Hey Family,How is your week going? I hope you guys are happy and having fun. I hope you have a splendid Thanksgiving down on West Mountain! Grandma has just written me the sweetest letters lately I am so grateful for them. Mom sends me her letter that is so trunky! Kels is a spiritual powerhouse! I am just grateful for all the support that y'all have been giving me. As we approach this Thanksgiving week I have been reminded how important Gratitude is. I remember President Monson's council to strive to be more grateful a few conferences ago. I was just pondering about families, I am so grateful for that social unit, the family, who the Author is God the Father. But not just for the Family, but for my Family. I love Dad so much, He is my best friend. He is such a great Priesthood Leader in our home and he is always making sure our family has spiritual experiences. Mom is so tender; she is so sensitive to the Holy Spirit. She just brings the Spirit of Christ into our home. She is so Christ like and provides opportunity for us to become more Christ-Like. I've always been jealous, but I am grateful for Kenz's example that she always read the scriptures. I didn't realize how important it is until now but she got it! Drake is such a peace maker, and that example I am grateful for. Sophie is just Sophie I am not sure what it is, but I am grateful for her. She just makes my life. I am so grateful for my family I love you all so much.

So, our Ward Mission Leader eats raw, our investigator Marlene eats Raw. It is a sign, I'm just not sure a sign for what, either I should eat Raw or Kels is the one.

Marlene is a single lady in her 40 or 50. She is Buddhist, she is very spiritual, but she comes to church and she is keeping all her commitments; we are just trying to help her realize how important this is. She is a great lady she just already has her ideas so we are trying with the spirit to help her conform her ideas to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Hazeldines are an awesome Family. Bro Hazeldines is from NJ and is just super real. The man just tells it how it is. But he is a huge teddy bear. He is sensitive to the spirit and it is neat to see it work in their lives. This week we met with them on Monday and we were able to invite Bro Hazeldine and their daughter Rylee to be baptized and they accepted and are preparing for baptism on the 10th of December. I am so grateful for the Spirit of the Lord. I love you all so much and hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Love your missionary,

Elder Taylor Petersen

That is crazy to think that Dolly is home. We were in the MTC together for three weeks! We rocked those on the B-Ball court with his comp and my comp. And he has served and is done! Holy Cow. Tell him I got his Letter and I am so happy for him to be home and make it home safe and sound. I love him so much he is such a good friend and I can't wait to see him and go to school with him.
It has been a great week in the mission field. We had five investigators at sacrament meeting. But even better than that, is we had a total of 10 non-members, less-actives and Investigators! The first ward is great. This ward could split next week, it is such a strong ward! They have so many people coming back and we are just building the Kingdom. We go to the High school every morning and play a little two hand touch! It is a blast.
We had a miracle, so there is a family the Hazel Dines they are great. Her husband and one of her daughters are not members and they want to join the church. We are meeting with them tonight for dinner and a lesson and we hope they both will accept the invitation to be baptized.
We have this other brother Steve we are working with, He is friends with a bunch of members and is such a good guy and helps out and has done alot for the church but just doesn't believe in God. We were able to finally get his daughter Alyssa in on it and we had a great discussion with her and invited her to receive the missionary lessons and she was way excited. They were supposed to come to church but they didn't make it.
We can't find a good map of our area because our area covers like 3 counties so other day we were biking and we biked forever and then the other Elders came and rescued us. When we got to our final destination and looked at the GPS how to get home and it was like 20 miles we couldn't handle it! The other Elders had our back thank goodness.
I have gotten sick from Elder McRae. It is no fun but I am starting to get over it. A lot of prayers and medicine. I actually refused the meds for awhile, I was trying to heal on my own and then one night I just couldn't handle it and I took every medication in sight and now I feel a whole lot better.
There is this Sister named Sis De Fabrizio, she is a really sensitive person. She looked up the church and came and really enjoyed it then we scheduled an appointment for yesterday. We had a real good quick lesson with her before church. The spirit was really strong and we explained to her what she could expect from us and what we expect from her and we just kind of declared our purpose to her. Then we were wrapping up the lesson to head to Sacrament meeting, which was the primary program which is just a bunch of awesome simple truths. She told us what she expected from us and it rocked my world forever! She said thaatt wh she expects from us is to hear the words of Christ from the scriptures namely the Book of Mormon! It just rocked my world like we talked about a lot of awesome spiritual things but we missed the mark, who is Jesus Christ! It was an experience I will forever be grateful for. I love the work, I love the spirit of the work, and I love who I represent! Tell Dolls hello and thanks for the letter! I love you all so much have a great week and keep it real!

