Memorial Day

Mom!
The weeks go by so fast! We figured we only have 3 Sundays left! Then we will be headed to Bulgaria! (българия)! The computers here have a sweet program so I can change the keyboard to a Bulgarian keyboard! It is super fun to just play with! I am really excited to get a letter from Karl! Did they get the stamps I sent them? I want to hear all about marching band and stuff! Also I’m going to buy some more SD cards here so that will probably pop up on the debit card, just so you know. They are actually very cheap because we get like a 45% discount on everything in the book store and they give us 6 dollars every week on our access cards just for vending machines and buying stuff from the book store! This place is so amazing! Did you know it is one of the largest language facilities in the entire world? Super crazy!  Today we did not get to go to the Temple because of the holiday but in a way it was nice because I got to take a nap in the morning. I needed it!
          The work we have been doing is very mentally draining! Our teachers told us we are behind the other groups with actually speaking the language, but we are sooooo far ahead with the language rules! So once we actually get there we will learn quickly! Or that is the hope :) He told us a story and he said his companion had been out for a month, so he didn’t understand anything! He also told us that we won't feel fluent and comfortable until about 2 weeks before you come home! That is crazy! We should go on a trip back there because it is so amazing! And everything is really cheap! Also you can barter with everyone to buy anything! We should definitely go on a family trip back to Bulgaria and I will show you all the awesome places! :) Our teachers told us a story about a zoo in софия. (Sofia) apparently they don't really have fences or anything so you can pretty much touch the animals and they said it was really sketchy, but it sounds like it would be awesome! It is crazy to hear so many things about Bulgaria! They say they have the poorest people and some of the richest people in the world. There is not really a middle class, so they say we will see the nicest cars in the world there all the time, and little clunker junkers as well!
          You need to give Mark my e-mail address and tell him to write me! And, I want to know why I never heard ANYTHING about the MTC! I had to figure it out all by myself! But, I am pretty much a pro right now! I hope my Visa comes so that I don't have to wait in Virginia or something! But maybe they would send me to N.C. and Scott would train me! :) Wouldn't that be crazy? There is a place in Bulgaria called the river of rocks! You should look it up! It sounds really cool! I don't really know how to explain it so I won't even try.
           I have like 10 minutes left to type but I don't even know what to say! I’m getting a haircut tomorrow! That’s pretty exciting I guess... also tell people to send me mail! I didn't get any letters last week! Even if it is just a little dear elder! They come the same day and it is just nice to hear how people are doing :) I sent you some pictures today, they won't leave here until tomorrow but I have already put them in the mailbox! Well I gotta change my laundry and I can't think of anything else to say! If I do, I still have some time and I can write it later!  Anyway... I do have to go now. I love you Mom,have an awesome day! OH yeah we had elder Rasband, the President of the 70 come and talk to us! It was really very good!

Love, старейшина питърсън

Called to Serve

Elder Petersen & Elder (Devin) McOmber on the day Elder McOmber leaves the MTC for Samoa.
Wasn't it just yesterday that they were in my Webelos Den? They grow up way too fast! What great Missionaries they are gonna be.

LDS.org - New Era Article - Missionary Mail

Here is an article that I found about writing to a Missionary.

LDS.org - New Era Article - Missionary Mail

Monday, May 21, 2012

          So this Thursday was the marker for my half way point through the MTC! We played cards and had chips and dip. The last two weeks are when you get to host which is where you show the new Missionaries what to do and stuff. Devin is leaving this Wednesday and I am going to watch them and they are going to do the Hakka (I think that is how it is spelled) I have yet to receive anything from Steph but I want to see some of her sweet pictures~! I sent her and Karl a stamp each so they better send me letters! We have heard so much about Bulgaria! I’m never going to come home! :) Now that my companion is not the District Leader, he has made a noticeable change, and now we are late to classes regularly, because he take time doing stupid things like shaving his legs :(.

          I had a great inspiration last night. We were all in bed talking about how to show possession in Bulgarian, and then it all just made sense! It was so awesome! We got to see L. Tom Perry! He is so big! The only way we get to shake their hands is if we are one of the two people in the entire MTC who gets picked to say one of the prayers. So I probably will never get to! I don’t know if I am really supposed to pick a favorite speaker, but Elder Holland is so inspirational! I don't think you can watch the talks given in the MTC... but they are sooooo amazing! I love to listen to Elder Holland. We have been told that he is about due for a visit to the MTC, and that would be so awesome!

          Our mission is all of Bulgaria and part of Turkey! The Turkey part just opened!  There are 4 missionaries there I think. They had to learn Turkish in 12 days! They must have been really blessed by the gifts of the spirit! There are currently 48 missionaries in Bulgaria, and ten will leave when we get there, so I will probably eventually be a companion with someone I am with here in the MTC. Here in the MTC our district is 10, all Bulgarians; 4 sisters and 6 elders. Our Zone is like 30 missionaries; us, the Polish missionaries, and constantly changing English speaking missionaries. I won’t find out if my Visa went through until a couple weeks before I leave. There are some missionaries that were in our last Bulgarian group that are still states side because their Visas didn’t go through yet. One of the elders is Elder Sanstrom. He is in Virginia right now. It’s crazy how much we have heard about that elder. Kaitlin wrote me a letter about him because her friend knows him, and another one of our elders is somehow related to him. It’s so crazy!

          EVERY P-day we go to the temple, except it is going to be closed next week for some reason. We always have a temple walk on Sunday, but they have threatened to take it away because there have been people standing outside the MTC with crosses talking to us as we go by. It is really weird because they are not saying anything against us... it is very strange but we are not supposed to talk to them or anything, so we just sing hymns when we walk by. The stupid picture machine has not been working, so I couldn’t get pictures for you, but they should be here sometime this week! I need to write Scott, so I must go! All is well here, and I love you mom!

