SANTA ROSA! and I'm a brunette

SANTA ROSA! and I'm a brunette‏

I'm going to Rincon Valley!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am still going to be an STL #3transferswut WOOOT WOOT. and mom don't kill me, but I dyed my hair. It is basically like my natural hair color but all over so I am no longer blonde! :0

My new companion is Sister Carter from CANADA! ohhhh canada!

She was Sister Whimpey's trainer and guess who is my apartmentmate?? SISTER FINLINPOOPY!!!!! I GET TO LIVE AND EXCHANGE WITH MY OLD COMPANION! I am beyond excited to live in Santa Rosa during the Holidays. I was worried I was going to get homesick if I stayed here, but I am excited to be in a family WARD and actually get fed. I am also excited to probably be spending Christmas at the mission home. It will be really good. I am super excited.

On the other hand, I am so so sad to leave. I am going to miss the people here soooo much. the members have been so good to us. I am going to miss them a lot. Also, I am going to miss Brooke SOOOO much. I luckily will get to skype in for her baptism and I have told her half a million times that when she gets married in the temple, I want to be there. I have felt so strongly that I am going to be friends with her forever. I love her so much, and I know that is only an inkling of what God feels for her! 

Crazy things happened this week! My companion decided to permanently reassign!!! I AM SO HAPPY FOR HER. she is amazing and I am glad we get to keep her here. 

Its crazy that I am almost half way. It doesn't feel like I have been gone that long, and what scares me even more is that I only have that much left! I don't know how I feel about it. I love all the growth and changes I have made. It has made me someone who I never thought I could be. I know that God has even more instore for me and I am so excited. I miss you all so much, and I wish you could all come here and serve with me. I LOVE BEING OUT OF THE WORLD. I never realized how much Satan really does justify so much of the worldly things into latter-day saint life style. Being out here makes me realize how sensitive the spirit is. Because I have learned this I have also become aware that SO many missionaries return home and change back to the person they were before they came out here. I don't want to do that. I am not here for myself, but I have been blessed with so much that I would be a fool to go home and forget all the things that God has taught me.

I love you all so much and I hope you know that God loves you even more!!!!

Have the most wonderful week okay????

wowowewow  09/15/2014

Send me pictures from the flood! I heard about it yesterday! A member told me her sister lives in St. George and she was shocked! Dang. I miss summer rain!!!

Its still SO hot here. It gets into the hundreds like everyday and people tell me it doesnt start cooling off till October. great. hahahaha. I feel like I am in St. George or something. It's crazy. I love it here though. It's so cool that everything is going well at home. I am glad that you are all happy!

I really can't wait for it to start raining here!! to bad it is in the Winter time so we will be cold and wet! Hopefully we will get rain at all!!! Droughts are no fun!!! 

Mission life is good!! We are teaching a lot of people because people are starting to come back for school! It starts in OCTOBER here! Crazy!!! I Can't even believe it! But it is great!!! 

It has been amazing to see that everyday we work so hard and do what we need to do, and when we come home at night and look back at the day we are able to see all the miracles that have happen. God's hand it truly in this work and I see it every day!!!

yesterday was one of those days!! So we had dinner at 4 then had a lesson at 5 with Jacob! So we left dinner a few minutes early to get to the lesson on time. We needed to stop by and pick up our dinner calendar from a member so we stopped by on the way to the lesson. when we got out of our car, we were walking to their house and we saw a less active that we have been trying to get a hold of for about a month now!!! It was a miracle!! We set up a lesson with her later this week!! Then we got to the lesson with Jacob and it was great! Sadly, he is moving to Casper, Wyoming (Have we been there before)! today. :( its like sooooo sad. dang. We didn't even get to teach him all of this recent convert lessons! He is so solid though he is going to be just fine!! Then we went out to contact and we met this guy and he was so cool!!! He was so interested on how he was to get baptized and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it! It was an amazing night!

I love looking back on our day and seeing all the things that God has helped us out with. It is amazing. I am so glad that I get to be here. I know that I am learning a lot and that I am changing for the better. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! 

I want you all to know that I know that living the commandments that God lays down for us, is going to bless us always!!! God doesn't ever give us a commandment that there isn't a blessing for. He wants us to be safe and happy!! 

