Family,
OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE Y'ALL! Christmas is almost here! I hit the one year MARK, I honestly didn't think I would have made it this long! I thought I would have gotten eaten by a dog or hit by a car or I am not sure what, but here I am, and I am so thankful for the relationship I have gained with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in this past year! It has been crazy to look back and see where I have come! Seriously, it was just yesterday, that we were all loaded in the Armada, Dad got pulled over and told the cop someone stole our license plate, Mom got worked up and said to Dad, what a great example of Honesty before your son enters the MTC! Then to spend time with you guys at Temple Square, faking that night that I was sick so I could post pone leaving, and have one of the most Spiritual experiences of my life giving each of you a blessing, so great to think how powerful the spirit of the Lord was in that tiny hotel room! Entering into the MTC!! I love this gospel, I am so thankful for those memories and for all of you, I love you all so very much and so excited to tell y'all about my week!

Mon-
We went out with Bro. Harris that night and had a crazy powerful lesson on Faith and how it is an ACTion word, so therefore we must ACT!!!!!! It was so neat to see the Holy Ghost working through Sis. Cameron and Bro. Harris, the spirit was so strong and everyone was made better because of it. It was so neat to ask Sis. Cameron to consider what she thought she could do, to come to church on a more regular basis, she said, that you mean how could I act, to come to church more regularly! She is such a neat lady and has been prepared by the Lord! The Lord's Kingdom needs more African Americans, they have such a rich History and background of FAITH and ENDURING!

Tues-
The man wrote me a letter Bishop Tibbitts! He is a great man of faith and has just a complete trust in the Lord! I love our BISHOP! I'll never forget the text he sent me asking me if I was excited to enter the MTC, and I told him NO!!!!! He said that it may be tough but just like each brick must under go high temperatures to be strong to add to a solid foundation, so must we go through high temperatures so that we will build a foundation on which the Lord can depend on us! It was bitter cold today! We biked to our appointment and got their and he had to leave with a wrecker because his car broke down! Bad luck for him, He was missing out on the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ! So we had dinner at the NEW RS Pres. Sis Kratzer; after dinner they asked if we would go with them to deliver some goodies, like a door bell ditch one, and then they pass it on! Well we did and Bro. Kratzer was flying in reverse down their long driveway and plowed over their mail box and got wedged between a tree and the mailbox, it was so funny and we GOT CAUGHT! We went out later that night with Bro. Chandler the new counselor in the Bishopric and it was a good time! We taught Tim and he is set to jet for the 23rd and also taught a guy named Marcus black, he is what you call Good FOLK, his wives family is all members and he is interested but from a distance, but we were so thankful for Bro. Chandler who was able to literally teach to this mans needs! I am so thankful for the exchange program!

WEd-
For the first time in my life since eighth grade, I saw a 1 on the scale for the first number! 199.2!!!! Crazy huh, I am getting deathly skinny!!!!! JK, but running everywhere makes the difference! We went tracting and were able to set 2 return appointments all with middle aged single African American women with at least four kids, but they live in a pretty decent neighborhood! We had a great lesson with Doug that night. He moved out, and he is such a good guy, like I think he is going to come back and his girlfriend will get baptised in the process. He just has natural leadership skills and if he is choosing righteousness people with just naturally flock to him and follow his example and he writes awesome country music! But after the lesson his girlfriend said "I going to read my scriptures tonight" things just feel good and they invited us over for dinner for a good southern MEAL!!!!!! WOOT WOOT

Thurs-
One year MARK today, oh my oh my oh my! I was thinking alot about it today and like I used to think that Elder Christensen hindered me from being successful, that his differentness or oddness slowed me down. But I realized, like I am my biggest barrier, like I slow myself down, I limit myself and create walls that don't even need to be their! If you can learn to control your mind, your thoughts, your fears and trust in God, I think you can master alot! My main man, Jared Kirk who is just like Uncle Andrew went out with us last night on a short moments notice and we had a great lesson, we taught Sis. Cameron, she asked why their aren't more blacks in the church, she asked why so many people are opposed to the LDS faith and then she told us she acted and asked her supervisor and got every other Sunday off possibly 3 Sundays off a month! Our prayers and fasting were answered it was so incredible! We saw this woman named Selemia and her 4 kids we taught them and had a great lesson with them, her son Peanut is a basketball all star for the freshman team and like 2 members are on the b-ball team and after the lesson he was like Connor George is always like Peanut, you are such a Mormon, he then said that he is so excited to finally become a Mormon and he gave us a big hug! Such a neat respectful kid!

Fri-
Interview with the BOSS! President Cotterell is the man. We had a great interview and then had a neat district meeting following. I think member missionary work just keeps President Cotterell up at night , I was looking at this study journal and that is like seriously his main focus, but it is really the only way we will be successful here in north cacalacky! WE went to Andy's you will have to get online and look up my companion, Elder Trevor Christensen, he did the BIG A challenge and ate like a 4lb burger and his photo is online, I was so proud of my boy! I went on an exchange with Elder Foster and he is like literally part Indian and he is figuratively as well, because he tells so many stories! We taught Tim the commandments and he committed, then we went to a less active members, we were out with a member who has this new crazy nice JAG like he is filthy rich! And nobody truly understands what he does!

Sat-
Elder Foster was taking a poop, I don't know if y'all remember, Viva La Bam but when his dad is pooping they pull his shirt over his head and just slap him and stuff, I did that to Elder Foster and he flipped, he is 250 and a really large kid it was so funny, but we had a great study he told me how he died! We went to Laurinburg exchanged back and went and did service on a horse farm with this RM from MASSACHUSETTS! He is the man but is kind of Less Active. IT was scary, man you have all these spiritual experiences and you still can fall away! I don't want that to be me. But I am afraid because it happens to anybody! But daily scripture study makes the difference. We had a lesson that night with Sister Cameron and she had read the whole Ensign she had a lot of good questions, she is ready January 1st baby!!!!!

SUN-
I am a firm believer in the quote in Preach my Gospel, under Christlike attributes speaking on diligence! Their is no cure to missionary work except work! The Cameron's came to church, they loved it! She is awesome! Then we had dinner at the Winkley's, we had a great time their, there is such a pure spirit in their home! We biked out to the lady from England that bought us our reflective gear gave her a Christmas card, a copy of the Book of Mormon, and Joy to the World! She just got married, we didn't know that they were leaving for their honeymoon tomorrow, I think we might have rained on their parade! But hey at least they were doing it in the statues which God has established! They both just did the iron man and do triathlons all the time! They are some fit people, hopefully they want to learn more, they didn't that night, they would have rather gotten back to the parade and didn't know of another time that would work, but she works with a member so it is all good!

I love y'all, Hope you have a great week!!! Merry Christmas.

With Love and Respect,

Elder Taylor BLAINE Petersen