Airport Wrap Up...Love

Just waiting to leave in the Singapore Airport...

   this last week was awesome.  it was so fun.  the biggest thing was our baptism on saturday.  i'll have to tell you about it all some other time but the lady's name was josephine.  she chose me to baptize her. i was actually nervous for some reason.  but i got in there and got it done.  it went well.  after they closed the doors on the font and she went up in to the women's side i was just all alone in the font.  i was so just happy.  i just said a prayer right there of thanks.  i couldn't stop smiling.  it was a great feeling.  

   we had 5 investigators come to the baptism so it was great.  and right after that we had a branch social. our investigators loved it.  i can't wait to show you all my pictures.  sunday was also a big day.  i had to bear my testimony in two sacrament meetings.  in the first one i was just really emotional.  oh man i was pretty teary.  i joked it off pretty well.  nobody kacau'd me about it.  really nice.  i love those branches.  i just can't believe that soon i will wake up and not be in malaysia, i won't be in asia, i won't be elder petersen.  that's too weird.  it makes me sad.  

on monday a few people came to the airport with us.  laura and elsie harun, cicie, and flora.  flora was really sad.  she gave me a gift.  she is incredible.  she is one person i for sure have to look up when i ever come back to malaysia.  it was a teary goodbye.  last in the airport i gave my favorite family in sandakan a call.  oh wow they were just all sad.  they are my favorite people i've met here.  they were the hardest to say goodbye to.  i just really hope they can stay strong in the church.  they are in a small struggling branch.  i always pray for them.  

     i can't believe it.  this is it.  i'm in the airport about to begin my long trip home.  wow what an adventure it's been.  i'm just speechless.  all i can say is it was worth it.  i had an incredible time.  i knew the mission would be awesome but i didn't really know what to expect.  i have seriously made life long friends.  i've never had so many people in tears to see me go.  most of my relationships were pretty short but it was real you know.  i have a deep love for the people i've taught and baptized.  i can only imagine the day we meet again.  i won't be able to stop crying ha ha.  i can't wait to see you guys again.  it will be glorious.  i've been telling everyone for two years how awesome you are so i hope you are still awesome.   I love you a ton.  see you later today!

 

elder petersen

KK Shake up

hey fam bamily

     it's good to hear from you.  that is awesome that kolton is set apart.  i won't see that kid for a really long time...oh well ha ha.  wow.  i wasn't nearly as sick as you but i've been really down lately.  like i'm fine but my bowels aren't.  nothing is staying in me if you know what i'm saying.  ha ha.  sheesh.  it's not fair that i get to sleep downstairs?  ha ha.  why would you want to sleep down there.  i'll trade any of them for an actual room to my self upstairs.  ha ha well maybe.  actually probably not.  nice already planning a trip for when i get home.  that's what i'm talking about.  i think i would rather do southern utah.  anything can though.  wow steffanie april 10 eh? that's close to me.  like dad says hopefully we don't speak on the same sunday.  i want to hear what she has to say.  that's sweet.  you wouldn't believe it but i do hear a little bit about the election over here.  from what i can see there is a lot of low shots.  it seems like it would happen everytime but it seems like until there is one canidate that the party is all divided.  seems counter productive.  it seems like romney is in the lead.  true or not?  oh well i don't really care right now.  seriously sister song replaced sister wong ha ha.  dad your band foto is a crack up.  you just do not get embarrassed do you?  haha i can just hear spence asking nathaniel who he likes. that is funny.  hey don't let me coming home stop you from going out camping.  i'll just meet you guys at the house.  in fact, my friend can just pick me up.  i'll hold down the fort until you get done with the vacation.  seriously don't let me stop you.  i know what you're saying about the ward boundaries thing.  it is a big problem here and especially in singapore.  but it is different.  here the concern is where does a recent convert attend church.  with the friend that referred them or in their boundry?  president clark says every time it is better that they go with their friend for at least a year plus.  then eventually of course they must go to their geographical assignment.  the singapore stake pres kind of disaggrees.  here in malaysia though pres clark is the law so that's what we do.  my question is this.  should a ysa be required to go to the single's ward.  i just told thomas my post mission plans and he said he didn't know yet if he was going to the home or the single's ward.  well i feel like we should go to which ever one we can actually help.  after serving with a bunch of flaky members i just really wish that they would go where they were supposed to and i've always been extremely thankful for the members that were strong and added to the branch.  i think the single's ward would definitely welcome us.  but is it required? nope don't really want anything for my birthday. 

     well this last week was crazy.  like you knew hawkins went home.  so me bradley and laycock pal'd around for the week.  at the start of the week, we went to singapore like i told you.  then at the end of the week we tried to see all of the recent converts and investigators between the two areas.  on saturday morning disaster struck.  we were waiting and waiting for the assistants to call.  they were supposed to tell us transfer news.  i'm zone leader so i find out early right.  we expected somebody to come be with bradley and then a zone leader to replace laycock.  nope.  elder bradley got transferred to JB and elder laycock got transferred to Sibu Jaya.  Elder Brodie was coming up here.  so yeah that's the scoop.  only two elders up here.  sucks.  oh well.  should be good.  laycock and bradley are going to two awesome areas.  the rest of the empty zone leader positions in east malaysia got filled up with some really awesome elders.  so that is sweet. the real disaster is that me and brodie are going to cover kk2 not kk1. so i have to give the sisters everything i had going including the amazing flora.  nooooo.  and now we have no investigators and we are in the smaller branch and the non christian part of the city.  oh man!!  it's alright though.  from what i heard elder brodie is really sweet and a hard worker so i see big things soon.

