TRANSFERS! Staying in San Juan...

November 17, 2014

Well this week was downright WONDERFUL. We saw so many miracles and I absolutely can NOT believe that the transfer is already over and that I start my FOURTH tomorrow! My mother pointed out to me today that I am already 1/3 of the way done with my mission almost! AHHH! I wish I could stay forever! 

So with that being said, TRANSFER NEWS! I am staying in Montrose for another transfer at least! This one is the most important (because of Christmas ;)) so I am SO happy I will get to spend it with all of the wonderful members I love of the San Juan Branch. Unfortunately, Sister Noakes is getting transferred :( We knew it was coming, so I was prepared, BUT I am still sad to see her go! I really do love her so much and will miss her dearly. I will find out who my new companion is tomorrow at Transfer Meeting in Grand Junction. EEEK! I am nervous/excited to take over the area and start a new adventure with a new companion! Prayers needed, please! :)

 

Saying good-bye to Hermana N will be hard...

Oh man, do I have some stories for you! I don't have much time to write today because we are headed back home to finish Sister Noakes' packing, but I will try and share as much as possible!

Monday: We went to contact a referral from the black canyon elders. Was supposed to be a nice Hispanic lady named sue. Needless to say, we got the wrong house. Tall man opens the door. We explain that we are Spanish speaking missionaries, blah blah blah, before I even get the word missionary out of my mouth, he screams, "SHOVE OFF!" and slams the door in our face. The concerned man upstairs comes outside to see if we are okay. We say yes, get in our car, and start to drive away. Well, I feel prompted to go back and talk to him (even though he was English) and we do! We are outside doing the survey with him when grumpy pants from downstairs goes to take his trash out.... Needless to say he wasn't happy to see us. He starts yelling at us, asking if we have a permit to be in the area, who we are and WHO we REPRESENT. I responded with, "well actually, sir, we represent Jesus Christ." He didn't like that. He told us that we were what was wrong with the country, asked to see our I.D. (we didn't show him... don't worry), etc. It was interesting BUT the moral of the story is, I was SO SURPRISED with how I handled it! I just calmly explained our purpose, that we weren't solicitors and that we were sorry he felt disturbed by our presence. We agreed to not come back (as far as he thinks ;)) and apologized again for the inconvenience. It was DEFINITELY an experience I will NEVER forget, BUT I learned that I have been blessed with a LOT of patience and confidence since coming on my mission. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

 

It's cold out...ready to go tracting!

Tuesday: Taught the Padilla family. The dad, Arnulfo, said he believes the Book of Mormon to be the word of God and is reading it, BUT still won't leave his Catholic church. I love them and they will soon realize the importance of the RESTORED priesthood authority. 

Wednesday: We had the last district meeting of the transfer. It was SUPER awesome and so edifying. The spirit was so strong and I was grateful to be able to serve with all of these wonderful missionaries. That night, we taught 3 (YES, THREE) member present lessons! and one LARC! It was amazing and two of them were to new investigators! (AND ONE OF THEM WAS SUE.... We found the right person! :))

Thursday: Hardest day of the week for one reason: BLANCA.

You all know about Blanca. I talk about her constantly. She is my pride and joy, I love her to pieces and she was progressing towards baptism for a period of time. Well, you also all know that she struggled with the concept of the Book Of Mormon. She just couldn't get a testimony of it. Sister N and I thought we may have to drop her soon if she couldn't get past that, but we hoped it wouldn't have to happen. Well... Thursday night, it happened. We went over to read with her and it went south, really really fast. She started doubting everything and it started getting almost contentious. That's where I stepped in and just calmly asked, "Blanca, do you think at this time in your life, you can receive a testimony that the BOM is true?" Well... at least she was honest. She told us "NO" and I immediately began to cry. And I continued to cry for the next HOUR. We bore our testimonies to her, took pictures, hugged, cried, hugged, and cried some more. And then we left. Just as swiftly as we came. It was devastating. I cried all the way back to Montrose. It was hard but I KNOW that the miracles I am about to talk about were a direcrt result of our faith in letting her go. I love Blanca. I WILL stand next to her in all white... one day :)

Friday: We did a lot of service and weekly planned. Hno. Barrientos took us out for lunch and then we taught Sue again that night. She accepted the soft baptismal invite! :)

Saturday: MIRACLE CITY. Oh my gosh. 

First off, Wally (our less active, Deisy, that we teach, HER SON) was BAPTIZED! He is 8 and oh so precious. We have been teaching him for a little while to help him prepare and it was just precious. He was soooo excited. It doesn't count as a convert baptism even tho his dad isn't a member because he is only 8. BUT, nonetheless, it was just so heartwarming to see another person enter the waters of baptism. And this time, it was even better because I knew that WE helped him get there. 

 

 

Wally's baptism

Deisy's family at Wally's baptism

Then, that afternoon, we went to Olathe. Couldn't see ANYONE. Last house we knocked on before dinner was a potential. We were let inside, and we share the first lesson. The mom and 10 year old daughter LOVED it and even wanted to come to church. We had already found 4 new investigators so far this week so they made 5 and 6 (and we met our goal of 6!). It was amazing and I screamed in excitement after. 

Well... if that wasn't enough, after dinner, we went up to Delta and tried to contact a new investigator that we only got to teach once. We get to his house and his sister Noemi lets us in (it was SUPEERRRR windy and freezing). Basically, Octavio (the new investigator) wasn't even there... BUT we got to teach Noemi and her husband and family. They loved it and agreed with everything we said. ANOTHER 2 NEW INVESTIGATORS TO MAKE 8 FOR THE WEEK! It was such a miracle to find them and I was so overcome by how aware our Heavenly Father was of our prayers that week. So so so many miracles <3

Sunday: Yesterday we had an amazing 3 hours of church and then had a charla foganera afterwards. It was wonderful and I just realized how much I LOVE the members of this branch... I can't imagine having not come on a mission and never meeting them!!! 

I LOVE MY MISSION! :) 

This is the best work in the WORLD. Congratulations to Bishop Smith on getting called as mission president this week. You and Rebecca will CHANGE the lives of so many missionaries and people. 

God's speed,

I love you all!

​xoxo

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Hermana Pierce