Heaps!

                                                   Happy Day!  The baptism of Mavis!!
12/16/2016

Dear everyone,

Temple Day at the Brisbane Australia Temple

Wow this past week and some has been really busy!  Sorry for sending an email on today here (Friday) and not on Monday.  It's because we went to the temple today. But it has been a really good last little bit. 

So to start it off I'll talk about Mavis. So it turns out that the complications about her baptism were a confusion and we didn't actually know what was up. Her family didn't disapprove of her being baptized but it was something to do with her family that is down in Sydney- they were wanting to fly her down the day before the baptism but they kind of got that sorted all out. But Mavis has such strong Faith and we know that Satan will do all he can to stop the work from progressing. In the end it will always move forward! So we had our last lesson with her last week and it included a lot of stuff to cover because she was getting the baptismal interview the next day.. haha, but it all went smooth and on last Friday we were able to witness the Baptism of Mavis Boateng! So cool and she wanted me to be the one to baptize her so I was very honored and it was just pretty awesome! We had her confirmed on Sunday and Elder Meyer did it and when sister Tapaitau was like Elder Meyer we want you to do it and she was like do you think your English will be good enough.. and he was like I BELIEVE IN THE GIFT OF TOUNGES! haha so that all went good as well.  

Then last Thursday we  Did the stop smoking program with Tenielle.  It was a fifteen step program that had her doing all sorts of things like drinking grape fruit juice and taking vitamin c tablets but she was so excited and so ready to stop smoking!  And yesterday marked the seventh day where she has had no coffee tea or tobacco!! And she is very keen to be baptized with her family so we are excited there! Thank you all for all of the prayers that y'all have said for her! We can tell they have worked and the Lord is blessing her heaps! 

Tenielle and her family

But honestly it's been like a blur but I can't even remember all that has happened the past bit but it was great :) haha I have been able to see many miracles and small tender mercies of the Lord. Anyways, I know the Lord lives! And he loves each and every one of us and I am so glad I am here bearing His holy name! But I hope everyone has a great week!

Elder Pierce

                                                             Just thought I'd share, haha

Busy, busy

                                   The random little Christmas tree we found in our flat. :)
12/5/2016

Dear everyone,

  

So this past week was like a blur it was so busy.  But first things first GOOD NEWS! Neither me or Elder Meyer got transferred! so we get to keep going in Pimpama! which is exciting because we have been seeing a lot of progress!

On this past Monday we had a dinner at Tenielle's house with our ward mission leader and I thought to give Tenielle my usb so she could watch Meet the Mormons, which was on there, and now she says she has watched it about 3 times... hahaha so that was pretty awesome. She has been talking with us saying that she wants to be baptized before Christmas and the only obstacle we have left is smoking... so we are trying to push that one. She wants to stop but i think she just needs that extra bit of help! So there is a stop smoking program that is supported by the church that we are going to try and do with her so it should be good!

But we have also been making heaps of progress with one of our other investigators Mavis who is a foreign exchange student from Ghana. She is about 23 and is pretty much a dry Mormon. We had set a date for her to be baptized Dec. 30 but when we had a lesson this week and talked about it she said that she wanted to be baptized this Friday... and we were like uhhh YES of course you can do that! But we did find out that there is some big opposition in her family back home from Ghana, so we will see if it goes through this Friday. she knows it's true and she loves the church but we will have to see.  We'll find out tonight.

Us teaching Mavis

We also did a fair bit of service with painting some members' house and also on Thursday there was a baptism of one of the kids in our ward and the mom asked us to be the witnesses, so we went and it turned out when we got there that the bishop also asked me to conduct the baptism so haha that was pretty crazy.  We also had our investigator Mavis there and then a miracle is one of our other investigators Mathis and Makeu showed up at the baptism even though we didn't invite them.. turns out they are friends of the sister whose son was getting baptized so that was pretty awesome!

Then since it was last week of the transfers we had our deep cleaning of our flat and also our ward Christmas party which was at a lake where all the kids went swimming (Christmas here people just go to the beach and pool and have bbq's) But it turned out none of our investigators made it to the activity so we were only there for like 30 mins. But ya and then on Sunday Tenielle made it to church again! So ya a busy busy week but a good one full of tender mercies of the Lord :)

I know the church is true and that Christ is our Savior!

