Better (Jan 26) w pictures

Hola!

Sometimes it just feels like things can't even get better.. and then they do! I really have been blessed throughout all of my mission so far to be happy and have great experiences. In the last few weeks though I think this may be the happiest I have ever been. I have learned so much and I have found myself just reflecting again and again on the things I learn in my studies or from lessons or conversations with investigators and other people.

This week was full of a lot of incredible experiences. On Tuesday we stopped by a family who has been less active for about 8 years. It is a father and his 2 sons, and his wife who is not a member and is a step mom to the boys. They let us come in and were very nice. The father told us that he had grown up in the church, went to seminary, went to BYU etc but always relied on the testimonies of others and never gained his own, or if he did he let it diminish and doubts took over. Just a year ago his father joined the church and his entire family is very now very active. He feels pressure to become active, but he still has doctrinal issues that he is trying to work out. They agreed to let us come back tonight. For some reason, Hermana Hiatt and I have been so excited, more than usual, to come back and teach them. I really feel like I was able to receive so much revelation for them and it has been an incredible experience so far. I have a lot of thoughts, but one quick one is that I know that the Book of Mormon really is key to overcoming any doubt. All doubts we have either have to do with Jesus Christ as our Savior, Joseph Smith as a prophet, or the Church being true today or basically that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet guiding Christ's true church. If we know are able to receive revelation through the Spirit that the book is true, and do not "cast out" our faith we will be able to resolve any concern. I will let you know how it goes with them!

We were able to visit that family that I had met before again, and are also going back tomorrow. We now know what her concerns are, and have been working this week on trying to find the answers that will be what she needs to hear. Hopefully it goes well!

J and her girls are so excited for their baptism!! We are continuing to work with the ward to help them so they can have good, lasting friendships with the members. They are so much fun to teach because they are all so happy and have good questions!

The other day we had a lesson with T, and she basically told us she didn't want to meet anymore because she really doesn't believe she can change. She has been through so much and just can't keep all the commandments necessary for baptism. We tried everything we could to help her see otherwise but she wasn't willing to listen. The last thing we were able to do was to commit her to pray. Then, 2 days later, she texted us and told us that she actually would like to meet. We saw her yesterday and she had had a really sweet experience and felt so much peace and comfort. She opened up to us about some of the incredibly hard things she went through in her life and how she really does have a sincere motivation to change. She just went through a really low point. It was such a miracle! That feeling came after she prayed and I was so grateful that Heavenly Father heard her prayer and also ours! She is possibly going to be moving this week though, so other missionaries might be teaching her, but that's okay!

Ok, I'm sorry this is getting super long but just one more quick thing. This week I was able to go to Lakeville on exchanges!! I got to see a few familiar faces, not many, but it was still really fun and the people I did see made comments that they had known about transfers and how I almost came back, haha. It really did feel like being home in Lakeville, and it was almost as if I had never left. In a weird way though, it felt right coming back to St. Peter and Heavenly Father confirmed to me again that this is where I'm supposed to be!

I love you! Have a great week!

Hermana Pierce


Serious Ice Fishing in MN

Brittani with David and his nephew. Recently baptized in Lakeville.
Brittani with Sister Tingey

:) (Jan 19)

Buenas Tardes Familia!

Hermana Hiatt and I had another great week! We were able to teach J's daughters and had a really good lesson with them. They are all excited for baptism on the 14th! The ward is awesome here too and everyone is excited for them.

We are teaching a lot of people right now, like I mentioned last week. We are also teaching a lot of recent converts and less active members as well.

When Hermana Rawlins came to St. Peter she and her companion at the time met a man named Wade while tracting. Long story short, he felt the Spirit strongly and soon got baptized. He has been teaching with us a lot and is a huge example to me. He went from using/selling drugs, drinking etc to a man completely devoted to Jesus Christ and the gospel! On the weekend before I came he was able to baptized his 11 year old daughter and another man named Travis. He has been helping us a lot with teaching. He has such an amazing testimony. One of my favorite things as a missionary is getting to see such great changes in people.

This actually isn't the first time that I have been to St. Peter. About 3 weeks after I came to Minnesota I came here on exchanges. We met with a couple where the wife is less active and her husband is not a member. I remember all the details of that meeting and so when I came to St. Peter I asked Hermana Hiatt about them. She hadn't heard about them. We found a record saying that they had pretty much told the missionaries they didn't want to meet. We decided to go stop by anyways and they remembered me too and let us come in! We had a really good visit and the husband (who had apparently been the one opposed before) kindly invited us back for tomorrow! I don't know what will happen with them, but it was a cool experience!

We met some other really cool people this week, I'll have to tell you more about them next time.



