That’s way awesome that elder Crandall came to say hi this past week. He was definitely such a stud missionary. I really hope I can be like that. I have been thinking a lot this week on how I do not ever want to return back home being the same person. I have learned tons, but I know the lord still has tons for me to do and I still have so much to do and much to grow still. I get scared sometimes thinking that before I know it I could be going home and I don’t want to say I wish I would have worked harder or that I wish I would have preached like it was my last day in the mission. I just don’t want to leave a sector or leave the mission without leaving it better than when I got there. I want to do my best out here and take advantage of every day and not just go with the flow of the mission.
But I know I need not worry, because I have already learned tons and I know if I am obedient and try my best, The lord will form me into the missionary he wants me to be. I think I’m just being a little too hard on myself. I will always remember the time when Tyler came and told all of us with tears in his eyes how much his mission had meant to him.
I absolutely love this gospel and the opportunity the lord has given me to be here serving the people of Chile. With the experiences that I have already had, I will never forget them.
But with other news. This week has been a good one. We have been working hard to teach people but many people are gone. Maybe when it gets colder and into winter time it will be easier to find people in their houses. Which by the way I’m super excited to have the weather change back to cold. I’m so tired of the heat. lol. Plus it will be so much more fun when it’s colder.
But I’m glad everything is going great back at home and that mom is back to life.lol. That’s cool that our ward gets to go to play in Klamath Falls. Its probably cause of Kenny, he has always been way good at basketball.
I also can’t believe Skyler is going to get his call this week. It’s about time. Lol and he hasn’t even told me. Tell Skyler to write me on my email when he gets it. It’s funny I actually can see him going to Brazil too. Or he could go to Peru. Man I’m way excited for him!
The living Christ has been awesome by the way. I have loved memorizing it. And I’m confused. Are you memorizing a line a week or a paragraph a week? Because I’m pretty sure we won’t get it done if we memorized a line a week.
Well I don’t have much to say this week. But I love you all and
hope you all have a great week. Work hard!
Con Amor
-Elder Pedersen
P.S. did you guys see the pictures of when I cut
the chickens head off? Pretty funny huh? lol
I was pretty scared doing it! haha
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Con Mucho Amore!!
Well this week was a little crazy and hard. I got the call for transfers last night and to my surprise. I’m staying again for my 5th change! I’m not going to lie I was a little bummed because I totally thought I was going to leave and get to know some of the mission, but they called and said elder Pedersen "se kada" and I was super surprised because I actually was already half packed (lol) that was the funny thing. My companion was laughing so hard. Can you believe it? I’m going to end up being in the same sector that I was in when I first got to Chile! This will end up being 7 and half months in total! I came last year in September and will leave in April. Yeah it still kind of shocks me. But I prayed to my Heavenly Father to know of why I am here again. I have interviews with the President and he knows that I am here. But little by little the Lord is making it known to me of why I am here and taking away that disappointment from my heart and I’m sure that I will understand why I am here in no time.
Man that scared me about Mom. I pray for the family all the time, I know mom will be fine. She is super tough and I know that she has big faith in the power of the priesthood. I know her faith will make her healed. I will defiantly pray for her.
I also couldn’t believe the amazing story you told me about Heather Coffman! Holy cow what a miracle! I love that family. The Lord defiantly watches out for that family and gives them many blessings. Maybe not blessings like money or the physical things. But every person that knows them can see it in their eyes that they are truly blessed from the gospel of Jesus Christ and that they are happy. I’m so happy for them and I pray that their health gets better.
This week was a good one also. We were able to help another one of God’s children into the waters of baptism. It was a way cool experience getting her to that step, but it was hard getting her their because we had to make sure her testimony was strong - we didn’t want her to get baptized just because. Yeah, all my converts are going to stay in the Church! (lol) She had to quit a lot of stuff. But she made it and it was cool too because I was able to baptize her as well. I also didn’t have to baptize her three times like I had to with my last baptism. (lol) It went really good and she ended up feeling the Spirit really strong and now her less active parents want to come to church now because they came to the baptism and liked it.
