Donkey Carts & Transfers

7/31/17                                      There's a musical called "Into The Woods". It's a spin on some classic fairytales mashed together into a beautiful musical that is moving, suprisingly dark at times, funny, and thought provoking. The first time I watched it was in my drama class in highschool. It was a recording of it (Not the new movie of it which I still like) and after an hour or so the story was closing and all the loose ends were being tied into a neat bow. Then all within a minute it was all undone and the screen went black and said "End of Act 1." I yelled out "WHAT!?! There's more?!?"  I was completely shocked.

                             
This week/month has been like that moment.

Since the beginning of me being in Pontiac and in a trio we all knew we'd only be in a trio for so long. So when transfer calls came and Sister Ward was re-assigned to a different area, we were all expecting it. Me and Sister Morales were to stay in Pontiac. We spent the following preparation day to help her pack and saying goodbyes. What we were not expecting was a call at 5:30 that night saying how now Sister Morales would also be leaving, and not only would I get a new companion, but my old MTC companion, Sister Fugal. What?

We were shocked and a bit sad at first but luckliy that night we had a branch activity so Sister Morales got a chance to say her goodbyes to members. We were happy by the end of the night and we knew it was happening for a reason and we just had fun. It was on Pioneer Day so people shared family history stories, eating home made ice-cream, rides from a small horse drawn carriage or a "buggie" and Brother Oakes's donkey, Joe with a riding cart. One cool thing was the man who brought the horse and buggie also is a donkey trainer and has been training Joe. He isn't a member and the same Brother Oakes is his friend and neighbour and has been working on introducing him to the gospel.

 There was a slight scare for a moment though- two children whipped the donkey's reins without knowing any better as Brother Oakes was leading him and he bolted which made Brother Oakes fall. Nothing happened though- everything was fine and no one got hurt!

Then I got Sister Fugal as my companion! I can't remember how much I've said about her and us being in the MTC, but it was great. Sister Fugal is a very kind and patient person who always seems to be smiling. We are actually from the same town back home and even went to the same high-school together but we had never met each other before the Missionary Training Center! It's fun to talk about what happened in the MTC together and sometimes about things back home since we're from the same place. It was really cool to be with her during our mission half-way mark, it being 9 months since we entered the MTC. What is even going on?!?

My family has been going through a bit of personal trials, but man- the blessings from The Lord seriously out-weighed it all. Along with some other things, one of our family dogs who we've had ever since we moved to where we are now, Milo, has passed away. It wasn't a big shock or anything, he had poor health and when me and two of my other sisters headed out to our missions we knew it was a possiblitly we might not seem him again in his life at least. Although he was just a family pet, we all loved him very dearly. I'm grateful though for the support I got from my companion, she's so sweet.

As for the investigators, we've dropped quite a few. Don't be mistaken- this isn't necessarily a negitive thing! It's funny how it is a big part of missionary work to know and when to decide to stop teaching someone and it not really being talked about in the MTC. It takes so faith and trust in the Lord to know that He will help bring these people or bring them back to the oppotunity of learning more about the gospel, because sometimes they aren't fully ready. That was the case with Jenny.

As for the other investigators, we haven't been able to get a hold of Justin and Christina. I'm not too surpised about not being able to get in contact with Justin, because he seems busy and maybe not fully quite ready yet, but I`m really surprised about Christina! She seemed so promising. We saw her again breifly when we dropped by to set up an appointment, and she was so excited. She told us how she told her Dad about us, and it turns out her Dad met with the missionaries too before and loved it even though he stopped. He recommended her to keep visiting with us. But then later the appointment fell through and we couldn't get in contact with her. Last night as we were talking to one of our members on his doorstep she passed by walking her dog and seemed a little sheepish to see us as we said a quick hello. It was hilarous and painfully awkard.

