I love to see the Temple...Ed went inside this week- December 24, 2018

Merry Christmas Eve everyone! This week was one of the happiest most rewarding weeks of my entire mission and here's why: Remember my incredible convert Ed who was baptized a year ago? Well he was a complete miracle to my mission and the reason I was sent out to the sticks of Winlock, Washington. When I first got to the area, I was still a greenie only having been out 3 months. I was called to serve with Sister Pullins who I had never before met and had only been out a month and a half. Lets just say I was terrified, but felt the greatest amount of peace about my transfer call. I knew that there was something amazing that God had in mind for me that transfer. When I arrived to the area, it was a complete culture shock. There were more animals than people and the houses were all at least a half mile apart. I immediately had to overcome a lot of my fears (dogs, not knowing enough, getting eaten by wild animals, failure, being unprepared, public speaking, and more). It was this transfer that I learned to let go and let God. I quickly found out one of the many reasons that I was called to serve in Winlock! And this reason was Ed. My second night of being in the area, we went over to the Bowmans to have a lesson with him. Ed had recently just gone through a lot of big life changes that put him in a humble place to be willing to learn and give the gospel a chance. However, he was extremely knowledgeable and I remember thinking several times "Why would God trust me as a young 19 year old that has a very simple knowledge of the gospel to teach someone that has a greater knowledge and more experience than I do?" As I taught Ed, I came to understand that the key to ones conversion is simply the spirit. It didn't matter that I didn't have a lot of knowledge or experience and that he did. It was the spirit that converted him and all that was needed was a very simple testimony. But long story short, Ed became converted was baptized. Flash forward a year later. Ed went through the Temple on Tuesday and I was lucky enough to be a part of it. It was honestly the highlight of my mission. The spirit was incredible and there is no greater feeling than sitting in the celestial room with your convert. Pure joy! I love this gospel and how it is made to bring us joy, and I love Ed! (: Yesterday, Alyssa was baptized!! She was SO happy and SO excited! She couldn't even sleep the night before because she was so excited to be baptized. She's amazing! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Love you all ((: Love, Sister Peterson