Man made flood!

We had a good week. There were two baptisms on Saturday. I'll send a pic. It's been a good week though. We had a Christmas dinner with the President this week, which was really good. We also did a ward Christmas dinner as well. There seemed to be a lot of activities. Everything is going good though. This week starts the last week of the change. It should be interesting. Saturday after the baptism we forgot to turn the font off and we came back hours later and the chapel was flooded! Not good! We just started pushing water out the front door with brooms and mops. Then we used about 8 rolls of industrial size paper towels and cleaned everything up. No one has any idea what happened haha. So, disaster avoided. Anyway, we´ll talk Thursday, so I will leave you with that for now. Love you.

New Baptism

This week we had a baptism. He had been listening to the missionaries for four years or so and we finally got him to get baptized. Now that family is complete and can go to the temple together, which is special. We are teaching a lot of people right now as well, which is good. We had a few people in church on Sunday also.

 

I've been studying the book of Nephi and Luke. I always get something more out of the scriptures every time I read them. I've also been trying to apply them more to me. 

 

Things this week have been a little different. Right now is when they have what they call Fiestas de Quito. Well I think they ended the 6th, but there are a lot of parties and concerts. There was one outside our house this week and it was loud and going on till 2 or 3 in the morning. But it doesn't keep us from working.

Basilica

This week was good. I learned a lot as always and we were able to find people and have people in church this week. My comapnion is great! We get along good and we teach really well together. So we always have really spiritual lessons which has been something hard to do with some of my past companions.

 

This week I started  my study of the Book of Mormon over and I've come to realize how amazing the stories are and how to make them come to life. I think we have it easy comapred to some of the Book of Mormon prophets. I've gained a lot of respect for Nephi. He wants to know what his father saw so he prays and is taken away in the spirit. During that vision he sees the destruction of his people (1 Nephi 12:19). Returning from having this vision he finds his brothers fighting. He just saw the destruction of his people!! Talk about no hope. It was written in the Heavens! You can imagine it might be hard to get up and keep preaching and keep being obedient. But, the first things he does is try to help his brothers understand. The same brothers who he saw would never actually accept his words and who's posterity would eventually destroy his. See 1 Nephi 15:5,6. Notwithstanding everything he still loved them and did everything he could to help them. See 1 Nephi 15:25 and 1 Nephi 16:3,4. His whole life he dedicated to service of others in spite of knowing the result of everything he would establish. Also, we have the Book of Mormon, thanks in part to Nephi, it's not easy to insribe words on plates but he did it with a purpose: 2 Nephi 25:23. see Jacob 1:9,10. 

In these days have a better hope. People are prepared and we need to find them! 

Today we wenrt to a place called the basilica. It's a giant catholic church. I'll send pictures.

Bon Appetit!

Well, this was a good week overall. We had our ups and downs, but it was good. We have been working hard. That's for sure. We found 10 new people this week, and 2 new families which was awesome! We fasted twice, once for our goals for the change and the second time so that our investigators could come to church. We started Saturday. Saturday turned out to be a horrible day. We didn't have a single lesson. Then Sunday, no one came to church. We did everything to get them there as well, so it was a big disappointment especially since we were fasting. Anyway, I am sure that the blessings will come. It is a trial of our faith. Our sector is pretty much flat. All my other sectors have been mountainous. The ward here is really good and the members are very friendly. My companion is awesome! We get along really well. My companion wants to work, which is nice also. We are hoping to have a lot of success this change. 

We had some interesting meals this week. We had 4 different types of pig intestines for one meal. Then we ate what we now call chicken butt. It was basically every part of a chicken that we take out before cooking in the US. But Sunday a family here gave us a Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicious. It's a tradition they started with an American missionary. That was pretty much our week. It was good overall. I am working on being the best missionary I can be. I'm excited for the future. Hope all is well at home. When is Thanksgiving? Tell everyone I love them. Have a great week!

