FAM!
yes, you guessed it, i'm in delaware. i'm in the middle of absolutely nowhere! i got transferred to the farthest area in the whole mission!!! ha ha ha it's called LLAY LLAY (pronounced in gringo "yai yai") which is Mapuche, an ancient tribal language of the lamanites meaning "wind, wind", or "just a lot of stinkin wind. i don't know a lot about my area cause after traveling for hours i got here and left my stuff in the house and we left to write you guys. but from what i've seen i'm so excited. it's so calm and reminds me of a bathroom stop on the way to lake powell...one of those little towns. i did not see that coming, but we got the call last night and i departed in the morning. the best part about it is that i'm a normal missionary with no leadership position now, so i'll have a lot more time in my area and a lot more free time at night to relax. it was great being a zone leader but it's got it's benefits and drawbacks. it was pretty tough leaving elder tanner and some of my converts in renca. it was enjoyable while it lasted with elder tanner but when we had interviews with the president a few weeks ago we mentioned to him that we were companions in the mtc and he was really surprised, he didn't know ha ha, so maybe that had something to do with it.
so...my new companion is magnificent. he is from Peru and his name is elder tello. he makes me laugh so hard he is a goof! he has 3 months in the mission but talks and plans like he has more! he has so much energy and it looks like he has more experience than i do so it looks like it's gonna be a good transfer. we also have some baptisms lined up this week. what more could i ask for? how about an amazing bugle snack? oh, wait, that's coming in a package, i guess i have everything!
I need to say some awesome prayers and give Him some thanks for all that He has given me right now in the mission and for all the previous blessings i have received. i know we have a lot of work to do but i am really excited to get to know the members. i know it's not gonna be easy here cause it's a branch, not a ward, and there have been challenges before but it's all good because i know the Lord has been preparing some people for us.
oh yeah, i forgot one detail...we are on bikes! i'm so excited! building up them legs. Well, our pday time was cut quite a bit for all the traveling so i gotta go and cut the letter a little short but i love you guys so much and thanks for your prayers, for praying for adalina etc. i feel your prayers and support. i think that's so awesome all the ward activities you are doing, that's SO perfect. way to make the peterson family proud.
Elder Peterson
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Chance's Email 7/27/2009
Fam!
Hows life? Sounds like mccall was a hit. It looked cold in the pictures, like really cloudy...no? But it looked really awesome. i was laughing at the story of the bike ride. I just hope that one day mom, london, and kenz can go on one of the scout 100 mile bike rides and then talk about that mccall idaho bike trip ha ha. jk but seriously (you know what i'm talking about dad) ha ha sorry ok anyway, this week was another tough week of finding people but it's all good. Thanks so much for your prayers, i know they are helping. It helps so much just knowing that i've got the fam back home rooting for me at every moment. Thanks a ton.
President May has focused a lot on how we need to be 100% dependant on the Lord for our success in every aspect of our lives, not just here in the mission. But the mission is going through a tough time right now, we are really low in some statistics but President May is doing what he should be, turning us to the Lord for help. I love it. He reminds me a lot of dad. That was cool to hear about Jaren Day coming home. We have an investigator from the dominican republic! in fact, she was the only one that came to church this week. She is going through tough times and we are trying to get her to understand that the gospel is her spiritually food and medicine. Her name is Adalina, please keep her in your prayers. I feel like elder tanner and i connect a lot, he is a stud and we have the same sense of humor and we get along so that helps the work a lot. We are using that new art gospel book in our contacts and showing people pictures and it helps. Man mom you'd be so proud of us we are mr. clean in our apartment. almost every apartment in the mission has ancient trash that no one throws out cause it takes a little extra effort and man we have purified our dwelling. a+. ok, just some tips on the cigarrette idea. you guys need to prepare the cigarrette without them seeing it. tell them "im gonna give you your last cigarrette you'll ever smoke" and then go home and prepare it and make sure to give it a day to dry in the sun. then tell them what i told you to say in the last email and it should work. This sunday there are transfers, so we will see what happens, i doubt we will have any changes in my area. i hope not. well fam gotta go, we are going to buy some yarn and im gonna teach elder tanner how to knit the beanie of his life.
Elder Peterson
Hows life? Sounds like mccall was a hit. It looked cold in the pictures, like really cloudy...no? But it looked really awesome. i was laughing at the story of the bike ride. I just hope that one day mom, london, and kenz can go on one of the scout 100 mile bike rides and then talk about that mccall idaho bike trip ha ha. jk but seriously (you know what i'm talking about dad) ha ha sorry ok anyway, this week was another tough week of finding people but it's all good. Thanks so much for your prayers, i know they are helping. It helps so much just knowing that i've got the fam back home rooting for me at every moment. Thanks a ton.
President May has focused a lot on how we need to be 100% dependant on the Lord for our success in every aspect of our lives, not just here in the mission. But the mission is going through a tough time right now, we are really low in some statistics but President May is doing what he should be, turning us to the Lord for help. I love it. He reminds me a lot of dad. That was cool to hear about Jaren Day coming home. We have an investigator from the dominican republic! in fact, she was the only one that came to church this week. She is going through tough times and we are trying to get her to understand that the gospel is her spiritually food and medicine. Her name is Adalina, please keep her in your prayers. I feel like elder tanner and i connect a lot, he is a stud and we have the same sense of humor and we get along so that helps the work a lot. We are using that new art gospel book in our contacts and showing people pictures and it helps. Man mom you'd be so proud of us we are mr. clean in our apartment. almost every apartment in the mission has ancient trash that no one throws out cause it takes a little extra effort and man we have purified our dwelling. a+. ok, just some tips on the cigarrette idea. you guys need to prepare the cigarrette without them seeing it. tell them "im gonna give you your last cigarrette you'll ever smoke" and then go home and prepare it and make sure to give it a day to dry in the sun. then tell them what i told you to say in the last email and it should work. This sunday there are transfers, so we will see what happens, i doubt we will have any changes in my area. i hope not. well fam gotta go, we are going to buy some yarn and im gonna teach elder tanner how to knit the beanie of his life.
Elder Peterson
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Chance's Email 7/13/2009
Familia!
Gloria got baptized! I love that lady she is so awesome...the baptismal service was great also! A lot of the ladies stayed after church for her baptism and showed lots of love and support. the bishops family is so key in our ward, without that family this ward would be a disaster. They always accompany us to appointments and give us lunch and lots of other things. Thank you for your letters, they were awesome and i felt great reading them. I love hearing about the family, even if they aren't doing too great. But right now, as mom said, we can celebrate adam! i sent my letter to him like 6 months ago and it never got there so it's in the little package i sent last week. speaking of mom...yesterday we were knocking doors and it was a little tedious and hard, when the josh groban "dont give up" song (an all-time mom fav) came into my head and we began singing it really loud and it helped! our spirits were higher.. thanks josh, your so dandy. This week i learned something i will never forget. It was hard for me to accept the fact that praise is more powerful than criticizing. Well i testify that IT IS. it took some work to teach me it but criticizing does almost absolutely nothing! When missionaries arent doing what they are supposed to or not working effectively, breathing down their back about it doesnt help. i think about my past zone leaders and my favorites and WHY they were my favorites, it is because they loved me and praised me when i was down and up. We had a bad week in our area and i was expecting the assistant to call and say "What are you guys doing with your time????" but when he called and didn't say anything about the bad, completely ignored it, and talked about the good, I WAS SO MOTIVATED! he has called before and criticized and i thought about the difference in how i felt then, and how i felt last night and what a huge difference there was. i know that this applies to every other relationship too. i am going to remember that always. Today i bought a new suit finally! and your never gonna guess how much it cost....ok so if i remember right, my suits in the states were like 150 or 200 for a good one right? well as i went to the mall, there was a 50% discount and i snagged one that was really cool for 55 bucks! yes you heard me. Right now we are going to cook the cookies you guys sent me, with diego and his family. it's gonna be a good time. Well it's nice and cold here but i've got a nice coat so it's all good, i'm also sporting a scarf, something i never understood before the mission, i find they are pretty classy. well i love you guys and i'll see you next week
Elder Peterson
ps tell chad i got his email and thanks!
Gloria got baptized! I love that lady she is so awesome...the baptismal service was great also! A lot of the ladies stayed after church for her baptism and showed lots of love and support. the bishops family is so key in our ward, without that family this ward would be a disaster. They always accompany us to appointments and give us lunch and lots of other things. Thank you for your letters, they were awesome and i felt great reading them. I love hearing about the family, even if they aren't doing too great. But right now, as mom said, we can celebrate adam! i sent my letter to him like 6 months ago and it never got there so it's in the little package i sent last week. speaking of mom...yesterday we were knocking doors and it was a little tedious and hard, when the josh groban "dont give up" song (an all-time mom fav) came into my head and we began singing it really loud and it helped! our spirits were higher.. thanks josh, your so dandy. This week i learned something i will never forget. It was hard for me to accept the fact that praise is more powerful than criticizing. Well i testify that IT IS. it took some work to teach me it but criticizing does almost absolutely nothing! When missionaries arent doing what they are supposed to or not working effectively, breathing down their back about it doesnt help. i think about my past zone leaders and my favorites and WHY they were my favorites, it is because they loved me and praised me when i was down and up. We had a bad week in our area and i was expecting the assistant to call and say "What are you guys doing with your time????" but when he called and didn't say anything about the bad, completely ignored it, and talked about the good, I WAS SO MOTIVATED! he has called before and criticized and i thought about the difference in how i felt then, and how i felt last night and what a huge difference there was. i know that this applies to every other relationship too. i am going to remember that always. Today i bought a new suit finally! and your never gonna guess how much it cost....ok so if i remember right, my suits in the states were like 150 or 200 for a good one right? well as i went to the mall, there was a 50% discount and i snagged one that was really cool for 55 bucks! yes you heard me. Right now we are going to cook the cookies you guys sent me, with diego and his family. it's gonna be a good time. Well it's nice and cold here but i've got a nice coat so it's all good, i'm also sporting a scarf, something i never understood before the mission, i find they are pretty classy. well i love you guys and i'll see you next week
Elder Peterson
ps tell chad i got his email and thanks!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Chance's Email 6/15/2009
Familia Como les va?
Ojala que esten bien! this week was great. i want to write some personal letters today so it's gonna be a short one. first of i didn't go to the dentist cause he was booked liked barnes and noble (the dad jokes are rubbin off on me) so this wednesday i have an "examin" and then in another week the appointment so i basically won't have teeth by then. Dad...did you get the letter i wrote for grandpa peterson? if not i'll send it again. Sounds like the walkabout went good ha ha that's a good idea, the church is a lot different here. today we had a zone activity and watched this documentary on pres hinckley and i made the cookies you sent me mom, they were a hit! i loved the package!! i used the squirt guns on the dogs and they got even more mad!! so they are going to stay in the house. So this sunday diego is going down under! he is such a stud, everything is listo he just needs to talk to his padres. if they say he is good to go, listo! the donny osmond investigators, Barbara and Yasna, are going to get baptized the 24th and it's gonna be great. it's seriously so amazing to see how their lives have changed in less than one month. in literally less than one month people do spiritual 180 and are completely different people. can you imagine what wouldn't have happened if they had gone on a vacation during that one month? The Lord has people prepared, it's just our job to go out and find them.
