This is the baptismal font where 6 people were baptised the day we got here and were confirmed the day after we got here which was Sunday.  THese are some kids that were there at the church after services.  We had no electricity for the first 2/3 of the meeting.  When the lights did come on, they came on first the front lights, then the middle, then the ones in the back.  Then we could play the organ and use the microphone.  RS was held with the Priesthood because it was too dark in the RS room.  RS and Sunday School are held before sacrament meeting because most people are late.  We had about 20 people there to begin with but by the time sacrament meeting was started, there were about 85 people.

THis is a picture of our living area and kitchen

Let me show you our living space and the picture of the hovel in the back of us.

Cute family or families that lives behind us

THis  picture was taken off our back patio area looking down on them.  I hope to take a sister from our ward with me and meet them if that is OK culturally here.

After 36 hours in route at Maputo airport

We left Provo at 5;30 am July 24th to leave the SLC airport.  We took off in flight from SLC at 9:50 and landed in Atlanta, Georgia.  We boarded the plane at 7:00 pm Atlanta time and landed 16 hours later in Johannesburg, South AFrica at 5:15 pm on July 25th.  We left Johannesburg at 8:15 pm and landed in Maputo at 9:50.  So from SLC on the 24th at 5:30 am, we flew all day, all night all day and half the night.  It was 2:00 am on the 25th in SLC when we landed in Maputo, Mozambique, Africa at 10:00 pm July 25th.

This picture is of us with the Ponds.  Elder and Sister Pond are the senior couple we are replacing.  They will be moving to South Africa after training us for a week.  THey are on our left and come from Idaho.  To our right is the mission president and his wife, Pres. and Sis. Koch from Brazil.  THey have been here only 3 weeks, 2 weeks longer than us.  Wonderful people.

Apartment building across from our apartment

This is a view out the street side window of our apartment building.  We live in a ritzy, roomy, amazing apartment.  There are 3 spacious bedrooms.  Come see us!!!  We can set you up!!!  The kitchen and livingroom are roomy and bright.  There are big windows on both sides.  Out our kitchen window, we see the hovels most africans live in.  There is a cute family that haul their water.  The mother baths her children and brushes their teeth daily but their yard is all dirt.  She washes their clothes in the water the children haul to her and then they play in the dirt and get them all dirty.  She cooks their meals on an open flame outside their hovel.  Cute family! I want to meet her.

Sister missionaries in our apartment building

 

There are only two apartments on each floor.  There are senior missionaries on the floor above us.  There are 6 floors. in the building.  I love walking on the roof.

[Elder Petersen]
We have been here only 5 days and it seems like a month.  After 2 days of riding with Elder Pond I was behind the wheel in our Ford diesel 4x4 driving on the left side of the road in very crazy traffic.  The "rule is: if you can get your nose in you can go.  Cars are inches away from each other and an occasional light brush of the mirrors is common. 
We went to a few of the proposed projects we hope to get approved.  Schools seem to be the area they have worked on lately.  There are not restrooms or running water. Very few desks if any at all.  No windows or doors. 
A project they completed and took us to see was a "hospital".  (We don't have pictures of this week because our phones were being set up for local use and we were without them for picture taking. We will try to get back out to these areas for pictures.) Back to the hospital.  A woman with a bit of training started taking care of people the best she could in a shack with not equipment or furniture.  But she did keep good records and tried to help people.  I don't remember how the Pond's found her.  They submitted project that got her a desk, 2 glass locking cabinets for supplies, an adjustable bed with no mattress.  Her part was to get a better structure made. With the help of neighbors they came up with a block building with a door and windows that could be secured.  The whole structure was about 10 ft. x 10 ft.  She is still working on getting a mattress.  Because of her efforts and the help of the church there is now a doctor who comes to the "hospital" once a week. She is so proud of what she has. 
We had a meeting with the stake president and his wife along with his first counselor.  Sharp people.  We look forward to getting to know them better. 

Echael's zip line adventure

This is a last fling before we left the Springfield area as a farewell to the Spencer children there.  We went zip lining for the first time with Echael and Falynn.  Fun!  Fun!  Fun!

Falynna!! Oh what fun!

Isn't he cute! Future missionary!

As we prepare for our mission, we hope to be able to make some connections with Africans in a physical kind of way just as we are here.

We will keep our emails.  Mine is teril1955@gmail.com.  Stan's is stan.petersen7@gmail.com.  We will also have our same phone numbers but the way they work will be different.  It will be a google voice kind of mail.  You treat it like it is a home phone.  We have no access to it without internet.  You can call and we will get a message, either voice or written when we come back in contact with internet service.  My number is 417-886-3751.  Stan's number is 417-872-6702.  We may not be able to talk to you when you call.  But then again, if we are within internet service we just may answer.  We should always get your message no matter when you have left it and be able to call or respond back within a day or two.

