Love One Another!

My amazing family!!! Do you all know how amazing and special you are? You are all my heroes, I look up to every single one of you. Thank you for your righteous examples and great support and advice. You amaze me.

So let me give you the little details on Mt. Airy and Maryland and all those random mission things I skipped while trying to figure everything else out. 


The area of Mt. Airy is very rural, it really does remind me of Cache Valley. Pockets of little towns but the rest is rural. The roads are SO narrow and everyone speeds like crazy so we can't walk a lot of the roads here. 

We park in the neighborhoods and walk around, then drive to the next area and park and walk. We live just off of adorable little historic downtown and we can walk a lot of places from here so that's good.

The spring was BEAUTIFUL with all of the blossoms. I have never seen so many different colors and flowers on trees. It is very humid here and getting more so every week. They say by August it's awful so we will see how I survive. It also rains a lot though. It's kind of like Cache Valley weather too, one day it's super hot and the next it's super chilly. You never know. Some days we dress for cold because it's dark and rainy and then when it's time to actually go out we are changing outfits because it decides to be hot and sunny instead. Pretty wild.

Anyway. This week was pretty fantastic. After I sent that email Monday we hurried through cleaning and shopping because we did our first fun P-day thing ever- painting rocks! A nonmember friend invited us to her house for lunch and rock painting. Let me tell you, nothing more stress relieving than painting rocks. Mine are the tree, the Don't worry Be happy one, the Faith Hope Charity one, and the lobster because I love lobsters and we each had to make a pet rock. Julie was so sweet to invite us, I love her so much. 

After dinner that night and a fantastic lesson with Billy, we went to a dear friend's house, her name is Stephanie. She is coming back to church but it is so difficult for her because of severe anxiety. She is so strong though and one of the most selfless, charitable people I know. When we got there she pulled out these huge, adorable Easter baskets for us!! We were tickled pink. 

Tuesday I gave the instruction for district council about opening our mouths and being fearless that by the end, everyone committed to talking to EVERYONE for the rest of the day. It was so scary but we did it and saw so many blessings from it! We talked to so many people and found out that these people know some people we're working with so haha craziness! They are so sweet. Don't usually want to talk to us, but at least aren't rude about it. 

Random highlight this week, I got to eat pizza for the first time in the field. Sister Mutter is gluten free so we get fed quality food, which is great, but I can't tell you how excited I was to get pizza for the first time in forever (they got cauliflower pizza for her).

The next really big thing this week was that we had TWO PEOPLE COME TO CHURCH!!! Billy, who we've been teaching for about four years and is just slowly getting there, and Irving, our miracle man. Irving showed up half an hour early haha and he was so nervous. But so, so brave. He was overwhelmed because it wasn't what he expected (He expected a traditional sermon) but recognized himself that it was going to take time and he told us he'll stick with it! He is so incredible. Has concerns but seriously just knows that he needs to know God and that he wants to feel purity and happiness and forgiveness. It feels so incredibly amazing to fulfill my purpose as a missionary by helping him come unto Christ. 
Another big thing we do is to teach member families. Our mission president asked us to teach 5 member families the lessons and we have had so much fun doing that. It's great practice too. The testimonies of the members are so powerful. Everyone should read Elder Utchdorf's talk again, it's so fantastic!!!  

 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2019/04/14uchtdorf?lang=eng

Pray for charity and living and sharing the gospel becomes so much easier, I promise. I love you all so much!!! 

Love, Sister Peck

Find Them

My family!!! My beloved family!!!

Last Monday we had interviews with President. He is incredibly loving and wise. He LOVES us and he LOVES the work. He is also always smiling and laughing and his laugh is hilarious. Whenever you ask him how he is, he always says "I am strong and powerful, like a dolphin" in his accent and everything ahhh it's fantastic. I was feeling pretty down about myself and the area and the work and he talked some sense into me. He reminded me the power of charity. He told me to pray for charity for these people in Mt. Airy because I have people here to find. I am praying and praying for charity and I have seen miracles in doing so this week. 

