Love like a sunset part I

It all began during personal studies.

Bradford and I receive an unexpected telephone call from an unknown number.

I answer 'hello! This is Sisters Petty and Bradford'

The caller: 'hi. This is Semisi, you left a card on my girlfriends door with your number on it.'

I didn't doubt it, whenever Sister Bradford and I tract and no one answers, we always leave our number. But what was ridiculously unusual was that someone was actually calling us because we left our number. I expected Semisi to ask us to not do that again or to question us why in the world we would do that. So the next statement caught me off guard, to say the least.

'My girlfriends name is Kathy. She wants to take the discussions.'

That was the first (and probably last) time that someone has actually reached out to us and asked to take the discussions. I was just 😮. We went over on Wednesday night, and to our surprise they had Mormon tabernacle choir playing in the background. Semisi told us that he's a member, he just hasn't been to church for a long time. He served a mission and was even sealed in the temple once upon a time.

Kathy told us that she took the discussions 10 years ago, but she wasn't ready for it then. She said that she doesn't take it lightly, to meet with us. She told us that she's ready this time. We shared a bit of the restoration with them, and at the end we invited them to read the Book of Mormon. They said that they were ALREADY IN 1 NEPHI 15. They've started reading the Book of Mormon before we even met with them!! To sketch you an idea of how miraculous this is, our most promising investigator, who we've been meeting with for about 3 months now, just read the first chapter. So I about cried when they said that they're ON CHAPTER 15.

It only gets better when they came to church. They're every missionary's dream. I'm so grateful that God put them in my path. They're such gems, I love Semisi and Kathy so much. I'm grateful to be here in Peoria and that I'm literally living a lifelong dream of mine, to serve a mission. This week definitely had its downs as well as its ups though, but I'll press on.

Shall we not go on in so great a cause?

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

These photographs are from a missionary initiative we tried last Saturday 'Pioneer Pie Day'... it actually went very well

Let us all press on

Hello muh doods,

Saturday I asked Sister Bradford to plan the day. Completely, all by herself. She did it, and she did well. Of course, she's my prodigy. We spent most of the day contacting former investigators. Just before dinner, we knocked on the door for a man named Richard who showed interest in the church 2 years ago.

His brother Pete answered. He was honestly shocked that we came at that moment. Why? Richard was on his deathbed. He was going to die any hour, and family members were coming in and out, saying their goodbyes. He's been battling cancer for a year at the age of 56. We said a prayer for him.

After that I said that we had a message about life after death, and we could share it in as little as 15-20 minutes. Pete said that we had 5 minutes. So I planted my feet firmly on the ground, and shared the truths of eternity, the reality of our pre-mortal life, the purpose of our life on earth, and the potential sons and daughters of God have in the life to come. Pete said that he'll be telling this story for years to come. I believe that I will as well.

Teaching comes naturally. We've been taught this since we were born. The trick is to live the principles that we know are true. Knowing something and acting on that knowledge are two completely different things. The reason God wants us to know the plan of salvation is so we can know the great impact that our decisions have on eternity.

On the other hand though, I think it's important to know the forgiving and loving nature that God and Jesus Christ have. They want each of us to return to him, every last person on earth, and they're going to make it possible. It's not always easy, we'll face opposition always, but it's so possible. The only requirements are to have faith, to repent, to be baptized, and to endure to the end with the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Anyone can make the cut, and that's no accident.

Some news- Sister Bradford and I are going to have roommates now. I know one of them, she was in my last zone. We're stoked because this will be the first time that either of us have had roommates on the mission. I'm also going to be a sister training leader, or STL. That's kind of like being a district leader or a zone leader but for all the sisters in the area.

It'll be rad, I'm looking forward to it🐨

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

The finger painters of the zone

Peacocks just wander around here... I don't know why

The ward mission leader, brother zanzucchi 

We started teaching this woman who's native language is Urdu & Hindi🤙

I'm in a trio now

Summer days

Hellooo

Lemme tell you all about a young buck named nick fortunato. He's 21 years old and works at winco. His family were all baptized about three years ago. They stopped attending church very abruptly one day, and just as abruptly they came back a couple months ago. Nick is the only one in his family who's not a member, and we've been teaching him for about two months now. He's low key proud of the fact that he's gone through about 8 sets of missionaries.

But we're the last.

We've had two lessons with him this last week. In the first one, we insisted that he said the closing prayer (we've been unsuccessful in past attempts). He finally prayed! His mom said 'you guys don't understand. Nicks never prayed for missionaries before!' I was soo happy for this mini victory.

