And Now, a Word from the OTHER Elder Peacock…

Our nephew is serving in Puerto Rico.   He sent a picture of him wearing the HAIR tie in public (thus fulfilling his obligation to rule #3).

We also got a call out in his latest email and I think it’s fascinating to learn about Puerto Rican Christmases…

Dear Family,

Hope you had a fantastic Christmas! It was so nice to talk to the immediate family, to have a little bit of instantaneous communication. That and to hear all those familiar voices--except for Jason's. His voice has definitely gotten deeper...Thank you to all who sent letters, packages, and notes. As a missionary, it's awesome to get packages & even greater to get them Christmas. So thank you tons! Attached is a little picture of how Aunt Lisa's package helped me get into the Christmas Spirit! haha [what useful things, huh?]

Christmas here was a much more relaxed day, had church at 11 instead of the usual 9:30. Then went to a member's house for lunch, took turns chatting with our families, then went to a dinner appointment. The members here are really good at feeding us, especially this time of year. The food is usually pretty good, and almost always with rice and beans. Including on Christmas!

Puerto Ricans definitely have a different sense of Christmas cheer. Christmas is celebrated more like the 4th of July, with tons of cherry bombs! There's a tradition here of having what's called a parranda. This is basically a travelling party, house to house, all night long. Singing songs, drinking, eating, from about midnight to 5 in the morning. We had two nights where we fell asleep to a couple parrandas starting a little early. Here, they also have the Day of the Kings on the 6th of January, to celebrate the 3 wise men's arrival to pay their respects to Jesus. Among this, they include some other holidays throughout January. I've heard that they really have just like one giant party until the 3rd week in January!

This last week of the year we started off driving up to Bayamon for a devotional with President Glazier of the Dominican Republic MTC. We talked about how we can better teach our investigators. One thing that he encouraged us to try to do, is to try to create a conversational environment where the investigator can teach us through an examination of scripture. He commented that many times--especially when encouraging investigators to keep a commitment--missionaries don't use scriptures, but use opinions. He encouraged us to use the scriptures and ask good questions. By doing so, the Holy Spirit can teach our investigators directly and they can become familiar with the way the Holy Ghost works. So this has been a recent emphasis we have had in our teaching.

Last night, we had a dinner appointment with a lady married to a member, but he's a little bit less active.She asked us when we were setting up the appointment what we would like to eat. What puertorican foods we hadn't yet had. I suggested we have mofongo. Mofongo is a side dish made of sliced plantains. The plantain slices are fried until crispy, then crushed with a mortar and pestle with garlic, butter, and seasoning salt. It was really good--like a Puerto Rican version of mashed potatoes. Of course, it was served with some deep fried chicken. lol

But after dinner, we had a great lesson with her, really led by the Spirit. She has been investigating the Church for a long time now, and we invited her to set the goal of baptism on the 28th of January. She was a little anxious to commit to the date because she hasn't yet received an answer to her prayers--or at least recognized it. I promised her that the Lord would answer her prayer before that date, if she put in her part to find out. She didn't agree wholeheartedly, but said that she would do all she could to be ready by that date. Now, as a missionary, it would be reasonable to be a little upset, or maybe disappointed, at her response. But afterwards, I just felt the calmness of the Spirit assuring that all would be well, that she'll receive her answer. The amazing thing about missionary work, is that it's the Lord's work, and that He has the power to do what He needs done. I know that the Book of Mormon is a book of scripture to lead us, and that God is aware of our exact needs, and that if we turn to Him in prayer, He will enlarge our capabilities.

At the end of this year, as we reflect on the year, and plan for the next, I know that we have the hope that the Gospel brings. The Atonement of Christ can be applied in a very real, day to day manner. Through Christ's Atonement, we have the hope of becoming better, of improving ourselves. Through His grace, we can do all things.

Love you all!

Elder Jordan Peacock

Merry Christmas

[email dated 12.26.11]

Hey Everyone,

It was great to talk to you guys yesterday...can you believe we`ll only talk [on the phone] one more time before I go home? I am going try to work on my accent though so I don`t sound like Pedro anymore [his speech patterns reminded us of Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite, and we told him so!] … don`t want that to happen. But yeah, it was really good to talk to you all. I included some pictures in an email that I just barely sent...so I hope you like those. Just know that I had a really fun Christmas and I was treated very well by the members of the ward here in Metepec. I am also really excited for this upcoming change with Elder Green. He is a great guy and I am gonna learn a lot from him as well. He is from Sacramento, CA area and has 18 months in the mission (the same as Elder Rowley) It will be his 4th change as a zone leader. It will be a fun one.

