(Sister Petersen)
HEY EVERYONE!!
My time doing MTC has been awesome! Last week was my week of
online MTC and my first week of being a sister missionary.
Let me tell you, being on zoom for almost 7 hours a day was
not it. But, when I met my companion and my district I realized that the zoom
classes were important. Especially with getting familiar with my district.
During our first workshop online, we were taught how important it is to always
have the spirit with you as a missionary. They gave us a scripture to read and
it was D&C 12:3, “Behold, the field is white already to harvest, Therefore
whoso desireth to reap let him thrust in his sickle with his might, and reap
while the day lasts, that he may treasure up for his soul everlasting salvation
in the kingdom of God.” This was important during online MTC because It showed
me that I could be doing Missionary work every day and always feel that I’m
doing the best I can do.
Since General Conference was this weekend we didn’t have
classes on Saturday. It was nice to take a break from zoom classes all day. My
favorite part of Conference was when we set apart President Oaks. I found it so
cool and I definitely felt the spirit.
On Sunday we, as a family, had the Missionaries in our area
come to watch both sessions of Conference. It was nice to be around
Missionaries in person as a Missionary myself. (Though I did quiz them about
MTC life and the phones they give us… Sorry Elders Murril, Tait, Ross, and
Henderson…). We played some card games in between sessions and it was nice to
have that being one of my last memories with my immediate family before I left
on Tuesday.
On Monday we had one class and then we were let go to go
travel. Tuesday Was my flight at 7 am. So, we (My family and I) had to wake up
by 3 and leave at 4 to get to the airport by 5. I was sooo tired. But I’m glad
most of everyone was there (I’m looking at you Joseph, you should’ve been there
smh). I then got picked up by my Aunt Tammy and had a very chill day getting
ready for MTC until 5pm. We then met up with a lot of my extended family for dinner. I had a blast
seeing them one last time.
Wednesday was soooo busy arriving at the MTC. I FINALLY met
my companion, Sister Morley in person. SHE IS AWESOME. I don’t think I could’ve
gotten a better companion. It’s like we complement each other perfectly. My
District is great as well. It was fun meeting them all for the first time. I
was expecting all the Elders to be taller, but it’s nice that they are almost
all around the same height (give or take a few inches). After our first in
person class (shout out to Brother Boxx! We love you as our teacher!!), We had
our “Welcome to the MTC” Devotional. I enjoyed it soo much. If there was one
sentence I could summarize the devotional with it would be: “There would be no
atoning sacrifice without the character of Christ.” - Elder Bednar.
And that leaves today! Today was our P-Day and we just spent
it exploring campus and hanging out.
That's it! I’ll (potentially) email you guys next week!
With love,
- Sister Petersen
WEEK 3 & 4
How is
everything?? I know I haven't written an email in weeks, but it's been busy.
The last I write was my first two week of MTC (at home MTC and in person). But!
Now i've Finished my third week of MTC and I'm almost finished with my second,
week out in the field!!! Let me tell you some recaps from each week.
Week 3 was my last
week at the MTC, and boy, was it busy. Here were a few of my favorite parts of
that week:
- Elder Durtschi playing the piano during class breaks
- District study
- Playing the game, mafia, as a district
- Both "Go an Do"s
- Singing all the way back to our dorms with everyone
- Playing "B.S." with all of the Sisters in our
district
- Playing pranks on Brother Boxx (Sorry, not sorry 🤷♂️)
- Devo with Elder Aaron T Hall, and becoming a sobbing mess
during District Council
- Playing "Two Truths and a Lie" with everyone
- Being there for my companion when she needed it
- Singing in Sacrament with everyone in my District
- Having one last hangout with everyone before we left + receiving
a blessing from all of the elders in
my district
Than there was
my first week out in the field! Which was also sooo busy! It was even busier
because my P-day was skipped that week. I traveled with 7 other people to Fort
Collins, and helped everyone get through the Denver Airport fairly well. We got
picked up by our Mission President and His wife, President Hall and Sister
Hall; along with our 4 AP's at the time. We had a lot of meetings at the
mission home that day (I met my Trainer over zoom!), I found out I was getting bussed up to
Casper, Wyoming, as well. I than slept at a hotel that night.
I met my trainer,
Sister Scholl (pronounced "sholl"), and had a lot of fun pink washing
our area! Which means we are, not only, both brand new to the area, we are also
replacing Elders. And man, was the apartment interesting (If you aren't a part
of my Google Photo album, I post the link to it at the end of my emails), there
were dress slacks pinned to the ceiling!! We met a few people in our new
teaching pool, and I met the people in my new district (though no one can beat
my MTC district). There is a companionship of Elders that like to prank us,
though (more on that later.)
