Last Email?

So next week I might not be able to email because we have a different schedule as departing missionaries in our last week so I'm not sure if I'll be able to write. 

So, as if it were my last,

I'd just like to thank all of you, ward members, friends, family, especially those of you who receive this email for being such a great support to me.  I really don't deserve it.  I much too often don't have time to write a good reply or forget, so I apologize for that. 

The last two years have been tough, but you know what they say, '' The Best Two Years'', right Bryce? hahah. So far, they really have been.  The amount of spiritual growth I've seen is incomprehensibly immense.  I've come to truly know who I am and what the purpose of all of this is. And, I've also come to know that God truly is there.  This single fact is one of the most important of all of the things which I've ever learned, which are many.

Without a single doubt in my mind, I've come to know that Jesus Christ died for us, and that through His atonement we can all become new men and women, and that nothing is unfixable.  Nothing.  

I've learned that not all missionaries are spiritual people and it's the person that works towards spirituality that receives it, and it's something that can't be handed out or assigned by call. The calling isn't what makes a missionary a spiritual person, but it's the fact that missionaries magnify their calling that makes them spiritual. When we magnify our callings in life the spirit will reside with us no matter what the calling is.

I now understand the importance of family and I know that the Family was a thing set up by God. I'm so grateful for the family I have, they're the best.  

I'm going to miss this place, but even more I'm going to miss the people of the Czech Republic beyond more then the average Czech would even begin to believe if i told him. They're a good people and it's been a good two years serving them, but life moves on, and I'm not one to dwell in the past but to rather grow from it, then, look to the future, and the future looks bright. So in honor and dignity I'll hang up this tag knowing with full certainty that I did everything I possibly could've within my strength to serve Him who sits on high; our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

gg

ELDER SPENCER E. PETERSEN

Odds & Ends

today i went on a shopping spree with my birthday money. get this, sisters of mine, i was at H&M and i bought 9 shirts of different styles and colours for all under $40, yeah europe is the best.

this week was pretty average though, we went hiking last monday with this awesome member family, and then afterwards spent some time with them at their cottage.

this week i read a book called "the great apostasy" by James E. Talmage, yeah... the catholic church, from what i gather, does not have the priesthood and is therefore not truly God's church.

this week we were also able to do much service for members and we cleaned the Kostel on the Namesti again, we were also able to help a few members in their garden. so it was quite nice.

church was great, i translated for a couple of senior couples and shoot dang it was so hard, the speakers were giving good but the use of the old Czech from the bible was so hard, i basically just made up my own speeches on the spot using key words, so that was fun. I would say that i gave 3 wonderful talks though hahah. 

it was a good week though, the other elders in my district contacted a professional soccer player so we were all invited to a game we're going to on wednesday haha it'll be good.

well, sorry for the mediocre email, see you all next week!

-Spencer

short on time...

mission wise and email time wise hahah

yeah so sorry we were doing something rather late and now the email place is closing so i just sent this letter to a dear friend of mine, it's my response to the question of what have i learned of the gospel recently, this was my reply:

i couldn't really tell you what i've learned about the gospel lately, let me teach you about learning though, psychologists say there are two ways in which we learn 1. by law of effect in which some big thing happens that is so startling that it changes our behavior, and 2. by law of exercise in which over a series of small events we become stronger or smarter or better in something, or we change our views. in my mission i had a lot of huge things just hit me by law of effect, while i was still a young missionary, but as i became more experienced and older in the mission field things didn't seem to get me going spiritual wise. this got me down, this is when doubt and depression started to sink in, as i fought through it i realized that God is still there and that he still loves me, but that, he was teaching me differently, and that we're always learning something if we are trying to do what God wants us to do.  So remain exactly obedient and don't get down if you start feeling like the miracles aren't coming so rapidly, look for God's hand in your work and love the people, the rest will be taken care of.

end.

if i were to sum up my mission experience, it'd be something along these lines i hope you enjoyed.

-Starší Spencer Petersen 

§ What is this thing? §

yeah so this week went rather well we had a great testimony meeting probably one of the best if not the best one on my mission, save the best for last right? haha

so this week i hit my two year mark July 31st, so that was pretty cool, i've been out here forever. haha in a good way.  

we made an awesome chalk display this week about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  that was fun we were almost all able to teach a few lessons walking around on a diagram and by we all i mean the 6 of us in the district.

but other than that it was all pretty normal, we were able to find and start teaching this couple, they're pretty cool, in the middle of the lesson, the girlfriends phone goes off and her ringtone is a hollywood undead song that right of the bat drops mofo...  it kinda took away from the spirit a little bit, haha but it was hilarious though, because they both totally realized it, then we all had a laugh and brought it back haha.

