I Stand All Amazed.

April 4, 2016

Well friends.

This is my last ever email as a missionary!

I would say it's impossible to describe what it feels like to end a mission. The last few days have been a roller coaster of emotion! I can't believe that 18 months have passed. A scripture that dad shared with me comes to mind:

"Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question--unto what were ye ordained? To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth...nevertheless, I will be merciful unto you; he that is weak among you hereafter shall be made strong."

"...that the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world..."

I testify that the Lord fulfills His promises. When I look at myself, I still see a weak and simple girl who gave her best to the Lord for 18 months. But when I look at my mission, I am overwhelmed with gratitude, because I see his tender mercies and His hand and His strength in everything. He has made me strong. He has tested me, stretched me, challenged me, blessed me, strengthened me, helped me, guided me, loved me. A mission isn't a sacrifice. It's a blessing. The moment I chose to have that perspective it became a constant stream of tender mercies and miracles. I received infinitely more than I gave.

"...my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak, therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things."

The Savior lives! His gospel has been restored. He is here to hear and answer our prayers. He loves us. He knows us. I know these things are true!

I feel so much love for my mission, the people of St. Louis, the missionaries around me, and especially for the Savior. He means everything to me!

I love you all.

See you soon!

Sister Petrie

Happy happy happy

March 28, 2016

Hello hello hello!

I hope your Easter was amazing. It was so great to hear about your experience with the Savior of the World play! Sounds like it went awesome. And how neat that so many people got to come!

Comp Unity

Our Easter was super special. We woke up a little stressed, due to a crazy week and being super behind on several things, but I just prayed that I would be able to feel the easter spirit and have peace! Prayers were definitely answered, the day went so smoothly and I felt the spirit so strongly! Both sister Weldert and I spoke in the YSA sacrament meeting, and both talks went well! It gave me a chance to really think about how much I love easter, and I even talked about how "The Savior of the World" performance a couple of years ago blessed my life! Sister Weldert shared a personal experience about gaining a testimony of the gospel in her talk, and it turned out one of the YSA's in the congregation is currently going through the exact same struggle, and her testimony was really able to touch this YSA sister! That was really neat to hear. I'm so grateful that the spirit guides all we say and do as missionaries. We never know the impact we can have!

We colored eggs for a Sister's P day! #Hallelujah

In YSA relief society, we had a super unique lesson on the Savior, where we all took 5 minutes or so to share something about the Savior that meant something to us personally, whether it be a picture, a hymn, song, story, etc. IT WAS SO POWERFUL. The spirit was so strong, and everyone was just so open about their real feelings for the Savior. There was no judgment, no comparison. Just all of us, sharing things that really had changed us. I love YSA's so much! They just love the gospel. It's so real to them! Also, M. was there, and took the opportunity to share her love for the Savior! I love M. so much, she is the greatest and sweetest human alive.

Women's conference. AH. I hope you all watched it! I loved it so much. So much about service! That's exactly what I needed to here. My mission has given me such a strong desire to serve everyone I can, for the rest of my life! I love it. It keeps me going!

We had our last exchange this week, I got to go to Columbia IL. We had so many awesome lessons as well! You will all be happy to know that I am working hard, and I am holding it together :) I only cried once this week :) Sister Weldert is the greatest person ever. She is helping me a ton!

I hope you all are pumped for conference this week. I love conference!

Petri street! Guess they'll never get my name quite right... :)

Easter is coming!

March 21, 2016

I hope your week was as wonderful as mine. I am so happy to be a missionary.

We had two more wonderful exchanges this week :) They taught me so much. Both exchanges I got to be here in my area with a brand new sister! One was with sister Hubbard, and one with Sister Hansen. They are so full of fire for missionary work, they can't help but be contagious! They reminded me--yet again--how much I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

We were also able to start teaching several new investigators this week, which was such a blessing! One especially powerful lesson was with D., the friend of a returning member. D. came to church last week, and felt the spirit so powerfully. When we visited her, she expressed how difficult her life has been in the last couple years. As I listened, I felt the Lord's incredible love for her. It was so easy to testify of Christ and invite her to take the lessons, because I knew that was exactly what she needed to find the healing she is looking for. It was powerful, and the spirit was there.

Both Sister Weldert and I also had an opportunity to receive a priesthood blessing of comfort and counsel this week! It was amazing. Our district leader didn't know either of us very well, but the things he said were so personally meaningful. The power of the priesthood is amazing! After I received the blessing, I was looking back on a "1-year plan" I'd made just a few days earlier, and the goals I'd made for myself matched almost exactly the advice in the blessing I'd received. It was incredible, and reminded me how much the Lord loves me and my dear companion.

Here's my top 10 things I learned this week!

