Hello Family!!!!

Our mission does a despedida for missionaries leaving every transfer, and well...someone you may or may not know was a part of it yesterday. I love these people. This does not feel real. 

This week was awesome!! We found alot of really awesome people this week, some super awesome investigators, that are super promising! I am so excited! Things are looking really good. 

Something that really hit me this week is how so many people do not know who they really are. Something we've been focusing on, because it seems to be what alot of people need recently, is their divine nature. We've brought so many people to tears in the last couple weeks just because we testify and remind them of their divine potential and how important they really are to Heavenly  Father. That really hit me. It's amazing how enabling that knowledge is. Satan does everything he can to keep us from remembering that because if he can he stops us from growing up to our godly potential. It is so powerful to know and to remember who we are. We are sons and daughters of God- the all powerful, who can do anything, who created all things- we are His sons and daughters directly. there is no obscure lineage or anything. that is powerful.

We had a good lesson with Fernando this week. He is so funny. He had just had a lesson with obispo about the sacerdocio (english?) last week which was good! he was a little confused about how it works though. he's a mason so his impression was that in order to go to the temple you have to reach a certain level of priesthood before you can go. well...not quite...haha we tried to smuther that fire before it became a problem. he is super excited to get the priesthood and especially to go to the temple. awesome!

it was an awesome week. awesome day, we're going to chinatown today to go spend all of our inhertitance haha! i am so excited! hermana lopez was called this weekend to be a trainer so we're going to get a new companion tomorrow. woohoo!!

have a good week,

love you all!

hermana LaPierre

Catching Fire

HI family,

yup, catching fire, we're on fire! fernando's baptism was awesome. Funny story- so he was an ideal investigator this past month- never any questions, never any doubts, just how he could get baptized. it was so perfect, we were always trying to figure out what his doubt was. He had his baptismal interview on friday and we were at the church waiting for him to get out. it was really funny because there were actually another investigator getting his baptismal invterview the same day and that guy went in for his interview later and came out like 30 mins before fernando. we were getting kind of nervous that something had come out that he had failed to mention to us. Finally- after an hour!!! he came out. Apparently, our DL made the mistake of asking him how he met the missionaries,haha 30 minutes later they were able to start the interview! when he got out Fernando was telling us about how he told him his whole life story! which, for real, he really did tell his whole life story. he first met the missionaries in 1992 and he actually showed us this week the first book of mormon that he had gotten from them! it was so cool this guy has been prepared!

when we started teaching him, we asked him to show us on our map where he lives so we could make sure he lives in our area (we always taught him in his niece's house). well, he pointed to a place in our map, so we thought we were ok to teach him. turns out though, that he actually lives like 2 blocks out of the ward boundaries....a detail that just came out the night before his baptism!! really?!?!?!? we couldn't have found that out a month ago?! we spent the last 15 minutes before bed time and all morning trying to figure out what to do with the DL and ZLs. ...awkward...well, thanks to fernando being a rich man and having a million houses, we were able to baptize him because his niece lives in a house that he owns, which is in our boundaries ( big time loop hole!) not sure that's a kosher excuse, but that's what they told us to do, so we did it. eventually of course, he'll have to go to his ward, but for now since he has family in our ward, he can come  here. woops! well, our perfect investigator finally had a flaw! haha, but he's still on fire! he was so happy to be baptized. what a day!

this friday, we had a thanksgiving dinner. it was so funny. someone needs to explain what thanksgiving is! it was 80s themed and they had the primary singing christmas songs. haha oh i love latinos!

we're getting a little nervous for december. we have been told that every companionship in the mission must baptize in the month of december. we don't have anything solid yet though, so we're kind of nervous, but hopefully this week is a good one. it has to be if we get a baptism in december. 

things are going well. it's freezing here. probably not as cold as home, but for california it's cold! my sweaters are getting more trunky than i am, they have holes! haha hope things are going well.

love you! 

hermana lapierre

some pics from the baptism, the 2 teenagers are his great nieces but they were in my first ward in the mission- in tujunga! 

love you, 

hermana lapierre

 

 

Chubby

Dear Family, 

This week has been awesome! I was looking at pictures from the beginning of my mission and wow....I was a little chubby huh?! haha well nothing like tortillas rice and beans to help you lose weight! Anyways, life is good. 

We are continuing to see many miracles here in Bel 2 and Los Robles. We are super excited for Fernando Castillo's baptism in a couple weeks. He's progressing really well. It was really funny- we had a lesson on the word of wisdom the other day and as we were introducing the lesson, he started testifying of how not drinking, smoking, etc. is so important and how it helps you feel closer to God (yup, he totally said that!). He is super excited to be baptized, he told us that he wants us to talk to him like he's already a Mormon. He is so awesome! It seems like we've met him at the end of a life long spiritual preparation to receive the restored Gospel. 

The other day (aka last week), we were walking down the street and this woman came up to us to ask us where our church is and if we could come teach her family about the Gospel. umm....sure! yeah, we can do that! well, we went to their house this week and it was amazing! They've been looking for a church to go to for a long time. Actually, her husband told us that he saw missionaries biking down the street the other day (before she met us) and he felt like he should follow them to see where the church was. When he went to grab his bike and came back they were gone. Then, a couple days later, his wife saw us! that's when she stopped us to ask if we'd teach her. They are so awesome! The spirit was so strong in the lesson. 

East LA is AWESOME!! It is so different than the other areas i've been in. I love it. I've never smelled so much weed in my life. But, it's ok, that's why we need to help them! haha I wish I could take more pictures and show you this place. Love it.

love you guys!

Hermana LaPierre

November 4th

Hello Family!! 

Remember when I said that this was my dream transfer?! Well, it has really been my dream transfer- it's been amazing!!! I love everything about this transfer- my companion, the area, the investigators, the members. Miracles all around!

This week has been awesome. 

I love Hermana Lopez- she just gets it. I am amazed how similar our experiences have been. We both come from a big family, grew up in the church, but our parents are converts, have had similar family experiences on our missions, similar experiences that brought us out to the mission, experiences on the mission- especially similar beginnings of our missions (she's only been out for 5 months), same age!! (not 19 yrs old!) similar intrests, anyways, suffice it to say that we get along great! She feels the same way I do about the Gospel and missionary work. I love it! I've never had a companion who feels so much like I do. I am so excited to work East LA like crazy this transfer! Alma and Amulek, my friends.  President said that he's been keeping track of us (our letters, entrevistas, numbers, etc) and has been waiting to put us together for a long time! I'm excited to see what happens.

