GOODBYE 2013!

Well it is weird to think Christmas is over and now New Years day is almost here! Sure doesn't feel like it at all! The past week was a great week! It was such a great experience being able to be out serving others on Christmas day and throughout this whole Holiday week! We saw a couple members on Christmas day and they fed us some really good food and I was very thankful for their hospitality and charity to serve us! This week we have realized that we have been really blessed with some great investigators. We are really trying to work hard to help them come unto Christ! I'm very excited for this next transfer and excited to see what it brings! I have really been struggling with my French these past couple weeks and I think I have really started to notice this because I have been leading the lessons. It has been really frustrating and very stressful. I find it very challenging to pick up good teaching techniques because I am always struggling with the French. This coming week, I'm going to put a lot of my efforts into my language studies and try to speak the language as much as I possibly can! I have faith that it will all come a long! We also have found a really good group of investigators that we are very excited to see this week! When we met them they were so excited to see us and they got our numbers down and told us they were going to call us if we didn't get in contact with them, and sure enough they did!

My training is officially over and it's crazy that it is already over! I look back and I have already come a long ways and I'm so thankful for that! I'm excited to receive my new companion, Elder Galati, this week! I'm looking forward to working with him and seeing what we can do together! I really appreciate Elder Pratt and all that he has taught me and the example that he set for me! This upcoming transfer will really put me to the test and show me what I can do! I'm looking forward to it! 

Well that is my life for you all! I hope that everyone is doing just fantastic and that everyone had a great Christmas! And also I hope that everyone has an amazing new year! I send my thanks and love to everyone and all my family who has been supporting me! It is such a blessing!! :) I love you all! :) Love Elder Peterson!!

The Elders playing a game where they exchange ties.

CHRISTMAS

Well Christmas time is here! I'm still a little confused how the time has gone by so quickly! It feels still like summer month to me but that might just be like that because it is always summer here! But that's all good, I have adjusted and gotten used to it! There has been something really different about this Christmas and that is that I feel like my relationship with my Savior has grown so much! The other day for District meeting, we watched some of the Jesus Christ videos that the Church put up, and I felt something very special in my heart! It is really amazing to think what Christ did for us. I'm so thankful for his sacrifice and because of his sacrifice and grace I can have eternal life! All mankind can if they are willing to do what is asked! I love my Savior and I am beyond thankful for what he has done for us all.

This past week was great! I was leading all the lessons the whole week and it went a lot better than I thought it would! I noticed that when I was leading, I could really see the things that I needed to work on! It really shows me the things that I'm lacking in. So that was a really cool part of that. On the other side, it did show me a lot of what I do know! But of course I still have a long ways to go! This past week we had some great lessons and we can see some promising baptismal dates here in the future. I can see that obediance plays a big role in all of this work. God isn't willing to bless us if we aren't willing to do what has been asked of us! I strive my very best to be obedient and be better than the day before! I've really enjoyed being with Elder Pratt and he has set a very good example for me! I'm thankful for everything he has taught me! It is weird to think that my training is almost finished!

Well everyone, have a very merry christmas! :) I would just like to thank everyone who has gave me support along the way and who has contributed money to my mission! I'm very grateful for all of you! Enjoy the holidays and I send my love and my thanks! Really remember our savior and his ultimate sacrifice! I love you all more than anything!! :) Love Elder Peterson

THE HOLIDAY SEASON!

Well another week come and flown by! It is crazy to think that it was just barely Thanksgiving and now coming upon Christmas! I am really looking forward to being out serving the lord, inviting others to come unto him on the day that we celebrate his birth! What a blessing and an opportunity!

This week was great for Elder Pratt and I! For our district this past week, we set some challenging, but achievable goals for our district so that we could have a little activity today for Preparation day. I will say that it was definitely a challenge for us because we were working two areas because we were lacking the zone leaders but we knew that was no excuse so we did our very blessing and things turned out great for us! We achieved all of the goals we had set, along with all the other missionaries as well! We also set two strong baptismal dates that we are very excited about! I have realized that the more we show the Lord that we are willing to work hard for this work, the more success we are blessed with! A long with being obediant!! It is after the trials and the hard times that we are blessed, if we are willing to show are love and faith to God and Jesus Christ! I've already been blessed to see that in my mission already!

This upcoming week I'm going to be leading everything. I'm kind of nervous to see how that all goes but I have faith that all will go well and I know that I am going to learn a lot from it as well! It is definitely going to test my French and my knowledge of the gospel! I am looking forward to it though! We are going to try hard to work with members this week. We would really like to build a great relationship with the members so that they will be more willing to work with us!

That is pretty much all for us this week on Guadeloupe! It doesnt feel like christmas but I guess that helps me not be homesick haha! Looking forward to the upcoming week!

