Such a Small World!

dua minggu lagi!

     thanks for the emails they were  awesome.  really touching.  from mom it sounds like things are really busy.  well i can't believe you went to another jazz game.  oh man.  save a ticket for me will ya ha ha.  i definitely want to go to the temple when i get home. 

What a cute white guy :)

     this week was ok only.  hold on i have to remember what happened.  well actually last week wasn't that good.  our numbers were way low.  but good things happened.  the thing is that about 7 of our investigators went back to their village for various reasons.  that is so frustrating.  ha ha so we couldn't teach them and they couldn't go to church.  if only we could force them.  just kidding...but seriously..  last thursday we flew to sibu sarawak for our zone leader council.  oh man ha ha we were all scared.  from what we could tell we though president was going to rip into us.  there have been a few cases recently of missionaries being idiots and not following some big rules.  we thought he was going to rebuke us for obedience.   well that's not really his style.  he did talk a lot about commandments and obedience but he's a nice guy.  nothing condeming but we got the message.  i love those meetings.  i'm very lucky to be able to sit with president once a month. and the zone leaders are so awesome right now.  it is a lot of fun. 

     well i don't remember who i've told you about already so here's to gang.  first we have an awesome investigator named simon.  he is deaf in one ear and can barely barely hear in the the other (like only loud claps or horns or something).  apparently he was in a backpack on his dad's back when he was young and his dad was hunting.  the sound of the gun just broke his ears and some tree branch or something took out one of his eyes.  maybe all at once.  it's kind of sad.  from what we understand the dad then took off.  he didn't want to take care of him anymore.  he met the sisters a few years ago but never stayed with it.  about 3 weeks ago he just showed up in church.  he is really eager to learn.  we've been teaching him ever since and he is set to be baptized the week after i leave.  he's not mentally disabled but it is hard for him to understand what is going on.  but he is really really cool.  we have good spiritual lessons.

     next is a girl named senci.  she is really cool. she has read about half of the book of mormon already and loves to learn.  she wants everthing we have to give her.  she is set to get baptized on the 31st.  she went back to kampung (village) last week.  it's always kind of a nervous time because we don't know if the kampung church will anti them or if their parents will get mad.  but she said everyone sat down and watched the restoration dvd with her and they all really liked it.  that is so awesome!  there's no chance the church will go up there anytime soon but it's good that they like it.  so she is doing really good.  she is related to a strong member so it's exciting.  i'll keep you posted

     next is a little miracle.  she is a lady named josephine.  actually she is half european.  wow.  so we met her way way back in october or november.  she came to church a few times but could never meet us.  then she was having some passport problems and just dropped off the map.  her strong member friend dorkas had no idea where she was.  so we were pretty sad but moved on.  last month she showed back up.  she has been coming to church everyweek since she showed back up but we could still never meet her.  so basically she has come to church a lot and knows a lot already from that.  on monday we finally met her.  she's great.  we taught lesson 1 and things started to come together for her.  she just kept saying "this is true".  ha ha ya it is.  so we asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said "yes of course".  also can.  we were trying to choose a date with her.  i said "well if you are really fast then you could get baptized before i leave".  she said "ya i must be baptized while petersen is still here".  i said "ok well that would be next week then".  she was just like "ok next week i want to be baptized".   ha ha it was awesome.  really she already knows everthing from sunday school.  she stopped smoking immediately and we've already seen her twice this week.  it's so cool. 

Stenley, Pres. Chuah, Maylin, & Viviana

President Chuah & his Family doing
a traditional Dusun dance.
Later, we all joined in and it was a lot of fun.

