Pictures September 1-30

 

Week 55: Kingwood 2 Ward, Kingwood Stake; Companion Elder Simpson

 I know I've explained what TLC is before, but I'll do it again real quick. TLC is a conference new missionaries go to twice during their training (once a transfer). They do roleplays and get to hear from President and Sister Larkin and the whole thing is really just to test what they're learning and get new insights to help them improve. 

     Now the reason I bring it up is that it's awesome! Mostly because lunch is provided and you get to hang out with a bunch of other missionaries, but also because you get to develop your teaching and get other missionaries' insights on how to improve. I'm not in training and I am not currently training anyone, so I don't get to go. BUT, it takes place at the same chapel where the office is located at. So Elder Simpson and I decided to "accidentally" be at the office the same day TLC was going on. We didn't actually expect to be given any of the food, I just wanted to see some of the missionaries. We did get lunch though . We also helped with setting up lunch, so we were useful.

     We had a really cool devotional this past week. Elder Rascon (an Area Seventy) and Elder Pieper (a General Authority Seventy) came to speak to the mission. Since the mission is scattered around (obviously) only a couple of zones were able to come in person, mine included. The rest had to watch over zoom. They both spoke about missionary work and gave us super great advice and amazing motivation (something some missionaries have really been needing). Elder Pieper taught us some great ways to extend an invitation to be baptized and how to address peoples' needs directly as they come. Great stuff that is very useful. Elder Rascon actually remembered me from a fireside back in October where I approached him after the meeting and asked him some questions, so that was cool. 

     Yesterday was Stake Conference and Linda came! People talked a lot about temples and the blessings that come from working in the temple, which really increased Linda's curiosity and desire to go someday. After Stake Conference, we had a lesson with her and her friend Grace, and Brother and Sister Harris from our ward showed up. It didn't go as planned... Brother and Sister Harris were very excited and loved answering their questions. They went a little to deep on some subjects though, and I think it left Linda very confused. The other day she was telling us that she was ready to move towards baptism so she can get to the temple and help her son get his work done (her son passed away a little bit ago). But after the lesson, we asked her to plan for a specific date and she said she is not sure she is quite ready yet. She didn't completely reject it though, so we think she just needs more time to develop a testimony of the Book of Mormon and understand some more things. I promised her that it's okay if she doesn't understand everything, I definitely don't. What's important is that she finds out for herself that this Church is true and that she needs to be a part of it. I asked her to read Mosiah 18 and to keep praying about it until the next time we meet. she said she will.

     Not much more happened this past week, nothing worth writing about at least. So I'll share something cool I learned in my studies the other day. Something called a "straw-man" argument. This is something Missionaries get attacked with on the regular. It's when you create a false image from something true and then attack the false image to try and disprove the true image. For example (and this is an example given in the Book of Mormon institute manual), when a parent tells their child that they can't play until their chores are done and the child fights back saying the parents don't want the child to have any fun. It is taking something true and adding a touch of falsehood to it and then using it as a weapon. If you remember last week a guy was trying to prove us wrong because we believe that Lucifer was the firstborn of the Father. Well, we don't believe that. This is a perfect example of the "straw-man" argument. People get these false ideas about our church and then use them to fight us. You wouldn't believe how many people somehow get the idea that we aren't Christians. I think it is pretty obvious by the name of our church that we are. Anyway, this is just an interesting tactic the adversary uses. Studying it has opened my eyes to it and now I feel more able to shut it down. Interesting things!

     Anyway, I think Elder Simpson is getting bored, so I'll end this so we can go shopping. Have a great week! If you want another example of a "straw-man" argument, study Alma 30 and see if you can find it. 

    Until next week!

-Elder Peterson

Week 54: Kingwood 2 Ward, Kingwood Stake; Companion Elder Simpson

 Another week comes to a close... well, a missionary week. I guess the week already ended two days ago. This past week was pretty interesting. I say that every week though, don't I?    

