October 12th, 2015 - THE END

All I Needed

I guess that time has come. After two years in France it is my turn to head home. I am so happy and so sad at the same time. I don't even know what to do...haha.

I remember being in the MTC in October. I was such a little kid. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into, but I am so grateful to have made that decision to go on a mission because that is when I truly understood everything that I needed in life.

The mission was really a turning point for me. Before the mission I didn't really know God or why all of this is important but little by little God changed me. I remember seeing so many people give up their lives for the Gospel and I started to realize what the Gospel meant. I saw people's lives change through the Gospel and then I started to see that it was changing mine.

The most important thing that I learned on my mission was the immensity of our Heavenly Father's love for all of us. Everyday I felt his love for me and for His children and through that I found myself out here.

The truth is, is that all I needed was the Gospel. I thought I knew myself and I thought I knew the purpose of life before the mission but it turns out that I was wrong. When I gave up all that I had to God is when I found my life.

I am so grateful for the mission and how it has given me a purpose in this life. I am so grateful for all the people I have met and how they changed my life. I am so grateful for my Heavenly Father who gave me this chance to come here to France to share the Gospel.

I know that all we need in life is the Gospel. It changes us and transforms us into something new. I know with all my heart that Jesus Christ did come to the earth to atone for the sins, sicknesses, and pains of all mankind. I know that God and His son, Jesus Christ, love us beyond our imaginations and that they know us personally. I know that this church is true and that God has restored the truth in these latter days. All of this is what we truly need in our lives and I came to know all of this with a surety thanks to these past 2 years. 

I am so excited to see everyone in 3 days! I love you all! Have a great week! See you soon! :D

Elder Evan Peterson

Went hiking with some non-members with us four missionaries! Super legit!

October 5th, 2015

"Honestly, Won't Someone Stop This Train?"


I can't believe that my time is almost up. I guess John Mayer put it best when he said, "Honestly, won't' someone stop this train?"  The mission goes by so fast, so freaking fast. I just remember a couple of days ago when I was back in Chartres and I had been out for a couple of months. Now I am 10 days away from home. I can't describe what I am feeling right now. I am so excited to see all my loved ones but I am so sad to leave. 

Anyways...I can save all the sad talk for next week.

This week was good though. We taught our amis, Pierre and Ghislaine. They were supposed to be baptised this week but they told us that they needed to reflect on it. They said they didn't want to feel like they were tied down by rules and commandments. During the whole rendez-vous we testified about how the commandments are there to help us come closer to God and His son Jesus Christ and how they are there to make us free not to be as barriers. We gave them the invitation to pray and ask God about it so hopefully that goes well. I know it will. It is all up to them though if they want an answer because God always fulfills His promises.

We had exchanges this week as well. We were here in St. Die with the zone leaders. It was a really good exchange as well. We were able to teach some people. I just love every time when people just take the time to listen to us and the moments when you can clearly testify to them.  That happened during our exchange this week. While we were porting we met a middle-aged man. He opened the door and he asked us who we were. We told him and then he said he wasn't believing and that it wasn't worth the pain but that didn't stop us from talking with him. After he said that we just had a nice conversation with him and little by little you could see his heart open. Finally we were able to testify about how he could come to know God. By the end he still didn't want to fix a rendez-vous but he opened up enough that he said he would try and pray and ask God if he was there. And you know what? That still made me so happy because by small things great things come to pass.

Well..that's about it. This will be my week of lasts and then I will be home so I will try to soak in all that I can this coming week. Have a great week guys! Love you! See ya soon! :D

Elder Evan Peterson

September 21st, 2015

Dying Testimony

Hey everyone!  This week was pretty good and very busy.

First off, we have been teaching Pierre and Ghislane. We were only able to see them once this week because they have been sick. We are going to have to push their baptismal date to the 10th of October because we won't have enough time to teach them everything before the 26th of September and because Ghislaine still smokes.  But they are progressing and they totally believe in everything, so it should be fine.

We also have been teaching this Algerian family. They are super cool. They don't really speak English but they really believe in the restored gospel. In fact, this Sunday they came to church with their friends that they brought and they live 30 minutes away from the church! We had about 10 amis at church this week which was freaking amazing! :D

This week we also had zone conference all the way in Paris. It was a good one but super weird knowing that it was my last zone conference. I was able to give my dying testimony with the others in my group. I first shared how my dream was to go to L.A. on a mission, convert Kobe Bryant, then return from my mission and find a wife, then have Kobe be called as a temple sealer and seal me and my wife in the L.A. temple...haha. Then I shared during my testimony the most important thing I learned on my mission, which is, in order to find your life you have to lose it. It was pretty sad sharing it. Some tears were shared. The mission has truly helped me to find my life and it has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.

