The sun sets on another transfer

Hey, everyone!

Well, this is the day of transfers. However, until the transfers themselves take place (which will be later today), I do not know quite what will be happening. My P-Day also did not officially change yet, but I can say that my next E-mail should come either before next Tuesday, or on next Tuesday (not after then). I do, however, know a little bit of what will be coming. Specifically, my companion got a notice saying that he will be moving out of the apartment; however, I did not get such a notice. This means that, unless there was an error in getting moving notices out, I will be losing my current companion. I swear, I have been going through companions like a bag of chips! But, perhaps it is good for me to go through so many companions, and for me to

So, some notable things happened this previous week. First, I was able to get a new CD player! I cannot tell you how much I missed having music in the apartment - the silence was killing me. Thanks Mom! Listening to music in the apartment is a good thing to set the mood for a missionary apartment, where things could, if not checked, get quite casual. Of course, it is good to rest and relax in a good way at the apartment; it is simply safe to always remember that I am a missionary, and I should keep my mind in the right place.

Aside from this, the mission yesterday had a special mission conference about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon! Such a conference was a good opportunity for the choir to be able to perform, and for the mission to hear a good message from President Fenn. Now, you may remember that we had something like this in the past, and this one had quite the same content. But, I am not complaining - I must not forget that many of the missionaries in this congregation were not here for the first time President Fenn spoke on this subject, including and especially my companion. Either way, it is good to be reminded of that which one already knows, that he may be able to more fully apply it, and to get out details which previously were not learned the last time such a message was presented. I guess that is one purpose of reading and re-reading the scriptures. All in all, the presentation was great, and the message inspiring!

I may have told you before that I was studying the Danish language. Now, I had previously bought a Danish Book of Mormon at Deseret Book to look through it and study how it is written, but I have decided this week that I would actually read through it. I feel that there is much good to be gotten out of this! It makes the Book of Mormon a bit more interesting and new, and it improves how well I can read and understand this newer language! The current goal is to be able to read all the way through it by the end of my mission! As an extra bonus, I get some extra insight to the Book of Mormon, understanding new things because of the somewhat different way the information was presented. I currently do understand the book well enough to get a pretty good idea about what is going on, so I am not simply wasting time reading things which I cannot understand at all. So, I will keep to this, and do the best I can to live up to this resolve.

Anyway, aside from all of this, not a whole ton did happen this week. But, transfers are today, and I anticipate some big changes happening today. My next E-mail will contain some interesting things, though i do not yet know what will be happening. Anyway, have a good (suspenseful) week!


--
From,

Elder Bryce Petersen


Challenge: One of the purposes of our life here on Earth is to be able to learn and to improve from our experiences. Of course, many of these learning experiences come from the experiences we go through, whether it be at work or at home. However, a lot of our education comes in more formal contexts, and must be sought after to obtain. Does the Lord care whether or not we have knowledge? The Book of Mormon teaches us that "to be learned is good if [we] hearken unto the counsels of God" (2 Nephi 9:29). This is stated in another more direct way in the Doctrine and Covenants: "The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth" (D&C 93:36). The message in these scriptures is pretty clear; the Lord wants us to gain knowledge, but also to hearken to His voice and keep His commandments. So, my challenge is to find ways to continue learning. This could include going to school, but often, there are less formal and expensive ways to learn more about things - and we find that the knowledge is often more applicable. This can come in the form of learning to play a new instrument, or studying a new language. This gives us something productive to do so that we can be "anxiously engaged in a good cause" (D&C 58:27), and help us in new aspects of life which we may not have previously expected.