A Missionary's Work: See Ya Later Aso (dog)

4/24/2017

Sweet deal, being here in my new area in Paco Roman. It's the tiniest area I have ever been in so far. There aren't malls of course, no market (Palangki), just many tindahans (pretty much in remote areas or for convenience, there are little stores that are pretty much just people selling food and seasonings and other randomly assorted items out of their home or a stand. Much like the classic hometown ice lemonade stand with a tin roof and made as the adult version because of the iron bars they put in front.) So that means we save a lot of money, on the bright side. So in this small area, everyone knows everyone and that's pretty cool.

The sucky part this week  was getting a big insect bite (siguro galing and ipis - maybe from a cockroach, which are huge here and can fly) and it was getting very infected. My finger, filled with pus, was literally double the size of it's counterpart finger. In the week, as I took some anti-bacterial meds, it's not the original size. Medicine is crazy awesome. After that, I sprayed bug killer everywhere.

The weirdest part was visiting one person we met a while back, and as we're there, a guy comes in with a piece of wood and a dog's head on it, and then proceeded to make a fire and cook it. I have heard about dog being a dish here but never have seen it. It reminded me of the monster dog-ish creatures in Ghostbusters one, haha! And sorry, I don't know if the pics will be uploaded today because I always seem to be behind, hopefully they download faster.

The awesome part is at the edge of our area is this bakery that makes the best pandi-coco coconut filled bread and I have to buy some every time, plus the bonus is it's only 2 pesos and that's really really cheap (coming back here after the mission, haha)!

Anyhow, my spiritual thought. So I have never suffered or been as happy and joy filled in my life than in the mission. I can honestly say I am a way different person than I was before. I have seen greatly sad and happy things, I have seen the lives of people with no hope or happiness turn to great joy and love. I can't fully explain what I have seen and felt, but I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve, love, and help people change their lives around. My testimony has grown in such a way, I can't explain it either. Maybe I will just share my testimony and if you wish to take up my promise, I know it'll be a blessing. I know God loves us, for he sent his son to die then to live again for us. I know he loves us because of the trials and hardships he gives us, his children. Through these trials, he stretches us and helps us to grow into who he sees us being able to become. I also know that no trial is impossible, for he doesn't give us hard things that we can't do or handle in his son, for all things are possible in Christ. I have seen lives turn from being the lowest of the lowly to the happiest of the happiest, even though their life situation is the same. So I know that we can all receive the happiness that he desires to give us, as long as we follow Christ and his example, through his gospel (which means faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism by his authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end). He wants to bless us even more than what we have received now. I also know that the bible, as long as it is translated correctly is the word or God, and the Book of Mormon is the word of God also. I know this because of an invitation and promise from the introduction. To read and ponder in your heart if the words in the book are true, then to ask the one who knows everything, God, if the message in the book is true. Asking with faith that you will receive an answer to your prayer, a sincere heart (really wanting to know if it's true), and real intent (willing to act on the answer from your prayer). I know he answers prayers. I have felt and seen my prayers being answered. It is a simple invitation but a life changing one. As I can testify of because of what I have seen in these people and their life changes. Love you all and leave my testimony with you to ponder and grow from, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Have a great week and if you truly want to take this invitation, I know you won't regret it.

Elder Peterson

A Missionary's Work: Our Focus

4/17/17

Wow! So here's the update this week. It's been really crazy!
So the highlights:
1- I was transferred to an area called Paco Roman, a super small area that's close to my last area but in a different zone (all of my areas so far are within an hour of each other).

2- It's Holy Week here which is a big holiday type deal but all week, which means a lot of partying it up, which also means a lot of drunks. I actually saw a drunk guy try to kill another drunk guy with two knives, but maybe the other guy didn't go overboard with wetting the whistle because he had a really long piece of wood and took the other guy out. Apparently people are pretty used to it and everyone just sat and watched. I was sort-of shocked nobody did anything (btw I was soo ready to tackle the guy #wrestlingcomesinhandy)

3- My new area is sooo bukid, or farm area, that there isn't even a market to buy food for the week, use the computer, and anything else like that. But the new area and new companion are awesome! And now I have to learn a new language (As soon as I think I'm actually pretty good at Tagalog, I have to learn a new one), it's called Ilokano. Apparently more common in America is Ilokano and Tagalog.

Here's some random things you can always find in a house here: rice, sandals, something relating to Christ, and a TV. Well, we're doing good and my new companion is Elder Basas and he's really good at basketball and even better at ping pong (like the Olympic players, it's a really big sport here).

So here's something that just happened right now as we're in the cpu shop. The owner is disabled and as we're talking about the mission and such, he says to me "I was born disabled, but through a loving God and loving parents, I am surviving and alive. I know if I do the right things in the sight of God, I will be with them in heaven. The blessings will come, I know they will." Now doesn't that touch your heart? He's my new friend and he knows more about God and life than a log of people I have met here. He is focused on Christ and on loving other people. Now why can't we do as such? Love and serve people, not making enemies, and truly with no doubt have faith in Christ. We can only go where we point our focus, so why not point toward Christ? I know as we do so, we'll become more like the person He wants us to be. I love you all and challenge you to focus on Christ this week. Think about him before work, in stressful moments, and always. Love you all! Here's some pics!

