June 4 2012

Well, this week was so much better than others! There were alot of ups and downs, but Elder Coenen is making headway! He is coming around to the fact that he can't do it on his own anymore. Last night he asked for a blessing, and I feel like he is going to go up, up, and away for here! I'll admit, there were a few times that his attitude could have been a lot better, but like I said he is making giant steps! 
   He really enjoys singing, and so do I. I am going to try to incorporate music into our proselyting as much as possible to keep things up! I think that will be something that will boost his faith! He is contacting more people now as well. Still not a lot, but more :)
   This week was REALLY HOT, and it has COOLED down a lot ha ha. The weather is unpredictable!!! P.S. maybe that is because we don't watch the forecast haha. Elder Coenen's face is really sensitive to the sun, so we gotta be careful, but I'm doing great :D Never felt better! Just still not used to the humidity when it rains.... 
   This week was full of MIRACLES, as you can see from the photo that I attached :) We were able to find a new investigator, Samir,  and a half, Amine!I say half, because we haven't taught Amine yet, but he came to church! It is a miracle how we met them! I was on exchange with a Zone Leader(Elder Grossen), and we were walking down a random street to get to another street for a pass back. I contacted a man, and he simply gave us the code to entry into the building. He even said " I don't know if I can do this, but here it is. Pass by another time." Saturday, we passed someone that we forgot we already passed... but we were just next door to the man, Samir, who gave us his code for entry. So, we passed him. The code worked, he was home, he let us in, and he is now a new investigator! MIRACLE! 
  Other miracle, is Amine. This happened the same day of exchange that we met Samir. We were doing the street board, and I was contacting a strong opinioned man. He wouldn't leave.... anyways, Amine, a 20 year old man, comes up and just asks if he can listen. He listened for a while, but he finally left our conversation to speak with my colleage. After I broke away from the very obstinate man, I was able to join in with teaching Amine the plan of salvation, which was displayed on our storyboard(thank the sister missionaries :) He told us he liked it, and he wanted to come to church. He came to church, LOVED it, and even commented that he loved seeing so many people smile. He said that it was so good that it didn't even feel like it was three hours long! He is going to meet with us on Thursday, and he will be coming to church next week, :)
    Something that we learned in companionship study this week is that we need to help our investigators understand why we give them commitments every appointment! For example, "We give you these invitations to keep the commandments, because if you don't, there is no way you can be baptised. And if you aren't baptised by the proper authority, you cannot return to live with our Heavenly Father." It is frank, and direct, and may seem a little harsh, but that is because we understand that there salvation is on the line! 
    So, I bought a new tie :) It is red, Don't have many red ties. It was only 10 euros. Talked to a cool British guy that owns the store too. Also bought some new running shoes for a steal of 15 euros. My others are too small, I think my feet have grown. Well that is all for the financial front ha ha.
   So, I wouldn't mind staying in Carcassonne only one day, if that is what you want to do. We even could ask the missionaries to open up the church and we could leave our luggage their. We could contact a member too, but you'll need to add a plan to your cell phone so it won't be super expensive while in France... just FYI. I was thinking the same thing with Gap, we stay in gap one day, then the next day we pass through Sisteron, maybe visit some members, and then continue on through the country side to Aix en Provence, and maybe we would have to stay there for a night, then pick up our bags to go to Carcassonne the next morning... Just an idea. We have the extra day so, yeah.
     we could always go from Sisteron to Aix en Provence to Canne, and stay the night there... you decide. Just keep in mind that Elder Park will still be in Aix en Provence most likely... he called me the other day on accident!!!! It was so good to talk to him haha!!! You would have never thought we were in the same mission till now! Maybe that would be bad to meet up with him now that I think  about it...It might be against the rules...He finishes the week after we get home, he is finishing early for school. Did you know that? 
    
