Love Everyone

The greatest lesson I learned while in the MTC is to love everyone. If you remember I was called to be the district leader there and I had a few things, nothing major, that I had the opportunity to do. Amongst those was to watch over and care for those within our district. I always felt I had to be a little more tender towards the Sisters there and that I wouldn't have to worry so much about the Elders. There were a few people that I was able to help, I feel, in that capacity. I had the chance to give a blessing to a Sister there and she said it helped. I would give a training during our District Meetings and I felt that those helped also. But I had the chance to see a couple of missionaries really struggle. Really have their testimonies tried. A companionship felt they needed to go home and re-think things. I never thought I could feel such love for someone until that night. One Elder was so thoroughly convinced he was going home. He had gone home at 5 and wouldnt talk to anyone nor would he get out of his bed. Everyone left the room, not by invitation, and he and I were the only ones there. I told him how much I loved him. I told him how much he needed to be out on a mission and how much Our Father in Heaven needed him to be on a mission. I don't believe I have ever said a more heartfelt prayer than I did that night.

Looking back, Love was what I learned. I could feel my Savior's love for him. So if I had to give one piece of advice to anyone it would be to love EVERYONE. It's gonna be hard and it's going to take time. But as we do that we can truly see as He sees. We will be so much more in tune with His will and we will be able to help His children return to Him again.

-Elder Daniel Peterson

Back to School

Hey!
So this past week was pretty legit. All the freshman just moved in so our area just picked up a lot of members and non-members. We had 4 people show up to church yesterday and we have a lesson set up with all of them. We are actually gonna be throwing a "back to school" party at the institute to invite everyone on campus to come and get to know everyone at the institute, students and all that jazz. It's gonna be sick. It's called Cowboys and Angels! We came up with the idea this past friday and we've been working on it and spreading the word since. Totally country themed. We talked with Pres. Toone about it and he's excited for it and everyone in our ward that we've told so far is stoked. They cant come unless they bring a non-member. We are working through the LDSSA to get it all advertised and whatnot. We are super pumped for it all.
We also just had a Mission Tour on Thursday. We had Elder Craig A. Cardon come down and give us a big training. It was good! He talked a lot about working more closely with the members and trained on a few things pertaining to investigators. Having been out for this long I feel like every training given, regardless of who it's by, is always the same stuff. Like, it's good! cause it reminds us of what we should be doing but I feel like there isnt a whole lot of NEW things being introduced. I realized, about 2 or 3 months ago, that I LOVE to LEARN! It's crazy! I never would thought the day would come! Hahaha! So, I'm always looking for something new to enlighten me. But, it was good. Always a great experience to be in the same room as a general authority giving some sort of insights.
That's pretty much the low down on this week. The mission is still great, the work is still true and I still love you! I miss you!!

~Elder Daniel Peterson

4801-2 E. Euclid Dr.
Phoenix AZ. 85044

His Time in Chandler

Hey Randi!!

So... Questionnaire time!!

1) How Many Comps? 1! Elder O'Toole!
2) How Many Baptisms? 3 (with a 4th on the 24th. Dont know if you wanna count that one yet.)
                                     ~ Jeremy T. - June 22nd
                                     ~ Eva D. - July 31st
                                     ~ Sydney S. - August 3rd
                                     ~ Kelsey K. - August 24th (Planning on it!!)
3) Favorite People? Sydney, Eva, Bro. Perez (Cooper 1st WML), Bro. Beckstrand (Cooper 2nd WML).
4) Food: Interesting - Foods were boring. Kalamari
             Best - Either the $20 All-you-can-eat sushi buffet or Famous Daves Man-Handler Sandwich
             Worst - Costco burger. It was massive, super salty and seasoning definitely wasn't the best. I need a good burger when I get home Mom!!
5) Favorite P-Day? Going golfing in shorts and a T-shirt when it was 104 and it felt like it was 85 cause we weren't in shirts and ties. Wonderful!!
6) Never Forget? We walked tons!! Our apartment was awesome, because of the people living with us, and I was with O'toole for 6 months!!
7) One Thing Learned? Sustain your leaders!! Priesthood Keys!! Everything we are taught must be understood before we take action. There is power with knowledge and as we sustain those that have given us rules or commandments, we will see power come into our lives. D&C 82:10
8) One Sentence Summary? We have all been given a "Talent". Go amongst the "exchangers" and use that  talent to show The Lord we are not going to bury it until the day of judgement and expect a reward. (Matt. 25:14-29)

Back to Tempe

Hello There!! 