Elder Peterson

A Missionary's Work: The Strongest and the Weakest

4/7/2017

A Picture from his Mission President's blog captioned: "Just a few of the missionaries that I love!"

Hello everyone! I'm here in super hot Bongabon now, but maybe leaving this Thursday. I'm not sure because transfer announcements are on Wednesday and transfers are on Saturday. So I won't find out until Wednesday. I love these people sooo much here in Bongabon, but I really love exploring too and teaching new people! We have been working hard and trying to do our best to help others.

I have short time to email today so I'll just go straight to the good stuff. So the spiritual thought today is about Sister Anne. Sister Anne is in weak shape after a bad stroke about a year ago. She's very physically weak, but so spiritually strong. Though it is hard for her to walk, she walks to church every week, about half a mile. Even though she's alone almost 24/7, she is always smiling. Whenever you see her, she loves to see how you are doing and always thinks of others. She is an amazing example for all. Even with her small frame and fragile body, her spirit is of giant status. So how can we learn from Anne? We learn to love everybody else and serve them, we learn to keep smiling in all our situations, and we learn to endure to the end or continue in our lives, trying our best, working our hardest, and always relying on Christ. Sorry, but the pics are not loading today, but love ya all and have a great week, striving to be like Anne!

Elder Peterson

A Missionary's Work: P is for Patience

4/3/2017

Hey Everybody! "It's a great day to be alive, with the sun still shining when I close my eyes" - A great country song. If you can figure it out, email me, haha! But it's great here, a smile always on our faces, and learning new things, especially in Tagalog everyday! Oh, one fun-ish experience is finding out I have gained my first allergy to cashews or at least the oil. I found a cashew tree the other day and picked one, and later found out there is like two shells on the cashew and it goes one hard outer shell, tons of oil and an inner shell then the nut. I got tons of the oil on my hands and it's like superglue, it covers your hands and you need to scrape it off (still in that process). I also had (past tense mom, ha) a bunch of rashes on my arms. That sucks because that's one of my favorites, sayang (dang it).

Right now I think I lost a bunch of weight, the complete opposite of my 1st area, but only because we're working harder and doing more, which also means I can eat anything I want (a wrestler's dream yay!) We're loving it here though and we're always busy.

So I hear it's still snowing in Ohio. That's funny because here it's like 100 degrees always, though that's my kind of weather. Oh and one more thing. I had a one-day chick yesterday. Which is literally one day old chick fried or grilled and eaten whole and color orange... it was.... actually really good. It might be one of my new favorite street foods along side chicken intestines an chicken blood (it's kinda like jello haha)!

Anyway, to my spiritual food thought type deal. This week has been spent on learning patience. Usually the first thought to my mind from that word is not exploding when my sisters are arguing at me or each other (I love you my beloved sisters haha). But as you really think about it, it's a lot more than that. Think of how Christ used patience. Christ loved those who hated him. He served all including the selfish. He endured every pain and sin. Patience is not "takin' all the crap", it's loving the people even when they kick you out of their house. It's doing all those thing you shouldn't have to do, with a smile. It's choosing to be happy through every hardship and trial in our lives. Patience has a lot of meaning behind it and I'm way far from being a master of patience, but I've started to learn and grow from many situations in life before and during my mission. It's also very closely related to humility (opposite of pride). Hopefully this thing that I'm learning can help someone out there. Love you all and have a great, patient-filled week...

Stay maganda and stay pogi ;)
Elder Peterson

A Missionary's Work: Hope

4/27/2017

So it's still freakin' awesome here, learning everyday and growing too. We've been working harder, walking faster, and meeting more people. I am sort of in a hurry today so it'll be short and sweet. Here's my spiritual thought.

So we met this nanay ("Mom") about in her 60ies, just limping along one day. We soon found out she is a stroke survivor, and she started to tell us about her life and just broke down in tears. We talked with her and the next day visited her at her house. She told us how lonely she is, and all these trials in her life, and even said that she thinks God closed his eyes towards her. As I looked and listened, I could tell she was low on hope. That's one of the things that this gospel provides, so I talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not afraid to testify of that. I know it to be true and it has made a huge difference in my life and in every trial, I can have hope for the better sunrise at the end of that trial. I am only using the simple words, but it's truth. God hears us and is always with us and always will be with us. He answers prayers and loved and loves us so much that he let his only son suffer and die for us. I know God sees the people we can become and gives us challenges to stretch us and help us grow to be those people. That means every trial he gives us will not necessarily be easy, but possible to get through, through Christ... After all, all things can be done through Christ. Love you all! Have some more hope this week and help those that are low on it.