Monday, November 23, 2015

So this was Elder D's last week in the mission field! So the
beginning of the week went normally and we taught people as usual.

One of our less active member families has been progressing. Their
name is the M___ and we have been teaching them for a long time now.
Brother __ is cutting back on his smoking and sister __ said
she wants to go to the temple to receive her endowments. So that could
be good!

I showed you what we did on Friday. We blew up Elder D's suit
with some Tannerite. It was awesome. We had a fun time saying goodbye
to brother J and Brother A, our Ward mission leader.

Saturday morning we drove down to Provo. We stopped at Dairy Keen on
the way down in Heber City. Elder D got to go to the Payson
temple with a family that he taught in Spanish Fork. So I was with an
Elder in Provo. We were in the Provo Peak Area and that also covers
BYU campus but these elders cover the Family wards. So there aren't as
many. Anyway, we got to walk around in the cold and contact people. We
met a couple of cool people but nothing very notable. However! If
you've ever seen "The RM" and you remember the scene where his
girlfriend breaks up with him, we walked right by the doorstep that
that was filmed at. So that's pretty cool.

We [stayed] with the Assistants to the President and they actually live
super close to Christopher... Just down the street. So that was weird!

We woke up and went to Ward councils with the APs and then we went to
church and did a lot of visiting. We got to go and see whoever Elder
D wanted to (people he had previously taught and known). It was
a lot of fun. People are really nice here.
So Elder D's brother lives in Rexburg Idaho and we got
permission to go out to eat with him. So we went to Olive Garden in
Provo Saturday night which was a lot of fun. I got to learn a lot
about my companion and it was really cool to meet his brother and his
brothers wife.

Sunday night we had Elder D's and the other departing
missionaries' final testimony meeting. It was an incredible
experience. Each of the missionaries bore their testimonies and then
up to two people they taught could bear their testimony as well. So it
was amazing to be able to see the impact some missionaries can have on
people here. It reminded me why I am here and what I hope for by the
end of my mission. I hope I can make a difference in someone's life.
THEN! After the meeting, a girl came up to me and asked me if I
remembered her. It was LeLe Willis! Mom and dad I'm sure you've seen
the Facebook pictures already. Anyway, it was really cool to see
someone I knew! We talked about Birmingham and how the mission is
going and things like that. She is engaged to Thomas Kepo'o who served
in the UPM and finished last year. He knows my companions and
everything so it was really cool.
It was comforting to remember there are people who care about me.

The mission has been really difficult lately. It seems like nothing
can go right. But I'm hoping when I get a new companion on Wednesday
then I will be able to turn things around. I just hope we get along.

I'm still not exactly sure what thanksgiving will be like. But I know
we will go around and visit people. And in the morning we get to play
a turkey bowl against the eastern Utah (vernal). I'll tell you guys
about it next week.

It's been a super busy week. And a very tiring week. I hope each of
you have an awesome thanksgiving.
As much as I hope Alabama wins the national championship this year,
I'll still be rooting for auburn in the iron boWl. This will be the
first one I haven't watched in a long time.

Haha anyway! Remember what you are thankful for!! Count your
blessings. As long as you have a strong testimony then I'd consider
you rich. The gospel is the most important thing we can have in our
lives. Be grateful for it.

-Elder Pierce

Mailing Address:
85 North 600 East
Provo, Utah 84606

Monday, November 16, 2015

(Sorry I'm late posting last week's letter.)
So last week we had a bit of success I suppose. Nothing extraordinary
but in our area, we will take anything we can get.
So I guess the highlight of this week is that we found 3 new
investigators. Two are from a family that moved in and their parents
are less active and haven't been to church for a long time because
they got offended. So they are the stereotypical less active family I
guess. I think it's weird that you would let someone saying or doing
something prevent you from going to church. I think that's irrelevant.
Anyway! So hopefully we can start them coming back to church again.

Then on Saturday night. We went out with our Ward Mission Leader and
visited some people. He also bought us pizza which was awesome. And
now I've eaten at the only restaurant in Myton (there is a pizza store
owned by jehovahs witnesses). So we went to visit a less active family
and noticed next door to their home someone new had moved in. So we
knocked on the door and met a lady named C. She seemed really open
to listening to us and we will be meeting with her later this week. I
pray that all these encounters go well.

