September 26, 2011

Good Afternoon family!  It has been a "short week!"  I'm writing a little later today because we got stopped while walking to the library and helped a recent convert move.  But that's good because we don't have a lot of things to do today without a car so we can't go grocery shopping or anything.  that is cool that you got to go to a football game with wade and steven.  I hope steven is doing good and the results are good from his latest tests as well.  whatever "good" may be.  I heard that utah state almost beat Auburn this last week.  That would've been a fun game to watch.  The weather is still fairly cold here.  It's been pretty windy lately.  I still haven't had a good storm yet though.  People keep telling me that the thunder here just goes on forever and shakes your whole house.  I want to experience that.

 

That is sweet that tanner and joey had their missionary reports in church this last week.  What a blessing it is to see missionaries coming out into the field!  I think the boots i have are gortex but i can't remember 100%.  We got 10 new missionaries this last week and 6 went home.  I am not the youngest missionary in our district anymore either.  Elder Virgen is being trained up in iowa falls.  I received a phone call from Sis Jergensen the other day and she wanted me to thank you for the letter you sent her in the mail i guess?  She said it really meant a lot to her and made her day to know that you were thinking of her.  She is doing good and is back in the mission field again.  And Caleb Sandford is coming home?  It has been a long time since i've heard that name.  You will have to tell whoever is left in the 202 that i know hi for me.

 

Well all of the corn fields are being harvested so i guess you can coun't that as a change of colors for the fall.  They are all turning white.  So now is the perfect time for missionary work.  "The field is white already to harvest."  I now know what that literally looks like now.  I also went and picked some apples this week.  Probably the only time i'll do that in a suit.  I started making a tape the other week, but i'm not sure when i'll be done.  You and dad should make me one with you speaking russian or something so i can hear your great progress and so you can practice.

 

This past week we have been teaching a lot about prophets and general conference.  We get a live broadcast at our church building and we have commited quite a few investigators to come check it out.  But one interesting thought that i had during my studies this past week that i would like to share with you is not about prophets.  It is about home.  In Matthew 6:19-21 is reads "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where theives break through and steal:  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."  For where our treasure is, there will our heart be also... that phrase made me think of "home is where the heart is."  We each have multiple homes.  We have our heavenly home where we should be laying up treasures, but we also each have our homes here on earth with our families as well.  There are a number of different things we can do to put treasures in our heavenly home, but how do we make our house here on earth a home?  The new perspective that i got while thinking about his is in the way the english language works.  The phrase "I'm going home" is an acceptable and often said phrase.  But if you say "i'm going house" that is not gramatically correct.  So why is home correct when house is not?  Well let's look at this example.  Let's compare "i'm going shopping" to "i'm going store."  The difference is that shopping is an action while store is just a place.  so home is an action.  Just like how it's the things we do inside the store that make it so we are shopping, it's the things that we do inside the house that make it a home.  In D&C 88:119 it tells us how to create an environment of what are house should be in order for the "home" actions to take place.  "establish a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."   And most importantly we need love.  In Preach My Gospel it tells us the home should be the best place to teach, learn, and apply principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A home established on gospel principles will be a place of refuge and safety.  It will be a place where the Spirit of the Lord can abide, blessing family members with peace, joy, and happiness.

 

How thankful i am to have been raised in a home that is founded upon those principles.  It really does feel like a place of refuge and safety for me.  Please don't think that i am thinking about home all the time or getting home sick though, because i love being out here in Iowa!!  I love you all and wish you the best in all of your weekly endeavors.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

September 21, 2011

Hello Family!  I have been in my area for one transfer already.  Time is going by pretty fast!  I'm assuming that by Iowa City you are meaning Iowa Falls?  Things are going great there and thanks to the work we started, that area is now getting full time missionaries as of tomorrow so we will have two sets in our branch.  And I am staying in Story City for this next transfer with Elder Nielsen so i can finish being trained.  I'm not entirely sure how long i will be here though.  Iowa is indeed moving into the fall weather.  It's been pretty windy and suit jacket weather pretty much this whole last week.  Speaking of suit coats, I found a sweet lighter blue suede suit jacket for only 5 dollars in a second hand store so i bought it and i'll probably send a pic of it.  The colors aren't starting to change really here yet, other than the corn getting all brown because it's been a dry season here.  A lot of the fields are already harvested though which just makes it look even flatter out here.  Well the big Iowa State and University of Iowa football game was last week and Iowa State won in triple overtime which was a big shocker.  That night we were told just to stay inside because we live in Iowa State territory so the whole town was pretty much just getting drunk to party.  I bet Pres McGinn was sad to hear that as well since his favorite time is U of I. 

