Transfer 3, Week 7 Aug 12, 2014

Well, this week was really interesting. It was.... Yeah just wierd.

So update in transfer info. I am still with Elder Hundley in West
Linn. President whitewashed the elders out of the Willamette ward, the
one just next to us, and so now there are only sisters in my district.
Crazy huh. So a couple cool things that happened.

Two weeks ago, the Oswego sisters had a really hard week. They
had all of their investigators either drop them, or move. It was
super rough on them. So we arranged for them to tract into the old
visitors center directors. So we were able get them to meet up and it
really turned their week around. But yeah, I am having a really hard
time focusing, so I am going to do my best to remember.

So we found a new investigator this past week. We had contacted him
though tracting and we were finally able to meet with him this past
week. He name is N, and he seems super sincere. We just introduced
him to the type of things that we are going to be teaching him, and he
said that he would be willing to try things out. Then at church two
days ago, one of the members brought his nonmember niece to church,
and we taught her the restoration yesterday and have another
appointment to meet with her on Thursday. Things are really starting
to kick off.

We were also able to contact Y, she was an investigator that Elder Ah Kuoi and I were working with, but he hadn't seen her in about a month, and we are going to start all over with her in the discussions. We weren't able to meet with M this week. He said that he is going to do some serious reading and decide for himself if he really wants to get baptized. But at the same time, he doesn't really want to meet with us during that time. Hopefully everything works out.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Transfer 3, Week 6, Aug 4, 2014

This past week has been really good.  And kind of weird, but all weeks are weird.  So just a couple things that happened this week.  On Tuesday while tracting, I was with Elder Nelson, an elder that came out with me, and we knocked on this door.  This entire time, no one had been home, and there was a hornet that flew in onto a nest that was over the door.  when that happened, elder Nelson and i both got really nervous about it.  The hornet started walking around on the nest and stopped at the top, looking at us.  Elder Nelson said that if it flew at us, he was going to freak out, and so of course, it flew at us, and we both ran/hobbled away for about 10 feet, until we realized that it wasn't going to sting us.  It was kind of funny.  Fortunately no one was home to see us run.  That would have been super embarrassing. 

Things are going good in West Linn right now.  We are still working on finding people, and we are coming closer to achieving our companionship goals.  Elder Hundley is continuing to become an amazing missionary.  It is really awesome being able to be his companion.  One of the things that we have been talking about in our companionship studies is recognizing the spirit, and acting on it.  It is something that he has been struggling with.  he doesn't feel like he has gained a true testimony to the point where he knows beyond a doubt that the book of mormon is true, so we have been going through Alma 32 and expounding on it.  It is really interesting some of the things that happen in comp study.  

M is continuing to progress towards baptism.  He is still working on recognizing answers to his prayers, and praying more often.  He just needs to be more humble.  It is really kind of strange the way that he prays sometimes, but he is still getting used to the concept of praying.  He didn't come to church last week, and when we talked to him, he said that he felt bad for not coming!  it isn't good that he missed church, but it is fantastic that he recognized the difference in the way that he felt when he didn't go.

Love 

Elder Peterson

Transfer 3, Week 5, July 28, 2014

This past week was really different. We had an amazing Tuesday. Everyone we stopped by was home! It was a festive miracle! Then throughout the week, no one was home. It is funny how that works. We met with M this week, and we were focusing more on prayer, and the Book of Mormon. He has been reading the Book of Mormon lately and he said that if he found out at he is a child of God, that he would get baptized. He has been talking to his girlfriend about getting baptized, and she said that she would be at his baptism. But he still won't commit to a date.
Elder Hundley and I have been able to work really well together. It has been great to have a companion that I can be open and candid with. 
So this past week, I went on exchanges with Elder Jentzsch in willamette. He was really excited for the exchange. It went pretty good. We were able to find two new investigators.  So hopefully, things are going to be shaping out in willamette.

Thanks

Elder Peterson

Transfer 3, Week 4, July 21, 2014

M came to church this week again! He has been doing great. On Wednesday, we went over to his house and we taught him more about prayer. We brought Brother Brown, one of the ward missionaries that teaches the Gospel Essentials class. Bringing Brother Brown was such a miracle. He was able to help explain things from a different point of view for M, a way that helped him to understand prayer more. He first asked M if, when his dad was still alive, he had ever gone to his dad for help with something. Tim had said yes. Then Brother Brown asked if his dad had ever not helped, or told him to do something that wasn't right. Tim said no, then Brother Brown compared that to asking for help from our Father in Heaven. It really helped M to understand more about the purpose of prayer. We were also able to help M to understand what the spirit felt like. We started reading Moroni 10:3-7 with him, and that spirit was really strong. We stopped and asked M how he was feeling, he said that he felt love inside, we were able to testify to him that the feeling that he had was the Spirit, and that was how we could all recognize answers from our Heavenly Father. It was a great lesson. M said that he would start reading and praying every day. We also committed him to pray about baptism. At church, we found out that there was going to be a child of record baptism happening that night, so we told M about it and invited him to go to it. He said that he would rather wait to go until there was someone his own age getting baptized. The he told us that he was referring to himself! So M is really considering baptism right now. Hopefully this week, we will be able to set a date for M to start working towards! 

Also this week, we received a referral from the Oregon city 3rd ward missionaries. They had been at lunch with Sister Ballard, and they started talking with an older lady named E. They found where E lived, and they referred us to her. We went over on Saturday to see her, and she started talking with us. She said that she was very impressed with the church and the strong sense of community that it had, and how the church really stuck by the Bible and didn't compromise its standards despite all of the change in modern society. We has an appointment with her for Sunday at 5, but her daughters had taken her to the coast, and left a note saying that E wasn't interested, and not to come back. Fortunately for us, the daughters do not live with E, so we will be going back when E gets back from the coast. 

So last p-day I rolled my ankle really bad.  So bad, we thought that I might have broken it.  So we went to the emergency room and they took a couple x-rays and said that it wasn't broken(thank goodness), just severely sprained.  So here are some pictures of my ankle a couple days afterwards.

