January 30, 2012
Back to the Factory
Hey there family and friends!
So guess what! I found out last Tuesday that I'm not actually going to be in Dachney South or North! Where would I be going then, you may ask? Well...I'm going back to Zavodskoi! Crazy stuff!
That's made this a pretty interesting week. Me and Elder Rekow (not Riko, as I spelled it in my last e-mail, my bad!) have been running all of Dachney, which has been quite the experience. We've gotten lost a few times and had some fun transport rides in getting our way around, but all worked out well in the end. The battle against the fruit flies is still being waged and the Sisters moving into the apartment shall need to valiant and dilligent in purging the plague of insects!
Anyways, let me write a little bit about my new companion! His name is Elder Rekow (you've probably gathered that by now) and he has lived in Utah and Idaho. He's the same cycle as me, and knows the language dang good! I've learned quite a bit from him already. I've been grateful for companions who have really disliked grammar and know a ton of words, because I'm the exact opposite. Good stuff! He likes Starcraft, Warcraft 3 and the works, along with sundry things on the internet, so we've had a good fast friendship! He served in a place called Orenburg his entire mission, so Saratov is a who new town and experience for him. He draws anime too, and he's way good. He gets along with people super fast, and our branch in Dachney loves him already, which makes it sad since we've both leaving today. Sad times, but I know that we'll both get along really well with the branch in Zavodskoi.
So, it sounds like it's time to describe a bit more about Russia! It's been super cold lately, with the normal being about -15 celcius (not counting the blasted wind!) Most days we have at least 2-3 hours of contacting, whether that be on the streets on in apartment buildings. People are less willing to stop and have a good 5-10 minute discussion about God when the wind and snow is blowing around in freezing weather, so we've been spending more times going into apartment buildings. It's always quite the experience trying to get into the apartment buildings. There is an outside telephone to call apartment numbers, so generally we start at the top and work down until someone lets us in. I wish I could say there's a science about it, but it's pretty much just like that. I try out my best Russian accent ask them to open the door (please!) since I don't have keys. Theres about 3 different things that can happen. The first is the best where before you can even get a word out they just open the outside apartment door, which is beautiful. The second is that they hear you out, think you're a legit Russian and/or that you live in the complex and forgot your keys or something (I'm always careful to not lie. We legitimately don't have keys!) and they open the door, which is good. The third is the worst, and it's when people start questioning who you are. Once they find out your missionaries and that you aren't going to anyone inparticular in the complex, they always hang up and don't let you in.
P-day is spent in buying food at stores, writing letters, buying pretty ties on the outside bazaar (called a Renok, in Russian) and sleeping. Not much to mention about P-day really, they're generally just a day to relax and listen to music and write home. Yep!
I wanted to thank you all for writing and responding to my questions last week. It had been on my mind for awhile and was especially on my mind this week. I was a bit of a long and stressful week in preparing two apartments and areas for the new people coming in and worrying about what would happen in Zavodskoi, Your letters and encouragement reminded me of something. Some of the most powerful experiences in my life have happened as a result of praying for others and thinking about them. It's easy to see my weaknesses and my fallicies, especially on the mission, and oftentimes it's easy to get caught up in those. A letter from President, Eric and Sean reminded me that the most progress I'll make on my mission is when I am focused on the outside, not the inside. God knows I have weaknesses, and He knows them even better than I, but nevertheless He has specific purposes and goals for me in being out here in Russia (of all places!) to serve His children. It's been cool today to find that refocus and prepare not to worry about my upcoming area, but to work and serve the people there.
Do ya'll remember [...]? The [...] I almost baptized? Her Mom recently came to a Branch activity and has been softening up. I'm so dang excited to go back and teach her and her Mom the gospel. With all good luck, I'll be able to see [...] and her family accept the Gospel. It's gonna be wonderful working again in Zavodskoi! :)
Well, time is nearly up. Thank you so much for you prayers, love, letters, packages and words of comfort. It's helped me a ton, and I can feel your love even here in Saratov. Ya'll be good now, ya hear? Good :)
With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
Monday, January 30, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
01-23-12
January 23, 2012
"Elder Peterson...You're whitewashing again!" "Heh, good joke!...you're not joking are you" "Nope!"
Hey there family and friends!
Transfers have come, and I am being transfered. Not much of one though, just from Dachney North to Dachney South (about a 15 minute tram ride, not bad at all). Same branch, smaller area, some good prospects for baptism. Looking good! Elder Rounds will be staying in the North with his new companion and I will be with Elder Riko, who is in the same cycle as me, so that's pretty cool. We've been told that the apartment has an infestation of fruit flies, so it's been interesting getting suggestions from the office of how to irradicate them. More news on that next week!
[...] has been making some very good progress lately, and we got an interesting phone call one night. She wanted to thank us for the lesson we had given her on the Plan of Salvation and how much she had been liking her reading of The Book of Mormon. She then said "You know, my son has green eyes. But you 2 guys...you have light in your eyes!" That was pretty sweet! Still working on her smoking problem and getting her to Church, so Elder Rounds will take the hand off on her and help her out.
I recently finished another read through of The Book of Mormon, and it's been so dang cool to read it while being on my mission. This past time I read it through without marking any verses and just plain tried to read it as an investigator would read it, and it opened up my mind a lot as to how I could use what I was reading to help our investigators and less actives. Pretty much everytime we share a lesson or spiritual thought I'm able to use exactly what I read that day and express my thoughts in Russian, which is pretty dang cool in my opinion! This upcoming time in reading The Book of Mormon I'll be using a whole new blank paperback one and marking up verses that correspond to the missionary lessons along with adding some commentary. It'll be good :)
Not a whole lot to say this week, so after I write my letter to President I'll try to see if I can load up some pictures onto this computer. Best of luck!
Well, that didn't work. We'll try that out another day. Ah well! Time for some thoughts!
