Our investigator has a baptismal font in their backyard.

Hello everyone! How is life? Mine is WONDERFUL. I am having so much fun everyday, I can't even believe it. The rain here has been CRAZY but so badly needed. We wake up almost every night to a lighting and thunder storm. It's hectic, and now the mosquitoes decided Borger would be their new hang-out place, so I am being eaten alive. But, it is making everything SO green and SO pretty. People are actually saying Borger is pretty these days, which is NEVER said here.

Anyway, we have been blessed and busy recently. Our investigators are doing really well. One of them, Mario, is progressing so quickly. When we first met with him, about 3 weeks ago, he said there was no way he could have faith in a book called the Book of Mormon, but now he says he knows it is true and he wants to be baptized! He is still hesitant to set an official date, because he is afraid to "sign the dotted line", as he calls it, but I know that will be overcome quickly with the way he is progressing! Just pray that we can set a date with him and that it will go through. 

Janie is out of the hospital!!! She has a loooong road of recovery ahead of her, but that means we will be able to visit with her a ton:) She and Doug were so sad that they didn't get to make it to the temple this week, but they are still doing so well. They love being members of this church. They way our ward has just taken such good care of them is amazing! I am so grateful for the love they feel from the ward. Just keep praying for them too!! They need it. And hopefully I'll be able to stay in Borger another transfer and go to the temple with them, but who knows!

Wednesday night Sister Vance and I had a pizza night for dinner. It was a party and I love being companions with her...SO MUCH. Random addition to the letter, but I wanted to include it:)

On Saturday, we got to go to the temple! That was the best temple trip I have ever had. First, we got to drive with Karla and the Longs. When we got in the car, we noticed a moth, so we tried to get it out by opening the window...and another 5 flew in!! They were ATTACKING. It was so nasty. But once they were gone, it was onto the next adventure of the drive...the FLOODS. Holy cow, the roads were so bad. This part of the country isn't used to this kind of rain, so all us cars were swerving all over the highway trying not to slide off the road. Once we finally got there all safe and sound, we got to go do baptisms. It was Karla's first time, and she was so excited. You could just tell. Her glow and smile were evidence of the truthfulness that this gospel brings the fullness of joy that we are all searching for in this life! Being in the temple with her was the coolest experience I've ever had. She seeks the spirit so much in her life, and being in a place where the spirit is so strong, she felt at home. It was so wonderful.

When we left the temple, we met up with our member Crystal.She is doing so well and working so hard to be ready to be fully active in the church. The progress she's made in the 4 months I've been here is incredible. We were able to walk around the temple and go in the waiting room with her and her daughter, Mariah. They were so happy to be there, and you could just feel how the spirit was impacting her. The temple is so powerful, out side or inside, we can know that it is the Lord's home just by the peace it brings.

This week is transfer calls, so we'll see if I stay. I have no idea what to hope for, but I know I'll be where the Lord wants me! I'll let y'all know where I end up:)

Love you!

Hermana Peck

Our backyard is a JUNGLE

The crazy cool weeds in our backyard

Our investigator has a baptismal font in their backyard...
I don't know if that is a really good thing or a really weird thing

When people working to live the Word of Wisdom 

give you their cigarettes to get rid of the temptation, 

you just have to take a selfie with them...

PIZZA NIGHT

Temple with Karla!

The Long family and the elders at the temple

Crystal and Mariah, two of my favorites:)

I LOVE ALL THESE PEOPLE. 

Such a good district, full of such amazing missionaries

The work here in Borger is booming!

Hello wonderful family and people that I love so dearly!

What a wonderful week it has been! I hope y'all can say the same:) We have been having some crazy storms out here, lots of rain and lightning...like not even a mile away. But I love a good excuse to wear my rain coat. Anyway, I keep praying that it heads your way to California! 

The work here in Borger is booming. We are just having way too much fun. Is that even allowed? Because for real I am loving it. We were able to do a ton of service this week! More than we have ever done:) Our president wants us to be getting 10 hours a week, which is hard to get as a sister. No one wants to accept service from a 20 year old girl in a dress. But we finally got to! I love service projects. I don't know why we don't do them more often. Everyone is always so happy in doing it! It's like magic. Well, more like the spirit.

Our investigators are blessed! When Sister Ogles was still here, we had this wild goose chase of spiritual impressions leading us to a wonderful lady. Her name is Judith and she is amazing. I never got to teach her with Sister Ogles, but we have been teaching her a bunch now! She has a baptism date planned and is loving everything we teach her. Her husband works too much to be at our lessons, but he always takes and studies the pamphlets we read from her. He even kept stealing her Book of Mormon, because he wanted to read it. We were more than happy to give her a second one to give to him! About our third lesson with her, she told us all about when she used to live in Oklahoma. Missionaries were always near her house, but her sister-in-law wouldn't let her talk with them, because she was very into her own faith. Judith would wait outside until they would walk by and get church materials from them. She would even hide in her room to read them! She was never able to go to the church, because her sister-in-law wouldn't let her, but she is so excited to now have the ability to make the choices she wants. And she wants to join the church! I can't even believe all this as I write it. She has been so prepared over the years, and I am so blessed and grateful to have a part in teaching her. I just hope I am still here when she is baptized!

We have 3 other investigators who have accepted the invitation to be baptized! And they're coming to church! That is usually the hardest thing to make happen, but the Lord truly is blessing the work out here!

