Happy Pday everyone!
Btw Pday means Preparation day! Like a Saturday for us missionaries! Woop woop
Guys, I have been eating like 5 bananas a day... A member from another ward knows one of our elders because he served in that ward previously. Well this man asked if he could give us Bananas so we were like oh sure. HE LITERALLY GAVE US A WHOLE BOX WITH LIKE 100 BANANAS! So our whole apartment smells like Bananas now. I am planning on making banana bread, but please if anyone knows what to do with a bazillion Bananas LET ME KNOW!! I am not sure if I can keep up with my 5 a day streak for much longer.
On Tuesday evening we went out streeting and talked to this man. (I approached him, so I was proud of myself) We told him we have free English classes (eikaiwa) and if he was interested (in Japanese). He responded "a little bit" in English!!! We were like woahhh. We then were able to get his phone number and add him to our eikaiwa group chat! A couple days later he texted us asking if he can bring his friend. We were like ummm of courseeeee! After eikaiwa that night he told us he has ANOTHER friend he wants to bring AND that friends child! So by talking to 1 person, we got 4 more people to our class. It was so amazing!!
Another evening we were streeting again hehe (basically all we do) and we saw this girl named Sashini! We had talked to her a little bit a couple days before while we were all riding bikes but she had to go to work. The conversation was really casual. Well, when she saw us again this evening she was riding her bike while we were walking. Girl screeches her bike to a stop and asks US for OUR phone number! It was amazing! I'm guessing she is about 17-18 years old. She had to zoom off to work again, but I have high hopes for her!
We had dinner with a member and her daughter, then they took us to a Matsuri (festival)!! It was fun! There were a lot of people there! When we got there we went over to this area where everyone was doing like Japanese culture dances. They were pretty simple so we joined in! We also walked around the vendor area where they had lots of food. I bought a yummy chocolate covered banana (despite my collection at the apartment) and a frozen can of mandarin oranges haha. Both were amazing! I decided that I literally do not care the price, I am going to buy a kimono. You know, the fancy outfits Japanese people wear. A bunch of people were wearing them around the festival and I felt so left out. 
Japan Tips!- People do not say USA, only America. I one time told someone I was from the USA and they were confused until I said America. Idk what that's about.
- Cars here are alwaysss reversed parked. At least at home and work and stuff. Not as much at grocery stores or quick stops like that.
- Even at 9 o'clock at night, with the sun down, you will still be sweating because of the humidity... 
-Denwabango is phone number in Japanese
You are welcome
This week we visited with a member and she shared an incredible personal story that made it into the Ensign (a church magazine) like forever ago! I will attach a picture of it, so PLEASE READ IT!It is a story about a crazy miracle that happened in her life. Since being on a mission I have gained a testimony of God's miracles. They are not all huge, most often times not, but I know they are all from God.
Mormon 9:11
"But behold, I will show unto you a God of miracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same God who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are."
The same God of these miracle performing ancient prophets is the God who created you. The same Loving Heavenly Father who is always pouring miracles upon you. God works in small ways so please don't overlook the things He does for you! I shared some big miracles that happened this week, but I saw so many more small miracles. Like the chocolate banana being 400¥ instead of 800¥. His miracles are everywhere! Seek them out! You will see what you are looking for. I know this to be true!
I love you all!
A Miraculous God loves you!
Make it a good week!!
<3 Sister Peterson
08/18/24
I have to explain some of these pictures...-While I ate my French toast with bananas and syrup, my (filipino) comp made hers like a ham sandwich. I cannot tell you how thrown off I was by that.
- A group of us missionaries were getting lunch after our meeting and these 2 old ladies were giggling the whole time and insisted we take a pic with them. Idk what that was about but it was fun. They reminded me of my mom when she is with any of her sisters.
- Meet my friend Kuchan. She weighs about 7 lbs and can't keep her tongue in her mouth no matter how hard she tries. She is like really old too, so we had to carry her the whole time we were at the festival, or we would probably still be walking there.
-The bananas are turning brown real fast. HELP!!! This Pic was taken after a couple days of having them, I am proud of the progress I have made!
If any of you did not know, Nagoya is like the 3rd largest city in Japan. Gokiso is our area name, but it is actually just a train station name here, and the ward`s name, so I am in Nagoya city. I feel like I am in the devil's armpit. Not only is it super hot, but it is unbelievably humid. I am so lucky to be from beautiful, sweet, DRY Idaho. Unfortunately this has made the work hard because we just want to be in air conditioning all day. But we do our best we can!