I had an interesting experience I wanted to share from last night, We had to take a taxi to get transfers stuff worked out and so it was me, Elder Rounds and Elder Long (he's a couple of cycles older than us) in the taxi. There was an odd song about a basketball that was playing on the radio and I was trying to focus on translating to song and figuring out the point of it all. There wasn't much of a point, and there were lots of words I didn't know, but I've been making it a habit these past couple of weeks to translate into English what I hear in Russian to improve my translating skills. When I turned around and started paying attention to the conversation between the taxi driver and Elder Long however, I found that they had gotten into a good, deep Gospel discussion. I was abashed and a bit ashamed for having spent so much time trying to translate a stupid song to improve my Russian while this other Elder was being such a great example and preaching. We prayed for the taxi driver and his family (his wife is pretty sick) and went on with the rest of the night,
Elder Long said something interesting. He said that he always tries to keep the perfect missionary in the back of his head and say "What would Elder Wood (a fantastic Elder who just went home" do?" and then try his best to do that. Elder Long also mentioned how fast his time was going on his mission and how he didn't want to be one of those Elders who didn't become all they could on their missions. It got me thinking a bit.
Before my mission I really only had about 3 main desires in my life. I wanted fuzzy dice in my car, I wanted to serve a mission and first, and foremost, I wanted to have a family. I've got a beautiful promise in my patriarchal blessing about my family, and it's always been most important to me and the most amazing thing I could ever think of being is in being a Dad. I knew that I would need to serve a mission before having a family, but I never really thought about what things I would gain or do on my mission to prepare me for the rest of my life.
How exactly have you all (my family) changed from being on your missions? Is it visible in the moment? Is it visible at all that I've changed (for the better, hopefully!). What goals did you have in life and for your mission before and on your mission? What kind of things should I focus on to learn to love my mission more and become the missionary and person that I need to be?
Interesting stuff to think about. Anyways, that'll probably wrap up this little e-mail for the week. Thank you all for your prayers and great love. It's kept me warm in the -23 Celsius weather here in the Motherland! Rumor has it that the next 2-3 weeks will be the coldest of the winter, so we'll see how that goes down. I'll bundle up! Ya'll be good now and eat your veggies :)
With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
"Elder Peterson...You're whitewashing again!" "Heh, good joke!...you're not joking are you" "Nope!"
Hey there family and friends!
Transfers have come, and I am being transfered. Not much of one though, just from Dachney North to Dachney South (about a 15 minute tram ride, not bad at all). Same branch, smaller area, some good prospects for baptism. Looking good! Elder Rounds will be staying in the North with his new companion and I will be with Elder Riko, who is in the same cycle as me, so that's pretty cool. We've been told that the apartment has an infestation of fruit flies, so it's been interesting getting suggestions from the office of how to irradicate them. More news on that next week!
[...] has been making some very good progress lately, and we got an interesting phone call one night. She wanted to thank us for the lesson we had given her on the Plan of Salvation and how much she had been liking her reading of The Book of Mormon. She then said "You know, my son has green eyes. But you 2 guys...you have light in your eyes!" That was pretty sweet! Still working on her smoking problem and getting her to Church, so Elder Rounds will take the hand off on her and help her out.
I recently finished another read through of The Book of Mormon, and it's been so dang cool to read it while being on my mission. This past time I read it through without marking any verses and just plain tried to read it as an investigator would read it, and it opened up my mind a lot as to how I could use what I was reading to help our investigators and less actives. Pretty much everytime we share a lesson or spiritual thought I'm able to use exactly what I read that day and express my thoughts in Russian, which is pretty dang cool in my opinion! This upcoming time in reading The Book of Mormon I'll be using a whole new blank paperback one and marking up verses that correspond to the missionary lessons along with adding some commentary. It'll be good :)
Not a whole lot to say this week, so after I write my letter to President I'll try to see if I can load up some pictures onto this computer. Best of luck!
Well, that didn't work. We'll try that out another day. Ah well! Time for some thoughts!
I had an interesting experience I wanted to share from last night, We had to take a taxi to get transfers stuff worked out and so it was me, Elder Rounds and Elder Long (he's a couple of cycles older than us) in the taxi. There was an odd song about a basketball that was playing on the radio and I was trying to focus on translating to song and figuring out the point of it all. There wasn't much of a point, and there were lots of words I didn't know, but I've been making it a habit these past couple of weeks to translate into English what I hear in Russian to improve my translating skills. When I turned around and started paying attention to the conversation between the taxi driver and Elder Long however, I found that they had gotten into a good, deep Gospel discussion. I was abashed and a bit ashamed for having spent so much time trying to translate a stupid song to improve my Russian while this other Elder was being such a great example and preaching. We prayed for the taxi driver and his family (his wife is pretty sick) and went on with the rest of the night,
Elder Long said something interesting. He said that he always tries to keep the perfect missionary in the back of his head and say "What would Elder Wood (a fantastic Elder who just went home" do?" and then try his best to do that. Elder Long also mentioned how fast his time was going on his mission and how he didn't want to be one of those Elders who didn't become all they could on their missions. It got me thinking a bit.
Before my mission I really only had about 3 main desires in my life. I wanted fuzzy dice in my car, I wanted to serve a mission and first, and foremost, I wanted to have a family. I've got a beautiful promise in my patriarchal blessing about my family, and it's always been most important to me and the most amazing thing I could ever think of being is in being a Dad. I knew that I would need to serve a mission before having a family, but I never really thought about what things I would gain or do on my mission to prepare me for the rest of my life.
How exactly have you all (my family) changed from being on your missions? Is it visible in the moment? Is it visible at all that I've changed (for the better, hopefully!). What goals did you have in life and for your mission before and on your mission? What kind of things should I focus on to learn to love my mission more and become the missionary and person that I need to be?
