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.