Everyone have a great week,

-Elder Pierce

 The Christmas tree we set up in our flat ( because there was a random Christmas tree in our flat)

#LightTheWorld

                                               Elder Pierce visiting a Kangaroo Park
11/28/2016

Dear everyone,

First things first, if y'all haven't seen the new Christmas initiative video yet called "Light the World", you should do that right now because it is so awesome! I would say one of the best ones yet! Truly what better way is there to celebrate Christmas than by paying our devotions to the light of the world that entered into the world. We can become more like Him as we serve as He would serve! Just pretty awesome! 

(Click below to see the video)

Light the World- A Christmas Message

But umm what's happened since I emailed like a few days ago?... Well on Saturday we had an open house for the new chapel which we invited heaps of people to but... not too many came but it's all good. The stake put it on and they were actually doing tours and stuff so that was pretty cool. Then on Sunday it was stake conference so the new stake center was way packed! There was a 70 who came and his name was Elder Johanson and he is over a lot of the islands like Fiji and Vanuatu and some other little islands. He was really funny and very fob (that's what they call islanders). But he gave a really awesome talk about the importance of agency and also about Adam and Eve and he said that if any person feels like there are a nobody tell them they aren't because only Satan and his followers are NoBodies because they don't get a body and they don't get the gift of agency. So remember that you are always a somebody because you have a body and you are of infinite worth to your Heavenly Father! 

Also after conference when we helped set up chairs and stuff all of the missionaries were outside taking pictures and all of the sudden Elder Johansen came out and was like those are some good pictures Elders, but now I'm going to have get some selfies with you Elders as well and we were like YES! haha but anyways Me and Elder Meyer are going to have a dinner with Tenielle and our ward mission leader again so that is going to be really fun! But anyways The church is true! 

*featuring Elder Johansen of the Quorum of the Seventy

Everyone have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

More pics in front of the new Stake Center Building

                            On Friday we went to a kangaroo park with our zone and took pictures

                                        The best Australian Christmas Decorations ever!                                                    

an awesome truck we saw

Busy Week with Miracles

                                                              Our Zone Photo
11/25/2016

So since it has been more than a week since I've last emailed I can't even remember everything that has happened.  It has been pretty busy with lots of meals with members and some good progression with some of our investigators! For example our investigator Tenielle's son has come to mutual the last two weeks! and he has loved it. And not to mention the biggest miracle all week!! Tenielle and her family were at church last Sunday!!! So we were like YES! haha  We've been trying to get her out to church for like 8 weeks so it was awesome to actually see her there. She was late and missed the sacrament but baby steps I guess. And she and her whole family have been taking some big steps and they are so close! We even had a dinner with our Ward Mission Leader and her on this Monday past, where we were able to find out some of her concerns and then solve them! So really awesome with them this last week. I just hope I don't get transferred before her family gets baptized... haha because this next week is the last week of the transfer. So we will see how that goes... I have a feeling one of us might be leaving but we shall see.

We also have been teaching another one of our new investigators who was like super prepared and her name is Mavis and she is an exchange student from Ghana (let me just say those people from Ghana are full on when it comes to the bible and gospel knowledge they know so much) and she is living with the Tapaitau's so we are going to keep working with her and just keep pushing a long! 

Australia Brisbane Temple

The temple today was awesome! I always love the temple. The feeling inside is just not of this world just as the Savior said, Peace I leave with you not as the world giveth, give I unto you (paraphrased a little bit). I learned about a scripture in Ether 12 talking about the prophets who saw with their own eyes that which they had already seen with an eye of faith.  I've been pondering about seeing with an eye of faith and the importance of asking believing that ye shall believe. But overall a great week :) Yesterday (Thursday 24th) the family that gave us dinner even did a Australian thanksgiving which was awesome! haha 


I love you all and hope y'all have a great week!
-Elder Pierce

President and Sister McSwain (seated in the center)

Ups and Downs

11/14/2016

Dear everyone,

So this week I think has been a great week! One filled with a lot of small miracles and some opposition. So this week first off, Elder Meyer has been feeling like sick.. like light headed and head aches and pretty much like he is going to pass out at anytime.. we think maybe it has something to do with the heat and that his German-ness can't handle the heat (it has been at least over 33 c everyday and very humid). So a couple of the days this week we have had to take it pretty slow for him and on one day we just stayed in the flat all day as Elder Meyer slept and I studied.