Time is going right on by but I send my love and my prayers to everyone! I love you all more than anything!! :)
Love Elder Peterson

GOSPEL IS TRUE!

So the past two weeks have been pretty good for us! We have of course had some trials here and there but we have had a good attitude about them! We have been slowly decreasing with good investigators, which is something we  weren't hoping for but those things happen! Elder Pratt and I have been working on contacting more and trying to find those that are ready to hear the gospel! I find it really interesting with the responses we get depending on the area that we are in! For example, if we are in a nicer part of our area most people will automatically just tell us that they aren't interested! It is a little discouraging but I still love contacting because it gives my French a challenge and helps me learn it quickly! We have been blessed with some very good contacts that we are hoping will turn into some good investigators!

I love reading the scriptures and I try to find all the time that I can to read them! Keeping up with the reading schedule hasn't been a problem at all for me! I have noticed that the scriptures can teach us so much! There is always something new to learn and always a chance for personal revelation if we are really seeking diligently to know the gospel! 

As I have thought about how far I have come so far, I feel very blessed! I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and every day I come to love the work more and more! Every day I try to find something new to work on and that usually turns out good for me! There is so much that we can learn, especially if we humble ourselves before God! I love the gospel! Well that is all I really have for this week but I hope all is well back home and I hope everyone is enjoying the Christmas season! I send my love!! Tell the Kay family thanks for the money! I really appreciate it! :) and all others who may have sent some :) I really appreciate that!! Well Have a great week and I love you all very much!! :)

Love elder peterson!

MY FIRST BAPTISM!

Well thanksgiving is officially over! It doesn't really even feel like we had thanksgiving here even with the dinner that we had! Its cause it is way to hot for thanksgiving and I didn't have turkey and all that other good stuff but that's okay! I am just glad that we got to enjoy a dinner in the first place! I hope Thanksgiving was great for everyone back home and everyone remembered something that they were thankful for! Thursday didn't feel like thanksgiving but I thought about things that I am thankful for all day so it was really good!

We had a baptism Saturday that went really well! Its so cool to be able to be a part of someones conversion and their coming unto Christ! I feel very blessed to have been able to share that with someone else! I can still remember one of the first lessons that we had with her! Elder Pratt felt impressed to have her pray right then and there to see if these things are true and she agreed! So she said a very spiritual prayer and the spirit filled the room! afterwords we asked her how she felt and she told us that she couldn't describe the feeling but that she knew that she had received an answer! Its so cool how the spirit works! Something that I have really realized is that when we have questions in our heart or things that are just bothering us, if we pray with a sincerity and knowing that whatever answer we receive that we will follow the promptings we get, we can hear the spirit better and our hearts are more open to the answers we receive! If that makes sense at all! It made more sense in my mind haha! But anyways the baptism went well! She was baptized on Saturday and confirmed a member on Sunday!

The week was kind of crazy for us and we had some problems with the cars that needed to be taken care of but we got it all figured and went to work! We have realized that we don't have very many strong investigators in our area so our goal this week is to do a lot of contacting so that we can find those who are ready to hear the gospel! Contacting is really hard for me and I think that is just because I don't know french all that well but one day I hope that it will be better! If I work on my french as much as possible and pray and do everything that I can to have the Gift of tongues, I will learn French fast!

Well it is crazy to think that it is already December! Time is going pretty fast here! But I hope that everyone has an awesome week and I send my love and prayers!! I love you all!! Like I have said before, Enjoy the cold!! Love Elder Peterson!

EXCHANGE IN GOSIER

written by Elder Dayton:

This last Wednesday I went to a new area and the district leader came to my area for a 24 hour exchange. I was with Elder Peterson from Tremonton, Utah, who is about 8 weeks into his training, and we were in his area. He's in Gosier/Pointe-a-Pitre, which is basically the nicest and most highly caucasianly-populated beach town, and the most ghetto big city on the island in one area. And boy did we have an adventure!

They have a car, and his companion usually drives, but for the exchange, Elder Peterson was the designated driver. It was about 6:00 PM, and we were just leaving Gosier to go to another appointment. We were pulling out of a little alley-way, onto the one-way main road, which was a right turn. As we were pulling out, a car was passing, and Elder Peterson was slowly inching out to see if there were any more cars coming. And as he crept out, he went just a titch too far, and BAM! we hit the back-right wheel and fender of the other car... BUMMER! It was totally an accident. Elder Peterson's a really good driver, but he just made one simple mistake. I felt so bad for him! Especially since he's still so new on the mission, and he technically wasn't supposed to be the driver of the car!

The other guy was pretty mad, but we just followed all the standard procedures and filled out paperwork with the police. It was really intense at first because Elder Peterson doesn't speak French very well, so I had to calm the other driver down and handle all of the legal stuff with the police all by myself. But I'm proud to say that I was able to do it! :) And now everything is taken care of, and Elder Peterson is in the clear!