A Week of Gratitude!

November 24, 2014

Dear people I love!

It's Thanksgiving week! And we are so incredibly blessed. Today...I am just overwhelmed with the feeling of how blessed I am! My heart is so tender with the wonderful experiences we've had...I feel so humbled to see God's love for his children.

It was hard to feel blessed at the beginning of this week, to be honest. Lots of our appointments with our investigators fell though at the beginning of this week, and I caught a pretty bad flu/cold virus that put us sort of out of commission Tuesday and Wednesday. :( Don't worry though! I am better now! Sister Biddle is a great nurse :)

It was super hard for me to lay in bed instead of being out, working and teaching. But It gave me a chance to think about how I choose to respond to hard things. When they come, I can either become bitter, or I can become better. Trials are a test, an opportunity to choose to follow Christ. Do I pass the test? If I do...I change for the better! Number one thing I am grateful for: hard things. There are a whole lot of those out there! But for me, hard things are my chance to learn. To give up my will for his.

I am grateful for spiritual promptings. We felt prompted this week to visit B., at the home she works at, instead of where she lives. We had been struggling to get in contact with her! To refresh, B. is a media referral from church HQ. Super sweet, super humble, and super prepared for the gospel. When we contacted her this week, she let us right in, and surprised us by letting us teach her a lesson right there! We taught probably the most scattered and unprepared lesson I've ever taught, about the plan of Salvation. And yet, the spirit was present, and it made up for all our imperfections. We asked her what the Atonement meant to her after we explained it...and she said something that almost made me cry! She said she felt that Christ knew her perfectly as an individual, and that she felt he would have suffered all that pain, if it was just for her. The spirit rushed in and testified to her words...the Lord loves her SO much!! She is ready for baptism. We invited her again to be baptized and she said "I've thought about that...and it's something I am willing to do"!!! :)

I am grateful for the convincing power of the spirit. As missionaries, we really don't teach. We invite the spirit, and then it teaches for us. We visited the K. family this week, a recently less-active family. We got to know them, and then shared Alma 7: 11-12 with them. We asked Sister K. how she's seen the power of the Atonement working in her life through her trials. Then we watched a miracle happen! She told us about all the trials that she's been having lately that have made her angry with God and kept her from church. Then she proceeded to tell us the reasons why God gave her those trials, and what she needed to learn from them. After she had worked this all out, she paused and said, "You know, I think I just had a revelation. I understand now the purpose of what I've been going through." And then, "You'll be seeing us at church next Sunday." The spirit taught and challenged her, we simply opened the scriptures to invite it! So cool!

I'm grateful for family.
I'm grateful for Sister Biddle. Sometimes I pretend to be mad and President Morgan for giving me such a fantastic trainer...now I never want her to leave! :)
I'm grateful for this wonderful area. It is teaching me so much.
What are you grateful for? :)

Update on a couple other investigators-B. is avoiding us again! People's agency is very hard for missionaries sometimes. Not sure why still.
-N. and L. - not sure if I told you about them. A mom and a daughter-she is the sister of a recent convert, M. Pray for them. I've never met a family that is going through such a hard time. They need the Lord's help...It's beyond us missionaries! I love them so much!

We drove up to Champaign, IL a couple times this week for stake conference! SO GOOD.

Decorating cookies

Picture-sorry it's a bad one haha. On Pday last week, Bishop took us 6 missionaries to the festival of trees here in Danville! We decorated christmas cookies :)

Have an awesome week!! I'm so excited for this week! Lots of good things coming!

Sister Petrie
brielle.petrie@myldsmail.net

Transfers and a Baptism!!!

November 17, 2014

 I'm having the hardest time believing I've been on my mission for 6 weeks, a whole transfer! At least once a day Sister Biddle and I comment on how fast time is going, how much we love serving together in Danville, and how badly we never want to leave! :) I am so blessed with such a wonderful area. 

