December 25, 2014


Merry Christmas family and friends.  This is Evan's mom.  Here is some things I learned during our Skype today:

The missionaries got to sleep in until 9am today and will also get to on New Year's Day too which he was super excited about. Pdays they still wake up at 6:30am.  They ate dinner at Soeur Zotecki's home. She has a daughter that lives in Chile. Another daughter just got off her mission in Lyons, France. She lives at home along with another sibling. Soeur Zotecki made them a Turkey dinner with stuffing and rice.  For dessert they had cake with poppy seeds.  They skyped from her home too.  She babysits for a living. They are from Ecuador.  Her husband passed away 4 months after he was baptised. 

His mission president, President Babin, gave the missionaries a motto to live by while on their mission: "Treat everyday as if it were the first day of your mission."

Here's a picture he took of the Christmas Tree I sent:

December 22, 2014


COMMUNIST WONDERLAND

We found some Communists for Christmas!


Bonjour à tous et à toutes!!! Joyeux Noël!!!! :)


This week has been really really good! So first things first. This week we taught Michael again and he is doing great. He is still kind of quiet but we actually invited him to be baptized on January 31st. He said that that is too early but he said that we can fix an actual date the next rendez-vous!!! That was really cool to hear from him so that is what we are going to be doing this next week!

Actually, right before the rendez-vous with Michael we found another guy! We got to Michael's house 15 minutes early so we decided to do some porting around his house. We went down this road that we already ported and we almost didn't knock on the doors down this road but we felt like we should. So we did it and to our surprise the first door that opened up let us in. He actually started speaking to us in English and we were super surprised by how well he spoke English. He told us that while he was growing up, he had an American family that lived with his family in France so that is how he spoke English. We talked for a bit about America and his family.  He told us that we could just sing to him because his wife was handicapped but we asked if we could sing to them both. He said that was fine so we went upstairs and sang to them both. He felt the spirit so strong and we prayed with him after that. It was so nice to share the spirit of Christmas in his home. We left and fixed another rendez-vous for later on during the week. We went over there again and we shared with him the Book of Mormon and a little message about Jesus Christ. He was really happy and he even wanted us to sign the Book of Mormon. We will be seeing him again next week! :)

Other than that, this week we had lessons with Sylvie, Bruno, Samson, Marc-Antoine, and Stany. They are doing good. During the rendez-vous with Bruno we answered his theory about how he thought the Book of Mormon was false (it is a long story on about why he thought it was wrong). I studied a lot this week to prove him wrong and we went in there and I did...which was the wrong thing to do. Even though he gave up his theory he just came up with another thing. I realized that I really just wanted to prove him wrong rather then helping him feel his own response that the Book of Mormon is right. This week Elder Nez and I are going to help him see how important the Book of Mormon is and how he needs to just read and pray with real intent.

During our rendez-vous with Samson we just talked about Baptism again. He said he believes that the Book of Mormon is true but he just says that he doesn't need to be baptized because every religion it true. We tried to explain to him authority and about how God has re-established his church again and that there is a fullness of the Gospel. We told him to pray about it some more and to continue to read the Book of Mormon.

This week we had a Christmas Zone Conference where Elder Teixeira and his wife came down to speak to us. It was really good and very inspiring. He just told us that we need to pray more and invite people. That has really helped us this week.

We actually have another cool miracle that happened this week. So after the conference Elder Nez and I felt like we needed to step up our game and pray more during proselyting. During porting we prayed before to know where to go and then we felt like we should go to this one road close to our apartment. While we were porting we came across a certain house that I felt like we should knock on. So we did but nobody answered. We waited a couple of minutes and knocked on it again but there was still  no answer. We prayed again and then Elder Nez felt like we should go down a small side road. Then we started to port that road and the first door that opened to us let us in. We were able to sing and pray with them and they even gave us some hot chocolate! :) Sadly they weren't interested to hear more of our message but after that it was time to head home. As we were walking home we came across that same house. I really felt the spirit tell me to knock on their door again. I almost didn't but I'm glad I listened to the Spirit because right when I did, a young French family with two little girls answered!  They said they were just about to leave but that we could sing and pray with them. We did and then they said that they would love to hear our message about Jesus Christ and how this was the first time they have ever heard about us. We fixed a renedez-vous with them for this Tuesday. They seemed so excited and now I am so excited! haha :)  Christmas Miracles man! D&C 28:15

I hope you guys have a Holly Jolly Christmas. I am so grateful to be here for Christmas. Sadly it is my last time so I am going to make it worth while! :)

Love you and bisous,

Elder Evan Peterson

December 15, 2014


SANTA BABY!!!

Hey there everyone! Here is a selfie...haha.

