My Dear family! August 30, 2010

My Dear family!

Can I say that I love Christopher!!!! He is a Stud!! All of my brothers are. I'm so happy that everyone is doing so well. Yes I got Daniels picture. It was amazing! It's up on my wall with McKenna's drawings. It was so good. I can't believe he can draw that well and he is in a musical!!! Oh my Gosh! So Stinkin Cute! Kellin in football? Holy Cow~ everyone is going to be so big when I get back!  Wow you only have four kids at home crazy. (oh, side note, I want to do EFY the summer that I come home. I was just thinking about that today. That would be so fun! But you have to have paper work turned in by the fall.. So I was wondering if you could look into that for me because I can't. Thank you! Maybe in Idaho or Utah)

I loved the package! OH my gosh I taped me opening that package. It was so amazing! My companions had made it an amazing day for me by decorating the entire apt., thanks to the Coffman's it was amazing! I love it so much and I got to listen to the family sing happy birthday! While I was eating crepes! Then the Elders surprised me and took me out to eat lunch while wearing hats and blowing on noise makers. Then the office called and sang me happy birthday. I just felt special all day long. It was just so amazing and you did not crash and burn on clothes last time. I wear them all the time. I just said they were a little long. Some of them are just too hot to wear right now so I'll have to wait but they are cute. I'm sorry if I made you feel like you failed in that department, you didn't.

But the package made me cry! I loved it so much. The book was probably the best present that you could have ever given me. It was so amazing! I loved it so much! Thank you!!!!! I loved all the other stuff too. I can't believe the work that must have taken for everyone to write in it.
I gave a talk on Sunday about testimonies so it was totally amazing to get that and then use it to empower me in my talk and in this work. I loved it!!!!!

Not much has gone on this week investigator wise. One of the guys in our district went home because it was too hard and it about killed me! I thought of Jason and I lost it. There was so many things that I wanted to say to him and all I could do was cry. He apologized for not being a good missionary and I told him he was a good missionary and that we needed him. Satan has really worked hard on him and he has only been out almost two transfers. I hated it and I hate Satan!!! If he can just help people to forget who they are, they lose this great battle that we are fighting. When he told us he was leaving it felt like someone died. I was so sorry for him and that he couldn't see how much God needs him here. I don't want any of the boys ever thinking that they can come out on a mission knowing if it gets too hard that they can come home. That is not ok. This work is not about them but it's much more than that and goes above and beyond anything that they can comprehend. He left on Tuesday and his comp was transferred out. Then he called us on Saturday to say goodbye before his plane took off. We all took turns pleading that he stay and baring our testimonies of how much God needs him personally and how no one can take his place. (mean while since he left we had to take over that area along with ours and it was stressful, but we were seeing so many miracles in their area. we wanted him to experience them. so that made us sad.) On Sunday morning however we were a little late getting to church because we had to drive clear to the end of our area to try and get a gator to church (He wasn't home :( ) When we pulled up to the church there stood the elders. He didn't go home!!!! He changed his mind at the very last min. after talking to his comp from the MTC. I don't know what his MTC comp said but I was thankful for the Inspiration God gave him to get him to stay. I was so excited I could have peed my pants!! He said he is still taking it a day at a time but i don't care, he made the decision to stay and that is a start. We'll work with that. I hope he sees how great this work is and catches a glimpse of why he is needed here. We listened to a talk called "conversion of a catholic" with him. (The family needs to hear it; it was a talk that changed the way I looked at my mission.) I hoped it helped.

If anything this experience taught me how much I Love my Heavenly Father for sending me here. This work is so important and when God calls an Elder or a Sister to serve in whatever mission, he doesn't call them just because they need missionaries in that part of the world. God matches up there personalities, talents and experiences to match those that they will teach and bring unto the fold of God. God calls you~ I cannot express how important missionaries our in this great work. If God calls you, go. I guess I found that out the hard way by not listening the first time I knew I needed to go but I will forever be grateful for listening to that sweet spirit and finally making that decision. It has forever changed my life. I don't know who I'm suppose to find but I know I have been sent here to this place right now at this time to find them. I love my Savior with everything that I have and will give it all to know him. It is because of my love for the Savior that I'm here and obedience to God that I have stayed and pushed through, and nothing and no one can take away from the experiences that I have had and learned from and the people that I have met that have changed me for the good. I know that they were all heaven sent. I will forever be grateful for this opportunity to serve.

I love you all so very much and am so thankful to be a part of our family. I really believe we chose each other and as I have gone through many experiences I see why. My family is my rock and my best friends. I don't know what I can do without you. I love you all so much. till next week.

With so much love!
Your sister Pedersen



President Berry~

This week has been good all things considering. Sister Baker was sick a lot this week so it made it a little harder but I’m glad that she is doing better and got the rest that she needed. The member work is going good and our ward mission leader is helping a lot with getting the members going on the mission work.

This Sunday all three of us had the opportunity to give a talk on missionary work and how much the members play a role in this great effort to build up God's kingdom. Sister Curly talked about the first vision, restoration and why that makes this church so different. Then I gave a talk on finding your own testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and becoming a light that will motivate you in sharing the gospel. Then Sister Baker taught about how their homes can become gospel sharing homes and what they can do to share the gospel. It was so nice to be able to bare testimony to the members of the ward about how important they are to us and how great this work is.

The third hour consisted of Relief Society and Priesthood, both English and Spanish. Bishop Ross taught about the spirituality of our ward and how it has sort of diminished and what we can do to build it back up. I really think these helped members to share their feelings. I think this Sunday was a very good step for the ward in bringing them back. It was a very nice bonding experience for everyone.

Our teaching pool is still small and we are working to build it up as much as we can but people seemed to be very flaky and they don’t keep their commitments. We go through a lot of people every week in order to find the elect and we are still on a search. But I have faith that God will provide as long as I’m doing everything that I can and am listening to the spirit.

