Interesting Foods

I have eaten a lot of interesting things since i have been to Guyana! i have eaten alligator, iguana , Laba (cappybara) 

 

And yes the People of guyana are wonderful!    the members here are so funny haha  i get along with them really well :) its interesting to be able to meet people and instantly enjoy their company!

ITs so fun to see  how much people have changed! the Gospel really does that ! helps people change!

I heard a quote that said "the Gospel is there to comfort the afflicted, and to afflict the comfortable" which i thought was interesting, whenever you get comfortable you should feel there is something to change  ! something more you could do! 

 

Things in this branch are doing alright! we have a lot of Strong strong members and few weaker ones.! which is weird to me! but its kind fun! we  are working really hard on reactivating and baptizing through the La's and it cool! 

This week we had 3 people reactivated. they are such a wonderful family! they have been gone for a while and are really coming back strong! the two daughters really want to serve missions!  

 

 it never hit me how blessed i was to have come to the family i did until i came on my mission. There are so many precious souls to save and so many good kids who could do so much good with a little better upbringing.  but i really am amazed when all the odds are against a kid, Both parents are drunks and they have literally nothing, But still they press forward with faith and do the works of a righteous saint.  I give so much respect to those kids! so many times i have wanted to just take a kid and adopt them to give them a good chance in life but i cant . its interesting how God has a purpose for everything tho. Every unfair thing we go through with be made right by God. in this life or the next!

but its a lot of fun here in guyana. we have found a lot of cool new people ! 

 One guy told us he would read the whole book of mormon in 2 weeks! so we are going back Wednesday to follow up haha! 

We had a bit of a slow week! we had a sick missionary with us. Elder Christensen got Dengue fever and Typhoid Fever at the same time.    So we had to take  Elder A  out teaching so he wouldn't  go crazy staying inside for 2 weeks haha. we rotated who would stay with elder Christensen! so we were slower a bit but i am happy to see Elder Christensen healthy!

Oh today i saw an anaconda! we brought his skin and are going to get some wallets out of it! haha it was just in the middle of the road!  good times!

Sorry my letter is short i gotta go!

Love ya tho!~

Love Elder Pierson

Covering Three Branches

this week has been a pretty interesting week. im not sure if i told you this last week but the New Amsterdam area only has one missionary and his temp has not yet come or been found! soo he has been with us for the last 3 weeks haha. i sure hope i told you since its been that way for 3 weeks! it hs been a lot of fun to have him around! he adds a whole new aspect to our teaching together!  

 

 soo friday gone was a holiday called phagwah. which is a hindu holiday which actually color me rad was based off of i believe. its a color festival. it has some interesting background! and now the cool thing is like half the people in berbice are hindu.. and in skeldon its like 75-80% sooooo they play phagwah very much over here!. basically you just walk around all day talking to people and they smear colorful powder all over you! soo needless to say is that we had a fun time.. it was a lot of fun i actually went up to skeldon on friday to teach and got pretty colorful.    the elders who stayed here didnt have a car and were visiting people to get colored so they were way worse but it was an interesting holiday to work on. . . Ive got a nice souvenir shirt. Skeldon is awesome though! we met with brother sancho's Soon to be wife and she is really cool. during the lesson we actually found out missionaries had visited her before and she wasnt baptized because she "wasnt ready to join the Faith" so we asked her "what about now?" and she said she is ready! so after they are married she will get baptized shortly after! Super Exciting! oh and (subject change) Hindus are really nice they will always feed you! its part of their religion.. soooo we ate a ton on phagwah day! so much vermicelli and sweet rice ! so good!

Its hard to get a ton of work done in  this area  because we rotate days in canje and new amsterdam! soo we go back and forth days and only get to cover our areas half the time! 

For me it is really interesting because i am covering 3 branches ! Canje, New amsterdam, and Skeldon. I actually didnt even get to go to canje church on sunday. i went with Elder Clark to new amsterdam so i didnt even get to see my branch! and the sad thing is i wont be there next week either! we have done some forward planning and actually planned an overnight skeldon Trip with me and Elder Aukusitino saturday coming. So i Will Be in Skeldon branch On sunday! ahh! i can only imagine what traveling high Councillors feel like!

Anyways all is well! its been really amazing to see what has been taking place over here in the area of berbice Guyana! there is talk about a District! we have set that as the goal and the church is slowly but surely working towards that Goal!

