Merry Christmas!!

[Email dated 12.25.12]

Hey,

So for starters, from now on don't send anything to this MTC because I won't get it by the time I get out.  I probably won't get a lot of anything that has been sent here actually… so don't be too surprised if you did send something.

Also for the record, this keyboard is terrible and I have to almost punch the space bar to get it to work so if this is missing spaces it's not my fault [fortunately, mom is editing for the blog].  So last week was fairly normal as far as a Peruvian MTC week goes.  Then yesterday is when stuff actually started happening.  In the morning we met in the auditorium and watched a film on the service that we would be doing that day. It was about a half hour and then we went took a bus for about half an hour out of the city into the middle of nowhere and got to a river.  The buses can't cross the river so we got out and walked for like half an hour to this orphanage to do some service.  This place was pretty cool, it is self sustaining with animals, crops, water, and classes for the kids and a playground. Pretty impressive. I was basically a farmer for the day.  My group basically fertilized and cleaned up their field.  Other groups painted or built up the wall on the side of the stream with sandbags to avoid flooding.  It was good, hard work. 

Also, their animals were pretty awesome.  They had like 4 pigs weighing about a million pounds each...I doubt they could walk.  They also had a herd of sheep and a couple hundred guinea pigs (they do in fact eat those). 

On the way back, when we got to the river, this little Volvo decided to cross the river with like 10 Peruvians inside.  The car died about 10 feet into the river...come on. So we helped get them back out of the river and who knows if they actually tried it again...

Yesterday we had free time the rest of the day until night when we got to watch the 1st presidency Christmas Devotional (which was cool), followed by cookies and hot chocolate.  The cookies were good.  They also had panettone -- I'm sure Justin knows what this is.  It's basically fruitcake but it is literally everywhere down here and all of the latinos love it.  I ate my piece and I thought it was pretty bad but not so bad that I wanted to die or anything.  Everyone else in my District made it at most a bite into it and couldn't eat anymore.  So needless to say it will not be a huge hit in America anytime soon and I won't exactly be looking forward to getting to eat much more of it. 

Today, we don't really have anything but free time until tonight when we're going to watch something Christmas-y and that's it.  Also I did open my presents.  What are you talking about nothing exciting? I got the batmobile, a dart gun and the greatest tie ever with a matching handkerchief.  Best Christmas ever! 

I'll just leave you with a quick though seeing as it's Christmas and I'll let you do most of the work.  Isaiah 9:6. 

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The names given to Christ aren't random and don't just sound nice.  They really describe him.  Study those names.  What do they mean?  Who is Christ? How does that effect us?  The one I went into the most depth on was Counsellor.  He knows all.  Don't think that you know better because those who follow him and acknowledge his hand in all him will be exalted.  That is a promise found in the scriptures.

I love you all.  Have a Merry Christmas and remember, it is all about Christ.  Everything that we ever do should be all about Christ.

Elder Peacock

End of the World

Hey!

So I get a few minutes to email today just to let you know that I won't be calling on Christmas.  I will most likely get to email (which would be my regular PDay) but who knows. They have a lot planned for Christmas and Christmas Eve which should be awesome.  Again, I just happen to always have my PDay on a holiday.  Like the next week it's on New Years and the temple will be closed so I don't think I'll get there again while I'm here.  I'm looking forward to Christmas though. Word is it's gonna be awesome. And on Christmas Eve we got to go do some service of some kind at an orphanage.

Love,

Elder Peacock

PS How is the end of the world in the States?  We're all just waiting for the earthquakes and thunderstorms...

Everyone Speaks Spanish Here!

Hey everyone!

So they are very strict about the 30 minutes here that I have in the computer, so all of the emails that I got this week were kinda just glanced over and I got bits and pieces so that I'd have time to write you.  I may have missed something you wanted me to see so if you have important things next week, just make sure to bold them at the beginning so I don't miss them.

