August 6, 2013 - Another week come and gone.

Hey it sounds like you guys had a pretty fun weekend with everyone down in st. george. Thats cool uncle klint and aunt Mary joe could come down to see you guys.  That made me really want to go to the lake with everyone.  The lake sounds like so much fun but its weird for me to think its summer there because we´re still in winter.  Also I didn´t know Nathan Peck was getting married! Thats crazy! 

I am glad that Mike Mclaws came by to drop off that picture for you guys. I didn´t want to give him anything big because I figured he wasn´t going to have a lot of space or anything.  I am glad he could tell you a little about my mission and everything. I will definitely tell you a lot of stories when I get home.

Well this week has been kind of a crazy week.  We had a meeting this last wednesday with the mission president and the other zone leaders which turned out pretty cool.  Our new mission president is super nice and knows a lot of stuff.  I guess he has taught religion for like 36 years or something like that. He his a great teacher.  We also had a good council too and we set some sweet goals for the mission.  I am really excited to see how everything works out.  

This last saturday we also had interviews with President Thurgood as well.  I talked with his wife a lot too while i was waiting for my companion´s interview and she doesn´t know like any spanish haha. I imagine that its pretty tough for her sometimes.  She is super nice though.  My interview with President Thurgood was pretty nice and chill. It was good getting to know him better.  He is a super nice guy as well and very peaceful.  I am glad I got to know him before I leave.  

Well I got kind of a crazy story for you guys, it was kind of weird.  So yesterday we were in church and there is this 19 year old kid named Alejandro who is semi inactive and kind of struggling right now I guess you could say with the church.  So he was acting really weird in Elders qorum and kepting like taping his feet kind of loud and someone turned around and told him politely to quiet down and he just kind of stared and got kind of mad and then he left and came back.  He was sitting right by me and he turns to me and is like hey can you give me a blessing. I said yes and grabbed my companion and told the bishop we were going to give him a blessing.  So we start walking with him to an empty room to give him a blessing.  I could tell something was wrong with him and he was kind of out of it.  I asked for his full name and he like struggled to remember it kind of.  So I gave the first part of the blessing and my companion starts giving him the second part and he like started laughing but like creepy laughing and he stands up during the blessing and is like its too late.  Then he grabs the folding chair and closes it really hard and I felt like oh crap this isn´t good and I moved closer to the door and he then like picks up the chair like he was going to hit us!  I was like crap and he just like screams like run elders!  So i grabbed my companions arm and pulled him out of the room with me and we shut the door as he threw the chair and then he punched the door so hard that he knocked the little window bracket out.  We ran and grabbed the bishop and his mom.  They helped kind of bring him back out of whatever he was in and I grabbed my stuff while they talked to him.  He then just hugged us and was crying and telling us he didn´t have any control and that he didn´t want to hurt us.  

We helped him to the car and his mom was like pleading for us to come with her to the hospital so we got in the car and took him to the hospital in a nearby town.  He was pretty out of it.  Turns out he has like skitzophrenia (I don´t know how to spell that) and we went through every with him in the hospital.  He was telling the doctor that he kept having like seeing things.  It was super weird.  We helped him through everything though and they gave him some medicine and shots and stuff.  I guess they didn´t have money for the medication and thats why he hadn´t been taking any.  But he should be alright now. I guess its happened a lot of times before.  It was super weird though.

The hospital was horrible and looked like from a horror movie or something. It was just super run down with bad lighting and pretty dirty.  It was kind of spooky in there.  I hope I never have to go there.  It was werid.

But yeah that was a really weird experience we had yesterday. haha Its never a dull moment thats for sure.  We are doing alright but it kind of wierded us out a little.

Anyways today  we just kind of had a chill p day and cleaned the pension up pretty good.   It was nice and I slept a little bit but not too much.  Things are going good and I can´t believe only 9 weeks left!!  Well I hope I didn´t weird you guys out too much with that story haha.  Well I better run but I hope you guys have a good week!!  I love you guys a ton!!! Hasta luego!

con amor x 180 zillion,

Elder Peck

July 29, 2013 - Still here!!

Hey Mom and Dad!!

