Flu, "How Great Thou Art", and Cam's Success with the "Ladies"

Hello everyone!
Its a been a great week and its great to hear that everyone else had a
great week as well! I am glad the trips to Seattle were awesome and
that no one died doing prom! Such a fun fun thing! So lets get to it
this week! Its been very busy and quite hectic. Mostly the whole week
I had the flu so I was somewhat out of it all but I am slowly
recovering.

Monday was a very good P-Day! After emailing, we packed up and took
off to meet the Bethlehem Elders in Clarens. Clarens is a very small
but rich town in between the two of us. We went and played catch with
a rugby and cricket ball. We had a good time wandering around the
town. It is very old and classy looking. We went into an old blanket
shop that sells Lesotho Blankets. I think I might grab one this next
monday. But it was nice to talk and play around and not sit at the
boarding all day!

Tuesday was a day full of hard work. Me and Elder Nthengu decided that
we were going to be more consecrated and try to work harder. So we
took off early in the morning and tracted for like 3 hours before
lunch. We found tons of new investigators and had 4 actual lessons!
Heavenly Father definitely blessed us with success. We want to try and
follow the mission schedule better and so we are going to try and
leave earlier and get more teaching done. Hopefully we will be able to
see even more success in the area and find many more investigators.

Wednesday I started the day by going for a long drive with ELder Akal.
We have been driving and I have been able to do everything but
stopping on hills and going again is proving to be more difficult than
I first thought. But I am learning and I have been able to do it
pretty well. We went to the area and meet with Mama Susan to talk
about her baptism. Well she has the flu too. Was the baptism water
that cold? I can't remember if I told you or not, but after the
baptism on Sunday. We were singing How Great Thou Art. I was sitting
next to her when we were singing. After we closed she came up to me
and gave me a huge hug and said, Elder Peterson, I could understand
every word that you said and it made me so happy inside. I really
could have cried right then. We talked more about her baptism and she
is so excited to be confirmed and become a real member of the church.
So after seeing her, we went to Bro Sboniso to talk about his baptism
as well. Well he has the flu too. That water was way too cold
obviously! But we had a good time talking and he is excited to be
confirmed as well. We also went to Gogo Swatland's house and talked
with her. She is 81 years old and about as small and old as anyone
ever could get! Well the first thing she said when we went in is,
"What do I need to do to be baptized?" Guess who is on B-Date now?
haha she is such a funny lady and really just loves the church so
much! I am finding a lot of success with teaching old ladies...

Thursday I was way too sick. I slept until 8 am. Not too good. And
because I wasn't up meant that everyone else stayed asleep too! Not
too consecrated missionaries today... We had our DDM today and Elder
and Sister Bird came. They are the new couple missionary for this
area. They are from Ogden. We talked much about Family History and
tried to make a plan to set up a FH Center at the church. They also
made us some fantastic food! Split Pea Soup! Which normally would be
not so good but we have missed food like crazy! We had a good day in
the area and went to a referral family. We showed up and the young boy
was outside playing soccer so I joined in and played around for a bit.
My soccer skills are really second to none. I am a champion these
days.  It was fun to just play around but we went in and meet with him
and his mom. We had a good lesson and they seem to really enjoy the
message. Hopefully they will be able to progress.

Friday was the day to bunked again. We got ditched by 3 appointments
in a row. Rough day for sure. We went to a Less active family in the
evening named the Kiri Family. This is a family that missionaries
always talk about being great and we needed to go see them so we went.
This family is too crazy. They are great if you want to go over for
stories and talk about random things but once you say anything even
close to the gospel, they close down. So we talked for a while and
tried to ease into a lesson. It was going good... (This is where the
story of the week comes into play) We were talking and the one ladies
little girl comes into the room. She walks right up to the mother and
she just starts breast feeding her right in the middle of the lesson.
I was too disappointed! Hahah I have never seen that in my life and I
was so confused! My companion seemed like nothing was happening and I
just had to stare at the floor! Ehh I was too disappointed to
continue. It was rough haha.

Saturday we did a bunch of random stuff that kind of killed our day.
We started with 3 hours of service at Sis Pino's house. We gardened,
weeded, and cleaned the yard. We went home and showered and then had
to go to Branch COuncil Meeting. We showed up and everything was
chaos. It wasn't a meeting. It was the President giving fire to the
leaders nonstop. I finally just stepped in and tried to give some
encouragment to help them but eish it was too late. I don't think
anything productive happened at all. We left and went to Bro Sboniso.
We talked a lot about Family History and how he could prepare to go to
the temple with those names. It was great and we are seeing that FH is
great for keeping members active!

