Pictures!!

Yesterday, we received a letter from Elder Peterson with a memory card inside it full of pictures! Here are a few that were included. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do :)

Elder Peterson and Elder Shearer with a woman on her baptism day

Moving day. They moved from one home to a different one. Looks a little cramped...

On his P-days, Taylor and his companions like to bike ride. I like this picture haha

Taylor had mentioned helping some ducklings cross the road (you can find that story here) Cute!

Taylor and his companion, Elder Shearer

Colorado is so pretty!

Spring Canyon in Fort Collins, CO

We have so many pictures of them goofing off at the top of the mountain. Way funny!

Crazy view. Awesome!

My brother's cute :)

See what I mean? They like to mess around haha but it looks like they have fun!

The blog wont let me upload more pictures, so I'll upload some more next time. Most of the other ones are from the MTC. Stay tuned... :)

Fort Collins - Week 5

Hey family!

Life if still going awesome! I really like being a missionary and all the fun stuff we get to do. Guess what! We had another baptism this week. Her name is Martha and she has been investigating for a long time and just got up and decided she wanted to become a member on Saturday. She gave us 48 hours notice but we made it work. If you're keeping track, that's two weeks, two baptisms. 

This week we had to move to a new members home across town. It's not as roomy as our old home, but Elder Shearer and I made it work. We also had Zone conference up in Wyoming on Saturday and I got to better know my district and my zone. President Ely presides at zone conference and we just teach each other all day. The first teaching things are random and are chosen by the president. President Ely chose Elder Shearer and I for a presentation and besides going for too long, I think we did pretty good.

Well I wish I did more than move this week because nothing super cool really happened. We did alot of tracting and actually got a couple people that said we could come back. One guy who was like 20 let us teach him the whole first lesson on the doorstep and actually seemed really interested. Sadly, we have to yield any young single adults to other missionaries under their jurisdiction, but it was still a cool experience.

Oh yeah, Steve went to prison because he didn't like authority or something like that but GUESS WHAT, he ran... we called the halfway house and they said he wasn't there anymore. We didn't know what that meant so we went to check it out and we were interrogated by federal marshals. The rules are that as missionaries we have to report him if we see him. It's sad because he really wanted to be baptised and was serious about the church. He just had a really bad week and it ended with him not coming back. We were disappointed.

oh yeah, I'm now using my awesome outer space bedsheets! They don't supply them for us in this new house so now the room glows with spaceships and planets! They make Elder Shearer laugh every night. My bike is also pretty sweet! It is a diamondback response. I got it off nashbar (dad, you can see it all in the email you got) it might be the nicest bike I have ever ridden.

I wish I could think of more to write about, thank you all for your letters! Hope the summer is still going awesome! I love you all!

-Elder Peterson

**We got this and immediately responded and had a chat through e-mail**

Jordyn - you there?!!?

Elder Peterson - yes but I have to go soon

Jordyn -  I'm in your room cleaning up. Grandma comes tomorrow. but I love you and sounds like you're having a great time! I love you so much! The guys are all doing great. Nevin shared his testimony yesterday and I think everyone, even Austin, had fun at efy. They both did the musical program at efy and Josh is still hanging out with them. Love you!

Elder Peterson - haha that's awesome. Did you get my letter with your blessing? (I, Jordyn, had sent him a letter with a copy of my patriarchal blessing because he never had a chance to read it. He copied it small  so that I could put it in my scriptures)

Jordyn - Yes I did! thank you so much! All of the girls are here now! We all love you! and we are all in our pajamas still and just hanging out.

Elder Peterson - hah nice I have like three more mins. Why are you in pajamas?

Jordyn - We have just been cleaning and stuff. Have you gotten a lot of letters and packages? 

Elder Peterson - A couple from like Linsey, Tiffy, and Krissy. That's it since the MTC. I love you guys!

Jordyn - love you too! have a great week! We'll all write you soon! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVEEEEE!!! (This had a super embarrassing picture of his 3 sisters that we took attached to it - no make up, pajamas, and grossness)

Elder Peterson - haha you guys are awesome!!

Jordyn - Don't show anyone that picture.... wait until next week for some better ones :) We'll send you some copies too haha

Elder Peterson - Um too late, they saw. I love you guys! Bye!!

 

Fort Collins - week 4

Thank you Family for the emails!

My pday is on Mondays now and will be for the rest of my mission I think. Well, I made it to Colorado and I have been here a week! I'M SERVING IN THE FORT COLLINS AREA! Everyone says it's their favorite area to serve in. My boundaries includes the stake center and it's exactly like our stake center back home so it's kinda weird walking around it. My trainer is Elder Shearer. I think I sent a picture to a few of your emails, but sorry if I missed someone, I'm short on time since I don't have a library card and have to use a 20 min computer. Elder Shearer is pretty cool, we're working hard and have had a great week.

The first night I was able to participate in a baptism for a young man who turned 18 that day and was eager to be baptised against his parents wishes. I said a prayer and shared my testimony but the program just read Elder Green would be speaking (because I was a greeny that day haha).

This ward is awesome. The ward missionaries really know their calling and there are so many cool families. It kinda reminds me of our ward. This mission is very unique in the world. President Ely is a great man and Salt Lake has given him the opportunity to test run some new programs for the mission field. For one, this is the only mission that is completely housed by members. Every companionship has a members house to stay at. I stay at an elderly couples home but we are moving soon. We also have the most cars to missionaries of any mission (but we're still on bikes but that's okay).

I have had the chance to teach a lot of lessons and to knock alot of doors. I have had some interesting experiences. My favorite one was teaching a guy named Steve. He just got out of prison but he is really cool. He is so ready to be baptised but he can't because he is on probation and cant fully repent until he pays his debt to society. Well, we went to the halfway house planning to teach some commandment but had to forget the lesson when he started expressing concerns for why he couldn't be baptised and what the scriptures actually said about the situation. He talked about alot of things but I shared my favorite scripture DC 121:7. It applied a lot... READ IT!

Doctrine and Covenants 121: 7 - "  My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment" 

Elder Peterson and Elder Shearer

Well I have a couple more minutes so I'll just tell you about my day. I woke up and did all of our studies and laundry then we went shopping with the Timberline elders (we're the Parkwood elders). After that, we tried to bike to the Horsetooth Mountain on mountain bikes. After 2 hours, we were only half way there and since we spent most of the morning trying to fix the bike I borrowed (cause mine hasn't come yet) it was already 3. It was up hill the entire way and there was no way that I was used to biking in this climate yet. The timberline elders went on at the expense of the rest of their P-days and Elder Shearer and I turned back. It was an awesome ride back down and we got to help the same biker that gave a directions up the mountain with his flat tire and then we saved 4 ducklings that were stuck in the street behind the curb. Elder Shearer was laughing because all he heard me say was " elder, elder! Ducklings!!"... I got way too excited haha. We just picked them up out of the street and dropped them by the pond where their mother found them.

well I smell disgusting right now and my pday ends at 6 so Elder Shearer and I should go back and shower. Talk to you next week and send me letters and I will respond. ttyl!

-Elder Peterson