One huge tender mercy was that we're back on track with BOB!!! It had been almost two and a half weeks since we last saw him face to face and that's usually a death sentence for missionaries in most cases. We saw him last night and it turns out he was legitimatly just busy with work! After we set up an appointment and left the second I got in the car I started squealing and hollering. It was the best.
WE ALSO GOT IN TOUCH WITH LACEY! to make it brief, since everything else hasn't been, she is still interested in learning more but is moving to Orlando Florida. She was sad because she thought it would mean the end of learning anything more but once we told her there would be most definitely be missionaries there she was elated. We showed her how to refer herself online since she doesn't have her new address yet. I mentioned too how there is another Sister Petty down there that she might bump into. 😉

Dew Point

Hi everyone!                     7/17/17

We had two Sister Exchanges this week- one in my area and one in Naperville.  I had a lot of fun with my two companions and my Sister Training Leaders. Me and Sister Peterson walked in super crazy humidity during the day here in Pontiac as we reacted and eventually went to the Carley's for dinner. In the evening it reached "dew point", where the humidity is so intense that there starts to be condensation and your car's windows fog up just like it does in the winter when the inside of the car is warm. The next day when we went to Naperville which isn't as country as Pontiac, there was barely any humidity! Like I've mentioned, people blame the humidity on the corn for releasing moisture as it grows and I think I believe it. While I was there, Sister Peterson invited one of her investigators to baptism and she accepted which was great.  It's been a very difficult week for personal reasons with a lot of prayers, but I know my Savior is aware of me, so it was nice to be there.

We got two new investigators- Justin and Christiana. Me and Sister Peterson met Justin outside his front porch while he was smoking. He's in his mid twenties seems like he's been through a lot.  He's super nice and has moved here to get away from friends that were bad influences and he thinks now is the time to grow up. We shared The Book of Mormon with him and Moroni 's invitation. We were pretty bold and promised him that if he read that book and follow what it says he will never go back to his bad lifestyle. We invited him to read a part of the introduction. Updates later!

Christina is so sweet. We met her on a street we felt inspired to tract (knock doors). She's in her mid-twenties. She has a significant other that was neutral and was busy so he didn't sit in on the lesson.  She asks has a 7-old boy. The first time we met her she offered us water and was so kind. It was great because we got a good social foot in the door when I asked what her cat's name was. She said, "Oh, it's a name from a cartoon show my kid watches. His name is "Soos." I got excited and said, "You mean from Gravity Falls?" She lit up and we joked and laughed about it. It was great. We set up a time to cone back since she was busy. The lesson went really great and we taught her the first half of the restoration. She practically asked us if she could come to church and if she could read a pamphlet and if we could meet again. She seems to have a real desire to learn. We committed her to read the restoration pamphlet.

We invited Bob to church this week and he didn't come! He usually is very good at returning our calls and texts and was excited to come to church but was just figuring out a way to get there. A few days before and the night before we offered for the Wessel's to give him a ride but we didn't get a reply which was strange.  We still don't know what happened,  but we're planning to go over and to bring cookies and offer service, especially his wife so we can get to know her!

We did some fun service painting the outside of a building for Brother Lambros, who is a inactive member.  It was really fun and his son taught us how to use a paint gun. Brother Lambros even stopped by at church and stayed at Sacrament meeting! Another unexpected guest was Sister Williams and her grand daughter who we've been working with, which was exciting.

Stay cool,

- Sister Kate Petty


Photos: The four of us on the 4th, us at a members home, the Matsens, corn that only grows taller, The Carley family and all the Sisters (excluding me because I toke the photo), and the three of us in some matching shirts :)

Flat Tires and Bob

 Hi everyone!                                                               7/10/17

One thing I failed to report as I was leaving Beloit was how me and Sister Winkelman got a flat tire on our very last day there. Apparently the tire that was repaired didn't't hold out. We were able to fix it and got half way but we still called the Elder's just in case. We were panicking just a tad because we were about to go to our last appointment with Alicia and to help introduce the same Elder's more formally. Once we got on the donut tire we rapidly drove to her home. When we got there we were still on the phone with our vehicle coordinator, (the person who takes care of the cars in the mission field) the Elder's having already stepped out and approached Alicia's finance. I silently panicked because neither of us really met him before and we didn't know how he would respond to the Elder's. They talked and we couldn't't tell how the conversation was going. He looked over and we smiled and waved. By the time we were done talking on the phone the finance went inside. One of the Elder's sadly turned his head and nodded his head "no" at us. We got out and quizzed them. They said how he wasn`t comfortable for the Elder's to teach Alicia and to not come back. After a moment of silence the Elder's started laughing their heads off and said they were joking and just got to know him and said how Alicia was sleeping because of a stressful day. I wanted to throw my shoes at each of their heads.

