This email was writtten on October 4th!!! We are late getting posted.

Hey FAMILIA! Wow what a neat Conference that was to be uplifted and edified by the Holy Spirit! And how blessed we are to have that 3rd member of the God head the Holy Spirit as our comforter and teacher and personal revelatory. It has been an exciting week and I am so excited to tell you all about it! I hope all is going well for you all.

Mon-
We had what is called Zone-Day Preparation-Day. It was so much fun most all of the missionaries from Chapel Hill came down and we played football and soccer and it was a blast, just a really good experience to be around those that are doing the same thing you are doing! We played this cool card game called Were Wolf it was a blast! We went to FHE that night it was neat, no investigators there. Looking from the outside, in the church is pretty demanding, I mean getting baptised isn't a big deal you just say goodbye to all your free time and 10% of your income. But I then thought about it and what is going on at the campus and there is not another place that the Lord would want these students to be then FHE a place where they can lift and comfort one another! Just another Testimony of revelation in this CHURCH!

Tues-President Cotterell said something that stuck out to me. He said wonder why we don't have progressing investigators? We don't follow the program established by the brethren in preach my gospel. So at first I thought he was meaning by like teaching like robots, but I studied it and there is a program that the brethren have established. It is like a body of instruction and provides more of a way for the spirit to work so we may discern these needs of our beloved Father in Heavens children. Little things that make all the difference. Like daily contact and different things. Like the very important things that are in red in the back of preach my gospel. So Sunday we tracted into this guy named Greg and he set a return appointment then he called us this morning and asked if we could come at 4. Then we saw him in Chapel Hill and he said, I am excited to see you all at four so we were like okay this guy must be for real, but he was older and was in the family ward so we brought the other elders on an exchange and he wasn't there. He even shut his phone off. It was devastating! But the Lord knows how precious his time is. So I was with Elder Pierre-Louis and we were like alright principle one why does the Lord want us here. I was like I don't know we have tracted out this whole area, I just don't know then we walked around and there was this girl who plays on the club b-ball team and they are undefeated and she is looking for the church and we are meeting with her it was amazing! The Lord will never still us "Be still, and know that I am God." So simple of a scripture but so true! We have these new investigators we were teaching, her name is Zaire and she is a 5th grade teacher and she is searching and we followed the program and it was incredible she cried, the spirit was strong as she was bearing testimony of the love that God had for her!

Wed-
District meeting was good. It was incredible on the doctrine of Christ! We went to this amazing Mexican restaurant and they had amazing chips and salsa (btw will you send me some salsa mix PLEASE)! We taught Lauren it was an incredible lesson we had 2 amazing exchanges with us that both bore powerful witness and it was just such a neat thing to be a part of we invited her to be baptized and she declined but it is okay because we know what we need to teach her and truly find out her need and she knows we mean business (but really not business, but we mean salvation) and understands why she is meeting with us. This ward is amazing there testimonies are incredible! It was raining all day, I think Elder Miller might hate me since we had to bike in the rain. So we had dinner with some sisters in our ward! Myself and Elder Miller learned three valuable tips in life! #1)Don't Blood dope! #2)When being an RM don't date girls that are in High school #3)Don't let your wife get bullied by other women to have a natural or an at home birth let her do what she wants and fully support her. Now I do not understand what value those tips have to me now and they said these things may mean nothing to you now. But one day they will be of great importance! I don't even know what it means to dope BLOOD, I guess my HERO Lance Armstrong did it! We could not find our exchange that was supposed to go to a lesson with us so we biked there and it was raining, we got there and it is this Asian kid who is really coming from no where it was a good lesson but at the end he dropped us! But even though we found disappointment we did not find it in ourselves and were very thankful for the opportunity we had to teach Eric.

Thurs-
I got a letter from Elder Cahoon, Elder Dealba, and Elder Stanfield! The NCRM the greatest mission ever! We had a lesson with Kole it was really good, Zach was there and he bore a powerful testimony that the spirit was present cause it was, just so plain and just TRUTH and that is what the spirit will testify of! So we had dinner with Tara! It was so cool SHE PRAYED! And we were talking about her baptism and like talking about the details and again one of the members said something that changed my mission forever! "Tara, it will be taken care of you don't need to worry you just need to come and smile and make covenants with your Father in Heaven." That is what this work is all about, helping people make promises so they can receive the blessings from keeping the promise! Trust, that is what our father is all about! It is weird how Heavenly Father gives you Little reminders as a missionaries! Little tender mercies!

Fri-
October! Wow, to be honest I didn't think I would make it to the month of October on my mission! Didn't know I had it in me, but everything is possible with the spirit of the Lord! We went to Friday forum with Fatimah! It was incredible a super spiritual experiecne! We donated blood and time to the red cross! I donated double then like passed out biking after that, it was bad! But all is good! We went to Duke and met this lady Ann, who is ready for the restored truth is was awesome! We came back and Elder Miller nearly lost his testimony! We saw in a Bar the USU-BYU game and saw BYU loosing 17-3 it was awful! He said his testimony hadn't been that shaken in awhile it was funny!

Sat-
Conference was incredible! I just wanna thank you, Mom and Dad, like I was listening to Elder Hollands talk and thinking of all the sacrifices you have made for me and I am so grateful for the many blessings you all have given me! Like you guys are great and have done some amazing things. You both are great parents and are just what I needed, thanks for helping me develop a pattern of covenant keeping!

Sun-
Was another great session of conference! We had a potluck between sessions it was really good! I really felt like I was suppose to learn about the Holy Ghost, like how to have that listening ear for that still small voice like President Monson has! I love you all and am so thankful for all the blessings you have given me and have been there for me to receive. I just love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Love,

Elder Taylor Blaine Petersen