Down to the River

This week was good.  We had another baptism this week but this time in the river.  It is so cool to do it in the river.  His name is C*.  Even though he's 16, he really is much more mature, he's already graduated from "high school" (it's different here) and right when we first started teaching him, he started going to seminary and to church on his own even without really any friends there.  Probably the coolest part, he is the biggest Justin Bieber fan in the world.  haha he's always listening to JBiebs when we get to his house.  But yea, the baptism was in the river which was awesome, even if when we showed up, there was a guy taking a bath in the river right where we were going....haha there are just some images that we have to choose to block out...

Then, we also had training with Prez. Gómez this week and they {he and his wife} stayed in the zone for a few days and visited all of the areas.  Also all of the elders from the offices came and divided with Elder Carrillo and I because all of them wanted to get to see Nueva Cajamarca because it really is the coolest are in the mission.  We are just so far away from everything and everything is just so green and so cool here.  But yeah, Prez and Sister Gómez are really cool.  She told our pensionista (sister who makes our breakfast and dinner) that she should start to give us salad and fruit and stuff.  She was so surprised and asked us and really I would love that.  I'm used to eating a fried piece of meat with a mountain of rice for dinner and I really could use some variety...I don't think that I've ever just wanted to eat a salad or something so much in my life.

Time feels like it's absolutely flying right now.  We already have
changes today and I feel like I just got here.  I'm not going anywhere
but my comp might be going somewhere....Nothing is for sure but I keep telling him that he's leaving and it bugs him because he doesn't want to go at all.

Love you all and have a good week!!
Elder Peacock

Whoops!

So.... apparently sarcasm doesn't really translate very well through emails.  Just to clear things up the dog bite was nothing severe, dangerous, or even really painful.  It grazed my leg a little bit,  I just thought it sounded a lot cooler that way.  I do have two tooth holes in that pair of pants right now, but other than that no damage done to me.  So Bryce, I know you were worried, but now you can rest at ease.  Everyone just remember that I am me and fairly often I make sarcastic comments.  I'll try to change that a little bit for you Bryce.  Nobody be mad please... [Sarcasm still going strong.  I do believe in this paragraph he is simultaneously apologizing, kind of, and calling out his brother for his lack of interest in his welfare.]

Anyways, this week was pretty awesome. we had a couple of baptisms this week which is always good.  They're named M* and R*.  M* is in a wheelchair and does not have use of her legs.  R* is her nephew that lives with her and she's basically his mom.  I think it's needless to say that they've both had some rough lives.  This gospel has really been a huge thing for them.  They really are some of those people where you can really just see the hope and the happiness that this gospel has to offer.  They've both had lives full of difficulties, but with all of the difficulties that they have, they can really find the joy.  It just highlights that idea that there is opposition in all things and because we have difficulties, we can recognize the joy and the happiness.  I really love a scripture in Ether 12:4 because it talks about the hope of a better world.  That's really all we can ever have sometimes.  Just hope that things are going to get better, especially when we can't see how it can change or how things could possibly get better.  If you think there's no way out, there is always the light of the Gospel to show us where to go.  

Love you guys and I hope you all have a good week. Also congrats to Justin and Tori!!! Supposedly that announcement is common knowledge now so hopefully this is ok....

Elder Peacock

PS.  I had a lot of cool pictures to send, but only one would load…

And…I Got Bitten By a Dog

Hey everyone!

So this week was interesting...got bitten by a dog, some members yelled at the District President for no real reason and some more encounters with that same drunk guy who likes to wield knives... no knives this time though.

So yeah, our Branch is really out of the way so it's really rare that there are actually visits from the leaders of the District here.  But we're filling the little house chapel and really they're going to have to start building the chapel here right now or some people are going to stop going just because it's getting uncomfortable in there.  So he [the District President] came to see that.   During Elders Quorum,* let’s just say that there was some money being asked for by someone that shouldn't have been asking for money.  The District President then made it very clear that that wasn't ok...then there were some hurt feelings...and then there was yelling from a member...come on people...this is not exactly going to help investigators feel comfortable in the church when there are just people yelling....I was pretty annoyed by that...anyways.

So yeah more stuff with that drunk guy.  We actually see him a lot right now because we're teaching his brother, it's just really hard to teach him when his drunk brother just always happens to be there.  He is always drunk.  There really is not any moment when he's not drunk.  I really just don't understand that process.  He also insists on being there when we teach his brother too.  He's always just making comments that just don't really apply to anything that we're talking about, which is really funny, it's just that sometimes its at very inappropriate moments...also he says "that question is so easy" when we ask his brother anything...even if there's not actually a specific answer....he hasn't kicked any more puppies though...that's good.

And about the dog...I'm not dead mom, I can still walk and there's a 50% chance that I don't have rabies :)  I'm just kidding mom don't worry :) ok, part of this is real, and part of it is a joke. It's up to you to decide... [Sometimes, I really don’t appreciate Tyler’s sense of humor.  This is what Jeff wrote back to him: “You better say more about the dogbite or I’ll call the President myself.  I'm just kidding, TYLER,  don't worry:)  OK, part of this is real, and part of it is a joke. It's up to you to decide...”  This is what I wrote back: “Are you kidding me?  That's all you tell about the dogbite?????????????  Tyler JAMES PEACOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”]

Love you guys,

Elder Peacock

*  LDS Sabbath day meetings go like this (the order may vary):  (1) Sacrament Meeting, which includes the whole family.  Speakers are generally drawn from the congregation.  (2) Primary and Sunday School.  Children ages 1-11 attend Primary and teens – adults attend Sunday School classes where gospel doctrine is taught.  (3)  Primary (children ages 3-11), Young Women (teen girls ages 12-18), Priesthood (teen boys – men) and Relief Society (women ages 18+).   

