April 15, 2013

Mom,
     I probably told you the story of the family pretty well already, but here it is again.

We have seen a fasting miracle this week! For most of this transfer we have been working with a family towards baptism on the 27th of April. They have been progressing very well, but there have been a few speed bumps along the way. First they don't have consistent work. They are looking and usually in the summer they get a lot more work because of the influx of tourists. So they weren't sure whether or not they would be able to make it to church every Sunday. But they have been coming for the past 2 weeks and they love it! this week we found out that in answer to a prayer they were blessed with work! They were so happy that they would be able to come to church! The second little bump is that they need to get married before they can be baptized. We have been trying to find a way to get them married, But the mother of the to be husband just wouldn't agree, and they would be kicked out of their house with their two kids if they got married. We have been praying much for them and telling them to pray as well. We met with them on Friday and we decided to go over fasting and prayer, because this Sunday was our fast Sunday. They committed to fasting and praying to find a way to get married and they asked us and President N….to join in with us. As they came to church on Sunday they were very excited. After the service they told us that they would most likely be getting married this week! They had discussed it over with the mother, and they just now need to go get all the official paperwork done! They are more excited than ever to get baptized! I am so happy that we have this gospel and that we can see it bless the lives of the people who exercise faith in our Savior! Also my testimony of fasting has grown greatly because of this experience! Now we are looking forward to the 27th!
     I made it into the mission news letter with that story! :D
They still have not been married be we still have a lot of hope for them and we are still working with them. Please help with some prayers! You know, There are not many things more powerful than the prayers of a faithful mother!
        Things are not really better in Burgas. Actually we have received council to not tract. anywhere. We are still under curfew, meaning that in Burgas we are not allowed to be out at dark at all. But other than that we only almost got beat this week. We were walking home from a lesson and it was pretty dark already. A teenager and 2 of his friends stopped us and said he wanted to become friends. So we introduced ourselves and then he asked us if we were from a cult. We told him no and that we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (we always say the full name,because the word Mormon has been related with the cults in Bulgaria sadly.) Then he proceeded to tell us about how he had found and beat up some missionaries from another church. he was telling us about this when my companion (Who was not listening to what he said) told him three times that we were from the Mormons. I couldn't stop thinking that we were about to get jumped from these guys. But for some reason The guy didn't hear what he had said. SOMEHOW he just didn't acknowledge at all what my companion had said. Then he just peaceably left. It was literally a miracle. I then told my companion to never do that again. We laughed about it later.
     Conference was great. We watched the Saturday sessions yesterday and we will watch the Sunday sessions this coming Sunday! It was a great opportunity and we noticed a lot of things that our investigators needed to hear! The apostles are truly inspired!
     My letter will be short this week, because my companion has been sick and we have spent a great deal of time inside letting him recover. It is very hard to be inside all day long. VERY HARD.

Love,
Elder Petersen

April 8, 2013

Mom,
     First of all we have been wearing our name tags for a few weeks now. I maybe forgot to tell you but it was only for that one week. Also we are not allowed to do any tracting at all and we are not allowed to be out after dark at all. And yes it is only for Burgas. Even Bulgarians think that it is the most dangerous city in Bulgaria. No I am not nervous. It's not much in my character to be nervous of getting  beat up, especially since I am bigger than A LOT of people here. It turns out that most of the incidents leading up to the stricter rules in Burgas are due to alcohol. Meaning alcohol makes people do stupid stuff, like attack missionaries. Don't worry, I still have not even been so much as pushed yet.
     About our meeting house, We rent a building. It is actually very nice. It was remodeled for our church, and you can hardly tell it wasn't made to be a church. It actually used to be a Japanese sushi restaurant. People in Bulgaria don't usually have homes. They live in apartment blocks. Only the very poor and the very rich have homes, and those are all in the villages, not in the cities. Also there is no city in Bulgaria with more than one branch. Sofia used to have 3, but then they closed one and made two, but now there is just 1.
     I have been telling you a little bit about that family we have been teaching that lives a little bit out of the city, and how we found out that they aren't married. Well this Wednesday we went and had a lesson with them again, and they shared with us that they had found some temporary work. (We prayed with them that they could find work.) That was great because they could come to church for the next few weeks without any problems! We shared with them how this was a blessing from God and that if they keep striving to be baptized and finding a way to get married, they will be greatly blessed. On Friday we went back to see them on George's Birthday. It was very nice and after we had some cake and Musaka we had a lesson with them about fasting and prayer (This week was fast Sunday after all.) They committed to fast and pray to find a way to get married. They asked us also to join them in the fast for this purpose. On Sunday they showed up to church and were looking pretty happy. I Play the piano for sacrament meeting so I didn't have a chance to sit with them, and after the meeting I was playing some music while everyone went to their next classes. My companion was talking to the family and I could just see a huge smile on his face! Afterwards he told me what had happened. THEY ARE TRYING TO GET MARRIED THIS WEEK! They have figured everything out and they just need to go to the judge and sign the papers! They asked Elder Goodwin to baptize them as well! I can't wait to see them after they are baptized and confirmed on (most likely) my last Sunday in Burgas! We are planning to have 3 baptisms on the 27th of April, Plus the other companionship here should have 1 but maybe 2. How great it feels to find and teach and bring a FAMILY into the waters of baptism! I can't wait!
   
