Day 356

Hello!

Yes Elder Scott is home, it makes me sad, but I was really glad because I got to get a picture with him before he went off.

Brandon is really nice. It is a great area, It is the second Largest city in Manitoba with fifty thousand people. The members here are nice and there is lots of Spanish so I got lucky. The ward isn't like the wards back home, it maybe has between fifty and a hundred people.

My new companion is Elder Eads, he has been out a transfer less than I, and is fun but weird. I told him that he was weird and that I was going to give him away to foster care and he laughed for about ten minutes

It seems like it's not sure if it wants to be like NC or ID, somedays it's pretty humid, but other days it's not. It's not super dry here, so I guess that's nice.

Who is Kate assistant coach to?

We have a car again, I enjoy that, but I won't forget all the many benefits of walking, and I intend to walk as much as possible. One of the sisters in my district has a degree in nutrition, and I think she was impressed by what I eat and drink. She ran me through all of the questions "Do you drink soda, what do you eat for breakfast lunch and dinner.." The only think she recommended was that I eat more fruit and vegetables, so I get all my Vitamins. I think I'll take her up on that.

The last week in Steinbeck was pretty busy, I got to go see some bulls get castrated, I got sunburned so now I have a great farmers tan, I write in my journal everyday but I can never remember what I did. I'll have to bring it in so I can remember. I'm glad I write in in because I forget so many things that I thought I would remember. I never write a lot, but I do a little highlight reel.

That's all for me this week I think, We taught this week, we got up super early this morning and played basketball, in steinbach we helped out at a pancake breakfast. That's all for me!

Love Elder Peterson

Day 349

This week was really good! Pretty eventful, First on the list is that the other Elders Found a cat, It was outside their apartment and it was raining really hard, and it tried to run into their apartment, they kicked it out, and then six hours later it was still waiting outside in the rain. So they let it come inside (first mistake) and fed it (second mistake) then we found out that all of the Cat shelters and government buildings were closed for the weekend, and since Elder Stevens is allergic to Cats, my companion Volunteered us to take care of it until we can either give it to a shelter, or give it away. :P It's pretty cute, but today since it wasn't raining I put my foot down and said if we are going to have a cat any longer, it's going to be an outside cat. I'm mildly allergic to cats so it was getting to me. Elder Mattie lights up like a little kid when the cat comes to him so I hope that we get rid of it before he gets attached. Missionaries are not supposed to have pets.

Second, We've been working with a Guy named Malcom, I've told you about him a little. But We met with him twice this week and both visits were productive. He has been committed to read The Book of Mormon, and it's one of the few times on my mission that I have been convinced that someone would read it in it's entirety. I think he is serious about it. I'm sad though because he is getting married soon and probably will have a period of time where he will be impossible to get a hold of. :/ I've enjoyed the discussions we've had so far, and He's a great guy. (the only reason this one was second is because I thought of it second.

Third, is we got Transfer calls! Elder Fuentes and I are both getting transferred to Brandon Manitoba, Brandon has a lot of Hispanics, so Elder Fuentes will be Spanish Speaking, and I'll be English speaking. I'm really excited to go. The areas I've been able to serve in, I know that I was supposed to serve in all of them. So it's my fourth Area and my seventh Companion. My new companion is Elder Eads, I don't really know him, but I'm sure he's a nice guy and we'll get along well.

Other than that, We helped out a few places this week, in the last week or so I have helped with Demolition, sanded a picnic table, played Uno at a place to help disabled people, and so on. It feels good do stuff like that. :)

Love Elder Peterson

Day 342

This week was pretty good, We had Zone Conference this week and it was all about learning to recognize and feel the spirit. We've been privileged to find a new investigator every week that we've been together. I don't really know why, We've just been really blessed. We've been teaching them and it's been a lot of fun. The last one we found is named Malcom. He's a doll. He went to the bible college here in town, and is very open to hear what we have to say. He is Native American, and is super nice. We've been building up a nice little pool of solid Investigators here. The Only explanation I can think of is that we must be getting blessed for something from the Lord.

So how are those great investigators?

Great, we were able to meet with a few recently, It is really nice. Members of the Branch are really willing to come as well. They are great.

Have you ever had to wait outside because there wasn't a guy around?

Yes and no, We are allowed female fellowship, so we can bring sisters to lessons and they count, but of course male fellowship is always preferred.

Have you seen Elder Allred yet?  I think he's coming..

Yes I say him on Tuesday, He came with his fionce and Sister Christensen so it was a big party. He hasn't changed very much, but it was kind of freaky to see him so twitterpated and physical with the christiansen girl. Honestly he was probably trying to freak me out and rub it in my face that he can date and I can't... 

When will the new pres come?  July?

Yes he's supposed to be here probably mid July. I'm excited to see him and I'm excited to have his back one hundred percent. Hopefully there won't be any die hard President Thomas fans that won't change with the new president.

Other than that, it was a pretty good but normal week. I am enjoying missionary work and having lots of fun!

Love Elder Peterson

No more Pullup bar incidents, I've been scared of the thing ever since. I haven't been very courageous this last week with it, perhaps next week.

The Lady Named Cara is doing well, we answered some questions of hers last Wednesday, she really delved into it, spending a lot of time on Mormon.org, and reading what we asked her to, also she spent a lot of time reading opinions of people that don't like the church. She is very accepting and actually asks us to resolve questions she had. She asked about Women and equality in the church, and I told her to just ask her friend in Utah. I said that being male my opinion doesn't really matter on Gender Equality, so It'd be better for her to see what her friend thinks. She's a good lady and I look forward to teaching another Lesson on Wednesday.

