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
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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!