Elder Peacock

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

LAST LETTER FROM ELDER PEACOCK...11/26/12!!!

Well, this week was pretty good. We were pretty busy and running around a lot. We finally got some people to come to church and it was great. We had a lot of people there, so it was awesome. It was a good Sunday. I was feeling pretty sick though because Saturday we got fed dinner twice. Oh, I ate so much, it was good though. One of the meals was tripe? intestines, it is really popular here in Porto, it has a cool story, too. But it was a good week and this week will be really good, too. We have some cool things lined up for this week. We are going to visit some cool people.
That is pretty sad about everybody getting sick, sounds like an interesting Thanksgiving. Make sure you get rid of all the sickness, I don´t want to get sick. How are the Jazz doing? Sounds good, I can´t wait. Well, this week will be really good and I am going enjoy it to the fullest. I love PORTUGAL. I am so grateful the Lord called me to this part of His wonderful vineyard. I love you, um so i will see you next week. Airport, 2 pm. Don´t be late, haha jk, see you soon!!

For the last time ELDER PEACOCK!!!

Letter from Elder Peacock...11/19/2012

Well, this week was pretty good. We had to move Maria José´s baptismal date back just one more week to help her be a little more prepared and to help her family, too. But she is doing so well, always happy and she reads and studies the Book of Mormon so much, and is making friends with members, which is so important. So she is doing well. We found a really cool family from Venezuela this week. They are really cool and they remind me of all the awesome Venezuelan families from São João. Everything is going well, though. It is pretty crazy how little time is left. It seems pretty unreal still.
That is really funny about Cameron... I bet he did so good. I wish I could have been there. Um Thanksgiving Dinner... we have to do that, I am so down for Turducken. That is crazy about Caden too, it seems like it's just one thing after another for him. But he will be ok, so that's good. Well, make sure you get something set up with the stake pres. and all of those things. Thanks for the money. I hope all is well, I love you.

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...11/12/12

Well, this week was good. We found out right away that Obama won the election because as soon as we left the house that day like 4 people told us. It was kind of annoying because that's all they wanted to talk about. Well, I got another phone call from Elder Wilson this Saturday and Rui got baptized. It was so cool. I was really excited that Rui got baptized and now he will be getting married in 2 weeks. We had a good week here too, Maria José is progressing really well. Still reading the Book of Mormon a lot and we taught her the Word of Wisdom last Thursday, and since then she has stopped drinking wine, coffee and stopped smoking. It was really great, and she is always in such a good mood. A new young family also moved into the ward here in Gaia, which is very nice because this ward has a lot of old people. Maria José is marked for baptism for this Saturday so that is our focus for this week and what we will be praying for. It has been really cold here and rains everyday so that is always fun. But everything is going great.

You said you were going to put some money in my account, if you could put like $53 that would be great because that way I can take out 40 euros because of the ATM. thanks. People to be there when I get home? I have already talked to Daniel and he said he is coming up for sure. That would be cool if Trent could come, but he it's a long ways away for him. And just everybody in general. That chain thing is funny. Have you talked to the stake president at all? So that we can go like right to him asap, you know? That is really cool that Elder Hallstrom came to church there. He is really cool. Well I hope you guys have a great week. I love you!

Elder Peacock

TRAVEL PLANS!!! 11/9/2012

IT'S ABOUT TO GET REALLL!

Electronic ticket(s) have been issued and are ready for travel. See ETKT information below.

A valid passport is required to travel, please keep them safe at all times.

Please be prepared to pay all luggage fees as required by the airlines. Have your bags checked to your final destination.

Please call Church Travel if there are any flight cancellations or delays enroute

CHURCH TRAVEL CWT DATE 09NOVEMBER12
50 EAST NORTH TEMPLE ST AGENT VH/D9 BOOKING REF 57WX8A
SALT LAKE CITY UT 84150
PEACOCK/SKYLER ROBIN 218801-R
ROWLEY/JEFFREY PHILIP 212314-R

MISSIONARY TRAVEL
PORTUGAL LISBON MISSION
SERVICE DATE FROM TO DEPART ARRIVE
_____________________ _____ ______________ ______________ _______ ______

DELTA AIR LINES 04DEC LISBON > PARIS 600A 930A

DL 8439 TUESDAY AIRPORT CHARLES DE GAU

Q ECONOMY TERMINAL 1 TERMINAL 2F

NON SMOKING NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 2:30 DURATION

AF 2325 FLIGHT OPERATED BY AF AIR FRANCE

AIRCRAFT OWNER: AF AIR FRANCE

AIRCRAFT: AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319

SEAT ASSIGNMENT AT THE AIRPORT ONLY

DELTA AIR LINES 04DEC PARIS > SALT LAKE C UT 1035A 155P

DL 88 TUESDAY CHARLES DE GAU SALT LAKE CITY

Q ECONOMY TERMINAL 2E TERMINAL 2

NON SMOKING LUNCH NON STOP

RESERVATION CONFIRMED 11:20 DURATION

AIRCRAFT: BOEING 767

SEATS 37D/37E NO SMOKING CONFIRMED

RESERVATION NUMBER(S) AF/57WX8A DL/GEFC8W

PEACOCK/SKYLER ROBIN 218801-R
ETKT:DL/006 7161944473

ROWLEY/JEFFREY PHILIP 212314-R
ETKT:DL/006 7161944474

**IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, FLIGHT CHANGES ENROUTE OR SIGNIFICANT DELAYS, IMMEDIATELY TELEPHONE

RII(CC) MISSION PRESIDENT STEPHEN L. FLUCKIGER

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Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...11/5/2012

Well, this week was really good. Today we had interviews with Presidente Fluckiger and it was my last one besides my exit interview. It was really good, Presidente is great. I have been blessed to be able to serve under 3 amazing and inspired leaders and I have learned so much from each one of them. Presidente and Sister Fluckiger are always just so happy and it is great to see them. This weekend we also had stake conference and it was really special for me. All of the São João members were there and it was so cool to get to see all of them again and see that they are doing so well. And stake conference was great and Presidente Fluckiger spoke. We found a new investigator this week named Maria José, so we gave the Book of Mormon on Wednesday and by Saturday she was already in Mosiah 8 -- I know, so cool. She has a lot of potential and is progressing well. I got a really cool phone call on Saturday too, Elder Wilson called me and said someone wants to talk to you. It was Anica, right after her baptism. I was so happy and I was actually thinking about her all Friday. It was so cool. And yeah, those were some of the highlights of my week. It was pretty good.