Fast forword to this week- We got a flat tire. I tried to convinced both my companion how I knew how to change the tire but they didn't fully trust me so we called a member. So now I've had three flat tires on my mission within the time span of three months! We're on the road again now though!

Updates on everyone:

We won't be seeing Beth for a bit, because her and family are on vacation. Carla calmed us and said she wasn't really interested anymore.  As for Lacey, we've called but still haven't gotten in contact with her! Finally,  here's the story of Bob.

We were looking for a less active and went to the wrong address and met Bob.   He stepped out and tried to help us with directions. We asked about his beliefs and he said he didn't really believe in much but when he was a kid for a while he went to a Christian church every Sunday for a while and as he got older he stopped.   We asked if he ever heard of The Book of Mormon and he said how he saw a TV ad for it. We started to share about The Book of Mormon and our testimonies and how we each personally are here because we know these things are true and prayed and asked God. He seemed very receptive and listened very closely. We asked if he would be interested in learning more and how to change and he replied that anything is possible.  We committed him to read the introduction and he agreed.

 Bob has so much faith and such a great desire to learn and find the truth. The next time when we followed up on reading the intro to the Book of Mormon he said he did and  how he's been reading it on his break.  He is in 2 Nephi already! We were way impressed and he said because we shared Moroni 10: 3-5 with him he wanted to do what it said.  We taught him the restoration with the Wessels, a married couple,  had so much great input.

 The next lesson he shared us his notes and added great questions.  The time after we gave him a tour of the church, it went great.We started our lesson and we taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. At the end we invited him to be baptized and when he came to know that the Book of Mormon was true- I felt prompted to ask that he already knew that the Book of Mormon was true, and he agreed. He said yes to getting baptized! We're holding back on setting a specific date because he wants his family more involved. He's invited his family to learn with him continually but none are interested. We've only seen the wife briefly once. His wife says she'll support him but will never understand it.Bob thinks that his wife will eventually come around though, and smiled and said,  "We'll get her."  also told us that when we knocked on his door everything changed. He knew we would send him a text, he said that everybody was surprised that he had been meeting with us as long as he has. He also told us that he has seen a change in himself as we've been meeting and that others have been able to see the same.

The last time we taught him the 10 Commandments by reading Mosiah 13 and comparing it to Exodus 20. He toke in the message really well. During the beginning of the lesson his 14- year old daughter was going in the house and said how she wasn't going to join us in the lesson but then her, and his 11 yr old daughter and her friend, came outside and decided to listen for a bit.  They had never heard of the 10 Commandments.  They were pretty fickle and kept running in and out of the house in the duration of 5 minutes, but you could tell the daughters were more interested then they wanted to let on.

We are SO excited for Bob and for eventually his whole family coming closer to the Lord.  There's still some stumbling blocks, but he'll clear 'em. It's hard to believe that this has all happened in the span of TWO WEEKS. He hasn't come to church yet because of his job but he's so excited to come this week.

Jenny, a investigator who Sister Ward has worked with for a really long time and once was on date for baptism is struggling. We're doing the best we can for her!

Then there's the Carley's. They're a recent convert family that Sister Ward and her last companion taught and they are rock hard. Granite.  They're a young family of four - There's Natalie, Ryan, who both are dentists,  and they're two sons,  Rhys, whose 2, and Chase,  who's 4. They are great! Natalie is a young women's leader and Ryan teaches in Priesthood.  They've both just have given talks in Sacrament and it was wonderful. They actually found the gospel by a blog post.  Natalie was reading a post from a member testifying of The Book of Mormon and how it has changed het life.  She was curious and asked for one and eventually wanted missionaries over.  It's been fun to teach them more and to see their wonder and excitement as they've learned more great and sacred things. I love this gospel. I love our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and The Holy Ghost. Tight now I'm reminded of the soul calming lyrics "If You Could Hie To Kolob":

"There is no end to truth.
5.There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above.
There is no end to glory;
There is no end to love;
There is no end to being;
There is no death above."

-Sister Kate Petty

July Heat and Old Shirtless Men.

