Un Nuevo Capítulo

Hola Familia! This week was definitely bittersweet as I said goodbye to Hermana Wiggins and hello to my new trainee Hermana Rawlins! I am very excited to work with her!! We have already had some great experiences. I love her so much! She is an incredible missionary! (Hermana Rawlins is 19 and is from Arizona. She is pictured below with Hermana Pierce. Hope to have more info about her soon!)

This week we saw O and had a great lesson. We set a date again for April 19th so hopefully he will be ready for that day! He has been reading consistently in the Book of Mormon which has helped a lot and seems to be taking everything a lot more seriously! We met a lot of new people this week which was great because it gave Hermana Rawlins a lot of opportunities to practice introducing ourselves and beginning conversation, as well as invite many people to be baptized! Being a trainer makes me remember a lot better what it was like to be trained and all of the things that seemed so hard then. It honestly wasn't even that long ago but I have been able to grow so much since then and know I still have so much more growing to do! We had one cool experience the other day right after an appointment fell through. A name of some other investigators come to mind so we went to see if they were home. On the way, we found this guy named S sitting in the hall. Apparently he had lost his keys and was waiting for his roommate to get home so he could be let in. We started talking to him and soon found out that he had been meeting with missionaries and attending church in South Dakota awhile back. He had recently moved here to Minnesota though and wasn't familiar with the area. He told us he really liked the church and would love to come. We are really excited to teach him again this week! This week was a little hectic with everything. I spent two days in Bloomington and then just getting used to the change has been a little crazy! But exciting! I'm excited for another great week though and for many more mighty miracles! :) Que tengan una buena semana! Love, Hermana Pierce

A mi me encanta ser misionera!--One of the best weeks ever!

Buenos Dias!! Tuve muchas buenas experiencias esta semana. :) Ojala que esten bien! This was one of the best weeks ever! So many amazing things happened. The week actually started out a little bit rough because we had to drop several investigators. It is always sad, especially when we've been teaching them for awhile, but we can't take away their agency and if they aren't willing to do their part, there isn't anything we can do. I have hope that the Lord will continue preparing them and that one day they will be more open and ready to change! Although we said goodbye to a lot of people, many doors were opened as well. One great experience this week was with our investigator R. I believe I told you a little bit about him before, but he was one who immediately said yes to baptism. We asked him what he his looking for in his life and he opened up to us about an addiction he has to gambling. He really wants to be able to overcome it and have more fulfilling things in his life. Last Sunday a member of the Young Single Adults ward came up to us and said he would love to come teaching with us sometime. We told him we would give him a call. A few days later the thought came to mind to invite him to come teaching with us to R. He came along with another friend from the YSA ward. We told him beforehand that we would be teaching about the Atonement/Repentance and mentioned that he has this addiction. Normally I don't really tell our joint teachers much about our investigators, just what they need to know. But I really felt like I needed to tell him about the fact he has this addiction. It wasn't until we were teaching Rey that I realized why I had had that feeling. The YSA shared about his own personal problems with gambling and what he did to overcome it. Hermana Wiggins and I had no idea! It went so well though and they were able to make a great connection. The YSA bore a powerful testimony of the Atonement and by the end they had exchanged numbers and were making plans to go to institute and a whole bunch of other things! So cool! Yesterday was so great too. Finally, we were able to get O to church! Others came as well including C! O mentioned that he had actually felt excited to come and he really liked it. We went with a member to pick him up! It's hard to believe that about a month ago Hermana Wiggins and I were so upset because of the whole Book of Mormon ordeal. Now he is going strong again! Yesterday was also O's birthday and we got him a little calendar and different colored star stickers so that he could track his reading, praying, church attendance, and then choose one color for his baptismal day. We also got him a Crunch bar. At first we were thinking that it might seem really childish... He is a 6 foot tall, 33 year old man and we gave him a chart with stickers. On the way back to his house he opened it and my worries quickly vanished when he pulled out the stickers and made a joke about putting them on his forehead. He also almost jumped out of his seat when he saw the Crunch bar. Apparently it is his favorite. It was hilarious. Most importantly though, he is progressing again and will hopefully be able to keep it up! We have been visiting a less active lady for about a month, and this past Friday we met her daughter-in-law V. I have never seen someone so excited when we have asked them to be baptized. :) She said that she really wants this... She was taught by missionaries before, but didn't feel ready.. Hopefully she is this time! She seems like it so I have high hopes! :) Ok sorry this is super long, this was just an awesome week and there were a ton more experiences like this. :) It has been a little sad around here though as Hermana Wiggins prepares to go home. The Jensen's took us out to ribs on Friday night though which wasn't sad at all! Through the sadness though, Hermana Wiggins has caused me to think and reflect on just how great it really is to be a missionary. I have liked it from the beginning, but now I love it. I can't explain how it happened, but somehow my love for this work, these people, and my Savior has grown so much.. more than I knew could be possible. And it just seems to grow everyday. :) I love being a missionary. Since Hermana Wiggins is leaving I'm obviously getting a new companion! I am staying in Lakeville and I got a call from President this morning telling me that I will be training a new missionary. What?!? I thought I was still a new missionary! I'm excited though and although reason tells me I should be really nervous I'm not because I know I will have divine help! :) Love you all and have a great week! Hermana Pierce