Transfer 3, Week 3, July 14, 2014

This past week was really good. Elder Hundley and were able to go
tracting this week, and it was super awesome. We were able to hand out
three Books of Mormon in the three hours that we went tracting this
week. We have tried to follow up in them, but they have not been home.
But we are going to continue to try and contact them. Last week we had
a few investigators come to church. Unfortunately some of the things
that were said went right over their heads, and kind of confused
them. This past week, we made it a goal to try and patch things up. So
we went over to M's house. He told is that he had a wonderful
experience at church last week. We started talking about how things
went, and he mentioned that he felt really good coming to church. Then
we explained to him that the way he was feeling is the way that the
Holy Ghost tells us that things are true, that he needs to look for
that feeling when he reads the Book of Mormon. He is starting to
understand prayer more. We were able to encourage him to say his first
prayer for the closing prayer! He did an amazing job. I feel like we
could extend a baptismal date to him in the next few weeks, and he
would accept it. On Wednesday, we are going to go over with one of the
members that he really enjoyed talking with at church, and talk about
the plan of salvation. We were finally able to track down N.
She was the nonmember who bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting
about a month after I got here. After we taught her the first
discussion, she kinda disappeared. But we saw her with her boyfriend
by our apartment complex, so we stopped and talked with her. She told
us that she was pregnant, and she had been really sick, but because
she found out that she was pregnant they decided to move their wedding
date up to next weekend! So hopefully after the wedding, things will
start to calm down, and we will be able to teach her again!

Elder Hundley and I are doing great together. Elder Hundley is
continuing to grow, and gain confidence. I can also see the ward
progressing in member missionary work. We have talked with some of
the ward member about sharing the gospel with their family members,
and they said that they would start working on it. We are starting to
get a couple referrals from members, and some service projects from
them. Hopefully this will lead to the ward gaining more trust with us.
Elder Hundley is an extremely hard worker, I probably said that last
week, but it is true. I am always so surprised at how hard he works at
things. I feel so blessed to be his companion.

I am doing great. We were able to go on exchanges with the Willamette
elders this past week. 

Love,
Elder Peterson

Transfer 3, Week 2, July 7, 2014

So this week has been a lot better than previous weeks. We still
haven't found any new investigators, but three of our current
investigators went to church this past week. It was super cool. We
were also able to contact B for the first time in four or
five weeks. Ever since the first baptismal date past he had, he had
disappeared. But we stopped by his place this Saturday, and he was
home. We had a wonderful conversation to see where he was and he
agreed to come to church. And he stayed for all three hours! It
was his first time staying the entire time. Also, we were able to set
a date with Y! It was super cool. We stopped by her place
on Wednesday, and she invited us in, we had brought our ward mission
leader with us, another miracle. She told us that she had been
reading the Book of Mormon Tuesday night, and she felt like it was
true. We asked her what she thought the next step would be for her,
and she said that she wanted to be baptized! Her baptismal date is
set for the 14th of September. It is a little far away, but it gives
her time to kick some bad habits, and it was her mom's birthday, so
that date means a lot to her.

So last week, we had arranged to walk M to church, and he
bailed on us. This past week when we went to meet with him, we spent
the entire time trying to commit him to come to church. And after
about an hour, he finally committed to come. It was a really amazing
experience. Some of the things that were said could only have come
from the Spirit. And then he still came to church! The only problem
was that they both went to High Priest's, and the lesson was from the
Lectures on Faith. So that night we went back over to B's place to
do damage control. Apparently he had walked out of High Priests halfway through the lesson. He was a little upset by some of the things
that were said in Gospel Essentials, so we were super worried about
him. So we went to talk with him and had another really good
conversation with him. And even better, B still wants to get
baptized! He just needs to kick a few habits before that can happen.
But he wants it!

I love you,
Elder Peterson

Transfer 3 Week 1, June 30, 2014

This past week has been kind of crazy. So let's start with Monday at
transfers. So I was made district leader. That's crazy in and of
itself. So as a result of that, Elder Hundley and I had to plan
the training and practice for district meeting that next day. Just a
thing to remember, it was Elder Hundley's first day, and he had no
idea what was doing on. So the training and practice is supposed to
go for about 45 minutes. So that was crazy. But there have been a
lot of different miracles. I was really nervous about training. But I have been blessed to have a companion that is super awesome. I know you we probably getting tired of "super awesome", but that's the truth. Elder Hundley is just on fire.

We went over to teach M last Wednesday, and he asked us what
the main difference was between our church and other churches, so we
started talking about the apostasy and the restoration and we tried
really hard to emphasize that the priesthood was important. We tried
3 or 4 different ways to teach it, but finally Elder Hundley decided
to be super bold and blunt and he told it like it is and then finally
M understood what was going on. I mean, don't get me wrong, we had
been saying the same thing over and over again, but something about
the way Elder Hundley explained it finally made it click in M's
head.

So one of my responsibilities as a district leader is to set goals for
the district for the coming month. Recently our district has really
been struggling with everything. There was one ward that had two
sets of missionaries, but nothing was happening in that ward, so at
transfers, President Morby transferred the elders out and left the
sisters, and that left the district with only 6 missionaries. And the
other ward's missionaries don't do too much. So I prayed about the
goals, and they ended up being a lot higher than I thought that they
would have been. So hopefully I can help to get the district fired up
to do more missionary work so we can help these areas to progress and
get more people to the waters of baptism. I am a little worried about
how things are going in the district, but it's okay. There is never
growth in comfortable places.

Love
Elder Peterson

Transfer 2, Week 5, June 23, 2014

This past week has a couple miracles. We went over to teach one of
our investigators, Y. Y broke her hip about two months ago.
She was really struggling with things, but when we went over, she was
telling us much of blessing it was that she broke her hip. How it
helped her to slow down her life, how God has been able to touch her
in different ways. She was really grateful for the friends that had
move in with her to help her out. She had broken her hip in three
places, and her femur in two different places. We decided that it
would be a good idea to show her a Mormon message called mountains to
climb. It talks about how God will strengthen us in times of trial.
She was really touched by the spirit, she started crying and talking
about how hard things have been since she broke her hip, how depressed
she was, and she said that the video had spoken right to her. She now
wants a copy of the video to show to her family, who doesn't believe
in God.
Transfers were this past week. Guess what? I'm training again.
Guess what else? I'm also the new district leader. Elder Byam went
home on Monday, and president Morby assigned me to be the new district
leader in the lake Oswego district. My new companion is Elder
Hundley. He is from Eden, Arizona. He is 23, and super excited to
get to work. I think some amazing things are going to happen this
transfer.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Transfer 2, Week 4, June 16, 2014

This past week, we weren't able to teach very many people.  It has started to get a little depressing.  We do a lot of service though.  None of our investigators came to church, and we had a bunch of lessons cancel on us.  I guess we did have a pretty fun end of the week though.  Friday and Saturday all of the missionaries we asked to help out in a dance festival out in Hillsboro, just north of my second area.  I was able to see a lot of the missionaries that I served around.  But not a lot of things happened this week.

Here are some pictures from my mission. 

Transfer 2, Week 3, June 9, 2014

Things have been pretty good in West Linn this week. We were finally
able to teach N. She is really interested in learning about
the church. We started talking about families, and God's plan for the
family. She said that knowing about eternal families was the one
thing that she wanted so bad for her family. We talked a lot about
Joseph Smith, and the angel Moroni. After we had finished talking
about that, she said that the she thought the angel Moroni was another
one of the things that caught her interest.

