Hey Family,
Everything is going great! I have already e-mailed some responses to some of the family but here is the one to all of you! The mission is going so well. We have, just within this past week, picked up 3-4 new investigators and I feel like one of them will DEFINITELY get baptized. I havent even met with any of them though! Haha. Anyway, I have been reading the "BOM" almost any chance I get. It is kind of weird because I couldn't stand to read for more than 10 minutes at a time and now I just cant get enough! I have been highlighting a whole bunch of stuff like where it talks about baptism, faith, repentance, the Holy Ghost, the Atonement, Enduring to the end, the Plan of Salvation, Christ-like attributes, prayer, and then just personal interest kind of stuff. It is amazing how much there is in chapters 3 and 4 of Mosiah! It's incredible! I have had a lot to study and a lot more that I want to learn. I am only halfway through the Book of Mormon right now and I have already found so much!
I have been asked to play the piano for 1 baptism already and this upcoming Saturday I will be playing at another! Oh! and I got to play at a Zone Conference we just had. The Lord blesses us greatly if we just use the talents that we have been given. I Know Mom and Dad... you have always told me that. But this time I experienced it! I was asked to play the night before (not having a piano really made my nervous right about then) and had no time to practice, I just had to pick a Christmas Hymn. I got to the conference that morning a little early in hopes of being able to practice. Lo and behold... the building was locked and we were the first to arrive. We get inside and we immediately start the meeting. I had absolutely no time to practice. We went through the first half of the meeting and then had lunch. Right after lunch they called "the musical group" up (it was really impromptu) and then we just went at it! I had to perform something that I was sight reading!! AHH!! The Lord was right there the entire time... I only messed up once or twice. But for me, having to sight read like that... that would have been impossible if there wasnt someone else there to help me.
Now, for the spiritual message. When we were at this Zone Conference, we were lucky and able to hear from a member of the 70. We got to hear a message from Elder Callister. He shared a great message on becoming consecrated missionaries. Most of us are regular missionaries, which is great! We are doing that which we have been called to do and we are doing it in a way that is pleasing in the eyes of our mission president. Consecrated missionaries do the exact same thing except they take it just a step further and do it in a way that is pleasing unto Him. He gave us a way to kind of put it into perspective. He wrote two numbers on a board, 99.5 and 100. He talked about the two numbers being so close together but really, there is a world of difference between the two. Elder Callister then put a C next to the two numbers which then made them "degrees Celsius." Do you know what the difference is? 99.5 is hot water. 100 is boiling water. Wooo, one bubbles and the other kind of shakes, big deal right? Wrong! Boiling water produces steam while hot water... well, its just hot! Steam is 1,780 times stronger than hot water! I had no idea! What a big difference that .5 degrees can make! If you look at missionary work from that perspective a regular missionary is one way and a consecrated missionary is 1780 times more effective than the other! Now apply this to yourselves as members. How often do you talk with your neighbors or people at work about the gospel? How do we know if we are "regular" members or "consecrated" members? Neil A. Maxwell said this, "if we are serious about our discipleship to the Lord, He will make us do that which is most difficult." Think about your life right now? Do you have struggles? Are there things in your life that you can learn from? Or are you simply going through life, no complaints nor worries, and not a whole lot of change? That one sentence, stated by one of our apostles, gives us the key on how to gauge our devotion to Christ and His work.
I know that as we pray to recognize both the blessings and trials in our lives we will be able to tell how big of a role Christ truly plays in our lives. That as we are faced with difficult tasks we can know that it is because Christ and our Heavenly Father are either trying to teach us something or have put us in a position to teach. Go through life's trials with the utmost of opposition, "be of good cheer" as Christ has directed us. As we do this we will be greatly blessed and our families will be blessed because of our good decisions. I leave this message with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
~Elder Peterson