Santa gave me a new comp this week. His name is Elder Nez and he is a real Lamanite! He is from Utah and is an American Indian. He is a pretty chill dude.

Well this week was interesting. We had a lot of good lessons this week so that was dang good. While we were contacting this week we were able to find 2 new people. One was a black lady that we set up a rendez-vous with. Her name is Maureen. We talked to her about Jesus Christ and his birth and then we prayed with her. She seems really legit so we will see what happens. The other person was...interesting. We prayed with him and set up another rendez-vous with him but later on that week he called us and said he didn't want to see us. I asked him why and he just wouldn't tell us...so hopefully he calls back and wants to learn more.

During contacting we found Estelle Le Bon. We talked to her for a little bit and she said that she might come back after Christmas and New Year's. That was pretty nice to hear so we will still keep trying with her.

Speaking about amis, Bruno tried to drop us too. He said he just can't believe that Adam's fall was a part of God's plan. He isn't really reading the Book of Mormon with the right spirit as well. Honestly, I wasn't expecting him to try to drop us but we were able to save it. We just said to him that he needs to hear the whole message before he says no. He agreed with that so we are going to pray and see how we can help him.

That same day of the rendez-vous with Bruno we had our Christmas Party as a Branch. We invited Bruno and he came! It was really cool! :) He and this other member (single female member) were getting along REALLY well. And when I say REALLY well I mean REALLY well..haha! So maybe that was a good thing to invite him to the party? Future wife?? We will see how it goes with him.

Here is a picture of the Christmas Party.

Other than that we were able to see, pretty much, all of our amis! They are doing really good. We are planning to invite them to baptism again so hopefully it all goes well. :)

Singing has been going soooo well! All we do is sing and pray with people and share a message about Jesus. We are going to see a lot of people from that next week. 

I hope you guys have a great week. 

Love ya!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

December 8, 2014


LIFE IS A HIGHWAY!!!

Transfer 10 has finally begun! 

Well this week was very interesting. First off (as you can see from the picture), Elder Shaver and I had a nice little 2 day road trip!!! Whoa!!!  I am not going to lie...it was super tiring but fun at the same time.

The mission told us that another companionship needed a car so we took our car to the companionship in Quimper, which was a 6 hour drive, and then we slept over at their apartment. Don't ask me why but the next day we took the Quimper missionaries' car and drove their car to the Elders at Cholet, which actually needed a car in the first place. We basically backtracked a lot but I just do what I am told so that is what we did...haha.

Elder Shaver and I bought some road trip snacks and guess what I got!?

Oh yeah!!! My favorite....Dr. Pepper!!! 

Other than the road trip which took up 1/3 of our week we had our last district meeting of the transfer. Her is the picture of my district:

Well...Elder Shaver is leaving Bourges and going to Strasbourg. I am going to miss that Canadian. We had such a great time in Bourges. My new comp is Elder Nez (Nez in French i actually "Nose" haha...so I'm going to have fun with that).  He is in the same group as Elder Shaver and he is from Utah. I don't know him at all though but I am  excited to find out what happens!!!

This week we didn't really see any other of our amis besides Michael. He is doing good though. He still doesn't speak that much but he is still reading and praying. Sadly, Madame Legon dropped us. She sent us a text saying she doesn't want to see us anymore. It was really sad. We tried calling her to see what was going on but she didn't answer. We texted her and asked her what was going on and that we were there for her. She finally responded and said that we could help her. Se we just responded back and testified about God's love for her and if she ever needed help we would always be there.

Anyways, this week has been really good in the sense of Christmas Finding!  We have actually been Christmas Caroling just like what we did last year during Christmas. Let me tell you that singing works...haha. We were let in so many times and we prayed with like half of the people's homes we were let into. They all gave us either goodies or some hot chocolate!  It is a really great way on how we can share the gift of Christ to people and the French people love caroling because they have never seen it done here in France. :)

We found one guy last night and his name is Marc.  We sang to him and his little daughter and we taught him the Restoration. It was so cool! He seems like a cool dude and we will be seeing him soon.

So overall this week was interesting because we saw a lot of miracles and found more people but we weren't able to see any of our actual amis. But I loved the week anyways. I am so grateful for God and what things he has in store for every one of his children especially for the people of France. I hope you all had a good week and that you have spread that CHRISTmas cheer! 

Love you all!! Bisoux!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

December 1, 2014


HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

This is the district and our amazing Thanksgiving lunch!!! It was so dang good!!!

Well this week has been super good. :)

We were able to find another black Lady! She is super cool. Her name is Leontine. We prayed with her and fixed another rendez-vous for later on that week. We went over there and we taught her the Restoration. She understood everything we said and it went great. We gave her a soft baptismal invite and she accepted too! She was super willing to read and find out for herself if these things are true.

