"Don't be mean in '17!" 🌎✌️

Hey Everyone!

Hope you had a great week and a great New Years Day! What a wonderful opportunity we had to renew our covenants (a two-way promise between us and God) to begin the year! As we welcome in this new year, let's try to be more like the Savior this year. Each and every year we should become more and more like Him! He is our best role model. As we strive to be more like Him, we will be blessed more than we can know. 

Yesterday at church, there was a guy who gave a talk and he said that the slogan for the new year is "Don't Be Mean in '17!" I like that!

This week was a pretty successful week! We found some new people to teach and we are continuing to teach those who are working with. We taught Rock and Yvonne again this week and they are now preparing to be baptized on February 19th! So exciting for them and their family! I love those guys so much. 

On Wednesday we were on exchanges with the APs (assistants to the president). Elder Broadhead went to their area in Rochester with Elder Bell and Elder Larson came here with me. We had a super cool day! We taught some lessons but there were two that really stuck out to me. 

We first taught a less active member who has been offended and stays away from church because of the offense he's taken. Elder Broadhead and I have been working with him, trying to help him get over these things to no avail. But when Elder Larson and I went on Wednesday, we listened to him and then followed the Spirit and testified with power of the importance of the Sacrament. The Spirit softened his heart so much that he not only had a desire to attend church, but he also has a desire to meet with us more often so he could continue to grow his desire to attend again! 

Another lesson we had was with an investigator who has been struggling with a certain commandment. And because she doesn't feel like she can live that commandment, she felt devastated because she cannot be baptized just yet. She didn't want to meet with us a couple weeks ago but recently, we have been able to start meeting with her again. We went and brought some materials that we thought could help her. We testified with the Spirit and it was almost a night and day difference of where she was before the lesson to how she was after the lesson! The Spirit truly does testify of truth and softens peoples' heart when there is truth being shared. I love it! 

Keep this scripture in mind as you implement your New Years resolutions! Mosiah 3:19 says:

"19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father."

I love you all! Thank you so much for all you do. Your prayers are felt. Keep on keepin on! 

Much Love

Elder Peters 

1- Seneca Lake Seflie with the Geneva elders

2- Exchanging back with the APs at the Hill Cummorah Visitor's Center 

I can actually sing that song now haha.

Talofa Everybody!

It amazes me how much Christmas Spirit the people here have. I mean, there are 364 days till Christmas and people already have their Christmas lights up! 

Merry Christmas! I hope you all had a great day yesterday. I love Christmas because we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. He loves us all so much! That's why He came to earth. To teach us; to help and allow us to return to the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. Without our Savior, we would have no hope for a better life after this one. Without our Savior, there would be no reason for us to be here. God loved us so He sent His Son! I love my Big Brother Jesus Christ. I know He loves me too and that He loves all of us! 

This week was a fun week. We had some fun Christmas things that we did. Yesterday was a blast getting to talk to the fam bam. I miss you all so much! 

This week we had a Zone Meeting in Canandaigua. That was great getting to see everyone and to learn from others. We gave a training on planning and teaching. Both of which play big roles in missionary work. 

Funny experience of the week. Well, there are two that I'll share. The first one happened when we were going door to door. We knocked on one house and this super old guy answered the door. Like we're talking OLD! He said, "I can't see ya." As he got uncomfortably close to see if he could see us. But he was almost totally blind because of age. When we spoke, he looked at us with his toothless mouth gaping open. "I can't hear you!" Haha then his wife or someone came to the door and told us that they were all set. But it was just funny. Later on that same hour, we had just found someone who was really nice and said we could come back. I wasn't really focused on walking as we were walking away because I was so happy that we found someone that was open. We walked down the driveway and all of a sudden, my feet slipped out from under me and I hit the ground HARD! All I could do was laugh at myself. Because laughing relieves pain lol. Stinkin' ice. 

Another funny experience, we were meeting with a member family and they were telling us about how the guy who invented the Heimlich maneuver died. Without thinking, I asked, "Oh no! Did he choke?!" Haha 

The Mission Christmas Conference was off da hook! I loved it! My district performed the Hukilau everyone loved it. I got to see all my homies that I've served around and been companions with. I love those guys. You really do learn a lot from all those who surround you. President Evans closed the conference by teaching about the Sacrament and the importance of preparing ourselves to partake of it every week. There were many missionaries who shared beautiful musical numbers to bring the Spirit. (Shout out to Elder Stokes for rockin it on the piano!) Spirit was so strong the whole time there. It was great!

