27 May 2013 Kori Replies to Mom's Barage

*** I asked Kori a lot of questions:
What's your apartment like?
Is it clean?
Do you cook?
How do you decide what to study?

Here are her answers, they are pretty interesting so I thought I'd share


You asked for how I decide what to study, so here it is:

20 minutes reading in the scriptures (10 minutes reading Book of Mormon, 10 min in the New Testament.  I will read one in English and one in German, and I switch off every day which one that is.)

20 minutes reading other materials. (Missionary library, my patriarchal blessing, re-reading my journal, or focusing on a Christlike attribute.)

20 minutes reading PMG (10 minutes are spent reading front-back, and 10 minutes are spent over-viewing the lessons that I will teaching to my investigators.)  and during this whole time I am ALWAYS keeping in mind ways that what I read can help my investigators, less actives, neubekehrts, and help in finding activities.

Yes, the apartment is clean.  Yes, it is in good condition.  Yes, the sheets are clean and in good condition.  We don't get a whole lot of time to cook (especially breakfast, we mostly just have meüsli and a banana), lunch is normally leftovers (if we're even home for lunch, which is lucky!) and dinner is either spent at a members house or at home.  We actually love cooking!  We eat really good for dinner, we will cook vegetables or make pasta.  Usually really simple, but we eat really healthy and good (especially since I can't have milk and Sister Jenson can't have wheat!) Maybe a few easy and yummy recipes would be fun, but don't stress and don't feel the need to send a lot!  Thank you for the blessing by the way, it's so nice to finally have that!  It helped to change my perspective so much, I definitely felt a change in the work this week.  I got the one day before I got the other letter (I think the dear elder on Tuesday and the other one on Wednesday), but Monday was a holiday so I'm not sure if I normally would have gotten the dear elder earlier.

Quick thing:  I don't know if when I sent my address I included Kirche Jesu Christi HLT.  If that's not there, there is a possibility I won't get the mail.  I noticed you put it on (which was great!  You are so smart) but idk if it's on my facebook or ward bulletin like that.  You probably remembered though, you are always one step ahead of me!

I hope all is well at home! Thanks for your emails. Bis später!

-Sister Peterson

27 May 2013

Well, it's almost been a month since I got to Germany.  Sometimes it's crazy to think I've been here that long already, and sometimes it's hard to remember life before Freiburg.  Oh, the life of a missionary!

So this week was rain, rain, and more rain.  This week was also a lot of appointments that fell out, so we did a lot of contacting in the rain!  As much as I love being a missionary, I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to say that going finding in the rain isn't really my favorite thing in the world.  And it's so hard to make the decision at the end of the day whether to go home a few hours early and have dinner and Sprache Studium (Sister Jenson is awful at remembering to have language study, I have to remind her every day.  But it's still the first thing we get rid of when we don't have enough time in the day), or whether to stay outside and keeping contacting.  Although it's perfectly fine to go home and have dinner and study, which we are counseled to do every day, it's just hard to make that decision, because as missionaries we are always looking for ways to find more people to teach!  So sometimes it's hard to know if you want to go home to study or just because it's cold and you can't feel your toes and your leg hairs and piercing through your thin tights.  Gah, I'm so scared for winter!

So there is an investigator we teach, she's about 65, and how can I say this nicely in English?  sie spinnt einbißchen, that's the only way I can think of to say it lol But she loves the missionaries, and she still wants to take lessons, so we teach her occasionally.  Anyways, we set up an appointment with her yesterday, and Sister Jenson told me 'Don't eat all day.  "C" feeds us A LOT of food!'  So I had a small breakfast, no lunch, and was ready to eat my arm by the time we got to "C"'s at 4.  We sat down to eat and all there was was a cabbage salad, a plate of tomatoes, and two cheese crepes.  I was about ready to kill Sister Jenson, I was so hungry and didn't see how that was going to be enough for us to eat (escpecially since neither of us can have cheese crepes..)  All I have to say is be careful what you wish for!  Shortly after we sat down, Catarina brought out a huge bowl of potato soup, a large plate of rice with gravy, a large plate of schnitzel, and four marmalade crepes for me.  (She originally had 4 cheese crepes for Sister Jenson, but Catarina ate two of them before we came.)  Oh meine Gute, I was basically holding back tears as I was finishing the last two crepes.  The funny part is, that's how most of our food appointments go!  So...much....food....