[Justin knows the date for his homecoming!!! JULY 25, 2012 WOOO HOO!]

Well I love you all and I hope that you have a good week....I would love to talk more, but I don`t really have anything to talk about anymore considering that we talked about it all yesterday, I love you all and I am so grateful for this opportunity to work in the Lord`s work. I know the Gospel is true and is the only way that we can return to live in God`s presence.

And this is my joy (Alma 29:9)

Elder Peacock

Short and Sweet

[Email dated 12.19.11]

Hey everyone,

It´s almost Christmas, can´t wait to talk to you all. I don´t have a whole lot of time today and I want to leave stuff to talk about so this will be the shortest email of my whole mission. I am thinking that I will call home between 3 and 5 on Sunday which will be between 1 and 3 there. So have your Skype (NOT My account!!) ready and waiting. I found out how to use the secret Santa money....there are 3 elders in the zone that are not going to get Christmas packages...so my comp and I went and bought them stuff at WalMart today to put a Secret Santa package together for the 3 of them. 

The work is going great and I Love you and miss you all. We will talk on Sunday !!!!! Can´t Wait. Hope you all have a good week.

And this is my joy.

Love Elder Peacock

Earthquake

Hey family and friends,

It was a good week. Thanks for all of the emails. Not too happy with the whole trade being outlawed by David Stern...if you don´t want powerhouse teams why don´t you worry about the Heat first? Unbelievable. Hopefully the Lakers will be able to get it together. You asked about the the zone leaders--13 out of the 18 are Americans, and the other 5 are Latino. 1 Peruvian assistant and 1 American assistant. As for Christmas I am not sure when I will call, I will prolly let you know next week. I will be using Skype however, for only an hour.

The week went well. We had a successful week in the zone. Baptized 11. We didn´t do a whole lot of missionary interchanges this week, so Elder Rowley and I pretty much stayed in our area for the week. We contacted a lot and looked for new people most of the week. We found a family of 4 that went to church with us and is progressing nicely. They are reading the Book of Mormon and even went to the baptismal service that we had on Sunday. We baptized Filiberto...who is the man. He is a big strong police officer, and we love him a lot. He´s a great guy and he was super excited about his baptism. He expressed to us afterwards that it was the best thing that he could have done in his life...wow, the gospel really is amazing.

 

The news of the week would probably be the EARTHQUAKE. It was huge. It happened in Guerrero, but we felt a huge aftershock. A couple of buildings fell down here in Metepec and we couldn´t even get into our house for a couple of days, so we just kind of camped out. A bunch of people were hurt but I don´t think anyone died here in Metepec. Elder Rowley and I dove under a couple of tables during the quake so nothing happened to us...but it was a close one.....

Na, just kidding haha. There really was an earthquake but we just got a little tiny shake. We were in a lesson and we were teaching and then the person we were teaching just starts looking all worried and tells us its an earthquake, and then we started to feel it. The lights started to shake and the bookcases wobbled but that was about it. It lasted 10 seconds at the most. We´re good, don´t worry Mom . Sorry if you didn´t think that was funny.

Well I love all of you and miss you a ton. I know the Gospel is true and that I am participating in the work of our Heavenly Father himself. I can´t wait to talk to you on Christmas!

And this is my joy.

Elder Peacock

Elder Johnson

Hey Everyone,

Tell Zorrita to stop growing up haha. I want to see her somewhat as a puppy when I get back. But it´s good to hear that everything is going good. Love getting emails from you guys.

So, I wrote on Wednesday, so not a whole lot has happened since then, but at the same time a lot really has happened.

We had the great opportunity to listen to Elder Johnson this week as a mission. He had zone conferences with our mission starting on Wednesday, with about 2 zones each day. He is from the 1st Quorum of the Seventy and is the President of the Area Mexico. He is so powerful. We had our conference with 2 other zones on Saturday and it was about 3 hours long. He taught so much amazing, powerful stuff. Words really won´t do it justice to be honest with you...but I can tell you that the room was FILLED with the Spirit. He taught us a lot about the importance of the Spirit in missionary work. And on Sunday, he did a special conference with just the zone leaders. It was so amazing, really one of the most powerful moments on my mission. Just about 18 of us missionaries with an Elder from the Seventy teaching us about missionary work and the Gospel. After Elder Johnson left, all the zone leaders stayed and we had a testimony meeting. Truly an unforgettable experience.

