Merry Christmas!

Dear Brethren,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! This week should be awesome! I hope you are all remembering the true meaning of Christmas this week! Although through Latter-Day Revelation, we know that Christ's birth was actually April 6th, December 25th is the time that the Christian World takes to remember Christ and His birth. So, I hope you all remember that (and I figure you would), as you are celebrating this Christmas Season with your families and loved ones.

The work is going fantastic! Not one soul that is set for baptism out here is not still moving toward baptism. As always, things get in the way, but the key is overcoming those problems. Satan is fighting against the work, as always, but every one of the souls that God is entrusting us with, are doing well, and are on course. Keep missionary work in your prayers, please. We could all use all the prayers we can get. This is a great time of year for Charity to be in our hearts, and I hope we are all taking advantage of that spirit to share the gospel with those around us. More important than anything is the eternal life of the people around us. Let's be examples, and bring people to Christ, okay? We call ourselves the Sons of Mosiah for a reason! We're great missionaries!

Anyway, my message will be slightly short today, but know that I love you all so much! Many of you probably have no idea how profound of an impact you have had on my life. I think of you often, and I can't wait until we are all assembled back together again some day in the near future. However, until then, let's do things to give glory to our God, and make each other proud! I hope we have many stories to share with each other when we are all together again. I hope we even bring more people with us into the fold of Christ, and even into our friendship. Love you all, and have a Merry Christmas!

Almost the one year mark and the work is moving forward . . .

Dear Brethren,

Another week gone by...so quickly! It just happens I guess. My year mark is coming up quickly, and I'm freaking out that it's almost here. I totally love the mission, and am so glad I've been able to serve out here. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when I have to come home, in some ways. In others, I know exactly what I'm going to do when I get home. However, I'm going to refrain from talking about those things I'm going to do when I get home, because they will make me "trunky" (there is your missionary word for the week. It basically means homesick, or longing for something you can only have at home--for example, wanting to watch movies). That would not be good for me to get trunky, thus I refrain. However, I am looking forward to seeing all of you again. I know Elder Van Steeter is as well (for those of you who know him), because he and I have kept in contact since he entered the mission field. I am glad to share the work with my good friend, and definitely can't await many of your arrivals to the mission field. What would be even greater, is for one or two of you to find your way out to Nebraska with me. I would be more than glad to train you...unless you are a sister of course, and then I would just be glad to serve around you.
Anyway, reporting the good news, there are now ten people set for baptism in Columbus. The area is doing really well, and we just received news this last week that they will be making my area into two areas when transfers happen this week. There will be Columbus English, and Columbus Spanish instead of just one "Zebra Area" (which is a term for an english-speaking missionary serving with a spanish-speaking missionary, which I am currently doing). Our theory is that Elder Noonchester and I are getting split up, and will both be given a new companion, but we don't know yet. We find our transfer information tomorrow. Fun.
So how are you all doing? Write me and let me know. If you have any inspirational stories for me, I can always use those. They really do pump me up for the work. I am sorry I have failed to write all of you, but my hand kills after writing three letters, so I usually respond to letters I have currently received. Deb and Jake, I know I totally owe you a letter from forever ago! I think I also owe James and Steff, and Aunt Wendy as well...and Tim...and others. I will attempt to repent swiftly, but I can only do so much. Do know that I love you all, and intend to keep loving you all when I return. Don't hate me if you don't here from me much.
Well, I love you all, and hope I have more of a message to write next week. Keep doing missionary work all of you, and help the missionaries out in your area. The Lord needs you to do the work too, and I know He loves you all so much that He wants to bless you until you feel you can't be blessed anymore. These blessings will come when you do missionary work. "Keep the faith, keep the funk!" That would be a shout out to Sister Harwood, one of the three coolest sisters on the planet earth! Love you all! Talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Christopher D. Petersen

An Awesome Conversion . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

The Mission Field is awesome, and it's white and ready to harvest! Jana Hager is going to be baptized on the 4th of December, and she is AWESOME! Jana is so prepared, and her story is a huge testimony builder to me about the power God gives to the pages of the Book of Mormon. Last night, about a half and hour before bed, she sent us a text to tell us that she was reading from the Book of Mormon. She told us that it is an amazing book. I told her I agree, and that it is an amazing book, but I was curious as to why she thought it was an amazing book. She told me that it was amazing because whenever she was reading it she felt something that inspired her to do good, and stay away from sin--or that was the concept anyway, without me being too specific. She then described the feeling she gets when she reads from it. I added a couple of feelings myself, and asked her if that was how she was feeling. She said my description was what she was feeling. I then identified it as the Spirit for her. With gratitude, she sent us a text saying that it might sound corny, but "thank you, sincerely". The Spirit took hold on me, and I felt an overwhelming gratitude to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to assist in her conversion process. Our conversation continued, and I accepted the thanks gladly and told my companion of the conversation since he too is doing this wonderful work and also deserves thanks to the same amount that I do. However, I let her know that we are merely instruments in the hands of God, and that this gift of the gospel which is she is receiving, is a gift from God.
God loves all of His children so much! Sometimes Satan makes it hard for us to see-- and possibly even more difficult to understand--but God truly is working in the lives of all of His children to prepare them to receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to be instruments in this wonderful work! It is not only full-time missionaries who are instruments in God's hands to do this work. In fact, the members play a key role in most conversions! Jana has LDS family, and has had many good influences touch her life to prepare her to receive this gospel. Who's life will you touch to help them to receive the gospel? We all worry about our worldly cares, and sometimes are afraid to do this work--but what do we have to fear more, than that soul being lost? Anything? "The worth of every soul is great in the eyes of God."--Joseph Smith. As well, there is a scripture that is very similar to this quote.
My brethren, there is work to be done all around you, no matter where you are in life. Each of you know somebody who is not a member of Jesus Christ's Church here on the earth. What greater responsibility do you have than to reach out to your fellow man, and help them to find the gospel? I would guess none. Missionary Work is to be done by all members, both in and outside the home. We should also reach out to less-active members of the church, and help them to return into the loving arms of their Shepherd.
Pray for missionary opportunities always. We do not have to be perfect to do this work. God does not require that we give more than we are able, but that we give our entire capacity to the building of His Kingdom! You guys can do it. Together we can bring many people to the Kingdom of God, and then that day is going to be an amazing day with those people we bring. Can there be any greater happiness? Can there be any greater purpose in this life?
I love you guys! And thank you for the example that many of you have set for me. You are all great people! Don't forget who you are: Sons and Daughters of the Living God. Peace, and I can't wait until we all meet again...even if it is three or more years till we are all together again. See ya!

Love, Chris

A Letter to "Funky" Letter to Friends . . .

A Long Long Time Ago, In a Cornfield Far Far Away...


I, Elder Christopher Dennis Petersen, killed chickens this week...R.I.P. Chickens...

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

So, I've been thinking a lot about you, my good friends. Oh! Alisha, Toria, Sami, Gowski, Chris A, and Rachel!!! I know it's weird that I am talking to you all directly in this email/blog thingy, but I want you to know, I have sat down to write letters several times, and I even got some all the way finished, BUT I keep forgetting to buy stamps! Gowski and Chris and Rachel, I haven't begun your letters yet, but I'm writing them way soon! And Alisha, Toria, I have them written, only know they are weeks old, so I will probably write more! I have tried to write you two like a billion times, but something always comes up! As for Sami, I have tried to write you a billion times, but I never finish the letter. Always so much that I need to do, but I haven't forgotten about you. Tim, I need to write you too my friend.
Anyway....I hope you are all excited. Josh is in the MTC now, which is awesome! I'm loving the fact that we now have Carter, Tanner, and Josh all on their missions now! David! I heard you are going to Mexico...where is my letter? Also, of course, we have Tony Arnell out there. Now, am I missing anybody who is out? Goodness...I have a terrible memory. So, if I seem a little spastic today, I guess it's just true, I'm spastic. Things are going really well out here, though transfers are this week, which is always the worst. The work is going great, and we are teaching a lot of great people, and I am so grateful God has prepared so many people for us. I seriously have no idea what life would have been like if I had made the decision to stay home instead of serve my mission. I have made many great friends, and have a great love for the people out here.
Well, love you guys, and take care. The chicken thing above, if you are wondering, was a service project for a family out here. They kill chickens every year, and sell the meat. It helps them get by. We had to catch, kill, pluck, gut, etc. It was an experience. Anyway, you're in my prayers. "Keep the Faith. Keep the Funk", as Sister Harwood would say (for those of you who don't know, Sister Harwood was one of Scott and Michael's Missionaries).

Love, Chris

Short But Sweet . . .

Dear Brethren,

I have no time to really write this week. It will suffice me to say I am doing well, and the work is moving forward. We set a woman for baptism yesterday, named Martha Martinez. She is great, and has a family that should also follow very soon, if not get baptized when she does.

Welcome to the Mission Field, Josh . . .

Dear fellow brethren,

This week should be an exciting one I would assume. Josh Van Steeter, welcome to the mission field soon buddy! I hear your fairwell is coming up this weekend! You'll be in my prayers. Go do an amazing work, and have fun with the fishbowl we like to call the Missionary Training Center. The MTC fishbowl is a great place full of the spirit, food, inspiration, and more food, for those of you who don't know. I call it the fishbowl for several reasons. For one, I had previously heard of the MTC referred to as 1) Spiritual Disneyland, and 2) Prison. It was neither for obvious reasons. First off, though it is very spirtual, I like the mission field more. It's just nothing like Disneyland. It isn't like prison because you can leave whenever you want, and prison is reserved for the wicked, not the righteous. It is a fishbowl because you can see the outside world, but you can't touch it. You are inside a little world, even though the MTC is a place in the larger world that you can see. If you jump out, you will spiritually suffocate until it is time to leave, or you have permission. If you leave, you may be able to flop yourself back into the bowl, or you may not. You take the jump and it's chancing it. Anyway, I'm out of time, but I love you all!