My studies this week have been mostly review from Preach my Gospel but I love it more and more each time I read. I love reading the scriptures and doing the activities, although it takes a lot longer than skimming I’m really enjoying it. It makes my testimony grow every time I read the Bible because it completely backs up the Book of Mormon. I don’t know how people can say that it doesn't. It just makes me realize that people don’t read there bible as much as they say they do or else they would realize that this is God church. There is no other church that comes close to what Jesus Christ has set up when he was on the earth and we  know that because of the Bible. It just amazes me. I love this Gospel so much and am thankful everyday that I get to share my testimony with everyone that I see because I know that what we teach is the truth. This is God's church and we do have a prophet, President Monson and he is called of God. The Book of Mormon is scripture and it blesses my life everyday that I read from it. I'm so thankful that God has called me here so that I could be a part of this wonderful work in sharing the gospel. I would have never chosen it for myself but I’m glad that God know best and is control of my life. I have truly been blessed by following the spirit and this mission is perhaps one of the greatest blessings of them all.

Until next week~
Sister Pedersen

Happy Happy Birthday!!! August 23, 2010

I adore Christopher!!!!!! Oh my Gosh it is so crazy! The time is flying. I'll hit my half way point on September 27. Wait, ya oh my gosh! That can't be right! This is way weird and I'm turning 22. ahhhhh!

Mom you always know just what to say to make my week. I love hearing from you! Christopher is so right, writing the family and getting letters from you and the family is really a highlight. It's so funny seeing it from an "Elders" perspective. How fun that you get to see it from both sides at the same time but at different stages. SO fun!

Thank you for the information about Jeremy. I was so worried but I'm so excited that there getting married in the temple!!!!!! That has really made my week, but if you talk to him tell him I want an invitation if he can spare one and a letter telling me how it happened and how he proposed and the whole shubang. I just hate missing out on things like this so, that would help.. lol
This is a letter that I wrote to the president this week and last week's letter hasn't come back yet but oh well.

President Berry~

This week has gone very well. Although our Sunday wasn't as fruitful as we would have hoped, our member work is going very well. We are finding that if we start out soft but spiritually strong we have a lot more members willing to work with us because they see that we are not going to pounce on them.

We have had two dinner appointments this week that really helped us get into their homes. We received one referral from a younger couple in our ward and they were super excited to help. Unfortunately the wife has to work so they couldn't make it but I felt that we gained a trust in going over and following up right away. This may be a slower start but what a blessing it has already been to work with the members.

Our ward mission leader is fantastic! He is doing all he can to help and he really is pushing everyone else to get moving and help in this work of building up the kingdom of God. When we start with helping their testimony to grow and bring them to Christ they can't help but bring everyone they love with them. I know that this is kind of a "Duh" moment but I guess it just clicked this week with me. I know that there is a lot of kinks to work out but I can feel that change already and am excited for the change in our ward and in our mission and definitely in me. I love this work!

My companions could not be any better for me. We have had a little more of a time crunch because there is three of us and because we are girls and talk quite a bit  we are working that through but wondering if maybe we could have a half hour more of companionship study in order for all of us to have a turn to share our ideas and concerns and what we have learned. If not that's ok, we'll figure something out.

Until next week~
Sister Pedersen~

Life is going good here in Jacksonville Florida and I'm loving every min. of it and trying to hold on to the time. Sister Baker has two months left, sister Curly has less than 8 months left and I have 11 months.

I have this picture in my head of our companionship. We are in this canoe going down this river and it is really calm and quiet and then we see the rapids coming up and were going down and having a blast when we see up ahead that there is this huge drop off coming up and I'm in the front rowing like crazy trying to get to it, sister curly is sitting in the middle uneasy holding on to the sides of the canoe trying to keep herself calm and sister Baker is faced the other direction screaming for her life trying to paddle with her arms and seeing that it's making no difference because it's all coming up way too fast. It's like that with your mission. In the beginning you start off by just getting use to the water (the mission) and the feel of your life jacket (skirt and tag) and your making your way through using your paddles to really start moving (scriptures PMG, Doctrine) then come the rapids and your getting the hang of it and having a blast and just plowing through it all (first 6 months) Then you come to a halt where you see that nothing is really ahead and you relax and you have time to take in the scenery and start to really see where you're at and what needs to be fixed or improved (next 6 months) then you see more rapids coming up and you ride them and have a fun cause now you know what you're doing and it's more fun now than ever before but all of the sudden you see a drop off and you realize your going way to fast to stop or turn around and then you find yourself screaming for your life, paddling backwards in hopes you can delay just a bit longer (last 6 months) but before you know it, you're dead. (Metaphorically speaking of course) lol It's so true! Thought you would enjoy that lol.

Well I love you all and thank you ahead of time for the package Shanna said you sent. I love it!!!! ;) I don't know what is in it, but I love it!

Love your Sister Pedersen!