Before all of that stuff started happening on Tuesday I went on a trade-off with the zone leader in his area but we pretty much ran a bunch of errands the whole day.. so ya, haha. Wednesday we were able to have a good lesson with Tenielle and we had a cool experience where we came by first at the time that we had the appointment and her kids answered the door and said that she was busy and to come back tomorrow.. and so we were like "noooo!" because we had also brought one of the Ward missionaries, Rocky Utai, with us and we were like well.. what now?  I decided to ask what Rocky and Elder Meyer thought and they both said that they felt like that we should go and leave something for her family. And Rocky remembered that his family just had an extra cake that was chilling and that we should go give it to them. So we went and picked it up and when we came back we knocked on the door and they were like "oh ya come in!" and Tenielle said that right before we knocked on the door that all of her kids just asked her, "what's for dessert??" and she said nothing. Then her oldest son Anthony asked what about some cake? and knock knock knock there we were with some cake. And then we taught them a lesson and asked a lot of questions and they brought up some concerns about baptism that we had never heard about from them and we were able to resolve them all!  They won't be ready for the original date for a baptism but they are definitely on the right path! So you never know what the Spirit might whisper to your companion, but always listen and obey!  We also had her meet the bishop.  We will just have to see how things will go! 

Also next week I won't email till Friday because we are going to the temple then! But I hope you all have a great week and always look out for the little things the Lord blesses you with because the Lord works by small and simple means! 

Alma 37: 6-7 

Ofa atu! (Tongan for I love you)

-Elder Pierce

Another week in the Pimpama Ward

The Beautiful Australian Countryside                     

A picture we took while driving through one of the rural parts in our area 

11/7/2016

Dear everyone,

  

Halloween 

 So this week not too much happened only a couple of things. Monday of course was Halloween! which like I thought was not very big at all... haha There were like a few little little kids coming around to get candy but only a handful of houses were all done up. On that day we had a good lesson at Sister Tapaito's house and she brought 2 different investigators which was awesome and we taught the family the first lesson and watched the restoration video (the 20 min version) and that turned out to be really good. 

Surface Paradise- one of the Gold Coast's largest cities

Then on Wednesday we had a crazy adventure because about 3 weeks ago Elder Meyer hurt his knee by just standing up from his chair and it has been giving him pain and he has been limping the whole 3 weeks. We had originally got him checked out 2 weeks ago and they did an x-ray and all said that there was nothing wrong with his bones.. but the doctor said that there was probably a meniscal cartilage tear (which the knee doctor has said he has never really seen in someone that is only 21). But he said that we had to go to get an MRI done to check things out further... so we got an appointment in Surface Paradise which is only about 30 k's from us but it took forever to drive there and that was the dumbest traffic I've ever driven in.. haha!  But ya, so that was pretty crazy to go all the way down there. and also we only have got the test done and we don't really know anything yet because it has to be inspected by the specialist. 

Sadly this week as well we haven't been able to see Tenielle and her family because they had a pretty bad family emergency (by the way she has like 17 siblings...) but we are keep trying and moving along with her. Also it has been pretty hot around 30 c to 33 c (86-91 degrees F) which is pretty hot especially for it being only spring here. We shall see how the summer goes... nice thing is when we are out door knocking some people give us water, they say that they aren't interested at all but that they have pity on us and give us water.. haha but overall a pretty good week! 

Also pretty cool while we we eating at a member family's house they were talking about their son, Elder Samuela, who was serving in the Kobe mission Japan. I was like I think I have a good friend serving there as well-Elder Bellows!  And cool enough they were showing me some pictures to see if he was in any of their son's photos and sure enough in one of his zone photos there was Elder Bellows! haha Kind of cool how the world is so small when you are a member!

But anyways have a great week everyone!

