Cheese fills a place in my heart that no man will fill

(Sister Slade)

Todays title comes from a 15 year old girl that we are teaching. Her family had us over for dinner and she put a lot of cheese in her potato soup and when we questioned her about her life choices, that is what she said.

Somehow this week was simultaneously one of the most uneventful yet eventful weeks of my mission. Don't ask me how that makes sense.

On Tuesday, Sister Faleafa woke up with a really bad migraine that lasted all week. So most of the week was spent in the apartment. I sewed 15 dresses and started making a quilt out of all of the scrap material to give to President and Sister Strong for Christmas.

Now for the eventful part of the week. On Wednesday we had to drive to Bentonville because our car was starting to freak out and they were going to switch the cars out. So they gave us a brand new 2019 toyota Rav4 that had 26 miles on it. They had us pick it up from the dealership. BUT they had us pick up two of these cars and drive them back to the mission office and gave us permission to be alone to do so. So, I was completely alone for like 5 minutes. It was the weirdest feeling.

On Thursday Sister Faleafa's migraine got so bad that we had to go to the hospital so they could drug her. And then the rest of the week she was kind of loopy and not very aware because of the medication.

Last but not least, on Sunday we had a baptism. Rick was able to be baptized!!! His brother Tommy who was baptized 4 weeks ago baptized him and Sister Faleafa and I were the witnesses. It was a really cool experience.

God is good!

Sister Slade

pictures:

We had fun last pday at walmart

Sister Faleafa broke one of the sewing machines and then fixed it and then broke it and we're going to fix it again today

While we were picking up a new car I got to hold president Strong's dog Tonks

The car that Sister Faleafa drove back from the dealership

One of the dresses I made actually fit me pretty well sorry the picture is blurry

 A super squishy and soft stuffed animal

 Rick's baptism

all of the people that had to help Rick be baptized because he's in a wheelchair and can't stand

 We went bowling last week as a stake

Elder Slughorn

(Sister Slade)

You know your a missionary when you try to quote a Harry Potter reference and  you say "Elder Slughorn" instead of "professor Slughorn." Other things my exhausted brain have said this week are "hurting laughs" and "sitting outside on a piano bench" (instead of bus bench).

It has been another crazy week. Tommy's brother Rick told us on Thursday that he wants to be baptized as soon as possible. So we're shooting for having a baptism next Sunday! I do love when people invite themselves to be baptized.

Our ward's primary program was yesterday and it was so cute! Little children can bring the spirit so much stronger and purer than any adult giving a talk.

Sister faleafa gets really bad migraines, so we have to spend a lot of time inside for her to rest. During that time I sew dresses. So (haha, see what I did there) our weeks are not very exciting.

God is good!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

Some really cute dresses that I made

A very pretty sunrise

A pillow that I made out of the scraps from making dresses

The other side of the pillow

We made Johana's daughter a missionary name tag and she sat there the whole lesson trying to be like us

She wouldn't let us leave after our lesson

October 24, 2019

(Elder Petersent)

Monday

               Today has been a good day, we started out our day by getting up at 5:50 and working out until 6:45. We went shopping and then we big chilled at our zone leaders house until we had to be home to receive our pizza that the family that was going to feed us tonight sent us because they had to cancel due to things getting in the way. But they felt bad that they had to cancel so they ordered us dominoes pizza for dinner which was nice of them to do. They went over board when they ordered it though because they sent us two pizzas, a box of cinnamon twists, two salads and finally a 1 litter of root beer as seen in the pictures below.

Tuesday

               Today my companion and I started off the day pretty regularly getting up at 5:50 and working out until around 6:40 we then walked home, had breakfast and went into our daily planning at 8 o'clock we did that for a half hour then did our personal and companionship studies until 10:30. At 1:30 we went and had our additional companionship study then we were busy texting people until 3 or so. We had dinner at a member’s home which is also the home of one of the people that was baptized under the mission. His name is Ash and he is an awesome 9 year old. We then had a member lesson and then we were free for the day.