We didn't have much time to prepare for the second lesson. So I just said a quick prayer and felt prompted to check where he's at on his baptism goal. He's had most of the missionary discussions, he comes to church every week, the only thing that's stopping him is that he feels like he doesn't have a testimony. So I made him swear up and down that he'll read and pray about the Book of Mormon. Not gonna lie, I told him I'll smack him if he doesn't haha.

The church is still true, anyone can gain a testimony and grow it,

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

Quick story- we've tracted an entire apartment complex. We found 1 investigator and 6 referrals for the Spanish elders. This is the laundry room for said apartments.

For the Fourth of July we crashed our bishops barbecue and played with their chickens... this is what's fun as a missionary(;

Bradford introduced me to bomboza's. They're pretty good, almost as good as raspberry jam hahahah 

'To date, 16 men have been chosen by the Lord to be presidents of His church, restored in this dispensation-- this culminating dispensation in the history of the earth. I have personally known 10 of those 16 men. (That says more about my age then anything else. Lets just put it this way: I no longer buy green bananas. I could hide my own Easter eggs)' -Russell M. Nelson

Fences

Let's chat.

About Peoria.

And the many happenings here.

More specifically, about the many happenings in the Delgado home. It all began with Mardiselle Delgado. Mardiselle is an incredible woman in her mid to late thirties. She's had a wild life, with the climax being when her ex husband shot her in the head in 2012. She has two girls and four boys, ranging from ages 13-21. The fact of her survival helped her recognize Gods hand in her life, and lead her to repent and settle down.

She's been investigating the church on and off since 2014, when a couple of elders tracted into her. I believe missionaries in the past have dropped her (meaning stop teaching her) again and again because she never keeps the appointments she makes. But I figured her out. It's just the culture of the Delgados, to just come and go as the wind takes them. They live a life without planners, calendars, or alarms. They simply don't set appointments, so of course they don't keep them. They are, however, always eager to have the missionaries come back. So I've just decided to stop by once or twice a week, and share the missionary discussions as we go along.

I want to briefly cover the culture of their home once again. Family are constantly walking in and out, coming and going. Extended family, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandparents, etc. It's quite distracting and difficult to keep track of who's who. But once again I've just accepted it as the culture of the Delgados, and always have my notebook ready to jot down names haha.

Harvey is the grandfather. A few weeks ago, the first time Bradford met the Delgados, I had a personal chat with Harvey. He told us that we're always welcome to come, and although he's always working on something, he listens every time we share a message. I asked him if, the next time we come around, he could gather up everyone in the family who's interested. After that it was great. He'd pull kids out of rooms, turn off the television, and say something like 'Having God in your life won't hurt you' or 'heaven and hell is real, and it's not just random where you go. It's your decision.' I've never appreciated anyone as much as when Harvey sets the stage for us that way.

After Harvey started doing that for us, more and more Delgados join us for our discussions. The distractions are still very present, but I'm hoping we'll teach the entire family by the time I leave hehe. As of the last time we went, we taught 5 of them. Mostly we teach the children, because Harvey essentially makes them listen, but they're full of questions and quite interested in the Book of Mormon. Their names are Luisa, Precious, Julie, and Jayline.

Julie is a ridiculously sassy 9 year old. The first time we taught her, I showed her what sin and repentance means with an object lesson. mardiselle made an offhand remark about how her children are bastards, and Julie turned to her, open mouth and wide eyed and said 'these women came to talk to you about GOD. And you're... sinning! You're a sin!' Bradford couldn't stop herself from laughing, but mardiselle wasn't amused hahah.

I won't tell you about everyone in the home, but I just want to share a bit about Precious. She's mardiselles youngest daughter at age 13, and she's AMAZING. When things get out of hand, she'll whip around and say 'you are so disrespectful! They're trying to explain something to you and you won't listen! Listen to them!' And then she'll turn back to us and implore that we teach on. Seriously, every time we come she asks about baptism (why? how? who?) even though we haven't taught much about it.

So that's life in the Delgado home. I want to end the on and off cycle of mardiselles by helping her become a progressing investigator, but it's all up to her and her agency.

Pray on,

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

As part of my discussion last week for district meeting, I had everyone (10 missionaries) put a tally next to how they found someone they baptized. PMF refers to Part Member Family. BUT THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD GIVE MISSIONARIES REFERRALS.

Family of the week! The colebrooks! They gave us a giant watermelon last night, and we gave it to the elders in our district. When I told them about it they literally ran to our vehicle... I've never seen them so giddy. 

I didn't go to the temple this week, this was taken when the flowers could still grow. As Harvey says, 'a little God won't hurt you!' 

