E-Mail August 27, 2012

*This last e-mail from Daniel was a pretty short one. It didn't really even give a good update on how things are going, it was kinda of contradictory, and it ended kind of abruptly. Here I'll let you read and see what I mean.*

Sorry for the short one this week guys. I'm a loser, I know...

 

This week has been kinda sorta good/bad. We didnt have a great teaching week but we did just pick up a new investigator that we had been waiting on for a few weeks. Her name is Jessica. Taller, skinny and a bright ol' red-head. She is in the Singles Ward and dating a guy named Andrew. He didnt want to push it on her and then have her get baptized for the wrong reasons. So he waited... and waited... but yesterday she came up to us and asked us when we can meet! We were super stoked! So we have a lesson with her later tonight and we think we might be able to set her up for a baptismal date! Woot!! That was really the only good thing that happened. There were a couple other funny moments but I dont remember exactly what they were. Elder O'Toole kind of tries to take over things some times and others he just sits back and lets me make the decision. It's a little frustrating. Because he has been in the area for so long he shoots down a lot of my ideas on how to do things because he says that they wont work. Other times, when I ask for his opinion about something he just doesnt have one. I dont know. It's all good though. We get along pretty well and I think, from what the ZL's were kind of hinting at, he might go senior this next transfer. OR since this next transfer coming in has 22 people in it! he might train. Who knows?! Haha, it'll be good for him either way.

~Elder Daniel Peterson

2155 S. 55th st. #1048

Tempe AZ 85282

E-Mail August 20, 2012

Hey Familia!

This week was a better week than the last couple have been. We are slowly starting to teach more and more. One of our wards, unfrotunately, only wants us to work with Less-Actives which means that they dont really try to help us out with the non-member side of missionary work. Kind of frustrating but, we will do what the Bishop asks of us. Anyway, a couple of things have happened this week.

Monday, not too much happened. We did the whole morning routine (shower, breakfast, study, e-mail, shop) and then we went up to ASU and I got a couple of things. So Pa, if you notice in my account that 45 bones were just blown, it's because of that. I got a wicked-sweet hat and some shorts that are almost too small =P Hahaha, but it was kewl! Now I have a hat I can wear around on P-days! But, because we didnt have a car we rode the Orbit Bus the whole time and that kind of wasted an hour or two of our play time. But, you always see a bunch of interesting people on those busses, that's for sure! Well after our trip back and forth and jumping busses to get from place to place we went to go play volleyball with some other elders. Lot's of fun, especially since it has been so dang long since I have played! Then we went home and had dinner. Had a lesson that fell through but we went to FHE in our singles ward, like we do every monday night, which is always fun. Dont worry about it though, President Howes has told those of us with YSA wards to become a part of the ward. Be their friends and let them all know that you are still human. Obviously no dating or anything like that (; JK!  But yeah, that was our Monday!

Tuesday was District Meeting. It was a fun one. Our District Leader is Elder Harrison and his first name is Dylan so he came up with a bunch of "A.K.A." names for himself on the training and he announced them before we started. He walks up to the podium and says, "Thanks for coming to District meeting today. The training is on ______. The training will be given by Me, Elder Harrison a.k.a. Big Dill, a.k.a. Lil' Dill, a.k.a. Harry Dill, a.k.a. Dill Pickle." It was hilarious the way he was saying it too, LOL. But after that was over we had another lesson fall through but! we had a lesson with a girl named Jodi Wilson. Now, I dont know if I had ever talked about her when I was down in Ahwatukee but, I have taught her before. When I was first out we started to teach her and then she decided she wanted to go to the Singles Ward so we handed her off to the Elders that cover that ward. Well, during one of our lessons back then she would ask all these deep doctrine questions as she would read the Book Of Mormon. One of them was, "If the Atonement of Christ was infinite, covering from the beginning of time to the end of time, why was the Law of Moses ever implemented?" I had NO idea how to answer that. Anyway, we handed her off to the other missionaries and she ended up stopping to the discussions. Her dad had anti-ed her and so she stopped. But, 3 weeks into my being her she wants to take back up with us. She wants to do it with the same missionaries the entire time too. It is super kewl, all the timing and everything. I think... I THINK that she might be that one person I'm down here for. Who knows though. Anyway, that was really all that was exciting and worth talking about for Tuesday.