Hermana's Pierce and Hiatt (Hermana Hiatt from Blanding, UT)

I just wanted to share one other thought about the Plan of Salvation. I have been studying it a lot lately and wow, it is really amazing. One thing that I have come to realize on a deeper level is that right now we are preparing to live with God again. Sometimes we think that things will be so much better when this world is over and we get to live with God. But, we have to learn to love it. If we want to live in the Celestial Kingdom, we have to learn to love celestial things. We can't expect that things will be so much happier, brighter, better etc there unless we are able to learn how to be happy, brighter and better now. Learning this has helped me to enjoy every moment. It is great to look forward to wonderful things ahead, but it is wonderful to have today, right now, with all the blessings or challenges we have.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Love,
Hermana Pierce

Change (Jan 12)

Hola!

I don't even know where to start this week! My faith was tested for sure! Tuesday afternoon I got a call from President Forbes telling me that I actually wasn't going to Lakeville. There was a situation with another missionary and President needed me to come to St. Peter instead. So, I am now in this cute little place with Hermana Hiatt, who Hermana Rawlins just finished training!

When I got the call, my first internal reaction was disappointment. I couldn't even sleep Monday night I was so excited to go back to Lakeville. I had to decide right then and there to just have faith that it was what God wanted and that it was a test for me to handle the disappointment and just move on. I really didn't know what to expect in St. Peter, but I tried stay positive! Now, almost a week later, I am so grateful that I am here. I have learned so much, and if I had a choice right now to go to Lakeville or stay here, I would stay.

If I had gone to Lakeville, it would have been awesome. It would have so fun to see all the people that I love so much there. But if I had gone there, I wouldn't have met the people here. In a few more months after my mission is over, 6 weeks more in Lakeville wouldn't of changed much, but 6 weeks in St. Peter definitely will! One of the best things so far is my companion. Hermana Hiatt is amazing! She has only been out 2 transfers, but it doesn't seem like it. She has a lot of confidence, in a good way, and is just so on top of things. I was so stressed when I took over for the first time! If she is, she doesn't act like it at all. We have already had lots of fun and I'm so excited to finish my mission with her!

We are teaching so many great people right now! There is this sweet mom named J from Honduras with 4 daughters. This week we had a lesson with her and 3 of her daughters and they all committed to baptism on February 14th! They came to church and loved it and are doing awesome. They are so much fun. The girls are 15, 14, 13, and 10. The oldest also wants to be baptized but works on Sundays.

St. Peter is kind of like Austin because we do both English/Spanish. More Spanish than in Austin though so that's fun. We are teaching these two older ladies who are best friends named D and E. They both want to be baptized as well and have such strong testimonies of Joseph Smith!

I will tell you more about our investigators next week. I'm still learning the area and the people so it's a little crazy right now! One other thought though- Last night we had a lesson with a lady name T, who is also working towards baptism :) She is trying to quit smoking and change her life. We watched "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. It was a BYU devotional. It is so good! I think I've read it or at least part of it before, but it is so amazing! I won't even try to sum up what he talked about because it is too good so please just go watch it or read it! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and His grace. Truly He has given us everything. I love being His representative. People need to know about the gift that He has already given us. We can have so much hope because of Him!

Love,
Hermana Pierce

Pictures (Jan 5)

Some pictures, including Christmas dinner, Hermana Ficklin, Aaron and Hermana Pierce, weather around Mid December 2014 and some families she is working with

Amazing start to 2015! (Jan 5)

Hola familia!

I hope you all had a great time bringing in the new year! I sure did as I was sleeping soundly! Haha. New Years day was our preparation day and we went to Rochester to play games/sports with our zone. It was a ton of fun! We came back later and had a delicious prime rib dinner with some members.

The whole week was really good. We didn't get to see Brother K this week, but we should hopefully be seeing him tomorrow. S just got back last night from her vacation and is really excited about her baptism next week! Ny is also doing awesome. She is so sweet and loves the gospel. She was out of town the last half of this week. Hopefully now that the holidays are over things will stop being so crazy for everyone!

We had a cool miracle yesterday. About a week ago while on exchanges Hermana Ficklin found a really sweet family from Burma. They don't speak English super well, but if we talk slow enough we can understand each other. We taught them this week again and this Sunday them came to church! There is a mom, dad and two adorable little girls! The girls loved primary and want to come back every week! We are seeing them again tonight. They don't have much of a background on who God or Jesus Christ are, and the Book of Mormon hasn't been translated into Burmese or Karenni which are their languages, so it will be hard to teach them, but we will find a way! Aj speaks no English and there is no Book of Mormon in her language either, but she has such a strong testimony of the gospel and is there every week! All that matters is the Spirit. :)

I am having a hard time focusing on anything else right now because we just got new about transfers. There is bad news and good news. The bad is that I am not going to be staying in Austin. I am a little sad about that just because we are teaching so many people and I really do love it here! I've learned so much and had wonderful experiences and this is exactly where I needed to be. The good news, and to my absolute shock, is that I am going back to Lakeville! There is a new missionary there who has been there for 6 weeks and I will be finishing her training. I am so excited to go back to the place that I love so much. I wish that I had more than a transfer left because I am going to have to say goodbye again so quickly, but I'll take what I can get!!! :)

Love you all, have a great week!
Hermana Pierce