Isn't that wild? It doesn't feal real. I've been out here for 13 months but it only feels like it's been maybe one or two months (sometimes it also feels like I've lived here my whole life, it's weird). Time is FLYING.
This week has been fun and a little bit overwhelming. This is my first time being district leader, and I'm leading the area, and training Elder Dodge on how to be a technology specialist, and I'm the district social media representative (that last one is pretty funny cause I am not great with social media). But it's going great! Friday was the first time I've led a district council, it was awesome. We talked about what it means to be diligent, why diligence is important, and how to be a diligent missionary. Everyone had great insights and we all learned a lot about the importance of being obedient and diligent in our work.
Elder Dodge and I have been biking around all week. We've lost contact with a lot of people, so we are working on finding out who is actually interested or not. I'm used to riding a bike at this point and I keep forgetting that Elder Dodge is not. I look behind me sometimes and see him a ways behind me. I need to slow down and let him adjust, I have to keep apolgizing for going too fast. He's having a good time though, I think. He has the bike his dad used on his mission, so that's pretty cool. It seems to be a pretty nice bike as well.
Linda was going to come to curch on Sunday, but she got caught up with other things. She's doing great though. Last week we got her a copy of Come Follow Me (the Book of Mormon one) so she can have a better understanding of the Book of Mormon. We met with her yesterday and she's been using it! She can't find her copy of the Book of Mormon though. I'll be honest, I have a feeling her husband may have taken it. He is pretty against the "mormon cult." But we downloaded the Gospel Library app on her phone for her, so she now has a copy with her always. She has been struggling to know what she should do. She wants to be baptized, but she is scared to bring it up to her husband because she is worried of what it might do to her relationship with him. Which I understand. Towards the end of the discussion we were trying to think of what she should do. I got an impression that I'll admit I didn't completely want to act on. But I did anyway. I brought up fasting and explained what it is and why we do it. I suggested that we fast about it together and she loved the idea. The only reason I didn't completely want to suggest it was because we had just fasted this past Sunday. But helping Linda find her answer is more important than food to me, so I am happy to fast again.
Oh yeah, fun story. The other day we were biking by a park and some kids who were playing basketball shouted at us to come play. So I did, of course. I join this game wearing a longsleeve white shirt, a tie, pants, and non-athletic shoes. It was so fun. There was a couple kids that were pretty good and they kept trying to pull moves on me. One kid got a little arrogant and started taunting me, so I stole the ball and made a layup. It was great, we were all laughing and having a good time. I got a picture with them that I'll put in here. It was actually two of the kids' birthday, so I hope playing with "white shirt" was a fun birthday experience.
Studying Alma 32 this week helped me realize something. The word of God can be planted in our hearts in many ways. We know that other churches have truth, just not a fullness. So lots of people of other faiths have planted the seed in their heart, they just need help nourishing it and getting rid of the weeds. Kinda cool to think about. God loves all of His children, of course He'd allow other religions to teach parts of the true Gospel.
I'm gonna go shopping now. Have a good week!
-Elder Peterson
Here's the basketball kids. I know I look like a tomato, I was playing in a long sleeve shirt and pants!
We also came across a group of "bikers" that talked to us a little.
