2/4/13

Mom,
     No. We do not get to go to the temple. People from Bulgaria actually go all the way to Friedberg, Germany to attend the temple. It is way to hard for them to get into Ukraine. But no, missionaries in Bulgaria do not get a chance to attend the temple while we are here. I really miss it though!
     Probably 80% of the branches in Buglaria have a missionary playing the piano. In ours I am second pick for playing the piano. The first Elder can play maybe 10 songs out of the simplified book. I can do 1 out of the green hymn book and maybe 5 out of the simplified book! My piano skills have actually improved a lot! I think you would be pretty impressed at my ability compared to the lack of any ability  I had before my mission. I have only had to play one song during church though. It was scary.
      In a city called Stara Zagora (the old forest) there was a missionary Branch President for as long as any missionary I know can remember. but about a month ago they finally got a Bulgarian president! That is really cool! Also in Sofia the branch president was a Bulgarian but the counselors were both missionaries. Now however they are all Bulgarians. That was also about the same time as the change in Stara Zagora. So here in Bulgaria it is really starting to get up on its feet and function with out so much dependency on the missionaries.
      That girls name is Vladimira. Just remember when you say it that every i makes the sounds of a long E and all a's make the AH sound. and the accent is on the second i. and roll your r. And Bulgarians kind of make there L's into a whah sound. Good luck. :)
     We actually had a meeting with her mother so that we could try and put her worries to rest. They came to church together and we may just get permission to continue teaching her! She is very receptive to the spirit and wants to believe in something! Also she speaks almost perfect english I found out! One lesson I said something in English to the member we had with us so she could translate it because I didn't know the tense that I had to use. and now I found out she understood everything! Crazy!
     Well I want to go play football in the rain, so I will just have to hear from you next week! Give all my love to everyone! and get the primary kids to write me letters :)
Love,
Elder Petersen

Zone Conference

Dear Parents,

  A special zone conference was held on January 24th while Elder and Sister Malm, of the Area Presidency, were conducting a mission tour.  We are sure that you will enjoy the picture of the group.

 Sister Segeberg

Bulgaria Sofia Mission

Tyler is the "Tall" one on the Right Side

On the chairs from left to right: Sister Cambel, Sister Tate, Sister Wilstead, President Wilstead, Elder Malm, Sister Malm, Sister Bingham, Sister Turnbow (from Idaho!),All the elders: Elder Hammond, Elder Maxwell, Elder Redpath, Elder Vannederhauzern, Elder Christiansen(From Idaho), Elder Seymour, Elder Hill Jr., Elder Greenur, Elder Wall, Elder Greenacre, Elder Hill Sr., Elder Weiner, Elder Parkinson, Elder Barber, Elder Saunders (From Idaho!), Elder Bellows, Elder Goodwin, Elder Stults, Elder Me, Elder Bryce

Mom
     My companions brother just got engaged. He has only be home for two weeks! How long has Scott been home now? If I'm not mistaken... about 6 months? I am almost to my 10 month mark! What happened with all that time? Beats me. Tell Scott he can't get married until I get home. I told him once but I think he blocked it out of his memory.
     We had Zone Conference this week and it was very good! Elder Per G. Malm from the 70 came and talked to us. He is the second counselor for the area that my mission is in. He is also the member of the 70 who talked in the MTC when I gave the prayer, if you will remember. It was pretty good to see him again although he did not recognize me. At the end of last year our mission was among the lowest in all the indicators for missionary work in our area. So far this year we are far outdoing everybody. It is amazing the work we can do by just being obedient and trusting in the direction of the mission president!
     This week at church we had a full building! President Wilstead was coming to visit our branch so we made an extra effort to get everybody that we could. Every missionary couple had investigators at church. Our 15 year old investigator brought a friend with her! She has also got permission from her father to continue taking the lessons. But since she only lives with her mom, we still need to be careful with how we proceed. Elder Parkinson and his companion had a family come! not just a normal family though, THEY HAD 5 KIDS! that is unreal for Bulgaria. It was super nice to see a "full" primary room! It was very much a joy!
     I hope all is going well at home! please don't forget about poor peanutbutterless Elder Petersen!
Love,
Elder Petersen

Pravoslav temple in Varna, Bulgaria.

The day before it snowed. It was about 16 degrees! so nice!

It snowed. We worked.

Mom,
     Being sealed forever, what a great gift we have from Heavenly Father! I'm glad you got to see that! I hope it was a very spiritual experience for all of you!
     I'm struggling to think of anything to say today. We have just been doing searching activities alot. mostly knocking on doors. We have only been let into one house, but they were really nice and we will return to give her a Book of Mormon and teach her the gospel with her family. All we can do is teach and hope they accept the message.
     We taught our young female investigator again this week, but sadly we gave her a parental permission slip that she needs to have signed. She looked very sad that she may not be able to meet with us anymore. She was progressing very well, and understanding everything we taught her. I would ask for you and everyone who reads this to pray for her, and that her parents hearts will be softened to allow her to learn the gospel.
     This week we met with a man about in his 60's and after we taught him the restoration lesson, we asked him if he would be baptized on 23 February  He accepted, and now we are making sure he will be prepared by the date.
     Please pray for these investigators, and others that are searching into the church. Prayers are answered and miracles do happen! Thanks for all your support, and keep the faith! :D

