Забыла

I forgot!  Guess who got to speak in Sacrament meeting yesterday...in Russian...on eternal marriage? Yep! That's me! 

Sis. Hodgson suggested it as a joke to President Zemlinoi, but he seemed to think it was a good idea...so it happened!  It was scary.  I read a lot.  But the members were very nice about it. :) haha  And hopefully the next one will be better. :)  And not about eternal marriage. ;)

Ukraine #6

May 27 2013

Trying To Come Up With A Clever Line...
 

Oh well.
 

I'm still alive and well and I figure that's good enough! :)
 

It's kind of been a crazy week.
 

We had exchanges again with the sisters in Left Bank.  It was fun to see Sis. Halliday again from the MTC and get to know Sis. Swenson, who served with Sis. Hodgson in Zap last year.  She's wonderful and we had a great day and got some really great contacts for them! 
 

Coming back from exchanges each week has been hard.  I'm not sure what it is but things just don't seem to be working out and we want to just curl up in our apartment and read Jesus the Christ.  But nonetheless we continue on and try to work hard.  And right when we're about to give up, the Lord sends us so many blessings!
 

We had a miracle fall into our lap last week. A woman named Ludmila had a friend at work bring the Book of Mormon with her and they both read from part of it.  She decided she needed this book, but she had no idea where to find it.  She searched bookstores and the internet and finally somehow came in contact with members in Russia and they told her to give her info to Church Headquarters and they could send missionaries to her.  Our zone leader got her info and set up a meeting for us on Saturday.  She was so grateful to get the Book of Mormon.  She's been searching for truth for so long and just wants to find it.  I know she has, and I'm excited for when she'll recognize that too! :)

 

There was also a baptism on Saturday!!  It was almost a double baptism but our investigator wasn't ready.  We didn't realize it until she was in the water. I was praying so hard, but we realized afterwards how important it is to make sure our investigators are really ready for baptism, otherwise we will be accountable for them.  I am so grateful for the Lord and His direction in everything.  He knows exactly what needs to happen and I know it will always work out!

 

We also had lessons work out yesterday with people who really needed a reminder that the Lord is in their lives.  I was so grateful for the opportunity to meet with them.

 

I was reminded this weekend that Heavenly Father is really like our Dad.  He loves us all the time.  He's always rooting for us.  He only puts us in time out to remind us to do the right thing because it really will make us happier.  He wants us to succeed.  He's not scary.  He's wonderful and I can't wait to make it back to His loving arms.  But I will. And I will work while I wait.

 

We were able to go to Hortitsa today, the Cossack fortress. It was so fun to be with members and investigators there learning about Ukrainian culture! I'm really coming to love it and I'm so grateful for that.  (Pictures will have to come next week. He stole the card reader back.  Жалко.)
 

Love you all and miss you much.  But I'll be here another year or so. :)

Sister Petersen

PS Today was transfers, and we're both staying!!  SO happy.  I'd be okay staying in Zap my whole mission. :)  That means I'll get to send Sis. Hodgson home in six weeks. We're gonna make it an awesome transfer. :)

Etc: More Pictures!

1. The "Christ is Risen!" balloon in the park!

2. BEAUTIFUL hand painted/dyed real Easter eggs!!! I'm so tempted to get some. They are gorgeous. Real Ukrainian Easter Eggs!

3. The delicious strawberry salad we made the other night, and the beautiful peonies we bought on the street! :) Love them!  

 

 

Ukraine #5

May Showers... From A Pot

Well my friends. It happened.  Our hot water has been turned off for a week.  Since we had no warning, at least I didn't have to anticipate it, and I had no choice but to shower from a pot!  It's quite the experience.  It goes something like this: heat up water in the kettle (I need one of these when I get back, it's magic), pour it in a stew pot, take said stew pot to shower, fill to top with cold water, put head in pot and proceed to shampoo, condition, and wash.  Pour out soapy water and you're done!  It's fun.  You should try it.

I did get a break from the pot shower when we went to Dnepropetrovsk last week for another round of exchanges!  This time we got to be with Sis. Nielsen and Sis. Lewis.  Sis. Nielsen and I were companions for the day.  Sister Hodgson was actually training her right before I got here, so she was two transfers ahead of me.  It was a good day, we were able to give out a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and meet some really great people!  It is really interesting to see how the needs of each companionship are different, but I still have something to help them. I'm really grateful for that. :)  And I'm excited to see what exchanges with the Left Bank sisters will bring this week!

