HI IM ALIVE! :) November 9, 2021

- February 16, 2022

Hi guys!!

First off, you know those safety zone missionary training video things?? Yeah, those are required. Contrary to popular opinion (meaning my opinion) they are not "just suggestions"- they do check to see if you watched them and they will send the APs after you if you haven't. Just thought you all should know that.

Well anyway, now that I've been in West Virginia for over a week, here's some fun facts I've learned!

1- you can actually control the weather here! If you want it to rain all you have to do is curl your hair! Crazy, right?!

2- if Google maps says there's traffic that actually just means you might see another car on the road! WOW!

3- pepperoni goes with EVERYTHING! Pepperoni rolls, pepperoni noodles, you can find it all here!

As you can tell, I'm already an expert on all things WV. (For you non-natives, that stands for West Virginia. Don't worry, I got you!)

Besides learning all things WV (see paragraph above for explanation) I've also been meeting with a bunch of new people! We made a new friend, Carol, and we've been doing lessons over the phone with him. He's SUPER enthusiastic about everything we teach, but he's also SUPER enthusiastic about the fact that tobacco is actually healthy for you... so we've had some interesting talks, hahaha. But that's Carol for ya!

He ends every lesson with "Stay sober, now! And chase wicked men!"- which I think might be the best advice I've ever received. So you're welcome for sharing :)

Another guy we get the pleasure of knowing is this fellow named Richard. He's a lot of fun. Richard comes to our ward every Sunday, but he's not a member, and he's not interested in our religion. He actually comes to convert us all the the Bahi religion!

If you (like me as of last week) don't know anything about this religion, allow me to explain. The core belief is that all prophets on earth are some manifestation of God, except God's real name is "Bahaoola". But in reality, you don't need to believe this to be a part of the Bahi religion. You can believe anything you want, because everyone's Bahi religion is unique and inconsistent with each others! If none of that makes sense, know that you are not alone.

How you can be converted to a religion where no two people have the same beliefs? No one really knows. But it is quite entertaining to watch him try!

We are super lucky to get to teach so many people, but there are still days when we have to find things to fill the time.

One day we had 45 minutes that we had NO IDEA what to do with. We said a prayer and we both felt like we should just leave the apartment and figure something out. Sister Garrison said we could just go to Lowes and see if there was someone to talk to, so we did that!

When we got there, literally two isles in, we ran into this guy who yelled "hey sisters!" We had a really go conversation with him, and it ended up lasting almost exactly 45 minutes!

If you give your time and your efforts to God, He will use them! You might not always recognize it in the moment, but trust that He has a reason and that He will help you find the one :)

I hope you all know how special each of you are! You don't have to try to be anyone you're not, because the world needs YOU! Find your strengths and your talents and use them to the best of your ability to bless others. You'll find that as you focus your time and energy on Christ your life will fall into place as well :)

LOVE YOU ALL!!

- Sista Petty