HOLA DESDE LAS MONTANAS DEL COLORADO

October 6, 2014

The church is true, the book is blue, and our message is for YOU!

Another WONDERFUL week in good ole' Montrose, Colorado! AND some exciting news... dun dun dun... Sister Noakes and I are staying together for another transfer! I am SO very excited- I love this woman dearly and we are working our tails off. The gospel has been restored and THIS is the true church. Nuff' said. 

 

 

HOLA from the beautiful Black Canyon in Montrose, Colorado!

We had another great week! We found TWELVE new investigators and taught 22 lessons! The work is awesome here and we are doing everything we can to share it with everyone! We totaled it up and we taught 110 lessons this transfer! We say 2 prayers per lesson, plus one prayer in the car before we go into the lesson... which means we said over 300 prayers just for lessons the past 6 weeks! Not to mention personal and comp study prayer, planning prayers [beginning and end], dinner prayers, and the prayers we have in our hearts! Prayer is a commandment!! Your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you... TODAY! Okay... now onto the week for real :)

NOTICIAS! We set Carolina on date! We have only been teaching her for just over a week and a half and we set her on date for baptism for November 1st! She seems really excited and loves when we teach her. That means that we now have THREE investigators on date for baptism: Blanca, Carolina, and Karen! They are all so wonderful and we are working super hard to make sure that they are prepared to be baptized on their day. We will hopefully be seeing about 5 baptisms this transfer in San Juan between the Elders and us! It should be wonderful! 

 

 

I love Hermana Noakes!

Thursday we had our last district meeting of the transfer. We received some great trainings and then were able to have a testimony meeting after. It was so powerful and I bore my testimony about our PURPOSE as missionaries. We are all assigned to our areas for a REASON and have been chosen as consecrated servants and representatives of Christ. I also shared a little about how I struggled my first transfer but know that the Lord places us in our areas for a purpose and that we are here to change people's lives and create eternal families. Afterwards, Elder LeCheminant (serving in San Juan with me) bore his testimony and said that my testimony had answered his prayers. It was way cool and a super touching moment. It is his first transfer and I was glad the prompting I received was able to help HIM. That's really what this is all about... following the spirit to better other's lives. If we do that, we need not fear... because charity suffereth long.

 

 

 

Adios al distrito

Other than that... the other big event from this week was of course, GENERAL CONFERENCE. What a great conference it was! General Conference is like Disneyland for missionaries! We all meet at the church building and get to watch all of the sessions. It was a bittersweet conference because we didn't have any investigators come (sadly), BUT that meant I was able to watch it in English, which made it pretty darn enjoyable ;) HOWEVER, I LOVED how two of the speakers (70's) spoke in SPANISH! We were watching it broadcasted so they dubbed over it with English, BUT we can't wait to watch it in Spanish online! What an amazing feature the church has added! It was awesome to hear the Spanish in the background :) Other than that, my absolute favorite talk was of course, Elder Bednar's. We WILL be showing that to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR INVESTIGATORS. We are actually teaching a farmer right now named Alfredo that has been taught in the past and decided to let us teach him again. We are almost positive that when we show him that talk, he will be on date for baptism. What a great talk about the TRUE meaning of being a missionary! All we want to do is allow others to experience that same joy we have! "We are NOT selling you something!" [haha] ... just extending an invitation of eternal happiness :) So conference was awesome... I especially loved the Saturday sessions... if you didn't watch them... go to lds.org NOW! :) 

 

 

 

 

 

Some have asked about my Spanish and it is coming along nicely! We teach about 95% in Spanish. Some of our investigators speak both so that is the only time we ever really teach in English. I am able to completely express myself during the lessons and understand almost everything others say. My conversational Spanish is a little farther behind than I would like but I am working on bettering it every day and increasing my vocabulary. Sister Noakes is a wonderful teacher and I have no idea what I would do without her in lessons sometimes!

Last news of this week is of course transfers! Sister Noakes and I are staying, which we are super pumped about, but sadly, 2 of the San Juan elders are leaving. They have become our brothers this transfer. We are sad to see Elder Penuelas and LeCheminant go, but know that they are needed elsewhere. Elder Penuelas was an awesome DL and is becoming a Zone Leader in a new English area. They are amazing elders and awesome leaders. We have really appreciated all of their hard work this transfer. They have been wonderful to work with and have helped build up the branch even more! We are excited to see who comes in to be the new DL in our area/Elder Smith's new comp. Elder Smith (who I came out with) is staying in San Juan and we are so happy to get to keep at least one of the mijos ;) We are making the elders brownies tonight as a goodbye present. They love us because we make them food all the time and work hard ;) 

 

 

 

We are going to miss our elders!

Elder Penuelas and LeCheminant

Last night we had our transfer follow up with Elder Penuelas as his last DL duty. We set goals for this transfer and he gave me a priesthood blessing. It really is amazing how in touch with the spirit these elders are.

Well... that about wraps it up. I love this mission I have been given to serve. The blessings keep on pouring out, I can't believe how lucky I am to be a part of this great work. I finished the Book Of Mormon for the second time since I've been in the field yesterday. I love that book with all of my heart and am so grateful for the sacrifice of Joseph Smith to bring it forth in these last days. It truly has everything essential for your eternal salvation. READ IT! 

 

 

Los quiero mucho! Gracias por todo y por su amor! Estoy muy agradecida por los bendiciones estoy recibiendo! Gracias a nuestro Padre Celestial. Solamente por este evangelio podemos recibir la vida eterna!

Until next week!

​Love,

​

Hermana Pierce

​PS: Today we went and hiked Black Canyon! It was BEAUTIFUL! :)