9/17/2012

MOM,
About the villages and stuff, no they don't have country homes, they have these little shacks out in the villages and pretty much the have gardens that they care for on the weekends. They pretty much all live in the cities. They have these things called blocks that are just really tall buildings with lots of apartments inside of them that are pretty small. This is where 85% of people in Bulgaria live.
         So no we don't get member referrals. There are so few members that they have all been asked about a million times. 95% of our investigators come from people we just find on the street. And, no we don't have any wards just branches. It did start to cool off! I am actually wearing a long sleeve shirt RIGHT NOW! But it has been raining pretty good for the past couple of days! Which reminds me, if the Holy Ghost tells you to go back up the stairs and grab your umbrella, you better do it! Lesson well learned. :)
         I'm all out of cool things... OH WAIT! We found this really cool couple! They are about mid 40's and they are soooo interested! But they are going on a 2 month vacation tomorrow! So we need to meet them soon! Actually they called us to set up a meeting! THAT NEVER HAPPENS!! Anyway yeah they are really cool! So cool that they have jobs! And don't want the church for money! And they are super cool... :)
          Anyway, Send my love to the family and please, please, please, please get Karl to send me something so I can write him!
LOVE, Elder Petersen

9/10/2012

This week was pretty exciting here in Bulgaria! On Thursday it was Bulgaria day I guess! So nobody was working and everyone went out of the city and stayed in their villages for the weekend! That’s what people do here in Sofia, the city is surrounded by a bunch of little villages and EVERY Saturday and Sunday about 3/4 of the population all leaves the city and so it’s very dead! But, anyway, on Thursday it was a holiday so they all just figured the next day is Friday so they take that one off too! It’s very interesting logic but I can't say I disagree! Except there was no one to teach from Thursday until today!
          We had a baptism this week! And by WE, I mean a companionship in this city baptized someone this week! It was super cool to see how very happy he was! And he only had to be dunked once! His name is Mario and he is a very lively guy who loves to joke and play with the missionaries but he also has a strong testimony.
           I also am meeting with a member every Tuesday at 5 p.m. and she is giving me a Bulgarian lesson! She is so awesome! She has the strongest testimony I have ever seen and she LOVES to share it! Her name is Elka and she is pretty much the bomb! I’ll get a picture with her this week so I can send it to you!
            I have been reading Jesus the Christ and I have just realized how much I don't know about things he did when he was on the earth! It is such a good book and it really helps us understand what Christ did and how to understand the atonement better! You should definitely read it!
            In Sofia where I am at right now just in case you forgot. We play a lot of football (Soccer) on p-days! I never knew how much fun it was until I got here! I think I should have done that when I was growing up instead of other things because it is pretty much awesome! Plus I get to play with Europeans all the time and they are pretty much the best so I have to learn real fast like! ........yeah I’m pretty much out of things....                                                 Love, Elder Petersen

Sept 3, 2012

Okay, This week has not been so great. We started out by playing football on p-day by renting a mini field for 50 lev for an hour an a half and ten of us played. It was tons of fun! We are planning on doing the same this week, but me and my companion Elder Ferwerda invited two young kids from a park to come play with us! I guess my perspective of young has changed because they are probably 20-22 years old. Should be super fun!
     On Tuesday we didn't find anyone new to talk to and we had lesson after lesson fall through. On Wednesday we had district meeting so we didn't start working until 2 pm which is fine but we weren't able to find anyone new and had no lessons. On Thursday I found one person who gave us his number to meet again. We are looking forward to calling him this week! On friday we found the two guys who should come play football with us today. On Saturday we had English class until 11 then the mission president offered us free pizza and how could we turn that down? Then we went home and studied the language for an hour and then got dressed to go to a fun night activity. We got all our investigators in both Sofia branches and some members and we went to a park and played games and ate MORE pizza for about 4 hours. It was loads of fun, but by the time it was over it was time to go home so we only logged 2 missionary work hours that day. Usually we aim for 6-8 so 2 is not that great.
     There is a member in my Branch called Elka and she is going to help me with some language studing! She has a very powerful testimony and she likes to help me learn better how to express mine in Bulgarian. She will pretend to be an investigator until I get every word right and she is happy with it! It is alot of help!
     Also today I sent in 6 ties to the shevashka to have her make them skinny! I think they are pretty cool looking when they are skinny like that and I probably won't have any fat ones by the time I get home! Also another thing missionaries do here is get shirts taken in? I don't know how to call it but they are just smaller and they look so much better than all the ones I have that are all poofy at the bottom! >.<
     Anyway I'm pretty much out of stuff to say. Just let everyone know that I love them!
Love, Elder Petersen

