I just told someone in the laundry room that this was my 8th week here and that I would be leaving in a week or so, and that was so weird to realize! Goodness, it's so crazy. We'll get our reassignments on Wednesday I think, and I'm so excited for that! This past week has been amazing - I don't remember a lot of details, I just know that we taught a lot and that many things have finally worked together and are making more sense to me. I've always known why I was on a mission, but I've become more and more excited about getting out and sharing the gospel, especially this week. Teaching people is what this life is all about - it's nice to know that now since I'm reatively young and still have a lot of time to perfect this teaching ability =]
So, we have been teaching a lot this week! Since there are three of us, we've become investagators for each other. One of us will be an investagator and the other two will be the missionaries teaching, and it really is such an interesting experience. I love being an investagator, because I am still learning about this gospel, and I get to look at these concepts and principles from the eyes of someone else who doesn't know them, and I get to see how other missionaries answer questions that I have and I learn so much.
Another experience I had was teaching my companion as herself. She's been struggling with being overwhelmed a little bit, so after she had an interview with our teacher, they came back into the room, Irma Holtzclaw stopped what we were doing and she said that Sister Cornwall and I were going to teach Sister Ogletree. So we talked to her a little bit, asked her how things were going, what she was struggling with, what she was looking forward to, and then we went out and we had 5 minutes to prepare. That lesson has been one of the most important ones I have taught since I've been here, because it's neat to teach 'investigators', but this time we were teaching someone real, some one who we knew and loved. We prayed, and when we went back into the classroom to teach her we had a plan, but I was completely calm about everything that we taught, because I knew how much I loved the person in front of me, I knew how wonderful she was, and I knew how much God loved her, too. I also knew that I had a sincere desire to help her, and that God would help me to know what to say because we all has the same goal in mind. It's beautful, to have your wil aligned to that of God's, because He is able to help you so much more and there is absolutely no reason to doubt or not be confident in what you're saying.
Everything else has followed that lesson this week. I've always know that love is such a central part of the gospel, but I've seen it in action more this week - when I have it and when I don't and the difference that it makes. I've seen it as I've talked with the Sisters in our Brach and counciled with them about things they're struggling with, I've felt it as I've prayed for people I know and those I don't as well, and I've felt the love of the Lord for me, as an individual. How much he wants me to learn and grow and how much He knows about who I am and what I'm capable of - I want everyone to have that feeling.
Last night was also amazing. We had a speaker come - Bro. Heaton - and he talked about something that our companionship has been struggling with a little bit. We were pretty sure we'd figured it out, but as he talked and told us the exact conclusion we had come to as well, it was a complete confirmation of the inspiration we had received about how we were supposed to go about teaching the lessons. We were so excited as he talked about it and we made comments and were able to build off of what he was saying and to tie it back to concepts that we hadn't thought of before. Afterwards we were so excited and we went up to thank him and to tell him that it was exactly what we needed, and then we couldn't quit talking about it. Sunday nights we have the chance to watch church films, but we had no desire to do that. We went back up to the classroom and talked more about what he'd said and built off of it for at least 90 mins. We had to go back to our residence hall after that, but we kept talking about everything that we learned and more ideas kept coming to us. And then this morning we were able to go to the temple. I always like going to the temple, but this time... it was amazing. I had all these ideas in my head from the night before, things we'd been able to talk about, and as I sat through a session I was able to make so many more conections about our purpose here and the amazing ability we have been given in this life simply to live - and Sister Cornwally and I talked for almost an hour afterwards about everything we'd been thinking and feeling....
This gospel is true. I've always known that, but I feel that as I learn more, I realize how much more there is in store for me, how much worth I have in the eyes of God, and perfect beings are never wrong =]
I love you all, and I hope your week has been great
Love
Sister Petersen
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