04-22-13

Thanks to so many of Brian's friends for writing (emailing) to him!!  He was very touched and happy to hear from you! =-)

April 22, 2013

"What's with these pills?!" "Oh man, I don't even know how to explain...those are altoids! Candy! Makes your breath smell good!"

Hey there everyone! :)

Man! I just can't have a normal week! That's alright though, it's been a real blast and we've had some great experiences these past weeks. I am feeling a lot better, by the way, than I did last week and everything is hunky dorey.

I have my new companion now! His name is Elder Lundberg and he's from Boise Idaho! He wants to go into Aerospace engineering and he was at BYU-I for a semester before heading out. I'm really surprised at how much he can speak and in how much he understands Russian. I think he gets it quite a bit better than I did when I first came out to Russia! Our very first night together in contacting we found 4 potentials, and we prayed with 2 of them! Pretty cool! The first guy we prayed with was actually prayed for by Elder Lundberg and, in leaving, he shouted back and said "Hey Lundberg! Thanks for the prayer!" It was so cool! I'm proud of Elder Lundberg! He's gonna do real good :D (I know, bad grammar, sorry!). 

Here's the fun part of our week though. This is a story a little too long to explain by e-mail, so if you remember you'll have to ask me when I come back home! In short, the Sisters had a little run-in with the police (man, it sounds funny that way! They're innocent by the way, no worries), but we came over to where they were to help out and...they hauled us away too! Ha! We all rode in the back of a police car together, which was actually a pretty interesting but fun experience. We were at the police station for awhile, wherein they checked our documents and bags, everything was fine (it was fun translating for Elder Lundberg the whole time). It was about 9 o'clock when we got out of the police station and if a bus didn't come we'd have to order a taxi to get home...but a bus came! As we hopped on we started a great conversation with a guy, a 21 year old, who lost his faith because of alcohol. He took interest in us and requested a Book of Mormon and we met with him and his friend yesterday and talked about the Restoration and Joseph Smith. We have a meeting again with them on Wednesday after Zone Conference.

That's just the coolest, you know? You take a weird situation like going to the police that messes with your plans for the night, and then the next thing you know you meet a way cool guy and he's interested in the Church. Really, nothing is too hard for God, and no matter what, so long as we're faithful, he puts us exactly in the spot where we need to be, whether it be on a lesson with someone or on a bus late at night to talk to a new great guy.

This upcoming part of the letter is going to be for family I think, but your choice :) While in Samara and in talking with the Sisters it's come up a lot just how soon our group of missionaries is going home. Some people are getting a little trunky and lazy from it, others staying strong and disregarding it all. I had an interesting little conversation with an Elder while in Samara, that one of the missionaries I'd known, when he came home, cried for nearly a week. I was pretty surprised, because that Elder wasn't at all that inclined to cry. As it turns out he cried because he was away from Russia and his mission. Of course he loved seeing his family and friends again, but when he was alone or in the more quiet moments he cried. I was taken aback, because I'd never thought about it before, just how hard it will be. When I thought of it then, and now when I think about it (though I avoid the thoughts), I get teary eyed or just straight up cry a bit. I can't imagine how hard it's be to leave these people I love. Gosh, it's the biggest blessing ever to be on a mission and serve. So often I focus on becoming better at the language, contacting well, teaching great and juggling all these other things that I forget perhaps the main purpose of this all. I left onto my mission because I loved God, and what I do know isn't just because of my love for God, but because I love these people so much. It's maybe a dumb question, but as your missions were coming to a close, what kind of feelings and thoughts did you have? Did you miss the people? What did you do to cope with that and to continue doing awesome good things till the very end? Thanks a lot :)

This week will be zone conference and exchanges with the Sisters, so lots of great things are going to happen. We're still working hard with S and N to help them make it to baptism along with lots of others. Gosh, I love Balakova and I love being here. I'm probably among the luckiest in my mission to be in such a great district and branch with great members and friends. 

Anyways, that's what I've got for this week. Best of luck, alright! Be good :)

I love you lots

--

Elder Peterson

P.S. Thanks for the e-mail addresses Mom! I got a flood today, and I know that was in great part thanks to you :)

04-15-13

Brian really wants to hear from his friends!!  Please send him an email at peterson.brian@myldsmail.net  and let him know how you're doing!!  =-)

April 15, 2013

"Man Elder Peterson...you're pretty old!" "Quiet you! I'm still a young whippersnapper!" "When was your first train ride?" "Well...back in September of last year going to Zavodskoi!" "Elder Peterson..." "Yeah?" "You're old." "Dang!"

