Email Received April 16, 2012



Hello y'all!


   I am not really sure what to say about this last week.  The best news is that our numbers and goals have increased! We set 2 baptismal dates this past week, which is pretty exciting because that means that we actually have some people that we are teaching.  Hopefully each of these baptisms will go through and be prepared to actually be baptized.  More good baptism news: Marco is scheduled to be baptized this Saturday!!!!! I'm am not exactly sure what is happening since I am no longer in Grand Prairie, but I should hopefully be able to call them later today to find out more details.  Potentially, I should get to go to Marco's baptism, but we will have to see how that all works out in the rest of the week.  I am just so excited that he is actually getting baptized because he has been so prepared by the Lord. I loved teaching Marco and I can't wait for him to be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost to help him throughout this rest of his life.
  
Here's something strange... Often there is a "theme" to the types of investigators that we have in our teaching pool. Right now the theme is Death. One of our new investigators that we found on Friday night was planning on committing suicide.  Everything is okay now, so don't worry. Another person we taught last night is suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer. So apparently right now, we are bringing hope to people and showing them why life is important and why death is okay. These are both strange and interesting situations, but we are helping where we can as missionaries.
  
The work is picking up in the Dallas 4th Ward, and I am so excited for that because I want so badly to be bringing people unto Christ and His restored gospel.  I know that the Lord loves each and every one of us.  He also knows us each personally.  Here is a cool example of the love and care that Heavenly Father has for every single person...  Friday night we had a doorstep lesson while tracting. We talked to this man forever because he had so, so many questions.  By the end we were setting up a time that we could come back to teach him more. Sister Walker asked if his name was James.  He replied that it was his name.  I had also been thinking for some time in the lesson that James was the man's name, but I know for a fact that he never told us James was his name before Sister Walker asked at the end of the lesson.  This just proves to me that Heavenly Father really does love each of us and He really does know us.  There is no other way that we could have known James' name.  We knew it only because the Spirit of the Lord was working through us to try and help comfort this son of Heavenly Father. It is so amazing and incomprehensible how much He truly does love each of us, His children. Do we return that love? Do we show that same love to others?  Experiences like this confirm to me the truth that we all lived with Heavenly Father before this life, that we can live with Him again after this life, and that He wants to help us during this life through everything that we experience so that we can become better, more righteous children. God loves each of us and Christ knows us all personally and intimately.  If you don't know this for yourself, pray to know!

I love y'all. Thanks for the letter that I received this week from Grandma and Grandpa Riches.  Thanks for all the love and support that everyone gives me though I am so far from home for an extended period of time. I miss y'all, but I know that the work that I am doing is so, so important. There is nothing that would be more rewarding to me at this point in my life than being a missionary and bringing souls to the gospel. Even though it is difficult and there are many downfalls, I love being a missionary. I love all of you and I know that God loves each of you too.

With love and prayers
-Sister Peck