"Fruits" of the labor

hello hello

how are you all.  oh man i really really enjoyed dad's email this week.  it definetly took me on a trip down memory lane.  ha ha the jamboree was awesome.  i'm glad they're having a good time.  ha ha it makes me really want to go.  we'll have to go on a family trip back east some time.  the philly cheese steaks sound good and also midevil times.  ha ha i can only imagine that place packed with scouts it would be hilarious.  so much fun.  Jeremy shot himself in the hand?!  oh my heck thats not good.  but he's doing alright?  wow.  is it going to affect his work or anything like that. 

I got your mail!!!  ha ha oh man it was a happy day i'll tell you that!  it had rained all day.  as i got home, we checked the mail box.  there was some junk mail that was soaked.  we waved hello to our neighbor/landlord and he said wait a second.  he ran into his house and got our mail that he saved from the rain.  what a nice guy.  i got a letter from jaynanne and dad and john.  they were great.  i loved the pictures from jaynanne.  ha ha they were really good.  and the trip down memory lane was nice.  you said something about an earthquake in the indian ocean?  ha ha there's no way we felt that.  we aren't even close to that ha ha but thanks for caring.  don't worry we're all safe here in Sabah.  also what is the ragnar.  you said spencer is doing xc, which is awesome!, and that they were running the ragnar.  whats that.

     ok this week was excellent.  i don't really know what to say though.  so many thoughts so little time.  it is like dad trying to tell you all of the jamboree stories, there's just no way.  so first thing first is Ning's family.  he is the father.  there is him and his wife and 5 children. they are so awesome.  yesterday the zone leaders came into town and gave them their baptismal interviews.  they will be baptized on august 7th if it all works out.  they are in our prayers.  this family is basically our one shining hope.  ha ha.  they are the best thing we have going right now.  and they are really really good.  they will help strengthen the branch big time.  

      this week was also a good week for trying new fruits.  i tried mangostein and rambutan.  ha ha both very good.












 the rambutan was given to us by a man we contacted.  he just pulled it off a tree and put it into a bag to give to us.  it is these little red fruits like the size of a golfball.  then there is all these green things coming off it it like hair.  google it or something to see better.  inside is a sweet fruit with a pit in the center.  its good.  the mangostein is intersting also.  a little bit bigger.  the shell is dark purple and kind of thick.  inside is this white fruit that is pretty sweet.  kind of in little wedges like an orange.  very good.

     this one crazy kid came home to sandakan this week.  his name is john chin.  he's jason's brother and the son of marrycle.  he's pretty funny.  he's been living in bintulu, in sarawak, for a little while to work and whatnot.  now he's waiting for his mission call.  so until it arrives he's basically coming with us to visit and stuff like that.  he's so funny.  he thinks he's so good and sports but i put him in his place.  for example.  last week we went bowling.  we had a little deal that the loser would buy the winner pizza.  i wasted him.  haha.  so he's owes me a personal pan pizza hut pizza.  it was a close match but in the end i conquered.  its really good to have him at our lessons because of course he knows malay very well.  i've learned a little bit from him.  who knows, if he gets called to the singapore mission we could be companions one day.

     i told john and jason mine and jaynanne's facebook profiles so don't be alarmed if they invite you as a friend.  oh and go onto mine and accept them so they can look at my page.  ha ha don't worry their cool.  just accept them if they ask. 

well thats about all here for this week.  i emailed a bunch of people so sorry this letter is short and random.  next week will hopefully be better.  i will be in singapore in two weeks and president clark will be here on friday.  so i've got some things coming up to look forward to.  hey since dad's in virginia i want an email next week from jaynanne or mollie.  ok?  bagus.  so thats all.  until next week.  saya sayang kamu

elder petersen

Up's & Down's

why hello        July 21, 2010

wow what a week you seem to have had.

i say this every week but i love your letters they are so awesome.  thats great that spencer got his eagle!  tell him i'm proud.  mom you are wonder woman.  ha ha you work so hard.  we would all be lost without you.  oh man the youth spectacular sounds like it went pretty good.  you said you couldn't write about it without crying.  it also made me cry just to read it.  that veil part sounds awesome.  i got the chills just reading it.  its so cool to think about.  i'm way over here on the other side of the world teaching people about the plan of salvation also.  you know its just kind of cool to think about that we're all doing the same thing really.  oh man i'm tearing up just typing this.  i know this work is true.  its awesome.  i just want to share it with everyone that i can.  

well i sure hope spencer and dad have fun on the jamboree.  i will never forget those times.  so fun, so memorable.  oh don't worry about sending letters to sandakan.  thats totally fine.   ha ha elder carter got a package here the other day.  it hadn't even been tampered with.

well this week was just full of ups and downs.  saturday we had a service project with the young men.  because we're out here in the middle of nowhere and this branch is so small we can basically do what we want.  like in other missions the elders wouldn't help out with these kinds of things but here its totally alright.  we worked all morning in the rain clearing the  yard of the church.  we cut all of the trees and flowers and just made it look really good.  afterward we went and played some good football.  there were like maybe 16 or 18 of us.  man if you want to play some good ball play with a bunch of native malaysians.  it was a blast. my team won of course.  ha ha it was muddy and wet.  we all played barefoot.  i showed them all that this orang putih (white man) can play just as good as them.  i scored a penalty kick even.  ha ha it was really fun.  

we had a baptism sheduled for that night so we went home to shower and study a little bit.  after we started studying we got a bad text from hendry.  he said that he was busy at 7:00, his scheduled time, and he wanted to do it right now.  we were like what?! so we ran over to the church as fast as we could, probably about 20 min away.  and we met with him.  we said no deal.  it had to be tonight at 7:00 or maybe next week.  we had already invited other investigators and most members.  how much did he really want this.  he said he couldn't do it tonight because he had to watch his older sisters children.  so he left.  its heartbreaking really.  he was so close.  i was really sad, not for me.  he's not just a baptismal statistic.  i'm sad for his eternal salvation.  he doesn't realize how big this is.  it was so frustrating.  i feel like i couldn't convey what i wanted to say because i can't speak malay that well.  arg.  

after that i had a good sit down with Jason.  I told you about him earlier.  he is the amazing return missionary that went to the philippines.  he just talked with me.  he told me his thoughts.  he said this happened to him a few times and he would cry for them.  his eyes started watering up when he was talking to me.  he said this is why we need to work even harder.  he told me things he did to improve his planning and lessons and teaching.  i learned a lot.  this man is truly genius.  i'm so thankful to have met him.

after that we stayed at the church to tell people that showed up that it was a no go.  afterward we stayed and cooked dinner in the kitchen.  jason is also a very good cook.  we had rice soup with chicken head and feet.  ha ha it was good.  the brain was gross but like the throat and everything was good.  it was fun.  the three of us cooking at night in the church.  it was definiately a day of ups and downs.

so that is what happened on saturday.  i don't have time to tell you what happened on the other 6 days.  but things are going good here.  i'm still working hard and still alive.  the work is still slow but its moving.  right now i am sitting in a internet cafe.  there is always music blasting.  today it was 'the climb' by miley cyrus and 'my life would suck without you' and 'because of you' by kellie clarkson.  ha ha the climb is an awesome song.  good message.

have a good week this week.  don't worry about me out here.  i hope the summer continues to be successful.  I Love You!!

Elder Petersen