2 Months Down!

Time has just really flown by. 2 months already and only 22 more to go! and all the other missionaries just say it gets even faster after the first few months.

But there are really no big highlights this week..

We taught some lessons, clapped at some houses (since they don't have doors to knock), and walked around aimlessly a few times.

We do have some really awesome investigators that are really passionate about the gospel and want to be baptized but then on Sunday we get to the chapel and wait and none ever show up... So our goal this next week to is to really emphasize that we want them to come to church and progress more towards baptism!

One couple is just the best , they are our favorites because they just love having us over and love our messages. The last lesson we taught we sit down at their table and before we could say anything the husband is like "Can I say the opening prayer?!?!" and me and my companion just look at each other and say "Por Supeusto!!" They're awesome!

Another time we were doing a lot of contacting (clapping at the houses) and no one wanted anything to do with us and it got to the point we had given up and sat on the curb wondering what to do next since we had absolutely zero work to do at the time until 5 minutes later an old women wobbles by and of course we give the obvious "Hola!! Como esta?" like we do with everyone and she just says "hola" and keeps on wobbling, but a few steps later she stops and turns to us and asks "¿Son misionaries verdad? ¿por un iglesia en Resistencia?" and we stand up and start talking to her and she wants to hear about our church so we give her a book of Mormon and talk about the restoration a bit and she just wobbles over and hugs each of us and tries to kiss us on the cheek (my first experience as a missionary with the no hugging rule) and tells us we are welcome anytime she is home to come and teach her the lessons! So that was a positive this week out of a whole lot of negativity.

There have been a few ups and down this week, mostly downs, but I'm just trying my best to be obedient and patient with all that is going on! But at some points it was just been so hard, not going to lie, this is one of the hardest moments of my life. But patience has been such a big thing for me even though it has run low at times. But I do love it down here and look forward to the next 22 months!

With love,

Elder Peters

The Homie Elder Christansen heading home after 2 years

When it rains.  There are some parts we can't even walk
with our boots because it can get that deep.

The Zone

All has been well this past week. Nothing really new, still don't have any investigators coming to church which is kind of rough since some of them are so passionate about the gospel. But its really just day in and day out the same thing here! We have scheduled appointments, sometimes people forget and are busy (actually most of the time) so we just end up doing some contacting which can be some times even more rough. Especially on Sunday nights because that seems to be the family night where everyone goes out or stays in and watches a Boca or River game (they seem to play literally every Sunday night).

The food we eat here is the best, lots of milanesa and empanadas! A lot of rice as well! The best though is the asada (BBQ) a brother in the ward cooks for us every Saturday! I don't know what any of it is called but there's chicken, sausage, and some steak/ribs and it is the best. I also love the bread here, its all I eat at our apartment since I don't want to cook anything else! Things have really been flying by here. A wave of Elders just left today including one of our zone leaders and he was the coolest guy ever. And no we don't have pentinestas that do everything for us like some spoiled missionaries in Peru...

The poor here are different then the poor in the US. I never see people really working so I don't know if that has something to do with it but I also just think its because the area is poor that no one can really find a nice place to live. There are a few nicer houses with cars and garages and things like that but they are always gated off and clumped together into one area of town.

The weather here is always humid. One day it will be raining and floods everything. Then the next day it will be sunny and boiling hot.  I got kind of sunburned because one day it was raining in the morning then sunny in the afternoon so I didn't have time to put sunscreen on so all the members make fun of me for being red faced.

On Pdays there's not a lot to do but walk around Resistencia and write home. Other than that we sort of just clean our apartment and sleep. What's rough is if we need to buy something we have to leave right at 10 to get to Resistencia before everything closes for the siesta time. So we usually try writing during that time when everything is closed.

Other than that all is well, nothing new! We have a multi zone conference tomorrow here in Resistencia so hopefully I will see some familiar faces like Elder Sheehan!