Serving in Columbus, Nebraska

Dear Brethren,
This week has been great. General Conference had some very important messages in it, and I hope all of you got to watch the sessions. If not, I would strongly suggest that you read the talks in the November Ensign. The Servants of the Lord that spoke seemed to have some very common themes. It's helped me to see that they are truly inspired (not that I thought they weren't), and tell the world exactly what they need to hear to be able to repent, and align themselves with the will our loving Heavenly Father. Hopefully we are all putting our trust in God.
Well, I don't know what to say...again. I'm finding it harder and harder to come up with things to say the more of these messages I do. Of course, that's to be expected. However, I hope they will all have some value to you. For those of you who care to know what's actually going on with me in my mission, I think I will give an update right now:
I'm doing really well. I'm currently serving a branch, out in Columbus, Nebraska. The Columbus Branch is a strong branch, and they work very hard. The work has a lot of potential out here, and we are beginning to see a lot of success. I just got here a little over two weeks ago. Previously I was serving in the Trendwood Ward in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I made a lot of life long friends. It was sad to leave, but I believe the Lord needs me here more than there at the moment. My last companion is a very capable missionary, so I'm sure he and his companion are tearing it up out there.
Anyway, we are teaching a lot of Hispanic people because my current companion, Elder Noonchester, is a Spanish speaking missionary. So we teach both English and Spanish speaking people, which makes this area very interesting. I am the senior companion for the first time, which is really bizarre. We are teaching a really cool family called the Cardena Family, and they speak both English and Spanish, so our lessons are kind of Spanglish. It makes for fun times. My companion is kind of amazed that I know what he's talking about when he's teaching in Spanish, and how I can pick up from where he left off in English. I think it's funny. I wish I could claim it was my righteousness and the gift of tongues, but I just listen for the words I do know, and because I know the lesson it's easy.
We are also teaching many more wonderful people, and having a blast out here, but I'm running out of time, so I have to send this. I love you all!

Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

Some "Whacky" Times . . .

Dear Brethren,
I'm trying to remember exactly where I left off last week. I remember now what I was saying, however I think I will spare you for another week, and make this letter a little different.
This time, I'm going to just report on how things are going, and what rocks about my mission! Maybe I'll go over the whacky times, and some summaries!

The First Day of Proselyting On My Mission: I don't know how many of you I ever got to tell about the first day of my mission, but it's work retelling. I think start preaching a little less, and start sharing a few more experiences--both spiritual and crazy! My first day I was taken out by one of my trainers, Elder Thornock. We went out to downtown Omaha, and man it was crazy! It was 40 degrees below 0 with the windchill, and schools had been shut down all over the place for days. Nebraska drivers just cannot drive in the snow. In fact, they can hardly drive AT ALL! Anyway, to set the scene, imagine skyscrapers, cold cold weather, almost nobody outside (those who were out were extremely bundled up), and a brand new missionary out on the streets! I start walking down the sidewalk toward the first people I can sight, which are waiting at a bus stop. There is a man just yelling his guts out--only he isn't an intimidating guy, just weird--and he's screaming some wild things, almost like talking to himself though. Well, we talked to him first. We asked him if he has a faith in Jesus Christ. He responds, "Well, you see, I think that God is the devil, and Satan is Jesus". Now, some people mess with us...but this guy was serious. We kind of just moved on, and talked to some black people who stood at the bus stop and told us we could talk to them right there, but they weren't really interested--mostly just cold, with bloodshot and yellow eyes, and not a great first impression. Then we moved on, and talked to a guy walking quickly down the sidewalk, and he told us we could walk with him to his destination. So we did, and we walked into an amazing antique shop. He told us he owned the shop. He was a catholic guy who was very smart, and he wrote about several religions (basically to tear them apart), but the one he was never able to find problems with, was our church (heck yeah!). Well, we went on to talk about the Plan of Salvation a lot, and he went on to tell us how it makes sense that angels do exist, and explained it to us using evolution. He said, "You have man, then angel, then god." Whoa! Is he in the wrong religion, or what?
Well, after teaching him, we went to an appointment. On our way to the appointment, we learned the other missionaries talked to the crazy guy yelling things in the street. As they talked to him, the guy claimed he was possessed by a devil. One of the missionaries promptly offered to "take care of it" for him. He decilined, and said, "Oh no. I like it." Well, we had a talk about whether or not we should go back and do it anyway--of course, who's to say whether or not he really was? Perhaps he just belongs in the looney bin. Anyway, we eventually made it to the next apppointment. Elder Thornock briefed me on the guy's situation that we were going to see. He was a black guy who just stole his friend's gun because his friend was going to go kill somebody for some reason. He was a good guy who likes the missionaries, but what an appointment!
We went in, and talked to him for a bit. As we did, these two girls chimed in. Well, turns out they were both Lesbian, but they weren't dating each other, so it wasn't that awkward. However, they asked us all sorts of prying questions when they found out we can't even go on dates for two years. They asked, "How are you supposed to get some booty?" Awkwardly we answerd that we aren't, and don't have sexual relations till marriage. They flipped out, and it was nutty. One of them, I guess, actually wanted to join the church at some point, but couldn't cause she wouldn't quit being lesbian. However, awkwardly, she was pregnant because she decided to try not being a lesbian. What a first day, huh?
Anyway, that's not what I intended to write about, but was crazy. Here I am thinking this is how my entire two years would be. I hope you can find the humor in it, even if it's all awkward. Things did still stay crazy on my mission, and we laugh about a lot of things. However, none of my areas have been as crazy as Omaha. Moral of the story: Stay out of Omaha. It's full of weirdies. I'll give more examples in the future. This world is messed up. I guess the whole situation isn't funny. There's a lot to just learn from this experience, and I hope you future missionaries do. We have a lot of work to do out there. Love you all.
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

The Lord is going before us and preparing people . . .

Dear Brethren,

Today's message will have to be a short one since I am running low on time. I got transferred to Columbus Nebraska, which is about and hour and a half away from Lincoln. I am now serving as the senior companion, and am with a spanish speaking missionary, so this is an interesting experience. Columbus is a branch that covers several small towns, and it's weird because the whole town is surrounded by corn fields. I'm finally getting the classic midwest experience!............which, I actually hoped not to have, but great, why not, right? Anyway, the branch is great, but of course, much smaller than what I am used to. The work should be great!
Our mission was honored to be visited by Elder Ellis of the Seventy, and his wife. Their messages were great, and in a summary, told us that we need to enjoy our lives and our missions. The Lord's work is a great, and a joyful work! Elder Ellis talked a lot about how the Lord is going before us, and preparing people. He said that our job as missionaries, is to find the elect, not to convice people who will not listen. God is preparing people for us still, and He is also with us in our individual areas.
I believe this can be applied to even people who are not on their missions, to some degree. However, you may even be a tool in the hands of the Lord to help prepare somebody for the missionaries. Some people take time to be prepared. Well, I am out of time, but just think about the message. Love you all!
Love Elder Petersen

Reaching Out to Those Around Us . . .

Dear Brethren,
I do not have much to say right now really--but I suppose I say that a lot, and then I suddenly find something to get preachy about. Well, I guess I'll just have to keep typing until I figure out something to talk about that's worth something. Anyway, keeping going, I feel really old right now. I have 2 decades below my belt, and I'm still getting older. It's strange to realize that I'm twenty. It just seemed so far away...and now I'm there.
On a spiritual message, I feel like I'm going to beat a dead horse. I realized a lot of my messages include reaching out to those around us, and spreading the gospel. So have all of you done it yet? Have you found at least one person to share it with? If not, I hope you all do. If you are preparing for a mission, what better way than to get involved in the work now? If you can, arrange for a nonmember to be taught in your home--or if you can't do that, shoot to have a gospel conversation with a nonmember or less-active member, at least once a week. If you can't do that on your own, call the local missionaries, and go on a team up with them. Now, some people would say to me, "Chris, you're crazy! This isn't all that matters. We have normal, everyday life to live! We have other things to worry about." If you don't have an idea of how I would respond, then please, write me and ask. This work is so awesome! I wish for all of you to be apart of it! Still, to this day, one of the happiest times of my life is when Scott and I were meeting with the missionaries. It was good for me, it was good for Scott, it was good for Michael--and good for everyone who will ever be taught the gospel by me, Scott, or Michael. I was happy! It is the greatest happiness one may ever find--at least next to having a family, I would suppose. The greatest missionary work happens in the home, but just after that, if you want more happiness, share the gospel! All of us are actually commanded to do it.
Well, love you all! Have a great week!

Love, me

Great News!!

