Compania #24

June 18, 2012

So it looks like Im going to be finishing off my mission right here in Compañia!!!  This will be my 6th transfer here and Im still with Elder Larsen which will make 10 months total as companions.  We went and picked up our third companion, Elder Gonzales from California, this morning and he also leaves the same date as us so we are all ¨dying¨ here.

This last week was a great week for us especially sunday.  None of our investigators went to church beacause it was raining pretty hard but a sister from another stake brought her two grandkids who are looking for the true church and introduced them to us.  We are going to start working with them this week and we are excited.  The ward was very happy when they herad the news that we were styaing here and we are probably going to plan a big going away party for the three of us with the whole ward.  Its weird thinking that this is my last change in the mission but at the same time exciting.  I was telling my mom today that lately I havent been sleeping good because I dream all night of being home haha.  I cant raelly control my dreams so its not very fun waking up and realzing that I didnt sleep well but its alright.  

Not much else is new except that Im pretty close to finishing the Book of Mormon in spanish.  I just finished Mormon last night.  Thats about it for me this week!  Have a great week!

Love Elder TY Peck

Compania #23

June 12, 2012

Well this last week was pertty crazy.  Elder Vargas ended up getting changed again haha.  He is in Renca 1 which was my second sector so I gave him some good tips and references.  He was pretty sad that he had to leave us because we were having a great time with him plus the ward really liked him.  We were able to have some people in church this week and we were happya bout that.  A guy named Cristian came up to us and said he wants to learn more so we have an appointment with him thursday.  The members have really been helping us a lot recently as well.  Nothing special really happened this last week but I have been learning quite a bit in the Book of Mormon in spanish.  Im pretty close to fniishing and its weird how much we can learn even after reading it several times before.  Its pretty awesome studying in another language as well.  This is the last week of the change so we will probably get changed but just pray taht we dont!!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #22

June 4, 2012

So it looks like President decided to put us in a trio after all haha.  We are now with Elder Vargas from Puerto Montt Chile.  Hes a wayy coool guy and super smart.  It´s always fun being in a trio and it´s my fourth time now.  We have changes in 2 weeks so Im pretty sure that Im leaving but we will just have to wait and see. 

 

The work went pretty normal last week.  We found some good investigators and we are now working with them.  We helped the aunt and uncle of a member move and they arent members and they invited us over to visit them sometime so we will see how it goes with them.  Quite a few people showed up to church sunday that weren´t members so we made some appointments with them.  Cecilia is doing very good.  She´s been excited to do her visiting teaching and she is hoping for a calling pretty soon.  Jose and Josselin are doing alright.  They are still fighting a little bit but Josselin is now taking medicine for depression because she is still pretty sad about what happened with her daughter.  We saw them last night and made some pizza and it was pretty fun. 

 

THats about it for me this week!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #21

May 28, 2012

This last week was a pretty average week once again for us.  We were able to find even more investigators but nobody is close to baptism.  We are working really hard with the members right now because its the new mission plan and we are having qutie a bit of succes from it.  Last week we went to go visit the twins again to see how they were doing and the dad was feeling kind of sick.  He almost passed out at one point so we helped him down to the car and they drove him to the ER.  It was kind of scary for the family but he ended up being alright and hes going to be in bed for about a month.  When he was waiting for his daughter to pull the car around we asked him if he wanted a blessing and I´ll never forget the look on his face.  Afterwards Larsen and I both talked about how we both felt like we literally heard his thoughts.  I wont go into too much detail about that haha but that was a really neat experience.  President called us saturday morning saying that we were going to have a third companion because another missionary´s companion had to go home for knee problems but then later in the night he called us back and said that they figured everything out and decided to not put us in a trio haha.  Jose and Josselin are doing alright.  They have been fighting a little bit but last night we had a really good lesson with them about communication and being happier together.  Everybody else seems to be doing good.  Isidora´s mom and dad are up in utah right now visiting family so we havent been able to go over and see them.  Thats it!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #20

(Sorry for the lag in posting, it's been busy!!)

May 21, 2012

Hey everybody!  Sorry for not writing last week, we didnt have much to say since we already had Mother´s day.  This last week was a pretty normal week for us.  We were able to find quite a few investigators but none of them went to church so that was rough for us.  We are working harder with the members though to have them bring friends and family to church and its working very well.  We didn´t have too many experiences this week that I can remember haha so sorry everybody for the short email.  Have a great week!

