SPRING!!!

"Another week in Bluefield! Just a short update, I don't have a whole lot of time, but I wanted to let you know that I am alive (:"

"Our investigator is doing well, we are still looking for other people to teach. She has a friend we might start teaching if we get the chance to meet with her."

"It snowed AGAIN yesterday, and its supposed to be in the 70's the rest of the week. Hopefully my plea for spring has been heard, and the weather will start warming up soon. SPRING!!!!"

"Nothing really new this week, just still working with the bishop on how we are going to change the ward here. We have been listening to the spirit, and we are really excited for the ward to pick up here."

"Thanks for the love and support!"

Staying in Bluefield

"Funny story, so me and Sister E got a text from our zone leaders Saturday saying that if we invited 5 people to learn randomly that night, he would tell us if one of us was leaving. Our zone leaders called and said  "Sister Peck, you are staying...and Sister E, you are..going...NOWHERE!" So we are staying together in Bluefield yet another transfer. We are both really excited!! Lots of good things are going to happen this transfer, we can feel it. We have a couple of really hard working elders coming into our ward (we share the ward with two other sets of elders) and we have high hopes that they will be ready to work, cause this ward has officially become a project, not just for the missionaries, but for the members of the ward council and hopefully the remaining ward members."

"Spring is around the corner. I am so sick of the weather. Snow. 40 degrees. 70. Snow. 30 degrees. 64. Snow. I swear, I am done. I just want to send my winter stuff home. Everyone keeps saying "oh Spring is here, the harbinger has spoken, blah blah..." yeah, tell that to me when it snows again next week."

"One of our investigators is on date for April 12th. She is so amazing, every lesson we have with her the spirit is so strong. Yesterday we taught her about the temple. Her favorite temple is the Salt Lake. She is so excited to come to Utah to go through the temple next spring. I am constantly amazed at her faith and testimony. We're gonna baptize this girl!! She's so ready!"

"I am way excited for the meeting on Saturday, and I am SUPER excited for general conference. Well, that's pretty much all for this week. I am so grateful to be on a mission!! Thank you all for your love and support. Y'all are FANTASTIC! (: hope to hear from you soon."

I absolutely LOVE the Book of Mormon!!

"This weekend was our stake conference. It was broadcast out of Salt Lake, so we were privileged to listen to L. Tom Perry. He gave a wonderful talk on missionary work, and that sharing the gospel to all the world is part of the covenant we make at baptism. We also got to hear the first counselor in the general Primary speak, and her talk was really good, It was on sharing the Book of Mormon. We also heard Bruce A Carlson and he said a lot of things about sharing the gospel that really hit home for me."

"Tuesday last week was Specialized Training for our zone. We talked about the Book of Mormon, and studied every page possible in PMG about how to use it and share it. Whenever I think about the Book of Mormon, or am asked to share an experience or testimony about it, I tell the story about how my dad and his companion changed the Belgium Mission just by offering the Book of Mormon to people to have in their homes. That's something I feel like our mission needs to understand. In Bedford, our zone leaders issued a challenge on the day that it was 11 degrees outside. We had a competition to see who could hand out the most Books of Mormon. The Bedford 4 got together and we handed out 30-some odd books to people that day. I love the Book of Mormon. We as a mission were challenged at our zone conference 2 weeks ago to read it again by June. I'm going to see if I can read it twice by June. My new year's resolution was to be able to read it 2 more times on my mission and then once at home...it has increased, and I'm going to see if I can read it at least 3 more times as a missionary, and then maybe twice more when I come home. I absolutely LOVE the Book of Mormon!!!"

"After training, we got to go on exchanges with our sister trainer leaders.They are serving in Blacksburg, which isn't even a "far-see" away from Christiansburg. So for exchanges I went to sunny Blacksburg. I had the privilege to go through Christiansburg again. Oh the memories!!! I had a really good time in Blacksburg. That area of Virginia is very beautiful- but I'd still put Bedford first (:"

"I am really grateful to be on a mission. I wouldn't ever trade this time that I have to learn and grow the way that I have as a servant of God. Thank you so much to all you who have supported me in my endeavors to be the best that I can be! My scripture of the week- Mosiah 23:24. I am grateful for the Savior's amazing grace, and promised blessings of redemption as we plead with him to deliver us from bondage."

