Wednesday, March 9, 2011

ONE MORE YEAR

hey guys
     wow where to begin.  i don't even know.  dad i loved your email.  way good.  let's see.  atta boy spencer!!!  how many people tried out?  when i made it my sophomore year only one person was cut i think.  is that how it was?  jaynanne go to utah state.  you will not regret it.  if you go to weber state you will regret it.  seriously.  go to utah state.  one more time. go to utah state.  alright dad i like your plans.  you give me options.  i think most likely i will only go to weber state to finish my associates degree.  that should be pretty easy.  i do not think i would really want to get any kind of degree in malay or indonesian.  i think it would be useless.  malaysia is not a happening place.  i would not want to live in malaysia with a family.  but interesting.  my biggest fear is becoming an obnoxious byu fan.  that would be awful.  that is pretty sweet that you met elder thomas' family.  had they heard anything about you?  i remember writing that email.  it was right in the thick of our good times.  i am happy to report that that family is all baptized and active.  they actually sent me a letter recently.  they are so awesome! i'll see if i can send you more experiences like that one.  it's not likely. it's good to see that james is doing well.  his mission is totally different than mine. 
     alrighty well guess what tomorrow is?  my year mark!!!!  oh yeah!  that is so crazy to think about.  one year ago i was set apart.  one year ago abbie was married.  one year ago i was sitting at home with no idea what was coming my way.  one year ago i was in america.  one year ago i was with you guys.  one year ago i was trying not to cry as you left me at the mtc.  oh man the memories.  what a year it has beenso awesome.  i couldn't have even guessed what i was about to experience.  cool.  so now i'm one year older and wiser too.  i think i'm basically the same though.  i do expect that you all look very different now.  if i have a chance i'll skype you all in may.  do you think you've changed at all in the last year?  maybe oskar spencer and mollie will seem different.  one year is the longest i've been away from you all.  one more year.
     this past weekend was stake conference.  wow it was dang good.  our building has four floors.  the 4th and 2nd floor are chapels.  on sundays four wards meet there.  the adult session was in the 4th floor chapel.  the sunday session was live on the 4th floor and broadcast to the 2nd floor.  it was dang crowded.  there is really no parking space so you can imagine that the car park was also way crowded.  we got there plenty early to wait for investigators.  only a few came early.  the rest were late.  so we saved some seats, even though it was strictly forbidden, for them.  we ended up on the 2nd floor unfortunately  because  that's where our investigators would be.  we had so many come.  i was floored.  it was the most we've had yet in singapore.  i thought we'd have less than usual but we had a lot.  the meeting itself was really really good.  lots of good talks.  president clark spoke breifly.  it was of course probably the best talk.  that man is so comfortable in front of crowds.  he told some awesome mission stories from different elders here.  he told a story about sandakan.  very inspiring.  the stake presidency also gave good talks but not as good.  there was one talk though that beats them all.  we reluctantly decided to go to the adult session and i'm glad we did.  a man named brother bradford from the expat ward spoke.  it was so great.  the congregation was silent.  we were riveted.  the main theme was about families.  he spoke about not missing a single moment with your families.  he talked about those moments everybody loves when you are just so happy and you never want to forget.  he said that we've been promised to remember those moments with perfect clarity in the hereafter.  he told a story about one time when he was living in france with his family and his son really really wanted a basketball stand.  so one day they finally bought one.  when they got home it was too late to put together.  the mom put all the kids to bed.  but then the son asked if they could put it together.  so in the dark quietly with flashlights they put it together without waking up the mom.  when they were finally done they took turns shooting the first shots and catching the ball before it could hit the ground and make any noise.  it was such a good story.  this man could just tell it so well.  well nine years later his son died.  this was one of those awesome memories that he has.  he talked a lot about family vacations too.  i just want to tell you that our family is so awesome.  seriously, i love our family.  we go on the best vacations.  other families don't do that sort of thing.  we get along.  we have fun.  we have so many memories together.  i wouldn't trade any of our family outings for anything.  thank you mom and dad for giving us those chances to go out together.  my best family memories are probably from family trips.  it is one thing that i plan on doing with my future family.  mom and dad you are the bomb.  i just got a letter from jaynanne.  in it she said something like this: 'we are so lucky to have mom.  she is so great.  she does so much for us with almost no payback.  i love her'  i agree jaynanne.  mom is a super hero.
     i wanted to tell you a quick story.  it'll have to wait till next time.  last week we had zone conference.  we had interviews with president clark.  in his office he has pictures of all of the missionaries up with what areas they are in.  i saw one that was off to the side.  it was a new elder coming in.  i took a close look...it was elder brown!! from the mtc. 
     well that's all folks.  i love you.  have a good week.  send me letters.  thanks for your letter jaynanne and friend.  say hi to the stowers.  say hi to the wards.  say hi to grandma and grandpa.  see ya around. hey do you ever translate what i say in malay at the end of my letters?  kamu harus tulis pesanan dalam bahasa melayu kepada saya.
elder petersen

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