April 29, 2010

i have so much to write so hold on

this last week was huge. so much happened.  we made up a sweet rap for brother leo because he is leaving.  ha ha it is about teaching and finding work and stuff.  

one night last week sister hite had the hiccups really bad.  i was sitting next to her and it was annoying.  so all of a sudden i threw my hands up in the air and yelled really loud.  ha ha i scared elder thurman more than i scared her.  she just started laughing so hard that she snorted and the hiccups didn't even go away.  it was funny.  

tie trade was a huge success last saturday.  i've met some cool elders by walking around.  i practically don't have any of the ties i started with haha.  i have better ones now.  

sunday was so awesome.  we had a change in our branch presidency.  president crawford was released after four and a half years of service.  he was really nice and i'll miss him.  at the temple walk i got some pictures with elder melling.  he is gone now. we talked for a little while.  he is really cool and very talkative.  he'll be good. after the fireside, every sunday they play different films that you can go and watch.  we reluctantly went to a talk by elder holland.  it was so good!! man it changed my life.  it was a talk he gave a few years ago at the mtc.  it was amazing.  he cracked a lot of jokes. he cried. he banged the pulpit. every emotion.  it was just really good.  it was way better than the fireside.  i don't have time for all of the details so i'll just tell you in a few years.  he just has such an awesome spirit.  

tuesday:  another great day.  in class we had a testimony meeting.  we were asked how the book of mormon has increased our faith in Jesus Christ.  it was really really good.  i cried a little.  thank you mom and dad.  you really planted a seed in me of reading the book of mormon.  i talked about how when i was little we read in the mornings a few times and i don't really remember a thing.  then in ninth grade pres hinckley challenged everyone to read it.  that is when i really read it all the way through my first time.  then last august the bishop challenged me to read it.  i finished in february.  when i got to the mtc nobody challenged me to read it.  i wasn't forced or asked.  i just started reading it.  i'm almost done with it.  i've learned more than any other time.  even though i was "forced" to read it as a kid, i'm so thankful that i did.  i love you guys for helping me receive a reliance on this book.  when you read it the spirit is there.  you just can tell that it is right.  thank you.  i'm thankful i was raised in the church and always had people there encouraging me to read.  that night we went down to the devotional and they weren't letting anyone in.  something was up.  as soon as they opened the doors it was a mad dash to get good seats.  as we were singing the prelude music elder L. Tom Perry walked in.  we all stood up.  it was really really cool.  he then talked for 45 min about the Book of Mormon! what are the chances.  it was really good.  it was a jam packed spiritual day.  i love it here!!  

wednesday: another great day.  ha ha i got to host!  it was a blast.  i helped an elder who is going to southern california cambodian speaking.  he was very nice.  after i dropped him off at his classroom i walked back up to the curb to get another missionary.  i looked up and in that main intersection i saw a black suburban.  it was the lipperts! after a second i could see them all waving and yelling.  they rolled down there windows and said hello.  they pulled right up to the curb where i was.  they all got out and said hi and i hugged them all.  it was so cool.  i was so glad i saw thomas.  bishop had a video camera and he asked me if there was anything i wanted to say to the camera.  the traffic people were hurrying us along so i didn't really say anything.  i figured i'd be calling soon.  it was so cool to see them all.  they then said there tear filled goodbyes.  it was cute.  christian was getting teary.  we were walking away and then sister lippert said wait one more... allison ran up and hugged his leg.  ha ha it was sweet.  then we they left and i helped thomas get settled in.  he gave me that backpack.  it is beautiful!!  thank you. where'd you get it.  we talked about the Jazz and stuff.  it was really fun. 

