Peach Rings and Angel Wings

Hello Friends, Family, & Awesome Missionaries I haven't Met Yet,

     I can't tell you how many of the new missionaries have come up to me in the past few weeks and said "Sister Peterson! This is going to sound really creepy, but I read your blog! It's so cool to finally meet you!" I don't really know what to say...I never read blogs before my mission, so I didn't realize that people other than family read them... I really just assumed mine wasn't being read either!

ubahn station; our main from of transportation

     So to all of you who read my weekly emails and blogs, I promise you that I actually do do missionary work!!! Sister Motto and I have a lot of fun for sure, but we are getting stuff DONE! That's one of the things that I really enjoy about working with Sister Motto, is I really feel equally yolked. It's been very nice to have her help me in the work without completely taking over. It's not that I am doing all the work because I know the area, or her doing it all so she can take over, but it's both of us working together- it is a pretty nice arrangement we have :)

It is August and we are wearing scarves, tights, and jackets

Speaking of companion unity...

     I have had people tell me my entire mission how similar Sister Motto and I are, and throughout our time together it has almost been spooky at times how similar we are. We went on another exchange last week with the Passau Sisters, which put me in Passau with Sister Wunderli (more about that in a bit). Sister Wunderli and I were waiting in the Passau Bahnhof for the other sisters to get there, so I went into a store to buy some snacks for the train ride back to Munich. I saw some Peach Ring candies and remembered that Sister Motto likes Peach Rings; I bought some and hid them in my bag. The Sister's showed up and Sister Motto and I hopped on the train to go back home. We were hardly sitting down for 2 minutes, and Sister Motto gives me this big, proud grin and says ''I have a surprise for you!!' and pulls out a bag of Peach Rings. I started cracking up and pulled out my bag of Peach Rings.  

We had two delicious bags of Peach Rings for the train ride back :) 

Elder Bootcher was in Munich this week

     I have never really understood Austausches (missionary exchanges) before. I've always enjoyed them and I have always learned a lot, but I had never had a miracle experience on Tausch before. The one exception was working with Sister Henry again in Linz- I had really needed time with her as she was probably the only one who could have given me confidence about training again! But I have always considered that a blessing for me, more than a miracle of the moment. Well, when Sister Wunderli got transferred to Passau and we were made Sister Training Leader's at the same time, I knew that I would eventually do a tausch with her. Things were kind of rough our last transfer together and our companionship ended on a sticky note, so I was really nervous about working with her again. After praying a lot about it with Sister Motto, we felt really clearly that I was supposed to stay in Munich with Sister Wunderli. We tausched after Zone Training working together great but it was kind of weird and awkward. 

Members make me smile

     However, when we got home and made dinner, Sister Wunderli just acted like she had a lot to get off of her chest. She went off about how sorry she was for some of the difficult parts of our companionship; how much she learned in our time together, how much she loves me and how grateful she was that we got to work together again! At the end of the tausch, she told me how much she had learned from those 24 hours that we had gotten to work together again. But at the end of the tausch, I knew that it was I who had had a really humbling and very needed learning experience. My goal for the tausch was to forgive her-what ended up happening is both of us forgiving each other and walking away with an increased love and appreciation for each other. It is incredible to see how we have both changed. That is truly the power of forgiveness, not only to stop holding hard feelings, but to actually have an increase in love and appreciation for our Brother's and Sister's. 

Together Again

     I have been studying a lot about sowing and reaping; especially whether God predetermines who will be sowers and who will be reapers. I have concluded that I am both a sower and a reaper, but for these past few years (especially these 17 months on my mission) I have been a sower. I will reap and recognize the fruit of my labors, but maybe later down the road. But for now I am sowing and giving others the opportunity to reap the fruits of my efforts.

Perfect example of this:

     About a month ago, Sister Erdenetsogt and I tried to visit all of the members and commit them to pray to find 1 person each year to bring to church. We encouraged them to pray for an opportunity to share the gospel, pray for names, and then invite invite invite! 

     We went over to this one members house and had a really awesome conversation. She was super stoked to do it so we asked her to make a commitment and to follow up with us to share her experience. Well, she came up to me at church yesterday and was super excited!!  She said ''Sister Peterson, do you remember when you and your companion came to my house a bit ago and did the family mission plan with me? About working with one person to bring to church this year? Well, I have been praying, just like you said, and looking for opportunities, just like you said. And guess what? I was over at my in-laws the other day, and there was this lady who kept asking questions about the church and we talked for a few hours about the church and our teachings! It worked! How cool! So I went home, took a Book of Mormon and wrote my testimony in it! And guess what?...'' 

