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The Way Home
:Thomas S. Monson

Overlooking the azure blue waters of the famed Sea of Galilee is a historic landmark: the Mount of Beatitudes. Like a living sentinel with an eyewitness testimony, this silent friend seems to declare: “Here it was that the greatest person who ever lived delivered the greatest sermon ever given--the Sermon on the Mount.”

Instinctively the visitor turns to the Gospel of St. Matthew and reads: “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them.” (Matt. 5:1–2.) Among the truths which he taught was this solemn statement: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

“Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matt. 7:13–14.)

Ageless in its application, wise men throughout the generations of time have sought to live by this simple statement.

When Jesus of Nazareth personally walked the rock-strewn pathways of the Holy Land, he, as the Good Shepherd, showed all who would believe how they might follow that narrow way and enter that strait gate to life eternal. “Come, follow me,” he invited. “I am the way.”

Little wonder that men did tarry for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost. It was the gospel of Jesus Christ that was to be preached, his work that was to be done, and his apostles at the head of his church who were entrusted with the work.

History records that most men indeed did not come unto him, nor did they follow the way he taught. Crucified was the Lord, slain were the apostles, rejected was the truth. The bright daylight of enlightenment slipped away, and the lengthening shadows of a black night enshrouded the earth.

One word and one word alone describes the dismal state that prevailed: apostasy. Generations before, Isaiah had prophesied: “Darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” (Isa. 60:2.) Amos had foretold of a famine in the land: “Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.” (Amos 8:11.) Had not Peter warned of false teachers bringing damnable heresies, and Paul predicted that the time would come when sound doctrine would not be endured?

The dark ages of history seemed never to end. Was there to be no termination to this blasphemous night? Had a loving Father forgotten mankind? Would he send forth no heavenly messengers as in former days?

Honest men with yearning hearts, at the peril of their very lives, attempted to establish points of reference, that they might find the true way. The day of the reformation was dawning, but the path ahead was difficult. Persecutions would be severe, personal sacrifice overwhelming, and the cost beyond calculation. The reformers were like pioneers blazing wilderness trails in a desperate search for those lost points of reference which, they felt, when found would lead mankind back to the truth Jesus taught.

When John Wycliffe and others completed the first English translation of the entire Bible from the Latin Vulgate, the then church authorities did all they could to destroy it. Copies had to be written by hand and in secret. The Bible had been regarded as a closed book forbidden to be read by the common people. Many of the followers of Wycliffe were severely punished and some burned at the stake.

Martin Luther asserted the Bible’s supremacy. His study of the scriptures led him to compare the doctrines and practices of the church with the teachings of the scriptures. Luther stood for the responsibility of the individual and the rights of the individual conscience, and this he did at the imminent risk of his life. Though threatened and persecuted, yet he declared boldly: “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise. God help me.”

John Huss, speaking out fearlessly against the corruption within the church, was taken outside the city to be burned. He was chained by the neck to a stake, and straw and wood were piled around his body to the chin and sprinkled with resin; and he was asked finally if he would recant. As the flames arose, he sang, but the wind blew the fire into his face, and his voice was stilled.

Zwingli of Switzerland attempted through his writings and teachings to rethink all Christian doctrine in consistently biblical terms. His most famous statement thrills the heart: “What does it matter? They can kill the body but not the soul.”

And who cannot today appreciate the words of John Knox? “A man with God is always in the majority.”

John Calvin, prematurely aged by sickness and by the incessant labors he had undertaken, summed up his personal philosophy with the statement: “Our wisdom … consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves.”

Others could indeed be mentioned, but a comment concerning William Tyndale would perhaps suffice. Tyndale felt that the people had a right to know what was promised to them in the scriptures. To those who opposed his work of translation, he declared: “If God spare my life, … I will cause a boy that driveth the plough shall know more of the scripture than thou dost.”