Wednesday we took a recent convert, M, to the temple to do baptisms
for the dead! Which was really cool. I haven't done baptisms for the
dead in a long time. But apparently missionaries aren't allowed in the
water (I think it says that in handbook 1). So we did confirmations
and witnessed. So that was cool. The font was really big and they said
it was the font that used to be in the Salt Lake Visitors Center.

It's definitely very exciting to find new people to teach. Especially
when it seems like it never happens.

Besides that, things have been going pretty well. Nothing spectacular
has happened. Sorry this week is so brief.
Elder D goes home a week from tomorrow. So he's having somewhat
of a difficult time focusing. But who can blame him? I feel like that
is how I will be before I go home. So we were planning to go down to
Provo on Sunday for his final testimony meeting with the other
departing missionaries. But! We got permission from President to come
down on Saturday afternoon so that Elder D's brother could take
us out for dinner. Since elder D won't be able to see him for a
long time because his brother lives in Idaho and he lives in Europe...
We got permission. Which was a delightful surprise!
So I'm not exactly sure what else we will do in Provo. But we will
probably drive around and say goodbye to people he knows in his past
areas (Spanish Fork and Santaquin).
I'm interested to know what I will be doing on Tuesday though...
Because elder D leaves Tuesday morning and transfers aren't
until Wednesday. So maybe they'll stick me with the on campus
missionaries again.

Anyway! I look forward to hearing from you all. Hope your week is
going well and that you have a good thanksgiving coming up.

-Elder Pierce

Monday, November 9, 2015

So! This has been somewhat of an interesting week. And there are a
few highlights I should mention I suppose.

The work has been going alright. Nothing spectacular has happened
unfortunately but good things are happening everyday if you look for
them.

So, real quick, I just want to say I did really well bowling last week
on monday. I scored a 168 which is pretty darn good! Then I played a
round where I missed 2 pins the entire game. I got a 165 that time
though. I mostly got spares.
Anyway! now back to actual missionary work.

So this week we are planning on going to the temple with one of our
recent converts to do Baptisms for the Dead. So that will definitely
be a new experience. I am not sure if they will want me to baptize for
them or be baptized. I haven't ever baptized anyone yet so that would
be cool.

So on Wednesday we went to see our new investigator Brother S.
It was his son's birthday so we didn't stay long and we just quickly
testified and then asked if we could come by some time and sit down
with him to talk about what we believe. He said that would be fine.
Our Branch Mission Leader Brother B was with us and we left that
encounter very happily. Brother B is super excited for this guy
because he seems like he will accept the gospel and I agree. That is
how I felt about it two weeks ago when we first met him. So we look
forward to  meeting with him this week :).

Thursday we had exchanges so I was with our district leader in our
area. It was pretty fun. I like having exchanges so I can learn how
other missionaries work and do their thing. It is a great learning
experience for both of us. ANyway. Thursday night we met with J and
M whom we have been teaching for a while. They are a somewhat
less active family that has been doing very well lately. They usually
come to church and they want to get sealed in the temple. The only
thing holding them back is that J has a bit of a smoking problem. So
we talked about that on Thursday and it was incredible! His wife got
pretty emotional and talked about how it is going to affect their
family forever. He knows what he needs to do. We talked about how
Heavenly Father never gives us a trial or a commandment that we cannot
overcome or accomplish. He said that he remembers my first night that
I was ever with them (September 3rd... my second day in the mission
field) and at the end of the lesson I asked him to stop smoking. I
dont remember if I ever told you that or not. But J said he
remembers how bold I was when I asked him to do that and how he
answered "Yes" so now he feels obligated because he told me he'd stop
smoking. It was a really cool connection in my opinion. I felt like I
had actually affected this family in some way. Which is an incredible
feeling. We finished off the lesson by committing them to set goals
with each other so that they can continue to walk in the right
direction back to their heavenly Father. That is what it is all about,
moving in the right direction, not necessarily how fast we are moving.