Sunday came again too fast! Me and Elder Kakaire woke up and made
african pancakes. They are delicious! We cruised to church and
everything was well. Bro Sboniso and Mama Susan were both confirmed
and it was such a great thing to watch! I have been very blessed to
see so much success in this area and to see so many people that I have
helped teach come into the church and be baptised. So after church
when we were leaving, a meeting got out of Presidents office and
everyone came out steaming! None even stayed to talk. They all
left...? No one knows. But we went to Ntate Moloi's house for FHE and
he said that he wasn't going to attend church any longer... We tried
to talk to him and find out why but all he said was he knows that this
church is true but not this branch. He won't be coming back...
Something is happening here and it is not good. We are going to do a
lot of member visits this week and see what is really going on in this
branch.

But everyone, this week has been good. I don't have a bunch of things
to share but it has been a great week to be a missionary. We have
worked hard and found much success in teaching the gospel. My
companion is still weird but we are still going and doing. We have
been trying to work harder and harder and we are really seeing the
fruits of our labors. Hopefully more great things will happen here in
Phuthaditjhaba. I love you all so much and I am so thankful for each
of you. Have a great week and I will talk to you next week!

Love Elder Peterson

P.S. This saturday is going to be transfers and I will see if I am
going somewhere new!! Should be good things to talk about!

Great Feed, "What does a duck say?"

Dumela!

Another week is gone and here I am again! Seems like not much happened this week and it cruised by! But everyone sounds well and had a nice time this week especially up at the temple! Sounds like a very nice day. Well my week hasn't been great but it hasn't been bad but its been a week!

Monday after emailing all of you was quite the good time. We went to Ntate K's house. If you remember he is the old old old man that really loves the deep doctrine and is a little confused sometimes. Well he invited us over to have a braai (BBQ) at his house. We cruised over and were just talking. We started talking about the bible and he brought out a bible I have never seen before in my life! He had an Apocrepha Bible that was printed in 1611. There are only 3 in the world and it is worth $2.7 billion USD! This thing is crazy!! It weighs 25 kg and looks like a book you would find buried in a cave somewhere! It contains a bunch of books that aren't in the bible and one of them even talks about Nephi. I don't know if this is the coolest or scariest thing I have ever seen. But it is definitely interesting.

Tuesday we had to travel to Bethlehem to have our ZTM (Zone Training Meeting). It was good to meet with the other missionaries and see how everyone was doing. They talked a lot about some problems that were happening in the mission and how they needed to get fixed. We wont discuss them though. And they introduced the new way they wanted us to find people. They want to use Family History. It makes sense because all the people here are very very into ancestors and worshipping them so it would interest them, but the problem is there are no centers or computers that the people can use to do their family history... So I don't really know how it is going to work here... But we will see. I also received the Christmas Card and Valentines Day card from the Cunningham Clan, the talks and recipes from mom, and letter #6 from Jacey! I love getting letters so keep them coming!

Wednesday was the most hectic day of the week! We were working to try and meet with our 3 investigators before their baptism interviews on thursday plus we had a full day of other lessons. Well we started out and we were cruising pretty good and were only behind about 15 mins. Well 4 o clock hit and we went to a family for a lunch appointment. We ate and left at about 5:20. We went to Sis P and talked. We decided that she wasn't quite ready for baptism. She wasn't too happy but she is ok. We left her at about 7. At 7:15 we were in a FHE and had a dinner there. After there we went to a birthday party for a member and got feed again! Usually we get feed about 2-3 times a week, we got feed 3 times in under 4 hours! It was fantastic!! But we meet with the ones we needed to to prepare them for their baptism interviews.

Thursday we went for the interviews for Mama S and Bro Sb. I was on exchange with Elder A this time. We went and everything went well. When we went to Mama S I sat outside and just stared at the mountain for like an hour. I was too bored. When we went to Bro Sb, I waited in the sitting room. Well I fell asleep on the couch and took a beautiful nap for about an hour. When they finally awoke me, we were talking about Swaziland and he showed us a video called 'Swaziland without a king' It was very umm interesting. Swazi seems kind of like the real africa you think of. Starving kids, civil wars, no water. Its africa there. You can watch that if you want but I wouldn't recommend it. Too Scary. After the interviews, Elders A and K went to Harrismith and me and Elder N went to a lesson with Sis P. She is from a part member family and is always at church. She is 9 and just wants to be baptized so we went to visit her. Well we were having a nice lesson and everything was good but then the power went out! It was dark so they got out some candles and we had a nice candle light lesson. We started our walk home, in the dark, and made it. Well upon coming inside, we didn't have a flashlight or candles or anything! We pretty much stumbled around in the dark until I found one. Finally at about 10 pm the power came back right in time to go to bed. Disappointing. (I'm guessing he says this is disappointing because they alway, always, sleep with their lights on for safety.)

