Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Preston England August 2014



Letter #5

Dear family,                                  August 26, 2014

We have had a pretty good week this last week.  We went and talked to a Gentleman on Wednesday and it didn't go to well which we kind of expected.  He is a seventh day Adventist which they believe that the Sabbath day is on Saturday and all the churches that have church services on Sunday are breaking the commandments on keeping the Sabbath day holy.  We went to talk to him and explain that we worship on Sunday because that was the day that Christ was resurrected, but he really just ignored that and tried to convince us that we are wrong by using scriptures in the bible that had nothing to do with the Sabbath.  It was like he was trying to convert us, but of course it didn't work.  It really strengthen my testimony about the apostasy and how there are many different beliefs because the priesthood authority was not on the earth and everyone was confused.  We just told him what we believed and because we knew that it was going nowhere we left and told him that we would like to visit him and just get to know him a little better.  He was a really nice guy he just doesn't want to believe what we teach.  

We have not taught the man that we met on the street last Monday.  We are actually going to meet him at the chapel today at 4:30 and we will start teaching him there.  We found out that he was a member and he became less active at the age of 18, but he really wants to come back.  He just wants us to teach him again because he is not quite comfortable with the doctrine and he doesn't know how to really tell if he has felt the spirit before.  We have a few ideas on what we are going to tell them, but of course we are going to follow the spirit.  It's really cool when we meet someone and the spirit takes over and we say things that we weren't prepared to say and everything goes great.  

Because it was a bank holiday yesterday and all the stores were closed we were not able to get my bike.  We buy bus passes and we ride buses all over to get to different places, but we also do a ton of walking.  Hopefully we will be getting my bike next week because we both want to start riding bikes.  

 I have been eating pancakes, sandwiches, and lots of different pastas which have a lot of carbs in them.    We have started to go running in the mornings for about 10-15 minutes which has been nice.  On the days that we don't go running I have a little workout so that I can still take Caden when I get home.  I do 100 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, and 8 wall sits for 30 seconds. Tell Caden that he needs to start working out if he wants to take me.  I have given him what I do so then maybe he can have a chance.  

It has only rained a total of about 3 days the whole time I have been in England so I think that you guys are definitely getting the rain that is supposed to be here.  When it rains here it doesn't down pour a lot it's mostly just a mist/sprinkle so it's not too bad.  When it does down pour though it lets down a ton of water. A lot of the people in this area are not really interested to hear the gospel, but we occasionally find someone.  I have been told that because of all the rain that England gets it makes everyone in a bad mood which I have started to see. 

I don't really have a new favorite part about my mission yet, but the food is really good.  We are mostly eating the same things you guys eat.  We have had lots of pasta, sandwiches, and potatoes with different meats.  The sausage is really good over here which is quite nice, but other than that we haven't had anything different from back home.  I did go and buy my first fish and chips on Wednesday and they were really great.  When we have District meetings we usually go out and eat.  We have a District meeting usually every week so I might get some more fish and chips this Wednesday. 

Some scriptures that I have studied out this week is D&C 42:29 and Mosiah 2:17. In D&C it says that if we love god we will serve him and keep his commandments and in Mosiah it says that when we serve our fellow beings ye are only in the service of our god.  So one way that we can show our love for our Savior is by serving others.  We look for opportunities all the time to serve others.  I challenge all of you guys to do the same and find opportunities to serve others because that shows Christ that we really love him.  

I hope you all have a great week this next week and have fun going to school.  It's quite nice not going that's for sure.  Work hard and remember to serve others.  There are definitely a lot of opportunities that you can find in school. 

Love,
Elder Peterson


I forgot to tell you that we had a dinner appointment last week with a missionary couple and you will never guess where they took us.  We went to five guys’ burgers and fries.  It wasn't as good as the one back home, but it was still really good.  

Monday, August 18, 2014

Missionaries from Cache Valley Utah Serving in the England Birmingham mission.