So then yesterday, Elder D got to baptize one of the people he
was teaching down in Santaquin, which is south of Payson. We got a
ride with some family members of the person getting baptized that
lives up here in roosevelt. It was a 2 and a half hour drive or so...
So it was a long trip! But wow! it was an incredible baptism!! There
were over 150 people there! It was like a small sacrament meeting.
Hahaha. It was super cool. While the person getting baptized and Elder
D were getting changed into normal clothes, Elder H and
I shared the message of the restoration. It was very powerful and very
cool because there were so many people there! I didn't expect to have
to do this either... so I just went off the fly. You learn to do that
a lot as a missionary. But the spirit was exceptionally strong and was
very special because a large portion of the people present were not
members of the church.
Funny story about Elder H. He was "born" in Myton just like I
was ( thats where he was trained about a year ago). And so we got to
talk about some of the awesome members here and he even told us to go
see a certain family. Hopefully that will work out. But it was really
cool, I love how friendly missionaries are to each other even when
they hardly know each other.

So that was my week in a nutshell. I am trying to think of anything
else to say but nothing is coming to mind. I hope each and every one
of you has a tremendous week ahead and I know that the promise of "if
ye keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land" is so true. So I
encourage everyone to follow the commandments. Including praying
always, and continually feasting upon the words of Christ. I know your
lives will be blessed for it.
love
-Elder Pierce

Monday, November 2, 2015 Photos

1.) Utah's version of chocolate chips. They taste abhorrent. Don't
ever buy them. No matter how curious you are. You will regret it.

2.) my view of Provo when we went to see Elder Ballard

3.) here is a little piece of Randlett. The branch we serve in.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Overall, this week was fairly slow, but we still got a lot of work done.

So, Elder D (his companion) served in Altamont about 18 months ago. So last
Monday we drove up there and we had dinner with the K__ Family. It
was pretty cool for them because it has been a while since they have
seen Elder D.

We had some regular lessons this week with less active members. We
honestly have 0 progressing investigators at the moment... which is
unusual and hard to deal with. So we have set a goal in order to focus
on finding new people to teach. We spent a lot of this week contacting
part member families and so on. We were looking for one of these
families and we went to the address in LDS tools for their name. In
case you've forgotten, addresses here arent the most reliable of
sources. However! We stumbled upon a family who had just moved in
recently and was wondering where church was and when it started. So
that was really cool! They are a less active family and we will be
working with them to get them ready to baptize their 8 year old
daughter.

It is sort of weird in my opinion to knock on a less active person's
house and talk to them about coming back to church. Because deep down,
they know that is what they should be doing. It makes me wonder what I
would think if the missionaries knocked on my door even though I am a
member... it would make you wonder if you are doing something wrong I
suppose. But I know we are there to help them get back on the right
track and I hope that is what they realize as well.

Wednesday we went down to Randlett to do some work for the afternoon.
Miraculously, we met a person who had not been exposed to much of what
we believe. He is a christian and said that he has no proof that what
we know/believe isn't true. In other words he is very open minded
about God and religion because he doesn't know what he doesn't know.
He had a lot of questions for us and we answered them all very well.
With an exception of the fact that he said that Saturday is the
Sabbath day, so why do we consider Sunday the Sabbath day. If anyone
has the answer, that would be awesome. He reminded me of Joseph Smith
because he said he just wants to know which church is true when there
are so many of them out there. We will be meeting with him on
Wednesday and I am pretty excited. This is the first actual new
investigator that seemed interested that I have met on my mission so
far.

Wednesday evening Ioka ward had their Trunk or Treat. We had a good
time there and it was pretty fun. There were a LOT of less active
people there and non members even! So it was a great opportunity for
people to get to know other people and for all the kids to get lots of
candy.

Our Ward Mission Leader in Myton second ward is really amazing. He is
very successful (in a place where not many people are...) and he had
loads of advice for us. I enjoy talking with him about things. I
really appreciate the members that are genuinely good people and want
the best for everyone around them. It makes me feel happy to know that
some people actually care and want to be christlike. They take the
covenants they have made seriously and it makes a big difference in
their character, and their disposition.