Interesting stuff to think about. Anyways, that'll probably wrap up this little e-mail for the week. Thank you all for your prayers and great love. It's kept me warm in the -23 Celsius weather here in the Motherland! Rumor has it that the next 2-3 weeks will be the coldest of the winter, so we'll see how that goes down. I'll bundle up! Ya'll be good now and eat your veggies :)
With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
Monday, January 16, 2012
01-16-12
January 16, 2012
"I like you cool hat, Tanya!" "Really, Peterson? Why do you say that everyday?" "Because your hat is always cool!"
Hey there friends and family!
Gosh, it's been a pretty good week, with some interesting twists among it all. I wanted to start out by saying thank you to all of you for reading my e-mails and letters and for sending me letters. I got a letter from Elder JT Williams in Uruguay yesterday and it made me the happiest guy on earth. I've gotten a good bit of mail, and it's the most wonderful thing hearing from everyone. So...thanks! :)
Well, a couple days of go was the grand Russian holiday of... Old New Year! Not enough time to get all of you New Year shenanigans in on one day? Never fear, there's and Old New Year! I was talking to a guy named Dima on the bus who asked me what I did for Old New Year, and I told him that I didn't know what Old New Year was. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "wait...don't they have Old New Year in America?" "Nope!" "Woah...and Christmas is in something, like, December, right?" "Yep!" "You Americans are kinda odd." Good times!
We've got a couple of progressing investigators, which is pretty dang cool! We've been working with [...] (that still just looks so odd spelled out in English) who's been reading the Book of Mormon a good bit (and marking it too!). She likes the Book of Mormon a lot and says that the writings in there are beautiful and of God, so that's some way good progress! Unfortunately she has work everyday until Noon, making it so that she can't really come to Church. We've been praying for her though, so we hope she can find some new work soon!
Speaking of work, that's a question that's been on my mind for a bit. In Russia the general work schedule is not a 5 day work week with a 2 day weekend, but rather you work 2-3 day and then you get 2-3 days off. The problem being that 1/2 the Sundays in the month are taken up by the schedule. Makes it hard for people to come to Church every Sunday because of the work schedule. Wonder if there's anything that can be done about that.
Speaking of Russia, it's been snowing like crazy lately! Good to see that my boots are holding up great and that not even blowing wind and snow and freezing weather doesn't stop people from stopping and talking to us! Albeit sometimes they stop just to tell us we're crazy cultists for walking out in the snow, but sometimes they're genuinely interesting, like [...]! [...] is an older guy we met on the street that loves reading books and has made some very good progress in reading the Book of Mormon. We stood on the street talking to him for almost 45 minutes. Good thing I had bought new gloves earlier that day or else I'd be a little Elder Popsicle!
Well, that's what I got I think :) Ya'll have a good one, alright? Thank you again for your letters, support and prayers :)
With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
"I like you cool hat, Tanya!" "Really, Peterson? Why do you say that everyday?" "Because your hat is always cool!"
Hey there friends and family!
Gosh, it's been a pretty good week, with some interesting twists among it all. I wanted to start out by saying thank you to all of you for reading my e-mails and letters and for sending me letters. I got a letter from Elder JT Williams in Uruguay yesterday and it made me the happiest guy on earth. I've gotten a good bit of mail, and it's the most wonderful thing hearing from everyone. So...thanks! :)
Well, a couple days of go was the grand Russian holiday of... Old New Year! Not enough time to get all of you New Year shenanigans in on one day? Never fear, there's and Old New Year! I was talking to a guy named Dima on the bus who asked me what I did for Old New Year, and I told him that I didn't know what Old New Year was. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "wait...don't they have Old New Year in America?" "Nope!" "Woah...and Christmas is in something, like, December, right?" "Yep!" "You Americans are kinda odd." Good times!
We've got a couple of progressing investigators, which is pretty dang cool! We've been working with [...] (that still just looks so odd spelled out in English) who's been reading the Book of Mormon a good bit (and marking it too!). She likes the Book of Mormon a lot and says that the writings in there are beautiful and of God, so that's some way good progress! Unfortunately she has work everyday until Noon, making it so that she can't really come to Church. We've been praying for her though, so we hope she can find some new work soon!
Speaking of work, that's a question that's been on my mind for a bit. In Russia the general work schedule is not a 5 day work week with a 2 day weekend, but rather you work 2-3 day and then you get 2-3 days off. The problem being that 1/2 the Sundays in the month are taken up by the schedule. Makes it hard for people to come to Church every Sunday because of the work schedule. Wonder if there's anything that can be done about that.
Speaking of Russia, it's been snowing like crazy lately! Good to see that my boots are holding up great and that not even blowing wind and snow and freezing weather doesn't stop people from stopping and talking to us! Albeit sometimes they stop just to tell us we're crazy cultists for walking out in the snow, but sometimes they're genuinely interesting, like [...]! [...] is an older guy we met on the street that loves reading books and has made some very good progress in reading the Book of Mormon. We stood on the street talking to him for almost 45 minutes. Good thing I had bought new gloves earlier that day or else I'd be a little Elder Popsicle!
Well, that's what I got I think :) Ya'll have a good one, alright? Thank you again for your letters, support and prayers :)
With much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
January 09, 2012
The day after Christmas, we were able to Skype with Brian over in Russia and it was great to actually see and hear him! The next Monday, was a holiday being the day after New Year's Day, which is a much bigger holiday than Christmas in Russia so the internet cafes were closed and we didn't get a letter.
01-09-12
"Ever heard of Bobby Fisher? I could beat him at chess!"
Hey there family and friends!
Been a little while hasn't it? Last week pretty much everything was shut down because of the holidays (New Years is the big main holiday in Russia), so there was no place for us to write home! But I think President sent ya'll a message about that, so...there ya go!