This week we found a guy named ivan that is about 60 when we were knocking doors. A different man opened the door and then ivan said "wait! i want to talk to these jovenes" so he left and began talking to us. he started talking about the book of mormon. he is a little old and is evangelico so i was at first like "oh boy", cause normally the old people here are so closed minded. but i was wrong. he let us in and began talking about the book of mormon. the house we entered was the house of his cousin or something and he lives in a different city. he knew SO MUCH about the book of mormon. the best part is that he discovered it for himself. when he was visiting his family in this house where he was when we found him, he found a copy of the book of mormon and began reading it and was amazed. he told us he already knows that its true and that he wants to know more about it. we took his address and sent the address to the other miss ionary wher he lives. it was so cool to see the energy he has for this book. can you even imagine discovering somthing like that? imagine finding another published book that is another testament of Jesus Christ but from another tribe of israel. i would be sooooooooooooo excited to see what it taught me!!!
i know this gospel is true and i KNOW that we are in the only true church. what i have found out is that you only have to read the scriptures carefully to find that out. EVERYTHING in the scriptures points towards what our church teaches and it makes so much sense. i love you guys Elder Peterson
Ojala que esten bien! this week was great. i want to write some personal letters today so it's gonna be a short one. first of i didn't go to the dentist cause he was booked liked barnes and noble (the dad jokes are rubbin off on me) so this wednesday i have an "examin" and then in another week the appointment so i basically won't have teeth by then. Dad...did you get the letter i wrote for grandpa peterson? if not i'll send it again. Sounds like the walkabout went good ha ha that's a good idea, the church is a lot different here. today we had a zone activity and watched this documentary on pres hinckley and i made the cookies you sent me mom, they were a hit! i loved the package!! i used the squirt guns on the dogs and they got even more mad!! so they are going to stay in the house. So this sunday diego is going down under! he is such a stud, everything is listo he just needs to talk to his padres. if they say he is good to go, listo! the donny osmond investigators, Barbara and Yasna, are going to get baptized the 24th and it's gonna be great. it's seriously so amazing to see how their lives have changed in less than one month. in literally less than one month people do spiritual 180 and are completely different people. can you imagine what wouldn't have happened if they had gone on a vacation during that one month? The Lord has people prepared, it's just our job to go out and find them.
This week we found a guy named ivan that is about 60 when we were knocking doors. A different man opened the door and then ivan said "wait! i want to talk to these jovenes" so he left and began talking to us. he started talking about the book of mormon. he is a little old and is evangelico so i was at first like "oh boy", cause normally the old people here are so closed minded. but i was wrong. he let us in and began talking about the book of mormon. the house we entered was the house of his cousin or something and he lives in a different city. he knew SO MUCH about the book of mormon. the best part is that he discovered it for himself. when he was visiting his family in this house where he was when we found him, he found a copy of the book of mormon and began reading it and was amazed. he told us he already knows that its true and that he wants to know more about it. we took his address and sent the address to the other miss ionary wher he lives. it was so cool to see the energy he has for this book. can you even imagine discovering somthing like that? imagine finding another published book that is another testament of Jesus Christ but from another tribe of israel. i would be sooooooooooooo excited to see what it taught me!!!
i know this gospel is true and i KNOW that we are in the only true church. what i have found out is that you only have to read the scriptures carefully to find that out. EVERYTHING in the scriptures points towards what our church teaches and it makes so much sense. i love you guys Elder Peterson
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Chance's Email 6/8/2009
Fam!
First off, thanks for the epistles written, they were delightful, and yes..........london..........i got your pics, they were awesome!! it was nice to see pics of my cuiñado. looks like im gonna get drilled at the dr hicks, chilean style, im gonna try to schedule an appointment and take a sleeping pill during the appointment haha. mom, how is your spanish, esta practicando? tell grandma winda thanks for my weekly dearelder. she is the best haha. ok some awesome news, Diego is my main man. he is so awesome and it looks like next week he will get baptized. correction, he is 15, and yesterday we had an appointment with him after church and he told us his conversion story (beginning from when we met him). he told us about his friends and how he likes to skateboard and that recently he hasn't liked his group of friends because they like to drink on the weekends etc. so he stopped hanging out with them cause he knew they were going down a wrong path. he has been looking for some new friends for awhile and said that we arrived just in time. He told us that he always made fun of the "mormons" like everyone does in the streets, and his mom told him that the mormons were coming over on monday, he was like "ah man...". they let us in and his parents didn't have much interest but he told us to keep visiting him. so we have gone and visited him with the bishop's son and they are good friends now and he loves the church in fact he went to seminary this morning at 5 am! i KNOW that he is going to be a misssionary one day and help lots of other people. it was a pay day for me, one of those days when you absolutely love what you do. better than a powder day at powder mountain. you know what im talking about dad. Also, we have an investigator that reminds me of chase hansen so much that its scary. his mannerisms are so much like his, even how he walks, its crazy. if we end up teaching him more ill have an excuse to take a picture and you can see for yourself. but he is really really weird it makes me laugh so much. i want to congratulate you guys on the ward activities you are doing. that is so awesome and i know that they are helping. i have realized that when i have been in a zone that was really united and had lots of teamwork, it was because we worked hard, and played hard together. on pdays we would do stuff and it was awesome, just like what you guys have been doing. great job on going out of the comfort zone and sharing the best news there is. don't be afraid!! be the watchmen like it mentions in ezequiel 37! we have this responsibility. we have been given freely, so we must freely give! there is nothing that makes me more happy in this world than seeing someone soak up the gospel and watching it change their life. i know that we can all feel the same, but it takes some effort. i love you fam and i'm so proud to be a part of the peterson clan, the best there is.
Elder Peterson
First off, thanks for the epistles written, they were delightful, and yes..........london..........i got your pics, they were awesome!! it was nice to see pics of my cuiñado. looks like im gonna get drilled at the dr hicks, chilean style, im gonna try to schedule an appointment and take a sleeping pill during the appointment haha. mom, how is your spanish, esta practicando? tell grandma winda thanks for my weekly dearelder. she is the best haha. ok some awesome news, Diego is my main man. he is so awesome and it looks like next week he will get baptized. correction, he is 15, and yesterday we had an appointment with him after church and he told us his conversion story (beginning from when we met him). he told us about his friends and how he likes to skateboard and that recently he hasn't liked his group of friends because they like to drink on the weekends etc. so he stopped hanging out with them cause he knew they were going down a wrong path. he has been looking for some new friends for awhile and said that we arrived just in time. He told us that he always made fun of the "mormons" like everyone does in the streets, and his mom told him that the mormons were coming over on monday, he was like "ah man...". they let us in and his parents didn't have much interest but he told us to keep visiting him. so we have gone and visited him with the bishop's son and they are good friends now and he loves the church in fact he went to seminary this morning at 5 am! i KNOW that he is going to be a misssionary one day and help lots of other people. it was a pay day for me, one of those days when you absolutely love what you do. better than a powder day at powder mountain. you know what im talking about dad. Also, we have an investigator that reminds me of chase hansen so much that its scary. his mannerisms are so much like his, even how he walks, its crazy. if we end up teaching him more ill have an excuse to take a picture and you can see for yourself. but he is really really weird it makes me laugh so much. i want to congratulate you guys on the ward activities you are doing. that is so awesome and i know that they are helping. i have realized that when i have been in a zone that was really united and had lots of teamwork, it was because we worked hard, and played hard together. on pdays we would do stuff and it was awesome, just like what you guys have been doing. great job on going out of the comfort zone and sharing the best news there is. don't be afraid!! be the watchmen like it mentions in ezequiel 37! we have this responsibility. we have been given freely, so we must freely give! there is nothing that makes me more happy in this world than seeing someone soak up the gospel and watching it change their life. i know that we can all feel the same, but it takes some effort. i love you fam and i'm so proud to be a part of the peterson clan, the best there is.
Elder Peterson
Monday, May 18, 2009
Chance's Email 5/18/2009
hola chorizoscomo estais? estoy super bien.
ok i'm gonna try to answer all of your questions. my companion is great, he has a little more time than me and we are a lot alike, we laugh at the same stuff and he is my best companion yet. although our bathroom pipes smell constantly, our apartment is good. we had a baptism yesterday. his name is kevin and he is 12 and has hearing aids but is a really outgoing kid, he will be a great missionary one day.
that was great to hear about adam and that he's doing great. also, i can't believe andrew has a baby on the way...thats awesome! i am praying for grandpa, tell him to keep putting of the natural man. he should read that one talk by president eyring that he recently gave when he talked about that old guy that was sick and that on his deathbed he said "I'M GOING TO MAKE IT!" i thought that was sooooo cool. dad, as for the ensign, you can send it but i just wanted to remind you that we get them, so you can save on postage if you want and not send it. there are still dogs but not nearly as many as my last area. i am still using it though cause lot of dogs bark during our contacts. o one thing that i would like if you guys could send. i bought 2 cds from deseret book that are pure guitar without vocals. i think they are down in my cd tower but those would be awesome if you could send them. i know michael dowdle made one of them. i am doing good, im getting used to my new pad and this area is a little harder to get people to keep their commitments like reading, praying, and going to church. it looks like it has suffered a little in the past. i know if i jump in and give it my all He will do the rest. the missionaries in my zone are great. i'm with elder espinel again and it's great to see him even though it's awkward sometimes cause we have nothing to talk about ha ha. well i'm gonna try to write more letters to you guys so i'm gonna keep it short this week. chooooooow.
elder peterson
ps i love you guys
ok i'm gonna try to answer all of your questions. my companion is great, he has a little more time than me and we are a lot alike, we laugh at the same stuff and he is my best companion yet. although our bathroom pipes smell constantly, our apartment is good. we had a baptism yesterday. his name is kevin and he is 12 and has hearing aids but is a really outgoing kid, he will be a great missionary one day.
that was great to hear about adam and that he's doing great. also, i can't believe andrew has a baby on the way...thats awesome! i am praying for grandpa, tell him to keep putting of the natural man. he should read that one talk by president eyring that he recently gave when he talked about that old guy that was sick and that on his deathbed he said "I'M GOING TO MAKE IT!" i thought that was sooooo cool. dad, as for the ensign, you can send it but i just wanted to remind you that we get them, so you can save on postage if you want and not send it. there are still dogs but not nearly as many as my last area. i am still using it though cause lot of dogs bark during our contacts. o one thing that i would like if you guys could send. i bought 2 cds from deseret book that are pure guitar without vocals. i think they are down in my cd tower but those would be awesome if you could send them. i know michael dowdle made one of them. i am doing good, im getting used to my new pad and this area is a little harder to get people to keep their commitments like reading, praying, and going to church. it looks like it has suffered a little in the past. i know if i jump in and give it my all He will do the rest. the missionaries in my zone are great. i'm with elder espinel again and it's great to see him even though it's awkward sometimes cause we have nothing to talk about ha ha. well i'm gonna try to write more letters to you guys so i'm gonna keep it short this week. chooooooow.
