It's the Holidays!

November 28, 2016

This week has been a slower week for us for a couple different reasons. The first one is that a lot of people weren't home for Thanksgiving, so we weren't able to see them. 

The second is that Elder Shumway went home! He had to spend time packing and visiting people. :) He went home two weeks early because he had a scholarship to UVU that required him to report in person, and he couldn't defer it any longer. We were both pretty bummed about that, and so were a lot of people in the Zone! He was an awesome trainer and really helped me adapt to the mission field! I'm going to miss him a ton. :( But for now I'm back with Elder Wiginton and Pinter; I had to pack up and move once again!

Happy Thanksgiving! (four days late) :) We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. We had dinner with a member and her family, and they fed us some really good food! It's great because on Wednesday we got a Thanksgiving dinner, on Thursday we got a Thanksgiving lunch, and on Friday we got Thanksgiving leftovers! Other than that Thanksgiving was a normal day; doing missionary work!

Sadly A. started smoking again. :( She is just in bad situations and really stressed out! She doesn't feel like now is a good time to stop smoking (but there isn't a good time). We are going to just help her be happy this week, and try to have her stop smoking next week. She was super sad when she found out Elder Shumway was leaving; she burst into tears! Hopefully she will be okay.

I think one of the best ways to start a gospel conversation is to just get talk to people and sincerely try to get to know them. As you talk to them try to steer the conversation toward eternal/churchy things like family, church, God. If we do that we can then at least let our light shine (Matt. 5: 14-16). As missionaries we can't really hide our identity, so we just dive right into a gospel message and invite them to hear more. Sometimes we get to know them as well. But the prophets have counseled us all to not hide our identity as followers of Jesus Christ! We should let people know that we follow Christ and He helps us on a daily basis!

The Church is so true! I love this gospel!

Elder Petrie


1-Selfie stick. :)
2,3-Service at Ethan's house.

It's Thanksgiving!

November 21, 2106

What a week! 

The temperature went way down this week! I have been wearing the coat that I brought for Big Bear; but I'm not up in the mountains. :) We've been wearing sweaters most days too.

Nothing unusual or super exciting happened this week, so I'll just give you a quick run down of each investigator and how they're doing. :)

A.-We committed her to start the stop smoking program this week! We took over a super old member named Brother Fuller, and it was great to have him there. He helped A. to laugh and have a good time. She is surrounded by so many negative influences and has nothing to do; it would be so much better if she had a productive life. Her husband is in jail and she is just waiting for him to get out. She is definitely progressing though!

T.-T. is one of our new investigators. We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week and gave him the pamphlet to read. We are working on getting him to church and reading the Book of Mormon. So far he has agreed with everything we have taught him, we just need to help him realize the blessings of the restored gospel.

J.-We just read out of the Book of Mormon with him this week. We are going to invite him to church this week. He isn't super interested in progressing but hopefully we'll be able to help him see the importance of the church.

K.-We taught K. the Restoration this week and committed him to read Moroni 10. It was a great lesson! The problem is that he is going out of town for a couple weeks, so we won't be able to teach him for a little bit.

R.-R. is a Less-Active we tracted into a while ago. He is 28 and left the church 10 years ago. He doesn't remember any of the doctrine at all, so we have been teaching him like he is an investigator. When we first met him he said that church wasn't for him, but we invited him to church this week and he came! He had an awesome time; the ward welcomed him so well. He said he'd come back!

I love the gospel, and how we can always be better as we live it. The gospel gives us a chance to become more and more like Christ! I have seen it begin to change people's lives, and the joy and happiness that comes to them as they live it!

Love you all!

Elder Petrie


1,2-Sweater dayz!
3,4-I really need a haircut. :P

Hello from Cali!

November 14, 2016

Wow, it feels like last P-Day was forever ago! I can't believe it has only been a week that we have been back in the shak, it feels like we've been there forever! We miss Elder Wiginton and Pinter though, it is lonely without them. :)

Yes, transfers happened a week ago, I just forgot to mention it. :) Elder Shumway and I are still in da shak on bikes. BUT, this is Elder Shumway's last transfer! It seems crazy to me that people actually go home from their missions! Haha two years seem a long time! Elder Shumway is doing great though, he still works hard even though he is going home soon.

