Angels And Demons - 10/27/14 (Glen Carbon, IL)

Family and Friends, 

A lot has happened this past week, and there are a lot of stories I wish I could share. This week went by super fast and it feels a long ways away from last Monday. The week started out with my Birthday on the 20th, which was a very good day! The Elders in our District took a trip into St. Louis to visit the Gateway Arch. I couldn't believe how big it really is up close, It stands about 630 feet in the air above St Louis, and its pretty much the tallest thing around so you can see it from a long ways away. The View at the top is pretty amazing too, Looking out over the Illinois side and the Missouri side it's just vast flatness as far as you can see. After the Arch and the Expansion Museum we rode the Metro Train farther into the City, to The Loop. We had the best Dinner at Fitz's, it is such a cool place. Best Root-beer I have tasted.

The work this week was very slow, we saw some growth and miracles happen, but as far as investigators and finding, pretty much zero's for the week, luckily it's not about numbers. In fact we actually dropped two of our investigators because of different reasons. 

The Glen Carbon ward had their annual "Trunk or Treat" on Saturday. It was pretty great, a lot of great food and people. There were even a good amount of non-members come and be apart of it.

Friday was my One Month Anniversary of being on a Mission! Haha It was one of those days were nothing goes according to plan but everything works out in the end. We had several appointments fall through and then nobody answered their doors. We had one lesson scheduled with our Recent Convert Family, Stacy and Mitch at 7:00pm. We got word from Stacy a few hours before hand that we wouldn't be having a lesson tonight, instead we could come over and help her move out. She had spent the whole day moving all of her things to a storage unit. Stacy then proceeded to tell us that Mitch had been abusing her and their kids, so she was leaving. With a member of the Bishopric we were able to get all of her things moved out, we will continue to help her and her family in any way we can.

So in the spirit of Halloween I would like to share a story that happened on Friday afternoon while we were trying to find a less active family address. We were on the outskirts of Collinsville and Troy, driving down a long dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Down this road was 7 homes with very large pieces of property, really not much going on. After searching for a long time for the address we pulled into a driveway that we thought might be it. The Home was decently sized and in good condition, next to it there was a small run down barn and behind it a large field with many tree's. There was "beware of Dog" sign's posted in several spots and there was something strange about the house. We almost decided to leave, but instead came to the conclusion to knock on the door and ask about the address we were looking for. When we did so, a large man answered the door, he was covered in tattoos, he almost turned us away after telling us that it wasn't the right address, but instead we struck up a conversation about him, his home, pretty much everything else we could talk about. He told us that he was trying to sell his house for years, and that he built it in 2000 for his family. He said it's just him and his dog living there now and that the home had been a blessing and curse for him. I wondered why, he told us that there was a demon living in the far corner of the basement, with a black cloak and red eyes. He said it was haunted and that all growing up his daughters saw ghosts and were haunted by these demons. He said the whole area was that way, that Indian tribes would do sacrifices in the old days around that area. The seven homes on the road were known as the "Seven Gates of Hell." Elder Abad said that we as missionaries Bless houses... So this man, Terry, Said he would be all for it. The home had a weird energy to it, but we blessed his home, and afterwards gave him a blessing and Terry said he felt much better and Lighter. We gave him a picture of Jesus and a Book of Mormon and said he needed us to come that day, and that it was no accident that we showed up. Terry told us that he had been praying that very morning for somebody to come help him. We stood outside and talked to him for another hour, he is Super great guy and we will be keeping in touch with him this week. 

Happy Halloween everyone, Hope you all enjoy your week. We will be working hard this week to find people and meet some Less Active's in our area. I challenge everyone to read Alma 26 this week, because its awesome.

Till next week, Love and Peace

Elder Chase Peterson