It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

So basically all that I've seen here is a few Christmas trees and one Nativity Scene.  Really, people here don't get quite as amped up for Christmas. It's more of just a one day thing here, instead of like a  month long [++] thing in the States.  It's very different.  But we all still know that it's Christmas coming up.  Not really sure what we're going to do here yet.

This week was awesome for us though.  Elder Lee and I are working really well together and I'm just afraid that I will only get this one change with him.  We've really just been getting a lot of people started and the area right now has exploded.  Last year, it was basically the dead area in the mission and now it's just exploded.  The Lord is obviously doing it--just throwing prepared people in our path.  It's really miraculous how the Lord works, prepares his children and just places them in our path.  Last week I told you all about that one family that the Lord had prepared and it seems like he just keeps on doing it and we keep getting guided to them.  It's really amazing how the Lord is accelerating His work.

In all honesty, I hadn't really focused all that much on the Christmas spirit, just because it's way different here so you don't get the same feelings and the same stuff to remind you that it's Christmas.  But, really that is the same spirit that I'm always focused on as a missionary. It's really just the fact that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.  He gave us the greatest gift that anyone ever has, ever will, or ever could give us.  He gave us all and really He doesn't ask that much and we can never say that he asks too much of us.  He just wants us to serve Him.  That has quite a few meanings and I'll let you guys figure that one out, but really we just have to serve Him with all that we have and then we will really be able to enjoy the gift that He has freely given us.  Everyone just remember Him in this season.  All that you do, do it for Him.  That's all there is to it.

[See HERE for many many more video resources to help get you into the Christmas spirit]

Love you guys and hope all is well.

Elder Peacock

PS can't believe that Justin and Tori are this close to the wedding....good thing I'll be there to see it in spirit and in cardboard

PPS Weekly Planning with mustaches is much more interesting if you ask me.... and we did sing that song from the Spongebob movie "Now That We're Men."

 

The Hand of the Lord

[Email dated 12.9.13]

Hey everyone!!

So this week was good.  Shout out to Eva for the weirdest package I have ever gotten in my life. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with animal food, what am I even supposed to do with that?  But yeah, anyways, looks like Christmas is coming up pretty fast so everyone get ready! (still no word on what is going to happen for the call though) [missionaries get to call home on Mother’s Day and Christmas]. 

This week we did some service helping out this family who is building a house, but I don't think they really thought it through very well.   First of all, they knocked down their old house before even having the stuff ready to be able to put the new one up.  Then, they had moved a pile of bricks into their backyard and decided that they had to move it like 20 feet in another direction.  Let's just say that it is a lot of work to move a gigantic pile of bricks 20 feet....a lot of work that really would have been a lot easier to have just done the first time.  But yeah, luckily we're 4 missionaries now so we got a lot done but that is really going to be a project for them, since we can only help them with for a limited amount of time a week.  So, the moral of the story is that when you tear down your old house, make sure you have a new one all ready to go.  They've been without a house for like a week now....

The area I’m in now has been a much slower area.  It's just been a little bit harder to get people to progress.  I think it may relate to the fact that there are a lot of people that only make money on Sundays and the town itself was founded by the Adventist church, so there is a very strong base of Adventists.  We are always finding people but usually they just can't, or don't want to progress.  It makes it a little tough.  But then this week, all of a sudden we've got a couple of families that really look like they're going to progress. 

One afternoon, we were looking for a guy that we had talked to in the street the other day and when we got to the house, it turns out that he is only actually there really late at night, and the people who were there didn't really have much desire to talk to us.  We did, however, ask them if they knew anyone who was passing through a tough time. They told us right away, “Yeah! There's a family over there.”  So we went to go and find them.  We met just the dad that day, but he was awesome.  Then we met the wife the next time and after that the kids, and all of them are awesome and it can just be seen that they are really a prepared family. 

The Lord really guided us to be able to find him and just looking back at how we actually got to find them, the Lord had to have had it all planned out…let’s just say it involved a power outage and a thought that just happened to come to the mind of some random person in the street.  It's really a long story, but the Lord has a plan for everyone and he really has his hand in our lives in every moment.  He knows exactly what we need and exactly when we need it.  He will never leave us alone.  I know that this is his work and that I am really lucky to just be a part of it.

I still can't believe it's already been 13 months....

Love you guys, have a great week.  Hopefully next week I'll know about the call....

Elder Peacock

PS: I will absolutely be at the wedding!! I got the invitation....just don't ask me to say anything....I'll be a little shy..... [His older brother is getting married at the end of the month.  “Flat Tyler” will be making an appearance…more to follow]

A Peruvian Thanksgiving

Hey everyone!

