Hello again!

We had a good & busy week. We started planning the mission sisters' conference, which will be in June or July. I am so grateful to be able to work with Sister Calderwood so closely. She is an amazing example and is very smart too!

We had two exchanges this week -- on Wednesday, I went to Lynbrook, which is an area I've never been to before. It was a great exchange! Funny moment. We decided to go running that morning and left the house about 6:30. Well, after a while she says, "Um..Sister Peacock? I'm lost." So, we just keep running until we find someone who can direct us to their street. We ended up passing a member's house a little bit later, and she drove us home. We got back at 7:45. Haha. She felt so bad, but I said, "Well, at least we got a good workout in!" And we still started studies on time at 8 am! Ha. I also met some of the sisters' awesome investigators and got to know a few members there. We had a lot of fun learning from each other and to show how small the world is, one of the members who came teaching with us is my old college roommate, Heidi. She is now living in Lynbrook with her husband, who is attending medical school. It was fun and odd to see someone from home and to hear my first name again! But, it was a great experience!

On Saturday, I stayed here for the exchange and a sweet, 19-year-old sister joined me. She is a great example and has so much faith! She hasn't even been out of high school for a year yet. I can't imagine having gone on a mission at 19. I know that the Lord's timing is
different for everyone and that he needed me at THIS time in my life. But, SIster Pieper and I had so much fun together. We ended up going over to the Zohars and doing yard work with them for a little while, which she especially loved, after serving in the city and not seeing
grass for 6 months :) IT's always fun to bring people on the island who are not used to seeing houses, yards, and trees.

Sunday, we had a baptism after church for a boy the elders have been teaching. And we have two baptisms for 8-year-old boys for the next two weeks. Baptisms are so exciting! I can't wait for Lizzie's baptism. That will be such a great day! :) Sunday night, we had a Book of Mormon club meeting and we had invited Manny on Saturday. Well, he
finally came with Sister Zohar. I was so happy to see him there! I still feel like one day he WILL join the church, even if it's not while I am serving here.

We also had a powerful lesson with Liz this week. We always have strong lessons, but she doesn't apply what we are teaching. We were able to help her understand  that she has to read and pray and come to church to find the answer that it's true. She finally said the closing prayer, which was awesome, considering she has never prayed with us there! Nothin better than hearing someone pray for the first time :)

And we have a temple date for Maria (the less active) to do baptisms! We will be going on May 10. I am so excited for her! She has come so far!

Something I picked up in my studies this week -- I was reading in Mosiah about the people who were following Alma (after Abinadi's death). They had gone into hiding in a place called Mormon, which is described as a land "infested by wild beasts." Well, at the end of the chapter it says that the land of Mormon was "beautiful to the eyes of them who there came to a knowledge of their Redeemer." Wow. I realized that people here will think the same thing. Maybe that is why missionaries love their missions and think it is the BEST, no matter where it is. It is on our missions that we come to know the Savior and help others know Him as well and how BEAUTIFUL it is.

Well, thanks for all the love & support!

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACH!

Love you!
Sister Peacock

the island specialist.

Dear family,

I AM SO HAPPY.

I was leading the music in church yesterday and as I looked out over
the congregation, I felt love. Love for each family as my eyes scanned
over the pews. Love that some of the less actives we invited came.
Love that I was still in Little Neck. Love for my companion. Love for
the savior and the resurrection.

It seems my disposition has changed this week. I want to be happy,
regardless. I feel happy and excited, more so than ever before, it
seems. I want to be grateful IN my circumstances, not just for things.
We had many blessings this week!

1. My new companion! Sister Lewis is her name. She is 20 and is from
Mapleton. We started in the same zone and served around each other for
about 7 months. I always thought it would be fun to be her companion.
For some reason, I didn't think she would be in Little Neck with me
when I heard she got an STL call. But when it was announced at
transfers, an immediate wave of relief and excitement filled me! It
has been such a fun week. We get along so well and I am super thrilled
to work with her :)

2. We now have 12 zones in the mission (there were 9 when I came). We
now have 4 sets of STLs (one for each stake). It all makes sense now
why I came to Little Neck. I needed to be here so I could start the
new STL pool in this new stake. At the time it seemed strange since
another set of STLs was in the same zone. But now it makes complete
sense as the stakes and zones have been rearranged. A testimony that
God sees the whole picture -- and that President Calderwood was
inspired 3 transfers ago. Three new units got sisters! Super exciting
times. President said this is our hour to work in the vineyard and
that The Lord is drawing near and that He is working with us.

