If You Thought I Was In a Remote Location Before, Well….

Hey everyone,

So I finally had a transfer...and it was a huge change for sure.
Remember how at the beginning of my mission when I told you guys that I would be going to Iquitos, you all thought I would be in the middle
of nowhere only to find out that I was really just in a city?  Yeah,
well now I think you can actually say that I'm in the middle of
nowhere.  I'm in Nueva Cajamarca which is a little town to the north
of Moyobamba.  But really that's just what it's called because my area
is absolutely enourmous and there are parts that I really won't ever
even be able to go to because it would take like an hour to get there
in a motokar...It's just so big. 

But, yeah, to get here:

I left Iquitos at about 4 on a plane to Tarapoto.  I was told I was either going to Tarapoto or Moyobamba, so I really had no idea.  After the hour long flight, we got to Tarapoto and the elders at the airport tell me and another elder that are going to Moyo.  We go to this carport thing and take a car from Tarapoto to Moyobamba, which is a little more than 2 hours...through pretty much straight jungle which was cool, but long.  When we got there, I was just relieved to be done sitting in a car...only to find out that my comp and I have to keep going...what the heck!  We have another 1 hour trip to Nueva Cajamarca!

I was just dead by the end of it with all of the travelling only to find out that we have to go back to Tarapoto on Thursday for a meeting with President...so much driving....!  And I get to come to Moyo every Monday and Tuesday for Pday and meetings, I'm not a huge fan of cars at the moment.

My comp is Elder Carrillo, from El Salvador.  He's 18 and has 4 months
in the mission.  He's pretty cool and it should be good working with
him here.  The branch has recently seen a lot of growth and the 110
people that are going to church just barely fit in the house where we
have our meetings.  If the attendance keeps up, the church is going to
put a chapel here starting in about 2 months.  It's a really cool
place and there's some altitude here. We're actually at the base of
the beginning of the mountains.  I'll let you all know more next week
because with all of the interviews and work visits that I've had to do
this week I've only actually been in my area for 2 days--still
hopelessly lost as far as my area goes because it's so huge and I
barely know anyone.

Love you guys!
Elder Peacock

PS. I doubt I will ever get my package now. supposedly better to send
those big padded envelopes. [AAAARGH!]

PPS. We baptize in the river.

Moving On?

Hey everybody!

So, sorry for the short letter last week, I just had a lot of other things I had to do with my time on the computer so I really didn't have a choice.  But I have some time this week so you'll at least get to hear a little bit even though I feel like everything that happens right now is just normal so it's harder to notice the things that I should write to you guys.  I guess that's what happens being in the same place for more than 6 months.  BTW, there are changes today and if I'm leaving, I'll do it tomorrow.  I don't actually know if anything is going to happen in that regard though.  We'll see.

[The other cities in the mission are:  Pucallpa, Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Yurimaguas, along with other districts or zones within Iquitos]

We're teaching this guy named M*.  He's 19 and he's getting married on Friday to a girl who is a member [of the church].  He’s the man.  He comes from this place on the Amazon River called Capela which is a few days away on the river.  But he comes from a really broken up family with a lot of troubles and had a real rough childhood really without parents to raise him.  He went to church about a month ago and told us that he wanted to start his family but wanted to do it the right way and asked us for help.  He was probably the most prepared person that we have found in all of my time here.   He had an interview with President Gomez and when they finished and left the office, Prez said that M* was a man of great faith.   M* has since asked us what that means and why he said that.  I'm pretty sure it's because he's not getting baptized because it's a good idea or because he knows he should; he's doing it because he knows it will change everything for the better and will make all the difference in the world in starting his family and it's really the desire that he has.  I just wanted to comment a little on him because I might not be here next week for his wedding/baptism-- he's just the man so I had to say something.

On Friday, I had a drunk guy basically yell at me for 5 minutes straight about his sister’s wedding, because he didn't know where it was and then about the church in another part of the city. then asking for money to be able to go somewhere.  Then he just started yelling all kind of nonsense.  In that time I just can't keep myself from laughing because he's just crazy.  Then out of nowhere comes this other drunk guy who tells the 1st drunk guy that he's the devil...then walks away.  haha I was laughing so hard.  Then the first one walks after him and starts yelling at him.  Probably one of the funniest things that has ever happened to me.  Drunk people can be very entertaining at times.  

Also, we had an FHE [Family Home Evening, learn more HERE] with the Mayta Family.  We had a baptism of the kid a ways back with all those people....well that was only a small part of the family.  We found a few more of them that went to the FHE, which was really cool.  Probably the best part was playing games at the end,  the blindfolded Elder Bravo grabbed the Grandma (90ish years old)  and yelled at her "talk PIG!!!!" [I have no idea what that means!]