My Beloved Brethren,
I so miss being in your midst, but the work is going forth so amazingly! It's great to see what happens when we let God use us to do His work. Let me explain:
So, on missions, you will do what is called a "companion-exchange", or exchange for short. Well, my companion went to a town called Wahoo for a day or so, and my District Leader's Greeny that he's training, came to Lincoln with me. Well, in recent Mission Trainings, we had talked about following the promptings of the Spirit. We talked about how promptings can come as 1)Feelings, 2) Impressions, and 3) Thoughts. I have always struggled with recognizing promptings that come through thoughts alone! I have always second-guessed, saying, "Was that really the Spirit, or was that my own thought?" How about you?
Well one Elder who is currently the Assistant to the President, told me about an experience he had with a Greeny when roleplaying teaching with him. The Greeny just stopped, and said, "I can't do it." The Elder asked, "Why not? What's wrong?" The Greeny responded, "I thought the Spirit told me to bear my testimony here, but it didn't make sense to me, and I thought maybe it was just my own thought." The Elder responded, "Now Elder, there are two forces that can put thoughts into our minds--Satan, and the Holy Ghost. Now tell me, would Satan ever tell you to bear your testimony?"
Hearing that story, I decided that while I was on this companion exchange, and running the show, I would put this to the test. We were walking down the street, when suddenly I got the thought, "Go knock that door", right as I was passing the house. Now, door-knocking is usually a last resort, and most people don't respond well. I remembered the training on following thoughts. I did so, after all, would Satan ever tell me to knock a door? So with a vocal, "Fine! I'll do it!" the Greeny and I marched to the door, and knocked on it. A woman named Justina came out, and though it as sort of awkward at first (her reaction, and our lack of comfort in the situation), she told us about how she was currently reading a book about the purpose of life, because she wanted to know so badly. She as well was confused about who to worship? She said, "Is it God, or Jesus that we worship?" We explained a bit, and she said, "I've always wondered why there are so many churches out there!" She is golden.
Well, we've since taught her, and her husband, twice, and will continue to do so. As well, on that exchange, I was instructed to knock more doors. We did so, and nothing happened at first. Then, as I was walking down the street, passing a house, getting ready to turn the corner, the Spirit said, "Go up the stairway at that last house." I again, agreed with a vocal, "fine!", and marched up the stairs. Before we got all the way up, a man walked out of his house, and said, "Hey! Nobody lives there!" I got it, the timing was perfect, and if I hadn't knocked all of those doors, and marched up the stairs, we would have missed him. We would have been around the corner long ago. He's a man named Justin who we hope to go back to teach.
Again, the same day, we kept walking to find people on the street. As we did so, we caught another man on his way out. His name is Max Antwon. He was so nice to us, and told us we had to come back to talk to him. Since then, we've gone back, and met his wife, Kellie. We taught them both the Restoration, and they really liked it. They came to church last Sunday, and brought their kids--two of which are baptism age. The kids loved church, and want to go back. Max told his kids okay, they would come back next week! Again, the timing was perfect to catch Max, when we likely would have passed him up had the timing been wrong. God directs his work.
Now last time, I left a lot of scriptures about putting all of our trust in the Lord. Now, this is not something I have ever really been good at in my life. Putting God first is something I've never been good at in my life. I put many things first, in fact. Brothers, why is this thing so important that we put God first? Because cursed is he that puts his trust in the flesh, and not in God. As much as we hate to think about it, we never know who will be there tomorrow. Our loved ones could be gone! All our possesions could be gone! One moment, you believe somebody is there for you, and the next they aren't! But God is faithful, and will never leave. Only you can separate yourself from God--and you do this by loving sin more than Him. He loves you more than anyone does! He will be there for you always, and if you trust and obey Him, He will not let you face a terrible destruction, but will give you everlasting life. Think about it. Ponder this all a lot, and know He is your perfect Father who wants to communicate with you! He wants to answer your prayers, and talk with you! He will never let you down.
Now, I have to go, though I wish I could say more. The last thing before I go, is great news!
For all of you who remember Becca, Dallas, Ty, and Daisy Jones, we have more good news about the Jones family that I taught back in Omaha! Their mother was already a member, and they were baptized just a bit ago--but now their Father has been baptized! Their entire family has been baptized! They are on their way to the temple, where they can be an eternal family in the kingdom of our Father! I love you all!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

Humble Yourself Before the Lord . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

What to say today? I truly have no idea...I do have to say, I've been seeing some pretty crazy things going on in the world, and my mind is caught up in the writings of Nephi when he spoke of the latter days, and the Great and Abominable Church. I've talked to a lot of people who are so hardened against religion because of the acts of such churches. They see wickedness high up in churches all around them, and I often wonder, can we blame these people who choose not to listen? Truly Satan's church is at large, and it has turned away many good people that see the hold Satan has on many churches--Christian and Non-Christian churches alike. This is why members need to help people see the difference between the Great Whore of All the Earth, and the true and restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's quite the battle out here, nevertheless a good work is going forward, and many people are being brought to a knowledge of the truth. And why should we be discouraged? Truly Nephi prophesied that our numbers would be few, and will always be fewer than those of the Great and Abominable Church--at least until the Great and Terrible Day when the Son of God will come again. Hopefully for all of us that will be a Great Day, and not so terrible. Nevertheless, it is what it is.
Now, where do we stand on this whole scale that determines the fate of the world? My father sent me an email about this, and I have to say, I wish I always truly understood my place as a servant of the Lord. Truly missionaries are a force going forth to dissolve the wickedness and secret combinations which plague our world. In the Book of Mormon missionary work is exactly how the Lamanites rid themselves of secret combinations in their society, and the Nephites were unable to do so because people would not hearken unto the word of God. Hopefully the people of this great nation, and of the world, are not hardened to that extent, in their hearts. This is all why we have a great need to do missionary work! Think about it, all of you who have ever wished to be great! The way to be great is to humble yourself, and understand your great nothingness before the Lord, then he will make you mighty in His hands. How cool is that? For a reference, check out Mosiah 4, and read it prayerfully. It's a beautiful chapter, and is honestly a lot of what got me out here on my mission.
Anyway, I'm done preaching now, but love you all! Keep safe, keep righteous, and keep doing the Lord's work, okay? Talk to you next week!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

Food For Thought . . .

Dear Brethren,

I miss your stinking guts! (End of the carnal Chris speaking) How are you all doing? I was in sick all day yesterday, and was told to stay home by Sister Kunz, so my companion and I talked a lot. I got to think about all the crazy things we've done, and realized that we really had quite the experiences, didn't we? Anyway...
Well, I don't have much to say today. I suppose I'm just writing this week out of habit. The Lord's work is going great! Satan's working really hard against it, but no matter what he does, the Lord comes out triumphant! It's all about the casualties now. We must save as many of our brethren as we can. As Brigham Young said concerning the lost handcart companies, "Bring In Those People Now!" This is the job of missionaries, and of members! More dire than the physical death of a freezing, starving people, is the spiritual danger of a soul!
How many of us would jump in front of a car to save someone's life--especially somebody that we care about? I think a lot of us would. So should we not treat with the same urgency the soul who does not have the gospel, or who has strayed from the truth? Now we can't force them to accept it, but ought we not to continually present it? Is the immortal soul not more important than our temporary tabernacles? How much more then, should we care to save a soul, than even that of a life? We place lives at a priceless value--then of how much more value is the soul!
Anyway, it's food for thought. Too often we are afraid to talk to our nonmember friends or acquaintances about the gospel, but we wouldn't hesitate in the least to save them from an oncoming car. Where should we place our priorities? Anyway, good job to all who have realized it, and I'm still working on it. Lol. Half the time that I write things to all of you, I have a major realization myself--and I'm in the process of convincing myself of the truth of something.
Well, I love you all! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

The Atonement of Jesus Christ . . .

Dear Brethren,
The work of the Lord is going on mightily, and the powers of hell will be shaken forever! Nothing will stop the will of the Lord from being done, and we should all rejoice because of this thing. I have learned a lot this week, as life varies, and things change. We sometimes make plans, and they fail, and then we must remember in whom we have trusted, and remember Him who is mighty to save!
I wish to speak on a matter that came to my attention this week. I wish to speak on the write on the atonement of Jesus Christ--but it isn't merely what you think it is. I believe many of us have a testimony of the power of the Atonement of Christ to heal us and cleanse us from sin. Many of us have experienced this miracle many times, and glory be to God for it! However, fewer people (including myself, until this week brought about experience in the matter in just a small portion--even now I cannot fully comprehend it) have a testimony of the enabling and strengthening power of the atonement.
We know that it was said that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is to make "bad men good, and good men better". We get that it makes bad men good--for it cleanses us of ous sins. But how many of us believe that we are to rely on ourselves to become better? It is not so. The atonement of Jesus Christ is for good men to become better as well. Also, it enables men to do things they cannot do of themselves, and get through situations they could not handle on their own. Remember that the Savior conquered all of our pains and our sicknesses and infirmities--not just our sins.
Nephi had such knowledge when his brothers bound him, and planned his death. Read over it. In verse 17 of 1 Nephi 7, Nephi prays: "O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound." This, and many other passages in the scriptures give a great example. Nephi did not just say, "Get me out of this now!" or anything else. He asked to be given the strength. The cords did not just fall from his wrists, and he did not just magically pull a bit and off the came. He was not given "Hercules Powers", but he was granted the strength and the percision to break the bands with which he was bound.
There is a talk by Elder Bednar given in, I think, 2001, before he was an apostle. It was while he was President of BYU Idaho. It's titled, "In The Strength of the Lord". It's about the enabling power of the atonement. Read it, watch it, or listen to it. It will change you a lot if yo let it.
I love you all! Take care, and remembe the God in whom you should trust!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

An Amazing Week . . .