That is good that Caden is all good. That is scary though, but I am glad he is ok. That is really funny about Cameron too, he is so funny, but that is really cool that he is so passionate about something. How is everybody else doing? I hope all is well. And if you could put a little money in my account that would be great. I got the card, btw. Well, I love you and miss you.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...10/29/2012

Yeah, well now I am back up north. Gaia is really cool. This ward is really cool, lots of old people, but they are pretty darn funny. A bunch of characters. So you finally got the flight plans, there is only going to be one other missionary with me, because one already left, but I get home earlier in the day then I thought. Make sure you tell all of that to Mike, too, so he can know. As for the homecoming talk, it can be the 16th, I am fine with that, just get that set up. That's awesome about the boys, they all sound like they are doing great. Well, by next week will we know the results of the election? Let me know how that turns out. My new comp is really cool. He is from Idaho, and he is the oldest of 6 children. Next week we have stake conference, and the branch of São João da Madeira is in this stake, so they will be there, too. So, that is kind of exciting that I will get to see all of them again. So, is Elder Oaks going to reorganize some stake stuff? That will be cool. Well, let me know how Halloween goes. I hope you guys have a great week. I love you.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...10/22/2012

Elder Peacock, Elder Wilson and district Elders on top of Cristo Rei

Elder Peacock, Elder Wilson, Rui and Cristina

Well, this week was pretty cool and it just happened to be my last week in Costa da Caparica. I am going to Gaia. It is the other side of the river of Porto. So back to the north. I am really excited, I kind of missed Porto. It will be fun. I will be serving with Elder Egbert. He is in his second transfer, I am stoked, we will have lots of fun. I am excited, but a little sad because a lot of good things are going to happen here in Costa, we have like 4 people marked for baptism. But it will be fun, my last transfer, so crazy.

That sounds like you had fun there in California. So the wedding was cool? I bet it was really cool to be there in that part of Cali it is so pretty there. Is his wife cool? Where are they living? Still in the Fontana area? Does he know I am coming to visit next summer-ish and we are going to a Dodgers game? :)

Well everything is going well and I am excited. That is okay about the house, we will just keep praying and make sure we put the Lord´s interests first and He will bless us and it will all work out. Well, I love you and hope you have a good week. What is everybody going to be for Halloween? And Do?

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...10/15/2012

We had a pretty good week. Sadly, Anica wasn´t baptized this weekend, but she will be soon. She is really elect, she just wasn´t quite ready. I am enjoying my time here with Elder Wilson. We had a really good fast and testimony meeting yesterday, the spirit was really strong and it was good. This is the last week of this transfer. So, almost to the last transfer now and such. So next week this time I will know where and with whom I will be serving to finish. Kind of crazy. That is crazy about the gas prices being so high. Are you excited for the wedding? You will have to let me know how is goes, and tell Rick and Wife congrats and everyone else hello. Aunt Peggy has season tickets?? Did she have good seats? Better than REMS?? I think that would be sweet if she could hook me up :) Election coming soon, it will be interesting, I don´t know anything about what is going on. But, from the little I hear sounds like Obama has the advantage for now. But things are great here. I am getting close to finishing the Book of Mormon again and Jesus the Christ, I am learning lots. I have been thinking a lot about what I will talk about when I speak in church, I have a few ideas and I will start writing it next week. Well, tell dad happy birthday and give him a hug for me. I love you, have a good week.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...10/8/2012

Well, this week was really good. Conference was great. We got to watch it all. There were so many things that I liked. Reoccurring themes, they talked a lot about strong families and deep conversion. And obviously Elder Holland was my favorite, I am actually listening to him again right now. It was so good and something we must all do. Other talks I really liked were, many, Elder Ballard was really cool with his beep analogy, really beautiful. I liked the special music number right after Elder Packer, that hymn was really pretty. I really liked Elder Bednar´s and Christofferson´s talks. And of course every time our beloved prophet spoke, how thankful I am to have prophet of God in these last days. Conference was great and I am excited for the next one already, mostly because I will be watching it with all of you. That is really exciting, too, about the new ages for missionaries. And will be affecting us very soon. That´s a big call, we need more missionaries and we need them now, big things ahead and a lot of work to do. We are teaching a very special young woman named Anica and she will be baptized this Saturday, she is very elect and very smart and learning very quickly. She has already had a few opportunities to bear a small testimony to others.

I talked to the office last week and they said they would be sending my flight plans that day, so you should be getting them this week. Let me know when you do. How is everything going at home? I hope you guys are doing well. Everything is great here. I love you so much.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...10/1/2012

Well, this week was pretty cool. We brought some really cool people to church, and we were really blessed in that aspect. We are super stoked for conference and are hoping to get lots of people there for that. We marked a couple people for baptism this week, too. A lady named Graça, she is from Cabo Verde. And another girl named Anica, also from Cabo Verde, she is really elect. That´s cool you got a letter from Presidente Fluckiger. Did he say anything else? Yeah, I am district leader, I guess. All I have to do is talk on the phone more with other missionaries, it´s okay. You should be getting my flight plans really soon. Let me know if you haven´t received them by next week so I can notify the office. I got the letter from Brigham and Cameron. I liked it a lot and I will try and write them back and get it sent off this week. That´s cool about the house, you should find something cool. And thanks for getting the dentist thing under control. Rui is going to be baptized (we think) the first week of November. We are just waiting for his girlfriend´s dad to come here to baptize him. So that will be really cool. That´s kind of a silly story about Caden, but kind of funny. Let me know my flight plans when you get them, and anything else that´s cool. Well, I hope you guys have a good week, btw you don´t have to keep reminding me about the time I have left :) it will go by fast. Make sure you have everyone watch conference and then tell me their favorite speaker from this one. I am so stoked about new temples and new stuff. I love general conference. I love you.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...9/24/2012

Thanks a ton for the money. I guess I will tell you what we used it for. Um, we have a really sweet golf course in our area, so yeah, you guessed...it we went golfing. It was pretty sweet. A really fun experience. Elder Wilson is pretty good, he beat me, but only by a little. How is everything going back home? So you guys went down to STG for the show?? It was cool right? I miss STG. Yeah, Daniel better be there when I get home. I was thinking, too, when I get home like within the first 2 days or so I would really like to go to the denist and orthodonist. Well, this week was pretty cool. We are finding lots of cool people with lots of potential. We found a cool guy on Saturday that came to church and liked it. Elder Wilson is really cool and helping like Costa a lot more, he loves this place. Well I hope all is well back home. Send me a longer email next week :) I will try and write Caden and Zack, too. I love you.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...9/17/2012

"Hello, Brother Peacock"

Elder Barr (2nd from left) other Elders and Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...7/9/2012

We had a pretty good week here. It was fun. We met our new mission president, President Fluckiger and Sister Fluckiger, they are so awesome. I love them. They are from Texas and they are super nice. Things are going to be good with them. That is super scary about the fire. That was really close to the house, too. That is a huge blessing though that no houses were lost. But, that is going to create flooding problems next spring when all the snow melts and there are no trees or plants to stop the water. How are the boys doing? How is work? How´s Dad? How´s the ward? How is Caden and football? And Zack with LAX?? Oh man, it was awesome last week at our Zone Conference with President. Elder Pilz was there, it was my last time seeing him because he goes home the end of this month. And Elder Wheatley was there, too. It was super cool. We are doing pretty good here though. We are teaching this man named Rui, he is 33 and an architect. He is dating a member and she is helping him a lot. But Rui is awesome, he didn´t really believe in GOD, but he is progressing really well. He prays like a champ and is reading a lot and getting closer to baptism. What else is going on in Utah, anything fun? Portugal is doing great. But, I love you guys and hope everything is great.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...7/2/2012

Well how was your week? I had a good one. We got a new mission president, it´s really weird, but I will get to meet him this week, I am way stoked. It looks like you guys had lots of fun at the cabin, I can't wait to go next year. Everything is going really well. It is weird to think that Pres. Torgan is gone, but Pres. Fluckiger sounds awesome and I can´t wait to meet him. Costa da Caparica is great, too. Super pretty and I really, really like this ward, a lot! Well, I love you guys, hope you are doing good. Have a good week.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...6/18/2012

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you. How was your week?? Mine was sweet, it was actually my last week in Tomar. I GOT TRANSFERED!! I am going to Costa da Caparica, it is the other side of the river from Lisboa. It is going to be sweet...I am so stoked. I am going to miss Tomar, but I am so happy. I wanted to go more south and see more places. Oh, I am going to be serving with Elder Barr. He is from my MTC district. He is great, and I always thought that I was going to serve with him. Now I cannot even remember what all happened this week. It was a good week though :) That is awesome about Zack´s game, I am so excited for him. And Caden, too. He is so awesome and more manly than me. What position has he been playing and how does a 7 on 7 work? How was Fathers Day? Did you guys do something special? I don´t want to be 21 though. HELLO COSTA DA CAPARICA!

