Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New Transfer to Lincoln

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
Well, not much to update you on. I got transferred to Lincoln Nebraska, and am currently serving in the Holmes Lake Ward. Unfortunately, missionary work is really slow in my new area that I moved into, and our key indicators that we report to the our leaders, are way below the standard. I don't like it one bit, and I hope to change that while I am here. The Ward needs a lot of help getting motivated to do missionary work, but my companion and I are in the process of setting up a new program here for the members that should take missionary work to a whole new level here. Unfortunately, it's very much an investment. The results will take time, but the important thing isn't that our numbers go up right away. The important thing is that we help souls do the things they need to do to live in Heavenly Father's Presence again, and reach exaltation. Should this work, missionaries that are here in the future should have plenty of people to teach, and the work should get so much better. It's going to take Patience to get this going, but it should work well.
The Lord will guide us, and it's going to take a lot of effort. Right now, we are only teaching one person, and he's a devout catholic. I'll tell you a little bit about him in a second. This means my companion and I are working on finding people to teach, and it is very difficult. The good thing is that Elder L. Tom Perry from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came to Nebraska on Sunday, spoke with local church leaders about how to get the members finding people for the missionaries to teach, and then he spoke with all of the missionaries yesterday. It was great being in the presence of one of the Lord's Apostles. It is my second time seeing him on my mission.
I need to go soon, so I will tell you a bit about the man we are teaching. He had us for breakfast at Village Inn, and would buy us any food we wanted. He's nice, but he's extremely liberal, which meant I had to keep my mouth shut and just smile as he bashed Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Glenn Beck. I love them all. Anyway, he's a devout catholic, but he doesn't even believe in a good portion of the bible, which is weird. He believes that Adam and Eve were a parable, and that the whole world being flooded didn't really happen. Moses parting the red sea...didn't believe that either. Why is this guy catholic? Cause he believes in all of their Articles of Faith. Anyway, it's strange, but I've got to go. Love you all!
Love, Elder Chris Petersen

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Short but Sweet!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
Never was there a greater time to be a servant of the Lord than on this humbling day. Transfers are this week, and I have to admit, I am very nervous. One of my companions got called to be the Assistant to the President, and I am way excited for him, though it means I will not be able to serve alongside him any longer, which kind of saddens me. I have yet to find out whether or not I am staying in my area, and though I hope to, I will go where the Lord wants me to go.
Blessed is this day, brethren. Though many people may be in their deepest hardships, struggling to get by with all their might, the Lord has not turned Himself away from His Children. He is reaching out His hand, and He is there to comfort each of us who will run to His aid that He may succor us as a parent does a child. We are not alone. May we remember His promises to us, and His goodness, His power, and wisdom in all things. Sometimes things hurt, and we worry. Why is it that miracles happen all around us, and still our faith is shakeable? I wonder that of myself sometimes. None of us are perfect, but through the Lord Jesus Christ, we can be perfected.
I have no stories today, but rather a message to convey to all of you. Be there for each other, and place upon yourselves Charity and Love Unfeigned. Be faithful, and let virtue have place in your hearts and in your minds. Let not the fierce winds of the adversary push you into forbidden paths, but rather stay on the straight and narrow that you may stand blameless before God at the last day, through repentance in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Know that God loves you, and cares for you. Know that He wants us to be happy, take joy in righteousness, and to serve one another. Christ himself came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. Let us follow His example, and let us take joy in each other.
I love you all so much, and take joy in each of you. I hope all of our individual relationships will last through time, and also through all eternity. I love each of you, all in different, and marvelous ways. Some are family, some of us an unbreakable brotherhood, some the sweetest friendships, others an influence of charity and support, and another the sweetest love in the eyes of God :-p. I love you all, and these things are among the things which are the testimony of my heart. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

One Crazy Week!!

