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