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!!!

June 30th

So this week was good! I went on exchanges with the Sister Training
Leader, she is sweeeet. We went to a taco truck that is super
authentic and so so so good. I love Mexican food more and more
Everyday. Americanized Mexican doesn't stand a chance against
authentic. When I get home I am going to make you some legit good
food. I love it so much.

There is this family, the Garcia's. They are amazing. They are recent
converts and they are seriously so so so great, they feed us at least
once a week and we get, carne asada, sopes, mole(Mole-A), and, amazona
salsa. I love it. You guys would love it too. I am getting more
accustomed to spicy food too! WOo.

I have stayed strong and not gotten sick which is so so so nice. I
really didn't want to get sick cause that is the woist. We find out on
July 4th ('merica) if we are getting transferred or not! I will let
you know!

I love you all so much! Thank you for the prayers and everything you
do! We feel the prayers of everyone every single day! We feel
protected daily and we know it is from the prayers of our loved ones!
I love you all! Thank you for all you do!

Feel free to write me! If you want to send me a letter at anytime the
mission office is the best place to send them! The address is
5301 Badger Rd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95409
I love you all!!

Below is the taco truck. You can tell it is authentic by the Hispanics
in the photo. I'm all about that candid lyfe. #candidsohard.

broken retainer

Tacos for dayzzzz!

A real live wolf!

June 23rd

On Thursday night we got a text from one of our investigators Teresa.
We hadn't seen her in about a month because she was going through
family troubles. In her text she said, "hey can we meet tomorrow I
need someone to talk to." This was just the thing we were looking for!
I was so excited!! :) so on Friday we went and visited her and she
told us what was going on. She poured out a lot but it was really good
cause she needed it so badly. We comforted her and gave her advice. We
told her to turn to God and include Him the decision she was making.
We let her know that coming to church would help her join the ward
family and she liked that a lot. She needs prayers!!

On Friday we did exchanges with Sister Eisert and Sister Afoa. I went
up to middle town.... It's crazy up there. I'm pretty sure I drove
through a time warp coming up the mountain. It was nuts. We were
Switzerland in a non-violent and non-contentious hippy fight. Then, We
were on a old rotting wood porch and Sister Afoa stepped and the wood
collapsed and she fell (not all the the way through. But it was was
scary. Then we got fed beef stew after doing yard work in 100 degree
weather. It was awesome! Then right before we exchanged back, Sister
Van Wie got bit by a dog! She was in the ER. And so we had to end our
exchange late. I missed out on the ER, by just an hour.
It was nuts. Sister Van Wie has a gnar cold too, so I am just a
ticking time bomb.

I looooove this area, and the people here. I don't want to leave! I
think I am probably going to get transferred though. Make you guesses!
Transfers is on the 9th. This transfer went by really fast.

June 16th:

This week was AWESOME. So the first few days were DRAGGIN because I was looking forward to Friday. We had Elder Falabella from the quorum of the 70 come talk to us. And it was a half mission conference so I knew that Sister Whimpey was going to be there. I was STOKED to see her. So we had to drive to the stake center in Fairfield. When we got there, there were some missionaries there already and we talked with them. Pick waited and waited for Sister Whimpey and I couldn't find her. I was looking all through this. Crowd of missionaries and finally I see one last car pull up, and I see Sister Whimpey stand up out of the car. It was the GREATEST reunion ever. We ran half way across the parking lot to each other to join in a awesome embrace! It was the greatest thing. I needed it so bad. We talked and talked like we have been friends forever, it was amazing! She is amazing! 

Elder Falabella's talk was amazing as well. He is an awesome speaker and he is very down to earth. He helped us with all the things that we seemed to be struggling with. 

Then on Sunday we finally broke ground on our branch mission plan. It has been stressing me out since week 1. We finally started! I'm so so so happy!!

It's been such a good week. I love you so SO SO much! 

Father's day fun!

