Pierce Missionary Journey

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

June 28, 2011 Today is the day!!

Christopher flies to Guatemala tonight!!! He will spend the next six weeks in the Guatemala MTC (the CCM).

His mission president is brand new this week and has been training in the Missionary Training Center the past week or two. I think he began yesterday (not sure exactly). His mission president will be M. Joseph Brough.

Dear Mom,

..........

I met my mission president on Thursday night, it was a really awesome experience, he served his mission in Guatemala as well so he knows alot about the place. He told us that the people there would love us as missionaries just because they saw we had a cause that we were willing to sacrifice some time from our lives for, and that they understand the difficulties of learning a new language, and that they almost never correct you because they know what you meant, but thats not always a good thing because you might have something that you continually say wrong without being corrected.

As I said last week, I can call during my layover in LA, but the time will be 1 in the morning for you, I leave salt lake at 9:50, arrive at LA at 11:01, then our next flight isnt until 12:50 and it goes straight to guatemala and we get there about 7 in the morning, so I will call tonight.

Thank you for all the dear elders and packages and such, they mean alot, I love you all and can't wait to be out in guatemala to see the country I will be serving in.

Love,

Christopher

Sunday, June 26, 2011

June 21, 2011 Handwritten letter

Dear Mom and Dad,

First off, Dad, I want to wish you a happy Father's Day a little late. Thank you for being my Dad. You've taught me alot and have helped to make me who I am today. I love you, and am glad I have a Dad as great as you.

This past week has been a lot of things. I started with a lot of worries about the language, and I still do worry, but not as much. I was studying in Alma, whoops, I meant Mosiah, Chapter 24 and verses 13-14 stuck out to me particularly. I know I'm not in bondage like Alma and his people, but I still have many troubles and afflictions, so I, too, prayed to the Lord to make my burdens light. That night, right after I had prayed for this we had a zone conference, and they taught us that learning the language fluently, my main worry with going out in the field, was what mattered the least. What mattered the most was having the spirit in the lesson, and then no matter how simple the message I could give in Spanish was, that was what mattered. To me that was a direct answer to my prayer. The Lord didn't make Spanish easier for me, but he showed me that as long as I was doing what I could the best that I could, that was all he was asking of me. It was a great comfort to me, and since then I haven't been as worried. I would be lying if I said I never feel discouraged, but as I continue to pray and ask the Lord for help, he shows me in small ways, that as long as I am putting forth my effort, he will pick up the slack, and everything will be okay.

We did our first lesson practice on someone who wasn't a missionary for the first time ever Saturday. While practicing with other missionaries I have felt like our teaching has been off, but while teaching this time I felt the Spirit so much more strongly. It was guiding me, and my companion, while it wasn't a perfect lesson, and it was in English, it was still a very good lesson and I know the message we were sharing was true. It's amazing to be able to share the fact that the Gospel has been restored, and an amazing privilege as well. I think that when I can finally do it in Spanish while I am in Guatemala, I will enjoy it so much more than being here and just practicing. But practicing is important.

I wish I had been more diligent in preparing lessons from Preach My Gospel in Priest Quorum while I was there. It would have prepared me so much more for this than I am now, so hopefully Brayden will do better with that than I did. I was going to type this in my E-mail, but I didn't have enough time.(Missionaries only have 30 minutes on the computer each week. When they are in the mission field they will have one hour of computer/email time a week.) Anyways, I need to go now. I love all of you and hope that you are all having fun.

Love,

Christopher

PS: I'm not sure but I think my Guatemala mailing address is in my Missionary book that they mailed in February. If you could tell me what it is that would be awesome, thank you.

Blogger trouble

I'm having trouble with blogger. I haven't spent enough time to know how to "fix" things. This post was showing up overlapped and unreadable, so I posted the June 21 letter again and it worked fine. Then I didn't know how to delete this entry, so I just figured I would write about it!

I hope you enjoy sharing Christopher's letters as much as I do. Please let me know if you are reading!