I love it here. First of all, the weather is always beautiful and It's never too hot or too cold. It's the best.  Everything is a little more relaxed than in Provo because there's way fewer people and it's just a different environment.  Don't worry, I'm still working hard.  They challenge us to read the Book of Mormon while we're here and I decided to take them up on it, in Spanish.  I'm already 200 pages into it!  Reading it quickly (even in Spanish) helps me get so much more of the story out of it and kind of see the context of how everything effects it. 

Also, the food is awesome here.  It's usually a soup with rice potatoes or noodles some kind of meat, a side dish and a dessert.  It's pretty much all good, except for the fruit salad that they put mayo on...that was surprising.  But they always have rolls that we can have.  Best bread ever.  Why don't we have such good bread in America?  But yeah, it's all good food and I have yet to get sick, they said that everyone get's sick in the first week but I'm still good.

So the daily schedule is about the same except, the teachers are more likely to forget about class (they've missed a few of our classes already).  On Saturday, we did get to go out proselyting.  The idea was that we were going to be teaching members that had not been to church for a while.  We were assigned to one, but the one that we were given was sick.  So we, Elder Tonconio and I, went around and contacted people in the street.  We taught a few lessons in the street, gave out a few Books of Mormon and some pamphlets.  Elder Tonconio was my native comp for the day that I got for proselyting, he's from Lima and the only member in his family.  He will be serving his mission in Mexico.  He was really cool and it was great working with him.  I also realized how much I still have to learn and practice Spanish.  There were these 2 women we were talking to in the street and I had kind of lost track of the conversation until I caught ¨muchas mujeres¨and then I realized she was calling us polygamists and wasn't going to listen to anything else...Until that point. I had thought it was going well because she seemed very happy!  Good thing I didn't decided to jump into that one...but really I think my Spanish is going well, I caught a lot of what was being said and I think what I was saying was making sense. It was fun though.

Today we got to go to the temple and go to the store and shop around.  Got some Inca Kola and almost got a Fruit Cake.  They had thousands of fruit cakes in that store. I can't believe they could sell that many.  But getting there and back takes about 5 to 15 minutes by bus.  those buses are made for much much shorter people. I could not stand up straight...But we were also pretty packed in there...not much room to move, but it was fun. 

Oh, also my companion Elder Urmston is from Bakersfield. He's hilarious and awesome.  Not sure what else to tell you about him. 

I'm about out of time. Love you guys!!

Elder Peacock

My First Day in Peru

[letter dated 12.11.12]

Hey, so this is my first day in Peru.  This letter might not make it to you by Christmas.  Weird.  You’d think that being 2 weeks in advance would be prepared enough.  So, seeing as you’ll probably get 2 emails, maybe 3 by the time this gets there, I won’t bother writing too much.  This MTC seems like it will be much different from Provo.  Like not even close. 

I was able to pack the presents you sent and will be opening them Christmas morning.  I’m excited! [He shouldn’t be too excited… I sent things I thought he’d be ditching in Provo…] Also, I may have found one of the ugliest ties ever.  It’s in the running for sure.  I got it out of the “free” box just before I left Provo.  Why would someone throw THAT out?  I can’t even describe it though.  I’m gonna need Coleman’s [Tyler’s next oldest cousin on a mission in Alabama] tie though.  Tell him I’m waiting!  Merry Christmas!  Happy New Year!  I love you guys!

Elder Peacock

Note:  it only took 6 days for this to reach us!!

And Now THIS from Elder Peacock….

[I just got this from Tyler]

Hey so this is a bit of a surprise to both of us, but I'm emailing today and this will be my p-day [personal day] for at least the time in the MTC here.

So in case some people don't know, I got my visa on Friday afternoon and then flew down here yesterday.  My packing skills are pretty awesome.  2 checked bags weighing 49.5 and 50 lbs each.  I was pretty impressed with myself.  Anyway, we left at 3 yesterday morning from the Provo MTC so we were up at 2 and I couldn't stop doing stuff until about 1 that night so not too much sleep.... but then our flight went from SLC to Dallas then to Miami and then to Peru.  The time in the airport was either spent getting food or talking on the phone.  Both important, the phone for obvious reasons and the food because I don't get American food for another 2 years which is probably a good thing but anyways...

