I have never been so full on Thanksgiving night...
On Thanksgiving day Elder Webb and I had 3 dinners to attend. It was awesome, we got all kinds of food and we got to meet the family of some people in our ward. The saddest part about the whole day was that I only got one slice of pumpkin pie... Now, I'm not being ungrateful. I have a lot of gratitude for these families that allowed us to sit with them and eat amazing food. I'm just a little disappointed in myself for not eating enough pie...
SO WE BOUGHT PUMPKIN PIE! Now I get half of a whole pie to myself. I'm grateful I have the money to be able to buy a pie and that we thought of getting one.
Out of the whole week, today was probably the most interesting. After the Ultimate Frisbee game that continues to infuriate me, cause I get very competitive :( and after shopping we all met at the church (as usual). We had a gingerbread house competition which was super fun. Elder Webb and I bought a kit and ours turned out perfect. The Zone Leaders made a temple out of graham crackers and frosting. The hermanas had a kit and the other sisters did the graham cracker thing as well. Elders Westover and Black... I can't even explain the mess they made. I'll put a picture below and you can try and figure it out yourselves. Needles to say, we had a lot of fun and ate a lot of sugar.
Now for the good part. Elder Webb and I were heading back to our car after getting turned down at yet another door when this guy stops us. He's sitting cross-legged on the concrete and messing around with a bike chain that he had curled up into a disc thing. He stops us and tells us that he wants to talk.
"You guys are the ones to talk to right? You're educated in 'the word,' right?"
We just went along with it and said "Yeah! What exactly would you like to talk about?"
He told us he wanted to learn. So we began by asking about his background.
...
This man. Mark, he said was name, is a very interesting man.
Apparently, time itself began when he was born (he gave us the exact time and date). He said a lot of things. Such as: "I know I'm not God like I think I am." "The word supercalafragelistic (however you spell that) is in the dictionary because of me." "Australia's job is to make sure the Earth doesn't get invaded." "You watch this Christmas, when the planets align, it's gonna be something to behold *wink*"
He went on and on and on with the most random stuff I've ever heard. He kept calling us foot soldiers and kept telling us to teach him, but he wouldn't stop talking. After about 15 minutes of this we decided to just give him our number and dip (which took forever as well because he just kept going). I can't explain how confused I was after leaving that conversation, but boy was it interesting.
Oh Mark... The United States was not created by your hand. *sigh*
Anyway, I'll wrap this up.
We just finished Thanksgiving week and we're entering the Christmas season. But! That doesn't mean you get to stop being thankful! Express your gratitude towards others and especially to your Father in Heaven. I can promise that as you take time to express your love and gratitude towards God, you will be able to see more blessings in your life. And I don't just mean that you'll receive more blessings (which you will), but you'll be able to recognize the ones you already have, with less effort. We each have been given so many blessings, so many things to be thankful for. As we express gratitude for these things, we'll train our eyes and hearts to find even more things to be grateful for. Try it!
I'm thankful for my family, my Heavenly Parents, my Savior, my knowledge and education, my friends, my calling, my freedom, my health, my talents, my testimony, my faith, my backpack, my country, and soooo much more. Especially you guys!
Have a FANTASTIC week!
-Elder Peterson
1) our awesome Christmas tree
2) Wendy and Evelyn (they fed us on Thanksgiving)
3) Elder Webb doing... Something
4) the gingerbread houses. (ours is second from left)
5) Elders Westover and Black created this monstrosity. That's all I have to say.
6) I got to ride a bike on my exchange with Elder Dyer! I need to get my own bike...
7) definitely not me falling asleep... Elder Webb played 2 Nephi 1:13-14 to wake me up. Hilarious.
8) elephant.