My thoughts are super scattered right now, sorry. I am having a hard
time organizing my thoughts. I recently had a couple dreams that
unsettled me, but I am working on getting over it.

When Elder Ah Kuoi when to the hospital, they weren't able to find
anything, but they ordered some more tests.

The one thing that I would want Jonathan to know before he goes on his
mission is that he should be himself. There are a lot of missionaries
who go out thinking of the cookie cutter missionary. Don't be like
that. God called you, not a robot. Work on obedience, but be
yourself.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Transfer 2, Week 2, June 2, 2014

So, there were a couple things that happened this week, but I want to
focus on the miracles. Most of the miracles happen on Sunday, at
least the ones that I remember the best. Funny how that works.
Let's start with B. So we hadn't been able to meet with B all
week, and he has a baptismal date set for the 18th of June. It has
been kind of stressful. we went over to his house everyday multiple
times during the day, and he was never home. We called him, and he
never answered, so we started to get a little worried. Actually a lot
worried. He had brought his girlfriend to church last Sunday and they
both enjoyed it, so we were hoping that they would still come to
church. Before we got in the car Sunday morning, I said a little
prayer that the people that we planned to go see would be home, and
their hearts would be softened. We stopped by B's house to remind
him about church, unfortunately he was not home. We went to church
after trying to visit some other people that also were not home. I
was feeling kind of discouraged at this point. We hadn't been able to
teach him all week, and when we got to the church building, B
still wasn't there. But about half way through sacrament meeting, he
walked in with E, his girl friend! Elder Ah Kuoi and I were
super excited! Quick flashback. During the week, we had gotten
together with our ward mission leader and talked about different ways
that we could help our investigators and less actives feel more loved
and encourage them to read the Book of Mormon, and Brother Heggie
suggested that we could take some of the hard bound Book of Mormons,
and get their names inscribed on the front of the book. Now back to
Sunday. Brother Heggie came to us and handed us two hard bound Book
of Mormons with B and E's names on them. B and E both started reading them later that day and called us to see if we could come over to answer some of her questions. It was awesome.
More miracles. E, the nonmember that bore her testimony in
church two months ago, approached us before sacrament meeting set
arête, and told us that she wanted to start taking the discussions
because her boyfriend was out of town for the next two weeks. We have
been waiting for this to happen for a while now. We had been told by
the ward council to wait to start teaching E until the members
had invited her to take the discussions. It has been a little
frustrating, especially when we hear her talk about waiting to get
baptized, and the members that she is talking with won't invite her to
take the discussions. So finally we get to start teaching her. We
are meeting with her this coming Thursday. I am super excited. She
is the definition of a golden investigator.

Love
Elder Peterson

Transfer 2, Week 1, May 26, 2014

Hey, this week has been really great. We were doing service on
Saturday with B and he started talking about his girlfriend
E. He has really wanted her to start taking the discussions.
He has felt the blessings of living the gospel, and he wants her to go
with him as he continues to progress towards baptism. She was
supposed to come while we were doing service, but she wasn't able to
make it. So we had gone back to the apartment to change super quick,
and B called us. He told us that E was at his house, and
we should come back to meet with them. So we went back and they said
they wanted to go to round table, and we should meet them there. So
we went and started talking about what we teach and our relationship
with God. She seemed really interested, but she had to go really
quick after meeting with us. So we stayed and talked with B for a
while. He has been doing so much better with reading the scriptures.
And he has seen the changes that he has been making while meeting with
us. He is super excited about getting baptized on the 18th. So the
next day was Sunday, and we called B to see if he needed a ride to
church, and he said that E was coming as well! So they both
came to church, and the talks were amazing! They were two High
Councilmen who both talked about increasing faith in Jesus Christ!
It was so perfect for B and E. They both really enjoyed
church, and E was talking about bringing some of her family to
church with her next week! I am so excited to see the work
progressing.

So a couple more miracles. We were going to visit a part member
family from Ghana, and when we got there, H, the mom, asked us
if we could help them move some stuff into a U-haul for a garage sale
at an old fire station, and her daughter E was there as well.
E played professional basketball in Finland, and had torn some
ligaments in her ankle really bad, so she came back to the states for
some surgery. She was helping as well, and she started asking what
missionaries did, what we taught, so Elder Ah Kuoi and I explained
that we teach people about Jesus Christ. We gave her a really brief
overview of what we teach. When we were talking about the Plan of
Salvation, she was really interested about what happens after death.
So we explained a little about that, and she said that it was "way
intense" and super cool. When we talked about the Celestial Kingdom
she said that she would really want to go there.

Also, there is a member in the ward at works for Nike as a designer,
and he said table had a bunch of samples to hand out, so he gave us a
bunch on shirts and a couple jackets.

This week has been a really great week.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

New Transfer, May 20, 2014

Sorry about how late this is. We had transfers this past Monday. So
yesterday. There have been some really cool things that have happened
this week. So, on Sunday, we had a musical fireside. The choir
director in the ward was able to coordinate with the ward next door to
us, and a Christian choir in the area. We invited a bunch of our
investigators, and they said that they would show up. Unfortunately,
B has been really sick lately, and he wasn't able to come to
church. But the fireside was really good. There was a really good
variety of music, and the spirit was super strong. All the songs were
about Jesus Christ.

So about B. B went to the hospital this past week. He has a
seizure, and past out last Sunday. He called us on Monday and wanted
us to come over and talk with him. He had gone in and the nurses had
started running tests, but they couldn't find anything. They
discharged him on Tuesday, but we haven't been able to see him since.
He has been really sick lately, so he wasn't able to come to church,
and he missed the fireside.

So a couple miracles, actually just one right now, Monday morning we
got a call from Sister Glausi, the Bishop's wife. She told us that she
had made an invitation to a neighbor to take the missionary
discussions, and her neighbor had said yes. So we met with sister
Glausi, and her friend E Wednesday morning. E is Bahai.
I don't know how to spell it, but they believe in Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism. It is really strange. But E said
that she would read, and pray. She also went to the music fireside on
Sunday.

Elder Ah Kuoi went to the hospital this past week. His heart has been
bothering him for a long time, and it seems like he gets these mini
heart attacks, so Friday night, we went tot the emergency room. They
weren't able to find out anything, but he has an appointment with a
cardiologist for the 3rd of June.

Oh, nothing happened at transfers with me and Elder ah Kuoi.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Transfer 1, Week 4, May 5, 2014

Wow, this past week was a great week. On Wednesday, I was able to go
on exchanges with my district leader Elder Byam. Apparently his
sister and Mary were companions in Vancouver. It was a great day.

