Hello Family!! I probably really was doing all of those things at the time you said i was doing them. I actually don't have a set time to e-mail now that i am out of the MTC but we still keep it to about an hour and then e-mail the mission president our weekly letter. So my first area is a little town called Story City, Iowa. It is just about in the center of Iowa. The people here are really nice and we are working mostly with less actives. The area is pretty big and the branch is fairly small but we had over 100 people at church today which is great success! A lot of less actives were there. Plus i haven't had to ride bikes at all which i am thankful for. We have a 2011 Chevy Malibu that we get to drive around. We are allowed 1000 miles a month so in order to go to the farther places of our area, the members sometimes give us rides. This first week has been quite luxurious actually, but i know that it will probably not stay this way. We had a baptism on saturday, so even before I got to go to church I was already meeting a lot of members who came for that. The weather has been perfect. I just missed the heat wave that was here a couple weeks ago. Another one might still come in, but i'm hoping that it doesn't.
My trainer companion is Elder Nielsen. He is from West Haven, Utah. He goes home in december and is one smart cookie. It has been pretty interesting to just dive into the lives of these investigators and less actives without knowing any background about them but still be able to teach them concepts and principles that still help them. Elder Nielsen also went to Utah State and is majoring in Biological Engineering. I have only had corn twice since i've been here, but the corn fields are EVERYWHERE haha. I took a picture (and i'll try to post it here) of our church with the cornfields in the same field as the church. Most of the corn they grow here is actually for cattle feed, but the sweet corn they do grow is delicious. They also grow a lot of soy beans. You can see so much sky here it is ridiculous. I'm sure i'll get used to it though. It certainly does make for beautiful sunsets though. I'll have to send you pictures mom so you can be jealous.
Recipes would be greatly appreciated when you get the chance. We have an hour for lunch and dinner so they would have to be pretty quick and easy though. So far i've been living off of sandwiches and cereal, but that's just fine with me. I'll actually have a chance to go grocery shopping this week and get some more food instead of just what was left for me by the missionary who was here before i was. I hope you do well in the learning of the language! I have seen the Russian alphabet while Zach (my roommate) was trying to learn it at the MTC and it is very different and confusing. You will get the cool nametags that are in Russian though so that'll be cool. I know that if you just keep practicing it will come to you and you'll do fine talking to people.
I sent a letter to Kallie to our home address because she said she was moving. I didn't know her home address so i guess you can just give that to her when she is home for the weekend. I also already sent Clayton a letter too. That's crazy that school is starting up already. I'm not sure how or if that will affect the mission out here at all. They are big into schooling here though, even in this small little town. Going to church on Sunday was fun. They had all the youth talk for a couple of minutes about something that they experienced over the summer. Most of them talked about either youth conference or girl/scout camp. At the end they had me get up and bear my testimony. They have a lot of strong members here and i've been over to some of their houses for dinner already and they sure do know how to cook! The first night i was here Elder Nielsen took me over to a family, the Elmer's, and told me they were investigators and had me teach a lesson even though they were really members. It was easy to pick up on it because the first thing you see when walking in is a mirror that says eternal families on it and a picture of Jesus. Then when we sat down they had their book of mormon videos on the shelf, but i still played along and it was good to get some experience in teaching the lesson of the Restoration.
I've been working on memorizing scriptures lately in personal study. Today i was memorizing Mosiah 3:19. It talks about putting of the Natural Man and becoming a saint through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Then for personal reading i was reading in Alma chapters 10 and 11. In these chapters, Zeezrom tries to pay Amulek and bribe him to deny Christ. It's just a good reminder to remember that all of our natural wants and tendencies may not be on the straight and narrow path. Although it's a good thing to want money to provide for our families we should never follow Satan in order to achieve that. If we yield to the enticings of the Holy Ghost and stay true to the path and keep a firm grip on the Iron Rod, we will be taken care of. One thing i've noticed on my mission is that my natural man wants more sleep, but by doing different things and praying for help i'm able to stay awake through my studies and that is really helpful for when we go out teaching that day. I love you all and know that this gospel is true.
Love, Elder Peterson
Oh, P.S. Just send all mail to the mission home address that you have and they forward it to us that same day. That way you don't have to worry about all of the different addresses and such. Also send all packages through the post office because they can't forward UPS or FedEx. Thank you!
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