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!!

This week was good.  On Thursday, we did have a Thanksgiving lunch with a full turkey on the table, real mashed potatoes and some sweet potatoes.  I couldn't really explain how to make gravy so she [the pensionista, AND I’m not sure Tyler knows HOW to make gravy, so I’m sure explaining it was probably difficult] gave us just straight up turkey grease...I chose not to try that....but it was good for a Peruvian Thanksgiving.  Oh and they gave me a giant hunting knife to carve the turkey [Bryce would LOVE that!]  I really just cut it into chunks, not really slices...

Then this weekend we had a baptism!! His name is J* and the guy is really cool.  He’s 100% changed from when we met him and everyone has been saying it too.  When we went to go to his baptism, the spot we usually go to was just full of people all swimming because it was really hot.  That's the downside of baptizing in a river.  So we had to drive up the road in the Motokars for about 10 minutes until we found another spot that was suitable for baptisms and wasn't full of people swimming.  We actually found a really cool spot that was secluded and I think it's prettier than the first one, so we might just keep going back there.

But yeah, this week was really hot.  Normally it's hot for a few hours and gets cooled of by a nice rain, but not this week.  I’m sure it didn't rain because it was just saving up for Saturday night.  It was the hardest storm I think I've ever seen, mostly because of the wind... we now live on the 4th floor because the new companionship in N C is where we were.  The wind is a lot stronger that high up.  The wind tore off one of our windows, which fell into the street.  That was followed by the panic to keep the curtains from getting ripped off and our beds from getting soaked--good thing I had my handy dandy duct tape! thanks Eva! That was a very exhilarating 10 minutes....let's see  what we do now...

Love you guys!

Elder Peacock

New Kid!

So about 3 months I told you that I have a son and that he was Peruvian...well that son got shipped off to Iquitos last week and now I have a second son [new missionaries in their first area].  I think I'm actually the first  American missionary in the mission Iquitos to be training another American missionary. It's so weird to be with another American.  When I got here, there were no 2 American missionaries together...now, I'm training one.  His name is Elder Lee and he is from Idaho and we went to the gym this week and he made me feel like a little girl.  When he goes home, he's going to play safety [football position for the uninitiated] at Boise State.  He already speaks Spanish really well and he's just really cool.  He got hit with the first week sickness like every other American who gets here but that was just one day and now he's fine.  So yeah, he's American, cool and loves football...I think you can say I'm excited about this companionship!  I don't have a picture for you yet...I forgot the cord to send pictures....next week...

This week we taught this less active kid who's 19.  But it's interesting.  His dad is the branch [congregation] mission leader, his brother is a returned missionary and the 2nd counselor in the branch and his uncle is the branch president. With all of that support, he still went inactive [fell away from the Church]-- not because he's not a good kid, but just because he had some bad friends.  I feel like having that kind of family should help him to stay active or to help him go back to church but really I don't think any of them ever said anything to him.  We finally got to talk to him, I'd never been able to find him before when he was just in the house for a minute.  We read with him in Alma 7 about the Atonement and really he kinda just broke down and asked us if we could keep teaching him and help him go back to church.  What I can't believe is that with all of those family members, NONE of them ever invited him with love to go back to church.  Maybe they told him he should do it but didn't really help them to be able to understand why.  If you love someone and you know they're going down a path that won't bring them happiness, don't just let them do it! help them to do what they should. Don't just say that it's their life and they can choose what they want to do.  If you really love them, you want the best for them. If you think it's not your responsibility, you're wrong.  It's yours.  Especially with your own family.  You're the only one who can do it.  There is no one else.  I just feel like he lost time and a part of his life just because everyone thought that he just had to choose for himself.  It's true but they have to help him.  Love those around you.  Invite them to come unto Christ if it's for the first time or if they had already started the path before.  Invite them back.  I've heard about a thousand times from the area presidency and from President Gomez this scripture 3 Nephi 18:32:

Nevertheless, ye shall not cast him out of your ^asynagogues, or your places of worship, for unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall ^bheal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.

I love you guys and have a great week.

Elder Peacock

PS I'm gonna have a Thanksgiving lunch on Thursday.  Should be just like what grandma and grandpa used to make!! Maybe not quite as good though.....here in Perù you don`t have to buy a turkey you just kill it. much easier!

House Hunting

Hey everybody!

