"We are made alive in Christ, because of our faith."

This week has been a good one in Vineland! It was a little bit slower
teaching wise but we were able to make some great contact with people
who we haven't been able to see much lately. That didn't produce many
stories, but it was so good to be able to see everyone. :)

We also had such a miracle with the Christmas initiative! Maybe
miracle is the wrong word, but I think it was pretty neat. I'm sure
most of you have heard about or seen the Christmas video/ website, but
if not, check out Christmas.mormon.org. There are a few videos and
some fun features that help make Christmas more about the Savior and
it makes it so easy to share the website with friends!

Anyway, We had talked to our ward mission leader about the Christmas
initiative and showed him the videos in our correlation meeting and he
loved it. During our ward council meeting he brought it up to the
other members, showed them the card, and asked if we could come and
share it and explain the website in all of the auxiliaries! So on
Sunday we were able to take a fair amount of time going from class to
class talking about the initiative and going through the websites with
the ENTIRE Ward! Everyone was so excited and so many, especially the
primary kids, were so excited about getting their own card to hand out
to a friend. I love this Christmas initiative and I just KNOW that
it's what our Heavenly Father wants his children to know right now. I
have loved sharing this with those around me. It's so incredible to
think about how this video and this website took months of prayer and
preparation to make. I know that the leaders of the church made sure
to follow the message that Heavenly Father picked.

I also had one of the most spiritual lessons of my mission. There's an
investigator here who's an older man, his parents joined the church
when he was a young adult, and he's been investigating for a long long
time, but he's never accepted a baptismal date or anything like that.
He's even on his third time reading the Book of Mormon and he comes to
church every week! As we were there this week he was talking about how
he always prays to be led to the truth. Now, I've always disliked that
particular prayer just because they say that and the missionaries do
come, but it's not recognized very often that that's the answer to the
prayer. Before this lesson I had committed myself to being bold and to
the point with him. So I asked him if he's prayed and asked
specifically if this church is true. He told us he had, so then I
asked what he felt his answer was. He said "I feel strongly that it
is." And I asked the same thing about the Book of Mormon and he gave
the same answer. In that moment I just felt the spirit so strongly and
I could tell that my companion and a I both knew that this was a VERY
important moment. As my companion bore testimony of her beliefs and
the things he's been learning I turned to Mosiah 18. We read 8-9,
commenting on how these are the desires of his hearts. He then noticed
that he had previously highlighted verse 10 where it says that baptism
is his next step, and I told him that he was giving himself his
answer. And he agreed with me!! My companion then invited him to be
baptized and while he originally told us that he wouldn't agree to a
date, I promised that if he set a date as his goal then he would be
ready by then and we set the date of January 3rd! I'm so grateful for
the spirit and how when we listen to that spirit we can know EXACTLY
what these people need to hear.

I can't explain how much I love being a missionary. :) I am so
eternally grateful for this gospel and for a Heavenly Father who
trusts me enough to let me share with his children. I know that this
is Christ's work that I'm apart of and I know that it's through him
and because of him that we can find peace and happiness.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of the thoughts and
prayers. :) I love you all!
---------------------------------
Sister Rachel Petrick

December 7, 2015

Hello!

I'm running short on emailing time, so this probably won't be too
long, but I have a couple of miracle stories that I want to share with
everyone!

The first is about Karen and Dvyne. We knocked on their door this week
and they let us right in! Dvyne is an 8 year old boy who wants to
learn about Jesus and Karen is his aunt. We taught them about the
restoration of the gospel and I have never seen anyone get so excited
before! As we talked about the first vision Karen literally gasped and
asked "So. Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?" We
testified that he did and that through Joseph Christ was able to
restore his gospel. Karen got so excited as she told us about how she
was looking for a church and how every church she visited was corrupt.
She believed all that we said and agreed to read and pray about the
Book of Mormon! She taught me a good lesson. Members of the church,
and especially missionaries, know the restoration and the story of
Joseph Smith like the back of our hands. But we meet these people
every day who have never heard this, people who never knew that
Christ's gospel was lost. We need to be as excited as Karen when we
share this message because it is exciting! It's the good news!