Friday was a good day. We had our best lessons today. We meet with Sis P again. I was afraid she was going to be angry that I had told her we should wait for her baptism but she was very cool. We rescheduled her for the 6 April. We had a good lesson on prayer and on the importance of keeping the commandments. We just want to make sure that she is really committed and not just going to go inactive after a week. But she is still progressing nicely so all is well. We meet with Bro Nj today again and had another powerful lesson! We were talking about the Book of Mormon and went through the Intro with him. He was very happy with it and says that he feels the book is true but is still waiting for his answer. But he is progressing so so well and has been coming to church with Bro Sb. We are going to have his baptism on the 6 April as well we hope. But it was a very good day.

Saturday we started the day with some serious service! We did 2 hours of yard work at Sis Pr's house (The girl that was the first one I baptised). We cleaned like crazy and weeded for days! But I had a good time pushing Sis S (her 8 year old sister) around in the wheelbarrow. After service we got ready to go into the area. We went and got bunked by every single person. Every single one. We had zero lessons today. It was awful. But we did find a new house to rent! We went and looked at it and it is definitely an upgrade from what we are in now! But the couples have to come see it and see if we will take it or not but hopefully we can so we can get out of GoGo's house. We went to a FHE and had a nice lesson. After we were playing a game called 30 seconds. You have to describe a thing without saying what it is and your team has to guess it. well I was describing the work 'duck' I said, "Its an animal like a goose that says quack quack." The guess from elder K was 'Eagle' and from Elder A was 'Frog'. I just dropped the card and walked away. What????? It was too funny hahah!

Sunday was pretty good. We had a very normal church service. Ntate K talked about the sacrament in priesthood and went too deep. After we went to a couple of lessons with Sis N N and talked just short about the Restoration and then to Mama B to see her. Nothing out of the ordinary surprisingly.

Overall its been kind of a bad week for teaching and such but it has been pretty good. Nothing bad. Me and my companion don't really get along the best though. We don't fight or anything but we aren't good friends. He is too much into studying, talking about deep doctrine, and sharing bible quotes for me. I can't handle him sometimes. He does know his scriptures but he is almost too into them to be able to connect with people... Its interesting. But I am thinking I will be leaving in just like 2 weeks so hopefully it will be good!

I love you all very much and I am so so thankful for all the support I get from everyone! I hope you have a good week and I will talk to you next week!

Love Elder P

"Mission Impossible" Moment & the Gift of Tongues

Dumela!

Hello everyone and welcome to another week of reading the Elder Peterson email! I have a lot this week so I am just going to get to it! (I would like to apologize for not writing everyone last week. The internet was so slow and kept shutting off)

So last Monday after emailing all of you we took the day to just relax and have a nice day. We drove to Bethlehem to grab some mail and I received a letter from the ward. Dad I hope it wasn't you that made the mistake with Stacey R. When we came home I decided I wanted to make some delicious food. I made some fried chicken that I swear could beat KFC in every way! It was the most fantastic thing in the world! But really it was so great.

Tuesday was pretty cool. I got a call that I needed to learn to drive manual remember? So we went to drive in the morning. I started out good and killed it at the first stop. But I fired it back up and took off. I was doing so good so we even ventured out onto the road (real dangerous) but everything was fine and I only killed it one more time so whatever. I am a pro! We went into the area and meet with Sis T. She is the one from Zimbabwe that just moved here a while back. We were talking about the Book of Mormon and she was having a thousand questions. But each time she asked something, we knew exactly how to answer it, referring to the restoration of the gospel. It was a very powerful lesson and by the end of it, she said she felt that the book was true. We went to a family in the evening for FHE and I was volunteered to give the lesson. So you know that I read Matthew 7, Helaman 5 and made everyone sing "The wise man built his house upon the rock" It was awesome watching these missionaries try to sing and do the hand signs hahaha! But the little kids there really enjoyed it so it was nice.

Wednesday we were meeting with our 3 investigators who are preparing for baptism. Sis P, Bro Sb, and Mama S. We were going to Mama Susan's house first and we had made a plan to meet with Bro C there so he could translate. So we showed up and waited for him but he never showed. We called and he got stuck in Setsing so he couldn't come. So we started our lesson and let me tell you, there is such thing as the gift of tongues! She hasnt been able to speak english and we can't understand Sutu but somehow we were able to have a complete lesson, answer her questions, and talk about everything that we needed to without a translator. We were talking about the Plan of Salvation and she was crying when we told her about the after life and she would be able to see her mother again. It was a very powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong.

Thursday we went on exchanges. I was with Elder K which was great! This kid really is my favorite missionary and probably my best friend here! We went into the area and went to go meet with Mama E. She was there with Mama S. We were just talking some small things and got talking about how they were making traditional clothing out of recycled goods. They have been taking big bags and shredding them into strips and then taking the strips and weaving them together to form a kind of skirt. Sort of like a Hula Dancer skirt but Sutu style. So we had a nice time trying them on and dancing around like crazy people. Don't worry I will be sending pics home soon! We had a good time and our Mamas had a good time watching us dance.

