Merry Christmas to All!

Dear Family,

This week is Christmas. That´s crazy. I know several of you have sent packages and cards and letters and stuff. Unfortunately that will all go to the mission home which is on a different island so I won´t be getting any of those goodies until someoñe goes to Praia and brings them back. But thanks for your love and concern.

This past week has been interesting. We had a training on Tuesday followed by a mini division with the Assistants to work on applying what we learned. We got trainings on How to do Contacts and How to begin teaching. I am hopeful that by putting into practice what I learned Elder Brown and I can increase our teaching pool. So after that we did a division with the District Leader to help him and his companion in their work and put in practice what we learned in the trainings. I feel like it went well. We ended up doing a ton of contacts and finding new people to teach giving ample opportunity to practice.

Friday was decent, Saturday was a little rough and Sunday was a disaster. First of all the talks in church were ridiculous. One guy just read from ´´True to the Faith´´ as his talk, and another guy ranted on the word of wisdom. Which while it may have good intentions to help people not go party and get drunk on christmas, wasn´t exactly presented well. Then when we went to choir practice no one was there. So I´m not sure if they changed the time without telling us or what. And then no one showed up to our Preach My Gospel class. So we ended up waiting a lot and being frustrated. But that´s ok because Santa Clause is coming to town. Just in case you hadn´t heard.

Oh, Cookie, I have a Christmas card for you that´s sitting on my desk but I don´t have your address so I wasn´t able to send it. When I get your address I will send it. I´m sure you will enjoy it despite it being late.

And the pictures. One is from soccer this morning. The other is from the volcano but I´m putting it up because some people were curious as to the identities of those missionaries from various countries. So, Elder Brown and I are on top of the sign. The next row from right to left is Elder Costa from Brazil, Sister Namwanje from Ghana, Sister Quashigah from Uganda, and Elder Foerster from Utah. The front row starts with Elder Nyagwambo from Zimbabwe, Elder Monteiro from Cape Verde, Elder Go who is from the Philippines but has lived in the US since he was 12 so he´s technically Philipino, Sister Lourenço who´s from from Angola, behind her is Elder Silva, my last companion, from Cape Verde, then Sister Smith from New Mexico I think, and Elder Jones from Utah. Just saying.

Ok, Merry Christmas!!! Love you all,

Elder Canute

Hap Hap Happy Burtday!

Dear Family,

Happy Birthday to Nephew Peter. Does that make 2 or 3? Time sure flies. Oh, and Happy Birthday to me!!! 21 years old. That´s crazy. I don´t feel 21. I probably never will. Oh well.

This past week we went to Brava again for a baptism interview. On the trip back we got soaked because of the wind and the waves. We would´ve have gone inside the little cabin but we didn´t want to be in there with all the other people in the case that someone threw up. But it was a fun trip.

Also, we didn´t just knock doors all week. That was nice.

I did get my birthday package. In fact I got it the other week when we went to Praia for the Zone Leaders´ council. I didn´t realize that it was my birthday package until I had already opened it and saw the little Happy Birthday note. I suppose the Birthday Cake stationary on the outside was a big clue. Hmm... But thanks for the goodies and the watch. the Propel packets are awesome. And so is Dove chocolate.

Dang, this week there isn´t much else to say. Just stay classy. And thanks for stopping by. But mostly stay classy.

Elder Canute

P.s. an explanation of the pictures. Or really just the picture where I look like a total nerd. Elder Foerster who lives in our apartment was making jokes about Elder Brown and I being zone leaders, saying stuff with a lisp and such. It was pretty funny, but I pulled up my pants and put on some glasses as a joke and we came out with some really funny pictures. So enjoy.

To Infinity, and Beyond!

Dear Family,

If you look at that saying in a gospel light, it´s very profound. Just saying.

So this week has been hard. Again. This is easily my hardest transfer so far. Tuesday we had a full day marked. So we went out in the morning to teach our lessons but Elder Brown was having some serious back pain. We managed to teach in the morning, which went well, but in the afternoon Elder Brown was a man down. (I´m such a poet.) We still don´t know what the cause was. But I ended up arranging with a member to walk with me and one to stay with Elder Brown so I could do some work done. Unfortunately, all of our afternoon appointments fell through so we didn´t end up doing anything anyways. Well, that is if you count walking and doing contacts doing nothing. The most frustrating thing about this whole thing is that we work so hard but have nothing to show for it.