Love,
Elder Petersen

Primary!

Spring time in Aheloi Bulgaria ахелой

April's Fool Day

Mom,

     That's way cool that you got to go to New York City! I've always thought it would be really cool to go there! and y'all figured out the bus all by yourself! It's like when I figured out how to use the Metro in Sofia, except I had to do it in Bulgarian! I always imagine the sacred grove with lots of blooms and leaves and stuff. It's better that way.

     We had an interesting week. That is to say the least. We are teaching a family right now, and I don't remember if I told you , but they are not married. we went to see them on Thursday and talked to them about the law of chastity and how then need to get married to be baptized. they were in agreeance and they were even planning on talking to a lady who is a judge to see what they could do about getting married. We came back to visit them on Saturday, and it turns out there are a lot of complications. The mother of the man doesn't want him to get married because she think that the To be wife would just steal everything that he has. So now if they get married, they will be kicked out of their home and they will have to find something to do with 2 kids no job and nowhere to live. It's pretty sad. We are still working with them to see if we can find some way to keep their house and still get baptized and everything. It's complex stuff.

     Also this week we had the opportunity to travel to Sofia to attend a baptism. It was very nice to see a lot of members that i know from when i was there. It was nice to be able to speak to them in Bulgarian as well, because when i was there i couldn't really speak to well. I also got to see Stoyan, a member who i found and taught that got baptized after i left. He has now become the Branch mission leader. I have had a lot of members and other missionaries thank me for finding him and teaching him. It feels really good! 

     Also this week, tracting (knocking on doors) has been banned in Burgas (my city). Now we can't even be out after dark at all. It really makes it a little harder to find some more people, but our safety is very important to the mission president. 

     At church this week we had our other family come to church. The mother with her 5 kids came and stayed for the first 2 hours. It was a lot of fun being the primary leader, but 5 kids is a handful! Thanks mom for not killing all of us!
    The weather has gotten warm again and I am actually wearing a short sleeve shirt for the first time since October! Isn't that great? :) I think so. Well that is all I have got for this week! I hope to hear more about things next week too! Give all my love!
Love,
Elder Petersen

March 25

Mom!
   
     That is way cool that you all are getting to be in New Jersey! you should try and go see the statue of liberty! That is in New Jersey right? I don't know what else ya'll can do there. Hopefully dad gets to come see you guys often!
     Well this week was okay. We are teaching a family out in a little village just a ways out of the city. They have a date to be baptized on the 27th of April, but when they came to church on Sunday we found out that they are not married. They have the desire to be married, but not the money. That is our problem for the week! Hopefully we can get it all sorted out and bring them to the waters of baptism! Other than that we had the zone leaders come and work with us for a day. My companion from the MTC is actually the Zone leader and I got to work with him again for a day! It was really great! Also it has helped me realize that I have progressed in learning Bulgarian! :)
     We also had Zone leader Training meeting again. The zone leaders taught us about using time wisely. It was a great time and we have started using our time more wisely! Also I have started learning more words in Bulgarian. I have a goal to learn 15 new words a day! It is a lot of fun!
     Well mom I'm all out of stuff to say! We are working hard and just let everyone know that I miss them!

Love,
Elder Petersen

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Mom,
     So J.D. is going on his mission? that is super cool! He will do some really great things! Or rather the spirit will do great things through him! I can't wait to hear some stuff about him when he reports to his mom and then you get some info to me! Keep me updated! Which reminds me, Richard has one month from today until he leaves as well! Which is also my 1 year mark! Oh how time flys!
     There is no St. Patricks day here. But yesterday (the 17th) was the day of forgiveness. everyone asks for forgiveness from there friends and family.
     This week we struggled a little bit. We couldn't get people to stop on the streets. Nobody wanted to talk with us. It was really hard to keep going when you get rejected, but in the end we were blessed by having 15 people talk with us yesterday! Also this week we met with an investigator who had disappeared for about a month. It turns out he was in Sofia in the hospital. When we met with him the first thing he brought up was rescheduling his baptism. You can't imagine the joy i felt that he still had the desire! We re-scheduled his date for the end of April and now we are working toward that! Once people feel the spirit, it is hard for them to stay away!
     My week was pretty boring so, i will have to cut this one short mamo! Let me know how everything goes in New Jersey!
Love, Elder Petersen

Elder Goodwin Marinella and Me!

