June 14, 2016

Dear family and friends,

This week I was able to build my bike!  It was a lot of fun!  Yeah! I get to finally ride my bike that I have packed around for 7 months now!  It is so helpful to get around faster on the bikes.  We get to see a lot more people. We can just zip around! Like today we were able to visit 10 + people, tract a street, help a member which was super fun, and we did it all before dinner!! Woot!  Woot!!!  I am seeing a change in me for the better. I have had to take the lead in the companionship and it has made me more confident in talking with people and being me! 

6-2-16

We went to the temple today and boy was it pretty!  The drive up and back were long to Portland but worth it.  At first I struggled to feel calm and I think a big part was that it’s hard to go to the temple with a bunch of missionaries.  It just is hard for me but I really wanted the temple trip to be something special for me.  I prayed and prayed for that.  I was grateful for the peace that came to me while there and the tender feelings from the Lord there.

6-6-16

We had interviews with President Russell today and it was actually very good.  I was very uplifted by what was said and it moved me to do better!  He extended the challenge of 5 new investigators and I have faith we can do it!  So after interviews we decided to bike to the far west side of blue and contacted some people and we were able to have a little success there so hopefully things work.  It is amazing how the Lord works and how He directs us to people!

6-7-16

Today was a awesome day for finding people!  We were able to find 3 people, but one of them is super solid and we talked with her for a good while on her porch and she is down to learn and has even had some questions but the only thing holding her back is that her daughter is graduating and moving out so she said we could start teaching her in like October.  But we got her the pamphlet app and gospel library so hopefully she uses them!   Today I also tried the challenge of waking up at 6:30 and exercising.  I was impressed with how I felt all day!  I was happy like all day and it was just a good day!  So I need to keep doing that!

6-8-16

Today was our technical p-day and it was epic.  We went to Emerald park and had a bar-b q and played Frisbee and v-ball!  It was so much fun!  It was nice to just play around and have fun and really just be me!  It was so nice!  We played Frisbee and would do all sorts of cool stuff!  It was a day much needed! We were also able to be a part of Naliye’s Ordinations to the Aaronic priesthood!  I’m so happy with their progress!  Then we were able to find 2 new investigators!  We have a challenge to find 5 this week and so far we are at 3!  So this is epic!

6-9-16

Today we were at the church and a lady was there and she started talking to us.  It was nice to just talk to her in the hall and have some time to just talk.  She said something that really stuck with me.  I am my #1 convert!  Sometimes I get so caught up in that I’m here to teach and help other people and when I can’t do that I get down on myself, but the real reason is to forget yourself and help others come closer to Christ!  And by doing that I draw closer to Christ! Just like ‘lift”.  After that sweet experience we went to dinner at the Bishops home.  It was nice to be there and talk to the bishop and his wife.  All the kids ran off so we ended up just talking to them and I talked to them about Mexico and how I was a Spanish missionary.  We talked for like 45 minutes about it!  It was wonderful!  I love the members here! We also were able to find 3 new investigators so we were at 6! 

It is really getting hot here.  It has been like 90 degrees and super humid! It is really hard to work so hard while you sweat so much and just feel drained!  It is such a relief to be able to go into a building with air conditioning.

One day this week Elder Adams and Thibault came over and grabbed a few things and as they were leaving Elder Adams dropped a hint that they had put a squirrel in our apartment.  Then they left!  So we spent a crazy time trying to find it and even longer to catch it!  It was so insane!! And so sketchy! I am kind of grossed out that a squirrel was in my room. Oh! The joys of missionary work! Haha

Love you all!  Happy Father’s Day Dad!

Love, Elder Peters