Awesome Conference!!

Wow this weekend was so amazing! Conference was so awesome! I got something out of every talk. I don't think I have ever gotten so much out of conference which is bad; I wish I would have listened to them more intently before. But really the talks were so amazing and I think it's because of the mission. It's so awesome to listen to general conference on the mission! there would be certain talks that stuck out to me and other things that I have already heard before but being on a mission makes me think about it differently. Just like you Mom it made me sad to think it was over, I learned so much of what I want and need to improve on in my life and on my mission. President Uchtdorf's talks were both outstanding! I also loved Henry b. Eyring as well as Neil A. Anderson and many more. Priesthood session was so good. I got so much out of that session. The sprit was definitely the teacher. What I also loved was that every speaker always testified of the true and living prophet Thomas s. Monson, they always showed their support for the prophet and that they know he is called of God. The spirit testified that Thomas s. Monson is a true prophet called by God. I absolutely loved it all. The missionaries had their own room that we could watch the sessions in our native language so that was really good, it also started at 12 over here.

This week we focused on getting people to conference and invited a lot of people but in the end only 1 of our investigators came to watch, and so I was kinda disappointed because I don't think they truly understand the importance and great opportunity it is so hear from a prophet of God; he truly talks with God and then in turn comes and talks to us, so it was kinda disappointing to see only one of our investigators there.

Gosh there were so many things in conference that I learned and I just hope we can all take what we learned and put it to use and remember them. I hope I can do the same, I want to work harder, have gratitude, get rid of all the pride and get lost in helping others, I want to study, pray, and ponder so I can always have the spirit with me, I want to not be so hard on myself if I mess up, and so many other things that stuck out to me.

On the other side of things I am doing great, my ear is starting to catch and get used to the fast talking Spanish but I still have to work super hard at it and always be on my knees every night praying for help for the Lord with this language.

I'm glad the family thought about me and Chanelle. I totally thought about the family back at home and about crêpes lol. I miss those.

I also thought about my loving parents at home during conference. I truly have such wonderful parents and I'm so blessed to have parents that love and care for each one of their children. There are some missionaries out here that don't have parents that are members of the church. I'm so blessed with such amazing parents. I loved the talk that elder Holland and the one from the quorum of the seventies gave; it totally made me think about my parents. Just like elder Holland said about his parents, you both truly give up whatever you have for us kids. It's either time away from something else to spend with us kids or that time sacrificed to spend just one on one time with us. I'm also so blessed to have parents that were always in every part of life and actually cared about the things that were going on in my life. and also I was so blessed to have a mom and dad that would set rules for us because you love us and I hope the rest of the kids back at home understand that there are rules given because you love us and don't want us to go astray and off the straight and narrow path. Rules create happiness in the end. Just like the member from the quorum of the seventy said that parents set rules for the benefit of their children, even though we may not see it at the time. I was also so blessed to have a Mom that couldn't sleep at night until I was home even though sometimes I didn't like it.lol I see so many of the reasons for these now and I hope that the kids understand that. Kenny, Kellin, Daniel this is all for our benefit. Everything mom and dad do is because they love us.

I love you mom and dad so much, more than I can say. Listening to conference and those couple talks really made me think about that. Thank you for all you do for us kids.

To answer some of your questions, no mom I didn't receive any letters yet. It takes so long for things to get here. It just depends on how much money you spend. The more you spend the faster the letter gets here. And yes I still love my companion. Exchanges happen in about two weeks so I'm kind of worried where I will go but I know where ever I go it was inspired.

also no I'm not getting super skinny we work out every morning because we have to so I sill work out every day and they feed us a lot for lunch, if anything it might just go to my gut, but I'm trying to prevent that from happening. Did you guys get my pictures from the mtc? I might just send you the memory chip I don't know yet. I'm scared it will get stolen in the mail. Well I got to go. Until next week, tell the rest of the fam. to write and tell Skyler to write too. I haven't received any handwritten letters since I have been here besides the first ones from you and Dad in the package.

I love you all, keep the faith, I hope everything is going great with the rest of the family,(Kenny, Kellin, Daniel, McKenna)

Con Amor,

Elder Pedersen