Friday was too hectic. We had planned for like 6 appointments and even had 3 back ups. We got bunked by every single one of them. Every one. It was awful. We spent the whole day walking back and forth across town to their houses but never found anyone so it was rough. We started to walk home and made it to the boarding late at night. It was dark and these other elders had our keys so we called and told them to bring them. As we were waiting (this is where the story of the week begins) I really had to pee so bad. Like soooo bad! It was dark and there was no one coming so obviously I decided to pee in the street by the fence. Well right as I was just umm 'letting go' of course these guys come cruising the corner. I didn't care too much cause I had to go but when they pulled up and I finished and walked up to the car, thats when I saw the member with them... Awkward. But whatever, he was a younger guy, could have been worse.

Saturday was the 1 of March. Bad day to be in the area. At month end everyone gets paid and everyone gets drunk like crazy! Well we started the day and we had 3 fantastic lessons! 2 with younger potential priesthood holders and 1 with a girl who has been visiting and loving the church. We had great lessons and really it was a good day. Well it started getting towards evening and the drunks came out to play! We were walking down the road and one guy approached us and started talking to us so we gave him a pass along card to try and escape. He told us he tried to come to church and someone pulled him out by the belt so this drunk guy grabs my belt like right at the buckle and starts to demonstrate how they dragged him out! I was about to punch the guy square in the face but luckily my companion stopped me. I ripped his arm off and we just left. Could have beat that guy. We were walking down the main road and there is a big parking lot infront of the town hall. Well this is party central. As we walked by all you can hear is bottles clanking. The air is like hot and heavy with the smell of alcohol. But when you look at the ground, the green and clear bottles make a beautiful flowing sea of color as they roll! Such a majestic place. As we continued our journey, it got very very windy and the sand got kicked up. Do you remember on the newest Mission Impossible when he is in Dubai and the sandstorm hits? It was like that! And so we were cruising around in our shirts and the wind is blowing everywhere. I felt like Tom Cruise!

Well yesterday was Sunday again. Church was ok but not good. Sacrament meeting had some interesting moments. Everyone was getting up and it was ok but then Pres. T got up. He was talking (preaching) and all of a sudden he says and I quote, "God don't know." then he said something else and repeated, "God don't know." Seriously everyone was so confused! i am hoping it was a slip of tongue because that was very very bad. After church we went to the area and we meet with a girl who is the most prepared person to receive the gospel I have ever seen. Her name is Sis N N. She is about 22 and studying at the University here. She is searching for a relationship with God and wants to know about his gospel. She lost her mom in 2009 and she never knew her dad so she is really looking for someone for support. Luckily she has chosen God and not some other things. She came up to us on the street one day and asked us about church. We invited her and she came! So when we went yesterday we were just going to follow up and do some basic talking stuff. Well she totally opened up to us and told us basically her life story. It was very powerful and very emotional. She cried a lot and it was hard not to cry with her. But we talked about our Heavenly Father and how he loves us and how he has provided us with the restored gospel as a way to have that relationship with him and be able to return to him. She asked what she needed to do to be baptized. The way that her life has been and from what she has told us, she needs the gospel in her life and I know that it was God's plan to have her meet us on the street that day. We really hope to work with her and try to help her more.

This past week has been one of up and downs, but it has been one that has been full of very spiritual moments. I have felt the spirit more and more in my life and it really is such a blessing! There is nothing better than having that constant companionship and feeling that peace and joy everyday. Obviously every day isn't perfect but I feel each day is better than the one before. I hope everyone has a great week and I look forward to hearing from you all again next week! I love you!

Sahlagahoto!

Elder Peterson

General Peterson: Conquering the World super-nerd style

Dumela! Hello Everyone!

Its great to hear from everyone again! Sounds like the week has been mostly good and no one died so thats always a positive! My week has been somewhat hectic but very good!

Monday night Elder M left me :( That kid has become my brother and I miss him like crazy. Being my first companion, I don't think anyone will ever live up to his standard. He went to Chatsworth in Durban to be a Zone Leader. The good thing about that is that he gets a lot more Airtime so he calls me all the time and we chat and laugh. He actually just texted me and says that he is in the mission office and I have mail there like crazy! haha yes!!!!

Monday night, and all of Tuesday until about 6pm, I was in a fivesome with the Elders from Bethlehem and Elder K. We stayed up until 1 am playing Risk like super nerds! But no worries, I won all 3 games! Just call me General Peterson! Tuesday we just partied all day and ate food like crazy! We bought cold drinks (sodas), sno balls (deep fried goodness covered in coconut), and sweets and just pigged out all day while watching 17 miracles. It was a glorious time! 

