September 10, 2012

The shark gills ferrari is probably a 550 or 575 maranello. Unless it's an old one, then it could be a whole bunch of things. anyway, the santa fe sounds nice. what color is it? I was just going to remind you about a nissan rogue. I rode in one a long time ago and loved it. I might buy one when I get home. Like the nissan z metalic orange color... yeah. I'm excited and scared for Charles in NYC. Everyone says it's so dangerous there.

When I first got here, after about 2 weeks anyway, one deaf man asked me if I had a "rude awakening" he just had to fingerspell the whole thing because if you sign awakening, it's like waking up in the morning not the awakening like a realization or something...so I told him no, not really. I'm not involved with the culture as much as I thought I would be. But now, I find myself slowly adjusting to something. And now I realize that it is probably the culture, the mission, and everything together. So culture shock: no. Gradual adjustment: yes.

So the other day, we were driving through a neighborhood across the street from the School for the Deaf. I was focused on the road of course, but Elder Mercy was looking out the window and saw someone signing. So we pulled over and walked back to say Hi!. It was a woman trimming the edge of the front yard. We just walked up and said "hi, you're deaf?" she said "yes" then we talked a little about the church and stuff, then she said "my dad is deaf and he's inside you can go knock and see" so we walked up to the door, and rang the doorbell. The door opened, and a man's voice came from behind the screen door. (you can't see anything through these things) He said "hi" I said "hello, we're looking for whoever's Deaf??" he said "why...?" I said "we teach deaf people..." (he interrupted) "Look, we've told you time and time again, we have our own faith, we don't care what church you're from, so please go away and don't come back." I wasn't ready to give up that easily. So I replied "We've never been here before..." he said "Look, I don't care who you are or what you're doing, just go away!" I said "okay, I understand" (in my mind I was thinking loud enough for Elder Mercy to hear "not so friendly") but we walked away and we stopped to give the woman a pass along card. I heard the man follow us out and say "really?"

He had a very nice sounding voice but he just used all the wrong words. I never did see him until we walked back to the car we turned and waved. His face was a hippo's mud puddle with two great lumps for eyebrows and a mis-shaven upper lip. His stomach reached passed his toes and his stubby arms swayed from sagging shoulders. He was short and seemed to have been sitting down or laying for a year without getting up for anything. His posture slumped with the heaviness of his face. He wore a dark blue shirt - too big for anyone, and some shorts commonly worn by mexicans in this part of the world. His shoes were for skateboarding but he obviously has never touched a skateboard in his life. 

Elder Mercy couldn't contain himself. He laughed at the sight and the man was furious. He exclaimed "you got a *%!#$@ problem??!!" I turned to see him charging like a disturbed elephant on the plains in africa. I catiously raised my arms in a "calm down" sort of way, and said "No problem" he stopped and yelled "Don't come back!!" I said "ok" and smiled. He stood his ground until we reached the car - half a block down the street, and got in and drove away. My heart was racing. My fists were twitching. I was terrified of this...creature who had just expressed his sharp, stern disapproval of us. As we drove away, I couldn't help thinking ....we should dare some other missionaries to go there and see what happens. This guy was choleric!

Anyway, that was the excitement for the week. In addition to someone rolling down the windows of their car as they drove by shouting "!#$%* you mormons!" It wasn't very hurtful but the fact that Elder Mercy was free of such cruelty put me on edge. I soon got over myself and just kept walking. People are nice aren't they? One street we tracted in Corona...(Royal Palm Blvd) was full of awful people. There was one man, Miguel who gave us water, papaya, and a conversation. But every other person we talked to, was AWFUL. What has the world come to? Assumptions, judgments and discriminations made in an instant. We aren't even given the chance to say "Hello" before we are told to ..."go away" (I worded that really nicely compared to what we get on a daily basis)

However, through all the bad, bad people there are good people. In all the bad, bad world, there are good things. We can just focus on the good, and things will seem better. The good people are out there. Utah has a lot of them. Spanish Fork, Utah has a lot of them. I had no idea how nice people were there. Anyway, Thanks for the encouragement and stuff. I hope you find joy in reading my words. I didn't think I would describe that scary guy quite like that, but I thought you should know what he looked like. hahaha. okay well, I guess I'll talk to you next week.