We've met so many people who are prepared, the work is really growing really fast here. In fact, we met a man this week- Fernando Castillo. A member called us up one day and said she had a family member who was ready for the gospel and asked if we'd come over right then to teach him. When we got there he explained that he's known Mormons for a really long time and he even lived in Utah for a while. He was really impressed with them and the way they live their lives. He's been coming to church the past couple weeks as well. Before we were even able to invite him to baptism, he asked us if we'd be able to baptize him! It was amazing! When he came to church yesterday he looked just like a member! We extended a baptismal date the second visit, which he accepted without hesitation. It's kind of funny because of course usually you spend so much time trying to convince people that they want to be baptized, but now, we're kind of slowing him down trying to help him really feel the conversion process- he just accepts everything already and since the first visit talks about how he wants to go to the temple to baptize his sister. 

The whole week has been like that. We've been finding people who already want to get baptized and are really progressing towards baptism. We met another woman who has been looking for answers since her daughter had a tragic accident 4 years ago- both her and her daughter have been looking for a church that could give them the answers they have. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson. Every lesson we teach is powerful and the Spirit testifies so powerfully to them. Even though I was still transitioning and trying to figure out everything in a new area, we feel like we barely even did anything and the Lord blessed us so much. I'm excited to actually get to work and see what else can happen. 

I am so grateful for the experiences I've had as they have helped me turn to the Lord in a much deeper way. I've begun to understand what it really means to be a disciple of Christ. He's helped me understand how much I really need to depend on Him. Before I think I would be more tempted to see the success we see now as a manifestation of how "good of a missionary I am", but now, I see how much it is not about that. He is a kind and loving Heavenly Father and so has blessed us, not because I "deserve it" but because He will always bless his faithful children in His own time and way. The more I humble myself and open myself to His will, the more peace and joy I find in His work and as His servant. 

so keep on going even if you don't feel like the lord is helping, keep going- he'll help! i promise!

the stake relief society activity this weekend about missionary work. they were trying to get members to give us referrals. They had us do a skit- which was really funny- more so because it was so pathetic! We did it about how members can share the gospel with friends through service. it was funny. that's where the picture comes from (well, afterwards). Someone in the relief society also thought they had a great way to get referrals for us. They went through every missionary that died this past year and gave a bio on every one- talked about how they died, etc. nothing like sympathy and tears to get the members involved to share the gospel! haha. 

love you lots. Wish i had a year more to write about everything that's happened this month, but there's a mountain of missionaries waiting for the computers, so I've got to go. 

Hna. LaPierre

 

 (this picture is kind of funny, but it's our companionship flags-Mexico and the US!!)

I'M IN EAST LA!!!!!!

HI!

This weekend was transfer calls and we were expecting Hermana Southworth to leave since she's been in the area for longer, but nope! I got sent to Belveder 2 and Los Robles Wards, which is East LA! I am so excited, I've wanted to serve in East LA my whole mission so I am so excited! AND- I have a native companion, Hermana Lopez, I am so excited!! my dream transfer! So the weird thing is that now, I'm covering 2 wards, Los Robles is a singles ward, so that will be fun. 

This week was really good. I'm sad to leave Rimgrove. We've been setting up a cool activity with the young women to make cookies with them and have them take the cookies to some less actives and share spiritual thoughts with them. The young women are so excited to do it, so I'm sad I'm not going to be there with them. Things are on the upswing there. The sister that is coming to take my place will be awesome. She's super cool, and suuuuper tall! The ward will not know what happened to them!

We had a mission tour this week with Elder Sitati. It was awesome! He talked about our purpose and broke it down into 8 parts and talked about the why and how of each part. He was really good. His wife talked about being a disciple of Christ, it was so powerful! Something I loved is that they talked alot about just keeping covenants and how if we keep our covenants than we don't have to worry about having the Spirit, and being blessed. It's so true. I love that. The Gospel is so simple. 

Hope you all have a great week. It's taking me forever to write this letter because I keep getting distracted with other missionaries talking. 

Love you, 

Hermana LaPierre

Oct. 21

Family,

 

Welp, you just heard from me about 4 days ago and I doubt very many of you still read these. But if you do, you're troopers. And I love you.

 

The temple this week was AWESOME!!!! There is no way it could have gotten any better. The member that came with us owns a restaurant and since we left around lunch time, right as we got in the car, she said " I thought you probably hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I brought you some lunch", as she handed us breakfast burritos...ah!....I love Latinos, especially their food. we got to the temple just before 1 so we missed our sesson, and had to wait for the next one, which was great! because we got to do iniciatories. Nothing like not going to the temple for a super long time to make you appreciate every moment and every word. It was perfect- so spiritual and so reassuring. Then we finally got to go do endowments and if iniciatories weren't good enough, that was a suuuuper cool experience. It was really instructive and insightful. I Love the temple!

 

We decided this week to go to an area that we don't usually go to- we have no members, potentials or formers down there, so really no reason to go. Plus, the area is super nice, so for Spanish work, usually means there's no work there, but we went anyways. We decided before we went that we'd say a prayer at every cross street that the Lord would bless us with new opportunities and with people to teach. As we walked and prayed, our prayers were answered! Pretty much every person we talked to was Latino (kind of a shock for that area), and everyone told us we could come back! One man we talked to, Eriberto, was really nice. He's in a Catholic Evangelizing group, but was really nice and really open to hearing more about what we do. He told us to come back(maybe so he can evangelize to us?!haha). Our prayers did not bring crazy miracles, we didn't pick up any investigators while we were there, but our eyes were opened, and we got to see that there are people that we can work with in other areas than the ones we always go to. We met another woman, Anita too. She was walking to her car when we saw her in a rush to a party, but she stopped to give us her contact information so we could come back this week! The Lord hears our prayers. I'm excited to see what happens.  

 

Hope you're doing well,

love you all,

 

Hermana LaPierre

 here are some pictures you can laugh at, more of me trying to bike! how would you not want to listen to the Gospel from that girl?! haha. (don't mind the garments- i did everything I could to hide them!)

October 16

Good morning family!

