Feliz Quarta-Feira!‏

Hey Dad, good job writing in Portuguese! I would be proud if you weren't cheating with Google translation!! haha, no its fun to read tho thanks! So we have missionaries living in our house huh?? That's cool. Tell E. Zonner I say hey, he´s way chill. How does it work having Elders living with you? Since they don't have like a separate place, do you feed them every day and everything??? I am so so so so SO jealous that they are sleeping on the temperpedic mattress. Make sure they know they are lucky!!!!!! :) No, really that's awesome that you guys are housing them though. I like living with a member because in case we run out of sugar or something we can just go get it from her! (which by the way, I made French Toast today AND syrup! I MADE syrup! Anyway I was proud, pretty sure my Brasilian comp thinks Americans are crazy.or at least that I am.....)

I like everything about living with a member, except the dogs. Did I tell you one had puppies??? I am SO excited!! I was pretty sure 5 wasn't enough so now we have 8!!!!!!!!! lol. Goodness......So I am looking over my list of things to write about. First I wanted to mention that I get opportunities to sing all the time! It really is a blessing. For baptisms, church, even zone conference! Unfortunately I don't have any music. I knew I should have listened to you Mom and brought at least something. So maybe next package you can put a few copies of some of my church music so I have something. Oh and maybe some instant hot chocolate and apple cider. hahaha. I know that's random but they don't have it here. And can you believe it gets cold in Brazil?? At least in the middle of the night and early in the morning. Okay funny story. So people have asked about how the language is coming. Well I was trying to explain how the Savior is the Shepard and we are his sheep. Well the word for sheep is ovelhas and the word for ears is orelhas. So I accidentally said ´As orelhas oviam a voz do Pastor´ or ´The ears hear the voice of the shephard´ which okay it actually makes sense but not for the analogy I was trying to make!! lol. Now I will tell you a neat experience that happened too.

Okay so call me naieve to the world, my instructor in the MTC did, but I really was clueless as to how organized the USA is. I am referring to addresses. It makes absolutely no sense and it is a wonder how mail ever arrives to anyone here! Let me try to share a quick story. So we made a street contact with a man named Jose one day. We were trying to find his street but couldn't so we asked a lady for help. She suggested one that sounded similar and then of course we made a contact with her too! We wrote down her address and planned to visit her the following day. So we go to Joses street, we hope, and are searching for the number. We pass a random house and Sister Ribeiro says "We need to visit this house after, I have a feeling" ?? Okay...We find the number Jose gave us, and its wrong. We share a message with the lady and ask if she knows Jose. She points to the exact house Sister Ribeiro mentioned to me! I was astonished. When we went to that house it was Joses. We were able to share the first lesson with him even though he gave us the wrong number! The next day the EXACT same thing happened with the lady who helped us find Joses house. She had given us the wrong number too, 75. What the heck??? So we were walking back and we stopped in front of a pink house, #226 and Sister Ribeiro says "I think this is it". We ask the man outside if he knows Fransiana and he said that's his wife!!! Oh my gosh. If this wasn't a testimony builder of how the Spirit is present in our lives I don't know what is! Whether or not these individuals become progressing investigators and join the church is beside the point really. Sister Ribeiro was in tune enough with the spirit to know where we needed to be. How is it possible that we found these people??? Its difficult enough with the CORRECT address!!! I will tell you. Its the spirit. I am so grateful to be learning how to listen to its promptings and to have a trainer who is already so accustomed! It made me very grateful for those who are praying for the missionary efforts all over the world! truly your prayers are being heard and answered! thank you. This may not seem like a big deal to any one else but it strengthened my testimony tremendously!

In other news....things were going so so so great with Luiz and Jose until last night which was their baptismal interview. They both are having doubts again, which I know is common. Specifically since they have both already been baptized. The baptism that was scheduled for Saturday is now canceled and I am heart sick. It is the worst feeling in the world!!! I know we all have our agency but it makes me so sad. Not for me but for them. I know we did all we could do and we should take comfort in that. All we can do now is pray and hope they have a change of heart.....:( I am really learning patience and the Lords timing... Goodness I talked a lot! I had better go! I send my love! Thank you for everything!!! God be with you til we meet again!!

-Sister Emily Peck

Boa Tarde

Hey how is everything?? All well here. We just got back from the zoo!! How fun to go to a zoo in the country where the animals are actually from! They have a trillion types of monkeys and the most extraordinary birds. I always here Moms voice in my head saying something like "Heavenly Father must have had so much fun coming up with all these varities of animals! So many colors, and features, etc." ;) but truly! Its amazing. We took lots of pictures and had a great time.


