Elder Peterson Week 87

I did get a bag of Sour Patch Kids. It's a big bag. One of the Spanish missionaries gave it to me. Gracias.

             We've been teaching a really cool guy named Donald. His current living situation doesn't make it very easy to meet in person, so our lessons have been over the phone. He is a super cool guy though. He's got such a deep love for Jesus Christ and for learning about the gospel. He's been feasting on the Book of Mormon and has been taking lots of notes. We had a lesson yesterday that went great. He told us about how he loved watching our church on Zoom and can't wait to come in person. As we were starting I felt prompted to ask my mom if she would like to join the phone lesson and share her testimony. I knew she would be nervous, but she agreed anyway. We talked about the Plan of Salvation with Donald and then my mom shared her testimony at the end. It was AWESOME! I didn't even think about this when I felt prompted to ask her, but my sister had just gotten married and my mom had a lot of her family around. The Plan of Salvation is about families, so the Spirit knew that my mom would have special feelings about it right now. Her testimony brought the Spirit in such a strong way and Donald loved hearing it. That was the first time I've ever had two phones going in a lesson, but it worked so well . We're super excited about how that lesson went and we're grateful that my mom was willing to share her light.

            Speaking of mothers, happy Mother's Day to any moms out there! Our ward had a BBQ for all the mothers on Friday and it was super fun. All the men served their food and then a Mariachi band came and performed for a while. I don't think I've ever seen one in person, so I had a great time. It was strange, though, when one older woman asked them to play the baby shark song... oh well, it was funny. Our friend Robyn was able to come to the BBQ too. We talked with her yesterday after church and asked if she's been thinking about baptism. She said that she has and that she knows she needs to pick a date. So we scheduled her baptism for the 27th. We're praying that nothing comes up, because she doesn't seem to completely understand how great of a priority this should be and she tends to be a bit flakey .

            Mother's Day was great, I enjoyed talking to my mom. I also got to see a lot of my extended family that I haven't seen in a while. It was awesome. I would go on about how much I love my mom, but I already wrote her a letter with all that. And besides, there's not enough time to write all of it here. Suffice it to say, God knew that I needed (and still need) my mom. She's been the greatest influence in my life besides the Godhead. And I owe a lot of my knowledge about the Savior to her as well anyway. It's been very difficult to be away from her for this long, but I know I'm where she wants me to be. I love her and can't wait to see her in person again in a couple of months.

            It's been a great week, I hope y'all are doing well. Have a great week!

- Elder Peterson

That's me and mom down there.

Kenedy and Tyler get Married!

I thought really hard about how I wanted to do their wedding photos, whether I wanted to put them all in our family blog books or have a separate wedding album and I decided I wanted a separate wedding album made for me to keep. I didn't want to pass the day without at least recognizing the wedding so I am adding a picture from the day of their civil ceremony on May 12th and a picture from the day they got sealed May 13th. Both days were really special and fun and we are so happy to welcome Ty into the family.

 

Avynlea's Lutes Family Graduation Party

The day after the wedding I had planned to have a surprise graduation party for Avynlea with my family. With the wedding being so close to her graduation and with most of my family not being able to come back Avy felt like her graduation was being overshadowed by the wedding. I understood how she felt so I told mt family we were going to surprise her with a little party on Saturday night after the wedding stuff was all done. Before all that though Kenedy and Tyler came over after the sealing and we got to watch them open their wedding gifts. I started making a quilt for them the week that Tyler came to visit back in July because I could tell that this was where we were going to end up. I made them a huge quilt that had hearts in all different shades of pink. It's a more intricate quilt and took a lot of work and I was pretty happy to be done with it in the end. 

Tyler's Mom sent a gag gift for them to our house and it was a pair of potatoes with their faces on them I thought it was weird but it was a gag gift so they were also funny.

Kenedy, Tyler, Avynlea, Rylee, Alec and Isabelle went swimming over at the Caroaca's, we planned it so we could get Avynlea out of the house to have time to set up for her surprise party.

We had leftover tacos from the wedding and I put sprinkles on one of the leftover cakes to make it seem like it was to leftover from the wedding, I also had ice cream with Oreo, Heath and Butterfinger toppings. I put baby pictures out of her, we put up a picture garland and I also had a balloon arch that Anthony and Erin helped put together.

When the kids got back from swimming Avynlea was very surprised and I think a little overwhelmed by the unexpected attention. I had her put on her cap and gown and then we played a game. It was the same game we did at Kenedy's bachelorette party but we made it Avynlea themed. So everyone wrote a question that pertained to Avynlea and then I collected all of the questions. Once I had all of them I passed them out so everyone got a different question, they had to look at it answer the question in their head and then I had everyone pass the paper once to their left and then without looking at the new question they had to write the answer they had in their head on the back of this one. Once that was done I collected them all and gave them to Avynlea to read aloud. It was a pretty fun game and we had some pretty funny questions and answers, we played it through twice and then we hung out, ate treats, took pictures and visited with each other. 