Other than that we taught Stany which went super well. He is a cool guy. He really liked the Plan of Salvation and he is still reading and praying so I know he will find his answer. 

We taught Samson as well. He read so much since last time. And he told us everything he read in like perfect detail. We asked him if he felt that the Book of Mormon is true and he said yes.  Then Elder Shaver and I felt that we should ask him to be baptized, so we did. Samson said he had been baptized a lot and he didn't see a reason why he had to be baptized again. We explained why and he understood but still didn't see why he should. We told him to just pray and ask God if he should be baptized again.

This Sunday, Bruno showed up to church. He was participating the whole time and everybody thought that he was a member who was visiting...haha. I am excited to see what happens with him. He is a super cool guy!

Other than that we had a great Thanksgiving at a member's house and we have just been continuing to teach our amis. Work is really progressing here and I am loving it so much! The Lord really does look after each and every one of us.

The end of the transfer is this coming week so we'll find out if one of us is leaving. I am pretty sure Elder Shaver is going but we will find out this Saturday!

I hope you all have a great week!!! 

Love you all!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

November 24, 2014

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Hey everybody! This week was soooo good. Let me just say one thing....I love Nigerians!!!! :)

First off this week we had a great time at the Cook Conference... :)  It was so amazing to hear from an Apostle of the Lord. He knew his stuff and he knew God and his Son, Jesus Christ. It was so cool to see the whole mission all together.

Other than that we have had such a great week. We have truly been blessed here in Bourges. I know for a fact that I don't deserve these many blessings but I am so grateful for them. This week we found 4 people and three of them were Nigerian! I love Nigerians. They are such a believing people and they are so open.

The first one is Victoria. We prayed with her on the street and set up another rendez-vous for later on that week. We then went over and taught her the Restoration. She has been in France for about a year and it is just her and her little baby boy. She seems super cool.

We found a Nigerian family too. Their names are Samson and Estelle and they have a little baby as well. We prayed with them and fixed another rendez-vous for the next day. We went over there and they fed us and gave us drinks which was super nice. Samson told us the whole story of Adam and Eve....haha. It was funny, but we got to teach them the Restoration and they said they would pray and read. :)

We found a 19 year old black dude named Donald. I forgot where he comes from but he seems super legit. We taught him the Restoration and we gave him a soft baptismal invite and he accepted! :) So things are looking really good for Bourges.

Other than that we have still been meeting with all of our other amis once a week. I wish they could meet more often but I will just have to accept the fact that I can't get everything I want...haha. They are all progressing slowly but that is better than nothing! :)

I got two packages this week too! Thanks mom and dad.  I really enjoyed them!  Here are some pics:

I wear it everyday Dad.  Thanks so much!

This week at church Madame Le Bon and Sylvie showed up. During a rendez-vous with Madame Le Bon she told us that she continues to meet with us because it makes her happy and that our message is positive. It is totally true. Our Father in Heaven wants all of us to be happy and that it is only through Him and his Son that we can have that true happiness. That is why he gave us a plan to return back to him and that plan is the Plan of Happiness. I have been so blessed and I have never been so happy to help change peoples lives.  Those experiences are truly rewarding experiences that I am never going to forget.

Well I hope that you had a great week just as I did.

Love you all !!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

November 17, 2014

THANKSGIVING TO GOD

This is my new Transfer 9 planner. Because it is almost Thanksgiving I put in 2 Cor. 9:11. I am really Thankful for God this week! :)

The start off of transfer 9 has been great! This week we saw a lot of miracles!!! :)

Let's start off with Tuesday. So we taught our ami, Madame Le Bon again and she is doing really well. She read and prayed but isn't praying to know if these things are true. That will come though. Anyways, during porting that night we were able to find a guy named Olivier. We asked if we could pray with him and he was really excited to pray with us. We prayed and we shared the Restoration. He believes in God but thinks that religion doesn't matter. Overall, he is a cool dude. He works for the military and he does yoga. Sadly, he told us that he is going to have to do military detention until December 9th, so we won't be able to see him until then.

Later on this week we found another guy whose name is Bruno. He is a 7th Day Adventist. We contacted him and prayed with him and then set up another rendez-vous. We went over to his house and taught him about Joseph Smith. He agreed with everything we said so we are planning on giving him a baptismal invite this next week.

Other than that we are still teaching Stany, Michael, Sylvie, and Madame Le Bon.  They are all progressing really well. We have been really blessed this week. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to be this blessed but I am not complaining...haha :) I am loving the work, and I am super excited for the Cook Conference! :)

Did you hear that Elder Shaver and I have some fans out here in Bourges? Here is some pics of us with our BIGGEST FANS that we have. I swear they love us so much.

Hope you guys have had a great week!!! Love you all!!! 

