Hola familia,

the b2 bomber that flew by during the rose parade. It was soooooo cool. loved it. 

me and Hna. Duran after exchanges. she was my companion for the dayour

district last transfer

This week was good. I got to go to San Gabriel on Tuesday and it was AWESOME! I loved it so much. It's alot different than Tujunga- there's alot more space, less apartments and it's flat, but it was really fun. The work there is going really well. We taught almost every hour, which was really nice. I really loved being there, I learned alot that I want to apply to our area. 

We had a lesson at a member's home with an investigator that we've been working with for a while. We taught the plan of salvation. She was a little preoccupied with her daughter, so it made teaching her a little difficult, but it was still really good. She got to feel the Spirit in their home and see what a real family is like. It was really funny, when we began, I asked the 10 year old girl (who is a member) what the Plan of Salvation is, she said something like when all the cows died, and then started talking about grasshoppers. I don't know what was funnier- my expression, her parents', or our investigator's. I guess she got confused with the circle of life, and the 7 plagues in the story of Moses, which she's learning about in school. It was a good ice breaker and made everyone laugh, so it was good. 

I've been a little frustrated with one of our investigators this week because she agrees alot to what we say, she'll read a little of what we assign her to do, she sometimes keeps appointments, but I don't really see that she has really taken responsibility herself. We've been wanting to teach her the law of Chasity for a couple weeks now (she and her boyfriend live together) and each time we go to teach her, for some reason it falls through (can I just say how much I hate Satan?!) For the most part, it's all things legitimate, but it keeps her from us being able to teach it to her. She has also not been attending church. Every week she says she'll try to be there, but something gets in the way every time. She has a strong desire to continue learning and she says she feels herself coming closer to God, but at the same time, she's not really taking responsibility for herself. 

Besides her, we don't have many investigators yet, but we've set a really high goal for referrals this week and we want to focus on that and on contacting referrals this week. We also had a former investigator call us yesterday to set up an appointment this week, which was really really exciting. 

Transfer calls were on Saturday and we didn't get a call so I'll be here for at least another 5 weeks! (this transfer is one week shorter than normal). I'm excited, I just hope that I've learned what I needed to learn these past 3 transfers to get the work moving here. I make mistakes all. the. time. and it drives me crazy, but at the same time, I've learned and am learning alot. I really love missionary work. I've been focusing alot on praying more for things this week. Especially for praying for specific things, for me as a missionary, for our investigators, and as a companionship. It's been opening up alot of really good opportunities for us and for the work. 

I love you all. 

Love, 

 Me. 

hey!!

Hola familia, 

This week was good. The missionaries in our zone got to go to the Rose Parade this week, which was awesome!!! Apparently Elder Cook was across the street from us, but we didn't go over to talk to him,some of the elders did though. 

This week, we received a few referrals from members in the ward and made really good contact with one and are still trying to get in contact with the other 2. We've had some good contacts with former investigators, neighbors of less actives, and street contacts. In fact, several of the people we've talked to the past couple weeks have strong connections to the church already (they have extended family that are members, etc.). One thing that I've been trying to learn is how to get our pool of potential investigators to become investigators, and when to stop chasing them down, so we can move the work forward rather than always going to the same people who are not progressing. This past transfer has taught me alot. It's been very challenging, but also a huge blessing, a good challenge. I love missionary work.

We were supposed to have exchanges last week, but the night before, Hna. Connelly was up all night sick (literally all night) and it wasn't a very good night for either of us, so we ended up having to reschedule exchanges. We spent pretty much all day at home and then went out for one lesson that night. I felt so bad for her. We'll be doing exchanges tomorrow now, so I'll get to go to East LA (San Gabriel) for a day. I'm excited!

There are alot of little miracles happening here still. We had a great lesson with a LA family we've been working with. When we first came, they were really reluctant to do anything, but a couple lessons ago, we invited them to read the scriptures as a family and the next time we came back they told us that they had! In our last lesson with the father and one of their daughters, both of them said a kneeling prayer at the end of the lesson! Slowly, they are making the steps to let Christ in their home. Another exciting thing was that we finally got to start meeting with Isis again, an investigator we've been teaching for a couple months. We committed her to baptism last Tuesday and she said yes to a date. Originally, we had given her a date of January 13th, but the next couple days neither of us felt good about that date. We've decided to change the date to the 27th. I think she can be prepared that day. We're going to be focusing alot on her these next few weeks to prepare her for baptism. 

