Week 25: Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

Last Friday, after district council, we started our second exchange for the transfer. I went to Bridge City with Elder Gale and Elder Fisher took my spot in Port Arthur. Elder Gale and I went to help a very nice lady move. It wasn't bad at all, cause she was moving within her apartment complex. Brother Williams, from our ward, showed up to help as well. I almost got crushed carrying a couch up some stairs, but thankfully I survived. It's a good thing I'm built like a pro wrestler, it made everything go by very quick. Eventually I was just carrying everyone else on my back while they held stuff, so very convenient. 

After the service we went and knocked on a couple doors and set up some appointments. The next morning we went biking around in the disgustingly cold morning. We talked to a really nice guy and we were able to share our testimonies with him. He seemed pretty interested in meeting again. Then around lunch time we ended the exchange back at our apartment.

It was a great time, I enjoy working with Elder Gale, he's a very hardworking kid and he is very obedient. Important qualities a lot of people lack in.

This weekend we also had stake conference, which went awesome. Saturday night Elders Gale, Fisher, Child, and I got a ride to the stake center in Beaumont with the Carters, an awesome family in our ward. The conference was really good, President and Sister Larkin spoke. So did Elder Curtis, the church's historian. I also got to see Maecy, a friend from when I went to BYU last summer. She actually had put her papers in and she got called to serve in the Orlando, Florida mission speaking spanish. I'm pretty sure that's the same one as Matthew, so that's cool! I also got to talk to her a little bit after the Sunday session, so I got to wish her luck. All of us Twin City ward missionaries sang in the choir for the Sunday session. I have no idea how well I did, but people were saying we sounded good. So I guess I didn't do too bad. The conference was great and I got to learn a lot about the history of the Beaumont Stake. 

Elder Child and I have not had a lesson in a while. The first one in about a week was Friday I think. We went and taught Manuel about our purpose on Earth and how we can have true joy in this life. We also brought him a large print Book of Mormon. We re-commited him to read the scriptures. He told us all he really does all day is watch tv, so he really has no excuse. We didn't say that exactly, but we made that point. He said that now he can read the print, he will read with his wife. PLEASE Manuel. Please.

It hasn't been very discouraging for me that we haven't had much success lately. I can't speak for Elder Child though. We have been pressing forward and doing our best to meet with people. A lot of people are changing their work schedules, not answering their door or phone, or they're in jail. Sad. What's been really nice though is that I can once again confidently say that I am working hard. I'm sharing my testimony, I'm approaching rather unaproachable people, and I am praying A LOT. In the end, that stuff is just about all I can do. I'm watching and praying for opportunities to teach or serve people and I know that they'll come eventually. I have been serving a mission for 6 months now. It feels like just last week that I entered the MTC. I have learned more about the Gospel than I ever knew. My testimony has increased tenfold and my faith is up there as well. I don't share this to brag, but as Alma said: "I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." (Alma 29:9) I have done my best to be an instrument in the hands of God and I feel that I have. I know that greater things await and that through these trials I am simply being refined. My knowledge and testimony of the Gospel is going to increase and I will become a greater instrument. This work truly is of God and I know that good things can be done, even through a skinny kid from Idaho. For now, I work hard and have patience. Tomorrow the Lord "will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, yea, a marvelous work and a wonder." Have faith, and press foward.

Have a great week, I pray for y'all

-Elder Peterson

1) A horse I taught in desperation. He's a good guy. I named him Caballo.

 2) I forgot to mention TLC. Elder Child did good and afterwards we went to Buc'ees

Week 24: Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

This past week has been pretty good. We haven't had an actual lesson in over a week. We schedule some and then they fall-through, kind of like my last couple of weeks in Broadway.

Maybe that means I'm leaving...

I wouldn't mind staying for a third transfer in Port Arthur, I enjoy conversing with the people over here. They all understand the importance of continuing to learn about Christ and building a relationship with Him. Now we just need them to understand that we know how to help them do that 

We haven't had any lessons with non-members, but we visited an inactive member last week. Tiffani is super nice and she agreed to let us share a message with her. Our visit was mostly getting to know her and just talking about life, but it was still cool. She lives with a respectable man (married? Idk) who is not a member but is interested enough that he said he might come to church. Tiffani told us she was definitely coming to church, but we did not see her yesterday, pretty disappointing. We'll just keep bugging her until she actually does come. We have another meeting set up for this Friday and she said that she'll feed us too. Good deal.

