This week has been a scorcher. It's been in the 100's and with the heat index (the temperature that it actually feels like with the humidity and such) was up to 112! I've been going through a LOT of water lately. It's been a good time to visit members and such. They are especially welcoming and enjoy getting us out of the heat. Luckily for us, we have air conditioned apartments so at home it doesn't feel bad. Every time you walk out the door though you just get this huge wave come over you and you have to swim through the air to get from place to place. The fourth of July was fun. On the 3rd we were able to watch fireworks. We were actually in Geneseo that night so it was a smaller show than the Red White and Boom show in the quad cities, but it was still fun to watch. Geneseo is about a 25 minute drive from Moline so it's not too bad. I've had fun working with Elders Smith and Craven for this last week. We've been driving back and forth a lot lately so that we could work in both areas. We also went to church in both areas yesterday so we got 6 hours of church in last week... more with the PEC's and coordination meetings as well. I better get used to it though because we got our transfer calls and it turns out that because of a shortage of missionaries (9 going home and only 5 coming out. Plus 2 other missionaries went home this last transfer... including my last companion) they had to close 3 areas. One of those areas is Geneseo but I will serve with Elder Craven in Rock Island. President Jergensen told us that one day a week we will still work in Geneseo and we will still go to church on Sundays and then after this next transfer our missionary count will be back up so Elder Craven will go back to Geneseo to open the area again and then i'll get a new companion to stay in Rock Island/Moline with. So it's pretty unusual to know who my new companion will be already. And i've served with him for the last week and we get along well. After 6 weeks of going to church for 6 hours, 3 hours will seem really short!
On the actual 4th of July we went over to a members house and had a barbecue with a couple of families in the ward. They too made a flag cake so i got a little taste of home. Also with transfers this week we are getting a new zone leader. And one of the sisters in my district is going home so there will be one new sister as well. The other missionaries are staying the same. Minus Elder Craven being new as well, but both of the Elders i'm currently serving with were at district meeting last week so his "first" district meeting will really be his second. I got your forwarded message from Mindy, but I didn't get an attachment of the announcement. Was I supposed to? Also did they send that other package off because I haven't gotten it. I did get the first one. I think i already told you that.
The work here is going well. We still continue to meet with the Gillmores. She asks us a lot of questions about our church since she is a devout catholic and in turn we get to ask her questions about her church. Often times she can't answer right then but she always gets back to us with an answer. David's testimony has really gotten stronger in the last months though and they now come to sacrament every week. He can't stay any longer because of his feet. We also received a call from a man by the name of Jerry on Friday night saying that he wanted to get back into the church and just moved back from Mississippi. We visited him Saturday morning and he came to church on Sunday. He set up a time to meet with the Bishop and also we are starting the stop smoking workshop with him this week. We are also having dinner with the bishop this week and are hoping to be able to bring one of our new investigators along as well. We are also going to start teaching one of our ward missionaries girlfriends this week on friday and then they are going to feed us dinner. The member boyfriend is still a little iffy on if he wants to serve a mission or not so hopefully this convinces him that he wants to and the spirit can work it's magic.
Some cool verses I ran into in my studies this last week are found in the Doctrine and Covenants. I won't type out the verses themselves, but they are in Section 33. It tells us what we need to do to become good missionaries in this time of harvesting while the field is white. It also tells us how we can "become even as Nephi of old who journeyed from Jerusalem in the wilderness." (verse 8) It tells us in verses 8-10 to just open our mouths. Each verse starts with open your mouth. It's that easy (sounds that easy at least. Actually doing it can be hard.) But it tells us what to say as well. It says our mouths will be filled in essence with the Doctrine of Christ, which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. The doctrine of Christ has been a huge focus of the mission so I thought it was neat that it tells us that when we open our mouths that is all we need to fill it with. I've seen miracles come from just opening my mouth to someone who you would never think would want to hear about the gospel. This church is true! I love all of you and thanks for your prayers. I pray for you as well. :)
Love, Elder Peterson
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