Hey there everyone!

Man, I know I say this every week, but this week really was a crazy one. Based on your e-mails I don't think you've seen it yet but if you go and check out my bank account you'll see a healthy sum taken out for medical bills. That's right, Elder Peterson surivived Russian hospital!!!! Nothing too crazy, really. I had some serious stomach pains and nothing was helping pill wise so while I was there in Saratov Elder Davidov and I (not me and Elder Davidov!) went to essentially an urgent care who promptly sent us to the hospital to get an ultrasound and some blood work. They didn't find anything drastic and they gave me some pills that have helped a lot. The Church will refund everything and so no worries on that, just waiting for the refund now. But if you're wondering why there's a healthy chunk of money gone from my account, that's why.

That was pretty cool miracle though, by the way. Ever since a week and a half ago I've had this stomach pain and when we came up to Saratov to do exchanges I felt pretty awful, and I was lucky enough to be in a good town with good medical care with a Ukranian helping me all along the way! It's pretty funny though, because we (as missionaries) need to stay together at all times, a rule that pretty much nobody else ever understands. To make sure that we stayed together throughout the whole process I had to make Elder Davidov my translator (he speaks perfect English, so no problem). It was funny though, especially at the hospital, when the doctors were talking to each other "Yeah, that Peterson guy doesn't know a lick of Russian! He just uses his friend as a translator!". They were preparing a nurse to give me a shot, which had to be done alone, and while she was giving me my shot I honestly forgot that I was supposed to fake not knowing Russian. We striked up a great conversation and after the shot she said "wow, the others said that you didn't speak Russian, but you speak excellently!" I told her thanks, and at that point it didn't matter since we were leaving if she told the doctors or not, but it was a pretty funny experience.

I could talk a lot about Russian hospitals and all the stuff that goes on there, but you don't want to hear about that! You want to hear about my crazy cool transfer news, don't you?! That's right, there was a change in our little Balakovian district...I'm training again!!!! Crazy, right? Elder Warkentin got transfered to Kazan (the area where he started his mission even, which is cool) and the Sisters are staying the same. I'm here in Samara right now with a good keyboeard and a non-sketchy internet cafe, which is a really nice change. The new guys should be coming in tomorrow night and so Wednesday I'll meet the new one! There's 14 new missionaries coming in this cycle with a ton more coming in over the next few months. What's even weirder is that the group of missionaries right above me just went home which means...my group is the oldest in the mission. 

Weird, right? That's messed up! During a break at Conference Sister Kiestler and Sister Crane came up to me and said "Elder Peterson...we thought about it, and you've only got 12 weeks left! That's crazy!" And it is crazy, which is why were not gonna talk about it anymore. In short, I'm gonna be making this last bit of time my best here in Russia. And how could it not, because I'm still in Balakova! Yay!

I wish I had more news in reference to the work, but honestly it's prety much just been the hospital and conference. Conference, by the way, was so dang cool! This conference just seemed to personal and had some really good stories. Way to go Elder Holland, as usual. His talks always make me cry. President Beck in the Priesthood session also had a really good talk.

So, real quick. That's dang cool that Mary is leaving on her mission soon, but...which mission is she going to? All I know is that she's going to Kiev somewhere. If it's hard to remember, it's probably the Dnepopetrovsk mission (heh, that's fun to spell in English). In any event, that'd be cool to know where she's going! If you could grab me her e-mail address too that'd be spiffy.

Speaking of e-mail addresses, have we been able to get ahold of anyone elses? I know I bug you a lot about it, but I really do, if possible, want to contact those people as soon as possible and they haven't written yet. Thanks for your help! :)

Well, that just about wraps it up for now! I hope you have a splendid week and that everything goes great! Enjoy the spring weather, it's super nice and sunny outside today.

With love

--

Elder Peterson

04-08-13

April 8, 2013

*hop on a bus* "Today is better than yesterday!-jazzy instrumental-" Yeah, it really will be a good day!

Hey there everyone!

Gosh, it's been one really weird but good week. We had dealing with the police for getting stuff secured for our branch building, the unexpected news that S will be in Moscow for a month and some variety of stomach bug that put a weird wrench in the week, but despite all of that, it was really clear how God's been preparing some great stuff for us this past week and for the weeks to come.

