Suffer the little children

This week was so great! I can't write down everything but I'll tell you all about something very special that I have noticed. Here in southern California it's very hard to get people to talk with you. If you're lucky you can get them to take a picture of Jesus. Which is great but the goal is to have a qgc which means quality gospel conversation. The other night we went to a city called Brea with my district. There is a down town area that is very fancy and lots of people walk around there all the time. We went tabling. We take a table and take it to a street corner that's busy and set it up. Then we decorate it with book of mormons and pamphlets. Then we talk to as many people as we can! It's actually really really fun. We didn't really get anyone to talk to us a whole lot but it's alright! The coolest thing happens though. Every single child, under the ages 4 or 5, immediately walk towards us. Letting go of who's ever hand they were holding or walking away from their parents to come and talk to us. Their smiles were so big! And of course there parents would freak out and come running to grab them. But as they walked away the child would look back at us smiling and waving. At first I didn't notice it. But after around 3 kids did it I began to notice. They were drawn to us because they could feel of the holy ghost and sacred calling we hold. I have no doubt they could feel the presence of angels that were with us and maybe even see them. Children are so precious and it was a blessing to be able to witness their goodness. It's things like this that keep me going throughout the week when you feel like progress is slow. 

Yesterday we also had a really special experience happen. I talked about the felicianos last week. Well we couldn't get a hold of them and three appointments fell through this week as well. But last night we were walking around down town and it's like little Mexico haha. But we kept walking and we honestly walked for like 20 minutes without feeling like we needed to stop. But then we realized we had been walking towards the felicianos. So sister pressler was really feeling like we needed to go see them. So we did. We got there and they were home. Miracle. Cause cathy is never home. My dad taught me some Tagalog and when she opened the door she didn't look super thrilled to see us but then I said "toe po!" Which means hello or something. Her face was super confused cause I pronounced it way wrong hahaha. So she corrected me and laughed super hard. She let us in and we talked about the restoration. She hasn't come to church in a long time so she and her daughter don't remember very much. The conversation led into a very strong commitment to come to church. My companion and I spoke with the power of the holy ghost. I couldn't believe what I had said when I said it but I did! I said "cathy if you come to church 4 time in a row, you will find a new job that works with your schedule. It will pay you enough, and you will have time for your children. You will also be given a calling and fulfill that calling. And most importantly you will be happy" I felt the power of the holy ghost working through me and my companion. She also promised things to them if they read their scriptures and prayed. The spirit in that room was tangible. I've never done anything like that. And after I did I was actually worried because I had promised her some very specific things. Please pray for them. Pray that they will come to church! They need it so much:) you are all awesome and I love you! It always helps to hear from you all (especially my family), so please email! I'll try my best to get back to you! 

California!

Hello everyone! It's so good to finally email again! It's been a while! So it's been really great here and I love it! It's pretty hot here so I'm getting a great tan! Our apartment is kinda old but it's great and this morning it cost us like 10 bucks to do our laundry haha. Isn't that crazy! I was like wowzers it's expensive. We have a window ac unit so we can already keep our room cool where we sleep. So that's a blessing. And the other day our water turned green and smelled like a creek. Lol and the bath water turned brown. Sooooo that was cool.  My trainer's name is sister pressler. She's awesome. Most of our time is spent finding and knocking doors which is super great. Here in southern cali there aren't very many people who want to talk with you hahaha. But it's fine. We are working with some recent converts name gretta and Carl. They are amazing. Gretta was baptized 3 weeks ago now and Carl was an inactive memeber. Gretta is so awesome. She is now a ward missionary which means she gets to turn around and do a ton of missionary work herself after being converted. I think it's so cool. Her husband will be starting a stop smoking program tomorrow which we will be helping him with a lot. So if you could pray for Carl cause it's not going to be easy! Also we found an inactive family last week named the Felicianos. They are Filipino! The mom is a member but inactive and her son is also. But her daughter Caitlyn is 12 but not baptized. So we are working with them to reactivate them and hopefully get caitlyn baptized! I love them already so much! They are amazing. So miracle of the week is we were driving to where we thought was a less active members house and the gps took us to not a less active members house haha. But I had an impression to get out of the car and talk to people anyways. So we did! After walking around for a few minutes and having door shut in our faces we found some little girls! One was 2 and the other was 4. They are the cutest. We got to talk to them about Jesus and give them pictures. They were so curious to who we were and why we were walking around telling people about Jesus! Well we found their dad and were able to talk to him for a bit and invite him and his family to church. They didn't show but it was still super cool how god works. He literally led us to that family. Also as we were driving around towards the evening last week I saw a girl sitting at a bus stop and felt like we needed to talk to her. So we pulled over and walked up to introduce our selve. We'll right as we were about to have a conversation a bus came by and picked her up. I was like "wait! Atleast take a book of mormon!" Haha and she was like " I already have one actually! I'll read though I promise!" I was like what the heck! Ya dumb bus. I was so sad cause she was prime. But it's ok. I'm praying that We'll find her again. It's so cool to be able to talk to people about christ. It's so fulfilling and I feel the spirit so strongly. I love this gospel and feel the truthfulness of it every day. This gospel is true! There is no other way in this life we can be truly happy and that's the truth. Christ is our joy. He is our song:) I love you all! It's so good to hear from you! 