 

We did hear that Sister Jergensen's mom died.  And yes she did go out to the funeral in Utah and is expected to be back sometime this week.  That is cool that you are still going around and teaching about senior missionary work.  I don't really know the senior missionaries here that well, but we aren't stationed close to them either.  Most of them are in the office, but they do have some proselyting couples.  The newest ones were put in Manchester and i don't know where the other ones are.  I'm sure that the missionaries that are actually in their areas know them a lot better though. Or the AP's probably know the office ones really well.  That is super crazy that Tanner is leaving already, and that Chandler is coming home.  Time is really flying and due dates and other things are closer than they appear.  You will have to let me know how those talks go (or at least Chandlers).

 

I'm glad that Russian is coming along well for both of you.  That would be very difficult to learn.  This week i've weirdly enough been learning about Rocket Science.  The elder's quorom president is an aeronautic engineer or something to that effect and got offered a position at the company that is buying out NASA pretty much and we had dinner with him the other night.  I've also learned that their are 7 times more pigs than people in the state of Iowa.  Needless to say, we eat a lot of bacon.

This past week we have been doing a lot of tracting since we were pretty much opening a new area.  My people skills have been improving a lot and i've been able to give out some books of mormon.  The people are nice, but pretty devoted to their own religions.  Usually just because that's what they grew up with, not because they actually know what they believe in.  Family is a big deal to the people out here.  We have been trying to teach them to start praying with their families.  Christ teaches us this as well in 3 Nephi 18:21 "Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my name, that your wives and your children may be blessed."  I have definitely been blessed from the prayers that I am receiving and thank you very much for praying for me.  I have been developing as a person and missionary much faster than would be able to without the help of your prayers.  

 

Also with some people they try and "bash" with us to disuade us from doing the work.  But i just think back to how even though these people obviously don't have a love for me and i never leave with a feeling of love, nothing can seperate me from God's love.  In Romans 8:35-39 It says

 

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate uf from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

 

My advice and testimony to you today would to just do everything we can in order to keep growing closer to our Savior.  He really does love us and if we don't feel of that love, it is because we are turning away from Him, not the other way around.  I love this gospel and i am seeing first hand that happiness it brings to other people and the holes it fills for them.  I love you all!

 

Love, Elder Peterson

September 12, 2011

Hello family.  It sounds as if you have had quite the adventures this week.  More than me even.  That is crazy that all of those things happened and i wish i could have seen grandma joan being pushed in a wheelchair while racing to get to the flight!  It makes me laugh just thinking about it.  But the vacation overall sounded like a blast.  I'm sorry that grandpa bob wasn't feeling better though. that's a bummer.  My week has been going good.  Right now i am in Iowa Falls which is about 45 miles from Story City, but still in our area.  We have been up here since saturday night.  A member family has an apartment above their law firm and are letting us stay in their.  So we are now spending half the week here and half of the week in Story City.  The president said that he might be assigning missionaries to be in Iowa Falls though and that would be awesome.  We will find out this week when transfer calls come.  Its crazy to think that i have been here for almost 6 weeks already.  Yesterday we visited a less active and committed her to come to church and handed out a couple of books of mormon so their is definitely lots of potential up here.  I have not yet gotten your letter yet.  i will be super excited when i do though.  The last letter i got was from grandma and grandpa bob (i was supposed to tell them last week that i got it but i forgot.)  And that was almost 2 weeks ago.  I probably average like one letter every other week.  The weather in Iowa this last week was very good.  Some days were pretty hot, but nothing too too bad.  I don't remember having any exciting adventures that stand out from this last week.  We have been teaching a lot of lessons lately about the Doctrine of Christ which is Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Enduring to the End.  Hyrum Smith stated that the more often we teach it the greater understanding we will have of it, the easier it will become to teach, and our desire to teach it will increase.  I have found all of those things to be true.  it's always the seemingly simple principles of the church that we continue to find new things to learn about.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

September 6, 2011

Hello Family!  Well i didn't know you were having the carnival in the ward, but i guess elder nielsen and i had our own little carnival... that's what the picture is.   They have a carousel in Story City and one night a couple of the member families in the branch were running it so they let us go for free and we got free popcorn.  We didn't get a slide show of pictures though, that would have been fun to see.  Did Blake at least ride his bike in the parade?  It's been getting to be fall like weather here as well.  It has even been a little chilly in the mornings when we were walking to help this nice old lady do some yard work yesterday.  And on that note, as you might have guessed, the library was closed yesterday which is why i'm e-mailing you today instead.  I think i'll have to start learning Russian or something so that you can't talk behind my back when i get home or in secret or anything.  Then i could talk to Zach in Russian too.  but that's a task for in a couple of years.  That is cool though that dad can pray in Russian and that you keep improving by meeting with the tutor.  Do you find the time to study it for those couple of hours every day?  The football hype is starting up out here as well.  I am only about 15 minutes away from Ames, which is where Iowa State is and they are big rivals with the University of Iowa and so i hear about it occassionally.  Also high school football started which is kind of a big deal out here as well.  But speaking of BYU football, i heard an interesting thing about Max Hall recently.  So i didn't know this, but the Iowa Des Moines mission is where he served his mission.  And while he was serving in Story City, he got sent home for getting into some trouble with some girls out here and inviting members daughters to bonfires and such.  Some of the members still remember him being here and the lady who we did the yard work for actually has a book of mormon with his signature in it. 