Right now, we have another little conference with President for all the zone leaders, I really don´t know what for, but we will see. I hope that you enjoy the pictures of downtown Mexico City. Really is a cool place...we´ll have to go together someday.

Just from this experience with Elder Johnson, I just want to express my testimony of the Restoration. I know without doubt that God calls men today to lead us and guide us and that these men are led by the Spirit and teach us the things that Heavenly Father wants us to hear. If we prepare ourselves spiritually and desire direction from our Heavenly Father, we will receive answers through these leaders. They are inspired. Listen to them. Follow them. God has called them.

I love being a missionary.

And this is my joy,

Elder Peacock.

No Worries, Just Anxiously Engaged

Hello everyone,

I´m still here, don´t worry nothing happened to me.  We just had a zone leader conference with President and the assistants on Monday, so our P-day got taken up and got moved to today. More on that conference later...it was really amazing. But good to see pictures of everyone....Everyone looks different! Daniel is huge, Tyler has a beard coming in, Bryce looks bigger and older.....weird weird weird. It doesn´t seem like I´ve been gone that long, but then I see pictures like that and it reminds that I have haha. Glad you guys had a fun Thanksgiving. Mine was pretty normal. One of the Elders in the zone made pumpkin pie for me and Elder Rowley , so we bought some ice cream and ate that after planning at night.  That was as much Thanksgiving as we got haha. For our food that day we ate some super spicy enchiladas and some flan....yeah....pretty Mexican haha. Feliz Cumpleaños Dad!! Oh, I also got the package you sent me, and the lights are now hung up in the house and the chocolate is being devoured [that was quick!  Less than 2 weeks!].

So this past week went pretty well. Still getting used to the whole bike thing, but I did finally get the seat raised so its going a little better now. We definitely do work a whole lot more effectively with them--we just fly from house to house. We were able to baptize 2 more people this week. It was the son and grandson of the Sister we baptized last week. They were happy and it was good to see the family together and united through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel really does bless families. 

Elder Rowley and I are getting along great, it´s fun being his companion. He goes to BYU and everything as well, so we´ll get to hang out for sure after the mission as well. One of the perks of being a zone leader is that you get to do interchanges and work in other areas of the zone as well. So, this past week I worked in Lerma again, and I also worked in a little pueblo called Tenancingo...it has about 10 Catholic churches every 100 yards you walk and it has a huge Jesus statue on a hill overlooking the city. Cool place...kind of hard to work there though.

Another perk of being a ZL is going to the monthly zone leader conferences. All the zone leaders in the mission get together and with President and the Assistants we talk about things we can do better as a mission and we analyze the past month. In November we baptized 253 in the mission. It´s a really good number, but it´s a little low compared to the past couple of months that we have had. But the Spirit was really strong in the meeting and you could just feel the power that President Villarreal has as he taught us things. One of the things that he went over is Malachi 3:8-18 in the Old Testament. It´s something that we have read hundreds of times, almost every time that we teach tithing to somebody. But he applied it to the mission. The mission is a tithe of our life to God. As we waste our time and don´t work hard we rob God...BUT if we pay these 2 years full, God will pour out blessings upon us that we won´t have room to receive it. Sometimes we think that the disobedient missionaries seem to have more success and get along just fine...but as it explains, the obedient missionaries will be rewarded for their dedication, even if they didn´t have that much success.

It was so powerful as President read over those things and applied them the way that he did. It is something I have read over and over again but I had never thought of it in that way. Really Amazing.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to tithe my life and give these 2 years to my Heavenly Father. It is my prayer that I will take advantage of every moment and serve with the dedication that my Heavenly Father expects of me. I love being a missionary and I love my Savior Jesus Christ.

Love you and miss you all, have a great week.

And this is my joy.

Love Elder Peacock.

P.S.  We’re trying all the popcorn flavors.

[Note all the HAIR ties in these pictures…]

Happy Thanksgiving

[email dated 11/21/11]

Hello Everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving...even though they don`t celebrate it down here in Mexico. I do have an American comp this time around though, so we were thinking we would do something for Thanksgiving...maybe buy a Turkey leg or something...but it still won`t be the same. It`s ok..I`ll be back for the next one! Zorrita is getting bigger. It still looks like Sparky could swallow her though haha.