We had a great lesson with A. on Saturday night. I was super nervous for it because we were planning on teaching her about tithing and smoking, and those are two things that she has a very hard time with. For some reason I was super scared that she would reject us. But when we went in to teach her (she talked for a while) and I just decided that although I wasn't sure how to run this lesson, I could at least start it. So I said something that helped turn the conversation to our planned lesson. When we taught her about tithing we really helped her to see that the money goes to further the work of God. She took it much better than I thought she would, and seemed to be willing to pay it! When we talked about the WoW, she decided that she really does want to stop smoking, and we said a prayer right there with her to ask that she will have a desire to stop smoking! The whole lesson went so well, and was an answer to many of my prayers!

I am learning though, that I need to just do my best, and if the investigator accepts what we teach or not, I still have just have to press forward. God will make the outcome what He wants it to be.

It turns out R. is in a different Ward! She is just over the ward boundaries. So this week we handed her off to the sisters that are in that Ward.

K. is a super cool new investigator! We taught him the Plan of Salvation this week and he accepted it all! He has been struggling with life, and wants to make it better, and he really thinks that religion can do that for him! We were going to meet with him a second time this week, but he was sick. :( He also didn't make it to church. And now, he's going out of town for the rest of the month! It's sad , but hopefully we'll be able to teach him when he gets back.

Love you all!

Elder Petrie

1-Lunch with a member in Elder Shumway's first Ward
2-Her husband's huge motorcycle!

New Investigators!

November 7, 2016

Hello Everyone!

This week has been a busy week! Since Elder Wiginton's companion Elder Pinter came back, we are back on da bikes!

Halloween was on P-Day and we had to be in our house by 6, so we had the whole day to ourselves! We didn't really do anything super fun that night, just played some games together back at the house. :) We did have a zone barbecue; we ate hamburgers and played some games!

We taught R. again this week, and tried to commit her to baptism, but she said she wanted to get an answer first. We told her that was exactly what we wanted her to do, and asked her to pray to God and ask him if this was the true church, and if she should be baptized into it. She gave us the same answer that another one of our investigators, J., gave us. they don't like to ask God for specific things. But we were eventually able to commit both of them to ask God if it was the right thing to do. I pray that they will both get answers to their prayers and have a desire to be baptized!
It built my testimony of praying specifically. Out on the mission I've been taught so many times that if you pray specifically, God will bless you specifically. There are so many scriptures that back this principle up, like, James 1:5, and "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you". God wants us to reach out to him so badly! He loves all of his children so much!

We found 4 new investigators this past week! I just had an idea. I'll list all our investigators and like 2 sentences about them, that way you'll have an idea of all the people we are teaching.

A.-African-American woman about 56 years old. She is progressing so well! We just need to help her stop smoking. She has a baptismal date for Nov. 26!

E.-A 13 year old kid whose mom is being taught by the Sisters. He's not interested in the church, but we are going over the BoM with him so he can build it in minecraft.

R.-A 67 year old lady who stopped us to have her pray for her. She is accepting everything we teach her, but is not sure if she wants to be baptized yet.

J.-A Jamaican man in his 60s. We are helping him move his stuff into his house. He has met with the missionaries for a while and been to church before, but hasn't gone since we are here. He is going to pray about Joseph Smith; if he gets an answer he will be baptized.

V.-We met he while we were biking. She loves Jesus, but doesn't like Joseph Smith or the BoM. (we'll see if we can change that) :) She doesn't know why she doesn't like the Restoration. She is one of the people that says "a bible, a bible, we have got a bible and do not need any more bible" She invited us back to talk to her about Jesus.

K.-A Hispanic man in his 20's. We contacted him as he was pulling up in his car. It was so cool, because he said he was looking to turn his life around and fix the mistakes he has made. He agreed to meet with us and said he'd come to church! He was super solid!

J.-An African-American in his late 50's. He loves meeting with us. We invited him to church but he wasn't super excited about coming. He says he likes his sleep. :)

It is so great to be a missionary! We are going to work on finding and committing this week!

Love, Elder Petrie

1-The zone barbecue, except it's just the guys. :)

Hola!

October 31, 2016

Hello Everyone!