  Sister Sorensen, Elder Andrus, Elder Peterson

Letter # 4

Dear Family,                      August 18, 2014

I made it to my first area which is Sheldon C which is just outside of the big city of Birmingham.  The first day we went to the flat (apartment) and we unpacked our stuff and got settled in. We then went and met some of the members in the ward and also some of the non-members.  It was really fun to start to meet new people. 

My companion is an Elder from Shelley Idaho.  He is a really cool guy and we have a lot of things in common.  He likes to go hunting with his family and his favorite sport is American Football.  We are learning a lot together and it's a lot of fun to get to know him more. 

The second day in the field wasn't too bad.  We went out and started knocking on doors to see if we could find anyone who wanted to listen, but all we got was people slamming doors without even listening.  We then went and visited some less active members and we talked to them for a little bit and shared a spiritual thought with them.  We invited them to church and they did show up on Sunday. It was really good to see them there. 

We went and mowed a members lawn for service that day. On our way back to the flat it started to pour so we walked for about 15 minutes in the pouring rain and got soaked because we had forgotten our umbrellas at the flat. Once we got to the flat we noticed that we had forgotten the keys back at the member’s house so we had to walk back and get the keys in the rain.  It was kind of fun walking in the rain.  We then made it back and did our planning meeting and went to bed. 

The next day we found a man who kind of seems interested in the gospel.  We will be meeting with him tomorrow and hopefully we can teach him more.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and said he would read it before tomorrow.  Hopefully he does because we aren't having a whole lot of success. 

We went to church yesterday and it was great to meet a lot more of the members at church.  They are all great people and they are really friendly. 

We had a great experience today.  As we were walking up to the library to email, a man stopped us on the side of the road.  He said that he has talked to the missionaries before and that he wanted to start to go back to church.  He said that before he starts to go back he wants us to meet with him and teach him the lessons again because he has kind of forgotten some of it.  It was a really cool experience and I can't wait until next week when we can talk to him.

To answer one of your questions I had fish and chips in the MTC and they were super good.   I had two whole fish and I went back and had a whole plate full of chips.  We learned a lot in the MTC and we did play a lot of Football (soccer) on our exercise time.  It was a little fun playing, but I still don't think I will come home liking it more. 
I'm glad that I'm finally out of the MTC because it was getting a little boring sitting in class most of the time.

In England they do a thing called bank holiday which is on Mondays.  There is a bank holiday a couple of times a month and on those days most of the places are closed.  One of those places is the library so when there is a bank holiday we will be emailing on Tuesday not Monday.  There is one next Monday so I will not be emailing then.  I will try to let you know when they are, but they don't have a set date of when they are so if I don't email on Monday expect one on Tuesday. 

I hope you all have a great week and I will email you next Tuesday.

Love Elder Peterson

My Favorite part of the mission so far is probably meeting new people and serving others.  We try to find lots of opportunities to serve others and it makes us feel good when we do.  I challenge you and the family to find opportunities to serve it makes your day so much better.  
My favorite part of the MTC was definitely the food because we were fed a ton of food.  I weighed myself the day before I left the MTC and I had gained about 3 pounds.  Good thing we had exercised or I probably would have gained more.  
My favorite part about England is looking at all the green grass and all the flowers that people have in their yards.  I haven't seen anything that is brown and dead yet because it rains so much and no one had to water.




Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Elder Peterson arrived in England Birmingham today

Elder Peterson arrived safely in the mission today. We are excited to be working
with him. He will be serving in Sheldon (Birmingham) with Elder Leal. His p-day is
Monday.
President and Sister Rasmussen
Sheldon Birmingham
Sister Rasmussen, Elder Peterson, Elder Rasmussen
England Birmingham

Letter #3

August 13, 2014

I haven't had time to read all the emails yet.  It's 5 in the morning here and we are just getting ready to leave the MTC to head to the mission home.  It will be about a 2 hour drive from Preston to Birmingham on a bus.  We went to the temple for the second time yesterday and it was a great experience.  I will email you probably next Monday because I think that is our Pday.  I will email you then. Have a good week.
Love Elder Peterson
P.S. Caden better watch out because I have been lifting weights in the mornings.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Letter # 2

Dear Family,                                               August 6, 2014

The MTC has been a great experience. We spend lots of time studying the Preach my Gospel manual and we do lots of teaching to fake investigators exactly like they do at the AP camp on the last day.  The only difference is we are teaching about two " investigators" a day and we only have about 20 minutes to prepare for each one of them. We spend a good amount of time in the classrooms doing role play and studying the scriptures.  I was called as a DL the first day that I got here. I don't have to do a lot of things mostly just make sure that everyone in my district is ok and that everyone is where they should be on time.  AP camp has helped a lot with being a leader and has helped a ton with preparing lessons and teaching.  I'm definitely glad that I went every year it really made a difference.

The food at the MTC is amazing.  They have had a lot of food that I’m familiar with so I haven't had anything weird.  We have been having sandwiches, rice with different meat sauces, hamburgers and hot dogs.  About two days ago we had the best shepherd’s pie I have ever had though.  They make it a lot like dad's but for some reason it tastes a lot better.  They have soda that we can have whenever we would like and most of it is like the stuff back at home, but it tastes a lot better.  They have Sunkist and the only difference is it is made with real oranges which make it taste really good.  They have a couple of grape flavored drinks, also made with real grapes, and it tastes really good too but i don't remember the name of it. The only chocolate that I have had is a kit Kat.  They are called kit Kats but the logo looks a little different than the one at home.  The chocolate is also different and it tastes amazing. It’s not a waxy chocolate like the ones at home. It's a really creamy chocolate that tastes great.  It might be hard to believe but it makes mom's chocolate taste like cheap chocolate.

There are six elders that are sleeping in the same room as I am and it's way fun.  There is an Elder from California, who is my companion, there is one from Montana, one from Orem Utah, one from Canada, and one from Tonga.  The Elder from Tonga didn't get here until Sunday and he was on a 30 hour flight.  It has been really fun to get to know everyone but it's been especially fun to get to know the Elder who is from Tonga.  He plays on a National Rugby team for Tonga and he is huge. He probably weighs about 250 pounds of pure muscle and he is about 6 foot 3. He sleeps above me in the bunk bed and he almost tips over the bed when he gets in. I was scared at first when I was sitting in bed and he got in and almost tipped it, but now I’m use to it.

Today we had the opportunity to go through a session at the Temple and it was really cool.  The temple is a really small temple, but I think that it's my favorite temple so far.  The inside is really beautiful and I like the way they have it set up.    It was a great experience and I got quite a few pictures of the temple.  I will send them to you when my card is a little fuller.

I haven't had quite enough time to read everyone's emails yet, but I did read moms and dads. It sounds like the reunion was a lot of fun and I wish I could have been there, but I’m having a great time here learning and getting to know a lot of people from all over.

A scripture I would like to share with everyone and to explain it the way that it was explained to me is D&C 18:15-16. It says that if we bring one soul to Christ then our joy will be great. My teacher explained that that one soul could be your own. So we need to all work hard and convert ourselves to the gospel so that our joy can be great when we meet God.  After we bring our own souls unto Christ then we can bring other souls unto Christ. Then how great will be your joy in the Kingdom of our Father.
I hope that scripture makes sense because it can really help a lot of people in the church if they knew that. I know that it helped me to understand a lot more.  Have a great day and just so you know my Pday is on Wednesdays in the MTC, but when I leave the MTC next week it could be on a different day so don't be surprised if I email at a different time of the week.

Love Elder Peterson
I forgot to tell you that the pictures did work and I’m glad that I don't have to clean dad's truck or my truck which ever you prefer!