Elder Jarom Petersen: Letter #23 (& Pictures)

Dear family and friends,

It's been a fantastic week! I just don't even know where to begin. Well, let's start with the Clay family dropping us because they just got too busy. Which is a bummer, but it's still been good in spite of it. Now on to the good stuff.

We had an amazing lesson with Krystle this week! For the longest time it seems as if she's been searching for a "First Vision" experience to get her answers and wanting a perfect knowledge, not being willing to act on faith. Well, we talked with her about what answers from the Holy Ghost are like, and I read her the verse in D&C 6 about the Lord speaking peace to our minds, and what greater witness can we receive than that? And then I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "Krystle, I know that you know that it's true and that you've received an answer. And I know that because you didn't ask for us to say a prayer for you a couple weeks ago, you asked for a blessing. And no one would ask for a priesthood blessing unless they believed in the difference. Do you agree with me?" And she kinda looked down for a second. "Yeah, I guess." So we invited her to pay attention to those times that she feels the Spirit and work on recognizing the answers she gets.

Now on to the better stuff. The Palmer family is a less-active family in the ward. Bro Palmer is a truck driver and almost never home. Sis Palmer doesn't like going to church without him there, but they know they need to get back into things. They have a 9 year old son who is not baptized. When children of record turn 9 they become the responsibility of the missionaries to teach and baptize them, and they are counted as a convert. And he REALLY wants to get baptized! Which is awesome for us! And awesome for them! So now we're meeting with them once a week and teaching them the lessons. We're seeing them again this Thursday and are going to try and set up a date that he can get baptized on. And then the next step is to get Bro and Sis Palmer to the temple and have the family sealed :D

And the best stuff. We met with Laurie and her kids again on Saturday. It's very clear that she understands the importance of being baptized, but it seemed like she didn't fully understand the Restoration and the priesthood. She always talks about how she was baptized Catholic as a child, but she really wants her kids to be baptized. We had a great lesson with them on the Plan of Salvation, and then I asked her in she believed that the Book of Mormon was the word of God. Much to my surprise, she looked me straight in the face and said "Yes, I do." And went on to talk about how the idea of a prophet on the earth today makes perfect sense. Then Elder Ellis and I both bore our testimonies of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of the Priesthood through Joseph Smith. And then, I saw something I have never seen before. I could see in Laurie's eyes the light bulb go on. And when I invited her to be baptized she said yes with no hesitation. She will be getting baptized on April 14th :D

I know this is God's work, and what a blessing and a privilege it is to be a part of it! I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. He is no respecter of persons and loves every single person in the world, offering salvation freely to all those who will repent and believe on His name. His Atonement allows us to overcome our sins and weaknesses, moving from bad to good to better, eventually moving on to perfection in the eternities. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. You cannot read that book with an open mind and heart and not feel it's power and know that it's message is true.

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

Elder Petersen

Me, Elder Willard and Elder Ellis right before Elder Willard left