So Taylor moved out and she finally is teaching me how to update Dev's blog.  I won't put all of her letters on here, but here is a few: 

This if from June 9th:

Well, this week was crazy. So Sister Van Wie, brings with her a curse. hahahah. SHE HAS BAD LUCK. It's hilarious. She tells me all the time, "The people in heaven are just watching my life going, just wait look what happens next!" She is hilarious. So on Tuesday she ran out of medication, and we had to drive all the way to MIDDLETOWN. Which is like an hour away, but if you haven't ever seen the road to Middletown, I invite you to googlemap it. It's a joke. hahah. So that was fun. Then Wednesday, we drove to Napa (an hour away), to teach an investigator in Jail.. (Sorry Mom) and the Jail was closed for visitors... So we had fast food! (WOO There is no fast food in our area) so that was a good old waste of miles. Then on Thursday... we were out contacting and tracting, and we stopped at a street corner and said a prayer to see which way to go. We felt prompted to go to this house of a former investigator. So we walk to her house and Sister Van Wie is sayin, "the people in heaven are watching my life saying look what happens next!" and we walk up to the glass front door... we knock and no one answers... but we know they are home cause we can here, "wild love" playing really loud! So we ring the door bell and then we see the lady with a wine glass, and a shot glass in her hand, so we think, "Oh they are having a party!" and then her husband come strutting out, BUTT NAKED. and right we realize he is not clothed, she just frees herself of her clothing as well... safe to say I have NEVER ran so fast in my life. hahaha. We plucked each others eyes out shortly after.... hahaha. IT WAS HORRIBLE. Then friday we had weekly planning and got trapped in our apartment because they are redoing the walkways and stairs. So we were stuck in our apartment planning every hour of everyday this upcoming week. There will be video's coming shortly. Then on Saturday it was completely normal. ha we even hit the 20-3-1! woooo! Yesterday, was normal until 10 minutes before curfew... we were walking down the street and SPLAT, Sister Van Wie gets pooped on my a bird. hahahahahahahha. I was trying not to laugh really hard because she would have wiped in on me. I was laughing soooo hard on the inside though. hahaha. We had an EVENTFUL week. Pray that we don't see any more nudity this week, or that we don't get pooped on. hahahaha! Just pray for us!!

We sadly haven't been able to meet with Teresa!! Pray that we will be able to! We have had an amazing week!!! We have truly seen the blessings of striving to be exactly obedient. St. Helena is a hard area. We get *sassed* often by tourists. It's rough, but I know that there are people here that I can help. I also know that there are people here that are here to help me become the person I need to become.
In the last week we picked up a total of 8 new investigators. THAT is a miracle. A miracle that could have only come from the Lord. I know that all the hard work we put it in was so so worth it because of the miracles we saw. God truly provided for us when we were trying to get our 20 contacts and 3 lessons.
Last Monday, after dinner, we taught a lesson to an investigator, Nayeli, and her friend, Naida. They are 12 and is super awesome. We ended up dropping Nayeli because she is content where she is in the catholic church. Naida on the other hand is ELECT. We have only met her twice now. She is really interested in learning more! She is awesome.
So after that lesson, we went to go by a referral in an apartment complex. So we went to the complex, and I felt prompted to stop at another referral that we hadn't planned on seeing that night. So we stopped at the referrals house and knocked on her door. She answered and we taught a lesson to her right there on her doorstep! She basically invited her to be baptized. She said, "When I come to know this is true, I will join!" We hadn't even gotten to the baptismal invite yet. Then she said, "I really need to take my aunt to church. I think we are going to come this week!" hahaha. We hadn't invited her to church yet either. Sadly she didn't make it to church Yesterday, but we are still praying she will come this week!!
We left her house after the lesson, and went to contact the referral we had planned on going to see, and ended up teaching her as well! She has a way to go in developing her faith but I know that we can help her see the truth. When we left her apartment we had to be home in 20 minutes and we were in St. Helena. (15 minutes away from home in Calistoga.) We were only at 16-3-1 and we made a commitment to eachother and to God that we would get 20 contacts every day this transfer. So we were walking out of the complex and hurried and offered a prayer to ask God to place 4 more people in our path. As we walked toward where our car was parked, I felt a very strong prompting to go a round-about way to get to our car. We walked the way I was prompted and saw a lady and her 2 kids getting out a car. We contacted them and as we were talking with them a man walked out the back of the parking lot and we were able to contact him as well! It was amazing!!!
I know that when we follow the promptings of the spirit we are able to come closer to God, and He is more willing to talk to us through the spirit. I have noticed a HUGE change in our area book in the last few weeks since we commited to LIVE the culture of High Expectations. I know that THIS IS God's work. We are merely just tools in His hands. He is so involved in ALL of our investigators lives. I'm so full of gratitude for his trust in me, and for the chance I have to "live in the world but not of the world." I love this work!!
The rest of the week was FULL of miracles because of our obedience. Without it we wouldn't have had as much sucess and we have. We are really doing EVERYTHING in our power to get our investigators to church and they still won't come. It's been a major struggle. I can't figure out what we may be doing wrong, but Sister Decker is good at reminding me that everyone still has their agency. We are so blessed to be here at this time and serving here in this beautiful place. I love being a missionary and being able to share my testimony daily. I love also getting the chance to hear others bare POWERFUL testimonies as well. It is the best. I love this work. I love being here. I love the trials we have because we ALWAYS come out stronger. I love the spirit and having it with us ALWAYS. I know God is with us. I Know that we ARE doing His work!
The Church is True!!!!!

