too much stuff happened so there can be no real subject

Christmas Conference 2016 

(Just now seeing this amazing pic from the mission website. Play a game of find Elder Pierce: **hint**directly to the right of the smaller palm tree within the group shot )

4/26/2017
Dear Everyone,

 First off, sorry that I am writing from a different day because of some things that were happening in the mission and also yesterday being the Australian public Holiday ANZAC day (to remember war veterans) so now I am writing from Wednesday here in Australia. So yes as the title suggests lots of stuff happened! haha

Alright so everything since last Wednesday.... haha So on Wednesday last week it was like our service day! We did three service projects for different people in the ward and some random people we've met and offered service for. Needless to say that was a really busy day because we also had some other teaching appointments. Then Thursday we finished up all of the missionary lessons for Anne and also we had her interview with President McSwain over skype (because we are too far away from Brisbane) and yes all of the rumors of there being a mission tour with President Nelson were true.... I just forgot to mention that it was happening in my email last week. So because the mission tour was happening for us on Friday (they actually had two different meetings they split the mission into two different meetings) So Thursday night we left down to go to the zone leaders flat so that they could drive us down for the meeting on Friday (because from Warwick to where the meeting was in Karawatha is a little more than a two hour drive). We had about 6 hours of trainings and it was soo awesome! Elder Tewes and I also did our musical number "Did Jesus Really Live Again?/ To Think about Jesus" and it went better than I could have hoped for!! Lots of prayers that it would go well, so I know that I was just being a instrument in God's hands to bear special testimony of our Savior! Hopefully I can get an audio recording of us doing it but we shall see... It was really cool afterward Elder Nelson thanked me for using my talent to bring the spirit! WOOHHOO haha

Elder Nelson is really a crack up and very charismatic. So Elder Tewes and I ended up staying down in Ipswich from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. Because it was stake conference here in the Ipswich West Stake!  It was really awesome because Elder Nelson also came to our stake conference so we got to have a x2 dose! On Saturday Anne's baptism was postponed to a further notice date.. but since we were with the Zone Leaders we went to another area's baptism and then we all went and blitzed their area which was fun. Then during the Saturday night session of stake conference Elder Nelson was doing his thing and afterward one of the member's children in our ward  asked their mom, "were we in the right church??" haha because he was going up and down the aisles and getting people's opinions- very fun! Then Sunday was good because we had another session of stake conference which went really well ( Also our Warwick ward choir did the musical items, two songs: "Come Thou Fount" and "Come Come Ye Saints" arranged by none other than the man himself Elder Tewes! haha and I even got to sing alto for one of the songs!)

Then it was a bit crazy because when we got back to our area on Sunday we realized we had locked these doors that we didn't have keys to...... haha so funny enough after a lot of phone calls and no success my companion was like, well let's go do some missionary work to our neighbors. So we were talking to this guy who is the boyfriend of the lady who lives next to us and he was asking us a lot of good questions like how do you know the Book of Mormon is true?? so we were like well... and then as we were teaching him his girl friend came out and was like, well I actually used to work for the company who owns these units and I know someone who is in the office who can help you out!  We were like YES! so she was like do you want a ride and of course in our missionary rules we can't accept rides from non members and so we told her and then she was like hey! Alec (the boy friend) you are a member of their church.. and he was like ya I was baptized when I was twelve back in NZ and we were like YUP! that is good enough! So he took us to the place and we got the keys and it worked  out really well! So never doubt that the Lord is not looking out for us!

I love you all and hope you have a great week! (more details about Anne next week when we figure some more stuff out)

-Elder Pierce

Another picture from the mission website: 

Zone Conference held in March ( Noah is in the Ipswich West Zone) sorry it is super blurry!

Happy Easter! Busy Awesome Week!

                                                        Me with my sun hat :)

4/18/2017
Dear Everyone,

 

First off, sorry that I am a day late with my email but it is because yesterday was a public holiday Easter Monday! So I will jump right into it. This past week we have been able to do some good teaching with members and our investigators so that our investigators have some fellowship in the church. Since Tuesday was my birthday I got the privilege and honor of being a missionary all day!!! haha On that day we had a really good lesson with  our investigator Anne who was the lady who just turned up to General Conference and we talked about the plan of salvation and we taught for a good long time and she was always comparing what we were teaching to what the JW teach because before she lived in Warwick she lived in Brisbane and she was taking lessons with the jws but it was an awesome lesson! 

