#NOV94 10.31.16

Well this was one of the best weeks of my mission! I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a representative of Jesus Christ and be here in Argentina! At the beginning of this week I met my new companion, Elder Tanner, and we got right to work! He is from Utah and is super great! He came with great desires to serve others and already speaks really well! This week we received the goals for baptisms and confirmations for November and December and they are higher than they ever have been, 94 in November and 376 in  December! 94 is because we are 94 companionships in the mission and the goals is that every companionship can baptize this month! 376 is 94 times 4 for 4 weeks in December. We are going to baptize every week in December every companionship! I was a little surprised when I heard these goals but I am so excited! I know that through faith and hard work we can accomplish anything! The Lord does not give us anything that we cannot do! We are going to need your prayers to help us meet this goal.

We have already seen lots of miracles this week as we have been trying to find people to teach and prepare for baptism in November and December, I will share a few.. Michael our investigator that we have been working with for quite a while now went to church with us yesterday like he always does. On our way to church I asked him if he has thought about his baptism recently and he said "yes, I actually wanted to talk about that. I want to get baptized!" We were so happy for him and his decision and he is going to get baptized the 19th! Cristian Gomez made it to church on time yesterday with his family yesterday and they are getting closer and closer to being able to get married and then he will get baptized! Yesterday we were walking down the street after a lesson and we saw two women working on their little garden outside their house and we stopped to help and talk to them. We did a contact and basically just started teaching them. They paid attention and really enjoyed the lesson and were very grateful for the Book of Mormon we gave them! After the lesson they told us that they are never outside but they felt like they needed to be for some reason. It was a great blessing to be able to find that family that is very special! They have a little girl who is 4 who fell out of the second story window of their house when she was two and nothing happened to her! I know that she was protected by our loving Heavenly Father and that He has a special plan for her and her family and for all of us! I love being a missionary and meeting amazing people like this! 

Have an amazing week and please pray for our mission goal so that we can find people to teach and baptize! Love and miss you all so much! 

Elder Petersen

Transfers 10-24-16

Family and friends,

 How is everyone doing? I hope everyone had a great week and is doing well! This week was a great week for me and we ended the transfer really well! We worked super hard this last week and saw lots of blessings! With having to work in the both areas we lost a lot of time in traveling because the area is huge but we were able to focus on our investigators that are progressing the most. We focused a lot on a new investigator that we found. Her name is Lourdes and she is super awesome! She has had a pretty difficult life with lots of challenges but is really trying to change her life and focus on the good things and especially her faith in Jesus Christ. She has been reading and praying and came to church yesterday and is really progressing! She has a baptismal date for the 19th of November and we are super excited to see her continue progress! The bad thing is that she is in the other Elders area and we are going back to four missionaries tomorrow! We got the calls last night and I am staying here in Santos Lugares and I will be training again! I definitely didn´t see that one coming, especially with only three new elders coming to the mission but the Lord needs me to learn something and that is why He called me to train. I know that He qualifies those He calls and that I will be given His help and guidance as I train. 

 This week for a family home evening we watched the movie about President Monson "On the Lord´s Errand" and I loved it! If you haven´t seen it I encourage you all to see it because I learned a lot! It helped strengthen my testimony that prophets are called of God and prepared by Him to lead each and every one of us! I love his example of always following the promptings of the holy ghost and that is something I have learned a lot in the mission! Never hessitate on acting on the promptings or feelings you receive from the holy ghost and I promise you that you will never be led astray! I love you all so much and am very grateful for your examples! Have a great week and make sure you all follow the promptings you receive from the holy ghost! 

Love,

Elder Petersen

Dia de la madre flash! Oct. 17,2016

Hello family and friends! How is everyone doing? I hope everything is going well and you are enjoying the fall weather! It is heating up here and the humidity is killing us as missionaries with our shirts and ties but that doesn´t hold us back at all! 

This week was a crazy but really great week! It started off with a flash. Tuesday night at 10:00 we received a call from the assistants telling us that Elder Meneses would be heading to Moreno the next day! We both didn´t know what to think and were really shocked, especially after the great week we had together last week. He was super sad to leave his first area and it was hard to see him go but I am excited to see his progression and know that he will be a great missionary! Our last week together I think I finally learned what the Lord wanted me to learn from him and when i had finally learned it He sent Elder Meneses to where he needs to be right now and that was another testimony builder for me! Now I am in another trio... I think there is a rule in the Argentina Buenos Aires West Mission that if there is a trio in the mission Elder Petersen has to be a part of it! haha No, it actually isn´t too bad and the two Elders that I am with right now are both great and really fun to be with! We had a great week and worked really hard! 

This week we were trying to find a less active to help him we were walking through the street and a bunch of kids started saying stuff to us so we stopped and talked to them. We knew they wouldn´t want anything so we told them about the soccer field we have behind the church and invited them to play when they want and they started talking about how bad they would beat us and one even said he would dance with the ball around us. You all know me and can probably guess that we played a little game right there to show them that the "yankees" can play soccer too! We played three on three in the street to five and had a great time! People came out of their houses to watch their kids play and everyone was laughing and having a good time. Although we lost (only by one!), we had a good time and found some new people to teach out of it! You never know what things can bring opportunities to teach the gospel so always be ready to share your testimonies! 

Right now we are working with quite a few new investigators that we have found helping them progress. The investigator we have that is closest to baptism right now is Cristian Gomez. His family are all members and he is finally realizing that it is something he needs and wants to do! We are working on getting him and his wife married so he can get baptized and we are super excited for them and especially him! Speaking of marraige I ran into Eduardo and Yessica this week (a convert from my very first area) and they are doing great! They are getting sealed in the temple in just one month from today and their story is going to be in the December Liahona!! I am so very grateful for all the amazing people I have gotten to know here In Argentina and know that I was called here for many reasons! 

I love and miss you all so much and hope everything is going well! A big shout out to all the moms with it being mothers day here in Argentina (the only country that doesn´t have it in may)! Especially to my mom who is so amazing! Thank you for everything especially your great example of love and service! Have a wonderful week and talk to you soon! 

 

Love,

Elder Petersen

New Pic's 10.2.16