Christmas 2015

1/4 of the landlord contracts that Jeffrey keeps up with

The thumb drive video that the office elders made for all of the missionaries for Christmas

Once upon a time, in a far off land way down South, there were a couple of missionaries that were working in the office one evening when all of a sudden, a couple of men knocked on the door and asked if they could use the restroom.  After Elder Johnson let them in, Elder Petersen showed them to the restroom and while he was unlocking the door, one of the men put a gun to his ribs and asked him where the safe was.  After zip tying the Elders to the chairs, the bad men used a blow torch to try to get into the safe, all the while asking the Elders to unlock it.  Elder Johnson pretended not to speak Spanish and Elder Petersen just kept saying he didn't know how to open it, but he did offer to give them a Book Of Mormon!  After a while, the bad men figured that they weren't going to get in to the safe so they cut the zip ties off, too the book that was offered, and left.  Then End!
Oh Paraguay!

Remaining in the office, but with a new perspective

Family and Friends,

As you all can tell from the title of this email, I didn't receive changes this week. That means that i will stay in the office for at least 2 more changes which is approximately 3 months. I cant tell you that im excited about it but i am happy that I am willing to do what the Lord asks of me. Luckily, I believe that it will pass quickly and I'll get out of the office with two good changes to go out and work hard. Ive got lots of things to keep me busy here in the office for the next three months. I guess I'll get to work.

This week almost everyone in the mission received changes (besides me). We as office staff were able to do a lot of the behind the scenes work to make sure that the 3 day project runs smoothly. Right from the start we had lots of problems. To go and receive the new missionaries that come in, we have to have a truck to go and get all of their luggage. Well he didn't show up so i had to arrange 4 different modes of transportation, 3 of them being taxi´s and the other being a little pickup truck from the presiding bishoprics office. When Elder Johnson and I and our fleet of taxi´s showed up we received a call from the assistants that the new missionaries had some problems with their flights. After begging the taxi drivers to wait every 15 minutes for an hour and a half, Elder Johnson and I went in the speed the process up. We had the opportunity to greet the new missionaries as they came through the gates which really cool! We gathered all of the luggage and took them to the office.

One of my favorite parts of the office is changes. It is also one of the most stressful. Monday night we didn't get home until about 2am, Tuesday we didn't get home until 2am, we got up at 3am Wednesday morning to be in Luque, didn't go to bed until 12 that night and got back up at 3am again to take the dead missionaries (the ones that are finished) to the airport. Overall, Not much sleep. 

Some more problems that we had consisted of the air conditioning not working in the office where all of the newbies were, we were one van short of what we normally have, we lost some very important documents, the printer broke and we were very late getting all of the dead missionaries on the plane. And lots more

But the good thing is that the new missionaries all got here safely and all of the old missionaries that went home all made it safely as well!

I love you all so much. and i cant wait to see you all in a short 5 and a half months!! stay true to this Gospel. It will help you out in whatever you're going through.

have a great week! I'll see some of you on Christmas morning!! 

Love Elder Petersen

 

 

Some local graffiti...

New perspective:

Ive just been thinking about the mission and how little time I have left, half of that time will be spent in the office!!  I think that i'm going to focus a lot on my district this change, maybe it will keep my mind off of all of the stress from the office!

 

New mattreses for the misionaries

Dear Dad,

This week was nothing special. A lot of office work. I put in over 100 baptismal records in this week and as well helped in a special change. I have been running around all over the country this past week trying to make sure that the mission runs smoothly. I have been in the office longer than anyone else in the office right now and so i know how things work. I have been helping a lot of the other elders to complete their jobs while doing mine as well. Its a lot of work. i did get a new assignment for the changes this time. I am in charge of all of the missionaries that will be heading home this change, which includes my trainer Elder Fielding and all of the sister missionaries that came with me into the mission. It is pretty weird to think that it has been exactly a year and a half. I never thought it would pass this fast. and now the sisters in my group and my trainer are leaving in less than a week.I'm going to be able to take them to the airport at about 4:30 in the morning. It'll be fun!