Our investigator Diana just had her baby this morning at 3 am! We are so excited for her. Also really scared, because she is way too young to be a mom, but she is wonderful. She really wants to change her life for her baby boy.

Janie's hip is way worse than anyone new. The hospital out here isn't too great, so I'm just hoping and praying they can take good care of her! Her pelvis is fractured as well as her hip, so keep her in your prayers! She is so sad to not be able to go to the temple this week, but we will make it happen as soon as she's healthy! So she needs to be healthy asap!

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and support. I hope you all have a great week and that I didn't bore you too much with my letter:)

Love,

Hermana Peck

Praying and working hard to be a consecrated missionary who loves it all!

It has been a wonderful week! The weather here has been crazy but gorgeous! It storms and pours and lightnings all night long, and then the days are springy and sunny. I love it. Who knew Borger, Texas could be so beautiful? Also, I figured out a problem that my bike had, that I didn't even realize existed, so now biking is much easier and I love being out on bikes! Springtime is officially my favorite time.

I loved talking to the whole family

I loved talking to the whole family last night. Well, I didn't talk much, considering there were SO MANY OF US. But it was fun to be able to talk with you all and just laugh my head off. I felt like I was back at home with you:) Sorry for breaking down in tears when you asked me how I liked my mission. I promise it was a good thing! I have just been praying and working hard to be a consecrated missionary who loves it all! And when you asked me how I liked it, I was so excited to be able to say for real that I LOVE it....but instead I just cried.

These weeks are going too fast out here though. I love being with Sister Vance. I was a little terrified at the beginning, but we could not be more perfect together. A perfect mix of fun and hard work. I love it! We were able to do a ton of service this week. We painted our investigator's house, we did a bunch of gardening with a less active family (I got to use a tiller!), and when I was in Pampa on exchanges, I got to go to "meals on wheels" and to a clothing distribution place for homeless people. It is so much fun to do pure service. I don't know why we don't do it more often. The people there are always happy! And oh man, the women working at the service places in Pampa were classic southern bells. Their accents were to die for. I am still sad that I haven't picked one up yet. I was looking forward to sounding like a country hick again!

Our less active work here is doing so well. It is my favorite thing ever to help less active members of the church. Because they know it's true, they just kinda forgot, so they love it when it comes back into their life. We met a less active member on the street randomly recently. He actually waved us down, which NEVER happens. But he is cool! Apparently he used to never answer the door to missionaries, but he has definitely been prepared over the last little while. It is amazing how the Lord puts us in the right place at the right time to meet exactly who He has prepared. It makes missionary work seem too easy. We just have to get out there and follow the spirit and God does the rest! Little miracles are happening all over the place here and we are so blessed!

I know I mentioned this last night, but make sure to pray for Janie! She'll be in the hospital for the next week from falling and shattering her hip socket. She can't come to this transfer's temple trip, but she'll get there! Hopefully I'll still be in Borger for that:)

Love you all!

Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Peck

Laughing at yourself is extremely necessary. It gets you through anything!

This week was a funny one. I made the mistake of deciding I wanted to work on having more patience. After studies and prayer about it, I officially committed, and God, being as loving as He is, gave me PLENTY of opportunities to practice this week. Let's just say, about 4 huge bruises, one stabbed hand, and a couple falling-off-my-bike accidents later, I have been able to grow SO much patience. But for real, it has a been a great week! If I have learned anything so far on my mission, it's that laughing at yourself is extremely necessary. It gets you through anything and everything and keeps you so humble! 

Monday was SO great. The ward members here are so good to me! My goal of not eating sweets went out the window, but it was so much fun. I got 3 cakes and the elders made me this cobbler thing. I had to take the extra to district meeting the next day so it would be out of the house. There was seriously so much! It was so much fun spending time with all these people that I love so much. They took very good care of me:) Also, thank you to everyone who sent me cards and packages! It turned into a birthWEEK with the way y'all spoiled me. I love you all so much! It's nice to now tell people I'm 20 when they ask me on the street. They can't call me a teenager anymore, it's the besssst.

Anyway, this week has been full of fun stuff. We are seeing so much progression in the people here in Borger. We have a temple trip planned for the 23rd of this month and I cannot wait. Our recent converts, Janie and Doug (who LOVE family history by the way) are planning on going. And our ward missionary, Karla, who has never been before is going! We are working on getting some less actives to come too! Some will come in and some will just hang out outside, but they are getting excited to go and be at the temple. The temple is such a special blessing we have here and I love that we get to take people to it! It will be such a wonderful day full of the spirit and I cannot wait for it to come!

Our investigators are doing well. We are teaching one girl who has a son with downs-syndrome and just found out he will probably need open heart surgery, so please pray for them! She is difficult to meet with, because she is always in the hospital with him, but she is amazing. She said she normally just ignores missionaries when they talk to her, but when we met her, something told her to give us a chance and listen. She is so cool and really searching. Just pray that we'll be able to meet with her! And that her son will be alright. 

I love you all so much! I am so excited to talk with y'all this week for mother's day. It will be so much fun! Have a WONDERFUL week:)

Love,

Hermana Peck

using those oh so wonderful golf pens y'all sent me for my birthday 

had to get a picture of this pumpjack in the middle of the town with my new comp