Well now I would just like to you give you some cool quotes that I have gathered :)

"I know what pleasure is, for I have done good work" -Robert Louis Stevenson

"When faith replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings to pass His purposes." - President Monson

" To have faith isn't enough, to be faithful is what is asked of us." -Elder Buss

"When God judges our works, he isn't going to say, " So, how much faith did you get while on earth?" Rather he'll ask, "How faithful were you?" -Elder Buss

" A great indicator of one's personal conversion, is the desire to share the Gospel with others." Preach My Gospel

Well, I love you all, have a great day, and talk to you next time!!!
 
EBRANLEZ L'ENFER
                       Alma 48:17

May 28, 2012

This week was a great week! Found some new investigators and working hard on finding more!!! It's too bad that a lot of them don't progress right now, but we are going to work hard this week to get them into shape! We had so many little miracles happen this week, tender mercies I would say. One I would like to mention came when we got on the wrong metro and just went with it in hope that it was the Lord's will! As we made our way back to the center, we contacted an old investigator! He is really cool, and set up a Rdv with us!!!! Ya boy!!! Just gotta have faith and works! God does the rest ;) 

Also received a letter from Cécile Bouchaud, my convert who moved to Strasbourg!! I WAS SO HAPPY!!!! I haven't heard from her in ages! I hoped we would come in contact again. I sent here a few texts a while back and gave here my current address, and to my surprise she kept her word and wrote me! Now I have her address and I can right her! 

That isn't all, Cami Thompson wrote me a letter to tell me about her mission call, COOL! What a mission call, SINGAPORE! Shay Hatch wrote me a letter too :) It is great to receive letters, it's been a while. TENDER MERCIES!

Matt told me about his ear, sent me pictures too! Hope it turns out like he expects! Sam Nicholes wrote me an email too :) It's so good to hear from old companions!!! Speaking of which, keep mine in your prayers. Elder Coenen is struggling right now. Off and on depressing is a killer. I have to encourage him a lot! I have learned how to practice patience, and give good, constructive criticism, while helping him feel that I love him at the same time, and it is genuine!! The mission has changed so much about myself... I am not the same person who left July 28 2010. Oh and it is my 22 month mark ha ha!! COOL!

Thank you for your kind email Colton! I don't have a lot of time, but I'll send you another letter!!! I can't believe you will be a senior!! HOLY MOLEY  where did the time go!!!

I love you all, and cant' wait to hear from you soon!!

Elder Petersen

May 21 - 2012

Iaorana!

That is Hello in Tahitian :) How are you all doing!!! It was such a blessing to receive a phone call from the office Elders Saturday to hear that Rubee was born!!! I'm an uncle once again ;) She is such a CUTIE too! Congrats Cami and Caleb!!!  Loved the photo with the toddlers too, ha, they are cuties too! Can't wait to squeeze their cheeks!!

Well one week come and gone again! It was a week of FINDING. We did a lot of contacting, street board, and door to door! Elder Coenen was a bit discouraged there at the end of the week; but gratefully it's another new beginning!!! ha ha :) I'm very happy :) Well.... don't know what else to say, so I thought I would throw bits and pieces of my letter to president in the mix ;) I love you all, and I can't wait to see you all!! 

P.S. You said that Mckelle Ayotte could get me a job at Texas Roadhouse??? Let me know :) 

JE VOUS AIME!!!!!


President,

    What a week of FINDING! We did so much finding, I LOVE the street board :) I hadn't really had the opportunity to have the real experience of street boarding until now :) 

     The district meeting was a real success this week! I fasted for inspiration, and more spiritual force; boy did the Lord bless me. I felt inspire to discuss about perseverance. I have been focusing on that a lot lately, and it is something our district needs. There are 3 missionaries who will finish next transfer! I felt as though it would help my companion and I as well. We read through President Monson's General Conference address, "Worthy and Willing" I really enjoyed this talk about our Duty, and I highlighted many citations, but one of my favorites was " When faith  replaces doubt, when selfless service eliminates selfish striving, the power of God brings about His purposes." I do not want my selfish desires to get in the way of the Lord's purposes.... That is an important lesson I have learned on the Mission; putting the Lord first. We all want to do so many things, but place the Lord second in priority sometimes. We all need to become like our savior and give ourselves to the father, " I also noticed that you didn't list an engagement for the mission subject, so I invited the district to continue studying scriptures and reflecting on experiences they have had with the spirit in order to help their investigators understand!!!! 
  
