A Marriage Proposal & A Lesson in Gratitude

Hello all my friends and family,

     The long awaited day has finally come!! 

     I woke up Thursday morning, still completely groggy and confused, walked out of my bedroom into the living room to do some morning sport, and found out that Sister Ackerman had completely decorated the entire apartment with colorful post-it notes and toilet paper streamers in honor of my mission birthday :) 

Sticky notes- a missionary's best way to decorate

One Year Princess

      We took ourselves out to lunch at a schnitzel place to celebrate my 1 year and Sister Ackermans 18 month mark. It was way fun, but also very very scary. I only have 6 months left- wait, let me say that again-- I Only Have SIX MONTHS left!!!

Birthday Lunch

      Holy cow, I have been in Linz for almost 6 months, and it feels like I just got here!! Watching Sister Ackerman prepare to go home has thrown me into a tornado of emotions. When I first met Sister Ackerman on Tausch in Pforzheim, she had 9 months left on her mission, and now she has one and a half weeks. It's crazy to think of how the time has passed by. 

     I have started to read my old journal entries from the beginning of my mission. It is so funny to see how much I have grown and changed. My German was absolutely awful, I was so nervous to begin my mission and had no idea how to be a Sister missionary; I remember telling myself to just take life one day at a time to avoid the stress of thinking of how long 18 months was going to be and how little I knew!!  

     Now, my journal entries are written in slightly less awful German, I am nervous and have no idea how to be anything but a missionary, and I have to tell myself to just take life one day at a time to avoid the stress of thinking how fast the next 6 months will fly by!!  

     So off the subject of my temporary nervous breakdown and on with the real report of our week: 

Making a delicious dinner

     We had a pretty good and busy week. We have worked with the Linz Elders a lot to get some activities coordinated in our area; things like teaching a German class, us going to institute to support the YSAs, organizing activities for our investigators to come to church, etc. ...And then Saturday came and knocked everything into the air. Honestly, it was one of those days where everything that can go wrong WILL go wrong! We had a Finding Day scheduled in the Haag Elders area, which means that all of the missionaries in the district go to one area and go by on old investigators and less actives, and spend a few hours simply contacting and trying to find new people. The Haag Elders were really excited about this finding day and had done a TON of preparation so that we could be as effective as possible. They had everything completely scheduled out and had made the plans for where we would all work. Because we were all coming in from different areas, their plan had us all catching different trains and going to different parts of their area to contact. They were specifically really excited about the area that they were sending Sister Ackerman and I. 

     We got to the Linz train station at a good time, but had a lot of problems with the ticket machine, which kept making us pay again and again but wouldn't print any tickets. So I ended up paying for my ticket 3 times, but never got a ticket, and we ended up missing our train, which only comes every hour. We finally got on the train an hour later. We got off the train in Neumarkt to catch a connecting train to the area. Well, after waiting a bit, we looked at the train times and found out that the train we were supposed to catch in Neumarkt came every hour, but the train for that hour didn't come on Saturdays! So we had to wait another hour in a random city for our connecting train to come. 

     We finally got in the area, but realized that we only had 30 minutes to go by on the 27 people that the Elders had given us before we had to catch the train home. Needless to say, I was starting to lose my nerves a bit. When we finally got back to Linz, we started to head to an appointment with one of our investigators. I kept praying in my heart, 'Heavenly Father, I know I am stressed, but I really need the spirit in order to teach this lesson. Please give me the strength and peace that I need in order to teach this lesson.'  

     Luckily, I was able to calm down a bit, which helped prepare me for what was going to come next. Our investigator opened the door, and basically proclaimed his love for me and asked me to marry him. My heart just dropped. I just stood at the doorway in shock while Sister Ackerman started to talk to him, and the next thing I knew, she was guiding me across the hallway, down the elevator, and back outside to the bus stop. I couldn't really think straight, I just sat there, angry at God, wanting to shake my fists up in the air and ask 'Why me?? What did I do wrong?? Why did you have to have all of this happen TODAY? You know that I am too weak to handle this!'  