Later on in the zone conference, President Babin addressed us and when he got up there, the first thing that he said was, "Elder Peterson, I have a message for you that I received from somebody." I was super shocked and then he showed on his slideshow a picture of Kobe Bryant, reading the message which said, I am waiting for you Elder Peterson." Haha! I got a pretty good kick out of that one! :)

We also had something interesting happen to us. We had our car towed this Sunday...haha. But don't worry, the green machine is back safe and sound. We didn't realize that there was going to be a massive super market. We parked in our regular parking place but apparently they were going to use that parking, so we woke up on Sunday morning for church and to our surprise the car was gone. After church we got it back but it cost us 175 euros to get it. It was expensive but these things happen....haha.

Better go. Have a great week! Love ya! See ya soon! :)

Elder Evan Peterson

September 14, 2015

Exchanges for Days!

This week was so freaking busy....haha, but busy is good. We had a super fun time too!

So we had district meeting which happened to turn out really well. I gave a formation on sacrificing our time and will each day to God, so basically being consecrated. And then we went on exchanges with the Elders in Colmar. I was with Elder Karl, a guy in my group. It was cool going on exchanges with him because first of all, we are homies and second of all, we were in the same MTC district and here we are dying together in the same district! We had a ton of fun and saw some cool miracles. :)

While on our exchange, we took the car and went by this referral that we received. Well the dude wasn't interested so we started porting and the first door we knocked on let us in! It was this old lady that was super believing. We were able to talk to her about the plan of Salvation because her husband just barely died. She really like us but said she wasn't really interested and that she was too old for all that stuff but she made it clear that she prays everyday! And we made it clear that we will try passing by another time!

Later on that night we ate at a nice restaurant, just us four! :D

The next day we did another exchange with the second companionship of Elders in Strasbourg. We had a busy day up there and it was fun as well but I literally had the worst sleep I have had in my whole entire life! They live right by this church that would ring it's massive church bell every fifteen minutes and to top it all off they live right above a bar where drunk people would be screaming all night long. So I would sleep for five minutes and get woken up by all that stuff. Haha-ah France, you got to love it sometimes. But overall I had a good time.

Right after that we came home and taught all of our Amis. The two that are getting baptized on the 26th of September are still a go so that is good.

Later on during the week we had stake conference in Nancy and that took up all of our weekend. We had to sleep over at Nancy and there was 12 Elders in the apartment....haha. We all fit in and had a good "bros' night."

But that's about it. This next week we will be having zone conference in Paris on the 17th. It will be my last zone conference...where I will be giving my dying testimony with the others in my group. The time has come. :'(

Have a great week guys! Love ya!

Elder Evan Peterson

1.  Me in Strasbourg at night.
2. Us havin' a party at the restaurant. Left to right - Elder Schow (Elder Karl's Blue), Elder Cisneros (my comp), me, and Elder Karl.

September 7th, 2015

The Green Machine

The last week 1 that I will ever have has ended...pretty weird. But so far I am loving it! It is super tiny but really beautiful. It is surrounded by mountains (they are really hills but they like to call them mountains so I will go with it). And we have a super super bright green car! I like to call it the "Green Machine." Some call it the "little green apple," "the green hornet," "the green lantern," etc...haha. Everyone knows when the missionaries are in town because it is the only car that is so freaking green!

But anyways...We had a great week. We have been teaching our amis and visiting the members here. We actually have two Amis with a baptismal date for the 26th of September. They are an old French couple but they are super cool! Their names are Pierre and Ghislane. Ghislane has a smoking problem that she is trying to get rid of but the both of them truly believe that this is the restored church of Jesus Christ on the earth. So it is cool to see that!

We have been seeing the members too. There are about 15 to 20 members here. I really like branches though. I have been in branches pretty much my whole entire mission so I really enjoy it.

We have a Romanian family that we are teaching and this week we went to go teach them. They don't really speak any French but their oldest son translates for us. We had a really cool moment with them while we were teaching. They told us that a lot of people told them that they shouldn't be meeting with us because the Mormon religion is a sect and all that normal stuff people say when they don't really actually know who we truly are. Anyways....We were able to clear that stuff up and then the father asked me a question. He said, "Do you truly believe in God for yourself or do you believe because others told you to?" I then was able to give my whole testimony about how I came to know God and by the end the father smiled and said a loud "Amen!" Haha.  We invited them to truly study the Book of Mormon and pray about it and they said yes so we will see what happens! :)

That is pretty much what happened this week. I will keep you updated what happens here for the little time I have left on my mission. It is going to be an adventure though! :)

Love ya guys!

Elder Evan Peterson

1. The "Green Machine" and yours truly.
2. St.Dié at its finest.
3. My comp, Elder Cisneros and I. He is from Mexico! Jaja

August 31, 2015


St. Dié to Die

Well...Transfer news is here and the unexpected has happened. I am leaving Angers for my last transfer! I will be going to St. Dié, the smallest city in the mission, as District Leader! So I will be going to St. Dié to die!  Haha! I never knew that I would be doing a one an done in my mission but here we are! I am pretty sad to leave Angers though. I was so sure that I was going to stay here for the rest of my mission. But I am pretty excited to go to St. Dié!  It is going to be a new adventure right before I leave the mission field.

