Elder Peterson Week 38

 This past week we met with Marie and Lilia again and it was awesome! Brother and Sister McCann came with us and we went over the baptism interview questions with them. Marie was accepting all of it to the point of immediately agreeing to stop drinking coffee and stop smoking. It was awesome!!! Lilia still hasn't figured out if being baptized is right for her or not (it is) but shes still praying about it. You know what's even more awesome? They came to church last Sunday!! And they loved it!!! It was so cool, these ladies are so committed to following the Savior, it's such a blessing to be a part of their journey.

     Later that night we stopped by to give Marie a large print copy of the Book of Mormon and she said a prayer before we left. She said some awesome things and this part really touched me. She said: "God, I can't promise I'll do this quickly and I can't promise I'll do it perfectly. But I promise that I'll give it all I've got." She then proceeded to pray for Elder Mangan and I, her "missionary friends."

     I'm so excited for them, she is planning on being baptized on the 11th of June and we are all excited for it. Please keep praying for her, it's seriously working 

     The other day we went to help a lady named Linda Dula move some boxes and get a little more settled in her new home. She's a nonmember and we had also talked to her about doing a Bible study as well. 

We didn't have a Bible study.

She used our labor for an hour and then basically told us she wasn't interested. I was honestly pretty annoyed. We had planned on sharing a quick message after helping her out a bit and she just wouldn't let us! She used us to move her boxes! 

So rude.

I don't think we'll be going over for "Bible studies" anymore.

     Pretty much the whole day yesterday and this morning was a blitz with Elder Bengtzen. Elders Mangan and Barben were transferring out of the area (they're out now, I've got a new companion, keep reading), so those two were driving around saying goodbye to people while Elder Bengtzen (the new District Leader) and I drove around and did MISSIONARY WORK. It was awesome, I love the guy. This morning we drove to a Cavender's Boot Store and Elder Bengtzen drooled over these $800 gator skin boots, it was fun. Oh yeah, he also bought a $250 banjo, but apparently that's not weird.

Yes it is, Elder Bengtzen. Yes it is.

But he's excited to have it, so who am I to judge 

     Elder Mangan got transfered to Woodville Texas and I got Elder Nelson out of Beaumont Texas. He's been out one transfer longer than me, so we're pretty even. He's from Gilbert Arizona and he's actually a pretty cool guy. I'm excited.

     We had an awesome lesson today with a guy named Carlos. We taught him the plan of salvation and he loved it. Elder Nelson is a great teacher and we taught very well together. I'm excited for this transfer, I'm expecting lot of miracles! Thank you for all your prayers! 

I love ya'll and I pray for you. Be strong, steadfast and immovable! 

-Elder Peterson

Oh yeah, Elder Bengtzen also bought a $50 rope. 

That picture of me looking really happy is from Sunday. Not gonna lie, I can't remember the context. Sorry 

Isabelle's Graduation

Isabelle's graduation was Wednesday May 25th. My girls were in school still with finals so I didn't think they should miss school and so they stayed home. I thought it would be fun to have someone to drive with so I asked Stephane if she wanted to go to Utah. Her family is in Utah and she has been going frequently because her dad has been sick. She was willing to go and it worked out that she was able to get a ride back home with her daughter who was on her way home at the end of the week for her sisters graduation. Traveling with Stephanie was as much fun as I thought it would be. We talked the entire way and the drive went super fast. 

I wanted to surprise Emily and get their earlier then she was expecting so I didn't tell her when I was leaving. When I was about 10 minutes away gassing up I got a text from her asking when I was going to get their. I sent a text back saying just gassing up, hitting the rode right after. Which technically was not a lie :)

I knew she would still be at the school teaching so we were driving to her school where Stephanies sister would meet us to pick her up. AS we were tuning into the school I saw a bunch of kids crossing the street heading away form the school and I saw Emily in that group. I started honking and she looked over but didn't see me and kind of waved and kept walking. So I drove right up to her, rolled the window down and yelled Its Me!! She was so surprised and it was such a fun way to surprise her. Her class was going to the mini golf that was right by their school so I parked there and then was able to join Emily and her class the last hour of school.

