Hola Familia!
It was so much fun to get to talk to you guys on Christmas! I really do have the best family and friends. I love you!
This rest of the day was really fun. We played games with a family in our ward. They have 4 young kids and it was fun to see them excited. We had a really good time with them. Later on we went to the Poll's to have a Micronesian Christmas dinner! They had a ton of family over and it was packed but lots of fun. There was soooo much food. We had lumpias and pancit and lots of other good stuff! I think it is all really similar to food from the Philippines.
The last few days have also been great! We saw Gh and he came to church this Sunday! He was really tired because he had stayed up the night before but he's trying! We also saw Ny and had a great lesson and she came to church again and loved it too.
Brother K is doing awesome. He couldn't come to church this week because he was working but earlier this week we had a great lesson about the 10 commandments. Actually we only made it through the first 5 because he had so many questions but they were all really good. He likes to understands things really clearly but then has so much faith to act even if he doesn't get answers to everything. It's the perfect formula to find truth. We have to understand doctrine and also have the faith to act. We are seeing him tomorrow; should be great!
There is a recent convert mom and daughter who are awesome. Their names are Ajulu and Odonga. I've probably mentioned them before. Anyways, Ajulu's son and step-son are here right now and came to church and loved it! They are here for a few weeks and are going to be moving here soon. They are really interested in the church and the one son participated a ton in our Sunday School lesson. It was awesome!
This week should be another great one! I hope it is great for all of you and that you have a very happy new year! :)
Love,
Hermana Pierce
Bonus material:
Good morning,
I am going through a couple of your emails from the last month or so and wanted to follow up on a few things.
First of all, why do you sometimes call Ma, Brother K? And you mentioned he’d set Jan 24 as his baptismal date. Is that still the date?
So have you had any follow up with the gal who works at Walmart that you took the pie too on Thanksgiving?
Also, I wanted to ask you when we were talking on the phone if you had had much opportunity to use music on your mission, play the piano, sing or anything like that.
How is D doing? Have you had any follow up with him?
Thanks! Love you!
Dad
Hermana Pierce's response
Ok so we started out calling him Ma because that's how he introduced himself but we asked if it would be okay if we just called him brother k because that's how we refer to each other in the church... and its weird calling him his first name since he is a doctor. and he probably won't be ready by the 24th because of some things that have come up with his brother living with him and also he needs to come to church more... but soon! No, we haven't had any follow up with her... we saw her one time when we were at walmart and she came and gave us a hug!
Haha D.. So we had a lesson with him a few weeks ago but we didn't even teach him because he was super drunk. It was ridiculous. But then last week he came to our lesson with his friend Evans who is a member and he was sober and it went well. He had good questions. Maybe something will happen in the future with him but he's got a lot of problems and isn't willing to do enough to fix them at this point.
Haha, so that's the update! Sorry, I always forget what I tell you guys so I'm sure I forget to follow up on lots of things!
Love you!
Monday, December 29, 2014
Feliz Navidad ♥ (Dec 22)
Merry Christmas!
The days are going by so fast; I can't believe it is already almost Christmas! Being a missionary at this time of year is an amazing experience because every day is truly focused on Jesus Christ. As fun as the other traditions are, when you aren't thinking about them it gives you a lot more time to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I'm very grateful to be here this year.
This week got off onto a great start with exchanges. I went to Rochester with Hermana Jones, who came out when I did. She is an awesome missionary and we had a lot of fun. She taught me a lot and the Lord answered several of my prayers through her. I always love exchanges for that reason!
We had a great lesson with Se at a member's home again. I really have come to love this girl. She is doing awesome! The whole ward is excited for her baptism, especially the young women.
