General Conference

Hello family and Friends,

This week topped off a great month. Lots of Lots of good things are coming our way here in Piquete Cuè and i have a feeling that the month of April is going to be at least 4 times better. I cant wait. I don't have a whole lot of time today but I love you all and I'll write more this next week. 

I love you all!!

Elder Petersen

Chat time:

How is everything?

Everything is doing really well here. My companion is doing well also. He is picking up on the Spanish thing. But there is still a lot to teach him.

What was your best experience this week?  

Probably General Conference!! for sure!! its better than Christmas here in the mission!

We are going to have a baptisms or two in the upcoming weeks. That will be great.

That is awesome!  Tell me about them.  Their story.

Well one of them is named Osmar. Her is 10 years old and his family is less active but we found him and he would like to be baptized. The other one is Matias, he is 17 years old and his girlfriend is a member of a nearby ward. He has come to church 4 times and he wants to serve a mission. We told him that he would need to be baptized before he can go on a mission and he said he would have no problem with it. He will be baptized on the 16 of this month.

Oh, I sent your final box!  I hope you like it : ) 

You have never sent a box that i have not loved! so for all of the previous and the one future box, Thank you so much.

I'm glad.  Unless you tell me specific things, I just kinda guess at what you might need or use.  I sent some CTR rings for you to give the kids, and I actually found them in Spanish.  Did you ever think that I would tell you I sent you LAST box?  I didn't!  

I keep telling people that the first 3 months were SO LONG AND HORRIBLE but the middle went so fast.  Now the last 3 months are DRAGGING ALONG!  Probably not for you, but for us...

Jajaja Its cruising by for me! ive got less than two months left and i think that it will go by really fast becasue there are lots of things to do here so ill be pretty busy. But i never thought that i would get to this point in the mission. I never thought that it would come to an end. But sure enough, just like everyone said, it came and went super fast.

How are you feeling about that?  Are you ready to be wrapping things up or not?  Some missionaries are ready to roll when the time comes and others really don't want to leave.  I can tell you that your family is ready!  We want you to finish strong but when that day comes, we're ready.  I hope you are too.  

Hahaha yup! I'm getting to that point!! I am getting to that point where i feel like i have done all that was asked of me and more and its time for me to go. Haha its hitting me but I'm still kicking!!

No good deed...

Hey Family and Friends,

This week went very well. We are working hard to reach our goals and it looks to me like we are on the right track to getting them. We have several people getting ready to make covenants with God and they will all will be baptized this next month. Matias, Osmar, Alex and Vivian are all progressing very nicely and also all went to church yesterday so Elder Starks and I will be seeing some baptisms here soon.

Along with all of the good progress we have also had a lot of really good food. Being Semana Santa, Everyone cooks tons of food and they invite us to eat it with them. One day we had a double lunch and it just about killed my companion eating so much food. 

We also had a lesson with the nicest chiken you have ever met. hahah youll see in the fotos below.

Honestly other than that there is not a whole lot going on. Oh the weather has been great. and we also had the chance to go and do service for a member family in our area. We dug a whole so that they could bury their trash. jajaj but we hit a water line while doing it. So what was supposed to be a 30 minute project turned into a 2 hour project. jajaja just my luck.

Well thats it for this week. Have a good one.

Love Elder Petersen

Marcelo got his mission call!

To all of those who still careFamily and Friends,

To all of those who still care, 

Im just Kitten! Im pretty sure(64%) you guys still care about good old Elder Petersen. jajaja

This week was pretty normal for me! I've only got about 9 weeks left in the mission and that means that I have seen pretty much everything that Paraguay has to offer. Therefore this letter will be a short one. Sorry.

This week we had the opportunity to go out and teach tons of people. If you don't think that is cool than you probably don't want to become a missionary. jaja because that is what we do. 

I am currently reading in 3 Nephi when Christ comes to the Americas. Maybe one of the most powerful sections in the entire Book Of Mormon. If you havn't read it lately, i would strongly recommend it.

Probably one of the coolest things that happened this week was one of my Convets got his mission call to Argentina Rosario Mission. I wasnt there to see him open it up but he called me and put me on speaker phone so i could here the whole thing. It was so cool. One of the best experiences of my mission thus far.

