Elder Peterson Week 51

  I can't believe it has already been a year! I still feel very green... Helping the new missionaries come in last week made me feel pretty old too though. Mixed feelings this whole month. But I can confidently say that it has been the best year of my life.

     I've been in 4 areas, I've had 8 companions, 2 half companions (the 2 week trios),  and I've met hundreds of incredible people. I truly have seen the hand of God in this work and it is such a blessing to be a part of it. I've had so many experiences that have strengthened my testimony that Jesus Christ lives and that He is the head of this church. I often sit at my desk and just ponder all the lessons I've been taught by the Spirit. All the things I've learned and continue to learn as I serve as a missionary. Anyway, I'll get into the stuff that happened this past week.

     We've been doing a lot of finding, which hasn't yielded the greatest results, but that's okay. The highlight of the week is Linda. She is an awesome lady we found several weeks ago. We were finally able to sit down with her and teach a formal lesson. We went over the Restoration of the Gospel as well as some temple and family history work stuff (she had a lot of questions). She really enjoyed the visit and is super excited to learn more. The only fear we have is her husband. He doesn't want to talk to us and is very introverted. Linda told us that he's had bad experiences with churches in the past, specifically with preachers that are only "in it for the money." While this obviously wouldn't be a problem, since we aren't paid and neither is our Bishop, he still is being distant and won't meet with us with his wife. Keep Mel and Linda in your prayers, they would be blessed so much from this gospel. 

     On another happier note. Linda came to Sacrament Meeting yesterday! Of course, her husband didn't come with her, but at least she came. I think she really enjoyed it, she told us she's got some more questions for the next time we meet. We really look forward to future lessons with her, she's such an amazing person. 

     Oh yeah, how could I forgot, we got ourselves a car!! It's a silver Chevy equinox and it has brought me so much joy. One day we were driving and down the road i spot a very large speed bump. Naturally I speed up, hit rhe jump, and catch some gnarly air. Don't worry, we only bottomed out a little. After that we parked and talked to a guy on the street. He said he saw our wicked air and wanted to be baptized because of it. So we first baptized the car, then drove to the nearest body of water to baptize our friend Ricky. It was a wild ride. All thanks to the good ol equinox.

Sister Call wrote that. I promise I did not baptize a car. Or a guy named Ricky. But we did get a car, which has been VERY nice. I will never take that privilege for granted ever again.

     Not much more to talk about...

3 Nephi 5: 13 

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

Alma 29: 9-10

     "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy.

   And behold, when I see many of my brethren truly penitent, and coming to the Lord their God, then is my soul filled with joy; then do I remember what the Lord has done for me, yea, even that he hath heard my prayer; yea, then do I remember his merciful arm which he extended towards me."

     Now that I have a better grasp for missionary work, this year is gonna be great 

Until next week...

- Elder Peterson 

I threw in some random pictures from past areas and the MTC

Warhawk Museum

On Saturday Kefford, Avynlea, Rylee and I went to the Warhawk museum in Nampa to watch the air show. Before the show started we walked around the museum and looked at all the stuff they had. Rylee liked pretending to be an astronaut. 

This is a P-40 Warhawk

When the show finally started it was pretty cool to watch these small planes take off and fly around next to each other.

This F-22 was flown by a girl whose call name is Beowolf. She flew in from Utah did a couple of passes around and then flew off. 

 

Football vs Mountain View

 Football vs Mountain View and it was another Warrior Win! Avynlea and Paige did a great job holding up the Banner for the Football team and Avynlea and Paige along with Natalie are the best flag runners! I love watching my favorite cheerleader and love watching the Warriors win against Mountain View!

Avynlea, Natalie and Paige

Paige, Ntlie, Avynlea, Parker and Thacker

Elder Peterson Week 50

 This will be another rushed one, I'm sorry. It should be the last one I have to rush though.

     As most of you know, Elder Simpson and I have been filling in the last APs (assistant to president) spot. So we've been in a trio with Elder Chappell. This was the last week of the trio and it has been WILD. We've been doing a lot to help prepare for transfers and for the new missionaries coming in. I'll be honest, I do not remember a lot from the past week. This is because I'm very tired and it has gone by very fast. We have had some awesome lessons along with all the chaos. 

     We taught this one guy in the AP's area and it was such a cool experience. We got talking about prophets and about scripture and he had so many cool things to say. He believes and understands that there has to be a modern prophet otherwise Christ's church can't stand. There must be a leader with authority from God to direct the church and correct it where needed. I mean, look at how many epistles Paul had to write to keep the people from falling into apostasy. Even with his corrections (of which we have very few) the church was still corrupted over time and this led to the people turning their hearts from God. We had an awesome discussion about this and then we talked about Joseph Smith. He was nodding the whole time and adding his own thoughts. At one point he told us about how he had been searching for something more, that something in his heart was telling him there was something missing. He commented that this might be it. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he eagerly agreed to read it. 

