Another Great Week!

June 22, 2015

Hello there!

We've had another great week. Just this morning. we set goals for this transfer---but first we studied hope. Check out this scripture! "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." -Romans 8: 24-25. With that in mind, we prayerfully set a goal of 5 baptisms this transfer in our area! It's a high goal, but we already have 3 people with baptism dates for this transfer and we HOPE for two more! Over and over in my mission I've seen the power of setting goals in faith and then watching the miracles unfold. Every now and then I'm tempted to think we need to be "realistic", in the sense that we have to limit ourselves based on what that world would think we can accomplish. But real hope lifts us above that! It "maketh an anchor" (Ether 12:4) and connects us heaven, to our Heavenly Father, who is a God of miracles! The reason for our hope is our Savior Jesus Christ, who performed the greatest miracle of all and made all things possible through his Atonement. I'm so grateful for Him! I really believe Heavenly Father wants us to hope for better things. He wants us to see the possibilities! It definitely wasn't "realistic" that S. went from refusing to read the Book of Mormon to attending church every week, or we got 4 referrals in one day after a week of praying for them, or that the S.'s--a whole family--is going to be baptized soon (something I've dreamed of my whole mission). I hope and know this transfer will be an great one.

This week was slightly crazy! Our phone was broken--just a blank white screen. We couldn't see who was calling or texting us, and we could only call certain people! Frustrating. BUT we finally got a new phone, so we are back at this! Also, it has rained for 10 days straight, and on Friday it flooded the whole city! We weren't allowed to drive, so all of Friday we had to stay inside and cancel all our appointments! I'm actually really grateful we had a couple of slow days this week, It gave me an opportunity to refocus on the work and feel the spirit a little more. President Benson says that the spirit often talks to us when we are not surrounded by stress or trying to make it to our next appointment on time. Quiet moments are so important!

Oh man, let me just talk about J. and L. for a little bit. They are the investigators that we literally just happened upon a couple weeks ago, and ended up cleaning up their whole yard with the ward. We talked about Joseph Smith and the Restoration this week, and at the end of the lesson we asked them if they believed this message could be true. L. said absolutely yes, and shared with us that they had just been talking about how they needed help with the yard as we walked up to their house. She said she thought it was a sign from God that they needed our message! I can't imagine how much harder this would have been if we hadn't offered to help them with their yard! I do remember feeling very prompted to ask her if we could help! Service seriously softens hearts, and God knows exactly what his people need. I LOVE J. and L.! They love each other and their 2 little kids so much, it's all I can do to keep from just dumping the whole gospel on them so they can know about eternal families, and temple marriage, and modern prophets and everything! They are just eating it up. BLESSINGS!

N. and C. (S. family) are getting baptized this week! Pray that they will be ready, that they will feel peace. I am so so so excited!

Also, we are getting a mini-missionary for the whole week! Oh man I just think back to my mini-mission and how nervous and excited I was for it, and how much I looked up to the sister missionaries! Now I AM one. What? sometimes I still can't get over the fact I'm a real-life missionary! haha It'll be great!

Sorry we did not do well at taking pictures this week...so we took a library selfie. :) 

Library selfie

I love you all! Have an amazing week.

Sister Petrie

Another transfer in Centralia!!!

June 15, 2015

Hope you are all doing well. We did get transfer calls this week, but I'll be staying another transfer here in Centralia! I may or may not have prayed for that to happen :-) I love it here and I love sister Schow! When they told us we were staying we both screamed! #neverwannaleave :)

I've been learning so much about the power of the spirit lately, and the power of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon challenge we are doing with the ward is inspired! Here's why :) The day we introduced the challenge, both our investigators H. and S. were at church--and both had been praying about reading the book of Mormon/being baptized. Afterwards, they both told us they would take the challenge. So far, they are in 2 Nephi! Then yesterday, H. told a member of the ward that he knows that there is a prophet on the earth today, and in our meeting this week, S. told us that he knows the Book of Mormon is TRUE the more he reads it, and that he is considering being baptized!! We were floored! At first in our meetings, S. refused to pick up the Book of Mormon and H. wasn't even participating in the lessons. Now, because of the spirit and power of the Book of Mormon, they are coming closer to Christ. The light in their lives because of this change is VISIBLE. You can see God's love, changing their hearts! If you have questions, doubts, concerns, or are feeling lost, READ the Book of Mormon. It is of God. I know it!

This week, I had a wonderful moment of testimony. We were teaching our investigator, B., who we've since had to stop teaching. He loves to talk with us, but he kept pulling out all kinds of anti-LDS articles and saying that THIS was the reason he disagreed with our religion. He said that the book of Mormon couldn't be true because of such-and-such, and so he couldn't join our church. When he was done, there was a pause, and Sister Schow looked over at me, and I knew that I needed to leave Him with my testimony. I had no idea what to say, but I opened my mouth and started to talk about Christ and how the Book of Mormon brought me closer to Him. I shared with him the feelings about my Savior that have grown so much in the past 8 1/2 months, and my testimony of the gospel that has come to mean everything to me. I talked for a full 5 minutes, and B. didn't break eye contact or interrupt me once. As I was talking, I felt that promise of "angels round about you" being fulfilled--literally I felt an army of heaven supporting my words and confirming my testimony! I know that that testimony was more for me than for anyone else, because it changed me! All y'all reading this, I hope you know that I KNOW this gospel is true. There is nothing else that can bring this fulness of joy I feel every day! It just is true, and that knowledge is available for all who are willing to test it!