 

Well this week has seemed a lot more fun to me.  I'm not so worried about actually knowing what i need to say from the scriptures anymore as much as i am just trying to listen to the person who i am teaching and trying to tell them what would best help them.  I am gaining, and have gained, a lot of confidence in my teaching.  And so because of that the stress level has gone down and the mission is much more enjoyable.  It was enjoyable in the beginning too, but now i am just more in the swing of things i suppose.  We had an investigator at church this last week which is a big deal since the work is moving pretty slow.  Elder Nielsen and I also had the most lessons taught this last week with a total of 11 in Story City.  We actually taught more, but they can only count so many less-actives or something so i'm not exactly sure how the total number gets determined.  So the work is steadily moving upwards and onwards.  This last sunday was really empty because of the holiday and so there were probably only like 20 people at church. 

 

One of the lessons that we had with a member after dinner once this week really stood out to me and i want to share it with you. Even though i came up with the lesson and the basic outline, i still learned something that i didn't see coming.  The lesson was based around patience.  So we read Alma 34:41 which says something to the effect of: But that ye have patience and bear with those afflictions with a firm hope that ye shall one day have rest from all of your afflictions. (Each day or every two days i'm also trying to memorize a scripture, and that was one that i did.)  So we talked about what the real meaning of patience is.  When we are little and bugging our moms to leave church or the dentists office or something, we think that when they tell us to be patient that we just need to stop what we are doing and wait it out.  But in this scripture, it couples patience with a firm hope.  And hope is really the first step to having faith, which is an action word.  So if we are truly being patient that we don't just stop what we are doing.  We bear with our afflictions and keep doing good faithful actions until that day of when we rest from all afflictions.  President Uchtdorf says this about patience: "patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can—working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!"  This is exactly why Jesus Christ is our best example of patience.  He does all He can to get us to be able to return to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again one day.  He sticks with us and works, hopes, and exercises faith for us and bears our hardships with fortitude.  I know that as we continue to develop Christlike attributes that we can accomplish so much more than we can ever imagine.  I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

 

P.S.  Folfing or Frolfing is frisbee golf.

August 29, 2011

Hello Family!

 

I'm doing great.  No earthquakes of hurricanes here.  Or tornadoes.  There was a fire though.  It was just big enough for us to roast mallows around it and have some s'mores and teach a lesson to a member family.  They had us over for dinner and they were in a little trailer camp park thing near here so we had to have some s'mores.  It was a good time.  i've been waiting for a lightning storm out here in Iowa!  I hear they are amazing and the thunder shakes your whole house.  The only bit of weather we have gotten is some light rain.  The skies sure are pretty though.  Mom would definitely love the sunsets here!  the clouds always make it look different and beautiful every night.

 

I had a great Sunday.  we went to a city called Iowa Falls which is about 45 miles away from Story City.  It is the biggest city in our area but it is so far away it's hard for us to get up there because we are only allowed so many miles a month and a lot of the people we visit are in little outlying towns.  But after church we rode with a member up there and spent the day up there.  It was also my first time biking on the mish since we didn't have our car.  It wasn't too bad but my biking muscles have not been used in a long time.  We had a meeting with all the members who live up there that night and tried to get the member missionary efforts going with full steam ahead and asked for ideas on how we could help more.  We are trying to start maybe a week on week off thing between there and Story City.  We will see what president has to say today about it.  I'm definitely starting to connect more with the members in the branch.  A lot of them are converts but there are some life long members as well.

 

This morning we went frolfing for our "work out."  They have a course really close to our apartment so we usually play on P-Days because there isn't a whole lot else to do.  We are also going to play basketball with some members later this afternoon.  Usually we would go to Ames and hang out with the other elders in our district but we don't have enough miles to drive down there today.

 

That is so cool that you got to go through the temple with Kallie and Casey!  And also that Rachael flew out for that.  I can't wait until i'm closer to Nauvoo so i can go through that temple.  Then i can say i've been able to do baptisms for the dead there and also a session.  That is one thing we are working torward with a lot of the less active members is to try and get them ready to go through the temple again.  It can be hard because it's far away.  We really are blessed in utah to have the temples so close to us.