     As I sat there, drowning in my angry and heartbroken thoughts, the thought came into my mind, ''Ask what there is to learn from this situation.''  

     As confused as I was as to what I could possible learn from that day, I silently offered a prayer that I would somehow be able to learn the lesson that the Lord wanted me to learn. As I pondered the day and everything that had gone wrong, it became clearer and clearer to me what the Lord had wanted me to learn. 

     I had been putting myself in such a pity party because I thought that I was going through everything alone. But when everything was happening, when everything was falling apart and I wanted to cry, I was never alone. For one, Sister Ackerman was there for me the entire time. She was there to make me laugh, she was there to buy ice cream with me, she was there for me to talk to, and she was there to let me be silent. And the coolest part? I always have a companion with me. I actually always have 2 companions with me-my missionary companion (and no matter who that is, they are exactly the right person for me at that time), and the Holy Ghost. 

     Because God loves me, He has given me one of the greatest gifts that I can obtain in this life-His promise that His spirit will always be with me. And He sends His angels to be there with me as well.

The entire time that I was shaking my fists and asking God 'Where are you? Where did you go?'  all I had to do was realize that that He hadn't left me, but that He was simply working through another one of His servants, my companion, to help guide me until I was back on my own two feet. I guess I am a pretty stubborn egg to crack, because it seems like God sends me a lot of really difficult trials in order to learn some pretty simple truths. Maybe one day I will learn to be more teachable!

An old house in Ried

     I also learned a very important lesson about gratitude. I was reading through my old journal, and I had written about a miracle story that Sister Regnier and I had experienced. It was a very simple experience-it was in the MTC and one of our fake investigators had made a connection to one of the principles that we were teaching, but I was so excited about this amazing miracle that I had seen!! 

     I started to laugh at first at how easily impressed I was back then, but then I stopped to think a bit. An investigator making a spiritual connection was a miracle then, so why wasn't I see it as a miracle now? Those simple things that I experience every day as a missionary are still things that I should be giving my thanks for. I made a goal to be more grateful for the blessings that I do see everyday, instead of coveting everybody else's big miracles stories. 

      Well, on Sunday, Sister Ackerman and I didn't have any appointments scheduled, and so we decided to be typical sister missionaries and make some cookies and bring them by on some people. The thought came into our mind to bring them by on the Rippl Family, who is actually a referral from Church Headquarters. We have gone by on them a few times and tried to call, but all of our appointments have always fallen out, and they are way hard to get into contact with, and they live kind of far away.  

     We knew that going by on them to deliver cookies would take up the rest of the time we had that day, but we decided to go anyways. When we got there, we totally expected to just drop off the cookies and leave. As it turns out, they had just gotten home 15 minutes before we got there, the entire family was there, they invited us in, and we had an amazing introductions lesson with them!  

     The mom is from Mexico and the dad is Austrian, and they have two wonderful 17 year old daughters. They met the missionaries in Mexico and were taught for a while and even went to church in Mexico. But when they left, they left all of their Books of Mormon and pamphlets in Mexico, and had gone to the church website and requested to meet with missionaries in Linz. 

     The entire time they kept asking us questions, asking us if we had Spanish pamphlets and DVDs that we could bring by, and they are one of the most jolly families that I have ever met. I left the appointment smiling, knowing that the small miracle was given to us because our hearts where full of gratitude for what we already had. Because we were grateful for the small things, the Lord was able to bless us with bigger things. God really does work line upon line, precept upon precept, in many different ways, but especially so with gratitude!!  

     I am so grateful for the time that I have been given to learn, to grow, to get to know all of these amazing people in this amazing part of the world! I am grateful for the time that I still have to continue to progress and learn, for I am far from done learning! I am grateful for the small blessings, like sunny days and free ice cream and Grammelknödel, and I am grateful for the big blessings, like watching investigators progress or members feeling the blessings and excitement of participating in the work of salvation. I am grateful for my friends and family at home, and for those people that I still have yet to meet :) and I am grateful for the gospel, and the opportunity that I have to be a crazy missionary and run around on the streets in skirts and hideous Mary Jane shoes and for this very wonderful 18 months of my life. It truly is a wonderful time to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. 