Wow! Covering two wards gives us a very full schedule! But it turns out Elder Pinter (Elder Wiginton's companion) is coming home today! So Elder Shumway and I will be back on bikes in just the Ranchos Ward!

Nothing too crazy has happened this week, so it will be a slightly shorter letter. :)

I guess I'll start off with A. We taught her three times this past week! It is so cool to see her progress. I can totally see it! She brought her nieces with her to church yesterday, but they were being disruptive and A. got frustrated with them so she left during sacrament meeting! We Elders were worried that she got offended about something and had left. But we visited her right after church and she told us what had happened with her nieces. She also told us that she feels so blessed to have us teach her. She said she was scared to be baptized because too much would be asked of her, but we assured her that she only had to do the things that we had asked her to do, and she felt much better after that! :) She is definitely becoming changed through Christ. We also taught her the Word of Wisdom this past week. I was really worried about this lesson because A. smokes. But as we taught her she expressed her desire to stop smoking! It was so cool to see her desire to choose the right!

We didn't get a chance to teach R. this past week, but when we showed up to email this morning she was walking around the building! We had a chance to teach her about the church and pray with her. She still says she is visited by witches. We told her that praying and reading the scriptures would help her to have good thoughts and not have the witch inside her head.

I also went on exchanges with Elder Dickson this past week. We basically visited with members the whole day. Elder Dickson is a super friendly and happy person, so it was an exciting day! I really learned a lot on how to help members with him; it was great!

Oh, and I gave a talk in church on Sunday. :) It was on Converted unto Christ. It went pretty well. :)

The Gospel is true all the way! Love you all!

Elder Petrie

One Day Late

October 25, 2016

Hello all!

I'm so sorry my email is a day late! On Sunday evening there was a huge thunderstorm here. It hasn't rained here for several months, so the people were excited about the rain. But there was also some pretty intense lightning! Our power went out several times. (reminds me of good old NH) But while we were getting ready for bed-the power had just come back on-there was a huge crack and bright light! It seemed as though the lightning had struck right in our backyard! The power had gone out again. :P We were totally freaking out! So being super smart we said "let's go check it out!" So we went out in our backyard and looked for the damage. We didn't find anything, but think it might have hit the telephone pole back there. But looking back on it now it probably wasn't a good idea going in our flat backyard during the thunderstorm. :) So when we went to the Stake Center to email yesterday, the power was on, but the internet was down, so we couldn't email. :( And that's why I'm emailing today!

I forgot to say that I am in a trio now! One of the Elders in our district had to go home for surgery back on the 14th and we've been in a trio with his companion Elder Wiginton since then. Elder Shumway and I moved out of da shak and moved in with Elder Wiginton, so now we have a whole house with a washer and dryer for just the three of us. It only needs a piano. :) Actually that's one thing I wanted to say. I have been playing the piano for everything! I play at all zone and district meetings, and even for the meetings back in Rancho Cucamonga! I didn't think my piano skills would get used this much. I just wish I had practiced more (mom......you were right *sigh*) At first I was really nervous because they asked me to play hymns that I don't know. But then I decided to just go for it anyway, and if I mess up that's okay. I actually think I've gotten better at sight reading. :)

A. came to church again on Sunday! SWEET! We were all so excited! She is really progressing. We have taught her the first three lessons, and are now teaching her the commandments. She is excited to come to the Ward's Trunk or Treat this weekend! We taught her again today and she is still on to be baptized on Nov 26th! I love watching her change and become better. As people accept the gospel of Jesus Christ they truly change!

We also had another great lesson with R. We taught her about feeling answers to prayers. She's been reading from the Book of Mormon, and we're hoping that she will get an answer that it is true. We set up for a member to give her a ride to church, but it turns out that the member forgot to pick her up! I hope R. will take it well. :) We're going to go visit her tomorrow and teach and invite her again.

I love the gospel so much! I can't imagine how lost I would be without it! Obeying the commandments and keeping our covenants is the only way to have a truly happy life.

Sincerely,

Elder Petrie

Another Crazy Week!

October 17, 2017

​Hello All!

