March 23rd, 2014

Well this week was great!

We were able to teach a bunch of people the restoration... I really love teaching the restoration because of the spirit that comes when we do it. 

It is interesting walking around and stoping random people on the street and asking them what they thing the meaning of life is.

Some jokingly say "42" snicker and walk away... others just shake their head and keep walking, but I have noticed that the ones that actually stop and think about their response most often say "to be happy"

 I think that the thing that I learned this week is that Gods plan is simple... he wants us all to be happy. 

So the real question we should be asking ourselves is this "what is happiness?"

There is no end to the list of things that make us happy, but how can we really be happy?

The thing that we are searching for is "true" happiness which means lasting happiness.

So the "question" of life should be "what is happiness" 

For myself happiness is, family, friends, scriptures, meditation, peace, and overall my faith in Christ.

so, don't worry, be happy

Love you all,

Äldste Peterson

March 17th, 2014

Well this week was really good.

last Monday I bought a harmonica and I have been playing hymns as we walk (we do a lot of walking), I have really enjoyed it (both the walking and the Harmonica). 

We were able to meet with our Investigator Daniel (he is from Nigeria) and set a baptismal date with him on Monday, and then on thursday we were able to meet with a Swedish investigator for the first time named Bo, and schedule a tenative Baptismal date with him as well. 

The sun comes up at about 6 in the morning here... Europe starts daylight savings time on the 30th. Because of this it has been pretty nice out, it snowed last night, but it's warming up more and more. 

Everything is great here I love you all!

March 10th, 2014

Well this week was interesting. On Tuesday my comp and I got a phone call from President Newell telling us that we were going to transfer to Västerås together due to the death of Elder Bailey. We got here to Västerås on Wednesday. It feels a bit strange to take his place. The branch here is nice, they are all very sad though. We had a nice memorial for Elder Bailey on Sunday and there were 91 missionaries here, almost half the mission! It was happy and sad at the same time. Happy that we will see him again, but sad that he is gone.

I am the district leader here now and district meetings are pretty easy because we live with the other Elders in our district, Elder Krebs and Elder Hansen. They are both super nice and I really have liked being in a fourman so far.

Today we are going to go to IKEA for breakfast and then do our shopping at Willys which is close to IKEA. Then we have planned to go into Västerås to look around. We have two lessons planned for tonight, one with an African man who me and Elder Williams contacted on the street last Thursday, and one with a less active. 

The very first day we arrived in Västerås we dropped our bags at the apartment and then we headed to a refferal lesson... the lesson turned out to be with a lady named Inger who seemed super prepared to recive the gospel, we were able to schedule a baptismal date with her for the 29th of this month. I am pretty excited about it, litteraly our first lesson within the first few hours of being here. 

We were also able to meet with a few pretty cool people this week. 

We did a lot of trackting obviously since neither of us know the area, which does build character Dad... I actually think that trackting is fun, which is good because we do alot of it. I wish there was a more effective way though because people are rarely polite or ready to listen at their doors.

This computer is set to correct swedish so exccuse my spelling. 

Well I love you all and I hope that everything is going OK at home. I don't have many pictures but I think that I have a few.
well, the pictures will have to wait till next week.

Copy-Cat Picture

Since David works in the same building as Elder Lofgren's dad, they took a copy-cat picture together.

March 3rd, 2014

Well this week was good.

I got a new companion on Wednesday, his name is Elder Connor Williams. Wednesday was also Missionary leadership Training for Sweden so I was in meetings all day, it was really fun. Elder Williams and I are trying to find an Investigator and so this week was pretty much all contacting and Trackting, there are a few funny experiences I will share though.

The first was when we went to a members house just to stop by and introduce Elder Williams but he had a cold so we didn't get to stay long, so we trackted the area around his house. The funny thing about it was that as we were trackting (this is a typical eurpean suburb) there were three little boys playing soccer, and they followed us around and as we knocked on the doors they would call out the numbers, kind of like a cheer squad or an announcer. One of the doors we Knocked on they started yelling "de redan veta, de redan veta" which means "they already know," they turned out to be catholic and were not interested.

Well I don't have much time so picture says a 1000 words.

this first one is of me and Elder Lofgren at the Missionary Leadership Training

This is my new companion Elder Williams

Contacting last night in the snow

the Temple this morning

February 24th, 2014

Well this week was good, it was a little scary finding out about Mom's cancer but its good to know that she is in good hands. This week was good! On P-day we went to Gamla stan in Stockholm with Elder Johnson (my last companion) and Elder Newkirk and we went to a Onesie store (it is literally a store that just sells onsies) I took a picture so that you could all see... apparently its a missionary thing to buy (I don't think I'm convinced).

