Los Conquistadores #7

12.27.10

This last week was a lot of fun!!  It was really good taking to the family and to the band minus Kyler for a while.  It really made my holidays.  For the weekend we mostly just hung out with some member families exchanging gifts.  I got a tie, a hat, and a cool little crocidile cup haha.  Hopefully I´ll be able to send my package home within the next couple weeks. I still have to get a couple more things. 

This last week wasnt really anything that special. We did some work, didnt really find many people but it was still a lot of fun.  Its been really really hot and hard to walk around for long periods of time.  We have been having trouble finding people just because its a new sector so we havent had much success but we will soon. 

That´s about it for this week sorry its not a lot but not much really happened other than Chrstmas.  There is one chapter I want everybody to read for FHE sometime soon which is Jacob 2.  I really like it because at the end of the chapter is says we know what we are supposed to do but why dont we do it?  It also talks about how the parents back then were bad examples and stuff like that and Im grateful that I grew up in a family that taught me to choose the right.  I love my family very much and all my friends who made it possible to me to be out here on a mission serving the Lord.  I know the church is true and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I love you all and will talk to you all next week.

Love Elder Ty Peck

 

*Not a very long email since we got to talk to him on the phone on Saturday for Christmas! He said there is no place else he'd rather be. Too bad our Christmas package didn't get there in time, he said hardly any packages got there for any of the missionaries in his area. Bummer. I guess we'll know better for next time!

Los Conquistadores #6

12.20.10

Its almost Christmas already!  Its crazy that I will get to talk to people at home and what not.  I was hoping maybe Eli Luke and Braden could be there too because I really want to talk to them a little bit. 

So this last week wasnt anything special haha sorry it´s hard to get super interesting stories every week.  I do have one though.  So we were doing contacts and yelling at people´s doors (we yell at doors because there are fences around every building here) and we found a super old lady.  She is 78 and we had to sit right next to her and yell the whole lesson haha.  It was funny when my comp yelled the prayer into her ear.  So we taught her a couple lessons and then we showed up saturday.  She got super mad for some reason and we didnt know why.  She told us she got up at 4 AM and was waiting for us to pick her up for church.  We had told her it was sunday morning but she didnt believe us and told us to leave haha.  She was a little crazy so I dont think it would have gone anywhere anyways but she couldnt say our names and she called me Roberto and my comp Carlos. 

We are going into the city today to find a place to print out pics so we can frame them and give them to the families we took pictures with.  We were walking home the other night and some random non memeber family started talking to us and we asked if we could take pictures with them.  They let us in and we took pics around their tree and then made an appointment to go back.  It was super cool. 

Thats about it this week.  2 Nephi 29 is your guy´s assignment for FHE this week.  I was also reading in DyC the other day in section 3 and there is a scripture to Jose Smith about being called again to the work and I thought it was really cool.  Anyways,can´t wait for Christmas!

Love Elder Peck

Oh and I forgot to say Elder Hendricksen is living with us now.  Roth got transfered today and now the elder that mom blog stalked before the mission is living with me.  I havent met him yet because Roth was still packing but I´ll see him later tonight.

(He also went to the Santiago temple)

I forgot to mention the temple was crazy!  I understodd what was going on it was just weird haha thats it

Questions:

1. Grandpa wants to know what your apartment is like, especially the bathroom? Is it nice, or hard to get used to? Any Cockroaches?

