EMAIL: Mon, August 13    11:57 PM

Subject:  Fist-sized Spider

Hello Y'all!

I hope everything is going well back at home. Everyone seems to be getting ready to go back to school here in Texas, which is strange to think about. The weather hasn't been too bad lately, which is nice when you are out knocking on doors.

Yesterday was a great day. I wrote last week about Renee who we have been teaching for a couple of months. She is shy and not super open, but I am really starting to see her desire to learn more about the gospel. Sadly, Renee had not been making much of an effort to come to church. On the other hand, she had been telling us that she wanted us to meet with her husband as well, but her husband is a truck driver and only home on the weekends (not a problem for missionaries, but their family is busy on the weekends).  Sister Pierce and I finally decided to go meet Renee, her husband Tom and 8-yr-old son, Quinlyn, early on Sunday morning before church. Renee was just fine with that and even said she would follow us to church after.

So yesterday morning we showed up with a member from the ward. The door was opened by Renee's husband (first time we had ever met him) and he was wearing a suit and tie! Tom was super friendly and quickly invited us in and started chatting with us. Quinlyn, the son, was also dressed up in slacks and a tie. It was so amazing! The whole family was ready to go to church and we hadn't even met Tom or Quinlyn before. We taught them the first lesson, answered all of Tom's questions, and even committed Tom to be baptized if he came to know that the LDS church and the priesthood are true. I was so happy to see Renee's joy at her husband starting to accept the gospel.  The best part was that they then all followed us to church. Everyone was welcoming and even inviting their family to sit by them. Unfortunately, Renee's family couldn't stay all three hours of church because they had relatives coming over, but Tom was telling everyone at church that they would be back next week for all three hours. Quinlyn is also super excited to go to primary. What an amazing experience to see a whole family come to church!!! We are teaching Renee again on Tuesday and the whole family on Friday. I hope that I can stay in Rowlett long enough to continue to teach them and see this family baptized. I love them so much and I want them to have the gospel.

 The rest of the week was pretty good as well. The bugs are getting bigger in Texas. The other night on the driveway to the home where we live, Sister Pierce spotted a giant spider. We got out of the car to look at it and it was bigger than my fist! The most disgusting part was the spider's entire back was covered with its little baby spiders. Gross!  The spider and babies were way to big to squish with a shoe, so Sister Pierce decided that we had to run over it with the car. Yes, the spiders are so big in Texas that they must be ran over with a car!  Unfortunately, we missed, so now the spiders babies and momma are running free around our home. Yuck! It is like the lake and woods by our home has been infested by Shelob's descendants!

Thanks for all the letters this week. I was excited to hear from all of my 2 youngest siblings and of course my parents. Thank you also to the Pierce Family for the card.

Missionary Work is great. I am so excited for Renee and her family!  Don't ever be afraid to take missionary opportunities and share the gospel. Knowing that this gospel is true makes you want to share it with others because y'all know it will bless their lives.

Love- Sister Peck