I love my companions!! August 16, 2010

 

So are teaching pool is still really small but with the three of us working together I'm hoping it will triple. We have some investigators that will be potentially sweet. I'm hoping for a lot more. We are working a lot with members and although it is slower that I'm use to, I'm loving it. Our members are amazing and I'm so surprised about how many I didn't know and still don't know because they are in different classes. It makes it hard to get to know the members when the only chance you have to get to know them is through relief society, in sacrament meeting you don't get to know people because everyone come 20 min. late. no joke and then we teach gospel principles and only new members or our gators come to that so relief society is our saving grace but even then we only have about 1/4 of the woman there. Dinners are helping a lot with that and the elders are helping us to get to know the brethren in the ward, so it's a slow process that is going to take off and fly! I'm excited for when i get to see that day. We help out with ward activities like the pioneers activity last Saturday was a blast, A woman in our ward made us all costumes and I felt like I was in Nauvoo again. I loved it. We had a program that we did and me and another elder played/ read a part in someone's life story to explain what they went through. It was so neat. (I don't think I have ever said that word before. The mission is making me weird. lol)

I love my companions! We are working together really well and have come to find that the people who have a hard time in a three companionship is because they don't know how to let things go. One things that i am having a hard time with is giving both of them the attention and love and time that they deserve. I'm finding it hard not favoring one more than the other but i know once i do that is where the tension will start. I do love both of them; I just get along more with one than the other. We laugh all the time. That is the key to this companionship. Laugh, have fun, be a duck, set goals, and work as a team with everyone pulling each others and their own weight. This transfer is going to be so good. I'm so excited! I have so much to learn from both of them! They have both been out way long. Sister Baker has only one more transfer after this one before she goes home and sister curly (who we call curls) has been out a year. I can learn so much from them. I am already learning a lot. Sister Baker is always so positive and sister curly studies the scriptures more than any comp I have had. They are both so amazing. I'm going to try and send you pictures but they say they don't work here so sorry if it doesn't work.

Oh and where is Christopher's letter? I guess you'll have to send me two next week. Oh and guess who's birthday is coming up...... mine!! Crazy! Just think I'll be home for my next birthday_ that's weird but I'm going to be 22!!! That is strange... I'm getting old.....er. lol I love you all so much!

Until next letter~ love you

Love your sister missionary

P.S. the quote was perfect you always know what to send me, thank you!

Crazy Week!!! August 9, 2010

So we are doing letters later today because we decided to take a nap. Talk about a crazy week and an emotional rollercoaster! My comp gets transferred, I get put into a three sum, one of my past zone leaders becomes AP! (Which I totally called by the way) I see MASON!, My Mission President comes to speak at our ward and comes to our missionary meeting and I have to teach last min. and president and his wife decide to join. All in one week~ so I'm kind of tired. Oh and all of our teaching pool has been dropped.. lol need I say… CRAZY!!~

Thank you so much for everyone's letters. I will write to Christopher and Angelina but I didn't get a letter from Nicole. I was going to ask you about her by the way.
Seeing Mason was insane!!!!! It took everything in me not to hug him and jump up and down screaming like a little girl. (I did that inside before he came to the door.. lol) I haven't had a super good week either and it put back into perspective for me that I don't want to be the same when I get home. It's so funny because God knows what I need and where most missionaries would get trunky (or depressed) from seeing a best friend from home, It fired me up to go out and do more work. It made me realize that I don't have much time left and that I'm not ready to go back home and further more when I do go back home, I will NOT be the same. (I also might be a little fatter now that people can feed us. Hope you still love me when I get back.. lol)

It was so funny because I was sitting on the couch at my ward mission leaders home (mark Harrington) and his wife who reminds me of Rachael, (makes me feel at home) was sitting and chatting with us mentioning that she met someone who knew me. We continued talking and I was introducing my new comps. Waiting for Brother Harrington to get home so that we could go over the people we are teaching. When Stephanie was like "crap, can I use your phone I have to call a guy that is suppose to come over and cancel our appt. now that your here" I said ok and then she's like wait your phone can't call long distance can it. I said no and then she was like "well we could wait for mark to get home so I can call him because I left my phone at my mom's" I said ok then she says " oh crap he's already here, then I see a BMW pull up and I was like, "wait, who knows me?" She said this guy selling living scriptures or something." Inside my head I'm thinking long distance phone call, BMW and he knows me? Then she says like a Mason or something? I was like WHAT!? I stood up freaking out to get his last name. She was like " his card says mason grow?" I was like "you have got to be kidding me and I screamed like a little girl jumping up and down. While everyone else is saying, "what is going on" I run outside and there is mason with his little duffle bag and his BMW with the biggest grin on his face. He was like "what are you doing here?" I told him he was in my area, "What are you doing here?" It took everything not to hug him but instead I shook his hand and said "I'm a missionary" lol~ that is all I could say. It was the weirdest thing. He was like I know! Weird!~ It was so cool to see him! I gave him a bunch of names of people in the wards with kids he could sell to. I hope it works. So that was one adventure.

Prior to this happening, the day before I was called to be the senior comp of a three sum. I was so worried because the last three sum sisters here crashed and burned. I had a feeling who my comps would be in the first place and I knew I would be in a three sum so I had three days to prepare my mind for it. It is actually awesome! It is like one big slumber party. My new comps are both from Utah and one is Sister Baker who came out with Sister Mitchell, so needless to say she will probably die here and she is awesome; Very friendly and outgoing, my next comp is Sister Curly. She is a little more reserved. She likes to keep to herself but once I get her talking we're good. Her family works on a bee farm so she is obsessed with honey. I actually knew and served with her before. She was in my 1st district in Kingsland. So I was nervous but it's going to be good.

This week again has been slow but we are going to pick up the pace with member work and get that going. It's been hard to battle that lion because I went from just all tracting to member work and that takes some readjusting. I love the members and we have to start slow but it will build. I think it is slow because we need to build back up the faith and trust in the members. We have to start with member as small as getting them to read in their home first before we can implement a plan of missionary work. I have a feeling that I'm going to be planting a lot a seeds the rest of my mission but I hope and pray to harvest a lot too. It's all in Gods timing and determinate on my work ethic, faith and prayers. I have a goal and I will accomplish it. I will baptize a family to the temple. I know that that can and will happen. I want to see all of my investigators go through the temple. That would be so amazing! I love this work. I echo what Christopher said; this work is a miracle, everything is. I love it!

