Oh how praying rests the weary!

After this week I don't know if sister Tranchina will ever be able to say she's had a companion that likes to pray as much as I do. Let me explain. Yesterday morning, I woke up suddenly, excited to get ready for the conference we had that day with Elder Arnold. I said good morning to sister tranchina and said "we need to pray, but let me go to the bathroom first!" I went to the bathroom, came out still in a sleepy daze, and got on my knees to pray when Sister tranchina looked at her watch and said "sister Pearson, it's 2 in the morning! go to bed!" Oh the life of a missionary. don't worry, we still prayed when we woke up at the usual time.

This week has been busy and wonderful. We taught Spencer again and had the opportunity to take him to a Russian baptism on Saturday morning. I wish Brad and Michelle could have been there because when I say Russian, I mean Russian! We didn't know that the whole thing would be in Russian! Luckily there was a translator who whispered the translation in a lovely british accent and Spencer thought it was nice. He also commented on how convenient it is that we can just fill up a font rather than having to go search for a clearwater pond as he imagined would happen. He's funny. I can already see the change that is starting to happen with him as he reads the book of mormon and gets to know more members of the church. 

I don't have much time this week but I just want to share my testimony about our divine destinies. I've been thinking a lot about the Plan of Salvation and what my role is in that. Ijust know that God really does have a plan for us, that we knew about it before this life when we lived with him, and that we can know it in this life in order to get back to him. It wouldn't make sense to return to a Father in Heaven we never knew before, return means to go back implying that we were in heaven before! There are so many wonders of God we don't know, but I'm grateful that we do know this one. God has given us all the tools we need to find purpose in this life and join with him again after this life. And the best part about it all is that we won't go back alone, but with our families!

I really don't know what else to share this week, so let me know what types of things you would like to hear about in these emails! Times up, love you all!

Love,

Sister Pearson

Hermana!

August 18, 2014

Hola mi familia y amigos muchos! I would like to introduce you to someone very special, my new companion, Sister Tranchina! To tell you a little bit about her: She is from Morcia (pronounced Morthia), Spain and is one of the happiest, most loving missionaries I have ever met. We have had an incredibly busy week full of miracles. She has been serving for 9 months in the spanish program so it was a huge shock to get called to YSA (Young Single Adults), english speaking, and now as a sister training leader. She is a natural at all 3, and so humble. She always asks me to correct her english when she makes mistakes and is teaching me some spanish too. This week has been full of lessons and moving sisters from their apartment, bike riding (I GOT A BIKE!), and lots of role plays. We found 3 new people to teach, two of which will go to the Elders when they take over Riverside ward but they will be good for them. All 3 came to church and it was a happy happy day. It feels so good to share the gospel through bringing people to church and we can just let the  experience speak for itself that the things we teach are from a true church of God. I would like to take some time to share the miracle of finding spencer, the one person we met that we will continue teaching because he lives in Rose Park. This story is proof that God is looking out for all of us and he leads people to us and us to them.

It was nearing 7 on Saturday, September 9th when we had an appointment fall through that left us with some extra time. We pulled over to the side of the road and prayed about where t go. I was on exchanges with Sister Jamison so I decided to go and stop by German, a mexican guy who has been hard to get ahold of lately but wants to learn about the gospel. On the way there, I saw 3 guys walking and had the thought to stop and talk to them. Since we were in a car I felt a little creepy and Sister Jamison confirmed that it was, but I decided to follow my impression despite the creepiness. We drove to where the boys had just turned and got out of the car. At that point they were so far ahead that we didn't want to run after them so we decided to visit a recent convert on that street. To our surprise, just as we neared they house, the boys walked into it! They happened to be high school friends of Miz, the convert and had never had missionary lessons before. We shared a quick message and none of them were interested. We walked out a little sad because it had seemed so inspired, but went on with our night. The next time we met with Miz, he said that night one of his friends texted him that he was struggling and asked if he could meet with us the following saturday. So 2 days ago we had the blessed opportunity to teach Spencer, who then came to church and is wanting to be baptized. He has had many trials in his life completely out of his control, and is very humble. Though he considered himself atheist, it is easy to see he believed in God all along, or at least wanted to. He said his favorite part about church was the hymns (no one EVER says that their first time) and he looked so happy by the end. And that's what this is all about, right? We find people who either have no happiness, some happiness, or a lot of happiness, and then we share the message that can make them happier than anything in the world, simply because it's true! When we told spencer that we had kind of followed him last week, he was touched that God had been looking out for him. Moral of the story, don't be afraid of being creeping when you know that you have a life-saving message to share. The more we invite God into our lives, the more he is able to lead us.