Dear Sons of Mosiah,
The work is amazing, and great! I have learned a great deal in the past month and a half. There is nothing like doing the Lord's work everyday! My brethren who are nearing their chance to serve, prepare yourself for a great experience of the most ultimate joy and sadness you might ever experience. Word I would use to describe a mission that probably fit it best: bittersweet. More sweet than bitter, but there are definitely hard times.
One of the worst things you will experience, happened this week. We were teaching a man named Steve Bauermeister. He's a great guy, but a little slow. We had a really spiritual lesson with him, and I know that it got through to him. That lesson should have gotten through to somebody with a heart of stone! And his isn't even that bad! Still, days later, he called us and told us he didn't want to hear from us anymore. Future Missionaries, I will tell you right now, it really sucks when someone gets 'antied'! It seems like almost everytime you teach someone, somehow somebody hits them with some form of anti! The adversary is all over this! If there are three things I've gained an even stronger testimony of out here, they are: 1) God loves us more than we can even know. 2) Joseph Smith was undoubtedly a Prophet of God who did, in fact, restore Christ's Church to the Earth, and 3) Satan is VERY REAL! Not only is he real, but he is in fact very involved in trying to destroy the Saints. I know, we have all heard it, but do we all comprehend the amount of power he has? It's so true that it does not stand a chance against the Power of God, BUT it is powerful.
Anyway, I tell you this so that you will all be ready, those of you who are preparing to serve a mission. Be ready.
(Go to Part Two)
Crazy Person of the Week:
We met with a man named Devin, this week. He only let's us meet with him twice a month, or so, for some reason. He is hillarious!
We went to his house, and he let us in of course, muting his television like he did last time, and holding his little dog, trying to keep him off of us (on the side here, the poor dog! He forces it to stay on his lap, and he sits there and plays with the dogs legs, moving in around in motions, pulling on them, and ignoring the dog as it gnaws at his hands trying to get him to stop. It's really funny actually!). Devin is another black guy we are teaching, which automatically makes him one of my favorite.
Devin is a really logical man, in really bizarre way, and last time he told us that he wanted to analyze and compare Christ's Church that he set up in the Bible, to our Church (which is the same church). So, we brought him evidences...the 17 Evidences of the Church. We compared, and all matched up. However, this man is totally a debater. Heck yes (except in Missionary work, then it's funny, but not so heck yes)!
Later we were talking about the Book of Mormon, and how Christ came to the Americas. He was like, "How did he get there? By boat, or ship, or something?". And we responded, "No, he descended from Heaven, just like he ascended to His Father in Heaven." And he said, "What?! You mean he flew? Nah!" And we laughed, "He is the SON OF GOD, you know? Why not?" And he debated us about the possiblity of things like that, or course we all laughed the whole time (including him). Then we brought up that he HEALED THE SICK, RAISED PEOPLE FROM THE DEAD, etc. He was like, "Nah! For all I know that's all an alagory, or something." And we were like, "You're kidding me, right?" And he said, "No! I don't know! Have you ever seen something like that before, cause I haven't."
We talked about it for a while, talked about God, and also things like he purpose of life. We asked what he thought it was, and he says, "Man! I don't know. Maybe this is all a computer game or something!" I said, "What a boring game!", and he continued, "Or maybe God created us cause he was bored. If I was God floating out in nothingness, I'd create us too!" We were like, "You gotta be kidding..." we then started leading him in the right direction, presenting it as though they were possiblities, and phrasing some of them in questions that began "do you believe...", "do you think...", "what about...". He's like, "Man, I don't know! I don't know! How can I know that? I've never seen it!"
To sum up the story, I've never heard someone use the phrase, "I don't know", more in my entire life. Also, he continued with outrageous possiblities, that we rather amusing, but ridiculous. Like I said, he's one of my favorite people to talk to. Anyway, the conversation ended with him saying, "Hey, if I could make this remote float, would you believe me? Cause I ain't ever seen anybody do that before?" And we answered, "Believe you about what? You don't have a belief to present." And he said, "Yeah, but what if? I ain't never seen anybody do that..." Yeah, roughly the conversation, it's crazy.
Last Part:
Here's the last story. So, we did exchanges again this week, a few times. One in particular was insane! Background for this story (and it will be a short story): There are potholes like crazy in Omaha! Some of you complain about Lehi's roads, but they don't have anything on Omaha's roads! They are the most terrible roads I have ever seen in my life! The government even gave them money to fix them, and I'm not seeing much progress!
So, we were driving to people we had planned to see throughout the day, when we hit a pothole that was huge, and my companion didn't see. Well, we were driving, and we realized the tire was going flat. So we pulled off to the side, made the calls we needed to make, and of course, changed the tire. If it would have ended there, we would be just fine. So, we spent forever changing the tire, which luckily two of us knew how to do (me being one of them), and put the spare tire (the donut) on.
Well, we tried to avoid driving much after that, but we had to take the broken tire to get repaired. On the way there, we hit another pothole (this one seemingly unavoidable), and there goes the donut! The count is up to two! So, we pull over at McDonalds, at night, stranded in an area that wasn't our own. After a while, we called the repair guy who is a member, and he suggested putting on the original tire, and trying to make it to him on that one. Both tires had the same problem. The rims were bent, and air leaked. So, we had to drive another fifteen miles or so to get to him. The whole way there, we stopped at two or three gas stations to try to fill the tire temporarily, and we lost pressure fast, until we said a prayer.
Well, we made it to the repair shop, and we were worn out. He got to fixing it, when he noticed another tire had begun leaking. We ruined THREE TIRES! Also, one of them had a nail in it, but luckily the nail didn't penetrate. So they were all easy fixes. He banged the rims back into place, saying "The Lord is with you Elders", a couple of times, if I recall correctly. Anyway, what I've written doesn't justify what we went through. It was an exhausting day on little sleep, it was snowing, we didn't see many people, and it was a lot of work to get to our destination. Only two good things really happened that day: 1) The Lord answered our prayer, BIG TIME! 2) I got mail. :) Write me people, it makes my bad days good!
Love you all, sorry if I bored you, but I hope it's slightly entertaining, and I want to prepare all of you future missionaries for the craziness. Of course, who knows? Perhaps N.O.M. is the craziest mission of all! ;)