I love you all so much! Have a great week!!!

love, Sister Petersen

EARTHQUAKE HAPPENINGS‏

08/25/2014            

Wow. Where to begin?
 
I was dreaming away, on Sunday morning. In my dream I feel myself
rocking back and forth. I realize, that isn't me rocking... What is
that? I feel my bed rocking side to side. As I awake groggily,  I hear
the blinds lightly hitting the window, and hear chimes in the distance
in a sweet melody, but the wind isn't blowing. I feel the gentle yet
rigid sway of our apartment. Earthquake. Yes, yes it is. I open my
eyes and observe our dark bedroom. I looked at the clock. 3:21am. what
is that? Earthquake? YES. The swaying has stopped.
"SISTER FINLINSON!!! We just had an earthquake!" - I yelled.
"What does that mean?" -replies Sister Finlinson
She tells me that I am crazy and rolls over.
I lay in bed filled with adrenaline over the next hour and a half.
Finally after a little journal writing, hymns and a prayer, I drift
softly of to sound sleep. Only to rise in a short hour and a half.
 
Hahahaha. I hoped you liked my little story. YES IT HAPPENED. I awoke
to an EARTHQUAKE at 3:20 in the morning. No one else in my apartment
woke up. Imagine my disappointment when we all awoke in the morning
and I thought I was crazy. Hahaha. BUT! As I was getting ready, we got
a text from President Alba saying, "Serious Earthquake (6.1) epicenter
in American Canyon. Everyone report to your DLs on your status." YES I
AM NOT CRAZY.
 
Haha. It was a really crazy experience. I never thought I would
actually feel an earthquake. It was (hopefully) a once in a lifetime
thing. I was pretty scared that night, (of course) but I wrote in my
journal about it and then went back to bed. It was crazy, and I wish I
would have been awake to be thinking clearly about it. It was crazy to
feel the ground beneath you actually move.
 
That night I was a little spooked, know that aftershocks occur often,
and that earthquakes are often very dangerous. I worried about dying
(though I knew it wasn't going to happen. As I laid there and let my
thoughts wonder.. I turned to prayer and hymns to relive me of my
stress. Soon did I realize, it was the next morning and I had been
calmed by the spirit back to sleep.
 
I know that God was watching out for me that night. I know that all
those prayers people say for missionaries to be safe, truly WORK. I
know that without a doubt. I know that God loves us and that he is
willing to calm us when we are troubled. I know that we have been
blessed with the knowledge of prayer, hymns, scripture, church,
prophets, and all the amazing people around us. I am so grateful that
I was able to experience what I did this week and that I was able to
live to tell the tale. ;)
 
Always pray for missionaries to be safe! It works and we need it :)
 
Lots of love,
Sister Devin Petersen

AS FOR TRANSFER DOCTRINE. I am staying here in Davis with my good friend Sister Funlinson. SHE IS AWESOME. annnndddd... Drum roll please....

WOW SIX MONTHS AND STL AND BAPTISMS!

I am a SISTER TRAINING LEADER. WUT!? So crazy. So here are the deets.... Jk I don't have any. I don't know what exactly it is I do. I do definitely conduct exchanges during the transfer which is sweet! And I get to go to MLC which is the monthly Missionary Leadership Conference. I am stoked!! It's gonna be fun. I am excited to have the opportunity to be a leader and to have an experience to grow!

The baptism went AMAZING. Jacob was super happy and he loves having the gift of the Holy Ghost. Wow. It's been amazing.

This week was insanely busy and we were able to overcome Satan's temptations through Gods help.

Jacob loved the baptism. He was pretty nervous. You could tell, but he did it! He got baptized! When it was over, I asked him how he felt, and he said, "As soon as my foot hit the water...." and he got really quiet.. I asked him, "Did you feel the spirit?" and he said. "Like REALLY strong!" It was amazing to see him truly change for the better. He quit smoking 15 days before his baptism. The requirement for baptism is you have to stop smoking 2 weeks before your baptism. So he made it! It was pretty nerve wreaking knowing that if he smokes he wont be able to be baptized, but we knew that he could do it! 