I learned so much about my Savior this week as we prepared ourselves to partake of the Sacrament. My Savior is my best friend and He is the best friend to all of us. He knows exactly how to help all of us. I know He loves all of us and that He continues to show us His love as we keep His commandments and serve Him. 

I miss you all so much! Thanks for the love and support that you give me eve day. You all rock! It's was a bummer not being able to be home wi you guys for Christmas this year, but remember: "I'll be home for Christmas" 😎🎄🎅

Much Love

Elder Peters 

1-2 Hukilau performance at the Christmas Conference

3-4 Zone Meeting 

5 Lunch with Sister Delair and Sister Reitmann and Elder and Sister Matthews

6 Sacred Grove after a meeting in Palmyra

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Light the World

Hey You Guys! 

Check out Mormon.org to see how you can #LightTheWorld. Each and every day leading up to Christmas there is a different theme of how we can be more like Jesus and spread the real Christmas spirit this Christmas season. I have seen my testimony of the Savior grow as I have been participating in this wonderful event. It's great. Go check it out! Let me know how everything goes! 

We had a stellar week here in New York. Lots of cool things happening. Transfers are tomorrow, we were told where we are going last night. Elder Broadhead and i are staying here in Waterloo! I love being here in Waterloo! I'm glad they kept us here.

This week we went on a couple exchanges with some elders in Canandaigua and Geneva. I went with Elder Holmes and then Elder Leon. We saw many miracles this week as we worked hard. (I know that I always say that there are miracles happening, but there are! The Lord keeps blessing us more and more everyday) 

A really cool miracle that happened this week happened when I was on exchanges with Elder Leon. We were pulling in to our driveway after doing some service that morning. I saw a lady who looked like she and another person were struggling with moving some things into her house. I felt prompted to go and talk to her. So we did. It was really awkward to initiate conversation, but as soon as I said, "hi! We saw you were moving. Could you use any help?" She looked at us and quickly said, "oh my gosh are you Mormons?!" I thought she was going to say something mean or something. "I was married to a Mormon!" Turns out her husband was Mormon but he had passed on. She told us that he had come to her in a dream and told her that everything was going to be alright. She is struggling through cancer. She had a friend in the hospital that day who was receiving her first chemo treatment. She had a deadline to meet to clear out everything from her storage unit and not much help. God led us to her. She was so happy and overwhelmed and she felt God's love really strong that day. She just kept sayinthank you the whole time we were there. She was even brought to tears as she realized how much God had blessed her. And all we did was help her move! God knows us all and what we are going through. The coolest thing is that He know just how to help us feel better. I love my Heavenly Father! I know He loves me. I know He loves you guys! 

Rick and Yvonne came to church this week! They loved it! I love those guys so much. Things are going well for them. Thanks for all the prayers in their behalf! Your prayers are felt here! 

I love you guys so much! Thanks for all you do for me and for everyone around you! Keep on being good example of Christ! I love you all so much! Have a great week. I'll talk to you soon. 

Elder Peters 

Splittin' Wood and Sippin' Cider

Hey You Guys! 

Wow. It's November. I have officially been out for a whole year! I think this experience beats scout camp just a little in the longest amount of time I've been away from home. Although, I am beginning to feel as if this is home now. New York is awesome. Especially western New York! I love the people here, I love the weather, the trees, the lakes, and so much more! It's a great place. 

This week was great! We had a lot of spiritual experiences that I really grew from. Things are great here. The Lord has blessed me with so many things that I will always be grateful for. God is so good.

This week Elder Broadhead and I drove up to Pittsford for MLC or Mission Leadership Council. Basically, all the zone leaders, sister training leaders, and President Evans and his assistants all got together and discussed how we can better help the mission be more successful. President gave us a couple trainings. He is such a stud. He is awesome! He taught us about obedience and if we as leaders are exactly obedient, we can help the culture of the mission to be more obedient. Which will then bring about much more success in the mission because the Lord will bless us more. MLC was a blast. 