First miracle was when we got back to our apartment to finish our preparation day. We were sitting at our table talking about how we are going to improve the effort here when someone knocked on our door. We were surprised, but even more so when this girl asked for our card and number for her dad! So blown away! Nothing has come of it yet but miracles.
The next miracles came after District Council which was fantastic this week. Oh yikes just remembered I'm in charge of the discussion tomorrow...I'm pretty excited though. Anyway this week our district set the goal to find 20 new people (people we meet with and then get return appointments so that we're technically teaching them) which means finding about 5 new people per area. In the last 6 weeks we've only found 1 person so...faith! And truly, miracles came from this combined effort of faith. We prayed for each other in every prayer. My dear mother fasted and prayed for me that day and between all those things and increased prayers for charity I have never felt the power of prayer more strong. It's tangible. God led us to a few awesome contacts and we finally got in with the referral we've been needing to talk to. I don't have time to go into detail about most of them but there have been so many miracles.

Tell Grandma thanks for the materials for our Plan of Salvation lesson. It's been a hit this week!

This week we did a lot of yard work for this awesome woman named Betty. She is my hero. She is over 90 and doing amazing. She is so selfless and has such strong morals and lives by them. We met her my second week here, just walking down the street. She invited us in and we talked to her for a long time just about ourselves and about life. She said we were an answer to prayers because she finally can't do her own yard work and was praying someone would come help and there we came. We helped her weed her flower beds. She is so grateful for what we have done and for the friendship we now have that she keeps joking to her church friends (she's been a Methodist her whole life) that she is going to become a member of our church. She thinks it's hilarious because it freaks all of her friends out but she says there is truth behind it, she says she'd never change at this point in her life but she loves us and loves what we do and stand for. Oh I love Miss Betty.
Biggest miracle this week was us feeling that we needed to go to a less active friend's apartment even when we knew she wasn't there. We ended up talking to her downstairs neighbor about faith for like an hour. His son is baptized and he loves our faith, just also loves all the other faiths in the whole world. Great guy. After that we went to Stephanie's, but her other neighbor was outside on their shared porch talking on the phone. He said she wasn't home so we started to leave. He said "hey I thought you wanted to talk to me" and we joked "we definitely can!" and he hung up right then and there and said "alright, tell me what makes you different". Wow. Couldn't believe it. Boom, restoration. He is such a prepared person in that he wants spiritual peace but doesn't know where to find it. We talked a long time about how God isn't punishing him. Later he texted us and was freaked about the Book of Mormon but we are going to see what we can do, I think he sees that we have answers but is clouded by the Mormon stigma. 

Funny story, right at the end of talking to this guy (Irving) Stephanie, our friend came home and we all got talking together. Then it was time for us to go so we start walking off the porch when a huge black spider came down in front of me and I FREAKED. Like super freaked. You all know me. This was bad. I squealed and jumped back, knocking right into both Stephanie and Irving (small apartment porch). So ummm...great first impressions.

Today we actually got invited to go have lunch with and paint rocks with a nonmember! Her son is on a mission and her husband is somewhat active so they love the missionaries and feed us dinner. But she invited us to paint rocks and we're SOOO excited! First fun p-day thing ever! But it means I have even less time for writing.

Well it's official, I'm in Mt. Airy with sister Mutter another 6 weeks. It really is a good thing, I don't feel my work here is done and I have a lot to learn from her.

Haha anyway, miracles! God is blessing us for seeking and for acting in faith. He loves us and wants to bless us. I hope Easter was amazing for you and I love you all sooooo much!!!!

Love, Sister Lindsay Peck

Jumping to this week while I still remember. . .

This week was overall really good. Kinda weird, but really good. Conference was amazing and set the whole week up spiritually. We taught an awesome lesson to Billy on Monday night. He's been taking lessons since 2015 and is just a super awesome guy. Hasn't been ready to commit to anything yet. On Monday we read Alma 32 with him and extended the invitation for him to be baptized. He's accepted soft baptismal commitments for years but he said this time he really does feel like something needs to change. We committed him to pray to know if he needs to be baptized and we will follow up tonight! Tuesday and Wednesday we got to do service for some ward members! It felt sooooo good to get outside and do yardwork. 

Sister Mutter and Sister Peck spreading mulch for a family in their ward.

We had a lesson set up with AJ at the beginning of the week but he kept pushing it off a day at a time and then never answered on Friday so....we'll see about that. Tuesday night we finally met Vernadette, a woman who used to be taught but didn't care much for the Elders so she stopped taking the lessons haha. She is awesome. Super sweet, spiritual giant. 