Elder Brodie

     after transfer news we were pretty unmotivated to work because i didn't want to work in the sisters' area and the other two were leaving.  but you know me, we went out and worked anyways.  luckily that night we had a baptism.  it was a cool guy named Jerni.  he is indonesian.  he is really short.  maybe 23.  he is actually a gardener for the church and the sisters contacted him one rainy day when they ran to the church for cover.  so cool story.  also to top that off our recent convert elly baptized him.  me and laycock were so proud.  he had to do it a few times but he eventually got it.  awesome! elly's family came to watch so we had a lot of investigators there as well.   really cool.

     so this morning really early both the kids left and i went on splits with our bml.  elder brodie just got here.  he's cool.  i don't know the other branch at all though.  i don't know the area or the members.  there are no investigators.  so i don't know what we will do the next few days.  ha ha.  pray for me. oh and brodie has to go on a visa run friday.   ha ha oh man.  so yeah that's all i got today.  the last week was really fun.  i really like my son.  elder Laycock is so cool.  i got so lucky to get a good greenie.  and i got to be companions with elder bradley.  he is also awesome.  last night before we fell asleep we were just talking about all the funny random things that have happened in the past 3 months.  i've loved my time here. i hope the next three months is good too. 

     for my birthday...i don't really need anything.  i'm sick of junk food.  i don't really want money either.  if you give me money tell me something specific that i must buy with it.  even if it is as small as one ringgit or as big as 200 ringgit.  if you don't i won't get anything. i love you guys.  have fun back home.  i'll come crash the party soon!

elder petersen

Wong Song New Year

hey family.

     thanks for all the awesome emails.  no need to work dad.  ha ha.  i don't even know where to start finding a job and this could be the last free summer of my life.  but i agree i've got to eventually find something.  it would be a blast to go back east with you.  but it does seem potentially boring.  you'll have to make it sound more enticing.  what else could we do.  i would be great with sleeping at koa's.  maybe just leave the girls home.  yeah, the hike, in the Teton's, it's brutal.  if we did the same as i did that one time it was nearly 50 miles.  50 steep miles.  i was dead.  oh man i can just imagine oskar ha ha and i can just imagine you walking into that bathroom and laughing at him.  i would.  well that's too bad that you were all sick.  GO UTES!!  i don't even know how the presidential primaries work.  maybe you could explain that to me.  ok the last thing is my ipod touch, guitar, and bed.  it's not that big of a deal but seriously all three of those were gifts to me.  like if someone recieves a gift that means they own that thing right?  and these are all not cheap things.  if there is some sort of replacement then ok that's fine but you can't just up and take them.  not cool.  i'll admit the bed, not a big deal.  the guitar, i never played but i could sell it, it's really nice.  the ipod on the other hand, that is definitely mine.  on all three of those birthdays that is basically the only thing i got.  think about it. 

New Year's Eve with members

     well yup this was a pretty good week.  first was transfers.  one of the assistants went home, and like 4 zone leaders.  president clark did something new and he called four assistants.  two are specifically for east malaysia and two for west.  interesting.  they are pretty good guys.  i'll be honest i really like the assistants in west malaysia.  oh well.  so there was no other transfers this week.  there's just a few three-somes including us here in kk.  next week a new group comes in so there will be transfers then.  pretty sure laycock is gone and two guys will come up here.  i should probably get put with an older missionary.  hopefully.  also a sister from singapore got transferred here.  her name is sister song.  she's pretty cool but really no one could replace sister wong.  i got a few letters from back home.  one was from the johnson's.  it was great.  tell them thanks a lot.  i can't believe joe is getting married. do you know when?  crazy.  also i got a letter from the bowdens with a bunch of letters from the primary inside.  they were so funny.  i was going to type them all out for you but i forgot to bring them to the internet kedai.  next time.  mikell manning's was so funny.  she said people were going crazy there.  i just remembered that my driving liscense expires on my birthday.  can you please check and see if you can extend it three months or something.  i don't want to have to reapply for anything.  please.

     on monday sister wong and hawkins died.  actually it was kind of sad.  we've been joking about it for a long time but i can't believe the day actually came.  we went out to the airport with them and with a bunch of members.  looking back i've been in the same city as hawkins since last april except for a short time in butterworth.  definitely one of the missionaries i've been around the longest.  i really like him.  we've had a lot of fun together.  high quality guy.  well that will be me soon.  i don't want to go home.  i'll try not to think about it for three months.  

tuesday we went on a visa run.  it was great.  we got to eat carl's jr and see some of the sights.  in the evening we went to the webb's.  they are so awesome.  they were happy to see me and they gave us awesome american food.  they gave me an update on michelle.  i don't know if you even remember her but we spent a lot of time with them teaching her.  she is from china and after being baptized she went back to china.  she miraculously found the church there thanks to bishop neff from the expat ward.  it's kind of a hush hush thing so i thought she would never find it.  

i'm so happy she is attending.  she is a pioneer for that country.  she is planning to meet the webbs in hong kong in the summer and go to the temple to do baptisms.  that would be so so so awesome.  i hope it works out.  i can't even tell you how excited i am to hear the news.  i love the webbs. we just got back from singapore so that is why i'm emailing so late.  somehow we got the hookups and on one of our four flights we took singapore airlines.  ha ha it was so nice!  i think it is pretty expensive.  thank you sister garret!

     We have this one really miraculous investigator.  i might have already told you about her.  oh well.   Her name is Flora. She is a co-worker of Peter Wong who is in the branch presidency and about to go on his mission to Texas. 

