Adventures in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission!

Final thoughts...

2010-03-15T11:12:00.004-05:00

Unbelievable. Probably the best word I can think of at the moment to describe the last eighteen months of my life. I can honestly say that I have had more joy in the last year and a half than I've had in my entire life. I've seen more blessings, more heartaches, more frustrations, more sorrows, and more excitement.

As I've expressed before, it almost feels like I've cheated somehow. I went into this, knowing that I would be teaching others. I always knew that a change would come into their lives, but I never thought that it would change mine that much. (Thanks, Elder Vaki, for that sentence.) I have grown closer to my family, to my friends (new and old), but most importantly, I know that I have a deeper understanding and love for my Father in Heaven and for my Savior Jesus Christ. I've been allowed the tiniest glimpse at Their emotions, and it has overwhelmed me. They have SO much in store for us!

Truly, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the way to real and lasting joy. It's pure and simple, and "sweet above all that is sweet" (Alma 32:42). Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, endure to the end. That's it. The simplest formula for eternal happiness. We can learn of the gospel in its fulness by reading the scriptures, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. We can know of the truth that each contain by comparing the teachings found within, and then taking our thoughts and feelings to our Father in sincere prayer (Moroni 10:3-5). As we do this, the Holy Ghost speaks sweet comfort and peace to our souls, and we can know of a surety that these things are the way, the path back to our heavenly home.

I testify, as a servant of Jesus Christ, that these things are true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God; it is as it claims, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I echo the promise of modern day prophets that as you sincerely study the Book of Mormon, you will call down the powers of heaven into your very lives, and you will reap the rewards that your Father in Heaven has in store for you as you learn and abide by the precepts taught therein. I testify that God has not left us in darkness---He has called a living prophet to guide us through the chaos of our world today. He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever, and therefore loves us just as much as He loved His children anciently. That is why He has called Thomas S. Monson to be His prophet---it's because He loves us, and wants us to make it back into His loving arms. I also testify that Joseph Smith is indeed a prophet of the Lord, and that the Lord, through Joseph, restored all of His truth to the earth, to bless the lives of all of us here. The principles and ordinances of the gospel have been restored in their purest forms, and they allow us to tap into the powers of heaven to bless not only our lives, but the lives of all those around us.

I know God lives. I know He loves us. I know He listens, and answers when we pray. I know our Savior Jesus Christ stands at the head of this, His church. His arms of mercy are outstretched towards all of us, if we will only keep His commandments and follow Him.

I cannot express my gratitude to my Father and my Savior for this chance I've had to serve Them here in Louisiana. I am leaving a big chunk of my heart here. Someone I met on the street once asked where I was from, and finding out that I lived across the country, she asked in shock, "Well, why are you here in Louisiana then?" I replied, "Because God has some really special children here, who He loves so much, and He's sent me to tell them how to make it back to Him." I know that is true. I love the people here so much, despite their imperfections; most of that love is inspired by the fact that they have loved me, despite all my imperfections.

Now I'm off on yet another grand adventure----LIFE, post-mission style! Everything I've learned here will help me get through the trials that lay ahead of me. The mission really IS the MTC for life! :)

Well, I love y'all! Thank you for all the support and the prayers you've given me.

2 Timothy 4:6-7
"For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith..."

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Morgan Pedersen

The FINAL Countdown! The second to last email....(Duhn duhn duhn!!!)

2010-02-22T14:23:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all! Well, believe it or not, I've only got one more of these emails left! It's mind-boggling, if you ask me.

This week was a rough one. Being "sans voiture" (without a car) stinketh. I don't mind walking, but the nearest city to Oakdale is like 20 miles away, and there's no way we can walk that in enough time to get there, tract, and get back before dark. And riding our bikes wasn't an option...we'd be riding down Interstate 10. Needless to say, there were much frustrations. I told President in my letter to him, "I know there has GOT to be people here in town who are being prepared to accept the gospel. I just don't know where they are hiding." The good news? We got our car back Friday night, so Saturday we spent the whole day out in Mamou, and found some promising potential there. And we've got things planned thus far for this week that we'll only be in Oakdale one day this week, and we've got a few appointments already set up, so that makes things a lot better.

Joanna disappeared on us. Sigh. We saw her briefly on Wednesday, and then lost contact with her for the rest of the week. She doesn't have a phone (BOO), so the only way we can get a hold of her is by dropping in on her. We think she may have gone out of town for the weekend. How is beyond me, seeing as how she doesn't have a car, but that's beside the point. She didn't make it to church, so she can't get baptized this weekend. BLAST. But she's still progressing, which is a miracle. She'll get baptized soon...she's just got to make it to church once more, and really commit to coming EVERY week.

We had to drop the Darvonnes on Friday. That stunk. I was REALLY frustrated. Chris told us that he'd decided that he didn't want to be married anymore, even though he still loves Elizabeth. (Long story short---they both were not faithful; Elizabeth just was unfaithful first.) But because he won't commit to sticking it out and making things work, Elizabeth is now up the creek without a paddle. She's 7 1/2 months pregnant (Chris is the dad), she has no job, and nowhere to go. She can't just get up and leave. So even though she WANTS to progress, she doesn't want to be the only one trying to make things work. It was a rough day. We told them that we loved them, and that they could call us whenever they needed our help, or when they were ready to give this another shot. Elizabeth was crying as we left, Sister English cried when we got to the car, Sister Thomas was frustrated, and I alternated in between being so angry I could spit nails, and being absolutely heartbroken. Danged free agency! Sigh. It's really hard to watch people make the wrong choices, and know that there is nothing you can do about it, because it's their choice. Oh, the protections living the gospel brings us!

The good news? We found and taught a really sweet girl named Micah in Mamou on Saturday. She just had a baby girl a couple of months ago, and she's made some big changes in her life to make sure her little girl will grow up right. We have an appointment to see her again this next weekend, so we're super excited.

Well, I'm outta time, and I love y'all lots. Keep Oakdale in your prayers.

Your Friend in the Faith,

Sister Pedersen

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Culinary adventures galore....

2010-02-15T15:38:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all!

Well, yet another week has gone by, and I'm still shocked at how quickly time is flying. We had a good week this last week; I think we had our interviews with President Woods...was that this week? DANG. It doesn't seem like it. Anyway, President and I had a good talk. He asked me if I was nervous about going home; I told him that I was a little. We talked a lot about Oakdale, and what can be done to continue to help the area grow. Sounds like they'll be keeping a trio of sisters here as long as they can.

What else happened this week? We had our investigator, Joanna, make it to church! Tender mercies from the Lord! And thank heavens for Sister Sherwood! She had gone to pick up Joanna before church, and when Joanna didn't answer, she came without her. But after sacrament, Sis. Sherwood told us that she was going to go back to check on Joanna, because she felt very strongly that she needed to. And lo and behold! Joanna was ready, and they made it to the last half of Sunday School, and all of Relief Society! We were so excited. Joanna is working towards being baptized at the end of the month, so everyone, keep her in your prayers!

We also had a good lesson with the Darvonnes on Friday night. We talked about the power and importance of prayer. Sister English and I shared the story of the brother of Jared with them. We helped them see how God expects us to put in the legwork sometimes before He gives us an answer. We challenged them to come up with multiple plans to help themselves quit smoking, since just praying about it wasn't enough. We also firmly committed them to pray as a family. I really felt an urgency to help them see how vital prayer was, and how much protection it provides us. I got teary-eyed, and bore my testimony the very best that I could. I felt the Spirit, and I think that they did as well. They promised to have family prayer every night, and we promised them very specific blessings for their family if they would do it. I asked Chris, "Do you trust this promise because it's coming from me as your friend, or because it's coming from me as a servant of Jesus Christ?" It made him think a little bit, and he answered, "Well, both, but mostly the second one." Hopefully he really understands that.

I love being able to tell people that it's not me promising them that their lives will be better; because, seriously, what do I know? I'm just a 23 year old kid! I know basically nothing about how almost anything works. And yet, I know that when I promise blessings to someone for following the Lord, I know that they'll be fulfilled. Why? Because I am His servant, and He promised me that He would use me to help His children. I have been called by the prophet of God, and set apart to serve Him here. What greater joy could I ever know? I only get to have it for a little longer, and then It'll be time for a new stage of life. But as for right now, I'm using that power that has been given to me to help as many people as I can, and to bear my testimony as often as I can, because I know that's what my Father wants me to do.

The gospel really does bring us joy. I promise it does.

I love y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,

Sister P.

P.S. Oh! I almost forgot to tell y'all why I titled this entry, "Culinary adventures galore..." Hee hee hee. I love the South---specifically their cooking. We stopped to grab some grub at a little cafe in Oberlin, and Sister Thomas, Sister English, and I about gave ourselves a heart attack because of what we ate. Fried okra, fried pickles, fried shrimp poboy, and for dessert: fried Twinkie and fried Oreos. Yup. Bring on the clogged arteries. I can pretty much guarantee you that I will never eat all of that at the same time again. And that is the first and last time I eat the fried Twinkie and fried Oreo. They tasted so good, but ugh. I felt just gross afterwards. :) So, yup. Add that to my ever growing list of interesting foods here in Louisiana. See y'all later!

Oh, the hilarities of missionary work! (Is that even a word---hilarities? Well, if it wasn't, it is now.)

2010-02-08T13:40:00.001-06:00

So, as usual, time is short....but it's not entirely my fault this time! I had to transfer email accounts, because they're updating MyLDSMail.net, and blah blah blah. Long story short...it ate up my time. So, now, y'all get the short end of the stick. SORRY!

We had stake conference this weekend. Bishop Richard C. Edgley, first counselor in the presiding bishopric, was the visiting General Authority. He spoke a lot about "The Rescue" program that Pres. Monson has made his priority. He counseled us, "Don't jump off the ship." He talked about how many people find one thing that they don't agree with or don't understand, and because of that, they leave the Church. His remarks reminded me of a conference talk not too long ago called, "It's True, Isn't It? Then What Else Matters?" He asked us to think about our own testimonies. Will we ever need to be rescued? It made me think a lot, and I'm really grateful for the chance we had to learn from him, as well as from President Woods, and the members of our stake presidency. We also got to hear some great talks from members of the congregation---yup, they got called up to the stand without any prior notice. And yet, the talks that they gave were just awesome. Surprisingly enough, I like having stake conference like that. Of course, that's probably because I didn't get called on. Oh well. :)

Funny story of the week: Sister Thomas and I were tracting in Oberlin, and as we were walking back to our car, we met an inebriated man called "Pappy", and his sober friend, Trey. Pappy first tried to shake my hand across a really wide ditch, and when I told him that I couldn't reach, he leapt across the ditch and about fell in. Then he rambled on for about 7 minutes or so about all sorts of things. As we started to leave, Pappy told me, "I'm in lub (love) with a beautiful woman. And guess what? I'll even go to church! I'll be a Pentacostal." I smirked, and said, "Well, that's great, except I'm not Pentacostal." He looked puzzled, then said, "Well, I'll be Jehovah's Witness then!" "Strike two," I replied. (Trey was laughing his head off in the background the whole time. He'd met someone who was LDS when he was in the military, so he knew who we were.) Pappy paused, and looked and us for a minute before guessing, "Catholic?" "Strike three. We'll see y'all later," I said, and walked away. Pappy was still guessing religions after us---"Baptist?!" It made us giggle quite a bit. Go figure...I attract all the drunk guys. Sigh. Well, at least I won't have to worry about that at home. :)

Love y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,

Sister P.

Zone Conference, Birthday, and other exciting stuff!

2010-02-01T13:21:00.000-06:00

Hey y'all!

Okay, so we had zone conference on Thursday, and as usual, "it....was....AWESOME!" (Anyone ever seen that episode of Reba? No? Okay, well, moving on!) President Woods talked to us about becoming Preach My Gospel, not just using it as a manual. That's definitely something I can improve on; I know that Preach My Gospel was definitely inspired---it was written in heaven, and compiled here on earth. President also talked to us about how to be more bold in declaring the truths that have been restored here on earth today. We've been given some new pass-along cards that are REALLY cool; they have questions of the soul printed on one side, and as we ask people to read the question to themselves, we know it's making them think about these deep questions that will lead them to sincerely seek the truth. We know that this new way of contacting people is going to do SO much good, because Satan is already fighting hard against it. But we know that as we roleplay and have the faith to open our mouths to all we see, we'll be put the path of those who are ready to progress closer to Heavenly Father.

President was also pretty funny this zone conference. I was leading the music, and we'd made it weakly through two verses of "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" when he stopped Sister Thomas at the piano. He encouraged the elders to really sing, and had them stand up. Then he said, "You know, Sister Pedersen is doing such a good job up here, elders, and she's nice to look at too, so look up!" I'm pretty sure I turned beet red. I laughed. Hee hee...it still makes me laugh as I think about it.
President Woods made another funny comment a little later on---he said, "Sister Pedersen is what I like to call sophisticated country." Not entirely sure what that means, but again, it made me and everyone else laugh. Good old President.

The only part I did NOT enjoy about zone conference was giving my "go-home" testimony. As I stood at the pulpit, I told the other missionaries that this was the day I'd been dreading since the beginning of my mission. I love being a missionary so much, and I know I'm needed at home, but it's still going to be hard. Anyway, I bore my testimony of the vital importance of the work that we are doing. I shared an experience that I'd had earlier this week.

Sister Thomas and I were out tracting, and we were invited into a home. As we came in, the man on the couch seemed to ignore us, and there was a definite hostility in the air. He told us to "share the word," so we started slowly into teaching him about how we knew that God is our Father, and that He cares about us. As the lesson went on, the hostility was still there, and I thought for sure that he was about to start pulling out anti any second. But as Sister Thomas shared the First Vision, and as I bore my testimony after her, the Spirit came in, and the feeling in the room changed dramatically. I then got to teach about the Book of Mormon, and bore my testimony of it. The Spirit touched me so strongly; I told the man how much I loved the Book of Mormon, and how it has helped me know my Savior better. It has helped me draw closer to Him, closer than anything else ever has. By the end of our lesson, the man's countenance and attitude had completely changed. He told us that he was an apostolic pentacostal preacher (BIG surprise....NOT), and that he'd heard the story of Joseph Smith before, but that there was something about the way we told it that made it different than before. We told him that the difference was the Spirit, telling him that this was something he needed to pay attention to.

As I finished sharing this story, I bore my witness that I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I bore witness of the Prophet Joseph, and of President Monson. I told the other missionaries to cherish every day, because it goes by faster than you know, and that now is the ONLY time we'll ever have this chance to change peoples lives in this way.

It probably wasn't the most eloquent of testimonies, but I felt the Spirit as I testified, so I know that it was okay.

Um...oh yeah! I am officially 23. Weird. But fun. Fun, because I have some pretty incredible friends here in Louisiana. Two AMAZING gals from Baton Rouge drove up to Oakdale to bring me a birthday cake on Saturday night. I was SO surprised! I loved it! Seeing Brandie and Leesa was so much fun, and even though they didn't stay long, they made my day! Then, on Sunday, my AMAZING companions surprised me with little gifts---a red velvet cake mix, a box of macaroni and cheese (Yum!), two candy bars, and an INCREDIBLE poem and drawing of me! If only I looked as good as Sister English drew me. :) We ate TWO dinners too...oh so good! The Vances cooked, and made me a mandarin orange cake...HEAVENLY! And they got me presents too! They were too sweet! And THEN we went to the Neumeyers, and Christine made the MOST AMAZING BISQUE I'VE EVER HAD!!!! Corn and crawfish bisque...oh my heavens to Betsy, it was so good! And THEY made me a cake too!

Moral of the story----CELEBRATE YOUR BIRTHDAY WITH THE INCREDIBLE PEOPLE I DID. :) It was probably one of the best birthdays I've ever had. Oh yeah, and the other moral of the story is share your birthday cake, because when you have four, it's really way too much. ;)

I am so incredibly lucky. I love the people here SO much. They are truly incredible. They are such good examples to me of Christlike love. I am honored and humbled to call them my friends.

As for the OTHER exciting stuff...
We've had a good week this last week. We found a FAMILY to teach!!! YAY!!! I love families. We've got an appointment on Thursday with Mosatye and her four children. She's met with missionaries briefly before, so we're excited to find out what they remember. We met her tracting, and she invited us right in. We also met a cool guy named Josh. I gave him a pass-along card as he was standing outside his friend's house, and we got to talking about the importance of families. He told me that he'd lost both his parents growing up, and that the thing he wanted most in this world was to be with his mom again. We've got an appointment to teach him later this week; I'm really excited. He's got a lot of potential.

Well, I think that's about it! I love y'all! Keep on keepin' on! And I'll (gulp!) see y'all soon!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

One less week in Louisiana....BLAST.

2010-01-11T14:02:00.001-06:00

No time for intro...we've had an okay week. Sister Myer was sick, but is feeling better. Here is the update from our zone conference with Elder Condie!

We had our conference with Elder Condie on Thursday...can I just say, WOW?!?!!!! It was awesome. He is an absolute riot. Seriously, you don't get to see that side of the General Authorities very often. Did you know he can play the piano? Yup, and he's good too! That part was a little nerve wracking, because we were asked to do the musical number, and since Sister Myer had been sick, we hadn't been able to practice as much as we would have liked. But it went really well. She played her own arrangement of "Behold A Royal Army," and Sister English and I sang. Anyway, we talked about a lot of different things; we'd written down questions last zone conference, and Elder Condie chose a few to answer. He talked to us about doing our very best where we are---bloom where you're planted. He talked about Elder Kikuchi---he's the fourth longest serving General Authority (Elder Packer, Pres. Monson, Elder Perry, and then Kikuchi), and he's so humble and kind and loving. He told us about when Pres. Marion G. Romney was conducting the GC session where Elder Kikuchi was sustained. Pres. Romney's eyes were pretty bad, and he couldn't read Kikuchi's name, so he simple called him, "that Japanese fellow." When Elder Kikuchi got to the pulpit, he said, "President Romney, when I die and go to celestial kingdom, I change my name to Smith."

We also talked a lot about the Spirit, especially about how we can invite it more strongly into our lessons. He told us that if our investigators won't keep commitments, they won't keep covenants, and that in order to help them do so, we had to bowl them over with the Spirit. He talked about seven simple ways to bring in the Spirit into a lesson, and just as he was ending, describing the beauty of the scene, he said, "Take that, you Southern Baptists." He is seriously hilarious! Just the way he said it---just threw it in there.

His wife, Sister Condie, gave a really good talk too. She said something that hit me really hard. She said the greatest gift her parents had given her was a knowledge of the Gospel. I have to agree with her. There is nothing more that I could ever be more grateful to you both for than teaching me about the gospel of Christ. Thank you, thank you!

Elder Condie gave us some things to talk about with stubborn people, which was REALLY helpful. He pointed out that Christ's original church had 12 apostles, temples, prophets. He then told us to sweetly but boldly ask them, "Does your church have these? If not, then how can it be Christ's church?" He also gave us some response to the whole Revelation "none shall add" thing. He told us to sweetly but boldly ask them where to find the Nicean creed in the Bible. He also talked about the prophecies in the Bible about the Book of Mormon, and about the Greek root of the word 'baptize' means 'immersed'. He told us to ask, "Where did the founder/leader of your church receive his authority?" He told us to bear powerful testimony of the First Vision, and how the keys of the Priesthood were restored. He said, "When you tell them in a humble, forthright manner, the Spirit will bear witness that what you are telling them is true."

Elder Condie talked about how we can have the power that the sons of Mosiah had, that Alma and Amulek had, that Nephi and Lehi had. He read Alma 17:2-3, and talked about the process found there. He told us that the spirit of prophecy tells us WHO to talk to, and the spirit of revelation tells us WHAT to teach. He told of an experience he had as a mission president in Austria (I think). He received a phone call from man who wanted to complain about two of the elders. The man said that the elders had told him that the reason he wasn't getting the answers he was seeking was because he was homosexual, and they told him that he needed to repent. Elder Condie asked, "Well, are you?" The man said, "Yes." Elder Condie then told us an expression in German which means, "The rock hit the barking dog." :) If we are doing what we're supposed to, the Lord will give us the information we need, when we need it. Our job is to call people to repentance, and to teach them of the gospel so they will understand and desire to be baptized. Elder Condie told us that if we wanted our investigators to get it, we need to close the gap between where they are right now, spiritually speaking, to where they need to be. He gave three examples from the Savior's life where He had to do the same thing---once with Nicodemus, once with the woman at the well, and once with the apostles themselves. He told us that we need to teach the concepts of our lessons multiple times, because this is new to them; they can't be expected to soak it all up the first time. He then demonstrated this by teaching six elders phrases in Hungarian, and asking them to repeat it back to him. He showed us the importance of repetition, in person, and in several scriptures.

Elder Condie encouraged us to be our best selves. He told us to rely heavily on the Book of Mormon. He quoted Elder Carlos Asay, "You'll never be involved in a Bible bash if you teach from the Book of Mormon." He told us that the Book of Mormon is how we invite the Spirit into our work. He told us, "You're in the whitest field there is, and you've got to be really, really sharp." He bore his testimony of Joseph Smith, and told us that there is a tight connection between the prophets of old and the prophets today. He told us that he believed Joseph Smith was still heavily involved in this work on the other side, and that we must keep up our work as well. He gave us his blessing, as a servant of Jesus Christ and as a representative of the Quorum of the Twelve. He said, "I bless you with greater love, a greater ability to repent, with greater courage, with greater patience, with a greater ability to see through the Father's eyes. I bless you that as you lose yourself here, things will work out at home. I bless you to have radiant, Christlike countenances."

I loved every single second of it. The Spirit was SO strong! I wish everyone in the world could have been there---they would have felt the Spirit, and would have KNOWN that the words which were spoken were true. I knew it then, I know it now, and I will continue to know it for the rest of eternity.

Zone conference with Elder Condie!

2010-01-04T13:38:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all! Not too much to report on from down south, sadly. We're struggling to get members and investigators to church here in Oakdale. If y'all could keep the following people in your prayers, that'd be amazing! These are all amazing people and families we're working with, and they have incredible potential, which means that we're really ticking Satan off here in Oakdale, and he's stepped up his game a notch. Well, I say if he wants to play like that, that's just fine with me. I'm calling in the calvary. :)

Will you please pray for:
Mike and Christine Neumeyer ("New-meyer")
Chris and Elizabeth Darvonne ("Dar-vohn")
Ronnie and Amanda Cormier ("Core-me-eh")
Joanna Carpenter
Troy and Angela Hubbard
Robert McKenzie
Dustie Thibodaux ("Tib-ah-dough")

Also, any prayers for our little Oakdale branch would be greatly appreciated as well. The work is SLOWLY moving along, but it is moving, and we've got BIG plans for 2010!

"Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir mens souls."---Pres. Spencer W. Kimball, "The Vision of the South"

I love y'all! Keep on keepin' on!

Love,
Sister P.

P.S. We get to hear from Elder Condie of the Seventy on Thursday! He's coming to tour our mission. This means I'll have LOTS to tell y'all about next Monday.

P.P.S. For anyone who knows my family, we have some big exciting news! Stacia is officially engaged! She'll be getting married to Jake in May. If you want more details...well, tough, because I really don't have any. ;) Just teasing...but seriously. If you really want to know more, get a hold of my sister. :) Love y'all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009-12-28T11:52:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone's holidays were good! I'm down to mere seconds, so I just wanted to tell you a little bit about what we did down here in the south. :)

We had a really great Christmas, but I think my favorite part was Christmas Eve. We went with Sister Vance (the senior sister missionary) to go sing Christmas carols. We picked a handful of our investigators, and some people in the ward that we thought might need a boost. And then, we went to the hospital and sang to the 9 patients there. That was REALLY something. I really felt the Spirit, and I know they did too. Everyone asked us who we were, and told us we sounded like angels. I'd been thinking a lot about that lately---about what an angel's job is, and how we can be angels here on earth. The Book of Mormon is chock full of information about angels, and it's been really incredible to read about them and see how we can be angels of the Lord as well. My favorite scripture I've found about angels thus far is Alma 13:22-26. Alma mentions the 'glad tidings of great joy' and 'joyful news' a good handful of times---and what is that message of great joy? What are those glad tidings? Look at D&C 76:40. "And this is the gospel, the GLAD TIDINGS, which the voice out of the heavens bore record unto us---" And again in D&C 79:1---"...proclaiming GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, even the everlasting gospel." And last of all, in D&C 128:19-20---"Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have recieved? A voice of gladness! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy...And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah!...declaring...the dispensation of the fulness of times!" What greater joy can we ask for than to know and have the Spirit of God bear witness to us that Jesus is the Christ, that He still lives and loves us, and has proclaimed His gospel in its fulness so that we can make it back to our heavenly home and family?! I love this work. I love getting to share this news with everyone I can. I'm so grateful that I have been able to serve the Savior here in Louisiana. I have learned so much, and I have seen the hand of the Lord more clearly in my life and in the lives others than I ever have before. This gospel is true! This is Christ's church, and He stands at the head of it, beckoning us to come follow Him.

