Pancakes and Bacon, Easter

Hello everyone! It is great to hear from you all and to see that everyone enjoyed their Easter holiday! Sounds like the Easter Bunny found everyone and a couple people really scored! So Easter in South Africa is definitely not the same as small town USA... People have some funny ideas on how to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Most of which was drinking for like 4 days straight... Funny example/story on Sunday. But this week has been quite hectic and I feel bad because I have not much to tell you sadly.

Monday after emails we went to the Clusters house for lunch. They are a couple from Ogden that is preparing to go home this week. We went over and visited and they made sloppy joes. I have never been so happy for sloppy joes in my life! It was a beautiful thing. After we went to UFS to play sports. Me and Elder H played an intense game of tennis for a couple of hours while the others played basketball. Felt good to play for the first time in months! We went home and because of the distance to the area we can't work on Monday nights so we played a missionary version of beer pong sort of. We placed a tape roll in the middle of the floor, and took turns bouncing a bouncy ball and trying to make it land in the middle. Harder than it sounds!

Tuesday we got a call in the morning that Elder H was finally going to get a companion. So, we traveled to the airport and picked up Elder Ok from Uganda. He is fresh out of the MTC and has the greenest greenie spirit I have ever seen! He is kind of crazy but he tries. He is 25 but acts and looks like he is 12... Elder H is having a hard time... But now they moved into their area and we split again. We went to Malifu (who is our best investigator) and had a lesson on baptism. She said that she really wants to be baptized and she loves the church so much. Her mother hasn't allowed her to come but somehow she told her that she would support her with her decision to be baptized! We set her for 11 May! It really was an answer to so many prayers.

Wednesday we had 0 appointments. With the splitting of the areas I saw just how dead our area is. A grand total of 2 investigators. 1 progressing. We spent the entire day tracting! It was mostly awful but we found a couple of cool people. We meet a girl named Palesa who was taught by missionaries a long time ago so she was very quick to welcome us in. We have meet a few times now and have tried to see what she remembers, honestly nothing. But hopefully she will be able to progress and now will be her time! We also got a referral for a guy named Bongani. We went to his house and he wasn't home but his family was. We had a cool lesson and got to explain about who we were and told them we shared a message about Christ so obviously people accept that at this time of year! Hopefully they will continue to meet with us as well and we can have a cool family to teach!

Thursday somehow we had planned for 8 lessons but only managed 4.  Lots more tracting. We went to Mama Mababe for FHE (She is my mother in this area). We had a fun time and were enjoying when we got a call from the Elders in Phuthaditjhaba that they were coming to our boarding to spend the night! We said goodbye and took off to go and find them in Bloemfontein. Well they were lost and had no idea where they were. They were trying to tell us that they were at the petrol station. Good thing there are probably 174 petrol stations in Bloem. We spent prob 2 hours trying to track them down but finally meet up with them. It was fantastic to see Elder Kakaire and Elder Nthengu again! I miss those crazy kids! We grabbed some McDonalds and headed to the boarding. We talked and talked and talked until way late in the night.

Friday. That awkward moment when there are 8 missionaries in one boarding and we leave the keys in the outside of the door... Nice one. But that shows how safe this place is! We got ready and went to our Zone Conference. We meet at the Bloemfontein chapel and had the conference with Bloem zone, Welkom zone, and Lesotho zone. It was awesome as always to see everyone and catch up. For the conference Pres. Z talked about the importance of working hard and using our time wisely. He challenged all of us to get our 40 hours a week and be accountable for them. It was pretty powerful and gave me another boost to try harder to become better.

Saturday made the Zone Conference lesson a complete failure. Pres Z showed up to the boarding to interview Elder Ok and ended up taking all 4 of us to Bloem for breakfast. Well we were suppose to leave after eating to go to the area but Elder Ad had made other plans. We were now going to meet the Carliles for something and had to leave breakfast to go meet them in the mall. Well remember today is a holiday and saturday. It took us 35 mins to get a parking spot in the parking garage. We got in to the Carliles, they thought they were meeting with Elder Ok to buy him clothes. We then spent 20 mins getting out of the parking garage, went back to the hotel, picked up Elders Ok and H, drove back to the mall, spent 40 mins getting a spot, spent 30 mins shopping for his clothes (he told the Carliles he didn't have clothes. Only had his suit pants to wear), got to the check out and he then says, "I will take these 3 and then I will have 6." We all look at him like what??! He has clothes, just thought mission bought him more clothes. Now we are all disappointed and mostly angry. Leave the store, 20 mins out of the parking, an hour into the area. Now the day is gone and we missed our best investigators in the morning. Fantastic. President thinks we are idiots and don't want to work hard and I look like the bad guy because I am the one driving us everywhere! Pretty ticked about this day. Good thing the breakfast was a buffet and I got pancakes and bacon.