First off, cool story of the week! So, one of my good friends here in Balakovo is a member. When we first came here he was completely less active but with the help of the Wings and a couple of really cool activities he started coming to Church again! Well, this past Sunday...he was the very first to testify! He's come such a long way from coming to Church in regular clothes to being snappily dressed in a suit and his favorite tie from Elder Wing. He came up and very simply and humbly bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and the truthfullness of the Church. The Spirit was strong and you could tell that everyone (especially us!) were so proud of him bearing testimony on Sunday. In walking back home from Church he explained that he was reading in the Liahona that morning about the Book of Mormon and how he felt like he needed to bear his testimony about it on testimony meeting. As he went up, he didn't know what to say but said "as soon as I opened my mouth, Elder Peterson, I felt the Spirit enter my heart and give me words to say. He helped me testify!" He has big plans for helping his wife accept the gospel (we have a meeting with them both on Tuesday!) and he's been reading Preach My Gospel to figure out how to help us and to help her.He's so cool!

That reminds me of a lesson we had yesterday, actually. So, quick news, N and S are still planning on being baptised, but because S is going to Moscow we moved both of their baptismal dates...to May 31st! Yay Mom! As it turns out that is N's birthday (their (grand)daughter) and it works out great with her work schedule.Anyways, yesterday we had a lesson with N and N with President Dzubluk to help one of them start the 12 step program to quit smoking! The Spirit works in interesting ways. One of the things that I've really gained a testimony of is that God has called us specifically to be where we need to be (not just missionaries, but all of us) for the good of our own and others spiritual growth. Often I think, maybe,that in the back of my mind is "alright, you were called here and your life experiences, thoughts and stories will help these people out! Go to!" After President Dzubluk asked a question that neither one knew so he turned to me to answer it. I started out by giving the basic answer and then was about to tell a little story in connection with it when President kindly interrupted me and asked N another question closely related to the first and my answer. She bore testimony, based on the question, of our incredible relationship with God and the importance of personal prayer and study and the Spirit bore witness that it was true. At that moment, that was exactly what was needed and no matter what I could have said it would not have produced the same effect or given her the chance to grow spiritually from the experience. I'm so greatful that we're able to learn from one another and the God allows us all to grow and to share so that we're all given strength and learn. Pretty cool!

This next week is going to be a full one, we've got exchanges in Saratov (yay!) on Wednesday and Thursday and we're working on getting some weekly activities going on here. Oddly enough, this upcoming week is the last of the cycle, leaving just two more after this is done.Yipes! Pretty exciting stuff going on though what with N and S, A, S and everyone else! More news as it comes in!

Thank you so much for your love and support! I hope you're enjoying the weather as much as we are! All the snow has melted now and we're walking around in just our suitcoats these days. About time too! It is April after all.

By the way, when is Easter? It's different here in Russia than with you all.

Anyways, I sure do love you. Have a great week!

With love

--

Elder Peterson

04-01-13

April 1, 2013

"You've got to be kidding! This is gonna drive DearElder out of buisness! Sweet!!!"

Hey there everyone!

And when I say everyone, I really do mean EVERYONE! We got some crazy cool news from the First Presidency that now we are allowed to e-mail...EVERYONE! Yep, that's right folks. You can now, without any problem, e-mail me. So sweet, right? Because of thise-mail time ahs now been upped to 90 minutes as opposed to the usual 60. So cool! I just about died when I heard that since I'm the most terrible at writing people back. As possible, I want everyone's e-mail address (seeing ashow I have no-ones -I thought I sneakily could have gotten Miranda's e-mail address from some variety of e-mail from you, but the search didn't bring up anything). Like I said, as possible, I want everyone's e-mail, but most specifically/urgently, I would like: Miranda Mundt, Rebekah Hoggan (Sister Hoggan, her mission e-mail would best), Alyssa Whittemore, Bethany Budka, Alex Simons and J.T Williams (on facebook most likely Justin Williams) and Jordan Pope. Thanks so much! The easiest way for me to get your e-mail address is simply to e-mail me! My e-mail is peterson.brian@myldsmail.net . I'll be looking forward to hearing from you, or you can soon look forward to hearing from me when I get your address! :)

