Chilchinbito is the best area in the mission, just sayin. ... Love you all, stay cool, stay crispy! Hagonee'!

Ya'at'eeh! Wow! I didn't think this would happen again but President Batt assures me this is for reals.. I am Training a new missionary in Chilchinbito this new transfer. I am driving up to Farmington tonight to pick up my new companion in the morning. President called us a day early so that was even scarier! He told me I am training and then told Elder Acaylar his new area. He told Elder Acaylar he was being sent to the Mesa Mission and then after a few screams from my companion and a chuckle from President Batt he told him his real new area. Our mission president has a since of humor! He is going to Steam boat, Az and now I am taking over the missionary work here in Chilchinbito. I'm going to miss Elder Acaylar though, he was a good companion. The smallest communities are the best places to be a missionary by the way! The Chilchinbito branch had a unit dinner last night to say goodbye to my companion. It was really special. Every member of the branch took turns standing and saying what they liked most about Elder Acaylar and how they are going to miss him when he's gone! As you can clearly see, he is a very good missionary! It was a privilege being his companion. Well, our week was a good one to end on. We did even more service and finding and now we have a decent potential teaching list for me and my new companion to work with. The branch members have been fully supporting the work and have been driving the investigators to church so that has been a real blessing. I have seen a lot of progress since I have been here and lately it has been sky rocketing with tons of potential! Whoever is my new companion is going to love the next couple of transfers because it's going to be fun! Chilchinbito is the best area in the mission, just sayin. Well not much to report this week but I will have plenty to talk about next Monday. Love you all, stay cool, stay crispy! Hagonee'!

--Elder Petersen

me in a fararii in Farmington. It's Elder James' car :D

bob the dog

me with first four zone leaders

a little native girl named Kissy Bear riding a dog named Phil.

Me with companion Elder Acaylar

Elder Acaylar and I have never herded cattle before so the family was laughing at us...We had to rope the cows and then tie them up while pulling from all sides with ropes. That's when the guy in charge would come over and brand the cattle. I felt like a straight up cowboy. It was Awesome!

Ya'at'eeh! This week has been the coolest week for service ever in the history of missionary work! We worked with so many different people it was amazing how much we got done! Probably the best part is the fact that we now have two new families to teach from service. Last Monday we drove to Farmington to get our new/old truck aligned and serviced but we should be getting a new one soon to replace the one we have now so that's good. Elder James the Housing coordinator in the mission office took us to lunch while we were waiting so that was nice. Later in the evening we had a branch cook out and had burgers and hotdogs with grilled corn and some other stuff and it was a good turn out. Everyone had fun and the Branch president was able to share a spiritual thought on missionary work! Tuesday we drove to Dennehotso and helped a recent convert family pull weeds in their front yard. The recent convert is the 12 year old kid who was baptized a month and a half ago and unfortunately he was out of town with his grandma so we didn't get to see him. The good news is that night he got home and he called us to invited us to his home tomorrow evening for a lesson because he misses us haha! He is a really cool kid! The rest of our Tuesday we spent helping the Senior couple there in Dennehotso work on some little things here and there that they needed help with. They are super cool too! Wednesday, we helped build a shade house/ shed thing for and older couple that needed help and were able to get most of the walls built. We had some really good lessons with less active members and had a really good lesson with a new investigator family that shows some promise. Thursday we had an epic district meeting. Elder Moser is our district leader and he is going home in a week so he taught us everything he has learned on his mission, which was very helpful. Sad to see him go though, good guy. We then went back to the older couple's home with the shade house and helped them finish the walls and part of the roof. While helping them with that they started herding their cattle into their coral for branding. Its that time of year so they needed to get them all in one place. Elder Acaylar and I have never herded cattle before so the family was laughing at us. There were a few times where we were able to get them to the coral but half of the herd would slip past and run away from us. It took 4 tries before we got all of them into the coral. It was amazing and actually really fun to work with their ranch. That evening we noticed their were tents out front of the Chilchinbito school and went to go see what was going on. Turns out it was a group of students on a Tour De Rez bike cross country trip. They were super cool and nice. They even asked if we wanted to ride bikes the next morning with them. We rode 11 miles with some bikes they lent us and were able to talk to the leaders about the church. Almost half of them were members so it was cool. Friday was slow but worth it. We had one super important lesson with an investigator we haven't seen in a few weeks and they are looking to back into it so we are exited! We finished the roof of the shade house that day too. Saturday we helped brand cattle at a different home further out in the boonies for a new family who wants to take the lessons! It was the coolest thing ever because they handed us ropes and said "alright go for it." We had to rope the cows and then tie them up while pulling from all sides with ropes. That's when the guy in charge would come over and brand the cattle. I felt like a straight up cowboy. It was Awesome! Now I can say I have roped cows and helped brand. They had a huge lunch afterwords where we got to talk to all of their family about the church! Almost all of them lived close by and wanted us to share our message with them! They were laughing and telling jokes with us so it was fantastic! Really cool Family! Sunday we had a really good sacrament meeting. Branch president asked a family to give a talk and during the week they had a huge fiasco thing go down with one of their relative going to prison but despite the huge distraction they still prepared and gave talks! That's a lot of commitment. Very proud of them, and good talks. The rest of the day we visited everyone we could to make up for all the service we did that week and it was decent because we managed to see 4 families. Things are doing really well here in Chilchinbito and I am exited to see how next week is. Thank you for listening and I hope you have a great week. Talk to you next Monday! Hagonee'!