Tres Tristes Tigres Tragaron Trigo en un Trigal.

Buenos Dias familia mia! That little tongue twister is something that Manuel and Diana taught us yesterday! In English it says Three sad tigers brought wheat to a wheat field. We had dinner with them and the Riley family! I love them. By the way, I forgot to mention, Diana is going to be having a baby!! :) She is due in September! Good stuff is happening up here in the frozen tundra! For one, it is slowly becoming less of a frozen tundra! It has been about 40 the last few days and it feels amazing. :) Even more exciting are the great things happening in the missionary work in Lakeville! We finally had a real, good lesson with O. We brought back up too... the elders came and so did Hermana Montecillo. We talked about the Book of Mormon and read a little bit from 2 Nephi 33. It is an awesome chapter because Nephi gives his testimony of the things he has written and is incredibly bold and loving and uses both elements of the Spirit and logic. It was good for O to hear. We also gave him an assignment to read from the Book of Mormon daily and we included the last several chapters of 2 Nephi which talks a ton about the Book of Mormon. :) He told us that he doesn't not believe in the Book of Mormon, but when he read in Revelations he got confused and is really just kind of confused about everything. He said that talking to him the other day had helped him and now he just needs to go forward. So, we'll see! He was all ready to come to church this Sunday but then this horrible thing called daylight savings happened. We forgot about it and so did everyone else and so even though we had a good number of people lined up for Sunday they didn't come :( Next week though! Last Sunday we decided to stop by an address of a less active that we had never met. He was on one of our records but we had no information about him. We went to his house and met another man, M. He told us that the less active had moved away several years ago. We began talking to him and explained who we were and started asking him about himself. He politely but quickly declared his own religious affiliation and sort of sent us on our way. As we were walking down the driveway he stopped us. He told us that he had had a friend in California who was LDS and he had talked a little with him about our beliefs. He sort of did a 180 and started asking us questions. It was crazy! I really love the Spirit :) He didn't have any time right then but we set up an appointment and then saw him on Friday. It was so great! He knows his bible really well, but he actually used it to agree with what we were saying. He said yes to baptism and also committed to church! (Daylight savings got the best of him too, but next week!) A few weeks back the elders gave us the name/number of a couple who spoke English/Spanish but the husband was a lot better at Spanish. We have tried to get in contact with them several times, but haven't been able to. Last night we decided to try and stop by. We got in the elevator and a girl with her baby got in too. We started talking to her and then realized quickly that she was the girl we were going to see! She let us come in to her apartment and we had an awesome lesson. It was just with her because her husband was working. She told us that when the elders knocked their door they were busy, but her husband wanted to give them their number because they had just been talking about how they need to have God in their life. She received the message really well and said she was going to try to come to church this Sunday! :) The Lord prepares His children! :) This is Hermana Wiggins' last full week as a missionary. We'll be finding out transfer stuff next Monday and she leaves on Tuesday to the Mission Home and Wednesday back to Utah. She is not happy at all about going home. I know that when I go home I will be really excited to see all of you, but this thing happens where you just don't want to leave! Anyways, she will be giving her homecoming talk the first Sunday that she gets there... so in 2 Sundays. I'll have her get you the church address and time and everything. Love you tons! Have a great week :) Love, Hermana Pierce