On Thursday the Assitants to the President, Elders Jones and Horner, did a blitz with us and then stayed at our apartment for the night. It was because they had a lot of traveling to do, so they stayed at our place for convenience. 

Elder Jones and I went and knocked on a bunch of people's doors, people we used to talk to. We knocked on a glass door at one house (the main door was open inside) and this MASSIVE dog went crazy. It was jumping on the door and snarling/barking at us with slobber going everywhere. I'm pretty sure its eyes were red too. It was stressful enough like that, but then the beast jumped on the door AND IT OPENED! I quickly shoved the door back shut and leaned against it to keep it shut. Finally, the owner came and took the dog to its kennel. That dog was a bear, I'm not even kidding. We talked to the guy (great conversation) and then Elder Jones and I laughed as we walked away. We basically almost died.

I was telling my mom this and she told me to stop messing with animals. 

I'll think about it.

This Sunday is stake conference and we missionaries are singing in the choir. Boo.

I'm super grateful for the help I've received from the Lord this past week. It could have been super discouraging to not have any lessons, but I've been feeling just fine. I can confidently say that we've been working hard and that we are doing what we can. Because of that, the only negative emotion I'm feeling is a little sadness that the people we talk to aren't progressing. I know the Lord sees our efforts and blesses us for them. As Elder Christofferson said "True manhood" I'd say true discipleship, "is not always measured by the fruits of one’s labors but by the labors themselves—by one’s striving." 

I'm grateful for my loving Father in Heaven and for the love that comes from my family and friends.

Have a good week. Read your scriptures!

-Elder Peterson 

1) Sister Amen took us to a buffet

2) Kenedy and I (she's 22 now!!!!!)

3) Nice picture of the distant refinery

Pictures February 15-21

 

Week 23: Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

The days are starting to go by a lot faster. It feels like last zone conference was a week ago.

          Elder Child and I pulled up to Elder Nemelka flying a drone around recording all of us missionaries. So I made sure to give it a good stare down. President and Sister Larkin talked about faith and how we help people see that faith isn't simply believing, that it is action as well. Elder Rascon showed up as well and talked for a while. He testified of our importance in the gathering of Israel. He's a very powerful speaker, so it was great to hear from him. Towards the end Elder Jones called on me from the stand to say the closing prayer. Apparently he forgot to ask me earlier, oh well. I did it anyway. It's funny how I still get really nervous standing up there. I've been approaching strangers and starting a conversation about Jesus Christ for the last 5 months and I get shakey knees when I get called to speak or pray in front of fellow missionaries. Pretty fun...

Our lunch was really good pulled pork sandwiches. After the meeting I went and talked to Elders Paulsen and Frogley. I miss them (and Webb and Bowers) a lot. Elder Frogley and I are convinced we'll be companions again. We work too well together to not be companions. Dream team guys. Dream team.

          Last night Elder Child and I were walking around Port Arthur, looking for people to talk to. We ended up talking with two people. Julie was the first. We found her digging through some garbage. We approached and started some small talk. Eventually I asked if we could pray with her. She agreed and after we prayed I asked her if she was familiar with the Book of Mormon. She said she was, and that she had actually read it before (I doubt, but that's okay). I asked her if she had a copy, she said no, so I gave her a Book of Mormon and Bible. We talked for a little more after that. Elder Child tried to get her background, but once she said she was from space we finished up and let her go on her way. The other contact was a spanish woman. She knew a little bit of English and since I know a little spanish, we communicated just fine. I told her who we are and that we could have the spanish missionaries come visit sometime and she said that would be great. We left and called the Spanish Elders and then I realized we had not gotten her name. Whoops. They'll figure it out.

          We were supposed to have a lesson with Ebony last week, but something pretty cool happened. We showed up and she said she was just about to go give snacks and water to the homeless camp near her house. I was pretty surprised, that's a really cool thing to do. I asked if we could help and she said yes! We followed her there and handed out some treats to a couple people. There wasn't a lot of people there, but the ones who were received them with a ton of gratitude. Then Ebony offered a prayer and said something very nice things. We gave her the invitation to read the Book of Mormon once again and told her how important it is. Once again she agreed to read it, so we'll say. I'm praying for her.