With love,

Elder Peters

The Horses and the Dogs

Well my first complete week here in Argentina and it has been fast! these 2 years are going to fly by so quickly.

Work in our area has finally picked up and we have a lot more investigators and even some baptismal dates, we need to get them prepared for baptism (getting baptisms is hard here because the requirements down here are kind of strict since there have been issues in the past). But we are optimistic about a few who have just been so excited and happy every since we visited them and gave them a Book of Mormon to read! But more to come as things progress!  Other then that things have been low key around here.  We just walk around in the heat all day.

Just a few highlights and some fun facts about things around here:

1. There are dogs every where.  Like every where.  Just herds of dogs.
2. Almost got run over by a stampede of horses waiting for the bus (yes horses... there's just as many of them as there are dogs)
3. It's completely normal to see a Mercedes Benz stuck behind the horse drawn carriage down the road.
4. One day it could be in the 90´s then the next day be in the 50's and dumping rain.  You just never know.
5. Boca (one of the big soccer teams here, the other being River) won some sort of championship so there were fireworks and celebrations all last night.  Which meant no sleep.
6. I don't think Halloween is a thing here.  I didn't see anything out of the ordinary on the 31st.
7. They have a subway in Resistencia! And its a lot harder than you think ordering in Spanish.

We also had stake conference this past week so we all got to meet in Resistencia and I got to meet a whole bunch of great new people and missionaries! We have a Zone conference here in Barrancarous this next week, so we will be having missionaries coming from as far as 3 hours away stay with us for a night so we can meet together on Wednesday.  It's good stuff I'm super excited!

That is all for this week! I still don't understand any Spanish as well, so that's pretty cool as well.

With Love,

Elder Peters

No pics this week, the library here is the only place that I can upload pictures but its closed today because its apparently a holiday... weird... but next week hopefully there will be pictures of us tracking in the flooding water in our boots and all that fun stuff.

Hello,

Things have been pretty chill here.  Nice to see the Ducks are at least doing well and it's nice to hear about the Timbers because there is a boy in our ward that loves the Timbers and Diego Valeri so I have something to talk with him about now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

I'm glad Chadd got to talk with Alex (its not Christen Press though) and I hope he chewed her out for not going to prom with us.

Sadly, Hermana Beecher is heading home early due to an issue with her leg and leaves tomorrow, so we never really got to talk too much (although she does know Kate McDonald and I know how much mom loves Kate).  The language is coming slowly. I still can't understand very well but I get the general idea of the conversation most of the time.  My companion is getting really frustrated though so that has led to some issues but I'm trying my best to improve more and more everyday.

On P-days we actually have 2 hours for email so We usually come in at around 6 or 7 your time and write for an hour then come back at around 10 or 11 your time and use the last hour.

Other than that things are going well here, I am starting to be more appreciative of the life I had before the mission and actually feel kind of bad leaving the house in nice clothes with a nice bag and all, we definitely stand out a lot from the people we teach.

Since I've been here we have had 17 new investigators and 6 fechas de bautizmo! The problem we have is getting them to church 3 weeks in a row before they can be baptized (just one of the rules they have, they have problems with enduring to the end and people just being baptized just to make the missionaries happy then never going to church again) and its hard because from our area we work in you have to take 2 buses to get to the church and some families just can't afford that every Sunday or have health problems that forbid them from attending.  But we are optimistic about a few. A 30 year old couple who have said "ever since you brought the book of Mormon into our lives things have just been so much better and we are so happy!" and also a 13 year old boy who actually approached us and asked to be taught.  Then a single women who said the same thing the couple said about the Book of Mormon! so we are trying but we still have a bit before anything big happens.

We had stake conference this week but I didn't understand anything so I have no inspiring words to share.  I did get a shout out though because me and my companion helped one of the speakers write her talk.  The family is so nice, we go to their house every Monday for FHE and Sundays for dinner and they're great.

That's really all for this week!