Well, I've got a confession to make...I just have to get it out. I'm thinking it's because of my dashing good looks or my heavy American accents, but some women have been asking to hold my hand and hold onto my arm. What's a missionary to do? Sadly, I've broken down and held not only one woman's hand, but I'd say about 10 or so, especially lately. That's right Mom and Dad...I've been helping old grandma's walk down the street! The streets have been super icy lately, and lots of old grandmas have asked me to help them out, so they hold my hand or grab my arm and we walk down together. Good times!
This week has been a pretty good week! Been finding lots of investigators, having good times and working things out with our apartment. Nothing really has changed with that situation, but we've been making a push for a microwave and spatula with our landlady, so we'll see how that one works out.
I saw the Nutcracker! That was way cool. It's actually a bit different than the American one I saw last year (not music wise of course, just how that set up the set, etc). A new member and her daughter came along with us and we all had good times! I nabbed a program, so I'm saving it to show people when I get back home.
Speaking of which, happy belated 6 month anniversary on the mission! Over 6 months out now, which, in all reality, is a small slice of time, but it's been way cool to look back and see the progress that I've made. Very interesting to look back and see what's changed and how I've improved overtime (though in some ways I'm degraded a bit. When I called home 2 weeks ago I was told that my English has kinda gone down the tubes, which I can very much so believe. Ah well!)
I had a pretty cool experience this past week. We've been working with an investigator who's name is [...] (boy, that looks odd in English). She's a very closed person; doesn't like to talk about her life or work or anything, which is alright I guess. I always rattle to her how my day has been, what I ate, if she saw my new spiffy tie that my Mama in New Mexico sent me and whatnot. Most of her lessons have been a bit tough because she went to a Relief society meeting where apparently they were having a discussion/argument about Tithing, so almost every lesson she's asked the member-help on the lesson what they think/argue about Tithing.
Well, we had a lesson with her on Friday night, and it was a bit hectic before that lesson. We had had a lesson with an investigator who wasn't really progressing and was rather bitter about life and such. The member who we had invited to help us on that particular lesson was going to be helping us on the lesson with [...] (the member's name is [...], and he's an old funny Ukranian). Out of the blue, [...] invited our investigator ([...]) onto the lesson with [...] without asking me or my companion beforehand. The investigator said "Yeah, sure. Nothing better to do" which got me worrying a bit. This investigator was, like I said, a bit bitter and I didn't know his view on tithing. Another member, [...], was running late to meeting us to go to the lesson with [...], and [...] was asking why we hadn't already left to go to the lesson and I was just agitated. I didn't want this investigator in on the lesson, [...] was bugging me, [...] was running late. Argh! I just wanted to tell [...] to beat it and call [...] to say she didn't need to come since we were late anyways. But I didn't do any of that, I just stood quietly and was worrying a lot in my head.
Well, in the end, we finally all got to [...] and started our lesson with her. My companion began talking about the Restoration when [...] interrupted and asked the people there about tithing. As it turned out, however, it ended up being the perfect group for her. [...] answered her questions about Tithing and Church with finality, [...] was a great support for helping her understand the teaching of the Book of Mormon and giving her support ([...] is a new member, so she had stories to help [...]) and [...] testified about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong on that lesson and I witnessed a change in [...]. She started out the lesson being very hard and not open, but as the lesson went on she opened up her heart. There were times, like seeing that she had marked some verses in the Book of Mormon we gave her and seeing her willingness to follow the commandments, I felt the Spirit incredibly strongly. Though it didn't seem so to me, it was the perfect group of people to help [...] and now she has good friends in the Church who are able to answer her questions and be friends with her. Been a good week :)
That's all for now methinks! Thank you everyone! Have a good one :)
Much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
01-09-12
"Ever heard of Bobby Fisher? I could beat him at chess!"
Hey there family and friends!
Been a little while hasn't it? Last week pretty much everything was shut down because of the holidays (New Years is the big main holiday in Russia), so there was no place for us to write home! But I think President sent ya'll a message about that, so...there ya go!
Well, I've got a confession to make...I just have to get it out. I'm thinking it's because of my dashing good looks or my heavy American accents, but some women have been asking to hold my hand and hold onto my arm. What's a missionary to do? Sadly, I've broken down and held not only one woman's hand, but I'd say about 10 or so, especially lately. That's right Mom and Dad...I've been helping old grandma's walk down the street! The streets have been super icy lately, and lots of old grandmas have asked me to help them out, so they hold my hand or grab my arm and we walk down together. Good times!
This week has been a pretty good week! Been finding lots of investigators, having good times and working things out with our apartment. Nothing really has changed with that situation, but we've been making a push for a microwave and spatula with our landlady, so we'll see how that one works out.
I saw the Nutcracker! That was way cool. It's actually a bit different than the American one I saw last year (not music wise of course, just how that set up the set, etc). A new member and her daughter came along with us and we all had good times! I nabbed a program, so I'm saving it to show people when I get back home.
Speaking of which, happy belated 6 month anniversary on the mission! Over 6 months out now, which, in all reality, is a small slice of time, but it's been way cool to look back and see the progress that I've made. Very interesting to look back and see what's changed and how I've improved overtime (though in some ways I'm degraded a bit. When I called home 2 weeks ago I was told that my English has kinda gone down the tubes, which I can very much so believe. Ah well!)
I had a pretty cool experience this past week. We've been working with an investigator who's name is [...] (boy, that looks odd in English). She's a very closed person; doesn't like to talk about her life or work or anything, which is alright I guess. I always rattle to her how my day has been, what I ate, if she saw my new spiffy tie that my Mama in New Mexico sent me and whatnot. Most of her lessons have been a bit tough because she went to a Relief society meeting where apparently they were having a discussion/argument about Tithing, so almost every lesson she's asked the member-help on the lesson what they think/argue about Tithing.
