More Pics from 12-17-15

December 27, 2015 NEW YEAR, NEW COMPANION, NEW AREA

Yessica, Eduardo, and little baby Mauro

Elder Tingy and I on Christmas morning.

My First Christmas Skype

Elder Soto and I goofing off

 Well I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and were able to enjoy the cold weather! Here it is super hot and getting hotter everyday! Today it is supposed to be about 93 without the humidity which makes it at least 100! No one has air-conditioning here and sometimes it is hotter inside peoples houses than in it outside, it´s terrible! Even though it is super hot, my Christmas was amazing! Although I got a few presents, it was so good to focus on giving this Christmas and seeing the joy that comes from giving. The best Christmas present that I did receive was the opportunity to talk to my family on skype! It was so awesome to be able to talk to them and see their smiling faces! It honestly was the fastest 40 minutes of my life but at least I was able to talk to them for that long. Another great opportunity I had this week was to be able to go to the temple! The temple here in Buenos Aires is almost exactly the same as the temple in Boise which is super cool! I hope you can all remember how important the temple is and be able to attend a little bit more this new year than you were able to this year. I know you will see the blessing for your efforts in making it to the temple.

 My new year comes with a new area and companion! I found out this morning that I am being transferred tomorrow to Chivilcoy! I don´t know much about Chivilcoy other than that it is campo (farmland), at least more than where I am now. It is the furthest area away from the mission office, four hours in a bus. I am not excited about the bus ride but I am super excited to be able to get to know a new are and lots of new people! I know I am needed in Chivilcoy and know that this transfer is going to be a great one! New area, new companion, new year, new goals! I have been starting to think of the goals I want to set for this upcoming year so that I can become a better missionary and person in general and even more strengthen my relationship with Heavenly Father. I hope you all have been starting to think of some new years resolutions for yourselves as well and this week are able to make some great goals for this upcoming year of 2016! That is my challenge for this week: Make at least one goal for this new year that will help you be a better person and more like Christ. Make sure that it a SMART goal and one that you are actually going to keep. That is why I am only asking you to make one, so that you are able to take some time on this goal and actually think about what you are lacking and how you can be better. Make specific goals that are attainable and ones where you are able to measure your success. If it is a good goal it won´t be easy. It will challenge you but that is good for you. I know as you take time thinking of your goal and your resolutions for this new year at least one good goal will come to mind. Write this goal down somewhere where you are able to see it everyday to help you remind you of it and be able to accomplish it! I know that you will all be able to accomplish your goals and it will bring you so much joy to be able to accomplish your goals. Remember, you can do hard things! 

 I want you all to know how much I miss and love you all! Especially during this time of year with all the holidays and celebrating. I have missed you all a lot but know I am exactly where I am supposed to be! I hope you all have a great week and a great new years! Can´t wait to hear all about them! Look forward to seeing some pictures of me on a bike next week with a sweet helmet on! Until next week!

Love, 

Elder Petersen

Christmas 2015!

Family and friends,

 Merry Christmas!! I hope you are all continuing to enjoy your Christmas seasons, the company of family, and the time off school. Most of all, I hope that you are remembering why we celebrate Christmas and the true meaning of Chrsitmas! I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ and for this time I have as a missionary to be one of His representatives. I hope that this year we can all carry the spirit of CHRISTmas with us past the Christmas season and remember our savior Jesus Christ all the time, not just when we celebrate His birth. I can promise you that as you do this and do your best to remember Him and try your best to be like Him you will be blessed beyond compare and be able to feel more of His love because He has so much of it for each and everyone of you! I found a quote I wanted to share with you all in a book I have been reading and it goes like this; "When you find yourself discontented because what you expected did not come to pass, you can easily become unhappy- not because of any external condition but because of your own preconceived notions. When you dispel that concept you will find that not only are you able to  be happy, but by becoming free of the false expectations that you previously deemed essential for your happiness, you also become liberated". At first I didn´t really understand what this was saying and it didn´t mean as much to me as it does now. After slowing down and taking time to comprehend what I was reading I found the true meaning of what this is saying, at least for me. Not everything is going to go our way. We are not going to breeze through life without any trials. Life is hard and often times things are going to happen that we don´t want and also thing that we want to happen aren´t going to come to pass. So what do we do when this happens? First off, we have to keep a positive attitude and always keep moving forward no matter what happens. Secondly, we can´t expect anything to be given to us. If we want things we have to work for them and do everything we can to make them happen. For me, this is what this quote is saying. We are obviosuly going to be sad when we don´t get what we want. We have to get over it and not expect anything from to be given to us and only work hard for what we want. The quote ends like this; "Remember happiness is not in obtaining what you want but wanting what you have". I thought this fit very well for this week of Christmas! Yes, I hope that you all get everything that you asked for for Christmas, but we have to remember what we already have is enough. We have so many blessings from Heavenly Father and we will receive even more as we focus on what we have already and sharing our blessings with people who are less fortunate than we are and trying to become more like Christ everyday! My invitation for this week is to enjoy this special time of your with your family and friends and to thank the Lord for all that you have and be content with what you have and what you get if you don´t get what you want! The second part of my invitation is to read Moroni 10;18 in the Book of Mormon that talks more about gifts. I know you will be blessed as you do these things and that is what I want for you all! I hope you all have an amazing Christmas and know how much I love and miss you all! I am super excited to talk to family on Friday and hope you all make the most of the time that you all have with yours! Thanks for all that you have done for me and your examples to me! Until next week! Feliz Navidad!

