Going back home (kind of) - Monday, September 26, 2016 [57/104]

Not REALLY going home. But that's what it felt like driving in to Roosevelt after living here for 6 months. It is surreal to be back here! 

I don't really even know where to start. Monday we found out I was getting transferred so Tuesday we went around to our investigators and said goodbye to as many as I could. It was pretty cool, knowing that these people were gonna miss me made me feel like I made a difference for them. Tuesday night we had a lesson with one of our new investigators S. So in Elder P's and my last lesson together we set a date for S to get baptized on October 22nd. She is awesome! She has been reading the Book of Mormon and is already in Alma 8!! She knows the gospel is true but she just wants to "know" it. It was a great lesson. 

After that Elder P and I went on splits with other Elders who were in Provo for a trainers meeting that day. So we went around contacting and stuff. Nothing too special happened other than we got a referral for the BYU east area (my old area) and one for the BYU north area. So that was cool. 

Anyway! Wednesday we said our goodbyes and I headed out to Roosevelt with a couple other Elders. It was a good ride. And talk about Nostalgia!! Holy cow. I know I left 7 months ago but it feels like just the other day I drove out of Myton and went to Provo. Now I'm back! Haha. 

I met my new companion Elder V! He is from Minnesota and has been on his mission for 18 months. He is 6'6" so he is really tall... haha. He is from a small town. We get along really well so far. Nothing much else to say about him yet. Haha. He is a very sincere missionary. 

So we are serving in the Roosevelt 5th, 6th wards and Myton 1st Ward in the roosevelt stake. Last time I was here in the Myton 2nd, Ioka wards and Randlett Branch in the same stake. So now I'm more in town rather than out in the sticks. But it is SO tempting to go and say hello to all of the people that I know from when I was here before. I don't know how to describe it but it's just super weird serving in the same stake (it doesn't usually happen). The Ward Mission Leaders all remember me from when I was here before and some others as well. It's pretty cool when people come up to you at church and say "hey! Weren't you here before??" And I didn't even serve in their wards but they still remember me. 

We saw President S and his family (he is the stake president) which was great because we know each other pretty well already. He is my favorite stake president I've worked with. His family is amazing, I ate dinner with them last year. So maybe I'll be able to eat thanksgiving at the same place 2 years in a row! I bet that's never happened in the Provo Mission before. Haha. 

Something I'm a bit bummed about is that 3 days before I got here President Nelson (president of the quorum of the 12 apostles) came to this stake and spoke to everyone! So I missed out on that unfortunately =\. 

Thursday was crazy because it rained ALL day. ALL DAY! I haven't seen rain like that since I left home! It was AWESOME! However, roosevelt isn't used to getting rain... so it ended up flooding! We helped the city by filling sandbags and using those to irrigate the flooding I guess. It was a crazy day. And ever since then it has been pretty cold! I'm not ready for Winter yet!!!! I like the warm! 

So 6 weeks ago Elder V and Elder W took over this area from sisters so it is still slow moving right now. BUT!! Elder V and I are going to start getting things going here. 

Our district has some awesome elders and sisters! I'm excited because we are gonna have so much fun working out here in the middle of nowhere! Woohoo!!

We have a special zone meeting this week where President Hodgman and a general authority are going to come and teach us this Wednesday. We are looking forward to that. And then in a couple weeks we will get new training on how to do a Ward focus. (It's a bit different covering 3 wards instead of 76...)

In other news! M, C and K all got baptized on Saturday!!! I got to skype and watch C's baptism but that's it. We were busy during the other two. 

Anyway, that's about it for the week so far. At least that's all I can think of right now! Stay tuned next week! 

~Elder Pierce~


us with K who got baptized this week 

with our investigator, S

K, he's awesome!

bowling today as a district :) 

Transfers -- Our biggest struggle Monday, September 19, 2016 [13 MONTHS TODAY] [56/104]

What a week!! 

We spent a lot of the time specifically teaching 3 of our investigators, K, C, and M! They are all getting baptized this Saturday!! Woohoo!! Sad news... I am being transferred...... :( more on that later.

