February 16, 2015

XOXO LITTLE KISS, BIG HUG, LITTLE KISS. 

Well Happy Valentine's Day! I am sure glad people love me! So thanks Mom for the "everything" and Dad for the Selfie Pole...haha!  Now I can take even more beautiful selfies!

Wow...this week...was soooo cool. We have definitely been feeling the love.  And by love I mean the love from our Heavenly Father. He has blessed us a lot this week.

So first things first. We taught Octave this week. He is super cool. We explained the whole Restoration and he said it all makes sense. We gave him a soft baptismal invitation and he said yes as well!!!  I am expecting a lot of good things from him! :)

Second of all....we had two "pass-back" miracles that happened this week!!! Let me tell you about them...

So last week we were doing porting and we found a guy named Thomas and he told us to pass by the next week. Later on that week we found another dude named Jean-Paul and he told us the same thing. So...we first saw Thomas and he actually answered and let us in...haha, rare sight indeed!  But anyways...we had a nice rendez-vous with him. We explained the restoration and the Book of Mormon. He has  had a rough life full of cancer and a bad divorce but we were able to testify to him about God's love. He seemed really interested and he is going to give the Book of Mormon a try!

Then we passed by Jean-Paul. He was there as well and let us in (two for two)!  This is the real miracle....the first thing he talks about when we get in is baptism and how HE WANTS TO GET BAPTIZED!!! We were so surprised that he asked that because that is the first time that has happened to us on our missions! After our amazement we fixed him a date for March 14th, the same date as Michael! Jean-Paul later said that he was being taught by the missionaries 20 yrs ago and he had a baptismal date but then he moved and then lost contact with the church. So yeah...it was really a blessing to find this guy in a city full of people!

Other than that Michael is still kicking butt. He is ready and we have almost taught everything to him. The members are loving him! :) Hopefully these miracles keep coming!

I have been studying about the miracle of change through the Atonement. I can't tell you how much France, the people, the missionaries, and especially God, has changed me. While I am in the moment I don't realize it, but when I look back on how much I have lived through, I saw how my Father in Heaven has changed me. The following scripture has always touched me throughout my mission:

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall fine it." Matthew 16:25

When we give our lives in to the hands of the Lord and when we do everything we can to help others change, we will find that God is changing us far more than what we could do if we try to change ourselves.

Have a good week guys!!! Share the love! Love ya!!!! :))

Elder Evan Peterson

February 9, 2015

BONJOUR!

This week we ate out a lot. I have no idea why but I didn't gain weight. Hey, my prayers are coming true....haha. We went to an Asian Buffet with one of the member's sons here in Bourges. We had a good time and it was dang good! After every transfer it is a tradition to eat at this place so we are keeping the tradition going! We ate two Kebabs, which is pretty much just like a hamburger but with mysterious meat that nobody knows what it is. Then we went to get some Indian food which was dang good too...haha. I think we ate out a lot because we have been getting tired of eating just pasta and quiches.

We were able to find a super cool guy though. His name is Octave and he is a young Frenchman. He said that he has only been believing in God for about 3 years now and he told us how he found God. He went to South America and saw how much the people believed in God down there and that helped him to believe in God too. We had a super cool lesson with him. We were able to share with him the Book of Mormon. He really liked it and he said he would read it. We are going to see him this week.

We have been really focusing on Michael and we fixed another date with him for the 14th of March. I am sure this time will work. He said to us that he felt something during the Sacrement last week so we were able to explain that it was the Holy Ghost. He seems to be committed now. Sadly he is sick and he wasn't able to come this week to church, but he has been keeping all of his engagements and little by little he is receiving his own testimony which is cool.

All of our other amis are doing good, just progressing slowly. Slowly is better than nothing at all, so I will take it.

Have a good week guys! Keep on keeping on! Bisous.

Elder Evan Peterson

February 2, 2015

I AM STAYING!!! 4 TRANSFERS IN BOURGES!!!

This is a picture of the district, holding up the number of the transfer that we are in.  I am still District Leader for my 4th transfer in Bourges!

I am really excited to stay! I love Bourges and the work is going really well. :)  Hopefully we will get to see Michael get baptized!!!!

This week was really good though. We taught a lot and prayed with a lot of foreigners which was pretty cool!

We have been teaching Michael and we talked about his baptism. Sadly we had to cancel his date for the 14th because he wasn't feeling ready. He said we can fix one for March so that is what we'll do! :D He is a super cool guy though.

