we knocked for 3 hours the other day and once, elder bey and i went down this street and got rejected by everyone! like one guy opened the door for a second and said not interested. then the next house this big man lady thing answered and said not interested, then the rest of the street was bad. then on the other side of the road we found some freaky things, we called the street cursed and to never go back.  but one house E bey rang the bell and this crazy flying bug thing flew into him from no where and when we looked at it on the ground, i've never seen it before it had a long abdomen and it looked like it would kill anything it touched.  then the car right outside the fence alarm went off and we continued to the next house that smelled really strongly of moth balls. then the next house was creepy with halloween decorations and the lady was jewish but elder bey said our message is for "jew and gentile" and she took a card.  but she was the only nice person the whole street! oh we also found a dead mouse and a gimpy bumble bee and a dead praying mantis. so we were freaked out by what was going on there.
   but we did have one lady who was nice and was interested on another street.

 and later elder galloni and i went together and we saw a truck with the inverted cross painted on it, so galloni was like, that's satanic, lets go preach repentance to them!
 
i had a great idea which was to add brian to my email lists.
   the other day the other elders asked us to come over to their house and help them with something and i was thinking it was a prank or something cuz they were really excited as we climbed the stairs.  what they wanted us to do was film them in they're daily missionary lives.  for elder galloni's family. so it was funny. they had it all planned out, it was good. for comp study they played a game of magic. ( dumb card game they want me to learn)  but it was all set up and they were at the table for a second.  then they went to pick out ties and "accidentally" kept picking the same ties.  it was pretty funny. elder galloni is a funny kid. (Brian, he's italian.)  

   we got paid last fri and now i have a lot of money. but today i might spend a lot. we're going to red robin for lunch, and i sent a package home (more info later)  and laundry, and shopping, and whatever else... i want some normal shoes. but i don't want to spend a lot.

  we have a few investigators but i've still only met one pair. a young married couple. but we didn't teach them.

 oh last night we went to a member's house for dinner and it was super good. one of their daughters made this amazing spring roll thing that was like turkey and cabbage wrapped in a crepe.  i ate a ton.  and the main food was noodles and meatballs. i ate a lot. it was good.  the dad used to be bishop in the ward i guess.   they were a really nice family, they have two other daughters on missions, one in ogden and one in argentina. i think they're twins. they've been our about 7 months.

lets see...........    oh we have a senior couple in our district, the Owens, and sister owen can make some flippin good cookies and other things. like elder law says he normally doesn't like cookies, but her's are "to kill for"    and last night she made mint frosting brownies and i ate a few. only a few because of all the other food i ate earlier.
 
  i was thinking about sending my sd card home. but i haven't taken much pics of this new area. only the pad.  i need to take a pic of the rest of the district and other things i guess.

i've sent a box home. i have a letter inside but i'll explain more here.
  as a missionary, i've decided, ( along with the new dress code,) that i need to wear more colorful ties. so i'm sending my browns and boring colors home. so i can have more space to pack things, and so i can look better.  i was wearing one of my dull greenish brown tie when i had the epiphany. that everyone is wearing nice brightly colored ties. and i'm wearing ugly browns and stuff.  
  so i do want to keep my ties. just throw them in my closet i guess.
 
 also included is a little gift i bought for the girls for christmas. because i'm not made of money i just got one thing. and i'm thinking the girls can share or fight over it. i hope they still like doctor who.
   i wanted to be nice and send something home. and i guess i did last year. but it was just for sierra, but hannah didn't get anything... i think.....   i looked for a shirt for hannah, but it was a tank top and the biggest was large. and idk  which sizes the girls are.  so i didn't want to mess up.
  i might still send something else home if i find something worth it.
we went to fye so i can find the bible soundtrack but for some dumb reason it wasn't there. but i did find a lot of cool think geek toys. i wanted to get the portal gun replica, or the star trek door sound effect thing.
 oh and dad, elder law loves star trek, he was looking for the soundtrack for the first movie.  and also, whenever i have the ipod in the car, we always listen to LOTR and he's pretty much memorized what happens so he's like saying funny things, like "no, frodo!"  or "yeah gandalf!"   or "oh sam.."   just quoting the movie pretty much.

anyway, i think that's it for now.