Up here in the high desert of Apple Valley there are lots of things going on. I'll try to keep this letter short. :) So last week A. and C. did NOT come to church last week; we were so sad. :( But yesterday A. came to church! The ward fellow-shipped her really well, and she said that she enjoyed church a lot! I was really nervous that she wouldn't have a good time but she did! We taught her a couple times this past week, but she's not friends with C. anymore, so we can't teach C. We were able to meet A.'s son and invite him to church, but he didn't come :( We hope that we can continue to teach him. We set a date for A. to be baptized on Nov. 26! We're pretty excited about that, and we hope to set a couple more baptismal dates this month.

We also found another lady named R. We taught her the restoration and she was talking a ton! but when we started talking about Joseph Smith she started to really listen. The Spirit was definitely there, and I know that she felt it. It's the best when you know that your investigators are feeling the spirit! We invited her to church but she didn't come. She was going to take the bus there, and we didn't give her the specific address, just the location, so maybe she got lost. At one point during our lesson though, she said something like this "Please pray for me: that I won't have evil spirits around me. I know you guys think I'm crazy, but I can sense when there are witches around....There's one here right now......and it's a manwitch" She said this in the most serious tone and with the most serious face. I was trying so hard not to laugh; I was even praying that I wouldn't laugh and hurt her feelings. But it was SO funny! Luckily I was able to hold it in and say the prayer for her. :)

Today we drove to Big Bear and hiked around up there! It was great! One of the Elders got hurt in the first 10 minutes of hiking, so he and his companion went back. We didn't have enough room in the rest of the cars so some of us had to ride in the bed of the truck! :) It was fun. :)

Well have a great week! I love you all!

Elder Petrie

2nd P-Day? What!?

October 10, 2016

I can't believe it's already my third week here in CA! (Probably each week will be like this :)) 

This past week has been really great! Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I truly feel them! Over a week ago on Saturday we were riding our bikes to an appointment and talking to everyone we met. As we were riding we saw two ladies who were unloading a car full of stuff. We stopped and asked if they needed any help, and they said that they did. So we helped them unload the car into a duplex. It turns out that one of the them (A.) had just gotten kicked out of her house by her daughter, and had miraculously found this new place to live. Her counselor was just helping her to move. She was super sad that day. We asked A. if we could come back another day and she said sure. We went back on Friday, and A. and her friend C. were there finishing unpacking. We told them who we were and what we did, and then taught them the plan of Salvation. It turns out that they both really want to start going to church again. C. was even asking about repentance and baptism! We committed them to come to church on Sunday and set up a return appointment! It was so neat, because I had been seriously and sincerely praying to find those who are ready to teach. A. and C. seem to be prepared! I know that the Lord is answering my prayers. It turns out they couldn't come to church though because they forgot. :P They said for sure next week though!

We have also found several other people who are interested in learning more about the gospel and we are going to go visit them this week! Preach My Gospel talks about those who are prepared, and so I know that God will help us to find them!

On Thursday I got to go on exchanges with Elder Mclaws! We basically tracted the whole day. :) There are some pretty weird people out here. One guy answered the door, asked us how we were doing, then slammed it in our face! Tracting is super ineffective! :) 

But we were able to find a few potential investigators.

It is very easy to get discouraged while tracting, and for part of Thursday I was discouraged. But then I changed my view from trying to get everyone we talk to, to convert, to finding the people who are prepared. We knock on a door to find, to extend an invitation to learn, and to find the people who are ready. After I looked at it that way I felt like I had a purpose, and wasn't wasting my time.

Holy cow, we had a legit dog story last night! Elder Shumway and I were just casually riding our bikes (and btw our average speed is like 12 MPH). So we're just biking around in the dark, looking for people to talk to, and out of nowhere this big black dog comes sprinting at us! He literally tried to bite Elder Shumway's leg but missed. We both just started yelling and peddling as fast as we could, but the dog just kept up with us. We got up to 25 MPH before the dog couldn't keep up, and our max speed was about 28! Finally the dog stopped chasing us and went back, but because we were focused on getting away we had missed the street we were supposed to turn on! So we armed ourselves with bricks and went back. :) We seriously though that we were going to have to save our lives by throwing bricks at it. But it turns out it was like going after this other kid, so we quietly sneaked past and went down the right street! Man, it was crazy!

