Here is what happens when you let the Elders touch your camera!
My Twin - Sister Matteson
After a long day of Spanish!
Hola todos,
Mom, my package is in the country, but I should actually get it sometime this week. It's been crazy. My comp used DHL and got it in 3 days. Global Mission Shipping takes like 7 days. It's been crazy. But whatever!! I need to learn patience.
Sorry, I haven't had time to read much of your letter, they changed our email time. But we'll see how it is next week in the field. My next p-day won't be until NEXT monday. Not this one. And I don't know what the rules will be.
Speaking of the field, we went out for the first time on splits into the East mission on Friday. I was partnered with a Hna who had one week and a half left. She was veteran. To get there, we drove past the ocean, and it was incredible. I've never seen so much blue in my life, and my brain kept trying to imagine mountains in the distance because otherwise, what would hold all the water in?? My area was a fairly poor, dirty part of Santo Domingo, away from the big city part. The houses are all brightly painted, and the trees all boast gorgeous flowers in all colors. Mangy nasty dogs just run free, roaming the streets, and threatening rabies if you step wrong. But the puppies are adorable. There's lots of trash all over. The houses there were very very small. And the front room is usually just open to the outside. Lots are built on top of each other, and you take some unstable cinderblock stairs up a narrow windy crack to get to the ones above. We taught 3 lessons. The first was to the tiniest little lady I have ever seen. (Me and my companion were 5'10 and 5'11). We took a member, but he mostly just fell asleep in all the lessons. I could understand my companions Spanish, but I had to fill in a lot of blanks when the investigator talked. I got to teach part of the lesson, which was super fun. And I'm pretty sure it at least made a little sense. I also jumped in several times to bear testimony of what my companion was saying.
Next we had an appointment with a man who apparently is having a hard time with the whole Joseph Smith/Book of Mormon thing. We were going to teach more about the Book of Mormon, but then his brother was there. This brother had slicked over hair and a smirky smile. He just oozed insincerity. Well, his agenda for the lesson was to fight with us about the Book of Mormon, and my companion decided to run with that plan. It was AWFUL! Me and the real investigator just exchanged grimaces the entire time. I did elbow my way in to share a scripture, and with only a blink in my direction, the brother just went right back at it. I knew that we just needed to leave, but my companion was so worked up and had completely lost any serenity or peace. I prayed desperately for a little bit of spirit to be there, and finally when I could see my companion was getting ready to give up, I jumped in. In my gringo accent, and not-near-perfect Spanish, I told them "I'm learning Spanish right now, and I can't say a lot, or understand all of this, but I do know that this book, the Book of Mormon is true. I know because I have read it and prayed about it and received answers from God. This book and its teachings are the words of God. Nothing this good could have come from anything bad. The things in this book bring us close to Christ. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know this church is true. I know that you don't need to believe what we say, because I know that you can receive your own answer when you read and pray with faith." That was my shining moment, but it only lasted for 2 blinks before smarmy brother was telling us how great it is that we love God, but how sad it is that we are serving Him the wrong way. My companion was ready to deck him, so she asked if we could close with a prayer and leave. I about died when he said he would pray. Ah, so not a good teaching appointment.
Our last was a young mother whose son died four months ago, she's interested in the church because they want to be with him again. My companion started the lesson and then elbowed me to signal that I should teach. Not being able to read through the elbow signal WHAT she wanted me to teach, I just went for the next section in the pamphlet we were talking about. I taught about how the gospel blesses families. I shared with her that the other day, I was missing my family, but I knew that through the gospel, I could be with them forever, and that I needed to be here helping other families know the way that they can be together forever.
It was an incredible experience. I learned that I can do it. I need to get better at understanding the Dominicans, but I can at least help teach.