Easter Sunday is definitely not Easter Sunday in South Africa. I was way too disappointed. I was really looking forward to Easter on mission but honestly I did not feel what I thought I would. We had a nice church service and the spirit was awesome during sacrament! The Elders were asked to speak on the atonement and it was really good! (Its nice giving talks here because you say the very basics and thats about what people need to hear) We talked about the atonement, the sacrament, and using the atonement to overcome trials. Overall church was pretty swell other than we only had 4 investigators and less actives come... After church we meet with Malifu again. Well her mother changed her mind and now won't let her even meet with us in the house anymore... So we will have to meet at the church or something. I am not quite sure. We talked a lot about what was going on in her family and it is not in her favor. When we went back outside, her mother was outside. She is huge into the Roman Catholic Church and 'very religious' person. Well she came up to us and was drunk bad. She started asking me for money and I said, "Sorry, all I have is the gospel of Jesus Christ." She told me she didn't want Jesus, only money. Welcome to South Africa. Such a wonderful place! I was too disappointed at this point. We tried to go around and meet some people but no one was home, everyone on the street was drunk. There was no work to be found and trust me, I tried.

Really this week has been quite disappointing. It hasn't been bad but I can tell the spirit wasn't with us as strong. There was too much other stuff going on and not enough work. Its funny, as soon as you try and improve, its like I am going backwards. I just have to keep working hard and trusting that it will get better. This area is very very dead and my companion is beyond finished here. Looks like its time to work double hard and get this place jumpstarted! Have a good week everyone and I look forward to hearing from you again!

Love Elder Peterson

Happy Birthday, Elder P.!! Chicken hearts and a mouse guest for Birthday Dinner

Thank you everyone!! Thank you for all of the birthday wishes and even the letters and package! We have been enjoying the birthday cake last night and even for breakfast this morning! Don't judge us..
My companions were impressed with an American B-Day cake. Elder A** thinks it was way too sweet and said he will stick to healthy things haha but Elder H** thinks it is fantastic so we plan on destroying it tonight!

But my Birthday was quite the success and even this whole week has been fantastic! So I guess I will tell you whats been going on.

So Monday was probably the best P-Day I have had in forever!! All of the Elders in this Zone meet together to email and after we went to Free State University to play basketball. It was so much nicer to go and play and hang out together than to sit in the boarding and be bored all day! Seriously so much funner! Also on the road between Bloem and our boarding, there is like a windmill tower/radio tower type thing that has a motorcycle stuck on the top so obviously I had to climb it and take a picture up there! Don't worry you will get it soon in the mail because this stupid place still doesn't email pics right. Makes me disappointed.

Tuesday was our DDM (District Development Meeting) in Thaba Nchu. We went and just talked about developing Christ-like Attributes and how to do it. After the Carliles took us to get some food. We went to a little shop that sells weird sandwich things. They take a loaf of bread and hollow it out, then fill it with french fries, cheese, polony (like bologna), sausages, and viennes (still like sausages) and covered in fry sauce! It was awesome! On our way back to Botshabelo there were some guys on the side of the road selling SpringBok skins so I might have to buy one and get it sent home. Do you think that is allowed through the post?

Wednesday was our service day so we planned on doing hours and hours of service all day because its impossible to go to the area, do service, drive back, shower, drive back to the area, work. So we planned lots of service. We went to a Less active first and she was less active even for free service! We got bunked for service??? So we went to Mama Mababe's house (lady that feeds us every thursday at FHE, longtime member, my favorite member this side) and worked at her garden nursery. We spent the whole day digging up dirt, sifting it through an old spring bed thing, and wheeling it into piles around the compound. Seriously I was so tired after! After working we figured we would just visit some members and less actives and invite people to church. We went to a guys house named Sinpeewae. His Grandfather was outside and I watched him catch a chicken and cut its head off.... Wasn't ready for that... But now I understand when people talk about a chicken running around with its head cut off! Its very interesting!