Ashleigh had some candy lei's that she made for Avynlea and she put those on her, once she was all decked out we took pictures with the Graduate in the backyard. I mostly focused on those who were not going to be at her graduation and made sure to get pictures of Avynlea with them.

Atticus, Andrew Brown, Avynlea Ashleigh and Abigail.                                 Erin and Avynlea

Avynlea and Atticus

Fredrick and Avynlea

Avynlea and Heather                                                            Avynlea and Jeremy

Avynlea and Amos

Alec, Avynlea and Jeremy

Joshua, Fred, Avynlea, Amos, Mallory and Leona                    Alyssa, Avynlea, Stephanie and Anthony

Isabelle, Avynlea and Matt

Avynlea and Andrew

I got a text and a picture sent to me at about 6:00 that night from Arin Lamb it was a picture of her and her boys in their car looking sad and the text said she got the date wrong and they were at our reception venue and nobody was there. They were really bummed about it but I told her to bring her and her boys over to our house because the newlyweds were there and we were having a party celebrating Avynlea. She did and her boys had fun playing with Atticus, Amos and Fred while we visited with Arin.

Avynlea and Bo

The next morning, Sunday, Kefford and I drove my family to the airport for their flight home. I have loved having my family here, every one of my siblings was able to be here and it meant so much to me, I love when we can all be together and it was a really fun week. 

Ashleigh and her family came at the beginning of the week and I was able to spend a lot of time with her and her kids. When the rest of the family came it was too much for Abigail and she became overwhelmed and attached to her Mom and Dad. While at the airport as everyone was unloading their stuff I pulled Abigail out of her seat and for the first time since everyone came she let me hold her and clung to me. Having Abigail let me hold her again and watching my family get all of their stuff out of the cars to leave became too much for me and I started crying. I did not want anyone to leave and I have loved having my family with me this week and having them go was too much. Everyone was giving me hugs and I could not stop crying and it was becoming a little hysterical. I was crying and making everyone else cry and it was all too much and I finally had to just get in my car and leave. I cried a lot of the way home and when I got there I was happy to see Emily and her family still there. They were going to church with us and I am glad that she was able to stay and do that.

 

Wedding Practice and Bachelorette Party

Emily had the great idea to go to the Temple before all the wedding madness started and Emily, Ashleigh, Mom and I were able to go Thursday morning to do inititories. It was so fun to be in the Temple with my Mom and sisters and while I wish it would always be like this I do appreciate the together time more because this isn't the norm. 

Avynlea got her Graduation Cap and Gown and tried it on for all of us, she is so cute and it is hard to believe that she is so close to Graduating High School!

Tylers Mom came and picked up the Arbor so they could start decorating it and it was nice to meet her. She had her brother and his wife with her to help which was nice. We are doing the wedding and reception at the Coombs house, they were in the Linder ward with us and have since moved to a beautiful house up in Hills Dale. They have a beautiful view and it is a really great location for a wedding. A couple of weeks ago Brinn Coombs called to let me know she was recently diagnosed with Cancer but she still wanted us to use their property, she just wanted to let me know she was not going to be able to help with anything. I am grateful she was still willing to let us use her house but really sad for her and her family and hope that she will be ok. She and her husband were not able to do much yard work and they had someone mowing their lawn but they were concerned about their flower patch that was just weeds. Kefford and Rylee went on Saturday to clean it all out and on Thursday I went with most of my siblings, everyone but Joshua who hadn't arrived yet, to buy flowers and then we went and planted them in her flower area. I should had gotten pictures but we were so busy it didn't cross my mind. With so many hands to help the planting went super fast. Tyler's family was just finishing up the Arbor which looked fantastic and were talking about wanting to go eat. My family was hungry as well so I suggested all of us going to Idaho Pizza Company for their pizza lunchtime buffet. That was met with approval and off we went.

IPC in Eagle has a big room for larger groups and nobody was using it so we were able to go in there. Me and my family sat at one table and Tylers family sat at another table. I went back and forth so I could get to know them a little bit more and Tylers brother Caulin was very talkative and wanted me to tell him all about myself. The last thing an introvert wants to do is talk about themselves so I felt very uncomfortable and awkward but I tried my best. As we were getting ready to wrap things up Stephanie who had already left came rushing in saying she and Anthony needed to take Jeremy to the emergency room. Stephanie was acting very dramatic about this and we were concerned. She said Jeremy was having really bad stomach pains and was not doing well. Jeremy is not one to complain or draw attention to himself so we knew he had to be feeling really bad. As we were leaving we thought to have Andrew and Alec go to the emergency room so they could give Jeremy a blessing. Alec was already there with his Dad and Emily dropped Andrew off. I had Mom, Heather, Ashleigh and Erin in the car with me and as we were waiting at the stoplight I suggested saying a prayer. Mom said the prayer for Jermey and she got a little teary saying it which made the rest of us get a little teary. 