Lisztomania

Good morning ☀️🌞😃

This week has been filled with blessings, always. We got to take Emily to the temple on Saturday night. I asked her what her favorite part was, and she said getting into the water (that was her favorite part during her baptism as well) I followed up with how was it compared to her own baptism? She said that it was better then her own baptism, since she was doing it for other people<3

If there's one thing that I could say to everyone, it's the assurance that Christ lives, that he knows and loves us. I sustain president Thomas S. Monson in his divine role as a prophet, seer and revelator. A sure fire way to strengthen your testimony is to share it with others. God Bless,
Jane

Emily told me that she wants to serve a mission(:

I was looking for a job and then I found a job, heaven knows I'm miserable now (post cleaning a hoarders house)

Sun setting

Goodbye president(:

On fire 🔥

Hello from Peoria, Arizona(:

This week has been AMAZING. I'm so so grateful for the blessings that Heavenly Father has showered us with. Yesterday at church a returning less active said the opening prayer for my class and in it she said 'Happy Father's Day Heavenly Father!' It was so cute I have never heard someone say happy Father's Day to God before.

Truth be told, this week didn't start off amazing. We had over half our appointments cancel on us. No one would talk to us or invite us in. Honestly, I'm used to all that at this point but I outrageously wanted Bradford to have a chance to invite someone to be baptized. Unfortunately, you can't do that if you don't see the people you want to invite hahha. We had district meeting (where you meet with the other missionaries in the stake) on Thursday morning (it's usually on Friday's but we changed it for reasons I'll get into shortly). I shared my concerns with my district leader and he looked at me and said 'maybe God needs you to go through the refiners fire'. I didn't say anything, but in my head I was like NOOOOOO. I feel like I've been there, done that. It bothered me, but district meeting turned around for the better when we had some stellar discussions.

So that night, we had a lesson with Jennifer at 6:15. Right after dinner, we received a text from her. I fully expected her to cancel with some lame excuse as is the pattern of this week, but you'll never guess what she said. She said that she was waiting for 6:15!! This sweet woman was literally waiting for us to come and teach about Jesus Christ. I was so touched, I cannot express how I felt. So we went to her house right away and shared a great lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Then we asked her to prepare to be baptized on July 15, which she eagerly accepted. YES!

The next day was Friday okay. That is the pattern, Friday's follow Thursday's. This Friday was very special though. Because we threw a huge, mission wide party for our mission president! President Griffin is returning home to Montana next week, as it is the end of his mission. It was stellar to see all the missionaries in the mission and to play games and compete in crazy events. President gave all the missionaries a hug goodbye, including the sisters. I'm going to miss him and Sister Griffin so stinkin much, but I'm looking forward to welcoming President and Sister Collins (more on them later).

At the end of the party, Sister Bradford and I exchanged with our sister training leaders. Sister Bradford was in charge of leading our area, meaning she'll have to navigate the streets and lead lessons without my help, since I was in a different area. In the duration of the exchange, we had two lessons for two investigators that Bradford hasn't met yet. I told her to put them on date for baptism. She said okay. I'd like to point out here that this was her 11TH DAY ON THE MISSION. Still very fresh. Still a baby. I didn't really expect her to do it, but, as the saying goes, I hoped for the best and expected the worst.

The next day, when we exchanged back, she didn't say anything about the lessons. I didn't ask, like I said, I expected the worst (wow I seem v pessimistic in this email). After, like, a HALF HOUR she finally told me how it went. THEY'RE BOTH ON DATE FOR BAPTISM 😮 I'm so stinking impressed and excited! I'm as happy as a clam muh doods. We are on fire, figuratively and borderline literally.

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

I know approximately 1/3. Not bad for only serving in two areas(;

We haven't been to relief society for awhile haha 

Birds birds birds 🐦 

Second to none

muh doods,

Lemme tell you about my new companion. Her name is Sister Bradford and she's from Meridian Idaho. She graduated with the class of 2015 and did three semesters at byui, working towards a major in elementary education. She and I were born within a week of each other, and we'll likely spend our birthdays together, which is tight (I'm always sharing a birthday hahah). Once again, I'm stoked to train and the nerves are starting to die away, which is great.

Our investigator, nick f, is slowly showing signs of progression. He attends church with his family, but usually only stays for sacrament. We ran and talked to him after sacrament yesterday, pressuring him to attend our gospel principles class. Erika, our return missionary friend, saw us and joined in. When I realized that three girls were ganging up on poor nick, I backed off. We'll get him next week though(;

I think it's important to know what a huge impact we have on those around us. Although we might not have the power to change the world, we can change our world, the world around us. It only takes a few good member missionaries to make or break the work in a ward. The man who moved a mountain did it one rock at a time. May the Lord bless us all with the sense of our divine identity.