May just must be the month of holidays here.  Last week they had one especially to celebrate the family! It was so great and so fun to see families out enjoying time together.  I think that should be an American holiday too. :)

I've been able to see here how annoying laziness is.  I decided I never want to be lazy any more! No one likes lazy people.  They don't do any good.  I'll have to make a plan next year to combat it, cause I know it'll be tempting!  But I'm glad I have a while before I have to worry about that. :)

It was a good week.  We had some good lessons and people progressing towards baptism.  It's pretty exciting! I'll let you know when they actually happen. :)  It's so wonderful to see people changing their life and becoming happier because of the gospel. 

I've been studying faith this week, because I realized that a lack of faith is what keeps us from doing the things that will really make them happy.  Investigators don't progress when they don't have faith in our Heavenly Father and His will for them, and it's the same with us.  We need to remember our relationship with our Heavenly Father, the love He has for us and the happiness He wants to give us.  And we need to have faith that He will give it to us if we do what's right! It's still kind of a vague thing, but I know that I can have more faith, and that's something I'm going to work on building.  In President Van Bruggen's email to us this week he said he wants us as a mission to study one principle of the gospel every week, and this week is faith! It's so cool to see how we are prepared for the things that will come.  He is an inspired man.

I'm also grateful  for the changes I've seen in myself since I've been out on my mission.  It's wonderful to know that I'm getting my priorities straight and really finding the most important things in life!  I think it really has saved me, and I'm so grateful for this opportunity and for everyone who helped me get here. :)  Every day is a new challenge and I'm excited to see who I'll be on the other side of this. 

I love you all and I hope you have a fabulous week!  :)

With love,
Sister Petersen

Pictures!

1. Sis. Ellsworth, me, Sis. Hodgson and Sis. Dimick from our exchanges in Poltava! :)

2. Sis. Hodgson and I with our Easter cakes (kinda more like a bread, but still tasty)

3. Eating a Super Kontik, one of the most delicious things here! You can bite off opposite sides and drink milk through it! :) mmmmm yummy.

Lost Picture~

Oohoo! Picture!!  These girls were standing on the street one night for a festival or something. Don't they look AWESOME?! :)  Zina took a picture of Sis. Hodgsonand I with them.  :) -Sis. Petersen

Ukraine #4 (Mother's Day)

Sorry, folks, it's been about a month or so. Pretty sure this is where we left off. If anyone thinks otherwise, I'll definitely put in more effort into figuring out what I've missed.

Mother's Day, it's like a second Christmas! Especially for missionary families. :) It was so fun to Skype yesterday, I'm so grateful for modern technology! 

We had a good week this last week.

We were finally able to have a lesson with Larissa and give her a baptismal date.  It was a good lesson and she is wonderful!  I was able to lead the lesson and I realized that I can rely on the Lord, instead of Sis. Hodgson.  It was a great discovery and definitely made a difference!  We hadn't come up with a solid commitment besides baptism before the lesson, but I had the idea to ask her to pray and read the Book of Mormon with her family every day, and it was the perfect commitment.  I'm so grateful for the whisperings of the Spirit, bringing things (like Preach My Gospel or teaching records) to my remembrance.  I'm so excited to see her continue to progress and become a strong member of the Zaporozhe branch.

We also had a great time in Poltava!  It is SUCH a beautiful foresty city.  It was gorgeous.  I would've wanted to stay there forever, if only their water didn't taste and smell like eggs.  Bleh.  But it was a great opportunity to get to work with other sisters and make miracles happen.  I was a little nervous to be working with Sis. Ellsworth because we both feel so new still, but once we started working it didn't even matter. I love her bunches.  It was so great to be able to make our goals we'd set together and see that we could talk to people and give out copies of the Book of Mormon without our trainers!  I do know some Russian!  It was also cool to be the first sisters to do official sister exchanges in the Dnepropetrovsk mission! We're goin' down in history! :)  It was Victory Day while we were there and it was so fun to see all the veterans come out and the people have so much pride in their country.  I just love Ukraine! 

A miracle we had this week was 3 investigators at church. I think that's the first time it's happened since I've been here and it was so happy!  I was especially grateful to see both Ira and Larissa there, as they keep commitments and move towards baptism.  We also had a woman named Lilia with us. We haven't had a lesson with her yet but she's excited to meet with us this week!  She stayed for all three hours of church and loved it. :)

I'm so grateful for the Lord and the promises He keeps.  His word is unfailing!  We are the ones that need to do our part and believe.  I know my faith will continue to grow and He will continue to bless the people of Zaporozhe as I serve them. 

I want to add a quick note to all of the amazing women in my life who have impacted me in one way or another. I am so grateful for your loving and wonderful influences that have helped me become the person I am today!!  I love you all and am so grateful for you in my life. :)  Happy Mother's Day!  (If you have time, watch the Mormon Message "To Every Mother" on lds.org. It's a beautiful video. :)

Have a wonderful week, my favorite people!

Love you all! :)

Sister Petersen

Ukraine #3

Hello loverlies!

