Transfers!

Our district!

 July 27, 2015

I don't have buckets of time today, transfers are upon us and there's a lot of packing to do!

Yes, I am getting transferred :( I didn't think any area would be as hard to leave as Danville, but it is going to be every bit as hard to leave Centralia. I seriously LOVE this place! The hardest thing will be to miss the 4 baptisms we have in the next 3 weeks. S. L., R. P., S. S., and H. S. will all be getting baptized before the 15th of August!! I can't even express how much I LOVE them. They have all come so far, and their testimonies are so solid. AH! Why do I love them so much??? 

N. and S. L.. I can't even express the love I have for these people.

I'll be headed to O'Fallon, Missouri to be companions with Sister Hayden! Another really scary and unexpected part of that is that I'll be a Sister Training Leader, or an STL this next transfer. To say the least, I feel very nervous and unprepared. Extra prayers would be appreciated!

We saw miracles upon miracles this week, including setting a baptism date with B. and H., H. QUITTING SMOKING and J. L. (N. L.'s grandson) wanting to come to church and take the missionary lessons. This area is so ready for another amazing transfer! oh and PS, Sister Schow will be TRAINING a new missionary in this area next transfer! She is going to do so well, and this area is going to continue exploding! 

THE P. FAMILY!!! Is it possible to die from loving people???

Sorry to be so short, here's some pictures of the people I adore here in Centralia. 

Sister F., the relief society president

A. M.. We're hanging out after the mission :)

MOOSE. He is going to the temple August 11! I love him.

S. S.. How adorable is her little girl. 

The Temple!!

A beautiful day at the temple!!

 July 20, 2015

Hello there. :)

We've had another super week in Centralia! I just feel like I have nothing to complain about and everything to be grateful for. Ah. I love this place.

Thursday I went to the temple! It was so wonderful and perfect. I got to be there with all of the wonderful MTC ladies, in fact almost a quarter of the mission was there! Some at their halfway mark, the rest going home. The mission is having a huge turnover in the next couple of months, LOTS of missionaries going home and lots coming out! This next transfer should be super interesting! 

MTC Ladies at the Temple

Anyway. The temple! I just love love it. We had some opening remarks from the temple presidency in the chapel before the session, and it was amazing. The session was too--there were so many people in tears! I think there is just something about having a room full of missionaries in the temple. I just felt over and over how grateful I was to be serving a mission. I had so many prayers answered that day! I felt so close to my Savior. After the session we went to the Frontenac chapel and had a lunch and testimony meeting. All of the departing missionaries bore their testimony, and each one was so powerful. You could tell they had all grown so much. Their testimonies all seemed to be focused on Christ. We are really getting to know Him on the mission! He's our best friend, in the temple it seemed like he could have just been sitting in the celestial room beside any one of us, the spirit was there! I loved it.

MTC ladies again. Love them!

The rest of the week was amazing. It seemed like Satan was trying a little harder on our investigators this week, and we were able to meet with only a few. But we got to see so many other people!

I really feel like I am growing to LOVE S.. Like really really love him. He is like another Grandpa, we go into our lessons and are able to laugh and cry with him, he tells us everything and we just love him! The gospel is so REAL to S., and I've never met someone rooted so deeply in the Book of Mormon. That Book truly changed him! In his prayer this week, he says, "Thank you for letting me be baptized in your holy name, into your holy church." He is so excited for his baptism. It had to fall on the week after transfers, so I most likely will not be able to be there. Ah! It kind of tears my heart out sometimes. I love that man, and if I came on my mission only to help him change, it's all worth it!

Alright. Last week of the transfer! I can't believe it! We are going to have a good one. I will take pictures of all these wonderful people we are teaching so you can see them too!

Sister Schow made me a temple breakfast :) She is pretty great.

 It looks like Boston temple from this angle, eh? :)

Hey Family!

July 13, 2015

Hey Family!

P is for Petrea road!

Definitely keep sending me those family reunion pictures! They make my DAY. I'm so glad you all are having so much fun. And just curious, how tall is C. now?? He looks like he grew a foot!

It's been another fabulous week! :) Highlight of the week was exchanges on Thursday and Friday. Normally exchanges make me nervous-but this one was great! I got to stay in Centralia and our Sister Training Leader Sister Ewell came to the area for the day. It was interesting because every single appointment we had set up for the day called and cancelled--definitely a test of my faith and diligence. But we ended up having a fantastic day. We got to visit people we almost never get to see, and ended up finding a new investigator! God's plans are always the best plans :) Sister Ewell and I figured out we are pretty much the same person! I love her so much! She loves music, we even had a little primary song jam session :) It was the most relaxing day I've had in a long time, and I realized how grateful I am for my mission leaders. They always love us into doing a little better :) 

Exchange selfie!