I was so happy, seeing her excitement to share the story with me, the miracle of it all, the joy of having a golden member referral.... that I didn't really HEAR what she said next. It took me a minute to realize that when she said after "guess what?" was ''so I gave the Book of Mormon to the Elders and told them to go visit her! And they will be teaching her! How cool is that?!!''  

She thanked me for the lesson and said she would continue to pray and have her family pray for opportunities as well, and walked away as happy as she could possibly be... 

leaving me staring after her and wondering, 

THE ELDERS???? What! 

Planning Day Game

What a beautiful neighborhood

     Well, I guess it all works out for a reason and it really should be the Elders who teach her friend, but oooh, I wanted to grab Elder Bellersen and Elder Nielson's ties, pull them real close and say ''your are WELCOME!''

     The life of a sower is rewarding in a very different way. I like to say that I might not be having too big of a party in this life, but I will be having a ball in the next life, watching the big movie of my life on a big screen and seeing the small influences that I left behind. 

Take my word for it, we are all sowers and we are all reapers, but just as important as sowing and reaping is enjoying the harvest of each growing season! 

Love to you all,

Sister Peterson

A picture from Mom's photo challenge

Learning Gratitude the Hard Way

Hello Friends & Family- 

     Well, just in case you have been living under a rock the past few weeks (or are like my mom), you may not have heard that I am currently living in the same country that can officially claim they are the world's soccer champions!! I'm sure you can imagine, it's a pretty big thing here-

German pride is everywhere!

     One thing you have to know about me is that I am awful at quoting movies and songs! I am also the biggest fan of exaggerating and paraphrasing! Hopefully that explains my biggest epiphany this week: there is supposedly a quote in some sort of movie or spoken by some sort of a famous actor that goes something along the lines of 'When we ask God for patience, He doesn't just give us patience, He gives us the opportunity and experiences that will teach us how to be patient.' And so it is with everything-humility, faith, diligence- we might think we are asking for a Christlike attribute, but what we often get is a refiners fire that forces us to develop that attribute- I never understood why people always say "Never pray for patience..." Well, now I understand, and for me the lesson came this week as Heavenly Father taught me about gratitude!  

     Last Monday, I had a huge panic attack. Did I say huge?... well, I mean to say HUGE!!! 

Actually, it was pretty embarrassing. We went home after emails, and all of my worries and stress and fears just kind of exploded. Sister Erdenetsogt got to see a real 'American' girl break down; which included me laying on the floor, crying while shoving peanut butter and crackers into my mouth, whining about my problems for a good hour or two! Honestly, she didn't know whether she should be serious or laugh! Before Monday, I hadn't really given myself a lot of time to think about what scared me. I hadn't really thought about my fears, my worries, and my concerns. This little breakdown really forced me to think about what was most important to me and all the promises Heavenly Father has given me to help me keep my heart open to all that I will need to go through.

     Luckily it was P-day so we were able to stay home for a bit until I calmed down, but I had decided to ask some of the Elders in my district if they could give me a comfort blessing the next day after district meeting. I was 100% sure that the blessing would solve all of my problems, tell me everything that I wanted to hear, and that life would be fine and dandy. Well, I hadn't told the Elder giving me the blessing what was wrong; I just told  him that I wanted one. I was totally confident that I would hear what I needed to hear (or at least what I THOUGHT I needed to hear.)  

     But to my disappointment, the blessing was really general and did not address, in even the slightest way, what my worries were. The rest of the day, I was really upset; I was even tempted to call the Elder and tell him that I needed another blessing. I had gotten some pretty cool promises and been told some cool things, but I was so focused on the fact that I hadn't heard what I wanted to hear that I wasn't grateful for what I had heard. I wasn't listening! 

     The next day during personal study, I was reading talks from last general conference, and of course President Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude was next. It was a big slap in the face of how I needed to be grateful first for what I have, then I can be given more. I made a list of all the things that I was promised in the blessing, and how those things would help me in my work. Then I made a list of all the things I was still worried about, and decided to leave it to the Lord, put my worries in a mental box, and place it at His feet. From there I went about and continued on my day.

