Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.29.14

Hey the internet died in our town yesterday so we couldn't email yesterday, even today its really bad so Im not really going to write other than I love you guys and Im doing fine here! Take care everyone and I promise to write a lot next week! When you serve in the Philippines sometimes the internet is bad!! Take care everyone your always in my prayers!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.21.14

This email isnt going to be insanely long this week but this week has been full of awesome experiences! 

Every chance we got this week we taught people about Easter and the Resurrection of the savior! That was a ton of fun. We taught that to all our members, investigators and our less active members! Always what it came back to is there a lot of people doing many different things all around the world on this Holiday to remember Jesus Christ but the thing we ought to be doing is the thing that he himself gave us to remember him and his sacrifice. And that is the sacrament!  

The savior knew he would be leaving for a long time so he gave the people the sacrament so that in this time that we are awaiting his return. It was amazing this week to teach families that they will live again because Jesus broke the bonds of death that they may no longer hold the sons of men. There wa a few kids that I asked what will happen after they die and they didnt know. It was such an amazing experience to get to to tell them that they will live again after their mortal body dies. And "in that day our mortal will put on its immortal". 

The other thing thats awesome this week is that the baptism is still on for our investigator for the 30th. He told us this week that when the other missionaries who taught him before would come he would be very nice to them. But he cried this week when he told us that we truly are messengers of God and he knows because every time we teach him he can feel the spirit and it testifies to him of the truth. We need to work hard and find more progressing investigators but I have grown to love that man and his family so much! And I am so excited for his baptism in the upcoming weeks! 

The last thing I want to say is that I have found one of my strength as a missionary! The truth is that I am scared to talk to people most of the time, I know that everyone thinks that missionaries are fearless but its not quite true. However I love playing with kids, I always love to talk to them and join in on the games they are playing, and if nothing else I will always tlak to them and have them teach me some Ibinag or Ilocano (those are the other two languages in my area). But I dicovered this week that If im going to play with them then the parents are going to come and see what we are doing and then we introduce they gospel to all of them. Its just good to see that missionaries are just regular people as well. So its been a ton of fun my whole mission to do that and I have seen many good things come from the people we meet by just being kind and genuine to everyone. 

I love you all and hope you had an awesome holiday! Dont forget to share your testimony of the savior when the spirit prompts you too! Take care all!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.13.14

This week was kind of an odd week because of Conference. Our stake Center is n our ride away on a bus so we have been traveling back and forth alot. So we havent been out with the people as much but conference is important. Speaking of conference it was super good. I especially loves the talks by Elder Oaks about the Priesthood as well as President Uchtdorf is always an all-star as well. Even though we watch it a week later here It was super awesome to feel the spirit of the apostles. It just builds my testimony of what we tell people all the time. That if Jesus Christ called apostles during his ministry it would warrant that the restored church has apostles as well. I know that they are all called of God. 

Anyways, this week was still pretty good. One amazing thing happened. I was having a terrible   day on Thursday, yes missionaries can have bad days as well, we had zone conference that day and for some reason my attitude was very very bad. Once we finally got back here and got to work our first appointment was at our investigator who we found a couple weeks ago because he attended church with his family. Everyone told us that he has rejected being taught by the missionaries a million times and doesnt want to listen. Well we have got news for all those people because he told us on Thursday that he knows in his heart that all these things are true and he wants to be sealed with his family. He will be baptized on April 30th. Let it suffice to say that after hearing those words I was happy for the rest of the day. The work here is like a cure all. If your unhappy or upset, hit the pavement and you will feel better in no time. 

We live in a furnace here I dont remember if I wrote this already but we move all our beds downstairs everynight to take advantage that its 5 degrees cooler downstairs. Every little bit helps. But they say that it will be rainy season in about a month. 

We had anther awesome experience with the power of the priesthood. We blessed a baby who was sick and her mom said that just a little while after we let she was better. She had been sick for a week. It would be easy to say thes things are a coincidence. But I dont think coincidences like this would be happening so frequently haha. Lets just say my testimony of blessings has significantly increased. 

One other really col thing that happened this week is that on Tuesday we felt like we should go visit this awesome family even though we had visited them just a few days before. We found them with all their things packed up and they told us our timing was good because they were about to leave to Manila. They wont be coming back. The mother said she had been praying that we would come so that we could say goodbye. It is one of the tender mercies of the Lord that I got to say goodbye with them and pray for their safety in the rest of their life. 