Transfer calls were this Saturday! It was pretty much a given that both Sister Biddle and I would stay here for another transfer because I'm training, but it was still nerve-wracking answering that phone call! My district leader, Elder Moore, is being transferred to MO, and that makes us all sad! He is fantastic and we are all going to miss him. I learned so much from him about exact obedience and working diligently. 

Danville District with the Zone Leaders

We had a BAPTISM Thursday!! It was both mine and Sister Biddle's first. M. is SO EXCELLENT. The Lord loves her so much...I can't even explain. See the picture attached...I was a lot happier than I look, I promise!! Just before the baptism, Sister Biddle and I were at the church filling up the font. I had a quiet moment to think about M. and what this all meant. I couldn't shake the feeling that there were angels there! Also I felt the incredible worth of ONE soul. The baptism was small, it was short and sweet, but it meant the world to M., and it meant the world to her father in heaven. Pray for her sweet, sweet self! She will face some hard things, but she is SO strong! Her smile when she came up out of the font said it all. I just love her!

M.'s baptism

So many details I could cover about this week!! I wish I could just bring you all here to experience these wonderful people! We are focusing on meeting our key indicator goals. Not because numbers are important, but because people are. We've seen miracles there! We pretty much jumped for joy when we saw 3 of our investigators walk into sacrament meeting! What a blessing!

If you have spare prayers, continue to pray for B., for B., and for P. :) P. was a sweet lady we met last week! We felt prompted to help her with her groceries, and she ended up really needing it! She called us "blessings from God!" We met her sweet family and told them about what we do. We felt impressed to offer to help them hold a family home evening...they accepted! We are having FHE with them this Wednesday night. We have high hopes, we have been praying to be able to teach and baptize a family! Follow spiritual impressions! They are important.

It snowed this week! We got a cute picture :) Also here is a picture of our district along with the Zone Leaders...I love them SO much.

Snow in Danville!!

Something I am striving to remember...we not only can change, but we ARE changing every day. Our very nature can be changed through the Atonement. Mistakes can be erased! We can become like him! We just need to choose the direction we change by using the opportunities presented by trials and challenges to choose to follow HIM.

I love you all. For reals.

Sister Petrie
brielle.petrie@myldsmail.net

Another week with the people I love!!!

November 10, 2014

This week was FANTASTIC. I wish I were better with descriptive adjectives so you knew just how awesome life is right now!! :) The people we are working with...they make my life!!!

B.. We totally resurrected him as an investigator this week. :) Complete miracle! To refresh you, Brad was a miracle find...we knocked on his door, and 30 minutes later he wanted to be baptized. We had committed him to church, but instead of showing up on Sunday, he left us a note saying this church was not for him. After that we knocked on his door several times, but he ignored us every time. But the Lord works in mysterious ways for sure. Last Saturday, we knocked one more time, and he answered the door! He thought we were someone else and didn't check the peephole haha...but he answered and let us talk to him! He agreed to let us come back, and we did on Wednesday, with a member, Sister Delp. He admitted he had let doubt and fear creep in which is why he didn't come to church. But the moment we opened the Book of Mormon to resolve his concerns, the spirit came into the room. He stopped us and said, "That good feeling--it's back." He said that he knew it would be the biggest mistake of his life if he let this feeling and our messages slip out of his life. He KNEW this church was for him. So slowly but surely, B. is progressing again! He didn't come to church this Sunday, but he is reading and praying. Pray for him! Pray that he can overcome those dark feelings that are holding him back. He is so ready for this gospel!

M. She is getting baptized this Thursday! It's at 3:15, and we are fitting it in between school and a dentist appointment, but she is really doing it!!!! We had so many fantastic lessons with her this week. We taught her the law of chastity, and she basically started teaching the lesson for us, telling us how much she agreed with the church's stance on that principle. At the end of the lesson, she said, "I think my friend would like to hear about this!" She talked to her, and in the next lesson told us that we could meet with her and her friend to teach the lessons! Investigators and new members are seriously the best missionaries. They feel the changing power of the gospel...they understand it so simply and clearly, and they are filled with the joy of it! They can't help but share it with others!