You asked about bottled water. Sister Cooley is really mindful of it and we receive reimbursements for that and sun screen. lol. So yeah we always have mineral water. In addition did I tell you they gave us water bottles in the CTM that have filters in them? They are pretty trippy. We can get water from any tap and it filters it for us. So yeah dont worry about me, I am adjusting to all the cultural differences. Including my comp putting ketchup and mayonnaise on her pizza. YUCK!!!!!!!! Oh I also wanted to thank you for sending me birthday updates. Please tell Shelly and Mel happy birthday for me! Also please thank Blayre for sending me her wedding announcement!!!!! I was SO excited to receive it. that was way thoughtful of her. AND KALI GOT HER CALL!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH SPANISH! Dang, I was kinda hoping shed go here....but no seriously I am so so so excited for her. Please tell her congrats! She is going to rock it out in the field. I am sorry to hear about Gram and Mel. Gosh dang it. Please tell them I love them my prayers are with them. I wish there was more I could do. But i am glad you are there now to help out.

Okay now on to the work quickly.....things are progressing as usual here. We have so many investigators and so much work and for that I am so grateful!! We had a baptism this past weekend, Camila. She is 9 and has such a tender spirit. her family is less active but it was so great that they came and supported her. My comp and i sang "I like to look for rainbows" and she cried from that moment til the end of her baptism! We also were able to convince her Dad to speak a little bit and bear his testimony and you could tell it meant so much to her! She is so special. The spirit was so strong! We are continuing to teach Luiz and Jose, the funny old man we randomly met on the street. turns out Luiz has had the lessons before but I don't think he was ready then. We are so excited for both of them! We are also teaching this other family that are, ugh. just incredible. I now understand when people say "Golden" I can already see them in the temple, and their kids on missions, oh man......I know I am going to get too attached. But part of me doesn't want to be transferred because I really am falling in love with this area and people so so much!! I will definitely receive a new companion regardless, but despite the stupid dogs, I hope I stay! But whatever the Lord wants of course! Anyway things are great here. I hope everyone is doing well. I really appreciate the emails, letters, prayers, and love. Missionaries need it! I wish I could share all my experiences.....but I guess you will just have to ask to read my journal one day!! haha. Com amor,
Sempre,
Sister Peck

Pictures

Ola tudo bem??‏

Things are going well here! I had my very first baptism last week! It was wonderful. Aline is super legal and Im very excited for her. Of course I dont feel like I did much in the way of her conversion as she was already contacted and taught before I showed up but it was still a blessing to be a part of it! We also have a baptism this week too. Camila. She is 9 and her family is less active. But since my comp and the sister before me visited them, the family has been coming back to church and are so excited for camila!! Its SO great! I love love love them!!! What a blessing it is to see how the gospel changes lives. It makes me want to work so hard every day to try and make at least a little difference in someones life! The temperature here is SO perfect! For them its winter, which is SO funny cuz it is absolutely beautiful. Its like 70 degrees and all the Brasilians are freezing!!! It makes me very worried for summer because I already get hot NOW! But I feel very blessed that I only have to endure one and I get two winters!! YAY!

By the way I have been teaching Sister Ribeiro how to make GUACAMOLE! The avacados here are as big as my face and SO good. But Brasilians eat theirs with sugar! bleh...so I taught her the true way and she loves it!! She is an excellent cook so hopefully I can learn a thing or two from her before I come home. Since I set the smoke alarm off dishing up ice cream normally (heh...heh) She wants to know how to make cookies tho! haha isnt that funny?? Mom do you think you could send me a basic recepie for chocolate chip cookies so I can pretend like I know how to make cookies? thanks!