I know this work is true, and although we are not perfect missionaries this work is guided everyday through the hand of god. We will not fail with him at the helm. Hold tight to his word and take faith in his plan. We are all called an have a divine destiny, I do not know mine yet but I do believe that by being here in the Philippines I am getting closer to understanding. Take faith everyone. I love you and Ill catch you all next week!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 4.7.14

This week has been so amazing. We have been trying are hardest to find new people to teach and we managed to find 7 new investigators in one week. Yesterday we had 2 investigators at church. So The work here is going good and there are no complaints on my part. I was anticipating being transferred but I found out this morning that I will be staying here in Tumauini again this cycle. Thats just fine with me because there are so many people here that would have been so hard to say goodbye too. Although its only going to get worse now that I will just have to say goodbye to them after having spent even more time with them but its entirely too early to think about that! 

Im looking forward to another cycle here and I am excited to see what we can accomplish here!

Now to the Miracle that I wrote I mentioned in the subject line! This week I saw a miracle of God. We taught our investigator who lives right next to the hospital and there was a little boy walking with us who said his cousin was confined in there. I told him that after we taught our investigator we would go over there and peek into the window at her. This hospital is a nightmare. There are part of the walls that are broken, the back door that we went in had broken cement pillars that we had to climb over and it looks like a pre-modern medicine nightmare. There is a room that has 8 hospital beds and 3 children per bed. I literally hate going there. But after we were done at our investigator we walked over there to the window. We looked inside and we saw the baby and his mom was there to. I told the mom that we were missionaries and If she would let us we would love to bless her Child. I annointed the child and Elder Domingo and I blessed it together. The baby cried the whole time.  We left. The next day we found out that right after we walked out of the room the Baby stood up and opened its eyes and the fever that was raging as we blessed it was completely gone. The next thing the Mother said was "Naniniwala na ako." translation "I believe now."

This powerful experience has been one of the most amazing things I have seen on my whole mission and probably my entire life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of that type of event. It just blows my mind that two young boys wandering around a strange land can find opportunities to heal people in the name of God. I want to bear sincere testimony to you all that it was indeed through faith and the power of God that miracles were wrought by Christ. I know it to be true because I have seen it now. And I cannot deny it. 

I know this work is a true work. Its because this church is the Church of Christ here on Earth its the same church that he established when he lived here. And thats the reason that we have the same power he used. God really is an unchanging God of Miracles. I love you all! Take care! 

-Elder Petersen

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.31.14

So this was a definitely one of those roller coaster weeks. I have been kind of having a hard time dealing with some of the opposition that we are facing here by some of the people here in our area but thats part of being a missionary and we will be fine. The highlights of this week are much more important! 

We had a baptism! We got to baptize 4 boys in a part member family. Its one of the greatest miracles of my mission so far to have had the opportunity to see this family go to inactive to completely active and all the children that are eligible to be a baptized. I seriously had a blast teaching them. We have been going there like every other day to get them ready for their baptism and its been a ton of fun to teach them everything as well as play with all those kids. Im excited too because we are going to go have a FHE with them tonight. It should be a ton of fun. Im going to link a photo that we took probably 30 seconds before they got baptized! I love those kids! 

The other people that have been progressing this week are Tatay Vargus. He says that he wants to be baptized now he just wants to make sure he is ready to live in accordance with everything. Even tyhough its only been a couple weeks so far that we have been teaching him it has been a ton of fun. He has amazing real intent and awesome questions. I know he will be baptized some day im just not sure when! 

We got to dig trenches one day this week. Digging trenches in the sun in the Philippines is a load of fun for all of us who havent tried in before! xD But later that day we got to teach our long time investigator. Normally her mother is there but this time she wasnt. She told us that she knows what we are telling her is true and she wants to act on it but she is scared to act alone. This is sad but amazing to hear! I feel bad for her situation but I can tell the spirit has really been working on her! 

I had the opportunity to speak in church yesterday. I talked about enduring trials for about 20 minutes and at the end I shared my favorite verse in all of scripture. We can find it in Revelation 20

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more ^adeath, neither ^bsorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more ^cpain: for the former things are passed away.