Singapore Merlion

She has been having some big trials in her life and Peter said, "if you want to find peace follow me" and brought her to church. Ever since we miraculously met her at Lawrence's baptism she's been on fire. That night she read the lesson 1 pamphlet over and over until 2 am. Since then she watched the restoration dvd back to back three times and as read moroni 10 serveral times taking notes on everything. She told us it was true. She told us that she was receiving some opposition from her family but she followed the example of Joseph in the dvd who didn't retaliate or lash back at the preachers for mocking him. She just told us that she knows that what she has read is definitely true. We asked her if she would like to prepare for baptism on the first week of february but she said "actually I think I can do it in one month" so she moved it to January 28th. Awesome! Our biggest problem now is that the sisters want to steal her from us.

     well i love it over here.  thanks for all of the support and help.  say hi to everybody back home.  i got some pictures from bradley mccann and i did not recognize him.  have i changed that much?  i feel like i look the exact same.  john told me i look more lanky.  ha ha my new year's resolution is to gain weight.  ok stay healthy.  kalau kamu rasa sakit, jangan jauh lagi dari tandas!

elder petersen

Around and Around...Transfers

alright all ya'll listen i might not email you later today.  right now i am in the singapore changi airport.  i've been transferred.  about 15 new guys are coming into the mission today.  so i am being kicked out of butterworth and that will put chin and kelley together as comps.  then another elder will train there too so there will be four elders.  i am going to KK baby!!!!! dang i'm pretty excited.  you probably don't remember but that is kota kinabulu in sabah.  i will be zone leader.  but i will be training a new guy.  hawkins will also be zone leader but he will also be training a new guy.  so we won't actually be comps but we were already comps in singapore.  so sandakan is in the zone and hopefully i'll make it there soon for splits.  i can't wait.  i went to kk a few times for zone conference and district conference.  it is an awesome city.  i'll be opening a new area though so who knows how that will be.  plus i'll have a new guy so it is a gamble whether or not things will be as great as i imagine.  should be awesome though.  also sister wong will train there so there will be three greenies in the one city.  i think it will be pretty dang fun.  like i said i'm in singapore now using the free internet at the airport.  i don't know if i'll have a chance to email you later so i just wanted to let you know whats up.  hopefully later i give you the usual shpill.  alright i love you.  peace out!!

elder petersen

alright i'm in the office right now.  i don't really have that much time to email the usual so you'll have to wait until next week.  my new companion is elder laycock.  he is from utah maybe.  i forgot.  we went to little india with them for lunch.  so so good.  ok so sorry but have a good week.  jaynanne last week i printed off your novel of an email.  it was awesome.  i really enjoyed reading it.  i think i'll write you back in a letter so be patient.  we finally finished conference and it was awesome!! i loved it.  i love you bye

elder petersen

Here's my new comp.  check it out.  his name is elder laycock from lehi utah. alright peace

elder petersen

Raining...Praise

hello one and all

     wow it sounds like abbie was down and out.  i hope everything is ok now.  you sold my bike?! and didn't tell me?!  and you want to get a car instead?!  tsk tsk i still want a bike but mom is right it does have it's disadvantages.  i got my phone right after bartlett, i was a junior.  mollie there really is no need for one.  you'll just have to start paying money to "the man" earlier than needed.  waste.  sounds cool about joe.  he is dang lucky to serve a day and a half from the temple.  don't worry i will not be a hugger.  well maybe ha ha.  i don't see how a mission can change that.  you are kind of limited to who you can hug.  darren is good.  it was hard to explain the situation.  it is weird mom, but he introduced us to his family.  he's got some real potential.  don't worry though we're not stupid.  i wish i was learning how to cook.  i don't even know how to cook rice.  everyone uses a rice cooker.  how do you cook it in a pot anyways?  i make pretty good instant noodles though i must say.

     this week was pretty good.  it didn't look too good on paper but in the end everything turned out alright.  i ate way too much this week.  the johnson's took us out to dinner at this delicious seafood restaraunt.  i'll send you a picture of the beautiful sunset there.  they also feed us at their house two times a week guaranteed but usually more.  it's killing me.  on monday we ate at a super member's house named bro ananda.  his mom was in town and she helped make her special mutton.  his wife is an amazing cook.  she stuffed us with tons of rice and chicken curry and fried chicken and curry puffs and fruit and veggies.  i couldn't move after i was done eating.  it's pretty sweet.  we have to be diligent in our exercises though that's for sure. 

     on friday the assistants came up.  elder evanson went to penang and parrish came and stayed with us.  he was with us all friday and saturday and left after church sunday.  it was fun.  he is a really cool guy and a really good missionary.  unfortunately we didn't have many appointments for him but he is a pro contacter.  we took some pointers.  

