Rocky Week

[Email dated 6/13/11]

Dear family and friends,

Sounds like you had quite the week and quite the experience on the trek. Wish I could have been there for real. Would have been a blast. So, I have good news...I got the package!! haha. I don´t think it´s totally the fault of the Mexican mail service that it took so long, with transfers and everything the mail kind of goes on a little pause as everybody gets rearranged. But I got it finally!! and thank you so much. I wore my Jimmer jersey to sleep for a few nights haha...and I loved all the pictures. Also my Lakers key chain is now being used in my pocket haha. Speaking of basketball...in your face LeBron!! sorry just had to say it. That´s what he gets. Congrats to the German.

So this week was a rough one...was a little bit sick like the whole week. It all started, I think, last Monday, when a cold sore developed on my lip...I don´t know if that´s what started everything but it definitely didn´t help. From Tuesday or Wednesday on, every afternoon I would just start getting fever symptoms...super big headache, body aching and really really hot and then really cold 5 minutes later. Thursday and Friday the sickness got worse because the stomach for some reason decided to get involved and pretty much nothing seemed to sit well with me...then you add the fact that we were either walking up or down hills all day....and my stomach really never got completely settled. It made me sweat profusely at times even if I wasn’t doing anything...Luckily, on Sunday it seemed to fade away a little bit..and today I feel fine (still have the stupid cold sore though). But let´s just say it made the days seem a lot longer and tougher...physically challenging I guess you could say as well as mentally....Luckily Dad´s handy dandy first aid kit arrived at the beginning of the week so I was able to use the Advil to get through the day. But it´s all good...the week has passed as well as the sickness and now I´m here ready to start a new week, healthy and ready to go.

I will get pictures of the apartment to you all next week, I promise, I keep forgetting. But between last week and this week I have done a lot of cleaning [he CAN do it!!!] ...it was pretty gross when I got here. I especially had to give the bathroom a little clean up....smelled just absolutely terrible...but the house really is pretty good...considering the other houses I have seen...but yeah I´ll get pictures to you next week. The great part about it all is that we have a washer...so I have again avoided the whole hand washing clothes thing...hopefully I´ll go my whole mission without having to do it hahaha. One can only hope.

As for the work this week...it was good. We had this one girl named Leslie set up for baptism the whole week. She actually had a date for the week before but she didn´t go to church and we couldn´t find her the whole day....so this week we passed by everyday that we could and it almost seemed obnoxious...but EVERY TIME we talked about where we were meeting on Sunday, at what time, what she needed to bring, and that she would be baptized after the services etc. She was like, “ I know, I KNOW already, you don´t have to discuss it everytime”....Well wouldn´t you know, Sunday came around and she wasnt there at our meeting spot to got to the church. We went to her house...knocked, knocked, knocked, and knocked again....nobody answered. I was not gonna let Satan win this one. Knocked harder and harder until finally her little sister answered, woke up Leslie and she told us she would get ready. We finally got to the baptismal service and everything went great. We were able to feel the spirit and Leslie was warmly accepted by the members of the ward.

I guess the whole thing I really noticed from this experience is this : Satan works harder and attacks us stronger RIGHT before we are about to do something that will bring us Blessings. The more blessings and happiness we will receive the harder he will work...he wants us to be miserable like him and will do anything he can to stop us from making the right decisions. Think about Joseph Smith (see especially verses 15-17 HERE) ...Right before he received his answer to his prayer...and answer that would bless the world for centuries to come....he was overcome by the power of Satan...but what did he do? He kept working or in this case praying. If we would have been content with the fact that Leslie didn´t show up...Satan would have won. But because we were persistent and fought against everything Satan threw at us that morning, the Lord was able to help us overcome those things. The Lord can only help us if we keep working and do EVERYTHING we can do and then some, and then the Lord will provide the rest. If we give up, Satan wins and gets what he wants. It was a very eye opening experience for me that morning. It made me happy to know that one more soul came closer to Christ, despite the best efforts of Satan.

I know that this church is true, and that this work is real, if it wasn´t true, why would Satan be so opposed to it? I know that it is the work of God and that through Joseph Smith all of the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ were restored. I love preaching this message to others and seeing the change it brings in their lives.

I hope you all have a good week. I love you and miss you lots.

And this is my joy (Alma 29:9)

Elder Peacock