The highlight for me this week was teaching Brother K the Word of Wisdom. We read from it in D&C 89 and he was amazed that Joseph Smith could have known that tobacco is bad for the body in the 1800s. He, being a doctor, really could appreciate that. We went on to read about hot drinks and explained that it meant coffee and tea. He told us that he drinks 3-4 cups of coffee every single morning. Without asking why it wasn't allowed and without us giving any reason or blessing or anything he told us that he was going to have to stop drinking it. What faith! He said he thinks it might be hard but he is going to stop and get rid of his coffee maker at work and everything. We didn't even have to ask. It was so cool! What really made the week great though was that he came to church to the Christmas program yesterday!! I'm so happy things are going so well with him and excited for our lesson on Tuesday! :)
I'm excited to talk to you guys on Christmas day! Have a great couple days until then. Talk to you soon!
Love,
Hermana Pierce
The days are going by so fast; I can't believe it is already almost Christmas! Being a missionary at this time of year is an amazing experience because every day is truly focused on Jesus Christ. As fun as the other traditions are, when you aren't thinking about them it gives you a lot more time to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I'm very grateful to be here this year.
This week got off onto a great start with exchanges. I went to Rochester with Hermana Jones, who came out when I did. She is an awesome missionary and we had a lot of fun. She taught me a lot and the Lord answered several of my prayers through her. I always love exchanges for that reason!
We had a great lesson with Se at a member's home again. I really have come to love this girl. She is doing awesome! The whole ward is excited for her baptism, especially the young women.
The highlight for me this week was teaching Brother K the Word of Wisdom. We read from it in D&C 89 and he was amazed that Joseph Smith could have known that tobacco is bad for the body in the 1800s. He, being a doctor, really could appreciate that. We went on to read about hot drinks and explained that it meant coffee and tea. He told us that he drinks 3-4 cups of coffee every single morning. Without asking why it wasn't allowed and without us giving any reason or blessing or anything he told us that he was going to have to stop drinking it. What faith! He said he thinks it might be hard but he is going to stop and get rid of his coffee maker at work and everything. We didn't even have to ask. It was so cool! What really made the week great though was that he came to church to the Christmas program yesterday!! I'm so happy things are going so well with him and excited for our lesson on Tuesday! :)
I'm excited to talk to you guys on Christmas day! Have a great couple days until then. Talk to you soon!
Love,
Hermana Pierce
Merry Spring? (Dec 15)
Buenos Dias!
It really is like Spring here.. Its about 50 degrees and rainy! It's fine with me though!
As always, I was able to enjoy another wonderful, miracle-filled week and learned a lot! Last Monday we had a family home evening with some ward members and Gh. He loved it! He has met several members now and is making a lot of friends which is great.
We were able to see just about everyone this week and had some really cool things happen. Ca, Ju's sister opened up to us about her fears of coming to church and basically acting on the gospel. She really wants and needs it in her life, but she is nervous because so much is going on right now and she can't quite see how much the gospel really will help her! She committed to come to church on Sunday but then there was a weird situation with Ju's husband being stranded and out of gas Sunday morning when we stopped by to help them come. Satan is relentless with finding things to keep people from church.
We did have some people come though yesterday and it was awesome. Se came again and she is set for baptism on January 17! We had a really good lesson with her in the home of one of her young women leaders. She shared her testimony with us and the Spirit confirmed to Hermana Ficklin and I that she is ready! :)
We also had one of our new investigators, N come to church. We met her last week and she is amazing. She has one of the saddest life stories I have ever heard, but she is still somehow so happy and kind and she absolutely loved church! She felt so loved by the members who were awesome and reached out to her. She told us she will be coming every Sunday and she is going to bring her kids too who are teenagers! One of the members already knows her and her kids so that was cool too.
We finally saw Brother K and had a great lesson! He has been sooo busy because one of the doctors is having a baby and he has had to help out a lot and be on call a ton. Because of that, he couldn't come to church :( Next week! He told us some ways that he has changed his perspective since first meeting with us. He used to not believe that God really communicates with us individually. He now knows for sure that He does and has begun to see it in his life. His testimony of the Book of Mormon is growing and he always reads more than we assign him. :)
I think I told you all last week that I was struggling with being patient when people didn't keep their commitments and didn't come to church. Yesterday I decided to fast that Ju's family and Ma especially could come to church as well as our other investigators, but that if they didn't that Heavenly Father would help me to be patient. Well, they didn't come, but others did! (C came too!) And I definitely have felt an added amount of patience. I wasn't upset, but already looking forward to next Sunday and planning everything that we can do to get them there then. The Lord is in charge. This is His work, and I don't have to worry because He cares about them coming to church even more than I do, yet He knows what they need and when they need it.