Thank you so much for the letters mom and dad you have no idea how much the things you sent me just this week were an answer to my prayers. I love you both so much and I would not be here right now if it were not for your guidance to find who I needed to be. I love you both so much and the entire family! Tell the family and G-mas that I love them and give both grandparents a hug and a kiss from me, and tell grandma p that I got her letters and will write back soon~

With love and so many prayers~

Love your sister missionary
Sister Pedersen

A Dog!!! August 1, 2010

Oh man you can't let mom get rid of the dog! I was going to buy one when I got home and now I don’t have to! Dogs are everywhere here and I love it! It makes me want one more and more. Please mom let the dog stay!!!! The boys need a dog. I have been saying this for years have I not? And the next door neighbor killed mine so we have to have another one plus the boys will have the responsibility and give them something to do. Oh man and he is inside! I LOVE IT Mom we have to keep him! I love him already!

Ok so I’m staying in Orange Park but my companion is being transferred! I don’t know what I’m going to do. I still don’t know the area and I might be put into a three sum. The last three sum we had the girls killed each other seriously! It was really bad so I’m hoping everything will be just fine and it will end up being one big slumber party. My companion that I have now Is the one that was in a three sum so maybe I’ll get some advice from her. I have to do a lot of damage control with her because she has been torn from the last transfer and the ones before but she is all good now. Way more outgoing and talkative and all I did was love her. Love is really the key to everything!

This week has probably been one of my hardest weeks. It has been really crazy and we don’t have a teaching pool anymore because we had to drop them all because they are all lame. It makes me really sad because Marc was suppose to get baptized this Sunday and then dropped off the face of the earth. We can't get a hold of him ever. We stopped by 4 times on Sunday and called and left messages and nothing! Oh man. He is ready though so if anyone talks to him or if God wants us to go back we will because he needs this so much! It just makes me sad. Oh well. So last week was weird but this week will be so much better. I just know it and then I’ll write and tell you who my new companion or companions are. It is going to be so good.

We went to the beach today for our p-day and it was so amazing! I wanted to swim in it because it is so warm but I’m ok with just getting my feet wet. We watched the sun come up. We left really early in the morning to see it and don’t worry we got permission to go and a member to drive us so it was a blast. Then we went out to breakfast and Elder Izatt who leaves on Wednesday paid for all our districts breakfast because he has like $200 dollars on his pross card. He is really sweet. I'm going to miss him. Oh and everyone else is staying here with me, Oh but elder Carty who is one of my favorites (he's Spanish speaking) he just found out he was being transferred today, I guess they are still readjusting the Spanish. This next transfer will be interesting. We shall see.

I miss dancing a lot! I danced a little on the beach today with my comp. but it wasn't the same. When i get home I’m going to go crazy with dance. lol I can't believe they came to Medford! Oh man that would have been so amazing! I'm glad you took grandma. Then she can see what I do. It's weird the things you miss when you are out here. The smell of home, clean good fresh tasting water, hugs, dancing, music and my loud, crazy family. I love you all so much! Thank you for all you support and prayers. I'm still loving it here in Florida!

Your sister missionary~
Sister Pedersen

July 26, 2010

Ok Ok enough of that~ This week has not been super exciting. We have been working with members and doing a lot of less-active work. I'm still trying to figure out how to do that because our mission used to be anti-member work because the members thought we were going to fast so we left them out all together unless they were willing to go the speed that we were going. Now that we have a new President we are working ourselves back into the wards. This is going to be amazing and we will baptise a lot this way but I feel awkward. I have never once used members in our missionary work before where I have served, but we are starting now and this is the perfect ward  to do it in. This ward is amazing and we have strong members, not a lot seeing as how over half the ward is less active but the ones that have stayed are tuff as nails and they will be a great asset to this work. I'm excited for the challege and look forward to the time where it will be a natural flow to work with the members. I got a call from the assistants this morning and usually when they call you it is not a good thing or they want to go on a trade or see what is wrong with you, so I kind of freaked out, but on the other end was Elder Maxwell congratulating me and my comp. on baptizing. Orange Park has not seen baptisms since I think January or February. I was so shocked. Sister Waddups who has become one of my favorites and I sat on the bed with the silliest smiles on our faces. He asked me how I did it and honestly I don’t know because I didn’t do anything. I got up on time, we get out and stay out and work till it's time to come home. Elder Maxwell seemed shocked. I think he was expecting a better answer or a method that I used. I told him "prayer, faith and work." lol he said, “huh, well congrats keep doing good things.” lol. Oh man I love the Lord with all my heart and truly I had nothing to do with it, it was all in the lords timing, I just had a new outlook because I have never been here plus with faith in the Lord, anything and everything is possible. I love this work with all my heart and I'm sorry this is short but this week is the last week before we get transfer calls so we will see if I’m safe or not. We might have a baptism this weekend so pray for Marc so he'll get baptized; he needs it so badly. So next week’s letter will either be really exciting or really depressing lol. Either way it will be good. Love this work!!!!!


Love you so much!!!!!!

Love your sister missionary

Success!!! July 19, 2010

Mom I love you so much. You have no idea how much that has made my day. The baptisms went through and they were beautiful. Alice wasn't going to go through with it because her son was in bad health but through a lot of prayer and love she did. Vincent was so cute, he had to be dunked 4 times but he was laughing the whole time. I guess it takes four times to wash all those sins away. Lol, he is so cute. He put his hands on his head when they went to confirm him. lol he doesn't speak much English so that is how we would show him what receiving the holy ghost would be like and then when he sat in the chair he put his hands on his head and said, ok I'm ready. lol so cute!!! They explained to him and I recorded the blessing and it was amazing. Just beautiful and everything he needed to hear. He was promised a job if he continued to do what was right. The person giving the blessing didn't know he didn't have a job. It was so amazing! God truly knows his children.
Alice Cried through her entire baptism and she loved it. I love her so much. She said that she was so happy that she did it. They were both small baptisms but the spirit filled every empty seat. They were beautiful. I'm so blessed to be a missionary.

