Letter #56

Dear family and friends,

It's been such a good week! Richard is getting baptized on Saturday. He met with missionaries a lot many years ago and has finally decided that it is time for him. He's a funny old guy, and he wants the Lord in his life and in his heart.

Mario, Felicity's husband, has decided that he wants to be baptized with his wife! SO awesome! Felicity could just do it now, but she wants to wait for Mario. He's going to take a little bit more work to help him understand, but I have faith in the converting power of the Spirit. We had a great lesson with them this week and we re-taught the Restoration after showing them the baptismal font. The Spirit was so strong and Mario said he was ready. This week was our ward Primary program, which was so good, and they loved it too. They participate in all the classes and volunteer to help with activities. They're just so awesome. December will be a good month for them :)

This area is growing so well. It's exciting to see the members catch the spirit of Hastening the Work. It's true, the Lord is hastening His work, and He blesses those who anxiously engage themselves in it. He is preparing people every day to hear the message of His restored gospel. The whole FTM is experiencing the miracles. I'm so grateful that I'm able to serve the Lord and labor in this spot of ground in the vineyard. The things I learn, the miracles I witness every day. God lives, He loves each and every one of us, He has a plan for our happiness, and that plan is following Christ and being instruments in doing His work. "For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me." I've been re-reading and studying General Conference, and I would hope you would all do the same. It is the words of living prophets and apostles, and they teach us the way.

I love you all so much; have a great week!

Elder Petersen

Letter #55

Dear family and friends,

Well, the Acostas are getting baptized! At least the mom, Felicity, is. Mario, the dad, told us last night that he will be at church next week and he will have made his decision by then. It was so awesome last night to have that discussion with them. Felicity has been coming to church for a while now and has made several friends. She hasn't had very many positive experiences lately with her other church. We taught them about baptism and those covenants and the gift of the Holy Ghost last night. And after a long talk about the Book of Mormon and how she likes church and Elder Putnam and I sharing experiences about how the church and the priesthood has blessed our lives and how it will bless their family (I shared a story about how I wasn't sure if I was ready to leave home and go to college when I did), she finally said, "Well, I'm ready to go to college." And we just sat there for a couple minutes in silence, Elder Putnam and I wondering if we really heard what we thought we did. And so I asked her what she meant. And she went on about how she's ready to make this church her home and she knows it's the place that God wants her. And then she accepted the invitation to be baptized on Dec 14th! Such a good end to the week!

I think that's pretty much all I have to say. We've been working with them for so long. It was a great lesson to me in patience and relying on the Lord's time.

Actually, I just remembered one other thing. We started teaching Kathy this week. Her niece used to be a member of this ward and referred us to her. Kathy is later in her years and has been to a lot of churches. But she's never found the one where she could find her niche and call home. After meeting with her earlier this week, we set up a time to come back and invited her to church. She accepted. Well, she called the day of our appointment and said she was sick. Past experience has taught me that we just lost her. Well, not so much. She called us Sunday morning about 45 min before church started and asked if it was too late for her to come. She has poor vision and can't drive, but a couple of phone calls and we had a ride for her. We talked with her after church and she was beaming from ear to ear! She was so excited that she made it and is eager to have us over this week to teach her more.

We also started teaching Richard this week. He's met with missionaries before and been going to church a lot for many years. He came up to us last week and told us he's ready to get baptized. We are seeing him again tomorrow.

So, this week has been wonderful. Definitely feel overwhelmed at times with my many responsibilities as a missionary. But I find great strength as I study the words found in the scriptures and the words of our living prophets. I love my Savior; this truly is His work.

Love you all so much
Elder Petersen

Letter #54

Hey everyone!

Well, it's been a great week! We have a lot of really great stuff going on, a lot of new people we are teaching. One lady that we are teaching, Noemi, has agreed to be baptized at the end of this month! We're so excited for her. She was being taught in Tampa and then just moved here. She's been taught everything, and so we are helping her to keep all her commitments and come to church so she can be prepared. We've seen a lot of miracles as we work hard. We have so much work to do and there is no time to sit around and do nothing. We're so busy with teaching investigators and less-actives. This is going to be a great week!