 But that is so amazing to know of all the temple attendance! its interesting how when a temple is so close we kind of take it for granted. and down here people long and wish they could attend regularly. its interesting to talk to people who have a temple trip planned like 8 months in advance and when i think about it, any given day i could just decide to go to the temple when i am at home! one thing i love is every temple on the earth weakens the power of satan!

This last week i have been thinking about the spirit in our lives. the question that always comes to mind is , do i heed all the spirits calls? i dont think i do at this point, but i could imagine what would happen if i did!  i always meet people who i would call "spiritual Giants" and its interesting to think at one point they still started as a spiritual baby.  over time trial success with the spirit they become who they are!
The struggle to perfect ourselves is an interesting one!
Gotta love it!
its really great to hear about all that is hapening back home! return missionaries are really the way to growth! i think here in Guyana i have devoted myself to trying to get  more  missionaries  to serve out of these branches! they really need it!

But to hear how much the church is growing and to think of all my friends who will be returning from missions just now! i cannot imagine how fast wards (i almost put branches) will be splitting and new ones organized ! its crazy!

"no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing!"

But Yes all is well over here ! i love guyanese food! especially seven curry! it is great! you get to eat it with your hands!

But I gotta Go!

Love you Tons!

Elder Pierson

New Companion, New Area, New Responsibilities

so this weeek has been an interesting week! 

 

Let me start with the Good! So "TS" never ceases to amaze! he came to church today even tho it  was another conference all the way over in canje! 1:10 min drive!

but best about him was last time we went to see him we brought a young man named "KB". and "KB" is back and ready to serve. now together they decided to go every day or everyother day after 4 in the evening searching for the less actives and teach them the gospel again so that they can come back into the fold and become strong and righteous! so they know the role that the members play in the preaching of the gospel! 

 

Anyways sad news was that on our way back to do "DL"s interview we recieved a text saying he wanted to push his date back again! so sad! but we are going to keep working with him!

so he wasnt baptised saturday gone like we thought.  

 

Another piece of good news is i will finally get a car!

sad news after one transfer in rose hall i am being moved! I am leaving Rose hall and going to the Canje area to be a Zone Leader. its interesting leaving! i feel like i got to know these people so well but yet i feel like a was barely here! 

 

Now once again good news! Elder Aukusitino is coming to replace me! MY first son in the wilderness is coming home!! :)

Wll rose hall is doing well tho ! 

 

WE recently startyed working with a whole ton of Part member families and they are really cool! i cannot wait to hear of the success that elder christensen and elder aukusitino have! 

 

 But yeah my new companion is Elder Fauchier! 

And yeah its a safe area i am only sad because we got new bikes here saturday gone and now i wont get to use it :( haha

 

 Whooo!  haha i got trained on how to help people gain their self reliance! ie: start their own buisness! so you could say i am now a buisness teacher! 

 

 Oh fun fact i havent been telling about for some reason! (i forgot) we have been teaching a reading class twice a week and people are learning to read by our hands! so its amazing

Ahh so much is hapening! im in a kind of car area and everything is happening so fast!

ITs amazing that all of this is just a speck of a speck to God and to our eternal timeline!

Thats is somthing that has always boggled my mind!

WE had eons and eons of time in the pre earth life to prepare for this one game of like 70-100 years and then we have forever to reap the rewards of how well we played! makes me think of the larry gelwix quote! "no regrets"

ANyways all is going good for me!

 

Anywho i love you a lot

Love Elder Pierson

New companion

boy oh boy do i have some interesting things to tell you!

SOoo Let me first begin by kind of apologizing that i never told you but i havent really been able to hear out of my right ear for the past month and a half ish. So Elder Smith Sr being the doctor and all looked at it for me a couple weeks ago. He thought something was wrong with my ear drum, but managed to get me some ear drops that should help, now Me and Elder Leany were driving around St Georges most of Wednesday kind of waiting for our companions to arrive. So me still short of hearing asked elder Smith to look at it again. We got to his apartment after we picked up elder smith and Elder Padilla. And he looked at it again and pulled out some make shift tool made from a Wd 40 straw and a syringe . and flushed out my ear. (dont tell dad that works)( he might try to make one). I can hear now i am healed. So started off the week great! 

