For the Next 6 Weeks I’ll Be In…

Metepec....again.

You called it Dad. I will be staying here for another change at least, and with Elder Diaz again too. I´ll admit that I did want to go to DF for a change...but I am happy for the opportunity to continue the Lord´s work here in Metepec. So by the end of this change I will have about 5 months here in Metepec, which is a pretty good chunk of my mission. So, obviously, the Lord has some more work for me to do here...so I´m excited to get it done. This change should be a pretty exciting one for a number of reasons

1. The apostles Elder Cook, Elder Oaks and member of the 70 Elder Rasband are ALL coming to our mission in May!!
2. Mother´s Day...We´ll get to talk =)
3. My Birthday
4. We have zone conference this change which is always very spiritually uplifting.

Thanks for the emails. Cannnnnnnnot believe the Lakers lost game 1 at home.....LAME. At least the Spurs lost too so President Villarreal can’t give me any bologna about it.  And yes, Jimmer is officially THE MAN. He could probably get away with having a beard on BYU campus-- that’s how popular he is. As for the pictures, looks SO sweet. I wanna drive a little hummer through a cave. Looks like you guys had a great time...and freak Bryce looks BIG....boy has been eating his Wheaties....how tall is he now?? Excited to see more pictures and get the package!!  [Here are some of the pictures we sent to Justin from Cancun:]

As for Spring break here in Mexico, [in response to a question] no there is not any BUT they have the Semana Santa (Holy week). So that actually started this weekend...they celebrate the whole week leading up to Easter with various events (mostly religious) and a lot of people go out of town.  This week coming up might be a little tougher than usual because of that. Something weird.  Here in various places they actually reenact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.   They elect a person to ¨be¨ Christ and then they actually crucify him and everyone watches (in some places they tie them up and others they ACTUALLY nail them) .   Yeah...pretty messed up huh? And they leave them there all day.  Apparently its a huge ¨honor¨to be picked to be Jesus and people train a long time so they can be physically prepared to do it....some traditions are just not good. Very disrespectful and sacreligious if you ask me.  As if anybody could ever even comprehend or experience what Christ went through for us.  As for the pictures, looks SO sweet. I wanna drive a little hummer through a cave. Looks like you guys had a great time...and freak Bryce looks BIG....boy has been eating his wheaties....how tall is he now?? Excited to see more pictures and get the package!!

This week was pretty good. We got various investigators to begin to progress and I think we set ourselves up to have success this week and this next change as well. We are teaching this one guy who is super cool. He lives in an apartment on the bottom floor and he is an artist...so he painted his apartment with Puma (soccer team in DF) colors and logos and he has all kinds of paintings and drawings in his house that he has done. But he is also a macho man and he used to be a bodybuilder and he is Huge and strong and loves working out. He agreed to go with us to church on Sunday, so we passed by for him early in the morning so we could go together. As we approached his door we could hear his music playing super loud. Rock music? no. maybe some Rap? nope. He was playing Enya....super loud haha. We knocked the door and he answered all ready to go...with a suit and tie and everything. He´s the man.

I also had another neat experience this week. We were teaching this lady named Daña for the first time. My companion had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the lesson (he was a little sick that day) so I was sitting there by myself across from her. She started asking me questions about my mission that we get a lot. ¨do you guys live here?¨ does your family visit you? how long do you serve for? stuff like that. And then she asked me a question I have actually never been asked on my mission before. ¨¿usted realmente cree que estas cosas son verdaderas?¨ or ¨do you really believe that these things are true?¨ I am so grateful that when she asked me that question, I was able to look her in the face, and tell her and testify to her that I know without a doubt that they are true. I explained to her that I wouldn’t have left my family for two years and learned a language that at times is frustrating if I didn’t know it was true. I know through my own experiences that it is true. That what Jesus Christ did for us is real. He suffered and died for us so that each and everyone of us could have the opportunity to return and live with Heavenly Father again someday.

I am so grateful for my testimony and that I could truly tell Daña that day that I truly do know that these things are true and that I am not just wasting my time out here. I challenge everyone to think about that question. ¨do you really believe that these things are true?¨ Think about how you would respond. If you couldn’t honestly say you do, or you are unsure....start building your testimony today. Read the scriptures, attend church with a sincere desire to learn and to have your questions answered, repent everyday to be worthy of the Holy Ghost, and pray. Pray with faith, knowing that Heavenly Father answers prayers according to his time, not ours. I promise you that if you do those things, you will gain a testimony that is firm and established upon Christ (Helaman 5:12, below). I know because I have experienced it in my life. 

12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the ^arock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your ^bfoundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty ^cstorm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Love you and miss you. I hope to hear from you all soon, and 3 more weeks and I´ll be calling home!! 

Hope you guys have a great week! 

And this is my joy (Alma 29:9)

Elder Peacock