Excellent Week

Hey!

So this week was excellent!

We started off the week with an awesome zone conference.  We talked about Attitude and how we can improve our own personal attitude to achieve greater success as a zone. A sister in our ward made sopaipillas for the whole zone and we watched a super motivating clip from "facing the giants."

We also found an excellent new investigator named D! She was a reference, and the first time we stopped by she wasn't there.  We decided to stop by this week and she let us in.  She accepted a baptismal date and wants her son to be baptized as well!  Were excited for them and hope everything goes well.  Her husband is paralyzed from the neck down, but is an awesome guy and has lots of faith.  This week we will start teaching the whole family.  D and her son and daughter came to church on Sunday.  The members accepted her so well that we hardly had to do anything! We are excited to see their progress.

Also, we saw the groundbreaking of the Concepcion Temple! We watched is via satellite in the stake center.  Elder Gonzalez and other General Authorities spoke about the blessing of having a temple and challenged everyone to prepare to enter while the temple is being built, using the rising walls of the temple over the next few years as a visual symbol of their spiritual progress.  Our mission president attended and translated for the wife of one of the general authorities, so it was neat to see him and Sister Bluth there.  They also a made a really cool video to go along with the ceremony that is similar to Because of Him that shows scenes of Concecpion and some members from our mission. 

We have been very blessed this week.  Its nice to know that God is our loving Heavenly Father.  Like a good parent, He is there to catch us when we fall and will keep us moving forward, but He will let us learn and grow on our own.  He will never abandon us. Even is we have a bad day, if we fail at something we worked hard at, even if all goes down the drain, we are still blessed more than we deserve, and we know that things will be alright. Thanks so much for your faith in me and your prayers.

Elder Peck

Templo!!!!

Concepcion Temple site

Hey!

So this week was crazy fun.  We had transfers, so on Tuesday we were in the terminal all day welcoming and saying goodbye to missionaries.  We had all the trainers in our house that night so we ordered pizza from Papa Johns (which is like a big deal here haha)! Later in the week we went to a conference in Concepcion with President and Hermana Bluth. The conference was awesome.  It was in the mission home, Hermana Bluth made a huge cake and we had hot chocolate! Yeah!  But more importantly the Spirit was really strong as we listened to the counsel of our beloved mission president and his wife and to the promptings of the Spirit.  The mission house is about a mile away from the Concepcion Temple constuction site, so during the conference they took us over to see  it and talked about temple blessings there.

So those were basically the highights of the week.  Our investigator C is progressing well, even though opposition came into play and he couldnt come to church. We're finding lots of new people to teach and the ward is getting excited about missionary work.

Remember to Ponderize!
Thanks for everything!
Elder Peck

General Conference Weekend

Hey!

So I just had my last general conference in Chile.  The stake was nice and set up a room for all the American missionaries to watch it in English.  It was nice to hear the voices of our beloved prophet and apostles.  It was exciting to sustain the new apostles and I'm excited to see the work continue to move forward. 

I learned that the Spirit can give customized counsel as we seek wisdom form God.  I learned that the gospel is simple and our effectiveness as disciples will increase as we strive to simplify.  I accepted the challenge to Ponderize - ponderize and memorize a scripture weekly (a few missionaries who watched it in Spanish got kinda confused when he pulled that out haha), and I'm excited to elevate my thoughts daily. 

I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, just as much as I know any other important truth in my life.  The 12 apostles are also called of God as prophets seers and revelators.  I received during the conference many answers to questions, on my own behalf and that of my investigators, and direction. 

This week was otherwise somewhat slow.  The other high point of the week was the baptism of a couple in our ward! The other elders in our sector taught them and prepared them for baptism, but the service with beautiful and the Spirit was strong. 

This week we also had transfers, but my companion and I are both staying here.  We are both excited for the next six weeks and ready to see several more miracles. 

Thanks for everything and be sure to ask What lack I yet? and remember to Ponderize.  Have a great week!

Love, Elder Peck

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