Wednesday we went to Praia for Zone Leaders´ council. We had a very rushed but very good lunch in Sucupira. Basically the Cape Verde fast food. Only not only did we get the food fast but we had to eat it fast because there were a bunch of other people around wanting to eat. Elder Brown was supposed to go to a Dermatologist after the Council because of a back rash he has had for the past several transfers. But the power was out and when we got there the dermatologist wasn´t there. And since we went back to Fogo the next morning, we didn´t have time to get it checked out. Elder Brown was super unhappy because he has had this rash for quite some time and he´s sick of it.

Thursday we had absolutely nothing marked so we did contacts literally the entire afternoon. Those of you who have served missions already know that that is a very unpleasant, difficult time. Those of you that haven´t served missions have no idea. But it is the worst.

Also, I´m playing the piano for the branch choir. That can be frustrating but I see it as an opportunity to practice patience. And count my blessings that I am not tone deaf. I give the people an A for effort but...

On a side note, I´m so good looking it almost makes me sick.

Oh, and can I get Cookie´s and America´s addresses by next week? I´m trying to send out Christmas cards so they will get places before Christmas.

Thanks for being you.

Elder Canute

Turkey Day

Dear Family,

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Attached are pictures of my Thanksgiving lunch that we had on Friday. Fried chicken, mashed potatos, macaroni cassarole, and cole slaw. Yummy. The reason it was on Friday and not Thursday is because on Thursday I was in Brava. Again. That is such a cool island. I´m glad I get to go there on divisions. And as it turns out, the division and Brava and the volcano were my highlights for the week. Other than that all we did was make like Pioneer children and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk. (Primary Song for those of you that didn´t catch it) But seriously, this transfer it seems like each week we teach less and less and walk and contact more and more. It´s absolutely ridiculous.

But on the bright side we can now listen to Christmas music because it´s after Thanksgiving. the problem with that is Christmas music is starting to make us trunkey.

Also, I realized the other day that there are Missionaries from 7 different countries on my island. Ghana, uganda, zimbabwe, angola, brasil, USA and Cape Verde. Awesome.

Out of time.

Elder Peterson

They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

Dear Family,

Today we climbed the volcano again. Mount Doom was conquered once again! Also, the computer I´m using right now is amazing. So that´s why I´m attaching so many pictures. Most of them are from the volcano, but I did attach some other pictures of me and my current companion in addition to one of me and Elder Silva who was my companion last transfer.

Today was very difficult. I did remember to lather on sunscreen so only the backs of my hands got burnt. Hm.... We had 2 sisters climb with us but they did well. They didn´t climb as fast as most of the Elders, but the pace they set was actually very nice. I would know because I led the rear, being the responsible Zone Leader and all.

This time it was all sunny and bright. However, despite what you´d think it wasn´t hot. In fact with the wind it was a little chilly. It was a good thing it didn´t rain. Also, this time we entered into the mouth of the volcano. Climbing out of the mouth was very hard. Climbing the outside we had paths and secure rocks to help us. Climbing out of the mouth we were climbing hand and foot up a downward slope made up of very small rocks. So for every step we took we got up 1/4 a step. This after having just climbing a volcano. My thighs were killing me.

This time we descended the other side of the volcano. I got plenty of pictures and video of running down. It appears I also got plenty of tiny little rocks in the mechanism of my camera. It still works so far, but when it opens and closes it makes a grinding type noise. I wince every time. My joker face is awesome. The picture of 4 in 1 is actually taken from a video clip of me running down the volcano. I turned the camera towards me and apparently made some funny faces. Go figure.

The rest of the past week was also challenging. We walked a lot and knocked on a lot of doors. We still managed to teach a good bit, but not nearly what we normally do. On wednesday we go to Brava. So I hope you´re ready for more pictures from there. I plan on using this place again.

Mom, you wanted to know what I want in my next package. Send Ice pops. Or Otter-pops as they are known in Utah. The popsicles that come in the long skinny sleeve thing. If you can. That would be pro. Thanks.

Love to all of you awesome people. Please be more awesome by writing.

Elder Peterson

Abs of Steel

Dear Family,

My new companion has introduced me to the P90x ab destroyer workout. It hurts.

