ARRRGGGHHH!

hey guys

     dang i am so jealous of your trip to boston.  that is so sweet.  it sounds way fun and very memorable.  i hope you had fun.  dad i'm sure those amish people thought you were pretty weird.  i loved washington dc because of all the historical significance and it sounds like boston was even better.  the food also sounded awesome.  i remember when we went to dc we ate a lot of good food.  every night we tried to find something cool.  i think we had pretty good chinese once and one night we went to an irish pub and one night we almost got caught in a police bust at ruby tuesdays. ha ha good times.  our trips are always so memorable.  thanks for taking us out.  i've met a lot of people out here and back home and their parents weren't travelers.  it sounds so boring to stay home.  that's one of my goals.  i want to go on family vacations.  ha ha yeah you have no idea how much i stick out here.  i don't realize it either.  i've gotten so used to it now i feel shorter than i am.  then i see myself in a mirror next to a bunch of asians or in a photo and i laugh because i'm huge.  ha ha ha it is pretty cool.  alright send me some pictures.  i'm sure jaynanne took quite a bunch.  i'm glad grandma read my letter.  tell her she doesn't have to worry about responding.  maybe you can help her email or something but writing is painful for her i know.  jaynanne sent letters?!  alright.  i also sent spencer a letter.  whenever you see him ask him if he got it.  yeah i don't feel too bad about buying dvd's.  ha ha that might be bad but oh well.  i have quite a few.  they are only five ringget for one.  that's less than 2 US dollars.  so if i do only watch it once when i get home oh well. like i said president has an approved movie list so most of the ones i got used to be approved.  i probably won't buy too many more.  hey did you guys see transformers or harry potter?

     this week was pretty alright.  that david guy proved difficult.  he's not in our area so we passed him.  we went to his house the next day and it was so far away.  ha ha we didn't realize it was so far.  oh man it was a journey.  on the way back we were at the start of a bus line so when we got on we were one of the only ones on the bus.  the seat next to me is always almost the last one filled.  nobody ever wants to sit by me.  eventually though i guess someone figures that sitting next to the tall white guy isn't as bad as standing.  so that day this odd looking chinese man sat by me.  actually i thought he was drunk.  i thought i could get a funny conversation going so i said hello.  he either didn't understand or he didn't want to talk.  so i ignored him and looked out the window.  about 2 minutes later he started muttering under his breath.  he would just kind of make groaning noises.  then all of a sudden he'd throw his head back and let out a big ARRRRGGGHH!!!  ha ha ha i was like what the freak.  it caught me so off guard.  then for the next thirty minutes, no joke, he did this.  he would say about three words under his breath then through his head back and make a pirate noise.  like "sarga arrgh varga HARRRGGGAA!!"  ha ha it was comical but it got on my nerves.  maughan was across the aisel on the other seat and he was cracking up.  after a while i decided to take a video.  the guy's eyes were closed so i didn't feel bad.  we were getting close to our stop so i thought i could just endure it but then the unthinkable happened...  he reach over while muttering and he put his hand on my thigh!  ha ha whoa.  so i casually pushed it off.  a few seconds later he did it again.  i slapped that sucker off.  then i left my hand at my side to protect my thigh and he put his hand on my hand.  after he did that twice i pushed it off and stood up and moved.  elder maughan didn't really see any of that but he came and stood by me.  i told him and he was laughing so hard.  oh the crazy people you meet on the buses of asia.

     well i wasn't really planning on telling you that but it just came to me.  i feel like there are a bunch of people here trying to micromanage my life.  our landlord is one example.  every now and then she comes over to our place.  she is a really nice cancer survivor old aunty.  but she makes sure seat covers are lined certain ways and that switches are switched right and that everything is perfect.  she tells me how to clean.  she told me that my bathroom is too dirty.  it is the cleanest one i've seen in the mission.  she told me what soap to buy and then how to clean the shower tiles.  then she still didn't trust me to buy it so she went and bought soap and scrub sponges and toothbrushes to use for the fine detail.  ha ha step down lady.  our branch mission leader is also trying to tell us everything to do.  he tells us who to visit and what to teach and how to schedule and where to go.  i mean it's good that he cares but we are capable.  and he never offers help.  he tells us what to do and then tells us he is too busy to help and runs away.   ha ha impossible.

     i don't know if you can ever keep my investigators straight but we have been teaching this one indian family.  they are pretty good but pretty poor.  they work a lot and barely scrape by.  they just recently opened a food stall that the mom and dad run all day.  they go home and prepare food for the next day sleep and repeat.  luckily, they don't open shop on sundays.  the dad is a nut but believes one must have a day of rest.  the mom works at kenny rogers on saturday and sunday.  if she didn't then their small stall would not be enough income for the five of them.  the father has come to church about 5 or 6 times.  he is great.  he is definitely crazy.  but he enjoys church.  whenever we see him for the first time he shakes our hands and says "praise the lord".  ha ha maughan started doing it back.  this last week we put him on baptism date.  a few days later we put his three children, 11 13 17, on date.  the mom is still a tough cookie.  she won't come to church even though work starts after church.  i sympathize for her.  she works her butt off.  she looks way tired.  i just hope she gets to a point where she can see that her children are getting happier and that she might benifit from coming.  so that is our top investigator right now.  they're looking to get baptized next month.

     well transfers are in.  the group of 16 is officially gone.  they should be back in america soon.  i'll miss a lot of those guys.  like thomas.  he is pretty dang cool.  also carter my trainer.  he's crazy but a good guy.  today the group of 19 comes in.  basically everyone left in the mission is training or is zone leader.  except me ha ha.  i'm staying here in pj2.  so is maughan.  maughan is training a greenie.  the three of us will be a companionship.  in only three weeks another group of 6 goes home and nobody is replacing them.  5 of them are zone leaders.  i'm pretty sure in three weeks i'll be transferred, along with the few other threesome elders, to zone leader.  i don't know what to think.  i'm fine with it i guess but i see myself most likely getting transferred somewhere i don't want to go.  oh well.  maughan and every single other elder in our zone is in singapore right now to pick up the new guys.  they'll be in on friday.  elder Lang is a zone leader.  he is one dying in three weeks.  his companion is training so he's in a threesome too.  so he's still here in singapore.  it's just the two of us.   it'll be a good three weeks.  he's really cool.  hopefully we'll go on splits a few times.  so that's the scoop.  i'll let you know what happens with a greenie here.  i'll also let you know what happens in august.

    

Elder Petersen