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