Dearest Sons of Mosiah (and daughters),
God answers prayers. Now, it might sound like I have a lot of faith, but that's not it. I do have hopefully an alright amount of faith, but that has absolutely nothing to do with my statement. He just does. When it's factual, it doesn't actually require faith. So I just want to show you some facts here...
Well, I got emergency transferred to the Trendwood Ward. It wasn't my fault, but for those of you who know what that is, you are correct. An emergency transfer takes place when some missionary somewhere does something stupid. Now, fortunately, and perhaps shockingly to all of you, I wasn't the stupid one this time. So I didn't do anything wrong. However, somebody did, and when somebody leaves an area, they obviously have to be replaced. That's where I come in. So, I replaced they guy who had to be emergency transferred, which means that now I'm serving with another Elder, in another ward, mid-transfer. Pretty cool, eh?
Trendwood is still in Lincoln Nebraska, for those of you that might be curious.
Now you might be asking yourself, "so how does this prove God answers prayers?" Check this out. So my one of my old companions is actually rather scary. He and Elder DeVoe like to prank a lot of people, and that included me. Sometimes I got hurt from them. As you can guess, I prayed my heart out to get rid of one of them in particular. Elder Springer is intense, in a bad way. In fact, the guy hates me, and will do about anything to get under my skin. Now I don't say this to destroy his name. or destroy your trust in missionaries, but remember, missionaries are people too. I'm just stating facts. He once threw a chair at me, as one example. It dented the wall, and chipped off the front of my desk. So, as you can imagine, not the best situation.(ATTENTION!!!!!) IN FACT, HE MAY EVEN ATTEMPT TO WRITE PEOPLE THAT I WRITE BACK HOME! THAT'S A HEADS UP FOR ALL OF YOU! Who knows what he will do? Keep an eye open. If you get any letters that seem fishy that are from Nebraska, or "from me", think twice before trusting them. Letters that are really from me should hopefully be painfully obvious that it's the real deal. Uhh...a lot to explain...just a bad situation...
Well, my parents knew about this, so I guess my Mom also put my name into the Temple. Things were getting rough, and I wasn't sure how things were going to work out well. I had been praying for help for quite some time, asking the Lord to give me strength to get through the situation, and to hopefully help me change it. I hadn't yet told President about it, but I was planning to. Well, one day we just randomly received a call from President, and there was an emergency transfer taking place due to problems elsewhere. My current companion needed a new companion in Trendwood, and President called me to fill this position. Now, that's cool, but here's another part that gets me. My other companion in Holmes Lake, Elder DeVoe, isn't really that bad of a guy. He just liked to prank as well. Still, we got along most of the time. He has had a hard time develping his testimony, and doing missionary work. That's why he was in a tripanionship. I guess he prayed as well, asking God to reveal his existance to him. When I got transferred, it suddenly went down to only him and Elder Springer. Teaching with three is always difficult. Suddenly, when it went down to two (which he hasn't been in a normal companionship for a long time), he found that he had to teach. And he did just fine. Way cool! That was his answer. Awesome, huh?
So a lot of things took place. I know this may seem like a sad/scary email, or whatever, but really it says a lot about the power of prayer. I'm sure more of you out there have been praying for me, and also others for other missionaries. Those prayers are being answered. It's not always how we would like, or how we expect--but they are heard and answered.
Thanks for your prayers.
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen
Monday, April 26, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Pause, Ponder and Pray!!
Dear Sons of Mosiah,
I hope you thought about it before continuing on. If you did not, don't you dare get around to reading this for a little bit. Pause, ponder, and pray. Think, and do. It's funny how valuable things are that are constantly at hand. These are tools the Lord has given us to use, and abilities that we always have. Yet, for some reason, few take part in these things frequently. The world is so busy, and we are always going. How many of us honestly just lay down for a moment and just pause from life to think--or get down on your knees to simply talk with your Father in Heaven? How many of us are constantly seeking for knowledge from Him? Do we really believe that if we ask, we shall receive, and if we knock, is shall be opened unto us? Or who here believes the simple words of James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and ubraideth not: and it shall be given him."? Forgive me if any of the punctuation is off. I do not have my scriptures with me at the Library today, so I just kind of did it from memory. Let's highlight some things.
In plain english, James said: "If any of you lack wisdom, ask God, that gives answers to all men freely, and he will not judge you for asking; he will give you what you ask for." Now, I realize it doesn't sound as poetic that way, and I prefer in in scripture myself. Still, when you brake it down, he is basically saying that. Of course, you must ask for things that are righteous, and also, we can't forget the beginning of verse six, "But let him ask in faith". Well, my point is, we should utilize the promises given to us by servants of the Lord.