I love you all so so so so so much! I hope you have a great week!!! Keep remembering that God loves you tons. Stay classy! If you have an questions about Skype email me ASAP!!! IM SO STOKED TO SEE YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACES!!!!!

so something so funny about this place, is there are squirrels EVERYWHERE. hahaha. and they run on the telephone lines... hahahaha. it kills me one of these days ill get a picture.

Also, I've seen 2 hit and runs on the same street corner in St. Helena since I got here. people are terrible drivers.

I ran for a full 30 minutes this morning! Holla back!!! It was gr8.

We tried to contact a man, and he knew that we were missionaries, and he was like "Im good!! I feel like a record and God is the pin, and he is just diggin on me!! and it feels good!!" hahaha he was drunk.

I got hugged by a drunk man the other night. It was very accaawkward.

Conference was amazing. Holland threw down like always. I loved them all!!!! M Russell Ballard was the one that talked about Following up, Dad!! We got fed everyday last week, and we are going to be fed everyday this week as well!! haha our members are the best. We watched all 4 sessions at members homes, and they all fed us. They are the best. I had the best mexican food I have ever had on saturday. They were called Sopas. I will make them for you when I get home. Ahhh. it was celestial. 

the rain stopped, and it got really hot. its like 80 degrees now. its toasty. but its better than being cold.... Its probably about the same there as it is here, but its prettty humid here! 

So this week has been pretty wild. We had an amazing Zone meeting on Tuesday! I got blessed with the best zone!! I love them all! The spirit was so strong and I learned so much. we had a fast on Tuesday and it was so amazing and we saw an AMAZING miracle from it. On Wednesday, Sister Decker and I went to see a referral, Seamus, at an apartment complex. When we were walking through the parking lot, we 3 guys (not going to lie, they were hoodlums) standing in the back of the parking lot. Sister Decker (being a great example) said, "We should go talk to them!" So We went over and started talking with them, and got to know them a little more, and found out one of them was Seamus!! So that was amazing, because if we would have gone and knocked on his door, he wouldn't have been home. As we started talking with them we got to know them a little bit more and one of the men, Luis, said we had talked with him before.
We had contacted him the night we had met with the Bible basher, Paul. We were walking through a trailer park, and he was in the middle of a drug exchange... haha it was super awkward, but Sister Decker told him, "You don't need whatever he is giving you. Your body is a temple!" So that was a miracle that we had met him again! So Seamus, Luis, and Christian (the last guy) were asking us questions about the church and we were helping them to understand a little bit more. We invited them to pray with us right then and there, and Sister Decker offered the prayer. She prayed for all of them individually and the spirit was so strong. After the prayer, Sister Decker was talking with Luis and Seamus, and I was talking with Christian because they were asking too many questions for us to answer together. Christian was really interested in learning more about God. I shared a Book of Mormon with him, and showed him the Introduction. He was really interested in reading it! It was amazing. Sister Decker, was talking with Luis, and found out that the night that we contacted him he was getting the drugs so he could overdose and kill himself. Sister Decker had said, "Your body is a temple" and that stuck in his mind. He said all that night the words were in his head. It was amazing that we were guided to be able to help someone not take their own life from this earth. The spirit is amazing. That miracle was so incredible.

I have grown so so much since I came out here, and I just keep gaining a bigger and bigger testimony of this gospel. I love it, and I'm so grateful for your prayers! Keep em comin. haha. I love you all so much! Keep being the best!!! Send me more pictures!!

