Hasta Ver (Feb. 16)

Hola Familia!

I'm so grateful that I could have my last full week as a full time missionary be so wonderful. Every day was full of good experiences and like always, I learned and grew so much.

Saturday was such a special day! Jenny, Alondra, Emily and Vanessa all were baptized! It was the perfect way to spend Valentine's day, seeing them show their love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. In the days before the baptism we had some really good lessons with them. The Spirit was so strong and it was a good preparation for this weekend! Even more powerful was yesterday when they were confirmed. They were each given very specific blessings that could not have been more perfect. There is no way that the person confirming them could have known their needs so well. It strengthened my testimony of the power of the Priesthood and also just how much our Heavenly Father knows and loves us. :) These girls will continue on to do great things! Jenny's sister was able to attend the baptism, but unfortunately N was not. :( We haven't been able to see him again yet, but soon!




Yesterday was such a beautiful day. In addition to having the confirmations, the L's came to church! I was beside myself with joy seeing them walk in. They loved it too and we are seeing them tonight! They are another perfect example of how our Heavenly Father knows us and knows what we need. In such a short time they have come to mean so much to me!

I will share more with you about this week later, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts now. I can't even begin to express my gratitude to the Lord for this amazing mission journey. As I reflect on the past 18 months I think about the people that I have become so close to and the sweet experiences that have made up my mission. All the hard times or discouraging times seem to fade away and I am so caught up in gratitude and love for this experience. I can't even imagine my life without my mission. Looking back, everyday was full of exactly what Heavenly Father knew I needed. I know that not because of anything that I did on my own, I could also be what other people needed too and there really is no better feeling than that: To know that what we are doing is what Heavenly Father would have us do.

My mind has expanded and my spirit has been strengthened and I do know with more surety than I've ever had that Jesus is my Savior and that His gospel and church are upon the earth today. This work is true. God is our Father and we are His children who have divine potential to return to Him and become like Him. He listens to our prayers and He sends us guidance. Right now, in this moment, we have a prophet on the earth who has been called by Him to give us the necessary light to make it back home. I love these truths with all my heart. It has taken work and it will for everyone who wants to know. But when those moments of light come it is worth every single sacrifice that we make to find it.

I love you!

Hermana Pierce

Our Father Loves Us! (Feb 9)

Buenos Dias!

This week has been another great one, full of little miracles and lots of growth and learning! It's interesting that sometimes it is easier to see things in retrospect, which is what I have been doing lately with my mission up to this point. The blessings I have received can't be counted or described and I continue to love this work more each day.

We saw the L's and were able to have a wonderful visit and we were able to serve them as well! We really have developed a close friendship so quickly with them. Wade has come with us a lot too and they really get along. It's amazing what has happened in such a short time. When we first came over the wife, B, expressed a lot of doubts about doctrine. Somehow, most of those doubts are resolved and she has a very strong desire to be active and have her husband join her as well. We don't even know what we did, but the Spirit obviously touched her and helped her to change her heart! They haven't come to church yet, the roads have been bad, but we are confident they will soon! Hopefully this Sunday!

This week Hermana Hiatt and I got to go to the temple! Usually are over an hour from St. Paul so usually we wouldn't be able to go, but when I was on exchanges in Lakeville we had dinner with one of my favorite families there and they told us they wanted to take us to the temple. They even asked President Forbes who said yes, so we got to go! It was really good. I love the temple so much! It had been about 7 months since I had been.

Our investigators D and E are so sweet! They committed to giving up coffee this week and both are doing awesome with reading! I will have to tell you more about them later, but they are so interesting and fun! And they are really excited to get baptized at the end of March!

J and her girls are getting baptized this Saturday! There are a few things we have to go over with them this week, but as long as everything goes well it should all work out! They are really excited and doing great! We weren't able to meet with N this week, but we will this coming week and he should be at the baptism too! :)

Some of our investigators and less active families have some really big concerns that we honestly just didn't know how to deal with. Hermana Hiatt and I decided to fast this Sunday for them and it was one of the most uplifting fasts I've ever had. We received a lot of revelation and so much peace that Heavenly Father loves these individuals and knows exactly what they need. I have come to realize that He truly does know exactly what I need. I'm sure I will realize it even more as I continue through life. I have been able to see so many examples of when things have happened that have been exactly what I needed or exactly what I needed to do for someone else. As I have begun to see that He is in the smallest details of our lives, it has brought me so much closer to Him and I am so grateful for that! God is our Father and He loves us! :)

Love,
Hermana Pierce

I love St. Peter! (Feb 2)

Hola, como estan?

Just about every day this week Hermana Hiatt and I have had a conversation about how we don't understand how we have been so blessed lately! Missionary work is always awesome because there are always miracles and cool things, but either I have gotten a lot better at recognizing the blessings or these past few weeks have been truly exceptional! I think maybe a little of both.