I feel like all our investigators are doing so well! We were so blessed this week. The S.'s fed us this week, and H. and D. let us know that they are down to HALF the cigarettes that they were at last week!!! D. said it would take her 4 weeks to get to that point, but it happened in just 1! She said that ever since we all fasted on Sunday for them to quit smoking, the cigarettes have tasted NASTY! We are so proud of them for working towards their goals! AHHHHH I love them so much! Pray for H., he wants to get baptized so badly but needs to quit smoking and coffee first. When we talked about the Joseph Smith this week, we all were taking turns bearing our testimonies of the Restoration. It's amazing how far they have all come.

We had a really neat experience teaching B. this week. Her son S., was there for the lesson. He just got baptized in Fairview Heights ward a month or so ago. We asked him how he knew that the church was true, and he ended up bearing his testimony about the fact that families are forever for about 5 minutes, looking straight at his mom the whole time. I LOVE teaching with recent converts! The spirit was incredible. You could FEEL the truth of the gospel in that moment. The Spirit is so important in conversion.

Also, one of the 7 investigators we started teaching last week, A., committed to be baptized with her daughter! The miracle continues :)

I have an ever-increasing testimony of the importance of inviting everyone to hear the restored gospel. Sister Schow is an amazing example of a missionary who talks to EVERYONE. We offer the gospel to people on the street, Walmart cashiers, construction workers across from our apartment, families of investigators, people in parked cars, people that have the wrong number when they call us, literally EVERYONE. We get rejected a lot, but also Heavenly Father is trusting us more and more with prepared people in our path. At about 9:01 PM last night, we were headed into our apartment for the night, and we decided to talk to a young man who was sitting in his car. Maybe it was a little creepy, but it turns out that we were able to have a short lesson with him. His name was I., he knows a lot of LDS people, and he told us he's always wanted to have the missionary lessons but just has never gotten the chance! It's amazing to me that there are people out there, like I., ready and waiting for the message of the gospel.

This week I get to go to the temple on Thursday for my halfway mark! I am soooooooo excited! :) :)

 Have a fantastic week, I love you all!

Sister Petrie

Me and my awesome STL's, sister Ewell and Sister Sperry

Happy Independence Day!!

Well Hay there. :)

July 6, 2015

Hello Family!

Happy 4th of July! Hope it was a good one. It sounds like you are all having fun at the family reunions! I'm sad to not be seeing all you Petrie's, but this week I realized just how grateful I am to be a missionary, and especially to be in Centralia. The missionary work here is amazing!
This week was fantastic...I just kept realizing how much I love each of the people we're teaching! Like S. She is amazing. She's the P.'s daughter I told you about! She has two of the most beautiful children I've ever seen. She's getting baptized the 8th of August, and we are SO excited. Before our lesson with her this week, we prayed that we would really be able to help her, like really help her feel the spirit and Heavenly Father's love for her. Our prayer was answered the minute we walked in the door. We could tell she'd had a really bad day, just with some family issues she is struggling with. She opened up to us, cried it out, and we listened and loved her. We decided to all go out for ice cream for the lesson, and it was amazing! We really felt like friends, not just missionaries teaching another lesson. The spirit was so strong as we testified of how the Savior has helped us through everything. By the end we were all laughs and smiles, and the spirit of love was strong! Those moments mean everything to me.

We really had to use our faith this week...to find those prepared for the gospel! Do you want to hear a cool story?? We have a transfer goal to keep the amount of people we're teaching at least at 20 when we report our numbers every Sunday night. We started the week at about 23 but when we got to Thursday, we had had to stop teaching almost half of them. Friday morning we had 13 investigators. We prayed and prayed, asking the Lord to help us achieve our goal and find the people he wanted us to teach. We had about an hour and a half Friday morning of time with no lessons, so we just started walking outside our apartment. We talked to everyone we met, said prayers with strangers, passed out Book of Mormons, set return appointments and came back after an hour and a half with 6 new investigators. I have never had something like that happen before! We just thanked Heavenly Father, over and over for blessing us and consecrating our efforts. The second half of the story happened on Sunday night. It was 8pm, and we realized we still needed another new investigator to make our goal. We changed our plans, said a prayer, and went to contact Samantha, a former investigator. On the way there, Sister Schow (she is AWESOME) said, "there are two ladies on that porch over there." I said, "Do we need to stop?" She said 'YES!" and we pulled over. We talked to three awesome ladies, and one of them was completely interested, and became our new investigator!. My favorite part of this story is that we weren't just working with a bunch of numbers. Each one of the 7 was a child of our Heavenly Father who now has the opportunity to learn truth and change their lives. They are 7 wonderful souls that we probably never would have met if we hadn't made that goal. I love all of them!