Also thank you for the letter Tyler. You asked about the difference between a District Leader and Zone Leader. A District Leader is in charge of a District which usually consists of 2-4 areas or 4-8 missionaries. A zone leader is in charge of usually about 4 districts and the DLs which usually consists of 10 or 11 companionships of missionaries. So the order of leadership in the mission is this: President, Assistants, Zone Leaders, District Leaders, Trainers, Senior Companions and Junior Companions. Everything has it`s order.

Ok, so as for the week...I do have some pictures but the computer is not working with my camera for some reason, so I guess that you`ll just have to wait for next week for that. Being a Zone Leader is fun. I`m learning a lot from my companion Elder Rowley. He`s a great missionary and we get along really well--really nice guy. As zone leaders, we are always running around to other areas, trying to help our missionaries out in their areas, which is really fun because I`ll get to know the whole zone wherever I serve. In our area we have bikes!! haha. We get around a whole lot faster...although my legs were pretty sore the first couple days...its been 16 months since I rode a bike.  But, I`m getting used to it. My butt was pretty sore for a couple of days, let’s just say that the seat on the bike is not the softest thing in the world.  But don`t worry Mom. We do wear helmets. So yeah, I feel like a real Mormon missionary now rolling around on my bike haha.

Happy 16 months! almost forgot...man it`s going by fast. 5 more weeks and we`ll be talking again!

So, just like Saugus won league on a technicality, We kind of had a baptism in the same way. We got a referral this week for an 8 year old kid this week from other Elders in our zone. We went by and the kid lives with his Dad and Grandma. They both said that they were already baptized and everything. Just to make sure, we checked with the offices to see if they had records in the church and it turns out that they do not. SO, so that they could get the records back in the church they would have to be rebaptized...its kind of a weird situation. The grandma expressed the  desire to go to the temple with us...and to enter into the temple you need records in the church. SO, we baptized the Grandma yesterday and we are planning for the baptism for the Dad and his son next week. It really was a miracle that we had a baptism this week...The Lord blessed us by helping us find that family and we were able to help them progress in getting closer to entering into the temple.

I know that Christ lives, and I know that this is His work. I`m so grateful for the chance to serve a mission and help His children here in Mexico for this short time. I know that this is His work and there is nowhere else I would rather be.

And this is my Joy

Elder Peacock

A Change…Kind of

Hey everyone,

Thanks for all the emails and the pics. Good to hear that Sparky is getting used to Zoey a little bit. I can´t wait to meet her....too bad she´ll already be all grown up by the time I get home. Dang. But good to hear how everything is going as usual. Grandpa Bruce and Marri, know that my prayers are with you. 

As for the week. The changes are in....and my time in Lerma has come and gone. 6 weeks and done. BUT, I wouldn´t call it much of a change. I´m going to an area that I am actually pretty familiar with...yup, that´s right...I´m back to Metepec, Metepec Zone. My first area in Mexico. Weird huh? The only thing that is different this time around is that I will be there serving as a zone leader! I have been moved up, and I am extremely excited about the opportunity to learn. My companion is Elder Rowley, who is from Washington (my 3rd companion from Washington) and this is his 3rd change as zone leader. He has one transfer more than me in the mission...so he goes home in June and has 17 months in the mission. I am very excited to learn from him and to have a lot of success this time around in Metepec...my only hope is that I get to know DF before the mission is over haha. Sooo, at the end of this change will be Christmas so I will be here. [Yikes!  Christmas already!  I’m not ready!]

As for the past week, it went very well. We had a baptism on Thursday. The lady´s name is Lourdes, and she was going to have some problems with her schedule on Sunday and Saturday...so we decided to have her baptism during the week. She is someone that is really struggling with her family, and really wanted to put an example for her kids...we helped her to understand that following the example of Jesus Christ was the best example that anyone could ever follow and it would be a perfect example to give to her kids. She made the decision to be baptized, and had some doubts and struggles, but she pushed through it all and was able to make that covenant with our Heavenly Father. 

On Friday, I went on exchanges with Santiago and did my own version of man versus food. A member there has a sandwich stand, and about a week ago, he made a bet with me that I could not eat the biggest sandwich that he makes....I obviously told him that I could. So here was the bet. I had 25 minutes to eat the sandwich...if i did it...it was free. If not...I pay double the price. The sandwich was HUGE....like GIGANTICLY HUGE. It had everything. Breaded steak, ham, turkey, american cheese, white cheese, like 3 other cheeses, sausage, tomatoes, onions, and lots of chili.....I started off strong....ate the first half in like 5 minutes. But I just hit a wall after that...I kept chewing and chewing but it just wouldn’t go down and it actually started to make me want to throw up. I failed....so I ended up paying him 125 pesos (about 10 bucks) which really isn’t that bad when you look at the size of that sandwich. So, my conclusion is that the man vs food guy´s job wouldn’t be that fun sometimes haha. 