Love,
Elder Petersen

1/13/13

Babche! (little grandma)

Mom,
     Thanks for the birthday wish. I'm super old now and I can hardly get around anymore. Now I know what it is like to be old!
     That is super cool that Richard is going to enter the MTC on my year mark! There is a word in Bulgarian for people who are born on the same day, but I can't remember it right now. But that is what we would be according to the mission anyway! Give him my luck.
     Last week was a pretty good week. On Saturday we had scheduled 5 lessons. Our first was with Vladimira. We taught her with a member, the one that got baptized about 2 weeks ago, and it was really special! She is very intelligent and asked very good questions. It is really good that we had a Bulgarian member there, because her questions where going way over my Bulgarian speaking abilities! but in the end she understood everything and knows that she needs to read and pray.Then we found out that she is actually only 15. 15! So we will be needing to give her a permission slip to get signed by her mom, which most likely will mean that we never get to see her again... so please pray for her and that everything will go well!
     Later we had a lesson with Yanaki. He is an older Gentleman who loves his family very much. He loves everything that we teach him about families and the gospel, and he told us he always reads the Book of Mormon with his wife who is bed ridden. He really wants to bring his son and his sons daughter to church and for us to teach them. I can see him in the near future being baptized! We are planning on giving him a date this week!
     Keep praying for the missionaries everywhere, and help them as much as possible! they really do appreciate it!
   
Love,
Elder Petersen

Jan 7, 2013

Mother Dearest,
     It sounds like a lot of stuff is going on at home, like usual. The house seems like it is probably empty alot now a days! I hope that all are safe with the snow! We just got some more snow here this morning. It is pretty much the worst thing, because I can't snowboard and the people aren't on the streets so often.
     So far this transfer we have been doing finding activities. We have been working 6-8 hours everyday just looking for new people to teach. Sometimes it is really hard to be on the street for 4 hours straight asking EVERYBODY if they are interested. Especially when only about 1 of 6 even stops at all and then about 1 in 30 will be interested. Sometimes it seems like even more than that though. We have this week increased our number of progressing investigators from 1 to 4! That is pretty exciting!
     We were finishing street contacting one day and were walking home when a younger girl (probably about 17) ran up to us from behind and stopped us. She was asking about what we were doing and what the Book of Mormon taught and how she could learn more about the teachings of our church. This never happens. Ever. So we got her number and we met with her last Saturday. She had read a bunch of stuff on the internet, which usually is not a good thing. But she asked us about all the things she had read. We cleared up any questions she had and gave her a Book of Mormon. She promised us that she would read it and try to pray, because she has only prayed 2 times before in her life. She really wants to believe, and I believe she will progress quickly!
     Also this last Saturday  in Sofia, An old investigator of mine was baptized  He overcame all of his trials and has decided to follow Jesus Christ completely. He brought 8 friends to his baptism, and his parents, which are now meeting with the missionaries. He has already started to do finding activities and teach lessons with the missionaries. What a great feeling to know that I helped bring him onto the path!
     Well I don't have much more to share this week. We are just working hard and trying to bring people to Christ! Oh and we will be going to back to the apartment block of the man with the gun. There was a lady on the top floor who may be interested!

Love,
Elder Petersen

насебър (na-se-bur) just north of Burgas. we went out for p-day

Old Castle!

Windmill!

New Year's Day

Mom,
     This week was pretty interesting! I got to see ya'll which was really cool! I was kind of sad that Steph wasn't there. Just make sure she is there on Mothers day! I'll catch her then. Ciara is so big!! She won't even know who I am though, so that is pretty sad.
     We don't have any more snow here (thank goodness) so we have been able to walk around and talk to people some more. We have met some really promising people for teaching the gospel too, but we have had to wait until after new year. Everyone is celebrating so they don't have time to meet right now. Oh which reminds me, We were tracting in a block on Saturday night when we talked to a man who said he had no interest at all. I'm pretty sure he was a little drunk as well. After we had knocked on some more doors, he came walking down the stairs and asked who let us in. We told him the door was opened (because it was) and he told us we had no rights to be doing knocking on doors and talking about Jesus. After we discussed with him for a few minutes that we did actually have the right, He calmly showed us the pistol in his pocket and persuaded us to leave the complex. Some people are just not very nice!
     For New Years they celebrate by launching off lots of fireworks. LOTS OF FIREWORKS. There is no such thing as illegal fireworks here, so everyone has as much as they can afford. From about 11:50 to 12:15 it just sounded like a war. People were just throwing firecrackers louder than I have ever heard out of their windows and launching stuff everywhere. It was pretty exciting. We were required to be in at 5 pm to be safe. We made biscuits and gravy and it was super good!
     I'm having trouble thinking of anything else way cool to tell you, except we have another baptism on Saturday! Not my companionship, but in Burgas. And also English lessons will start on that same day! It is pretty exciting! Well give my love to all!
Love,
Elder Petersen