- Elder Pierce

       One of our members is a baker! So we always get free donuts when we go to her house!                                                        

                    One of our Maori/ Samoan families gave us these, they are a tribal hook made up 
                                       of boar tusk so now we are part of the tribe! haha                  

                 The mission office ran out of English planners so they had to give us Chinese ones

New Chapel Opening!

10/31/2016

Dear everyone,

   

 I hope all of y'all are doing great and enjoying the Halloween fun! It doesn't really look like Halloween here in Australia because there are like no houses decorated but all good. Some of the members have told me that there will be some kids who do trick or treating, but we will have to see. 

This past week was a pretty good one! It was a little tight because we are pretty much out of Kilometers or K's to drive our car with... but ya.. haha so because of that we have been out doing a lot of door knocking, like heaps! We have meet a few potential investigator but we also had the chance to do a lot of service moving some peoples stuff into new houses and doing some garden work (for some reason people in Australia call their yard a garden). We were able to witness a few cool miracles! like on Monday we had a family home evening with one of the members of the bishopric and Tenielle in his home so that turned out really well!  We recommitted Tenielle and her family to be baptized for the 19th of November. So there is a lot to be done but we know if she puts her efforts forth and faith in the Lord it can be done! We also held a baptism for one of the kids in the ward and Tenielle was able to come to it and she told us that she loved it and couldn't wait until she could be baptized. Unfortunately some of her family was in town so she didn't get a chance to make it to sacrament meeting... but we will keep pushing forward! 

We also met this one lady that we found after church while knocking on some doors nearby the chapel who said that her life was falling apart and she just finished talking on the phone to her parents and had said how they needed to have God in their life, then nack-minute here we are, the missionaries from the new chapel (which she can see from her house) asking if she needed help but that was pretty cool :)  So we will continue to follow up!  

The new chapel was awesome to be able to go to and our ward was the first ever ward to have a sacrament meeting there!  Really cool :)   Lots of good things!  Also one last thing before I finish, something that one of the Assistants to the President said that has been really sticking with me recently was, "How much comfort can the Comforter give you if you are in your comfort zone?" but love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Transfer News... Sweet as bro!

Our flat is right in front of an amusement park so we took a picture.

10/24/2016

Dear everyone,

Drum roll please................................................ me and Elder Meyer are both staying in Pimpama!!!! We are both excited to be companions again and we also have some really exciting news that the new chapel that was being built to be the new stake center in this Coomera stake is finally finished!!!  So the church is now only about 5 minutes away vs like a 30 min drive.  We are expecting to see some cool miracles happen here with missionary work due to the new chapel opening!! So all should be good with that. 

This week will be busy with us going around telling everyone about the new chapel. The only problem is that we don't have very many kilometers to use in our car for the rest of the month so it will be very tight this week how much we use our car... but oh well, the Lord will provide.  We just have to plan better and not get lost while driving. 

The week was very full with it being the last week of the transfer and having to do our flat deep cleaning, but we were still out there trying to get as much work done as we could. We weren't able to see our investigator Tenielle much this past week but when we did go, we went with one of the counselors in the bishopric Brother Berkett (a really tall Maori guy) and that lesson went awesome and he invited Tenielle to his home for dinner today so that should be really good! We are trying to follow the counsel that our mission president gave about packing the ward around her and giving her as much support as possible. It was also pretty good because on Wednesday we had a trade off with our district leader and I went to another area to be with the district leader's companion, so that was kind of nice to not have to be running the show but to let him take lead and such. 

a district photo (minus one Elder because he was too slow to get in the picture * notice arm to the lower right corner,haha)

Overall a pretty good week and we are sad to say though that the Elders that lived by us both got transferred out and there are no missionaries coming in so it's sad to see them go because we all became pretty good friends -but it is the Lord's way! Sorry I don't have any stories for the week. But I know that the Lord lives. The church is true, the book is blue, and we gonna baptize you! haha 

Love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Pierce                      

                                       Sweet as bro= Kiwi (New Zealand) slang 

"Sweet as" said when something is rather good instead of just "good" or "OK". Often followed by "bro". 

A Fast Week

Missionary life: We took some pictures with the Elders that live like 2 minutes away from our flat,    

we play basketball with them every morning.

