January 25th

We got so much snow this week! The snow has got me jonesin for
snowboarding. We got about 11 inches in 2 days and it shut everything
down. I was told it was the most snow since the blizzard of 93, and
people still talk about the blizzard of 93. The day before the snow
came I took E Martinez to Ingles and it was packed. We barely got
a parking spot and the bread section was almost wiped out. With all
the snow we were stuck for about 2 and a half days. The roads are
pretty dangerous when it snows here and the drivers are even worse.
Being snowed in has to be about the worst thing ever, it was so
boring! I couldn't even convince E Martinez to go build a snowman
with me.. We also had church cancelled because of the snow, I think
it's the first time in my life that church has been cancelled. But we
had a few good service opportunities with the snow, we got to help
people push their car out of the snow and shovel an older couples
driveway.
Before all the snow I went on an exchange with E Fifita. We had a
party. We also taught a really good lesson to a less active lady. We
read Lehi's vision with her from 1 Nephi 8 and we explained it as we
went and specifically pointed out different groups of people. The
important ones are those who wandered in the darkness, those who
followed the rod to the tree and then were ashamed when they were
mocked, and those who got to the tree and didn't care about the
mocking. We talked about which group of people we want to be and how
to accomplish that. We also talked to her about how Lehi saw that
Laman and Lemuel didn't come to the tree, so he could have assumed
they were lost causes, but he never gave up trying to help them and
convince them to do what's right. That was touching to her because she
has kids who she's tried to share the gospel with and they haven't
been interested in it and she worries about them. So we told her to
follow Lehi's example and never give up on them and she said she
would.
We had a missionary broadcast to all the missionaries in the world.
They announced we have 75,000 missionaries. That number will probably
jump in the next couple months with graduation. The whole meeting was
titled, 'Teach Repentance, Baptize Converts.' E Anderson started
off and I really liked what he said. He said that if we are ever
unsure of what to say, we should speak of Christ. And no matter how
much we talk about Christ, we cannot talk about Him too much. E
Bednar's part was also one of my favorites. He talked about the role
of the Holy Ghost in conversion. He said that without the Holy Ghost
we could not be successful as missionaries. He also talked about the
role we play compared to the role the Holy Ghost plays. And E Oaks
was my other favorite speaker. He talked about how crucial it is that
we share the gospel. He gave one of his own quotes from Preach My
Gospel about how we are not here to increase the membership of the
church or to persuade others to live better lives. Anyone can persuade
someone to live a better life. We are here to show people the one and
only path to live with God again. No one else can do that.
The day before the snow we had a big service day. We started off
helping a member replace her pipes, because they were plugged with
calcium build up. So I had to crawl up under her house, which is one
of my least favorite places in the world to be. But we got it done and
now her water is working for her. We also got to help our branch
mission leader split firewood. We've literally begged him to have us
over to split firewood for him, so we were super excited. Afterwards
he told us that was the first time he's asked missionaries or anyone
from the church to help him with anything. And he's been a member for
over 10 years. It was also the first time E Martinez has split
firewood in his life and then for dinner he had chili for the first
time in his life along with cornbread for the first time in his life
I'm pretty sure.

Love y'all,

Elder Jared Petersen