Such were the teachings and lives of the great reformers. Their deeds were heroic, their contributions many, their sacrifices great--but they did not restore the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Of the reformers one could ask, “Was their sacrifice in vain? Was their struggle futile?” I answer with a resounding “No!” The Holy Bible was now within the grasp of the people. Each man could better find his way. Oh, if only all could read and all could understand. But some could read, and others could hear; and every man had access to God through prayer.

The long-awaited day of restoration did indeed come. But let us review that significant event in the history of the world by recalling the testimony of the plowboy who became a prophet, the witness who was there--even Joseph Smith.

Describing his experience, Joseph said: “There was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. … It … became general … [creating] division amongst the people, some crying, ‘Lo, here!’ and others, ‘Lo, there!’

“… I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.’

“Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion … understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.

“At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. …

“So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.

“… I kneeled down and began to offer up the desire of my heart to God. …

“I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

“… When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (JS--H 1:5–17.)

The Father and the Son, Jesus Christ, had appeared to Joseph Smith. The morning of the dispensation of the fulness of times had come, dispelling the darkness of the long generations of spiritual night. As in the creation, light was to replace darkness; day was to follow night.

From then to now, truth has been and is available to us. Like the children of Israel in former times, endless days of wandering now can end with our entry to a personal promised land.

The restoration of the gospel dispels the gloom described in our time by the noted educator Robert Gordon Sproul. He had looked at the churches of America and declared:

“We have … the peculiar spectacle of a nation which, to some imperfect but nevertheless considerable extent, practices Christianity without actively believing in Christianity. We are asked to turn to the church for our enlightenment, but when we do so we find that the voice of the church is not inspired. The voice of the church today, we find, is the echo of our own voices. And the result of this experience, already manifest, is disillusionment. There is only one way out of the spiral. The way out is the sound of a voice, not our voice, but a voice coming from something not ourselves, in the existence of which we cannot disbelieve. It is the earthly task of the pastors to hear this voice, to cause us to hear it, and to tell us what it says. If they cannot hear it, or if they fail to tell us, we, as laymen, are utterly lost. Without it we are no more capable of saving the world than we were capable of creating it in the first place.” (Vital Speeches, Sept. 1, 1940, p. 701.)

Perhaps the famed Winston Churchill best declared the world’s pressing need. Said he: “I have lived perhaps longer experience than almost anyone, and I have never brooded over a situation which demanded more patience, composure, courage and perseverance than that which unfolds itself before us today: The need of a prophet.”

Today we have heard God’s prophet speak--even President Spencer W. Kimball. Today there goes forth from this pulpit an invitation to people throughout the world: Come from your wandering way, weary traveler. Come to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Come to that heavenly haven called home. Here you will discover the truth. Here you will learn the reality of the Godhead, the comfort of the plan of salvation, the sanctity of the marriage covenant, the power of personal prayer. Come home!

From our youth many of us may remember the story of a very young boy who was abducted from his parents and home and taken to a village situated far away. Under these conditions the small boy grew to young manhood without a knowledge of his actual parents or earthly home. Within his heart there came a yearning to return to that village called home.

But where was home to be found? Where were his mother and father to be discovered? Oh, if only he could remember even their names, his task would be less hopeless. Desperately he sought to recall even a glimpse of his childhood.

Like a flash of inspiration, he remembered the sound of a bell which, from the tower atop the village church, pealed its welcome each Sabbath morning. From village to village the young man wandered, ever listening for that familiar bell to chime. Some bells were similar, others far different from the sound he remembered.

At length the weary young man stood one Sunday morning before a church of a typical town. He listened carefully as the bell began to peal. The sound was familiar. It was unlike any other he had heard, save that bell which pealed in the memory of his childhood days. Yes, it was the same bell. Its ring was true. His eyes filled with tears. His heart rejoiced in gladness. His soul overflowed with gratitude. The young man dropped to his knees, looked upward beyond the bell tower--even toward heaven--and in a prayer of gratitude whispered, “Thanks be to God. I’m home.”