That sounds like you guys had a pretty sweet 24th of july!  My companion is from Utah too so we celebrated it kind of too! We didn´t really do anything but we talked about it.  Thats super cool Elder Holland came! Seriously that would have been so cool to see.  I wish I could have been there to see him.  I was thinking about that parade and how I used to decorate my bike and ride in it.  So Weston gave his homecoming talk? Thats super sweet!! It will be cool to try to talk to him in spanish because mexican spanish is kind of different than the spanish here.  Here in Argentina they use different phrases and words sometimes. 

Thats cool Mike Mclaws is coming over tonight to see you guys.  I just gave him something little to give you guys because I figured if he is anything like me he was probably hurting for room in his suitcases but I just got a little something for you guys. Don´t expect anything big.  Tell him hi for me if you can!  

Well this week has been kind of crazy but good.  This last tuesday we had our district meetings and its weird because I am the oldest timewise in the mission so everyone kind of looks to me for the answers.  Its kind of funny how that works.  Its alright though.  Also this week we did some intercambios and I went to an area called Guernica for a day.  I went with an elder from Chile named Elder Colivoro.  It was a nice and chill intercambio.   Elder Colivoro is just starting his mission and is on his 3rd transfer.  Its weird I am starting to reflect a lot more on mission and stuff now and man I can´t believe how fast time has gone.  I remember when I did intercambios with my zone leader when I had about his time and thinking that my zone leader knew everything. I still don´t feel like I know everything or even close haha.  

This saturday was pretty sweet because we had 2 baptisms!!! I was super excited for it too.  We baptized a 38 year old lady named Beatriz, it was her birthday, and her son named Lautaro.  We set their baptismal date like a month or so ago and they made it! It always cool to see them make the change and get baptized.  Luckily the baptism went pretty well and we had a handfull of people come which was sweet.  I think the water was kind of cold but  here in Argentina everything starts like 30 minutes to an hour late always and so the water sat for a little bit and got cold.  Then after the baptism we ate some cake to celebrate Beatriz´s birthday.  She is just a little older than Jenny.

Then yesterday we had their confirmations which always worrys me but they got there early and were really excited.  Then during sacrement meeting I gave a talk! It was pretty sweet.  Last week though the audio stuff caught on fire so I had to give my talk without a microphone so I just had to talk kind of loud.  The clock was kind of slow in the sacrement room and the bishop turns to me and is like there is a lot of time left kind of like saying can you talk for awhile?  I was like I can talk for 20 minutes so I gave my talk and it last for 21 minutes (I timed it).  But since the clock was off I think I talked a little bit over the time. oh well! I felt pretty good on my talk and I felt like I prepared really well for it so when it came to talk it really wasn´t that hard.  That was my second talk here in Alejandro Korn.  I was a little nervous but not too bad and when I started talking it wasn´t too bad. I just hope they can understand my spanish and everything haha.  Its going to be weird giving a talk in English I think.  It will be interesting to see how that goes.

Today we had a pretty chill p day.  We went to go shopping and it was kind of a bust because we couldn´t find anything we were looking for. Its kind of hard to find stuff in my area because its semi country out here and so there isn´t a ton of stuff.  We´ll keep looking.  They we just came back to the pension and took a well needed nap.  It felt good.  

But wow can you believe only 10 more weeks? Thats nuts!  I can count my weeks on my hands.  Wow thats so weird to think about. I feel like i am always going to be here in Argentina. I am going to miss it a lot when I leave. Its all good though.  But I hope that you guys are doing well!!  I love and miss you guys a ton! I keep having dreams where i am already home! Its super weird.  Well I hope you have a good week and I will talk to you in a week! :D

con amor x 178 zillion,

July 22, 2013

Mom and Dad!

Hey guys! Thanks for the letter!!  It sounds like it has been pretty rainy there as well.  mom that sounds like a sweet trip you went on up there.  That sounds super nice.

