18 months.

Well.

This is it, folks -- the final email I will write as a full-time missionary.

As cliche as it sounds (and as much as I never thought it would be me saying this), the time did go by so fast. There were times when it seemed to crawl -- times that were hard and trying. Times of discouragement and doubt. But, it all seems a blur now. Looking back, the good definitely overrides the bad. The people I've met and come to love run through my mind. What would my life be like without their part in my story? Who would I be? I will be forever grateful I came on a mission. It has changed my life -- it has changed me.

This week has definitely been the best week of my mission. We worked hard and had faith and we have seen miracle upon miracle this transfer, but especially this week. I was reminded of this scripture yesterday in sacrament meeting. "How great reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from [Plainview or insert New York] that God would have granted unto us such great blessings?"(Alma 26:1). That entire chapter sums up my feelings --"I cannot say the smallest part of what I feel."

A little rundown of the week ...

Tuesday, I went to the temple with the other 12 departing missionaries and President and Sister Calderwood. What a wonderful experience to be in the celestial room with them! It was a very spiritual time and a time of reflection. I thought back on all my past companions, areas, and people I've met or taught. My heart filled with gratitude! After the temple, we ate dinner at Carnegie Deli (the tradition). I ordered a rueben (all of the sandwiches there are notoriously large) and took most of it home. We also ordered cheesecake. It was delicious! After we returned to the mission office, I had my departing interview with President Calderwood. That was a sacred time! I love my mission president. He certainly has inspired me! He also committed me to read the Book of Mormon daily for the rest of my life, promising if I did that I would not fall away. Challenge accepted!

Wednesday, we went to the temple to do baptisms with three sisters from our branch. One hadn't been in more than a year. It was great to be there with them and to see their sweet smiles in the the temple. We started our final exchange of the transfer after the temple trip and Sister Cook joined me. She is an amazing teacher! We taught Nick about tithing and fasting and then went to our volleyball night. Thursday, we finished our exchange and had institute. Friday, our sweet Shayna met with President Calderwood to resolve some concerns she had. After the interview, she told us she wanted to get baptized October 12. I screamed. I was so happy she had found her answer. I know we had to commit her first for Sept. 21 so she could find this answer. Prayer and fasting work. Saturday, we went to the temple and Heather received her endowment. I love Heather. It was great to be there with her! Then we had a stake icecream social before the womens' broadcast, which was a tender mercy because I got to see people from Riverhead and Terryville. Sunday, we met with Nick before church. We wanted to talk about baptism again and bring up October 12, the original date we extended two weeks ago. Well, towards the end of the lesson, Nick says, "So, I am really excited to get baptized! October 12, right?" !!!!! He brought it up himself. Man, so pure in heart. I couldn't believe we had only met him two weeks prior, but we've been able to teach him 3 times/week plus daily contact. The lesson was followed by a wonderful time at church and our two investigators calling each other "baptism buddies." I gave a talk and Sister Kapisi and I sang as well. I didn't want to leave church and say goodbye! Luckily, we have FHE tonight and kind of a "goodbye party" (they do that every time there is a change) so that will be fun.

As you can tell, it has been an amazing final week here in New York. I am really, really grateful for everything. I couldn't have imagined how much love I would have for Plainview when I started here in July. These people are the best!

I can't wait to see everyone soon! I know that there are good things to come, even though this phase of my life is ending. There are always new adventures around the corner.

I love you!

Sister Peacock

Here are a few pictures to wrap up:
With President & Sister Calderwood at the temple, Sis K and I with Heather, me with Becca, Lina and Kim before doing baptisms,me & Shayna, and me with my mission mom, Sister Blom :)

so much good.

This week has been am-az-ing.