So! We went on exchanges this week. I was with Elder Joachin (wa-cheen) who is from Guatemala and has been here for 2 months... and he never learned english at the MTC. So this was a fun experience! Thankfully I can somehow remember a little from the two years of spanish I took in high school because his english is very limited. However! I was able to learn a lot from this. We taught our recent convert Ko- and we mostly just talked to people besides that. But we went over the Restoration with Ko- and it went super well. Hearing Elder Joachin testify simply but purely truly helped me to remember the simplicity of the gospel. We get way too caught up in the extremities of the gospel. But it is important to remember that it is all about our Savior Jesus Christ and that His church and gospel have been restored to the earth. I was really happy when Ko- even began saying parts of the first vision because he just knew it in his heart!:) What a great guy. It is still hard to believe he went from fearing the Book of Mormon to getting baptized all within 10 days! I love that guy. 

Saturday was interesting... being at BYU the same day there is a BYU game. THAT IS SO NOT FAIR!!! Thankfully this is just the last season that I will have to miss on my mission :). 

On friday we went with our recent converts L and T to the Provo City Center Temple so that they could do baptisms....! It was a really good experience. I definitely love going to the temple. It is set apart from the world! 

Saturday evening Elder Bednar came to a stake conference so we got to hear him speak. He talked about how the temple is set apart from the world and that we can find solace and peace there. He compared the temple to the Sabbath day and how the Sabbath day should be a time where we can be out of the world as well. This difference is, the church provides the temples, but we need to provide the Sabbath day (being holy). I thought that was really cool. :)

So yeah, we met a couple new investigators this week. S the guy we have been working with for a while will be getting baptized on October 15th. I am sad I wont be able to be there for that but I am really happy that he has finally decided that this is what he needs to do!

And yes.... I am being transferred.. ugh. Sadly the Lord needs me elsewhere. And believe it or not. I am going to be in Roosevelt. Again. 

Lots of mixed feelings. I am definitely excited to get out there into eastern utah again. I loved my first area. And I will actually be in the same stake that I was in before, just in different wards. So I am going from covering 76 (it was 91 when I got here) wards to just 4! :D So that'll be different. No more college students either. They are awesome. I am glad though, I know a couple dozen people that I will hopefully get to see while I am out there in Roosevelt. Unfortunately... It will be getting cold soon. AND I KNOW WHAT WINTER OUT THERE CAN BE LIKE!!!!! -40*... Here I come. 

I will have a truck though. That is another perk. And based on the looks of things, I will be in an awesome zone with awesome people. There will be a lot less missionaries to take care of though haha. 

President also told me that we are starting some new program here in utah in particular areas. It is where we will really be focusing just on ONE ward. I am not really sure what that means but I assume it will mean getting to know the members in that one ward pretty dang well. I am excited. New things, new places (not really), new companion. Oh, my new companion will be Elder V, he is from a small town in Minnesota and Elder Davidson trained him. That is about all I know about him so far. But I will get to meet him on Wednesday. 

This will be a great week. I appreciate everything y'all have done for me. Let me know if you have any questions!!

-Elder Pierce

 Going to the Temple with L and T

Sweet Ferrari that we saw near the Provo Temple this week!

"Please bless these dudes." Monday, September 12, 2016 [55/104]

Woohoo, as always another wonderful week for me and the wonderful
people of Provo (more specifically BYU).

Seriously, I feel like at the end of each week I am fulfilled and feel
like I have accomplished something. As long as we keep working hard
and doing what we are supposed to then we will definitely be cared for
:).

Provo is just the best place in the world. You could have Peyton
Manning walking the streets of Provo and we would still get more
attention than he would. People don't even know who we are, but they
know what we do and who we represent. So I love it!!

This week was full of meetings and appointments and things to do. We
had our Mission Leadership Council on Tuesday which is always a fun
meeting. And so that led to our Zone Training Meeting on Friday. We
had a good meeting... It is super weird and really interesting to
think that the problem with giving a 3 hour training meeting is that
there is not enough time. This time we focused on using our time
wisely. It was a great meeting. The first half went terribly in my
opinion but the second half was incredible. The spirit definitely
helped us. I also admit that I am really critical of myself... But
hey, I love what we do.

