Stomach Bugs and Miracles

 

The beauty of this state amazes me!

 

April 20, 2015

Hello, All!

Let me just start out by congratulating my sister, Kristen, and her husband, Eiji, on officially announcing their pregnancy! BABY on the WAY <3 She is due at the end of October and I couldn't be more proud of them! I am so excited to meet my new niece or nephew when I return home :)

 

Also, congratulations to my dad as getting called as the Bishop of the Keller 2nd ward! I am so grateful for the opportunity our family has to serve others. This gospel really is the greatest blessing we have been given.
 

 

 

And lastly, as far as announcements go, I just wanted to officially announce to everyone that I've decided to extend my mission a little bit, so I will now be returning home on January 12th, 2016! I was planning on being home for at the beginning of December so I could make Winter Semester at BYU, but after a lot of praying and fasting, I have decided that I want to lengthen my full 18 months as a servant of the Lord! Thank you for all of your wonderful support! Serving a mission has been the greatest blessing in my life and I want to fulfill every day I have to share this amazing gift.

 
 

Exploring Fun Caves on P-Day!

 

Alright, well on with the week!

 

So, I don't have too much to update on this week as far as investigators and teaching goes, but I do want to share a miracle!

All this week we have been visiting a LOT of Less Active members. The Carbondale branch where we serve usually has about 15 active members each week and this week at Sacrament meeting there were 32 people present- not including the elders!!!! That is far more than DOUBLE what we normally have! AND, we had 10 less actives there! It was SUCH a miracle and we saw the direct fruits of our labors! Unfortunately, yesterday, I had a stomach bug and was bed ridden all day, so we didn't get to be at sacrament meeting, but I KNOW that the Lord was blessing us for all of the hard work we have been doing. I know the Lord is in the DETAILS of our lives and that he will NEVER forsake us. Seek Him. You will find Him.
 

 

Hanging Lake hike on P-day

 

Lastly, I just want to bear my testimony of this true and restored gospel. I am so grateful for the opportunity to have this great, eternal truth in my life. I know that the true priesthood authority of God has been restored to the earth today through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that living these commandments and following the Lord's counsel has brought me more happiness than I could ever imagine. Share this gift with EVERYONE. Each and every person deserves to be this happy! I am so grateful for the great blessing my family is. I couldn't have asked for a better guide here on the earth. I have such a strong testimony that our families truly are ETERNAL and FOREVER. See you soon... In white <3

 

I love being a missionary! Make it a great week!

Love,

La Hermana Pierce

 

 

 

Picture: He is HERE. And there. And EVERYWHERE. SEEK HIM.

Picture taken at Hanging Lake :) mormon.org / helives.mormon.org

Spiritually Feasting

April 13, 2015

Hey ya'll! Things here in Glenwood Springs are great! The weather is beautiful, the work is hastening, and we had another good week of work :)

 

Here's a miracle to start off!

 On Saturday, we went to contact a potential investigator that ended up living WAAAAY farther away than we thought she did. Well, we get out of the car and are walking to try and find the apartments when I see a guy outside washing his car. I nudge Sis. Arnold and we walk over to OYM him. He turned out to be Spanish speaking and his name was Franklin. We did the survey with him and he had some REALLY amazing answers. Right from the first survey question, I felt the spirit confirm to me that HE was the person I had been praying for in this area to be baptized in May. HE was the elect. Well, we transition into the first lesson and he knew EVERY answer to every question that we asked. We invited him to be baptized by the proper priesthood authority on May 30th and he said YES. It was truly SUCH a miracle to find him. The potential we had been looking for ended up not being there. BUT, we KNOW that we were led to that random street to find one of God's elect waiting to hear the true, restored gospel. I received SEVERAL confirmations from the spirit that HE had been selected by the Lord. We are so excited to meet with Franklin again tomorrow :)

​As far as progressing investigators go,​ most of them took a couple of steps back this week, which was a little sad, but we are working with them to resolve their doubts! We had a SUPER tough lesson with our investigator Patricia the other night where it seemed like everything we taught them while trying to do the BOM Dialogue was disputed with a Bible Bash comment. Sister Arnold and I couldn't believe what we were hearing and just felt prompted by the spirit to bear our testimonies, end the lesson, and pray for them. We did just that, and I ended up in tears as I testified of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and that I KNOW that the Book of Mormon truly contains the FULLNESS of the gospel. When we got back to the car, we were a little discouraged but KNEW that we had fulfilled our purpose and that their hearts would be softened. It was so shocking to hear someone that had loved the BOM so much to completely flip a 180 all of the sudden. BUT, I KNOW that Patricia will continue to progress and feel of the love that I and the Savior have for her.