Tuesday evening, myself and Elder K got our new companions. His is Elder W who was companions with Elder S (went out from SLC with Cam). My companion is Elder N. He is also from Malawi! I think I am going to serve a mission there or something... He is 7 1/2 months on mission. So he is my follow-up trainer and I think he will be training here once I leave. But he is very very short! Like 4 inches taller than Jacey short! Its kind of like having her around, only a black, boy, missionary version ;) Totally just kidding! He is a very humble kid and kind of quiet. I guess I can't call him kid because he is older than me. He is 23. He really knows the scriptures, like a lot, which is cool when we teach, but he quotes them all the time. Like all the time. Elder K and I like to talk about music, and random things, and then he will always quote something or ask a question about the bible and its kind of awkward... But we will see how it goes! Its only been a week and so far its been good so I'm looking forward to a good transfer with him!

So yesterday, we were at FHE at Ntate Maloi's house, the guy that made me drink sour chunky milk, and I got a call from the Assistants. I went out and was talking to them and they told me I have to learn to drive manual. I am thinking that means I will be transferred this coming transfer to a new area! Im crossing my fingers for Swaziland! (I tried so, so many times to get him to practice--good thing he had the dune buggy and learned how, at least!)

But this last week, we got bunked like crazy! We would have about 6 appointments every day, but we would maybe only see 1 or 2. It was a very slow week. We were trying to make back up plans and back ups for our back ups but it seemed like everyone was just ditching us. Right now I am in charge of the area because I am the older, so I was trying to think of everything but nothing was working. It was a rough week. But yesterday at church we had 13 investigators show up! A lot that we hadn't seen during the week so hopefully this week we will be able to meet with them and get back on schedule! 

Since this last week has been so hectic, I was depressed. The Valentines Day package I got last week, I finished all the chocolate way too quick haha! I really just feasted upon it and finished it all! I especially loved the pop tarts! I miss pop tarts so much... 

I don't have any crazy story to share this week sadly. We learned a little more about the killer devil snake on the mountain and now we know exactly how to get there. We are going there after emailing today! Not really Mom don't worry! ;)

Overall this past week has been good. It was definitely not the best working week, but there were some good moments. I am excited to have a new companion and I am hoping I can learn a lot from him. We have a good teaching pool and a lot of investigators. Now we just have to dig in and see what fruits we can make help grow and hopefully harvest! I love you all so much and I look forward to hearing from you next week and sharing some more stories with you! Have a good week! Love Elder Peterson

The Devil Snake

Dumela!!

Its so great to hear from everyone again! I am so glad everyone has had a good week! My week has been very good and very very busy!!

All week we having been preparing for this past weekend. We have been visiting our 3 investigators mama E, Bro B, and Bro C. We have really been trying to make sure they know everything they need to and that they are comfortable and ready to go. We have also been working really hard on preparing Sis M, Mama S, and Bro S for baptism on February 23. (We are trying to do one baptism service a month to make it easier so the date got changed) So we have been running back and forth between these individuals and then spending lots of time tracting! 

On Friday we had our Zone Conference. Phuthaditjhaba, Bethlehem, and Welkom all got combined to make a new Welkom Zone. So we had our first conference. President Z focused a lot on teaching the first lesson of the Restoration. We talked about how most missionaries when we teach, we teach up until the apostasy and then we stop. Come back for the second lesson, teach until the Book of Mormon and then stop. Come back and teach the third lesson on the BoM. We talked about why we do that and how effective it was. A lot of religions believe the same things as us up until the apostasy. They know God loves us, the gospel blesses families, God chose prophets, and that the prophets were killed. What they don't know is about the Restoration. They don't know about the gospel being lost and the priesthood being taken from the earth. We talked about the power behind teaching the First Vision and Joseph Smith's story. We practiced it a lot and I can see how we need to use that as the main focus in our teaching. Especially in the first encounter. People need to see that there is something different about our church and how it is the true church on the earth today. So conference was very cool and very powerful! An Elder Armstrong from SLC, this was his last so he shared his testimony. He talked a lot to us 'greenies' and said that he was passing us the baton and it was our turn to show our Heavenly Father that we are thankful for what He does for us and we want to show Him by serving our hardest for 2 years. I wish I could remember everything he said because the spirit was so strong and most of us started crying. 

Saturday we had the open house at the church building here in PJ. We were there from 10:30 in the morning until about 6:30 at night. Tons and tons of people came in! Someone had a guest book that they had everyone sign and now we have dozens of new investigators to contact! We are looking forward to meeting with these people this week. We had some older investigators that we had dropped that showed up and said they are ready now to learn. We had a bunch of people we had met on the street and just said hi to that said they wanted to come see where we happy people come from. We had members of the Roman Catholic church that is down the street come up and walk through and say to us that this was a true church and that they wanted to attend here. Really so many people showed such great interest in the Church. The members were fantastic for giving tours and being friendly! I was so worried that it would be a disaster but everything went so so well! We even had a number of people say they wanted to be baptized then and there!! The only down side to the whole day, while all the other missionaries were talking with people, me and Elder C (couple missionary) were trying to set up projectors and speakers to show videos. We spent hours trying to hook up 3 movies. Africans and old people do not know how to use technology. But overall it was very successful and very good for this branch! Hopefully it will help the branch grow in number but also help the members grow in experience! 