LOve Elder Peck

Compania #19

May 7, 2012

So this last week was pretty great.  Larsen was sick most of the week so we didnt get to leave much but we still had some great lessons with Cecilia and her baptism!!  We got the news that we are staying together for another change as well!!  This will be a little more than 8 months as companions in the mission. 

Here´s the miracle story.  So sunday we showed up to church in the morning and found the the font hadn´t started filling yet.  We got the keys and tried turning on the hot water knob but it was loose and water was coming out of the knob itself which was weird.  The hot water heater didnt turn on either when we turned the knob so we were kind of worried since it was a chilly day in chile (stupid joke).  We didnt want to have to baptize Cecilia in cold water so we tried figuring out the problem but nothing was working.  We sat down in the chapel for the Sacrament and started praying for any way to get the hot water to work.  We went back to the font after taking the Sacrament and took a look at the knob again.  I tried turning it to see if it would work and water was coming out from behind the knob still like a leak.  I then received revelation to just tear off the knob and break it so... I did haha.  Hot water started spraying everywhere and I got soaked in my suit but at least hot water was coming out.  We turned off the water from the main water knob once it had filled and we had Cecilia´s baptismal service.  It was very special and very spiritual.  A lot of the ward went to see the baptism and had bought her presents and the bishops family came with us to visit her later that evening. 

Thats about all that happened this week since my companion was sick for most of it.  He´s doing a little better now after he got some good rest.  Have a great week!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Elder Larsen and Ty eating lots of food

Elder Peck, Cecilia, Elder Larsen at the baptism

Compania #18

April 30, 2012

So we had another baptism yesterday!!!!!  Isidora was baptized and she asked me to baptize her so it was wayy cool!  Her whole family was there (except for her dad because he isnt a member) so it was fun being with all her cousins and family members.

This last week was pretty great.  Cecilia is going to be baptized this next sunday.  She had a camera put inside of her friday so she was in some pain sunday but she has already gone to church quite a bit and shes golden.  Whenever we have lessons we come out learning more from her that us teaching her.  She knows the scriptures very well and understands them.  She started reading Jesus the Christ this last week and is loving that book as well.  The twins Javier and Katalina didnt go to church even though their parents said they were going to go for sure.  Its really hard with the mom because she loves us but just doesnt want to go back to church.  

This is the last week of the change and Im most likely going to leave the area since I have almost 6 months here.  It would be great if we could both stay again but its very very unlikely.  We got phone calls last week asking what airport is closest to our homes so we have been out of it these last couple days haha but we are still working hard and getting some good stuff done.  

Well have a great week!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Compania #17

April 23, 2012

This week was a great one for us. 

Yesterday Manuela was able to get confirmed and had a beaming smile all day at church.  It was great to see her so happy.  We also had a great miracle this last week in finding a new investigator named Cecilia.  The zone leaders called us late tuesday night and said that they had a referral for us from the Santiago west mission.  They said that they had been teaching her for a little while and she moved into our sector.  We called her the same night and set up an appoinment with her for the next day.  We arrived to her apartment after searching forever and she welcomed us in speaking english!!!  I thought it was a joke at first but she speaks english perfectly.  We got to know her a little bit and she shared with us her experience when she found the church.  She is really receptive to the Spirit and said that one day she had the feeling to go for a walk so she did and ran into the missionaries.  She ended up getting a book of mormon from them and got some lessons from them.  Over the time that they lost contact with her she read the Book of Mormon all the way through and gained a very strong testimony of the Church.  She had attented another ward a few times and said that she really felt like it was where she needed to be.  We taught her a little bit more and we made a goal for her to get baptized the 6th of may.  She went to church yesterday and instantly made tons of friends.  She´s about 60 years old and is a painter.  She has houses all over the world and speaks many languages.  She could easily be a great leader some day in the relief society and we feel really blessed to be teaching her.

 

Now comes the biggest miracle of the week.  After all of our meetings sunday we were setting up some things for the baptism of Isidora this next sunday and a sister from our ward walked in the room with a big lumpy plastic bag.  She handed it to us and said enjoy and as I opened it I realized that she had bought us 6 cans of dr pepper!!!!  It was definately great to see that the ward wants to help us with the work!

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Compania #16

4.16.12

We had another baptism!!!!  Manuela Gonzales got baptized yesterday and it was a very good experience.  It was kind of hectic getting everything set up but in the end it turned out really good.

We were able to have a couple cakes on thursday as well and have a good time with investigators and members.  I got a little sick wednesday night which wasnt too fun but it was just for the night.  The twins didnt go to church on sunday since the dad is up in the north working for another week.  The mom is pretty stubborn about going to church but we are working really hard with the ward so that she can have some friends in the relief society.  