On my birthday it was really cool because at night there was this huge orange moon which I thought was kind of like a tender mercy from Heavenly Father just saying, "Yes, I know and remember you" because I always remember mom telling me that when I was born that there was a big orange moon. 

The picture of the moon on my birthday (so it is the really orange one and the other light is a street lamp)
 That was pretty awesome!

Then on Thursday we had a lesson with our Chinese investigator Esther where we brought a sister from church who served her mission in Thailand. We thought that was the next best thing to someone who spoke Chinese, someone who had experience teaching people without a Christian background. And it was awesome lesson and she invited Esther's whole family to dinner at her house so that was really awesome and we did that on Sunday (Easter).  Also Thursday we had another lesson with Anne with one of the members about the restoration and that went really well. Then on Easter we had a great church service and my companion gave a talk but the only problem was that he was suppose to give a 15 minute talk but only got to about 10 minutes so then it was turn to give my testimony as well (companionship unity!) haha Then that night we were able to go to dinner at the member's house and our Chinese investigator and they connected  really well! 

To top it off on Monday we had a great day because we had dinner at one of the families in the ward, the Clarks, because it was their youngest daughter's birthday so they actually made it a joint birthday party for me and her! haha We also did an Easter egg hunt with them so it was just full of lots of fun :) Also yesterday we taught Anne the gospel of Jesus Christ and she said that everything clicked and that she wants to be baptized and so we set her on date for the middle of May.... and fast forward to today she called us and told us that she wants to be baptized this Saturday... so we will she how that goes. If that is not a prepared person from the Lord then I don't know who is..?!?! hahaha  

I love you all and I hope you have a great week. Random bits of information though- Easter is pretty much the same in Australia the only difference is that all year round they eat Cadbury all year round but for Easter time there are the especially good chocolates! and apparently they celebrate more Easter Monday then Easter Saturday...?? but it is still pretty good! Also random funny thing that happened to us, so we were going to visit this recent convert in our ward and before we went in this member pulled up and started talking to us and he spoke to my companion and he said, "I didn't know you could play the organ so well!" but my companion who didn't hear him responded "No, we just came here to visit Tirsh..." really funny :) but I hope everyone has a great week!

- Elder Pierce

   We watched the 17 miracles on the night of my birthday on this little purple portable dvd player.

General Conference Miracle

4/10/2017
Dear Everyone,

   

This past week was really good! very busy but very good!  Last p-day was pretty fun because we went out to a member's house for dinner who kind of lives a little out of the way and we helped them chop some wood and what not and then we had dinner. Then Tuesday was A LOT of driving.. haha because we had our zone meeting/ getting the flu shots but it was in Karawatha which is about a 2 hour and something drive... haha good fun though because we listened to a lot of talks and speeches. But after zone meeting we had a trade off so I stayed in Warwick and took the zone leaders Elder Song and Elder Haung (from Taiwan) so that we could teach some of the Mandarin speaking people in our area!! which we have been trying to do for a long time! So here in Warwick for a day and some we had in the words of elder Haung "Asian power!!" hahaha the only problem is that here in Warwick this past week it has been really cold! I had to buy a jumper (sweater).. And for the trade off neither Elder Song or Haung brought a jumper and all of the people that we talked to were like, where are your jumpers??? It was a very fun trade off and I learned some Chinese like how to say elder and hello good bye sorry and things like that. I won't attempt to write how it is all spelled because that just wouldn't work... But during the trade off we taught two lessons in Chinese where Elder Song and I just looked  at each other with puzzled faces the whole time! Very fun :) 

We also after the trade-off finished we had a lesson with our Filipino investigator and the bishop (who speaks Tagolog) and we set her on a baptismal date for the end of April so we will see how that goes.. she is a little hesitant but she has been feeling the spirit and reading and praying. Then this week again we went to see one of our sisters who is in the aged care place and we sang for the whole place and Elder Tewes played some piano as well and Sister Binskin really appreciated it! Then on Friday we had to go down to Stanthorpe, which is and hour and some drive from here in Warwick, because we had a church headquarters referral, a lady who opened up a book of Mormon add and requested a free copy. That was really cool because I have always wondered if anyone actually orders those free Book of Mormons.. haha 

