Hello family and friends. So this past week my companion and I had an
incredible experience.
So once again we were knocking on some doors...we've been just trying to ask
EVERYBODY we know for some Spanish referrals in our little 2 by 2. As we
were walking down the street, we noticed a little Hispanic kid running into
her house. Well... we tried knocking on that little girls door, hoping to
find a Hispanic family in there. well it turned out the family was NOT
Hispanic. The little kid just looked Hispanic (maybe i need to get new
prescriptions? lol). So anyways, it was a member family...We asked them for
some spanish speaking referrals, but they didn't really know any. Sooooo the
member family told us to ask this other member family for some Spanish
referrals! SO that's what we did.
We go and knock on this family's house, but of course they didn't know ANY
Spanish speakers either haha. but we started talking with them and joined
them in their family scripture reading. We had a really good time with them
and they opened up to us. The mother of that family said, "There's this one
lady in our ward who might need a blessing...maybe you can go over and give
her a visit. She would really appreciate it." Soooo that's what we did. We
walked over to her house, and knocked on the door. The lady answered and
said that she was really in need of a blessing, but she didn't tell anybody
about it. She explained to us that as soon as she was thinking about who to
call and who could could give her a blessing, there we were... knocking on
her door. I was able to give her a blessing, and it was just a very special
experience. All that happened because we thought we saw a little Spanish
kid running into her house.
Even though my companion and I have been struggling to find Spanish people
to teach, we've been having some cool experiences like that. On that same
day we were trying to get a hold of a bishop from this certain English ward.
Knocked on his door..wasn't home. Just as we were walking away we see him
driving up to his drive way. He got out of the car and said "Hm, I had a
feeling that i just needed to be home. I was visiting some members and
thought I should come home real quick." We explained to him that we are in
NEED of finding people to teach. Well, turns out his grandpa is the
patriarch over ALL the Spanish people all over Idaho Falls and the area we
cover. So his grandpa knows a metric butt load of Hispanics and has been
responsible for many Spanish convert baptisms! He knows some in our area as
well!!! oh my gosh that was the greatest news I've ever heard.
So...hopefully this upcoming week we'll be able to talk to him and get the
working moving in the area. I'm really excited about that.
Well I thought I would share that with you guys. Thanks for the update on
what's happening back home!! that flood sounds pretty crazy. Yeah, it's
still freezing cold up here in Idaho. i hate the cold. but that's okay...you
know what they say...Any weather is good missionary weather! wahoo! Well i
gotta go! Love ya guys!!!!
Monday, April 22, 2013
Friday, April 19, 2013
2 miles by 2 miles
Goodness gracious my sister is beautiful. How come she stole all of the good looking genes in our family? So prom was pretty fun for her?? Nwice. I always enjoyed our school proms...although 80% of all the songs they played were ghetto songs. Good times, good times. Gah!!! Jon is finally heading out West! Wahoo!! It's about time! That's where all the mormon babes flock to...he better not get married before I get back. Um, I haven't heard from Mark English...or Skylar. I'm sure Sky is simply trying to survive out there in Alaska, so I'll give him a break haha. Plus...I still owe him some piano songs. I haven't forgotten about that =P
Well, another week in the mission has passed by. I can't believe I'm gonna be calling you guys in like a month for Mother's day. Time flies by quickly. That's why you gotta enjoy the journey before it passes by...savor ever moment of it! So, we have this new crazy goal for our mission. Our goal is to teach 20 lessons a week. That sounds kind of achievable...right? Well, that's kind of IMPOSSIBLE in our area lol. My area is seriously 2 miles wide and 2 miles long...it's a little 2 by 2! And in our area, my companion and I are just really having a tough time trying to find some Spanish people to work with. They just aren't in our little area. But somehow this goal is going to work...I don't know how, but it's going to work. We have been giving out Books of Mormon like crazy though. That's the least we can do. We've also got a lot of less actives we are trying to reactivate.
We've been teaching this awesome guy named Seth. He has had roughest, most intense past life. This guy has opened up so much to us. I'm surprised he's alive right now because he has gone through so much. He's trying to overcome alcohol, drugs, and all that stuff. That's why he moved out here to Idaho. He said he was sober for like 8 months, and it was the happiest he's ever been, but then he slipped back into old habits. He's just trying to find a reason to live. He's had so many close calls...it's ridiculous. He's simply trying to find out why he's still alive. So, we are just trying let him know that God hasn't given up on him yet, and how the Book of Mormon can literally change his life and help him with his addictions. He is a really deep thinker...he's got soooo much potential! Gah, but it really stinks that we have to give him up to the English Elders. That's kinda the rule in the mission...if ya find an English investigator, then ya hand 'em off over to the English Elders. ugh. Oh well, it's all missionary work...it doesn't matter who gets to baptize him. It's not MY work, it's HIS. So if the Lord needs me to do that, then I will.
well thanks for every one's prayers and support. I love hearing from you guys, and i appreciate all the little updates. Love y'all!
