Dear Family,
Lenox, IA is treating me fairly indeed. I've already met all of the members and they are really nice. We average about 55 at church every week. Last week we had over 75 though so that was fantastic. Their were 12 non-members that came. We meet for church in a house. They just tore down a bunch of walls so that it is more open and put a pulpit in so that is pretty sweet. Elder Huston has been here in Lenox for 3 months. We had a snow storm mid week and it dumped on us. It was really wet and a lot of tree branches fell down. But now the snow is all gone and it's pretty warm again. It's supposed to be getting colder again by tomorrow though. That is fantastic to hear that USU beat BYU. It's been a long time coming. Is BYU still pretty good without Jimmer? I didn't know that Kallie and Casey were speaking in sacrament meeting, but that is great that they did a good job. That is crazy that you are speaking in church next week already. good luck! those are great topics to be speaking on. But then i think that you need to get out their so you can be back home before i get home.
So i had a really interesting experience happen this week. We were teaching this guy, Murl. He is a pretty solid, but crazy, investigator. He was with his girlfriend, Peggy. Haha gotta love Iowa names. but anyway, Murl got a tatoo of Peggy's name on his chest on the right pectoral muscle. We were talking to him about tatoo's because he had a question about it so we told him that the prophet strongly recommends that we don't get them and our bodies are temples and such. Later that day after we left we got a call from him and he said he needed us to drive him to the emergency room at the hospital. so we went and picked him up and it turns out that he had taken a fillet knife and filleted his chest and cut his tatoo off. At least he was a hunter so he knew how to fillet so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. But we took him to the hospital and he refused to have the doctors put that same piece of skin back onto his chest so they just had to pull the skin that was already there and attach it. so now his nipples are uneven and it just looks funny. but then later he got back together with Peggy so he took the skin with the tatoo on it and tanned it and turned it into leather pretty much and put it on a key chain for her. People in Iowa are freakin crazy. I can't help but just laugh at stuff like that though. I love this small town kind of stuff!
I thank you and appreciate that you would share that story dad. Our purpose really is to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement... But we always learn things we can do better on. I've really noticed myself already that when we don't bring up Christ at all when we are talking to people and trying to get them interested that it just doesn't work.
So we have been talking with people lately about receiving answers to their prayers. They think that they are praying wrong because they don't receive answers the first time they pray. In my personal study i was reading in 1 Nephi chapter 7 and came across these versus:
16 And it came to pass that when I, Nephi, had spoken these words unto my brethren, they were angry with me. And it came to pass that they did lay their hands upon me, for behold, they were exceedingly wroth, and they did bind me with cords, for they sought to take away my life, that they might leave me in the wilderness to be devoured by wild beasts.
17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound.
18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again.
Nephi prayed for a specific answer to his prayers. He prayed to break through the bands. But what happened? The bands were loosed from around his hands and feet. He didn't get the specific answer he was looking for, but he still got an answer. And he recognized it as an answer. He also said he prayed according to his faith will thou give me strength to break through. Nephi had an extremely strong faith in Jesus Christ, but that doesn't mean that he always receives answers to his prayers exactly how he wants to. The church is true and prayer works. Just keep looking for those answers in many ways, shapes, and forms.
Love, Elder Peterson
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