Well this week has been freezing!!!!  Well one day was actually really warm and then the next it was freezing!! Like super super cold for me.  I definitely got the st. george blood in me because man I hate the cold.  It like never snows here and the last time it snowed was in 2007 and everyone talks about it and it almost snowed here and actually snowed in other parts of buenos aires I believe.   It looked like it was about to snow though. It was super cold though and the thing that makes it even worse is the humidity.  I had like my sweater, north face winder breaker(I use it everyday), my big jacket, kneck warmer, gloves and some thermals my companion let my use.  Its so cold!!  

Anways this week we had a zone meeting where we got to meet everyone in the zone because there was a lot of new people in our zone. Its always fun meeting everyone.  My companion and i are the only ones from America in the zone!  There is one sister missionary from Austrailia but thats it.  Its cool though. 

This last friday we had an activity in our ward and unfortunately not a lot of people came (I think for the cold) but it was pretty sweet.  We did this activity where we played games for a prize and then we changed it where if we all worked together everyone could win.  So then we got everyone into a line to recieve the treat we made for them but there was still one more thing to do.  To get the treat they costed 10 push-ups but they couldn´t pay the price theirselves so I did it for them.  I ended up doing like 170 push-ups...It was pretty tough to be honest and at first the people wanted one but as it went on they are like no I don´t want him to suffer so we had them all sit to a side. And then after we went through one by one who didn´t want a treat and my companion would ask me if I loved them to do 10 push-ups for them anyways and I would say yes and do 10 more and then we would give them the treat.  They were like begging me to stop but I didn´t.  We did it to demostrate the Atonement.  How Christ suffered for everyone one of us and how now we can enjoy the treat of it and how people in the world don´t know that the Savior suffered for them and how we need to help them realize the blessings they can recieve.  It was actually a really cool activity and it was really a neat experience for me.  It was pretty tough at the end but it made me think a lot about the Atonement and how hard it must have been.  It has made me think a lot.

Then the following day we had another activity in the church with our ward for Friends day or something.  We always go to the activities to support the ward and get to know the people. I set up a mini ping pong tournament for some of the Youth and of course I played a few games.  I ended up winning it! I played my companion in the finals.  It was fun. I really like this ward.  

Then yesterday at church our audio system caught on fire! We all smelled smoke and we were like what is that?  And turns out the audio caught on fire. It was a little fire I think nothing too big.  And also the power went out here too during church.  The power goes out all the time here in Argentina and especially this area.  But yeah church went pretty well.  We passed all of these Jehova witnesses yesterday in the street which is always kind of fun. We always say hi to them and sometimes they look at us weird but we are always respectful. As we were passing them we ran into some of our investagators and talked with them.  The Jehova witnesses were all looking at us.  It was funny.  Sometimes people think we are Jehova witnesses too.

Anyways for today we played soccer as a zone in the freezing cold and it was actually pretty fun.  My body is beat though and already super sore haha. I am going to be hurting tomorrow for sure.  Its alright though.  

But yeah everything is going well here and I can´t believe that there is only 11 weeks left! That blows my mind.  There are missionarys that have been in the MTC longer than that.  I try not to think about it too much but its kind of hard not too. Well thanks for all of the support and i hope that you guys have an awesome week!! You guys are the best!! Love you guys!!

con amor x 176 zillion,

Elder Peck

July 15, 2013 - Transfers!!

Mom and Dad!!

Hey guys thanks for the letters!  I am glad to hear that everyone made it back from Arkansas fine.   Sounds like you guys made it back home pretty late.  Dad that´s too bad you had no time to sleep!!  That would have been super tough thats for sure.  I feel like I don´t know anyone that lives in our neighborhood since I was only living there for 5 weeks!  It will be interesting to get to know everyone thats for sure.  It will be weird when I give my homecoming talk because it will be in a ward that I don´t even know really!  Hopefully I will see some of my friends that are in the ward.  And Dad  I didn´t know you drew out for any elk tag or at least I don´t remember!  When is the hunt?  

Well we just had transfers and for me there is no changes!  Thats good I wanted to stay here with my companion because we have a lot of good things going on right now and I really like it here.  I just have 2 transfers left!  So that means only 12 weeks left.  Thats so weird because that means there is only one group of elders that are going home before me now.  A group is going home today.  I only have to worry about transfer calls one more time.  I really hope that I can finish my mission here but you never know.  If I go to another area I will only go for like 6 weeks.

