Transfers....

It's that time again... Transfers. So exciting! Sadly the Aurora Spanish Hermanas area has been closed for right now :( So the Elders will be taking over all of our investigators and the work there. They're going to be super busy and see lots of miracles. I have been transferred to May Valley Spanish. Which just happens to include none other than... Mount Si! Hahah I'm going back to my greenie/ birth area. We cover a larger area now though. I'm excited! It will be different to go back to where the hispanics are few and far between but God will help us to find his prepared children here. I will be finishing the training of Hermana Wrubell. She's super adorable and an amazing missionary; we're excited to see what miracles are in store for us! 

As for back in Aurora, we had an amazing week.We decided that we were going to have what we called a "semana de fuego". What we did was during our fast last Sunday we prayed that God would help us to know anything that we need to change and how we could become more sanctified. We worked to hard to give the Lord EVERYTHING and miracles followed!

The only problem is... I don't have my planner with me so I can't really remember exactly what it was that happened. So y'all are going to get the watered down, not as cool version. Sorry! 

Firstly, Martin. He's great and I have no doubt that he's going to get baptized soon. We taught him the second half of the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it. He talked about how he feels good at church and he how when he's there, he has this desire to become a better person. When we invited him to be baptized he said that he does want to be baptized but that he wants to be completely sure. Hermana Norton asked him if he felt like he'd received answers from the holy ghost and he said that he knew he had. He just didn't feel like they was a huge flashing sign that says, "GET BAPTIZED!!!!" Part of a talk by Elder Ballard that I had listened to that morning popped into my head so I shared it with him. The story Elder Ballard shared was, 

Oftentimes we are like the young merchant from Boston, who in 1849, asthe story goes, was caught up in the fervor of the California gold rush. Hesold all of his possessions to seek his fortune in the California rivers,which he was told were filled with gold nuggets so big that one couldhardly carry them.

Day after endless day, the young man dipped his pan into the river andcame up empty. His only reward was a growing pile of rocks. Discouragedand broke, he was ready to quit until one day an old, experiencedprospector said to him, “That’s quite a pile of rocks you are getting there,my boy.”

The young man replied, “There’s no gold here. I’m going back home.”

Walking over to the pile of rocks, the old prospector said, “Oh, there isgold all right. You just have to know where to find it.” He picked tworocks up in his hands and crashed them together. One of the rocks splitopen, revealing several flecks of gold sparkling in the sunlight.

Noticing a bulging leather pouch fastened to the prospector’s waist, theyoung man said, “I’m looking for nuggets like the ones in your pouch, notjust tiny flecks.”

The old prospector extended his pouch toward the young man, wholooked inside, expecting to see several large nuggets. He was stunned tosee that the pouch was filled with thousands of flecks of gold.

The old prospector said, “Son, it seems to me you are so busy looking forlarge nuggets that you’re missing filling your pouch with these preciousflecks of gold. The patient accumulation of these little flecks has broughtme great wealth.”

This story illustrates the spiritual truth that Alma taught his son Helaman:

“By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. …

“… And by very small means the Lord … bringeth about the salvation ofmany souls” (Alma 37:6–7).

I told Martin that sometimes we look for the giant nuggets of gold when really God has been giving us little flecks all along the way. I know I definitely have been that way before, expecting God to give me huge manifestations in answer to my prayers. Luckily he knows what will really help us and gives us what we actually need. Well Martin really liked the story and told us that he was exactly like the man in the story, neglecting the flecks because he wanted the nuggets of gold. 

I know without a doubt that God answers our prayers. I know it because I have seen so many times in my life the answers to my prayers. Having a hard time? Pray! God knows how to help!

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Ps everyone should look up this article in the August Ensign! It was written by my Mission President, President Choi. Read it! It's really great!

https://www.lds.org/liahona/2014/08/be-strong-and-of-a-good-courage?cid=HPMO081114390&lang=eng

Weekly Update <3

This would have to have been one of my favorite weeks of my entire mission! There wasn't any super crazy miracles that completely changed the world, but I did see the Lord's hand in our work so much this week. I really felt his guidance and saw the Lord putting people we needed to meet in our path.

I'm going to be going all out of order here as things pop into my head so bare with me here. Firstly Angeles, she's so great! We had a lesson with her in a members home this week and it was great. She really has desires to know if the church is true. She kept telling us that she really wants her 17 year old daughter to come to church as well, but she always tells her no and won't do anything for God. We told her that we would give her a call and invite her to church. She got so excited because she said she thought she'd listen because she was around our age and kids listen to their peeps and don't like to listen to their parents. Hahaha but it worked because after we called and talked to her she ended up coming to church! She's so great and really enjoyed it, especially the Gospel Principles class.