Our apartment is ok the bathroom is good but its kinda ghetto at the same time.  its one of the worst in the mission i heard so its not too bad

2. Mom wants to know if you are wearing sunblock?

i havent been haha

3. How close are you to Santiago itself?

like 40 minutes by taxi

4. What do you drink mostly? Pop? Water?

we get pop at like every  house we go in to

5. Do you take a bus to the internet cafes, or is it close by?

we take taxis to internet there are some close by but super ghetto

6. What do you do, other than writing and laundry etc. on Pday? Any sight seeing?

mostly grocery shopping and shopping for you guys lately our laundry gets done by members we went bowling last week which was sweet

7. Can you see the Ande's mountains?

i think so haha im not sure but there are mountains so probly

8. Grandpa wants to know what kind of laundry facility you use?

members do laundry

9. Hows the language coming along? Do you feel like you're getting pretty good yet?

language is coming along good, i was talking to somebody from my mtc district the other day and they said that ive probly made the most progress but thats probly cause i live with a latino who speaks super fast haha .

10. What are your plans for Christmas morning?
in the morning study and stuff as usual then we are going to the house to call you guys and stuff

(and some Spanish)

Voy a tratar de escribir un email en español.  ¿Comó estai locos?  Chile is terrible bacan!  Tanto calor tambien.  Los miembros en nuestro barrio son los mejores y un miembro compró un regalo por mi.    anyways its way too hot to concentrate on spanish right now haha thats all i got for today

We get to talk to him Saturday!

Los Conquistadores #5

12.13.10

The weeks here just get faster and faster.  Its crazy how much time flies when youre having fun and working hard.  We have been getting a lot of help from a young man in the ward who is preparing for a mission.  His name is Luis and he is super smart.  He is actually having p day with us today haha.  He was baptized a little less then a year ago and is going to start his papers in a month or so.  He is hoping to stay in Chile to serve but he also wants to serve in Cali.

So what we have been doing a lot for the members is we decided to take pictures with all the families and we are going to frame then and give the pictures to them as presents so they remember us.  There are also some specific members we are going to buy ties for and stuff.  Hermano Fuentes told me he bought me a present last week too and I told him I got something for him.  One of our first days we got here he was going crazy about my watch and asked me if I was rich and all this stuff.  I havent been wearing my watch because it bugs me a lot and I just look at it a lot which makes the days slower so I decided to give it to him for Christmas.  The members here love us too they are always telling us how much different their homes feel when we are in there. They told me the other day when I was on changes with another elder that they can really feel our love for them and they feel the Spirit really strongly in their homes.  That´s the key here, love the people and have fun.  Get lost in the work and help people come unto Christ.

This last week we didn't really have any crazy experiences or anything out of the ordinary just a lot of teaching and finding.  We dont have very many investigators but the ones we have are really good.  We have been trying to teach this one 11 year old kid who isnt baptized yet.  His name is Cristofer I think I mentioned him last week.  Anyways he doesnt really get anything at all and finally his inactive mom came in and told him this isnt a game its either you get to return to live with God or you dont choose what you want.  It was really cool to see that because she doesnt want anything to do with the church and is pretty rude to us but at least she understands the importance of it.  It´s funny here when we find drunk people too who come up and talk to us.  We practice contacting them in english haha and since they are drunk they think we are speaking spanish and they just agree with everything.  We usually ask them to stop drinking and be baptized.

Sounds like all your new callings are going really well.  Im sure primary will be hard because some kids can be too much sometimes but I have a testimony of a well organized ward now.  My ward is awesome its just nobody knows whats going on most of the time and the bishop just does random things for sacrament meeting since he doesnt prepare much.  He is super cool but doesn't know how to do things yet.  Yesterday Roth and Diaz had some baptisms and the ward mission leader did 3 of them since he knew them.  First of all,  nobody really likes him in the ward because hes kinda weird and second, he lives with a lady he isnt married to.  We were talking to the old bishop and he said he tried to get him kicked out of the ward and stuff because of all the dumb things he does but nothing ever happened.  So anyways when he was baptizing the 3 kids he did it allll wrong.  He rose his left hand instead of his right and messed up the prayer like 3 times for all of them so he had to redo all of them.  He has done that kind of stuff a lot with like confirming people too.  Other than that this ward is awesome haha.