I love working with Hna. Connelly. We are very united and both are dedicated to working hard. Sometimes, I get worried that I'm not doing everything right as a trainer, but we're learning together, and I am learning a ton as we go. We had a funny experience last night as we were sleeping, somehow we had started talking about one of our less actives in our sleep and slowly came too as we were talking about how we could help her! (We really are united!)

Hope you're all doing well. I love you!!

-Hna LaPierre

Happy New Years!

Hi!!

Hope Christmas was good for everyone. We had a really great Christmas. We got to eat tamales and Guatemalan punche (which was reeeeeally good).

This week has been really good. We've been working on finding alot this week and have made some really great contacts.
We some really great experiences this week. A few weeks ago, we contacted the neighbor of a less active we'd been trying to find and gave him a Restoration pamphlet. We went back to follow up and met his wife and got to know her. She has several family members who are members and so is familiar with the church. We ended up speaking to her for quite a while about the church, and were getting to know her. I feel that one of the reasons we have kept coming back to this less active is so that we could meet them. 

Another great experience we had this week was that we were able to meet with a 60 year old less active who has been less active for several years. He says that he wants to come back to church. Unfortunately, we did not see him at church on Sunday though. He is a funny man. He was telling us a million and then some stories. I guess he used to be a performer in CA and supposedly performed with Elvis. He's super spiritual... despite the fact that there's some key doctrines he doesn't seem to quite understand. And he says that when he was younger, he used to meet with several celebrities (Ringo Star, Paul McCartney, Elvis, Pamela Anderson...) to give them counsel. Supposedly, he told Paul McCartney off and told him that he didn't know how to play the guitar! He was super interesting. I guess, when he was active, he was in charge of monthly performances that the church would do here. He says that he went less active because he got burned out, but he wants to go back. Well, that's why we came. We invited him to come back to the church. 

Anyways, this week was really great. I've focused alot on paying attention to the guidance of the Spirit and it's been really good. As long as I feel like I'm listening to Him and doing His will, then I'm ok with the work that's going on. 

Happy New Years!! The ward is putting on a New Years party tonight and we get to go for the first little bit. I'm excited. We're hoping to have some potential investigators there. Also, we get to go to the Rose Parade tomorrow!!!!! I'm soooooooo excited!! It'll be a good opportunity to do some street contacting too.

Love you all.

-Hermana LaPierre

feliz navidad

Hola familia!

Well, I figured I keep this e-mail short, otherwise, I won't have anything to talk about tomorrow!

This week has been really really good. I love working with Hna. Connelly. She's alot of fun to work with, is excited about the work, and is willing to work hard. The beginning of the week was especially really good. We were able to pick up a couple new investigators! On Monday night, literally ALL of our plans fell through, so we went to contact a less active, and she wasn't there, but we talked to her daughter, who's not a member. we talked to her for a while about the book of mormon, and set up an appointment to talk to come back. a former investigator supposedly lived in the same apartment complex, so we went to try to contact him. Well, he doesn't live there anymore apparently, but we talked to the woman who does live there. it was kind of an awkward door contact, but she let us in when we offered to share a christmas thought. We didn't end up really talking about Christmas much, but we started talking about the restoration. she was a stand offish at first, but we could tell that by the end, she had definately felt something. 

On wednesday, we went to contact the daughter of the less active, she didn't want to meet with us, but we ended up talking to her dad for a while, who is also not a member. he was a talker, so we were there for a while. It was good, he has a lot of questions, some spiritual and relevant, some not so much. I want to try to have a noche do hogar with the whole family this week because their kids are really nice and pretty receptive whenever we talk to them. I think getting them all in one room when we teach could be really powerful, and have a bigger impact. 

The bishop's daughter came back from a mission in Arizona this week, and so we've brought her to a few lessons. she's actually a friend of mine from school, she was in my ward my sophmore year. It's been really fun to bring her, I have learned alot from watching her teach. 