I love y'all! Keep on keepin' on!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Happy Thanksgiving/December!

2009-11-30T15:00:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all! It's your favorite sporadically-writing missionary here! How was y'all's Turkey Day? Ours here in Oakdale was good...much turkey, ham, cornbread dressing, rice dressing, pecan pie, sweet potato souffle...oh so yummy! Plus, we got to share the gospel! HOORAY! Best Thanksgiving EVER!

Work-wise, it was a tough week this last week, but we dug in our heels, and came out with just a few bumps and bruises. Our car, on the other hand, did not fare so well. We came out of our lovely abode Sunday morning, and found the scandalous scene unfolded! The culprit, a big orange pumpkin, lay carelessly a few feet from the victimized Malibu. We almost got out our sidewalk chalk to draw outlines on the asphalt of the broken pieces of the driver's side tail-light. There was mucous-like orange entrails above the damaged light, and even a seed stuck to the trunk of the car. Needless to say, we were shocked and amazed. Apparently Oakdale is smaller than I thought---or the people here are REALLY REALLY bored. Either one... :)

Well, that's all I've got time for folks! I love y'all! Keep on keepin' on! Do good, TRUST GOD, and don't worry.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sista P!

Sorry it's been a while!

2009-11-16T14:32:00.001-06:00

So, I just realized I hadn't sent out a mass email for a couple of weeks now. Oops...my bad! Sorry!

This is probably my first email since transfers. So...I got transfered. I'm in Oakdale, Louisiana, and I am a lucky stinker and get two companions!!!! YIPEE!!! Sisters Bunker and Myer and I are having an absolute BLAST. We're tearing it up up here, and loving every minute of it. Sister Bunker and I have discovered that we are long lost twins seperated in the pre-mortal life. Seriously, we are so alike, we creep Sister Myer out. It's AWESOME. :) And Sister Myer is so much fun---she's a riot. She has only brothers at home, so Bunkie and I are slowly breaking her in, and getting her used to sisters. Needless to say, we are all sleep deprived and very giggly. I love it.

Funny story of the week:
we're participating in the Oakdale Community Christmas Pagaent. I was Mary for one rehearsal...then we found out that our director, Mrs. Bradley, wanted a more...um...lively pagaent than most Christmas pagaents. Let me put it this way---Sisters Bunker, Myer and I, along with the senior missionary couple here (the Vances) are the ONLY white people in the entire cast. Yup. It's pretty entertaining, to say the least. So yeah, I was Mary...til I discovered that Mrs. Bradley expected me to really sound like I was going into labor. Moaning, groaning...and the more of it, the better. Needless to say, I couldn't do it without laughing, and since I'm pretty sure those kind of hysterics aren't a typical part of childbirth, we decided to let the Vances be Joseph and Mary. Which of course is even more hilarious because Elder Vance and Mrs. Bradley have very different views of how things should be done, and both keep trying to undermine each other. Yup---never a dull moment in Oakdale, that's for sure. :)

Well, that's it for me for now! Love y'all. Keep on keepin' on! Fight the good fight!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sista P!

Goodbye Houma, Hello Oakdale!

2009-10-27T11:27:00.000-05:00

Well, you guessed it...they're moving me out of Houma. I've loved this place so much, it's hard to leave. But I'm leaving this part of the Lord's vineyard in truly capable and loving hands---Sister Thomas and Sister Schultz are going to be AMAZING down here.

As for me, I'm headed to Oakdale with Sisters Myer and Bunker. Yup, I'm going to be in a tri-panionship. It's going to be SO much fun. I've been dying to serve with these two stellar sisters, and I never thought I'd get to. And now, BLESSINGS FROM HEAVEN and TENDER MERCIES, I get them both! HOORAY!!!

We did have a baptism this weekend---Sister Dana Rutledge is the newest member of the Thibodaux ward! HOORAY!!!! She's still struggling with smoking, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE keep her in y'all's prayers. She's going through some rough stuff right now, and could use all the extra prayers that she can get.

Um...let's see. Not much else to report on, really. It's bittersweet, leaving Houma. I've learned SO MUCH here. I can honestly look at myself and see the growth that I've made because I came here. I've been so blessed. I've had amazing companions and good areas my entire mission, and I am only adding more to that list. God works in mysterious ways. I know that it was He that called me to Oakdale through President Woods, and when the call came, the only answer I could give was, "Here I am, send me."

We are led by men of God, who are inspired by Him. What joy and relief that brings me! We will never be led astray by them, and as we hold true to the promises and teachings of Jesus Christ, we will see so many tender mercies! I love y'all! I'll get my new address up here next week. Until then, send stuff to the mission office address:
Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission
12025 Justice Ave.
Baton Rouge, LA 70816

Keep on keepin' on! Do good, TRUST GOD, and don't worry.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sista P! ;)

Hey y'all!

2009-10-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

So, I'm being forced to say goodbye to Sister Santos...sigh. She's been a blast and a half, and I'll miss her like crazy. If any of y'all are going to be visiting Temple Square between now and March, find a Brazilian sister and ask her to find Sister Santos for you so you can give her a big hug for me (if you're a girl, at least!).

I'm probably not going to be in Houma much longer...droga. (That's 'dang' in Portuguese.) We had to push Dana's baptism back again...she went through some major stress, and picked up smoking again. Keep her in y'all's prayers, okay? We've got our fingers crossed for this weekend.

Um...I can't think of much else. We've been working our little hineys off, and have been seeing so many tender mercies, I can hardly keep track of them! I love being a missionary! I love being able to tell people, "This is how you can have eternal happiness!" The gospel really is the answer---and the fulness of it is found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It's true. I know it.

Sorry so short...down to mere seconds!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

No time...sorry!

2009-10-05T11:32:00.000-05:00

This week has been really good. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE. We are truly led by men and women inspired by God. Anyone who missed Elder Holland's talk in the Sunday afternoon session NEEDS to find some way to watch it. WOW. I now know how to better bear my testimony of the Book of Mormon.

I know that Jesus Christ lives, that He loves us, and is still guiding us today. He has set up one way of doing things (see Ephesians 4:4-6, 11-14), and it is our duty and privilege to always be striving to find that way, that path. I know that the Bible and the Book of Mormon are the words of God, and when used together, bring us more peace and assurance in this life, and the promise of life eternal in the world to come. If you have ever doubted the veracity of the Book of Mormon, know that you are not alone. There is one simple way to find your answer concerning it's truthfulness. Read it, ponder its message, and then ask your Heavenly Father. I promise you, as a servant of God, that He does hear and answer our prayers, and that if we ask with "a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto [us], by the power of the Holy Ghost." (Moroni 10:4)

"Hearken unto these words, and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words, believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good." (2 Nephi 33:10)

I love you all! Thank you for your prayers! Please keep the new members of the Church in your prayers as well...they need your love and your support.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Lovin' Life in Lousiana!

2009-09-28T11:30:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all...
So, I know I didn't write last week. My bad...I took too long writing my other emails and debating which pictures to include, and the computer booted me off. Sad day, huh? (Okay, not REALLY sad, but still...)

This week has been good...we had zone conference on Wednesday, and it was AMAZING!, as usual. President Woods taught us about charity, which was truly inspired, because I'd been struggling feeling patience, let alone love, for some people lately. It was a good reminder of why I am really out here, and who I need to BE and BE LIKE to invite people with the power that is neccessary. I love being led by inspiration!

We got to see the General Relief Society broadcast this weekend, and OH BOY WAS IT GOOD!!! I loved Sister Thompson's talk, "Mind the Gap." I loved all the talks, but I really related to Sister Thompson's. It was really REALLY good.

I've got some names for y'all to keep in your prayers---April Scott, Nancy Bonvillain, Rita Hebert, Jeff Outhouse, Dana Rutledge, and Day. They're all trying to quit smoking, and we're trying to help them. But that tobacco has a really REALLY strong pull, and they need all the strength they can get.

I love you all! Keep on keepin' on! Remember---trust God, do good, don't worry!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Transfer time again....

2009-09-15T10:13:00.001-05:00

So, I'm staying in Houma (YAY!) with Sister Santos (YAY!) until she goes back to Temple Square in October (YA....wait a second...that's not a good thing!)

We were asked by the assistants to type up a little note talking about the miracles we've seen here in Houma. I know we were inspired while writing it, because it's better than anything I normally can come up with. So I'm including that in here, because it's fitting.

""But behold, [we, Sisters Pedersen and Santos], will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance." (1 Nephi 1:20)

What an outpouring of tender mercies we are truly seeing here in our beloved Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission, elders and sisters! We cannot begin to express our amazement and our love and gratitude for our Heavenly Father and our Savior. Remember that tsunami Elder Kikuchi promised us? Well, seeing as how we're closest to the coast, we want to let y'all know that the gargantuan wave of spiritual blessings is headed your way.

Every day, our faith and our trust in the Lord is being tested and tried. We've been given the weapons we need to "fight the good fight," and as we use them boldly and with the power that has been given to us as representatives of the Savior, we ARE seeing miracles. As we strive to continue to be exactly obedient, our Father cannot help but shower us in a multitude of blessings. Our Savior cannot help but walk beside us as we push forward in our ministries. They ARE with us, elders and sisters, and we testify of that with great joy!

"Be not afraid," our Master has assured us, "but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee...for I have much people in this city." (Acts 18:9-10). The people are out there, and we are humbled at the tender mercies and miracles we have seen. All of you helped bring these souls to Christ---it is because of our increase in obedience and faith and diligence as a mission that this tidal wave is being brought to pass.

Get ready, everyone...the wave is coming your way! Let us all continue to be obedient, to be more like our Savior and Redeemer, and prove ourselves to be disturbers and annoyers of the advesary's kingdom. We love you, and pray for every one of you each night.

Your Friends in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen and Sister Santos"

The world is getting scarier and scarier. The Savior needs us to do our part so He can come again. Let's work our hardest so that He can come soon, and bring that promised peace we're all so desperately seeking! I love you all, and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Hymn #266

2009-08-31T11:27:00.000-05:00

What a crazy week! We were blessed to see two more baptisms! Chris and April Scott are the newest members of the Thibodaux ward, and we couldn't be happier. Especially since they were originally committed for baptism on September 5th. :) We had a lesson with them last Monday, and Chris had everything about his baptism all planned out, and asked us if there was anyway he could get baptized sooner. I felt like I had to clean out my ears. It was AWESOME. :)

We've been working hard, and we're loving life down here. We've got interviews this Friday, which I'm excited for because I've got some questions I want to ask President Woods. He's seriously the COOLEST guy ever. I know pretty much all missionaries think that about their mission presidents, but it still is true! He's absolutely amazing, and so in tune with the Spirit, it's just AWESOME.

ANYHOOT...um...that's it for me, I think. Keep on keepin' on, everyone. I love you all. Remember this sage advice from a wiser missionary than myself: "Tip #1----trust God. Tip #2----Trust God. Tip #3----It's all good. And when all else fails.....TRUST GOD!!!"

Do good, trust God, and don't worry!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Still more blessings...

2009-08-24T11:32:00.000-05:00

We got to see two more people come closer to the Savior this weekend! Hallelujah! Truly, GOD ROCKS!!!

We also had a really neat experience with an investigator named Chris. He's Falon's (a recent convert) brother, and has been listening to what we've been teaching his family for quite a while now. He came to the baptisms on Saturday, and then got to be present when McShane was received the priesthood. He pulled me aside right afterward, and told me that while he was watching McShane, he felt this overwhelming peace and love flood his system. He said that he almost started to cry. He'd been praying and reading the Book of Mormon, and trying to decide if this is what the Lord wanted for him. Saturday night, he got his answer. He told me that his heart felt different, and that he knew that this was God's way of telling him what God wanted for him. I had goosebumps all over my arms, and chills running up and down my spine. I bore my testimony to him that I knew what he felt was the Spirit, and that God was indeed answering his prayers. So now, Chris and his wife April are preparing to be baptized on September 5th.

God is really there. He really answers our prayers. He loves us, He is our Father, and He asked our Brother to pave the way for us here on earth. Our Savior lives! He stands on the right hand of God, and is rooting for us every step of the way.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Bonsai!

2009-08-17T11:44:00.001-05:00

Elder Kikuchi, when he toured our mission in February, told us that the word 'bonsai' meant 'hallelujah'. He also told us that if we would be 100% morning schedule missionaries, and read from the Book of Mormon 30 minutes every day, we would experience a spiritual tsunami and that the number of convert baptisms in our mission would double. I thought it was appropriate to title this email/blurb 'Bonsai!' because of the blessings and tender mercies the Lord has poured out upon us here in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission.

In July, we saw the beginning of the fulfilment of that promise from Elder Kikuchi. We were blessed to see 41 people enter the waters of baptism for our entire mission---five of which Sister Santos and I were personally able to see. As for August, we're still seeing many miracles, and we have three investigators with baptismal dates for this month so far. Elder Kikuchi also promised us that if we would contact at least 80 people a week, our teaching pool would be full. I have personally seen this blessing in the work here in Houma, and can humbly add my testimony of how it's affected me as a servant of the Lord. There really are good people out here, searching for the truth. And they aren't just in the poorer parts of town. There are good people everywhere, and they all deserve the chance to hear the gospel.

This last week we had our zone conference, and I cannot express enough gratitude to the Lord for the inspired messages we heard there. I don't know what everyone else got out of them; it felt as though President and Sister Woods and Elders Broadley and Nnah were talking directly to me. Seriously, every single thing that was said was an answer to a struggle or question I'd been having. I am in awe and amazement at how merciful our Father in Heaven truly is. I am so blessed! And I deserve absolutely none of it. How tenderly our Savior loves us! It truly gives us reason to rejoice, to shout, "Bonsai!" I am so grateful that I get to be a servant of the Lord here in Louisiana.

I love you all! Y'all are just awesome! Keep on keepin' on, and know that the Savior yet lives! He loves each and every one of us, as does our Father in Heaven. They desire only the very best for us, and as we listen and follow Their instructions, we will receive so many blessings that "there shall not be room enough to receive [them]." (Malachi 3:10) The power of prayer is very real---Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. I know God lives, I know He loves me. I know He hears and answers prayers. I know that because of His tender mercy and the power of the priesthood, our families are united for all eternity. It is my privilege to bear this witness of our Father and of our Savior, and I do so in the sacred name of the Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Having a blast here in Houma!

2009-08-10T11:42:00.001-05:00

Yup, that's right folks! Transfers have come and gone, and BLESSING FROM HEAVEN, I'm still hanging out in heavenly Houma! HOORAY!!!!

Sorry I didn't write last week...surprisingly, I was crunched for time with emails! (I know, BIG shock, huh?) ;)

Well, we're doing great down here---surviving the heat, and finding awesome people to teach the gospel too! We found a couple cool new families that we're really excited about---the Fanguys (pronounced "fungys"), and the Jacksons (and they actually do have a son named Michael!). We've got an appointment with the Fanguys tomorrow, so we're super excited for that. We taught the Jacksons about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Saturday, and we're going to call Sharon tomorrow to find out when we can come over again---that's when she'll have her work schedule.

The Parfaits are hanging in there. As usually happens when we make a firm stance against the advesary, they've been hit with some heavy burdens. Any prayers in their behalf would be awesome. I think I'm starting to get an idea of what it feels like to be a parent----it hurts. I felt like screaming at the devil yesterday, "Just leave them alone!!!" when the Parfaits were telling us about their struggles. But at the same time, I know that they NEED this test of faith so that they can have the strength to face the rest of their lives. They're doing great, faith-wise. They understand why life all of a sudden got tougher. But it still hurts to see them suffer. My love and respect for Heavenly Father has grown even more---I feel like I understand Him a little better. What strength He has! He has the power and the capability to take all our pains and struggles away, but He does not because He knows we need it. Ugh. I couldn't do that. I'm not that strong. Thank heavens He's in charge!

McShane and Falon are doing great. McShane got things worked out with his boss so that he can come to sacrament every Sunday, which is a total blessing! They're hard people to catch at home, so we haven't been able to have a sit-down lesson with them this last week, but we're going to set something up for Thursday, probably. If I remember right, they both have at least part of that day off.

AND...we are working with an awesome part-member family, the Naquins. Brett and Sandy are so much fun, and Brett comes to church every week. You'd never guess he wasn't a member. But anyways, we had a good lesson with them and their two cute little boys yesterday. We talked about the power and protection that prayer and the scriptures give us. Then Sister Santos boldly committed Brett to prepare to be baptized on the 22nd. He said he would, so we're planning another baptism for this month! I was a little hesitant to commit him, because I know he's been pushed in the past, but I also know that he'll let us know if he isn't ready. Until then, we're going to shower them with as much love as possible, to show him that we're asking him to do this because we care, and not because we're just trying to get him wet.

We've got zone conference this week---President Woods is switching the schedule around. I'm helping the sisters in Metairie do a musical number. We decided to pick a hymn that people aren't familiar with---that way, when we mess up, no one will know the difference! Sister Riddle thought of that one...pretty smart, huh? And, as I like to tell people, the scriptures tell us to "make a joyful noise" (see Psalms 81:1, 95:1-2). They never say it has to sound good. :)

But in case I get called on...which, knowing Sister Woods, is more than likely going to happen...if anyone has any good arrangements of hymns or EFY songs that they'd like to send me, I would be most grateful! You can mail it to me (485 Grand Caillou Apt. E, Houma, LA 70363) or you can email it to me, and I can print it off at the library (morganjpedersen@myldsmail.net).

I love y'all! Congratulations to Adam Wilcock! You're going to do wonders in Texas! And congrats to Daniel Worwood, who definitely returned with honor from Indonesia. Way to go.

Keep on keepin' on, everyone!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Bah...last week of the transfer ALREADY?!

2009-07-27T11:52:00.001-05:00

So, this week has been AWESOME. McShane got baptized on Wednesday, but he hasn't been confirmed yet, so please keep him in y'alls prayers. He NEEDS that extra protection, especially now. His wife, Falon, is planning on getting baptized on Thursday, so by Sunday, the ward will have two more new members! HOORAY!

Um...this week has been hot and sometimes rainy. Um...I'm down to like 5 seconds, so I love y'all! The Church is true! Pres. Monson is God's chosen Prophet! Jesus Christ LIVES, and is our Savior and our best friend! And last, but not least....GOD FREAKING ROCKS!!! ;)

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Another blessed week!

2009-07-20T11:39:00.001-05:00

Can I just tell y'all how much I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY?!!!!! Truly, I have never experience more REAL JOY in my entire life than I have in these blessed months I've spent in the service of my Savior.

I am constantly and continually amazed and humbled by the tender mercies the Lord is pouring down upon us here in Houma. We've got two more souls who have committed to come unto Christ by being baptized this week. McShane and Falon are amazing! They have just EATEN everything up, and they have a solid, SOLID testimony of the Savior and the Book of Mormon already. I am just in awe.

Brother and Sister Parfait and Sister Hebert are doing just FANTABULOUS! I've always heard about how people can tell a difference between members of the Church and the rest of the world, but I never really understood or saw it myself. I mean, yes, I believed it, but most everyone I knew was a member, so there wasn't much for me to compare appearances with. But now! I can see the difference, the change that has come over the Parfaits and Sister Hebert, and it is absolutely incredible. Their house, which is normally quite chaotic on account of having 9 or more people living there, is still crazy...but there is such a peace there! It's amazing! I love it! I was just in complete and utter awe as we sat and talked with them this week. I can't even describe it in words. But now I understand. Now I can see what everyone else sees, what they describe as a "glow" or "light." It is the SPIRIT OF THE LORD, and it FREAKING ROCKS!!! ;)

I absolutely LOVE being a missionary. There is NOWHERE else I would rather be in the whole entire world. There is NOTHING else I'd rather be doing---no book, no movie, no major world event, no concert, NOTHING could bring me the joy that this work brings!

Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, 15-16-----"The worth of souls is great in the sight of God.…And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

I testify with all my heart and soul that this is true! I know that this gospel changes lives and hearts, and brings us closer to the Savior. This is HIS work, and how privileged am I to be a part of it!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Still more tender mercies...

2009-07-13T12:46:00.000-05:00

As you can see, the Thibodaux ward has three new members! Brother and Sister Parfait and Sister Hebert are doing just splendorific! (Yes, I just made up that word...I'm allowed to!)

Their baptisms were amazing. I am so blessed to have been a part of their lives. They've taught me so much about faith and trust in the Lord. They're just awesome. I am truly humbled when I think about all the circumstances surrounding Sister McKay and I finding them, and how truly prepared they were.

I love them, and y'all with all my heart! The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored to earth in its fulness, and I get to go tell people about it! Seriously! This is what the scriptures mean when they talk about "glad tidings of great joy"! (See Alma 13:21-24) How blessed am I to be a part of this great work!

I love y'all so much! Thank you for your prayers. They mean so much to me.

Keep on keepin' on, everyone! Work as though it all depends on you, and PRAY because it ALL depends on HIM.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Blessings from heaven and tender mercies of the Lord!

2009-07-06T11:28:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all!

This past week was really REALLY good. Friday, we got to go to New Missionary Training at the mission home, and I got to see Sister Pilette and Sister Bunker, and I got to meet Sister Hill and Sister English! It was an AWESOME start to an AWESOME day! The Spirit was so strong in our meeting, and so many things were said that seemed like they were directed just to me. Isn't it so cool how the Spirit works?! It was a super-charged boost to my spiritual battery, and I loved every minute of it---even the hour and a half drive there and back. (Of course, that's probably because we got to ride with Elders Hudson and Bounds, and those two are just funny, so the ride went super fast!)

We had a good but uneventful 4th of July. We had to come in early Saturday night, but we got to watch some fireworks from our apartment, which was cool. Sister Santos asked me to sing the national anthem for her, and I got to tell her what I could remember of the story behind the poem that Francis Scott Key wrote. It really brought a lot of things into perspective for me, and I was very grateful for the blessings of liberty and freedom that so many people gave up their lives to protect---then and now.

Sunday was AWESOME! I love fast and testimony meeting! The Spirit was so strong. We had three of our investigators there who have baptismal dates, and they all said they loved every minute of church. Miss Rita read from Mosiah chapter 18, verses 8 to 10. As she began reading verse 10, her emotions were very close to the surface, and there was such a sweet spirit in the room. I'm pretty sure the Lord confirmed in her heart that her decision to be baptized was the thing He desired for her.

Next email---we'll have some baptisms to report on! Truly, I am in complete and total awe at the tender mercies of the Lord. This will be the first baptism that I've actually had a major role in, and I feel SO blessed to be a part of it. Kim, Chris, and Rita are absolutely GOLDEN, and I cannot believe how blessed I am to be one of the missionaries who found them and had the privelege of teaching them. It's still very surreal to me. I'm so humbled that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of this great work!

I love y'all! Keep sending letters, pictures, whatever. They make my day.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Onto week 2 of transfer 7

2009-06-29T12:12:00.001-05:00

Hey y'all!

