Hi Family!
Winter has arrived!! I'm loving it right now because the snow is super pretty, and even though it has been kind of cold (in the teens) there hasn't been too much wind and I know its only going to get a lot worse!
Just like every week, this was another great one! All of a sudden it seems like we are teaching a lot of sweet families! We found two sisters that live next door to each other with their own kids and they are awesome! Their names are Mia and Ma and they speak English/Spanish. We taught the moms about the restoration and then yesterday we taught Ma and her kids about the Plan of Salvation! We also taught Ju and her sister plus their kids a few days ago and it was so fun! It is so much fun teaching families with young children. They were all really good too and paid attention and had a great time. We have some good activities coming up to invite them to and hopefully we will get them to church this week!
Things with Ge are about the same. He doesn't have a job right now because he hurt his back and couldn't do the job he was doing, and he has a lot of other challenges going on right now too! I can't imagine what it would be like to come to a new country where you barely speak the language and without any family or friends. Then add that he doesn't have a job and the other problems. Some people really do have such hard trials. We met with him last night and I don't know if he really learned anything, but I just hope and pray that he could feel the love Heavenly Father has for him and the love that we and the members have for him as well!
Our lesson with Brother K (Ma) was so great this week. We taught about faith in Jesus Christ. It's something he struggles with a little because he doesn't understand why Jesus is different than other good people like Mohammed or even just other prophets. It went well though and by the end he was beginning to see the difference. He has studied many world religions and told us that what he thinks is amazing is that there seems to be little pieces of truth in all religions, but the LDS faith seems to have it all as far as he has seen so far. Yes! Because it is the true church of Jesus Christ! :) We are teaching him again tonight! It's amazing... this man is a doctor and a lawyer, he is the head of the pain clinic at the Austin branch of the Mayo and also works in Rochester a few days a week, he has strong associations with many influential people and he himself is very influential, yet he is interested in what a couple of twenty year old girls have to say and he makes time for us. Of course, it really isn't anything to do with us, and everything to do with Jesus Christ and the Spirit that he can feel, but still! I have felt the Spirit tell me what to say to him and its incredible how well he receives it. Keep him in your prayers!
When I first got to Austin we started teaching S, a 17 year old girl who the other sisters had been teaching for a long time. She wanted to be baptized but had to wait until she turns 18 because her step-dad won't give her permission. Her sister Jackie is a member and she has a few other siblings that are members as well who live in the cities. We decided to give her a break for a while because she wasn't really doing much as far as progression goes. The two girls still come to mutual every week and sometimes to church. We recently talked with one of the young women leaders about teaching them in her home. She agreed and tomorrow we will be teaching them. We have seen them at their own house a few times in the couple weeks and S actually set a date for herself for baptism! She told us she prayed about it and wants to be baptized January 18th! :) Hopefully things will go well as we teach her the lessons again and help her prepare for that date!
I can't believe this is the last week of the transfer. Hermana Ficklin and I are having a great time and loving being missionaries! Hopefully we will stay together for another one, but we will find out next Monday! Have a great week :)
Love,
Hermana Pierce
Austin has about 25,000 people, so it is way smaller than Lakeville area. There are little tiny towns around it that we also cover but hardly ever go to. We are about 45 minutes away from Rochester. One thing I really like about the town itself is the houses. Most are really old and have cool architecture... same with some of the really old churches. The thing I dislike about it is the horrible smell that often reaches my nose. This is where they make Spam and they have a huge pork production plant... similar to Falls brand but way bigger. Lots of people work there. Depending on the day it can smell super bad no matter where you are in town. I think now that is winter it might be a little better though. There is one ward, it is relatively pretty small compared to the Lakeville ward or really any other ward I've ever seen. I would guess there is about 80-90 people on any given Sunday. I could be off, not sure. Its really great though, lots of good people! It is part of the Rochester Stake... There are 5 wards in Rochester which is huge compared to other parts of Minnesota (lots of lds doctors) and a few other wards/branches are a part of it as well from around SE Minnesota and some of Wisconsin/Iowa.
