Sorry for not telling you a story about my gifts, I had a good one, but forgot.  In my first area, the stake missionary elder, who is kinda old, was sick and had a fever, so we went over to give him a blessing, and it was my turn to say it, so after I did, we went home. Then like the next day, his wife calls and said that like an hour after we left his temperature went down and he was feeling better! Cool beans!

A banner and a cake! Wow!  I bought two cakes today, mostly cuz they were half off, and they are good.  I think the sisters might make me something, but they might not have time, they are going to the Brooklyn Bridge today...
 
But I wanna do some things, hopefully we can.

I talked to her (Sis. Calderwood) and she's getting a podiatrist for me, and hopefully, today, I can get that info and make an appointment.  And my left foot is a little swollen. And they both hurt like all the time.

Yesterday I was asked by the primary teacher to be Joseph Smith for the kids. So I went in and sat down at a table with a notebook and a oil lamp and a Book of Mormon wrapped in a paper with the gold plates printed on it.

Then the teacher asked the kids what it was, (the book) and  a little black girl said chocolate!  Haha Then the teacher gave the kids a paper with one of the things Joseph restored, like the sacrament, baptism, temples, prophets... and they came up and gave them to me and I explained a little about each one. It was fun.

I haven't seen any cool cars in the city. But seeing the Chrysler Building and the Freedom Tower every day is kinda cool. Even though it's not a car. It's still famous and stuff.

One day I decided to get the daily news, so I did, and the front had that (the Boston Marathon Bombing) across, it was crazy.  Like we couldn't believe that happens in real life.  Then everywhere we go the news is on, so we watched it for a while, when the cops and the army had a street on lockdown and they even had a sniper!  Oh man this world is crazy.   The bomb was a pressure cooker, so pretty much a homemade IED.  Filled with ball bearings.  The doctors said they never see this kind of damage outside of the battle field.  Then the papers said one guy is dead, and his brother was caught soon afterward. So we know all about it, and maybe a bit more.  But I'm glad the Compases are all right. That's crazy.  There was a guy in church yesterday who lived a block away from the explosions so he is running away to his sister's house here.
 
We didn't have balut, but they said they'd get the early ones, so it'd be like a gummy bear.... duck.     And they love Muse! They said they went to a concert just a few months ago. I was looking thru the dad's ipod and he also had Dream Theater on it, and that was cool. We talked a  bit about good music.  And he likes cars too. He had a hennessey lotus on his desktop. Oh and he has some sweet air soft rifles, like one is an AR, the other is a L-19 sniper!  haha so he's pretty much like me, but old and from the Philippians.


To Mom:

Somehow money just goes out the window super fast. I try not to, but at the end of the day I'm like... crap.
Ok, so my other glasses are the Oakley ones. The ones you sent were my first pair from elementary school. The ones I have now are my 3rd pair.  It's okay. It doesn't matter.

Thanks for the money.  Everything is a little more expensive than my first areas.  Like my fav jam is 3 dollars here where it was a dollar back in Bay Shore.

Ok, so one thing kinda important, I wasn't gonna tell you until it got worse, but idk what's going to happen.  My feet hurt. But it's more than that. It hurts like a quarter inch nail is being driven through my right foot every time I take a step.  Like it's more on top and in the middle.  On Saturday I was limping a little cuz of my left foot.  But by the end of the day I was limping really bad cuz of my right foot.  It was fine in the morning, but then gradually it started hurting, then it hurt more than my left ever did in the week it was getting sore.

So walking now takes twice as long, and it just hurts.  And Akoi said that there was an elder who had the same symptoms, like he was a big guy and had flat feet, then he started limping and he got moved to the island, then the office, then home.  So the other day when he told me that I was all sad and stuff, cuz I don't wanna go home. I just got here.  But I'm gonna call the mission nurse and tell her.

But it hurts all the time, and resting doesn't do anything. At night it hurts, then in the morning it hurts a little more, cuz I wasn't using it and at first I can't walk, then I just deal with it.  It's just annoying now. I don't like it.  Why does it have to hurt so bad!?   So I hope I don't get sent home. Just back out to the island.

Hopefully you don't worry too bad about that.  Just  know that I'm in New York where I'm sure there are great doctors in Manhattan that can help.  I hate how my body is weak and gets hurt easily.  I knew the mission was hard and stuff. I thought my back would give out before my feet.  I didn't even think my feet would hurt.  And it's not even my lack of an arch. it's in my toe area.   Akoi said that kid who had the same thing, his feet were kinda getting pulled apart, like stretched out too far.  So I'll let you know how it goes.

 Love ya. Thanks for everything

No, I didn't send the SD card.  We get so busy during the day and 5:00 - closing time - comes super fast.  And no, those weren't the right glasses.  But don't worry about finding the other ones. I don't know where I put them. Maybe in my ammo box.  But it's okay.  Thanks for the letters as well.

Running is going ok.  It'll take a while to get into shape.

Thanks for everything.  I'll try to send stuff .  I'm running out of money cuz we don't have DA's every night anymore. But we did last night.  We had rice and meat and mangoes and egg rolls.  But I only ate the egg rolls and mangos. Mango is stinkin good!  Then we had purple yam and coconut ice cream with a plantain roll thing.  It was super good.  We were going to have balut but they forgot to get it. i'll have some next time!  And I'll try to take pics if I can see the bird.  weird...

 ok, I think that's it. - love ya, elder peck

Yah, I didn't really take any pics of King.  And all my past 4 transfers were on my thumb drive that I had to format.  So all those pics are gone. Sorry about that. I wish I still had them.  But that's life sometimes, it just sucks.  So I have no pictures of King.   I only had two that I know of.  But I will send my card home today.