Love,
Elder Petersen

Wow Family! Y'all are all wrong; I am not in Chapel Hill I am in Wake Forest. I am finally in the Raleigh Zone. There were two Elders in the Wake Forest 1st and Wake Forest 2nd ward. Elder Furhiman and Elder Wilding were there and Elder Furihman was Elder Clingers companion in the MTC.
Oh Jessica got baptized this Saturday and Confirmed on Sunday. I heard it was beautiful. I wish I could have been there. Back to Wake Forest, So President opened up Wake Forest 1st to full-time Elders. It has been a struggling area. Member trust has been up and down and it got so bad that they had to bring......yes they had to bring SISTERS in! Elder Chambers transferred in to be Elder Furihman companion. He is a stud; he has been out four and half months. He served in Jacksonville and is from Denver Colorado. He went to BYU-I before his mission. Elder Furihman is his companion and like I said came out with Elder Clinger so he has been out 3 months. He is from Chandler Arizona and is a great new missionary! Elder McRae is from Kaysville and is my companion! I love this guy so much! He took Davis High to the Ship his senior year and then went and played soccer in Iowa before his mission. We live in our own apartment but we live in the same complex. He seriously has the potential to be one of my favorite companions.
I interviewed with President this week, he said something that rocked my world. He just looked at me and said Elder Taylor Blaine Petersen, you aren't the same Elder Taylor Blaine Petersen I met in the mission home almost two years ago. I am proud of whom you have become and there is no doubt in my mind that you will continue to live a righteous life after your mission and then to one day soon get married in the temple. You will be successful at whatever career you choose." It was really awesome and real comforting! I had a lot of anxiety about coming home but now it is all gone! I am excited to be who I have become! We have an amazing Ward! It is huge and it sounds like they have gone through the refiner’s fire with trials and tribulations. With unemployment and with lifes challenges! They have done what the Lord wants them to do, Believe and Follow and Rely on him! The faith of the ward here is so incredible! Testimony meeting is awesome. Our Bishop, Bishop McEwen is a stud. Bro Larson is a stud and is our Ward Mission Leader! He is young and on fire. Our first day here we were biking to the Chamber of Commerce, then we were doing service for Bro Jackson and he had an angry rooster that needed to be killed so I chased it down and I wacked it with a broom stick. I didn't kill it but it ran into the woods to hide, it was funny. When we got here our first night the Elders had an appointment set up with us for a guy named Steve Fritz. Steve is a great guy and has such a strong desire to do well, but he has no belief in God. We are trying and we as missionaries and a member fasted in behalf that he will connect, that his desire to do well is because of the great feeling God showers upon those who are willing to serve His Children. We are moving into our new apartment and we didn't have a shower curtain or some other odd things it was funny trying to survive without it all! I just love the mission it is so great! There is another woman who we are teaching, her name is Susan and she had two kids Eli and Sidrah. She is divorced. She reminds me a lot of Julie Murphy. I want to help her out so much and I hope she is willing to act on the spirit, she feels and loves the Gospel message. Her Children know a lot of ward members.
I love you guys so much and I am so grateful for your prayers letters and support! I love you all so much.

Love, Elder Taylor Petersen