I enjoyed hearing about everyones halloween and lives for the past week. I want to see pictures of Emily´s cake because it sounds amazing. Christian and Josh, I want you both to approach Mom in school in sight of your friends and give her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. It´s the least you could do. After all, she did bring you into this life.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Elder Brown and I have been pushing the envelope. It´s hard but I can already see the results. We´ve set goals for personal and companionship growth as well as helping the branch here improve. Right now the branch is doing well, but we want to help them help us. So the goal is to teach them how to teach, how to integrate investigators, less active members and recent converts. Then they can give us references and stuff. Which will help because currently our pool of investigators is disappearing.

It´s always sad when an investigator drops you. During the course of our work we find and teach people. If they don´t do anything, we will drop them. But it´s frustrating when an investigator is progressing or responding positively and then for one reason or another, they don´t want to talk to us anymore. We found out the other day that one of our investigators doesn´t even believe in God. Then the next visit he told us he didn´t want to talk to us anymore. The worst part about it is that he seems so unhappy with life and I know that if he were to accept the Gospel he could find so much happiness.

We´re still working hard. The other Elders in our apartment put a dead fish in our room because of an incident with some of those plant things that stick to your pants when you walk through them. It smelled really bad. They had planned to do more, but we nipped that idea in the bud. Pranks are truly not appropriate in the mission field.

Well, keep writing.

Elder Peterson

Living Out of a Carry On

Dear Family,

In case you didn´t get it from the title of this email, I traveled quite a bit this week. It was cool but we didn´t get much opportunity to work in our own area. We were supposed to go to the Volcano on Monday, but our flight that was supposed to be on Tuesday got moved to Monday. So that ruined that Zone Activity. And we spent our P-day in Praia. Did I mention that that day was also All Saints Day, which happens to be a national holiday here? That meant that all of the grocery stores were closed. That was a pain trying to find food. So we ended up staying in the Zone Leaders apartment which is directly adjacent to another apartment of Elders one of which is Elder Brown, my MTC companion. So that was fun.

Tuesday we did a little division, Elder Silva went with the Zone Leaders and I went with Elder Brown and his companion to teach in the morning. In the afternoon we had our Zone Leaders´ Council. We went back to Fogo on Wednesday morning and went straight to Mosteiros for a Baptism Interview. Because there isn´t a hiace back to São Filipe in the afternoon we stayed there the night on another mini-division. Thursday was a normal workday but friday we walked a lot and worked little. On Saturday we went to Patim in the morning for another baptism interview, but we got a car out there late. Then one of their investigators didn´t show up so we lost time waiting for him. That afternoon we waited for him to show up in São Filipe but he was late so we lost more time with that. Needless to say we didn´t get much work done on Saturday.

But, on Saturday we did learn about transfers. And guess what, I´m serving with Elder Brown again. Woot! He came here to Fogo today and we´ll be serving together again about the same time of year that we entered into the MTC. And if we stay together one more we will have passed through the MTC together and then served during that same time of year the next year in the field. Needless to say, I´m super pumped for this transfer.

Love ya,

Elder Peterson

Happy Halloween!

Dear Family,

I´m not sure if you knew it but yesterday was Halloween. If I wasn´t American I wouldn´t have had any idea. They don´t celebrate Halloween here. It was sad. Although Elder Silva and I did trade our nametags. It wasn´t the most creative costume, but when you are in this line of work you really don´t have that many options. But it was interesting how many people noticed and how many didn´t. Heh.

Also, Happy Birthday America! One year older and wiser too. Or at least that´s what they say.

Today I was supposed to climb the volcano again. But we learned on Saturday that we have our Zone Leaders´ Council tomorrow. Talk about short notice. I don´t know if we would have even found out except Elder Silva and I were doing our weekly planning and remembered that the past 2 months the Council had been in the first week of the month. So we called the assistants to verify and they were like, "oh yea, the Zone Leaders´ Council is on Tuesday and you guys are flying on Monday." So that shot our Zone Activity to bits. Which stinks because next week is transfers. But we´re going to try and get something worked out. Maybe have 2 zone activities next transfer. Hmm....

On Friday I was sick. Being sick on the mission is not a fun experience. I guess I should say I have been sick since Friday, but I was only down on Friday. We managed to get a member to stay home with me and another to walk with Elder Silva so we didn´t lose that days work. But staying home isn´t fun. It was weird though because sitting/laying down I felt pretty good. It was only when I got up and started doing things that it really hit me. So I´d feel bad just laying in bed because I´d feel fine and then I´d get up and start cleaning or something and I´d have to lay down again. Headache, stomache pains, sore throat to the max, it was unpleasant. And since then I have had a bad cough and sore throat. But I don´t know where to find cough syrup or cough drops. I guess I could try a pharmacy... it´s not like they have gas stations here.