Well, we had a lesson with her on Friday night, and it was a bit hectic before that lesson. We had had a lesson with an investigator who wasn't really progressing and was rather bitter about life and such. The member who we had invited to help us on that particular lesson was going to be helping us on the lesson with [...] (the member's name is [...], and he's an old funny Ukranian). Out of the blue, [...] invited our investigator ([...]) onto the lesson with [...] without asking me or my companion beforehand. The investigator said "Yeah, sure. Nothing better to do" which got me worrying a bit. This investigator was, like I said, a bit bitter and I didn't know his view on tithing. Another member, [...], was running late to meeting us to go to the lesson with [...], and [...] was asking why we hadn't already left to go to the lesson and I was just agitated. I didn't want this investigator in on the lesson, [...] was bugging me, [...] was running late. Argh! I just wanted to tell [...] to beat it and call [...] to say she didn't need to come since we were late anyways. But I didn't do any of that, I just stood quietly and was worrying a lot in my head.
Well, in the end, we finally all got to [...] and started our lesson with her. My companion began talking about the Restoration when [...] interrupted and asked the people there about tithing. As it turned out, however, it ended up being the perfect group for her. [...] answered her questions about Tithing and Church with finality, [...] was a great support for helping her understand the teaching of the Book of Mormon and giving her support ([...] is a new member, so she had stories to help [...]) and [...] testified about the Book of Mormon. The Spirit was so strong on that lesson and I witnessed a change in [...]. She started out the lesson being very hard and not open, but as the lesson went on she opened up her heart. There were times, like seeing that she had marked some verses in the Book of Mormon we gave her and seeing her willingness to follow the commandments, I felt the Spirit incredibly strongly. Though it didn't seem so to me, it was the perfect group of people to help [...] and now she has good friends in the Church who are able to answer her questions and be friends with her. Been a good week :)
That's all for now methinks! Thank you everyone! Have a good one :)
Much love, as always
--
Elder Peterson
Monday, December 19, 2011
12-19-11
December 19, 2011
Oh gosh, I need chocolate!
Hey there Family and Friends!
Ooof. Not going to lie, it's been one of the most stressful, if not the most stressful week of my life! It's been a crazy past few days and it'll continue on for at least another few days before everything settles down.
I'm not sure how much I really want to talk about it, at least not right now. So I'm gonna focus on the good stuff!
The ward here in Dachney is amazing, and I had my first experience in doing translating this past Sunday. The senior couple in Saratov, the Williams, decided to come to our branch! I translated for them for Sacrament meeting and for Priesthood and I realized just how cool (but kinda hard!) it is to translate at such a fast pace and with preciseness. Generally when I'm speaking Russian my brain just thinks in Russian and when I speak English I think in English, so it took my brain just a little bit to learn how to listen and understand in Russian and then speak in English what I understood. Woo! It was a fun experience, and I'm glad to have had my first real experience doing it.
We've only had a chance to meet with a couple of members, but the meeting have gone very well. One night me and Elder Rounds were out with the branch list and decided to visit a certain apartment. We thought (statistically) that it would be a less active family we'd be visiting, but as it turned out we found one of the most willing members in the branch! He's a happy Ukrainian by the name of [...] and he was baptized 4 years ago. He gave us advice of who to visit and what to do to help the branch while we're here in Dachney. Even better, he offered his help for any lesson we had! Yay!
Argh, I gotta get this out a little bit I think. This week has been really frustrating. Our apartment looks nice, but it doesn't have a thing! Not even a frying pan (well, there's a frying pan but it's completely caked in heaven only knows what). Our land lady is an old grandma who is impossible to understand is who was complaining about us bringing our own sheets to the apartment. Her husband doesn't know anything about the apartment or anything in it but apparently is in charge of keeping care of our apartment. We found out this morning that our washing machine doesn't work, which the husband of the land lady openly proclaimed he doesn't know how to work. The toilet is pretty flakey and weird smells seem to appear in rooms sporatically. We came into the area without any missionary materials, so we've scraped together a few things to get us going until the office sends us all of the things we need. The apartment is just missing all of the basic things and the only way to get it, it seems, is to get it ourselves and that costs a lot of money and the permission for it will take a while to get through and whatnot.
Sorry, I hope that didn't sound like whining, it's just been a bit rough these past few days. We both know as much Russian as each other and So pushing through all of these apartment things and whatnot has required a vocabulary and skill that combined we've just barely been able to scrape. I haven't even described all of the things we've been doing, and I don't want to either, but...just argh!
There have been a couple of sweet moments among all of this though. When the moment of stress just become too much or when nothing seems to be going write I have found peace in prayer. These first few days have shown me just how weak I am and just how much I need help and guidance from Heavenly Father. While the prelude music was playing at Church I was praying and worrying about how to figure out all these things when I just felt a strong feeling of peace and love in the branch. I looked around and felt the love that the branch had for each other and for the desire they had to learn and to feel the Spirit. I felt peace and comfort that things will be ok.
I wish I could have that feeling all the time. There's so much to do and prepare for in such a short amount of times and so often I've felt so helpless to accomplish any of the simple things that need to be done. I know it will happen and be done, because it needs to be and I'll push through it just fine, it's just a bit hard I guess. Sorry! I really didn't mean for this to be a depressing e-mail or anything. This week has offered me tender mercies among the hard times, and It'll be ok.
Time's up to write. Gonna read the e-mails I got from ya'll and go back to work! Thank you so much for everything! :)
Much love
--
Elder Peterson
Oh gosh, I need chocolate!
Hey there Family and Friends!
Ooof. Not going to lie, it's been one of the most stressful, if not the most stressful week of my life! It's been a crazy past few days and it'll continue on for at least another few days before everything settles down.
I'm not sure how much I really want to talk about it, at least not right now. So I'm gonna focus on the good stuff!
The ward here in Dachney is amazing, and I had my first experience in doing translating this past Sunday. The senior couple in Saratov, the Williams, decided to come to our branch! I translated for them for Sacrament meeting and for Priesthood and I realized just how cool (but kinda hard!) it is to translate at such a fast pace and with preciseness. Generally when I'm speaking Russian my brain just thinks in Russian and when I speak English I think in English, so it took my brain just a little bit to learn how to listen and understand in Russian and then speak in English what I understood. Woo! It was a fun experience, and I'm glad to have had my first real experience doing it.