    I held my exchange with Elder Russo! He is a very good missionary! Full of energy, has a great faith, and loves to work! It was such a joy to do this exchange. He even helped us find TWO new investigators :) In whole, we have a whopping 4 new investigators!!! Woop Woop! 
  
    Antonio( our Italian investigator) doesn't see the difference between our church and the Catholic... we will have to be more frank with him this week... Anthony is still very unstable :( But hope for our newbies!! Laticia, Pierre, Jimmy and Richard!
   
 My sister had her baby this week!! Her name is Rubee Anne Mendenhall, and he she was born Friday morning at about 3:00. I'm an Uncle again!!!! 
  
 My studies were rich this week; I found the 6 things from Alma 33 and  34 that will grow our faith! 1- Searching the scriptures(33: 2) 2-Prayer(33: 4,34:17-28) as well as service to our fellow man! 3- Follow the Prophet(33:17) 4- Place our trust in the Lord(33:22), and increase our understanding of the Atonement(34:8-10) 5- Be patient (34:3), and humble(34:19) 6- "tenter l'experience" by REPENTANCE! (34:4,30) Repentance has been something very valuable to me lately, I feel that the Lord is truly forgiving me, and my faith is growing in our Savior!
   
Thanks for all that you do President!!! -Elder Petersen

May 14, 2012

Bonjour à Tous!

It was so great to talk to you all yesterday! Sorry if I didn't have much to say!! I'm a dork sometimes. You are all so beautiful and healthy lookin'! I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you ;) I hope the pregnancy will go well Cami 

This week was a difficult week... I got to know Elder Coenen Pretty well, but the work was very slow. A lot of raté-vous, and contacting. However, it wasn't terrible, we had the opportunity to do street boarding for the first time this week since it stopped raining, and street boarding is so much fun! We just decided to make it simple and just stick a book of Mormon on the board with putty... it was great to be able to use it for reading scriptures with people! We took 'pop-out books' to a whole new level! We were able to take several people's information, and even fix some appointments! I now know why the assistants always talked it up so much!!
   This week was difficult as well because Elder Coenen is struggling... He is having a hard time focusing on the work because his fiancee sent him a dear John a couple weeks ago.Sad. I had to come down to his level of thinking for a week, but I feel like we can go back up together :) I understand his personality now, and I think that is something I haven't down very well during my mission... I have always stayed up at my level, and never moved. 
   We got into contact with Anthony again! He came to the Family Home Evening at the young adult center. We will be seeing him for an appointment today :) And boy did Antonio, our Italian investigator, feel the spirit this week. Saturday morning, we met with him to teach him about faith. We felt that was what he needed the night before. He began to tell us in our appointment that he was very tired and very stressed out. He sees that he has many weaknesses... it was his words that triggered a scripture to come into my head, Ether 12:27. We asked him to read it, and see why we have weaknesses. He read in Italian, so I didn't understand much, but he only read for a few lines and choked up.. he couldn't speak, and even began to cry. He didn't know why, and kept repeating out loud, "what is happening?" I felt like Ammon when he saw that the king Lamoni was being converted by the spirit; I had a smile from ear to ear and felt so much joy! I answered boldly, "That is the spirit" What a simple truth! We helped him understand that the answers to his prayers will be answered similarly. It was that experience that set the tone for the entire lesson! He told us he wants to continue, and that he needs this in his life. This week I have been studying how the Spirit influences us, and my testimony is now firm... the spirit is the true teacher! It is he who brings about such a great change with our investigators.. and even us!
   President Murdock asked us to read  2 Nephi 9 and find three elements :) .... A way to start out a contact, something I can do better, and something to share with our investigators. After reading 2nephi 9:4-7, I felt this would be a good way to start out a conversation, "What does death mean to you?"  I felt like 2nephi 9:51 applied to me; meaning that there is more that I can do to remember what is the MOST important right now, and not wasting time on things that are trivial. And then I thought that 2 nephi 9 :41 was a scripture I would share with some of our investigators to help them understand that there is only one path that leads to eternal life!
   This week, D&C 6:14-24 comforted me very well as well. I had some personal conflict  and doubts about certain things this week, but this scripture applied to me in a way that I cannot explain in words ;) This week I'm going to focus more outward and start working and serving selflessly. That's the only way! 

