June 1, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

 So this last week I have made some purchases and have also received those packages. It was a crazy week and felt like forever since we didn't really get a P-day. But I am very happy today because we are going over to the Turnbulls where the other two sets of missionaries live and we will have a free lunch and water fight because it is 87 degrees today which is about 31 degrees Celsius. It has gotten really hot here and is supposed to get into the 90's soon. Ugh it’s pretty dry and hot. Thank you for all the work you do for me, for your thoughts and prayers. I really need them and have been receiving the strength and help I need every day. There were a couple of very hard days this last week, I am still struggling with sleep and when I am tired, sick, hungry, frustrated, stressed, it makes it so much easier to falter and to give into weaknesses. I am being tested a lot here because I am always hungry, tired, stressed, and so on. haha I take that as a compliment. I am praying and hoping I get to stay here in this area for a long time. We are starting a scripture study class and I based the curriculum on the Book of Mormon stories. Here is the study I came up with: 

Scripture study class: Book of Mormon Stories (45 minutes @ Bennetts)

Lesson 1: introduction to the Book of Mormon (Introduction p, d'uh)

Lesson 2: Nephi obtains the brass plates, bound by brothers and is freed by faith (1 Nephi 3-4; 7:6-21)

Lesson 3: Lehi’s vision of the tree of life, Nephi interprets his father’s dream (1 Nephi 8; 15:21-36)

Lesson 4: the liahona, Nephi’s bow breaks, building the ship and traveling to the promised land (1 Nephi 16:10, 26-29; 16:17-32; 17-18)

Lesson 5: sherem demands a sign, Enos prays for forgiveness (Jacob 7-1-23; Enos 1:1-18)

Lesson 6: sermon of king Benjamin (Mosiah 2-5)

Lesson 7: abinadi preaches to king Noah, alma escapes and teaches in private, Gideon's pursuit and king Noah's death by fire (Mosiah 12-16; 17-18; 19)

Lesson 8: conversion of alma the younger, sons of Mosiah leave for missions (Mosiah 27; 28:1-9)

Lesson 9: Alma and amulek preach in amonihah (Alma 8-14)

Lesson 10: Ammon’s service and conversion of king Lamoni and his father (Alma 17-23)

Lesson 11: anti Nephi Lehi’s bury their weapons of war, Ammon glories in the lord (Alma 24,26)

Lesson 12: captain Moroni overcomes zerehemnah, title of Liberty, two thousand stripling warriors (Alma 44,46,53,56-57)

Lesson 13: Nephi and Lehi are freed from prison by the power of God, Nephi exposes the murder of the chief judge (Helaman 5,8-9)

Lesson 14: Samuel the lamanite, signs of Christ's birth and death, Christ's ministry (Helaman 13-16; 3 Nephi 1:15-21; 3 Nephi 8:5-23; 3 Nephi 11-28)

Lesson 15: jaredites, coriantumer see the destruction of his people (Ether 1-3,6)

Lesson 16: moronis teachings and exhortations, he bids farewell (Moroni 4,5,6,7,10)

So yeah naturally I am excited to start this! We will extend invitations to those not coming to church for various reasons, those preparing for missions, and those we feel could use help understanding the scriptures. We are going to use this as a finding activity where members and those we are working with may invite others to come join, hopefully. haha We have had much success when we started this transfer and now there is only few people left who are really going to hit the goals we set with them. L. Rodriguez has fallen off date because of him kind of dropping off the map. He came to church yesterday with his family and so many people also came! We had gone to go visit people on Saturday and had five lessons that night and all who we invited came to church! We had been having troubles getting people out to church so a while back we set a goal of 7 returning members to church and 5 lessons to less active members and we had 9 come to church and we had 9 lessons! This week was sweet! We just are lacking in our finding, so we are trying to find some people through this class we will be holding at the Bennett’s. So yeah I love the Bennett’s. Their home feels like home, it is so weird and they treat the missionaries like royalty, well sister Bennett does. haha she makes us food and goodies and helps us with all these things we try to do in their ward. She is the Relief Society President and her husband is our Ward Mission Leader. So we spend some time there correlating and stuff. Oh and mom, Swamp Coolers are good in dry climates, and is cheaper but there is a lot of upkeep and maintenance that goes into them. Ummm we have finally been able to help this guy who is living with M. Peterson (one of our investigators) with his back yard and his projects around the home. Before he wouldn't even be in the same room as us. He invited us to a BBQ this last Saturday and he made stuffed burgers! My burger had mac and cheese in it! It was so good! We shared a message and he kind of walked away while we did so, but he is coming slowly. It is a very difficult situation. He is a return missionary and had kind of went south since that happened, but his girlfriend is an investigator we work with every week and she makes great progress and wants to be baptized and married in the temple but she can't progress until they get married. And they won’t because He is not ready to be back in church. It sucks for her but we still won’t give up on them because we love them! One of his daughters taught me how to do a cartwheel. They are all very good at dancing and gymnastics and stuff.  That is all this week! Thank you for all that you do back home for me again. This music is great and I am listening to it right now! I love you all! 

Love Elder Patterson