I love you all! Have a great week!
♥Hermana Pierce
It really is like Spring here.. Its about 50 degrees and rainy! It's fine with me though!
As always, I was able to enjoy another wonderful, miracle-filled week and learned a lot! Last Monday we had a family home evening with some ward members and Gh. He loved it! He has met several members now and is making a lot of friends which is great.
We were able to see just about everyone this week and had some really cool things happen. Ca, Ju's sister opened up to us about her fears of coming to church and basically acting on the gospel. She really wants and needs it in her life, but she is nervous because so much is going on right now and she can't quite see how much the gospel really will help her! She committed to come to church on Sunday but then there was a weird situation with Ju's husband being stranded and out of gas Sunday morning when we stopped by to help them come. Satan is relentless with finding things to keep people from church.
We did have some people come though yesterday and it was awesome. Se came again and she is set for baptism on January 17! We had a really good lesson with her in the home of one of her young women leaders. She shared her testimony with us and the Spirit confirmed to Hermana Ficklin and I that she is ready! :)
We also had one of our new investigators, N come to church. We met her last week and she is amazing. She has one of the saddest life stories I have ever heard, but she is still somehow so happy and kind and she absolutely loved church! She felt so loved by the members who were awesome and reached out to her. She told us she will be coming every Sunday and she is going to bring her kids too who are teenagers! One of the members already knows her and her kids so that was cool too.
We finally saw Brother K and had a great lesson! He has been sooo busy because one of the doctors is having a baby and he has had to help out a lot and be on call a ton. Because of that, he couldn't come to church :( Next week! He told us some ways that he has changed his perspective since first meeting with us. He used to not believe that God really communicates with us individually. He now knows for sure that He does and has begun to see it in his life. His testimony of the Book of Mormon is growing and he always reads more than we assign him. :)
I think I told you all last week that I was struggling with being patient when people didn't keep their commitments and didn't come to church. Yesterday I decided to fast that Ju's family and Ma especially could come to church as well as our other investigators, but that if they didn't that Heavenly Father would help me to be patient. Well, they didn't come, but others did! (C came too!) And I definitely have felt an added amount of patience. I wasn't upset, but already looking forward to next Sunday and planning everything that we can do to get them there then. The Lord is in charge. This is His work, and I don't have to worry because He cares about them coming to church even more than I do, yet He knows what they need and when they need it.
I love you all! Have a great week!
♥Hermana Pierce
Tis the Season (Dec 8)
Feliz Navidad!
We haven't gotten much snow lately, but it definitely feels like Christmas time around here! We had our Christmas Zone Conference, a nativity activity in Rochester, and the First Presidency Devotional last night!
We weren't able to see Brother K because he was in Rochester the whole week. His brother has cancer and it has been progressing quickly. He almost came to the devotional last night but got called in last minute for a four hour surgery. We will definitely be seeing him this week though!
Gh came with us to the nativity activity and loved it! They had tons of Nativity scenes from all over the world set up and different groups performed Christmas music. We taught him this week about some more commandments and the thing that is great is he is completely honest. He tells us when he thinks a commandment is too hard to live. He has a lot of changes he needs to make, but little by little. We were teaching about the word of wisdom and he asked us if we ever drink alcohol. We told him no and he said, 'wow, I want to be like that! I want to be able to say I never drink!'
We taught Ju and her whole family about the Plan of Salvation. The kids all listened intently and asked tons of awesome questions. They really got thinking about it. Unfortunately they were out of town this weekend and didn't come to church. If my mission is teaching me anything it is definitely to be patient. It can get so frustrating when week after week awesome investigators don't come to church. I just have to remember that the Lord is so patient with me when I don't do what He wants me to. That helps a little but I'm still working on it! Haha
Last week we were teaching one of our recent converts and several friends were there also. One of them, D, was really interested. He told us he is trying to figure out what church is true and he has lots of doubts and questions. We told him that God was answering his prayer and that we knew how he could find the truth. We taught about the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon. Just this week he called and asked us if we could bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read for himself. He told us he knows he won't find out if its true if he doesn't read it! So true! haha. We brought him a copy and he has already been reading from it!