Speaking of other awesome news. we've made some really big progress with N and S this past week. When we first started teaching them it was mostly S that wanted to get baptised. N said that she wanted to wait longer until mid-spring really before she'd start seriously considering baptism. This week we didn't try to change her decision, we just taught the Restoration and encouraged the whole family to pray and read together and after a lesson we had with the branch president, N said "I think I also want to get baptised with S...hmmm". We set S's baptismal date for the 20th of April and tentatively set N's date for that day too. Well, we got an unexpected phone call from President Sartori on Wednesday that he and Sister Sartori were gonna come down on Saturday and Sunday for their last visit to Balakova (so strange. We leave within one week of each other). Also, as a coincidence, we had sister exchanges planned for that day, so for that day we went as a group of 6 missionaries to every lesson we had, which was a bit crazy crowd control wise, but it went very well! One of those lessons we had was with N and S. We had a wonderful lesson on the Spirit and the value of family relationships, a great bit of it was taught by the Sartori's too, which was wonderful! But! What was even cooler was that at the end of the lesson, as N was hugging Sister Sartori she said "Hey, Sister Sartori, guess what!" "What is it N?" "S and I and both going to be baptised on the 20th of April! Isn't that wonderful?!" Gosh, I just about exploded with happiness when I heard her said that! She's changed so much in even just this past week and it's been a huge privelage just to see that.

I had a cool thing I wanted to share with you especially Dad, something I think I appreciate a lot more now. On Sunday I got to translate for interviews for getting temple recommends. One of them was for Y's mom who was bursting from excitement that she gets to, next May, go to the temple all together as a family so that Y can get sealed to them. After that N, the (grand)daughter of N and S came up to me and said "hey, guess what Peterson? We're all going with the K family (Y and fam) to the temple next May too! Isn't that great?". After  N told me that I remembered my first time going through the temple. It was right after I'd gotten my initiatories I was sitting in a room with you, Dad, waiting for the temple president. He asked a few questions and said some really important stuff too, I'm guessing, all of which I've forgotten. I remember though him asking you which child I was, you telling him that I was the last of your 5 sons. The president asked if all of my other brothers had also been through the temple, and you told him yes. You then started to cry a bit, and in the moment I didn't at all understand why or exactly what significance it really had for you (and just in general) that all of your sons had made it through the temple. It's pretty much the greatest blessing we can achieve in this life, when you really think about it. The promises that you can be sealed in the temple with your family for all eternity and the flood of blessing associated with the temple that affect this life and the next can't be duplicated in even the smallest degree anywhere else. Almost at no other time of my life than right now have I seen how blessed I am and those families whose familes have been sealed in the temple. There's almost a physical light and difference you can see in those people; a happiness that you just can't find in any other people. It's awesome. Thanks Dad for helping me to start realizing that almost exactly 2 years ago at the temple :)

Heh, thanks for adding Sister F onto facebook! She called me on Monday making sure that she was writing to the right people and that "Carol" was a my mom's name! We talked more during the week and she was worried that you wouldn't be able to read the e-mail she'd sent you, and then the day you added me she called me and said "Elder Peterson! Your parents added me on facebook! I'm gonna show them all the pictures of you and that video! Tell your parents thanks so much for sending such a terrific son to Russia! All my love to them!" She really does love you, Mom and Dad, and she's one of my favorite members in the world. Have fun looking at the photos and video! By the way, in answer to your question, Dad, it means essentially "Happy March 8th! (that's womens day)." I don't remember what the song was about, though I can tell you it was most likely some kind of "yay for women!" song. Pretty typical for the holiday!

Well, that's what I've got for this week! Still no package unforunately, but I'm sure it'll come soon. Until then my socks are holding up alright! :)

I sure do love you! Thank you so much for being so awesome! Have a great day, and as for the rest of you (non-family members)...don't forget to shoot me an e-mail! :)

With love, as always

--

Elder Peterson

03-25-13

March 25, 2013

"And after she said that, Elder Peterson, I just thought to myself 'well, I didn't expect that one!'. Can you teach them tonight?" "YOU BET WE CAN!!!!!" :)

Hey there everyone?

Man, I can't even describe how cool this past week was. Balakova is pretty much the coolest place ever.