elder peterson
ps i love you guys
Friday, April 24, 2009
Chance's Email 4/20/2009
fam,
i likey da ledders! thanks fam for some great letters this week. yes the story is true about the lump......yes..... just a heads up, i mailed mom a birfday slash mother's day package today so watch out for that. i am super excited for you to get it, i hope you love it.
i am so excited that you guys are reading that book. it's so amazing and i wanted to share it with the world! it's like my "wordly" book of mormon ha. but ya i remember loving it but i've forgotten a lot of it so keep emailing me quotes and tips. i'm going to try the things you told me on my companion and we'll see what happens. it looks like we are going to have a baptism this week! yeppers. his name is miguel and his sister's name is andrea and they are both getting baptized but andrea wants to wait one more week. we are gonna try to get them both this week but we will see how it goes.
so a little laughter, my companion and i have bunk beds and i'm on the bottom and my companion on the top. well my companion, like me, was real skinny when he began his mission and now really not skinny ha ha. each night i get a good laugh as i watch him struggle to get up into his bed by bouncing on my mattress.
this saturday we were fasting and i specifically fasted to have the spirit more strongly so that i could be a stronger instrument in the Lord's hands. as we left the apartment we walked a little ways and then i saw an older guy on a bench outside of his house with his pet chicken and i decided to talk to him. he ended up letting us in and we committed him to go to church the next day. i was really happy to have followed that prompting and talk to him. as we went to walk with him to church yesterday, we knocked on his door and as he opened it there was a lot of smoke and he said he couldn't cause he was cooking lunch. he lives in like a garage thing and it was full of smoke. he was practically having a barbecue in his house ha ha. i wanted to put him on a guilt trip but it was too funny and bizzarre that i couldn't. but we have an appointment with him today so we will see how that goes.
well i love you guys so much, thanks for the awesome letters, prayers, and support. you are my fuel. tear it up this week and don't let satan win.
elder peterson
i likey da ledders! thanks fam for some great letters this week. yes the story is true about the lump......yes..... just a heads up, i mailed mom a birfday slash mother's day package today so watch out for that. i am super excited for you to get it, i hope you love it.
i am so excited that you guys are reading that book. it's so amazing and i wanted to share it with the world! it's like my "wordly" book of mormon ha. but ya i remember loving it but i've forgotten a lot of it so keep emailing me quotes and tips. i'm going to try the things you told me on my companion and we'll see what happens. it looks like we are going to have a baptism this week! yeppers. his name is miguel and his sister's name is andrea and they are both getting baptized but andrea wants to wait one more week. we are gonna try to get them both this week but we will see how it goes.
so a little laughter, my companion and i have bunk beds and i'm on the bottom and my companion on the top. well my companion, like me, was real skinny when he began his mission and now really not skinny ha ha. each night i get a good laugh as i watch him struggle to get up into his bed by bouncing on my mattress.
this saturday we were fasting and i specifically fasted to have the spirit more strongly so that i could be a stronger instrument in the Lord's hands. as we left the apartment we walked a little ways and then i saw an older guy on a bench outside of his house with his pet chicken and i decided to talk to him. he ended up letting us in and we committed him to go to church the next day. i was really happy to have followed that prompting and talk to him. as we went to walk with him to church yesterday, we knocked on his door and as he opened it there was a lot of smoke and he said he couldn't cause he was cooking lunch. he lives in like a garage thing and it was full of smoke. he was practically having a barbecue in his house ha ha. i wanted to put him on a guilt trip but it was too funny and bizzarre that i couldn't. but we have an appointment with him today so we will see how that goes.
well i love you guys so much, thanks for the awesome letters, prayers, and support. you are my fuel. tear it up this week and don't let satan win.
elder peterson
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Chance's Email 4/13/2009
hello there.
i just wanted to begin my letter with a favor....could i get some MORE hump day cards? HELLO! as weekly zone class ended a few elders had gathered around the mail stack and said "elder peterson, come here.... what happened?!" to my suprise i found 31 hump day cards anxiously awaiting. so i don't have any support from home out here, i would appreciate a letter or at least a postcard. yeah ......that'd be great.
This week was a good one. we found...another person that is going to get baptized in may. what a blessing. i don't know why we have been so blessed. but we aren't working hard enough, we need a lot more, we kinda got a wake up call from the president this week and he made a few schedule changes to show the urgency we need to have. to finish a little about rosa, as we entered the water she went into a nervous reck and began praying like an evangelico (if you dont know what that means ask jb or andrew) and i was cracking up inside. as i told her that i needed to baptized her and said ready? she flung herself backwards to get baptized and as she came up out of the water she was coughing up water and wiping it away from her face, it was really something. oh yeah i just wanted to give a shout out to all those that wrote me hump day cards and grandma winda's weekly letter and parker, mckenzie and macey who have birthdays this month. grandma, i am thoroughly enjoying the stephens hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows you sent me. they are fantastic, they are the best!
funny story, as we were contacting this one guy, i noticed that he had a lump on his forearm about the size of the baseball. i asked him what it was and he said something in spanish that i didn't understand, i think it was a tumor, but he then went on and said "but i dont think it's that, i have always said it's my twin brother" yes.......the lump.....was my twin.
on a more serious note, i just wanted to thank you all for your prayers i have felt them and i think i have more support than any other missionary in the world. my mission president really helped me realize how serious our call is this week and set some new rules and i just wanted to inform you guys so you don't send music that is forbidden. if you wish to send me a cd, it needs to be pure hymns or primary songs and nothing changed from the hymn, like guitar or drums.
i just wanted you guys to know i love you so much and thanks for making me laugh in your emails and lifting and inspiring me, i don't know what i would do without you. you are in my prayers daily.
elder peterson
i just wanted to begin my letter with a favor....could i get some MORE hump day cards? HELLO! as weekly zone class ended a few elders had gathered around the mail stack and said "elder peterson, come here.... what happened?!" to my suprise i found 31 hump day cards anxiously awaiting. so i don't have any support from home out here, i would appreciate a letter or at least a postcard. yeah ......that'd be great.
This week was a good one. we found...another person that is going to get baptized in may. what a blessing. i don't know why we have been so blessed. but we aren't working hard enough, we need a lot more, we kinda got a wake up call from the president this week and he made a few schedule changes to show the urgency we need to have. to finish a little about rosa, as we entered the water she went into a nervous reck and began praying like an evangelico (if you dont know what that means ask jb or andrew) and i was cracking up inside. as i told her that i needed to baptized her and said ready? she flung herself backwards to get baptized and as she came up out of the water she was coughing up water and wiping it away from her face, it was really something. oh yeah i just wanted to give a shout out to all those that wrote me hump day cards and grandma winda's weekly letter and parker, mckenzie and macey who have birthdays this month. grandma, i am thoroughly enjoying the stephens hot cocoa with homemade marshmallows you sent me. they are fantastic, they are the best!
funny story, as we were contacting this one guy, i noticed that he had a lump on his forearm about the size of the baseball. i asked him what it was and he said something in spanish that i didn't understand, i think it was a tumor, but he then went on and said "but i dont think it's that, i have always said it's my twin brother" yes.......the lump.....was my twin.
on a more serious note, i just wanted to thank you all for your prayers i have felt them and i think i have more support than any other missionary in the world. my mission president really helped me realize how serious our call is this week and set some new rules and i just wanted to inform you guys so you don't send music that is forbidden. if you wish to send me a cd, it needs to be pure hymns or primary songs and nothing changed from the hymn, like guitar or drums.
i just wanted you guys to know i love you so much and thanks for making me laugh in your emails and lifting and inspiring me, i don't know what i would do without you. you are in my prayers daily.
elder peterson
Monday, April 6, 2009
Chance's Email 4/6/2009
what a week!
!wow i am worn out. general conference was unreal. but let's start from the beginning shall we? ok well my companion and i get along quite well actually and i am laughing a lot more cause he's a goob. he loves trying to speak english, in fact, he sat in with the english speakers to hear general conference. he is always saying things that make me laugh, it's fun. for example, we went to a pharmacy to buy some stuff and as we were leaving he saw a scale that measured your height and weight and other stuff so he took it for a whirl. the pharmacy lady and i were both watching to see the results pop up and when they did he let out a sigh...."i'm faught" in his latino accent. the pharmacy lady busted out laughing and so did i, i just dropped my head and shook it ha ha. as we passed by one of the references of the open house, they willingly let us in and as we entered their house to our surprise there were like 7 people sitting there and it was a family! we were celebrating as you can imagine. they all were willing to listen to us. it turns out that one was an inactive member and the others were all non members and only one went to the open house, a young girl. as we taught them the restoration and explained how the authority is here again to recieve a baptism, all four of the kids accepted a date to be baptized while the mothers were a little skeptic but liked what they heard. they agreed to sit in on every lesson and give their support. we visited them a second time last night and it looks like we are going to have 4 baptisms the 3rd of may! it was incredible! that whole week i was praying for help to recognize the spirit more and Heavenly Father answered my prayers. i had many more experiences that week.
i'd just like to thank the fam and friends for the awesome mail i have been receiving. first i wanted to let jim and adam know that i sent them letters about 2 weeks ago so they should be arriving. it was AWESOME TO HEAR ABOUT ADAM! grandma winda is always faithful to keep me up to speed with the fam thanks grandma i love your letters. also thanks to mumsey and poppy for the letters and cd i love it. thanks to noelle, jenny, sarah, grandma and grandpa peterson, zac, andrew, jenna, kenz, shane and everyone else who has sent me letters. the elders of my zone are jealous enough! i have little time so to sign off i just wanted to thank you mom dad london and marcus for the letters and for what you said. especially thanks mom for your letter you sent too late last week, it gave me a lot of comfort.
i can't believe i almost forgot to tell you that rosa got baptized!!!! she got baptized in between conference sessions on sunday and it was INCREDIBLE! i will write more next week but it was really funny too...not to leave you hanging or anything. i loved elder scotts talk, man does he speak with the spirit or what? i loved elder holland's and elder pearson's about faith and many more. they were all incredible. well i will talk more next week but keep going strong. i love you all.
elder peterson
ps it was AWESOME to hear from andrew, give him my email i need more seasoned veteran advice.
