BYU here I come....

Congratulations to me!! Man I was worried about not getting accepted into BYU. I'm excited! I'm glad that's over.

The pictures of Chanelle and her roommates affirm the fact that guys over there are retarded. I was looking at the pictures wondering why she is not married or why a bunch of guys aren't all over her asking her on dates. It must be because she is intimidating or something. Maybe God is just making her wait until the right one comes to present himself. I'm just glad that I can go to BYU and protect her from stupid guys.

Well on to new stuff, this week was a good one full of great experiences. Elder Richards of the seventy did a mission tour and came to our mission and he and his wife taught us and they are way awesome.

We started the day off with all the leaders of the mission gathering early in the morning with him. And since I am a trainer I was invited We were with about 15 missionaries in the mission and he taught us about real understanding through the spirit speaking to our hearts of the truthfulness of the Gospel. That is when we actually learn. He asked us if we have ever read the same scripture over and over, but on the 5 time it makes sense to you and becomes meaningful to you personally? He said it's because we are learning by the spirit and that's when he speaks to our hearts and minds to teach us the things we need to learn.

Then when the meeting was ending President told me to come and talk to him and when I did he asked, "You know who the new mission president is right?¨ and I said yeah and he told Elder Richards ¨This is interesting, Elder Pedersen here has a dad that works with the new mission president¨ and so we started talking and his wife asked me questions about Oregon cause she had done a tour up there with the Relief Society presidency and so President asked me if I could share something or talk about him with the mission and so I told him I know him but I don't know a ton about him personally, but overall I said yes. And so at the end of the meeting president told me how thrilled he was about the new president and how anxious he was to talk to me today and so basically every time he saw me he was saying how excited he was. Lol



So we started the main meeting and the President introduced who the new Mission President would be and he asked me to come up and say something, and so I just said that he and his family are amazing and he has two kids serving missions and that he works with my Dad and my family and I grew up knowing he and his family. President Laycock went on to say that all his kids speak Spanish except one who served in Brazil and that his wife is trying to learn Spanish hard before she gets here. Then after that Elder Richards said, ¨now imagine the burden Elder Pedersen has now, he will have to act accordingly in all places. And I said well at least for 5 days till I leave ha-ha so they thought it was funny. But I actually realized that I will be with him for 10 days, so that's cool. Special treatment coming up lol jk. It's even cooler that I'm the only one in the mission that knows him and so they all keep asking me questions. So yeah President is so excited to meet them.

We then got taught a little more by Elder Richards and then he sat down to eat with we me at my table and we all started asking him questions about General Conference and the tours that he goes on and what not, I learned a lot. It was a really cool Wednesday.

You finally got the package that I sent like forever ago! There's not a bunch of pictures, but hopefully enough and I hope you like them. I wasn't able to get the videos on their but whatever. I guess you will have to wait 4 months to see some.

Also, Dad I thought I was coming home to rest a little bit? Lol! Wow, a 50 mile hike! I'm going to kill myself especially being out of shape like I am and everything. I remember the first 50 mile hike that we did and I felt like death after, I can't imagine how this one will be lol. But I'm willing if you want me to. After all I will be with all the boys. I just wasn't excepting that so soon. lol.
Also McKenna is so cute. Lol I loved the story that you told me that happened to her. Weird but God teaches in mysterious ways. That's a cool experience for her to always remember. God hears and answers prayers.

Also tell Steven card that I have not forgot about him even though I don't write him. It's just hard sometimes to write friends because I don't know the protocol (yeah I know it shouldn't be an excuse) but it's hard sometimes when I hear that everybody else can write other people other than their family and I can't. But whatever, I good with it.

Well I love you all and hope Mom and Shanna have a great time in Idaho with Chanelle. Think of me as your their! Thank you for your prayers and keep praying for me to accomplish goals and overcome any weaknesses in the time I have here left on my mission.

Love you all and I'm always thinking about you!

Con Amor,
Elder Pedersen

David Wright...New Mission Pres.?!!!