 

Other than that, we have just been working hard and sacrificing for the Lord. On Saturday, we fasted from Breakfast until Dinner (a mission-wide thing we do every Saturday to help achieve our goal of 100 baptisms in May) and then we did ANOTHER mission-wide fast starting right after dinner on Saturday until Sunday dinner. Let's just say it was a lot of spiritual feasting. As all who know me are well aware, fasting has never been my strong suit, but after our almost 48 hour fast this weekend, I felt SO MUCH STRENGTH. A recent convert explained fasting to me as, "giving up physical food for the spiritual." I want to invite each of you to fast and discover what more YOU can do for the Lord. I love this gospel and I LOVE being a missionary,

 

Make it a great week!

 

xoxo

Love,

Hermana Pierce

In Christ ALL Shall Be Made ALIVE

April 6, 2015

WOW! This week was INCREDIBLY HARD! Haha! I can't even begin to describe how much the adversary was working on Sister Arnold and I. It was definitely one of the most personally, emotionally trying weeks of my mission. BUT, with a good priesthood blessing, a lot of time spent on my knees, and some good 'ole hard WORK, it all turned out alright :)

My absolute FAVORITE part of the week was SATURDAY AND SUNDAY... GENERAL CONFERENCE. WOW! What a MIRACLE it was to have conference THIS week! I absolutely loved all of the sessions! What an amazing blessing it is to have a PROPHET of God on the earth today. We got to watch the sessions at a members house, (The Page's- I LOVE THEM!) which was ESPECIALLY great because it meant that we got to relax a little bit, lay down and just soak up every moment! I am especially grateful for the opportunity to listen to conference on EASTER. I truly LOVE Easter just because it is SO focused on Christ and hardly anything else! What a truly amazing miracle was wrought by the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Old Montrose South Zone: #Heishere

[Disclaimer: Easter Morning, Sister Arnold and I did begin with a fun little Easter egg hunt in our apartment where we took turns hiding each others eggs ;) Thanks so much mom for the GREAT package!! Just call me the Easter Bunny!]

 

 

Easter Egg Hunt

 

This week we made a goal to REALLY focus on doing our hour of finding every day. Well, On Saturday, after the morning session of conference, we had exactly one hour to go finding. Well, NO ONE was answering their doors! NO ONE! Haha! We knocked about 7 doors and NO ONE. Well, the next two we knocked we found 2 new investigators! It was so amazing and I was so grateful for this tender mercy in between sessions! :)

​Our investigators, ​t

he Banda

​f​

amily

​ are doing GREAT​

! The mom is on page 105 in the BOM and they are both praying! We had a GREAT lesson with them yesterday and were able to talk a little bit about how there is only

​one ​

true​

church today! :) It was beautiful! AND they began to understand a little bit more that yes, all that comes from God is good, but that only OUR church has the PROPER authority!

​Here are some of my favorite "one-liners" from General Conference!

​- LIFE is NOT confined to a 4 inch screen! -Jose A Tiexeira

- We could not embrace all of her choices, but we could embrace her. -Brent H. Nielsen

- Christ suffered to GRASP us as we all fell. -Jeffrey R. Holland [ONE OF MY FAVORITE TALKS]

- Salvation does not fulfill the Father's aspiration for us. -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

- When we pray, is it to replay our greatest hits of righteousness? -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

- RUN to receive the blessings of agency! -Robert D. Hales

- STAY BY THE TREE!!! -Kevin W. Pearson [Also another favorite]

- WILLINGLY accept the father's will, even if it doesn't match our righteous desires. -Niel L. Andersen

- I do not shame to tell you who I was, but JOY in my conversion... 'Twas I, but 'tis not I. -Dale G. Renlund [ANOTHER FAVORITE- SO GOOD]

I love you all so much! Have a great week!

--

Love,

Hermana Pierce

Hello, Glenwood Springs!