Me and my girls at Mission Leadership Conference

Birthday celebration with the Munich missionaries and the Kohler family

     Well, that day we had another Austausch with the Sisters in Augsburg. Sister Smith came here to Munich to work with me, which was really cool, since she started out in Munich II, and so I got to see the way that she loves and teaches the same exact people that I love and teach. It was also cool because there have been lots of people that Sister Erdenetsogt and I have been trying to get into contact with, but who have never answered us, but we were able to get back into contact with some of them and even meet others. But the biggest gift and mercy came for me at the end of the Tausch when we were on the way back. Normally I don't really open up about super personal thoughts with people who are not my companion, especially people who I haven't really known a long time. But for some reason, I told Sister Smith almost everything about what was on my mind; why I am nervous to go back to Texas, my fears, the sense of security that I feel as a missionary and not wanting to lose that; feeling like I don't have enough time to do all the things I still want to do here in Munich, etc.

     The blessing came when she opened up a bit to me on how she felt about my worries and she shared some thoughts that could help me. Well, surprise- surprise, they were exactly the things I needed to hear and had been praying to hear ever since I had decided to ask for my blessing. Heavenly Father could have just been told the exact same things on Tuesday in my blessing; But instead, the Lord taught me to be grateful first and to remember the promises He has given me (and the miracles He has shown me),to have faith, and to press forward! After He allowed me to put my heart in the right place, then I could receive the comfort that I needed. 

This is what our kitchen looks like on Sunday's after we get done making gifts for our members and investigators

     We did get to celebrate Mongolian Independence Day on Friday with one of our investigator families, the Göb's. Lately, I feel like all that we are eating is German potato salad and Mongolian dumplings- it's good thing that they are both so delicious!!

Mongolian Independence Day celebrations

Thank you so much for your love, your support and your prayers,
Love to you all,

Sister Peterson

 

Willkommen in Munchen

Mmmm, I can smell that Bayern pride already!

Surprisingly, as adamant as I was to never ever EVER go to Munich, I actually feel right at home here. Since day one, Sister Erdenetsogt and I have been able to jump right back into the groove of things, it feels really normal and comfortable to be here with her so far. I will say that it does feel a bit weird for ME to be the one who is following HER around everywhere; but I have absolutely no idea where we are or what I am doing yet in this new town! I am not complaining though, it is a fun change!

Back together again- the first time just seemed too short

Munich is HUGE, especially compared to my other areas; I have gone from quaint little Freiburg to a little bit larger Linz to a huge city with lots of missionaries. I've gotta get used to that!

For those of you who I didn't get to Skype with on Mothers day, I got a haircut! It was so impulsive, but I guess not really...I have been planning on cutting my hair ever since I came to Linz, I just didn't know how short I wanted to cut it. Well, after 7 months of debating, I finally decided it was unhealthy enough to get a cute little trim. One of our investigators in Linz is a hair-dresser, and we were over at her house on Wednesday to give one last lesson before I left. At the end, she asked if I wanted her to cut my hair before I left. Ja, freilich!!! Then she asked how long I wanted to keep it and then...

CHOP!!

Good-bye's- I am really going to miss her, it seems too soon

I about had a panic attack when I saw how much hair was on the floor. Sister Pentz took some pretty good pictures of my panicked faced. I think I am fine now, but it is pretty drastic! I've always felt that only older people wore their hair short, so I feel like I instantly got 10 years older just because of the haircut.

Matching Missionaries

Munich is a much different city than where I have been so far. First of all, it is a much more modern city with so much International influence. There are so many Americans in my new ward! Well, actually, in this entire area, which is pretty weird to me. I have never realized how much we American's stick out like sore thumbs. For my entire mission, I have heard a lot of English at church just because almost everyone in the world learns English at school. It is very likely to have two people from different countries communicating in English to each other. So it really wasn't weird to HEAR English being spoken, but it has been a little strange to watch the other American families in the ward, observing their mannerisms and hearing the phrases we say, it makes me laugh.