Remember that guy I told you about last week who randomly showed up to
church? Well HE REALLY IS GOLDEN. :) He called the mission office on
Tuesday because he hadn't heard from us yet (I got his number mixed
up) and we had talked about meeting on Wednesday. So, since Wednesday,
we have taught him three times. A little background -- he doesn't
really know where the spark started, but he has been "drawn to the
church" for years now. He contacted missionaries a few years ago in
London but now he feels like he is ready for a change. He wants to be
part of a religion that has the gospel at the forefront of everyday
living, not just a once-in-a-while thing. He already knew so much
about the church too from his research. He apologized for NOT knowing
the prophet's name ... [we were shocked that he knew so much]. He also
brought up the word of wisdom to US in our second meeting, saying he
had read we couldn't drink coffee. The next day, he text us and said
it's tough, but doable. Again [shocked]. He told us from the start
that he loves that families can be together forever. I mean, really.
Sis Kapisi and I just feel so lucky and blessed to be teaching him
right now, even though he is so so so prepared. Oh, and when we met
with him Wednesday, he had already started reading the Book of Mormon
and committed himself to reading an hour each night ...in addition to
work and law school. If he has time, WE have time! He asked what he
should wear to church (though he dressed nice the first time) and we
suggested a white shirt (he wore a colored shirt) and tie. When he
showed up yesterday, a lot of people thought he was an RM. : ) Anyway.
It is such a blessing and testimony to me to know that there ARE
people prepared -- really, really prepared to hear the gospel.

In addition, we have had a great week with our other investigator who
had a baptism date for yesterday. She didn't feel ready Sunday
morning, but we will keep working with her. The branch is so
supportive and she was telling people earlier in the week that it
"might be happening" this weekend which made us smile. She has a lot
of friends here and feels at home, which is a definite blessing of the
church. I LOVE PLAINVIEW. :) Did I make that clear yet?

We did service this weekend in good old Riverhead. We helped their
zone out with a race that I also helped with last year for cystic
fibrosis. I can't believe it's been a full year since we helped! It
was a lot of fun to be there and the people running the event said our
name is being spread for good throughout the community.

This week includes: departing temple trip and final interview with
President Calderwood tomorrow, our temple trip for baptisms Wednesday,
an exchange Thursday, and a temple trip for endowments Saturday plus
the womens' conference that night. It is going to be an exceptional
week, I know.

I love you all & I know that miracles still happen today.

SO, let me leave you with a few photos!

1 & 2: Volunteer events always leave us with free stuff -- tshirts,
hats, etc. We were twinners.

 3. Heather, who we are going to the temple with on Saturday, and our
investigator next to me. See, he fits right in!

Grave hunting!

This email will be a little short because my companion and I are doing
some searching for ancestors ... as in, grave hunting. She has some
buried on eastern Long Island.

--Oh, sidenote. It's turning fall here. And fall on Long Island is my
absolute favorite. The leaves are starting to change and the weather
is in the 70s. It's lovely!

But, this week was amazing! Are you tired of hearing about all the
miracles? Because they just keep coming.

We had megazone this week, which was incredible. It hit me hard when
President Calderwood talked about how precious our time is as a
set-apart representative of Jesus Christ. I felt like everything was
revelation for Shayna, our solid inv. We received so much guidance for
our next lesson with her (which I will tell you about in a minute).
But, one of my favorite things from the megazone was a quote from
SIster Calderwood:

"The greatest feeling in the world is to lay broken, spent and
exhausted on the field of victory. The second greatest feeling in the
world is to lay broken, spent and exhausted on the field of defeat."

Isn't that so true? I feel that way at night ... just so exhausted and
ready to rest my eyes. But, it's the greatest feeling too.

Just to name a few miracles:

-"S" is SO ready to be baptized. We've been fasting and praying,
especially as the quarter ends soon, that the people we are working
with will be baptized. She was thinking of getting baptized in
December (her birthday) but we knew she was DEFINITELY ready to be
baptized before then. Friday we taught her and I was studying so hard
for her that morning ... and praying about WHEN we should challenge
her. I got the strongest prompting that we should invite her for
September 21 and felt Heavenly Father's love for her and his desire
for her to be baptized.  I even felt specific words as I prayed as to
what I should say. I was a little nervous going into the lesson
because I wanted to be bold and loving. But, the fear left me the
moment we started to teach. The Spirit in the lesson was SUPER strong.
Everyone was crying. :) She didn't accept the date yet, but she is
praying. She said she had prior commitments at her ministry this week
so she wouldn't be at church (First time this transfer). Then, IN she
walks right before sacrament! I was SO HAPPY! Her meetings got pushed
back so she decided to come. Fasting works!