Hi everyone!                         7/3/17

Sister Ward, Sister Morales and I have been rocking the time the three of us have together since we know for a fact next transfer they'll only be two Sister's serving in the Pontiac area. Honestly it makes me miss my Petty sisters a little bit sometimes. So a shout-out to them and my love for them and the rest of the Petty clan! And anyone reading this really. 😄

We tract a lot and the heat is killer with the high humidity, but we have a car so we only stay out for so long so that's a huge blessing. It's hilarous when others smugly say we haven't seen anything yet and I get to say back to them that I've danced in a pioneer dress in the middle of the day in July onstage with my family in the Nauvoo Pageant so I can deal with this. I haven't seen more shirtless old men in my life and would rather do without.

This week we've been going on the outskirts of our area- from top bottom takes about an hour to drive. It's been nice driving and seeing the beautiful country. We found a tentive new investigator named Carla in one of the small towns consisting of a population of 300. She's a sweet married middle aged women that has a strong faith of her own but is interested on learning more on what we share for her own information,  which is still exciting.

As for the four investigators we got a while back- one has lost interest, but hey, we'll still try again later with her. So that leaves Beth, Bob, and Lacey.

We met Beth as we were about to knock on her neighbors door. The huge family was outside unloading a van from a church camping trip. They have a family of 9 and a strong Christian faith. They are a great family.  Beth is the Mom and We talked to her about the Book of Mormon and missionary work. She was super nice and were able to get her info.

This story is a little over due since this happened on June 20th. We saw God's hand in our missionary work through finding Lacey. We had prayed for an inspired street to tract one day. We all chose together a street we felt good about. We went door to door and no one was interested, but we knew there was someone on this street ready for the gospel. At the very last house we saw a women in the drive-way cleaning out her car and offered some help and asked if she needed any kind of service. She was pleasantly surpised and said "Wait, do you just go up to people and ask if they want service!?" We nodded in agreement and then explained how we were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We found out her name was Lacey and shortly after we started talking her 8-year old daughter came out from the house. We  shared a video to the both of them saying how through Christ we can have peace and happiness. We also introduced the Book of Mormon to her and she was very accepting of it and curious. She shared how right now in her life she is looking for positive change having moved here from another state and wanting the best for her daughter. She said how it might be a sign from God that we found her and was very excited. She said if we had shown up even five minutes earlier or later she wouldn't have been there.

It didn't end there though! We got her address which was someplace else and when we went by we found out she had just moved again! We only had her phone number and whenever we called there was no answer. A week later we called again and she answered very excited saying how she'd been waiting from a call from us and that she had lost our info and how her phone wasn't working for a while. She said how she's been eager to learn more and how talking with us the other day really helped her out with her faith despite all the things that had been going on and even then as we were talking on the phone with her.

I know that the Lord guided us to Lacey not only to be at the right place at the right time that day, but both at her times of need. The Lord is aware of each and everyone of us and loves us so much. As missionaries we've been blessed to really be at the fore-front of witnessing his outreach to each of his children when we follow His guiding hand and know that you do and can too. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Sister Kate Petty

P.S: Happy 4th of July!
I'll write about Bob next time! Here's some photos of how our planning actually goes.

Portable Potty's and A Feral Cat

Hi Everyone!                                      5/26/17

This week was hard but amazing! We were able to find FOUR NEW INVESTIGTORS and I am so excited. They were all being at the right place at the right time which really lets me know the Lord is aware of all of us. I also love my two companions! We have grown closer and i just love them. We really are a great team- they follow the Spirit and are bold.

Our small Ponitac Branch was blessed with a new family, the Kelley's. They're a young couple from Idaho with a 8 month old baby named crew and a hound dog named moose. They came out here for work but aren't very sure past that point. They are faithful members who followed the gudiance of the Spirit to move here in the middle of Illinois. We already see their great influence in the branch and they are super missionary minded. I won`t be surpised that they'll help miracles come about.

We had some fun doing service along with two members of the branch for a part member family moving out of town. We had to be wary of a cat though. The owner had her hand bit a while back from being scared and just being old. She had to even had to have surgery on her hand and it's still healing. She  used to spray us with a cat calming spray to help it not attack us, but when we came over that day that cat was locked in a room with a sign saying "DO NOT OPEN". She explained that although a vistor was wearing the spray the cat bit his leg. Whenever we passed the door it scratched furiously and made us jump. It was kind of hilarious especially when we had to tell some people to come and help about the crazy kind and nodded at  the owner's hand. It sounded like we were joking but they realized the reality when they passed the door!