We got to go on a hike this morning! It was beautiful!!

oh and I have actually been translated and resurrected so yeah. #missionarylife 

Second letter

 Our investigators are doing well! Hopefully, Peter (Commited to be baptized on the 26th of April) will make his date. He won't keep his commitments and its really frustrating but we had a really good lesson with him yesterday.  We taught Tisha and Naomi (Mom and Daughter) on Thursday night with Sister Banks (an amazing member) and invited them to be baptized! It was amazing. Naomi (The daughter) said she had already been baptized catholic and Tisha explained to her that we werent asking her to be baptized right away, and that they had time to think about it. They both are going to be baptized I know it.
Yesterday afternoon, we were in Angwin and we felt prompted to go visit a former investigator. We knocked on his door and started talking with him, and then ended up teaching a doorstep lesson to him!!! He asked us to come back on Thursday. It was so amazing. The spirit was so strong!
Yesterday night, we had an amazing Power Hour with some members, Brother and Sister Edward.(Power Hour is when we ask a member family to keep us in their thoughts and prayers for the hour and we go and teach or contact and AMAZING miracles happen when we do it!) We went contacting and found some super awesome people. We talked to this older couple who are Jewish. They had a ton of questions and asked a lot about temples. They weren't really interested but they had a bunch of questions. Sister Decker and I answered all of their questions and It was a really awesome experience. We talked to them for about 20 minutes. Then, about 3 minutes later we contacted this man and woman sitting on a bench. The woman was so interested in the Book of Mormon and we gave her a run down on the whole story. It was so cool. We talked to another woman about family history and she asked about the family search website and she asked how much it cost to use it. When we told her it was free, her eyes lit up! It was amazing. When we returned and reported, the Ellis' were so excited to hear about it. It was all around an amazing power hour.
Our members are amazing. They feed us almost every night. They are so loving and so helpful. They are really getting into the spirit of missionary work, which is so good because this branch really needs it. I love the people here. The members are so helpful and loving and make me feel right at home. Me and Sister Decker got our first 20-3-1 on Friday! (20 contacts. 3 lessons. 1 Baptismal invite) It was the greatest feeling ever knowing that we finally got it. We definitely have been working harder for it every day. 

The missionary work is the best. I love it so so much and I love how hard it is. I can feel myself becoming stronger everyday. Its the best. I really love how much support I have. Im grateful for all of you guys and love you so so much! Be member missionaries, because even though your ward may not seem to be in need of more members, it is! Feed the missionaries because they need it! I such faith that if members strive to be missionaries they will be so so blessed! The branch here wouldn't grow at all if it weren't for the members. so become member missionaries because it is so so so important. You da best. Love you so so much! 

1. to Berryessa we go! (the letter I sent today explains about berryessa)

2. Me and sista decker!

(investigators names have been changed)

The Struggle

So wow where to begin, so the night before we flew out I got 2 hours of sleep, then we had to get up at 3:30 and be out of the MTC. it was crazy. So I got to call you (mom and dad & sistas) and that was amazing. I'm so glad. So then we got on the plane and I had a window seat, it was beautiful to be able to see the rolling hills of beautiful california. When we got off the plane we passed some missionaries heading home which was really cool! Then we met Pres. and Sis. Alba, they are AMAZING. they are so so loving and so amazing. They run a tight ship which is awesome cause I have already seen the blessings from being obedient. We had to wait at the airport for 2 hours for the missionaries coming in from the Mexico MTC. I fell asleep on a bench in the airport cause I was SO tired. hahaha. it was rough. we finally got to drive to Santa Rosa which was about an hour drive from Oakland. We got to the mission home and talked for a little bit then went to the mission office. Then we had another talk I couldnt even keep my eyes open. hahaha it was rough. Then they finally took us to our hotel which was amazing cause I stayed in a room with Sister Whimpey but we both got our own beds. I have never fallen asleep faster in my life. hahaha. the next morning we met our trainers, my trainer is Sister Decker. She is a saint. The most encouraging. she is the best. She is from Arizona and just the greatest person. hahaha. Any ways we get done with everything and we are about to leave and she hands me the keys.... IM A DRIVER. hahahaha she doesnt have her lisence so I am the driver. greene driver sup. we have a really nice car, but i cant park it to save my life. hahaha. Its a struggle. So we get to our area which is St. Helena. It covers Calistoga, St. Helena, Yountville, Pope Valley, and Angwin. Its a pretty big area BUT the towns are tiny. It's in the Napa Valley and it is BEAUTIFUL. We live in Calistoga, which is the cutest little town. It is 50% Hispanic and 50% 7th Day Adventist. Which a religion that was created in Angwin. hahaha. its rough. So the first night we were teaching at a members home. It had been raining on and off all day and it wasnt raining when we went to the members home. I wore my coat inside and Sister Decker decided to not wear her coat. when we opened the door to leave, after the lesson, It was POURING rain outside. it was coming down so so hard. hahaha. So The member gave us an umbrella but since I had my coat I gave the Umbrella to sister Decker, I thought "oh I'll go hurry and unlock the car" so I ran out into the rain trying to get to the car as fast as i could so I wouldnt get completely soaked and I was half way across the street when all the sudden my feet slipped out from under neath me and I fell flat on my back in the pouring rain. hahahaha. It was soooooo funny. hahahaha THEN sister Decker gets in the car and the cell phone we had fell into the gutter that had a river of water rushing down it... hahaha. When we got our phone back it was completely fried. hahahaha. so that was my first day in the mission field. it doesnt get much better than that! hahaha. It was rough.