 M's baptismal interview paper!!! WAY exciting

B! B. was a new investigator we picked up this week. She was a Bible media referral but she also knows one of the recent converts we see, J.. We met with her and taught her the Restoration. I KNOW the spirit was there, because she committed to church in the future and baptism at the end of the lesson! The spirit drives people to change...it is the most incredible thing! We are so excited to keep teaching B.

I gave a training in district meeting this week! AH. I was scared, not gonna lie! Almost everyone in my district has been out MUCH longer than I have, but I had to train them on how to be a better missionary!! I learned a LOT preparing and giving that training. I'm grateful for the many chances I'm getting to stretch myself. Someone wise said..."There is little growth in a comfort zone...and there is little comfort in a growth zone." It's possible I've used that quote before but I LOVE it...so there it is again :) The mission is a growth zone...and comfort is pretty hard to find haha! But I LOVE it. Sincerely, this is the happiest time of my life so far. It reminds me that being comfortable doesn't always bring the most happiness...a good principle to remember!

I think my favorite moment of the week was being the substitute pianist in primary on Sunday! I love those beautiful children! Sister Biddle did sharing time last-minute and talked about prayer...she did a fantastic job! She asked awesome questions and the kids' answers were inspired. I know it's so like me to get something deep and amazing out of a small experience like this :) One of the children's comments stuck with me. His name is A., "Jello" for short, and he said, "We pray because God wants to hear our problems. So he can fix them." I love how simple that is! Whoever is reading this crazy letter, just know that God DOES want to hear your problems! As Alma puts it, "He will take upon their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities." Christ's whole purpose is to fix our problems...he wants to succor us so bad!! I see how much he wants to succor B., and M., and B., and that is what drives me to invite them to come to Him. He knows us, and he knows how to help us. His love is powerful!

Sister Biddle with J and J, M.'s sweet kids! I love them!!

Have a fantastic week. Love you all! Thanks for your support!

Happy November...WHAT!?

November 3, 2014

I can't believe it's November. Somebody told me once that the first two transfers of your mission go super slow, and the rest flies by. But honestly, a month has never gone faster in my whole life! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK! :) I feel like I have so much to learn and so little time!

Apologies for the short letter last week! We got a call from an investigator's neighbor, Gus, to go help him bale hay. Haha, welcome to Illinois, right? So all day Monday we stood in a hay cart behind a hay-baling-machine (not sure what that's called) and caught and stacked 40-pound bales of hay that came shooting out of this machine. It was SO FUN, I wish I could show you guys a video! It was a definite WORKOUT and we came away with super sore forearms, pulling hay out of our socks, hair, ears, nose, eyes, and pretty much every other imaginable place haha. Nothing like hard work to get you in a good mood! An excellent picture of us below! :)

Baling hay

It was another week of many fall-through appointments, unfortunately. We having a bit of a hard time starting the fire so to speak in our investigators. They don't seem to feel the desire to change. Any suggestions?

But a definite light in the darkness is M! She is doing fantastic! We are meeting with her several times a week now to prepare for her baptism on November 15. Every lesson seems to go super well, and she feels the spirit often! When we taught her about the Word of Wisdom she said, "Well I drink tea...but quitting that shouldn't be a problem." SO willing! She feels the spirit of this for sure. She is also hilarious! When we brought up what she needed to do prepare for her upcoming baptism, she interrupted us with, "I have GOT to do my hair. No way am I getting it wet like it is!" :)

Her two sons, J. (9) and J. (7), love the gospel as well! They love participation in lessons! They've struggled a lot with my name though haha...somehow 'Petrie' is a really hard name to remember if you never grown bacteria in a dish or seen "Land Before Time". :) In a prayer J. - (7) said the other day he fumbled a bit and said he was grateful for "Sister Biddle and Mr. Peaches." I had a hard time not laughing the rest of that prayer!