so that was my busy week.  sorry i didn't really respond to your letters i just had to much to say and not enough time to say it.  i may be writing you a letter.  i am supposed to get my flight plans today or tomorrow.  it sounds like things are going really well at home.  mom i got your letter last thursday night.  ha ha you have to send it a little earlier so i can email you about it.  dad thank you for your thoughts on the temple that is really interesting.  last thursday i made it all the way through without any help!  woo hoo.  and i did it pretty quick.  afterword the worker really said good job to me.  it was neat.  you should send me some fresh hot rolls somehow ha ha that would be sooooooo good.  tell sister johnson thank you for the package.  it is much appreciated.  go jazz!!! hopefully they don't choke.  i love hearing about what's going on at home.  keep writing to me.  i love getting mail too ha ha.  the language is coming nicely.  this saturday we have to teach lesson two completely in malay.  i think we got it.  i can't wait to get to the field.

thank you so much for your love and support!

Elder Petersen

April 22, 2010

hello people, Week 6

  i'm glad you enjoyed all of my pictures.  ha ha they were kind of random.  don't worry there will be more on the way soon.  ha ha elder thurman is not five inches taller than me.  he must have been on his tippy toes.  i'll send you a back to back picture.  haha sister hite and elder williams don't have southern accents.  that would be funny.  they laughed pretty hard when i told them you asked.  

thank you for the jazz updates.  it sounds like they're struggling.  darn.  i had high hopes for them this year.  as long as they still have a healthy williams and matthews we'll be pretty good. and boozer is back?  good.  we really need kirelenko.  he's an allstar.  

i miss playing ball with the gang.  it sounds like you're playing a lot of driveway basketball lately.  you should invest in a new hoop.  we are in desperate need of one.  

tell thomas good luck.  hopefully i'll see him soon.  i actually get to be a host this week so if i am lucky i will get to help him with his bags and stuff.  tell him to look for me on the curb.  that is interesting about the 120 day thing. i'd say that is a good idea but it means that after you get your call you will have a longer wait until you leave.  oh well. doesn't effect me.  

so you were in an accident?  thats too bad.  it doesn't seem like we can keep the scion healthy.  haha oh well.  did the airbags go off.  and i don't believe that is is really your very first accident.  so grandpa is not doing so good?  don't forget to tell him about me.  i think he'll remember, or at least he might act like he does.  do you think his time here is dwindling?  i hope i can be at his funeral, but i don't want him to suffer for two more years.  john sounds good.  tell him and jaynanne to write me a letter.  what the heck they both just stopped.  he's going to love it here.  ha ha ha that is so funny about mollie's friends.  i can just picture her telling the story and laughing her head off.  thomas told me about unga earlier this week.  thats too bad. i feel bad for him.  he was going places.  he was dang good.  oh well go utes! 

did you find a backpack?  you never respond to the stuff i email you haha.  i may have access to one. if you find a good one just transfer money from my account and get it.  but let me know asap.

well brother leo is now gone.  he was for sure our best teacher.  once you graduate from byu you can't teach at the mtc.  so wednesday was his last day.  its a shame.  the other day he illegally snuck us in some food.  mtc teachers are not allowed to bring in food.  it was this cookie thing called tim tams.  they are from malaysia but during certain parts of the year you can buy them at target.  anyways they are kind of like oreos but dunked in fudge and they're rectangle.  there's many different flavors.  there's this thing he told us all to do called the tim tam slam.  you bite off each end and then use it as a big straw to suck up milo. milo is a hot chocolatey drink like hot chocolate.  then it quickly melts and you slam it into your mouth. haha i'll try it.  

haha elder thurman has a recorder and every now and then he recordes messages to send to his girlfriend.  it is so funny.  elder tovar always tries to ruin them.  he talks all deep and creepy haha we want to get one and record a message.  

so on monday wednesday and friday we have a goal to syl as much as possible.  syl means speak your language.  it is where you don't speak any english all day long.  it is very hard but it is the fastest way to learn.  by the end of each of these days we are just all speaking english haha.  on saturday we taught lesson 1 in the trc completely in bahasa malayu.  it was hard but we did pretty good.  its just hard to make it personal you know because we are just still mastering the vocabulary.  it is a good experience.  on sunday i will no longer be a zone leader.  i'm going to miss it. it was fun meeting all of the newest elders and telling them whats up.  i will be made into district leader.  so i will still have to go to a bunch of meetings.  its interesting how they rotate the leadership around.  its a good experience.  

