Week 30:Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

Ryker Peterson <ryker.peterson@missionary.org>	Mon, Apr 4, 7:01 AM
to me

I have just about completely lost inspiration for the subjects of these emails. This is my last idea, a random word. 

Discarnate - adjective

1. Having no physical body or form

Now you know.

Anyway, this past week was a good one, I think. I can't ever remember anything. 

Highlight (besides conference) was probably my interview with President Larkin. I asked him a couple questions and I'm very satisfied with the answers he offered. One of them was personal, so I'm glad I got an answer. While we waited for our turns with President, we chatted with Sister Larkin. She brought out a little white board and gave us a little challenge. To draw the Plan of Salvation on it. 

(Side note, I just figured out that I can change the text color... neat)

She had a bunch of different colored markers, so each of us missionaries (there were 5 of us in the "waiting room") took turns drawing out each step in the Plan of Salvation. It was pretty fun, and we are all satisfied with the end result. I'll put a picture if it at the bottom. And if any of you have any questions or comments about either the drawing itself or the Plan of Salvation, please don't hesitate to write me an email. I love getting emails or letters from people, especially when I get to apply what I've learned as a missionary in my response. Ask away!

Now, as for General Conference...

Awesome.

I'm gonna share a couple notes I made and why I liked them.

1) Elder Anderson: "We don't eradicate evil with more evil." 

I'm not sure if that is a direct quote or not, my notes aren't very specific. But the idea alone is very profound. We were all taught as children that "two wrongs don't make a right." From what I understood, that's kind of the concept here. The only thing that can "eradicate" the influence of the devil is the everlasting Light of Christ. Seek to have it and then seek to spread it, we need to share the Light that is within us all!

2) Elder Ballard: I liked two things specifically from his talk. I mean, the whole thing was awesome, but these stood out to me. One, that parents have a vital role in preparing youth to serve missions. Missionary work was talked about so much in this conference, I think they're trying to make me feel special. On this note I'd like to thank my parents and all of my family for helping me prepare to serve a mission. I've never been more grateful for the way I was raised. Not a day goes by that I don't at some point think "what would Dad do here..." or "what would Mom expect me to do..." I thank my Father in Heaven for my parents and family and the influence they've been, and continue to be, every day. I don't know where I'd be without them.

The second thing Elder Ballard mentioned is that we aren't released from activity in the church when we are released from our missions. Now, I know that's a ways down the road for me, but it's often on my mind. What kind of person do I want to be when I return home? Above all, I want to remain a missionary! I want to be able to boldly invite others to come unto Christ in all that I do. This got me thinking that if I want to be like that, I better start now! I need to be a better missionary. A disciple of Christ that shares the glad message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all of God's children (Write me to learn more ). 

3) President Nelson: I loved the 5 points of spiritual momentum that he shared.

1. Get on the Covenant path and stay there

2. Discover the joy of daily repentance

3. Learn about God and how He works

4. Seek and expect miracles

5. End conflicts in your personal life

Every single one of us can work on each of these points. As we do these things, we will find do much more joy in life. It is worth noting though, as President Nelson also did, that following these steps doesn't mean an end to the troubles of life. These steps are intended to give us "Spiritual Momentum" so we can push through the troubles. I'm very grateful for the Prophet's counsel, and I invite all of you to follow these 5 steps and watch the blessings pour from heaven.

There's not much more to add from this past week. We were approached by a crazy guy. First time on my mission I had put my hand on someone's shoulder to keep them back. He had nasty breath and no personal space. Fun fun. 

I hope y'all enjoy this next week, I hope I do to!

-Elder Peterson

Pictures March 22-31

 

Week 29:Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

Last Monday I had an exchange with Elder Masaki. We were dropped off at the first discussion, which didn't last very long. The second one was awesome though. We biked over to this woman's house in the rain and had to talk to her on her porch because there wasn't a male adult in the home. But it went fantastic! She asked us questions like "why do you believe your church is the only true one" and "what makes you want to share it with others?" We answered the questions pretty much by teaching her about the Restoration. Elder Masaki did an awesome job, and we were able to powerfully testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. She said that she would read and pray about it. Amazing! That discussion gave me a great boost for the next week.

Last Wednesday we had a discussion with Ebony and a Sister from our ward. Sister Moore was so helpful. We were talking about the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end) and Sister Moore talked with Ebony about the importance of Baptism and committed her to pray about receiving the ordinance. She honestly did most of the teaching for us. They connected so fast and were talking like old friends. The experience further strengthened my trust in having members at lessons. Not that I didn't trust them before, but sometimes you kinda worry about what people might say... Sister Moore was incredibly helpful though.

We were supposed to meet with a guy named Jermaine last Friday, but he didn't have time (uh-huh). So we decided to walk around for a bit. 5 minutes later we come across this lady weeding her extremely weed infested yard. We walked up and started chatting with her. She was very nice and accepted our offer to help her weed. We found out her name is Jeannie and for the next hour we weeded and talked. We learned about her background (she's fostered 6 kids!). She's a very charitable woman and we asked if we could come help in the morning as well, since she commented that she'd be at it again the following morning. She gladly accepted once again and we came the next morning. This time we helped for about 2 hours and got a lot done. She plans to replant her grass, so it'll be a lot of work (especially considering the fact that her "soil" is about 90% clay and 10% sand...) but she's confident that it'll get done. We invited her to the church tour were going to have later that afternoon, but she didn't end up making it. We'll have to stop by her home soon.