This week has been HOT...REALLY RIDICULOUSLY HOT. But other than that, really good. :) Sister Santos and I rode our bikes two days this week, and we walked one. And then we had a member tell us that this is the hottest weather he's felt here in 30 years. All I can say is...joy to the stinkin' world. :) We survived...somehow. Biking in a skirt is NOT easy...especially when the only street you can go on to get to your investigators' house is the crazy big main street of town. Then you have to wait at stop lights, and try not to DIE as cars go whizzing by you, AND try to maintain modesty. But thanks to the many blessings of our Heavenly Father, we survived to see a new month...and more importantly, NEW MILES! HOORAY!!! ;)

We've dealt a lot this week with people who have been affected by deaths. It's given us a great opportunity to share the Plan of Salvation with people. The Spirit has really been strong in so many of our lessons. I feel so lucky to be able to be with these amazing people here in Houma. We are teaching some truly incredible people, and it's been amazing to watch them grow to love the gospel more and more. We've got an amazing ward who really welcomes people in with open arms. What a tender mercy from the Lord.

We've also been blessed to have some awesome training experiences with our mission president. I know without a doubt that President Woods is inspired by God, and that if I will do my best to follow his instructions with exactness, we will see that tsunami of miracles promised by Elder Kikuchi. I'm trying to be more obedient, and I'm quickly discovering the areas where I am the weakest. I can't help but think of President as our Captain Moroni---fortifying our weakest points against the advesary, and strengthening our hope and faith in our Savior.

I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!! There is nowhere else I'd rather be. Nowhere.

I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. I know I've seen the blessings from them. Keep those letters coming!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Onto Transfer #7!

2009-06-23T11:25:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to keep things short and simple...because, as usual, I'm ridiculously low on time.

So, transfers are this week. Sister Santos and I are staying in Houma. HOORAY!

My amazing experience of the week---remember me telling y'all about the Parfait family and their faith? Well, it paid off BIG TIME. We got there to teach them on Thursday, and they told us about how they'd been praying and reading the Book of Mormon and Bible as a family, and Tuesday night, when they were about to lose hope, they had a miracle! They were able to get the money to pay the taxes on the land their home is on, and they didn't lose their trailer. As they were telling us the story, Chris (the dad) started to cry. The Spirit was so strong! I cannot express my love and gratitude for my Heavenly Father and my Savior. There are simply not words. I love Them with all my heart, and I KNOW, without a doubt, that They hear and answer prayers. How blessed am I to be a part of this work!

I love you all! Keep on keepin' on! Do good, work hard, TRUST GOD, and don't worry!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

SERIOUSLY...I swear I JUST got here!

2009-06-15T11:41:00.000-05:00

Time moves too fast. That's all I'll say, because I know y'all are probably sick of me saying it.

This week has been bittersweet. I said goodbye to Sister McKay; she flew back to Temple Square on Wednesday. I did get to go on exchanges with Sisters Boulter and Horan, which was a lot of fun. And I picked up my new companion, Sister Santos from Sao Paulo, Brazil. She's awesome, and we're going to be rockin' it down here! ;)

We had an amazing surprise yesterday. Kim and Chris Parfait came to church! They were part of that family of nine that came last week. Because of the chaos of dropping off Sister McKay and picking up Sister Santos, we didn't have a chance to see them before Sunday. We weren't expecting to see them at church. But they came on their own, and they really liked it, and the Spirit was so strong, and we committed them to prepare to be baptized on July 11th! We had an AWESOME lesson with them yesterday about the Plan of Salvation, and they really liked it. We challenged them to read Moroni 10, and to take Moroni's challenge. Our only worry with them is their financial situation right now. It's a long and complicated story, but through no fault of their own, they might be out of a place to live on Wednesday. We're praying for them so hard. They are such an amazing family, and they have such strong faith in Jesus Christ. Kim told us that, "We know that God loves us, and He'll make things work out." That was it. No complaining, no comments of doubt or worry. Just pure faith in Christ. So I'm determined to do my part, and add to their faith mine.

I know that we were supposed to meet this family. There is no doubt about that in my mind. I know that God is very aware of them, and that everything will be okay. And I'm going to do everything in my power to help them. I'm going to pray harder than I ever have before, and I know that God answers prayers. Look at what He did for Alma the Elder----Alma prayed an angel to his son. I don't expect an angel. All I expect is an answer, and I know that He will give one. He loves this family more than I do, and that's what matters most.

I love y'all, keep those letters coming, and I'll talk to y'all next week!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

P.S. Enjoy the pictures! That's Sister Worthey's BEAUTIFUL red Camaro that I'm sitting in. Oh yeah, it was amazing. ;) Also, a picture of us with the Wortheys (Sister Worthey was goofing off---she probably won't be too happy about me sticking that picture on here...oh well), and a picture of the Thibodaux, or "Thibodizzle," district. :)

New companion, many miracles, no time!

2009-06-08T11:48:00.001-05:00

Tomorrow Sister McKay and I drive to Baton Rouge, and we'll spend the night in the mission home. Wednesday she flies back to Temple Square, I'll spend some time with the sisters in Gonzales, and then pick up my new companion, Sister Santos from Brazil.

Miracles! We had *11* investigators at church on Sunday. The Lord is truly amazing! We have been so blessed here in Houma, and we're working with some incredible people.

I'm sorry this is so short, but I really REALLY have no time---we've got to get back to the pad so Sister McKay can pack. Blech. :)

I love y'all, keep sending those emails and letters, the gospel of Jesus Christ brings us all the peace and joy we could ever desire and more, and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Onto week 4...

2009-06-01T11:09:00.001-05:00

I promised myself today that I wouldn't say the same things that I always say in this email. So here it goes...

This week was normal. We did normal missionary things, we taught some lessons which were normal, and we met some normal people.

Okay, that's enough of that. That is proof that 'normal' is BORING. :)

This week was AWESOME! Sister McKay and I worked our butts off. We walked a good bit, and somehow survived the INSANE heat. We talked to some CRAZY people, who told us some very INTERESTING stories. We also taught some INCREDIBLE lessons, thanks to the Spirit.

I think my highlight of the week was sacrament meeting yesterday. As we sat in PEC, there was an enormous BANG. A transformer had blown, and we were left in a pickle---no power for the building. And yet, these faithful Saints just went forward. They made phonecalls and got ahold of generators, lights, flashlights, and determined that we'd just have sacrament meeting this week. They posted us missionaries by the doors to inform people, and they even got ahold of a big fan to keep the chapel at a decent temperature.

But that's not the reason why sacrament touched me so much this week---well, not entirely anyway. They could have just cancelled church; they could have just made some phonecalls, and no one would have really blamed them because there was nothing they could do to remedy the situation. But they recognized that the sacrament is so important, so they made sure that all who wanted to come and partake would still have that opportunity. There was just this feeling of peace there, more so than usual. I watched as the sacrament was passed, and was reminded of why I came to church. It wasn't for the classes, or the social aspect, though those are two benefits I enjoy about church. But the reason I go is to partake of the sacrament, and to renew those sacred, holy covenants that I made when I had more pure faith than I do now. I'm not saying I don't have faith; but when I was eight, and chose to be baptized, I had no doubts. My faith was truly that of a little child's, and it was as clean and pure as I became that day. I was reminded that my faith can become that clean and pure if I am really focusing on what the sacrament is and why we take it.

I'm out of time, so I'll end with that. But just know that the sacrament it more important than we sometimes realize, and I challenge everyone to do some digging and find out why it's important---why it's REALLY important---to them.

Love y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

I'm already in week 3? THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

2009-05-26T13:31:00.001-05:00

Why does time insist on moving so fast? WHY???

Anyways...hey y'all! It's been a crazy week, so let me see if I can recap some of the highlights for y'all. We've definitely had ups and downs, but God triumphs over all, so we're doing good!

Tuesday night, we got dropped by a family that the elders who had previously been in West Houma were teaching. Normally, being dropped is a little frustrating, but this was different. We had an awesome lesson with them; we talked about how the Savior knew everything we were going through, and that He'd always be there to support us. We shared some scriptures from Doctrine and Covenants sections 121-123. Sister McKay and I sang a song. The Spirit was so strong. And then, as we were leaving, the mom told us to never come back. I didn't hear her at first, and Sister McKay was in shock, so Denise said it again...and again and again and again. We were blown away. I was angry, Sister McKay was hurt, and when we got to our apartment, we poured out our hearts in prayer. Comfort flooded our souls, and we knew that we'd done our best, and that it was accepted by the Lord. To this day, I don't know what made Denise pull a 360 on us like that, but she has that choice. Hopefully she'll listen someday. If not, then maybe her kids will. Sister McKay told me that statistically it takes 7 contacts with the Church before someone starts investigating. If nothing else, we knocked off one of those contacts for that family.

Thursday, we received a media referral off of a pass along card we'd handed out. That hardly ever happens! And this family is AMAZING. The Parfaits are so humble, and they love God so much. We got to talk with them about the eternal nature of families, and about how we go through trials to strengthen our faith and ourselves. We're super excited to teach them; plus, Chris (the dad) speaks French! CAJUN French. It's INSANE. I can pick out a sentence here and there, but it is SO different than normal French. But I love it, and I hope I can pick it up!

Last big exciting event of the week happened on Friday. One of our investigators, Brittany, got married, and we got to help set up for her reception. It felt so good to see her take a step closer to her Savior. She'd been living with her boyfriend for a long time, and she knew that in order to be baptized, she had to either move out or get married. She wants to be baptized, so she took the steps neccessary to qualify herself for those blessings. It was awesome. And her family was really impressed by all the work we willingly and lovingly did. We think this might have really opened their hearts, so we're going to take a shot at it and try to teach them. :) YIPEE!

Houma is such an amazing place. I LOVE IT!!! And seriously, I have been spoiled rotten with companions---Sister McKay is incredible. I wish I didn't have to lose her in a few weeks; she goes back to Temple Square June 10th. I'm already dreading that day.

Oh! One other exciting thing. We're teaching this lady named Holly and her daughter Paige. They are really cool. But the exciting part was talking with Holly's husband John, who is kind of anti. We had a really good talk with him on Saturday about temples; he says that his biggest hang-up with "the Mormons" is that they won't let non-members into the temple. God is amazing, and blessed me and Houma with a sister missionary from Temple Square. Sister McKay gets this question all the time there, and she did an amazing job explaining why. We've got a return appointment on Wednesday (tomorrow??? OH MY GOSH, time goes WAY TOO FAST!), and if he brings it up again, we're going to emphasize that the temple is meant for everyone, but you have to meet certain requirements. We didn't come up with the requirements, God did. We're going to bear our testimonies, and let the Spirit do what it does best---testify of truth. Who knows? He may listen, he may not. But the Spirit will be present, and Holly and Paige will feel it, and it's all because our Savior is AMAZING. The End!

Okay, now I really have to go. I love you all! I think I may have mis-typed my zipcode, so here's my new address again, just in case:

Sister Morgan Pedersen
485 Grand Caillou Apt. E
Houma, LA 70360

LOVE Y'ALL!!!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Houma, BLESSED HOUMA!

2009-05-18T13:08:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all!

Again, no time....big surprise. I arrived safely in Houma, Louisiana, after playing follow-the-leader out of Mettairie and taking the scenic route back (meaning that it was the blind leading the blind) on Wednesday, and I've loved every minute of it! Houma is AMAZING! The people here are so friendly, and so willing to talk to us---of course, making progress with them is often difficult, but hey, I'll take what I can get for now!

My companion, Sister McKay, is AMAZING!!! I love her guts. We are loving life down here. Our motto thus far is, "The Grand Adventures of McKay and Pedersen..." because really, everyday is an adventure of some sort. Neither one of us really know where we're going, and that's half the fun of things! YIPEE!!!

The weather continues to heat up...I'm surviving, suprisingly enough. The scenery down here is SO different from Prairieville---different colors of green, the clouds seem lower/closer to the ground, and the town itself is SO much smaller. But I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm hooked on Houma.

We got to see a baptism on Saturday, which was so much fun! Dosheeka is an amazing girl, and she's so solid. I also got to bear my testimony to an investigator about why I came on my mission. No investigator has ever asked me that before, and I was blessed to have an "ah-ha!" moment. The Spirit touched my spirit, and I knew without a doubt that I was out here for the right reason, and that gave me such comfort and assurance. God FREAKING ROCKS!!! :)

Well, I'm outta here y'all! Oh! Before I forget, here is my new address. SEND ALL MAIL HERE, because the mission office is no longer three minutes away from my apartment. :)

Sister Pedersen
485 Grand Caillou Apt. E
Houma, LA 70363

I love y'all, and I'll talk to y'all later! Keep on keepin' on!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

TRANSFERS!!!!

2009-05-12T11:28:00.001-05:00

Okay y'all, I really only have time for one email today---I've got to go pack. Yup, you read that right. They're shipping me out. I'm off to Houma, which is as south as you can go. I'm headed into Cajun country! Ah ma chere! I'm excited. My new companion is Sister McKay; she's one of the ones who got to come up and do splits with us. I'm super stoked! I only get her until the 10th of June though, because then she flies back (either to Temple Square or to home...I'm not sure). So come June, I'll be getting a new companion before everyone else. Dang. CRAZINESS. The plus side---I'm pretty sure I get to come back up to Baton Rouge for New Missionary Training, so I'll get to see some familiar faces again.

As for Sister Horan, she's going just down the road a bit to Gonzales. She gets Sister Boulter as a companion, and I am way excited for both of them! They are going to tear it up out there!

Elder Jamsa is being released from the office for his last six weeks, and he's opening a new area on the Texas border. He's really excited. I'm happy for him too, though I am kinda bummed. Today will probably be the last time I see him...until like mission reunions or something. He's been the best district leader any missionary could ask for, and he's set such a great example for me. I really admire and look up to him. He's going to do great things in Fields.

As for Elder Stratton, he's staying in the office, and he gets Elder Snow as his companion. I HEART ELDER SNOW!!! He's a riot.

As for Prairieville, President Woods is combining it with the office elders area, so Elders Stratton and Snow will take over where we left off with Honor, Shawn, and Karla. We have been majorly blessed this last week---we've had two AMAZING lessons with Shawn, and she wants to be baptized! We're so excited. She's reading the Book of Mormon and loving it, and we've got her hooked up with a couple of members, so hopefully this transition will be a bit easier.

I hope everyone told their mothers how much they loved them on Sunday. I know I did!!! :) Seriously, my mom rocks. I'm so grateful for her.

Well, that's it for me! I love you all! As for letters and stuff, hold off on sending them until I can get y'all my new address. The office address worked great while I was here, because I was two minutes away from the office. Now, it's a bit further....like an hour and a half further. :)

Keep on keepin' on everyone!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

I can't believe this is the last week of the transfer already!

2009-05-04T12:58:00.001-05:00

Y'all are probably tired of seeing that in practically every subject line. Sorry. :) I can't help it, though! Time flies by so stinkin' fast, it's ridiculous!

So, my uber big super exciting news is that (providing everything works out the way it should) we should be having a baptism on May 9th!!!! We FINALLY got all the little kinks worked out with Honor and Damian, and she's firmly committed to getting baptized this weekend. They're supposed to go pick up the marriage license today, then Bishop Sanders is going to marry them at the church on Thursday, and then Saturday she'll get baptized! This is truly a miracle and tender mercy from the Lord, and we're positive and full of faith that everything will work out.

Other than that, it's coming up on transfer time again. I'm 99.9% sure that I'll be leaving Prairieville...but Heavenly Father likes to keep me on my toes, and I often need reminding that I am NOT the one in charge, so we'll see. I'll be able to let y'all know for sure next Tuesday, because I'll know for sure a week from today. (A WEEK FROM TODAY?!! Holy CROW!)

We had an AWESOME fast and testimony meeting yesterday. There was an actual theme to everyone's testimonies. I've never seen that happen in a ward before (that I can remember, at least). There was such a sweet feeling---nothing overwhelming or super powerful, but just a tender, quiet feeling of love. It boosted me for the rest of the day. I loved it.

We're working with some awesome people here! I'm pretty sure I already told y'all about Crystal, and then there is Karla. She just moved from Virginia with her husband and little girl, Jayla. She'd been talking a bit with sister missionaries up there, and tender mercies from the Lord, we happened to bump into her while walking around the apartment complex where she lives. (I might have already told y'all about her too, I can't remember.) We had a good lesson with her earlier this week; she had some questions about some things she'd been reading in Genesis, so we were able to help her out with that. We also got to talk about Adam and Eve, and the Fall, which was awesome. She was going to come to church yesterday, but ended up not being able to make it. But it wasn't because she didn't want to, which is new and a relief. She'll get baptized, I can just feel it.

Other than that, everything else is going good! Sister Horan and I decided to end this transfer with a BANG!, so I WILL have some good stories to share next week. Let's just hope I have time to write them all!

I love y'all! Thanks for all your prayers. We really can feel them out here.

Also, in case he's reading this, thank you Anthony. You know why. :)

All right, I'm outta here! Keep on keepin' on, y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Another week bites the dust...

2009-04-20T13:50:00.008-05:00

Well, I can honestly say that this is the first time I've felt like an actual week has passed in between Preparation Days. Hey y'all! How is everybody?

Life here in Prairieville is rolling along! We're working hard, and we come home every night really tired. There's been a few nights this week where I just laid on the living room floor and almost fell asleep there. But it's a good kind of tired---it's the kind of tired you get when you've given something your utmost, your all, your EVERYTHING. It's the best kind of tired feeling I've ever had, and I love it.

Still not too much to report on, excitement-wise. We did have interviews this past week, which is always a blast. We have some amazing leaders, and we heard some AWESOME instructions. Plus, we all get to sit and talk with President Woods for a few minutes, and seriously, that is my favorite part! He's incredible, and so is Sister Woods. I'm seriously the MOST SPOILED missionary in the entire world---I have the BEST mission president ever. No, seriously. :) Plus, I got to catch President Woods feeling like an elder again...have fun with these pictures!

Keep on sending those emails and letters! I cannot even begin to express how much they help missionaries, especially on rough days. I love you all so much, and I want y'all to know that our Savior LIVES, He loves us, and He's waiting to bless us if we'll only follow Him.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Onto week 3 already? HOLY STINKING CROW!

2009-04-13T12:41:00.005-05:00

Okay, y'all...I'm sure you can already guess about how much time I have left today. Ha ha ha...dang, I've GOT to get faster fingers! (Writing less isn't an option.)

This week was incredible. On Tuesday, Sister Horan and I got to spend a couple hours with our zone leaders, Elders Garrett and Bare. They showed us some ways that they've been using to find new investigators, and it was a lot of fun. They are truly amazing missionaries. I seriously am THE most spoiled sister missionary in the entire Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission. I have THE BEST zone leaders; they took about two hours out of their day to come and help us. They definitely could have used that time to work in their own area, but they wanted to come and help us. That really meant a lot to me, and it really humbled me too. How blessed am I to serve with such incredible servants of God!

Then, on Friday, we got to go on EXCHANGES!!!! Yes, you read that correctly. Real EXCHANGES with Sister Boulter (who I came out with) and Sister McKay, who are serving down in Houma. They had a meeting at the mission home most of the day Friday, and then we got to pick them up and go out with them and hit our area twice as hard! It was amazing! It helped me to see Prairieville with new eyes, and gave me a bunch of new ideas to try. Plus, just getting to see Sister Boulter again brought such joy and excitement, it was ridiculous. I'm pretty sure we frightened some of the new elders at the meeting. Oh well---it's good for them. Eventually, they could be serving around sisters, and we just gave them a small taste of how AWESOME it will be. :D President said that he was going to try and arrange these sister exchanges more often, so I'm super stoked.

Easter was really good. I got to sing with the ward choir, which felt WONDERFUL! *Happy sigh* I also had my first taste of deep fried turkey, and I must admit, it was pretty tasty---though probably not so healthy. (Don't worry, Mom...I had a plate of salad before and after, to try and counteract the grease. Wink, wink!)

I've seen so many small miracles and tender mercies from the Lord this week, and I cannot express my gratitude in words...so I'm determined to show it in my actions this week. Next time you hear from me, I'll have some really good miracles and blessings from God to share with y'all.

Please keep Honor and Damian in your prayers. We thought we had them convinced to get their marriage license and to get legally married and celebrate later, but apparently not. Honor WAS committed to be baptized this weekend, but if she's not married, it's not going to happen. We need all the spiritual guidance and strength we can get to help them, because my human frailities are starting to show through my missionary demeanor---meaning that they are wearing on my LAST nerve. I love them, I really do, and I want them to receive all the blessings that Heavenly Father is just waiting to pour out upon them...but if they won't choose to keep His commandments, He cannot bless them. Honestly, I think that's what happens when we think we're being punished----we're the ones punishing ourselves. We're robbing ourselves of blessings. Because God is God, He cannot bless us unless we do our part. That's just how it works. So we have to take that leap of faith, and make that first move, and then we'll receive so many blessings! "...prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR? Why are we dragging our feet to be obedient? I'm just as guilty as anyone else, and perhaps that's why the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to experience this with Damian and Honor. It wouldn't surprise me...plus, it's helping develop my patience.

ANYWAY, I've prattled on too long as it is. I love y'all, and I just want to give a special CONGRATULATIONS to Hermana Kira Good for receiving her call to the New Mexico Albuquerque Spanish Speaking Mission! You go girl! Also, congrats to my little cousin Zoe for getting baptized this past week---I love you, Rugrat!

Okay, now I've really gotta go. Do good, work hard, trust God, and don't worry!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Recap of Week 1 of Transfer 5

2009-04-06T11:24:00.002-05:00

So, big surprise...I'm low on time. Again. As usual. :) What can I say? Galatians 6:11!

This last week has been pretty crazy. Transfers came and went, and life moved on. We kicked it up a notch, trying our hardest to get people out to General Conference. It sorta worked...sorta. We had one investigator, Nita, try to listen to it on the internet, but there were so many people on at the same time, the internet was struggling. And Honor came to watch with her mom---they just came in between sessions and watched some of the Church news report. She did, however, get to watch a little bit at her aunt's house. That was a MIRACLE! Why? Because the little bit she watched talked about temples and eternal marriage. And what have we been trying to get her and Damian to do? GET MARRIED. Coincidence? I think NOT. :) I've said it before, and I'll say it again---God rocks. ;)

Conference was incredible! I loved every minute of it. I especially loved Elder Holland's talk about the Savior and Elder Perry's talk about member missionary work. Not only do I love listening to Elder Perry in the first place (I even got to meet him once!), but he was truly inspired in his remarks, because I can testify that they are all 100% true. Members have access to people that we as missionaries will never touch if left to our own efforts. We get transferred into an area, and we have to meet, befriend, and teach as many people as possible in the short amount of time we are there. And statistically speaking, there are fewer and fewer 19 year olds going out on missions because there are fewer of them period. And yet, the First Presidency has said that the number of baptisms will increase. How do we bridge that gap? With the MEMBERS.

Jeremiah 16:16 says, "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." President Eyring, in a talk to the new mission presidents while President Woods was in the MTC, said that this prophecy is being fulfilled TODAY, and how blessed are we to be a part of it! The way I see it, the full time missionaries are like the hunters---we go out every day, and search every mountain, every hill, and every hole in the rocks for people who are ready and willing to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd. We go places where most people in their right minds would never go. We are relentless in our zeal, and do this every day for 18 months to 2 years.

The members are the fishers. Fishing takes longer than hunting does (usually). It requires patience and diligence. Trust me, I know---I've been fishing many times, and lots of times, you come home empty-handed. :) But with fishing, you can have more than one line out at a time, and watch all of them. You put "tasty tasty bait," as Elder Kent would say on your hooks, and you wait. What is your bait? It is YOU. It is the joy that is in your lives and eyes because of the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the way you treat others and serve others. People are ALWAYS watching you, and those who are truly elect (see D&C 29:7) will want to know more. Fishing isn't just sitting back and waiting, though. You must always be checking your lines, checking the bait. You have to go where the fish are. You have to offer them the bait. You must open your mouths (D&C 33:8-10). The Lord promises to fill our mouths with what the people around us need to hear. Take Him up on that promise!

