wow a lot happened this week.
well on friday night we got the transfer news. we were gearing up for it because i was pretty sure i'd be transfered. elder cheel called and said "elder petersen your new companion is...elder hawkins." yep i'm still in singapore. somehow elder thomas beat me out of singapore. he got transfered to zone leader in butterworth west malaysia. i was quite disappointed to stay here i'm not going to lie. i love singapore i really do, it is better than any other mission for sure. but the longer i'm here the less time i'll have in malaysia and the less likely president will send me to east malaysia where i want to go. oh well. nothing i can do i guess. so yesterday elder thomas left on a bus and in the evening elder hawkins came. he's pretty cool. he came out the group right before me. so yep i'm still the junior companion. i don't believe it. he seems nice. he's pretty tall. i don't know much about him yet.
sunday was awesome. we woke up really early. we had to get up at 5:30 so that we could make it to the church by 6:45. we met all of the other elders there and also president and sister clark and two senior couples. then we loaded into the van and headed off to mount fabier. it's not really a mount. ha ha there's no mountains here. it was a large prominent hill. we went up to the predetermined spot, right on the very top, and were surprised to hear a ton of people singing. some other group beat us out. so we went around the hill to another spot. it was smaller and more private. we sat and read our scriptures until elder perkins, elder chen, president lai, brother turley and brother neilson came. we had a good devotional. me and 8 other elders sang a musical number, "he is risen". it went well. then president lai (stake president) read the dedicatory prayer. singapore was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel at that same mount by Elder Ezra Taft Benson in i think 1969. the prayer was awesome. really inspiring to hear all of the blessings and prophecies. a lot of the prophecies in there have come to pass. it kind of rekindled that fire to go and baptize thousands. i really enjoyed that. that was the main chunk of the devotional. we sang "Christ the Lord is Risen Today". it was a really peaceful really spiritual meeting. i could really feel the spirit. i just imagine what the first two elders to singapore are now thinking in the spirit world when they see the group of us gathered together under much better circumstances and so many members in the stake. it's cool to think how much this place will change in the next 40 years. i can't even imagine.
after church we got the privilege of meeting personally with elder perkins and the church historians. these guys are amazing. they are the top dogs. i mean the very top. they know it all. they have the key to the vault if you know what i'm saying. they just said hello and then opened it up for anybody to ask any question about general church history. there was no question asked that they didn't have an answer to. and they gave lengthy answers quoting sections of D&C and dropping names and dates and places. ha ha it was cool. none of the questions were really crazy, but they were informative. they could have talked for hours. and they were really entertaining. then after that, there was a two hour stake fireside given by them. so we listened to even more about church history. it was just really cool. i can't adequately describe it to you. sorry.
well even though transfers are over, our area is still not settled. on thursday we will have to move house. that will take all day. we are moving in with the zone leaders at the same condo as everybody else. so that's cool. we'll be closer to the church. but now we won't have a sweet gym or as nice of a place to stay. but at least we'll live with other people. i have only lived in two person houses. also next week there are four sisters coming in from the mtc. we have heard that they are going to put two sister companionships here in singapore. that will definitely effect our area because we cover the most wards. we won't know until this weekend how our area will shake out. i tell you what, if they take the expat ward from me i will be ticked. ha ha those dinner appointments keep me alive. the expats are just so awesome and friendly. so i'll let you know next week what happens.
well that's about it really. you're lucky mom. i just read your email right before sending this. thanks! it was great. i like to hear stuff from you. it's hard to explain but it is easy to read. i like the news. nice! spencer beat davis! that's what i'm talking about. say hi to james for me. sorry this email is shortish. i didn't really comment on yours. i haven't read your talk yet but i am looking forward to it. don't forget, i am the golden child! ha ha. well peace out. send me letters! send me pictures!
elder petersen
No comments:
Post a Comment