Kenny I love you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I thought about you a lot today; this morning actually. I can't wait till I come home and have time to spend with just you and me and teach you everything I have learned before you go out on your mission. You have no idea how proud I am of you. I love you more than life itself. You have been preparing for EFF and I know you will find amazing experiences there.

I had a horrible dream that my mission had ended and that the entire family came to pick me up here and we went out to eat at a restaurant. The waitress asked me what the special occasion was and i said, "well I'm a missionary from the...." and as I went to point at my name tag (like I usually do to explain the church, my name tag was not there.) Then I explained to her, "well I used to be a missionary." The worst feeling sunk into my soul and for a moment I felt what it will be like not to be a missionary anymore. In the dream I started to cry and Dad held me and you leaned on me and told the waitress to bring some waters. I did not like that dream at all!!!!! I love being a missionary and I cannot waste a moment of it! I don't ever want to stop being a missionary and I'm so glad that I have a year left but at the same time so few moments. I love it here! Tell everyone and there dog that I love them and hug and kiss the kids and Dad for me.
~love your sister missionary~

Dear Dad July 12, 2010

Dad,
So mom didn't write this week but I'm thinking it's because she had a really hard time with Christopher being gone. I had to stop myself from laughing out loud in the library about you crying in toy story 3. I'm still laughing but that's probably because i know how much the family is going to miss him and how hard it will be without him, but I also know that he didn't die... lol. He will be the best missionary that I can think of. He is already ten thousand steps further than any of the other guys. He is so mature for his age and he truly wants to be there and serve God. I know that he is having a hard time and is staying positive and with that attitude he will accomplish so many things, and God will bless him for that. I love him so much. He will be just Fine and I'll be home in a year and before you know it Christopher will be home and Kenny will be off and the cycle continues. lol. It's a Good cycle. Now we just need to prepare Kenny.

So my comps name is Maren Waddoups and she is from Washington. She is opening up a lot. I found that the reason why she was super quiet at first is because she had a lot of comps that kind of pushed her over and never let her talk or be herself and they yelled at her! They were stupid. So we are getting a long great. She is so stinkin cute. We are working a lot on her talking louder so that people can hear her but as far as everything else.. She is an amazing teacher and knows what to say and how to teach. She just needs to have more confidence in that.

So usually when I don't write home about the people I'm teaching it's because were not teaching anyone. :(. But I'm happy to say that I do have people to talk about!! First of all his name is Vincent Dorcent and he is 58 and he is from Haiti and speaks Haitian, So we met him once and taught him a bit and then decided not to go back because he didn't seem interested but then when we were tracting an apt. complex when we ran into some young boys who said they wanted to change and be baptized but they didn't live there so we went to teach them at the address they gave us and what do you know, It was Vincent's home. The boys were his nephews but the man that answered their door was there grandpa who only speaks Haitian so he went and got the boy's father that lived there and we taught him but he wasn't interested so we told him that we would come later to talk to the boys. When we came back we met the oldest brother who then got Vincent for us to talk to. Oh man and then when we were talking to Vincent and another boy came out I hadn't met. It was like a zoo! I asked Vincent (who was the only one interested in the gospel at that point) who else lived there and he said that his dad, brother and his four nephews lived there. So it's just a house of men. So we teach Vincent outside...

Vincent has had all the lessons already and is getting baptized next Sunday on the 18! We wanted to drop him but God had other plans. Oh and the only reason why we talked to Vincent in the first place was because we were doing less active work and a LA lived next door but it looked like they had moved so we went next door to ask if the neighbors knew anything about it, and the neighbor happened to be Vincent. He came to church yesterday and he said over and over, "I feel good, this feels like home." It was so amazing! He is so cute. Oh and I forgot to tell you the best part. He speaks French really well and my comp knows pretty good French so he speaks in broken English with French mixed and he reads the book of Mormon in French while I follow along in English and my comp follows along in French. It is so sweet!!! I like him so much and he loves the gospel. He always says "I feel good." "I want to go straight, straight to Jesus." In his broken English.

We also have a woman in her late 60's early 70's that we are teaching named Alice Kort. Her husband died about a year and a half ago and her son is a member and lives with her. He's in his 30's and his name is Chris. They had been teaching her before I got here but the first time I met her I told her she needed to be baptized because she knew it was true, but they had already asked her before and she got scared because that meant she had to give up her church where she and her husband went and that was really hard for her. She prayed about it and she said that God told her that she needed to stay at her church. I explained to her that she needed to keep praying because God wouldn't give her such a good feeling when coming to church with us (she has come to church 4-5 times and loves it.) and feel like she needed to be baptized and then have God tell her that she needed to stay with her church. So she says she would pray but didn't want lessons anymore.
Well we had promised her a long time ago that we would do service for her and you know me, I'm not going to break my promise so we showed up at her door and told her "we are here for service, where do you want us?" her face was priceless, but she started to laugh and put us to work. She has a lot of health problems as well as her son so they need a lot of help. So we helped out and then they made us dinner. It was awesome. While I was helping her make dinner she looks at me and says, "you know what I've been thinking...., I've been thinking about being baptized." It was so sweet. God directs us all the time in everything we do. God does work mighty miracles. We gave her a large print Book of Mormon and she can't put it down and she set her own baptismal date and she will be getting baptized on the 18th too, well probably on Saturday the 17th because of building problems but it is amazing!