This place is amazing though. We have about 5 investigators. Hopefully soon one of them will be ready to fully commit to follow the Savior. Its so hard cause people don't want to change, but I know how AMAZING this gospel is. I know that it's true. Its hard being here too because no one wants to listen to us so that's also hard. But the members here are amazing. I love them so much. Our Branch is tiny but its the best. I felt so at home going to church yesterday. It felt so good and everyone is so welcoming. I really love how well they have excepted me into this place. There are so many good people here, and I that one day they will really want to be baptized. We have an amazing mission. Everyone here is the best. Our district leaders are the best as well, they are awesome. We teach at the veterans home in Yountville. There is a man there that we are trying to get through to. He has been taking the lessons for 1 1/2 years. but me and Sister Decker both feel that this may be the perfect time for him to accept the gospel. We taught him an amazing lesson yesterday and finally gave him motivation to read the Book of Mormon. It was awesome. I really hope and pray that he finally keeps his commitment to read. We have had some amazing miracles happen since being here. Its amazing. We typed in an address in the GPS for this less active, but it pulled up 2 addresses one that was north and one that was south. so we decided to go to the one that was south and we met this guy who was SO cool. He was in the marine corps and He had the cutest daughter. He is so nice. I want to start teaching him soooo bad. He was the best.

Well, There are about half a million other things that happened this week, but I can't remember cause they all blur together. I am tired all the time, but its awesome. hahaha. I am so grateful for everyone's support. This place is exactly where i am supposed to be and I love it with all my heart. Its the best ever. I miss home but I know that I am supposed to be here. My testimony has already grown a ton and its coolest thing to see the change that has already happened from when I left to now, and I know its only the beginning. I love this work and I love the people here so much already, all of you wrtie me letters more cause it sucks to come home after a long day to an empty mail box. Its rough. hahahaha. K cool. Love you all. You da best. pray for all the 7th Day Adventists that they will realize that Joseph Smith is the real deal. Keep it real out there.

Love Sister Petersen.

 ps write me k thanks.

Last week in the MTC

Soooooooo. Mtc life. Feels like an hour but its actually a whole week. I feel like I just had pday yesterday. I am going to do my best to remember what happened this week! Sister Holguin (From El Paso, Texas) Learned that DAYYYYYUMMMMM is a bad word. hahahhahahah. apparently down there in El Paso the d word (mormon lingo) is a bad word. hahahahaha. neither is a lot of bad words. TEXANS amirite? hahahaha. On sunday we had mission conference because it was fast sunday. Every missionary in the MTC goes into the gym and its basically the most boring meeting I have ever been too (if the mtc board reads my emails before they get sent out I'm sorry) ANYWHO. They tell us to be 20 minutes early to this meeting, so we can get seats. So we get there and sit by our district. APPARENTLY they make us SING to the prelude music. so we are singing all these songs that I have heard maybe once or twice in my life, then the chorister stands up and says "for our last song we are going to sing I am a child of God" and All the sudden I here Elder Rahm (he's in my district) say YES!!! way loud (Meanwhile the entire gym is silent) hahahahahahha. It was sooooo funny. He was STOKED that we were singing I am a child of God. hahahaha. 

