Letter # 2

Dear Family,                                               August 6, 2014

The MTC has been a great experience. We spend lots of time studying the Preach my Gospel manual and we do lots of teaching to fake investigators exactly like they do at the AP camp on the last day.  The only difference is we are teaching about two " investigators" a day and we only have about 20 minutes to prepare for each one of them. We spend a good amount of time in the classrooms doing role play and studying the scriptures.  I was called as a DL the first day that I got here. I don't have to do a lot of things mostly just make sure that everyone in my district is ok and that everyone is where they should be on time.  AP camp has helped a lot with being a leader and has helped a ton with preparing lessons and teaching.  I'm definitely glad that I went every year it really made a difference.

The food at the MTC is amazing.  They have had a lot of food that I’m familiar with so I haven't had anything weird.  We have been having sandwiches, rice with different meat sauces, hamburgers and hot dogs.  About two days ago we had the best shepherd’s pie I have ever had though.  They make it a lot like dad's but for some reason it tastes a lot better.  They have soda that we can have whenever we would like and most of it is like the stuff back at home, but it tastes a lot better.  They have Sunkist and the only difference is it is made with real oranges which make it taste really good.  They have a couple of grape flavored drinks, also made with real grapes, and it tastes really good too but i don't remember the name of it. The only chocolate that I have had is a kit Kat.  They are called kit Kats but the logo looks a little different than the one at home.  The chocolate is also different and it tastes amazing. It’s not a waxy chocolate like the ones at home. It's a really creamy chocolate that tastes great.  It might be hard to believe but it makes mom's chocolate taste like cheap chocolate.

There are six elders that are sleeping in the same room as I am and it's way fun.  There is an Elder from California, who is my companion, there is one from Montana, one from Orem Utah, one from Canada, and one from Tonga.  The Elder from Tonga didn't get here until Sunday and he was on a 30 hour flight.  It has been really fun to get to know everyone but it's been especially fun to get to know the Elder who is from Tonga.  He plays on a National Rugby team for Tonga and he is huge. He probably weighs about 250 pounds of pure muscle and he is about 6 foot 3. He sleeps above me in the bunk bed and he almost tips over the bed when he gets in. I was scared at first when I was sitting in bed and he got in and almost tipped it, but now I’m use to it.

Today we had the opportunity to go through a session at the Temple and it was really cool.  The temple is a really small temple, but I think that it's my favorite temple so far.  The inside is really beautiful and I like the way they have it set up.    It was a great experience and I got quite a few pictures of the temple.  I will send them to you when my card is a little fuller.

I haven't had quite enough time to read everyone's emails yet, but I did read moms and dads. It sounds like the reunion was a lot of fun and I wish I could have been there, but I’m having a great time here learning and getting to know a lot of people from all over.

A scripture I would like to share with everyone and to explain it the way that it was explained to me is D&C 18:15-16. It says that if we bring one soul to Christ then our joy will be great. My teacher explained that that one soul could be your own. So we need to all work hard and convert ourselves to the gospel so that our joy can be great when we meet God.  After we bring our own souls unto Christ then we can bring other souls unto Christ. Then how great will be your joy in the Kingdom of our Father.
I hope that scripture makes sense because it can really help a lot of people in the church if they knew that. I know that it helped me to understand a lot more.  Have a great day and just so you know my Pday is on Wednesdays in the MTC, but when I leave the MTC next week it could be on a different day so don't be surprised if I email at a different time of the week.

Love Elder Peterson
I forgot to tell you that the pictures did work and I’m glad that I don't have to clean dad's truck or my truck which ever you prefer!