:)

     I hope you all have an amazing week! As I prepare to say good-bye to Sister Ackerman, I will prepare to give my all for the next six months. It will go by fast, I know that, but there is a lot of work in God's kingdom and it's up to me to touch this little corner of His world. Look at your little corner of the world and make sure and touch His children that are within your reach as well. 

Love to you all,

Sister Peterson

Sunny in Salzburg

Happy St. Patrick's Day to Ye All,

     Waking up early isn't the worse thing that I've ever had to do in my life, but in my opinion it is A LOT easier to wake up at 6:30 in the morning every day when it is sunny and beautiful outside, the birds are chirping and the air is fresh and springy!  

Gardens in Salzburg

     I think it is just so much more fun to be a missionary in the summer than it is in the winter.  The only thing that seems a little weird about it being warm and sunny and spring time, is that I came into the mission field in springtime. So up to this point on my mission, everything has been new- every season, holiday and experience. I have now officially had all the firsts I am going to have (except my first 1 year anniversary). My first fall, my first winter, my first Christmas, etc etc.

ooops, our eyes are closed

Companion Selfie

     But as I was sitting down one morning, listening to the birds and looking outside, enjoying a nice bowl of Müsli, I couldn't help but feel like I was a Golden back in Freiburg all over again. It was kind of a surreal feeling. My 1 year ''birthday'' on my mission is this Thursday, March 20. It is so weird to think that I have been a missionary that long. Where did the time go? Lots of missionaries, once they hit their 1 year mark, start to read their journal again, one day at a time, this is something I have been dying to do. It will be interesting to see what I wrote about the MTC (Missionary Training Center in Provo where Kori learned German) and about Sister Regnier (Kori's companion in the MTC), and what I thought my mission would be like. I'm sure there will be lots of laughs, smiles and tears over the memories of this wonderful year. 

View of Linz

     I got to spend a lot of time in Salzburg this week, which I will never complain about. We had Zone Training on Tuesday...

Role playing at Zone Training

and then we did an Austausch (companion trade) with the Sister Training Leaders again. I have been DYING to get to work with Sister Henry again, but she got to come down to Linz with Sister Ackerman, and I went to Salzburg to work with Sister Clark. It was actually really fun to get to know Sister Clark a little bit better.  

Church on postlingberg

      I think back on the early days of my mission and I used to get so intimidated by other missionaries, especially people who have been out longer than me. One of the coolest realizations that I have come to on my mission is that we are all young men and young women in our teens and early 20's who really have no idea what they are doing, we just all wear church clothes all day and pretend like we can speak German. 

Some very artistic train tracks

      One of the biggest lessons that I learned from Sister Clark this week in Salzburg is to NEVER EVER EVER compare anything!! Do Not compare areas, Do Not compare ourselves to others, not to compare our key indicators each week, nothing! Each area needs different things from different people-right now, Salzburg needs Sister Clark and Sister Henry and what they have to offer, and Linz needs me (I hope!) and Sister Ackerman and what we have to offer. And I need Linz just as much as they need me, because I have A LOT to learn! I think I can trace everything that I have learned so far on my mission to the missionary or member or investigator who taught me that lesson. It's a really humbling experience. 

The ceiling at a local church

     So in a nutshell, Sister Clark basically taught me to just be grateful for what we DO have, and to trust in the Lord that He is in the work as well. There were so many times during the Tausch (exchange) that we could have been disappointed, discouraged, or even just sad, but she kept a smile on her face and a light in her eyes. The entire time we were together, there was no way to doubt that she loves this work and she trusts the Lord. It was so amazing to see how happy she was because of her decision to trust in the Lord. 