Sorry to tell you but yeah I'm getting skinny. Well whatever what can I do? lol I guess in four months you will be able to fatten me up?

I can't believe that David Wright will be my president for 5 days! Yeah, I bet everyone is going crazy their but I think he will be a great president, I wonder if my president knows? but I am writing to tell him.

Also cool huh that Skyler's Mission President gave him permission to go to the temple with me! But we will actually see each other before that time. Or I hope. Wouldn't that be cool it he trained David Archuleta!? Funny huh?

Well this week, like always was a hot one. It's crazy to think that it actually snowing there in Medford. SO this week was super hard cause everybody was on vacations and nobody has time but overall it ended good because we were walking around looking for less actives in a certain part of the sector and nobody was home and it was late so before going back home we wanted to pass a certain part of the sector to look for less actives and when we did we found a family that has been less active for a while, actually ever since their dad died 3 or 4 years ago and they said we arrived at the perfect time because they were going through a hard time and the missionaries hadn't passed by for like 3 years as well. We didn't have much time so we set a appointment up and taught the whole family on Saturday and the spirit was really strong and they even were there with note pads taking notes and at the end we invited them to the church and they went and they were so happy in coming back and they couldn't stop thanking us for passing by and also the wife is not sealed to her husband and so she thinks that our showing up was a sign to get on that. Also yesterday we passed by a guy who we taught the first lesson to about 5 weeks ago cause he left on vacation, so we went by and he said he had almost read the whole book of Mormon and so we set up an appointment to come back and we are praying that it all goes well with him this next week, it's definitely a miracle.

Also mom did you get my pictures that I sent to you all on a cd? And also I didn't get the web page of BYU which reminds me that I need to know if I got accepted into BYU because it's freaking me out.lol

This week was cool cause a returned missionary came back the mission and talked and talked about the mission and its funny cause he seems like he is adapting easily to being home and it totally makes me think about how it will be when I get home! But don't worry I am still working hard and I'm focused but I'm excited to see the family I'm not going to lie but I'm loving the mission while it lasts.

And commenting on scripture study, I can say that scripture study is a process cause when I first got on the mission I didn't realize the importance of reading the scriptures like I do now, but I say that it's a process cause as we read the scriptures our testimonies grows one step at a time studying and reading them and as we read we find that we can find answers and comfort and that gives us motivation to want to read them every day. We have to also take notes or at least be ready to receive revelation while reading because the Lord will try to speak to us if we are listening but if we are reading just to read and not looking for revelation we won't receive revelation. I could say a lot on it but we have to have a study plan so we don't study randomly and we have to study wanting and being willing to apply whatever is learned into our lives.

Hope that helps. Well I got to go but I love you and thank you for your prayers,
They are a great source of strength for me here.

Con Amor,
Elder Pedersen

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Man I’m tired! We just came back from a long day hiking a big hill to get to Cerro san Cristobel and it was hot. Up their is the angel Mary and it was pretty cool. So besides the fact that this week was exhausting from walking around everywhere, we had to hike this mountain. It’s funny how p-days turn into a more exhausting day than usual. Lol Also I thought I would never say it but I actually felt really uncomfortable wearing regular clothes today. Lol I don’t know how I’m going to do it when I get back because I don’t feel comfortable at all wearing street clothes. We will see how it goes.

 Man I’m also getting pretty skinny and I hate it. I wish I could eat more sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, we get fed a bunch for lunch, but that's basically all we get all day cause in this sector we don’t get a lot of food, it's mostly all at lunch. I’ve been trying not to spend a lot of personal money but sometimes I have to, so I hope I have sufficient money in my savings account. Also I’m spending more money since my companion got here and because he is a big guy, he spent all his money within a week! Ha-ha Crazy huh? He eats like crazy, but I’m teaching him what he needs to do to save his money.

