December 28, 2015

12/21 P-days are interesting days. I have always thought that they are the day you play so hard and you go see all the cool stuff but it turns out you don't really... I guess it would be better if I could sport so hard core but mostly I can just sit there during p-days so that makes them feel really boring and not really useful. But it is still super nice to be able to just sit and talk with the fam! Mom and Sarah suggested that I should take this time and practice playing the piano and get better at it. And also at the same time it would be like wrist therapy for me. So that would be cool! I think I will try and do that. Ya I probably won't sound really good at first but I think as the weeks go on and I try to learn like one hymn a week, that I will become pretty good! But just like everything in life it will take work and dedication. I can't just give up! For dinner tonight we went to the Balero's and they are super nice people. They are a little older but still awesome! Hahaha they like to feed us a lot! They were the ones that gave us that HUGE bowl of chili last week. This week it was pizza! Hehe and you know I love pizza! Hermana Balero just kept giving me more and more pizza! It's a good thing I like it and am good at consuming large amounts of it!! Haha! ;) it made it a little harder to walk around after and it gave me the
feeling that I am going to have to really work out a lot this week to stay close to my weight because we have a lot of dinners this week. Yay! So after dinner we went to go see this family we found last week and we had a member and everything and we were so ready for this lesson. But then they were busy and they thought that we were coming by tomorrow........ So that fell though and then the member lady called her husband to come get us and then we ended up back at the apt....... So it wasn't a super productive night... But we did get to practice
for the sweet lesson we are going to have tomorrow with the Suarez family. It is called a font to table lesson. It takes about the importance of baptism and how we make those covenants every week by taking the sacrament! (Sacrament table) and so elder Blake is super excited about this lesson and says that it is one of his favorite
lessons to teach! Some thoughts I have had from today is 1) attitude is everything 2) the refiners fire is very real and it is hard but it makes us so much better 3)nosotros necesitamos más Cristo en Navidad. Por qué en inglés
Christmas es christ más which means we need "more Christ" during this season.
These are these wood things that help demonstrate the plan of salvation!! I think they are super cool and it is cool to look at where they are bright is where God and joy is. I finally realized how amazing the celestial  kingdom is!! Look at all that light compared to the other kingdoms!!!
12/22
So every Tuesday and Wednesday day we go to this place called Saint vinys and we help serve the food there and wash dishes and stuff. It is pretty fun. They have this really neat dish washer that only takes a minute to wash the dishes! How would you like that mom!! Haha the only down side it that it is pretty big.... So I don't think it could fit where ours is... :)
Tonight we had the most amazing lesson! It was with the Suarez family. (The one I sent you a picture of) and Andrea is getting baptized on Jan 9 and we wanted to help them be more excited about her baptism so we had a lesson that elder Blake calls a font to table lesson. And these are probably now my favorite lessons. So what happens is we take them to the church to have this lesson and we start off by the baptism font and we talk about the plan of salvation and how it is so important that we are baptized to be able to make to the celestial
kingdom with our families. And that was super awesome. We used those pieces of the plan of salvation and it was da bomb! Andrea is so ready to be baptized. She knows everything and is so ready. Any ways back to
what happened. So we talk about all that and we show them the font and tell them that on this earth we need to follow the examples of Jesus Christ and become like him and we do this by being baptized. And then
after we go through all that we take them to the sacrament room and we show them the sacrament table (we put some trays out with the cloth over them so it looks like what they see on Sunday) and then we explain how we are able to renew our baptism every week by partaking la Santa cena. Man it was so awesome! And then hno. Torres had a object lesson to show how baptism is important and how it cleans us of sin. It is the one when you have a bowl of water and you put pepper in the bowl and then when you put a drop of soap in the bowl, all of the pepper is pushed away and the bowl is left clean again. It is a pretty cool thing!! He explained to her how this is like baptism and how when we are baptized we put that drop of soap into the bowl and we are clean. But then he went the extra mile and he put more pepper in to show that we sin after we are baptized and how the sacrament is able to clean us just the same as baptism!
I really like my comp., patient, loving, understanding, willing and wanting to work. I have come to see this a lot more just these last couple days! He is amazing! He will never get mad at me and he always is trying to help me be better. He is caring and also know just the way I am feeling because he felt the same things just a year ago!
