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