!wow i am worn out. general conference was unreal. but let's start from the beginning shall we? ok well my companion and i get along quite well actually and i am laughing a lot more cause he's a goob. he loves trying to speak english, in fact, he sat in with the english speakers to hear general conference. he is always saying things that make me laugh, it's fun. for example, we went to a pharmacy to buy some stuff and as we were leaving he saw a scale that measured your height and weight and other stuff so he took it for a whirl. the pharmacy lady and i were both watching to see the results pop up and when they did he let out a sigh...."i'm faught" in his latino accent. the pharmacy lady busted out laughing and so did i, i just dropped my head and shook it ha ha. as we passed by one of the references of the open house, they willingly let us in and as we entered their house to our surprise there were like 7 people sitting there and it was a family! we were celebrating as you can imagine. they all were willing to listen to us. it turns out that one was an inactive member and the others were all non members and only one went to the open house, a young girl. as we taught them the restoration and explained how the authority is here again to recieve a baptism, all four of the kids accepted a date to be baptized while the mothers were a little skeptic but liked what they heard. they agreed to sit in on every lesson and give their support. we visited them a second time last night and it looks like we are going to have 4 baptisms the 3rd of may! it was incredible! that whole week i was praying for help to recognize the spirit more and Heavenly Father answered my prayers. i had many more experiences that week.
i'd just like to thank the fam and friends for the awesome mail i have been receiving. first i wanted to let jim and adam know that i sent them letters about 2 weeks ago so they should be arriving. it was AWESOME TO HEAR ABOUT ADAM! grandma winda is always faithful to keep me up to speed with the fam thanks grandma i love your letters. also thanks to mumsey and poppy for the letters and cd i love it. thanks to noelle, jenny, sarah, grandma and grandpa peterson, zac, andrew, jenna, kenz, shane and everyone else who has sent me letters. the elders of my zone are jealous enough! i have little time so to sign off i just wanted to thank you mom dad london and marcus for the letters and for what you said. especially thanks mom for your letter you sent too late last week, it gave me a lot of comfort.
i can't believe i almost forgot to tell you that rosa got baptized!!!! she got baptized in between conference sessions on sunday and it was INCREDIBLE! i will write more next week but it was really funny too...not to leave you hanging or anything. i loved elder scotts talk, man does he speak with the spirit or what? i loved elder holland's and elder pearson's about faith and many more. they were all incredible. well i will talk more next week but keep going strong. i love you all.
elder peterson
ps it was AWESOME to hear from andrew, give him my email i need more seasoned veteran advice.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Chance's Email 3/30/2009
fam,
hows it goin????????? sounds like the costa rica trip was EXCELENTE! the zip lines and the waterfalls... i talked to my buddy in my zone and he told me that there are hundreds of waterfalls there. he loves it there and talked it up a lot. well i don't have a lot to say this week so i'll keep it short as well. yesterday there were transfers and my companion left. it was hard. we had lots of success together and just enjoyed the mission like crazy. i have a new companion from columbia. he was the companion of one of my friends with whom i began the mission, elder marshall. his name is elder bolaños and he seems like a real nice guy. i'm excited cause i know i am going to learn a ton from him and they had a lot of success where they were so we will combine our melons and see what we can do. sad news, jose-the man we have been teaching with one leg, didn't go to church yesterday and we visited him later and we were really demanding and direct in our message and told him NOW is the time to act and repent, if you do, you'll get blessings beyond your fondest dreams, but you need to DO IT. he had a lot of excuses why he couldn't continue or go to church more. we talked for about an hour and we had one of his member friends (inactive) helping us out a lot and i know her testimony is getting stronger by helping us. she used to be a missionary and she inactivated for some reason but she has been helping us with him. she is going to visit him this week and try to talk to him more but for now we are leaving jose for a time. i hope he can get his views in line with those of God so he can have more blessings in his life. it was really hard to experience that yesterday but i know that when one door closes another opens. one thing that makes me really happy is that my prayers are improving a lot. i need a ton of help from Heavenly Father and i know he has been helping me but my prayers have been more fervent. sometimes we fall into a routine and forget that we are actually talking to God, but when i pray better i feel so good and i know he is listening. it was so great to hear from grandma about adam. i am so glad he is doing so great. the book of mormon has so much power and we all need to keep reading it. i wanted to thank jim also for the awesome letter he wrote me. keep it up. tell bryce i got his package and it was incredible. ok well i gotta go, lots of work to do and lots of miracles to be a part of. thanks for your prayers and letters, packages, and everything else!!! i don't know what i would do without the support i have. i love you all!
elder peterson
hows it goin????????? sounds like the costa rica trip was EXCELENTE! the zip lines and the waterfalls... i talked to my buddy in my zone and he told me that there are hundreds of waterfalls there. he loves it there and talked it up a lot. well i don't have a lot to say this week so i'll keep it short as well. yesterday there were transfers and my companion left. it was hard. we had lots of success together and just enjoyed the mission like crazy. i have a new companion from columbia. he was the companion of one of my friends with whom i began the mission, elder marshall. his name is elder bolaños and he seems like a real nice guy. i'm excited cause i know i am going to learn a ton from him and they had a lot of success where they were so we will combine our melons and see what we can do. sad news, jose-the man we have been teaching with one leg, didn't go to church yesterday and we visited him later and we were really demanding and direct in our message and told him NOW is the time to act and repent, if you do, you'll get blessings beyond your fondest dreams, but you need to DO IT. he had a lot of excuses why he couldn't continue or go to church more. we talked for about an hour and we had one of his member friends (inactive) helping us out a lot and i know her testimony is getting stronger by helping us. she used to be a missionary and she inactivated for some reason but she has been helping us with him. she is going to visit him this week and try to talk to him more but for now we are leaving jose for a time. i hope he can get his views in line with those of God so he can have more blessings in his life. it was really hard to experience that yesterday but i know that when one door closes another opens. one thing that makes me really happy is that my prayers are improving a lot. i need a ton of help from Heavenly Father and i know he has been helping me but my prayers have been more fervent. sometimes we fall into a routine and forget that we are actually talking to God, but when i pray better i feel so good and i know he is listening. it was so great to hear from grandma about adam. i am so glad he is doing so great. the book of mormon has so much power and we all need to keep reading it. i wanted to thank jim also for the awesome letter he wrote me. keep it up. tell bryce i got his package and it was incredible. ok well i gotta go, lots of work to do and lots of miracles to be a part of. thanks for your prayers and letters, packages, and everything else!!! i don't know what i would do without the support i have. i love you all!
elder peterson
Monday, March 16, 2009
Chance's Email 3/16/2009
why is my family so great?
first thanks a ton for the letters and secondly, the package! ha ha it was awesome! i don't know why but i always get so excited when i see those fruity pebbles. my zone leader said "SAVE ME A BOWL!". but even better than the sugar were the letters and videos. i loved your letters and it's something that i'll always have so thanks a lot. i loved thinking back on some awesome memories. i have shown a few people the videos you guys sent and they were laughing pretty hard. i loved the video of you guys dancing it was a keeper! and floyd's message made me laugh pretty hard. that was nice of dr j to send me some hormonies to help me with the bobobpsy. i think my comp needs them more than me cause he was zonked out in church yesterday! you guys have gotta hear the chileans and how they sing church hymns, you would laugh. it's so slow, my companion plays the piano and he plays good, normal speed, and they are all lost and it's a disaster, so he has to slow it down like half the speed of normal. i have developed lots of patience ha ha. this week we were amazingly blessed again. we have really been low on people to teach and people progressing. we decided to do some extra things. as we left the house and prayed for extra help we went to visit michelle and she wasn't there. so elder mangels asked if her grandma was there. she hobbled out of her room(she is awesome and hilarious) and said hi and we asked if we could share a message with her and she said "claro que si" so we sat down and started talking about baptism and she was really open and we said "would you like to get baptized?" she again said "claro que sí". so we put a date and she is gonna get baptized. i don't think it could've been easier. all we have to do is ask the Lord for help and bam he is there. as we went to the next appt with her we began with a song and she can't read too well so she said i'll just follow. she had no idea what the words were so when we sang a long word like "evangelio" she would shout the last part of the word like "da da da da GELIO!" and we had to stop. we didn't even make it to the second line and my comp and i and michelle's aunt were cracking up! we had to not sing that appt. it was so funny. i still am holding back ridiculous laughter everytime we go there and i can't look at my companion. the grandma is rosa and is just hilarious and super strong. toady we made the cookies you sent me at marta and ivonne's house. they were heavenly and they love them as well. well i am running short on time as always and i have more emails to write but thanks so much for your love and support. i don't believe there is a missionary in the field with more support than me. pray for jose. we have lots of plans so that he can make it to church this week. i love you mom dad london marcus and fam.
elder peterson
first thanks a ton for the letters and secondly, the package! ha ha it was awesome! i don't know why but i always get so excited when i see those fruity pebbles. my zone leader said "SAVE ME A BOWL!". but even better than the sugar were the letters and videos. i loved your letters and it's something that i'll always have so thanks a lot. i loved thinking back on some awesome memories. i have shown a few people the videos you guys sent and they were laughing pretty hard. i loved the video of you guys dancing it was a keeper! and floyd's message made me laugh pretty hard. that was nice of dr j to send me some hormonies to help me with the bobobpsy. i think my comp needs them more than me cause he was zonked out in church yesterday! you guys have gotta hear the chileans and how they sing church hymns, you would laugh. it's so slow, my companion plays the piano and he plays good, normal speed, and they are all lost and it's a disaster, so he has to slow it down like half the speed of normal. i have developed lots of patience ha ha. this week we were amazingly blessed again. we have really been low on people to teach and people progressing. we decided to do some extra things. as we left the house and prayed for extra help we went to visit michelle and she wasn't there. so elder mangels asked if her grandma was there. she hobbled out of her room(she is awesome and hilarious) and said hi and we asked if we could share a message with her and she said "claro que si" so we sat down and started talking about baptism and she was really open and we said "would you like to get baptized?" she again said "claro que sí". so we put a date and she is gonna get baptized. i don't think it could've been easier. all we have to do is ask the Lord for help and bam he is there. as we went to the next appt with her we began with a song and she can't read too well so she said i'll just follow. she had no idea what the words were so when we sang a long word like "evangelio" she would shout the last part of the word like "da da da da GELIO!" and we had to stop. we didn't even make it to the second line and my comp and i and michelle's aunt were cracking up! we had to not sing that appt. it was so funny. i still am holding back ridiculous laughter everytime we go there and i can't look at my companion. the grandma is rosa and is just hilarious and super strong. toady we made the cookies you sent me at marta and ivonne's house. they were heavenly and they love them as well. well i am running short on time as always and i have more emails to write but thanks so much for your love and support. i don't believe there is a missionary in the field with more support than me. pray for jose. we have lots of plans so that he can make it to church this week. i love you mom dad london marcus and fam.
elder peterson
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Chance's Email 3/2/09
fam and a half!
how is life? it sounds like you have seen some amazing things like apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. what a coincidence cause today we had the priviledge to hear from elder jay jensen of the seventy and it was amazing!!!!! i loved it and he knows how to speak and captivate his audience i'll tell ya. few times have i been so glued to a talk. i think it was so awesome cause i'm in the mission and everything he said he could apply to us personally as missionaries. he also is 100% fluent in spanish which suprised me, it was great. a few things he said that i liked were "you teach what you are" a little of what you said dad. also he said "2/3 of our message is non verbal, we are the message, its not what we say" i loved that. he was hilarious and had us laughing quite a bit. he is just way down to earth and i've heard that he has memorized the book of mormon. go figure, so this week was awesome! ivonne was baptized, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. and her brother who just turned 20 and has a girlfriend and a new baby girl, came to her baptism. he is really nice so hopefully the miracles continue. they would have to get married but i see nothing that impedes them. it was sad to hear about grandpa but i'll keep him in my prayers. i am constantly praying for family members...how are they all doin? progressing?
