Renca 1 #11

5.23.11

A week of Success!

We had a great week this last week.  We have this Standard of Excellence in the mission and we are very closing to achieving it.  The Standard is like this.. 12 lessons with members, 5 investigators in church, 7 new investigators, and 7 investigators with a date for baptism.  We were really closing in completing in all those categories. 
Something very sad that happened to us this last week.  I think I mentioned last week that the family we found (Fam. Diaz Maldonado) were having some problems.  They called us tuesday and had us come over to their house.  We brought our ward misison leader to help us out with the lesson.  We go in and I was so happy to see the 6 year old daughter Jennifer reading the Book of Mormon by herself at the dinner table.  Then the 11 year old José came over and said he had been reading too.  We sat down on their couches and realized that the mom Andrea and the grandma Delisia were crying.  They told us that we couldnt come back.  As soon as they said that I was shocked.  They explained that they really really really want to be apart of the church but the grandpa has been acting weird lately.  They said that before our first visit with them he had started drinking heavily.  They said he transforms and isnt the same person when he drinks.  They were all getting ready for church last sunday when he told them that they couldnt go to church and they werent allowed to talk with us anymore.  They called us over when he wasnt home so that they could tell us face to face so it wasnt just a random thing.  I was very sad but I said in a prayer in my heart and asked what we should say.  I felt prompted to read 3 Nephi 18 where it talks about prayer in the family.  We read the scripture and we said a prayer together as a family asking if God would soften his heart to let us come back.  We are going to try calling them today to see how everything is going but it might be awhile before we see them again.  I was so frustrated after the lesson.  I thought why could this happen to me?  I finally found a golden family after all my hard work and dilligence and now they get taken away from me.  I was very frustrated and hardly had any motivation to keep working.  When we got home, I calmed down and prayed for the family.  I feel like they will get baptized someday but maybe I wont be here.  I should be happy that they are so willing to accept the gospel.  After I calmed down and tried to be more patient we started having even more success finding people.  We didnt have much to do friday and we decided to knock some houses in some little neighborhood.  The first door we knocked the guy let us in and said he had been searching for the true church for a very long time.  We invited him to be baptized the 12th of june.  The next door we knocked the guy let us in there also.  He said that they had never really been religious because there are so many churches today its hard to believe that they are true.  We went back and talked to the first guy last night and, to our amazement, he had been reading in the BOM.  He was about 13 chapters in 1 Nephi and was learning a lot.  He is going to have an operation today on his back because he has a swollen disc or something I think. 
We have been having lots of success in finding good investigators but its just hard to keep them around sometimes.  Something always seems to happen but I know they are just tests of my patience and faith.  We are going to keep moving forward. 
We will be having a baptism this week on the 29th of may.  We are very excited for him (Florencio).  We found him a while back knocking doors and hes been going to church for a few weeks now.  I guess that would be a great present for dad on his birthday. 
Anyways, that was my week.  I challenge you all to read Mormon 9 this week and write down every question in that chapter and to think about how you would answer each question. 
Love Elder Ty Peck

Renca 1 #10

5.16.11

So first off I want to say that Im pretty jealous that my whole family is going to disneyworld this fall.  Thats pretty lame.  Anyways this last week was kind of a tough week for us.  We had a lot of appointments fall through and we didnt have much success finding people during the week.  We hadnt been able to get ahold of the family we found a couple weeks ago for a while but we finally found them saturday and they were all excited to go to church and to start getting ready for baptism.  They said that they had a few family problems before with the grandpa with drinking and stuff.  He had never drank before and they said right before we showed up he started getting really bad into alcohol.  While we were getting ready for church yesterday morning, we got a call from Jose the 11 year old and he said they wouldnt be able to go to ¨mass¨ with us.  We asked why and he said just some family problems and so we figured the grandpa was probably holding them back.  We are going to go visit them tomorrow though with our ward mission leader to figure out whats going on.  We finally had an investigator in church this week.  We have been teaching him for about a month now.  He´s a great guy and has a testimony of the church already its just that hes hard to teach because hes loves to talk about everything.  He always talks about how much he hates his job and how bad the world is these days and about his dog, his cat, rich people in the world, etc.  We also had a ward activity where we watched the Restoration with everybody to try and get everybody excited and there we met a wife of the young mens president who isnt a member.  We set up an appointment with them for today.  Saturday night we went to visit an inactive sister who has a daughter who isnt baptized and she is really flaky.  She always says shes going to come to church and then never shows up.  There is also another sister that lives next door with the same situation but her husband, son and daughter arent baptized.  The dad came over to us as we were walking out and said he wants his kids to get baptized and asked how soon it could be done.  We went there yesterday to teach the restoration and set a baptismal date for the 5th of june.  It seems like whenever Ive had a hard week in the mission that the Lord always finds a way to bless us with new investigators or some type of miracle to end the week.  We are seeing a lot of success in finding people but we are still trying to get them in the water.  I havent baptized since I was in Los Conquistadores and I hate not being in the water.  That hate is motivating me to baptize everybody haha.  Anyways, thats about it for me this week.  I challenge you all to invite a friend or family member to church this week who isnt a member. 