Wednesday come along and nothing happened until the end of the day. We had dinner cancel on us so we did that on our own which worked out perfect! We had dinner at the church building where we were going to be having a baptismal interview later. We had the interview at 6 with one of our investigators named Jeff Seiger. If I hadnt told you guys about him, he is awesome! I didnt start to teach him but when he did first start meeting with missionaries his very first question was, "Do you have to be ordained to pass the Sacrament?" He is super-solid. We had his interview and he passed, Woot!! After that he took us to a Mission President's Devotional that we had invited him to. Elder Aidukaitus was speaking. He is awesome! I love that guy! He is an area 70 from Brazil. He started out his talk, with this super thick accent that sounds like the dad off of "How To Train A Dragon", by saying, "Hello everybody. I am so glad you could be here. If you happen to notice an accent, it's because I'm from Oklahoma!" It was hilarious! He was there to talk to all of the investigators and Recent Converts of the church. It was great. He said a lot of good things for all of them to hear. Then comes Thursday!

Thursday morning we had to be at a church building I had never been to before at 7:30am. Why?? Because Elder Aidukaitus was going to speak to all of us missionaries directly! We talked about alot. We all had taken this survery a while back about our mission. What we think we were doing well and what we think we were doing poorly so that he would have an idea of what to speak on. Well planning was something we all though we did well and he tore us apart on it! Haha, it was really good though. He started to talk about what an effective planning session will be like and how it should go and all that kind of stuff. Well, if you were to look over at Pres. Howes face at that time, his jaw was dropped and his eyes were wide with disbelief that he was telling us that we should take so long to plan effectively! In Preach My Gospel there is a chapter in there, chapter 8 that is entitled "Use Time Wisely." In there it describes the steps for a Weekly Planning session and what all it should entail and about how long it should take. The longest it says it should take is 3 hours. That's about right! Well with everything Elder Aidukaitus was telling us he told us it should take us 5 hours. Sometimes even 6 if we are new to the whole thing! It was ridiculous! Then he talked about our Finding efforts. Our mission averages 1.1 new investigators per week. That's nothing!! So he gave us some ideas on how to increase that number. We are currently all trying it out. I will let you know what it is and how well it goes later on =P

Friday we took Weekly Planning! We had a few other things to do that interrupted our planning but, even up to now, we havent been able to have the time to accomplish everything that we had been asked to do. Nothing else really happened on Friday except for a couple of lessons and things.

Saturday came around and we tried to finish planning, like I said, we still arent entirely done. But, nothing really happened until that night... Jeff's Baptism!! It was ridiculously awesome! He was baptized into the YSA ward and he had enough people there to fill up 2/3 of the chapel! His entire Catholic family and a whole bunch of other friends. Tony Tillman, our old Ward Mission Leader, was going to make the programs and everything and print them out. That never happened so had got a note card and wrote it our for the person that was conducting. Everything that we had originally planned didnt happen. We had a couple of speakers that didnt get notified so we had some RM's give talks and a couple other things. It was perfect though! The Spirit was SO strong there it was incredible. The Lord provided a way for the baptism to go as He wanted it to go. I'm still stoked about it! Hahaha!

Sunday rolled around and we had church all day. Nothing special.

Now we are here and typing! Still! But, it is all about to end because that is really everything that went down this week! Haha, I love you all and hope everything is going well! I miss you!


~Elder Daniel Peterson

2155 S. 55th st. #1048
Tempe AZ 85282

E-Mail August 13, 2012

Hello Familia! (See Taylor, I can speak espanol too!)