Monday, November 17, 2014
Keeping the streets of Austin a little safer
Hola Familia!
I had a dream last night that Hermana Ficklin and I were riding around on skateboards at night in the sketchiest part of town trying to keep the streets of Austin a little safer. I guess we are trying to keep the people of Austin a little closer to God, so it's kind of similar, haha :)
This week was definitely one of the most memorable of my mission so far! It was an awesome week full of tons of miracles as we worked hard again to 'stay on the line.'
One thing super crazy happened though. On Tuesday we did exchanges. I stayed here and Sister Shurtz came with me. Things started out good until C called us asking if we could come make her dinner because she had just gotten out of the hospital. We went over right away and she had a lady there with her. As soon as we showed up the lady said, "oh good, you're here, I'm going home." She left us with C who was anything but stable. She apparently had been falling down a lot and couldn't keep her balance. As time went on we tried to talk to C and she just got more and more incoherent to the point where we got super scared. She wasn't responding correctly to anything we said so we called our Relief Society President who advised us to call an ambulance. Long story short, the ambulance came and got her and then the next day she came home and didn't remember us even being there! She didn't have a stroke, but they don't know what's wrong with her either and she has to go to Mayo to do tests. Hopefully she'll be okay!
After that little incident everything else this week was fantastic. The BEST thing ever was when we went and knocked Ma's door. He was the doctor we were teaching who got a lot of negative reactions from his family and friends when they found out he was pursuing the LDS religion. It had been weeks and he hadn't returned any of our calls, but he let us in and basically just giggled for the first five minutes. He kept saying, "you didn't give up on me!?" It was almost as if the whole ordeal with the family didn't even happen. He brought it up and said it was a concern, but that if this really is the truth he wants to know!! We went over the Book of Mormon and we will be seeing him this week again too! I basically smiled for the next 24 hours after that. I couldn't even sleep very well I was so happy. The lessons we had with Ma were some of my favorite I have had in my whole mission. And now we are teaching him again and he will be stronger and more prepared! It's amazing how the Lord turns bad things into good things!
We had interviews with President this week and also got to see Meet the Mormons! It was good!
Gh is doing well also. He has so many questions so we can never teach him all that we plan which is fine, but we are trying to find a way to teach him more so that he can progress! It's kind of tricky, but he is still great! We got him to come to a volleyball activity and he loved it and met some new people.
There's a girl named Nicole who was baptized not too long ago, but has struggled with staying active. We were able to get her to church this Sunday and she brought a friend too! We also got in contact with another recent convert named Evans who has been MIA for several weeks! There were so many other miracles this week, I wish I could share all of them.
I did have one other experience I want to share though. The other day I was praying and asking Heavenly Father how I can improve/what I need to repent of. I didn't get an answer immediately, but got one yesterday during Sacrament Meeting. One of the speakers talked about gratitude. He shared how writing down a few things we are grateful for every day will make a huge difference in the happiness in our lives. It's impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. I already gained a testimony of that several years ago when I kept a journal of things I was grateful for. Somewhere along the way I quit doing that though so now I'm starting again! Remember to be grateful! :)
Love you all!
♥Hermana Pierce
I had a dream last night that Hermana Ficklin and I were riding around on skateboards at night in the sketchiest part of town trying to keep the streets of Austin a little safer. I guess we are trying to keep the people of Austin a little closer to God, so it's kind of similar, haha :)
This week was definitely one of the most memorable of my mission so far! It was an awesome week full of tons of miracles as we worked hard again to 'stay on the line.'
One thing super crazy happened though. On Tuesday we did exchanges. I stayed here and Sister Shurtz came with me. Things started out good until C called us asking if we could come make her dinner because she had just gotten out of the hospital. We went over right away and she had a lady there with her. As soon as we showed up the lady said, "oh good, you're here, I'm going home." She left us with C who was anything but stable. She apparently had been falling down a lot and couldn't keep her balance. As time went on we tried to talk to C and she just got more and more incoherent to the point where we got super scared. She wasn't responding correctly to anything we said so we called our Relief Society President who advised us to call an ambulance. Long story short, the ambulance came and got her and then the next day she came home and didn't remember us even being there! She didn't have a stroke, but they don't know what's wrong with her either and she has to go to Mayo to do tests. Hopefully she'll be okay!