I hope that you all have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Hermana Pierce
We haven't gotten much snow lately, but it definitely feels like Christmas time around here! We had our Christmas Zone Conference, a nativity activity in Rochester, and the First Presidency Devotional last night!
We weren't able to see Brother K because he was in Rochester the whole week. His brother has cancer and it has been progressing quickly. He almost came to the devotional last night but got called in last minute for a four hour surgery. We will definitely be seeing him this week though!
Gh came with us to the nativity activity and loved it! They had tons of Nativity scenes from all over the world set up and different groups performed Christmas music. We taught him this week about some more commandments and the thing that is great is he is completely honest. He tells us when he thinks a commandment is too hard to live. He has a lot of changes he needs to make, but little by little. We were teaching about the word of wisdom and he asked us if we ever drink alcohol. We told him no and he said, 'wow, I want to be like that! I want to be able to say I never drink!'
We taught Ju and her whole family about the Plan of Salvation. The kids all listened intently and asked tons of awesome questions. They really got thinking about it. Unfortunately they were out of town this weekend and didn't come to church. If my mission is teaching me anything it is definitely to be patient. It can get so frustrating when week after week awesome investigators don't come to church. I just have to remember that the Lord is so patient with me when I don't do what He wants me to. That helps a little but I'm still working on it! Haha
Last week we were teaching one of our recent converts and several friends were there also. One of them, D, was really interested. He told us he is trying to figure out what church is true and he has lots of doubts and questions. We told him that God was answering his prayer and that we knew how he could find the truth. We taught about the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon. Just this week he called and asked us if we could bring him a copy of the Book of Mormon to read for himself. He told us he knows he won't find out if its true if he doesn't read it! So true! haha. We brought him a copy and he has already been reading from it!
I hope that you all have a great week! Love you!
Love,
Hermana Pierce
Hola!! (Dec 1)
Hola hola!
Yet again, I have had another great, crazy week! This morning I actually was in jail for a few hours... And by that I mean I was at the court building where the jail is helping translate for a former investigator who had to go because of this really long story that I'll explain after my mission.. haha. She speaks no English and this past week we have helped her a lot with talking to different people. I still don't know what I want to do as far as a career goes, but I think if I can find a way to combine using Spanish and something to do with law that would be awesome. We'll see!
Anyways, our investigators are still doing great! Brother K is doing more than great actually. We saw him Monday night and taught about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We asked Him to be baptized and he said, "yes, I think I should be." We set a date for him for January 24th, and although he seemed a little nervous he said if he is ready by that day he will be baptized!! We taught him again the other day about prophets and he loves the idea that our church continue to receives guidance through living prophets. Unfortunately he was on call this Sunday and couldn't come to church, but soon! He loves reading in the Book of Mormon and he even shares things that he likes from it with his friends or the people at work. :)
We had a good lesson with Gh and our lesson with Ge yesterday went really well! He seems to be a lot happier. Hopefully we can help him!
I can't remember if I've mentioned Ju and her family. She has two brothers that are less active members and the whole family has connections to members of the church in Missouri. We are teaching Ju, and her two sisters and all their children. There's about ten kids all together. We have had some fun family home evening lessons with them and they are all doing really well. On Friday, Bishop met with one of the sisters who is going through a divorce and some other hard things. There are a lot of problems in the family but slowly they seem to be realizing that the gospel of Jesus Christ can help!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was really good. It was our preparation day. A family in our ward had a bunch of other families from the ward over for Thanksgiving and they invited us as well. It was delicious! We played games for a little while with another member afterwards. We even did some Black Friday shopping! Haha, just kidding. We had made some pie earlier and did go to walmart to give some pie to a girl who was working there. We had met her on Monday when we got our groceries and she told us that she had to work Thanksgiving and has no family or friends here. She just moved here recently. So, we decided to give her some pie :)
I just wanted to share one thing that I really liked from church yesterday. The brother speaking asked us 'what is the one thing that makes you the most happy?' He said that for him it is his family and he then shared about his life and how he came to meet his wife. He is a convert from England and had different plans in life that didn't work out. Because of certain things not working out he was able to meet his wife at BYU and now has his family. His point was that sometimes we think we know what will make us most happy, but as humans we are very bad at actually knowing what will bring happiness. The Lord does indeed know though exactly what will make us most happy, and so sometimes he lets us miss opportunities so that other things can fall into place. I really liked that and am just so grateful that I have something that will always bring the most happiness and that is the gospel! Live it and love it! :)
Love,
Hermana Pierce
P.S.