Like the peal of a remembered bell will be the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the soul of him who earnestly seeks. Many of you have traveled long in a personal quest for that which rings true. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends forth to you an earnest appeal. Open your doors to the missionaries. Open your minds to the word of God. Open your hearts, even your very souls, to the sound of that still, small voice which testifies of truth. As the prophet Isaiah promised: “Thine ears shall hear a word … saying, This is the way, walk ye in it.” (Isa. 30:21.) Then, like the boy of whom I’ve spoken, you too will, on bended knee, say to your God and mine: “I’m home!”

May such be the blessing of all, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.


http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1975/04/the-way-home?lang=eng

-Sister Peterson

Temple trips and Halloween masks

Happy (late) Easter everyone! 

The weather here in Kentucky has been so darn spankin' beautiful. :) 

I don't have a lot of time, but here are some of the updates from this past week. 

-On Tuesday we were able to go with sweet Brianna Trammell to the temple to do proxy baptisms, and it was her first time and she did "swimmingly" (ba doom ching). 

-We did some service for Christy Hammer and her father, and we were able to have a good conversation with her dad about our church and what we're all about. He told us that he would try to come to church "one of these days". THERE'S HOPE AFTER ALL. 

- We had a great meeting with some of the ward members this week on how we could hasten the work in the Tompkinsville Ward. We're trying to get the members pumped about missionary work, and so far it's kinda working... 

- On Friday we had "Movie Night" and there were 14 people... 14! It's the new record. We watched "Ephraim's Rescue" and the spirit was so strong. Luckily there were some investigators, and after the movie they had a lot of questions. Yay for church movies! :) 

- On Saturday we went out to lunch with Brianna and her great-grandpa and I ate my first catfish! It was pure southern deliciousness. (Here's the sad news...) Later that night we got transfer calls, and I'm being transferred to White House, TN. When we got the call, they said I was going from the "sticks" to the "STICKS". I'm definitely sad to leave this promised land, but am looking forward to the many adventures that await me! 

- Early Sunday morning we had a sunrise service and we had a pretty good turn-out. There were 36 people there and us three sisters did a musical performance of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and it was a great last performance. Later in Sacrament meeting I was asked to bare my testimony, and just looking out at all the marvelous people in our small little ward made me feel so grateful for being able to serve there. 

I sure hope everyone's week was just as wonderful as mine was. :) 

With all my love, 

--Sister Peterson

Pictures from this week :-)

Me, Dalton, and Riley Hull after our plan of salvation lesson

Long-johns and sippin melted chocolate...

Hello! 

What a great week! Here's a quick synopsis of our adventurous week. 

Monday- We had our study group down in Burkesville, TN! The numbers are kind of struggling seeing that we only had 9 people, but we're happy that we had those 9 people for sure. Brianna Trammell, a recent convert, went with us and we had a great study. Afterwards we were asked to go visit a neighbor of the lady whose house we were at, and boy was that interesting. When he answered the door we were hit by a wave of marijuana smoke and discovered that he was only in long-john bottoms and Doc, who was with us, said, "Woowee, now that's marijuana." Luckily he didn't hear, but we gave him a Book of Mormon and we hope that he reads it. 

Tuesday- After teaching Brianna and her grandpa, we took her with us to go sing with the old folks again. Every time we go we get asked to sing, and this time we sang "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" and it was great. 

Wednesday- We watched "Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration" with Christy Hammer and we talked a lot about the Restoration and we were able to answer some of the main questions that she had. Later we were on the subject of fasting (somehow...) and she said, "what, you fast for 2 meals?! Why would you do that?" So we explained the blessings that she could get and she told us that she would fast with us this next fast-Sunday and if her baby sleeps through the night, she will be baptized. Challenge accepted. Later as our car was being fixed, we decided to go salvation seeking (aka. door knocking). Because both me and Sister Lamborn had done it before, we had Sister Trussell lead the discussions, and she did great! We were able to set 2 return appointments and we feel really good about both of them. One of them is a strong Baptist that at first seemed a bit hesitant to talk to us, was able to open up and tell us more about her job. We told her to call is if she ever needed help around the house and she seemed very excited about the offer, so cross your fingers!  