....oops. I'm done. Well, sorta. I challenge everyone who reads this to "warn their neighbor." (D&C 88:81) It's not hard---simply share a blessing of the gospel that is near and dear to your heart. Everyone can do that, and if they did, think of the joy that would fill our Father's heart and our Savior's heart! Let us all live so that when we see our Lord Jesus Christ again, He will say to us, "Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full." (3 Nephi 17:20)

I love y'all! I know that as we show the Lord we are willing to follow them in all things, He will pour out blessings upon us "that there shall not be room enough to receive it." (Malachi 3:10) This I promise you as a servant of Christ, and do so in His holy name, amen.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Curse you, AquaScum!!!

2009-03-31T11:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I had this really good email all typed up, but for some reason the dumb Internet deleted it. So sorry ya'll, but you get the super short readers digest version, and I'll try and catch ya'll up next week.

Transfers are this week; I'm staying here in Prairieville with Sister Horan. This week was good, but crazy---zone conference was incredible, and I sang at the funeral of our ward mission leader's son. The Spirit was so strong there, and I got to bear my testimony through the song, "Be Still, My Soul." We had an awesome lesson with our investigator, Nita, and she's committed to pray about baptism for April 25th, so PLEASE keep her in your prayers. Also, any prayers you can spare for Honor and Becky would be MOST helpful; we need all the help we can get with them.

I love you all, and I'm really sorry this is so short, but I am completely out of time, and I promise to try and get out a good long epistle next week.

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Only two weeks left in this transfer? You've GOT to be kidding me!

2009-03-16T14:12:00.001-05:00

As you can tell by the subject line of this email, time is moving way too FREAKING fast. :) Just in case ya'll were wondering.

Not much to report on this week. We called in reinforcments with Honor and Damian---and the office elders came to the rescue! Our district leader, Elder Jamsa, is AMAZING. He is an incredible missionary, and a great example of obedience and faith in Jesus Christ. We had a joint lesson with them on Friday, and would have had another on Saturday, but I got sick, and was confined to my apartment all weekend. (Boo hiss!) So they went over and taught Honor and Damian some more Saturday night, and lo and behold, they both came to church on Sunday and stayed for almost all three meetings! That is most definitely a step in the right direction.

I also was blessed to have a very humbling experience this week. We were teaching an older couple, Mr. Freddy and Miss Audrey, and because they'd told us they believed everything we'd taught them, we extended the commitment to be baptized. Freddy told us that he couldn't do that, because he'd already been baptized once, and that being baptized again would be saying that his first one wasn't valid, and he couldn't do that. So I tried to explain about proper authority, and how Christ didn't go to Simon down the street, but He'd gone to John the Baptist because John had the priesthood authority to baptize. Freddy and I talked in circles for probably about twenty minutes before I stopped and took a step back to look at the situation. That was the closest to bashing I had ever been, and that realization hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt awful. I let Freddy finish talking, and then we thanked them for the time they'd spent with us, and we left. I thought a lot about that this weekend, and I realized that I had been trying to convince him on my own. Obviously, that doesn't work. I'm very grateful that I was able to stop just for a second so I could hear the Holy Ghost telling me that this wasn't working. It was a lesson that I needed badly to learn, and now that I have, I don't plan on forgetting it.

I've said it before, and I'll probably say it again, but I feel like I'm cheating out here; I'm supposed to be teaching people, and instead it feels like I'm the one doing all the learning! Oh well---God lets it work this way, so it must be okay by Him. :)

That's all for me. Love ya'll!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

Goodbye week 2, onto week 3!

2009-03-02T13:47:00.006-06:00

Hey ya'll!

So, I've survived my first full week of training. More importantly, Sister Horan has survived my first full week of training! HOORAY! ;)

This last week was a really good one, even if it was insane. Because of Mardi Gras on Tuesday, everything got turned topsy-turvy. Monday, which is normally P-day, was district meeting; however, because the assistants and the office elders had a office staff meeting (and they ARE our district), our district meeting was moved to Wednesday, which made Monday a normal proselyting day, which was very odd.

Then we had New Missionary Training on Friday, which took up most of our day. That part I didn't mind; I needed New Missionary Training! We had instructions from the assistants, as well as President and Sister Woods. I even got to have a mini-reunion with half of my MTC district! I got to see Elders Winlow and Cook, because they were both training too. I hadn't seen Elder Cook since I was the new missionary at NMT! That was fun, getting to catch up with them. I also got to see Elders Snow, Zollinger, and Richins, who are all my good buddies too. They split us up into trainees and trainers, and as trainers, we got to sit and have a personal pow-wow with President and Sister Woods. They gave us advice and counsel, and we got to be very open about how we were feeling and getting along with our companions. It was comforting to know that I wasn't the only young trainer there. In fact, the oldest---who had been in the mission field the longest---missionary there had just hit his 8 month mark. Elder Cook, Elder Winlow and I hit our 4 1/2 month mark the end of February, and Elder Richins and Zollinger came out one transfer after we did! President told us that he felt inspired to call young trainers, and that he knew we all would be fine. He is an amazing man, and I love him dearly! He gave us all a lot of comfort that day.

Sister Horan and I found a couple of sweet new investigators this week too! Mr. Freddy and Ms. Audry are an older couple, and they invited us right in, and we all sat and talked for half an hour about angels and the Holy Ghost, and there was such a peaceful feeling in their little apartment! We're going to try and see them again either tonight or tomorrow. I'm super stoked!

Well, that's all for me! Oh, wait...one last thing. I had my first boiled crawfish this last week, and it was SO GOOD! And yes, for all ya'll who have ever had boiled crawfish before, I did suck the head. And I have pictures to prove it. :) One of our investigators, Becky, got a entire feast for us to try! We had seafood gumbo (SO YUMMY!), fried shrimp poboy (SO YUMMY!), king cake (SO SO SO YUMMY!!!), boudin (pretty good), and cracklin. Honestly, the only thing I didn't like out of the entire meal was the cracklin. I'm sorry, it must be an acquired taste thing or something, because deep fried pig skin and leftovers? NASTY. Blech. And I've been warned about hogshead cheese....*shudder!* That might be the only exception I make to my rule of trying everything at least once.

Okay, now I'm outta time! 'Til next week---

Your Friend in the Faith,

Sister P.

So...I meant to post this last week, but ran outta time...my bad!

2009-03-02T12:43:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all!

This week has been CRAZY! Transfers came and went, and Sister Pennock is now home. Sister Horan is my "greenie," and she is so sweet! She grew up in Beaverton, Oregon, and her family is now living in Idaho Falls, Idaho. She is very quiet and sweet to everyone, and I already am growing to love her.

This week has been a little hectic; transfer week usually is. We found ourselves a new investigator, thanks to Brother Joffrion! His home-health nurse lady, Mary, wanted to know a little more about what he believed. So he invited us over to teach her, and she said she'd like to hear more. This was just proof to me that the Lord is keeping an eye on us here in Prairieville.

We got to go to an INCREDIBLE concert on Thursday, and the Spirit was so strong! Alex Boye, of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Freddie Ashby, and Clyde Bawden came to here to share their talents with us as the final hoorah for the Reflections of Christ exhibit. It was amazing. And then, because as missionaries, we like to socialize and clean up at the same time, we were helping put stuff away when President Woods asked all the missionaries to come into the chapel and sit in the first three rows of the chapel. So we filed in, and Freddie had us all stand up, and Clyde began to play a beautifully arranged version of "Called to Serve." Freddie directed us, had us all stand up, and it was like I was in the MTC again! The room was filled with big bass and tenor voices, and I loved it! Then Alex sang a hymn and bore his testimony about missionary work, and shared some amazing stories about his mission. Then we had a closing prayer by Elder Hall, who had just been released, and the Spirit was so strong, and my heart went out to him. He was crying as he prayed, and you could just tell that he loved his mission and was so sad to be leaving. It was an AMAZING night, and I will never forget it.

The last bit of fun news I have just happened last night. We were over talking to Honor, and she told us straight up that SHE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!! Halleluah! Blessings from heaven! There are still some wrinkles to be ironed out, but we know where she stands, and she knows that we are behind her 100%. I love her with all my heart.

And now, I'm outta here. I love y'all!

Love,
Sister P.

Transfers #4, new companion, and other such news...

2009-02-17T12:04:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone! I'm cutting right to the chase because I've got like 10 minutes left, so here we go!

Transfer call night was yesterday. We had to be in our apartment by 7, which wasn't a big deal. The last two transfers, I haven't gotten a call---usually that means nothing too big is going to happen. So I really wasn't expecting one yesterday. I thought I had a pretty good guess as to who my new companion would be, and I was 99% sure that I was staying here in Prairieville.
I ended up being right as to staying. However, at 7:06 pm, our phone rang. I was slightly surprised, but not too much. I figured President Woods would want to talk to Sister Pennock about going home stuff, so I answered the phone with the expectation of handing it over to her. However, President said, "Sister Pedersen! Just the missionary I wanted to talk to!" He then proceeded to tell me that he had a new companion for me....in fact, she was so new, she wasn't in the mission yet.

Yup, you read that correctly. President Woods asked me to train the new sister missionary who gets here today (actually, the plane is supposed to land in about an hour.)

Needless to say, there was a good ten or so seconds of silence on my end of the phone before I could stutter out, "O-oh." President told me that he had the utmost confidence in me, and that I'd do a great job of training the new sister. He asked if I thought I could handle that. It was at this point my brain disconnected with the rest of my body, and my mouth just did it's own thing. I know this because I heard myself say, "Well President, I think so. I'll do my best!" While that's what I said, that is NOT what I was thinking. What I was thinking was more along the lines of...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

And no, that was not a scream of excitement; it was more of sheer terror. I looked at Sister Pennock, and I'm guessing the blood must have drained out of my face because she gasped and said, "NO WAY. You're training?" I nodded. She stared at me a minute more, and asked, "Are you okay?" I sat there, staring back at her, and said slowly, "I'm...not...sure."

I had a good LONG chat with the Lord last night, and I've come to a few conclusions.First, this is possibly His way of fulfilling scripture:

Ether 12:27 says, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Doctrine and Covenants 133:58-59 says, "the weak shall confound the wise...And by the weak things of the earth the Lord shall thrash the nations by the power of his Spirit."

1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

Jacob 4:7---"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

And finally, Alma 26:12 says, "Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever."

The scripture from Jacob and from Alma really stick out to me right now. I most definitely qualify as a "weak thing." But I am not alone.

The other conclusion I came to was that this was the surest way to humble me sufficiently so that I could learn something I've failed to learn thus far. He knew that this would bring me to my knees in honest, sincere, earnest, Enos-like prayer faster and more often than anything else. And boy, was He right!

In my long talk with Him before I went to bed last night, I laid out all my fears, all my worries, and most especially, all the reasons why I was NOT the right person for the job. And after I'd gotten done with that long list, I paused, and sat quietly for a moment. I remember the thought coming over and over, "With God, nothing is impossible." I chewed on that for a bit, and decided that yes, I did believe that was true. I also thought about Ether 12:27, which we'd just read with Honor a few days ago. There was no doubt in my mind (and there still isn't) that I was definitely a "weak thing." I then thought about how God keeps His promises, and about all the promises He's not only given missionaries, but all the promises He's given me specifically. I thought about how saying that I couldn't do it could be considered offensive to God, because in essense, that was me telling Him that I didn't think He could do it, that I didn't think He kept His promises. A little shudder ran through me, and I sat and pondered for another minute. I then finished my prayer with a timid, "But Father, not my will, but Thine be done."

I'm not perfect. I'm so far from it, it's not even funny. But I do know that this is an opportunity for me to develop my faith and my trust in the Lord. In not so many words, the Lord is telling me to put up, or shut up. ;) And so, I plan on wearing out the carpet next to my bed from kneeling so often, and wearing holes in my shoes from doing my best. "Work as though it all depends on you, then pray because it all depends on Him."

That's all for now. I love you all, and you'll hear more from me next week!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week 6 of Transfer 3----THE END OF THE TRANSFER IS ALREADY HERE?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!

2009-02-09T12:52:00.001-06:00

So....if you couldn't tell by the subject line of this entry....TIME MOVES WAY TOO FREAKING FAST!!! ;)

I am UBER short on time today, so I'm just going to tell y'all about the amazing fireside we had last night!

Last night was the opening night of the "Reflections of Christ" exhibit. Brother Mark Mabry, the photographer, gave a talk, and spoke about why he decided to take these incredible pictures of Christ's life. (By the way, if you are totally lost as to what I am talking about, I believe the website is <http://www.reflectionsofchrist.org/>....CHECK IT OUT!!!) He did an amazing job, and the entire chapel and cultural hall/gym was full...all the way back to the stage! It was amazing! I don't think there were even that many people in the building for Stake Conference! Anyway, I digress....Brother Mabry did an amazing job. He brought the Spirit so strongly into that room, and then when everyone got to go through and see the pictures, the Spirit was even stronger! I got to stand at the beginning of the exhibit and welcome people, and I could hear sniffles pretty much the entire two and a half hours I stood there. I got to go through with Sister Pennock and Elders Jamsa and Stratton after everyone had left, and then I understood why I heard sniffles. The photographs were breath-taking, and truly awe-inspiring, and with the sounds of "Come Thou Fount" and other beautifully arranged hymns and melodies playing softly in the background, the Spirit was almost tangible. Looking at all the pictures, I felt so close to my Savior, and I felt such joy.

And then I remembered that the reason I was out on a mission in the first place was to share that joy I felt at that moment with everyone I could. It was an exhilarating thought, and I felt completely re-energized spiritually. I am so excited to have this exhibit here, and I am telling everyone---and I mean EVERYONE---I can about it so they too can feel the witness of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten of the Father, and the Savior of the World. He invites us to be like Him, and to learn of Him, and to allow Him to cleanse us and to heal our hearts. HE LIVES, and I know it. I will not rest until I hear His voice and see His face, and until He tells me, "The work is done," I will ALWAYS be about His business---spreading forth His gospel, and sharing that JOY I feel.

And that's it for me. I love y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week 4 of Transfer 3...wait a second! WEEK 4?!?! ARGH!!! Time goes by WAY TOO FAST!!!

2009-02-02T13:00:00.002-06:00

So, as you may or may not be able to tell, I am highly upset about how quickly this transfer is passing. HIGHLY upset. I mean, COME ON!!! A transfer is only 6 weeks, and we're already summing up week 4?!!! ARGABITE!!!!

Now that that is out of my system...hey y'all! I've only got a few minutes left, so I'm skipping all the pleasantries and getting right down to the good stuff!

This week we had a breakthrough with one of our investigators, Honor. Sister Woods came on an exchange with us, and the three of us headed on over to talk to Honor and Damian. Our plan was to give them a "Kikuchi First," the method that we'd practiced with Elder Kikuchi. The whole goal of the lesson was to get the Spirit so strong in the room that we'd be able to point out exactly what it felt like, and then transition into how we can feel this all the time. We had just barely gotten started talking about 3 Nephi 11 when Damian was called away. I won't lie, I was bummed. We'd been trying for AGES to get Damian to stay through a whole lesson so he'd feel the Spirit too, and want to get back into church. But it ended up being good that he left, because we got to have a one-on-one...or rather, three-on-one, I suppose...with Honor.

We read together the first half of 3 Nephi 11, and Sister Woods shared how important this chapter was to her. Honor then mentioned that she didn't really know whether Christ was a real person, or rather just an inner feeling. Sister Woods looked over at Sister Pennock and I; I felt like I just had stuck my finger in an electrical socket. We were teaching the completely wrong lesson! Sister Woods looked back at Honor and asked, "So, you're really wondering about the nature of God?" Honor said, "Well, yeah. I guess I am." At that moment, we chucked our beautifully planned lesson out the window, and proceeded to fly by the seat of our pants...or skirts, I suppose.

Sister Woods told Honor that she had a loving Heavenly Father who knew her and cared about her personally. We briefly talked about the pre-mortal life---that we all were spirit children of God, and that we had lived with Him before we came to earth. Naturally, the topic turned to Jesus Christ, and Sister Woods began to talk about the Atonement. She paused, looked Honor right in the eyes, and asked, "Do you understand what the Atonement is?" Honor replied that she didn't; she recognized the term, because she was Catholic, but she told us she'd never really understood what they were talking about. Sister Woods explained that because Christ died, we all have the opportunity to live again. She said that this was only part of what the Atonement was, and she looked over at me. I pulled out my Bible, and prepared to search quickly for the right chapter that talked about the Garden of Gethsemane. I had another shock to my system as my scriptures fell---I mean really just opened by themselves---to Matthew 26. I stared at the words in awe for a few seconds, and looked up at Sister Woods. I whispered, "This is obviously the right thing to be teaching, because look at where my scriptures just opened to." She looked down, and then looked back at me and smiled. I had goosebumps everywhere, and that alone was a testimony to me that the Holy Ghost was very present in that room.

I turned my attention then to Honor. I started to briefly explain about the events leading up to the Savior's entering the garden. As I hope I always will, I got teary when I talked about Him praying and asking if there was any other way; and upon realizing there was not, He then said, "Father, not my will, but thine be done." Honor and I were looking right at each other as I explained why the Savior was suffering in those verses---that He was taking upon Himself all the sins and mistakes of the world, yes, but also all the pains, the sorrows, the afflictions of the world as well. I said, "Because of the Atonement, because of His willingness to go through it all, He knows exactly how we personally feel while we are struggling. He went through all of that so that we would never have to be alone." Honor then began to cry. She told us that she'd been really struggling lately, and that she had felt all alone. Sister Woods got up and went to sit by her, and gave her a hug.

I waited a minute, and then I suddenly felt that I should tell her something that had only occured to me right before I left on my mission. I said, "Honor, even if everyone else in the world were perfect, and you were the only one who couldn't make it back to our Father's presence on your own---even if you were the only one who ever needed the cleansing and the healing the Atonement brings---your Savior Jesus Christ would have gladly gone through it all, just for you. Your Heavenly Father would have wanted that so He could hold you in His arms again. That is how much you are loved. That is how precious you are in your Father's eyes, and in your Savior's eyes."

Honor really began to cry then. The Spirit was so incredibly strong in that little apartment. We all bore our testimonies of the power of the Atonement in our lives, and we talked more with her about different things. We ended with a prayer, and we all gave her a big hug, and told her we'd come by and see her the next night. As we walked out to Sister Woods' car, the three of us were in awe at the turn of events. We were very grateful for the chance we had to be a part of helping Honor realize who she really was, and helping her have hope.

(Holy crow, I have like two minutes left, so I'm sorry, but I've got to do reader's digest style!)
Sister Pennock and I went back the next night, and we witnessed a miracle. Honor had read (not the miracle) everything we'd suggested, and SHE UNDERSTOOD IT ALL. Honor is very dyslexic, so this was a HUGE deal! She really understood it, and was asking us questions. We answered most of them, and then set up an appointment to come back later.

Skip ahead to Sunday---Honor was sick, so she didn't get to come to church, but she wanted to. We went over on Sunday night, and she asked all sorts of questions about church and who spoke and what the lessons were about. We filled her in, and then we started talking about faith. We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" with her and Damian, and talked about some of the scenes from Christ's life that the movie portrayed. Talking about faith lead to talking about repentance, which then in turn lead to talking about baptism. Honor brought up the subject, surprisingly, and asked about the covenants we make at baptism. We explained them, and then Sister Pennock, following a prompting of the Spirit, asked Honor to not only pray to see if baptism was a step her Father wanted her to take, but to pray about a specific date. AND SHE SAID SHE
WOULD!!! We gave big hugs, said goodbye, and got back in our car, and proceeded to flip out. WE HAVE A COMMITED, PROGRESSING INVESTIGATOR!!!! Truly, God is a God of wonder and of miracles!

And that is all for me, folks! I'll keep y'all updated, I promise. Please pray for Honor! Pray that she will be able to recognize the answer that God will give her.

I love you all!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week o' CRAZINESS!!!

2009-01-26T13:59:00.007-06:00

Hey everyone!

Last time, I told y'all about Elder Kikuchi coming down to take a tour of our mission. I gave my little three minute spiritual thought on the Atonement, and really, all I did was quote Elder Holland's article from the March 2008 Ensign. I read Orson F. Whitney's dream about the Savior, and then bore my testimony. That part wasn't so bad; I really was flipping out over nothing. Still, it's not everyday you are asked to speak in front of a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy!

Anyway, he asked our district leaders a bunch of questions, and lovingly but firmly encouraged us to be "100% missionaries." Listening to him speak, I felt about three inches tall. Don't worry, I haven't been goofing off or anything, I promise. But he helped me see I wasn't doing all I could be, even though I thought I was. There's always room for improvement, and I guess I'd forgotten that.

Elder Kikuchi spoke to us all morning (10 to 1-ish), and then we had lunch. After lunch, he instructed us some more, and had us practice some different approaches for street contacting and such. I was chuckling to myself, because all the other sisters were being called up to be practiced on and to practice and such, and I wasn't. Then Elder Kikuchi walked by Sister Pennock and I, and asked us both to come up to the front. Well, so much for getting off scotch free, I thought. He had us sit in two chairs in front of PRESIDENT AND SISTER WOODS, and he asked us to teach them a first lesson. Can I just tell you, I think my heart dropped to my toes? Well, Sister Pennock and I taught a brief first, and then Elder Kikuchi critiqued us gently. He told us that we were going about 75 mph, and that we needed to be going 20. Oops...apparently I have a lead foot...er...tongue? Whatever. Then Elder Kikuchi stared right at me. He told me how he wanted me to tell them about Joseph Smith's vision. He told me to make gentle eye contact, and to go slow. He emphasized that this is where conversion would start, that the Spirit had the potential to knock them off their feet if I would go slowly.

Now I have to pause this story to explain something that will make the story even better. For quite a while, I had been feeling like there was something wrong with me, because I didn't think I was feeling the Spirit at all. I knew I must be, or at least I hoped I was, and that I just wasn't recognizing it. But it was very frustrating, and very discouraging. I mean, even my trip to the temple didn't seem like anything special, and that really worried me. (Okay, calm down...this is crucial to the story, and you'll see why.) Now, back to Elder Kikuchi...

After Elder Kikuchi was done explaining, he had Elder Stratton turn on (of all things!) a VIDEO CAMERA. Needless to say, I was panicking just a bit. No pressure, right? I frantically glanced over at Elder Kikuchi, and he just smiled, and repeated, "Go slow." So, Sister Pennock started off giving a brief background of Joseph Smith's life, and what lead him to the grove of trees that day. Then she turned to me. As I started to quote Joseph Smith History 1:16-17, I began to cry---I mean really cry. This amazing warmth, real physical warmth, spread from my...actually, my heart. Funny, I just realized that. Anyway, it spread from my heart out, until I felt like I was wrapped in an electric blanket. As I bore my testimony to President and Sister Woods, I told them through my tears that I KNEW this was true, and that I KNEW our Heavenly Father and our Savior were real. I looked right at them, and they were both crying too. Later, I found out I had most of the other sisters in tears, and who knows? Maybe even some of the elders.

I finished my testimony, and Sister Pennock added hers, and then commited President and Sister Woods to pray as a couple to know if what we had told them was true. Then Elder Kikuchi stopped us and said simply and lovingly, "Good." His only advice was to slow it down even more; he said I was going 30 mph instead of 20 mph. Then he let us go back to our seats, and called two elders up to do the same thing. After I sat down, I was pretty much in my own little world. I silently thanked my Father for letting me feel the Spirit as strongly as I did. It was an answer to prayers. That spiritual blockage, whatever it was, was at least broken in pieces if not gone entirely, and it took me the rest of the afternoon conference (30-45 min.) to completely compose myself. I was very, very grateful, and I doubt I will ever forget that feeling that was in the room with us when we testified of that sacred experience.

That was Wednesday. On Sunday, Elder and Sister Kikuchi and President and Sister Woods all spoke in sacrament meeting in our ward. When we got there, I was very surprised to see my name on the program. They'd asked Sister Pennock to give the closing prayer, but I guess they'd gotten confused or something, because they had me on there as giving the closing prayer. That was a little nerve-wracking, but I was mostly okay with it. After all, it was at the very end of the meeting, and all I really had to do was thank Heavenly Father for the meeting.