7 He that ^aovercometh shall ^binherit ^call things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my ^dson.

I love these verses so much. I find so much comfort in them. I hope you all can too love you all. Take Care!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.24.14

This week has been pretty awesome. Elder Domingo have been trying to teach more while we find. As missionaries we are supposed to teach while we find and find while we teach. We usually are asking for referrals but we have been struggling with the teaching while we find. But we have a new investigator this week because we decided to give it a try. She is super nice but she just keeps saying She already believes all the things we a re telling her. If thats true then I guess she will be baptized soon haha! We'll see what happens. 

The super good news for this week is we will baptize 4 people this week. We moved their baptism back a week because they missed church last week but they all came on Sunday so as long as they all pass the baptismal interview we will be good. We have been working super hard with them to prepare them so they should be fine. Its been super fun to see this family grow. The story is the mother who I have been teaching for the past 4 months got baptized last year just a few months after her husband passed away. They have 6 children and another family living in the same house. We are baptizing all the kids who are in the Part member family who are over 8. Its been a ton of fun teaching them. They all want to serve missions now. As in when we leave they try and follow us to our other appointments because they want to participate in missionary work. Its super funny as well because they never sue dot wear watched before but because they saw E. Domingo and I wearing watches and now they all magically have watches and wear them everyday now haha! I have a blast going there and teaching and being with that family. I hope the day comes when They write me a letter saying that they are all missionaries now. This work is truly amazing.  

We also have a new investigator who is the only nonmember in his whole family. Everyone always says that he doesnt want to meet with the missionaries but when My companion sat down next to him they realized they are both from Bocolod and they started speaking Hiligaynon. So we taught him after church on Sunday and I dont know what everyone was saying because that guy is like a super prepared individual. Maybe its just his time now. I pray that it is and that he progresses. He goes back to Manila in a month so I hope we can baptize him here if not we'll have to refer him to the missionaries down there. As long as he gets baptized so he can enjoy they the blessings with his family It doesnt really matter. 

Im doing great here over in the Philippines though. Im super excited for our baptisms this week and we are so blessed to be able to work in this area with these amazing people. I may be transferring soon so I am just enjoying everyday here in Tumauini. I make memories everyday that I know that I wont forget. I love you all and hope you are doing amazing! Dont forget to smile and pray always!

Illagan: Tumawini 2nd 3.17.14

Happy St Patricks day! Too bad nobody here knows what that is. Haha its barely a holiday over there in America it definitely didnt make it here. Everything moves on here as usual nothing too unusual this week but we did get to borrow bikes this week which was super fun it turned a 3 hour walk into a 25 minute ride. I didn't really like biking before my mission but now I would kill to get to use a bike everyday. 

We will be baptizing 2 children in a part member family today as long as everything goes well with their interview to I am super excited for that. But it wouldnt be the life a missionary if I also wasnt super sad that we have to move the baptismal date of our other members of a different part member family back because they havent been attending church due to sickness. The decision was ultimately left to us but we decided that they need to come to church a few more times even though they are sick. But they will be baptized soon as well nonetheless.

We had a few other people commit to baptism this week:

The first is Gladys who is a 17 year old girl who is super interested in the gospel and loves us forever because we gave her a Book of Mormon. So humble. We have a ton of fun teaching her and I hope that she can start attending church. 

Another Investigator, Tatay Launza, is the one who we have to ride the bikes too. We usually just have to take the 3 hour walk out there though. He is the husband in a family of members. I am confident that he will be baptized soon as he committed to baptism this week. I cant wait to see that family get sealed in the temple! 

Our other investigator we have been working with for a long time but finally committed to be baptized when she knows our message is true. 

I feel bad because i only write about a few people that we teach but really there are dozens and I love them all. But it suffices me to say we will keep working with them all and continue to help them make covenants with our God. 

Im just about used to the heat here in the Philippines. The key is just to take a shower every time you get the chance. The only thing cold here is the water that comes out of the shower. Kind of unfortunate but I would actually rather choose the water to always be cold rather than always hot haha! 

I love this service so much and I know that my life is changing because of it. Im learning to feel more deeply concern for everyone that I meet. And I hope that I am improving as well in the other aspects of this work. I am forever grateful for this opportunity and all of you who support me! Have an amazing week!