It's much easier to maintain a city than to fight to regain it

St Vincent is amazing! I really enjoy it here.

The only thing that makes me sad about this place is the hate towards the church here.

They have something called the Christian Council here where the leaders of religion get together and talk, apparently not too  long ago the council got together with the government to "kick the mormons out of St.Vincent" but they couldnt follow through because the president sees how much the church donates to welfare services here.. Buuuuut we are still here and the majority of the people are alright with us!

The church has been here so long that we have a member almost anywhere we go to. So that is fun! 

 

 

It makes me happy to see people active in the care of the members of the church who are slipping. I have really been thinking about people who are less active, and the best way I can see to help is to prevent them from being less active. I think of Alma  59:9 It's much easier to maintain a city than to fight to regain it! 

 

So Lydia likes the turtles? Sounds like she is just like me! I was having a blast playing with those turtles. All I could think while playing with them was "give me some fin, noggin, Dude... " haha Lindsey for sure will know what I mean!

 

"K" is doing amazing, She has really taken to Sister Adams. Who is the seminary teacher. She actually goes over to Sister Adams house sometimes and just limes and gaffs and ting. So they get along quite well.:) (Elder Pierson has picked up some local slang. None of us are quite sure what he means by gaffs and ting. haha)

 

And yes "Q" did get baptized! She is now officially a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. She is amazing, She believes so much in this gospel and we have made plans with her to help her mom come to church and be baptized.  

 

Member work is amazing! We actually had a really awesome success with a member named Sister Matthews, She has a nice friend person (not too sure the relation) Who we had an awesome lesson with. Her name is "Y". She listened very intently to the message of the restoration, when she wasn't trying to calm her child. She was very sincere and commited to pray specifically about the Restoration. We are going to meet with her again on Tuesday and find out how her experience went! 

 

Ahh i miss kieran! That guy is so fun!

Anyways I have no clue who my next companion will be, Elder Regis seems to think I will be training next transfer, but I do not know. I will find out this weekend! 

 

My shoes are wearing out but they still have some good thickness so I should be fine! 

Anyways I'm working hard and I hope things will be going well for Lindsey's wedding! 

 

Love Elder Pierson

Turtle Sanctuary and Q

Easter is an interesting holiday. And really here in the Caribbean no matter what the holiday, it is celebrated the same way. Drinking partying and all manner of iniquity. buuuuttt there are lots of people who celebrate it by going to church and singing and things. But yeah holidays every single store closes. the only open store was a Chinese food restaurant. Oh and also all the buses stop running... so I had to walk up and down so many mountains the last couple days! haha but hey that's alright. Oh funny thing about walking up mountains is that my legs are definitely getting bigger. The pants I got from Mr Macs are now like skin tight on my thighs when i sit down.  

 

Over this Easter season we have gotten fed so much, we actually got fed 2-3 times a day 3 days in a row so that was amazing! But we do get fed, actually twice every Sunday! At one house I found out a new favourite fruit of mine. well actually I have a couple. I fell in love with tamarind back in St. Lucia but here one member has a plum tree in her back yard. They are delicious! anyways I guess we are heading into "Mango Season" which is almost every missionaries favourite season, all the mango's are ripening and people cant eat/sell them fast enough, so missionaries get given mango's a lot! so yeah we get a lot of fruit. 

 

This week was a really good week! we had so much success we have an investigator who is preparing for baptism this weekend. Her name is "Q" and she is 18. You could basically say the was a "dry mormon" before Elder Regis met her. She is living everything and loves to read and learn. She actually had an uncle or something who was a member I think. Well anyways her baptismal date was relying on whether or not she showed up for church. And when we called her in the morning her phone was off. and she wasn't responding. So we were really nervous. Then we are at church and she still isn't there. Finally sacrament starts, and still no "Q". so we were pretty sad. Only to find out that after sacrament was over a group of like 13 people flooded in from outside the doors. "Q" being one of them. Kinda makes me think of something dad would say sometimes when we were driving. "I'm sure God has a Sense of humour because every time I'm in a hurry and I'm praying for a green light, it always just stays green long enough so that I can make it through." But she enjoyed church and is excited for her baptism. We also had a lot of investigators come to church, just late. Like 3 of "K's" friends. on a trade off me and Elder Jacobson (Yes the very same from St.Lucia) were teaching "K" when 3 of her friends came up and sat in on the lesson. we talked a bit about her baptism and they all wanted to be baptized and they all came to church. We just really need a chance to visit with the Mom so we can get her involved also. 

 

It has been a really good week. 

And to top of a good week we did something really fun for P-day today, we travelled by boat to an Island called Bequia (one of the Grenadines) and we got to go to a turtle sanctuary. where you can hold all the turtles and things, so that was really fun the Island as a whole was really cool.