This week was awesome for us! We only had about 8 lessons but, they were productive. We saw so many blessings this week it was ridiculous!  So, we decided we would try to use the bus system this week and walk more. In my head I thought it was going to slow down the work because we werent going to be able to go directly from place to place. It actually helped out a little bit! We were able to talk to a lot more people because we slowed down and we saw the blessings from that! Pres. Ballard made a promise to missionaries that if we talk to 10 people a day our baptisms would double. We havent seen our baptisms double but we have seen that people are a heck a lot nicer and more open to standing and talking with us for a bit. We actually were walking from one appointment to another and we came across this guy getting out his car. He had some stuff with him so we asked if we could help in any way. He told us no and we went into our whole shpeel on what it is we were doing. He said he knew and then he started to talk about the pidgeons on top of his roof. Kind of random, we thought. We started talking about how they were God's creatures and how if he blesses those birds by feeding them than God would bless him. So he started to throw bread at these 40 pidgeons just sitting on his roof and they started eating. We got into a conversation for about 5 minutes and he told us "You guys are the best." We tried to play the humble card (We all know we are though ;) ) and shrugged it off. He asked us, "Who can yo think of that is better than you?" I said "Well my parents for one." He stopped me and said "No, dont even go there. No one is better than you (pointing to me now). You are the best! You are the best (pointing to Elder O'Toole)! I am the best! Dont let anybody tell you differently!" And he went on for like, 10 minutes explaining this to us and how we are unique and the only ones like us and all that kind of stuff. It was hilarious! It totally made me feel like I was the best though! Made my week!! Hahaha. It was things like that that just kept happening that made the week so good!

Now here is the one scary thing that happened this week. We went to the temple on Tuesday, our one temple trip for the transfer. Elder O'Toole calls a few people and gets us a ride there and back. Well on the way, keep in ming we have this 70 year old man driving us, we are turning onto the freeway from the main road and we pull up to the light. The light is green and our driver goes for it. There is a big ol' truck coming straight at us at like, 60 mph and almost kills us! This truck got like 10 feet away from my face. The driver just laughs and says, "I bet you didnt expect that to happen on your way to the temple!" Our hearts stop pounding about 5 minutes later and we calm down. We ride the rest of the way safely to the temple and do the session. On the way back we get onto the highway and this guy sets his cruise control at 60 when everyone else is doing 70 or 75. It's alright though until about 5 minutes down the road. EVERYONE is starting to stop because of an accident that happened up ahead. We all see the brake lights up ahead but the driver keeps his cruise control set. He obviously doesnt see the lights at this point. We get to be about 15 feet from these parked cars going 60 mph and he jerks the wheel to dodge this mini-van we are about to just plow through. Well we are in the middle lane and so we have another 2 lanes to get over before we are in the far-left lane. He jerks past the mini-van and just about clips this little mazda! We were prolly 6 inches from that car and we get into the left lane. The back end slides out and he corrects and we keep driving. Everyone in the car except the driver has peed their pants at this point and is just speechless because we wanna call this guy a lunatic! We drive for another 10 seconds and he speaks up... "It's a good thing I was a racecar driver back in the day. No ordinary driver wouldve been able to get out of that mess alive." Are you kidding me?!?!! ANY "Ordinary Driver" would've seen the brake lights coming on and had PLENTY of time to brake!!!! It was the closest I have ever come to being in an accident and DEFINITELY the closest I have ever come to death.

So yeah, that was our week in a nutshell for ya. I hope all is well! I love you and miss you all!!
(T-Bake! I need your mission home address or something so I can mail you something!)

~Elder Daniel Peterson
2155 S. 55th st. #1048
Tempe AZ 85282

E-mail August 6, 2012

Hello Familia!

This past week has been a good one. We didnt have as many teachig opportunities as we wouldve liked but, unfortunately, that's what happens when people start going into school and last minute vacations... things fall through. But, we did pick up a few new investigators and we even put one on date for baptism! It's so kewl to see how the Lord prepares people for these saving ordinances.

The new investigators we picked up are kinda kewl. One guy, John, is like 40 y/o and loves his music. He always tells us how he was ordained in the pentecostal church 2 years ago and was a preacher within that church for some time. He then had his ordination revoked by that church because of some reason unbeknownst to us. He loves to play music though. The very first thing he did when we walked in was shake our hands and ask if he could play us a few gospel songs he wrote. He sings pretty well and actually has a couple of good songs. But, we started to get down to business and he knows his stuff. He is very attentive and is just an awesome guy to teach. He is on date for baptism for the 25th of August!