 There is so much more I want to share but my time is up. It was hard to say goodbye to Anthony last night and I didn't get to see chad and Daniel, but I am putting them in the trusted hands of the ward and the elders and most of all, God. He will do so much more to look out for these 3 wonderful men I was blessed to work with than I ever could. I am filled with gratitude and love for the blessings this gospel has brought to my life and the lives of everyone I've been able to share it with! Mosiah 2:41

Love,

Sister Pearson

​Say hello to Sister Tranchina! We were in a rush after dinner so they just gave us a spoonful of icecream on the way out:)

African Dinner night take 2!

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And... yes I put a chicken foot in my mouth. This is James our Ugandan friend!

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Letting Go and moving forward

August 11, 2014


Well, my heart has officially split in two. The Assistants to the mission president finally rearranged the boundaries of our stake and it resulted in us losing the Riverside ward. That means no more lessons with Anthony, Chad, or Daniel! I cried when I found out but I didn't complain because I know it is for the good of the work and I will leave eventually anyway. But first they are taking my companion, Sister Taylor up to Layton, which made everyone in our wards sad, and then we found out about losing Riverside right after church! I have been on the verge of tears for a good 18 hours every time I think about it. Starting next monday, the elders will take over the Riverside ward and we will take Capitol hill. It is a needed change but it hurts to say goodbye. People always told me before my mission how hard it is to say goodbye to people, but I didn't anticipate it feeling like this. As I've been reflecting on the situation and my strong emotional reaction, I remembered that yesterday's sunday school lesson was all about sacrifice, and I specifically made a comment about how God doesn't just require to sacrifice some of who we are, but ALL of it. for Abraham, that meant he had to sacrifice his identity as a father and be willing to give God his son. For me, on a much smaller scale, it means giving up my identity as a missionary in the Riverside ward to further the Lord's work in the way he wants it performed.God definitely has a sense of humor. He knew that lesson would help me keep an eternal perspective throughout this change. As sad as I am, I have felt a great sense of peace and comfort that all of the people we loved and worked with in the Riverside ward are in the Lord's hands now.

On a more positive note, I am getting an amazing new companion- sister Tranchina from Spain! She is going to be a Sister Training Leader with me and is moving from the spanish program to English and YSA. She is a little nervous about the adjustment, but she was already serving in Rosepark so we know each other well. She is an amazing missionary and is one of those people that you just know is good through and through when you meet them. We found out our relief society president Shannon has a bike I can use and Sister Tranchina already has a bike so that we don't have to use our car all the time! I am super excited. I've been dying to get on a bike since I got to the mission. It is a great blessing to have a car, but it makes me feel really lazy and being on a bike will be a good challenge (though we will still have a car when we need it.) Also, Anthony got baptized on wednesday! His parents flew in from North Carolina and everyone who came could feel the strong spirit there. Anthony already has an amazing testimony of the Book of Mormon and he is going to be such a strong member. We shared a message in the middle about the Plan of Salvation and I got emotional as I bore my testimony about eternal families and how God knows us individually. Something I had everyone do in the audience was to ask themselves this question: "Am I a child of God?" The amazing thing about the holy spirit is that it can't lie. So if you're reading this I want you to ask yourself that question as well. I promise that God will answer you in your mind and your heart. He is listening, he knows all things, and he is ever aware of us as his beloved children, no matter what mistakes we've made or how little we believe in him. Truth is truth, and it can't be denied.I know God has a plan for us, an eternal plan, and if you don't know about this plan yet, ask the missionaries, they can help you! :)

Love,

Sister Pearson

Romans 8:16-17

Funny moment of the week: Daniel was asking us what it was like meeting and teaching Anthony.I told him "well he was a lot like you in some ways!" Daniel said "Sister Pearson, I'm from China." I'm going to miss that guy and his unexpected sense of humor! Good thing we'll be friend forever!

