Vivaceta #2

7.25.11

We had an amazing week this last week.  So I actually found out Im technically training my companion since he was with his trainer for only 6 weeks.  My companion is awesome and we are having a lot of success.  Its fun watching a new missionary develop because I remember how it was for me.  Hes very humble and a great teacher.  We were able to find 17 new investigators this last week!!!  We got into a lot of houses asking if we could just share a short message with a song and a prayer.  A lot of people let us in because they feel something different and dont know what it was.  We got into one house and the guy opened up about how his wife died years ago and how he feels like we are sent from God to tell him that his wife is ok and waiting for him. 

Now for the biggest miracle of my mission.  So last wednesday in our zone class we received a reference from Peru (which hardly ever happens).  I wrote down the name and address and made plans to visit the people saturday in the night.  Saturday morning we went to do a couple different services for members.  One of the services was moving huge greasy auto parts around so we were wayyy dirty and gross.  We were walking to our house but we were way far away.  I asked my companion if he wants to take bus or walk and he looked at me and said Im not sure.  I thought about it for a second and decided that it would be better because I was wayy tired haha.  We went over to the bus stop and there were a few people sitting there.  My companion talked with them and asked if we could visit sunday.  They said sure and we wrote down there information.  We went home, showered, and changed then went out to work.  We didnt have a lot of plans so we decided we would knock a lot of doors.  Then I remembered the reference that we got and I said lets go visit these people. We walked over to the house and we saw it was the house of the people we talked too after service.  We knocked the door and confirmed out appointment for sunday.  We went sunday after church and the mom told us a story.  They have friends that were members in Peru and they used to always try getting them to church.  They had gone to church once or twice but then moved to Chile and lost contact with their friends.  The mom had been praying for guidance in life and when she saw us walking towards the bus stop she had the weirdest feeling that something big was coming in her life but didnt know what.  When we went into their house she really felt like what we were going to teach was going to change her life.  We taught the Restoration and talked about baptism.  There are 8 people in the family!  I feel really blessed to be finding a lot of investigators and to really have the Spirit with us.  I can´t believe Im almost halfway done with the mission already.  It makes me really sad because I know everyday is one less day as a servant of our Lord.  I really hope the last day of my mission never comes because its just too amazing out here testifying to everybody everyday what I know is true.  I know it will come someday and it will be the saddest day of my life but I will continue testifying everyday to all my loved ones.  I love this work and its so unreal that Im here in Chile.  Im having a great time with my companion and we are ready to baptize lots of people!!  Its been too long since my last baptism.  Almost 6 months ago when I was with Kanahele was when we batized Valentina.  Im ready to baptize more and I cant wait to see people dressed in white ready to swim.

I challenge all of you to enjoy the little things in life this week and really think about what life is for you.  Have a great week!

Love Elder Peck

Vivaceta #1

7.18.11

Well I had changes today.  They changed both me and Elder Heath.  I am now in the sector Vivaceta with Elder Saravia from Bolivia.  I have my first latin companion and Im very excited to work with him.  He just got into the mission about 2 months ago so he´s very new and excited to work.  I also became district leader for the first time here in the mission field.  Im very excited to serve here in this new sector and with a new companion.

Last week in our zone class, we had a lesson from the assistants of the mission.  They talked about how about a year ago in the mission, we were setting goals of 20 baptisms per zone and actually completing those goals but now in the mission zones are putting goals of 6 or 7 baptisms and not achieving.  They asked for a few personal reasons why from each missionary written on a piece of paper.  A lot of the answers were obedience or just ourselves and how we hold ourselves back from our potential.  They had us split up with a random missionary and think in silence for 5 minutes and then share what we learned about how we can make ourselves better.  As I sat there in silence I started thinking of general things that I can change and then the thought came that we always focus on the general qualities of a missionary.  I started thinking about how I can do better with the members and just with the people in general.  As I was thinking I looked down at my little note taking folder and saw a picture of Eli Pratt and I when we were very young.  I started thinking about how much I miss that guy and things like that then the thought came to my head that I should treat every person here as if they were Eli.  As my best friend, Eli has always been somebody I can talk to openly and he will understand everything I tell him and give me good advice.  Also, I´ve been somebody he can talk to openly.  I decided that I should be more personal with the people I serve.  I should treat everybody as if they were Eli expressing their trials or fun times to me.  Ive been learning a lot more about how I can talk with people by putting that in practice.  Today in the taxi I started talking to the taxi driver about the soccer game last night and how Chile lost and then we started talking about music and then eventually we arrived to his family and his kids.  He was telling me about how one of his goods looks like a gringo with blonde hair and white skin.  Even though I was only with that guy for about 20 minutes I really felt like I got to know him better as a person and I was a lot more happy.  Id like to thank Eli for being the person that makes me a better missionary and who keep me really motivated. 

So, last night we went around visiting a few members from my ward because I figured I was leaving.  We took some pictures and then they started talking about our ward there and how it can be better.  I realized a lot of the members themselves dont even like the ward they are in and how they all look for excuses to why its so bad.  They were saying about how the leadership lacks love or how the youth arent motivated to do much.  I was thinking about how if every single member sucked it up for a few minutes and really realized that nobody is perfect in the world, then member they would realize how they can help the ward be better.  Everybody in the ward has so much potential but there is a lot of pride holding them all back.  I love them all and I miss them all but The Lord wants me here in this sector now.  We have a lot of investigators set up for baptism soon.  Last week in this sector they found 22 new investigators!  We will definately be dominating here but in a humble way.

Thank you all for all your support, love, and examples in my life.  I challenge you all to think about what you can do to help your ward.

