Goodbye old friends and Hello to the new!

                                   Twinning ties (by the way the Christmas package was perfect!)

                                        Handmade ties by the Ide Family-sent for Christmas

12/18/2017

Dear everyone,

 So it has been a really crazy week!! Wow! haha It has gone by like a blur. So first things first is that my date to come home will have to be postponed I am not sure when to.... but ya sounds like some crazy stuff is happening so I guess only time will tell what will happen. I will have to leave that one in Heavenly Father's hands! 

Like I said it was quite a busy week. It being Elder Ray's last week, we spent a lot of time saying good bye to lots of people that he has come to know very well. He was pretty trunky but hey it was his last week. 

                                                          Goodbyes for Elder Ray                             

                                                                         The Zone

So we had everything this past week. The Christmas conference which ended up being really fun and good. A great time to gather as a mission. We had every this part where every zone teamed up with another zone and sang about Christmas and the culture of the area where they are serving. So we had Australian Christmas and my zone did a song called Christmas in the Island, which was heaps of fun! But ya so then on Friday it was Elder Ray's last day in Ipswich because we took him into the mission home around 3pm. 

                                             Taking Elder Ray to the Mission Home

Then after that I went with another missionary whose companion also went home. His name was Elder Ho and I spent a couple of days with him until today. But it was really fun because I was in Pimpama with him! So it was really fun to work in my old area for a few days and see a lot of old faces! But then today I picked up my new companion. His name is Elder Bullock and he is from Canada, he is a farm boy and a hard worker. So ya we will see how this transfer goes :) 

But I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

                                             L to R: E. Walburger, E. Pierce, E. Meyer
                   Pierce trained Meyer, Meyer trained Walburger = Father, Son, Grandson, haha

Elder Pierce's Mission Posterity goes on with a "great grandson" being trained by Elder Walburger

Stake Conference

12/10/2017

Dear Everyone,

 Sorry everyone this is going to have to be a short, rushed email because we had to do quite a bit of things. Also the other elders are with us so we all traded pictures, it being the last week of the transfer. So with all of that in mind I will have lots of pictures to send next week! But you will all get jipped a bit this email. 

The week was really good. We had a stake conference session where a local Seventy spoke.  His name was Elder Leota, a very funny Samoan guy. Elder Ray is as you could say ready to be home.... haha or in other works pretty trunky. But I have really enjoyed serving with him he has been one of my favorite companions by far :) Lots of lessons learned and now I am excited for my last transfer. Home stretch which will start this next Monday. 

Love you all and have a great week! 

Elder Pierce

A few group pics grabbed from the Mission website :)

In His Own Time and Way!

12/6/2017

G'day everyone

  So sorry that I am emailing late... we got to go to the temple today which was awesome as always! This past week was a pretty good week one in which we were able to see some cool miracles! always fun. 

Recently we have been going through some of the church records to find some potential -part-member families/ less active families. And we have recently found this one who is a lady named Vannesa who joined the church when she was about 10 and came for a few years and then just fell away. But we came by the first time and she said when the Elders usually came by she would just argue some points of doctrine like tithing or Word of Wisdom but she said something was different about the day we came by and she was just more willing to talk. And then we set up a return appointment and we taught her a close-to 3 hour lesson where we just broke through a lot of her concerns which was really cool. Then on this past Sunday she just texted us and said that she was going to come to church (first time in a really long time and we didn't even invite her..) and when she came she just couldn't stop crying, she felt the spirit so strongly. So it is really cool to see the Lord work with people in his own time and way! 

But ya this next coming week will be really, really, really busy with it being the last week of the transfer so hopefully I will have some pictures. This is truly God's work and I know that He loves us and has a plan for each and every one of us :) 

Have a great week

-Elder Pierce

Knocking Doors in a Big Way

11/26/2017

Dear Everyone,

  So this past week was a pretty good week nothing TOO exciting that happened and nothing really bad so it was pretty good overall. We have recently dropped some of our investigators that were kind of wasting some our time kind of.. haha your classic telling us their life story for 2 hours every time we go and then not really progressing.... so yaaa... 