Also we had 2 exchanges this week which were both GREAT! The first was with the Cecpta's (totally not how you spell it) but the Russian sisters in the mission. It was so weird!!!!!! I'm not used to being the one who has no idea what's going on during an exchange. Hahaha the people would talk and just look at me as I stared back with a blank look. Then they would say to the Sisters, "She doesn't understand anything huh? " Good stuff. The other weird part is that they cover the Seattle, Everett, and Federal Way missions so we were way up in Mount Vernon. Which is like an hour outside our mission. So WEIRD! But I learn a lot from the Sisters, they're great missionaries. Our other exchange I went to Redmond. I loved it! We had a lesson with their investigator Pat and it was so great. We taught her about the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was really strong. It was a really amazing experience for me as a missionary because the three of us planned out our lesson before we went to teach and knew where we wanted to go with the lesson. When we got in there we taught in so much unity and were really guided in our questions and comments. I think what I really learned was that it could have been a disaster. None of us had ever taught together before but God knew that she needed a message and helped us to be guided in what we said. I love Heavenly Father! 

One last thing. Everyday from 5-7 our mission has "Sacred Finding Time". We never set lessons during this time and we use it to knock, contact referrals, and street contact. We had decided on a apartment complex to go to but somehow ended up getting lost getting there. As we were going to turn around to go back we passed a complex and a thought popped into my head, "We need to go knock that complex." We drove a little further and that thought wouldn't go away so I told Hermana Norton that we should go back and knock that complex. While knocking we met a man named Jorge. It turned out that he was a former investigator that had came to church consistently for over 3 months about a year and a half ago. BUT get this, his 16 year old son is a member of the church, is planning on serving a mission, and lives in Utah. AND he went to high school with Hermana Norton! SAY WHAT?! He still has his doubts about the church but agreed for us to come back and he said he's ask his son about his testimony of the gospel. Lesson learned: Always listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost. 

ADIOS!!!!!!!!

Con Amor, 

Hermana Pier

PS HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to my beautiful older sister Tay Tay and yesterday to my mission mama, Hermama Phillips!!!!!!!

pics-

                                                          exchanges

the elders teaching me who to use hermana norton's epi pen in case she eats peanuts

                                                            and our district :)

Live Happy!

Good things are happening here in Aurora! To start off, Nelly and Melissa! Please pray for them! They're the greatest girls ever and I just know that they're going to accept the gospel soon! We had a lesson with them this week and we felt like we should focus on the Holy Ghost and the blessing it is in our lives. It was a really powerful lesson and the spirit was definitely testifying to them. One really cool thing happened when Melissa told us about a lesson we had a couple weeks ago when Ashley, this amazing returned missionary, came with us and we read "Your Happily Ever After" by President Uchtdorf. She said that while we were sitting there all these memories from her past came flooding back to her and her families move and different problems and then all the sudden she just got this feeling of peace and sense, she feel like all those things had happened and had lead them to being at the point so that she could be there and have met us. Cool huh? They're praying about a baptismal date and are just the most wonderful people ever. I LOVE THEM!

This week we had another lesson with Iosep, the man that was in the really bad car accident, that was really great. It's interesting to teach him because we have to teach super simply, but the spirit is always so strong. The thing that I learned the most during that lesson was from something that he said right before we left. I asked him if there was anything we could do for him and he answered, "Live happy." It made me really think because if anyone had a good reason to complain about not having a fair life, it would be him. But he's just so happy all the time and tries to always help others to feel the same way. It made me think about times when I'm grumpy over the silliest things. I want to extend to save invitation to you all, live happy! 

This week I was at the church during lunch one day practicing the hymns for church on Sunday and one of the songs was, "Where can I turn for peace?" I was playing it over and over again but could not stop messing up. I was frustrated because I've played it a million times before and it's not even hard and I think I just got worse and worse each time through. And then I thought to myself "Hey, I know where I can turn for peace! I need to say a prayer!" So I did and then I just paused for a second and just felt peaceful. I started playing again and could play it perfectly. It was kind of a silly tender mercy of the Lord, but it really helped me remember 2 things. 1. Prayer brings peace. Always. 2. God loves us and wants to help us. Even with silly things like being frustrating about not being able to play a song. 

Things really are so great though. We were able to get 3 people to church and have lots of potential in our area. We just need to get the people progressing more. So please pray for us that we can get more people coming to church and keeping commitments. I love being a missionary and I love this gospel so much. I know the God truly is our Heavenly Father and He LOVES us. So much! Don't ever forget that! You have a father in heaven that loves you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Pics- 

us, bere, and maria

Us and Hermana Jeronimo

Pics

Im not going to be able to write a group email this week but i'll send a few emails with lots of pics. Sorry!

The little girl on the far right is named Azalea <3

I ran into Beka from high school at a fireside last night. They were here on vacation. CRAZY!

<3

This was a wonderful week! It was paked full of lots of miracles. I'm not exactly positive where to start, but how about with William? William's pretty great! he just moved here from New Jersey about a week ago and right before he moved he met some missionaries. They referred him to the church offices and after a huge, confusing, jumbled mess, we finally got his info. He was so excited to meet with is and came to church on Sunday. He has a strong desire to know more and has so much potential. Please pray for him so that we can continue meeting with him.

