Bonjour!
Haha, we haven't made too much progress on the French this week. We actually have been able to teach a lot in Spanish which makes me very happy :) We do have one investigator named Ge who is really close to baptism. He speaks a little English so if we can say a little more in French to help him that would be really great! Haha
We stopped by and taught an awesome lady named F (her name means flower). She makes piñatas and is very interesting. We taught her the Restoration and then came back for our return appointment and she had read the assignment we gave her and more! She is very interested and has a lot of potential! We're excited to work with her.
Ma is still doing awesome as well. We finished teaching him about the Plan of Salvation and he was shocked about the Spirit world and what happens after death. He is so smart and just understands so well. The Spirit is always so strong and he basically teaches himself every time. :) He was out of town this weekend but hopefully he will be able to come to church this Sunday!
On Wednesday the Bishop called us and told us there was a man who had come to the church and was looking for us. We got his number and called. It turns out he is a member who came here to work for a few months from Texas. He wanted to meet with us basically just to tell us that he wants to help us out as much as he can. :) His English is good but he is from Mexico and speaks Spanish. He was an alcoholic for years and then decided he needed to change and now he is very active in the church! It was a nice miracle especially because we can definitely use the help with the Spanish work here.
I have been thinking a lot this past week about why I am here in Austin. The other sisters who were here before were teaching a lot in English and then one of them even spoke some French so she could communicate with a lot of the Africans. Yet, the Lord wanted Spanish-speaking missionaries here. In the meantime we want to help those who speak other languages too, but there must be some reason that Hermana Maravilla and I needed to be here. I'm still trying to figure it out, but I have learned a ton in this past week and I believe that the Lord wanted me to have the experiences I am having here so that I could learn, as well as help others.
The gospel is true!
Love you!
♥Hermana Pierce
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
New adventure!
Hello!
This has been an absolutely insane week. Last Monday after I found out about transfers Hermana White and I went with Sister Jensen and Charlotte to have a picnic at Lake Harriet. It was lots of fun! I love the Jensen's and it was hard saying goodbye to them. It was also very sad saying goodbye to Mi and Alma and their family. I have come to love them so much!
Lake Harriet
Goodbye Hermana White
I love this family!
The day of transfers came quickly and it was probably the longest day of my mission. One thing that made the day super great though was that I got to see Sister Hyland who is in my same zone now!! We get to do exchanges too and we are very happy. Sister Hyland and I were in the same district up until this past transfer.
Reunited with Sister Hyland!
I feel like a brand new missionary. I am meeting tons of new people, getting used to a new area.. oh and I'm also learning a new language! There was another set of sisters here, but they got transferred to so we are taking over their area, but also keeping the area the Spanish sisters had before. But, half the people the sisters were teaching speak French or another African tribal language, so Hermana Maravilla and I are trying to learn French. I can already understand most of it when I read it, but the pronunciation and understanding it when it is spoken is the hard part. We are going to try and have one of the less active French speakers teach us.
Thank goodness that Hermana Maravilla has been here for a while and at least kind of knows who some of these people are! She is awesome. I already love her so much. She is very patient and nice but a bold missionary as well. We have set some goals for this area and I'm really excited to work with her on them! This is her last transfer before she goes home. :/ Which means for me that I will most likely be staying for at least the next one.
The first night I got to Austin we taught this awesome man named Ma. He is from India, but speaks English perfectly and is a doctor for a branch of the Mayo Clinic here. He is SO smart. He has awesome questions and has done a lot of research into religion. He loves the Book of Mormon so far and has already found a lot of answers to his questions! We taught him again on Friday and it also went really well. Teaching him again tomorrow!
One of the greatest cultural moments so far in Austin was going to the house of some recent converts, Ajulu and Odonga. Ajulu is the mom and speaks absolutely 0 English. She speaks some Arabic and Anyuak. Odonga is 16 and speaks English but how they were both able to learn the gospel still is the biggest question I have. We went over Thursday night and unfortunately Odonga wasn't home. Ajulu had us come in and sit down and then she brought us bottles of water on a plate and put it on the ground by our feet. She is a very spiritual person but we had no way of communicating. She comes to church every single Sunday, but doesn't understand a thing!
We had a great miracle the other day. We were out tracting when we found a man from South Sudan named King. He asked us what church we were from and when we told him his eyes lit up and he said, "I'm a member!" He had been baptized in Seattle about a year and a half ago, but then had moved around a lot and kind of lost track of where the church was. We told him there was one here and he was excited to come! Unfortunately, we had a mix up with his address so the person who was going to pick him up couldn't. But, afterwards we found his place and talked to him. He had been all ready to go! He will be there next week for sure!
Sorry this is super long. There are tons more things to say, but I'll tell you more next week! Love you all! Have a great week :)
♥Hermana Pierce
This has been an absolutely insane week. Last Monday after I found out about transfers Hermana White and I went with Sister Jensen and Charlotte to have a picnic at Lake Harriet. It was lots of fun! I love the Jensen's and it was hard saying goodbye to them. It was also very sad saying goodbye to Mi and Alma and their family. I have come to love them so much!
The day of transfers came quickly and it was probably the longest day of my mission. One thing that made the day super great though was that I got to see Sister Hyland who is in my same zone now!! We get to do exchanges too and we are very happy. Sister Hyland and I were in the same district up until this past transfer.
I feel like a brand new missionary. I am meeting tons of new people, getting used to a new area.. oh and I'm also learning a new language! There was another set of sisters here, but they got transferred to so we are taking over their area, but also keeping the area the Spanish sisters had before. But, half the people the sisters were teaching speak French or another African tribal language, so Hermana Maravilla and I are trying to learn French. I can already understand most of it when I read it, but the pronunciation and understanding it when it is spoken is the hard part. We are going to try and have one of the less active French speakers teach us.
