April 21, 2014

Hey Everybody!!!

So this week has been good and very hard.  Amiens is really cool and a lot bigger than Chartres. We are in a four man apartment so that is really cool. My co-comp is Elder Smith.  The other elders are Elder Oliverson and Elder Barr. They only have 3 months left on their missions. Our apartment is so huge!!! So just letting you all know the address I gave you before is wrong so check on facebook for my REAL address.

Amiens has a branch here with about the same amount of members as in Chartres.

Voila! So why is it so hard...because we have 0 amis/investigators. And what that means is A LOT of contacting and porting. Honestly finding is not my favorite thing, but...I love teaching so you have to find to teach. That's how it works...haha. We had some crazy experiences though!

We were pushing some sonneries on an apartment complex.  We were just minding our business and then one lady comes downstairs to meet us. I was like, "Awesome, hopefully she is interested!" But sadly the only thing she was interested in was to call the police on us. She came downstairs and starts yelling at us and saying some pretty "profound"words. Luckily she didn't call the cops though. We walked away for a bit and then we went back when she left and kept on pushing buttons. Then a couple of minutes later a guy came downstairs to talk to us. I was like, "Okay this has to be the real deal!" But no, he used even more "profound" words too. I swear he taught the lady how to speak that way...haha. However, this guy did call the police but the police didn't really care..haha. After that we left and did some more porting.

We ended up meeting an old lady who had just barely lost her husband. We tried to teach her a lesson but she didn't want to have one. We did have a nice long talk though and we comforted her. That was a great blessing! We gave her our card and hopefully she will call us! Well, that was my week. I know we will find someone if we continue to do our best!

Love all of you guys!

Elder Evan Peterson

Here are some pics. Me and my new co-comp Elder Smith, and the apartment. My bed is on the corner left on the floor.

Here is a picture of our study room and a little bit of Amiens.

April 14, 2014

OH my GOSH. So Transfer number 4!!! I am officially leaving Chartres! I am going to Amiens! It is a pretty big city north of Paris. I am really excited! I will be co-comping with Elder Smith. He has been out for just a little more than a year. 

So this week has been really good. We have been preparing our amis for baptism still. Sadly we had to push our dates because of some problems but I know that they all have a true desire to get baptized. One of our amis that we had to push the date on is Gwen (you will hear another story about her later.). We had some huge lessons with her.  She had soooo many questions but Elder Eldredge and I answered them all with the Spirit! I used some language that I didn't even know! It was really good and she is totally ready for baptism!

Sunday was a great fast and testimony meeting. I told everybody that I was leaving and it was pretty sad. Then I bore my testimony and I realized how special this place is. Some people said that France would be a hard place and that I would get rejected a lot, but when you see people the way that God sees them, it changes things. I have seen how great the work is continuing to move out here and it is moving fast. I am going to miss Chartres so so much!!!

Anyways, after church people said goodbye to me and I to them. It was hard. Then...something happened that was unexpected and it was down right awkward...this is the story. I decided to go say goodbye to Gwen (our ami) and when I went over to her I put my hand out for a good handshake. She shook my hand and said good luck in your next ville and I said merci.  Then...she did it...the one thing that I swore at the beginning of my mission that I would never let happen...she bisous-ed me...that is the two kisses thing on the two cheeks.  Yeah, it happened and now I can never go back..haha.

So that is my week for you! I am so excited to continue my journey serving my Father in Amiens!!!

I love you all so much! :)

Elder Peterson

Here is a picture of Evan during General Conference and some pictures of Chartres he took. Yes these pictures were taken with Evan's camera.  The pictures of Chartres are so amazing it almost doesn't look real.

April 7, 2014

This week has been really good! My prayers were answered and I felt the Spirit so strong during General Conference!

So first off this week we had PDay and we watched Ephriam's Rescue with one of our great members! On Tuesday we went up to Paris again for District meeting and the rest of the week we just have been preparing our amis for their baptism next week. Sadly I am probably going to be getting transferred out of Chartres next week on Wednesday...I am really sad that I probably won't be able to see their baptisms but I am just happy that they are moving closer to Christ! :)

On Saturday night we went up to Versailles and watched the morning session live of General Conference at 6pm. Then on Sunday we watched the priesthood session, Saturday afternoon session and the Sunday morning session live. General Conference was so good. I had a lot of prayers that I needed answered and they were. Also two of our amis came so that just was an added bonus to all of the blessings that I have received! Today, me and my comp are going to finish the rest of conference.

Other than that I am just getting ready for transfer number 4! It should be exciting to know where I will be going next! So until next week, I love you all!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Here are some pics:
1. We found this little guy flying around in our kitchen.
2. Getting ready for transfer 4!
3. All the missionaries at Versailles who were watching conference!