A Week of Miracles!!

Selfie with a Previa. That's my car!!! :)

January 19, 2015

People I love.

It was a week of many miracles. So so many! here are just a couple.

B. committed to a baptismal date, February 7th! We taught her on Tuesday, but it was more like Heavenly Father taught her and we got to watch! We started by reading in the Book of Mormon, 1st Nephi 3. "I will go and do!" says Nephi. B. has been hesitant about baptism, especially about setting a date. But we tried to help her understand that if she had the faith to commit, God would provide a way. Sister J., the member we brought, bore and incredible testimony about the power of baptism. B. was still hesitant, but she had a smile on her face as we talked about it! Finally, we asked her. "B., will you be baptized on Febuary 7th by someone holding the proper authority?" Even as the words, "Yes, I will", were coming out of her mouth, we watched her receive her answer that this was the right thing to do! She BEAMED. She was so excited!! She prayed to close the lesson, and she thanked God for answering her prayers about whether to be baptized, and about which church was the right one! We were on cloud 9 coming out of that lesson. God answers prayers! Sometimes he waits for us to "go and do" before the answers come. But they do come! 

 J. had a birthday! We made a caaaaaake :)

One more incredible story.

Wednesday evening, we had a lesson with our investigator, N. in Hoopeston, 30 minutes north of Danville. We were halfway there, in Rossville, when she texted us saying it wasn't going to work out. :(  We will a little frustrated, but decided to contact a referral from church headquarters in Rossville. However, our GPS took us to the wrong house, and wrong street. We asked for directions. But it was still the wrong street. The roads were icy, we were slipping everywhere, it was dark, and I also dropped the phone outside and forgot about it, so we had to go back and look for it! Then found the street, but there were no house numbers!!! All of this took almost an hour! Needless to say, we were exhausted and cold and frustrated, and felt like we were wasting our time. So we parked the car, and said a prayer, asking God to help us find the referral, or send us somewhere else. While we were praying, a car pulls into the driveway of the house we are in front of. We feel prompted to ask these people for help. So we approached them as they were getting out of the car, and asked if they knew a L. M. The woman answers that she IS L. M., and proceeds to invite us into her house! Despite the barking of many dogs, we sat down and had an incredible lesson about the Book of Mormon. Her and her husband, R., soaked it all up and wanted more! They committed to read the Book of Mormon and learn more about our church. We are teaching them again this week!

I am just overwhelmed with how much God loves us! All of that losing our way, slipping and sliding, dropping the phone, was for a purpose. The timing was so perfect that it was clearly planned by Heavenly Father. Also, I love the idea of sacrificing our warmth, time, comfort, dignity, whatever, for these new investigators! It made me love them so much more, and want their success so badly! Opposition in all things. Truly the baptisms, the spirit-led lessons, the love, and the growth that happen on a mission mean nothing without the dropped appointments, the rejection, the heartache, the frustration, and the weakness. God is showing me what real happiness is!

Bishop F. got released yesterday!! It feels like he was MY bishop. We are all so sad. I love that man! The new Bishop, Bishop B., will be fantastic though.

I love you all!

J. is the cutest. He is getting baptized on February 8th!!

Miracles and Answered Prayers!

We conquered that snow!!!

January 12, 2015

Lovely friends.

What a wonderful week, filled with miracles!! I love where I am serving, and those I serve!

Some highlights from a wonderful week:

Snow!! We are finally getting lots of it in Illinois! Not quite as crazy as NH snow...but I was glad I knew how to shovel! :) 

Tuesday and Wednesday we probably shoveled 5 driveways/walkways. Great service opportunities!

B. Thanks for your prayers for her!! She is progressing, slowly but surely! She was at church yet again this week, and we had one of the most spirit-filled lessons I've ever been in! We taught her about keeping the Sabbath Day holy. The miracles happened when she started bearing her own testimony! We asked her how she felt when she came to our church. She said, "It's different...but so good. I can't describe it, but mostly i feel peace." In that moment I just felt so much love for her. Here is a woman, living in a shelter, worrying about unsupportive children, searching for God, coming from a very difficult past, facing knee surgery, and the message God wants her to receive at His church is peace. It is so simple and beautiful. God knows us perfectly. The gospel message is for everyone, and it is also for THE one. The individual. It can help YOU with YOUR personal struggles. I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!

