Mountains and Squirrels

tinggi tinggi gunung kinabalu!! 

     hey guys whats up.  this was a great week.  that is so cool that kolton is going to korea.  asia rocks!  back two years ago when i was waiting for my mission call i anticipated going to europe.  i was really envisioning my self over there in holland or germany or something.  i never thought going to south america was in my future.  right at the end i thought wow what if i went to asia and what do you know i did.  i love it over here.  looking back asia is the perfect place to serve a mission.  it's so nice here.  wow spencer went to the dance eh?  nice!  that was expected.  the others were not.  ha ha that's good though.  it sounds like the rest of your week was awesome.  oh to be a kid on halloween again.  ha ha good times.  dad you really are the master of raking in the candy.

     well this week was awesome!!!!!!  oh man it was really fun.  i emailed you last wednesday night.  right after that president and the ap's and the sandakan and tawau elders flew in.  so we had a lot of people in our house.  it was fun.  elder williams from my group is serving in tawau so it was awesome to see him again.  ha ha he really cracks me up.  he is so funny.  in both of those areas there is an elder from the last group.  they just finished their training.  they are elder putnam and elder brooks.  they are so funny.  elder putnam is half japanese and brooks is from canada and looks and acts just like a character from monty python.  so funny.  

well thursday morning we woke up before the sun was up.  we got up at 4:30 so that we could all pile into a tour bus at 5:00.  we took a two hour ride to the mountain.  we were all pretty much asleep on the bus but it was really cold because of the air con.  when we got off the bus at the lodge there it was even colder outside!  ha ha it was like 60ish with a good wind.  ha ha we were all shivering.  i haven't been in weather that cold for quite some time.  

we all paid our fees and then headed up the mountain.  we weren't able to go to the very top because it costs so much and is supposed to be done in two days.  but we were able to go halfway up.  the trail started at about 6000 feet and we topped out at 9000 feet.  actually president clark had a gps and it read 8992 feet.  there was thick thick jungle on either side of the trail so you couldn't really go anywhere but i took the gps from him and stretched out as tall as i could and climbed a little bit into the jungle so that i could hit 9000.  it was floating around 8999 for a while until finally it read 9000.  ha ha everyone cheered.  it was funny.  the trail was only 4 km one way but it was dang steep.  needless to say i was way way sore for about 4 days afterwards.  ha ha.  up there there was thick clouds the whole time so you didn't really have a good view but every now and then there would be a break in the clouds and you could see out forever.  it was so pretty.  so all in all it was way fun.  i don't think any previous zone has ever done it and i don't think any will for a long long time.

     the next day was zone conference.  the wielands from old sandakan were there.  it was really great to see them.  they actually left on tuesday.  we said our goodbyes and took a picture.  when they bore their dying testimonies i got pretty emotional.  they are really great people and i will miss them.  they really helped the branch there.  sis w is president clark's sister.  they had a teary goodbye.  i was thinking how sweet it would be if way down the road me and jaynanne served in the same mission.  that would be so sweet.  well the trainings were way good.  it was a good zone conference. 

     we have a few good investigators that we've been meeting with.  nothing big to report but yeah we are seeing a lot of people.  they are so funny.  this one family cooks us dinner everytime.  ha ha we tell them not to but they still bring out the noodles everytime.  actually we saw them last night and they gave us fried rice instead.  oh it was good.  they also gave us rose flavored juice mixed with milk and little cake things with small fish cooked in.  ok also can.  we went to a recent convert's house the other day and she also cooked for us.  ha ha wow.  she made "vegetables", and banana heart which is the top of a banana tree, and squirrel.  yep that's right.  they caught squirrels outside their house and last time i asked them what they do with them and she said they eat them.  so we showed up monday and what do you know squirrel was on the menu.  ha ha it was actually pretty good.  pretty tough meat.  lots of little bones.  if you didn't focus on where that little guy has been running around then it wasn't so bad.  ha ha i haven't eaten that many crazy things here but there are definitely things here that aren't in america.

     on monday was of course halloween.  here in malaysia this great holiday goes unnoticed by the majority of the population.  in fact nobody celebrates it.  but strangely enough every year it is celebrated by church members across the country.  ha ha i guess they just picked it up from all of the american missionaries.  there was a party on monday and actually there was a lot of non members there so it was great.  

we couldn't find and pumpkins this year so we carved watermelons.  it is way different.  they are hard to gut because they aren't hollow.  but they are way easy to cut.  everyone loved it.  i don't think most people have seen a jack o lantern before.  they were amazed.  for my costume i just put all of my clothes on backwards.  ha ha everyone was laughing.  elder hawkins had to help me close up the shirt and tighten the tie but it was a hit.  at one point i put a mask on backwards and from the back it looked like normal.  ha ha.  it was a lot of fun.  

mom i just got your letter.  it was awesome!!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY OSKAR in advance.  i can't believe you are going to be 12.  don't worry i'll still put you in your place when i get home. 

     well that's about it.  it was an awesome week.  sorry there's not anything super spiritual.  i had a lot of good experiences actually.  i talk to a lot of people on the bus and i pretty much always feel like the things i say are really things they need to hear.  yesterday i gave the district meeting training and we talked about The Spirit.  we had a great conversation and shared spiritual experiences.  in some of our lessons when we teach certain principles, people's faces light up and you know they are feeling the spirit and finding an answer to their long time questions.  i love those moments.  i really love being a missionary.  it is a blast.  i know i'll have no other time like this in my life where i can just teach people about Christ all day.  sometimes i don't realize how sweet it is but i want you guys to know that it is sweet.  i hope you guys don't take the church lightly because you are so familiar with it.  i love you all so much and can't wait to sit down and just tell you story after story of awesome people i've met here.  i hope you have a good week and i am looking forward to your email next week!