Elder Evan Peterson

November 10, 2014

FIRST TIME FRISKED!!!

Another transfer is over...It is so crazy how time just goes by faster and faster. I am now in transfer 9 and Elder Shaver and I are staying together! Elder Shaver has been one of my favorite comps so I am looking forward to this transfer! This next transfer will only be a 4 week one instead 6 so it will go by even quicker! Also on the 20th of November, Elder Cook, one of the Twelve Apostles, will be coming to our mission!!! I am super excited!!! :)

We had a great start to our week. We were able to teach our amis and they are doing well. I still don't feel like we have had that golden ami yet but we are still trying to find one.

We taught Madame Le Bon again this week and she read this time!  However, she didn't pray, so we testified that she needs to pray to find out if God is there.

We also taught Michael and gave him a Book of Mormon. He is a very nice guy and agreed to do everything we invited him to do.

We had a cool and funny experience this week. I will start off with the cool one.

So while we were doing some contacting, Elder Shaver and I contacted this one dude. At first he didn't seem interested but he said something about losing a family member and then I replied that God created a plan about how we can live with them again and that we would like to share this message with him. He then said he had 15 minutes for us to talk with him so we gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and then he asked us how we know that God is there. We were then able to share our testimonies and gave him a Book of Mormon. We said that he could know that God is there through this book. He is a very serious man and asked a lot of difficult questions but it was so amazing how we were able to share out testimonies with him. We tried to get his name and his phone number but he said that he would read the Book of Mormon and said he would call us which I really hope he does.

Now for the funny story...haha. So while Elder Shaver and I were doing some porting we were just minding our own business and asking people if they wanted to pray with us. After a couple of houses down, we looked back and saw some people on a phone and pointing at us. We were just like "Oh that's weird. Maybe they're calling the police? No...they wouldn't do that...we just asked them to pray." Well a couple of minutes later a car pulls up to us and 4 men get out saying that they were the police...haha. They asked what we were doing and we told them everything and as you can see with the title of this week, we were frisked!!!  They said that porting is against the law (which it totally isn't) and they told us to go back home. We agreed and then they left. After that we just took the car and drove somewhere else to do more porting....haha. Super weird experience and a pointless one too. I mean all we were doing was asking people to pray but I am proud to say that I have been stopped and frisked by the police for the first time on my mission!

Anyways...I had a good week! I hope you all did as well!!! :) 

Love you guys!

Elder Evan Peterson

November 3, 2014

HALLOWEEN PARTY...SUCCESS!

Hey guys!  HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This week was really good. Well as you can see with the picture, Elder Shaver an I put together a little Halloween party for the branch and their friends. I have to say it was quite a success. :) 

Elder Shaver and I tried to do a soup diet (you just eat soup for the whole week)! So let me just say when you eat liquid it stays that way...haha. Never doing that again. Anyways...

Well first off this week we had exchanges again. This time we were in Tours. It was really fun and I learned a lot from it. When we got back from exchanges we taught Madame Le Bon again. This lesson went 100x better than all of the other lessons. We were more in control and she listened. She still wants to know if there is a God and I just told her even if she just has a desire than she can know and she will know if she reads and prays. She said she would read and pray more. By the end of the lesson she even offered a prayer before we left. It was really cool to see her show her faith and ask God her questions.

We also taught a guy name Michael. He is kind of believing and kind of not. He just doesn't know if God is really out there. Elder Shaver, on his exchange, knocked on his door and prayed with him. We went over there and taught the restoration and invited him to pray and ask God if he is there. He said he would!

Other than that this week we were able to pray with some people and we were able to teach this cool young thug that we found last week on Sunday. His name is Stany and he is 22 yrs. old. We taught him the restoration this week and he asked us how we found out how these things are true. So we told him and then he said that he really wants an experience like that to really know if God is there. So we told him how he can do it and it seems like he is really excited. He seems like a golden ami. Heavenly Father has blessed us a lot here. We have seen a lot of cool miracles this week!

For Halloween our whole zone did a finding activity where we went "finding" in Tours. So we all went there and we were able to teach a total of 34 lessons that day as a zone!!! We also went on exchanges with others in my zone. I was put together with Elder Jouffray who is in my group. It was fun! Here is a self pic of us....

After the finding activity we went back to Bourges for our Halloween party that Elder Shaver and I put together. It was sooo fun....haha. We talked a lot and did bobbing for apples. I love the branch here so much. Here is a picture of some of the Branch at the Halloween Party...

Anyways...that is my week! I am so grateful for this Gospel and my mission. It really has changed my life so much. I can't describe how much I love it out here serving the people of France.  

I hope you guys have a great week!  Love you!!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

October 27, 2014

Like a Praying Mantis

I shall call him Mufasa.