We met our ward
leaders, who gave us so much more information than we had before (the members
of the Salt Creek ward are awesome!). And had some awesome meals that first
week. I learned of my status as my trainer's baby, and the fact that I have
three moms and 4 dads on the mission (🤷♂️). AND I officially
have been set apart as a missionary for a month!
Elders Swann and
Thornton have proceeded to prank us for the last two-ish weeks. First they
dropped off a Little Ceasar's Pizza at our door step. (With a bite taken out of
the middle of one of the slices...(pictures in the album)), they than left another
pizza about 5 days later, with bottles of water this time. Then, after that,
they left a TV, two little debbie cakes, and a note saying "Sorry about
last night... needed to go shopping." (We were on exchanges so we hadn't
seen this one until the next morning... So my comp thought it was for the next
door neighbors, so she left them out for 3 days...). AND THEN they left a pizza
box with two little presents inside.
Keep in mind, we
knew it was them this entire time, but they kept denying it. Until we asked our
next door neighbors if they saw the people who dropped it off, and they
described those two perfectly. But it was all in great fun :).
ANYWAY, as I am
still a missionary, I get to do a little spiritual thought at the end of my
emails. This weeks thought is found in 1 Thessalonians 1: 3-6. These verses tell
of how the gospel of Jesus Christ is shared through everyone who as faith,
hope, and patience in him. And that it is also shared and confirmed through the
power of the Holy Ghost.
I wanted to
invite you all to read and have faith in the Book of Mormon. As you do this,
through the Holy Ghost, you WILL see that everything written in it and the
Bible is true.
I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!
- Sister C. Petersen
P.S. PLEASE join my photo album! I post some really funny
and cool things in it!
WEEK 6 & 7
Hey Everyone!
Sorry! I’m really
bad at this weekly email thing… But! I’m going to try harder to email every
week for the rest of this transfer!
The last few
weeks have been so fun! A lot has happened! We had my first Zone Meeting, which
was fun. We also had Stake Conference this weekend for the Casper Wyoming
Stake! Elder Hirst had some amazing invitations! But more on that later.
The day after I
had last emailed everyone, we had to take our car to the dealership to get its
tires rotated and oil changed. I got complemented on my sweater and Sister
Scholl and I had some fun watching the clouds roll in for snow (March 5th).
One of our
Members in the Salt Creek ward owns a Mexican restaurant named, “Taco Mexico”,
and every Wednesday we get to eat for free as missionaries. So on the 6th, I
got to try their food for the first time! I 100% recommend going to try their
food, if you were ever in Casper.
Zone Meeting was
on the 8th, and it was interesting. To make it fun, the ZL’s (Zone Leaders),
like to add funny pictures of people in our zone. Specifically, pictures that
pertain to the slides. We also had lunch as a zone for the first time, which
was chaotic.
I got to try
Pakistani food for the first time, and man, let me tell you. If it’s made
right, Its absolutely delicious.
During P-day last
week, we had the opportunity to clean the Casper, Wyoming Temple. It was
amazing. We also found a dinosaur toy in one of the church buildings during our
p-day zone hangout, and I took pictures of one of the Elders in my district
posing next to it (you’ll find those pictures in my album!). Elder Whisenhunt
is hilarious!
We then had a
meeting with one of our new members, Thomas! Since it was such a nice day out
that day we parked a little ways away and walked to his apartment complex and
found a beautiful mural! So we stopped to take pictures in front of it. Thomas
invited us to go out for lunch with him later on Saturday, and that was a blast
as well! (Eggington’s is definitely one I would recommend!)
Mothers Day was
mixed in somewhere in all this and I got to call my mom and wish her a Happy
Mothers Day! We also got to celebrate one of our friends and gave her some new
clothes for Mothers Day.
Throughout all of
this we still had time to go prank the Elders… and let me tell you it shouldn’t
have been pleasant for them. We gave them back a pizza and as repayment for
ruining one slice of our pizza, we ruined theirs. We placed skittles on one of
the slices of pizza and wrote on the inside of the box, “Hey, Elders! Taste the
Rainbow!”. When hey got home and saw it, Elder Swann still ate the slice. He
showed us proof that he did too.
ANYWAY, this is
getting pretty long… so I’m going to cut it short and leave out some stories.
Here is my
Spiritual Thought for this week. It is, if I may use Elder Karl D. Hirst’s
words from our Stake Conference this week, “Just think, for a moment, about how
‘daft’ you are being.” Think about the things you choose to do the easy way,
when you could be getting something more important out of doing it the harder
way. Look for things you might be only doing half-heartedly, that you could be
missing the whole point of doing those things.