We've only had a chance to meet with a couple of members, but the meeting have gone very well. One night me and Elder Rounds were out with the branch list and decided to visit a certain apartment. We thought (statistically) that it would be a less active family we'd be visiting, but as it turned out we found one of the most willing members in the branch! He's a happy Ukrainian by the name of [...] and he was baptized 4 years ago. He gave us advice of who to visit and what to do to help the branch while we're here in Dachney. Even better, he offered his help for any lesson we had! Yay!
Argh, I gotta get this out a little bit I think. This week has been really frustrating. Our apartment looks nice, but it doesn't have a thing! Not even a frying pan (well, there's a frying pan but it's completely caked in heaven only knows what). Our land lady is an old grandma who is impossible to understand is who was complaining about us bringing our own sheets to the apartment. Her husband doesn't know anything about the apartment or anything in it but apparently is in charge of keeping care of our apartment. We found out this morning that our washing machine doesn't work, which the husband of the land lady openly proclaimed he doesn't know how to work. The toilet is pretty flakey and weird smells seem to appear in rooms sporatically. We came into the area without any missionary materials, so we've scraped together a few things to get us going until the office sends us all of the things we need. The apartment is just missing all of the basic things and the only way to get it, it seems, is to get it ourselves and that costs a lot of money and the permission for it will take a while to get through and whatnot.
Sorry, I hope that didn't sound like whining, it's just been a bit rough these past few days. We both know as much Russian as each other and So pushing through all of these apartment things and whatnot has required a vocabulary and skill that combined we've just barely been able to scrape. I haven't even described all of the things we've been doing, and I don't want to either, but...just argh!
There have been a couple of sweet moments among all of this though. When the moment of stress just become too much or when nothing seems to be going write I have found peace in prayer. These first few days have shown me just how weak I am and just how much I need help and guidance from Heavenly Father. While the prelude music was playing at Church I was praying and worrying about how to figure out all these things when I just felt a strong feeling of peace and love in the branch. I looked around and felt the love that the branch had for each other and for the desire they had to learn and to feel the Spirit. I felt peace and comfort that things will be ok.
I wish I could have that feeling all the time. There's so much to do and prepare for in such a short amount of times and so often I've felt so helpless to accomplish any of the simple things that need to be done. I know it will happen and be done, because it needs to be and I'll push through it just fine, it's just a bit hard I guess. Sorry! I really didn't mean for this to be a depressing e-mail or anything. This week has offered me tender mercies among the hard times, and It'll be ok.
Time's up to write. Gonna read the e-mails I got from ya'll and go back to work! Thank you so much for everything! :)
Much love
--
Elder Peterson
Monday, December 12, 2011
12-12-11
Dec. 12, 2011
Goin Home From the Factory
Hey there everyone!
Gosh, I had a great visa trip! The temple was way cool (yes, I did get to go!) and it was great seeing all of my MTC buddies again! So, with no further delay, let me give ya'll a background on what happened!
Monday night me and Elder Stoddard left on an overnight train to Samara and on Tuesday morning we arrived in Samara. That morning at the train station I bartered in Russian for a taxi and arrived at the Zone Leaders apartment there. I worked in that area of Samara all day with my MTC companion Elder Swartz! It was a super fun and cool experience, to say the least, to work with him again.
Early Wednesday morning we woke up and took a bus over to the airport. At the airport we all met together (us cronies from the MTC) and set off to Moscow. It was a little boring (the plane ride) because we all as missionaries were sitting together and we all pretty much just slept, but the flight from Moscow to Kiev was a lot less boring! On the flight from Moscow to Kiev I was put between a native Ukrainain who had been in Kazakstan (and now was going home) and a girl from Kazakstan who was going to visit some friends in Kiev. Good times! Ukrainian Russian is so hard to understand though, not going to lie. Almost all the "g's" in Russian are pronounced by Ukrainian's as "h's", that, plus the guy was a little drunk, made it a bit hard to understand him. The girl was studying English in school, though she had just barely started, and didn't know much yet. It was way fun talking to them about why I was in Russia and what America was like, etc. The firl even gave me some Kazakstanian money, which looks pretty dang cool.
The highlight, of course, was the temple. We thought we were going to be doing an endownment session, but as it turned out they didn;t have any sessions for when we were there. So, instead, we did Baptisms and Confirmations for the dead! We all got to confirm and be confirmed and to baptize and be baptized, all in Russian and for Russian people! Way cool! Me and 2 other Elder's also got the chance to confirm over 100 people because 3 girls there wanted to do confirmations. After I did both the confirmations and the baptisms I was complimented on how well I spoke, which gave me the warm fuzzies on the inside! I remember shortly before I went on my mission I got to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead in the Albuquerque temple. I remember also being so scared in thinking that one day I would be doing this all in Russian. Never thought it would have happened so quickly after entering the country, nor did I think that I would do so well in doing it!
After the temple we took some pictures and relaxed a bit on temple grounds and then hopped onto a bus that took us to the airport to fly us back to Samara. After that flight we spent a little bit more time in Samara where we picked up packages and mail and then went on a train back home to Saratov. Mom, I did get teh Christmas package, thank you so much! In addition thank you so much to Rebekah, Jeanette, Eric and Brother Forsyth for their letters too! Mom, if you could use my facebook to send a message to Rebekah Hoggan and Jeanette Zaleski to say I just got their letter I'd be very appreciative :) That reminds me, have you heard anything from my friend Elder Williams in Uruguay?