Hey guys!!!

Well this week I had to do a lot of praying just like my little friend Mufasa. I almost killed him with a lawn mower while we were helping one of the members over here cut her lawn.

This week was the best of times and the worst of times. Overall a lot of praying and we saw a lot of miracles! Here is a cool miracle....this Tuesday, I wasn't really having the best day possible. I was kind of sad and upset just about life. Later on Tuesday night during porting, the second door that we knocked on happened to be a great blessing for me. It was this nice black lady and we told her that we were there to pray with her and her family. She decided to let us in and we were able to pray and teach them the Restoration. They really enjoyed it and we were able to get their phone number. We will be seeing them later on this week. It was really amazing to see that God knew I was having a hard time and so he blessed me right then and there.

Later on that week we had our exchanges with the zone leaders. We saw a lot of miracles too! During my exchange we were able to pray with 3 people and get there phone numbers!!!

Later on we had district meeting and everyone waited for me to finish my legality. The legality place took soooo long, but everything worked out. I am officially legal again!!!! Whooo!!!

We received a call this week from one of our amis, Madame Lebon. She was concerned about our Church and how she felt like if she continued with us she was going to lose her culture. That was sad to hear her say that. We asked her if we could talk to her in person and she said we could. We went over there and we discussed it with her and told her that we aren't here to change things but to add things. Then we told her that she just needs to continue and try it to find out if it is true. She agreed with us and she ended up coming to church this Sunday which was great!!!:)

I feel like the Lord just gave me a lot of blessings this week to lift me up a little higher and to be a little better. It's funny how things work out like that with Him. This morning I read a scripture which really touched me. It was Isaiah 48:10..."Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

Our Heavenly Father calls upon us in our weaknesses and in our trials. Through Him we can become something and do things that we wouldn't have been able to ever imagine if it wasn't for Him reaching out to us during these trials. While in the mist of trials the best way to get yourself out of them is to help others.

I hope you guys have had a great week because I know I have had a great one!!!

Love you all!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

Here is a picture of me and the package I received for Halloween! Thanks mom!!!

October 20th, 2014

La Bible Devoilee and a lot of Miracles!!!

Hey everybody!!!

As you can tell this week we saw a lot of miracles and the Bible was unveiled!!! :) First off, we were able to find 4 new amis!!! Bourges is just rocking it right now!

This week we had Zone Conference and interviews which was so good!  I love President Babin and his wife. I asked them how I can help my district in more ways and they gave me some good responses so hopefully I can help them more!

This week we worked hard and were able to find 4 people. One of them was really legit. Her name is Madame Lorz. She is French. We actually contacted her on Saturday and fixed a rendez-vous for later on that day. We taught her the Restoration and then invied her to read, pray, and to go to church the next day. She accepted all of them and she kept all of them as well!!! She seemed to like church a lot and she said she would come next week.

We are still teaching Madame Lebon and she is still talking a lot...haha, but she is progressing in the right direction! She did talk about this book called "La Bible Devoilee" which basically means "The Bible Unveiled." Pretty random, but then like an
hour later a Canadian Jehovah Witness tried getting in an argument about the bible. Coincidence? I think not...haha. Elder Shaver was pretty shaken up though about his Canadian brother was being so rude to us, but he was from Quebec so he wasn't too hurt. Oh Canada.

So, we go over to this one ladies house every week and eat with her and her two children. Another one we go over to eat with is Emilio. They are super funny.

I've been on exchanges so far with Elder Oviatt and Elder Smith (not my old companion).

Anyways, just Canadians and super awesome miracles this week!!! One of the best weeks on my mission. But time is just flying by...it scares me...

I hope you guys have had a great week!!!! Love you!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

October 13th, 2014

"OH WE'RE HALF WAY THERE, OH LIVIN' ON A PRAYER"

Hey everyone!!!

October 13th! A year from today I will be finished with my mission!!! It is crazy to think how fast time goes by!!!

Well this week we had a pretty good week! First we had District Meeting and it was really good to see everyone in my district. We had delicious Raclette and if you don't know what that is than you better look it up because it is soooo good!!! :)

Elder Shaver and I found 2 new amis too!!! Their names are Madame Lebon and Paula. We found Madame Lebon while contacting and we talked for a while about prayer and other random stuff because she talks SO MUCH!!! haha But we finally shared the Restoration and then we went over to her house later on this week and we taught her about the Book of Mormon. During the rendez-vous we shared about prayer and we were able to pray with her by the end of it. It was so amazing how strong the spirit was in there afterwards. She was so quiet and after the prayer she just sat there for a little bit and just soaked it all in. Hopefully she realized that that was the spirit. She isn't really too believing though but she is willing to try so that it good.