So when we got to Peru, the airport was really nice, pretty calm...until we got through customs then it was crazy...there were people everywhere and I had no idea where to go.  Luckily, the hermana from the MTC found us and got us to the bus.  Then the bus ride was crazy...dogs, shacks and people all over the place. It's gonna be fun for sure. We're close to the temple which is an awesome looking one.  I'm out of time but I love you all and I'll email you in a week!!

Elder Peacock

PERU!

We were able to talk to Tyler yesterday on his way to Peru.  He started at 6am Utah time and flew from Salt Lake City to Dallas, from Dallas to Miami and Miami to Lima.  He eventually arrived in Peru at 10:05pm Peru time.  Our family of five conference called while he was in Miami, about lunch time in California.

The trickiest part for him was finding payphones.  So it was loud and chaotic, but we loved it!

Our Christmas package for Tyler arrived in Provo on Friday.  He said he was able to pack almost all of it and his suitcases were 50 and 49.5 lbs.—perfect!

He said he got about 45 minutes of sleep the night before between preparations, excitement and having to be up by 2am to get to his plane.  But, he’s not complaining.  One of the other missionaries was awakened at 3:30am and told that his Visa had come through.  If he could be ready in half an hour then he could make the plane.  His roommates packed him up while he showered and he made it just as the plane doors were closing!

We expect Tyler will spend his next few weeks in the Peru Missionary Training Center (MTC).  It is very close to (same property? across the street?) the Lima Peru temple, which the missionaries get to attend. 

We have heard that he cannot receive packages while there, so those should just go to the mission home to await him.  See the sidebar for mailing addresses.

VISA

So I (Lisa) am driving around doing errands yesterday when I receive a phonecall:

“Hey, Mom”

“Hey!” (I’m thinking it’s Bryce, telling me he’s ready to be picked up)

“It’s Tyler…” (Next stream of thoughts:  My son had to identify himself!  Insert GUILT here. Wait! Why is he calling me?  What’s wrong?)

Nothing wrong, he just got called out of class and his Visa has arrived!  He leaves for Peru early (early!) Monday morning with several others (but not Elder Belnap, unfortunately).  Yes, he found out Friday afternoon and leaves in 2 days.  Suddenly, I’m not ready.  AND.  His Christmas box just arrived that day.  I guess Elder Belnap will inherit a lot of that stuff to console him!

He’ll get to call us again when he’s in transit on Monday—can’t wait!

Christmas in Peru for Elder Peacock!

Missionary S’more Bars

Originally found HERE, but modified a bit by Jeff to please his ideals for aesthetics, preference for milk over semi-sweet chocolate, and because there’s no recipe that doesn’t benefit from more… more butter, more marshmallows, more chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 1 bag (10 oz) mini marshmallows + about 1/2 cup
• 1 box (12 oz) Golden Grahams cereal
• 1 bag milk chocolate chips
• 1 heaping cup milk chocolate chips (for topping)
• 7 T butter
• 1/2 t vanilla
• non-stick cooking spray

Directions:

In a 9X9 inch baking pan, spray with non-stick cooking spray. 

In a large non-stick pot over medium heat, melt butter.  Add the bag of marshmallows and stir together until marshmallows have melted and become creamy.  Stir in vanilla.

Fold in cereal until all marshmallows and grahams are evenly mixed together.  Mix in bag of chocolate chips (which will melt in a bit).  Let cool for a little bit and then add in the extra marshmallows so they don’t melt into oblivion and you can still see whole or portions of marshmallows.  Spread in prepared pan.  Press into pan and sprinkle in remaining chips on top of the treats, lightly press on top of treats to make sure they stick.  Place in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool.

Slice into bars and serve. 