The cute primary kids singing, "I am a Child of God" for the Larsons

The Reads & Larsons with gift

Larson's, Trevor, Read's

so that's not everyone but it is a few good people.   this past week a new senior couple came.  they are the Reads.  the Larsons leave next week so they overlap for one week.  actually i found out that he worked with the weber state administration and she worked in the chemistry department of weber state.  i said i was from north ogden and she asked me if i knew the lipperts.  i said ya that's my bishop!  ha ha they know the lipperts really well.                         well at least she knows all of the boys names.  you'll have to ask them if they know her.  on saturday was a welfare party, welcome to the reads and farewell to the larsons.  it was a lot of fun.  i'm really going to miss the members here.  they are so strong and so fun to be with.  there is one awesome member named jen.  she helps us out with missionary work a lot.  she had a passport problem so she had to leave to indonesia yesterday.  she was so sad to leave before me and the larsons because she wanted to go to the airport with us to say goodbye.  she was just crying.  i hope i can meet her again.  i hope i can see most of these people again.  i hope they remember me.  if nothing else i'm the tallest elder to ever serve here ha ha.well one more week.  i'll make it count.  president is coming in to town tomorrow for district conference.  we'll be going to mount kinabalu again.  the sandakan and tawau members are going to be coming in.  it should be a lot of fun.  thanks for the emails.  i can't wait to see you.  say hi to everyone.  i love you!!

elder petersen

Iban & Indon Villages, I Love the Natives....

saya sudah mininggal,

 

Trevor's 2012 Valentine

     hey what's up everyone.  thanks for the awesome emails.  pretty funny.  it sounds like valentine's day was fun.  sounds like oskar is a little player ha ha.  pretty much nothing happened here.  i have no kekasih.  you didn't meet joseph did you?  i wonder what he's like now. are you going to the homecoming?  ya that would be sweet if thomas came to arches.  is there room?  john comes home to washington the last week of may.  it seems like just yesterday we all left.  crazy. 

spencer's got to get off starcraft.  we just had a training about addictive destructive wasteful things and video games was in the line up.  ha ha.  they're not bad just time consuming.  president clark said his smart smart son in law did terrible in college because he just always wanted to play video games.  so he couldn't even do the program he wanted.  

oh hey i just got another letter from the johnson's yesterday.  it was good.  it looks like i'll be home to see joe married ha ha.  

what the heck mom!  just throwing that last line out there nonchalantly.  ha ha you are so mean.  oh mercy funeral potatoes and spare ribs sounds so so so good.  jahatnya kamu!

things are still going awesome here.  i can't remember what happened this last week to tell you about though.  let's see.  i've gone on two trips since last wednesday.  thursday we took off to tawau for two days.  tuesday we flew down to sibu for two days.  it is so fun.  in tawau we just went on normal splits. 

Traditional Bajau Wedding Picture
....just a picture :) 

old EngKang...He is the man
Elder Trotter and Trevor

Sitting on the Kursi Raja (King Chair)
it's not as comfy as ours at home,
but EngKang handcarved it.  Pretty cool.

elder trotter and i saw this little culture fair thing so we went and checked it out.  they had a bunch of different booths from a bunch of different malaysian and indon native tribes.  the iban one was so funny.  this old guy really wanted to dance for us.  at another one they dressed us up because an old lady really really wanted to take pictures with us.  we also got our picture with a bajau girl in a wedding type picture haha, and also a cool kadazan man playing the flute.  it was a lot of fun.

while meeting all of these people we made some contacts and found out about another iban village that is all christian that is not far from tawau.  that is really good news.  hope it pays off.  also while in tawau i met up with a family that has a son in kk that i baptized.  the old dad lived in kk for a while and he is so funny.  he just moved back to tawau.  he was happy to see me again.  i'll send you a picture.  ha ha i love the natives. 

Iban Traditional Clothes

we went to sibu on tuesday for zone leader council.  it is a once a month meeting.  it was actually really good.  president clark is awesome.  he gives such good trainings.  i always leave those things feeling pumped.  i'm supposed to give the same training to the other districts in our zone.  i feel bad for them because i wish they could just hear it from pres clark.  i can't do it justice.  it is always a blast to see the whole gang each month.  the zone leaders across east are way funny right now.  every one is a good reunion.  there's me, brodie, maughan, pendleton, stratton, howell, hunt, gallinger, polley, and georing.  awesome.

well there was no big, big advances by any of our investigators this week.  but things are still progressing.  we are teaching a way nice family.  i'll keep you posted on them if they progress.  the dad's name is peter.  we are praying hard for them.  on monday we met a really cool referral named sensi.  she was just one of those people that gives all of the right answers to every question.  she is way way good.  we invited her to church on sunday but she said she had to go back to kampung because her father in law or something had a stroke.  bummer.  but she is way good.  she just really digested everything we told her.  later the same day we met a different referral from a different member across town.  she's awesome.  we invited her and her family to church on sunday but she said that this weekend she has to go back to kampung because someone had a stroke.  we thought hmm is there a bunch of strokes going around?  could it be the same guy?  ha ha we asked and sure enough the two referrals are cousins.  they are from the same kampung.  wow.  so two referrals were referred to us by two different families and they are both cousins.  that's cool.  not a coincidence.  they are both good.  we're excited.  but feel bad about the guy with the stroke. 