Love Elder Christopher Petersen

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

The Best Mission Ever!

Dear Sons of Mosiah (and all other readers, of course),
Why is Nebraska the best mission ever? If you don't know, it's because you've never gone on a mission to Nebraska. There are so many great things going on here, and though there are a lot of lost people out here, they are all God's Children. There is a great and a marvellous work to do out here!
Crazy Stories of the Week:
I went on an exchange to the Fontenelle Area here in Omaha Nebraska (which is an even more ghetto place than Benson, where I am currently serving, which is also in Omaha), and it was way awesome, except we didn't get to use a car that day, so we walked A LOT! We only got to teach one person the whole exchange (which really stunk, but it was only a part-day exchange, luckily), and I think he may have been drunk. At least he smelled drunk. Drunk people smell nasty, by the way. Don't do it.
Well, while I was in the area, we were walking down the street, minding our own business, when a man saw us from off of his porch, and began screaming at us to get off of his block. It was quite hysterical! He tried to send us away in the name of Jesus, and when I looked back in his direction like he was crazy, he then said "I'll shoot you!". Is that oxymoronic, or what? Go away in the name of Jesus, or I'll kill you?! Yeah...maybe somebody needs to review the ten commandments...
(Look for Part 2, I have to change computers)

On the good side of things, I have really gained a strong testimony that the Lord blesses those that are diligent and work hard. Since I got out here to my first area, it's been quite difficult finding solid investigators,but we were determined. So we tried new tactics, and continued to work hard. This last week it really paid off.
The Lord put in our path, as we worked hard, a man named Justin. Justin's story is really cool. He is a single man that is 26 years old, and is in a wheelchair. Something is wrong with his legs, but we've never bothered to ask. He's obviously missing part of one of his legs, and I think a part of his other foot as well. Justin is also a recovering alcoholic who knows he had a drinking problem. Because of this, he joined AA, and the here's the cool part. The first step of AA is to join a religion, so he prayed about it, wondering what religion to choose. The next day, we showed up. Isn't that way cool? He's also a way rock solid guy, he came to church but went to the singles ward), and he's set for baptism.
We also met Mary, Craig, and Destiny. I will have to tell you about them later for interest of time. Also Karen.
Well, now we've found these wonderful people, after our hard work and dilligence. Here's the cool part: after all of that, we were referred to a less active woman who told some other missionaries that she wanted to go back to church. So we went to her house, and she has FOUR BAPTISM AGE CHILDREN WHO NEED TO BE BAPTIZED!!! It's way cool. We asked if she wanted them to get baptized. Right away, she said yes, and they said yes! Like that, the Lord just kind of handed them to us. It's a testimony to me that God blesses His servants who work hard. All of you that plan on serving a mission, remember that.
I need to go now, but also remember that the Lord called all members of his church to do missionary work, even when they are not full time missionaries. It is actually the members job to find people. It is simply our job to teach people, and prepare them for the covenant of baptism. Do the work, my brethren (and sisters of course).
Love, Elder Christopher Petersen N.O.M.
P....Paragraph, I guess: N.O.M. stands for Nebraska Omaha Mission! Isn't that awesome?! When I get home, I can say, "Back in NOM..." lol! Anyway, bye!