BB with the locals

after tracting all day saturday we saw a bunch of chinese kids playing basketball.  parrish really wanted to play so we ended up challenging them to a game.  they were pretty apprehensive mostly because we were tall but we finally talked them into it.  we played three on three.  we dominated them.  ha ha if i held it above my head there was no way they could reach it.  but they were good shooters.  we won the first game easily.  so we said they could play four on three.  so they changed out players and got the four best.  we had a good lead but they closed the lead.  don't worry though we still dominated.  it was a lot of fun.  elder kelley almost blew it.  he's not the best at basketball but he did rattle in two good shots.  it was mostly parrish.  he's good. 

     it rained all week.  wow we got soaked.  three nights out of a four day period we came home soaked to the bone.  it was seriously as if we jumped in a pool.  just imagine biking in a huge rain storm.  crazy.  everyone thought we were going to get sick.  ha ha we're not malaysian.  they are so scared of the rain.  it is still hot here and during the day we do dry off pretty well.  it must officially be the rainy season now. 

     ever since day one here we've been receiving praise.  the johnson's have just been saying to everyone how good we are.  they say, "now these are hard working elders" we're no different then your average elder.  but on sunday our branch president called us in to his office and said "i want to thank you guys for working so hard." he said "you guys are out working hard every day despite the weather and everyone likes you"  ha ha so maybe we do appear to be diligent.  also can.  i think just their praise alone makes me be more diligent because i want to prove them right.  i'd say we do work a lot.  this area is definitely struggling but we are trying our best to turn it around and we have big hopes for it.

     monday was a landmark day.  in sandakan the weilands organized a temple trip. about 10 young women went and it was all their first time ever.  they've been trying to raise money for a while and i guess they got their goal.  included was rayne, rainah, rinijah, and their mom from the ning family.  that is so awesome.  it is bittersweet though because i wish it was their whole family.  they were baptized just over one year ago and they should be getting sealed.  the dad is inactive now.  i called up president weiland and we had a good chat.  he said that the family is as solid as ever.  that makes me so happy.  the little boy jasli is almost 12 and will recieve the priesthood soon.  pres said that now he can read malay.  last year he did not know how to read.  he is reading the book of mormon to learn.  awesome!

     zone conference is tomorrow.  on monday night i got in a bus and rode down to singapore for a visa run.  wow that was one of the worst experiences of my mission.  ha ha it was awful.  the bus was really crappy and cold and it took 14 hours to get there.  5 more than i expected.  i'll have to tell you about it later.  in singapore i went to the airport with everyone to greet elder schone.  if you remember he was critically injured last november and went home.  well he's back now.  he's had a bunch of surgeries and is still on meds i think.  but he's doing good.  president had kidney stones last weekend and had the possibility of surgery but luckily he didn't need.  singapore just felt like home.  seriously it felt good.  so clean, efficient buses, lots of cool elders, and good food.  it just seemed so familiar.  i didn't really get to do much though.  i got your package!!  thanks for the food.  thanks for the letter jaynanne.  the journals are awesome.  they are really nice.  thanks a lot.  i don't know if i can fill two more though.  i'll have to continue after my mission. 

Elder Rathnayake

i saw elder rathnayake for probably the last time.  he is a really nice elder from sri lanka.  i replaced him when i went to sandakan.  he can't stay in malaysia for very long so he's been in singapore for the last 15 months.  he was there all six months i was there.  i really like him.  he is like 27 i think.  he is the only member of the church in his family.  actually his family doesn't know he's on a mission.  actually his family doesn't know he is a christian.  ha ha.  he is an inspiration.  he is really nice and a really hard worker.  i hope one day i can meet him again.  


now i am in KL.  like i said tomorrow is zone conference.  elder gong from the 70 and someone from the young men general presidency is coming.   it should be pretty good. 

     well sorry this letter is so long and random.  i feel like i rambled a lot.  hope you followed it.  i checked out the old blog.  it looks awesome!  good work mom.  can you email me the password so i can add some stuff?  i love you all.  thanks for your support and prayers.  say hi to everyone.  i'll report on what profound things president tells us at zone conference.  until next week!

     elder petersen

Baptisms are Hard to come By

what's up!!

     alright your emails were awesome!!  man they were packed with detail, just how i like it.  i'll try to respond to it all.  wow i am really trunky right now.  ha ha mom's description of dad getting ready for a trip sounds accurate.  i loved scout camps.  i wish i was there.  yes i saw the snow picture.  crazy.  that's great that the year ended successfully.  nice jaynanne and mollie and spencer for good grades. yeah i heard from john.  bad news.  his dad got an institute assignment up in seattle washington.  so john will return from his mission to washington.  he doesn't know about going to the university of utah now.  this could screw up all of my plans!!  but he's still doing awesome.  yeah we heard all about that may 21st end of the world thing.  a lot of random people asked us about it.  we braced ourselves but nothing happened.  so we braced ourselves for 12:00 in america and again nothing happened. i heard he switched it to october so we'll brace ourselves again.  ha ha crackhead.  oh yeah i wrote about elder bednar in my journal.  just that three hour meeting took about 8 times more journal space than a typical journal entry.  ha ha i tried to write it all.  yep dad i'm still quite skinny.  it's a gift.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER!!!!!!  good job. you made it to 16.  oh man!  ha ha i love coach mac.  i totally remember that night.  it was a blast.  me and john got totally lost up a random canyon in the dark in ogden.  ha ha we ended up by her house so we swung by.  yeah i know mrs iverson.  she's way cool.  she had cancer?  dang.  her daughter just wrote me a letter.  i'll mention it.  i'm so jealous of escalante.  sounds fun.  oskar made it!  ha ha cool.  oskar don't slow them up.  trying to cram scout stuff in.  nobody will want to do it all.  maybe we could try that article of faith thing with our investigators.  i don't think it would be as good of a reaction though.  i hope dallas wins.  i love sacrament meeting.  you enjoy it if you are in the right mind set.  if you don't enjoy it then you don't have the spirit with you.  sorry thats your fault.  whew.  that was a lot to write.