Heavenly Father really loves us

Hi Family!! It is March. What? How is time flying so fast!? Of course, there is absolutely no difference here in weather between November/December/January/February/March. Always cold! Haha. I really do hope the sun will find its way up here soon. Hope there is plenty of sunshine your way too! Finally this week we saw O. We got to his house for our appointment and Sister Anderson also met us there. We knocked on the door, but no answer. We knocked again a few more times and called him several times... nothing. It was 0 degrees outside so we got in the car for a little bit then tried again. We knew he was home because his car was there. After about half an hour Sister Anderson went home, but we decided to stay a little longer and just study in the car while we waited. Finally, he calls. He had taken some medicine the night before that had made him extremely drowsy so he slept in. At that point we didn't have another person with us so we couldn't just go into his house. He had to stay home though because some guy was coming soon to fix something. It had been about a solid month since we had seen him so we weren't going anywhere. We had him get in his car and we sat in the snow bank and talked to him. We didn't have a ton of time, but we were able to at least help him resolve his concern about the whole Revelations thing. He said he would do some more studying, but he realized and admitted that maybe he was wrong! We will hopefully be able to see him again soon. One thing I know is that Heavenly Father really loves O. Just as He loves each of us. I have been ready to give up on O about a million times, but time after time the Lord directs us to Him. I don't know if I will see him get baptized, but I know that this is a very important time in his life and hopefully soon he will be able to accept the gospel. We taught a lot of new people this week too and had a lot of great little successes! One lady we found had first met LDS missionaries as a young girl in Mexico. She described the Spirit that she had felt with them. Never in her life had she felt that Spirit again. She now has her own religious ideas and views on life, but we are hoping and praying that the words of the Book of Mormon will help her to feel the Spirit again! There were surprisingly several other similar experiences this week. We found a good handful of people that had either met with missionaries before or had had LDS friends and are interested in learning more. It helps me to keep a better perspective when I teach people and then they don't progress or aren't super interested at the time. Sometimes it takes another 5, 10, 20+ years for them to be ready. But then when they hear the message, they aren't hearing it for the first time, and they make stronger connections. I don't know if any of these people that we just met will accept the gospel at this time, but I have faith that if it is the right time, they will! The Lord prepares the hearts of His children to hear the message that I am privileged to proclaim. I really do love it here. Lakeville is awesome. The ward is incredible. The people we work with and teach are wonderful and I am always learning. There is always things to be learned from everyone- both members and not. I love you all and am so grateful for my family and friends at home who love and support me! Thanks for everything! Have a great week! Love, Hermana Pierce