The highlight of this week though was definitely the baptism our district had on Saturday! The elders in Indiana, Elder Moore and Elder Lythall, baptized a little family! They have two little sons and are literally the cutest most wonderful family ever. We got Megan to go to the baptism, and it was well worth it! The spirit was so strong. I'll never forget the feeling of watching the father walk into the chapel after being baptized, in a brand-new suit and his little baby on his shoulder. I cried because the spirit testified so strongly that they were on their way to becoming a forever family! I KNOW this gospel is true, and I have a strong testimony of God's love being manifest through the restoration of the gospel. As J. (the father) said, he knew "the word" was true because of the good he felt inside. That spirit is so so sweet, and it is a gift from God, a promise, a foretaste of the joy of eternal life. As we grow through hardships, we learn to experience it more deeply, until it is perfect love that casts out all fear and darkness! Look up "Earnest" in the Bible Dictionary. WAY cool!

Halloween here was pretty great!! How was it for you all? We had to be in by 5 PM so we played the piano, made brownies and cookies, and caught up in our journals :)

Keep being so awesome! I am praying for you all. Thanks everyone for being so wonderful and supportive. The world is just full of gems!!

Sister Brielle Petrie

brielle.petrie@myldsmail.net

PS. Oh my goodness I forgot! For the baptism they called me a couple days before and asked me to do a piano solo! Sweeet :) i don't have any music so I kind of just made it up...an arrangement of "I Am a Child of God." SO GRATEFUL for awesome moms who taught me piano haha!

Roller Coaster Life!!

October 27, 2014

I don't have a ton of time this week unfortunately!

We had a bit of a rough week. It started out by finding a GOLDEN investigator. His name was B., and I have never met anyone so prepared to hear the gospel! He knew God had a plan for him. We taught him the plan of salvation,and committed him to be baptized in the first lesson! Then in the second lesson we taught the restoration, and committed him to a DATE. Sister Biddle says she has never had that happen! We were blown away...it was miraculous. 

We even had a member fellowshipping B.! But on the day he was supposed to come to church, we got a note instead...saying the Mormon church was not right for him. We were devastated. He was so prepared to hear the gospel, and he had felt and recognized the Holy Spirit telling him this was the right path. He KNEW the church was true! We think he probably got some mis-information about the church. He won't answer our attempts to get a hold of him now, so we will probably end up dropping him.

We also are dropping two more investigators this week, including M., our miracle find from last week! We think she also got "anti-ed", she doesn't answer any calls or visits.
I am learning a lot. 1. These were STILL miracles. Even though these investigators chose not to accept the gospel at this time, it doesn't mean they were not placed in our path by the Lord. I trust His timing!

2. Gratitude is key. It's easy to feel down when other people's choices are not the best. But we have the TRUTH. We have the complete fulness of the path to happiness! And I have the opportunity to tell others about it! Could life get any better?

3. Success is determined by your use of your own agency. Sister Biddle and I have worked hard, and been obedient. We have taught by the spirit and loved those we taught. So this week was successful! How comforting to know that!
PRAY FOR US! Our goal is to FIND people this week. Pray that we'll be led by the spirit!

That was the hard part of this week...but no worries. We had FUN. Sister Biddle is super funny and we looooove each other so much! #somuchlove #notevenfunny

Sister Petrie and Sister Biddle

The ward had a trunk-or-treat this weekend, and we took some fun pictures! The first is of me and our favorite recent convert, Jasmine, and her cute daughter! She is FUNNY. The other pics are of Sister Biddle and I...just havin' a blast! We love each other, I am so glad I got the best trainer ever!!

I love you ALL. SO SO much! The gospel is true. It changes people if they let it!
Have a great week!

Sister Petrie

#Miracles :)

October 20, 2014

Hey I love you all! Lots and lots and lots!

Sister Biddle is fun and quirky in so many awesome ways, one of which is her love of hashtags! Hence the subject line :) #loveher #whatevenisahashtag? #hashtagtraining #missionlife

But really, this week was incredible! Sister Biddle says miracles happen when you are training, but I hope these miracles never stop!!

