Letter #60

Dear family and friends,

It's been such an awesome week! Elder Putnam and I received a special invitation to attend the Mission Leadership Council on Wednesday. Two brethren from the Missionary Department were there and gave the training. It was so awesome! We learned so much about our purpose as missionaries, the importance of ordinances, and why we have people do certain things as we teach them and prepare them for baptism. And when I say we learned so much, I mean, we learned. So. Much. SO MUCH! It hurts my head right now to think about it all haha. We've also been doing a lot more street contacting. It's a lot of fun! Never really done much of it until now, but President Cusick has put a big emphasis on it. He wants us out and being seen in public, and the mission as a whole is really experiencing so awesome stuff because of it. And we have nice weather most days so people are actually out and in good moods so they don't mind us approaching them. Most of the time :P

Everything else is going well, too. Mario and Emily are reading a lot from the Book of Mormon, and coming to church, and loving it! Mario is loving being a part of the Elders Quorum, and Emily is making a lot of friends in Young Women. Emily's little brother, Giovanni, is also starting to come to church more, and actually liking it. He's come a few times in the past but was always bored. He's been involved a lot with the Young Men and their activities, which helps a lot. It gives him something to look forward to.

Rusty is going really good. He's working on overcoming some personal challenges so he can be ready to get baptized. He knows it's all true, but he also knows that making changes isn't easy.

I love the Lake Hamilton ward. The members here are so awesome! You can't not be involved in the work and not know it's the Lord's work. The Book of Mormon is so powerful! If you're not reading it, you need to be. Because really, it's only a 500 page book. You have time for that! And it will change your life for the better so much!

Love you all so much. Have a great week!

Elder Petersen