So we sat and listened to the speakers, and when Elder Kikuchi got up, I smiled and was excited to hear what he had to say to the members. I wanted to compare it to what he had told us. He was a little over halfway through his talk, and he'd just finished talking about Joseph Smith again, when suddenly I heard, "Sister Pedersen." I looked up, and he was staring right at me! I thought I was nervous before. Elder Kikuchi said, "Could you come up here please?" I swear, my heart picked up to mach 5! (I'm not entirely sure how fast that is, but I'm pretty sure it's really fast, and I'm pretty sure my heart rate matched it!) I slowly stood up, and walked up to the front, and joined Elder Kikuchi on the stand. He smiled at me, and told the congregation, "She didn't know I was going to do this." I was too terrified to crack more than a tiny grin. He turned to me and said that he wanted me to tell Joseph's vision again, and reminded me that last time I went 30 mph, and he wanted me to slow it down to 15. I think he must have seen the panic grow in my eyes, because he gave my arm a reassuring squeeze, and whispered, "Go slow." I then turned to the microphone, and gave a very brief history of the events leading up to the Sacred Grove. When I began to repeat the Prophet's words, I teared up again. I tried to go slow, and I made eye contact with many people in the crowd. I especially looked at Alicia, the office elders' investigator; out of everyone, I wanted her to feel the Spirit's power most of all.

After I was done, Elder Kikuchi thanked me, and I went back and sat down. I was very shaky, and my breathing was very quick. It's a good thing I didn't have to stand up there very long! He ended his talk, and I said the prayer. I turned to shake his hand, and he thanked me. He told me I had still gone 30 mph, and he promised me that if I slowed it down even more, the Spirit would be very strong. I thanked Elder Kikuchi again, and gave Sister Kikuchi a hug good-bye. I shook President's hand, and gave Sister Woods a hug. She saw the tears in my eyes that had welled up from Elder Kikuchi's words, and she smiled and said, "Well, you've had quite a week haven't you?" I laughed, and then went to class after giving her another big hug. I love Sister Woods! She is an amazing lady. I love President Woods. They are incredible, and I'm SO grateful I get to spend my entire mission with them!

And that, ladies and gents, was my week o' CRAZINESS! :) Apparently, I still looked very pale and shaky or something after sacrament on Sunday, because Elder Jamsa asked me like five times if I was okay. I told him I was, and that I was just trying to get my heart back to normal speeds. Other than that, not much has happened. We're still struggling to find new investigators (big surprise), and the investigators we do have, we're having struggles meeting with them anyway. Please pray for Shawn, Becky, and Honor. I feel like we've hit a wall with them, and I want so badly for them to keep progressing! They are all so close! Also, could you pray for Alicia, the office elders' investigator? We had a really cool get-together with her at a member's house last night, and she's promised to pray about a date for baptism, but there are still some hangups that she has. The elders have done all they can; now it's just up to her. It all boils down to free agency. Such a gift...and yet it's so frustrating sometimes. Oh well. The Lord will provide a way for His work to be accomplished. All we have to do is search around until we find that way.

HOLY CROW, I am out of time! I love y'all! Until next week---

Your Friend in the Faith,

Sister Pedersen

Week...um...something? Dang it.

2009-01-20T17:25:00.001-06:00

Sorry about the one day delay, everyone! Yesterday apparently was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and the library was closed. Actually, I was surprised it was open today, seeing as how it was President Obama's inauguration. There were a lot of people down here who were very excited about that today. It's probably a good thing we had district meeting this morning; I'm not sure how much success we would have had proselyting during the inauguration.

Moving on...I wish I had more cool people to tell y'all about! Our teaching pool is stagnant at the moment, and probably going to start shrinking, unfortunately. That's all right. Finding will always be the trickiest part of missionary work. We've just got to be relentlessly optimistic! It's all good.

We did get to catch up with Becky this week. She started teaching middle school science this week, and has been understandably BUSY. We got to talk to her husband Greg for a bit, which was a first! He seemed a little stand-offish, but that's nothing we aren't used to. He warmed up a little toward the end of our conversation. We're going to try and start including him as often as possible when we go to talk to Becky. She told us that he was having struggles with the idea of Jesus actually existing, which made some of the questions he asked us a lot clearer. There is potential there, I know it! So we've just got to find a time when they're both home so we can try talking to Greg too. We're going over to Becky's house on Friday to help her with some school stuff. (Thanks to my mom, I am well experienced in that area! And now it's coming in handy out here too! Mom, YOU ROCK!!!) Becky loves to talk, so we should have no problem steering the conversation towards gospel principles.

Before Sister Dansie left, she and I were truly inspired, and we planned out this really awesome lesson to share with Honor. However, the only catch with that is the fact that we haven't seen or really heard from Honor since before Christmas. We never seem to be able to catch her at home, though we did have a good talk with her mom once (she's Buddhist). So we're still trying to get in touch with her. Really, I think she's the closest one to baptism, so we're trying our guts out! If the Lord says it'll happen, then I believe Him. I've just got to do my part.

Other than that, I have two exciting things to tell y'all about before I run out of time today.

First, I got to go to the temple on Saturday! HOORAY! Sister Pennock had a member from her last area who she had re-activated get to go through the temple, and lucky dog that I am, I got tag along! Can I just tell y'all how much I LOVE the temple?! I can think of no other place that brings that feeling of pure love and peace into one's life faster or more fully. Also, I am very grateful for the chance I'll have to go often when I get home. I'd forgotten a lot since I'd last went when I was in the MTC, and I made a promise to the Lord that I would attend as often as possible when I got back so that I would always remember the promises I made there, and the blessings that are within my reach because of those promises. All in all, Saturday was my most favorite day of the week last week!

The second exciting thing I have to tell y'all about will probably be a two-parter. See, tomorrow we get to have a special mission conference with Elder Kakuchi of the Seventy! He's taking a tour of our mission, and he's going to talk to us about...well, I'm not really sure because it hasn't happened yet, but I'm sure it'll be really really good! I'll tell you all more about it next week for sure. The only part of tomorrow I am NOT looking forward to is the three minutes I get to speak. I know, shocking to all who know me well---I normally LOVE giving talks. However, this time is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Normally, I'm given at least a direction to head, and normally, I'm not speaking in front of a General Authority. Needless to say, I'm slightly freaking out because I've been racking my brain all day, and I've still got nothing. I know the Lord answers prayers, but apparently my time schedule is very different than His right now or something, because He's blessing me and letting me sweat this one out. Oh boy. Good thing it's only three minutes. Still, they have the potential to be the longest three minutes of my life. We'll have to wait and see how that turns out. TO BE CONTINUED....

Well, that's all the time I've got for this week! I love you all, and keep those letter and emails coming! They make my day!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week 1 of Transfer 3! (It's so much easier to keep track of the weeks this way!)

2009-01-12T11:55:00.002-06:00

Hey y'all!

Sorry, there was no big email last week. Needless to say, transfer week is freaking INSANE, so I was just glad I got a quick note off at all!

I am truly blessed---I had an amazing trainer, and now I have an awesome follow-up trainer! And now, I have a cool nickname---"The Assassin." See, I "killed" Sister Dansie, and now I'm "killing" Sister Pennock. I just feel lucky because I get to glean as much wisdom as I can from these awesome women! (That's still weird to me, calling girls my age 'women'...yup, I still think of myself as a girl. I'm not that mature yet!)

Sister Pennock and I are going to have a really fun transfer. She is very smart, and she's an artist! She said that if I wanted, she'd paint something for me, which, if you ask me, is freaking sweet! :) I would be lying, however, if I said I didn't miss Sister Dansie. And it's totally okay, because Sister Pennock served with her too, so she understands, and she misses her too. However, she's probably more optimistic about it, because seriously---she'll be home in five weeks, and can go visit Sharon. (THAT'S SO WEIRD!!! It's Sharon, not Sister Dansie! AAAAHHH!!!) ;)

Transfer day (Wednesday) was a VERY long day...probably the longest I have yet experienced here on my mission. Sister Pennock was coming down from DeRidder, so she wasn't going to get there until 5 or 6 that night. And since Sister Dansie was leaving, we had to be there at 6:30 that morning. Plus, I'd stayed up with Sister Dansie that night. I told her I was there to help her; mostly I just talked with her a bit, and cleaned the apartment, and helped her get stuff down to the car. In the end, she stayed up all night, and I got an hour nap. It was pretty crazy, to say the least. And then, once we were at the church, she left and returned three or four times. We were not sure which time would be the last one I saw her, so I spent most of the day either in tears, or fighting back tears. I'm such a girl, I know! :) So add emotional stress on top of everything else, and I'm pretty sure I had every elder in the building nervous to be around me. Ha ha ha. To their everlasting credit, they were all very sweet, and kept asking if I was okay...which of course made me cry harder and made them feel even more uncomfortable. Go figure, huh? :) Big Elder Jones (not office Jones) told me that he wished he could give me a hug, and gave me a "hand hug." That made me laugh. A hand hug is this: hold your hand out like you're going to give someone a high five. Then, instead of slapping hands together, you keep them touching, and fold your thumb around the other person's hand, while they do the same. It was pretty funny. And Office Elder Jones gave me a "man" hug---you know, where you grab hands, pull in, and bump shoulders---and that made me smile too...though mostly cry in that case. :) I was an emotional basketcase...oh well. I'll get to do it all over again in five weeks, when Sister Pennock leaves. Hooray. (Yes, I can even type sarcasm.)

And even though Elder Jones is now gone, I still get to talk with my good buddy Elder Jamsa a bunch---he's our district leader now! Yup, that's right; on top of all his crazy duties and responsibilities as senior companion, fleet manager, and office elder in general, now he has to worry about two crazy sisters. Poor guy. We promised we'd try and keep his worries (about us, at least) to a minimum. He said he'd appreciate that. :)

This week has been a rough one. Of course, all weeks that include transfers are a little crazy, so it wasn't totally unexpected. We've just had a plethura of problems getting a hold of our investigators, and our recent converts. It's a little frustrating at times, but I just keep reminding myself of Sister Dansie's motto---It's All Good. To give them credit, our investigators have (for the most part) all had legit reasons to keep them busy. It definitely could be worse, and since it isn't, I am counting my blessings. We did get to pick up a new investigator, which was cool. Her name is Blaire McCracken, and she's got two little girls, Grace and Eve. They are a handful, that's for sure! But in spite of them running around all over the place and being typical kids, Blaire listened to our message, and said she'd like to learn more. So there you have it---as long as we do our part, the Holy Ghost picks up the slack!

No other real exciting news to report for this last week. But never fear---next week's letter will be full of fun stuff to tell you! I love you all, the Church is true, and God ROCKS! :)

Love,
Sister Pedersen

T'was the week after Christmas....

2008-12-29T11:19:00.002-06:00

Happy Holidays everyone!

Hope y'all survived Christmas. I must admit, I had a BLAST! There is something truly special about Christmas in the mission field.

Christmas Eve, we (Sister Dansie and I, and Elders Jones and Jamsa) were at the Butlers, where we opened a special present from Sister Dansie's mom. The present was the symbols of Christmas, and we each read a little blurb about what each symbol meant. There was a star, representing the star which proclaimed His birth. There was a candy cane---shaped in a J for His name, red and white symbolizing His blood and the purity we get from that sacrifice. There were bells, representing the ringing joy and hope we all should feel this time of year. There was an orange; the story that went with that was about a group of orphans who got a Christmas orange, and one boy got his taken away as punishment for a wrong-doing. Each other boy gave him one section of their orange so he could have one. It was a cute story. And the last gift was a small ornament in the shape of a present. For that gift, we read Luke 2:1-20 and Matthew 2:1-11. Elder Jamsa then finished off the night with a special Christmas Eve song in Finnish. When he finished, we all were quiet for a moment; there was a very special spirit in the Butler home that night.

Christmas morning came bright and early---well, early at the very least. It was pretty foggy, so there wasn't so much 'bright,' but that was okay. The fog was grayish-white, so Sister Dansie and I decided that was as close to a white Christmas as we were going to get. (It was 80 degrees outside Christmas Eve, and was supposed to be about the same on Christmas.) We spent Christmas morning with the McIlwain family. We had fruit soup for breakfast, and it was AMAZING! Brother McIlwain's family is German, and he had fruit soup every Christmas growing up. It was really yummy! We got to open presents with their family, which was fun. It reminded me of how excited I got every Christmas morning when I was younger too. Then it was off to the Butlers for Christmas supper and more presents, and best of all, phonecalls home. :)

I really had fun talking to my family. I had to laugh; the first thing Sister Butler said to me when we walked in the door was that my mom had been texting her all morning, asking if I was there yet. Good ole Mom----I sure do love her! I got to talk to them for about an hour, and then I had to go because we were getting ready to eat. But it was fun to hear everyone's voices. And thank heavens, my package got up to Oregon in time, so they all had their homemade Christmas presents from me to open. :)

We had ham and deer roast and rolls and sugar-snap peas and mashed potatoes and corn and all sorts of stuff for lunch. The Butlers really outdid themselves; it was so good! And then we got to hang out with their family the rest of the day, which was so much fun. We went outside and threw the football around. I even had a few nice spirals in there, and was complimented on my arm twice! But just in case I was getting a big head, the Lord reminded me that I couldn't catch worth beans---and everyone saw that. :) It's all good. I got to call my family again, and finish up our conversations before saying good night. We thanked the Butlers over and over, and gave them big hugs. They sent us off with leftovers, and wished us a Merry Christmas.

We finished off the night by stopping by to see Elder and Sister Bruening, the office couple. Sister Bruening had us try these very...interesting chocolate covered caramels. They were interesting because they had sea salt on them. They weren't bad...I just don't think I'd try them again. Elder Bruening told us about a lecture he'd read that was written by a Jewish lady who converted to Christianity. The lecture explained her theory on the events that occured the night of the Savior's birth: how Mary would have been dressed, what the swaddling clothes would have looked like, etc. It really made you think, and it made a lot of sense too. Elder Bruening was really getting into it, and you could tell Sister Bruening was worried he was enjoying his "captive" audience too much; she kept trying to hurry him along. It made me smile.In the end, we headed home, very tired and very grateful. I took a moment in my nightly prayer to really thank my Father in Heaven for my Savior. Truly, this was one Christmas I'll never forget.

Other than that, this week has been good. A little crazy, but altogether not too shabby. It's been difficult trying to get in touch with our investigators because of the holidays, but we did get to talk to Shawn again, which was good. And the rest of them we're planning on seeing this week.

Sister Dansie is slowly starting to pack up her stuff. She's not trunky; she's just realistic. I'm really going to miss her! But she's headed off into her next big adventure, and she's promised to write, so I guess I'll survive. ;)

Well, that's all for now! Love y'all!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister P.

'Tis the Season to Rejoice!

2008-12-22T13:24:00.003-06:00

To my wonderful family and friends---
I just wanted to take a quick minute and wish y'all a Merry Christmas! Truly, 'tis the season to rejoice---not because of all the presents or fun trinkets, but because we're celebrating the birth of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. That's what Christmas is all about. I know that this isn't new news to any of you; it wasn't to me either. But getting to spend my first Christmas on a mission has really emphasized that point for me.

I've loved reading all the prophecies of the birth of Christ in the scriptures; from Isaiah---"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."---to Micah,---"But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."---from Nephi, the son of Lehi---"And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white...And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father!"---to Nephi, the son of Helaman---"Our father Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem because he testified of these things. Nephi also testified of these things, and also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the coming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come."---and also to Samuel the Lamanite---"And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven. And it shall come to pass that ye shall all be amazed, and wonder, insomuch that ye shall fall to the earth. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life."
And then, in Matthew and Luke, we read of His birth. "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost...And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his aname JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."
"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn...And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Truly, what greater reason have we to rejoice? Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He descended below all things to prepare the way for us. He invites all mankind to follow Him. He atoned for our sins and our sorrows. "For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent..." He has restored His Church, that we may draw closer to Him. I am so grateful for these "good tidings of great joy," and I'm doing my best to bring them to all people! I am so grateful to be on a mission, to have the chance to share this joy I have with others. I love you all. May you feel of our Father in Heaven's love in great abundance this Christmas season. God the Father gave the first Christmas gift. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting ilife. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." And because of the Father's gift, Jesus Christ gave us the Greatest Gift of All---The Gift of Eternal Life.

How can we not rejoice?

Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
Sister Pedersen

P.S. Here are the scriptures I used:
Isaiah 9:6
Micah 5:2
1 Nephi 11:13, 20-21
Helaman 8:22
Helaman 14:5-8
Matthew 1:18, 21-23
Luke 2:7-14
D&C 19:16
John 3:16

Week 10...here we go again! (Boy, this rhyming stuff is gonna get tricky fast...)

2008-12-15T13:16:00.002-06:00

Warm Southern greetings, y'all!
You'll never guess what happened here on Thursday...

IT SNOWED!!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, folks...Baton Rouge got a couple soggy inches of that wonderful white stuff! Elder Jones called us at 6 AM, and all he said was, "Go look outside." We'd been talking about snow the day before, and so when he said that, I leapt out of bed. I have never gotten out of bed that fast before in my entire life. And lo and behold, we had BIG old flakes coming down! So Sister Dansie and I piled on the warmest clothes we had, pulled on our gloves, and had a ball---a snowball! It was amazing!
Other than that, this week has been pretty good. We've had to drop some investigators--or rather, they dropped us--and while that was frustrating, it happens, and we're pushing forward. We did have a pretty darn good Sunday! We had a nice surprise at church---Honor and Damian came! That was really cool to see. Sister Dansie got to talk with them, and Honor is feeling really happy and good, and she's reading the Book of Mormon, and she's still praying to find out if it's true. And then, after church, we got a text message from Valentina. She told us that she wasn't at church today because her mom found out that she got baptized. I believe my direct words were, "Oh snap." But the Lord is AMAZING, and He had softened her mother's heart. Valentina's mom was pretty much okay with everything, and said that Valentina could still go to church, just not every Sunday. That part is good and not so good at the same time, but we're not too worried. We're just going to keep praying with everything we've got, and the Lord will make up for the rest.
We had a really amazing experience last night, and that's my other highlight of the week (besides the snow).Saturday, we got a call from Elder Newton over in Gonzales. He had a referral for us, and he said this lady was golden. We took down her information, and went to go see her Sunday night. We pulled up, and I knocked on the door, and she came out. We told her who we were, and that we had a great message for her. And then she started to cry. This poor lady was just falling apart. She said that she had run into the elders at the flea market, and that she'd felt some peace around them, and that she needed some peace so badly in her life. She said that she just felt ready to lie down and never get back up again. Her name is Shawn, and she stood out on her front step and talked with us for at least ten or fifteen minutes. My heart just ached for her. Her husband had just gotten laid off in October, she's on disability and has had four different back surgeries. She lost her little daughter a long time ago, and then her mother, and then last year, she lost her mother-in-law. She said that she felt like all her plugs were being pulled out of the wall. And then we shared our message with her. The Spirit was so incredibly strong. Sister Dansie bore her testimony that our message would bring her that needed peace. I promised her that as she read the Book of Mormon, she would feel and see the power of God in her life, and that the Holy Ghost would bring that peace that she was seeking for. It was an amazing experience. We set up a time to come back and teach her more, and we're bringing back-up! Shawn just lives up the road from the Butlers, and so as soon as we got back in the car, and said a prayer of gratitude, we rushed down to the Butlers to tell them about the cool experience. Sister Butler said that she wanted to come with us to go see her, and so on Wednesday, the three of us are going to go visit Shawn and teach her, AND WE'RE SO EXCITED!!!!So, yup, this coming week is going to rock. Why? Because GOD rocks! That's right, I said it, and I'll say it again and again and again. I love Him so much! He has provided so many miracles for us here in Prairieville, and we're just so thrilled and so humbled that we get to be a part of all these cool experiences.

Well, I think that's all folks! I love you, and keep sending those emails and letters!

Love,
Sister P.

2008-12-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

Well folks, it's that most wonderful time of the year again! And lucky for y'all, it's that most wonderful time of the week again! Hooray for Preparation Day! (Ha ha ha.)

This week has been a toughie, I won't deny it. Our amazing investigators have been a little flaky this week. But that's okay, we still love them. I really don't have anything thrilling to write about. Before I came out, I thought that missionary life must be exciting 24/7! It is...but not quite in the way I had thought it would be. 99.9% of my exciting moments are just little things that happen every day. It's fun, I like it! The highlights of this week were our lesson with Honor, and the Christmas devotional. They're both pretty short, so this won't be a super long "epistle," but that's all right! It should still be a good one. HONOR: Honor is this amazing woman we got to talk with this week. Her husband Damian is a member, but he's been less active for a long time. We're hoping that by us spending time with her, maybe that will spark something in him. But if not, that's okay too. BECAUSE HONOR IS AMAZING! :) She is one of the most genuinely sweet people I have ever met. She's very sincere too, which is awesome. Honor met with the missionaries a long time ago, and we asked her about it. She said that she just hadn't gotten that confirmation that this was true yet. But as we talked about some things and shared some scriptures, we told her that she should keep asking. I can't remember the reference off the top of my head, but there's a scripture that talks about "wearying the Lord"---or in other words, PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY! Before we left, she told us that she was going to start reading the Book of Mormon again, and that she would keep asking. She gave us big hugs, and we set up a time to come back! The best part about all of this is that she is so close...so close to the Lord, so close to the Spirit, and SO CLOSE to accepting the gospel. I'm excited that we get to keep working with her. She already knows how greatly the gospel has blessed her life. She told us that! I mean, this woman is golden. She's such a precious daughter of God. What a blessing it is that I get to be friends with her!

The other highlight of my week was the Christmas devotional yesterday. We got to watch it at the stake president's house. The talks were amazing! They sunk so deep into my soul! I loved all of them. And the Tabernacle Choir did not disappoint. Their rendition of "Silent Night" was really....oh gosh, there isn't even a word. It really touched me. It spoke to my heart, my soul. I love how music can do that! There is such a sweet spirit that comes into the heart whenever you hear those blessed Christmas carols. They have a way of calming the spirit, and softening even the toughest of hearts, if the heart is willing. How lucky we are to have such blessings as these beautiful songs! And what a blessing it is, this time of the year! To remember why we are celebrating... President Monson really said it best. He talked about the real gifts of Christmas in his talk---the gifts that Christ Himself gave. Love, peace, comfort. What greater gifts could we give to those around us?

Well, that's all the time I've got today. I love you all! Merry Christmas!

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week...uh...8, I think. Oh boy.

2008-12-01T13:15:00.001-06:00

I suppose it's not a good thing that I've already forgotten how long I've been out here. Or maybe it is. Oh well. I'm over it.

