Successful Families . . .

Dear Brethren and loved ones,

I am very grateful for the event of Mother's Day this coming week. Once again, missionaries get to call home. I hope all of you that are out on your missions right now will enjoy and savor that call home, as well as be motivated by it to serve strong! I know that motivation can help me. Our time to serve as full-time missionaries is short. For those of you who have not been out long, or who have not been out yet at all, I am sure that sounds ridiculous to you--but it is so true. I struggle to comprehend that I have been out on my mission for nearly a year and a half. I have been about seven and a half months LEFT!!! It is crazy to me! That's just a measly five transfers or so.
The Lord is very grateful for all of your service, and I hope all of you at home are finding time in your lives to serve. I look forward to doing member work again. I do love full-time missionary work a lot, through the rough times and the good times. So far this has been the best year and a half for my life. You will all find that in full-time service. In your service as member-missionaries you may find that those will be the best times of your life. There is nothing quite like seeing our friends and loved ones accept the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us also not forget that raising our families, and doing temple work, are also forms of missionary work. President Harold B. Lee said, (I hope I get the quote right from memory, but if not it should be close enough) "The greatest of the Lord's work you will ever do, will be within the walls of your own homes". Raising our families, inviting friends into your home to feel the Spirit there, inviting the missionaries into your home to teach a friend or family member--all of these can be very sacred experiences that take place in the walls of our own homes.
Knowing these things, it is no wonder to me that the prophets of our day have said that the place of most sacredness on this earth, next to the Holy Temple, should be our own homes. Think about the profundity of that message. I cannot wait for the chance I have to set up my home one day. I hope to be able to do it right. I have had the opportunity to observe many different family situations, enter many different homes, etc. while serving on my mission. Hopefully I have learned something of great worth from this, as far as how to raise children, and organize a home. One thing that we have taught people that is important, is to keep their homes clean, and watch the content of things that enter their home. Entertainment should be clean--and that can be hard! As far as cleanliness goes, on a grade-scale, I definitely do not get an A. I hope I can even manage a B. But the principle exists that the Spirit of the Lord can better dwell, and be felt, in a clean home.
In Gospel Principles this week, we learned 9 keys to a successful family (by memory, but they should get across the message well enough):
Have family prayer, and pray as a husband and wife.
Have family scripture study.
Have Family Home Evening each week, and teach your children principles of the gospel.
Do things together--such as decision-making, recreational activities, etc.
Have dinner around the table as a family.
Follow the counsel of the Lord in Doctrine and Covenants 88:119: "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God"
Be kind, patient, long-suffering, full of charity.
Attend Church Meetings Regularly
Do Family History Work, take part in temple ordinances for the dead, and be sealed as a family in the temple.
If we will follow those nine steps, we will have a successful family. They are as outlined by the leaders of Christ's Church. I hope we can all remember that, and remember to do the Lord's work. I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder Christopher Dennis Petersen