Mid-West Winter - 11/17/14 (Glen Carbon, IL)

Dearest Family and Friends,

Well... The Mississippi River is pretty cool. Haha We spent most of our P-Day Monday at Old Chain Of Rocks bridge on the Mississippi River, and we got to hang out and walk on the beach. The water was cold but don't worry, I didn't go swimming! Haha! From the beach we had a great view of Missouri on the other side of the river, and the sunset was beautiful. We also took a little "hike" through the woods there, it is such a cool place. We are going back today then going up to spend our P-Day in Alton. I will be sending pictures of that later.

It has been pretty cold here this week, today it is 19 degrees and we have a fresh blanket of snow. It is definitely a different kind of cold out here as opposed to Utah cold! But it really hasn't been too bad. The temperatures should stay pretty low this week, as long as the wind doesn't pick up we'll be in good shape!

We dropped a few more people out of our teaching pool this week, and are really trying to focus on getting a baptismal date set for Eric. We haven't been able to meet with him all week. Our Eternigator Lupie has been sick this week with an ear infection, and we've only been able to meet twice. She wants to get baptized really bad but we are trying to help her get through a lot of issues right now with her health. Our other Investigator Barry doesn't really want to make any commitments, he is kind of in Jacuzzi mode right now. We have taught a lot of less active families this week and that has been great! We are working with a family to try and come to church again. 

Elder Abad and I do service at The Glen Ed Food Pantry in Edwardsville every Tuesday morning, but we spent most of the day there on Saturday for "Scouting for Food". The local scout troops and community members brought in over 62,000 Pounds of food to the Pantry! It was amazing to see the community at work... We carried a lot of boxes, and we will have a lot of sorting to do this coming Tuesday! 

I have officially made it through my first Transfer in the Mission Field! So I guess that is pretty exciting. It went by pretty fast, and I've learned so much! We got transfer calls Saturday night and I am being Transferred to Springfield where I will be a new trainer!! Haha Crazy, right?! Elder Abad is going to be the new District Leader here in Glen Carbon Area.. I have really enjoyed my time in Glen Carbon Illinois, and will continue to enjoy it because I am also not actually getting transferred, and I will be continuing my training here from Elder Abad In Glen Carbon... He really is the new District Leader though! Haha!

Veterans Day was fun here! I've had a lot of fun conversations talking to a lot of veterans in the area. There are a lot of them here! Scott Air Force base is really close to us, so there are a lot of Air Force veterans here. I know the Shilo Area which is just sound of East St Louis, their ward consists of mostly Active Duty Airmen, and is always changing. 

Friday Glen Carbon was put on a Boil Order, I guess there was some kind of break in the water lines and possible water contamination. For 24 hours we had to boil all of our water, apparently that happens from time to time, but everything is good now! 

Because of the Michael Brown shooting case coming to a close all of the Missionaries in the St Louis area have been put on Riot alert this week! They have warned us to stay away from any rioting we see going on, I am technically in the St Louis area even though I am in Illinois. We won't see any rioting over here though.. It's a quiet and safe area where nobody really cares. So nobody worry, I am safe over here! Before Elder Abad came to Glen Carbon, he was actually serving in Ferguson then got Emergency Transferred over here! 

I think that is it for this week! Prayers and letters are always accepted, I will write about all of the adventures and missionary work we do this coming week and report again next Monday! I love you all! 

Peace!

Elder Chase Peterson