At the beginning of the transfer, we made a goal to have 3 baptisms this transfer and I still feel like it's a goal we can get. This week is super important though because in order for an investigator to be baptized in our mission, they have to come to church 3 times, so they'd have to be there this sunday, and every one following until the 13th- which means that we have to find 3 people that are really prepared this week and invite them to come on Sunday. I feel that we've been doing pretty good to make that happen and I'm excited for this week. We had a good week this past week and we can expand on what we did to make things start to happen here. I feel like I've grown alot this past week, especially where it's just been Hna. Connelly and I, because we've had to learn to rely on the Spirit more than experience, since we're both pretty new. I can definately notice the difference, I feel more purposeful than I have. 

Anyways, I said this letter would be short, I guess I lied. Talk to you tomorrow. I'll probably be skyping sometime around 2 or 2:30 our time, so like 5 or 5:30 your time. So keep the computer on!

Love you, 

Hermana LaPierre

hola

hola familia, 

we just got back from Arcadia from dropping off Hna. Anderson (our 3rd companion). She is going home tomorrow. It was kind of like a flashback of 2 weeks when my trainer was getting ready to leave. So now it'll just be me and Hna. Connelly serving together. It's been really great to serve with Hna. Anderson for the past 2 weeks. She's been really helpful for me and made the work really fun. I think she was what I needed those 2 weeks.  I'm sad that she's leaving, but also really excited to keep working with Hna. Connelly. I love the people in Tujunga. They are really amazing and there is really alot of work that can be done here. I'm really excited to get to work and watch more miracles happen.  

This was a good week. On Friday we had a mission Christmas party. The whole mission went to Arcadia and we had a spiritual program first, then lunch, and then a funny talent show. it was good. They'd been holding packages for a few weeks and so we got our packages for Christmas (thank-you mom!). It was really fun. 

We had alot of less active lessons this week that were really good. We also visited a former investigator who said that she wants to learn more. I had taught her with Hna. Mulitalo my first transfer here and she just had a baby, so I'm excited to teach her. We haven't gotten in contact with many of the investigators that we usually see, but we're on it and we'll be visiting them this week. 

Yesterday, we did a musical number in church. Remember the song Starbright (Estrella de luz)? We sang it in Spanish (Hna. Anderson y yo). While we were practicing with the bishop's wife (she played the piano), she made Hna. Connelly get maracas and play to it. It was so funny to watch the members faces when the maracas started. They were totally mesmerized! It was alot of fun.

Also, we get to skype on Christmas!! When works for you? We should be able to skype sometime in the afternoon or evening. We have a dinner at 5, but so far, that's all that we have going on. Supposedly, I can have Hna. Connelly call you and confirm a time to as long as the call is like 1 minute long.

CONGRATULATIONS LISA!!!! I'm so excited for you! Do you know what gender it is yet?

Also, my guess for your mission call is: Peru Cuzco (I don't remember if anyone else guessed that. but if you do get called there, please watch emperor's new groove for me). 

Sorry, this e-mail is kinds of all over the place. The work is going well though. I am very excited for the next 4 weeks. This transfer is going to be really great. 

Love you, can't wait to hear from you in a week! 

Love, 

Hna. LaPierre

:)

Querida Familia,

HOLA!!!

Thank-you Lynnfield RS and family for my package!! My tree is up and decorated and it's BIG! It's awesome! It feels like Christmas now, at least in our room. I also loved the stockings. And the shower cap. And everything else. but the shower caps especially. I laughed when I saw those. 

This week has been good- a little crazy as we've been back and forth to/from Arcadia all week. On Monday, I dropped off Hna Mulitalo to the office on her way home and then pick up Hna Anderson who's our comp for another week until she leaves for home. Tuesday afternoon we picked up my trainee! Hna. Connelly is from Tennessee. She's cool, she's a really good missionary and is really excited to be put to work, which I love so we're working hard. It's kinds of interesting to be training already since I still don't feel like I've got it all down, so I don't always feel like I can really show her how it's done yet, but we're both learning and it's been good. It's been super humbling for me as well and I think I just need to trust that Heavenly Father will help us out to do what He needs in Tujunga right now. 

