A Missionary's Work: Frustration or Learning?

10/30/2017

Hey guys this week was fun, packed and great! 

We talked to so many people this week and are way ready for Nov 1. Nov 1st is like the day of the dead, but no costumes. So everyone's at the local cemetery (which is above ground, just a bunch concrete boxes with remains inside ha) and its way ok to just hang out on top of them or play poker, or even use the coffin as a table (kinda weird). But it's awesome and I would love to talk to them about family history and the plan of happiness. Then we also found some people to teach in a Kamalig or a rice storage facility that also has a bunch of pigs that are like the size of two or three people (man they're fat!). 

I also have the best mission shoes ever. I'm takin' them home cause they're sweet, which means next week I'm getting new shoes yay! 

The highlight this week was Tatay Pasito's baptism. He's just this really fit, little, 60 year old tatay who works in the bukid or farm and is super humble. One of our lessons was about how families can be together forever in God's plan of Happiness/salvation, which he just teared up. Because over his years he's lost three of six children and his wife while he's still trying to even provide for himself (he's very poor). I love that man a lot he's helped me see a lot of things better like how precious family really is and how to be more loving and humble, great guy! 

This week I remembered a huge thing I learned back when about frustration and learning. I will say I don't have the best "Cool head" sometimes, so when I get frustrated I hate it a lot. Someone taught me that When I am frustrated its impossible to learn, but if you let frustration go (or anger) you can learn and grow and progress. I learned this in the wrestling room too ha. When this one move that some guy from like Iowa or something kept doing and destroying me with, I just couldn't stop it! So afterwards, I practiced and practiced to defend it but just could not defend the stupid move, and my frustration showed. Coach then told me that if I actually wanted to be able to defend this move I would have to learn and that wouldn't work if I was angry. Well the awesome part is I can defend that move and I can use that in my life. Well we all have times that we feel as such, Angry, Frustrated, or sad, but those only stop our progress personally. So maybe we need to look a little bit bigger and look at how much we want to actually progress then decide if we'll let go of the bad and learn, or hold on and never get any better. It's all up to us. We our the deciders of our lives. 

Well, love you guys and hope you'll try this out this week, its my challenge.

-- 

Elder Peterson 

remember stay Pogi, smile on, and laugh a little!

A Missionary's Work: Peace be still

10/23/2017

Hey guys this week was a good fun one. I taught some of the guys to wrestle, had some good work out with my companion and went on a sweet hike! right on! Can't get enough of nature (or wrestling ha!). 

 

My companion is an awesome, lil' fun guy who just loves the mission so much and I'm excited to see how much he learns and grows here. By the way nobody has updated me on wrestling, please do ha! Anyway this week was full of changing our teaching and how to actually help people better, like really finding and meeting needs of people or as they say "The questions of the soul" and we have been doing as such. And I found that I've been kind of tense lately, so I'm working on loosening up and having some more fun; really enjoy the mission. So this week I've been thinking of a hymn where it says, "peace be still". It's a small saying but its a great one that I find helps us all. If we really think about our lives every day we get caught up on all kinds of things and distracted and busy. That's one thing I love in the Philippines, no matter how poor you are you are there having a good time with your family and friends. It's that they know how to put the right priorities first. So for me, a huge help is the simple words, "Peace be still," because of these words I can focus better on what matters best and most. 

Well, love you guys!

 

-- 

Elder Peterson 

remember stay Pogi, smile on, and laugh a little!

 

 

A Missionary's Work: A Bicycle (great song by Queen ha)

10/16/2017

This week was fun guys with a good amount of rain and a little bit of wind (I always find myself thinking about the Singing in the rain song haha). I also made a kite out of some plastic bags and bamboo and I can't wait to actually fly it ha! I also found out that ties have like a little bit of room inside that you can store stuff, so being me this is where I catch and hide lizards to freak out my companion and others, hahaha! (ya I don't know why bit they get freaked out by lizards, but I love them ha!). ​

 

But this past week was awesome. We got to watch the General conference (where leaders and apostles and a prophet get to speak to the world via satellite broadcast) and it was very revelation-filled and full of great talks. One thing that was said by Stephen W. Owens, then I applied it to faith. Faith is like a bike if we peddle we continue to progress and get to where we're going, but if we stop pedaling we'll eventually fall and stop our progress. When we define faith its belief and works, so its like working on the farm (bukid) if you believe your harvest will be amazing but don't work in the fields you'll maybe get to see a few grains of wheat but not a huge harvest.  So if we actually have faith in God and his plan for us it means we'll DO or act on our beliefs. Like the bike we'll progress and get to where God wants us to go. Like the hymn 270 "I'll go where you want me to go." If we act on our faith we'll go where he wants us to go and its for sure a better place than we can think of ha. 