Practicing Patience

Hey everybody,

So our living arrangement is normal, it's an apartment with 4 rooms: kitchen, beds, study and of course the bathroom.  The bathroom however is very thin and you can't really sit straight on the toilet...never thought I would have to sit sideways on a toilet before...(you said you wanted more information).  Within our area (absolutely gigantic) we usually walk everywhere, unless it's really far or if we have no time.  But, in order to go to other places (Rioja, Moyobamba) where there are other missionaries, we have to go in a car or in a bus, depending on if we want to get crammed in a bus or if we want to just take a nice car ride.  

My comp, Elder Carrillo is cool. He's 18 and is one of those missionaries that had his papers in the week after the announcement [regarding the age change for male missionaries from 19 to 18]...while he was still in high school....haha.  he's a little bit lost sometimes and not always very confident but he's a good missionary and now I really do feel like a senior companion because before with Elder Bravo we had the same amount of time in the field so we were really working together all the time, and it's not like one of us ever really had to take charge because we were both doing it.  Now, it's a little bit more like if I don't make a choice, say something, talk to someone, knock a door, etc, we just won't do it.  He is learning a lot though and he really is a good missionary.

As far as us teaching, we're teaching a lot.  Like all the time we have something to do which is awesome and the members are helping a lot here which makes it a lot easier to find more people to teach, but nobody is really progressing.  We have a few families that are awesome, they just don't want to make a decision.  That's what I've seen more than anything here, people just don't want to make a decision.  It's not because they don't understand either, it's just because they straight up don't want to make a decision which is really frustrating because that's pretty much the only thing that I can't change.  As missionaries, there are a lot of things we can help people do, but the thing we can't do is make the decision for them.  

Yesterday was really tough because it was the first time I finished a week with nobody with a baptismal date.  It was also the week with the most lessons that we had ever taught and 2 weeks with a whole lot of new people to teach.  I feel like we're working as hard as we can and doing what we're supposed to, we're just not seeing much of results. Like Pres. Monson said, sometimes we just have to put in practice the virtue of patience because maybe there is no quick fix to things.  And, like Pres Packer said, sometimes the question isn't if you're doing the right thing but the question is if you're doing the right thing for long enough.  So I think that's something that everyone can just remember (myself included)  that sometimes you're doing everything you're supposed to and in the "words" of Elder Bednar, trying to be a good boy, do what you're supposed to do, follow the spirit and keep your covenants, but really all that you can do is just keep doing it, even if you can't see that it's helping anything.  Just do your part and leave the rest up to God.

Love you guys and I do love being here,

Elder Peacock

Alma 26:12

PS this week I was teaching a lesson when the drunk, knife-weilding brother came in, kicked a puppy into a puddle of water, sat down and told us that he wants to get baptized....then got up went into his room and started yelling all sorts of profanities....right before we shared the first vision with him.  You returned missionaries should understand that that's always when stuff happens haha

Nueva Cajamarca

[Email dated July 29, 2013]

Hey everybody!

So I've gotten a lot of questions about my area.  It's gigantic.  I have only seen a little tiny part of it and I will only ever see a little tiny part of it.  It's probably 10 times the size of Delaware just for reference, and it's just all really spread out.  We´re in a branch that is still working on getting a chapel and right now has about 110 [people] that are attending. If that keeps up, they'll start the construction of the chapel in about a month or 2.  There isn't room for all of the people that are attending in the place where we have the meetings and the attendance is still growing.  We're at the base of the Sierra and it's all very green here.  Much more like the jungle you all thought was Iquitos.  Elder Carrillo and I are basically isolated out here and the closest other missionaries are in Rioja which is pretty far away.  I'm really not sure what else you all want to know about my area really because there is a little bit of everything here, "city", jungle, farms, etc.  But it is very different from Iquitos.

This week we had a baptism, but we didn't do it in the river, we went 40 minutes to the chapel in Rioja for the baptism.  Her name is H* and she is the mother in law of the Branch President.  she's attended church for some time now so I'm really not sure why she wasn't baptized until now but now she is.  Other than that, this week we were just working hard and basically had to start over in terms of finding people, but we're really doing really well right now.  I'm really not sure what to tell all of you.  I'm still a little bit lost, not just being in a new area, but having miles and miles of area to worry about.  I'm still just trying to learn all of the town names that people are telling me, instead of street names.  I love being here and just know that I might not get any mail in my time here (which could be another 6 months, supposedly).

Love,

Elder Peacock

PS-if you want to know things more specific, ask me more specific questions, I really just don't know what to tell you.

[Mother’s note:  I sent him a list of questions to work on over the next few weeks because, really, I need more than this!]

Extract from an email to his dad:

haha yeah we're kinda all alone in Nueva.  We have a district of 4 and the other 2 are in Rioja, like halfway between Nueva and Moyo.  I am still DL [District Leader].  This area has been open for a long time, but I think there have been a lot of missionaries that just got "distracted"  being in the middle of nowhere…The package is in Lima and has been there for a few weeks but i don't know that it'll ever get out of Lima (offices of the other mission).