Day 321

OK, this is the last time I'm going to apologize, just know that I am perpetually sorry for being so late in getting this blog updated.  Its been a busy spring.

(Elder Peterson)

I really enjoyed talking to you as well! It was nice to see all of your bright and smiling faces! This week was a good week, we worked hard all the way to the end, and the end is were we saw most of the fruits of our labor. We really did put our foot down a little and just have lessons with these people that were being hard to pin down, I think they enjoyed it and we taught good principles. I included a few pictures, one of us moving a grand piano, and another of the steps to repentance that a member had on their wall. They were pretty inspiring. I especially enjoyed the part where we were all talking, because it didn't feel like anyone was being neglected. I've decided that Brent (Karl's youngest brother) is the child that looks closest to what a young Grandpa Peterson would. Grandma didn't talk much, neither did Kate. It always seems like we'll all be able to talk for a long time, and then the call goes so quickly! I liked seeing Dad, he looks good. You all have still been running everyday? Today I memorized a few of the commandment scriptures, They aren't too bad because you get pretty familiar with them growing up in the church. So I think I've got eight scripture masteries memorized and I'm working on number nine, or maybe it's number eight, I'm not sure.

How is Elder Matte?

He is good, I really enjoy serving with him, He reminds me a lot of Stuart Craig

Anything funny or amazing happen this week?

Whenever I am put on the spot I draw a blank.. :/ one thing that is funny is that I'll buy things, I don't even know how I stumble on these things, but we'll just be walking, on a Saturday and we'll see a yard sale, so we'll go and then somehow I'm drawn to whatever ridiculously good deal is at the sale and then I'll sell things to other missionaries for cost and my "finders fee" ;) . Probably won't sell my camera though, that was a pretty good deal. We stopped by a yard sale and I picked up some brand new headphones (beats by Dre. people from my age group love them) for like twenty bucks, since they are worth somewhere around a hundred dollars, I'll be able to sell them for a little more, probably around fifty. (mostly to missionaries that are going home soon. because missionaries don't use headphones.) so that's the little business side of my brain going.

One amazing thing was on Saturday when we managed to contact so many people in a short amount of time. We were able to talk to a guy named William outside his house for about forty minutes, we gave him a Book of Mormon and he seemed like he would read it, he said that he had read some before and then he lost the book and always intended to read the rest. I felt that we bore powerful testimony to him and we committed him to read it. The best feeling ever is when you're bearing testimony, and you know that the Holy Spirit is testifying of what you say.

 

Do missionaries do something special for their "year" - halfway mark?

Kind of, a lot of missionaries burn a tie at their six month, a shirt at their year, pants at their year and a half, and a suit at the end. But I thought that was dumb and I decided I wasn't going to do that. Haha.

It's hard to think that I've been out almost a year, It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I came out. The transfers fly by so fast it's almost scary.

Love Elder Peterson

Ps. I just sold my headphones for 45 dollars. Just saying.

Day 314

But this week was really good! This week was transfers so I took Elder Coleman to Winnipeg, oh did I tell you that I have the capacity to get mail every week? not that I expect anything, I am super terrible at sending letters. Anyway, I took Elder Coleman to transfers, I told him I knew how to get there and he was still super paranoid, he had the map out and it annoying because I said I knew how. So I pretended like I was lost and had no Idea were we were going or were we were. Elder stevens was in on it too so when He called Elder Stevens, He said he had no Idea how to get there from where we were. He got pretty worried that we were going to miss the meeting and all that jazz, the joke is on him though because I knew how. I told him I knew how about 3/4 of the way there and then he relaxed. So the beginning of our week was filled with saying goodbye to people an street contacting

After I got my new companion, Elder Mattie, we got back and played basketball like we always do on thursday evenings, We don't get a lot of proselyting during it, but we do get to run around and maybe show people that we aren't that weird.

Later in the week we got to help a guy named justin with planting his garden, he bought us lunch and wanted to know what we believe, he had heard lots and seems pretty interested. I don't know how open he is to converting, but if he continues to meet with us and read The Book of Mormon, he will figure it out.

then on Friday we got to go to a Steinbach event "The pick up and walk" we just put on yellow shirts and walk around during the morning and pick up garbage. It was fun, but they just put us in our own group so the proselyting aspect wasn't as good as I would have liked, but even so, we got out and served. Good deal.