The morning of Isabelle's graduation I asked Stephanie if I could do her hair. She is a wash and go type of person and I have been wanting to flatiron her hair for a long time. She let me and then I put a cute braid in it and it looked really cute. I was super happy with it and love how it looks flatironed. 

I also did Isabelle's hair and I put a bubble braid in that would look really cute with and without the graduation cap on her head.

Her graduation was at one of the buildings at BYU and as we were waking in to get seats I saw her signed up outside so I took some pictures,

Heather, Andrew, Stephanie and I sat in the back with Mom because she had to sit in one of the handicap chairs. She was not able to walk up and down all the stairs. Graduations are pretty boring and the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial was going on during it so Heather read I shared her air buds and watched the trial. We turned it off and paid attention when it was Isabelles turn to graduate. It was just during all the speeches and when the 100's of kids we didn't know were graduating that we were watching the trial.

It was fun to meet up with the graduate afterwards, she found us pretty quick and I was able to help Heather but the Lei's on her that Ashleigh made and sent up.

That evening was her party and Kenedy showed up at the door and surprised us all with her arrival. It was fun for her to come and a funny moment was when Kenedy went outside and Emily said to Fredrick, "Look Fred Kenedy is here" and Fred said "Hi Poopidy", hahaha, that kid loves to talk about poop

The next couple of days were spent going to the park with Joshuas kids, eating out and getting yummy ice cream, having Mom help me get all of the dog hair off my bum and being with family. It was a good trip and I had a lot of fun

Elder Peterson Week 37

 This past week was a little slow to start with. We had a couple appointments fall through and no one really wanted to meet. I didn't let it affect me too much though, we kept plowing ahead. Eventually it did start to get better, but not until Saturday really. But I wasn't even in the area on Saturday.

     Elder Rivers and Elder Chappel, our Zone Leaders, wanted to do a little 12 hour exchange. We drove over to the Broadway Chapel (my first area) and met them there while they were in Spanish class, which we joined. It was fun, the teacher (I have no idea how to spell his name) is a very smart man, both with Spanish and Doctrine. We got to ask him some questions and his answers were very insightful. After the class we began our exchange and I was staying in Broadway Spanish with Elder Rivers. 

     The day was great, except I only understood every 10th word people said, so it was hard to follow what was going on. It was fine though, Elder Rivers is a great missionary and I could tell he's a great teacher. Towards the end of the day we headed over to the house of someone his ward for a fiesta. It was awesome, they were making suuuuper good tacos. It was kind of awkward though, because people would ask me questions or try talking to me and I would just go "uuuuhhhh... no hablo Español, lo siento." Then they'd look at me kind of funny, no doubt wondering why Elder Chappel had been replaced by an English only Elder, and then walk away. It was also kinda funny though, so I didn't mind. That was the end of the exchange though, after that we drove back to Pasadena and exchanged back.

     Yesterday we met with Marie and Lilia again and they accepted our invitation to be baptized! Marie kept expressing that she's ready and that she knows it's the next step for her. Lilia was a little hesitant though. She told us about how she had tried joining another church a while back and the ostracized her for the stuff she liked to do, such reading Harry Potter. I assured her that the Relief Society organization is incredible and that she will feel love and belonging within it, and also that liking Harry Potter isn't that weird. I told her that many of my relatives love Harry Potter, which got her super excited 

      Later in the day (actually right after that, I think) we went to Sister Saldana's house to teach her friend the Restoration. It was fantastic! Lauran had many awesome questions and she loved what we shared with her. She accepted our invitation to continue reading the Book of Mormon (she's already at 2 Nephi ) and to pray about the things we shared. She's been having a really hard time though, so I want to ask all of you to keep Lauran (and Marie and Lilia) in your prayers. 

     That's about it for the week... transfer day is next Tuesday! This one went by pretty quick, which is nice.

     Thank you, have a great week!

- Elder Peterson 

Pictures:

There's some potatoes from Idaho, I saw a fish in the water, I forgot to mention that a member of our ward is a bee keeper and he let me hold some bees . Also Elder Bengtzen holding a scared dog and then there's a cool picture of the shore I got.

EDP Dance Recital

Saturday May 21 was our EDP spring dance recital and I was ready for it so we could end the year. I have loved the girls so much but teaching two classes on Thursday and two classes on Mondays were a lot for me. For a long time I decided that I was going to be done teaching and that this was my last year. After thinking about it for a long time I decided that I was going to drop my Thursday classes and just teach two classes on Mondays. I felt good about that decision and was really excited going into recital because Recital is always fun. 

