Presidente' of Paraguay

Family and Friends,

  Its weird to me that instead of counting up to a year I can count down!! Only a little bit of time to do a lot of work! It seams almost impossible but Everything is possible with God!! right bay!! ; )

  Ive got to tell you all that this week wasn't too spectacular but it sure wasn't bad either. We´ve got changes coming up tomorrow so im pretty nervous for that! I'm almost certain that ill be changed! 

  This week were had lunch at our ward mission leaders house and after he took us to a huge soccer field with thousands of people just sitting around. My companion asked our ward mission leader if all these people were for us!! jajaj   He said of course not, but you contact some of them!! jajaj   He then explained all these people were waiting for the President of Paraguay. We waited there for a while and all of a sudden a truck comes barreling in and behind it there were a bunch a BMW´s!! The beamer that stops closest to us was that of the President. He stepped out and about 10 people started cheering! jajaj  The members tell me that he is one of the biggest drug traffickers in Paraguay that's  why no one cheered!! So i saw the President of Paraguay and the biggest drug trafficker in a matter seconds. jajaj 

Unfortunately that's the only cool thing that happened this week here in Paraguay!! We have changes tomorrow and ill let you guys know next week if i got changes!!

Love you all!! have a good week and go to church!! Please!!

Un Abrazo 

Love Elder Petersen

Photos:

#1: Political event of the century

#2: Conferncia with Elder Gonzales

One year Burn!

Family and Friends,

   This week was pretty dang good!! To start out, we had the great opportunity as a mission to hear. Elder Gonzales of the 70 came and spoke to us all, that was pretty great!! I learned so much in just 4 hours its amazing. He touched on lots of great stuff that mostly applies to missionary work. Such an Inspired man.  He also told us stuff like we shouldn't make a list of things that we cannot do on the sabbath day, what we do is a personal decision!! it was pretty cool!

    At the end of the conference a bunch of missionaries went go eat something and i talked with a sister missionary that is in my old area back in Pedro Juan Caballero. She had some pictures of some of the people i met there and i hardly even recognized them. It was kind of a weird middle mission crisis seeing some members that i haven't seen for about a year. It was nice to know that they are still active in the church even a year later.

    As some of you might already know, it is a tradition to burn a shirt at your one year mark. Most elders don't do it because they don't have the spare shirt. luckily im living in a house that has had tons of elders that have lived in it. So i found one in a closet and we took it to the roof to burn it!! it was awesome for about 30 seconds then i was just tired and i wanted to go to bed!! jajaj

    That's pretty much it for now. I hope you guys have a great one!! 

Love you, Love this Gospel and hang in there!!

Love Elder Petersen

Those who are broken can be made whole again

Family and friends,

Well Ive got to tell you guys that this was no doubt the hardest week of my life. Having said that, I'm doing surprisingly well. Thank you for all the emails i got and the support that was showed towards me. I really do appreciate it. Luckily, as well as you guys, I've seen a lot of tender mercies here in the field.

     This letter might be a little longer than usual because I've two weeks to catch you guys up on. To start out I had a lot of fun this week which took my mind off the stress for a little bit. JaJa  I had a drunk guy kiss me on the mouth this week. The dude was super sly and super fast too. He caught me off guard.

      I also got the chance to climb about 3 water towers this week and I took lots of pics.

 

 

      We also went to the house of a less active member that has been coming to church lately and she has about 70 ducks. We showed up and she asked us if we wanted to see her ducks, we told her heck yeah. She did this weird little bird call and all 70 of her ducks flew in and were waiting for their food. Then she asked us we were hungry. And of course we said "siempre" (always). She picked up and duck and told us to kill it. jajaj so we did. Its remarkably easy to break a ducks neck just by twisting its head a couple of times. jajaj so about 2 hours later we were eating duck, it was delicious!

 

 

      Well as you know last Monday was not my day. We were playing a game of soccer with some neighborhood kids and one of them kicked the ball over the fence and it broke a thermos for drinking tereré (an herb drink) The next thing I knew the kid ran away, what a tool right? 

So I climbed the fence and got the ball but the lady was outside and she ripped me a new one. She yelled at me for a good 5 minutes telling me to buy her a new one. After that I went and bought her a new one but put a note inside, along with a lesson 2: plan of salvation pamphlet. JaJa I hope she reads it and gets baptized. Coolest conversion story ever!

 

 

      Paraguay and Argentina played in the copa américa this week and they tied. That might not seam like such an accomplishment but it sure is for Paraguay. Argentina is ranked 2 in the world and Paraguay is ranked 85. Everybody was going crazy. Its like a high school football team beating the Patriots!

      We also had the chance to hitch hike 2 times this week, Paraguayans are so generous.