 

This week has been good, kind of sad. I don't know how many people heard about it, but one of the elders in our mission, Elder Page, was killed this past week in a biking accident. He was hit head on by a car. What made it sadder for us is that we had just talked to him on Sunday at General Conference. He'd just gotten to the field 3 weeks earlier and is also from the east coast (North Carolina). I know his trainer really well- I was in their zone a few months ago, so it was pretty sad. We had a memorial service on Sunday on his behalf as a mission. Elder Ostler (his trainer) spoke for a while. Elder Page was an incredible missionary from what it sounds like. His father had passed away about 3 years before he left for his mission and he told Elder Ostler that he had a mission to fulfill on his mission- he felt that he was there to teach people the power and reality of the plan of salvation so every contact, every lesson, etc. always related back to the plan of salvation. I was impressed by how much love he (Elder Ostler) had for him. I can only imagine what it must be like for him, but he handled it so well. It was such a powerful, uplifting meeting. Isn't it so interesting how funerals can be uplifting? I am so grateful for the plan of salvation. My testimony of it's reality has been strengthened and confirmed this weekend. He Lives! Jesus Christ lives and loves us so much. He lives so the sting of death does not last. Sometimes I refer to the Atonement as messy, because it is used to handle the "mess" of life- every question, every pain can be overcome through the Atonement. Sometimes we don't like to admit or face our problems because they seem unconventional or because we know we shouldn't feel or think a certain way, but it doesn't matter because guess what- you can overcome it! There is so much power in being open with ourselves and others, because the Lord will deliver us out of any wilderness if we let Him. The Lord's plan is a perfect plan.

 

On a happier note, yesterday we were on exchnages outside of the mission in Chino! (in english work, that area is now in the Ranchacucamunga (no idea how to spell that) mission, but in spanish work, it's still in arcadia). It was my first day every biking as a missionary, and it was a crazy experience! (don't laugh too hard at the pictures). First off, the skirt was crazy. Too flowy- way too flowy. so I had to pin it like a diaper like 20 times. I think the funniest part of the day was when we were getting ready to leave from an appointment once, and I was pinning up my skirt. This woman just stopped and stared at me for a good 10 minutes. finally she just said, in a semi disgusted voice "What are you DOING?!" my comp for the day, Hna. Vellinga said "We're making pants!" again, silence. she just stared at us until we left! haha. what a day! we switched bikes half way through the day because the other bike was alittle much for me (if only my legs were just a liiiiiittle bit longer). the other one didn't really change the height issue, but it made my bumb feel a little better :) I'll try to add pics so you can see it!

 

Today is our temple day and we should be heading out in about half an hour! I'm so excited! it's been crazy getting a member to take us but we found someone! she is so great! i'm sure there will be a multitude of blessings for her and her husband, who woke up at 4 to take the elders to the temple this morning!

 

love you all lots. Have a great day!

 

Hermana LaPierre

Dear Family:

 

This week has been hot still! It's tricky though because in the morning it's kind of cold so I get bundled up and then we go outside and I cook! It's great, I love it, I love fall! (CA's version of fall is definately not the same though!)

 

We had a cool bus contact about a week ago with this guy, Art. We got on the bus and I started talking to him. He told me that he really wanted to do a Bible study, well, I asked him why and he said he felt like it was what God wanted him to do. He's been looking for where to start going. I tried to explain that we're not quite a bible study, it's a little more than that, and he was all over it. He missed his stop so he could give me his info. (He doesn't live in our area so we had to refer him to the elders... :( ) Anyways, the elders were able to get in contact with him and he came to churh on sunday. it was super cool- he walked out of sacrament meeting and said "well, what other sign do I need? I know this is what God wants me to do!" He accepted a baptismal date his first lesson with the elders! There really are people like that out there. it was cool- just wish we could be the ones teaching him!

 

This week we had fun making conference invites for people. they were super legit looking. We used the picture invites from lds.org (the ones you can copy onto your facebook page, etc.) and wrote the address for the stake center and times, etc. and then laminated them. They looked so awesome. How could you not go to conference when you have an awesome invite like that! haha well, We took as much advantage of conference as we could and tried to invite everyone possible to it! I'm hoping that maybe they watched it on Lds.org :) because unfortunately no one came, but it's ok, we'll get them next time! Conference was amazing this weekend! It seemed like pretty much every talk I was thinking about how badly I wished that our investigators were there or how much I wished my recent converts or less actives were listening. The talks were all so good and faith inspiring. I love conference weekends.

 

We found out this week that internet proselyting will start in our mission this month, which means that we'll start going on Facebook, etc. to talk to our investigators, members, less actives, etc. I'm not really sure how I feel about it. It seems like it'll be really weird to go back on facebook while I'm still a missionary. But, if you start noticing that my facebook starts going into spanish, it's not because some random Mexican has hijacked it, it's me- your Mexican wannabe daughter! bahaha. It'll be good though because it'll put me to the test. I've been telling members for the past year (and then some) that they should talk to their friends about the church and how important it is. Now, I have to talk to my friends and start sharing the gospel with the people I know. It's a good opportunity to learn to share the Gospel in a whole different way, and one that will make the transition from formal missionary to member missionary alot more smooth hopefully. Should be interesting, I'm excited.

 

Anyways that's been the week! love you all! church is true!

 

love,

laree/ hna. lapierre

Hello familia,

 

How is everyone doing?! This week has been crazy! We moved apartment, we got our car taken away, and our area got split so that the zone leaders could come into our ward (which means we lost alot of our work!). It has been a really funny week with so many changes. Well, let me just demonstrate:

day 1 (monday): cleaning the apartment with the Spanish APs for like 5 hours, I think I inhaled a way too much lysol that day. we then had to go do e-mail and never went grocery shopping this week because it was so crazy.

day 2 (tuesday): meeting with the zone leaders to explain the things that have been going on in the area that they'll be taking over. also our first day on the bus, we had no idea what we were doing!

day 3 (wednesday): we had planned to stay inside for a while after our studies to take some time to reorganize ourselves and our new area. Well, we stayed in, but because the toilet overflooded!! that was fun ;) I wish I could show you the pictures!

day 4 (thursday): we had district meeting but we had to go pick up something from the APs first so we went over there, got back to our pad and I realized that I had lost it, we had to go back look around by their pad, only to realize I had it with me the whole time!

day 5 (friday): weekly planning, at night, we had been waiting for the bus for like 45 minutes last bus that would take us home on time, and we watch it drive right past us! hahaha, well, luckily there's a member family that lives close by that were able to give us a ride to our pad!

day 6 (saturday): that was a good day. we got to go to Hacienda and met some good people.

day 7 (sunday): CHURCH! I love church.

