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!!! 

November 24, 2015
PRAYER IS A VERY REAL THING!!
hola everyone!!! ¿comó estas? i love you so much!!! thank you all for fasting for me this week!!!! i am so greatful for you all and that you all care for me that much!! 

so i decided i love latinos!! they are so funny and they have so much love for everyone around them!!! i have gotten to know a few pretty well and they would see me and yell elder peters!!! but peters is kinda harder for them to say. it is more of elder peeters haha!!! and i was talking with another one and we asked him how he was and he started singing the happy song!!!! it was so awesome!!!

haha fun fact of the week!! i am the tallest person and i am also that lightest!!!! (skin and weight!!!!;)) haha just thought you would enjoy that!!!

my head has been doing a little better each day. it still is hard but i am learning to not let it hurt i just need to relax and take one thing at a time!!

i also had a really good talk with one of other comps ( the compion of the tongan, the togoan is really loud and kind hard to get along with some times) and we just talked and both let of a lot of feeling! it was really helpful!! i try to write them down and get rid of them but that never works. i just need to talk with people!!

this week has been hard on my head just because of memorizing. i try hard to memorize things but i have a hard time to keep it all in my head. i decided that it is probably because i am also learning spanish and having to memorize all those words now too.. so i am getting better at memorizing but it takes me a lot longer and a lot more harder work to do it!

when you read the book of mormom with a purpose and seeking to find answers you really do find answers and also how to help your invertigators!! i love the book of mormon!!!

i have a question for all of the family! how can i become a better listener?

this week has been filled with a lot of experiences of prayer!!! we had a devo on prayer and it was the most amazing thing ever!!! i learned so much and i wish i could explain it all!! but it can mostly be summed up with this one line. pray to god and express your feelings, talk with him and he will talk back to you, listen and you will understand!!!!! prayer has helped me so much and comforted me so so so much while i have been here!! there is no way i could do any of this without prayers!!! (also my prayers are all in spanish now!!!! pretty cool right!!) also something i learned this week was that learning= practice, work, diligence,patience and EFFORT!!!!! 

i love you all so much!!! you are all so much help for me!!! thank you for the prayers! sorry it is short but i did send a lot of pictures!!!

i love you so much!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Peters

this is me:)

I am so pumped to be a missionary!  Look how cool my tag is!

I LOVE MAIL!!!!!!!  These are all MINE!!!!!!!  Keep them coming!

Gym time today - I couldn't do anything so I just took pictures

In this one I almost got destroyed by the tongan!!!!! it was crazy!!!

I had to try too!!!

Do you think I can make grandma and grandpas table with this picture!!!!!!!!

November 17, 2015
i think of all you guys in the mornings when i walk to class. it gets cold here in the mornings!! probably because we are like 7000 feet in the air.... haha i hope that you all are enjoying bundling up!!!

the sunrises and sunsets here are pretty amazing!! i don't think i have ever seen so many sunrises!!! it is crazy!!! every morning  i walk past that mountain that has the towers on it and it always looks so amazing!!!

haha so dad i have been fighting myself for like 4 weeks now because i have been craving chips so bad!!!!!! it is crazy!!! i finally gave in this week and i bought a can of pringles here!! it was so amazing!!!!!!!!!! it made me so happy!!!!

mom can you maybe send me a picture or something of how you memorized the articles of faith? i am trying to learn them in Spanish and i think that that would be helpful!

dad!!! i learned something awesome this week!!! it is called TTIP!!! it is amazing!!! Teach, Testify, Invite, Promise!!!!!! this is the most amazing way to teach!!!!!! i have seen the power of it in my teaching!!!

so this week i have been in a lot of pain. i have had wrist pain since last pday and it had been getting worse and worse until finally i couldn't stand it anymore. i told me comp that we needed to go to the enfermeria during gym so i wouldn't miss class and he was like no way i not missing gym time. and then i said (cuz i was a little mad and hurting) what do you expect me to do during gym time!!!! i physically cant do anything i hurt so bad. and then i broke down and started crying like hard crying.... and then the big tonga gym came up to me and gave me a hug which felt like a was hugging tyler and so that made me cry more and then after all that i think my comp saw how much i was hurting and so he comforted me and took me to the docs... it is crazy because i have been praying since like the 1st week here to feel more love for me comp and to learn to love him and that he would love me and that prayer was answered though this experience. the lord is mindful of us and he know exactly how to help us!!!!!!!!!!!! i love the Lord and i know he loves me!!!!

i love you all so much and i love that i get mail from you everyday!!!!!!! please keep it up!!! i love you all!!