3. We are now in the same zone as Flushing, which is dominantly a
Chinese/Korean  area. So, when we contacted people as a zone finding
activity, I practiced some Chinese phrases like "I know God loves
you!" (wǒ zhìdaǒ shén aì nǐ) or "I am a missionary for the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (wǒ shì yēsū jīdū hoùqì shéngtù
jiàhuìde chúanjiàoshì). Who would've guessed I'd learn a little
Chinese on my mission? #giftoftongues

4. One of the less actives we have been working with since I got here
is preparing to do baptisms in the temple in May! Wooo! I can't wait
:))

5. We planned all of our exchanges for the transfer and I am super
stoked. We have some new sisters to exchange with and I just love love
love getting to know them. We also are going to start planning the
mega sisters conference/training, which will be next transfer with all
of the sisters in the mission. It happens twice a year.

6. At church President Calderwood was introducing us and he said,
"Sister Peacock has been on the island her whole mission. She is our
island specialist." You know, I think I might just stay on the island
...I have thought of the possibility of being sent back to Riverhead
or even starting the sister pool in Hampton Bays. Who knows?

7. We finally found a place to do service every week! I found a local
farm/museum a few months ago but volunteer season didn't start until
April. Well, we are going to start volunteering as a district every
Tuesday after our district meeting! It should be a whole lot of fun.

8. Finally, this week I studied a bit about being "single to the glory
of God." In the scriptures, we read about keeping our eye single, our
minds single, and our hearts single to the glory of God. I looked up
single and it means "free from deceit." I realized if my mind is
single, my thoughts/motives/desires are PURE. I am doing things for
the right reasons and not getting caught up on things that aren't in
line with my purpose. I have tried to remember the scripture (D&C
88:68-69) this week when distracting thoughts have come and it has
really helped me!

We have a great week planned ahead! Guys, this church is true. If you
don't know it, ask. If you don't believe, read the scriptures. I love
you!

--Sister Peacock
{ny south|forever changed}

She is 5'9" haha. Great shot right?

#becauseofHim

Hello! It's been a while since a real post from me, but I just wanted to share this video on the off-chance that you haven't already seen it. It is simple and beautiful. I know that because of Him, I can be with my family forever. I know that because of Him, I can be happy. I know that because of Him, I forgive and be forgiven. Because of Him, we can all receive the gift of eternal life.

it's beginning to look a lot like springtime!

Hello everyone!

Wow. The weather has been so BEAUTIFUL this week. It has been a lovely change and I am quite enjoying it. The blossoms. The flowers. Springtime is wonderful!

This past week was amazing. I had the opportunity to go to the temple for my anniversary trip and I had a wonderful time. The peace and comfort from the temple is so real. I am grateful we get the chance to go once every six months with other missionaries!

We also had a huge stake conference over the weekend. IT WAS AWESOME. So, I don't know if i can explain how COOL the stake conference really was. Or how I didn't realize how important the creation of a new stake is and what it means. But, on Sunday, we had the opportunity to listen to two members of the seventy and the fourth stake on Long Island was created. 18 months ago, there were just 2 stakes and 2 districts. But, now we have four stakes and 3 branches were also changed to wards yesterday. The Spirit in the room was beyond powerful. I said to my companion, "If anyone doubts the church is true, they just need to come to a meeting like this." Obviously there are countless opportunities to feel the Spirit and know the church is true, but that was definitely one of them. Little Neck is part of the new stake, which will be really exciting as I have been part of the Plainview Stake for the entirety of my mission.

With these changes, there are also going to be mission changes, zone changes, etc. so transfer meeting tomorrow will be quite exciting! Sister Calderwood said we have all but about 30 missionaries who will be attending (so, that's more than 200 that will be at this transfer). MANY changes! This also means our area as an STL will change, so we will exchange with different sisters now. I will definitely miss the ones not in our area anymore, but am excited for the growth on Long Island.

To wrap it up, we visited a few families yesterday and one of the best moments was hearing a 16-year-old young man, who wasn't even coming to church a year ago, tell us that he "feels happy" when we are around and have him say a closing prayer at the family home evening. These are the moments that make this worth it.

