December 8, 2011 - FELIZ NAVIDAD FAMILIA!!!!!!!!

Dear Family,

First off...I HAVE THE BEST FAMILY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks so much for the packages!!! That was so awesome!!!  It doesn't really feel like Christmas time here except for some Christmas lights but other than that it seems normal. So thanks so much for those swedish pies! Those were the best! I shared them with my zone and they absoultely loved them.  I loved them so much! Great idea!The funny thing is they were just as excited about the newspapers in there as well since we don't hear about anything in the outside world. It was so funny.  And thanks so much for "Jesus the Christ" book in scripture form! That is so cool.  It is going to be so much nicer to read for sure.  Also thanks for the phone cards too those will be awesome.  And last but not least thanks for the AK 47! I want to see it so bad.  I like how you arranged those pictures too haha I was like oh cool they sent some picture and I put them aside for a minute while I opened the other box because everyone wanted to see what I got. Then I looked at them and I was shocked! I was so excited! My friend here from Panaca, Nevada was pumped too. It was funny.  I can't thank you enough! You didn't have to get me anything!  Paying for my mission is enough of a Christmas present to last me a lifetime. I can't thank you guys enough for real.  You really know how to make my Christmas special even when I'm not with you guys.  I hope you are all having a great Christmas time.  I hope when I'm down there I will be able to send you guys something cool.  I could buy you something here but there really isn't anything good here.  I'm so excited for you guys though to go to New York! How exciting!  Well I can't thank you guys enough!

Some news here is basically the same.  Haha Not a lot happens here but I did run into another Elder Peck!  That 2 now! What are the chances? He is related to Martin Horton Peck too.  Thats so crazy.  Also this week Elder Steven Snow (Garret Snow's dad)  talked here!  That was pretty neat.  I think he was your bishop or something??  I'm not really sure.  Do you remember Parker Westoff?? He is one of my friends I wrestled with him once at home...anyways he is in my zone too now! Its crazy how many people I know in my zone.  Hey dad who won the Mayem Vs Bisping fight?? I've been curious to find out...  Sorry my letter is all over the place and probably pretty bad english too.  I've been trying to speak spanish 100% of the time and its really tough but kind of fun.  I'm probably at about 85% if I try to in spanish.  I can't wait until I can actually speak it fluently.  Its getting better though I think.  Its scary to think I'll be in an all spanish speaking country in like 11 days or something like that.  I should get my travel plans today I think so if I do I'll see if I can e-mail or write you again.  But yeah its pretty much the same here.  If you have any questions let me know!  Are you putting these letters on my blog? Just curious??  Anyways I sure love and miss you guys and I can't wait to hear your voices!!  Anyways take care and thanks again!!!

Love, Elder Peck

December 1, 2011 - Hola familia!

Hey family!

That sounds like you guys had a lot of fun at Grandma's in Moab!  I was thinking about you guys all day.  Thanksgiving was actually pretty cool here I guess.  At night they gave us all popcorn and the whole mtc watched "17 Miracles" and it was awesome! If you haven't seen it you should.  I wish I could have gone over to texas gulf and kens lake with you guys. what an adventure!!  Hey so I got the package with the ties in it mom, is that the one you were talking about?  because I got that one and then you said Lacy was going to send another one?  I'm confused a little no worries though.  Anyways some news going here is I'm no longer District Leader! Usually we are only it for 3 weeks and thats what I expected.  Its so nice not having to worry about all that stuff.  My companion is the new district leader which is great because now he actually wants to be a little bit more obedient!  But only a little bit. We are doing pretty good but he still drives me crazy. hahaha  At least we can teach together well now.  My spanish is coming alright I guess, nothing special thats for sure.  Its always a challenge to speak it but I think as soon as I get in Argentina I'll do better because quite frankly I don't have a choice. haha  Only 2 and half more weeks to go!  I'm so excited!!  Not that the MTC is bad because its really a cool place but a change of scenery would be nice.  We had to say good bye to my roommates this monday and that was tough.  One of them asked me to give him a blessing, that was really a cool experience.  I was so jealous that they were leaving.  The good thing is though now my companion and I have the room to ourselves.

 

Okay a story really quick...so I was sitting down at breakfast on sunday and we were talking to these elders and one says to me "wait you are elder Peck too?"  I was like yeah I am and I looked to my left and there was another Elder Peck sitting right by me!  Turns out he was related to Martin Horton Peck too!!! How crazy!!  I mean what were the chances that we would sit right by each other?? The lunch room is huge too!! I read that story of Martin Horton Peck by the way and what a guy!!  He is inspirational thats for sure.  Anyways that was pretty cool.   Also some other news is Jessica Ferguson is in my zone!!  That means I'll see her a lot! I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet because she just got here yesterday but still!  I mean the chances of her being in my zone were way slim.  Just so you know how big a zone is, there are about 4-5 districts in a zone  and each district is about 6-10 missionaries. 