"Hope y'all have a great week! Can't wait to hear from you soon!"

Wow, What a Week of Miracles

"Wow, what a week of miracles it has been for us! Not only is the weather starting to warm up, and both of our other investigators are progressing, but two of our investigators joined the church this week...the baptism was held on Saturday evening! They were just glowing. Her mom was beaming- she had worked so hard for that experience. They were both confirmed on Sunday. What a special treat- I am grateful that the Lord saw fit to bless me with that experience."

"The weather is warming up, finally! Yesterday it was 50ish and then this afternoon should be upper 50's. The whole mission I think is excited for spring. We were visiting a member who was telling us about how she saw robins this week- and in Bluefield, that means spring is around the corner...like, it starts in 4 days. The harbinger has spoken (: The sky is blue, the wind is warm, our gloves and scarves are being stashed. I love spring!!"

"One of our investigators, S, is totally wonderful. She is basically a member she just needs to get baptized. She asked me this week on Saturday when we met with her if I could teach her piano. So once again, I have pulled out my piano books, and we will be teaching her back to back piano/gospel lessons on Fridays. She has investigated since last July. It has taken her a lot to get where she is at- but oh my gosh, I have never met anyone as faithful as she is. When I first met her, I wanted to get an idea of where she stood as far as the lessons and her testimony. She told me when I asked her if she had prayed about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith that she didn't have to pray- she just knew that they were true. How's that for a golden investigator?! She quite smoking cold turkey, and she is warming up to us. She texts us all the time with questions, and she is trying to get her nieces and nephews to come to church with her. I felt inspired to promise her that if she made church on Sundays a priority and if she came and partook of the sacrament every week, the Lord would help her quit coffee. She told us that as her priorities of coming to church more have changed, her nieces and nephews are attending churches, and are making God more of a priority for themselves. So many cool miracles!! I love her!! I want to stay another transfer and at least see her be baptized and finish her music lessons!"

"We are working with a few less actives, and our ward goals and plans for the year revolve around our ward roster and reactivation. We have 400 plus people in our ward and if we can activate at least 30 or so percent, we could split our ward. So we are trying to reactivate. We found a gold mine- we just have to be prayerful about how we extract all of these faithful members from inactivity."

"I hope everyone has had a great week! May the Lord bless you in your endeavors and don't forget us in the field! (: Hope to hear from you soon! Love you all!!"

2 BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!! WOOOOOOH!!!

"This week the weather decided to suck, and the library was closed yesterday. It snowed only like, 3 inches, but the ice was bad. It was 60 on Sunday, and it sprinkled. It smelled like rain for the first time since summer. It was so wonderful to feel the spring humidity again. I seriously can not wait for the summer time!!"

"We have had a super busy week getting ready for our 2 BAPTISMS ON SATURDAY!! WOOOOOOH!!! These will be my first two baptisms I've seen, but I don't really consider them as mine, because they are basically done with all the lessons. I have taught them the last two. Obviously they are the Lord's baptisms not my own, but it is so amazing to see two solid people ready to make covenants with the Father. They both love the church. They want to be sealed next year, and this is helping her mother (a LA) come back to church. We love these folks!! They are fantastic!!"

"This past week was zone conference, and as you have seen in President's letters, we are going back to the basics, and part of that is giving ourselves up to the work. Paraphrasing the Lord, C.S. Lewis says to us: "Give me all. I don't want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work: I want You, all of You. I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man, but to kill it. No half-measures will do. I don't want to only prune a branch here and another there; rather, I want the whole tree out. Hand it all over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them all over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart." (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis, p. 167)"

"I've been having a tough time adjusting to Bluefield - But I swear, this zone conference was totally for me! So much revelation & spiritual guidance! It was truly a neat conference. So my district leader knows I am/was having a hard time in Bluefield, so he told me to read D&C 25. I read it out of my quad with all my seminary notes, and Holy revelatory experience! Verse 4 really hit home and especially when I realized that I'm the only one keeping myself from loving Bluefield! I know that God blesses us when we're humble enough to learn what his will is, cause our will needs to be his."

"My heart is slowly changing, and I am starting to just absolutely love the people in this branch. They are so much fun, and there is so much love for the gospel oozing out of the members here. Even though the Sunday attendance is sparse, their spirituality is just busting out of their eyes, and they participate in what they are asked to do. I love Sundays here."