Follow the Leader

Hey guys!

I don't know how else to put this - this transfer was a big one. There have been quite a few changes, including for myself. First off, there were 56 moving notices sent off to the young elders (just for a comparison, there are only about 70 elders in the mission). I was among this unlucky crowd, as was the entirety of my district. As for the transfer itself, there were some interesting things announced - there is now a new assignment for young elders in the mission, in which some of us have been called to essentially help with the training of new young elders. I am not entirely familiar with what exactly goes on there, but there are only two elders there right now, both of which are pretty experienced in the mission. There have been some new changes in the zone as well. We have lost two of our three district leaders - one of them (Elder Duran) returned home, and the other was moved to the aforementioned training assignment. So, we now have two new district leaders. One of them is a newer young elder, Elder Yeoman, who came in to the mission at the same time as Elder Stacey. The other one is, well, myself. I am still in the same zone, and I am still with my companion, Elder Beeson. The only changes for me were that I moved apartments, and I am now assigned as a District Leader. I now am in charge in helping out with any issues my district is dealing with, and help them so that they can all succeed. I will also be sending more pictures from now on - all District Leaders in the mission get iPhones to help serve in their calling.

As I said before, I did have to move this transfer. I wish I could say that my new apartment was just as nice as the first one. It is bigger (a 4-man apartment), which is convenient, as my entire district lives in the same apartment. However, it is not quite as new. It was not recently stocked with all sorts of new equipment like the previous one was. Also, it is quite messy and cluttered. I am not complaining, however - it will just take some work to tidy up so that it can be as nice as my last apartment. So, I plan on having the district work together to clean it up after I am done with my E-mails today. 

As a District Leader, I now have a couple of responsibilities regarding my calling. One of these is to attend a weekly leadership meeting with the other district leaders and the assistants to the president. This meeting is presided over by President Fenn, who spends the majority of the meeting answering questions on how we can perform in our callings more effectively. The questions range from how we can best set an example to our district, to helping out with certain types of issues. After this meeting, we are given a free lunch. This week, it was sandwiches with chips and water for a side. As we eat this lunch, we spend the hour after this leadership meeting in a "district leader correlation", in which we discuss how things are going in our districts and help each other find ideas to resolve any issues. After that, its back to work for us. I have been to my first one last Thursday, which was a new experience for me. I look forward to attending more in the future, however - it has been a great spiritual meeting together!

So, there was a temple trip yesterday, in which the young elders got to go to the Mt. Timpanogos temple. Unfortunately, my companion was quite ill. As a result, I stayed at the apartments with him. He slept for most of the day, which was pretty good for his health. When he got up, he was feeling a ton better than he was before. It is a shame that I was unable to attend the temple, but some circumstances are just beyond our control, and so we have just got to roll with the flow in this case. Anyway, I would like to attend the temple more often with my companion, and perhaps even with my district. Unfortunately, I won't be able to do that for a bit - the Salt Lake temple is currently closed... But, when it opens up again, I will try and find an opportunity for me to visit! Despite being unable to attend the temple with the other young elders, I was able to walk around temple square with Elder Beeson. After he finished a 6-hour nap, he was feeling much better. So, we walked around temple square a bit to take some pics to send home. Attached to these E-mails are some of the pics I took. These were taken around Temple Square.

So, all in all, this was a transfer which has brought with it a bunch of new changes (however, you can still expect my E-mail on the same Saturday as always). I will be learning the ins and outs of my new assignment, which I look forward to with quite a bit of anticipation, and a bit of anxiety, to be completely honest. I do believe, however, that if the Lord called me to do this, then he must believe that I can do it. So, I probably don't have much to be afraid of. Of course, this will not justify shirking my work, or not taking it seriously. I do look forward to seeing what my new assignment brings to me. I will let you know how everything goes. Thanks for the continued support. I will talk to you all again next week! Have a good one!

From,

Elder Bryce Petersen

Challenge: As I have mentioned earlier, as a DL, I now have an iPhone. However, there are certain things I can and cannot do with it. Of course, many of you back home have your own smartphones, or at least a computer of some sort (if you don't have a computer, then it is probably a bit tough to read this E-mail); you also have more things you can do with your smartphones than what we are permitted to do. Of course, this brings some unique challenges with it - in your pocket, you have the power to access a whole ton of either good or evil. Never before has mankind had so much access to such content and power. As a result, it is more important than ever to be as careful as possible. I must challenge each of you out there to be careful with the technology you use. It should be noted that I am not simply talking about just accessing inappropriate media, even though this too is extremely dangerous, and should be avoided at all costs. I am also warning you about spending too much time with technology, even if the media you access is not necessarily evil or bad. I know that I have sometimes spent way too much time using technology back home. This is a common problem in this day and age, when we can be so easily entertained by technology that we can spend hours doing so.  However, technology is not a bad thing in and of itself. Look at me - my entire mission is based around technology! Technology used for the correct things can be a blessing to your life, as well as the lives of many others. So, my challenge to you this week is not to abstain completely from technology, but to be careful with your technology usage, both in what content you access, and how much you use the resource we call the internet. Also, be sure to unplug a bit if you find yourself being one of the people who spends way too much time on technology. There is a big bright world out there - don't miss out!