Thursday- We had a great lesson with the Hull family. :) We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and we were able to get them pretty pumped for the after-life. As we were talking about Baptism, Dalton looked at us and said, "wait, you get baptized when you're 8 and I'm 10. Why am I not baptized?" So we told him that he could once he felt like he understood everything and felt the desire to, and he surprised us further by telling us that he knew that it was true and that he had felt the spirit tell him so. :) 

Friday- We had our Trainer-Trainee meeting down in Nashville, and it didn't get cancelled this time... Man, it was such an amazing meeting and it got us all pumped to go out and do the work. During one of the trainings, one of the AP's talked about setting a vision for our investigators about how it will be once they're baptized and all three of us looked at each other and thought of Ronnie Hamilton. Ronnie is an investigator. His wife has been a member for most of her life and they come to church every week without fail, but Ronnie is having a hard time deciding whether to be baptized into our church or into the Church of Christ. We've been in a runt with him for a while, but since that meeting we feel a lot more prepared as to what to teach him. After the meeting we went to Chipotle with our driver, Sondra Davis and we talked all about what we had learned and she told us that she had learned a lot and is ready to teach some of her friends about the gospel. Woot! Woot! 

Saturday- Because we were unable to do our weekly planning on Friday due to the Trainer-Trainee meeting, we decided to have one on Saturday. So we packed up sandwiches and headed to Lafayette, TN and did our planning at a local park. After the 3 hours of planning we decided that we deserved the chocolate bunny that awaited us in the car, but discovered that the bunny had completely melted, but that didn't stop us! We ended up using a straw to drink it out of the bag... yep... boarder line crazy, maybe, but I can tell you that it was pure melted deliciousness. Later we were able to help Martha Hawthorne with her family history work. We helped her print out her late husbands card so that we could take it to the temple with us when we go on Tuesday. It was cool to see how excited she was, and the spirit was very strong. It makes me excited to do my family history work for sure... 

Sunday!- Always the most stressful, yet most relaxing day of the week. We were able to get Brianna Trammell to church to get her temple recommend to do baptisms, and later we went to visit with a sweet lady who has been less-active for a few years now. She lives with her husband and her 6 year old son in very tough circumstances, yet she is continually grateful for all that she has. Even though she hasn't been active for a while, she still has that sweet spirit that you find in those that are solid members. We invited her to come to church on Sunday, and we got a "maybe"! Later that evening we kidnapped Brianna again and took her around with us to all the teaching lessons that we had, and man, even though she is only 14 she was able to help us get 2 soft-baptism dates for 2 of our investigators. The first one was with Ms. Fay Bryant. Brianna told Fay that if she set a baptism date, that Heavenly Father would help her get over her fear of water, and Fay said yes to getting baptized on May 25th!!! Go Brianna! The second was with Phyllis... Now, you all know how stubborn Phyllis is.... yet Brianna was able to help her set another soft baptism date for the end of May... Like, what? We have been trying to do it for months and finally she decided to reset her date. Miracles happen! 

Well, I sure hope everyone's week was just as peachy keen as mine was. :) 

With all my love, 

--Sister Peterson

more from good ol' Tompkinsville

Hello family and loved ones! 

Another week flies by down here in southern paradise. It's amazing how fast missions seem to pass by... 

Here are the highlights of these past two weeks. :) 

-Last Tuesday when we went over to teach Riley and Dalton Hull, their dad came up to our car and said, "Would it be okay if we rescheduled?" Worried what he would have to say, he surprised us by saying, "Is it okay if both me and my wife, Kathy, start taking the discussions too? And please bring 2 more Book of Mormons." We were shocked (that seems to happen to us a lot). This man is the son of two solid members, but he left the church 6 years ago, and he had told me and Sister Dixon that it just wasn't for him... the fact that he is willing to take the lessons again (this will be the 3rd time) is a massive miracle. And here's where it get's better. Right as Sister Lamborn was backing me up, he ran back to the car and said, "And just so you know, it'll be a while till I get baptized, so you'll have to be patient with me while I figure some stuff out." Yep. The man said "till". 