12/23
I got my Christmas Eve package!!! And I love it so much!! The sweats are wonderful! I really enjoy them! And then it got topped off with a custom made shirt just for me and socks too!!! Man I am loved!!!!! 😃😊 I really am so thankful for them! I won't be so cold anymore!!!  ¡Tú sabes! Hehe Used my bike for the first time and I loved it!! Haha the only down side is that I misplaced my rain jacket for the moment and so I asked my comp if I could borrow one of his and the one he let me use was pretty small on me... Hehe the arms were like 4 inches to short! :) so that was exciting. Appointments fall through once again and I don't think it is the last time that it will happen. So we had to try and find people we can go see but a lot of people are gone right now and/or they don't want to talk with us. There is one every so often pero tú sabes! It is weird that it is Christmas time. It doesn't even feel like it. Probably just because there is no snow and I am not listening to Christmas music and
stuff. But I love sharing the message of Christmas and showing the video for this year with people. I don't know if they feel it but when ever the video starts the spirit floods into me! Haha I don't know if you have watched it in Spanish but that is the one I watch at least once a day and I love it. I am finding more and more that I love the
Spanish language. Yes it is hard for me to speak but it is a cool language.
12/24
Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Man I love it here!!! I really do!! Today I thought we weren't going to find anyone to talk with (because who really wants to talk with us or really anyone besides family on Christmas) but we found 2 new investigators!! It was epic! Haha this one guy we walked up to and he was smoking and then we showed him the Christmas video and asked him what he thought of it and stuff then at the end he told us we could come back on Saturdays because that is when he and his family would be home!!!! That's awesome!!! Also I
think it is so funny when we are talking with people and then I say a little something in Spanish or something and then they look at me all confused and they say " usted habla espanol???" Hehe and I say "yo hablo poco en espanol." And then they are like wow! Haha with out doubt this happens like every time (rachel and cam you can't judge my Spanish, I am better at speaking it (kinda not really) then writing it) I think it is pretty funny. And then we had a zone Christmas party and that was really fun. We started off with a testimony meeting and
that was straight fire! I testified of how really the refiners fire and prayer is. I have really seen these two things a ton already on my mission and I know I am going to see a lot more. I love my Savior and I love this time to really focus on Him and how important He is to me. I have come to know Him a lot better over these last 2 months!! I love Him so much and I am so thankful for all that He has done for me!!!! Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!!
CHRIST- MAS
For those of you who don't speak Spanish más means more so Christmas really means more Christ. I have loved Christmas so far. It has been so different and yet enjoyable. The parts I have liked the most is not
opening presents. It has been the testimonies of my family and reading the birth of Jesus and watching Mormon messages sobre el Navidad. Me gusta mucho él palabras en la vídeo y ellos siempre dar me gozo y
traer el espíritu a me. Yo alegrete mucho en la espíritu de Navidad. Enough Spanish for one day. I really have enjoyed the more spiritual parts of Christmas this year. When I started opening presents I started to miss you guys more and stuff but then I remembered how I felt when I was reading your letter and stuff and how happy I was and so I did it again and I felt happy again. And then I wanted more to feel more happy so I watched the ha nacido un Salvador video and it always feels me with so much Gozo(joy) when I see or listen to it. I asked elder Blake what I can be doing to be a better missionary and he gave me some great words of counsel and it was profound but simple. Take one day at a time and try to do all you can to give it your all today. (After I typed this I started crying, and I don't know why. Maybe it is just from things today. Seeing you guys and finally
feeling unconditional love again and stuff, or maybe because before the movie some people where going around and saying like do the elder Redding or elder this and then someone asked me what's the elder peters...? I know I can't expect people to know me and stuff already but this for some reason stuck with me and then I started thinking like no one knows me or anything... Like I told mom in the airport I feel a lot of times Michael has to be locked away and I have to be elder peters. (Sorry I am ranting but this is helping me) but I am coming to see that I need to not have Michael locked away. God called Elder Michael Van Peters to be a missionary. He didn't call just elder peters. He called Michael van peters. Don't think I don't want to be here. This is the only place I want to be! I need to be here. I am learning so much about me and the my Savior! I know this because of a experience I just had. So before I started crying I was feeling bad and sad and so I was looking at the  quotes that mom sent me and I saw
this one.