On Thursday we had to take the car to Colombia to get a hitch put on. It was about 10 minutes outside of Baltimore which is probably as close as I'm going to get to actually being there. Friday was a weird day. After a long day of finding and seeing a guy pee in his front yard after we knocked on his door and he didn't answer, we had dinner with a family in the ward, and one of their sons reminded me so much of Charlie that I was kind of rattled. Then AJ flaked on us. Then it started pouring. Then a guy told us we were a false church. Then, worst of all, the frogs. I love the frogs, I have pictures with them. But what is not ok about them is that they hop onto the road, and then Sister Mutter hits them, and they POP. And it causes me severe grief. So I was kind of having a breakdown and we turned the music up really loud and I closed my eyes so I couldn't see or hear the frogs. Uuuuuggghhh. Anyway. 

Saturday was awesome, I got permission to see Sarah!! That was so cool. Kind of weird, since I feel like a very different person in a very different world on the mission but very cool. 

Sunday was interesting...We had been asked to speak in Sacrament Meeting and I was super excited because I had an awesome talk, (plus new cute clothes from Sarah), but then Sister Mutter had a migraine so we stayed in all day. I was not prepared for the not good, antsy feelings of staying in when I was perfectly fine. I felt awful for bailing on speaking and cancelling all our appointments. But as I was studying I was reading about Christlike attributes and, miracles, I felt love and patience and empathy. Christ is there in every time of need, even the ones that seem small. He cares about the little things.
I cannot tell you how grateful I am for every email, package, and letter I have received this week. And all previous weeks. The advice, love, and support really gets me through the hard times. You are my angels and I love you so much. I miss you SOOO much. 

Like a Three Legged Dog

That's what I feel like this week. I am kind of starting to get the rhythm of things, but am still kind of trying to figure it all out. I love getting up early #blessed. I looooove exercise time. I love studies. I love teaching. I even love finding. I just love working hard. 

I love service. Every week we volunteer at the thrift shop right next door and that's pretty fun. We just sort and clean and organize or whatever they need. 

A big thing this week was family history. We have a Sister in our ward who spoke at Rootstech and gives lectures all the time at lots of important family history things. Her name is Rebecca Koford. She is incredible. She gives free lectures at the church building once a month and like 50 people, mostly non-members, show up. Mount Airy is reaping on the other side of the veil. They love family history, members and non-members. They love it. It is so cool to see the love of the non-members who don't see it as just a work to be done, but so sincerely just want to know about who they come from. Their eyes light up. It's so amazing to see and I love it. It feels like home because my mother and father created such a love for family history in our home. I am grateful for what they taught me and for what I learned in my calling as youth family history consultant for a while there because I have been able to add some insight and share my love for the work. Sister Koford gave Sister Mutter and I a lesson on how we can help non-members access family tree and show them the tools in an effective way. I LOVED it. It fits perfectly with the Maryland Baltimore's mission purpose to further the work on both sides of the veil, something I am so grateful we focus on as a mission! We also finally got our new Bishop this week, he was actually our Ward Mission Leader and he is so passionate about missionary work so that's awesome! That's the thing, the ward here is so faithful and proactive about missionary work even though there aren't any immediate results and haven't been for a long time. They build my testimony of faith so much. It makes me know what kind of member I want to be when I get home! 

As far as teaching, we keep getting bailed on but we keep in good contact. We've been trying by a lot of people and some let us in to talk so that was awesome! We are finally figuring out the area, and have really felt that member work and service are going to be huge here. We picked our five member families to teach and will be hopefully getting in with them next week. 

3 week meeting was also this week, it felt SOOO good to see Sister Sato and Sister Nielson again!!! I love them so much.

President also helped me shift perspective about my purpose here and my relationship with my trainer and overall just so much spiritual greatness. I truly do have moments where I just love the work. I enjoy what I'm doing. Those moments are precious blessings haha. Keep working hard to do the little things, they make all the difference.  Love you all. 

Miracles and Meltdowns

This week was awesome, and not awesome, all in one. We were still trying to figure out the area and how to work it, and it didn't help that we were out of driving miles because the Elders before us had to cover both Damascus and Mt. Airy. 

So it was a lot of added stress to find rides and coordinate where we needed to go with dinner appointments and where we were going to try by ALL while trying to figure out how we work with each other. I finally had my first cry of my entire mission experience. Yay I guess? Get that out of the way? I just didn't want to be here. Haha apparently everyone feels that way? If they are normal? Haha I seriously do enjoy what I'm doing most of the time and already wouldn't trade this experience for anything. I don't yet know why I'm in Maryland but one day I'll find out I suppose. 