Jose Rivera was another miracle from this week. we met him tracting and then were able to set up a return appointment. We ended up teaching him two lessons this week and he is very receptive. We were super sad that he didn't come to church on Sunday after he seemed so committed BUT it turned out he came and went into the english ward that meets at the same time because he didn't realize we were in a different room. We were able to talk with him more after the meeting and he enjoyed it (even if he didn't understand much haha). 

Pray for him too :)

My favorite miracle this week was with Iosep. What happened was on Saturday we were driving to go knocking and started making some phone calls to invite people to church the next day. We called a referral we got last transfer and he agreed to come. We were surprised but excited and then we got to knocking. After about 15 minutes the ref, Miguel, called us back. He told us that he had a friend that had been in an accident and he thought he could really use a message from God, that he needed help with his faith. He asked if we could come right then and go to a lesson with him and so we went of course. It was a really humbling amazing experience. Iosep is 24 years old and 2 years ago he got in a severe, life threatheneing car accident. He now can't talk, walk, or do many everyday things by himself without a lot of effort. I have never been in a lesson before and felt God's love for someone so strongly before. We got to testify of God's plan of Salvation. About how he was truly a child of god and that God not only knew him but LOVED him so much. Hermana Norton and I left that lesson feeling so blessed to have been able to be there. I know without a doubt that God used us that day to reach out to one of his struggling children who just needed to feel loved and remembered. 

Church this week was wonderful. It was fantastic. Our ward mission leader challenged us and the elders to really focus on church attendance. So instead of just tacking it on at the end on the contact he wanted us to try talking about in in the beginning and in the middle and just really focus on it. Well we ended up having 5 investigators at church on Sunday and they were all Dan Jones. That was a great blessing because we've really been needing new investigators. One was a referral named Angeles. Turns out her grandson was baptized 8 months ago and she came to church 5 or 6 times. She stopped coming after he moved to Colorado and one of her sons started getting very anti. But she loves the church and wants to start meeting again. The branch loves her and miracles are going to keep happening with her :)

I LOVE THE GOSPEL! Oh my goodness I just want the whole world to know! I just wanted to end with a little thought from President Monson that I read this week, 

“No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed,opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled”

Go out there, set some goals, make plans, and MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN! 

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier
 

Happy 4th!

Happy Fourth of July! It's a bit late but better late than never. We had a exilerating, crazy fun night of weekly planning on the 4th so celebrate. Hahah all the missionaries came in early and had our planning for the upcoming week. But to make it more exciting on of the members gave us all the things to make smores so we roasted smores over the stove. It was fun and helped us to get in the patriotic mood haha. But our real celebration happened on Saturday when we got to go to an Alex Boye performance. Any missionaries that had investigators could go. It was great! Definitely different from the only hymns that we usually listen to but it was a great day. Nelly and Melissa came with us and really enjoyed the performance. 

Unfortunately they weren't able to make it to church on Sunday because they had some family stuff going on. :( I just love them so much!!!! One cool thing that happened with them this week is that they were having a pretty hard day and things just weren't going well but Nelly told us that Melissa turned to her and said, "Nelly, it's okay, everything's going to be okay because the Sisters are coming over tonight!" So cute right? After our last lesson Melissa said she wanted to have that feeling she felt during the lesson (aka the spirit) again. Entonces, she read a bunch of the Book of Mormon. Please pray like crazy for these girls. They're so amazing but just need the family support right now. 

Bere bore her testimony in church yesterday in church and it was so great <3 I just admire her so much! We walked up as she was talking to someone and she said, "Yep, these are MY missionaries!" And gave us a hug and it just made my life because I've said it before but we really had no part to play in it; That was all the Lord. But he let us be there so that we could grow and learn from her as well. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. They're going to have to rip the tag off of me when it's over. JK. Kind of. 

Oh, one last thing. With transfers the Elder that played the piano is now gone so I'm officially the branch pianist. Let's just say I have a few regrets from not practicing like my parents told me to.... That's okay. Poco a poco we'll get there. I love you all so much. Don't ever forget the the Lord loves you!

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Pics-

Look who I found!

4th of July

Hermanas <3

Aurora Spanish otra vez <3

Okay don't hate me but it's going to be another short one today because we had to go to transfers today. BUT it was because we had to take the luggage and bikes of some Elders that don't have cars and our car is the only one in the zone with a bike rack. Hermana Norton and I are both staying here in the Aurora Branch. <3 We're so excited!!!!!!!!!

Good things are happening here in Aurora. Bere is doing to great and loved going to the temple. Alfredo came to church again today and really liked it. We were able to have another lesson with him after church and it went well. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation and he was super interested and had lots of great questions. 

I'll write more next week, I promise. 

Con Amor,

Hermana Pier

Pics-

Our district :)

All my planners so far on the mish

And the cutest little kids that surrounded our car the other day when we tried to leave. They're so cute!