After that little incident everything else this week was fantastic. The BEST thing ever was when we went and knocked Ma's door. He was the doctor we were teaching who got a lot of negative reactions from his family and friends when they found out he was pursuing the LDS religion. It had been weeks and he hadn't returned any of our calls, but he let us in and basically just giggled for the first five minutes. He kept saying, "you didn't give up on me!?" It was almost as if the whole ordeal with the family didn't even happen. He brought it up and said it was a concern, but that if this really is the truth he wants to know!! We went over the Book of Mormon and we will be seeing him this week again too! I basically smiled for the next 24 hours after that. I couldn't even sleep very well I was so happy. The lessons we had with Ma were some of my favorite I have had in my whole mission. And now we are teaching him again and he will be stronger and more prepared! It's amazing how the Lord turns bad things into good things!
We had interviews with President this week and also got to see Meet the Mormons! It was good!
Gh is doing well also. He has so many questions so we can never teach him all that we plan which is fine, but we are trying to find a way to teach him more so that he can progress! It's kind of tricky, but he is still great! We got him to come to a volleyball activity and he loved it and met some new people.
There's a girl named Nicole who was baptized not too long ago, but has struggled with staying active. We were able to get her to church this Sunday and she brought a friend too! We also got in contact with another recent convert named Evans who has been MIA for several weeks! There were so many other miracles this week, I wish I could share all of them.
I did have one other experience I want to share though. The other day I was praying and asking Heavenly Father how I can improve/what I need to repent of. I didn't get an answer immediately, but got one yesterday during Sacrament Meeting. One of the speakers talked about gratitude. He shared how writing down a few things we are grateful for every day will make a huge difference in the happiness in our lives. It's impossible to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. I already gained a testimony of that several years ago when I kept a journal of things I was grateful for. Somewhere along the way I quit doing that though so now I'm starting again! Remember to be grateful! :)
Love you all!
♥Hermana Pierce
Stay on the line
Buenos dias!
We had a great start to the week when we got to go to Bloomington to hear from Elder Carlson of the 70. He had some amazing things to share and I could probably write a whole email just about what he said. One thing he talked about was "staying on the line." He was referring to when we make specific plans and then following through with them. Heavenly Father is anxious to bless us; we just have to make a plan, with His help, and then stick with it. Hermana Ficklin and I have been working hard to do that this week and we have seen a lot of miracles! Sometimes it is easy to get off our plan because we think it would make more sense to go be in this area or whatever the reason. I realized for the first time this week that even though we aren't necessarily doing anything wrong, we are still being diligent and trying to work smart and hard, sometimes that is Satan trying to distract us! Of course, there are times when we have to change plans, but we found that as we stuck as close to the "line" or plan as possible, we were blessed!
I also was able to catch up with Hermana Rawlins and Hermana White! Hermana Rawlins is doing great with training and is an awesome missionary. She has already been out 9 months!! I found out how everyone is doing in Lakeville :) I was especially grateful for the good news I received that Al is doing absolutely amazing and that Mi is also doing well and working to prepare for baptism. It turned out that he had some problems with the word of wisdom and he is now working through those. They are such a great family!! I also found out that Ma and Eg are doing great; Ma really wants to be baptized! Probably the best thing I heard was that Hermana Carrillo, a less-active that I absolutely love, is doing better, her heart is being softened, and the sisters are teaching her son who before hadn't shown any interest. Heavenly Father blessed me to know that the efforts that I spent in that wonderful place that forever changed my life were in no way wasted and that the work is continuing to be amazing there. As much as I really do love Austin, it has been hard being away from those people and having no idea what is going on with them! I'm so glad they are doing well!