August 27, 2012

Mom,
That sounds terrible about all those fires in Idaho! It has started to cool down a bit here and actually today my companion almost went back to the apartment to get his coat! It is a really cloudy windy rainy day though so it isn't normally like this. Its usually high 80s low 90s here every day I would say.
     My new companion is Elder Ferwerda. he is super funny! He is from Utah and he is the older of 8 kids! I think that would be so much fun to be the oldest of a big family! He says he always had something to do!
     We also had a really cool experience! One day we were out just walking around talking to anyone who would stop, and we were randomly walking around. After about an hour we came to this little circle with some benches in it and a little old lady said hello to us. in English. So we went over and talked with her and her friend for about 45 minutes and it turned out they had just been talking about the Mormons and how the Mormons had seemed to dissapear about 15 years ago. Then me and my companion showed up right as they said that!  They were so happy to see us because they said that all the missionaries are such nice boys. Not like the boys from Bulgaria. We invited them to come to church and left. They didn't show up yesterday but we are going to visit them this next week and teach them more! The lady Nadya kept saying how much she loves Jesus! It was so awesome!
     Pretty much I don't have any other cool stories. But I might have some cool pictures... I forgot my battery yesterday or I would have many7 more cool pictures!
Well choa choa for now!   Love, Elder Petersen

1. Lion bridge.

2. Some building.

2 Months in Bulgaria

Hi mom,
We got transfer calls again this last week! I will be headed to Sofia for this next few months probably! I'm not really excited to serve in Sofia because it feels like a really big city. I guess it has more people than all of Idaho... Plovdiv is perfect for me because it is a big city but it feels like Poctaello! I can walk from one end to the other in about an hour. I wish I could just stay here for two years! My companion will be Elder Ferwerda. Should be cool!
     This last week I said goodbye to my English class and we took pictures. They are pretty upset that Me and Elder Parkinson are leaving because now they will have other greenies teaching them. Oh well. Also there will now be sisters in Plovdiv. I had to buy a new apartament for the city and I was hoping I would get to live in it, but the sisters are taking it and I am getting kicked out of the city! :)
      Ah the rowing competition was pretty cool. We only went there a couple of time because it is on the edge of the city so it is a long walk. We talked to alot of foreigners on the mainstreet though and they were all very nice. We got to talk to a TON of Americans and that was super awesome. Mostly becaus I got to show off my Bulgarian :) Which I still cannot speak\understand. I'm pretty sure I have actually gotten worse since I departed from the MTC! :)
      Also this week me and my companion looked on our map and saw a HUGE park and decided we wanted to go contacting there! It was going to be perfect! It was called Grobishte Park. We walked for about 35 minutes and we could see where the park was over a big wall so we asked a Bulgarian couple how we could get into it.
They said it was around the corner and down the street, so we walked for about another half hour and we finally found the entrance... But the only people in the park were six feet under. We came to find out that grobishte means cemetery in Bulgarian. OOPS.
          Today marks 2 months in Buglaria! and 4 months out on my mission! super crazy huh? Wel I'll send some pictures now!
Love Elder Petersen

August 13, 2012

Well, first of all about the Olympics. I have only really seen one Bulgarka get excited about the Olympics. she loves watching the volleyball. I think that bulgaria only has 1 or maybe a couple more medals so they don't really watch I don't think. BUT this week is the World Championships for rowing... and it is here in Plovdiv! I went out to the rowing canal and talked to some American rowers and some other people. there will be 54 countries here in Plovdiv for the competition! The only bad part is that a lot of tourists will be coming soooo it is hard to contact because everyone is from another country!
    Also this week my companion was made fun of by a clown. It was hilarious. He was trying to talk to a lady when all of a sudden he heard a whistle go off and this clown was holding up a red card toward him like in soccer. It was pretty funny.
          I get to go to Sofia this Tuesday for passport work! Which means that I will get to see all of my MTC group! It will be so awesome! Other than those things... life is the same as usual here!
    We are teaching a new family in a city called Pazardjeek. the mom and daughter were already baptized but the husband wants to be now as well! So, every week we travel for 45 minutes there to teach them! It is a lot of fun! They have 2 little little kids that pretty much love me.
    This weeks letter is pretty short I know, but maybe next week will be better! I do have pictures for you though!    LOVE, Elder Petersen


ACTUALLY it looks like this computer won't let me put any pictures on.... sooo sorry about that!

August 6, 2012

Mom,

Yes, it is quite hot still here in Bulgaria. And no the nights don't really cool off at all! We have to leave our A/C on all night just so we can sleep! No, the English guy who came left the next day. He is just kind of wandering through Europe site seeing.
          As for food... we pretty much eat the same thing over and over again! I can make pizza from scratch now and i can make some yummy yummy pasta! Pretty much we just eat those things and banitsa.
          Anything different from the US?... most of the time zi don't think this place could be further from the US! I have never seen so many stray animals in my life! So many cats! And garbage is literally just piled up in these dumpsters, and if people throw away food they set it on the side so the poor people can come by and pick it out easier. They do the same with clothes as well. I have not gone a day without seeing a person looking through a garbage can. Also most of the roads and sidewalks are super uneven and cobblestone so you have to watch your feet a lot or you will trip!
          Elder Seymour and I have done about 1/4 of the work in this one week that I had done in the previous 5 or 6. When I'm training I will make sure my greenie knows the importance of doing work!
We have had a lot of new rule changes this week and we will see how people respond! I think they are good rules, but people won't take to them very soon.

Love, Elder Petersen

A movie of a party that we passed on a bus.

The elevators in Bulgaria don't have doors, just a moving wall!