So many miracles! God truly does prepare people and if you just believe and do the work, God will guide you in everything that you should do, God is amazing and I can feel his love for his children every time that I or my comp teaches. I love the plan of salvation because that is the purpose to life and gives the Atonement so much meaning and understanding because without the atonement, nothing happens. I love this Gospel so much with my whole heart and I don't want to do anything else! I love it! Any place, comp, ward, bishop, anywhere works. It's not anything else but you and if you figure that out and put God first and just stop worrying, God will show you the way. God always comes first and everything else falls into place. It was hard for me to believe that for awhile without anything happening but once I stopped trying to fix things and just went and trusted, everything clicked into place.

The Berry's are here and they are amazing! President Berry is like bishop Shumway in Ashland, but a little less funny and crazy but just really fun and loving. Sister Berry said she has only seen him get mad once in all the time that they have been married. That is good because we can be really irritating sometimes. She is amazing! She taught us half the time and then president Berry taught us the other half. They are both such good teachers and so humble. I love them a lot. They just fit this mission. Love them!

So the bishopric in my ward is amazing and totally crazy! They are all loud and kinda out there. It would be like having you, Shumway, Bennion and Dunn. So much fun and they let us baptize and do waterside confirmations which are a huge blessing for missionaries. My ward is sweet! We have about 5 handicap children in our ward so everyone is so humble and nice and just loving. They are patient and giving. I just love them. Their hearts are soft and willing to serve. I kind of had a bad attitude when I first came out here and I take it all back. I love it here. I now see why God wanted me here and what he needs me to learn from these people and their amazing families!

Ok sorry for the book but a lot needed to be said and you and Mom needed a pick me up so there it is. I'm doing fantastic and love mission life! So amazing!
I love you both so much! I'll be praying for you.. lol ;)
Love, your sister Pedersen

Letter to Christopher July 7, 2010

Christopher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I Love and adore you!!!

Number 1 advice Stop worrying! Worry is fear; fear is not of God and will get you nowhere. When you worry you allow Satan to come into your decisions. Don't let him. Talk yourself out of it. Tell yourself your fine and you will be. You've been on a plane before, compare it to that instead of leaving your family behind. Think you're on vacation. The MTC is just EFY on drugs. It's so amazing! You will love it. Don't worry about the mission field. You'll figure it out when you get there and every mission field is different so you can never prepare for it. Just experience the MTC. Mission life is amazing and you will love every minute of it, even the hard parts because you look back and you can see the change that has happened because of that hard time. Change is good and it's about time.
Say your goodbyes ahead of time so you get like 5 in before you leave and the finale goodbye is not so bad. You will get home sick a bit. I really have not been home sick since I have left but that because you still get to e-mail and you're with people all the time. You're never alone. You don't have to do this by yourself. Talk to your comp. He feels the same way. Be a leader with a humble heart willing to learn from the most humble of missionaries. I'm learning that the quiet ones are the most God like. Learn to love your comp. You're with this one for a very long time so deal with him. Even if he is not your favorite and he's kind of a slacker or goober, learn to like him and learn from him. Never put yourself above your comp. That is when you lose all that God has in store for you to learn. There is no music in the MTC so listen to church music a lot before you leave, if not you will have to delete your songs in your head as soon as they come and then you have nothing, but if you have church music you can listen to it inside your head and even sing it and not feel bad. You'll understand when you get there. Ummm~ Take notes and look at them daily. Notes taken, re-read and applied is a lesson learned from your Father in heaven directly for you.
I love you so much! I can't tell you how happy I am for you. If you have time to stop and think of home enough to get home sick, you're not using your time wisely. Dive into the language. Stand out and volunteer first. I know that's normally not like you but that is what God expects of you. You will learn faster that way. God knows your heart and all of your worries. If you look for his little mercies, you will find them. I don't have enough time to write you AHHHHH! But I love you so much. I'll be right next to you all along the way. You're not alone. I'll write you all the time! I love you! I can't wait to hear from you. This is not Goodbye but until next week. Love you!
~Your sister missionary~
You're so amazing! Don't fear but have faith! Ether 12

Re: I love you!!‏ June 27, 2010

Mom,

I'm so sorry for the short e-mails but I'm now at a library where I am timed so I have to get off quicker than I would like. I miss Sister Mitchell so much!!! We got along so well. She has been one of my favorites! I love her so much! She lives in Utah so I'll get to see her soon in fact if she doesn't get married to quick I'll go and live with her a bit before school starts. Oh man I love her.

Well I'm now in Orange park and there is nothing but rich white people here. It's definitely different and I'm kind of having a hard time. My new comp is sister Waddoups and she is very... meek.... ok ok she really quiet and I don't know what to do with a quiet person! I'm not quiet at all and it's like pulling teeth to get her to talk and when she does she is so quiet that I keep having to say.. what? It's really a change from all the rest of my companions but I think it will be a good one. I think I'll grow the most in this transfer than any of my others; that's for sure, I feel like I'm training. She has been out a transfer longer than me but she has had lazy or dominate comps that I think kind of shut her down, so it is my goal to open her up and make her solid and confident and get her to talk out loud and proud. That is my task as well as to baptize like crazy! They haven't had a baptism here in awhile but that is all going to change.

Oh man. I miss jax second soooooo much!!!! It was like I had a moment of greatness and for a moment I thought I would stay there but I think God was teasing me and showing me what I could have if I work hard and become that missionary he needs me to be.