Anyways I am so excited for James and Kieran! That is so cool! They are going to be great missionaries! Michael and James are going to have so much fun in the same mission.. ..

Maybe they will serve close to each other! Ah and Kieran gets to speak spanish! sounds fun!

Oh so random thought came while thinking of Kieran's call. Tell him I'm jealous that he will be getting a drying machine so he doesn't have to hang all of his clothes haha 

 

But yes lessons are going well! I am having fun with Elder Regis and I am getting to know my area so I can lead it next transfer!

Anyways I hope you have a great week! I love you! 

Love Elder Pierson

Be a good example

This week was an awesome. we had lots of fun and the baptism was great! I don't know if I told you or not, but "K" chose me to baptise her. it was an amazing experience it was interesting baptising in a font, after getting used to the ocean. but she is so cool and all the woman in the ward have really taken to her. She has a lot of fellow shippers. Best of all of them is a member we took teaching at her house. her name is "C". She got baptised a couple years ago and is like the best role model to "K". It is really just now that I realize what everyone always told us priests is true. "Be good Examples, Those younger boys (teachers and deacons) look up to you." Its interesting how true it is. 

The volcano was really fun, the hike was a little bit challenging, but it was the fact it was basically all stairs most of the way up that killed me. Tons of fun. If we ever go again while I'm here I will actually go into the volcano crater. 

I also Cant wait for that day when we can all go through the temple as a family! 

OH i got the wedding invitation! its super cool, and super weird all at the same time! I am so excited for her(Lindsey)!. And its Coming so fast!! Weeks out in the mission field honestly fly by, it feels like i just barely got to skype you guys! and its crazy to think, Considering how fast this transfer is going, that Lindsey will be married before the Transfer is over.

So Lydia is adorable and I'm glad she knows that I claimed dads blanket! :) I've been seeing so many cute little kids here.Reminds me of Lydia! haha well anytime I see a toddler, when its a baby I think Brigham!  Oh and I hope Brighams Surgery goes well. I will also be Praying For him!

Sunday here was pretty Great! we had a Branch Conference, and once again i got to Talk with president Eclair, i don't know if i toldyou about him, but he is a cool guy from Guadolupe and he is second Councillor in the mission Presidency! I have been seeing alot of him  lately! so cool, But he spoke in The branch conferance about the ability to have a District here on this Island! he spoke mainly to the Leaders about taking the youth in under their arms and keeping them on the right path. Its so true tho, The youth are definitely A huge part in helping the church progress here! all is goin well here. Oh starting Sunday i took upon myself my old priest responsibility, Counting! its cool, we had 87 people at church! it was really cool! I need to get some pictures for you of the church and my apartment, ill do that just now!

Anyways this P-day should be fun, we are going to play rugby and ting over on a field, after making Pizza at sister Fishers House! She is a Sweet Member! served her mission in Canada so She Likes Me already! :)

Anyways!

Love you Much

Elder Pierson

I Love Conference

I am doing pretty Great! My Area is huge and i am Still Trying to Learn where things are. but its going well! 

It is so much hotter here than in St. Lucia and the hills are massive but its pretty fun! 

Elder Regis is pretty good, he is kinda Trunky since he has only 3 weeks left till he is done his mission, but we are still working hard . 

The work is a lot slower here which is kinda sad. Ive gone from having close to 50 lessons a week to maybe getting 30, not a fan of that but the walking takes a lot of time. Plus this area has been found out like none other, so everyone knows about the missionaries. But i have Great hopes for it! 

Church here is Great! i still have to take some pictures of the church Building and my apartment so that you can see it. ill Try to do that this week. 

I got to see all the session of conference, i even took notes. I ran my almost brand new pen out of ink haha. but yeah we watched them in the church. Saturday we were all in the Relief Society Room, and Sunday we watched it in the Chapel. I love conference! 

Its so Crazy that Lindsey is getting married! and that's so cool that she is taking her endowment this weekend. She is going to love it !!! 

But it has been a great week! Yesterday we climbed a really tall volcano.

Elder Pierson and his companion Elder Regis climbing the volcano.

Well we have a baptism this week. its a twelve year old girl Who is awesome! Her father is a drug dealer, who told us just the other day that he has killed a man, but he is trying to change also, and gives his complete support to his daughter. He reads the Bible with her, and she reads the Bofm and its just cool!

Oh Cool Things about St Vincent is the buses, or vans as they are called here. Well Lets just say they always have a guy called a conductor and his job is to pack the bus full. They do a pretty good Job. One bus ride i counted and we Had 25 People in a 15 seater bus! :) oh and my first night here (The drivers are crazy) The guy passed 14 Cars in a row, around a corner :) but its lots of fun ! 

Oh and they all blast music and they have basses more powerful than mine ! so its cool.

But this week will be a good week and i hope you have an equally as amazing week

Love Elder Pierson