Another funny thing that happened this week was visiting an older non-member women named Yoko. She's an adorable old Japanese lady that was just the sweetest. When she welcomed us in though and there were only two other seat and one portable potty. She told me pointing at the less than desirable seat saying "Don`t worry! It's clean! I only pee in it!" I sat and afterwards sanitized myself furiously.

I love you all. I know the Lord loves you all as well. I challenge you to read in this June Ensign "The Danger of Doubt". It is powerful and is a great read to help strengthen your faith.

-Sister Kate Petty

Cornfields and Route 66

Hi everyone!           6/19/17


I'm enjoying Pontiac so far,  and my two new companions Sister Ward and Sister Morales. They're both great! Sister Morales was actually Sister Vescovi's ( One of my past companions) MTC companion. She's quiet sometimes and loud the next. She's kind and is from Utah too.  Sister Ward is from California and has been here in Pontiac for the whole 5 months of her mission so far. She honestly reminds me of Tinkerbell in looks and personality. She has the gift of impersonating Golam from Lord of The Rings and I love it.They both work hard and really love and care for their recent converts and members.They both have great testimonies and I'm excited to get to know them both better.

They're two recent converts in the branch - the Carley's, who are a cute young couple with two boys and are dentists. The other is a young women named Shannon who's been busy so I haven't met her yet but I've heard she's great - her boyfriend got to baptize her right before he left on a mission! Crazy stuff.

Pontiac really is close to "the middle of nowhere". It's an old route 66 town with the population of 12000. I saw for the first time in my life fireflies. It was amazing to watch them rise from the ground and float around lazily blinking in and out. They were surprisingly easy to catch and really just look like normal beetles. We got a picture with it glowing on Sister Ward's hand.

We got two days of on and off Tornado watches. Tornado watches aren't too serious especially to the locals but when it's a tornado warning it means business- it's when a tornado has touched down. Luckily none of that went down. We got some rain and at the back of our apartment is a river that's been flooding a bit.  Its hilarious because done ducks just chill out there now. Sister Ward said she's never seen it so high so we'll see what happens. We have a concrete barrier though and there won't be anymore rain this week.

It's been an interesting week with a new and now dropped investigator who was 66 year old man and approached was at Wal-Mart on the Tuesday we transferred asking if we were Amish.  We explained who we were and we got to set up a lesson with him at McDonald's the next day. He didn't seemed completely with it and he kept asking personal questions to one of my companions so it was an odd mix of awkward and hilarious.  That's kind of what missionary life is!


A General Authority came to our area this week, Elder Gaverret and toured our mission. During the meeting with my zone with him speaking to us I was able to sing with a group which was great. It all pumped me up again being fully committed to the work.


A miracle we saw this week and just last night was when we were looking for a less active and went to the wrong address and met Bob. He stepped out and tried to help us with directions. We started to talk to him and learned that He grew up in Idaho by the air force base where his Dad worked and at point lived in Louisiana.  We asked about his beliefs and he said he didn't really believe in much but when he was a kid for a while he walked to a Christian church every Sunday for a while and as he got older he stopped.   We asked if he ever heard of The Book of Mormon and he said how he saw a TV ad for it. We started to share about The Book of Mormon and our testimonies and how we each personally are here because we know these things are true and prayed and asked God. He seemed very receptive and listened very closely. We asked if he would be interested in learning more and how to change and he said anything is possible. We committed him to read the introduction and he agreed.  He works at the gas station across the street in odd hours so we'll see when we can catch him! It was great.  It was a lift I needed to share my testimony to someone who was really listening.

 I love my Savior and Heavenly Father so much and am grateful for this wonderful gospel I get to share.  I love the scriptures and have been so engrossed in The Book of Mormon lately and the stories of the people's lives it shares and the beautiful truths, sacrifices, miracles, and of Christ that I hold dear to my heart and feel The Holy Spirit as I read.  I invite you all to open up The Book of Mormon daily - even if it's just a sentence, it really will make a difference in your life-

"20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." - 2 Nephi 31: 20

-Sister Petty

P.S Enjoy these photos and the random member's cat after smelling catnip