Stay golden,

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

Photographs to come soon

Training💪

What's good?

This last week has been delightful. It all began with Amanda Raymond. We found her while looking for a member of the ward. She answered the door and informed us that, no, there isn't a Greg living there. After chatting for a little bit we found out that she's Christian and looking for a good church to take her kids to. That's where we come in😎 So I'm just so excited for her and her family. They're very receptive and what the kids now call a 'dry Mormon', meaning that she already lives and believes church standards.

I sent home Sister Giles yesterday morning. She's finished her mission. I'm going to miss her, we had such a good companionship. But she's off to do greater things, school and eventually becoming a firefighter (how cool is that ferrealdoe). This leads me to my next companion. What a treat.

I'm going to be training a new sister, straight outta the MTC. I'm honestly STOKED. and NERVOUS. but STOKED. I haven't met her yet, but I know that there's only three coming in this transfer. So it's either a) the one from Utah, b) the one from Idaho, or c) the one from California. President says that none of them are crazy. I have a right to be skeptical though hahah.

I want to leave off saying how much I love you all (aka the ones who actually read my emails) and that I'm as happy as a clam to be here and to learn and grow and share the gospel. The best part about our message is that it's true, and we don't have to worry about fighting anyone about it, because our job is to invite others to find out for themselves through sincere prayer and scripture study. I'm so glad that I can confidently do that. Once again I bear witness of the divinity of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

Enjoy the sunshine ☀️,

-Sister Jane Petty
6833 West Bell Rd
Glendale, Arizona, 85308

Soo... I realized that I never sent a photograph from Emily's baptism. This girl is SUCH A SWEETHEART. She's enjoying trek as I type, I love her 😍 

The dream team muh doods. Half of them are being transferred! They'll be greatly missed 

How to make a missionary happy: lots of chicken nuggets.

rally

who remembers ynelda? the investigator that I've been taking painting lessons from? I cant recall how much I've share about her. she is such a sweetheart. she wants to be baptized so badly but her husband won't let her. last Thursday she told me that from all the Mormons she knows, I'm the nicest one. this just melted my heart, because I know that she's really great friends with a handful of Mormons. it was precisely what I needed to hear at that time. I hope her husband softens his heart):

I know that there's been heartache for friends and family at home. I also know that our testimony of the savior can bring us hope in the midst of our trials. ive seen this truth again and again in my life. don't live your testimony halfheartedly. when you pray, pray aloud. when you study the scriptures, ponder them. when you attend church, sing loud. when you do these things, you'll find hope and peace instantly. I mean it. I know it.

much love,
jane p

photo 1: we're not supposed to feed the ducks but occasionally we may drop a cracker(;

photo 2: highlight of the week is when sister griffen, the mission presidents wife, took a handful of sisters out to lunch. am I blessed or what?

I'm an actor

Story time!

There I was, driving home with Sister Burkgren after a long day of
exchanges (i.e. switching companions for the 24 hours). Instead of
catching up like we normally would, she whips out the phone and makes
steady eye contact with me (but my eyes were on the road, k).
"Whatever you hear, stays in this car. Do not tell anyone about this
conversation."

I'm great at keeping secrets, I swear. I mean, this next part of the
story is approved to go on my newsletter email. The next 10 minutes
unfolded in a dramatic series. The short of it is that a sister
missionary needed to go home early, and so sister Burkgren and I took
on her companion, sister posadas. We are now a trio. And we're
covering her area as well. All together, we were over 5 wards this
week. 5 WARDS. This is going to continue until February first, and on
that day sister posadas will get a new companion. I'll get a new
companion as well, since sister Burkgren is also going home. She's
served her whole mission, calm down.

Sister posadas is a hilarious missionary from the Philippines 🇵🇭 she
has a great taste in music and has been out for 15 months. I'm stoked
to have her as a companion for the next week, we get along like yin
and yang.

Every morning we've had to do roleplays to prepare for lessons.
Roleplaying is the most painful way study. But the other day I just
woke up and realized that I'm an actor when roleplaying, an decided
that I could get used to it. On that day we had interviews with our
mission president, and he said that we don't have to do them at all.
Typical.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. I wanna hear from you all, so
send me an email containing the following; the best thing that's
happened this week, your birthday, a missionary moment you've had
recently, your address, and what you've been up to (i.e. jobs,
relationships, hobbies, etc). Keep me in the loop, love you guys<3

-Sister Jane Petty

run run run

Good morning! And in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good
evening, and goodnight! 😘🌙😴💤

This week has been the bees knees. Although my companion has been
struggling with sleeping, and my constant sleep talking doesn't help.
My sleep talking has gone to a completely different level since I've
entered the field. I'll give the lessons, get on my knees to pray, and
actually get out of bed and stand up to try and shake someone's hand.
As long as I don't try to bike or drive to appointments I think I'm
fine haha😅

I've also been running, two miles every morning. It might not sound
like much but it's a big deal bc I've never willingly ran before. I
don't like it but maybe if I keep at it I will? I'm counting on that
anyway. I can't imagine summers, it's already pretty toasty when I get
moving. props to Kate for braving Chicago winters.

