The One with Lillian's Baptism

Week 31 (Mar 21st-27th)


The font was filled and the trek was made back up to Belleview this week as Lillian finally entered the waters of baptism! It was such a joyous reunion with a majority of the people that I have come to love the most during my missionary service. The bond that I've formed with those that I served and have served with I know are eternal, and I was so happy to see everyone! From my former companions, Sister Phelps and Sister Carter, to Amy and her girls and of course, Lillian!

The service itself was lovely, the Spirit was so strong and all present were so excited for Lillian. I had the opportunity to bear my testimony and share my knowledge that our Father in Heaven loves us so much that He sent His Son to show us the path back to Him; and how the Savior set the example and showed us that baptism is necessary for each of us to be able to live with Him again and gain exaltation.

Then Lillian was baptized! We she came up out of the water she exclaimed, "I did it!" and everyone couldn't help but clap and cheer. 😊 Lots of delicious refreshments were had and fantastic photos were taken. It was a much needed evening.

Unfortunately due to travel time, Sister Stevenson and I weren't able to see the Women's Broadcast live. So we'll just have to wait like peasants for it to be available on Gospel Library to download and watch in our precious spare minutes throughout the week. I've heard it was great! Women's session actually ended up being my favorite of an amazing general conference in October, so I'm looking forward to it!

Not much else happened this week, but we did meet Jackie. She was a referral from the Spanish speaking Elders that they found while tracting. She's a little eccentric but she loves learning and talking about Christ. She enjoys and is open to discussing more about Him and has met with missionaries from our church and other religions before. Our lesson was very thorough and might have been a little bit of an information overload, but she was enthusiastic to read the pamphlets and begin the Book of Mormon! She accepted the invitation to be baptized! Hopefully we can get her on date when we meet her this week.

Be excited and prepare for Conference!

-Sister Olivia Petty💦

Lillian and her Sisters! (R to L: Sisters Stevenson, Carter, Knapp, Lillian, Phelps, Petty, Larson) 3.25.17

Lillian and I! 3.25.17 

Me and my girls! (Amy, Chloe & Sophia) 3.25.17

The gang ft. Cece 3.25.17

(p.s. I forgot my nametag so Sister Stevenson let me wear hers for some of the pictures😬)

The One with the Doorbell Rejection

Week 30 (Mar 14th-20th)


On my mission thus far I've never really had a door "slammed" in my face per sé, but there's been one or two times that have felt like it... without someone even opening the door.
One this week was when we rang a peculiar looking doorbell with a camera on it, a moment later a blue light came on above it and a voice came from the doorbell saying, "Who is it?" We were both kind of taken by surprise, then addressing the speaker/doorbell/camera answered that we were Sister Missionaries looking to serve others. The tinny voice buzzed back, "Not interested."

There's another one that happened a few weeks ago Sister Stevenson and I are still laughing about; we went looking for a less active member that no one had met before and the man at his address said that he no longer lived there. The man told us that the guy we were looking for moved down the same street, but he couldn't remember which house. So off we went and began knocking all the doors.

We came to a house that had a lanai (screened porch, very common in Florida) and a lovely little doorstep with a small koi pond and a small fountain, wind chimes, just a delightful zen feel to it. I knocked, and shortly after a man glanced through the curtained window next to the door for just a split second. We waited for a moment, we were expecting him to come back to answer the door after maybe putting away a dog, getting his wife, etc. but after an uncomfortable amount of time, I knocked again. This time the curtain flew back and the man shouted, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING COMING AND KNOCKING SO LOUDLY ON MY DOOR, TWICE?!"
Sister Stevenson and I must have jumped back ten feet. Bewildered, I stammered and explained that we were looking for someone, he responded "HE DON'T LIVE ON THIS BLOCK NO MORE!" so we hurriedly thanked him and left. It was hilarious.

Some people try to reject us but just can't. This weekend we came across a man in his driveway and we introduced ourselves and asked if there was any service we could help him with. He chuckled and said, "sure, you could rake my lawn for me." and we eagerly accepted. Thinking we weren't serious, he told us we could come back sometime the next day to do it. So we did. The look on his face alone when he answered the door was totally worth it. He was so surprised, he didn't even know where his rake was. He had to borrow his neighbors! He was super grateful, and we're going back this Saturday to weed his lawn. Hopefully we'll get a chance to share a message with him 😊

We had an awesome meeting with Susan on Thursday and our rockstar elders quorum president, came with us. We were super glad to finally have someone out to meet and talk with Susan, however it ran a little long; Susan is quite a story teller. President Simpson was awesome and taught her more about priesthood blessings, which we had talked to her about asking for. She was a little apprehensive due to her extreme religious history, but President Simpson was so nice about it and invited her to think and pray about it and he's planning on coming back with us this week or next to give her one. Susan is great, we love her.