I forgot to mention last week that I was reunited with half my sistrict!! It was amazing. Reminded me of when Alma and the sons of Mosiah reunited and were all just super happy and excited. Fun fact my amazing MTC comp Sister Merrill is now companions with my trainer Sister Takahashi!!! Haha they are both very very lucky.
Last week I was able to meet an amazing person here named Byran! He is from New Zealand (speaks English with an AMAZING accent)!! He is already on date for baptism, but I got to help teach a lesson to him and wow you guys. He is amazing. He takes everything so good and applies it to his own life so well. I wish everyone would be able to get the opportunity to meet him. He is a testament to me that the spirit works. This man didn't know it, but has been waiting for these truths his whole life. I am so excited for his baptism! 
I know I have already talked about the humidity, but I want to address it again. I have literally never in my life sweated as much as I have this past week. There was a sweat line from where the strap of my bag was. Like across my body hahaha. Literally what. I am being humbled that's for sure. I just keep reminding myself I am here to serve the lord not find a husband. Because if that was the case... 
Nothing too crazy has happened this week, so I am just going to speed run the little things. 
I am sorry to those who mainly read my emails for the Japanese tips, but I do not have the mental capacity to think of any right now. Love you all!! 
A little bit ago I was thinking about Role Models. I might have read a conference talk that sparked this thinking. I think in the talk it said we should admire qualities in other people, but our role model should always be Jesus Christ. He is the person we should strive to be. While I was thinking about this, another thought crossed my mind. Well who is the person we should strive to look like? I thought for a second then I was like HOLD UP. There is none. Absolutely 0. Because we were all purposefully created to look and be different. There are a lot of worldly standards for what we should look like, both male and female, but those are WORLDLY. 
Warning... long email
Monday night we were coming home from a members house. We were biking through the rice fields when Takahashi ć§ćŠč yelled to me asking if I wanted to lay down and look at the stars. Obvi I said yes. So we laid down in the road for a bit and just looked at the stars. It was a really peaceful moment. I am just so grateful for everything God created for us to enjoy. We did almost get hit by a car, and when I was scurrying to get out of the road I scraped my knee 
I'd say it was worth it though!
Wednesday was when the peace halted and the chaos begun. That was the day me and Takahashi ć§ćŠč found out we were BOTH getting transferred. Lots of mixed emotions. We started packing and ended up having to go to the store for somethings. Well, we were riding bikes to the store and my bike caught hold of something and basically slipped, so I went down with it. I scraped up my other knee pretty bad, but other than that I was fine. The wild thing was this man riding his bike literally watched the whole thing happen. And when he came up close to me, while I was literally sprawled out on the sidewalk, guess what he did. STARED AT ME AND KEPT CYCLING. Like jeez thanks for the help. Not even a "daijyobu?" "Are you okay?". Whatevs. I'm strong, I didnt need his help anyway.
An amazing member took us to La Casta. It is a company that uses essential oils to make things. It had a beautiful garden and we go to make our own room sprays with essential oils. Mine smells AMAZING! It was such a fun time, a great way to spend one of my last days in Matsumoto!
Saying bye to everyone was really sad and harder than I expected. I think as a missionary it is hard to measure how much your work really pays off. But the kind things that everyone said to me as we were saying goodbye were all worth it. It really reminded me how we can use other ways other than just speaking to make an impact on other people's lives. Just by being ourselves and taking advantage of our unique personalities can have a bigger impact on others than we know.
Random thoughts from me: Honestly, choosing to serve a mission was not really hard for me. I am the type of person who just sticks with 1 idea if I like the sound of it. That's how my choice was when I decided to serve. I can't think of a specific time where I made a final decision. It was kinda just me floating down a river of this idea and it just happened. I literally still feel like I am floating down that river haha, just floating through life. When I go through times where I just want to be home, I have had to think about and rely on my Why. Why I am on a mission. My why is because I was lucky enough to grow up with all the beautiful, hopeful, clarifying things of this gospel. I want everybody to be able to experience a joyful life like I have. Only through Jesus Christ and His gospel is how we can do that. I chose to serve a mission because I love God and I love His children. So much that I am willing to pause my life for 18 months just to serve them. What?! Crazy, I know. C-R-A-Z-Y. But it is because I know these things are true and will bless me AND others. Do you love God? Do you love His children? I hope you can answer yes to both those questions, because when you have those 2 things, your life can be much easier. This week I encourage everyone to recognize others serving you, and making an effort to serve others. You can do it!