Yesterday, in church when he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost, he was so giddy. It was so funny! I spoke in church yesterday, and I had a direct view of him from the stand, and he was giggling the whole time. It was so funny. He said it was like his baptism only 10x more. He was really feeling the spirit very strongly. He loved it. He said, "If the spirit is that strong all the time... how do you guys get anything done?!!? I can't focus!" haha. He is so funny. He was in the Navy for about 5 years and he has CRAZY stories. Its so fun to talk to him about his life, and experiences. Its so cool to see him change his life, to follow Jesus Christ. He never thought that he would have been getting baptized into this church, but he knows its true! 

It was such an amazing/exhausting experience to see him decide to change. When he got baptized, I had this overwhelming sense of joy. The kind of joy described in D&C 18:15-16. I knew that I had been a tool in God's hand in this process. I know that God's hand IS in this work and that I am just a small part of it. I am grateful for the chance that I have to see people grow and change. I love seeing the gospel shape people's lives. Its the best. I know that God truly is watching over each one of us and that He is so happy with the Decision Jacob made this week. I know that by being baptized Jacob entered in the gate to make it back to God. I know without a doubt that God was happy with the decision that Jacob made. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is SOOOO true! 

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!!!

1. A member who just got home from her mission in Norway and wanted to talk with us.

2. Jacob is getting baptized we are so excited!!!

08/04/2014

How is life? ITS SOOOO GOOD HERE.

being a missionary is the best. So, this week we had a SICK miracle.

Sorry, I couldn't post more.  Devin requested that is not be public due to the sensitivity of the exprience.  I just wanted you all to know she is alive and well and growing like crazy!  Please write if you can!

Sis. Devin Petersen

4735 Cowell Blvd # 110 

Davis, CA 95618.

7-28-14

welllll, here is the update.

so life... We picked up 3 new g8ers and saw 3 significant miracles this week! it was nuts! 

so we picked up all of our new investigators by our efforts.... it was SWEET. so, James is awesome. we were looking through our phone and found his # with no info, so we called him and he said we could meet. so we met with him on Sat. and he said he had met with missionaries before, but never really got an answer to his pray about the Book of Mormon. So we taught him the restoration and he said he would pray and read again! He said he was atheist, but he is So open to there being a God. He doesn't believe in God because he has never had a real recognizable answer. but the way I see it is that he is SO prepared. it is awesome. He is praying a reading the Book of Mormon. pray for him to receive an answer!!

Then g8er #2 is Manu (pronounced Mon-ew) ! he is poly (MOM) and he is super duper awesome! He has a cousin who is mormon and on a mission! We met him on the street with a couple of friends leaving football practice, and he said he would be interested in meeting with us. Sadly, I assumed that he wasn't going to show because that always happens. so i was thinking he is going to bail then he showed up!!! it was crazy! it was sucha miracle. he said he was going to email his cousin and tell him he met with us. we gave him a Book of Mormon. he is Christian and doesnt really want to convert but he said he would pray about it. so he needs lots of prayers. 

Miracle #3!!! 

so we went to visit this this potential this week, and his roommate answered. so we started talking with him, and he said he would meet with us! His name is Alex and he is super duper cool! we set up an appointment with him this week, and again i was assuming he was going to bail. (it happens a lot) AND HE SHOWED UP! ahhhhh. it was so cool. he is really really smart so it was tough lesson because he was refuting a lot, but he was pretty open about it. He took a Book of Mormon and said he would pray about it which was awesome!! he needs a lot of prayers too!!!!

So before I close my email with a super cray story... I want to pause and share with you something that I noticed as I was writing those miracles! Something we do as missionaries every single time we teach someone! We invite them to read the Book of Mormon and to pray and ask God. That is the most amazing thing, because it changes lives! It really does! If you havent yet, Read the Book of Mormon and pray and ask God. If you HAVE done it.... Do it again!!!! It WILL bless your life in ways that you need most. 

So continuing...

Yesterday was crazy!! so we got done at church at 3 and were supposed to have a lesson with a member but we couldnt find her anywhere. so we decided to leave the church and walk to the institute building. we were at the institute for a but and decided to walk to our dinner apt. mind you it is flipping hot. it was like 100 degrees and 50% humidity. so we are walking like a few blocks and we get to the apartment complex and can't find their apt. so i pull out the phone to call them and see that we have like 4 missed calls and 2 texts saying, they moved across town. we started walking back, and were contacted some people and made it to the church. i was dying. sweatin fo dayz. and i didnt bring water with me. but anywho, we get to the car and see the member we were supposed to meet with 21/2 hours ago.... awk. haha. she had been sitting outside the church waiting for us the whole time. it is now like 5;40 (40 min late for dinner) so we get in the car, got lost, then finally make it to the house at 5;50.. a whole 50 min late. awkwarrrdddddd. it was all good. we had soup.... it was really good. perfect for a hot summer day right? Love it!