Oh yea, and I´m actually in Praia right now. We flew in this morning. I´ve flown more on my mission than my entire life before. Go figure. But I will be spending my P-day in Praia which is pretty chill I guess. Although we didn´t have a chance to clean our apartment before we left. I hope the other Elders do a good job. Also I heard that the house we are staying in the next few days hasn´t had water all transfer. Not a good sign. But I will be staying with Elder Brown, one of my MTC comps so that´s cool.

On Wednesday I went on a division to Patim. It was a pretty good division. The members in that area are really nice though. They always send the missionaries away with food, be it corn on the cob or little watermelons or whatever. Speaking of, that was the first watermelon I´d had since I got here. It was super small and still green, but it was still good.

Well, that´s all folks.

Elder Peterson.

The Longest Day

Dear Family,

I finally managed to attach pictures this week. But it took up quite a chunk of my time so I will be brief.

This past week I went to the island of Brava again. It is still a really cool island. However, I went with the Elder that was doing contacts all day. Unlike in more urban areas, doing contacts in Brava isn´t just going door to door. It´s like an adventure through Middle Earth trying to find the elves. Only instead of elves we found a lot of old Cape Verdeian women who were strong Nazarenes. But we did walk along cobblestone paths through trees and up mountains and stuff. It rained a little while we were there but that didn´t impede in our work. Also we passed by a house with a monkey, so I attached a picture of that. I also attached a picture of the view of Fogo from Brava. It´s really cool. Seeing Fogo at night was even cooler. I could see my area, São Filipe, full of lights and other smaller patches of light from the other villages around Fogo.

Then when we got back to our area I had another really long day that went like this. We´d go to our appointment and they wouldn´t be there. So we´d wait 15 or so minutes to see if they´d show up. They didn´t. Then we´d go to Plan B and wait for a little, but they wouldn´t be there or show up while we were there. Then we´d go do contacts. We had 2 lessons the entire day. I figure that´s probably what a mission in the states is like. It was long and frustrating.

On saturday we were supposed to have our correlation, but our new Branch Mission Leader had only been called the week before and I suppose no one talked to him about when our correlation was. So we just ended up going to the Branch Council the next day.

I still play the piano in church every Sunday. I have improved a little but not much, because I don´t have any time to practice. Just a few minutes before church on Sunday. Fortunately I have a Simplified Hymnbook which helps with some hymns, but it doesn´t have all of them. Blah.

The other pictures I attached are of me being black because of the black sand beach we played soccer on a few weeks ago, the really long sandwhich I ate at the last Zone Leaders´ Council, and our last Zone Conference.

Thanks for the news from Dad, Bonnie, and Grant. Getting emails rocks.

Elder Peterson

Halfway Point

Of the transfer. Gotcha!

Dear Family,

I´ve decided to adopt the attitude of my last companion, Elder Tom, and say that I´ve got 2 years left in my mission until the last month. I figure that will help me keep things in perspective. I mean, really this isn´t my time anyways so what does it matter how much I´ve passed or got left?

This week we had Zone Conference. And I forgot to bring my notebook to share with you what I learned. But we did have Elder Schutze, a German Area Seventy, there. He was really good. I also took the opportunity to practice some german. It was rough, especialy considering that I haven´t spoken or studied german for a year and a half. And I was never that good to begin with. And every time I tried to say something the Portuguese word came to mind instead of the german one. My mind was like, ''well, it´s not english so it must be right.'' wrong. But that was fun. I was surprised at how much I still understood. That´s good. Hey, i´m a poet and I didn´t even realize it.

I´m currently reading through the old testament and I saw a trend in the books of kings. As a preface to this thought I just want to explain that my Mission President told us in a special leadership training to study in the book of mormon the effects of righteous and wicked leaders on the people. As I was reading in 1st and 2nd Kings, I saw that relationship very clearly. How the king could bring about so much righteousness or wickedness and prosperity or devastation. Sadly, the wicked kings greatly outnumbered the righteous ones. But it makes one think, one kind of impact will I make?

