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