     ok this week went so good. first of all i don't have a lot of time.  sorry this is late.  we spent all day at an island off of the top of singapore called Pulau Ubin.  you take a $2.50 boat over and then rent bikes and ride the mountain bike trails.  it is way sweet.  i think we are the first missionaries to ever do it.  we had to ask president a bunch of times before he agreed as long as we had life jackets.  it was a blast.  i am quite sore and scratched up.  i'll send you some pictures another time.  ha ha the other day in a lesson, we were talking to our investigator about his schooling and i was talking about later this year and i referred to the fall as in the season.  ha ha he was so confused.  here they don't have fall.  they don't have seasons.  i had to just say october.  it made me laugh pretty hard.  another thing i was thinking the other day was about you daddio.  we talk all the time about setting goals here.  i'm a terrible goal setter but i just want to resurrect an old goal of ours.  i really want to hit the highest peak of every county.  you should set up a game plan and a time limit.  i think it would be really fun to do.  we've already done a handful.  there's got to be some easy ones out there.  think about it old man. 

     at long last!!  we had a baptism!  well kind of.  ok it wasn't mine and elder hawins' baptism but i'm counting it.  two of my former investigators were baptized.  jenny and michelle.  jenny if you recall is filipino.  on sunday she was baptized.  her boss wouldn't even let her miss "work" on saturday so that she could be baptized then and confirmed at sacrament meeting.  so she will be confirmed next week.  it was a great service.  she is awesome.  i'm really glad she finally made it.  second was michelle.  if you recall we have been teaching her forever.  me and elder dass met her way back in the middle of january.  i don't want to tell you the whole story but i taught her with dass, thomas, sugi and hawkins.  then the ap's stole the expat ward from me and so the sisters ended up baptizing her.  curses.  oh well.  it was probably better that way.  she really liked them.  but i have known her for a while and she really liked me.  i saw her progress so much and i saw her through some really hard times.  the webbs and the hancocks were pivitol in the teaching.  all of them were at the baptism.  most of the missionaries were there.  a lot of ward members were there.  it was a lot of fun.  michelle was really happy.  at the end of each baptism the bishop of branch president has a moment to welcome the convert in.  bishop neff is so awesome.  he served his mission is taiwan.  he is legit.  he knows what he's doing.  i think he's been the bishop for like 14 years.  he is one of the only long term expats.  anyways he was talking and then he got really emotional and said "I don't usually do this but i want to talk to michelle, the rest of you can listen in if you want"  then he just started speaking in mandarin.  he spoke directly to her for like 3 or 4 solid minutes.  that evening i asked one of the chinese elders what he said.  he just told her a story about chinese people and told her that she had a big responsibility to share the gospel with her family especially because we are not allowed to have missionaries there.  he gave her a bunch of advice and stuff.  well michelle is awesome.  i think she'll be a great example to her family.  the baptism was so fun.  i got to see all of my expat friends ha ha.  tomorrow we are going over to the webb's.  i love them.  seriously they feel like my family here in singapore.  sister webb is so good to me.  we're having cafe rio style salads.  i will look them up back in america later. 

     well like i said neither of those baptism counted for our area.  nevertheless we are still doing good.  we don't have any baptisms on the horizon but we have been working really hard and it's been paying off.  we're picking up new investigators.  this weekend is transferrs.  elder garrett is going home and two other elders.  man i loved elder garrett.  i had a blast with him up in sandakan.  oh i talked with president weiland last week in KL.  he gave me an update of sandakan.  the work that we had going there is still rolling forward.  sandakan is still cranking out baptisms even though it went for a year before me and elder carter without one.  the weilands are doing really well.  they are doing a great job.  it's tough to do what they are doing.  they're doing better than i would.  i'll let you know what happens about tansfers.  if i don't get transferred this week then i for sure will at the end of july.  ha ha so long.  we'll see.  i'm really loving singapore though.  i'd be torn if i left.  it would depend where i go. 

     i love you all.  i want a very detailed description of your trip.  i wish i could do it with you.  we'll have to do another family backpack trip eh?  don't have too much fun this summer without me.  while you enjoy the summer snow i'll be enjoying the heat and the perpetual sweat.  don't forget the church is true and kebenaran akan mengatasi!

elder petersen

I have something important to be doing....

hey guys

     i almost thought you forgot about me ha ha.  i figured it was a pretty busy week but i didn't realize it was that busy.  it sounds fun though.  i think you had a typo in your time dad.  you said 1 hour and 10 min.  2 hours maybe?  count me in for sure next year.  i would love that.  i can't believe jaynanne graduated!!  that is nuts.  did she enjoy the ceremony?  i remember it was a lot of fun.  no commitments really.  just sit back and enjoy it.  that is cool.  hope she loved high school.  you didn't say how the dvd turned out.  you just said she did it.  was it well received?  that's sweet about helping the etheringtons.  they should "consider themselves part of the family".  name that musical.  ha for the last two weeks we've been trying to stump each other with tunes.  one day elder ngo was whistling some song and i told him to just try and stump me with any show tune.  he hasn't been able to stump me yet but i got him.  ha ha so be proud.  i stumped a genious harvard student.  ha ha josie sounds so funny.  will she still be funny when i get back?  will anything be the same when i get back?

     well two things this week.  last friday i ate raw fish.  it was pretty good.  here in the big city we have a lot of sweet oppurtunities to eat a lot.  we decided to go to this place called kiseki's.  it was a japanese buffet.  so good.  tons of food.  i absolutely stuffed myself.  i had a lot of sushi.  it was better than expected.  then they had a bunch of completely uncooked fish.  i had salmon and tuna it wasn't the best but it did leave me wanting more.  there was also a ton of prawn and rice and satay chicken and pork and drinks and an awesome dessert buffet.  they randomly had delicious pizza and waffles and ice cream and cheese cake and fondu.  needless to say it was... so so so delicious! 