But let me tell you about these past couple of weeks. We had a really great couple of weeks! Sadly we weren't able to really see our Amis but we were able to find some new ones. We were able to see our Chinese ami, Li! He is doing super well! We actually were able to fix a baptismal date with him for the 27th of September. It was a really cool rdv. We just asked him how he felt about baptism and he said that he could be baptized in a month. So he pretty much just fixed it all by himself...haha. :)

We found a really cool black family that we will be seeing this week and we found this super cool black dude named Alberto. He contacted us on the tram a couple of days ago and we told him who we were. By the end of our conversation, we got his phone number and he told us that he would come to our church in a couple of weeks. Then he actually showed up this Sunday! He really loved church and by the end of it he wanted to pay tithing....haha. Pretty bizarre but cool. So he payed tithing and we will be seeing him this week. We had some pretty cool miracles happen these past weeks. :)

Other than that I just said goodbye to everyone. I bore my testimony during church and I was on the verge of tears but, luckily, I pulled through without shedding a single one. We were able to see the Traore family on Sunday night and by the end of our visit when I told Muhammed (their 10yr old boy) that I was going to leave he just started bawling. It was really sad to know that I won't see them anymore but it was nice to know that the gospel has touched their lives. I am really going to miss this place. I have seen God's hand in the work everyday while being here. He truly does love the people of France. Evan though I didn't see a baptism here I saw so many miracles here and I will be forever grateful for hem and how they changed me. Sharing the Gospel truly has changed me and I am sad that my time is almost up but I am looking forward to spending the rest of my time in St. Dié. :)

Have a great week guys! Love ya!
Elder Peterson

Me and the Traore family

Me and Samuel Regnier, a young adult from the ward that is going to be a missionary in Orem.

August 17, 2015

BE TRUE. BE YOU.

Well...this week has been super weird. I am not sure how but it just flew by so freaking fast. But it was a pretty good week with some ups and downs. I have been out for so long I think I have gotten used to it by now. But let's start off with what happened this week...

We had a Family Home Evening with the Cheve family and the Traore family! It was super fun and super cool. We talked about eternal families and how that is their goal after their baptism. After the spiritual thought and the food the Cheve family gave us a little musical presentation and then everybody started singing. It was a really spiritual moment. :)

Sadly, later on this week we found out some bad news about the Traore family. We found out that they won't be able to get baptized on the 22nd of August because, apparently, their Muslim family found out that they were going to get baptized and they weren't so happy with that. So the Traore's are in a little bit of a predicament and, and so far, the baptismal date is dropped. We told them that sometimes we just need to do what God wants us to do no matter our circumstances and the consequences. They said they will pray and ask God what they should do.

Honestly, I am not too surprised about the whole experience. I kind of figured that something like this would happen and it is just up to them to overcome this trial and do what is best in God's eyes. We will still be teaching them though so that is still good. :)

This week we have been all over the place. We went on exchanges on Thursday in Paris with the Assistants, then we ate Chipotle (which was so dang good) in Paris, then we woke up at 4 am the next day to catch our train to go to Rennes for our Zone Conference, then interviews with President Babin. They interviews went over so we missed our train to go back so then we had to sleep over at Nantes...haha. We finally got back home Saturday morning.

The Zone Conference was really good. The main theme was about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it is so important to explain that to our amis. Then at the end of the Zone Conference, Elder Madsen and I were able to give a training about how we should be ourselves and use the divine talents that God has given us to help others around us come unto Christ. The title of the training was "BE TRUE. BE YOU." That's why I used that as the title for the blog this week. It went really well. Sometimes as missionaries, we have a hard time on being ourselves and we often judge ourselves or others too harshly. So we talked a lot about that and how it is important to become what God wants you to become. It went really well. :) At first we did a little talent show which was super fun and then we finished it off strong with the spirit. :)

Well...That is about it for now!  I hope you have a great week! May God bless you!

Love ya! Bisous!

Elder Evan Peterson

Here are some pics:

1. Muhammad is jamming out on the guitar
2. A panoramic view of "La Defense" in Paris where we ate Chipotle. 

August 10, 2015

"Don't touch the Butt" (Boat)

Hey guys!

Well...this week we went to La Rochelle on exchanges and there were a ton of boats. So I thought a lot about "Finding Nemo" while I was over there. 

We worked a lot with the Elders down there and it was really good. Hard work really does pay off.  There is a ton of tourists down in La Rochelle. It was pretty crazy because the city is relatively small!

This week was pretty good though. Sadly almost all of our amis were out of town. The Traore Family wasn't able to get baptized because the mom's mom got sick and went to the hospital so she made plans to go fly to Mali to see her. But it turns out that she wasn't able to go visit her because she didn't have enough money to fly down there. We were able to see them again and fix another baptismal date for the 22nd of August. They are doing really well though and they came to church! :)

Guess what? I got my itinerary for my flight home this week. That was a surprise, a really weird surprise.  Usually people don't get those until 3 weeks before they get home but I guess they decided to give it to me now...haha. I was kind of mad about it this week, but everything is fine now. That just means I need to work harder.