Love Elder Peck

 

He also sent an email to my mom saying he LIKES TOMATOES...that is so unacceptable! haha Nobody in our family will touch tomatoes, he says they prepare them different down there...pisha!

Renca 1 #9

5.9.11
Happy Mother's Day Everyone!

Happy mothers day to all the mothers out there.  I had a good mothers day.  We got to skype the families and talk for about an hour which was a lot of fun.  It was good having a few friends who went over to my house to say hi also.  This last week was an ok week.  We found 8 new investigators but nobody showed up at church.  We were hoping to have at least 6 because we have that family but they had a family member sick and werent able to go.  We actually did have one guy show up to church about an hour late and was kinda drunk.  We had stopped passing by for him a while back because hes kinda crazy first of all and second of all he drinks way too much.  It was hard yesterday also erasing names from our board of investigators because of problems like that in their lives.  When people dont progress or dont do the things they need to do we cant really help them.  Its especially hard because we see some of these people everyday just passing in the street.  Also, or investigator Roxanna told us that she doesnt want us to come  by anymore to teach her because its just too hard for her to believe in Christ.  She still thinks its just a fairy tale and its too hard for her to change the beliefs shes had her whole life.  It was a sad day for us but we are still working hard.  We have been finding a lot of people through a program we have here called Permanaced.  Its basically like we go around with a list of all the inactive members in our area and visit with them.  Usually they dont let us in but sometimes they do and sometimes we find out they have kids or other family members who arent baptized.  We are working on reactivating a few families right now so their kids can be baptized.  There are a LOT of inactive members in Chile.  Some people hardly even remember their baptisms or arent even sure if they got baptized or not.  Its sad to see that they didnt have a spiritual experience in the church.  A lot of the time too they went inactive becuase they got offended by some member saying something stupid.  We are going to try working harder with the members though so that our investigators will be able to stay in the church easier.  When they know the members, they will stay in the church and always have a support system around them. 

Thats about it for me this week but I would like to challenge you all (because my mom likes my challenges) to give at least one reference to the missionaries this week.  If we just think about it for a second....if every member gave one reference and that reference got baptized, the membership would double.  Dont we want our brothers and sisters in the true church?  Again, happy mothers day everybody and have a great week.

Love Elder Peck

We got to talk to Ty on Sunday via Skype. It was fun to see him and talk to him. It was neat to hear him speak Spanish so well too. We were able to talk for about an hour then it was time to go. A few close friends of his came over as well to say hi, I think he liked seeing them more than the family ;) He's doing well and really enjoys serving the people of Chile!

Renca 1 #8

5.2.11

WE FOUND A FAMILY!!!!!!!!!

I think I mentioned that last week but we had such a great lesson with them yesterday.  We showed up to verify their reading and prayers and they told us a wonderful story.  They said that the day when Elder Memmott and I originally contacted them they were having a few family problems.  They all of a sudden we show up and knock the door and start talking about families and the Gospel.  The mom said she was so happy to hear that message and when we came back and shared the restoration that she felt something change in their house.  The whole family basically committed themselves for baptism the 29th of may!!!  They all told us that there has been such a change in the atomsphere in the house since we arrived at their door and they are very excited to learn more about the gospel.  We have 8 people right now with a baptismal date (4 from that family soon to be 5).  BUT we are thinking we might have to drop a couple of those investigators because they arent progressing at all and arent doing what they need to do. 

