Letter # 68

Hello Peterson Fam and Mum,

The beginning of that letter makes it look like mum is not part of the
Peterson family but I am going to leave it because I am too lazy to
change it haha.

Well it sounds like you all had a great week and a great Halloween. It
looks like Caden is still as weird as he was when I left seeing how he
dressed up as a little girl.  I have to say that it fit him quite
well. Haha. We had to be in by 6 o'clock on Halloween for safety
reasons so we didn't do much during the day. We played soccer in the
morning which was  muddy and dirty fun. It wasn't raining this
week but it had rained a couple days before so it was still pretty
muddy. We did regular missionary work until 6 o'clock and then we
bought a lot of candy since we didn't get any candy from anyone and we
cleaned our flat and did some paper work. It was a pretty good for my last
Halloween here in England. I am pretty excited to celebrate Christmas
this year because it is a lot of fun to be a missionary during Christmas time.


For my birthday it was not Sister Mann that made me a cake but she was
the one that came to me first and asked if it was my birthday. To be
honest I figured you had told her in some way. I thought that I was
going to have a great birthday where I could just do missionary work
without anyone knowing it was my birthday. The family that fed us was
the ward mission leader whose last name is Allison. They are a pretty
great family and they were told by Sister Mann that it was my
birthday. It was a great day though. Elder Shaw emailed me and I gave
him permission to open my packages at the mission home and to tell me
what is inside. Haha I am just kidding.  He said he saw them though
and he said that it looks like something good. I am excited to get it
probably this week.

J**** is doing really well. He came to church this week and come to
find out his friend is not as interested, but Jeremy is super solid he
came to church on Sunday in a nice looking suit. He wants to be
involved with a lot of the ward activities so he is coming to FHE
tonight and he really wants to come to soccer with us also. He is a
way cool guy and I am excited for him to come tonight.

For my Christmas package to be honest I really don't know what I want. So
you can do one of two things. You can just put money in my account and
I will get something or you can just surprise me with whatever you
want. Either way I will have a great Christmas. I would have to say
that I am the easiest person to get stuff for Christmas because I
really don't care if I get anything. That's why I am mums favorite
child. I can't believe it has taken me 20 years to figure out why I am
your favorite. I always knew I was your favorite but now that I know
why it makes it that much better.

Well I don't have much more to say other than I am way excited for the
14 of November because we are going to hear from another Apostle of
the Lord. Elder Ballard will be coming to the mission and I am so
excited for it. Well before I go I will share a spiritual thought for
you all. I hope you like it.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends." (John 15:13)

 We are taught from this scripture that we show and have the greatest
amount of love when we are able to put others before ourselves. As we
all know the Savior is the perfect example of selfless service.
Thomas S. Monson said "you can never love the Lord until you serve Him
by serving His people."  And the best way we love his people is by
serving them unselfishly. There are many people in this world that
find it easy to serve those that love them. It is easy to serve
someone that you are close friends with and that you know and care
about a lot. The true test of selfless service comes when we serve
those that we might not have the best relationship with or that we
might have bad feelings towards. It talks about this in Matt 5:46 "
For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?"

The world we live in is a different world that goes against what we
are taught from prophets and other church leaders. We need to stand
out and be the people that do great things among those who need the
help in this lives. " ......we are called to establish the Lord’s
standards, not to follow the world’s. Elder John A. Widtsoe declared,
“We cannot walk as other men, or talk as other men, or do as other
men, for we have a different destiny, obligation, and responsibility
placed upon us, and we must fit ourselves [to it].” That reality has
current application to every trendy action.... As a wise friend
observed, “You can’t be a life saver if you look like all the other
swimmers on the beach."

Let us be the ones that are the examples to the world and set aside
our selfish actions to help those who stand in need. There are many
simple things that we can do to help others. Sometimes we get so
caught up on out day to day living that we forget to step back and see
those who are less fortunate than us whom we could help if we would
just spare a little bit of our time to do so. Service opportunities
are all around us. The Lord wants us to serve, he wants us to gain
that exact same love that he has and to put others before ourselves.
Sometimes it is not easy to do, but the Lord will give us strength and
he will bless us as we serve those around us.
Let the words of a famous hymn sink deep in your heart and I encourage
you to ponder these precious words.

" Have I done any good in the world today?  Have I helped anyone in
need?  Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?  If not,
I have failed indeed.  Has anyone’s burden been lighter today  Because
I was willing to share?  Have the sick and the weary been helped on
their way?  When they needed my help was I there?"

Have a great week and I am positive you will all go about doing good to others.
Love,
Elder Peterson