Part 2  
Just kidding. I'm probably not going to tell you. I like to keep people waiting. It's a new hobby of mine. Mwahaha. >:)

Attached is a picture I took at the Egberts. We eat dinner there every Monday. They are so nice. I like the palm trees and I take lots of pictures of them. Maybe this one could be attached to the blog post somehow? Thanks. The digital picture frame is good. It cuts the tops off all the pictures, but it's only noticeable on a few. I don't use it a lot, but it's really cool to see what I've done and to remember things that happened last year. I'm getting pretty tan. The California sun is hot. It has only been about 85 these past few days, but I've been outside more than normal. My hope is that when I come home, I'll be very dark and very irresistible. Haha...

It's hard to come up with things to say! Um...I guess I could tell you the rest of the story...nah.
maybe later. ;) There I go again.

I sent a package today. It has the baptism program, an sd card, and a letter. I wrote a little something for the dogs. If you could read it to them that would be wonderful. Try to imagine it were me talking to them. Just make them excited and mention that it was from me. :) thanks. I love their pictures by the way. Thank you! Could you do me a favor and keep them refreshed on all those Harry Potter spells? Be sure to use a wand!

I'm learning a lot of Spanish being here. I still don't know how to make things past, present, of future tense but I imagine it sounds a lot like a native Spanish speaker trying to speak English. It's somewhat understandable. The only problem is, nobody bothers to correct me and help me learn it right. They are satisfied with what I say even if it's wrong. A lot of Spanish speaking people here don't know proper Spanish. I learn proper Spanish from other missionaries, and then I put it to the test. They look at me like I'm still speaking English. I don't get it. I try to simplify it for them, but that never works.

Anyway...I'm getting very obese. My stomach skin hangs and flabs and jiggles. I hate it. It's a whole new world of fatness to me. I've always been pretty skinny, huh? I don't think I've gained a lot of weight, it's just that I'm not as active as I was and now I'm out of shape and developing a new shape. *sigh*  I hope longboarding will take it off when I get home. That should be enough, right? If I longboard a marathon every other day, would that make me skinny again? Or do I actually have to stop eating Taco Bell? Am I getting old? I'm 20. I'm pretty old if you think about it. I'm proud of Gma Judy for losing all that weight! Maybe she can help me out. :)

I got to play the organ today. Pday, everyone was playing basketball and I was getting ready to sit and watch for a minute, when an Elder said "Hey, do you want to teach me how to play the piano now?" I said..uh...yeah! So we went into the chapel and he said "Oh boy! I've been waiting to hear you play my whole mission!!" I guess he has never heard me play before. Well, nothing more than hymns. So I guess he just wanted to hear me play.

So I played some stuff on the piano and I looked at the organ and thought of Don Cook. I think it's so much cooler than the piano, but the piano is my home. It's where I'm comfortable. So I got up and turned on the old Wicks organ. I played for more than half an hour before getting up. Oh I loved it.

I will come home and play the organ a lot. Bro. Cook better be willing to help me. He has already given me his audio recordings and a booklet and I've been to a couple classes...but I'm serious now. I gotta know it! Also, I would like to study the baroque era of music and play a lot of that stuff on the organ. I think it sounds delish.

I guess that's all.

Elder Peck

Hello Family.
This week was...slow. ok...I have to tell you this story:

Once upon a time, two missionaries received a referral from two other missionaries. So they went to the house and knocked on the door. Nothing happened. They waited a couple days before trying again. Still, no answer. A few more days went by and the tried again. Yep, you guessed it. No answer. By this point, the missionaries considered this house a waste of their time.

One day, while the missionaries were walking around the neighborhood talking to people, one of the Elders said "We might as well try that house again, since we are so close." The other Elder followed. They knocked on the door. Someone answered! They were looking for someone named "Danielle"..."is Danielle here?" They asked. "That's me" Danielle replied. "We are representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has sent us here to leave His peace and blessing with you and your family. May we come in and leave this blessing?" Danielle didn't hesitate. "Yes, come in!"

The Elders entered the home while Danielle gathered her family together. After some instruction, everyone knelt on the floor and one of the Elders gave a Priesthood blessing on the home and on the family. At the conclusion of the blessing, an Elder asked the family how they felt. They all said that they felt good, and agreed that they felt the love of God in the hearts. The Elder then began to testify of the Spirit and proceeded to invite the family to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper Priesthood authority. Danielle spoke "We are already Christian...can we do that?" The Elder assured her "Yes. Yes, you can!"