     oh my gosh other big news is that on tuesday my recent convert got engaged!!  that is crazy.  she is from my favorite sandakan family.  her name is rainah and she is...16!! ha ha wow i was shocked to hear it.  she's still in young women's ha ha.  it's to a member though so that's good.  better to a member than to a muslim.  apparently it's official.  the families got together and the dad's bartered over a price.  ha ha kind of like johnny lingo.  i think it's more of like a promise thing because it is still way far out.  so we'll see.  so weird.  dad pretty soon i'm going to need you to come over here to malaysia to barter for my kadazan princess.  ha ha ha...but seriously. 

     well this email was lame.  but i hope you enjoyed it.  i can't think of what to write.  i hope you liked my pictures.  i should be home pretty soon.  pretty much everyone i meet tells me i'm dead and asks me if i'm trunky ha ha.  yup it's true.  i still haven't got any flight info for going home.  i think they'll just email it straight to you.  let me know i guess.  well i love you all.  no need to get me an iphone before i get home ha ha i was just wondering about it.  but on the other hand i didn't get anything for my birthday.... jk ha ha.  ok well say hi to the ward.  i don't really recognize any of the names you were dropping.  i don't think i'll know anybody when i get home ha ha.  might as well move to washington.  have a good week.

 

elder petersen

Busy and Willing

what up,

     wow...this week was AMAZING!!  i can't even fit everything into this email.  it was just so enjoyable.  first in response to yours.  so did oskar win or lose? you didn't tell me.  nope sorry dad don't get any frequent flyer miles.  if so i have definitely racked them up.  i flew way to much the last two weeks.  atta boy spencer.  he can dunk it eh?  i sure can't ha ha the only basketball i've shot in 6 months has been a nerf ball one.  ha ha i can't jump either.  but you can just try to take me on in badminton if you dare!  alright let's do the turney.  that would be way fun.  i don't mind losing ha ha but honestly i think we'd do good.  can spencer hit jump shots?  arches eh?  sounds great.  plan something unique to do down there.  i've always wanted to go biking down there.  but only like me you and spencer.  think about it.  ya dad malaysians are incredibly superstitious.  ha ha even after they are baptized.  president clark told us that not a week goes by that he doesn't get a report about someone's investigator having a dream that convinces them to get baptized.  it's cool. 

West Malaysia crew makes it East

     well like i said this week was awesome.  i emailed you from kuching.  shortly after that i hopped on a flight to sibu for our zlc and our mlt.  it was a blast to see all my pals.  the zone leaders right now are just awesome.  pretty much a bunch of us that were together over in west beat the odds and became zone leaders in east so it was a good reunion.  the trainings were great.  

last year our mission goal for baptism was 800.  that was 200 less than the year before.  president was following the counsel of pres uchtdorf go slow to go fast.  we focused on better kingdom building members.  in november it did not look like there was anyway we could hit it.  but miracle after miracle happened and in the last 2 months we had about 200 baptisms.  we ended the year with 812.  our new goal is 500 before june 30 when president clark leaves.  i am excited.  i want our small zone to be a contributing factor to the mission.