 

And hey you guys don't need to get me anything from Christmas! for real!  There is one thing I kinda do want though... and that would be "Jesus the Christ" in scripture form not just the book. I've been reading that lately and it is so awesome! You could even use my money to get it!  But really I don't need anything! I think I'm going to send some stuff home that I don't need but maybe not.  Could you look at my bank account and tell me how much money I have in there?? I can't really check it here and I've kinda spent some money since I've been here.  I had to pay like $50 for one of my shots when I first got here but it was no big deal because I had some money from Mike that he gave me.  And thanks so much for paying for my mission!  This is the best investment for me right now.  thanks so much!  i can't thank you enough.  I miss you all like crazy and think about you all every single day!  I love hearing from you and if I could I would write back to you everyday!  Just know how much I love and miss you guys! I'm doing great though so no worries!!!!  Well take care! Thanks for the prayers!

 

Love Elder Peck

November 24, 2011 - Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!! Love you all!!!

Hey Family! 
Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I'm going to be able to e-mail ya today! First off thanks for the ties and package, that was awesome!! I love my new ties there are way nice too. Also thanks for that hair stuff! I may need you to send me a few more in a few weeks so I'll have some down there if thats alright!! I'll let ya know... And mom they aren't the same ties I already had. :) Thanks so much for all of the letters though they were so nice! I got like all of them on tuesday it was great. The dearelder printer was down or something monday so I didn't get any dearelders until the end of Tuesday. And mom how dearelder works is they print off all the dearelders each night on a big paper so sometimes I have like 3 letters on one big paper. they are so nice though. I look forward to go pick them up at the mailbox. Dearelder will work when I'm in Argentina too but they will have to print it off here in Utah and then send a whole bunch of them at once in Argentina at the end of the week I believe. Also I should be able to call at one of my layovers before I head down to Argentina so I don't know quite when that will be. I will get my travel plans a week and half before I go so I will e-mail you then with all the information. I can't wait to talk and hear from all of you! then I get to call you a week later haha. I got an e-mail from Elder Mclaws (My friend going to the same mission) and he sent me all these cool pictures of him there. They look so cool! I'm so pumped to go now! He said we will have clean water to drink there so that is always good. He says its not that bad but definitely not like the MTC. The MTC is pretty nice so its okay. My roommates are leaving Monday for the Resistencia Argentina mission (The same one as Elder Stout). I'm sad to see them leave but that means I'm only 3 weeks away! It kinda scares me because I don't know Spanish at all! I've been speaking a lot more though and its helping a little bit. Its coming slowly but surely. I teach like 2 lessons a day in Spanish just about. Its a challenge but thats why I'm here to learn and grow as well as help others. I really love learning here its just so nice. Sometimes my district is way loud so it makes it hard to study but I think we are getting better I hope. My companion and I are starting to get along better. I think I'm only district leader until sunday because usually you are only district leader for 3 weeks so I'll see if they switch me out. I kinda hope they do so the other elders in my district can have the experience. Its been a challenge as district leader just because sometimes i have to be the bad guy and say no to stuff or tell people to get on task and stuff. It has definitely been good though. I'm getting more comfortable talking in front of people now which is a blessing. Everyday I'm out of my comfort zone but thats the way it should be. I already feel like I'm a different person than I was when I got here. Its really kind of a weird feeling but good at the same time. I'm pretty comfortable with the schedule and everything here. I saw 2 elders kind of play wrestling this week and it made me so homesick for wrestling. I want to wrestle so bad its killing me! I would pay money to wrestle at this point. haha Dad have you ever heard of the knee knocker?? What about the triangle choke?? Just curious. Anyways some of the highlights this week is I have been able to hear from 2 apostles! On tuesday Elder D. Todd Christofferson spoke to us and then this morning I was able to hear from Elder Russell M. Nelson!! Its cool being so close to them and being able to see them. There is nothing like hearing them speak. Well I hope you are having a great Thanksgiving family tell everyone hi! Its really weird not being with you guys but I hope you know how much I love and miss you guys! You are my motivation and I really appreciate the prayers! I love you guys and tell hi for me to everyone. Tell Grandma Linda thanks so much for the cards too those make my day! Happy thanksgiving!
Love, Elder Peck
P.S. I'm going to try and send some pictures home if I can this week!