Elder Peck (CA)

September 24, 2012

Thanks for the mountain pictures! I really enjoyed them. :) I got a letter from Elder Cook. He's actually in Georgia! I have had a few letters come from Elder Stickney too. I'm waiting for a letter from Elder Stone. And Elder Perkins. I never got an email from Charlie...from your last email, I read that he told you that he emailed me, but I didn't have anything in my inbox. So I sent him something and I guess he didn't have time to reply much because he said "I gotta go" I'm sure we'll get some good communication going. I already sent him a funny story that I'm too embarrassed to send to you! Now you're really wishing you knew what it was huh! I'm sure Charlie will send it to you if you ask him. But remember that it was written for a fellow missionaries ears, and not a family. Hahaha...

Anyway, reading Charlies blog makes me so jealous. It sounds like he gets fed everyday and the members are great out there. Sounds like his companions are fun too. I suppose it's different for us because we each need different things in life and I must need the harder experiences to teach me what my big brother already knows. I said I wouldn't complain in this letter so I'm trying not to. It's not going too well is it? I don't really know what to say...nothing that interesting is going on, no cool stories, no interesting people, same old stuff. This week, I felt like we didn't do any missionary work. We just sat around or drove places. Is that a complaint? nah...just ignore it then.

Sounds like things are real fun back home. I feel almost adjusted to this new life. But as soon as I get a new companion and start training, it'll be like I just started again. I got a letter from my new companion. He's hard of hearing, and he speaks, he says he didn't start learning sign language until last year! wow. I am feeling pretty good about it though. I'm excited to meet him and get working together.

How come the email I sent on the 10th, isn't on the blog? I want it to be. Just because. I know nobody reads it but I want to pretend like I'm famous or something. I can imagine crowds of people laughing at my really funny jokes. yeah right. anyway, thanks for being my parentals and reading my boring-as-a-rock emails. Just you wait. Next weeks will be wonderful!!! k bye

I don't need anything for my birthday. It has no significance to me. I would like a gallon of milk but I can get that myself. I wouldn't want you to send it in the mail. It would go bad. I feel like I need to vent or express myself and let some feelings out. I haven't played the piano in a long time. I miss it. Every time the zone gets together, I'm always talking a lot because I never get to talk. I annoy myself.

Elder Peck (CA)  

September 17, 2012

The car looks great! some new tires would complete the picture! Keep it clean. Don't use it as a trash can or a kitchen. Don't wreck it either. Mom, great scripture. Thank you. This week, I can't think of any big fat crazy experiences, but I can tell you that I had a dang eye headache saturday and sunday. I couldn't eat anything, and felt badly when eating at a potential investigator's home. They ordered three pizzas and some cheese bread I was too sick to eat but I managed to down two slices and a piece of cheese bread. I can usually eat 4 or 5 slices and 3 or 4 cheese breads. ugh. I was really close to asking them for some drugs.

The night before, we went to a baptism, just to watch. And of course there was food after in the cultural hall. It was the Somoan ward by the way. So all this good food and I could only take a couple bites of chicken before going to the bathroom. How much does it cost to replace a toilet? Just kidding. It wasn't that bad. Then we drove to La Quinta. I was in my worst condition during the drive. Which is scary to me. In my unaware state of sickness, I nearly hit 100 mph a couple times. I was purposely trying to go fast because I wanted the ride to be over. But at the same time, I needed to slow down and take it easy.

Today, we rode our bikes to the church (for Pday activity) instead of driving- to save miles. When we go to the desert, it usually takes about 150 miles for saturday and another 150 for sunday. Does more time driving give you experience? And does experience mean you are a good driver? If so, I'm a really good driver. If not, good luck to everyone else who thinks they drive a lot. The way I see it, it doesn't matter how good you are because there is always someone else who sucks at driving. and they are the ones that make it dangerous. Being a good driver means knowing the rules, knowing your car, and knowing what's around your car. Oh, and obeying the rules...not just knowing them..silly. haha.

So I bought this tie, for about 10 bucks. It's the one I mentioned a long time ago. The one that I can't tell what color it is, but it's kinda grayish...that one. I spilled something on it, and it had a nasty stain. So I got some tide to go and tried scrubbing it out. The tide to go only spread the stain and now I can't wear the tie. It's too embarrassing. Ten bucks. gone. I will buy cheaper ties from now on. In fact, I bought another one the other day for $1.50. Did I already tell you that? That's a good deal right?

Anyway, last night, I discovered my love handles. I'm officially huge. Don't worry, I'll get rid of them. I don't snack on anything like a fatty, but I'm growing like one. I think it's because I'm not exercising enough. When we ride bikes, I'm so dead tired after a few minutes, and I'm breathing like...way hard. In high school, when I was training with the soccer team, I could run for miles without stopping. Then, I stopped, and went back to Taco Bell, and got fat. I want to be fat, but I don't want to be fat. Does that make sense?