S! She's a new investigator for us this week, but she has been taught all the lessons before! She is a member referral from Bishop Fulton. She lives over in Covington, with her little son named Q., nicknamed "Bam-Bam" Bishop explained that nickname by showing us a huge bruise on his shin, caused by a flying toy penguin :) I can't explain how much I already love her and her little son. We asked her why she wanted to meet with missionaries again, and she told us it was because she wanted to prepare to be baptized. We were like, "we can help you with that." :) haha we are SO excited for her!

My favorite B children!!!! Practicing to be missionaries!!

God answers prayers!! I know that because I have been praying for opportunities to be more diligent...and I have had PLENTY of opportunities. MULTIPLE times this week when it's been an exhausting day, and all I want to do is just sit down for a bit, the spirit has prompted me to get up and keep going, at the same time letting me know that THIS was my opportunity to develop the Christlike attribute of diligence. The miracle is that every time I follow those promptings, it gets easier. Heavenly Father is making a more diligent missionary out of me...and I love it love it love it. I love the miracle of change and progression. The Lord provides a way for us to fulfill his commandments.
We had zone conference this week! It was incredible. I wish I could share all I learned! They had me do a musical number (said in an El Bandito accent). :) I did a piano arrangement of "for the beauty of the earth" (Sister Biddle's request)

Sunday was beautiful. It was so amazing to sit on the stand (i gave a talk!) and watch B., S., and M. all walk in. And just feel so much LOVE for them all! I love being a missionary.

That poem from the Book of Virtues video!!!

I love you all. A lot!! But remember God loves you more.


Sister Petrie

Happy New Year!

Tracting in the Rain

January 5, 2015

Family and Friends! I love you all.

It's been a good week. Tues and Wed were hard...I was sick again!!! :( I think I may have eaten something bad in the fridge...I need to start keeping track of how old my food is haha.

I am doing SO GOOD though!! I just kept getting excited this week that Sister Biddle and I are staying together and working in Covington.

I hope you all had a great new year! I made SO many goals! I might have overwhelmed my self a little haha...but I am excited. It's crazy to think that this whole year, I'll be on my mission! I love LOVE the thought of that. I'm excited to learn and grow from these wonderful people! One of my goals is to work on developing the Christlike attributes, one by one, over the course of the year! there are 9 attributes and 8 and a half transfers...so one per transfer!

I will highlight of few of the awesome things that happened this week.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYERS. We hadn't been able to get a hold of B all week! It's like she literally dropped off the face of the earth. Phone off, not home, nothing! We were worried she had just up and moved to Chicago! So we prayed a WHOLE lot that somehow, B. would call us so we could continue to teach her! Sure enough, Saturday morning, she called!! We were so happy! It's just something small, but It showed me that God cares enough about my prayers to help B. give us a call! Anyway, she set up an appointment with us, invited herself to church again, and showed up looking super spiffy and awesome! We took a picture :)

Miss B!

Testimony meeting. it was INCREDIBLE this sunday!! It was perfect for Bernice. Jasmine, her friend, who joined the church in July, stood up and bore her testimony about how that gospel had changed her and how she knew it was true! Then Sister Schendel, her fellowshipper, got up and did the same thing. Our new District Leader, Elder Odom, bore his testimony about his conversion story 2 years ago and Sister Biddle and I both bore testimony as well. It was just POWERFUL in the meeting because we were talking about Jesus Christ and his Atonement, and as our investigator's niece, little Z., puts it, "whenever I talk about God and Jesus, I feel the Holy Spirit!" I love how true this church is!

