Talofa lava!

Hey you guys! How was your week? I hope it went well and that you all
had a lot of fun. I miss you all so much and pray for you everyday.

This week was way fun. We did a lot of different things. We taught
Lexi and Brianna some more. That has been a cool experience to see
them come closer to Christ. It's really been awesome. It's such a
great calling to be a missionary. I love it so much. I don't want to
come home, Mom!

We had a big zone conference in Rochester this week. The Rochester
East and Rochester West (that's the one I'm in) zones met together.
President Francis talked to us a lot about repentance. It's such a
great topic. We can be forgiven for whatever we have done. There is
always hope. What a blessing. The Savior never turns away from us.
Rather, we sometimes turn away from Him. But there is always a way
back to Him through the sacrifice that He made for us. No man hath
greater love than He who lays down His life for His friends.

After zone conference, we almost got snowed in to Rochester! We drove
like 20 mph the whole way home. We had planned to stop by Nick Tahou's
restaurant (an iconic "hots" (what they call hot dogs here)
restaurant) to get a garbage plate. A garbage plate is a cool dish
that is from here. It basically has everything you can get at a picnic
and more sloshed together on a plate. Since Elder Stokes and I are
both new to the mission, we wanted to stop by and get a garbage plate
but since the weather was so bad, we though in our heads as we drove
by it, "Mmm...better not". So don't worry Mom. We mad it home safely.

Yesterday was so nice. I wore a short sleeve shirt! The weather has
just been weird lately. I wish it would just make up its mind and
decide to be warm. That would be fantastic. I'm pretty sure that
"warm" here is what was "cold" for me back home. #MissionsChangeYou

Anyways, thanks for everything you guys. You really are the best. Keep
up the good work and keep bringing others closer to Christ! He is the
place of refuge in the ever so crazy world. He will guide you. He will
help you. He will bear you up. I love yous guys. Have a great week!

Elder Peters



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Wow. What a week.

How is everyone? I hope you all are well. I'd like to start this
weekly email by giving a shoutout to Autumn Miller for getting her
mission call this week! So sweet! She's going to the Czech Repubic and
Slovakia Mission!

Okay so this week was weird. I saw the most snow that I've ever seen
in my life but I also had a day where I didn't even need to wear a
jacket! (My first time on the mission. It's been too cold ever since
I've been here) we got 2-3 feet of snow on Tuesday! And guess what we
got to do after we dug our truck out. We got to shovel driveways all
day. The snow got real heavy real quick when we started shoveling.
Maybe because we were shoveling a pretty long driveway and we were
lifting literal feet of snow with every scoop of our shovels. But we
endured and kept shoveling all day. It was fun. Elder Stokes
accidentally threw a whole shovel full of snow at my face haha. He
Felt bad and told me to get him back but I told him it's all good and
turned the other cheek. I totally would've thrown some snow back at
him before my mission haha. #MissionsChangeYou

We walked around contacting in Le Roy all day on Saturday without
jackets because it was so nice. It was weird though. We were trudging
through snow but it was warm enough that we didn't have to wear
jackets!! It was a good experience for Elder Stokes. It was the first
time we could really get out there and work all day because the
weather has been so gnarly lately. He loved every minute of it except
for the parts where people would drive by and say silly things out
there window at us. But we just smiled and waved "smile and wave boys.
Smile and wave." Wise words from the Penguins of Madagascar.

We are teaching two people who are getting ready for baptism. Their
names are Lexi and Brianna. They are awesome and are really
progressing a lot. They love being taught and are learning so much.
Anyways, please keep them in your prayers as they are working hard to
follow our Savior.

I love you guys and there isn't a day that goes by where I don't think
about you and pray for you. I am so thankful to have such a strong
support group like you guys. Thank you for all the love, support, and
prayers. You guys are the best. Have a great week!

Love you all

Elder Peters

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That's a real quote that one of our investigators said this week haha.
He's the coolest. He may or may not have gotten an "oh yeah" and a
high five from an excited Elder Peters

Hey Y'all!

So this week wasn't anywhere near how warm it was last week haha. Last
Saturday we got a call from the zone leaders saying that it was too
cold outside to go out and work. So, we were told not to leave the
apartment unless we were going to a teaching appointment. Yes. It was
that cold haha. -26!

My new companion arrived on Tuesday! His name is Elder Stokes and he
was fresh from the MTC (Missionary Training Center) when I got him! He
is from Spanish Fork, Utah and enjoys playing the piano and viola. He
is such a great guy and is so Christlike. He's awesome. We've had the
opportunity to teach a lot his first week here. We are seeing a lot of
progress as of late. Pretty sweet.

We had a cool experience this week. It was on the day we weren't
supposed to go outside. We had just received the call from the zone
leaders. We were talking about what we were going to do that day when
I heard a snow shovel scrape against the pavement outside. I
immediately felt a prompting to go and help whoever was attempting to
shovel in the bitter subzero weather. We layered up real quick and ran
out to the truck to grab our snow shovels. It was one of the apartment
maintenance guys. He looked super duper cold and was super thankful
for the help. We were able to help him finish the rest of the
apartment complex just before I got frostbite haha. Probably not...but
I was cold. It was a cool experience.