So, I got transferred back into Tempe!! WOOOTT!!! So Stoked!! You have no idea. And my companion is a boss!! His name is Elder Karl, he's from Canada, and he's hilarious. I love serving with him. But!! I need a letter from home verifying my address so I can get a library card!! So!! Mail Please!!

Love you!! Miss you!! Hope everything is going well!!

~Elder Daniel Peterson

3051 s. McClintock dr. #2044

Tempe AZ. 85282

Going to the Temple

I didn't get to chat with Daniel very much today, (We'll see if Pa sends me anything blog-worthy) but I did find this little picture of him in front of the Mesa Temple.

From left to right it's Elder Daniel Peterson, Elder O'Toole, (And now we'll stick with first names for privacy reasons) Eva, Tim, Tyler, and Jordan. These are just a few of the fun people that Daniel has been able to spend time with over the past few months. He announced today that he'll be getting transfered, so I'm sure he'll be missing these guys, but he's also pretty excited to be going somewhere new. I'll post his new address as soon as I get it! Don't forget to write to him! He's in his last few months before he comes home so I'm sure he could use a few "endure to the end" and "keep up the good work" speeches! Lol, just don't tell him I told you to say that! ;)

P.S.- if you look closely at the picture you might notice that Elder O'Toole, and Daniel have very similar looking ties. In fact they have 11, yep- ELEVEN, matching ties! Lol! It's a missionary style bromance!

Just a quick update

Here's a quick update conversation between Pa and Daniel yesterday. 

PA:

Wazzup buttercup?!?

So let’s see… your little sister has been attending the singles branch every other week (with the exception of this past week where she’s attended 2 weeks in a row because Jace was speaking).  Her and Jace have gone out on a couple dates and she went to his house this past weekend to help him and his dad paint his bedroom.  Jace is a good kid.  I like the Wilsons.  I’m glad she found someone with good moral values to have some fun dating with.  Staying on the subject of your little sister… she’s also been attending FHE with the YSA group AND Institute!  I know!  For shizzle my nizzle!  Awesome right?!?  Katie attending institute and actually loving it?  Who would have thunk it!  It’s great to see her so happy.  AND… Tanner gave her his phone number this past week… Ut-oh… a Moline!?!?  LOL.  I love that she’s happy and I’ve been teasing her about it.  Last night she was talking about wedding dresses and what temple she wants to be sealed in… a little fast even for my liking, but I’m glad she’s thinking ahead I guess??  LOL… she’s a nut.

Rhine lives at home but is rarely here. 

Jess and Rand are doing great – both preggos.  Has Jess ever officially admitted she’s pregnant to you?  Mom and the girls are planning a girl’s weekend at the San Marcos outlet mall (between Austin and San Antonio).  Mom has already paid for the hotel so it’s a done deal… early August I think.

So that’s mostly our stuff.  Nothing too new.  How is my son?  Anything new and exciting?  I just heard yesterday that Austin is now in a different mission.  He was in Monterey Mexico, now he’s somewhere 6,000 feet above sea level… so much cooler.  Punk!  What’s with you kids!!??  Seriously.  Sweat a little will ya?  LOL… I know it’s like 250 degrees where you are now… I know it’s hecka-hot, and I’m really glad you don’t have to bike in that weather, but I am glad you get to experience it. 

New mission president update?  How are things going?  Any changes to your mission?  How are you and the comp getting’ along?  What awesome spiritual experiences have you had this last week? 