Not much else really happened this week.  We are starting the search again for more investigators so these next two weeks we will be knocking a lot of doors!!!! 

Have a great week!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Compania #15

4.11.12

So we have had a great last couple of days.  Our P day got changed to today to be able to go to the temple as a zone and it was great!  Its the first time that Ive been to the temple since december 2010 so it was a great refreshing experience.  I was able to learn a lot as well.  Easter sunday was really good.  We had a fantastic elders quorom lesson about our responsibilities are members.  Javier and his inactive dad Lucho had gone to church and the elder`s quorom president used Lucho as a great example that the members arent doing their job with home teaching and visiting teaching haha.  I learned a lot from the lesson though and it really made me realize that to be able to gain Exaltation, we need to obey ALL the commanments even if it means visiting a inactive member that we have never met in our lives.  We had a huuge Easter lunch as well with a family here in the ward.  The mom is mexican so I had like 20 tacos and they were delicious.  She also made us brownies with ice cream on top.  We normally dont eat that kind of food so it was like living in the States again since they all speak english as well.  We are planning on having a baptism this sunday and the one after...and the one after that!!  Manuela is ready to be baptized this sunday and the week after Isidora will be ready.  We are really hoping that Javier and Catalina will be ready in two more weeks. Javier went to church sunday and is progressing a lot better than anybody else in the family and the members really helped a lot with the dad but the mom is a little harder to work with.  Jose and Josselin are doing good but they are just all out of money and only Josselin has a job and it doenst pay much.  They are also studying at night so we hardly ever get to pass by but Josselin went to church sunday.  Jose put his ear piercings back in so we are going to have a chat with him this weekend.

My birhtday is tomorrow!!  I was thinking you could all get me presents!!  I want you all to share the gospel on my birthday.  That would be the greatest gift that I can think of right now because when people I love and care about are happy, Im happy.  

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #14

4.2.12

Our week was pretty great.  Not much new happened but we did find a less active family with a daughter who isnt baptized and she is going to be baptized for sure in a few weeks which is great.  Conference weeked was awesome as well.  We werent able to get much done this weekend since we just stayed at the stake center all day saturday.  The stake center was pretty far from our sector so we decided to just stay there all day. 

 

One of my favorite talks from this weekened was in the Priesthood session from Richard C. Edgley.  He talked about helping less active members and by doing that we help future generations of the church.  After the last session sunday, we went to Colomba´s family to celebrate her mom´s birthday.  We bought her a couple picture frames with pics of Colomba´s baptism and also a bracelet.  As soon as she saw the pictures she started crying and was very happy.  It was a very special moment for us. 

 

Sorry for the short email!  Have a great week!

Loev Elder Peck

Compania #13

3.26.12

(No email last week)

Protests, Wedding, Baptism, Conformation!!

So we had a pretty crazy week.  Basically everyday something big happened.

Lets start with tuesday.  So a couple of our appointments feel through and we decided to try and visit some less active members in the northern part of our sector which is called Plaza de Armas.  The Spanish made this plaza a long time ago to be able to fend off any attack that would come into the capital.  We were up there and as usual there was a big crowd of people shopping and plus a bunch of preachers yelling with microphones.  It seemed pretty normal so we just kept walking.  We went to a couple apartments but nobody was home and on our way out we saw a ton of police men with shields, helmets, and dogs.  We heard lots of yelling and protesting and then all of a sudden a huuuge crowd of people came sprinting at us. It was exciting to be in the middle of something huge like this but then there was tear gas everywhere and so we hid in an ice cream shop.  They locked up the doors and windows but the worst part was the gas inside the store.  It burned pretty bad but that was about it.  They opened the door after about 10 minutes and kicked everybody out that wasn't a customer.  So we went out and returned back to the plaza.  On every corner there were big tanks that spray water and lots of police men and huuuge clouds of tear gas.  We figured that we were trapped until we noticed the subway station was still open so we went down the stairs and got on the subway towards our apartment.  We got back safe and waiting the rest of the night in our apartment just in case.  We had an appointment down south in our sector but we decided not to go to which was good because a man was stabbed right on the corner where we had an appointment so we were lucky that we listened to the Spirit and stayed in the house.  