We had some pretty cool stuff that happened to us this week. First of all, IT SNOWED!!!!

It has almost been a year and half since I have seen snow. It was awesome! I know as soon as I get to Utah that I am going to be sick of it though...haha.

Second of all, we got a referral from the United States. He has the weirdest yet coolest name though. His name is Jose Emmanuel de Jesus Fresco. He is Catholic and we went over to his house to teach him. He is a super cool guy and he wants to know if the church is true. We taught him the Restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon and invited him to church. He said he would come. He lives on the other side of town so it would take  him an hour to walk to church because there are no buses on Sunday. You know what he did!?  He walked the whole hour to church and attend all three reunions!!! :D He seems to be a golden ami so let's hope it stays that way! :)

Third, while we were doing some porting we accidentally ported into an ami that we haven't been able to get a hold of for a while...haha. It was super weird but super cool. We weren't expecting that! :)

Other than that we had 3 amis come to church: Sylvie, Michael, and Jose Emmanuel de Jesus Fresco. Sadly two of our members got in a little fight during Priesthood meeting right in front of Jose and Michael. I don't think it affected them too much but it affected me. It is really sad to see when members of the Church of Jesus Christ, who should be examples, start acting like children in front of people that are new to the Church. We talked about it with the Branch President and these two members have been having an issue for a LONG time now. Next week is Branch Conference and so when the Stake President comes down I think he will sort them out hopefully. We will see what happens though.

Loving Bourges! Loving France! Love serving the Lord! :)

Have a good week! Love ya guys!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

January 26, 2015

IT'S OKAY BLACK MAMBA...I STILL LOVE YOU.

I heard they are having a rough time...So this one's for you, Lakers.

Anyways....

This week felt weird...but it was really good. :)

We had exchanges in Tours this week so I got to work with Elder Smith this time.  We had a good exchange even though a lot of people didn't show up to our rendez-vous. Tours is a big city. It reminds me how little Bourges is.

Other than that we were able to see Michael again. I think we are going to have to change his baptismal date though. He says he doesn't feel ready yet and so he wants to change the date to sometime in March. Michael is really opening up to us though so that is super cool. He said that he even felt the spirit one time after he left church on Sunday! It's a start though! :)

Sadly we weren't able to see a lot of our amis because some of them were out of town or some of them were sick.

We were able to see Yves though. He is doing great! He is such a loving guy. He asked good questions too so he is progressing really well.

We are still teaching Sylvie and I am really not sure what to do for her. She reads the Book of Mormon but she just doesn't want to change her ideas. Hopefully when she asks God if the Book of Mormon is true, she will get an answer. I just wished she would ask him now instead of waiting until she finishes the book. Oh well, patience is a virtue.

We were able to find a guy named Samson too. He is from Nigeria and he is homeless. He really believes in God but when we contacted him he said he wanted to kill himself. We were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation and show him that God loves him. It seemed to help him so that is good. He has had a tough life though.

Transfers are on the 4th of February. This Saturday we will find out if I am getting transferred! I really like Bourges though and the work here is going amazingly well! :D

Have a good week! Love ya!!!! :D

Elder Evan Peterson

January 19, 2015

I LOVE ME SOME BUFFALO GRILL

We ate some steak!!!! (still not as good as Texas Roadhouse though)

Hey guys! :)

So this week we went to a restaurant, called Buffalo Grill, for Elder Nez's Bday!!! He is now 23. They grow up so fast.

Here are some pics of us-

It was soooo good though. It almost reminded me of home. haha

Other than the delicious steak that we put in our bellies, we had another pretty darn good week! :)

Two of our amis came to church this week too!!! Michael and Leontine! Michael was participating so much! It was super cool to see.

This week we taught Michael a lot. We taught him the Word of Wisdom. He said he is going to have some troubles with tea and coffee but he said he is going to try though. We are praying for him but he is so ready for baptism! :)

We were able to see Leontine this week too and we asked her if she prayed about baptism and she said she had to go to our church first.  So this Sunday she came! :) She liked it so hopefully next week we can set up a baptismal date with her. She is super believing but she has had a really hard life. She was explaining to us things that she has gone through and it just makes you feel so sorry for them. But we promised her that the Gospel will help her overcome her past and what she has gone through.