Jeremy is the other investigator we picked up this week. He has been around the church for his entire life and loves the atmosphere of it all. He is about 26 y/o and is kinda non-commital because he always puts his family first. He wants to be a part of it all but he feels that it is too big of a commitment to make when he has family that he cares about. He has met with missionaries in the past is thought it would be a good idea to start back up again with us. We have only had one lesson with him but, it was a good one. We learned a lot about him and he is willing to listen which is always good.

But, I do have a story to tell and a picture to go along with the story. Maybe even a video if I can get it uploaded and sent. If nothing else it will be on my card whenever I send that home. BUT! One night all of us were sitting around at the end of the day just talking (I'm in another house of 4). Well two of us, myself included, sat down at the table to have a bowl of cereal and we had our milk jugs sitting next to us. After we finished our cereal we joined to conversation. During this conversation I picked up a dart nearby and tried to throw it into the other Elder's milk. I missed of course but, it started a game. We kept doing it for about 5 minutes and decided we needed to make it competitive. So we decided that whoever had the dart thrown into their jug first had to drink what was left. He was drinking whole milk and had about 1/4 gallon left. I was drinking 2% and had about 3/4 gallon left. We kept shooting and kept shooting. finally at about 10:15, just 15 min. before we had to be in bed, he SINKS it into my milk jug!!

 I was like "there is absolutely NO WAY I can do this right now." So we agreed on me just having to match what he had left. So I had to drink 1/4 gallon of milk because he threw a green dart in there. How long did it take me?? 60 seconds! Did I throw up at all?? Heck to the NO!! I felt like BUTT after I had drinken all of it that I had to but I felt like a champ the next day cause I didnt let it come back up! Hahahaha!

Anyway, I love you all and I hope everything is going well with everyone. I miss you!

~Elder Daniel Peterson

2155 S. 55th st. #1048

Tempe AZ 85282

Second Area Questions

* For every area that Daniel is in I have him answer a few questions. This is his response to those questions...*

Hey Randi!
So, I will answer all of your questions first. That includes the ones that your asked throughout your letter.

Elder O'Toole has been out for 6 months, working on 7&1/2. Which means I am only like... 3 months older than he is.
(I just realized that that was the only answer I have to give for questions you asked within your letter =P )
Now on to your original 8 questions...

1) I had 2 companions in Show Low. Elder Koons and Elder Woerner.
2) I had 8 Baptisms while in Show Low.
     - Glenn Self (April 21st)
     - James Stohman (April April 28th)
     - Chloe and Marina (March 27th)
     - Trevor, Gus, Amber and Antonia Hutchinson (June 20th)
     - (I just did that all from memory... I'm awesome.)
3) My favorite contacts: The Hutchinsons, The Voughts, The Harrops, Glenn, James, The Beecrofts, The Hunsakers, The Swanseys
4) Most Intersting thing eaten: Peanut Butter on waffles with syrup and honey.
    Best thing eaten: Cod with sweet potato fries
    Worst thing eaten: This weird salad thing with little purple marble-sized balls that tasted like butt.
5) Best P-day memory: Going golfing with Elders Howard, Koons and Knighton. Howard threw Knightons ball off of the green and onto the fairway. Koons is putting on the fairway. Knighton chips his ball up onto the green. NAILS Elder Koons in the mouth!! Had to go to an urgent care clinic for him to get 6 stitches. I got to wear Beer Goggles while he was being operated on.... funtastic.
6) Something I'll never forget: The members are awesome, the weather is awesome, and the people are CRAZY!!
7) Something I learned: Patience and to lead from behind. Being bold without being overbearing.
8) One sentence summary: Show Low is a place I grew to love and had a lot of fun in, almost too much fun.

Now for the rest of the letter! I actually dont have a whole lot of time left BUT! I do love to hear that Tina is finally doing better than she was at developing, that Bryan is finally getting to spend some time at home with you and the girls and that you have plans to make improvements to your little life! That's great!!

I love you Randi and appreciate everything you do for me. I miss you a ton. Hope all is well!