Pictures April 1-30

 

Week 8: Provo MTC; Companion: Sister Merrill

Another week down!

I feel like I do not have much to report from this week because we are doing the same things each day. Filled with classes and meal times. 

I did forget to mention last week that me and Sister Merrill did our second Helping Others (fake investigator lessons) in full Japanese and we are so proud of ourselves. It was a 15 minute lesson and she asked questions that I partly understood!! It was very exciting. Most of the time she talked though, we just smiled and nodded at her. She is very kind and patient with us!

We have been here for about 6.5 weeks now and have seen so many people come and go. The stateside missionaries are only here for 2 weeks which is absolutely wild to me. 2 weeks was right when I got past the hard adjustment and started liking this place. Which is weird to say that I will be very sad to leave. But we do not have to worry about that right now.

Visas! Half of us got ours and half got reassignments. We got girls going to West Virginia, North Dakota, Virginia, Canada, and England (The last 2 are from around those places). Such lucky people these girls are going to bless in those places! We are all very excited for them.

I gave a talk on Sunday! I will attach a link to it! My district sang Love at Home in Japanese in Sacrament meeting too! The spirit was real strong that meeting;)

Here is a thought that has been on my mind a lot this past week. I am a firm believer in the importance of trials. Something that I love to think about is that God gives us trials according to our spirits. He gives us trials that He knows we can overcome (with His help of course) and that He knows will strengthen us into a better person. When you are going through something hard remember that it is for your benefit and your benefit only. God trusts you with this trial and He trusts you to get through it the right way. Through HIM! Remember that He loves you! And I do too!!!

Have a great week :)

<3 Peterson

Good morning!

Growing up I knew the Book of Mormon was important so I read it every night. I cannot tell you one thing I learned from all those years because I was just doing the motion, checking the box off. It was only until I really understood how important the Book of Mormon really is that I actually started to get things from it. Instead of just hurrying through a chapter or a page every night, I now go into the Book of Mormon looking to take something out of it. My life has been blessed so much since this mindset change and I have been more excited to read it and share about it. 

Starting my first semester at Byui Last September, I signed up for a Book of Mormon class. My professor challenged us to take 30 min out of each day to study the Book of Mormon. Not in a particular order, wherever we wanted at the time, and to heavily record our thoughts and feelings. 

I started out really strong at the beginning of the semester and absolutely loved the challenge. I was filling up pages of my notebook every study and sharing all the cool things I found with my roommates. After a few weeks the craziness of 1st semester at college got in the way and I was back to hurrying through a chapter each night. I found myself missing those 30 minutes of pure revelation, and i am glad to say i have reconnected with thay habit since being here.

One night before coming here me and my dad were talking and I had some realizations. I also recently found Preach my Gospel talks a bit about this too. When we strengthen our testimony of the Book of Mormon we can't help but strengthen our testimonies of almost every other category in the gospel. For example, Joseph Smith. If we believe this book was true, we naturally believe that Jesus Christ used Joseph Smith to translate it. We then naturally believe that we have modern day prophets who are God's mouthpieces. When you put it like that it really makes sense on why it is considered the keystone of our religion. Joseph Smith once said, "take away the Book of Mormon and the revelations, and where is our religion?"

Since being here at the MTC I have heard almost everyday that the Spirit first of all but second the Book of Mormon are our most important tools as missionaries. I always believed in the Book of Mormon but I was confused on why it is so important. I started to dive deeper into and and read chapters, applying them to my life. One of my favorites was talked a lot about last week during fast and testimony meeting and that was Jacob 5, the story of the lord of the vineyard. While I read it I thought of my mission. I found so many truths and comfort through this chapter. I highly encourage each of you to read that story and apply it to you. 

The reason the Book of Mormon is such an important tool is because it is a source that the spirit can talk to us easily. When we are fervently studying this book the spirit will teach us and help us feel exactly what God needs us to. I can testify that it will be the exact same for our friends that we invite to read it. 

As we strengthen our testimony of the Book of Mormon, we will become better missionaries! In PMG chapter 5 it says

 "Your own testimony of the Book of Mormon can lead to a deep and abiding faith in its power to help others become converted. Help the people you teach recognize the enlightenment they feel as they read it sincerely. Emphasize its powerful witness of Jesus Christ. Encourage them to pray to receive their own witness that the book is true."

Our friends can receive their own personal conversion through this book, but it is most important to first gain your own firm testimony of its truths. As individual missionaries we need to recognize the Book's enlightenment, the powerful witness of Jesus Christ, and pray to know of its truth.

 I can promise that as we strengthen our own testimony of the Book of Mormon, our power to help others strengthen theirs will be unbeatable. I know this Book of Mormon is true and it has been so neat to dive into it and listen closely to what Heavenly Father needs me to hear out of it. 

I know this church is true and I know we are doing God's work. We are right where he needs us to be, so we need to be prepared for what he needs us to do. Remember God loves you and is proud of you!