Friday morning we had a district training meeting and President/Sister
Hodgman came! We got to have our Interviews with President Hodgman
which was really cool. We have them every 3 months which I am happy
about because I want to get to know my mission president a lot better
because everyone always talks about how much they loved their mission
president and stuff. They truly are great people though, so I am
looking forward to working with them for the next two years.
President Hodgman gave me a lot of advice in this meeting and we
talked a lot about me and how I am doing. He asked me what I plan to
do after I get off my mission as a potential career. Although I am not
thinking about it too much I am planning to major in Business and then
possibly go into medicine after that. President Hodgman was saying how
there is a great field in that area because he has been working with a
lot of people that have PHDs in his  business. Anyway, it was a good
opportunity to let him know how I am doing. This experience is
definitely a trial for me... being in charge of what we do each day
and who we teach because Elder D doesn't know too many people
and he will be leaving in 3 weeks from tomorrow... It is strange to
already know that I will be getting a new companion.

Saturday was a good day. Halloween. Haha, it didn't really feel like
Halloween to me though. And I was thinking about what I was doing that
same time last year... and I was working at chickfila. So I guess this
year was a bit better. SO. Since some people dress up as missionaries
for Halloween out here in Utah and we don't want to be blamed for all
the crazy stupid stuff that those kids do, we are not allowed to work
on Halloween evenings. At 5:00 we had to go meet with our District and
we got to watch a movie! The approved movie was Big Hero 6. Which I
was a little disappointed about because I have already seen it, but it
was still really good. According to the other missionaries, we also
get to watch a movie on Christmas and 4th of July. so 3 times a year
we get to almost be normal people again. After the movie we played
some soccer and other sports in the gym there, it was a lot of fun.

Which reminds me, occasionally we will wake up at about 5:30 in order
to go play sports with our zone leaders and the spanish speaking
elders in our area. It is a lot of fun when we do it... but 5:30 is so
early it makes it difficult sometimes. Usually we will play touch
rugby which is a lot of fun. Hopefully doing that from time to time
will keep me in SOME shape.

Sunday night we went to our Stake President's house. We meet with him
on Fast Sundays. And something they do each Sunday night at 7:00 is
their youth meet there and practice missionary work. They are asked a
question, the question we were asked is "why do people make bad
decisions if they know it is wrong?" So we are supposed to answer the
question by picking a principle ( we chose obedience/temptation and
others chose things such as agency or opposition). After picking a
principle and explaining it, we share a scripture, and then a personal
experience that all relates to the question. It was really cool and a
lot of fun to be able to work with the youth. I enjoyed it. I wish we
did something like that when I was a youth.
Our Stake President is so so smart. I think I mentioned that I really
enjoyed his talk at stake conference last week. I am impressed by his
knowledge and experience. He really explained how some people do not
understand what they feel when they feel the spirit. So we have to
help them be able to recognize it and understand that it is a good
thing. The unknown can be scary. He pointed out that in the scriptures
whenever Angels appear they say "fear not." But why? because they can
be kinda scary if you do not realize they are angels from God and that
they are good. So when people feel the spirit they need to "fear not"
and indulge that feeling that they get because it is good and it is
from God.

I have been reading my Book of Mormon every day a little bit and
yesterday I finished Alma. That took me a while.. haha. But there is a
lot of great stuff in that book. A lot of people look at it somewhat
negatively just because it is so long and they think it is all about
war. That isn't necessarily accurate. There is a lot of sound guidance
that can be found in the book of Alma. A lot of missionary work is
done by the Sons of Mosiah as well as Alma the Younger. Remember who
brings you all your blessings. God is the provider for all of us and
we should recognize that everything in this life is a gift from him.
He deserves all the glory and praise because of that. As a side note.
Teancum is awesome. If you don't know who he is, look him up in Alma
50, 51, and 62.


I always feel as though I am leaving something out when I write my
emails, but I hope each of you take it to heart and make sure to
continue reading your scriptures. Elder Ballard told us that if anyone
says that they are losing their faith or their belief in the church
then you should ask them when the last time they read the Book of
Mormon was. The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion. And it
is simply because if the Book Of Mormon is true then all the pieces of
the church fall into place and it testifies that the Church and what
it teaches is true as well.

I love all of you and hope you have a great week!

-Elder Pierce