IIIII'm Stayin' alive, Stayin' alive!!!!!

What's up everyone?!?

How are you guys doing? I hope all is well. Hope you all had a great week.

My week was good. But I was sick as many of you know haha. I went to
the hospital for a little bit on Monday. That was fun. All the doctors
kept thinking that Elder and Sister Workman (the mission nurse) were
my parents haha. It was a fun experience. Didn't think I would've had
to go to the hospital on my mission...

So, this week, to prevent my health from getting worse, I was advised
(more like commanded) to stay in our apartment until I got better.
Which ended up working out! And despite how much I wanted to get out
and get to work, I was able to get my health in order before I went
out and worked. It has been such a great miracle to see how fast I
have healed! I have never healed this fast. Never! Thank you so much
for the prayers and the concern. You all are the best.

On Thursday night, I was set free! I felt like I could fly and I
wanted to talk to everyone. So that's what we did! We went around the
streets of Batavia talking to everyone even though it was getting
pretty dark. I was so ready to do some missionary work you have no
idea. We were walking down Main Street and I saw this guy. He looked
kinda scary and stuff and was blastin some music on his phone. I felt
like I needed to talk to him but didn't because as we passed him, we
said hi and he kinda nodded and three bicycles came flying by in
between us. He kinda looked down and kept walking. Feeling mad at
myself for not talking to him more, we kept walking. It was getting
late and it would've been easy to jump in the truck and go home
because 1-I was getting kinda tired from walking around (cuz I had
been cooped up in the apartment all week) and 2-it was getting close
to our missionary bed time (yes we have bed time haha). But, I felt
like we should walk down another block. So, we did. We didn't see
anyone, but doing that gave us just the right timing that on the way
back to the truck, we ran into the guy again! He asked us where Topps
(a local grocery store) is. I pointed him in the direction, but then I
said, "actually, we will walk with you" so we did. We walked and
talked about the Book of Mormon. He was very nice and said he would
definitely give it a read! We got his number and have been trying to
keep in touch with him. But just think if we would've gone home after
the first attempt. We would've never gotten a chance to talk to him
and he might never have had the opportunity to check out the Book of
Mormon!!! That was a sweet experience.

Anyways, that's it for this week! I love you all and thank you so much
for the prayers and the support. This week, as Phil Collins would say,
"you'll be in my heart."

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Peters

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Talofa Everybody!

How are you guys doing? I hope all is well with you. I love and miss you all.

WE HAD OUR FIRST BAPTISM YESTERDAY!!! What an amazing experience! Lexi
was baptized after church yesterday. Lots of people came, Elder Stokes
played piano and I conducted the music. We were so stressed with
everything because we have a lot of responsibilities in this branch.
We were scrambled and everything seemed to be coming up at once. The
water was cold, the other elders weren't feeling too well so they
weren't there to say the opening prayer and play the piano, and
yeah...there were lots of things that were happening that we were
stressin about haha. But, nonetheless, the baptismal service was
awesome and the Spirit was there. Even though Lexi started swimming
around in the font after she was baptized haha. She gave us fair
warning a long time ago haha.

We also did a lot of finding this week. We knocked on lots of doors
and talked to people on the street (if they didn't cross the street or
go way off of the path to avoid an encounter with us). As always,
there were some funny experiences with that. With one house, we were
walking toward it when the door swung open. I said, "Hello!" All
friendly and such, and all I saw was a white smile in a dark shadow
before the door was slammed harder than it was swung open. In the same
tone, "Goodbye!" I wish I had a video of some of these encounters.
Another time, we were talking to this lady about how we were
missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

"Most people call us Mormons. Have you ever heard of Mormons before?"

"Oh yes. I've heard lots of things. I know about you guys."

"Oh awesome! What have you heard?"

"Oh...uh...I've heard...yeah I just know about you guys."

