I don't have much time to email you guys. Sorry. But I have one experience I would like to share with you guys. I will give you a better email next week sorry. But I love you guys! I am getting transferred and I need your prayers. I love my Savior!
When I was 10 or 12 my Father and Mother had invited a non-member friend, my football coach Willy Jaramillo to take the missionary lessons in our home. Willy had two little boys and was married to a wonderful woman. Willy, since he was 20 would sign up to be a coach of the 3rd grade Ute Football league and would take the time to coach them all the way until they got to high school then he would start back over at 3rd grade. He was such a good man. I remember while these lessons were being taught the missionaries would invite me to bare testimony or to teach about the prophet Noah or other things pertaining to the lesson. When the missionaries, one in particular invited Willy to be baptized, Willy felt the spirit so strong, and you could tell. After the lesson Willy went to my Mom and said Holly did you see that? My mom asked what and he was scared to say it, but I remember he said to my Mom did you see the Elder had such a bright light behind him when he invited me to be baptized. At that moment at 10 or 12 years old I wanted to go on a mission. I have prayed that I to might have that same spiritual experience where as I bore testimony or extended an invitation that there would be such an undeniable power like a light around me when I do that. I never have had that experience. Last night we were teaching a woman named Sis. Thomas, and I felt prompted while we were teaching to testify of the Love her Father in Heaven has for her, and I did. I really felt moved upon by the Holy Ghost and said things that I have never really said before. I told her that Our Father loves her and we know she loves him and as Representives of his Son Jesus Christ, we know that nothing would please her Father in Heaven more than following the example of His son Jesus Christ by being baptized by the proper authority ........ After that she accepted the invitation, she then said to Myself, Elder Smart, Kris, and Moses that there is such a bright, strong, and radiant light behind all of you right now. It was such an amazing experience. I don't know why I had this experience, but I am so grateful. I love the Lord and will do whatever it takes to please him and make things right and will always serve him with a sincere heart.
I love you guys and hope you have a great week. Happy B-day BILLY!
LOVE AND RESPECT,
Elder Taylor Petersen
Monday, May 16, 2011
(This email was written May 9th)
It was such a great week this week. We had the baptism of a great Sister, Poliana Keime. Sister Keime is a pretty lady. But it has been so neat to see how the Gospel has changed her. Without us saying anything she took out the piercings in her ear and her nose and she wears really modest clothing. It has been so neat to see what the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do for people. True Doctrine understood truly does change attitudes and behaviors. Sis Keime's husband leaves for school for 45 days today and a lot of the Sisters have invited her over for dinner this week. She loves Relief Society so much and is so excited to help and be a part of it. The Gootee Family is doing great, Bro. Gootees sons Erin and Lucas and his daughter Margaret are so excited for baptism. Sis. Gootee runs and hides when we get there. But I was able to talk to her last time and ask why she doesn't like to sit in. So then she sat in and participated in the lesson. She had a seizure Sunday while the rest of the family was at church and hit her head really hard, an ambulance had to come and pick her up and the Gootee family had to leave sacrament. A lot of ward members went and checked up on their kids and Sis Gootee, just the beginning of her heart being softened and her accepting the Restored truths we share. We talk to everyone the Lord puts in our path off post. We were able to talk to our neighbor who the 3rd Elders taught. It is hard on post because we are not supposed to and we just really try to feel out the spirit, like if we feel strongly prompted we will do it. We always invite members to do missionary work. I love Fort Bragg because missionary work is done how the Lord intended it to be done. The members are the lifeblood of our work. We are doing really well and tracking our goals closely, May will be a great month. We are really trying to teach Doctrine so the Elders will believe that if they find 10 new investigators in May they will baptize in June. But the Lord has blessed us with many great miracles and referrals. It was a joy to talk to my family yesterday. It is just crazy to think back a couple years ago or even 17 months and to ponder who I was and see who I have become. I am so proud of who I am becoming. I love that!!! I know I became who I am by the choices that I made. I love my Savior and know that He lives.
