Sister Amanda Peterson: April 11, 2016

Welcome to Madison, FL!

Man it has been an insane week!!!

Monday: "Farewell, Best Friends!" Saying goodbye to Taylor and Travis was sooo hard. I love them to death. It's okay, I will be getting photos and updates from em :) We spent all day getting me ready for transfers basically.

Tuesday: "Did I even Eat?" We were so busy! I skipped lunch just to pack! Then we went to Ermilisa's to say goodbye :( That was really hard. Again, it's okay haha. Then, Jonathan was asking us to come over. He accepted a baptismal date!!! It's a soft one, but he basically said that if he's in town, he will be in that font! Yay!!! We have been working so hard with him! Sister Mihalik did feed us dinner and fix a few of my skirts, thank goodness. I also got an update at institute on Ashley. She is doing much better than we thought. She's calmed down and doesn't really hate the church. She is attending sacrament and even watched all of conference. I needed that. I literally started crying when I heard she was doing alright. I am definitely able to leave in peace now. The rest of the night, Sister Hilton helped me pack. I only have the bags I came with!! yay!!

Wednesday: "Goodbye Pensacola!" We had an early breakfast with Marina and we packed a bit more. Eventually it was time for me to leave. We waited forever, then I got the car for Madison! It's all ours! I picked up and dropped off sisters all day with the transfer van to Tallahassee. Then I finally got my companion. By the time we got to our apartment, it was 9:30.

Thursday: "We uh, planned and stuff". So my companion and I are both new to the area, meaning we are whitewashing. We spent all day unpacking and trying to figure out the area. We did see someone that night. Did I mention that Sister Brandt had actually started her mission here??? Super helpful! I am killing her off this transfer (she's going home in 6 weeks). We got right to work after we figured things out.

Friday: "Go Teach!" We just taught a ton all day. That's about it. Lots of old people who don't make sense.. Then we met some cool young people though! Also, our one potential baptism lady! She's super sweet.

Saturday: "Go meet some more people" We met some people! Saw a lot of less active members. My favorite was at this one guys farm on this giant pond. It was beautiful. I missed this type of scenery so much! He was a cool, typical country guy! He gave us some beef and pork sausage on our way out from his farm. I couldn't resist the sausage. It was good. Hopefully I don't get sick. I think I might have a bit.

Sunday: "We Love Missionaries!" This branch loves us and missed having missionaries!!! Everyone wants to feed us and help us in any way. It is great. I feel such a great vibe here. I already love em! That night, we went out to do splits with members of the branch in what they call rescue. It is just like my YSA ward's outreach night where we go with members to visit less active members in the ward. We then had dinner with our super fun branch mission leader and his wife. They are recently returned missionaries and super fun to work with! I definitely got a lot of brownie points with my sass. I don't know why, but southerners love sassy people. I fit in well!

Man, I love you all and I am on fire with excitement to build the work in this area! We are basically starting from scratch. The elders really didn't do much here. In there defense, sisters do better in this area. Here we go!

Oh, enjoy all the random pictures I took this week.

-Sister Peterson