We got to drive up to Heber AGAIN for another baptismal interview
which is AWESOME. I seriously just love how beautiful that canyon is
:). Utah might not be as green as back home but it has it's own type
of beauty.

A number of our lessons cancelled this week but we still got to see
most of our investigators who are progressing toward baptism. J,
K, C, and a couple others who we have to figure out some
intricate details.
On Saturday we got to have a busy day. We were actually interviewed by
someone who is working on an article about BYU YSA missionaries. So
that was interesting... He asked us most of the basic questions that a
lot of people ask us and then a couple more missionary minded
questions. It was good, and hopefully a lot of people will read it and
become more missionary minded and try to help us out :).
Then we got to attend J's baptism! It was a great experience. There
is always a special spirit at baptisms. Ordinances are definitely when
we can see the power of godliness made manifest (D&C). I being able to
work with individuals who WANT to learn more, who WANT to get closer
to Christ and they have been led here by their father in heaven! There
is nothing that could replace the experiences of my mission. From
starting out in the middle of nowhere tackling cows and teaching peeps
to college campus. Haha :)
After J's baptism we went to the baptism of T who is the wife of
L whom I got to baptize about a month ago. Yet again another
amazing experience. I am so grateful for these bonds of friendship and
love that we have formed with these people that we are teaching the
everlasting gospel to. It is truly irreplaceable.
Since August if you count the Provo East Stake (which I covered for 6
weeks but we taught a lot of people in) I have been able to witness 6
people I worked with get baptized!!! Starting with J, then
L, P, G, J, and T!! I am so happy about that :)!!

Sunday we met two investigators at the mid singles ward who are both
from Haiti, one named C seemed a lot more interested and when we
asked if he was a member he said "not yet". We have an appointment
with him this week on Tuesday. It should be really good!
To top things off, Sunday ended with a bang. We got a referral for a
guy named P (but apparently he goes by M). And he is from
Memphis Tennessee!! So now we are teaching a southerner! M is
an amazing man. He is so smart and he has concluded that Mormonism
just has to be true! He told us he moved here so he could become a
member of the church and join a "happier and safer" community. Wow!!
He is amazing. He believes everything already and wants to become a
member ASAP!! WOW! We were so excited. He is such a cool guy! We will
be meeting with him a couple times in the next few weeks and he is now
preparing to be baptized on Sep 24th! Woohoo. I think my favorite part
was in his prayer at the end he said "Lord, thank you for sending me
these dudes, to help me learn about your proper church". OH YEAH!!

We are super pumped. We will be having 3 baptisms on the 24th.
Transfers is on the 21st.... So if I get transferred I would be lying
if I didn't say I would be really sad... So hopefully that doesn't
happen. Either way, it is the Lord's will. I will keep y'all posted
and let you know next week.

So that is our week. Today we went to the BYU store and someone bought
us some game day shirts!! So sad to hear that BYU lost.... Bleh. Oh
well. Went bowling. Today is Elder P's birthday so we should be doing
something fun for that. Oh! And we started hiking the Y for morning
exercises. We went on Saturday and this morning. Pictures to follow.

Thank you all for your loving support, you help keep me going!!!

-Elder Pierce

Another week another dollar - Monday, September 5, 2016 [54/104]

This week has seriously just flown by! I can't believe it's Monday already. Wow

Anyway, we have a lot of stuff happening! We are supa dupa busy. And I
feel like I say that every week but we seriously never have time to do
anything. I only know a handful of bishops or Ward mission leaders.
That's what happens when you have 75+ wards... Haha.

First of all, I want to say that I love serving here at BYU, there are
so many great people. We did a ton of contacting and I bumped into a
ton of familiar faces :). Where else can you see friends from home on
your mission? And I also saw a bunch of return missionaries that
served with me here in Provo :)! So cool!