          2 Nephi 31:20 has been on my mind a lot recently. It is a very good scripture:

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life." 

          I love the concept of hope. We may not have perfect knowledge of all things, but we can hope for good things to come. And if we have the faith and hope of good things to come, should we not love our fellow men (and in turn, our God) by helping them receive the same faith and hope? The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for all of God's children. As members of the restored church, it is our duty and privilge to bring others to the fold of God. In order to do this, we must strengthen our own spirituality through studying the words of the prophets (both ancient and modern) and enduring to the end. We cannot share with others the things we have not yet received. Therefore, we must study the scriptures and increase our knowledge and testimony of the Savior and the Gospel. This isn't just the job of us full-time missionaries. The gathering of Israel involves all of God's children. We all have the responsibility to build and share our testimonies. I know that in doing so we will be blessed beyond measure, and others around us will be as well.

          Thank you for letting me soapbox to ya'll. I know this Gospel is true, and I have gained this knowledge by "feasting upon the word of Christ." I pray you all will seek to share and obtain your own testimonies by following Nephi's counsel in this scripture.

          Until next week!

-Elder Peterson 

1) Steelers house

2) Our cars to help us remember our "drive" to do missionary work 

3) Elder Frog and I

Pictures February 8-14

 

Week 22: Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

Last Tuesday we were invited to dinner at the Olvera's. We had to wait about an hour for them to finish making the meal, not that I am in any way complaining. Their 5 little girls were running around, literally doing cartwheels around the room, as we waited. It was very funny actually, one of their girls, I think her name was Vanessa, kept asking for our number. I had shown her the stickers I have on my tag and she immediately became glued to my side. She had all 6 of us missionaries write our names in her journal and then she started begging for me to put our number in her journal. I eventually took it and pretended to write it. She looked at it and then started begging me again. I said "I did write it dow- oh... you're not 8 yet, right? Yeah, you have to be at least 8 to see the missionaries' phone number." She scrunched up her face at me and then stopped asking . Also, the dinner was amazing. Jalapeño poppers and lamb chops. Very very good.

          We had two more lessons with Dallas this past week. Both of which went incredibly well. Tristan showed up for the second one and they both were asking amazing questions. As we answered their questions and taught them about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation they seemed to get more and more excited. They said the stuff we taught makes sense and that they want to keep learning more. They promised to make greater effort to read the Book of Mormon and come to church. Tristan said he wasn't going to come to church, 9 am is too early for him ,  but Dallas wants to. He didn't actually make it to church yesterday, because he wasn't feeling good (sure) but we gave him the zoom link and he said he'll watch. We'll see if he actually did next time we see him.

     A couple days ago Elder Child and I were walking around Lamar College, just to be outside trying to talk to people. We came across this group of people who had a couple animals they were letting people hold since it was homecoming week for the college, or something like that. But we got to hold a snake, baby gator, and bearded dragon. It was pretty cool. I've been waiting this whole time to be able to hold a gator and it finally happened. Sweet. Pictures below.

     I finished reading Jesus the Christ yesterday! It is a very good book that I recommend it to all who haven't read it. I've learned so much about the life of Christ and all the good works he did. The book also talks about revelation of the Second Coming of Christ, which is also very interesting. My testimony of the Savior's love for each of us has grown so much. Not just from that book, though it was a huge boost, but also just from being a representative of Jesus. Being a missionary is hard, there are a lot of expectations and disappointments. But boy is there a lot of blessings! You learn so much about Christ when you dedicate everyday to testifying of Him and loving others as He did. I've talked about it before, but I've grown to love all the people in Texas, especially the ones who threaten me and yell at me . The joy that comes from sharing the gospel with others is indescribable and I'm excited to further develop my ability to serve others. 

     I hope you're all doing well, I pray for you!

-Elder Peterson 

1) Snake

2) Gator

3) Bearded Dragon 

4) Sunset

5) Big Boat

Pictures February 1-8