We had invited a ton of people to the tour, but we were only expecting 2 people to actually show up. After 45 minutes of waiting for people, Ebony showed up!! We got to walk around the building and explain a lot of things we do. It was awesome, and she brought her son too. At the end I asked her if she's received an answer regarding Baptism. She said that she was already baptized, so I explained how our church is the only one with the proper authority to perform saving ordinances like Baptism (this was about the 4th time I've explained it. I guess I didn't do very well). She said that she understood and would continue to pray about it. I hope she does decide to be baptized, I know it would help her with the problems she's going through.

Lastly, we had zone conference! My 5th one. Not much to comment on, typical training. We discussed the importance of the Book of Mormon AND the Bible and how to use them together. We did some role-playing for practice and then had lunch. It was olive garden. Now, I'm not being ungrateful when I say this, I'm very grateful for the provided lunch. But I VERY VERY much dislike spaghetti. VERY MUCH. But, oh well. I ate plenty anyway. After all that I got my typical picture with Elder Frogley and then continued on with my day. Our day. Elder Child and I head back after lunch.

And today I got to go golfing!! It's almost been a full year since I've last gone golfing. It was super fun. It was Elders Child, Masaki, Heiner, Gale, and Morley and I going with Brother Vercher from our wars. I did better than I thought I would, so it was very fun. Good good fun.

Anyway, I hope you're all doing well. If you ever have any questions, shoot me an email. Have a great week!

-Elder Peterson

I feel like these pictures are fairly obvious. Couple comments though:

The one where I've got the helmet on was from the exchange when it was pouring.

The picture with the Peterson sign was the next day of the exchange (yes, I know my head looks funky. Whatever.)

And the Flower is a picture I took. I'm proud of it.

Week 28: Twin City Ward, Beaumont Texas Stake (Port Arthur); Companion/Trainee: Elder Childs

This week we were helping the Barkers (a young family in our ward) move to Nederland. About 5 minutes from where they were. But they upgraded from apartment to house, and from Port Arthur to Nederland. Very good upgrade. They didn't have a ton of stuff, so it was quick and easy. We literally just used their van and just put boxes in the back and made a couple trips. Again, young couple, so they didn't have a ton of stuff. As we were driving to the house, on the 3rd load, I was holding a guitar. I started talking to him about it and he mentioned that he has 3. 85% jokingly, I asked if he would sell me one. He said he's got one in the closet (back at the apartment) that I could have. I was like, "oh cool, how much do you want for it?"

Then he goes "you can just take it."

"... really?"

"Yup, it was my brother-in-law's that he left several years ago. No one ever uses it, and he doesn't care to have it back."

"... AWESOME!"

So I got a guitar!  It's not brand new, but it's still super cool. I am very excited to have. I don't know if Elder Child is happy that I have it though... 

Elder Heiner took Elder Child's spot for an exchange on friday. We went out street contacting and after 10 minutes we were talking to a very nice man. John Royal, an older fellow, told us that he's been fighting (and winning) against pancreatic cancer for several years. We got to talk to him for a bit and we were able to give him a Book of Mormon and extend the invitation to read. He said that he would try it and that we could come back any time to talk some more. You betcha we will. We also met another guy, Alfred, but he was extremely high, so I'm not sure we left any kind of impression. Oh well, his dog was pretty nice. 

The next morning we met Elder Child and Elder Masaki to go to the Nederland Festival. Brother Feidler, an awesome member in our ward, asked us to come vote for his car in the show. We gladly did so and we had a blast walking through the whole thing. We were very sad that we couldn't go on any of the rides, but it was still fun to walk through. We found Brother Feidler chatting with several people who loved his car. We talked with him and his wife for a bit, he gave us each a sprite, and then we went and voted. We also saw some other super cool cars. I got a picture of a couple of them, including the batmobile slingshot. We also saw this guy walking a snake around... that was weird.

In Sunday School yesterday we were talking about Joseph and what he did with his brothers. for those who don't know what I'm talking about, it's around Genesis 42 I believe. I could be wrong... oh well. We talked about how clever he was with his plan to see if his brothers had changed. One thing we talked about was how he wanted his whole family around before he revealed himself. He wanted to make sure his dad was okay and he wanted to see Benjamin. Probably the coolest part about the story, to me was that he was able to forgive his brothers, yes, but also that he kept the faith. Joseph had been with the Egyptians, a polytheistic people, for a long time. Many years. Yet he still remembered and followed his parent's teachings. He stayed close with the Lord and did all the things he was raised to do. Brother Fruge, in our ward, said that that's a parents' dream come true. That their child, who has been away from home for YEARS, has remembered what they taught him and stayed true to the values they helped him develop. Joseph wasn't just a very forgiving sibling, he was also a very diligent son. Let us remember his example and follow the teachings of our parents, especially our Father in Heaven.

Stay strong, stay happy,

-Elder Peterson

Lots of pictures... uhhh

I'm not gonna label these ones. If you have any burning questions about them, write me

Pictures March 15-21