Next, thursday we went to set up for the wedding reception in the church.  A lot of members came with food and decorations and helped us decorate the chapel.  Friday night, the same members came to the party plus family and friends of Jose and Josselin.  It was a very fun party and it was great to see Jose and Josselin so happy.  Saturday at 12 we were going to have the baptism.  My companion and I went to the chapel early to fill the font and at 11 people started showing up for our english classes.  We totally forgot that we had put up flyers for the classes and so we had to teach a quick class and it ended up beign good.  There werent a lot of people at the baptism but it was very spiritual and a lot of fun.  Josselin went up to give her testimony afterwards and said that after getting married she felt like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulders and she had never felt anything like it.  She was very happy and had a huge smile on her face the whole time.  Sunday I got to confirm her which was way cool.  It was my first confirmation plus it was in spanish so I was pretty nervous but it all came out good.  Jose and Josselin gave their testimonies as well and talked about how happy they were now that they are married and they are very excited to go to the temple in a year.  

It was a great week and it got even better when saturday night they informed us that elder Larsen and I will be here for another transfer!  We haev until early may until the next transfer period.  We did the math and at the end of this transfer we will have been together for more than 6 months as companions.  Well haev a great week everybody!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #12

3.12.12

This last week was a little harder than the week before....

 

So lets start off with Josselin.  Shes progressing very well in her testimony but this weekend her and Jose got in a little argument about the marriage.  We arent 100% sure what happened but she seemed very sad sunday in church.  We are going to give them a few days to work things out then we will probably try doing something.

 

The twins Katalina and Javier didnt show up to church.  We called their mom saturday night to verify everything and she said that they were going to church for sure and they didnt show up.  We tried calling but they didnt answer so we arent sure what happened there.  We gave them a baptismal date for the 25 of march but the mom was pretty hesitant.  She doesnt have a very strong tesimony since she was pretty pressured to get baptized by her husband a long time ago.  We are worried that they are going to hold the kids back quite a bit.  If it wasnt for them the kids would be very easy baptisms but I guess there is no such thing as an easy baptism haha!  Everybody person has their own doubt or struggle to get to the waters of baptism but its up to us to help them out so thats what we plan on doing. 

 

We talked to Bastian again this last week.  It was good to see him after like a month on vacation.  We talked to his mom this time who used to avoid us before and she told us that she is a member but hasnt gone to church for like 20 years.  She said that she really wants to come back and help her kids get baptized because their dad never let them before since he was very catholic.  They are seperated so it looks like the mom should be a huge help for us which is good. 

 

In these last couple of weeks Ive been reading a lot in Alma.  Ive been reading about the mission of the sons of Mosiah and the Anti Nephi Lehites and how converted they were.  There is one scripture that talks about how the people kneeled down as their enemies killed hundreds of them.  Their enemies finally realized how converted these people really were and dropped their weapons and also repented.  It talked about how the Lord has many ways to help people repent and that was one of them.  In this sector I really have noticed that we have to work different since we are in the middle of a huge city.  We have been trying to work with the members quite a bit and now we are going to start english classes.  We are hoping that the Lord can help us with our different ideas to bring more people to the truth! 

 

Thats it for me this week.  Have a great week!

Love Elder Peck

Questions:
1.        How did interviews go with Pres?

 Good and short,  We talked about me going home august 13th and we got that set up.

2.        Is Joselyn still lined up for baptism before transfers?
 Yes but Jose got mad in a little argument they had and left for a couple days but hes back....She was really sad in church yesterday so we are gonna give them a couple days to work things out. 
3.       How are the twins coming along?  So amazing that they are leading their family – hopefully they’ll all start going to church.
 The twins are really good but the mom is a huuuge anchor for them.  She holds them back a lot.  They didnt go to church yesterday and she didnt answer her phone when we called so we were kinda upset.  The kids would be baptisms easily if the mom would just cooperate.  The dad got home from working outside of santiago for a couple weeks so we are hoping that he is a little more excited.  I most likely wont be here for their baptism though. 
4.       What is one thing that is strongest in your testimony right now?
 I would definitely say the Restoration is the strongest part.  Everytime we talk about Joseph Smith and the first vision or when we watch the video there is a completley different Spirit in the room.  Quentin L. Cook mentioned that the first vision is the most powerful tool we have as missoinaries in our lessons.  I want to read more in The Teachings of Joseph Smith after the mission for sure. 
5.       What is something you learned this last week?
 This last week.....I read a looott in Jesus the Christ and I learned a lot about how he was in complete control of everything going around him all the time.  He could stop a storm, raise the dead, heal the sick, and curse a tree by the power of prayer and faith. 
6.       Have you been able to keep your apartment clean and tidy?  (you said it was a pig sty when you first got there at Christmas time)
 Yeah its decent right now.  When Whitmer left we did a huuuge cleanup and sometimes we get a little lazy but when I get stressed out I usually clean up everything wayy good. 
7.       What was your favorite item from your last package?
 The fish oil stuff!!  I got that package friday and its wayyyy good. 
8.       What is something you’d like in your next package?  (think birthday)
 I was thinking that you should send anymore packages to save money but mabye I could just by myself something. 
9.       What is your favorite time of day and why?
 10:30 PM when we finish planning and we can take off our church clothes and get into our PJ´s and just chill haha. 
10.   How is your relationship with your current Bishop and ward mission leader?
Its great.  This ward hasnt had a lot of success int he last couple years because of disobedient missionaries so the success we are having makes them very happy and they help a lot.  The bishop always has a huge smile on his face when he sees us.