We were able to find two cool people this week. One of them was this young 17 yr old kid...Brandon, and an African guy...Joan. We met Brandon on exchanges and he said he really wants to know if God was there and so we gave him a tour of our church. He really liked it and he said he was super grateful to come to the church. The other dude we found was super legit. He is super believing and knows the Bible really well but was not agreeing with us. The cool thing about this guy was that he knew that God could answer him if he studied and asked if God really did restore his church. So we are going to teach him this week and he said he will try the experience. ;)

Other than that we have just been preparing for our Zone Conference that we will be having on the 14th! It should be fun! :) Love ya all! Have a great week!

Elder Evan Peterson

Me with the boats:

Elder Madsen and I with the Cheve family eating some pizza!

July 27, 2015

A Christlike Transfer

Hey guys! Well...this week I received a new comp, went up to Paris, and I got sick. It was fun, tiring but fun!

My comp is Elder Madsen! He is a cool dude and we are getting along really well. So during transfers, we went up to Paris and then we came back and that is when the sickness started to attack me. Then the next day we had mission council and I was so out of it. I was coughing and sneezing. It wasn't a pleasant experience but the mission council was good. They talked a lot about being diligent and being converted to the gospel and how those are the only ways that we can convert others. So this transfer we all are going to work on helping our missionaries to become converted and then helping others. It reminds me of the quote..."You can't convert someone above your own conversion."  Something like that...haha.

We made some plans for the Zone this week as well. We are planning to make this transfer a "Christlike" transfer, where the Spirit will be there so strongly everyday! We are planning on doing a service activity with all of the zone too so we are going to plan that more out as the week goes on.

Other than that we have just been teaching the Traores and all of the other old companionship's amis. Two of them are super cool. There is Li, who is Chinese, and Esperant, who is from the Ivory Coast. They are super cool and super legit! They both want to get baptized too! So we will see what happens!!! :D

Oh yeah! This week was Elder Madsen's Bday so we went out to eat some Asian food! I will send you some pics later! :D

Well...I am super tired and we still have a lot of stuff to do today but that is about it!!!

:D Talk to ya next week! Love ya!!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

July 20, 2015

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?....

Hey guys!!!

Well...transfers just happened...and I found myself to be the only Elder that is staying in Angers. The other 3 are leaving. Elder Bailey is going to Paris to finish his mission in only 3 weeks. The other elder companionship in Angers had to be closed down because we don't have enough missionaries. So it was pretty sad finding that out.

This week was pretty good though! We prepared a lot for the Fireside. It turned out to be really good!!! :) Super scary at first though...haha. We invited all of our amis and at least 15 of them said that they were coming but only 2 of them showed up. With the other companionships' amis we had a total of 5 amis at the Fireside. Then President and Soeur Babin showed up and some members came too. It wasn't at all as I had expected and at first I was a little discouraged but it became such a great Fireside. At first Elder Bailey and I shared a short message explaining the Restoration and then President and Soeur Babin started to answer questions. The spirit was so strong in there and people asked really good questions. By the end of it, I came out with a knowledge that: 1) Agency can sometimes be annoying and 2) God always does his work in his ways and that it always works out.  Even if there was just one person that showed up it still would have been great.

Other than that this week has really been us helping the Traore family (the Muslim family) for their baptism. It is really a miracle every time we go over there because they just get so excited about the Gospel and what it brings in their lives. We teach simple and that has reminded us how great and simple the Gospel is. This past week we taught them the Restoration and we watched the Restoration video and they loved it!   We asked their son Mohammed what he felt and he said, "I felt a lot." The whole family loves it. It is a great testimony builder. :)

Well...sorry this week is so short. We have to go. Love ya guys!!! See you next week!!! :D

Love,
Elder Evan Peterson

July 13, 2015

Three Secrets to Missionary Work...Members, Members and Members.

Hello everybody! It has been a long time. I am sorry I haven't given you any updates on the last couple of weeks. We have just been super busy on Pdays recently.

Today marks my 3 month mark until I go home and I just got my departure papers from the mission office. That really freaked me out, but I still have time! It is pretty weird finding out that my friends are coming back home from their missions and that others are getting married...haha.

Anyways..here's what happened these past couple of weeks!!!

So...first huge news. These past couple of weeks, us (the missionaries in Angers) and the ward, have been coming up with a missionary fireside. It is this Friday and President Babin, our mission president, is going to come down and address the members and all of their friends and our amis as well. It is going to be a question and response fireside where all of our amis and the friends of the members can ask questions about the church, missionaries, our doctrine, etc. It is going to be soo cool and we have been visiting a ton of members for it too! So far there has been a lot of members that have invited friends so I think it is going to be amazing! :D That is why I put the tile as "Three Secrets to Missionary Work...Members, Member, and Members."  It is soooo true. :) I am so excited for it!!!