31 days.

ttfn

-Spencer

.

KARLŠTEJN!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMILY!!!

so this week i got to go up to Karlstejn, it's the place where the mission was dedicated back in 1990 after the fall of communism. it was really cool to see all of the missionaries there and then the next day we got to go back and see all the members from around the country and they had a devotional talking about the pioneers who helped this country get it's start and then subsequently live through communism. it was pretty inspiring, they are actually making a mormon message out of the whole weekend that we had up there so that's going to be a great tool to introduce people to the church here. 

oh we also were able to  help this really old member on her garden, it was some good service, i got to cut grass with this old timey scythe, it was fun, so i took some pictures with the scythe i was going to send them this week with like the caption, "the field is white and ready to harvest" but i don't have the pictures because they are on a sisters camera, sorry.

hmm what else, i made scones and german pancakes and beef wellington. so they all turned out well i was proud.

what did i learns this week, well hmm, i learned that using fingernail clippers to strip a wire is not easy... or safe haha but i fixed our fan! 

on the spiritual side of things i learned that people forget about God very quickly, very, very quickly, so always, always be fighting for a stronger knowledge of God, wherein true happiness can be found.

-Elder Petersen 

.

Last Haircut!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYCE!!!

Also Congrats To Paul for getting engaged!

so humm this week, what even happened, umm...  

well, i got my last haircut as a missionary today, so that was sobering... no i'm just kidding i don't really get all sentimental like that, i've been here so long, 10 days to my 2 year mark baby!! (Spencer left July 31st)

we had a pretty cool church service, it was just unusually powerful this week, maybe its due to the fact that it's like 37 degrees and super humid and everyone still shows up to church and is happy to be there, even without air conditioning or fans. its pretty cool to see the faith of members like that.

oh, we started teaching this Indian man who owns the restaurant across from our apartment building, that's pretty interesting, hearing about Hinduism a lot, and learning what they believe. basically from what he was telling me, I gathered that the main idea of it is, that everything is god whether it be a person or an animal or an object, but i know this to be incorrect, it is true that God works through things and people, and he answers our prayers through an endless variety of means, but, God is a real tangible person who has a body of flesh and bones and who is our literal father. Our heavenly father loves us and cares for us, He loves us, and He's watching out for us. this is the knowledge I've been able to become a true witness of through the power of the Holy Ghost.  I hope everyone reading this can come to this same knowledge because only through knowledge of God can we truly become free.  So i beseech those of you reading this who aren't sure of these things to search for them, make a plan, if you must, of what you have to do to find God, to be able to follow the commandments and live closer to his will, and then, remember C.S. Lewis's quote "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because I see everything else." Knowledge doesn't have to come through seeing, as I look out the window here of this library, down onto the Labe river passing by, with the green trees and the people, I know that the sun exists but I don't see the sun. I know that Christ lives as well as God, not because I've seen them but I've seen the effects they have had on everyone around me.

till next week,

-Elder Spencer Petersen

Oh btw (by the way)

hahaha that was a direct copy and paste from dad's email to me this week haha thank you dad for teaching me what btw means lulz smh...

any way so i was pretty sick this week. on friday i finally got out of the house, it was good, but i was still sick. saturday i was finally almost completely better. 

but it was a fun week. i bet i could literally walk from my bed to the bathroom blindfolded now hahah literally if anyone could guess how many times i went to the bathroom between sunday afternoon and friday, i will buy them a milka bar and bring it home.

oh but i guess i can tell you about 2 weeks ago: so we helped a couple people move. we also got to go to Prahy for training, it was cool, after training, there was this member there in the Prague building and she was a recent convert.  i started talking to her, turns out that a year and a half ago i taught her in Olomouc.  so it was way cool to see that, like i only taught her once but turns out that she felt that something was missing, later down the road, from her life. so she recontacted us and is a member now! 

we got to clean this really pretty Kostel, i spent the whole time singing hymns, some in czech some in english. haha i sang praise to the man.  also this guy came up and he's like, "hey are you mormons?" 

me: and i'm like yeah!

Him: why are cleaning our church?

me: because we like serving people!

Him: yeah but like...

and then he just got confused, it's like he wanted to be mad but we were literally cleaning his church for free, hahahah priceless, then it was like he was trying to get me

Him: well can i come clean your church?

me: yeah actually we're going over there after this if you want to come

Him: no i don't have time for that.

hahaha

and that is about it, thanks a bunch for the emails and the pictures, i have a request, if you send pictures to me don't send pictures of the mountains. 

that's all thanks!!

-Spencer