Dinnertime in Munich with an American family eating Japanese food- talk about International

I asked sister Erdenetsogt how obviously American I am, and she just laughed and told me I'm about as American as it gets. Oh, how I have missed working with international companions, they say the darndest things :P

A youth activity in Munich

We have been seeing miracle after miracle here in Munich! 
But I actually wanted to end with a miracle that Sister Pentz and I saw in Linz the day before I left. It started off a few weeks ago, when the Elders gave us a woman investigator of theirs. She only has time to meet at times where most men are at work, so the Elders could never find any one to joint teach with them. Since the Elders can't teach her alone, they asked us to teach her. Well, we have had a hard time getting in contact with her, so we decided to go by her house with a card and some cookies. Cookies and treats are definitely one of the tricks I have learned on my mission! It is hard to resist someone with a sweet Personal Touch, no matter how much they think they don't want to answer they door- really, who can resist a yummy treat?

We got to the address when we realized that we didn't know her last name, so we didn't know which doorbell to ring. We knew she is from Africa, so we looked for all of the African last names on the doorbell box. We found two; one of them didn't answer, and one said that we rang the wrong house! So much for that approach.
Then we decided to ring random people and ask them to open the door so that we could drop the cookies off on her doorstep and leave. Literally nobody was home except the African man we had rang before. But he let us in and asked how he could help, and then he saw that we were missionaries and asked what we believe, what we do, and offered to let us to come by another time and teach him. We gave him a Book of Mormon to read and set up an appointment (for last Wednesday.) Well, we went by with a member, and he is so GOLDEN!  He had already started to read in the Book of Mormon, and he had so many amazing questions, like 'What happens with us after we die?'  'I have a hard time believing the perfect go to heaven and the bad go to hell, what happens with the rest of us?' and 'If God is the same forever, then why are there so many churches on the earth today?' 
It was so cool to hear every question and want to jump up and shout WE HAVE THE ANSWERS!  Man, it was so cool to see how God had prepared such an amazing person to accept the gospel, and how we just accidentally happened to meet him because we were dropping off some cookies to an investigator. Those moments help renew my excitement for finding :) 

I am going to miss this girl!

Hugs from Linz

 

The Didenhover's

Companion Selfie's

One more for the road

I was struggling to think of a spiritual thought to give a family on Mothers Day, and so I wrote down a lot of my favorite things about my mom and what I learned from her. I looked through the list and decided on a scripture that fit with the list
So in honor of all mom's today, I want to close with that scripture 
D&C 64:33  "Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great."

Well, it is getting late, and I better go! I hope everyone has an amazing week :)

Tschüßie!

Sister Peterson

Deja Vu

Guten Morgen Freunde und Familie,

     At the beginning of my mission, everything was so fresh and new! I was always on my toes, learning new things, trying new foods, and experiencing a lot of ''firsts"- "my "First" winter, my "first" Christmas, "first" General Conference in a new language. It's kind of funny to be experiencing all of these firsts again with Sister Pentz, but this time, most of them are my ''lasts". I am constantly being hit in the face with the weirdest feelings of deja vu, and fighting desperately against falling into the trap of working and teaching based on habits that I've create, doing what is familiar and comfortable, and getting stuck in a missionary 'rut.' I think this is especially true because I've been in Linz so long that everything is familiar and I have created a lot of habits here. Maybe that is one reason why I keep getting new Golden's. Because everything about missionary life is so new to them, they just keep teaching me new things. 

Beautiful Train Rides Never Get Old

     I was starting to feel a little guilty that these feelings of 'deja vu' were causing me to look forward to the end of my mission more than just enjoying the moment I am in right here, right now. But this week, I have figured out that some of these feelings of deja vu can actually be a very positive and can have a very rejuvenating impact on my life and my mission.  

     We got to do another Austausch (exchange) with the Sister Training Leaders in Salzburg this past week. After 3 transfers of trying, Sister Henry and I were finally able to work together again!! I was so excited. I have loved working with all the Sister's, both my full time companions AND the sister's I've met on exchanges, but I was excited to get to work with Sister Henry again. 

Ahhh, it's been awhile- happy to see her!

      It is really cool to see how the Lord's hand is in literally every aspect of the work, including Tausches. Up until this point, it had never felt right for Sister Henry and I to work together on the Tausch. But last week, working with her was exactly what I needed at exactly when I needed it. I was starting to feel over burdened with so many feelings of inadequacy, doubt and stagnancy. The questions of 'What in the world am I still doing in Linz?' and 'Why why why why WHY am I training again? I cant do this!!' and 'What purpose do I even have here?'  were swimming in my mind, and it was starting to get hard to focus on the work and on the people because of all of these distracting and unproductive questions.  