 

it was a fun week! haha. glad it's pday and can't wait til next week!

 

love you!

Hello Family!!

Today has been crazy! We received our transfer calls this Saturday, Hna. Southworth and I will be together for another 1.5 months at least here in Rimgrove. We're excited. But, we moved into a different apartment a couple blocks away to live with a companionship of Samoan sisters. It was really crazy because there were actually 4 elders living there just last week and it was NASTY!! We were there cleaning for like 5 hours with the APs and it's still not really all that clean. Cockroaches all over! It's way better than it was though. We still have lots of cleaning to do at some point. The APs are moving into our pad so they helped us move our stuff into our new apartment and we helped them move into ours. It was a crazy crazy day. I'm glad it's almost over. 

This week was pretty slow, everything has been falling through, well actually that's what most of our 3 months together has been like! haha we're excited for a new transfer and new changes. Our area is getting split since we're all on bus/ bike/ foot now they had to divide our areas more, so we're taking half and the zone leaders are taking the other half of our area. We didn't know that until today so we actually picked up an investigator for them yesterday! Things are different so we're looking forward to what happens. One thing I love about missionary work is how it always changes and is always changing, we are changing, the people we work with are always changing, experiences change, everything is different every day, week and month. They all help us grow and change in so many ways. I am so grateful. 

We had a lesson the other day with one of our investigators. We've been struggling with getting her to commit to be baptized. Every visit we have, she has great experiences, but she never wants to get baptized, we've been trying to figure out what she needs. She says she knows it's true, but still doesn't want to get baptized. At the end, we had her pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet, it was cool. I could feel the Spirit super strong. It was weird I could feel the Spirit testifying to her. She knows that he was a prophet, and now I know even more that he was a prophet. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who helps us. We are never alone, life is not guesswork because we can always kneel down and ask Him, who knows every answer. I love it. 

The other day, we were out working and I had to go to the bathroom (typical), so we stopped in this Latino market. I got a kick out of the translation of this sign! As you can tell, english is not the first language here!

love you all, Hermana LaPierre

September 9

Hello family!

 

This week has been good. Alex, Jovita's ex husband, got baptized in the english ward yesteray so that was exciting. I hope it was a good experience for Jovita and helps her on her way towards baptism. She says she doesn't want to be baptized, but we'll see about that ( I don't buy it). She's doing really well.

 

The most exciting thing that's happening right now is that we found out that they will be taking our cars away next week (beginning of the next transfer). We'll be going aound on bike, bus, and feet. To try it out, we decided to try a no car pday today- it took us 45 minutes to walk to the closest library...this is going to change things alot for us. We'll see how it goes. We have a sisters meeting in arcadia on wednesday and they asked a couple of us to do it by bus to see if we can do it. we're excited but nervous too about how different it'll be. we'll let you know how it goes next week. that's the most exciting news.

 

We've been working in an area in La Puente that is purely Latino. It has been great! It's like a little mini Mexico. I feel like I'm in heaven! We've picked up 6 new investigators this week- all from that neighborhood. We're still struggling on keeping our investigators to stick- they are very rarely there for the second lesson, so we're working alot on how we do how to begin teaching. We've been making that the center of our roleplays, etc. We had an idea last night to try going over to potentials' houses when a day or 2 before our scheduled appointment, to confirm it, but also give them something simple to read (a page from a folleto, etc.) in preparation. We're looking for ways to sift the wheat from the tares. We'll see how that goes.

 

have a great day! love you all

 

Hermana LaPierre

Good morning family!

Yesterday we had our zone conference, so our pday got switched to today! We had our zone conference in Pomona- where I just served, and got to see some of the members I had worked with and it really helped me to think about my mission a little differently.

I never realized how much I love these people, how much I would do anything to help them spiritually, to see them in the celestial kingdom some day, or even to get to go inside the temple with them.I want to be able to do all that I can for them now so that one day I can embrace them in the temple, or on the other side of the veil and know that I didn't let them down, that I really did give them my all. I love these people. I want to be more consecrated here because I don't want to let these people down. I imagine that there will be a day when I'll see the people I teach (whether they get baptized or not) again, here or on the other side, and I want to know that I gave them my whole heart and soul. I know that my time is coming up when I'll have to leave my mission and I want to be able to say that I have done absolutely everything in my power to help them.

I was also able to go to do exchanges this week in Tujunga, where I served the first 6 months of my mission. I had studied that morning in Ether 12:12, 14,18, and 6 about faith so that I might know how to help the hermanas there. It's interesting to me to note that sometimes faith is just sticking out in the trials of life- enduring to the end. But, we can endure a trial, and we can "endure it well" (there's a cross reference to D&C 121:7-8). Those are 2 very different experiences, with 2 very different results. Sometimes, our missions are hard, sometimes life is hard, and we don't always get what we want right away, even if it's a righteous desire (like baptisms, having a family, etc.), but that's no excuse to keep us from diligently being a disciple of Christ, consistently keeping our focus. (Maybe even enjoying ourselves and having some fun in the process!) As we enjoy the experiences the Lord is giving us, and diligently live what we know we should be living, rather than stressing that we're not seeing the fruits of our labors, the Lord will bless us, and like Joseph Smith, if we endure our trials well, we "shall be exalted from on high". Really, as we embrace and live the doctrine of Christ. I know this is the work of the Lord. He truly knows and loves each of us and gives us the experiences we need to help us grow, and to teach us how to endure well our daily lives.

I love this work! It's been a while since I've added photos, so here are some from a long time ago. some are from by birthday, one is from Tujunga with an investigator I had worked withthere, Imelda, adn the others are with my comps. we also eat some weird fruit here. love you all!

Hermana LaPierre

August

Hola!