We're trying to work on finding more investigators this week. For alot of reasons. One reason being that we just want to increase our teaching pool so that we have more people to work with. Another being that as part of training, Hna. Connelly should be inviting someone to baptism this week, another because I have a TON of referrals/ people to visit from Hna. Mulitalo (people she'd taught/ met while she was in the area, she was here for 9 months, who she thought we should see after she left) and other referrals that we have to check up on. Also, I think we have a couple investigators that aren't really progressing, so we may have to stop teaching them soon, before they become eternal investigators. It's good to keep the work moving and changing because otherwise our effectiveness goes down really fast. 

And, I'll end with a funny story. We were contacting the neighbor of a less active and talked to him for a few minutes. mostly it was me and Hna. Anderson talking as it was in Spanish, but Hna. Connelly said a couple words. Anyways, we gave him a pass along card with our number so we could set up a return visit. When we were in the car afterwards, we talked about how we thought it went pretty well and someone noted that he really seemed to want to talk to us. He didn't want to shut the door on us. We thought he must have been touched by what we had said. Later on, while we were studying, we got a text from him and again, thought that he must really want to hear about the Gospel. Well, after a reply text, he asked "ustedes estan casadas?" (are you married?!). AWKWARD! we explained that we weren't and that we dedicate our time to the Lord. Well, he apparently thought that Hna Connelly was really pretty and wanted to go out with her. We politely shut him down and told him that if that was all he wanted, we had nothing else to say to us. i still can't believe that happened. It gave us a good laugh. 

Hope you're all doing really well. I love you and thank-you again for the package mom! I'll send a thank-you for the RS today. I loved the Christmas tree too! I'm going to try to attach a couple pictures of it. Thank-you all of you. I love you so much. 

Love, 

Hna. Laree LaPierre

Snail Mail address

2645 Altura Ave. La Crescenta, CA 91214. 

I was waiting until after transfer calls to send it just to make sure I'd still be here. I think we'll be moving out after Christmas. I hope you're all doing well today. I love you.

 

-Hermana LaPierre

training?

Hello Family!

 

How is everyone doing?

 

The past week went well.

One of the most exciting moments of the week was our lesson with Dago, an investigator who's family is strong members of the church. We had been thinking of dropping him, but this lesson was really great with him. We discussed the doctrine of Christ and how those 5 principles are things that really do help us change, help us progress towards our Heavenly Father and guide us in this life. We wanted him to understand that he needs the Gospel to change, it is what we need to apply before Heavenly Father can allow us to live with our families forever. The lesson was powerful and the Spirit testified strongly to him. I know that he was touched by the Spirit and he left with a lot of things to think about. I'm excited for our next lesson with him.

We had another lesson with Imelda, an investigator of ours. She is progressing. We went to her house and she hadn't read the chapter we had given her, so we read with her. It was good. It is sometimes hard to determine where she is at spritually, but I think she is still progressing and has a desire to change and accept the Gospel.

Similarly, we had a lesson with Isis this week. She is also progessing, but slowly. She said for sure she'd be coming to church on Sunday, but then didn't end up showing up. I know she has some interest, but she hasn't seemed to quite grasp what we are teaching/ offering her. She is always very receptive to our message and doesn't ever seem to have any concerns about what we are teaching her, but doesn't seem like she's really taking it seriously either sometimes. We'll see what happens with her but I think she'll get there. I think it could also be that she grew up in a strong Christian background and so she says that alot of what we teach isn't really anything super new to her and it's all logical to her. So we keep working with her. She's coming.

Now, the moment I am sure you were all waiting for, right?! TRANSFER CALLS!

 

This week was the end of transfers, so I am officially done being trained! Hermana Mulitalo left this morning, aka she'll be at the office until she leaves tomorrow morning for home. I'm so grateful for her. I learned alot from and with her. I know she is who I needed to be with to learn what Heavenly Father wanted me to learn, so I could be prepared for the future...aka now.

