LAST WEEK!!!! LAST EMAIL!!!

Hey!

So, sadly, this is the last email I will be sending out as an official representative of Jesus Christ.  I am excited to be with my family again after two years and to see my friends, but it will be really hard to leave my beloved Chile.  This country has become my home and I have felt that the people are like family.  The missionaries are some of the best friends Ive ever had, and the experiences Ive had here are unforgettable. This week will be bittersweet but I'm going to work hard and keep doing my best.

This week we worked super hard. It's starting to get really hot here, and we've been running all over the city to keep up with teaching apointments and to find new people to teach.  It was an exciting week, we met most of our goals and a new investigator came to church on Sunday! She is the mom of P, and the grandma of N, who are both investigators.  She came with N to church and they both loved it.  The ward is doing an outstanding job at taking care of them and helping them feel welcome.

Anyways, I'm excited for this week and hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Peck

Ha Nacido un Salvador

Hey!

So this week went by super super fast and weve been working hard.  Here are some highlights from this week.

First of all we had a really had a good conference with the Mission President.  They did a training session that was really powerful.  The assistants to the president started by projecting a photo of 2 hands on the screen and asked us to guess whose they were.  No one could guess, so they showed the next picture which was of a woman with her hands outstretched. We still didn't recognize her, until they asked one of the elders to come to the front.  He came up and started to cry.  He said it was his mom.  They asked him what those hands had done for him.  Everyone started to cry.  He mentioned how much his parents had cared for him and what they had done for him. They then showed his fathers hands and then a photo of his father.  They did the same thing several times until they had shown the hands and pictures of almost all the parents of the missionaries in attendance.  They finally showed the Saviors hands with the nail marks and asked us what those hands had done for us.  It was a really powerful experience and we all felt the love of the Savior and remembered the love of our families and the love they have for us.

They then showed us A Savior is Born, a new Christmas video the Church has made to help spread the gospel.  I hope everyone gets the chance to see it and share it on their Facebook with all their friends.

Later in the week we went to a small town a little outside of Los Angeles to visit a less active family who asked us to come by.  We did exchanges with Elder G and Elder P and I learned a lot from each of them.  We found several new investigators, including a man from Colombia, a cool guy with dredlocks and a young man and his brother.  We had a Ward Movie Night and watched meet the Mormons, and President Bluth stopped by the sector to drop off packages.  he was traveling with Elder Resek of the Seventy, so we met him, which was cool.

Anyway, there is no greater joy than serving God and your fellow man.  Keep your lives in balance to be able to do this.

Have a great week!

Elder Peck

First week of the Cambio

Hey!

So this week was really great! On Monday we found out our transfers and we had a family home evening with one of the counselors in the stake presidency and an investigator named C.  On Tuesday, we had the transfers, so I was hanging out in the bus terminal most of the morning waiting for my comp to arrive.  We got here, we dropped off his stuff and we went straight to work.  This week found a few new investigators that are really cool and worked hard! On Thursday, the daughter of one of our investigators went to Mutual and loved it! So she and her mom decided to come to church on Sunday for the first time!  The service was great, especially because it was the Primary presentation, and they loved it.  Great way to end the week.  This morning we played soccer with most of the elders in the zone and ate at Papa Johns!

So anyway, we are excited for this week and this cambio.  This gospel is about change and hope.  It gives us the chance to improve, provides us with a perfect example (Jesus Christ), rules, guidelines and standards, and the process to help us achieve it.  It grants us the hope of a better world, the hope that everything will be alright, and the hope that we do belong to a heavenly family, being children of an all powerful Heavenly Father.  I love this gospel!

Hope all y'all have a great week (I have do start using my Texan english again) and thanks again for all the prayers and support.

Elder Peck

Cambios! Last Transfer!

Hey!

So the countdown has started!  But I'm trying not to think about it haha.  Ive got one month left and one more transfer of 4 weeks.  We found out about the cambios today.  Elder L is leaving and my companion is Elder V! I don't know him, but Ive heard good things about him. 