When Jeremy and crew got back we learned that he had a hernia that had pushed through his muscle and was the cause of the pain. The Dr pushed it back in and told him to not do any heavy lifting and that he needed to take it easy. We were glad he was ok and it wasn't anything worse. Andrew had mentioned later that while giving the blessing he felt so much love and he has never felt the Spirit stronger, he teared up while telling us and I am so glad that he had such a good experience. I hope Jeremy was able to feel that love and the Spirit as well.

That afternoon Kenedy had her bridal party come over to practice how they were going to walk and the timing. Most of the groomsmen were not there yet and we were missing one Bridesmaid I think but we were able to get it figure out and had some extras on hand to help us out.

Avynlea put together a bachelorette party for Kenedy that night and she did a great job. She had yummy food, fun games to play and everyone had a good time. Before the food and games we had glint permanent jewelry come and everyone got permanent jewelry. Because I was hosting the ladies had told me that I would get $25 off whatever I bought. Once it was done they ended up giving me $55 off which was a free bracelet because ewe had so many people get jewelry and we brought them a ton of business. I was paying for me, Avynlea and Rylee to get a bracelet so I was excited to get one for free. It was a good time. Having  so much of my family here means it is very crowded and loud and I love every minute of it, seriously it makes me so happy!

Avynlea bought cheap plastic necklaces for the girls to wear and towards the end of the night I noticed it was coloring their necks pink. We had a good laugh about it and a little bit of a panic wondering if it was a stain that was going to be hard to get out but luckily we were able to use some baby wipes and get the color off.

 

Browns come to Town!

Rylee and Avynlea messing with the .5 on my phone camera, they take the weirdest pictures.

I was so excited on Monday that Ashleigh flew into town with her family for Kenedy's wedding. I was so happy that they came Monday and that I had a couple of days with just them before anyone else arrived. I picked them up from the airport and Atticus and Abigail were instantly ok with me. I wasn't worried about Atticus but I figured Abigail might have some reservations. She had none! I took her out from the stroller and she let me hold her and play with her, it was great, we had instant connection and she loved me. A lot of times during the next couple of days she would come to me to have hold her rather then her parents, it was great!

Atticus loved Avynlea ad Rylee and they loved him right back. These three were instant besties and he had fun being doted on by his older cousins. A couple of nights they would go and hang out on one of their beds and have pillow talk, talking about anything and everything, and Atticus loved it! My girls love their cousins and they love them right back!

The Browns were going to have Phoenix do their family pictures back in November but had to reschedule because of them getting sick and not coming. They were able to do it Tuesday night and from what I saw the pictures were looking good. I took a couple of pictures so Ashleigh could see them and while Atticus was getting his pictures I noticed he didn't really know what to do with his hands so I told him to put them in his pockets. He did and he looked so stinking cute, from then on that was his go to pose, sticking his hands in his pockets, what a little cutie.

Wednesday evening was when most of the rest of my family was showing up but before they came we had some fun at the park. I took the Browns to Fuller park and they had fun playing on the equipment and then throwing rocks in the pond.

I loved having Ashleigh with me for the first part of the week. She helped me with wedding stuff, making decisions and shopping for food, she was the best helper and I a so grateful they were able to come!

 

Elder Peterson Week 86

This past week has been awesome. Elder Green is down to work hard, so it's been a good busy week. It's getting hot too...

We've done a lot of finding to increase our teaching pool and it's been steadily improving. We met a guy named Chris last week who told us that we can come back to talk some more yesterday. The conversation led to prayer so we went with that. We talked about prayer and he confided that he doesn't really know how to pray. We shared some scriptures with him and I wrote an outline for him on a piece of paper. He also asked why are there so many churches in the world and we almost dropped dead from excitement. We challenged him to pray about it and try to think of an answer for himself and then we'll come by tonight to share what we know. He accepted and we are super excited to see him tonight.

On Saturday we did some service for a member in our ward. The whole district showed up (8 of us) and we tore down their garage so they can build an RV garage. I should have taken pictures, because we were there for at least 5 hours and we completely took it apart. It was super fun demo. Lots of brick smashing.

By the way, if you noticed the font change, it's because I copied some of that from my journal and the font has just stayed in Times New Roman. Oh well.

Honestly, I don't know what else to write, so I guess it's going to be another short one. I will share that I was studying about fasting yesterday and I learned some cool stuff, ya'll should take an opportunity to learn more about it. It made my fast yesterday much more meaningful and I feel very spiritually refreshed.

Sorry again for the short email, I hope ya'll have a great week. I'll have more to share next week for sure.

-Elder Peterson

That's our district leader with the Lego clone wars helmets.

Also, that's a terrible picture of that dirtbike. I was talking to the guy about it and I kid you not, for 5 minutes straight he was trying to convince me to ride it. That was probably the hardest "no" I've ever spoken. I was trying to explain that it's against our rules and that I don't want to risk anything happening to me or the bike. He was super persistent though. Man, I really wanted to ride it...