Compania #11

3.5.12

We had an amazing week!!!  It was a week full of miarcles and lots of progress in the work.

So lets start off with Jose and Josselin.  As a lot of you already know that are going to get married!!!  We discussed when they would be able to get married and usually its takes 3 or 4 months for the transaction to come through and that made us really sad.  We decided to do a fast as a group and we prayed that Heavenly Father could help us to get a sooner date for them to get married.  We all fasted and prayed and the next day they called us and told us that they went to the city courthouse and they were told that the soonest they could get married was in june.  They get pushing and asking and they found out that they could probably go down south to another city and get a better date there.  They traveled down and got a date for the 23rd of march!!!!!  Thats 3 days before our transfers so we will be here for the wedding and the baptism.  It was great to see that the Lord listened to our prayer and helped us out.

Another miracle that happened.....So we were working and the sister missionaries called us with a referal.  A 12 year old girl had talked to them in the street and said that they had been waiting for missionaries to pass by for the longest time.  THey had talked to missionaries in another part but the referal was never sent.  So the sisters got their adress and gave it to us.  All of our appointments had fallen through so we decided to find these people.  We searched everywhere for the address but we couldnt find it anywhere.  We asked people in the street and they tried helping us and finally after about an hour of searching we found it.  There were three buildings inside and there were only doorbells for the two buildlings that this family didnt live it.  We somehow got inside the gates and went up their buildling and knocked their door.  We got in and found out that the parents were less active members and that they had 4 kids that werent baptized.  The two older ones werent that interested but the two younger ones were wayyy ready to hear us.  They are twins one is Katalina and the other is Javier.  They were sooo excited for hear what we had to share and they were very excited to say the closing prayer.  They talked a lot about how they felt like they needed to confess their sins and be better people.  We are going to visit them tomorrow and give them a baptismal date and then take them down to mutual in the chapel.  

One last story...Eduardo is an inactive member who we have been trying to help for a while now.  He served a mission in this same mission and moved out here to study.  He went inactive because of a lot of trials in his life and didnt feel like he got the blessings he deserved from the mission.  He asked us friday night how he can find his faith again.  We started sharing scriptures and personal experiences and the Spirit was very strong in his apartment.  Hes having a really hard time right now in his life and hes trying soo hard to come back to church.  

Well, thats it for me this week have a great week!

Love Elder Peck

 

 

Compania #10

2.27.12

HELLOOO EVERYBODY.  Our week was pretty great.  We were able to find a few newbies.  It was still hard with peolple on vacation but Josselin finally got back yesterday so we are excited to see them again.  This week will be pretty short since we are short on time.

My highlight of the week is probably last night.  We sat down with Emerson and Pamela who are recent converts and we helped them come back to church.  Emerson was teaching us a little lesson on prayer and then he told us about one of his most recent answers to a prayer.  He explained that it had been hard for him to believe that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet of God.  He would see pictures or would watch conference and just wasnt convinced.  He finally started praying for help to believe more in him.  Over time he realized that he was just judging the Prophet without even knowing who he was.  THEN the same day he came to that conclusion we showed up with a copy of ¨On the Lord´s Errand¨ and we let them borrow it.  He watched it and he said that he knows 100% that Pres. Monson is a Prophet today.  It was really cool to see that we were able to be an answer to his prayer.  

We also had a baptism!!!  Kind of haha.  Her name is Colomba and she turned 8 years old but her mom asked us to teach her since her dad isnt a member.  The dad was pretty worried that she was just gonig into something without knowing so we went and we taught her everything pretty simply and her dad was also able to listen so know we are teaching him.  

Pictures!!