I love you,

Eler Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...6/11/2012

Hey there guys. How's it going? Glad that you guys are all doing good. That is so cool that you guys love LAX and keeping busy with that. We had a pretty good week. A bunch of members from a different ward from down south came up here to help us and it went really well thankfully, it helped a lot. It is now the last week of the transfer, alot of missionaries go home this transfer like 25 or something, so there will be a few changes, and then 2 weeks later President Fluckiger gets here. Things are going good though. Tomar is nice, it's really hot here, but a nice little city. We are teaching some pretty cool people, too. But I am glad you guys are doing good. I love you and hope you guys have a great week.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Monday, June 4, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...6/4/2012

Well, we had a pretty good week. Last Monday we went to the local castle. It was pretty sweet. It is so stinking hot here and humid, the worst combo. But everything is going good. The castle was way cool and had an awesome view because it is up on a mountain. We had a pretty good week of work, nothing super, but good. We have a really, really small branch here, and next week we have members from like the strongest ward in Portugal coming to our branch to help out with our members and make sure everything is running well. My comps and I are doing good. I like both of them they are both good guys.

That is crazy about Cam's leg. I saw the picture first, and thought that he broke it, but good thing it was just a sprain and he's doing better. Zack looks cool with all his gear, that will be awesome for him. How is Caden...he hasn´t emailed me in a while. He has plenty of time now, too :) Well I hope you guys are doing good. As for a package, I can´t really think of anything I want/need, so I guess you can surprise me! That´s cool about the gym, hopefully that guy is cool and can help it out a lot. I love you and hope you have a good week.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...5/28/2012

Well, we had a pretty good week. Lisbon was way fun and seeing all the missionaries was cool. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIGHAM! You are so big now. Tomar is cool, we are going to go to the castle today, so I will send some pictures home next week for you guys to see. Everything is going pretty good. We had a surprise visit on Sunday. Elder Rocha came to our branch. He is an area 70 here in Portugal, it was pretty cool. So are the kids out of school now? What are they going to do? That is awesome about Zack and LAX. That will be super fun for him. I talked to Elder Pilz last night, too, which was pretty cool, He is doing way good. Only one more month before president Fluckiger gets here, it will be cool. Well, I will try and do something exciting so I have something cool to tell you guys next week. I hope you guys have a good week. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...5/21/2012

Yeah, it was good to talk to everyone. A little strange, but good. This week we are going to Lisboa for our last zone conference with Presidente Torgan. It will be way good for sure! I know this is super short, I love you guys though. Make sure you call the bank to just to remind them about my card like you had to do last time, just in case. Thanks, I love you.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...5/7/2012

Yeah, well I am leaving!! Good bye São João da Madeira. I am going to TOMAR. It should be pretty cool. I am excited. Really excited! I will be serving with Elder Bullough and Elder Taylor. I know Elder Bullough and he is way cool, So another TRIPLA, it should be good. Oh man, I don´t know when I will call. I will try to do it before 9 am, but if I can't, I will try for 10:30 am so you guys can go to sac. meeting.

I love YOU!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...4/30/2012

Yeah, we had a good week. We found this super cool family. They we really nice and pretty funny and we will be going back this week. Oh yeah, I went to Lisbon this Thursday, it was awesome. I got to spend the day down there and with 2 of my former companions, Elder Wheatley and Elder Dias, it was way cool. Lisbon is so big, it is huge -- I like it a lot. Oh yeah, it´s the last week of the transfer, too, so next week we will know the new results. I have been here in São João for a long time, we will see if that means anything :) Well Alejandro was confirmed and received the priesthood yesterday, and it was his birthday, so it was a pretty good day for him. The dogs look good. Oh man, I found some talks by Jeffrey R. Holland and Bruce R. McConkie, they are amazing. They were devotionals given at BYU, so they are a little bit longer and intense. That would be funny if Caden´s twin was named Catie, like we always called and teased him. That´s cute, send me a picture when the go the dance and are all spruced up. I hope you guys have a good week. I love you.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Sunday, April 29, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...4/23/2012

Alejandro's baptism

Well, this week was a good week. It rained every day, literally...but I guess it´s okay, it was really needed. Well, this week was the date for Alejandro to be baptized and everything went very well. We baptized him. It was a great experience. Afterwards, he was like, "ah, I feel lighter now." It was awesome and the we had a good little party afterwards and so on. I got to give a talk in church also... a 20 minute talk, because the other speaker didn´t make it because she got sick. Well, I liked it, I thought I sounded relatively calm and relaxed I had to look down and read a lot, but that´s what happens when you only have an hour and a half the Saturday night before to prepare. I talked about a search for true and lasting happiness, which obviously only comes through Jesus Christ, I used some scriptues that I really like. Alma 41: 10-11 and Helaman 13:38 read ´em. Yeah, Mothers Day is approaching and it´s already time to talk again. I feel like that just happened. Well, things are going good and I hope they are back there too. I love you guys.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...4/17/2012

Well, this week was pretty good. We found some neat people. Alejandro came to church and loved it, I was worried because he is only 12 and he gets bored really easy and doesn´t pay attention sometimes. But, after church he came up to me and told me "I didn´t even get bored or fall asleep". It was funny. I loved those pictures, gosh everybody is getting so big. That is cool that you guys went to St. George, ah man. That's way cool you saw Clark too, I miss those guys.

The weather was kind of crummy and it rained about everyday, but it was okay. We had some neat experiences this week. First Presidente Torgan came to our sacrament meetings on Sunday and it was awesome because the members really needed to hear what he had to say. Then yesterday, we had zone conference and interviews with Presidente. It was the last interview that I will have with Presidente Torgan sadly, he is so awesome -- it's sad that he has to go. Ha, we met like five Americans this week too, it was pretty funny. Because one day we decided to go to an area where we never go and we met three people from BYU. Then, another day we went to another city where we never go and we met the two huge black guys that are from Chicago and playing basketball here in Portugal.

