MCV: Members Capturing the Vision!

When I first arrived here in Oregon, my mission president said something that I thought was oober profound and so I must share!:)

He said "You(talking to us missionaries), are not the full time missionaries. You are not from here. You only live here for 18-24 months. You may be serving a full-time mission, but you are not the full-time missionaries. The members are. The members in the wards and branches where you serve are the full-timers! They live here! They are raising their children here! They have non-member and less-active friends here!"  

I LOVE  THAT!!! Yes, I spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 18 months doing the Lord's work, but I will go home. And the same applies to missionaries everywhere. They will go home. So it is the member's job to help bring the people that they know and love the knowledge of the restored gospel! 

And as more amazing evidence that our beloved mission president is inspired, he has - through revelation from our Father in Heaven - come up with 4 steps to help members in their missionary efforts! We call it Members Capturing the Vision or because here in the OEM(Oregon Eugene Mission) we like acronyms, MCV. :)

1.) Pray! 
Pray for a missionary experience! Pray for the guidance to know what to say when that missionary opportunity comes(because it will come), pray for the Holy Ghost to be with you, pray for your less-active/non-member friends and family. Pray for a missionary experience! :)

2.) Faith!
You have the faith that Heavenly Father will help you when that missionary experience comes, because trust me, that is one prayer that Heavenly Father will grant a yes to! :) Have faith that Heavenly Father is going to guide your words and help you to know that you are doing the right thing! Faith that God will grant you the courage to talk to your friends about the gospel. Have faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

3.) Talk! 
Talking is the easy part! ;)  Talk to your friends, your family, your co-workers, your classmates. Just open your mouth! :) So many people (myself included) when their friends ask what they did that weekend, they say, "oh, nothin' just sat around my house..." and similar comments. WHY ON EARTH ARE WE DOING THIS!!! :) We are all given a beautiful, golden opportunity to share the biggest most important thing in our lives (it should be the biggest, most important thing in our lives...) and we totally flush it down a drain! It is just as easy to say, "Oh well I had a pretty cool discussion about eternal families at church on Sunday."  That's all there is to it. You don't have to teach them the 5 lessons, that's my job (hehehe :). Just share a little bit of the amazing knowledge we have about Christ's restored gospel.  

4.) Invite! 
We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the opportunity to be a part of such an awesome organization! We have worship services, we have Relief Society, we have Primary, we have the Young Men/Young Women program, we have Activity Days, we have Cub Scouts, we have Boy Scouts of America, we have sports activities, we have craft activities, we have singles activities, we have couples activities, we have family activities, we have events for young men and women, old men and women and all the in-between men and women!!!! We are truly blessed to have a plethora of different things that we can engage in and it's all because we are members of an amazing church organization and yet we are hesitant to share it! Gah!!! Share the wealth of love that we have in the church with your friends and families and invite them to different activities that you go to.  The success is in the invite, whether they say yes or not is just a bonus! :)

Alright, now I'll get off my soap box, and you all will go out and share this amazingness with those you love! :) Good night!

Love, Sister Petersen

Gratitude for the Refiner's Fire

So, as I'm sitting here trying to decide what I want to post about, I was flipping through my study journal and one of my many doodles stuck out to me and I felt I should share.

Its a doodle of what I visualize the Refiner's Fire looking like. 

(Yeah, you could say I was a little bored when I drew it but its an important principle!)

As it shows in my doodle :) choosing the right is hard.  It is hard work! There are a lot of flames that come with trials. I know what it feels like to give up. I've been down that black hole and I can promise you that the Refiner's Fire is HOT and very VERY hard to endure, but it is nowhere near the pain and torment that is waiting in that black hole. I am so grateful that my Savior sacrificed Himself for me so that I can use that ladder of Repentance and I can return to live with my Father in Heaven.

I encourage all who see this to truly reflect on the times in your lives that you have faced difficult trials that have been a blessing to you, and to take a moment and to truly thank our Heavenly Father for them.

I want to bear my testimony and express my gratitude for the times that I have had to endure the Refiner's Fire in my life. I know that life is hard, we were sent here to be tested. I know that I will be blessed for enduring my trials and I am so grateful for the lessons that I learn from them! I wouldn't be where I am today without my trials through the Refiner's Fire.  

Love, Sister Petersen

FaithFULL and FearLESS

For the longest time I have absolutely loved the quote, "Fear is the absence of Faith!" but just this past week it has taken on a whole new meaning to me. 

I struggle with what other people think of me. I'm sure we all do to some extent! I let myself get scared and clam up when I am given the opportunity to speak to someone about the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that is wrong. That is me, letting myself think that I know better than God, and I don't! I needed to learn to "Walk by Faith". 

 As you can probably tell from my last post, faith has been on my mind a lot lately. So when I found this continuation of the above quote I quite nearly giggled with giddy. 

"Fear is the absence of Faith! It is our responsibility to be faithFULL and the Lord will make us fearLESS!"

Isn't that cool!!! :) What an amazing principle! The Lord is all powerful and can do all things! He expects us to decide ;) to have the faith that we can do all things through Him, and that is when He will bless us by taking away the fear!! 

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." -Phillipians 4:13
I can teach this person about the plan of salvation! I can invite this person to be baptized! I can do hard things because I have the faith that my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ is by my side!

Thanks for readin'!
Love, Sister Petersen

Faith is More Than a Feeling

Stake Conference for the Klamath Falls Oregon stake was on Sunday and I'd like to share a very powerful lesson I learned. :)

The past week or so, I have been having some...concerns. Yeah, that's a good word, concerns!  I was praying and studying, and being obedient (at least I think I was,) and I was trying my best to be the kind of missionary that the Lord wants me to be.  But I still felt as though something was missing. That was until I pinpointed that I was lacking Faith! 

We were having trouble getting return appointments and when we did get them, the people were rarely showing up.  I was beginning to lack the conviction and boldness that I needed to perform the Lord's work.  So I started asking my Father in Heaven for that help, and He answered me in a way that I wasn't expecting.

In stake conference on Sunday, a member of the stake presidency shared a quote that really struck me! He said, " Faith is more than a feeling, it's a decision!"  AHH!! I just love that!! We can pray and pray all the live long day but that is not something that the Lord can give.  We as His children must make the decision to have faith and make the decision that we are going to make return appointments and He will bless accordingly.

Its amazing the change that I have seen in two days in implementing this into my life. 

I know that when we make the decision to have faith in our Father in Heaven and in His Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord will bless us! 


Thanks for readin'!
Love, Sister Petersen