Along with that, we teach a lot of people from around the world. It
gives us a little taste of everything!
On Monday we met with our recently found investigator K who is
from Ecuador and we taught her a good lesson. We committed her to be
baptized on the 17th. So that should be something coming up soon!

On Tuesday we met with our investigator S! He is an amazing guy.
We taught him about the Book of Mormon and gaining a testimony of all
the things we've taught. His girlfriend wasn't there which
actually turned out to be a good thing. Her uncle was there and
he shared some stories/experiences with us about his mission as well
as his conversion. It was very powerful. We asked S, "What do you
feel you need to do?" And he told us as his eyes started tearing up,
"I need to find out if this is true. I need to ask God". Oh it was
great!! He is an awesome man, an honest seeker of truth. He just
doesn't want to do this all for A and find out a few years later
that it doesn't mean anything to him.
Unfortunately he went out of town for the weekend, but we have high
hopes that the Lord has answered his prayers :)

Wednesday we went on exchanges with our lovely assistants Elder
B1 and B2. Some of you may remember, Elder B2 was my
zone leader ever since I was in Provo until I became one. I ended up
going with him, which is good. We get along really well, considering
this is like the 4th time we have done exchanges. We did a lot of
contacting which was great, so many people to talk to at BYU.
Sometimes they patronize us about how there aren't any people who
aren't members of the church, buttttttttt that doesn't explain how
there is a baptism at least once a week here!
And, apparently Elder P and Elder B1 saw my cousin Brittani!
So I was a little jealous about that. Oh well... I should still be in
the area a little longer :D

Thursday we had a lesson with a new investigator named S. He is
from I__ and is a very humble and very smart man. He is getting is
Ph.D. Here at BYU and has been going to church. He said he had no
issue with being baptized... However. There are a lot of political
issues that may stand in the way. We will figure it all out. He is so
awesome though, I really like him. :)

On Friday we set up a booth with Elder B1 and Elder B2 at
BYU at the Wilkinson Center. This is where I saw all the familiar
faces. We talked to tons of people and gave out our phone numbers as
well as invited lots of people to do missionary things. It was so
great that we are gonna do it again this weekend. :D

Saturday was a great great day. Our investigator named G finally got baptized!!!
He is so great. And I have been working with him since May. He has overcome a lot of
personal struggles and he was so prepared to be baptized. A ton of the
Ward came to his baptism to support him. Seriously I haven't seen a
Ward rally around someone like that before. It was really cool.
President and Sister H made it as well. It was a great
experience. Based off of testimony meeting the next day, I know we had
a good impact on G and on a lot of the Ward members. While our
investigators are getting dressed we usually share the message of the
restoration with everyone. It's always a great experience and everyone
could feel the spirit. G and his friends made it clear that we really
helped him with his final push of getting into the water. And now! He
is a member of the church of Jesus Christ and gets to enjoy the
constant companionship of the Holy Ghost :). I am so happy for him. It
has been a long time coming.

So that's the main points of our week! We have MLC tomorrow, baptismal
interview up in Heber, J, another of our instigators is getting
baptized this weekend (woohoo!), zone training meeting. It'll be fun
:)

I love y'all, hope ya have a great week!

Photos from Monday, August 29, 2016

August is already over?!?! Monday, August 29, 2016 [53/104]

Time sure is flying by, it just gets faster and faster!

This week has been really busy as usual. I don't know where all the
business comes from whether it is things within our zone or just our
area having so much to do all the time. Either way, it is a good
problem to have.

