Hello Family,
Put another transfer in the books. Story City has been great, but i'm being transferred! I don't know where to yet, they don't tell us until we are at the meeting tomorrow. So today for P-Day i'll be packing up my stuff. We need to leave by 5:30 in the morning to get to Iowa City by 9 for the meeting. I'll be sure to let you know where i'm going to when i know myself. For Halloween in the mission the rule is that you have to be in your apartment by 6 and stay there for the rest of the night. Unless a member accompanies you somewhere and drives you as well. Which means no trick or treating for me. But we did have a member pick us up and we went over to their house and had dinner. Then i helped them change the brake pads on their car. Never thought i would do that in a suit. I got your package in the mail a couple of days before Halloween even and it was great. Members gave us a lot of candy too so their was no shortage of goods. The weather has been fantastic here. Yesterday it got up to about 63 and even felt a little hot at times while we were walking around. Today it is cold and rainy though. what did Blake and Bridger and everyone else dress up as for Halloween? In Iowa they have a night called "Beggars Night" which is the night assigned for kids to go trick or treating. Usually it is on a day separate from Halloween so that the adults can have their parties on the 31st. But in story city it was on the same night. In the little outlying towns though some were on as early as Thursday through Monday. If you went to a different town every night you could get a lot a lot of candy. And i'm sure some kids do. I'm glad that the ward missed my annual visits. Although i don't think i went last year either... oh well.
That is neat that you are able to talk with a few people who have recently been to Russia and have experienced the church over there. I still get excited when i tell people that my parents are going on a mission when they ask me about my family. Tell Rachael and the family hello for me. And enjoy the sunny warmth. I'm assuming the weather is still fairly nice over there. I am excited to get an extra hour of sleep this weekend, especially because i'll be losing some tonight. I sent off a package today that has a tape in it that i've been making for a long while now and also a suit coat that i can't where because it's too light. I figured it might fit wade so he can hang on to it for me until i'm back. Also i ordered an extra name tag that i'll probably send home in case you want it for display or to put on and go do some missionary work out in Orem. In our district we have 3 Elders leaving. In my predictions i didn't think there would be any change so i was really surprised when i found out the results. One of the families in our ward has a boy in high school who is a senior this year. He is planning on going to Utah State so i've been able to talk to him about where to live, and meal plans, and all that good stuff. that's been pretty fun. That is also the same family that i borrowed my bike from. I did have to go buy a helmet though. and we only used the bike twice i think. One short ride out to the church and then Elder Nielsens bike broke on our longer ride so we haven't been able to use them since. It seems like just as soon as i have every bodies names down i'm being transferred. It will be weird going and jumping into the middle of a whole new batch of peoples lives. We are seeing pretty good success in Story City. We picked up our first new investigator this week. (from tracting) and we have had multiple of our current investigators accept baptismal invites as well.
I guess i'll base my thought this week off of a quote by Jeffrey R. Holland. He says "In the end Christ surely won't be looking for full hands, just clean ones." I don't think that is exactly it but it gets the same point across. In Iowa we have been teaching and working with a lot of people who have recently lost jobs or who have been looking for work for a while now. It is always humbling to see them come to church and still keep the faith. I feel like I have never felt hard pressed for money at any time in my life... probably just because my parents are so good to me. But in the end, it doesn't matter what we have in our hands, more than what our hands themselves are like. In order to wash your hands in a sink you have to set down what you are holding and take that time to rub them together and get them clean. When we are trying to make ourselves clean, we have to set aside whatever may be holding us back and wash ourselves clean. And once we clean ourselves, we don't want to pick up that dirty object anymore because we enjoy the clean feeling. I can never remember who gave this talk in general conference but the story has always stuck with me. it's about a missionary in Hawaii who had a dream. He was on a road and was in a hurry to get to a council meeting or something. As he was running down the road he stopped at a bath house and cleaned himself. when he was done with that and arrived at the meeting it was with Christ and some other prophets i think. They told him he was late, and he replied yes, but i'm clean. It is always better to be late and clean. I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. It is through his atonement that people are made clean and i have seen that so much already in the lives of the people out here and in my own life as well. I love you all!
Elder Peterson
No comments:
Post a Comment