So the random jellybean picture...we found a box of these Harry Potter jellybeans where some are gross flavors and some are good and we decided to play that game...nasty. Nasty nasty nasty. I don't know how they get the flavors so spot on to nasty things. So anyway. 

That was the only out of the ordinary thing that happened this week haha. My highlights this week were personal study. I love having this consecrated time for getting deep into the words of Prophets and the doctrine of our Gospel and Christ. We were told by our President to study Preach my Gospel in every study as well, and that is a blessing because it keeps us focused on our purpose here and applies our studies to the people we are interacting with. 

And you know, teaching once in a blue moon. This gospel is amazing and simple. Don't overcomplicate it! Remember that it is such a blessing to already have it in our lives! Keep living it. I also loved District Council. I love hearing how other people do things, gives me lots of great ideas and is always uplifting. Oh yeah, zone conference!!! Loved it soooo much. President is so amazing and inspired. It feels so good to be around other missionaries, to be reminded that we're not alone in the middle of nowhere doing this craziness. 

They do this thing called Miracles where area companionships will race to stand up and shout "Miracles in [whatever their area is] and then share an awesome miracle that happened. It was so cool. Slightly depressing because we have not seem miracles on that level yet, ours are small and simple miracles but just as awesome. Miracles just gets us so pumped. Shows that things really are happening and the Lord is on our side. That night after Zone Conference we did find some awesome people! One couple even said, "Missionaries!? Come on in!!". Never happens. 

They said they would be at church and were super hyped but didn't show up and have since stopped talking to us......but miracles! Doesn't matter the fruit we reap today, it's all in the Lord's timing. It's been rough, really rough, but I do see the tender mercies He gives me all the time. 

Fine and Pleasant Misery

Basically how I would describe the last three  (almost 4...haha sorry) weeks. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for your emails and sticky notes and prayers!! They mean the world to me. YOU all mean the world to me and I miss you so much! Stop having so much fun without me! 

Ok week one...The last time I wrote was my last day in the MTC. Lots has happened since then! We had our last classes with my AMAZING teachers and then were up pretty late packing. We got up at 3 and were out of there and on the bus by 4:45. 

Saying goodbye to our district sisters was incredibly hard, I love those sisters more than I can say. We all still keep in touch though so that's good. 

Our flight left by 10 (after I got to call mom at the airport) and we were in Maryland by 4 Eastern time. Tender mercy, Sister Sato and I got to sit by each other! I love and adore her so much. She truly was a golden blessing straight from heaven just for me. She is a spiritual giant. Anyway we got off the plane and met our APs. They greeted us and then just told us to go contact people at the airport until President came. So ummm into the fire. Jk it was really fun. We talked to a super sweet lady named Sheila for a long time about her and her family, then the new Bible museum in D.C. We left her with a Book of Mormon which she took very graciously. It was an awesome first real life missionary experience. Then we met President Mutombo who is absolutely incredible. The Spirit radiates from him. He is also hilarious, always smiling and laughing. We had dinner at his home that night along with testimony meeting and interviews. It all happened so fast, it was kind of a whirlwind. Like whoah, I'm in Maryland. On a mission. What.

We all met up at the stake center the next morning to hear from President, the Everets, and the Peters (our senior couples) and get our trainers. We again bore our testimonies. Then our trainers were announced! Sister Mutter is my trainer and she is absolutely perfect for me. 

She has only been out five months and we are doubling into a new area but even so she is so good at missionary work. She is the perfect teacher and example to me. She pushes me without using any words at all, the best kind of teaching. I am truly best because she has gifts that not many other missionaries have, even at just five months. Anyway, a member drove us to our apartment in Mt. Airy and as we were coming over the hill into Mt. Airy I was filled with so much peace and joy. This area looks like home a lot and I was so excited to be here. We went pretty quickly to a dinner with a member. So the members here are amazing. More prepared for the work than anywhere I've ever seen. So the rest of the week was just trying to figure out the area and tracting. We quickly found that is not successful, everyone here is well off and content with their lives and SOOO busy. But it was a fun week. Just trying to figure out how a mission works! It's fun, it's not. It's exhausting talking to people all day every day. I get really quiet a lot which doesn't happen much at home. Just need recharged every once in a while. I love people though so it's not bad. I have truly felt God's immense love for His children.