Ah Presidente Torgan...I could write a whole email just about him. He is an amazing example and has so much faith and makes me a lot better. Well, I hope you guys have a good week. How is Prison Break? Tell Caden to write me. I love you.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...4/9/2012

We had a pretty good week, it was normal. Easter was good, but we didn´t do anything. Try and send that picture again because it didn´t work, and I want to see it. What did you guys do for Easter?? What are you going to do for spring break?? We are doing good here. Lúcia, the member that is from Venezuela that we found awhile ago, her son Alejandro is going to be baptized this month. He is pretty excited, and it should be a pretty good experience. Well, I hope all the family is doing well. And yeah, we already get to talk for Mother´s Day, what day is it? How is work going Mom?? Have a good week. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...4/2/2012

Well, as always, General Conference didn´t disappoint, it was utterly awesome! I really liked it, so many good talks and good messages given to us. It was pretty cool to when they did the callings and releasings they announced two significant names to Portugal; one, Stephen L. Fluckiger, was released as a area 70, and will soon be the new mission president here, and Moroni B. Torgan was called to be an area 70 who is the current President here. It was pretty funny, Portugal is blessed. That is way awesome you found a good way to help the boys sit down and watch conference. I can´t wait to go back to the Conference center. Well, last week I lied, Elder Salmon is not from Salt Lake, he is from Tampa, Florida. He is great, we had a good week. That was a cool story about the dinner with the lady dad knew from his mission.

Ha, I told you guys that you would like Prison Break, it is very interesting and funny that season 2 was in "Utah". I was a little sad that no new temples were announced, but then again, they did say we have 136 in service and 30 under construction, which is pretty neat. Well, how is the ward? How is all the family? Everything is going good here. I really liked Elder Anderson´s talk and story about that family in Haiti, what a miracle. I really enjoyed M. Russell Ballard´s also, basically he said if we (the world in whole) focused more on strengthening and creating a strong family then the world wouldn´t be passing through so many difficulties financially. True. I really like when Elder Russell M. Nelson said, "Some people still believe that we are here because of some big bang. Do you think an explosion in a printing press could produce a dictionary? And one that repairs and updates itself." HAHA, it was priceless. Elder Holland´s talk was super good as always, need I say. Elder Uchtdorf´s two-word sermon, ha, and I thoroughly enjoyed Elder Donald H. Halstrom's talk, also. I loved all of them and I can´t wait to get the Ensign/Liahona here in a month or so. Well, I love you all so very much and I am indeed so very grateful for President Monson for being a true prophet and being the epitome of a follower of Christ, we are blessed to have the restored gospel and a revealer of truth. I love you.

Love,
Elder Peacock

Monday, March 26, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...3/26/2012

Well, we had another good week. We baptized Samanta´s daughter Flávia, 11 years old and I got to baptize her. It was awesome. I don´t think I have ever met anyone so excited to get baptized. She was inviting tons of people and everything ran well. Transfers came and went, and Elder Vrooman is leaving, going south and I am staying here with Elder Salmon. He is from SLC, I think. I met him a couple times, he's really nice. Conference is next week, I am SO excited. I can´t wait to be back home so I can go watch it live again.

Well, I don´t have a lot of time for this week. Hope everyone has a great week, let me know what you guys liked about Conference...new temples!

I love you,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...3/19/2012

Samanta's Baptism :)

Sounds like you guys had a good week. Those pictures were awesome. That looks like it was pretty fun. I am pretty sure I went to the Church History Museum once when I was younger. Temple square.....that is where I am going to be when I get back! You didn't answer my question about the moving ideas and buying a house. Where is Adam living? How long have they been up there? What else did you guys do with Rebecca and Clint? Are they doing good? What else did they say about Trent? Our new mission president that comes in July has already been called, his name is Stephen L. Fluckiger, (careful with the last name). He sounds pretty cool from what I have heard. He and his wife both served in Brasil, bonus. It will be so strange to have someone different.

This week was really good for us though. We were super blessed. Sacrament meeting was so good and we had a lot of people come. Lúcia, from Venezuela came to church for the first time in like 20 years and she loved it. Then, on Saturday, we had a baptism! It was awesome, everything ran really well and smoothly, it was quite pleasant. It was Samanta, she is a friend of Paula´s. Funny story too. They are friends and are taking a course together. So, 4 years ago Samanta met the missionaries and took lessons, but she ended up moving and lost contact. Then, she moved back here and was talking to Paula one day about the Elders, and Paula asked what do they do? Then, a few days later, we knocked the door of Paula and Joaquim, and because Samanta talked so well about us and sparked an interest in Paula, Paula and Joaquim were eager to let us in. We baptized Paula and Joaquim and we had only heard about Samanta and never met her at that time, so we got her address from Paula and went there. Then Samanta was baptized.....and moral of the story is they helped each other get baptized. Also, Joaquim gave his first talk in church this sunday too, it was stellar, no, really, he did super good -- I was well pleased. Well, it was a great week, last week of the transfer too.

I love you,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...3/12/2012

Well, this week was rather normal. Oh, it is so hot it's not even funny. It's already time to bust out the short sleeve shirts again. This week we had a little family reunion thing with Lúcia, that member from Venezuela and the family that helped her find the church there 20 year ago. It was pretty neat, they were super happy to see each other again after so long. The next transfer is March 25, you were a week ahead. That's awesome about Zack and his campout. Yeah, like I said, it's been really hot here, the winter was the driest winter since 1931, so they are talking about a drought and water shortages, and a lot of people are getting pretty worried. What has Caden been up too? I haven´t heard from him in like 4 weeks. That's awesome about Cam and Brig with the dogs. Cameron is so funny, that made me laugh what he said about Sammy. That's pretty funny also about what Bear does, that's super random. Dad said you guys are thinking about buying a house and land down in Johnson Canyon? How is work going? How is the ward? Well, I hope you guys have a good week.

I love you,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...3/5/2012

This week was really normal. I went to stay with the Porto Elders on Wednesday, it was pretty funny. I was with Elder Berg, funniest kid I know, and Elder Eriksson from Sweden, the tallest kid I know. It was fun. Sounds like you guys had a good time in F-town, that was probably fun to see all the family and what not. General Conference is like still 3 1/2 weeks away and I am way excited for it. I can´t wait to hear our Prophet.

So, as I said I am excited for General Conference, so this week I found a couple past GC edition Ensigns and started reading the messages, I enjoyed it. I found a reoccurring theme; Suffering. That suffering is for our good, heck if it wasn´t for suffering and opposition, we would never experience the good and beautiful things in life. Many think that suffering is how God punishes us...that's not even close to true. It's through the rough times and the lowest moments that we learn the most and find out what we are really made of. God has to refine us so we can be the precious material that is worthy of entering in His kingdom and the presence of His glory. When we are low and in pain, that's when we remember God and how much we really need Him. Suffering is not punishment from God, it's a blessing, because without it, we would not be able to grow and progress. When in fact Jesus Christ, the only perfect being to ever on this earth, suffered more than anyone and more than anyone can even comprehend. Job and Joseph Smith would be next on the list for suffering a lot. But they understood that, if we are going to desire to be where Christ is, we are going to have to do what he did, keep the commandments, be baptized, be prayerful, be tempted, and suffer. I am grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and His perfect example, even in times of suffering. I am eternally grateful for His all encompassing and everlasting sacrifice for us.