elder petersen

Getting Old...donggongon it....

hi ya'll

     well first i'm really sorry for last week's email.   i wish i could have had longer but i was pretty busy.  i hope you understood everything i told you about transfers.  ha ha it made sense to me.  well your emails were so entertaining.  for some reason i feel like i haven't talked to you forever so it was way good to read those.  it sounds like it was kind of a sad week though.  i hope all is well there.  dad i don't think i could run the full marathon in may.  i don't think that is enough time to prepare.  sorry but i'd love to the the half.  thanks for the world news mom.  it's interesting to hear.  i have been peppering the two greenies in our apartment with questions about home.  ha ha they were kind of clueless though. 

     alright so it is AWESOME up here!  i'm really liking it.  it definitely feels like home to be back here in sabah.  it is totally different than other parts of the mission i've been in.  you know, i've had a way diversified mission.  my comp is cool.  he is from lehi utah.  he is kind of gung ho.  he knows malay way better than i knew it ha ha but he is still kind of funny to listen too.  he will be good though.  it is weird to be a zl and trainer but our zone is one of the smaller ones.  it covers sandakan- two elders, tawau- two elders, and kk- four elders two sisters.  so only ten of us.  we call our zone the sabah tribe instead of the sabah zone.  and don't worry we're working really hard.

     well like i said last week we kind of are opening a new area so we kind of have no investigators and are easily lost.  i didn't realize our area was so spread out.  we actually cover a huge area!  but the sisters gave us a few investigators that are pretty solid and then we did find a couple.  we share a branch with the sisters.  actually the branch only split about 3 months ago.  so all of the leaders are new and everything.  we are back on the buses.  it is fun to talk to people there.  i've met some crazy ones.  if you end up sitting by a muslim then you are stuck for the whole ride next to someone you can't teach ha ha.  actually i just had a good chat with a 20 year old muslim student.  he was way cool.  we talked for like 20 min.  if only i could share the gospel.  he was asking a lot of questions about the church but i had to defer the question or change the subject or something. 

     just today we went out knocking out away from the city.  it was in a place called donggongon.  try saying that 5 times fast.  out there there is a lot of jungle and just stand alone houses.  we talked to a bunch of christians but none were super interested.  one lady was so nice.  she was one of those people that i can totally picture as members.  she had 3 kids like 17 13 and 10 and she was so friendly.  she was well enough off to drive to church and would be, i pictured, a good leader in the church.  but she just would not commit to meet again.  we kept talking though and she did soften up and really listen but still nothing.  it is sad.  i hope that's not her only chance you know.  hopefully she will read the pamphlet and call us back.  i pray every day that someone will just actually read the pamphlet we leave and feel something and give us a call.  the problem with most of those houses is that they have a big gate in front of the driveway.  so you don't knock the door you knock the gate.  then you hope that they will come over to the gate so you don't have to yell at them the whole time.  we met another lady and she was cranky.  she was way in the doorway and we were out at the gate.  she was just like i'm RC and my husband isn't home.  she was definitely trying to ditch us.  so i was just like ok can we give you this booklet and stuck it through the door.  she walked out and then, by design, she had to wait while i filled out my name on the back while talking to her.  after talking then she was way nicer.  we had a good chat and she said she would read the book and that we can meet again saturday.  also can.  i swear if people would just listen to us then they would like what they hear.

     as zl i still have the responsibility of doing baptismal interviews.  i interview a girl last night.  she was way solid.  she was way funny too.  she definitely knew the questions i was going to ask and had perfect answers.  really solid.  it threw her for a loop then when i asked her in all seriousness "ok do you know the name of joseph smith's little brother?"  ha ha she was like what that's not one of the questions!  ha ha but yeah she did good.  she passed.

     well dass is doing good.  he still cannot move but he has feeling back in his limbs.  his spine was not broken in any way he was just like sent into some sort of shock because of the pain and the way he landed or something.  he is still out of commission and will probably go home after this but he is expected to make a full recovery.  it is a big relief. 

     sorry i am emailing at a different time yet again but i've got more big news.  today was not our p-day, we only emailed, because tomorrow we are going to mount kinabalu!!  it is so sweet.  friday is zone conference so tonight the ap's and pres and the other elders from our zone are flying in and then tomorrow early we are going to hike mount kinabablu.  we cannot go to the very top without a pass and tour guide and sleep over but we are going to go like half way up.  it should be fun.  president clark was so excited to tell me.  i asked him back when i was still a greenie if i could hike it.  it's so sweet.

     last thing.  it is weird to have to greenies in our house of four.  everything is new to them.  we have to explain everything.  actually my whole mission i've been with older missionaries.  all of my companions have pretty much been in the same graduating class as me or even one year older.  i never thought i'd be with someone from 2010.  well it's funny because laycock is from 2010 and even crazier elder bradley is from 2011.  what the freak!  ha ha when he told me that i was blown away.  i could totally picture him as one of jaynanne's friends.  wow.  i'm an old missionary.  i don't feel old but i remember the missionaries of my age when i was a greenie seemed so old.  ha ha crazy.

     alright well that's all for me.  hopefully next week i have some investigators to report on and some cool stories from sabah borneo.  keep up the good work back home.  i love you guys so much.  seriously i tell everyone how awesome you are.  don't worry i'm going to finish out strong here.  thanks for your prayers.

 

elder petersen