I love to see the temple

This week was absolutely wonderful. It's weeks like this that I wonder if life will ever be as good as it has been on my mission. I love it here. To start off Berenice was baptized. It went so well and was a beautiful baptismal service. Lots of people came and made Bere feel like part of the family. Her husband, Kreg, came and he definitely felt the spirit a lot. Also, she met with the branch president on Sunday after church and got a temple recommend and is going to the temple to do baptisms with the branch tonight. I'm so happy for her. She is so receptive to the spirit and really understands the doctrine as if she'd been a member for years. God has definitely been working in her life for years. 

As for the temple today the mission was able to go to the temple. It was so amazing and very needed since we haven't gone in 6 months. It's amazing the peace that is felt there. It's unlike any other place in the world; it truly is the house of the Lord. I love that every single time I go I am able to clean my mind a little and see a piece of what God sees in all of us as His children.

Also, MIRACLES! So at the baptism a potential investigator showed up. We had invited him over a week before and hadn't checked up or reminded him or anything. Unluckily he was a half hour late and missed the actual baptism. But he felt so bad and was sad he missed it. He didn't want to stay for the food after that all the branch members brought. (We made arroz con leche. So good). But the branch took him under their weeks and took over. He got to know a bunch of people and even came to church the next day. YAY!

Also this Sunday was a new member fireside and we took a few people to it. And guess who was there?! Marco, my first baptism of my mission. Oh my goodness I don't know if I've ever been so happy in my life. I got to talk to him for a while after and it was the greatest. He is doing so well, has the Melquisedec Priesthood, and is preparing to enter the temple this October, exactly a year after his baptism. I'm so proud of him. He truly let the Gospel on Jesus Christ guide him and is one of the greatest people I've ever met. I'm so excited to be there in the temple with him that day and see the happiness and joy it brings him. I remember walking around the temple grounds with him last October and him asking why we were so happy. And if it was the temple that helped us be that way. I know that this gospel brings true and lasting happiness. We can return to our Heavenly Father's presence with our families by our side. How amazing is that?

Con muchisisisisimo amor,

Hermana Pier

Pics

us and marco. Note the beautiful photo bombing

bere's baptism

Us getting frozen yogurt to celebrate my one year mark. I wore the same outfit I wore the day I ended the MTC haha. 

The best year of my life :)

Sorry I forgot to tell y'all I was emailing today family. We have temple trips so we had P-day changed. Our half of the mission actually goes next week so i will be emailing on Tuesday the nest two weeks as well, just a heads up. This was a wonderful, spectacular, awesome week. I'm going to make this short because we have to take the car into the shop. (We got a nail in the tire).

To start off we shall talk about Bere. She's amazing. This week she was having a bit of a hard time because she really misses her family in Mexico. Which is completely understandable. So the Elders came over and gave her a blessing and it was so great. The spirit was so powerful. In the blessing she was promised that she would be an example to others and that as she lived the Gospel her family would follow her example. The Lord knew that it was exactly what she needed to hear and it gave her a lot of hope. Also, she had her baptismal interview after church on Sunday and she is getting baptized this Saturday :):):):) We are so excited for her. She is so prepared and I know that her Heavenly Father is so proud of her for this decision.

This week I'll hit my 1 year mark... that's terrifying. I'm very grateful for this past year and all the things I've learned. I'm sorry i really don't have time but just know that missionary work is the best. So I have a challenge for every single one of you. This week pray for opportunities to share the Gospel and then ACT. God will put people in your path and you will see miracles. Us missionaries can't do this work effectively without your help! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Pics-

The flowers here are INCREDIBLE!

Us teaching people how to pray by building tortas.

And when we accidentally matched for zone conference. Embarrassing hahah

Another Dandy Week

This week was just fantastic. We started it off with a awesome sports day as a zone where we played soccer and ultimate frisbee. So fun! Also on Tuesday we had interviews with President Choi and a Zone Meeting. We talked a lot about the Lord's high expectations and about our goal to baptize 100 people in this month of June. If we meet the goal President Choi is going to make a big Korean BBQ for all of us. It's a big goal that's more than triple the baptisms that we normally have in a month but we KNOW that we can reach it if we work hard and love those we serve. If every companionship can help someone prepare to enter the waters of baptism this month. Already in this  first week we have seen many great miracles and know that we will continue to see them. 

Speaking of baptisms, sadly we have to move back the date for Berenice's baptism. Her best friend/ fellowship had to leave to Florida after an unexpected death. She won't be back for about a week and a half. We are currently thinking that it will be on the 24th but we're not positive. We are trying to figure out the details right now. But she's doing so great and is excited to be baptized.  We taught her about some of the commandments this week and asked her if she would commit to living them and her answer was, "Of course! I mean, that's a small sacrifice to pay in order to be able to live with God again." She really is so prepared and great and is going to be an amazing member of the church.