Lastly, I've decided to memorize a scripture per day. It's pretty fun, but also pretty hard. I've gotten four memorized so far, and tomorrow is number five. I've decided to start with all the scripture mastery, and if I keep it up the rest of my mission, I'll have all those, and three hundred other scriptures memorized. Sounds impressive I know, but right now I've just got four. You and who ever else are welcome to join me in it since I'm not too far along now. If I spend a good hard fifteen minutes on it, it works out pretty well and I've pretty much got it down. Today I memorized Genesis 1:26-27

Really good week, the work is moving forward in steinbach, It's a good place and the people here are truly good. People seem to care about each other and are friendly, for the most part. Sometimes people want to bash but oh well.

Have a great week, stay out of trouble and remember who you are!

Love Elder Peterson

Day 307

Wow! that sounds like a lot of fun at the temple! I don't get to go very often, but I did have a lot of opportunity to go before I left so I just hope that others will be able to go. Some missionaries I know have only been one time getting their endowment, and one time in the MTC. So I hope they have the opportunity to go. I hope I get to go at least once though.

Bill L is engaged? wow. what a guy! 

Mom, I exercise and eat well. I drink tons of water! actually funny story, three days ago I did a calve workout on the stairs. I didn't feel like I worked too hard, but holy cow! yesterday I was so sore. I could hardly walk. Seriously my companion didn't want to walk next to me because he thought I looked like forest gump. I've never actually seen that movie, but I probably did look handicapped!

This week went well. Last week we street contacted into two young people, we gave them a card and they said they would call us. Everyone says that. I've seen little to no results with my street contacting. But your prayers must have worked. They called us back, we met them at the library and talked to them and gave them a Book of Mormon and told them the significance of it. Later on in the week we were able to go back and help them move. We didn't have a pickup truck because the member that was supposed to bring it wasn't able to at the last minute.. so I ended up carrying a small coffee table across the highway and about two blocks. That was the biggest thing they were moving so we were able to put the rest in the other elders car. Then we had a spiritual thought with them. They have a long way to go, but they are definitely interested in improving their lives and learning, and I'm going to do all I can to make sure they get there.

The other thing that happened, we went to another potential investigators house, they are phillipino.. first time it's ever happened. We got there, and were talking to the wife, and the husband came up and said "come downstairs!" so we went down and got roped into singing a few Karaoke songs.. That was the first time we were able to get in with them so I was really happy about it. They were really nice. We don't yet have a teaching appointment set up with them, but we are in contact and I hope things will work out.

Yesterday I passed my kidney stone, but I couldn't catch it. I really really wanted to save it. hopefully that's the only one, except part of me wants one more that I can save. It was pretty decently sized. not huge but bigger than I would have wanted to come out of my.. body. It was probably about this size. O It didn't really hurt to actually come out, I was surprised.

That's it for this week. I included some pictures that I took. Hope you like them.

Our new puppy, don't be fooled by those innocent eyes!

DAY 300

This Week was a good week for service but a pretty terrible week for Lessons and teaching. :/ bummer. We were able to go out to a guy named Marcell, and help him move a bunch of material in his shop. That was pretty fun, we helped in the community at the Steinbach arts council, and we basically just painted some props that were going to be used in a play (Anne of Green Gables) and we were able to go out to the Greens and do some work for them. That was my favorite because not only did we get to spend time with them (her husband is not a member) but I got to bounce on their trampoline and eat steak.

My health is good, I don't think I'm going to die. In addition to working out, I've been working on my flexibility and balance. I can almost touch my toes, I eat pretty well, I stay away from junky food and pop. I drink lots of water, and I sleep well. Just some of the physical blessings of my mission.

We've gone through our investigators and started weeding out those who are not really investigating, that are passive. We've been good about emphasizing The Book of Mormon, and they just don't get it. So instead of getting mad, we are just going to give them some quiet time. 

That's about it for this week. Some weeks you just have to plug on through. 

Glad to hear about Grandpa being the Auctioneer, that sounds like something that he would enjoy. I forgot about the Glasses story, that's a good one. I can just picture him telling it.

Well have a great week! stay out of trouble! See you in the funny paper!