Love,
Elder Petersen
It was such a great week this week. We had the baptism of a great Sister, Poliana Keime. Sister Keime is a pretty lady. But it has been so neat to see how the Gospel has changed her. Without us saying anything she took out the piercings in her ear and her nose and she wears really modest clothing. It has been so neat to see what the Gospel of Jesus Christ can do for people. True Doctrine understood truly does change attitudes and behaviors. Sis Keime's husband leaves for school for 45 days today and a lot of the Sisters have invited her over for dinner this week. She loves Relief Society so much and is so excited to help and be a part of it. The Gootee Family is doing great, Bro. Gootees sons Erin and Lucas and his daughter Margaret are so excited for baptism. Sis. Gootee runs and hides when we get there. But I was able to talk to her last time and ask why she doesn't like to sit in. So then she sat in and participated in the lesson. She had a seizure Sunday while the rest of the family was at church and hit her head really hard, an ambulance had to come and pick her up and the Gootee family had to leave sacrament. A lot of ward members went and checked up on their kids and Sis Gootee, just the beginning of her heart being softened and her accepting the Restored truths we share. We talk to everyone the Lord puts in our path off post. We were able to talk to our neighbor who the 3rd Elders taught. It is hard on post because we are not supposed to and we just really try to feel out the spirit, like if we feel strongly prompted we will do it. We always invite members to do missionary work. I love Fort Bragg because missionary work is done how the Lord intended it to be done. The members are the lifeblood of our work. We are doing really well and tracking our goals closely, May will be a great month. We are really trying to teach Doctrine so the Elders will believe that if they find 10 new investigators in May they will baptize in June. But the Lord has blessed us with many great miracles and referrals. It was a joy to talk to my family yesterday. It is just crazy to think back a couple years ago or even 17 months and to ponder who I was and see who I have become. I am so proud of who I am becoming. I love that!!! I know I became who I am by the choices that I made. I love my Savior and know that He lives.
Love,
Elder Petersen
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Things have been going great in Fort Bragg and Morganton YSA, we have
had a lot of time to work closely with our Bishop and Branch President
in both units. Bro. Burbank, is now Bishop Burbank. We are so excited,
we called him to tell him we love him and sustain him and want to help
him in any way possible. He told us that he felt as he was extended
this calling he had a sense of urgency from the spirit for Missionary Work in
the Fort Bragg Ward. We have a baptism with a great Sister; Poliana, she is from Brazil and her husband is a member and a returned
missionary. She is really nervous but is so pure in heart and will
make a wonderful member of the church.
Elder Smarts' companionship and myself has improved incredibly. We
really have come together and compliment each others strengths and we
feel we are doing great things in the Fayetteville West Zone. We know our
zones weaknesses and we have a plan of action to fix them. We work
really closely with our District Leaders and we are blessed with 3 of
the Best.
I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Naylor this past Tuesday,
we came to Fort Bragg. He is great missionary, he does all that he can
to make sure he is lead by the spirit in all things. I also went on an
exchange with Elder Dealba on Thursday in Rockingham. We had a great
time and were able to set a baptismal date and invite 5 others to be
baptized. He has changed and grown alot since I was with him in
Smithfield. He is very bold, but with so much love it doesn't feel
bold. He invites members to aid in the work in such a powerful way as
well; the members love him and Elder Thatcher and know they are both
great missionaries.
I had a wonderful experience with Elder Richard G. Scott; we had
extended the invitation to our zone to invite everyone they come in
contact with to be baptized. We are grateful for the caution we
received from Elder Scott to not be Mechanical and that the spirit has
to be right to do so. We haven't abandoned the thought of inviting all
we come in contact with to be baptized; we are still full steam ahead
with it. We just felt that our Zone will have to be a little more
obedient to have the spirit with them to build our faith collectively
to act on the promptings we receive and to always be seeking to ask
inspired questions so that the a non-members may feel of the spirit of
the Lord as they ponder the question.
The work is Great!! Mom and Dad I love it and are seeing great fruits of
our labors, We know and have confidence that if we continue to do what
we are doing, have the courage to change for the better, and always
seek to follow the spirit and act on its promptings, that the
Fayetteville West Zone will have 15 baptisms in May.
I felt like I gained a new sense of understanding for the meaning of
concentrate. With Elder Scott’s comment when asked the question "What
motivates you to be 100% all the time?" He said, "My mistakes, because
of the heartache I feel for letting down Father and the Savior. I
want to show them how grateful I am for the testimony I have." I hate
to admit it but I had that same fear I guess, with My Bishop and Stake
President and Mom and Dad and my Girlfriend and President Cotterell
and my companion and previous companions I just didn't want to let
anyone down. These last few days I have felt a greater commitment within
myself to concentrate my efforts, I felt so much more peaceful and
calm and pure when things don't turn out as I planned and I have
gained great trust in Father and the Savior. I love this work and
enjoy it whole-heartedly. I am doing all I can to not let my Father and
the Savior down.