Another thing is that we are starting to do a noche de hogar, which is a Family Home Evening every Friday at the church. We have a camp fire (Chileans don’t do that) and we roast marshmallows and have a lesson, we also do it with 2 other missionaries. We also invite members, recent converts, less active, and any investigators we are working with. We only did it once and we were way excited and invited a bunch of people. But only two showed up. We were way disappointed. But we are still going to do it.
Oh also thank you so much family for the package! It came the day after Valentine’s Day which I totally forgot about. But when I opened the package and saw Recess and jerky, my mouth started watering (lol). I was so excited. And on top of that I got a letter from McKenna! I was excited to finally hear from my little sister. Man I love that girl! Just thinking about her laugh makes me laugh (lol). I’m so excited for her baptism. I can’t wait!
This week I also got to meet a recent convert family that I met from a different sector that speaks English. It was so cool talking to them. They are from Ohio and they were on vacation in Chile. So we did some service for them and they videotaped us talking and what not, then they put it on YouTube, so maybe you could look it up! I will have to find that name out. But when we started teaching, I couldn’t really do it at all in English. It was like I forgot how to testify to people in English. I couldn’t even teach because I’m so used to speaking to people in Spanish. But it was a fun experience.
Well until next week. I’m excited for this next change; I’m really setting goals to be a better tool in the Lord’s hands. I want to be one of my Father in Heavens favorite children, just like it says in the scriptures, as we all should strive for.
I will keep you all in my prayers. Especially mom.
I love you all. Stay strong.
Con mucho Amor-
Elder Pedersen
Man that scared me about Mom. I pray for the family all the time, I know mom will be fine. She is super tough and I know that she has big faith in the power of the priesthood. I know her faith will make her healed. I will defiantly pray for her.
I also couldn’t believe the amazing story you told me about Heather Coffman! Holy cow what a miracle! I love that family. The Lord defiantly watches out for that family and gives them many blessings. Maybe not blessings like money or the physical things. But every person that knows them can see it in their eyes that they are truly blessed from the gospel of Jesus Christ and that they are happy. I’m so happy for them and I pray that their health gets better.
This week was a good one also. We were able to help another one of God’s children into the waters of baptism. It was a way cool experience getting her to that step, but it was hard getting her their because we had to make sure her testimony was strong - we didn’t want her to get baptized just because. Yeah, all my converts are going to stay in the Church! (lol) She had to quit a lot of stuff. But she made it and it was cool too because I was able to baptize her as well. I also didn’t have to baptize her three times like I had to with my last baptism. (lol) It went really good and she ended up feeling the Spirit really strong and now her less active parents want to come to church now because they came to the baptism and liked it.
Another thing is that we are starting to do a noche de hogar, which is a Family Home Evening every Friday at the church. We have a camp fire (Chileans don’t do that) and we roast marshmallows and have a lesson, we also do it with 2 other missionaries. We also invite members, recent converts, less active, and any investigators we are working with. We only did it once and we were way excited and invited a bunch of people. But only two showed up. We were way disappointed. But we are still going to do it.
Oh also thank you so much family for the package! It came the day after Valentine’s Day which I totally forgot about. But when I opened the package and saw Recess and jerky, my mouth started watering (lol). I was so excited. And on top of that I got a letter from McKenna! I was excited to finally hear from my little sister. Man I love that girl! Just thinking about her laugh makes me laugh (lol). I’m so excited for her baptism. I can’t wait!
This week I also got to meet a recent convert family that I met from a different sector that speaks English. It was so cool talking to them. They are from Ohio and they were on vacation in Chile. So we did some service for them and they videotaped us talking and what not, then they put it on YouTube, so maybe you could look it up! I will have to find that name out. But when we started teaching, I couldn’t really do it at all in English. It was like I forgot how to testify to people in English. I couldn’t even teach because I’m so used to speaking to people in Spanish. But it was a fun experience.
Well until next week. I’m excited for this next change; I’m really setting goals to be a better tool in the Lord’s hands. I want to be one of my Father in Heavens favorite children, just like it says in the scriptures, as we all should strive for.
I will keep you all in my prayers. Especially mom.
I love you all. Stay strong.
Con mucho Amor-
Elder Pedersen
Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentines Day!!