Amor 

Elder Peters

What foods do they try to feed you that you don't eat:)

um i eat most everything. the tacos sometimes are really hard and there is this weird meat things that is like orange and i don't get that. i will always get whatever else is offered. and you will be glad to know i am eating well and i have a salad like every day maybe even 2 times a day. and i have fruits and veggies and bread. so the food is most of the time pretty good. nothing compared to having you cook for me but it is good. i miss just being able to eat whenever and being able to choose what we ate.... haha

Do you share a bathroom and have public showers?

i have a bathroom for our room. so there are 5 rooms in each casa (house) and each room have 4 missionaries in them so i share a bathroom with 4 people. 

Do you really hear gun shots and such from outside the complex?  Is it really in a scary part of town?

i guess so. sometimes it is hard to tell if it is guns or fireworks. but there is always noise here. well the ccm is very peaceful and i haven't been out of it really but when we drove to the temple it was pretty crazy. they had like these garages on the side of the road and some had like some crazy things in them. like car seat like the real seat. or bumpers and random stuff like that.

What is you favorite time of the day?

um i really enjoy all the learning. i am learning a ton and the teachers are really helpful. i have had a pretty rough week so i don't know if it really has been my favorite this week. but i also like the times that they give me to just do me. my wrist have been really bad and my head has been killing me....i wear my braces. 24/7 again. i have done the rub on medicine too.. i went to the doc and he gave me another cortizone shot in my left arm  because he said he was not trained enough to give it in the wrist (he said it would do the same thing)  and he gave me like steriod tapers. he told me to take the duexis again so i haven't been able to take excerdrin... how do i treat my wrist pain and my head. this week has been REALLY hard for me..... but i am leaning on the lord for his strength!!   i told myself last night when i really needed a hug from you that i may not get to hug you for two years but i am learning to love and be loved another way. and to trust in the lords love and help others feel the love for there families like i do for mine!

How is the spanish?

it is a ton better then last week but no where near where i want it to be. but that is totally fine i know i am learning everyday and that is what is really important. it takes me a little longer to learn then everyone else but i think that is because they all have at least 2 years of spanish already. but i am stickin  with them i can understand a ton of what is said to me in spanish. 

What are they working on you learning this week?

spanish!! ;) hahaha i work on spanish every day and then like 1 or 2 days of the week we do a spiritual thing. but they give me time to study what i want so it is good.

remember each day is only a memory tomorrow, so make good memories!

 can you have dad and tyler tell me about there mtc experience?

hasta luego!!!! yo hablo a ustedes proxima semana!!!!!!! les amo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Peters

Nov. 10, 2015
Dear Family,
I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!! i have so much to say!
First off - Happy Birthday to Tyler, Cameron and Jessie!
Here are some quick notes from this week.
-There are so many noises around us here.  There are fireworks, guns, people yelling, cars, trucks, ect.
-The CCM is beautiful!   The people here are so kind and nice and so very happy!
-5 love languages are real!
-I eat a lot of cereal!
-Tuesday is pizza night and I do love that!
-I love my district!
- I love your letters!  Keep sending them!   They are wonderful!!!!    
            send letters as email to  letter@mtcmexicocarepackage.com   put my name in the subject line.

This week has been great! I have learned so much and I am learning new things in Spanish everyday!!!!! I know the Lord is blessing me and He is helping me through everyday!!!!!! I love him and His enabling power of the atonement to give me strength and to know that He knows exactly how I feel right now!!! 

This week I found Elder Perkes!!!! It was so nice to see someone from Bountiful and someone I know!!! 

Hey dad what do you think of Ether 12: 17?

 " And it was by faith that the three disciples obtained a promise that they should not taste of death; and they obtained not the promise until after their faith."

I was thinking about faith this week and it amazed me how much faith these men have -  enough faith to live forever!! that is crazy!!!

This week I have seen a lot of tender mercies. I know that the Lord is watching out for me everyday!! I have been so impressed with my head and that I have not had huge problems with it! I have been able to take so much in and I haven't got the huge headache that everyone gets. (What am I saying, that I normally get:))     Also He has helped me so much with Spanish. I have a hard time sometimes to say what I want to say but when I open my mouth and testify of truth the words come and I am able to simply explain what  I want to say and I am able to feel the spirit and I know my investigator does too. 