I'm glad you liked my videos. I still have so much more. Oh and I need a print of everyone's birthday please! I hate missing birthdays! Lame! I may be a missionary but I like to at least send a card.
I know I know. Another short letter but I have to go. I take a long time to type but I'm getting better. Everything is fine here. I feel your prayers and I have my Heavenly Father and my Savior for guidance and comfort. They help me so much. So I'll be just fine. I love you all so much!
Next letter will be better I promise~

Love,
Your sister missionary~

Excerpts from Mom & Shanna's letters 6-21-2010

Mom,
I'm Being Transferred Again!!! Oh man. I was a little mad at first; I found out, tossed the phone and took a walk outside. Oh man I was not a happy camper. We have been praying this entire transfer that we would not be split up, but God knows best. I love my companion so much! I have learned so much from her. She has made me really look at myself and ask myself some hard questions about who I was, who I am and who I want to be. This mission does not last forever and I need to decide right now if this is going to stick or is this going to be a great learning experience for 18 months. If I want to be more than I am I cannot come home the way I was when I left and I can never go back. I need to change. Everything I have spend 21 years building up was good but God did not send me here to be and stay that person but he sent me here to be the me that He sees. For our last presidents interviews president didn't interview but gave everyone blessings instead and President Newman said that this is the time that I will draw from for the rest of my life. This is the moment in my life that will determine the rest of my life. It made me realize how much I can't be that same person. I can't be anything less than what the lord expects. I know that sounds a little crazy but if I'm not going to change, than what is the point in the Lord molding me here to go right back when I get home. Things are going to be different, but a good different. I'm excited for the learning that comes with that and the greater understanding of things that my Father in Heaven has in store for me. I have to give it all up to know him and I will.

In my talk I said that if God asked me to give my life for this gospel I would. And I meant it, but then I said thankfully God does not ask us to give our lives for it but asks us to just obey him. I sat down and thought. Yes he does. He doesn't mean our mortal existence but he does mean everything in this mortal existence. I am called and set apart from the world. We are not in the world nor does God intend to save us in our sins but from our sins, the same is that God does not direct us if we are of the world but if we are apart from it. Do you see how much I don't want to be away from my companion. The one that has made me truly take a look at myself and help me change. She is a rock and I love and admire her more than she will ever know and so thankful to her that she was my companion even for the short amount of time that she was. She goes home in 3 transfers. Needleless to say, we balled our eyes when we found out. I love her and will miss her and everyone in my area and district. I love my ward and have gotten so close to them. But I can still be sent back here because so they say " 6 week areas don't count." So maybe I'll die (end) here in the promise land when that time comes. Plus all the elders that I serve here with I go home with so I don't have to worry about that but I love sister, Mitchell! My strawberry and little Honey nut cheerio.

I love you all so much and i'm so excited for Christopher! I can't wait!!!! I want letters back from all the kids that would be nice. Oh man. tell christopher not to be nervous and just testify all the time through the entire talk and the spirit will be there and will guide the talk. He will do fantastic! I love him and all the kids so much!!!!!! Oh man!

I love you all~
Your sister missionary~

Shanna,
I'm so happy that you're doing better. I wasn't really worried about you. You are stronger than you think. I will keep praying for you and Adam and I hope the test results are good. I'm glad they did some test to kind of figure out what is going on so at least you'll know. You are such a rock. I don't know if I would be able to handle it, but thankfully you have. Adam and you have the Savior that loves you and can take away all that pain and stress, plus a Heavenly Father that adores you and family for support. I love you so much and am so thankful for your example. I couldn't have asked for a better sister, in fact I'm pretty sure I picked you out myself in heaven, as well as the rest of my family.

This is happening all for a reason, I know it. God is preparing you for something bigger and he needs you to be ready for it. Read your patriarchal blessing and pray and read what it says about your family and what you are to become as a woman of God and maybe you will find, just maybe, a reason for all of this. I love you so much! I love Adam so much too and I have no doubt that he is taking care of you and I love him so much for that. I can't say it enough!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Nelson when he came to speak to us said something way cool that has changed the way I look at things, he said. "Don't waste ten grams of today's energy on the mistakes of yesterday, for heaven sake, get over it! You can't keep looking in the rear view mirror while you drive; you're going to get into a wreck." I loved it so much! It was so blunt and exactly what I needed. He also said when it gets hard and you keep thinking of what I could have done or what I should have said or shouldn't have said, it's just a waste of time, he goes onto say "take ten steps breathe and leave it behind."

I can't tell you what a whirl wind this week has been. The Farnsworth's from my old ward in Whitehouse came to take me and my comp for lunch but really they came to give Sister Mitchell some bad news. Her Uncle whom she is very close to had a heart attack and died. Her dad was never really a strong father figure in her life so her uncle kind of took over in that area. I can't tell you how amazing my companion is. She is a rock! It took her a full day of crying and a good long prayer to her heavenly father for her to understand what is going on. Then we went back to work. I would be devastated. I don't know but she depends completely on the Savior and he gives her strength. Man I love her so much. We also found out that I'm being transferred again! I was really mad at first but it will be ok. I have trust in the Lord that it will turn out. I'm just really going to miss my companion. She only has three transfers left. Wow. Time flies so fast.

I love you so much and I'm so proud of you. I'm so excited for this next transfer. There is more learning with every transfer and I'm excited for that learning experience.

I love you and Adam so much and your package will be sent this week before I go. I love love love love you!
Your sister missionary~

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! June 21, 2010

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!!!!

Oh my gosh Dad you are so awesome!!! I hope that my husband is as crafty as you. That is so amazing! Mom must have freaked! You would have thought that it was mother's day or something. I'm so happy that you had a good father's day and I hope you thought the card was funny. It reminded me of you. I loved it and laughed for weeks about it. I hope everyone liked the stuff I sent and that those letters got to the Grandmas and Coffman's. I thought it would have been easy that way.

Dad I love you so much!!!! My talk went really well. I talked a lot about the relationship with my father in heaven and my father on earth. I talked about our letters home in relation to our prayers home. I talked about eternal families and our purpose here and understanding the priesthood and who we are; the understanding that we are children of God.

You wrote something to me in my first area; you said,

"I love you, please write, I want to hear from you if not as much or more than your mommy. I love you, please write, I've been feeling a little neglected, If you could just mention or acknowledge that you got my letters or that I exist. I want to hear from you. I love you, please write."