Greetings y'all from a different Dixie! (Technically, I don't think 'Dixie' is in Lousiana, but I already typed it, plus I think it's kind of catchy, so I'm keeping it!)Life here in the GLBRM is fantabulous! Sister Dansie and I are working hard, and with the Lord's help, we'll see some great miracles---or as Elder Crawford says, "Miricals"---this transfer! We must be doing something right, because already we're facing opposition. But we aren't discouraged; on the contrary, we are now kicking it up a notch! And because we are, the Lord has been so merciful and let us see some small miracles already!
We were blessed this week to find some really amazing new people to teach; the three I'll tell you about are Steve, Becky, and Tesseena.
STEVE:
We met Steve at the post office one night. My wonderful family sent me a package, and Sister Dansie and I were rushing to try and beat the clock, and make it to the post office before it closed. Thankfully, we got there just in time, and as we were standing in line, I asked Sister Dansie what the date was. She couldn't remember (that happens to us missionaries a lot), so she asked the man in front of us. He told us, and we chit chatted about Thanksgiving coming up, etc. Then I picked up my package, and we were headed out the door. The man in front of us was standing off to the side of the door, and he called to us, asking us where we worked. We both grinned, and Sister Dansie explained that we were missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The man started to laugh, and he said that he'd been to our church many times. We started talking to him, and he introduced himself as Steve. Steve was from Jamaica, and had the COOLEST accent! (If I'd ever actually seen Cool Runnings, I could tell you if it was like their accents...but since I haven't, I can't.) We talked to him for about ten minutes, and he told us a little bit about himself. He was so nice! He told us that when he first saw us, he didn't want to talk to us, but something kept poking at him. Sister Dansie later said that she could tell something was up because when we were standing in line, he kept turning around and glancing at us. Steve gave us his information, and we invited him out to church. He told us to call him, and he'd meet us at the church and we could teach him! Yes, he actually said that! He waited until we'd gotten in our car (to make sure we were okay), and then waved to us as we drove away! We had the biggest grins on our faces, and we thanked Heavenly Father for letting us run into Steve.
BECKY:
Saturday, we were out and about, trying to track down some PIs and PFIs. We knocked on Becky's door, and she came right out and started talking to us. She was so nice! She had just had her baby, Gavin, a few weeks ago, so we got to meet him too. She told us that the last time the missionaries had come by, they'd gotten into a disagreement about something, and they hadn't been back since. We went over her concerns, and she was really fun to talk to. She is a science teacher, so a lot of her questions were from that angle, but we managed to answer them all to her satisfaction, thanks to the Holy Ghost! She told us that she would definitely read the Book of Mormon, and that the next time we came by, she'd have more questions for us. She was really nice and outgoing, and there is something special about her, I think. I'm excited to go back and see her this week!
TESSEENA:
Ah, Tesseena! We actually met her right after I came out to Louisiana. She was really nice, and we gave her a pamphlet, and she gave us her phone number, and then.....nothing. We couldn't get a hold of her, she wasn't home when we tried to see her, nothing. So yesterday, Sister Dansie said, "Let's just go try again." So we did...AND SHE WAS HOME! She invited us in, and we taught her about the Restoration. She seemed pretty interested. We gave her a Book of Mormon, and she told us that she'd read it too. We gave her our number again, and told her about some things going on in the ward that she might like. We set up a return appointment, and she seemed genuinely happy to have us come back.
So you see? If we do our part, the Lord backs us up one hundred percent...and then some!

Well, that's all for now, folks! Until next week---

Your Friend in the Faith,
Sister Pedersen

Week 7---TRANSFERS!!!

2008-12-01T13:11:00.002-06:00

Sorry about the one-day delay in email, everyone! This week is transfers, so our preparation day got pushed back until Tuesday (today). I'm not headed anywhere, so you can keep sending mail to the Alco apartment address or the mission office on Justice Ave. I'll get it either way because the office elders love us. :) It's fun being the only set of sisters in the North Baton Rouge Zone!
This past week was slow again. That's all right though. We did have one big exciting thing happen---TINA GOT THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST!!! Hooray! She is going to be AMAZING. She quit her job because they had her working all sorts of crazy hours on the weekends, and she was afraid she wouldn't be able to make it to church, so she quit! Seriously, this girl is incredible! Definitely one of the Lord's elect.We also got to go visit a lot of members this week, which was a blast! I haven't really told you anything about my AMAZING Baton Rouge 3rd ward, have I? Well, guess what...THEY'RE AMAZING! Sister Abel is the Relief Society president. She went on a mission to FRANCE! Her and Brother Abel and their family are just so much fun. She's come on splits with us, and she just dives right back in to missionary work like she never left France. It's awesome. Sister Rebstock-DeGraff (her married name is DeGraff but for some reason no one ever calls her by that) is the 1st or 2nd counselor in the RS, and she is a riot! She is a bucket full of sass and then some. Sister Heiner is so cool! She's an RM too, and is the Primary president. She's amazing---all of our investigators' kids who go to Primary never want to leave. Yeah, she's that good. She'd fit right in with our amazing Hurricane primary. And then there's the Butlers...oh boy! I'll tell you about them in a minute. I'd better answer some questions first before I get too off track.

QUESTIONS:
1. Did you meet The Bergolds of the Gonzales ward in Praireville, they are Myra Bakers relatives?
No, I haven't met Mrs. Baker's relatives. Gonzales is it's own area, but I'll see if I can find out who is there and have them look them up.
2. What are your plans for thanksgiving? I hope you don't have to go to several members home. If you do, just eat small amounts at each place so you don't get sick.
Right now, we're making a quick stop at Sister Rebstock's, and then we're headed to the AMAZING Butlers! Thanks for the tip though. I'll definitely be using it!
3. How are your headaches, have you had any or are they manageable?
Truly, the Lord is so awesome! I've only had one real headache, and it wasn't as bad as they usually were. I took Excedrin pretty dang quick, so that might be part of it. But other than that, I just laid down and took a little nap during our lunch break, and that fixed it.
4. Did you get and like your "greenie" package?
Haven't got a "greenie" package yet....should I be afraid? Ha ha. Just teasing. It'll probably come today, I'll bet.
5. We are getting you Christmas package together, where do you want us to send it? Also g & g have something they want to send too to help you enjoy the holidays? We are going to buy and take the errand of angels movie to Oregon with us in case they want to watch it and see what you are doing.
You can send it to either the mission office address (12025 Justice Ave) or my pad address (Alco Ave). When in doubt, send it to the mission office. Like I said earlier, Elder Jones and Elder Jamsa are amazing, and they're our best buds. They brought us brand new mattresses this week! Our old mattresses weren't even that bad! But that's just how they are; they're always checking up on us, making sure we're okay. Elder Jones was Sister Dansie's district leader at one point, and this will be their last transfer. They both go home at the beginning of January! So I get to "kill" my trainer, which is pretty cool! I love Sister Dansie tons, and I told her she has to go visit Hurricane for me when she gets home.
Oh, and P.S. President Woods said that we can listen to any Christmas music as long as it's in tune with the Spirit. So...I know Josh Groban has a new Christmas CD out, and I'm pretty sure you already have it...so, can I get a copy? :) Plus, he sings on there with Mo-Tab!
6. Can I send anything to Tina that could help her a book, CTR ring or bracelet? Also do you want something like that do give out like the rubber bracelets with sayings? There are so many cool things at the LDS book stores.
Um...well, Mom, you'd know best what a new convert needs. You can send me anything, and I'll be sure to get it to her. I did give her our home phone number, but I don't know if she'll ever use it.
7. What do you use for a comforter? I know they had you bring your own sheets but do you need a warm blanket, comforter etc.?
I've got a blanket Mom, never fear. That was the first thing I bought in Louisiana. I'm good, I promise.
8. Guess who is getting married in December? Charmane Hall. I will send her announcement to you. I don't know when Cassie's is put I heard they just had a shower for her so it must be soon.
I told Elder...oh wait, it's Ryan Crawford now. He's home. Anyway, I told him about Charmane, and he was surprised. I guess he'll know lots more about it now, but there ya go.
9. Would you download all your mission pictures to a CD at walmart and send them to me? That way I can keep your mission DVD up to date. Then when you get home you can tell me what music and information you want written on each part.
Of course I'll do that! I was just wondering how I was going to get all my pictures home...way to go Mom! As for music...um...just have Stacia help with that. She knows what kind of stuff I listen to. When in doubt, EFY is always good. :)
10. Why did they not confirm Tina immediately especially when she couldn't make it to church on Sunday? That was really strange.
The way it works is that we usually will baptize someone on a Saturday, and then they get confirmed on Sunday during sacrament meeting. With Valentina, things got a little wonky because she was baptized on a Wednesday, and then her car broke down so she couldn't make it to church on Sunday, but we didn't find that out until after church on Sunday. But now it's all good, because she's the newest member of the Baton Rouge 3rd ward!
11. What is the weather like and was it a pretty fall? we would love to see some pictures of the countryside or city shots.
Done deal. :) I'll attach some pictures of the city to this email.
12. Who has written or emailed you?
I got a letter from our cousin Holly, and I'm still working on my reply (if you are reading this, I'M SORRY HOLLY!!!). I usually get an email from our cousin Jessa once a week, and she keeps sending snail mail too, which is amazing (Jess, you stinkin' ROCK!). Matt and Belinda and the gang write me often, which I love (THANK YOU THANK YOU!). I got a letter from my friend Kira from college, and that was a total surprise! I really enjoyed that. I've gotten some from the Thomas' and Sister Hardcastle, which were nice surprises too. Um...dang it. I left my letter binder in the car; I'd be able to tell you everyone for sure if I had it. I've gotten a "letter" and some pictures from my good friends at the Best Western Abbey Inn. They made me laugh. Pretty sure I know what shift they were working when they wrote them. ;) I also get emails and letters from my amazing family, who I love with all my heart!
13. Do you want me to give the bishop a copy of your weekly letters or do you write him separately once a month?
Ah...you should probably give him a copy of the weekly letter. I've got an addressed envelope with his name on it, stamped and ready to go! I've just got to write the letter to go in it. (I promise Bishop Blake, it's coming!)

I'd totally forgotten that Sister Gomez and Elder Packer went to the MTC already! Holy cow! That's way cool! I'll have to get their addresses from my MTC connections. (Yes, I have MTC connections.) That's crazy that Jordan's coming home so soon! You'll have to tell him hi for me. It's so incredible to watch the elders out here. They go from being goofy nineteen year old boys to these rock solid AMAZING men. It's very, very cool. It's very obvious that the Lord is with them. I admire them a lot. I know I'm older than pretty much all of them, but that priesthood power makes them a LOT more mature. (Most of the time, anyway. Preparation day doesn't always count. Ha ha ha...)
And now, to tell you about the Butlers! They are definitely a favorite! I plan on keeping in touch with them when I get home. Sister Butler had been a member all her life, but she was inactive after she moved out. She joined the Navy, and has some pretty crazy stories to tell from it. That's how she met Brother Butler. They got married and while they weren't really religious, they were very spiritual, and have had some incredible experiences. Brother Butler was baptized a couple years ago, and his conversion story is amazing. He was having some health problems, and had a very severe heart attack. While he was recovering, a couple of elders knocked on their door, and Brother Butler decided that he'd listen to them now. And next thing you know, their two kids were baptized, and then they were all sealed in the temple, and then they moved from Alexandria to Baton Rouge, and now they are FREAKIN' AMAZING! They've already claimed us for Christmas, which is going to be crazy fun! And Sister Butler told us yesterday that we're their family for the holidays. Everyone else is too far away, or they don't have any contact with them for one reason or another. I cannot tell you how genuinely good these people are. They are truly destined for great things in life and in the Church. Brother Butler gave a short talk in church on Sunday, and I was floored. He got up there and grabbed hold of the pulpit, and gave a beautiful and simple talk about being grateful. He bore his testimony, and he fought back tears, which was something his family had never seen before. Truly, he is just a great man, and I can't wait to see what a great usurper of the advesary's kingdom he will be.
Well, that's all for this week! Next week's email will be longer, I promise. We're stepping up our game here in Prairieville. Our goal every day is to make Satan think, "Oh crap. They're up." We know that it is nothing that we do of ourselves that will make Satan tremble. But we are not alone. We are mere instruments in the hands of the Savior, and it is through Him that all things are possible. It is because we are on His side that Satan will tremble. I'm just glad I get to be a part of it!

Love,
Sister P.

Week 6! OH MY GOSH! It's already week 6?! ARGH! Time goes by WAY too fast!!!

2008-12-01T13:08:00.002-06:00

Warm Southern greetings, my loved ones!!!
Another crazy busy week has come and gone. Can you believe I've already been out for a whole transfer now?! (Oh yeah, we missionaries don't think in months. We think in transfers. Ask any missionary, I can pretty much guarantee that's what they'll tell you.) I only have 12 more transfers?! BAH! Not fair! Time is going by WAY too fast! So before I waste any more, let's answer some questions and then I can tell you about the crowning jewel of my week!

Okay, the infamous questions, thanks to mi madre:
1. What ward are you in and have you meet Mrs. Bakers relatives? I wrote about them a few letters back.
I am in the Baton Rouge 3rd ward, and I cannot tell you how amazing these folks are! They are AMAZING! Really really. I just love them so much! They are always excited to see us, and keep telling us how excited they are to have sisters serving here again. I could not have asked for a better place to start my mission. I've really connected with the members here, and Sister Dansie and I can both tell something BIG is about to happen, and we're SO RIDICULOUSLY EXCITED FOR IT, IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!
Where are Mrs. Baker's relatives again? In Natchez, or was it somewhere else?
2. What families are you teaching or specific areas are you working in that we can pray for or put names in the temple to assist you?
We are trying to teach Jessica's family. Jess is a favorite! She's so cool. She was baptized in August, and she just eats the gospel up! Her mom, Judy, is finally interested, and so is her brother Junior. Her sister Iesha isn't yet, but hopefully we'll get through to all of them. We keep trying to get them over to the stake president's house for a lesson, but obviously they are meant to do lots of good because Satan is working really hard on them. The first time we tried, Jess got attacked by a pit bull, and her mom had back problems so they couldn't make it. The second time, her mom got called into work, and something else happened so they couldn't make it. It's really frustrating. I wish I could just put them in this giant protective bubble until we could get to them again! But that's all right. The Lord knows them, and loves them, and if He says they'll be taught, well then, THEY'LL BE TAUGHT. So please pray for them. Also, pray for Valentina, and I'll explain why in a minute.
3. Any new sayings or strange food of the week?
New sayings? Hmm...no. And no strange food yet, but I might be eating alligator later tonight! Seriously! I'll let you know. I've heard it tastes like chicken.

Okay! Now the SUPER EXCITING PART!!!This last Wednesday, Valentina was baptized!!!! Can I just say, GOD STINKIN' ROCKS?!?!?!!!! It was incredible! The Spirit was very VERY present, and everyone could feel it. Brother Joffrion gave a talk on baptism, and explained to Valentina a little more about why we are baptized and what we promise and what God promises us. Then Elder Jones met Tina down in the font. As he started to speak, I had this amazing feeling building up inside me. You know that excitement you feel when you're on rollar coaster, and you can see the big hill in front of you, and as you're going up it, your heart beats faster and faster, and you get goosebumps everywhere, and just as you reach the top, there's that moment of silence, and you think, "Oh boy!"? That's about the best way I can think to explain how I was feeling, except you've got to times it by like a billion. I have never felt that way before in my entire life. When she came up out of the water, Valentina just started to sob. Sister Dansie said she's never seen anyone grasp the Atonement that quickly before. Tina just stood there and cried. It was the best feeling ever to see her realize that she was pure, she was clean, and she was loved by her Heavenly Father. Brr, I've got goosebumps right now, just remembering it! Sister Dansie and Jessica went back in the bathroom with her to help her get ready, and I stayed out in case they needed me to play the piano for interlude. Sister Dansie said that Valentina couldn't stop smiling. Valentina told her, "I have never felt like this before. I have never felt this happy." It was the best day ever---worth every second of worry, stress, everything, just to see Valentina's joy. If I never see another baptism on my mission, it won't matter. That one I will never EVER forget.
Truly, this is Christ's church. Nowhere, I repeat, NOWHERE else has the full truth. Christ's power and authority is here again, restored today on the earth. It is through that power and authority that we can and will have the most and best happiness we can ever imagine while here on earth. We cannot obtain that happiness anywhere else. I know, without any doubts, that Jesus Christ is our Saviour, our Redeemer, and that He loves us. He called a prophet to restore His church. I know that Joseph Smith was that prophet, and that he did see God the Father and Jesus Christ. As John Taylor said, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it." (D&C 135) I testify that this is true. I know that we have a prophet here on earth today, President Thomas S. Monson, and that he is also called by God to lead and guide us here on earth.
This is my testimony, and I will never EVER retract it. I will never go against the knowledge and the truth I have been blessed to know. And I will do everything in my power to help all those I meet, all those I see remember who they really are---precious children of a loving Heavenly Father---and that there is a way to have that happiness we are all seeking for. That Way is Jesus Christ, and that is why I am here. I am here to show others the way to Him.

I love you all, and thank you for all you have taught me and for your prayers.

Love,
Sister P.

Week 5--Stayin' Alive! (In the Gospel, that is!)

2008-12-01T13:04:00.001-06:00

Hello my loved family!!!
This week has been amazing! But before I get into that, I'll answer some more questions, courtesy of my AMAZING mom!
1. Why did you not use you bike for moutain biking?
My bike is NOT a mountain bike. It would have been bad had I rode it on those trails. No bueno, I can tell you that. NO BUENO! But my bike is pretty AMAZING! Still haven't got to ride it yet, but I'll tell you this---I'm taking it apart and mailing it home at the end of my mission! I'm using that thing until it dies! Or until I die...which, when you consider me on a bike, could come first. (Just kidding Mom!)
2. Mrs. Baker and her class loved th LSU photos and want more if you get a chance?
I will send all the LSU pictures I can! Really, it shouldn't be hard...AT ALL. LSU football is it's own religion here. Even if they do get beat like they did this weekend.
3. Did you get your package and turkey card? I had too much fun picking it out. They don't make singing missionary cards sorry. Maybe that should be my new business.
I absolutely LOVED my turkey card!!! The office elders liked it too. Pretty much, IT ROCKS! I got a package from Aunt Belinda and the munchkins, and it was AMAZING!!! They'll be getting a big ole thank you letter in the mail!
4. Can you give Tina my phone number, I would love to talk to her?
I'll talk to Tina, and see what she would like. She might honestly be easier to reach with a letter, but I'll let you know.
5. What is you funny experience of the week and what is your best door approach? With Christmas coming you could trying singing carols to get them to open the door then sing your message?
Funny experience of the week, huh? Well, during district meeting, Elder Crawford was pretty funny. He tried to kick Elder Jones out of the room, and Elder Jones proceeded to pick him up and pretty much shove him in a trash can. Somehow, Elder Crawford managed to avoid the can, and so when he was back on his own two feet, he said, "That's right...this is Cowman Crawford's turf. Get off." We've been referring to him as Cowman Crawford ever since.
6. Do you get the ensign, friend, and new era or do you want us to send them? Is there amything else we can send like book of mormons with our picture and testimony in it? Stacia had a friend get called to my folks mission and my prinicpals son got sent to the Portland mission. Justin Bellitti from Lindon got sent to Brisband, Australia.
We do get the Ensign, so you don't have to worry about that. As for sending copies of the Book of Mormon with testimonies in them...Mom, I think that writing your testimony period for Tina would be AMAZING! I think she'd really like that. And if I think of anyone else, I'll let you know.
7. Do you want me to make those hats for anyone in your mission and any certain colors?
Hee hee hee...I'm tempted to say make a purple and gold one for Elder Jones...but he hates LSU, so don't really. Again, I'll have to think about it and let you know.
8. Do you get to attend the temple weekly or monthly on your pday since your near it?
We are allowed to go to the temple once a transfer, but we haven't had time yet. Sister Dansie wants to go before she leaves in 9 WEEKS, so we'll see.
9. Do you want me to send you old boombox and that little tape recorder so we can trade tapes?
I'd LOVE to trade tapes! I was actually just thinking about that the other day! That would be AMAZING! As for the boombox, don't bother. If I remember right, the CD player part doesn't work. But I'm not sure. If you want, you can try it out and if it does work, you send it.

All right, I don't have tons of time left, but I have to tell y'all about my amazing Sunday!!!
It all started off with me being humbled. I caught myself doing something that wouldn't have been a big deal if I was just Morgan. But the Lord then reminded me that it wasn't only my name I was wearing. It was His. That shook me up pretty good. I doubt I'll ever forget that feeling. What I'd been doing wasn't bad at all. But it wasn't what I was sent out here to do. I was sent to be a representative of Jesus Christ, and He reminded me firmly but lovingly that if I was not careful, something I did without thinking could destroy someone's chance of coming closer to Him. I felt very ashamed, and pleaded for forgiveness all throughout the rest of the meeting. It was then that the Lord showed Sister Dansie and I that He was truly in charge, and that all our hard work these last four weeks was not for naught.We'd met a lady at the post office a while back, and invited her to church. Well, she showed up---with her WHOLE FAMILY! Sister Dansie and I were shocked! We showed them around quickly, and then took them to the different classes. Afterward, we met up with them and talked to them a little, and they liked it! They had really enjoyed themselves, and they wanted to know more. So we said we'd call them this week, and they said great, and they even paid TITHING before they left! We explained that we didn't have a collection plate, but that we followed the law of tithing. Latasha (the mom and lady we met) really liked that, and she gave us the money and had us help her fill out a tithing slip, and that was that! So boy, were we excited. We weren't even expecting what came next.
Miracle #2 happened right after church. We got a phone call from Brother Joffrion, and he said that Tina was coming over to his house, and that she wanted to talk to us. I'll admit, I was worried. Our last meeting with Tina had gone really well, but I was afraid she was going to back out of her baptism. We got there, and were talking with her a little, asking her how school and work was going. She then said, "You know, I've been thinking a lot about my baptism." My heart sank. I did not expect the next words out of her mouth: "If I'm really going to do this, I can't keep putting it off because it'll never happen. So I was wondering if I could change my date to earlier in the week." My jaw pretty much hit the pavement. Luckily, Sister Dansie was on top of things, and she started setting things up and asking all these questions about when, and who she wanted to baptize her and stuff. By then, my brain caught up, and I jumped right in and told her how excited I was for her, and that I really admired her for making this hard decision. We went over the baptismal interview questions with her, and we couldn't keep these big grins off our faces! We got everything set up, so Valentina Skoric (I think that's how you spell her last name) will be baptized on Wednesday, November 12th! I GET TO SEE MY FIRST BAPTISM OF MY MISSION!!!!!!!!!!!!! The best part was that Sister Dansie and I had absolutely NOTHING to do with it. This was all Tina and God's doing. We were just there to tie up loose ends. It was so amazing, and as I ran back to the car to grab a pen for Sister Dansie, I pretty much was flipping out the entire time! There were a bunch of ward members at Brother Joffrion's house because they were finishing fixing his roof, and a bunch of them came over and told Tina how excited they were for her. She got to talk to Brother Ferguson, who is in the bishopric, and they kind of bonded because his family disowned him when he got baptized, so he could understand her worries and fears better than anyone else there could. Tina was still really excited when we left, and we were pretty much dancing all the way back to the car. "Seriously, how could this day get any better?" we asked ourselves. Well, God showed us.
The last miracle of this miraculous Sunday was the most powerful. We'd been invited over to a member's house for dinner, and since there would be non-members coming too, we could stay for longer than an hour. Sashika (our member) is AMAZING! She just got engaged, and she is the best example of a member missionary that I can think of. When we got there, her parents welcomed us in with open arms, and INCREDIBLE FOOD! They are originaly from Trinidad and Tobago, and we had this curry chicken that was SOOOOOOOO good, I about died. And we had peanut punch! Sashika's brother, Ricky, said that it was like liquefied Reese's Pieces. That made me nervous, because anyone who knows me really well knows that I can't stand peanut butter. But I made a promise to myself before I ever came on a mission that I would try everything once, and then if I didn't like it, I could make up an excuse not to eat it again. So, I tried it, and it was actually pretty good! I only had one glass, but hey, I kept my promise! That felt good.Right before dinner, Sashika and her fiance, Dustin, called everyone into the living room. They told us that this was their engagement party. That was surprise number one for Sister Dansie and I. Surprise number two came when Sashika said, "And the sister missionaries have a little message they're going to share with us." Sister Dansie leaned over to me and said, "Pedersen! You didn't tell me we were sharing a message!" I whispered back, "That's because I didn't know we were either!" We quickly composed ourselves, and asked Sashika what she wanted us to talk about. She said that everyone knew they were getting married in the temple, and she just wanted them to know a little bit about why that was so important.So, after dinner, we went back to the living room, and Sister Dansie started off by talking briefly about what we believe, emphasizing the importance of families. I then expounded on that a little more, and then we watched "Together Forever." Yes, that cheesy 80's movie the church put out. But it turned out really well. Everyone watched, and at the end, Sister Dansie bore her testimony about the gospel and how it blesses families. I bore my testimony about the same thing, I think. The Spirit was so strong! It was so quiet and peaceful, I loved it! And again, it had nothing to do with Sister Dansie or me. Neither of us can really remember what we said. It was all the Lord, using our mouths as His. It was the perfect end to an incredible day, and as we knelt in companion prayer that night, we felt very grateful and very humble that the Lord had let us participate in those miraculous events. Truly, this was a Sunday like I've never experienced before, and that I will never forget.