We stopped by a woman named Wakeisha. She had met the elders at the
hospital when they were giving someone a blessing and they told us
about her. We came to her home and were again welcomed in warmly. She
told us that she had met with missionaries before and that she knew
that running into the elders that week was not a coincidence. She knew
that it was God's hands. She told us about her desire to change and
even told us that while she wasn't ready yet she wanted to work toward
being baptized!! I loved Wakeisha because she was so genuinely looking
for help. She had the desire to allow Jesus Christ into her life. We
talked about him and about how through the Atonement we can be
cleansed and freed and that we can change.

I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that it truly is
through him that we can change and be freed from any pains and sadness
we might be faced with. And I know that if we do our part by turning
to him that he will be there every step of the way. I love being his
missionary and I'm so grateful to be sharing his gospel with the
people here in southern jersey!

I love you all!
---------------------------------
Sister Rachel Petrick
Here's some pictures! First, I got to go on exchanges with Sister
Boehm, and we had a mini Christmas celebration with the Nodolskis, and
we had zone training!

The Zone

The District

November 30, 2015

Hello everyone!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! I for one loved
reflecting on all of the incredible blessings that I have been given.
This week my gratitude for the gospel seemed to be magnified ten
fold!! My companion and I were constantly making the comment "I'm so
grateful that we have the gospel." I know that as we have faith,
repent, make and renew our baptismal covenants, follow the promptings
and live worthy of the Holy Ghost and as we continue down the path
that leads us to the celestial kingdom we will be so happy. We will be
more than happy, we will find so much joy! :) I'm so grateful to be a
member of Christ's fully restored church and to have parents who
raised me according to the standards and doctrine.

Some of my very favorite moments this week came from the service we
were able to offer to those around us. Along with receiving other hard
news, a member of our ward, Kelly, heard short notice that she had to
move out of her house. She didn't have much warning and she didn't
have anywhere to go or much help to get everything out. We were able
to help take some of that weight off of her shoulders by helping her
move and pack and her gratitude just warmed my heart. Another act of
service we were able to take part in was helping a recent convert,
Vaughnie, with her house. She recently had basically her whole home
thrown into disarray without her knowing what was happening and it's
been hard on her. Things have finally settled down and this week we
helped her with moving furniture, doing housework, and we set up her
Christmas decorations! I just love these two women so much and can
testify that serving others is the fastest way to love them!

As many of you probably know, the new Christmas initiate was released
yesterday!! We have already been running around showing it to everyone
we can! We had a fun experience yesterday as I noticed a group of men
about my age standing off the side to the road. I parked the car and
jumped out before my companion knew what I was doing and asked them if
they wanted to watch the video. At the end of the video all four of
them expressed how nice it was and they all invited us back to share
the gospel with them! I love the Christmas season. It's the best time
to be a missionary because everyone's heart is soften as they think of
the Savior. It is the best time of year. As President Monson so
beautiful declares "True love is a reflection of the Savior's love. In
December of each year we call it the Christmas spirit. You can hear
it. You can see it. You can feel." I want to invite everyone to
reflect on how you can better make Christ the center of your Christmas
season and act on the promptings you receive! I promise that it will
bring so much peace of heart and utter joy.

I wanted to share a portion of a testimony that really touched me in
our meeting yesterday. A woman who just went to the temple for the
first time bore her testimony. She said "I have a testimony that I am
amazing. I am amazing because I have a Heavenly Father who loves me
and thinks I'm wonderful and significant and worthy of his love. I so
often feel like I am none of those things, but Heavenly Father reminds
me time and time again of His love. And I know that I'm amazing. And I
know that you're amazing too."  I, too, know that you are all amazing!
And I love you all!

And I have a request!! Please add me to the list for who you send your
Christmas cards to. :)

2424 Shamrock Ln
Millville, NJ 08332

November 23, 2015

Hello everyone!

It's been a good week here in south jersey. I forgot to mention last week, but this week is transfers. My companion and I are staying together six weeks! She will be going home at the end of the six weeks so lots of exciting things will be happening this transfer. :) 

If you didn't get my address last time, here it is:

2424 Shamrock Lane

Millville, NJ. 08332.

