Busy in the Office

Part of the office crew

Elder in orange had a birthday so they decided to cover him with flour!  They did make him breakfast afterwards.

Well hello there Family and Friends,

  It seams weird to me that I'm writing you all again. It seams as though it was just yesterday that i was writing. But i guess that's a good thing. This is my fourth week in the office and i really love it. I miss the field a ton though. We have a great group of elders in the office here including the secretary, Elder Toledo, and the money guy, Elder Vela and of course my two companions Elder Burger and Elder Milton. And we have been getting out to work this past week so that has been really nice and luckily we have been able to contact a lot of great people.

   Well President gave Elder Milton and I a new companion and put Elder Burger in with Elder Vela and Elder Toledo. So it'll be good and I'm pretty excited for it. As well, i get to go to Villa Hayes with Elder Burger for a open Chapel. I was in Villa Hayes for 6 months of my mission and I'm so excited to go back and see all of those great people that I became so close to. I just hope they all remember me and hopefully i can hook us up with some food or something!! ; )

   Honestly i think that's about it for this week but i love you so much and i hope you all have the best weeks of your lives! I challenge you all to have two religious conversations this week and no that doesn't include church! Go get r done!!

Love Elder Petersen

Selfie Stick & Moving 7 houses

Family and Friends,

  This week was pretty crazy for me! These last changes we lost 32 missionaries because they all went home, but we only had 15 come in, therefore we didnt have enought missionaries to put them in every area. So being that I'm over all the houses in the mission President McMullin brought me into his office and asked me if I could end all the contracts of the houses that we dont need and move all the things out this week so that we dont have to pay another months rent. 

So that's what I've been up to lately... Non-stop!!  We've moved over 7 houses in the last 2 days! It makes it super hard when the landlords make a problem out of it. They always just think that we are in to steal their money so they put up a fight and try and get more money out of us then they deserve. Its frustrating but you've got to be Christ-like because its the church that your representing not yourself!

  As well we went out to work (knock on doors) the other night and we are in a super rich part of town so we got rejected more than I ever have in my whole mission! I felt like I got my fair share of rejections in one day to last me the whole rest of my mission!! jajaj

  Also, we found a Selfie stick and some how it fits my camera perfectly so we have been documenting all the things that we have done in the last couple of days!! got some great selfies for you guys!

  But that's about it for this week! i hope you all have a fantastic week this week!!

More...
Mom:  So how do you “close” a house?  What do you do with all of the furniture?  Do you have a truck to haul stuff?

Jeff:  well I have to get a 30 day notice done, a termination contract and the rent! Once the landlord signs the contract, then we can give them the keys back and then we can move the stuff out, but fortunately we have a member that does all of our moves for us, so he comes with his sons and they move most of everything for us!!

Pope in Paraguay

family y friends,

      I had no idea that this calling would be so dang stressful. It seems like there is no rest. I am constantly receiving calls from missionaries about random things that they want fixed, people clamming that we owe them money and angry landlords. There is constantly something going on in the office!!

Office Elders

My Zone!

      This week was pretty crazy for me. I'm still in the learning process of being the new Fichero of the mission, by the way, that makes things so much more difficult. 

To start out, you need to know a little bit more about what is happening in our mission. We had 230 missionaries about 2 weeks ago but then about 32 of them "died", or finished their missions, but only 15 newbies showed up. So, what that means is that we have to close 7 different areas because there are not enough missionaries to occupy all of the areas. That mans we have to close all the houses that they have been living in and take all the things out of those houses. We have to make sure that all of the paper work is done properly so that we don't get some angry landlord saying that we still owe them money. And to be 100% honest, that's not even half of what I do.

      We have been running all over town this past week trying to make it so that this mission will run smoothly. Its a great thing that the Lord is on our side because without his help here in the office, there is no possible way that we could have done some of the things that we have had to do.

      Just in the last couple of days we have had to move 3 different houses in complete opposite sides of Paraguay. And this next week is just going to get better. We have a trip planned out to go to Concepcion this next week which is about 8 hours away, just to do another move.

      Oh and just so you guys know, the Pope is here in Paraguay this week so everyone is going crazy. Everyone is wearing the same yellow and white t shirt that has his face on it. The streets are lined with Catholic flags, shirts, and souvenirs. We actually saw a cardboard cutout of him and we wanted to take a picture with it but as we pulled out our cameras, a family came by a started worshiping this cardboard cutout of the Pope. Some of the people actually started crying. Its funny to be here during Easter weekend and comparing it to when the Pope comes to town. It seems to me that they like the Pope more than they do Jesus!! Not judging just observing.

      As well, about 30 minutes ago we were walking down the streets of Asuncion and we some a really nice car collection so we stopped by to ask if we could go take a look around. Luckily they said yes. Unfortunately they said no Photos. We saw Porches, Ferrari s, a Corvette Stingray, an Audi R8, a Shelby Mustang, a Roles Royce and a Wiesman. It was really cool!! I have never heard of a Wiesman before so i asked the guy what it was. He told me that it was a German made car but it was only made if it was asked for. He also told me that it was the only one of its kind in all of South America! So that was very neat!!

     I'm sorry i don't have a whole lot of field work stories but that makes sense being that I'm not in the field anymore! I truly havnt been able to do a whole lot of missionary work lately but it sure does make me miss the field! Im working just as hard or harder than I ever have just in a different way!!!

