Letter #31

Dear Mum and Family,

It sounds like it has been a pretty interesting week for you all and that some of you have had a great time seeing and listening to David Archuleta while others didn't care at all for it.  I would have to admit that I am going to have to be on the side that wouldn't have cared much for him.  I am glad that you all enjoyed it though and I hope that you guys were able to be uplifted from the spirit. I heard it was amazing there.  I have heard that there were some great talks given also and I wish I was able to listen to them and to learn more great things, but I hope that you all enjoyed them and that you learned something that you can all apply to your lives.  I can't even tell you how excited I am to come home and learn all about family history.  Whoopy!  I am jumping with joy right now which I am sure that you can imagine. 

Mum you mentioned something’s about food in your letter…Well speaking about cooking and food, which I love so very much if you didn't know that by the way, I had some amazing food the other day. We were at a member’s house doing a service project on Saturday and they asked if there was a certain food that we would like to have for lunch.  I asked her if we could have a food called Hagas.  I am pretty sure that you don't know what it is, but you should look it up to see what it is.  I will not type it up and tell you because I don't want to make anyone who reads this sick.  To be honest I thought that it was actually really good.  Elder Shaw didn't really care much for it, but I would have it again.  I am sure that you would all love to try it also.  But you should really look it up when you get time.  Maybe when I get home that is probably the only thing that I will make for you because I still am not very good at the cooking part.  I am good at  eating though. Haha

I hope that you will be able to get some moisture there sometime soon. I don't know what the summer is going to be like over there if you don't get any moisture. I am sure that it is going to be a mess and a very stressful summer for the farmers unless something happens. Who knows maybe you will get a ton of snow today.  I am sure mom would love to see that.  Haha
I am trying my hardest to stay in shape. We do a lot of biking and walking each day and I am still doing lots of pushups every day.  We have a few weights in our flat too so that is quite nice to have.  I hope that Caden is working out because I am and I will still be able to kick his butt when I get home I am sure of it. Haha (I make the Hulk look like weak sauce)

Lyndsey sometimes I think that you ask the weirdest questions ever though.  Yes they do have bananas here and they do eat them. My toothbrush is red and I buy them at a store called ASDA which is pretty much like a Walmart back home. My companion has cut my hair a couple of times and I usually get it cut every 6 weeks.  If my companion doesn't cut hair then I find a place to go and get my hair cut.  I do shave every single day mostly because I am a man and every morning that I wake up I have a full beard and you can't have beards as a missionary.  I can't say that I miss you that much really mostly because you are kind of weird especially since you think that Italians speak Spanish.

There is no double decker buses in the area that I am serving in now, but it is a bus that has an upstairs to it.  They are actually really cool and we would ride them all the time when I was in Sheldon.  It was weird at first getting on them, but I have gotten used to it and I actually quite enjoy it.  In this area we do a lot of training.  So when we have to go anywhere outside of Llanelli we train there and it usually is pretty far.  We are going to zone conference tomorrow and we will be on a train for a couple of hours.  Not only that we have to get up pretty early so that we can catch the train and make it on time.  It is going to be a lot of fun though and I am way excited to go and expand my knowledge and to learn how I can be a better missionary and a servant to the Lord.

This last week we have been still doing a lot of finding and we have had some pretty good experiences.  I have been focusing a lot on following the spirit to the right people to talk to when we are walking around the city center.  I have been guided by the spirit to a few people that really accepted the message that we have to share.  One of the ladies was really nice and we won't be able to teach here because she doesn't live in our area.  But I referred her to other missionaries and I am really excited to see how it goes.  It is really cool just to walk around and just follow the spirit and be guided by the spirit to stop random people that I have never seen before and just start talking to them like I have known them for a while.  Now of course there are some people who don't know how to show respect, but for every 100 rejections it is worth the one solid person who wants and needs the gospel at this time.  Hopefully we can continue to find those brothers and sisters that need the gospel at this time.

Thank you for the great thought that you have sent this week.  As much as I don't really care about doing family history work I know that it is really important to do.  There are many people in the Spirit world who are waiting for someone to do their temple work for them and I know that it is really important that we find them and do it for them.

Well I want to share a spiritual thought with you guys today and for this week on becoming better.  Carlos A. Godoy said: “The Lord has a plan for us in this life.  He knows us. He knows what is best for us.  Just because things are going well does not mean that we should not from time to time consider whether there might be something better.  If we continue to live as we are living, will the promised blessing be fulfilled?"  I really like the question that was asked in the quote.  We might be doing some good things, but we can always be doing a little better than we are.  Ford Lewis said “Life is not a rigid business of being, but a lively process of becoming."  We came on this earth to become more like our Heavenly Father.  So each day we need to do better than the day before or do better than we are doing at this moment so that we can become more like our Heavenly Father.  I know that as we do this we will be so much happier. 

I hope that you all have a great week this week and I hope that you get something from that thought.  I hope you all have a great week and enjoy cleaning the house today. 
Love,
Elder Peterson