I love you,
Elder Peacock

Monday, February 27, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...2/27/2012

This week was pretty good. We had a funny experience, I'll start with that. So, on Saturday we went to a little town on the coast, a little fishing town called Furadouro. Neat little place right on the ocean. So we had to go there for a lesson. Well, it was Saturday so the bus schedule was a little different and we missed the last bus back to São João. Whoops. But, there was one more bus that took us to another town called Ovar which was a little bit closer to home. Furadouro was like 25 km from home and Ovar was like 20 from home. So, we got to Ovar hoping for a little bit of luck with a train or bus, but nothing. Well, there was a taxi, but obviously that was like the last resort because it was way expensive. We tried to call a member that worked close, but he didn´t answer. So, after 30 minutes of failed ideas, we resorted to the taxi. We opened the door and the guy was super friendly telling us, "Oh, get in, get in" as we did. We told him our destination and he started along, our destination was basically the chapel and we would walk from there, because it was managable and to save money. So, we continued on our trip and we talked a little bit with our driver, super friendly and very kind. He knew who we were, because he talked to the Elders in the past. We asked about his family and work, etc. Then he asked where we lived and we described it and we said we missed the last bus and such. Then we got to our destination and instead of stopping and letting us out he...... turned off the money counter that told us how much we had to pay and said, "I will take you the rest of the way, no cost." I was just like wow, we don´t deserve this! Such a kind act, it was awesome and another reason why we love the Portuguese.

Paula and Joaquim are doing great. Joaquim blessed the sacrament this week. He was a little nervous and prepared all week, but it ran great. We are going to their house tonight to eat and have FHE. We are teaching Paula´s friend Samanta. She is awesome and has two little kids that are just so funny and just always want to play. General Conference is in a month, that was fast...seems like it just happened, but I am excited anyways. Elder Vrooman is going to Lisboa this week to renew his visa, so I will be with the Porto Elders, it will be cool, it s a cool companionship ;) Well, I hope that everything is going good.

Well I love you...have a good week.

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...2/21/2012

We had a pretty good week. Nothing happened with transfers, so we are both still here. A couple of weeks ago we knocked the door of this lady named Lúcia, and she was super nice and talked to us. She told us how she knew who we were and then she had talked to missionaries in Venezuela when she lived there for many years. It was awesome, and she told us how she lived next door to some members there and always went to church with them. We thought, “Awesome, we are for sure coming back to visit this lady more.” After a second visit we learned more about her and what she knew about the church and some of the challenges in her life at the moment, and they were some pretty big ones. Then we went back for a third time and got to know her more and we dug about her knowledge about the church. Then she started telling us about a leader in Venezuela that kind of offended her and her husband because of something he said about tithing, and then I said, “You know you don´t even have to worry about that because only members need to pay tithing and you were never baptized so he shouldn´t have said anything about that.” Then she said, “But I was baptized and my husband to…” what!? She was baptized in Venezuela and she was already a member, then I thought oddly we have a number of members here in São João that are from or lived in Venezuela, what are the names of the people that took you to church there? She told us, and believe it or not, they live here and are active and the Patriarch of the stake baptized Lúcia´s husband. It was insane. But so sweet, so Lúcia really wants to come back to church and she told us that she is going to. She said, “I had been praying a lot, and asking for help from Heavenly Father and then you guys came and knocked the door. I don´t believe that it just happened because it was an answer to my prayers, and I want to come back to church and this time I´m not going to leave. It was an awesome experience.

Paula and Joaquim are great, Joaquim received the priesthood and they are moving forward. We are teaching one of Paula´s friends now, Samanta and she is way cool. We have been pretty blessed here and we still have a lot more we need to do to show our gratitude. But I am glad you guys had a good week. That is awesome that Cameron lost 2 teeth, just like that. Well, I love you and hope everything goes well!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...2/13/2012

This week was a pretty good week. Ashley told me a little bit about BY and Adam Bangerter, they are both home already. And Dirt should come home in like June or something. That is sweet that Braedon comes home this week. Have I lost weight? Good question, I don´t know, last time I stood on a scale it said 158, fully dressed. I don´t know if that was accurate, because that would mean 7 pounds less then when I started the mission. I don´t feel fat, but it´s just a loss of all the muscle disappearing. But, Paula and Joaquim had a good wedding. It was fun, they liked it and the members liked it, too. They are so funny, they were like next we have to go to the temple and Joaquim will receive the priesthood this next Sunday.

Happy Birthday MOM!! What are you going to do? Are you excited? That will be cool to go to that conference for work. How is work going? When you say that WE are going to the temple, you just mean you and grandma? How come you haven´t been in so long? Well, we came to do internet early so I still haven´t heard anything about transfers, if I hear something while I'm here I will say something. But, I love you and hope everything goes good this week. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter to Elder Peacock...2/6/2012

Yeah, we had a good week. I was a little stressed because we had to wait a little bit for Paula and Joaquim to get married. We thought that it would take 12 to 14 days with the way we were doing it, but Tuesday night our Branch President called us and said, "If they go to the city office building and do this, this and this, they will be officially married and can live together." It was such a HUGE blessing, and such a relief. Paula had been sleeping at a friends house, more like spending the night there she wasn´t able to sleep and was getting sick. But, the Lord really took care of us. Paula and Joaquim are so awesome. We are over there like every other day. They said they adopted me, so now I have parents in Portugal. We will have a wedding ceremony this Saturday for them, it will be cool. I am super glad you guys got the pictures. That's funny that picture of Jacob, huh? Our group leader (Nuno Ferreira) in Covilhã served in the same mission at the same time, and I found that book at his house and decided to search for Jacob, found him. We found some sweet people on Sunday, we had some neat experiences. We found one guy who had a big house and yard and when we got to his house he was just walking around in the backyard. He came up to us and looked sad and didn´t appear like he wanted to talk, but he was a super nice guy passing rough times. But, we taught him all about the restoration then we got to the part about the Book of Mormon and he said, "Wait, I already have this book." And he did, it was a crazy story how he found it, too. He was cleaning out someone's house and taking everything to the trash and found the BOM and decided to keep it...six years later missionaries knocked on his door. Well, we are gonna do everything to help this story have the ending it deserves. He said maybe this is a sign from God. I hope he understands that it truly is.

Good week, this week is the last week of the transfer. We´ll see what happens. I will finish the BOM this week too, 2nd time in Portuguese. I really like everything that Moroni wrote, all his commentaries and I loved the scriptures that talk about speaking from the dust. Fulfilling prophecy! Moroni was bold and I love the way he lived in the middle of such wickedness. He said he knew he would be lifted up in the last day, we need to live in a way that we have no doubts either. That we are living worthily and know our standing with God. Well, I hope everything is going well. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...1/30/2012

Paula and Joaquim's Baptism

Well, first off that is the right Paula that we have been teaching. She said she wanted to find me but I told her I didn´t have a FB account, so I said, “Here, be friends with my mother.” So, I helped her find you :)

