Chance's Email 1/12/09

Que tal familia?
muchisimas gracia por sus cartas! your letters always give me so much help and motivation. i loved what you said mom about what braden talked about. there aren't lots of things better than hearing advice from missionaries who have just ended their missions and the advice they have. i think lately i have been too focused on numbers and like dad said, thinking about what others think of us and looking for praise. the Lord has said that people like that already have their reward. i'm going to try to focus more on submitting to the will of the Lord and not what I want. thanks so much for the tips. i feel like i have really recieve a lot of help from Heavenly Father. as i have started teaching in my new area, i have felt a peace come over me and i feel so much more calm as i teach instead of stressed and trying to teach everything i know. it doesn't matter too much what you teach but what the people feel. as i was contacting with another elder the other day he told me, the people rarely remember what the missionaries said when we knock their doors, but they DO remember what they felt as they talked with us. it all depends on the spirit we have with us, not what we say or how we say it. i liked that a lot. this week has been a little hard. we have been searching for lots of new people and we are trying some new techniques to have the spirit with us continually. i know that as i try to become more christlike and keep the rules and do what i have been called to do... i will have successs. maybe not how i was expecting, but i will have it. i really take things for granted, like matt's mission and how little sun there was. mine is full of sun and it really makes my day brighter but i've never said thanks for it. my new area is just like my old. almost all are the same except for one zone that is in the mountains with bikes and stuff. but my area is a lot calmer than my older area. a lot fewer buses and people that work like crazy. the members are so nice and do so much for the missionaries. our bishop is young and new and is doing awesome things for the ward. i'm excited to work with him. we have found some new people we will see how it goes with them this week but i'm going to try to serve my companion a little more. i know that will help the work a lot more if we are more united. he is a great guy, we are a little different but nothing that makes us clash. we have lots of potential but it depends on us now if we want to arrive at our potential. my house is big and way, way dirty. we cleaned it for 2 hours today and we are about halfway done. mom about those letters, just send them to me and i'll send them to the families. ok i wanted to ask you guys to send one of those black jump ropes that we have, i think i have one in my locker. i think that would be an easy and killer way to excercise here so whenever you send the next package that would be great if you could include that. ok some details about my first day here. we ate lunch with a way nice family but there is one thing that i can't stand. its olives. i can eat a bone soup, a nasty sausage but i can't eat olives. so this old couple we were eating with served us a salad with lots of olives on top and i wanted to be nice my first day and set a good impression so i didn't say anything. during the conversation, one by one i secretly took the olives off my plate and put them in a napkin and when i had them all in a napkin i shoved it in my pocket and asked if i could go to the bathroom. when i entered the bathroom i took them out of my pocket and flushed them down the toilet, disposing the evidence. i felt so cool and sly. then she brought out dessert which you'll never guess what it was.... a big bowl of pure canteloupe. there was no escaping that, i had to down it with a smile, ha ha. well fam i gotta go now. thanks for your inspiration and help. keep following the straight and narrow. i love you elder peterson
oh, ps. my zone leader is ryan bacher's nephew. his name is jesse scott. ask ryan about him and tell him to write me.