Well I love you all and can't wait to talk to you again.... see you in a couple months!

P.S.photos of the pool are from the members house where we did our calls. :)

May 7, 2012

Family,

  I would just like you tell you what a pleasure it was to work with Elder Puairau! It was very hard to say good bye, but I know that it is the Lord's will! That's right, Elder Puairau left this morning for Martini, which is in Switzerland. I received my new companion, Elder Coenen. He us Belge, I met him already when i was at Gap! He was in my zone. It all happened so fast... my mission is going by too fast! 

 This week was full of exchanges! As a district leader I need to do an exchange with every member of the district... however It arranged that I needed to do two exchanges this last week, and the on top of that, the zone leaders needed to do theirs with me too!!!! My first Exchange was with Elder Stanford. It's kind of weird, because we are in the same apartment ha ha. I don't even feel like Elder Stanford is a blue! He is very mature and works hard! He has fun too:)Today it was fun to see him meet up with his sister at the train station, it made me appreciate my sisters a little bit more. Yeah, his sister is in our same mission :) I did my exchange with Elder Harel (frenchy) as well! He is a good missionary He is a great teacher as well! He Really knows the Doctrine! I love exchanges, they are a such a crucial point in missionary work! We get to learn from each other, but we also have SO MUCH FUN!!! ha ha. It is a lot more interesting as a district leader as well, because you have a relationship with each member, that other missionaries in the district don't! 
   I received my second dead letter the other day! I am very excited to take on this last stretch! President counseled to sprint the final stretch and finish strong! He even asked us (all of my group of missionaries finishing in july which is like 30 missionaries!) He told us that the way we finish our mission will be ripple of what happens in the rest of our life... that echos what my best friend Blake Walton said, "The way you finish your mission, is the way you will finish in life" 
   It is interesting, because in football our coaches taught us a similar principal. They said that if we let up before the whistle, we were only cheating ourselves. In practice, if we didn't play each play to the whistle, he got on us. In conditioning, if he seen that we were letting up before the finish line, he made us run more.... I learned pretty darn quick to finish through the finish line. This simple lesson has blessed me immensely in my life, and I have given my all in everything I do since. 
   
   We had two investigators at church this week :) Antonio, an italian, and Paul, who is Bangla. Antonio told us he felt the difference between our church and the catholic church... we express our love more for the Savior Jesus Christ. 
   Miracle for ya! This week one of our members bore his testimony about prayer and missionary work. We visited his family a month ago, and invited them to pray for someone in their life. We invited them to pray specifically for an opportunity to share the Gospel with this person. Well, the next day at work, the father went to work and his meetings were cancelled... Then he  was asked by a colleague from work to eat with him.. which never happens. Then the friend asked him about reincarnation and his view on the subject!!! Yes this is the friend for who he prayed! This has also grown my testimony of prayer and its power to call upon the powers of heaven to do this work.
   Revelation! From my studies this week, I could sum it up in one word... Consecration. When we understand our calling as missionaries, we understand that it requires consecration! 
   Thank you so much for fixing up my classes for me ;) I feel like it is all going to come together very well!!! So about hotels! In Toulouse, there is a hotel called Novotel that President stays at when he comes to town. It is located at Compans Caffarelli, just next to the street 4 rue Alaric 2 Compans Caffarelli (the old mission office ) That would be perfect for Toulouse.... I don't think I have other things to tell you! I love you so much and... oh yeah I will have to do my call at 9 or 10, because here in France it is 5 PM or 6PM... if I do it after church, it will be too late :/ sorry. It's just like that! 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!!!! Oh be expecting a package soon :) Also I got my hardrive a few weeks ago, thanks :)

Love, Elder Petersen

April 23, 2012

My family! 