Monday was super fun!! We hiked Stewart falls as a zone and we had a
blast. The mountains really make you feel like you're not in the
deserts of Utah anymore... So that was another nice part about it. We
got to see trees again and green vegetation. The waterfalls were
awesome and really really cold. But hey, it's all part of the
adventure. Everyone of us enjoyed the activity so I would say it was
successful

On Sunday my nose started bleeding during sacrament meeting. And then
it happened again on Tuesday morning. I am sure not fond of this
dryness all the time... :P
Tuesday evening we got to drive up to Heber so I could interview a man
who was preparing to be baptized (and he got baptized on Saturday :D).
I love driving up Provo Canyon, it is really peaceful and really
pretty.
On the way home we had some terrible events. There was road work so we
were later than expected. We spilled stuff all over us. It was
terrible but we still managed to make the most of it and laugh a lot.
So it was all good

Wednesday was a super crazy day. We had to coordinate splits and
things so that Elder P could teach one of our investigators named
"G" (who is getting baptized this Saturday) while I went to do another
baptismal interview! This was a pretty cool experience.
Then after that I rushed back because the interview actually took a
lot longer than usual. We went to a baptism for a man named P who I
taught in the Provo East Stake. I was soooooo happy to see him get
baptized!! G came as well and it helped him want to get baptized :)

Thursday we had our District training meeting. Elder P did it
this time (since we are trading off on being the district leader which
is pretty weird). We met with S, another investigator we have been
meeting with. He is preparing to get baptized on the 10th. He just
needs to gain a stronger desire and then it will be smooth sailing!

Friday was move in day for the new semester here at BYU in some of the
apartment complexes around here. We helped tons of people move in and
got to talk to millions of people. SO! Hopefully since we gave so many
people our phone number they will remember to do missionary work and
help us to find people to teach.

Saturday we had to deal with this crazy guy who has been contacting a
bunch of different missionaries here in Provo. So.... It's a long
story but we aren't allowed to talk to this guy anymore. It is a weird
story
We went up to Heber AGAIN for another interview. This time I
interviewed a girl named A. She is awesome and super ready to get
baptized.
Elder P did an interview later that day for ANOTHER guy getting
baptized. We seriously did 4 interviews this week which is AWESOME! I
love doing baptismal interviews and it's been a while since I have
done some since most of the candidates have been people I taught in
the past so we let my companion interview them.
I seriously love being able to feel the love and concern that our
Savior has for these people. We can only feel a portion of it but it
makes him, our Heavenly Father, and me so happy to see these people
getting baptized. It is so cool. And I am glad that I get to be a part
of it.

One of our other investigators named J has had some remarkable
experiences while he has been reading his Book of Mormon lately. He
truly feels that God is speaking to him and he really feels bad for
all of his past mistakes. This man has come from very humble and rough
circumstances and he is turning his life all the way around. The Lord
is blessing him for his efforts and soon enough he will be able to get
baptized.

Another investigator named S is moving to Orem... So that stinks.
But he will get baptized there.

Yesterday at church we met a girl named K from Ecuador. She is
awesome! She has been coming to church for a while and she knows the
difference she has felt there compared to her previous religion. She
told us that she wants to become a part of this because she has felt
it fill a void within her heart. We will be meeting with her tonight.
:) We are so excited for that.

Along with all of that stuff. I have really been able to reflect upon
my mission lately. Especially being over halfway there I have been
thinking about what has happened in the previous year a lot. It is so
hard to believe that a year ago I was at the MTC. I have come so far
from hardly being able to talk to people and explain things to feeling
comfortable giving three hour trainings, to speaking in sacrament
meeting to teaching a lesson about almost anything. I am so grateful
for being able to learn so much. I know lately I have been working
through some difficult times but I know that things would be difficult
whether I was on my mission or not. I am thankful that I am here in a
position for the Lord to be able to take care of me and make sure I
get exactly what I need. Along with all that, he teaches so well
through His Holy Spirit. Our mission began reading the Book of Mormon
90 days ago and we finished this morning. The Book of Mormon is my
favorite book. I learn something new from it everytime. And when I
reflect upon how merciful the lord is to His children, I am truly
amazed. He loves us so much, no matter where we are or who we are or
what we have done. He will always be there for us and he wants us to
come back to him through our savior Jesus Christ. I know He lives and
He loves us. He knows us by our sins, our trials, our pains,
everything. And he suffered for those things so that He could help us
through them when we are trying our best.

Missions are so cool. If you are thinking about serving one, you
should definitely do it :)

-Elder Pierce