December 21, 2015

12/15
Specialized training was really great! It really made me what to be better and to work harder. It made me realize that I am in control of how I feel about this mission I am on. I can feel like I am lazy or I
can do something about it. I can ask  more questions and ask about how to become better and more involved. It was great! Also we were able to go see the Suárez family and they are doing really
good! Andrea is really progressing and the parents are learning a lot
too.
This is them! Felipe is the dad, Helen is the girl, Alexis is that fun little boy ( who loves me and always wants to play with me) and the moms name is Doris. Then later we went and stopped by this family that elder Blake has taught before and we ended up giving them a Book of Mormon and
explaining it to them! It was cool!!

12/16
Today we did service for a program called habitat for humanity and they build houses for people in need. it is actually really cool. they do everything though service and they are able to build these people house. I felt kinda dumb today because me and my feeble wrists can't do much. so i washed some windows for a bit but then they hurt so i tired to stop but i got put back to work and had to clean the shower. but that is ok. i enjoy serving others.  but the thing that killed me was that i couldn't help with the yard work.... i don't know why but i love yard work. like they had to dig a trench and they laid grass/sod down. (i am not too sad about the sod) so today we didn't really have a set plan of who we were going to teach which is hard. elder blake had some people that he knew and that
he had taught in the past. so we went and talked with some of them. this probably isn't the most effective way to find people but we were able to talk and get to know more people. one thing that has impressed me a lot today is how elder blake keeps pushing forward. he doesn't feel good but he wont say so because he says then your more likely to get sick and stuff. anyway. he just keeps trooping through even though he feels gross. it is a good example to me because my head has been bothering me the last couple days and so thats makes things that much harder but when i look at
elder blake and i see how gross he feels and then see how he still pushes forward, it gives me more strength to keep going!

12/17
I love study time! I am able to learn a lot every day during this time. Also I am thankful for my comp. we read in Spanish and that's fun but I struggle ( 1 because I have always struggled with reading and 2 I am learning how to sound out words again. And I stink at it...) but anyways when he sees that I struggle with a concept he will write it done on this paper and I don't like it when he does because (
well anyone wouldn't really enjoy that. It just like saying your not good at this.) but I am thankful he does it. I am able to start applying those concepts better into my Spanish.

12/18
Dad I love that you sent that baseball! It is da bomb!

12/19

Today we had exchanges and so far I'm loving it! This elder, elder polomeque, and he has helped me a ton. I was able to express my worries and stuff with him. ( he was companions with elder Blake so he helped me understand more) he helped a ton with understanding more about how to be a better me and to keep pushing on. He had me watch these 2 videos. Becoming a missionary and that we may not shrink 2013 Devo. They are both by elder Bednar. They are super great! Haha I ended up like talking for a really long time just about life and about the mission. It was actually really cool! 

This is the first time I have seen the sun in like 2 weeks!!!!!! It felt so wonderful!!!!

12/20

Sunday!!!! Today has been a great day! During the church we had like a musical sacrament meeting combined with the 2 other wards and that was cool! I really enjoyed just listening to the beautiful music! I was watching to choir and I thought of our ward choir and how great we were! I really enjoyed being able to be apart of that! I love music and the power that it brings!!!!! I have been trying to figure out how to listen to Christmas music some how and so one day I listened to the Christmas hymns on my iPad and that was pretty fun!!! I just sang along because the hymns recordings don't have vocals (so you can use them like a piano if needed) and so I would just jam out and sing to myself! I enjoyed it!

Today was also a little hard because I got a little discouraged with myself and that I don't know the area really well or that I can't talk with all the people around me and stuff but them I remembered the talk that I listened to last night about "not shrinking is more important then surviving." This has been really impactful to me and I have only heard about it for like a day now. I realized last night that I can blame the fact that I have a hard time reading, speaking and other things on my concussion and have something to hide behind or I can just say, "you know what ya my Spanish is not super great right now but how's Spanish is super great when they have only spoke it for like 2 months now. I need to just keep pushing myself hard and I will be able to see the results later. I won't see them all tomorrow but as I keep studying and trying my hardest I will be able to see so much progress." It is just like working out (this is for Annalee. She has molded me into this kinda person) yes it is hard while you are working out but it is supposed to be. You can't build muscle and get stronger by just going until you get a little tired. You have to push yourself really hard and maybe harder then you think you are able to bare. But when you push yourself like this you are able to become stronger. And like what Annalee always says. "It hurts so good" you are able to see/feel the affects of what you put in.  So back to me! jajaja! So I thought of this and not shrinking and so I pushed myself harder and focused on what was being sad and then I was able to understand a lot of what was being said!