I love you all so much!!!! I feel your love as well ;) I truly appreciate all the sacrifices you are making, and I hope that one day I can follow all your examples for my children and siblings ;) You truly are answers to my prayers! 

This last week was a bit rainy, but It is beginning to warm up, beautiful day today! The sun is out, still a bit chipper, but not bad! What a great week it truly was! I was a bit discouraged in my last email, but things have sky rocketed since then! I made a call to President Murdock, he listened, and gave me some counsel that has completely changed my missionary experience! We shouldn't do things simply because of obligation, or obedience... we shouldn't fret over rules because of rules... we should do everything because of LOVE! I now wake up and remind myself how much I love the Lord! Every contact I ask myself if I'm doing it because I truly love the Lord as well. It has brought completely positive results :) 

We had so many tender mercies this week; we found 5 new investigators! We also contacted Anthony again! ;) He was sick, that is why he wasn't at church! He is now on track to be baptised at the end of this week! I have an amazing experience to tell you about a member as well, but I don't think I have time!  I love working in Toulouse, and I love working with Young people!!!! It is great!!!!


Well, know that I love you all and I can't wait to talk to you again the next week :) I'll try to get some letters sent out this week, I'm bad at that!! ha ha. Interviews with President are this week, wish me luck ha ha. Love you all, you are in my prayers! 

Elder Petersen

April 1, 2012

Ma famille !

It is CRAZY BIG here in Toulouse ! I love it, but I’m still  a bit lost at times. Gratefully, my companion will not lose me like that one time that dad lost me at the bathroom in Disney land….. I don’t know if you lost me dad, but I remember walking out of the bathroom and freaking out because you weren’t there! Ha ha

Elder Puairau is great! I can’t remember if I told you, but he gave me some sea shell necklaces when I arrived!! It was legit! We get along pretty well,; he’s still new to the mission, so I will be polishing him up a bit! It is fun to live in an apartment with many missionaries too ;) Elder Buss is one of the Elders, and he is actually going to be training, so he left today for Switzerland to pick up his new missionary!

It is a ton of fun to ride all the metros (underground trams or subway) but I still am not direction oriented! We have buses too, but there is a strike this week, so the buses are changed up a bit… oh the French and their desire to retire at 60 ha ha! We live outside of Toulouse center ville, we have to take a metro to get into the city. It isn’t too bad. The weather is great too!!!

We also have a young adult’s center here in Toulouse; it is the old mission office :=)  We contact a lot of young people here, so the center is great for teaching and inviting them to activities! We go there every day. It is weird, the office where President Carter did his first interview with me is now supply room. I still remember where I had my first French baguette sandwich as a missionary too!!!

We have an investigator named Antony that will be baptized in two weeks! He is 20  years old, and has a problem with smoking! He is praying to receive his testimony as well!!! Please keep him  in your prayers, he will be going cold turkey from cigarettes this week!

By the way I LOVED GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Sadly it is the last I will have seen as a full-time missionary.. weird!!!

Well on the new front for after the mission, I learned that is discouraged by the first presidency to stay with members while I’m still a missionary … so for Gap, we may need a hotel.  Hope that works.  Is there a way you could get me Parker Beus’s contact info too? And Carson Holden, and Wade Bronson’s as well.

Well I gotta go for now! We’ll talk again soon! 

Elder Petersen

 Oh mom and dad, look at your son! Aren't you proud? ha ha. Do you think people would talk to me if I went out like this?

 hope to get in the Ensign! Oh and the other photo is of Frère Elder Allal, who is a member that served a mini-mission this week! He served with Elder Buss because Elder Buss's new companion comes into the mission a week later than the transfer. I know Frère Allal's dad in Brive; he is the Branch President haha!!! It is such a small world!