I have to tell you about this super cool family we met too! So a couple of weeks ago Elder Bailey and I were waiting for a rendezvous outside of the Church, when out of the blue this African family shows up and says to us, "Hey are you guys pastors?" We told them no and they started to leave but then we quickly said, "But we are missionaries though." The family then asked us if we could go to their house and cast out some bad spirits and we said that we are here to share a message about Jesus Christ and that our message will help them with all of that. Funny thing too is that they were going to pay us to come over and pray with them....hahaha. Don't worry, we didn't take their money. Later on that week we visited them and it turns out that they are Muslims but they are so ready and willing to accept the Gospel. We have been teaching the whole family for the past couple of weeks: the mom, dad, and their 10 yr old son. They have accepted the Gospel and Jesus Christ so willingly and they have been seeing the blessings that come from it. So this past week we invited them to be baptized and they all said YES!!! SO COOL!!! We were so happy. That just goes to show you that anybody can be ready and that God prepares all of His children, whether they be of a different color or in a different religion. There is always someone ready for the Gospel. 

Well...that is pretty much the super big news! I am loving this place!!! :D God is really hastening his work and I am so grateful to be a part of it. I am really going to miss it when I leave, but I still have time to continue and work hard. :)

Hope you all have a great week!!! Love ya!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

Here's some pics:

1. Us eating some "Paul." Good pastry shop.
2. My cheesy face while eating Paul.  Haha..don't worry, that is hot chocolate not coffee.
3. Cool bush sculpture bird thingy.
4. Me at the Castle in Angers.

June 22, 2015

I GUESS IT FINALLY HAPPENED...AND GOLDEN STATE WON!!!

Well we finally got the ipads this past week! WHAO....haha!!! It has been really fun and it really changes up missionary work. At first Elder Bailey and I just felt so guilty for using something besides a computer everyday of the week, so that took some time to get used to.

We actually went to mission council and they gave them to us. And by "us" I mean only the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders!  I guess that is just one of the blessing of being a Zone Leader. :) All the other missionaries are going to get them soon though. We are just going to be the guinea pigs for the mission for now.

Here's how the past couple of weeks went...

We have been going through a finding cycle. Some of our amis dropped us or they just haven't been able to meet with us. We have been finding a lot of cool people though! We still have our regular amis, Jean-Yves and Isidore. They are still hanging in there.

We found this super cool buy named Phillip! We were with a member one night, coming back from a lesson when we decided that we were going to go porting near his house. He dropped us off near his house and we prayed and started to knock on doors. Then a couple of doors down we came across Phillip. He is a cool middle-aged French guy. When we knocked he said that he was really trying to find out who God was and if he was really believing in God so he let us in and we taught the Restoration. He loved it and he is willing to give it a try to find out if God really did restore His church on the earth. That was super cool.

Here is another awesome thing that happened this week. A couple of weeks ago a member, who is in this walking club in Angers, was walking with his walking club mates. One of the people asked him stuff about the church because she knew he was a member and he shared somethings about the church before. He was able to share some stuff but after that he wasn't able to invite her to meet the missionaries because they didn't have time. Then one day we decided to pray to know where to go porting and we felt that we should go around this walking club member's neighborhood. We did and we found the lady that asked him questions about the church! We were able to fix a rendez-vous with her. On top of that her husband wanted to know more as well! That goes to show you that sharing the gospel really does help and that even though you don't get the chance to have people meet the missionaries and come to church, God will always make sure there is a chance for those people you shared the gospel with.

Other than that we went on exchanges down in St. Nazaire and that pretty fun! :) And I have just been super excited that the Warriors won against the Cavaliers! If Kobe isn't going to win this year then LeBron isn't going to win either. haha

Anyways....

I hope you guys had a great week! Have a great one!

Love ya!
Elder Evan Peterson
.
Here are some pics of me and old comp who is now serving in Angers and the other of me by the beach in my exchange in St. Nazaire!

June 8, 2015

TRANSFER 14!  AM I GETTING OLD??

Well another transfer has finished. It is literally flying by so freaking quickly. So now I am in Transfer 14. Oh well...I still have time....Time to go even harder. :D

This is going to be my 3rd transfer with Elder Bailey so this should be a blast! We are going to see a lot of cool things this transfer! :) Here's how our week was...

So on Monday we saw a cool miracle. While Elder Bailey and I were porting down this road we ended up knocking on this family's house. The father answered the door and he said they were eating and weren't interested so we continued on our way and we knocked on some more doors. Then 10 minutes later out of the blue, the father came walking down the street and whistled to us, so we walked over to him.  He said that he wanted us to come into his house and teach his children about our conviction and why we were out here doing what we are doing. We definitely didn't refuse such an offer and so we went into his house and we pretty much taught the whole family about our message. It was such a cool miracle! Sadly at the end the dad wasn't interested but we were able to give a Book of Mormon to his wife so hopefully one day they will want to see us again. :D