March 30, 2015

Yes, that's right! I am serving in Glenwood Springs, CO!!! We cover the English Glenwood Springs Ward and the Carbondale Spanish branch! The ward is SUPER awesome and the branch is too! Unfortunately the branch only had 19 people there yesterday (including us 4 missionaries haha) so there is definitely room for improvement there :) BUT, I am SO excited to serve here!!! The people here are SO prepared and the branch is definitely ready to be lifted. I can't wait to see what else the Lord has prepared for me to do in this new area!

Soooo, my new companion is HERMANA ARNOLD! She is from New Hampshire and this is the last transfer of her mission so I will be killing her off! Because of this, I'm pretty sure I will be in Glenwood at least 2 transfers! This week was full of learning the area, meeting members/investigators, and just good, hard WORK! The sisters have been focusing a lot on Less Actives in the past so we are trying to rebuild our investigator pool. Sister Arnold and I get along great and I already love her a lot :) I also got to see Sister Adair again because she is serving in my district (as my STL) which was a GREAT reunion. We get to go on exchange this week and catch up! She will also be going home this transfer.

 

 

Me and Hermana Arnold

Well, let's see! The ward is great and so kind! This Sunday we participated in the WARD choir which was a LOT of fun! WE go to 4 hours of church here since we cover the ward and the branch, which can make for long Sundays, but it was GREAT! We attend English Sacrament meeting, then go to Spanish Gospel Doctrine (we taught yesterday and got a lot of compliments on our lesson :)), Spanish or English Relief Society, and then Spanish Sacrament meeting! It's a lot to take in and definitely REALLY different from Montrose. I am super excited to get to know everyone in the ward better. It's nice because the branch is there for the Spanish support of our investigators and then we teach a lot of LA's in English. WE teach mostly in Spanish all day so there's not much change there, except for the Less Active work we do a lot of for the English ward.

 

 

Good-bye to Coronas

This week we saw so many miracles! There are so many prepared people here, ready to receive the gospel- it amazes me! We had a FANTASTIC lesson with the Banda family on Wednesday. The mom has been reading in the BOM on her own and is already in 2nd Nephi! It was such a miracle lesson because the husband joined us and we set them on date for baptism for May 9th! They truly want to know if this is the true gospel/church and are so eager to learn. One of the most beautiful moments of the lesson was the very end when Alfonso (dad) prayed. He had never said a prayer before (only recited ones in the catholic church) and he expressed ALL of the feelings of his heart and prayed for understanding to know if what we taught is true. It was so touching to hear the man of the house pray and sincerely ask for guidance in their journey to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

Good-bye to the Toblers

Another miracle of the week was that yesterday, when we finished our 4th hour of church, I walked out of the chapel and saw Fransisco, a recent convert I taught from Steamboat, sitting in the foyer!!! It was SOOOO good to catch up with someone that I taught at the beginning of my mission. He was in Glenwood getting his patriarchal blessing. Gaby, another recent convert I taught was there getting her blessing as well and I was able to catch up with both of them for about an hour! They are both doing GREAT and preparing to go through the temple and receive their endowments in May!!!! Fransisco has received the Melchizedek Priesthood and they both are SO strong. It was such a miracle to be able to see them and see that the people I love and the work I did is truly making a difference in their lives. It is so amazing how much the gospel changes us and I can't describe the joy I felt to be reunited with these amazing people. I LOVE YOU GABY AND FRANSISCO!!! <3 I can't wait to continue to keep in touch with them and see where they go in the gospel! What a special moment!

 

 

Gaby and Fransisco

Other random info:

-We live in a full basement apartment with members here. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the members ever because we have our own entrance, but the apartment is beautiful!

-Saying goodbye to everyone in Montrose was SUPER hard. I miss La Rama San Juan already and caught myself thinking about them this Sunday, but I know that I have been sent here for a PURPOSE to GROW! I love all of you so so much... thank you for truly changing my life!!!

-Sister Gogue went to an english speaking ward in Denver and is doing great!

- My new address is: 4202 Sky Ranch Drive, Glenwood Springs, CO 81601

-GO CHECK OUT BECAUSEHELIVES.MORMON.ORG. <3 AND HAPPY CONFERENCE/EASTER WEEKEND!!! Woohoo, Christmas for a missionary!!!

 

 

Fun in the park!

I love you all and LOVE this gospel! Sorry this email is a little scattered, we don't have as long on the computers here so I have to be quick! I would love to get a letter from you all! Have a great week! :)

​

 

Love,

Hermana Pierce