 

Then me and elder Padilla went out to work when we got back! and boy oh boy do i like working with Elder Padilla, He is a little bit quiet  in the lessons unless i tell him when he should speak, But he has absolutly no fear in contacting. He sees someone and just goes! Its awesome! he is a wonderful guy. He learned english in school before but is working on perfecting his grammer! so just now he will have it perfect! 

 

Now  we had a great week, met a members long distant cousin named "C". and taught her once, she is looking for a church.   so it should be great! she actually came this Sunday.

"KA"s bus isn't fixed but she is really progressing. she talked about how she wants to make a lot of changes and she is starting to really think about what her next step is. 

 

Ok now the story about church... Buckle up its a great one.

Ok so Sunday morning Me and Elder Padilla,Look around and see we have no bread, so thats no big usually, Bro odebenu brings it.

Now, This particular sabbath we had some weird torrential downpour going on, 

(another Tropical Wave) 

So brother james got there before it hit and he walked with our investigator "MH". And then Came the rain and after that only people with cars showed up again. But Brother Odebenu didnt show up till 15 mins after 10. so sacrament started late. And the sacrament table was all set up.   So we started promptly after his arrival. When sacrament rolled around it was me and elder padilla who were blessing the sacrament. When we lifted the cloth to our surprise there was no bread. So we quietly exited the building and ran downstairs and grabbed whatever we had that could potentially be used for sacrament. All we had was spicy Nacho Tortilla Chips....  So we had For Remembrance of the body of Christ Spicy Nacho Tortilla chips. Must say it was a stressful sunday but it all worked out. Weird experience also. 

 

but all is well.

Teaching is well!

Elder Padilla is going to be a fantastic missionary! he is a boss! 

Elder Aukusitino emailed me and said that he saw i begat another son haha so im happy to hear he is flourishing in his English skills! 

 

Thanks for everything you do for me! i love you so much! 

 

Love Elder pierson

Transfers to a new Island

Well St vincent is Hot as always! Plenty sweating gets done here haha. 

 But its weird, being completly honest with you when i got transfered to st vincent i was kinda sad, i thought it was too close and to much alike to St.Lucia. But Looking back i think of first all the fun times me and elder regis had, and then how much i have come to love this area. One song has been going through my mind, It says "you dont know what you've got till its gone" so i might have just given it away.    i am getting transferred off of St. Vincent. But i always thought i was that  quiet missionary that nobody really noticed.    But the branch is amazing, i got a special recognition for my service here from the branch presidency.    And plenty people told me how much they are going to miss me. One member specifically, she has been a member for 2 years and she had only cried when the missionary who baptised her left. but she is crying now.    But St vincent is awesome , we are definitely coming back here when we come to visit my mission.

Well My new area and my new companion is... *Drumroll Please* Grenville, Grenada. with Elder Leany. (he is actually my zone leader right now.) we are blanking the area. 

So that will be a ton of fun. I fly out tomorrow at 5 (most likely 7, liat is always late). we have already started to make plans for this new area. :)

But as for "G", she did indeed get baptised! she is so awesome. she was so happy to be officially recorded in the church records as a member.

But there have been plenty interesting events that i have seen, as we work hard and set high goals (like 3 baptisms for next transfer) the lord is preparing those who will be ready to recieve this gospel and placing them in our paths. 

Also i saw my first Rasta Church meeting. IT was weird, All i saw was a bunch of people dressed in robes loud music coming from this house, and smoke pouring our the front door haha. Sooo yeah it was interesting!

We desperatly need sr couples here in the West indies, sooooo if you guys wanna come ;) haha

Thanks for your prayers and support! i love you so much!! 

Love Elder pierson

25 Year Celebration in the West Indies

So i have plenty interesting news for the week. 

First off a little bit of sad news. It seems like This happened forever ago but i still havent told you yet, Remember My favourite old lady in this mission that i wanted to introduce to you all, (Granny). Well about a week ago she passed away, So unfortunatly you wont be able to meet her until i Introduce you all to her In Paradise. But that is all right, She was ready and almost desiring to go. She actually really wanted to go for a couple reasons, One becuase she was in pain almost every day with her feet, and two she really wanted to do missionary work. So she promised to come with us teaching when she passed away, so she has been testifying right beside me for sure. But That is all the sad news i bear, 

As for the happy new i would say somthing real fun that happened was helping Brother adams With his house, He needed to cast the roof of his house with cement and we got to mix and pour it all with shovels and wheel barrows

 oh and this morning we went to see the set for pirates of the caribbean, it was pretty cool, but it was partially destroyed by hurricanes and swells. Still a cool experiance !  