Other adventure of the week: So, Hna Walker told us that she can speak fluent Spanish when she sleep-talks. Would you believe her? No. So I didn't either. Until it happened. One night, not very long after lights out, we hear some little noises. Then, "Mmm, Alex? Quien es Jose Smith?" We think that it's a prank at first, but after a few more muttered phrases, we ask her, "Hna Walker, Quien es Jose Smith?" She then launches into this flawless Spanish explanation of the restoration. The thing is, she can't speak Spanish that perfect, quickly, and grammatically correct in real life. Her accent was flawless (and it's far from flawless in real life). We kept asking her questions for about 20 minutes. It was incredible. She thought we were in Ogden, Utah, and she was still in the process of deciding to serve a mission. We told her she should go to the Dominican Republic, and she was like, “No! I don't think they even send sisters there. I want to go to the Western United States!” (Which is what she had told me previously that that was where she was hoping to go). It was hysterical. And then we woke her up and her perfect Spanish is gone. She couldn't remember any of it.
We got to watch a devotional from the Provo MTC from January by Elder Holland. I saw Jake Whitney in the crowd, and I also saw my old roommate singing in the choir. But the devotional was AMAZING! I wish you guys could see it. It was incredible. I have never felt so excited to be a missionary. Some of my favorite quotes:
"Go out there and astonish somebody" (now this is pasted on my door)
"This is real life. This is one of the closest things to real life you will ever experience."
"Just work every day until someone tells you to go home."
Ah, but none of these are adequately conveying the power of his talk. I want to be so much better and work so much harder. I have learned so much. But now, with less than a week left here, I'm desperate to learn more. There's too much to know and be. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed because Heavenly Father is trying to have me learn so many lessons every day. The other day, I was like, "Um, did you not see humility on my goals for the day? Did you really need to throw charity, patience, service, hope, and faith at me too today? Can we do one at a time?" But no. No we can't. I'm learning a lot about the necessity of the atonement every single day. There's a girl in my district who has been really mean to me this week. I've had a lot of feelings of frustration and hurt, and the only way to get rid of them to make room for love is through the atonement, because I can't get rid of them myself.
I love you all lots and lots. I'm so grateful for your support.
Love, Hna Sarah Peck
My Twin - Sister Matteson
After a long day of Spanish!
Hola todos,
Mom, my package is in the country, but I should actually get it sometime this week. It's been crazy. My comp used DHL and got it in 3 days. Global Mission Shipping takes like 7 days. It's been crazy. But whatever!! I need to learn patience.
Sorry, I haven't had time to read much of your letter, they changed our email time. But we'll see how it is next week in the field. My next p-day won't be until NEXT monday. Not this one. And I don't know what the rules will be.
Speaking of the field, we went out for the first time on splits into the East mission on Friday. I was partnered with a Hna who had one week and a half left. She was veteran. To get there, we drove past the ocean, and it was incredible. I've never seen so much blue in my life, and my brain kept trying to imagine mountains in the distance because otherwise, what would hold all the water in?? My area was a fairly poor, dirty part of Santo Domingo, away from the big city part. The houses are all brightly painted, and the trees all boast gorgeous flowers in all colors. Mangy nasty dogs just run free, roaming the streets, and threatening rabies if you step wrong. But the puppies are adorable. There's lots of trash all over. The houses there were very very small. And the front room is usually just open to the outside. Lots are built on top of each other, and you take some unstable cinderblock stairs up a narrow windy crack to get to the ones above. We taught 3 lessons. The first was to the tiniest little lady I have ever seen. (Me and my companion were 5'10 and 5'11). We took a member, but he mostly just fell asleep in all the lessons. I could understand my companions Spanish, but I had to fill in a lot of blanks when the investigator talked. I got to teach part of the lesson, which was super fun. And I'm pretty sure it at least made a little sense. I also jumped in several times to bear testimony of what my companion was saying.