Wednesday

               We had district council today which lasted from 10:30 to 12:30 it was a good DC I gave a little talk about obedience and how being obedient can bless you. I started out with reading one part of the obedience overview in gospel topics and it says "God gives commandments for our benefit. They are loving instructions for our happiness and for our physical and spiritual well-being." I read that and then after I explained it a little bit I changed it to say "Our Mission President gives us rules for our benefit. They are loving instructions for our happiness and for our physical and spiritual well-being." So I changed it in that way and I explained that sometimes some of the rules that the mission gives us or the mission president gives are hard to follow they are there for OUR benefit not for the mission presidents benefit and not for Gods benefit. That they are there to make us better people and better missionaries. After that we had a service project dinner and then not much else.

Thursday

               Today was a pretty slow day due to just people not being home and such. We had a huddle with Elder Waldner and then we went out to lunch with him. I did some scripture memorization and then our day basically ended when we were done with our YSA ministering visits.

Friday

               Today we had weekly planning and we planned for the next week for what we would be doing and how we can manage to do them. Other than that it has been another pretty boring day because we did not have nearly as much stuff to do as we had hoped. Mainly because they all did not reply or they canceled.

Saturday

               Today our district leader joined our companionship study via video conference. It was a good way for him to evaluate us during his free time as his companion did language study. As the day progressed we had a member appointment who had contacted us to set it up. She is disabled and wanted us read gospel principles with her so that she can understand it better during the winter when she cannot get to church. She lives in a home with non-members so we hope that as we help her grow stronger in the gospel the others will absorb that truth and at some point want to know more. After that we got taken out to dinner by the family who offered to feed us tonight and then after that it was pretty quiet.

Sunday

               Today I had the privilege of speaking in one of the wards that we have stewardship over. I talked about the armor of God and how it helped me in deciding to serve a mission. It was a good experience although as I said before it was a privilege but it was also a horror to speak in front of the ward. Elder Coupe and I managed to make it to 3 wards today for sacrament. After all of those wards we had a correlation meeting with one of our stake presidents and discussed what we were doing in that stake at that time. At around 5 PM we had a dinner appointment and four member visits after that. And then our day basically ended after we did our call ins with our DL.

October 14 email

(Elder Petersen)

Monday

Today was a pretty good day it was my P-Day so I did all of the stuff that I needed to do to prepare myself for the upcoming week. I got a haircut, went shopping and finally went to a fair well party for a missionary who is going to die as of Wednesday. After that party we went to a few ministering with members and overall had a great time with our day.

Tuesday

Today was a pretty relaxed day until dinner which is when it got busy. After dinner we went to a non-member appointment with a guy named Cidi. He is a pretty interesting guy who is a professor up at USU. He is a very smart guy and we really have to think about what we say to him when we talk to him about the gospel. He really makes us think with the questions that he asks so he is a fun guy to be teaching.

Wednesday

Today was the day that everyone got officially transferred and put in their new homes and with their new companions. My companion did not change nor did my area but our district has only four missionaries that are the same from last transfer and we now have 6 companionships in our district which means that we have 1/3 of the district that is the same. It has been a fun day overall, what makes it better is that we got our first snowfall today.

Thursday

Today started of pretty good. We started off our first day in the new transfer going for to a district meeting so we got to see all of our new district the day after transfers. Right after district council we had a service and we went and did some manual labor in the yard of member who needed some help removing stumps and roots from her yard. After that we had the rest of our day chocked full of member visits witch was nice but I had our keys hooked to my belt loop and one of our key rings fell off somewhere in that last 4 hours of our day. So we are looking for our keys. 😶😏😐

Friday

So we found our keys which was great. It was a pretty good day we had a huddle with our senior couple the Waldners and had a good time with them. We spent most of our day in a church building doing weekly planning as well as calling and texting people so that we can set up member appointments. In Utah, especially in providence where I am located knocking doors or doing really any sort of traditional proselytizing is not effective at all. So we work through the members to find people to teach.