So that was the visa trip, in short! But that's not all the exciting news. I found out a couple of days ago that...I'm being transferred! I'm going to be in a completely new area that they've made here in Saratov called Dachni North. I'll be with someone who came out at the same time as me too (2 3rd cyclers together. Crazy!). New apartment (that I hear is way nice) and we'll be whitewashed there (neither one of us is familiar with the area). Pretty exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time, but I already know and love my new companion, which is a comfort. His name is Elder Rounds and he was in the same room and district as me in the MTC. Cool times!
I did have a question for you (my family) to chew over and answer, if/when you get the time. I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to have a "broken heart and a contrite spirit". It seems to me to be something that's more than just humility (if you can say "just humility"). Anyone have any thoughts on it?
Sean and Jennie, I'm not sure if I ahve enough time to write a seperate e-mail to ya'll, so I'll include it in this one. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! So easy to remember since I always knew Sean's and ya'll ahve the same birthday! I hope you all have a wonderful day. Hug each other and Brett for me when you get the chance :)
Well, I've got to head out now (gotta write my weekly letter to the President). Thank you all so much for you encouraging letters and love and prayers. I love you all so much!
With much love
--
Elder Peterson
Goin Home From the Factory
Hey there everyone!
Gosh, I had a great visa trip! The temple was way cool (yes, I did get to go!) and it was great seeing all of my MTC buddies again! So, with no further delay, let me give ya'll a background on what happened!
Monday night me and Elder Stoddard left on an overnight train to Samara and on Tuesday morning we arrived in Samara. That morning at the train station I bartered in Russian for a taxi and arrived at the Zone Leaders apartment there. I worked in that area of Samara all day with my MTC companion Elder Swartz! It was a super fun and cool experience, to say the least, to work with him again.
Early Wednesday morning we woke up and took a bus over to the airport. At the airport we all met together (us cronies from the MTC) and set off to Moscow. It was a little boring (the plane ride) because we all as missionaries were sitting together and we all pretty much just slept, but the flight from Moscow to Kiev was a lot less boring! On the flight from Moscow to Kiev I was put between a native Ukrainain who had been in Kazakstan (and now was going home) and a girl from Kazakstan who was going to visit some friends in Kiev. Good times! Ukrainian Russian is so hard to understand though, not going to lie. Almost all the "g's" in Russian are pronounced by Ukrainian's as "h's", that, plus the guy was a little drunk, made it a bit hard to understand him. The girl was studying English in school, though she had just barely started, and didn't know much yet. It was way fun talking to them about why I was in Russia and what America was like, etc. The firl even gave me some Kazakstanian money, which looks pretty dang cool.
The highlight, of course, was the temple. We thought we were going to be doing an endownment session, but as it turned out they didn;t have any sessions for when we were there. So, instead, we did Baptisms and Confirmations for the dead! We all got to confirm and be confirmed and to baptize and be baptized, all in Russian and for Russian people! Way cool! Me and 2 other Elder's also got the chance to confirm over 100 people because 3 girls there wanted to do confirmations. After I did both the confirmations and the baptisms I was complimented on how well I spoke, which gave me the warm fuzzies on the inside! I remember shortly before I went on my mission I got to do baptisms and confirmations for the dead in the Albuquerque temple. I remember also being so scared in thinking that one day I would be doing this all in Russian. Never thought it would have happened so quickly after entering the country, nor did I think that I would do so well in doing it!
After the temple we took some pictures and relaxed a bit on temple grounds and then hopped onto a bus that took us to the airport to fly us back to Samara. After that flight we spent a little bit more time in Samara where we picked up packages and mail and then went on a train back home to Saratov. Mom, I did get teh Christmas package, thank you so much! In addition thank you so much to Rebekah, Jeanette, Eric and Brother Forsyth for their letters too! Mom, if you could use my facebook to send a message to Rebekah Hoggan and Jeanette Zaleski to say I just got their letter I'd be very appreciative :) That reminds me, have you heard anything from my friend Elder Williams in Uruguay?
So that was the visa trip, in short! But that's not all the exciting news. I found out a couple of days ago that...I'm being transferred! I'm going to be in a completely new area that they've made here in Saratov called Dachni North. I'll be with someone who came out at the same time as me too (2 3rd cyclers together. Crazy!). New apartment (that I hear is way nice) and we'll be whitewashed there (neither one of us is familiar with the area). Pretty exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time, but I already know and love my new companion, which is a comfort. His name is Elder Rounds and he was in the same room and district as me in the MTC. Cool times!
I did have a question for you (my family) to chew over and answer, if/when you get the time. I've been thinking a lot lately about what it means to have a "broken heart and a contrite spirit". It seems to me to be something that's more than just humility (if you can say "just humility"). Anyone have any thoughts on it?
Sean and Jennie, I'm not sure if I ahve enough time to write a seperate e-mail to ya'll, so I'll include it in this one. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! So easy to remember since I always knew Sean's and ya'll ahve the same birthday! I hope you all have a wonderful day. Hug each other and Brett for me when you get the chance :)
Well, I've got to head out now (gotta write my weekly letter to the President). Thank you all so much for you encouraging letters and love and prayers. I love you all so much!
With much love
--
Elder Peterson
12-05-11
Dec. 5, 2011
"I love to see the temple, I'm going there...THIS WEEK!"
Hey there family and friends!
So, let me explain a bit more about how my visa trip is going down. Tonight me and one of my MTC buddies Elder Stoddard are taking an overnight train to Samara. We'll work all day in Samara on Tuesday and then Wednesday/Thursday I'll be spending mostly in the air, but, I found out something cool! I fly out from Samara to Moscow and then from Moscow to Kiev (in Ukraine). During our time in Kiev we'll be going to the temple there! WOO! So cool! It may be a bit rushed though since we need to fly out that same day from Kiev to Moscow and then to Samara once more. After all that fun times we get to take another overnight train back to Saratov! Meaning that on Friday, I'm going to be dead tired. But hey, temple!
Anyways, it's been a good week, though I've got a feeling this upcoming one is gonna be good! Yesterday was the election in Russia. I haven't heard anything, but most likely Putin is still President. I just want to see different ads than all the political ones!