I really want to watch that movie so that i can point out all the things i saw to you haha. 

But other than that another fun thing was definitly a celebration the church had. Called celebration 2015. Where we celebrated the fact that the church has been in the west Indies for 25 years now. and it was full of dancing singing, acting and Art. 

Um well now for the spiritual side of things. This week has been a really good growing experience. As a mission we have been asked to tape something called a mission culture onto our Refrigerator, and it talks about the attributes successful missions and missionaries have in moving forward the work, So i really gave that one a look and its interesting how one really stuck out to me, It says "Missionaries Pray for and expect miracles" So i gave it some thought. Alot of times when i would pray in the mornings before we go out i would ask God to place someone in my way who was prepared to hear the message. And i would really leave it at that. Then i wouldn't look for those people. But after reading that i kinda changed it up, i once again "Awoke" Spiritually like the book of mormon Prophets always invite us to do, and i gave my prayers some more meaning. I Started to "Council with the Lord in all (my) Doings" Alma 36-36; and he really has been directing my path. I have met plenty Prepared and spiritually ready people. Instead of asking and forgetting i have been counseling with the lord and looking for his help. 

So that is definitely something that has given me a big change this time. And really where all that comes from is that CD you Sent to me. The 5 Scriptures to motivate you to action, by John Bytheway. it talks about all that need to awake from The sleeps of hell, and arouse our faculties to action. So Lots has been hapening. Plenty Blessing and miracles have been coming, Which makes me feel personally really good. ITs been kinda tough training, i feel like things have been slowing down alot and i was getting a littly Antsy. But, "the Tender Mercies of the Lord are over all those who he hast chosen" So things are going really good! i Love being a missionary! its the best! 

But anyways ! 

I love you so much!

Have a wonderful week!

Love Elder Pierson

Escalator Missionary

Just recently i have been committing myself to become more of an escalator missionary than an elevator missionary, (continually finding new people to teach instead of staying with the group i have) and it has been going really well! we have been able to meet so many more really cool people! 

 

As for how the carribean weather has been treating me i would say it has been being kind of mean. so basically the story of my life right now or at least for the past week was either it was Raining cats and dogs so we were stuck inside, or it has been blisteringly hot like probably in the 40's so it has been kind of fun haha. the best is when we are climbing a mountain to go and teach someone and by the time we get to the top we are both drenched from head to toe in sweat. so it is fun being a servent of the Lord! 

 

NO matter what comes our was we have angels round about to support us and we are given Help from on high to overcome all Trials :) 

 

Success of the week was probably meeting this lady named "Z", She was actually kind of wondering and trying to commit herself more to God, And while in that state two missionaries contacted her in her home in toronto. She listened to them for a week and was unsure, But one day we had no scheduled appointments so we decided to go to a new area. and while in this new area we happened to contact her house and meet with her while she was here for vacation. She has taken from this experience that God Is really trying to guide her too the right path.
Along with this meeting we were able to expound on the knowledge she had already. She understood the priesthood and commited to be baptized, and although we wont see her bapized into this branch she had come to a knowledge of the truth and will be a blessing to those elders back in Canada! 

 

Oh also we have been working with a girl named "G" who has to be rebaptized because her records were lost and she was baptized at 7. But she has been working out some repentance stuff and this sunday she talked with the Branch president and she was literally beaming with excitementa after! she is preparing for the 26th of this month and she is so excited!

Missions are really fun! 

 

I Love you so Much! have an enjoyable week, And you are blessed :)

Love Elder Pierson

On Splits

So apparently I was wrong on the whole we get locked down for carnival, because they just moved us to a next area where we would be away from all the carnival and we went on splits with the other missionaries. so that was really fun! 

 

I got to serve with Elder Bingham for a couple lessons and that was fun! plus his companion Elder Nedd, he is a really cool Caribbean missionary, one of the best that I know actually. So it was a fun . 

