Vivaceta #14

10.17.11

¡¡¡¡¡50 AÑOS DE LA MISIÓN EN CHILE!!!!!

Like the title says... 50 YEARS OF THE MISSION IN CHILE!.  We were able to celebrate this special event in a big soccer stadium right next to our apartment!!  It was nice not having to travel at all.  It was a really cool show and we got to see as missionaries.  After the show we all ran down onto the field and took pictures with the performers and ran into some members from my other wards.  I got a big long train of like 100 people running around the field too haha. 

 

Anyways, this week was a good week for us.  We were able to find some good investigators and teach some really good lessons.  We are planning on baptizing Camila this coming sunday so that her mom can go and feel the Spirit there.  Katy will get baptized the week after that!  Things are going great with my new companion.  The ward loves us both a ton and its a lot of fun being with him.  Its a ton of fun just being able to talk about normal things again like sports, movies, music, girls, etc.  I didnt have anythig in common wiht my last 3 companions so this is a good break haha.  He has 5 months in the mission but most people think he has a lot more time.  He speaks the language very well already and is a machine haha.  We are working really really hard and having a great time doing it. We did a pre-baptismal interview for Katy last night but we did it like ¨who wants to be a millionaire¨.  It was a really fun night with them. 

 

I decided to start the Book of Mormon over again since I kinda got lost in Jacob 5 (the longest chapter in the world).  I was studying in spanish before and I will most likely continue in spanish but I started a new activity.  I am underlining 3 differnt things with 3 different colors.

1. I underline everytime it mentions Jesus Christ.  I underline all the different names and everything that refers to Him.

2. I underline his words.  Whenever he talked to a prophet or when he came down to the Americas.

3. I underline his attributes.  Things like faith, humility, hope, charity, love, diligence, etc.

As Ive been doing this new thing Ive noticed how blessed people really are when they follow Jesus Christ.  When they listen to His words and obey His commandments the happiness is cant be explained.  As it says in Mosiah 2:41 that the obedient saints are blessed with happiness.  I have seen that in the lives of the people I teach and also in my own life.  When I am obedient here in the field, I have more motivation and more desires to help people come unto Christ.  We were talking with Jose, Katy´s husband,  yesterday and he said that yesterday was the first time he had taken the sacrament in over 5 years.  He felt like a hunger and thirst was finally satisfied and he felt so much lighter.  The bread was also home made and delicious which always helps.  It was great to be able to see that blessing in his life yesterday.

One less active family that we have been helping lately is finally back in the church and doing great.  Its the family of the deaf kid that we were teaching.  Carlos, the dad, made the ward´s website this last week and he said that he had never down something with technology mixed with something religious.  He said as he was working on it he realized really how important it is that we get people informed about the church and how everything works.  Hes usually pretty closed when it comes to spiritual matters but it was great being able to see him announce the new website.  They are going to be moving this next month which is sad for me because I got to be really close with the family. 

Anywyas, thats it for me this week!

Love Elder Peck

Photos

Photos from the wedding

Vivaceta #13

10.10.11

I have some good news....NEW COMPANION!! haha.  His name is Elder Donohoo from Utah.  We just got together a few hours ago and we are having a great time already.  Hes wayy into sports and we have a lot in common so these changes with him should be really fun!

This last week was a little hard for us.  We still got pretty close to the Standard of Excellence but we just had some companionship problems everyday.  We had interviews with President friday.  In my interview, President told me he was really proud of the success that weve been having in this area. Sunday when they called us and told us about the changes I was sooo happy.  Elder Donohoo is way tall too haha. 

So saturday we had a wedding!!!  It was a miracle wedding too.  So we werent planning on going the whole time because we had a special devotional for the 50 years of the mission in Chile.  We got back to our house to change into suits and Jose and Katy were basically crying and frantic.  We stopped and talked with them for a little bit and they told us that the judge hadnt showed up and the cake hadnt arrived either and the wedding should have started an hour and a half before.  My companion and I looked at each other and got everybody together and knelt down to say a prayer so that the cake would arrive and the judge.  As soon as the prayer was over somebody came running over saying that the judge was on the street corner looking for the apartment building.  After the ceremony, the caked showed up just in time for the party.  We ended up staying all night since we didnt have much to do and so that we could spend a special night with that family.  I have hundreds of pictures so I´ll be sending them. 

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

Love Elder Peck

 

 

Vivaceta #12

10.3.11

This week was once again a great week.  We were ONE person short in church so we didnt get the standard of excellence but we were so close that it was still a great week.

One of our investigators, Katy, will be getting married this weekend!  She has been living with an inactive member for about a year now and he finally decided that he needed to come back to church.  In that process she also got involved in the church and she will be baptized in a few weeks after the wedding when he is ready to baptize her.  She is progressing very well in the church, she understands everything very well and is ready for her baptism.  

Anyways, things are going good in the sector.  We have some other people that we are teaching that are also progressing quite well.  The deaf kid and his family are doing well.  They have been going to church and the parents are going to get married in december!  I didnt even know that they werent married until they had an interview with the bishop and he told them to get marrie dhaha.  