jeremy vincent left this monday.  i went to his residence sunday night and we talked.  he's so cool! i'll miss seeing him.  he'll do good though.  i'm for sure leaving on may 10th.  this means i will be in the mtc on mother's day.  sorry but i won't be able to call home.  however, i will be able to call you from the airport on the tenth so be waiting for that.  it might be expensive so i don't know how long i will talk.  i get my flight plans next week so i'll let you know when i'll be at the airport.  you better be home when i call. 

we had a new english district roll into town this wednesday.  they will leave the same week as us.  so that's a mile marker that we won't see anymore groups come and go.  they seem really nice but really loud.  

at the devotional this week kevin w pearson of the 1st quorum of the 70 spoke.  he was amazing.  they all are.  he said that average is an enemy to excellence.  he said he knew that nobody in the celestial kingdom is average.  we all need to be excellent.  it is something to strive for.  it is my new goal really, to not be average.  i think i'm well on my way. 

Alright, so only two more emails before i hit the field.  then you can email me back because i'll get an hour to email instead of a 30 minute race.  send me some letters!  its good to hear from you.  i love oskar's letters. tell him to keep it up for my whole mission.   its nice.  well take luck.  i love you

elder petersen

April 15, 2010

hey orang orang!

  hows it going up there in good ol north ogden.  like i said before we're getting into a pretty standard routine here so there's not a whole lot thats new to talk about.  i hope you got all of those pictures i sent.  there was some pretty goofy ones. ha ha now maybe you can  picture the people i'm talking about.  those were all off of someone else's camera. i haven't printed any of my pictures.  i don't have a whole lot anyways.  tell jaynanne to mail me back!! whats up with that.  the first week she sent me novel of a letter and now nothing since then.  

  i see so many people here i know/knew.  i've seen reggie griffiths from beaver many times.  and his companion was actually another kid from beaver named hayden something.  its crazy that they grew up together and then were companions.  ha ha i've seen wade melling a couple of times.  i didn't recognize him at first.  ha ha we had a good conversation.  he's really nice and talkative.  i've seen a few people from camp loll.  there was this sister in my  zone who was really cool.  her name was sister davis.  it turns out her brother spencer davis worked at loll last summer.  he's a cool guy.  she came up a few times and camped over night.  ha ha i remember seeing her.  it was so crazy when we made that connection.  it is a small world.  

  our native indonesian teacher brother leo is leaving this week.  after you graduate from byu you can't be a teacher anymore and finals are this week.  it will be sad to see him go.  he turned into my favorite teacher.  sadly if he can't find another job in a few months he has to go back to indonesia.  that would be tough.  oh well.  he's a good guy, he'll find something.  

  it sounds like things are going pretty good at home.  sounds like a lot is going on.  tell jaynanne to take the act again and she probably did fine.  i want to know more about malaysia from the amazing race.  what is the ways of life there.  how well off was the average citizen. was it modern or more third world.  details!  

  the mtc is getting more tedious thats for sure.  english groups keep coming and going.  and we stay here.  ahhh!  i don't know what day i leave for sure.  my departure date is supposedly may 3 but nine weeks from march 10 is may10.  my friend got here a week before i did and he leaves may 3 so it doesn't make sense that that is when i leave.  i'll keep you updated.  so basically four more weeks i believe.  it doesn't really feel like i'm going to be gone for two years.  its the same climate and everything ya know.  luckily the mountains are different.  the mountains down here are pretty cool by the way.  we had gym outside for the first time yesterday and i took a good look at the mountains.  they are very big.  i want to climb them.  i can't wait to get to that airport.  i think once i spend one night in singapore i'll realize that i am gone for good.  its scary but exciting.  have you found a backpack.  i want one that is a camelpak but that is bigger than our hiking ones. i don't nessecarily want the hydration pack i just like that brand. will you send me my oil.  if not i can just buy more.  if you can't find my perfect backpack thats ok.  the other night we had an english district leave.  elder touli who is from hawaii is going to madagascar.  he worked and toured with the polynesian cultural center.  he did the hakka and a sweet slap dance for them.  it shook the residence.  ha ha it was nuts.