Dear Brethren,

This week has been amazing! I've learned a few very practical lessons this week, and have had some amazing experiences!
First off, Saturday, the 24th of July, I had the privilege of baptizing Judy England! She was an investigator that I taught in the Holmes Lake Area, and a while ago I had invited her to be baptized. She said she would think about it. Then I left Holmes Lake before she could come to a decision. Later, we picked her up again as an investigator when I had stewardship over both Holmes Lake and Trendwood. We only got to teach her a couple of times before new missionaries came into Holmes Lake. Well, long story short, she decided to get baptized, and requested that I do it since I first invited her, and gave her her first Book of Mormon. I was way stoked to get the call, as you can imagine! There is nothing like the happiness one receives when you help them make the first step to the most important thing they will ever decide to do! The consequences are eternal.
Secondly, it's been the best week that Trendwood has seen in a long time! Elder Hoyt and I have been working to just get it moving, and finally, it did! We learned how to set goals, and actually meet them! I am now a good goal setter. Both us really lacked testimony in goal setting, cause unfortunately, most goals are never met. Elder Hoyt analyzed it, and decided we needed to go about it differently. So we set goals that would stretch us, but we put names behind the goals instead of just empty numbers. We set goals we have never accomplished before, but lo and behold, we made it! Now, I do not say this to boast of myself, because 1) My companion had the idea, and 2) It's the Lord's work, not mine. However, it felt good. Now my point: Learning to be a good goal-setter will greatly affect our lives, and our missions. So my advice to all, learn how to set good goals, and meet them. Pray for help. Hopefully, I can keep it up as well, cause I have always been bad at it.
Thirdly, companionship unity is everything. Elder Hoyt and I have very different personalities. We are like opposite ends of the spectrum! We both work hard and love the work, but we weren't getting along. Finally, we had a falling-out and just argued hard-core. No bueno. Luckily, we took a different approach to things this time, and figured out our core problems with each other. There had been some major assumptions made, and that was no good. We worked through them, and resolved things. Since then, we have been able to set and reach good goals, we have had more success than ever before in Trendwood, have taught more lessons than ever in Trendwood, and have been unified in our teaching--which has brought the Spirit strongly into our lessons, and has been what we can credit any of our success to.
Anyway, I love you all, and sorry about the bragging session, but Ammon in the Book of Mormon taught me a valuable thing. It is not okay to boast about yourself, but you can always boast in the Lord. Don't stretch it however, just be righteous about it. Lol.
And look it up, cause it's in Alma.
Love you all!
Elder Petersen

A Lesson Learned . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

I have no idea what to write this week...I guess, a personal experience will do.
Don't ever argue with people about the gospel! It's no bueno. I got pretty frustrated the other day when talking with a man. All he wanted to do was bring up anti-mormon things that were just absolutely ridiculous. I used the Bible against him big time, and tore him down. Bad idea. Yeah, so I may have won the Bible-Bash from a technical standpoint--and even then, he was pretty good. His views were ridiculous, and his understanding leads me to think his pastor probably just spoon-fed it to him. Still, all I did was feed his dislike for us, probably. That wasn't my goal, but in reality, I probably just made things worse.
The reason I grew angry a bit, was because he started to just make things personal. He insulted me, and told me I was misguided. If dedicating two years of my young life to serving the Lord, Jesus Christ is what one would classify as being "misguided"...yeah, see? I'm even kind of mad writing it, but I ought to have watched my temper.
I'm going back to talk with him tomorrow, and handle it the way I really should have in the first place. I should have simply testified of Christ. That is what I have been called to, after all. We teach Christ, we testify of Christ, and we help people to accept Christ. So, I guess there is no end to this story yet. I'll have to let you know how it goes. Either way, learn from my mistakes before you go out and preach the gospel yourselves. It will make your missions, and missionary efforts, easier.
Anyway, I love you all. Have a great week!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

The Worth of Every Soul is Great in the Eyes of God . . .

My Dear Brethren in the Lord,

Many are called, but few are chosen. Why are they not chosen? Cause they aren't as awesome as this brotherhood. Too bad. Lol! You all know I'm the most humble person any of you have ever seen, right?
Anyway, the real point for the day truely isn't that far off from the first paragraph--okay, well, the first sentence, or so. I gave a lesson in church yesterday, from the Gospel Principles manual. The lesson was on Sacrifice. I firmly believe that I discovered--or was lead to discover--some great things concerning the children of God that surround me, and also many of you.
In the Joseph Smith movie that is about an hour long, at visitors centers, that is pretty new as of a few years ago, there is a part that really did happen historically, which had a deep impression on me, and helped my view of missionary work even more. These people were saying terrible, awful things which Joseph, and many others were chained as prisoners. Eventually, Joseph stood, and rebuked them in the name of Christ. It was the famous one where he says, "Silence! Silence ye fiends of the infernal pit!..." and then it continues. You should read, the whole quote to truely understand, but after he rebukes them, he turns to the men that were imprisoned with him, and says, "The worth of every soul is great in the eyes of God". It stuck with me, and I've tried to remember that when I talk to people on the streets, however, today there is a different lesson to be learned from this, mixed with the lesson on Sacrifice.
The worth of every soul is great in the sight of God. He has a work for each of us. Every one of us has an unimaginable potential, as sons and daughters of the living God. Every one of us has the potential to be a great instrument in the hands of our Father, and the hands of our Savior. And how many of us are living up to the potential, and allowing God to mold us to His desire? I know I am not wholly. Are you? Should we not sacrifice every sin, and lay aside the things of the world which do occupy our attention? Should we not do all things we do because it will bring us closer to God? Which things have real value to us? Which things ought to have real value to us?
I think Captain Moroni set a perfect example for which things should have real value to us. It says, in paraphrase, that they (the Nephites) fought for their God, their wives, their children, their country, and their freedom. As well, I would suppose that you should include all of your loved ones, since many of us do not have wives and children, though some do. Also, many of you are not my family biologically, but you are my brothers and sisters in Christ. That is also worthy of fighting for.
Brethren, this world is at war, though it is not all with the sword. However, the casualties are worse in this war, than they are in a war with weapons. It is not merely the lives of people being lost, but the souls of our brothers and sisters. How great of a work we are involved in, cause we are rescuers of these souls!
Anyway, I do not wish to play preacher, but brethren, let's lay aside the things which ought to be laid aside, and sacrifice the one thing we have to give to the Lord. Only our will is really ours. It is also the hardest thing to do. I have never been good at it, and I can only hope I ever will be. Still, I wonder how many souls we can bring to the Kingdom of God together. I wonder what amazing things God has planned for each of us. I do not see why we cannot be great in the hands of God, like Alma, or the Sons of Mosiah. Let's do this. Love you all! Sorry if you feel preached at, but I love you anyway.
Love, Chris

A Powerful Witness of Heavenly Father's Love . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Cool experience this week! There is this couple that moved into the ward recently, and they are awesome! They love missionaries, they love missionary work, and they would see us every day if they could! The problem is that each of them have some issues to overcome, and both had been less-active for a time. They currently aren't married to add to it--but are planning on it soon, after they can get through legal complications that are preventing them getting married, because of her trying to get custody of her child-- and are living under the same roof. However, a relief is that they are observing the law of chastity with one another right now, which is good.
Anyway, we met them by accident actually. We had brother Schrum as a team up, and he thought he had a list of inactive members we need to contact, but he actually brought the list of people without home teachers. So we knock on their door, expecting a family that will want us to leave them alone (as many inactives do), and we get a wide-eyed excited greeting instead! He was like, "Missionaries! Elders, come on in! We're so glad to see you!" We walk in, and there's gospel art all over. They get us water, and I'm like thinking, oh crap, this just isn't right. This waters got to be like poision, or something. Nobody is ever this awesome! This is not happening. For real, I was hesitant to drink the water. Anyway, long story short, they were cool. Now the cool experience we had, happened this last Sunday, July 4th.
We went over there hoping to practice teaching them a lesson, and get them to the Trail Center. Instead, they decided to just open up to us, and let us know all of their current addictions and such. Now, they didn't do this in the way that's terrible and annoying, and like spilling their whole life story to us, or anything. They did this cause they wanted our help in overcoming these things, and they've had very good relationships with missionaries in the past. She's a convert, and he was less-active for a long time.
So we shared a lesson, using Alma 24. It's about the people of Ammon, or the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. These are the Lamanites that became converted due to the Sons of Mosiah going to do missionary work in their land. These are those who buried their weapons of war when they non-converted Lamanites wanted to war with them. These great people would not take up arms against their brethren, as they had become clean of their murders and sins through the blood of Christ--so they would not kill again, and instead, went out to meet their enemies, and prayed to God in the streets as they were slain. That day, over one- thousand of them died, and even more than died, were converted because of what they saw. At this point, the sister ( I don't wish to name them) was crying. There are very powerful verses, and I urge you all to read the chapter. Now this is what we desired of this couple: we asked them to bury thier "weapons of war", or their sins and things connected to them. We went on to teach about what kind of men the sons of those converted Lamanites became, those being the Sons of Helaman A.K.A. the Stripling Warriors.
After a long, emotional lesson, they plan to bury their "weapons". They may even literally bury some items that are helping them in their sins. After this lesson where the Spirit was so powerful, they asked us for a blessing. We gave them blessings. Elder Hoyt was the mouthpiece for the sisters blessing, and I was for the brother. The Spirit was even stronger now, and all of us were crying except my companion (Lol. I give him crap for it, a bit). It felt amazing to give a blessing again, cause it's been a little while. I could once again feel the Spirit speak through me, almost as the first time I gave a blessing-- which was Michael's confermation back home in Lehi, for those of you who remember. I knew there were angels in the room, and I told him in the blessing that they were there. But the thing that was the most striking, was at the beginning of the blessing, the first thing that Heavenly Father had me say, was how much he loved him. I could feel it so powerfully, the love that He has for that man, and how long He has anxiously awaited the return of this man back into His arms and into the fold of God. I suppose that it is that way for all of His children, and that God has such joy in heaven every time one of His children receives him.
Have a great week my brethren, and let us be even as the Sons of Mosiah.

