Letters Home

Every day Oskar wonders if Trevor thinks about us or misses home.  Today was a happy day for Oskar when he got a letter from Trevor.  A simple letter full of boy stuff but as important as the constitution.  Jaynanne was excited to read hers.  She read ours but was very private about her own transcript :).

Week #2

Hi!!!!!

       Its good to hear from all of you.  Time flies here.  but it also drags on. its hard to explain. again i must be breif so excuse my spelling and capitalization.  dad my journal entries are coming good.  they are kind of short but i haven't missed a day.  I want to go camping so bad!! camping with the slacks would be an adventure.  tell brett to cowboy up and sleep in a tent. sheesh.  ha ha. anyways that interesting about the health care bill.  i can say i was on my mission! cool. thanks for all of the advice in your letters dad.  mom you said you saw chase. he sent me a great letter ha ha i'm excited for him.  and john sent me a pretty good letter. if you see either of them tell them to write back.  tell oskar good luck with soccer, mollie stay out of the drama, spencer do your homework, and jaynanne your letter is coming keep your chin up little one.  i feel bad for grandpa but what can you do.  tell him about me.  i hope i can see him again...in this life.  Abbie's house isn't haunted.  and have fun cleaning the carpet mom.  oh and you set up a blog?  cool.

       
     Well life goes on here like usual.  we have gotten into a pretty routine schedule that will last until the week before we leave.  i'm sorry if i tell you things that i've already told you.  i can't remember what i've said.  last p-day we went to the temple.  it is exactly the same as the ogden, but i like the ogden one better.  it was really interesting.  some missionaries think they're just so pro.  but really i'm the pro here. :) out of all of the elders in our district i got my call the earliest.  someone's was nov 11th, then like dec 28 and like mid january.  i don't remember the others, but whats up with that.  

   i don't know if i told you about the Malagasys.  the other main foreign language district in our zone is the madagascar mission. their language is malagasy so they are called the malagasys.  they were so cool!  and very good at the language.  this last monday they left.  their total flight time was going to be like 30 hours with 3 or 4 layovers.  needless to say its very far away.  
   
   anyways, when a district leaves our zone we all pack into their room on the sunday before and sing songs including high on a mountain top, called to serve, and god be with you till we meet again.  It is really cool.  so we did that and it was fun.  then we ate all of the food they've recieved over the last nine weeks.  since our district is now the oldest foriegn lang district, me and my comps were called as zone leaders.  ha ha i don't know how that happened.  I still don't know everything, and we have to teach new elders lots of stuff.  so the new malagasys came in and a district going to texas and california english speaking.  they seem cool.  we'll be around the new malagasys a while so i hope they're nice.  

   this week Lynn G. Robins spoke with his wife at our devotional.  It was pretty good.  It was about the converting power of the Book of Mormon.  as he told a story of a conversion, I just got the chills all over.  it was a strong message and i really felt the spirit.  I know it is a true book that was really translated by Joseph Smith and I love it.  I started reading it again and i'm already learning new things.  

   Throughout our stay at the MTC we are given progressive investigators.  They are teachers that assume the role of an investigator they encountered in the field.  we teach them the lessons according to their needs.  hopefully we will "baptize" them but it may not turn out that way.  It is a pretty good experience because it is fairly realistic.  The TE stands for teaching evaluation and is a place you can go and teach people and then they critique you and give you feedback.  the RC is the referral center and you sit on phones and take and make calls to people that have given their phone number from a church DVD or commercial or pass along card.  It is real people with real concerns.  You call them and talk to them.  You bear your testimony to them and offer them a Book of Mormon.  It is very fun.  Then there's the TRC which is like teachers resource center or something, there's way too many acronyms here.  every saturday we go here and teach in Malay and english.  progressively each week there will be less english and more malay.  this week we had to contact in malay and then teach the first lesson in english.  RM's volunteer as investigators.  

   i want to tell you about a few of my teachers. first brother leo.  he is a native indonesian and he served his mission in singapore.  He obviously really knows the language and is a very good teacher. also very funny.  Then there's brother maynes.  He returned from singapore in july.  he's so awesome! he knows the language very well and is just hilarious.  he always asks us for dating advice.  it's pretty funny.  both of those guys have very strong testimonies and teach great lessons.

      
   I love this place.  It is so fun here. you can always feel the spirit.  I love going to the temple and am excited to go again today.  Saya Mengasihi Kamu.  I think that means I love you.  when i learn more malay i will write some more.  I look forward to your letters.

Elder Petersen

A NEW DAY !

Trevor has been called to serve in the 

Singapore Mission, Indonesian speaking.  