We have been doing a lot of going around in our area trying to figure out who is who since we are both new to this area. We visited a lady in a senior home named Sister Delair. We played skip bo (a card game) with her. And man was that her jam. She loves that game! Her and her friends play a lot. We were playing and either I or Elder Broadhead would make a good move or ruin her plans for the game and she gave us the coldest old lady stare down haha. It was so funny cuz she is the nicest old lady but you just gotta let her win haha. 

Elder Broadhead and i went down to Hornell which is an hour and a half drive south (our zone is the biggest zone area wise) to give a training at their district meeting. I got to see Elder Gardner! It was a fun reunion and it was a blast getting to spend time with the missionaries here. I loved so much to hear their testimonies and the inspired work that they are doing in their respective areas. Elder Broadhead and i gave a training on love. We taught about how we should love those that we serve because they arent going to care how much we know until they know how much we care. It was a good time. 

Saturday morning we went and helped a bunch of the men in the ward split some wood. They were on the older end of the age spectrum. Elder Broadhead and i were doing a lot of the lifting and moving and such. Sister Wheeler made us some good "hot mold(?) cider" that was almost like apple cider it was yummy. The next day during fast and testimony meeting we got a lot of shoutouts from the old guys, "and thank goodness for the elders! They were lifting some pieces of wood that hurt my back just watchin them!" Haha it was a good time. I love serving others. 

Yesterday was awesome. At MLC on Friday, President Evans challenged us to prepare a question to be answered as we attended Sacrament Meeting. So i did and i received many answers to my question! It was awesome! So that is my challenge for you guys this week. Write down a question that you have had on your heart and ask the Lord to answer it. Because i know He will as we study our scriptures and pray and serve others and attend church. 

I love you all! I hope you have a great week! You all really are in my prayers and my heart. Have a great week and i will talk to you soon! 

Elder Peters

Hey from Waterloo! 

Hope you all had a fantastic week. My week has been hectic but it's been great. 

On Tuesday, Elder Gardner and I went up to  Amherst (Buffalo Stake Center) to meet with all the other missionaries in Buffalo for transfers. Elder Gardner and I hopped in the mission van and we all road tripped out to Pittsford. There, I met up with my new companion Elder Broadhead and we drove out to our area after we took care of some zone stuff. 

Waterloo is great! This was previously a sister missionary area. So a lot of people are confused when we answer the phone haha. I guess they don't expect to hear our deep voices haha. But Waterloo is a great area. I am so excited be here serving super close to Palmyra. 

This week we went on exchanges with the assistants to the president. Elder Gibby came here to Waterloo with me! It was great. We spent a lot of time out in Batavia together so it was easy for us to work hard together. We went and found a couple new investigators that seem promising!

We went to the ward Halloween party at the church. It was fun. We took a district Halloween pic. We got to know the ward pretty well. I am already loving the people here. Their awesome. Definitely different from Orchard Park but it's fun. 

This area is so beautiful. We drive around Seneca Lake all the time because we live in Geneva and our area is Waterloo. So it's a really pretty drive. The finger lakes are so pretty. Seneca and Cayuga lakes are the biggest. And Waterloo is equidistant from both! It's sweet. 

This week I had the opportunity to speak in church. I spoke on the talk from General Conference a few years ago by Sister Ann M. Dinn entitled, "I Know It, I Live It, I Love It". It's a great talk. I spoke about the phrase, "I Believe". I was so stinkin nervous to speak in front of the new Ward. I didn't know if I had enough things to talk about but I ended up going and speaking for 20 minutes! Oops haha. Oh well. 

I miss you guys so much! I hope you guys have a great week. I love you all! I will talk to you soon! 

Elder Peters

Gird up your Loins!

Hey Everyone! 

We were so busy this week! We had lots of service activities. We did anything and everything from moving fridges to hanging dry wall. We got to teach quite a bit too! It was a great week! I loved it. 

Wednesday night was cool. The youth had an activity planned where they would go on splits with us. So We took a youth with us and split up and were able to do twice the amount of work we would've been able to do that night. I took JoshHunter with me and went and street contacted on a main intersection in Orchard Park. We talked to some people and shared a little bit with them. No one was really interested but we were able to share a little bit of what we stand for. We had a funny experience with contacting someone. We were sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change so we could cross when I saw someone walking their dog down the street. We went over and tried to talk to her. When she saw us coming, she tried to escape by walking her dogs into the 7 Eleven parking lot. I reached out and said, "How are you doing tonight maam?" She replied awkwardly, "good...How are you?" I could kinda tell she didn't want to talk but I asked anyways, "Could we ask a quick question?" She said, "No not right now...I have my dogs with me." That was probably one of the lamest excuses I have ever heard ever. We had a good laugh about it afterward haha. It was fun. 