I'm very excited for these changes next week because i think that i might train and leave the office in a few weeks after that. I'm so excited, I really want to dig into the work and leave the mission working super hard. 

Well i that about it for me this week.

Hello Family and Friends,

   I hope you all had a wonderful week. I sure did. It wasn't anything special but it sure was better than last week. This week was full of running all over the country trying to make sure that the mission functions correctly. That's kind of my job.

   Well i corrected my mistake of ordering 20 beds that were way too small and i got new ones just yesterday Its pretty cool to see 20 beds stacked up on top of each other. jajaj but whats even better is the view from 20 mattresses high!! jajajaja

Elder Johnson on top of the pile

    I also have the opportunity to be the District leader of the most baptizing district in the mission so i had the chance to go and give a baptismal interview in an area called Zeballos Cuè. This area is right next to the river and this past week it rained very hard last week so all of the housing that were close to the river were under water. We had to take a little bit of a hike to get to this house where i would give the baptismal interview. In other words, We went into the jungle. It turns out that she wasn't at her house so will do it today at a Capilla Abierta.

    You know, that's about it for this week. I did take lots of fotos for you guys so i hope that makes up for the lack of words. jajaja 

    I know that this is the true church and if we live it, it becomes even more true. 

I love you all and i hope you have a great week this week

Love Elder Petersen

these pictures are of us stuck in traffic and bored as crap jaja

This is me talking on the phone with an angry landlord...its my life right now

Not my finest week...

Hey Everyone,

    Let me just start out by telling you all that this was NOT Elder Petersen's best week!! Lots of things happened this week but unfortunately next to none of them were good.

    First of all, I have made a sweet video for this years Christmas present, But it wont download correctly. Soo i need to convert it all over to a different program that will allow me to download it. As well, It needs to be done by Tuesday. Uh Oh

    Second off, We were taking some old furniture to a member who has had problems due to the recent storm that we had here. To get to her house we took a pretty muddy road to get there. Little did we i know that even while in the service of your fellow man, things will go wrong. We had everything unloaded and we went back to the car just to find that the tire was flat! Lucky me

     I also ordered new mattresses for the mission. so they came yesterday to drop them off and they were tiny. they were like something that you would get for a toddler. The only thing that President said was " well. . . Get it resolved "!!!

     I also broke a water pipe of a house that the mission rents out. I had to go fix that this morning. 

     Well the last and final Fail of the week was when Elder Johnson and I went to go pick up some boxes of Books of Mormon right before our zone conference. I was wearing my suit pants and I got a little cocky and i went for two boxes of Books of Mormon. The Hermana that was there told me not too but i did it anyways and as i was lifting these boxes, My suit pants ripped to the maximum. and by saying "to the maximum" i mean, beyond repair. 

    Well now you have a little taste of what my week was like. I hope yours was better. Jajaja one day ill look back on this week and smile. It just wont be today!! jajaja

I love you all so much and i hope you all have a wonderful week. Just keep your heads up and always remember that someone always has it worse than you!

Love Elder Petersen

Thanksgiving, Scorpion, Rat and the Virgin Mary

Hey Family and Friends,

    I'm not sure why but this week was an interesting one. Not for one big event that came to pass but for lots of little ones. And luckily i took pictures of almost of them. ; )

    To start out, this week was Thanksgiving. Paraguay has no idea what Thanksgiving is but luckily im am in the office where almost all of the other office elders and President and Hermana McMulin do. Hermana McMullin set up a beautiful Thanksgiving lunch for all of us that work to keep the mission running. We had all of the typical American Thanksgiving foods. It was a lot better than the first Thanksgiving that i had in the mission where we did nothing. It was one to remember.