Love, Elder Chris Petersen

Prayers Are Answered!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

I don't have much to write about this week, really. Transfers just happened, but I'm still here in the Trendwood Area in Lincoln, Nebraska. It's crazy to think that I've been in Lincoln for over four and half months, and on my mission for over six months. Strange stuff.
Well, today I quickly want to talk about prayer, cause I had a cool experience. I was praying Saturday night before I went to sleep, and I was really discouraged about the work. People just weren't listening, and members just weren't doing anything, it seemed! So, I took my meltdown to the Lord. I just told my Father all of my frustrations, and prayed for His help. It's not always easy to be out here. Some days just feel almost useless, and like nothing good had happened. It's also really hard to watch people reject something that means the world to us, every single day. It's hard to watch the people in their wickedness, and to see the hold that the adversary has on them--especially the many that believe they are followers of Jesus Christ. Satan was very smart when he invented many concepts there are that keep people away from the truth. Many believe that all they have to do is say a prayer accepting Jesus as their personal Savior, and they are saved. They can do whatever they want to from that time forth, and there will be no consequences because they are saved by grace. How easy would that be? But it's not true. And there are many other things like this that are very grevious to missionaries--and very grevious to me as an individual!
So I prayed to God for help that night. Immediately, the next morning, we went to a meeting at the church, and lo and behold, President Kearl from the Mission Presidency came to our ward. We had a meeting with him during Elder's quorum, and also with a brother from the Stake High Council. Well, the Trendwood Area has suffered for a very long time, and through many missionaries. He told us the Lord wanted Elder Hoyt and I here right now, because He knew we were good missionaries, and we could do what needs to be done. (That felt good). He then made us promises concerning our area, if we would follow the guidelines he would lay out for us, and those promises were amazing. We would see an amazing amount of success if this promise comes true. Tears filled my eyes in the meeting, and I simply asked President Kearl how he knew to come today. I then related my story about praying. All he said was "That's why".
Anyway, this turned out a lot longer than I anticipated, but I just wanted you to know that prayers are in fact answered. Pay attention to what God has done in your life. I look on my life, and I see that I have been very blessed. Yet, I've got a rebellious soul, and find myself murmuring way too often. God defintely must love me, cause I'm such a pain in the butt, I'm sure.
Well, I love you all. Pay attention to your blessings for the next week, okay? Then all of you should write me about the blessings you've noticed. I promise that if you pay attention and think about it, you will be very surprised at what's there. So write, and then we can strengthen each other's testimonies.
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

A Father's Day Message & Amazing Convert Stories

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

To start off, I hope you wished all of your fathers a happy Father's Day! We should all be grateful for our old men! They worked to feed us, take care of us, and they always punished us with an unshaken resolve. Lol! Really, I'm grateful for the firm punishment part. I was such a brat anyway, I'd hate to see how I would have turned out without it. That, and my Dad was always great for practical advice. I do miss being able to just talk to him anytime I have a problem. He was always great at helping me through things, and kept me encouraged. Mom's are great to talk to as well, but it seems like the two offer different benefits. You talk to your mother for comfort, and talk to your father for solutions and a replenished drive. Well, that's how it worked for me anyway. Well, the point is, I hope you honored your fathers this last Sunday-- and hopefully you're doing it anyway. I would hate to see your days not be long in the land. :)
Now, I have some things to add to my last week's spill: So Andre (our recent-convert of roughly a month and a half), did more amazing things this week! He's my hero! You see, day in, and day out, we try to get members to participate in missionary work. They do some missionary work, but it's almost like pulling teeth at times. Of course, some members are great at it, but Andre is a stud! This week, without us even asking him to do missionary work (ever!), he handed out a Book of Mormon to his friend and told him it would fix his life! How awesome is that? He told his friend to read it, and promised him that the Book of Mormon has the power to turn his life around! He then committed his friend to read it, and invited him to church! He's also invited other people to church! In addition to this, he has done other things! He had a discussion with his roommate about how the gospel will turn his life around, he's been keeping the Book of Mormon in a place in his house where people will see it, and hopefully pick it up to look at it. He's been leaving the window open when we teach him on his porch, so the people inside will hear. He's amazing! I feel like Ammon who felt he had to explain to his brother Aaron, who accused him of boasting: (In lame-man's terms) "I do not boast of myself, but I boast in the Lord." The Lord has done a marvelous work and a wonder in this man's heart! Andre will be an amazing missionary, and though he is too old to serve a full-time mission right now, he's doing a great job, and will find much happiness in the kingdom of God, for bringing souls home to his Father in Heaven--for the worth of EVERY SOUL is great in the sight of God!
Now, another fairly recent-convert I would like to talk about, is none other than my friend Scott Abbott at home. Scott, thanks for allowing me to be a part of everything. I cannot begin to tell you how many people you have touched. I do not take lightly our experiences that we had as you were investigating, and joining the church--but I hold it as a sacred experience. Yet, as a sacred experience, I have shared the story with some, to help them to understand why missionary work is so important. I know you will be a great missionary! I hope you are still working to prepare yourself for your full-time mission. Scott, you have a powerful testimony, and a claim that I can never have. Many times, people will ridicule me and not believe my words because I have been a member of the church my whole life. Yes, I had to pray, and become personally converted to know that the gospel is true, but you have a claim that is magnificent. You have the power of a convert testimony. You know what you know, and that's because you decided to ask God! You went through the long process, and you now know what is correct! You are very much a hero in my eyes. Anyway, my object is not to embarrass Scott, but I felt the need to thank him here and now, and I'd like all of you to know it because this is the beauty of sharing the gospel. Scott has a unique story. If you are ever permitted to hear him tell it, you have been blessed of God. Anyway, sorry if I embarassed you Scott, but I hope it doesn't , cause it shouldn't. Not to mention that fact that you and I have borne testimony of your conversion to a bunch of people at Youth Conference. Lol. That's a fond memory.
Anyway, I love you all, and hope you all see how much work there is to be done. EVERY SINGLE SOUL, is so important to God. Let's bring them home. I love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

Converts Are Great!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

This week is my shout out about how much I love converts--especially recent ones! This week we took Andre (our recent-convert from May) to the Mormon Trail Center in Omaha. It was tons of fun. We watched the full-length Joseph Smith Movie that is completely amazing, and very inviting of the Spirit. Andre really appreciated being able to see how Joseph Smith's life was, and the lives of the early saints. He said it was humbling, and great to go in depth.
Later, we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. My companion and I left our bags with our scriptures. Usually we don't need those because we can't prosylite at business locations, and we were only going to the Trail Center, and back to Lincoln in a car. So, we left them. Well, that was a dumb idea. The cashier asked us if we had a pamphlet or anything she could read. We didn't...but Andre did! He gave her some pamphlets and pass-along cards! What a man and a missionary! He told us later that he felt prompted to bring them. I wish I would have got the memo.
Next week I have another one to make, but I'm out of time. Feel the suspense...lol! Love you all!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

A Message of Love . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Hmmm...what to talk about today? Well, a few things have been on my mind...
In my own personal thinking time, I sometimes have random realizations, and my mind has been drawn to one in particular, over and over again. I realized how ungrateful I was for a lot of things at home, and how much I took for granted. Now, I'm not saying I was a completely terrible, ungrateful person who was never thankful for anything! I was grateful for a lot of things, but some things I never even thought to be grateful for, and the things I was grateful for, I feel that I wasn't nearly grateful enough. Yeah...so here's me again applying MY PROBLEMS to YOUR LIVES, hoping that somehow, in some way, I can make some small difference in the world, and allow someone to learn from my mistakes. So here we go.
Let's talk loved ones (family, friends, you name it. People we love in some way or another). How often do we let our loved ones know tha we love them? Do we tell them? Do we show them? Depending on the person, I had different weaknesses in expressing my love and gratitude. I think I told my family I loved them, mostly when hanging up the phone, or leaving the house. I was more of a habit than anything probably. Don't get me wrong, here, I do mean it or I don't say it, but it was just so dry. "Yeah, talk to you later, love ya, bye!" Yeah...now, for some of people giving anything more than that is a little uncomfortable, so of course, we can show through actions. I challenge every one of you to just show up in the kitchen one of these days at your mom's house (if you live with your mom, it's even easier), and just clean the kitchen. As for your Dad...you could do the same thing. Usually that wasn't how I'd express my love to my Dad, but it might work for you. I don't know...I suppose to show my love for my Dad, I'd go have a burping contest with him or something. LOL. Nah, we'd just spend time or whatever. That works for both parents (but for most people I suggest the burping contest only with your Dad). Brothers and Sisters, same thing. Time is a valuable thing. Give some to your family.
Saying "I love you" to a significant other, is usually pretty easy for most of the population, I think. It's good. You should say it, however, I suggest showing it too. Figure out what that means, for each person. Some feel loved most when they are given a great deal of one on one time doing something fun, others feel loved most when they just get to sit down and have a good conversation with the one they love. Some feel most loved when their significant other does acts of service for them, like helping them out with the chores, or homework, or whatever. And of course, there are always hugs and kisses, and such, but I'm not going to get into that right now. You want to know my comments on that, talk to me when I get home...and if you know me well enough, you already know what I have to say about that. Or at least a good idea.
Friends. Saying, " I love you man!" works well for some of you, but not my cup of tea...er...apple cider. Just let your friends know how much you appreciate them. I'd do anything for my bros, and my sisters.
Anyway, I've got to go, but I'm sure I left out other loved ones. Go give your pets a good scratch! Let them know you care! And just appreciate everything you have. Love all of you! Have a great week!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

