Pictures November 1-30

 

Week 64: Lake Charles ward, Orange stake, Companion Elder Colt

  On Thanksgiving morning we went to this big thanksgiving service event where free meals were being handed out to people who need them. We went and the spanish sisters in the area showed up after a couple minutes too (Sister Williams is actually from Nyssa, so some of y'all might know her). We pulled apart turkeys for the first bit, and then we were loading to-go trays for people who couldn't come in person. Then we were helping people get their food in the cafeteria. It was a ton of fun and I got to meet a lot of interesting Louisiana natives . One sweet old lady gave me a little pilgrim pin for helping her get her food. Turns out she made it too. There's a picture of me wearing it down below. 

      It was a super fun thing to participate in. We were supposed to do more service at a soup kitchen the next day, but they didn't need our help...

     We also helped Brother Courville chop some wood. He had a tractor doing the hard work, so we pretty much just stood there and loaded it. Still fun though. He also took us to lunch after.

     On Wednesday we met with Daniel. We stood outside his garage and shared with him the Restoration. He listened very intently and made good comments. After we finished we invited him to read Moroni 10 and pray about it. He told us that he is catholic and a lot of what we shared goes against what he is taught. "But" he said, "I'm willing to try. Either my faith in the Catholic church will strengthen by finding out you're wrong, or I'll be converted and find greater truth." 

     We were amazed by this humility and told him that's exactly what we wanted to hear. We prayed with him and then went our way (after sharing our testimonies of course). It was such a great time, we hope he is as sincere as he seems.

     For Thanksgiving we went to the Aucoins' (pronounced oakwins). They had super good food, but I was amazed at the absence of mashed potatoes! I didn't notice that there wasn't any until later, but this was my first EVER Thanksgiving where I didn't have mashed potatoes. Sad. But the meal was still amazing, Brother Aucoin made some of the best brisket I've ever had, which almost made up for no potatoes.

     The rest of the day was kinda lame because we didn't want to bother anyone that was their family, so we just tried contacting people we thought might be lonely. With little success.

 I'm at IHOP and I'm hungry, so that's all I've got for now. Plus this list of things I'm grateful for:

-Jesus Christ and the Atonement

-My family

-My friends

-The people I get to meet

-The time I get to serve God

-Mashed Potatoes

-The Prophets and scriptures

-A safe place to stay

-Modern Technology (but not the annoying parts)

-My education

-The challenges that strengthen me

-Mashed Potaoes

-My knowledge of the Gospel

-The Gospel

-The Plan of Salvation

-Temples

-Basketball

-Other fun sports

-Dirtbikes

-MASHED POTATOES

-And many other things

Have a great week!

-Elder Peterson

Week 63: Lake Charles ward, Orange stake, Companion Elder Colt

  It's been a fun week. Elder Heronema is still stuck at home, so it's just been Elder Colt and I. Some good stuff has happened this week though.

     We got to go to the baptism of an awesome guy named Jessie. What's really cool is that Elder Colt was the one that found him a while back (Elder Colt has been in this area before). Elder Frogley and his companion have been teaching him and his baptism was super cool. He has a very strong testimony and the joy that's been on his face since then is contagious. He's so happy to be a member of the church. 

     We've been doing a lot of finding because we don't have all of our area's information yet, we're still waiting for some of it to come in. Yesterday we met a really nice guy named Daniel. He was on his driveway cleaning out his car from a recent hunting trip and we struck up a conversation. Eventually he said he'd be interested to hear the message we have to share. We are going back on Wednesday, so hopefully he'll remember . 

     6 to 9 has gotten pretty difficult lately because of how soon the sun goes down. It's already dark by 6 and apparently people in this area do not like people after dark. We pulled off the side of a road to look at our directions and it was taking a minute. I look out my window and see a guy coming out of his garage with a flashlight (about 50 yards away). At that moment we figured out where we were headed, so we started driving away. The man pointed his flashlight at our car as if we had something wrong, so we just kept going. Elder Colt says he's had that happen a lot and that people here really don't like cars pulled off to the side of the road. It was strange, but I suppose somewhat reasonable.

     We've been trying to find interesting things to do in our downtime and we created a little racetrack for rc cars. Don't worry, we didn't use any work hours to make it and we don't even use it that much. But it was fun. I'll put a picture of it, we are pretty proud of it 

     I've been reading the war chapters at the end of Alma this week and I forgot how much I love them. Helaman and Moroni are so cool. There's so many instances where they and their armies were preserved because of their faith in God. And I've always loved the exchange between Moroni and Pahoran that shows Moroni's zeal and desire to save his people and Pahoran's patience despite all the trouble he has been dealing with. Alma 48:16-17 is one of my favorite scriptures. I go back to that scripture constantly. 

     That's all I really have to report this week. Next week should be more interesting.

Have a great Thanksgiving! 

-Elder Peterson

Week 62: Lake Charles ward, Orange stake, Companion Elder Colt

 I am in the back of a very full car headed to Louisiana as I write this. So it might be a little short. 

     This past Monday-Tuesday I did an exchange with Elder Evans in his area. It was pretty fun, we got a nice dinner that night. The next day was my mom's birthday, and mine, so it was fun. I'm 20 now! Woo... Anyway. We did some service and the woman gave us some money for lunch (we tried declining but she insisted). So we went to Chipotle. We didn't have any lessons, but Tuesday night I got to interview a family for baptism. This was after exchanging back. I interviewed two kids and their parents. I love doing baptismal interviews because the spirit is so strong in them. Hearing their testimonies and their determination to serve God was so refreshing. They've loved taking the lessons and were so excited to get baptized last Sunday. 