Jeffrey Elder Vela and McMullin's son

    Next story to remember was when we caught a Scorpion in the office this week. Elder Dias and I caught a scorpion and name it Estanislao. Please don't ask me why. While in a clear cup, Estanislao was put with a spider to see if they would fight. They didn't. : (

From Mom...Estanislao=rebellious Indian Warrior 

    Next story would come from the humble abode of the Rios Family. Monday night, We went to a members house to have a Noche de Hogar ( FHE ) and when we walked in we found that they were on a Rat hunt. They had blocked off all exits to their kitchen because they were convinced that they had heard a rat in their stove. We tore that oven apart and their was nothing. Until Elder Dias started poking a stick in it. All of a sudden a big old rat jumps out a almost kills Elder Johnson. jajajajajaja Ah man it was so funny. Elder Dias, Elder Johnson and I all had broom sticks trying to kill this dumb rat while the entire family were up on chairs and tables trying to get away from it. After beating that poor guy so hard with broom sticks it still wouldn't die it started climbing up the corner of the walls and so i corner stomped it ( =curb stomp but in a corner ). Still did not die. And some how got back into the stove. Elder Dias pinned it down with his broom stick and then came for the final kill. It died!! Finally

     The last and final story took place last night while we were driving home after a open house activity that we did. We were driving home when we saw a truck with something pretty big in the back of it. It was a giant glass case with the Virgin Mary in it. That's how you know you're in Paraguay. jajaj We wanted to snag a picture but the light had turned red and he had stopped very quickly luckily we didn't rear end him but we came within inches. jajaja  How awkward would that have been to have the Virgin Mary fall onto the hood of a Mormon missionaries van. jajajaja

     The coolest thing this week was just being a missionary for the Lords Church. I realized that this is a sacred responsibility and i am honored to have it. I love this gospel and I love what it does for people like you and me. I love that we can truly be cleansed of our sins and enter into the kingdom of God again. 

I love you all so much and i pray that you all have a great week.

Love Elder Petersen

La Familia Rios

and I learded how to juggle

I beat the President!

Hey Family and Friends,

   Today is my birthday and it went great. In reality this whole week has been great. Im a pretty blessed man. We had a lot of work to do this week but i got all of it done. Which is an accomplishment. We also had a lot of fun. President and Sister McMullin invited the office crew over to their house to play ping pong and basketball and after eat lunch. President wrecked me in a game of horse but then i got him back in the most tense match of ping pong you have ever seen. What i hear is that he has been unbeatable to any of the previous missionaries that he has played. Not anymore!! all of those long ping pong matches down in the basement have payed off! thanks Dad!!

    That was pretty much the highlight of my week. But we did have a pretty eventful week. We had a lot of things to do such as go into the center of Asunciòn and get the mail run done, put a barricade in front of the bathroom door so that when Elder Dias came out he would run into a wall of mattresses, Went to a city named Luque about 10 times trying to get everything out of a storage facility before the end of next week, Stopping to get some food at our favorite Lomito shop and running all the way over to Mariano to take some old mattresses to a tribe of indigenous people that live in little tiny huts.

     The office is full of little projects that need to be done. But one of my favorite times is Sundays. Sundays are the only full day of work that we get to proselyte. We found a couple that is golden. We have a lesson planned with them for tomorrow and im so excited to teach them and help them come unto our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It will be a great lesson.

     Well family and Friends, I love you guys. I hope that you have a wonderful week and i hope you say your prayers and read the scriptures.

Elder Petersen

Carlos the tailor

Hey there guys,

    This week was just like any other, closing areas and houses like crazy and driving all over the mission to make people happy. jaja Como Siempre! But Elder Johnson and I have had a lot of fun doing it. We even have a quest that we are doing to make even more fun. We have set out on a journey to find some of the coolest Graffiti that Paraguay has to offer. Hence the dope Picachu Burger Graffiti. jajaj Dope right??

 

 

     This week we had a really good day of missionary work. On Sunday we went out all day in our area and worked super hard. This was actually one of the only full days of work that I have had in this area. We contacted a lot of people and set up some really good lessons for this next Sunday. Hopefully they all come through. We met one man whose name was Carlos. Carlos is a man of about 60 years who had lived in the United States for the majority of his life. So he spoke English pretty well. He was a suit tailor for about 30 years while working in New York and Boston. Pretty interesting fellow. He said that he would come to church this Sunday so we will see how it goes tomorrow.