Thank goodness that Hermana Maravilla has been here for a while and at least kind of knows who some of these people are! She is awesome. I already love her so much. She is very patient and nice but a bold missionary as well. We have set some goals for this area and I'm really excited to work with her on them! This is her last transfer before she goes home. :/ Which means for me that I will most likely be staying for at least the next one.
The first night I got to Austin we taught this awesome man named Ma. He is from India, but speaks English perfectly and is a doctor for a branch of the Mayo Clinic here. He is SO smart. He has awesome questions and has done a lot of research into religion. He loves the Book of Mormon so far and has already found a lot of answers to his questions! We taught him again on Friday and it also went really well. Teaching him again tomorrow!
One of the greatest cultural moments so far in Austin was going to the house of some recent converts, Ajulu and Odonga. Ajulu is the mom and speaks absolutely 0 English. She speaks some Arabic and Anyuak. Odonga is 16 and speaks English but how they were both able to learn the gospel still is the biggest question I have. We went over Thursday night and unfortunately Odonga wasn't home. Ajulu had us come in and sit down and then she brought us bottles of water on a plate and put it on the ground by our feet. She is a very spiritual person but we had no way of communicating. She comes to church every single Sunday, but doesn't understand a thing!
We had a great miracle the other day. We were out tracting when we found a man from South Sudan named King. He asked us what church we were from and when we told him his eyes lit up and he said, "I'm a member!" He had been baptized in Seattle about a year and a half ago, but then had moved around a lot and kind of lost track of where the church was. We told him there was one here and he was excited to come! Unfortunately, we had a mix up with his address so the person who was going to pick him up couldn't. But, afterwards we found his place and talked to him. He had been all ready to go! He will be there next week for sure!
Sorry this is super long. There are tons more things to say, but I'll tell you more next week! Love you all! Have a great week :)
♥Hermana Pierce
Monday, September 1, 2014
Adios Lakeville
Hola familia!
The time has come that I have to say goodbye to Lakeville and all the incredible, wonderful people in it. My heart hurts a little bit, but I have felt the Spirit testify to me that this is what the Lord wants. It was only a matter of time anyway and I am looking forward to the new adventures I will have in a new area with a new companion. I am going down south to almost the bottom of Minnesota to a place called Austin. It is one of the only Spanish areas that is not in the Cities. Hermana Wiggins served there before she came to Lakeville and she loved it, so hopefully I will too! I will be with Hermana Maravilla who is a native Spanish speaker! My dream came true in that aspect! She speaks Spanish/English perfectly :)
This was a great last week to end on and I can't even begin to thank Heavenly Father for giving me these past 11 months here. It seems like a long time, but somehow it has already gone by. I have met so many people who really have changed my life. There are so many people that we are teaching right now that I know will continue to progress and receive this gospel. I look forward to seeing this branch a few years down the road. I have complete confidence it will continue to grow and I know it will be in good hands. :) It's unbelievable that Hermana White is already done with training- the time has gone by so fast. She has grown so much, especially in the past few weeks and she is prepared and will do a great job here.
Honestly, I am having a hard time even remembering what happened this past week because my head is so full of memories of Lakeville. I know it was a great week though! Haha... We did have a great lesson with Richard and Mayra. The Montecillos came too and it was very cool. They told us when they opened the door they weren't at all expecting to change their religion. They still didn't specifically say that they would, but they are open and willing to read/pray to find out if its what they should do. The Spirit was very strong!!
A lot of other things happened too... Alma spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday and the whole family was there. Miguel is doing great! Our other investigators are doing well too. There were tons of parties this weekend since its Labor Day and the last weekend before school starts here. We didn't have dinner a few nights in a row, so we stopped by and had some delicious Mexican food! :)
Love you all! Have a great week! :)
-Hermana Pierce
The time has come that I have to say goodbye to Lakeville and all the incredible, wonderful people in it. My heart hurts a little bit, but I have felt the Spirit testify to me that this is what the Lord wants. It was only a matter of time anyway and I am looking forward to the new adventures I will have in a new area with a new companion. I am going down south to almost the bottom of Minnesota to a place called Austin. It is one of the only Spanish areas that is not in the Cities. Hermana Wiggins served there before she came to Lakeville and she loved it, so hopefully I will too! I will be with Hermana Maravilla who is a native Spanish speaker! My dream came true in that aspect! She speaks Spanish/English perfectly :)
This was a great last week to end on and I can't even begin to thank Heavenly Father for giving me these past 11 months here. It seems like a long time, but somehow it has already gone by. I have met so many people who really have changed my life. There are so many people that we are teaching right now that I know will continue to progress and receive this gospel. I look forward to seeing this branch a few years down the road. I have complete confidence it will continue to grow and I know it will be in good hands. :) It's unbelievable that Hermana White is already done with training- the time has gone by so fast. She has grown so much, especially in the past few weeks and she is prepared and will do a great job here.
Honestly, I am having a hard time even remembering what happened this past week because my head is so full of memories of Lakeville. I know it was a great week though! Haha... We did have a great lesson with Richard and Mayra. The Montecillos came too and it was very cool. They told us when they opened the door they weren't at all expecting to change their religion. They still didn't specifically say that they would, but they are open and willing to read/pray to find out if its what they should do. The Spirit was very strong!!
A lot of other things happened too... Alma spoke in Sacrament meeting yesterday and the whole family was there. Miguel is doing great! Our other investigators are doing well too. There were tons of parties this weekend since its Labor Day and the last weekend before school starts here. We didn't have dinner a few nights in a row, so we stopped by and had some delicious Mexican food! :)
Love you all! Have a great week! :)
-Hermana Pierce
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