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