Love Elder Ty Peck

Renca 1 #18

7.11.11

How We Win

I think this last week we just had was even harder for us.  We walked even more and had even less success.  We didn´t enter a single house until saturday night.  I went on ¨intercambios ¨ for the day on friday to the sector that is in our district.  I went to this very very rich sector that reminded me a lot of home.  We sat down with a member family at night to talk to them how things were going with the friends they were working with.  I started talking with the mom who is a RM who also served in this same mission.  I told her how I was having a really hard time in my sector and Im just kind of waiting it out so I can get out of here.  She told me how she was in a dead sector with a companion she hated for 6 months and in that time she learned the most she ever did on her mission.  She told me not to get down and to keep going forward because if it wasnt for a couple missionaries who came to her door when she was young she never would have been a missionary and she never would have helped others come to the gospel.  She also talked about how Elder Tialavea (one of the assistants right now) was in that sector when he had about a year in the mission and he was having a really hard time too.  She said that he would talk to them sometimes and say how hes not having any success even though it was always easy before.  The family helped him out a lot and now hes assistant in the mission and is baptizing like crazy.  I learned a lot from that conversation that even though we go through these trials its becuse God is preparing us for an even greater calling down the road. 

We decided to help our ward out instead of getting mad at them and blaming them for all the bad thigns that are going on here.  We set up a powerpoint and we are going to do a presentation about mission work and how they can all help us out.  In my studies preparing for this presentation I came across several scriptures and quotes in Preach My Gospel that made strong impressions on me.  We also had a conference a couple weeks back and our zone leader, who is leaving, gave a very powerful testimony about how he learned how to win.  He said before he was always on the losing sports team and how they worked so hard but never won.  On the mission, he learned literally how to win.  That is something I am trying very hard to work on.  I havent seen much success in my mission yet and there arent any secrets other than diligence.  There is a scripture in D&C 10 that says Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.¨¨

Ive been reading a lot in my Patriarchal blessing and it says a lot about how in my mission I will see lots of trials and hard times but as I put my trust in the Lord and work as hard as I can, I will be able to overcome my trials and bring people to the truth.  It also says that I have been given all the talents and gifts that I need to complete my task and that God expects a lot from me.  There is one sentence that has always stuck out to me and always runs through my mind everyday.  It says ¨Don´t let Him down¨.  As I think about that, it makes me work even harder and it makes me want to knock even more doors because I know thats what He expects of me.  Everytime I think about giving up or wasting time with some members that sentence runs through my head and helps me a lot.  The mission has been such a great blessing for me and Ive been learning and growing a lot in the gospel.  One last thing that my Patriarchal blessing tells me is that as I work hard, study the scriptures, and pray daily that I will become the more complete man that I desire to be.  The mission has really been helping me with all the things that I desire in life.  Ive been blessed with so many gifts and talents that I didn´t realize I had before and Im learning how to use these gifts better everyday. 

Have a great week everybody!  I challenge you all to win this week!

Love Elder Peck

HAPPY BDAY AMANDA AND SAM!

Que cumplen aun mas en sus vidas!!

Renca 1 #17

7.4.11

So....this last week was probably the hardest week for me in the mission so far.  To start off, we walked the whole week.  We didn't enter a single house.  It was a very unmotivating week for us.

We started the week off very weel with a couple good lessons with investigators. Starting wednesday EVERYTHING went downhill.  We sat down for lunch with our ward mission leader and he basically told us that we dont have empathy for our investigators because we are OBLIGATING them to be baptized.  We tried to explain to him that the 1st Presidency has taught us to extend the baptismal INVITATION in the first or second lesson with investigators.  For some reason he couldn't understand that the Prophet is telling us to work that way.  We also tried explaining to him that we dont obligate people we invite people.  He didn't really understand anything we were telling him so we asked if we could have a meeting with all the leadership in the ward.  We sat down in the meeting and basically told the bishop how we have been feeling the last few weeks.  The ward hasnt been supporting us at all and everybody avoids the obligation of going out with us to work. There were also members who had been talking garbage behind our backs saying we are lazy.  We expressed all this to the bishop in a very formal and professional way and he excused everybody from his office.  He told us basically that the ward doesn't like us because we are too serious.  But then he goes on to get mad at us because one time I was playing with a football in a house and he didn't think I was taking my calling seriously.  He continued saying all these things about us and basically said we suck.  We left his office very angry and frustrated.  He has always been pretty stubborn and not interested in us but he finally lost all of our support and trust. 
So basically thats how the ward sees us.  We talked to other missionaries who were here before and they all said the same things that nobody appreciated the missionaries and nobody helps.  There are a few families that are really cool and helpful but the majority of the ward doesn't want anything to do with us.  After that meeting we basically walked all day everyday knocking doors because we have no investigators.  DUring the week we didnt enter a single house.  If anything I would say the people we talked to this week were some of the hardest people I have ever talked to here.  We got doors slammed in our faces, people getting mad at us for all the garbage in the streets (not sure why), and people literally running away from us.  The week was definately a trial of my patience, diligence, and charity.  Its one thing when people dont want to help but when they start assuming things about us or critcize us is when I get the most mad.  I know before the mission that was the thing that always mad me the most mad.  When I worked at Wendys and people told me I didnt do a good enough job I usually got pretty frustrated and angry.  Now as a missionary, the members should be concerned about our success and want to help us but they are telling me Im lazy and that Im not good enough.  Im trying to take all this in with as much patience as I can but its extremly hard.  This has probably been one of the hardest trials in my mission so far but we are trying to take it and make the situation better.

Anyways,.so our new mission president got here this week!  His name is Pres. Essig and we had a conference with him saturday.  He said his vision for the mission is to help all of us become more and more like Christ.  In my studies, I have been trying to learn more about Christ and what I can do to be more like Him. 

Well have a great week everybody!  I challenge you all to be nice to the missionaries!!!
Love Elder Peck