We also found a couple other small families in some apartments that are excited to start charing with us too.  Elder Heath and I are having a lot of fun and we are both very excited to be baptizing in this sector (yes Tim it´s sector).  The members have been helping us a little bit more too which is great because now our investigators know the church better.  We had a lesson with Roxanna yesterday too which was short.  We talked about prayer again because she still doesnt feel like she is receiving an answer to her prayers.  She also told us that since she doesnt have any faith in Christ its hard for her to pray in His name.  We have been trying really hard to help her with that faith but it´s come to the point where we can´t do much else to help her build that faith.  We told her to just keep on praying and reading everyday and eventually she will receive an answer. 

Thats about it for me this week.  We are very excited to be working in our SECTOR and we are having lots of success.  Thank you for all your support and love. 

 

Love Elder Peck

 

Also, this Sunday is mother's day which means we get to talk to Ty!!

Renca 1 #7

4.25.11

So, we had cambios today and I have a new companion!  Im with Elder Heath now from Massachusets!  He got here the same time as Elder Memmott so he just has a few more months then me here.  We should be having a great cambio here in Renca 1.
This last week went really well.  We found a family of 5 on saturday and they are pretty much just waiting to be baptized.  We taught them the Restoration and they all understood very well and were really excited to know that they could pray and ask if its true.  We have a few other people that are getting ready to be baptized within the next few weeks.  Another exciting thing is that Elder Larsen is in my zone!!!!  I´ll get to see him at least once a week now so that should be great.  We also had our english lesson with Roxanna yesterday and it went really well.  She told us that she still has a few doubts about praying and stuff and also believes in reincarnation so its hard for her to understand the plan of salvation.  We tried to explain it but I think she still has a few doubts about it.  We invited her to pray about it of course and hopefully she will do it.  When Elder Memmott was packing up today we realized that me and him never took any pictures together so we took one right before we changed with our new companions but sorry for not taking enough pictures.  I also found a pile of ties in the house they an old elder left here a long time ago and they are all really nice haha.  I found a suit too and I´ll try that on later to see if it fits me. 
Its sad to hear the Selfs are moving.  Hopefully I´ll be able to see Ryan at college or something like that.  It seems like whenever the ward gains a couple people more people leave.  Hopefully the Youngs or the Wilsons dont move out of the area.  Mostly because I need to beat them at Catan first before they can move. 
Anyways, thats about it for me this week.  We are going to be baptizing this cambio si o si.
Love Elder Ty Peck



He also sent me another email to answer my question about Easter, if they did anything special for it down there. He said no, it was like a normal day and the people didn't really get into it.

Renca 1 #6

4.18.11

Another week of walking for us  We have found a few more people and are teaching more often also.  We were going to have a baptism yesterday but our investigator came out with some doubts at the last second about coffee and tea.  She explained she doesnt feel like they are so bad that she will go to hell for it.  We tried explaining it better but we had a member with us who decided to argue with her about it so it was an hour long arguement with them two.  We kept trying to step in and say something to end it but they would just go right back at it.  It made us really frustrated and finally I stopped them both and said look we arent getting anywhere by arguing, lets end this lesson and we can get together another day to talk about it.  I also told her that if she wants to know that its a commandment, she needs to pray and ask.  We tried calling her yesterday after church to see why she didnt go and if we can get together another day and she just kinda said another day so we think she might be trying to avoid us.  It was a sad lesson to see somebody who has been talking to the missionariies for a few months now just give up on it all.  She was making a lot of progress too and now she just kinda dropped back.  We are going to try and have a more spiritual lesson with her later in the week too so that we can help her more.  We also had a lesson with Roxanna yesterday in english again.  We asked her how she felt when she read the BOM and she said good but had a hard time understanding the old english.  BUT the good thing is that she read more than we assigned and she told us she really has a desire to know if its true.  She said she reads metaphysics books so its hard for her to believe in God.  We read the story of Aaron teaching the father of king Lamoni and asked to her to pray to God and ask if He is God.  It was a really good lesson and shes making a lot of progress too.
For my bday last week we went to a non member family house and had a dinner.  I´ll send some pics but they made this big dinner and a really good cake and also gave me a big chocolate bar with almonds as a present.  It was a lot of fun and also Kanahele and Moore called me to say happy birthday which was good to hear from them.  Moore also told me that my last convert with Kanahele was talking to her dad about doing something on sunday.  She told her dad (who isnt a member) that she doesnt break the sabbath because its the Lord´s day.  It was good to hear she is still doing really good in the church and staying strong. 
Thats about it for me this week.  We are still working hard and seeing fruits from our labors. 
Love Elder Peck