Well, another week in the mission has passed by. I can't believe I'm gonna be calling you guys in like a month for Mother's day. Time flies by quickly. That's why you gotta enjoy the journey before it passes by...savor ever moment of it! So, we have this new crazy goal for our mission. Our goal is to teach 20 lessons a week. That sounds kind of achievable...right? Well, that's kind of IMPOSSIBLE in our area lol. My area is seriously 2 miles wide and 2 miles long...it's a little 2 by 2! And in our area, my companion and I are just really having a tough time trying to find some Spanish people to work with. They just aren't in our little area. But somehow this goal is going to work...I don't know how, but it's going to work. We have been giving out Books of Mormon like crazy though. That's the least we can do. We've also got a lot of less actives we are trying to reactivate.
We've been teaching this awesome guy named Seth. He has had roughest, most intense past life. This guy has opened up so much to us. I'm surprised he's alive right now because he has gone through so much. He's trying to overcome alcohol, drugs, and all that stuff. That's why he moved out here to Idaho. He said he was sober for like 8 months, and it was the happiest he's ever been, but then he slipped back into old habits. He's just trying to find a reason to live. He's had so many close calls...it's ridiculous. He's simply trying to find out why he's still alive. So, we are just trying let him know that God hasn't given up on him yet, and how the Book of Mormon can literally change his life and help him with his addictions. He is a really deep thinker...he's got soooo much potential! Gah, but it really stinks that we have to give him up to the English Elders. That's kinda the rule in the mission...if ya find an English investigator, then ya hand 'em off over to the English Elders. ugh. Oh well, it's all missionary work...it doesn't matter who gets to baptize him. It's not MY work, it's HIS. So if the Lord needs me to do that, then I will.
well thanks for every one's prayers and support. I love hearing from you guys, and i appreciate all the little updates. Love y'all!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
General Conference is legit!
Well conference was AWESOME. It's pretty legit that we have a prophet today, right? I watched it in English because I really wanted to understand what they were talking about =D haha. It's good to hear from the Prophet and his Apostles. And oh my goodness....Jeffery's talk was Sooooo good. I mean all of them were good, but his was powerful. One of our investigators, who couldn't make it to General Conference because of work, really needs to hear that talk. He has a testimony of the church, but he still has doubts about the book of mormon. he knows that if his family gets baptized it would be great for them, especially for his kids. Like....he WANTS his kids be Mormon!! My companion and I are still working on him. He hasn't read enough from the book or really prayed about it. It's essential you do those things. Moroni 10:3-5. it's essential!!! we might just read the whole book with him in our next visit so he can feel the power of it haha.
We run into LOTS of Catholics. They're never really interested in our message. And the thing is...we're not trying to take away from what they already believe. We try to add on to the testimonies they already have! 2 Nephi 33:10 "...And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ." I just wish more people realized that. The other day my companion and I knocked on this door. This old lady answered with this legit sweater with cats on it. She was very polite, but she declared that the mormons are part of a huge cult. She felt sorry for our souls because we were lost and confused hahaha. man...I've been thinking about that incident over and over again. I mean...if this whole church is cult...then this is the best cult I have ever been in! lol, our "cult" has blessed the lives of millions of people. I just think about Elder Oak's talk about how much our church gives to the needy and poor. Our leaders sacrifice their lives to help others and serve God. Some of the very best people I know are mormon. The people who have influenced my life the most are Mormon. Matthew 7:16-20 "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." These are the fruits from reading the Book of Mormon and living the gospel. That's why we invite people to read and pray to read this book. Because when they do...then they'll begin to see the fruit.
*sigh* okay I'm done with my rant haha. Well this last week has been pretty good. We are continuing our search for the Spanish people. The members out here are super helpful with helping us find these people. We have a TON of less actives in our little tiny Branch that we have to go reactive. Reactivation is just as good as a baptism! Oh, and thank you SOoooo much for the Easter junk food! I shared some with my companion =D and shout out to the Andersons in Texas!! They got me some Easter junk food as well =D. I greatly appreciate it!
Until next week, love y'all!!
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Monday, April 1, 2013
APR 1: REAL Spanish food is so GOOD!