Short Message - November 16, 2011

Hey I wanted to just send you a quick message telling you I just wrote you a letter!  What do you like better e-mail or hand written ones?  Its easier for me sometimes to just write it out by hand because of the time constraint on the computers.  I just wanted to let you know though I am thinking about you guys!  Don't worry I haven't forgetten about you all!  I think about you all everyday even though it is pretty busy.  I guess you can make it as busy as you want because we have a lot of time where it is up to us if we are going to study or not.  Anyways thanks for sending me those ties!  I'll keep a look out for them.  And look out for my letters coming!  I'm going to see if I can print off some pictures and send them to ya sometime.  Well I love ya all!!!

-Elder Peck

Short Message - November 10, 2011

Hey just letting you know I wrote you and mom a handwritten letter so hopefully you will be getting it in a few days.  Its kind of hard to e-mail sometimes so I thought it would be easier to write a handwritten one.  I sure love and miss you guys and I think about all you guys everyday!  Tell everyone I didn't get to write a lot of letters today!  I will next week though!  My singles ward sent me a letter where everyone signed a paper which was pretty cool!  Hey if you want to send me anything ties would be cool. But really I'm good if you don't want to send anything!  I really loved those pictures!  I look at them every day!  Well look for my letter for more information on what has been going on! Take care family and have fun camping this weekend!!!!!

Love Elder Peck

Pictures!

Some pictures of Luke at the MTC! (From Elder Carlson's Mom)

"Hey Dad!"

DAD!

I sure miss you too dad!  I just got your dear elder yesterday so luckily I get to e-mail you back! Tell mom I already wrote a letter and will send it today to her.  I'm going to try and write lacy one too.  That sounds like you had a pretty awesome Halloween! I was thinking about you guys all night! I went to bed at 10:30 on halloween. haha Its all good though I had some candy so it was kind of like halloween.  I can't wait to see all the pictures!  Thats way cool you are going to the FBI NAA conference! I bet everyone is going to be way excited to see you! And thats cool you are going to be teaching again! The one guy we ran into walmart seemed pretty excited to take your class. I'm glad they had you make some more of those Park Reservation signs. You must have made some good ones before to want to order some more.  I so wish I could spend the holidays with you guys! It will be alright though. I will miss the swedish traditions but maybe i can bring those traditions to Argentina! I will miss your guitar solo as well! For real! Send me some pics if you can while you are in new york! No worries if you can't. 

Thats to bad you are done home teaching with President Hinton. He is such a neat guy.  He really changed my oppinion about home teaching as well. Its cool how close you get to the people you teach.  Thats what they talk about here a lot.  Before you can do anything for someone you have to care for them. Treat them as people not just some baptismal statistic.  You really have to care for them to make any difference.  Its really so neat in here.  You feel the spirit here 24/7 and just want to do good.  Sometimes it gets pretty tough and frusrating but its all part of the experience.  I'm super busy all the time but i'm pretty much used to it.  I'm just kind of in the swing of things now i think.  Time is so weird here though I feel like i've been here forever and at the same time not really.  you kind of forget what day it is and stuff because everyday is basically the same.  Even Sundays kind of seem normal in a way. Anyways have you gone to the other ward yet? If so how has it been? 

Anyways this week I've made a list of stuff I wanted to tell you this week so share this with mom. And the rest of the family if you want.  First of all I don't know if i told you or not but Scott Carlson (Ken Carlson's son) is in my district so thats cool.  He leaves next week to the Dominican Republic to finish up the MTC there.  I've seen Dallin, lars, and Tason here.  Dallin's class is right by mine so i see him all the time.  I see Tason and Lars every once in awhile but I don't really get to much time to talk to them.  Alsoon tuesday we have a fireside like usual and i got to be an usher so i got to find seats for people but the best part is i got really good seats for myself.  i was right by the speaker.  Elder W. Craig Zwick of the seventy spoke.  I even got to shake his hand after! it was awesome.  The talks they give here are undescribably good.  i'm so pumped after them.  It makes me want to be the best missionary I can be. And after the tuesday firesides we have a district devotional which is always pretty cool.  We had one of our branch presidents talk to us about how all of our attributes are enhanced as a missionary especially to learn a language. Its really cool to think about. i can't wait until I can speak spanish.  I get so frustrated sometimes.  mostly with my companion.  He goofs around so much and still understands the language really good.  he's really been getting on my nerves lately.  I want to alpha roll him so hard you don't even know but the missionary part of me says otherwise.  I can't even study sometimes because hes talking with the rest of my class. I need to have a talk with him.  I just want to be the best missionary I can be.  I know there is a reason why he's my companion probably to push me and its working. haha It will all work out though. Also I'm the senior companion for the first half of our stay here!  It doesn't really mean much because then we switch but it is still kind of cool.  Well I love you so much dad! Tell everyone hi for me!  Thanks so much for all of the love and support.  Really it means so much i can really feel the support even here.  i miss you guys like crazy.  Well be safe on your motorcycle ride!  Love you!

Love Elder Peck