I love you guys so much, especially you Mom, on this mothers day. I am
so grateful for the Women in my life, Grandma Pete and Grandma Ginny
and Great Grandma Zelda, my aunts, Kelsi and Jaylene, McKenzie and
Sophie but especially you Mom. As we were with Elder Richard G. Scott
he talked so much about marriage and as a returned missionary it
should be our top priority and nothing should happen until we are
sealed in the Temple, because we won't be as successful as we could be
if we had a companion to support us in what we hope to achieve. I am
grateful for that example I had, of that, my whole life as you Mom
helped Dad become the stud he is, or probably didn't just help but
could be credited and the reason why he is what he is. The Bishop in
Fort Bragg, when released, bore his testimony and talked about his wife
and said she had done more for his salvation, save it be Jesus Christ
and Joseph Smith. I love you Mom, seriously you got me here! I have
felt myself grow because of where I have been the past year and half
of my life! I love you Mom!!! Happy Mothers day!
Love and Respect,
Elder Taylor Petersen
had a lot of time to work closely with our Bishop and Branch President
in both units. Bro. Burbank, is now Bishop Burbank. We are so excited,
we called him to tell him we love him and sustain him and want to help
him in any way possible. He told us that he felt as he was extended
this calling he had a sense of urgency from the spirit for Missionary Work in
the Fort Bragg Ward. We have a baptism with a great Sister; Poliana, she is from Brazil and her husband is a member and a returned
missionary. She is really nervous but is so pure in heart and will
make a wonderful member of the church.
Elder Smarts' companionship and myself has improved incredibly. We
really have come together and compliment each others strengths and we
feel we are doing great things in the Fayetteville West Zone. We know our
zones weaknesses and we have a plan of action to fix them. We work
really closely with our District Leaders and we are blessed with 3 of
the Best.
I was able to go on an exchange with Elder Naylor this past Tuesday,
we came to Fort Bragg. He is great missionary, he does all that he can
to make sure he is lead by the spirit in all things. I also went on an
exchange with Elder Dealba on Thursday in Rockingham. We had a great
time and were able to set a baptismal date and invite 5 others to be
baptized. He has changed and grown alot since I was with him in
Smithfield. He is very bold, but with so much love it doesn't feel
bold. He invites members to aid in the work in such a powerful way as
well; the members love him and Elder Thatcher and know they are both
great missionaries.
I had a wonderful experience with Elder Richard G. Scott; we had
extended the invitation to our zone to invite everyone they come in
contact with to be baptized. We are grateful for the caution we
received from Elder Scott to not be Mechanical and that the spirit has
to be right to do so. We haven't abandoned the thought of inviting all
we come in contact with to be baptized; we are still full steam ahead
with it. We just felt that our Zone will have to be a little more
obedient to have the spirit with them to build our faith collectively
to act on the promptings we receive and to always be seeking to ask
inspired questions so that the a non-members may feel of the spirit of
the Lord as they ponder the question.
The work is Great!! Mom and Dad I love it and are seeing great fruits of
our labors, We know and have confidence that if we continue to do what
we are doing, have the courage to change for the better, and always
seek to follow the spirit and act on its promptings, that the
Fayetteville West Zone will have 15 baptisms in May.
I felt like I gained a new sense of understanding for the meaning of
concentrate. With Elder Scott’s comment when asked the question "What
motivates you to be 100% all the time?" He said, "My mistakes, because
of the heartache I feel for letting down Father and the Savior. I
want to show them how grateful I am for the testimony I have." I hate
to admit it but I had that same fear I guess, with My Bishop and Stake
President and Mom and Dad and my Girlfriend and President Cotterell
and my companion and previous companions I just didn't want to let
anyone down. These last few days I have felt a greater commitment within
myself to concentrate my efforts, I felt so much more peaceful and
calm and pure when things don't turn out as I planned and I have
gained great trust in Father and the Savior. I love this work and
enjoy it whole-heartedly. I am doing all I can to not let my Father and
the Savior down.