So this week was another good one.   This week I had to look for a room to put another companionship, find furniture and get everything set up.  It was actually really interesting,  Not that I don't absolutely love missionary work, but it was just really exciting to get to do something a little different for a change.   Looking for rooms here was interesting and there was one that I just have to tell you about.  So we were looking for about anything we could find because there isn't much out here but we would basically just ask if there were rooms available and then just go in to see if it would work before really asking about details. So we saw this one that looked cool from outside and as we were going upstairs, the landlord says "you'll have to be careful here, there are quite a few young single girls here"..... at that point it was just like....well why are we even here?  That’s an automatic dealbreaker for sure.  In the end we found a sweet room that is on a 4th floor and has the sickest view ever.  Let's just say I hope I stay here for another change cause it would be so cool to live there.  On that note, there are changes today but I do think I'll be here for one more change to coordinate the division and take care of my district that has doubled in size in the past 2 changes.

We had a training with Presidente Gomez this week and it's always cool when he comes with his wife and the assistants.  It's really cool to just have so much contact with a man as special as a mission president.  You can say it's just another calling all you want but really a Mission President is so much more than that.  He is really inspired of God and it is another evidence that this is the work of the Lord and that He is ever-present in this work.  God lives and talks to us here and now by the spirit.  It is very apparent that He really is here and really does talk.  There is no other way to explain the things that happen and no other way to explain the leaders of the Church.

Love you guys!

Elder Peacock

PS we ate the rooster and Elder Villar was not all that thrilled about it....we talked about it for weeks and I don't think he believed the family until they actually served it....it was funny!

PPS [extracted from another email] I keep trying to go on a "diet" but my pensionista keeps forgetting.  Basically my diet means that I just eat fruit for dinner and that she never gives me rice.  So i don't know if I’d call it a diet but I like fruit and I'm sick of rice.

Uno Ano!

So now I actually have a year, everyone just needs to calm down.  [I don’t know what he’s talking about.  I’m couldn’t be more calm!]

So Elder Belnap (My MTC comp) is now my Zone Leader and so he did a work visit on Thursday so that we could burn our shirt together.  For the record, we did work really hard and we didn't do it to mess around. [Like I ever have to worry about Tyler not working hard!]  But at one point, we walked by this school that was just getting out and there was a bunch of 7 and 8 year old Peruvians...next to the 6'9" giant (for those of you who remember Elder Belnap [see MTC picture below]).   We stopped for a second and we were instantly swarmed by hundreds of these little Peruvian kids all staring up at Elder Belnap and the circle was just following us around when we started moving again.  The police actually had to come over and disperse the kids because they were taking up the entire road...haha it was so funny and really he is VERY tall so it was understandable for the Peruvians who think that the 6 foot tall guy [Tyler] is really tall.  They were in a huge surprise when they saw him for sure.  People are still asking me about him.  

[Nov, 2012:  I don’t think I need to clarify which one Elder Belnap is…]

But yes, we did burn the shirt and let's just say that shirts burn a whole lot easier than ties. it went up real fast and with just one match too...

So I know it was a short letter but I've gotta go. Till next week

Elder Peacock

P.S.  sooo about my year mark....Because of the mission changes in July, Elder Belnap (aka the “great white giant”) and I were looking at it and I’ll probably go home around October 17th or December 1st [missionaries have “transfer dates” every 6 weeks, so that would be the 6 week marks].   I can't tell you for sure, just thought I'd let you know that I think my halfway mark was actually a little bit different than my year mark so maybe you were all right...

It’s Hump Day!

Elder Peacock entered the Missionary Training Center a year ago today.  Here’s a little retrospective of his year (and then some…)

 

It all begins with a letter.

Imagining life in Peru.

Talk in church day…with the family.

And his other family.

Sorting and packing. 

(Bryce has since unsorted and unpacked.  Shhh! Don’t tell Tyler)

All a missionary really needs.

Setting apart with President Carlson.

It’s time!  Last meal at Tucano’s.  Missionaries entering the MTC eat free.  (The rest of us don’t!)    Hugging Grammy Joyce.  This picture brought me to tears.

First package!

Finding friends in the MTC. (shout out to Elder Lawson!!)

MTC hijinks.

And THIS picture.  Of course.

Peru!

What it’s all about--this is the moment right here!  Making covenants to follow Christ.

Iquitos

Local Cuisine

Don’t look too closely…

Making friends.

Too cute for words.

Sometimes it rains.

The future is as bright as your faith.

Thumbs up! (the quintessential missionary pose)

With President & Sister Blunck (President of Lima North Mission).  Iquitos becomes its own mission July 2013.

Nueva Cajamarca

Old school baptism.

Eating giant guinea pig.

That your burden might be light.

It’s been a year of discovery, a year of faith, a year of service, a year of love.

Matthew 10:39 

He that findeth his life shall lose it:  and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.