 

So the house is finally getting all the work it wanted done! that is super cool! i really miss that, working on the house, but i get my fill of house working when i go to one of the members and help him build his house haha.  

 

As for "ST", well she is really not doing so well, she told us she loves carnival and her kids go all the time. And she asked my opinion on carnival, so i told her "it is Satans holiday" and that going to it is a sin. She agreed but seemed to joke about it with her kids. she also hasn't slowed down, we haven't gotten to sit down with her really yet! so i think we are going to drop her next time we go by. 

 

As for "H" we havent gotten a hold of her, we will probably try to see her tomorrow. 

 

But cool thing of this week was a girl named "IS". She is super cool, she meets with us and really wants to know what we share. She recently accepted a baptismal date for the 10th of august, so that is going to be awesome. She even ran away to georgetown during carnival. 

 

Also another girl named "J", told us "i need to come to church so i can know for sure what you say is true, so i can be baptized and join you guys" SO that was cool! 

 

Things are going well even during the carnival!  

 

I think this week i have really been brought to rely on the Lord More fully! and the effects were amazing! 

 

Love Elder Pierson

In Lockdown

SO first off and most importantly one of those contacts my companion had with The Ap is cousins once removed with Kevin Durrant sooooo That is cool. we started teaching her yesterday! and she is awesome! 

But things in the West indies mission are going great! Things are really progressing here! Just 2 years ago the mission baptized 300 people and that was a new thing, more than ever before. This year we are on track and setting the goal to baptize 600 people! soo that is real cool! 

And we are officially and noticably entering into hurricane season! it is starting to rain so much!

I am doing wonderful though. 

Coolest story on the week would have to be ummm well zone conference first of all. it was as always such a spiritual experience.  Also during This conference we had plenty elders from St Lucia here and many stayed in my apartment. They broke a chair, but no scene. anywho we got to teach with them so i went on splits and me and a guy named elder fauchier and his comp elder Vaughn went and taught a lady named "H", She is cool we actually taught her and found out why she wanted to meet with us. Her desire was to Meet with us because she believes that we can help her to gain some faith, and she really wants to be able to have that. 

So It was a good lesson and she is very sincere. 

Its awesome to hear about the indexing challange, Its so cool to see a stake pick up the challenge and just run with it as well as we did with Omni! so im glad they issued another challange. So work hard! i recently found out doing family history is a commandment that we should follow especially if we want to be exalted! 

Oh and good thing you asked about carnival, it is this next monday and tuesday, and the whole town will be locked down. we will probably go to another elders apartment because we live right in the heart of town and apparently another elder went to carnival so they move us now. 

But thanks for the birthday wishes ! its so weird that im gonna be a 19 year old! that age change really changed my life! imagine i could still be home right now preparing for my mission. :0 Crazy! 

Anyways Thanks!

I love you!

Have a Wonderful week!

Elder Pierson

Tropical Wave

Things are going Great here in St Vincent!

It indeed has gone into the hurricane seasons but no hurricanes as of now. We had a "tropical wave" pass By gave the island a good bit of much needed rain. I am not to sure what a tropical wave is so you could google it and probably find out whagwan de. 

 

Life is Irie, we actually got to take one of the AP's out teaching and contacting with us on sunday, it was really fun! its cool to have someone so experienced who has worked on their teaching skill so much. He was a boss at finding! which is somthing i have set as a goal to improve on. He talks with literally almost everyone. I mean my whole mission so far i have been told by my older companions and just kinda felt that contacting after dark is no good, and street contacting is something i have never really done, but we Street contacted at night last night and we got some of the best contacts i have gotten in a while. Its amazing how open people here are to talk to you! especially if they feel you are a messenger from God. So that was a lot of fun! 

 

Well one cool exprerience i had this week was that we climbed to the top of a mountain one day while searching for people to teach and apparently while trying to come down to find people we started to cross into someones yard, and this guy was not impressed. He was extreemly high, i could tell cause of his eyes, and he had a cutlass Aka machete. and he came and not yelled but began to threaten us and became very angry that we were crossing on his yard. so we turned around and tried to calmly explain that we were just a little lost and we thought that was the path down. But anyways he didnt really listen but led /forced us to walk a specific direction. anyways i thanked him for showing us where the path was and he seemed to calm down a lot, even became nice to us. but he left and we are alive. (Elder Aukusitino could have taken the Knife away from him anywho so we werent scared.)  :)  