A church in town

      How many times do I get frustrated and upset when things don't work out exactly the way I thought they would? How stressed do I get when things fall out and I have to re-plan? I have learned to accept that those things are not just a part of missionary work, but they are a part of life! Things will fall out, plans will change, life will jump out from behind a corner and take us by surprise sometimes. And we can either get angry and stressed, or we can smile and keep trusting that if the Lord is with us, then we have a bright future ahead of us :)

     Another reason why I love summer is the opportunity to do service! I know that my mom is going to laugh at this next part, because doing service and cleaning was NEVER my favorite. But as a missionary, it is my favorite thing to get in my grubby clothes and pull out some weeds from a garden, or help someone move, or even just help clean a kitchen! Service is just so good :) 

Pulling tree roots taller than we are

      One of the members in the ward has asked us and the Elders to help a nonmember family get ready to move into a new house that needs a lot of work. We went there twice this week to help clear out the yard, and it is amazing the love that we have been able to feel for this family just simply by serving them. And as we have served them and gotten to know them better, we have been able to see them not as they are, but with the divine potential of the people we know they can become. I think that's a really cool part of being a missionary. We don't have to blindly plan and prepare lessons, hoping that it's what people need to hear. Rather, we get to see people as they can become, and then the things that we need to say to help them get there just naturally follow.  I like it :)

Just because I love old signs

     I hope everyone has a great week!  Hopefully it is as nice and beautiful in other parts of the world as it is in Linz :)  

Sister Missionaries being silly, imitating a crime scene!

With "M", we made her an honorary missionary tag

I love spring!  

Love you all,

Sister Peterson

Gate Control- The Theory

Dear Family & Friends-

I got to ride a bike this week-

      In psychology, there is certain pain-control theory called the 'Gate-control theory.'  Contrary to popular belief, it is actually impossible for our brain to multitask.  We can think of a million different things really, really fast, but our brain cannot focus on two things at exactly the same moment.

     The gate control theory takes advantage of the fact that the brain cannot focus on pain in two separate parts of the body at once.  If your arm itches, you might feel the itch- but if you cut your hand while your arm is itching, your brain will forget the itch and focus on the cut. 

     I've warned y'all to be careful what you pray for before. But if you think about the Gate Theory, you will see why I will now caution you to be very, VERY careful what you pray for!

     I would never say that I have been trunky or homesick at any point on my mission, I have been really blessed by this because I know many people just really miss home or miss their familiar surrounding. What I HAVE struggled with is the fact that I AM VERY excited for life after my mission; just life in general- 'growing up'! 

     So sometimes I do get distracted thinking about what I will study, the clothes I will wear, what I am going to name my cute little children in the future; not bad things, but distracting things. And my distractions have only gone up since I became companions with Sister Ackerman- not that she is super distracted, but she is on the brink of ''death'' as a missionary- so we talk about post-mission life a lot more than normal. At the beginning of this week, I prayed that I would stop focusing so much on these distractions. I just wanted something to take my mind off of all this other 'stuff' that really doesn't apply to me right now. With this prayer I got:

Gate number 1:

     I woke up Monday morning feeling so SICK!  My throat was hurting, my neck ached, and I could definitely feel a cold or flu coming on. It was awful. Luckily, it was P-day, so we could rest a bit and it wasn't too bad. But there was definitely no thinking about home or distractions that day, all I was thinking about was how to get better so that I wasn't at home sick all week. Being sick as a missionary is HORRIBLE- not only can you not go out while you feel horrible, but neither can your companion. It is horrible for the sick missionary, but it is nothing short of torture for the HEALTHY missionary. So of course, Monday night, I prayed that I would either feel better, or be able to take my focus off of my sickness! 

Yes, you guessed it- so here comes...

Gate number 2:

     I don't get too competitive. Anybody that knows me well knows that I am NOT a competitive person, especially when it comes to recreational sports or games or anything. But, I was walking down the stairs one day, and Elder Croft runs by my side, except he starts walking a bit faster down the stairs.  I don't know why I did it, but I sped up to follow him.  Then he sped up faster and before we knew it we were both running down the stairs--- 

UNTIL- all of a sudden WHOOPS! 