There was a piano concert in the Church on Saturday, which was really neat.  The music director in our ward asked one of her friends to come put on a concert in the church, and then she had it advertised throughout Freiburg.  So most of the people who ended up coming weren't members, and they were just coming to enjoy the music.  It was such a great opportunity afterwards to talk to people about our church and give them a little tour in a non-threatening environment, and the people were so much more willing to listen to what we had to say.  If every member invited one friend to a ward activity or even just sacrament meeting or mutual, how much more effective missionary work would be!  I am so grateful for the ward I am in and for the excitement they have for missionary work, it makes our job as missionaries so much easier.  And members can normally reach the people that would normally reject us as missionaries if we were to come klingeling on their door.  

I had two people tell me this week that I have a talent with the German language.  Which was really nice to hear, because I feel like I am learning really slowly!  Especially since Sister Jenson can speak really well, and nobody seems to pick up on the fact that she is American.  But without fail, whenever we are contacting on the streets, the person will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS look at me for a few seconds with a look of curiosity and all I can think is 'oh no, the next thing they are going to say is 'you're American, aren't you?'' lol it's funny, but really frustrating sometimes!  Anyways, the language is getting easier every day.  The work gets better every day.  And every day goes by faster and faster.  so does the time, which I am now out of!  I hope all is well back home! Tschüß!

 
-Sister Peterson

20 May 2013- 2 Months goes so Fast

Hello Family,

Today is my 2 month mark!  I'm trying not to keep track, I wouldn't want to get trunky while I'm still a Golden, but some days you just can't help but notice that you've been out a lot longer than you thought!

So this week, we had rain, rain, and more RAIN!  Everyone keeps saying how that's really weird for Freiburg, it's supposed to be sunniest and warmest city in Germany.  But seeing as I'll be in the warmest city for all of summer, I will be grateful that for the moment I can still wear my coat and boots!

So last Pday we went to Breisach and France (I believe I told y'all about that) and Breisach is one of the cutest cities I've seen so far!  We were just walking back to the bus from France and saw a 'castle' (it ended up just being a big cathedral) and decided to check it out.  I think that the cathedral is called the Münster of Breisach, it's a little bit smaller than the Münster in Freiburg but still really gorgeous.  

We had a lot of eating appointments this week.  I feel so bad, I really don't think that the members here understand how much gluten and lactose is in food!  We will be sitting down to a meal and the members will be so excited to have prepared a meal 'ohne laktose', but really there is cheese smeared on everything and they have pudding for dessert...or they forget that schnitzel has bread crumbs on it. But the food is delicious and we are extremely grateful for the wonderful members that feed us!! I have just decided that every time my stomach groans from the lactose I'll just say it's the Holy Ghost bearing witness that the things I'm saying are true.

I cannot tell you how much chocolate we receive as missionaries!  I think me and Sister Jenson have 4 bars of chocolate at home that we got from members this week.  It's really good, especially since we have such easy access to Swiss chocolates here, and the Germans put really interesting flavors into their chocolates...but lets just say that my biggest fear here is the scale!  Oh goodness, I need to reevaluate my eating plan here in Germany...

This week was full of miracles!  It is truly amazing to be an instrument in the Lord's hand, and to feel the Lord working through me.  It is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced.  We found a new investigator this week who is just absorbing everything we tell her, and even after 3 days we can really witness the change that the gospel has made in her life.  She calls us her 'Engelchen' (little angels).  Ah, it's an amazing feeling!  The work is really hard, and really exhausting, but being able to help those people who have been prepared by the Lord makes everything worth it.

I hope all is well at home.  Good luck to everyone with finals at school!  And to everyone who is thinking of going on a mission-DO IT!  It will bless your life in ways you can't even imagine.  Thank you all for your support!

-Sister Peterson

Happy to know there are Hippies everywhere :)

"sacrifice, peace, freedom"

Munster, Breisach

Breisach, Deutschland

Munster, Breisach

Hey, No Elders allowed... France Flag

Meine Mitarbeiterin und ich... she makes faces

13 May 2013 with Pictures

 Es geht schnell! (It is fast)

This week was so BUSY!  As much as I love being busy as a missionary, it's so exhausting...especially when most of the business doesn't focus around missionary work.  