So I had a humbling experience on Sunday. We invited tons of investigators to go to church with us all week long and I was a little worried cuz they all lived all over town! We told each of them wed stop by and "pick them up", without a car its a little difficult. Anyway we did the best we could and left extra early. Well long story short all of them fell through. Everyone was either sleeping or busy so that was discouraging. We had one person left, a little old man named Jose who lived all the way on the other end of town. We were already a half hour late for church and we only talked to him on the street for about 5 minutes the day before. The chances of him going to church seemed pretty slim. I suggested we just go to church and then go visit him after. But Sister R. said we could ask a member to take us. Well we found a member but he was a man, so we needed another girl. Okay we find a young woman and head off. Wed never even been to his house so we were driving around trying to find it. Could you tell I was discouraged and had ZERO faith? I felt lke we were wasting everyones time including the Lords but I humbled myself and listend to my senior companion. When we got on the right road, I knew his house immediately because there was Jose dressed in his Sunday best waiting for us!! Oh my gosh I was so happy but felt instant guilt as well. I had such little faith. But I appreciated the lesson I learned. What would have happened if we had listened to me and not gone to get him before church? We would have been missionaries who dont keep their commitments and dont receive blessings. I know the Lord rewards you for obedience cuz once we got to church a less active member we contacted the day before showed up to church without us even inviting him!!! Amazing. Jose stayed all three hours, loved it, and we are now teaching him and his son. Again Im so grateful for the lesson in patience that I learned. I am learning so much out here and trying my best to be a better person. I want to be the best servant of the Lord I can be so I can bring about the most good, but I know that will take a lot of effort on my part!! We should never lose faith!!! Even if the chances seem pretty slim! Anyway thats my little experience I wanted to share. I hope everyone is just peachy!!! I send my love and want to leave my testimony that I know this church is true!! I am honored to be a part of this work and wouldnt be here doign what Im doing if I didnt know it was true. This is a portion of my testimony I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Ola! Estou no campo! May 12, 2010

I am so excited to be in the field now! I love my mission president and his wife, they're great. Yesterday we had lunch at their apartment which can hardly be considered an apartment. Its very chique :) Then we had instructions from our APs and then I found out I could only take ONE suitcase with me to the field!!! I dont know who forgot to give me that memo in the CTM, but whatev. So I repacked everything. Then I got to go out with the sisters in the area! We did some proseletismo and since it was one of the sisters last days, because of transfers, she said good bye to both memebrs and investigators. It was great! They included me a lot and had me bear my testimony in Portuguese at each place. I'm already in love with the people here. Um they feed you at every house. Oh my goodness. I think they think I'm lying when I say I'm full but truly I am!!!!! I am sure eventually I'll appreciate all the comida when I am a starving missionary but yesterday I was like more??? we JUST ate!! Anyway it was great thought. Already exhausting and I still havent even learned the meaning of hard work!! Today I met my Brasiliera trainer and shes great! We get along super well and I love her already! She loves to sing, cook, and speak english. haha. In fact all the people I've met want me to speak english to them! I dont know when I'll have the chance to learn portuguese! jk. I speak alot. In fact its really cool because a lot of people are surprised that I'm a new-be. I guess its the spanish influence. What a blessing!! Seriously. The language wont be my trial I dont think. I know there will be other things for sure but I'm grateful that the Lord will be there to help me. Anyway just wanted to give everyone an update that I'm doing fine and it still blows my mind to think that I'm actualy LIVING in south america!!! But I love it. I realize my time is precious here and I want to use every second of it for the good. I am so grateful to be here and recognize the Lords hand in everything that I do. Sempre please feel free to send me e-mails or letters! ;) Thanks for your love and support! Ate mais -Sister Peck

Oi from the CTM

Boa tarde!!! What an incredible week it has been!! We went proselyting for the second time on Friday and it was a little bit scary. They just took us to straight up down town Sao Paulo, gave us some Livros de Mormon, opened the door, and said we'll see you in a few hours! It's still interesting to me that they trust all these greenies who don't speak the language yet to go out and contact people! But its so good for us! Sister Przybyla and I did really well. It was pretty overwhelming at first being surrounded by so so so so SOOOO many people! (Imagine New York and then some!!) but we said a prayer and just opened our mouths! We found some people who really were genuinely interested in the gospel and were able, in our broken Portuguese, get information from some to send the missionaries to their houses as referrals!! Maybe I will get to teach them since this is my mission!! (Sao Paulo North) Its just awesome. We came back feeling so empowered and pumped to preach the message of the restored gospel to those individuals whom the Lord is preparing. Sometimes we wonder if people just want to listen to us because 1)we're OBVIOUSLY American and 2)we're girls. They are so patient with us and encouraging while we're struggling over our words. Some of the Elders came back a little more discouraged, so for whatever the reason I'm grateful that we were able to have such an amazing experience! As I said before, its a good thing we enjoyed it because thats what we'll be doing all day every day for the next 16 months!!! We were totally exhausted after only 4 hours! lol. Three of our district members suddenly got called to the field a week early. They were very excited but we were a little sad to see them go. Our district all got very close over the past weeks and everyone wants to make a special effort to stay in contact both during and after the mission. I hope it happens!!! I feel like its rare to hear people talk about the people they met in the MTC but we really all connected both spiritually and emotionally! I love each and everyone of them!!

