Letter #66

Hey everyone!

It's really been a great week. Sorry if I don't provide as much detail
as you might like. To be honest, by the time I get to my Mondays, the
past week is nothing but a blur. All I can really say is that we are
seeing so many miracles; the Lord is blessing us and the people here
so much. We continue to go through a lot of changes as we integrate
our technology and some new ways of doing things. When you live so
that miracles can happen, they happen. All the time. We see the Lord's
hand in everything we do. I love being a missionary! And I love that
I'm learning so much that will help me in my life after the mission. I
learn things every day that not only help me in my work, but that will
help me in school, in my future family, in my future career, and in
callings in the Church. And what is better in this life than learning?
Not much. Because it's what this life is all about. It's good, I'm
great, and life is a blast!

Love you all and hope you have a good week!

Elder Petersen

Letter #65

Hey everyone!

What a great week! We almost taught nonstop. I am so tired but feeling
so good. I think the best thing that happened this week was when we
were teaching Rhonda. She's been meeting with the missionaries for
about a month and been coming to church. She loves to study things out
and compare. This week we were able to talk to her about how she feels
at church and as she reads the Book of Mormon. We invited her to be
baptized next month and were expecting a no. But instead, her response
was "Well, I better get reading!" It was so cool! And then when she
came to church this week she was beaming the whole time. We've also
been working a lot with Bruce. He's a lot more quiet and reserved, but
always enjoys us coming over. He's always prepared and anxious for his
lessons. We work with so many people every day and a lot of them are
doing super good. It's really good to be in Bradenton. The ward is
really getting more and more excited about missionary work. The church
meetings are very uplifting, which helps so much when we have
visitors. There is just so many miracles happening and so much that
I'm learning; it's almost impossible to quantify it sometimes.
Love you all, have a great week!
Elder Petersen

PS Check out what we saw this week! It made me so happy :)

Letter #64

Hey everyone!

So transfers were good. I'm serving in the Bradenton area with Elder
VanderPool. It's way awesome here! The work is just going like crazy.
We were so busy this week! And most of the people we're teaching are
progressing really well. We have a lot of Tongans in the ward, so
singing in church is a blast. They also love to feed the missionaries,
so it's a good thing that we only have a car part-time. The rest we
are on bikes. Which, being summer, makes me happy that I'm on the
coast again. Absolutely no hills and a nice breeze off the Gulf to
keep it from being too hot :P Here is my new mailing address:
4910 26th St east #203
Bradenton Fl 34203

So, nothing really too special about this week, other than a new area
and new companion. He's a pretty cool guy, we seem to get along well.
He only has 3 months left on his mission so I will most likely be his
last companion. Which means we're going to have to work really hard to
stay focused :) I already love this area so much and know I'm going to
love it here.

Love you all, hope you have a great week!
Elder Petersen

Letter #63

Hey everyone!

What a great week it's been! First off, I'll be transferring tomorrow. Sad day :( It's always hard when you leave an area that you've been in so long, when you get to know and love the people so much. But it is also exciting to be able to move to a new area and get to meet the people there and build similar relationships.

Donavan was baptized and confirmed this weekend, along with his younger brother, Devon. Their parents came to church for the confirmation, although they are not members. It was Testimony Meeting, and at the end, Donavan's dad got up to express his thanks for what the Church has done for his sons. Even though he doesn't believe the same as us, he loves the emphasis on missionary work, and can tell that Christ is the center of our religion, which he very much appreciates. Donavan and Devon have some awesome opportunities there to help their parents accept the gospel. They are both very excited for the priesthood and being able to do baptisms in the temple.

Overall, everything is doing just great! I have been learning so much, about the gospel, and about just life in general. Everything that they say about the mission preparing you for life and marriage is so true. Even though I'm not quite there yet, I can tell how my experiences here will help me in my future, be it professional, church, or family related.

Love you all, have a great week! I'll let you know my new address next week.

Elder Petersen