  ok highlight of the week. this tuesday's devotional was simply amazing.  glenn L. pace of the 1st quorum of the 70 spoke to us.  he told us that he asked that it not be recorded because of what he wanted to share with us.  this caught everybody's attention.  he spoke to us deeply of god's love for us.  it was so good.  he spoke of the spirit world and an out of body experience he had after his second heart attack.  he gave an account of a pioneer's encounter with the spirit world.  he described the flowers there.  it sounds amazing.  i can't even comprehend how beautiful it will be. none of us can.  i can't wait.  he talked about meeting Jesus and then our heavenly parents.  he emphasized that we have a heavenly father and mother.  again i can't wait to meet them.  how amazing of a day will that be.  he spoke with such a spirit.  i just really felt that what he was saying was true.  he then talked about the pre earth life.  he said that we had specific callings there to where we would live when we got to earth.  he quoted bruce r mcconkie.  he said that we also got our mission callings there.  he said he was sure that we saw where we were going on our missions and then went and found people that would live there and promised them that we would come and find them.  it was a strong strong message.  its all depending on our faith.  we have to have enough faith that we will find these people.  i truly felt that love of God in that meeting.  it is so big.  even glenn L pace doesn't understand it.  i'm glad that i could come to understand it just a little bit more. i'm sorry if this letter doesn't exactly flow.  i wrote all my thoughts in my journal and my study journal and it makes much more sense.  you'll have to read it in two years.

  i'm excited to go out and serve.  i hope that i can pick up the language.  plenty of missionaries have done it before me so i think i'll be fine.  i heard about bradley and quintin's mission calls.  thats so exciting.  i can't wait till in two years we can all get together and just talk about our missions. it'll be great.  i don't want to telly you i don't miss you, but fourtunately i don't really.  ha ha like i said it doesn't feel like i'm really gone yet.  keep sending me letters.  so far oskar's are the best.  that kid cracks me up.  alrighty well i'll email you again next week.  jumpa lagi.

Elder Petersen

April 8, 2010

Happy late Easter!!   

   thank you for the package and all of the goodies. it was almost as good as a cavanaughs egg...almost.  Did you find all of the eggs at Arches ha ha that would be funny if someone found one in a few months.  you would probably destroy the microbiotic soil or something ha.  

  

   i really enjoyed your letters this week.  i got many. let me recap.  mutual sounded really fun/funny ha ha i wish i could have seen it.  congratulations on the bed and carpet.  the flat screen tv reminds me of that one office where michel has his own tv and its a tiny flatscreen that he has to stand up to watch at his house.   ha ha anyways... is yours that small?  

  

   thank you for the song lyrics. aren't they awesome!! man it is just so cool to read now that i'm out here too ya know.  you now have a new mission if you choose to accept and you will.  ask delose conner for the lyrics to men of harlich.  you can google it but you won't be able to find all of the verses we sing.  ask him.  

   send me my mission home address in  singapore.  by the way how was amazing race.  i heard that they are going to singapore this week. tell me about it.  

   arches sounded like so much fun.  i wish i could have gone.  it is no surprise that you left the house late ha ha.  dad i have to tell you, your letters are funny.  i love your structure.  its very ordered ha ha.  don't change it. did you do the fiery furnace.  no one mentioned it.  oh well there is a ton of other stuff to do i suppose.  i'm going there after i get home by the way.  i love that place.  did the slacks and adams enjoy delicate arch.  it is so pretty.  one of my favorites for sure.  i loved all of those postcards!  ha ha it is just so pretty down there.  its so beautiful.   thats funny about the merry go round ha ha i miss those good old days when we would get spun around by dad.  i can't beleive jaynanne actually puked.  ha ha. she must be pretty weak sauce.  the police story was cool.  they tell us about our appearence so much here.  that is a really good lesson.  Double 'O' in the sunrise would have been amazing.  i'm so jealous!