I expect mom is itching to see some pictures right about now so here you go....

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​President and Sister Bennet, Anthony's parents and us!

​Meet Jeremy and Jeff. Every time we teach them we end up talking about heaven because they want to see their mom and grandparents again and I just want to cry! They were wearing matching shirts that day:)

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​Our tongan sisters... We love them!!

​pre-transfers breakfast on the floor!

Finding by accident!

August 4, 2014


This week has really been a week of miracles. It was monday night around 5:50 and pouring rain while we were traveling to our 6 o clock appointment  when out of nowhere this car hit us. It attempted to merge and failed to look to see if there were two innocent missionaries already occupying that exact space of the road. Little did he know what he was in for. Both in shock, Sister Taylor and I made sure we were both okay and pulled over. Neither of us really knew what to do and so we got out of the car and introduced ourself to the 24 year old chinese asian man that had just hit us. His name was Sandor and as Sister Taylor called the person in charge of car stuff I found out that Sandor had been on his way to sell his car in order to go back to China next week after a 3 year study abroad in America. I explained a little bit about who we were but since his english isn't great, he read my tag and realized we are christians. He said he wants to be Christian but his parents wouldn't approve. We got his information and headed on our way in time to teach our lesson before our Family Home Evening Activity that night with the ward. The next day, we met with Sandor and were able to teach him how to pray. Though he has no christian background, as he prayed he was able to feel the spirit of God. He described it as feeling emotions that made him keep talking to God. We haven't been able to get ahold of him since that lesson, but perhaps we have accomplished our purpose in finding him and letting him feel God's spirit. He is in God's hands now. I know without a doubt that everything happens for a reason- even car accidents. Yes sometimes the reason is that someone made a bad decision, but sometimes it is just God guiding us to find those searching for truth. Don't worry Dad, I wasn't even sore the next day- I'm convinced angels protected us:) And that, my friends, is how we literally found someone by an accident this week!

Sometimes missionaries do crazy things to try to teach people. Albert, the guy we met in april who went to jail and recently got released, works from 6 to 9 at night, leaving us no time to teach him. We got special permission to have a lesson with him and some members from our ward at 5:20 in the morning- to which Albert didn't show up. I'm sure God laughed at us that morning, and now we know to only set up lessons like that with extremely dependable people. Luckily the people with us both served missions and thought it was a good little adventure:)

Seeing Anthony continue to change in preparation for his baptism wednesday has been the biggest miracle of all. He told us last night that if we had talked to him 2 or 3 years ago, he would not believe that he would be making this decision right now. God truly does know us and reaches out to us throughout our lives. But, we must choose to accept his hand of help and that is what Anthony has decided to do. None of the commandments have been a question in his mind, he takes everything as it comes and trusts in God to help him keep all of these committments. He has great desires to serve those around him and sees this as an opportunity to do that even more. Sometimes I take for granted the spirit that I am able to feel throughout each day as a member of Christ's church, and so it was a sweet experience to hear anthony describe how new it was for him to feel yesterday. The holy spirit is a real force in the world today and I am a witness of that. It is the greatest teacher of truth because it bears witness to our souls rather than just to our physical senses as signs and vision do. I invite you all to think back througyh the times in your life when you have felt for the power of the holy ghost in your life, and if you have not yet had such an experience, pray to God and ask him if he knows you. Ask him if you are really His child. I promise you he will answer! This is the greatest decision I ever could have made in my life and I am so blessed to be here.

Love,

Sister Pearson

Oy!

July 28, 2014

I don't have much time this week but I just want to say thanks for all of the emails from my family- they always uplift and inspire me for the rest of the week!

this week I have been grateful for the community of believers the church provides. I'm really starting to see how God wants us to be his hands rather than expecting him to directly answer all of our prayers or take care of our needs. Anthony, the new guy we've been working with, is scheduled to be baptized August 5th and though he is really excited, he has experienced a lot of opposition this week. He knows that the Book of Mormon is true but apart from that the biggest evidence to him of the truthfulness of the church has been the people. He just barely met all of these new wonderful friends in this ward and already seems to have a crowd of people around him at church and activities at all times. God looks out for us through each other though I'm sure he longs to be the one to wrap his arms around us. One day that will be the case but until then I'm grateful for the support we can all lend to one another:) It makes me think of Mosiah 18:8-10 where alma talks about the promises we make when we are baptized. As we seek to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, I know that our hearts get bigger and our capacity to love grows. That's the amazing paradox about love; the more we give, the more we have to give. There are so many in this world that don't know that they are loved or feel that they should be loved. Once we understand our identity as God's children, it makes sense that we can love and be loved! This gospel has the eternal truths that can make us happy for eternity.