Well, thats about it for this week Family and Friends. I hope you all have a great week. Read your Scriptures Please.

Love Elder Petersen

Mi converso Marcelo

Elder Toledo, Jeffrey, Marcelo and Elder Johnson

New Trainee

Hey Family and Friends,

This week has been a little weird. Jaja I received changes, Elder Pickering and I are not together anymore but we are both still in Piquete Cue. We spit the area. Elder Pickering is with Elder Johnson in one half of Piquete Cue and Me and my new son, Elder Starks, are in the other half. 

So now you know.. . . Im Training. Unfortunately he doesn't speak a lick of Spanish and neither one of us know the area. So I am white washing and training, its going to be interesting. I don't have a whole lot of time to write this time but i took some pictures. 

I love you all so much! have a great week!!

Elder Petersen

Disappointments and Miracles

Family and Friends,

   Well, if that's not the weirdest title i don't what it. hahaha  I remember when i was just starting out in the mission i felt like i was never going to finish my training but now im only a training's length away from home.  Im so nervous but so excited. 

   This week for me was great but sad at the same time. Mariela, our golden investigator finally went to church yesterday but didn't like it. To be honest, that it the first time i have ever had an investigator go to church and not like it. She explained why and it makes sense. She didn't really like that all of the people that got up to bare their testimonies said the same exact things. I can see how that wouldn't be the most entertaining thing in the world. 

She also said it was partially her children were running around all over the place. She left a little bit early from church and that made me wonder what went wrong. So we went over to her house after church to see went wrong and that it what she told us. At the beginning of the lesson she told us that she probably wasn't going to go back to church. After a lot of testifying and personal experiences she told us that she will give it another shot this next Sunday. That lesson was definitely led by the spirit.

   We also received a reference for a less active family called La Familia Miño. They are so dope! they have 5 little kids and two of them have physical problems. Some of the cutest kids in the world. We talked to them once and the father of the family seemed to be really rude at first but we cracked his shell wide open and he broke down. He told us that he had been having problems with his work. We felt that we should talk about the basic things like reading and praying as well as having your family home evenings. He asked me how i knew that they weren't doing those things. I told him straight up that usually the people that are doing these things are happier and better off in their families. He looked me in the eye and i honestly thought that he was going to kick me out of his house but he just started crying and told me that that is exactly what they were lacking. Once again, another lesson led by the Spirit. 

Yesterday at church we were waiting outside for some investigators to come and they walked around the corner, all seven of them in their white shirts and dark pants. It was soo great to see them come to church.

   On a more interesting note, I had a drunk guy come up to me and ask me if i had any money. I told him no and that i didn't have any money. hahaha  Now, that's not the interesting part because that happens on a weekly basis, but he then started to tear up and hand me money. hahaha he told me it wasn't much but that he wanted me to have it.  I have never had anyone offer me their money before. haha

   Other than that it was a pretty normal week. We climbed a water tower, taught tons of lessons, saw some disappointing things but as well witnessed miracles. Overall, it was a great week.

   Changes are this next week so ill probably have a new companion the next time i write you all. But ill let you next time.

   I love you all and i hope you have a wonderful week!! 

Love Elder Petersen

Fotos:

Lino (recently reactivated), My companion and I

A beautiful Paraguayan Sunset

Piquete Cue...Special change

Hey Everybody,

This week was dope. I got special changed out from being the traveling Elder to an area called Piquete Cue. 

Elder Pech and I got a call from President McMullin this past Wednesday telling us that we would be having special changes. We packed up our stuff and headed to the office. President called my companion into the office and took about an hour talking to him. He then called me in and told me that my companion would be going home.  Im still not sure why. He then opened up his change board and told me I would be going to Piquete Cue with Elder Pickering, and now I am here. 

Im loving it. We have a great area with lots of potential. We have two baptisms coimng up and im so excited to be a part of the work here in Piquete Cue. Its a good area, it just hasn't had missionaries in it that have given their all to the work. Im grateful for the opportunity to take what I have learn in the mission thus far and see what i can do in this area. Wish me Luck!!

