Where am I from?

* Note from Mom,
Sister Peterson sent last weeks pictures today too, so her blog is updated if you're interested in seeing more click here

Dear Friends and Family

I love it here!!

The Donau River- Welcome to Linz

For my entire mission I have been telling people that I am from Texas.  

As I counted up how long I have been on my mission, I realized that I will have almost lived in Europe for longer than I have lived in Texas.  

Another view of Linz

When I got to Linz, I was debating where to tell people I was from, whether I should continue to say that I am from Dallas or to say California 

(or Utah, Arizona, or Minnesota.  whew, have I got a lot of choices!)  

For some reason I stuck with Texas, and the people here could not be more excited :P  

Look... It's a Castle

The Austrians (or at least all of the ones I have talked to) LOVE the TV show 'Dallas', and ask me if my life is just like the TV show, if I ride horses, and if I own a million different pairs of cowgirl boots.  

My new companion, Sister Wunderli

I didn't really realize how much of American life is portrayed on TV until I got here.  

I have people ask if high school is just like in the movies-with football games, prom, rallies, cheerleaders, etc...

"Yes, it is, but everything looks more glamorous on screen! (except Austria and Germany, cameras cant capture how amazing it is here!)

Elder Svoboda

Hauptplatz

I did have a little pang of ''Freiburg Heimweh'' on Thursday.  

President and Sister Miles were in Linz to do interviews, and when Sister Miles came in she saw me and said ''Whoa, it's weird to see you out here in Linz, you have been in Freiburg for so long!'' 

Yup, I was there 6 months, that is crazy to me. That's longer than I was at BYU! lol 

Well, I defined myself there in Freiburg, and now I get to define myself again.

I found mahltaschen in Austria

Training is probably one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever personally experienced. I am constantly finding myself being humbled with Sister Wunderli.  

Sister Wunderli eating out on the patio

For example, I would always get so irritated when Sister Wunderli would ask what I was doing. Whether I was just standing up to get a drink of water or writing down a name of someone I wanted to call later that day, the question always came up 'Sister Peterson, what are you doing?  

What are you doing now?'' and for some reason it was really bothering me.

I had finally written it down so that I could tell her about it during companionship inventory, and of course, the question came 'Sister Peterson, what are you doing?'

Right when I was about to tell her, she finished and said 'I want to know what you are doing so I can follow you.  I want to be like you.' 

I cannot express the humility and guilt of how I felt in that moment. Yeah, at first it feels good to realize that in your companions eyes, you are perfect.  But then you just start praying for the day that they realize that you are NOT perfect and hope that they will still like you. It is a humbling thing to know that your companion is watching your every move, and that every word you say is touching their heart, whether it is building them up or tearing them down.  

I have no idea why President is having me train twice already, maybe he just knows that I need a lot of humbling!

Sister Jeynes left a note on my new desk

Well, guess who finally got to go to a wedding??  This girl!!  Well, it wasn't really a wedding, I guess it was just the wedding reception.  

But it was still way fun. "M", one of our investigators, was there with us and we had a great time. The only hard part about watching cute things like weddings and primary programs is that it makes me really excited to be a mom or get married!  Naja, that will come in 18 months time (at least lol)

The Linz ward Young Women- we taught on Sunday

I did realize something kinda cool. In Freiburg, one of my favorite desserts to buy was a little cake/pastry type of a thing called 'Linzetorte'.  Well, obviously enough, I found out at the wedding that Linzetorte is a special Austrian cake that comes from where? Linz! (Thus Linzetorte being separated means Linz Torte, or Linz cake.)  Was I destined to come here?  I think so!

We had an ''Area Book Finding Day'' on Saturday, and basically what happened is our district assembled in Wels and we all brought our Area Books We just made a bunch of calls for 3 hours. We called all of our potentials, former investigators, and any other people that we normally don't call.  At first I was kind of skeptical as to how everything would work out, but we actually set up a lot of appointments with potentials!  

Which is good, we need more investigators!  The Linz area has only been open to Sisters since May, so we are still a pretty new area and still setting up out foundations and such. In Freiburg, we never really had to do a lot of contacting because of how busy we were, but what's a mission without contacting, gel?

Well that's my life for this week!  I hope everyone back home is doing well.
Tschüssie!

-Sister Peterson

The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Austria!

Dear Family,

First off, if there is ANYONE that I didn't get a thank you card out to,

please know how much I loved and am grateful for your birthday wishes.

I had a wonderful day and many wonderful memories and reminders from those I love.

Thanks so much,

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a fairy tale :)

Me and "J"

I guess that's what happens when you are a daughter of God and you get called to the most beautiful place on Earth, you get to live a fairy tale for 18 months!  