We visited the family I mentioned last week that has been less active for years- the father and 2 sons. Long story short, science and reason led to doubt, and eventually to complete confusion about spiritual things. We had such a great lesson with them though and they are very humble and open to "experimenting" on the word and trying to regain their faith. We are seeing them again tonight and I can't wait! It's amazing how no matter where we are with our testimonies, we are never free from danger of losing it if we do not continually exercise faith to grow it. One of the saddest things I have seen on my mission is how many people who have once lived and held on to the gospel have somehow become lost. The answer really is in those small and simple things done sincerely and consistently.

We had an amazing lesson with the L's- the family I had met before on exchanges. Her doubts were about the Plan of Salvation but she told us she understood a lot better when we talked about it the other day. She wants an eternal marriage with her husband so bad! He wants to be with her too but hasn't realized what that means or what he has to do. They both committed to coming to church this Sunday. Sadly, there was a snow storm Sunday morning and a lot of people didn't come to church because of that, including them. Next week though!

J and her daughters are still so excited for their baptism and are doing awesome. We taught about temples this week and they loved it and asked lots of questions. They come to church every week and are reading and doing so great! We had a really cool miracle with their family this week. J's husband has not been interested at all. He is supportive and isn't against them going to church or getting baptized, but he told the sisters he isn't interested in anything to do with religion and he has had some bad experiences in the past with other churches. One day we decided to stop by unannounced to see how they were doing and we happened to find N, J's husband, at home. He usually is working every day all day except Sundays so we got to talk with him and he told us he actually really wants to be a part of what his family is doing. He has lots of questions and doubts about everything, but he wants this to be a family thing and he wants to know for himself too! We came back last night and had an amazing lesson and he is so committed to finding the truth. He had a complete change of heart! This gospel is for families and we are so excited that they will get to have this as a family too! :)

We were able to have a couple more great lessons with Tana this week. She is starting a job soon in the cities so will likely be gone this week, but it was nice to get to teach her a few more times. She had the opportunity to move earlier, but she decided not to. We asked her why and she told us that she knows there will be lots of temptations and she just felt like she shouldn't go. Unfortunately, she still be back there soon, but hopefully our last few lessons helped her and she will be able to stay strong up there!

As always, there is so much more I could say. I love being a missionary and I am so grateful for all that Heavenly Father has taught me so far. I hope you all have a great week! Love you!

Love,
Hermana Pierce

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

Feliz Año Nuevo (Dec 29)

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!

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

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

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

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!!

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

El invierno ha llegado!! (Bonus info on Austin, MN)

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.

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

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

Happy Halloween!!

Hola familia mia!

Hermana Ficklin and I are having a fantastic time here in Austin! This week flew by, like usual, and was full of great things. We were able to find some new people and also get in contact with some less-active members we haven't seen for awhile.

My favorite part of this week was teaching Gh and his brother. We brought a sister in the ward who speaks a little French and it was very helpful! The Spirit was strong as we went over the basics of the Restoration again. We have been working on establishing a common ground when teaching so that we don't immediately highlight all the differences between our church and others, but rather look at the good things we both believe in and work from there. Sometimes that's hard for me because the gospel is so great and I want everyone to be able to understand all of it right away! Our lessons this week were good though and surely but slowly Gh is progressing. His brother has shown some interest in sitting in on lessons, so maybe we can help him to progress too. Yesterday was wonderful because for the first time Gh came to church!! He seemed to like it so we're looking forward to following up with him this week.

We are doing a lot of work trying to implement things to help get the members involved with both finding/teaching new investigators and also helping less actives. It is the focus that President Forbes is trying to get us to take, and so we are trying to do that. It's so different than what I'm used to, and it is hard because it takes a lot of time, but we are getting there!

Yesterday I had a very unique experience of going to a Pentecostal church with some of our Hispanic investigators. It was so interesting. It really helped me to be in the shoes of someone who comes to a new church for the first time. It was way different than the Church of Jesus Christ of LDS- lots of loud music, the pastor screaming his message at the top of his lungs, and lots of "hallelujahs" and other praises randomly came from the congregation. It was good though... good people showing their love for God. It reinforced in me the importance of Priesthood Authority and correct teachings. It really was a cool experience though and I think it really helped strengthen the trust with our investigators too. They have a cool story. V was Catholic until she met her husband. He had been involved with the Cartel and spent 6 years in prison where he changed and decided to join the Pentecostal church. We haven't had the chance to teach him yet, because he works all week long, but hopefully this week!

I'm so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and learn and help others. I wish I could tell you all the experiences and little things that happen because it really is amazing!

Tomorrow we are having Zone Conference in Bloomington and Elder Carlson of the 70 will be there. Should be great!

Love you all!
♥Hermana Pierce

The Why of the Gospel

Buenos Dias!