R. AND J.! This is the family we started teaching a couple weeks ago, and they are AMAZING! We met with them twice this week. How do I even describe their awesomeness? They are so so full of a desire to learn about God. Like it says in Mosiah 2:9, they've opened their ears, their hearts, and their minds to God's word, and the mysteries of God are being unfolded to their view! We read 1 Nephi 1 with them, and challenged them to read the 2nd chapter, they did, and came back with notes they had taken and questions they had, and ways they could apply it to their lives! I have a testimony of reading with investigators. The Book of Mormon is SO POWERFUL and it is so real! Both accepted the invitation to be baptized. We are so excited for them!

I also have a testimony of kneeling prayer. We had one with R. and J. and all 4 of their boys, J. (10), J. (8), J. (6), and J. (5) (they are SO CUTE) after both lessons. Kneeling in that family prayer, with R. praying, and all his little boys listening, there was NOTHING more powerful! I felt the spirit testify of the power of families. God loves that little family!!

I LOVE YOU ALL. I can't express the love. Remember how much God loves you!

Sister Petrie

A New Year!!!!

We moved a couch out of our apartment this week

December 29, 2014

Family!

THANK YOU so much for all the pictures! I looooved seeing all the fun things you did in Arizona. So super cool! Sister Biddle's family skyped from Gilbert...so you guys were super close haha!

So all that stuff I said about transfers being really predictable here...scrap it all, because we got transfer calls this Saturday and Sister Biddle and I are staying here together for another transfer!! I can't even express how blessed I feel! We both wanted her to stay, but didn't think it would happen, because it rarely ever does! But, here we are, and we are both super pumped about this next transfer!

I think my favorite person to tell the news to was M. She did NOT want Sister Biddle to leave. When we called her to tell her we were both staying, her voice got super high and squeaky and emotional. "what? YAY! YAY! God answers prayers!" hahaha she is the cutest!

Something else exciting is that we'll both get to serve in Indiana together! There were 3 areas in the ward, but now the Covington elders both got transferred out, so we get to cover Indiana!

We get to serve in Indiana

This week was so wonderful! Will you all pray for B.? She is doing so well! We've been reading the Book of Mormon with her. She's been hesitant about baptism and especially about a date, and even about coming to church. Then one day we sat down and just listened and ask questions, praying for the ability to discern her needs. We realized that her problem was not being able to understand the Book of Mormon!! She said she's been trying to read it but stopped because it was too difficult to understand. She is excited about praying to know if it is true, but she gets confused every time she reads it! So we started reading with her, explaining passages, and suddenly she is our fastest-progressing investigator!! She is wanting to come to church and get baptized! She is super happy every time we come over, instead of avoiding lessons with us. I am so grateful that the spirit helps us discern the needs of our investigators. We can't do this work without it!

Sister B.  She wore a Manchester shirt for me!

I love you all! Make this new year a year that's focused on Christ! He brings the most happiness! As brother P. (gospel doctrine teacher) says, "we don't choose Christ just once. We need to choose him every moment of every day." I want my choices to reflect my love of the Savior! He is so incredible.

Love you all.

Sister Petrie

Danville District

Merry Christmas!!!

I got a plan of Salvation shirt!!!

December 22, 2014

Merry Christmas family!!!

I know you all will have a great one.

There's no better time to be a missionary! People LOVE talking about Christ and feeling His spirit! Sister Biddle said this week, "I LOVE being a missionary! We literally dish out happiness all day!!" She's the cutest, and she is so so right!! When we go out and walk the streets of danville every day, I feel like we're trying to hand out hundred-dollar bills. The trick is getting the people to recognize how valuable they are...But once they do recognize it, they can't thank God enough!!

B. came to church this week!! We were so so so excited! :) We hope to get her a baptismal date soon. Pray for her!

There were so many great parts of this week. One was exchanges with Sister Sommer!!! Sister Biddle and Sister Sommer's companion got to go to the temple this week! (they get to go at their halfway mark) They were gone overnight so I got to spend the day in Rantoul with Sister Sommer :) She is EXCELLENT. she is a new missionary, she's only been out 1 more transfer than I have! We decided that putting new missionaries with new missionaries is an awesome idea:) We got each other all fired up again about missionary work! I realized that I never want to loose that new missionary fire. That fire is faith, and it leads to miracles and change! i LOVE being a missionary!