     I love this Gospel. This truly is the work of Salvation and we should take every opportunity we can to be a part of it!!

     I love you all so much and i hope you have a fantastic week!! 

Love Elder Petersen

Oh, and I got my Paraguayan Drivers license!  

Conversation with Jeffrey:

Hey bud!  How was your week?

It was one heck of a week!! Very stressful

Busy stressful or other stressful? 

Very very very busy stressful!! Statistics, housing, moving, contracts, angry landlords, zone conference, etc.

Wanna go back and hide in the jungle?  Lol.  

Please!

Dad said...welcome to the high counsel!  Everybody wants something from you and you have to be Christlike when you answer. : ) 

AMEN!!!

Good training for Bishop, HC, stake presidency...

I sure hope not!! jaja!! but how are you guys doing!! i heard we are getting a boat!! 

before you say no! just think of how cute lil O-man would look in a little life jacket while I'm wake boarding behind it!!

Ha-ha!!!  So, dad threw me under the bus huh?  That sneaky snake, he gets all you kids and plots against me!  Lol. Ya, we'll get one after the dead grass on the side is replaced with pavers or concert, after the deck is fixed, etc.
Oh come on how often do we use the deck!! jajaj i would use that boat every weekend if not more! jajaa.  nah im just kitten!! 

And then, he had to go to the airport...

I'm the mission "filing cabinet"!

Family and Friends,

    Truly you're not really going to believe my changes. I'm actually still in a little bit of shock as I write this. There's a reason why I'm emailing today rather than on Monday, that is due to my changes that I received this Tuesday. I have so much to tell you guys that I'm not really sure where to start. jaja

    Well maybe I can start with my changes. This Tuesday morning My companion (who is a zone leader) got a call from the assistants at about 7:00 in the morning. I went in to go take a shower because I knew that it was for the changes and I'm not supposed to hear them until district meeting. While I was in the shower my companion yelled "no way". I knew it was for me!! I got out of the shower and he came right up to me and told me that I'm not going to believe my changes, and he was right, I didn't! 

He told me that I'm the new Fichero of the mission! Now if you know any Spanish you'd know that Fichero actually means filing cabinet. And to be honest that's kind of how I feel sometimes! jaja I feel a lot like the guy you go to if you have any little tasks that need done! The other office elders and I run the mission! I get the privilege to work right along side President McMullin and Sister McMullin! I'm really excited to see the other side of Missionary Work!!!

    My official job, I guess you could say, is over all the housing in the mission (110 houses in the mission), all the supplies in the mission (refrigerators, desks, showers, etc.), and as well I am the one who fills out the "Book of God" (the same one that all of Gods people will be named in, or the records). I put all the Baptismal records into the computer and just an upside, I'll be getting my Paraguayan license. Its amazing to see all that goes on here so that all the other missionaries can focus on their work out in the field. 

     So, that is what I'll be up to these next several months of my mission. I'll be making sure that this mission functions properly. It will be fun but hard! I'm ready . . . .super nervous but ready!! Along with all of that I'll be changing the type of my area as well! I've always been in the jungle with dirt roads and pigs in the streets but just today I saw a Lamborghini. Yup I'm in the city now! Good Old Asunción!

    It was also tough to say goodbye to all the friends that i made in San Estanislau (Santaní ).  I met a lot of good people and lots of bad ones! I had tons of great experiences as well as bad ones but if I've learned anything on the mission it would be that you can learn something from everything! Ill miss Santaní but I'm super excited for this new change!!

    I love this gospel and i know that its the restored Gospel of Christ! Testimonio builder of the week is about revelation. I know that President  was second guessing this decision for longest time but he knew that its what God wanted!! jajaja no, i really do have such a big testimony about revelation though now seeing all the things that go on behind the scenes of the mission!! I love you all and i hope you have the best weeks of your lives!!

Love Elder Petersen

Conversation with Jeffrey:
I'm the new Fichero of the mission!!!

What is that??
Well let me give you a brief summery of my life the past few days!

Took a bus to Asuncion at 1 in the morning with all my bags. went to the office, Took about 40 suitcases up a flight of stairs then back down, put them in a truck, watched the newbies get there trainers, ate pizza,  stayed in the office with elders and sisters that were going to the airport at about 3 in the morning, took em to the airport, came back slept for 30 minutes, went back to the airport to take more poeple! i still havnt unpacked my suitcases yet and its been almost 4 days!

That is awesome!  Do you still have a comp?

yeah I've actually have to be trained, so Elder Milton is training me and Elder Burger is our companion! Elder Milton is from Arizona and Elder Burger is from Germany who speaks perfect German Gaurani, English, and Spanish!!

Do you like it?

I'm still not understanding a whole lot but Elder Milton is way cool and he helps me a ton! There are so many little tasks that need to be done on a very tight schedule! its crazy that just 4 Elders can run a whole mission!

I'm over 110 houses in the mission, all the baptismal records of the mission, statistics of the mission and whatever president tells me to do!! like yesterday he told me to put alarms in all the sister missionary houses!  I didn't even know where to begin but if Pres. tells you to do it, you do it!!

Lol!!  Obedience!  When he asked you to jump, you ask how high!  Sounds like a BIG calling but you can totally do it!  You got enough OCD from dad and I that it'll happen