Sis Prz and I were talking about how fortunate we have been both in our companionship and with our district and getting to experience both MTCs. As Mom always says "Seriously, when do the blessings stop????" Surely I will have trials in my mission so now I kind of wait in fear, because my hardships must be right around the corner!! I had the wonderful opportunity last night to sing the musical number for the fireside here at the CTM. I was asked to do it just a few hours before and thanks to the miraculous tender mercies from the Lord, it all came together. I was able to find an accompanist and perform the best I could. The main thing I concentrated on was bearing my testimony as I sang. It was the song "His Hands" by the way. I really felt the spirit as I sang and was felt very confident that I had bore my testimony of the Savior to the best of my ability. When people complimented me after it meant so much that their comments werent focused on me but rather the feelings they felt and how the words had impacted them. It really was a moving experience for me and I'm so grateful that I am able to be an instrument in the Lords hands. Granted I know I need to humble myself on more than one occasion when it comes to music but last night coudln~t have been better. In addition to that I have been teaching my district how to conduct the hymns!! I volunteered Sis Prz to conduct last nights fireside and she was SO nervous as she had never done anything like that in her life! She did a FLAWLESS job!!! I felt like a proud mother as I sat beaming and watched her stay on beat and I counted silently "one..two..three..four..." hahaha!!! She received so many compliements after which I know helped her so much!! She's increddible and I love her. I could talk about her for hours, if I had time I would. Well I think I'l end this here. I hope everyone is doing well!! I cant thank my Father in Heaven enough for the blessings which He pours upon me daily. I have been blessed with a wonderful family and friends who love and support me. Thank you so much! Pray for all the missionaries in the world!! We're on the Lords errand and we can feel your strength and love. Thanks again! The next email you receive from me I'll be a LEGIT missionary in the FIELD!!!! Be excited!!!!!!! Brazil better watch out cuz here I come!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh I cant wait!! Love you all!! Ate mais -- Sempre, Sister Peck

Oi

The best way to correspond with Emily is at emily.peck@myldsmail.net. She is able to read those e-mails every Wednesday. She only has 30 minutes of computer time so she first has to read any e-mail she has received and then try to get a letter typed and sent within the 30 minute window. I know her heart is racing trying to remember everything she wanted to say while watching the clock and trying to download pictures, etc....I haven't received any pictures yet, but we are still working on it. Maybe this week!!! Cheri


How is everyone??? I WAS SO HAPPY TO GET YOUR MISSIONTIES LETTER AND PACKAGE!! Oh my gosh. It was pretty much the first letter I have received since being here in the CTM. I assumed that they would forward any mail from the Provo MTC but apparently they dont. They THROW away all dearelders and return regular mail to the sender!! So anyone who sent a dearelder in the last month it didn~t get to me!!!! Please just send it as an email please please please! I~m sorry, I think its kind of an odd system but whatever. Anyway it was wonderful to hear from home. Thank you mom! And me and Sister Przybyla thank you f rom the bottom of our hearts (and stomachs) for the cookies and chocolate!!! That couldn't have been more perfect!!!!!!! Love love loved it!

Ok real quick as I watch the time tick.....so I was hoping that the South American mosquitos wouldnt like me as much as at home but I was wrong....I basically get eaten alive every day. Im like one walking mosquito bite!!! Its kind of a bummer but oh well. I just hope I dont get some weird disease like malaria or something....any idea for preventativeness?? Also I´m glad you shared that story about the lady who enjoyed the song Anna and I sang. That song gets stuck in my head often "My Kindness Shall not depart from Thee". I was thinking....do you think tehres anyway to attach that as an Mp3 so I can listen to it? Or not. I may not ever have speakers on a comptuer. Just a thought. So Elder Russell M Nelson came to the CTM last week!! What an increddible opportunity to be able to hear from ANOTHER apostle of the Lord!!! We actualyl got to all meet him and shake his hand individually. Gosh I~m just so grateful to have been able to go to both MTCs! Seriously what a blessing. Well I think I~m going to spend the rest of my time trying to attach pictures. I love you all and love to hear from each one of you!! Please be patient in my response. Mail takes a little longer here than in Provo.... But I have a testimony and know that this is the Lords true church established once again on the Earth! I have so much to be thankful for and I~m so grateful to be a missionary at this time! Only TWO more weeks in the MTC before I am a REAL MISSOINARY!! Today at the temple I met a ton of elders AND SISTERs who are from my mission!!! They made me so excited to get out and serve!!! Alright well keep in touch! Talk to you all soon... Sempre, Sister Peck