 

Well just a little food for thought and if I were you guys look for the talk its better than my lame words haha! lova ya'll seeya next time !

General Conference: https://www.lds.org/general-conference?cp=eng-nz&lang=eng

-- 

Elder Peterson 

remember stay Pogi, smile on, and laugh a little!

 

 

A Missionary's Work: Wrestling and Obedience

10/09/2017

Hey ya'll its been a great week with lots of free food from birthday parties haha, learning and cooking babinkang kanin (super sweet rice on steroids with coconut yesss), and learning to be a little more happy by decision. Its been fun and we've walked lots, and we are really trying to help them out. In anyway possible we serve and I can't imagine leaving here anymore its definitely like home now (no offense to my actual home haha! ;) ). It just great when you do something for others and get to see the fruit of it, but even better when you don't see the fruit of it but know you did what God wanted you to do, after all we're his hands on earth or his tools for his work.

So anyway here's something I thought about this week as pondering about obedience and God's want of our obedience. Now in wrestling you are taught what to do and how to react in different situations and expected to use those on the mat in matches. Now in a match we are focused on our opponent because we're not if course we'll lose, but the entire match we're listening to the loud, crazy voice of our coach on the side lines. Now Coach is an awesome experienced wrestler and sees and knows things we don't see or know, so we should believe in coach when he says something and do it. Now in my experience whenever I don't listen I either lose or screw up bad, so listening and doing/acting/ obeying is key. Now, it's the same with us and God in obedience. He's the coach on the sidelines and the opponent is anything from trial to temptations. Now if we listen and do or obey what he says we'll get through ok even in those rough situation that from our point of view we shouldn't do what he said, but remember he knows and see's things we don't. Now in wrestling no matter how fast and loud coach can speak sometimes in any match really things can really get going like in a crazy awesome scramble and coach can't really tell you everything you need to do in the time it takes to say it. He's trusting you to make the right choices that he has taught you throughout the season and that you have practiced and expects from you. Now lets put that in the obedience situation with God. We have been taught obedience and have practiced it and he expects it from us and sometimes there won't be any straight up direction on what to do, or you'll be tempted to do something wrong. He's just hoping we weren't super stubborn in the "wrestling room" and use what he has taught us. Now I know we aren't perfect but we can get better and better each and every time especially when we lose every now and then. This life is a great wrestling match and it's toe to toe take down and escape and defense, and now its getting closer to the third period. Will we fold or soar? It ultimately up to us with the agency or freedom of choice God has given us.
Let's try to do better in our listening, obeying, and integrity in what we've learned. Love you all and have a great week!!!

-- 

Elder Peterson 

remember stay Pogi, smile on, and laugh a little!

A Missionary's (Awesome) Work: Grateful

10/2/2017

"Hey, you guys!!"- Goonies movie. 

Its been great here in the Phillys and a great experience. One of our missionaries in our district just left and we got a new one, Elder Walker. Rueben if you read this he's from your school (the tall and skinny guy, ha). He's sweet. His first day he bought a goat and killed and skinned it and we're going to have barbecue tonight! Besides that we've been rock'n and rollin' all day long all the way to our beds at night. I have never been a deep sleeper until the mission,ha! 

 

Anyway with my little amount of time I'd love to talk about something I learned today. I have been wanting to learn more about and gain the trait of Charity lately (which is pretty much just loving everybody, like Jesus). So while in deep thought in the jeepney today, I remembered about gratitude. So I started naming things I am oh so grateful for and immediately after I saw the other people's faces and started to think about their potential and how they definitely have a part in adding to this world and have great divine potential too. Now I just can't help but think about how we can impact so many by one simple thing of good. I love them so much and just want to help them become better and become part of their divine potential. 

 

Love you all seeya next week and make a list of 15 things your grateful for every day this week and see youself change too.

-- 

Elder Peterson 

remember stay Pogi, smile on, and laugh a little!