     basically we were gone for 4 big days last week.  our numbers were hurting bad.  we were gone wednesday to saturday.  so on sunday we just tried to load up our schedule with as many things as we could.  it turned out to be a great day.  first of all there is deborah.  i told you about her last week.  she is the former investigator.  we sms'd her saturday night to remind her about church and she said she's having a bunch of problems but she'll try.  sunday morning brodie called her and she said she had something planned.  he talked her into rescheduling that appointment back an hour so she could make it to church for one hour.  she did so her and her awesome two daughters came to church.  she can't speak malay because she is vietnamese.  her parents were refugees and she was raised in australia.  she has a crazy background.  so i translated for her for sacrament meeting.  the talks were awesome.  two of the talks brought me to get teary eyed.  elder brodie was one of them.  he gave an awesome talk.  well she cancelled her appointment so she stayed for all three hours.  awesome.  ok put her on hold.  next was flora.  she had her baptism interview.  things went well, ya know i can't say anything but elder brodie had to ask president clark somethings.  so she was never given the yes or the no.  so she was extremely nervous.  ok put her on hold.  we had a bunch of ideas for appointments but everything kind of didn't work out except for our lesson with our recent convert jerni.  he is a stud.  we finally conviced him to let us go to his house.  we've just been meeting at the church.  so we walked quite a ways and finally made it to his tiny 7 by 9 foot house.  without even being invited, his neighbor just came and sat in our circle.  nice.  referral.  he has been telling us about her and her husband for a while now.  so we had an awesome lesson with her.  her husband came home toward the end and joined in.  they are great people.  they both said the story of joseph smith was interesting and if it was all true they would probably join this church.  we set up a return appointment.  so there you go.  next we had some time before our next appointment and i'll be honest i was feeling kind of lazy to do much, there wasn't that much free time,  but jerni wanted to follow us so we went to some flats that a ton of members live at.  we visited one sweet less active family and had a good lesson with them priming the pump for referrals.  we went to another member's house but they weren't home.  there was a bunch of little kids nearby and they were really talkative to us.  they told us that the member was at the next flat over visiting someone.  they all said that they've met the missionaries before and a few of them have even been to our church before.  hmm potential referrals.  so we went and found the member to say hi and follow up on last week's referral lesson.  they remembered that i asked them where i could get a basket made out of plastic strips.  they told me that the neighbor right there could make them and they were christian.  so us and the member went over and talked with the neighbor.  she was happy to see us and she said she could make one in one hour.  we said we would come back next week and asked if we could share a message about Christ with their family.  she said also can!  cha ching referrals.  so that turned out to be way productive.  

Sara (13), Deborah's daughter

the day was not yet over.  last of all deborah set up an appointment for us to have dinner with the larson's and have a lesson.  can lah.  they live in the same building as the larsons so we had it at the larson's house.  there was us two, the larsons, the sisters, deborah, sara, rebecca, and flora.  flora was there to get the final word on her baptism.  she was so nervous she couldn't sit still.  we were talking a lot.  after talking with pres she kept saying what if i don't pass oh no oh no oh no.  well eventually elder brodie came over and said flora there's no problem you passed.  it was cool.  she was just like really excited but then she just looked at us and then just started crying.  oh man it made me want to cry.  she is so awesome.  really.  she still has no support from her family but she knows this is the truth and she is 100 percent dedicated.  sweet.  after that the night only got better.  deborah made incredible organic vietnamese food.  it was so good.  sister larson made some great bread pudding.  wow so so good.  we got everyone under control and gathered around for a lesson.  the lesson was good.  at one point deborah took a huge tangent and just started talking about her recent experiences.  it was good.  she said she has really been thinking about the things we shared.  she said she had a dream one night after praying.  she saw the names of a ton of churches.  on top of them all was the name mormon.  it was bigger than the rest.  not sure exactly how, but she understood this to mean that this is the one to follow.  she asked her lawyer friend and her doctor friend for advice.  one said definitely follow that prompting you've recieved.  the other was still very skeptical.  she told us about some recent opposition because she has been investigating this church.  but she told us that she doesn't care because she hasn't seen or heard anything bad from us.  she kept saying this is true this is true.  right then we talked about baptism and she committed to a date.  it was a little far out but it is great.  there are so many side stories i could tell you about her but she has been through a lot.  that was an awesome lesson.  toward the end i was just really emotional.  i bore my testimony and told her kids how great their mom was.  i almost was crying.   they are having a huge family crisis right now but i can just see so plainly how the gospel can help them.  it really does bring families together.  i really hope it all works out. 

Me and Stanley Chua at the Chinese New Year Party

     well that was sunday.  it was great.  right now we are on fire with referrals.  things are looking awesome.  i wish i could tell you everything that is going on here.         i hope that story even made sense.  it is hard to put such powerful spiritual emotions into words ya know?          oh well, i'll always remember it.  yesterday we did splits in sandakan.   i still love that place.  also these last few days have been chinese new year.  it is a fun time.  we saw an incredible lion dance.  look it up on youtube.  they dance on each other's shoulders on tall posts.  crazy.  i love my mission!!  last week i was out of my area, this week i was out, next week is zone conference in bintulu sarawak, the following week we'll be in tawau, and the week after that will be another zlc.  as long as we keeping having days like last sunday i don't have to worry about being out of my area too long.  ha ha.  well i'm almost 21...weird.  i'm old.  thanks for all your prayers and support.  i love you guys!