i can't even imagine how incredible it was to have pres. packer and elder hales speaking to you guys. that is really amazing. it's such a big deal when we hear from a seventy here and i can't even imagine an apostle. so here it's cooling down, in the night at least and we have seen a few less spiders so that's always good. our ward is so strong and i feel so blessed to have the bishop we do. i think the ward likes him so much cause he knows how to have fun! he isn't uptight or too serious, well he knows when to be and when not to be. and he just brings a lot of energy to everyone. we are going to do a service in marta's house this saturday and he wanted to play soccer after. we said that as missionaries we always play in the morning at 6 and that they should come play with us. he challenged us and said BRING IT ON and so we are gonna play with the young men and the bishop. that's the type of guy he is and he is always having a barbeque on saturdays at noon with different ward families and just takes care of his sheep. one thing i like that elder jensen said is that he decided to do somethings while he was on his mission, these included: praying daily and nightly, reading every day from the scriptures, paying his tithing, and living worthy of a temple recommend. he decided to do these things for the rest of his life and has done it ever since. i know it's the little things like that that are gonna keep us active, strong, and blessed. well i gotta go i'm running out of time, tell my cousins i wanna hear from them more! and my aunts and unks, they can always shoot me an email or dear elder. i love you mom and dad marcus and london. keep up the good work and never be afraid what man can do, only what God can do. live with an eternal perspective.
elder peterson
how is life? it sounds like you have seen some amazing things like apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. what a coincidence cause today we had the priviledge to hear from elder jay jensen of the seventy and it was amazing!!!!! i loved it and he knows how to speak and captivate his audience i'll tell ya. few times have i been so glued to a talk. i think it was so awesome cause i'm in the mission and everything he said he could apply to us personally as missionaries. he also is 100% fluent in spanish which suprised me, it was great. a few things he said that i liked were "you teach what you are" a little of what you said dad. also he said "2/3 of our message is non verbal, we are the message, its not what we say" i loved that. he was hilarious and had us laughing quite a bit. he is just way down to earth and i've heard that he has memorized the book of mormon. go figure, so this week was awesome! ivonne was baptized, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. and her brother who just turned 20 and has a girlfriend and a new baby girl, came to her baptism. he is really nice so hopefully the miracles continue. they would have to get married but i see nothing that impedes them. it was sad to hear about grandpa but i'll keep him in my prayers. i am constantly praying for family members...how are they all doin? progressing?
i can't even imagine how incredible it was to have pres. packer and elder hales speaking to you guys. that is really amazing. it's such a big deal when we hear from a seventy here and i can't even imagine an apostle. so here it's cooling down, in the night at least and we have seen a few less spiders so that's always good. our ward is so strong and i feel so blessed to have the bishop we do. i think the ward likes him so much cause he knows how to have fun! he isn't uptight or too serious, well he knows when to be and when not to be. and he just brings a lot of energy to everyone. we are going to do a service in marta's house this saturday and he wanted to play soccer after. we said that as missionaries we always play in the morning at 6 and that they should come play with us. he challenged us and said BRING IT ON and so we are gonna play with the young men and the bishop. that's the type of guy he is and he is always having a barbeque on saturdays at noon with different ward families and just takes care of his sheep. one thing i like that elder jensen said is that he decided to do somethings while he was on his mission, these included: praying daily and nightly, reading every day from the scriptures, paying his tithing, and living worthy of a temple recommend. he decided to do these things for the rest of his life and has done it ever since. i know it's the little things like that that are gonna keep us active, strong, and blessed. well i gotta go i'm running out of time, tell my cousins i wanna hear from them more! and my aunts and unks, they can always shoot me an email or dear elder. i love you mom and dad marcus and london. keep up the good work and never be afraid what man can do, only what God can do. live with an eternal perspective.
elder peterson
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Chance's Email 2/23/2009
hows the fam fam?
so emiliana was baptized yesterday! it was an awesome experience because after she was baptized her family bore their testimonies and you could feel the spirit strongly and when her husband bore his i was so happy because he talked about how now they can be sealed together as a family in the temple. i realized that it wasn't just a baptism, it was much more, through the Lord i am able to help change lives here. some other crazy news......ivonne, martas daughter is progressing so fast that she is gonna get baptized this sunday! she is reading the book of mormon like crazy and understands it all. she has gone to a few activities and just loves everything. most crazy is that as we were teaching her and talking to her she was so excited about everything and she said "after someone gets baptized, how long do they have to wait till they can serve a mission?" we said a year. and then asked "why? do you want to serve a mission?!" she said "yes". i was like yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. that got me so excited! she hasn't even been baptized and already wants to serve a mission. i was pretty happy. but ya we still need to teach a ton so hopefully in a week you can hear good things. we struggled a little this week with finding people. we have been praying to find a family so we are gonna do all we can this week and i know we will be blessed. i just wanted to send a thanks to grandma winda and the update on adam. i have been praying daily for adam i was so so so so excited to hear good news about adam. thanks grandma. trevor crump sent me an awesome email and helped me to realize the things that are of real importance out here. president may is always pushing us harder and harder and i'm gonna give it my all again this week and i know that the Lord will help us out. when we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to his help. dad i really liked what you said about being valiant in the pre earth life and now we need to be valiant here. it helped me to realized that there really aren't a lot of changes. we are just separated from the presence of God. when we think about it that way, it's not so much a life of changing, but staying faithful so that ONCE AGAIN we can live with him. we are the same, we just forgot how great it was before this life. i love you guys a lot and thanks so much for your prayers, i still need them ha ha. you are in mine. live like it's your last day!
elder peterson
so emiliana was baptized yesterday! it was an awesome experience because after she was baptized her family bore their testimonies and you could feel the spirit strongly and when her husband bore his i was so happy because he talked about how now they can be sealed together as a family in the temple. i realized that it wasn't just a baptism, it was much more, through the Lord i am able to help change lives here. some other crazy news......ivonne, martas daughter is progressing so fast that she is gonna get baptized this sunday! she is reading the book of mormon like crazy and understands it all. she has gone to a few activities and just loves everything. most crazy is that as we were teaching her and talking to her she was so excited about everything and she said "after someone gets baptized, how long do they have to wait till they can serve a mission?" we said a year. and then asked "why? do you want to serve a mission?!" she said "yes". i was like yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. that got me so excited! she hasn't even been baptized and already wants to serve a mission. i was pretty happy. but ya we still need to teach a ton so hopefully in a week you can hear good things. we struggled a little this week with finding people. we have been praying to find a family so we are gonna do all we can this week and i know we will be blessed. i just wanted to send a thanks to grandma winda and the update on adam. i have been praying daily for adam i was so so so so excited to hear good news about adam. thanks grandma. trevor crump sent me an awesome email and helped me to realize the things that are of real importance out here. president may is always pushing us harder and harder and i'm gonna give it my all again this week and i know that the Lord will help us out. when we are on the Lord's errand we are entitled to his help. dad i really liked what you said about being valiant in the pre earth life and now we need to be valiant here. it helped me to realized that there really aren't a lot of changes. we are just separated from the presence of God. when we think about it that way, it's not so much a life of changing, but staying faithful so that ONCE AGAIN we can live with him. we are the same, we just forgot how great it was before this life. i love you guys a lot and thanks so much for your prayers, i still need them ha ha. you are in mine. live like it's your last day!
elder peterson
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Chance's Email 2/8/2009
hey!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMORROW MARCUS
i'm so glad you guys loved the little package. ok well marta got baptized yesterday! it was awesome!!!!!! the saturday before we had a family night with the ward and we invited pres. and sis may to come and speak and it was awesome. we had a bunch of new people that the members brought to the activity so hopefully we can teach some of them. ok well keep in your prayers: totti claudia and bilma. i think they will be our next baptisms after emiliana on the 22nd.. she is good to go. ok well a funny story. yesterday my comp felt a little sick and felt like he had to spew the whole day but i was like, ya it's not that bad let's go and work the days almost over. so we continued to work and like and hour before we had to enter for the night we visited totti. she told us her aunt just died and she seemed ok but i know it was a rough day. so my comp began to talk and explain about the plan of salvation. she lives in some apartments that are open. like the stairs and hallways are outside. well we were talking to her outside her door and there was a balcony next to us and as my comp began to talk he said "just a sec" and went over to the balcony and spewed! he spewed like 4 times and totti and i were trying hard not to laugh. after 4 spews from the second floor, my comp returned with a smile cause he felt a lot better ha ha ha. we laughed quite a bit, i couldn't stop laughing. ok another random thought. i was eating my beloved pringles a couple nights ago when i looked at the pringle guy on the can and i noticed somethihng......it looks like DAD.. the moustache most of all. so i have decided on dad's grandpa name and it's pringles! isn't it perfect! and the kids will say it like pwingles. it's perfect if you guys don't agree i don't know what i'll do cause it's perfect. i got the package and it was full of love. i'm eating every bit of it. i love the cd you guys sent it's great. and the letters too especially napolean dynamite. just a heads up. keep sending me the small memory blue memory cards cause the other memory cards they are gigantic, i can't print fotos off cause they are too big. so don't buy more just send me them cause that's what i need to print off pics and send to people. also i wanted to give a shout out to adam, sheyenne, and chad whose birthdays are this month. ok well thanks for the letters they are great. i'm lovin the mission and i am so happy. after martas baptism i saw her walk into the bathroom soaking wet as a lady in the ward went in to help, along with marta´s daughter and they gave some screams of joy! marta was so nervous until she came up out of the water and she had a huge smile on her face. i don't know if i already read this quote toyou guys but ezra taft benson said: true happiness only comes by making others happy. so true isn't it. i love that quote. also a missionary shared a thought with me. he had the definition of a missionary written and shared it with me. MISSIONARY: Someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others may be with their families for eternity. pretty cool huh? that helped me forget myself a little. i love you guys so much and well see ya next week.