-Second, right before church started, this man, "N", walked into the
chapel. Oh, he just decided to search it out on his own online and
find the chapel. GOLDEN? He met with missionaries 3 years ago in
London. He seems great & was already talking to all the members. We
wanted to set up an appt with him and saw him walking out of the
church with one of the members, so we started to head outside, only to
realize the member was getting him a Book of Mormon from his car. What
a great member missionary! Then when we set our appt, the member said
he would make sure he was available to  come :) I LOVE PLAINVIEW.

We had a man speak in sacrament, a high councilor, who is now in his
fifties. He grew up in gangs, and told us he would carry 3-4 guns at a
time. He bore powerful testimony and said, "Without the gospel, I
don't know where I would be but it would either be dead or in jail.
But with the gospel, I know where I am and I know I have a Heavenly
Father." He testified of the powerful change in his family's life
since accepting the gospel. IT's amazing how the gospel can really
help anyone who is willing to change.

Also, we had two exchanges this week with some great sisters! On the
first exchange, I apparently woke up at 1:30 a.m. and asked this
sister, "What do you consider a success from last transfer?" She
answered, asked me the same question, and I responded. The next day, I
wondered if it had really happened. Then she told me that she had
needed that question because she had been trying to think of her
successes..the Spirit works even when we're sleeping :)

Have a great week! We're praying for a baptism!

Love you!
Sister Peacock

{ny south|forever changed}

#floodtheearth

Hi!

Another week has come and gone! This past week was filled with
teaching again (HOORAH!). We had another great lesson with our new
investigator from last week, Aleyca. She is a little uncertain about
her baptism date, but feels like she WILL be baptized. And, she has
the desire. As we taught her the restoration, she asked if she could
keep the pamphlet. Then we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said, "
This is for me?? I can keep it?" SWEETHEART. She is from the Dominican
Republic too, and sometimes she has to express herself in Spanish. I
LOVE it. I can talk to her in Spanish too, which makes me super happy
:]

What else? Oh, we are meeting with a few other members and will
hopefully going to the temple with them to do baptisms at the end of
the month. They are the SWEETEST too! All of them are Spanish (2 from
the DR and 1 from Peru). It's like a little tender mercy! Also, this
girl showed up to church yesterday who I had met visiting my past comp
in Jamaica, Queens (back in December) and we remembered each other.
She sat by me in church and we just became instant friends. And she
said she would bring me & my comp pupusas and tamales next week (She
is Spanish and those are two of my favorite Spanish foods that I
haven't had in months!). Doesn't Heavenly Father love us??

Another EXCITING thing! So, we started our #FLOODTHEEARTH social media
challenge (thanks for participating!) and Sis Kapisi shared it with
LDS MIssionary on Facebook. We checked back a few days into the
challenge. They had posted it  and it had almost 800 "likes" and 200
shares, including other mission presidents. We were STOKED. We're
following an apostle and flooding the earth :) It's been really
exciting to see!

Finally, we had ZTM this week and I have since been studying
conversion. A testimony is knowing something, but conversion is being
CHANGED because of what we know. There is an excellent talk by Elder
Bednar so I will invite you all to read it ;)
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/converted-unto-the-lord?lang=eng

This was one of my favorite parts:
"A testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of
the Holy Ghost. Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the
revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for
righteous reasons. Knowing that the gospel is true is the essence of a
testimony. Consistently being true to the gospel is the essence of
conversion. We should know the gospel is true and be true to the
gospel."

Let's be CONSISTENTLY true to the gospel. I know it bless you. It has
blessed me.

Have a wonderful week! As I bore my testimony yesterday in church, I
told the branch that one of the greatest feelings of being a
missionary is responding to a prompting and having it bless someone's
life or be the answer to a prayer. We each have the power to do that,
missionary or not.

I Love you!
Sister Peacock

{ny south|forever changed}

OOPs! I forgot to mention that we volunteered for a color run this
weekend ... IT WAS A BLAST! We got to spray people with color as the
ran past. So, here are some fun photos.

into the lovely month of SEPTEMBER.

I don't even know where to start this email because it's been a WEEK
FULL OF MIRACLES. The work EXPLODED here this week. We had nine
lessons (remember, it's usually 3-4), and we were able to have members
with us at SEVEN of them. Members are the key :) We have two solid new
investigators with baptism dates! And, we had nine people come to
church who haven't been since I've been here -- either less actives or
nonmembers. We had four members bring their friends. It was awesome.