Chinese New Year's Feast at
Pres. Francis Simon's House

elder petersen

Passport Power...less

hey guys

     sorry this is late.  thanks for the awesome emails.  sounds like things are going good back home.  seriously i don't know what you would send me that i can't find here.  i mean it's the thought that counts.  let me know.  thanks though.  my 21st birthday isn't that big of a deal...  actually i just bought some cool things today.  yeah we used to be in the same branch as the sisters.  but the other companionship got pulled out of the other branch.  so we replaced them and gave kk1 completely to the sisters.  oh well.  now i get to meet even more members.  it's been ok so far.  i don't know if i'll be that social when i get home dad.  i mean i haven't changed that much ha ha.  ok we can all sit around and eat crossed legged on the floor with our hands when i get home.  also can.  i loved your basketball analogy.  agreed.  i think missionary work is also a team thing.  in a companionship then also in working with the branch.  your letter wasn't that...like spiritual but i admit i got a little teary eyed.  it was good.  i can just imagine all of the flags and what the police officers thought as they drived through that.  also the story about the messerley's was awesome.  i hope i can meet up with some of my recent converts in 40 years and find that they are still faithful in the gospel.  that would be incredible.

     well right now i am down in kuching sarawak.  look it up on the map.  in a few hours i will go to sibu sarawak.  we have zone leader council tomorrow and then missionary leadership training the next day.  i'm in kuching on a 9 hour layover.  because of chinese new year it is impossible to get reasonable flight tickets.  so i met up with stratton and howell the kuching zl's.  brodie is going through singapore on a visa run.   it's pretty sweet here.  i bought some souvenier type things.  cool stuff is pretty expensive though.  zlc should be a blast tomorrow.  oh i wanted to tell you that i ate the peanut butter and jelley popcorn.  it was just like caramel popcorn basically.  but it was good no doubt.  also the flaming hot cheetos.  not so hot.  just like sour.  like vinegar.  made my jaw hurt but didn't make my nose run or my eyes water like spicy food here does.  but again thanks.

     since brodie's been here we've been at work.  he is a pretty smart guy and a really hard worker.  i imagine dad being a lot like him when he was a missionary.  i think as we get to know each other more we will have a lot of fun.  he does kind of dominate in the lessons so far.  but he was just with a greenie who probably didn't know how to speak the language.  we'll get it.  we basically didn't have any investigators to start out so we just visited the two member families i knew.  the branch president's family and the 1st counselor's family.  they were really nice.  ha ha really funny.  we got to know them and had a good referral pumping lesson.  we actually got some on the spot but we told them to think about it and we'd be back later this week.  i think they oldest son wants us to meet his friend's family.  i pray it works out.  on sunday one of the old branch presidents, a 28 year old single guy named curdy, took us around and we met a lot more members and got to know our area.  we actually got a bunch more referrals.  the dismal week actually turned out really good.  we got a lot of referrals and a lot of new investigators.  i hope we can build on this momentum. 

     brodie went on a visa run the other day.  he came back and they only gave him 7 days in malaysia.  freak.  so we spent two days at immigration running around trying to fill out a bunch of paper work for an extention to the regular 90 days.  well after going to a few different buildings and stuff we still got stopped up.  the guy looked through all of the papers we filled out, the photo copy of his passport, the i.c. of a local member, the signature of a local church leader, etc, and then he was like uh no sorry we can't give this to you.  what??  elder brodie just asked to see the boss.  so we met her in a little room and had a good chat with her.  she said nope.  so brodie hopped on a plane to singapore.  hopefully i meet up with him tonight.  we'll see.  those people with the stamps have too much power.