Well, as the title of this email shows, it was a great week. So yeah, I don´t know how to start but we´ll start with Monday. We went to Paula and Joaquim´s to have a lesson. We had already marked them for baptism for January 1st, but it didn´t happen. So, after that we prayed for another date and felt the 28th. So, a couple weeks ago we presented the 28th and Joaquim was like, “that is still way to soon.” But, we stayed strong and stuck with the 28th. So, we went there on Monday and talked about baptism and the 28th, our goal. Paula has been ready for 2 months, and Joaquim was ready, but not ready to get married again. Well, Monday we left there and the answer for the 28th was still no. So, we went back on Wednesday with the same purpose. Talked about the 28th, how excited we were and what not. Prayed about it, we all felt good, but we just needed an answer from Joaquim. But in the end, we ended up leaving with the answer still being no. So, Friday was horrible, for Paula and Joaquim. They hated it. It was kind of funny how bad the day went for them. Ever since they woke up everything just went wrong. When we got there that night they were just arguing about silly stuff. Paula met someone during the day that was just spreading rumors about Joaquim….just a bunch of nonsense. Well, we got there and they just talked and talked and we sat there trying to help keep things calm when it was needed. They eventually said, “Okay, we are done talking Elders, you guys talk.” So we did. I don´t even remember what we talked about. But in the end we talked about baptism and how they were ready, how it would help relieve the pain of the past, and would bring them closer to Christ. We read 2 scriptures about the Atonement. Bore testimony that they need to use the Atonement in their lives and talked about the 28th specifically (the following day). So, we ended with that and we all knelt to pray. We needed Joaquim to pray. So, we asked him to offer the last prayer. Well, we just sat there for a good 15 minutes, waiting. I was praying silently, because I had no idea what we needed to do, or how I could help the situation. We needed Joaquim to pray and couldn´t leave without it. But, I had the idea to pray too (aloud) but was a little hesitant, because I didn´t want to start when he started and I didn´t want everyone to think that that was the last prayer. But, I found the right moment and just went for it, and said a little prayer for us. After the prayer, we kept kneeling. I waited one more minute, and said, “Joaquim, will you say a prayer for us?” He finally started praying, that’s all we need was him to start, because that’s the hardest part. But, he prayed like a champ, humbly pouring out his heart to the Lord. It was a wonderful prayer and the spirit was very strong. It felt a little different, like something good was going to happen. Then he shocked us all, and said "I accept the challenge, I am ready." I didn´t believe what I heard. It was incredible! Paula started crying tears of joy. And then after the prayer it was just like the perfect moment. They hugged and the worst day ever turned into the best like that. Once again because of a prayer, oh the power of prayer never fails. Well, we only had a few hours to get everything ready for the baptism. But, we were so blessed and everything went so well. Well, they were baptized on Saturday the 28th and 5 pm. It was awesome. Then, at the end of the baptismal program there was a little time for them to go bear testimony, I didn´t know if they would want to. But, Paula went up in front of everyone and bore a solid testimony. Then Joaquim, his was amazing. He told the members there he wants to fill this chapel, why aren´t there more people here? It was awesome, they had these incredible testimonies that I never even had heard. Then Sunday they were confirmed and it was a done deal. Our leaders (know the story of Paula and Joaquim from the start) asked us what we did to help them change their minds, I said, “I don´t know. To be honest, I don´t think we did anything.” It was a miracle, the miracle we and Paula had been praying for, literally. That was pretty much my week :)

Zack HAPPY BIRTHDAY, I love you man. Well, I hope you guys all have a good week. I love you!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...1/23/2012

Haha, I love Cameron stories. That is so awesome, you will have to keep me updated for sure on his songs that he writes. I like the picture of Caden and Tatum, they are so darn cute. It makes me miss HS and dances and all that junk -- it was fun, I should have appreciated it more. Get Caden and Zack playing basketball, please they need to play. And as for Brigham, just tell him to have fun and relax. Its a simple game. Just pass, dribble, and shoot a lot. Tell him he needs to shoot more (as close to the hoop as possible). Well, it sounds like you had a good week of work at the dentist, I am glad that is going well. How is dad doing? How is work for him and school?

Well, we had a good week, we were really blessed. First off, the recent convert that I told you about, Rossana, she is awesome and we finally met her parents. Oh my gosh...well her mom is ready to be baptized and already has a testimony. The dad is the problem, but he isn´t really a problem. The whole week I thought the dad doesn´t like us or want to hear our message, Rossana thought the same thing. But, when we got there, the dad was really quiet and closed off, but he is so awesome, and wants to change and everything was so much more open and receptive than everyone thought. He is super nice and a really good person, and we are teaching them now and getting them ready for baptism. He works a lot so our visits, sadly, are less often, but they are going to come to church. It was a miracle, because the missionaries in the past tried with them, but they didn´t like it and stopped talking to the missionaries, but they are listening now. Also, this week we met Ana. We were walking on the street trying to talk to people and knock some doors, but nothing was working, so we decided to say a prayer and we knew of a bench close so we went that way. There was nobody in sight, and we were in a big park thing, but then we finally saw somebody so we decided to go talk. She was all alone and looked sad. So I said, "Hello" and there was a stack of books next to her, literally a stack. So I thought of the most obvious question I could, "Do you like to read?" She got so excited and said, "YES" and started showing us all the books she had. Then, we showed her the Book of Mormon and she was fascinated and asked where she could get one, and we replied, "It´s yours." We taught her the first lesson and then invited her to come to church and to be baptized. She accepted both and is coming to church and we have a lesson this Thursday, it was sweet! Well that was my week. I love you and hope everything is well back home. Have a good week, I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...1/17/2012

First of all, tell Dad to tell the Argyle family thanks for the package they sent me. That was really nice of them, considering they don´t even know me. The whole time I was wondering, I don´t know an Argyle family, let alone anyone from Alpine, and I know it can´t be somebody from the ward. But tell them thanks. Also, I got a package from Uncle Rick, it was sweet, he did way good. Tell him thanks a bunch too :)

This last week was pretty good. Yesterday we had a Zone Conference and you know what that means, Presidente Torgan! Oh, he is so awesome, so inspiring, he truly brings the Spirit with him where ever he goes. I love conferences just so we can hear him speak. We learned a lot yesterday.

I can´t really think of too many other things that happened. I am going to try and send my SD card home soon, it´s just a hassle sometimes to go to the post office because it is always super busy,

but I need to go so I can send that off. This week we had a cool experience, there is a recent convert here in this branch, she is really awesome. So friday, we were planning and thinking about people that we need to pass and get to know better. So we prayed and we felt that we needed to start teaching the parents of this recent convert, her name is Rossana, the parents had come to church like 2 times, but the mom has been in bad shape for a little while because she broke her back. But we knew we needed to talk to Rossana to set up an appointment. So we called her and she said, "I was just about to call you guys -- how did you know? I have been talking with my mom and she wants to start taking the missionary lessons, and I want to talk to you about my dad." WHOA! It was a huge blessing and we will be working on that now. It was a neat experience.

I hope you have a good week, hit the gym hard. Tell Caden to find some time in his busy schedule to write me back. I loved Zack´s portion of the email. Keep up the good work Zack! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...1/9/2012

This week was good. I am destroying a book called History of the Church in the Fullness of Times. It´s super good. It´s basically about the history of this church in the fullness of times, aka right now. It´s a seminary book that I found, it´s really good. I am learning lots of stuff and loving it. I am reading and reading more than I realize, 100 pages in the last 2 weeks, it´s a huge book. I love reading about Joseph Smith because he truly is my hero. I get to see first hand the prophecy from Moroni that Joseph´s name would be known for good and evil throughout the whole world. Sadly, I get to see both the good and the evil, but as a missionary there is nothing I love more than testifying and standing up for the Prophet Joseph. In the book it also saddens me that such elect people that got to SEE and HEAR so many things and spend so much time with Joseph would leave the church because of pride (Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon) but also, on the other hand, I love the other amazing examples of faithful servants (Heber C. Kimball, Hyrum Smith, and Brigham Young). I love telling people that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet called of God, because everytime I do I feel the spirit confirming my words, even in the face of opposition. Nobody said it better than John Taylor, Doctrine and Covenants 135:3.