Elder Petersen

Letter #53

Dear family and friends,

To start off, my new companion is Elder Putnam. He's from Bountiful, UT. He's great and super hard working. We've gotten so much stuff done and have the rest of this transfer pretty much all mapped out as to what we're going to do. There's a lot of work to be done here in Lake Hamilton. It's no small task. But we are hastening the work of salvation. I was reading the allegory of the olive tree this morning in my studies. Possibly my favorite chapter right now in the Book of Mormon. Something that really stuck out to me as I read was how the Lord of the vineyard emphasized over and over again that his servants who worked diligently would share in the reward of the fruit that would be gathered. The other big thing I noticed was that the Lord of the vineyard did a lot of things that didn't always make perfect sense to the servant, but he reminded his servant that he did it "for mine own purpose." It really got me thinking about everything that the Lord does, and has done, since the very beginning that most of the time we don't understand. But when the end comes, we will understand the purposes and the wisdom of the Lord.

This week has been really good. The Acostas are doing really well. We had an awesome lesson with them last night. We read 2 Ne 32 with them, and the mom was asking some awesome questions about baptism and the sacrament. This is possibly the best lesson we've ever had with them. It's so clear that she wants so bad for it to be true. She loves the idea of eternal families, and talks about it every time we go over. Last night she had a huge smile on her face as she was talking about the whole family being dressed in white and being "tied together forever." Really, her only struggle is getting used to our church services. Because she picks up stuff so fast and she's learned so much, and when she has questions she so readily accepts our answers. The Spirit was so strong in our lesson last night with them. The dad might take a little longer to come around, but he loves the Book of Mormon and how easy it is to understand in comparison to the Bible. So things are going super good with them.

Well, I'm way excited for this coming week. We're going to get so much stuff done, this area isn't even going to know what hit it! Love you guys, hope you have a great week.

Elder Petersen

Letter #52

Dear family and friends,

Well, staying in Lake Hamilton but getting a new companion! So we go to Tampa tomorrow to drop Elder Bennion off and get the new guy.

Overall, it's been a good week. Weren't able to get a lot done, but that's okay. Things are looking up for this week; we have a lot of work to get done in the next 6 weeks and maybe just enough time to do it.

The Acostas are doing really great still. They came to church again and really liked it. They're starting to learn a lot. Still not sure where they will be moving to, but it's looking possible that they might be able to stay in the area.

So, that's all I have to report this week. I'm just loving this work and so glad that I'm a missionary! The Lord blesses us so much when we follow His paths! Have a great week.

Elder Petersen

Letter #51

Dear family and friends,

First off, just a reminder that this is the last week of the transfer, so if you're going to mail something to me, do it today. Otherwise hold on to it until we find out what's happening with transfers. I have a feeling I'm leaving. The zone leaders have been hinting a lot this past week of big changes happening in our area that involve us and the Spanish missionaries we work with. So we'll see.

This week has actually been really great! We got a referral from some missionaries in Tampa telling us that a lady they had been teaching moved to our area. So we went and met her, and she is so awesome! She's already read a lot of the Book of Mormon and knows she needs to get baptized. And she's already been taught all the lessons. So we just need her to come to church. Which she wants to do, but it's been hard finding her a ride. But we talked to some people yesterday about it and we should be able to get that taken care of.

The Acostas are doing really well. But they're moving. Out of our area. Possibly to Tennessee. So we're kind of bummed out about that. But when they get to where they're going, I'm sure they'll pick back up with the missionaries wherever they are. The mom and daughter are really excited to come to church next week. They talk about it all the time. They're reading the Book of Mormon a lot now, which is a miracle in and of itself. That book really has the power to change lives. It's still changing mine every day as I study from it. I just recently started reading it again, this time looking specifically for everything it teaches me about Christ and His Atonement. Every page so far is almost entirely highlighted. I'm learning so much and I'm finding so much more joy and happiness in this life than I ever thought I could ever have.

I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all

Elder Petersen

Letter #50

Dear family and friends,

The work continues to move on here in Lake Hamilton, albeit very slowly. The Acosta family is doing really well. They came to church yesterday for the first time since I've been here! And the teenage daughter is begging her parents to come back next week because she liked young womens so much. It's so awesome! We love that family so much.

I'm really excited for this coming week. We have a lot of good stuff lined up. The members here are so fired up from everything we learned at General Conference and the encouragement to be a part of the hastening of the work. It's great to see the members getting involved in missionary work.

Even though this has been a slow, difficult time for me on my mission, it's been a great blessing as I've been given the opportunity to study every day and strive for the companionship of the Holy Ghost, which then allows me to be aware of and see the little things that the Lord does for me each day that reminds me that He's in control and He's aware of me. I have also taken the advice of President Monson: "It's better to look up." It's just so much easier and way less stressful if you're always noticing the positive side of things. This mortal life is already filled with so much pain and suffering. But when we become positive and notice the small and simple things that bless our lives, the Light of Christ within us grows, and that light spreads to others around us.

I hope you all have a wonderful week. Love ya!

Elder Petersen