FIVE MONTHS 1.25.16

 Well everyone, tomorrow marks 5 months away from home and I can´t believe it! Time is flying by and I am loving being a missionary more and more each and every day! Yes, I miss you all so much, but two years is such a short time and am so grateful for this time Heavenly Father has given me to be here in Argentina serving Him and His children here.

 This week was another great week! I hope you aren´t all tired of hearing that! Really though, every day here is amazing and something new! Even though we have the same schedule almost every day, I have so many different experiences and new opportunities every day that are so awesome! This week I had the opportunity to go to Ramos Mejia where the offices are to watch a world wide broadcast for only missionaries and it was amazing! I learned so much about what I need to be doing as a missionary and how I can be better. I loved it because I am always looking for ways I can get better every day and when I get opportunities to hear things I can do to be better I am all about them! President Robertson commented in a meeting this week how the whole mission is at a very high level of spirituality, higher than it has ever been before. Satan is working really hard to bring us down even just a little bit and we can´t let him because as soon as we bring down our level even a little bit he has already won. We have to do all we can to keep our sights high and to the Lord. He also said how we cannot progress without being grateful for what we already have first. I think this applies to everyone. Although I have already challenged you all to do this before, keep being grateful for all that you have and you will be blessed even more! 

 Yesterday I gave my first talk in church and it went really well! I wasn´t nervous all week until we got to the church yesterday morning but don´t worry, everything went great! I wrote out a pretty decent ammount so that I talked long enough and didn´t go way to short. I realized about half way through that I didn´t need my notes at all and I can just talk without them. I ended up talking for 15 minutes and it went really well! I am so grateful for the gift of tongues that Heavenly Father has blessed me with and that i am able to speak as well as I can with the short amount of time that I have! I know that it is not because of me but because of the Lord and His power! I talked about the Book of Mormon and the power it has. I want to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon to you all and let you know that I know it is true. It has changed my life and I have seen it change the lives of others here in Argentina. I also know it will change yours as you read it with real intent. You will be blessed with more happiness and peace in your lives as you make reading a habit everyday. I challenge you with Elder Durant from this last conference to ¨ponderize¨ a verse of scripture every week. I started doing this and have seen the results of having a higher plane of thoughts and level of spirituality. I have felt close to my Savior and have received many other blessings. I invite you to read the talk and figure out how you can all ¨ponderize¨ every week and I invite you to do it. I promise you will receive the same blessings I have and even more! 

 Thank you all for your prayers this past week, I have felt them so much! I love you all so much and am grateful for your influences and examples in my life! Have a great week and I will talk to you soon! 

Love, 

Elder Petersen

Bad Habits 1.18.16

Family and friends, 

I am happy to tell you that I had another great week and am still doing good! I hope you all are also still doing good and are enjoying your day off from school today! My week was really great and we had a lot of success! We found lots of new people and set 5 new baptismal dates this week! They are all super awesome and I am excited for them and their decisions to make a covenant with Heavebly Father and start their paths to eternal life with Him and their families! The problem is getting people to church. Not any of them came to church this week and they all said they would. That is definitely a challenge but we are going to get them there this next week, I know it! 

 This coming week I am also speaking in church for my first time in Argentina and castellano! I am a little nervous but excited as well! I know it will go great and I hope the people will be able to learn something!

 I titled this email bad habits because I have been trying to get rid of mine and that is my invitation for you all this week. This week I focused on brushing my teeth at night, At home I rarely brushed my teeth at night and it was a super bad habit! Although I never had a cavity, it still wasn´t good! I haveb´t missed a night brushing my teeth for 10 days now and am super excited about that! This week I am focusing on eating healthier. Out in campo it is super easy to just order a pizza or something and I just kinda feel gross. I know eating healthier I will feel better and start a good habit! My invitation for you all is to find a bad habit you have and start to change it. Make some plans to get better and to change your bad habbits into good habbits! I know it is not always easy but you will happy with the end results as you work hard to get rid of those! 