Okay now for our other ami, Paula. She is from French Guinea. We shared with her the Plan of Salvation in the road and then we later went to her house and shared it more fully. She is VERY believing and she understood all of it. She even beared her testimony about during this difficult life we need to have faith and trust in the Lord. We set up another rendez-vous with her for this week!

So overall the work is progressing a lot in Bourges! I am so excited to see what happens here because this place has a lot of potential! It reminds me when I was in my blue ville and how I saw so many miracle there.

This Sunday I was able to present myself in front of the branch. This branch is dang awesome! It is like a huge family and just so loving. I have been to a lot of the member houses so far, so I am getting to know a lot of them. We even had raclette with a member here!! Oh baby!!! So gooood! :))

Here is a pic of Elder Shaver and I, oh Canadians-

Well I hope you all had a great week! Remember that God is always there for all of us and that he "will not fail thee, nor forsake thee."

Love you all!!! Until next week!!! :))))

Elder Evan Peterson

October 6th, 2014

LOOKS WHO'S BACK!!!

Hey guys! That's right!!! We have a car here in Bourges! But the big miracle about this car is that it is automatic!!!! :) Bourges is a nice old little city. It is a very beautiful place. My comp is Elder Shaver and he is from Canada. haha It is weird to think that out of all of my comps only 1 of them was from Utah. Shaver and I are getting along great so I am excited to see what happens this transfer! :)

Well anyways, the first week in Bourges was dang good!!!! Elder Shaver and I have started off the week great! We are pretty much starting at ground zero but we have seen a lot of miracles this week.

During many hours of contacting we were able to teach and pray with 2 people this week! We contacted this lady named Noah and talked for a while how God is always there for us and she shared some stories about how God has helped her. We then prayed and after the prayer we were able to get her phone number! We also taught a guy names Gilles about the Restoration and we were able to pray with him and set up another rendez-vous!

Other than that we had a great spiritual time watching General Conference. This conference was so good! It answered a lot of questions that I have had. It is amazing how General Conference gives us a spiritual boost for 6 months and that how a lot of talks are so related.

We were able to eat dinner and watch the Sunday morning session with Branch President Rivet and his family. That was a great moment to seal off this great week!

Well I hope you guys have had a great week and that next week will be great for you too! Stay strong and Keep the Faith!!! Love you!!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Here is a cat, Bisous-

September 29, 2014

District Leader in Bourges! Transfer "8" has begun!!!

Transfer "8" has begun! Here is the pic of my new transfer "8" planner - 

I will be serving as the District Leader in Bourges!!!  Bourges is in the center of France.  My new comp is Elder Shaver who is from Vancouver, Canada.  I will go on exchanges with other missionaries in my District and will be giving trainings each week. My district meetings will be in Tours, France.

This week has been really good! We finished off the last of the transfer strong! Let's start off with what happened first!

Well this Tuesday we had our last district meeting which went really well! Later on that night we were able to pray with a lady during porting (door to door) and we got her phone number and set up another rendez-vous!

Other than that we have been teaching Elizabeth a lot. We taught her the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. It went super well and she committed to follow them both! I have to tell you about when we taught her the Word of Wisdom.

So first we go into her apartment and when we get in she sits us down and she goes off to get us some juice. While Elder Quist and I were sitting at the table we saw that a cup of coffee happened to be quietly sitting on the other side of the table where she was sitting. I turned to Elder Quist with a smile on my face getting ready to teach this lesson and praying for my life that she would accept it.

So after getting our drinks, she sits down and we start teaching her the Word of Wisdom. We get to the part in the brochure about things we should abstain ourselves from. She then looked at the coffee and then at us with a smile on our face and we all started laughing. I asked her what she thought and she said that she doesn't drink, smoke, or use any other kind of drugs. After that she paused a little and said that "A cup of coffee or tea isn't stopping me from going to Heaven." She then grabbed the cup of coffee and went into the kitchen and threw it down the drain. That was such a great example about following a commandement right after the Lord has commanded it.

She already knew about the law of chastity but we taught it anyways just to make sure. She understood both of the lessons and accepted to follow them both. She even brought up the law of tithing and asked if we do that. We said yes and she was really happy to hear that because she knew it was a commandment of God. Elizabeth is so ready for baptism!!! :D Sadly I won't be here to see her get baptized...But I am super excited to serve in Bourges and accomplish the Lord's work down there! :)

Anyways, this Sunday I said goodbye to a lot of members and I was able to bare my testimony. Here are some pics of a couple of members-

The two Nigerian recent converts:  Jennifer (left) and Naomi (right)

Joel (member) and I!

I am really going to miss Amiens! I spent 6 months, a quarter of my mission here. I have to say that I have grown a lot while being here and I have seen a lot of miracles too.  But I am ready to take on the world in Bourges as the DL! :D

Hope you guys all have a great week!!!