Overall this week has been a little strange because we haven't been able to see a lot of our amis such as Isidore and Cesaire. Jean-Yves is doing really well. He is a funny guy. We have been teaching Christianne and Jean-Bernard as well. Jean-Bernard has heard a lot of the false images of the church here and he doesn't want to meet with us anymore but Christianne is really cool! They really like their Evangelical church, but Christianne is praying and reading the Book of Mormon and waiting for a response.  She has been telling us about some dreams that she has had and they totally go with the Plan of Salvation. She was like, "I had a dream that before this life I was somewhere else and everybody was there and it was so peaceful." Then we were like, "Just wait and see until we teach you the Plan of Salvation!"  So we taught her it and she really believes that we lived with God. We are going to see some cool things with them! :)

This week I went on an exchange with Elder Young in the Zone. I went to Nantes and worked with him. We had a dang good time. During our exchange we had like 2 members, one lady that just moved to France from Brazil and a less active from the USA that moved to France 10 yrs ago that wanted to come back to church. That was pretty cool. It was so random too! They just saw us and started talking to us.

While I was there we went to a less-active member that is suffering from a sickness and we gave her a blessing with the Soeur missionaries. The lady said the blessing worked and she felt a lot better than before, both physically and spiritually. I love blessings. They bring in the spirit so much! :)

Later on that day there was like this massive bike parade so everybody was riding around on their bikes and Elder Young and I got stuck in the middle of it and we literally couldn't cross the street for like 10 minutes because there were that many bikes. And all of this was going on with super loud music blasting in our ears.  

All in all it was a great exchange.

Until next week, love you all!!

Elder Evan Peterson

June 1, 2015

SO BUSY....SO TIRED....SO STUFFED...

This week has been super super busy with rdvs, lessons, and eating at members houses, as you can tell from the title! Here's what went down this week...

Pretty much all of our amis are doing really well. Isidore is doing good but we just have to teach him slowly so that he understands. Jean-Yves is doing really well too. He is coming to church every week now. We are just waiting until he gets an answer about the Book of Mormon. We were able to fix another date for Cesaire for July 5th. Hopefully that can hold through. We have this other ami named Daniel. He is a boyfriend of a member here and he has been coming to church for the past month, so we have been teaching him. This week we all went to a member's house and had Family Home Evening with the members, Daniel and his girlfriend. It was pretty legit. :)

This whole week has been full of miracles. On Pday a young member, Charles, invited his friend to play basketball with the missionaries and other members. It was super fun and at the end we were able to teach the member's friend about the Book of Mormon. The kid really liked playing basketball with us and he really liked the Book of Mormon. Charles is going to invite his friend to take the missionary lessons soon so hopefully that goes well! :)

Lots of cool things have been going down here. A lot of amis are coming to church now. All of the companionships in Angers have been working together and finding people. I will share with you some cool experiences about the work that has been going on...So one day Elder Bailey and I contacted this lady on the street and she was so legit. At first she seemed weird because she said she was a medium but we were able to fix a rdv with her and pass her over to the sisters. And now this lady has been coming to church and has a baptismal date. Apparently she has been living like all of the commandments her whole life so she is pretty golden. The other Elders in Angers were able to find this cool family that lives in our sector and we have been teaching them a lot recently. We teach the mom, Christianne and her boyfriend, Jean Bernard. They are Evangelical but they are wanting to find out if God has restored his church on the earth. We've been seeing a lot of cool miracles lately. I wish I could tell you all of them but there's not enough time.

We have been eating a lot at members' houses. We went to two members houses this past Sunday and the first member fed us 2 appetizers, 2 main meals, and 2 desserts....haha. We were so stuffed when we got to the other member's house. Also Thomas, a member/returned missionary took us out to eat at a Chinese buffet because it was Elder Hogenson's bday. It is going to be hard to keep myself in shape...

Well that is pretty much about it. Hope you all had a good week! Love ya!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

May 18, 2015

LES MISERABLES AND SOME TENDER MERCIES

This week has been one of those funny weeks. First of all...Elder Bailey and I are a little bit sad because 1. I can't fit in our shower and I am tired of it and 2. My comp trusted me to cut his hair and I did and it went really bad...haha. Pictures shall be below for those who want to see.

But in all reality we aren't sad. We are actually really grateful because this week was really really full of tender mercies. :)

First off this week...I had an exchange with Elder Hurd in the apartment. He is the DL here. It went really well. We saw a lot of cool stuff. There was this one Canadian guy that we contacted and he was super cool. At first he didn't want to listen to us but then Elder Hurd and I just testified and shared some specific personal experiences with him on how we found God in our lives. It really touched him because after that he completely changed and said, "I think you caught me on a good day. I think for right now I am looking for God." So we were able to set up a rendez-vous with him for later on during the week. During the whole exchange we saw some dang cool stuff though through praying a lot while finding. I learned a lot. :)

During the week we have been still teaching our amis like Jean-Yves, Isidore, this cool guy named John that we found a couple of weeks ago, and this amazing family that we found a couple of weeks ago as well, and Cesaire of course. I will give you some cool stories though sadly not all because I don't have time.

