Air Force One 3.28.16

I got to see AIR FORCE 1! Obama was here this week for a couple of days and the two days I went to the airport this week were the days where his plane was here, super cool! I made two airport trips for three missionaries who went home early in two days, it was pretty sad but I know this is all part of Heavenly Father plan for them!

Pic's 3.28.16

Elder Petersen gave one of his ties to Sebas....I love this picture so much...Really shows Adam's personality....He loves kids and loves giving to others.  I can't wait to hear about his baptism that was on Saturday.

Sebas and his family......

Elder Petersen, Elder Rojas, and Elder Alexander.  Office Secretaries. 

Elder Cook and Elder Petersen

Semana Santa 3.21.16

Hello all!

 I hope you all had a great week and have had a great start to your spring break! I had a pretty crazy week but an awesome week like normal! I have lots of super cool experiences to share this week so I hope you are all ready!

 We have had planned for a while to have a movie night as a ward for this past Friday. Thursday night we got everything ready and figured out for how we were going to do it and we were all super excited! Friday morning we got to the offices which is a part of the church where we meet and the power was out! It was out all day and we started to get worried as the time got closer because we had invited a ton of people! The activity started at 7 and at 6:30 we still did not have any power! We live across the street from the offices and we had power so we got as many extension chords as we could and stretched them from our apartment to out side of the church where we set up chairs and had the tv. We worked super fast to try to make everything work out! We were a little disappointed everything didn´t go as planned but we remained optimistic that everything would turn out. The other problem was the weather. The clouds were super dark and we thought it might rain which would have not been good at all with all of our cables across the street and we would not have had anything else to do. Although the lights didn´t turn on, it did not rain and everything all worked out! As soon as the movie ended, the lights turned on and everyone cheered, it was awesome! This little experience taught me a lesson I will never forget. The Lord tried our faith with the power outage. He wanted to see if, with everything going against us, we would give up. Although we didn´t have things work out the way we wanted, because we didn´t give up the Lord blessed us. We had an investigator that we hadn´t seen in a while come and it didn´t rain! This was a great blessing for all of us and especially for me. It taught me a great lesson that I will never forget! It helped remind me of a quote I learned in elementary school: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going". I have always loved this quote and this experience helped me remember it. I hope you can all learn something from this story just like I did. Life is not easy and we all have trials but as we keep moving forward and never give up we will be blessed and be happy! 

 This week was kind of a long week. We have transfers coming up and I have a lot to learn and had A LOT to do this week! I wasn´t feeling well all week and it was just kind of a difficult week. Although I was tired and not feeling well, every day I did my best to work as hard as I could for the time we had to work. As I did this I forgot about how I was feeling and was able to meet many great people and teach lots of new people! At the end of the long week a little boy who is getting baptized this next Saturday in our ward asked me to baptize him. This will be my first baptism in Argentina and I am super excited!! I know that the is Heavenly Father blessing me for my work this week and I am very grateful! I know that as we work hard when it is the hardest to work is when we receive the most blessings! I know this is not only true for me but for everyone as well! I promise you all that as you continue to do the hard things that the Lord asks of us in the hardest of times you will be blessed beyond compare!

 This week I also learned how to drive stick shift!! There is only one Elder in the offices who knows how to drive it and he is leaving next week so someone else needed to learn how to do it and I was chosen. I was super excited because I have always wanted to learn and I know it will be a skill I will use for the rest of my life! I only had about 30 minutes to practice this week and I did fairly well, at least I think so! I only stalled twice driving to the store and back so I was pretty happy with myself! Just thought I would tell you all about that fun experience this week!

 Just a heads up, I will probably be emailing Saturday this week because transfers are the next Tuesday so we need all of Monday to get ready! I hope you have a great week of spring break! During your week off of school and time to relax, look for some opportunities to serve! I love and miss you all! Until Saturday!

Elder Petersen   

Aleluya 2016 3.14.16

Hello all! I hope you had an amazing week and are pushing through your last Monday before spring break (You can do it!). I had another great week here in Argentina and I am loving this country and the people here more and more each and every day! I am so grateful for the opportunity Heavenly Father has given me to be able to serve here and get to know all the wonderful people here! 

 I titled this weeks email Aleluya 2016 because of the new Easter video that came out yesterday! If you haven´t seen it yet you have to go watch it today! It is super great! It talks all about how we can find a new life through Christ. I know that is true. As we follow Christ and His example we will find a new life and will be blessed beyond compare. I have found a new life from doing this and also have seen it in the lives of many people here, it really is amazing. I invite you all to follow Christ, in whatever way or form it may be. Find something you could do better to be more like Christ because we can all "try a little harder to be a little better". After seeing the video last week I challenged myself do be more like Christ in not only my actions but my thoughts. I have noticed a huge change as I have tried to always thing good thoughts even when I am having a bad day or when I am having a hard time with other people. I have seen as I have done this I have had the spirit more with me. I have been more charitable and had more desires to serve others all the time. i am so grateful for the blessing that Heavenly Father has given me and I was ale to change because of this video. I know I am not perfect and have a long way to go with lots more things to change but it was a good start. I know that you all will feel this way as you find something you can do better to follow the Savior and you will be blessed for your efforts. 

 I was blessed with the opportunity to find new people to teach! We were able to find a great family with four kids all about the age of 8 who are amazing! They are all so well behaved and really good listeners. I am super excited to work with them more this week and to help them follow Jesus Christ more and receive the blessings that He has for them. I know that Heavenly father has blessings ready for each and every one of us. I know that as we do our best and put our faith to the test He will work out the rest. I want you all to know how blessed you really are and that you shouldn´t take for granted those blessings. Always give thanks to the Lord for His blessings because there are many.

 I love you all so much and am so grateful for your examples in my life. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Elder Petersen

Special Gifts 3.7.16

Hello family and friends! How are you all doing? I hope that you are all doing great and enjoying the weather warming up. On the other hand, the weather here is finally starting to cool down which is great! It is weird that the weather is switched here and I am still getting used to it but I just kinda go with the flow.

 That phrase is used a lot here in the offices. A lot of things happen and there are often times changes that we don´t know why but the thing I have learned is we just do what we are told and follow our leaders. If anyone has problems they call us and it is our job to help them and make sure everything in the mission is running smoothly. There are always things that happen that we didn´t have planned for but as we go with the flow and just do our best to think of others before ourselves, everything works out! I know that in life there are always going to be things that happen that we didn´t have a plan for, that is just how life is. We don´t need to freak out, complain, or get sad or frustrated. We just need to control what we can control and know that everything happens for a reason. As we look for the best in things and know that we can always make good outcomes of bad things, we will be happier and have the spirit with us more.

 I titled this email special gifts because this week I have been thinking a lot about the many gifts that Heavenly Father has blessed me with and had blessed all of us with. Really we are so blessed! Heavenly Father wants us to use these gifts, He gave them to us for a reason. My invitation to you all is to use them! Take some time this week and really think about the talents and abilities Heavenly Father has given to you individually and how you can not only use them but develop them. I know that each and everyone of you has very special gifts that the Lord needs you to use. He is waiting on you. Think about how you can use them and then have the faith to act and so it. It isn´t hard and there are so many blessings you will receive from this. I am grateful for the gifts I have been given and this week I have been looking at them a different way and trying to focus on different ways that I can use them to help everyone around me. I hope this week you all can do the same!

 Sorry I do not have much to say this week, but I want you all to know how much I love and care about each and every one of you! Thank you for the special gifts you have that you have shared with me and for the examples you have set in using them in the way that Heavenly Father wants you to use them. I love you all so very much and hope you all have a great week!

Elder Petersen