I love you buddy.  I’m really proud of what you’re doing.  We’re getting close on time I can tell… a week doesn’t pass by at church anymore when people aren’t asking when you’ll be home.  Everyone is gettin’ a little jazzed.

DANIEL:

Nada Nada Limonada!

Katie's a rockstar!! I'm glad to hear all of that! She keeps asking me what I think of Jace and all that stuff but, I cant really remember him all that well. When I last saw him or interacted with him he was still better than most other guys she's dated. Good for her for going to the Singles branch! That's still dumb to hear... "Singles Branch." Out here there are Singles WARDS! It's gonna be crazy to go there and it be so small. Ugh! But, I'll figure it out somehow. Anyway, YSA and Institute! That's awesome!! Especially if it's something she likes. Good for her. She  will do awesome things with the knowledge she gains. 

Jessica has let me in on the secret! She let me know a couple weeks ago and I didnt have a whole lot of time to respond to it so I just got around to it. Their little girly trip will be fun. We'll have to find a man trip to counteract... we'll go race cars and jump out of planes right after we've killed something (*Home Improvement (Tim) laugh*).

I'm doing great. No complaints. Pres. Toone is awesome. He hasnt made any changes yet but we'll see what happens in a week when Transfers come. That'll be a big game changer. We've had a lot of rain this past week which has been good cause it drops the temp a few degrees but it also brings the humidity in. Which, to a point is nice but man... I feel like I've gotten a glimpse at what it would be like to serve in Texas!! Yipes! Although we did have a pretty awesome night the other night. We had a whole bunch of stuff to do during the day so we werent able to get our 20 OYMS (*Open Your Mouth's) per day we are supposed to get. So we were just that more determined to go out and get them. Well we werent able to start that until about 8:00pm. At this time it is POURING rain and there is barely anybody out. We decided to try and contact this one investigator we havent been able to get a hold of in a week. So we go knock on his door, while getting soaked and no one answers. We see one person running to their door and we stop them and talk. They werent interested but we were in a position to see more people. So we walked over to them and talked. Not interested again. This continued to happen the whole rest of the night. It's like people in Arizona didnt know what rain was so they were all outside just watching it happen! We ended up with 26 OYMs that night. It was great!! We had a couple people tell us to come back, I'm pretty sure just because of our determination and dedication to being out in the rain like that! It was awesome. We even taught a guy in the rain! It was so dramatic =P We opened up the Book of Mormon and it started to get a little wet as we read the passages and left it with him afterwards. He started out not believing in God too much because of his two children passing away so young. He left saying he would check out our church to see if he could find God again. It was way sweet. But yeah... That's about everything!!

Love ya!! Miss ya!! 

~Elder Daniel Peterson

Happiness V.S. Joy

Today, in an e-mail conversation I was having with Daniel I shared a message our Home Teachers (they're other members of our church who come over once a month, or whenever we need them, just to say hi and check in on us to make sure we are doing alright.) had shared with us. The message was about being happy today. Not just looking at our past and remembering the good times, or looking to the future and imagining how happy we will be, but living in the moment today- are we happy? So I shared the message with Daniel and then asked him, "So, little brother, are you happy?" This was his reply:

You bet!! How can you have The Gospel in your life and not be happy?! God set it up this way! "...men are that they might have joy." It's part of God's plan for us to experience joy. Ultimately it is going to be Joy that brings us Eternal happiness, because that's what it is! There is a difference between joy and happiness. You can be happy and not satisfied and you can be satisfied and not happy! But when you experience true joy, the joy that comes from our Father above, from living Gospel Standards and choosing to do what is right, "standing as a witness of Christ at all times, in all things, and in all places that ye may be in," that is when you experience joy.  So, am I happy, of course! Am I experiencing joy? I sure feel like I am on my way to knowing that feeling. It's an amazing thing, being a missionary. I cant tell you how much I have learned while being out here. My outlook on EVERYTHING has changed because of my mission.