1. Exchanges are amazing but exhausting
2. The power of the priesthood is REAL.
3. Never eat ice cream twice in one day.
4. Never EVER eat McDonalds twice in one day
5. If you get sick at the end of the week, it's probably because you ate McDonalds and ice cream all week.
6. It is not good to spend 24 hours pretending like your not sick when you are running a temperature.
7. You know you're insane when you wait until your companion says you sound and look like a crazy caveman before you slow down and get better.
8. THANK GOODNESS for Dayquil
9. A smile and a hug make everything better
10. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY

Sorry about no pictures this week. I love you all so so much. I feel better now and am ready for another awesome week :)

Sister Petrie

HALLELUJAH

March 14, 2016

The mission life goes on! This week was crazy. Like CRAZY.

First time eating dippin dots! Worth it :)

Tuesday was great! We got to have a couple of lessons, and that night we were able to watch the YSA Q&A broadcast by Elder Holland! If you didn't get a chance to watch it, it's definitely worth the time. The testimonies borne were so powerful, and I had a lot of questions answered myself. Also, the love of our church leaders is so powerful, and it's real! They really do care about the young people of this church.

Wednesday we had another fantastic Zone Conference! It was one of the best I've been to. Everyone came so prepared to learn and share and become better missionaries. Our training went really well, and I learned so much about repentance and the importance of teaching our investigators HOW to repent. The repentance process is part of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ!

Thursday we got to teach M. :) She is just doing so well. We had a really powerful lesson on chastity, and read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World". The spirit was so strong! I realized what an anchor strong families are, and just how vital of a role they play in helping God's children progress in the gospel. I've seen so many different types of families on my mission, many of which are struggling and broken. There are a lot of resources out there to help struggling youth and kids, but honestly there is NO substitute for a strong family where Christ is the center. I'm so grateful that the church recognizes and teaches us the importance of family.

Friday we had another exchange with our Potosi, MO sisters! I got to go to Potosi with Sister Grover. That girl is hilarious! We had a great time, and got to teach a lot of great people.

Exchanges :)

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET. Go to followhim.mormon.org and watch the church's new initiative video it's released for Easter, "Hallelujah." Then share it! I love this video so much! Each time I watch it, it reminds me of what the Atonement has done for me! "In Jesus Christ, I have found new life." I truly have found new life in Jesus Christ! He means everything to me.

What we look like on Sunday night. #nuffsaid

Love you all!!

Sister Petrie 

Zone Conference!!

March 7, 2016

It has been an great week! :)

We had to spend a lot of time preparing for zone conference this week! It was on Wednesday, and it was great! We gave a training on the importance of repentance. It's been really neat to see our mission focus back on the basics recently. Sometimes we get so caught up in other details of missionary work...but the basics always work the best! We were very prepared for our training, and we invited a lot of people to share their experiences with repentance...which really brought a special spirit to the meeting! I was reminded of the importance of repenting daily, even as a missionary!

We also had exchanges this week :) YAY. I love exchanges, and I love our sisters dearly. We got to exchange with the Jackson sisters, and they are whitewashing the area (they're both new to the area) and also Sister Hulme is training! Needless to say...it's kind of stressful for them! But they are handling it like pros. I loved being with Sister Desmond for the day! She reminded me of that pure faith that new missionaries have. I really needed to feel that faith again, and remember that it really is in the Lord's hand! I'll be honest, it's really hard to be on my last transfer! I have just loved my mission more than I can describe. I needed to remember that I can have just as much faith in the next phase of life as I did when I was just starting out :)

Sister Desmond and Me!  She's adorable!

My mission is a constant reminder of how much joy comes from bringing others to Christ :) I feel joy from having the gospel, but that FULL joy and overflowing happiness comes when I see others come to Him as well! I think that's why need to be sealed to our families--so we can bring them to Christ and into the celestial kingdom and feel that fullness of joy. Everyone has someone that they need to bring! For me right now, it's the random strangers on the street. Later in life, it will be my family, and my future children. It's all the same, amazing work, and it brings more joy than anything. I LOVEEE THE GOSPEL.

Us taking the ferry across the Mississippi! We may have gotten a little lost....

Our Nissan Rouge on the ferry :)

Amazing blessings of a mission

February 29, 2016

I can't believe it's only been a week. It just seems like so much has happened!

Sister Weldert is here! And she is awesome. She is handling the change in area/assignment like a boss!! She's already teaching me a ton. She is a super bold missionary, and reminds me the importance of talking to everyone. She's seriously great, from Idaho, and such a prepared missionary. Love her lots, already :)

I picked her up on Tuesday, and we went straight to work! We had an appointment with the O. family, and it was fantastic! H. had done his reading, and he had so many questions. He's starting to have that thirst for the gospel, which is so awesome to see! We had a couple other awesome lessons that day as well!

We were able to see almost 100 percent of our investigators this week, which was amazing! We had a ton of just really powerful, uplifting lessons. And find a couple new people to teach! One was the G. family, which we are super excited about. The father is a member, and the mom and the youngest son, J., are not. The dad was super excited to have us over, he stopped us at the church a couple weeks ago and asked us to come see his family. He said he's ready to be active and living the gospel, and wants his youngest son to be baptized as well. I'm just amazed at how much the gospel brings happiness. It's so clear sometimes! I love it.