Except for one thing! The weather here is about the craziest thing ever! On Tuesday it was super warm and a great majority of the snow piles melted which flooded the streets and made it so that you were either walking through rivers, mud or this slush. Then, of course, it all had to refreeze, snow more, rain more, and then heat up again to make it just that much worse to walk through. BUT! Slowly but surely it's all being evaporated and the mud is drying out so it's all good. There is a funny saying that me and Elder Warkentin came up with though. There is a word in Russian "kasha" (pronoucned like Kah-sha) that literally means porridge (pretty much). But, whenever someone is kinda crazy or has a really unreasonable idea, it is very common to say that "He's got kasha in his head!" In addition, it's pretty normal to call the slush on the streets kasha too. So, one gray morning I felt poetic and said "Kasha on the streets, kasha in the kitchen, kasha in the head, kasha is everywhere!" And not really till now did I realize that the poetic factor of it is all taken away because it's written in English and not Russian, but suffice it to say that it does rhyme and it does make the Russians giggle!

Cool stories time now! So, there's the less active we've been working with. The first time we met with him was really the first time on my mission that I'd really asked for contacts. A contact is a person that is referred to you to teach. It was kinda awkward, because I didn't know what to say, but nevertheless  I asked him on my first or second week of being here in Balakova for contacts and he started with his story that he was old (he's 77, pretty old for Russian guys!) and that all of the people he'd knew had left and how none of his family wanted to hear. And then he paused and said "well, there are my neighbors …!" Woah, it works! The second time we had a meeting with him we asked him again for contacts and he started the exact same way, then explained that his neighbors were out of town and then paused again and said "well, you know, there is this lady who lives on the floor right below me!" She'd gone through some hard times (her 3 husbands and daughter had all died) and she's a pretty lonely grandma. This time he was even more excited to share the gospel with her than he was with his neighbors and asked if we all could go down and give her a Book of Mormon! Cool, right? Well, this past meeting we watched Finding Faith in Christ (man, such a good movie) and then we asked one more time. Well, he did the same spiel, nearly word for word, and then...gave us another contact! And this time he himself thought of how he could talk to her about the Church (by inviting her over to watch the movie with him!) and then he thought "well hey! I can do that for 2 others too!" He's so excited to share the gospel and he even gave his first talk in a really long time at Church this past Sunday. It's been way cool to work with him and a good evidence of the scripture "seek and ye shall find".

But an even great miracle happened on Saturday. So you know that our investigator got baptised and was the last member of the family to get baptized. Well the family also have some neighbors, including a 14 year old who is baptized actually!( The only one in her family), that saw this whole experience go down at the baptism. Saturday morning, while the mother of the girl who was baptized was walking the dog, 2 friends walked up to her and started talking. One burst into tears and said "You've got to call the missionaries right now! I want to be baptised! Can you do that? Can you call them?" and said "look, I know I need to quit smoking, and I'm working on that now. But when I quite smoking fully, I want to join the Church. Can the missionaries help?" Well of course we can! That's what we do! Elder Warkentin and I just about bounced off the walls after having gotten that phone call and now we're gonna be meeting with them nearly everyday to help prepare them for baptism. The investigator changed her work schedule so she can come to Church every Sunday and her friend is preparing to come every Sunday when spring time finally hits (should be in the next week or two I hope!). It's so cool that the girl who got baptized was able to be such a good example for others!

Also, that reminds me! She also had a cool experience on Monday apparently. So she came to work and all her colleage/galpals (as she calls them) were gathered together in the lunch room to have a confrontation with her. They said “ we know you've joined a bloodthristy cult that sacrifices cats and steals apartments and we're here to stop you!" Yipes! But man, she was a champion and just answered all their questions and explained why she quit drinking coffee and what happens at Church and so forth. Apparently no one was really that convinced by the end, but she was such a champion for handeling alll of that so well. She's the coolest!

Real quick for you Mom. That's a bummer to hear, but I guess Rebekah hasn't goteen my most recent letter yet (I sent it I think about a month ago...my bad on that one!), but I'm sure her parents will get it to her somehow. If you get the chance, please remind her that she's one of my best friends and she is gonna be one the absolute best missionaries there in Brazil. It'll be good to write her some letters from home as opposed to her writing from home to me for a change! I miss her already, but she's doing what God wants most. God be with you till we meet again, my friend. :) I haven't gotten the package yet, but it's probably just sitting in the office in Samara, so no worries! Everything should be worked out with that other request for a friend here, they apaprently already sent a friend request to you/me, so that's good :)

I gotta go now, so I'll talk to you all later! Have a great week and thank you so much for your prayers and love! 

I love you!

--

Elder Peterson

03-18-13

March 18, 2013

"What's this green stuff" "Green chile!" "Why's it green? Looks funny" "Elder Davidov, just eat the burritto. It'll be good for you!"

