Letter #27

Dear Mum and Family,

It sounds like you have all had a great week and that you have really enjoyed a little taste of British food. I really enjoyed the pictures of you guys and the food looked amazing. It looks like you had a lot of fun and a lot of food.  Maybe you can figure out how they do it all and you can make your own shop in Newton.  (The picture of the candy bars look really familiar.  I wonder where I have seen them before?  Oh maybe here in England/Wales!)

This last week has been really interesting and this next week is going to be really exciting. Apparently there was a tornado at the beginning of the week up in North of England I believe.  That is what a couple of our investigators told us anyway and I am pretty sure it is true because the wind was horrible last week.  We were told that it was supposed to reach between 70 and 100 mph which I am sure that it did.  It was raining quite a lot too which didn't help at all so it was pretty interesting.  It did also start snowing on Tuesday but because it is so wet here in England it didn't stick at all and it didn't rain for very long.  It eventually just turned back into rain.  Because of the super strong winds I was in my first bike wreck of the mission.  Luckily we are both okay so that is a great miracle.  So we were biking through a park on a bike path on our way home because the wind was so strong and we had to get in as fast as we could.  The wind pushed Elder Shaw off the bike path and when he tried to get back on the path he crashed.  I was just a little bit behind him and I had to throw my bike out from under me and to the side because I didn't have enough room to swerve and I didn't want to run over him.  Luckily I just rolled a little and got up perfectly fine and I ran to Elder Shaw to see if he was okay.  We both came out of it without a single cut or bruise which was a miracle.  We got back on our bikes and made it home just in time.  We were soaked all the way through.  No matter how much waterproof clothing we wore it wouldn't have helped at all.  It was a great experience and we have had a great laugh about it.

I am really excited for this week coming up because our investigator's baptism is this Saturday and it is really exciting.  We have finished teaching her all the lessons and she is doing great.  She is still doing her reading and praying every day and she is really growing closer to our Father in Heaven.  This week she will be interviewed for baptism and we are going to be doing some daily contact and answering any questions for her that she might have.  We also have planned to go over to her house and make her a meal so that will be a lot of fun.  We have set up the baptismal program and she is really excited about it and she can't wait to be a member of this church.  She is such a great lady and she has grown so much in the Gospel.  It is going to be amazing.  I can't wait until Saturday.

So flogged isn't really a British word it's just a missionary word.  It's kind of funny because if you ask some of the returned missionaries in our ward they will tell you some of the things that the missionaries would say.  The funny thing is that even different mission areas use different words.  So flogged pretty much means that we set up an appointment with someone and when we go they are not there because they have flogged us.  I don't know if that makes any sense so if it doesn't let me know and I will explain it better.

There are a lot of people who do speak Welsh or at least they know how to speak Welsh, but they usually just speak English.  So I haven't had a problem with meeting someone who only knows how to speak Welsh. I think that in the schools here they teach them how to speak both Welsh and English so I am sure that helps a lot. So there is really no need to learn how to speak Welsh.  Maybe I will ask a few members to teach me a little Welsh so that I can say some things.  It's kind of a confusing language, but I will try my best to get some things down.

So the pictures from the New Era are just away to help me decorate my planner.  So I like to put quotes with pictures and just pictures on them.  For example on the one I have now I put the picture of the Salt Lake temple.  On my last one I put a picture of the first vision with a scripture that I cut out of the Ensign.  I was just wondering if you guys would be able to send me a little bit of something like that from the New Era because I can get Ensigns really easy from the mission home it's just they don’t have the New Era and there are a lot more quotes and pictures that I think look better on the planners.  If you guys don't have time then you don't need to worry about it. I just thought that you might have some ideas on things that I can put on my planner so that it could be really nice and I can include you guys on my very artistic skill.  Haha.

I hope that you guys have a great week this next week. You will have to tell Case hi for me and when you go listen to Alex you will have to tell him hi and that he is going to be a great missionary. 

Caden-What's up little brother?  Yes you are still little to me because I don't think you will ever be bigger than I am. It sounds like you are still enjoying work and that everything is going good at the farm.  Hopefully you will be getting more calves soon so that you can have another girlfriend.  I hope that you are really enjoying work and that you are working hard.  

Chelsey-It sounds like you have had a great week this week.  I would have to guess that the best part of your week was when you got your braces off.  I bet you wish you could still have them on though. Haha.  Remember to always wear your retainer so you don't have to get your braces back on again.
It sounds like you had a lot of fun going to the Chippie this last week.  I hope that you enjoyed eating all of the great British food there.  I bet you really enjoy the chocolate.  I know that I really love the British Chocolate.  It is the best!  It sounds like you have done another great job making another blanket.  I bet it looks really great.  You can give it to me when I get home so I can stay warm.  
I can see the excitement that you are having right now because you don't have to go to school today.  I hope that mum works you really hard and that you get the house nice and clean.  And think if you keep it nice and clean then you won't have to clean it the next time that you are off from school. I hope that you have lots of fun because I know that I am going to have fun not cleaning the house today.  Haha

Lyndsey-It sounds like you have had a pretty interesting week and that you had a lot of fun faking your sickness. Yeah mom might not know that you were faking it, but I can tell from experience that you just wanted to get out of school. But don't worry I won't tell mom that you were faking.

Dad-That's kind of disappointing that the Colts didn't make it to the super bowl.  I thought it was going to be a hard game to win for the Colts, but I did have faith in them they just couldn't pull it off is what it sounds like.  At the same time I am glad that they didn't make it because I am not there to watch it so maybe it's for the best and when I get home they will definitely make it to the Super Bowl.  You will have to tell Kenny Jensen that I am cheering for the Seahawks thousands of miles away and because I am cheering for them outside of America the Seahawks have a better chance of winning. Haha
I read a quote the other day that I really liked. It says:  " Home teaching is missionary work to the members, Missionary work is Home teaching to the non-members." So by visiting the ward members you are doing missionary work whether you think you are or not.
Oh and  I won't tell mum that you are the poshest of them all.  Haha

Before I go I would like to end with a spiritual thought like I usually do. I have found a lot more quotes that I really like and I hope that you enjoy the one that I have for you today.

“Any dog inside a fence will bark and clamor to get out.  But once they are out, most dogs run around a while, sniff out the territory, then sit down by the fence. This is because they are focused on only getting out and never thought of what to do after they got out.  Many humans are the same way. We say “I can't wait to get out of High School." or “I just want out of this relationship."  Or “I’m just going to go through college as fast as I can."  In a missionary sense, we might say, "I can't wait to get home/ out of this area." or "Just wait until I get my new companion." But what are we doing now? Are we planning what to do and preparing our souls for the trials we'll encounter on the other side?  If not then are we any different than the dog."
- R. Dale Jeffery

On the mission I have learned so much about planning and the importance of it.  I hope that you guys get something from this quote and that it helps you realize that planning and making goals is very important because with those goals we can become closer to God if the goals that we set are focused on God and are things that will make us better Latter Day Saints. 
I hope that you all have a great week and that you have a fun time cleaning today.  And thank you for all the great letters that you sent I really enjoyed them all.
Love,
Elder Peterson