Thanks so much for the pictures I love getting them! It looks like you're having fun in NH at the flume! (if that's where you've been) I've been telling people about that place to describe NH.  I am so glad I did Robotics! Tell everyone there Hi for me!

Well life is pretty good; we're still working hard on finding people to teach so keep the prayers up! :) Each week my testimony is strengthened of the truths of the restored gospel and it is such a blessing that we have it. Love y'all!

Elder Petrie

Welcome to California!

October 3, 2016

Hello Everyone!

I am here in CA! It is definitely different from Utah, and definitely different than the MTC. We got here last Monday, and did training and preparing (getting the bikes and bedding) for the rest of that day and Tuesday morning. Tuesday afternoon we met our new companion! My companion is Elder Shumway from Alpine UT. He has been out for 20 months and is super cool. He is tall (6'3") and plays basketball. I'm probably going to be his last companion, because he is going to train me for two transfers then go home! It's weird being around people that are about to go home. :) Our area is the Ranchos, Apple Valley area. If you look up Apple Valley CA that's where I'm at. One of the interesting things about this area is that we are on bikes! I never really thought about biking around on my mission, but that is what I'm doing. It's pretty hard, and each night our legs are super sore. :) We are whitewashing an area, and the missionaries before us didn't have anybody solid they were teaching, so we are focusing on finding people. As we're biking around we stop and talk to almost everyone we see! I am still getting used to talking to random people, but I hope I'll get better. :) We still don't have anyone solid yet, so your prayers in helping us to find someone would be greatly appreciated! We have a few people for return visits, but they didn't seem that interested. As we've been tracting we have met some pretty interesting people! One lady talked to us about her thousands of dollars of Halloween decorations for over an hour! We decided that we'd try to get out of those situations a little faster. :)

We were able to have a lesson with one of the young men's friends named D. We have a return appointment and asked him if he'd be willing to begin reading the Book of Mormon. One of the talks that really inspired me was LeGrand Curtis' talk about the Book of Mormon. He said that the Book of Mormon will testify of itself with power as someone reads it with faith. I pray that D. will have that desire to read it and gain a testimony of it

I loved Conference so much! I feel like it went by so fast! I missed watching it with the family though, and eating the snacks. :) During the Sunday afternoon session four of us Elders were watching it at a member's home with some possible investigators and we were all soooo hungry! None of us had had lunch! But then the member brought out some food at the end and we were all okay. :)

Today we get to go shopping! Elder Shumway and I have been struggling finding things to eat, so I've made a whole shopping list for today. :) Our apartment is super small! It's nicknamed as "Da Shak"



I'm sorry I don't really have any pictures from this week. I've also sent some belated ones from the MTC (it feels like forever ago.....) :) I love being out here in the mission field. It's hard work, but it feels great when we keep busy!

Oh, also I met Elder Lanier! He was at the stake center for one of the sessions of conference. We talked for a little bit to catch up. He's doing great and it was so cool to see him!

I love you all so much! God loves you too!

Elder Petrie

MTC Week 2

September 20, 2016

Time is really flying here! I feel like I just emailed yesterday!
Not a lot of new things have happened; each day is pretty much the same. We get up at 6:30, exercise, personal/companionship study, teach a lesson, lunch, class, study, dinner, teach a lesson, class, then bed at 9:30. I feel like the days are both long and short!

We have had several funny experiences this week though. Elder Reeder dropped a quarter down the stairwell (it's only an inch wide) It goes down about 4 floors and we hear it hit the rail down there. We get down to the bottom, and Elder Talbot is there just holding his shirt with a funny look on his face. He starts feeling down his shirt, and there at the bottom is the outline of the quarter which is inside his shirt! Somehow, the quarter had bounced into his shirt! It was the funniest thing ever. We had just learned from our teacher that there are no coincidences in life, so we concluded that the Spirit had directed the quarter into his shirt, and therefore we all initialed it and gave it to Elder Talbot. :)