 

 

As for the work during carnival season, well it is tough to see so many members stop coming to church during the season but its inspiring to see so many faithful members who never "check  their religion at the holiday"  

 

Its interesting to see how much missions prepare people for faithful membership and also service in the church later in life. i mean the members here who are returned missionaries are super strong, and i can understand why. They had all those struggles on their mission getting people to church and also they learned exactly why it was important and gained such a strong testimony. I have learned so much and can really see The difference in people who accept the gospel fully.. i like the scripture in Doctrine and covenants i believe its 88:34-35. might be wrong on that i dont have my scriptures,The library takes our bags at the door. Anywho it talks about how if we keep our eye single to the glory of god we will be Enlightened and we will be able to see things clearly. I have a bookmark That labels this scripture as the key to success. found it at the MTC and kept it ever since.  

 

So i told a lady that i had a shirt that says i am a mommas boy, and she thought i meant like when i was 6 or something. She was shocked and really understood that i am and always will be a mommas boy when i told her i own it now. haha 

 

 

Enjoy your week and remember with an eye single to the glory of god, Everything becomes clear! 

 

 

Love you!

Elder Pierson

The Priesthood Power is amazing

 

This week has been an interesting week, I am feeling very good now and i dont even remember being sick. :) 

 

But things with missionary work has started to get a little slower. Most people we teach who decide they want to be baptized always say "After Carnival" sooo its tough. plus all the activities are really starting to pick up especially the kids activities. so all the parents and families we are trying to work with are being good parents and spending time with their kids at these parties. haha so i cant really complain they are following the proclamation to the world "the Family" and spending time together . But its going well. I actually have no idea what i ate or maybe what got to my hands before i ate, but it didnt seem to effect Elder Aukusitino. He was perfectly fine, probably just bored out of his mind reading while i slept :).  

 

But as for awesome things is we started teaching this Girl named N, and she is really cool. After we taught her about the restoration she was very intrigued, She took notes the whole time we were teaching. She is also very open with her questions and very honest as to what she understands. We taught her about the book of Mormon last night actually and she committed to read it. 

 

Other than that a highlight was the fact they me and Elder Aukusitino Caught a bat the other night.. Well ok Elder Aukusitino did all the catching, but I was a faithful light holder and broomstick retriever haha A sister said she had some bats in her roof . so me and elder Aukusitnio went to investigate. And yeah we caught em. 

 

Anyways as for transfers i actually am staying with my son! i get to train him for another transfer. so it should be a fun transfer. He is pretty cool, still working on the language tho!

Elder Brown my old district leader is leaving the Island Heading for the homeland. good old St Lucia!. So that will be cool, we will see him again on friday and "satday" (as the vincy would call it)

But once again me and Elder bingham. Never getting seperated! Speaking of elder bingham! he gave me a blessing while i was sick and it was quite amazing actually. After the blessing my body went from dead and i hate life, to i felt perfectly fine! it was amazing. From that point on i Felt much better! Priesthood!  

 

Oh and other cool thing i found out while on a trade off. There was this little girl.

Ok this story is cool. 

This little girl is sooo sick and in pain, Her mother is a longtime member in the branch. But she is like 5 or 6 and she had a hernia in her stomach and she needed surgery. but they couldn't get her in until the end of the month. So her mom knew that waiting that long wasnt possible. Anyways she called the second councillor in the branch presidency for a blessing for her daughter, but he was far away and couldnt come. so He called us and had us come over. And we gave her daughter a blessing. But this was on a friday i think. but we gave her a blessing, and i felt inspired that he pain wouldnt dissapear at the time of the blessing but that she would be able to handle it and she would over time be healed. anyways we blessed her,She had the best sleep of her life said her mom, but in the morning it came back she was screaming and crying and unbearably in pain. and i hadnt  heard past then. i continued to pray for this little girl because it was so terrible that someone that small should have to go through somthing that bad, especially until the end of the month. but i didnt know more Until i went on a trade off with elder Leany. And while talking to Sister Gordon (the Mother) we found out that after that morning it came back; The pain hasent come back. and when they went to the hospital to have it checked out, they could find nothing. There was no evidence anything had ever been wrong with her stomach and she is back to being a happy little girl! 

