The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Hello everyone!

Well, this week was very interesting. I can't say every part of it was good, but don't get me wrong - I am still enjoying serving the Lord here on my mission, and I do not have anything against the work itself. However, sometimes things come up which do tend to somber the mood a bit. But, such is life, and we must all learn to adapt to it all. But, then again, there was also some great good in this week, so this week hasn't been completely terrible! However, I want to be at a point where I could still serve faithfully even if everything went exactly the way I didn't want it to. I don't know if I am at that point or not - that has not yet happened to me. However, there is always room for improvement, so improve I will.

First off, I am sure you have all heard about the recent passing of our beloved prophet, President Monson. It is truly a sad experience, but I can't say that it was truly unexpected - he hadn't been doing well since April. But, it is good to know that he is with his beloved wife again - he had been missing her since her own passing. However, his is not the only death which has affected this mission - one of the other young elders' mom had also passed away earlier this week. I could not imagine the sorrow that would cause someone - to lose his mom while out on the Lord's errand... But, I do remember that death is just a part of life - a change from one state of being to the next. It is essential for us all to advance spiritually so that we may become perfected one day.

And yet, amid both of these tragedies which have impacted the mission, life goes on. I am still training my current companion in to the contact center - he has recently began helping people through online chats! He will also be able to work 110 cases soon - he will start next Monday! We are working more types of cases, and we have plans for getting trained on even more! I think that we are, so far, doing quite well on beating our boredom out of our zone - we have had some problems with that in the zone in the past, but with all these different types of cases to work, I don't think we will slow down any time soon. The next one we will be trained on, I think, will be cases relating to FamilySearch's historical records. Before we know it, we will become jacks of all trades! I am honestly quite excited for this - no more boredom in the zone!

Now, you are probably wondering how I spent my new year! Well, I hate to say it, but I "celebrated" the first of the new year by puking my guts out. The day before, I seemed to have caught a cold, and I had to stay home from passing the sacrament at an assisted living facility so that I wouldn't get any of the residents sick. That next day, I woke up and went straight to the couch. I soon had to ask Elder Duran for a garbage can for me to throw up in to. Soon after that, I was fine though - I had been stocking up on the only source of Vitamin C at my disposal - apple cider mix which had been sent over for the holidays (I probably would have been drinking some of that anyway, it is a good sick drink). I'm not the only one though - there are quite a few other people who have caught what I had as well. I did not go to zone most of the day yesterday because my companion had caught it as well. I guess it is just that time of the year... But, at least we are both better now.

Now, I am sending my E-mail out a bit later today than usual because of the usual reason - you guessed it, I was busy with a service project. This service project was something I had not done in a long while, not since I went to a place called Rowland Hall with my training companion! Specifically, the project was a family history workshop, an activity in which we help people get started with genealogical research. This specific project took place in a retirement home called Coventry, which is a half-hour drive from the apartments. The turnout wasn't that great - we only had three people show up to the workshop, two of which whom were already quite familiar with FamilySearch - but I was still able to help someone out there, and we all had a great time. I love this sort of service in the mission, it has been wonderful to go to places like this to serve. Speaking of which, it does seem that weekly assignments to serve at such a home keep getting put on hold - last week, it happened because I was sick. I will sadly have to do it again this week, on account of my having my monthly interview with President Fenn tomorrow. But, there will always be next week.

Well, that's my week for me. My 20th birthday is tomorrow, and because I did not have much time to celebrate it today, I will instead celebrate it on Monday with some bowling (there is a local place that lets missionaries bowl for free on weekdays) and pizza. I will let you know how that goes for me. I hope every one of you has a good week!



From,

Elder Bryce Petersen



Challenge: Due to the new year, I have been talked to quite a bit this week on this particular subject: setting goals. Setting goals is like having a road map to life - without doing so, we are no more than wanderers. If we are to succeed, we are to set goals which will get us to the place we want to be. Now, there are a few major differences between a goal which can be accomplished and which will actually change your life, and a new-years resolution which is oftentimes forgotten within the week of it's creation. For example, goals are specific, which resolutions are vague (i.e. I will attend the gym three times a week vs. I will exercise more). It is a bit tough to stick to the latter, as there are not many guidelines to be stuck to. However, attending the gym three times a week tells us how we will "exercise more", as well as giving us a time frame in which we are to achieve such an action. Another notable difference between goals and resolutions is the act of writing goals down. This concept cannot be emphasized enough - a goal which is not written down is no more than a wish. Write down your goals, and put them where you will see them often, so that you will remember to work toward them. Finally, the goal must be done. The action must be taken. If there is no time to do such, try and make time. Do not focus on the entire goal at once - take it a step at a time (for example, if you want to become a world-renowned surgeon, the first thing to do would be to work for money to go to medical school). My goal to each of you is to make specific, achievable goals - not resolutions, goals - write them down, and then do them. Doing so will get you where you want to be in life, whether this be temporally or spiritually.