Something I liked a lot about this general conference was a talk given by one of the 70.  He mentioned that we shouldnt hesitate in sharing the gospel with others.  As a member of the church, it was always hard for me to tell people what I believe before the mission just because most people in the world these days arent ¨believers¨.  It was always hard for me to bear a testimony of Jesus Christ to my friends who didnt know much about Him.  In the mission Ive noticed that bearing even the smallest testimony has the biggest impact.  One time I stood up to bear my testimony in church and I mentioned how the mission is the best decision I had ever made in my life.  It was a very short testimony and not anything special or powerful.  I sat down and a few weeks later somebody brought it up in sunday school and said that it really had an impact on them.  They said that they want to share the gospel with their family now and even though they dont know how to do it, they know it will bring lots of joy into their lives.  I know that if we open our mouths and spread the good news that we will be blessed as well as the lives of our friends and family.  Try to imagine living the eternity without your best friend.  Even though that best friend may not realize that they need the gospel, they do and its our responsibility to let them know.  

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Peck

Vivaceta #11

9.26.11

3 WEEKS!!

3 weeks in a row now that we have achieved the standard of excellence!  President Essig actually called us this morning to congragulate us and tell us that we are doing a great job.  During these last 3 weeks, we have been seeing a toooon of miracles and blessings but I think the biggest one I have ever seen in my life was this last week.

If you all remember, I told you the story about Camila and how she had stood up to her mom and was doing really well.  Well the mom was very VERY anti mormon and didnt want anything to do with us.  We went tuesday for a little family night and I made some french toast.  The mom got home from work a little early and joined in on the dinner.  She is almost never home so we were kind of nervous and we didnt really know what to say but we had a good conversation in the end and she invited us over for pizza the next day.  We got ourselves ready for the dinner and we headed over.  We had no idea what was going to happen but we knew that the Lord would help us with anything we needed to say.  We started talking about some things just trying to get to know her better and then we started talking a little about her family.  She started to tell us how that in the last few weeks she has seen a huge change in the family.  She said that the kids behave themselves better and are really starting to have a better relationship with God.  She paused for a minute and then started to cry and thanked us for everything we were doing.  She said that she would like to start learning more and maybe even go to church but she said in her own time she will come around.  She invited us over for another lunch and then she offered to start washing our clothes and feeding us whenever we needed meals.  She was also telling us last night that she had a dream.  In the dream a bunch of young people about our age had entered her house all in white.  She asked what they were doing there and an older man looked at her and said ¨I am John the Baptist.¨  And then she woke up.  We explained to her that most likely it meant that lots of missionaries were going to be coming by to try and help her along the way and that baptism is the way we need to take.  She kind of accepted that as a good interpretation but shes still saying that she will come along in her own time.  She told us that its going to be very hard to let other missionaries into her house because we are the ones that have gotten the closest with the family.  Marcelo bore his testimony in sunday school about how before when the missionaries would go by, they could never ever get the kids to come out and share a little lesson or go to church and now that my companion and I are here we have achieved the impossible with them.  He said that ever since I got here that things have been different in the house and that Im his favorite so far!  This family is a huuuuge blessing for me right now in the mission and I love this area.

I was talking with the bishop yesterday and he was telling me how hes really hoping that I dont get changed for a long time because we have been having soo much success here and all the members are very happy.  This is my favorite ward here.  All the members are a huuuge help and the bishop is awesome.  

Have a great week everybody (especially my family thats in Disneyworld without me!)

Love Elder Peck

 

New Pictures posted on the Photo page!!

Vivaceta #10

9.20.11

 

The Standard of Excellence part 2

 

That makes two weeks in a row achieving the SOE.  We are pretty much dominating this sector right now and loving every second of it.  Its all miracles too.  This last weekend was basically the biggest weekend in all of Chile and a lot of our investigators were out of town.  Somehow 5 people still showed up to church and we were able to once again achieve.  Like Andy Samberg says in the great movie Hot Rod, ¨You must believe to achieve.¨  We have been putting all of our faith in the Lord when we need a miracle and He always comes through.  We will be having a baptism the 1st of October.  Im actually shocked that she is going to be baptized.  Her name is Camila.  She is the sister of Victoria who we baptized not too long ago and she has never wanted to go to church.  She would always sit in on the lessons and go to all the activities but never went to church.  She has gone 2 times now and is ready for her baptism.  Her dad Marcelo actually told us what happened this sunday morning.  Basically the mom of the family is very very anti mormon and Camila always follows her mom.  Every sunday the mom would somehow convince Camila to stay home with her and go do something else more fun but this sunday Camila finally said no to the mom.  Marcelo told us that everybody in the house was just speechless when they heard that.  Marcelo said in Priesthood sunday that we are his favorite missionaries that have ever entered his house.  Lots of missionaries have gone by but we were the first to get his kids to go to church and they are getting baptized.  That family is a very special family for me.  The kids love us and are always wanting us to come over and play with them or do something fun.  We usually teach a little lesson then go outside to play some soccer in the street or some ping pong. 