Wow! I'm out of time, AGAIN? Argh! Okay. Well, I love you all!

Love,
Sister P.

Week 5

2008-12-01T12:57:00.001-06:00

Hey y'all!
This week has been pretty good. Satan is trying hard to discourage us, but we're just sticking our tongues out at him and blowing big fat old razzberries! The work is moving slowly, but we are pushing onward, never fearing. We're on the Lord's side, the outcome of the battle we already know, and we're just getting the glad tidings of great joy out to everyone. Whether or not they will hear it is up to them.Mountain bike riding was SO MUCH FUN! I didn't use my bike--I borrowed an elder's, which made life interesting. And yes, I did fall and crash a few times, but it made us all laugh, so it's all good. Thank heavens I have long skirts so no one has to see my scraped and bruised legs. Don't worry Mom, I'm really okay. I now can see a great big benefit to being clumsy my entire life. I'm a lot tougher than I thought! Falling down and off things doesn't even phase me anymore. Yipee!
As for real important news, we're making some good progress with Tina. We finally met her this week, and had just an incredible lesson. She knows that what we're teaching her is true. Her only hang-up is her family, who are VERY anti. Everytime she comes to Brother Joffrion's to meet with us or when she comes to church, she has to lie to them and tell them that she's taking Bro. Joffrion to the doctor. Please pray for her. I can't imagine how difficult this must be for her. At the same time, it makes me appreciate my mom so much more, because of her courageous decision and sacrifice. So, it's bittersweet. Tina set her own baptismal date for November 16th. To all who read this, please keep her in your prayers. This gospel will bless her life so much...it's just getting her into that font! Sigh. Things will all work out in the end. And if they aren't working out, then obviously it's not the end yet! :)
We've also been working with a new convert, Jessica. This girl is seriously AMAZING! She pretty much walked right into the baptismal font herself, without any coaxing. She KNEW it was true from the moment she heard it. I mean, seriously! How many people do you know that actually go looking for the missionaries? She was being taught at her dad's house, and then she moved to Baton Rouge with her mom. Jessica wanted to get baptized, so she went out looking for the elders. Long story short, she found them, they baptized her, and now we're caught up to speed! Jess has a little one-year-old daughter, Jaycee, who is so darling! Anyway, Jess has been struggling lately because her family is very negative about everything. This girl is so incredible! She's helping support her mom and brother and sister as well as her own daughter. She quit her job because they weren't giving her Sundays off. She's going back to school to get her GED. She doesn't have a car, so trying to get to school and to church and eventually to her job is super difficult. And yet, in spite of all this, she is still steadfast in the gospel. Sister Dansie was telling her that obviously she is destined for greatness in the church; why else would Satan be trying so hard to discourage her? We told her that we are her personal 911 and that she can call us anytime. We talked to her about getting her patriarchal blessing, and we really think that will help her so much too. We're trying to teach her brother and sister, Junior and Iesha, but they haven't been very interested yet. But we're still trying! We even carved the Plan of Salvation into a pumpkin to teach them! We didn't get to use it though, because of the craziness of Halloween, so now we have this AWESOME pumpkin in our fridge that we're not entirely sure what to do with. We'll think of something.
Now for questions!
1. What did you do for Halloween? Did you have trick or treaters come to your pad?
Halloween, we were on lockdown from 6 PM on. So we ate candy and wrote letters. We had this really good idea for trick or treaters! We taped candy to pass along cards! But no one knocked on our door...so we just ate the candy.
2. How was the bike, it did have speeds on it right? Remember if you ride it with a skirt or dress, use a clothes pin to pin between your legs to make it like a skort, do you need a clothespin?
My bike is FREAKING AMAZING! I haven't got the chance to ride it yet; we've got a maroon Malibu. But it was all the elders' favorite at transfers...probably because they didn't have to put it together.
3. Anything you need from home, warmer pj's, ant spray etc.? Do you have a cd player so we can send some church music?
I do need a copy of my patriarchal blessing! I didn't get it packed from home. Other than that, I could use some T-shirts for Preparation Day (those didn't get packed either). And that letter about no jeans? Does NOT apply here. President Woods said jeans were fine. So you could send my old pair if you wanted. But they aren't crucial, I've got shorts and those other pants. We are allowed to listen to EFY, Mormon Tab, and some instrumental hymns, but we don't have a CD player at our pad, so that's no biggie either. We can pick a cheap one up at a Goodwill or something.
4. Myra says you won't see fireflies until spring, so how are the sunsets, I need a picture of a good one?
We haven't had any real good sunsets yet, but I'll try and catch one for you, Mom. Tell Myra thanks for the note about fireflies.
Oh! Also, this morning, we found the state bird of Louisiana crawling across our wall. That's what the picture of the pot and phonebooks is. I have NEVER seen a cockroach that HUGE before. And Sister Dansie said that it was a fairly small one too. I tried to go get my camera to take a picture of the bug itself, but we decided to catch it while we still could. *Shudder*...things that make you go BUUUUUUUH!
5. Maybe you should try a singing door approach like an old negro spiritual and you might get in, have you tried that yet?
We have not tried singing our way in yet...but now that everyone is all excited for Christmas coming up, we'll probably use that more often.
6. Any suggestions for possible Christmas presents, we will need to mail them early?
I sent Stacia a letter about this, but I need ties. Big, fat, 70's era, polyester ties. The wider, the better. If you can hold it in the middle, and it still sticks straight out, that's a keeper. It's a GLBRM thing. We give ties to our favorites.
Other than that, um...pictures! I love have pictures to put all over everywhere. Ooh! And could you send me one of my hoodies? My LHS volleyball one that Kathryn gave me maybe? It's a different kind of cold down here...it seeps into you! And you stay cold for a LONG time. Not like Rexburg cold. It's no bueno. :)
In all seriousness, I can't really think of anything I need or even really want. Just keep those letters coming! I love them more than anything else!
7. What is the funniest saying people say down there?
Hmm...that's a toughie. Remember that salt in the pepper shaker analogy I used? There are a lot of black people here, and that means a LOT of cool sayings. "I has been doing" or "I was like, you know, you know, whatever." I'm drawing blanks really for local sayings.Of course, missionaries will ALWAYS have the strangest catchphrases, bar none. Elder Jones, one of the office elders, says, "Dang 'me." It's hard to try and spell it the way he says it, though. You'll just have to ask me sometime in person. Elder Pickup (yes, that's his real name) says, "Dang Gina!" a lot, which makes us laugh. Sister Dansie says, "Excuse me?" and "Oh boy." I can't really think of anymore off the top of my head, but I'll pay close attention this week and see if I can't come up with any others.
8. Are there Piggly Wiggly grocery stores down there?
Yes, there are a few Piggly Wiggly stores, but I haven't been in one. The elders say that it's not really worth it; Walmart and Target have better things.
9. Why can't the members feed you? I was told you got fed every lunch and dinner and you just had to buy food for breakfast?
Members now can feed us, but they couldn't in the past because of past experiences in the mission when President Patterson was here. President Wood thinks that by having meals as priesthood directed visits, it'll create less of an atmosphere of a "hang out," and it'll also be a good tool to maybe activate some less active members. It's a new thing, so it's just getting started, but the members are thrilled about it.
We don't really have to shop for much. The members take care of that too. We give them a list every two weeks of things we need, and then they sign up to buy certain things, and we take home big old bags of groceries. It's very humbling, to see the willingness of these wonderful members. They just jump at the opportunity to do anything for us. It's made me love them so much more.
10. Seen any snakes or gators yet?
No snakes or gators yet; it's getting cold, so they're hibernating or something. I did have a nightmare about getting chased by gators the other night though. So I haven't seen any in real life, but they are quite active in my subconcious, apparently.

In conclusion, life is AMAZING, we love it here, the people are incredible, and "the work of God shall go forth boldly, nobly, and independant, until is has penetrated every continant, visited every clime, swept every nation, and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great JEHOVAH shall say the work is done." To quote Elisha, "they that be with us are more than they that be with them." We have this wonderful message and duty to help everyone remember who they really are, whether we are set apart missionaries or member missionaries. Everyone you see, EVERY SINGLE ONE, is a precious, beloved child of God. They just can't remember it! How much better the world would be, if only we could all remember that! Talk to your friends, invite them to be taught. Invite the missionaries to teach people in your homes. The Spirit that is already there will intensify, and bless you and those who are being taught.

That was my soapbox. I love you, I Love You, I LOVE YOU!!!!!

Love,
Sister P.

another letter from my wonderful sissy!!!

2008-10-30T15:08:00.003-05:00

Hello all my wonderful loved ones! Can you believe it? I've been out here for three weeks tomorrow! Crazy crazy! But I love it. It's where I'm supposed to be, that's for sure! Before I get into my "epistle" mode, I'll answer some questions.

1. Where is your companion from and how long has she been out? Sister Dansie is from Sunset, Utah, across the freeway from Roy and Clinton area. She goes home at the beginning of January! She says that time has gone by so fast, and she's not sure what she'll do with herself when she gets home. "My friends are going to think I'm lame when 9:30 or 10:00 rolls around, and I tell them that it's past my bedtime," she said. Ha ha ha! I believe it too.

2. How are the bugs and have you made friends with them? The bugs...well, there are mosquitoes galore, but so far they haven't been the problem. Apparently there's big ole cockroaches too, but I haven't seen any yet, and they don't really bother me anyway, seeing as how we have oodles of them back at home. The biggest bug problem I'm having is with the littlest bugs around...ants. They are MEAN suckers down here. I thought I was getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, except that all of my bites were on the tops of my feet and my ankles. They itch like crazy for about a week, and then they stop, but the spots are still there, and they are like a purplish color now. Apparently, if you scratch them, they get all swollen and pussy. I've decided not to test that theory, and so in the meantime, hyrocortizone is my best friend!

3. Did you get your package and bike and was it ok? I did get my package, and I had to laugh. We all (my MTC district) got mail that night, and everyone had their letters, and then comes Elder Jones (one of the office elders) with this GIANT box. Ha ha ha. It made us all laugh. And mine was the only bike that was pre-assembled, so I quickly became a favorite with the other elders at transfers because they didn't have to put mine together. Plus, it's pretty much the COOLEST BIKE EVER!!! I love it! It's all old school looking and awesomeness. I'm just sad I haven't gotten to ride it yet. But we'll get to fix that today (which I will explain about later)!

4. Do you need us to send anything? Hmm...um, not that I can think of off the top of my head. I'll let you know though, promise.

5. What names can we put on the temple roll to help you? I don't really have any names yet for the temple roll, but it would be awesome if y'all could pray for Emily and her mom. Emily is a friend of one of our amazing members' daughter, Lacey Butler, and she wants to take the discussions. However, her mom has us confused with the Jehovahs Witnesses or something, and they got in a big old fight and now Emily can't even go over to the Butlers' anymore, and it's really sad. She even came to church on Sunday and was in the Primary program with Lacey! Just pray for Emily, that she won't lose that desire to learn more, and ask that her mother's heart will be softened so that she too can see and realize what her daughter is seeing and feeling. Also, just pray to help us find those who will listen to our message and not keep skipping out of appointments.

6. How is the weather? The weather is GORGEOUS! It's definitely fall here in Louisiana, and it's amazing. Today is a little bit colder--in the 50's--but the humidity is pretty much non-existant, and it's just so nice!

7. What are some of the biggest differences? Biggest differences? Well, there are churches on every corner...just not LDS churches. Lots of Baptists, though. LOTS. Ha ha. Prairieville is a suburb of Baton Rouge, so there is a pretty good mix of people here. We haven't met with anyone hostile at all (yet) so that's nice too. There are times though, as Sister Dalley said, "I feel like we're two pieces of salt in a pepper shaker!" But everyone here is really friendly so far, and they all say, "Yes ma'am," or "Yes sir," and they call you, "Mr. So-and-So" or "Miss So-and-So." They're all very polite, and it's really nice. Also, in a lot of areas where our members live, they have gas porchlights, which is the COOLEST THING EVER! They are all flickering, and especially since it's Halloween time, it sets the mood real nicely. It's so cool. Sister Dansie said that she's going to have them on her house one day, and that's how everyone will know where she served a mission.

8. What are some of your biggest challenges? Right now, our biggest challenge is finding people to teach. We're finding 3 or 4 investigators a day usually, which is awesome!...until we try to come teach them a real sit-down lesson. That's where we're coming across some difficulty. They aren't home, or make up some excuse, or just tell us that "today's not a good day." So we set up another appointment with them...and then the same thing happens. It's a bit frustrating, but funny too. Usually when we show up for the appointment, which they made and set up and said, "Yes, that's a good time for you to come back," they look so surprised to see us on their doorstep. It's humorous, which is good and keeps my spirits up

9. What has been the most unique experience you've had to date? Most unique? Probably talking to people through their doors. That's happened twice now. Again, it's hard not to start laughing, because we look ridiculous, and seriously, how hard is it to just open your door a little and talk to us face to face? It's not like we're going to come barging in; you have your free agency to choose whether or not you want to hear our message, and we respect that. The funniest is when their door has a big window in it, so we can see them, and they can see us, and yet apparently we're still scary enough that they don't open the door. And it's not like these are little kids, home by themselves. That I could understand. No, these people are adults in their forties and up. It's frustrating and funny at the same time.

10. Do you ride bikes, walk, or use a car? We get to use a car! Hooray! Apparently, all the elders think it's super awkward to see a sister on a bike, so they'll do whatever they can to get us a car, which is really sweet of them. But most of our mission have cars. I think there's only a few who are actually on bikes 24/7. The reason we have them is if we run out of our allotted miles for the month. Then we have to use them, or arrange rides from the ward, or walk. And actually, our area is pretty spread out, so our miles this month are dangerously low--we're down to about 20 miles a day. But, when they gave us the car, it came from another area, so most of our miles were already gone anyway.

11. How long do you get on the internet on p-day? Internet time varies. It depends on the library--how busy they are, and how nice they'll be. So far, the library we go to is really nice and quiet, so we get as long as we need.

12. Have you seen fireflies yet? NO, I HAVE NOT SEEN FIREFLIES YET AND I AM VERY UPSET BY THIS FACT! Okay, well maybe not very upset. Fireflies are in the bayous more, and seeing as how we're mostly in the city, and the fact that it's getting colder, it makes sense as to why I haven't seen them yet. But I will! I'll find a way.

13. What are some of the different foods you've been given by members? Well, they're just starting to let the members feed us again, so we haven't had too many meals anywhere yet. It's a priesthood directed visit, and our ward mission leader was out of town so we just ate at our pad. But we did get to go eat "snacks" at the Butlers' house twice this last week. The first time we had crawfish fetticine alfredo stuff, and BOY OH BOY WAS IT GOOD!!! It was so yummy, and Sister Butler gave us the ingredients and instructions so we can make it on our own. The second time, the Butlers had just gotten back from fishing all day, so we had fresh fried fish. I can't remember what kinds though. I know one was a type of trout. But they were the BIGGEST fish I've seen yet! Monster ones. And they were really yummy too.

Keep the questions coming!

I love 'em!This week was really good, actually. We found a few more investigators, knocked on a lot of doors, and I actually got my first polite rejection. This lady had been taught by the elders a long time ago, so we thought we'd drop by and see how she was, if she was still interested, etc. She was very nice, talked to us for a while, but politely said that if she joined any church, it would be one of her sons, and that she just didn't believe the Book of Mormon. She then talked about the Messianic Jews, and completely lost me for a while. The biggest impression I got from this whole occurance was how I felt during this whole conversation. It didn't shake my faith at all; I just felt a little sad that she wouldn't open her heart to the wonderful message I had to share. As we left, Sister Dansie mentioned similar feelings. She said that she could have gone into more scriptures with her, but the feeling wasn't right. It would have been contentious, and pretty much whatever we would have said, she would have found an answer or excuse to combat it. The lady brought up the Revelations scripture about how none shall add to this book, and we tried to show her it says the same thing in Deuteronomy, and that it was meant to be specific for that book, but she just wouldn't hear us. In the end, we asked if she knew anyone else who might be interested in hearing our message, she said no, we thanked her and left.

My testimony was only strengthed by this experience. I came to understand the promptings of the Spirit a little better, and how NOT to Bible bash. All in all, it was a good thing. And besides, we found two people later that day who were actually really interested and receptive to what we had to say, so there you go!

I wasn't going to share this, but I'm being prompted to, so here goes. The same day all the above happened, I had a good growth experience. We'd been out contacting all morning, and I was really struggling. I was letting my fear of talking to random people stiffle my words, and Sister Dansie was doing all the talking. I was really frustrated with myself! Here I was, on a mission, and what was I doing? Clamming up? That wasn't how it was supposed to work! But every time we walked up to someone, that fear became so overwhelming, I could hardly breathe. Sister Dansie was so kind and caring, and tried to encourage me, but I still couldn't do it. We went back to our pad for lunch, and the whole drive home I spent looking out the window, berating myself. I felt so weak, and it really got to me.

We walked in our door, my mood still melancholy. I sat down at our table, and pulled out my Preach My Gospel. I was having doubts about whether or not I was currently able to feel the Spirit, and I knew there was a whole chapter in there about the Holy Ghost and recognizing it's promptings. As I opened it up, I started to feel a little better. I kinda skimmed through it until I got to the part entitled, "Relying on the Spirit." As I read, I found the answer to my dilemma. There was a box that had questions followed by scriptures that answered that question. I was drawn to the question, "What should I say?" for this indeed was my dilemma. The scriptures that followed pulled me in, and even Sister Dansie later mentioned that she noticed how intently and intensely I was reading my scriptures. All of the scriptures had the same theme---the Spirit will tell you what to say. But they each were different, and I took something different from each. The fear I had been feeling was, I felt, Satan's way of tripping me up. I had the distinct thought that Satan knew me and remembered me and remembered my weaknesses, and he would use them to his advantage. So far, he had been successful. But he could only use those weaknesses as long as I let him, as long as they were still weaknesses. In Exodus 4:10-12, Moses is expressing a similar concern to the Lord. The Lord's reply to him was the Lord's reply to my silent prayer as well---"Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say," (v. 11-12). Such comfort came with those words! I felt happier than I had all day, and knew that yes, I'd probably still have that fear. But I no longer dealt with it alone. I knew that I could follow Moses' example again, and tell Satan, "Who art thou? For behold, I am a [daughter] of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should [fear] thee?" (Moses 1:13) I am not alone. This isn't my message, but His who made me, His who created all things, HIS. This is the message of our Father in Heaven, our God. This is the message of our Savior, Jesus Christ. In D&C 84:85-88, we are told that as long as we do our part, we will be given the words that Christ would have us say, and that He will be there with us, in our hearts. With that kind of company, how can we fear? How can we fail? I testify that we cannot, that we will not. This gospel isn't the gospel of Sister Pedersen, it isn't the gospel of Joseph Smith. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I testify of that eternal truth with all that I am, and I do so in His precious sacred name, the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Wow...that all just flowed right out. I don't know if I just needed to bear that testimony, or if someone needed to hear it. But I was prompted to bear it, and so I did.

My time is pretty much up. I love you all! I'm off to go ride some trails! (Yes, they have mountain bike trails here...except I'm not so sure how they are mountain bike trails without mountains. Oh well. I get to ride my awesome sweet bike, and I am so totally excited!)

Your Favorite Missionary,

Sister P

P.S. I included some pictures of my MTC district, Sister Dansie, the Baton Rouge Temple, and some other things. I'll keep sending a few pics every week.

The phone call home and her first email from Louisanna!!!

2008-10-21T14:19:00.002-05:00

WELL STACIA IS SO HAPPY FOR MORGAN!!!So Morgan called home last tuesday morning and it was so good to hear her voice!! When we answered the phone and she was so happy to hear our voices but she sounded really shakey.. I could tell she was on the verge of tears but they were tears of happiness...She loved the mtc experience and was so excited to get out on the field... we only got to talk to her for about ten minutes but they were a good ten minutes! I was crying pretty good and I just was so grateful to talk to her!

OK!!! Now for her first letter! She sent her first email!!!Here's the email she sent to the fam!!

Greetings y'all from the GLBRM (Great Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission)!Holy cow, I've been here almost a whole week, and it's AMAZING! Where do I even begin? Hmm...I'll start with transfers, and then go from there. So, Tuesday night we spent at President and Sister Woods' home. They are truly two of the nicest people I have ever met! I love them already! We had a little meeting, explaining the basic rules, and then they fed us dinner...and OH MY HEAVENS WAS IT GOOD!!! Of course, now that I think about it, I hadn't really eaten anything all day (you know how I am on airplanes--better safe than sorry), so they could have fed me fried gator droppings and I probably would have loved it. (I'm exaggerating about the fried gator droppings, Mom. Promise.) WE had roast beef, potatoes, cooked veggies, salad, and the most AMAZING rolls I've ever had in my entire life. Oh boy! :) And THEN, after dinner, we had....wait for it....HOME-MADE ICE CREAM!!!! It was like being home all over again!Anyways, we talked some more about rules, introducing ourselves, and then we got our area assignments. We (Sis. Dalley, Sis. Boulter, and I) opened ours first. Sis. Dalley was going to Metterie, a new sister area. It's a suburb of New Orleans. And her companion was Sis. Martin who was FROM FRANCE!!!! I know, I was so excited for her! Sis. Boulter was going to De Ridder, which is the farthest west area of the mission, right on the Texas border. She laughed, because she has a brother that lives like an hour into Texas, and she's from Fort Worth, and voila! She's pretty much in Texas again. Her companion was Sis. Pennock. And then it was my turn.When I first opened the letter, I read the wrong part (go figure). Sis. Boulter had to lean over and point to the part I was supposed to read. Once I was on the right track, I read, "You have been assigned to labor in the Prairieville area." The office elders--Elders Jones and Jamsa--were excited. This too was a new sisters area! And my companion was Sister Dansie. That made them excited too, because we'd be in their ward, and they LOVE Sister Dansie. Then Sister Woods scurried us all off to bed after our last district prayer with our beloved MTC elders--Elders Cook, Winlow, Syme, & Kent.We got up early (5 AM) the next morning, got ready, ate some homemade cinnamon rolls (P.S. I really like Sister Woods!) and eggs, and then jumped in the Transfer Van and headed off to the stake center to meet everyone else. I saw Elder Crawford--he's my district leader! He looks pretty much the same...except with short hair. It made me laugh. Slowly, we all (our MTC district) seperated and then the transfer van came back with my trainer, Sister Dansie!Sister Dansie is so much fun! I love her to death! I will send pictures, I promise, I just didn't bring the right cord thing today. Next week, I promise! Anywho...Sister Dansie is a blast! She's so cute and fun and excited and she loves being here in Louisiana. She was so excited to find out she'd be serving in Baton Rouge (Prairieville is a suburb) because sisters haven't been there for YEARS--like since before she got here! She told everyone she'd serve there someday, and all the elders were like, "No you won't," and now here she is! I'm learning lots from her, especially how to introduce the concept of baptism right from the start. It's great!We live in a little apartment that the elders lived in before us, which meant that once we got there, we deep cleaned. Dad, your apartment had better have not been as nasty as that was! Because if it was, you had NO room to tell me my room was messy! (Just teasing...but seriously!) Anyway, we got all settled, re-did our map so we'd know where we were going, and got down to business!We inherited a committed invesitgator from the elders before us. Her name is Tina, and she's set to get baptized on the 1st of November. We've talked to her on the phone, and will get to meet her this week. We also found a couple other investigators yesterday. There's Tesseena, whose door we knocked on thinking someone else lived there. She seems really cool! We get to talk to her later this week. And then there is Rasheed and his family. The missionaries had talked to him before, but since he drives for Pepsi, he wasn't home that much. But now he will be, and so we get to teach him and his family. He has three little kids--a girl who is 5, a boy (Cameron) who is 3, and they just had a baby boy a couple weeks ago. We're really excited to talk to them!We met a lot of members of the ward this week. That's where we'll be getting most of our investigators from. We're really pushing member referals because that's what the prophets have been telling us lately. "Every member a missionary!" It works so much better, too! Because a member already knows the person, there is already that basis of trust that is crucial for them to be taught. That's where the missionaries come in. We knock on their door, give them a present (Finding Faith in Christ, Joy to the World, etc.) and tell them how much their member friend appreciates them and says all this nice stuff about them. Because of that friendship, we are more likely to be let in to teach. So please everyone--REFER YOUR FRIENDS! The Second Coming is most assuredly coming, and there isn't much time left. We want all God's children to hear His message!Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. This is so important to me, you have to understand. That's why I might get a little excitable about it. But it's the truth, and people have a right to hear it.One last story, and then I've got to go. So we were driving back to the pad Friday night. We came to a three way stop. It looked like a four way stop, except that we didn't have a stop sign. So we drive through, and we're almost all the way through when this white truck runs his stop sign, and bangs into our back bumper. For a second, we thought we'd just hit a pothole or something. But then I turned around, and saw him keep driving, and that's when it hit me (no pun intended)--we'd just been in a hit and run! We pulled over into a parking lot, and got out to survey the damage. Our nice little maroon Malibu now has a big old dent in the back right bumper. We had to call the office elders, who told us to call 911 and then get back in the car and wait for them (Jamsa and Jones) and the police. Sister Dansie was a little paranoid because she'd just gotten a ticket on the way to transfers, and the Louisiana government is not known for being morally great. But the sherriff that helped us out was so nice, and helped her calm down. We sat and talked to him while we were filling out paperwork. I took a bunch of pictures of the bumper and gave them to Elder Jones who was impressed with that bit of thinking. I admitted that I kinda knew what the insurance company would want, seeing as how I had put a big dent in my own car. That made him laugh. But we finished the paperwork, said good night to the elders and the officer, and went home. And we were only a few minutes late! Yay hooray!In all seriousness, the Lord truly does care for His servants. Had we been going just a bit slower, or had entered the intersection a second earlier, had the truck been going any faster, we would have got broadsided. We said a very grateful prayer that night.Mom and Dad, thank you so much for your letters. I was a bit down yesterday, because we hadn't found too many people willing to listen, and the ones we did find, I let Sister Dansie do the talking because I was scared. But then I read your letters last night, and both of your parting comments were exactly what I needed to hear. Mom, you reminded me not to get discouraged if people weren't lining up to hear what I had to say, and that the right person would hear it and would listen. Dad, you told me that the message I am sharing was so important and that it was God's message, and then you said, "Be not afraid and testify." I almost started to cry reading both of those, because I had been worrying all evening about whether or not I was doing the right thing, and was so frustrated because people weren't listening. Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for those words. They bolstered and strengthened me and reminded me that I am out here where I am most needed, that the message I am sharing is that God lives, that Christ lives, and that They love us so much, They've made it possible to be cleansed and return to Them through this gospel, THEIR gospel. And if people don't want to accept that, then that's their choice. But I've been called of God and been asked by Him to tell His children His message and to invite them to come home to Him through baptism, repentance, following the guidance of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. And I will not rest, I will not give up until I've said all I can say so that I can stand before my Father and my Savior and know that I did all I could, that I gave Them my very best. And then I will hear those precious words, "Well done, my daughter. Welcome home." This is the truth, and the only way to return to our Heavenly Father. This is the message that Christ died to give us, that Joseph Smith died to give us, that countless of other worthy and loyal and wonderful souls have dedicated their lives to give us. May we ever remember that. May we always remember the sacrafice that Christ made for us, and that it is after all we can do that He will step in and apply His Atonement, and tell the Father in our behalf, "They have done all they could, and now I will make up the rest." I love you all! Keep those letters and emails coming.