Like in the
parable of the 10 virgins and their lamps (Mathew 25). 5 of the virgins had oil
and a lamp, and 5 did not. The 5 foolish virgins that did not have oil were
missing the whole point of bringing their lamps in the first place. Don’t be
like those 5 virgins. Be the ones that bring the oil. Be the ones that get the
whole experience in doing things. If things are worth doing, do them to the
best of your ability, so that you can receive all of the blessings that God can
give you from it.
STAY OUT OF TROUBLE,
- Sister C. Petersen
WEEK 8 – Martin’s Cove
Yoooooooo!!!
How is everyone?
I had an awesome week! It was busy, but we had a blast. We had mini exchanges
this week, I gave out my first Book of Mormon, and we got to do a giant service
project as a whole mission!!!
Tuesday was busy,
I had a PMG Mentor meeting, and we had 3 lessons! The best lesson we had on
Tuesday was with our friend Chris! Chris has been taught by a lot of
missionaries, but had never received a Book of Mormon. So when we found out, we
told Chris to give us a second and then we rushed to the car to grab a BoM.
Sister Scholl had me mark my favorite verse, and then share my testimony with
Chris. One thing Sister Scholl failed to mention was the fact that she had
NEVER given out a BoM herself. I was gobsmacked. She is an awesome companion,
but man, she should have taken that for herself. I have 16 months left, she
only has 8 :(.
On Wednesday, we
had a special Devotional from our Mission President and his Companion. We were
told to study John 2:1-11 and talk about what we studied and learned about it.
(This will be my spiritual thought later…)
On Thursday, we
did mini exchanges! This was my first exchange with Hermana Lopez. Neither of
us are able to drive at the moment so we had to wait for a good time to do
walking minis. But it ended up raining, hailing and later on that day, snowing.
I looked like a soggy rat for most of the time lol. But TENDER MERICIES! I had
my umbrella, but it was a small umbrella, so Hermana Lopez couldn’t fit under
it very well. But as we were walking to our next contact, Hermana Lopez found a
poncho on the side of the road! It was a little melted together, but it worked!
We were able to tough out the rest of our exchange and have an amazing time. :)
Friday, we had
our apartment inspections, another PMG Mentor Meeting, devo, and (drum roll
please….) SISTER SCHOLL HIT HER 10 MONTHS!!!!! We celebrated her milestone by
making cake, and enjoying ourselves. She was flabbergasted that she was that
old. But we love Sister Scholl. Inspections went amazing. We pink-washed into
our area and our apartment was an old DL apartment. Which means we have a lot
of room for guests. But anyhow, the apartment was not the cleanest when the
Elders were here. We deep cleaned it last P-Day, and apparently, this apartment
has never been this clean. I’m proud of us. We impressed the inspection people.
Saturday wasn't
the most impressive day, but we were able to go ‘Heart Attack’ on some of our
friends’ doors! We had a lot of fun doing it, and we definitely made some
people’s days.
On Sunday, we had
a really amazing member meal. This member is from Pakistan, and makes the BEST
food. So we got to try some more dishes from Pakistan. This one was my
favorite. She made a noodle-shrimp dish, and it was delicious.
AND LAST BUT NOT
LEAST, MARTIN’S COVE!!!! We got to go to Martin’s Cove as a mission and clean
it up. We were split into groups for our service, and all the sisters from
Casper got to go help out with lunch. So I ended up cutting up a lot of
watermelon. (It took me back to my Baesler’s Market days smh.) Then we had
lunch and got to hike up to Marin’s Cove as a whole mission. I had a blast.
(Pics coming to the Album sooonnn). During the hike I made it my mission to
snipe (take pictures) of all the people in my district. I think I got some good
ones lol. As soon as we officially reached Martin’s Cove, we were given the
option to walk through the river or take the bridge over. Sister Scholl decided
to walk through the river and so I took some pretty cool shots of her.
That pretty much
sums up my week! Now, It’s time for my spiritual thought.
John 2:1-11 tells
of Jesus’ first recorded miracle. When he turned water to wine. A little bit of
context here, Jesus and his disciples got invited to a wedding that Jesus’ Mom
was also attending. Well, the Bridegroom ran out of wine, and so Jesus turned
to his Mother and asked if she wanted him to do anything to help, even though
he wasn’t ready to out himself as the savior yet. His mother then told the
servants to listen to Jesus. Jesus told them to fill the water pots (they were
big waterpots, guys) to the brim, and then bring them back. As soon as they
came back to Jesus with the full water pots, Jesus turned the water into the
BEST wine anyone could ever drink, and saved the day.
I wanted to talk
about how the servants did their absolute best to keep the wedding going, but
still fell short of bringing out enough wine. But, they had the faith that this
Man that they had never met beforehand, could help. So they had the faith to
fill those waterpots to the brim, even though they had no idea what he was
going to do to the water. He took what they had to offer and made it 100 times
better because of their faith.