This week was pretty awesome, we had one of the best lessons yet with one of our investigators yesterday. She rents a room out from a member, so we were at her house eating with them yesterday and got to teach her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was such a powerful lesson, the Spirit was the strongest it's ever been when we teach her. I was so grateful for that, it makes a big difference. She is so awesome, still has some hang ups but she's getting there. She comes to church almost every week, and has for the past 3 months. She's just struggling to realize that she's ready. But she is. It was really cool because during dinner, we started talking about her reading (we left her with Alma 32) and then somehow the Word of Wisdom came up (we still haven't taught her that, but knew she'd have problems with smoking and coffee). We got to talk to her about why we follow it and how it really comes down to faith. It was the perfect lead in to the Gospel. She's going to be baptized on September 22nd and I am so excited for it!

Our FHE with the Becerras went pretty well too, their whole family came! Alex, Jovita, their son, Alex, and his parents- Leon and Amelia (Amelia kind of reminds me of gma LaPierre). So it was a pretty big crowd. We had planned a pretty simple lesson- watch the Restoration video, introduce Book of Mormon, invite her (Jovita) to a baptismal date, and to read and pray, and go to church. It went really well. It's so interesting though, because they all have different needs and different doubts- so it's hard to know how to help them all at the same time...in the same lesson. It was awesome to have president there to help them with their doubts and questions. He was awesome. Hermana Southworth and I were talking about it and I think at some point in the lesson every PMG lesson was touched on, so it was a lot. But it was good. We were able to address alot of their questions, hopefully.

It was kind of sad though, their family has alot of issues, one of which is that they struggle letting go of who Alex was in the past. He's as changed man, but they tend to still hold on to who he was and not let it go. That really made me think. You can see in his face that he's a repentant man, he's different.You could see the emotion and regret in his eyes. He still has some things that he's got to work out before he can get baptized, but he's different. It made me sad to see his family not letting go of who he was. It made me realize how absolutely important it is to forgive others. When we hold on to grudges or things that happened in the past, we refuse to accept that the Lord can change people's hearts, that His Gospel is really true and really works. I am so grateful for the reality of His Gospel, that makes bad men good and good men better every day. It is the best thing that has happened to me and the best thing that can happen to anyone. I know it changes people because it changes me everyday. It helps me let go of wrongs done to me and forgive those around me, it also gives me the hope that I can become better than I am right now. That is the healing power of the Atonement, the reason Christ came to this earth. What a blessing to take part of that every day.

Love you all,
Hermana LaPierre

August 15

Hello Family!!

How are y'all?! This week has been super fun! Hermana Hazelton, our visa waiter, leaves for Peru tomorrow morning at 3 am (early morning for us!). I can't believe how fast the weeks go by here! It's been a fun week with her. She's a talker, so she keeps things fun for us! We'll both miss her when she leaves. I'm excited to be working with Hermana Southworth still though, she's a suuuper sweet woman, you can't not get along with her. 

This week we've seen several small miracles. We got to meet Laura Vasquez, who was a Head Quarter Referral. She just moved here and has been looking for a church, she had met missionaries in WA just before she left, who referred her to us. We had the opportunity to do a how to begin teaching lesson with her and it went great! She is so excited to learn, and seems to have a lot of potential. 

We had a lesson with a new investigator Jovita and her ex husband Alex, and Alex's parents this past week that went really well. She was a referral from President Becerra, who has been working with Alex for a while with the english missionaries. It was so cool! They are awesome! Alex already wants to be baptized, the only thing holding him back is that they are living together (yes...they are divorced...don't ask). But! now that we're teaching Jovita, I'm excited to see what changes happen! She is super cool, she's from Mexico, but speaks some english (i can't actually remember if I've ever heard her speak english or not...they both just kind of mix so I feel like it's all the same now). It's funny, they live in a nicer area than we're used to working in and their house is nicer than any other house I've ever been in on my mission, so we kind of feel a little out of our element. It's fun though. We're doing a family home evening with them at President's house in Arcadia this Thursday, which I'm kind of nervous about (because we're the one teaching it instead of him). It'll be good. She's pretty receptive to it all and she's really sharp, so she's fun to teach. She didn't get to come to church this week though, which was kind of a bummer. Alex came though and I thought it was funny- he is so social! He just walked right up to people and started talking to them. We walked out of Relief Society and he was out talking to a bunch of people exchanging phone numbers. yeah! if everyone we taught was like that, we'd have it so easy!

I'm so grateful I stayed here in Rimgrove for a lot of reasons. One of which is because I've gotten the chance to keep working with some of my recent converts from the last time I was here. I wouldn't say that they're struggling, but maybe just that they "have a long runway" as far as things go. So it's been a blessing to get to keep working with them, and strengthening them. There is nothing better to me than seeing them progressing still, and nothing more sad to me than seeing them fall. Because of that, I'm trying to do everything I can while I'm still here to help them keep going. I know that at least in part, this is why I was sent here- to help them persevere until the end and to inspire them to become true disciples of christ! 

We had a lot of fun and there's a lot of good things happening here. Little by little things keep picking up. I can't wait to see this place exploding with baptisms! Hopefully I'm here still to see it happen. 

I love the Gospel. It's amazing! Love you all. 

Love, 

Hermana LaPierre

August 5

Dear family,

Today has been a good day. It's pday and the first day of transfers. My companion left, so we had to take her to the office to bring her to her new companions. It's a fun pday when we do transfers because all of the missionaries that are leaving are there and then other missionaries come for transfer moves so we get to talk for a while. My 2 district leaders in my first area, Tujunga, are leaving this week, so it was crazy to say goodbye to them. I can't believe how fast time is going by. 