May 14, 2012

Wow! It seems like months ago that we went to the Consulate! They say the days are like weeks and the weeks are like days! This is so true here! It’s really hard to see so many groups leave that have gotten here after us! In two weeks we will have another group come into our District and they will leave with us! Elder Zelezniac from New Zealand left today! He was our first Zone Leader and he was such a good guy and he will be a great Polish missionary! I love getting mail but I only got one letter from Aubrey this week! It was very good to hear from her! I have enough time to write letters every day! So get people to send them! I think on my Facebook it says my mailbox number here in the MTC is #120 but it is actually #130. It’s not a big deal because the people in the mail room usually catch it but I don’t want to lose any more mail :). I have so many cool pictures! I took pictures of the fountain on the temple grounds under the water! My camera is so cool! I’ll have to print some today and send them home! Tell Karl and Steph to write me back! I’ll even send them stamps so all they have to do is put it in the mailbox! Tell them to expect some stamps this week to write me back! I had the worst afternoon of my life this week. We teach two investigators that are actually our teachers but it’s a very good role play experience, but we were teaching марин and he dropped us after that lesson on baptism by proper authority. When we got counseled on it our teacher told us he felt like we didn’t care at all about him and we didn’t care about what his needs were but that we just wanted to get our numbers for the week. It was so hard to hear that! My companion is no longer the District Leader but Elder Parkinson is! He is going to be very good but I am kind of concerned for how my companion will be now that he doesn’t have the responsibility of being District Leader! I’ll have to pull him through I guess! and by that I mean encourage and lift up! I’ll send you home a picture of my District for you to put on my blog. I can’t wait for Bulgaria so I can just send you the pictures through email, also I am going to buy SOOOO many ties! Our teachers all have super sweet ties from Bulgaria and I want to get a ton of them! Also I’m going to buy a purple suit! :) for when I come home. :) tell everyone on the blog to write me letters! It won't really be possible while I am in Bulgaria so they need to write me tons now! I am so hungry! After we did some sealings in the temple today we went to the gym and did some lifting and stuff. I had a 500M rowing race with Elder Parkinson and he beat me by like 2 strokes! I’ll get him next time! I’m about out of time but if you could I would like a pair of converse! I don’t know if I packed all of them up or not... the white ones with the black paint would be spectacular! Thanks Mom and you should be getting a thing in the mail this week for Mommies Day!

                                                                                                                                                                                                            LOVE, старешина питърсън

MTC Week 3

Mom!
 I’m not sure that I will actually be leaving on the 19th. That is just an estimate. It will be right around there though. I am emailing you today because I was in L.A. all yesterday! we flew into the LAX at about 9:30 AM and went to the Consulate and got back to the MTC at about 9:30 PM. Super cool that we flew out of a place and flew back in the same day! Met a lot of people and gave out some pass along cards. We also met a girl from Bulgaria that is going back about the same time as us so we hope to meet her again! I’ll have to get back to you next time on translating that Bulgarian because I don’t know a ton of words in memory yet. I know that last sentence sounded weird but I like it. We got kicked out of our classroom from the top floor with a Temple view, down into the dungeon. I’ll send you a picture of the view I had for the first three weeks. We donät know why they moved us. I plan on getting another suitcase in Bulgaria so that I can bring home all of the sweet ties that I’m going to buy! They have some of the coolest ties and I guess they are like 4 Lev which is like about 3 dollars for a sweet high quality tie! and I want to get a purple suit =0. my companion is the District Leader but I guess they change after three weeks, so it will be someone else and I think he wonät be as willing to work as hard as we have been when he doesnät have the responsibility of being the example to the group. I think this because he has basically told me so. thatäs so crazy that Scott is coming home! I sent him another letter and I got that last package from him. It had Mark’s tag with both of their missions in the squares! Too bad I won’t ever be able to actually wear it!  I found these. Tonight (Tuesday) is devotional night so hopefully I get to see another member of the 12! That would be super cool! I do get to sing in the choir though and that really helps to relieve some of the frustration I get with all the language rules we are learning. They have talked a lot of safety in Bulgaria. There are a lot of gypsies there and they are professional manipulators so you can’t teach them because they will lie in any way they can to get money. We actually met a guy from Ukraine at the Logan Temple. He says he goes there every week to see the Missionaries because we go walk around the Temple every Sunday for an hour. He talked a lot about being safe over there. We have also been told that there is porn everywhere, on billboards, and movies on busses, and just everywhere. This is terrible! President Roth seems so cool! We also meet our new President who will take over right after we get there. But for right now we are allowed to listen to music and watch movies and play guitars and do a whole lot of other things I thought I wouldnät be able to! That is what President Roth does and they say his Missionaries are very good! I need to go write Dad and I only have 6 minutes so I will write you a letter this week if I get a dear elder!

                                                                                                                                                                                  Love, elder Petersen

Angels Among Us

~I didn't get an email from Tyler today, hopefully tomorrow. ~

I found this picture on a Friend's Facebook page and really liked it, so, I thought that I would share it. 

Angels Among Us

"...Oh, I believe there are angels among us

Sent down to us from somewhere up above

They come to you and me in our darkest hours

To show us how to live, to teach us how to give

To guide us with the light of love..."--ANGELS AMONG US

"If we have faith in Jesus Christ...We never need to feel that we are

 alone or unloved in the Lord’s service because we never are. 

We can feel the love of God. The Savior has promised 

angels on our left and our right to bear us up. 

And He always keeps His word."

 --President Eyring, 'Mountains to Climb'