Sunday we had a combined Phuthaditjhaba and Bethlehem Branch Conference. The members and missionaries from Beth came here for church. They had the Branch Presidents speak. I really cant recall anything they said other than Pres. T saying, "Dont worship your gold! Money is bad!" It was interesting... But 125 people came so that was pretty cool to see the chapel filled with people! All the adults went into a combined Sunday School class that Elder A (Couple missionary in Bethlehem) talked. We had another investigator that was really ditching us bad attend that class and tell him that she was going to be baptized that night! It was a powerful lesson on the history of the church and the investigators loved it! Afterwards, all the adults set up chairs in the hallway by the front door (the building has no air conditioning and the worst ventilation) and President Z talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was very powerful and kind of funny that everyone was just randomly sprawled around in the hall. 

After church we had the baptismal service for Mama E, Bro B, and Bro C. We planned some powerful speakers and it really was a strong program. We went in and they were all so nervous! Mama E went first and was baptized by Pres. T. She is deathly afraid of water and was shaking when she went in but when she came out of the water, I have never seen her smile so big! After Bro B was baptized by Elder M. He has been waiting for over a month to be baptized. He had been taught here in Phutha but had moved home to Swaziland right before being baptized. The branch there wouldnt let him get baptized for some reason so after a month he moved back here and was finally able to do it. Bro C was the last to be baptized and I was able to baptize him. Bro C has been someone special to me. He was the first investigator that I had started teaching when I got here and have been with him every step of the way. In December he had some problems and no matter what we did we couldn't find him or get a hold of him. I thought we had lost him. But on the first week of the new year he showed up to church and told us everything. He has had some major challenges in life and has seen some awful things but I have personally seen the Atonement of Jesus Christ change his life. Never have I seen anyone that loves this Gospel or the Book of Mormon more than he does. Every day he reads and every time we see him he has something to share with us. He truly loves the Gospel and loves the Lord. I will never forget that baptism. It was such a wonderful day.

So now its random funny scary story time! So Sunday night we went to Ntate M's house for FHE. We were just talking and we told him that we wanted to climb the huge mountain. He instantly told us not to and said we would die! We all looked at him weird and he told us about how on top of the mountain there is a satanic snake that when you climb that mountain, it hypnotizes you, lures you into a pool, and then sucks all of the blood out of your body! I guess it is like a devil or something that lives there and kills people like crazy! He told us that there is a fence there that was placed there before he was born. No one knows who built it but if you cross it, then you instantly get taken by that snake. He also told us that planes don't fly over this mountain because as soon as they cross that fence, the plane falls out of the sky. The snake somehow drags it down..? Mostly it scared me to death and now I never want to climb that mountain! Africa is a crazy crazy place! Anyway, that was my interesting story of the week!

This week has been so so powerful and so wonderful. The Spirit has been so strong and I have learned so much! These were the highlights of my week. Other than this, we have just been busy tracting and visiting some of the other investigators we have. We have been trying to get some more that are progressing nicely but we don't have many that are super potential. Hopefully next week I will have more things and some new investigators to tell you about! I am so thankful for this time I have to be here on mission. It really is the hardest most awful time, but when you see your hard work pay off, and you see 3 people change their lives, everything seems so great! This Gospel is true. This church is true. The Book of Mormon is the word of God and it does have the ability to change lives. I have never taken reading seriously but now that I am here and I have actually spent time to read and search the scriptures, every answer to every problem, can be found in the Book of Mormon. I love you all so much and I am so thankful for all the support I have been getting from everyone, every way from prayers to packages. It means so much! Until next week! Love Elder Peterson

Hiding in the Closet of GoGo's Haunted House

Dumela!!

Hello Hello everyone!

 Its been a crazy but fantastic week this last week! We got a lot done and had some interesting experiences... So this last week was transfers and Elder R left here and Elder A was coming here. He was suppose to come on Tuesday at about 1 pm. We were to pick him up in Harrismith which is about an hour drive from Phuthaditjhaba. Well we drove there, got a call, he missed his bus. So his next bus was suppose to come in at 2 am. We drove back to Harrismith again, he missed that bus. So we drove home. Wednesday at 3 pm was the bus. We drove there, got a call, bus went to Durban instead. So for 3 days, this kid was lost in the wilderness of South Africa! While he was lost, we had quite the fun time! One day we went to a huge Soccer Stadium and snuck onto the field. We ran around and took tons of crazy photos, hopefully they will be in the mail soon, and had a blast! Another day, we went and saw zebras, antelope, gazelles, kudu, gemsbok, buffalo, and some other animals I don't even know! We got lots of cool pics and Elder M tried chasing some buffalo and about got killed! Missionaries are way too stupid! 