 Mom I’m not going to lie, I miss your food and I’m missing it more and more lol I was thinking about it, the missionaries in our ward get so spoiled, especially at our house. Something that I realized that they don’t do here is put almost all the food on their table and let us dig in like we do at home, so I kind of miss being able to eat what I want ha-ha.

Well this week has been pretty good but we have not found many investigators so we have been setting more time apart to look for less actives and that actually has been pretty successful and they actually come to church and we actually just found them that morning.

We actually have some investigators but some tend to progress very slowly but we have about two that are pretty promising. There is a lady who just got married and her husband isn’t a member and also another lady who has been investigating the church for like 5 weeks and she came up and asked us to teach her and I was actually surprised because we thought she was a member but I hope it all goes well there. We are trying to be as obedient as we can so the Lord can bless us in his timing, but I have realized that without the members nothing will happen in missionary work, so help the missionary’s lol.

That is so awesome that David Wright was called to be a mission president and can’t wait to know where he will serve. That’s exciting; I wonder how he will be? Let me know what happens.

Also what has happened so far with the pregnancy with Shanna? How is she doing? Is she healthy?

Have you heard anything about me being accepted to BYU? It shouldn’t take this long. Are you sure they got all the information they needed?

Well I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. Give my love to the ward and the fam.

Que tengan una buena semana!

Con Amor,
-Elder Pedersen

Love from Chile...

Man with that comment I feel like I have to write the family through your e-mail. Lol. Just so you know that I receive all the letters you send. And at least you can say that you beat Mom in writing me almost every Monday lol. You are actually pretty faithful in writing me dad especially because there are many missionaries who never get letters from their dads or if they do its only every other week and just a couple lines, so thank you for the letters. I can’t believe that you were pulled over last night! It reminded me how much more strict the police are in the states in comparison to the ones here in Chile; at least we have police that do stuff. Here people wiz passed cops that don’t do anything, so through all the disappointment of getting pulled over, their protecting us lol.

Well here it has been so hot!! and I’m actually tired of it ha-ha especially cause we are white washed and haven’t had much success cause we pass by the people’s houses and they are never their cause they are all on vacations and so that is the hard part. So all we can do in that situation is to keep walking. But it makes it all the better having a companion that supports me and has a good attitude and is willing to make changes. I think that the only thing that he needs to work on which is what happens to every new missionary is to leave some stuff behind, other than that he’s a stud and we are trying to pray and find the people in the sector waiting for us.

So I’m kind of nervous about the whole getting accepted into byu. How long does it generally take for one to know if they are accepted?

I’m excited for all the plans and vacations that we will do when I get back! I’m pretty excited but don’t worry it doesn’t stop me from working.

Since Steven talked about the food, I guess I will tell you one of my favorite foods that I love here, they have a lot of foods that are weird but one that I like is when they put chicken, olives, onions with brown sugar, and a little bit of egg and then on top they put smashed up corn mixed with milk and some other stuff and then they put it in the oven for a while and they then sprinkle some sugar on top if you want. It’s delicious even though it sounds really weird. It’s kind of like a Sheppard’s pie but with corn. It’s called pastel de choclo. I want to learn how to make some stuff and come home and make it! Also the bread is amazing!

Well keep praying for me as I am here serving the Lord. I am here carrying the name of the family wherever I go and hopefully bringing honor to it.

I love you all. Until next week -Elder Pedersen
p.s. I was talking to Skyler and we found out that now with my new sector
We are only about 10 miles away from each other! Crazy huh?

Don’t worry mom I got your letter, I don’t have much time but I couldn’t leave without reading your letter cause I know it always comes. Man I love getting yours and dads letters because they always inspire me to do better and of course always keeps me informed on what is going on at home. Lol Well I’m really glad that you are not worried about getting accepted into byu. That makes me feel better. That awesome to hear about my own family still doing family home evenings and having lessons and seeing how the Lord is pouring out blessings on the family. I love it! Enjoy the blessings as I am here out on the mission. Soak them in!