This is how you can reach us beyond the blog sight.
Teril

After an amazing week of "Preach My Gospel" training, Alissa came to the MTC and picked us up for the weekend.  We went out to the temple with Alissa, Bryce, Randi, and Jarom.  My Randy and I used to attend the Provo temple every week the first year we were married.  We sat on the hill of the temple grounds after he purposed to see if our answer was "Yes" and it was.  Provo temple has good memories for me and it was good to attend a session while in Provo.

It was Jarom's birthday so we went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate.  A steak sounded good.  We love the MTC food.  I am amazed at the variety and the goodness.  The soups are all excellent and the entres are amazing but we were hungry for steak.  No steak is served at the MTC.  Texas Roadhouse steaks were marvelous.  One of Randi's cousins was there at the Roadhouse and knew it was Jarom's birthday and paid for both their dinners.  Wasn't that nice?

Jarom's birthday at Texas Roadhouse

I am trying to write around the outside of this picture and it is working.  Yes!
We took left overs home from Texas Roadhouse filled Alissa's fridge with them.  We did finally eat them before we went back to the MTC.
It is good to be with family.  It is nice to have both Alissa and Jarom in Provo so we can get with them on weekends.  This, however, was the last weekend we will be doing that for two years.

Pierce, Alissa, Jarom, Randi, Teril, and Stan at the bottom

Jarom and us at the top of the "Y"

Randi and us looking down from the top of the "Y"

We loved going to "Y" mountain to hike.  We were so needing a good hike after all week sitting in class during the "Preach My Gospel" week at the MTC.  We went up slow enough that we were able to visit with people traveling up and down the mountain and found people from all over the world there.  Only in Provo!!!
What a great feeling.  We love our family.  Doing things with the family is a marvelous experience.  I am thankful we have had such marvelous experiences with the family these past 6 weeks.  I am grateful for the reunions that have happened.

"Welfare Square" classes

This picture shows the office buildings in the window behind us.  In the window opposite this one, it shows the temple and tabernacle and the conference center.  What beautiful grounds all around this square.  We are sitting in the Utah Hotel up on the 10th floor.  We learned what the Church's mission in the area of Welfare.  I feel so much better about what we will be doing in Mozambique.  It is becoming clearer.
I was so impressed with Welfare Square.  They own the land these products are grown on and follow the produce up from the ground to the canning.  Their grainaries or silos are spread throughout the United States.  That grain is not touched except to be replaced each year so that it will be there in case of an emergency.
I was touched by the principles taught through the good will offered within the service of Welfare.  It is not about giving.  It is about empowering people, enabling them to learn to take care of themselves.  For instance, they found in one of the natural disasters it cost a couple of million just to transport the foods to them.  The church decided to use that 2 million by spending it on local foods that could be brought into the areas in less time.  It was also stimulating the economy of the area.  Help people help themselves.  That is what Welfare thru the church is all about.

Salt Lake temple outside the window

Isn't this a sight to behold, the Salt Lake Temple.
We traveled back to Provo in a shuttle that had gotten us there early that morning.  We will have 3 more days of Welfare Instruction before we fly out for Mozambique.  When we got back to the MTC, we checked on our visas.  They were not in our mailbox yet.  We can't fly out without visas to Mozambique.  Luckily the travel office had not closed yet.  We had been praying the visas would come thru.  Sure enough, she said she had put them in the mail just 2 hours ago.  We went back to the mail room and there they were.  Whew!!!! Lots of others had been reassigned to other places because their visas had not come thru yet.  I was faithful not even mentioning such a fate and sure enough.  Here they are!!!!
Amazing miracles.  We can leave Friday as scheduled.

[Elder Petersen]
Sister Petersen has covered the last couple of days pretty well.  It was so wonderful to be with Bryce and Alissa and kids and Jarom and Randi.  My cousin, Lance Chapman just happened to call me Sunday afternoon not knowing that I was in Provo.  He and his wife came over to Alissa's and we had a great visit.  Reminiscing about our adventures was a blast! 
The training today covered welfare principles.  Many of you have asked if we know what we will be doing.  The answer is yes, but not exactly.  We were told to be very flexible.  It will range from major church initiatives (clean water, immunizations, mother/baby care, food production, wheel chairs, and vision) to smaller projects we identify and submit, to being involved in member/leadership support of the wards and branches.  You can be sure we will keep you posted on our activities.
There is no doubt in my mind this is the Lord's work.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity.

Here are our visas! Yeah!!!

[Elder Petersen]
I am getting used to the "Elder Petersen" title.  We are having a great time here at the Missionary Training Center.  The teachers/trainers are skilled and engaging.  We really are learning new things. 
Our district leader is Elder Webb pictured here.  It turns out that Sister Webb's older sister is Dave and Amy's aunt.  It was fun to discover that.  They are very sweet people and a lot of fun, too.
We have not received any new info or training on welfare at this point.  All the training this week is centered on the "Preach My Gospel" material.  Next week we start the welfare training.  There is a computer program for tracking all the humanitarian/welfare projects in the world.  It is called CHaS.  Don't know much about it, but we will be learning it.  Today we met with a physician at the MTC medical center.  We were briefed on malaria.  We will be using DEET every day on exposed skin and permethrin on our outer clothing.  Also, we are required to take Doxycycline every day as well to kill any malarial parasite that may get into the blood. 
BTW we are fed very well here.  Lots of choices and good stuff. 
Last night we attended the missionary devotional with Elder Benjamin B. Banks, Emeritus General Authority.  Great talk and very inspiring message.  I was impressed considering his age at 85.
I will report more in a few days.