   Conference was so nice!  i loved it so much.  i figured i probably sat in that big room for about 18 hours including all of the sessions and then the before time and the fireside and movie afterword.  i loved it though.  i learned so much and really felt the spirit.  i feel guilty for never sitting down and watching and taking notes on all five sessions before.  my new life goal is to do that better.  Families!!! that is what i got out of it.  saturday morning and throughout was all about families.  I don't know how much you watched/heard, but there was a strong family oriented message.  you have to hear it again.  i can't wait for the ensign.  M. Russell Ballard gave a great talk that you guys should definately read again, as well as Bradley D. Foster.  his was about, because mother told me so.  ha ha it was sweet.  there were so many good talks though.  dad during conference i laughed out loud when Uchtdorf talked about waiting in line at the grocery store.  ha ha that is you.  i had the same thoughts as you during priesthood session.  i think this everytime.  people all over the place are sitting listening to the words of the prophet and and basically singing in unison.  including me and you.  that is so cool. we were doing it at the same time just in different places.  the scriptures say that 'the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me'  I imagine us singing as a super prayer ha ha thats just me. 

   Elder Brown went home.  as i was reading my scriptures this morning i just couldn't stop crying.  

all else is well here.  i love the mtc.  i can say pretty good prayers in bahasa malayui. i think thats "malay" in malay.  ha ha.  and my vocabulary is increasing daily.  well i have a few minutes before my time expires but i don't know what else to say.  i can't wait to see thomas here.  hopefully i'll help him with his bags at the curb.  i'll be a host that week.  

   i hope things are going good at home.  don't worry about me down here.  just keep praying for me.  dad you can ride my motorcycle but you have to put some money into my account if you do.  is the newspaper route still in my name?  if so change that.  oh i have some pictures that i printed and will send home.  i don't have a big enough envelope so i have to go buy one.  they are just our district.  they're sweet.  ha ha oh man there is just so much to tell you.  i kind of feel like i am going to come home one of these weekends and just tell it all.  this is not really the case.  oh i learned a lot about our mission.  like i knew we can't wear our name tags in malaysia.  their government does not recognize the church.  every 90 days we have to go to the airport or somewhere and renew our visa on our passport.  we have to tell them each time that we are visiting friends. and we have to be in p-day clothes.  so every 90 days i have to fly to singapore.  cool huh.  its like the cia or something.  we're undercover.  and if they don't renew our "visa" ,its not really a visa, and they find out we're with the church then we have to stay in singapore for the rest of the mission.  oh and we can't call each other elder in public.  just our last names.  there's more i think.  its just kind of crazy.  i'm excited to sneak in to malaysia ha ha.  but seriously i can't wait to get out there and be forced to speak the language constantly.  it will be fun exciting nerve racking scary and new.  i can't wait!

i'll write another email next week.  i can't wait to here from you again.  have fun at home and stuff.. ha ha i love you.  tell everyone hi for me

Elder Petersen

April 1, 2010

hi.

       it sounds like things are going on like usual at home.  i do not miss school i can tell you that.  thats good for jaynanne and spencer on their grades.  this might sound weird but i miss helping jaynanne out with her homework. it was fun.  ha ha. tell spencer if anyone texts him and thinks its me that he can play along with it.  especially if its a girl.  if they don't know i'm on my mission then they're not that close to me ya know?  sounds like work is stressful dad. sorry.  good luck.  i miss grandpa.  thats good that he's in a better place.  it is better right?  i feel bad for him.  do you think he remembers me? ask him.  you said he's going downhill?  how so?  