I hate the Garden too. When I have kids I hope that they're really bad, because I'm going to make them do garden work when they are bad. I thought about how I wouldn't want them to think Gardening is a punishment, but then again, who really likes it anyway?

I bet everyone is excited for the kitties, I know I would be, I still haven't forgot about Columbus and I intend to bring him home with me at some point.

Love Elder Peterson

Day 335

This week was pretty rewarding, We were able to teach a good amount, we taught three other lessons, and two member present Lessons. That is a good week for Steinbach. The members here are so willing to go to appointments whether they are planned out a week in advance, or if we give them just a few hours notice. It is a great thing. Justin the Younger is doing fairly well, although he was texting us some questions the other day and I think he may have found some anti, I think that my companion and I handled the questions very well, He is pretty open, but I am afraid that he may be one to be easily swayed. So we just do what we can and then we pray. I'm glad to hear about the reactivations, It's a fantastic thing to see happen. I don't have a lot of pictures this week, but I'll see if I can send something. Last week we met with a Lady who flagged us down on the street, we taught her the first lesson, and she said that really her only friend is a Mormon lady that lives in Utah, her name is Katie. She was really open and receptive, and we are really hoping to help her as she is furthering her growth in the gospel. She is definitely prepared, and she wants to meet with us.

Today I was doing pullups, and I pulled up too hard I guess because the pullup bar came off, and I slammed into the ground, and then into the door behind me. I crumpled up pretty good on the floor, but I didn't really get hurt, so It was ok. Often I try to pray before I work out. (sounds funny I know, but I like doing it) and I was glad I did, because a lot more could have happened. It's all Kent's fault because he emailed me a while ago and told me that he did seventeen in a row all the way up and down, so I was trying for that. I got into a rhythm, and then my rhythm must have been too good. I fixed it up on the wall so it shouldn't happen again.

What do you like to hear about from home?

I don't really know what I like to hear about, I enjoyed hearing about my sold car, that was fun, and I don't think you told me about what happened with your interview with President Winegar.. 

When are transfers, any news?

No transfer news, this weekend though, it's crazy how fast transfers fly by!

Who did you get along with best (comps)?

Honestly I haven't had any issues with any of my companions, Everyone has been pretty easy to get along with. The only person that I've had a more serious disagreement with was my district leader one time. He was kind of micromanaging and running things like a control freak. So it all came to a climax one night, when he got upset and then we wrestled for a minute or so, then we went to bed and had a nice conversation about it the next day. After that our relationship really improved.

But I think the companion I related to the best had to be either Elder Allred or Elder Scott, or Elder Coleman. They were all nice guys and hard workers. I like Elder Mattie a lot as well, but I don't know if I would seek out an audience with him after the mission. Not to say the other one's weren't good as well, I just clicked with these three.

Have you done any dishes?

 No family history lessons :/

Where do you go to email?

We go to a place called Pat Porters, it's just like a rec center without the rec center part, they just have computers, a couple pool tables, and a gym.

Here is a picture of Elder Mattie playing with a doll house. ;)

Love you!

Day 328

(This email didn't come until Tuesday, we were sad, Canada has a long weekend once a month and since there isn't a church building in Steinbach, their usual place was closed.)


Well you got jipped. Yesterday was may long weekend and no one in town was open at all. So I get to Email today. This last week was a pretty good one, President Thomas came to our district meeting and did Interviews on Wednesday. It was a very positive experience, I got a good amount of one on one time with him and we talked about a lot of things. It was our last interview before the new mission president comes in so he was kind of saying goodbye. This last week right after interviews we had a lesson with an investigator named Justin. He said some pretty ignorant things about our church that he felt from reading the introduction. We didn't want to bash so we waited for him to run out of steam, and I think what we said made a difference. It was hard, and if I was graded on the information and smoothness that I gave to him, I would have probably failed, but we were able to give him something to think about. I'm glad to hear you got the mail that I sent, I wasn't sure if you would get it anytime soon. I hope that Dad liked the sketches that I sent, I think they were pretty decent. They are authentic native drawings so of course they are good.

(I commented on how deep his voice was on during the Mothers day call)

It even surprises me when I look at videos of me how deep my voice is. It doesn't sound that deep to me when I talk. I really enjoyed talking to all of you, although I don't know if it's because I'm a terrible person or not, but my brain shuts right down when I think about family history. My companion is going to teach me a little I think and then maybe I'll like it.

The people we are meeting with right now are a few native people, they are progressing.. kind of. Two people both named Justin, they are both lukewarm on the idea of the church, but they are willing to argue with us a little about our church. So that is nice. We teach a fillipina lady who enjoys (I think) our message and I like going over there. We helped a woman in the ward move some things out of her house that is divorcing her husband. I like her husband so I felt bad about it. Hands down one of the most awkward service projects of my mission. Other than that, the week went well, It seems like Weeks tend to either be service heavy, or missionary work heavy. This last week we did a lot of service.

Other than that, The pictures I sent were of Elder Stevens and I trying to look like that one picture of the guy and his wife and the pitchfork, the next is of me wrestling my companion on the couch and "Penguining" him (just a humiliating way of pinning someone down) and the other one is of the dishes we did after helping with a mothers day dinner.

(I'll post these on my fb page)

I Love you and I thank you for all that you do! Sorry for not breaking into a store and using their computer to email! Love You!

Elder Peterson

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