Yeah she didn't know much about us nor was she very interested but
hey. At least we tried. Maybe she would actually like to learn about
us in the future :)

Being a missionary is honestly such a blessing. It's not easy, don't
get me wrong. It is hands down THE hardest thing I have ever done in
my life. But the rewards that come from it (helping people, making
people happy, seeing their eyes light up, seeing them crack a smile,
etc.) make it worth it. The Lord does not ask us to do easy things.
But He asks us to be diligent in following Him and He will bless us
more than we can comprehend. "I the Lord am bound when ye do what I
say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (D&C 82:10)

In my personal study this week, I found a cool scripture. It's Helaman
12:3, "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people
with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and
with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they
will not remember him." This week, my health hasn't been too good.
Some of you know of my condition. I have been sick with it in the
past. But this week I have seen the onset of another breakout. But,
trusting in the Lord and knowing that He has given me this trial to
remember Him and to grow, I am comforted. I know your praying for me
but plz pray extra for me this week :)

Your prayers are felt. They make me strong everyday. I love you all
and thank you so much for the love and support.  I wouldn't be able to
do this without you guys. Have a great week!

Elder Peters


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Presto Da Besto Teaching the Resto!

Resto stands for the Restoration. We taught the Restoration a lot this week.

Greetings Family and Friends!

How goes it? Things here are going so well!

There were a lot of cool things that happened this week. We found a
couple more people to teach which is always good. We were able to help
a guy who looks like Mr. T (no joke. Haircut and everything). He's
great. He's a less active but we are working on getting him back to
church. Luckily, he's not moving too far.

I also got to go on exchanges this week. That was fun. I went with
Elder Gibby (my zone leader and also one of the members of my
district) to the zone leaders area which is 4 x 2 miles. Super small
compared to my area! My area is the third largest in the mission! I
get to do lots of driving haha. But it was cool to get to go with
Elder Gibby. I learned a lot from him on our exchange. He is such a
great worker. We got yelled at a couple times and stuff but hey. All
is well. #OnToTheNextOne During the exchange, we went to a less active
member's apartment. She no longer lives there but the guy we got to
talk to was super interesting. He was legit out of his mind (there are
a lot of people that are literally insane here). He kept telling us as
he talked a mile an hour about how he is nuts and scared of people. "I
HATE THE WORLD" he kept saying the whole time. We got him to laugh and
stuff too. I seriously don't think he has ever talked to anyone ever
that long. It was cool to be able to talk to him and help him build
confidence in talking to people. Even though I was kinda scared of
what he might say next the whole time. There is absolutely no telling
what might slip out of someone's mouth here it's so weird. He ranted
about how much he hates a certain presidential candidate and Elder
Gibby got lectured on how he should not vote for that person. It was
fun. Then, he started talking about music. He's really into rock n
roll and told us that he hates the new kind of music. We asked him if
he liked Justin Bieber or One Direction. He got very enthused about
that subject. "I HATE JUSTIN BIEBER! HES GOT NO TALENT!!! AND ONE
DIRECTION?!?! WHAT DIRECTION?!?! THAT DIRECTION!!! THEY CAN GO TO..."
(He pointed at the ground and said the h word haha). He was so funny.
It's fun the people you get to meet on your mission.

This week we had a super cool experience! We had a specialized
training up in Fayette at the Peter Whitmer Farm on Thursday (which is
186 years ago on Wednesday from when the church was organized). The
church was organized in that same place that we had a meeting 186 days
ago on April 6th!!! What a great experience. We (the Rochester West
Zone) were there with the Palmyra North Zone. It was so cool. All the
sisters gave the elders a tour of the log home and the visitors
center. Such a cool experience to be in a place where a church was
organized that now has 16,000,000+ members worldwide. It's brought
light and truth to all those who have joined and will continue to
shine forth as a standard to the nations. What a great opportunity I
have to serve a mission around such sacred sites. I would recommend
that all of you come check out these sites someday! (Of course after I
go home) such a great spirit here.

I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored to the earth after
many years of apostasy. The Lord has restored His gospel through His
prophet and servant Joseph Smith. Through that restoration, the Lord
has poured out blessings on blessings for all of us. He loves us and
restored His gospel so that we can grow and return to live with Him
and our Father in Heaven.

I love you all! Thanks for the prayers, love, and support. You guys
are the best. Have a great week and share the love!

Much Love,
Elder Peters



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Shoutout to Kansas for the email subject.

