Spring Time - 04/06/15 (Charleston, IL)

Dear Friends and Family,

I hope everyone had a great week back home and got the chance to enjoy General Conference! This was my second time watching it on my mission. I can say that this second time was better than the first, It wasn't a lot of fun watching it on the hard MTC bleacher chairs. We got to watch a few sessions with some great Members, and at the church building in Mattoon. 

Conference was great! It really is different as a missionary, and you listen to each talk trying to figure out things for other people more than for yourself. Although there were a lot of great things that stood out to me individually, I still found a lot for the people we are teaching and talking with every week as missionaries. I look forward to being able to read all of the talks again soon!

This week was a pretty busy week, we only got a few days to work in the Charleston area! We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday with the Springfield zone. All of the Missionaries here in the Champaign Zone had to make the drive all the way out to Springfield. It was about 160 miles round trip for us and the Mattoon Elders. The one thing I can say about Decatur is that is smells strongly of Wet Dog Food and cheese! It's kind of a dump too... Springfield on the other hand is pretty nice. I saw a Power plant with a lake next to it that looked an awful lot like the one in Springfield on the Simpsons! Haha! Not sure there was any mutant fish though.. 

We had a lesson with Joe on Thursday, and I did not go very well. Joe dropped us... It was kind of a shock, but he got offered a job in Effingham teaching Catholicism. He told us he really wanted the job, and then went on to justify himself in saying that he is a catholic to the heart and its just what he is, even though he knows they are wrong on a lot of things. He brought up a lot of other things as well, but it doesn't really matter... The hard thing was that he knows it is true, but decided to go back. It really broke my heart.. I was pretty down about it the rest of the day, and I still kind of am, but that is missionary work sometimes and people still have their agency. :/

We had a great lesson with Sharon though, and she continues to have the desire to be baptized! She is really solid and knows so much about the gospel already. We will be meeting again this week to help her prepare for her baptismal date on May 2.

I think those are the main things I wanted to share this week with y'all. This week Elder Campbell and I will be trying to pick up new investigators and pick up on a few who have gone cold. The Gopsel continues to move forward out here in the great Missouri St Louis Mission with a total of 105 baptisms this year.  The church is true and Christ is leading this church on the earth today. There is so much comfort and protection found in this gospel, found through our savior Jesus Christ. He truly knows and loves each of us, he is there with arms wide open all we need to do is come unto him.

Elder Chase Peterson