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

Pass the Buck...

hey ya'll

 

    it's sad i'll miss abbie's graduation and jaynanne's.  bummer. take lots of pictures.  spencer get off of starcraft.  that game is a waste.  we see people at the internet cafe's here just playing that for hours.  such a time suck.  hopefully tennis will distract you.  speaking of that how do you like it?  any cool people on the team?  how'd your match go last week?  oh homemade bread and rolls sounds so good right now.  i haven't eaten anything yet today and oh man just the thought of mom's famous rolls makes me so trunky.  good luck dad looking over the ward next month.  i would love a copy of your talk.  i remember your last mother's day one was way good.

     well there's this sickness that's been going around singapore this last week.  elder thomas and I picked it up.  we haven't been able to focus because of our case of Beiber Fever!!!  ha ha ha justin is in town right now.  he had a concert last night.  we went down to the stadium to contact... i got my picture with him. (Cardboard cut-out)  we could hear the screams from inside the stadium.  they were going nuts in there.  wow.  everyone is in love with that runt.  every expat the past week has asked us if we knew about it.  three different families told us that they went to the just beiber movie and surprisingly loved it.  we couldn't believe it.  he is so weird.  i can't stand him.  just a punk.  i didn't realize how many stars come here for concert.  just in the past few months there has been janet jackson, taylor swift, justin, maroon five, micheal buble, and others.  it's a happening city.

     alright get this.  do you remember elder hall?  he served in this mission.  he got back a few weeks before i went out.  we went to his house in pleasant view and asked him some stuff.  it turns out he is my grandpa.  he trained my trainer.  well anyways he is coming back to his last area.  he is coming back to marry a girl.  an indian girl.  ha ha so weird.  when a white guy marries an asian we call it a "larry".  my grandpa is a larry!  he'll be here sometime this month.  wow.

     so last week i went on splits with elder law from hong kong.  it was a lot of fun.  i already told you about that i guess.  he was a goof.  he doesn't know english that well but he likes to talk so it was fun trying to understand him.  he took us to a chinese restaraunt after we emailed last week.  me and elder gottfredson looked through the menu and it looked cheap enough.  so we both ordered this pork rice thing for 3.50 and a drink for 1.50.  not bad.  when the waitress brought out our food she brought tons out.  elder law ordered a bunch of stuff to share.  it was really good legit chinese food like dumplings and chicken feet and meatball things.  so at the very end the bill was 40 bucks!  we were shocked.  and of course elder law wanted to split it cause we split the food.  so i ended up paying 2-3 times what i expected.  the chinese will get you everytime. 

     some expats told us about a place called the "burger shack".  so we found it one day during dinner.  it was actually really good.  it was a legit flame grilled burger.  when we walked in the place it just smelled like america.  it was delicious.  the burger was kind of small but like unto best burger.  not quite that level though.

     well the missionary work is going good.  we've met a lot of referrals this week.  that's the only way to do it.  me and e.thoms were thinking,  since he's been here two months ago we haven't met a single person for a follow up lesson that we personally contacted.  every single one of our investigators on our board is a referral.  that's good i'd say.  as long as we keep getting them.  this weekend Elder Perkins(i think he's the asia area president) is coming to singapore.  he is coming with the two top dog highest up church historians.  they're having a stake devotional about the history of the church in malaysia and singapore sunday night.  we were told that right after church they want to meet with just us missionaries.  we're going to have a special meeting where we can ask any questions.  it might be cool.  we just recieved more news that at 7:00 sunday morning all of the missionaries along with president clark and those top dogs and the stake president and a selected few others are meeting and then going to the top of mount faber where singapore was dedicated for missionary work.  we're going to have a short devotional and then the stake president will read the dedicatory prayer.  pretty darn sweet.  but we have to wake up quite early like 5:30.  i'll let you know how that all goes next week. 

     sorry i never talk about missionary stuff.  ha ha the bulk of my letter is just random things.  oh well.  enjoy.  i hope everything is going good at home.  i told elder thomas that i have recieved something easter morning for as long as i can remember and that this year better not be any different.  ha ha so we'll see if the easter bunny makes it out here.  i love you all.  work hard and don't fight.

 

elder petersen