EMAIL: Mon, March 11, 2013             2:35 PM

Subject:  Alexandre's Baptism

Howdy Y'all!

This weekend I was able to attend the baptism of Alexandre. The baptism was amazing and so full of the spirit! Alexandre is 14 years old and is very mature. She and her mom Amie starting taking lessons from the Elders last summer but then were too busy to come to church. My companion and I met up with them again in January, and Alexandre was so excited to attend church and read from the Book of Mormon. Alexandre has made really good friends with the Young Women's and the leaders. She loves going to church and especially loves to meet with the missionaries. It was great to see how prepared Alexandre was at this time to accept the gospel and have such an intense desire to be baptized. Amie is still excited to be baptized, although she is struggling with smoking at this time. As I talked with her at the baptism, Amie told me she hopes that I can come back for her baptism in the next few months, which is exciting that she still is pushing towards baptism. The baptism was so sweet. Everyone could tell how ready Alexandre was to be baptized. By the end of the talk on the Holy Ghost almost everyone was crying because the spirit was so strong. I was blessed to be able to play the piano for a special musical number "Baptism" sung by the other sister missionaries. Then Sister Brown and I were able to talk about enduring to the end and eternal life. Alexandre shared her testimony after her baptism and it was amazing. She testified so strongly that she knew that the Book of Mormon is true scripture from God and that this is the true church of Jesus Christ again on the earth. Of course we celebrated the baptism after with dessert and laughter. I am so happy for Alexandre and so amazed to see the change that the gospel has brought in her life. She wants to be involved in the church so fully that she is even headed to youth conference this weekend. I love how the gospel changes people! I am looking forward to Amie also being baptized soon that they may be a family forever someday.

Wednesday we had a Sister's Conference, which was great. We talked a lot about planning and putting to action the principles that Elder Aidukaitis of the Quorum of the Seventy taught us a few weeks ago. I love being around all of the other sister missionaries of the TDM. Each of them is so amazing and unique and powerful representatives of Jesus Christ and His gospel. I have to try not to compare myself to them because they are all way too amazing. I am grateful to serve around the best sister missionaries in the world. I am also grateful to have the best mission president, President Durrant, and his lovely wife. President is such a great example of love and obedience. He always wants us to be better and work harder and be cheerful. Sister Durrant expects a lot from us too because she once was a sister missionary and so she realizes our potential. President and Sister Durrant are both so great and I am blessed to serve in their mission.

Before Sister's Conference I made an apron for Sister Durrant (thanks Aunt Marlene for sending me the materials). I had fun at the conference secretly having all of the sisters sign it before giving it to Sister Durrant. I feel sometimes like President gets all of the thanks and the credit, so I wanted to do something special for Sister Durrant. I didn't want to be recognized for making the apron, but Sister Durrant knew it was me. She called me later and told me how touched she was and how it made her feel special and appreciated.

The rest of the week has been a lot of bike riding to try and find new investigators. I always thought Texas was pretty flat until I had to pedal my bike up the hills. (the "hills" they have here are more like small inclines, but they still hurt to ride a bike up when you haven't ridden a bike in years). I am really grateful to be a missionary in Texas! I have really enjoyed riding the bike though and just trying to have fun with it. Sister Brown and I will often sing hymns switching off every other line (so we can catch our breath while the other sings) or we will quote scriptures. It has been amazing how many more people we have been able to talk to than when we were walking. Usually Sister Brown has to get off her bike to hand people the card for mormon.org because I might not get back on the bike if I have to get off. But... I am sure I will be in good shape in no time. I feel really blessed that a member donated a bike just my size in a beautiful teal color. It is a really, really nice bike and I feel so blessed to have it. I also feel blessed to be serving in Plano because it is a very residential and a very safe area. I feel blessed for also having great members that donated gear and also all of the rides they have given us when they have seen us struggling to ride our bikes. It feels great to be seen more often as a missionary (although we might look funny with our skirts, backpacks, and helmet hair). This is so great!
Missionary work is hard, but I love it. I know that faith and obedience brings blessings and many miracles. It is crazy how fast my mission is passing. I can't believe that I have less than 5 months left! I hope to keep enduring cheerfully to the end. I know that I will see many more miracles before I am finished. Thanks all y'all for your love and support. I appreciate all of the letters of encouragement.

I love y'all so much!

-Sister Peck