I love you guys so much, especially you Mom, on this mothers day. I am
so grateful for the Women in my life, Grandma Pete and Grandma Ginny
and Great Grandma Zelda, my aunts, Kelsi and Jaylene, McKenzie and
Sophie but especially you Mom. As we were with Elder Richard G. Scott
he talked so much about marriage and as a returned missionary it
should be our top priority and nothing should happen until we are
sealed in the Temple, because we won't be as successful as we could be
if we had a companion to support us in what we hope to achieve. I am
grateful for that example I had, of that, my whole life as you Mom
helped Dad become the stud he is, or probably didn't just help but
could be credited and the reason why he is what he is. The Bishop in
Fort Bragg, when released, bore his testimony and talked about his wife
and said she had done more for his salvation, save it be Jesus Christ
and Joseph Smith. I love you Mom, seriously you got me here! I have
felt myself grow because of where I have been the past year and half
of my life! I love you Mom!!! Happy Mothers day!
Love and Respect,
Elder Taylor Petersen
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Familia,
what is going on, the Lord loves his missionaries. We were honestly blessed and spared, we have been able to help alot of people this week. They have been really grateful as we run in with our Mormon helping hands! This Tornado has been really sad especially to all the people around us, but it was incredible to see how this is really bringing people closer together and helping them serve there brothers and sisters! Then they are truly serving God. But is has been a great week, sorry I am getting weak at writing letters, like I don't know, I get to talk to you in a week, I'll be home before you know it, we can just catch up in December, but yeah I will try.
I am not sure if I told you all, but this Saturday we are getting to go see Elder Richard G Scott of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.
I was pondering last night, how crazy it is that I have the privilege to sit before another apostle and here him speak. I never thought I would have the opportunity to sit and listen to one, but now two. I was pondering why? Like why the North Carolina Raleigh Mission? Like from what I have heard from President Cotterells invitations the culture of the mission has changed, I felt last night it was because of our collective obedience to the commandments and the missionary standards is why we are so lucky. This week has been really good we have done alot of service and we're still able to get some missionary work done. We were able to go on an exchange with Elder Merrill, it was great he just asked alot of question that made us think more. He asked if he was to ask a companionship in our Zone what the plan is to baptize once a month would they know. It made us think and we have some doctrinal based plans to continue to apply what we are already doing and fix some areas where we are weak. We had the Baptism of Amanda Addie, it was a great spiritual experience. Her husband Bro. Addie was able to baptise his wife and his daughter. It was hectic for a second, the Bishop had called us that morning telling us we had to move the baptism because they had accidentally double booked and there was a dance going on that evening so the whites we planned on using were already used from a prior baptism and it was kinda stressful but then when Bro Addie was able to raise his arm to the square, the spirit chased out everything negative and the spirit of the Lord was present. The Bishop made that comment too, it was neat how powerful the priesthood is.
For our zone we really badly once again wanted to achieve the goal of 160 member present lessons. We were so close but still needed a few more and it was Sunday. We had only had 4 member presents that week and knew that the Lord saw fit for us to achieve the Standard of Excellence, even with all the chaos of the tornado. So we went to a referral and nothing, we said a prayer asking the Lord for a miracle and that we could find someone who would really need our message. We went to a part-member family we thought we could teach and nothing. While heading to try something else, I thought I saw a Less-Active family outside someones house, so I rolled down the window and yelled Bro Leach! He turned and it was him, I turned to Elder Smart and said there is our lesson, we jumped out of the car while it was moving and we ran to go see the Leach's they were at there friends Jen and Josh, they were having an Easter dinner and invited us in. The conversation around the table naturally went to the Gospel and we were able to teach a powerful spirit lead lesson, tears were shed and the spirit of the Lord was felt, she had recently lost her father and brother and needs the gospel more then ever, we are meeting with Jen and Josh this week again and were able to pass our goal of 160 and get 161 for the month of April! Incredible, it is like Elder Child's said, Miracles are planned and plans are inspired, do we have the faith to allow those planned miracles to happen? I love the work of the Lord, I love the feelings of the Holy Spirit and knowing and being confident that I am living in a way that I can and will be guided by it!
My companionship with Elder Smart has improved, it is hard like he talked about how he had troubles getting along with his father and he just doesn't like to be told what to do, or what he is doing is wrong or could be done better, he just kind of lives to his own set of rules but slowly but surely he is making some changes.
I love being on a mission, with all my heart. I Love the trials it brings and opportunity's to increase my faith, I love, like I said before nothing more then being lead by the Holy Ghost, I love that feeling it is incredible. I love when you know you are speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost because I know that I am not smart enough to say those things on my own.
