I know that's true, 100%.

Hey Everyone!

Well it sounds like it's been a really busy week. I guess that's good? It's been a pretty busy week for us too, which is great. It's always good to be busy (well, not always, but at least here on a mission, it's a good thing.). As one of the less-active members from Monte Vista would always say, if you aren't busy, that's when you start getting in trouble.

You know, seasons actually don't affect the work as much as you might think. It's really been basically the same throughout all the seasons, as far as I can tell. I guess the only thing that I might say is different is that when it's below zero outside it's quite a bit harder to get up the motivation to go knock doors :).

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of me and my companion to give! Sorry! But I'll see what I can do for next Monday (by which time one of us might be gone, transfers!) This transfer has just blazed by, it's insane. You can definitely tell that he's from England from his accent. I wouldn't say it's hard to understand or anything, but it's distinctive. He has only ever lived in England, yes, although I think he's visited here once or twice before. There aren't really any prairie dogs here, although I would say we're still in the suburbs. But it's a lot less like rural here than up in Thornton. Like in Thornton there were actually some farms about like 20 minutes away from our house. But here it's mostly just a bunch of houses.

So for the week report thingy:

It was a really good week this week, actually. We taught a lot of people, we had dinner with members every day (I had pupusas for the first time ever, that was cool), people are actually progressing, and things are just pretty cool.

Probably the top highlights of the week:

-So there's this one family where the Dad is a less-active member, and the wife isn't a member. We've been trying to teach them, but they've been dropping appointments and just generally not seeming super promising. But this week they kept two appointments we had with them (these were apparently the first two appointments they'd ever kept while my companion had been there, and he's been here for 4 months), both of them came to church, she read from the Book of Mormon, and maybe best of all, they invited us over for dinner next week :)! The wife, who isn't a member, really seems to want to learn more. And it's also been really cool to see her husband be really encouraging and supportive, he's been a real help in our lessons.

-So and then this one happened just last night. So two transfers ago, my companion and his companion at the time were teaching this one family (It's a pretty bizarre family situation, I'm probably not going to go into it). But then the daughter (not really, we'll just say that), who was the one who was the most interested, and who'd read from the Book of Mormon and felt like it was true, went on a three month vacation to Mexico to see her (real) parents, who are hardcore Catholics. So she got back like a week ago, and we finally got to teach her last night. I guess while she was there, she had some good experiences with the Catholic church, and is now like super confused because she's had spiritual experiences with both churches! So what does she do now? Well, during the whole lesson we really just talked about the holy ghost, and how God is really the only one who can tell us what is true. So we're going by today to drop off a copy of the Book of Mormon (she lost hers), and she's going to read it and figure things out, and it's going to be great. 

Throughout the whole lesson I kind of really just wanted to talk about how okay here are somethings that the Catholic church believes, do you believe that (like the whole till death do you part thing, or the whole changing the 10 commandments thing), but I knew that that really wouldn't help anything at all. We can talk about doctrine forever, but until people find out for themselves, it won't help. So that was a pretty great experience, anyways.

Lots of other cool stuff in the week. We got to go to the temple, which was great as always, we were able to take our ward mission leader out with us for like all of sunday, which was pretty awesome. Our WML is super cool. He got back from a mission in Utah about a year ago, and he's just so willing to help with anything.

I feel like I need to write something spiritual, because I really haven't like specifically done that in a while. Anyhow, I've been reading in Moses lately, and I was just thinking about a really cool doctrine in Chapter 1, v. 35. God's works are infinite, and we definitely can't imagine how many thing's he's created. But he knows everything, everyone, he's created perfectly. I know that's true, 100%.

I love you all, and I hope everything's going well. I'm asking everyone this, so hopefully someone tells me: how much time do you guys have until school starts again? Here it's been going on for like 3 weeks already, depending on the district.

 

Love,

Peter

For the first few months, it seemed like I was going to be on a mission forever

Heyyyyyyyyy Everyone!

Sounds like a good week!

Um, there aren't really any traditions related to being out for a year. Or really anything to call it. The day that you've been out for a year is called your "year mark". Really imaginative, huh? The only sort of tradition is that some people decide that it'd be a good idea to burn a shirt. But I'm thinking I'm probably not going to do that.
 
It does not seem like I've been out for that long. It's kind of crazy. I mean, when I think about it, I realize that it really has been a long time since I was in the MTC. But it's still kind of insane. Time goes by so dang quickly! It's pretty crazy--for the first few months, it seemed like I was going to be on a mission forever. but the time keeps passing, and now it's almost halfway over. It's honestly a little bit scary.

