May 13 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey y'all what's up?

So this last week we had our first district council in person for about 6 weeks and it was so much fun! I had honestly forgotten how much that I had missed going to missionary meetings in person and how much more fun they were. In anticipation of that and the fact that we had, had transfers the day after and we were saying goodbye for at least a little while two of the Missionaries in our district because they got transferred out I made cinnamon rolls to say goodbye to those Missionaries as they went off to their new areas. Our new district leader is awesome his name is Elder Wakatsuki. Other than district council last Tuesday and transfers that happened Wednesday all is going well, albeit a tad boring still. Sorry the letter is so short but I hope these pictures make up for it!

Bread

(Elder Petersen)

So this week we was a pretty good week being, we just got transfer news yesterday and I am staying up here in Malad with my companion Elder Davis, we are still under quarantine so it has been pretty boring so to keep the monotony down I have been baking so that I don't have to eat the same things everyday and can do something during the day. So this week I made bread dough, which I have since turned into pizza crusts bread loaves and cinnamon rolls. I apologize for how short my emails typically are lately but I'll try to make them better in the future.

The Sun is my brother!

(Elder Slade)

Well. It's official. I've spent more time in the field in my apartment proselytizing than outside. Yay! That was sarcastic if you couldn't tell. But, actually it's been good. This week has been fun. We were able to do service this week! That's why we moved our p-day to today. Ed did it last Wednesday and yesterday. We were working at a Corona testing sight, directing traffic and telling where people to line up. So if there ever was a time that I got Corona, now would be it! Coronawesome! We had to wear masks during all of it, and me being as smart as I am, decided not to put on sunscreen last week. So my entire forehead was sunburnt, but the lower half of my face was white because of the mask. It looked really attractive in my opinion. Lol, jk.

So, we could some big news today. I'm getting a new companion! In the next 3 weeks or so, we are getting 30 or so new missionaries who served somewhere foreign, who are being reassigned to this mission. I don't know anything about my nee companion, but the exchange will probably happen in the next day or two. I'm sad to split with Elder Trezise, but we'll still see each other. The plan is that they'll just split the area, so we'll both be staying in Sugar City.

In other news, a few funny things that happened this week. I was talking to Elder Fa'aumu during the service project. He is from Tonga, and thus his skin is darker. I asked him "Why don't black people get sunburnt?" His response was "The sun is my brother! He is nice to me!" I thought it was the funniest thing, especially in his Tongan accent. Another funny thing happened when we were doing a video chat family with a family in the area. The family is super quiet and passive, while their youngest girl who's probably like 5 kept screaming at us. She accused us of having a secret. We were hiding gold or something. She then proceeded to claim we should be in jail because we hid the gold. The rest of her family remained quiet and looked bored. It was pretty funny.

 It's starting to be super beautiful up here! Spring is really coming in force up here. It's super nice weather, and Elder Trezise and I actually started doing our companionship studies outside. The beauty reminds me of the many blessing I should be grateful for now. This may not be exactly the mission experience that I imagined, but it's still great. I get to laugh, teach the kindest people, and enjoy in the beauty of a wonderful place. I'd invite you to think on the blessings in your life. Be grateful for the small things, and it will make the big things seem less difficult.

Interesting fact. In 1995, potato plants were taken into space with the space shuttle Columbia. This marked the first time any food was ever grown in space. That's one potato that I could enjoy. A space potato. A spatato!

Pictures:

1. Filming a video for Elder Trezise to just a facebook event. Our mission is starting to proselytize a lot more with facebook now. Gross. I don't like social media. However, it does show a beautiful view!

2. An idea of what it looks like when we teach. You can probably see th sunburn mark on my face.

3. Filming a video of me singing a song for facebook. You can also see a sunburn on my face in this one.

I'd rather eat than teach!

(Elder Slade)

To the best friends and family a person can hope for,

This week has flown by. Wasn't last Monday just like two days ago? That's what it feels like. We've been very busy this week. We had a total of 35 lessons in the past 7 days. And let me tell you, that takes a number out of you. It's tiring teaching that many lessons. I'm kind of exhausted today, but that's alright, because it's a good exhausted! It's also extremely rewarding though. We were able to find a person to teach yesterday named Oscar! We taught Jesse and Jill again, and they are considering a day to be baptized! Jesse and Jill also brought us pizza and banana bread Friday night. I love them so much! They are literally the best.

My new companion Elder Trezise and I are getting along well! We go on runs most mornings, which is really fun! Elder Trezise has been recently trying to eat better. One evening we were about to have a lesson, and he was sneaking into the kitchen to eat some oreos. I tried to hold him accountable. I yelled "Don't do it! You're going to regret it! You're going to get fat!" He said "I don't care!" I quickly pulled out my phone to start our next video chat lesson and yelled back, "You don't have time! We have a lesson!" He responded "I'd rather eat than teach!" Suffice it to say that I won, as the family on the other end of the phone answered and we were forced to teach a lesson.