Finally on Thursday Elder A came. The Zone Leaders brought him to the boarding. All the Elders wanted to see Go Go's house. This place is like a legend among the mission and everyone wants to see it. They stayed for a while and we all just talked and swapped stories for a while. I love talking to the other missionaries and hearing about the crazy things in SA! 

Well they left and the real work began! Elder A started cleaning the house so I joined in. We seriously vacuumed everything, scrubbed everywhere, and threw out some nasty stuff! We were in the process of going to clean the bathrooms and the water got shut off to half of QwaQwa! We had to stop and decided to go to the area (where they are teaching). The only problem, none of us had showered yet! Luckily I had those baby wipes left from the plane ride so I had a nice 'shower' while the other elders tried to bath using buckets of water they found somewhere. It was a good time! 

Saturday we had our interviews for the baptism. Mama E, Bro B (old investigator that just moved back to PJ), and Bro C are all getting baptized Sunday! We got everything prepared and now we are ready to go! 

Yesterday was a good day! We had church and all was great. After Elder A and Elder M went in to talk to president T. They were giving him 'loving fire' about what the branch needed to succeed. Somewhere during, President T stopped them and said, "Elders, I know that Jesus was born in Bethlehem." They just started laughing! What does that have to do with anything??? I thought it was hilarious! After church we were at our appointments. As we were leaving our last appointment it was raining hard! We started walking home and it came down harder. We were just laughing and going along like little kids. Elder M told me that every time you walk in the rain your wife gets more beautiful, I don't know if my wife can get much more beautiful ;) When we got home we had beaten the other Elders home. They were pulling up and I got the bright idea to hide in their closet. As they came in and went to start planning, I jumped out and scared both of them and Elder M who knew I was in there! 

Elder A seriously screamed like a little girl and about punched me in fear! I still haven't stopped laughing about that!

 Overall this week has been filled with some fun and exciting moments but the spirit has been here non stop. Preparing these investigators for baptism is something that can't be described. All of your hard work is paying off and that's great, but you can actually see as the gospel, and the atonement of Jesus Christ, has changed these peoples lives. Some have had some serious trials in life, but now, they seem as if nothing could be better and they are the most blessed people on earth. I know that this gospel is true and that it does change lives. This is the word and work of the Lord. I am so thankful for this opportunity that I have and for the support I get from all of you. I love you all so much! Have a good week and I can't wait to hear from you again!

Love Elder Peterson

This is a letter written to us by one of the other elders in the boarding, dated 30 Dec 2013

Hello,

Peterson family let me hope you guys are great and everything is moving on right. It was kindly cool moment and time to see you guys on Skype when Elder Peterson was Skyping. It was nice ever to hear from you people. I hope you guys are the best ever, to be honest your son Peterson he is going to be the best and great missionary ever. After he left the MTC he came straight to his fir area and I and my companion picked him up to a small city called Bethlehem. It was nice and pretty to see him.

I haven't been with Elder Peterson for a long time but I feel he is a principled gentle missionary. His decision to come on a mission I feel it is the best ever and he is a friend and a person who cares, and courageous. He is ever with high standards and he is sociable with every one, am really excited for him and also am happy to know him and also to be his friend ever and ever.

What he really desired most here in Africa is to have a chance to see lion. One P-day we drove to Lion Camp--it is like 15-30 min drive. He took nice pictures and we enjoyed together with him as we watch the lions, he was really excited to see them because it was, I think, his first time to see the lions, the huge ones and the little ones.

In this area where we are is called Phuthaditjhaba. You know South Africa 50% is full of whites but where we live there is kindly a little but don't worry he is having fun and also enjoying his mission. I personally love him, he always tells me about his family. He feels that you guys are the best ever and he really loves you guys but he is doing great. He is a powerful missionary and strong in everything.

One of the most great things I have learnt from him is to be humble, meek and lowliness. He loves to be kind and he is teachable. I had explored (discovered?) this from him you know he likes studying, working, increase in his confidence and also to develop more spiritually. What I have explored from him is to love and to show respect and also having good communications, conduct. What can I say I love him and he also does because of his deeds and characters and caring he shows to me.

Am happy to write you this letter. He told me that if you guy write a letter to my parents I know they will be happy of you, and I also decided to do it as the holy Spirit guides. Am so excited to do and and I will always do it and maybe one day after my mission  may visit you to states basically in Utah to see you guys and to also speak to one another! I hope it will happen.

May the Lord bless you guys in what ever capacity you are in. I love you guys very much. Say it out from the bottom of my heart.     From Elder K

Happy New Year or Beans, My Old Enemy or White Man Hunting Season

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a happy New Year! Im sure you had some fantastic New Year parties and celebrations! and enjoyed some wonderful FOOD! Ill be reading all about it today im sure. As for my week, its been interesting to say the least!