In other news, I am getting a new companion on Wednesday, due to a missionary that was going to come from the MTC but didn't or something. I will be getting Elder Williams who is from the same MTC group as my last two companions. 

I got to go on splits with Elder Johnson this week which was pretty fun. 

Anyways... doing great here in Sweden!!!

Love,

Elder Peterson

so I forgot my camera today... I will send the pics next week

February 10th, 2014

Well this week was great! We got a baptismal date on the last day I was with Elder Johnson which was super cool, the guy is from Pakistan and has been in contact with the church for about a year. I got a new companion Elder Bodine, he is from New York, and he plays guitar so we jam after we get back to our apt, which is super fun.  

It was a great lesson we went to a dinner at the ward mission leaders house and after we taught the restoration and about the Book of Mormon.

Yesterday with Elder Bodine, when we were at Stefano's apt (a less active from our ward) we taught him a lesson, two kind of funny things happened when we were there, the first was when Stefano was telling us about a dream he had had and he said that he saw either Mormon or Ammon but he wasn't sure which one it was so he asked if it would be alright if he prayed and asked, we said absolutely that would be fine, and so he immediately jumped up and marched into his bathroom to ask. We waited for about 15 minutes until Stefano came out and announced that it was Ammon. I thought that was kind of funny, but cool that he had that much faith as well. The second thing was at the end of the lesson I asked Stefano, "kan vi avsluta med en bön" (can we close with a prayer) He nodded then he looked down like he was thinking and I guess he nodded off. I should add that Stefano is a really nice guy but he is not all there. But we still really love going over and being there with him.

I hope that everything is going well with everybody else and that you are all happy!

love 

Elder Peterson

Me and Elder Johnson, Great times!!!

Chillin at home

Me and Elder Bodine

We found this on the way to the mall.... probably the only good graffiti I have seen so far, and let me tell you there is alot here in Sweden.

Me and Bodine

I didn't buy the hat by the way. didn't buy this hat either

Me and Elder Bodine got these jackets for Zone conference. Super cheap, but they look great haha.

February 3rd, 2014

Hey!

Well this week was good, but it was a bit hard because our really positive investigator was not able to meet, (he is really busy with work). 

So we contacted for the majority of the week, this would have been OK, but this week there was a lot of snow and freezing rain, so it was cold. 

I did place a Book of Mormon though, and we have a new possible investigator which should be good.

That is pretty much all that happened this week... kind of boring but next week I am getting a new companion and the area is getting split in half. 

On Saturday we were able to help an old couple move though, which was interesting to see all the differences that moving in Sweden has compared to in the USA, one of the biggest I think is that Swedes take their lights with them... all of them, so chandeliers and the like. 

We also put together a couch, which was interesting. 

Anyway I'm still loving my mission and I miss you all.

Love,

Hans 

This is what most of this week looked like... yeah for contacting!

my companion, Elder Johnson

 This is daytime... can't wait for Summer

January 27th, 2014

Hey everyone! 

This week was good! I got to go on splits with Elder Ahlström, I think that he is from Cottonwood heights in Salt Lake. I was able to talk to a lot of people and I had a good time and we were able to place 4 Books of Mormon! This gave me renewed energy to contact in my own area so the next day while my companion and I were walking around I talked to 10 people (that is our daily goal) and the last lady I talked to even took the Book of Mormon. On Saturday we were able to meet with an old investigator who turned out to be American! It has been a really long time since I have talked to an American that wasn't a missionary and it was really nice. I love American accents! His name is John and he is from Florida but he has lived here for 7 years. He's 28 and he has a little baby girl named Pandora. 

He said that he was really interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon mostly because he said that he needed a balance because he is going through a divorce and he quit drinking and doing drugs. I hope that he will be able to progress. 

We also were able to meet with Victor again Yesterday, unfortunately he is not really progressing as an investigator.

  Another interesting thing is that our Area is getting split in half and I will be getting a new companion for half of it and so will Elder Johnson my comp. This will happen on the 5th of February. 

That's pretty much it, I am doing great and Loving my mission... It is hard sometimes but I try to only concentrate on the good. Being District leader has been really fun. I get to teach at district meeting every week which is pretty fun, and I also get to see all the numbers from the 5 areas in my District. 

Love you tons!

This is me and Elder Floyd from my MTC group.

Me and Floyd being silly, I guess I could mention that this was at our Zone conference, but we are in the same District as well.

This is me

my companion getting ready for the day, fun stuff.

January 15th, 2014

Hey!!

Well this week went pretty good. We got to go to the temple this morning which was great! It was in Swedish which made it even better.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope that't true because unfourtunately I don't have much time this week.

Love you all!

Äldste Peterson