We received this Media Referral, the Barrios family, and it is incredible they need this so much and we are trying so hard to present the Gospel in such a way that they see the need for it. We went back and taught our second lesson and Sister Barrios was like yeah, I want to be baptised so we just need to tell her how and why she would want to get there.
Pollyanna Keime is doing incredible and is in check to be baptised on the 7th of May, she is such a nice lady. She made us Easter egg baskets and fed us this incredible dinner. We were on an exchange with Elder Merrill while teaching her and asked her if she noticed the change that she had seen in herself and it was so neat to see her testify of the truths of the gospel and how they are helping her and those around her.
I Love this Gospel!! Know my family, that I love you and pray for you and want you all to just know that I am happy and love my mission. I appreciate all the help love and support!
Love and Respect,
Elder Taylor Petersen
what is going on, the Lord loves his missionaries. We were honestly blessed and spared, we have been able to help alot of people this week. They have been really grateful as we run in with our Mormon helping hands! This Tornado has been really sad especially to all the people around us, but it was incredible to see how this is really bringing people closer together and helping them serve there brothers and sisters! Then they are truly serving God. But is has been a great week, sorry I am getting weak at writing letters, like I don't know, I get to talk to you in a week, I'll be home before you know it, we can just catch up in December, but yeah I will try.
I am not sure if I told you all, but this Saturday we are getting to go see Elder Richard G Scott of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.
I was pondering last night, how crazy it is that I have the privilege to sit before another apostle and here him speak. I never thought I would have the opportunity to sit and listen to one, but now two. I was pondering why? Like why the North Carolina Raleigh Mission? Like from what I have heard from President Cotterells invitations the culture of the mission has changed, I felt last night it was because of our collective obedience to the commandments and the missionary standards is why we are so lucky. This week has been really good we have done alot of service and we're still able to get some missionary work done. We were able to go on an exchange with Elder Merrill, it was great he just asked alot of question that made us think more. He asked if he was to ask a companionship in our Zone what the plan is to baptize once a month would they know. It made us think and we have some doctrinal based plans to continue to apply what we are already doing and fix some areas where we are weak. We had the Baptism of Amanda Addie, it was a great spiritual experience. Her husband Bro. Addie was able to baptise his wife and his daughter. It was hectic for a second, the Bishop had called us that morning telling us we had to move the baptism because they had accidentally double booked and there was a dance going on that evening so the whites we planned on using were already used from a prior baptism and it was kinda stressful but then when Bro Addie was able to raise his arm to the square, the spirit chased out everything negative and the spirit of the Lord was present. The Bishop made that comment too, it was neat how powerful the priesthood is.
For our zone we really badly once again wanted to achieve the goal of 160 member present lessons. We were so close but still needed a few more and it was Sunday. We had only had 4 member presents that week and knew that the Lord saw fit for us to achieve the Standard of Excellence, even with all the chaos of the tornado. So we went to a referral and nothing, we said a prayer asking the Lord for a miracle and that we could find someone who would really need our message. We went to a part-member family we thought we could teach and nothing. While heading to try something else, I thought I saw a Less-Active family outside someones house, so I rolled down the window and yelled Bro Leach! He turned and it was him, I turned to Elder Smart and said there is our lesson, we jumped out of the car while it was moving and we ran to go see the Leach's they were at there friends Jen and Josh, they were having an Easter dinner and invited us in. The conversation around the table naturally went to the Gospel and we were able to teach a powerful spirit lead lesson, tears were shed and the spirit of the Lord was felt, she had recently lost her father and brother and needs the gospel more then ever, we are meeting with Jen and Josh this week again and were able to pass our goal of 160 and get 161 for the month of April! Incredible, it is like Elder Child's said, Miracles are planned and plans are inspired, do we have the faith to allow those planned miracles to happen? I love the work of the Lord, I love the feelings of the Holy Spirit and knowing and being confident that I am living in a way that I can and will be guided by it!
My companionship with Elder Smart has improved, it is hard like he talked about how he had troubles getting along with his father and he just doesn't like to be told what to do, or what he is doing is wrong or could be done better, he just kind of lives to his own set of rules but slowly but surely he is making some changes.
I love being on a mission, with all my heart. I Love the trials it brings and opportunity's to increase my faith, I love, like I said before nothing more then being lead by the Holy Ghost, I love that feeling it is incredible. I love when you know you are speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost because I know that I am not smart enough to say those things on my own.
