Letter #62

Hey Mum and Family,

So the reason I put the title of this email as 'still the man' is because of what I did this last week.  I went on exchanges this last week with the Elder in my District.  When we got back to Tamworth we were doing some finding before we had dinner.  Well when it got to dinner time we decided that pizza sounded really good for dinner so we decided to get some 
Papa John's.  Their special was any size pizza for 9.99 which was a great deal so we each ordered an XXL pizza.  (Nope I didn't put in too many X's)  We took it to the flat and had a lovely meal.  The reason I am still the man is because I ate all but 2 slices of the pizza.  I just couldn't seem to get those last 2 slices down, but I thought that I did really well.  I still have the eating skills in me as you can tell.  

It sounds like it was a great week for you all and I can't believe that mum is in St. George.  I was just asking dad what you did to deserve such a treat and I hope that it was something good.  I am sure you are enjoying sitting in the sun frying yourself and dad is wishing it was snowing at the moment.  I hope that it rains like it is supposed to so then dad can enjoy a little bit of nice weather too.  Plus it wouldn't hurt for you guys to get a little wet would it.  Especially since you are in St. George.  If it does rain I hope that it ruins that horrible 49ers shirt that mum is wearing in the photos that I received.  I didn't hear about how the game went for them this past week but I am glad that they didn't win.  I know that much.  haha

This past week for me was full of meeting’s.  We had to go to the mission home twice this week.  One for Zone Conference and another for a follow up trainers meeting.  They were both really good meetings and I learned a lot of great things from them both.  President and Sister Leppard gave some great training that I am excited to apply into the missionary work that I am doing here in Tamworth.  It has changed a little bit how we plan and how we work with the members and I know it's going to do lots of great things.  

There was a District Leader meeting before Zone Conference and I am sure that mum would be happy to hear that a good part of the meeting was on family history and how we are going to start using it as missionaries soon.  There are a lot of great tools that we are going to be receiving to use when we speak to people on the street.  I found out that there is actually a television program over here about famous people doing their family history and ever since that show came out it made more people interested in their family history.  So from hearing that and learning how we are going to start using family history I am excited to see how well it works.  I am sure that we will see some great success from it as we apply it in the work we are doing.

Obviously the big event that is going to be happening this week is the baptism of J*****.  We met with him today and he is ready and excited for his baptism.  We have it all planned out and the Bishop announced it in church yesterday so the ward knows and we just need to wait until Saturday comes.  It is going to be a great day I know that already. It has been fun teaching him and also learning a lot myself as we taught him.  It is a great way to end off the transfer especially because I think that I could be leaving this area this transfer.  This could be my last full week here which is crazy to think about.  If I do end up leaving I will definitely miss the great people I have met and the wonderful area that it is here.
Well I really loved the spiritual thought that you send this week.  Thanks for that.  I would love to share my thought with you guys now before I go.

"Be ye therefore perfect, even  as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt 5:48)
We are here on the earth to learn and become perfect like our Heavenly Father.  Obviously becoming perfect won't happen until after this life, but that's what we are working towards while here on the earth.  In order for us to become perfect like Him we need to change and improve ourselves every single day.  We need to always do our best to live the gospel every day.  "Living the gospel is somewhat like combing your hair- no matter how well we did it yesterday- we have to repeat it today."

Part of becoming perfect like our Heavenly Father is becoming meek.  Being humble enough to know that we aren't always right, when we do something wrong turning to God and asking for forgiveness.  If we are humble then we recognize that we are dependent on our Heavenly Father.  Only those who are humble are able to acknowledge and truly understand the answers to their prayers.  I believe gaining humility is a big part of becoming like God because once we gain humility it is easier for us to accept more direction on other things we need to improve on or change in our lives.
Obviously the opposite of humility is pride.  "The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's."  When we are proud we don't listen to the answers that God gives us because we think that we can become perfect on our own.  The proud are very competitive with others when it comes to talents, wealth, opinions, etc.  They want to be better than everyone else.  We need to get rid of that competitiveness.  "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. ... It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest.  Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone."
Whenever we want to improve on something we usually look to Christ and His example.  Well it is no different with humility.  Christ went through so much suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.  People rejected Him, they spit on Him and beat Him.  He was falsely accused and then nailed on the cross.  Even after all the excruciating pain that he went through He still spoke to His Father while on the cross in such great humility saying " Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."  Because Christ died for us we can change and become meek and humble like Him. 

In order for us to learn and grow we need to be teachable and that is where humility comes in.  As we humble ourselves and we look to the Lord for guidance then we will be able to gain more Christ like attributes than just humility.  We will be able to gain such great knowledge about the gospel of Jesus Christ and eventually we will be able to become perfect like our Heavenly Father and our Savior.

I hope that you all have a great week. Thanks for all that you guys do.
Love,
Elder Peterson