Well... it's been interesting. Training two elders in an area where we rarely see other missionaries and fulfilling the obligations of a District Leader. It's been great. And very stressful. Very tiring too. It's good though... I'm actually learning a lot! I've had to study a lot to keep myself from going crazy (studying the scriptures is very therapeutic, you should try it!). It's also cool to have 3 different understandings of the Gospel, it makes things interesting .
We've been doing a lot of finding since Elder Heronema got here on Wednesday and it's yielded much fruit. We've had multiple lessons scheduled every day, it's been awesome (maybe 20% of those planned lessons actually happen. People are flakey). These guys are learning quickly too. The rules take a minute to adjust to, but they're doing well.
We had a lesson with a guy named Herman the other day and it was interesting. This was also right after some random guy yelled stuff about John Smith being racist at us from behind a door. I don't know any racist John Smiths, but I do know a great man named Joseph Smith who treated everyone with Christlike love, no matter what they looked like. Even the people who tried killing him! John Smith should learn from Joseph.
Anyway!
Herman was kinda interesting. We tried talking about how the church Jesus Christ established has been restored and he kept going off on how any baptism is acceptable. We tried explaining how dangerously incorrect that is, but he wasn't really understanding anything we were getting at. After the lesson Elder Heronema suggested we be more straightforward and bold next time. I told him that's probably a good idea. So we'll see what happens this Saturday.
We had dinner as a zone yesterday and President Harris answered a bunch of questions. Someone asked how we best avoid apostasy (or something like that) and I really liked his answer. His answer was long, but my favorite part was when he talked about having a personal relationship with Heavenly Father. He said that we will be able to avoid many sins and mistakes in our life if we kneel down, at least once a day, and offer a real prayer. If we council with the Lord in a worshipful way and listen for His counsel to us, we will be guided in a powerful way throughout the rest of our lives. I've been praying way more than I ever have and it's been so helpful. I've begun praying the way he suggested and it's changed a lot as well. I feel so much love from my Father in Heaven and it's helped me with my stress and other problems.
Unfortunately I don't have much else to say, I'll do better next week, I promise! I'm also sorry for the lack of photos, my mind has been very jumbled this past week and I forgot to take pictures.
But I hope y'all have a great week!
-Elder Peterson
Here's some pictures from when I was in training. Good times.
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