Bringing the HEAT to Olympia

To explain the topic of my email, my mission nickname is Pete. So Pete+Hutch=Heat. Together we're bringing the heat to the most colorful, liberal part of Washington. But for real, I've never seen so many rainbow flags and walls in my entire life! Sister Hutch and I doubled in (whitewashed) to the area. So we're both brand new and starting to get a good feel of the area! It seems to be a trend on my mission because I've doubled in to every one of my areas besides one! I kind of already talked about this last week, but the wards here in Olympia are awesome! They've made different specific missionary goals and I've seen how they've unified the ward. Some of these goals include praying for Sister Hutchings and I by name, handing out a Book of Mormon, having 10 convert baptisms by the end of this year, and lots more! They are amazing and I'm excited to work with them. They've got that #WEIT attitude (whatever it takes). On Monday, we went to FHE with the singles branch. We played beach volleyball and ate watermelon! My two favorite things to do (: On Friday, we had MLC. I got to see all my friends and eat lots of cereal (we always have a cereal bar which is my favorite part). We talked a lot about firing the flame of faith in our mission and helping our mission to get extra excited about the work! I've been able to see a lot lately how faith always precedes the miracle. We all walked out on a spiritual high and an extra boost to give it our all! Cool story! Tuesday was park day (where we don't get to use the car for the day so we walk). Our area is huge so at this point, we still didn't know how to navigate around our area very well. We were walking down the street and noticed some apartments, so naturally we started knocking them. The first door we knocked on, this really mean African American guy came out and bashed with us and was extremely racist against me ("blonde hair and blue eyes"). After about half an hour of him trying to argue our beliefs, we politely ended the convo and knocked on the next door. Behind this door was Jessica! She was so grateful that we knocked on her door because she had just found out a few hours before that she had breast cancer and she's only a few years older than us. During one of the most difficult times of her life, she was ready and prepared in that moment for us to knock on her door and help her to receive more peace in her life. Then she introduced us to her 2 friends that are ysa too! I'm sharing this story not to make you feel bad for us (we come across people like that man everyday), but because I know that oftentimes the greatest miracles happen right after some of our biggest trials. There is always something good that is waiting right around the corner for us! We just gotta have the faith (: Great news! Bailey is getting baptized this Friday! So background on him: He's dating a girl in our ysa branch and has a lot of mormon friends. In fact, when we walked in for our first lesson with him, his friend Nick was there! I was shocked because Nick lives in Winlock and I served in his ward and totally knew him! Bailey and Nick have been lifelong friends and Bailey insisted that Nick is the one that baptizes him! Nick actually leaves on his mission next week to Cape Verde, so we're having his baptism just before he leaves as a nice little send off (: Bailey is so sincere and knows that baptism is the best decision that he can make right now. He loves coming to church and the ysa activities. And although he's 18, he has a good relationship with his mom and she hasn't been the most supportive. He could use some extra prayers this week! More great news! If you all remember KC that was baptized towards the beginning of my mission, he's getting married in the Medford Oregon Temple this week! This gospel truly blesses families (: I love you all! Have the best week and remember that faith always precedes the miracle! Love, Sister Peterson 606 Lilly Road NE #425 Olympia, WA 98506 Pics (sorry there's a lot this week):