Transfer calls were a little surprising. We got a call from the APs and assumed that either Hermana Southworth or I would be going, since Hermana Davis is still new. So I picked up and he asked for her, what?! She'll finish up being trained in a different area, West Covina, and Hermana Southworth and I are staying in Rimgrove. We also have a visa waiter with us for about a week before she heads out to Peru. This call was really crazy because guess what....I'M NOT TRAINING!!!!! Woohoo! For the first time in my mission, I'll only have 2 and a half hours of studies, we'll be leaving to proselyte at 10:30 am!! Crazy! I'm kind of sad to not have all of those studies, we'll have to be more efficient with the time we have. Not to say that I don't enjoy training new missionaries. They are fun, but that first transfer is always an emotional (as the trainee) and stressful (as the trainer) one. Turns out that there are alot of things in missionary work that is not just black and white or obvious, which is something most people do not come out understanding. Like, why we do things certain ways, what to do when plans don't work out (a principle used more often then not), people's agency- unfortunately you can't just force them to accept the Gospel- as much as I'd like to think I can sometimes! Then add a different language and culture to the mix. It's a fun time. To them, usually they realize that missionary work is not what they had expected, and they haven't been out long enough to be grateful for that. They're confused about why we do what we do, discouraged that people aren't home or listening, or things aren't working out right away, confused about how we use our time, why it's effective. I remember feeling all of those things. And for trainers, alot of the time it comes across like they don't think you're a good missionary, they don't respect you, they keep questioning everything you're doing. You feel stressed because you doubt that you're doing it right. Things aren't always working out either, but you want it to so you can be awesome to them, you're a little defensive because you feel like they are doubting you (but they usually just don't fully get it yet) and yet, you know that being a trainer is super important because it plays a huge role on how their mission goes. I know my 3 months being trained played a huge role in who I am now as a missionary. It sets everything else off for how the rest of your mission goes, in some aspects. Anyways, you get the idea. I just realized all of this a couple weeks ago and it shed some light on training. I totally get where they're coming from, and totally see where my trainer was coming from now too. it's definately not a negative thing, I just thought it was interesting to take a step back and look at what's going on on both sides. It's interesting to look at things that way- makes me have a different perspective. It's great to be a trainer because you get to help them understand and love missionary work like you do. and  you get to help them understand to love every situation, every trial and every success. What a blessing! anyways, that's my thoughts on training.

It's been one of the best and hardest experiences I could have had on my mission. I am grateful for it. The Lord truly knows what we need to help us grow. I've been blessed with incredible companions my entire mission. Each has made me a new person and has taught me something new. I'm excited to see what else comes. Supposedly we won't have new hermanas in for 3 months, so we'll see what happens. 

This week was great. We had a lesson with President Becerra earlier this week. It was so great. He taught a new investigator (a family he had worked with with other missionaries, but she speaks Spanish, so we get to teach her!) of ours. He taught the lesson so we were there to meet her and to set up an appointment, and to add our testimonies pretty much. He briefly explained the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was kind of nice to get to sit and listen to him teach those principles. What an incredible concept, and yet, it's so simple! It makes so much sense. Heavenly Father is so wise, His plan is so perfect. I am so grateful that He sent Christ here to atone for our sins. What peace and comfort come from knowing that Christ truly is our Savior and Redeemer. That as we follow His Gospel, we truly become new people, His children (Mosiah 5), to become safe in His arms some day. I love this Gospel. I know that it is true. It is so real and so alive- something that moves within each of us every day, something delicate that needs to be used every day too! I love John 4 that describes it as living waters. We have to drink from those waters every day in order to live, as we partake of the waters of the Gospel, it grows in us and becomes a "spring to everlasting life". I know that that is true. I know that my Redeemer lives. I know that this is His Gospel.

I love you all so much. Hope you're all doing well. 

Love you, 

Hermana LaPierre

July 29

Hola, sorry I wrote on Tuesday last week. We had interviews with President Becerra last week so we took pday on Tuesday instead of Monday. Sounds like you (mom and dad) are super busy. how do you do the missionary leadership meetings? how big is your mission? does it take a long time to get from one are to the other? We're really blessed here, it takes us a little less than an hour to drive from one end of our mission to the other. In fact, a couple months ago, we got lost driving back to our area from the office and ended up driving pretty much the entire borders of our mission in about 2 hours. (don't ask).

This week the ward did a girls camp and they asked us to talk about modesty. It was really fun and funny- it was in the morning and the girls were super quiet. It was also a little awkward since half of them came in tanktops and super short skirts. they are all super cute girls though and it made me appreciate my YW leaders when I was in yws.

I am so grateful to be serving with these people. they are so precious and so amazing! I looooove missionary work. I love the gospel. People are so funny sometimes, and they are all so different. It makes life so much more fun to get to love and embrace these people. They are incredible.

I love you all so much. Thanks for your love and support.

Love,

Laree

Hermana LaPierre

July 23

Hello Family!!!

This week was great! Things are improving alot in Rimgrove. We've been picking up alot of new investigators every week, but haven't been holding on to many of them, which has been suuuper frustrating. So we spent our week "cleaning up"- we had to drop some of the people we met the first couple weeks I was here. That was really rough, but also good because it's helped us open our eyes to people that have real growth potential- people that will actually be baptized rather than people that have no ganas.

In the process though, we met started teaching this woman, Leticia. I mentioned her last week, she lives with one of the members in the ward and she's been coming to church the past month with her friend. She is LEGIT!! Our first lesson we invited her to be baptized and she said yes, but it was funny because she kept saying " I don't know why I'm saying yes, but I feel something!" She showed us her arms and legs and how she had goosebumps all over her. She kept saying, I don't know why, but I feel something. Then. Next lesson- The Restoration. We were talking about how we have 12 apostles today and she said "What?! I didn't even know that! I never knew that!" We invited her to be baptized on a specific date, and she got a little hesitant because it's one week after the 28th anniversary of her daughters death. I love this woman! She is incredible! She needs the Gospel so much and she knows it, she feels it! She's married to this man, and we kept talking to her to see if he'd be interested in learning more, she kept saying how he's more hard hearted and probably won't want to listen, which makes us sad because it's way harder for these woman to progress when their husbands don't want it, and there's more real growth when we teach families. So we decided to fast that he'd be open. We had a dinner at their house this past Sunday, with the member that they live with, and had planned a short lesson with Leticia after. We went to the dinner and started the lesson and it was really good. We taught about the Book of Mormon. About half way through the lesson, her husband walked in from work, so we invited him to sit down and listen and HE DID!! At the end, we invited them both to read a chapter and he said that he would and that he'd be there for our next visit!! We also talked about how these lessons prepare us for baptism and he was really open. I am super excited. The Lord listens to our prayers and fasts. I can't wait to go back there!

This week has been so interesting. I had to do exchanges with another sister in a different area this past week, so while I was with her, we had this crazy drunk guy come up and talk to us for a while. We talked to him for a while and at the end, we went to leave and he started following us. Well it freaked out this poor sister and she took a while to get back together. We were fine though, I just felt bad for her. It made the exchange super interesting. I have 2 more exchanges to do so hopefully the others are not as exciting :)

Everything has been great! love you all!

