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