We went to Infield orientation and it was 9 hours sitting in 2 classrooms learning about how to get members to help you............. aka 9 hours of pure torture. literally the worst part of the MTC. hahahahaha. so we finally think we are down to 30 minutes left of this hell we are in, and we are sitting there thinking, "okay he's going to summarize then let us go to dinner" (we were starving) then this guy is there and he says "I have a really cool mission story.... (this guy is like 40 trying to relive the glory days) raise your hand if you want to go to dinner... or here my story" I PROMISE you that enough people raised their hands to go to dinner...... He says "Oh looks like you wanna hear my story! it will only take like 12 minutes!" Me and my companion got the tired giggles 3 minutes in and I almost died I was laughing so hard. hahahahahahahahahaha. I swear this Elder in front of me almost started to cry! hahahaha. It was horrible.

Not only has there been really hard times this week, but there have been some AMAZING times where I have looked back and seen that God is right there. We taught a lesson to our teacher to try and help him with his life and help him be motivated to sharing his testimony more! Anyways, we learned that if we prayerfully plan a lesson for someone the spirit will guide you to teach them what they need to learn. We planned this lesson for our teacher (with some serious help from the spirit) and we planned to talk to him about how having faith will help him. When we sat him down to teach him we asked him if he was afraid to share his testimony and he said no............. there goes my whole lesson plan! ugh. hahahaha so I was like CRAP what now. he is a teacher he knows way more than me how do I teach him?! Then I just felt like I need to share with him what I had prepared. I shared a personal story with him because it just came to my mind. and I testified that If You pray for an opportunity to be a missionary God WILL give you one! Then I shared the scriptures and things that I had prepared, The spirit was REALLY strong and when the lesson ended he toldd us we helped him a ton and the spirit empressed to him things we didnt even teach! It was so cool! I was so stoked. the gospel of Jesus Christ is true. and The church of jesus christ of latter day saints contains the fullness of the gospel. Christ DID atone for our sins. He is our greatest advocate. I have grown so close to my heavenly father since I have been here, and learned that Prayer is so important. Remember to keep praying especially for us missionaries! The struggle is REAL out here. I can't wait to leave to cali (mostly cause my skin hates me for living somewhere so dry.) I love it here and relationships i have made. My companion is a saint and I know that God put us together for a reason. I am really sad to leave here but so excited!!! this work is real! INVITE OTHERS TO COME UNTO CHRIST

First Letter

Heyyyy, so MTC life am i right? Its pretty crazy that I'm here and it doesn't feel real about 99% of the time. The first day was super overwhelming. The whole time you are thinking, "whyyyyyy did I want to do this??" but the day went by pretty fast and it pretty much is just a big blurrrr. So the only thing i really remember is this... When you get to the MTC they give you your missionary name tag and it has a red dot sticker on it so the missionaries who have been here longer know you are new.  Whenever you walk past anyone they say, "WELCOME TO THE MTC!!!!!!" and your kinda like uhhhhh k. so me and my companion and the 2 other sisters in my district came out of class and were trying to find the cafeteria building. If you haven't been to the mtc before, at first its pretty much like a giant maze. It was so easy to get lost. So we came out of class to get dinner and start walking to what we think is the dinner building. We realize we have NO idea where we are. So we all kinda stop and are saying stuff like "Which building is it??" "Where are we?!" hahaha I spin around and there is this map of the MTC (Like the ones they have at the Mall) that has a star that says you are here. hahah I look at the map and I realize that the building that we are looking for is rigggghhhhttttt behind me. hahaha I say " OH ITS RIGHT HERE!!" and right when I say that this huge group of Elders walk by and say "Welcome to the MTC sisters!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA," then they laughed for like a solid 30 seconds. I felt soooo dumb. hahaha. that was the BEST part of day 1. 

I only slept like 3 hours the first night. ITS WAS ROUGH. but I have slept really good for the rest of the nights.

the second day was supes spiritual. I learned a ton. It made me not even worry about my choice to come here! 

pretty mush the rest of the days have been the same! jam packed and so so so much information. I love that I am here and get the chance to grow and change and become more like Christ! I love teaching and helping others come closer to Christ! Love you all! have gr8 weeks!

Devin need letters!!! you can do it via dearelder.com or letter

Sister Devin Nicole Petersen
MAR04 CA-SRO
2007 N 900 E Unit 68
Provo UT 84602