Love Elder Peterson

Day 293

I was doing really well until last night, The Doctor had given me some Tylenol 3, I was allowed to take up to four everyday for pain, I mostly just took about two each day, but then I didn't have any pain for about a week, I had some pain this morning but when I got up It got pretty bad, so I took some Tylenol. I feel great now but I'll have to see. If it gets any worse I'll have to call Sister Thomas again and tell her that I'm dying again. 

Proud of you for taking care of your class. I'm sure that you are doing a great job and you're probably getting pretty great at crowd control.

Wow a new puppy! I'm going to miss like all of his puppy days. :( He'll probably be all whiny and such now, but I bet it will make you all the more attached to him and you'll be sweet to him later. I think if I ever have a dog I'll have a place where he can run around all the time and go in his cage if he wants to, It must be so boring for a dog that wants to just run around and play with birds and such and all he gets to do is lie around and bark at flies.

This week was a good week for us, we had a few lessons with members there. That was really exciting for me because member missionary work is something that I'm not as familiar with as I would like to be. It really got me riled up to be better about getting on members cases to come to lessons with us, it dramatically improves the work. Yesterday the Christiansens were in my ward along with another member I'm fond of name Tina Demrie. I was so excited to see all of them and it was fun to catch up. Right before I left Sister Christiansen gave me a big hug in front of all the other missionaries, in the church. I went so red. 

Sounds like Jordan is going to marry Clara. :P so that's pretty lame. They look happy together and I'm sure that it will be good. They both come from pretty good backgrounds and they are both pretty righteous.

My testimony grows stronger and stronger each week. Everyday the Lord strengthens me much more than I ask for and many times more than I deserve. I gave a talk yesterday in our little cottage meeting (like sacrament meeting without the sacrament, in steinbach) it was about planting seeds, and nourishing them and allowing them to grow. I'm sure I learned a lot more than anyone out in the small little congregation, but it was ok. I was a little prideful before I spoke and felt like my talk was pretty top notch, so naturally I was put back in my place. The spirit was there and that's what counts.

That's pretty much our week, I had a lot of fun and I am happy to be out here. You are all the best! 

Love Elder Peterson

Day 286

So you had fun with the sub job, that is good. Don't let those kids get to you. Sister K was always threatening with a one page paper for misbehaving. Kids didn't like that so they mostly behaved. She also wasn't afraid to yell. Glad you could go help Grandma B with her moving. 

 I've heard (and probably told you) that we don't change our life until we change something we do every day. Thinking that I won't always have an hour set aside in the morning to study, I've set aside time in the evening (about fifteen minutes) to read The Book of Mormon each day. I've missed only one day in the past three months of reading at night. I figure as long as I'm doing the three things that the church has asked us to do, Reading, Praying and Church, that I will be alright. That's where I've gotten my assurance for the future. 

About my Kidney stones, I don't really know what happened to them. The Doctor Prescribed me Tylenol 3 and I was taking it most of the week, but I haven't passed anything to my knowledge (the doctor said it could be pretty fine, like sand) but I haven't taken any pain medication for the last few days and I haven't felt anything. If I feel any pain, I am supposed to go and get X-rayed at the hospital tomorrow. So we'll see what happens. On the drive to Winnipeg on Tuesday, I got a priesthood blessing, I am attributing what is happening to that. Even so, it would be nice to have the assurance that I didn't have any rocks ahead of me to pee out. Even so, I have had very few interruptions to missionary work because of it. So I am grateful for that.

We watched it at the stake center as well. I wished we could have watched it on a couch. I get so uncomfortable on those pews.

What was the bet?

The bet was, that if I lost at a card game, I had to insist for the next two weeks that my sister marry my current companion. I wasn't going to tell Kate that though.

Did you get to watch conf at someone's house or at the church?

At  the church. All the sessions.

Stones? How? Why? When?  (if you want to talk...)

Haven't had any stones, I don't know how or why, and I don't know the when. I'm not sensitive about it. I will talk about peeing rocks with anyone that wants to. :)

How was your Easter?  Did you spend it with someone?

Yes, some of the members here had us over for breakfast. It was a lot of breakfast. Really good.

Anyway, the church is true for another week in Steinbach, with Conference and Zone Conference and Kidney stones, I haven't had a lot of time in my area, but I expect that this next week will be a little more productive than last.

Love

Elder Peterson