This week has been great. , But hard at the same time. I have learned a lot this week from my trials and from the spiritual experiences I have had. A couple of days this week we had everything totally planned like everyday but a couple day during the week we had set appointments and they all fell through. We walked so much. And we tried hard to make it to every appointment even though they we on opposite sides of the sector. There was a day that was super hard, and we walked so much that I felt like throwing my agenda on the ground and finding a shady place to lie down and take a nap. But we kept on going, and by the end of the night we ended up having a great lesson and I really felt the spirit.
This week I have really learned that the lord can speak to me during the hardest moments. Even though I ask myself in those times of why he makes it so hard on his missionaries sometimes? Or shouldn't it be easier? But I know that is not how the lord works. He wants to help us more than we know. He is always there to comfort us with his spirit to let us know that he will never flee or abandon us. We just got to always push forward with a smile on our faces and with great love for the people.
This week I was able to go to the temple which is such a blessing to be able to go every change. This week I have really felt such a great love for this gospel. Just with studying in the mornings and with all I learn, I can't believe how blessed I am to be able to have this gospel in my life and not only that but to be able to share it and testify of it. We taught a family who has now been coming back to church. In the past two changes of teaching them, I have felt such a great love for them. They have really felt the gospel has changed their lives. They never knew what they we missing. And seeing how the gospel has changed their lives leaves me feeling so happy to see how the gospel really changes people.
Also yes there have been a couple of earthquakes here in Chile, but we didn't really feel anything here, or at least we missionaries didn't because we are not used to feeling tremors often I guess. But the weather has been super weird. It has been insanely hot and then all of the sudden there were lightning and then it rain really hard out of nowhere. And it's in the middle of summer. They think there will be another earthquake because the weather was just like this that year before the last earthquake.
Oh and also it has been awesome to be memorizing the living Christ. I have been trying to memorize it in Spanish and I have already memorized the first week. It was surprisingly easier than I thought to memorize it in Spanish. Maybe because I'm always memorizing words and stuff and also because I have been praying to be able to do it. It's great though cause whenever a bad thought pops into my head or I see something, I can just go over in my head of what I memorized. It's like singing a song lol. I love it. I'm glad you came up with the idea Mom.
And also this is my last week in this sector because next week is changes. I'm actually kind of excited and at the same time sad because this ward is awesome but they know me of when I first was born into this sector. So I feel like they look at me like a newbie. But I guess its okay because people also comment on how much I have improved with my Spanish as opposed to when I first got here. So that a plus.
And dad yeah I got your E-mail as well, I cannot believe those missionaries that were in the ward. They were actually playing Pokémon. That is so pathetic. Yah don't worry about me or Chanelle. You're never going to hear me and Chanelle sitting in the pension playing a 8 year old game.lol I guess sometimes missionaries lose track of why they are on a mission.
Oh yeah thanks Chanelle for the little tip about the eating. Except here we can't really choose how much we eat and sometimes there is no way I can eat seconds of the food here. They serve sometimes weird things especially in the summer. They eat tons of mashed corn lol. Oh and you know how I really didn't like soda that much before the mission. Yeah well now I think I'm addicted lol. Seriously everyone serves us coke and I hated coke before the mission. I wasnt able to drink a can of pop before the mission.lol I just thought mom would like to hear that sense she loves us drinking pop lol.
I love you all and thank you for all your letters mom and dad. And by the way where are all the letters from the kids. I think they forgot that Chanelle is not the only one on a mission ha-ha. Yeah I know I haven't written them in a while but still I want letters.
I love you all though, I will let you know where I go for this next change.
I pray for you all every day,
Con Amor, Elder Pedersen
This week I have really learned that the lord can speak to me during the hardest moments. Even though I ask myself in those times of why he makes it so hard on his missionaries sometimes? Or shouldn't it be easier? But I know that is not how the lord works. He wants to help us more than we know. He is always there to comfort us with his spirit to let us know that he will never flee or abandon us. We just got to always push forward with a smile on our faces and with great love for the people.
This week I was able to go to the temple which is such a blessing to be able to go every change. This week I have really felt such a great love for this gospel. Just with studying in the mornings and with all I learn, I can't believe how blessed I am to be able to have this gospel in my life and not only that but to be able to share it and testify of it. We taught a family who has now been coming back to church. In the past two changes of teaching them, I have felt such a great love for them. They have really felt the gospel has changed their lives. They never knew what they we missing. And seeing how the gospel has changed their lives leaves me feeling so happy to see how the gospel really changes people.
