Frisbee!

Dear Family,
Yeah, hey, talk about a week! Before we talk about the work...
I woke up on Monday and realized that Elder Thorn was on a bus headed for the mission home. He leaves today for California. What a wild thought! It was strange to think my mission might have been over right now, and it's definitely not time yet. I couldn't have left Monday morning. But I'm beginning to think -- the work might not be done in March, either. It's just going to come to a rough end sometime.

The news came yesterday: Elder Casilac will be transferring to Tarlac, and I'll be travelling back to the mission home to pick up my new companion. He'll be fresh out of the Manilla MTC. I've been trying to prepare myself... it would be so easy to spend one more transfer with Elder Casilac. Our companionship has been perfect, no bumps ever came along as far as companionship unity goes. I'm not sure how it happened, but it's been the smoothest, and one of the happiest times of my mission. I've got 100% trust in Elder Casilac. We've put our heart and soul into the work the past six weeks, but we've often referred back to the sections "no effort is wasted" and "a successful missionary" in Preach My Gospel. On Sunday, Elder Casilac spun around everytime we heard footsteps outside the meeting-house, but every time we were disappointed. In companionship study we practiced commitments, we talked about the sabbath, we wrote lesson plans about the sabbath, and we coordinated with members to pick up investigators. 5 promised. 3 had members to travel with. And none came in the end. One was all dressed up when an "emergency" came up, and in one case the member family themselves didn't end up making it to church. There were 24 members from San Luis there, and we needed to help with the Sacrament again. But our spirits and hopes are high! We've been teaching a lot of lessons, and teaching a lot of families.
One family, the Amazonas, who are long time investigators, said that formerly they didn't have much faith, even in Christ. But now their lives had turned around, and they not only relied on the Lord, they accept Joseph Smith as a prophet and said they believe that this is the true church. But it's hard to come to church. Church attendance is still the most important.

This week I tasted the tips of ferns cooked in coconut milk. On my two year mark, I baked the cake mix you sent me in our box, toaster oven, and it came out really good. In the place of ice cream we made a banana float. Yesterday we played frisbee on the Baler Beach and I got sunburned. It was great! I'm thinking about the coming transfer -- I know a whole lot more now about being a companion than I did a year ago, and I'm grateful for another chance to train. I just want to do my best!
Last week I was going to attach an update about Antonio. It was a little disappointing, but experiences like this are part of the mission and I learned something from it. I just know that Elder Casilac and I love him and did absolutely 100 percent to try to help him. My testimony came out stronger than ever despite what happened. And I think he'll have a time when he's ready. That's the great thing about planting -- when you've done your very best, there will likely be good results later on. Here's the attachement. Love you, family, and I can't wait to hear from you next week! Love, Elder Loren Peck

Last week I wrote about Brother Antonio, an investigator we've now taught about 5 times. He had a lot of questions so we were dropping by often and leaving reading assignments in the Book of Mormon and the Bible. We knew right from the start that he was active in Catholicism, but it seemed like he was progressing. On one of our visits, he asked us "If I happened to feel that Joseph Smith is a prophet, how would I go about becoming a member?" Elder Casilac and I had high hopes, but this week he said he had some more questions, and wrote them down. He gave us the paper, where he'd written that he still couldn't accept Joseph Smith as a prophet and that he needed to stay with the church that he'd grown up in. He thanked us for everything we'd shared, but he said he was happy where he was and had not yet felt the need for a new prophet or new book. All day, I couldn't think about anything else! What he'd written went around and around in my mind. All our hopes for him were shattered! It hurts so bad when things like this happen -- we've put hours and hours into study for him and included him in our prayers. But because of this, the past few days my testimony in the Prophet Joseph Smith has become absolutely firm. I won't back down at all, I just know the Restoration happened. I can't make anyone believe it, I can only trust that as we say it, Heavenly Father and Christ Himself will help us. I'll just keep on saying it. I know that Joseph Smith is a true prophet. With all our new contacts and investigators, it seems like we teach about the Restoration 5 or 6 times every day. Every time it's etched deeper in my heart. Many doubt, but surely there's someone that will be touched by it! We're waiting for those that will take a small step of faith to know the truth. I'm sure we'll see something this week. After all, it's true!


I'm so grateful for 6 more weeks to serve here in San Luis. I'm just not ready to leave yet. Then again, I'm not sure that I'll be ready in March either. I've learned at last what it means to "lay up treasure in heaven". I think it means to help as many of our brothers and sisters make it there as we possibly can. Each soul is an incredible treasure, and each one will be such a joy to spend eternity with. Our friends and family in the Celestial Kingdom is the treasure that awaits us there.