elder peterson
i'm so glad you guys loved the little package. ok well marta got baptized yesterday! it was awesome!!!!!! the saturday before we had a family night with the ward and we invited pres. and sis may to come and speak and it was awesome. we had a bunch of new people that the members brought to the activity so hopefully we can teach some of them. ok well keep in your prayers: totti claudia and bilma. i think they will be our next baptisms after emiliana on the 22nd.. she is good to go. ok well a funny story. yesterday my comp felt a little sick and felt like he had to spew the whole day but i was like, ya it's not that bad let's go and work the days almost over. so we continued to work and like and hour before we had to enter for the night we visited totti. she told us her aunt just died and she seemed ok but i know it was a rough day. so my comp began to talk and explain about the plan of salvation. she lives in some apartments that are open. like the stairs and hallways are outside. well we were talking to her outside her door and there was a balcony next to us and as my comp began to talk he said "just a sec" and went over to the balcony and spewed! he spewed like 4 times and totti and i were trying hard not to laugh. after 4 spews from the second floor, my comp returned with a smile cause he felt a lot better ha ha ha. we laughed quite a bit, i couldn't stop laughing. ok another random thought. i was eating my beloved pringles a couple nights ago when i looked at the pringle guy on the can and i noticed somethihng......it looks like DAD.. the moustache most of all. so i have decided on dad's grandpa name and it's pringles! isn't it perfect! and the kids will say it like pwingles. it's perfect if you guys don't agree i don't know what i'll do cause it's perfect. i got the package and it was full of love. i'm eating every bit of it. i love the cd you guys sent it's great. and the letters too especially napolean dynamite. just a heads up. keep sending me the small memory blue memory cards cause the other memory cards they are gigantic, i can't print fotos off cause they are too big. so don't buy more just send me them cause that's what i need to print off pics and send to people. also i wanted to give a shout out to adam, sheyenne, and chad whose birthdays are this month. ok well thanks for the letters they are great. i'm lovin the mission and i am so happy. after martas baptism i saw her walk into the bathroom soaking wet as a lady in the ward went in to help, along with marta´s daughter and they gave some screams of joy! marta was so nervous until she came up out of the water and she had a huge smile on her face. i don't know if i already read this quote toyou guys but ezra taft benson said: true happiness only comes by making others happy. so true isn't it. i love that quote. also a missionary shared a thought with me. he had the definition of a missionary written and shared it with me. MISSIONARY: Someone who leaves their family for a short time so that others may be with their families for eternity. pretty cool huh? that helped me forget myself a little. i love you guys so much and well see ya next week.
elder peterson
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Chance's Email 2/4/2009
Wahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! thats a big wahoo for dad's hole- in-one and a big wahoo cause my week was awesome! dad i can't believe you finally got your single! that's soooooooooooo killer. i knew that me being on the mish would bring you luck. so i guess it's my turn during marcus´s mission. i was so pumped when i saw the pictures. you sure chose the right club cause it stinkin LANDED IN THE HOLE! that is incredible. i loved that picture of the divot and stuff. were you doin chris farley cartwheels? i hope so. ok well this computer has been a real test of patience for me so i'm a little short on time but this week we found twelve new people to teach and some have baptismal dates! i was so excited and i'm ready for this month. Marta is going to get baptized on sunday! tonight we have a family home evening with her and her daughter is going to come. wish us luck. marta still needs to feel a little bit stronger about joseph smith and stuff but i know it will come. as for emiliana on the 22nd... she is accepting the teachings, her kids are helping us out a TON cause she is ridiculously busy and never gives us time to teach her so basically her kids are doing all the work. but if we get all the teachings in on time then it should work out this month, if not it'll be for march. but ya we have some others that are on the way. as i reflected last night on my mission and what i'm doing differently now than earlier, i realized that succes comes when we put the work in the Lord's hands and try to humble ourselves and purify our hearts and work like crazy. i've already tried and i CANNOT teach without the spirit or without His help. i'm just a kid in the street if i don't have the spirit and if i think i can do the work my own way. i think the success started to come when i realized that and tried to change. i'm really trying to love the people more and i loved what you said mom about damien and others that loved their people on the mission and i want that kind of love. david o mckay said something that i love he said. "true happiness comes only by making others happy". it's true and so many nights after working i can't keep the happiness i have inside, like last night, i was singing and doing whatever to let my energy out. i love this work and how my testimony is growing. sure this work has it's way tough days and the rough times are more often than the good times but when it's good, it's way good. marcus that's great that you got to change jobs, enjoy each job you have and try to learn from each one, but ALWAYS try to have a job. i was just thinking this week about you guys and i am so grateful to have the family i do, i wouldn't handpick any other brother, sister, mom, or dad. i have the perfect fam. thanks for all the love and support you give me and for the stories you tell me. i hope the ward isn't too tough to get used to, it sounds like it should be ok still. we still have some fun people. i think i should get the package you guys sent tomorrow, if not it will be next tuesday. k well gots to go i hope you guys have a killer week. something i remembered from the dale carnegie book is that we should always try to give compliments. someone said if we give 10 sincere compliments to ten different people each day, our lives will completely change. try it. i wanna encourage you all to read that book its amazing and i use its principles everyday. send me some advice next week on some stuff you read, i don't remember it all. k gotta go, i love you guys and keep it up. elder peterson
oh yeah, the other day i saw two drunk guys in a fight and they were basically punching the air cause they were so drunk and they both fell down and were trying to fight, it was pretty funny.
oh yeah, the other day i saw two drunk guys in a fight and they were basically punching the air cause they were so drunk and they both fell down and were trying to fight, it was pretty funny.
Chance's Email 1/26/2009
Fam famity fam
thanks for the letters i got a ton today and the computer has been way slow so i have little time. guess who just walked into the internet place where i am? elder espinel! i haven't seen him since he went to the island. i was so excited to see him. cool well another miracle week and way fast week i don't know where it went..... but this whole week we were looking for people and found no one until saturday. talk about a trial of faith right? so last sunday the bishop gave us a reference to a lady whose whole family are members and she has been going to the church for 3 years now every sunday but hasn't chosen to get baptized yet. her husband got baptized 18 years ago and her two kids got baptized when they were 8. we went to visit her and talked a little things were good and then we asked if we could share a message with her. we began talking about baptism and asked her what she think it is that impedes her being baptized. she said nothing, (good sign). she said she always liked what the church taught her kids and people always said she needed to get baptized but she never chose to do it. we talked a little more and explained why it was important and then extended a baptismal date for feb 22nd. .........she accepted! her daughter was in the room, she is 17 and she gasped. i looked at her and she was smiling so big! it looks like she has never accepted a date before and so it looks really promising. then her son walked in and we told him what happened and he gave his mom a big hug and was like YAAAAAY. and then her husband found out and they are all way excited. it was a miracle. we worked really hard the whole week and saturday is when the Lord decided to bless us. i never imagined that we would be blessed like this but the Lord works in mysterious ways and always comes through. i'm so excited and i know it was the Lord and the bishop listening to the spirit that made it happen. we were just instruments. i felt a load of joy and i'm so excited to see the baptism. it's the week after transfers so pray that i will stay! i can't believe that about jury duty london. what a test of patience! i will pray that something works out. patience is a life long challenge to overcome and we need to pray to the Lord for help. tell kenz i got her email and i'll try to write her next week. oh and london i am emailing my mtc teacher marcus johnson who you went on a date with and he said "your sister probably thinks that was a way awkward date cause i was still way weird" ha ha but he is a STUD. marcus that's hilarious about jesse. i sent you a letter today along with two memory cards so keep your eyes peeled. dad thanks for the cool stories and info. mom thanks for the spiritual experiences and the great details, i don't ever mention how much i love the details cause i don't have time but i love your letters. i love you guys a ton and some more great news. ......i was looking at the baptisms our mission had and guess who got baptized yesterday.....paula! the lady you were praying for and that i had a way good lesson with her and we put a baptismal date the night before i left my last area. isn't that awesome! i'm so glad that the elders were blessed with success with her. i know that baptism is going to turn into many more! mom something i was thinking about the other day is when we were in the drivers license place and we had to wait for a long time and everyone had grumpy faces and were frustrated and we were like, ok let's make one of the workers smile or laugh. and we did ha ha. i will always remember that especially here in chile cause everyone are workaholics and need a good smile every now and then. we need to put a smile on the world's faces! i love you guys.
elder peterson
thanks for the letters i got a ton today and the computer has been way slow so i have little time. guess who just walked into the internet place where i am? elder espinel! i haven't seen him since he went to the island. i was so excited to see him. cool well another miracle week and way fast week i don't know where it went..... but this whole week we were looking for people and found no one until saturday. talk about a trial of faith right? so last sunday the bishop gave us a reference to a lady whose whole family are members and she has been going to the church for 3 years now every sunday but hasn't chosen to get baptized yet. her husband got baptized 18 years ago and her two kids got baptized when they were 8. we went to visit her and talked a little things were good and then we asked if we could share a message with her. we began talking about baptism and asked her what she think it is that impedes her being baptized. she said nothing, (good sign). she said she always liked what the church taught her kids and people always said she needed to get baptized but she never chose to do it. we talked a little more and explained why it was important and then extended a baptismal date for feb 22nd. .........she accepted! her daughter was in the room, she is 17 and she gasped. i looked at her and she was smiling so big! it looks like she has never accepted a date before and so it looks really promising. then her son walked in and we told him what happened and he gave his mom a big hug and was like YAAAAAY. and then her husband found out and they are all way excited. it was a miracle. we worked really hard the whole week and saturday is when the Lord decided to bless us. i never imagined that we would be blessed like this but the Lord works in mysterious ways and always comes through. i'm so excited and i know it was the Lord and the bishop listening to the spirit that made it happen. we were just instruments. i felt a load of joy and i'm so excited to see the baptism. it's the week after transfers so pray that i will stay! i can't believe that about jury duty london. what a test of patience! i will pray that something works out. patience is a life long challenge to overcome and we need to pray to the Lord for help. tell kenz i got her email and i'll try to write her next week. oh and london i am emailing my mtc teacher marcus johnson who you went on a date with and he said "your sister probably thinks that was a way awkward date cause i was still way weird" ha ha but he is a STUD. marcus that's hilarious about jesse. i sent you a letter today along with two memory cards so keep your eyes peeled. dad thanks for the cool stories and info. mom thanks for the spiritual experiences and the great details, i don't ever mention how much i love the details cause i don't have time but i love your letters. i love you guys a ton and some more great news. ......i was looking at the baptisms our mission had and guess who got baptized yesterday.....paula! the lady you were praying for and that i had a way good lesson with her and we put a baptismal date the night before i left my last area. isn't that awesome! i'm so glad that the elders were blessed with success with her. i know that baptism is going to turn into many more! mom something i was thinking about the other day is when we were in the drivers license place and we had to wait for a long time and everyone had grumpy faces and were frustrated and we were like, ok let's make one of the workers smile or laugh. and we did ha ha. i will always remember that especially here in chile cause everyone are workaholics and need a good smile every now and then. we need to put a smile on the world's faces! i love you guys.
elder peterson
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Chance's Email 1/19/2009
hey fam!