As you go about your days this week, I challenge you to ponder on what you know as true, the things you want to know more about, and the way you can obtain more truth. It is always available and God is so willing to give it to us if we take the time to get it:) 

Love,

Sister Pearson

Say hello to my wonderful roommates, Sister Pilling and Sister Bischoff. I was so grateful to have them when I got sick this past saturday! It is incredible that you can just go out on a mission not knowing anyone and be completely taken care of by other servants of the Lord.

It's the Seminaries!...and then I fainted

July 21, 2014
Though some may mistake us for the mormon missionaries, our sweet friend Jeff has taught us the our proper title, which is "the seminaries". Jeff and Jeremy are brothers that we teach and both have pretty sever mentally handicaps. they are usually home when we walk by and we teach them once a week to help them get more active in the church. It is obvious when Jeff is home because before we even walk up to the gate we hear "Hey, it's the seminaries!" and see him waving at us with a big grin on his face. Our past visit to them was quite eventful and I found out that I should probably avoid pursuing a career in the medical field. Jeremy is always running into things and getting cuts, but this time he came out from the backyard with a huge gash in his leg from who knows what and you could almost see to the bone. It was 110 degrees that day so I attribute it to the heat, but I started feeling weird and a little dizzy. I tried to ignore it and called the elders to come give Jeremy a blessing. I realized that I told them the wrong house number and decided I should probably sit down to text them because my vision was getting spotty. The next thing I know I was on the floor and my eyes were wide open though it felt like I was having a really crazy dream. I couldn't figure out where I was until I heard sister Taylor calling my name and fully came back to reality. From Jeff's uncle"s perspective he said "everyone was saying "she fainted and I said who fainted? and I looked over and all I saw was feet!" Don't worry, we still got to have a mini lesson with Jeremy and Jeff and went on with our day, but it was an experience to say the least!

Though this week has been full of cancellations, that didnt' dampen our spirits because cancellations just mean God ahs something better in store! One of the nights that everyone cancelled we were able to meet two people who we just felt that we really needed to talk to that night. One of them has a brother who is a member of our church and a mormon girlfriend and said we can come teach him this week. We also just started teaching Anthony in the Riverside ward who was a referral from our mission president's first counselor. He is new all of this but came to church yesterday and is excited to learn! H jsut moved out here from North Carolina and really wants a social group/community of believers. We told him we can help him out with that:) I love my job. did I mention I love my job? Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. Just to add a few more reasons to the list of reasons that make being a missionary the best thing ever... (in picture format)

​We took Daniel to the temple for his first time on saturday! The wait was long but it just taught me how important and marvelous temple work is. He came to a lesson with us later that day and shared his powerful testimony about the changes he's been able to make so quickly in his life. He says "I feel like a miracle!" The best part of the lesson was when he told James (referring to baptism) "Just do it! just like Lebron. Needless to say, he and James are both big basketball fans.

​Remember when I thought I would go to a foreign country on my mission? Serving in Salt Lake makes me feel like I did. If you haven't tried vietnemiese "pho" you need to. I love interacting with so many cultures daily.

​Who would have thought that after 7 years I would run into one of my camp counselor's from girls camp in utah with my cousin Hanna! The girl next to sister taylor was one of my favorite people at camp and happened to be at a goodbye dinner with the cute Gibson twins from the ward we have to give up to the elders.

​Speaking of giving up a ward to the elders, we had to say goodbye to Tim:( They will continue to teach him but it was sad nonetheless! He is such a thoughtful person and I'm excited to see what progress he makes as he studies the Book of Mormon.

Well, that is all I have for this week! Remember that God loves you, he knows you individually, and you can connect with him momentarily through prayer. I am so grateful for the experiences I am having and for the wonderful light this gospel brings into people's lives!

Love,

Sister Pearson