A Simple, but Powerful Message . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

I am nearly out of time on the computer, but I figured I should send SOMETHING. I guess my message this week is simply to remember the Lord always, in all things we do, at all times, in all places. I love you my brethren (and sisters).
Love, Elder Christopher D. Petersen

We Must Do the Work the Lord Has Called Us To Do . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Justin Aulner got baptized!!! He was an investigator that I helped teach in my very first area. We had Zone Conference this week, and I got to meet up with both of my trainers. It was awesome. One of them showed me pictures, and it really made my day to see that Justin was able to quit chew and make his baptismal covenants with the Lord. Good stuff right there.
Well, I've nearly been out six months, and I've heard from a lot of you recently. I'm glad to hear that you are all doing well, and it looks like a lot of you are getting excited for the work! I'm stoked for all of you that are putting yourself into missionary work! It's an important work that needs to be done. It seems that the opposition is getting increasingly stronger, every day, and that's why the Lord needs his Saints to give this work some real attention. Though the adversary grows stronger, so do the Saints of the living God. We have to be stronger to live in these times. There is so much confusion in this world, and all moral values are under attack as well. I think of our wonderful women and young women especially, with the attack that is in full swing against womanhood! We discussed that in Priesthood yesterday. We as Priesthood holders are indeed grateful for the wonderful women and young women of this church. Without them, what would we do? We appreciate the woman who understand their divine nature, and who always do their best to act as Daughters of God. I am not going to go into a long spill about it though. You don't need to hear me preach. Just always remember that, and women, also remember that we are imperfect. It is very important to do all you can to live up to your divine nature, but at the same time, do not beat up on yourself for your imperfections. In fact, that goes for everyone.
Anyway, this world is getting scary, but that's why we must do the work the Lord has called us to do. We need to build strong testimonies, and even stronger faith in our Savior. I'll leave it at that. I'm starting to feel all "preachy", and we can't have that. I love you all!
Love, Chris

The Sons of Mosiah Dotting The Earth . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

I'm glad to hear that you are getting shipped all over the world! It begins now! We are going to dot the earth! Hmmm...I almost sound maniacal...well, keep in mind that us dotting the earth is a GOOD THING. So, Carter to Taiwan, Tanner to Denmark, and me in Nebraska! This is great! Oh, and nobody be fooled, I am definitely in the most exotic place of the bunch.
Well, we still have many other Sons of Mosiah that we are waiting to see shipped out! I can't wait to get a globe and place a pin where our forces are. Of course, I can always put a large one in Utah. Just because you aren't on a full-time mission, doesnt mean you can't be a missionary. So many of you are in different phases in life, and even if a mission isn't part of that, you can still be servants of the Lord and bring people unto Christ. I know many of you are going to school, some of you are married, others of you are working, and some of you doing who knows what--but many of you are still doing a great work. Keep it up.
Other good news! I didn't want to say before, because I didn't want to jinx it, but ANDRE GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was great! Yet another soul entering the kingdom of God! I'm way happy for him. This man overcame smoking--which by the way, is harder for a lot of people than giving up nearly anything! I knew a lady in Omaha who had given up meth, but was still struggling to give up smoking. I've heard of many other similar stories. Even Andre had tried to quit before, but it wasn't until we came that he accomplished it. Now, trust me, Elder Hayes and I couldn't get anybody to stop smoking! What do we know about it? We aren't professionals, and we havent' had that problem. However, watching people quit who could never quit before we came, has been a huge testimony to me. The atonement of Christ, and the Spirit that travels with us, grants amazing power to those who need it. It gives them a strength that nothing else can. What a miracle!
Well, I love you my brethren. Have a great week! Talk to you later.

Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

A Mother's Day Message . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Well, I hope everybody enjoyed Mother's Day, and honored their mothers and grandmothers as they should. I think it's a wonderful holiday. The Lord has definitely made it clear that the calling of motherhood is a sacred calling, and one that carries so much responsiblity. We should be extremely grateful for them. I'm grateful for mine, though I feel the need to repent. I wasn't so great at showing it at home. I guess a public confession makes me feel a little better about it. I repent, then call to repentance. That's my job.
Still, isn't it a curious thing that the people you don't want to upset the most are mothers and wives? Lol. Men, if you upset your mother or wife, you might as well feel the wrath of hell. Call me crazy, but from my little bit of experience, it's true. Don't do it. Love them and care for them. Now, I've never had a wife, obviously. I can only imagine what it's like, and make comparisions to similarities in my life. Anyway, all I'm saying is, let's hold women up with high respect, never demeaning them, or doing anything to intentionally hurt them. It's no good. These are Daughters of God, and I don't know about you, but I don't like to make angry the mortal father of a girl--much less God. So let's give them the respect they deserve, okay? Sweet. And by the way, don't just give them the respect for fear. That's not the message I mean to convey. Give them respect because they deserve it. They really do.
Anyway, my life is going crazy at the moment! I couldn't tell you the adversity you feel as a missionary. It's an experience that has to be lived. Still, the work goes on in it's glory! God created a perfect gospel. Now if only more people would give up the things of the world, and accept it! However, I do have to say, it's no easy thing. Watching people change is so amazing, and sometimes I wonder if I could do it myself. There are days where I've asked myself whether or not I would have accepted the gospel, if I were on the other end of this. Would I really listen to these men? Luckily--or possibly even intentionally--I was placed in an LDS Family, and put into an environment where I could gain a testimony of my own. However, not everybody is that lucky. These people need us to reach out more than ever! If we've ever needed the Lord, it's now.
I love you all. Keep strong.
Love, Chris

Receiving comfort from the plan of salvation . . .

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Hmmm...what to talk about this week? I've got good missionary news, but I think it will have to wait till next week. I want to tell you about it AFTER it happens, rather than before. Don't want to jinx the awesomeness.
Well, I got to go to a funeral yesterday. It was interesting. This woman wasn't a member, but she absolutely loves the missionaries! Her son is a member, and he's an interesting guy himself. He even served a mission. At the time, he thought he would have to sell his car to get money to serve a mission. Then his parents told him not to sell his car, and that they would pay for it. So even though they aren't members, they knew the work was good, and this was the kind of great people they were.
Sister Case died at 91? years old, I believe it was. She lived a long life, which is good. About a week and a half ago, my companion and I gave her a blessing, by request of her son. She was unconscoious at the time, and it was rather awkward, I must admit. She was hooked up to all sorts of things. She had tubes coming from seemingly everywhere. It was awkward because her son wasn't there at the moment, and she wasn't conscious but I guess was coming in and out of consciousness previously. I was afraid she would wake up in the middle of the blessing, and freak out or something. However, she didn't, and it was an interesting experience.
I annointed her head with the oil, and the feelings you have for people as a missionary, are very interesting. You just love people you've never even met. It's the strangest thing. However, what got to me, was somehow while participating in the blessing, I felt as though she was going to die. Hey, call it all the tubes if you would like, but somehow, though I didn't want to admit it, I felt as though she was going to pass away. Her time had come.
Well, a few days later, we got a call from Brother Case, and he told us that she was doing well. She was awake, and talking. We went to visit her, and while visiting, she said she was very happy we could make it. She repeated it over and over again. She was obviously quite weak, but her personality still came through a little bit. She also had her country music playing in the hospital room. She loves country. It was a good visit, though she was so quiet, she was hard to understand. It was an interesting experience.
Eventually we received the call from her son that she had passed away. They were expecting it. The doctor had told Brother Case that it was "the calm before the storm". Brother Case then requested us at the funeral, and wanted several missionaries to be the Pall Bearers. President Kunz of course, gladly authorized it. It was a strange experience, seeing as most people at the funeral weren't LDS, and neither was the sister that had passed away. I gave the opening prayer, and realized how little there seemed to be to say. However, the Plan of Salvation was a large comfort at this funeral, and was taught to all in attendance. It was a good experience, though I'm sure many of them did not know what to say about it. All I know is that Sister Case was a good woman, and the Lord is merciful in all things. He loves her more than anybody at that funeral does. She has done a lot of good in the world, and she will be justly rewarded for it.
My companion dedicated the grave, which was cool. I would have been way nervous, but he did it like a pro. It was a good dedication.
I guess the whole point of this is that I want each of you to ponder the Plan of Salvation. It gave me a good experience, and a good opportunity to ponder the Plan of Salvation just a bit. It's strange looking at death from the perspective of a nonmember. The world truly needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Love you all!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

Prayers Are Answered!!