Hope all is well back home

Sending love,

Elder Peters

Argentina

Well I made it Argentina safely and have enjoyed my first week here in Argentina!  We left the MTC at about 8:30 Monday morning and got to our hotel in Resistencia at about midnight on Tuesday. Our travel basically consisted of following random people around that didn't speak any English. All we understood was Resistencia and we all followed these guys into a van. We flew from Buenos Aries to Resistencia so all together we were in planes for about 16 to 17 hours.. I don't want to see another plane ever again for 2 years...

The first Area I am in is called Puerto Vilelas. It's a city near Resistencia and we share the city with 3 other missionaries since the area is so large. I would love to have gotten some pictures of our area but we are not allowed to take any valuables with us (including cameras) for safety reasons. It's incredible down here though. Northern Argentina is one of the poorest areas in South America and its amazing to see the conditions these people live in. Its so beautiful down here though I wish I could share it with all of you!

All of our lessons we teach are on the front porches of peoples houses just because their houses aren't even big enough to support 2 people around their table. It's a really humbling experience and I have learned that the mosquito here love white people. We have no luck really so far since I've been here. No one seems to like missionaries or Americans in general in our area so its hard to go contacting and have some success.

The people here are the best though and I already love it here! I have met some of the most faithful members here and the other missionaries here are the best!

My new companion is Elder Jauregui of Montevideo, Uruguay. He's a really cool guy and luckily he speaks English so we can communicate a bit. I was not ready at all for the language. I don't understand anything anyone says because they talk so fast its crazy! So i just sit there as my companion pulls the team since I have no clue what is even going on...

The elections are going on here in Argentina for their new president so yesterday we were all confined to our apartments for the day (other than church) just so we could stay safe from anything bad that could have happened. Luckily its also been raining buckets so we didn't have to go outside where it is flooding wet. Here when it rains everyone spends the day using buckets and getting all the water out of their houses.  It's sad but the amount of flooding here is unreal.

I'm enjoying it here and I hope you all are doing well back home!

With love,

Elder Peters

Things here are super poor but it is super awesome as well. I'm in an area called Peurto Vilelas (I think). My companion is from Uruguay but is white so everyone thinks we are both from Utah.  Yeah we live just in the outskirts of Resistencia. It's super poor outside of the city (like really poor) I would post pictures but I cant find the USB plug in this Internet Cafe. Nobody here likes us either so it makes it hard to even get lessons in. When contacting you stand outside their gate (or whatever they have) and clap a it and that's your way of knocking. Its different but kind of fun. The conditions the people we teach live in is unreal. Most people here live off of less then what missionaries do (1700 Pesos, or 170 Dollars)

Our flat we live in is one of the best in the mission only because we have hot water and lights. Apparently out in Formosa and Corrientas (where Elder Cornell and Elder Sheehan went) they don't have such things. So I got those blessings to start. The members here are also the best! we do get to eat with the members, but only the approved ones) and they make the best food I have ever had.

Yes we left Utah at 830 and arrived in Resistencia at around midnight so we had a long two days without a shower and wearing the same suit and shirt.

I hope things are well back home, Its been raining here the last couple days and it just floods everything. I'm staying safe don't worry. There has been no need to run from any robbers yet!

I don't remember much else that has happened since I have no clue what is going on half the time since they speak so fast and speak castillano. I was actually told my castillano was very good from a few different people even though I'm just using the Spanish they taught in the MTC so I haven't learned the difference yet...

But all is well! I love it here! Can't wait to spend 2 years here!

Hope everything is well back home!

Elder Peters

I also met an Hermana here from Oregon! Her name is Hermana Beecher from Newberg if that name rings a bell. No sé. But she's in my district, just curious if you recognize the name since you guys know everyone apparently.

PS, I also get 2 hours email time on Pdays so I will be on for another hour later today.