This week we had MLC. How I love working so closely with President &
Sister Calderwood. This whole mission experience would be worth it to
know them -- they are amazing, life-changing people. I felt so
inspired at MLC. We talked about a standard of excellence we have in
our mission which is inviting people to be baptized -- with a date --
on the first lesson. I realized I have done it out of duty, but not
always out of love. We talked about how we have to do it because we
want these people to make covenants with God that will take them home
to Him. That is the ONLY way they can do it. We realized the commit is
broken into two parts: "Will you FOLLOW the example of Jesus Christ
and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority?"
AND THEN "Will you PREPARE to be baptized on ... ?" How critical it is
that they understand WHAT it means to be prepared -- it means coming
to church, praying, reading, etc. President said we needed to invite
"on our toes" not timidly "on our heels."

Well, after MLC we wanted to apply what we had learned. We were doing
lookups for a less active and knocked on her college dorm room.
Someone answered and took us to her room, where her roommate answered.
The girl, Lina, was not home at the moment. We started talking to
Paola and invited her to volleyball, but we knew we needed to tell her
more. We started talking about Jesus Christ. We testified. She asked
how she could know the truth with so much confusion (Joseph Smith
wondered the same thing). We invited her to pray. We prayed with her.
As we ended, there was a knock on her bedroom door. It was another
roommate, telling us we had the WRONG apartment. The Lina we were
looking for lived a few doors down. MIRACLES. We walked down to the
right apartment and both the girls we were looking for were home and
wanted a ride to church. They were excited to see us; the feeling was
mutual. It's wonderful how God leads us to the pure in heart,
something we pray for daily.

Fast forward to Sunday and Lina brought her roommate, Aleyca, to
church. We had a lesson with them after munch & mingle with a less
active and our mission leader. President's reminders were in our head
-- do it out of love. Make sure they are prepared. I felt that love as
I taught and testified. I asked how they felt at church. Aleyca said
"at home." I testified that is confirmation from the Spirit. Sis K
invited her to follow the Savior and be baptized. She accepted. We
continued talking and mentioned what we must do to prepare. We invited
the members to prepare to go to the temple for baptisms on Sept. 27
and then invited Aleyca to prepare for baptism on the 28th. I told her
that I knew Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him, just like our
earthly parents (since we were all away from home). I promised that we
could make it back, but only through making covenants with God. It was
amazing the difference we felt as we invited on our toes :)

And, two other miracles. We were invited to go to the temple with
Heather, who is preparing to receive her endowment. She was going to
fly home to Oregon but decided to do them here in Manhattan and wanted
us to come. I was so honored! And I'm excited. It will most likely be
the end of September.

The other miracle was earlier in the week. We had a lesson with a less
active and had wanted to bring a member but she didn't feel
comfortable with that. So, we went to her house and got to know her a
bit. Halfway through our visit, we hear her doorbell and it was a
MEMBER from the branch who happened to be selling solar panels in the
neighborhood ... seriously, he works over all of Long Island and he
happened to be on her street? At 7:30 at night? He joined us for the
last half of the lesson. God provides a way :)

Well, this email is getting pretty long but I do know miracles are
happening. They will continue to happen. I read this week in Alma 60
and it motivated me to try harder to NOT complain. They didn't do it,
even after hunger, thirst, fatigue, and "All manner of afflictions."
What reason do I have? it's actually been pretty fun to try it out
this week!

Finally, my comp and I made up a "30-day social media challenge" after
reading Elder Bednar's BYU education week talk
(https://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/to-sweep-the-earth-as-with-a-flood?lang=eng).
It's been on my mission bucket list to have some type of social media
challenge, so it was fun to come up with fun, simple ways to follow
Elder Bednar's invitation to "sweep the earth as with a flood." So, I
thought I'd attach a photo and invite YOU to follow along. It's
simple.

Ok, I love you. Have a fantastic week! Congrats LIZZIE on your
baptism. I am so happy and proud of you :)

xoxo,
Sister Peacock

PHOTOS: 1. 30-day challenge.

2.  We took a photo after our awesome
lesson Sunday. Aleyca, our newest investigator, is in the middle :)