sweet, so far i've bought a pillow from ikea. and today i'll look for a blanket and a hoodie. it's gettin cold here fast. in the mornings at least. during the day it's nice.
i'll try not to buy dumb stuff. not too much at least. hehe

so i am with elder law, in plainview. and i did get some things back. not bedding though. i got my work boots and my meds. and my crayons. but nothing too big.  i got a pillow from ikea. i was going to get the same kind i had before. but this one was softer and was made for stomach sleepers.
  so elder law says the investigator pool here is good, but this last week we couldn't get even one lesson!  i did meet one couple, who have a kid, and we gave them food from the bishop's store house, but the house was a mess and law didn't feel like teaching in such a mess.

  oh yeah, the bishops store house was cool. we went to the church and there was a truck and we unloaded it and organized the food on tables in the gym, i should've taken pics, but it wasn't too exciting. so then we got orders and filled them out with meats. while others did the fruits n veggies. then after that everyone grabbed an order and a box and filled it with everything else and added the bags of meat and veggies later. one family law and i put together had only 4 people in the family, but needed like 3 gallons of milk, 6 dozen eggs, a crapload of everything. but everything worked out so that everyone had exactly what they needed. with a little to spare that we threw in random boxes. so that was fun.
    uhh,,,,, oh they have a new size of Nutella jar. it's like 2 lbs!  i went to buy some and i went for the big one, but when i got there, it wasn't the big one anymore, it's the medium one. and the big one is like 34 oz!  it's massive.  BUT i didn't buy it, or the med one, i got the small one.
   oh my district is fun, there's elder galloni, and bey. and the sisters mortensen and chipman - i came out with both of them. and elder galloni is from Italy, so he's a funny guy. doesn't understand america and how to speak american, he's good with english, just not american. hehe..  oh and elder law is chinese. but grew up in vancouver canada. and he's got that accent and says eh sometimes. and calls beanies "tuques"  so i'm going to start calling them that.  sounds like tuke. fool of a took!

   lets see............. we were in the bay shore area checking on a LA and we drove by the dodge dealership and there was a red 2014 viper. it was awesome. then a little while later a white one drove past us, it was SUPER nice. and the viper logo on the back lights up when the brakes go on.  it's so nice.  i took some pics from across the street when we were gettin gas.   but i wanted to just go in and ask if i can test drive it.   that's what the white one was doing. i guess.
   
   i tried to email geoff on his email that i think was right, but i got an email back saying it didn't work on that one. so i'll try a different domain. like gmail, that might work. is domain the right word for what i'm saying?  

 i could probably not even buy a bag because i'll have a car the rest of my mission. alls i really need is to carry something while we tract. like a copy of the bom that we give away. and when we get ipads i won't need to worry about bringing my scripts to church. not like i do anyway. i know i should, but if i need to read something, someone is always willing to share. i used to in my first area, but i never used them, so i stopped bringing them.
 
 so elder law is super chill when it comes to the music. like you know i put brian's piano music on the ipod, and when i'm driving (which is everyday other than pday) he'll put it on. he likes classical music.  i asked him if it's cuz he's asian, and he said that question is almost racist but not.  he just likes it. and he plays the piano himself.  so he likes some of the songs on there. bach and chopin and stuff..

 oh the other night we went to the other elders pad and elder galloni made us some noodles, cuz he's italian and he knows how to cook. it was really good. the way he talks is so funny. i laugh like every day.  they're always with us. it reminds me of woodside when the whole district and the spanish district were together all the time.

  oh and i even had a member, who was an investigator at the time make me a bea... tuque that says " i ♥ jesus" on it. but that's gone too.  pooh.


oh speaking of pooh, thanks to the girls for coloring that. it looks real nice. i pinned it above my desk.  i love the leaves how they're not just one plain color.  

   i wrote emily, hopefully she'll write back.  i don't know what else to say...
  i like it here. my comp is nice. the area is nice. the ward is tiny. it's getting cold.

 i actually didn't announce my stuff on transfers. so that's my bad.
  oh more info on using facebook. the zl's can use it now, but the thing is, no one knows what to do, how to use it to find and teach.  so i think, at the rate it's going now, we're not really going to use it successfully any time soon.  we as in everyone. if at all it'll be the dl's second. then if it's good everyone...  but pres wants us to change our name to elder and to wipe all the pics. or at least hide them, so that when people like 'gators or member see our pages, they (the pages) will be clean and proper. and maybe we can post mormon.org pics and vids..  but i don't really see much happening with that soon...    but we should be getting ipads before the end of the year. hopefully, so we can do skype and use it for the pamphlets and videos.  it sounds fun.  hopefully people are obedient. the first thing i see with FB and ipads are some missionaries will miss-use them.   but this world is all media and technology and we can't be left in the dust of yesteryear.
  i can't wait to see how missions have changed in the next few years.  
    even in the district videos they don't have cell phones. so things are changing. fast.