10/17/2016

Dear everyone,

   

 It was another good week here in Pimpama still plugging away doing the Lord's work and trying to build the kingdom. But the week went by really fast because I feel like I was just emailing yesterday. 

A couple cool things I guess that happened, one was that on Thursday we had our mission president interviews which went awesome because he gave us a big training and such about yoking together with our members and packing the ward around our investigators. It was nice because it was my first ever like normal mission president interview since all of my other interviews have been like either a welcome interview or a farewell interview... haha. So it was cool to feel the love from our mission president and his wife :) 

A lot of the week was filled with canceled appointments.. but such is the way missionary work goes sometimes.  We are slowly but surely trying to build up our teaching pool so that we can be teaching and helping more people. But I guess I'll share a quick story: while we were following up with a former investigator whose name was Boudaine (I just refer to him as Bo) well when we got in there with him he was randomly talking about all this crazy conspiracy theory stuff and it was like what?? haha  So then I started praying and asking the Lord what I could say or do to help him and then all of the sudden a couple scriptures came to mind and I had the thought to ask him what was his purpose here in this life. Well, his countenance changed and he just started telling us all of these concerns and stuff and he was like I have been seeing so many signs from God that I need to go to church and we were like, yes. But coming out of that I can definitely say that none of that was me but the spirit working through me. Just pretty cool.

But ya, a pretty good week and it is crazy because it is the last week in the transfer. Elder Meyer and I doubt that either one of us will be transferred, but who knows.. I hope not. But yup I love you all and hope that you all have a great week!

-Elder Pierce 

Being silly

#ldsconf

10/10/2016

Dear Everyone,

  

  Wow, well today the time ran away from me while emailing and downloading some talks from conference.. but I hope I can share a few good stories or something.. haha 

Well this week went by extremely quick I literally just felt like yesterday was last p-day. But the week went well. To start it though on last p-day while I was playing basketball with all of the other missionaries in the zone, I jumped and then accidentally landed on someone else's foot. I think I might have torn something or other but I called the doctor of the mission and he said to just rest it up... but there is work to be done in the Lord's vineyard so I rested it up for that Monday.. hahah.  But it isn't too bad it doesn't really hurt at this point now and I can put normal weight on it so it should be all good.

I think I tore something while playing basketball (but it looks worse than how it feels)

After that it was a week of trying to catch a bunch of people and no one being home.. but we did get to do some service for an older sister who has cancer. She is from Argentina which was pretty cool. We followed up with some potentials and former investigators so now we have a little bit bigger teaching pool which is really good. We are still having some bad luck trying to catch Tenielle with all of the crazy things happening in her family and she didn't get a chance to come to conference even though we texted her and she said she would be all good for it... haha (face palm). But we are keep on keeping on because this work is the most important thing in her life so we won't ever give up! 

We also had a mini trade off with the assistant and one of the office elders only for about an hour but I went with Elder Fa'alogo who was my first zone leader so it was really good to catch up with him and we had a lot of fun!  Then of course on Saturday and Sunday we had awesome General Conference that was sooo awesome! I loved it so much because you get to hear from the apostles and prophets that we talk about so much as missionaries. Unfortunately we didn't get anyone to come to the sessions.. but we keep on trying. 

This week is looking like it will be a good week. Sorry if the email is a little haphazard.. but I love you all and have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Work,Work, Work :)

                                             Elder Pierce and Elder Meyer- treat time. :)
10/4/2016

Dear everyone,

    This past week was pretty crazy. Also, sorry for the late email it is because yesterday (Monday) was a public holiday for Australia.  Apparently it was the Queen's birthday! So ya, today we have p-day though.

Dinners with the members are the BEST!

I can't remember if I said but recently like within the last two weeks our mission president changed the dinner rules so that we as missionaries can have a dinner with members any day of the week! We also have to teach a 30 minute missionary lesson along with the dinner. (sorry if I already said that but I can't remember) But we really are liking that new rule because we meet the members more and also have more dinners so it is working out very well :)

This past Thursday and Friday was the Golden Orientation for Elder Meyer so we had to go and drive down to the city in order to let Elder Meyer have some awesome training and such for all of the new missionaries. It was cool because while Elder Meyer was in Brisbane, I stayed the day with another missionary who's "golden" (new missionary) was at the training as well.  So we were in Logan zone which is a little closer to the city than our area is.  That was cool to be in another area for a day. The Elders were actually moving flats though, so for a few hours what we were doing was packing up boxes and moving stuff, but it was pretty fun. Also, I got to see Elder Nemeth (my companion from the MTC) because the Elder I was on exchanges with shares a flat Elder Nemeth.  So it was good to catch up with him. On Friday we had some good trainings and such that president McSwain gave so it was pretty good! 