B is an investigator that we have been working with for the
past couple months. I think I told you about him a little bit in some
of m previous emails. He will call us randomly, and want to go on
walks with us. He recently had hip surgery, and it helps with his
rehab. Plus, we get to talk to him about the gospel. So it works out
for both of us. But anyways. This week he called us to go on a walk,
and while we were talking, he started to talk about how he felt
hopeless. He feels like he has no chance for repentance. He said
that he has done too many bad things for repentance, and that the
things that we were telling made sense intellectually, but he was
having a hard time with them spiritually. He felt like God was done
giving him second chances, and there was no more hope for him. We
listened and then testified of the atonement and how we have felt the
love of the Savior in our lives. The spirit was really strong, but I
am not sure B felt it. It is really hard to feel the spirit while
you are drunk, or on lots of medication, and he was on both. He
doesn't feel like he can live the Word of Wisdom yet because of his
social anxiety. He drinks to calm himself down. He was able to come
to church this week, but we think he may have messed up his hip really
bad. He was telling us that he tried to do a cartwheel, and landed on
it wrong. He said that there is bruising all up and down his leg, and
it is super swollen. Don't worry, I am being careful not to do
anything to my leg.

Every week, we go over to a less active's house to do service. I
think I told you a little about him. His name is X. He is
Ukrainian, a convert, and the first Ukrainian to go on a mission. So
we do service every week with him. This week we were helping him put
flooring down. He said it was only a two person job, so he told me to
go outside and teach his son how to play baseball. While I was doing
that, the two girls were upstairs teasing R while he was trying
to hit a ball, so I told them to come down, and we could all play
baseball together. I taught them how to play pickle, and we had a
fun time playing that. It slowly changed to soccer, but don't worry,
I was not running or kicking a ball. I sat down and played goalie.
It was really good to be able to play with them. We had only
interacted with X, the dad, and I don't think his kids were ever
baptized. So when we go over this next week, we are going to ask X
if we can teach his kids.

Church this week was amazing. B came to church this week, along
with a couple other investigators. But the highlight of the week was
at the every end of sacrament meeting. Background story. So one of
the members of the ward had been excommunicated a while ago, and he
was dating a nonmember. He has been dating her for 6 years, and the
entire time he has been telling her about what a blessing the church
is. The only problem is that she is atheist. But he kept telling her
about the church and his experiences with it and how wonderful it is.
She had been living in Orange County California, but she moved up here
recently. She has been coming to church for about a month now, and
she decided to go up to the podium during sacrament meeting. When she
got up there, she proceeded to give a wonderful testimony about the
church community, about how giving they all are, about how she has
seen a change in her life while she has been going to church, about
how all of the things that her boyfriend said about the church was
true, and she could see them. She talked about how she wants get
married to her boyfriend and have her kids raised in the church. She
wants to have the blessings that come from living the gospel. It was
an amazing testimony. We could all tell that it came right from the
heart. Every was talking about her testimony after church and about
how it was the strongest testimony born that day. It was truly
amazing.

We had heard about this person before, but we were told to wait to
contact her until the members made the invite to her to take the
missionary discussions. So unfortunately we haven't been able to
teach her yet. But right after church, we called the boyfriend's mom,
who is an active member. We talked with her and she said that she
would see N (the woman who bore her testimony) Monday morning and
ask her to take the missionary lessons. The mom said that the
excommunicated boyfriend is going to sit in on the discussions, and
one of her less active sons from Oregon city is also going to sit in
on the discussions as well. So we are going to be making a lot of
phone calls to different people, like bishops and missionaries to let
them know what is going on am make sure that it is okay to be teaching
certain people.

THIS PAST WEEK WAS AWESOME!

Love
Elder Peterson

Transfer 1, Week 2, April 21, 2014

This past week has been really wet. It has rained almost all week,
and it looks to do the same this next one. I am not surprised, but
that is just the way things are. I am super glad to hear that you had
a great Easter. My Easter was awesome as well. We had an
investigator come to church this week. His name is B. We met
with B this past Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately he has been
going through some hard times lately. His grandmother and one of his
friends has recently past away, so this past week was really rough for
him. When we talked with him, he told us that he wanted to get
baptized really badly, so we set a date with him for the 3 of May.
Hopefully that will be able to happen. He is struggling with the Word
of Wisdom, and he gets drunk a lot. But he was able to make it to
church this past week. He really enjoyed it and told us that he would
never missed another Sunday of church again! But by the time that
sacrament meeting was over, his social anxiety was really bad, so he
went home.

This past week, we have been able to do a lot of service for people,
and it is really helping with finding as well. We were doing service
for a single mom on Saturday, and about half way through, she had to
leave. We continued to spread bark dust, and weed and all that fun
stuff. When she came back, she said that she had a nonmember friend
who was wanting us to do service for her. The sister told us that she
would send us the info in a couple days for us to go and contact her.

So the work is going really great out here. We aren't teaching as
much, but we are working with some really awesome people out here.
The ward is amazing, my comp is awesome, and I am super excited for
this next week.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Transfer 1, Week 1, April 14, 2014

It has been very good to be back out on a mission. This past week, we
have done a lot a service. Almost every day, Elder Ah Kuoi and I have
gone out and done service with people in their yards and stuff. It
was kinda funny, on Wednesday, I was sanding down some cabinets
outside, and the sun was shining a lot. We ended up working outside
a lot that day, and when we were done, I had this sunburn that ended
about half way up my bicep, and about halfway around on the outside,
and there was a hard burn line where I had been sunburnt and where I
wasn't. I laughed so hard when I saw that!

Elder Ah Kuoi and I have been working hard to gain the trust of people
through service, and so far it has been working. This past Sunday,
the second councilor in the ward came up to us and told us that he had
invited one of his friends to take that discussions. The friend
doesn't live within the ward boundaries, but we will be teaching him
at the second councilors home for the first bit. I am sure that at
some point in time we will need to pass him one to the other elders,
but for now we are going to be teaching him! Elder Ah Kuoi is a great
person. He is super kind and he is very thoughtful, but at the same
time he is super funny and outgoing. Being able to serve with him is
going to be so awesome.

This past week, I was able to meet a guy named B. He is an
investigator that the elders before me has been teaching for just a
few weeks. He has high functioning autism, and probably a social
anxiety disorder. He has been an amazing investigator. Elder Ah Kuoi
and Elder Moore had asked him to come to church for the past few
weeks, but he would always cancel at the last moment. But last week
he came to General Conference, and he also came to the scripture study
that we held on Friday. He has really good questions, and he told us
that while he was watching General Conference, he felt to the Spirit, and decided that the church was true! Now he wants to get tickets for
next General Conference, and he also wants to get baptized! Now we
need to help him get into the habit of coming to church on Sunday, and
help him with the Word of Wisdom. He is currently a recovering
alcoholic, and he has been struggling with at for years. But I have
faith that he will be able to overcome this trial. We hope to set a
date with him this next week.