I recently finished the Book of Mormon, either this week or last week. I was able to take the challenge at the end in Moroni 10:4-5, to pray to know whether it is true. I testify to you today, that it is true. 100% true. The Book of Mormon has brought me nearer to my Savior and to my God. It has brought me happiness and peace, and I know that whoever reads it, with an open mind, will experience those same feelings. If you haven't read the Boom if Mormon in a while, or even at all, I would invite you to pick it up and read it.

Ill leave you with some helpful advice from my friend Akash. He says it better than I could ever: Make sure to not be a spec-tater and keep your "eyes peeled" for Corona.

Pictures:

1-2. Elder Trezise's trademarked creation, the delicious French Toast McGriddle. We made it for dinner one night.

3. Elder Trezise pretending to be a mummy

4. Out on our walk. It is soooooo beautiful out here now! Sunny (usually) and like the perfect weather. Too bad we are in the apartment for most of it. :(

April 28 2020

(Elder Petersen)

Hey Everyone how are y'all doing this week? Well this week for me has been pretty darn good for us. To start out this week their was not a lot going on so because of that and because I wanted to the work moving I challenged my District of which I am only a member of it, not to mention a district of only four compionships to set up appointments with members. A goal of not 20, not 50, but 100 appointments in a single day. And we did it!! My companion and I setting up a grand total of 38 appointments. We work hard that day calling close to 150 people that day alone. That was definitely the highlight of my week being able to as a District set up all of those appointments up. Setting up those appointments on Thursday led to us being able to have 12 appointments as a companionship yesterday being extremely busy all day. Other than those experiences it has been a pretty dull week. I hope I'll have a better letter next week!!!

You just pulled an Elder Slade!

(Elder Slade)

Well. This has been an emotional week for sure. We found another person to teach on Thursday, a 10 year-old girl named Presley. I'm excited to be able to teach her. The day after was perhaps one of the best days of my mission. A couple we are teaching, Jill and Jesse, called during lunch and told us they wanted to bring us dinner. They told us that they love us and not just because we are teaching them. My heart just melted. I love them so much, and I really hope they will eventually decide to get baptized. They are so close! That same day, several other members in the area were just super nice and offered to bring us dinner. We had several great lesson that day, and Elder Leavitt and I just got along super well. We had some good laughs. The title is something I said that day to Elder Leavitt. I have a bad habit of trying to talk while I'm yawning, and it comes out something like: aaaughmehermanermaaahhh. Elder Leavitt did a similar thing that day. It was funny. So that day was just awesome.

And then life played a cruel joke the next day, and Elder Leavitt got emergency transferred. It was really sad. He's been here almost 9 months, and he had so many friends here, and he wasn't able to say goodbye because we're quarantined and he had to leave in like 3 hours. He was able to call a few people, but other than that all we could do is film a video of us singing a song, and post it on the ward Facebook pages. Elder Leavitt went to Idaho Falls to be an Assistant to the President, and Elder Trezise, who used to be an Assistant, is my companion now. He is super smart and creative, and is just an all around great missionary! He likes running (in fact we ran 4 miles today!) and reading fantasy as well, so hopefully we will get along great. I'm excited to work with him!

I'm pretty stressed right now, because I don't feel like I am ready to lead out this area, but I'm taking days one at a time, and I think it will be alright. A scripture in Ether 12 gives me comfort:

27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.

I may feel Inadequate now, but I no that this will be a time to make we weaknesses strengths through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

I love you all. You guys are awesome. An interesting potato fact: Marie Antoinette reportedly wore potato blossoms in her hair and Louis XVI wore them in his buttonhole to try to get French farmers and people hyped about potatoes. That's more potato devotion than I have stomach for. Lol Just kidding.

Pictures:

1. Elder Trezise (pronounced like precise with a T) and I

2-4. Pictures documenting our time in the apartment spending hours calling and texting people.

5. In the process of making some delicious chicken tortilla soup. Shout out to sister Barnhill in Sugar City for the delicious recipe!

Baptism

(Elder Petersen)
So this week was really awesome because our investigator Francis was Baptized this last Saturday in a pretty different baptism at least for me. The first thing that was different was there were only ten people at the Baptism. It was different as well because while there were only 10 people at the Baptism itself, we were able to video call other people into the ordinance so that they could participate in the Baptism. It was a very special time with her fiancé performing the baptism and the confirmation being able to confirm her a member of the Church. And while that was the highlight of our week, we also had our zone conference last Friday and learned a lot about how we can be affective and productive while we are quarantined and in self isolation.