Love,
Cathy

June 21, 2011 Emails

Dear Mom,

Thats good that Dear elder works in Guatemala, its probably better that it doesnt arrive automatically because writing alot of letters all on one day can be difficult and stressing. as for the code, I gave you all the information I had on my address on the envelope that had your letter, so maybe one of those? Probably 0628.

I'm glad I was able to make everyone so Happy by writing them, I dont think I can write a letter each and every week for everyone but I will try to do it each month, its hard though.

I do remember the fords, I taught their daughter stuff about chess I think, thats great that you all got to see each other and to reminisce. however you spell that, spanish is messing up my spelling in english now.

I am really glad that molly's performance went so well! thats great, I hope she is keeping 'molly's clubhouse' organized and not the mess that she usually had in her room. I'm really proud of brayden for holding his ground on not playing on sunday's, it may seem silly but it is important.

we havent had any notable fireside or devotional speakers yet, or rather we havent had any that you would know by name, but they have all been good, they are having the seminar for training mission presidents this week and a lot of the apostles and the prophet are here for that, I really am hoping that one of them will be speaking at the devotional tonight.

as of yet I havent recieved an actual written letter from home yet, but I have gotten a dear elder from molly and jacob and a few other people. Grandma did help me to buy a card to call when I am in the airport, however I leave tuesday night next week and my layover is in LA at 11 their time I believe, so probably 2 your time in the morning, and for the shoe I would prefer 10, thank you for asking. I got two shots here so I think I am okay on that part, and I can get the next in Guatemala.

I'm going to go ahead and end this E-mail to write dad one as well, but I'm sure you will both read it anyways, so you'll hear more there, is there a mission blog for me or something? I love you so much, I hope you are all doing well

Love,

Christopher Pierce

Dear Dad,

Its okay, It has been a busy week here for me as well. That has to be really strange knowing that baseball is over as a coach for you, changes in life are weird but eventually we come to accept them I think. I am really proud of brayden for standing up for what he believes, especially to a coach, that can be extremely hard.

I think that is very cute that molly has set up camp in my room, I just hope she isnt making a mess out of it.

The language is coming slightly better now, I've started to read the Book of mormon in spanish now, very slowly, but I can make out generally what they are saying, sometimes it says it in a different wording or order than the English one, so it can be interesting because it makes you look at it in a different perspective. But after 4 days of doing that I am still only on the fourth chapter of 1 nephi, so it is taking its time, but I can see I am getting faster at reading it as well.

My district is all elders, but we have 2 sisters in our zone now, there were 5 but they have left since then. My companion is from montana, hes a convert to the church, he grew up in an FLDS family so the book of mormon isnt exactly new to him. But he does have a big Family due to their beliefs, its interesting to hear stories from him sometimes. But his family doesnt really talk to him anymore, he moved out a year ago when he joined so their is some distance there. My zone is 51( always makes me think of area 51) and we are district D, they say we are one of the best districts they have had in a long time and that most people take 4 or 5 weeks to get where we are in spanish right now, but I dont know, they might just be saying that. I have actually lost 4 pounds, I've been running alot in gym, I dont enjoy playing sports too much and I'd rather not break my implant on my mission anyways.

I'll try to answer any other questions you all have if you ask, but its hard when I only have a few minutes to see them all, and easy to forget some of them. I love you all so much and I hope that everything is going well there, I have to go now but I think I will be able to write again next week because my flight isnt until 9 at night and I dont have to report until 6:30.

Love,
Christopher

June 14, 2011

First email:

Dear Mom,

I'm really glad to hear you got my letter! I wasnt sure if you would get it before my P-day and know when it was, so I'm very happy it got there in time.