Dearest Sons of Mosiah (and daughters),

God answers prayers. Now, it might sound like I have a lot of faith, but that's not it. I do have hopefully an alright amount of faith, but that has absolutely nothing to do with my statement. He just does. When it's factual, it doesn't actually require faith. So I just want to show you some facts here...
Well, I got emergency transferred to the Trendwood Ward. It wasn't my fault, but for those of you who know what that is, you are correct. An emergency transfer takes place when some missionary somewhere does something stupid. Now, fortunately, and perhaps shockingly to all of you, I wasn't the stupid one this time. So I didn't do anything wrong. However, somebody did, and when somebody leaves an area, they obviously have to be replaced. That's where I come in. So, I replaced they guy who had to be emergency transferred, which means that now I'm serving with another Elder, in another ward, mid-transfer. Pretty cool, eh?
Trendwood is still in Lincoln Nebraska, for those of you that might be curious.
Now you might be asking yourself, "so how does this prove God answers prayers?" Check this out. So my one of my old companions is actually rather scary. He and Elder DeVoe like to prank a lot of people, and that included me. Sometimes I got hurt from them. As you can guess, I prayed my heart out to get rid of one of them in particular. Elder Springer is intense, in a bad way. In fact, the guy hates me, and will do about anything to get under my skin. Now I don't say this to destroy his name. or destroy your trust in missionaries, but remember, missionaries are people too. I'm just stating facts. He once threw a chair at me, as one example. It dented the wall, and chipped off the front of my desk. So, as you can imagine, not the best situation.(ATTENTION!!!!!) IN FACT, HE MAY EVEN ATTEMPT TO WRITE PEOPLE THAT I WRITE BACK HOME! THAT'S A HEADS UP FOR ALL OF YOU! Who knows what he will do? Keep an eye open. If you get any letters that seem fishy that are from Nebraska, or "from me", think twice before trusting them. Letters that are really from me should hopefully be painfully obvious that it's the real deal. Uhh...a lot to explain...just a bad situation...
Well, my parents knew about this, so I guess my Mom also put my name into the Temple. Things were getting rough, and I wasn't sure how things were going to work out well. I had been praying for help for quite some time, asking the Lord to give me strength to get through the situation, and to hopefully help me change it. I hadn't yet told President about it, but I was planning to. Well, one day we just randomly received a call from President, and there was an emergency transfer taking place due to problems elsewhere. My current companion needed a new companion in Trendwood, and President called me to fill this position. Now, that's cool, but here's another part that gets me. My other companion in Holmes Lake, Elder DeVoe, isn't really that bad of a guy. He just liked to prank as well. Still, we got along most of the time. He has had a hard time develping his testimony, and doing missionary work. That's why he was in a tripanionship. I guess he prayed as well, asking God to reveal his existance to him. When I got transferred, it suddenly went down to only him and Elder Springer. Teaching with three is always difficult. Suddenly, when it went down to two (which he hasn't been in a normal companionship for a long time), he found that he had to teach. And he did just fine. Way cool! That was his answer. Awesome, huh?
So a lot of things took place. I know this may seem like a sad/scary email, or whatever, but really it says a lot about the power of prayer. I'm sure more of you out there have been praying for me, and also others for other missionaries. Those prayers are being answered. It's not always how we would like, or how we expect--but they are heard and answered.
Thanks for your prayers.
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

Pause, Ponder and Pray!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
I hope you thought about it before continuing on. If you did not, don't you dare get around to reading this for a little bit. Pause, ponder, and pray. Think, and do. It's funny how valuable things are that are constantly at hand. These are tools the Lord has given us to use, and abilities that we always have. Yet, for some reason, few take part in these things frequently. The world is so busy, and we are always going. How many of us honestly just lay down for a moment and just pause from life to think--or get down on your knees to simply talk with your Father in Heaven? How many of us are constantly seeking for knowledge from Him? Do we really believe that if we ask, we shall receive, and if we knock, is shall be opened unto us? Or who here believes the simple words of James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and ubraideth not: and it shall be given him."? Forgive me if any of the punctuation is off. I do not have my scriptures with me at the Library today, so I just kind of did it from memory. Let's highlight some things.
In plain english, James said: "If any of you lack wisdom, ask God, that gives answers to all men freely, and he will not judge you for asking; he will give you what you ask for." Now, I realize it doesn't sound as poetic that way, and I prefer in in scripture myself. Still, when you brake it down, he is basically saying that. Of course, you must ask for things that are righteous, and also, we can't forget the beginning of verse six, "But let him ask in faith". Well, my point is, we should utilize the promises given to us by servants of the Lord.
Now, about what I said...Christ supped with sinners. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Study it out. Think about it. However, one word of precaution for safety sake. That does not mean to ever place yourself into bad situations, or surround yourself with people doing bad things. Christ didn't do stupid things. Keep that in mind before you attempt to act on my short message. So be careful. Do not go and decide to date someone who is rebellious hoping you can change them, hang out with a bunch of people doing drugs, or go to a party under 'Christ supped with sinners' as your justification. Don't do that, but DO figure out what I mean. If you have any questions, write me about it. I love letters. Love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen

Something to Think About

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Christ supped with sinners. Think about it.

A Difficult Week with Illness, but We're Still Blessed!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,

Not much to write this week, honestly. I spent much of it in bed, unfortunately. I hate to admit it, but I've been sicker than a dog for about a week. Yeah, they are going to take care of it. By they, I mean, the mission mom is on top of it, I think. We have to call her whenever we are sick, and describe our symptoms. Unfortunately, she had no idea what I have, but whatever it is, one of my companions may or may not have the same thing, just not as bad. She called a doctor, and he didn't know what it was either. He called me the next day, and discussed it with me. Yeah, it's being handled. It could be a couple of things. He said it was possible that I have an infection somewhere, and that my body just has to fight it. It's no good. It could be other things, but that was one rough possiblity. So instead of sending me to a doctor, they told me to just wait it out, and they will check up on me every once in a while.
Still, the Lord blessed us despite the sickness. We somehow managed to still teach quite a bit for the small amount of time we actually got to work. We also got to give an older lady a blessing, and take the sacrament to a man yesterday. Somehow we managed to teach a lot of great people who seem to be coming along. It's always good news.
Anyway, I don't have much to say. I love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher D. Petersen
P.S. Thanks to those of you who have written me recently! I will respond to all of you, and want to hear from all of you! I will write back as fast as possible, but I'm a little behind, so a letter is coming!

Rough Week, But Good News, Too!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
Rough week out in the mission field. You know those weeks where everything goes wrong? You know them, right? Bicycle breaks, all of your appointments cancel, your favorite person disappears because they might be in prison, your favorite recent convert starts smoking again...those kind of weeks? Yeah, rough week this week. Even John Harvey cancelled this week! I've spent a lot of time preparing for that guy! I'm supposed to go back, I know that much, but I was hoping it would be last Saturday. Oh well.
Well my brethren, not much to say this week. About the only good news, however, is probably the greatest news I've had in quite a while. SISTER SAURE IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! Whoot!
Yeah, the Saure's are a part-member family that have had a lot of difficulties. Brother and Sister Saure have struggled in their marriage, and their whole family has had a rough time. Still, they want to work it out. Unfortunately, their divorce papers already went through, so now they have to be remarried. They are planning on it though, and she's also planning on getting baptized. They have decided the only way to keep their family functional is to center it around Jesus Christ. She has taken lesson from the missionaries before, but said she didn't feel ready to be baptized before. She does now. We've been visiting their family lately, and even had Family Home Evening with them last night. It went well.
So, now I finally get to see what I came out here to see: the completion of families. Hopefully they will be able to go through the temple in a little over a year, and get sealed for time and eternity. I feel humbled that the Lord is allowing me to see what I wanted to see.
Anyway, I'm going to keep it short today. The news is great, isn't it? I love you all my dear brethren! Keep God in your hearts always!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

An Experience to Always Remember

My dearest Sons of Mosiah,

I wish to share an experience with you today. It really strenghtened my testimony that the Lord keeps HIs promises, and strengthens our weaknesses should we come unto Him. Also that He chose young unlearned servants, and He promised that He would give them the ability to confound the wise. This is true, I'm an unlearned servant, and I confounded a whole group of learned people...only it wasn't me of course. It was the Spirit. Even my companion testifies that I'm not smart enough or literate enough to say the things I said.
The Harvey Family is a family that is devoted to Christ--which would be good if they were actually devoted to His Gospel, but instead they are devoted to some Born Again Church, the Glad Tidings Assembly of God. John Harvey was the man who antied us last week, and I was furious about it. I went home and prayed earnestly for him, as my anger turned into sorrow. I wanted to know how I could help him, and the Lord let me know what to do.
One of the greatest parts about having people under your stewardship, is the ability you have to receive revelation for and about those people. Twice now, in this area that I've been in for less than six weeks, I've been able to receive revelation that is so vivid that, as Elder Richard G. Scott suggested, I wrote it down. It came to me in words. I didn't hear the words, but it wasn't the same feeling I get when I'm thinking about what to write. It was a state of listening, and discerning, where the Sprit was present strongly. The Lord spoke to me concerning the things that I should do, and I knew I should go back.
It's not always a good idea to go back when somebody seems unwilling to change their ways, but I was nevertheless instructed to go back, and to teach him again. I taught him, his family, and another man named Jim. They are learned in the Bible, and even have this thing called an Evidence Bible, which teaches them how to minister to other faiths, and take them away from their beliefs. However, the Lord instructed me, and I was able to follow.
(I have to switch computers. Wait for part two. If I can't do part two yet, I'll do it next week)

Grrr...I wrote all of part two, and it all got erased!

