Miracles <3

This week was so great!!! Well... to be honest it was a really hard, slow week. Just about every lesson fell though, no one would let us in their doors, and all the people that we thought were prepared dropped off the face of the earth  But we worked hard and were exactly obedient and in the end, we saw miracles.

So, to start off the miracles, on Friday we had AWESOME Zone Meeting where we talked about a few things we can do to hasten the work in our areas. The things were, setting up church tours, inviting people to be baptized, and talking to EVERYONE we see. So we decided to implement what we learned and do that and because of it we met Luis. A man who has met missionaries before but never got a chance to really talk to them. He told us how he feels like Mormons live what they believe more than any other religion and he thinks he needs to be baptized because he has never been baptized before. So he has been reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and had a church tour yesterday. He is on date to be baptized on March 15th.

Our next AMAZING miracle is: Our investigator, Crystal, was dropped about 4 weeks ago because she was avoiding us :( But, yesterday we got to church and she was there sitting in the chapel. She said she woke up that morning with the strongest feeling that she needed to go to church. So she did and we invited her to the New Member Firseside our mission has once a month and she came. All the people that were baptized in the last month had the chance to go up and share their testimonies and why they decided to be baptized. The spirit was so strong as they bore their simple, sincere testimonies. At the end we were talking to her and she says, "So... when can I be baptized? I know that this is what I need to do and I want you to help me get ready!" So, she is getting baptized on March 8th and we are really excited to help her grow in her testimony and be prepared for that day!

I'm not sure if I have written about this before, if so sorry!, but something we have been talking to people about a lot lately is the importance of reading the Book of Mormon daily and then applying what we learn into our lives. 

So the first verse in the Book of Mormon says:

  1 I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen many afflictions in the course of my days, nevertheless,having been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having had a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God, therefore I make a record of my proceedings in my days.

So, the birth of Nephi. 

And the last verse of the Book of Mormon says:

 34 And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you beforethe pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.

And it all ends with the death of Moroni. The Book of Mormon starts with birth and ends with death and everything that is in between is for our lives. If we us it as a map and really apply what it says we can be just like Moroni and KNOW that we are going to rest in the paradise of God.

I love you all so so much!!!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Seahurst otra vez :)

Today is transfer day and I am going to be staying in Seahurst another transfer. 4 in a row? Heavenly Father must really love me! Hermana Phillips and I are still companions and are SO EXCITED to be together still. 

So Cristal is being baptized on 8th and we have been meeting with her a lot this last week. She is so amazing! Since Monday she has read over 350 pages in the Book of Mormon, came to church and activities, and is praying a lot. She has made up her mind and knows this is the truth and is working really hard to stay strong. We're so proud of her! 

My favorite family ever, the Giles, are doing so great! After years and years of inactivity in the church they have came to church every Sunday these last 2 months, except when it got cancelled of course. For our lesson with them this week I was actually gone to May Valley on exchanges, but what they did was so great I just have to share it anyways! We were planning for their lesson that morning and for some reason we couldn't think of ANYTHING. It was a struggle. And for some reason I kept thinking of my Adult Roles class in high school when we wrote letters to ourselves and the teacher took them to send to us 5 years later. I started talking to Hermana Phillips about it and we decided to do something similar with them. We had them write a personal goal, a family goal, a church goal, and they testimonies and then they also wrote a little letter to themselves. They sealed them all up and we're going to send them to them in year to make sure they always remember their love for the Gospel. They set amazing goals like not missing a week of church the entire year, or finishing the Book of Mormon as a family and things like that. I was so excited to see how much they have grown in the relationships with Christ just in the short 4 months that I have known them :)

Anyways, there's no pictures this week cause... I can't find my camera anywhere. But I just want everyone to know that missionary work is the best thing ever. I'm so excited to be serving at the same time as my amazing Grandparents and Brother. This is the Lord's work and I know that as we work hard, turn our eye single to the glory of God, and LOVE those we serve, miracles will happen everyday!

Con Amor,

 

Hermana Pier

SNOW DAY!!

Well firstly, if you want to know how to shut down all of Seattle all
you've got to do it have it snow a few inches. On Saturday night it started
snowing and snowing so we got a voicemail from the Assistants to the
President saying that all missionaries needed to go park their cars and
spending the rest of the night and next day walking around until further
notice. So, we called and cancelled our set appointments and we headed
home. We started pulling into our apartment complex and we could not get
our car up the hill to get into the complex, it was too slick. I got out of
the car and was pushing it while Hermana Phillips drove and I was slipping
all over the place. A random man saw us struggling and he asked if we
wanted help, so of course I said YES! So we were both pushing when he falls
flat on his face, we felt so bad!!!!! Eventually we got up the hill and all
was well.

The great thing that came from this all was with our investigator Gabriela,
who was a referral from the Seahurst Elders. She lives in the same
apartments as us and we've been trying to get in contact with her for a few
weeks. As we were walking around to go find people we saw her outside
playing in the snow with her little siblings. We helped them with their
snowman and got to know her a little better and she said that we could come
visit her the next day. The lesson ended up going really well and she
prayed at the end of the lesson that Heavenly Father would help her to know
if these things are true and help her to read the Book of Mormon.

The bad thing was.. church was cancelled :( We were so sad! We had been
focusing this week a lot on getting investigators to church and we had more
people than ever committed to coming but then it got cancelled. Luckily we
know that if we keep working hard we can get them there next week :)

One other little miracle we saw this week was with our investigator Sonya.
She's so great and prepared but her husband isn't as interested and won't
let her go to church. On Friday we called Yared to ask her if she wanted to
go to her lesson with us and she came. When we got there Sonya wasn't home
but Filipe was. He invited us in and luckily since Yared was there we could
go in. MIRACLE! He said he didn't know much about God like his wife did but
he was willing to listen. It was amazing to see his change of heart
throughout the lesson. Near the end of the lesson Sonya walked in right as
we were committing Filipe to come to church and she looked SO excited.
We're excited to keep working with them and keep softening their hearts :)

This week I read an talk from the February Ensign titled, "Living a Life of
Peace, Joy, and Purpose" by Elder Richard G. Scott. First off, it's
amazing, GO READ IT!

https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/02/living-a-life-of-peace-joy-and-purpose?lang=engSecondly,

there's on part I really love. It says, "Use the Savior Jesus Christ as your example for life. Use His
teachings as your handbook for life. Never make exceptions to them." I love this so much! I
have learned so much that as we do that and as we choose to follow the
Savior and never back down for ANYONE, we will always success and Satan
can't stop us. I'm so grateful that I have this wonderful gospel to help
guide my life.

I love you all so much!!!!!!!

Con Amor,
Hermana Pier