Happy Easter!

Spring at Winter Quarters

Happy Easter!
I hope everyone had a great day.  We worked at the Trail Center, had church, and then had dinner at a member's house. He got us each Easter baskets filled with chocolate, chocolate eggs, chocolate bunnies, zoo passes, a huge box of fruit, and gave us the leftovers from dinner. It was crazy! haha Then we just went out to try and visit some people.I took a cool tour at the TC yesterday. Sister Hamilton and I took two architects on tour that work on temples for the church. That was sweet! I guess the church has like 7 or 8 firms that they hire to build temples. It was cool to hear a little bit about that and to compare it to building the Nauvoo temple (which took 5 years) and the Salt Lake City temple (which took 40 years). 


And here's a conversation from another dinner:
We were trying to share a thought and calm everyone down... One kid was running around in a cape.
Sister Peterson: "Hey, who's your favorite superhero?"
Kid: "Superman!!"
Sister Peterson: "Can I tell you about another superhero?"
Kid: "The Green Lantern?"
Sister Peterson: "Well, I was going to talk about your Dad"
Kid: "Dad's the Green Lantern??"

There was no getting it back from that point. From then on, Dad was the Green Lantern. Awesome.

Is everybody finishing up the Book of Mormon with me?  Let me know where you are!!

Here are a few pictures:

Our apartment the day I moved in.

Awesome member family

adorable little boy.

Things I Wish I'd Done Before I Got Here

Ok, so here are the things that I wish that I had done to prepare for my mission:

• Study the Book of Mormon daily and gain a testimony of it
• Go out with the missionaries
• Study Preach My Gospel

Probably the first and biggest thing that I wish that I had done was read the Book of Mormon daily! I read it, but not consistently. I had a testimony of it, but it could have been so much stronger!
I have learned on my mission that no other amount of gospel study can replace studying the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth and it is a direct and powerful way to invite the Spirit into our lives. If we want to gain a testimony of any Gopsel principle, we need to read the Book of Mormon. If we want to stay converted to the Gospel, we need to read the Book of Mormon. It's kind of my go-to answer for pretty much every problem. READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!

The next is go out with the missionaries! This can definitely seem scary.

What if you say the wrong thing? What if you can't say anything at all?

Don't worry about it!! We are all promised that we will be given the words to say exactly when we need it. Have faith in that promise! I have seen it fulfilled so many times. I can't even count all of the times on my mission when I have opened my mouth to talk and words came out that weren't mine at all.

I can't even say how important members are to the work. There is no point in missionaries being there if the members aren't going to participate. We as missionaries are here to help the members to do their missionary work, not the other way around.

The third thing that I wish that I had done was study Preach My Gospel. I think it was Elder Holland who said that Preach My Gospel was planned on one side of the veil and assembled on the other. (Something like that. Even if he didn't, it's still a cool thought and I wouldn't doubt it!)
It is SUCH an inspired manual. For anyone preparing to go on a mission, make it a habit to study! Especially the first three lessons that are in chapter 3.

I definitely recommend all of these for all members, not just ones preparing for a mission!!

"The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual destiny of the missionary, his or her spouse, and their posterity forgenerations to come. A desire to serve is a natural outcome of one’s conversion, worthiness, and preparation" Elder Russell M. Nelson