Pictures May 25- June 14

 

Week 40:Fairmont Ward, Houston East Stake; Companion Elder Nelson

Very fun week, lots of good lessons and just good families. I'll start with the Browns. Brother and Sister Brown are inactive members that have an 8-year-old son they want baptized. They had contacted the Elders Quorum President who contacted us and asked us to go over some time. We set up a time to meet with them and it was awesome. Their son's name is William and he's a funny kid. His first language is spanish, so he had to ask us to define some of the terms we used, but that's understandable. Most people who have spoken English their entire life have a difficult time with some of our language. We explained the restoration to Will and we were pleasantly surprised. His parents participated and helped explain some things to Will and he picked it up real quick. We came back a couple days later to teach him the Plan of Salvation and he was able to explain it back to us after we finished. At one point he referred to Heavenly Father as Legendary Father and I thought that was pretty funny. The family fed us some super good pizza and then we just talked and let Will show us his nerf gun collection for a bit (he has waaaayyy too many toy guns...). Will also has a list of every animal he's every seen in his journal. He's in the 300's and he just keeps adding more, it's honestly kind of a cool thing for a kid to be doing. Like I said, he's a clever little guy.

     Next is Marie and Lilia. WOW!!! We went over with Brother Ruiz and they told us they've been studying the Book of Mormon a lot. Then they proceeded to explain 1 Nephi to us and retell several of the stories and main points that are made in that book. They then told us about their own spiritual experiences they've had. It took a long time for them to finish, but it was really cool. They are diving deep into the Book of Mormon and we can all tell it is changing their lives, I'm very happy for them. 

     Carlos also had a super cool experience. A bit over a week ago we taught him the Plan of Salvation and invited him to read 2 Nephi 2. He read a bit over half of it and LOVED IT. He told us about how it completely changed his perspective of the story of Adam and Eve and how he know understands some things he never did before. We read the rest of the chapter with him and he was getting super excited. We invited him to start reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning and he said he couldn't wait to start reading. We promised him that if he continues to pray and honestly seek answers, he will continue to receive revelations like he already has. I wish everyone had this honest desire to read the Book of Mormon, including myself. He loved the way everything was explained and he told us about how strongly he felt the spirit. We also invited him to come to church with us and he said he'll try to soon. Super excited for him.

     There's a family in our area that loves the missionaries. The Martinez family is Catholic, but they have a lot of LDS relatiives. They offered to take us to NASA and even payed for us! It was super fun, they are awesome people. NASA was also really cool. It was fun walking around these giant depictions of space and all the history of our space explorations. We ran into some missionaries from the Texas Houston South Mission and had a fun conversation with them for a bit. The Martinez family took a ton of pictures and even gave us both a wallet size picture of all of us there at NASA, they rock. Then, to top off the night, they took us to get pizza. We had a fun time talking about our families and about the Houston area. Before we left they invited us to come to their BBQ on Saturday. I love this family. The only downside to this situation is that they aren't interested in investigating the church at all. They've known a lot of missionaries and like I said they have LDS family. They are comfortable with their beliefs (Which is okay) but they still love us and want to hang out with us. The best.

     It has been a fun week with many blessings. I'm grateful for the success we've seen this week and I pray it will continue. I pray for all of you and I hope you have a great week!

-Elder Peterson 

Week 39:Fairmont Ward, Houston East Stake; Companion Elder Nelson

 It's been a fun week with Elder Nelson, we've had some sweet lessons and he's a funny guy. 

     We've had a lot of lessons reschedule, but we've also had some really good ones. 

     We met with Stephen Hodgin and had an interesting discussion with him. He kept telling us that he wants proof that Joseph Smith was a prophet and pretty much refuses to accept that he'll receive an answer through prayer and personal revelation. We told him to try anyway and he accepted, though I'm fairly positive it won't be with real intent. The discussion turned towards baptism for the dead and he was very interested in that. He struggles with believing that God speaks to us though, so we'll be helping him learn about personal revelation as we continue to meet with him.

     Another awesome lesson with Bern and Norma, finally. We haven't been able to contact them in a long time, but we finally were able to talk to them again. We talked about the Plan of salvation and it went very well. They were very interested and they asked great clarifying questions. They particularly liked how everything is always centered on love and the Savior. We asked them to continue praying about the things we've shared so they can know it's true for themselves.

   

     The other day we went to a member's house to help them with some yard work. We planned on being done around 6:30 and then we'd head to Jazmine and Eric's wedding (it finally happened). You wanna know how long we were at the member's house? Until 8!!! Granted, they fed us dinner, but still! We missed the wedding and the opportunity to talk to Eric some more. Jazmine is a member but Eric is not. He wants to be sealed in the temple with Jazmine, so we're trying to help him get baptized. The wedding was a perfect time to swoop in and be like "Hey, now that you're married you should start coming to church with your wife..." But nooooo. We gardened for 3 hours and missed it.

     Later in the week we stopped by Eric's house to congratulate them and we were able to set up a time to start teaching him. So honestly, no biggie. But I wanted cake from the wedding  and the cool opportunity to talk to them there.

Oh well.

     Okay, now for why I say mom was right. When I was younger and taking piano lessons my mom would tell me about how it will be such a useful skill as a missionary. I didn't listen and I didn't care, I stopped taking lessons. Luckily I kept practicing hymns anyway and I was able to slowly progress on my own. You already know I played in a primary program like, 7 months ago, but yesterday the bishopric had me play the piano at the end of sacrament meeting. 

    It went well, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to share my "talent." 

Mom was right.

She always is 

Anyway, I've had a great week and I hope y'all did too. Sorry this one's a bit short, I'm exhausted and can't think very well 

Be strong, steadfast and immovable!

-Elder Peterson 

I found an Idaho sign.

Found a funny sign km someone's house.

Patriotism.

Elder Bengtzen got some of the McCann's honey. (They sell jars that size for $50, no joke. They gave it to him for free)