Downtown Santiago

Downtown Santiago

Ty's Companion, Elder Larsen

Compania #9

(No email last week due to district outing)

2.20.12

Fantastic week last week!!  Just kidding it was kind of slow because everybody is still on vacattions!!!!!!  Its pretty lame becuase we havent been able to teach very many lessons.  BUT we were able to receive great news from Josselin that her and Jose are going to get married when they get back and shes getting baptized the 4th of march!!!!!!  We were very happy to hear the good news and it really made our week a lot better.  Not much happened this last week but I was able to find a great chapter in the Bible that really helps me express how I feel about the people here in chile.  As I was reading in Thessalonians chapter 2, I came across a part where the Apostles are talking to the people they taught.  In verse 8 it says....

 

8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own ^asouls, because ye were dear unto us.

 

The rest of the chapter is also really great but that scripture really hit me and made me think if I was really willing to give my life for my investigators and the members here that Ive gotten very close to.  I love the work here and it only gets better everyday!  I hope that you can all spread the Gospel to your friends and family!

 

Love Elder Peck

Compania #8

2.4.12

Our week was very weird.  On wednesday we had to drop off Whitmer so that he could travel to his new misison in Utah and it was really weird watching him go.  It made me think a lot about when its going to be my turn to leave and how hard it will be to leave this country and all the people that Ive met.  He was very sad and it was hard for him to leave but he knew it was for the better.  After wednesday it was very strange just being two again.

We had quite a bit of success in terms of numbers but sunday is always the day with the most blessings.  We had quite a few investigators in church which was good to see.  Nicolas has been telling us that he would already be baptized but his mom wants him to wait until shes ready and shes not going anywhere so thats kinda frustrating but we are doing as much as we can to help them both out.  Josselin is doing really well.  She is very excited for her baptism next week but they still have to find a place where Jose can live so that they can keep the law of chasity.  

Yesterday as I sat in Sacrament meeting, I was looking around at all the less active members and investigators that we had at church and it made me think a lot about the people that I had helped in my mission.  I as sat there thinking about all the people, I realized that I had helped a lot more people that I really thought.  Even though Im not some baptizing machine, I have helped all my wards in someway or another with helping staying active and coming back to church.  

On saturday one of my investigators from Vivaceta got baptized!!  Michel is his name and I was really sad that I wasnt able to go because of a new rule but Im very happy that he was able to be baptized.  

Thats about it for me this week!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #7

1.30.12

This last week for us was a little bit slow.  Elder Whitmer is heading up to the family history center mission this wednesday and hes been a little down about it but we´ve been working hard on cheering him up a lot.  The work was a little slow because a lot of appointments fell through but we were still able to have miracles yesterday in church.  One member brought his 17 year old niece to church named Wendy (I hate that restaurant).  She really liked church and we have an appointment with them today to teach her.  Also a less active member named Eduardo showed up to church and that was very exciting for us.

Recently we have been working a lot with Eduardo.  Hes like 30 years old and a returned missionary.  He actually served in this same mission in the early 2000´s.  As we were talking with him one day he started telling us that he has lost all of his faith in God and in the plan of salvation because he has had so many deaths in his life and so many trials that he thinks its too much for somebody who served a mission and was supposed to be more blessed.  We just talked to him a little bit and it was kind of hard to get around his ¨doubts¨ because he already knew what we were trying to do.  It was a huge surprise for us on sunday when he showed up with a friend from the ward.  I went over to talk with him after Sacrament meeting and he just seemed a lot different after hearing a couple really good talks.  We are hoping that he is gaining his testimony back and that he will be able to stay active.  

Another quick story.  There is this young couple that was have helped re activate recently that has a baby.  As we have been visiting them they asked about presenting the baby and giving him a blessing.  We told them to talk with the bishop to get that set up but then the father (Emerson) told us that he doesnt have the Higher Priesthood yet because hes a recent convert technically and because hes been inactive for a few months.  We said that he would just have to work towards it and then he asked me to do the baby blessing instead.  I was pretty shocked when he asked me and Im pretty sure we arent allowed to as missionaries but it was a great honor to have them ask me.  

Thats it for me this week.  Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Peck

Compania #6

1.24.12

Great news.... WE ALMOST GOT THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE!!!

Ooops haha I accidently sent that last one before typing everything haha.  Chilaen computers arent the best in the world....

 

Anywyas, like I was saying we almost got the standard of excellence!!!  We were soooo close.  We just missed a couple people at church but we are wayy happy with all the people that are progrssing and getting ready for baptism. 