Miracle #1: Our Bishop! I seriously can't get over how awesome he is. He joined the church about 15 years (?) ago. He says himself that he is a witness and evidence of how much the gospel changes people. He is 100 percent supporting us as missionaries! He goes to lessons with us even! I am just so grateful for his incredible support of missionary work. His is really the connecting link between us missionaries and the ward members in this area.

Miracle #2: #themiracleofmildred! Wednesday was a hard day! Two people dropped us, one was an investigator (Elijah) and the other was a potential. We felt like everything fell through and we weren't finding those that the Lord would have us teach. On Thursday, we prayed as a companionship for the spirit to guide us to someone we could teach that day. After district meeting and studies, we decided to go out and find some potentials, and ended up street contacting a bit! We found 3 people who were interested! #thatneverhappens... :) Then we tracted a different apartment complex! We had a goal of one new investigator that day, and one other lesson to teach with one baptismal invite. I prayed SO hard that we would be able to get into an apartment and teach a lesson. I promised to work hard and love everyone we met! About 5 doors in, we met Mildred! When we knocked on the door, she called, "who is it?" and we called back, "Jesus people!" (people actually call us Jesus-people here, it is hilarious, but actually true) She opened the door and TOLD US TO COME IN!!! Holy cow, we were freaking out! She then proceeded to tell us that she had been praying earlier that week that she would find some friends that she could talk about God with. UM. Could an answer to prayer be any clearer? We taught her the restoration and invited her to baptism! She's thinking about it, and now we are officially teaching her! WOW. Side note, we also are teaching one of the three people that said they were interested! So I just basically sat there and marveled at how Heavenly Father works! If we have faith and act, he'll answer our prayers. I know it for sure! Miracles still happen.

Miracle #3: Fighting doubt! I got an incredible answer to prayer during personal studies this week. Sister Biddle and I both are trying to get better at not doubting ourselves or this work. Our motto: #banishthedoubt! Elder Sitati said this in mission conference last week and it has changed my life! In my study, I was reading in Alma 49. I was comparing the Lamanites trying to penetrate the Nephites' city to Satan trying to penetrate my mind with doubt. What stopped the Lamanites was the great height of the bank of earth, and the great depth of the ditch surrounding the city. Likewise, what stops the doubt from coming into my mind is the great height of my FAITH, and the great depth of my HUMILITY. Satan tries to pull down our faith and lift us up in pride, and this is when we doubt ourselves! I was able to come up with some specific goals to increase my faith and humility through more obedience and gratitude. The miracle is, I've ALREADY noticed a difference! I know I received an answer to prayer through that scripture study. Scriptures are the language of the spirit, and we learn what Heavenly Father wants through them.

Sisters on exchange

We had exchanges this week! It was AWESOME! See the picture attached :) I went with Sister Fernandez (Sister Training Leader) to Springfield, IL! We got to teach 4 lessons together, and I learned SO much from her about teaching, and about dedicating our lives to the Lord. WOW. She is a gem, and I love her! She is on the far right in the picture :) Sister Biddle stayed in Danville with Sister Martinez, the other Sister Training Leader. We went overnight, Friday-Saturday. I learned SO much! I also missed Sister Biddle a lot, and was reminded of how much I love that girl, and how happy I am that she is my trainer! Pray for her! I learn from her every day.

I love this work! I have never learned so much so quickly in my whole life. I love loving everyone we meet. It's incredible!

Thank you SO much for all your support! Love you all to death!

Sister Petrie

That One Time I Took A Plane To St. Louis ! :)

Sister Morgan and Sis. Petrie

Oct. 14, 2014

I feel like I need a big drum roll to start out this email! I'm in the mission field, and there is so much to tell. I can't believe I'm the same person and that's it's only been a week since I got here! Where to even start??