 

I'm going to be staying in Tujunga, but will be training a new missionary. She comes in tomorrow so I'll get to meet her then. We'll be in a Trio for 2 weeks with another sister who leaves for home on the 18th. I'm excited. I know it'll be hard, but I know I have what I need to do it how He wants it done. It'll be a good opportunity to depend on the Lord more and to learn to recognize His direction more. I'll let you know how week one goes next week. I was a little sad to have to still have 4 hours of studying in the morning, but it'll be good.

Bring it on!

 

I love you all,

 

-Hna. LaPierre

hello family

Hello family,

Well, this week was a good week, much better than last week. We had another investigator at church this week!!!! Remember the first or second week I was here and I talked about that investigator who we taught and committed to be baptized and she said yes and I was so excited and freaking out for her baptism 3 weeks later?! yup, well 11 weeks later she finally came to church for the first time!! woo! She brought her little girl too. She was so cute. Isis (the mom) was really nervous about her daughter acting up at church, but I think she was better behaved than most 2 year olds I've seen at church. it's amazing what a little thing of stickers, paper and a pencil can do to keep a child entertained. All of the meetings were really really good for Isis. The lessons were perfect and in my opinion, things that were good for her to hear. 

It's amazing how difficult it is to get investigators to church. if they don't come at least 3 times, they can't get baptized. usually it's not because they need a ride or anything, just because other things come up. it's interesting to see how something so simple (just coming to church) becomes so difficult for people. I think it's because it plays such a huge part in their conversion and progression, and so everything seems to make it hard for them to get there. 

Another exciting day was Thanksgiving! We had an interesting day. We tried to visit with some people, but soon realized that it was difficult to since.. go figure...everyone is with family and/or not home/ "too busy". We had 2 meals with people... right after each other, so that kept our afternoon pretty busy. I was super nervous to do the meals. I'm pretty sure I've said this before, but since I've been on my mission, I really have not been able to eat much at all. Not necessarily because I get full really fast, but eating just makes me sick alot of the time, sometimes, just after a couple bites. So- I said many a prayers to be able to handle the food that day. It wasn't too bad. The first one we went to was a Cuban lunch. She's a neighbor of some members in our ward. We had rice and beans, and a few other little sides. It was good. She didn't give me a ton of food since she knew I couldn't eat a ton, but it still added up and after the pie, I was pretty done and feeling a little sick. So after that we headed off to another dinner. The food was good, but there was aaaaaalot of it. I couldn't finish it but luckily, it was pretty casual and no one really seemed to notice that I didn't finish. whew. I made it alive and very full through my first Thanksgiving in the field!!

We were able to teach a 20 yr old less active and her 15 yr old brother the other day. They have been LA for years and so getting to have lessons with them is a big deal. It was really really good. They've begun to be alot more open to us since we've started coming. she's the one that did a kneeling prayer with us after a lesson we had with her the week before. (I think i told you that story). It's a small miracle that we keep meeting with them. 

We were able to go to Chinatown this past week on pday! I sent mom a picture of me contacting Winnie the Pooh. He seemed to be really considering the Book of Mormon. One of the members of the ward took us and we had alot of fun with her. We went and looked in all the shops and I bartered for the first time! Truthfully, I think I could have done better at bartering, I gave in too fast, but I got a couple dollars off a necklace that I wanted, so that was good. 

We had a mission conference this past week! It was really good. Brad Wilcox came (his daughter is visa waiting in our mission). He talked about the scattering/ gathering of Israel and our birthright as members of the church. I learned so much. It helped me understand alot about why I am here as a missionary and why so much is required of us missionaries. He talked about how we are here to help Israel remember who they are and the promises the Lord gave them. He mentioned that there is a difference between being loved and being trusted. The Lord loves all of His children, but as members of the church and as missionaries especially, we are trusted with an "extra portion" for the birthright,and thus extra responsibility. 

The work is going well here. Hope all is well with y'all. 

Love, 

Laree

Hermana LaPierre

I thought I might amuse you with a picture of me after our 2 Thanksgiving meals and dessert with the family we live with that night. The coconut cream pie was worth the pain. for sure. Aren't you so excited to see me rolling off the plane in 14 months?

CA Week...?

Hola family,

How are you all?! I'm sure you saw but I ran into Brother Blake last Sunday at a Member MTC. Hope the video isn't too awkward, I didn't get to watch it. 