I am so excited to see you all on Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please come with question and stuff you would like to know! I love you all so much and you all have been such a huge influence in my life. This week I only told you about my experience related with Annalee but I promise you EVERYDAY there is something I do that reminds me of all of you and I am able to see the affect of you being in my life and how it has blessed me!!!!!

I love you all so much!!!!!

Love  Elder Peters!!!!

December 14, 2015
Dear Family and Friends,
So it sound like it was super busy and crazy and AMAZING week!!!!!!!!!!!!!  i am so happy that Rachel made it home safe and that she is home!!!
So this week I decided that God is really smart!!! He knows exactly how to help us and when to help us!! He know when we need to stretch ourselves and when we can just relax for a sec!  I feel like I am stretching all day long and it is hard, but I do feel Him close. He is amazing!! I am so glad I am getting to know Him while I am here!!!

The last two week we have done a ton of service!! Like we moved some one's piano, installed a wood floor and we go to a kitchen that serves people lunch every Tuesday and Wednesday. It is a lot of fun because 1) it is service I can do and (2) I get to help people! I enjoy it!! 

So, the piano service! I experienced the most ghetto way to move a piano. We had this trailer that had like ply wood for the sides and we put the grand piano on top of the ply wood and then we just strapped it down and drove it over to their other house!! The whole time I was thinking "if mom was here she probably would be screaming and stuff!! Like some of the Mexicans are not gentle with things. This one guy in particular thinks that he can do everything on his own so he tried to lift the piano by himself and it got scratched up!! so just know I thought of you mom! 

So I just want you all to know that I am a big boy and I buy my own food every week and plan out my meals! so that's is awesome!!!!

This week we got fed by one of the members and they fed us chili which was really good but the crazy part is that the bowl was like as tall as my hand is when i put it in a fist (thumb facing up) and then it was as long as my whole hand!! it was huge!!! I am learning really quick that I need to eat slower because then I : 1) wont get as fat and 2) I don't have to eat more when they ask if I want more. Don't get the wrong idea. I love the food but when you eat so much and then they want you to eat more.....

haha yep i am wet!! it has been raining like all week here and now it is starting to snow a little!! like a inch! apparently it is a lot for here. nothing like what you are getting!!!! 

I am emailing from the family history center. We were at one to start off and then they kicked us out and then we went to a different church,across town because the churches aren't as close as Utah.  hahahaha But I don't care because I am not going to go 2 weeks not talking to you! haha 

I have a washer in my apartment. so that is nice!

 My Spanish is improving a little bit at a time! 

so i cover 2 stakes but them I am over 1 branch, if that makes sense at all. I have that area to find people to come to the Spanish branch in two large stakes.   We have to be like FBI agents and find out where they live and stuff. I am learning more about how there houses look like. A ton of them live in trailer houses. So that's cool!

We have done a lot of service this week so that was cool and also hard because you know me and how much I love to just jump in and start helping. But it is hard with my wrists because I can't do what I would like to do. When a Latino asks me to lift something I don't know how to say no so I get someone to help me or something. I am learning a lot that I need to ask for things and ask for help.

Medford is like a small town. It has fields and trees and mountains. It is really beautiful! It will be even  more beautiful later because right now all the trees are just mossy and stuff so it doesn't look super amazing but I still enjoy looking at them because it is a whole different kind of thing!!! It is beautiful here!!

My apartment is small, but it has two bedrooms. It is smaller then Laura's and Cams. 

Elder Blake  and I are the only Elders in the apartment but the other Spanish elders live pretty close by.We share a car with the other Elders.
I am teaching Helen who is 11 and she is really close to getting baptized and also I am teaching Andrea and she is 11 also. Her baptism date is Jan 9. We are hoping we can get her dad to baptize her. He is a little inactive and so we are trying to get him back. 