This week we worked hard and we did several exchanges.  I went and worked with Elder M, a Chilean, in his sector, a small town about an hour outside of my sector.  We worked hard and had a good time.  Later I worked with Elder L, from Korea, in his sector but in the same city. 

Other than that, not much to report.  The mom in the family we are teaching is pregnant and about to have her baby, but shes having some problems, so we haven't been able to visit her this week.  The other investigators are progressing little by little, and the ward is doing a great job now at helping us fellowship them. 

Well, the only thing I can say this week is that God works through weak people to do His work.  He can do that!  Our success is often defined by how much we understand this concept and our faith in our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  And, as in all things, a good attitude works wonders in achieving success.  Like I shared the other day, those who say they can and those who say they can't are both usually right!  I'm excited for this last transfer and hope to go down swinging haha.  Thanks!

Elder Peck

Ups and Downs

Hey!

So this week wasn't the best, but wasn't the worst.  Starting with some cool stuff, on Monday we went to this waterfall called Salto del Laja! It was way cool. On Wednesday, we starting getting hit with what we call opposition.  Along with other sort of negative things in general, several obstacles popped up in the lives our investigators and we lost contact with many of them. It was a pretty rough day, but the week got better because on Thursday I worked with Elder W, an Elder that came with me to the mission.  We got to know each other pretty well during the MTC and so it was cool to see him again close to the end of our missions.  Then on Friday I got pretty sick and so we didn't work much. Saturday was a normal day of proselyting. we helped in the garden of an older sister and went to a baptism that the other elders in our ward had.  

So anyway, I know that there must be opposition in all things.  However, as the opposition rose, so did the comforting influence of the Spirit, reminding us that everything was going to turn out fine.  We are excited for this week and know that as we go at it with a good attitude based on our faith in Christ, everything will work out.  Thanks for everything and your prayers work!  Have a great week!

Elder Peck

Another week

Hey!

So even though this week didn't yield to great of results, we worked super super hard, so we are happy about that.

It was a good week thought!  On Tuesday I went to another sector in the zone and worked with Elder G! It reminded me of my first sector which was also a really small town.  Later in the week President Bluth came down for interviews and we had a zone conference during the interviews.  It was good to talk with President Bluth and Hermana Bluth taught us how to direct music and made us chocolate chip cookies.  Later we worked with the Assistants, which went well and we learned some things we can do to improve the work here in our sector.

In General Conference someone made the invitation to everyone to ask in prayer, What like I yet? or What is impeding my progress? As I have practiced this principle, I have felt the need to make several small changes in my behavior, some things I had noticed before and others I hadn't.  I'm enjoying practicing this principle and its really helpful and allows me to to progress step by step.

Thanks for everything and ponderize!

Elder Peck

Another Excellent week

Completo!

Hey!

So this week was another excellent week.  Our investigators are progressing well and we found a few more that are really good!

So the best thing that happened was that the Diaz A family came to church!  So, the family consists of D, the dad who is paralyzed from the neck down, D, the mom, and the kids, V, M, and M.  D, D, and V all accepted baptismal dates for November and M and M are too young.  D and V came the last Sunday, and this Sunday was the first time for D.  Getting D to church in his wheelchair is a little complicated because they don't have a car and the church is far. It was a ward effort to get him there, two families helped take him and the wheelchair to and from the church and helped him in and out of the car and the church.  They loved the church and were grateful (as are we) for all the help of the ward members. 

Also, this week we found several new investigators, but the best are a mom and daughter named P and N.  We contacted them in the street and later stopped by their house.  They let us in and we taught them about the Restoration.  We went by again on Sunday with a few ward members and they helped us a bunch gain their confidence and teach the lesson.  We are excited to see their progress. 

Also, I ate a 2 foot long completo today and we played soccer with two zones and a few members in the morning!  Fun stuff.

Anyway, we are very grateful for the Lords help this week.  This is His work and He does it according to His will. Thanks for your prayers and emails!

Elder Peck