Comfort Zones

[Email Dated 4/4/11]

Hey family and friends,

WHO WON THE NCAA TOURNAMENT!!??? C’mon...you have to remember I´m on a mission in Mexico where they only watch soccer. Haha but it’s ok no worries. Also, I did not get the shoes yet, I will let you know as soon as they get here...It will probably take a couple of weeks.

Well, anyway, this week went really good. It was conference weekend, which is a little different here in this mission than in the Salt Lake mission. Mainly because we don´t get to go down to Temple Square all weekend and go to every session. In fact, here we were not even allowed to watch Conference on Saturday....NONE of it. I was pretty bummed, not gonna lie...especially missing the priesthood session. We did get to watch it on Sunday however. And, thank goodness, in English as well. They had a room in the chapel that had it in English....so I was in there with 3 other American missionaries from the Stake. It´s not that I wouldn´t understand it in Spanish...its just not the same listening to a translator. I think few would argue that listening to the Spanish translation of Elder Holland is the same. My favorite talk of Sunday was Elder Bednar...followed closely by Elder Uchtdorf and then Elder Holland. I really did feel like that talk was directed at me. I´ve really been trying to figure out how to recognize the Spirit better, and the way he described it, I felt was an answer to my prayers. Sometimes, personal revelation is like a light being turned on in a dark room...you just know and are enlightened instantly and undeniably...but this is not very common. Most of the time we receive personal revelation line upon line and precept upon precept...where we almost don’t even realize that we are receiving revelation. But if we continue to pray for guidance and strive to keep the commandments of the Lord, we can be confident that the Lord is guiding our steps each and every day. So...the half of conference that I got to watch was very good and spiritually uplifting.

As for the work this week, it went well. We didn´t baptize, but our investigators are making progress and I think we should be able to finish out this transfer (2 weeks more) with a lot of success, so we will just keep teaching and helping our investigators progress. Elder Diaz and I hit a little rough patch this week. We are expected by President Villarreal to contact as much as possible...and he wants us to get 20 per day as a companionship. This week Elder Diaz was just really having trouble with it. He is new, so naturally he still has a little fear of talking to people in the street. I would contact one and then it would be his turn...and he would walk around for a good 15 minutes...and past about 50 possible contacts before I finally had to force him to go up to somebody. This was a continual process...so I decided to make up a little game to try to get him to contact faster. I told him he had 2 minutes to make a contact...and if he didn’t make it he had to do 2 in a row and if he didn’t do 1 in the 2 minutes after that he had to do 3 in a row and so on and so forth....well lets just say the game backfired. He got up to about 9 in a row and then he just kind of gave up and said he didn’t want to do it. He said he would do it later....later on he said he would do it a little more LATER. I finally told him that that was unacceptable and that he had to do it NOW. We actually got into an argument for the first time pretty much this change. He said he would do it Tomorrow. The next day he started off strong....but stopped and said he couldn’t. We got into an argument again and then we just went on for a couple of hours. I finally started talking to him about it again...trying as hard as possible to not let it become an argument again. I talked to him about comfort zones...and how if we never take a step outside of our comfort zones...we won’t progress. We just won´t. In order to get better at something and learn how to do it...you have to, pretty much 100% of the time, do something that makes you uncomfortable in one form or another. It was a good conversation that we had...and afterwards he said he was ready to do it. Now, I´m proud to say that my kid is a contacting machine. It was a good learning experience for us BOTH.

Lastly, the legend of the UGLY tie lives on. [Still need to have Jeff document the legend of Uncle Steve and the Hair Tie…stay tuned] Elder Diaz had a tie from Peru that is without a doubt the ugliest, grossest, most horrfic, scariest looking tie I have ever seen. It makes you think...Who designed this? and when and where would anybody ever wear it. I successfully traded for it...and am now in possession of the ugliest tie in the world (see pictures) So don’t worry Uncle Steve...the Ugly tie tradition has been carried on. And Jordan Peacock....good luck trying to find an uglier tie than the one you´re gonna receive. I´m gonna figure out how I can send it home...so Jordan, you should get it before you leave.

Well that´s about it for this week. Thanks for the letters...and I hope you have fun in Cancun. Remember I want to see pictures, and if you get the chance...DO eat Tacos in the street. Al Pastor are really good. Love you and miss you.

Have a great week

And this is my Joy (Alma 29:9)

Elder Peacock