Letter #8

Dear Mum and Family,

It sounds like everyone has had a great week especially since it was homecoming.  I saw the pictures of Lyndsey with my jersey on and it looks like they had a lot of fun at the powder puff game.  I'm glad that you guys are enjoying wearing my jerseys. The only thing that I ask is you don't make them smell like girls because that's not cool.  

This last week we were able to teach the gentleman I have been telling you about. We taught him at his house. We have started teaching him the commandments.  Last week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom and that we need to follow the prophets. We read D&C 89 with him and he really enjoyed it and he said that he learned a lot since he couldn't remember the Word of Wisdom.  You asked where the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that we taught him last week.  It is in the Preach My Gospel book in the third chapter. It's a really cool chapter that really talks about what we need to do in life to return to Christ.  And of course it is very simple so it's really not quite everything.  

Our other investigator we haven't taught our other investigator yet she texted us last week and said that she is not quite ready to make commitment.  It was really weird because we haven't committed her to do anything yet so we don't know what's going on.  We have been trying to get a hold of her for the past week, but she hasn't answered our texts.  We are going to try and talk to her and see why she doesn't want to learn and then we will go from there.  We just need to trust in the Lord and I know that everything will go well if we do.  

I'm glad that you like my bike because right now I’m kind of frustrated with it.  The third day that we went out riding my front tire got popped.  I have a tire repair kit and I fixed it, but our pump is horrible so we can't pump my tire up or my companions.  So we have gone back to walking and riding a bus until Wednesday when we can get a pump from the District Leaders who said that we can have theirs since they don't use it.  We have to carry our bike up three stories of stairs which I don't really mind because it's some great exercise. 

Speaking of exercise I talked the Elder from Tonga that I met in the MTC, and he gave me the best workout ever.  He told me his secret on how to get strong so I have started doing it. He said that he does 600 push up morning and night with his feet on a chair and that you need to drink milk.  So this last week I have started doing that.  Of course I’m not quite to the part where I can do 600 morning and night, but I have got to the point where I can do 300 morning and night.  It's super hard and I’m sore almost every day, but I love it.

I'm glad that you said that you really enjoy the way that my hair looks. Just to let you know I have not gotten my hair cut yet so you can thank Melissa for doing it because she is the last person who cut it.  I will be getting my hair cut today though because it is getting kind of long so I will see how that goes.  
I have not had beef kidney pie yet, but I hope that I do because everyone that has had it says that it tastes pretty good.

I will send you guys some chocolate sometime soon, I just don't know when.  The chocolate is really good over here especially the Cadbury chocolate.  I always look at the ingredients to make sure there is no alcohol and I haven't really found much chocolate that does have it, but I will make sure I don't send any home.  
I don't really need clothes for my birthday because we still wear a shirt and tie on Pday, but if I have money on my account that might be best so then I can get things that I might need later.  I forgot to tell you guys that we only have to wear suits when we go to church and when we go to meetings.  So really we only wear them on Sundays and once during the week for a couple hours. It's actually quite nice to only have to wear a white shirt and tie.

You asked me if England just received Twinkies.  
No I just decided to take a picture of the Twinkies; we did not buy them because they are super expensive. That box cost about 8 pounds which is about 16 dollars so it was so not worth it. I just decided to get a picture with it so I could enjoy looking at it.  

The most interesting thing that happened this last week is some kids about 12 or so thought we were policeman so they kept saying hi policeman. It was really funny and I don't know why they thought that because the police wear all black over here and we have white shirts on.  It was really funny though.

I have not really had any interesting foods this last week, it has all been normal food and the only restaurant we went to was a chippie which is where we bought fish and chips so that's not really interesting.  
Also it hasn't rained any so I don't know what you are talking about when you ask about the rain.
And Lyndsey of course the girls are not cute and I don't know why you asked that because you already know that I’m not getting married so why would I be looking at them.  I'm sure they look at me though because I’m soooo muscular, but I can't really help that I do a lot of push-ups every day.  

I have attached a picture of fish and chips. It doesn't look like it's that big, but just so you know the fish alone could cover one dinner plate and the fries cover about half of one.  It was great and I was super full after it. 

Fish and Chips

I'm glad that you guys had a great week this last week and that you guys had fun meeting my companion’s parents.  Thanks for the pictures that you have sent. I really enjoyed looking at them. Have another great week this week and continue to work hard. I have noticed that you never really know how much you love something until you go without it.  I'm glad that I can be serving a mission though and plus two years really isn't that long. Have a great week.

Here is my quote for the week:

Declaring our testimony of the gospel is good, but being a living example of the restored gospel is better.
Wishing to be more faithful to our covenants is good, but being faithful to sacred covenants- including living a virtuous life, paying our tithes and offerings, keeping the word of wisdom and serving those in need is much better.
Announcing that we will dedicate more time for family prayer, scripture study, and wholesome family activities is good, but actually doing all these things steadily will bring heavenly blessings to our lives. 
- Pesident Uchtdorf

Love, 
Elder Peterson


Something that I forgot to tell you that is really interesting.  England might be changing the color of their flag this week. They haven't quite decided wether they will or not.  I'm sure that you could find it on the internet though.  It will have the same design the colors will be changed to black, white, orange and red I think it was.  It was pretty interesting and I thought that I would let you know because the flag hanging up outside of our house might have to be changed.  I will let you know next monday what they have decided, but i'm sure you might find out on the internet before me