Now, about what I said...Christ supped with sinners. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Study it out. Think about it. However, one word of precaution for safety sake. That does not mean to ever place yourself into bad situations, or surround yourself with people doing bad things. Christ didn't do stupid things. Keep that in mind before you attempt to act on my short message. So be careful. Do not go and decide to date someone who is rebellious hoping you can change them, hang out with a bunch of people doing drugs, or go to a party under 'Christ supped with sinners' as your justification. Don't do that, but DO figure out what I mean. If you have any questions, write me about it. I love letters. Love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen
I hope you thought about it before continuing on. If you did not, don't you dare get around to reading this for a little bit. Pause, ponder, and pray. Think, and do. It's funny how valuable things are that are constantly at hand. These are tools the Lord has given us to use, and abilities that we always have. Yet, for some reason, few take part in these things frequently. The world is so busy, and we are always going. How many of us honestly just lay down for a moment and just pause from life to think--or get down on your knees to simply talk with your Father in Heaven? How many of us are constantly seeking for knowledge from Him? Do we really believe that if we ask, we shall receive, and if we knock, is shall be opened unto us? Or who here believes the simple words of James, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and ubraideth not: and it shall be given him."? Forgive me if any of the punctuation is off. I do not have my scriptures with me at the Library today, so I just kind of did it from memory. Let's highlight some things.
In plain english, James said: "If any of you lack wisdom, ask God, that gives answers to all men freely, and he will not judge you for asking; he will give you what you ask for." Now, I realize it doesn't sound as poetic that way, and I prefer in in scripture myself. Still, when you brake it down, he is basically saying that. Of course, you must ask for things that are righteous, and also, we can't forget the beginning of verse six, "But let him ask in faith". Well, my point is, we should utilize the promises given to us by servants of the Lord.
Now, about what I said...Christ supped with sinners. I'm not going to ruin it for you. Study it out. Think about it. However, one word of precaution for safety sake. That does not mean to ever place yourself into bad situations, or surround yourself with people doing bad things. Christ didn't do stupid things. Keep that in mind before you attempt to act on my short message. So be careful. Do not go and decide to date someone who is rebellious hoping you can change them, hang out with a bunch of people doing drugs, or go to a party under 'Christ supped with sinners' as your justification. Don't do that, but DO figure out what I mean. If you have any questions, write me about it. I love letters. Love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen
A Difficult Week with Illness, but We're Still Blessed!!
Dear Sons of Mosiah,
Not much to write this week, honestly. I spent much of it in bed, unfortunately. I hate to admit it, but I've been sicker than a dog for about a week. Yeah, they are going to take care of it. By they, I mean, the mission mom is on top of it, I think. We have to call her whenever we are sick, and describe our symptoms. Unfortunately, she had no idea what I have, but whatever it is, one of my companions may or may not have the same thing, just not as bad. She called a doctor, and he didn't know what it was either. He called me the next day, and discussed it with me. Yeah, it's being handled. It could be a couple of things. He said it was possible that I have an infection somewhere, and that my body just has to fight it. It's no good. It could be other things, but that was one rough possiblity. So instead of sending me to a doctor, they told me to just wait it out, and they will check up on me every once in a while.
Still, the Lord blessed us despite the sickness. We somehow managed to still teach quite a bit for the small amount of time we actually got to work. We also got to give an older lady a blessing, and take the sacrament to a man yesterday. Somehow we managed to teach a lot of great people who seem to be coming along. It's always good news.
Anyway, I don't have much to say. I love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher D. Petersen
P.S. Thanks to those of you who have written me recently! I will respond to all of you, and want to hear from all of you! I will write back as fast as possible, but I'm a little behind, so a letter is coming!
Not much to write this week, honestly. I spent much of it in bed, unfortunately. I hate to admit it, but I've been sicker than a dog for about a week. Yeah, they are going to take care of it. By they, I mean, the mission mom is on top of it, I think. We have to call her whenever we are sick, and describe our symptoms. Unfortunately, she had no idea what I have, but whatever it is, one of my companions may or may not have the same thing, just not as bad. She called a doctor, and he didn't know what it was either. He called me the next day, and discussed it with me. Yeah, it's being handled. It could be a couple of things. He said it was possible that I have an infection somewhere, and that my body just has to fight it. It's no good. It could be other things, but that was one rough possiblity. So instead of sending me to a doctor, they told me to just wait it out, and they will check up on me every once in a while.
Still, the Lord blessed us despite the sickness. We somehow managed to still teach quite a bit for the small amount of time we actually got to work. We also got to give an older lady a blessing, and take the sacrament to a man yesterday. Somehow we managed to teach a lot of great people who seem to be coming along. It's always good news.
Anyway, I don't have much to say. I love you all!
Love, Elder Christopher D. Petersen
P.S. Thanks to those of you who have written me recently! I will respond to all of you, and want to hear from all of you! I will write back as fast as possible, but I'm a little behind, so a letter is coming!
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