 

Jossely showed up to church with her boyfriend Jose (we just gotta get them married) and shes wayyy excited for her baptism.  She cant stop talking about it actually.  She was asking a bunch of members about it and the sister missionaries.  Another young man that we are teaching, Bastian, came to church with us and loved it.  Hes 14 and basically was the only young man at church haha but we went with him to his classes so he wouldnt be alone.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation with him and it was great.  Hes gonna be going to mutual this week and hopefully he can start making some good friends at church.  He was telling us the other day in a lesson that he wants his siters and his mom to get baptized also with him so we talked to one of his sisters who was there and she said that she wants to get baptized also BUT we went to wake her up sunday and shes not a morning person haha. 

 

We were able to receive a lot of blessigns this last week from our diligence.  I was on divisions with the assitant to the president on firday and we went and talked with Anthony about baptism and he accepted a date to get baptized BUT he didnt show up to church sunday so we arent really sure whats going on with him.  Hes been progressing very well in the lessons but alwyas falls through on sundays. 

 

This last week I had the pleasure of reading through Mosiah a little bit.  I read most of the story of Abinadi.  Its amazing how much power he had when he preached the gospel in the kings face!  He just stood there all chained up and told everybody all of their sins on the spot and nobody could touch him because of the people around him.  As missionaries, we have the same kind of authority and power.  There are lessons that are 150% guided by the Spirit,  A lot of times I dont even feel like Im the one talking and that Im like watching the lesson from outside my body.  Its actually a really weird feeling haha but its great.  I feel so blessed to know that we are being helped in our lessons and with our investigators to help them progress.

Well, thatsa about it for me this week!  Have a great week!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Compania #5

1.16.12

We had a fantastic week!  We were able to get quite a bit of work done here in the sector and grow a little closer to our ward.  We went and had a family night with this young couple in our ward and they had root beer floats and dr pepper waiting for us which was easily one of the biggest blessings this last week. 

 

So now I have a very...sad story I guess you could say.  So last sunday, a couple showed up to church.  The guy was a less active member and his girlfriend wanted to know more about the church.  In our sunday school class she was saying how her daughter had died a few months ago and that she is trying really hard to keep her faith alive.  We had a great sunday school class talking about eternal families and she really liked it a lot.  We went to their house saturday night to visit them and start the teaching process.  We got there and gave a blessing to the guy (Jose) who had hurt his nose really bad ¨running into a wall¨ (it looked like he got punched).  After the blessing we started getting to know them and then we started the message.  Then she told us the story of her daughter....  She told us that one day she was holding her daughter and a pitbull came up and attacked them.  Her daughter was only a year old and a couple months and the pitbull went straight for her daughter.  The pitbull literally took off half the head of the baby and killed it instantly.  Im not sure what happened to the pitbull but I can imagine it was killed.  She was telling us how she had been mad and depresed for the last few months and just thought that God was punishing her or wasnt there.  After the story we were all able to bear testimony of the plan of salvation and about where her daughter was.  She asked us why God would take her daughter in such a horrible way and we read 1 Nephi 3:7 and explained to her that God gives us commandments as well as trials because he knows we can complete.  I told her that God knew that she would be able to overcome such a hard trial in her life and that when she did overcome it that she would be blessed a lot.  At the end of the lesson she expressed that she would like to get baptized but she wants to learn more.  We have an appointment with them tonight so wish us luck!

 

That was probably the highlight of this week for me (other than the root beer and dr pepper).  I just wanna give a shout out to Brian Peck who got his mission call speaking hand language!!  Congrats to him! 

Love Elder Ty Peck

 

 

**Will be adding a few more photos to the photo page once I get the email

Compania #4

1.9.12

This last week was a week full of miracles...

 

So basically, sunday we found out that a kid that has been coming to church forever wants to get batpzed here.  He is actually from another mission but his family goes to this ward and the sister misisonaries talked to us sunday and informed us that we need to go teach him and get him batpzied!!!  It was pretty awesome news hearing that so we are going to talk with his family and the bishop and stuff tomorrow and get everything set up.  We were also able to talk about baptism wth another family we are teaching yesterday and the 11 year old Nicolas accept to be batpzied the 29 of january!!! 