Well lets start off with Jean-Yves.  It was really interesting because the first part of the rendez-vous he tried to drop us hard core because he is going to start an internship next week and he wouldn't have time (it seems like he tries to do that each rendez-vous). During a lesson we brought a member with us who was really Catholic before. After Jean-Yves said that we are losing our time with him, the member just testified about his conversion story and the spirit came in so hard and fast that nobody could not feel it. That was one of the tender mercies, to have that member with us. Jean-Yves has made a lot or progression so far and he has changed so much and we pretty much told him that if things are going in the right direction for him, why stop now? I think he understood by the end of the lesson because he agreed to keep meeting with us even if he was going to be busy. He ended up coming to church! :)

We have been teaching Isidore and that is going well. Nothing to hard there. He still has family problems but he still wants to get baptized. :) Cesaire is being a little bit frustrating because he has been hard to see. We are still trying with him, but sadly we will have to push his date though.

We taught this super super cool family this week. We actually found them last transfer while porting. This week we were able to see them and teach them. The coolest thing is that this family is friends with one of the members here and the members couldn't believe that this family accepted to hear us! The family is super Catholic though but they totally felt the spirit after we explained the Restoration. That just goes to show you that we don't know who is ready to accept the Gospel. 

That is pretty much about it. :) Well...sorry I didn't write too much but I have to go! Love you so much! Have a great week!


Elder Evan Peterson

P.S. Enjoy these lovely pics of us...

May 11, 2015

They finally decided to pick up after their animals...I can't tell you how many stinky dirty shoes would have been saved if they would have only done this earlier. We are really bitter over this kind of stuff...ugh...Anyways...haha

This week was really good! A lot of crazy stuff has gone down but a lot of cool things have gone down too! :)

So we have been teaching Isidore a lot this week and he is doing well. We were actually able to set a baptismal date with him for the 31st of May! :)  He seems super excited for it and is willing to do anything to get baptized. But...we have a problem. He has a lot of family problems, so that might stop him from getting baptized but we are going to try to help him with that.

Let's see...other than that we have been teaching Jean-Yves and he is still freaking tough but we have become good friends with him. He is changing bit by bit. Here a little, there a little. :) He is going to do an internship soon which will take up a lot of his time but hopefully he will receive an answer to his prayers.

Cesaire is still a young teenager. It is hard to get a hold of him but when we saw him he said he is still on track for baptism so we will see how that one goes.

On Friday night our mission President called us and asked us to go to the Priesthood meeting for our Stake Conference this week because he was going to talk about doing coordination meetings to help us and the members work better together. So on Saturday morning we got a ride with some members and then we had a nice road trip. 

On Sunday, we were able to talk to our families!!! It was soo good but it kind of gave me like a mid-life crisis because I can't believe that was the last time I would skype my family. But this is the time to really go hard and strong in the paint. We skyped our families over at our old mission president's home, the Poznanski's.

They are such good people. :) It is weird that they are in my ward now. And the best part of it is is that we ate hamburgers and I drank a Dr. Pepper...:)

Well that is pretty much about it. Have a great week guys! I love you so much! 

Elder Peterson

I'm on a bridge :

May 4, 2015

I'VE DREAMED A DREAM....

Well....this week has been so so so busy. First of all...I dreamed a dream about getting ipads but it didn't happen. We went to Paris for our big ipad training thing with the whole mission but apparently something went wrong while ordering the ipads. So that was a bummer but it is probably good. I was getting way to excited for them...haha. It was okay though. :)

Then on the next day we went to BOURGES for Pday, which is why I didn't write last week. I had to go down there to get my "titre de sejour" which is like a green card but in France. It seemed like I dreamed a dream again because when I went there they didn't have it...haha. They are still in the process of getting it and it has been almost 8 months since I applied for it. So I am still illegal in the country!!! Hopefully I won't get deported...haha.

Then on Friday we went down to Paris for Mission Council. It was really good. President is a funny guy and a very spiritual guy too. Elder Bailey and I made some Zone goals for the Angers Zone and we are excited to see what happens this transfer. 

The three days took up a lot of our week but it was still a dang good week! :) Four amis came to church this week!

Cesaire is doing so well. We finished the Plan of Salvation with him and he is really excited for his baptismal date. Sadly he didn't come to church though. He said he was sick this week so that might by why. Jean-Yves is doing well too. He came to church as well! He is a tough cookie but we are seeing him change little by little which is soo good. So pretty much all of them are doing really well. We just need them to accept a baptismal date. next week we are going to work on that a lot.

We are teaching this guy named Isidore. He is from Central Africa and he is a cool guy. He hasn't been baptized yet and he totally believes that the church is true. He said he wouldn't accept a date yet until he as assisted Church and he came! (Evan's getting his French and English words mixed....haha - Assiste means attended in English). During the church he said he will come every single week!! :) So this week we will see him and totally give him a date. :)

Logis came to church too! He is a crazy smiling guy..haha. It was so cool to see all of them there because we could tell that they all felt something during church! Things are moving up for the Angers ward. We are seeing a lot cool stuff. :)

It seems like when I go throughout the weeks of each transfer I just get more tired but I feel so much better after a hard days work! Being tired makes me forget a lot of the things I was going to tell you guys but I can't remember so I will try next week to write more....and with pics. 