We had some funny things that happened. We helped a lady push her scooter on a super busy road because she ran out of gas. When we caught up to her I thought she was about ready to die, I thought "oh gosh, we better help her." Then we scared the critters out of this one guy. We were running home one night (literally) so we could get home on time and follow the rules (ding) :), we turned a corner and there was a guy 15 feet in front of us and heard us running and turned around super quick and threw up his fists ready to brawl, ha I just laughed and said "good night" and then he smiled because he knew he looked like a goofball for doing that. But other than that we had some really good lessons with Paula and Joaquim. I gave Paula a blessing because she was sick (she cried) it was awesome :) she is so ready to get baptized. I am glad Cam had a good birthday. Hopefully it snows so he can bust out the snowboard. Dance or Die!!! Well I know that prayer really does help. This church is so true and so easy to see that it´s true that it is...obviously the only option. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Letter from Elder Peacock...1/2/2012

That´s awesome that the whole job change deal is going well, a little relief of stress I bet. Hope Caden had a good birthday, sounds like it TUCANOS, good stuff. Well now it´s Cameron´s turn, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Cam, I love you. What are you gonna do for his birthday? That is awesome for Caden, he has a lot of cool things happening right now. Well this week was ok. We went to a members house for New Years and had dinner then saw some fireworks on TV, it was fun I guess. Nothing to exciting, claro. Well it´s 2012 I guess we´ll see what happens this year. I got my package it was awesome, I loved it. Tons of pictures, lots of good food and I really like the ties. Thank you! Well this week was pretty slow nothing really happened. Sadly, we are going to a funeral tomorrow, a member that was really sick with cancer passed away yesterday. So that´s how we will be starting our day tomorrow. Hopefully lots of good will come out of it, bringing others closer to Christ through her great example and love and devotion to the church. Lots of people should come tomorrow. I spoke in church yesterday. It was fun. I spoke about prayer. Something I do a lot, but need to do more. Well, I hope you guys have a great week. I love you!

Love,
Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...12/26/2011

Yeah, it was really nice to talk on the phone, and hear from everybody. I am glad that everyone is doing so good and that you guys had a good Christmas. It was pretty funny how the brothers had changed in the way they sound and talk.

The last 2 days Saturday and Sunday we have eaten so much bloody food. I am still full. We don´t even need to eat this week because for News Years Eve and day it will be the same thing. The members are taking care of us in that aspect. Oh yeah, tell Daniel to write me an email or something if he is still at home. That is really funny about Cameron and his dance crave. He is gonna teach a class in the garage :) funny thing is...is that he actually would do it! Well it was wonderful to talk yesterday. Hope you guys have a great week. Happy New Years 2012! And a merry birthday for Caden!!!

I love you!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...12/19/2011

This week was fun. Like I said, last week we went to Lisboa on Monday, loved it! It was cool, but this week went by really fast. Not a ton of great stuff happened until yesterday. We are still working with our beloved investigators Joaquim and Paula. They are the greatest, they are already family, I told them I am coming back to visit them. But They are marked for baptism January 1st, they want to be baptized really badly, only problem they aren´t legally married and Joaquim isn´t ready to make this commitment again because of a horrible experience. But we are working on it, Paula really wants to get married and be baptized, she cried the other day because she wants to be baptized so dearly. I have never prayed so much, to do all the paper work it takes about 10 days for the marriage stuff. Time is ticking and so crucial. We had a lesson on Thursday and talked about marriage and the member we brought with us said something that hurt them (oh critters!!!) so we tried to call Paula on Saturday, didn´t answer, called again...nothing, so we were in the nieghborhood so I felt like we have to pass by, so we did. We got there and they were just so happy, and explained that they weren´t able to answer. But they said they were going to surprise us and come to church still, I looked at them seriously and said "I don´t like surprises" as I tried to keep a serious face. But it is good we are making progress with them, slower then I want at this time but we are just going to have to attack the with the holy spirit! Great people, PRAY FOR THEM! They are so important and the GOD I know is very powerful and a GOD of miracles so HE has something planned for them that is perfect. Our job...find out what it is, and do it! Sunday we found a couple that had been taught in the past and after 3 days of trying to get into their house, we finally managed, they were way cool and once we got in more and more people came too. All in all, we left there with 8 new investigators and we will have a lesson with all 8 tonight, it was cool.

Well I am not sure what time I will be calling, I thought 2 pm my time ou seja 7 am your time, but it might be more like 11 am or 12 pm your time, just depends we are going to a couple different families that day and they both said we could use the phone. But I will call, don´t worry. As for my release date, ha I don´t know, I was thinking about writing to the First Presidency to see if at the end of my time here if they could just send me to BRASIL for 2 years. We´ll see ;) I don´t know when I am coming home, it´s December of 2012, but it will be before Christmas, that I know.

Well Mom I love you, my advice is just pray cause the LORD knows, but you already know this. D&C 112:10, short but true. Do what makes you happy.

I love you and we´ll talk to you soon I guess...

Love,

Elder Peacock

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Letter from Elder Peacock...12/13/2011

Well this past week was good, and this week is good, too. This Thursday officially makes it ONE YEAR! It is so crazy how fast time has gone by. I can easily say it has been the best year yet, but 2012 is going to be better. The year of 2011 I did not see my family, weird. So yeah, Christmas calls will be on the 25th and I will call around 7:00 your time. What number should I call? Make sure you include the number, too, (just to make sure) in case my memory fails me. That's crazy that Daniel is at home, strangely I had the feeling that that had happened though, because I stopped getting the emails from his parents. Send him my love.

Well, yesterday I made my first trip to LISBON, oh my gosh, was it the sweetest thing ever! Lisbon was like a different world and was a lot different than I imagined. It was huge, first of all. Super pretty, the weather was amazing. I really want to go back, it was so cool. But the train and bus and metro stations there were a lot more hectic, and somewhat confusing. Well, we had our Christmas conference and it was the coolest thing ever...160 missionaries all in the same place. So many names and faces that I didn´t know, but a lot of old faces that I knew really well, too. It was super fun, we should have Christmas more often just to have conferences like that :) When we arrived we got to hear from Élder José Teixeira (member of the 70, and our area authority, and from Lisbon) and his wife, they were awesome. Then we had an amazing lunch that was provided for us, and made with lots of love, and served with love, too. Then we had each zone sing their own version of a Christmas song, it was way funny. Then we had a huge gift exchange and dessert. It was so awesome, Presidente and Irmã Torgan put a lot of work into that for us. Then before we were all leaving we got to hear Presidente Torgan speak a little more, I truly love him, he is so amazing and our modern day Captain Moroni, literally. He is such a great example and truly loves us and you can feel it. The last thing he said/did was gave us a priesthood blessing from the pulpit, the spirit was super strong, the perfect way to end that conference. It was a good day.

So yeah, I am sure I will get the packages pretty soon, not sure if I will get them before Christmas or not, but sometime soon. Happy Aniversary mom and dad :) well have a good week and I will talk to you guys in 12 days (of Christmas).

