What Even Was this Week?

This week was miracles and weirdness. Just very many things out of the ordinary. We stayed in due to a headache Monday night and just texted and called people and while doing that we received a call that from the daughter of someone we are teaching saying that she too wants to be baptized!!! Super super exciting! But then all of their appointments fell through this week...Opposition in all things. Patience and prayers.
 

Tuesday we went to Damascus for the first time! Basically like my first second area of my whole mission! It's surprising how different each area is even though it's just a little ways south of us. We tried to stop by a lot of people the Damascus Elders were teaching- none answered but we did visit with a wonderful Sister who is preparing her daughter to be baptized and with their awesome Relief Society President. After that we taught a member family the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Then we did street contacting, something I have surprisingly grown to love. I love just sharing what I love about the gospel, even though it's rarely eloquent. It doesn't matter. When it's from the heart there is passion behind it and that's when the Holy Ghost can testify the most. 

Wednesday we drove the 40 minutes to Westminster for District Council, then hung around there to help our Senior missionary Elder Peters and the Westminster Elders clean out and close up one of the Westminster apartments. That took most of the day. After we got back and had dinner, we got a call from the Bishop saying a young man came up to him at mutual and asked how he could become a member of our church. Our jaws dropped. Two calls in one week from people wanting to be baptized. Couldn't believe it. We met him that night and prepared him to start taking the lessons.

 

Thursday was super cool because we got to give a 5 minute instruction on spiritual preparedness at a Relief Society activity. I was blessed with the opportunity to plan most of it. I had such a cool experience being led to the stories of Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty and Helaman and the Stripling Warriors. I diagramed Alma Chapter 56 with the Lamanites chasing the Stripling Warriors and Antipus chasing the Lamanites on a whiteboard. The short version: we all must have our Title of Liberty- our vision and our eternal goals. We need our own testimonies. If the Stripling Warriors had not internalized the "Cause of the Christians" for themselves, there is no way on earth they would have responded the way they did under the circumstances when Helaman asks in verse 44: "Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?" 

As far as spiritual preparedness goes, find your cause. Not anyone elses. You have to internalize it for yourself because that question will come. We are at war and we face battles, choices, every day. When push comes to shove, is your heart where it needs to be to say "Behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth". If your Title of Liberty isn't in your heart, it sounds like a much better decision to just give up and stop fighting, to let the world take its course. But that's what causes ourselves and those we love to perish in unbelief. We can't do that. God will not suffer that we should fall. He's got us. We have to spiritually prepare to be able to fight the battles courageously like the Stripling Warriors. 

Saturday was a baptism and someone we are teaching came! We also did service and helped a less active sister get her house ready to move. We also had a lesson with a man we are teaching. We taught the Plan of Salvation. It was the most legit lesson I've ever taught, like he was taking notes and asking questions and everything. We cleared up some concerns about the Book of Mormon so hopefully he reads that! Please read the Book of Mormon. Nothing makes the day go better. Sorry the ending is rushed, we have to go soon. Thank you all sooo much for your thoughts and prayers! I love you all!

Love, Sister Peck

Don't Worry, Be Happy

My amazing genius family, 
I love you more than I can say and adore you for all the great things that you're doing! 
Thank you all so, SO much for the emails and letters you sent me this week. It was the bumpiest yet. Haha I think I'm going to keep saying that because it seems like the highs keep getting higher and the lows keep getting lower. 

Amazing things happened this week, the best being we got our trio Sister! Sister Timmerman!!! She is so fantastic! She has been out 10 months and is from Pheonix Arizona. She is so fun, sweet and charitable. She is brave and bold and makes tracting and talking to people so much fun. It's nice to see a new way to do things. I am learning to think outside of my box a little bit more. I love her. We all get along really well so it's such a blessing, I know trio's aren't always so lucky.

We had several lessons with Tiffany this week and she loved them and is defending her testimony to her husband. She is building a closer relationship with God and it's so beautiful to watch. She went to church for the first time with her Grandpa and really liked it! But...she realized she can't drink coffee and doesn't like that idea...so please, please pray for Tiffany to gain an understanding of why we have that commandment and that the blessings are so worth it. 

A fun story- we were knocking doors and we were about to head home when we said, one more. We saw a firefly and decided to follow it. It lead us right to a door and the girl who answered was awesome and said to come back, that she would love to hear more! The elect. Thank you fireflies and the Holy Ghost. 

Like I said this week also had the lowest of lows. I was in a pretty dark place that I couldn't shake for a few days. I was doing everything I knew to do to get rid of it and nothing was working. Much time was spent on my knees and in the scriptures. I felt so down and then, THEN, it felt like Heavenly Father kicked me while I was down. And it hurt, a lot. Sister Mutter had a headache so I was driving. We had to go home to get something on our way to an appointment. There is a square curb in front of our apartment that is very hard to see, we bump it pretty frequently. But I happened to hit it at just the right angle and it popped our tire. 
I was so frustrated and embarrassed deep down but brushed it off best I could, took accountability and made the calls and took the pictures and helped our amazing ward member change the tire. But I couldn't believe that Heavenly Father would put that on top of everything I was already dealing with when I was doing my very best to do all the right things. I KNOW that when we obey we are blessed, so it seemed so unfair that I wasn't seeing any relief for my efforts. And while the day turned out fine because somehow I didn't have a breakdown, I still didn't feel right.