So I had a funny experience the other day. We got a phone call, so I answered it. I answered in English, but the woman was speaking a different language, so I just started going in Spanish. There was a lot of me saying "como?" and being super confused- I couldn't understand a word she was saying, but I was trying to soooo hard. Sometimes, understanding people's Spanish is really hard, especially on the phone. So I gave my comp the phone and she started talking to her and apparently the woman asked her if this was the Fillipino sisters. Well, turns out that I was speaking Spanish to her and she was speaking Tagalog to me. So I'm not as bad at Spanish as I thought, or I am since I couldn't even tell. I'm so used to not really knowing everything that's going on.

We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday in our ward which was realllly good. We spent alot of our day helping to set up it was kind of intense. somehow we (me and my comp) got roped into doing a duet with one of the girls in the ward. She's so cute and played the ukelali ( i have no idea how to spell that) and wanted us to sing  I am  a child of god with her. if it were anyone else, I don't think i would have been quite as willing. it went pretty well though. 

We had a really good training meeting this week. at zone conference we had talked alot about finding and we reviewed what we had learned from the meeting. One thing he really stressed is how we are not supposed to be knocking doors/ tracting anymore. He told us that we could knock doors of neighbors of less actives, etc., but that essentially we don't knock until we have a name to talk about. so we've been learning to change how we work. it's shifted alot of how we think about missionary work and what we do with our time. 

we had a couple lessons this week with investigators and less actives that went pretty well. this week has been really challenging in alot of ways, but I'm trying really hard to work better and to make things work, and praying really hard. The work is good though, it keeps moving. 

Thanks. Love, 

Hermana LaPierre

Since I couldn't take the full hour this morning to write e-mails, I was able to get back on and let you know that I am sending a package home. I sent my ipod and a camera with the sd cards back. I have no way to get the pictures off, so I'm sending it to you. I have Renee's camera too. Also, I'm sending Jamie's hymn book too since I got one at the MTC. I'll try to send a more exciting package later.

Also, I thought you'd be excited to see the new investigator I picked up while we were in Chinatown today.

love you,

Hermana LaPierre

 

A sighting

Some "old" friends of ours saw Ssr LaPierre at a stake fireside

Let's see if  I can post the video.

Another Week

Hola everyone!

Today we went on a hike in Arcadia with all of the sisters in the mission and Sister Becerra. It was really pretty. I got to see Sister Southworth, I haven't seen her since we first got to CA, so that was really good. 

This week has been good. We had 2 investigators that said that they'd be coming to church and were really certain about it and then right before, one of them cancelled, which was sad because her kids were going to be in the primary program (she really wanted to come but had car problems, so I'm sure she'll be there next week). The other one just didn't show up and we have no idea why. We stopped by after church, but she wasn't there, we're hoping to go visit her tonight. Our investigators are doing pretty well though. Imelda (the woman with the kids) is progressing. When I first came we were never able to see her and when we did talk to her, she wouldn't really let us in. She's become soooo much more receptive. We went over this week to practice the Primary songs for the program. It was so funny - they looooved "Choose the Right Way", everytime we'd sing it, they'd kind of mumble the verses and then would sing the chorus really loud. That one was there favorite. It's been really cool to watch her children get so excited about all things church. (Except for sacrament meeting last week- they got a little bored then ;)  ). She's become a lot happier too I've noticed since we've started teaching her. 

We had an interesting experience as we were going to visit some potential investigators yesterday. We had met with them before and everytime we try to talk with them, they are suuuuper religious and quote a bunch of Bible references and talk to us about a whole bunch of doctrine and things that we do wrong in our church. Who doesn't have at least one person like that on their mission?! Well, we went to talk to them for a couple minutes, and as we were parking, saw the son walk out, see us, and then walk back in. When we went to knock on the door, the screen door was locked and he didn't answer. We took as a pretty obvious message and decided it was better for them to "break up" with us than for us to do it. The meetings with them weren't really going anywhere, but it was still a little disappointing. 

