March 31, 2014

Hello everyone!!! This week has been really awesome!

First of all, we watched 17 miracles with Borris and one of the members here in Chartres. They both loved it. Too bad they only have subtitles in French.

The best part of this week was that we finally found a new ami after a lot of praying and searching!  The story of how we found this guy is pretty weird. So first of all in January we contacted this guy and we haven't heard from him since then. Then one day we were going through the Area Book and I decided to call this guy, Samuel. He answered and we set up a rendezvous with him. When we got to his apartment I realized that this is an old amis apartment too. Her name was Tracy and she was a referral that we received but only taught her once and after that we couldn't get a hold of her. So, we walked in and I find out that Samuel and Tracy are married..haha. It was so weird, but now we get to teach them both!

All of our other amis are progressing really well. We gave one of them a blessing because she has been having a hard time trying to overcome coffee. Also I received two packages!  One from my mom and the other from my dad. That made my week.  Getting anything as a missionary is Golden!

I know God is watching over every one of us. Through him and his son anything is possible. He has given us so much and when dark times come the important thing to do is smile and remember those things that He has given us.

Have a great week everybody! I love you guys so much!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Mom's notes: All of Evan's amis are scheduled to be baptized on April 19th which is unfortunately after the April 16th transfer, so he may not be there for them.  Evan and his comp take turns cooking.  They did get to eat at a members house this past week.

Easter came early:

Easter package for Elder Eldredge too:

A basketball ball and hoop that's just the right size for our apartment (small)...haha

March 24, 2014

Bonjour everyone!!!

So...this week has been great! We have taught a lot and we have been busy!

This week we had Zone Conference which was amazing. They are always so great and it isn't because they gave us Subway, haha. They gave us a new way to do contacting through the Easter holiday which is called, "Easter Contacting!"  It seems really cool! We go up to people and testify about Jesus Christ and that he is risen!

Also this week we did some exchanges here in Chartres. That was really fun. We got to teach a lot of our investigators with other missionaries from Saint Ouen. Funny story...During on of our lessons I accidentally said Tutoi-ed one of our investigators Vouvoi is formal and tutoi is the informal. We are only supposed to use vouvoi. I have no idea how or why I accidentally tutoi-ed our investigator.  The missionaries from St. Ouen came to our lesson too. When I said that, all of the missionaries looked at me with a face like, "What have you done?" haha. But don't worry, the lesson went great and we all had a good laugh over it. Never going to happen again though.

Another thing that happened this week was that my comp had to do his 2nd year Legality. When you start you have 1 year when you are totally legal in the country. After the year you have to do more stuff so you can be legal for another year so that took all day long! It was fun though. We had two random people contact us and asked about our church. We gave them the number of the missionaries where they lived so hopefully those missionaries see some great miracles! That same day I slept with my contacts in too..so when we went to another lesson that night, I looked like I was on drugs and that I was crying. haha. They even asked me that too.

But overall this week has been amazing just like every week! You always have to look for the good in every situation and laugh and smile about the other things. Have a great week everyone! I love you all!

à bientôt! :)

Elder Evan Peterson

Mom notes:  Evan gave a talk in church this week on the resurrection. Karim Zobiri, a branch member, blessed his new baby boy, Simon.

March 17, 2014

Hello Everyone!

Wow!!! This week has been so good! Okay let's dive into this!

On Tuesday we did exchanges up in Saint Ouen.  It is a sector in Paris and is in our district somehow. It is called the "neuf trois" or 93.93000 which is the area code for Saint Ouen. People call it the 93 because it is like the most ghetto area in Paris. I have some great stories up in the 93. haha.  Anyways, during our exchange, me and this other elder were contacting a lot, and by a lot I mean contacting everyone. Sadly Saint Ouen is on the prayer roll because they didn't find any investigators last transfer. We saw so many miracles. We got some potentials and we go an investigator that day. It was really great!

