Letter #61

Hey everyone!

It's been an exciting week in the Florida Tampa Mission! I would have sent this on my new iPad mini, but I'm not used to it yet, and the keyboard is frustrating sometimes. That's right! We have iPads here now. We're one of only 30 missions in the world to have them right now, so it's exciting. It's a completely different way of doing things! We're completely paperless. Our daily planners and area books are all on our iPads, so we don't have to do hand-written paperwork anymore. And it helps us stay accountable for the work we do, since if we want it to count, it has to be entered electronically. We also have the Gospel Library, so I don't use my paper scriptures or Preach My Gospel anymore, even for my own studies. And we also have all our teaching material on there, so we use them when we teach people we can show them pictures and videos. We can teach people over video chats if we can't visit them in person. Essentially, all we carry around anymore are our iPads, a few pamphlets that overview what we teach that we can give to people, and a few free copies of the Book of Mormon. We've only had them a few days, but we're almost all transitioned from the old system and we can already tell that there is going to be a lot of good happening with this. It's allowing us to do a lot more in the same amount of time, so we're able to reach a lot more people and help them learn and understand the Gospel.

Let's see what else. Mario and Emily are getting baptized this week! We're super excited for them. The members here love that family and take such good care of them. We also had a new family move in. The husband, Michael, is not a member, but he came to church already knowing that he wants to get baptized. Which is awesome! There is something going on in Florida and we can't figure it out. But stuff like this is happening all over the mission. Peoples' hearts are softening to hear the truth, realizing that there's something else out there that they're missing out on and that's causing a void in their lives. And so without realizing it sometimes, they start searching for it. And when they hear the message about modern prophets and apostles, the hope of life after death, and eternal families, they soak it up like a sponge. And it's because it's true. The only true lasting peace and joy comes from Christ and living His Gospel and commandments. And it's the greatest thing to be able to see others make those changes in their lives.

Hope you all have a good week! Love you all

Elder Petersen