They picked a day to be baptized and said that they would come to church on Sunday. The missionaries set a return appointment with the family for the following evening and said goodbye. They both smiled as they walked into the street, replaying what had just taken place in the mind. Their hopes were higher than ever and they felt like true messengers, inspired by God to knock on that door one more time. The rest of the day was very good for them and they slept very well that night.

The 2nd part of the story is short. I don't think I will tell the rest of the story right now. Sorry.

The baptism yesterday was really good. Louis, baptized Baptist when he was 18 or 19, had started taking lessons from the missionaries 8 months prior to his conversion at age 59. We started teaching him in January. He had a number of obstacles preventing him from being baptized. He had a few doctrinal issues waiting to be understood as well. After sharing a scripture: Acts chapter 19 verses 1-6, he understood that even those who followed Christ in the Bible and were baptized, had to be baptized again (the right way). At the baptism, Louis' pant legs resisted submersion and he had to be dunked a 2nd time. And a 3rd time. There were more members of the Ward at his baptism than any other baptism I've been to. It was really good. Lots of support.

Well, I hope this email was a little more exciting than the last few...I'll be waiting for my package! Thank you!

Elder Peck

Well, this week was a little better than last week. We will have a baptism this weekend. I will send pictures when I take them. Um...I really don't have any cool stories or anything. Sorry my emails are getting shorter and boring. Everything is fine. Life is good. I am happy.

This week was . . . not good. There were a lot of appointments that fell through. We haven't been able to teach our investigators this week. I could go into detail but then it would sound like I'm complaining for sure. Other than that, I have nothing to say. about the picture frame...it doesn't matter, I guess I would prefer to use the sd card. 1 year down. 1 more to go. For mother's day, we will probably skype from the Bobryk's again..if not, then from the Steele's. I'll give them your email address.  

Hello.
About the baptism pictures, digital would be best. I just need to email them to President and he puts them on a slide show during a multi-zone conference. The pictures would be from the last 2 transfers I think...and you can just digitally send all the baptism pictures you can find and I will sort through them. Digitally.
I will send the sd card soon. and yes, mother I would like a digital frame. that sounds cool.

Um...this week...I don't remember. I kinda feel weird. Different. Like I'm stuck or something...
If I could explain it, I would. But to fill space and take time, I will try to come up with something to say.  Hmmm...our new investigators haven't been to church yet...and they skipped a lesson, so that's not great. -i'm not complaining.

uh...Being district leader isn't bad. I thought it would be hard and dumb and stressing...ok well everything is stressing but it is not hard. It's easy to sit and talk for an hour every week and to ask missionaries to try their best. It's easy to text numbers to the zone leaders and go to meetings and all that good stuff. It's easy being a missionary considering all that could be uneasy. It's fun to be "on my own" even though I would much rather have some time to myself. Is that weird or...rude to say, that I don't want to share my time with my companion? Before I started my mission, I always always always played the piano or longboarded. Both of those activities almost always by myself. That's what I liked. -now remember, I'm still not complaining...

But I do miss it. I've been listening to some Chopin lately. It's hard to not get the music and sit and practice until I get a part down. It's hard to not feel the piano like I used to. oh heck, I could honestly talk about the piano forever. and ever. well, I might as well since I like to laugh at myself when I re-read these things. talking about the piano is something to laugh about, right? I guess in my perspective it is. And my perspective of the piano is matchless. It's silly. In the journal I kept in the MTC, I wrote pages about the piano. um...sitting at the bench is like a past life that I can only remember. I can't experience or taste that anymore. I'm such a crybaby. oh boo hoo get over it you double-chinned sack of potatoes. oh great, now I'm talking to myself. that's all I need. UGH. ok ok...so um I'll stop talking about the piano. Sorry for that...

I don't know what to say now. I'm on a mission...I talk to people about Jesus. that's what I do. I don't work, I don't go to school, I don't date, I don't sleep much, I don't take time to relax, nope. none of that. There is a lot more to missionary work than teaching, testifying, baptizing, etc. There is a ton of planning, re-scheduling, calling, driving, sitting, smiling, reading, praying, shaking hands, fitting in, being polite, counting, more planning, more calling and so on. I'm not complaining. I would rather do these things than anything else right now. honest! I really don't think about the piano that much. It's more like a fond memory I have. Oh yeah, there's not a lot of time to think about fond memories either. Oh, I said I'd stop talking about the piano...oh well! The piano sure is great isn't it? oh yes! I just love it! are you crazy? no! are you? well, sometimes I think so, but not right now! Oh! ok!

Elder Peck