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

You ain't seen nuttin yet!

Transfers are always bitter-sweet but this week has been probably the funnest week of my entire mission!

I said all my goodbyes to my FW crew and headed out for Marianna! Holy smokes it was a long day for transfers. We finally arrived at the transfer spot and my new comp Sister Viola was just waiting for me! Next to our red car~ and no car share here!! But we have to bike a TON! Because our area is huge!!!! Like half the county huge! Our ward covers the whole county and the elders have the other half! My district is smaller, only 6 missionaries and the senior couple, but the other sisters are an hour or so away so we only see them at district meeting once a week! Our Elders just whitewashed this area and one of them is straight from the MTC and the other just got done being AP and this is his last transfer, basically we have the dream team in the mission!

Sister Viola

My companion is probably the funniest person I've ever met, and I know some pretty hilarious people! She is so random and honestly just amazing. She is so hardworking and literally never wastes a single second of the day! Sister Viola is from Ohio and she has been out about 8 months. This is her 2nd area.. nothing too exciting to tell about her but she is always laughing and just an all around goofball! I love being with her! I am learning so much from her everyday! The other night we were about to go to sleep and she says, "Goodnight Sister Petersen, don't let the........... Oh hey I forgot to tell you, you have bedbugs.. anyway Goodnight!" I SPRANG OUT OF BED! LIKE WHAT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Don't worry we're bed bug free but it was so, so, so funny! Hahahah.

We work so hard here. We have appointments on top of appointments and it feels like we don't even have enough time to see everyone! Every night we get done with area book and every thing at like 9:50! Oh man. But this area is so fun! Nobody does anything away from their homes around here, so everyone always keeps their appointments! Hahah it's so crazy! And everyone is willing to talk to us! At least until they find out we're mormon! Hah. This lady invited us in, found out we were mormon, and like the black plague or the devil himself she kicked us out! "Behold, they were cast out of the synagogues". Oh well. 

But everyone is such a hoot down here! This is the deep deep South. If I thought I had any idea what the South was, I was wrong. Hahaha. Movies got it all Hollywood and glamorized, this is real. I ate boiled peanuts! hahahah.

It's so fun down here! Details to come.. but the coolest thing about being down here is the people. The love down here is just shining in everybody. One fella said "We give respect until you do something to lose it, and we give love because you can't do anything to lose it." People are just amazing here. And they truly worship the Savior. Testimony meeting yesterday blew me out of the water! This is not a Mormon congregation, it is a congregation of Saints. They sat shoulder to shoulder in the chapel, said amen, sang loudly, and testified boldly of the Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer of the world.  I add my testimony to theirs. He is our Savior and this is the Kingdom of God rolling forth. 

I love this place. They are my people. (:

-sister P E T E R S E N