I hope all of you have a good week and that everything goes well for you.

Elder Peacock

A Brief One This Week…

Hey!!

So you're going to have to forgive me but I have no time right now so you're not going to get all that much.  I finished 8 months in the misión yesterday...time is going so fast, it's ridiculous, I feel like I barely just got here and I already have 8 months and more than 6 months in my area.  We have changes next week so we'll see but it's possible that I'll be here for another change. 

I met President Gomez.  He's from Puebla Mexico and is here with his wife and 18 year old daughter who is preparing to go on a mission...I'd say this is a pretty good misión prep class.  But he's really awesome.  We already had a little get to know you meeting and interviews with him which was cool.  It's really different though now, actually having Prez here with us full time and not a couple hours away by plane.  I feel like everything here is just going to keep getting better and the work is just going to speed up.  Sorry but I have no time today.  I love you guys and I hope that everything is going well. 

Congrats to Jax getting into the MTC! [cutie cousin Jackson Peacock entered the MTC with 899 others last Wednesday.  He has been called to serve in Baltimore.  There are now 3 Elder Peacocks (and an Elder Madsen) in the field!]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYCE!!!! [big 16!]

Love you guys,

Elder Peacock

Hola

Hey everyone!!

I hope all is going well.  Things are going awesome here in Iquitos, and yes, I am officially serving in the Misión Perú Iquitos now with President Gómez.  I still haven’t actually met him but there was an activity on Saturday and apparently the food here isn’t really his friend…welcome to Iquitos!!

So Saturday was literally the most exhausting day in every way humanly possible.  So we had 3 baptisms on Saturday but it was really difficult because we have 2 wards and there were 2 in one ward and 1 in the other so we had to put together 2 baptismal services and get both chapels ready in the morning, and we don’t really have a ward mission leader in either ward because one was recently called and we had to show him how to do everything and in the other ward, we just don’t have one.  There was also that activity with Prez Gomez at night so we had to do both in the afternoon…the members could only do it at 3 and the other at 4…so we already knew that we were going to be very short on time and had to rush a little bit. 

That morning, we passed by the family that was going to be baptized at 3 because we were going that way and stopped to say hi and then he tells us he’s not going to get baptized anymore…we go in and then he goes upstairs leaving his wife with us and just won’t come down…well we have about a thousand other things to do that morning and we have a few lessons planned so we couldn’t wait for him. We go, get everything ready, including chase down the keys to one of the chapels for an hour because everyone had passed the keys along to someone else who really had no need for the keys.  So we’re just running around that morning and basically every moment we get to breathe we’re just praying as hard as we can because we can’t do anything more to help H*.  So after that, we pass by for them to see what is going on at about 2:30 (the first chance we got) and he’s sitting in front of his house and we start talking to him and he tells us he’s just waiting for his wife so they can go together to the chapel for the baptism…I still have no idea what happened there but let’s just say prayer works. 

Then, because we had to wait for the baptismal clothes (we didn’t have time to go get them in the morning) and another priesthood holder, we were starting about a half hour late…we had the other baptism at 4 but we can’t cut out the baptismal program because it’s important to have a nice program…so we just had to be patient.  We finished at 4:30 and just booked it out of there only pausing briefly to congratulate the 2 of them. We ran from one chapel to the other with backpacks full of wet clothes to get to the other chapel and when we get there, (dead tired) there were a bunch of people outside--the bishop still hadn’t come to open the chapel and P* had left because he thought nobody was coming.  Long story short, the bishop showed up, P* came back and we had the baptism with only a few other things that went wrong.  I really cannot explain all of the things that went wrong that day but when we got home that night I just wanted to die. 

It was an emotional and physical rollercoaster but luckily it all ended well.  I honestly don’t know if I have ever prayed harder for so many things in so many instances but I’m thankful to my Heavenly Father for making it all happen.  Sometimes it hurts, and sometimes you might think that things can’t possibly be going worse but God is always there listening.  I wish I could tell you all about some other experiences I had this week but it’ll have to wait because I have no time. 

I love you guys and hope everything is going well!

Elder Peacock

PS still no package, I think it’s in Lima

** See HERE for more on the power of prayer **

New Address!

Please see the sidebar for Tyler’s updated address.

Hello Iquitos!!

[Email dated June 24, 2013]

Hey everybody!