1 Month!

Hey, so before I forget again, Elder Egolf (in my district) would like the recipe for those s’more bars so his mom can make him some and be as cool as you. [I will post the recipe so YOU TOO can be cool!] Also, I know you [mom] wrote out your conversion story that you sent to Justin on his mission,  I was wondering if you'd send that to me? 

This week was another good one, the whole MTC thing is starting to blend together so hopefully I'll be able to keep this week straight and tell you something that I haven't already told you. Still no word on visas but I did run into Elder Johnson (Kodey) [from our Stake] and talked to him for a little bit and his visa just came and he had put in his paperwork in the beginning of August so I think that means that ours could be close to coming in, however Elder Belnap has had to sign the power of attorney thing at least 3 times and once last week so we'll see if his comes later or what that really means.  But every time we hear the loud speakers we are all silent and listen up because 5 elders in our district are all waiting on visas to Peru and they call you over the loud speaker when it comes. [kind of surreal…] So that could be coming soon and when it does I'll leave the beginning of that next week so it'll be short notice.

Elder Belnap got a package for Christmas and on top of all of the wrapped stuff (which of course he hasn't opened yet), he had a Peruvian flag.  Not as big as Justin's but still a pretty big one.  There's a llama on it.  Did you know they eat alpaca steaks in Peru? Apparently, they're delicious.  Speaking of food, I think I'm ready for whatever they have in Peru because I'm already tired of the same 10 things that I get at the cafeteria especially because I've been eating them for the past year as well.  Also tell Mitchel I eat at 12 and 5 behind the salad bar so if he ever is around he should come and eat with me because I heard he got a job teaching at the MTC.

I got released as District Leader this week, which doesn't change that much but now I don't feel quite as responsible for trying to keep all 11 of us focused during study time--let's just say that with a district of 11, it's pretty difficult to keep them on task.  We got another district of 11 in our zone yesterday.  Every time I see the new missionaries, I just wonder if I looked that lost, scared, confused, amazed, puzzled, and at times in pain.  But apparently, there was a time when that was me [ummm, like a month ago!] and I am going to assume that will be me again when I get to Peru or reassigned somewhere but I like to think that's not me. But some of them have never spoken a word of Spanish before so of course, any Spanish scares the daylights out of them, which is always very fun.  To think at one point I was like them, Back in the day….  Spanish is coming along though, we actually will finish all of the Spanish in 6 weeks and the rest of the time is review because we're kind of on the pilot program for the influx of missionaries and the shortened MTC stays so the last 3 weeks would be review, if we're here.

I'm about halfway through Jesus the Christ [download a FREE copy HERE or HERE] at the moment. It really is an awesome book, a lot of it is very deep but I'm really enjoying reading that.  I'm also reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  You know that story, I think from Elder Oaks where he said that a man was shot but had a Book of Mormon on his chest and it saved him because the bullet stopped at the Isaiah chapters? well yeah, I was understanding everything pretty well until the Isaiah chapters, I don't understand half of the stuff in English, so I'm not sure how I could understand it in Spanish.  Oh and one last thing, Elder Evans of the Seventy gave the Devotional on Tuesday and he served a mission in Japan and struggled to learn the language,  A guy on the street was talking to his dog (in Japanese of course) and the dog would obey the man.  Elder Evans' companion turned to him and said "Hey! if that dog can learn Japanese then so can you!"  probably funnier in person but I thought it applied.

[A comment from the mother:  Note the Apostle Hair thing starting to happen here…I believe I see a part in his hair.  He hasn’t had a part in his hair since he was 2 years old.  A part is always difficult because he has the thickest hair confounded by a very determined front cowlick and a back of the head whorl that works in opposition to the cowlick.  I guess all things are possible on a mission.]

Umm...I think that's about all I have for you, like I said, the MTC is all starting to blur together and I'm not entirely sure what happened the first week or what happened the last week.  I'm still loving it and I still hope that I get to Peru sooner rather than later.  I love you all and I really appreciate all of the mail that I get.

Love,

Elder Peacock