We had a lot of appointments fall through so we did a lot of finding this week. We rode our bicycles for 12 miles on Wednesday, which I was really excited about. That's exactly how many miles I told President Monson I could do when I filled out my mission papers! (It asks if you are able to walk 6 miles and/or bike 12 a day)

Lastly, I received word that Lillian (from my last area) is finally on date for baptism! She agreed to be baptized shortly after the temple tour we went on back in January, but due to delay that she had to sort out she was not able to do it for a while. Until now! Lillian is overjoyed, she has waited so long and worked so hard to get here and I'm headed up to Belleview once again to see her make this long awaited covenant with her loving Father in Heaven. I am so so happy, I'm reminded of how Alma felt in Alma 29:9-10. The joy and humility that I feel that Heavenly Father allowed me to be apart of her conversion; because it could have been any missionary that taught her and her, but because Heavenly Father knew me and my pure desire to serve Him and to be an instrument in His hands I was given by Him the gift of being that missionary.


Stay brave & strong & true,

-Sister Olivia Petty🚪

Adventures in bicycling 3.15.17

The One with The Chastity Belt

Week 29 (Mar 7th-13th)


GOOD MORNING UTAH. It's a beautiful sunny day in the 407 with a light Floridian breeze coming in from the south from the lightest Floridian there is, me. I'm elated to announce that there is nothing but pleasantries to report from Pleasant Hill this week!

On Tuesday I had my first Zone Training Meeting in the Hunters Creek Zone and I have to say it was probably the best ZTM I have had thus far. A few days beforehand the Zone Leaders told everyone to bring something for "Show and Tell" as a get to know you activity and it was absolutely fantastic. There was everything from a flying orb (which I really want now) to a toilet paper roll. Even those who forgot to bring something proved to be extremely entertaining. Elder Hernandez for example, decided to make the most of the situation and whipped off his belt and raised it high for everyone to see and announced that this was his "Chastity belt", and that it was there to always remind him "never to be a baby daddy on the mission".

I felt like Tom Sawyer on Thursday when we got the opportunity to whitewash a bench for the Palominos. I had been dying to paint something for service ever since the start of my mission and I was so excited to finally get the chance. We went over and provided much needed help doing various odd jobs in preparation for Clarissa's 2nd birthday party taking place the next day. The bench was needed as a photo prop and by the time Sister Stevenson and I were done it was white as snow. We were so proud.
Lucky for us we were even invited to the party itself! We got the chance to stop by and join in some festivities and had a great time with the many members that were there and take some photographs.

Saturday we had the best day in a long while thanks to the help from our Sister Training Leaders, Sister Yance and Sister Reid! Instead of doing the usual exchange, we got to blitz! Blitzing is something relatively new to me and the mission, it's like exchanges however the companionships both work in the same area. So Sisters Reid & Yance came down late Friday to spend the night, and the next morning we went to work. Sister Stevenson and I planned out two separate Saturday's with lessons and finding events in our area so two companionships could go and have work to do.
The first half of the day I spent with Sister Reid and after we met back up for lunch we switched and I spent the remainder of it with Sister Yance. Each companionship saw so many tender mercies and miracles!

Sister Stevenson was able to meet with Yeshie and put her on date for baptism in mid April! Yeshie seemed a little hesitant about being prepared in time, but she has been wanting to be baptized. We're so happy to get to work with her so she can be ready to make that covenant. Sister Stevenson also got to meet with and see Susan again and Susan has finally been praying on her own! She's never done that before! She'd only pray when she was with us but now she has been having personal prayers and we are overjoyed!

I got to find some success in meeting people including a brand new investigator, Fairy! She's from Trinidad and has lived in Florida for over thirty years and has such a solid faith in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She accepted the Restoration so well and was so intrigued and surprised that she had never heard about the Apostasy and the Book of Mormon before! She seemed eager to understand and learn more. She was so genuine in her interest and is so kind. It was such a blessing to us to have been able to find and teach her.

Even though we had such a successful Saturday we still didn't have any investigators at church on Sunday, which we were somewhat expecting but still disappointed about. We haven't had a single investigator at church since I've been here in Pleasant Hill and I am beyond ready to fix that. It's going to happen. We'll figure it out.
One reason we suspect no one came was the fact that daylight saving time started yesterday. I mean we would have missed Sacrament too if it wasn't for the North Sisters calling us at 6:47am. For something that happens twice a year, I don't understand how I always forget.

Sunday also marked my 6 months of being in the mission field, which is surreal. To quote myself during my second week at the MTC: "Everyday feels like a week and every week feels like a day. Time has no meaning. it's non linear. I don't understand how it works anymore, but I didn't really have a good grasp on it in the first place so I guess it's business as usual".