     You know family there wasn't a whole lot more than that this week. Ive started my six months til sexy program. I know its a little bit early but im gonna need it. jajaj Well i love you guys so much. I hope you have a wonderful week. Read your scriptures.

Elder Petersen

Missionaries coming and going = no sleep for me.

Hey Family and Friends,

    This week went great for me down here. Lots of sleepless nights and good experiences. As an office Elder we are in charge of the changes for the mission. That includes all of the new missionaries that come in, all of the missionaries that have received changes and all of the missionaries that will be heading home. That means a lot of work that nobody sees and that's what my role is.

    I love it. I have really come to appreciate what service does for me and how it should make us all feel.

    The past week i wrote about an investigator that we talked to. Well he came to church. I was so excited. . . I am so excited. I am excited to make a covenant with our Heavenly Father. He will be such a great member of the church if he just seeks the truth.

    This week as the missionaries that finished their missions went home, Elder Milton and I were able to snag the first ever Selfie with President McMullin. I feel so accomplished.

     But more on a spiritual note, Id like to share my testimony with you guys about Prophets. I know that if we follow them, we will not be lead astray. I have heard numerous accounts of things that are happened back in the states and as well as here in South America about people not taking heed to the Prophets council. Let me reassure you that Thomas S. Monson speaks with God. He knows what is to come and he the knows what the consequences of our actions will be. Having said that, The Lord is not trying to limit freedoms by telling us that we cant do certain things and taking away our agency. God would never do that. However the Bible and the Book of Mormon have clearly proven that God comes through with his promises. And God has promised us that if we obey his commandments we will be blessed and the opposite of Blessings is what happened to the people Noah´s, Moses´, and Christ´s time. Its a lot less painful if we can learn from other peoples mistakes and follow the commandments of God. I know that God talks to his prophets and apostles.   

"Behold I say unto you, he that denieth these things knoweth not the gospel of Christ; yea, he has not read the scriptures; if so, he does not understand them." Mormon 9:8

     I love you all so much and i pray that you will all follow the council of the prophets and apostles. It will lead us to our biggest goal in life which is Exaltation.

Elder Petersen

Elder Milton, finishing up his mission and heading home

Bryant McMullin, Son the Pres.

First ever selfie of Pres and Sis M...you're welcome!

 

Scaring little children and a test of faith

Family and Friends,

   Well its weird to put that title up there. Only 8 months left of the best two years of my life. What a bummer. I'm so excited to see you all again very sad to think about all these precious people that i wont see again.

   Well this week is full of great stories. I'm hope your all up for them. 

   The first one takes place here in the within the walls of the oh so ever humble office. I was minding my own business and getting a lot of things ready for a Leadership training meeting that we will be having with a member of the seventy, Elder Krosnoselsky, this coming Monday. Now, at this time, the ward was having a ward night just down the hall. So all of a sudden a little kid with about 5 years of age comes barreling in with a ping pong ball. He threw it at me and i wasn't about to have that so i threw it back at him. Jaja so this happened for a good half an hour then i had to get back to work so i tried ditching him in a polite manner so i had the great idea to throw the ball and then run but he just kept catching on and finding me again. So i scared him. It was just a nice scare but it went too far. I jumped out from behind the wall and he jumped back and just stood there for a couple of seconds with a blank stare on his face. He slowly looked down and do did I. I had scared him so bad that he had peed himself. jajaj oops

   Just last night i was driving with my main man Elder Vela and in the oncoming traffic there was a collectivo coming and the road was too small to both pass at the same time. The collectivo wasn't slowing down at all so i had to stop very quickly. But little did i know that there was a man on a moto that wasn't paying too much attention, he came and railed into the back of the car. He got up right away and went on his way and nothing happened to our car. So, all is well.