I feel excellent, there's nothing better then a chance to share what I
know is true to someone who wants to learn. We may have a new
investigator, the stars are aligning for the boan family. They are so
well read and clever, I adore talking to them about the scriptures and
mission life. Not once they've asked what I'm going to do after my
mission, which is refreshing.

Have a great Martin Luther King Jr. day (today's everyone's pday;)

-Sister Jane Petty

Definitive breaks

Good morning! 🌞

This week Sister Burkgren and I helped Clair & Ben set up their family search accounts and helped them find names to take to the temple. Clair's mom (who isn't a member) is stoked to learn more about her ancestry. Apparently Ben is a family history buff, he's already figured out his family lines clear back to the 1600s. So we're going to sync his ancestry account and continue to build Zion💃

A few nights ago we were tracting in the rain. The first door we knocked on was sherri's, who almost started crying when we told her who we were and offered to help with anything. She invited us to come in and help her take down her Christmas decorations. She was so nice. She has an unshakable testimony of Jesus Christ and the Bible. Unfortunately, she isn't open to learning about the Book of Mormon. But we were invited to come back, which we will(;

For New Year's Eve we busted out our favorite cds and played games with one of our ward missionaries, Nanette. We laughed too hard and drank too much sparkling cider. It was a good one though, it beats the stake dances I've been to by a long shot. Even though we were in bed by 10:30 hahaha

Power to the peons✊️

-Sister Jane Petty

Funky square dance (part 1/2/3)

HEYYY

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! On Wednesday 1/3 of the
mission got to go see the mesa temple lights (much like the salt lake
temple lights, minus the debilitating cold). It was beautiful, and we
even got a tour of their visitors center and was encouraged to bring
investigators there. So this probably won't be the last time you'll
read about the mesa temple(;

On Christmas Eve sister Burkgren and I enjoyed a delightful dinner
with Gary Robinson and his family (fun fact- brother Robinson was a
missionary in New Zealand and lived with my dad and his family when my
dad was just a kid💁). After that we drove by the Phoenix temple (just
a few minutes from my apartment- don't know if I've mentioned that but
I'm blessed as heck). It was wonderful to be there, on the night we
celebrate the Lord Jesus's birth.

The owoeyes came to church to hear us give a talk! The talks went
well, I was over the moon that they came to support us and feel the
spirit on Christmas Day. I loved the chance to see my parents and my
little sister, it was wonderful because they're the best family ever,
no joke. Love you all!!

-Sister Jane Petty

Embuscade

Hey now!

We've been teaching a really great investigator family called the owoeyes, they've been amazing. The mom, sanrita, told us that she wants us to think of them like family. I love them, I'm really hoping that they'll come to find that the church is true. They're going through a tough time in their life though (as well as all our other investigators, it seems). I really wish that others could see that Jesus Christ is the best way to ease burdens, not an added burden.  

The other night we were trying to decide where to tract or who to visit when we saw a big moving truck and a house full of family. We walked up and asked if they needed help. They said no, but we could sing a Christmas carol to the children (this request may be the consequence of wearing Santa hats, but I can't be sure). So they hollered in the house to get the children to come out. Two came out. Then four. Five, six, seven. More and more until we had a staggering crowd of 15 kids, aged 3-16. Amidst the requests for rudolf the red nosed reindeer, frosty the snowman, and deck the halls, we hushed them up with Away in A Manger. After we finished our tune they clapped and all of us started bringing in the stuff from the moving truck (they were more open to us helping after that scene). We found out that it wasn't one family but an extended family who all happened to visit that night. The moms name was Michelle. The chance of them becoming investigators is slim but not impossible. If anything, it was an interesting experience.

We also met an interesting couple in their 60s called the robinsons. They just moved in from Utah but aren't Mormon. They were so welcoming, they invited us in our home, introduced us to their friends (by our first names, that was weird), gave us slices of pie, and even gave us a tour of their home. I was honestly a bit unsettled by their friendliness, but I enjoyed it(: hopefully they'll like to know more about the church as well (my mantra for this week).

Do good, feel good, God is good,

-Sister Jane Petty