I used this quote as a basis for my talk about a father's love and the importance of talking to our fathers and especially our Father in heaven. He just wants to talk to us.

"I love you please talk to me, I want to remind you of who are. I love you, please talk to me, I'm feeling a little neglected, just acknowledge or mention that you've received my blessings or that I exist. I want to hear from you. I love you, please talk to me."

I love my heavenly father so much and I know that it is because you love him too more than anything else in the world that you have become the father that you are. I went on and on about you and my thankfulness that my father understands me so much that he knew I would need my savior in order for me to come back to him and help me through this life. When I sat down the next speaker said something like, how great it would be if we all could be loved as fathers as sister Pedersen knows and loves her father.

I hope you know how much I love you! I truly want to marry someone like you. I tell mom that all the time. You and Christopher are the key to what I want in a husband and I say Christopher because he is just the new and younger version of you. lol

I love you so much and I hope you had a fantastic father's day!

Your sister missionary~

Re: Summer is here!!

Thank you mommy~ I love you so much! Thank you for all of the support you give me. I'm sorry this letter is going to be very short because I took most of all my time writing to Shanna so I hope that the package makes up for the lack of a letter. I am doing a lot better this week. We finally have people to teach! I'm so excited! Prayers are being answered and I’m learning to trust and push forward the best I can. I love you Mom so much! Thank you for everything that you do for me!
I love you!

I love you daddy! I am giving a talk about you on Father’s day in my ward. I'm so excited! I love my daddy! I think I’m going to cry through the entire thing but it's going to be great! I was nervous when they asked me to give a talk but then they said it would be on father’s day and I was like sweet! I can talk about my dad all day! I love my dad! I also can talk about My Heavenly Father all day long too. In fact I do! It will be good.

I'm so excited! We have our last president’s interviews with President Newman on Tuesday before he leaves at the end of this transfer. I'm going to miss him but I guess he is also going to give us all blessings before he leaves which is so sweet! He never does that! This will be like a Fathers blessing for me because that is how he gives us those blessings. So it will be on Tuesday so pray and tell Heavenly Father all the things you want to tell me and God will make sure I hear them as well as all the things that God wants me to know. I wish you could give me a blessing but that’s ok. I will picture you in my head. lol I love you so much!

I'm sorry that you are so sore but there is a scripture that goes along with that soreness. Helaman 3:35 it talks about becoming firmer and firmer in the faith. We use that for our work-outs. We become firmer and firmer inside and out. lol it's fun! 
I love you so much and I feel your prayers. Love you

Your sister missionary~

Love You!! June 6, 2010

Thank you Mom so much! I love you so much! You always give the best advice and give me the most confidence in myself after hearing from you.

This week was still pretty much the same as last week but this week we have one date! Honestly I hope he sticks with it and doesn't drop us. So far he is the only person that we are teaching and we just met him on Friday, so our teaching pool is suffering, which is where the lack of confidence comes from but I know that the Lord is preparing me for so much more and is just molding me into the person that he needs me to be to push forward and stand out. Everything will be ok and in the Lords timing.

I love my ward and they are very strong but we have about 500 less active members and a lot of them have been baptized in the last year or they are from a different country who use to meet as a branch but then were combined with our ward so they don't come anymore, so me and my comp are working on a lot of less actives to build up the ward even more and help the new members receive fellowship. One of the ways can be dinners but a non-member has to be present when we are over, we are also doing a lot of trade offs and trying to work more with the members than ever before. In the last 2 years the mission has kind of been anti ward and pro baptisms through the missionaries, and it worked for awhile and we gained lots of baptisms because missionaries were focused but now we have new members that aren't staying active because they have no attachment to the ward, just to their missionaries and so when the missionaries leave, there goes the new member. It's sad. So now we are working on that.

I think my testimony is stronger more than ever but I still can work on it and improve it. I love the gospel with my whole heart and I really have learned who I do and don't want to be when I get home. My Savior has shown me the way and I am giving up everything to follow Him. I love it here!!

Mom I love you so much and I hope you know how much you mean to me. I love you!

~Your sister missionary~

Letter to Shanna 5/31/2010

This week has been kind of a hard one. We have worked and tracted all week without any success.  It has been very discouraging but I know that we are doing our best in everything we do, so I know it will get better. Me and my comp have decided to just put on a smile and go out and do the work. This is a joyful message that we share and if we are not happy no one will be drawn to us to see what it is that we are so happy about. The doors where I cannot stop laughing is where we are most successful is usually the door that lets us in or that will listen to us. I love being a missionary! So laughing and smiling is a must! In my first area with Sister Johnson we got laughing about something she didn't mean to say so hard that we couldn't even say hi when the door was opened. I was about to pee my pants and then the man starts to laugh and ask why we are laughing and we try to explain but it makes us laugh harder and we just told him to forget it. But it opened up a conversation and he let us in and we taught him about 3-4 times before he dropped us. But it goes to show you that a happy face shows the light you hold more than a frown. (although laughing is not always approprate)

So that has been my week. I struggle but that's ok. It's part of learning. Plus I got a package from Mom with clothes and a family tape and CD's. There are so many stories that are funny that I want to tell you but I think i'll just send a tape becuase i stink at typing and they're better over (I was about to say over the phone, ahhh, I forget sometimes) the tape. You two are so fun together. You are going to be the best parents someday! I tell everyone how much I want a marriage like you two and Mom and Dad. It's just so cute and fun and two just work together so well through it all no matter how hard it gets. Communication, hard work and love and play is the key, especially putting God first before it all. that is the real key. Thats what I have learned more than anything in my mission so far. God makes everything better. I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!!!
I love you and Adam so much!

Love your favortie sister missionary~