   The other day Elder Johnson and I went out to work and find some people to baptize, you know, the usual. We clapped at a house and a teen came out to greet us. He told us he was a member that wants to come back to church and he asked us to come to his house because he couldn't meet with us that moment. He told us to come back tomorrow and he will invite some non member friends. I didn't believe him. Lack of faith i guess. I have just had a lots of experiences of this nature that don't turn out to be anything. Well this one certainly didn't turn out like the others. We tested our faith and we went! it turned out great! he invited two non members and a less active. He even prepared some sandwiches for us. We have another lesson with them tonight and its out turn to take some brownies. And nothing could go better with brownies than a baptismal date. Whoo Hoo wish us luck.

    Well that's about in the life of Elder Petersen. I hope you guys have a great week and learn lots. 

Love Elder Petersen

You may believe that this is our zone but in fact it is my district. 

Office duties and ping pong

Hey there family and Friends,

  I know its been quite a while since I've written you guys a letter. Sorry!

  Honestly its because the office doesn't really change a whole lot. I have been busy here in the office fixing housing problems, dealing with mean landlords and trying to do my best. One of my latest projects as been putting air conditioning units in all the houses that lack them. Lots of phone calls and negotiations are involved. Another one of responsibilities is to put baptismal records into the Church data base. I counted up all of the baptismal records I have put in since I started here in the office and I counted over 300. Each one takes about 10 to 15 minutes each. Super Fun!!😢

Its all good, someones got to do it, might as well be me right??

  Well to tell you all the truth, I love the office but i miss working out in the field. Its so different from any other area in the mission. We get the chance to work right along side President McMullin and Hermana McMullin but I sure do miss getting to know the members and Families of each area. Hopefully I get out of the office in a couple of changes so that I can get a good 5 or 6 months of really good work done before I go home.

  Some new things that have happened in the office is that we have gotten news cameras for security purposes and as well new computers that are literally twice the size of our old ones. Along with that i have learned a lot of computer tech. stuff. I have improved my typing skills as well and just how to run a computer in general.

  We have been getting out a little bit more to work this past week and it has been great. We have been finding a lot of new people that could possibly progress. I sure hope they do because it has been way too long since I have had a baptism. I have made a goal for myself, before i changed out of the office i would love to get a baptism here in Mburucuya!! Im really excited to be in the office and have know that President trusts me enough to be an Elder and an Office Elder. Its a tough job but I'll make it happen.

  I have been studying in the New Testament for the past little bit and I love it so much. The Saviors life is very interesting to me. I came to know that the New Testament is the word of God and that with the Book of Mormon it is so much better. If we study the Saviors life line using the book of Mormon and the Bible we will come to learn that they coincide perfectly!! Its amazing how two contenants could be literally on the same page in life. I would recommend it.

  I love you all so very much and I pray that you all have the best weeks. Make every second count.

Love Elder Petersen

 

Office Elders + Pres McMullin

Beautiful Paraguayan Sunset

 

A little soggy

Hello Dad,

  I appreciate that you take the time to write me each week! I love hearing from you and what you're up to.

  I hope everything is going great with work! hey did you get the Higher up job that you told me about a couple weeks back?? 

  I have been playing Ping Pong a lot with my companions and i have not lost a game yet. I am practicing to face off against Presiedent McMullin. I guess in the 2 and a half years that he has been here he has never lost in a match of Ping Pong. I hope i will be the one to end his reign. jajaja

  Well i hope everything is going great with work, the family and with you. 

I love You Dad. Have a great week.

Love Elder Petersen

 

General Conference!! #3

Hey Family and Friends,

    So as you can tell I'm super excited for this weekend. A lot of missionaries will tell you that General Conference is better than Christmas and that's because it is. And how can it not be, we are listening to the Lords Prophet. I think that's pretty amazing.

    Whats crazy is that this will be my 3rd General Conference in the mission and I'm looking forward to it more than ever. We are going to get 2 new Apostles and possibly another. We might even here some new Temples being announced and tons and tons of great words that can really bless our lives if we apply them.