The church is true! Never forget it. We are all in our own process of conversion. Ether 12:27 is my scripture for the week. And 2 Nephi 4. Nephi, even as a prophet was so upset because he realized he still had a long way to go before reaching perfection. That is what the atonement can do for us. It pushes us to be better and work towards perfection. We should always try to improve and be better and share the gospel. We are not only preparing the world for the second coming but we are and should be preparing personally. Procrastination is one of Satans most powerful traps. No one knows when the Son of man will come, but it will be when we least it expect it.

Love you all and miss you! Have a wonderful week!

 

Chicken guts



Not so bad



Come and be baptized!

Not so sure about this

New Pictures

This last week was super hard. Everything was against us, it seemed. We got changes though today and things are good. I got transferred to Atawalpa. That's in Quito still and I have a new companion. He's my first companion from the United States. I spent the day unpacking. Then we just hung out in the terminal for a while talking to other missionaries because everyone has changes. I have had 4 baptisms. Some of the people I've found and taught later got baptized. Hopefully this new sector will be good. They dont have many people here, but we will see what happens. The weather is good, it rains a lot.  ummm..... there is almost nothing to report. I have no idea what to write this week. Here's some pictures.

Homeless and hungry

Mom,

This week was good. We found two new families and two other investigators. This week is the last week before changes. I like something my mission President told me, "If you pray for patience, you will be given opportunities to develop patience; God gives us what we need not what we want." I wish I would of thought about that before I prayed for patience. No, just kidding.

This week I've started studying Jesus the Christ at night. I'm in chapter 5. It's a great book! In the New Testament, I'm in Luke right now. It's been pretty hot this week. It started to rain again today. Nothing terribly intersting to report, I'm afraid. We knock doors here and contact in the street when we see families. Today we cleaned the house super good then went to the mall to eat lunch. I bought a mat to do exercises on and we ate at some taco burrito place, which was okay. I'll send a picture. I didn't eat the fries because two little girls probably around 6 and 3 years old came by begging for food. I'm not even sure if they had parents, but they looked homeless and hungry and I couldn't say no, so I gave them my fries. Always be grateful for what you have is the lesson I learned. We were invited to a birthday of a members little boy. They had cupcakes and some really good food which they gave us. I will send a picture... ummm. That's about it. For exercises, I am doing 100 pushups every night and we run in the mornings and do situps. Cheer loud at the wrestling matches for me. Let me now how everything goes, and for Austins rugby games too.

Love you all. The gospel is true. Jesus is the Christ. Seek for knowledge and study the scriptures and make good memories, those are the only things youll carry with you into the next life. Have a great week!

Elder Peterson

Local fruit called granadia

Mountains outside his apartment

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Mom,

I know you want a long letter, but I have no idea what to write this week. It was a normal week. We had a family come to church yesterday with a baptismal date for the 15th of November. We found some new people this week as well, which was good. My Spanish is pretty dang good. I usually can't hold a super great conversation in English and writing seems to be much easier. I've learned a lot this week. I've thought a lot about love. 1 John 4 is a great chapter. I wish I knew how to love God better. There a song that says "Learn to love Thee" or something like that. Perfect love gets rid of fear. He loved us so much that he gave his life for everyone. Even those who hated Him, who will never accept him. We can't even turn the other cheek half the time. God is merciful though, He gave us everything we need to become like him. Jesus Christ is the light and the life of the world. There's a Mormon message called " Wise Men Still Seek Him". It's super good.  You should watch it. Why don't the people hear our message and just feel that its not just a message, it life eternal? 

This sector is okay. There are parts that are pretty poor. We get wet a lot. It pours every day here. It's just me and my companion in this sector. This ward is actually really rough. Hardly any support from the members, or the bishopric, the church in this country is a lot different than our country, I imagine it's like that around the world. There isn't support here like the states. If someone is sick or pregnant they are on their own. In the states they don't have to cook a meal. But whatever, we just do the best we can.

 

Love,

 

Elder Peterson