I feel really bad for Chanelle, I guess I should stop being excited whenever she turns a guy down. But that’s going to be fun and cool to be able to be at her side when we go to college together!

Also yes I know when I go home; actually everybody that came in my group got their what’s called ¨trunky papers¨ which tell us when we are going home. I’m going to be arriving in Medford on the 10th of July. So yeah I will be serving a 2 year and 3 day mission. I’m just an over achiever ha-ha

I love the whole principle of force and persuasion. I have never heard that before and really loved it and also about how we need to be in the safe zone and to do that we need to repent or else we have no promise. It’s so true but yet so simple. I’m glad I have parents who teach principles like that.

Its true I have actually gotten along with almost all my companions, I like it that way because it makes the work so much easier. With the kid I’m training now I have been just doing the normal stuff and teaching him stuff here and their but he tells me that he has already learned tons from me he says sometimes I may not notice it but he’s learning how to be a better missionary and how to do the things. What a blessing.

Well I got to go but thank you for everything. Sorry for the short e-mail
Con muchísimo Amor,
 Elder Pedersen

Training....

Man the computer connection that I'm on is horrible, I have written
two e-mails that wouldn't send and then finally deleted. Frustrating
cause now I'm nearly out of time.
Well its seems like Kenny had an amazing birthday. It sounds like it
all went well. If I could I would have called and sang to him ha-ha.
Well I'm happy that he had a great birthday.
I want to write something for him in his book since I didn't get a
chance to do it but since you still haven't given it to him I will write
now. I can't do it today because I'm now out of time.
Well this last week was a good but hard one. I felt once again that
a lot of trust is put on me, because I'm training and in control of the sector.
But it's good, I feel that's it's good for me that I'm training. I'm enjoying
it a lot and my companion and I are getting along really well. He is
from Panama and he is a cross between a black guy from the states
and Tongan. He is awesome and tough and I'm teaching him a lot and we
worked pretty hard this past week. Since we didn't have any teaching appts.
we knocked and knocked until my comp. got used to it. He was a
bit scared to do it but he says has learning a lot and I'm also trying
to be really obedient to start off the tune of his mission right and I
want to have great experiences with him but we obviously have to teach
to be able to do that and so thank you for your prayers. The ward
seems to really like us and we are trying to gain their confidence
and fast and I think we have done that cause we have received a bunch or
references this past week and so we will see the fruits of our labors
this next week. I think it will all go well and we will find more
people to teach.
So is Kenny going to college? Is it too late for him to
get in or can he still make it? Let me know when I get accepted. I'm
actually kind of nervous.

Well sorry for the short letter.
Love you
Elder Pedersen

Be happy and Enjoy LIFE!!

Thank you mom and dad for informing me on everything that is going on back at home, it seems to me that as doing so it's not only you guys that realize all the blessings that we have as a family but it helps me to recognize them too. I have realized also by being in this country how much the lord truly has blessed us in our lives because we are striving to be faithful and strong in keeping his commandments.

Well I can't believe that Kenny is turning 18 years old! Its ridicules and yes mom I will go on what you told me to do. I was realizing the other day how Kenny will be turning 18 this next week. Seriously sometimes time fly's by on the wings of lightning. Let's work every day towards who we want to be. WE may not be perfect but we can try perfectly, (and that's all God asks).

Well moving on to what has happened to me this week. I spent the week getting to know a little more of the sector and to find out that it's going to be tough to find people to teach. But they are undoubtedly out there and I know there are things for me to learn here. Well we got the call for changes yesterday and found out that my companion is leaving which we were kind of disappointed about because we got along so great and we had a lot of funny and fun moments in the past 2 weeks of getting to know each other. We just hit off and got along great cause he actually looks a little like Devin and acts a little like Skyler but a little more respectful ha-ha (but don't tell him that). So he was pretty sad about leaving but when I got to changes they told me I was training! Again! I was shocked but I'm kind of excited because I'm going to train a Latin and I'm glad cause I like being with Latin comps., but can you believe that?! We had a little meeting with president and he really drilled it into our brains that whatever we do will determine who they will be as missionaries for the rest of their lives and he told us to be on our best level of obedience and that he wanted us to imagine that we will be making a mile marker in the lives of future leaders in the church all around the world. Cool huh?

