There will be 23 hours of plane ride ahead of me, but I can't wait!!  This is what the last 8 weeks has been about.

Sister from Thailand and her companion, assigned to Temple Square.

 

 

Our teacher.

 

 

Week Eight:

 

My last P-day at the MTC!!!! I'm so excited to get out into the field!  

 

This week has been one exciting day after another!  (Sorry for all the exclamation points but I…can't help it!!!!)  Reason one:  Our progressing investigator Eey, finally committed to baptism! I've probably mentioned this before but even though deep down I know these investigators aren't real, our lessons with them and their progression really affects me and from what I’ve gathered, the same goes for every other missionary.  Eey was really hard to figure out and understand his needs but on Thursday night, our lesson just went beautifully and my companion and I were really feeling the spirit and we ended our lesson with a baptismal challenge (we'd already ask a few times but he wasn't ready) and he said he was ready and he understood the importance of it!!!!

 

Reason two:  My district received our travel plans right before General Conference.  The time here was starting to slow down (painfully) and this gave my district the boost we needed to use our time wisely.

 

Reason three:  General Conference! For those of you who were unable to watch it, I urge you to go online and do so.  Never have I been so spiritually fed in my life.  The over-all themes I received from the talks were the Lord is hastening his work and Now is the time to develop faith and then put it into action.  If you were here at the MTC you would know this is true the Lord is hastening his work and so many missionaries have responded!  For me personally, I have been learning a lot about faith and the power that comes from it.

 

Several of the talks urged us to put our faith in Christ into action and I'm so excited to start doing that (especially as I head out to Thailand!).  I know that the Lord will bless us when we show we have faith in him (Ether 12:6).

 

Reason four:  I'm leaving for Thailand in 5 days! And finally…

 

Reason five:  My companion and I were asked to demonstrate how to begin teaching to all the new missionaries today!  This means we get to go in and teach one of the actor-investigators in front of a bunch of freshly dropped off missionaries.  I'm really nervous and very excited at the same time.  This is the first time my companion, Sister Maughan and I will be teaching in English so I sort of feel like I'm starting from scratch.  I remember our first day here watching this demonstration of teaching and thinking those missionaries are being awkward and I'm probably going to be twice as awkward but...oh well experience is worth its weight in gold and we'll just rely heavily on the spirit!

 

Love

Sister Marina Peterson

The famous MAP photos.

 

Class and the Elders

 

 



 

Week Seven:

This week was amazing.  I had the opportunity to sing in the Sister Missionary choir at the Conference Center!  When they told us President Monson was speaking, I was so excited!  The whole experience was very surreal.  Our choir director, during rehearsal, taught us how to cry and not look like a mess.  She explained that if you try to choke back tears they will just end up running down your nose, which isn't very pretty.  If you rapidly blink them away, they role down your cheeks, like in a movies.  I didn’t understand why at first they were teaching us this because I’ve never cried in a song before, but when we were singing the spirit was like ten times stronger then during our practices and about half of us were crying (me included)…but you couldn't tell because of our crying training, LOL.

 

President Monson talked right before our final song and I’ve never felt so inspired in my life.  I know with all my heart the Relief Society is a divine organization filled with amazing women of all ages and nationalities and I felt very humbled and blessed to have the opportunity to sing for them.  

 

It was really nice to leave the MTC for awhile...I realized I hadn't been in a car for a while because the minute we passed BYU campus in the bus, I was car sick.  J  I don't know what I'm going to do on a 18 hour plane ride!  (She has done it before so I know she will be OK. Dale)  I'm so excited to go to Thailand but now that its closer, I'm also really sad to be leaving my teachers and parting ways with my district and companion.   :-(  

 

My companion and I hosted the new missionaries today for the first time.  It felt good to talk to Sisters who were just beginning their mission.  I’ve never been so excited for another person in my life!  I was so nervous coming into the MTC but reflecting back to my first day here, the minute I was in my class, serving the Lord, I knew I was where I needed to be.

 

I love my companion and my district and we've all become such good friends as we struggle to learn a Thai!  I showed two sisters around and both of them were pretty nervous and it felt good to be able to say with conviction that their time here was going to bless their lives and their respective missions.  I have a strong testimony of the importance of missionary work and I'm so happy to be apart of it!

 

Love

Sister Marina Peterson

Last Saturday, Marina sang at the Relief Society General Conference in Salt Lake City.  You can view it on lds.org  You can see her on the opening and closing songs.  Here are some pictures:

Last week was a busy week for Marina and me (her Dad).  Sorry for the late posts but here they come!