I'm sure many of you have at this point heard that the first presidency has released a new edition of Preach My Gospel. It's awesome! Along with that surprise, our Area Book apps have been updated to allign with the new Preach My Gospel better and the app's name has been changed to Preach My Gospel. So, Area Book is no more (the name at least). I've been studying in the new Preach My Gospel and I love the changes. The lessons are structured in a much more modern way. I've also noticed that the part about studying and learning the gospel has become much more detailed and includes ways to be safe while using technology in missionary service (and in life in general). If you haven't looked at it yet, check it out. They changed the title from "Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service" to "Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ." This new title shows that the book is meant for all of us. Which I like, because we are all supposed to be missionaries. Every baptized member of the church should have a name tag on their heart and has the responsibility to gather Israel alongside the full time Missionaries. The new Preach My Gospel helps all members learn the gospel and learn how to share it. It's awesome!
Not a lot has happened this past week. Our teaching pool is being recycled. Meaning we are trying to find new people because we've had to stop teaching a lot of people lately. No one will keep commitments. Which is increasingly more sad for me because I have begun to be absolutely honest and straight forward with a lot of people. I've been bearing my testimony like I never have (or maybe it's that my testimony has strengthened a ton lately) and still people reject the spirit and reject change. I have faith that we will find some people who are willing to make and keep commitments. We've been working really hard to try to find them. We had the opportunity to go the the temple for the sealing of a couple in our ward. We even got permission from President Larkin. We were praying about it, though, and realized that it wasn't the best way we could fulfill our missionary purpose that day. The whole trip would have taken the entire afternoon and we wouldn't have as much time to find people that day. We came to the conclusion that the Lord would have us remain here to continue working. Nothing super crazy happened that day while we were out contacting, but we know that the spirit had prompted us to continue our efforts in searching for people who are looking for the true gospel.
Today President and Sister Larkin complete their service in this mission. After having President Larkin as my mission president for almost two years, it's hard to see them go. We had a devotional on Zoom last night with the whole mission and they bore their testimonies and gave us some last words. Our new mission president, President Schmutz, arrives today. We'll be having a zone conference on Friday to meet the new presidency in person. Part of me is glad that the Larkins are done right now, though, because that means I can visit them at their home when I complete my service here pretty soon. It will also be very interesting to see how the mission handles the change of leadership. I also just realized that Elder Burton (my companion) has only had 8 months with the Larkins... while I have had 22 months with them. Most of the mission hasn't gotten to know the Larkins like I have, especially with the 4 1/2 months I spent working very close to them while in the office last year. They are incredible people and, again, I'm really going to miss them.
That's about all that's new. We're working hard, my studies have been awesome, and we're expecting some more miracles here soon. I hope you are all doing well!
- Elder Peterson
I'm proud of that pancake.
