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