 I don´t have much else to say this week other than I love and miss you all! I hope you are all doing good and have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder Petersen

Broken Bike 1-11-16

 Family and friends,
 I hope all is well back at home! This week was another great one for me as always here in Argentina, even when you are riding your bike with one hand for a few days! This week I noticed that one of my handle bars was starting to break a little so I only used one hand because I didn´t want it to break and it wasn´t that big of a deal because it is more comfortable anyway. Even with riding with only one
hand and not even touching the handle, going over a bump, it just fell off! The bike looked super weird with only one handle bar on it (I will have pictures next week because this computer won´t let me)! I got it all fixed and everything is back to normal now! Argentina is still super hot right now and especially with riding an all black bike all day! The worst is when we come out from a lesson or something and you can´t even sit on your seat because it is so hot!
The past few days have been a little cooler but this week it is
supposed to start warming up again which I am not looking forward to! Chivilcoy is super awesome and super pretty! There is a little city and then a lot of dirt roads and farms which makes me think of home. The whole city goes around a plaza that is at the center of the city and it is super pretty! They have a Christmas tree with lights on it still up which is pretty cool to ride by every night! 

We have some pretty good investigators we are working with right now and we are having some pretty great success! Rocio is our one investigator with a baptismal date (the 30th of January) and she came to church yesterday which we were super excited about! She walked there with her two little kids in the rain!! She is super awesome and can´t wait for her to receive all the blessings that come from baptism!
Her two kids are super cute and we are also teaching another guy who is a professional soccer player who has the cutest little daughter ever! It stinks because I just want to pick them up and hold them but I can´t! That´s okay because before we know it I will be holding my own little babies and I cant wait! I do not have a challenge for you all this week because I want you all to focus on my challenge from a while ago with the Book of Mormon. I have been focusing a lot lately on that and I want you all to know that I know it is true and the importance it has in my life and the impact it can have on anyones life. All we have to do is read it! We
have the roadmap to get us through life at our fingertips and often times we take it for granted. I hope we can all try a little harder to be a little better with our study of the Book of Mormon. I know we will all be blessed for our efforts and will be happier and have more peace in our lives.
I want you all to know how much I love and miss you and also how much I love being a representative of Jesus Christ and helping the people here in Argentina feel more of His love! Have a great week all of you!
Love,
Elder Petersen

Chivilcoy 1-4-15

  Hello family and friends! I hope you all had a great new years and are getting back into your normal routines with the holidays winding down. I had a great new years and am ready for this new year to work on the goals I have set to become a better missionary, person, and most importantly grow closer to my Heavenly Father! I hope you all were able to spend some time thinking about your goals and were able to make some great goals for this year! Put them some where you can see them everyday to help you remember them!

  My new area, Chivilcoy, is awesome! I love the campo! It is a lot more like home! Everyone here is so much nicer, it is cleaner, and smaller. Our area is huge and doesn´t even have a limit on two sides! We have to ride our bikes pretty far everyday but I have been loving it! It is a good workout everyday and I feel a lot better everyday now! Luckily my legs haven´t been too sore yet either but we will see next week! My new companion is also pretty awesome! He is from Bountiful, Utah and I even know right where he lives! He has some pretty close friends who I know so that was cool to find out! He has been a great example to me and I am looking forward to learning from him this transfer! He is the relief society president, (district leader), but we only have hermanas in our district so that is what we call him! There are 6 missionaries in our branch which is super awesome! Our branch consists of about 60 active members which is small but not too small. They are all super great and are so nice! None of them could believe yesterday that I only have 3 months in Argentina which was pretty funny! I have been really blessed to be able to speak as well as I can! The only challenging thing about the area is the success. The area I am in with Elder Groen only had two baptisms all of last year and one of them was with Elder Groen just two weeks ago. Although it is going to be difficult, I know we are going to be able to have success and we will have as many baptisms this transfer as this area did all of last year! That is a pretty ambitious goals, I know, but I also know as we rely on the Lord and let Him help us all things are possible! My challenge for this week is to whatever comes your way, learn to love it! We are all so blessed by our Heavenly Father but there are always going to be difficult times and challenges that come our way. If we learn to deal with our challenges with a positive attitude and even learn to love them we will notice our blessings more and just be more happy! I know that is what we all want in our lives and I can promise that as we face our difficult times in life with a positive attitude and learn to love them we will achieve that happiness! 

  I love you all so much and hope you all have a great week! Can´t wait to hear from you soon!

Elder Petersen