   dad i am so jealous of you.  that is one of the things i miss most about home: running.  North Ogden is just so beautiful.  the mountains, the trees, the weather, the neighborhoods.  i miss that.  i want to run so bad, and not just around an indoor track ha ha.  

   dad i will take your advice on the talk thing.  we have to write a talk every week and on sunday the branch president randomly invites two missionaries up to share their talk.  so i will try to incorporate those things into my talks.  being zone leaders is going pretty good.  be basically have the routine down.  we know our duties and whatnot.  its easy.  we actually got new elders yesterday.  its fun meeting everybody.  that is one perk.  

    like i said last week i love my teachers.  they are just really cool.  they're all different.  i told you about brother leo and brother maynes.  we also have brother ross and sister hill.  they are also nice and all very good at the language.  

    ha ha.  oh man i do miss uncle brian.  that man is funny.  i wish i could have heard him talk about going to that fast and testimony meeting.  ha ha tell him hi.  when i get back we need to play some serious nine cards down.  so on the amazing race they're going to malaysia?! that is so awesome.  i'm jealous ha ha i can't wait to get out there.  you're going to have to tell me about it, where they go and stuff.  tell me what it looks like as well.  we talk about it all the time in class you know.  we talk about the people and the culture and the food and whatnot.  so i am so excited to go out there.

       ok well things are going really good here.  in class we have almost translated the whole first lesson on the restoration.  we have to start teaching in malay soon.  its exciting but its hard because i think of the sentence in english and then translate it in my head and then try to say it out loud.  it doesn't work out so well.  i can tell you that allah adalah bapa syurgawai kita yang penuh kasih, and that dia kasih kita.  kita adalah anak anak nya.  thats all for now.  i don't know if i got it right but i tried to say God is our heavenly father who is full of love, he loves all of us and we are all his children.  its coming along.  i told you previously about our awesome tie trades.  it has just been me and elder williams but we finally convinced elder tovar to join us.  ha ha he got way into it.  this last saturday i made some great trades.  we were told that silk ties bleed terribly in the humidity so i've been trading out some silk ties for polyester.  i traded that yellow tie you sent me with all of the pen marks for an awesome green one.  ha ha anyways.  

   this last sunday was our first fast sunday.  here at the mtc it is an enforced fast. there are no mealtimes planned and the cafeteria is basically shut down.  so it was easy but i'm used to eating so much food here so i was definitely hungry.  

   last night i filled out a census form!! i count!  ha ha i didn't think i'd be able to.  so thats good, i hope i helped utah's cause for another seat in congress.  

   this weekend i get to enjoy ten hours of general conference on hard plastic chairs. i can't wait. ha ha it should be good. long but good. 

       in class we had a lesson on the apostasy.  brother maynes told us to take a minute and write down where we would be if there was no restoration.  it was weird to think about.  we would be very different i think.  i don't think our family would be as close.  we wouldn't be as happy.  i sure wouldn't be here.  something would just be missing.  we then wrote down a testimony of the restoration and i just wanted to tell you how grateful i am for it.  the gospel has had a huge impact on my life.  it has completely shaped me.  i hope you guys all realize that.  it almost makes me cry to think about that as i sit here typing it. 

   earlier in the week we had to write down family traditions and stuff.  i'm thankful for these things:  i'm thankful we had family dinner every night.  i'm thankful we could sit around the dinner table and talk about school or work and the gospel.  i'm thankful for our birthday traditions.  i'm thankful for all of our family vacations and camping trips.  i know a lot of families don't do stuff like that.  i'm thankful for family home evening and sunday nights when we were all together.  i'm thankful for all of you guys, that i can play with and laugh with and cry with.  thank you mom and dad for supporting me and all of us kids whenever we pursue something. oh man you should see me right now.  i can't believe it but i'm crying.  I love you so much, i look forward to hearing from all of you this next week.

Elder Petersen