 

Things are ok in the companionship.  Its still really hard to get along with this guy.  He has mood swings all the time so its taking a huge toll on my mental health haha.  Im trying to help him out but Im guessing there is not much I can too.

 

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

Love Elder Peck

Vivaceta #9

9.12.11

The Standard of excellence!!

I have good news and bad news..... WE GOT THE STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE!!  That means that we dominated this last week.  It means AT LEAST 7 new investigators, 12 lessons with a member, 5 people in church and 7 people with a baptismal date.  We had 9 new investigators, 12 lessons with member, 8 people in church AND 7 with a date.  I literally have no idea how it happened but the whole week was just a miracle.  The bad news is...I have less than a year left to keep dominating haha.

SO, to start off I´ll describe a little bit of GREAT news.  We are teaching Katy who is dating a less active member.  They are living together and they decided to start going to church.  We went over there a few weeks ago and started teaching her and then last week we showed up and got a huuuuge present from them.  They asked us when our changes are and they are the 9th of october.  They said well thats good because we are getting married the 8th of october so you guys can come to the wedding!  We also talked about her getting baptized the 9th but she wants her husband to baptize her but he still have to work a few things out since he´s been living with her for a while now.  She´s doing really good too.  She comes to church, shes making a lot of friends in the ward and she wants to start giving us lunch on the weekends haha.  We actually went to their house thursday to celebrate my one year mark with hot dogs and some other members.  

NEXT, I am learning spanish sign language!  We ran into a less active family in the street and they told us to come over.  We got there and they have an 8 year old son who is deaf.  They want us to teach him so that he can get baptized and so that they can return to the church.  They are actually a really rich family too.  The dad was telling me how he works in some software business and he was in charge of making some new software.  He made it and it is sooo good that there are people from Brazil,Colombia, England, Spain , Germany and some other countries begging him to let them use it.  He said that he was in a web chat and he told them ¨Yeah of course you can all use it but....lets talk money¨.  He will be making some HUUUGE money from this.  They might move to France in a couple years if everything works out.  The little kid, Jean Lucas, is incredibly super active and so is his brother.  It was hard keeping them quite in sacrament meeting but its fun.  

Update on Marcelo.  Hes still going strong.  Hes pretty much a member already.  His daughter Victoria who we baptized a month back is doing really good too.  His other daughter finally went to church for the first time!  Shes getting ready to get baptized in a couple weeks and we promised her a pizza party if she does haha.  We had to promisse her a cookie party this week so maybe somebody can send me a recipe?  

My comp. and I are doing better.  I pretty much have to just sit him down everyday and work out the little things that bugged him that day. I think thats why we had so much success this week.  I pretty much just forgot about all the ¨mission drama¨ and really just worked hard to help people progress.  The week went by really fast and our investigators are doing great.  

I think thats it for me this week!  Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Peck

Vivaceta #8

9.5.11

ONE YEAR!!!!!!!!

This week was a great week for us!!  We did really well in terms of getting people to church, finding new people, and getting the members involved.  We have a lot of people that are really promising for baptisms soon so we are hoping to send some baptismal pictures soon.

My health has been a little bit better.  Ive been trying really hard to just ignore the pain and to also work out more to see if that helps.  Ive had some really good studies this week also.  Ive been trying to read the BOM all the way through in spanish at least once.  I sometimes get lost in the 2 Nephi chapters about Isaiah or Jacob 5 haha but Im doing pretty good so far.  My scriptures are all colorful from markings and the pages are nice and shredded haha.  Ive been learning a lot about just putting all of my efforts into the investigators.  Everything I do is for them.  If Im not 110% focused on them, then Im not working as hard as I should.  There are days when its hard when I just want to think about home or other things but Ive found that as I remind myself contantly about the people that the work is so much easier.  

Ive been having problems with the guy Im with.  We have been arguing over stupid little things but mostly because he will get mad over something little and get really angry and sarcastic with me.  Ive been trying really hard to stay patient with him and teach him how to be a good missionary but he usually doesnt respect me too much.  I finally just told him if he can get over the little thigns that I do or the things that bug him then he will never had a good companionship.  I dont think he fully understands that concept yet but Im sure it will take a few more hard companionships for him to realize that he was in the wrong.  Im hoping the best for him and Im trying to teach him well but we will see.

Ive been happy and Ive been working hard and Im going to continue working hard for the next year.  Im completing a year this thursday and it seems like just a few weeks that Ive been here.  The other day in a lesson I was teaching and I stopped and thought how amazing it was that I understood every word the person had just said to me and how I was ablo to respond right away.  I really have been blessed in being able to speak the language.  I may have an american accent just like all the other american missionaries but its just amazing how Im able to be a missionary in another country.  

Have a great week everybody!

Love Elder Ty Peck