Love you!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

September 22, 2014

Bonjour a tous!!!

I have to apologize first off because this week wasn't really eventful. Actually, at the beginning of this week, I was sick and then right after Elder Quist got sick...haha, so we weren't able to do a whole lot. But don't worry, we are doing fine now.

Well this week we did see our ami, Elizabeth. She is from the Ivory Coast and has been living in France for over 3 years. We have taught her a lot and she is progressing really well. She is right on track to be baptized! She even asked about temples and baptisms for the dead. She really wants to do the work for her father and brother that passed away a while back. I am so happy we were able to find a golden ami! I really have been praying for that during my time in Amiens. Sadly, I think I am going to be leaving at the end of this transfer.

We found one guy named, Henri. We had a nice long chat about the plan of Salvation. He had a lot of questions about people suffering for no reason and just life in general.  Hopefully I was able to answer his questions. Anyways, we will be meeting with him sometime this week which should be quite exciting!

Elizabeth came to all of the meetings of church this week! She participated and everything! Luckily, the kids during Sacrement meeting were behaving themselves (kind of lol).

Well...I should know where, or even if, I am leaving this Saturday! I will let you know all the details!

I hope you guys have had a good week and that you are loving every minute of life!!!!

Love you all!!! Bisous!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Elder "Peterson" or Elder "Presley"

 

Well...That is the theme for this week because everyone is calling me Elder "Presley" at church...haha.

This week has been great!!! The most exciting news for this week was that we fixed a baptismal date with Elizabeth, one of our amis!!! :))))

But first off this week we did exchanges. Elder Quist went to Arras and I stayed here. I was with Elder Manwaring who is in his 1st transfer.  We saw a lot of miracles. One of the miracles was that we got to pray with a very nice Muslim family. Honestly I wasn't expecting it but they were very nice and let us in and even gave us some cookies!

Other than that this week we have been teaching Elizabeth a lot and she is progressing very well. She has two young boys and let me tell you...they are crazy...haha, but lots of fun! :)

This week we taught her the Book of Mormon and we watched the Restoration with her. During the video her children were quiet. It was a miracle. After that we talked and Elder Quist and I bore our testimony and she even bore her testimony about how the Book of Mormon has helped her. We were then able to invite her to be baptized for October 18th and she accepted!

Elizabeth came to church this week and she came to all of the meetings and she loved it. During sacrement meeting was when the real party began. At first the two young boys were fine then they started getting louder. Elizabeth and I were trying to calm them down and the older one did but the younger one was just screaming and jumping. One moment, when we both didn't keep track of him, we found him at the back of the chapel. Then Elizabeth gasped and turned to me and told me he peed his pants...haha. I turned to find this kid's pants soaked and a puddle of it on the chapel floor.  Elizabeth hurried and grabbed him and took him out while I went and cleaned up the mess. It was so funny, but even throughout the whole situation Elizabeth still loved church. But some small advice, keep your eyes on your children! haha.

Other than that we taught our ami, Feran. Usually lessons with him are slightly awkward because of the language barrier but this time it was different. We talked to him about how he can receive an answer about the truthfulness of our message. He didn't really know how so then we explained how we can know and the role of the Holy Ghost. He even said that he had a lot of questions and that our religion is simple and has answered some of his questions. We told him to keep praying with his family and to continue reading the Book of Mormon and that he would receive an answer to his questions. Sadly he isn't very free to meet with us because he has school, his wife is going to give birth soon, and his son is getting ready to get his tonsils taken out. We will meet with him soon though!

This week has been so dang good!!! I have been so blessed to see so many miracles!!! I hope you guys have had a great week as well!!!! I love you all  and have a great week!!!! :))))

Elder Evan Peterson










        

September 8, 2014

John the Baptist and I Chillin' in Amiens :)

Yes, this is really the head of John the Baptist and yes, that hunk of a missionary is really me....haha.

Apparently Amiens' Cathedrale has the real skull of John the Baptist.

Anyways...Hello everyone!!!!

This week was great!  Although we weren't able to teach that many lessons, we did find 2 new amis!!!! 

Our mission (the Mission of Paris) and the Mission of Lyon did an activity. The activity was to find 1000 new amis by doing a full day of finding and by praying every 30 minutes on Friday from 9 am to 9 pm.  We actually were able to contact one of our potentials that we taught and fix a rendezvous with her so she became a new ami on Friday. We were also able to get a lot of phone numbers from the activity. We even were able to fix a rendezvous with a lady for Saturday and we taught her.

Her name is Elizabeth and she has two young sons. We had a great lesson with her. We taught her the Restoration and we were able to testify to her about Joseph Smith and knowledge through Prayer. She seems to be a "Golden" ami too which was really great to see. So many miracles came from that activity. Prayer really does work. So thanks for your prayers as well!!