Next we had an appointment with a man who apparently is having a hard time with the whole Joseph Smith/Book of Mormon thing. We were going to teach more about the Book of Mormon, but then his brother was there. This brother had slicked over hair and a smirky smile. He just oozed insincerity. Well, his agenda for the lesson was to fight with us about the Book of Mormon, and my companion decided to run with that plan. It was AWFUL! Me and the real investigator just exchanged grimaces the entire time. I did elbow my way in to share a scripture, and with only a blink in my direction, the brother just went right back at it. I knew that we just needed to leave, but my companion was so worked up and had completely lost any serenity or peace. I prayed desperately for a little bit of spirit to be there, and finally when I could see my companion was getting ready to give up, I jumped in. In my gringo accent, and not-near-perfect Spanish, I told them "I'm learning Spanish right now, and I can't say a lot, or understand all of this, but I do know that this book, the Book of Mormon is true. I know because I have read it and prayed about it and received answers from God. This book and its teachings are the words of God. Nothing this good could have come from anything bad. The things in this book bring us close to Christ. I know Joseph Smith was a true prophet. I know this church is true. I know that you don't need to believe what we say, because I know that you can receive your own answer when you read and pray with faith." That was my shining moment, but it only lasted for 2 blinks before smarmy brother was telling us how great it is that we love God, but how sad it is that we are serving Him the wrong way. My companion was ready to deck him, so she asked if we could close with a prayer and leave. I about died when he said he would pray. Ah, so not a good teaching appointment.
Our last was a young mother whose son died four months ago, she's interested in the church because they want to be with him again. My companion started the lesson and then elbowed me to signal that I should teach. Not being able to read through the elbow signal WHAT she wanted me to teach, I just went for the next section in the pamphlet we were talking about. I taught about how the gospel blesses families. I shared with her that the other day, I was missing my family, but I knew that through the gospel, I could be with them forever, and that I needed to be here helping other families know the way that they can be together forever.
It was an incredible experience. I learned that I can do it. I need to get better at understanding the Dominicans, but I can at least help teach.
Other adventure of the week: So, Hna Walker told us that she can speak fluent Spanish when she sleep-talks. Would you believe her? No. So I didn't either. Until it happened. One night, not very long after lights out, we hear some little noises. Then, "Mmm, Alex? Quien es Jose Smith?" We think that it's a prank at first, but after a few more muttered phrases, we ask her, "Hna Walker, Quien es Jose Smith?" She then launches into this flawless Spanish explanation of the restoration. The thing is, she can't speak Spanish that perfect, quickly, and grammatically correct in real life. Her accent was flawless (and it's far from flawless in real life). We kept asking her questions for about 20 minutes. It was incredible. She thought we were in Ogden, Utah, and she was still in the process of deciding to serve a mission. We told her she should go to the Dominican Republic, and she was like, “No! I don't think they even send sisters there. I want to go to the Western United States!” (Which is what she had told me previously that that was where she was hoping to go). It was hysterical. And then we woke her up and her perfect Spanish is gone. She couldn't remember any of it.
We got to watch a devotional from the Provo MTC from January by Elder Holland. I saw Jake Whitney in the crowd, and I also saw my old roommate singing in the choir. But the devotional was AMAZING! I wish you guys could see it. It was incredible. I have never felt so excited to be a missionary. Some of my favorite quotes:
"Go out there and astonish somebody" (now this is pasted on my door)
"This is real life. This is one of the closest things to real life you will ever experience."
"Just work every day until someone tells you to go home."
Ah, but none of these are adequately conveying the power of his talk. I want to be so much better and work so much harder. I have learned so much. But now, with less than a week left here, I'm desperate to learn more. There's too much to know and be. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed because Heavenly Father is trying to have me learn so many lessons every day. The other day, I was like, "Um, did you not see humility on my goals for the day? Did you really need to throw charity, patience, service, hope, and faith at me too today? Can we do one at a time?" But no. No we can't. I'm learning a lot about the necessity of the atonement every single day. There's a girl in my district who has been really mean to me this week. I've had a lot of feelings of frustration and hurt, and the only way to get rid of them to make room for love is through the atonement, because I can't get rid of them myself.
I love you all lots and lots. I'm so grateful for your support.
Love, Hna Sarah Peck
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