Thanks
Elder Peterson

Missionary Work, Apr 8, 2014

This is the day after he returned to Oregon

Hey, it's me. Yesterday was a good day. My new comp is elder ah
kuoi. He is from Seattle Washington. He was born in Samoa, then moved
to Washington a few years ago. He is a great comp. my new area is
called West Linn. It is right across the river from Riverside. It's
kinda crazy. Sorry this email is so short. Not much has happened
yet, and it is really slow typing on a an iPad. Oh, and I forgot the
charger for my kneehab machine. Is there any way that you could send
that to me? It is plugged into the wall behind the night stand in the
room I was sleeping in.

I love you
Elder peterson

Sent from my iPad

Emails about the ACL

I have not had a flu shot

I love you

Elder Peterson

On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 3:16 PM,

I spoke to Sister Morby today and President Morby last night.  They said you were coming home and Pres Morby wanted me to get on making doctors appointments.  Sister Morby said you would come home on Monday and land at 1 p.m.  Right now, you have an appointment with Dr. Wells on Wed morning at 8:40, but if we get you back to Alpine by about 3 or so, they may try to squeeze you in on Monday afternoon.

We've moved Michael back upstairs so that you can have the bedroom on the main level.  I've also got a transport chair (like a wheelchair except it doesn't have large back wheels so you have to be pushed) for you. 

Have you had a flu shot?? If not, we'll take care of that, too. 

Wish you weren't hurt, but looking forward to seeing you. 

Love,
Mom

---

Date: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 14:39:28 -0800

Subject: Re: Dr appt

Pres. Morby send in the info to salt lake this morning, and they will get back to him about what is going on with the surgery process.  He said that they are most likely going to send me back for surgery and recovery, and it would be covered by the church, but there is a small possibility that I would stay out in the field for the surgery and recovery process.

I quick all pain medications this morning, except for at night.

Love Elder Peterson

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 1:34 PM,

Okay, I'm probably a little slow here.  You said you were "probably being sent home for surgery, not for sure yet" (You should see all the typos I'm making and correcting.  You'd know I was slow.)  So who decides for sure, and do you know when they'll decide and when it will be?

Oh, and in switching to over the counter meds, go with Tylenol or acetaminiphen (generic Tylenol).  Ibuprofen can cause problems with bleeding and they don't like people to have it in the 2 weeks or so before surgery if at all possible.

Love You!!

Rebekah

---

Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:28:05 -0800

Subject: Re: Dr appt

yeah, all of the info is going with me.  we are contacting the mri place to get a copy of the mri.  Pain is tolerable. I am on hydrocodone.  but they are suggesting starting to move to over the counter pain meds.  I am so excited for that .  I hate walking around in a cloud all day.

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 1:19 PM, Rebekah Peterson

When will you know? Who decides and when would it be. If at all possible, you need to bring the MRI films and report with you for the doctor here. I love you. Is the pain under control?  Mom

---

Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:08:47 -0800
Subject: Re: Dr appt

tore my acl.  official.  probably going to be sent home for the surgery.  not for sure yet

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 12:08 PM,

Please let us know the outcome of your appointment as soon as you can. Love you!  Mom

Transfer 9, Week 1 January 20, 2014

So many things have happened this past week.  On Monday, I found out that I was training, and met my new companion Elder Gray.  He is an amazing person, ready to get to work, and is really obedient.  All of which is really good.  I guess, the only bad thing that happened this week was that I hurt my knee.  But that doesn't really matter.

So miracles for this week:

So, obviously when I hurt my knee, I was told that I was no longer allowed to bike.  And the mission has no extra cars.  But Wednesday night, we got a call and we were told that the APs were coming to drop off a car for us.  I talked to President Morby about it later, and he said that he has no idea how things opened up, but somehow things worked out, and we were able to get a car.  The ironic thing was that I cannot drive because of my knee, and my companion didn't have driving privileges because he didn't send in his driving record. But its all good, we worked things and Elder Gray is now driving.

At the training meeting, the opening song was How Firm A Foundation.  I loved the part where it was talking about how the lord will help us to stand.  The Holy Ghost was super strong at that point.  Honestly, I cried every day up until that point, and the only comfort that I could find was in the scriptures and through prayer.  And only because the Holy Ghost was there.  He truly is a comforter.

On Friday, Y and D came with us to the Visitor's Center.  They had a great experience.  They had a lot of questions, and the Spirit was super strong.  Unfortunately, I was on drugs (because of his torn ACL) at the time, and wasn't able to feel it very much.  It is really kinda strange how much chemicals mess with being able to feel the Spirit.  The Lord had it right when he told us to stay away from all the word of wisdom stuff.

After going to the Visitor's Center, we went to get my MRI done.  It was really loud, but that doesn't matter.  The amazing part came after the MRI was over.  We were sitting down waiting for our ride to come pick us up, and one of the receptionists started closing up.  She told us that she had to wait for us to leave before she could leave, so she sat down and waited.  We were able to start up a conversation, and started talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and committed her to going to the Visitor's Center, and requesting missionaries at mormon.org.  It was really great!

On Saturday, X and Sister S were baptized.  That is a miracle, but another miracle happened as well.  So earlier in the week, the Spanish Missionaries called us and talked to us about their baptism that was happening two hours before ours.  We talked for a little bit, and we asked them to leave the font filled for our baptism.  That way we could drain it a little, then add hot water and make it warm again.  When we got to the baptism, the font was empty.  The Relief Society room was dark, and nothing was set up.  So we quickly started to set up things and got the font filling.  The miracle is that the font filled in only 1 hour.  Usually it takes 2 or more hours to get the font to fill up.  It was amazing.

Last miracle.  At dinner last night, we asked the P's if there was anyone that they knew that would be willing to listen to the missionary discussion's and they told us about one of the people on Sister P's visiting teaching route.  So we are going to stop by tomorrow and see if Sister R is willing to listen to us.  Hopefully we will be able to help her to come back to church.

So it has been a really good week so far.

Love 

Elder Peterson

Mom's Update

So the day after his letter on January 13th, David put up a Facebook status saying he thought he'd torn his ACL.  My heart just sank.  This mama's heart really wanted to be there, to help him ice it, get him in to be seen, ask the doctor the questions.

Bless his Mission Mom, she did it for me.  And over the next week or so, we found that it had indeed been completely torn, and he was going to have to come home for surgery.