Long story short, I councelled my District Leader, and he suggested taking the Finding Faith in Christ DVD over to John Harvey's home. I took this idea to the Lord, and he confirmed that it was good, and then added to it. He instructed me to compile resources that make up the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and give them to John. He also told me not to worry. He promised he would fill my mouth with the words to say, and would guide me in the things I should teach.
I then went to John Harvey's home, and he gladly had us in. After all, he did want to minister to us. He has resources that teach him how to shake us of our faith. But the Lord would not allow that this time. He took contol of the situation, and used me as the instrument in His hands. My companion was sick that night, and therefore unable to teach with me, but he was there, and we both testify that the things I said were not of myself.
So we showed the movie, and he cried as the Spirit testified of his Savior, Jesus Christ. I cried as well. The movie is quite moving. After the movie, I testified, and the Lord filled my mouth. I taught him of the temple, and its importance. I taught him aspects of the Plan of Salvation, and the Lord was with me.
Being unable to refude these things as he had previously done, John turned to attack Joseph Smith and his teachings. He was with his family, and another learned man named Jim. All together, they seeked to attack the doctine of the plurality of gods, and that mankind has the potential to become like our heavenly parents.
The Lord swiftly confounded them. I, a young unlearned man, spoke words beyond my own ability. I am not so literate, nor am I that intelligent. The Holy Ghost enlightened my mind, and elevated my understanding. In part, I feel I must thank my Dad here for telling me about the talks in his sacrament meeting. It must have been inspired, because the Holy Ghost used that knowledge in my mind to open my understanding. This led to a spirtual experence I will never forget. These learned people did not know what to say. The Lord spoke through me, and I cannot even recreate that for you. All I know is that it happened. I spoke on it too perfectly.
My bretheren, make no mistake, and know that the Lord hears each of us. He will help us in our challenges, and lift our burdens. He will enlighten our minds when we are in need, and loose our tongues.
The Gospel is life, my bretheren. Only a fool will try to separate the two. We are living the plan of our Heavenly Father. All that we do is in preparation to become like Him. The power is here to bind things on earth and in heaven. Man and woman are to be one flesh in the sight of the Lord. Families are a type of things which are to come, where we are to have children forever. Eternal increase. We will create life, and many other things, forever. That is why that desire is instilled in us. We also seek for knowledge in this life. That is the nature of our spirits. We hunger for knowledge, and as we learn, we become more and more like our heavenly parents. All that we do in this life is learn, make choices, and receive the ordinances we need to return to and become like our Heavenly Father. That is what this life is, and it is beautiful. Everything is the Gospel, and all things good are of God.
I love you all.
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

A Tough Week, But a Testimony Builder

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
It has been a rough week, but it has definitely helped me reach a significant milestone in my life, I think. It was a hard week on success with a lot of let-downs, but that just goes to show that the Adversary is increasing his efforts to lead the Children of God down to misery and pain. Of course, as always, the Lord will come out triumphant. Sometimes things just don't happen in the timing that we hope, or in the way that we hope. But the Lord knows all things, and we best keep in mind that He is perfect, and just, and merciful. Heavenly Father made a plan for His children, and I don't think the Lord intends to save only few of his children. Apparently, neither did Joseph Smith's father, because he said the same thing--at least in the restoration video. I firmly agree.
My bretheren, there is a sorrow and also a joy out on a mission that seems to be almost uncomparable to any other sorrow or joy. The first little bit each of you is on a mission, you will probably miss home a lot. But the sorrow changes, and you never really lose sorrow, but rather, your sorrow becomes focused on your work. The sins of the world around you affect you tremendously. It's no wonder that Alma lemented over the sins of his people--but he also rejoiced in the Lord, and that joy is a joy that is not comparable to any other. It is the most exquisite joy, the joy that comes with this work. Sometimes I find myself worn down by the world around me, and my sadness seems almost unbearable as I watch my brothers and sisters fall away, being led slowly and steadily into the captivity of the devil. The law of chastity, and word of wisdom are huge problems out here. I watch as people reject the gospel, because they are held down in those chains. If any of you are bound in these chains, break them immediately, and follow the Savior. He truly is the Light and the Way. With HIs light comes a joy that is sweet above all other things.
Love the Lord, my bretheren, and His goodness. Pray to your father in mighty supplication for the welfare of your souls, as Enos did. Have faith in Christ, and trust in him. I realize that I must strive for these things, because my imperfections are many. The prophet Nephi also felt of His goodness, and also an exquisite sorrow because of the desires of the flesh. The scripture is 2 Nephi 4. I feel as he did quite a lot. It's a scripture that hit me with power. If a Prophet of the Lord feels a need to lament because of his sins and temptations that so easily beset him, have we also a need to cry out to the Lord as he did, and humble ourselves as the dust of the earth? I think so. It's my thought for the week. How can we better humble ourselves before the Lord? There was a talk I heard this week that I am stealing this next bit from. It's a question. Look at your hands. Whose hands are those? Certainly they are our hands. A mother might answer that they are her kids hands, and a husband might say they are his wife's hands. What do you say? Are they the Lord's hands?
Our God is a being who serves. The Son of Man descended below us all. It is so interesting how he came into the world not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Now go minister.
I am running short on time, but my experience for the week is so interesting. Plainly, a man antied us. He gave us antimormon literature. It disgusted me. If felt angry, and loathsome at that man. He looked at me and my district leader who was on exchanges with me, and asked, "Gentlemen, have you ever considered that you might well be on your way to outer darkness?"
Inside I was furious, and angry at his ignorance and accusation. The antimormon literature he gave us was so ridiculous and faulty, and all it did was anger me. I prayed to the Lord greatly for this man, as sorrows began to replace the anger in my heart. I asked what I should do concerning him, and the Lord answered me so vividly. Bretheren, the Lord wants to speak with us. He will help us fulfill the responsibilities of our stewardship. Turn to him always.
I have to go. I love all of you, and pray for you always.

Love, Elder Chris Petersen

A Great Week!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
Best week in my mission history, I would dare say. I went on exchanges for two days (meaning other missionaries came in to work with me in my area, and my companion went to a meeting one day, and the next day he went to a Zone Leader's area). The first day, two other Junior Companions came and worked my area with me. It was a growing experience for me running my area for the first time, being in charge, and calling the shots. That day we got two new investigators, setting one of them for baptism. The next day, one of the Zone Leaders came into my area (his name also Elder Petersen!), and he and I got two more new investigators. The next day, my companion came back form an amazing training, and we started applying this training he had received at the meeting he went to. We got yet another new investigator, and commited him to prepare for baptism. Now, five new people might not mean much to those of you who haven't experienced a mission anywhere in North America, but that is fantastic out here! And we are just getting started. The Lord has blessed us greatly! In fact, this new training will also transform our mission, if utilized correctly.
Well, I'll tell you about a couple of these great experiences.

Wallace: He is a referral from a recent convert, named Lawrence Johnson. Brother Johnson has been best friends with Wallace for 52 years. They are 61 years old. Wallace is really open, and we taught him that we have a loving Heavenly Father, that he gave us families and prophets because he loves us, and also about the apostasies, Christ's Ministry, the Great Apostasy, and of course, the Restoration of Christ's True Gospel. As always, the Spirit filled the room--especially when I told about Joseph Smith's first vision, using Joseph's own words. My bretheren, there is little that is more powerful than testifying of Heavenly Father, HIs Son Jesus Christ, and the fact that Joseph saw them both, in his own words. The Spirit testifies so strongly, because whenever truth is spoken, it is his job to testify. When we teach, we should always strive to keep complicated things out of our teaching, and teach simply, ONLY stating truth. When we do that, the Holy Ghost fills the room so powerfully. The Truths of the Gospel stated simply, has more power than an eloquent man presenting a perfect presentation made for the smartest of men. Showing our intelligence does nothing. Testifying of bold, simple truths, is small, simple sentances, does everything. Well, we set him for baptism after that lesson, and we will be meeting with him again. He's excited to read the Book of Mormon, and to be baptized by the proper authority--being the priesthood, and the authority to perform acts and miracles in Christ's name.

Danielle: We also shared a similar message with Danielle, since it was also her first time being taught. She was a potential investigator some time ago, and had been questioned in the street by some missionaries. My companion just happened to pick her from the long list of potentials, so we visited her, set up an appointment, and I came back with two other Elders since that was the day she picked. Well, it was a good lesson. She cried, as we spoke about that Great Apostasy. It saddened her deeply. Then Elder Stevenson-a great guy-presumed to dive into the Restoration, and specifically Joseph Smith's first vision. He's used to speaking Spanish, but somehow he still remembered the words in English. He did fine, but he said it very quickly, and it was a lot to take in. She pointed out how huge a claim that was, to say that there were two of them, and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were separate beings. I quickly analyzed the problem, and explained to her how throgh the Holy Ghost we can know the truth of all things. I explained the feelings the Holy Ghost brings, and how he only testifies when something is true. I told her I would recite what Joseph said he saw, again for her, and this time invited her to pay attention to those feeling to see if the Holy Ghost would testify. She agreed, and I presumed to say it slowly, simply, and with sincerity. She looked at the picture we had given her, as I said Joseph's words. I paused for a moment afterward to let the Spirit testify even more. Quietly, I heard her say something along the lines of: "I believe it. I believe that happened."
Bretheren...Sisters...there is a power in these words, and in simplicity and sincerity. I did not convince her of anything, nor am I a special missionary beyond anybody else. This power is God's, and is the Power of the Holy Ghost. When you are a missionary, you are endowed with a power that is promised to you. Have faith in that, and know that the Holy Ghost will always testify of the simple truths. Remember to teach simply. Help them feel the Holy Ghost. Words will convert nobody. Physical evidence, miracles, and signs will convert nobody. Remember that Laman and Lemuel saw an angel, and they did not change. The Children of Israel saw the Red Sea part, and many many other miracles. Yet even they worshipped a golden cow, because of their unbelief. It is only by the Holy Ghost that we will know the truth of all things. I love you all.
Love, Elder Chris Petersen