Maybe from the beginning! :) So after I called y'all from the airport, we took the 3 hour flight to St Louis! No complications there :) When we got there, President Morgan, Sister Morgan, the AP's and office elders were all there to pick us up from the airport! We drove to the mission office, then to the St. Louis temple to take pictures! We all (16 new missionaries) stayed at the mission home that night after an awesome dinner and interviews with the mission president. That night, the AP's stayed up with President Morgan to decide who would train us! Holy cow. I can only imagine the stress...

Next morning were transfer meetings! Oh my goodness I still get chills thinking about it. It was such a crazy experience! They brought all the trainers in as well as everyone being trained...so we kind of got to scope it out so to speak haha!

Then all the missionaries being transferred (about half the mission!) met in the chapel of the Stake center. They made us new missionaries sit up in the choir seats so everyone could stare at us ;) Then one by one (ok I seriously get chills just typing this) we came up to the pulpit, said our name and where we were from, and read the name of our trainer and the area we would be serving. I have never been more nervous in my entire life. :) <-- this is not an understatement. :)

So I read...I'd be serving in Danville, IL with Sister Biddle! :) Then I came down, gave Sister Biddle a hug, and she was my new companion! :) :) Attached is a pic of us!

Sis. Petrie and Sis. Biddle

So Sister Biddle...is AWESOME. I seriously love her to death! No exaggeration. She is literally the sweetest. She is 23, and she's from Snohomish, Washington! She has been out about 7 months, and I am the first person she's trained! She said she was super nervous, but if I do say so myself, she's done a fantastic job so far!! :) She is cute and spacey, so between the two of us hopefully we'll manage to remember a few appointments and get some things done haha... My favorite thing about her is how hard she works at living the gospel and being a missionary! She'll teach me so many awesome things!! If you have any questions about her...please ask! She's really a gem, I couldn't have asked for a better trainer :)

So here we are...in Danville IL! It is a crazy happenin' place! :) Actually though it's super small and there are a lot of less-fortunate circumstances that people live in here. It kind of hits me hard how blessed I am to have the gospel, a family, and a safe house to live in! We cover north Danville. Two other sets of elders are in the Danville ward and together we make up a district. We cover part of Indiana! I am as far east as this mission goes :) So it is a 4-hour drive from the mission home/St Louis to my area! Crazy, right? Who knew I'd end up here! I love it though. There is a LOT of work to be done!

So all week we were working hard! I taught my first 2 lessons on Saturday! It was awesome!! We have two investigators with baptismal dates, M.and E. E. is a teenage kid and super mature! Haven't met M. yet, but hopefully we can help her towards baptism soon! Fun fact, tracking is actually successful here, so we do a lot of it!! Door-to-door strategy, boo-yah! :) Missionary work is SO much fun. I am SO happy to be here and to be working in Danville!

Then on Monday, we had mission conference! That's why I didn't email yesterday :) Normally Monday is still P-day! It started at 10 AM, so we were up at 5:00 AM and on the road for that awesome 4 hour drive! :) We carpooled with sisters in Rantoul, IL. They are awesome! Mission conference was INCREDIBLE. The entire mission was all together (which happens like never) and we heard from Elder Sitati from the 70! Then we watched "Meet the Mormons", which I LOVED and I recommend to all! There is a picture of Sister Morgan and I! I LOVE her. She is just so full of love for all the missionaries!! Bless her soul! Also I got to see all my MTC buds and find out how there areas were going! oh i just LOVE being a missionary!

I wish I could just send all the awesome that has happened over email!! I am just learning so much, number one being my purpose here! I am here because the Lord called me here, and he has a purpose for me! My job is to work my tail off to be worthy of the Spirit, so I can know what He would have me do. Just so excited for this coming week! Sister Biddle is awesome, and I know we can do great things together!

Any questions about my area or anything?? Love to answer questions!

I love you all SO SO much! This church is nothing but truth. I know it for sure! I love my companion, my area, this ward, my district, my mission president and his wife, all the missionaries, and everything here! AH. Can't wait to tell you more next Monday!

Stay awesome. Keep sharing the gospel!

Sister Petrie

Traveling to St.Louis