I'm Talking to WHO?!

 Welp. I'm going to start by telling y'all about yesterday because it pretty much sums up how my week has been going.

We got a call in the morning from some random lady asking what time church was and she ended up coming!! We also had a family come, so we had 6 friends at church which was crazy!! We were trying to talk to all of them at once which was rough, and then some lady walked by and made a rude comment right in front of our friends and made my companion really upset. We said bye to our friends and got them situated in their classes and then my companion started crying. So while I was comforting her, this couple walked up to us and the lady gave her a hug and the man started talking to me. He was saying how he used to be a mission president and that he wanted to get the missionary work going in our ward. This was my first week in the ward, so I just assumed that he was in the ward, but then I told him that I just got done serving in Coral Springs and he told me he was speaking at a devotional there that night and that's when I realized that I was speaking to ELDER GAYE. A GENERAL AUTHORITY!!!!!!!!! I low-key panicked and got really excited and he told us that we were great missionaries and that everything would be okay. SO COOL. It was a very crazy day after that, but we had some good lessons, and it was great. 

Some highlights of the week:

All of the missionaries in my zone went and played ultimate frisbee with the youth for a devotional and it was so fun! The elders got a bit competitive 😳 😂 no one died though, so that's good. My new zone is definitely not as friendly as my last one, but that's okay. I'm sure it will get better.

My new companion is a hoot. Her laugh sounds more like a growl and she laughs for like 30 minutes before she goes to sleep, so it's interesting in our house. 😂 

I saw my first alligator!!!!! And more huge iguanas! So cool!!! 

The members don't know what they are getting into when they say, "call me for anything..." We weren't sure if our ground beef was good to eat and we couldn't call our parents, so we called a family in the ward and described it to them. 😂 Don't worry everyone, it was fine to eat. That beef caused us a lot of trouble from the moment we picked it up... and dropped it in the grocery store. 😬😂 The next one we picked up was leaking all over, so we decided it was a curse. 

I loved seeing everyone at transfers!! It was so fun!!! 

Also the ward members here are so funny! One of them just gave us a ton of random cans of food 😂 it was so funny. She included other stuff as well. Some of it was rotten, but that's okay.

We left some sticky notes with uplifting messages on cars at the mall and it was so fun! We actually got a lot of calls back and we are now teaching one of them!! We also ran into a JW missionary while we were doing that and she started bashing. My comp and her started going at it, so I just diffused it and walked away 😂 so awkward.

Anyways. I know that God provides. When we are struggling he's always there and He will always help us as long as we are giving our sincere effort. I love you all and hope you have a great week!! ❤️ 

Getting Yeeted

 Welp. I definitely was not expecting this, but I'm getting yeeted to another area!!! Best part about it is I get to go to the same zone as Sister Young (my mtc comp)!!! I'm also going to be companions with a Sister that has been companions with 2 of the Sisters that live in my house, including my trainer! It's going to be a party!! I'm a little sad to leave this area, but I can tell that this new area is exactly where I need to be.

Now for the stories:

Top story of the week... I had another really bad day and at the very end, I fell in a bush on my bike. 😂😂😂 There is an indent in the bush now! I left my mark in Coral Springs.

I also went to a ward party thingy and we taught a lesson. There was dessert at the end, and I went and got a slice of cake and someone leaned over and whispered, "Sister Peterson, be careful with that cake! You're going to get fat!" I was shook!! It was definitely a joke, but just so everyone is aware: I'm going to come back fat... 😂

We went to the store and I saw this guy that looked exactly like a country singer with a giant beard and hat on... We gave him a picture of Jesus, so if Chris Lane converts... y'all know it was me. 😜

We had a funeral for Elder Prince at district council (he's headed to Africa to finish his mission) and it was pretty funny.

We had dinner with someone in our ward that was born in Cedar City!! So cool! They said they've never had a Cedar Sister before!