-Last Wednesday we got a call late at night from a lady named Ella Curtis. She said that she really needed to talk to someone because her mom was back in the hospital. Her mom, Kathleen, has been fighting cancer for a while now. Even though she has had chemotherapy and radiation done multiple times, the cancer continues to grow. The doctor told Ella that Kathleen only had a few days to live. Panicking, she decided to pray. She told us that when she opened up to God, he told her to call us. I decided that President Eyring's talk, "Mountains to Climb" was the perfect talk for her. Me and her talked on the phone for a good hour and a half, and after a few good scriptures and a ton of tears, she was finally feeling a little better. Right before she hung up the phone she said, "Ya know, I really think that God wants me to be baptized into your church. I know that I've already been baptized into the Baptist church, but you guys are the only ones that have ever been there for me, and your visits always seem to lift me up." The spirit fills my heart, and I bore my testimony to her. This was only the second time that I had ever talked to her, but it is truly amazing what the Holy Ghost can do. 

-Last Thursday we packed up some lunches and Book of Mormon's and spent the day searching for less-actives living in Red Boiling Springs, TN. There we discovered that pretty much everyone's address on the ward list had to be updated, because mostly everyone had moved. We had one more person to find, but we had no luck. Totally bummed, we started to head back to town, but as we were leaving I made eye contact with a man working on his car at the end of the street. Because we're in the south where everyone knows everyone, we decided to ask him if he knew where this guy lived. He kindly told us that he lived down the street, but that he wouldn't be home, so we just talked to him instead. His name is Thorn Tree that Blossoms. Coolest name ever. He is a painter and a very opinionated Christian. We told him a little bit about what we believe, and he actually seemed interested! He told us that we could go teach him again some other time, but he asked us to only tell him what we truly believed and none of that "passed down through our fathers crap." Whatever that means. So one day this week we are going to head back down there and share our testimonies. 

(bear with me, this email is going to be long)

This week: 

Monday- we were invited over to this lady's house for dinner. No later when we arrived, we discovered that she had invited 3 more of her friends over. So basically it was us and 4 old ladies, and it was the best. We were able to talk to them about the basics of what we believe and showed them a video of Temple Square. They were all mesmerized, and we had a great lesson about temples. 

Tuesday- We went to the Senior Center and listened to old people sing gospel music. Truly made my week. We all sang "Amazing Grace", and boy could those ladies sing. Later that night we went over to Shelia Turner's and talked to her about the power of prayer. Her and her daughter, Kelci, are going through a tough time right now, and it makes me so grateful for the good relationship that I have with my mom (shout-out to you Momsy!) She told us that she has been feeling more of God's love and that she is grateful for the trial, even though it's hard. 

Wednesday- We had exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders, and we committed Faye Bryant to a soft baptism date in May. She had been excommunicated a few years ago, and she is more than ready to come back. Every time we would come over, she would bear her testimony to us that she knew that this church was true, but for some reason she wasn't wanting to set up a baptism date. So finally, we asked her why. She told us that it was because she had a strong fear of water. It turns out that she has had a bad experience with almost drowning and that it has been something that she's been fighting for most of her life. We told her that we know that if she were to set a date that Heavenly Father would help to take that fear away. She definitely needs those prayers! 

Thursday- We found June! Me and Sister Dixon had taught her a few times, but she moved and changed her number. So basically it was nearly impossible to find her, but after we left an appointment Sister Trussell said, "Uh, there's some lady trying to flag us down." And it was her! I nearly jumped out of a moving car, and I ran to and embraced her. We talked to her for a bit on her front porch when her husband came out and asked if we would rather talk inside (in Spanish, might I add). We had a really good lesson with June, her husband and her son. Luckily Sister Lamborn knew some Spanish. His name is Israel, and he's from Mexico. He seemed very interested, and he asked if we could bring him a Book of Mormon in Spanish. June told us that this would be good for him, because he is having to learn English, and we told her it was good for us because we are trying to learn Spanish. It's definitely a win-win scenario. Later I had boogers wiped all over me at the Hammer's. They have 4 little kids that really like to brush my hair... It's a good thing that I have a lot of it. That night we did some service for Amanda Brown, and we got to talk to her boyfriend a little bit. Amanda later told us that he was very touched at the fact that we were always there helping and that he wanted to attend church next Sunday. Yay! Amanda's baby boy, Nathaniel, is now 7 lbs 11 oz. He's healthy and steadily growing. :) 