how are ya´ll doin? i'm doing so good! i'm not gonna lie, the week i got here to my new area was way tough. my companion and i decided to do some things different. we made a promise with the Lord at the beginning of the week that we would do some things and we did them and we found a lady that has agreed to get baptized february 8th! it was a miracle because on tuesday, we were knocking doors looking for people and we hadn't entered a house in awhile and we knocked one door and a lady answered and was really nice and we talked to her and she was like "yeah, my neighbors are Jehovah's witnesses and i'm from a different religion" we said "there are many different religions in the world and sometimes we can be confused. we have the way that you can find out for yourself which is the true church, would you like to know?" and she let us in. as we sat down she began describing how she has felt recently. passing through lots of sadness, fear, and confusion(the perfect investigator) and began crying. she said if we were in her house it's cause the Lord sent us there and we have a message that will help her. she said, this message must be important so i will listen. then we began teaching her parts of the plan of salvation and what she can do to have more happiness and direction in her life. we talked about baptism and extended a date for february 8th and she accepted. she was so excited and ready to do it. she said she feels like that's what she lacks. the next day we went to visit her cause she had to go to the hospital to get some scary results from some tests and we wanted to see how they went. she is ok and was so thankful. she had the pamphlet we left with her displayed in her living room with a picture of the baptism of Jesus and said that she displayed it because she knows that that's what she wants. it was amazing. then yesterday she went to church and loved it. and tonight we have a fhe with a family that has come to a couple appointments at her house with us. i feel so happy and grateful for the help we have recieved and that's something i need to boost my energy a little. i know we are gonna find more people this week and i can't wait to share more experiences. mom i loved what you said about teaching wiht the spirit. that is something i needed to hear cause i always want to prepare a wow message too. but sometimes we need to follow what the spirit says instead of what we want. also, service works. i had some stupid bitter feelings against somethings my companion did and then i tried serving him a little more and we are more united and there is a bond now. it works! thats crazy about brittany, i didn't know that! i still need some pictures from kenzy and her boy toy. i have only seen one. more than anything i wanna see how she is doin! tell her to get on the ball and write me. about grandma, i haven't recieved anything unfortunately. it could still be in the mail but a suggestion would be to write the letter in word, and then copy and paste it so that she doesn't lose it. but tell her i love her and her emails are always the most consistent and i wish i could write her everyweek! thanks for all the letters grandma! also, i got chad's letter and it was awesome. thanks for the experiences chad. he needs to tell you guys about it. he sets a great example of a member missionary. keep praying for opportunities to share the gospel. also i wanted to give a birthday shoutout to jenny and andy this month. i hope it's lovely. oh, one more thing, a bird pooped in my hair while sharing the gospel with someone yesterday. i love you fam!
elder peterson
how are ya´ll doin? i'm doing so good! i'm not gonna lie, the week i got here to my new area was way tough. my companion and i decided to do some things different. we made a promise with the Lord at the beginning of the week that we would do some things and we did them and we found a lady that has agreed to get baptized february 8th! it was a miracle because on tuesday, we were knocking doors looking for people and we hadn't entered a house in awhile and we knocked one door and a lady answered and was really nice and we talked to her and she was like "yeah, my neighbors are Jehovah's witnesses and i'm from a different religion" we said "there are many different religions in the world and sometimes we can be confused. we have the way that you can find out for yourself which is the true church, would you like to know?" and she let us in. as we sat down she began describing how she has felt recently. passing through lots of sadness, fear, and confusion(the perfect investigator) and began crying. she said if we were in her house it's cause the Lord sent us there and we have a message that will help her. she said, this message must be important so i will listen. then we began teaching her parts of the plan of salvation and what she can do to have more happiness and direction in her life. we talked about baptism and extended a date for february 8th and she accepted. she was so excited and ready to do it. she said she feels like that's what she lacks. the next day we went to visit her cause she had to go to the hospital to get some scary results from some tests and we wanted to see how they went. she is ok and was so thankful. she had the pamphlet we left with her displayed in her living room with a picture of the baptism of Jesus and said that she displayed it because she knows that that's what she wants. it was amazing. then yesterday she went to church and loved it. and tonight we have a fhe with a family that has come to a couple appointments at her house with us. i feel so happy and grateful for the help we have recieved and that's something i need to boost my energy a little. i know we are gonna find more people this week and i can't wait to share more experiences. mom i loved what you said about teaching wiht the spirit. that is something i needed to hear cause i always want to prepare a wow message too. but sometimes we need to follow what the spirit says instead of what we want. also, service works. i had some stupid bitter feelings against somethings my companion did and then i tried serving him a little more and we are more united and there is a bond now. it works! thats crazy about brittany, i didn't know that! i still need some pictures from kenzy and her boy toy. i have only seen one. more than anything i wanna see how she is doin! tell her to get on the ball and write me. about grandma, i haven't recieved anything unfortunately. it could still be in the mail but a suggestion would be to write the letter in word, and then copy and paste it so that she doesn't lose it. but tell her i love her and her emails are always the most consistent and i wish i could write her everyweek! thanks for all the letters grandma! also, i got chad's letter and it was awesome. thanks for the experiences chad. he needs to tell you guys about it. he sets a great example of a member missionary. keep praying for opportunities to share the gospel. also i wanted to give a birthday shoutout to jenny and andy this month. i hope it's lovely. oh, one more thing, a bird pooped in my hair while sharing the gospel with someone yesterday. i love you fam!
elder peterson
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Chance's Email 1/12/09
Que tal familia?
muchisimas gracia por sus cartas! your letters always give me so much help and motivation. i loved what you said mom about what braden talked about. there aren't lots of things better than hearing advice from missionaries who have just ended their missions and the advice they have. i think lately i have been too focused on numbers and like dad said, thinking about what others think of us and looking for praise. the Lord has said that people like that already have their reward. i'm going to try to focus more on submitting to the will of the Lord and not what I want. thanks so much for the tips. i feel like i have really recieve a lot of help from Heavenly Father. as i have started teaching in my new area, i have felt a peace come over me and i feel so much more calm as i teach instead of stressed and trying to teach everything i know. it doesn't matter too much what you teach but what the people feel. as i was contacting with another elder the other day he told me, the people rarely remember what the missionaries said when we knock their doors, but they DO remember what they felt as they talked with us. it all depends on the spirit we have with us, not what we say or how we say it. i liked that a lot. this week has been a little hard. we have been searching for lots of new people and we are trying some new techniques to have the spirit with us continually. i know that as i try to become more christlike and keep the rules and do what i have been called to do... i will have successs. maybe not how i was expecting, but i will have it. i really take things for granted, like matt's mission and how little sun there was. mine is full of sun and it really makes my day brighter but i've never said thanks for it. my new area is just like my old. almost all are the same except for one zone that is in the mountains with bikes and stuff. but my area is a lot calmer than my older area. a lot fewer buses and people that work like crazy. the members are so nice and do so much for the missionaries. our bishop is young and new and is doing awesome things for the ward. i'm excited to work with him. we have found some new people we will see how it goes with them this week but i'm going to try to serve my companion a little more. i know that will help the work a lot more if we are more united. he is a great guy, we are a little different but nothing that makes us clash. we have lots of potential but it depends on us now if we want to arrive at our potential. my house is big and way, way dirty. we cleaned it for 2 hours today and we are about halfway done. mom about those letters, just send them to me and i'll send them to the families. ok i wanted to ask you guys to send one of those black jump ropes that we have, i think i have one in my locker. i think that would be an easy and killer way to excercise here so whenever you send the next package that would be great if you could include that. ok some details about my first day here. we ate lunch with a way nice family but there is one thing that i can't stand. its olives. i can eat a bone soup, a nasty sausage but i can't eat olives. so this old couple we were eating with served us a salad with lots of olives on top and i wanted to be nice my first day and set a good impression so i didn't say anything. during the conversation, one by one i secretly took the olives off my plate and put them in a napkin and when i had them all in a napkin i shoved it in my pocket and asked if i could go to the bathroom. when i entered the bathroom i took them out of my pocket and flushed them down the toilet, disposing the evidence. i felt so cool and sly. then she brought out dessert which you'll never guess what it was.... a big bowl of pure canteloupe. there was no escaping that, i had to down it with a smile, ha ha. well fam i gotta go now. thanks for your inspiration and help. keep following the straight and narrow. i love you elder peterson
oh, ps. my zone leader is ryan bacher's nephew. his name is jesse scott. ask ryan about him and tell him to write me.
muchisimas gracia por sus cartas! your letters always give me so much help and motivation. i loved what you said mom about what braden talked about. there aren't lots of things better than hearing advice from missionaries who have just ended their missions and the advice they have. i think lately i have been too focused on numbers and like dad said, thinking about what others think of us and looking for praise. the Lord has said that people like that already have their reward. i'm going to try to focus more on submitting to the will of the Lord and not what I want. thanks so much for the tips. i feel like i have really recieve a lot of help from Heavenly Father. as i have started teaching in my new area, i have felt a peace come over me and i feel so much more calm as i teach instead of stressed and trying to teach everything i know. it doesn't matter too much what you teach but what the people feel. as i was contacting with another elder the other day he told me, the people rarely remember what the missionaries said when we knock their doors, but they DO remember what they felt as they talked with us. it all depends on the spirit we have with us, not what we say or how we say it. i liked that a lot. this week has been a little hard. we have been searching for lots of new people and we are trying some new techniques to have the spirit with us continually. i know that as i try to become more christlike and keep the rules and do what i have been called to do... i will have successs. maybe not how i was expecting, but i will have it. i really take things for granted, like matt's mission and how little sun there was. mine is full of sun and it really makes my day brighter but i've never said thanks for it. my new area is just like my old. almost all are the same except for one zone that is in the mountains with bikes and stuff. but my area is a lot calmer than my older area. a lot fewer buses and people that work like crazy. the members are so nice and do so much for the missionaries. our bishop is young and new and is doing awesome things for the ward. i'm excited to work with him. we have found some new people we will see how it goes with them this week but i'm going to try to serve my companion a little more. i know that will help the work a lot more if we are more united. he is a great guy, we are a little different but nothing that makes us clash. we have lots of potential but it depends on us now if we want to arrive at our potential. my house is big and way, way dirty. we cleaned it for 2 hours today and we are about halfway done. mom about those letters, just send them to me and i'll send them to the families. ok i wanted to ask you guys to send one of those black jump ropes that we have, i think i have one in my locker. i think that would be an easy and killer way to excercise here so whenever you send the next package that would be great if you could include that. ok some details about my first day here. we ate lunch with a way nice family but there is one thing that i can't stand. its olives. i can eat a bone soup, a nasty sausage but i can't eat olives. so this old couple we were eating with served us a salad with lots of olives on top and i wanted to be nice my first day and set a good impression so i didn't say anything. during the conversation, one by one i secretly took the olives off my plate and put them in a napkin and when i had them all in a napkin i shoved it in my pocket and asked if i could go to the bathroom. when i entered the bathroom i took them out of my pocket and flushed them down the toilet, disposing the evidence. i felt so cool and sly. then she brought out dessert which you'll never guess what it was.... a big bowl of pure canteloupe. there was no escaping that, i had to down it with a smile, ha ha. well fam i gotta go now. thanks for your inspiration and help. keep following the straight and narrow. i love you elder peterson
oh, ps. my zone leader is ryan bacher's nephew. his name is jesse scott. ask ryan about him and tell him to write me.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Chance's Email 1/5/09
Familia!