The next day we were still on our exchange. We were contacting and this Muslim dude in a car repair shop shouted at us and asked, "Are you guys Jehovah Witnesses?" We said, "That's not us" and continued walking. Then he shouted at us again, "Mormons!" We turned around and he started talking to us in English. He introduced his friend and he said, "I am Muslim and I am straight on the path and this guy (pointing to his friend) is not on the path. He is drinking and doing all this bad stuff. You guys need to get him on the straight path."  We asked his friend some questions and introduced us and our message. Then we asked the Muslim guy's friend if we could visit him again and he said, "Of course we can meet again!" We then asked for his phone number.  It was so cool and so funny at the same time!

Anyways, this week we saw a lot of miracles in Chartres. We set two baptismal dates for two of our amis, Maria and Gwen. I was so surprised because one of our amis we have been trying so hard to set a date for her and she just accepted. Our amis have progressed so far! It is so amazing to see that change in people's faces and lives. Everyday Heavenly Father gives us miracles. Ever since I came on my mission I have seen so much. It has been so great!

I love you all!!! Until next week!!!

Elder Evan Peterson


Note from mom:  Evan has already worn out a pair of shoes in just 3 months in the field.  I'm guessing that walking 4 hours a day on cobblestone and many times in the rain would do it.

Louise and Nathaniel are getting baptized on April 19th.

March 10, 2014

Hello Everyone!!!

This week has been really busy! I got a cool new companion! His name is Elder Eldredge. He is from Hawaii!

You will never believe what I've been doing for the past week. I've been driving!  So my new comp is not supposed to drive and we have a car and but it is a stick shift which I didn't know how to drive. After many trials and errors and after many times killing the car, this guy knows how to drive stick shift now! haha  I am driving in France!  It is pretty fun to drive a stick shift. You feel like you could be in like Fast and Furious or something. haha (Don't worry mom, I am being safe ans humanly possible and going the speed limit).

We have been teaching a lot this week and I have been helping my comp get familiar with Chartres. It has been great though! We taught one of our amis and her name is Maria. We taught her about baptism. We extended the invite to be baptized on March 29th. The spirit was there and she was just so close to accepting but she didn't...but she did accept another date, sometime in May. She knows it is true so we are just going to keep bringing that strong spirit in those lessons. She will come around.

We do have a baptism for the 29th of March but for Louise and Nathanael so I am really looking forward to that! This week has been great. And the weather is finally getting warmer. It has been completely sunny for the past 4 days. So awesome! 

Love you all!!! Have a great week!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Notes from mom:

Temperatures today:

Chartres 36 degrees with 81% humidity
American Fork 58 degrees
Bangkok where his sister is serving 88 degrees

Other amis they are teaching are: Gwen, Selvete and Swada Valija from Kosovo.  Louise and Nathanael are from France.  Evan's Branch President's (Phillippe Deleu) daughter is currently serving in Temple Square.

Elder James Eldredge couldn't drive any more due to a law in France that you can only use your driver's license up to a year which his comp was at his year mark.

Me and my comp!

March 3, 2014

Bonjour Everyone!!!!

This week has been great. Last week of transfer 2! My comp Elder Miller is leaving and I am staying in Chartres! I am so happy to stay.  I have seen so many miracles with Elder Miller. We are like best friends now, but I am super excited to see what happens! My new companion will be Elder Eldredge. 

This week we had some great lessons. We actually taught some with Borris! He is like a natural born missionary. Sadly he is 27 which he actually turned this week.  We had a family home evening with him at a member's house and made some brownies and he was able to blow out some candles for his bday.  Borris has never had a dress shirt his whole life so the member bought him a dress shirt and gave him one of his ties. He was so happy. We had to teach him how to tie it. haha  It was good.

We got a new ami from church headquarters. Our ami contacted the church via email to learn more about the church and so they referred her to us. She has been conversing with some sisters in SLC. Actually, one of those sisters is the daughter of our Branch President. Anyways, she has been having a really hard time with opposition. We were able to give her a priesthood blessing and she loved it. She is really progressing.

I am having a great time! Oh yeah! Thanks to the American Heritage Crew for sending me a letter. That really made my week!

I love you guys!!!

Elder Peterson

Borris' birthday

Us in our shirts and ties