Other than that we actually had to drop a couple of amis because they just weren't progressing and would never meet with us. But Christelle and Feran are still  progressing which is great!

Whoa!? How did Chuck get here??? Here is a cat that reminded me of my family's cat...haha. He was so nice and I even got to pet him.

We had Zone Conference this week too which was really good. I love Zone Conference. It is such a great place to meet your President, other missionaries, friends, and old comps. The best part is being uplifted and receiving spiritual strength to continue.

I was able to meet my trainer and my MTC comp there too!!! Left (Me), middle (Elder Miller,my trainer), right (Elder Sanchez, my MTC comp). They are actually serving together.

Well...next week should be even better because we have a lot of lessons set up!!! Just know that I am praying for everyone and that I am loving life!!! Have a good week guys and I will see you soon!!!!

Love you!!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

September 1, 2014  - 10 Months and a New Ami!!!! :)

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille!!!

This week was really good!!!! I just hit my 10th month mark too! It is crazy how fast the mission goes by!!!

But let me tell you guys about my week. First of all we were able to teach Christelle, one of our amis. She even came to church!!!  We finished up the plan of salvation this week with her and she liked it a lot because she never knew what happened before this life and what was going to happen after this life. We had some great spiritual lessons with her too. She is still timid though, but she is coming out of her shell little by little which is really good to see!!!

Elder Quist and I have been working a lot with the less actives too. We have been everywhere in Amiens searching for those "lost sheep." One of them let us in and we taught her about how God can make our weaknesses become strengths. It was very nice and we are going to be seeing her again this week.

We also saw a great miracle this week! On Wednesday we were going door to door and we didn't see any success that whole night.  We had to go home soon but we decided to do one more last door.  We knocked on the door and a lady came out and we talked with her for a little bit. She told us that she was searching for a church and we were able to fix a return rendez-vous with her. Than later on this week we were able to teach her. She understood everything we taught and accepted everything we invited her to do. During my whole time here in Amiens I have been praying to find a "golden" investigator and I think we have been able to do it by finding her.  her name is Janet (yes mom, I told her that is your name too. haha). She is a really nice lady from Africa. She has a family too, so a great kingdom builder!!!

Well...I just want to testify to you guys how great it is to be an instrument in God's hands. He can really work mighty miracles through all of us. I have been blessed to see how much he has worked through me. So greater joy can come through helping others come unto the truth. I have felt true happiness out here. The mission is so great!!!!

I love you all!!! Have a great week!!! :)))

Elder Evan Peterson

August 25, 2014

The day when I turned 20 on the 20th...I am so old...

Hello everyone! This week has been really great!!! I just wanted to thank all of you for the Birthday wishes! It meant so much!!! That made my week!!

Well...Things that happened this week. We got two new people serving in Amiens, Elder Quist and Elder Blackham. Elder Quist is my comp., and 3 transfers below me.  He is a really nice dude and he loves to work so we are getting along great! I am loving it here and am really excited for another transfer in Amiens!!! Elder Blackham is Elder Weston's bleu (greenie), so he just barely came out of the MTC. He is a very funny guy. We are all having a party here in Amiens (A spiritual fun party that is)!!!

The 20th was my birthday and transfer day so I thought my birthday was going to stink but it was really awesome! I got to see my trainer too! I sure miss this dude. Here is Elder Miller and I - 

This week, all of us in the appartement went to a riverside restaurant for my birthday. It was really nice. It is called "Le Quai" Here are some pics!

 

Elder Weston (left) and my comp. Elder Quist (right)

Me and Elder Blackham

          One last one of me drinking a classy coke!!!!

Well..as missionary work goes Elder Quist and I have been working super hard and I love it!!!  We didn't find anybody but we will soon!  We were able to pray with an old lady and that was good. She said we can pass by anytime so we will be doing that this week.

We were able to meet with one of our amis, Feran. He is from Iraq but we teach him in English. He doesn't understand everything we say but he still understands the main message. He has a lot of questions and I know that our message can do just that!

We also saw Gregory and he is doing worse than before. I think it was because he was hospitalized for a month. He is really down but we just kept on testifying to him that a lot of times God doesn't answer our prayers right then and there. We ended up comforting him and we are still going to pray for him.

Other than that I was able to watch the video with all of my family and friends in it!!! That really made my week. I can't tell you how much you guys have made a difference in my life. I have changed so much since I have been on a mission and have changed so much in my life because of all of you. So thank you for the great birthday! I love you guys!!!

Au revoir!!! Je vous aime!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

A side note from mom:  Elder Quist is from Washington State where I'm also from and his mom is also a harpist like me.  Small world.