Friday- We had a trainer trainee meeting down in Nashville at 9 AM and because we live way out in the sticks, we had to wake up at 4:30 in order to get there on time. We woke up to 30mph winds, rain and lightning (I'm a huge baby and sure afraid of lightning/thunder), but that didn't stop us. 10 minutes before we had to leave, we got a call from the lady that was going to be our ride, and she told us that she was on her way to the hospital because her heart was freaking out. Worried about her and worried about what to do, we said a prayer and called the AP's. Luckily they were able to get us miles approved to drive there ourselves. After the 2 and a half hour drive to Nashville we thought to check our phone to see if anyone had texted us, and well, here's the sad part. The meeting had been cancelled due to weather. So there we were in the middle of Nashville soaking wet and about ready to cry, but we picked ourselves up and drove the 2 and a half hours back to good ol' Tompkinsville, Kentucky. Boy did we feel awful... So we decided to work our butts off the rest of the day to make up for the time lost, and we did! We got to visit all the people that we had hoped to visit, including Ms. Katherine Jackson. We were a little hesitant to see her, because we were so worried that she would just end up slamming her door in our face, but to our great surprise, she let us in. We started to see how she was, and if we noticed that both the picture of Christ and the large-print Book of Mormon were still on her coffee table. We asked if she still read it, and she said that she did, and that she loved to. 

 So, at this point we were all a little confused yet very relieved. So we asked what happened, and it turns out that she just needed more time to figure everything out. She told us that she would love to come back to church because she enjoyed it, but that she needed more time till she got baptized. We all told her that she could have as much time as she needed and that we were simply teaching her because we loved her and wanted her to be happy. That made her smile, and what made me so happy, was when she said, "Whenever you girls come, you lift me up! My depression just goes away!" We just smiled and told her that was the Holy Ghost telling her that what we were teaching her was true. She told us to come back soon, and that she would try to come to conference if time allowed. So basically, it was a HUGE MIRACLE. We had been worried for so long because we thought that she had been told anti-Mormon stuff, but in reality she was just wanting to take a step back.

Saturday and Sunday were conference days, and let me just say, CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING. This past week we had committed most of our investigators and members to write down the questions/concerns that they were having and to pray about them. We told them that they would be answered, and by golly, they sure were. One of the talks that really stood out to me was President Uchtdorf's on Sunday where he talked about keeping a positive outlook on life's trials. My favorite quote was, "... how much can life be wasted if we only look for the rainbow instead of thanking God for the rain." It reminded me that God is always there looking over us, and no matter how hard life's trials may be, our Savior has gone through it, and he is always there going through those trials with us. 

Well, sorry for bombarding you with missionary experiences. I love you all, and I hope that you enjoyed this past week just as much as I did. Keep keepin' on! And don't forget that we are all called to serve, so never turn down the opportunity to teach the gospel! 

With all my love, 

--Sister Peterson

 Also, we have a (NEIGH)bor that has asked us to groom her horses at least once a week. We are all okay with that. :) Pictured below is me with PJ and Holly 

Pictures :-)

Our beautiful front yard!

Greetings from good ol' T-Ville, Kentucky! + Photo

Hello!

Happy Monday everyone! Another beautiful (almost spring) day! Well, this week has been quite the Roller Coaster ride for Siser Lamborn, Sister Trussell, and I. 

Here's a little bit of what we did this week. 