I'd rather not tell you my address, I don't trust anyone here.  We have a mailbox, but even then...
I remember Sierra said she wanted something from NY, and those shirts are still popular, I don't think they ever go out of style.

Work is going slow.  Conference was cool.  I'm at this internet café again and every time the train goes by it feels like an earthquake. 1 week down, 5 to go.   I met some of the ward, the other elders had a baptism yesterday, and we had a potluck. and the ward is filled with young married couples with a few small kids.  Akoi said they come and go a lot.  Everyone is pretty young, even the bishop.  And we actually have a ward mission leader, or correlator, and he's cool.  I didn't have one last area.
Not a whole lot goes on. I'll let you know otherwise.

Walking everywhere is getting me stronger, and we go running every other day, so that helps.  We live on top of a hill, so that's a challenge sometimes.  And we only ride the train or bus for long distances, other than that, everything is pretty much within walking distance.

I don't know what else to say.  I'll send the card today though.

What was kinda funny is that at the end of the last session, the satellite just shut down. So we didn't get much video or sound.  But for some odd reason there's this member who had his laptop with him. So he put it up on the pulpit and put the mic by the speakers so we could finish it.  Funny.  And of course that wouldn't work in Utah, but there's like no one here so it was ok.  That's what we call ghetto rigging.  It defines the city part of New York.

That's so cool that Brian is DL!!  It'll be a while until I am.  I think I'll be a trainer before that happens.  But I'm still not a trainer.  That's okay though.  Everyone in my group has or is training.  And one sister is double training, that would be fun.

I guess I'll just send my card home.  And keep the pics on when you send it back. I need thems.
Idk about having another thing to pack around. I already need to get rid of some things that are taking up space.

I loved Elder Holland's talk. Whenever he talks, he always punches you in the face, then gives you a big hug.  He's a super strong speaker!
If you could , with my card, take the pics you want off, then return it with the pictures still on it. I need them for other people here.  I don't know if there's much you want on there.  I'm not too great at having my camera with me when we take pics as a group.
 Anyway, I think that's it.
 -Elder Peck

Letter of April 3, 2013

Dearest Family,

I have been moved to a place called Woodside or Astoria.  I'm told both by a few people. My companion, a Hawaiian guy named Elder Akoi, says Woodside. But the Zone Leaders say Astoria.  Also, my comp is District Leader again, for the third time in a row.

This place is in the city, Queens.  So far we've done a few things: rode the bus, the train, went jogging this morning.  We don't have a car.  My worst nightmare.  But I'm not going to complain, too much.  I want to lose weight.  I want to get a little stronger in my legs and back so it doesn't hurt to walk.  But it's also my feet. Akoi said my feet will be sore and then they'll get used to it.

I packed things up pretty good, so I didn't have much to carry, cuz we rode the bus to my new pad, which is kinda just down the street from the office.  Then last night we took the train so I could get home and unpack or something.  And because I haven't ridden the train.

Also, I can see the Empire State Building every once in a while throughout the day.  Last night it was blue.  I guess every day it's a different color and it means something.  I'm kinda glad we don't have a car cuz we don't have to worry about parking, gas, accidents, all that good responsibility that a car brings.

President said it'll be good for me here.  I'm glad I'm in the city during the summer.  But also not, because we'll be out in the flaming hot sun all day.  And we'll sweat 24/7.  So that doesn't sound fun actually.  But I've been on the Island long enough.  Oh, my comp has been to Bermuda.  He misses it.  Who wouldn't?!

On Monday we were super busy and I only had a few minutes Tuesday morning to write something.  So I'll write a letter the olde-fashioned way.

This will be fun.

I'll try to made it fun and not hard and boring, because if it's fun it'll go by quick.

Oh, and my comp goes running every other day.  So I'm going to be forced to exercise.  But it's good for me.  I weighed myself the other day.  I'm not going to say cuz I don't even like it.  My goal this transfer is to lose at least 5 lbs.  I see why I didn't weigh much before compared to now, cuz I didn't eat as much!  It's not just the junk food, cuz I don't eat that much.  It's everything else.  But I'll try to do good this time around.

Love ya'll
Elder Peck

Transferred to Queens

April 2, 2013

I'm being transferred.

April 4, 2013

Yah, I'm in Queens, in a place called Woodside.  My comp is a Hawaiian named Elder Akoi.  He's chill.  We are emailing at an internet café. It's pretty cool.  We did two hours of service this morning, at a old folks home serving food.  It was fun.  Then we have trash pick up soon.  What we're doing is called an "elliptical", where we try to be more "out there"  like doing things to get noticed.  It's cool.

We had the most amazing lesson last night. It was a referral from the Jamaica elders and we had the perfect lesson we just learned how to do a few weeks ago.  I mentioned the guys in one of the girls' letters.  And we used the pamphlets and it was short and to the point.  Almost everything I said was guided by the spirit. I loved it. What  a great way to start off the transfer.   My comp has been to Bermuda and that's pretty cool too.

I miss Lynbrook. I wanted to stay there just one more transfer. Plus I was so close to some baptisms.  I was sad.  But I hope I go back.  That place had more progress than Bay Shore, but I'd still love to go back there, too.

My Easters was good.  We had like 4 da's.  got to eat lots.

The city is cool here.  Lots of stuff.  All the stores and stuff.   There is so much here. I like it.
I don't got much else to say, but I love you and thanks for all you do!!
 -Elder Peck