And I haven't really been keeping in touch with anyone. Our MTC district got kind of lame about that, but whatever. Actually though today some people emailed everyone about how it's crazy that we've been out for a year, so that's something.

I'm sorry if this isn't a super long email (as usual), I kind of have to get out quick so that we can go and get free haircuts :)

So anyway this week was pretty great! We've been doing a lot of work, and it's been cool.
So we've been doing service at this place called the Food Bank of the Rockies, it's pretty huge, you can probably find out more about it on the internets, but anyways this Tuesday we went there and they gave us this project where we were basically taping shut and stacking 30-pound boxes of food for low-income seniors. I never knew that stacking things could be so tiring, but that was probably the most physically demanding service project I've ever done, kinda crazy.

Another cool thing, so a couple of weeks ago, we were visiting an investigator, and her sister was there. The investigator herself isn't actually that interested, but her sister was! So but then we kind of forgot about her until this Friday, when we were able to actually teach her, and she seems super great. She's one of those people that wants to really know the truth, and I know she'll be able to find it!

Also, we had zone conference on Thursday. There were good things about it, it helped me think about how I talk to people, how I teach. That came from a training from the Assistants to the president. But far too much of the zone conference was taken up by talking about cars and housing. But that's okay! This week is going to be pretty great. We have a temple trip on Wednesday, which'll be awesome.

These past few weeks have gone by so fast. It's kind of ridiculous, and a little bit scary, honestly. The further I get in my mission, the faster time seems to go.

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week. Love,Peter

In general, people really do want to be better.

Hey!

It sounds like it's been a pretty great week for you guys, and it's been a pretty great week for me too, so you can stop worrying now :).

I'm glad you've all had fun with cousins--It's pretty crazy how sometimes when you've lived somewhere forever, you forget that there are actually some pretty cool things to do there. I'm pretty dang jealous actually. Especially of the whole Salt & Straw thing. I've actually been missing Portland a little bit more than usual lately--there's this family in the ward who are from Portland, and we were like reminiscing about Voodoo doughnuts and Mothers' Bistro, it was basically pretty great. Kinda bizarre situation--both of them are white, but they served Spanish-speaking missions in California, and I guess just decided that they wanted to always go to Spanish wards. They're in their like 30s, and they said they've been to English wards for a total of like 1 year.

The area that I'm serving in covers most of the Aurora South Stake, and the Arapahoe Stake. So still not in Denver city limits most of the time, although that is what our ward covers. Mostly I'm in the City of Aurora (fun fact, the walmart that we usually go shopping at is in the same shopping center as the Movie Theater where that one shooting took place! yay!)

In terms of physical size, yeah, it's about the same size. The other ward covers 4 stakes, and so does the this ward. In terms of active membership, the this ward is quite a bit smaller. But it's still great. There are a lot of really great members, and lots of work to do.

For service, there's a couple of projects--There's a huge food bank called the Food Bank of the Rockies, it's kind of like the Oregon Food Bank, and then we also sometimes go to a thrift store to help out. We've also been doing quite a bit of service for members, as well, which is always cool.

This week was pretty normal. I know that's not what you want to hear, but sometimes it does really just seem like things are mostly the same. We went to the Food Bank for the first time on Tuesday (because it was the first time any of us have had the miles to go), and that was pretty fun. 

One pretty awesome thing: Last week, this lady came to church for the first time in a while. Her husband's a member, but she isn't, and he's pretty less active. We'd been trying to see her for awhile, but hadn't been able to find her at home. So then this week, we stopped by and taught a like 15-minute lesson with her and her husband, and he said he really knew he needed to do better. We set up an appointment, and we were pretty excited about things, but then they completely bailed on us! Lame! So at that point we were kind of thinking about how flaky people are and how annoying that is. BUT THEN two days later both of them totally showed up at church! I think that'd been the first time that he had been to church in quite a while. So moral of the story: Sometimes, you really have to give people the benefit of the doubt. Also, this is something I've been trying to get into my head for a while: In general, people really do want to be better. There are very few people who actually want to be bad people :).

Another kinda cool thing, we went on exchanges on Saturday, which was pretty cool. I stayed in the area (kinda stressful having to like "take over" the area for the day after being there for only like 3 weeks, but it was great), and it was just generally pretty cool.

Some pretty cool things coming up: This week we have zone conference, our first one with President Mendenhall, and then sometime in September, we're going to have mission tour, which as I understand it is where basically a seventy comes and inspects the mission. Elder Lawrence of the Second Quorum of the Seventy will be coming, pretty cool.

Also something I realized this week: I depend a ton on my watch. It ran out of batteries on Friday, and it was kind of really awful trying to survive without it. Just a kind of funny experience.

I love all of you!