I did have a division this past week as well. I worked with Elder Nyagwambo. He´s from Zimbabwe. His portuguese is so-so, but he´s still in his first transfer so that´s understandable. I remember well how that was. However, being from Africa even though he has learned english from childhood, it´s still a little difficult to understand. It´s just not the same English that we speak. The division went well though. It was a little difficult to include him in the lessons since every time it came for him to teach he´d teach very little then clam up. I tried to help him to just speak and trust in the Spirit and the Gift of Tongues and he started to loosen up a little the next day. Consequently, his speaking and teaching improved. See what a little trust and the promises of the Lord can do? Miracles I tell you.

The Lord is our master. His will be done. I know Christ lives. Let us all follow His example.

~Elder Peterson

p.s. still no pictures. :(

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

So I better write a lot.

Dear Family,

this computer is being stupid and not letting me upload pictures. So I´ll keep trying and hope that I get a thumb drive in a package to send pictures home in it.

This week has been full of good hard work. We had a division with one of the Assistants on Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday he basically watched us teach, on Tuesday night he gave us some ideas for things to work on, Wednesday morning he gave us some trainings, and wednesday afternoon he observed us as we applied what we had learned. That was a pretty good experience. But we didn´t leave anywhere this week, and we didn´t have any big meetings or anything disrupt our work, so for the first time in a while we had a solid week to get out there and spread the word. Which we did with a vengeance.

Unfortunately, because we did a lot of solid work and didn´t have crazy things happen, there isn´t much to write about. But next week is zone conference. I´ll try to make my next letter interesting.

~Elder Peterson

And Then There Were 4

Dear Family,

Last monday I got a call from President Neves regarding some housing changes in my area. Before, the sisters lived with the missionary couple, we lived in our own house and another companionship lived up in their own house. Well, a different couple came and found their own house and the house the sisters were in was too big for one companionship. Also, President decided to close the other Elders´ house. So my companion and I moved with the other 2 Elders into the big house and the sisters moved into my old house. Which was sad because I liked that house. So I got the call on Monday, made arrangements that night (which was pretty stressfull), then moved on Tuesday.

But this house is pretty cool as well. First of all, it´s really big. But it´s on the first floor so it doesn´t have as good a view. But it´s got a lot more and better eating and cooking utensils which is sweet. And living with 4 elders in a house is a pretty neat experience so far. It´s different, but still good.

Friday morning Elder Silva and I went to Praia for the Zone Leaders´ counsel. That was really good. We discussed challenges in the mission and talked about how to resolve them. President Neves talked a bit about giving and receiving correction followed by some correction for us and our zones. And then on Saturday morning we got back in Fogo, just in time to clean up a little bit and go watch conference.

Watching General Conference was a big deal because they had never watched Conference in Fogo before. But they had gotten a projector and we set it up and got some other key items together and managed to watch every session of conference. So yesterday we had regular church because they hadn´t planned on conference either, then lunch. Then in the afternoon we ran a Conference Marathon, 6 hours straight of good ol´ Conference goodness. We watched the priesthood session in between sunday sessions because that was transmitted last night at 11 our time. Now I can add that to the list of marathons I have watched, including starwars and Lord of the rings.

And then, due to the fact that we had elders come in from other areas to watch conference and the new housing situation, we had 8 elders (including us) in our house last night. It was nuts.

My lip is almost completely healed, just a little scabbing is left.

And this morning we played soccer on the black sand beach. When we got done, my arms and legs were completely covered in sand because I had been goalie. I joked that I was now Cape Verdeian. I´m out of time now, but I´ll try to send pictures of that next week.

Thomas S. Monson is God´s prophet. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are prophets, seers, and revelators. The words we heard in Conference were inspired by God and His Holy Spirit, and as we apply what we heard in our lives, we will be blessed.

~Elder Peterson

And I was Like, 'Emilioooooo!'

Dear Family,

There is a taxi driver here that we use a lot who's name is Emilio. One time we passed him on the street and I was like, ''Emiliooooo!'' True story.

Also, I heard a few weeks ago that Elder Tom's mom had found as was reading my posted letter/blog. So shout out to Elder Tom's mom.

Dad, when I was getting ready to go you gave me a handful of little knick knack things that were just in case and may come in handy. Well this past transfer I've been using the little inch tall can opener deal a lot because the one in our house doesn't have a knob. So, little thing came in handy.

Last week was pretty crazy. So I already told about the volcano climb, but then on wednesday we headed to Brava. Pictures attached. So that was just like an Indiana Jones adventure, proselyting aside. But their bathroom was tiny. As in their shower was built into the wall right in front of the toilet. So technically you could take care of two types of business at once. If that was your style. I also saw a really big spider in one of our lessons.

