Here are some excerpts from Sister Peterson's letters - just a bit of their experience so far...
June 24th
“...It is difficult to recreate the context, intensity and spirit of the things we are partaking of here at the MTC. This morning was Sacrament mtg with the first presidency, all 12 apostles and other general leaders. Being given the sacrament with them gave me a special opportunity to envision, in a different way, when Christ gave the sacrament to his disciples for the first time, as well as when He visited America and gave the sacrament to the Nephite disciples and all the multitude there...Truly extraordinary... The speaker for Sacrament mtg was President Nelson and his words were titled, ‘The Hopes of My Heart’... His hopes for us and our missionaries...Then he invoked a blessing on us, our families and our missions. Ending with “We are all engaged in the work of the almighty God.”
“...We sat at Elder Bednar’s table at lunch. It was great to get up close and personal. He was candid about how difficult our jobs will be. How we will really wonder if we can do it. He said we will ‘crawl into bed and suck our thumbs and ask for our mommies...’ oh boy, I guess it is better to be prepared for the worst. Mom always said to think of the worst thing that could happen and if we can make it through that then we dont need to worry....”
June 25th
“This morning we were given talks by President Oaks and Elder Holland that were masterpieces!!! Ones that will go down in history!.... At the end Sister Holland shared a story about her becoming very ill this past year and the doctors saying that there was nothing they could do to save her. During that time of sickness, if Elder Holland could not be at her side, she kept the Book of Mormon physically in her hands - constantly - even sleeping with it. Her thought; If Nephi could raise his brother from the dead, she too could be healed and she was - there she was standing before us...”
“It is so unreal being able to be so close to the apostles all day long! They are walking beside us, sitting in class rooms with us, eating with us, hanging around after sessions and visiting with us...”
“We have had a couple of good visits with Bonnie Cordon our good friend who used to be our neighbor and is now serving as the General Young Women’s President as well as on the missionary executive committee. I wanted to remember some of her advice. After sharing with her what Elder Bednar said to us when we sat with him at lunch yesterday, she said that she loved every day of their mission. She said, “ the truth is that every day you will wake up and open your windows and say ‘good morning Laoag!’ and be so happy you are there to do the work!”... She also said to be sure to take a picture in front of the iconic world map and point to our mission because we will “never look so young again”. Meaning that we are going to age a lot in the next three years! I asked her if she was having so much fun with her calling as General Young Woman’s President and she said she really loves it!. She said, “I can be an instrument in the Lord’s hand!” I loved her confidence - it was confidence in the Lord, that He will help her do the work.”
June 26th
"President Eyring began our day today and President Ballard followed. They both hold a special place in our hearts as Elder Ballard gave us our pre-mission interview and President Eyring extended our call. So, when they speak we feel their love a little more personally.. President Eyring told us to banish any moments of doubt quickly and let the assurance of the reality that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost go with us... He told us to have the story in Jacob 5 become more than just an allegory for us, “...the servants labored and the Lord did labor with them... behold, ye shall have joy with me” ..."
"...We were told that as soon as Mark’s feet hit the ground in Laoag he is the mission president and President Andrada is immediately released. All it takes is for his feet to touch the ground there - there is no formal release for President Andrada. We arrive at the mission home around 9:30pm and will meet with President and Sister Andrada for 2 hours only - as instructed. It will be very late before we get to bed and I wonder if we will even be able to sleep knowing the “twilight zone” that we will have just entered..."
Next to the golf course by the hotel in Manilla
Conversation with the caddies