     on sunday afternoon we got on a bus and headed up to KL.  it was a 5+ hour bus ride.  to pass time we mostly just slept.  but they did play high school musical on a tv and over the speakers.  oh man it was stuck in my head all day after that.  so dumb.  so catchy.  then we got dropped off in the middle of KL by the twin towers, took some pictures, and then found the elders' house.  it was a pretty fun day.  monday morning we woke up bright and early.  we headed off to a distant chapel by taxi.  it was all missionaries from west malaysia and singapore and sabah.  it was a pretty good reunion.  4 of my 6 companions were there and also both from the mtc.  it was a lot of fun seeing everyone again.  we all sat down and waited.  at about 9:00 Elder Bednar came.  oh man we had such a good meeting with him.  i can't even adequately describe to you what happened.  it was so good.  he is such an inspired man.  he told us something's prefaced by saying... do not tell anybody back home this because i don't want it blasted out all over the internet.  ha ha so sorry.  his biggest thing was teaching by the spirit and learning by the spirit.  he was so bold and so blunt sometimes.  he just told it like it was.  it was funny.  he is extremely serious but pretty witty.  his wife is also really funny.  also at the meeting was elder and sister pratt.  the two days before this they were in indonesia creating the first ever stake.  that is pretty sweet.  so he just talked to us for a while about teaching and then kind of shifted to a question and answer period.  there were some pretty good questions.  a bunch from a funny elder about marraige.  i asked him to tell us about recieving his call to apostleship.  he told us about their weekly quorum meetings.  i can't really remember any other questions.  my biggest impression is just that he was such a good teacher.  he had the spirit so strong.  he really motivated me to convert the world.  he told us his pet peeves about lazy missionaries and lazy return missionaries and about senior couples.  he told us what we need to do.  he is an apostle.  he is different.  he is set apart.  it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to have that kind of small personal meeting.  he talked about the future in malaysia.  he prophecied that one day we would drive past this building and maybe it wouldn't be there or maybe it would be a restaraunt, but it definitely won't be church owned anymore, and we'd tell our wife and kids that there we met elder bednar and elder pratt.  we would remember the small chapel and the small number of saints in malaysia and we'd see how miraculously the church had grown since then.  i believe it.  one day the church will be huge here.  there will be multiple stakes and even a temple.  i can't wait to come back and see it.  and i'll think to myself that i was a small part of that growth.  i might not have made a big difference but i did make a difference.  it is so cool.

     elder bednar left to go to a government meeting.  for the rest of the day we had a combined zone conference.  no offense to president clark because i absolutely love him but he was just not the same as elder bednar.  ha ha he said so himself.  he said it is not fair to have to try and be the follow up act to that.  ha ha.  but it was good.  there is a group of about 20 elders going home in july.  this will be their last zone conference.  so at the end all of the elders with us that would be leaving bore their testimony.  there was a lot and it went quite late but i wasn't antsy or hungry at all.  the testimonies were so good. i actually cried during a few of them.  i just reflected a lot on my own mission and how far i'd come and also on you guys.  i wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you guys. even though i'm missing out on a lot of big stuff back home i hope my example is worth it.  i just have something more important to be doing right now.  i miss you guys though.  and i love you.  but i'd leave you another two years if i could have the same spiritual high i had that day again.  it was so cool.

     so that's the highlight.  sorry i didn't give you more detail.  you'd have to be there to understand.  things are still going good here.  i'm working hard and tired every single night.  have a fun summer.  don't be too bored.  i love you.  thanks for your emails and letters.  bye

elder petersen

Say That Again...

hey ya'll!

     your emails were quite interesting.  mollie dislocated her knee cap eh?  ha ha ouch. did it hurt when brother turner popped it in place?  ha wow.  abbie and jeremy's talks sounded good.  should send me them.  i think i know brother oborn.  he seems nice.  if i'm right then his son ben is on a mission.  he was called to europe but got put in illinios or something.  i had a lot of classes with him.  ha ha in 9th grade we literally had every single class together all year.  project lead the way just lined us up.  ha ha.  jaynanne's story sounds hilarious.  ha ha i can just imagine.  good luck with the race.  i'm way jealous.  it sounds like a blast. 

     sorry i emailed you late today.  it's 5:30 here.  we were at the singapore zoo all day.  it was so awesome.  we sat on the front row of this sea lion show and we got soaked.  it deliberately splashed us.  pretty cool.  i didn't ride any elephants this time though.  we went to all of the free things. 

     ok so i've had some down time on a few long bus rides so i tried to think of things to tell spencer about camp loll.  hopefully this will be helpful.  bring warm clothes.  it's not so hot up there.  i mean there's still a ton of snow up there right?  it is only hot for two weeks maybe in july.  don't bring shorts.  bad idea.  your legs will be eaten alive.  i'm a fan of the knee high socks but one time i wore shorts and those socks and i had so many mosquitoe bites.  pants is the answer.  label your clothes.  there is only one washing machine.  one kid stole my shirt and wrote his name on the tag.  i convinced him it was my shirt because of the jamboree patch on it.  don't buy a bright neon green jacket.  delose won't let you wear it.  try to bring a dark zip up hoodie.  you can easily wear it under the camp jacket that isn't that warm.  buy chacos.  all you need is good boots and chacos.  and shower flip flops.  make sure you play games with your troop.  then they will invite you to eat with them.  spend any free time with them.  bring a towel for swimming and a towel for shower. memorize the songs.  ok that's all for now.  it's a lot.  do it.