So this week  I have realized how little I know about this gospel. Like before I thought I knew a good amount about the gospel. This week I have seen how little I know. I encourage you all to study more!! Even if you feel like you know a lot. Keep learning and keep studying!! If your not sure where to start,  start with Christ like attributes. you are about to learn so much if you really try.

sorry. that is all for today fams!!! 

i love you all so much and you are the best!!

Elder Peters 

hahaha this made me laugh so hard and made me think of you tyler!!

view from the front door

i look pretty great in my apron!!

This is my comp!

this is just a little of the nature here. i hope you can see the snow

Notes from Elder Blakes Blog:

Some of the best days of my whole mission! 12/14/2015On Thursday, my new companion Elder Peters arrived to the mission and they took us back to Medford! He is from Bountiful.  It feels so weird to have a brand new missionary be with me.We have a couple really good investigators that are in part member families that are the children and they are super receptive and fun to teach.  We are hoping the Dad of one of them can come back to church (who actually got baptized like my 4th day in the mission field and now we are working with them again) so he can baptize her daughter.

December 7, 2015

 Remember how you said you prayed to have my mission president give me a huge hug?!   Well it happened! When I went down the escalator and I saw Pres. and Sister Russell I was so happy it was them and not just some missionaries!! So I smiled and I waved at them and then when I got to Pres Russell he just grabbed me and hugged me tight! It was so nice!  Of course it wasn't like dad hugging me but I still felt the love that I have been missing for a long time. I told Pres Russell this story when I had the interview with him and I thanked him for following the inspirations of the Spirit!! After I told him this we both ended up tearing up! I love him so much and he is such a great Pres!!   Oh my goodness mom! that experience at the airport was truly God sent!! It was amazing!!! I am so thankful for it!! 

My address is 

123 cottage st apt L

Medford OR   97504-7357

My companions name is Elder Blake! He is a great missionary!!! He is a good example to me! I haven't got to know him super well yet but he is really caring! He is so willing to help me with my Spanish and so I try to talk to him as much as I can in Spanish! He is from Sandy UT and he is I guess kinda like me. He love sports and stuff.

My area is actually kinda big i guess. it is Medford but the south half. So like everything south of McAndrews. It is a little harder work right now because we just split the area and so we are doing a lot of work with the area book and figuring out who people are and stuff like that. So I do a lot of sitting while Elder Blake is figuring things out. I want to know what he is doing but I don't think he likes it when I look over his shoulder! haha! haha the cold makes it a little harder to do missionary work because he gets cold really easily and so he doesn't like to go out and walk and also because the people are kinda far apart. and we are sharing the car with the other missionaries here that cover the north part. but don't worry we are still doing work. we are trying to figure out the bus schedule and so we can use that but the down side is that the bus stops running at like 7 so we can't use it to get back home. oh my goodness mom it is so cold!! I don't know if i have been like warm here besides like when I am at a members house for a while or when I am sleeping. I think it is my body in shock to the cold weather. I am so used to the warm mexico weather!!! haha i think i am going to need more sweaters! 

how i feel..... well that is still a ton of emotions..... hahaha! i am loving it here but at the same time i feel so lost and no idea what is going on. i am excited but also sad. i am happy but i am also tired, i am ready to work but i cant understand a ton of what is going on! so ya i have a lot of emotion!! haha. um i am not really sure if we have done training.... i guess that shows how lost i am.... i think i need to start asking more question to make sure i understand things.

I love you so much!!!!

thank you for all of the prayers you have said for me! I know and can feel those prayers! I kinda feel like I have restarted and I have to learn everything that I learned at the ccm again... like i feel like my prayers are not what they were and that i feel lost again. but then i remember that i never am!!

I love you so much!!