We taught another lesson to one of our friends and I think she was a little drunk... she kept saying, "stop saying the word Mormon" (we were explaining the Book of Mormon) And she was like, "we are all Christians. Don't separate it." Then the next second she goes, "You Mormons do this and this and this! What's the definition of Mormon?! You should know that?!" So if any of y'all have that definition, that would be great. 😜  Apparently during all of this, Sister King had a cockroach crawling on her. She did a really good job getting it off without freaking out though because I didn't even notice! 😂 

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I've been thinking a lot about God's plan for our lives. It all works out just the way he crafts it for us. He loves us so much. He makes everything work out the way it needs to down to the little details. I promise that if any of you are struggling, it will work out. He loves you. You can do this! ❤️❤️❤️

And I Thought I Was Getting Better at Basketball...

 Sorry y'all. I went to the temple, so this is my (shorter) summary of the last two weeks. The temple was amazing!

I'll start it out with what happened on my last p-day. Have you ever wondered what would happen if 4 Sister Missionaries walked into a liquor store? Well now you don't need to wonder! We were trying to go to a restaurant to meet the Elders and we walked in the wrong door... the man stared at us so confused and the Sister that walked in first just stood there in shock. 😂 It was like she couldn't figure out where she was at. The man asked if he could help us and we asked where the restaurant was and he looked so disappointed and told us, "next door" and then laughed REALLY hard! So awkward! We tried to get the liquor sign in the picture too, but we couldn't quite fit it with our whole district in the way. I promise it's there though. 😂

We got told so many times this week that we were not allowed to "solicit" on private property. What is it with Florida and soliciting! We are just trying to spread happiness 😃 haha! At least the sales bros will talk to us. They are everywhere. 

I tried Honduran, Cuban, and Haitian food this week! So many cultures here!! I found out that our mission is technically categorized as foreign! 

I am happy to announce that we broke the record for bagging at the homeless shelter! We made over 800 bags in 3 hours, and the record was 400. It was insane! Missionary service is magical I swear!!

Speaking of magic, since I was the last interview I got to say a kneeling prayer with President Pingree and it was sooooo powerful!! So cool! Transfers are in a week and I'm so excited, but also terrified to see what happens!

A little girl told me this week that she thought that I was 76 years old. Oof.

I got to harvest honey this week with a lady in our ward! At first, they only had 3 bee suits and my roomies took them. 😬 I am terrified of bees!!! The lady told us that the bees were aggressive because of the bad weather, so she told me to stand in the far corner. I was SOOOOO scared!! I almost started crying! I said a prayer that none of the bees would touch me because they were EVERYWHERE and it worked! They would come close and then fly away. I finally got one of the bee suits and I thought I felt something on my pants, but I figured I was just being paranoid 😅 I WASN'T. When I took off the bee suit there was a bee in it!!! I can't believe I didn't get stung!

Update on creepy dude: haven't seen him since he made fun of us at the park for being too short to play basketball 🙃.  Speaking of being too short to play basketball, there's something that Elders like to do called pros-ball. Guess who else played pros-ball? We did!!! 😂 These two guys invited us to play, so we made a deal with them. If we could make a shot, they would come to church. Welp. I didn't make the shot 😂 it was fun though.

Awkward story of the week: I was at the store and I grabbed a bag of mangoes. I went and put them in the cart by my companion and this lady comes up and says, "that's not your cart" 😂 My companion turned around and started laughing at me and I got so embarrassed, so I grabbed them and almost hit into somebody else while I was trying to get to the actual cart. So dumb 🤦‍♀️

Weirdest thing... we talked to this lady on the phone and she was saying that she went in the water in our "cathedral" for her ancestors. She's not a member?! We were like, "you went to the temple?!" She told us that "the people in the front" didn't want her to go in, but she convinced them. WEIRD! She was talking bad about "John Smith" too!

Miracles: we were searching for a referral and he only put the apartment complex, but not the number. We decided to knock 2 doors and the one that answered was his house!!!! CRAZY!!!! We have been teaching his family. They are adorable. We haven't even met him yet though!! 😂

Lastly, our friend Sharon finally came to church after 3 months of trying to get her there! Our jamaican bobsledder friend (who is single I might add) has been joining us for lessons and they ended up really hitting it off! She got lost on the way to church, and she asked for Deion to come save her. He did and we all sat together at church 😏 hehe. I love missionary match making! 

I love you all and hope that you have the best week!! Pray for our friend Willie please! He promised us he'd come to church this week!!! 🙏