Here we are in the MTC.  It feels good to finally get started being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing.  We have already met many good people.

We have met many missionaries serving in so many capacities in so many places.  It is amazing.

[Stan]
Saturday was a busy but special day.  It started with attending Deven's baptism.  It was wonderful to have all the local family there.  Afterward, we retired to the high council room where Pres. Petty set Teril and I apart for our mission.  The blessings we received were great.  When the family left he invited us into the stake president's office and we knelt with him in prayer and he prayed for us.  He is a special man.  We felt the spirit there.  Then we went back to the gym and had some fun with Spencer's birthday party.  Nerf guns and fun food!  As we all cleaned up and left it was goodbye time and each gave me hugs that lasted extra long.  Families are so wonderful!!!
Jeff drove us to the airport and we flew to Salt Lake City where the Hobsons (a couple that served in Mozambique and returned a few months ago) picked us up and delivered us to Bryce and Alissa's.  We have had a special time here with their kids.  Also, Jarom and Randi, and Heber and Maria came over for dinner.  Good times.  Soooo,,,, in the morning we actually report to the MTC for our 2 week training.  I admit I am nervous and feel the work we are expected to do quite challenging.  We will need to learn a lot. 

Mission Preparation

Thoughts from Teril

We received our call the last of February, 2015.  We had prayed and pondered the thought of going on a mission since we were married in 2001.  Stan kept saying, “Oh in three years, we will go.”  I spoke my goals of going as soon as Jarom came home from his mission.  We could see no way we could go financially but kept praying and hoping.  A miracle happened in stages.  Stan’s job dissolved in Springfield and we were forced to change something.  What we did do was sell our 5 bedroom house to take a job in St. Louis, away from our kids and grandkids and start a new life.  We didn’t realize the blessing. The Lord was shaping our present lives to accept a call.  We didn’t have a lot of “Stuff” we had to worry about.  We could see our children and grandchildren would do just fine without us. Stan disliked the retail scene immensely.  Finally, we could see the Lord had taken away all our excuses for holding back on our decision to go on a mission so we interviewed with our Bishop in St. Louis area and received our call.

The call came after more than 4 weeks of not so patiently waiting.  It was to Angola, Africa.  We were so excited to have things to do to prepare.  We worked diligently to get things ready for our visa application.  We got shots, lots of them.  We got an international driver's license and many, many other things.  It was quite an ordeal.  Just, the day we were sending off all the requirements for the Angola visa, we recieved a call from Salt Lake Mission department that our call had changed. We would recieve our call in the mail.  Whew!! Wait again.  This time, it came in 2 days.  Our mission had been changed.  Everything was the same except where we were going.  We are now going to Mozambiqe, Africa to the city of Maputo to begin with.  There are actually to countries in the Mozambique mission, Mozambique and Swaziland.  This is the East Coast of Africa just above the country South Africa.  We started studying all the info on that area of the world and found many interesting things.  We have been working thru the Portuguese language thru the online MTC training and the pre-mission assignments.  We report to the MTC in Provo July 13.  We leave Springfield, MO Saturday the 11 of July.  We will spend two weeks at the MTC, one week on Preach My Gospel and one week on Welfare.  We have been in contact with a set of senior missionaries that are assigned there in Maputo and two returned senior missionary couples that are already home.  We are looking forward to this great opportunity to serve.

[Stan]
Teril has outlined our prep pretty well.  Just a few thoughts of my own.  I am so excited about being able to get back my Portuguese language.  I am also nervous; it will take a while for it to come back and the accents are much different in Mozambique than in Brazil.  I am grateful for Teril's faith that helped to bring about this call to serve.
We have had a very busy time since my last day of work on May 15th.  We moved to Springfield the next day and my son, Ben and his wife, Ashley let us stay with them.  We had an open house for Jarom and Randi in Springfield; then their wedding and reception in Denver.  It was a wonderful time being with all my children and grandchildren.  Then a trip to Idaho to see two of Teril's children, Bron and Coy and their families.  It gave me, also, a chance to see a very good friend, Robert Brusman with whom I served as a counselor in the stake presidency in Springfield.  Then a trip to Arizona to be with all my brothers and sisters for a very special time with April and Sam at their sealing in the temple.  Too much to tell here, but it was a time never to be forgotten.
Now we are finishing the last of our preparation as we gather and pack.  We still have a grandson's baptism to attend the very day we leave for Utah.