Chance's Email 3/30/2009

fam,
hows it goin????????? sounds like the costa rica trip was EXCELENTE! the zip lines and the waterfalls... i talked to my buddy in my zone and he told me that there are hundreds of waterfalls there. he loves it there and talked it up a lot. well i don't have a lot to say this week so i'll keep it short as well. yesterday there were transfers and my companion left. it was hard. we had lots of success together and just enjoyed the mission like crazy. i have a new companion from columbia. he was the companion of one of my friends with whom i began the mission, elder marshall. his name is elder bolaños and he seems like a real nice guy. i'm excited cause i know i am going to learn a ton from him and they had a lot of success where they were so we will combine our melons and see what we can do. sad news, jose-the man we have been teaching with one leg, didn't go to church yesterday and we visited him later and we were really demanding and direct in our message and told him NOW is the time to act and repent, if you do, you'll get blessings beyond your fondest dreams, but you need to DO IT. he had a lot of excuses why he couldn't continue or go to church more. we talked for about an hour and we had one of his member friends (inactive) helping us out a lot and i know her testimony is getting stronger by helping us. she used to be a missionary and she inactivated for some reason but she has been helping us with him. she is going to visit him this week and try to talk to him more but for now we are leaving jose for a time. i hope he can get his views in line with those of God so he can have more blessings in his life. it was really hard to experience that yesterday but i know that when one door closes another opens. one thing that makes me really happy is that my prayers are improving a lot. i need a ton of help from Heavenly Father and i know he has been helping me but my prayers have been more fervent. sometimes we fall into a routine and forget that we are actually talking to God, but when i pray better i feel so good and i know he is listening. it was so great to hear from grandma about adam. i am so glad he is doing so great. the book of mormon has so much power and we all need to keep reading it. i wanted to thank jim also for the awesome letter he wrote me. keep it up. tell bryce i got his package and it was incredible. ok well i gotta go, lots of work to do and lots of miracles to be a part of. thanks for your prayers and letters, packages, and everything else!!! i don't know what i would do without the support i have. i love you all!
elder peterson