It sounds like Haley is doing really well with everything being the coordinating sister and all.  When I was the DL for my district I learned a lot.  In D&C 120 we in the last 10 verses or so it talks about leadership and how many are called but few are chosen.  When we correct people we do it with sharpness but show an increase of love afterwards.  Ive noticed that when people are corrected its only natural to be a little offened or upset.  When we show that increase of love the people will realize we are only looking out for them and want the best for them.  I've also been learning a lot from all our studies.  The Book of Mormon is just so plain and simple.  The gospel is simple.  Keep the commandments is really what it all comes down to.  People look at everything and think too much about it and make it complicated.  In 2nd Nephi towards the end Nephi talks a lot about how the Lord´s arms are stretched forth all the day long and all we have to do is repent and keep the commandments.  All God asks of us to excercise our faith and follow him.  We told that to an old investigator this last week because he has had a hard life and decided not to get baptized because he doesnt have enough faith.  We shared Ether 12:27 and told him we all have debilidades (weaknesses) and that we just need to recognize them and humble ourselves and the Lord will help us.

Anyways that's all I got this week.  I hope all is going well and home and I'm excited to be able to call home in a couple weeks.  I love you all and miss you all a lot but this is where the Lord wants me right now.
Love Elder Ty Peck

Los Conquistadores #4

12.6.2010

Wow, Ive been here one month already.  Its crazy how fast time goes when you´re having fun.  This is probably some of the most fun Ive ever had in my life.  I mean, the band is obviously the best but this is in the top 3 haha.  Anyways this week we super good.  When I say super good I mean ¨Super cool.¨  I guess mom used that a lot in my update.  We have found a lot of people to teach and we have one kid who really wants to get baptized.  His name is Pedro Castillo and his mom is an inactive member who has been going to the catholic church for the last 20 years or so.  We taught him a couple times and he was asking us how he can get closer to God.  We got him a baptismal date for the 26th of Dec which is the best present ever.  We took him to church yesterday for sacrament meeting which was cool too.  When he said a prayer with us for his first time we had written down the steps in the back of his BOM so that he could have an idea of how to pray.  Rather than saying a prayer he read the steps like, adress Heavenly Father, I ask thee for, please bless me, in the name of Jesus Christ amen.  It was really funny and he realized afterwards what he did haha.  We have also been teaching this other kid whose mom is inactive too.  He wants to get baptized but doenst want to make the effort to go to church on sundays.  Two days ago we were teaching him and he just wasnt understanding anything.  We have explained baptism at least 10000 times and he still wont answer us when we ask him what it is.  His mom finally walked in the room and said that she is going to help us get him baptized and told him this isnt a game and that if he wants to live with his famliy and with God someday he needs to be baptized.  It was super cool. 

We have been visiting a lot of members and they are all pretty cool.  There is one family, the Fuentes, who love us a ton.  They are always inviting us over to eat with them and to hang out.  They always have the best food too so its awesome.  We took some pics with the families that I will send in an email when I get my next box. 

I dont really have any crazy stories for this week but Ive been having a blast.  Our first cambio is almost over but we will still both be here most likely.  I love this sector and this ward.  I feel bad because I was kinda badmouthing the bishop last week of this ward but he is really a good guy.  We had lunch with them yesterday and since I was sick I couldnt swallow any food.  He went into the back and brought me out some sprite, jello and cake.  He is an english teacher so he can speak a little english. He is a good guy but hes a new bishop and so sometimes its frustrating because he doenst really know much but he is cool.  The ward is super good here and reminds me a lot of home with all the different personalities.

Well thats all I got for this week.  Esta misión es la obra del Señor!