Thursday was pretty cool. We had appointments and they were nice and good but there was one that was very very good! We went to an investigator named Pulang. She is like 16 and she had gone to the youth conference in Bloem. We went over to follow up and see how she enjoyed it. Well her friend Winnie was also there so we were trying to teach her too. At the conference they were talking about pioneers and had watched 17 Miracles so we made a cool lesson tying the restoration, Book of Mormon, and pioneers all together and who would have thought it was the perfect lesson! The spirit was there so strong and they asked great questions and we were able to answer everything exactly how we needed to. It was a great lesson and I really hope they continue to progress!

Friday we had our ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) in Bloem. We got there and the main focus of the meeting was on becoming more consecrated missionaries by being more obedient to the white handbook. Elder B** our Zone Leader gave a powerful lesson on following the schedule more perfectly. He showed us the math behind how many hours a week we actually have to work which really is only about 40. But most of us only work about 25-30. He talked about the importance of getting to the area earlier and spending our time actually working not just driving around. It was a little bit of fire but just enough to really make me feel like I needed to do better. I know that I am not the best missionary and there is a lot I can work on so I decided now that I am going to work my hardest and give these 2 years my all. I don't want to come home and have any regrets about not working hard. I want to be able to tell my children especially my sons that I gave everything I had on my mission and I came home finished from working so hard. Thats my new goal. To become a consecrated hard working missionary.

Saturday was day number 1 of being a consecrated missionary and it absolutely pays off! As soon as studies were over I dragged the other guys out of the boarding and we got into the area and started tracting. We found people like crazy and found uber success! We went to our appointments and meet tons of people. One guy bunked us so we tracted the doors next door and found investigators better than he was! At the end of our day we went to a kid named Nelson. He is about 19 and has been taught by missionaries for a little while. He hasn't really progressed but after today's lesson I think he will. So Elder Adale is kind of rough when it comes to teaching and he almost gives fire so me and Elder H kind of take over and we had a powerful lesson on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and at the end of it Nelson actually said he understood and really thinks the message we share is true. We put him on B-Date for 11 May. Powerful day that I have never had before. We had 9 lessons in one day. Thats almost half of the goal for the week! Consecration pays off.

Sunday was obviously a great day! Happy Birthday to me! We went to church and thats where the real present was. We had 15 investigators and Less Actives come to church!!! We had a total of 80 people in sacrament!! Incredible! That alone made my day perfect! As soon as church was over I got a call from the Tshabalala family back in Phutha wishing me a Happy Birthday. That was totally unexpected and so awesome! We went into the area and meet with some people and had a few good lessons. In the evening we went to our Dinner Appointment and this is a birthday dinner I will never forget! We sit down and they bring us heaping plates of chicken hearts on paap! These chicken hearts are not as good as the ones at the Brazilian grill restaurant things.... Half way through the meal I was looking across the room and I watched a mouse run across the floor, and up the table. I was about finished there and then haha. I won't forget that B-Day dinner ever. But when we came back to the boarding we made the birthday cake and totally feasted! Such a good cake!

But overall it has been a fantastic week! Lots of good lessons and lots of working hard! I am very thankful for the success we found this week and hope that it will continue on as keep working on being better missionaries. I am also so thankful for all the birthday wishes and support from everyone! I love you all and hope you have a good week!

Love Elder Peterson

Transfer!! McDonald's!! WooHoo!!

Hello everyone!!!

Its great to hear from you all again this week and hear that everyone is having great times and really enjoying! Also glad that everyone is loving baby Davis! I am definitely loving the pics I keep getting! So this last week has been kind of hectic and kind of awesome! As you all know, I have been transferred Botsabhelo. So I am going to try and tell you everything about everything so this email might be kind of scattered but I will do my best!

So real quick, Monday was my last day in Phutha. I was saying goodbyes and I think one of the hardest goodbyes came from a family that I wasn't expecting. We went to the Tsh--- home and were talking with them for a while. P--- Tsh--- was the first person I baptized but was in the other elders area. Well it was time to go and I was doing ok saying bye to mama and P--- but when I turned to Sis S--- (the 8 year old little sister that I sent a pic of one time) I couldn't hold back. I grew really close to her and saying goodbye was like saying goodbye to Brenner again. It was rough. But I did it and all was well.