Another funny story. Back on Wednesday or Thursday we got back to our residence after exercise time to shower and dress. The showers and bathrooms are a seperate room from our room, and each of the dorm rooms lock. (you probably know where I'm going with this) :) So I'm hurrying really fast, and I get out of the shower first. I go back to our room and the door is shut. I knocked but no one answered. At first I just thought my roommates were just playing a joke and wouldn't answer, but as I continued to knock there was no response! "Uh oh." I thought. I went back into the shower room, and the conversation went a little like this. "Elder Reeder?.........."yes?" Elder Manfull?........."yes?" Elder Prestwich?........................"yes?" Nooooooo! We're locked out of our room!" Haha! Then we all started freaking out because we were locked out of our room in our towels! :) Luckily, the zone leaders were there, and when they were ready we sent them after the janitor to get an extra key for us. But we were waiting outside of our room for 20 minutes in our towels. :)

This week we are teaching two people from the TRC (aka two people who we don't know at all and are not our teachers and could possibly be real investigators). The first is L., who just graduated from BYU, and is looking for a teaching job. Our goal is to commit her to be baptized at our next visit. She definitely wants to learn more about our church and really likes our standards. The next person is A., who is from Japan but is studying English at BYU. In our first lesson with her yesterday we challenged her to be baptized, but she said she wasn't sure if this was the true church, and wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. We asked her to pray if this was the true church and she said she would! Committing an investigator to baptism in the first lesson is hard! Each time we're preparing to teach I get worried and nervous about it. But once we start teaching I feel fine. I know the gospel, and I know that it can help these people have better lives. It is a really cool experience!

I miss choir! The other day my district started singing Newsies, and I told them about our awesome song! I may be doing a musical number in church this Sunday, either playing the piano or singing! I love to sing! I'm sorry that B. is not feeling well! Ya everyone get sick at some point here in the MTC. My whole district got sick but with varying severity.

I love you all so much! My district asked me "does it make you homesick to see your sister here?" and I said "No, it inspires me to be even better! I love you all because you inspire me to be better!

Love,

Elder Petrie​

MTC Week 1

September 13, 2016

Okay, so the best things here are the dear elder letters and packages! I swear it's like Christmas each day waiting to see if we got mail! :)

I LOVE the MTC. Uncle Bart said something really cool when I was at the Pulsipher's house on Tuesday. He said that the MTC is a place where the spirit always is, and it invites you in instead of you inviting it in. The amount of love and charity on this campus is amazing! I can't believe I've only been here for 6 days. It feels like years! 

The food in the cafeteria is okay; I'm trying to limit my soda intake. Some of the other Elder's are having a rough time with the food, it just really doesn't sit well with them. 

My companion's name is Elder Reeder, and he is so amazing! He truly has a testimony of the gospel, and is very good at helping those we teach to feel the spirit as well. He is 6'3" and did track. His birthday is around November 20th, and he's from Farmington UT. Haha, Most people are from UT. :) The other people in my district are Elder's Manfull, Prestwich (We four are going to California), Jenson, Robinson, and Talbot, (they're going to Toronto Canada), and there are Sister's Gray, Bentley, Prater, and Manning (they are going to Tennesee). Elder Manful is the district leader, and Elder Prestwich is about the funniest guy you have ever met! Half the time we're laughing at something Elder Prestwich said or did! :)

I love learning about the gospel, the more I learn about it, the more simple but also complex it is! All we're trying to do is help people come closer too and follow Jesus Christ, but in a world like today's there are a lot of things we must do to follow Him.

I love my study time. Searching the scriptures and applying the experience I read to my life is so enriching! We have taught several lessons to our two teachers, but yesterday we had our first TRC lesson. That lesson is with someone who could maybe be a real investigator. His name is Rod. He really wants to learn how to follow Jesus Christ! That lesson went pretty well, and we were able to answer some of his questions and teach part of the restoration!

The schedule we have now is very long! We're in classes and are teaching all day. Today is a nice small break from that. :) In the morning we play basketball and volleyball together as a district. Today I think we might play some soccer! Sometimes it gets a little crazy in the dorms here, but I try to just get to bed because I'm so tired at the end of each day. There were two districts that left Monday morning, so as they were packing up they found they had food that they didn't want. So they decided they liked us and gave us a TON of food! We're stocked up for weeks. Haha they also gave us small dart guns too; so we sometimes have wars in the hall. :)

Well I love you all so much. Seek the spirit every day, and he will direct thy paths! :)

He is how we do everything here at the MTC. 

The gospel is true! Love you so much!

Elder Petrie