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.