So we back at it again with the door knocking in a big way. So we have found some new people with some really good potential so we will see how that goes. Really that was pretty much our week. 

My love sent to the Ides in this hard time! You are always in my prayers!!! 

Have a great week everyone :)

-Elder Pierce

Busy Week

11/19/2017

Dear Everyone,

 

So we had a pretty busy week, luckily it was kind of cloudy and overcast so it wasn't as hot for us :) always nice. But ya we had to drive in the city one day to go for a dentist appointment for Elder Ray. and then on Friday we had a last minute awesome Mission tour with Elder Uceda and Elder Halleck and a local authority Seventy Elder Walker. It was so awesome because Elder Uceda has some fire in him, I tell you what. He talked about how sometimes missionaries just talk to much when people don't keep commitments and such when we should instead just DO things with them instead of talking about it. If they haven't prayed then that is what you need to do. Stop the lesson and pray with them. We have to get out of the way of the spirit and Heavenly Father! 

But ya that was really good. And then we have a new investigator we found through a referral who has started to come to church so ya things are moving along quite well.

Love you all! have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

1st Week of the Transfer

Our Zone

11/13/2017
Dear Everyone,

 

So this past week has been a good week, a little bit of a slower week but a good one none the less. We had a couple of referrals that did not pan out too well... haha but I guess you get a little bit of the good and bad everyone once in a while. We went a little bold with some so they dropped us which is always fun. 

We also found a new investigator, Jill, while door knocking and she looks pretty promising, We are going to try and use our recent convert Dianne for fellowships which should be awesome! 

Ya so sorry this email is pretty boring but pretty much that is what we did. haha I Love the mission though, you get to be so close to the Lord and His spirit! 

I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Gotta take a silly one

Drum Roll Please......

We broke our goals for baptisms in Ipswich so we had a zone p-day!

We also had a dinner with President & Sister McSwain (left) and also our Stake President Salanoa

11/6/2017

Dear Everyone,

   So first things first,  I will be staying here in Yamanto/ Raceview and I will be staying with Elder Ray!!!!!!!! Which is soo good we are excited to just get out there and smash it this transfer! Ya, I will be the one to kill off Elder Ray since he dies (goes home) this transfer so it is all goods :)

Last week was pretty busy because it was the last week of the transfer. We had a fun p-day last week with the zone where we played some games like signs and so that was pretty fun. We had zone

Zone P-day

discussions/ interviews with President McSwain on Thursday as well as a dinner with President and a Missionary Leadership Council meeting so that was a really full on day! Then we did our normal last week of the transfer stuff like cleaning the flat. Elder Ray was pretty afraid that he was going to get transferred but we got blessed!!

So ya, we will probably be having a temple baptism trip with some of our recent converts this Friday (the ones with purple hair) but ya that is pretty much what we did. We currently have a couple of miracle new investigators who we are planning on setting on baptismal date, the work is good here in the Swich!

Love you all, have a great week!
-Elder Pierce

Silly pose at the zone p-day

G'day Mates

10/30/2017
Dear Everyone,

 

So just to let everyone know next weeks is transfers, which means we will find out this Saturday if either me or Elder Ray goes. Hopefully not! But it is all in the Lord's hands so whatever he wants to happen will happen. If there is one thing I have learned on my mission is that, pretty much the Lord does what He wants... haha but in the best way possible. 

But this past week has been a good one.  Elder Ray has been feeling heaps better which is  a big plus! We have been pretty busy with a few paper work things etc.. Umm... I don't really know what much to say, we found a couple new investigators through some miracle referrals that we have been getting which is awesome because just when we have baptized most of our teaching pool the Lord just gives us some more people which I will not complain about! 

Hey, I just thought y'all might like to see these. Every month as zone leaders we have to make up a plan that will help our missionaries to work hard and smart for the month. So here are the last two months. Turns out that I do get to use my Photoshop skills. (Yakka definition: work, especially hard work)

But ya it just was you could say a regular good week! :) So everyone have a great week!