     Now for a little bit more spiritual stuff, but not really!

     This week we get to have a member of the 70 come and talk to us. His name is Elder Gonzales from Uruguay. It will be super great.

     As well, we have been reading the Book of Mormon together as a mission and marking all the references to Christ and the Atonement. I'm in 4 Nephi and as of right now the word Señor (Lord) appears 1,265 times. Its amazing to think that some people believe that we are not Christians.

     As far as work goes, We have a wedding planned for Alberto and Ofelia. It will be this upcoming change. Our plan is to get them married so that they can be baptized. I pray that everything will go according to plan.

     Last but Definitely not least, I fasted this week. I have to say that it was the most successful, satisfying and important fast of my life. It was the only thing that brought me peace throughout this week. It the only time in my life that I feel I had done a true fast. Thank you Elder Fielding for the advice. 

     This was a hard one. I can't say yet that I'm glad it happened but I'm sure I will on day. I love you guys so much. Thank you for everything. Now its time to go preach the Gospel of our Savior so that others can have the same hope that you and I have.

Elder Petersen

Hitchhiking and the Missionary Mantle

Hey erbody,

   Well this was a week to remember. First of all I'd like to announce that I'll be in the airpot a year from today. whoo hoo!  but its also not enough time to do what I need to do here. I better get crackin. I cant beleive that its been a year already. The next thing i know im going to be on a plane again headed home. flippin loco

   On kind of an interesting note, we had to hitchhike back to our area this week. jaja  Let me tell you all a story:  Elder Benavente and I needed to go visit a recent convert named Mabel. Mabel lives in a little town called Itakurubi del Rosario about an hour and a half bus ride away from our area. We got out there and had a great lesson with her in front of a catholic church. jaja then she had to go back to work.  We went to the terminal to see what time the next bus left and the guy kind of chuckled and told us not until 1 in the morning. jajaj Our next option was to call a taxi and pay about 150 thousand guaranies to get back home, we checked our pockets and we didnt have enough money. Next and final option, call the assistants to ask if we can hitchhike back to our area and to my surprise they said yes. jajaj so we headed to the street. About 3 or 4 cars stopped but they were going to another city. Finally a van stopped a ways up the road so we ran to see where they were headed and to see if we could catch a ride with them, luckily they told us to jump in. We had an hour and a half to teach them about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We did so. jaja Turns out that they only stopped because they were monnonitas, a church from germany, and they thought we were Germans. jajaj good stuff  

 On a little bit more of a spiritual note this week I really felt the mantle of being a missionary. Im not sure why, but total strangers seem to trust nineteen and twenty year old kids with little to no life experience with some of theyre biggest secrets. I like to think that people see me as a trustworthy person but i know there is something more than that. Maybe its the Apostalic calling that we have as missionaries that sets us apart from other people or maybe its that we devote all of our time and efforts towards the Lord and the building of His kingdom. 

At this point in the mission I have really felt this mantle rest upon my shoulders. I surely felt it after our hitchhiking adventure when we went to the house of a young single mother with two daughters. We were just teaching a normal lesson to help her find some excitement to come back to church when she started crying. All she said for a while was this is really hard. After a moment or two of silence she told us that she is pregnant again and we are the first people that she has told. Why she trusted us with such a big secret, i still don't know but I have the faith that if she chooses to turn to God in this time that she will find peace. Just like so many of us have.

  I truely love this work and im so grateful to be a part of it. I love you guys so much and i hope you have the best weeks of your lives.

Love Elder Petersen

 

 

 

 

Letter to Dad (and Mom):

 

Hello Dad,

I'm glad everything is going good back home. I love to hear that everything is going fine. How is your hip doing. Mom told me that it has been bothering you lately. How is work going. Any cool new assignments. And the temple, how is that going. Its almost over right.

  Can i just tell you that I'm so glad you raised me the way you did. I'm grateful to you and mom for all the things i know how to do. I'm grateful that you raised me to be not so socially awkward. Thanks to you guys I am a fairly street smart person. And thanks to God I've, had several book smart companions to help me understand the importance of being book smart. Now i know that's not really fair to you guys but that wasn't your fault, i just didn't listen to you guys when you tried to show me that being book smart is just as important. 

I've made a lot of goals throughout the mission that I intend to reach that will help me become a more rounded person. Ive learned that nothing is impossible with the Lord so I've made it a habit to pray to reach my goals. With the testimony that I've received in the mission I know that with the Lords help I will reach my goals. I love goals!

  I know that was a little random but its what I've been working on, personally, here in Paraguay. God works in mysterious ways.

  I love you Dad. I hope you have a fantastic week.

love Jeff