This week we taught a bunch of people and we have a couple people
progressing toward baptism. It's been super cool to teach and to work
with the and help them come closer to Christ.

On Wednesday, we taught George. My trainee didn't know this but I had
set it up to where George was gonna act like an investigator. So, when
we got to the lesson and got to talking to him, he started asking
Elder Stokes questions like, "so I heard you guys worship Joseph
Smith?" And a couple other questions. Elder Stokes got to calmly
explain why we don't worship Joseph Smith and that we worship our
Savior Jesus Christ. George then informed him that he has been a
member of the church for 20 years and that we were messing with him
haha. Elder Stokes was a good sport about it and didn't get too mad at
me haha.

Anyways, that's it for my week here in Batavia. Hope you guys are
doing well and that you guys had a good Valentines Day. Love you all
and have a great week.

Elder Peters


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Hey you guys!

How goes it? I hope everything is alright. This week was awesome! We
found a lot of new investigators! We have a couple kids taking the
lessons right now because they want to get baptized with their cousin
who is getting baptized in March. We also are teaching a lot of
people. I am so excited for this week because it is loaded with a
bunch of lessons that I get teach with a new companion.

The weather is nice and is starting to warm up, believe it or not. The
weather is actually bearable right now haha.

On Tuesday, I got a call from President Francis and he told me that I
would be training a new missionary this transfer! We went to a "train
the trainers" meeting on Thursday. I get to meet my new companion on
Tuesday! I am so excited to meet this noobie and show him the ropes.
Who am I kidding? I'm still a noobie haha. But the Lord will help us
out and guide our paths. This next couple transfers is going to be
rough because Elder Rushton is getting transferred and Elder Scott
(one of the elders in my district; my zone leader as well) is going
home! He is finished with his mission! How crazy! Time has flown by
while I've been out here. Anyways, it's going to be a huge adjustment
getting two new people in my district. But i am excited for the
opportunities that await my companion and I! Can't wait!

Anyways, that's it for this week! Thank you for all the prayers, love,
and support. You guys are the best! Have a great week and seek out
opportunities to serve others! I promise you will be blessed. I love
you guys and may God bless you.

Peace and Blessins,

Elder Peters



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Hey Yous Guys! (That's how New Yorkers say "you")

How's it going? I hope all is well. Things are going great here in New York.

The weather is actually nice right now! It feels like Seattle out
there. Real rainy but the air smells nice. My companion and all the
other missionaries that have been out for a while are telling me that
I have been lucky. The winter has been super mild so far. Wait. Super
mild? Then I don't want to know what an actual winter is like. It was
stinking cold!

This week we did a lot of service. We painted a bunch at Community
Action and moved someone out of their apartment and helped a guy move
a bunch of furniture to his new house, and pushed a super old Chevy
Impala (hasn't been on the road for 30 years). Oh! And after the
baptism on Saturday, we cleaned the whole building by ourselves. Well,
al,oat all by ourselves, there was a guy that came late at night when
we were wrapping up and vacuumed for about 30 minutes. But other than
that, we cleaned the whole building. And boy did it need it. We gutted
the primary room and organized all of the posters that had been
scattered all over and washed the chalkboards and vacuumed and cleaned
the nursery and washed the Windows, and you name it, we did it. It
felt super good after we finished cleaning. Everyone came to church
yesterday and were wondering who the pixies were that came and cleaned
up after them. We got yo back.

Guess what guys! George got the Aaronic Priesthood this week! Oh man
it was so exciting. Elder Rushton and I got to be in the circle when
he got it. I am so happy for him and I am so happy that I was able to
be part of helping him achieve that. It is truly a blessing to be out
on a mission. I love the Lord and I love His work. Oh and this girl we
are teaching named Brianna has made a soft commitment to be baptized
on March 5th! We will see how that goes. I am so excited.

Ryan Peters got baptized this week! I just want to give him a shoutout
and let him know that I love and miss him. Good job Ry! You're the
best.

Oh and one last story about this week. We were at a less act be
members house and he and his wife (she isn't a member) were feeding us
roast and she was going on and on about how she got a half cow and how
it fills her freezer. Her husband was being kinda quiet. He let her
finish her story about the cow and when it got quiet, he pipes in, "So
Elders. What kind of meat is this?" And confused chew use of the story
I had just hear, I told him it was beef. Jill (his wife) looked at him
and said, "Ray this better not be Bambi". He started nodding his head
and said yep. It's venison. She stopped eating right there and was
super mad at him haha. She doesn't like when people kill deer and
especially when they eat it and here she was having eaten a good
amount of it haha. Hey. I wasn't complaining. I loved it haha. She was
so mad though. It was funny.

Well, that's it for this week! Thank you all for your prayers. You're
love and support is what keeps me going! You guys are the best. Have a
great week. Love you all!

Elder Peters



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