    So that's kind of what all the hype is around here. Just getting prepared for G.C. But other than that Elder Johnson and I were able to spend the day with Hermana McMullin to search for and track down all of the missionaries houses across several zones. We had the opportunity to ask her several questions that really helped a lot. Things about life and how we can be even more firm in the gospel. It is really amazing to talk and share experiences with President and his wife.

    As you all know, we get up to play Basketball every morning at 5 because we ball hard. Well a couple of days ago i was ballin` a little too hard and rolled my ankle. Its the worst ive ever rolled my ankle before. It swelled instantly and bruised within a couple hours. I was prett dope. I think i pulled some tendons in my ankle.

    Well that's pretty much it for this week. it was a good week. We got a little bit of rain so that means that not a lot of people will come to the Conference which is unfortunate but its alright because we made shishkabobs last night in celebration for it. I'm so excited!! I hope you guys are too!!

    I hope you guys have a wonderful General Conference weekend. 

    

    Learn lots and make it a good one.

Love Elder Petersen

p.s. I forgot my camera but that means double the fotos next time! Sorry Mom!!😢

Pedro Juan road trip!

Family and Friends,

   Well as you have already read, I'm down to 8 months left in the mission!! I'm not liking that fact that i end is in sight!! Oh well, i guess I'm just going to have to work even harder.

   This week was pretty interesting for my companion and I. We had the awesome opportunity to take our 8 seater van up to my old area, Pedro Juan Caballero 4th Branch and do an Open House. We had a couple of miracles that happened to us along the way. First,  We were setting up for an Open House in my old area and out on the main road there was a car parked off the side of the road and a family trying to figure out what to do with there non-functioning car. A couple of us elders walked over and saw what we could do to help them out with their car. There was nothing wrong with it for as much as I could tell so we just pushed it off of the main road and invited them to come over and see the Open House while their car took a break. After a while of trying to convince them to come in they did just that. They came and stayed the whole time. When they left their car started up like nothing ever happened and they were on their way.

   It may not seam like such a huge miracle but it was to me and it showed me that God still is a God of miracles.

      The biggest problem that we had on our trip was that our clutch gave out going up one of the long hills. We got about half way up the hill and it gave out! So there was a little town on the side of this huge hill so we got out a pushed this dumb 8 seater van up and over this hill so that we could get it to coast down the other side. Man that thing is heavy and even worse going up hill. As it got going we found that it would be better to not stop it because we might not getting going again. We finally got it up and over the hill and we just had to take it slow all the way back to Asuncion which was about 5 more hours! we had a lot of people honk and us and flip us of because we were going about 35 to 40 mph in an 80 mph speed limit zone. But that's alright because we made it back!

     But before we came back, we were able to do a couple of things up there. One of them was go to the border between Paraguay and Brazil. We actually bought a couple of hammocks up there from a Brazilian man who had the thickest accent I have ever heard. He wanted 300 thousand guarani's for 2 of them, which isn't bad but I thought I could bid him down to 250 for both, so i gave it a shot in Portuguese, I did it!! jajaj i felt like a accomplished life!!

 

Boarder of Paraguay and Brazil

 

     So That was a lot of fun. Another thing that was pretty fun was getting to see all the old members and especially my convert Ignacio. Luckily i got to take a picture with them because it is probably going to be the last time a ever see them! After Saturday night we went to church Sunday morning in a group out in the middle of nowhere called Naranjahai which means sour orange. I don't you if you all remember me talking about it about a year ago but i love this place and i love the people out there. We have our church meetings outside with the chickens and cows. The only problem was that it was so hot. it was over 110 F° and 100% humidity. You best believe i was sweating like crazy. But it was really worth it!! I had a great time and learned a lot.

    I love this Gospel. I have seen it change my life as well as others when we live it. Stay strong to it and your life will be more pleasant!!

    I love you all!!