I love you!
Love Elder Peacock

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Letter from Elder Peacock...12/5/2011

Well this week was good. I received a pleasant phone call Saturday night at about 10:00 pm. I looked at the phone, "Covilhã, oh must be for me." It was Elder Ells and Elder Dias, haha they asked, "Ugh, how does the baptismal font here work?" "What?!?! Who are you baptizing?" It was so cool. My last week there we found a family, 2 sisters and a daughter of one of the sisters. They were so cool and super elect, we taught them 3 times that week and they went to church and loved it. Well, the aunt and the daughter were baptized yesterday, and more great news about Covilhã yesterday, it also became a branch! So it´s not a group anymore. It was so cool, it made me realize how much I miss that city and people and my good ole comps that stayed there. I was a little sad that all this good stuff happened right after me leaving, but I am happy to know that I served there and got to work there. This week was good though for us in São João. We were searching in the area book for former investigators that we could pass by. We found Diana, and started reading -- wow, she went to church a lot. Wow, she wanted to be baptized, but her dad didn´t let her, oh, now she is 20 years old, so we went searching for her house with our Branch President. *Note: our Branch President is the man, Presidente Vasco. He is so awesome. So we found her house and to my utter astonishment found her really easily and everything went so perfect and she is going to church next week, and then we are going to baptize her. It was a huge blessing. Other investigators we have Paula and Joaquim, a couple with about 45 years of age. They are like the nicest people ever. They love going to church and the members treat them really good. It´s funny, because at times it is a little to much for Paula and Joaquim, because so many members are trying to help and teach them. This shows them that they mean well, and it´s better than no members caring at all. We had an awesome fast and testimony meeting yesterday and the spirit was super strong, there were 2 members that really touched me. Domingos and his wife Lurdes. Lurdes and her 2 daughters were baptized 19 years ago, and her daughters were always strong and one daughter got married and moved to SLC. But Lurdes talked about how she fell away from the church and she had never felt anything, but she went to visit her daughter in SLC and they went to the temple and her daughter knew she was less active and her daughter made Lurdes put her hands on the temple and just feel it. And Lurdes said right then she finally felt it and she knew, but she never told anyone. And then my hero Domingos, he is so cool, he never wanted anything to do with the church up until 4 years ago he was humble enough to read and pray and was baptized. But it is so cool, because he is such a strong member now, he was the first one to get up and bear his testimony and a very strong one, he loves going to the temple, teaching Sunday School and reading in the Book of Mormon. But when they got up and bore their testimonies it just made me think about the spiritual experiences that I have had in my life and the times when the spirit really testified to me that this is all really true and the only way to find happiness!

Well, I hope you guys have a good week. Dad thanks for the email, I really liked it. Christmas, this is my final list (I think), pictures, peanut butter, Reeses, ties, Jimmer shirt? ;) and a hand written letter from each of my beloved bretheren. Crazy that the ward is so different. PS how are the UTES? What were the final records for UTAH and byu and what bowl games did they get (if that has happened yet)? My card worked oh yeah ;) And I remember Chris Engel. And tell Dave that I am sad, but we will still be playing bball, right? But McLane is still there, right??

São João branch Christmas party this week, holla, it´s gonna be so funny -- I´ll take lots of pictures. Then next Monday we go to Lisboa/Oeiras for the mission Christmas Conference, it´s not a party, it´s a "Conference".

I love you!

Elder Peacock

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Letter from Elder Peacock...11/28/2011

Well, here I am in São João, it really is like the show capital of Portugal -- shoe stores everywhere! On my trip here last week I had to go to Porto and then catch another bus to here. I went right into the heart of Porto, I almost cried I was so happy to see that city again, and to be so close. It almost felt like coming home. And I saw the ocean again!!! It was as pleasant as can be. But, I was right and I am serving with Elder Vrooman now, he is awesome! He is from New York, really close to Palmyra. We had a good week, I got to know the city a lot better. This area is huge, so many people and buildings compared to Covilhã. It is a lot different, but I love it. The weather is so much nicer too, I don´t even have to wear a jacket, and it hasn´t rained once since I got here. Que bênção (what a blessing)! We had church yesterday and the branch here is awesome, really strong and a lot of members and pretty close to being a ward. This area is so awesome and has so much potential and work to be done. We have some awesome people here to work with already.

Thanksgiving sounds like you guys had some fun, we didn´t do jack squat :) but it was good. Today we are going to go get Francesinhas, it´s a Porto original and one of the many blessings of being in the north ;) Oh yeah, the chapel here is big and an actual chapel and pretty. We have also a number of Venezuelan members here, pretty cool. About my card thank you, I will go and use it today, I don´t think I will be able to tell you how it went though, so just check my account is my only suggestion until next week. Obrigado! How is the ward back home?

For Christmas, all I want slash need is, pictures, peanut butter, a couple ties, and if possible a Utah Utes hoody (large). And one day if you ever get the chance you have to find me a Jimmer Jersey shirt (large) for the Kings, # 7 (black and purple, oh so pretty). Just a few things...try and keep it light because I now it is pricy to mail. But, I am glad to hear everyone is doing good and had a fun holiday. I love you!

Love,

Elder Peacock

Letter from Elder Peacock...11/21/2011

Well, we had a really good week. We found so many people this week and a lot of elect people. We finally got people to come to church, which has been hard but 4 came this week. We had a lot of success this week and moved forward for sure. It was a good week and my last here in Covilhã. I got transferred. I am going to São João da Madeira -- it is up north in the Porto area . I am way excited! I have been missing Porto so much. But, I am sad to leave. I said good bye to a lot of members yesterday not knowing what was going to happen. But I am happy, and actually last night I was laying in bed, and here in Covilhã we have a member from São João da Madeira and we gave him a ride to church yesterday, but anyways I was in bed last night and I thought, "Wow, I think I am going to SJdM." So, when I got the call this morning, I was like, "I knew it, I felt that last night." My best Elder friend Elder Peck (who has been in my district ever since I got here, so we have always been together and we know each other really well) is going to Madeira the island, and now we are split up. I am not sure who my companion is going to be, still haven´t found out, but I have an idea either Elder Markham (he is from my group from the MTC) or Elder Vrooman, I think it will be Vrooman, he is way cool. As for that, I am way excited! Christmas: Some ties, some pictures, candy with peanut butter, peanut butter. Yeah, I don´t know what else....

Sound like you had a fun week. I am way excited for Thanksgiving, I will be with an American ;) I don´t think we will do anything too special. But, we will eat some food and tell each other what we are thankful for :) As for talking on the phone, we are allowed to use skype (SKYler PEacock -- coincidence???) and I could have used it for Mothers Day.....Elder Pilz did. So, yes, we can use it for Christmas too, and lots of people will.......but i don´t want to. I know that sounds weird and all, but it´s already hard enough to talk on the phone. I am working my hardest for 2 years and one of my greatest rewards is coming home and getting to see my family. Skype would just bring false-premature happiness. Thanks for fixing the bank stuff. Have a good week HAPPY THANKSGIVING. Ugh, stuffing doesn´t exist here. Neither does the Turkey Bowl.

I love you all and I will be emailing you from SJdM next week!

Love,
Elder Peacock