Love, 

Elder Petersen

"White Christmas" 12.14.15

 I am very happy to tell you all that I am going to have a white Christmas here in Argentina, the best kind of Christmas´s! Although it is not the white Christmas I am used to, it is still pretty great! This white Christmas is because of all the white shirt´s and my white skin! Even though it is the hottest it has been since I have been here I am still pretty white haha You all know me though so that is not much of a surprise! I 

haven´t gotten sunburnt at all yet, so I am counting my blessings! Luckily my white shirts are still pretty white too! Washing all your clothes by hand is a lot harder to keep everything clean and looking nice but I am sure you can all imagine my ocd self spending lots of time scrubbing my clothes getting all the little spots out! Having this opportunity to wash all my clothes by hand has helped me realize how blessed I really am and how blessed we really are! I hope during this Christmas season we can all remember how blessed we really are and worry a little bit more about the presents that aren´t wrapped this year. I have enjoyed this Christmas season being able to help the people here in Argentina feel more of the love of Jesus Christ. I am so very grateful for this opportunity the Lord has given me to spend two short years of my life helping people have happiness for the rest of theirs! I have been focusing a lot these past couple weeks in doing everything I can to help the people here in any way that I can, even in the smallest of ways! I love seeing the increased joy not only that they have but also that I have as I focus all my time and work in serving others in any way possible. I know that as you serve others, not only this Christmas season, but all year you also will have this increased happiness in your lives! My challenge for this week is for all of you to go caroling! I miss being able to go caroling and sing Christmas song´s to neighbors and friends and see their smiles when they open their doors to carolers. No matter how bad your voice is or how much you dislike singing at least go caroling to one house this week! If you are really in the Christmas spirit, take some cookies with you and give them to the people! I promise you will be more happy this Christmas and it will not disappoint! Going along with this challenge during the month of December to be kind to everyone I want to share with you all a little quote I found. "Every good deed done to others creates a force of energy that perpetuates itself through time and eternity. We may never receive a word of gratitude or recognition for our efforts, but what we send out will come back to us in some form as naturally, as perfectly, and as inevitably as an echo to the sender. Perhaps not as we expect it or where, but sometime, somewhere, somehow, they will come back". I loved this quote and wanted to share it with you all to help you realize that it doesn´t matter what we get in return for being kind. The happiness we receive from just being kind will suffice! I had a really good friend teach me this lesson and it really helped me. We give gifts not to get one back but to demonstrate our love. I hope you can all demonstrate your love for other´s this Christmas just as hrist did his whole life! Know that I love and miss you all so much and hope you are all doing great! Until next week!

Love, 

Elder Petersen

Elder Tingey and Elder Petersen Goofing around. 

Jones´ baptism! 

My First Package

A picture Emanuel drew for me haha.

This is Emanuel! He is so awesome! He also thinks Elli is pretty cute haha I told him I would set them up! The problem he is pretty short..

Two Months in Argentina 12.7.15

Well I now have two months in Argentina and time has passed crazy fast!! I just found out the cyber is closing so I don´t have much time but I want to tell you all how much I love and miss you all and challenge you during this Christmas season to help at least one person feel more of the love that Christ has for them! I know you will be blessed as you do this! Sorry for such a short email! 

Love

Elder Petersen