I am so humbled to be able to devote all of myself to serve the Lord full time and be an instrument in His hands, I am filled with gratitude for this sacred opportunity every day. I have grown so much and have learned even more about my Heavenly Father and His plan for me and all His children. Even though I have felt disappointment and heartache often while serving, I have found the truth given in the First Presidency message at the beginning of Preach my Gospel; "The Lord will reward and richly bless you as you humbly and prayerfully serve Him. More happiness awaits you than you have ever experienced as you labor among His children".

I cherish everyday of my mission, and look forward to many more.

-Sister Olivia Petty🎂

Being weirded out by Sister Jamison and Sister Lamborn 3.10.17

Me with Baby Olivia & Brian, members of our ward 3.10.17

Sister Reid, Sister Yance, myself and Sister Stevenson while blitzing 3.11.17

The One with The Corner

Week 28 (Feb 28th- Mar 6th)


This Friday I went through the temple and it was wonderful! I loved the Spirit that I felt there in the House of the Lord with so many fellow missionaries. What a blessing to have a temple in our mission and to get to go semi annually. Our brand new Sister Missionary in the North area, Sister Jamison got to go to the temple her very first week! We're all jealous. I remember asking my first or second day when we'd go to the temple, and Sister Phelps said, "Oh we just went last week!". This trip was long awaited.

The population of where I serve is mainly concentrated in two general areas, however the exception is a small handful of a few streets at the bottom of our boundary; we call this the corner. The corner is in the farthest reach of our area, and therefore the farthest from us. I have a map that illustrates my point:

I had never been there. Even Sister Stevenson hadn't taken the venture. This is due to the fact that we have a set allotment of miles per month, and so no one could possibly afford to go down to the corner just because. We didn't even know what we would find. And so there the corner sat, untouched by missionary hands; forever to remain mysterious. Until Tuesday, February 28th.

Thanks to several days of not driving due to sickness, February only having 28 days, and a string of unusual circumstances we found ourselves with a surplus of miles that would not roll over into the next month. So what are a couple of Sister Missionaries to do? Go and discover what was in the corner.

It was absolutely splendid! It was so much more than we expected and more! An adorable little lakeside community with small canals that give the place a bayou vibe and all the wild bird life Florida has to offer. The houses and houseboats were adorable, and there were even cute old people riding golf carts! Oh how I missed that sight.

Unfortunately we didn't have a lot of time to find before it got dark, so we didn't get to meet a lot of people. And the people we did meet were snowbirds that were packing up and getting ready to go back north for the summer. Even if we did pick up a new investigators down there it would be somewhat problematic, seeing that we would never be able to drive down there and we'd be extremely unlikely to find someone willing to give us a ride. Not to mention that if someone down there were to actively investigate it would take them a whopping hour and a half to drive to church.
They'd probably just abandon us and go to the Lake Hamilton Ward approximately 20 minutes away... and in a completely different mission.
Either way, we had a magical time and it definitely lifted our spirits and got us super excited about finding and missionary work in general. And if nothing else, now we know what is there in the corner.

As far as investigators go we've been having problems with appointments following through, people not coming to church, etc. All the fun things. One of the hardest things about this week was when Kerryann told us that her partner was not particularly jazzed about her meeting with us, and didn't want us coming to the house. This was a tough blow that both confirmed our fear that she and the father of her (adorable) little children are unmarried, and that he isn't interested in learning more at all. It's so hard without that familial support, especially since our message is so focused on the importance of families being together. Kerryann still wants to come to church and take lessons from us there, and hopes that if he sees the positive change in her that the church will bring that it will soften his heart and warm him up to the idea. We just don't want to be sneaky and teach against the (potential priesthood holder) head of household and create tension in the family. That's the opposite of what we want! So we've been praying really really hard about it and even put their names on the temple prayer roll. If you could add them to your prayers, it definitely wouldn't hurt.

Earlier on Tuesday we got to do some service for a long time investigator that's an adult daughter of a less active that has a special place in our hearts. Susan has really been through the ringer time and time again, especially recently. She was in a serious car accident involving a semi truck at the beginning of last month, which has left her with a myriad of health problems on top of her existing lifelong mobility issues. When we offered to serve her she was so touched and asked us if we would help her sweep and mop her floors, which we were more than happy to do. She was so grateful and even wanted to pay us, which she knew she couldn't do, so she got us some pizza instead ☺️

Hold to the rod,

-Sister Olivia Petty⛵️

Myself and Sister Stevenson in the corner of our area at Lake Hatchineha 2.28.17

Myself, Sister Stevenson, Sister Lamborn and Sister Jamison at the temple on 3.3.17