I have only been in the area for a couple days but we have already put a baptismal date with a lady named Mariela. She is so nice and wants to know so much more about the church. Yesterday was our second visit and we left a lesson two pamphlet the first lesson. She read it twice and as we explained the lesson she already new what we were going to say next. She has an autistic son who is 14 years old and a crazy little daughter who is 2. I have never seen someone so prepared to recieve this Gospel in my entire mission. I hope she sticks with it and gets baptized. 

Im so excited to see what I can do in these last three months in my mission. I love this Gospel.  Its true! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week.

Love Elder Petersen

Chatting:

So tell me about Elder Pickering.  I haven't heard of him before.  Where is he from?  So you have a photo with him and you?

He is from the salt lake valley! I forget what part but he goes to Jordan High School. He is really cool he just has been having a rough time in the choosing friends department and unfortunately his missionaries friends are kind of bringing him down. 

When you say his missionary friends, does that mean his comps or his friends from home that are serving elsewhere?  How long has he been out?

He has been out for a little less than I have, so about a year and 7 months.  His past companions. He just is bitter about the whole mission in general and its starting to take its tole just constantly hearing how sucky everything is. He even talks bad about the mission president. That's something that i don't take very lightly, but he is coming to his senses.

Oh boy, sounds like you've got your hands full, but I have NO doubt you can handle it.  Show him that it can be fun while working hard.  You have the potential to help him turn his whole mission around, but it is HIS choice.  Teach him to love and serve the people, without that he'll get nowhere.   Remember, in your famous words..."teach people not lessons."

So he's had a long time to have bad experiences and to build up this attitude.  I was hoping he was newer than that so that he could turn it around and have a positive mission.  So what are you doing to help him?

hahaha i don't know! Im just being a good example and working his butt of!! jajaja it seems to be working little by little. 

Does his seem to be receptive to you and your tactics? I hope you can help him change his thinking before he comes home.  He'll regret it if he doesn't.  He'll never get this opportunity again.  

Yeah I hope he is receptive!

Stitches out and lots of talking

How are you bud?

My week kinda sucked but i'm still a Child of God so that's something to look forward to! haha
I just haven't been able to sleep very well lately! Hopefully today will be different! Today i feel much better!! Oh i also got my stitches out this morning!!! woo hooo

How is your mouth?  Once it calms down you might sleep better.  Do you think its because of your new place or that you were in the office so long you got used to it. Now your out in the wild again. How is it?

Ah its great! I love it! I fell like a Jaguar that was in captivity for his first years of his life and now they have set me free to roam and hunt and baptize and such!

Well!  That is quite the description!  But your week was rough? Just because of sleep or something else?

No just sleep!! I don't know why but i seem to wake up at about 1 or 2 every night and go to the bathroom cuz i have to pee so bad! then i lay back down and i cant got to sleep until about 4 or 5! But last night was a lot better. Hopefully tonight will be better too!

Sounds like your dad! Except he's a lot older.  I think while you were in the office your sleep pattern got messed up bad and you're going to have to retrain your body to sleep again.  Too many all nighters and random early morning runs to the airport.

hahaha yeah i think you're right!! I think my body is mad at me for all of the lack of sleep that it has!!

Yes!  So what the most interesting experience this week.  Or interesting person you've met?

I met a man on the bus that was bringing flowers to his mom! It was a little bit awkward because i went and sat next to him and to strike up a conversation i asked him if the flowers were for his wife or girlfriend. Hahaha yeah . . . awkward!  after the awkwardness passed I told him who I was and what i was doing. He told me that he had a friend that was a member for all her life and that he knew a lot about the church already. Now, I know this is a little bold but i asked him why he didn't get baptized. He told me that he had had doubts about the Book of Mormon and he never found an answer. So i told the answer that he needed to hear and the Spirit let it sink in to his heart. He asked if we could come by and teach him this week. So that's what we will do!

That's my success story for this week! Out of the 150+ people that i talked to this week 1 seems to be promising. hahaha 

Wow, cool story!  And think of all of those seeds that were planted for next missionaries. 

The Rios family that Jeffrey came to love