Have a good week guys! Love ya!!! 

Elder Evan Peterson

April 20, 2015

YE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, COME JOIN NOW WITH ME

Well...this week was super super good!!!  Probably another one of those weeks that have been just the best! Let me tell you what went down...

This week we taught a total of 39 lessons. Pretty crazy, but super cool! Pretty much everyone wanted to speak to us and we taught them and then they didn't have time during the week to meet with us again so they just gave us their phone numbers. The only bad thing that happened this week was that people couldn't set up another rendez-vous with us and we got so many phone numbers that we can't count them all. This week kind of just blew me away. We are just really blessed and I am really grateful for it. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve it but I can't complain. Anyways...

First off, on Monday were on exchanges and I was with an Elder Allen who lives in our apartment. We taught this guy named Logis. He is from Madagascar and let me just tell you that he is an interesting dude...haha. During the rendez-vous we tried to teach him about the Restoration which we did, but the problem is that he just didn't listen to us. He just explained the whole time that when he prayed he would see a full moon with the face of Jesus on it and how he would speak with Jesus. So pretty weird. And by the way...did I tell you he is a masseuse? By the end of the lesson we prayed and then after the prayer he looked at Elder Allen and said, "You are stressed" then he pointed his finger at him, got up and then started to give him a massage...haha. We were all so shocked and I barely could hold myself from laughing. The best part of it is that I took pictures with our phone! Hopefully next time he will pay attention.

Later on this week I went on an exchange with a guy from my group. Hid name is Elder Lloyd. It was fun and we saw a lot of cool miracles. Everyone was on an exchange that day.

Elder Bailey and I did two Family Home Evenings with our amis. One with Lin and another one with Alexis. They went super well. They both seemed to love the idea of FHE.

Cesaire is doing well. He was finally able to come to church and he really liked it. His basketball season is ending soon so we are going to be seeing him a lot more to help him get ready for his baptism. :)

Other than that, we're just teaching, finding, and having a good time. Well we're off right now to do a FHE with a member and Cesaire.  And....we're going to be playing some bball. OH YEAH!!!

Have a great time! Love you all!!! :)

Elder Evan Peterson

April 13, 2015

LET THE 6 MONTHS TO SEXY BEGIN!!!


Well...today is the day that marks my 6 months to sexy mark which means no more Kebabs and no more pastries. I probably won't be able to give those up so I will just have to work out harder. :)

Here's my week...

It has been a crazy week. Fist off, we had exchanges with the Assistants on Tuesday in Paris. It was a really short but cool exchange. We both had fun and I learned a lot. Then the next morning we had to wake up at 4:30 in the morning so we could catch our train to go to Rennes for our multi-zone conference.

Zone conference was really good. Elder Bailey and I did a training about how we can change our motivation on doing missionary work to the love we have for Christ. It went really well and it seemed to touch the missionaries' hearts. We made sure to include Bible Videos because those are literally the best things ever. 

After that we were able to teach Cesaire and Jean-Yves this week. Cesaire is doing well. He just needs to stop playing bball on Sundays but his basketball season is ending in the next couple of weeks so we refixed his baptismal date for the 24th of May. He will definitely get baptized then. Jean-Yves has been kind of a tough guy though. During our rendez-vous he said he didn't want to continue because he just prefers his Roman Catholic traditions. We then asked him if he sincerely read the Book of Mormon and asked God if it was true. He said he didn't and then after that we really just testified about how that is the only way he is going to find out. By the end of it, it was cool to see his point of view because he told us that he needs to look at how he prays differently. Sadly he isn't free this week but we will see him next week.

Other than that we were able to teach Lin (The guy that we found a couple of weeks ago.) He is a super cool guy. He doesn't really know God but he really wants to get to know him so it should be fun! He even came to church this week. :) The only problem  we have is the language barrier because he is from China and he doesn't always understand French, but we manage to get by.

Speaking about language barriers...we have another ami who is from Iraq. His name is Arad and he hardly speaks French or English...haha, but the coolest thing happened to him this week. Apparently he was found by some missionaries awhile back and they gave him a Book of Mormon. Elder Bailey and I have been having a hard time trying to reach him because he has a lot of appointments for his papers and health stuff (He had a really hard life in Iraq). We were finally able to teach him. During the rendez-vous he told us that he and his wife have been reading the Book of Mormon and that it has brought them a lot of peace and that they want to join the church! Just imagine all of this going on while both of us are speaking in "caveman"language to each other....haha. The most spiritual yet funny lesson that I have had on my mission. :)

And yet while everything is going really well, Satan has to attack me and make me sick. The past couple of days I have been really sick but I am getting better. Elder Bailey and I are going to go hard this week that's for sure. #TEAMJESUS

Have a great week guys! Love ya!!! :)

Elder Evan Peterson