Also yes there have been a couple of earthquakes here in Chile, but we didn't really feel anything here, or at least we missionaries didn't because we are not used to feeling tremors often I guess. But the weather has been super weird. It has been insanely hot and then all of the sudden there were lightning and then it rain really hard out of nowhere. And it's in the middle of summer. They think there will be another earthquake because the weather was just like this that year before the last earthquake.
Oh and also it has been awesome to be memorizing the living Christ. I have been trying to memorize it in Spanish and I have already memorized the first week. It was surprisingly easier than I thought to memorize it in Spanish. Maybe because I'm always memorizing words and stuff and also because I have been praying to be able to do it. It's great though cause whenever a bad thought pops into my head or I see something, I can just go over in my head of what I memorized. It's like singing a song lol. I love it. I'm glad you came up with the idea Mom.
And also this is my last week in this sector because next week is changes. I'm actually kind of excited and at the same time sad because this ward is awesome but they know me of when I first was born into this sector. So I feel like they look at me like a newbie. But I guess its okay because people also comment on how much I have improved with my Spanish as opposed to when I first got here. So that a plus.
And dad yeah I got your E-mail as well, I cannot believe those missionaries that were in the ward. They were actually playing Pokémon. That is so pathetic. Yah don't worry about me or Chanelle. You're never going to hear me and Chanelle sitting in the pension playing a 8 year old game.lol I guess sometimes missionaries lose track of why they are on a mission.
Oh yeah thanks Chanelle for the little tip about the eating. Except here we can't really choose how much we eat and sometimes there is no way I can eat seconds of the food here. They serve sometimes weird things especially in the summer. They eat tons of mashed corn lol. Oh and you know how I really didn't like soda that much before the mission. Yeah well now I think I'm addicted lol. Seriously everyone serves us coke and I hated coke before the mission. I wasnt able to drink a can of pop before the mission.lol I just thought mom would like to hear that sense she loves us drinking pop lol.
I love you all and thank you for all your letters mom and dad. And by the way where are all the letters from the kids. I think they forgot that Chanelle is not the only one on a mission ha-ha. Yeah I know I haven't written them in a while but still I want letters.
I love you all though, I will let you know where I go for this next change.
I pray for you all every day,
Con Amor, Elder Pedersen
Thursday, February 10, 2011
The blessings of being a missionary...
I loved reading all the letters. Wow I love my family so much. Just reading the letters made me really think on how much the Lord has brought our family even closer together since me and Chanelle have been gone, and not only our family, but the extended family as well. The Lord truly takes care of the families of those who serve him. I absolutely love this gospel and I am so blessed to be able to be one missionary serving the lord and having the opportunity to leave behind and not worry about school, work, relationships and many other things and in return the Lord pours out his blessings upon those who serve him. How could one afford not to leave? The blessings and happiness are so great. And yes definitely I will join the family on memorizing the living Christ. Mom, when you said that it would be a great gift to the Savior, I really felt the spirit and that I should do it. I just don’t know if I will do it in Spanish or English. And dad thanks you for all your letters. Thank you for all the experiences that you have shared with me
I was sad to hear that Chanelle is beating me on the whole sending pictures and videos. For a second I thought I was winning. I know I’m a loser at it. It didn’t take me long to realize that sister missionaries are way better at it and just better all around. I know I definitely need to send more videos. Well first I need to take more.lol
Wow I couldn’t believe that Breanne and Bronson were back together. I wonder how that will turn out. Also how are Devin and Skyler doing? Is Skyler getting his papers ready? I hope; that kid needs to get on a mission.
Well back to me lol. This week was a good one and we have had the chance to be able to find more people in their houses than we thought because everyone is at the beach or on vacations. But we found some new people to teach that are way awesome. I’m excited to be able to teach them more and more. One of the people we taught wasn’t really interested at first, but then she let us in the following week and we taught her, we got into talking about how families can be together because of the restored gospel and she really wants her family to be more unified, so as we were talking to her about it, she started bawling and she told us she knew the spirit was there as we were teaching and so we asked her to be baptized and she said that she still wasn’t convinced yet and she would still have to find out for herself. So we are praying that she can receive an answer.
