Charity never faileth

Hey!

This week was excellent.  We did several intercambios and worked with several other missionaries in the zone.  Many of the missionaries had baptisms and one of our investigators went to a youth conference with the young men in or ward!  We are really excited for the work and look forward to next week.

I've been studying about charity this week a lot.  I realized that many people join the church because of the pure love of Christ they feel there.  Charity is a gift that all of us should ask to receive and strive to develop.

And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Moroni 7:45

I love all of you and thank you for your prayers!

Elder Peck

Terremotos y fiestas

Hey!

So this was a super fun week!  We worked hard, found several new people to teach and a new investigator came to church.  He´s really good and wants to keep coming and participate with the Young men  in the Ward.  We´re excited to see him progress.

So, an earthquake hit here in Chile this week.  It hit a lot farther north than we are, so everyone's safe here.  We are praying for those affected in the north and grateful for the Lords protection for His missionaries.  The week before, we had a conference with President and Sister Bluth.  Sister Bluth told us that she had felt the impression to talk about emergency preparation.  It was cool to see the inspiration that our President and his wife receive for the mission.

Also, this week was Chile's Independence Day, 18 de septiembre!  We had our preparation day all day on Friday.  In the morning we played soccer with two zones and several members.  Afterwards we had a huge asado barbeque with a family in our Ward and later we went to a Ward activity until about 8. We ate tons of empanadas, sopaipillas, pajaritos, choripanes, and mote con huesillo.  I'm still full! Almost every house we contacted since gives us empanadas to take home!

 

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God. Helaman 3:35

As we put Heavenly Father before everything else, everything else in life falls into place.  Yield your hearts unto God, and He will make you much more than you can make yourself.  Thanks for your love and prayers.

Elder Peck

This week

Hey!

So another great week that went by way too fast.

We are teaching a family of five right now who is progressing really well!  They were a referal from a member from another stake, and he has helped us teach them. The parents are C and B, and the first time we taught them they were really receptive and accepted a baptismal date. The second lesson they told us they had read and prayed and had felt a peaceful spirit in their home.  They felt that things were going better for them and real wanted to come to church.  Unfortunately they couldn't come, but they are excited to keep learning about the góspel.

On Wednesday one of the assistants, Elder Woods came and worked with us. We worked hard and he helped us see a few things we could do to improve.  The next day we had a zone conference with President Bluth and it was really good.  We had huge empanadas for lunch! haha

On Sunday, no one came to church, which was lame, but that night we found another family to teach!  They have really scientific beliefs, so it'll be interesting teaching them.

The other day a friend sent me a letter with a quote from Elder Bednar that really had an impact on me this week.  I can't remember it word for word, but it says that ordinary people constantly and diligently doing simple things that God wants them to do will be able to do great things.  It reminded me of a coach that used to say, Take care of the ordinary plays, and the extraordinary plays will take care of themselves.  In the work of the Lord, we are asked to be faithful and diligent, doing simple good things that God asks us to do so that He can work miracles in our lives and in the lives of those we serve.   By small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Again thanks for all your help!   

Elder Peck

Snow and miracle family

Hey!

So we just got from a trip to the mountains! We went up to a lake up in the mountains. It was snowing super super hard and it was freezing, but really fun anyway.
We had a zone conference on Thursday and a recent convert came to share his testimony.  He gave my comp and I a referral for a family that lives in our Ward, but outside the city, in a Little rural town called Santa Fe.  We went out and met them on Saturday and the lesson was excellent.  They are a family of five.  They were baptized before, but didnt fell like they were born again like they wanted to be.  We explained priesthood authority and the importance of the gift of the Holy Ghost.  They looked at each other and said that that was what they lacked.  They had knelt in prayer previously as a couple to pray about why the church they had previosuly joine didnt feel right and they made the decisión to not stay in that church and to keep looking.  They accpeted a baptismal date, but didnt come to church on Sunday. So were excited to see how they progress and hopefully they came next week!

On Sunday the family that had us over for dinner had a huge family cookout which was fun.  It reminded me a little bit of my family having cookouts at home, so it was a memorable experience.

I learned this week that when we are baptized and when we take the sacrament we promise God that we are willing to keep His commandments, rember His Son and take the name of Christ upon us. As long as we are willing to do those things, the Spirit will be with us.  This promise doesnt inlcude never messing up, it means as long as we are willing to keep the commandments (including repenting when necessary) we can have the Spirit with us.  Also, when we are truly willing the keep the commandments, we wont want to sin and it will be harder to fall into temptation.  God is very merciful and it really is only through Christ that we are saved.  I love this góspel and what it teaches.  Have a great week!

Elder Peck

Faith

Hey!

So this week has been great! Super busy but really great.

So I'm here in my new sector working with my new comp Elder L.  He's a super Christlike missionary and I'm learning a lot from him.  He is from Colombia and is a convert of about 2 and a half years.  We are working with several good investigators, including a man from Australia named P!

I got here on Tuesday after cambios and we went to work! On Thursday we had our district/zone meetings and met all the missionaries in the zone! We worked hard the rest of the week and have found several new investigators and I've met lots of members.

On Monday my companion and I had to go to Concepcion for a meeting with our Mission President (which is why I couldn't write yesterday!).  It was a great experience and we learned a ton.

At one point during the conference, the assitants got up and gave a short talk about having faith to find people to teach.  They asked us if we believed that right now there are people in every sector that are ready to hear the gospel and we all said yes.  The assitants then told us that we were all going to get up and leave the church right then and go out to the street for 30 mins and find someone to teach, bring them back to the church where we were having the meeting, and teach them a short lesson.  We were all surprised, but everyone immediately got up and left the building and started talking with everyone outside in the street! My companion and I ran into a guy working a gym named J P.  We asked him if he had ten minutes or so to meet with us at the church down the street to share a short message about Christ. He accepted and we took him to the church, taught him lesson one (with our Mission President!) and he accepted a baptismal date for September!  He said that recently he had been having dreams about his father who had passed away and felt that God had been communicating with him recently.  It was a really great experience and the Spirit was really strong.

Last night after getting home to our sector after the conference my comp and I found five new investigators, meeting our goal for the week!

Anyway, its been a realy great few days.  My testimony of the fact the God lives, that He directs this work and that the gospel blesses families has been strenghtened greatly this week.  Im grateful to our Heavenly Father for blessing me so much and for all He has done for us.

Thanks for all that you do and keep sharing the gospel!

Elder Peck