So I am still here in the same are and still with Elder Bravo, which means that I'm officially an Iquiteño.  The mission will officially divide this week when President Blunck finishes and President Gomez comes this Friday.  We had a farewell type thing with President Blunk this week and now he's not coming back here.  President Blucnk really is the best, and its really hard for him to leave.  Then this Friday President Gomez will come and we'll actually have a President and the mission and everything here in Iquitos.  So as long as everything goes well, I shouldn't go to Lima for anything other than to do paperwork one more time until the end of the mission.  President Gomez comes from Puebla Mexico and that's about all we really know about him.  Also, Justin may have seen him because he was one of those 7,000,000 new mission presidents in the Marriot center yesterday.

But yeah, that thing yesterday (I don't remember how it's called in English) was really actually exactly what we needed here.  [It was a training session, broadcast church-wide, see HERE].  For us, it's like pulling teeth to get members to go to lessons, give us references, or do anything related to missionary work.  I still don't really know what it's like to have a ward mission leader or a real ward council meeting because the wards here just don't give that much importance to it [wards are like congregations, organized by where the church member lives].  What that whole message was yesterday is that being a member of the church is so much more than just going to church on Sunday, or even reading your scriptures.  Being a member of the church is a full time thing, with constant work and effort.  What President Blunck told us is that the members should really be the people who find most of the investigators and we should be here to be a support in that, and then our main job would just be to teach the Gospel.  For us right now, we're doing both jobs and it is much less efficient.  So if you think that the message wasn't directed at you just take another look at it and find something you can do to improve.  Just think, if every member was always looking for someone to help or to invite, how many more people would the missionaries in your ward have to teach?

So today is a national holiday here in Perú called Día de San Juan.  Basically, everyone goes down the river, eats thousands or juanes, and drinks chicha de maíz.  So there is basically nobody here today, and we're just lucky the internet is open.  I'm sending a picture of a Juane, which is supposedly representative of the head of John the Baptist.  It's a ball of rice with chicken or a hard boiled egg inside.  They're actually pretty good.  Chicha de maíz is a drink made of corn and some other juices.  It's actually really good, so you can’t judge it until you try it.  But the past 2 days were fairly difficult because on Saturday everyone was making the chicha which is an all-day process and then yesterday everyone was making their Juanes.  Everyone else was drinking and having a party in preparation for the holiday....Not exactly perfect conditions for missionaries.  Should go back to normal this week though. 

I love all of you and hope you all have a good week!

Elder Peacock

Another Week, Another Transfer

First of all, happy Father's Day dad!!!also to Grandpa and Grandpa and everyone else who is a dad...Can't name all of you that's for sure.

So I don't know if I'm staying here or going, I have a lot of time here but I still feel like I'm going to stay where I'm at with Elder Bravo.  This change felt like a week in all honesty.  I feel like we just picked up Elder Bravo from the airport. I'll let you know next week, but this transfer will have the split of the mission!! And I will officially be a part of the Misión Perú Iquitos....I think and hope...you can never really know.  Just to clear things up, I've gotten some questions in letters...Iquitos is a part of Perú, it's not another country or anything, just in the jungle.  But things should be exciting with the new mission and everything and President Gómez comes from México.  Not sure what part but it'll be different having a Latino Mission President for sure.

So this week was awesome, as usual.  On Monday night we were leaving to go to an appointment and this guy stops us to talk.  His name is Carlos.  We talk to him and he tells us he wants us to go to his house and talk to him more.  He gives us his address and I instantly know we have a problem because the street he gives us is so unorganized with the numbers so I know it'll be tough to find him.  Later in the week we go to look for him and, of course, we can't find the number so we decide to ask this lady sitting outside.  She tells us that Carlos lives in the house right next to hers.  So we go to that house and there isn't a number so we figure it's gotta be that house.  We knock the door and this guy answers the door and tells us that Carlos is taking a shower but should be out in a minute so we start talking to that guy (named Roger) and he's cool.  We're still waiting and then he goes to get Carlos...they come out and I have no idea who the other guy is, I just know I've never seen him before in my life!  Sure enough, he's Carlos... the best part is, he didn't even think it was weird that we were looking for him even though we had never seen him before.  We went back later in the week and he asked us if we were really looking for him that first time--he didn't realize until after that it was weird that some random guys were looking to talk to him and that we knew his name before talking to him.  Haha-- maybe it was a “had to be there” moment but it was really funny.

This week was really full of everything: spiritual, funny, disappointing, exciting, etc.  Sorry I can't really explain all of it to you guys.  I hope all is well and you have a good week,

Elder Peacock