Greetings from a rainy day in Batavia.
How was your week? I hope you had a great Easter and I hope you all
spent some quality time with family. Such a great time of year to
reflect on the great love that our Savior has for us. He took
responsibility for our sins to make it possible for us to all return
to live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. What a great
sacrifice. "Greater love hath no man than this" our Savior loves us.
We are able to see that every day.
This week was cool. We had my first zone meeting in the mission! And,
as district leader, I had the privilege of standing up in front of all
the older missionaries and giving a district report. I stood up and
said, "The Batavia District is doing well." Then I sang a little for
them. "Batavia!🎶" (to the tune of the Activia jingle). they all
laughed but IM not sure if it was laughing with me or at me. ah well.
The weather was warm yesterday and it was a beautiful, enjoyable day.
But the rest of the week was kinda stinky weather. I wasn't too
satisfied with the weather. But, I am still excited for it to warm up.
George and the Lehmann families both had us over yesterday for Easter.
They made it easier not to miss home on a holiday like this. They are
great people.
Who else is excited for General Conference this weekend?!?!
🙋🏼🙋🏼🙋🏼🙋🏼 what a joy. for those of you who dont know what
General Conference is, it is a time where the prophet speaks to us
along with many other general authorities in the church. Everyone can
watch and feel of the Spirit that comes when the prophet speaks. I am
so excited. It's almost like the Super Bowl for missionaries. What a
great time.
Anyways, that's it for this week! I love you all! Thanks so much for
all the love and support. Your prayers are felt everyday. I love you
guys. Have a great week.

Elder Peters



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Greetings Yo!

What's up guys? How was your week? I hope it went well.

Well, we all know what time of the year it is...MARCH MADNESS!!! So,
you already know that I filled out a bracket. A guy in the ward
printed some brackets out for us and I made the rest of the elders in
my district fill out brackets. We get updates every once in a while
from that guy and I have been scoring the brackets and writing the
scores on a big white board that we have in my free time. I am killin
it right now haha. But that's to be expected. After all, I am Presto
Da Besto. Jk that's really conceited haha. Anyways, that's fun. I love
March Madness.

This week was awesome! We taught a lot of lessons and have a baptism
coming up in a couple weeks! This is gonna be so awesome. We talked to
Lexi at church today and she is so excited to be baptized. She keeps
saying that she wants to swim around in the font... I feel like I
might have to be like a lifeguard at the community pool, "No running,
no yelling, no splashing, NO SWIMMING!" I'm excited for her to make
this big step in her life. She is awesome. But for real. Baptism is
awesome and can help us all demonstrate our love for the Savior by
following His example.

Also this week, we saw a lot of tender mercies. I love writing in my
journal everyday because I am able to reflect on the day and realize
the many ways that the Lord has blessed me. Whether it be in big ways,
or small ways. He is always there to bless and to lift me up.
Something that I would like to challenge you all to do this week is
every day before you go to bed, jot down a couple tender mercies that
you saw in your life that day and thank God for them. When we give
thanks, God knows that we appreciate and cherish the things He gives
us. It's important that we recognize the tender mercies in our lives
because they are so prevalent and they will lift us up in times of
struggle knowing that God loves us and has blessed us. I love
reflecting on my day and seeing the many things the Lord has blessed
me with. It's really quite amazing.

Well that's all for this week guys! Thanks so so so much for
everything your prayers and support have definitely helped me and
continue to help me. Thanks for everything! I love you all! Have a
great week.

Elder Peters


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Easter is right around the corner!!! There is a sweet video that us
missionaries are showing to people. Take some time and check it out
real quick. followhim.mormon.org
It's a great video that talks about the importance of this time of the
year. It's really great. Check it out!

Hey Guys!

How are ya? I hope everyone is well. Miss you guys

The work here is going great! We are working hard and more and more
people are coming out of hibernation and walking the streets!
Therefore, we have more time to track them down and talk to them. Okay
that sounds creepy like we are stalking people. Some people are really
scared of us and will like cross the street or walk 20 feet off of the
sidewalk to avoid talking to us haha. One day we should like start
running towards them and see what they do haha. I'm pretty sure people
here dress up as the missionaries for Halloween cuz we must be in
their nightmares.