- Elder Pierce

I Call it Good!

Last p-day we went down to the bottom of our area, called Boonah with the other Elders and just mucked around so here is one of  those photos

10/23/2017
Dear Everyone,

   So this past week was a pretty good week. But man, can I just say how fast time can fly by.... it is already week 5 of our 6 week transfers! pretty crazy. It was pretty funny this week Elder Ray and I got our car traded for one of the new 2017 Toyota Corollas and we have been joking about how we have been riding around in the future! haha Very Flash Az. 

But for a lot of the week unfortunately Elder Ray has kind of gotten sick again but this time with his cough he has been throwing up... needless to say not that much fun. So this week has been mostly just doing the things that NEED to be done and the rest of the time giving Elder Ray some time to rest. 

Awesomely, we had our baptism for Dianne and Jesika which was awesome very good experience and they were very prepared people from the Lord so I was glad to be a part of their conversion! 

                                                   Baptism Day for Dianne and Jesika

We also had a stake activity on Saturday (it was like a singing festival) And one of our investigator kids came and was part of it on stage! Awesome (I sent a picture I think....??? maybe)

Stake Singing Festival

 But I hope you  all have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Busy (In the Best Way!)

                                                        Michael's Baptism Day
10/16/2017
Dear Everyone,

So this past week has been pretty busy! We have been working hard and we have been seeing a lot of success. umm I don't really know where to start and because I only have ten minutes left to type this, I will try to be quick. 

We have been doing a lot of preparing for Michael's baptism which was on Saturday (which went really really well).  I also had a trade off with one of the missionaries in the zone on Wednesday. It has been pretty rainy this past week which is really nice because that means it's not so hot because it is not too much fun to go door knocking in the 35-39 degree heat (95-102° F)... haha 

But ya and then Saturday all Elder Ray and I did was go to baptisms because we had four in the zone which was so awesome! One at 11, 3,  5, and 7. Very good day to say the least! 

Ya time is literally just flying by. I hope everyone has a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Elder Ray and Elder Pierce- random silliness

what a white handbook looks like when it goes through the wash...

                                                                   

Miracles and General Conference

10/09/2017

Dear Everyone,

  Okay so I will try to get everything in with this email. First off to answer Dad's question about the investigators who we took their tea from, it is a mom and a daughter (both Australian 52, 26 'ish) We found them through door knocking and they have been coming to church every week and they are preparing to be baptized not this upcoming Saturday but next one. So that is really cool.

It sure was a busy week with Zone Conferences and General Conference as well but it has been a great week full of some cool miracles. We have 4 dates set for baptisms this week (October 14) in the zone. So, we have been seeing a lot of successes in Ipswich and our missionaries are working hard. Our area as well is going very well, especially Raceview ward.  I will tell you one cool miracle that I will hold close to my heart that happened. Last week there was a kid who came to church who came up to me and asked me if I remembered him. And I knew that I knew him but I wasn't sure where from. Well after church it hit me that he was a kid from one of the part member families I taught in my first area and he had gone into foster care for some reason soon after I left the area. And he was just accepted to be with one of our families in Raceview ward! On his first Sunday he went up to his teachers and asked them if he could be baptized. So, we taught him our first lesson this week and he is so keen, we will have to do some work about child services but I think it is amazing how the Lord prepares people especially for us! 

Also at zone conference, like I was saying, I got to sing which was fun again. One of the assistants asked me to sing "You Raise Me Up".  I thought it went really well. We also have a baptism planned for this Saturday of a 13-year-old boy from a part member family and he is such a cool kid we are still working with some of his other siblings but it should be an amazing experience on Saturday. (I will get some pictures for that). 

Sorry this email is kind of all over the place but the work is good and Heavenly Father knows His children and works through the small and simple things! Oh ya conference was AWESOME! As always I especially enjoyed Elder Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday morning. 

Everyone have a great week! Also happy late 18th birthday Dallin!!

Love, Elder Pierce

PS.  Elder Pierce found a the mission blog (https://sewrefining.com/ ) maintained by the Mission President and his wife (President and Sister McSwain) with pictures and videos.  