It was a rough time for him.  It really was.  I think he was a bit bored, and a lot of the time, in a tremendous amount of pain.  But he worked hard.  I am so honored to be his mother.  Even when he felt completely down and out the first couple days after surgery, he did not give up.  I know at times he wanted to, but he didn't.

I think sometimes when the pain is overwhelming, we just have to keep breathing, one single breath at a time, and lean on someone who can help.  We have angels around us to bear us up, both those on this side of the veil and those on the other side.  And there is always One who knows our pain, deeply, intimately, and He is always there.

And it was so touching to watch as David leaned on Him and worked his way back out into the mission field, right on his target date and before a lot of others thought it was possible.

Transfer 8, Week 6 January 14th, 2014

So crazy things first.  I am training again.  I am still in Riverside, so I am not whitewash training.  But Elder Ogden has gotten transferred.  We were only together for 6 weeks, so it was a little bit of a shock.  We got along really well, and worked together really well.  Really we were doing a lot of things really well together, so we had been hoping that we would be left together for a little longer.

But, I have decided to get back into recording daily miracles.  It turns out that you can remember them better that way.  Huh, funny how that works.

So last monday, we got a call from the S family.  Sister S and her two oldest kids, X and A, had gotten their names removed from Church records about four years ago.  They have been working to get back to the point that they can be baptized, and they have finally been approved for baptism!!!!   So Sister S and X are getting baptized this Saturday, and A is getting baptized on the 31, on her birthday.  I am so excited for them!!!!

This past wednesday, we found two new investigators.  River Side seems to have a pattern for investigators that we find.  We taught them both about Joseph Smith, and they agreed for us to come back and teach them more.  E doesn't really seem interested.  She doesn't believe in organized religion, but A really seemed interested.

And then Sunday came.  We had 4 investigators come to church!  Y, D, A, and Y all came to church this past Sunday.  And they all stayed for all of it.  It was really good.

So this area has a lot of miracle happening, and it is also curing me of ever wanting to be stupid.  So good things are happening everywhere.

Oh, and my new Companion is Elder Gray from Heber Utah.  He moved there from Escondido California two years ago.  He is a great guy, and I am a lot less stressed than I was when I trained last time.

Love

Elder Peterson

Transfer 8, Week 6 January 6, 2014

So when the mission first started with Facebook and stuff, I was thinking about how it was going to work out.  Was it going to work, was it going to tank?  This past week, we were able to find a new investigator over Facebook.  It was super awesome.  The only way that we were able to do it was through working through the members of our ward.  One of our recent converts was talking to us on Facebook and she told us about one of her friends that was interested in the church.  We asked if Y (the friend) would mind if we friend-ed her on Facebook, and started talking to her.  Y is super interested, but she is living outside of our area.  So, this Saturday we are meeting with Y, teaching her about Joseph Smith, and then handing her off to the missionaries in the area boarding ours.

Facebook really does work.  It is amazing.  Soon we will be getting ipad mini's and our capabilities to do online missionary work will increase exponentially.  It is really amazing.  Personally, I would not be surprised if eventually there would be no more tracting, just online finding instead.  It is really weird to think about.  

We went on exchanges this past week.  I stayed in the area with Elder Reed, and Elder Ogden went with Elder Nielson to the Clackamas area.  My bike is super funny, I am not going to lie.  It clanks at every pedal, and shakes and has no shocks, but it works.  I am just hoping that the chain isn't going to break, or a pedal doesn't snap off or something.  I don't know but my bike is probably one of the most quirky bikes in all of the mission.  IT'S ALL MINE!

Love you all

Elder Peterson

Transfer 8, Week 4 December 30th, 2013

I feel like I start all of my emails like this, but this week has really been a crazy one.  It started out with Christmas.  Honestly, it was really strange talking to you guys.  Everyone talks about getting to call home and talk to family, but it is really weird.  Being able to call home, and then to realize that I only get to do it a couple more times.  And that is even more strange.

But it was good.  Things happen, and we move on.  But the really strange thing happened on Sunday.  We went over to contact a potential investigator on a state corrections facility.  We have tried to contact him before, but we needed to go through a background check.  One of the things needed was our social security #, but when I gave it to them, later, they called and told me that it was an invalid number.  I brushed it off at that point, and gave it to them again, plus the place where I was born.  Now when we went over today, the only person that had been able to pass the background check was the member that had gone with us.  My social was invalid, and Elder Ogden's paperwork had been lost. So we weren't able to go in and contact him.  

Brother R, the member, started joking around with us about it.  It was kinda funny really.  You see, he had lived in several different countries when he was growing up, and he would always joke around with the kids that he would be with that he was a man  without a country.  Then he said that he was truly honored that he could meet a man that really didn't have a country.  We all laughed at that.  But at the same time, it brought up a rather serious note.  But I am not worried.  I have gotten a drivers licence, taken out student loans, gotten jobs, and gone to college using the social security number my entire life.  

I talked later to President Morby about it, and he said that the office would start to work on figuring out what was going on.  So he asked that I send him my social, so I broke it up, and sent it to him in a text, then deleted it from the phone.  But another thing that he said was really interesting.  He said that we weren't going to be able to visit the P.I. while he was in the facility, and that maybe the Lord had a hand in preventing us from going to see this man.  President Morby said that only the members would be able to visit this man, and talk with him, but the missionaries would have to wait until he got out to be able to speak/teach this man.  We were able to get a Book Of Mormon through security with some scriptures to read for the guy.

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer 8, Week 3 December 23rd, 2013

We had zone conference this past week.  President Morby announced that we could start using Facebook for proselyting purposes.  It was super crazy.  I haven't been able to get on yet just because I forgot my password and stuff.  But I am not sure if I am going to like it or not.  A lot of missionaries are saying that it is feels like having a flashback of home for an hour every day.  That is definitely something that I don't want.   But there are boundaries as always.  We cannot talk to family or friends back home unless it is strictly mission stuff.  And I totally understand why.  I just hope that it doesn't become too distracting for my companion and I.  Also, we will be getting personal ipad minis to use through the mission.  It is super crazy.

But on a more serious note, this last sunday, we were out contacting, and we were finally able to get into the R home.  A, the oldest daughter has diaphragmatic flutters.  It is when the diaphragm muscles just shake uncontrollably, hitting the heart, stomach, and a bunch of other organs in the body.  It is super sad.  She cannot even move because of how bad it hurts.  She has had so many IV's that the doctors have blown out the veins in her arms, and they have had to put in a port on her chest.    It started two years ago.  She is only 14.  Her mom and her dad take turns going up to the hospital to take care of her.  And the hospital brought her home for the holidays.  She has no friends, because she cannot get out of bed.  The only time that she is not in pain, is when she is asleep.  When she wakes up, she is fine, until she starts moving and/or eating, then it starts up.  

