Letter # 19

Dear Mum and Family,

It sounds like you have all had a great thanksgiving and that you had plenty of food.  I too had a good amount of food.  I did think that thanksgiving was probably one of the best that I have had in a long time and now that I have read your letter I think I know why it was so great.  Maybe because the 49ers lost. haha  
A member took us to an all you can eat Chinese restaurant called Ming Moon.  It is really expensive to buy a turkey over here so we didn't have a turkey which was a little weird, but it was a good experience to celebrate thanksgiving in England.  I do not really miss all of the fuss about black Friday though.  Apparently they are trying to start doing it here in England, but it isn't as big here yet.  It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun though.

Warwick castle last Monday was a lot of fun.  It only took us about 30 minutes to get there and one of the best things was there was hardly anyone there because mostly everyone was at school. I will have to admit it is kind of nice not having to go to school and watching everyone else have to go. I am really glad that you all enjoyed the pictures that I sent home.

I am glad that you liked the new Christmas video that the church has put out.  We have been using the cards in our missionary work, but we haven't had much success so far.  It is a little early though into the Christmas Initiative so hopefully we will start to see a little more success.  I am really excited for this Christmas season.  In fact as I am writing this letter right now there is a little party going on in another room of the library and there is a lady singing a lot of Christmas songs right now.  So I have been getting into the Christmas spirit most of my morning.

This last week we actually taught a lesson to a potential who is now an investigator. Her name is D**** and she talked to other missionaries when she was out shopping.  Because she lives in our area the other missionaries referred her to us and we finally were able to teach here.  We taught her briefly about the Restoration and we gave her a Book of Mormon.  She believes in God and she is going through a hard time right now.  Her father has cancer and he is going in for treatment apparently sometime soon.  She doesn't know if he will make it much longer so when we told her about the Plan of Salvation she was really happy.  We asked her if she comes to find out that these things are true if she will be baptized and without hesitation she said "Yes I would love to!"  That was really exciting to hear.  We will be meeting with her tomorrow so I am excited for that.  

Caden that's too bad that they Colts are not doing so well.  But I do have to say that they are still better than the Steelers even though they are not winning as many games.  So I think that I will stay a colts fan and not a Steelers fan.  Hopefully they can start winning games soon so they can be the next Super Bowl Champions.
I am glad that you really like the picture of the castle.  It was a lot of fun and I knew that you would have loved to been there.  I thought that it would remind you of Lord of the Rings.  Maybe when you get your mission call you will serve in England and then you can go to all of the castles here.
It sounds like there is a lot of excitement going on about the new hobbit movie coming out.  I am sure it will be a great movie and I can't wait until I get home and we can stay up all night and watch all of the movies. 
That would be really cool if I am home in time to watch Star Wars when it comes out. There have been quite a few missionaries and some members who are pretty excited for it to come out so hopefully it is a great movie.

Chelsey I did eat a lot of food on Thanksgiving but I bet you ate more than me because you eat a ton of food.  Just kidding I know you don't eat that much because you are a lot like mom.
It sounds like you have had a pretty lazy week this last week. Did you and mom watch a lot of you weird girl movies?  It definitely wouldn't surprise me if you did.  I hope you had a great time being lazy though.
It is good to hear that you are really enjoying school and that you are especially enjoying seminary.  I hope you are learning lots in seminary about the D&C because it is a great book.  You will have to tell me who Lyndsey’s boyfriend is when you find out since she is in you class.

Lindsee it doesn't surprise me that you went to black Friday and that you just had a blast spending all of your money.  That's pretty cool that you bought a Nike sweatshirt, but you could have at least spent that $7 dollars on something else other than a lame Lakers shirt.  I thought you were raised better than that.  It doesn't surprise me that you also liked spending your money on a fish.  I don't know what is so cool about getting a fish, but at least you can now say you have a true friend now because you didn't have any before.
That's really crazy that Sky View and Mountain Crest is changing to a 5A school this next year.  I wonder how all of the sports will be once they are competing against the bigger schools.  I think it will be an interesting year for sports when that happens.
I think that the second question that you asked is definitely a no brainer. You definitely haven't become any smarter than when I left.  Of course they don't have sprinkler pipe over here because it rains a lot so they don't need it.
I have been to one funeral and that was on the second day that I was in the mission.  We didn't go to the grave site, but we did go to the service that was at the church and it seemed like it was the same as back home.
No we don't wash dishes like you do. You know that washing machine that you see in the kitchen from the picture that I sent home.  We just throw all of our dishes in there and that is how we wash them.  It even dries them for us so that is a plus.
The families are really not that big over here.  They usually have about four children or less, but every once in a while you see a pretty big family.  I haven't seen any places where people can go camping, but remember I am in a city part of Birmingham so I don't see much country things.  Maybe if I go to an area where it is more country I will see them. 

The thought that I would like to share with you guys this week is about faith.  On Sunday nights we have to be in at 7 because Elder Farley is a District Leader so he has to do a thing called call ins.  So while he was doing that I was reading a few things about faith and I would like to share it with you.
I would like to start off by sharing a quote from Joseph Fielding Smith.  He says:
"Faith is the moving cause of all action. Faith, therefore, is stronger that belief."
Faith is a very important part of this gospel.  Like it is said in the scriptures only a little particle of faith can move mountains.  I don't know about you, but to me that is really cool and it definitely shows the power of faith.  We as members of this great church need to have faith in Jesus Christ.  We need to know that he is in control of everything and that he knows what's best for us even when we are going through a tough time.

There are many people in the scripture that show great faith, but one of my favorites is Nephi.  In 1 Nephi 17:50 Nephi shows his great faith towards his murmuring brothers. He says:  “If God had commanded me to do all things I could do them.  If He should command me that I should say unto this water, be earth, it should be earth, and if I should say it, it would be done."
What great faith that is! I hope that as I study faith more and I exercise it more in my life that I can someday have as great faith as Nephi has.  
I hope that this thought help someone this next week.  I hope that you all have a great week and thanks for all of your letters.  And especially thanks for all of your prayers.  I know that they are being answered.  

Love,
Elder Peterson