This morning when we were helping the lady with translation she had to go to meet with someone who deals with people involved in alcohol/drugs (she wasn't into drugs/alcohol but its a long story)... while we were they we saw many, many people going in to get tested... they have weekly appointments. We talked to the guy and he sees so many people every week. I was honestly shocked. And these are just the people who have been charged with something/been in jail... not everyone who does drugs. It just made me so grateful that for one, I don't do drugs, drink etc, but I was especially grateful that I have such amazing parents who never had any of those things in our home or anywhere else. Thank you so much!!!! Love you!!
Yet again, I have had another great, crazy week! This morning I actually was in jail for a few hours... And by that I mean I was at the court building where the jail is helping translate for a former investigator who had to go because of this really long story that I'll explain after my mission.. haha. She speaks no English and this past week we have helped her a lot with talking to different people. I still don't know what I want to do as far as a career goes, but I think if I can find a way to combine using Spanish and something to do with law that would be awesome. We'll see!
Anyways, our investigators are still doing great! Brother K is doing more than great actually. We saw him Monday night and taught about the gift of the Holy Ghost. We asked Him to be baptized and he said, "yes, I think I should be." We set a date for him for January 24th, and although he seemed a little nervous he said if he is ready by that day he will be baptized!! We taught him again the other day about prophets and he loves the idea that our church continue to receives guidance through living prophets. Unfortunately he was on call this Sunday and couldn't come to church, but soon! He loves reading in the Book of Mormon and he even shares things that he likes from it with his friends or the people at work. :)
We had a good lesson with Gh and our lesson with Ge yesterday went really well! He seems to be a lot happier. Hopefully we can help him!
I can't remember if I've mentioned Ju and her family. She has two brothers that are less active members and the whole family has connections to members of the church in Missouri. We are teaching Ju, and her two sisters and all their children. There's about ten kids all together. We have had some fun family home evening lessons with them and they are all doing really well. On Friday, Bishop met with one of the sisters who is going through a divorce and some other hard things. There are a lot of problems in the family but slowly they seem to be realizing that the gospel of Jesus Christ can help!
I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Mine was really good. It was our preparation day. A family in our ward had a bunch of other families from the ward over for Thanksgiving and they invited us as well. It was delicious! We played games for a little while with another member afterwards. We even did some Black Friday shopping! Haha, just kidding. We had made some pie earlier and did go to walmart to give some pie to a girl who was working there. We had met her on Monday when we got our groceries and she told us that she had to work Thanksgiving and has no family or friends here. She just moved here recently. So, we decided to give her some pie :)
I just wanted to share one thing that I really liked from church yesterday. The brother speaking asked us 'what is the one thing that makes you the most happy?' He said that for him it is his family and he then shared about his life and how he came to meet his wife. He is a convert from England and had different plans in life that didn't work out. Because of certain things not working out he was able to meet his wife at BYU and now has his family. His point was that sometimes we think we know what will make us most happy, but as humans we are very bad at actually knowing what will bring happiness. The Lord does indeed know though exactly what will make us most happy, and so sometimes he lets us miss opportunities so that other things can fall into place. I really liked that and am just so grateful that I have something that will always bring the most happiness and that is the gospel! Live it and love it! :)
Love,
Hermana Pierce
P.S.