The church is true! I love you guys a whole bunch and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!! 

Love, Sister Petersen

7-21-14
HEY! I miss you guys! You guys are great!!!

How are you all doing? I'm glad you all have had a good week! Thank you so much for the package. Sadly, I am fat and don't fit into the skirt you bought me.... hahaha Its super cute though if they have it in a bigger size that would be awesome.. I am going to send it home next week because we don't have time to go to the post office. also sad, the blue shirt has a pretty dec. hole in the front so I left the tag on and am sending that home as well! but the gray shirt fits perfectly and I LOVE it!!! Sorry to make you go through all that trouble, just to take it back. That's gotta be a pain. 

So this week, I discovered my love for peanut butter..... I bought a jar of Peanut butter last week and ate the whole jar in one week...... oops. but its okay, I work out in the mornings so its fine. hahaha. this week was awesome. we taught a lot of lessons and the majority with members there. We are teaching a boy named Jacob who is super awesome. He is struggling with some doubts right now, so if you pray for him that would be amazing. He really needs to recognize the answers to his prayers, and he needs that confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true. He is awesome and Satan just wont let him go. we are also teaching this guy named Kingsley. he is from Africa and he is SO cool. He is just pluggin along. Its really hard for him to make it to church though, because he works and doesn't have a car, so if you could pray for him to be able to make it to church that would be amazing!!

So the reason I have been typing such poopy emails:

1. I haven't been able to email on a computer in a long time and so I have been typing all of my emails on my iPad and it gets exhausting.

I'm super sorry about that, and I promise I will try to do better.

So church yesterday was amazing. 

Sacrament meeting there was a RM who got up and talked about how we should always look forward with our faith. How often do we look back and say, "I wish I was the way I used to be." I know I say stuff like that all the time. I have struggled this last month with looking back on how I was at the very beginning of my mission and saying, "Why can't I be like THAT again." I have come to realize that God doesn't want us to be the way we used to be. He wants us to continue to move forward, and continue to grow. He has taught us that in the story of Lot and his wife. Don't be like Lot's wife, looking/longing for a life that is far in the distant background. God has blessed us with the Saviors strength to move forward, so we should always take that chance. 

In relief society we talked about virtue. Not a Virtue(Chasity, modesty) but Virtue (power).

It was SUCH an amazing lesson. The relief society president's mom taught it. She told a story about a time when they went hiking. (I'm probably going to butcher it but...) Sister White and her family went on a backpacking trip to Appalachian trail. She thought to herself before hand that she would be fine if she didn't train and prepare before hand, because she had gone hiking before. So as they started their journey they hiked up these huge rocks and all up this trail. By the next day her body was exhausted. she couldn't move. she said, " I would have rather a bear come out of the woods and eat me than to hike on." Her family offered to take her pack for her, but she wouldn't let them. She tried to hike, but was so exhausted she could barely move. So her family started taking things out of her pack and adding it to theirs, and she resisted them. she said, "No, I did this to my self. I didn't prepare. Its my fault, don't take my burdens its not your fault." but her family did it anyways, because they loved her. Soon, she had only her back pack and her water. and she wouldn't give it up, but she was exhausted. finally after her family begged, she gave up her back pack and let them carry it. she was able to trudge along, slowly but surely. 

the moral of the story is How often do we tell the Savior, "No, this isn't your fault. I brought this on myself. You don't need to carry my burdens, I caused them." I know that I do this all the time. The amazing thing about this story, is that the Savior loves us and he has ALREADY taken our burden upon himself. He ready for our heavy packs, but it takes us to give it to him. Christ is right next to us, with our water bottle, cheering us on, and carrying our packs. I promise that this is true. I know that the savior does love us, that he has already carried these burdens for us, so that we don't have to. I promise that as you turn to him, you can feel that strength in your life that you have been searching for, for so long. I am so grateful for my Savior and for the love he shows me everyday by carrying my burdens. 

I love you all so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!!!