 anyway, my time's about up. we have an hour to email and that's just about right for me. if i had more time idk what i'd do with it. more time to shop and get other things done.  welp..
 
 love ya bye.

 ps. it's about hurricane season again.

so yes we got calls, and i'm staying.....in the zone. but i'm out of huntington.  i'm guessing i'm going to plainview, that's where the stake center is.  and elder Law is dl there, and i guess his comp is out, so it's possible i could go with him.

   haha at the library theres a guy on the comps who's typing like its a typewriter, like he's poking the letters pretty hard.

  so thanks for the package. sounds great. i hope it comes in so i can get it tomorrow.  i sent both emily and geoff letters.

 we were at the church one day for english classes and once we were done with the prayer, we heard this loud noise on the roof and looked outside and it was like the ocean was coming down on us! it was very sudden and there was a ton of it!  so it seems like it's raining like crazy all over the country. i heard about the people in CO who died and some others..  we just waited inside for about an hour for it to die down, but it was still going a lot. it sprinkled a bit this morning.

  uhmmmm, i'll try to think of a good way to ask people about my stuff. i'm kinda nervous about going up in front of the whole mission and asking for my stuff back. but alls i really want is that blanket and my shoes.

  so far i've been sleeping with a sheet and a blanket i use for a pillow. i didn't want to get a pillow til i move. but i'll think of something. maybe have someone else do it for me. ....

 

    oh last night we went to the other elder's pad and they made rice and beans and chicken for us. and it wasn't bad. but then we went to the perez family and she had chicken and guacamole so we had it and the chicken was better than the other, and the guac was good too. oh and because people out here are mostly spanish, they drink pepsi and coke, and you probably know i didn't like it or drank it back home. but now i love pepsi! coke isn't good. but pepsi tastes like honey and it's better.  we had the cherry kind last night. and i had to stop myself from drinking the whole bottle.  but i don't go buy it, because  i want good things at home. like oj and water.  

  i got some of that high fiber oatmeal and i had three servings of it in three days and i didn't dump until this morning, and even with the two previous, it wasn't soft... so i'll have to eat more. i haven't made my poo tea yet either because i was going well for a while, then i stopped eating the fiber one bars cuz i got the oatmeals.  but now i'll have to do both? idk, the bars are 35% and the oatmeal is 40%, so that's almost 100% for the day. kinda scared to eat too much cuz of the squirts. and if i might not be home when they come.  heheeheh

 

   so for the past two weeks we drove like 30 minutes to go to a libry in a different town, then during deep cleaning i found a map and it said there's a libry like two blocks down from our pad, so that's where we are now. it's nicer and hunt has a libry card and it's harmless for missionaries. all i needed was some ID. so the next missionaries in the pad can come here. unless hunt doesn't because he's not used to it.  he does that. only goes somewhere because he's used to it. and we'll pass by the same thing to get to the one he knows. i think i said something about that last week.  but i don't wanna complain too much this week.

 

oh, we got furnature from the mansuetto's. we got some chairs and some little seats and stuff. i feel like i've told you already cuz i wrote it on the paper i'll send with the memory card.  but now the pad looks like a house. i still have the pics when i first came in, and the pics from the other day for deep cleaning. it's a lot nicer. 

   idk if i should send the card now or later.. i've tried to take more pictures these last few weeks. i had time to. but i didn't take pics of the area. i wanted to, but i was used to it, but i gotta remember you don't know what it looks like here. i'm sure mum would like it. oh and the rich people houses, too, she'd like them.  but maybe i'll send it home in 3 weeks if i've taken more pics.

   what i'll miss is the nice pad we're in now. it's large and got a washer/dryer and it's just nice. the nicest i've lived more than a week in.  but i might go live in a smaller one that has more stuff in it.   like when we were cleaning, i had the bathroom and there's no toilet brush!  i had to use the mop, mom would be proud how i handled that thing.  

 

 

 oh yes, so we went to best buy to look for bags and i found like the perfect one, but it's a little too expensive. and i wanted to keep shopping for a cheaper one.  and because it was from best buy, it was a laptop bag. but i could use those different pockets for cards and stuff. and the base was hard and squared off. so it would not be squished.  and it had a few more pockets for papers and stuff. tablets and what not... and also had those sweet magnetic snaps.  i'll try to find it for cheaper if i can't find a better bag and features.  but yes, i would love some more money on my card. like 100 to be safe. but i'll try not to spend that much. unless i can't find a better one. i don't want a crappy cheap $20 one that will not last the rest of my mission. oh and this one was canvas, so it was tough.  pretty much i had  drawn out my dream bag, then found it. but it wasn't my dream price. i'll keep looking though. 