This morning when we were helping the lady with translation she had to go to meet with someone who deals with people involved in alcohol/drugs (she wasn't into drugs/alcohol but its a long story)... while we were they we saw many, many people going in to get tested... they have weekly appointments. We talked to the guy and he sees so many people every week. I was honestly shocked. And these are just the people who have been charged with something/been in jail... not everyone who does drugs. It just made me so grateful that for one, I don't do drugs, drink etc, but I was especially grateful that I have such amazing parents who never had any of those things in our home or anywhere else. Thank you so much!!!! Love you!!
Feliz Dia de Pavo! (Nov 24)
Buenas Tardes!
I'm not really sure how it is even possible that this transfer is over. The good news is that Hermana Ficklin and I are both staying in Austin!! We are super happy!
This past week was awesome. We had lots of great lessons and saw many miracles like always. I have been adding to my list of things I'm grateful for every day and I have just been so happy as I have realized how blessed I am. It's amazing that such a little thing as writing down a few things every day could make such a huge impact in my life. We've also continued to work on 'staying on the line' and I really wish I would have learned this lesson at the beginning of my mission because things just go so much better! Even when they don't go how we plan, they work out!
One night this week we had dinner with Gh and two members, one who is a recent convert. She was baptized a few weeks before I came. It went really well and it was a good opportunity for Gh and also our recent convert who was able to share her testimony and how she has developed it so far. Slowly but surely things are changing with him!
Brother K is also doing amazing. We were able to teach him with a few different members this week and he is liking things more and more! He is in Rochester every other weekend so it has been difficult getting him to church, but hopefully this Sunday he can come so that he will really be able to progress!
I think I had mentioned that C has a friend living with her. Gi has been learning about the gospel for several weeks, but this week something amazing happened. We had taught them about prayer and she did what we committed her to do. She prayed every day the way we had described- we had talked about not trying to change God's will, but to find out what He wants us to do- and she saw dramatic differences in her life. She felt God's love, got a job, and several other things worked out for her too. She decided she really wants to quit her addictions and her and Cindy even came to church yesterday! I honestly didn't think that Gi would change so quickly, but the Lord prepares His children and we do not know who He is preparing!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for my family, my friends, my mission and the amazing people here, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the chance I have to repent every day because of the atonement, and so many more things the Lord continues to bless me with!! Love you all!
Hermana Pierce
I'm not really sure how it is even possible that this transfer is over. The good news is that Hermana Ficklin and I are both staying in Austin!! We are super happy!
This past week was awesome. We had lots of great lessons and saw many miracles like always. I have been adding to my list of things I'm grateful for every day and I have just been so happy as I have realized how blessed I am. It's amazing that such a little thing as writing down a few things every day could make such a huge impact in my life. We've also continued to work on 'staying on the line' and I really wish I would have learned this lesson at the beginning of my mission because things just go so much better! Even when they don't go how we plan, they work out!
One night this week we had dinner with Gh and two members, one who is a recent convert. She was baptized a few weeks before I came. It went really well and it was a good opportunity for Gh and also our recent convert who was able to share her testimony and how she has developed it so far. Slowly but surely things are changing with him!
Brother K is also doing amazing. We were able to teach him with a few different members this week and he is liking things more and more! He is in Rochester every other weekend so it has been difficult getting him to church, but hopefully this Sunday he can come so that he will really be able to progress!
I think I had mentioned that C has a friend living with her. Gi has been learning about the gospel for several weeks, but this week something amazing happened. We had taught them about prayer and she did what we committed her to do. She prayed every day the way we had described- we had talked about not trying to change God's will, but to find out what He wants us to do- and she saw dramatic differences in her life. She felt God's love, got a job, and several other things worked out for her too. She decided she really wants to quit her addictions and her and Cindy even came to church yesterday! I honestly didn't think that Gi would change so quickly, but the Lord prepares His children and we do not know who He is preparing!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm so grateful for my family, my friends, my mission and the amazing people here, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the chance I have to repent every day because of the atonement, and so many more things the Lord continues to bless me with!! Love you all!
Hermana Pierce
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