Well afterwards President and Sister Laycock talked to the entire mission and it was one of the best reunions that I have been to. All the meetings that we have with President are amazing but the spirit was so strong when he speaks and I have always had the conviction that President is called of God and God speaks to him to have his work carried out effectively but today for some reason I felt the spirit even stronger if that is possible, testifying to me that he was called of God and I really felt that some words that he said came directly from Christ himself. He taught us, showed his love to us, corrected us, testified to us and our calling and showed us how to be bold. I wouldn't even be able to explain to you how I felt even if I wanted to but I know president Laycock is called of God to carry this work out here and is doing it in a marvelous way. I respect him and his wife so much for all they do and will never forget the things they have taught me. Man I love coming out of meetings feeling like that!

Well so there you have it I'm training and I'm excited but nervous but it gives me comfort to know like president said to us that we have been handpicked by the lord because he trusts us and so does the Lord. So wish me luck! I want to do better as a trainer this time, not saying that I didn't do a good job but I want to be better and obey even more. I'm in the last six months of my mission and I want to really put into practice what I have learned and learn more. It's my time to shine!

I would love to explain more of what president taught and told us but it would take a while to write it all.

I can't believe that Kenny is not going to go to college in the fall, that's pretty lame because I was excited to go and room with him but I guess I will have to wait till after the mission to be able to do that, and that is if I'm not married. Well I hope he knows that I would have loved to. We will just have to hang out a lot when I get home!

Well I love you ALL, be strong and look at your destination and where you want to be with every step you take in life.

President told us that we need to bounce through life in the sense of being happy and enjoy life not at the end of next month or in the case of a missionary at the end of each change, instead work on being happy now and today even in the time of despair.

-Elder Pedersen

Transferred two weeks early...

No there were no missionaries who got sent home, it was just that a couple of missionaries couldn't get along and president had to split them up, and it's funny cause the missionary that I trained was involved. How I got through 2 changes with him? I do not know.

Also I had a interview with president this last week and he said that he was actually going to call you and get the password and talk to you, it appears that he forgot but I will remind him during the week, I will call him so he can do it and I will ask him for permission to write the essay, I just got to think about what I will write in the essay that tells me to write about a problem I have encountered and how I overcame it. Could it be in the mission?

Well my companions name is Elder Ezparsa and he's way cool, we have a feeling that we are going to train for something this next week when they call us and possibly train in the same pension. He is actually from Texas but his parents are Mexicans. Two Mexicans in a row, Viva Mexico!

So this sector is a lot different, it's a little bit harder to find people here but there are people here waiting for this message and I know we will find them through our obedience. I think seriously the mission is so amazing cause it prepares me for everything after the mission and God is helping me be the person that he wants me to be with these changes, I just have to let him through my willingness to obey. It's seriously all about obedience.

Well I met the ward this Sunday and they seem really nice but it's just different from my ward but I just got to get to know them a little more, I think it's just hard because I have to form a relationship with all the members of a new ward again and I guess it will help me grow and get out of my comfort zone so its all good.

When I had interviews with president he asked me if we could still be friends because he knew the work that I did their and that I had baptisms coming up that Saturday and so he felt bad and said he was praying the night before and he knew that I wanted to be there and so he let me go back for the baptism and so I was really happy. I went and it was a really good baptism and Elder Lugo told me that the ward couldn't believe that I was gone and told him that many people said that he and I were the best missionaries in that ward and that the ward had ever seen. And it just stinks because I didn't even get to take pictures with them before I left.

Well love you all, sorry for the short letter,
Elder Pedersen

P.s. I'm sending a DVD of pictures with like only 100 pictures
or so but I know you wanted a cd of pictures so I will
be sending it in the mail.