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!

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!