Then on the Weekend we had GENERAL CONFERENCE!! which was amazing as always! I highly enjoyed all of the talks! Cool story too was that before general conference I made my questions to bring to the Lord and then when we came to watch the broadcast someone accidentally put on the Saturday afternoon session instead of the morning session first and everyone was like well.. oh well! As it turns out the first two talks answered like all of my questions!! So you can't say the Lord isn't looking out for us! Also we had another General Conference miracle of Sunday. So while we were having a Priesthood executive committee meeting before the first session started, half way through our ward mission leader left and came back and was like, hey there is this lady named Anne who is here for her first time.. Elders do you want to go talk to her?? and me and my companion turned to each other and were like uhhh... yes!  So we go out there and this lady (a little bit older) had just turned up and was looking at some of the pass a long cards, so we taught her the first discussion (pretty much) right then and there and we talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and modern day prophets and apostles and then we were like well it is actually your lucky day because it is general conference and we gave her a Book of Mormon and she stayed for the session. And who would guess it my main man Thomas S Monson was the first speaker and he spoke about the Book of Mormon! So ya that was awesome! Anne even came for the second session on Sunday as well! 

So over all a pretty awesome week! Also side note this weekend was transfers and  Elder Tewes and I are staying!! But ya that is about it I think :) I love you all and hope you have a great week!

ps. I don't really know if I will do anything on my birthday... probably just be a missionary! haha

-Elder Pierce

Rain, Rain Go Away

                    Elder Pierce weathering the rains and flood from Tropical Cyclone Debbie
4/3/2017
Dear Everyone,

   So this week was a pretty awesome week! On Tuesday we had our interviews with the mission president and the assistants asked me and Elder Tewes to do a musical item for a mission tour that is coming up.  So we will be singing a mix between the children's hymns "Did Jesus Really Live Again?" and "To Think About Jesus". I came up with the idea to do those songs but Elder Tewes is the one that makes it work because his amazing masterful piano skills, so that will be pretty fun. But after interviews we had to rush back to Warwick because we had the funeral of the recent convert, Fred, and me and Elder Tewes sang "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" which was pretty good. 

We also are teaching this Filipino lady whose name is Franka (french-ah) and since our bishop served his mission in her part of the Philippines he has been helping us teach (he does most of it since we can't speak Tagolog) which is pretty awesome! 

Then on Thursday it was pretty crazy because our mission president told the whole mission to stay in their flats all day past 11am because of some really big cyclones that are hitting Australia (Tropical Cyclone Debbie made landfall on March 28, 2017 in northeast Australia's Queensland state) . Luck enough Warwick is pretty far inland so we were not that affected but we did get quite a bit of rain and lots of flooding! But no damage really which is really good! 

Here in Australia there has been some massive flooding and what not (not as bad for us in Warwick because we are pretty inland..) but here are the pictures from all of the rain and flooding

If you see the parallel line of trees, well that is where the water is suppose to be in between.

Elder Tewes and I now found a new way to do language study since his English is already perfect... what we do is I read words from his German English dictionary and he has to a. guess the word I'm saying and b. translate in English. It has been pretty fun and my German pronunciation is not that bad! haha Also we have been doing a lot of service for this older guy helping him fix up his house and paint and what not and he recently let us share the restoration with him and he said he really wants to read the Book of Mormon which is awesome! 

My investigators that wanted to be married, Robert and Shonna have been having some big trials. But ya Robert has been having some really bad health issues with his blood pressure because he has a blocked bundle in his heart. So we were just able to see them this week finally after a long while. His faith is still strong but his body is a little weak. He was telling us about the difference about saying we have faith and then actually having to have faith. We were able to give him a blessing and watch the Mormon Message (which  highly recommend you watch) "Mountains to Climb" about trials in this life. But ya that is the go with them. and again things with my companion are awesome :) We have a lot of fun with music and what not and doing the Lord's work. He is a little more bold than I am.. maybe that is the German in him though.. haha

Other than that in our ward choir practices since there aren't too many (meaning no) altos who can read their part I get to sing alto with them and the men's part as well! haha which is fun. In this upcoming week we will be having trade offs so that we can bring this Taiwan missionary to teach our Chinese investigator which will be really cool I bet! 

But that is about it I guess. I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Pierce

Also I got a new bag from the recent convert because my old bag looks a little worse for wear.. haha