On Tuesday we had our DDM (District Meeting) as usual. It was nice and fine but we didn't get done until past 2. By the time we got everything ready and got the other Elders to their area it was past 3. We had 2 hours to see all of our people before the parties started! Somehow we managed to see everyone and started heading home when all the people started coming out. At the boarding we decided to just relax and tell stories. We decided that we were going to be crazy and stay up until 12 but by the crazy apostate time of 10:54 we were all finished! 6:30 am is a good time to see the New Year!

Wednesday. Happy New Year! Basically on New Year everyone gets wasted! Not American wasted, but African wasted!  We tried going out but ended up just giving pamphlets to drunks so they wouldn't beat us! We came back to the boarding and just slept, played games, and swapped stories. Mama M. had us over for a nice lunch. In south Africa they eat beans like crazy! The worst part is they take a can of beans, mix it in mayo and serve it cold! I hate my life... But really i wouldn't even be mad if we had more days like this... 

Thursday was a bad day at the Phuthaditjhaba boarding. The ceiling started leaking water like crazy. We got President T. to come look and the water pipes were just pouring water into the ceiling. After 3 hours and about 15 trips to the store, he finally fixed it. He is a plumber by the way. Our oven also broke so the mission office sent us a new one. It didn't work either. Pres T. tried fixing it but just left! so we couldn't cook anything. KFC here we come! I did send a nice package home today that has lots of letters and pictures for everyone!

Friday was another interesting day. We did our weekly planning while Pres T. fixed our oven. After we went house shopping. We got told about a super nice house we needed to see. We showed up to the scariest neighborhood in the middle of nowhere. The house was more of a shack and it had no bathroom. We just laughed and walked away. When we came home I decided to make chicken stir fry. Little did i know the new stove gets hot!! Well the oil caught fire and made quite the show! The others wanted to throw water on it but i knew not to luckily! GoGo's house would be burned down!

Saturday was quite the day as well. We started off by painting N. M.'s house. We were there for probably 3 hours. But he did make us some breakfast. We were eating our eggs and bread when i reached for some milk. I tipped it up to my mouth and knew something was wrong. As it slid down the glass into my mouth it had the consistency of yogurt! It was some nasty bad milk! But i guess it is a delicacy cause N wanted me to drink more! It was a bad deal.. After we went to Branch family home evening. Only 9 people came but we had a nice discussion on the book of mormon. After, Daddy G asked us about a scripture he found saying we shouldn't eat wheat...? I just laughed and walked out. He is the oldest craziest man on Earth! I walked outside and there was a huge mob with spears walking towards me. I about cried and ran inside! All of the "men" were coming back from the mountain and were celebrating. I thought I was going to be killed! Luckily white man season isn't until next month! ;) 

Sunday was a very good day! Bro C came back to church! We have been praying for him every day since we lost him. He came right in to sacrament and went to every class! We even got to go see him after church and he was telling us that he needed to change. He had been having so many trials and problems and now he knew he needed the church. He shared scripture after scripture with us and was so ready to move on with his life. We talked to him and set a date for 26 January to be baptized. We are going to help him as much as we can! Prayer really is the most powerful thing. I never understood prayer or why i was really doing it until mission. Prayers really are answered. 

This new year i have been looking at everything in my life and have been trying to see what i can do to be not only a better missionary, but a better Camden. Ive been reading Alma 24: 17-19 a lot lately. Its time for me to bury my weapons of rebellion and to give in to God's will for me. There are a lot of things i need to do to help me on my mission as well as prepare me for my future. I love you all so very much and i am so thankful for all the support i have gotten from you! I pray for you every day and i know you pray for me. I can feel those prayers when i am struggling. Enjoy the New Year and I will talk to you again next week!

 Love Elder Peterson

A bit from his email to his Dad

Dear Dad

Im hoping my big email answers some of (your) questions. We are getting more investigators each week and we are planning on a huge baptism on January 26. This new year I read Alma 24 about the Anti-Nephi-Lehis and really decided to look at myself. It was funny because the talk you sent me made me think more about this. I need to personally make these changes for the better. If i become more of a disciple of Christ as a missionary and as Camden, a lot of my problems can be fixed. I have been in the habit of thinking everything i do is right and everyone else is wrong. I have been feeling that i know the church because i have grown up in it and so all these problems are just because of the pres or members. But they are sacrificing and doing all they can to help this church. I need to do the same.... I would just love any scriptures or talks that anyone in the family comes across and wants to share. I mark them so i know they come from the family and i would love more! But the packages of food are always a nice thing too. ;)  

I dont have much more to share this week. I've been doing better and feeling better about mission but it is still rough. I still have all the doubts and everything but i am fighting through it. I love you dad and can't wait to hear from you again!

Love Elder P