Anniversary Celebrations & Beautiful Switzerland

Hello Family & Friends,

This week we got to do another Austausch,
Sister Henry went to Lahr  and I stayed here and worked with Sister Drury.

Sister Drury and I

I was super intimidated to work with her at first, probably just because she has been here so much longer than me, but I learned a lot from her and we had a LOT of fun together!
We also got to celebrate both of our Anniversary's together!
Sister Drury celebrated her 1 year mark as a missionary on Thursday,
and I celebrated my 6 month mark on Friday.
Crazy how fast the time goes by!
Naturally to celebrate, I planned two eating appointments on Thursday with investigators.
Poor Sister Drury, she said that she's never had more than one eating appointment in one day. 
Teehee Herzlich Wilkommen in Freiburg!

When we first started teaching "P" and "S" and their family, we thought that Philip said that his brother is a recent convert to the church, but after later meetings he made it sound like his brother was  investigating the church and meeting with missionaries.
Sister Henry and I were super confused as to who his brother was and what exactly his status in the church is.  Well, this week we got a call from the Elders telling us that they set another baptismal date with a man named "Pe". They said they have been teaching him for a really long time, but he only makes progress off and on.
Than they told us that "Pe" is "P" brother!
WHAAAT?  Apparently, "P" told "Pe" that he was taking lessons with the missionaries.
"P" told "Pe" how they were feeling and that they are super stoked to be baptized.
Because of his brothers example, "P"'s excitement for the church was ___(erneuert? English word inserted here?)  renewed!
So that was cool to see how small of a world we actually live in, and how even our investigators can be a good source of missionary work!

We have been trying to stop by on "P" and "S" a few times throughout the week, especially to build up our relationship with "S".  I think it has really helped, and I think that "S" finally understands that when we visit, we are not only there to teach "P", but to teach her because we love her!
She asked me if I was dating anyone before I came on my mission (which is actually a question that I get a lot!) and when I said no, she said ''Darn, I wish I had a brother so that you could marry him!'' Haha so I think that means that we are friends now :P

"S" gave us cola

I have been kind of sad for Sister Henry the past few weeks, because I realized that she would probably never get to see Switzerland, especially because we aren't in the Zürich Zone anymore.
But there was a ''Sisters Day'' for the relief society and young women age 16+ on Saturday in Zürich, and President Miles gave us permission to go!  We got to go to Switzerland again!

White Dresses: Past, Present & Future

... in front of the Zurich chapel

Sisters Cooper (serving in Switzerland), me, Graf (also in Switzerland), Allman, Drury, Henry, Jencks & Freimann

Man, as much as I love Freiburg, and as much as Freiburg will always be my ''home'' on my mission, there is a small part of my heart that belongs in Switzerland.

Frucht Eis has no milk!

We LOVE us some Swiss Desserts!

More and more desserts!

I get so happy every time I am able to go back, and there is just something about the soft colors of blue and green together, and wisps of clouds resting on quaint Swiss cottages :)  Man, I love my mission!

Swiss license plate- I love everything Swizterland

Sister Henry and I had another blonde moment this week, and I am really starting to question how smart it was to put two young blonde American girls together!
We kind of locked ourselves out of our phone....teehee!
We couldn't call anyone, nobody could call us, and we had no idea how to unlock the security code! We only went 2 and half days without the use of our phone, but we felt so isolated from the mission! We didn't realize how much we use the phone to set up appointments, call people, and how much we interact with the Elders.
We finally found the codes and unlocked our phone (turns out that the pin numbers were in our Area book in our apartment the whole time!) but it was fun to go a few days without the use of a phone :P

French Brownies for Companion Inventory

Elder Davies didn't give me my personal touch before he left, so he wrote me a poem- I think I will forgive him

Sister Henry modeling her new red boots

Our investigators are doing really well.  There are some times where I am really grateful that the Lord's hand is in our lives, helping to guide us in this work, but there are sometimes that are just hard to accept that the Lord is guiding us.  We have had to drop a lot of our investigators, which is always sad and hard to do, but it gives us more time to take care of the people who are actually ready to accept the gospel, and to help the people who actually need our help. It is the most heartbreaking thing to put someone in the 'Former Investigators' section of the Area Book!  But we have to keep reminding ourselves that because of that, we are able to visit "S" multiple times a week, we are able to visit more less actives, and we have more time to take our time.  Man, blessings in disguise are great, but they sure are hard!

This week I would like to leave with my testimony that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Saints is true.  The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, written by ancient prophets who testified of Christ.  I testify that Jesus Christ lives, and that he and his angels play a very active role in each one of our lives, whether we recognize it or not.  I know that, because I know that there is no way that I, as an inexperienced, unlearned, and extremely imperfect 19 year old could travel across the world, learn a new language, and be able to do this work in which I have been called to do.

Missionary work is hard & exhausting, and physically & emotionally straining!  But I have never done anything more rewarding, and I have never felt God's presence in my life stronger, because I have never needed to rely on Him as much as I do now. I know that every single one of us is loved by God, because he is sending his angles out, one by one, to find the person who needs to be comforted.  

Thank you all for your support, prayers, and letters!

-Sister Peterson