Here are a few photos we've gotten over the last several weeks:

Ty's Birthday Dinner

Renca 1 #5

4.11.11

Do you Know Fugazi?

Last week was definitely a week.  We walked A LOT and did a lot of contacts in the street.  We talked with a lot of people and had little success throughout the week.  Saturday we finally caught a break and taught  lesson to a new investigator and yesterday was actually a really good day too.  So, during the week we walked by a member family in the street.  Their daughter isn't baptized and said that she doesn't want to be either BUT she is studying to be an english teacher or something like that and wants the lessons in english.  We set an appointment and went by last night to start teaching the lessons in english.  We decided to try really hard to have the Spirit with us so that while shes learning more english she can feel its truthfulness too.  So we went to the house and asked her a few questions.  Her family doens't know any english  so they had no idea what we were saying.  She actually speaks and understands really well also so it was fun.  It was weird speaking in english too because its been a while haha.  So, basically we taught the Restoration and really focused on prayer.  She kinda believes in God and wants to know more about Him and wants to know He is real.  The lesson was really spiritual and we could really tell she wants to take the lessons to come closer to God.  We kinda thought about it afterwards and the thought came to us that maybe she is doing it in english so that her family doesn't know she really is interested.  We think that maybe she doesn't want to be overloaded with all these people trying to help her.  She understood everything really well and is going to read and pray.  SHe has actually read the BOM once already but only to learn english from the missionaries a few years ago. 
Well, tomorrow is my 21st birthday.  Its weird that life has been going by so fast and I'm only 21 years into it.  We have plans to go over to this family's house and have dinner with them and a little party.  They are actually a family we found that aren't members but love the missionaries and want us to come over all the time. 
That's about it for me this week.  We are working hard and having fun. 
Love Elder Ty Peck

Renca 1 #4

4.4.11

This is not an email

This last week was a great week.  We are still finding people and teaching a lot.  We have a baptism coming up on the 17th of april and another for the 24th.  We are hoping to put another family with fecha this week for the 24th as well. 

In between sessions on saturday, we went to an investigators house to teach her.  She wasnt there but her son was.  He was actually the original person we were looking for when we found his mom.  He had talked with missionaries a couple years ago and really likes the BOM.  He actually said that hes already prayed and read and knows thats its true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  We taught the Restoration and it went really well.  Hes probly late 20s or so and hes a big guy with some tattoos. 

Conference was realy great.  This was probably the first conference that I actually paid attention to haha.  I learned a lot from the talks too.  We missed the first couple talks saturday morning because we had to go do some stuff for the missionaries in our district across town so we were late.  My favorite talk was the one the Pres. Monson gave at the end of Priesthood session.  For me, I learned more from the way he is than from the words he spoke.  His humility and love for all taught me a lot about the type of person we should be.  I also liked what he said about reading the BOM.  He said ¨Read it!¨.  Ive been learning a lot in my studies in Alma about how to be a better missionary too.  We are having a lot of success here now and we have the Spirit with us.  This sector used to be a ¨dead sector¨ I guess but I learned in the MTC that there is no such thing as a dead sector.  There are always people waiting for us it just depends on our faith and diligence to find them.  I also liked the idea from Lynn G. Robbins to make a ¨to be list¨.  I decided that I want to start my own to be list so that I have constant goals for my whole life.  A lot of speakers also said a lot of stuff about not delaying marriage *cough* Amanda *cough*. 

Anyways thats about it for me this week.  Im having a great time here and I love it.  Have a great week everybody.

Love TyPeck