Elder Petersen

Lots and Lots of fotitos

Bathroom cleaning 101

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pxa0pjl186m8k16/Ba%C3%B1o_Final_01.avi?dl=0

Office details

Hello Dad and Mom;

   I haven't written you in a while so i thought i ought to make it happen! These past couple of weeks have been really good. It has been pretty normal. All of the things that i thought were cool when i first got into the office are a part of the normal routine now. There is one cool thing that i get to do tomorrow though. I get to take the van up to Pedro Juan Caballero where i started the mission and do a Open House in two of the Chapels up there. If you remember right it is the city that is right on the border of Brazil. It will take about 7 hours to travel up there and 7 hours back. It should be a pretty fun road trip. I'm Excited to go but I'm also nervous too. We Will travel up on Friday morning and then do an open house in the Pedro Juan 1st branch and then on Saturday night we will have one in my old area, 4th Branch. We will stay the night on Friday and Saturday and then hit Sacrament up there and then travel back down after church.

  Before we head up there i have to give two baptismal interviews for some of the sisters in my district. We are a very "goal oriented" mission so we have set goals for our district as well. We base our progression by how many baptisms we get each month, how many of the recent converts came to church and what our attendance is like. Our goals for my district are 8 baptisms, 85% retention and 360 as an attendance. We had previously hit our goal for attendance so we pumped it up even more so that's great. We are so close to reaching our baptismal goal. We have 3 baptisms as of right now and we have 5 more secure baptismal dates coming up. I think that we can really do it. It would be great if we do because usually a baptismal goal for a district should be around 4 to 6, but my district works really hard and we are working towards 8. our retention is doing okay. we have 80% retention which is a lot better than the average for the mission. And we keep hitting our attendance goal so that's awesome as well.

  This whole numbers thing is a big part of my job as the Recorder here in the office. I have to find out all of the numbers (Baptisms, Retention %, Attendances and Contacts) of the whole mission. So I spend all day Monday figuring out where we stand as a mission. When i have them all figured out i have to send them to President and as well the the Area Seventy. Usually it takes about 9 to 10 hours to get them all figured out. Its a very tedious job but someone has to do it.

  Along with random P.J.C. trips, Planning district meetings, Housing, and Statistics i have to be a missionary at the same time. It hard to get out to work at 5 or 6 each day when I need to have numbers in or I have a housing assignment that needs to be completed but on thing that President always tells us is that being a missionary is our number one priority and an office elder second.

  Sorry i haven't told you a little bit more in depth about what i do here in the office until now but i wants really sure on what i was doing either. jajaja i hope this helped you understand a little bit more about what i do everyday.

  Each and every day my testimony of this gospel grows stronger and stronger. I love this Gospel and i know that everyone would love if they just knew about it!! so . . . lets get out there and share it!!

Thank you both for all of your support and everything that you have taught me. I love you guys!

Have GREAT week.

Love Elder Petersen

Trains and making a video

Photos:

I was dared to do the selfie!! it wasn't my choice I promise!! #dontjudgeme

This museum was in the center of Asunción and we went with the Craney´s, a senior couple, they payed for us to get in so we didn't say no!!

Pedro Juan Caballero 4th Branch

Dope train museum Titanic reenactment!!

              ¿¿Whats good??

Selfie on a dare

Being "saved" by his Companion

Back in Pedro Juan, his first area.   

hey mom!! yeah the office has a lot of weird assignments.! i have to make a video on how to clean your bathroom so that President can take it around the whole mission and show it to everyone!! 

He said if the video turns out good, he'll send us a copy.

 

Office audit and drunk people

Hola Familia y Amigos,

     To start out I'm doing really great! I'm loving this work and my testimony is growing every step I take. Lots of things happened this week that id like share I'm just going to have a hard time remembering them all! jaja 

     To get things started, I'm going to be heading up to my first area up in Pedro Juan Caballero. Ill be heading out tonight and I'll be traveling all night. Its about a 7 to 8 hour bus ride and we have to carry with us a laptop and a projector. Hopefully we don't get robbed. jaja we will see how it goes.

