ROACHstoration

durelo.. it's too hard to sleep. I got a cockroach on my pillow, yes I screamed. Sister Viola had a rude awakening the day before we had to leave early for transfers. SIS P DOESN'T SHARE HER PILLOW WITH ROACHES! Bed bugs.. you're killin me Marianna.

SISTER ANDERSON! My new comp. What a cutie. Love her. Love the dress. Love her. She's super awesome! She's from Texas and she's been out for quite some time, yeah she's just way awesome! We were in the same zone in Fort Walton so luckily we didn't have that awkward "I-have-no-idea-who-my-companion-is-I'll-just-try-to-read-their-nametag-really-fast-when-they-get-off-the-van" situation. 

We are having just some awesome times here in Jackson County. I'll share a couple quickies that stood out this week.

HELL. Just had to grab your attention there. Our Sunday School teacher Bro. Wimberly walks into the room, and he gets really quiet and serious. So we all quiet down and turn towards him and he goes, "I'm sure y'all noticed this obscene word on the board." And on the board behind him the word HELL is written pretty big, and then he erases it and says "I wrote it up there to get your attention, now that I have it......" And then he began teaching. HAHAAHAHAHAAH IT WAS SO FUNNY. I had real tears coming down my face because it was so stinking random!! Gotta love it.

TRISH THE WISH COME TRUE- A few weeks ago we stopped by this potential's home and she talks..... A LOT. She shared her whole life story with us and honestly would not let us leave. So I was a little hesitant to go back but she kept coming to mind as we often pass her home in this town. We stopped by her home and, it was one of the most powerful restoration lessons I have experienced on my mission. When we started talking about prophets she stopped us and asked if we believed there were prophets on the earth today. We testified throughout the lesson. She had genuine questions. Trish is searching for the truth. There was a huge power that enveloped her living room. I know she felt the spirit. At the beginning we invited her to pray and she declined and at the end of the lesson she offered a heartfelt plea to our Father in Heaven. It was so powerful. One of those moments when everything is so clear why Heavenly Father calls us weak, and simple kids, on missions. I love her!

Stay classy my dears. Don't miss out on the moments.

-sister  P E T E R S E N

pic of the district, so long. 
and... me feeding a gator.. it got intense.. but it was on a dock.. not in a tent.. just to clarify.

These are the days you will remember!

one for the BOOKS. JW's, Dogs, Gunpoint, Ant bites, Peanuts, Gators, and Rain. LOTS AND LOTS OF RAIN. stay tuned.

I really had to use the bathroom in one of our small towns (Sneads- yes it's a place, we also have 2 Egg, yes the number is in the title) with no members. So we rode our bikes to the school football field park hoping the bathroom gate would be open. It wasn't. But across the street was a family getting ready to leave for bible study. We stopped and talked to them and as it turns out the mom was taught by sisters in Panama City a few years ago, so she recognized us and was totally willing to talk. As we stood there teaching, this car pulls up with a nicely dressed couple. The homeowners who were talking with us looked at us in question if the people were with us, we looked at them thinking the car was with them, both of us shrugged and out of the car came two Jehovah's Witnesses. So what do you get in a trailer park with 2 Baptists, 2 JW's and 2 Mormon Missionaries? 2 New investigators. HAHAHA. They turned the couple of JW's away and accepted a return appointment with us! All the while, I never did get to pee. 

HUUUUGE (Trump voice) pitbull almost ate my head off when I walked into it's chain radius. I didn't see it hiding under the trailer we were knocking on. Tap the tag. It's fine, I'm fine. Just peed a little but it was all fine. Probs pee from the JWs.

I was standing on an ant hill while we got stopped by this lady and got huge ant bites all over my feet and they have itched like no ones business! I keep waking my comp up at night because I itch in my sleep. Lol the mission doctor lives like .5 miles from our house and he's been watching my bites like a hawk. 

I went up to ALABAMA!!! For exchanges.. Lol so Dothan is like the Peanut Capital of the world and they have all these statues outside of businesses with huge personified peanuts. I guess a few years ago the stake center up there ordered two painted like missionaries and as they were putting them up in front of the building a guy from Salt Lake came and put a huge kabosh on the whole operation.... which begs the question, is our church also anti-peanut? What will hit the headlines next???

Our ward mission leader gave us a referral and she greeted us around the corner with a huge shotgun on her hands questioning who sent us. HAHAHA we threw Brother Wimberly under the bus faster than you can say sweet nibblets! Our area book description of her goes, "Threatened us with a gun, referral from Brother Wimberly, SUPER NICE, try again in 6 weeks." Hahahaha. Oh what can ya do.

It's Hurricane season. Nothing too exciting there. But the rain is hot. It's like I'm taking a shower all day long, IT'S AWESOME HAHA

Ok spiritual note. I had a really humbling experience with my STL Sister Housel this week. We talked a lot about people that live in the past and the future and they're always missing out on the present. Life is just a small small small moment in the eternities. Enjoy the eternity of every moment because you will never live it again. I love being a missionary. Yes there are days when it's pouring rain and all your appointments fall through and a little girl pours her juice all over your favorite skirt and ants bite your legs and you get 5 'check your speeds' from TIWI, but you just throw your hands in the air and laugh at all the fun stories you'll tell your kids about your life. Learn to love the moment. 

master your moment.

-sister  P E T E R S E N