The game was awesome last week, the Astros did awesome. It was a chaotic mess getting there though. We took a bus to get there and about 4 to get home, plus 30 minutes of walking in a sketchy area. Houston City itself is a nightmare, I cannot understand how people can do anything there. Everything is so crowded, the traffic is weird, so are the people... I refuse to believe that there are actually people that prefer a busy city over quiet mountains. Anyway, the whole trip was an interesting experience that involved way to much complaining about being hungry (I'm beginning to understand how my dad feels on vacations). I enjoyed every part of the game though, we played the Red Sox and beat them 6 - 1. Very good game to watch.
Go Astros!
On Thursday night we had a ward party to kick off the end of summer (
) and it was pretty cool. It was planned before I even got to the area, so I didn't have to help with any of the planning. It was also specifically so people could invite their friends to get to know the ward a little bit and see that we are (for the most part) normal people. The turn out was a little disappointing, but a couple nonmembers showed up and had a good time, so we call it a success. The stake has a 9-square that we borrowed for the event and that was awful. If you don't know what 9-square is, it's the same concept as 4-square, but there's 9 squares. And they're above you instead of on the ground. Typically (I wish I could say always) it's built out of pvc pipes and it's very simple to set up. Well, this one that we borrowed was made out of steel pipes and was not simple to set up at all. It took us 30 minutes to set it up and it didn't even have enough support pipes to be stable. You would think to put one on each corner... nope. It had one pipe in the middle of each side, it was not structurally sound at all. Thankfully no one got hurt and, like I said, everyone enjoyed the activity.
) and it was pretty cool. It was planned before I even got to the area, so I didn't have to help with any of the planning. It was also specifically so people could invite their friends to get to know the ward a little bit and see that we are (for the most part) normal people. The turn out was a little disappointing, but a couple nonmembers showed up and had a good time, so we call it a success. The stake has a 9-square that we borrowed for the event and that was awful. If you don't know what 9-square is, it's the same concept as 4-square, but there's 9 squares. And they're above you instead of on the ground. Typically (I wish I could say always) it's built out of pvc pipes and it's very simple to set up. Well, this one that we borrowed was made out of steel pipes and was not simple to set up at all. It took us 30 minutes to set it up and it didn't even have enough support pipes to be stable. You would think to put one on each corner... nope. It had one pipe in the middle of each side, it was not structurally sound at all. Thankfully no one got hurt and, like I said, everyone enjoyed the activity. As for the teaching, everything is about the same. We have two people we are trying to teach (Tawana and Samantha) and we are trying to find more people to teach. I'm excited for this week though, the whole mission fasted together for more faith to find people to teach. I expect to find some people this week. We saw Tawana yesterday and talked for about 20 seconds. She was busy, I guess, and didn't have time to talk. She just told us to text her later to find another time. As for Samantha... She is as talkative as ever. We stopped by her door yesterday and had a nice talk. We aren't allowed to go into her house since there is no male adult present, and she isn't comfortable with us bringing someone from the ward. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, how is she comfortable with two random 19-year-olds from out of state and not comfortable with her neighbor. And I mean next door neighbor, two doors over. Oh well, we spoke about it yesterday and it seems like she might be open to it soon. We got her in contact with the Bishop's wife and they've been talking a little bit over the phone. My hope is that we'll be able to bring them over with us sometime.
I've been reading through the Bible lately and I came across Exodus 31 the other day and found it extremely relevant. Verses 13 through 17 make it very clear what the Sabbath is meant for. I've been wondering (and I've asked) what things are okay to do on the Sabbath and how strict should we be? Well, I found the answer to be very simple. In verse 17 the Lord says "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." Two things I'd like to point out:
One, the first part of this verse "It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever." What we do on the Sabbath shows our devotion to God. I've come to understand that there isn't really a specific list of do's and don'ts for the Sabbath. How we treat this day shows how seriously we take our discipleship. It is not a take to be taken casually. There are a couple things that we are specifically commanded not to do though.
Second, it is a day to rest and be refreshed. I take that to mean that we use this day to rest physically and refresh ourselves spiritually. I don't think most people take as much advantage of the Sabbath as they could, myself included. I mean, look at how hard the church leaders are pushing for a more gospel centered home. We should be immersed in the gospel always, but most especially on the Lord's day.
I'll step off my high-horse before I start getting too preachy. I just wanted to share some interesting things I learned from my recent studies. I'm so very grateful for the scriptures and for all the resources God has given to us to learn from. I know that as we give more time to the gospel we will have happier lives. It's really that simple. Of course we will still experience hardships, but we will have eyes to see and ears to hear what blessings those hardships turn out to be.
Keep praying, keep learning. I love you guys, have a good week!
-Elder Peterson
