After All There's Only 7 More Sleeps 'Til Christmas

Hey Family!

So this week was crazy and yet, I really don't have that much to report on. It looks like you're all doing well! 

Also, I got the letter from Nate and Lexi and Elizabeth!! Thanks for the banner, tell the primary I loved it!! There's a picture of me with it too! It was such a fun thing to get! What a tender mercy. And I just about died laughing at your letter. ;)

Thank you all so much for your Christmas wishes and presents, I'm so excited to open them on Christmas!!! Just a little touch of home.

Also, I sent my package to you guys!! It's on it's way and they promised it would be there before Christmas! 

So this week we had a lot going on. We had exchanges and I stayed in Castle Peak Bay with Sister Rees! From my district. We had some really good conversations and I found out we're going home together in August!!! And thanks for the update mom! Wow, August 10th. So we were really excited about that. Most of the other sisters are waiting till September, so it was good for us to have each other. 

Last p-day we got lunch with Joyce (hamburgers, which were so good!) and it was so so amazing to talk to her. She's really amazing. 

She also gave us adorable stockings with Lindt chocolate and an orange. I'm so lucky to have her here. And other than that, we had zone conference, which was amazing. Super spiritual. Sister Roskelley did the "Sensing the Savior" activity, where everyone is blindfolded and you listen to songs about Jesus's life. It was so so amazing. It reminded me of that Laurel Retreat I went to years ago where we did the same thing. It's stuck with me all this time.

We visited with some members who are so amazing and make sure we're warm enough (yes, it is in fact really cold here right now. About 9 degrees Celcius.) They're so nice.

And Chan Jimuih is going to ask her husband if Henry and Candy can get baptized. Probably this week. They're all pretty worried about it, so I pray things work out for them. We're hoping for a miracle. But tis the season! If it's Heavenly Father's will, it will happen.

Last night we did caroling finding and the Tuen Muhn Town Center and it was pretty fun. One lady was super excited and sang with us, then bought us little cakes from a bakery and told us it was her birthday. So we sang Happy Birthday to her. She was so cute. What a fun Christmas season.

And Sister Webb's mom sent her a sticker tree and we put it on the wall and put up some lights. So it's Christmas time for certain. And we lit a Chrismas smelling candle. I love it.

It's been a good week. So cool to see everyone telling each other Merry Christmas and whether they know it or not, celebrating Christ's birth. I'm super grateful for everything He did for us.

I can't wait to talk to you all on the 23rd or 24th! Hopefully it works out alright, lots of prayers. I love you all so much!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

All my love, Sister Peck

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright. . .

Hey!!!

Yes, if you can't tell from the pictures, it's still very green and bright. Yay Christmas!

Thanks for the letters!  I loved them!!!

So there's so much to put into this letter, so I'll do my best to remember all of it.

I got the package!!!!! Yes, I did open it and read all the letters, but I PROMISE I haven't touched the wrapped presents yet. I'm a patient person. ;) Also I got the watch mom!!! I LOVE it! I'm going to ask Elder Roskelly this week if I can use it for travel money, but even if I can't I'll be using it for personal, so thank you so so much! I figured that would be my only present, but I was surprised to get a whole package with it... and another is on the way? I am so blessed to have such an amazing family like you guys!!! 

I also hung up some of the stockings grandma gave me and the other sisters were thrilled at the chocolate inside...

Also, I got the package/envelope from Valeen and Bishop!! Oh my goodness, tell them thanks so so much. I just about cried with joy when I saw the cute towel with my name embroidered on it and a JOHN DEERE TRACTOR!!!! It was a touch of home. Not to mention my FAVORITE CARMELS! So yeah, tell them thanks from me!!!

And thanks so much for the dry shampoo!! Yeah, I got that out too... I've been using it and trying to hide it from the rest of the apartment... Thank you thank you!

So this week we had a lot happen. So to answer questions, Sister Haghsheno is amazing. I love her so much. She's from germany, and she's half Persian! So yeah, pretty much super cool. I sent that one video of her speaking German for Landon (she loved your letter Lando! Sister Peck its die beste Missionarin auf der ganzen weiten Welt! Seid alle immer nett zu ihr und schickt ihr ganz viele Briefe und Pakete! Frohe Weihnachten an etch alle! Yeah, that was her. Your welcome Lando) It's been a super fun companionship so far. And I've learned about 14 German words. Yup, doing great.

We went into a small village of towns trying to find an LA and a member to give them cookies and got pretty lost, so that was fun. But we took great pictures!!

We also had a chengout with some members and they took us to yam cha (Dim Sum) It was super good food, we had chicken feet, squid, shrimp, fish, mushrooms, noodles, rice, red bean soup for dessert and all that good stuff. I thought I was going to burst there was so much food.