Yesterday was kind of an interesting day. A member who was baptized this year has now gone apostate and has been trying to teach members of the Church false doctrine (about tithing, law of chastity, other such things). It was sad to talk to him and it frustrated me a bit. His main points consist that you can break any of the laws of God because forgiveness is part of God's plan for us and we're part of God's church. That's terrible! We talked to him a lot about repentance, upholding church leaders and the law of chastity and it just didn't go well. He'll be having a disciplinary counsel soon and will most likely be excommunicated for the things he's done.
It's a hard. To be honest, there's a lot of folks here with some very odd ideas. Most of the Russians that I've met on the street have told me that their Russian Orthodox, but I've head anything from God is a supercomputer to God doesn't exist (and lots more imbetween) , despite the fervor and surety that they say that they're Russian Orthodox. It's also been a bit difficult helping a pretty good progressing investigator named [...]. He's a little bit older (maybe 60 or so) and he's such a great guy. His prayers are sincere and he understands and lives doctrines (or is trying to, he's trying to quit smoking). He gained a powerful testimony about prayer and loves The Book of Mormon. [...]
How do you find sincere people? How do you help people who have kind of...odd or skewed ideas on the Gospel and help them back onto a good path? How do you help investigators who really do believe in God and Christ but really just interpret the Gospel their own way and won't hear any other? Argh! Kinda frustrating at times, but it'll be ok I think. But maybe someone has worked with people like that and can give some tips.
Ooh, couple of things real quick. A sweet couple who just returned off their mission knitted me and my companion wool socks! Woo! They're so dang cool and look like they're way warm. They'll be nice to wear when I put on my boots. Also, a member of the branch here who speak perfect English was talking to me about a book called "17 Points of True Doctrine". It sounded interesting and so I was just curious to see if anyone had heard of it. Also, I saw an ad for Tangled in Russian, which was excited. In Russian it's called "Rapunzel, a Tangled Story"! Gotta check that one out after the mission.
Not too much more to say I think this week, I love you all very much! Things are going well. The language is coming along just fine, I'm eating well (and healthily too it seems! I gained weight at the MTC and a member of the Church today mentioned yesterday that I had lost weight since I'd been here. Woo!) and alls well. I'm copying the letter that we got concerning Christmas calls in a seperate e-mail to ya'll so we can talk about it this next week. Also, this next week I'll be finding out about transfers, so we'll see if any changes happen.
Love ya lots! :)
--
Elder Peterson
"I love to see the temple, I'm going there...THIS WEEK!"
Hey there family and friends!
So, let me explain a bit more about how my visa trip is going down. Tonight me and one of my MTC buddies Elder Stoddard are taking an overnight train to Samara. We'll work all day in Samara on Tuesday and then Wednesday/Thursday I'll be spending mostly in the air, but, I found out something cool! I fly out from Samara to Moscow and then from Moscow to Kiev (in Ukraine). During our time in Kiev we'll be going to the temple there! WOO! So cool! It may be a bit rushed though since we need to fly out that same day from Kiev to Moscow and then to Samara once more. After all that fun times we get to take another overnight train back to Saratov! Meaning that on Friday, I'm going to be dead tired. But hey, temple!
Anyways, it's been a good week, though I've got a feeling this upcoming one is gonna be good! Yesterday was the election in Russia. I haven't heard anything, but most likely Putin is still President. I just want to see different ads than all the political ones!
Yesterday was kind of an interesting day. A member who was baptized this year has now gone apostate and has been trying to teach members of the Church false doctrine (about tithing, law of chastity, other such things). It was sad to talk to him and it frustrated me a bit. His main points consist that you can break any of the laws of God because forgiveness is part of God's plan for us and we're part of God's church. That's terrible! We talked to him a lot about repentance, upholding church leaders and the law of chastity and it just didn't go well. He'll be having a disciplinary counsel soon and will most likely be excommunicated for the things he's done.
It's a hard. To be honest, there's a lot of folks here with some very odd ideas. Most of the Russians that I've met on the street have told me that their Russian Orthodox, but I've head anything from God is a supercomputer to God doesn't exist (and lots more imbetween) , despite the fervor and surety that they say that they're Russian Orthodox. It's also been a bit difficult helping a pretty good progressing investigator named [...]. He's a little bit older (maybe 60 or so) and he's such a great guy. His prayers are sincere and he understands and lives doctrines (or is trying to, he's trying to quit smoking). He gained a powerful testimony about prayer and loves The Book of Mormon. [...]
How do you find sincere people? How do you help people who have kind of...odd or skewed ideas on the Gospel and help them back onto a good path? How do you help investigators who really do believe in God and Christ but really just interpret the Gospel their own way and won't hear any other? Argh! Kinda frustrating at times, but it'll be ok I think. But maybe someone has worked with people like that and can give some tips.
Ooh, couple of things real quick. A sweet couple who just returned off their mission knitted me and my companion wool socks! Woo! They're so dang cool and look like they're way warm. They'll be nice to wear when I put on my boots. Also, a member of the branch here who speak perfect English was talking to me about a book called "17 Points of True Doctrine". It sounded interesting and so I was just curious to see if anyone had heard of it. Also, I saw an ad for Tangled in Russian, which was excited. In Russian it's called "Rapunzel, a Tangled Story"! Gotta check that one out after the mission.
Not too much more to say I think this week, I love you all very much! Things are going well. The language is coming along just fine, I'm eating well (and healthily too it seems! I gained weight at the MTC and a member of the Church today mentioned yesterday that I had lost weight since I'd been here. Woo!) and alls well. I'm copying the letter that we got concerning Christmas calls in a seperate e-mail to ya'll so we can talk about it this next week. Also, this next week I'll be finding out about transfers, so we'll see if any changes happen.
Love ya lots! :)
--
Elder Peterson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)