I'm trying to stay positive. How many complaints can you count in all my letters?? don't tell me, just count. Then, count all the positive things. I'm sure it's a big difference, but I'm going to try to even it out a little. Next week, there will be no complaining. No boo hoo waa I'm a baby doo doo ma ma poo poo talk. None of it.

September 4, 2012

So, I finally got some time on the computer to email at the library. I have half an hour instead of two hours but it's better than best buy. I really don't know what to say...nothing that exciting has happened. I bought some peanut butter crunch...that's the highlight of the week. There are some Deaf people around that I've met, who have been harsh towards me - because I can hear. I don't like being teased for the lack of a disablilty. This woman, Sharon, grew up jewish but doesn't actively practice her religion. She has been around mormons her whole life so she's considered a "dry mormon". She was explaining that the religions are very similar and the main difference, is that the sabbath is on saturday for jews and sunday for mormons. I didn't want to get into it because she is old and thinks she's heard it all.

She made us lunch half an hour before our dinner appointment. I didn't find out about our dinner appointment until she started boiling a bag of pork. Elder Mercy didn't bother telling me I guess... I sat at the table as she cooked and prepared this extravagant meal with a fancy salad, refried beans, and some yummy pork sandwiches. Nothing to drink, so we grabbed some water bottles on the way out. I have never seen so many water bottles since I've been in California. It must be all the craze to get a whole bunch and recycle the bottles. Is Utah starting a water bottle fad?? Anyway, we were half an hour late to our dinner appointment and when we got there, the sister who was going to feed us looked a mess, and said that things are just too crazy for dinner at the moment, and she had to go to work in a little while, so she handed us some money and said let me know what you decide to eat. I put the money in the car.

The white handbook clearly states "Do not accept money from...members..(or anyone)" I am always hesitant to take people's money because I know they worked for it and they could go do something better than feed the missionaries. It's hard to say "sorry, we cannot accept any money" when they are so nice and don't mean any harm...we have almost 50 bucks saved up from members saying "here, go get some dinner" we have already spent quite a bit of what we had before but we have about $50 right now. We never have time to eat dinner unless it's an appointment (which I wont find out about) so we just keep saving the money. What should we do with the money? any suggestions? Well, I'm not being trained anymore...technically. I just started my 3rd transfer!

I've applied to volunteer at the school for the deaf. We've been there many times before but I was never officially a volunteer. I will have a picture ID and I have to submit to their rules and everything. It's like not being a missionary because you can't wear missionary clothes, you can't bring up any gospel topics to anyone, you have to go by your first name...and so on. I'm probably going to set up a meeting with one of the administrators and the mission president so they can argue about it. I really don't care what we do as long as it is necessary for growth in the church. And since we can't teach people who have the ability to hear, the school for the deaf is a good place to meet deaf people and become friends and hopefully, eventually, they will be interested in the church.

Since I've been out, we've taught maybe 5 or 6 people and one of them has a baptism date. Sept. 29. So we'll see how that goes. Honestly, I think she is way to hyper to understand what's really going on. Sure, she should just get baptized and move on, but I feel like she is still an investigator we need to take seriously. 8 year olds can't understand everything right away, and I understand that, so maybe it's best that we just get it over with. We'll have to keep teaching her of course, since her parents don't know english or sign language. Her grandma is learning sign language, so that's good.

I know this is the most boring email I've sent so far, but you can only expect more boring ones. Maybe by the end of the year, something really exciting will happen. Thanks for reading and suffering through my dull dialogue. I'll work on making things more . . . imagination oriented. anyway, have fun whatever you're doing.

Elder Brian Ross Peck

Labor Day 2012

Labor Day doesn't mean anything for missionaries just like every other "holiday" Christmas ...I don't know what we'll do on Christmas...probably go tracting...I don't know.

Anyway, I already told you the Library is closed so I'm at Best Buy using the computers they have set out, so I can't type much. I already had some employee ask if I'm doing ok...whoa.

All I know about the new elder is he is from centerville, he is white, he is deaf, his last name is Henrie.

That's it. Also, ELder Mercy flies on the 16th of october.

I wish there were mountains here. I decided I need to live in the mountains.

I don't have time to say anything I've had three guys now come up to me and ask If I have any questions and stuff. They're just doing their job but it's annoying. In the library, that would never happen. Duh.

Anyway, I hope to hear from Alex soon. I haven't thought about him much. Thanks for reminding me I actually have some good friends. talk to you next week.

we tracted into some members and they gave me a cheese stick and I was playing the piano, and this non member friend was visiting, and saw me and thought he should take a picture and send it to you, so here it is!

Eating a Cheese Stick and Playing Piano !