All of my classes did great and did so good on stage. I was pretty proud of them all.

Rowan, Farrah, Madilyn, Opal, Everly and Violet 

Kinderstars

Jazz: Gitchee, Gitchee Goo

Ballet: Donkey Kong

Annaleigh, Poppy, London, Ashley, Scarlett, Presly and Madeline

Tiny Tots

Jazz: A Hug From My Mama

Emily, Bethany, Molly, Raegan, Belen and Rowan 

Kinderstars

Jazz: Gitchee Gitchee Goo

Ballet: Duck Hunt

These girls mamas sent me the pictures they took of me with their daughters and I love them. I have known Molly(left picture) since we moved into our new house, her Mom Kirsten was super welcoming and to me and really helped me to feel like I had a friend in the ward. She signed Molly up for class in the middle of the year but I didn't know she did until I saw them at the studio. I was so excited and have loved getting to know a different side of Molly. She has always been a pretty grumpy girl at church and it was fun to see a smiling Molly at dance. (upper right) This is my last year with Raegan and I am sad about that. I have had her in dance class since she was 3 and it has been fun watching her grow and progress as a dancer. It is the end of an era with this one and I am sad to not have her in class anymore. I hope to see her little sister in class sometime in the next couple of years. Bethany (lower right) started in my tiny tots and was pretty advanced for that class so we moved her to our Kinderstars class. She is the sweetest little thing with the face of an angel and I have loved having her in class. Her Mom was a little hard to deal with at times but she has loved my teaching and has said she will have Bethany again in my class next year. I love when parents want to keep their kids with me, it is good validation for how I am doing as a teacher.

Emily, Coleen, Berkely, Rylan, Kate and Mae

Kinderstars

Tap: Under The Sea

Ballet: Donkey Kong

I was definitely spoiled this year in regards to teachers gifts. I have never received so many gifts before and it was so fun and I felt so special. A great high to end on!

I gifted all of my dancers this year cute summer themed sunglasses along with some candy and Bethany's Mom sent me a picture of her wearing them. I love it!

Fun Happenings

 

Pets are not allowed in the house and since we only have one pet I guess the rule is Bunnies are not allowed in the house. Avynlea likes to sneak him in whenever she gets the chance and I don't mind too much as long as he stays on her lap.

Saturday May 14th was the Dance Connections dance recital. Kefford, Avynlea and Rylee were good to come all day and help out, they got paid for it but it is a long day. After the recital Cyndi took us all of us out to eat. I got a picture of the girls enjoying their yummy ice cream dessert. It was a long day and we were exhausted at dinner but still had fun and room to eat ice cream :)

On Sunday May 15th Avynlea and I assume Rylee were messing around with my phone and for some reason thought it would be fun to take pictures of Avynlea eating. It seems Avynlea was enjoying the picture taking until she wasn't.

Monday May 16th Stephanie and I went to the dollar store after dance class to find some gifts for our dancers. We wanted to give them a special end of year surprise for after the recital. Stephanie snapped this picture of us jokingly saying we could put it in a frame as a gift for our dancers. I was not quite prepared for the picture and come off looking a little crazy I think, hahaha. I ended up finding some cute summer themed sunglasses and those with some candy was the perfect gift for my cute dancers.

Tuesday May 17th Kenedy sent us a picture of her "hiding" in the classroom she was working in. Kefford then sent a picture of him "hiding" at work.

Rylee was on arbook this year and at the end of the year the kids had to come up with a theme for the next years yearbook and do a presentation on it. Rylee didn't really want to do it and didn't care since she is not dong yearbook next year but she had to come up with something and this is what she did. I am glad she put effort into it and tried.

Friday May 20th was Warrior day at the High School. This is when all the 8th graders who will be going to Meridian come and see what High School is all about. They can see different clubs they can join and the cheerleaders had a booth to support cheer. Avynlea had her pom moms on the table as decoration and when a cute special needs girl showed interest Avynlea let her hold one of her Moms. This girl was super excited and took the pom and walked away with it, never to be seen again. oops