Another miracle this week. Remember the P.'s? Well, because of R.'s example, his daughter has started investigating the church! We taught her the Restoration this week, and she committed to be baptized on the same day as her dad! I can't even express the joy I feel when we get to see FAMILIES, coming closer to Christ and each other by finding the restored gospel of Christ. We are blessed to be teaching 3 part-member families who are working towards baptism. What a blessing!!

Gotta go now, but I love you all!

Sister Petrie

Here is our last district meeting...a Luau party! :) We're nerds :)

Miracles Everyday!

June 8, 2015

So this morning I was reading Elder Neil L. Anderson's talk from this conference, "Thy Kingdom Come." In the notes section, he shares a really neat story! He shares about how he felt the hand of God in the preparation of his conference talk, when he realized that without reading his talk, they'd chosen to sing "Come O Thou King of Kings" as an intermediate hymn, right before he spoke! The theme of his talk and the theme of the song were exactly the same...the hand of the Lord is in even the general conference program! I just thought it was way neat that even an Apostle of the Lord is amazed at the Lord's tender mercies and his small miracles! Those are the type of miracles we get to see every day.

The "burn pile" after we cleaned up our new investigator's yard. It looks awesome!!

Ok, so do you remember the S.'s from last week? They were at church again yesterday! We found out this week something really neat about how we met them! Before we met them, both D. and H. (the parents) had been each praying separately to know what church they should take their family to. D.'s a member, and she was considering coming back to the LDS church. In fact, she knew exactly where it was located and drove past it all the time! So it was on her mind. H. felt a "call" to be a teacher in a church, but wasn't sure where. That's when Sister Brimley and I walked up and knocked on their door! They both took that as an answer to prayer, which is neat, because that day everything fell through and we felt completely led to them! We're not sure, but we're thinking H. is considering being baptized on the same day as his daughters :) :) Oh man, this work is so great!!

Also, we had a neat answer to prayer this week! We've been praying for more referrals all week. Then, on Sunday, we received THREE referrals from members, and then a lady, not a member, drove 45 minutes to show up at our church! What/?? hahaha I just can't help but smile at how good God is to us!

Brother P. decided to be baptized on August 1st!! He is such a good man. I really want to be here for the baptism...wouldn't it be neat to baptize someone with my last name? (almost :))

We just had a good, fun week :) Eating at Cracker Barrel with our missionary "grandparents" the M.'s, getting bags of groceries from ward members when we weren't feeling well, working 2 hours to clean up an investigators yard, having a photo shoot under a tunnel of trees, baking cookies at the Relief Society president's house, getting fed deer meat, going running in the mornings--life is just good! I love this ward, and I'm crossing my fingers that I'll stay another transfer! 

Cracker Barrel with the missionaries!
A random person ended up offering to pay for our meal.
How cool is that??

I love you all!

Sister Petrie

The M.'s told us to make a "funny" face and we both just look stressed...haha

The Fruit is sweet!

June 2, 2015

Family!

"And because of your diligence and your faith and your patience...by and by ye shall pluck the fruit thereof, which is most precious, which is sweet above all that is sweet..." -Alma 32:42

Exchanges!  Love these ladies!

D. Todd Christofferson came to our mission yesterday, the THIRD time in my mission we've had a mission conference! It was incredible!! He is just a good good man. The way he spoke reminded us of the Savior, so gentle, so meek, but so powerful!! He IS an apostle of the Lord, I know this for sure!

One thing he said really stuck with me. As missionaries, so often we get caught up in being "busy". We go from lesson to lesson, to less-active, to tracting, to meetings, so often just being content with the activity itself. But as Elder Christofferson said, "You can have activity without accomplishment." He challenged us to not be content with being busy, but to work for the fruits of our labors. What is the whole goal of being a missionary? To bring people to Christ! I want to focus on that fruit, the conversion of those we teach.

That being said, we have seen so many incredible fruits this week! The S.'s came to church this week! We were so thrilled, the entire family was there, even H.! We were also able to set baptismal dates with N. and C. for June 27th! The spirit is really working on this family! Darlene even bore her testimony to the rest of her family about this being the true church. We are so so exited for them!

Also, our investigator S. was at church! N., his wife, is a member of the church. We LOVE N.!! She is a rock in her family and is bringing her husband and her grandchildren, and her daughter, into the church! S. has been very hesitant taking the lessons, and until now would not read the Book of Mormon. However, in our lesson this week, the spirit was working in his heart. He came to church on Sunday, and LOVED it! We presented a Book of Mormon challenge to the ward, and set a goal to read it as a ward by October General Conference. Afterwards, S. came up to us and said that he was going to take the challenge! Now, every night, N. is holding family scripture study with her grandkids and with S.!! We feel so so blessed.

This Book of Mormon challenge itself is a miracle! We saw the miracles it brought to our mission when we did it earlier this year, so we decided to challenge the ward to all read it together. I am soooooo excited about this! When we presented it to the ward, Bishop W. jumped up right afterward and totally ran with it! He spoke for a good 20 minutes to the ward about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and got the really excited about the challenge! It's just a testimony to me that this is exactly what our ward needs right now. We are teaching so many investigators that are ready to be baptized into the ward, and we need the ward to be strong to receive them! Oh man. Good things are coming for the Centralia ward!

I love you all. So much! The gospel is true.

Sister Petrie

Reunited with Sister Dahlberg!  She's hilarious!

Sister Biddle again! I just love her tooooo much!

Dorky glasses picture...