     well this week involved a lot of knocking.  too much knocking.  last thursday we had interviews with president clark.  mine was pretty good i guess.  his interviews are really short and simple.  but you can get him talking.  later that day the top church translation guy for scriptures flew in.  he was a freaking genius.  seriously he talked non-stop while with us.  he majored in linguistics at byu and got a phd in ancient norse history or something crazy.  ha ha he had a huge vocabulary and was very detailed in his descriptions.  we had an hour with him.  he explained to us the entire process of translating the book of mormon into a new language.  it was way cool.  if they think a language has potential they put it at introductory status.  that includes the joseph smith pamphlet and the sacrament prayers and baptism prayer and articles of faith and maybe more.  he said there are like 180 languages in the introductory phase or further.  that is a lot.  he said that the malay book of mormon should be done being translated by august and should be printed before next april or may.  that is so awesome!!  it would be so cool to have and would really help the work in malaysia i think.  as soon as they finish that most of the other things follow like the liahona and manuels and stuff.  they are experimenting with it and doing it faster than any translation they've yet done.  sweet.

     last week was elder teng's chinese birthday or something so we went to a chinese high tea buffet.  it was so good.  i ate way too much.  it was just like tons of dumplings and "snacks" really.  high tea time is between lunch and dinner.  the place was called leo beijing i think.  there was these one dumplings with beef and soup inside.  really cool.  there was this gross looking sesame creamy stuff that was like boiled ash.  i tasted it anyways.  it was gross but surprisingly i wanted more.  so i kept eating it.  there was lots of spring rolls and pot stickers and stuff.  way good. 

     we've been going around trying to meet lots of members.  we've found some pretty crazy ones.  since all we have is a ward directory we don't know about anyone that we go to.  we've found some way inactive people.  we met this family that hasn't been to church in twenty years.  they invited us in.  it was just a mom and son.  the son was listed as a deacon on our sheet.  he is now 34.  we talked for a while.  they were baptized in the 80's when it was just the singapore branch.  he doesn't know any of our doctrine.  we taught him about joseph smith and it was all new to him really.  he was really interested.  cool.  there's been a few other like him but he was the most hospitable to us. 

     well sorry but that's about it this week.  we are heading to KL on sunday and then meeting with elder bednar on monday.  it just hit me that he is really coming.  ha ha wow that is awesome! i'll let you know about it.  keep strong.  good luck with the last week of school and surgery recovery.  tell the other runners good luck.  tell me some more funny stories.  dad tell me a funny mission story.  ok bye!

elder petersen

Texting the Spirit

Selamat Hari Ibu!!! (happy mother's day)

 

     it was so great to see you all on monday.  after our conversation i was so trunky.  ha ha yes jaynanne that is a word.  i forgot how awesome you guys are.  you all just cracked me up.  jaynanne and spencer seem older.  your stories were great.  i miss you guys.  i can't wait to actually see you again.  you got the stamp of approval from elder cheel.  he was the one who was sticking his head up and over my shoulder at first.  he said a few times "that looks like a cool family"  it's true.  i just can't think that other people have it as good as me.  elder cheel for instance only had one brother there at the call.  how boring.  i can't imagine having less brothers or sisters.  you guys are awesome.  i don't know what else i would have said to you guys but after we were done i felt like i had more to say.  oh well.  yeah dad luckily the 6 elders in our house are all cool.  i really like them all.  the assistants are cool and my companion and the zone leaders too.  we now have the biggest zone at 17.  we have an old zone.  i'm the second youngest elder.  the youngest is only one group behind me.  so it's pretty sweet because we all have been out for a while and all get along. we don't cook that often.  sometimes though.  we've cooked curry and also fajitas.  i'm cooking pancakes tomorrow.  we mostly eat out.  no problem on our long conversation.  my companion was fine and the other two were the same length.  we just cut into lunch a little bit.  no prob.  hey i've been meaning to ask you, how is your iPad.  they seem pretty cool.  a lot of people have them here.  they use them as books and what not.  at church a lot of people use them as the manuals or the scriptures and one guy even read his talk off of one.  they are pretty dang cool.  do you maximize your iPad use or do you just play angry birds on it?

     well even though i just talked to you i thought i'd share a story with you.  so we've been teaching this one girl for quite some time.  since january actually.  she is so good and has so much faith but she just doesn't see it.  since our area got split we are no longer teaching her.  it's a major bummer.  the sisters will be teaching her.  last saturday we had a really good pass of lesson.  we met with her and the sisters.  it was the best lesson we've had with her in weeks.  two weeks ago she comitted to read the book of mormon every single night.  she never keeps her comittment to read the assigned chapter.  i told her that i would text her one verse every night that week.  i almost forgot sometimes but i set an alarm on the phone to remind me.  every night we sent one or two verses.  they were just really good ones like about baptism or the spirit or God.  at the lesson last week we asked her if she read them.  she said that she didn't miss one night.  she said that the first night was really hard.  she got my text while she was on the computer and she ignored it but then thought no i have to i told them i would.  she said that by the third night she was actually looking forward to it.  so cool.  she said her week went so good.  she's been praying about whether or not to go back to china.  she said she really felt like she should stay.  that same night her cousin from china called and told her to stay in singapore and make the most of this chance to be here.  her prayers were totally answered.  we had to help her recognize it was from God though.  then we talked about the church and how much she liked it.  she said she actually really liked it.  she said that during that week that one day she had this feeling that when she has children that they should be members in this church.  oh man that was so so cool to hear.  it felt so good.  these past four months of teaching her haven't been wasted.  she's been blessed and so will her future family.  it was so good to hear that.  then we asked her this week to continue to read every night and to pray about getting baptized in two weeks just like she prayed about moving.  she happily agreed.  it is so cool to hear.  good lesson.  one of those spiritual boosts.

     well that's all i have.  have a good week.  try to think of a good question i can ask elder bednar next week.  tell grandma i got her letter.  i was so happy.  i actually almost started to cry.  it was written really shaky and in cursive but i could read it fine.  it was really short.  after a few sentences she said "it has taken thirty minutes and a lot of pain to write this".  wow.  it's cool.  i know it was hard for her and a sacrifice so tell her thanks and happy mother's day.  i love you all.  i know the church is true.  i'm grateful to be a member.  i'm grateful to know what i know.  we are so blessed.  say hi to everyone.