 

So the Priesthood is amazing and prayer and faith and God. All Amazing. 

 

Anyways it has been an interesting week and I'm loving it so much!

It's cool to hear about all the things from home. I always just think how fast time goes thinking back to Elder Dumke sitting in the festiva till me now being on a mission, and all the young boys I see now, soon I'm going to be just a memory of a missionary they had when they are serving! ive been thinking about this and it kinda blows my mind haha. 

 

Anyways I love hearing all the things from home! 

Anways love you so much!

Have an amazing week and we are working hard in this mission. side note as a mission we have about 260 baptisms so far this year : )  whoo! 

 

Love you much

Alofa Elder Pierson

Food Poisoning

So this week was pretty good! I mean of course it came to kind of a sad ending. I mean don't freak out, I am doing quite good now.

I might have been in the hospital on Sunday haha. Turns out me and food poisoning don't agree with each other. I think I threw up in total from Saturday to Monday a total of 40 times, but that's no scene, I feel plenty good now and I just have to take some gravol for a week to completely get better. 

 

But enough about me silly experiences, time for gospel experiences. 

  

Well I'm not sure if I told you but "Q" actually moved. So we were kinda lost as to what to do. But through much searching and following promptings from the spirit we found her new house. so we went and she seems like she is still pretty interested. so that is always a good thing. 

 

Oh other cool thing is that im not sure if you remember a guy named "T", but we are still teaching him and we recently went over the law of chastity, and he wants to commit himself to live it, He said it would be tough but he is going to try. He is probably one of the most humble people i have met on my mission. 

 

Oh and another cool thing about this week is that one of the members we go by and visit, She actually has to be baptized again, but she finally picked a date for herself she is going to be baptized on the 12 of july! whoo!  

 

But yes training is going well, And elder aukusitino is getting better with the language, he is actually starting to understand people when they speak, even when they speak vincy talk sometimes. so things are going good!  

 

And ah "S's" bakes ! Bakes will never be the same for me ! she definitly makes em the best, but its cool to hear that her family still remembers me ! i miss that island and that family for sure! 

 

Well anyways i am doing great and am loving every minute of my mission where i am no throwing up ! :) 

 

Thanks for the support!

Love Elder Pierson 

Rain is a Good Thing

Mission life is going great! I love doing this work, it isn't always easy but its always worth it. 

 

Fun thing of the week was that on Monday night we got a call from the sisters asking us to join in a week long service project , so of course we said yes!, Then we find out that we are to wake up at 5 and be at the hospital by 5:45 so that we can grab brooms and sweep the streets of all the garbage every morning till Saturday haha. Lots of early morning with a tired and worn out son! But now it is over, but the effects were amazing i must say. 

 

I think you're a prophet mom, you were right,  because "B"s mom did soften up. She saw us cleaning the streets and the night we went to see "B" she was really warm and inviting, she seemed like she really liked us. she even opened up and told us about two missionaries that used to come see here. She couldnt remember their names but it seemed like they were fond memories. Of course she seemed a little apprehensive about hearing anything so i thought we should just leave and let her continue to soften. but it was amazing ! 

 

Same thing with another members daughter. she never really talked to us but one night we came over and she was talking to us like we were her best friends. She had all sorts of questions and she really seemed like she was grateful for the help we gave to the city. 

 

So all in all the service was good. Seems like everyone saw us haha. 

 

Any ways Highlight of the week while teaching was a lady named "E". She is actually the mother of 3 kids who are friends with "K". The 3 kids come to church actually. And we talked to the mother and she says her kids seem to like the church and she knows that she needs to go to church so one day she will start coming with them. We actually got to teach her the message of the restoration and she seemed like she was really interested. We actually invited her to be baptized and she said if she knew it was true she would be. she doesnt have a baptismal date yet, but she is planning on reading  the tract again and coming with her questions to the next time that we meet. She is very prepared.! 

 

Ah so it sounds like all the cool stuff back home happens when I am not  there haha, a broadcast across all of Canada and so many mission calls haha and so many prospective elders : )  it makes me so happy to hear all those boys the year younger than me making that decision! 

Things are lots of fun here in the mission field  but I'm not thinking of any stories.

 

As for the weather we are actually just moving into hurricane season so it is starting to get windy and raining more but its good we were just in a drought so "rain is a good thing" (country songs :) ) 

Anyways i love you much!