Buenos Aries Airport

Buenos Aries Temple

The view from our flat (this is the best looking area in town)

Our residence (one of the best in the mission)

Arrival Letter

Good afternoon Peters Family,

I am happy to say that your Elder arrived safely in the mission field, and is now currently in his area with his new trainer. Attached to this email is a photo of him, his trainer, and President and Sister Franco, as well as a letter that he wrote for you and a message from President Franco. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us here in the Argentina Resistencia Mission!

Have a nice day,

ELDERJENSEN

Secretary to President Franco

Argentina Resistencia Mission

Resistencia Argentina Mission President Letter

                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                              Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Dear Peters Family,

Sister Franco and I are pleased to inform you that Elder Peters arrived in La Gran Misión Argentina Resistencia last evening.  We welcomed him to the mission, ate dinner, and let him rest. Today we had a small briefing of the fun facts and necessary information about the mission.  After that he met his new companion, Elder Jauregui, and they headed off for their area called Puerto Vilelas II in the province of Chaco.               

 

A mission is a wonderful experience filled with challenges and successes that strengthens the testimony of each missionary.  A great support that you as a family can give your son during his mission is uplifting letters.  In addition to using email, you can send letters to the office address: 

 

Élder Jonathan David Peters

 Misión Argentina Resistencia

  Entre Ríos 435

Resistencia Chaco CP 3500

 Argentina

 

 You may also send letters (and only letters taped shut; no envelopes) via the ¨pouch¨:

                                               

                                                               Élder Jonathan David Peters

                                                               Misión Argentina Resistencia 

                                                               POB 30150

                                                               Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

 

We encourage each of our missionaries to email their parents each week. Please let me know if a reminder to him is needed. You may contact me at: rfranco@ldschurch.org 

 

It will be our privilege to work closely with Elder Peters here in Argentina.  We are blessed to have him join us in this mission to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for sharing your son with us. 

Sincerely,

President Rodolfo C. Franco

Misión Argentina Resistencia

Un cumpleaños en el CCM

Another week down in the MTC!

3 days until we get on our flights and head off to Argentina! its been crazy fast but im looking forward to getting out of Utah!

Nothing new really happened this week other then we had to chance to host all the crying kids coming into the MTC for their first day, basically all we do is just take their luggage and walk them to their dorm room then to their class room while they have a little panic attack but it was still nice to be able to have a chance get out of the class room for a few hours.

Other then that we keep things low key around here but probably the highlight off the week was being able to leave and embark in the real world for once! Elder Cornell had to go pick up a prescription so we got to go to the BYU health center and pick it up. I was so excited because I have so many friends at BYU and I was hoping to run into one of them! but out of all the people we could have seen we ran into one of our teachers, Hermano Hood, the guy we spend like 5 hours with almost everyday haha but it was still good to see him!

Elder Sheehan also had an interesting week as he had to get re-finger printed for his Visa and FBI clearance meaning he was probably going to get reassigned since it was so close to our departure date, then he did get re-assigned to Fresno California until his visa cleared, then got reassigned the next day back to Resistencia.  So he had a more interesting week then most of us did.

Next time you'll hear from me will be in Argentina! Have a Monday morning flight, I'm not entirely sure when the next email will be.. probably not for another 2 weeks when I'm all settled in! So for now I send my love until then! Stay safe everyone and have some fun!

Elder Peters

I don't feel any older it doesn't feel any different being 20.  No there were no special privileges but we did wear the party hats (see group email) and got sang to a lot.  Same with us, nothing new has happened... just getting ready to leave Monday.,.

As for Monday,

I should be at the airport and past security by at least 11 AM MT  and we don't leave until around 12:30 for Atlanta so I should be calling between 10 am and 12:30 your time.  Also make sure that there is at least 200 dollars in my account please.  The bags alone will be about a $100 which I will get reimbursed for out in the field.  What number should I call? will I need to call multiple people (like you at home then dad at work?) just send me an email with number I should call and when to call and I will check tomorrow after church or something.

My flight plans consist of a 2:30 flight to Atlanta then a 10 PM from from Atlanta to Buenos Aries, from there I'm not sure what we do because we have not received information beyond that but we do get into Argentina at about 9:30 Tuesday morning..