 

So they have us on this new program that is supposed to train the new elders so they could potentially be trainers after 12 weeks if needed.  it certainly helps me dive more fully into the work.  I've lead a couple of discussions already while teaching and it is such a wonderful feeling when you can tell that the spirit is touching the hearts of those you are teaching.  I've spent a lot of my studies in Alma recently in chapters 16-26 ish.  It talks a lot about Ammon and Aaron and their brethren and the great missionary work they are doing.  It also contains the scripture that is on my missionary plaque thingy.  But it has answered a lot of questions and silenced fears about missionary work and has taught me a lot about how to be a better missionary.  One thing specifically i have learned from the sons of Mosiah is that if we want the spirit of prophecy and revelation and be able to teach with the spirit it requires much prayer and fasting.  They studied the scriptures diligently to know the word of God.  Even though they had seen an angel of heaven they still did all they could to learn more about the scriptures and become the best missionaries they could be.  God really does like to stand behind us when we make promises in His name.  I've seen that already in the work here.

 

I know that this is the true church and that it was restored through Joseph Smith.  If we are diligent in seeking for truth and understanding we can have all things made known unto us that is expedient for us to know.  Personal revelation is a powerful thing and we should seek for it in everything we do whether it be while reading the scriptures, praying, attending church, or even just spending time with our families.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

Combine, front view

Combine, side view

Corn

Endless corn fields

Lots of soybeans

Typical roadway

August 22, 2011

Dear Family,

 

Howdy!  You may not be able to type in Russian, but I can type in Iowan haha.  I'm getting down the Iowa lingo pretty well.  It isn't a whole lot different but it can be funny at times.  A lot of people whistle while they talk because a lot of them are missing teeth but they are the kindest people.  I'm doing good and the work couldn't be better.  I gave out my first book of mormon yesterday to a fellow named Rodney.  He is a truck driver and he will only be in Iowa for two weeks before he goes to north dakota, but it was fun talking to him.  We are going by his house again tonight.  I hope he read some of it!  I've been studying mostly on the first lesson in PMG during personal study time and me and my companion have practiced teaching it together and it seems to go smoothly in practice.  We don't spend a whole lot of time tracting.  I've been for maybe like an hour and a half total.  Yesterday we were in Gilbert, a city pertinear to Story City, for a dinner appointment.  After dinner we contacted the house of the pasture for the Gilbert Lutheran Church and offered to teach in his sunday school class to answer questions and such, but he declined the offer.  

 

The less actives are really good.  Most of them are coming to church pretty consistently now.  It's fun teaching them, because the lessons we plan aren't usually out of preach my gospel, because they know the basics of the doctrines.  One of the people we are teaching is having a tough time.  Her son was married to a girl and they had a child, but they took a DNA test and it isn't his son.  So it's been interesting to teach her, but she is coming to church and hopefully finding peace in the gospel.  I can tell a difference in her already from just the two weeks i have been here.  There are some pretty crazy stories with the people out here though.  One of our recent converts had a child at the age of 13... and it was planned.  So she is 23 and her oldest son is 10 but she is the sweetest person and a very good church member.  The heat actually hasn't been that bad.  The first week i was here the humidity was low but now it is slowly climbing back up.  Nothing too too hot yet though.  Knock on wood.

 

That is SO awesome that Kallie and Casey are getting sealed this week.  I am so happy for them.  I wish that I had gone to the Logan temple before i left.  I hear it is really beautiful though.  I get to attend the Nauvoo temple at least 4 times on my mission, and the pagaent once.  On P-Days if you live close enough to the temple you can go and also if you are in the Nauvoo area itself, you can help clean the temple as well.  We only have a certain number of miles to drive though so i don't know how often we will actually go.  Where I am right now is definitely out of the question.  We don't even have enough miles to go to all the cities in our area consistently.  Iowa Falls is in our area but it's 90 miles round trip.  I haven't actually been up there yet but we are planning on going this sunday and meeting with the more active families to set up some member missionary work.  That is one reason why there aren't many people from up there that come to church because they can't afford the gas money to come here every week.

 

That stinks that you have 2 houses flooding.  Satan really does love to create opposition right when good things are about to happen.  We actually taught a lesson on just that to a less active.  We used the story of Joseph Smith and of Moses.  We all know the story of Joseph Smith, but I find it interesting that Satan didn't try to stop him with a whole lot of opposition until he actually started praying in the grove.  If good things are meant to happen, they will.  It is during this time of most opposition that we need to exert ALL our powers to call upon God to deliver us from the enemies which hold us bound.  With the case of Moses, Satan was wanting Moses to worship him.  Satan even lied to the point where he called himself the only begotten son.  But Moses received first a little strength to stand against Satan.  Then Satan came back harder and put fear into Moses.  However it was at this time that he received all the strength he needed in order to get rid of Satan and the fear.  I know that this gospel is true and we can draw on the strength of our Heavenly Father whenever we need to.

 

Love, Elder Peterson

August 15, 2011

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!