Peter

It was a pretty routine week

Wow, kind of a lot of news! I hope no one's going too crazy with all the preparations. I think I tell you every week that you need to keep me updated, but it's still true!

Quick question: Is the dinner situation with the Sister Missionaries the same as usual, with a like calendar or something, or has that changed? In our mission we changed it a little bit because supposedly there's a rule saying that we aren't allowed to pass around dinner calendars (at least, that's how our leaders understood the rule). Is it the same at home?

Anyway, this was a pretty great week for us. It was kind of a bizarre weather week--It was raining probably like 3/4 of the week, in July. But I liked it, it totally reminded me of Oregon. That was probably the first or second time I've used my rain jacket in like 2 months. It was good.

Even with the crazy weather, it was a pretty routine week. I'm getting to know the area better and better--it's a pretty straightforward system, basically like a grid with crazy stuff in the middle. It's the crazy stuff that's not as easy to get used to. 

We also had interviews this week, which was pretty cool. First time to really talk with President Mendenhall, and he seems pretty great. Different from President Toombs, but still great. It was a really short interview, just basically getting to know you type thing, what kind of  a missionary you are. Kind of stressful, though :), hopefully I made a good first impression on President.

Teaching-wise, we've still been doing a lot of less-active work, which is cool, although it would be maybe even more cool to do more work with people who aren't members of the church. People have just been bailing on us all the time, though. It's kind of crazy. But hey, that's life, at least as a missionary.

One pretty cool thing: We met this active member family who just moved in (we actually helped them move in two weeks ago) and had a little like 20-minute lesson with them on Sunday. They are suuuuper cool. They're from Nevada, and they've been members for just over a year. They're already sealed as a family (which is like pretty amazing, considering they've only been members for like a year), and they're just super legit. There's just so many crazy things about them. Before they were baptized, they'd investigated the church for like 3 or 4 years. And the dad is like severely physically handicapped, where he's in this like motorized wheelchair and can only move his hands and his head. They showed us a picture from the day they got sealed, and there he was, sitting in his wheelchair in front of the temple, all in white. It was super cool. They're awesome.

Some kind of sad news came, though. The couple that was progressing the most, and seemed super legit decided to go ahead and move! What's up with that? They didn't move very far, but now they're in the other Spanish ward down here. So that was kind of sad.

That's basically it, though. Doing a lot of work, and it's great!

I love you all!

Love,

Peter

A lot of faith, and desire to do the right thing

Hey Mom! And everyone else who might read anything I send!

It sounds like things went really well in Utah, so that's good. Everyone's been reporting on the candy that they got, so at least that part seems like it was successful.

So to give you a little bit more info about the new area and things, it's going pretty great down here. There are a lot of really great people that we've been visiting, and it's just pretty cool. 

The Details:

I'm actually living in a members' home, which is pretty weird after living in an apartment for the last 6 months. We have a basement, and it's just generally cool. I think I like living in an apartment slightly better, just because there's a bit more freedom, but this is cool too.

We're in a car, still. All of the Spanish areas have a car, so that's an upside of serving Spanish-speaking.

My companion is from about 30 minutes from London. Not sure what other details you'd want. He's pretty cool. Sadly, he does not speak Spanish with an English accent :-) and he's been out for about 8 months. We're actually "co-senior" companions. So there isn't anyone looking down on anyone else :).

We're teaching quite a few people, which is pretty great. There's a lot of Less-Active work here, so that seems to be the main focus, although we are teaching some investigators as well. There's this one family that we've taught twice so far, who are really awesome. They're a young couple. They have a lot of faith, and desire to do the right thing.

The Ward is pretty cool, too. It's pretty different from my past Ward--it's quite a bit smaller, but it's still great. The Bishop gave a talk yesterday that was pretty intense, about just a bunch of things that we need to do. I think that was one of the first times I've ever seen a bishop give a talk in Sacrament meeting--weird.

We've been doing quite a bit of service, too, which was cool. We helped two families to move, and another member to help clean up her basement.

In general, things are going well. It's always a little tricky to move into a new area, but I'm trying my hardest to do the best I can to figure everything out as quick as I can.

I'm about 15 minutes or so from the church building. And there are 8 missionaries serving in the ward, 4 elders and 4 sisters, just like in my last ward. I would say about 150 people are in the ward? Although I'm not exactly sure.

And I forget if I told you this, but I'm driving! It's like the first time in 11 months I've driven for more than a day at a time! Craaaaaazy :).

Sorry, not too much more. I'm glad everything's going well for you guys. I love you a lot!

Love,

Peter

You'll never know until you give it a shot!

Hey! It's me, Peter/Elder Bryan!