That´s about it for the news for this past week. I am very excited for the opportunity to be ZL...it will be a great learning experience and I am excited about the opportunity to serve all the missionaries here in the Metepec zone. I feel that I will learn so much and really develop a Christ like love for each and every missionary in the zone as I pray and worry about their success each and everyday.

 

Hope you all have a good week...love you and miss you. 

And this is my joy,

Elder Peacock

There Are No Words.

Elder Trevor Reinhold Strong, 21, of Taylorsville, Utah and Elder Derek Jason Walker, 20, of Fairfield, Idaho, died on Tuesday night in Texas of injuries sustained in a hit and run incident.  A third missionary, Elder Zachary Todd Harris, 19, of Huntsville, Alabama, was injured, but was treated at a nearby hospital and released.  Read HERE for more.

Elder Harris is the good friend of our cute cousin Makena.

Our hearts are broken for those families.  I think every missionary family feels a special kinship as we share our prayers EVERY SINGLE NIGHT for the missionaries serving all over the world.   

Life of a Misionary

 

This is called contacting somebody that really does not want to talk to you.

Last Week of This Change Already!

Hey everyone,

So while I am anxiously waiting for Mom to resend me her email with the puppy pictures, I will start my email. Thanks for all the emails, love and support as usual. I always knew Rober would make it big haha [see Halloween costume—now with over 2.5 million hits on YouTube]. Also, as you can probably see from the pictures....I did in fact get the other package...and am enjoying the candy and shoes.  

So this week was a good one. We were able to have another baptism. The lady´s name is Evangelina. She is older and lives by herself. She has been through a lot in her life. In 1985 there was an earthquake here, and her husband and her 9 month year old child were killed in the quake. She is without work now as well, and is really struggling just to get by. Last Saturday (9 days ago) she contacted us on the street and asked us when the services were in the church. We told her at 10 and planned to pass by for her at 930 the following morning. We had actually met her about 3 weeks before that, we helped her carry some boxes to her house, but she told us she didn’t have time to meet with us so we really didn’t think twice about her after that until she talked to us last Saturday. She went to church with us, and during the week we met with her everyday, teaching the lessons, and helping her progress towards baptism. She is a very intelligent person. She would always read the things we left with her...the pamphlets and chapters from the Book of Mormon. By the time she had her interview on Thursday and then more teaching on Friday and Saturday, she was super excited for her baptism. After her service, she bore her testimony and expressed her thankfulness towards us missionaries and how she really considered us a blessing in her life. It was amazing to see the testimony that she had gained in just a week and a day!!!

This week, it started to rain again as well...really lame. I´m not a fan of the rain when I have to walk outside in it. I like it more when I can just sit inside on a couch with some blankets next to the fireplace. That´s my kind of rain. But, what can you do. So I have been getting more use out of my umbrella and rain jacket this past week. And yes, it is getting colder here. But only at night and in the morning, during the day the sun is still pretty strong. But, we can´t use sweaters without a suit coat, and I don´t really like wearing my suit around all day. President said that if we are cold then we should buy a coat...haha.

(So I just got the email...Zoey is such a little thing!! She look so innocent haha....I´m glad that Sparky hasn´t eaten her yet, also hopefully you get to meet Elder Coulston and his WIFE, he is the man)

[Elder Coulston was his first companion in SLC, having since been released and now married.  He was planning to be in our town on Monday.  Alas, it didn’t work out but he called today and had very sweet words for Elder Peacock—music to a mom’s ears.  We still hope to meet him someday!]

Well not much more to report from this week, next Monday we have changes, who know´s what will happen. only 6 more changes left!! crazy.

We played soccer verse Toluca today...hence the pictures. Elder Juker is the zone leader of Toluca now, so we got to see each other again. and Elder Jacobs [MTC companion] is in Toluca as well so we had a tiny little reunion.

Love you and miss you all

And this is my joy (alma 29:9)

Elder Peacock

Let Me Take You on a Tour

Justin sent pictures of the apartment where he has been living for the last four weeks.

   

He said it was really dirty when he got there so he couldn’t send pictures right away.  He said “Don’t worry.  I haven’t gotten any diseases yet.  Haha”  The kitchen actually looks pretty clean.  I am wondering why they have a ginormous ladder in against the back wall however.