Love Elder Pierson

8 months in

This week in the WIM(west indies mission) has been pretty alright by my standards. Its so weird being a trainer, sometimes I just feel like we get barely anything accomplished, Mainly because where most missionaries start their day is at 10 Am, we start our proselyting day at 1Pm. (He hasn't said why, but his companion is learning english so it could be for language study) But it is still one of the best things I have ever done. 

 

This week was good as far as getting some good lessons in. We actually have been able to start teaching some past investigators again who seem pretty good. It was a blessing to have so many members who are excited about the work and who can show us to people who are ready! Member work really is the only way to go. 

 

But as for things taught, while we were trying to teach "ST", (trying because she was cleaning and wouldnt stop :( ) Anyways we taught her children and it was really cool, because one of her Children named "CT" has met with missionaries before, and you know how missionaries work, They invited her to pray to find out if its true, and she did. But she said "she didnt get an answer till now"  so she says while we were teaching she felt it was true! So that was cool. 

 

As for "B", He is ummmm im not sure. he had like a million questions for us when we went over again, most of them were really easy to answer, but some you could tell he had been given anti material. and then i found out where he was given that. While teaching his mom came out and started interrogating/yelling at us about Joseph Smith and How we hate black people and yeah so that was weird. But she left eventually when i offered to tell her the truth, but It didnt seem to phase "B", so hopefully he is still open to the truth.  

We had a pretty cool service activity this week, We actually got to help Build a house. The second councillor in the branch presidency is adding on to his house and had a whole tonne of cement blocks that needed to be moved 40 yards down a hill to his house. So we did just that. Each block weighs probably like 30-40 pounds and i started carrying like 2 at a time. Eventually we formed a chain so we didn't have to carry them as far but  it was good tough work. My hands have gotten soft since ive been on my mission haha I got a blister. Anyways it was fun. We have been helping him quite a bit and it is cool to see the progression he makes. But he reminds me a lot of dad. He told me he has all the plans for the house in his head he just needs to get them out while building. Its fun tho!

Anyways i love you!

have a fantastic week! 

 

Love Elder Pierson

Missionary work is fun

I am doing fantastic! Life is pretty fun and i am learning how to speak some samoan :) haha 

 

A lavalava

It honestly feels like I just opened that call maybe 3 months ago! i honestly have never felt time moving as fast as it does out here. 

But yeah things are going  well!  

 

Unfortunatly "ST" did not come to church this week and we went to teach her but she was super busy. so instead we did some service for her. Elder Aukusitino climbed to the top of her coconut tree and picked all of the coconuts. so she was happy. it was too tall for anyone in her family to get them.  

 

But she actually invited us over tonight, she is going to feed us and we are going to Share a message,Probably about the Book of Mormon. And the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is awesome and i have really high hopes that once she hears about additional Scripture she will cling too it.and love it alot. so we hope tonight will be a major turning point in our teaching her. 

 

Another Great thing we had was we met a guy named "B". He is pretty cool. Missionaries passed by and gave him a tract 3 years ago and never came back! so I guess they planted a seed for us to harvest. However I kinda panicked and the lesson went kind of sloppy, not as good as I wished. but by the End I felt Like i just needed to share another How to begin teaching point from PMG and told hime we arent perfect teachers but we know what we share to be true. Then I bore my testimony to him about the restoration,Jesus Christ and The Prophets. And invited him to read and pray about The Message we share. He could feel The spirit im sure and he gave a very solemn "Yes, Yes i will Pray about this" So he is cool and I think he will progress.

Anyways its so cool to hear about the Rugby going on back home. i miss it quite bad. we actually got to play a game last p-day out in a field by the airport. and the ball went over the fence :( But a firetruck in the airport saw us waiving for it and he came and got the ball for us :)

The Two boys are still doing well, I found out one wasnt baptized because his father said no Before and the other is told he isnt ready for baptism. but we still work with them! 

 

"K" is doing really good. We actually havent got to see her very often,she keeps going places but she is always In   church on sunday sitting with sister adams! so its going real well. 

 

Being a missionary is probably one of the most fun things i have ever done, I Love it! 

 

But i hope you have a great week 

Love Elder Pierson

Woven hat and glasses

Elder Pierson getting in touch with his creative side

The real weaving master