Anyways this last week has been really...WET!!!  It rained a ton this last week .  On the 9th its a nation holiday (like the 4th of july) and in the morning there was like a parade right by our pension basically of like Argentine cowboys.   It was pretty cool because as we were riding through we saw all of these horses and they guys were all dressed up in their tradional clothing.  Its funny they wear these shoes called Alpargatas which are like the shoes called "toms" in the states.  I guess the guy who invented toms got the idea from Argentina.  Anyways I bought some alpargatas because they are supe cheap here.  They are pretty cool.  But anyways like right after that it started raining and raining and raining.  I bundled up pretty good so it wasn´t too bad but my feet were wet like the whole day.  Then it rained other days too.  My companion has been pretty sick and I think it was from the rain.  We did some service this last saturday and we dug this huge hole so they could put up a little water tank for their house and anyways after my companion felt really sick so we couldn´t even leave the pension the rest of the day.  It was alright with me because I felt exhausted and my stomach hurt and I actually threw up but I feel totally fine now.  He is still pretty sick though I think but I think he is getting better at least..

This week we went and talked to this really inactive family and we ended up teaching the son and man does he have so many crazy ideas.  He is definitely one of those persons looking for the truth and not knowing where to find it.  We  talked to him for a long time and he has all of these strange ideas.  We gave him a Book of mormon and hopefully he reads it.  I just feel so blessed to know the gospel and not have to be searching for it.  It really is such a  blessing.

Today we just took a chill p day again because my companion isn´t feeling that good.  We did a little shopping and I bought some cheap soccer jerseys and I bought this sweet little scale I can use to weigh my suitcases.  It was really cheap and will work perfectly.  I think I am going to leave a lot of stuff like clothes because to be honest they are getting pretty worn out.  Plus I weight like 160 now!!  Crazy huh?  Maybe not but still I weighed myself today and I was around 74 kilos with my clothes on.    I have been working out pretty consistantly though and I hopefully I can keep it up until I go home.  Its a lot easier when your companion wants to work out with you and so we have been working out together.   We do those F.B.I. push ups like every other day.  We go up to 12 and go back down.

Also thanks so much for that money you guys sent to me!  I am so thankful for the money grandma and grandpa peck have been sending.  That really means so much.  I am so greatful for all of the support you guys give me.  It really is a sacrifice for the whole family when some serves a mission.  

Well I better run but I hope that you guys are doing well!!  I love you guys soo much! You are the best parents anyone could ever ask for! I realize that more and more each day!  Talk to you later!

con amor x 174 zillion,

Elder Peck

July 8, 2013 - Another week in the Korn‏

Mom and Dad!!

Hey guys!  I hope things are going good for ya.  Mom thats sweet that you got to visit Mike and his family in Arkansas.  I hope I can make it out there one day.  That would be a lot of fun I am sure.  Dad thats cool about the Police Academy granduation and cool that Zach Stoddard graduated as well.  I know he always talked about being a cop.

Thats cool you went to the movies with trevor and tyson.  If I remember right I think tyson is going to Paraguay and going to the MTC here in Argentina.  I have actually been right by the mtc because its right by the temple.  I actually will be right there a week after he leaves the mtc. 

This week has been a pretty chill week for the most part.  This last monday night 2 elders in our zone didn´t answer their phone at night and so we had to call like the stake president to send some members to see if they made it back to their pension alright and their bishop went over there and no one was there or at least no one answered   It was already late and so our new president told us to go check in the morning so it the morning we headed over there to just find them in their pension and their phone was off or something.  I was kind of frustrated that they didn´t call.  I think they learned their lesson though. haha  And anyways on Tuesday we had a meeting with the stake president and we got to meet our new mission President, President Thurgood and his wife.  He sure seems like an awesome guy too.  He taugh religion for like 36 years or something and is a patriarch and a temple sealer.  He is really cool and brings a lot of peace being around him.  

On thursday we had a zone conference so that everyone could meet him too.  That was cool too.  We also had like mini interviews with him and his wife with our companion to get to know him.  Also at the zone conference we had to teach our zone for like an hour or so.  It turned out pretty good.  Its kind of fun teaching everyone sometimes.  I bet that would be crazy teaching for hours like you do dad.  I want to go to one of your classes one time.

