Letter # 12

Dear Mum and family,                               October 13, 2014

This last week was a pretty good week for us over here in England.  Like I said last week that I was getting a coat and I am really glad that I did. For the past 7 days it has been raining over here.  That is not counting today which surprisingly it is also raining.
I really enjoyed reading all of your emails that you have sent me and by the looks of the picture it looks like mom really enjoyed my letter that I sent in the mail.  I have received the packages and the letters that you guys have sent me.  I opened up the package and I was really surprised to see the boxes of Twinkies thanks a lot they are great.  I also received a box of Reeses and I was wondering if that was also from you guys because it didn't have a name on it.  I have not opened the letters though because they say that I have to wait until my birthday so they are sitting on my desk right now.  
We were not able to teach I**** this last week because he is really busy with work, but we will be teaching him tomorrow.  It should be another great lesson and I am really excited for it.  We have also been staying in contact with L*****, but we have found out that she might be moving out of our area sometime soon.  We aren't quite sure when, but we are trying to find a good day to meet with her and maybe teach her some more.

We had a really good experience this last week and it really taught me a lot about this gospel.  We met a guy named A**** who has met missionaries before and at the end he didn't want to learn.  It was a good experience though because we talked with him on his porch for about 30 minutes. The part that I really liked is he just kept on asking us all sorts of different questions and we had an answer for every single question that he asked.  We didn't even hesitate between each question and we answered right away.  I know that the Holy Ghost was there with us to answer his question and it was cool to be able to answer all of them.  It was just too bad that he didn't want to know more.
It sounds like you guys are going to be having a great time in St. George and it sounds like you guys are all excited to go.  I do think that mom is the most excited to go though.  I can definitely tell from this far away.

I am really excited for this next week and I am definitely really excited for today.  After we are done emailing we are going to do our shopping for the week.  Then I am going to go and get some fish and chips for lunch and I will make sure that I take a picture of it for you. We are then going to go to the Bishops house at 3 and we are going to play some board games with his two sons.  One of them just returned from his mission in Germany about 4 weeks ago and the other one is about 17 years old.  We are planning on playing risk so I am really excited for that.  They are then taking us out to eat at some restaurant. I am sure that it will be a really good restaurant because our Bishop loves food.  It might be hard to believe but he loves it more than I do. So it should be a really fun Pday today I can't wait.

Chelsey It sounds like ‘Meet the Mormons’ was a really good movie and that you guys really enjoyed watching it.  I was told that mom and dad started crying at the end.  That doesn't really surprise me too much. I haven't really tried anything too new.  Yesterday we did have some lamb meat with some potatoes that a member gave us and that was really good. Other than that I haven't had anything new. 

Caden Dad told me all about the great deer hunt that you had this last week.  It looks like a great deer that you shot and it's really cool that you shot it at such a far range. It sounds like a really good deer hunt and good job taking a long shot. Just make sure you don't shoot anything bigger than what I have shot until I get home to see it.  It's okay if you just shoot the does until I get home. 

Lyndsey I am glad that you like how I am always talking about food. I think it is because I really do enjoy food like I do back home.  The good thing is I haven't gained much weight yet which is a good sign so that I can keep eating the great food.  We really don't do anything with our Mission President other than meet with him.  He is always busy with a lot of different things. He lives about an hour away from us by train which is actually really close compared to other areas.  If I go to Wales I would have to travel by train for about 4 hours to get to the mission home so we have it quite nice.
There are two missionaries that are in the same area as us right now.  It is Elder K***** and Elder D****.  Elder K***** is from Canada and he has been out for 8 months and Elder D**** is from Seattle Washington and he is going home in about 3 weeks.  They are both really cool and we have a lot of fun together. A couple of times we have played chair football with them and we did play monopoly with them on one pday.  It was a lot of fun.
My favorite thing that happened this last week was probably meeting with the Mission President on Friday.  It was a lot of fun talking to him and his wife and also all the other missionaries in our District. 
I hope that you have another good week this week and make sure that your letter next week doesn't mention anything about Real unless you want to tell me that they lost.  That would definitely be okay. And Lyndsey I do miss you maybe just a little bit.... About the size of a mustard seed.

The thought that I want to share with you guys I have been thinking about a lot this last week.  It goes with why we have hard times in life and it has made me understand why we have hard times on the mission.  Some of us ask ourselves why we have trials. We have people ask us all the time why God would let people have trials if he loves us so much? Sometimes missionaries ask themselves why do we as the Lords servants go through hard times and why do we get rejected by so many people? The answer to all the questions and many more questions like these is because Salvation doesn't come cheap.  That has really made me think a lot about different trials that I have had through my life and I hope that it makes sense to all of you guys and that it help you guys understand like it helped me.  Because I have found that it makes me enjoy my trials even more knowing that I am working my way toward salvation and to be able to live with God again someday.
I hope that you guys have another great week this next week.  Keep working hard and thank you for all of your emails they are really fun to read.

Love,
Elder Peterson

 P.S. I will be sending you some pictures of a lot of different things.  One is of my new coat that I bought.  I also took a picture of a picture that is sitting on my desk that I hope that you enjoy. On Tuesday we went and had some fun with the young men for mutual.  We had some fights with cardboard as our sword and our armor.  It was pretty fun.  I also took some pictures of the money because Chelsey wanted them.  One is of the notes or the bills like they call them in the U.S. and the other are all of the coins.  As you will see they are really colorful and it's weird because they are also different sizes.  
A pound is like a dollar back home and a pence is like a cent back home. As you will see there are a lot of different coins.  From left to right it is a £2, £1, then it goes 50 pence, 20 pence, 10 pence, 5 pence 2 pence and 1 pence.  £ is equal to $ back home.  As you can see there are not any one dollar bills they are carried around in coins.  It is actually kind of a pain sometimes because I carry around a lot of coins.  Things over here are definitely more expensive than back home.
I hope that you all enjoy the pictures that I have sent home.

Elder Peterson & Elder Leal

Elder Peterson with his new coat
"What a Stud"

Picture of Elder Peterson's Family

  From left to right it is a £2, £1, then it goes 50 pence, 20 pence, 10 pence, 5 pence 2 pence and 1 pence.  £ is equal to $ back home.  As you can see there are not any one dollar bills they are carried around in coins.