Love, Hermana Laree LaPierre

July 15 Letter

Hello Family!!

I'm still alive! Sorry I didn't get to write a big e-mail last week, I was responding to other ones. Thank-you for the birthday wishes! It was a good day.

This week was good, we had a lot of things fall through which was kind of frustrating, but we were able to find some investigators because of it, which was really good. A couple of them have lots of potential. Last Sunday, was a really intense day. We have a couple investitgators who had baptismal dates in July and who NEEDED to be there if they were going to get baptized this month. Well, we had worked super super hard to get them at church and no one came. It was really frustrating, but while I was sitting at church I was trying to think of opportunities that we may have been missing for people to teach, people that will progress. We have people to teach, but not alot of solid ones who meet with us regularly enough. They all work at least 2 jobs, so it's a big struggle for them, understandably. Well, while I was sitting there, I realized that one of the members in the ward has been bringing her friend to every activity, and has been bringing her to church too for the past month. Ummm.....why aren't we working with her?! Well, turned out there was a baptism that afternoon, so we invited her to come and she came!!!!! She definately felt the spirit there's no way she didn't. We were also able to go back that week and teach her a brief lesson too. We're going back to teach the Restoration tonight and I am SO EXCITED! the Lord is so smart.

On Friday we had a party with the Mission. We had a fireside in the morning that was really good. something I was really impressed by that sister Becerra talked about was not being paralyzed by our weaknesses. Everyone kind of touched on the theme of feeling inadequate, overcoming feelings of being overwhelmed by not reaching our potential. It was really powerful. Made me think alot. In the afternoon, we had a major water fight and it was SO FUN! we made a bunch of water balloons and played some water games, but then it just turned into just filling up buckets of water and dumping them on each other. It was fun.

Saturday night, we had a cockroach the size of California in our bathroom too. It took us a half hour to finally catch it. They fly?!?!?!? who knew that, I didn't! oh and by the way, they dont' die. yuck yuck yuck!!! it was funny though...after a weekend of counseling I can finally say that :).

the church is true!!

Love you all!

Hermana LaPierre

Quick Note

Hello family!!

Well this week has been quite interesting. It's been kind of weird going back to Rimgrove, but it's also made the transition a lot easier, because I already know alot of the members, so I at least I don't feel like we're starting at square one completely.

We've been teaching this one woman who is really interesting, Janet. We were working with her this week to get her to come to church and she kept giving us excuses for why she couldn't come. We promised her at our last lesson that if she paid for the bus she would have money/ needs sufficient to get her through the week. she accepted that promise. We told her we'd take the bus with her. So we did. yesterday, we went to take the bus with her and at the bus stop she turned to me and asked "so which of you will pay for my bus ticket?" what?! I think there was some selective hearing going on there in that last lesson. Well, it made the next couple minutes a little awkward, but we figured it out. We got to church an hour and a half early because we had planned on the bus taking longer,but it was good because we got to do a tour with her before church. all day she kept saying how she didn't feel good, but I didn't think much of it.

Well, right before relief society she threw up! she has diabetes and depression and had taken meds for it earlier,but didn't eat enough with it so her blood sugar was suuuuper low. she just about passed out too. well that was a great welcome to church! anyways, before that she said she was learning a lot so hopefully the positive outweights the negative right?!

i'm about to get kicked off! love you! the church is true!

hna. Lapierre

Last Weeks Letter

Hello Family,

This week was great! Maria finally got confirmed. It was a little weird. We had confirmed on Saturday with our bishop that we could do the confirmation, but he must have forgotten, so we had to have one of the elders remind him while he was conducting the music. Minus the communication error, it was so powerful, she was in tears, and I know she felt the difference. Ah! The perfect finish to the past 3 months in Pomona.

Speaking of which...we got transfer calls this weekend! I'm back in Rimgrove (La Puente, Hacienda Heights, and Rowland Heights) and I'm companions with Hermana Southworth, who was my companion in the MTC. I'm excited! I'll also be training again, so that will be fun as well. I'm excited for new experiences, new fun, and new challenges. I'm also excited to see the people I worked with in Rimgrove. I can't believe it's already been 3 months since I was there. Time moves so fast here. I can't think too much about it.

Something also that was really exciting was getting to see a less active that we've been working with for a while at church yesterday! I felt so bad because I didn't get to talk to her after church, but it was great!!

I was impressed by the broadcast yesterday, I had alot of thoughts and impressions that I'm excited about. There is so much more potential to be done everywhere. The Lord truly is calling a hastening of his work, and a hastening in the conversions of everyone- investigators, and members, all of us! He's shaping us up!

We started teaching a man, Saul, about a week ago. He's a really interesting man, I think I talked about him in my last letter. Anyways, he's pretty interesting- from Guatemala, was a teacher there, moved here, and now does who knows what. Every time we meet with him, he really seems to get it, as far as understanding what we're saying, but he's not really letting his heart get too involved right now. We're changing that (well...now the other hermanas will be changing that). We had a tour with him on Friday before our English class and it went well. He's slightly irreverant, so it's kind of funny...and frustrating... because we'll be teaching, or there will be a moment when we feel the Spirit and then we'll look at him and he'll make some off handed comment or do something silly. We haven't quite found what he needs yet, but we're working on that.

We also had a couple great lessons with an investigator, that's a part member family. He's a stereotypical part member family investigator- been worked on by pretty much every set of missionaries that have walked into the area, almost baptized a couple times, but never did it. Well...he's doing it now. He committed to a baptismal date this week, and we're working on him. He says he just needs to get an answer, but really, he just needs to recognize that he's already gotten it. He already knows. I got to see him last night before I left and I was able to share my testimony with him. The Spirit was there. He knows what he has to do. I'm excited to go back for his baptism.

I love you lots, and miss you all too.

Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana LaPierre

Hello family!!

This week has been really great. 

We had a good follow up visit with Maria after her baptism on Tuesday. She said that as she was walking into the font on Sunday, she realized that she had had a dreamed her baptism before! And she knew that it was what God wanted her to do. She said after her baptism, she felt like she was in the clouds! She asked us if/ how she could do the baptisms for her grandparents because she feels like they really need it and should have the blessings. I'm so happy for her. We started talking about temples, and then somehow the prophet came up. She was so excited talking about how the prophet came to her baptism. 