We received this Media Referral, the Barrios family, and it is incredible they need this so much and we are trying so hard to present the Gospel in such a way that they see the need for it. We went back and taught our second lesson and Sister Barrios was like yeah, I want to be baptised so we just need to tell her how and why she would want to get there.
Pollyanna Keime is doing incredible and is in check to be baptised on the 7th of May, she is such a nice lady. She made us Easter egg baskets and fed us this incredible dinner. We were on an exchange with Elder Merrill while teaching her and asked her if she noticed the change that she had seen in herself and it was so neat to see her testify of the truths of the gospel and how they are helping her and those around her.
I Love this Gospel!! Know my family, that I love you and pray for you and want you all to just know that I am happy and love my mission. I appreciate all the help love and support!
Love and Respect,
Elder Taylor Petersen
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
So crazy the last few days! I have never seen anything like this before and it wasn't even that bad compared to Japan or Haiti or Chile.
So, at Zone Conference, President asked us how we liked our new apartment. He said that the lady who worked at the Front desk wanted to give us a crappy one, but he saw on the white board that a few more were open, and asked her about them and she was kind of in a corner and so she showed them to him and they were alot nicer so we got the nicer one and he told us to go check out apartment 11 and 12 those were the ones she wanted to give us.
So this week has been a tough week we were supposed to have a baptism, that fell through, but it is rescheduled for this coming Saturday. Appointments all week long kept canceling. I am having a hard time seeing eye to eye with my companion and feel he is super lazy and is just wanting to sleep until the day he goes home. It has been a tough week. We went and contacted a referral named Alex, we set a return appointment with him and then asked him for a referral and he gave us his neighbor, who we taught right on the spot and had an incredible lesson, and we felt she was so prepared and then she called us the next day and was like, I was able to talk to my parents about it and I will never become a Mormon.
A couple of part-member families we were banking on moved. We had this great big dinner planned with members and investigators and they canceled. It was just tough.
So, Saturday we were on post riding our bikes and the pollen is really bad here and it is super windy and just crazy weather, but of course as missionaries we know nothing, (as far as listening to news) so we are just chugging along. We go to visit a part-member family and this crazy woman who keeps telling us to come over when her husband is deployed, is like Elders, I have been thinking about you and there is a tornado warning and it is really bad, like what are you going to do. We were like yeah right, southerners freak out at the slightest sound of bad weather, there will be no tornado. We went in and taught a part member and they were like yeah there has been so many killed already, and it is moving its way here. Then they kind of kicked us out of there house and we left, by this time it was really windy so we pedaled our hearts out to the mini mall, where we met Moses and Johnny, two guys from the singles branch.
We got in their car and went to a couple of places, and we couldn't get around, we went to our apartment and it was fine, but we live right by the Riley Farmers Market and there was flowers and fruit everywhere. So, we were at our apartment, and then we left and all the power was out, all these streets were shut down it was just chaos! So we went back onto post because we had some appointments, it took us forever because all the streets were closed, so only one gate was open. We got onto post, all of our appointments were canceled. We visited some others and a member feeds us and then we get ready to head home. (While we were at our apartment a lady ran up and said, we have to leave, there are 2 more tornado's coming right for us again.) We were getting ready to head home and all these gates were locked and they weren't letting people off post. The power is out everywhere, it is just really bad. A member from the 3rd ward calls and says, Elders I was just at your apartment and he inspected it for housing and was like your roof is gone, you need to stay on post it is crazy off post you can't get to your home because of a gas leak and you have no roof, there are 100 people at the church right now that we are giving aid to and alot of the 3rd wards members homes are gone. So we were just like, crap! All our stuff is gone, our journals is what we were most worried about, Bro Burbank called us and was like, Hey Elders, come stay with me. So we called President and it is now like 11 o'clock pm, President is out of town at a mission presidents seminar in Atlanta and it is just nuts, he says we can stay but with a member that has no children, well there are none in the Fort Bragg ward. So he talks to Bro Burbank and we stayed there, they had no power. It was neat there home was truly a place of refuge from the things of the world. Then we woke up and went and checked out our apartment and we could only get in on foot and it was fine, literally everything around it is fine the brother who inspected our apartment, inspected 11 and 12 and didn't know we were in the back, but everything around us, a complete circle is damaged badly but we are fine. I don't have much to say just that the Lord loves his Elders and that it was funny, because Elder Smart and I were talking about how it would be cool if a natural disaster happened and all we could do was do service for awhile. I love you guys, have a great week. WE get to go to the temple on Wednesday, I was supposed to email you then but, President asked us to email you all today so you would know we are okay!