--Elder Petersen


*this is a picture he sent a while ago but i thought it matched what he did this week :)
  

Elder Petersen the puppy-napper :)

Ya'at'eeh! This week has been awesome! http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/apostle-throws-first-pitch-dodgers-game  <-- This made my day! The rest of my week has been really good too! Last Monday we cleaned and emailed and all that stuff but in the evening we went teaching again and had some good lessons. Tuesday we worked in Dennehotso with the senior couple out there and we were able to get a lot of garden work done with them. We also helped put in a new sink for a member and organized the Garden map for them so they know where everything is. It was funny because the Napierski's are not very savvy when it comes to electronics so we have been helping them with computer stuff. They think my companion is the technology whisperer haha. Wednesday we went on exchanges and I went with Elder Tipitts in Kayenta. It was my first time meeting people in Kayenta so it was fun teaching and meeting them for the first time. I learned some things that were helpful like the importance of bearing testimony throughout the lesson and offering service in door approaches. I'm hoping I'll be able to apply what I learned to Chilchinbito. Thursday was our Zone training in Tuba city so we drove an hour to get there. It was pretty good. The zone leaders told us we are the smallest zone in the mission with only 12 missionaries. The rest of the day was limited on time so by the time we got back we were only able to have two lessons. Friday we worked our heads off looking for anyone who was home but with the holiday everyone was ether out of town or with family so they didn't want to see us. We did see one person and found a new investigator so it was worth the effort. Later in the evening we went to President Holiday's house for dinner. He is the Branch president for Dennehotso so the Napierski's were there and we had fun eating and talking. That night Elder Acaylar and I sat outside and watched the fireworks for a while and then called it a night. Saturday we met TWO new families who are awesome! Both times they let us right in, we had a lesson and told us to come back. One of the families is a part member family and they came to church yesterday. Their son wants to be baptized so we are going to work with him too. Should be a great week ahead of us. Sunday we had a great fast and testimony meeting, very spiritual. And then we had two lessons and had family home evening with a member family that cant do it on Mondays. They are unfamiliar with how to have family home evening so we have been helping them. Last night we had a fireside. Before it we picked up some wood from the second counselors home and while we were picking up wood their 3 month old puppy kept getting in the way. As a joke I put him in back of the truck with the wood and he stayed. As we were driving away Elder Acaylar looked back and was like "What the??" He kept driving though so we sort of stole their dog for the evening. It was fun having the puppy at the fireside and later when we took him home the owners started laughing because they didn't even notice he was gone. It was good because we got to Laugh and break the ice with the family and talk to the second counselor about maybe even teaching with us. Pretty funny experience, I'll have to send a picture next week because I forgot my camera. lol That was my week, hope yours was good too. Until next time, Bye! Hagonee'! talk to you next week!   --Elder Sen of Peter