Adios Love Elder Peck

He also sent this photo of Him and Hermana Stevens on the flight to Chile. She took it with her camera and emailed them to him today

also here's another of their mission home and ty is doing some weird face

Los Conquistadores #3

11.29.10

This week was awesome and super fast!  I HAD MY FIRST BAPTISM YESTERDAY!!!  His full name is Victor Hugo Garay Sachez and he is from Peru.  He is an awesome little guy.  I have some pics from my comps camera ill send in a little bit.  So since we are opening a new sector we havent had anybody to teach.  It has been really hard because we have no plans and we just get rejected by everybody everyday.  Saturday I was with elder Diaz for the day and we found an old guy and a family that let us in and wants to get baptized!  The family is super cool too they have a Shelley haha and they have a 2 yr old named Amanda.  It made me miss Shelley a lot haha.  We found another lady yesterday too and we are finally teaching a lot of lessons. 

We have been having a lot of fun here.  Time is going by way fast already and I hear it only gets faster.  The members here are awesome too and they love Elder Kanahele and me.  They are always giving us tons of food and drinks.  Our lunches are always huge too from the members.  We eat a lot everyday but work it all off walking around in the hot sun.  The food here is really good too.  Its hard not having American candy though and I havent gotten the package yet but mostly likely tomorrow. 

I dont really have anything else to say other than we have been blessed a ton already!  Im learning a ton and I love Chile!  The people here are crazy and I love all of them! 

Love Elder Peck

Questions we asked:
1.        Do you have to email your mission president every week?
Yes we email him every week

2.        Do you get to email friends and other fellow missionaries?
ya we can email pretty much anybody

3.       Are elders Larsen and Clark in your district/zone? 
larsen and clark are in different zones and i have only seen them a couple times

4.       If so, how often do you get together as a district/zone and do you get to talk to them?

5.       Is there a chance you will get transferred before Christmas?
 i could get transferred before Christmas but not likely since I will still be getting trained

6.       Do you eat more than 1 meal a day?  (Elder Larsen’s mom told me her son only eats 1 large meal a day and it’s been hard for him to adjust to that)
We eat a lot everyday

7.       What did you do for Thanksgiving?
 for thanksgiving I made fried rice and we bought some chicken and had a huge feast

8.       What do you want us to write to you about?
just write about whatever

9.       How often do you write in your journal?  Do you need another one sent to you within the next couple of months?
 i write in my journal every night so I might need a new one in a few months

10.   Are you able to get pictures developed there so you can write on the back people’s full names and the places you were?
We can get pics here but we can send them via email to

11.   Did you get your Thanksgiving package?
I haven't got my package yet but I will tomorrow

12.   How many items have been thrown at you so far?
 I haven't had anything else thrown at me yet

13.   Are you going to send Sam some souvenirs for Christmas?
 I'm buying everyone stuff here for Christmas

14.   How many cats have you eaten?
 probably 1000 by now

15.   How much money do you  get a month for food, etc? 
 we don't get much money but it's enough for food and we all share it usually and we haven't eaten out yet but there is a member and her husband isn't a member but he is a chef here in some really fancy restaurant and he loves us so he is going to make us a meal and stuff soon and we are going to call home from their house for Christmas. I guess how it works is you guys call their house so it doesn't cost anything for them but we still have to plan it all out so i'll let you know. (side note from amanda: longest run on sentence ever ;)
16.   Do you share what food you buy with the other guys?