Feel free to send me as many letters as you want. :)

This week went by super quickly so I feel like I don't have too many stories to share, but I do have one really exciting one! We taught our investigator Claudia, I wrote a little bit about her last week. In our lesson we started by talking about the Book of Mormon, she's had in a couple of weeks and she's made it to 2 Nephi! She told us that she feels like God is wanting her to read it and so she studies a little bit every day. She even searched for it on her phone and downloaded it on to her iBooks because she said she always wanted it with her, just in case. We then taught her the Plan of Salvation by reading scriptures from the Book of Mormon with her. We testified that Heavenly Father wants her to be with her family forever and that it's by living the things taught in the Book of Mormon that will make that possible. She accepted the invitation to be baptized and we set the date of January 10th, so keep Claudia in your prayers. :) She was also able to come to church this Sunday and she brought her whole family with her! They filled a whole row! It was so exciting! 

Ive been thinking a lot this week about what someone might think their first time attending our church and it's been an interesting experience. I thought about talks I had given and whether or not I went out of my way to talk to new people at church and I really reflected on whether someone would know what we believe by what I do and say. We are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jesus Christ is the head. We teach His doctrine. Everything needs to connect back to Him and the Restoration of His gospel. I'm grateful for the good examples 

of those who are in the Vineland Ward because I know that some talks I've given have lacked the focus that it should have had on the Savior. I know that this is His church and I, as well as all the members of the church, are a part of His great work. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that we can all become clean and renewed and strengthened by His atonement. I know that the fullness of His gospel and the Priesthood power was restored to the earth though Joseph Smith. I'm grateful for this time of year when I'm able to reflect on all that I have to be grateful for and for all the blessings that I have been given. 

Thank you all for all the love and support! I am so so grateful for each one of you! 

November 16, 2015

Hello everyone!

Sorry I haven't written in a couple of weeks. We've been pressed for time the last couple of pdays, but I'm still here! The last couple of weeks have been pretty eventful. I've been able to go on a couple of exchanges, I trained at a big missionary meeting, and we have been seeing so many miracles! 

The first thing I want to mention is the exchange I went on with Sister Warnock. Sister Warnock is an incredible missionary! And she's from Taylorsville! She taught me so much about humility and diligence while we were together. The area that she is in hasn't been very busy for a few years. So we had finding planned for the whole day. I'm not a huge fan of tracting, but I put on a happy face and immediately Heavenly Father chastised me. The first door we knocked on was the house of a sweet older man who had just decided that he wanted to get back into church and reading the bible! We told him about the Book of Mormon and invited him to church and he agreed and was so excited to visit and have the missionaries back! As we went throughout the day we had multiple people invite us in to hear messages and I know that it is because of Sister Warnock's faith and diligence. 

Another miracle came as my companion and I were contacting a referral in our area, her name is Claudia. She has requested a bible which we delivered a few weeks ago with a Book of Mormon and we went back to follow up and see if she read. She first apologized because she hadn't read any of the bible, but then showed us that she had been reading pretty far into the Book of Mormon! She had questions about Joseph Smith and by the end of her lesson her sister had also come in and we left her with a Book of Mormon as well and they committed to come to church! I really enjoyed this lesson because I could see the wheels turning in both of their minds. They easily accepted all that happened with Joseph Smith and they both had the desire to have us back to learn more. We had a member with us and as we left the appointment this member said "they've been searching. And now they've found it." I am so excited to continue teaching these two. :) 

I've focused a lot this week on the role of the prophet and on being fully converted. In his conference address President Nelson warned us that "Attacks against the Church, its doctrine, and our way of life are going to increase." We've all seen that just this last week. More than ever before we have to strengthen ourselves and our families and make sure we are firmly rooted in the gospel. These are trying times, but we have been given a prophet hand picked by our Heavenly Father and all of the other apostles to make sure we know what Heavenly Father expects of us. Their role is to warn us. And guide us in righteousness so that we will be worthy to return into our Father's presence once more. They can be compared to soldiers standing in a watchtower overlooking the battlefield. We don't see or understand everything. In fact, we understand very little. But we have these leaders, standing on opt he watch towers, who give us direction of what our Father needs us to do. I know that President Thomas S. Monson is the chosen prophet today and that he and  his counsellors and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are called to be prophets, seers, and revelators for this day. I know that as we follow their guidance and counsel we will be protected. And I take comfort in the promise written in James 1:5 "If any of ye lack wisdom, let him as of a God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Heavenly Father doesn't want us to be left in the dark. As we turn to him in prayer he will guide us where we need to go, and as we as him to confirm the callings of these great men chosen to be our leaders I know that he will do so. I would like to encourage and invite you all to pray or pray again and ask Heavenly Father if Thomas S Monson is a prophet! I know that that truth will be confirmed.

