Email from Sister Mc received June 11, 2012:

Hello Y'all!

We have a new couple that we started teaching this week, and it is super exciting.  Their names are Brian and Icy.  Brian started being taught the discussions about a year ago. He quickly accepted the teaching and lives all of the standards except for the Law of Chastity.  He has lived with Icy for over 3 years now, and they will not get married and they do not want to move apart. Not sure why.  Icy has never really been interested in the church, so the missionaries stopped teaching Brian a couple of months ago because he was not progressing at all.  Brian does come to church every Sunday though, and recently he has been bringing Icy with him. We always ask Icy if she is interested in learning more or if she has any questions from church, but she always says "no". About a week ago we were out with a member and ran into Brian and Icy. The member (a little, older but very spunky and pushy lady) gave Brian and Icy some of her delicious homemade cookies if in return they would pray every time they ate a cookie to know if the missionaries should come over.  Brian and Icy accepted the cookies and even let us come over that afternoon for a quick visit. A couple days later, we finally got a text from Brian saying that Icy had requested for us to come and teach her! Sister Squarcia and I were so excited!  Brian and Icy have been taught 2 lessons now, plus they already come to church on their own, and they even came with us to a baptism this last Saturday back in Sister Squarcia's old area.  It is pretty amazing! They are progressing wonderfully right now and we hope that Icy will keep having a desire to know more about the gospel. Maybe we will eventually have a wedding and 2 baptisms!

 Everything else has been going pretty well. The work is slow and we don't talk to many people when we knock doors, but the Lord will lead us to the people that are ready if we keep working hard. I can't believe that I have already been out for 1/4 of my mission. The time is so strange because the days seem to last like weeks, but by the end of a transfer (6 weeks) it feels like it has only been a month. In fact, transfer calls come this Saturday. Sister Squarcia and I are really hoping and praying that we stay together here in Dallas 4th for a couple of more transfers. We have a lot of fun together and I love introducing her to new "American" things. We bought Sister Squarcia her first ICEE from 7-11 the other day, and I think she really enjoyed it. This morning for preparation day we made chocolate chip cookie dough. She had her first taste of cookie dough! And we also decided to make it into one large cookie- she was so excited!! I love being around Sister Squarcia so much because she has a great personality and is alwasy so enthusiastic. It is always fun to educate her about new things.

The members are so amazing here and the food is just as great. One of them took us to a super, super nice restaurant this week called "III Forks". I think it is the most expensive meal that I have ever eaten! The Filet Mignon was delicious, and I even ate it medium-rare (those of you who know me know that I like my meat well-done with no signs of pink). It was amazing! Dessert was the most delicious Crème Brule that I have ever eaten!  I am definitely becoming more accustomed to the Texan way to eat meat. I think I have eaten more meat off of the bone here than I have in my entire life. The Texans really like their BBQs.

Another cool thing that happened this week was I got to hold a first edition copy of the Book of Mormon. It is one of the original 5,000 that were printed, of which only 500 are still in existence (mostly under glass cases in safe places) They have a little LDS bookstore in our area, and someone that works there has an original copy.  It was so amazing!!!  He even let me get a picture with it!

I love being a missionary so much! This is the Lord's work and he continues to bless us everyday.

Love- Sister Peck