Moving on....

Well I had changes. It was kind of hard to leave Tena. I had been there for a long time and have really come to love the people there. I will definitely miss it. Things will be in good hands though. Elder B stayed there as the district leader and he will be a good leader. He is the best companion I have ever had and definitely one of my best friends. I am in Ambato now with Elder H as a zone leader. Elder H is a great missionary. I've had a chance to talk to him on a few occasions. It should be a great change. I'm excited. There are 16 missionaries in the zone here and there will be four new missionaries coming. Things are good here. The weather is much nicer in my opinion. Its not too hot. I'm not sweating every second so that's a nice change. 

On Sunday there were some members of the church doing charity work in Tena from Twin Falls. I didn't know any of them, but one of the kids of one of the families is a good friend of B and D. I'll send a picture. 

The C family couldn't make it because they had to go to the hospital for one of their boys but he is fine now. This week they will definitely be there. Those boys are great!

 

Other than that there is nothing new to report. I'll send some pictures. Hope you have a great week! Love you!

When the spirit speaks...

This week was one of the most spiritual weeks I've had in the mission. We did not have a ton of lessons but the lessons we did have were very spiritual and edifying. At the beginning of the week we had a lesson with the C family. We have been working with the family since I got here and the two older boys (ages 17, and 15), have been coming to church faithfully now. They have to travel about an hour to get to church. And I imagine that they have to get up pretty early as well. Whenever we are with them I put my arms around both of them which is pretty easy because they not terribly big and tell them that they are my hero's! They truly are! This week we had a great lesson with the whole family. I remember distinctly during the lesson when the spirit entered the room, not little by little. It was very sudden. I have never felt the spirit like that during a lesson before. Hopefully, they will be in church this week. We had another lesson with JC as well. He has always been somewhat closed to the missionaries. The missionaries have taught his family for a while now, but Elder C and I were the first to be able to teach him. This week the Lord really prepared him to receive our message. Little by little, we have been able to gain his trust. For about an hour he stared into my eyes, occasionally looking down but almost the whole time he looked me in the eyes, and explained his thoughts and feelings and what he is struggling with right now, as well. He's not someone I can really picture crying but he cried as well. It was such a good lesson. Last night we taught him and his wife together. They have a lot of problems and need to decide whether they should give it another shot or separate. They have 4 kids. It was a very good lesson and the spirit was there. As we answered their questions and taught accordingly and really tried to listen, understand, and help the spirit grew stronger. As I testified at the end of the lesson I have never felt the spirit stronger. As I was speaking, I felt like a strength just entered into me like I had never felt before. It was like a convincing power that comes from inside of us, but that doesn't actually originate from us. Hopefully that makes sense or at least you understand what I mean. It really strengthened my testimony. It was a wonderful lesson. I felt honored to be a part of it. It was a very successful week. We had nine investigators in church and 12 less actives. Most of the less actives are progressing well. 

This Sunday we have changes. I have been here almost six months now. I have learned a ton. Part of me wants to stay. The people here still need a lot of help. But whatever the Lords will is, will be fine with me. My companion is awesome as well. I consider him one of my best friends. I hope everything is good. Love you! Have a great week!

Elder Peterson

May 25 letter

Well, another week has come and gone. Tomorrow I have to go to Quito to renew my visa. It's an hour bus ride there and back. We´ll probably leave tomorrow, Tuesday in the afternoon and we´ll get back Wednesday night. It's a lot of traveling. I might see some of the people I was in the MTC with though which should be fun. When I started my mission the missionaries who had a lot of time would talk about how they were tired of rice every day and I thought I would never get tired of it because I liked it but sometimes it does get boring. 

This week we had a conference in Puyo with President Christensen. It was great. I ripped a hole in my suit pants though about a foot long. It was funny, but you couldn't see it as long as I had my jacket on. We had quite a few new people in church this week, which was good. Hopefully they will progress. There are three more weeks left in this change. Today we played soccer until we couldn't stand up anymore. It is good to clear our heads every once in a while. 

I love you so much. Remember in two weeks it is fast Sunday. Read your scriptures and say your prayers as a family. I am studying a lot about Lehi's dream this week (the tree of life) and gave a talk on it this past Sunday. Something my mission president said is that once we have fallen off the straight and narrow path and let go of the iron rod, and fall in the abyss it is much easier to walk over to the great and spacious building, than crawl our way out and back to the straight and narrow path. The key is to never let go of the rod. Not even for a second. When we give an inch, we often tend to give 2 inches, then 3 inches and so on. The church is true. The Book of Mormon and the words of the prophets are the iron hold. It is easy to keep our eye on the iron rod, but it is different and we are more secure when we hold on to it. We must not just listen to the prophets, but do what they say. Love you. Have a great week.

Elder Peterson

Letter from May 18, 2015

We are preparing people still for baptism. Hopefully this change will make a difference. I would like to challenge you to invite others to gospel activities. I highly doubt you will offended anyone. Something I heard once is that "we are so worried sometimes about offending people (when it comes to sharing the gospel) that in the process we never save them." Those are words I will never forget.

That's what I'm trying to do. Even if don't see many fruits here in Tena in regards to baptisms, I believe my testimony is much stronger. 

This week we ate cow stomach and today we played basketball and soccer as a zone. The senior missionary couple is here now. They should help the branch out a lot. I'm not the counselor anymore, but it was an interesting responsibility. Well, love you. Hope you have a great week!!!

Elder Peterson

May 4 pictures only

letter from April 27

Mom,

This week nothing terribly exciting happened. We have changes next week. I will most likely stay here which is what I want. There is a lot of work to do still. I am excited to continue. This week one of the part member families we have been working with came to church. The dad has really decided to change. He wants an eternal family. The spirit has worked in him and he is being converted. If I do get changed I know he will get baptized and sealed in the temple, which makes me happy. We've had a few other good lessons as well. The branch here will grow. This week during the branch counsel they decided that the work will go forward here in Tena. We've been working hard for a long time without much success, but things are going to pick up. This week we had seven less actives in church as well. As missionaries, we want the branch to grow and flourish, but baptizing anybody we can get into the water hasn't worked here in the past. We have been fighting so that not just the missionaries, but members have the desire to help the branch grow. And for getting good missionaries that will convert people to the Lord and not to the name tag. 

 

One important lesson that I have been learning here in Tena is that the Lord is much more interested in the Soul being saved than the instrument he uses to save it. Maybe we wont see a ton of fruits here in Tena but the Lord called us here when it was time to dig and nurture around the tree, and when it's time for the harvest he will call other servants to labor in the vineyard. What's interesting about missionary work is that it's not important when you labor in the vineyard, it's how you labor. I think something like that was said in the last conference. Something I read in, Jesus the Christ says. "Let the seed be sown, even though the sower be straightway called to other fields or other duties; in the gladsome harvest he shall find his recompense." I feel I've been called away to other duties a lot of times and that I didn't get to see the fruits and that because I wasn't there in the baptism or to watch a family get reactivated like I didn't also have joy in the fruits. But now I realize it doesn't matter. That whether we see the fruits of our labors or not we can be happy knowing that we did our part when the Lord asked it of us. The truth is they were never our fruits anyways, they are the Lords. 

The church is true. I'm not sure how many times I will say those four words in this life, but I know I will never stop saying them. The Lord is a great Shepherd, and he loves His sheep. "Therefore, dearly beloved bretheren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for His arm to be revealed." D&C 123:17.

Love and miss you all. Have a great week!

Elder Peterson

April 20 - Just Pictures this week.