Me and Sister Sommer

We started a FAMILY with 4 boys and they are golden and oh so wonderful!! I can't tell you how badly I've wanted to teach a family!! They have so many questions and they love the scriptures so much. I LOVE THEM. R. and J. are the names of the parents. God loves them so much!

Another life-changing experience this week. HOLY COW I wanted to cry! I think I told you that M. referred us her friend for us to teach...her name is R.! We brought her with us to teach R. this week, and it was INCREDIBLE. I don't think there is anything better than teaching the gospel with a recent convert. The moment M. started to bear her testimony about the gospel being true, the spirit just FILLED the room. I am just so so proud of her!! Just pray that she will stay strong! She loves Sister Biddle a LOT and there is a probability of her leaving this transfer since I will be done training...:( :( :( :( .lets just say it will be a sad thing for us all!

SO EXCITED TO SKYPE with you all!! I just want to hear you guys SING.. One of those cute 4-part harmony songs!!!! And Sister Biddle wants to meet you. And if E. has done any mini-missions lately of course I want to hear about those. :)

Sis. L!!  I borrowed a guitar this week and sang her some Christmas carols!

J's Baptism!!

J's Baptism!!

December 15, 2014

People I love!!

Merry Christmas!! I am so excited for this awesome holiday!! I love how everyone is so much more open to feeling the spirit this time of year! I was thinking this week about what you all must be doing...about all the decorations there are to put up, and people to see, and recitals to have (oooh yess I remember these) cookies to make, people to serve, parties to throw, presents to buy, Jesus-tree notes to write, finals to take, snow to shovel, and every other wonderful thing you guys are doing.

This is the first Christmas I've had that hasn't come with stress..and it has been RICH. I wish everyone could experience missionary life! There is just so little worrying and so much loving! A sweet less-active lady we visited yesterday told us, "It's only takes me a moment to feel the spirit of Christmas." I love her advice. One moment, one thought about the love of Christmas, and about the birth of Christ, or about the blessings of this gospel, is all we need to take to feel the wonderful spirit of Christmas! Remember to take that moment. It's like that little bit of brown sugar in the bowl of oatmeal, that makes the whole thing sweet! Holy cow I just did an oatmeal analogy...not sure what the mission is doing to me! :)

Missionary work is all about moments! We had a hard week with many fall-through appointments, but here's a moment that sweetened the whole week!

A couple weeks ago, our investigator M. was baptized. Yesterday, her son J. was baptized as well! The best part of the baptism was after J. was confirmed, and when he got up to bear his testimony. He started out a little nervous and giggling, (he's only 9!) trying to ignore his little friends giggling in the audience. But then the spirit took over...and he bore one of the most powerful testimonies I've ever heard! He said he knew he felt the holy spirit when he was baptized. He said he KNEW he would serve a mission and his younger brother would serve a mission, and that he couldn't wait to share this gospel with the people he'd serve. M. was in the audience with tears streaming down her face, and toward the end J. began to cry as well. He closed his testimony and went and sat next to her and they just hugged. I just felt how true this gospel is, and how much it brings families together. Wow. I just feel so so so so SO lucky to have taught this wonderful family! Now J. and M. can keep each other strong!

We had an EXCELLENT ward Christmas party on Saturday! Lots of fun pictures :) It was North Pole Express themed, and it was SO cute and clever! They made me play a piano solo at the end..yikes that was scary! I seriously LOVE this ward. I couldn't have asked for a better place to start my mission!

A lot of people are struggling. If you could pray for M., and for B., and J., and M., and R. and J., that would be awesome! All these people are so wonderful!

Have a super duper week.

Sister Petrie

L.! She's so awesome!