Okay, first and foremost: I did in fact get transferred. It's kind of really bizarre. I've been in my area for so long I kind of assumed I was just never going to leave. But I'm now here in another Spanish Ward. My new companion is a pretty cool guy, and he's from England, so he's got an accent, so he has to be awesome, right? It should be a pretty great transfer.

The other thing I'm sure you may have been wondering about: the guy we've been teaching was baptized on Friday, and confirmed in church on Sunday. That was really exciting. He was starting to doubt himself, but I think midway through the week that he really did know that everything was true, and that he wanted to change his life. So it took a little bit of time, but he made that decision, and that was awesome.

So honestly, that was a pretty good part of our week, helping him be prepared to be baptized. We tried to visit him almost every day, and Friday was basically spent weekly planning, and preparing for the baptism, and that's it. It was really cool.

Another cool thing is that there's this investigator, a 16-year-old kid, who is super awesome. He's come to church the last couple of weeks, and is doing really well. One kind of cool thing: We had really only been teachign him, although he lives with his family. We also taught his Mom, finally, this week, and it turns out she's really receptive and interested in the church as well! So never just assume that someone won't be interested in the gospel. You'll never know until you give it a shot!

One final cool thing: We've also been working with the guy who got baptized brother a lot lately, and he's doing awesome. He was less-active a couple of months ago, and this week he came with us to a lesson, and really liked it, and wants to come again! I'm really hoping he decides to go on a mission (he's 19). He's a really cool guy.

So, all in all, it was a really great week. This week's going to be pretty awesome too, if I have anything to do with it.

I hope you all have fun in Utah! Take lots of pictures with family, and send them to me! Also please say hi to everyone for me, make sure they know I love them.

Love,

Peter

Pictures!

This is a legit quilt that my companion and I made. It was super cool, let me tell you.

We did actually climb a mountain!

Hey!

I'm glad things have been going pretty well for you guys. I'm glad the father and son campout happened! I hope there was sufficient junk food :).

If you maybe want to get some answers to some of those questions, here they are!

We did actually climb a mountain, and it was awesome. We did not actually make it to the top, because we didn't have a ton of time, and as is normal, we were of differing athletic abilities (we went with the whole district, meaning all eight of the missionaries in the ward.) We tried to climb a little bit of this mountain called "crescent mountain", and it was pretty cool. There wasn't actually a trail, so we just kind of went for it, and that was fun. Yeah, P-day doesn't start until 10. We do studies until then.

I'd basically say that my mission covers the Denver metro area, excluding: Littleton, Highlands Ranch, and Lakewood.

The question about when someone is ready for baptism is a really interesting one. Really, it all comes down to a scripture: D&C 20:37, which describes the requirements for being baptized. When someone has demonstrated that they have faith in the restored gospel and have repented of their sins as evidenced by their actions, then they're ready!

With hiking and some other great things, this week was pretty great for us. Some highlights:

Someone we've been teaching is on track to be baptized this Saturday, which is really, really exciting. He was interviewed on Friday, and it was announced at church on Sunday. He's getting a little bit of cold feet right now, but we're pretty sure he'll get over it. It's really amazing to see how he's changed. He really does want to change his life, and follow the gospel of Christ. We're planning on visiting him every single day this week, to just help him stay committed, and to keep him on track, which will be great.

Free Slurpee Day!

Another pretty awesome thing that happened this week happened on Wednesday. One member family in our area is related to a former investigator that my companion taught when he was back here about a year ago. We asked them if they could invite her over so we could teach her again. They did, and we did. And when we taught her, she was totally legit! She was talking about how she was listening to a conference talk by President Monson, and how she knew everything was true. So we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted, which was just super exciting.

Another investigator we've been teaching was able to come to church on Sunday, which was awesome. He's 16, so we went with him to Young Mens', which was kind of weird. I hope he wasn't scared off by how disorganized it was :).

Another cool thing was a service project we did on Saturday morning. It's this yearly activity at this state park nearby. We were basically in charge of moving a bunch of scraps of an invasive species (Russian Olive, a kind of tree) over to a wood chipper. We got free t-shirts, which was awesome!

Things are going pretty awesomely. This week should be pretty great. We have a temple trip, and hopefully a baptism. Also, kind of crazy, we have transfers this next Monday. I'm a little worried that I might get moved, because I have been here for a while. Hopefully, my companion and I will be able to stay together for another transfer, but "I'll go where [He] want[s] me to go".

Thinking about Dad's lesson Sunday, I always try to think of taking His name upon me as essentially always living by the old adage of "What would Jesus do?". I figure that if we're taking His name upon us, we're trying as hard as we can to be his representatives, to live the way He would live, speak the way He would speak, act the way He would act.

Love,

Peter