(and then you return and meet your Prince Charming and live happily ever after to finish it all off- but I have plenty of time to think about that!) 

Wow, so much has happened in the last week.  

Its weird to think that at this time last week I was still in Freiburg, Germany. 

Saying goodbye was way hard.

Twin Missionaries- my last morning in Freiburg

It was my first time getting transferred away from an area

and I had been in Freiburg for so long!

Farewell Party

If I wasn't so dang excited to come to Austria, I don't think I would have left! 

Transfer day was crazy though.

All packed up and ready to GO...

I was traveling from one corner of the mission to nearly the opposite corner, 

so I think I probably spent about 8 hours in trains.  

I got to ride a German, a French, and then an Austrian train :)  I think I liked the french one the best though, even though I couldn't understand ANYTHING!  

So funny story, Sister Henry and I were supposed to travel with the Elders to Stuttgart,
and then Elder Stricklin and I were supposed to catch a train to Munich with a bunch of other missionaries.
But our train in Karlsruhe was late, so we missed our first train to Stuttgart. 

This meant that  Elder Stricklin and I had to catch a separate train to Munich...

just the two of us.

Elder Stricklin and I on the train

So for 2 and half hours, I was temporary companions with an Elder :p  It was way funny.

Linz is absolutely amazing, though.

On the train to Linz

The ward here is HUGE (for a European ward at least) and we are busy people here.  One of Sister Henry and my goals at the end of last transfer was to learn how to work better with the ward, how to more effectively use our time, and how to take better care of our investigators and actually help them to progress.  

Well, Linz is the answer to my prayers!  I know that I have a lot to learn here, but Sister Jaynes and Sister Wunderli set a great foundation for me to come in on.  

We have a lot of really great investigators, but I still need to meet all of them.  

Probably the biggest blessing for me is "M", a 24 year old investigator.  

She is a perfect example of a person who was ready to accept the gospel but had no idea what to look for.  She has overcome so much, faced so much adversity from her friends and peers, and has really had to work at changing her life, but she has made a complete 180.  The faith, strength, and courage that she has is admirable, and she is not even a member yet!  She is even  helping to host a YSA retreat here in Linz :P She's a great person, I think I"ll keep her!  

Teehee...Austrian German...lol I love it!  Imagine someone speaking German with a rough Minnesotan/Canadian accent...and you have an Austrian!  The only thing I don't like is their greetings here.  I loved saying 'Hallo, Guten Tag!'  but it sends shivers down my spine to hear 'Servus!' or 'Gruess Gott!' ugh.  Well, sometimes you have to take a little bad to get the really amazing!

Maybe I will warm up to hearing "servus", but Sister Henry made me promise not to pick up on it! (we both think that it is a hideous word.  Hallo is just so much more friendly...)

I have forgotten how much I love living in big cities!  Before my mission, it was always my dream to move to somewhere like Chicago or Seattle or New York City because I love the feel of a big city. While I was in Freiburg, I couldn't imagine living anywhere than in a small cabin in the mountains.  But now that I am here in Linz, I love big cities again!  And we still have Strassenbahns here, yayyy!  

Today "M" and "I" (a really cool member around my age) took us and the Elders on a drive outside of Linz to see an old castle, but I forgot what it was called, sorry!  It was really fun! 

We looked around the castle and then took a bunch of pictures on the countryside, and just hung out for a while.  It kind of felt like I was in high school all over again, driving with a bunch of friends and rocking out to (EFY) music, taking pictures, and just enjoying how beautiful of an area we live in.  I am glad that out of all the things that I did have to sacrifice by going on a mission, I didn't have to give up having fun and being around people that I love... And I love the people I work with :)  

I am trying to think of other notwendige things to add in this email...

Well, our apartment is HUGE!  

Linz has only been open to Sisters since May, so it is still a new area.  

Which also means a new and clean apartment!  It is definitely weird coming from an area like Freiburg, which had an endless list of potentials, former investigators, and years of work for us to build off of!  And then to come here, where we are still establishing our roots, finding new investigators, and where there is NOT an endless list of people for us to go by on.  But I will definitely not be the first one to complain about all of the organization and cleanliness of our apartment :P  

I should probably get going right now so that I can actually do missionary work tonight!  

Have a great week!

-Sister peterson

New Address in Linz Austria

Hi Family,

I wanted to update you on my new address in Linz! I still can't believe I am on my way to the second area of my mission- and it is EXACTLY where I would have asked to go if I had been given a choice. I love Freiburg and LOVED serving with Sister Henry- but I am so excited for this new adventure.
Don't be shy,
write, write, WRITE :)

Love,
Sister Peterson

Kirche Jesu Christi

Sister Kori Peterson

Werndlstrasse 47

A4020 Linz 5

Österreich (or Austria)