17.   Have you gone out to a restaurant for a meal yet?

18.   Amanda wants to know what the hypotenuse of the pi of the root of 6 is? 
HOW RUDE he didn't answer my question!!

Los Conquistadores #2

11.22.10

This week flew by.  I had a lot of fun learning and gettng to know people in our ward.  We have been visiting a lot of people in our ward because we need their help getting refrences and such.  We have been working with them a lot like doing service and helping them with everything so they know they can trust us with their references.  Our ward is so awesome (except the bishop, he doesnt really do much).  The bishop is actually kinda rude here and doesnt want to put forth the effort to help us.  Anyways, I have another crazy story haha.  So this week we went to a members house for lunch and she was some old lady.  She gave us some bowl of soup or something that was ok tasting but there was a lot and it filled us up.  Then she brought out a second plate filled with mashed potatoes and these werid meat pattie things.  Kanahele tried one of the patties and said it was like tuna, meat, and garbage mixed.  It was undercooked and disgusting.  When the lady left the room we  wrapped them up in our napkins and put them in our backpacks.  After that she brought out the dessert, which is usually really good because its like fruit with whipped cream on it.  We took a bite and the cream was sour and old and the fruits tasted like they had been sitting in the fridge for years.  When the lady left the room again, Kanahele took out a ziploc from his bag and we threw it all in there and hid it.  By that time I was feeling really sick and I told him we should leave.  We started getting up and then I got really really sick.  I was about to puke but the lady wanted us to pray with her.  Kanahele was saying the prayer and he forgot her name and had to pull out the phone to look at her name haha.  He finished the prayer and we quickly shook her hand and walked outside and I puked everywhere!  It was nasty haha but it made me feel so much better.  We have also been gettnig these desserts that are like these dried peaches sitting in this weird juice with soggy oatmeal around here and everybody loves it here.  Its sooo gross.  They have it for us everytime too and it sucks.  There is one family though that loves us and we had lunch with them yesterday.  They make us some roast beef and potatoes and this super good salad.  I think I mention their son Freddy last week but he is 17 and is super cool.  He has been playing music for us on his computer when we get there haha and I showed him FTS and he really liked sad sad day and turn right.  He brought it up at churuch yesterday and said he really liked it.  We are slowly getting famous down here in Chile.  So I guess they dont send missionaries to Easter Island anymore because of the way they get treated there so they just send senior couples and their is another island in our mission that doesnt have missionaries because the island had a tidal wave during the earthquake.

This week has been a week full of miracles.  We have been trying to get into this house of an inactive lady but she wouldnt let us in for the longest time.  She finally let us in the other day and after we shared a little message with her she broke down and told us she was embarassed to let us in becaue she doesnt have any electricity, running water, or money. She hasnt eating very much the last week and her life was a mess.  On top of that her 17 year old daughter is with this 35 year old guy and they had a baby.  The dad took the baby´s milk and sold it for drug money.  We decided to go buy her a little bit of food and gave her the bishops number to ask for help.  We have also been teaching a guy named Hugo and he is getting baptized this sunday!!!  I get to baptize him so it should be super cool.  My first baptism and Im only a month in. 

Last week for P day we went shopping and I started my Christmas shopping.  I bought some things for Amanda and for Braden so far and we were going to go today but the zone leaders called us this mornng and said that we are having a zone activity today so I probably wont be able to shop. 

Well, these last couple weeks have been an awesome adventure.  I have been learning a lot and I feel the Spirit everyday.  I decided to start the BOM over again but this time Im writing down every single question in there.  The first question is ¨why do you smite your brother with a rod?¨ Haha anyways Thats all I have this week.  Adios!

Love Elder Peck

ADDED LATER:
My mom and Ty emailed back and forth a little bit, she asked him if he wanted pepto bismol and this was his reply:

I´m fine with medicine I was just sick that one day because of the undercooked food but other than that the food is awesome here.  We had empanadas our 2nd day here and afterwards I found out it was cat meat inside haha but I didnt care it was wayy good.

MTC Flashback

I was asked to post this photo on Ty's blog. It's Ty with Haley Pratt and their companions. Our family and the Pratt family have been friends since forever starting with my dad and Steve a loooooong time ago. So when Haley got her mission call we realized Ty and her would be in the MTC at the same time for a couple weeks. Haley is leaving the MTC at the end of December to serve in the Naga, Philippines mission. It was really cool that they were able to track each other down a few times and talk to each other. I bet seeing a familiar face in the MTC was nice for both of them.