What a week.  I'm waiting anxiously for General Conference, when we'll get to watch it this weekend in English while the branch watches it in Russian.  It'll be a party.  Woohoo!!!  I did however cheat and see the announcement for the temple in Cedar City!!!! WOOOHOOO!!!!! How exciting is that!!!!  Oh I can't wait to go there someday. :)  Yay for temples!!!!

Well last week started off a little unexpectedly, with a spontaneous trip to Simferopole, in Crimea!  Yes, I got to go to Crimea, the dream of every Ukrainian! However, it was raining. Super muggy.  But I still like it.  It was more of what I expect Europe to look like.  We got to trek around the city for a few hours so I could sign 4 pieces of paper and then we were done and caught the afternoon train back to Zap.  So much better than the night train we'd taken to get there. Ugh. Miserable. I'm still not caught up on sleep.  And we're not sure why I got registered in Crimea...since I live in Zap...and Sis. Burgoyne, who lives in Crimea, is apparently getting registered in Zap? We're confused. But nonetheless, I will continue to enjoy where I am and learn as much about it as possible! 

The rest of the week was good though.  Our biggest miracle last week was our meeting with Lia, the girl from Texas/Ohio who married a Ukrainian man and moved here about 2 years ago. We were finally able to teach her the Restoration last Wednesday. Zina, a wonderful 26 yr old member with very good English, was able to be with us and share some really good examples for the prophets and the Apostasy. As we taught her, she was engaged and asking questions for clarification, so we didn't move on until she understood. As I told her the story of Joseph Smith, the Spirit was SO strong in the room, I know we could all feel it. We asked her what she thought about it, and she said "I think I found it. I think I found the truth." I get goosebumps now just thinking about it. She's been searching for so many years, but she finally found the true Gospel of Christ in Ukraine!!! I was also able to ask her to be baptized, and she'd already decided on it! It was such a great experience and I'm so grateful for the Lord's guidance in her life and ours! Unfortunately she is moving back to Ohio probably this week, but we will make sure to keep in touch with her and make sure she finds the sister missionaries there so that she can keep learning and get baptized.  

We had a lesson with a contact we made Tuesday night after getting back from Crimea.  A wonderful young doctor who's not sure what she believes in.  She doesn't understand all the pain going on in the world and the reason for it, so we tried to teach her about the Plan of Salvation. We talked at her a lot and she still doesn't understand it all, but most importantly, we definitely love her already, the Spirit was there, and she wasn't totally scared away! We're hoping to meet next Sunday between Conference sessions, and convince her to stay and watch. :) I so hope we can help her find peace and feel the love that God has for everyone of His children. 

Another miracle happened just yesterday.  Sis. Donchenko, who had lent me her very nice winter coat that is a little big for her (she is TINY) and fits me great, said she is GIVING me the coat, as a gift! To keep!!! I was amazed!!! I don't have to buy an expensive winter coat now!!! She is such a wonderful woman and we are so grateful for her help and love on lessons and in the Branch.  And now I'll get to think of her all winter while I freeze a little less in her nice coat with real fur around the hood! :)

In other exciting news, I'm still liking everything I eat!!! This is a miracle.  I've had everything from liver to bread to chocolate to fatty sausage to bananas to oatmeal even!!!! And I'm planning on buying more at the store today! haha I know it seems silly, but it is such a blessing.  I was so worried I wouldn't like the food here in Ukraine, but it's all been delicious.  Pretty sure I WON'T be losing any weight.  Not so much of a plus, but we'll see.  I'm just grateful my taste buds are happy. :)

And last night they were ESPECIALLY happy.  We made Brownies!!!! :D  YUM!.  We decided to celebrate Mom's birthday and the birthday of the Church!  And a celebration it was. :)

Hey, thought, is Miranda back yet? By my calculations she should be...if so, HI!! :D I'm sorry I was such a horrible friend and never wrote to you, but I would love to hear from you if you have a chance. :) Email me!

Well, I suppose that is the most of it for this week.  I'm still learning and growing and having good and hard times here in Ukraine.  But life is good. The Lord is so great!  I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve Him, to learn to recognize the things that are most important in life, to change myself, and to serve and love the people of Ukraine.  It's hard, and I won't be the perfect missionary at first, but I hope that day by day I can become better.  The blessings the Lord offers are great, and I want to be able to partake of them fully!  He doesn't ask us much, in comparison to the blessings He offers. I can see tender mercies each and every day, and my heart is full of gratitude for the things He's given me, not least of all my beloved family and friends!!!

Stay strong this week, my dears, and remember Who really is the most important.  When we put Him first, He pours out blessings on us.  He loves us! SO much.  

I hope you have a wonderful week, and remember that I love you! :)

Love, Sister Petersen