This week we taught a lady whose name is Patricia. She is super cool. Like I think she is a golden ami, that is how cool she is. This is how we found her:  So a couple of weeks ago we were porting and we knocked on this one house. Two ladies that were sisters answered and one of them wasn't interested at all but the other one was. So the interested one (Patricia) asked for a brochure which we gave her, but she said she was just visiting her sister and that she didn't want to give us her phone number so we just left not knowing what would happen.  A week later, right before teaching an ami who lives in the same area as Patricia's sister, we decided to pass by her sister's house to ask if she knew where Patricia lived. So she did and it just happens to turn out that she lived like a block away from her sister's house. We went looking for house and we couldn't find it. We were seriously looking everywhere and after a little bit we saw a lady coming towards us. And it happened to be Patricia! She said that she was looking for us and she wanted the Book of Mormon. So we gave it to her and we set up another rende-vous! We were able to teach her this week and when we got over there she said she read the brochure and that she was in 1st Nephi, chapter 9! It was super cool! We weren't able to explain the whole brochure because she talks A LOT! But I am excited to see what happens with her! :)

We have had a really book week! Things are looking better and better for Bourges! :) All of the other amis are doing good. France is awesome!!! :D Changing people's lives one at a time!

Love ya!

Elder Evan Peterson

January 12, 2015

IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES, IT WAS THE WORST OF TIMES

Hey guy. So a lot cray stuff has been going down in France if you haven't heard of it yet. I am pretty sure you have because members have been showing me pictures that "Je suis Charlie" is everywhere in the world, even in Utah.

Literally this week was so good for missionary work but it was a bad week for the people of France. It was pretty hard to hear that news and just knowing that I am only 2 hours away from Paris. 

But as missionary work goes, we were able to reach our mission goal of teaching 21 lessons in a week!!! :) That was a really cool miracle!!! :) We were able to find 9 new amis too. So this week has been the best week I have had on my mission and it feels really good. God is truly blessing us and I a just glad to see Bourges doing so well. Out of those 9 amis, we were able to find a family with 6 children! They are from Haiti. They seem to be like a golden family and they said they would come to church next week. I love people that just accept the Restored Gospel with open arms. :D

Another amaing miracle happened this week! Michael came to church. He didn't work this Sunday so he was able to come!!!! It was so cool! :)  He was looking so fly in his dress shirt and tie! All the members welcomed him with open arms as well.  So I am still praying that he will get baptized!

I wish I could talk about all the other things that we saw but there too many to count...haha. I am loving Bourges so much though. :D

Have a good week guys!!! :D Love ya!!!

Elder Evan Peterson

January 5, 2015

ANOTHER YEAR BITES THE DUST

Here is my transfer 10 planner drawing. I took WAY too long on it...haha.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S GUYS!!!!

This week was good and okay in certain aspects of the week.

We weren't able to see hardly anyone of our current amis...so that kind of sucked. But we also were able to find a couple of people too!

So first off New Years was soooo good! :) New Year's Eve we went to a member's house. The Branch President and his wife came too. We just ate, played games, and had a lot of fun. Then the next day we went to the Branch President's house and the members that we spent the night before with came too! We pretty much did the same thing. And did I mention that we ggot to sleep in again?? haha Cela faisait du bien.

Sadly this week we had to drop Bruno. He wasn't keeping commitments and it was just an argument every time we went over there. He is a really nice guy and I hope someday he will come to know that these things are true.

It is funny because this week we dropped Bruno, a 7th Day Adventist, but we found another one...haha. His name is Oliver. He is a cool young thug. We prayed with him and we fixed another rende-vous for Sunday. So Sunday we went over there and we taught him the Restoration. He seems really believing. They actually talked to each other about us. We will see how it goes though. :)

This week we had a meeting in Paris with all the leaders of the France Paris Mission. It was really fun. The President just told us some goals for the New Year and we received training from the assistants. President Babin told us that we need to work BETTER and not just HARDER, which is true. Sometimes I forget about that...haha, but overall the meeting went really well and I was really inspired to work better not just harder.

On Saturday, I made a goal for the District to pray each hour for the District and the Zone so that we can reach our goals that we have fixed. It went really well and we were able to see a lot of miracles from it as a District. I think we are going to be doing that more often. Pretty much every time when we pray to know where to go porting or contacting, we always find someone. God has given us a tool that allows us to talk with him and receive personal answers. I think a lot of people overlook how valuable that tool is. I am just glad God keeps on answering my prayers because without that I don't know what I would do.

Well I am going to sign off for know. I hope you guys have a good week!!!

Love ya!!!

Elder Evan Peterson