March 4, 2013
Alright, who's the one who's been praying for
us this week?
Yep, it's a pretty solid winner. This past week
has definitely been one of the absolute best of my mission. I've only got a
little bit of time, so I'll scrunch what I can into my e-mail!
So, the district leader meeting went SOOOOO
good! It was like a zone conference, but almost better I'd say because it was
so focused on just us figuring out how to help the mission grow and progress by
tackling problems and figuring out resolutions for them on the council. In
addition, I found out some great news from Orenburg! Elder and Sister Chepurov
and still doing way great there in Orenburg AND I found out that the guy we
baptized now has the priesthood AND he's sunday school president! Wild, right?
He misses us lots, which means I've got to get workin on his letter! Another
friend and her family are also doing well, which was wonderful to hear. I sure
do miss my Orenburg :)
But that's not even the best part. Sister
Kiestler and Sister Crane have been seeing miracles left and right in their
work. Their main investigator stayed for all 3 hours of Church yesterday and he
wants to take part in the activity that's happening on Friday! Woah snap! He's
been reading the Book of Mormon and reading about it and he drew out the events
of 1 Nephi 13 on a chalkboard just to make sure he got it when he met with the
sisters. If everything goes according to plan, he'll be baptized on April 13th!
Meanwhile, in our part of the city, an
investigator has been making incredible progress with praying and reading his
scriptures. We've now committed him to read the Book of Mormon everyday and to
discuss with God in prayer about setting a baptismal date. I feel really really
good about his progress.
So get this, right? For the past few weeks me
and Elder Warkentin have been receiving tons of referrals from members, less
actives and investigators. A couple of weeks ago we got a family referred to
us, a family that lives with a great active grandma in our branch. The father
of the family had been hesitant about coming to church or meeting the
Americans, so he's been putting it off and finally just said that he didn't
want to meet with us. Sunday, however, a sister brought the family’s two kids.
anyways, the kids loved it, but they took from Elder Warkentin a rock that
looked like a useless rock but is really a fossil with some memories attached
to it. So, after Church, we dropped by their home to get the rock and, lo and
behold, the parents were also there! We sat down and talked for a bit, and even
though at first the father was pretty wary of us, kinda giving us the cold
shoulder, by the very end he was saying "Come on by on Thursday! Oh, and
hey, can we come to the activity on Friday?" Needless to say, we bonded
with the family really well and we'll see what good stuff comes from that all
next week.
But that's still not even the best part! Get
this. So, one of the counselors in the branch presidency, came to us saying
"Hey, my daughter wants to meet with you and learn the Gospel." Well,
yes please! I was a little skeptical though. She and her parents and brother are
members who have been through the temple. Of the whole time the Wings have been
here they've really only seen her once or twice since she's avoided really
having meeting with the missionaries. She's heard everything, her parents have
talked to her about it before a million times and now, out of nowhere, she
wants to meet with us and learn the Gospel. I was thinking "what can you
teach someone who knows it all already?" Anyways, I didn't know what to
think of the meeting, but we knew everything was gonna be ok, so we were gonna
play this meeting by ear and by faith.
We walk into the apartment, and there we see the
daughter. She has, by her side, the Book of Mormon and just about every
brochure you can think of (including the food storage one!) and she looks like
she's about ready to cry. She told us "I want to be baptized before the
Wings go. I'm ready to learn now. I feel empty inside and I know this is my
answer." She proceeded to tell us that a few days ago she had a dream
wherein she saw her deceased husband in white, telling her that he was ok, that
he was in the next life and that people were teaching him correct doctrine and
principles and that she needed to do the same now. She felt the Spirit in the
dream, and she took time in talking to her parents and in looking at her life.
Her favorite things to do are to shop and hang out with her gal-pals, but in
looking at her life she felt empty inside. She looked at her parents life and
the life of her brother and saw just how much they'd changed (they have a
REALLY cool conversion story, but that's for another day). So, she made the
choice. She's quit drinking coffee, which was the only thing holding her back
Word of Wisdom wise. She's ready to pay tithing and to come to Church every
Sunday. It'll be a sacrifice for her work wise, but she's got a plan for it and
she's ready to come and be active. She cried so many times during that meeting.
I was so taken aback. Here we have about 12 years of prayers, fasting and
miracles pent up and this week, and especially yesterday, God opened the
floodgates of miracles for this family and for us. She will be baptized on
March 16th, if everything goes the way we hope it does. It's a real miracle.
It's days like Sunday, and just weeks like this
in general, that really remind you of how merciful and all knowing God is.
There's no doubt about it, the Lord works in His own time for the salvation of
His children and in His own ways. It's hard to express how exhilarating and
humbling it is to be in the right spot to see all these miracles happen. And
it's not us at all. The Lord could have put any missionaries here at this time,
I think, and these miracles would have happened. But He let me and Elder
Warkentin be here to see it and be His instruments in bringing it to full
actualization.
So, what's the advice for this week? Go on a
mission! It's really good for you! You see miracles and have good times. I
really hope you, Mom and Dad, go on a mission...even more so I hope you go to
Russia! Speaking of all of that, the Wings want to be at my homecoming, but
they want to know when my homecoming will be. Do we know when it'll be or how
that works out? That'd be spiffy :)
Thanks a bunch for your e-mail Dad! I'm gonna
have to ask you the same question I've been asking Sean (and this is really for
anyone in the family who wants to answer), but what exactly do you think I'd be
good at? I've been thinking about it a lot too, and I want to take classes at
BYU-I to figure out what I want to do, but any ideas would be spiffy. Ideas
would be wonderful :)
Anyways, time is up (called it!) so I'll end
that here. You all have a great week! I love you lots!
Love you always :)
--
Elder Peterson
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