When we got there, the ward had dropped off a christmas package for A and the family.  Inside the package was a bag of un-shelled nuts.  We sat there for a good 30 minutes just cracking the nuts for A, and then brought them in for her.  Just that small act brought such a smile to her face.  It must have been a super long time since she has gotten any visitors.  It was so sad to just see her there lying on the bed, not able to do anything because of the pain.   The really sad thing is that the doctors don't know anything to help cure it.  They have tried everything, and it doesn't help that only 3 people in the United States have this diagnosis, so they don't know anything about it.  It is super sad.

I gave a talk in sunday this past week.  It was supposed to be on missionary work, so I just talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, and how it applies for member missionary work.  It was good, I guess.  I mean it could always be better, but I think I did an okay job.

Have a Merry Christmas!!!

Love Elder Peterson.

Transfer 8, Week 2 December 16th, 2013

So this past week has been super crazy.  Like a lot more crazy than usual.  One of our investigators, A, has been going crazy and I swear, we spent 12 hours over there in the first 3 days of the week.  She is no longer going to be able to be baptized this weekend.  She has been smoking, but that isn't the biggest problem.  Whenever we ask her about it, she tells us that she is not smoking and hasn't smoked for the last couple days.  It is kinda frustrating.   M was the other investigator that was going to be baptized this week as well, but he has been on bedrest  for the past two weeks because he has some medical challenges.  Because of his them, he could get super sick from practically anything.  So he hasn't been able to meet with us or go to church.

But things are still continue to progress here in Riverside.  Something really cool happened.  We got a referral form the bishop in the Milwaukie ward about a less active in our area that wanted a blessing.  So we went over that night and met E.  She was in the army for 10 years, was medically discharged, is now a wild land firefighter.  She just had a miscarriage earlier in the month, and was feeling super depressed.   She has a ridiculously strong testimony of the Church, but she just felt like she had no purpose in the church, and like she could never fit in with the church again because of what she has gone through.  We were able to comfort her, and then she came to church the next Sunday.  

This area is amazing, there are teaching opportunities just coming out of the woodwork!!!

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer 8, Week 1 December 9, 2013

This past week was kinda crazy. We were able to get a lot done for the time that we had. But things kinda just blew up with one of our investigators. A and her boyfriend don't get along at all, and they called us over to talk and have a lesson. I feel like I just played at marriage counselor. It was super bad. I think that they will be breaking up, and A pretty much said that she was getting baptized just for M, her boyfriend. So our baptism that was happening next week is almost gone. We are going over this week to find out if she is still wanting to be baptized or not. Hopefully, she has gained a testimony during this time, and hasn't been blowing us off the entire time.

But on the good side of things, we found two new investigators. We were at Fed-Ex faxing off the baptismal records, and a lady came up to us while we were locking up our bikes and she asked us if we were missionaries. We told her yes, and we got into a conversation about her religious background. It turns out that she is extremely less active, and when we went over to teach her, her boyfriend was there too. E, the boyfriend, is a non-denominational christian, and is really interested in learning about the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately they both have some struggles medically. E just had his medication reduced, but A is really struggling. She has that, and a bunch of other problems as well.   I am not sure what to do about it, but E seemed pretty normal. We will be very careful.

Elder Odgen and I are getting along great. This area is going great. There is a lot happening. We really need a car. The area is rather big, and we just don't have enough time to teach everyone that we have been working with. But we have been working on maximizing time.

Love 

Elder Peterson

Transfer 7, Week 6 December 3, 2013

So this past week was pretty crazy.  Elder Jones and I are no longer companions.  This past week was transfers, and I am now in a new area called River Side, in Milwaukie Oregon.  I really don't like transfers as much as I thought I would.  I am always so worried about how things are going to be in my new area, what my new companion is going to be like, what is going to happen in my old area, and how my old companion is going to take everything.  Yeah, and a bunch of other things.  Lots of stress for two days.  

My new companion is Elder Ogden from Draper Utah.  He is super athletic, played football, basketball, and baseball as varsity sports in high school at Jordan High.  He is a pretty cool guy.  He has been out for 4 1/2 months, the same amount of time that Elder Jones has been. 

My new area is really hilly.  There are tons of super steep hills both to go up, and then to go down.  I am definitely going to get my cardio exercise in.  Wow!!  And the area is super big.  Maybe it just feels big because of the hills, but still, I was so tired yesterday.

I am super excited for this new area.

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer 7, Week 5, November 25th, 2013

So this past week was really kinda strange.  Elder Jones was "Dear John"ed and kinda went into a slump. It was rough, so we talked about that for a while.  Hopefully I was able to help him out with that.   We took the week a little slower than usual, so that way he wasn't overwhelmed.  I know that he can do the work, but trying to find that fine line between encouraging him to work, and overwhelming him and causing undue stress is tough.  So this past week was a little slower than the other weeks but it was still a good one.  We found 4 new investigators.  They are the grandkids of L.  She had been very impressed with the way that the church involves the youth and keeps them engaged, and she wanted that for her grandkids, so this past Tuesday, she brought them to our lesson with her.  We extended a baptismal invitation to L, but she turned it down for now.  I think later, she will see the need for another baptism, but for now, we will continue to teach her about the Plan of Salvation with her grand kids.

Things are continuing to improve in the Beaver Creek Area, even if my writing is not.

Love 

Elder Peterson

Transfer 7, Week 4 November 18th, 2013

N finally got baptized!!!  Elder jones and I are so excited.  It was as really interesting experience.  There is no way that she would have been able to be baptized without the Spirit of the Lord.  It was an amazing experience to be able to help her reach the waters of Baptism.  At the beginning of the 4 months here in Beaver Creek, president morby promised us that if we went through our area book, we would be able to have a baptism from a previous investigator, or someone that had been contacted previously in 9-12 weeks.  It took a little longer than that, but it still happened. 

N is someone that the missionaries had been teaching in Hawaii.  N had moved up to Oregon, and she had been living here for a couple years when the missionaries knocked on her door.  Then over the next 9 years, the missionaries had dropped her, and then resumed teaching, and dropped and resumed teaching.  It has gone back and forth some many times, but about 3 months before Elder Jones and I got to Beaver Creek, the missionaries had picked her up again.  They had taught her, and then slowly lost contact with her.  When we came to the area, N had been visiting family out of state.  She had been there for about a month and a half before she came back.  During that time, Elder Jones and I had been struggling to find people to teach.  We had heard the Lord's promise to us through President Morby, and decided to go through the area book.  We found N's name and decided to visit her.  She had been taught all of the discussions many times, but needed refreshing on a lot of them.  So we taught her, lost contact with her, found her again, and then found out that she had a smoking problem.  That took almost 6 weeks for her to finally overcome.  but she did, and decided to be baptized!!!!

