May 12, 2014

Hello EVERYONE!!!  So this week has been so great! I had a great time skyping my Mom and Dad.  It made me a little homesick, but this week has been full of miracles! :) 

First, below is a picture of my two amis in Chartres: Gwen and Maria. They were baptized last week. It made me so happy!

So starting off, we found 2 new amis!!! One was on an exchange and it was pouring rain, but we continued and were blessed for it. The other ami is a long story. This past week was Fast Sunday and Elder Smith and I have fasted and prayed our butts off so that we could find someone.  The next day the ami, that we will eventually contact, watched a LDS commercial. He called the United States and sent in his info. Then on Thursday we got his referral from Church Headquarters and we set up our first rendezvous with him. He is 19 years old! his name is Aly. He said he wants to become a member and that he knew that this was the right path for him. We gave him a Book of Mormon and explained all about it. Then we invited him to be baptized....and he accepted! :) It was sooo cool. Such a great moment. The Spirit was there so strong.


This week has been one of my favorite weeks. It is amazing how prayer and fasting work. Our Heavenly Father always hears our prayers. We just need to have patience and hope that they will be answered because they always will. I hope you guys had a great week like I had! I love you all!!!

See you next week! :)

Elder Peterson

Here's a picture of us making crepes. C'est la classe! NUTELLA BABY!!!

Notes from Mom:

It was so wonderful to see Evan and hear him speak French which he is so amazing at!
His apartment is very large. It consists of a living room, kitchen, a bedroom, 2 study rooms, and a bathroom.
Evan skyped from the Branch President's home.
They work with the inactive members by teaching them lessons.
His favorite place to eat is KBobs which they go to once a week.
Evan's Mission President, President Poznanski is being released this June.
Hair cuts are around 20 euros.
Suits cleaned 15 euros.
He and the other 3 elders cover 140,000 people in the city of Amiens.  They have one branch with only 50 people.
Foods they can't get there are Cream of Chicken soup.
One of his comps loves to cook and makes them everything from Mexican to African to Thai Curry.
France's Mother's Day is next week.
Favorite foods there are Couscous and Raclette which is a type of cheese that gets melted and poured over other foods like potatoes and ham.

May 6, 2014

Hello everyone!!! So this week has been really great! I can't believe I have been out for 6 months.

We had zone conference and our district had our interviews with President Poznanski. That was my last interview with him before he and his wife leave and the new President comes in. He said he is proud of me and I was king of shocked because sometimes I am just a little too hard on myself so that really uplifted me.

The most exciting news happened!!! Two of the investigators that I taught for a long time in Chartres finally got baptized,...Gwen and Maria!!! I am so happy they were baptized...so happy! I remember when we were first teaching them.  They have progressed so far. Elder Eldredge should be sending me pics of them soon.

Other than that exciting news, Elder Smith and I have been still trying to find people. We have seen some great potentials but it is hard for us to get a hold of them but I know that we will find people soon!

I got a package from the Raubenheimers! That really made my week. Especially the candy...haha. I loved it. Thanks...I miss you guys!

Have a great week!!! I love you! Until next week! :)

Elder Peterson

Pics:  Me with a new haircut...

April 28, 2014

Hello everyone! This week has been really good! We have been working really hard and have been finding some potentials. So that is a huge blessing!

This week we went into Paris for a District meeting. Afterwards we had a lot of time before our train arrived so we decided to go to Sacre Coeur (Holy Heart). It is a Cathedral that supposedly has the heart of Peter or Paul, one of those dudes. So anyways, we walk up the huge staircase to get to this place and then we saw a line of some black dudes. They stared at us and we kept on walking. When we got closer they grabbed our hands and put this string on our hands. They kept on saying, "Hakuna Matata" and "Don't worry, be happy." Then they started making a bracelet.  I was talking to the guy who was making mine and we had a good conversation but I knew they were there to take our money. After they were done they kept harrassing us for money. I ended up paying 4 euros for mine. Another missionary spent 10 euros. haha. So the moral of the story is...when someone says "Hakuna Matata," don't trust them. haha

Other than that Elder Smith and I have been working hard and having a fun time while doing it. When people reject you it is better to just have fun and laugh it off. We were actually able to talk with a lot of people and we have been able to teach lessons on the street. This place is amazing!!! :)

Love you guys!!! Have a great week!

Elder Evan Peterson

Mom's notes:  The Branch President's name is Elder Allanic.  He is a senior missionary. They are running out of people to be Branch President.

Pics. First is me at the Amiens' Cathedral. The second is Me, Elder Smith and Elder Barr (one of the other missionaries in our apartment). We are at Sacre Coeur.

Another pic: This is the Amiens Cathedral.  Supposedly the head of John the Baptist is here.

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