First Exchanges!

August 17, 2015

It's been a great week. So great. I have been learning so much about what it really means to rely on Christ and access an infinite atonement that has REAL power. Missions aren't easy. But the atonement is real, Christ is so ready to make up the difference of our imperfections.

The happiest moment of the week was X.'s baptism! I just can't believe how strong and in tune with the spirit that kid is. He is truly close to his Savior. I think the biggest miracle of the whole baptism was X.'s dad. When I got to the area, X. already wanted to be baptized, but he needed permission from his father to join the church. S. (X.'s mom) didn't think he'd ever let X. be baptized, but in a moment of faith we set a baptism date and prayed it would all work out. What gave his dad a change of heart was X.'s testimony! S. told us that X. would talk to his dad all about the missionaries and church and what he was learning. He told him this was something he really wanted, and after a little bit X.'s dad gave his permission! he even ended up coming to the baptism and we could tell he really felt the spirit of it. i think it's so special that X. is being an example to his whole family. He has a light in him that I love. I love them all so much!

X.'s baptism!

My first exchanges were this week! I have a goal to learn to LOVE and look forward to exchanges :) I love these sisters, I'm grateful to get to be their friends! Tuesday I went to Union with Sister Madsen (she came out with me!) and Thursday I went with Sister Walker to the St Louis YSA branch. I learned so much from them! For one, I learned it's ok to be an imperfect leader :) The Lord really is merciful, and he calls us for a reason. 

Exchange with Union!

Sis.Walker and Me

We had some really solid lessons this week. Sister Hayden and I are getting to a point where we really teach well together. She is an incredible teacher, and I admire that she loves the people we teach so much. A couple lessons stand out this week, one was a church tour with our investigator S.. The spirit we felt in the chapel was so powerful, it felt like the temple! I'm so grateful for the spirit. Another was a lesson with two investigators we found this week, P. and P.. They didn't really want to talk to us at first, but as we taught the spirit opened their hearts and they came to church on Sunday! What a miracle. 

It's going to be a good week. I'm excited for this area, we have good things coming!

A Young Woman in the ward with a great name!!!

Crazy, Amazing Week!

August 10, 2015

I can't believe it's only been one week. What a crazy, amazing, life-changing week! I'm still working on getting used to this area and to lots of different things, and it's been easy sometimes to feel overwhelmed. But more than ever, I know that the Atonement is a real power. It's been carrying me, and I am so so grateful.

We gave a training in two different zones this week as part of Zone Leader Training. One thing I LOVE is working with the zone leaders to really uplift and serve the missionaries in the zone. We get to see the spirit really work. The trainings went well, I really felt the spirit as we presented them! And each time, it seemed to be exactly what the missionaries needed. The spirit of revelation is so real!

Let me tell you about the people I love in this area :)

So the A. family is amazing. S. is a member of the church, and just moved into the O'Fallon ward 2 months ago. She had fallen away a bit, but when she got here she felt impressed to call the ward, and ask if the missionaries could come teach her 10-year-old son X.. X. is amazing, he is my favorite!! We set a baptism date with him for the 15th, this Saturday! He is so excited. We taught him about tithing this week and asked him about his Book of Mormon reading. He turns to his mom and asks, "Mom, after the sisters leave can we please read the Book of Mormon together?" So perfect. I know S. has been going through some really difficult things lately and to see her son so full of the spirit is really carrying her. I love them!

K. He is 20 (ish) and is amazing! We've taught him twice and he wants to be baptized, probably at the end of September! Miracle! It's so interesting when we meet someone who is really prepared for the gospel. They always have an experience or feeling or trial that has prepared them for the gospel! K. says he feels like he has been searching. He feels lost in in his life, and knows he needs God, but wasn't sure how to get where he wants to be. We've invited him to be baptized 2 or three times, and every time he gets this little smile on his face, like he KNOWS that's the answer! It's amazing. The spirit really has been working on him.

I love Sister Hayden. She has this amazing gift to connect with anyone and everyone. She's had so many experiences on her mission that prepared her to help people--and especially to help me through this part of my mission. I seriously love her, soooooo much. Heavenly Father puts people in our lives for a reason!

We struggled at taking pictures this week...next week will be better! Here's a library selfie. 

Me and Sister Hayden

Love you all. Keep writing! :)

Sister Petrie

Hello from O'Fallon!

August 3, 2015

Hello from O'Fallon, MO!

So this week has been a little overwhelming. But I honestly have also had a lot of fun, and learned so much!

Tuesday was full of a lot of goodbyes to my favorite people. I already miss them all!

Wednesday was transfer meeting, and ever since then it's been crazy :) We had a new leadership meeting on Wednesday, and it was very helpful! My new companion is Sister Hayden, and she's another one from Washington! She is a hard worker and a very committed missionary. We get along great and we are so excited to see miracles together this transfer!

O'Fallon is a great area, it feels a little like serving in my home ward in New Hampshire! Big ward, lots of youth, very missionary minded people. Dinners every night, and lots of member support. So far, I love it! It was a slight culture shock, it's WAY different than Danville and Centralia. But I'm excited to figure out missionary work here and see some awesome things happen. This is His work!

Needless to say I was thrown right into it! Friday, all day, we had what's called Mission Leadership Council with President Morgan, the AP's, and all the Zone Leaders and STL's. We discussed the state of the mission and had some awesome trainings from the AP's (One of them is Elder Fa, my Centralia District Leader!) and also President and Sister Morgan. I was really able to catch the vision of being a leader in that meeting. I really felt a lot of peace and comfort realizing that this is HIS work, and I am only called to yoke myself with the other sisters and work smarter as a leader. Also I had to do a last-minute musical number...thank goodness for pianos. 

Saw Sister Biddle for the last time at MLC!

Saturday we did an hour and a half long training for the youth in another ward who are preparing to go on missions. We trained on our purpose as a missionary, and I think it went well! It made me excited all over again to be a missionary. Sunday we taught the gospel principles class and now are working on preparing for two trainings we are giving this Wednesday and Thursday at North and St Louis zone's ZLT. Also, last minute our investigator E. decided to be baptized this Saturday, so we are planning a baptism! hahaha it'll be a great few next weeks, I'm excited.

Here's one really meaningful moment this week. T., a less-active recently baptized member that we teach has a really hard time opening up to us. He'd been struggling and we had no idea why. in our lesson on Saturday, the spirit touched him and he told us some things he's really been struggling with and asked for help. It was such a sweet moment to bear testimony of the Savior, of the Book of Mormon, of these basic things I know and cherish and that are so familiar to me. I guess I really need that moment. Amidst everything that is so new and unfamiliar, I always know that my savior is constant, and that my message is constant. This gospel can be lived and taught in O'Fallon just like in Centralia and Danville, and that's an assurance I really needed to feel. Miracles follow faith, here, other areas, and everywhere in the world. This is His work, and we are doing it His way. I can't wait to see more of these things happen! 

Sister Hayden and I, eating ice cream to celebrate S.'s baptism :)

S. got baptized on Saturday in Centralia! Just missed it, but I got loads of pictures. He is truly a miracle of my mission.

S. getting baptized!

Thanks for the letters this week! My new address is:
7103 Huzzah Dr
Lake St Louis, MO 63367

I love getting letters! :) Thanks for that support, it really means a lot. 

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)