     we did have an awesome miracle occur.  we were looking through our area book and we called an old investigator that the elders haven't seen since october.  she immediately answered and said she wanted to meet right then.  also can.  later she told us that she never answers numbers she doesn't recognize.  but she felt like she just should.  so that alone was sweet.  she said maybe, only maybe she would come on sunday.  so sunday morning we were at the church and brodie remembered to give her a call.  she said she was already planning on coming with her two kids as well.  wow sweet.  so she came and had a great time.  later she told brodie that that morning she was trying to decide whether to go to our church or the anglican church.  she was reading the bible in timothy and somehow it motivated her to go to ours.  within minutes after that is when brodie called.  she said that just confirmed it and she had to come.  so she is doing great.  i'll update you next week but we are really excited for her and her daughters.

     well i have to run and catch a flight.  i'm like a business man ha ha.  this mission is crazy.  i don't know any mission like it.  i fly way too much.  anyways i love you all.  say hi to the whole gang.  pray for me.  see you soon.

elder petersen

Curry Puffs & Anti Crap

family,
     wow well i really don't know what to tell you all this week.  let's see first of all it sounds like things are going good back home.  i can't believe the weather is so crazy there.  weird.  dad thanks for all the info on school.  it was so much.  i just don't know what to do.  i'll email you.  
     well like i said last week, right now i am in sibu sarawak.  you'll have to look it up on the map.  it is about at the bottom third mark of sarawak.  it's sweet.  yesterday was zone leader council, that's why i'm here.  it's a monthly meeting with all of the zone leaders.  well the flights are all pretty booked right now so we got stuck down here for a long time.  we got in tuesday afternoon and we are leaving tonight thursday at 6.  really we've been kind of bored but we are making the most of it.  this is like one of the promised lands of the mission.  so we've been exploring a little bit and we went out with some elders.  the training yesterday was awesome, like usual.  i love president.  the ap's right now too are really good.  we are on track to hit our mission goal for baptisms but it is not yet guaranteed.  we got some inspired training to bring back to our zone that will hopefully push us to the very end.  also we got a ton of packages to bring back to our zone.  none for me...  but president did give us all a gift.  well, present at the meeting were four awesome elders from the group ahead of mine.  they are all going home on the first week of january and they had to bear their dying testimonies.  there was hawkins gottfredson evanson and cazier.  it was good.  that night after interviews we went out, with an elder that is in kuching now but was here for a long time, to visit a member.  it was a blast.  oh man they gave us way too many curry puffs.  so many.  they were delicious.  they knew elder garrett and thomas and chin really well and liked me better when i told them i knew them all.  so i was able to enjoy and experience just a little bit of the famed iban hospitality.  it was good we sat on the ground, ate sunflower seeds and coke, and had an iban karaoke cd going in the background.  classic.  today the sibu elders met at the church for a meeting with pres and we followed because there was pizza involved afterward.  so all in all it is hard to get around here but my stay in sibu was fun.  I was also able to see elder cheel who is also dying in january.  sweet.
     kk is still doing awesome.  i love it up there.  we actually had a lot of set backs this week.  we had a long time investigator tell us that this just isn't for her.  it's a shame.  actually she has never come to church so how would she know?  we have only been going to her house because another guy there is progressing great and is on date for next week.  i just really hope she has a change of heart.  so we are trying to figure out how best to rework our area to be more productive.  we've been working hard but i feel we could be more efficient.  my comp is still awesome.  i like him.  the members are so funny.  oh yeah on sunday we were all sitting in branch council and a member poked their head in and handed the first counselor a paper.  apparently while we were all at church somebody came around and put anti mormon stuff in everybody's windshields.  ha ha garbage.  no one was really phased but it was uncalled for.  it wasn't just general anti crap, it was directed at members.  it started out with something like "beware oh ye of the mormon church, repent and leave that wicked group" etc etc.  that just goes to show you just how corrupt other churches are.  things of Christ inspire to do good and be good.  that is clearly of the devil.  oh well.  this week we should be having a baptism of old lawrence!!  we are so excited.  he is really great, just old and lives far away.  but every soul is precious in the sight of God right?
    last week i had a hair cut from a member because she owns a place. 
     well i love you all.  i have to go catch a flight.  in my interview with president clark he said to me at the end, "you know elder petersen you've really matured over your mission.  your parents are going to be really happy to see you again."  ha ha i just laughed and said ok thanks pres maybe.  he said "seriously you have, you're a great missionary."  well that was nice of him.  i guess i might be different when i get home.   well don't get too trunky on me.  i'll probably call christmas night your time.  hope you are home ha ha.  again i love you.  have a great week!

elder petersen