13 Ekis 1 Day 8 Hours 3 meaningful convos
Hello woohoo!
Zone Pday!! It was the best! We spent all day in Kanazawa, in our comfy clothes, playing games, and eating yummy food! We went to the third best melonpan shop in the world that sells melonpan with icecream!!. A very yummy sugar cookie type of bread! The owner wears this funky melon hat and has a bunch of hats for his customers to wear. We found great enjoyment in the hats!
This week me and MacDonald shimai were on our way to an eki when we met Sharon from Georgia! She is this 60 year old woman who is a luxury pet sitter. But on her free time, she travels the world! With no data! Buys a ticket to and from her destination, and figures everything else out when she arrives. She was so nice and so fun to talk to! She inspired me a lot and gave lots of great advice. She said that the reason she is able to travel the world for fun right now is because she worked hard for it her whole life. I think there is a lot of unreasonable pressure on younger people to figure out their life and reach these high goals. But we have our whole life woohoo. Unless you are 70, then you already have had your life and congratulations, you hopefully have great stories to share!
️ We got evicted from the nicest housing in the mission! Rahhhh. Senior missionaries are coming to Toyama which is very exciting! Unfortunately that means they get the house and we get the elders old apartment... at least we won't have to hike a whole mile uphill to church anymore! This week was a lot of packing and cleaning preparing for the new missionaries!
JJ and Paul got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday! It was such a happy time! 
ekis! Woop! Half our zone came to Toyama and we had the goal of finding at 13 train stations for about 30 min each! (With all of us, that equals 6 total hours for each eki). We rode a trolley to the furthest stop and made our way back to Toyama station. I cannot tell you how many people we talked to and how many more doors we knocked. All you missions that get crazy numbers, listen to this. We got a total of 3 meaningful contacts. (Meaningful contact is measured by how actually meaningful/memorable the conversation was) Basically 3 people let us talk past our general introduce. We were out there for 8 hours and meaningfully talked to 3 people! Ha! I am not even upset about it, I think that is pretty cool! We knocked on people's doors who have never even heard the name Jesus Christ. I feel lucky to be the first missionary that all those people got to meet! I hope someday when they see someone with a tag on, they will remember 2 americans in the freezing cold trying to share a happy message with them!
Philippians 4
7 "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
I love this scripture. Okay, I know this is not exactly correct, but when I first read this, this is how I interpreted it. There are so many things we do not understand. The love of God, why certain things happen, etc. BUT, when we keep our hearts and thoughts focused on Jesus Christ, everything will be okay. I do not know why I went finding for 8 hours and found no one new to teach. But God does. I found joy through the fact that I was doing the work of the Lord, that I am doing what I know needs to be done. There may be things you do not understand that happen in your life, but keeping your focus on Jesus Christ can help you understand these are the way things need to be. It will all work out.
God has got you because He loves you!
I love you too wooohoo
Make it a good week!!
<3 Sister Peterson
02/24/2025
p.s. thank you everyone who emails me! They mean more than you think and I love hearing from you all! Even if it is a 2 sentence email haha!
WE LOVE MELONPAN
Last dinner in our house. Shoutout to the Fujitas for helping us with everything!
ONE MORE WEEK #1000ekis
Yakiniku with Suzuki姉妹
Sharon from Georgia. This woman changed how I view life fr
On Pday a member took us to Costco!! I guess I have never done my own grocery shopping there and paid for it.. because I was not prepared for the money we spent there. It was very worth it though!! Our member told us we have "Costco Fever"! We did indeed have "Costco Fever". Also, Japanese people do NOT do Costco like we do in America. Our member only left with 1 bunch of BANANAS. That was it. Im like where are your muffins and your huge party size bag of chips. Oh well. At least they had samples there.
The Takayama elders were stuck here in Toyama because the trains were not working for them to get home! We really enjoyed double covering again and got lots of ekis done to put toward our mission goal! Our mission is currently at 693/1,000!!!! Got lots done this week! Yay!
Had an amazing (as always) zone conference in Kanazawa! We talked all about Joseph Smith and the first vision. The spirit was really strong as we studied about personal revelation and even as we practiced teaching the Joseph Smith lesson in Japanese. 
The best day ever, YAY Paul and JJ got baptized yesterday! This was one of the best days of my mission! Everything went so smooth and the mix of an English and Japanese program was really special! You couldn't catch anyone without a smile on their face the whole day. It was so cool listening to their testimonies about the things they have learned. To reflect on where they were at, what they knew, and who they were when we first started teaching them. I am so thankful that Heavenly Father put these 2 in my life and made everything work out so they could be baptized. This IS a gospel of joy!
️We were at a train station doing finding yesterday, then all of a sudden, BAM. I immediately put my hand up to my head where I hit it then MacDonald 姉妹 let's out a huge gasp. I looked at my hand and BLOOD! Haha apparently head cuts bleed a whole lot. I was okay and just laughing the whole time because MacDonald 姉妹 was absolutely freaking out. Turns out the cut was just so tiny but decided to bleed a lot. Don't worry, I will not insert a picture. I don't want anyone to feel like MacDonald 姉妹 who said to her head bleeding comp "my legs are weak" Ha.
In a BYU devotional called Change: It's Always a Possibility, the woman tells a story of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. She says...
We have been grinding out lots of ekis (train stations), I think we were able to do at least one each day this week. Nothing too crazy has happened, but we have been able to see little miracles! 
On monday we went to Takaoka and saw lots of Buddhas. Yay Japan! We also went to this restaurant that gave huge portions for cheap. The pictures do not do justice the big bowls of ramen they served. It was a wild experience.
It snowed a lottttt this week! A lot of plans changed because the trains were down for a hot sec. A few missionaries were stuck here in Toyama with us, but we had a grand old time. 
JJ and Paul are doing so good! Thank you for the prayers! I had some of my most spirit filled moments teaching these 2 this week. Me and MacDonald 姉妹 were worried about some lessons we had to teach them, but the spirit carried! There were some moments where I did not really know what to say, but I opened my mouth, trusted, and the spirit filled it. I can't explain it well, but I am so thankful for the spirit they are able to bring and my companion is able to bring! There are just a few final things we need to do, then they will be baptized! Sooner than I think you will expect!! If you could see the dance parties me and MacDonald 姉妹 have you would understand how trully excited we are! 
I recently listened to a podcast the church news put out with Laurel Day. She talks a lot about agency. That there are so many times in life where we don't know what decision is best. We ask God, "what decision am I supposed to make?"