Sister Hales will be going home tomorrow! We have so much fun together and I can't believe the two transfers together are really over. She really is amazing. She is one of the most powerful teachers I know, and one of the most Christlike as well. She is constantly smiling and lights up the room and makes everyone feel HAPPY. She is so talented as well in many areas and I am just excited for all the good things coming to her in life! I truly know we will be friends long after the mission -- we've already made some exciting plans! We are so silly and speak in accents and make weird faces together and crack each other up too. That is something I have loved. But, the best part has been that we have amazing, spiritual experiences together that have strengthened my testimony.

Well, I love you! Throwing in some pics from yesterday since we are at the library and I can!

I love you! OH and Happy Easter!

--Sister Peacock

Pictures:
1. Eating tinga between conference
2. With our Little Neck chinese mom, Sister Zohar
3. The fantastic Bermudez family! (Danny is the 16-year-old who prayed)
4. My district one last time!

The 17-miracle lesson.

What a miracle week! Last week I told you about a woman we fearlessed
on an exchange? We taught her last Monday and it was a 17-miracles
lesson! Seriously. Just to name a few: we had the wrong address but
kept walking and she was outside waiting for us, the best and sweetest
member ever came with us, Olga (the new inv) started crying as we
testified of eternal families because she had lost her mom in an
accident, she agreed to be baptized when she knew it was true, she
asked US for the church time and location... I can keep going but it
was so wonderful! And Hna Herrera, the member who came, was a champ!
She is so sweet and before we said anything, offered to pick Olga up
for church & bore such a strong testimony too. It was awesome! When we
left, we all were just dancing and couldn't stop smiling as we
recounted the miracles on the way back to the car!

We had an exchange and I was with a sister who has been out about 5
weeks. She was so sweet though and I especially try to have awesome
exchanges when it is a sister's first one because I know how nervous I
felt! But it was really fun and she asked if we could knock doors
because she never had. Well, the first door we knocked ended up having
a less-than-pleased young mother answer the door. She was carrying a
baby on her hip and said she had told missionaries hundreds of times
not to come back. I complimented the woman on her cute baby, but she
wasn't amused. Ah, sometimes we get rejected but at least we open our
mouth!

Thursday we had a an STL meeting at President's house to talk about
the eider exchanges and other upcoming events. It was my year mark
that day and I found myself back with Sister Hale. I can't believe it
has been a year since we were first companions. It is really neat to
see how we have both changed and grown over the course of a year. I
love these sisters so much! After the meeting, we did service for a
former investigator whose husband died a few months ago. She needed
help cleaning out her kitchen cupboard and I had so much fun doing it!
She also told us how even though she was raised catholic, she prays
like we pray. She started doing it after a few missionary lessons & it
was interesting to see how the way we pray really does connect us with
our Father in Heaven. She can tell a difference and I pray one day she
will progress in the gospel. She feels too busy right now but I know
one day she will!

Friday was Missionary Leadership Council again. I can't believe it was
the third one I've attended! How the months fly by. President spoke to
us about the importance of sincere prayer and the Atonement. Much of
what he said we heard again in conference. He is so inspired! One of
the APs gave a workshop about having a vision. He showed us how our
area has grown in the past few decades and what can continue to
happen. This weekend we have the creation of the fourth stake on Long
Island (when president got here there were two stakes and two
districts). Pretty amazing that we get to be a part of it! But there
have been prophesies of temples on Long Island. It hit me how WHEN
that day happens, I can say, "I helped build that."

Then of course we had general conference. It was amazing, like always!
Hard to believe it has been six months already. I always feel a tinge
of sadness at the end of conference...not that it happened,but that we
have to wait another six months! Luckily we should all take the advice
of our prophet and read and study the conference talks over the next
six months. Two of my favorite talks were from President Uchtdorf on
gratitude and Elder Bednar about carrying a load. I put the quotes at
the end of this email.

Oh, on Saturday the elders and our ward mission leader had a surprise
lunch for Sister Hale. It was so sweet of them! They made the Mexican
dish called tinga and authentic rice pudding. It was tasty!

So, that's a recap of last week. This week again will be crazy with
two temple trips, exchanges, zone meeting, and two stake conference
sessions. Oh, and transfer calls! I suspect I will be staying here and
"training" the next STL, but I guess one never knows for certain!

Here are the quotes:

"Gratitude is a  disposition and a way of life, independent of our
circumstances...We can CHOOSE to limit our gratitude based on the
blessings we feel like we lack." -- Pres. Uchtdorf

Elder Bednar: "happiness is not the absence of a load." I Loved the
story and how a load was necessary for the truck to run.

I love you and hope you have a fabulous week!

Sister Peacock