-sis petzinger 

The Music Room

Hello everyone!! It's been so great to be here at the mtc. I love it so much. The spirit is strong here. My district is awesome and we have become super close. Our elders are hilarious! They are like brothers and the sisters in my district are like sisters! I love then all! The last week has been pretty busy. We have taught a new investigator named karisa. She is super sweet and the first lesson we had with her was so spiritual. My companion sister bull and I were so amazed at how strong the spirit was there. I have really made it a goal to be a miracle worker. Meaning doing what the Lord would have me do. One of our ecclesiastical leaders randomly showed up and brought us to a room. Just my district. He gave one of the most powerful messages. It was based off of Samuel the lamanite. If you aren't familiar with his story then get familiar with it. A summary of it is Samuel was not a prophet he was a missionary like me. He was preaching to the people and they beat him and banished him from the city. Many would have gladly walked away from that. But Samuel prayed and the holy ghost told him to go back! I'm sure he was apprehensive. But he obeyed and on the wall of the city he declared the word of God and cried for the people to repent. The holy ghost helped him proclaim with power and authority. He had courage and was bold. No arrows or stones could hit him as he bore testimony. How amazing is that? The spirit is my weapon out here. He is by my side and I know I could do nothing without him. He is my life line to my heavenly father. 

Also the food here is getting old. Haha but I love their lentil soup! I eat 2 big bowls ! They have desert every lunch and dinner so I have to be careful. The funniest thing is seeing the elders eat serial for breakfast lunch and dinner. Hahaha it's hilarious! One of the elders eats so much. One time he stacked a good 6 plates in his tray and 3 bowls of food. He's the skinniest guy and eats 2 times more that the biggest elder in our district! Haha it's pretty impressive her hadn't gained weight! Anyways, always good talking to all of you! Email me please! It's good to hear from you all!

- Sister Petzinger 

Also I titled my email the music room because we found a place in our building that plays music and it's so peaceful. We had book of Mormon study with our whole district the spirit was so intense! It's a blessing to have found the music because it really helps the missionaries relax and feel peace when things get busy and your worn out! Also I have seen Hermana barthlome a ton! How blessed is that! 

Hey everyone! It's been a great week here at the mtc! Im super excited for the days to come. The field is approaching and boy am I excited! A teacher that came for a day to sub for our other teacher went to the Anaheim cali mission and it was so cool to ask her questions! My companion and I are teaching someone named rebekah. She is awesome! I really love teaching even though most of the time the people we teach are already members. It's great practice and you can still feel the spirit so strong. Also this last Sunday the missionaries had a once in a life time experience. The mission presidents from around the world came to train here at the mtc. Well guess who trains them!? The quorum of the twelve apostles! The spirit was so special for the couple days they presided on campus. I saw elder Holland walk out of a building and he waved an smiled at us:) he was in a hurry though and we are not aloud to approach them!  On Sunday we had a very special opportunity. I joined the choir here as well as 900 other missionaries! Haha so pretty much 80 percent of us. Our devotional was amazing. The whole 12 was there. We sang to them Jesus once of humble birth. How special it was to stand as a witness of 900 missionaries in front of the men that called us to the work through the inspiration of god. The spirit was stronger than I ever felt before. So many missionaries and prophets all in the same room. I felt invincible. I know I am not, but as a soldier in Zion on the front lines against the adversary I knew with the help of god I can do anything. As the apostles stood up to leave all 1200 of us stood and waved as they waved back! I cried slot haha. The most amazing part was without any direction or planning all the missionaries began to sing called to serve all at the same time. It was powerful. I still get the chills thinking about it. I love this gospel. It is true!! There is no other way we will fulfill our purpose unless we fallow our savior and become like him to the best of our abilities! I love you all family and friends. May God be with you and bless you. 

- Sister Petzinger