: (: (: (: (: 

-sister  P E T E R S E N

LC. Life Changer.

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

Sis Ramadhar & me

(Hahaha the Georgia State line pics are a straight joke. Lol we def struggled on that)