Monday: We had a family night with the Scott family (Amber and Chandler were baptized a month ago) and it went really well! Even though Amber hasn't been a member long, she is looking forward to getting a calling in the primary. We played "How to get closer to Christ". It involved a picture of Christ, some blue tape, and lots of pushing and shoving. 

Tuesday: We taught an 8 and 10 year old all about the Restoration. Because I'm really an 8 year old in a 19 year old's body, I was able to help them learn by using some action figures and some cups. I don't know how it happened, but they were able to understand it!

Wednesday: We taught Geneva Scott. Now, this woman is probably the most stubborn woman that I have ever met. She joined the Baptist church a few years ago, but she reads the Book of Mormon every night, comes to church every other week, and she has told us multiple times that she knows that the Book of Mormon is from God, but does she want to get baptized? Nope. We've had so many spiritual moments with her, but on Wednesday night we were determined to get that woman to accept the baptismal invitation. Because her husband died a few years ago, we thought it appropriate to teach her the Plan of Salvation. It went way well and the spirit was very strong and when we asked her if she thought it was true, she told us that she knew that it was. But when we asked her to be baptized, she replied with a simple, "nope". 

Thursday: Katherine Jackson committed to baptism! We have been teaching her for a while now and she was finally able to feel the difference, and we saw the difference it made! She was happier, brighter, and her house was clean and we could tell that she had been organizing. :) Later that day we decided to take Sister Trussell tracting for the first time. We taught this sweet old lady named Gladys and she had a tail-less cat. Yep. Kinda creepy. That night we had 3 coyotes in our front yard. Pretty cool, I know.  

Friday! We had a girls lunch with the bishop's wife and we went across the Ferry to visit some people, but no one was home :(. After trying to see 5 people with no luck, we decided to visit a friend of ours in the hospital, but she was asleep. Frustrated, we decided to pray. The second we ended our prayer the lady next door caught our eye. She had just been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and was having a rough day, so we gave her a Book of Mormon. Later that night we had a movie night at the Church and watched "The Work and The Glory" with some of the members and Katherine Jackson. 

Saturday: (Now this is the crazy day. Hold on to your seats.) Because Katherine had accepted the Baptismal request, it was time to teach her all about the Word of Wisdom. Now, Katherine has been smoking cigarettes for 40 years and we knew that she drank coffee, so you can assume how nervous we were for this one. When we taught it to her, she looked up and said, "this was my sign!" Apparently she had been praying earlier that day for help to quit smoking and she was so happy to know that it was a requirement to stop. Usually it's the other way around, but hey, it worked out great. She also told us that she has no problem with tea and coffee and that she was excited for the new life that she was going to have. We attended a relief society spa day, and we got to teach a few less-actives. So not only did we get to paint our nails, but we got some pretty sweet lessons thrown in there too. While we were there we got a call from Amanda Brown, and she was in labor! She asked us to come down because she was scared and alone. So after some hard-praying and a phone call to president, we were on our way to the Gallatin hospital. 5 minutes after we got there, the doctor came in and told us that she was ready to have this baby. Yep, quickest labor ever. She looked at me and asked if I would hold her hand, and so yep. I was her coach that told her to "keep pushing!" And I might have almost passed out... She now has a beautiful baby boy named Nathaniel Aiden Brown. Never thought I would help deliver a baby on my mission... 

Sunday: Always the craziest day of the week... The second that we woke up, we started making tons of calls to people to remind them of church and while we were eating our breakfast we got a call from Ms. Katherine Jackson. Expecting her to ask us what time Church started, we had been dumped. She told us that she had been going to her other church for 12 years and that she didn't want to abandon them. The real heart-breaker was when she told us to never go back to visit her. Devastated, we headed to church. We are still unsure what happened, but we think that her pastor must have called her and the guilt got her. It's amazing how Satan works, that stinker. On a good note, TONS of people were at church, so that's good. 

Well, sorry for the massive email. I hope that everyone is doing well, and please pray for Katherine! 

Thanks for all that you guys do, 

keep keepin' on! 

--Sister Peterson