Hola

Hi family!! This was a great week! We are making some good progress with a lot of different people! S is progressing the most right now. He came to church and is living all the commandments! He believes in the Book of Mormon, but he still hasn't made the full connection of why he needs to be baptized again... but he is close! Also we have been having more contact with C again. :) We have been giving her some time again but now she is really making good progress again too. She broke up with her boyfriend and now just needs to fully commit! We met an awesome lady this week named A. She is a friend of Hermana Montecillo in our ward. She has a sound understanding and a desire to know truth! One thing that sometimes is difficult is that people are very kind but do not fully understand what we are teaching them. A lot of times they just agree with everything but don't actually commit and act. So it is always a great start when someone has good questions and shows sincere interest! We are really excited to see what happens. So far, no updates on O. We weren't able to see him, but will hopefully be seeing him tomorrow. Thank you all for the prayers, studying, and advice! On Wednesday I went on exchanges with Sister Hyland. She is so awesome! We get along really well and had a fun day. She has been out a few months more than me and is an incredible example. It was actually a good time doing English work too, although I feel like it is harder to teach in English now because certain gospel words I only use in Spanish and I couldn't remember what they were in English! Thursday we were able to go to the temple! It was so wonderful. I love the temple so much! There was a really bad snow storm later that day so we weren't able to drive which made things tricky. Overall it was a great week though!! We have some high goals for this next month of March and we are excited to work really hard to make things happen! :) Love you all! Have a great week!! Love, Hermana Pierce

Out 6 months

Hola familia! Espero que tuvieran un muy buen dia de amor y amistad! aka Valentine's Day ♥ This week, like every week, was full of ups and downs. Haha, tis the missionary life. We met a few awesome new people. R was one of them. He really opened up to us about his life and told us that he definitely is looking for something more. Although he still has lots to learn and some bad habits to get rid of, he accepted the baptismal invitation! We also got in contact with a former investigator named C. I had only met him once and had never taught him. He is a friend of a less active. Anyways, we called him and he had recently moved but gave us the new address. When we knocked on the door this girl opened. We asked for C and she called for her dad. When I saw him I knew immediately that it was not him. I was so confused! I started talking to him though and it turns out that his name is C but he also is renting his basement to the former investigator C! It was funny. So we found the right C and started teaching him but later the other C came down and started asking some really great questions about what happens after death and other questions dealing with the Plan of Salvation. He told us that he has never been baptized in any church because he wants to make sure he is doing the right thing. We are so excited to go back and hopefully be able to teach the whole family! One not so great thing about this week was the text we got from O telling us that he doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon. He was doing so good! We still haven't seen him but will be going there tomorrow. He told us that he was praying to find an answer and opened up in the Bible to Revelations at the end where it says that nothing more can be added or taken away... At first Hermana Wiggins and I both were so upset. Why would he get an answer like that? After some time, tears and lots of prayers I finally realized at least one of the reasons why that might have happened. Having knowledge and a testimony about the Book of Mormon and about the Church is a precious thing. The truths contained in the Book of Mormon are the most important things we will ever learn in our lives. Although Heavenly Father wants so much to give us this knowledge, we have to do our part. We have to be reading it, coming to church, and truly desiring to know. Knowing about that verse in Revelations does absolutely nothing to my own testimony. But it was able to destroy in an instant the 'testimony' O had. Why? Because he hadn't been diligently and consistently reading/coming to church etc. The basic things. What if he had found an answer that it was true, later got baptized, and then found that verse and didn't believe any more? Although this was so disappointing, we came to the conclusion that it actually is probably a huge blessing. Either he will be able to get up again and have a stronger testimony, even knowing the objections to the Book, or he won't at this time, but either way it will be better than him making the sacred covenant of baptism and then falling away. This experience has strengthened my testimony that really these simple things that we try to get people to do consistently- Reading, praying, and coming to church- make all the difference! And that isn't just for investigators. Each of always have to be consistently doing those three things in our own lives. A great part of this week was Zone Conference. I love love love having those meetings. They are so inspiring and so uplifting! The Lakeville Stake President spoke about how when things are hard and we endure them well blessings and miracles always follow. He said it in much better words than that, but that was the main idea. It was perfect timing. :) Love you all and hope you have a great week!!!! Love, Hermana Pierce Oh, and P.S. when I said that Karla was having her baby soon I meant Karla the lady that just got baptized before I got here, not Carla Woodson :) Haha

Pictures

Monticello Family Hermana Wiggins and Brittani