March 26, 2012

Hello Family!

 

I actually don't have a lot of time today because they are throwing interviews with the president into the mix today.  If we have some time afterwards maybe i can send another short e-mail later today as well.  This week has been a good one.  I've been getting to know the ward a lot better now and have made some pretty good friends with the young men already.  We continue to have zero investigators at the moment.  We have taught the first discussion several times this last week though.  It saddens me to know that the spirit is present and that the person we are teaching can feel it, yet they choose still to not meet with us again.  I don't let it get me down though.  We are still working hard to find new people.  I did a training in this last district meeting about receiving revelation through church attendance and it went pretty well.  That is one of the big problems that we have in our zone/mission is getting people to church.  We generated some good ideas though to try and incorporate into the work to see if we can't get these people to come to church and to have a spiritual experience while we are there.  It is important for them to feel the spirit while they are there.  And the same applies to us as well.  We need to try to make church meaningful in our lives and seek the spirit while we are there.  How do we make the sacrament meaningful to us every week?  Do we think about all that the savior has done for us as we partake of it?  Do we think of the covenants we are renewing as we do so?

 

In my ward our ward missionaries are great.  They have come with us to teach several times.  One of them actually served his mission in the Ogden, UT mission and spent 11 months of his mission in Logan.  So we have some fun talking about that.  Well i'm sorry that this is so short this week.  Know that i love you.  I know that this church is true.  I know that Jesus Christ really did atone for our sins.  I am so greatful for that.  I know that Thomas S Monson is the living prophet today.  Let us all take the opportunity with conference this next week to go into it with a question.  I promise you will find an answer.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

March 19, 2012

Hello hello Family!

 

This week has been great.  We have seen miracles.  We received 5 referalls this last week from the members.  That has definitely got to be a new record for me.  As we went to go see these referrals, none of them were home.  BUT we found people outside close to their houses due to the beautiful weather who were ready to hear the message that we had.  Hopefully we can add the referalls to our teaching pool as well along with these new investigators.  This week one of my personal goals has really been to listen more to the spirit specifically while trying to find new people to teach, and i have seen results come from the prayers I have offered in this effort i have put forth.  So now we actually have people to teach which is good.

 

I am still getting acquainted with the new area.  We have a lot of ground that we cover.  My second week at church was good.  I am still trying to meet all of the members and get their names down.  We have a lot of families in the ward haha.  This last week we had a zone conference with the Mission President and the AP's and our zone.  My MTC companion is in my zone now and it was fun to see him.  One thing that stood out to me during the conference was the difference between spending time and investing time.  One example that i thought of was in fishing.  If two guys go fishing and one of them has his line in the water for 10 hours he will see more success and he knows the purpose that he has.  If the other fisherman spends too much time worrying about his line and lunch and other things and only has his line in the water for 2 hours, he won't see as much success.  There is a difference between just being busy and actually focusing on our purpose of bringing people to Christ.  It also reminded me of a little poem in the book "How to be Totally Miserable" that dad gave me that says, one man builds a net, the other stands and wishes.  Would you like to bet, which one gets the fishes?

 

One thing that we are doing in this ward as well is working with the young men a lot more.  We actually have 4 ward missionaries in the ward along with our ward mission leader.  3 of them are priests and the other one was actually just called this week.  He is getting married next month, but he actually served his mission in the Ogden, UT mission and just graduated from BYU.  So we have plenty of opportunities to go on splits with the young men. I love doing that and having the opportunity to teach them and encourage them and get them excited about serving missions.  I am so thankful that i am serving a mission right now and i know that this church is true!  I love you all!

 

Love, Elder Peterson

March 12, 2012

Hello Family!

I am doing great this week and i hope all of you are doing well as well.  My new area is the Rock Island Illinois area.  We live in Moline and our apartment is really nice.  It is right on the border of Illinois and Iowa.  I'm actually in the quad cities.  We cover Rock Island and Moline and then Davenport and Bettendorf are on the other side of the river.  The area we have to cover is huge.  We used to have spanish speaking elders in the area as well, but they left this last transfer because the mission doesn't have enough spanish speakers to keep them here so we now have their area.  But we got a brand new truck to drive around so that's cool.  My new comp is Elder Ashton.  He doesn't have a driver's liscense so i get to drive.  He has been out for 21 months so i'll probably be his last companion before he goes home.  My new zone leader is Trent Howard.  He lives in Pleasant Grove and says he knows Whitney and Kayla.  I'm surprised we weren't friends or never ran into each other because we are very similar and like all of the same stuff.  We have sister missionaries in our district now too.  They serve in the Bettendorf area.

The weather has been great.  This whole week it's supposed to be in the low 70's so I'll be hanging up the jacket!  Let's see, in our area we don't have any current investigators.  So we will be doing a lot of finding.  The last missionary that was here that i replaced is actually from Orem, but he didn't do much.  We received 2 referrals just yesterday though so the members are willing to help.  It kind of feels weird being in a Ward now instead of a Branch.  We had like 2 times as many people here as I've seen in the last 7 months and I guess a lot of people were even gone today.  I've been meeting some of the families and the Recent Converts and they are all really good people.  I'm excited to be here.  I was hoping that i would come to a bigger city and i got my wish :)

This last week in my studies i've been reading in Mormon.  In Chapter 8 it talks about how their was no contention in the land because of the love of God that was in the people.  It stood out to me because even if people don't accept the gospel or the invitation to learn about it, we can still spread the love of God that we have.  Even if all we do is love the people, they will come closer to Jesus Christ.  That is the best way to bring people into the fold, is to just love them.  I love all of you and God does too!

1- District Pyramid

2- Attemted District Jump

3- Mormontown (Blockton IA)

4- E Harris (ZL) and Peterson

5- Lenox Sign

6- Herrin and Peterson

7- Peterson St

8- District Photo

9- E Berthold and Peterson

10- E Maughan and Peterson

11- Sunset

12- E Herrin and Peterson at transfers

March 7, 2012

Hello Family!

I just realized that I forgot my camera back at the house... so look for pictures on Monday.  I am getting transferred this week.  I don't know where to yet, so look for that on Monday too.  I've been going around and saying goodbye to all of the members and such this week.  I'm going to miss Lenox, but i'm ready to move on and start some new adventures.  I'm hoping that I get moved to a bigger city now.  We leave for Iowa City tomorrow morning at 6.  I'll probably be spending all of today packing.  I don't know how i've accumulated so much stuff already.  I haven't heard from Cody or Everett in a little while actually.

I have been doing good this week.  We got another article in the paper for another city in our area.  We picked up one investigator from it named Kim.  She is doing good and said she would be coming to church this week.  I hope she does.  We also finally got back in contact with Sasha again.  When we taught her the word of wisdom a couple of weeks ago, i guess our Branch Mission Leader offended her so that is why they haven't been coming to church because they know he will be there.  So we are working with her on that.  Other members of the branch have been reaching out to her though so I think she just needs some time and she will come along.  

This week I was studying in Mosiah 18 and in verse 9 it talks about some of the things we covenanted to do at our baptisms.  One of them is "to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life."  I've also been reading some of the past general conference reports from this last conference and it goes along perfectly with President Monson's talks about standing in holy places and not being afraid to stand alone.  I would encourage you to go back and read those talks again.   I know that if we are always standing as witnesses of God at all times that our lives will be blessed.  We will receive more personal revelation.   We will find more missionary opportunities, and we will feel the love of God in our hearts stronger.

Love, Elder Peterson