I want to keep this record of his letters to share with him when he returns. 

                                  

Trevor went to the MTC on March 10,  2010.

We had a great day going to lunch at Cafe Rio and taking pictures in front of the Provo temple.  We were missing Abbie and Jeremy...on their honeymoon :)  Abbie called to say goodbye....

He is excited to get out and start the work so this was a happy day for our family. I've heard the horror stories of emotion filled curbside drop-offs and I was determined to make this a happy occasion. We all laughed and hugged and wished him well. 

After we drove away, we cried. We teach our children from a very young age the responsibilities of missionary work. We try to raise them in such a way that they desire to serve the Lord.  Trevor has nurtured that desire through constant study, prayer and lifestyle. For Trevor, the time has come to "rise up" and be a Man.  I know he will serve to the best of his ability. We are very proud of him and we are eager to follow his progress!

Blogging is new to me so this is an adventure.  Hopefully, I'll get the hang of it quickly.


Here is TREVOR'S First letter HOME.........

March 18, 2010 1:50:24 PM MDT
Sounds good there! I hope jaynanne had fun at prom.  the
college basketball sounds awesome. let me know how all of those teams do. what about the jazz? thats more important.  

ok here's the thing, i only have thirty min to be on the computer. if i am on too long then it will automatically log me out and delete my message. that explain the bad grammer if i don't finish this email then i will mail you.  I really have a lot more to tell you but i don't have time.  I'll probably write something. also do NOT email me back.  I won't have time to read it and then write a new one.  just write me a letter. try dearelder.com. clark and brenda sent me some mail it was really cool.  

I have two companions: elder tovar from sacramento and elder brown from north salt lake.  They're pretty cool i guess. there's only six people in my district including me. elder thurman from heber city, elder wiliams from georgia, and sister hite from north carolina.  i've seen lots of people i know elders: johnson weaver bauer vincent erikson roskelly stoker. and joseph.  

there is so much food!!! and it is pretty good. i wager i'll gain twenty pounds but that is also the average weight loss in Singapore per missionary.  john is going to love the food.  the bed length is fine.  we pray at least 13 times a day not including any lessons we teach.  and sing only like four times a day but its all in Malay, which is really fun.  Basketball is fun.  there are actually a lot of good players so its fun.  there is a lot of good looking sisters though thats for sure.  the showers are single stall but they are like old school tile so i think they're pretty old. dad just probably wasn't in that building.  the language is awesome! its coming really well.  every friday night there is a building wide tie trade.  ha ha its so fun walking around the building and trading with everybody.  some people are way to in to it.  you should send me some old ties.  on sunday we go on a walk to the temple.  it is really nice to get outside.  i saw jeremy vincent up there and we talked for a while.  it is a highlight of the week. 

          There are devotionals on sunday and tuesday.  They are great.  me and elder williams decided to join the choir.  they practice on sunday and sing on the tuesday devotional.  it was fun. we got to the sunday devotional thirty min early and it was already packed so we sat at the very top.  15 min before it begins the whole congregation sings the prelude.  its fun.  we sand army of helaman as one of the songs and it was truly amazing.  in the chorus the words were switched from "we will be the lord's missionaries" to "we are now the lord's missionaries"  it caught me off guard.  right then i really relized that i am a missionary and i felt the spirit so strong.  it also gave way more meaning to the third verse. I want you to send me those lyrics.  man i was almost crying.  On the tuesday devotional elder cook came.  He was so good! it was the most spiritual meeting we've had.  i can't get into the details but it was a great talk about the first missionaries in england and our importance today.  at the end he gave us an apostolic blessing that i wrote down.  i truly felt that he was an inspired witness of Jesus Christ.

       on wednesday new elders came which was awesome because it meant i was a veteran.  they all looked so scared.  we helped some find a room and it was enjoyable being the "big kid" ha ha.  I left that one towel home and was wondering if you could send it. 

       i've learned a lot in Malay including how to pray and bear my testimony.  here's my testimony: 

Saya tahu bahawa Yesus Kristus adalah Juruselamat kita dan Penebus kita, Saya tahu bahawa Thomas S. Monson adalah seorang nabi Allah, dan bahawa Kitab Mormon adalah firman Allah. Sayay tahu ini benar melalui Roh Kudus, saya bersyukur untuk Injil dan untuk pengetahuan ini, Dalam Namu Yesus Kristus Amin

       I'm so excited to be out here and i hope you guys are doing alright.  I love the spirit about this place and I know that I will be blessed for my decision to serve and so will you guys.  I can't wait for a letter. tell jaynanne to write to me. 

Love, Elder Petersen