     So even with all the running around and keeping track of transfer instructions and flight plans, we were able to slide in some awesome lessons. 

     Yesterday 3 of the 14 new missionaries came and we had fun with them. We picked them up from the airport around noon and got some stuff done with them. The plan was to pick up the rest of them around 6pm, but their flight got delayed. How delayed you ask? Well, we picked them up at 1:30 this morning. Whooo... It was still fun. Yesterday while we split up with the 3 Elders and did about an hour of finding. I took Elder Solano and wow, he impressed me. We pretty much taught this one guy the whole restoration and it was great. I did most of talking since, ya know, it's literally his first day in the field. First few hours at that. But he shared his testimony on a couple things and it reminded me of how powerful sincere testimonies can be. After being in the mission for a while you learn what things are usually best to say to people. But he testified boldly of Joseph Smith and of the Book of Mormon. The guy we were talking to, George, was very moved. At first he had very little interest in learning about our church, but after a couple testimonies and explanations, he agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. It was awesome!

     This morning at transfers (Elder Simpson and I are staying another one together) we did a lot to help the new missionaries get around and figure some things out. As technology Specialists we explained some things about their phones and how certain things work. I also got to see some past companions, again, which is always fun. Elder Chappell got his new companion and we were relieved of our "AP" duties. Hopefully we can catch up on our sleep a little. 

     The week has been good, things will start to die down again, which is good. We'll be able to focus more on our area and getting more people taught. I was reading Mormon 8 a lot this past week and I've loved it. Towards the end of the chapter he's talking to the world today and he gets a little frustrated. In verse 38 we get kinda roasted and he totally calls us out on not being better desciples of Christ. Remember, he saw our day and knows what we are doing. He has seen how wicked the world is and we are pretty much told to be better. It was good motivation for me and I recommend you all give it a good read (Chapter 8 of Mormon).

     I'm gonna end this here, I'm falling asleep and I've got to get to other things. I hope you all have a good week, I pray for ya!

-Elder Peterson

That dark picture in the car is 1 am this morning.

The umbrella pic is Elder Chappell walking out Sister Petersen, I thought it looked funny 

Red shirt is Elder Paulsen (my first trainer)

Grey and blue shirt is Elder Nelson and Morrow, my last comps

First Day of School

Before the school started Avynlea and Rylee went to a girl who does hair out of her home to get their hair cut. While doing Avynlea's haircut she was telling her about cheer and how she has struggled with her tumbling. This girls kids do tumbling and she had a tumble track in her garage so after she finished cutting their hair she had Avynlea get on her tumble track and helped her with some tips. 

In addition to having fresh hair cuts they wanted cute nails so they asked Brynn Givens if she would do their nails. Rylee came home with some cute flowers on her nails and Avynlea got a pretty French manicure.

Finally it was the first day of school and Avynlea is starting her last first day of High School ever. I can't believe she is a senior and as much as I don't want it to I know this year will fly by because I will be dreading her graduation. I am not ready for her to Graduate and leave for college... too much too soon. She is at Meridian High School and excited for her Senior year.

 

On instagram I put a picture of her first day of senior year and then I added a picture of her first day of Kindergarten and her Kindergarten school picture. How has the time gone by so fast!

Rylee is a Sophomore at Owyhee High School and is excited to not be a Freshman anymore. She is taking Yoga for her PE credit and is really excited about that class.

Football! Meridian vs eagle and Owyhee vs Madison

 First football games of the season and Rylee went with her friends to cheer on Owyhee while I went with Kenedy to cheer on Avynlea and Meridian. Rylee had a lot of fun being in the student section with her friends and loved even more that her team won their first game against Madison!

Rylee, Taylee and Naomi

Owyhee 13-7

Meridian was playing against Eagle and the theme was western. The cheerleaders ordered white cowboy hats they were going to decorate but they didn't have time so they just wore them plain. I liked that look better, I thought adding stuff to them would have looked really cheesy. 

Meridian Cheer Seniors

Tessa, Melanie, Madi, Katie, Roree, Hannah, Avynlea, Natalie, Paige and Dreya

Avynlea, Paige and Natalie will run the flags all season every time there is a touchdown made by our team. They are the perfect trio for the job and had a lot of fun running with the flags!

Elizabeth and Amy

Kenedy and Elizabeth

Avynlea, Kenedy and Elizabeth 

Avynlea, Natalie and Paige

Avynlea, Natalie, Katie and Paige

Avynlea and Paige are also the banner holders for the season. They hold up the banner for the football team to run through at all home games.

Katie, Hannah, Natalie, Avynlea and Parker