I will end on one of my favorite scriptures that comes out of the Book of Mormon. 

Jacob 3: 1-2

1 But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and apray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will bconsole you in your cafflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down djustice upon those who seek your destruction.

2 O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his alove; for ye may, if your bminds are cfirm, forever.

In the name of Jesus Christ amen!

Week 7: Provo MTC; Companion: Sister Merrill

Dracula's Holy Mansion

Hey everyone! 

I hope everyone's week was amazing! A lot of fun things happened this week here at the MTC. Except bad news: I am sick again. Like are you kidding me. But luckily I have an amazing district who has been feeding me with medicine and lots of vitamins. On the road to a healthy happy missionary!

On Tuesday my district had the opportunity to go to the Provo City Center temple and it was amazing! The coolest temple I have been to. The inside looks like it would be Dracula's mansion if he was a holy man. Even the exit signs matched the vibe and I loved it so much. A beautiful building and the grounds were beautiful too. If you ever have the opportunity to at least walk around it, I highly recommend!

For our Tuesday devotional (it was a great tuesday), we were lucky to have Elder Dale G Renlund of the Quorum of the 12 talk to us and he did amazing. Talked on temple covenants AGAIN. I swear that was the theme of general conference too and it has me thinking. Obviously the time Christ comes to the Earth is getting closer and our leaders are trying to prepare us in every way possible. One being the importance of temple covenants that bind and yoke us with Jesus Christ's will. 

I have been reminded, told, and know that these next 18 months are going to go by so quickly. I mean I am past half way of my time at the MTC and I really do not know where all the weeks went. Obviously I want to make the most of my time here. Leave it all on the field is what I have been telling myself. I want to work so hard and I want to make my Heavenly Father so proud, so the way I am going to do that is to leave it all on the field. This doesn't only apply to my mission but everyday life too, don't you want to look back on your life and be able to feel like you "left it all on the field" with everything you did? I sure do. Just something to think about! :)

The Sistrict is going strong and better than ever. You can hear our giggles and squeals from a mile away. The other day in the cafeteria one of our sisters got a package and we are all squealing for her when an elder came up to us. Once he saw what we were screaming about he looked very confused and said "I thought someone got a reassignment or something" HA nope! We just get excited about little things and can only express it in our girly screams. The name of the sistrict is being well represented, don't ever worry!!

A scripture I am going to leave you with is Jacob 3:2 

"O all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon his love; for ye may, if your minds are firm, forever."

Aka GOD LOVES YOU! Take advantage of that news and let it sink in. Everything he has to offer is good. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

<3 Peterson しまい

also, I GOT MY VISA!! So basically when I am done at the MTC I get to go straight to Japan WOOPWOOP

Pictures...

I accidentally dressed up as Shrek. 

You very quickly learn how to fall asleep sitting up at the mtc 

We got a selfie with Uchtdorf!!

jk but we thought it was Uchtdorf for a split second. hehe

Week 6: Provo MTC; Companion: Sister Merrill

Hi everyone again! 

The weather here has been so good! You will never believe it but I got sunburnt again, Sorry mom I forgot to use the sunscreen you sent hehe.

Being able to watch general conference here was so cool, I didn't even fall asleep!! I loved all the talks and have loved even more being able to go back and read them. A way that I have loved rereading them is printing them off and writing all over them aka annotating them! I have felt the spirit so much and have been able to apply it better to my life doing it that way, I highly recommend doing it that way! 

Life here at the MTC has been SO fun! Honestly the first 2 weeks were hard just getting adjusted, but now that I've got my routine down it's been good. We have made so many new friends and it's good seeing faces I recognize around here! 

Elder Gaynor (elder that used to be in our district who was very good at Japanese) left on Friday! He got reassigned to Salem Oregon while he wants for his visa and when he told us that I go "LOOK OUT FOR THE WITCH TRIALS" I got laughed at and I was confused for a minute then I realized that the witch trials did NOT happen in Oregon. Anyways we will miss him and wish him lots of luck!

My brain feels like it's going to explode any minute now with all the Japanese I am learning but so far it has been okay. Me and Sister Merrill had our first helping others (a lesson with fake investigator) IN 100% JAPANESE!! It was rough and spent half of it flipping through my notebook looking for things to say haha but overall it was alright. Still praying very hard for the gift of tongues woooop

Something that I got out of one of the conference talks I annotated is to trust in God. I am about to quote myself haha but I take no credit. This came straight from the spirit because He knew I needed it. Okay.. "trust in God. Dont stress, let His plan slowly unfold as life goes on. Be strong in prayer and do what you know YOU need to and can control! If there is nothing you can do about it, there is nothing to stress about! God's got it!!" I hope that helps someone because I know it will help me as my life goes on! 

I love you all and don't forget God does too! He knows you personally and cares so much about you so don't forget to show Him you care too! Give a little prayer, it's the least you can do! Have an amazing week!!

<3 Peterson しまい