Hey there everyone! :)

Oh my gosh, these past 3 weeks we have accumulated about a billion and 6 miracles. I mean it. Want to hear the final cool miracle of the girl we baptized? Of course you do!

So, we'd tried really hard (us and our ward mission leader) to find a place for her to get baptized and decided on a place called Russian Banya (you need to look up the nuances of a banya, it's pretty hilarious the traditions behind it). Essentially, a banya is like a sauna. We all gathered there early early in the morning (we woke up at 5:30 -shudder-) It was a group of about 12 people: The family, all 6 missionaries, President D (heh, that looks funny in English, I want to hear how you pronounce that after my mission) and a friend. Pretty solid group. Anyways, everything was all set, great music, great talk on baptism and then it was finally time for the baptism. But oh no!

The pool was too deep!

And when I say the pool was too deep I mean if I got in the pool and tried to stand it'd be up to my chin deep. Not gonna fly for a baptism. So, what was there to do? The only thing we could think of was to place one of the benches in the pool itself to give the father and his daughter something to stand on...but the bench floats! It was about the coolest and most heart tugging thing to see our brother try with all his might to push and force the bench under the water. He surfed a good number of times as he, unsuccesfully, tried to get the bench to stay down.

And then, he got an idea! 

We figured out that the bench could be wedged at an angle between one edge of the pool (along with the dad forcing it down with his feet) and a rung of the ladder that led into it. It was pretty crazy and it looked kinda like trying to baptize someone on a teeter totter, but it worked. She got baptized. 

I know it's just a funny little story, but think about it for a second. Here is a father who has waited for more than 6 years to see his daughter finally accept the Gospel. She had a dream, a complete change of heart and in the course of 2 really short week we all taught her the Gospel and prepared her for the covenant. All these things, and no matter the obstacles (and there were lots) the family pushed on. Now, finally, at the Banya itself, here is Brother K more happy than I've ever seen him struggling to overcome the last barrier keeping his daughter from being baptized...a too-deep pool. But no matter what, as funny of a testimony as it may sound, I know that the Lord always provides a way, even if it seems difficult for us like a floating wooden bench.

Needless to say, it's been a rock solid week. For the first time of my mission I got to work with an elder I'd never worked with before, Elder Owen who, coincidentally, is also from New Mexico! He lived in Albuquerque his whole life, but his parents just moved to Maine, so no one will actually be on that finally plane ride for me to Albuquerque. Oh well! I'd been saving my New Mexican food for such an occasion, so we made some super tasty burritos and had the privelage of feeding a Ukrainian New Mexican food for the first time. Although at first he was a skeptic, he loved it by the end. 

Maybe a goofy question, but I remember when I drove to school in the mornings that White Rock has a Russian sister city. What city is that? Chances are it's no where in my mission, but that'd be pretty cool if it was! 

I had a couple of reuqests for you that I think you'll like. The Wings just went home and, unfocrtunately, my camera's batteries were dead for the baptism. BUT! The Wings have pictures and by the time you read this letter they may or may not already be home. Regardless, if you could send them an e-mail and say hi for me (maybe talk to them by skype! They'd be tickled pink) and request the baptism photos you can see the latest of Elder Peterson's mission! In addition, one of my really good friends here in Balakova wanted to become my friend on facebook. She should be found on facebook as [  ] from the city Balakova (or, in Russian letters [if you can't find her on Facebook just e-mail her my homepage and that should be good. She knows a bit of English (and has google translate or me even if it came ot it) so you can write her a bit in English if you'd like :) She has a video of me and Elder Rekow singing last year that she wanted to share with you all.

One last request too, sorry for the bunches! Like you already said, Mom, Rebekah is leaving on her mission next week (yipes! That's so cool but so dang soon too!) If you could tell her goodbye for me, ask if she got my letter and request her mailing address(es) for while she's in Brazil, that'd be really spiffy. My friend Jeanette Zaleski is also going soon, so if you could do the same for her, that'd be real nice :)

Well, that's a good little summary of the week. Things are going really great here! The Wings are gone, which is really sad, but other than that there are no other changes for the district, so we all get to be together at least for another 4 weeks (this cycle is an unusally short one). Thanks so much for you help, prayers and support. More than ever I've really been able to see how your prayers and faith, along with those of Balakova, have added up to a real miracle. I sure do love you lots! Be good now :)

With love

--

Elder Peterson

03-04-13

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