Word From the MTC - Sept. 30, 2010

 Dear family,

     Thank you for the overwhelming supply of food and fiber products :) I'm extremely grateful for the relief from MTC food. I must warn you, however, that much more and I won't have anywhere to put it! We don't spend a lot of time in our rooms so the ratio of time for eating to food received is almost out of proportion. I thank you though :)

     This has been a week of ups and downs. I have realized how important it is to keep my thoughts constantly towards Christ. I have had some great teaching experiences and some not so good ones. I've seen the difference between teaching by the spirit and not teaching by the spirit and there is a huge difference. My companion and I were called as Zone Leaders on Sunday. Yup. That was completely out of nowhere. The previous ZLs leave on monday so President C called us. We've only been here 2 weeks! He says the Lord trusts that we can handle it and I believe that is so.

     Funny story from my Australian companion. We were at lunch and somehow the conversation came to killing animals. Someone asked Elder W if he kills kangaroos with a boomerang. Elder W said he'd only killed one animal and that he'd never do it again. Apparantly there are these giant ferel cats in Australia that are considered pests as much as rats and whatnot. Elder W was twelve at the time and there was one outside his house. I think he went out to scare it off but instead that cat jumped at him and sunk its teeth into his hand. Elder W tried to swing it off but it wouldn't let go. So he banged it as hard as he could against a tree. Luckily he was next to their woodshed because he had a better reach at the ax he used to chop off its head. Yup. He banged the cat against the tree, slammed it down on the chopping block, and took its head right off. In his defense it was self defense :) We all thought it was funny. Hopefully it doesn't give Mom any ideas about Beast &Zoe.

     I'm getting anxious already. Brother Z showed us pictures from his mission on the last day he taught us. I can't wait to get out there and do some real work! It would probably help to know a little german though. I keep seeing more and more people I know filter in to the MTC. One kid from my ward and S! My roomie from Fall semester. What was funny was that I was just thinking about this the other day. Now I know where he is and... I think he is going to the North Carolina something mission. He's speaking spanish I know that much.

     So I got your dear elders and am unable to remember everything it is you wanted to know. I am working on a scripture and I just took some pictures with my companion on the way back from the temple. We are going to get some developed and I will send you some. The internet isn't the greatest here and I don't want to risk my precious minutes loading pictures onto an email. I must tell you that the hardest thing to remember is no babylonish. No quoting movies or singing songs that aren't church appropriate. Elder M is a roomie of mine and is as big a movie buff as me. It's hard for us not to feed off each other. We try! Obedience with exactness.

     One thing I've found is that you say a lot of prayers at the MTC. Not just at meals or in meetings but small ones all the time to ask for guidance and also forgiveness. The MTC is an extremely humbling place.

     I'm trying to remember what you said in your letters and now it's bugging me. I have 5 mitnutes left! I do remember mom asking me if there was anything I wanted with in reason but I can't think of anything at the moment. I hope the yard goes well and that seminary is not too much of a struggle. I'm sure dad will still be teaching it by the time I get back. Two years seems like a long time but at the same time it doesn't. I miss you all!

Love

Elder Peterson

Word From the MTC - Sept.23, 2010

   My time is limited so one e-mail is all I can provide! Thursday is my pday and you should expect an email around this time each Thursday for the next eight weeks. I'm going to say this now before I forget... Use dearelder.com!! You can send me mail through dearelder.com and they print it out and put it in my mailbox. This way when I read your mail it won't eat into my email time.

   Ok. So this first week is already done and I can't believe how much I have already learned. One day feels like several. My companion will be like, "remember a couple of days ago when we did (something)" and I'll say, "that was yesterday, Elder." Time goes by slow but fast at the same time. Hard to describe. The food... Let's just say it doesn't agree with me :) There are definitely healthy options... but who wants that?! I have what we call "keinfall" which you can probably figure out. As of late I have been eating more fiber dense cereal than anything else. But all is good!

   The MTC is great just from the sheer fact that everyone is here for the same reason. You here the humming of hymns and "hey, Elder!" everywhere you go. Elder W and I sat outside one time for personal and companion study and were approached at least five different times by companionships bearing their testimonies in their mission language. By the end of day one we were doing the same auf Deustch. The rooms are always hot and of course the smell of 10 elders in a small room is always present. But this spirit is strong which is most important.

Elder W & Elder Peterson's TE

   As far as teaching goes, we learn some in class but most we have to experience in a TE, which is a Teacher Evaluation meeting type thing. Elder W and I set up several appointments for the week. There is a teacher there who pretends to be an investigator and never breaks character. Generally they pretend to be someone they know so that they can respond as they would and also hopefully learn some way to reach out to those they pretend to be. We as the Missionaries teach them a lesson. The first one we did was awesome! We taught the lesson really well and were extremely confident. The teacher gave us some awesome feedback at the end. Through these TE's we have learned how to get to know individuals and find out there main concerns and how to address them. We were given this analogy about a doctor prescribing medicine to a patient. A doctor wouldn’t look at the symptoms and then throw out random prescriptions hoping to solve their problem. He would evaluate and prescribe as necessary. We as missionaries must determine whether the investigator hasn't felt the spirit or whether they have but don't want to follow certain principles. After all it is the spirit that we teaches the investigator and our job is invite it and help them understand how to recognize it. We do this by leaving them with commitments that require them to find out for themselves what is true. By the end of the lesson we want them to be jazzed about keeping those commitments. The last TE we did left Elder W and I a little discouraged but we've been working through it. We set up our own TEs with our district and pretend to be people we know. It helps but is difficult because we are often more open than the individuals we know would really be.

   As far as German goes, I've almost reached the extent of what I already know. What I'm worried about is being able to teach in German because I'm still trying to figure out how to teach as a companionship with a strong spirit.  Elder W and I determined that we need to be patient and remember that we're not perfect. Most of our German though is studied during MDT (missionary directed time) that is hard to be motivated to do when you haven't nailed teaching yet. But it's coming. We spend most of our hours in our designated classroom teaching ourselves which is great I think. We have several hours a day with teachers who teach us new things but most of it is up to us.

   I have had some incredible spiritual experiences here but I am running out of time so I will wrap up. I'm doing well and am constantly reminded of why I am here: To invite others unto Christ. Thanks for the mail and remember! DEARELDER.COM! Lots of love

Elder Peterson