Click on the link below to hear a short clip of Elder Pierce singing and sharing his beautiful talent!

Elder Pierce and his beautiful voice!

Sorry So Short

10/02/2017

Alright everyone, sorry this email is so short because I had to get some things figured out on the computer and now I realized all my time is gone.

They asked me to sing in zone conference "You Raise Me Up" and I had to find and buy the sheet music so that took a long time. But the week was a busy but good week. We had our missionary leadership meeting with all of the zls (zone leaders) and stls (Sister training leaders) which was fun. Also one of our investigators we taught we shared the Word of Wisdom to and before we left we got them to dump out all of their alcohol and give us their tea so that was pretty cool.

But ya I love you all have a great week!
- Elder Pierce

Elder Ray with a horse

Proof that I'm in Australia

One of our investigators we have been teaching is progressing quite well and when we taught the Word of Wisdom we confiscated all of the tea in the home and we threw it away (with permission, haha)

Another Transfer in the "Swich""

9/25/2017
Dear Everyone,

 So as far as the transfers go I will be staying here in the Yamanto/ Raceview area! Also Elder Ray will be staying but our trio will be gone because Elder Bull will be leaving. It is pretty sad to say goodbye to Elder Bull, it definitely was an awesomely interesting transfer, haha we had a crack up time! Also to let everyone know Elder Bull is doing much better! but ya he is leaving so yup... 

But this last week was interesting because Elder Ray thought he was going to leave so he was going through the stages of grief and everything haha it was actually pretty funny how real it was. On Monday we had a really awesome zone p-day where we played volleyball and ninja and touch which was a lot of fun.  Our missionaries worked really hard to get this zone p-day. 

A lot of the rest of the week went pretty slow because Elder Ray got sick with the flu for two days and because it was week 6 of the transfer we had to clean our flat and do all sorts of things so it was kind of busy. But it is pretty crazy because in our zone the only one who got transferred out was Elder Bull and the rest stayed the same which we were pretty shocked about.  I am pumped for this next transfer because I get along really well with my companion and the work is really moving forward here in Ipswich! 

But ya, hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Pierce 

A Weird but Good Week

10/17 2017
Dear Everyone,

  So this past week was pretty fun, heaps of stuff happened. But before I forget this is the last week of the transfer. So we have found a really awesome part member family a couple of weeks ago and we have set one of the kids on date, their name is the Tau family from NZ. 

So on Tuesday we had a trade off with one of the assistants for the day so we but him with Elder Bull and me and Elder Ray did some other work which was fun. We also had a dinner with one of our investigators that day her name is Tammy and she was going to go into surgery the next day and so she asked that we would give her a blessing.  She asked that I would give it and it was such an awesome blessing one of the coolest I have ever given, and so she felt much better about her surgery. 

Then because we were already planning on doing a trade-off with the Callingwood Park Elders (Elder Meyer) so I was going to go with Elder Meyer in his area with Elder Bull as well. But while we were waiting for The Collingwood Park missionaries to show up it took to long so we started mucking around.. and ya long story short there Elder Bull fell off the back of the car and now he has a minor concussion...... ya....... so ya.... but so on the the trade off Elder Bull passed out a couple of times and so we took him to the doctors and the doctor pretty much said he has a minor concussion so just be careful with him for the next couple of weeks. So Pretty much that trade-off day I just chilled with Elder Meyer in the flat and drove Elder Bull to doctors appointments and ct scans and such. 

Then on Thursday we went into Brisbane city to teach an English language study class that our mission is doing for some of the missionaries who are struggling a lot with English so we did that all day. But it was pretty cool because Elder Choi my last companion was there! and I actually got to teach a real Korean investigator with him so that was fun. And then ya we had a ward activity in Raceview on Saturday morning but we had to leave because Elder Bull fainted again..... but ya so we had a weird but really good week and the work here in our area has been picking up a lot :) so ya awesome stuff. 

Everyone have a good week!

-Elder Pierce