This past week has been kind of weird, but really good! Weird because a member threw a live, pet chicken at me and also because of transfers! Good, because being a missionary is always good and I learned lots of things! The chicken thing was actually really funny. Anyways, Tuesday Hermana Maravilla and I drove to Bloomington and said goodbye! I miss her already! I got to work with the Bloomington sisters for the day and we had a great time. I learned a lot from them and we taught some really cool people! Wednesday morning we had our transfer meeting and Hermana Ficklin and I hit the road!
Also, Hermana Rawlins is training this transfer so I'm a grandma in missionary terms! Haha

Hermana Ficklin was actually in Austin with Hermana Maravilla 4 transfers ago so she already knows the members and many of the people that live here. It's been awesome because we both know different things about the area and have been able to set right to work! President Forbes has been emphasizing working with part-member families, prospective elders, and children of record a lot lately. Actually, I think that's all I've heard him talk about in the last little while. We are trying to change our focus and work with these families! It's kind of a slow process, but hopefully we will be able to help a lot of people!

We had probably the best lesson we have had with Ge yesterday. We were really careful to make sure he understood what we were saying and our communication with him was good! He committed to pray specifically about the Book of Mormon, which is something he hasn't done before.

Saturday night and Sunday morning we had Stake Conference. Elder Golden of the 70 was there and said some things that I will never forget. He said that as members, we are really good about the what, how, where, and when of the gospel. We know what to do and how to do it etc. But one thing we need to work on is the 'why.' Joseph Smith said that the most important difference between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other religions is that we have the gift of the Holy Ghost. Elder Golden discussed how the Holy Ghost is the purifier and the sanctifier that changes us to become people that God can save. That is why we must pray and read in our scriptures daily. It allows us to feel the Spirit that we received after baptism. When we have the Spirit, we receive a continual remission of our sins and are made better. No unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of God and no one can be clean without the power and the gift of the Holy Ghost. I wish I could explain this as well as he had, but hopefully this makes sense! We need the Holy Ghost in our lives because it is what makes us clean. Every time we feel the Spirit we are changed.

I love you all and hope everyone has an excellent week! Do something great! :)
♥Hermana Pierce

Adieu Hermana Maravilla

Nidi!

The work continues to be great every single day here in Austin. This was Hermana Maravilla's last week in her mission. I'm going to miss her so much! She is an amazing missionary and we had so much fun together. Along with working hard at missionary work, we have laughed so much, especially the last few days! I have learned so many things from her and I really am sad to say goodbye. I wish we could have had another transfer! She's my first companion that I've only gotten one with! I'm assuming I'm staying here, but transfers haven't been sent out yet so I don't know who is coming here or anything.


Austin District and Hermana Maravilla


I realized that I don't think I've mentioned anything about C, a lady we are teaching. She is a hilarious person that has been taught my missionaries for over 20 years. Yes, 20. Or maybe 30. She can't even remember anymore. The sisters were teaching her when I came here and Hermana Maravilla and I saw her a few times and decided that we aren't going to keep teaching her because she is not in any way progressing. We talked to President Forbes about her at conferences a few weeks ago, and he counseled us to continue teaching her. So, we have been, and its been good. It was a little humbling because Hermana Maravilla and I decided that if after 20+ years she hadn't been baptized, it probably isn't too likely that something is going to change now. I have thought and prayed about it and I realized that the Lord doesn't care how long things take. Hours and hours and hours have been spent in this one lady's home. But that's because He loves her that much. And He loves each of us that much. He doesn't give up! Of course, there are some times when people really aren't ready at the moment and they need time, but the Lord will tell us who needs us and when. We still aren't sure what to do exactly to help her, but please keep her in your prayers!

The rest of our investigators are doing well. G is ever faithful in coming to church. We are just trying to help him understand some fundamental things that he struggles with. He will take some time, but things are good!

G

Gh had a busy week, but we did start teaching him the Plan of Salvation. It's pretty slow with him like usual, but still good! He loves learning the things we teach and wants to come to church, but hasn't yet. It's a tricky situation with his family, but we are working on it!



I had exchanges this week with one of my favorite people, Sister Hyland!! She came to Austin and we had so much fun! We met an awesome girl named Ch. She is really interested and we are seeing her this Thursday. Sister Hyland taught me a ton during exchanges and I'm so grateful for her!


Last week I was thinking about the principle of fasting and I decided I needed to get a testimony of it. I have fasted before, but always kind of dreaded it and looked forward to it ending. I studied about the purpose of fasting and began my fast on Saturday with a new outlook. I really wanted to make it meaningful and test out the principle to gain a testimony of it. I had a really good experience! I actually enjoyed fasting, felt the Spirit very strongly, and saw almost immediate answers from Heavenly Father!

Well, this week is still a mystery as far as what is going to happen. If I get anything while I'm still on here I will send it, but it's probably safe to assume I am staying in Austin and getting a new companion! Haha

Love you all!
Oh yeah, nidi means hi in the African language Anyuak :)
I'll send pics!
♥Hermana Pierce


Trip to Iowa with Megan
King, who joined the Church in Seattle