October 29, 2012

Hello! For some reason it feels like I haven't emailed in a while...? Anyway, things are really good. We have another person on date for baptism! And in the hearing ward that we're working in, we'll have another 2 baptisms soon. The work is exploding now that I'm in a trio. We've been soooo busy! Today, we had two appointments cancel...but they are still interested. We might stop by and see how they're doing anyway. I watched a little bit of the news concerning the storm and all I can say is: I'm so happy to be in Southern California right now. A big storm would be fun here, but I'm really not in the mood for a giant hurricane. It does not feel like Halloween, or Fall, or anything. It's still summer. Well, I guess summer was in the 100's+. But it's hot enough some days that I feel my skin turning red. It does cool off at night though. I have doubled up my covers when I sleep.

I could tell many boringish stories and very few interesting or life changing events that have happened recently. I guess the big thing is that we are actually teaching lessons with people and actually doing missionary work. It feels so much better. We get up on time, we go to bed on time, we are out most of the day talking to people or...driving. Yes, we still drive a lot! But we are doing productive work so it's all worth it. I'm just plain excited to continue with this new perspective on missionary work. Sure, I've had a lot of disappointing times, but the good experiences outweigh the bad.

I don't know what we'll be doing for Halloween as missionaries. I think we are supposed to be inside. I thought we would be going to some trunk 'n treat thing with the hearing ward, but I guess we're not allowed to do that...? I want to go trick or treating like I have every other year of my life. My idea of a costume, is to switch name tags with my companions. That'll get 'em. Tonight, we are having stuffed pork chops for dinner. How does THAT sound? Sounds really good to me. I've never had anything like that. The sign language is pretty good. I consider myself 80% fluent now. I understand that much, and my guess is people understand about that much from what I say.

Yesterday, I confirmed a recently baptized girl into the church and gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost. I didn't feel the same Spirit I felt when giving the sick woman a blessing. My thoughts are: maybe it's the sign language that detracts my focus. I'm too worried I'll mess up with the language so I hinder the Spirit in a way. Being in a trio has been a blessing. The MTC trio I was in, was bad because of a certain companion with certain problems that were hard to cope with. This is really just another boring email isn't it? Ugh. Why can't I come up with something better!? Um...I'm thinking...well...i got nothin. I can't help but thinking that I'm forgetting something. Not necessarily important, but something that I just wanted to say. Anyway, I'll talk to you next week. Thanks for everything.

Elder Peck (CA-RIV)