     I tripped on the last stair and fell down, completely twisting my ankle. It didn't hurt too bad at first, but after walking around all day and not doing anything to help heal the injury, I got home and could not even stand up because the pain and swelling was so bad. We had to stay in the apartment all of Tuesday evening and most of Wednesday just to ice my ankle, and then take it very easy for the rest of the week.  

     Let's just say I gained a whole new appreciation for missionary work and that I am able to be out working all day, and NOT home babying a swollen ankle, a silly cold or any other infirmity that could ail me at any given moment!  

With the swollen ankle, I completely forgot about how sick I was. Sneaky sneaky Lord, never answering my prayers the way I wanted Him to- but always getting His point across!

     But we actually still had a pretty good week. Amazingly enough, we were still able to have lessons every single day, even the days where we stayed inside most of the time. We still saw miracles, we still met amazing people, and got work done :)

     I also realized that I have absolutely NO IDEA how to be a missionary!!

The swollen ankle... OUCH!

     I thought my method of contacting on buses and Straßenbahns was very effective- optimal words are "I thought". I would start up a very friendly and casual conversation with whoever was sitting next to me, and then right before I had to get off the train, I would just kind of blurt out, ''Oh hey, by the way, the reason why I am in Austria is because I am a missionary and we meet with people about what we believe, and I want to exchange numbers with you so we can meet sometime. Wha'ts your number? I will call you tomorrow!''  

In my defense this has worked a lot! We got a lot of numbers that way. But we didn't get a whole lot of potential investigators that way. After being asked out on dates a few times by men who didn't quite understand the quick 'I'm a missionary'' part, I realized that this was probably NOT the most effective way to contact.  

     Well, a few weeks ago, I found a cute little girl on the Straßenbahn who I did the same thing as I have a lot before and she gave me her number. We have been texting back and forth to just kind of get to know each other. I found out that her name is' M', she is 18, she speaks very good English and is a sweet girl :)  

     We normally get invited to Family Home Evening on Monday nights with a member family, and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to have her come along and get to know a family with some kids around her age. I texted her and asked if she had time Monday night to have dinner with us. (And normally when we as missionaries get invited to dinner, it is common knowledge that that means dinner with a member family, a spiritual thought, and then leaving and going on our merry little way.)  

     Well, what I consider 'normal' is not what most people are experiencing! Especially those who are NOT missionaries- they just don't have that common knowledge! So she texted back saying that was a great idea and asked what time we should meet and what restaurant would we like to meet at? 

     I had to backtrack a bit, and tell her that we were invited to a families house, and they were going to make us dinner and then we would have time afterwards to talk and play games. 'M' happily agreed, we made plans where and when to meet beforehand, and that was it.  

     Sister Ackerman, after hearing the story just laughed and asked, ''Sister Peterson, does she know that we are missionaries?'' I had to think about that ''Well, I think so! I kind of quickly said it on the tram and I was wearing my name tag!'' She asked ''Does she know there is going to be a spiritual thought involved and that we are going to talk about Jesus?'' I had to think a little bit. ''Um, I said we were going to have time after dinner to talk together, so I'm not sure!!'' She just laughed. 

What a great companionship

      Man, I just kind of assume that everybody knows that I am a missionary and what that means! So this will be a very interesting lesson tonight! It will either be one of the best lessons of my mission and 'M' will turn into an awesome Golden investigator, or she will be really confused and it will be super embarrassing for everyone. Lets pray for the first! Even after being on my mission for a year, I am still getting humbled down every day and learning new things. But that is the beauty of missionary work! 

Dinner with the Elder's and us

    

Didn't grandma have Easter Eggs like this hanging from a tree??

     Well, it is a beautiful day in Linz, the sun is shining, and we have to do fun things before Sister Ackerman goes home!!  Have a great week, y'all are in my prayers! 

Sister Peterson