Getting excited to leave!  It hasn't hit me yet but we are all looking forward to going.  Except for Elder Smith who broke his toe in our dorm room and can no longer go to Argentina with us.  I'll talk to you on Monday when I get past security and Email you when I either get to Buenos Aries or Resistencia! I'm not sure yet!

Love you all and Ill talk to you soon,

Elder Peters

FLIGHT PLANS

9 October 2015

Another week down here in the MTC!

The best news of the week though is... we got our flight plans!

Everyone that got flight plans in our district (that awkward moment when two Elders in our district didn't get theirs and might be reassigned.)  (From left to right: Elder Marques, Elder Cook, Elder Cornell, Elder Smith, me, Elder Sheehan)

I don't know if we have our Visa's yet or not but getting flight plans means we are on track to receive them before we leave on the 19th! I'm not going to get too excited though because this last week I witnessed a missionary leaving with all his district heading off to Sydney Australia and it wasn't until he got to the travel office with all his stuff packed and the bus ready to go that he found out that he didn't have a visa so he couldn't leave.. Mainly it was the travel offices fault for not informing him beforehand (they said they forgot to tell him) but it still has my entire district and I paranoid about our departure date. We believe it will all work out in the end though! Just knowing there is a seat on that flight for me is enough for me right now and am ready in case they reassign me stateside for a few months.

Other than that nothing really exciting has gone down here...

The most exciting thing was one of the guys in our district (Elder Marques) He’s a super cool kid from Brazil, but he brought like 50 ties with him on his mission... so about 2 weeks ago I started to steal ties from his closet and hid them in our room to see how long it would take for him to find out... well this past week he noticed some were gone so instead of giving them back, the next day we all wore them.. He was not a happy camper that day... but hey we have to find some way to keep things lively here in the prison... I mean MTC...

Today actually marks the one month mark for our mission so only 23 more to go!

Next week is our last full week so we're starting to wrap things up with teaching and start getting focused on leaving and packing and such! It’s going to be super exciting but also will probably be the longest week of my life.

Other than that it’s just been more studying and teaching! We get to Skype and teach lessons with people that are actually from Argentina so that's super cool... but also super hard since they speak so fast.

Until Next week,

Elder Peters

P.S.

My teachers are Hermano Hood and Hermana Fulsom.  I don’t know really any of the other teachers in our zone except for Hermano Myler, Hermana Bond,   Hermano Weeks.  Yes I got all the packages this week! The MTC is still fine.  The MTC food is making me sick and I actually am kind of sick, my throat is just a little swollen but I’ve been doing everything to keep it compressed so it won’t get too bad.  El español es beuno.. es dificil pero es más facil cada dia.. Nuestro lessíones son beuno y Elder Cornell y yo trabajamos muy bien juntos.. somos compreñismo mejor nos districto..

It’s good to see Kirstin is having a good time I guess.  It’s a shame she has to go for the engineering guys though… you hate to see it.

Other things, I get to call from the airport and what a lot of guys from the old districts and guys from my district are doing are having their parents send burner phones (the ones you get at the store) and adding minutes so they can call from that then just throw them out when they're done. I've just heard horror stories of the payphones at SLC with hundreds of missionaries trying to call home at once on like the 5 payphones they have there. Just something to keep in mind. I leave the MTC at 8:30 am on October 19th and my flight isn't until 2:20 PM MT so I should be calling sometime between there, once I get past security (that is if I get my Visa).

We have Devo's every Sunday and Tuesday and I realized I haven't really talked about them at all, if I had more time I would write about what they said, but instead here are some notable speakers:

Vocal Point

Kind K. Burton

Lloyd Newall

Claudio C. Costa

Things are fine, the language is fine, tell everyone I miss them.

Love,

Elder Peters

Elder Chabot

Elder Delgado

Also here is what we do with our free time...ping pong.