I'm really happy to be here as well, I've learned so much in such a short time, in addition to learning just how much I dont know at all, its very depressing at times, but sometimes it is also very encouraging, the spirit when i feel it is amazing, I've prayed so much more than I ever have, this is all so difficult, Spanish is difficult for me to learn, for example, in the English language we only have 4 articles, but in spanish there are 8, so in my opinion that makes it more complicated, than you add in all the gender for words that has to be memorized and its overwhelming, I feel like I'm drowning in it most of the time, but every so often I feel like I know exactly what I'm doing. I can give basic prayers in spanish, and a basic testimony, but what is frustrating is knowing what i want to be able to say in english, but not knowing how to translate it into spanish, the teachers say it just comes with time, but Its hard to want to be able to do something so badly, but know that I have to be patient and diligent in my study, even when I feel like I'm making no progress.

Tell Molly I am so proud of her for doing her Play and that I miss her a ton, I miss brayden too and even kenny, I love all of you so much and I wish I didnt have to be out here alone, I'm not very good at being showy with how I feel about my family and I wish I were better, but I hope all of you know that I do love you so much, and I want the best for all of you.

I have taken a few pictures, but its hard to do here, there are lots of rules ( las reglas en espanol ) so it isnt easy to find places to do it but I have one with me and my companion and our room mates, that reminds me, Elder Winmill (I had asked Christopher if he knew any of the elders whose mom's were on the missionarymom email list) is one of the missionaries going to Guatemala with me, he is in my room so I know that elder, My companion is Elder Stoker, He is a nice guy, but I feel like he expects me to take the lead in companion studies and in discussions and such, I dont feel ready at all to be the leader in our companionship or any companionship, I'm much better at following and recieving instruction than giving it.

My clothing and shoes and all other items are holding up very well, also, I heard that Dear elder works in my mission in the field and is free for it, but it isnt in all missions so its a large blessing I think, if you could share that with anyone who would like to know that would be awesome, I dont know the in's and outs of it, but it is very helpful to be able to read the letters before I write back rather than read them and immediately have to write back, I think there is a word limit in Dear elder, but I also think you can just send multiple ones if you reach that limit, If theres something I dont know about it thats wrong please tell me.

also, Brother ashby sent me an email with letters from the youth, tell him thank you so much for that and that it was very inspiring to me and to let them all know just how much it meant, its hard to realize before going on a mission just how important letters are to a missionary, they inspire, give courage, and make me remember why I am here, and what my purpose is, and they seem to come in the moments I have most needed them so far.

I dont have long now, so I need to go, but If you could also get brother ashby's address please, I want to write him, dont forget to tell him what I said too, I love you all so much, our whole family and even those who arent in it, I wish I was there with you but I am glad to be here and have the oppurtunity to share the Gospel, I keep you all in my prayers and I hope you do the same for me.

Love,

Christopher Pierce- Elder Pierce

Handwritten letter written the same day:

Dear Mom and Dad,

I think I wrote just about everything I could in the E-mail. I can't promise this will be long because I have written a lot of letters today, but I know it's important to you so I went ahead and started this Mom. I think you asked if you could share my E-mails, that's completely fine.

As far as my schedule goes, I'm pretty sure all the same stuff happens like Kenny's. We have a Fireside Sunday nights, and devotionals on Tuesday night (tonight) so I have a really good P-Day. If you have any more questions just let me know, or if there are any I forgot to answer as well.

Make sure everyone knows I miss them and love them. Being here is hard, but I know it's where I am supposed to be. I hope I will be able to write a longer e-mail last week.

I love you and pray for you always!

Love,

Christopher

First letter home! June 9, 2011

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hey! I just entered the MTC yesterday, so far everything is alright, the first day was very rushed and it was harder to get a handle on things, but today has been better.

My companion is named Elder Stoker and is a pretty nice guy. he was converted about a year and a half ago. All the people here are very nice. I am in Zone 51 and my district leaders are Elder Hepworth and Elder Ames. I'm supposed to keep this letter short, but I love you and everyone else in the Family, and I've been praying for you everyday. My P-day is Tuesday so I should be able to write an email then.

Tell everyone I love them!

Love,

Christopher