Then we taught a family that of course has a child and are not married. So that’s a problem. But we taught the first lesson and the guy was super interested to know about the religion and what happens after death. It was funny when we were teaching the first lesson about the first vision the little kid had to go into the bathroom with the door open and started going to the bathroom super loud. lol yeah like hershey Squirts. And everybody couldn't stop laughing. So basically the lesson kinda died and it totally interrupted the first vision part just like it does every time, something always seems to happen. But we have been teaching them ever since, so i hope it all goes well. And also a less active family that has been going to church got assaulted and beat up. It was way sad cause he had bruises and lost a tooth. So we have been helping them out. Its crazy how bad Chile is sometimes. But i always feel super protected as a missionary. And also what was cool is we put a baptismal date for someone who finally left her boyfriend and is ready for baptism. And she came to the church this last Sunday so she will be baptized my last Sunday here. so I'm excited for that.
Well sorry this was a kinda short letter but we came to the internet late, so I only had so much time.
I love you all and I pray for you all everyday. Tell Shanna I will be praying for her and sorry I didn't write her back today. I didn't have time. I love you all, keep me and Chanelle in your prayers.
Con Amor,
Elder Pedersen
P.S. mom or dad could you send me a pin drive to put my pictures on just in case my pictures or camera get stolen? Or just put money on the card so I can buy it here. and possibly a recorder, and my priesthood line of authority , and maybe genealogy or you could just tell me what generation we are in the church, and how far back or who was the first Mormon in the family tree? That would be awesome. If you can, thank you.
I was sad to hear that Chanelle is beating me on the whole sending pictures and videos. For a second I thought I was winning. I know I’m a loser at it. It didn’t take me long to realize that sister missionaries are way better at it and just better all around. I know I definitely need to send more videos. Well first I need to take more.lol
Wow I couldn’t believe that Breanne and Bronson were back together. I wonder how that will turn out. Also how are Devin and Skyler doing? Is Skyler getting his papers ready? I hope; that kid needs to get on a mission.
Well back to me lol. This week was a good one and we have had the chance to be able to find more people in their houses than we thought because everyone is at the beach or on vacations. But we found some new people to teach that are way awesome. I’m excited to be able to teach them more and more. One of the people we taught wasn’t really interested at first, but then she let us in the following week and we taught her, we got into talking about how families can be together because of the restored gospel and she really wants her family to be more unified, so as we were talking to her about it, she started bawling and she told us she knew the spirit was there as we were teaching and so we asked her to be baptized and she said that she still wasn’t convinced yet and she would still have to find out for herself. So we are praying that she can receive an answer.
Then we taught a family that of course has a child and are not married. So that’s a problem. But we taught the first lesson and the guy was super interested to know about the religion and what happens after death. It was funny when we were teaching the first lesson about the first vision the little kid had to go into the bathroom with the door open and started going to the bathroom super loud. lol yeah like hershey Squirts. And everybody couldn't stop laughing. So basically the lesson kinda died and it totally interrupted the first vision part just like it does every time, something always seems to happen. But we have been teaching them ever since, so i hope it all goes well. And also a less active family that has been going to church got assaulted and beat up. It was way sad cause he had bruises and lost a tooth. So we have been helping them out. Its crazy how bad Chile is sometimes. But i always feel super protected as a missionary. And also what was cool is we put a baptismal date for someone who finally left her boyfriend and is ready for baptism. And she came to the church this last Sunday so she will be baptized my last Sunday here. so I'm excited for that.
Well sorry this was a kinda short letter but we came to the internet late, so I only had so much time.
I love you all and I pray for you all everyday. Tell Shanna I will be praying for her and sorry I didn't write her back today. I didn't have time. I love you all, keep me and Chanelle in your prayers.
Con Amor,
Elder Pedersen
P.S. mom or dad could you send me a pin drive to put my pictures on just in case my pictures or camera get stolen? Or just put money on the card so I can buy it here. and possibly a recorder, and my priesthood line of authority , and maybe genealogy or you could just tell me what generation we are in the church, and how far back or who was the first Mormon in the family tree? That would be awesome. If you can, thank you.
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