We've been doing some caroling finding which is pretty fun. Christmas lights are coming up!

We've had some really good meetings with our investigators, LAs and RCs and I'm trying to get to know everyone's faces and names and get to know the area. It's pretty crazy.

But coolest experience this week was visiting Chan Jimuih's family. Henry is 9, Candy is 8 and they're so cute. They're getting baptized this month, but their dad isn't a member and he's kind of against the church. But their mom is a member and really wants them baptized. She's so amazing and super faithful. So we taught a quick obedience lesson before their dad got home, then as we were about to leave, Candy remembered that we hadn't said a closing prayer and she whispered to me "Ngohdeih yiu jouh sanwuih keitou!"(we need to do a closing prayer!)

I responded "Ngohdeih yihga wuih jouh, hou mh hou?" (we'll do one right now, ok?)

And her in her adorable cantonese whispered "butgwo bahba hai ukei."(but dad is home)

It just about broke my heart in half. So she ran and got sister Haghsheno and we huddled in a small circle in their front room with this cute family and Candy whispered a closing prayer so their dad wouldn't hear. they're so incredible and Sister Haghsheno and I walked out of there feeling so close to their family. I was just pleading in my heart for Heavenly Father to help them. It's so amazing how much He loves his children. I hope there's a miracle so they can get baptized on the 31st.

So that was my week. I know He's watching out for all of you. Thanks for all your prayers for me! I love you all so so much! Til next week.

Sister Peck

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

Hey everyone!!!

So this week we had transfers and we said our goodbyes to Sister Groberg. It was super sad to see her go.

But we were also super excited to get sister Perez in our apartment!

So now I'm companions with Sister Haghsheno and she's amazing. it's already such a fun companionship, so I'm excited for the next six weeks!

Last pday we did a hike for Sister Groberg's last p-day so that was so fun and so beautiful. We went to the reservoir and took some good pictures.

And, well, we didn't really do a lot this week. We met with some of our members and LAs, and I'm still trying to get to know the Castle Peak Bay area. We also got new elders! The elders have been closed in this area for a while, but now they're back. It's Elder Sherren, from my MTC district, and Elder Dalton. They're great. So we've been showing them around so they don't get lost.

We went to church yesterday and met the ward. They're so nice! It's a good change. Not too big.

The language is getting a lot better, I'm feeling a lot more confident about it, so thanks for all the prayers!! Heavenly Father is definitely making up the difference.

We tried some caroling finding the other day and it was hilarious. I guess it doesn't work quite as well as it might in America. But we had a good time and hopefully spread some Christmas cheer. Speaking of which, we're so excited about the Light the World! So we'll see how that goes.

In other news, Sister Haghsheno and I both passed language passoffs, so we had Tim Tam Slams to celebrate that and my halfway mark! (which was on Friday)

Sorry this letter isn't that long, this week flew by and I don't remember most of it. But we're excited for Christmas! I love youall so so much and hope everything is going well. Just remember that Heavenly Father does answer your prayers and is watching out for you. All my love!!

Sister Peck

Thanksgiving and Transfers!

Hey everyone!

Wow, so this week was a bit of a doozy, so I'll try to get it all in there the best I can. So we did get to celebrate Thanksgiving. Each companionship in our zone got 100 dollars (HK) to get the food they were assigned. Sister Webb and I made that broccoli salad that we always have at Thanksgiving, and we had 4 hours with the zone to play games and eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and lots of pie. It was amazing. And we played signs with everyone. It was such a good Thanksgiving for sure.

  I got to talk to Sister Dopp, the sister who's been with me my whole time in Hong Kong. We lived together, and now she's in my zone. She goes home on Thursday with Sister Groberg. So crazy how fast that went. And I got to be with Sis. Burtenshaw and Rees too. We're all pretty excited to hit our halfway mark this Friday, Dec 1! So it was fun to talk to them. 

The rest of the week was insanely busy with exchanges and lessons, we took a trip to Wan Chai on Wednesday to turn over an LA (less active). Long story short, this week FLEW! I only got studies in a few times this week. Also, I finally finished my language pass offs!!! Yay me! Ok, not me, it was all the Holy Ghost. Wouldn't want to get struck down for taking the credit there. Anywho, now I can start learning characters if I want to, so that's cool.

In other news, yeah, exchanges were awesome, I had Sister Haghsheno with me while Sis Webb and Groberg did their STL swaps, and we had a really good 24 hrs of lessons and member visits and English class. Then we had transfers. We've all kind of been dreading the call actually because we knew Sister Haghsheno would get a new companion when Sis Groberg leaves, but Sister Webb and I had no idea what would happen to us.

