One Step Closer

This week has been soooo busy!

 

Monday, for various reasons, was not a good day.  No one was really focused and we didn't get a whole lot accomplished as a district and I think everyone was a bit burned out.  At the end of the night, I think Irmao Johanson gave up on us and told us that we needed to teach the first lesson to another companionship in the district.  We do a lot of role playing here, so just about every missionary has a specific person in mind that they use when they're being taught by other missionaries.  Needless to say, this experience did not go over well, and I think everyone was extrememly humbled by the end of the night.

 

But that means that the week could only get better!  Tuesdays we really worked as a companionship on making sure we were teaching equal amounts of time and did a little comp. inventory which helped a whole lot.  We then taught each other the first lesson, which works really well since there's three of us, so one of us will be the investagator and the other two will teach.  I was the investagator first, and they were going on, teaching the lesson, and I was doing my best to act like this person I was thinking of would act and to have their concerns in mind.  My wonderful companions hit exactly on everything that "I" needed to hear.  It was so amazing.  And then Sister Cornwall became the investagator and Sis Forester and I didn't have a lot of time, so we'd bearly started the lesson when we had to be wrapping it up.  I was trying to think what needed to happen in the situation I was in and I thought came to me (a very un-Erin thought) and I told our investagator "I think you really need to pray.  Right now.  Would you be willing to do that?"  And it was perfect.  It really was.  And if I can do something perfect, well, God does work miracles =]

 

Later that night we had our district fireside and that completely changed my perspective on the people I'm here with.  I love them all a whole lot, they're great, but especially Monday I sat and thought "How in the world does the Lord use us to be able to do his work?" And I got my answer.  In our fireside everyone got the chance to talk about what they've learned and bore their testimonies and the transformation was amazing.  To have the Spirit there and testify so strongly from these Elders and Sister was magnificent.

 

Another thing we've been doing is testing out some different programs the MTC is getting ready to put into practice.  We got to go to a workshop about helping members become a part of the lessons and then another one about stress management.  We go through the workshops and then people who have been working on the programs ask us questions about how effective they were and why we liked/didn't like them.  It's neat to think that while I'm here I'm helping to prepare the next generation of missionaries as well.  Pretty neat.

 

Our district is pretty anxious to be receiving their visas, so I think it was Tuesday that about 4 of them fasted for them.  Well, Tuesday, Sis. Cornwall and I got called to the travel office to fill out our online visas!  One more step done to actually getting to Brazil!!!  And the next day, Sister Forester got called to the office and she GOT her visa, and the next day, two more Elders got their visas, and today, three more of our missionaries got their visas!  It's really exciting, but at the same time it's a little sad.  Even thought I've only been here 10 days, we've gotten really close as a district and I'm going to miss every who's leaving.  On Tuesday it will just be Me, Sisters Cornwall and Ogletree and Elders Fullmer, Torres and Malloy.  Two companionships of 3.  It's going to be a lot different.  But considering that we know people who've been here almost their full 9 weeks and haven't even filled out their online visas yet, we feel very blessed.

 

Oh! I also got a letter from my mission president!  He sent one in English and one in portugues and it turns out they say different things, so i'll have to figure that out.  He also sent a list of about 70 scriptures that we need to memorize.  Where they are and the main topic, but still, that's a lot of scriptures!!

 

One of the most exciting things this week was getting to teach in the TRC.  Volunteers come and pretend to be investagators and we go and contact a few of them and then we teach the last person we contact. I was a bit nervous since our contacting had to be all in portugues, so it's a good thing I have wonderful companions who've helped me so much with the language.  And I think our lesson went pretty well, too. 

 

Being here has really made me realize how much time I usually waste in a day.  Since I now get up around 5:40 and get to bed at 10:30 and my day is completely full of things I'm doing or studying or practicing, it's made me realize how important being organized is.

 

Well I'm running out of time, but I love you all!

Have a great week!!

 

Sister Petersen