 

I also had a great experience this last week doing contacts.... So saturday we decided to head up to the big plaza to do some contacts because all of our appointments fell through.  We went up there and started talking with some people and some Haitians came up to us and told us that they were members and wanted to come back to church.  We talked to them for a little bit and set up an apopintment to head out to their place.  As we continued talking with the people, a man came up to us and started talking with us.  We asked how he was doing and he said very bad.  We started talking about why he was feeling bad and what we could do to help.  Trying to hold back tears he told us that he was a member of the church but hadnt gone to church in about 7 years.  We could smell a little bit of alcohol on his breath as he continued telling us that he was a missionary also a long time ago.  He started crying and said that hes afraid to come back because hes afriad that God wont forgive him for what hes done.  We were to testify of the love God has for us as His children and that he just needs to take a step of faigh and get back on the right path.  It was a very special esperience for all of us and we all felt the Sprit very strongly. 

 

We found a lot of great investigators this last week.  Elder Larsen and I are working very well together and its a lot of fun being with him again.  We are always laughing and having a great time working hard. 

 

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Ty Peck

Compania #3

1.2.12

I would like to wish everybody a late happy new year and I hope you all passed it chancho. 

Things are great here in Compañia....We had changed today and.....ELDER LARSEN AND I ARE COMPANIONS AGAIN!!!!!  For those of you who dont remember, he was my comp from the MTC.  We are still in a trio with Elder Whitmer but he is going to be heading out pretty soon to Salt lake but we arent sure when. 

Our new years eve was great.  We had a great view of the fireworks here in downtown Santiago.  They were shooting fireworks that made flowers and smiley faces in the sky.  Its crazy to think thats its already 2012...The world will be ending this year haha NOT.  Its crazy how fast the time has been flying here and the things Ive learned. 

This last week we were able to find quite a few new investigators.  Some of them are referrals from members and others just came from knocking the 20 houses that we have in our sector.  We found one kid named Bastian.  He´s 14 years old and has a lot of interest in the Book of Mormon.  We started off the contact getting to know him a little bit and then we talked about the BOM.  He said that he wanted one to read so we went inside and taught him about what it was and where it came from.  We left 3 Nephi 11 for him to read and the next day, to our surprise, he had read the chapter and understood it very well.  He told us of his desires to know the truth and that he definately feels something different with us.  A lot of our investigators werent able to go to church this week due to the holiday.  Marcelo came to church again out here and said that hes planning on moving out here so that he can get baptized.  We are working on finding him a place to live right now and hóopefully everything comes out alright. 

Thats about it for me this week...Have a great week eveyrbodyª

Love Elder PEck

Compania #2

12.26.11

Merry Christmas everybody!  Hopefully you all passed it ¨chancho¨ like we say here in Chile.  Our Christmas was pretty good.  We got to talk with our families and it was really good to see everybody and talk with them for a little bit.  We werent able to do much since a lot of the members were traveling but we did have a little peruvian dinner with an investigator family. 

 

Yesterday I was able to receive one of my greatest Christmas presents ever.  As we were singing the sacrament hymn...Marcelo and his whole family walked in the chapel!  They came to see me and to bring me a present.  It was great to see them all again and to catch up and take some pictures.  They told me that they are thinking about moving out here so they can be near me haha because they dont like the new missionary in Vivaceta.  I was actually able to talk with Elder Donohoo a few days again and he said that they are having tons of success in Vivaceta.  Most of the investigators that me and him found are going to be baptized in the next few weeks and I will be able to get permission to go see them all get baptized. 

 

Things in the sector are going prettty good.  We did some divisions last week and it was pretty hard for me.  I went with a missionary who arrived with me.  Hes training and is gonig to be a leader in the mission here pretty soon and so I thought it would be a great opportunity to learn from him and how he works.  We were in a trio that day so his trainee was there.  As we were talking to people in the street, I noticed something that...well I didnt like about his way of working.  He would talk to the person and get them to laugh which was great and then he would share a little message and even be a little persistent but not too much which is also great.  The one thing that bugged me was that after every person he would say something rude about that person.  If they didnt accept us he always had a rude comment to say about that.  I watched as his trainee took all of this in since it was the only companion he has had so far in the mission.  Im not trying to talk bad about this missionary but just the little things that we all do as people are picked up by the people that look up to us.  That new missionary now has the habit of mumbling rude things about people as he walks away and that makes the Spirit leave us in our contacts.  If we cant love the people enough to accept the rejection at almost every doorstep, then whats the point of trying to help them?  I mentioned something to him about how his companion is looking up to him a lot and he should try to not do that anymore so hopefully he will be able to learn from that.  I love the Chilaen people and I wouldnt want to serve in any other mission in the world.  I love this mission and every second that I have to learn. 

 

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Ty Peck