Tuesday, January 26, 2016

TRUNKY

Hello all,

So nothing really new this week... Nothing really new or exciting to update y'all on this week.... the life is the life I guess!  Not actually trunky (home sick) but I am surrounded by trunky people with 4 out of the 6 people in my district going home before May... so I still got the feels sometimes for back home but nothing too bad!! At least not like Elder Johnson or Elder Karmonov!!

I guess to say for now is my castellano has gotten a lot better, I actually understand what’s going on around me and can speak a little bit. The only thing holding me back at this point is the lack of vocabulary I know and some grammatical stuff as well... My biggest language accomplishment is talking a member in our ward about Diego Valeri and the Portland Timbers winning the MLS championship (the Portland Timbers is his favorite non-argentine team) which actually happened a while ago… but I was able to tell him what it was like to go to a game and answer his questions to why they would have a big tree trunk on the sideline (the one they cut slices from after a player scores a goal if you’re not from Oregon and have no idea what I’m talking about....)

Me and my comp also have sources in the economy game and how the dollar is doing against the Argentine peso, So I can also get some currency talk going as well!

But I don’t have any pictures or any stories this week! Hope all is well back home!! Would love some update from all of you back at home, school, our out in your mission fields!!

With love,
Until next week,
Elder Pedros
Make yourself at home.



fam,

Things are still going down here... still nothing new to talk about hahaha.  We just work day in and day out and talk with people so nothings really new.  The language is coming along really well and can talk with people a little bit about things other than the gospel.  The only thing at this point holding me back is my lack of vocab.

Ben last week did send a picture of the cookies he got and says thank you!!

I don’t really know what else to say.... I got your thanksgiving card this past week!  If you want to know what I’ve been doing study wise I am reading through the Bible and Book of Mormon in Spanish and started reading the teachings of Spencer W Kimball.  I’m learning a lot about the New Testament actually its really interesting... 10/10 would recommend, Pablo just spits some straight gospel doctrine in all his epistles to the Romans and the Corinthians and stuff its really good!

I guess an update on our investigators... Dani’s mom said she doesn’t want to listen to us anymore and the guy we bought the Christmas presents for we haven’t taught in like 3 weeks now but we still continue to teach his kids like 3 times a week. Other than that it’s just been normal day in and day out.

Hope all is well back home!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

Love
Elder Peters



Monday, January 18, 2016

Overcoming The Fear of Horses

So this week was pretty average not going to lie... don’t have any amazingly cool stories or stuff like that to share... So sorry about it.

I am slowly however overcoming my fear of horses after getting kicked about 2 months ago! I have petted about 3 horses this week slowly getting to the point where I don’t freak out walking through a pack of like 20 horses in the street!

We just spend all day looking for new people to teach and are finding some pretty awesome people! We had a lesson with one lady and her 11-year-old daughter and when we were wrapping up she asked if we wanted water and since it was like 110 we gladly accepted! She brings out a 2-liter bottle of filtered water and hands it too us and is like this is all yours!  And she’s like "oh my gosh are you hungry too?!" and we are like no, no thank you, the water is more than enough! and she hands us a bag of cookies anyways.  People must think we are bums sitting on the side of the road stuffing cookies and water down our throats, but the people are awesome here!

We have been working so hard that the zone leaders are like "Elder Peters... are you ok? it looks like you haven’t slept in days and you’re just droppin’ weight...." like yeah that’s the life of a missionary right??

Hope all is well back home for you all!!
Tenga una buena semana!
Elder Peters





Hello,

Yeah we were pretty excited, as well, that he finally got baptized.  This past Sunday he was ordained a deacon, as well, so that is pretty exciting and now he is headed off with the youth in the ward for a camping trip!  He is just so excited. His mom never had interest in the church until her son got baptized actually. She had never stepped foot in the church until the baptism and then the next day for the confirmation and she felt really good about it!  We have been teaching her from this point on, now the only problem is we have to leave our pension at like 8 in the morning to go teach her since she works literally all the time. But anything to complete the family!

Our biggest goal right now is just finding new people to teach and having a reserve of investigators so we continually have a fall back if one of our prime investigators falls.  So we spend most of the day just contacting and walking the streets which can be boring at times but also super fun at others, we have met some awesome people!

But all is still well back here, tell Sydney I say congrats.
I will probably talk about a little more in my group email but for now that’s really it!

Love 
Elder Peters



Friday, January 15, 2016

Habiendo sido comisionado por Jesuscristo....

Hello Everyone!

So this has been a pretty good week.  We had transfers yesterday which is why I’m writing today and not yesterday and guess what!  Elder Johnson and I are staying!  I have another 6 weeks here in Puerto Vilelas! I love this area so much and Elder Johnson and I are just the best of bros! Excited to see what happens these next couple weeks!

We had another zone meeting which was pretty cool, they’re always super fun and interesting!

The biggest highlight of the week though.....

We had a baptism!


Dani before baptism

before the baptism with the
bishop, the other elders
and Dani and his Mom
en el agua
This is my first baptism and it was such an exciting experience!  His name is Dani, we found him visiting a member that no longer goes to church. He gets up at 6:30 every Sunday morning on his own and takes the bus for about 40 minutes to the chapel and is there before anyone with keys is there.  We have been waiting for about 8 weeks now for his baptism, the only thing holding him back was the fact we needed permission from his Mom since he is under 18 years old.  We had been waiting for about 8 weeks now for permission and one day we visit Dani and she’s like "yeah I changed my mind why not??" and signs the permission form!!