This week we had President Francis come to our branch and speak with
us and the rest of the branch on how we can be better
member-missionaries. There is a new motivation to share the gospel in
this branch so I am excited to see what comes of this. President
Francis is awesome. In his Sacrament talk, he had planned something to
speak on but the Branch President got up and announced to the whole
branch that they are stopping the treatments for his wife (she is
battling cancer for like the 4th or 5th time). She wanted him to
announce that. Anyways, President Francis got up and spoke on enduring
to the end rather than what he had planned because the Spirit told him
to talk about that. He spoke to them, the Merrills (an elderly couple
in the mission who just had a granddaughter pass away back home), and
a few others in particular at the beginning. But what he said during
his talk was really profound. He talked about he is ending his mission
coming up soon and that what he has learned can apply in life to a lot
of different situations. He said that the gospel teaches us to endure
to the end. "Instead of enduring to the end, let us enjoy to the end."
It's so true. In life, we can't hide from the trials and tribulations
that come our way. We won't grow if we do that. We should embrace our
trials and know that they are from God not for the punishment of man
but for the betterment. They're here to help us grow not to break us
down.

Anyways, that's it for this week! Hope all is well! Love you all! Have
a great week!

Elder Preston Peters


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Hey you guys!

How was everyone else's week? I heard my Mom and Jake got in an
accident this week! Cmon guys! I know I made it through one but you
can't always do what Presto Da Besto does haha. You gotta take care of
yourselves while I'm gone!  Mine week was great! We were so busy and
got a lot accomplished. Talked to lots of people and got yelled at a
couple times but hey. It's all for a good cause #PersecutedForTheLord
😎

This week we had stake conference which is where all of the smaller
congregations (wards and branches) come together to hear from the
stake presidency. For those of you who don't know, Federal Way has its
own stake. There are lots of wards in the surrounding areas. Lots of
opportunities for you all to go to church back home. Just sayin 😇 but
anyways, we had stake conference this week and we learned a lot from
our stake presidency. We learned about temples, repentance, and much
more. But one of the main things that stood out to me was a quote by
one of the stake presidency members President Tishner. He said, "The
home is where the gospel needs to be taught." I was fortunate to have
two amazing parents who love me and care for me and want the best for
me every minute of every day. I know all parents do that but my
opinion is a little biased ;) growing up, my parents would always
incorporate the church in our lives (even if sometimes we didn't want
it #MotherKnowsBest👸).I want to let you know that the gospel truly
does bless families. I've seen it on my life and the life of those
near and dear to me.The gospel is all about families and being able to
live with your family forever! Pretty cool huh? Anyways, stake
conference was cool. We also had the opportunity to sing in the
missionary choir! We started out the stake conference by marching down
the middle isle all the way to the stand while singing our theme song
Called to Serve. It was pretty cool but kinda weird cuz I don't
usually sing and walk at the same time haha. Plus, everyone was
staring at us the whole time. But who cares?u belted it out and we
rocked it. Fun experience.

This week we had a lot of success. We did a lot of finding and
contacting this week. We talked to bunches of people but to no avail.
It was a bummer but it's all good #OnToTheNextOne. One time we were
Tracting (knocking on doors) in Elba (a small town) and passing out
cards to Mormon.org. Then this guy pulled up as we had just walked out
of his driveway. He didn't look to happy so as we were walking up the
next driveway to knock the next door, we heard this big "HEY! Don't
put (explicit word) in my door! Stay off my property you (more
explicit words)!" I swear I jumped when he said HEY! But I played it
off, waved, and kept walking haha. It's all good cuz I know the Lords
got my back.

Okay so now fora funny experience. I can't end my weekly email on a
bad note like that haha. This week we went to Lexis grandparents house
to teach a lesson. When we got there, we had just finished teaching
George all the way in Attica. So you all know me (I had to pee), I
asked to use the restroom and while I was washing my hands after using
it, I heard little feet running up and down the hall by the bathroom
door. "Grandma, Grandma! Who's in the bathroom?!" She said, "One of
the missionaries." To which Caleb responded, "the black one?" She
said, "Caleb! Don't say that. He's not black." "Yeah he is!" Then I
jumped out of the bathroom and scared him, "I'm not black!" He hid
behind the couch and as I walked towards the table to teach Lexi, he
scurried into the bathroom. It was pretty funny. It reminded me of
when us kids were little and we would ask Mom why dad was "black"
haha. Good times good times.

Well, I miss you all! I love hearing from you! Thanks for all the
emails, the prayers, and the support. You guys are the best. Have a
great week and keep up the good work. Love you all!

Elder Peters

P.s. You guys should go to church this week! I'm sure the Peters
family would love to have some people to sit by them ;)

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