     Also, the Harrises had Elder Dodge and I over for dinner to celebrate my birthday and it was awesome. They got me a card, a tie, and fun socks. And made suuuuper burgers.

     On Friday we had interviews with President Larkin and my last district council as district leader in Kingwood. It was really fun and Sister Larkin came in and taught us for the last 30 min. We talked about Alma chapter 5 and one thing that really stood out to me was the last part of verse 26: "...if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" I was pondering this a lot and wondering what exactly the song of redeeming love is to me. Something interesting to study.

     So for the exchange I'm headed to an area called Moss Bluff, Louisiana. I got my wish and I'm companions with Elder Colt . We are also training (we are a trio), buuuut our trainee got stuck before he could get here because he got sick. So he has to wait at the Missionary Training Center for a week or so. We are excited because he's from Eagle, Idaho. So, not only are all 3 if us from Idaho, but we're all from the same school district . 

    I started writing this email at 2 and it is now 5:30. We've been doing a lot of traveling and weird carpooling, but Elder Colt and I are finally headed to our area. We are both super excited for this transfer. Thanksgiving and Christmas will be in this transfer, so it should be a good one. 

     I'm sorry there wasn't a ton to write about, it's been such a busy day. But I should have good stuff next week.

     Until then, have a great week!

-Elder Peterson

Where I'm sitting at the piano is Brother and Sister Thomas

The tall bald guy is Brother Harris and his wife. The picture with the happy birthday sign is also at their house.

And the two I've got my arms around are Brother and Sister Wood.

I loves these families and had to say goodbye to them. I also went and said goodbye to Linda, which was sad, but I'll see all these folks again someday.

Week 61: Kingwood 2 Ward, Kingwood Stake; Companion Elder Dodge

 Oh yeah. We did it again. We were conveniently at the office when TLC (training for new missionaries) was going on again. Unfortunately we didn't get a free lunch this time, but it was still awesome. I got to see Elder Frogley and Elder Paulsen and talk with them a bunch. I don't think I've seen Elder Frogley in a while, so that was a tender mercy. We also had a bunch of missionaries asking us for help with technology problems they have. Now, I don't mind. I really don't. But it gets a little old when people come to you with problems that you've explained how to fix many times already. *sigh* oh well. I enjoy helping people, so I just go along with it. This transfer we actually haven't been to the office very much. I've figured out how to do everything pretty quickly, so the only reason we really go now is so I can teach Elder Dodge how to do everything. I've also made a ton of tutorial PowerPoints, so he should be good for when I leave.

     On Saturday our zone did a large blitz where a bunch of companionships switched for a couple hours and we all went into the 3 Kingwood areas to try to find people to teach. Elder Colt and I went to the top of my area and walked around for 3 hours. It was a ton of fun because Elder Colt and I get along very well. He's actually from Kuna, Idaho (which is right below meridian), so we were able to talk about some places back home. We walked for a while and it was looking like we weren't going to find anyone that would be interested in meeting with us, until we met D'Angelo. This kid is walking around the neighborhood playing Pokemon Go on his phone and then he notices us and goes "Hey, are you guys from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?" We said yes and then he told us that he went to the Kingwood 2nd ward when he was really young, but his family doesn't go anymore. We talked with him for a while and had a cool conversation. He has had a really tough life and knows that religion is important. He told us about how he wants to learn more about God, because he knows it's important to learn about Him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and asked him to read Ether 12, which he agreed to do. D'Angelo is 13 and he is a super cool kid. 

     That was the only conversation we had with someone, but it was awesome. Elder Colt and I had a fun time working together, I'd be down to be companions with him in the future.

     Which probably means we won't 

     Yesterday we had the first lesson we've had in a while. We met at the church with a kid named Austin. He's a senior at one of the highschools here and he is a goliath. 6'8" and at least 300lbs. He plays football for his school (obviously) and apparently he's super good. We found out he is also a very spiritual guy. He has super good questions and we had a super good conversation with him. At the end of our discussion we shared a Book of Mormon with him and invited him to read it and pray about it. He actually seemed pretty excited to do so. We're praying that he won't get distracted too much and that he'll read it like he said he will.

     I think this is one of the hardest parts of missionary work for me. Watching people get so close to receiving that spiritual witness and then hearing that they "didn't have time to read" or they forgot about it. Not only is it a simple thing to do, read a chapter and pray, but it's soooooo important. Gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon is so important for people who are seeking truth. The answers to the questions of the soul are contained in this book and everyone is invited to simply look for it themselves. Find out for yourself if it's true! 

     I could go off about that for a while, but I'll spare you the rant.

     I know it's true, and I know ANYONE can know it's true. Only if they put in the effort and seek an answer from God. I'm so grateful to have a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the restored church of Jesus Christ. My Savior means everything to me, I so desperately want others to have the same relationship with Him.

BTW, tomorrow is my Mom's birthday. Send her a happy birthday 

Until next week, stay cool.

-Elder Peterson

Two of these pictures were taken at a Halloween party we went to last Monday night. It was fun.