We had a lady who we taught over the phone last week meet us at the church with our ward mission leader. Elder Gardner and Elder Davis taught her with Brother Prasad while I was on exchanges for the day. But they were able to give her a tour of the church and teach her a lesson there. She committed to be baptized in November! Super cool! The Lord has blessed us with people to teach because of our hard work! 

Oh! This week I went over to the Schmidt family's house for dinner and Brother Schmidt found out that my favorite food is crab so he bought some king crab and we chewed down! I was so happy haha. It was a dream come true. 

This week will probably be my last in Orchard Park :( Transfers are next week, I have been here for six months, and Elder Gardner is done being trained so everything points to me leaving when we get the calls next week! It's a bummer but we're gonna get out there and work hard this week! 

Things are good here. Thanks for all the prayers everyone! You guys are the best! Have a great week! I love and miss you all! 

Elder Peters 

P.s. I gave a training this week on "girding up your loins" by planning and setting goals that will help us achieve our purpose. It was fun. Then I passed out some lava lavas sent from home. Don't mess with our district! Haha love you guys 

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 Happy Fall Everyone!

This week was the most successful week of my mission! We saw so many miracles in our area and in our district! We have 8 people who are preparing for baptism! The Lord is blessing us so much because of our faith! Its great to see! 

This week we visited and taught one of our investigators named Evan. He is in his early twenties. We met him tracting a while ago. In the past, he has had negative feelings/ideas about God. But recently, he has been praying a lot more and meeting with us and has become a lot more positive about God! Its truly amazing how much prayer and scripture study help us. We met with him a couple times this week and he committed to be baptized! He committed to prepare to be baptized on October 29th! Which sadly, i might not be here... but thats not what matters! What matters is him deciding to follow in Christ's footsteps and be baptized by proper Priesthood authority! Evan is doing great. I think he really enjoys meeting with us. 

This week fall started! Its been getting a little chilly here. So, we had to whip out the sweaters the other day. I love sweater weather. Its real refreshing because all summer we have been sweating like pigs because of the humidity. But thats what the weather is like here :) 

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Marks this week to his area. We taught a cool guy named Rotex who is all about God. He loves to talk about the Gospel. He is from Nigeria too. That was cool. But i think the coolest part about my exchange with Elder Marks was teaching a less active member named Richard Thrift. Richard joined the church in the UK (he has the coolest accent btw). He has been inactive for 22 years! We went and visited with him and he ended up coming to church yesterday!!! He is so solid and is really wanting to get back in to the church and becoming active again. 

I cannot explain how much the Lord has blessed us and our district lately. 

We also met with Abby and Patrick this week. We met with their friend Gina who just moved in with them. We taught them and Gina committed to being baptized! We just have to continue to work with them on following the Word of Wisdom. The work is moving forward! Im glad to be part of it!

I got to hold a chicken this week! Cool experience! I kinda want one now...

This week we received a challenge to read some chapters in the Book of Mormon and in the Bible. Hebrews 11, Alma 32, Ether 12, and the Bible Dictionary: Faith. As you can tell, these chapters teach us about faith. Hebrews 11 talks about things that faith enables us to do. Alma 32 gives the great analogy of faith being like a seed, if planted it will grow. The Bible Dictionary had a great definition of faith as well. But the chapter that stood out to me the most was Ether 12 in the Book of Mormon. What a great chapter! I learned so much as i read. I really like how it says multiple times throughout the chapter that it isnt until AFTER the trial of our faith that we receive a witness. I love that we arent going to be given everything. We have to work for it! As we show our faith through scripture study and prayer and church attendance and serving others, we are showing the Lord our faith in Him and he will bless. He will ALWAYS bless us. I know it because ive seen it in my life! 

Anyways, I love you all! Thank you so much for all you do and the prayers that you see my way. I hope you have a great week this week. I know that as we continue to rely on the Lord, He will always bless. ESPECIALLY in time of need! 

I love you all! I will talk to you soon! Have a blessed week and keep up the great work! 

P.s. Here's a chicken  🐔

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