Saturday

Today we texted a lot of people in our area in order to arrange for more member visits on our part. That went well and then our zone leaders came by and helped us Role-play during our additional Companionship study. It went well I still need to work on a lot of things in regards to teach and my T.H.E. Skills which are basically Tone Hands Eyes. I need to stop sounding like a robot Not playing with my hands as I speak and yo keep eye contact with the person whom I am speaking to. The really interesting thing that happened today was that I got to meet one of the actors that's in the Book of Mormon videos and see a little bit of what made them want to do certain things in the episodes. So it has been a good day.

Sunday

Today we met with both of our family Stake Presidents and talked to them about what we are doing and going to do in their stakes. We had dinner at a members home and had pizza with brownies for dessert. After that we visited with four more member families and shared with them messages about ministering and what we could do as missionaries to help them with their missionary efforts. But this week has really been a pretty quiet week in missionary efforts. We are hoping to be picking it up next week. But when most of the people you teach are through member referrals it gets hard to find when people don't send us referrals. We are doing the best we can though and we are hoping to have a baptism this month. So please pray for us and for our non-member Heather that she will be able to get over the problems that are preventing her from getting baptized.

Thanks Babe!

(Sister Slade)

Today's title comes from a member in my ward. We were having dinner with this older couple and I was asked to pray. At the end of the prayer this Brother said, "Thanks babe" out of habit. When he realized that he just called a sister missionary babe he was very embarrassed. :)

This week was so good! On Tuesday we had a lesson with a family and set them on date go be baptized on the 2nd of November. I'm excited for them. Ever since they've been on date though satan's been trying really hard to discourage them. Pray for Angela, Dalton, and Dominick!

We had a few really amazing lessons with Johana. We did a church tour to help her not be so scared to come to church. In the chapel I played a few hymns for her and her 2 year old daughter. Her daughter just sat next to me on the bench and any time I finished a song she would pick up my ha d and put it on the piano. Then I played the song Kites for them. Johanna's daughter just sat on the piano bench without moving and Johana cried because she felt the spirit so strongly. She said she wants to be baptized! She's not sure if she's ready to set a date, but she knows that this is where she is supposed to be.

I went on exchanges in Springdale with Sister Minor this week. Sister Minor and  I were companions 6 months ago for 10.5 days and they were the best 10.5 days ever. So it was a tender mercy that we got to be companions for another day. :) While on exchanges an appointment fell through so we decided to go tracting. We knocked on 4 doors and found 2 very promising families. That was definitely a first on my mission.

Another miracle: a couple of weeks ago at Tommy's baptism, his brother Rick said he wanted to start meeting with us. Well this week he also told us that he wants to be baptized!

God is so good!

Sister Slade

Pictures:

1. A Yoda ball that I found stuffed qy the back of a closet

2. On exchanges with sister minor

3. A giant caterpillar we saw at the farms

4. Service at the farms

5. I've been deep cleaning the apartment (because until 4 months ago it had been elders living here) and I found some weird things such as this buzz light year head

6. The first frost

7. It was so cold going to the gym when it frosted

8. Service at the restore

9. Some dresses we made

10. Some more dresses

BAPTISM!

(Hermana Ellsworth)

Hello Family and Friends :)

This week was such a wonderful week. This week we were able to have the baptism of Julio (or Tortuga- his Puerto Rican name) It has been such a humbling experience teaching Julio this past month. Some of my favorite memories with his is when he bought us water at 8:30 at night with the little money that he had earned for that day selling avocados. He insisted on buying us just a little bit of water and continued to share how important we were to him. That we had taken the time to teach him about Christ and all he could do to say thank you was buy us a little bit of water. I wanted to cry when he pulled out the 3 dollars he had to buy us water. Julio has such a sweet spirit about him and he has some wonderful friends in the church now. I am so grateful to be serving in Toa Baja still and I love this ward so much.