Elder Peters

Michael's mission President said the following about Elder Peters and the two other he arrived with:
"Now, I would like to share with all the power and excitement that surrounds the special Church wide – Worldwide – “A Savior is Born” initiative, by sharing a special story.  As some or our new missionaries arrived at the airport this past week, Sister Russell and I upon greeting them, shared with them the video associated with this event. (Found on christmas.mormon.org) After watching the video we gave each of them the “A Savior is Born” pass along card.  Within seconds of watching the video, these missionaries began talking to the lady at the information desk at the airport.  They shared about this event and after a 6-7 minute conversation left the card.  As we finally got back together and were ready to head to the mission home, anxious to hear what happened, one of the first things they could say was, how do we get more cards. They were all so excited to go forth and begin their service here in the OEM.  There is a special power associated with the birth of Jesus Christ.  Please don’t hesitate to share this message.  It is a heart softener and door opener.  Even if you are rejected, something very special will happen – you will come to love your Redeemer and Savior even more. "

When Sister Russell called me she said, " Wow! Your son is amazing!  They come with power and with strength.  Not ten minutes on the ground in Oregon they were off talking to a lady who worked at a booth in the airport in Spanish!  They carried on a 6 or so minute conversation and in the end they gave her a pass along card!  They are amazing!"

December 3rd, 2015

Just a note from Trish – Michael’s mom

Today is a beautiful day filled with tender mercies.  Yesterday there were tears on the phone call from the airport between Elder Peters and myself.  He apologized for crying and then told me that he just had feelings and emotions build up for so long that sometimes they just explode out of his eyes.  He had told me in an email from Mexico that he just really needed a hug.  I started praying that when he met his mission president that Pres. Russell would give him a hug.  I told Elder Peters that I had been praying for him to receive a hug and then I told him, ‘When you get that hug I want you to know that prayers are answered and the Lord loves you. When you get that hug, from whoever it comes from, know that it is a hug from your mission president, the Lord and from me!”  Honestly, I didn’t know if this mission president would hug him naturally, but I prayed that natural or not, that he would just feel like he needed to hug him.  It is a simple thing, but a very faith filled prayer was offered.  

Tonight when Russ got home from work he asked if we had any word from Michael letting us know that he was well and had arrived.  I sadly said, no.  I told him I wasn’t too worried because I had heard from Michael in California, so I knew he was back on American soil and probably just fine.  We had dinner, Russ went off to meetings as usual.  I went back to the normal mom things.  About 7:15 a call came to my cell phone from Oregon.  It was Sister Russell – the mission mom – calling me personally to let me know that Elder Peters had made it safely to Oregon.  She calls all the Moms I guess.  Then she told me that they met Elder Peters at the airport as he came down the escalator with the two other Elders and Elder Peters was smiling so big.  Sister Russell told me that President Russell saw him smiling and just felt like he had to hug that great new missionary!  Oh Tender Mercies!  The Lord is in charge!  She told me that President Russell from the first glance could tell that Elder Peters was going to be a huge asset to the mission.  I feel so grateful for her call.  When she said the word hug I started to cry and I couldn’t talk.  I told her later, when I could talk again, the entire story and thanked her and her husband for being in tune with the Spirit and for giving him that hug.  She started to cry also and told me that it is great to feel a mother’s love so intensely over the phone.  She said, “President Russell is sitting here handing me tissues”. 

  In the airport one of the missionaries lost his luggage.  (it was not Elder Peters this time like on his way to Mexico)  So, while they were waiting Elder Peters and the other Elder walked over and were talking in Spanish entirely to a lady working there  and gave her a pass a long card.  Sister Russell said, “It was totally amazing!  Not more than 10 minutes in Oregon and they are busy doing missionary work right in the airport!”

Elder Peters’ first area is Medford.  He is with a native companion and they were busy talking Spanish while they were waiting to leave.  His email day is Monday.

He is happy, He is safe,  He is watched over by the Lord and so am I!

December 2, 2015

Michael’s Thankful list:

El CCM,Gift of tongues,Prayer,Letters,Teachers,Doctors,Nature,Ability to Change,El Evangelio (the gospel),Sleep,Friends,People who listen,MY FAMILY!,Knowledge of gospel,The small things in life (toothpaste, food, etc.),My Traditions,Uplifting music,Eternal Family,Smiles,When I’m healthy

Study time,Joseph Smith,Espereto Santo,Ability to repent,Ability to Keep growing!