Love ya,
Elder Taylor Blaine Petersen
North Carolina Raleigh Mission
6508 Falls of Neuse, Ste 100
Raleigh, NC 27615-6845
So, at Zone Conference, President asked us how we liked our new apartment. He said that the lady who worked at the Front desk wanted to give us a crappy one, but he saw on the white board that a few more were open, and asked her about them and she was kind of in a corner and so she showed them to him and they were alot nicer so we got the nicer one and he told us to go check out apartment 11 and 12 those were the ones she wanted to give us.
So this week has been a tough week we were supposed to have a baptism, that fell through, but it is rescheduled for this coming Saturday. Appointments all week long kept canceling. I am having a hard time seeing eye to eye with my companion and feel he is super lazy and is just wanting to sleep until the day he goes home. It has been a tough week. We went and contacted a referral named Alex, we set a return appointment with him and then asked him for a referral and he gave us his neighbor, who we taught right on the spot and had an incredible lesson, and we felt she was so prepared and then she called us the next day and was like, I was able to talk to my parents about it and I will never become a Mormon.
A couple of part-member families we were banking on moved. We had this great big dinner planned with members and investigators and they canceled. It was just tough.
So, Saturday we were on post riding our bikes and the pollen is really bad here and it is super windy and just crazy weather, but of course as missionaries we know nothing, (as far as listening to news) so we are just chugging along. We go to visit a part-member family and this crazy woman who keeps telling us to come over when her husband is deployed, is like Elders, I have been thinking about you and there is a tornado warning and it is really bad, like what are you going to do. We were like yeah right, southerners freak out at the slightest sound of bad weather, there will be no tornado. We went in and taught a part member and they were like yeah there has been so many killed already, and it is moving its way here. Then they kind of kicked us out of there house and we left, by this time it was really windy so we pedaled our hearts out to the mini mall, where we met Moses and Johnny, two guys from the singles branch.
We got in their car and went to a couple of places, and we couldn't get around, we went to our apartment and it was fine, but we live right by the Riley Farmers Market and there was flowers and fruit everywhere. So, we were at our apartment, and then we left and all the power was out, all these streets were shut down it was just chaos! So we went back onto post because we had some appointments, it took us forever because all the streets were closed, so only one gate was open. We got onto post, all of our appointments were canceled. We visited some others and a member feeds us and then we get ready to head home. (While we were at our apartment a lady ran up and said, we have to leave, there are 2 more tornado's coming right for us again.) We were getting ready to head home and all these gates were locked and they weren't letting people off post. The power is out everywhere, it is just really bad. A member from the 3rd ward calls and says, Elders I was just at your apartment and he inspected it for housing and was like your roof is gone, you need to stay on post it is crazy off post you can't get to your home because of a gas leak and you have no roof, there are 100 people at the church right now that we are giving aid to and alot of the 3rd wards members homes are gone. So we were just like, crap! All our stuff is gone, our journals is what we were most worried about, Bro Burbank called us and was like, Hey Elders, come stay with me. So we called President and it is now like 11 o'clock pm, President is out of town at a mission presidents seminar in Atlanta and it is just nuts, he says we can stay but with a member that has no children, well there are none in the Fort Bragg ward. So he talks to Bro Burbank and we stayed there, they had no power. It was neat there home was truly a place of refuge from the things of the world. Then we woke up and went and checked out our apartment and we could only get in on foot and it was fine, literally everything around it is fine the brother who inspected our apartment, inspected 11 and 12 and didn't know we were in the back, but everything around us, a complete circle is damaged badly but we are fine. I don't have much to say just that the Lord loves his Elders and that it was funny, because Elder Smart and I were talking about how it would be cool if a natural disaster happened and all we could do was do service for awhile. I love you guys, have a great week. WE get to go to the temple on Wednesday, I was supposed to email you then but, President asked us to email you all today so you would know we are okay!
Love ya,
Elder Taylor Blaine Petersen
North Carolina Raleigh Mission
6508 Falls of Neuse, Ste 100
Raleigh, NC 27615-6845
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