18 months and 18 days later

This is it! I cannot believe it. I am eternally grateful for these past 18 months of getting to serve as a full-time missionary! It has changed everything about me, and I have been blessed to witness the miracle of the Atonement every single day since I have been here! There was such a sweet spirit getting to spend my last week in the mission during Easter week. Easter had a completely different meaning to me this year. My heart filled with joy as we testified of the living Christ! And being at church on Sunday, surrounded by so many people I love, learning together, changing together, oh wow, it was the sweetest thing. Christ lives! I know He does, and this is His gospel. How sweet it is that we get to know that and be blessed by that.

As for this last week! Wow, the weather here in the Panhandle has been changing quicker than my wild emotions I am feeling about going home! Wednesday we had 60 mph winds that would not stop. It was so warm and dry that 3 different fires around Pampa started. They evacuated the north of the town. The whole day was so wild and threw all of us off! Quite a bit of damage was done to the fields outside of Pampa, but nothing within the town! The next day, the sky was perfectly clear! And a couple days later, we got dumped on with snow for Easter. And now today is as beautiful as ever! I'm telling y'all Pampa is just representing my emotions!

Thursday was a rough bike day. We were so pumped to go out and share the Easter message with everyone! And no one wanted anything to do with us. It was so sad. We turned a corner, and saw 2 men. I thought to myself, "wow, I do not want to get rejected again. Heavenly Father, I want to do what you ask me to. Please, give me the strength and the words." We began talking with them, and one of them, Ted, was responding. He started out uninterested, explaining how he had met elders before and really did not enjoy the experience. But as we shared our testimonies and simply invited him to learn more, his heart softened. He was an answer to prayer. He expressed his understanding of how hard the work can be. He even complimented the joy we carried. It was amazing to watch his heart open as we continued talking. It changed from him not even willing to take our card to saying he wanted to watch the Easter video and giving us a referral for one of his best friends going through a rough time. He didn't accept the invitation for us to come teach more, but I know his feeling towards missionaries has changed and he is now being prepared to one day accept the message. It was so simple, but so sweet! 

The work was great this week. As always, time is running short, so I'm going to wrap up real quick. Our transfer calls were such happy news. Baby Perez is taking my place here in Pampa!! I love all the miracles and the fun moments! I love the people of Texas and New Mexico. This mission has truly meant everything to me! I know this gospel is true! I know my Savior lives, He loves me and He loves all of y'all. I'll be home in just a few days, and the tag will have to come off, but that won't change anything about me. Christ's name is so deep in my heart now, I don't have to wear it on my clothing. 

I'll see y'all in a couple days! Love you!

For the last time...

Love, 

Hermana Peck

Enjoy to the end!

Panhandle Zone!

Ohhh my the weeks are going WAY too quickly! But I am having such an amazing time! I seriously love all that I am learning this last transfer!

Our week was so busy! Tuesday was district meeting and the exchanges with the sisters from Borger! I was with Sister Aviles and we got to teach like the entire night in Spanish. I had so much fun! I forgot what it is like to have a companion who speaks Spanish fluently, but wow the lessons were amazing! And we found a wonderful little family to teach! I am so excited about them! Just way sad that I don't get to stay and teach them more. 

Wednesday we had interviews with President Heap and I balled. But only because I was so sad about leaving Pampa and the mission. He totally laughed at me for it too, but it was needed to help me laugh about it too! But just like Adam and Eve, in order to keep progressing, I have to be driven out of the garden of Eden (aka the TLM) and head back into the real world. SO SCARY. But I am excited to see y'all and share everything that I have learned! 

Thursday we had a last minute zone conference in Borger, which I am always pumped for a reason to head off to Borger! You can just ask Sister Harvey, I was dancing like the entire drive there. I love the Panhandle of Texas with all my heart! I am totally Texan these days. The conference was amazing though. It was a training for the new Easter video. Which is AMAZING by the way. If you haven't, go watch it. Followhim.mormon.org  The blessings of the Atonement are so real...personally and as a family! Such a pure truth that I love and cherish. 

The rest of the week was just work, work work! I finished up my plan for returning home, that was exciting to be done with that! We also got some great things done and saw so many miracles. Some sad things too though. That always is around in the work. I broke down balling this week after Kighley and Daniel's lesson (the ones I mentioned last week). They just moved here and she is reactivating. He isn't a member. We had a great first lesson with them this week and he agreed to learn more. Then, after the second one, he basically shot the entire thing down as trash and his fiance ended in tears. I left and just balled. It broke my heart to see someone throwing away what their family needs for total and eternal happiness. But Kighley still joined us for church and she is amazing! The gospel is so true, don't believe anyone who tells you it isn't. 

We finally got to see our investigator Tricia after she recovered a bit from her c-section. Her baby is SO CUTE. I just about died not getting to hold her. But wow, I gained such a testimony of the reality of our pre-mortal lives in meeting baby Laila. Her spirit just beamed with love and power. You can tell just being in their home that she has invited such a sweet spirit. She was well taught and well prepared to come and bring about miracles in her family! And she already is changing Tricia. I may not be here to see her baptized, but she is getting SO CLOSE! And I will be there the day they are sealed. They are such an amazing family! 

Anyway, I have to go, time is running low. I love you all and I am so excited to see what's in store this last week!

Love,

Hermana Peck

The district

Childress exchange last week!

The borger exchange!