First I wanna say thanks for the amazing letters. I felt the spirit when I read them and I want to be a better person each time I read them. I feel your prayers and they are helping. I don't know what I would do without your support. ok well some news.... I got transferred! I am now in a ward called Huelen (wellen, to the lay gringo) and I have heard bad things about this zone like it's boring or there isn't success or things like that but while talking to my new companion from New Orleans, Elder Mangels, he told me some things that gave me the confirmation that this ward is strong and is full of potential and opportunites. I am sooooooo excited! there is so much work to be done but I am so excited to start! This is where Elder Olsen was before he was my companion, I don't remember a lot of what he said but what I do remember was that it's a great place. My companion seems really down to earth and positive and ready to work. It looks like he is obedient too so I couldn't be happier. A little plus as well, we have lunch everyday with a different member and they serve us for free! Also they wash our clothes for free! How does my ward sound? I just wanted let you guys know that your prayers were answered and the fasts were not in vain. I too was fasting for a little success. Well remember Paola? The sister of Dina and sister in law of Raul? The three of them have continued to come to church since the first time we visited them and they really are members at heart. They just need to work some things out and get married. But Paula has no limitations. She is married although her husband and kids are still in Peru and she is awesome! We decided to focus on her and so the last appointment we had last night was with her, (the last appointment I would have in Vivaceta) and we went and asked her some questions about the restoration and she understood! I haven't told you guys but she is like 50 and it's ridiculously hard for her to understand. She isn't stupid just a little slow but she understood everything and then we put another baptismal date for Feb 1st and she was like Yeah! She had no problem and she is excited and I KNOW she is gonna get baptized, then Dina and Raul will follow with their kids and then Paula will share with her husband and kids. It was a miracle. I was so happy and wanted to stay in Vivaceta to see her baptism but I'm supposed to be here. It was an answer to my prayers and I'm so excited to hear how it goes. Elder Tanner, (my comp in the mtc) is now in my sector! So I will be able to talk to him and share experiences. I am so happy right now and have been so blessed to be a part of this work. I feel so lucky. so many people say, I don't know how you can leave for 2 years and serve a mission, but I think how CAN'T you? It's too amazing to turn down. thanks so much for praying for dina and raul and paula. I know your prayers helped and I know that when they get married they will immediately be baptized. Raul is already participating in activities with the Elders Quorum and Dina and Paula have told me how they feel so great when the go to church and when they don't.. their week is much worse. Dad, I absolutely loved the stories and quotes you sent me. They gave me so much excitement and motivation thanks. I'm gonna try some of your ideas. Well fam I need to head out. I'll let you know how my new area is next week. also I have been recieving those dear elders almost every single week from Grandma Winda and they couldn't mean more to me. Thanks so much Grandma. Anyone else can send me dear elders, it's really easy, and my mail is decreasing so spread the word fam! ha ha. Also Mumsey and Poppy shot me an email that was awesome too. Thanks Mumsey and Poppy. Thanks for all your prayers and love. I love you fam!
elder peterson
First I wanna say thanks for the amazing letters. I felt the spirit when I read them and I want to be a better person each time I read them. I feel your prayers and they are helping. I don't know what I would do without your support. ok well some news.... I got transferred! I am now in a ward called Huelen (wellen, to the lay gringo) and I have heard bad things about this zone like it's boring or there isn't success or things like that but while talking to my new companion from New Orleans, Elder Mangels, he told me some things that gave me the confirmation that this ward is strong and is full of potential and opportunites. I am sooooooo excited! there is so much work to be done but I am so excited to start! This is where Elder Olsen was before he was my companion, I don't remember a lot of what he said but what I do remember was that it's a great place. My companion seems really down to earth and positive and ready to work. It looks like he is obedient too so I couldn't be happier. A little plus as well, we have lunch everyday with a different member and they serve us for free! Also they wash our clothes for free! How does my ward sound? I just wanted let you guys know that your prayers were answered and the fasts were not in vain. I too was fasting for a little success. Well remember Paola? The sister of Dina and sister in law of Raul? The three of them have continued to come to church since the first time we visited them and they really are members at heart. They just need to work some things out and get married. But Paula has no limitations. She is married although her husband and kids are still in Peru and she is awesome! We decided to focus on her and so the last appointment we had last night was with her, (the last appointment I would have in Vivaceta) and we went and asked her some questions about the restoration and she understood! I haven't told you guys but she is like 50 and it's ridiculously hard for her to understand. She isn't stupid just a little slow but she understood everything and then we put another baptismal date for Feb 1st and she was like Yeah! She had no problem and she is excited and I KNOW she is gonna get baptized, then Dina and Raul will follow with their kids and then Paula will share with her husband and kids. It was a miracle. I was so happy and wanted to stay in Vivaceta to see her baptism but I'm supposed to be here. It was an answer to my prayers and I'm so excited to hear how it goes. Elder Tanner, (my comp in the mtc) is now in my sector! So I will be able to talk to him and share experiences. I am so happy right now and have been so blessed to be a part of this work. I feel so lucky. so many people say, I don't know how you can leave for 2 years and serve a mission, but I think how CAN'T you? It's too amazing to turn down. thanks so much for praying for dina and raul and paula. I know your prayers helped and I know that when they get married they will immediately be baptized. Raul is already participating in activities with the Elders Quorum and Dina and Paula have told me how they feel so great when the go to church and when they don't.. their week is much worse. Dad, I absolutely loved the stories and quotes you sent me. They gave me so much excitement and motivation thanks. I'm gonna try some of your ideas. Well fam I need to head out. I'll let you know how my new area is next week. also I have been recieving those dear elders almost every single week from Grandma Winda and they couldn't mean more to me. Thanks so much Grandma. Anyone else can send me dear elders, it's really easy, and my mail is decreasing so spread the word fam! ha ha. Also Mumsey and Poppy shot me an email that was awesome too. Thanks Mumsey and Poppy. Thanks for all your prayers and love. I love you fam!
elder peterson
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Chance's Email 12/31/2008
Happy New Year fam!
Sorry last week was muy rapido but I just had 30 min. and I think next monday is my normal p day but we had a new years activity and played a lot today and today is our pday sorry for fault of info. today we heard some messages from pres and sister may. they were great. pres may always has some way of relating everyday things to the gospel, a lot of the times it has to do with being a basketball coach and some stories he has had. I don't know if i have already said this but he is like a chuck cutler speaker with basketball instead of football. after that we watched another movie. It was a movie about the life of president hinckley. I don't know if you guys have seen it but it's awesome. it's got some great quotes throughout the movie. one of my favorites was "do the things you are scared to do" something like that. It's always things that scare us that will help us grow and have experience. We sometimes just lack faith and courage to do them, so do it! For example, right now in my area my companion and i have basically started from zero. We had like 10 awesome investigators or more and this past month little by little they have manifested their problems and we have tried to help them and none of them have wanted to excercise enough faith to take the steps towards baptism. It has been really hard and we had to excercise lots of faith and stop teaching them cause we know there are others that are prepared to recieve the gospel and get baptized. I was a little scared to do it but we have left them that haven't progressed and we have been knocking lots of doors and finding some new people. sometimes we have to go back to the basics like this to progress more, like learning how to throw with your opposite hand or riding with the opposite foot forward on the wakeboard or waterski. I have also learned how to be more dependant on the Lord. I have seen lessons with the spirit and without and there is no comparison. if we don't teach with the spirit it's just a conversation. people are truly converted when they feel us teaching by the spirit and that's my main goal right now. That's so awesome that mitch spoke about that, I hope to learn how to teach by the spirit better. Well mom and dad, you aren't the only ones that were sick. The day after Christmas I got a head cold too, but i've been killing it with vitamins and water and today i can barely notice it. So kill it with water like you taught me dad. I think I lost a few kilos too because i couldn't eat a lot cause everything in our fridge is dairy so this past few days I think I have downed like 15 pb& j's. In a way I am thankful that I got this cold because it made me realize how thankful I should be for health. I told my companion "you should give thanks in your prayers tonight that you don't have a cold its horrible" and right after I said that I thought of someone blind or who doesn't have legs or who has some ridiculous sickness telling me "you should give thanks in your prayers tonight that you can walk, see, hear, eat, whatever it may be. but it helped me see my blessings a little more. you guys should make some time to read the talks of elder bednar again and elder wirthlin and pres monson about joy in the journey. they are amazing and will help you be happier. Today we played soccer with some latino missionaries and the gringos got thrashed. we were very humbled. the ball would get passed to me and by the time I could stop the ball someone stole it from me. Well thanks for all your prayers and support. I was so lucky to have a family anxioulsy awaiting my telephone call while other missionaries had trouble getting a hold of their families and are lucky if they get letters from their parents each week. I feel so blessed. I love you guys.
elder peterson
Sorry last week was muy rapido but I just had 30 min. and I think next monday is my normal p day but we had a new years activity and played a lot today and today is our pday sorry for fault of info. today we heard some messages from pres and sister may. they were great. pres may always has some way of relating everyday things to the gospel, a lot of the times it has to do with being a basketball coach and some stories he has had. I don't know if i have already said this but he is like a chuck cutler speaker with basketball instead of football. after that we watched another movie. It was a movie about the life of president hinckley. I don't know if you guys have seen it but it's awesome. it's got some great quotes throughout the movie. one of my favorites was "do the things you are scared to do" something like that. It's always things that scare us that will help us grow and have experience. We sometimes just lack faith and courage to do them, so do it! For example, right now in my area my companion and i have basically started from zero. We had like 10 awesome investigators or more and this past month little by little they have manifested their problems and we have tried to help them and none of them have wanted to excercise enough faith to take the steps towards baptism. It has been really hard and we had to excercise lots of faith and stop teaching them cause we know there are others that are prepared to recieve the gospel and get baptized. I was a little scared to do it but we have left them that haven't progressed and we have been knocking lots of doors and finding some new people. sometimes we have to go back to the basics like this to progress more, like learning how to throw with your opposite hand or riding with the opposite foot forward on the wakeboard or waterski. I have also learned how to be more dependant on the Lord. I have seen lessons with the spirit and without and there is no comparison. if we don't teach with the spirit it's just a conversation. people are truly converted when they feel us teaching by the spirit and that's my main goal right now. That's so awesome that mitch spoke about that, I hope to learn how to teach by the spirit better. Well mom and dad, you aren't the only ones that were sick. The day after Christmas I got a head cold too, but i've been killing it with vitamins and water and today i can barely notice it. So kill it with water like you taught me dad. I think I lost a few kilos too because i couldn't eat a lot cause everything in our fridge is dairy so this past few days I think I have downed like 15 pb& j's. In a way I am thankful that I got this cold because it made me realize how thankful I should be for health. I told my companion "you should give thanks in your prayers tonight that you don't have a cold its horrible" and right after I said that I thought of someone blind or who doesn't have legs or who has some ridiculous sickness telling me "you should give thanks in your prayers tonight that you can walk, see, hear, eat, whatever it may be. but it helped me see my blessings a little more. you guys should make some time to read the talks of elder bednar again and elder wirthlin and pres monson about joy in the journey. they are amazing and will help you be happier. Today we played soccer with some latino missionaries and the gringos got thrashed. we were very humbled. the ball would get passed to me and by the time I could stop the ball someone stole it from me. Well thanks for all your prayers and support. I was so lucky to have a family anxioulsy awaiting my telephone call while other missionaries had trouble getting a hold of their families and are lucky if they get letters from their parents each week. I feel so blessed. I love you guys.
elder peterson
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