That was really the highlight of the week, nothing new has really happened!
We just continue to work with the investigators we have now and are always out every day in the heat sweating our guts out...

Hope all is well back home!!
Tenga una buena semana!!

PS: Elder Johnson and I are running out of games to play when walking through the streets, if you have any ideas, help us and email us.

When your comp wants to take a pic...

When the member’s kids find a 
zanja turtle... (don’t ask what a zanja is....)




Sup fam,
So all is well here, I wasn’t transferred and everyone in our district is staying!  So I have 6 more weeks here in Puerto Vilelas and Elder Johnson and I are doing a complete overhaul of the area.  Since we have not been having a lot of work these past couple weeks we are starting this transfer hitting the ground hard looking for new people and probably dropping everyone that we have been working with up to this point since they haven’t been really progressing to this point.

But all is well and we are pretty excited! Elder Johnson is pushing me a lot harder now that I am out of training trying to get me more involved and making me take the initiative on a lot more! I honestly think I am pretty blessed with the Elders I have living with us because they have helped me progress so much just this last transfer alone!  We did have a baptism... I wrote about in the other email. no big deal....

But anyways! Hope you guys have a great week! Things are going well here, except for the fact that it is hot still.  I sent pics and stuff earlier, hope you got them! Everything here is just going well!

Love,
Elder Peters

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Ringing in the new year with some flooding

So this week has been a pretty fun week to say the least, I guess.

To start off I had my first round of entrovistas with our Mission President and it went really well. He basically just asks how things are going, if there’s any concerns, and answers any questions I have.  He wants me to slow down a bit because he doesn’t want me burned out in a year.  So I guess I should start taking things a little slower from now on, a guess! 

Next we did divisions again this week, and this time I was with our other Zone Leader, Elder Hendersen, working in Barranqueras again. Things are always so fun and interesting during divisions but I don’t really have any cool or exciting stories, we just found a lot of new investigators here in Barranqueras and Puerto Vilelas so we have a pretty full week ahead of us.

The next few days we had a lock down in our pensions... again... for new year’s eve and day. These days are the worst because we can’t really go anywhere unless we needed to buy food or something.  So we played Uno all day and slept and cleaned.  We kept our 2nd story pension from flooding as well! it had rained so much the drain had gotten clogged and so the floor outside our pension was flooding, and since there isn’t great architecture here the water was starting to run into our apartments instead of down the stairs... so we spent all morning with the squeegees pushing the water down the stairs and into the streets.

To ring in the new year, the 4 of us, Us and the 2 zone leaders, sat on the roof and drank some sparkling cider one of the members brought for us.  We watched as we literally had a 360-degree view of fireworks all over Resistencia and Barranqueras and Puerto Vilelas it was pretty dope not going to lie. And they only sell the huge ones that are illegal back home so for about an hour straight the skies were just lit with these huge fireworks.

To wrap up quickly, I have become famous with an investigator of the Zone Leaders. At church all these little kids run up and start hugging me saying ELDER PETERS... I had met the lady once a few weeks before and now I’m already the family favorite.  So we might be doing divisions again this week so I can go visit with them this next week before transfers.  I was also told by one of our investigator’s I speak better Spanish then my trainer that has 18 months in the mission so I guess my confidence is pretty high right now, I guess.

But I hope you all have a great week, I have transfers this week and I might be leaving for a new city, so you won’t be hearing from me again until Tuesday... hopefully with a BAPTISM

with love,
Elder Peters

PS... if you don’t hear from me... it’s because there’s a huge dam in Corrientes that could break soon and basically flood Corrientes and Chaco, and Formosa is already under water... So maybe sometime in the next month things could get real interesting.

Hey all
Not much has happened this week really... actually a lot but I’ll just write about it in the weekly email.  I did have my first entrovista with President Franco and it lasted all of about minutes since he is such a busy man.  I think he might be worried I’m too much of a hard worker or something because he shared with me a scripture DC 10:4 and told me that he can’t afford for me to get burned out in about a year... So I think I’m going to try and take things a little slower from now on... but all is well here really, the weather still sucks and is day to day.  Also from the interview it sounds like that I could potentially train this next transfer... So as of right now Elder Johnson and I are thinking it will be a white wash training in the middle of Formosa.  I don’t know if I am up to the point where I can train but I guess we will find out here soon hahaha. There are 14 new missionaries and having kids like me with only 3 months’ train is very common here... so who knows at this point haha.

But all is well, look out for the weekly email that will have more info.

Have a good week,
Love you all
Stay safe from the snow
Elder Pedros

Also...
I also got my first present from an investigator this week.  A 12-year old named Dani gave Elder Johnson and I matching ties, so this last Sunday we all 3 wore matching ties... we didn’t get a pic though...

On the back it says:
De: Dani
Para: Elder Peders

It’s the thought that counts right

I also bought a handmade Brazilian hammock that I get to carry around with me for 2 years now. He only sold it to me for 200 pesos when he was selling them for like 300 so I guess I got a deal.

Just stuff I forgot in the other emails
Love
Elder Peters