Yesterday at church we had and a ward lunch which was kind of fun.  We had some good chicken and potatoes.  Then we walked one of our investigators back home.  Also at church my old companion Elder Inostroza from chile came and visited.  He finished the  mission in febuary and came back to visit. It was kind of weird seeing him to be honest but it was alright.  We have actually had like 3 of the same areas which is kind of weird too.  

Today has just been a really chill p day and we didn´t really do much.  We just cleaned out the pension a little bit and took it nice and easy.  It was relaxing.  

Well I officially have 3 months left!  Can you believe it?  I really can´t.  Well I better run but I love you guys a ton and I hope you have a good week!!!

con amor x 172 zillion,

Elder Peck

July 1, 2013 - Wow what a week!!

Mom and Dad!!

Sounds like you guys have had quite the week!!  Thats crazy that zach and kathy have already left!  I wish they could have waited a few months so I could have seen them! haha Its all good though.  It sounds like it is getting pretty hot up there.  It is getting pretty cold here actually.  Right now its actually pretty nice but some days and nights are pretty chilly.  Especially with the bikes it gets cold.  Speaking of bikes mine is broken again.  I swear my bike breaks like once a week.  Its all good though.  The bike guy knows us well and always gives us good deals.

Well this week has been very eventful and I had the coolest experience in my mission by far.  On tuesday I went to the temple to see some of my converts go through and get sealed.  They are the contana family and I am not sure if you remember them.  They are the family that I helped baptized in Fabian Onsari.  I baptized the son on my birthday last year.  Anyways I went through with them to get their temple endowments.  I was like the host guy for the dad.  I helped through everything.  It felt soo good being in the temple.  I felt so much peace it was really nice.  It was awesome being in there with that family because they are seriously so awesome.  They are the family I am probably the closest with here.  Then I got to see them get sealed together and I got to be a witness so I totally got to sign their marriage certificate.  I seriously felt soo good and happy.  It was probably one of the  happiest moments in my life.  For real I can´t even describe how it felt.  They went through a lot and it was awesome see them make it to the temple.  I hope one day you will be able to meet them.  I sent you a picture of them.   It just reaffirmed my testimony of how sacred the temples are and how lucky we are to have them so close to us. When I get home I want to go a lot.  They are definitely the house of the Lord.

Well this week was President stapley´s last week.  We had one last meeting with him before he left.  Right now he´s in Utah!  Thats so weird to me.  He was such a good president.  President Thurgood is the new president and I still haven´t met him yet but he seems like is going to be a really good president.  It was funny after the meeting with president stapley we were riding on the train back to our area and this guy comes up and is like how is it being spys and then he walked away.  haha For some reason some people think we are spys here.  It made me laugh.

Also this week I got kind of sick and totally lost my voice and i could barely talk.  My throat didn´t hurt that bad but I just couldn´t talk.  That definitely makes being a missionary tough when you can´t talk  It was alright though.  I also did intercamios with an elder from Peru this week and he was kind of sick as well.  I am feeling pretty good though.  

Also here in Argentina its legal to smoke marijuana and we saw this guy smoking marijuana in front of the police station as we was walking by.  Its a different world down here haha.  Thats cool dad you got to help with taking down that spice operation.  Drugs are horrible.

Today we just took a chill p day and got of relaxed in the pension a little.  I printed off some pictures from the temple but yeah it was just a nice chill day.  Things are going good down here.  Well I better run but I love you guys a ton and I hope you know how lucky I am to have you guys as my parents!!  You are the best.  Well I will talk to you next week!!

con amor x 170 zillion,

Elder Peck

Sorry one last thing.  I wanted to tell you I finished reading the book of mormon in spanish!!!  I read it in 3 months and these last 2 weeks I read like 265 pages trying to finish it in time!  I finished it last night and man it felt good to finish.  I have been waking up early to finish it.  That is the best book and I love it so much!  I can´t wait to read it again and again and again.  I wish everyone could read it.  Well thats all I wanted to tell you! Love you guys!

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