(please note: Ty is wearing the tie that I picked out for him and everyone here scoffed at me but he said he wears it the most out of all his ties. Plus, it was on sale for 4 bucks! shhhhh)

Los Conquistadores #1

11.15.10

Wow, its hard to believe Im in a whole other country right now.  I mean I can believe it because I dont understand anybody but its crazy.  I´ll just tell you everythnig that has happened so far I guess.

So the plane ride was extremly long but fun.  I didnt sleep at all the whole time, I was sitting near Elder Larsen and Hermana Stevens so we just talked the whole time plus we were too excited to sleep.  We landed in Chile and we went through all the airport garbage and finally met the Pres and his wife.  They are both super cool and nice.  We went to the mission home which is like a mansion here and its super old too.  We hung out there most of the day and they let us take a little nap but I was still exhausted.  We had a really good lunch and then later around like 6 we met our trainers.  My trainers name is... Elder Kanahele.  He is from Hawaii and he is super cool.  We get along really well too.  He has been in Chile for 10 months and is just about halfway done with his mission.  We got to our apartment a little later after a long metro and taxi ride.  It was a new area for him too so we had to pick up some of his stuff from his old apartment.  We are opning a new sector too which is crazy hard.  We have no investigators and we dont know anybody around here so we have been going door to door everyday.  The first day was so confusing for me.  I didnt understand anybody at all and I could hardly speak.  We only had a few hours of just contacting people and we got into two houses and taught about prayer.  The people werent in our sector so we havent seen them since.  We have two other missionaries living with us named Elder Roth from Washington and Elder Diaz from Honduras. Its cool living with another guy from WA.  Ive updated them on all the sports and stuff because they havent heard much.  The next few days we were doing more contacting and getting to know the members around here.  There are like 1500 members on the list of memebers but only 80 are active.  We have gotten to know most of the members pretty well already and there is one guy named Freddy who is 17 yrs old who is super cool.  We were helping him with his english and after he was showing us his Red hot chili peppers collection.  We got to listen to a few songs and I was soo happy.  Around the 4th day I actually started understanding people too. I dont understand everything they say but I know it for the most part usually..  I have learned a ton too from my tranier.  He is super cool and chill.  We talk a lot about our lives before and stuff and we have gotten to know each other really well.  His job before the mission was dancing with fire in Hawaii.  Its weird though being the oldest in our apartment.  Im like 6 months older than my trainer but oh well. 

The last two days were crazy.  First, we were walkng down the street at like 830 and some kid threw a rock at me but it hit me in the backpack.  Elder Kanahele got pretty mad at the kid but we didnt do anything.  Later that night we were walking down the street heading home and some fleites (wanna be gangsters) threw a beer bottle at me and it hit me in the head.  It was plastic so it didnt hurt at all but it was gross.  Then, yesterday I got attacked by a dog.  Haha its crazy here.  There are thousands of stray dogs everywhere and our sector is super ghetto.  I was told its one of the poorer parts in our mission but its better than most parts of Chile.  I have taken lots of pictures and stuff and hopefully I can put them on here.

Well, I guess thats about it.  This is definately an adventure and I love it.  I cant wait to be able to communicate with people here fluently though.  Para siempre Dios este con vos!

Adios love
Elder Peck

A few things i forgot to mention.  We have one investigator atually named Hugo.  He is going to be baptized sunday!  He had been taking the lessons before from my comp and he is ready to be baptized.  Our second day we were asking for directions from some guy and he took us to his house and we taught him.  We taught him a couple tmes but he is a little crazy and has problems with the WOW just like everybody else here.  His girlfriend is crazy too and we might go back sometime but we cant do anything with him until he gets married.  A few things i want in my package would be a new long sleeve white shirt.  My sleeve had a tear in it and it got a huge stain on it from something.  I dont know how it happened but it did.  And maybe just some snacks.  swedish fish for sure though!

Edit:

There might be more to this post a little later, I am emailing him back and forth right now. He is going to try to send some pictures but I don't know if he'll be able to. I'll also update the title with whatever his area name is.