About our investigator Teniele and her family:  Satan has been attacking them hard because almost all of last week we didn't get to see them until Saturday because they all have been very ill with a virus and even some of her family members were in the hospital.  So we are still going to try and help her out the best we can!

Love you all !

-Elder Pierce

  Family Home Evening with the Tapaitauuah Family:

(photo credit to Sister Terry Tapaitauuah who posted all of the pics on this blog post and more to the "Missionary Mommas" Facebook page- THANK YOU Sister Tapaitauuah!! <3)

Relying on Heavenly GPS

9/26/2016

So it was a pretty good week in Pimpama!  We may not have a big teaching pool right now but we do have one really awesome Kiwi family who we are teaching. I think I mentioned them last week. The mom's name is Tenielle and she has 5 kids and we have a baptisimal date set with them for the 8th of October!  We will see about the exact date because that is when they will be showing General Conference in our area... but ya so that should be really good!  

We have visited her a couple times this week and taught her a few lessons. Also, when we were teaching about baptism (I was on a trade off) the Elder I was with took a blank piece of paper and drew all over it and said that the marks represented sin and then he talked about baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost.  Then he took a lighter behind the piece of paper and all of the ink vanished away (he used a special type  of pen) but it was a really cool trick.  We also taught her the word of wisdom later in the week which we were about apprehensive about because we know she smokes... but she said that she loved it all and was waiting for the sisters who taught her previously to teach this lesson and we were like what?? haha  But it is really cool to get to teach her and her family. We will have to see though because they didn't make it to sacrament meeting this past Sunday... but her mom from New Zealand was in town so that is probably why.  Let's hope things continue to progress well. 

But sorry everyone I'm out of time to email... we are working hard and doing our best to be who the Lord needs us to be.  We still are getting lost a lot because much of the area is so new that it isn't on the GPS so we just pray for safety a lot and hope that it will all work out!

 But I love you all! Have a great week

-Elder Pierce

The First Week in Pimpama

                                                         Didgeridoo- The real deal
9/19/2016

So ya this week has been a little crazy full of getting lost and meeting heaps of members and such! But me and Elder Meyer are super keen to get out here and be working.  It is a little hard at times because I feel like I'm being disobedient for not working harder or something but the only problem is that we don't know anyone so we have no set appointments to go to. 

The ward seems pretty keen to have us in the ward and they are excited that they have missionaries again. We have received a lot of referrals from members and such so we are excited to be following up with all of them. Also are ward is a pretty young (in terms of a lot of the members are young families). The ward is also pretty islander mostly kiwi's with really hard names to pronounce and such.. hahaha but I'm kind of used to that by now. It is also pretty cool because I have been able to see the lord strengthening my abilities like right before my eyes. Because usually I am really bad at remembering people's names, but it has been cool because everyone's names are just sticking in my head! Really cool, I guess it's just the small and simple things by which the Lord does His great and marvelous work. 

It is also pretty cool because our ward mission leader is like on fire and he is super keen to do the work and he has already had us over for dinner on that first Monday.  He also has been helping us heaps to get to know the area and the people quickly. 

We also have been having some success with a single mom and her 5 kids who have been taught all of the lessons in the past and the only thing keeping her from progressing was church attendance and she came this Sunday so pretty cool! 

But we are loving the new area and the new ward and we are just trying to be as diligent as we possibly can be so that we can help souls come unto Christ!  

I love you all and hope I answered some of your questions!  Everyone have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

So the wife of the bishop, Sister Mategna, is part aboriginal (Bishop is Maori though from New Zealand) so she has a real didgeridoo and she wasn't teaching us how to play it.. (because in their culture only men can play the didgeridoo) but the family was teaching us how to play it a little- it's a lot harder than you think to play!