December 1, 2015

Well, this week has been filled with a lot of excitement, sadness, silliness, and so many more emotions! I feel like when I start to get a little emotional, everything that I store up inside just floods out! Like we were teaching this lady who was subbing for my teacher because he was sick and we had no idea what to teach her so after praying we decided to teach about the Christlike attributes. It was a good lesson! We shared a scripture with her that was in doctrine and covenants about like having faith when times are hard and when we finished we asked her what she thought about the scripture and she started crying. She then told us that her grandma died like 2 weeks ago and it has been really hard for her. I felt that I needed to share about grandpa  and I started and said yo saber exactamente como usted sentir! (I know exactly how you feel!) and that is as far as I got before I started crying!  I love this gospel and the joy it brings!! I have been praying to feel grandpa by me and helping me and I guess this is my answer to my prayer!

Also this week I was able to help this newer elder. He is like 2 weeks behind me and he has been struggling with his Spanish. He feels like everyone is doing so well and he is still struggling! I sat down by him and told him that I had and still feel the same thing, but it is important that we don't let this get us down. It is important to keep putting our trust in the Lord and keep pressing forward with faith that it will all work out. Also after I said that he said something like usually he has to be humbled first before he starts progressing. I then thought about my life. Every hard thing or humbling thing that has happened to me has happened for a reason. My growth! I then thought about how my wrists have been hurting since like I got here and how this has been the Lord humbling me and helping me grow! Grow in my faith in Him and in prayer!!

We watched this video called "Because of Him"

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-1420-because-of-him?lang=eng

It is so good and it is this video about Jesus Christ and how important He is!  I love it! maybe you can  watch it! It is truly amazing!!

also mom i have a favor to ask. i want to know more about my ansestors. Like is grandpa peters the first generation of lds in our family and more about grandpa white and where he served his mission and more about how our family came into the gospel. do you think you could help with that? Everyone can, Grandmas and Aunts and everyone!  ok:)

I would like to share something with you. It is something that I learned in one of the meetings I was in on Friday (we had meetings all day and they were to help us get prepared for our mission and how to plan and how to involve the members! it was pretty cool) and they shared this quote in one of the meetings.

" What are miracles? Miracles are the natural result of the correct application of true eternal principles!"

Also another thought I had and this is for dad. He asked me how to improve missionary work in the stake. I would say to have the member get more involved in the teaching of the investigators and also that they go out and just start befriending people!!

I just want to testify that the gift of tongue is a very real thing! We had a testimony meeting and I was able to say everything I wanted to say! I know I am not super great at Spanish but I am improving everyday and that is all that really matters!! I look back to my first week or even the 2nd week and I see how much I have grown!! Like today, I got my hair cut and I was sitting there and I was wondering how long the lady had worked here and so I asked her in Spanish and then she answered and I understood everything! well most everything!! haha!! 

I am so grateful for prayer and for the trust and love God has for me!

Mom can you send me the Priesthood men song! I have been trying to sing it and i cant remember how it starts.

well I love you so much and I am excited to leave and start my new adventure. Please keep me in your prayers. I am so thankful for them and I can feel there strength!! 

Le amo!!!!!!!

Amor

Elder peters!!!!

Oregon here i come!!!

I leave the ccm at 3 but i have to be at the reception at 2:30. So I will have to wake up at like 1:45 or earlier!

Well I am a little nervous about the airport but I will have people there to help me (2 elders are going to Oregon with me) and also I was nervous about starting but that it has turned more into excitement.

oh talking about blessing! I have been able to give a couple while I have been here!  Last Sunday while we still had everyone in our district here we gave blessings! I am so glad that Dad and Grandpa have taught me how to give a blessing!! And taught me that the words are not supposed to be mine! They are the words of God. Every time before I would start to give a blessing I would have no idea how to start or what to say but then I would start with what I knew and I would open the blessing and then I would just wait until words would come to my head and then I would say them! it was such a neat experience!!! 

this is my district. we are pretty cool you could say

this is my building! many things have been learned here

this is the cage! this is where we play soccer. it is like indoor soccer but outside!! hahaha

 just for dad because he wrote it on my pillow!! i also love you a ton!!! so i gave you a heart!!!

this is how i study!!

the washroom:)

some of my buddies!  look how tall i am!! 

these are my living conditions!! 

living conditions cont.

i love the scriptures!

This is exhausting!  tee hee

the moon was upside down last week!!!!!

this is elder hofeling!! he is really good friends with the wadleys!!!!

watch us whip!!!

my miestros!!!