This week we got to do some wonderful service opportunities and I might have gone to the baptism with paint in my hair but the spirit was still there. Puerto Rico is still SUPER hot all the time and I am still not tanning :) BUT ITS OKAY!

I know the Lord loves his children and if he wants me to be a pale, burnt redhead in Puerto Rico then he has his purpose for why I am here. It is such a blessing to be serving in this weird little island learning some really weird spanish but I honestly love it here.

Update

(Elder Petersen)

Monday Night

Today my companion and I we had some ministering with member appointments right after our P-Day ended and these appointments were set up us so that we can manage to be seen in every home on ever ward in our Stakes. That's right I said Stakes (21 wards) this is because in my area although small geographically it has three stakes that we preside over and help. Well we had a few great visits and will be following up with a few of the families about some of the ministering to all work sheet that we gave them to help them figure out who they know that might need the gospel in their lives.

               Tuesday

Well today was a very interesting day my companion and I had to do a deep clean on our little apartment so that it could pass inspections so we had inspections at four PM today and we passed (by how much only our inspectors know). Well before our inspections happened we had to make a prepare to learn video doing a four minute restoration for our multi district council tomorrow which should be fun. At the end of our day we had dinner at a member’s house and then had five member visits that finished off our night.

               Wednesday

So I am doing my email a little differently this week then I usually do them because I just can't seem to find the time to write a good email on my P-Days so I am going to write about each day that day. Well today we had multi-district council so that took up our entire morning. So much so that we found it hard to get to our service that was assigned to us half an hour after our MDC was over. We managed to get there on time though which was nice. Our service assignment was to help at a humanitarian center in which we were assigned there to help tie knots on quilts which I have had a lot of practice doing especially after all the conference quilting sessions my mom does. But it was not hard and I enjoyed it. After the service we had dinner then some member visits after that so today was pretty full.

               Thursday

Well today has been an interesting day right before lunch we had a Huddle with our senior couple, their names are Elder Waldner and Sister Waldner. So we had lunch there after we huddled with them about what they were doing and what we were doing in our shared Stake. After the huddle we did a blitz split with our zone leaders (their names are Elders Zitting and Cziesla) we found a lot of new people for every area but ours. After that split we went with the zone leaders to nonmember that is moving out of their area into our area, so we helped them pack some stuff into their moving van and we will probably be helping them move into their new home tomorrow. After the move we had dinner at a member’s house with our zone leaders and then our night was relatively quiet until curfew. Not usually quite in the evenings but it was today.

               Friday

So today we went on a last minute ditch exchange because our district leader needed to do an exchange with us before transfers come up so our district leader came up and picked me up and left his companion this morning. He picked the worst day to do it though because not only did we have so much planned for today that we already needed to do splits, but he forgot that it was Friday and the Missionaries scheduled weekly planning day so we exchanged but I was really only not with my actual companion from 9am to 2pm and 6pm to 8:45pm. I learned a lot from the short exchange though and it was fun.

               Saturday

Today was a great day mainly because we had our first part of General Conference and we got revelation bombs left and right. Such good talks from Elder Bednar's talk about how cheetahs can be a real world example of how Satan tries to get us to commit sin. To the changes in how the church is going to organize priesthood quorums and young women's organizations. Love to hear about what you all think about the changes made. Most exciting of all though is that we learn about transfers tomorrow!

               Sunday

We watched General Conference today and it was amazing. We also learned about transfers today now we know that my companion and I are staying in providence. My second transfer here but his 6th transfer in this area. I am enjoying it here in providence and I am enjoying the people. I was talking to one family and we got on to the fact that Ogden is "sketchy". But it really is not because there is nowhere in Ogden that I would be scared to walk around in at night. Ogden is nothing like parts of Denver in which if I walked down some of those streets at night I might be afraid for my life. But alls well that ends well and my week has been good

From Elder Petersen

Pictures:

Playing basketball to loosen up during weekly planning

Weekly planning with our ZL's and DL

Multi - district council on Wednesday

Pick of transfer board

random pictures