     From Tuesday to Wednesday evening, Sister Pentz went to work in Salzburg and Sister Henry came to work with me in Linz. It was refreshing to just work with somebody that I admire and love so much, and it was so cool to see how she has grown as a missionary!! I had forgotten how quirky she is. It was freezing cold one morning, and Sister Henry had heard that a member of our ward owns an ice cream shop and that missionaries get free ice cream cones. So we were walking home from an appointment, and she begged to go get free ice cream, just to say that she had been there! We got ice cream and walked home in the cloudy and windy weather, shivering as we were licking our ice cream cones...but we were laughing the entire way home, of course!!  

Shivery day + Ice cold Ice Cream + 2 friends= a warm feeling inside

      At the end of the tausch, we talked a bit about what we had each learned. I was shocked to hear Sister Henry say the things that she did, and just express her gratitude for what she learned from me as a trainer before, and the things that she still sees that I do now. All of my fears and my doubts about everything were answered, and I knew that this tausch, where we had been allowed to serve together again, had been saved until that very week that I needed Sister Henry the most. It renewed the excitement, motivation, and confidence that I needed to keep going forward and just work on being the best companion for Sister Pentz that I can be! And being the best missionary I can be!! And the best support and influence for the Linz ward that I can be!!! Sister Pentz is really awesome- she deserves the best that I have to offer- and that's what she's going to get :)

Just a cute couple walking in the park- but it solidified we are right were we are supposed to be

      Which actually brings me to a thought that I had this week, it was kind of a cool thought. Sister Henry was telling me how she feels like I was exactly the person that she needed to train her, and how much of a testimony that she has that we are paired up with our trainers for a reason, and how I am exactly who Sister Pentz needs right now. It got me to thinking a lot and I realized that I could have easily trained Sister Pentz anywhere. I mean, this is my 5th transfer in Linz! I had already been in Linz for 6 months when I got the call that I was training again AND that I would be staying here. President could have easily moved me out of Linz and into a new area after my 2nd transfer, which would have been totally normal. But being in an area for 5 and 6 transfers, half of my mission- that is pretty odd.     

A lovely view from my days here in Linz

      And for a while, I was stressing out, trying to figure out what in the world I was still doing here, what on earth I still had to offer to Linz! It was then that I realized that the Lord has kept me here in Linz, partially because my work here isn't done yet, but because Sister Pentz's work here is just beginning! She really needs to be here AND I really need to be her trainer. Though I could have trained here anywhere else, SHE needs to be here!! So I was kept here, so that I could train her in this spot;  RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! 

Sister Pentz

     This thought really changed my perspective so much, and its made me a lot more selfless. It has helped me to really focus on how to teach Sister Pentz to love this area, get to know this ward, and to take charge. It has also helped me view her as more of an equal, and to focus on including her in every aspect of the work, just remembering that we are both called to be in Linz right now. Isn't it funny how a little perspective changes everything?

Easter messages from Sister Pentz- she is so sweet!

     With summer coming up and the sun coming out earlier and earlier every day, I really have no excuse to just stretch for Frühsport (morning exercise) anymore. I keep setting goals of actually working out in the morning, but it has never really happened before. It's too late to start the 6 months to sexy missionary diet, but I have decided that it's never too late to start the 5 months to fit diet!!  And if I continue to procrastinate, there's always 4 months to fit, 3 months to thin, 2 months to toned, and 1 month to...well...if I wait until 1 month to start working out than lets be honest, it probably won't end up happening :P  But Y'all would be proud of me, I mustered up enough energy to jump rope this morning! And then I rewarded myself with some lactose free Easter chocolate...teeheehee ;)  Missionary life is fun!

Our Study Board

     Next week, the Salzburg and Vienna Zones are gathering in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday to do a massive finding day, and then to have Mission Tour. So I won't be able to do emails until Wednesday.  But until then, have a good week, and I love y'all so much!!

     I know by the time y'all get this email or read the blog, it will be past Easter, but I wanted to share this video. I have watched it so many times already, it is very much worth the watch, even if it is after Easter- Watch the Easter message here

Hugs and prayers from Austria!

Sister Peterson