So we ordered pizza that night and the pizza guy came and delivered it to our door. He was nice, said he wanted an English speaking girlfriend and told us to call him. We shut the door pretty fast. Then we had pizza and got the call. So yeah, some crazy things are happening. Sister Webb is training in Butterfly. And... I'm going to CastlePeak Bay. With Sister Haghsheno. We were all pretty shocked. I don't even move out. Just move desks. So it's been some pretty crazy days.

To answer questions mom, Genie is good, still just taking the lessons. They're really busy with finals. Echo has no interest whatsoever, but that's ok. Someday.

So yeah, that's my week! I hope all of you had an amazing Thanksgiving!!! Feel free to send me some of that pie, Linz. Tell everyone hi for me and that I love them!!! You all are amazing!!! Thanks for all the prayers. Keep an eye out for all the miracles out there this week.

Sister Peck

It's a Small World After All

Hey Family!!!!

This week has been good! On p-day we went to DisneyLand and it was a blast! It was a bit rainy, but still super fun. I loved the band playing the Disney songs. It's been a while since I've heard them, so that was cool! It was a good, fun break. It's especially fun since Sister Groberg only has 2 weeks left, so it's been fun to spend time with her. She was in the MTC with Karissa actually. They roomed together! It's a small world after all!

So this week hasn't been too crazy. We did get to meet with our investigator, Genie, and we taught plan of salvation. We then extended a baptismal date for the 23rd of December and she accepted!!! She's golden. It's been such a blessing. It's cool to see that some people can have a real desire to learn about the gospel. So yay for Genie!

Other than that, we did finding and had interviews with President Lam, and It was Sister Webb's Birthday on Tuesday!!! So we celebrated her birthday with Mac and Cheese and cake and we surprised her with cake and pizza at District Meeting. So that was a good day. We also had our ward Thanksgiving party, which was really fun. Yeah, for Thanksgiving on Thursday we get 4 hours to have a Thanksgiving meal and stuff, It'll be a blast.

So that's basically all that happened this week. It's been pretty good. This morning when we came into the mall, we saw this ginormous Christmas tree and decorations. It made us so excited for Christmas! So that's about it for us. 

 I trimmed my hair! First time since before the MTC!

I hope all of you are doing amazing! Keep up the good work and find ways to share the gospel with others. It will bless their lives and yours. :) It's been such a tender mercy filled week.

I love you all so much!

Sister Peck

Lion Rock

Leih Hou!

Wow, another week come and gone. Time is going so fast sometimes!

This week... Basically nothing happened actually. We did get a really good member referral, so we now have an investigator. Yay!!! Her name is Genie and she's GOLDEN!! She comes to church with the member and plans to keep coming. So we'll teach her the lessons and everything, but she's so amazing and is so willing to learn. Blessings. Also, Sara will bring food to our ward Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday, and she'll come back to our ward, so everything's better there too. Whew. So yeah, it's been a good week.

Um, funny part of the week, we had a Po Po (grandma, Po Po is the respectful term for an older woman) come and try to do Kayla (the workout) with us and it was so cute! All her friends were telling her that she was too old, but she had some fun doing squats. It was pretty fun. We're becoming pretty good friends with the Po Pos at the park.

So, sorry for all the pictures, but we went to hike Lion Rock last P-day and it was Gorgeous!!!! So I took lots of pictures. Wow, it was amazing to have everything look so small. Also, I was really sore afterwards. And we saw a monkey! I didn't take a picture of him though. Those things are vicious.

The rest of the week... I don't really remember... We had a cheng out (a member dinner) and she invited 8 people, but 4 of them didn't come, she'd already eaten... if I can still do math at all, that leaves... yup, the 4 of us missionaries. With 8 full dishes. Oh my... We all felt a little sick after that one.

We did some finding along the pier this week and it is so pretty. We also had a cheng out with Sara and Nico since tomorrow is Sister Webb's birthday!! So Sara went all out and bought a full duck and a big fish and a cake for Sister Webb.

We ate with our hands (with plastic gloves) and had ourselves a party. I got pictures. Then Sara also gave Sis Webb a gold necklace.  Sara is so amazing and loves us so much. It's so cute. We love her too.

That was basically my whole week. We're headed to DisneyLand today after emailing because we got those free tickets from Crossroads. Now before you get too jealous, it's a really really small DisneyLand. But it'll be a good break.

I love you all so so much and I really hope everything goes spectacular this week!! I love this gospel and I know it's true. Thanks for all of y'all's prayers and support.

All my love,

Sister Peck