But other than that, I went on exchanges with the Hillsboro Elders, Elder Alatini and Elder Lewis.  Their area is doing amazing.  They have filled the baptismal font almost every other week for the past 6 weeks.  it is amazing.  Elder Alatini is an amazing leader, really cares about the people he serves, and truly teaches with the spirit.  He is an amazing missionary.  Elder Lewis is a new missionary, and he took my place in Beaver Creek.  There, with Elder Jones, they had amazing success.  They found 4 new investigators!  We are going back to teach they families this week.

So Beaver Creek continues to move forward!!  it is amazing how the Lord prepares people for us to find!

 

Still no snow.  Just freezing cold rain.  I don't think it will ever snow here.  I miss it already.

 

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer 7, Week 3 November 11, 2013

So, we had a baptism planned for this past week.  N has been struggling with quitting smoking for more than two months.  She has tried several times to quit smoking, but alas, to no avail.  She had made it to a week without smoking, and we were ready for a baptism for this past Friday.  Unfortunately, she made a rather rash decision to play around with some e-cigs.  Her mother has e-cigs that are nicotine free, and her brother has some that have nicotine.  Char wanted to find out what part of her addiction was to smoking, so she took her mom's e-cigs, and was blowing through them.  Then she progressed to her brother's e-cigs.  She was blowing through them, and had been doing for a while.  Then she choked.  Unfortunately during the choking process, she had inhaled and in the process sucked some of the smoke in.  

On Tuesday, I had my 3 month interview with President Morby and talked with him about e-cigs.  At this point, Elder Jones and I did not know about N's lapse.  I asked him about e-cigs because N had asked if they were okay, and he said that as long as they didn't have nicotine in them, it was fine, but she might as well be sucking through a straw.  We then called N that night, and found out that she had relapsed the night before.  We went over the next day and talked with her about smoking, and she said that it had been an accident, what had happened, and from the way that she told us, it sounded like it truly was an accident, just extremely foolish.  So we are now having N's baptism on this Saturday, as long as she can stay away from smoking.  We are super excited for her to finally be baptized!!  She has been progressing so much, and this is truly the only thing holding her back.  She has been coming to church for the past month, and hasn't missed a day.  She has been participating in the Relief Society activities, and has really been progressing in her knowledge of the Gospel.  

Also on Tuesday night, we were able to get into contact with A again.  This is the first time in nearly a month that we have been able to see her.  We are so excited to be teaching her again, but she has been struggling with depression.  We felt prompted to show her Elder Holland's talk, a broken vessel, from General Conference.  She really enjoyed it.  We are going over this week, and teaching her the commandments with the idea that by her exercising her faith in the commandments that she will feel that the church is true starting with the commandment to read the scriptures.  I know that as soon as she starts to read the scriptures, that she will feel the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and want to be baptized.  She just needs to start.

Then on Thursday, we were able to take N to the temple visitor's center, and the Spirit there was so strong. I am so grateful that she was able to go.  It truly did strengthen her testimony.  Unfortunately, one of the members then started talking about proxy baptisms, something that we had not quite covered yet.  It is something that is covered in the new member discussions.  And it threw her for quite a loop.  Fortunately, we were able to explain in in a way that helped to reassure her that we weren't crazy, and this church is one that she wants to join.  But it was kinda scary.

Things are continuing to progress.  We found a new investigator this past week.  Her name is I.  She is Muslim, and mostly wants to learn about what we believe.  She also wants to share what she believes, so we  agreed to come over on this past Saturday with our ward mission leader.  I know that when she reads the Book of Mormon, it will touch her heart, and the Spirit will confirm the truthfulness of it to her.

The Beaver Creek Ward is really beginning to be excited about missionary work.  I know that this area has potential, and can do great things.

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer 7, Week 2 November 4th, 2013

So this past week has been really good in some ways, and not so awesome in others.  But it always seems to be like that.  Lehi preaches that there will be opposition in all things, and when someone is acting in direct opposition to the devil, he will see both sides very plainly.  Wow.  The positives skyrocket, and the negatives kinda just drag.  But it all depends on what you chose to focus on.  It is truly amazing what the Lord will do for his servants to lift them up about the smallest things.  

So about N.  She has been clean from smoking for 7 days now, and she has a date for this Friday.  Her parents are in town, and she is ready to go.  So our current game plan is just to keep her so busy that she simply does not have time to smoke between now and her baptism.  We are going over on Tuesday to teach her, then again on Wednesday to take her to the stake center and then again on Thursday to take her to the Visitor's center at the Portland Temple.  It will be awesome.  And then on Friday she is going to be baptized.  I am so excited for her.  She has progressed so much.  She is so much happier, and her parents, who are not members of the Church have noticed this as well.  They are so happy about the changes that they have seen in her.   We talked with her dad (she is living with her dad currently) and he is so grateful that she is having good people in her life, because it helps her to see the consequences of her actions, and it helps her to live as a better person.  At least that is the way that he put it.  But all around, N is so much more happy that she was while she was smoking.

But while there is positive, there will be negative.  One of the less active members of the ward is super apostate, he stopped going to church when he was 16 and just went super deep into anti material, so Elder Jones and I decided that we would hand him over to the ward and let the Elder's Quorum handle him.  K just takes up way too much energy just to sit and listen to, and we leave his house just ready to drop because of how tired we are after leaving his house.  

But on the other hand, we were able to contact a lot of potential investigators and teach them about Joseph Smith and the Restored Gospel.  One of them was super cool.  He was Catholic, and his brother was a non-denominational Christian.  So when we were talking, the brother would stop us and make sure that he understood what we were saying.  It was super awesome.  I have never had someone do that on my mission before.  We were able to make sure that they understood where we were coming from, and that they had an accurate representation of the Restoration.  Unfortunately we were not able to get a return appointment from Y and his brother, so we are going to give them some time to read the Book of Mormon and come back this week to see if we can continue to teach them about the Restored Gospel. 

Also, there was a less active member of the ward that moved in about two weeks ago that we tracted into.  Luckily I still remembered how to set up surround sound systems from college, and I was able to help him set up his.  Fortunately his was a super easy set up, cause if it had been any harder, it would have taken a lot longer to set up.

Then on Sunday, N came to church and S.  That is the most current investigators that we have had come to church at any one for as long as I can ever remember.  It was so awesome!  S enjoyed church, but had to leave after sacrament meeting, cause his son's braces started to come apart, and he needed to go to an orthodontist pretty quick.  This past week was really awesome!!!

We also helped to move a couple potential investigators from the Beaverton West Zone into our area.  We made sure that they had our phone number, and we will be going back over this week to see if they need any more help, and to see if they are interested in taking the discussions. 

Love

Elder Peterson