This week we also got to help one of our members, Jessica, move to a new apartment. To take us she took us out to eat with another friend who has actually met with missionaries before. His name is Eduardo and he seems like he has a lot of interest in learning more so that is great.

Things are going great over all. Please pray for Cesar who is going to be be getting baptized on the 26th. He is having some doubts come up and is questioning his decision to be baptized a little. But he is reading, praying, and coming to church to we have faith that he can do it :) 

Oh one fun experience for the week- The other night i wake up to Hermana Norton at the side of my bed saying, "Hermana, did you hear the alarm going off?" And I was just thinking "Dang it, it's already 6:15?" But really it was 1 o'clock in the morning. So this random clock in the other room just started going off at 12:57 in the morning. And being girls and all, of course we thought of the worst situations ever and were sure that someone was in our apartment. We decided to go check the entire apartment but not without grabbing weapons in case we found someone. (AKA bottles of shampoo and hairspray that were sitting on my desk.) Luckily no one was there :) But we're still not sure how the alarm went off when it wasn't set. Needless to say we completely unplug the clock every night before we go to bed hahaha. 

I love you all SO much. 

Con Amor, 

Hermana Pier

                                                  zone sports day 

us with some pupusas from a member. Haha we couldn't open them up. struggles.

"Do you have the Faith to..?

This week I learned a whole bunch. We got a call from our sister training leaders leaders at the beginning of this week and they posed to us the question, "Do you Hermanas have the faith that you could baptize weekly? That God will put the people in your path that are ready to be baptized?" And so it make us really think, these are God's children and He loves them SO SO much. Of course if we had the faith to baptize and we worked than it was possible. They challenged us to come up with a scripture that would motivate us to work hard and to know that these high expectations are possible. I chose Alma 37:6-7. It says,

 6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances dothconfound the wise.

 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of MANYsouls.

I love it because in the context the scriptures not about missionary work but it applies so well. We can be the means of bringing MANY souls unto Christ. So Hermana Norton and I decided that we were going to have a baptism that weekend. We decided to focus ourselves even more so on our purpose and to work diligently and faithfully to make that happen. Well... in the end we didn't baptize someone BUT we saw so many miracles. 

Starting with Berenice. I just love her so much. She's doing fabulously. We had a few lessons with her this week and she's more sure than ever about being baptized. We also got to go over and do a few hours of service for her to help clean our her house to make room for the new baby that she'll be having in January. It was great because we got a chance to know her a little better. On Sunday she was participating a lot in all of the classes and the branch just loves her. And then that night she came to the New Member Fireside and got to listen to the stories and testimonies of the recent converts. It was so great. The spirit was so strong and she really felt it. I LOVE HER! She should be getting baptized the 13th so please please pray for her to stay strong. 

Another miracles from the new member fireside was our investigator Cesar. He was a former who had been dropped after coming to church 3 times and having all the lessons because he didn't have any desire to be baptized. But we felt like we should try him again this week so we invited him to come to church and he came. He decided he wanted to come to the fireside as well and as I said earlier, the spirit was very strong! So he came up to us at the end and said, "Hermanas, baptism is really necessary huh?" So of course we said YES! And he was put on date to be baptized on June 26th.

And the last people that could use some prays are Neli and Melissa. They are another member referral that we got this week. We taught them a lesson with the member and they seem super excited and want to know more. They committed to being baptized on June 28th. They are 20 and 14 so we really want to get their parents involved as well. 

One more thing that I have loved this week was a goal that Hermana Norton and I have set to memorize 'The Living Christ' or I guess 'El Cristo Viviente' because we're going it in Spanish but it really has made a huge difference even though we only have the first few paragraphs done. It's amazing how it helps me to focus my actions and my thoughts on him. I obviously haven't gotten this far in memorizing yet but I love the last paragraph the best. It says,  

"We bear testimony, as His duly ordained Apostles—that Jesus is the Living Christ, the immortal Son of God. He is the great King Immanuel, who stands today on the right hand of His Father. He is the light, the life, and the hope of the world. His way is the path that leads to happiness in this life and eternal life in the world to come. God be thanked for the matchless gift of His divine Son."

I know that Christ loves each one of us personally, with every defect or fault that we have He loves us. I know that that knowledge helps me to want to make him proud. So live a life that would make Him know that I love Him too. 

Well have the best week ever. I love you all and I love being a missionary.

Con Amor,