It's been great getting to know our sweet sisters! We have 5 sets this transfer, and 3 of them are training! Which is always so fun. The new sisters seem so happy and full of excitement to be missionaries :) I can't WAIT for exchanges with them!

I had a neat experience this week at district meeting, which I had the opportunity to bear testimony of in MLC the next day. I was asked to lead the district in reciting D&C 4, which I hadn't done for a couple months! I've always been a little intimidated by verse 6, "Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence." Sometimes it's tempting to see that as an overwhelming checklist of virtues we need to strive for and obtain on our missions. But as I read that with all the missionaries, I suddenly had a perspective change--suddenly I saw that as a list of blessings that I've received on my mission! I remembered all the times that God has given me the faith I needed to see a miracle. When He's given me that extra strength I needed at the end of the day to be truly diligent to the end. I thought of all the people he's taught me to truly, deeply love. I thought of that boost of patience I received when an investigator just needed a little more time, or when the work was slow. When he's humbled me with his blessings. Those many, many people in my life that I now think of as brothers and sisters, because I've been blessed to serve them. And I was completely overwhelmed with gratitude! I realized the extent of the enabling power of the Atonement in helping me become a consecrated, Christlike missionary. AHHH. I am just so grateful. It's all come from Him! I love what my mission has taught me.

We had a fantastic Leadership Council on Friday. It was all themed around repentance, both our repentance and our investigators. It reminded me that enduring to the end is repenting to the end. I'm excited to teach that in our upcoming trainings and exchanges this next couple weeks!

I failed at taking pictures this week, but here is one of sister Weldert with a BRAND NEW CAR. 2016 Nissan. yeahhhh we're spoiled :)

Sister Weldert and our new car!!

Love you all!

Sister Petrie

Starting Transfer 13!!!!

February 22, 2016

Oh my goodness. This week has been insane! But amazing. Hopefully this email isn't too all over the place.

Shout out to my amazing companion, Sister Sommer, who is boarding her flight home RIGHT NOW. It was another really hard goodbye this morning...that girl changed my life! But it brings me so much joy to see her move on to the next phase of her life...returning with honor! Seriously she was an incredible example to me of a sister that worked hard to the VERY end. She gave her all to the mission, and the blessings that came from it are amazing! She blessed so many lives, and I look to her as an incredible example of how to end a mission right :)

Me and Sis. Sommer - Aren't we not cute. I love her!

Right now I'm in Glen Carbon with Sister Williams (Centralia sister) and Sister Furniss (my MTC buddy)! We are all waiting to pick up our new companions tomorrow morning :) Sister Williams has been with sister Sommer and I since Thursday, which has turned out to be an amazing blessing! She is the sweetest sister ever, has only been out for 5 months, and her mission has been eventful! She was training last transfer, and her trainee decided to return home on Thursday :( So she has been hanging out with us, and we have been working Glen Carbon and Centralia! What an adventure. She seriously kept us positive and sane this last week, with all the craziness of Sister Sommer leaving. I'm so grateful for her! She will be training again in Centralia, and I am so excited for her.

So on Saturday, all 3 of us spent the entire day in Centralia! It was paradise. Best throwback ever! I love and miss that place with all my heart, just like all of the rest of my areas! The best surprise was being able to visit the P'S, who are as amazing as ever! Both J. and R. are doing so well. They are Sunday School teachers and J. is in Young Women. They told me they are progressing towards being sealed in the temple, and invited me to come when they are sealed later this year in the Salt Lake temple! So much joy. I can't even. AH! I love them so much, they taught me what Christ's love really is. I'm starting to realize how long-term the joy of missionary work is. These people--companions, converts, members--will FOREVER mean everything to me, and we will all continue to progress together! That's real joy. I'm so grateful!

The P Family!

We were also able to see the M.'s (my missionary grandparents!!) and eat at Cracker Barrel again, just like old times. Man. I love these dear Centralia people.

We had some amazing lessons this week, I would need another 10 pages to tell about them all. It's just been a miracle to see all of our amazing investigators progress so well in the gospel. I love this area! It's just teaching me to deeply love people, all over again.

Highlights: 1. D. coming up to us at church, and saying "Oh by the way, I prayed about March 20th as a baptism date, and my answer was YES." Oh my heavens I love her. 2. Everyone crying in C.'s lesson as we testified of the Savior and His love, and Sister Sommer giving her her favorite picture of Christ as a parting gift. SO TENDER. 3. Picking up a part-member family this week! 3. Dumpster diving for the keys....YIKES. That may be a story for later. 4. Wearing fake mustaches and taking selfies and laughing until we cried....good times with Sister Williams!

Mustache photo!

I am so ready for this next transfer, and so excited. So many miracles, just waiting to happen! :) :) :) I totally forgot, my next companion will be Sister Weldert, who is one of OUR rockstar sisters in Sikeston! She's amazing, and she is a fantastic missionary. I'm so excited to have her as my companion! I have a feeling...it's going to be a good transfer!!

Our District!