Monday was our P-day, and Sister Jenson took me around to tour the beautiful city in which we live in.  We went to see the Münster cathedral, which is absolutely stunning!  There are so many cathedrals here that are just breathtaking, but I have to say that the Münster is my favorite here by far.  I also tried currywurst (not my favorite, but a good experience I guess) and then a Döner.  The Döner is kind of a funny story-so a Döner is a stereotypical German food, but it actually is more of a Turkish food than German.  I guess it's comparable to a Taco in America, everyone loves it but it's not really American.  But it was super good!  One thing I've learned about meat here in Germany is to not ask what type of meat it is.  Not even the Germans will know for sure!  If you ask what type of meat it is they will normally answer with a confused look on their face and say "Uh, es ist Fleisch." (it is meat) Obviously...

On Wednesday we went to Schaffhausen, Switzerland to übernacht (overnight/sleepover) with the Sisters there so that we didn't have to wake up super early on Thursday to go to Zurich.  Schaffhausen is such a cute little village, I really can't think of any other word to describe it than precious.  And on the train ride out of Schaffhausen there is a GORGEOUS waterfall (sorry, I don't have any pictures of that *sigh*) 

Thursday was our Mission Tour, which is where the General Authority over our area comes and tours the mission and talks to us and it's all spiritual uplifting and motivating and inspiring, which is really good during the meeting but super scary afterwards!  He really upped the bar for missionary work in our area, which is super great but super intimidating. But anyways, I met with all of the missionaries in Swiss zones for that, so I got to go to Zurich again.  I was super upset when I left the MTC because I thought I wouldn't see the foreign Elders from my MTC group ever again, because they would most likely serve in Switzerland the whole time and I probably won't ever get called to a Swiss area because of the whole Americans can't get a work Visa thing.  But I got to see them all again on Thursday, so that was super cool to at least see them one more time and know that they are doing well.

For Mothers Day, we actually had two meal appointments-one for lunch and one for dinner.  The lunch one was with the Windhausens, and they live in a super pretty area called HimmelReich (Heaven Kingdom.)  The food was amazing!  Most of it was just cooked vegetables, but there was this weird food, I can't remember what they called it, but it was basically just meat, vegetables, some sort of nut, and sauce wrapped in a crepe and then cooked in more sauce.  I couldn't eat much because it was exploding with dairy, dairy, and more dairy, but the little bit that I did eat was delicious!  And it was all made by their 15 year old son (no cooking for Mama on Mothers Day!) 

Dinner was at the Gonzales house, and they are a part member family.  Bruder G and his two daughters are both active members, but the wife, F, is not.  She has been working with the missionaries for years, and is tired of being convinced to baptism, so now we're just kinda working with her on building a testimony of her own and really participating in reading the scriptures with her family.  They are a super funny family, and surprisingly really easy to understand!  F is Italian, so she gave us a nice Italian simple meal, which was really refreshing after the big lunch at the Windhausens!  

Today for P-day our Elders want to go to Breisach, which has a bridge that borders France and Germany.  We won't be able to go into France because of mission rules, so we will pretty much just stand at the border and spit into France, maybe dip a toe in there, just to say we've been to France.  And then proceed to eat typical German foods. 

I hope all is well with everyone at home!  Thank you for your prayers and letters!

-Sister Peterson

The pictures are all pictures of the interior of the Munster cathedral

13 May 2013 New Address

The mission home sent us a letter
with Kori's current address.
The suggest that all postage goes directly
to the missionary because the mission
is so large in size- so watch for
New Address postings when she is
transferred.

Send current mail to:

Kirche Jesu Christi HLT
Sister Kori Lee Peterson
Rennweg 26
D-79106 Freiburg
Germany

7 May 2013

Dear family of Sister Peterson-

We are delighted to tell you that Sister Peterson arrived safely in Munich this morning.  She is tucked away in bed now after a long day of orientation. 

We thought you might enjoy these pictures from this evening. She was assigned her new companion and area tonight and she will serve in Freiburg, Germany with her new companion, Sister Jenson.

We are thrilled that she is here and are very impressed with her preparation and enthusiasm.  She will be a great missionary.  Thank you for all you have done to help her become the fine young sister she is today.  We love her already, and we will do all we can to help her grow as a missionary and have a successful mission.  If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.  May the Lord bless you and your family at this wonderful time of missionary service.

Sincerely,

President and Sister Miles

Alpine German-speaking Mission

The entire group of 'Greenies' entering the Mission today

My new area, Freiberg Germany

Kori with President and Sister Miles

The group ready to head out to our first areas

 

Waiting in the Amsterdam Airport

One view from my bedroom window

... And another view