   On Wednesday we had an exchange with Elders Evans and Frome. Elder Frome stayed with me in our area and Elder Simpson left. I had to laugh a little at the timing, we had no lessons scheduled, just a bunch of walking around contacting. We did a lot of walking. We did have some good contacts though. There was a kid named Jacob working on a car in his garage. Elder Frome knows a lot about cars, so we started a conversation with that. He was working on a Nissan Skyline, which is a really cool car... apparently. I don't know much about it. It looked cool though, it was a right seater. We talked to him for a bit and eventually I had to segway into the gospel, Elder Frome was getting too deep into a conversation about car technicalities. We shared a quick restoration message and invited him to read a pamphlet about it. He also said he might be able to make it to church. He didn't come though. 

     We went fishing the next morning, but didn't catch anything. That was lame. That was pretty much the end of the exchange too. They came back around noon and we switched back. 

     That evening we went to the Thomas' for dinner and it was awesome. Dinner itself was super good, but after dinner Brother Thomas gave me his golf set. He said he doesn't use it anymore and he was probably going to donate it anyway, so he gave it to me. The only problem is I now have to figure out how to carry it around or send it home. If I keep it. Elder Simpson played their piano for a bit and then we left.

     On Friday we went back to Sally Cooper's house to do some more of that service project with her. She also fed us dinner. A very good taco dinner. The only thing was when we asked to share a little spiritual thought with her (we've been trying to teach her) she said no. It's pretty unfortunate. We imagine we'll be going there a lot less now that we know she isn't interested in being taught at all. Sorry Sally, but that's kinda our whole purpose.

     On Saturday the Zone Leaders came and we did an afternoon blitz (a couple hour exchange). Elder Lundell and I went to the richer side of our area and got the reactions we completely expected. Lots of rejection and prideful scoffs. I'm used to it by now though, I just laugh at their attempts to make us feel dumb. One guy tried telling me that we believe Jehovah wasn't the firstborn in the premortal life. I said "No, we definitely believe that He was the firstborn of the Father." To which the man goes "That's not what Brigham Young said..."

First of all, do NOT try to tell me what we believe. As a person who has only studied anti-mormon text, you have no right to try to define my beliefs for me. Second of all, even though Brigham Young did say a lot of interesting things, that doesn't make all of it doctrine. And I highly doubt he called Lucifer the firstborn (that's what the guy was saying). Man, that stuff gets me so heated. I want to sit those people down and explain to them why they are clearly wrong. That's not usually the right way to do it though, and the guy was pretty nice with the rest of the conversation, so when it became clear that he wasn't interested we just let him be.  

     Yesterday was a great day. Mostly because of the Primary Program. I love Primary Programs so much, kids crack me up. You've got kids that can't keep their ties on, they randomly stand up and wave at their parents, randomly yell something out of turn, all the hilarious stuff kids do. At one point they were all supposed to stand up to sing a song, but only one kid stood. He looked around at the others who were still sitting and not very quietly said "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? STAND UP GUYS!!" The whole congregations got a good laugh out of that. I also love Primary Programs because they're great for nonmembers. I was especially hoping Linda could make it, but she's in Lousiana. I know she would have loved to hear the childrens' testimonies.

     

     The rest of yesterday was very VERY hot. My weather app said 92, feels like 102. AND IT DID. The UV scale was at 8 and the humidity was high (like always). Man, it was crazy. We had some good contacts though. We stopped by Martin's house and ended up playing a board game with him for about 30min. The condition was that we read some of the Book of Mormon afterwards though, which we did. We read 2 Nephi 32 with him and it was great. I love reading this chapter with people because Nephi very plainly describes the importance of daily scripture study and prayer. We all comitted to read some of the Book of Mormon every day and pray about it as well. I told Martin that we'll be texting to keep each other accountable. He was totally down for the whole thing, so here we go.

      Another reason I like that chapter is that Nephi kind of roasts everyone. He tells us that he's made it very plain what we should be doing. "Feast upon the words of Christ" and "Pray always." Seems pretty clear to me, I just wish more people understood the importance of these things. If you don't understand the importance of daily scripture study and prayer, or you aren't doing it, give that chapter a read. A prayerful read.

     That's all for this week. Have a good one!

-Elder Peterson