Did I ever tell you about B. and D. D.? Their story is amazing. A long time ago, B. had his records removed from the church and completely turned away from the church. His life went a little crazy for about 10 years, but one day, they found a note from the sisters on their door, and B. realized how much he needed the gospel. He called the church, and Bishop sent me and Sister Brimley over to their house. We've been teaching him ever since, and yesterday, he was finally re-baptized into the church! The service was amazing. His testimony was so heartfelt, it strengthened MY testimony that the gospel is the only way to happiness. Here's a picture of us!

B. and D. after the baptism :)

The fourth of july was awesome :) :) We went to a carnival in centralia and got to watch fireworks with members that night! It was a fun day. Here's a sparkler picture!

Sparklers!

I love you all, and I love these people we're teaching! Have a fantastic week.

Sister Petrie

These are my favorite little girls in the whole world! (member family)

Halftime!

June 29, 2015

People I love!!

Centralia Bench!

This week, I hit my 9 month mark, which means I'm officially halfway through my mission. Realizing this on Wednesday led me to do a lot of pondering and praying, and possibly some deep breaths to keep me from having a panic attack. :) :) Not really, but I have noticed that it's easy for me to look back and stress out that I haven't changed enough, haven't worked hard enough, haven't loved enough, haven't achieved all my goals or done everything I've wanted to. 

Zone conference on Thursday answered a lot of my prayers. The spirit was so strong as our missionary leaders taught us about going back to the basics--we can know we are successful when we continually apply the basics of the gospel or of missionary work. There is power in simplicity! Then President Morgan stood up and talked to us about achieving our baptismal goal for the year--we are halfway through the year and a little behind. He said, "Elders and Sisters...it's halftime". Anyone who has played sports knows what you do at halftime-you take a minute, re-evaluate your progress, and if you are behind in score you recommit to be better, score points and win the game. It's my halftime, and as he talked I felt so much peace about our mission goals AND my personal goals! I've had a wonderful mission so far. I've grown so much! I'm ready for an excellent 2nd half, and I'm committed to do my best and not stress! What a BLESSING it is to be on a mission. I love this work!

N. and C. got baptized this week, and it was amazing. The program was amazing, and everything just went perfectly. The best part was actually the confirmation on Sunday, they were both so cute and happy, and gave each other a big hug right in front of the whole congregation :) It was also such a blessing to see H. and D. get emotional and so excited about their daughters' decisions to be baptized. You could tell they felt the spirit so strongly! I am so excited for the miracles we have yet to see in this family. :)

After the baptism! This is the S. family :)

One neat experience with D., this week before the baptism, we were teaching her and the girls more about prophets. We pulled out three conference ensigns to show them a picture of President Monson and his counselors, and gave them to D. and the girls. Neither of them had ever seen the prophet before. D. flipped open to the middle page with all the General Authorities' pictures, pointed to President Monson's picture, and gasped. She said, "Is this the prophet?" When we told her he was, she began to cry and said, "This man was in my dream last night." She didn't remember much of the dream, only that he has smiled at her in the dream, twice. Also, D. dreams in black & white, and the picture of the prophet she saw happened to be in black & white, out of an older ensign! Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I believe it was a little tender mercy from Heavenly Father to D., letting her know that her daughters were doing the right thing by being baptized, and that the church was the right thing for her family.

Also, a MIRACLE happened on Sunday! We've been trying to get S. L. to commit to baptism, ever since he told us he believes the Book of Mormon is true. He's been a little stubborn. Well, he came to church again this week, and after I got done playing organ prelude, I slipped into the pew next to him. He leaned over and whispered, "I just asked Bishop if he would baptize me on August 1st." What. We couldn't believe it!!!! We are SO happy. It's incredible that this is the same man that refused to read the Book of Mormon and ran missionaries out of his house just a year ago. The gospel changes hearts! This gospel is 100 percent true. I love S.!

It has been so neat to have a mini missionary this week. Her name is Sister Hacker, and she was such a blessing! She brought such a balance to our companionship and the spirit as well. We were able to really get a lot done with her! I hope she had a good experience. We love her a lot! 

Wonderful sister missionaries.
(Sister Hacker is in the middle of me and Sister Schow)

Have a blast at family reunions this week! I love you all!