Helllooooo familia and friends. This past week I did lots of knocking on doors. And I did a little more knocking...annnnnnd a bit more knocking on doors. It's tough trying to find these Spanish speakers, but we'll find them. We did have a few good lessons this past week . Last Friday we had a good lesson with the Salazars. It was my first REAL lesson in Spanish. We focused on the wife and the kids. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since the father was baptized about a month ago, we are tying to have him get the priesthood, and then it would be so awesome if he could baptize his family. Ideally we should be teaching them about every three or four days...but the father and mother have been working like crazy, so it's been pretty hard to get them all together for a lesson.
Well there's one thing for sure out here...the missionaries out here get spoiled! We are fed by members pretty much every night...which is good for me because I'm not a very good cook =D. But you want to know the average weight gain for elders and sisters for the Idaho mission??? On average Elders gain about 30 pounds, and Sister gain about 40 pounds hahaha. WOW. I can see why though...every single member ALWAYS serves us desert. It gets annoying after a while haha. So far I haven't lost or gained any weight...so I'm good. But for realz though, when people from our Spanish branch serve us mexican food...IT'S SOOOOO GOOOD! oh my goodness. So much better than any Mexcian resturaunt I've ever been to. Chevy's doesn't even compare to the member's meals.
Well, back to trying to find these Spanish people...We've been having SOME success. We would just knock doors and 9 times out of 10 it would be a member. Then the member would usually give us about 2 or 3 Spanish people they might know. That's how we have been getting most of our referrals. Right now we have no progressing investigators, but we found some potential investigators. We are going to actually teach one this Tuesday named Seth! He's not Spanish though...but hey, this guy really needs to hear the gospel. Seth has had a really really rough past...he's had to overcome drug addictions and drinking problems. He used to live in California but he moved out to Idaho for rehab and to get clean. Right now he's living with some members, but he's starting to hang out with the wrong crowd again. The other day we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. We just talked about how reading it can really change his life. I shared Ether 12:27 with him. Through Jesus Christ we can overcome ANY addiction or trial. I know with all my heart that's true. So yeah, hopefully we'll have a good lesson this week.
Easter Sunday was really good. We actually had testimony meeting, so there were a lot of good testimonies born. Even though I couldn't understand half of them, I could really feel their spirit. Man, I love the Mexicans out here! A lot of them in our Branch are fairly new converts, and they just have powerful testimonies. Plus they are just way nice. Especially to the gringos haha. Gringo is a slang term for people who don't speak Spanish very well...=D
but anyways, that wraps up this week! I love you guys! Thanks for everything that you do and I hope your week is full of magical adventures! woot woot.
Love, Elder Petitt
Well there's one thing for sure out here...the missionaries out here get spoiled! We are fed by members pretty much every night...which is good for me because I'm not a very good cook =D. But you want to know the average weight gain for elders and sisters for the Idaho mission??? On average Elders gain about 30 pounds, and Sister gain about 40 pounds hahaha. WOW. I can see why though...every single member ALWAYS serves us desert. It gets annoying after a while haha. So far I haven't lost or gained any weight...so I'm good. But for realz though, when people from our Spanish branch serve us mexican food...IT'S SOOOOO GOOOD! oh my goodness. So much better than any Mexcian resturaunt I've ever been to. Chevy's doesn't even compare to the member's meals.
Well, back to trying to find these Spanish people...We've been having SOME success. We would just knock doors and 9 times out of 10 it would be a member. Then the member would usually give us about 2 or 3 Spanish people they might know. That's how we have been getting most of our referrals. Right now we have no progressing investigators, but we found some potential investigators. We are going to actually teach one this Tuesday named Seth! He's not Spanish though...but hey, this guy really needs to hear the gospel. Seth has had a really really rough past...he's had to overcome drug addictions and drinking problems. He used to live in California but he moved out to Idaho for rehab and to get clean. Right now he's living with some members, but he's starting to hang out with the wrong crowd again. The other day we gave him a Book of Mormon and challenged him to read it. We just talked about how reading it can really change his life. I shared Ether 12:27 with him. Through Jesus Christ we can overcome ANY addiction or trial. I know with all my heart that's true. So yeah, hopefully we'll have a good lesson this week.
Easter Sunday was really good. We actually had testimony meeting, so there were a lot of good testimonies born. Even though I couldn't understand half of them, I could really feel their spirit. Man, I love the Mexicans out here! A lot of them in our Branch are fairly new converts, and they just have powerful testimonies. Plus they are just way nice. Especially to the gringos haha. Gringo is a slang term for people who don't speak Spanish very well...=D
but anyways, that wraps up this week! I love you guys! Thanks for everything that you do and I hope your week is full of magical adventures! woot woot.
Love, Elder Petitt
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