Somehow, one day it was 25 degrees Celcius (about 78 Farenheit)
 then the next day it snowed. Beats me...

Monday

Mom,
     I know I promised a big letter this week, but The branch president called me before a little and told me that at the nearby supermarket thing they are having an American stock week. Which means they might have peanut butter and other delicious things! So I will be keeping this one short!
     We had a great week! We met with one of our investigators, and we are trying to see how much work we have to do to get him to believe in Jesus Christ. We think we may have found the answer however. He flat told us, "If you can convince me that there was a need for Jesus to die for our sins, then everything else you have told me about your religion will make sense. If Jesus was the son of God, then after he died there would have been a need for a restoration. And everything you have told me will just make sense."
So, now we just have to figure that little part out! :)
     Also we are meeting with a really nice family! They are a family of 7 with 4 sons and 1 daughter. (Sound familiar?) They belong to a faith called Unification. It basically is a belief that all Christian churches are good. they believe in a lot of the same things as we do, but there are of course major differences. They claim to believe in Joseph Smith however, and that he did receive the authority from John the Baptist to finish baptizing the world. That is what they say the mission of our church is. To baptize the whole world. He says we are making a pretty good effort.
     However the highlight of the week was this last Saturday  We had a baptism! Marinella is a 18 year old girl that had her first lesson about 2 months ago. She has accepted everything and she made instant friends in the Branch. We had quite the adventure preparing for this baptism though. We had to travel to Varna on Wednesday to pick up the baptismal font. We left at about 2 o'clock and arrived in Varna at 4. We got to the church and there were some Elders there to help us take it to the bus station. The font is in 5 large cloth bags and altogether weighs maybe 300 pounds. so we took 2 separate taxis and went to the bus station. We got there and bought some tickets and went out to load onto the bus. Now you are probably thinking of some big bus like a travel bus or maybe a school bus. Don't. These are called in Bulgarian микробус which literally means micro bus. I have seen motor bikes with more trunk space than this bus. So the bus driver told us we can't get on and that we have to go get our money back. So now we are left standing in the middle of the bus station with 5 huge funny looking bags and the other 2 Elders had left already. We had no idea what we could do, because we have to get home with these big bags!
     I decided to call the zone leaders in Varna and ask them what to do. Elder Barber told me he would call the train station and find out when we could leave from there. The next train turned out to be at 6. we had a half hour to get all of our stuff to the train station on the other side of the city! So we called the other Elders back and they by some miracle had not actually left the bus station yet. We jumped in a taxi and got to the train station and bought our tickets and jumped on and the train left. The train was actually very nice and we had a compartment all to ourselves. About an hour into the ride we found out that the train actually takes 4 hours to get into Burgas. So we were going to miss our curfew by an hour and a half. NICE!
     So about 3 hours in the train makes another stop to let some people off, but this time it stopped for longer than usual. after about 3 minutes a lady walked by the window and started yelling that the train for Burgas was on the other track and that we were going to miss it! Me and my companion looked at each other and knew what we had to do instantly. We put on our coats and picked up our bags then pulled out all 5 of the bags for the font in about 20 seconds. I don't even know how it was possible. and we ran to the other train. I jumped on first with 3 bags and my companion threw 1 up and then jumped on. The second he had pulled up the second bag, the train had already started to move and the door was just hanging wide open. It was super intense! We almost got left in some tiny city in the middle of nowhere at 9 PM!
     After that we made it home safely and everything was okay. And we had a Beautiful baptism on Saturday and me and my companion sang a duet of  Where can I turn for peace. It was really good and I have a recording of us doing it before the baptism.
     Well I hope that was a long enough letter for you this week! Give my love to all my brothers and my Sister and all my friends and all the people in the Ward and to all the other people I know! and maybe that I don't know but they know me!
Love,
Elder Petersen


P.S. I have not yet received my package, but this week when the assistants come they will have it.

Sunday March 3, 2013

Mom,
            Elder Goodwin, My new companion  is not from Utah but from Washington state. We have a very lot in common and it is always fun that we randomly get into conversations about how cool the trombone is. We have discovered how much we do have in common. We both play trombone, and we both had girlfriends that played the lead clarinet in the band! And Ruby reminds me an awful lot of Kaitlin! We get along very very well and I foresee a very good transfer.
     Our first week however, we had about 5 investigators drop off the map. Whether moving to Russia or being not willing to accept the commandments because it will force you to change your life, we have heard it all. We will be having a baptism this Saturday however, and we are super excited! We planned to have 2 baptisms this month and we plan on having 3 in April, but we will see what happens!
     We have made a goal to be completely consecrated to the work and let the Holy spirit work through us. We are excited to see the blessings that come from following the rules and councils of President Wilstead. He truly is an inspired man that was called to lead our mission!
     We didn't have a very exciting week, because we spent alot of time cleaning out my old apartment  so next week I should have a good sized letter to send!

Love,
Elder Petersen