     We are in a very rich area here in Asuncion so we have a lot of English speakers. Yesterday we had an Open Chapel activity here and all of those English speakers came and we got to do a whole presentation in just English! it was pretty dope.

     Unfortunately I haven't been able to get out and work lately because there has been so many things that needed to get done like take missionaries to the terminal where all the buses are so that they can get back to their respective areas. And usually this all takes place in the night time and even in the early parts of the morning.

     This week we had a big wig from Argentina come up and audit us as an Office. Ouch, that was rough. jaja There is a lot of things that we need to change. He was a really good guy but he kind of dropped us some fat cane. But the cool thing about it all was that we took him to his hotel after the audit at about 10:30 and we drove by the office building of the President of Paraguay. It was lit up really nicely and it was heavily guarded but we managed to snag a few fotos!! whats good!!

     

Today we went to TGI Friadays which is always great. but we did have a little run in with the drunk crew. This guy was downing shots like I have never seen before. The same guy came over to our table and asked us to take a picture with them at their table and it seamed harmless so we went. As someone was taking the picture he tried to get me to hold a beer bottle. It was a really lame attempt to try to get a picture out there of missionaries holding a beer bottle. Well I told him that I don't drink and I wont be in the picture if the beer is going to be in it. After that him and his group of really ignorant people just started talking some dirty trash talk. It was sad to see how little they knew about the church as well as how much they thought they knew about the church.  Probably the saddest thing was that they didn't have ranch dressing to put of my salad!  jaja

     You know what, I forgot a lot of the thing that i had planned to write about! jaja oops!! I guess they will just have to wait until next time!!

     I love you all so much and i hope you all the most amazing weeks.

Elder Jeffrey Petersen

 My sweet ride!...#8seater

Safety for the Sisters

Whats Goody Family and Friends,

    This week was alright. There is a lot of things that have been going down here in the office that fortunately or unfortunately, depending on which way you look at it, is a good thing. A lot of housing problems have been coming my way because a lot of the houses that we are renting are really old have molding problems. And mold can lead to a lot of health issues. So my job for the next couple of months is to get all of the missionaries into suitable houses. It will be a lot of work but it needs to be done and that's my job.

    Along with that, President and the area 70 are really worried about the security of our sister missionaries. So, another task that i have is to make sure that every sister missionary house has bars on the windows of their houses and some sort of self defense mechanism with them at all times. Its going to be a lot of money but the Church wants to best and most secure houses for our Sisters. This knowledge would give comfort and peace to all of those parents who are stressed and worried about sending their daughters on missions. The Church, at least down here in South America, is putting our number one priority to the safety of the sister missionaries. I would know because i´m in charge of it for our mission. I had a meeting with President McMullin yesterday about the very issue and he wants it all done no matter the cost.

    Another thing that i have been working on is moving out all of the houses that we are not living in anymore. We had a pretty fun experience with one the other day when we had to move out of a two story building with a very narrow and windy staircase. There wasn't enough room for the closets and the beds to go down the stairs so we had my homie come and help us gently lower the furniture off the side of the balcony. It was very interesting to see. hahah I snagged a few fotos. 

 

 

 

    On our way back from the move, we had to travel for about a half an hour at about 11 at night to get back home. Unfortunately we drove past a couple of corners where we saw several prostitutes. We did our very best to avoid them. After we were closer to home and in a better place for missionaries to be i thought a lot about it. I came to the conclusion that we are not working hard enough. Satan is working all day long and especially during the night when we aren't. I was thinking about all the time we spend sleeping while he is still working. It gave me a lot of amp to work harder than i have been. 

    I know that this is the true Gospel and that its really us against the world. We need to be strong and faithful. We will win. We just need to stay strong!! Satan aint got nottin on us!!

 

I love you all so very much!!

and Hermana McMullin went to the states and brought us back some candy!! woo hoo

Love Elder Petersen