 

ok nevermind about that bag, i looked it up on amazon and the normal site, and they are nice and there is no cheaper one.

 so i'll have to keep looking for cheaper ones. maybe i'll be okay with spending 40 ish for one. 70 is just too much.  even though it was the perfect bag...

 

  oh yeah i didn't want to tell you my address cuz i'd be here for 3 weeks. too short to send things and have them get to me there in time i think .  but the office is always good. thanks again. i can't wait for it. i'll try to find good stuff to eat it with. i remember campbell would eat it on his eggs. cuz it's good.  

  man there's a lot of old people at the library today. probably cuz of school. and kids aren't out.

 

  i can't think of anything else to say.

 so love ya bye

Oh man, that's not good about the missionaries dying. I always wondered how it would feel to lose your comp, like all those you talked about, it's like one second they're all good and dandy, then the next second they're gone. and of course the elder who was driving will live with that the rest of his life.  the drivers always survive.  but then again, columbia is a dangerous place. i wonder why someone was shooting? like was it directly at the missionaries?   that's sad.

so, so far i haven't gotten anything back. i heard from the zone leaders where i left they had a box of stuff. but i never got it. 

my comp has been annoying me a bit more lately like when i asked when we can do deep cleaning he said this week is really busy then told me, and we do have one thing every day, and that thing usually lasts like 3-4 hours. and we need about the same to clean. but it's like we can't do it when we have time, because of some dumb reason.  then i said that's a waste of a day if all we do is see that one person. and nothing else, even cleaning. uhhhh.

  and then we needed gas and we went to his favorite station and it was packed and he was freaking out cuz he couldn't go there. and i'm like, we pass like 4 to get here, why do we come here? he said it's the only one he knows.  oh my heck this kid reminds me of jean-baptiste cuz he only goes to the places he knows.  he won't try something new. 

  like he always goes to walmart to get things cuz it's cheap. but we have to drive like 20 minutes to get there and we pass a dozen other stores on the way.

 but we don't go there cuz he's never been. pretty much. it drives me crazy. why would we drive 20 minutes away for something we can get within 5 minutes?

   just cuz it's cheaper.  but i'd rather have good food for a little more money. he's really self conscious about the money he spends. he'll buy a bunch of crap from walmart then freak out about going out to eat. saying we only have about 5 dollars a day. i know i should be careful about wasting money. but i don't! i don't buy a ton of stuff.     uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

   he gets those frozen dinners and other cheap and unhealthy things. where i get fruits and oatmeals.  i don't care if i pay a little more as long as i can eat healthy.    and i'm sure you'd want me to watch my money, but also eat healthy. so i think it's ok. :)

   and i don't know this area well cuz we only go to the same few people on the list of over a hundred. and oh man this is what gets me, when he sits around doing nothing productive at home then when i get tired of waiting for him, i ask if we can go do something then when we're in the car, he just sits there and stares at the list! so we spend like what feels like half the day doing absolutley nothing!  i'd think that him being the "senior companion" he'd be more... diligent or... productive. but nope. it's pretty much up to me. 

    i'll read the rest of my mails then continue.

   the weather has been quite nice this last week. the first 3 days it was dark and cloudy and very humid. then the last few days was clear and sunny and colder. like it was 80 ish the begining. then it dropped to 70 one day.

i can't think of much else i could say.

 just complaining more.

 we don't do much for there to be any good news. 

  but most likely i'll be out of here next week. hopefully.

well, time to go shoppin and stuff. i'm thinking about getting new shoes. but i want to look more for mine first. but thers' this lady we help who might hurt me if i don't show up with normal shoes this week. haha she's nice though.

  

 and i'll look for a side bag as well.   i thought they didn't look good until i saw an actual business man with one. it looked good.  so ya. if i can find a good one at tjmaxx. i think...   i have my ideas, but idk if they'll be nicely priced.  and maybe missionary approved.   cuz i'd like an olive green canvas bag. like an old army one.

   one more week....