Basically the sun didn't rise until the next morning. I woke up feeling much better. I almost didn't trust how good I was feeling. I made some amazing banana chocolate chip muffins (seriously-going in my bakery when I get back). Then I found a lucky penny on the ground (you all know how much I love change). The sun was shining, there was a nice breeze. We got home for dinner and in the mailbox- a letter from my AMAZING Aunt Kathleen and Great Grandma Griffiths. It had yellow smiley faces :) And a Smile Box from Loren and Jamie. It's a box filled with yellow things and on the top was a quote that said "You can. End of story". It was everything I needed. It was such a happy day. We made papusas and the were STELLAR. So good. 

We had so much fun street contacting that night too! People were so kind and we were dropping cards and pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon left and right. An old man and his wife sang Westside story "You're so pretty, you're so witty..." at us from across the street haha such a great night. One man opened his door and said, "It's the Mormon Sisters! Honey, do we want to talk to the Mormon Sisters?" They said yes, to come back a different time (it was getting pretty late). Super cool experiences! And the fireflies were everywhere. They are so magical. I love them. 

Moral of my story this week. I was reading that happy morning about Adam and Eve and agency. It lead to a talk by Elder Hales about agency and he talks about how Satan has NO power over us. None. 

None none none. We choose happiness. We choose to use the Atonement. We choose who we become and when we become it. And I chose right then to be happy. Just like I chose to not let the popped tire send me into an even more depressed spiral. I had to fight for it, it took effort, but was well worth it. I don't want to be miserable like I was this week again, ever. And I'm going to fight my hardest to never let myself get there again. Because I have all the power. And YOU have all the power. All because Heavenly Father lets us choose for ourselves. He loves us. He wants us to be happy so if we want to be truly happy He will make a way. You just have to choose it. It's in the little things-making sure to change your attitude before it builds up. Decide you're happy even when all reason makes it seem like you should be miserable and soon life is all good all the time and it feels great haha! Sounds pretty funny but it works. It's what Heavenly Father wants for you. Satan wants your misery, don't let him have it. Give yourself some love and positivity this week and I'll try to do the same. Thanks again for everything. I love you all more than I can say. 

Love, Sister Peck

Working on Trust

I honestly don't know what to say in this letter. I've been putting off writing it all day. This week was the longest of my life. The highs were amazing, the lows were horrible. I thought about coming home more times than I ever have. Not because I wanted to but because there were so many times I did not believe I had the mental/emotional strength to keep going. Basically I was running on empty. I love Sister Mutter truly and sincerely, but it's a companionship that takes a great deal of effort to make compatible to the point where we can get the work done. Her headaches and anxiety were so bad this week that we had to take a lot of time off. Our communication was tense. It's difficult to have the Spirit when there is constant anxiety and I missed it a lot this week. It's difficult to be motivated to do the work without the strength of the Spirit. 

I know that learning to listen to the Spirit and learning to rely on Heavenly Father in the lowest of lows is probably the most valuable things I can learn so someday I'll be grateful. Haha I can't see it now but someday! 

There were some great times this week. We got to see the biggest collection of dolls you'll probably ever see, put together by the sweetest old lady. We got to see an entire  basement filled with a world-class hand crafted model train system. They were amazing.

We got to go to Lizzie's house and just blow bubbles. And she made hamburger cookies, which are unique to Baltimore (basically just a cookie flipped upside down with chocolate piped on top) so that was awesome. 

There were tornado warnings this week. We were driving in a storm and had no idea we were in a tornado zone until we got to where we were going haha. It went a little wide so it missed us luckily. 

Billy accepted the invitation to be baptized!!! Pray for him!!!

Two Bible studies this week. I love the scriptures with all my heart. 

Met with Tiffany and read with her the story of the iron rod. She loved it so much and asked us to come read it to her husband. He won't touch the Book of Mormon but let us read it to him. He is going through a lot and talked with us about our journey to come closer to God. The Spirit was so strong. At the end he said he really liked having us over. This is huge because he's basically kicked missionaries out before. Pray for Tiffany and her family! Miracles are happening! 

Transfer news came this week. I am staying in Mt. Airy with Sister Mutter but we are getting a third sister! A trio! I am feeling very blessed. It really is an answer to prayers. Trusting in God's timing is so hard. So, so, so, so, so hard. Growing hurts. A lot. A lot a lot. But somehow it's all worth it and He really does know best. I'm still waiting to see the good that comes with my difficulties this week and some days (ok most days) I'm praying for the desire to have faith. Some days all we can do is pray for the desire to do things and that's enough. That's an act of faith in itself. Thank you all for the prayers and emails, they help more than you know. I love you all.