Your Favorite Missionary,Sis. P

ok so that was a pretty good first letter i must say!

heres the mini one she sent to me!!!

Okay, this won't be a very long email, but I just wanted to tell you that I am so thoroughly impressed with your decision to try and go to BYU! I know that you will be blessed for this decision. I love you so much! Keep the emails and letters coming! I only get to write on Mondays, so be patient with me if my emails aren't too long. I LOVE YOU!!!!

Your Big Sister,Morgan

P.S. You might be getting a letter from a sister here in Louisiana. She's an Alpha Phi and I told her about you, and she thinks she knows who you are because your big sister was her little sister....or something like that. Ha ha.

So thats the latest from Sister P!!!!

Sister Pedersen takes wings!

2008-10-13T12:35:00.002-05:00

We received word that Sister Pedersen will fly out on Tuesday morning, October 14. She will arrive in Baton Rouge sometime in the early afternoon. How exciting!!

Sister Morgan J Pedersen's email

2008-10-07T23:38:00.002-05:00

You can email Morgan at morganjpedersen@myldsmail.net . She can not email you back so make sure you leave her your mailing address. Spread the word!

Sunday Conference and Morgan's 3rd letter

2008-10-05T10:16:00.000-05:00

Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Dear Mom & Dad,
Got your letters today! Loved them ever so much. Don’t worry, Dad-- I’m sticking to the light stuff during meals, I promise. The sisters in my district thank you for that advice as well. Ha, ha! I’ll have to find out where President Allen served; I haven’t really met with him. Mostly, my district meets with one of his counselors, Bro. Barry. He is really nice and fun to listen to. Oh, Mom, I’m the coordinating Relief Society sister—the “district leader,” per se, for the sisters in our district…and, I guess, our zone for that matter. Sister Dalley, Sister Boulter, Sister Scheer and I are the ONLY sisters in our zone. It’s kind of neat. We’re really close, the four of us. Sister Scheer is going to Texas, so that will be hard when we split up. But right now, we’re going to celebrate because we’re no longer the “newbies!” Yey! As of tomorrow, we’re “seasoned veterans.” Ha, ha!
Just so you know, I bore my testimony at the end of my letter to Grandma & Grandpa. The first part, they’ll probably be okay with. The second part might cause issues. I told them why I was here at the MTC, my purpose as a missionary. It’s in the “Preach My Gospel” manual (which you should totally get one! It’s amazing!) and we memorized it. Anyway, it says: “My purpose as a missionary is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.” Just thought I’d give you a heads up….

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Dear Mom & Dad,
So, I set up my e-mail and totally wrote you one, too, but the first time I clicked the wrong button and it got deleted…and the second time the computer kicked me off (time limit)! Go figure, huh? No worries.
Here’s the deal with e-mail. …While I am at the MTC, I only get access to my e-mail once a week for 30 minutes. Now that I think about it, that’s probably how my mission will work, too. For now, I’m just going to stick to “snail mail” so my “epistles” don’t get deleted.
Today is my very first “preparation day.” I’m just hanging out here in the crowded laundry room, writing away along with a ton of other missionaries. We got to go to the temple this morning and do a session as a district, which was a really amazing experience. I love the paintings in the Provo temple! So beautiful. After the session, we ate breakfast in the temple cafeteria which was…well, heavenly! I wasn’t even hungry for lunch!
I made a challenging goal for myself—I’m going to read the entire Book of Mormon before I leave the MTC. Doing so will strengthen my testimony of this wonderful work and help me be better prepared to teach my ‘Louisianians.’ (Be quiet, dad—it is too a word!)
Mom, I loved your nightly ritual with Sam! He is such a spoiled pooch! Hopefully, he’s staying out of trouble. Thanks for having Stacia give my sister missionaries Alvie’s number. I thought about giving them Grandma & Grandpas….
We had a devotional yesterday. Our speaker was Elder Daryl H. Garn of the Quorum of the Seventy. He and his wife spoke to us and were just awesome. Sister Garn spoke about D&C 4 (which I have memorized!) and took it apart, verse by verse. She did just great! I’d send you my notes, but I want them! (Ha, ha!) Let’s see, I think my favorite thing she said was about D&C 4:7. She said that no message has appeared in the scriptures more times than this one; there are 100 times it’s either quoted or rephrased slightly. How cool is that?
Elder Garn’s talk was so sweet and loving! He talked about how he got to meet with the First Presidency inside the Salt Lake Temple and the things they talked about. President Eyring stressed the retention of converts and told a story about Pres. Hinckley’s feelings on the subject. President Hinckley had told him that if the Church’s retention numbers hadn’t changed by the time he was grave, he’d jump back out again and say “Retention, retention, retention!”(while shaking his finger at us) That story got everyone laughing. He [Elder Garn]also told another story about President Hinckley. When a temple in Arizona was recently rededicated, Pres. Hinckley took some other ministers through the open house. One asked him why there was no cross displayed anywhere if Latter-Day Saints were Christians. I’m not going to tell you his response because I think it’d be a great family home evening lesson. So look it up (and send me a copy).
Let’s see, who else has spoken to us? Bro. Stephen B. Allen spoke to us on Sunday night. He was awesome! (I know, I’ve used that word a lot. Sorry, I don’t have my Thesaurus!) he could tell when we got in there that we were dragging. He told the elders they could take off their suit coats, which made them happy and he would ask us questions and have us stand up when they applied to us (i.e., Are you the first of your parents’ children to serve a mission?) Then he spoke to us plainly and simply. He told us about some missionaries that had done stupid stuff. He told us about seven stories and then told us that all these had happened just this week. He urged us to follow the mission rules, and gave strong advice and counsel. He said, “When we forget who we are and what we are about, tremendous sadness will follow.” How amazingly sad?! It hurts me to hear that could happen. It won’t happen to me! I won’t let it happen.
The last really great teacher I’ll tell you about was Brother Littlefield. He spoke about baptizing. I was blown away! He works for the Church and he goes around to different missions to help them get their baptisms up. He talked about when President Monson was a mission president in Canada; there was an area in his mission that only got a baptism or so per year. President Monson is so inspired! He pulled everyone out of that area and waited until all the missionaries who knew about that area were gone. He then spread a rumor that he was going to open a new area, and it was where Brigham Young had baptized over thirty people in a month. That part was true, too! Anyway, he started getting letters from all these excited missionaries who wanted to open the area and serve where Brother Brigham once baptized so many. He chose one elder and a brand-new greenie and sent them there. If I remember correctly, it was in a month that they’d matched Brother Brigham’s number and it just kept doubling and doubling again and almost doubled a third time! How incredible is that? And all that because the attitude of the missionaries had changed. Nothing else had, but that did, and that was what made all the difference.
He also told a great story about when Pres. Packer was a mission president, and how he set an example for his missionaries in a zone conference with a big cake. Look that one up, too! It’s a riot, and then it gets very deep. I love it.
Wow—I had not meant for this letter to last so long. Oops. Oh well. You really did get an epistle from me this time. I’d meant to get this out today, but obviously that isn’t happening. Thanks for sending me parts of my blog. Stacia did a really good job. Can you post this letter on there, too?
I love you! I love you! I love you! I love his gospel. I love my Savior. I’m so excited for General Conference. It’s going to be A-MAZING!
Until the next letter,
Sister Morgan Pedersen

Morgan's 2nd letter home

2008-10-05T00:40:00.002-05:00

September 25, 2008

Dear Mom & Dad,
Gosh! You guys are fast! I’ve been in the MTC all of one day and already I have a package?! Wow!
Day Two at the MTC: I’m tired but thrilled to be here. I’m at a meeting right now with a really good speaker, Bro. George T. Taylor. He’s very enthusiastic, excited, and he knows his stuff. We sang “Hark All Ye Nations” for an opening song and he stopped us after the first verse. Hen then went on for about 3 minutes and talked to us about being missionaries. He told us about the word “enthusiasm,” explaining that it came from the Greek word “entheos” which meant “God in us.” Wow! “Enthusiastic” is my favorite word –of-the-week now! Then he had us sing again, and I had goosebumps all over! It reminded me that I didn’t mind being outnumbered. The Elders are amazing!

September 26, 2008
Wow—I now understand why my friends in the MTC wrote such short letters—there is no time! We have a strict schedule and I actually love it. There is no room for doubt; I am where I am supposed to be.
Dad, I met some elders at lunch today who were going to Ecuador. I told them you served in Colombia and they got all excited. They asked if you loved it and I told them, “Of course!” I told them that they’d be eating a lot of rice and beans. One elder asked how quickly you got used to it. I told him pretty quick. Alright, that’s all for now! I’ll keep sending letters as often as possible, I promise!
Love,
your missionary

p.s. Check out Dear Elder.com! We’ve heard that if you send it through them before noon, we’ll get the letters that day! Please pass on the word! Put it on my blog, too.

Morg's First letter to me!!!

2008-10-02T12:40:00.003-05:00

So here it is!!! The first letter to the lil sis!!!

My dearest darling chicken-y popsicle!

Hello my love! How are you? How is school going? Hopefully all is well. School is hard, but it should also be fun. Look for the fun in everything!

How's Lisa and Courtney, and Brittnee and...um...the other roommates name who I am blanking on? Sorry :( I hope you love them as much as I love mine!

My companion is Sis. Dalley. She's from Inkom ID. She's going to LA too. Sis. Scheer is her companion, and she's headed to the Texas Fortworth mission. We are the only sisters in our zone at the MTC, which is kind of fun.

There is and Elder Riches in my zone who knows Melody from Hennifer! :) And Elder Cook in my district knows the Jardines. Small world huh? I also ran into an old friend from Oak Canyon, Sis. Young, and I stood in line with Sis. Ness who knows Cydney from Timpanogos! Crazy huh?

I've run into Elder Long a couple of times. It's fun getting to talk to him in french-probably mostly because I know more than he does for now. Ha ha! :) I also met and elder who knows "oh my" Melody: he's from Hennifer too. AND an elder in my district is from Alpine and knows the Jardines. AND I saw Sis. Warwood from Battle Mountain here! I think her first name is Cara? Ask mom if you can't remember; she should.

I'm listening to a girl sing, "I Stand All Amazed" at a meeting right now, and it makes me love you all the more for your beautiful voice! You have the ability to bring such a strong spiritual prescense when you sing. Please use that gift often! You never know who much peace it can bring to others. :)

Okay, I love you tons! I'd write more, but I'm about to pass out, I'm so tired. I have never been so busy in my entire life! It's so amazing how much we get done in a single day!

I love you!

I love you!

I loveYou!!!( with a heart around the word love)

Your Favorite Missionary,
(I'd better be!)

Sister Pedersen

TADAA! I love her!! Send her your love!!!!!

Sister Morgan Pedersen
MTC Mailbox #251
LA-BAT 1014
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

She is estimated to leave for LA October 14th so I'll put her new address up when that time comes!! Until the next letter!!

Love,

Stacia

Sister Pedersen's First Letter Home

2008-09-29T00:11:00.003-05:00

Morgan sent the following letter home:

Dear Mom, Dad, and Stacia,

Yes, I know I've only been in the MTC for a matter of hours, but I had some free time after unpacking so I thought I'd start my first letter to you.

Today was a busy day! I met my very first companion, Sister Dalley. She is from Incom, ID. I totally knew where that was, too! She's really nice. The other sister I've met is Sister Boulter who is from St. George! Small world, huh? The three of us are all going to the Louisiana-Baton Rouge Mission. They were in the earlier orientation meeting. Sister Dalley and I both went to BYU-Idaho and Sister Boulter went to BYU. We haven't met anyone else in our room yet, but by the looks of the decoration, one sister is either from Australia or is going there. Don't worry, Mom, I will find out for you!

I've already seen Elder Long (boy from Hurricane) a couple of times today; it made me smile. I stood in line next to Sister Ness--she's friends with Cydni, too! She recognized me from Cyd's bridal shower. Man, the Lord works fast here! I was kind of worried about standing in line alone, and--BAM! There comes Sister Ness.

It's overwhelming, seeing how vastly outnumbered we sisters are. It's a good kind of overwhelming, though. It creates lots of opportunities. Hooray!!!

(written later that evening)

Now that it is later, I've met my other roomies here at my residency hall. Sister Sheer, who is Sister Boulter's companion, is going to the Texas-Fort Worth Mission. Sister Naulu is a Tongan Australian--it's her flags that are all over the room. She is from Brisbane, Australia. She and her companion are serving in the Salt Lake City Temple Square Mission.

Argh! There is no time! Okay. Sorry the end of this is rushed, but it's "lights out" in five minutes and I've got a bunch left to do. I love you!

Your missionary,

Sister Morgan Pedersen

The "MTC"

2008-09-28T16:46:00.002-05:00

It was an amazing day that brought back so many wonderful memories for me. Morgan is so ready and excited to be there. I was the only one not to cry because I couldn't wait for her to experience this wonderful opportunity called a "Mission". More need to do it, we need young men and women and older men and women too. Please if you have a desire serve, it will be the best thing you can do for yourself. A mission experience is like no other and it will affect you in such wonderful ways now, and for the rest of your life. Love, Mom

Morgans Officially a Missionary!!

2008-09-25T13:01:00.001-05:00

Well hello all!! Since Morgan officially can not update her blog, I her loving little sister Stacia will. Morgan went into the MTC yesterday... It was quite the experience. I was doing pretty good until we got in a room that had two signs, one stating Missionary Exit and the other saying Family Exit... I pretty much lost it from that point on. It was a trying yet amazing experience. I was bawling and Morgan shed a few tears, but I could tell that she was so exicted. This was the day she had been dreaming about for YEARS! I couldn't be happier for her. Morgan will be in the MTC till around October 14 2008 so for those of you who want to send her letters, that should help you decide where to send them. I'm putting up some fun pictures from the MTC. Send her you letters with love!! I cant gaurantee she'll reply, shes good at writing but has issues with getting them in the mailbox :)

I'll post her emails up here too so all who would like to read them can :)

10 DAYS!!!

2008-09-14T14:06:00.003-05:00

Wow! Time has sure flown. It's almost hard to believe that I leave in ten days! I'm so excited, it's ridiculous! Everything is done, just about. I've got a couple last minute things to still get--first aid kit, helmet, etc--and so this week is dedicated to PACKING. Ugh, I do not enjoy packing. But it'll be worth it...I just have to keep reminding myself that. It WILL be worth it.

Next Sunday I get to speak in church, and that brings me even MORE excitement! I know it sounds funny, but I love to give talks! It's an odd quirk, I know, but I can't help it. Last time I gave a talk, I was working on just a couple hours of sleep (I'd worked a grave shift on Saturday) and I was getting to that point of being-so-tired-you're-hyper. I got up to speak, and couldn't hold still; I even said, "I am just so happy to be up here! Giving a talk is my most favorite thing ever! I really mean it too!" Yes, I had the congregation laughing, but I didn't care. I had my family laughing behind me too. Oh well. At least I kept everyone awake, right? Ha ha ha.

For anyone who can/wants to, my family is having a going away party of sorts for me on Sunday afternoon. It's from 6 PM to 8 PM, and there will be food and fun and ME! Ha ha, just kidding. Well, I mean there really will be food and fun, and I will be there too, but I didn't want it to come across like I was the entire reason for coming. That's a little cocky, and not what I meant. Although, I guess the reason for the party is because I'm leaving...hmm. This IS a conundrum. Oh well.

And yes, I'm FINALLY getting my mission addresses up here. I love letters, and promise to write back! It might take me a little while, but I will write eventually. Writing the actual letter isn't my problem. It's getting the letter to the mailbox. Apparently that skill still eludes me. :)

MTC Address:

Sister Morgan J. Pedersen
Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center*
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

*I'll get a P.O. Box number once I get there, so I'll have my mom put it on here.

Mission Address:

Sister Morgan J. Pedersen
Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission
12025 Justice Ave.
Baton Rouge, LA 70816

The best way to get something to me when I'm in Louisiana will be through the mission office. I won't know my own apartment addresses or anything until I actually get there; I'll have my family update this with those when I get them. Plus, my instructions say that any packages should be sent to the mission office too.

I see that I've had some questions about my bike. Believe me, I was worried too! But my mom told me how she rode hers on her mission. Clothespins. They become your very best friend. The apostles in Christ's time set the example here. You read, "And they girded their loins," a lot in the New Testament. What they did was pull up their...um...for lack of a better word, skirts from the bottom and tuck them into their belts. This made them look like they were wearing gaucho-type pants. Same thing goes for me. Except, instead of tucking my skirt into my belt, I'll clothespin it together. Voila! That's part of the reason girls bikes have that slanted bar instead of a straight one. Makes it easier for us to get on and off them in skirts.

Waiting...and some shopping...but mostly waiting...

2008-07-18T04:53:00.002-05:00

Okay, so I was totally gungho about starting a mission blog. However, I've discovered it's kind of difficult to keep a mission blog when you have yet to go on said mission. Sigh.

I did go mission clothes shopping earlier this week, and it's all done! There are just a few random things I still have to get, like a bike and sheets and...well, I can't remember what else, but know that there is only a few little things left. A piece of advice for any girls getting ready to go on missions---head to Sister Missionary Mall. They have INCREDIBLE prices, and the clothes aren't all that frumpy either! (Yes, sister missionary outfits can be cute and not frumpy. You wouldn't guess that from the little insert they stick in the mission booklet that gets sent out. Seriously, those pictures are from the 80's, at least!)

Heeding the Call...

2008-06-27T16:04:00.003-05:00

Today has been amazing. Up until this point in my life, I don't think I've ever experienced anything more thrilling, exciting, or humbling.

Today I received my mission call to the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission.

It's a funny story really. I've been waiting for a little over two weeks now for the call to come. Here in Hurricane, Utah, mission calls usually arrive on Thursdays. Since the call hadn't come last week, and it didn't come yesterday, I had resigned myself to wait until next Thursday. I kept myself busy around the house this morning, catching up on chores, tidying my room, and then I decided to go give my dog Sam a bath.

I went outside, dressed in a swimming suit and basketball shorts, my hair pulled up in a funky ponytail-thing on top of my head, armed with the garden house and doggie shampoo. Washing Sam isn't always calm or peaceful, so it's best to go into the experience knowing that you WILL get wet...very wet. He tried to make a run for his dog house, but he is an obedient little stinker, so he came when I called him and grumpily accepted his fate.

About half an hour later, I came inside, a little wetter than before but otherwise no worse for wear. There was a knock at the door, and I went to answer it. It was the mailman, and in his hand was a big white envelope. I stared at it as he said, "We thought you might be anxious to see this, so I thought I'd drop it by the house." It took a couple seconds for me to realize what it actually was. When I did, I gasped quietly and murmured, "Oh." The mailman grinned, and continued, "We tried calling this morning but no one answered." Still staring at the envelope, I replied, "I worked late last night so I was asleep this morning." He grinned some more. "So I take it this is yours?" I nodded, and looked up at him finally, smiling. "Yeah, it is. It's mine." He chuckled, handed me the envelope, and congratulated me before he left.

I closed the door and stood in the entryway for a moment, still staring at what was in my hands. I was aware that I was breathing funny, all gasping and shallow, but that only slightly bothered me. I sat on the couch, and carefully tore across the top seam. I pulled out the contents of the envelope and read,

"Dear Sister Pedersen,
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission."

That was as far as I got. Everything else was blurry as I started to cry. Yes, I cried. Honestly, did you expect anything else from me? :) It came when I was least expecting it, and that's probably how the Lord intended it. Eventually I made it through the rest of the letter, but it was that first part that brought me to my knees. I am so grateful and so humbled that I've been given this amazing opportunity. What an incredible chance I have to show the Lord how much I love Him! I get to serve His children, and teach them more about Him, and bring them closer to Him. What greater thing could I ask for? What could bring me more happiness at this point in my life?

I know it will be hard. It will be the hardest thing I ever do, besides being a mother. But it will also be one of the most rewarding things too. And so I'll be honored and proud to serve the people of Louisiana. I will gladly say, "I'm Sister Pedersen, and we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints." I will do my best to serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength.

I know this Church is the Lord Jesus Christ's church. It belongs to him; His name is on it, and in it. I know that He lives, and loves us. I know that He wants all of us to come home to be with Him. And I promise I will do everything in my power to help that come to pass. I know this is His gospel and the surest way to return to Him. I know that our Heavenly Father and Christ appeared to Joseph Smith, and guided and directed him. I know Joseph was a Prophet of the Lord. I know that we have a prophet here on earth today. I know President Thomas S. Monson is the Prophet of the Lord today, and that the Lord speaks to him just as he did with the prophets of old. Nothing, NOTHING can make me renounce this testimony. I know it's true. I know it. And I bear this witness in the sacred name of our Savior, JESUS CHRIST, Amen.