A week later, I think i've found my meds. but other than that, everything i brought to the office seems to be gone. idk where to look. i guess i could make an annoucement in transfers that says, "hey i'm back. give me my stuff"

 

 my comp is from jordan utah. we're not exactly "getting along" but we do okay.  when we wake up, it may be like 4 hours til one of us talks.  idk though..  and with getting back on track, that might take a while. like i do get up and read and stuff.  but getting back on track with the other missionary work is a little slow.  we went to look people up on sunday and we didn't even leave the car! we would drive to the house, look at it then drive off to look at the next house.  so idk how he was trained. 

  tomorrow is his yearly temple trip so  i'll be with the zone leader's comp in little neck. 

    hunt has one recent convert cesar, he's cool and he's got a fiance that has a little kid.  and they're getting married next month. 

 

 oh something good, pres made a new rule that we can go to the temple every 6 months! did i already say that?  so that's awesome. 

we have a really small branch here. we meet at a library upstairs that has been "mormonized" like it has the carpet and the couches and stuff, but there's no normal chapel, it's just a big room they set chairs up in and have an upright piano.  not too bad.  

 

 we went to a party yesterday at this member's house, and he's pretty rich, like he has a pool with a diving board, and a guest house up in the woods in his backyard. nice big patio and stuff. i didn't go in the house, but i'm sure it would be nice too. i got one picture of the backyard, not anymore because it wasn't like i thought it would be. like i think it would be kinda weird if i went around taking pics of things.  

 

a member has a sweet macaw named blue. (13 years old, so they didn't take it from the movie) 

 and she shed a feather and i got it. then i put a pen ink thing in there.  now i write with it.  i might send it home for the girls. if i can find a package big and safe enough. 

 

i was going to send my memory card home while i'm still in huntingon, but i'd rather keep it and send it when it's full or next trasfer.

   most likely when it's full.   

i guess that's all i wanted to send home as a sneak peek.  there's really not a whole lot of cool things on it now.

 

i did talk to elder brown, but i still don't really know him. my comp and i don't really get along, like he's dumb sometimes. he's not very good for me to get back into the way of the missionary. he lays around and reads a lot. and plays his dumb little card games all day.  and i  don't think he really knows how to look people up. i've already said a bit to dad. but really. like we drove around forever and didn't get out of the car to knock.  then we went to the church parking lot and he took a break. from what!?!?!  we didn't DO anything.   then we went out again and then sat in the car on the side of the road as he looked at the paper and i looked at the nice cars going by. ( yes, it is a rich area)  

 

 i saw an R8 spyder, a bentley, a rolls royce, jag e type, bunch of nice cars. all in one day!   on the way to our pad the first day, uh, tuesday, we drove by an aston martin dealership and there was like 5 out as well as a ferrari 458.    and there was a GTR on our street yesterday.

 but hunt doesn't really care much for cars.  but another elder in the district, Kauffman, he does. we talked a bit about cars yesterday at the party.  he knows things, but the other guy... oh  well.

 

 ok, so... we go shopping at wally world and he gets gross stuff like frozen waffles and ramen.  then freaks out when i ask to go to a real grocery store. like it took him like 3 days to get to this one store where i got bananas, oranges and a coconut.  and the other day we went to a food market and i got apples and plums. they're both not very good.  i was looking for the apple from new zealand. but i couldn't find it,... yet.    but this is pretty much my shopping list:  oatmeal, bread, water, fruit, jam, peanut butter. ya that's it.  so for breakfast today i had a bowl of oatmeal, then for lunch i had a pbj sandwich. and for dinner maybe i'll have another apple and an orange.  

 

  we went shopping at walmart with the other elders in our district and they were buying so much soda! i asked if they were buying for the party, but nope, they drink that much. it was like three 2 liters and two 12 packs. and i probably was annyoing them when i told them why pop is bad for them.  and then later i told hunt why ramen is bad for you. it's got tons of salt in it.   and i'm trying to lose weight and eat healthy. that's why we go to real food stores.    walmart doesn't sell good food. nothing fresh. just not good stuff.  i do get my bread and oatmeal there though.    but they only have two flavors of jam.   

i'm not too fond of this place. it's nice with the cars and the members, but the kid i was put with is not good.  i'm glad i'm only here for two more weeks.  but i should make them go by fast. some how....

 

can you text geoff and ask him what's going on?

 when he's going back, what's his home address, what's his mission address?   cuz i wanted to sent him a letter. but if he's not going to stay home long, i wanted to know.

 

  ps, i'll try to find my lost things. especially gramas thing. that's the only thing i can't buy. everything else i can buy back. 

  even them shoes.. even though they're expensive and nice, it's only money. 

 idk who to blame for all my stuff going gone, or just to forget about them being gone and worry about getting them back.

 

Elder Peck (NY)