....yup, she was convinced that President Monson was at her baptism!! I WISH he had been at her baptism!! Ha, it was really funny, we tried to explain how he's the leader of the church for the whole world, and showed her his picture, and still, she was convinced. Unless she saw something that we didn't, which, who knows. Anyways, that was funny, I think she was referring to one of the councellors in the mission presidency that came for the baptism. 

Well, hopefully we helped her understand that a little bit better. Anyways, then comes this Sunday, the day of her confirmation, and get a call from her ride that morning to tell us that she can't pick Maria up that day. Ok, well we called someone else and we were all set. Church starts, no Maria. Maria's ride walks in...still...no Maria. What?! For some reason, I guess she couldn't come to church because her kids came and so she couldn't leave...

so that was a bummer, but we went over after to talk to her and she had been at least reading her book of mormon, so that was really good. We got to talk to her a little bit more about the importance of confirmations and what they are, and church. she's really good, we're excited for her confirmation next week. 

I've been really impressed lately with the importance of making promised with Heavenly Father. Not sure if I shared this with you last time, but there's something about promises that really does strengthen your relationship with  Him, especially if you truly understand and do everything in your power to keep that promise. Our testimonies are strengthened, our relationship with Christ deepens and the divine help is poured out more than we usually deserve. I'm so grateful for that, and for prayer, the opportunity to kneel and communicate with Him about those promises. He really does listen. Prayer makes it all so much more real. I love the Gospel. 

Have a wonderful week!

Love you all, 

Hermana LaPierre

Maria

June 10, 2013

Hello Family!!

.
This week was AMAZING! Maria got baptized yesterday!!! It was incredible.
 The Spirit was so strong. I am so grateful for the Gospel that brings so much more light into peoples lives. I am amazed by her change. At the beginning of the transfer, we were about to drop her because she hadn't been keeping commitments, we had an idea to start teaching her at the church and getting members involved more. The difference was amazing. She started keeping commitments, and coming to church more and really understanding what we were teaching her. She bears her testimony to anyone that will listen. After her baptism she came over to me in tears so filled with the Spirit and so happy, she was saying how grateful she is and how excited she is and how much she will always remember us and her baptism and everything. I love the Gospel.I love the Spirit. It was a good day.
 One of our last lessons with her she was telling us that her 10 year old daughter was baptized like 3 years ago. WHAAAT?! how does that not come up earlier?!? well, actually, it ended up not being true. at least not yet, we're on it.

We had a meeting with President Becerra and about 6 other companionships about planning on Friday. It was really good. Something that stood out to me most is the importance of praying for inspiration on the goals we make. It makes me alot more determined. 

This past week, I've felt really confused spiritually because I felt like a couple weeks before, I was closer to the Lord than I ever had been and then this past week, I felt like all of the sudden, I didn't feel the Spirit as strong as before. I prayed a lot to figure out what I was missing or what was going on and I felt like Heavenly Father was just trying to push me a little more. It's super interesting to me to see how the Lord pushes and tries us to get us to our upmost potential. He knows who we can become much better than we do and so He provides opportunities for us to learn. We, as always, have to make the decision to act. Heavenly Father works so simply and so effectively.

This week is great! love you!
Hermana LaPierre

Querida Familia, 

I am so happy. This week has been great. We're preparing for our first baptism here this following Sunday, Maria. (That's my present to you Jamie!) She's so ready and is very excited to do this. She's been coming to church every week this past month and is doing great- she participates just like a member of the ward already! We're working with her this week to make sure she has the support she needs from us, but mostly from the members. It's amazing how much quicker she progressed once members became a more central role in the teaching process.

We have another investigator, Rafael. He is AWESOME!! He's this 60-something year old man and has a pretty serious alcohol addiction. He hates it, he feels alot of sorrow about it and he wants more than anything to get rid of it. He is so funny though because he always talks about how he's going to get baptized "para cumplir todo justicia"- he always says that after we gave him a tour of the chapel and talked about Christ's baptism. He can't really say our names very well, especially my companion Hna. Crawley. Bless his heart, he just always sounds like he has a speech impediment whenever he says her name. We like to tease her for that. He loooooves us. Everyone that walks in and out of his house while we're there, he tells them to come learn with us, and he tells them how we're going to baptize him and how he's going to "cumplir todo justicia" when he gets baptized. Words do not do justice to explain this man. He is so awesome. It'll be interesting to note the difference in his energy after he's sober. It's debatable how much is the alcohol and how much is actually him. He has a baptismal date for the end of the month. He knows that he needs Heavenly Father to help him overcome alcoholism, and he is clasping on for dear life. It's a challenge for him of course, because it is such a serious addiction (5 or 6 cervezas cada dia, por lo menos), but we're working with him. He's been reading and keeps his commitments, which is great. He always remembers when our appointments are, and he lists them off for us before we go. We're working on getting powerful member presents to come with us for support. Every time we talk to him he tells us how much he wants to get baptized! We're praying hard for him and Maria!

I've been growing and learning so much this week. Everyday is different, I have a new perspective on my mission, on the Gospel, myself, etc. We just had zone conference this past week. It was really good. President talked alot about repentance. He has a very suave way of calling us to repentance. It was good, I made a lot of goals and things I can do to become better and more effective. As a mission, we're doing a purification fast, where you fast for 40 days from habits that "poke at your spirit". The first day we fast and you personally and prayerfully make a list of 10 things that keep you from having the spirit (thoughts, actions, activities, obedience, etc.) and then you fast from those things for 40 days. I'm excited to do it. It's intense, but really good and worth it. It should be a really incredible experience.  President is really really excited for the broadcast that they are doing from the new mission president conference coming up. Apparently President Monson and others are broadcasting one of your meetings church wide. It's called "The Work of Salvation" on the 23rd of june. We're getting together that day as a mission, all of us are fasting and then we're going to watch the broadcast all together. I'm really excited. (Mom and dad, pick good seats so I can see you!) President and Sister Becerra are super excited for you two. They keep asking me how you're doing and what you're doing right now and how you're feeling. 

 

This past month and especially this past week, I feel like I've come to know Heavenly Father better than I have my entire life. The Gospel gets realer and realer every day. 

love and miss you, 

Hermana LaPierre