 

elder petersen

Moving Blues

hey hey hey!

     your emails were sweet.  thanks for the link to flicker mom.  there are some cool pictures on there.  yeah we heard a little bit about osama.  president clark sent us all an email warning us to be smart and avoid trouble.  i think i'll be just fine here in singapore.  tons of white people here.  maybe in sabah i would've been in danger.  there is a big election coming up here soon.  but i don't think anything would happen.  back to comcast eh?  is it worse or no?  wow i don't know if i could run 12 miles.  ha ha we played basketball this morning and i am exhausted. ya know, some of those ideas could really help a lot of branches in malaysia get their attendance up.  ha ha i'll suggest them to president clark.

     well this week was really busy.  first of all happy birthday abbie!!!!  nice, the big 22.  how does it feel.  and graduated  wow.  my little girl is all grown up.  well i haven't sent a letter yet...i don't know if i will.  maybe i'll just email you.

     elder hawkins got in on tuesday.  he's pretty cool.  he's from west jordan.  he was the group ahead of me so he's been out 16 months.  he's pretty tall like 6'1".  so far so good.  he's a little bit quite but he's a good teacher.  and he is a good missionary work.  hopefully we can get some stuff going here.

     on thursday we moved.  the lease on our place was up.  so we used the mission van to put all of our stuff in the zl's house.  wow it took forever.  we had 6 desks and 2 bunk beds and a whole lot of crap.  i didn't know we even had that much stuff.  it didn't seem like that much stuff but as we were cleaning it just kept piling up.  we threw a lot away.  seriously we threw a lot of stuff away.  there was five of us elders.  elders ulrich, hawkins, nowland, gottfredson, and me.  we worked all day.  from 8 in the morning to 8 at night.  so now we live with the zone leaders, elders cheel and ngo.  they are pretty dang cool.  it will be a lot of fun.  also when the ap's are in town they stay there.  they are also cool.  i'm finally in a house with more than two of us!  but we have stuff all over the house.  we are storing it there until next week when four sisters are moving into a new house here in singapore.  they will take most of the junk hopefully. 

     well i've got some seriously bad news.  our area was three wards.  there are four sisters coming in.  we new they would take at least one of our wards.  we got a bad deal.  they took the expat ward and woodlands ward.  noooooooooo!!!!!!  oh man we were so bummed.  they took the expat ward from us.  no  more white people.  no more american dinners.  no more interesting talks or lively elders quorum.  ha ha oh well.  the worst part is that we lost most of our investigators.  now we only have two, well, one really.  we got robbed.  also we don't really know what to do.  neither of us know people in that ward because elder thomas would always go there, not me.  so it was basically white washed.  i'll miss our investigators.  i hope the sisters are good.  our best ones were in the expat ward.  now instead of covering the whole island we only cover a small section.  that could be a good thing though.  more focus.  we were a little bit overwhelmed with three wards.  anyways that's the news.

     last night we had our last dinner appointment with an expat.  it was at the sloan's.  oh they are so awesome.  they stuffed us.  so much food.  there was this complex salad that was the main dish.  it had chicken and pecans and tons of cheeses and avacado and other surprises.  so good.  then we had family home evening with them.  i'll just miss seeing them at church.  their little kids are hilarious.  we'll probably try to go again in a few months. 

     hopefully we'll get some dinner appointments in this local ward.  that's the only way we can meet people and get investigators.  so that's the plan.  other than that we could knock all day but we all know that's not productive.  there really isn't any central location that we can street contact.  we'll try everything though.  any ideas?

     we are all looking forward to meeting elder bednar.  i can't think of any good questions to ask him.  any ideas?  there are some elders who will for sure ask great questions so i'm banking on that.

     so this past week we haven't been doing much.  just moving and trying to figure out our new area.  that's why i don't have much to say.  sorry.  i'm looking forward to skyping you next week.  actually i'm way excited.  i can't believe i've been here for 5 months.  it seems like i just talked to you guys the other day.  pretty soon i'll be home.  i'll probably call around 10:30.  i'm not sure when this place opens.  maybe around 11:00.  we'll see.  be prepared.  i read your talk dad.  it was so good.   i mean dang it was great.  i totally remember that time i cut the elastic string on the back of the bucket seat.  i think it was with the scissors on a pocket knife.  ha ha thanks for still loving me. 

     well hope you all have a good week.  get good grades.  do work.  say hi to people.  i love you!!

elder petersen

On the Move

hey hey hey!

     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.  

     easter was kind of...normal.  ha it was just like any other day.  no easter basket.  no egg salad.  no relatives.  sister clark did give us a bag of easter candy.  that made my day.  church was packed.  the expat ward had 363 people there.  that is a stake record i believe.  the other local wards that we go to are getting about 106 people.  the expat primary is bigger than that.  ha ha crazy.  

     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