Tuesday the real fun began! We woke up early and got everything packed up and got ready to go. We went to Bethlehem at about 7:30 and Elders Kai--, Ak--, and Es-- left to Durban. The rest of us, stayed and had a party! We cruised some bikes around town and went to the mall. At 4 my bus came and it was time for me to go. I said goodbye to everyone, especially hard was Elder Kak---! I will miss that kid like crazy! But he is coming to stay with us someday so no worries. But I got on and was off! For the first 3 hours, I was with Elder Mah--- who was going to Welkom to be the ZL. When he got off, I traveled another 3 hours alone. They were playing XMen First Class on the bus and it was so hard not to get sucked into it! Finally, we arrived in Bloemfontein and I meet with pretty much the whole Zone. They were all there to welcome me and it was way cool! Me, Elder Ad-- and Elder Hal-- all went to McDonalds and then to the boarding.

Ok so basically its impossible to describe everything at this point so now its just going to be random things about everything ok.

So Elder Ad-- is my companion. He is from Kampala Uganda and is the darkest man on earth! haha! He is 28 years old and was in the military back home. I was worried about that, but he is the coolest guy! We get along perfectly!! He is very active so we go running every morning and play soccer a lot. He loves soccer and music. He is in the same group as Elder Mak--- so he is pretty old on mission and will probably go to be a Zone Leader next transfer. But right now the 2 of us are in a threesome with Elder Hal--. Elder Hal-- is from England. He is so so so cool! He is super funny as well and has an awesome english accent! But the 3 of us are working both areas in Bots because his companion had visa problems and cant come into the country yet. All 3 of us get along so great and it is so fun working with these guys! I love it!

Botsabhelo is one of the biggest town ships in all of SA and it is definitely a township... The place is very very rural and primitive. About every other or every third house is a tin shack, and the not shacks are still not houses. All the houses have an outhouse and not an actual bathroom. People hand wash outside in buckets, shower with buckets, and really live like you would expect when you think of Africa... The church is in an old mortuary building. It is very small but it is maintained and looks nice on the inside. The outside is covered in bars and has a huge razor wire fence around the outside which is a little less attractive...

But thank goodness we don't stay there!! Our boarding is on the outskirts of Bloemfontein. We stay in like a big neighborhood complex called Eden Park. Its for big (rich) people so its really nice and really safe! Like we leave stuff outside and the windows open and no one robs us or anything! Its like the celestial kingdom! But there are only the 3 of us staying there, Elder Hal--'s companion probably won't come so we will be in a threesome the whole transfer probably. Its just so clean and nice compared to phutha!! Like I feel so much better just being out of that house!

My time in the actual area has been pretty limited. Its about a 30 min drive there and back each day so it cuts into the time there. This area though is struggling bad. Its one of the worst areas in the mission right now and is seeing zero progress. We have been seeing less actives and trying to meet with investigators but no one is seeing us. We went through the whole teaching pool in 2 days... Looks like we will be tracting like crazy!  But it is a township and usually thats where you can find the most people to teach so I am thinking we will be able to find a lot of success if we truly work hard.

So for story time this week, its about the same as a couple weeks back. We went to a less active that stays in really the smallest tin shack ever. We were going to visit and we started talking about the Atonement. Well everything was going great and the spirit was strong, but then she started breast feeding as well. We were all disappointed! The worst part of the whole thing was when she was finished, she just left herself sitting there! No spirit, we were finished. I just stared out the door. I hate this culture...

But overall, I am excited to be here in this area. I have great companions, and it has given me a great attitude on everything. The area might be hard, but I know if we work hard and put our faith in our Heavenly Father we will see miracles here in Botsabhelo. I also need to work hard and find investigators because Elder Ad-- told me that I might be training here next transfer! He had requested that his companion would be someone that would be training next transfer and now I am here! Guess we will see what happens!

I love you all so much and I hope you have another great week! Let me know what things I left out and what you would like to know. I try to remember everything but its hard to get it all sometimes! Salagahotsho!

Love Elder Peterson

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