P.S. both the exchanges pictures are outside of Braums...it's a weekly thing:) Hey Peck family, Y'all are welcome to be jealous

perfectly packaged lessons from Father

Hello! It has been a crazy morning for p-day, so time for this email is super short! But I just want y'all to know that pray is soooo real! I gave a talk on "reverence in prayer" yesterday, and it was so great. Maybe not all that I said, but everything I learned. As I have tried to really focus on showing and feeling love to Heavenly Father, my prayers are so much better, and so much more filling than ever before! He lives, He listens, He cares, and He loves us!

Anyway, time is just flying by and I am soaking in every second! I always thought I would be perfect as a missionary by now. Reality check big time this transfer when things aren't totally perfect. But one thing I love about it, is that I am still learning perfectly packaged lessons that Father in Heaven has for me. 

We had a rough day Saturday. We were all over town knocking, contacting, and trying former investigators, and nothing seemed to come of it! Sister Harvey and I were both so down. But we refused to give up, so we kept going until it was time to go home at night. And still, nothing. All day. I wanted to cry but I was so tired that I was asleep quickly. Sunday came and I just focused on the Sacrament and the blessing of being able to overcome hardships and weaknesses all day. The spirit was able to teach me all day because of it. Then, after church we got a text from a sister who recently moved here. She wanted to know when church was, so we gave her the info for next week and left it there. Later, we both felt like we needed to text her again and set a time to meet up. She was so happy and invited us for dinner! Then she informed us that her fiancee, who isn't a member, would be joining us. Not that I even know yet what will happen, but I can just feel it! Heavenly Father blessed us with a glimmer of hope and I can't wait to see what happens! It will be SO great! I just have really come to know that diligence brings amazing blessings. When we show the Lord we're willing to put in effort, He shows us that He is helping along the way too:) It is so sweet. 

The gospel is simply amazing! I love it and I looooove sharing it. 

I love y'all and love hearing from y'all too! Have such a happy week:)

Love,

Hermana Peck

He looked at us, and said so peacefully, "I believe that."

Hellooooo again! I am so pumped about this past week. Not that anything too mind blowing even happened, other than the fact that we have the amazing restored gospel and we get to share it with everyone! That is a miracle that I love and get to see every day! Wayy too fun. 

Anyway, before I forget, I have exciting news that mom will just love! Our investigators, the Chavez family, are hatching their own chicks and they hatched this week!! I got to see a bunch of new baby chicks and one in the middle of hatching. That was actually kinda gross, but still a cool thing to see! I just thought you'd like to hear that somehow you got me to love chickens mom.

Also, our investigator Tricia had her baby this week!! So fun to me! I just love families and they make me so happy! I can't wait to meet that sweet baby girl!

Typical missionary moment of the week...we were teaching a less active family and when we finished, they stated setting the table for dinner. Apparently we had missed the memo haha, but they had planned on feeding us. And then they pulled out my favorite...seafood soup, with octopus, lobster, and shrimp galore. Gotta love seeing tentacles sticking out of your food! But somehow, it was actually delicious this time! Yay for missionary work helping me grow up in all sorts of ways! But that seriously was a miracle that I liked it!

So, this week I did get sick, which kinda put a damper on my ability to be as perky as usual for a few days, but thankfully I had enough energy and strength that I could still get out and work. I may have prayed to not get sick when I get home, because so many missionaries do, but I can't get sick since I will be playing with Lindsey's little girl! So, that kinda backfired, and I got sick while in my last transfer, but I think I'm good now, so I won't get sick when I am home. Love the way Heavenly Father answers our prayers! He is so smart about it all. And I am already back and feeling normal, so that is so happy!

We had exchanges with the Dalhart sisters this week. I was with Hermana Wimmer and that was so fun! She has amazing Spanish, so we were able to go find a bunch of Spanish-speaking people to teach! We knocked on one woman's door, she was a Jehovah's Witness, but she let us in and we had a great conversation! She was actually a former of not too long ago, but the missionaries couldn't speak Spanish, so she had lots of great questions for us, and hopefully, we'll get to start teaching her officially this week. Also, another miracle! We were trying a potential who speaks Spanish, who wasn't home, but then we ran into her husband. He was kinda ranting about how all religions are the same, and how there is no point in him going to church, because he is a sinner and nothing can change him. My heart just broke for this man, but we refused to give up on him, so we promised him that our message is unique, true, and it will help him change if he lets it. So, he said we could come back! When we did, he was going on the same rant, because everything we were sharing at first, he said he already knew. So, I pulled out my Book of Mormon and shared my testimony of it. Before that Sister Harvey and I couldn't hardly get a word in, but after that he let us talk and had amazing questions! We've taught him another time since, and his wife even sat in! When we shared Joseph Smith's experience of reading James 1:5 and deciding to ask God which church he needed to join, Juan was half way out of his seat and just started asking, "so what happened?? Did he get an answer?", and when we shared the first vision, he looked at us, and said so peacefully, "I believe that." He was so excited about the message and so willing to study for himself to know the truth of the message. We are going again tomorrow and I am so excited! I love it when people see how amazing this message is!

On top of the amazing work this week, we got to go to the temple! It was our ward temple trip, so it was so much fun being with so many members that I love in the temple. And not only that, but the sisters from Borger, Portales and Carlsbad were there, so I got to hear all about my old areas. AND the Borger ward was there too, so I got to see soooo many more people that I just adore. I got to see the Longs, Karla, who we worked with basically everyday--she's amazing!, and also I got to see Mario, who I taught when I was in Borger! He was baptized the transfer or 2 after I left Borger, and it was such a blessing to see him in the temple! There is no greater joy than seeing those you teach grab onto the message and receive all the blessings that come with it! Wow, what a blessing that entire day was!

I just love every second here in Pampa. I am trying to soak up every second I have left! Love y'all so much!!

Hermana Peck

Wind storms bring new friends to our home:)