As long as you
are trying your best to live as He did, he will ALWAYS meet you halfway, and
take what you gave him and make it so much better. Just do your best and he
WILL provide.
With love,
- Sister C.
Petersen
WEEK: idk
HEY EVERYONE!
Man. It’s been a
couple weeks hasn’t it? Things have been busy, busy. Let’s see… we had a Zone
Conference, a Mission tour, transfers and a whole lot of stuff in between.
I’m going to start
this off by saying: it’s been one heck of a ride. Zone Conference and the
Mission Tour were one in the same. So, Elder Hirst came and had a bit of fun
with the entirety of the Wyoming part of the mission. If you remember Elder
Hirst also spoke at the Casper Stake Conference last email. Elder Hirst is an
AMAZING speaker. Though, since it’s been a couple of weeks since ZC, I don’t
really remember what he said (sorry…). We had to drive all the way to Cheyenne
and back, so it took the entire day up. Sister Scholl and I were exhausted. But
we had fun.
The next two weeks we
did a lot of missionary work and then a lot of service for our fellow
missionaries. Elder Thornton ended up in the hospital, so we ended up dropping
off a few goodies at their apartment a couple of times. Sister Scholl and I
also went and “Heart Attacked” a few of our friends’ doors.
Then came the Sunday
before Transfer Day. Sister Scholl and I found out that Elder Thornton was
going home early. So Monday (The day T-Doc Drops), we spent the whole day with
Elders Thornton and Swann. We took Elder Thornton’s ‘death day’ pics, and then
officially said our goodbyes.
At 9 pm on Monday,
the Transfer Document dropped, and ….
…. Sister Scholl and I ended up splitting up :(. She stayed
in Casper while I got to go up to Riverton (the rez). I am now covering two
different areas (one about an hour and a half away), the Pavilion Branch and
the DuBois Branch. And Man, It’s pretty.
I got to go on a hike
with my new Zone today, and we had a blast. We hiked up to a waterfall and got
a lot of really good flicks.
ANYWAY, I’ll get onto the spiritual thought of the day.
(Since I am still a missionary and all…)
1 Nephi 9:6
“But the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning;
wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of
men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And
thus it is. Amen.”
I wanted to
testify that our Heavenly Father will always prepare a way for us to accomplish
our goals. All you have to do is put forth that genuine effort, and he will
meet you half way. I have seen it many times on my Mission, and it never ceases
to amaze me how many people receive all of those blessings that come with that.
He loves you. I love you.
Stay Safe,
- Sister C. Petersen
Weeks: Ayo! Helllo TRIO!
HEY EVERYONE!
How has everything
been this week?? It's been BUSY for me. I killed my companion off this week and
gained two new companions and a new area! So that's fun!
Sister Tuckett
was my new companion/ trainer. She and I covered two branches in Riverton,
Wyoming together. The Pavillian Branch and the DuBois Branch. We had a lot of
fun experiences the one week we were together.
On our first day
in DuBois we went to a restaurant called "The Cowboy Cafe" and a few
members, who were visiting the area, paid for our food! It was awesome!
There was a grey
dot off in the boonies that we had decided to go visit and the ride up was
absolutely beautiful. (Pics on my Google Photo Album 👀).
We ended up driving up into a pinewood forest at the base of a mountain. We
then drove up the mountain to go visit this lady, only to find out that the
cabin the dot was on was abandoned :(.
We had dinner
with an absolutely amazing member family, twice and had a few really amazing
lessons with them.
We had dinner
with President and Sister Hall and had walking interviews after. I got to talk
through some of my troubles and get a lot off my shoulders. That was when we
found out that Sister Tuckett was leaving the day after. So we ended up
spending all of last Tuesday packing up our apartment and cleaning it for the
new Elders coming in.
I got paired up
with two of the best people I could've asked for, for trainers. Sister Nillsen
and Sister Nordby are both STLs and love the gospel sooo much.
We had a lot of
miracles this week and growth with all of our goals already, because these two
women are the BEST examples of missionaries one could ever ask for.
We had Zone
Conference yesterday (that’s why I’m emailing on a Tuesday...). And we had some
of the most spot on trainings I have ever needed. I was struggling a lot this
week with the changes that were so sudden, but ZC really helped that. (See? God
knows what you need all of the time.)
Today we hang out
with our tiny 13 person zone and enjoy time at the park and at the church. We
played Volleyball and a game called "Bear" which is basically a game
of hide and seek combined with tag.
I love you all to
bits. And so does God. There is proof of that in 1 John 4:7-8.
"7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of
God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love."
With more love than I could every admit,
- Sister C. Petersen