And of course we hiked through the mountains all green and wonderful. I attached a picture of a flowering tree. Trees like that were literally everywhere.

One unfortunate thing that has happened is I got a bad case of leprosy lip. Or that's how it looked. On the climb up the volcano I apparently burned my bottom lip really bad. While that was healing I got a really bad cold sore that eventually took over the left half of my bottom lip. Super gross. Right now I'm trying to attach a picture of that, but we'll see how that works with this computer. But that's healing slowly but surely.

And then on Saturday we had a baptism. It was way awesome. Her name is Joseila, but everyone calls her Luta. She's been wanting to get baptised for a while now, but we wanted to make sure she was ready. Then we had District Conference which pushed it back even more. But she'll be a strong addition to the branch. I'll get pictures up when I get a chance.

Today is the first day of a new transfer. Elder Tom was sent back to Praia and I am now with Elder Silva. I had a really great time with Elder Tom this past transfer and I was sad that I wouldn't have one more, but I suppose the Lord needs him to train one last little greeny before his time in the mission is up.

Oh, and one last thing. I recently learned that my mission president said we could email our friends as long as we make sure to write our families and him first. Priorities and such. So that should incentive some of my friends to write me.

Well, that's all. I should be getting a haircut today. We'll see.

Elder Peterson

Dear Middle Earth

Dear Inhabitants of the Shire,

You may commence the celebrations, for the Ring of Power has been destroyed. Pictures attached.

So yesterday we climbed the volcano. It was epic. However it took all of P-day which did not allow for a usage of email the other day. So that is why I am writing today.

Climbing the volcano was awesome. When we got there it was blue skies and puffy clouds. So obviously we all lathered up with sunscreen. As we climbed, it could misty and cloudy and rained lightly on and off. We also had a heavier sister with us and she required a lot of rest stops and a pep talk every stop to keep her going. So the climb ended up not being physically tiring for me and Elder Tom, but emotionally draining. She was having troubles even in the beginning and we asked if she wanted to stay with the hiace with some other missionaries that were staying down there and she wanted to climb. But she stopped so often and she walked so slow. So many times she just stopped and said she couldn´t do it and wouldn´t go on. But we couldn´t just leave her, so Elder Tom and I walked with up step by step by step the whole way. A climb that should have taken 1 to 2 hours to 4 or 5. Ugh.

Also, the rain and mist washed off my sunscreen a little so I have random, blotchy, and incredibly irritating sunburns. Pictures attached. That was an interesting and very unexpected burn because it was very cold as we climbed. We didn´t have direct sunlight ever, it was misty and windy most of the time, and there was quite a bit of rain in there as well. So I was actually the coldest I have yet been in Cape Verde. It was a nice change of pace from the hot hot hot of CV. But I was glad when I got home to clean up and get into dry clothes again. Unfortunately I wasn´t able to take a hot shower, but merely a lukewarm shower. That is about as unfullfilling after a long, wet, cold excursion as an interrupted yawn.

The best part of the trip was the descent. We climbed up a rocky part going up because it was secure and solid. We went down on the softer rocklets. It was like sand, but not as fine. Like sand but with pebbles a little smaller than marbles. And by pebbles I mean volcanic rock. We literally ran down the volcano. It was awesome. Because it was volcanic rock pebble sand, falling down wasn´t good, but I only fell down once or twice. But going down almost felt like running on the moon or something. As you ran, you´d sink into the rocks a little, but because of the downhill slope, that didn´t slow you down. You had to run leaning back or you would go faster than you could put your legs in front of you and tumble. I got some video of a few other elders running, but I didn´t attach it. But it was awesome. The hiace ride home we were all dirty, wet, and cold. But I wouldn´t mind doing it again even as soon as next week. In all likelihood we won´t go again for another 2 transfers, so I may not even still be here. We´ll see.

One fun thing one of the other elders and I did, was assign members of the Fellowship of the Ring to those of us climbing. We had a senior missionary who was Gandalf, I was Legolas, and Elder Tom was Gimli. I would list all the others, but you don´t know who any of the other missionaries are so it wouldn´t be as fun. Although I will say that we didn´t have a Boromir because Elder Jones wanted to be Smeagol. I would´ve preferred being Boromir but whatevs...

Well, time goes fast and I am out.

Thanks for your letters and stuff!

~Elder Peterson