Anyways, back to what is happening here! We had an awesome miracle with Gh this week. He didn't come to church because he goes to another one and said he can only visit occasionally. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and the only problem he had is that he drinks a beer every Thursday. We committed him to stop doing that. We saw him again a few days later and he said, "you know how I know that your church is true?... I told you that I couldn't come to church every Sunday and you still are trying to help me to follow God and make my life better." Of course, he doesn't totally have a solid testimony of the restored church, but we are sure that as he lives the commandments and makes changes he will gain that testimony!
We also had an interesting lesson with Ge yesterday. We brought a French-speaker with us which was super helpful, but we found out that something really bad happened in Ge's past. We aren't sure what it is, but the Spirit testified strongly to all of us that he had been hurt in some way and suddenly it made sense to why he says what he says or why he doesn't want to commit to baptism right now. I'm not sure how to explain it, but we got a new perspective on him. We are praying that we will know how to help him!
We recently started teaching this awesome lady named Ju! Her brothers are less-active members, but we haven't met them yet. She is very interested! We are teaching her tonight so hopefully it goes well!
I love being here and am so grateful for this experience! Have a wonderful week!
♥Hermana Pierce
We had a great start to the week when we got to go to Bloomington to hear from Elder Carlson of the 70. He had some amazing things to share and I could probably write a whole email just about what he said. One thing he talked about was "staying on the line." He was referring to when we make specific plans and then following through with them. Heavenly Father is anxious to bless us; we just have to make a plan, with His help, and then stick with it. Hermana Ficklin and I have been working hard to do that this week and we have seen a lot of miracles! Sometimes it is easy to get off our plan because we think it would make more sense to go be in this area or whatever the reason. I realized for the first time this week that even though we aren't necessarily doing anything wrong, we are still being diligent and trying to work smart and hard, sometimes that is Satan trying to distract us! Of course, there are times when we have to change plans, but we found that as we stuck as close to the "line" or plan as possible, we were blessed!
I also was able to catch up with Hermana Rawlins and Hermana White! Hermana Rawlins is doing great with training and is an awesome missionary. She has already been out 9 months!! I found out how everyone is doing in Lakeville :) I was especially grateful for the good news I received that Al is doing absolutely amazing and that Mi is also doing well and working to prepare for baptism. It turned out that he had some problems with the word of wisdom and he is now working through those. They are such a great family!! I also found out that Ma and Eg are doing great; Ma really wants to be baptized! Probably the best thing I heard was that Hermana Carrillo, a less-active that I absolutely love, is doing better, her heart is being softened, and the sisters are teaching her son who before hadn't shown any interest. Heavenly Father blessed me to know that the efforts that I spent in that wonderful place that forever changed my life were in no way wasted and that the work is continuing to be amazing there. As much as I really do love Austin, it has been hard being away from those people and having no idea what is going on with them! I'm so glad they are doing well!
Anyways, back to what is happening here! We had an awesome miracle with Gh this week. He didn't come to church because he goes to another one and said he can only visit occasionally. We taught him the Word of Wisdom and the only problem he had is that he drinks a beer every Thursday. We committed him to stop doing that. We saw him again a few days later and he said, "you know how I know that your church is true?... I told you that I couldn't come to church every Sunday and you still are trying to help me to follow God and make my life better." Of course, he doesn't totally have a solid testimony of the restored church, but we are sure that as he lives the commandments and makes changes he will gain that testimony!
We also had an interesting lesson with Ge yesterday. We brought a French-speaker with us which was super helpful, but we found out that something really bad happened in Ge's past. We aren't sure what it is, but the Spirit testified strongly to all of us that he had been hurt in some way and suddenly it made sense to why he says what he says or why he doesn't want to commit to baptism right now. I'm not sure how to explain it, but we got a new perspective on him. We are praying that we will know how to help him!
We recently started teaching this awesome lady named Ju! Her brothers are less-active members, but we haven't met them yet. She is very interested! We are teaching her tonight so hopefully it goes well!
I love being here and am so grateful for this experience! Have a wonderful week!
♥Hermana Pierce
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