I honestly love this work so much! I'm so grateful to be a missionary and I'm grateful to be spreading the good news that we do have a prophet on the earth today! I know that the Savior loves each of us so much and that He lives and guides us today!

I love you all! I pray for you often! Let me know of any exciting news that has happened in the last few weeks since I've been bad with emailing. :)

Love,

---------------------------------

Sister Rachel Petrick

November 3, 2015

She didn't send a big email this week. They spent their P-Day cleaning up the leaves in the yard of the family they live with. She said she has never experienced a fall like this one; huge trees and lots of them. We might hear from her on Saturday. They are having a P-Day again then, because they get to go to the temple on Monday. She said she might have time to write. I think being a Sister Trainer Leader makes her a lot busier.

Fyi- The mission has asked that Christmas packages be sent to the  mission office by December 2. They want  to make sure every missionary gets something. The mission home address is on the side bar <-. I can get you get direct address as well, I just decided posting that here is probably not the best idea!

Thanks for supporting our cute girl. She hit the one year mark on October 29! :-)

October 26, 2015

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week!

I didn't explain much about what happened transfer wise last week but
I am in southern New Jersey in the Vineland Ward. I serve in the
cities of Millville and Bridgeton. It's a lot of fun, there are so
many more people to talk to than in Delaware and it's a pretty good
combination of my first two areas. My new companion is Sister Hoofman.
She's from Las Vegas and is wonderful. We live in the basement of a
members home and they take very good care of us. :) I'll include the
address at the end of my email so you can send all of the many letters
that I'm sure you have waiting to get out to me.

This week has been so great! We saw a lot of miracles. The first is
concerning a woman named Vaughnie. She is the sweetest thing you'll
ever see. She was baptized about three months ago, but has a really
bad memory so she doesn't remember a lot and we keep frequent contact
with her to make sure everything is going okay. This week she had her
interview for her temple recommend. We were really nervous for her
just because she gets flustered with a lot of questions but she did
such a good job and was given her recommend! She is so excited to go
and seeing her excitement has really made me think about the amazing
experiences I've had at the temple.

I also went on exchanges this week with Sister Abana. She is such a
great missionary! She's only been here for about three months and is
from the Philippines. We got to spend the day together in Bridgeton.
Every Wednesday we go to Bridgeton and volunteer at a soup kitchen.
It's something I've never done before but I love it so much! I've
gained such a great love for service on my mission because I've
learned that there's no better way to feel love for someone than to
serve them. My job at the soup kitchen so far has been to pass out
drinks with a 93 year old, legally blind man named Willie. He tells me
all about how he served in WWII and about the places that he lives and
you can tell he just so appreciates having someone there to listen.
Later that day we went contacting and I was able to meet a less active
woman who the Ward didn't even know about. She's really sick and can't
leave her house and hasn't been to church in years. We went and shared
the Book of Mormon with her and she expressed how much she missed that
spiritual feeling that the Book of Mormon had once brought her. We
left her with a book and we'll hopefully keep going to help rekindle
her testimony of the restoration of the gospel. :)

My first week here we had a hard time when in came to meeting our
goals. So this week we both prayed for opportunities to hit those
goals. Through the opportunities that Heavenly a father placed in our
paths we were about to hit all but one of our goals this week! I know
that he heard and answered our prayers and that he does the same for
each one of us.

Sorry this was so scattered. That's how my week has been!

I love you all! And I love being a missionary. :)
---------------------------------
Sister Rachel Petrick

The picture is Sister Abana and me.

--

Sister Rachel Petrick

2424 Shamrock Lane

Milllville, NJ 08332