Mom and Sarah and Rachel and Annalee and Laura!!! My miestro played the piano for us this week and it took me right back home!! I closed my eyes and just imagined that you were there playing for me!!! It was such a sweet experience!!

I also have seen that there is a whole different kind of spirit from Sunday vs the rest of the week. On Sunday the Spirit testifies extra strong to me of truth and helps me feel loved. And then through out the week I don't feel that Spirit the same way  but I know the Spirit is with me because I am able to learn so much . And there is no way I could ever do this without the spirit constantly with me!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

One thing the mission president's wife told us on Sunday was hold tight, knuckles white!!!!!! We need to hold fast to the iron rod and this gospel and never let go!!!  I like the knuckles white part because it show that we really have to put energy and time and muscle into holding onto the gospel and the iron rod.

Hahah so we had a fast walk race back to our casa the other day and I destroyed!!!!!!!! Haha so mom when you told me I walk fast, you are completely right.!!! Haha  I am a fast guy!!!!!! Hahahaha!!!

I love you all so much!! Once again this letter was really jumpy but I have a lot to say about little things! I love you all so much and you are all such great examples to me!! I thank you all for helping me become the person I am!!! I love you so much!!!!

I hope its not too cold in Utah!! it is still pretty warm here!! like 80 or so!! Haha when I get to Oregon I am going to be so cold!!!! haha

i love you!!!!! thank you for all your prayers!!! you are the best!!!!

love elder peters

haha also mom i got my hair cut today, and it was crazy! I have no idea how to explain it. they were so fast and I was really worried that they were going to do a bad job but I think they did ok!

i love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I pray for you guys every night too just so you know!!!

I use a lot of books!   

You know, studying away!

My first haircut not from Mom or Dad

Centro De Capacitacion Misional Mexico

November 3, 2015
So this week was a great week. I was able to learn a ton and I feel that my Spanish ( if i look back to 12 days ago) is improving a ton. My maestros (teachers) talk in almost all Spanish and then when we don't understand a word they will say it in English. They are helping a ton. I am so grateful that I had Hermana Martinez before I came because I would be so lost without her help. Everyone here has taken like 2 or more years of Spanish and they are all doing pretty good. I am struggling but I know that Lord is blessing me everyday. I can keep up with what people say most of the time or how they act when they say it but when it comes time for me to speak I have a hard time forming the sentences. and just so you all know. grammer is still SO hard in Spanish just like it is in English!! ;) 

So last week you guys told me that there was a hurricame that hit mexico and I didn't really believe you till later that day and the next couple of days. It rained so so so hard here!! And dad the thunder and lighting was so awesome!! (dont worry we aren't allowed outside if it is thundering) anyway, it was so cool!

So how is the cold weather everyone!!! hahaha I bet you all are loving your sweatshirts and fireplaces. haha I am still rocking my short sleeve shirts and it is getting warmer now that they rain is done. 

haha mom those cockroaches that you sent me that are like sticky are so funny because there actually are some here!! so it is funny to play with the sticky ones!! thanks for all the notes in those packages and the happy little quotes that I think Sarah put in. My favorite one is be the fruit-loops in a life a cheerios.

This week during planning session with my companion we started planning and I stopped him and said, "Elder, we need to pray." and then after that everything started to flow. We worked together and thoughts came to my mind and  ways to teach. So just remember everyone, if you ask for  the spirit and follow it, then greatness will be thrust upon you.!!!

Family and everyone else thank you so much for your prayer and your support. I can feel it and I know that all is well with you and things at home. I know that everyone is ok and that it will be ok!!!

I want to end with my testimony in spanish.

yo se que jesucristo es nustro salvador. yo se que familias para siempre. yo se que el libro de mormon es verdadero. yo se que dios ama su hijos! yo se que el don del langues es vardadero!

(thanks to google translate - I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior . I know families are forever . I know that the Book of Mormon is true . I know God loves His children! I know the gift of tongues is real!)

I know that this is short but I KNOW that it is true! 

I  love you all so much and I am so thankful we can all be together for eternity.

love 

Elder Peters

My happy Room:)

Hurricane Patricia hit us hard last Tuesday night. I got a little wet:)

Mexico CCM

These are ways to send letters.  USPS is not working

I call these lego hands