We've had a really good week. We went with a member on Saturday to a garage clothing sale, both to try to find a jacket for me (it was reeeeeeally cold that day), but also to contact the woman, one of the members' friends. As we were talking to the woman, we found out that all of the clothes (there were a toooon of clothes) were all owned by this one older woman, who's been widowed for 30 years and just shopped a ton. The woman selling it all had been hired by the family to sell the clothes, for super cheap. Alot of the clothes hadn't even been worn. They kept trying to get me to buy some of the clothes, but they were too big (thankfully- most of it wasn't really anything that I liked). I did end up getting some skirts though for super cheap. The woman selling the clothes was really nice, we got to have a good conversation with her, and talked to her about the Church for a while. She was really nice, but didn't seem super interested. 

Hope you're all doing well! 

Love you, 

Hermana LaPierre

 

 

(Sister LaPierre ran into an old family friend, Brett Blake, at stake conference the other day and he emailed this picture of her to us!)

CA Week 8

Hola toda!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!

Como estan? This week was good. Halloween was fun, we were not allowed to go out on the streets for Halloween night, so instead we had our district meeting and played volleyball and gatorball (random game they play here in the mission- like soccer and rugby together). It was fun. 

On Friday, we went to our investigators' house to make/ decorate cakes and then to have a lesson. She and her mother (her mom was going to show us how to decorate cakes) were not home, but we got to have a really good conversation with her sister, who we've been wanting to start teaching. She is super talkative, so it was funny, every time we tried to turn the conversation to a lesson, she'd keep going! ha, well we got an in talking to her about the Plan of Salvation and it was really good, especially since she just had a baby a couple weeks ago. She's really cute. They're family has met with missionaries before and so they remember alot about what they taught. We ended up going over on Saturday again and got to have a little cake decorating lesson while we tried to talk to our investigator about her baptismal date. 

One of the most exciting things that happened this week is that another one of our investigators came to church with us this Sunday!!! The missionaries have been teaching her since April and this was her first time! she brought 3 of her 4 kids with her and they were so cute! I sat next to one of them during Sacrament meeting and tried to explain a little about the sacrament to him. He's 6. He was so cute about it. He didn't know who Jesus Christ is, so I tried to explain who He is to him. I told him to count how many times he heard people say the name Jesucristo. The kids were getting a little bored, but they did really well in sac. meeting. Towards the end, Axel, the one I was sitting with, heard someone say Jesus Christ and he looked up at me and smiled, so excited that he had heard them say Jesus Christ's name. It was so cute! The primary was prepping for the primary program that day too so they got to be part of that. At the end of church, they went up to their mom and explained how they needed to come 10-15 minutes early next week so they could be there on time to do the program.and they were so excited to show the parts that they had to say in the program! It's been amazing to watch Imelda begin to get a real desire to listen to our message. Her kids' excitement has in alot of ways softened her heart and she is starting to really progress, after all this time. The miracles of introducing the Gospel into the family. 

We had zone conference yesterday as well. It was soooo good! I loved it. Something I haven't really stopped thinking about since is how amazing it is to be involved in missionary work right now. This is one of the coolest times to be a missionary. Pres. Becerra explained how the church's family history system has started getting attention from different countries and they are starting to give the church thousands of records to be included in the system, and they are starting to lease out the church to help them with their family history. Mitt, a high priest and temple recommend holder, is running for president (just had to throw that one in there ;)...just kidding, Pres. Becerra actually did say that). The new online youth program that's been in the works for 3-4 years and is focused on PMG is about to open up in January. and now, the announcement of the missionary age change has made the work explode. they said SLC gets 1100 missionary apps now a week, usually they only get around 700. we're getting 50 new missionaries in our mission. He talked about how 12 week training will probably not happen. They may be switching transfers to just 3 weeks, they'll be putting way more missionaries in smaller areas, on bike or foot. He quoted Elder Perry, who said that right now about 1/3 of the world is already to receive the Gospel right now. makes me think of the scripture in D&C 4- the field is white already to harvest. It's really exciting to be out right now. We really are paving the way and preparing the world for the Savior. (That sounds so cheesy, but it's true.) It is amazing. 

They taught us alot about how we can find people and doing our best to find quality people who show real growth in the church- going to the bishop and asking what kind of people he needs/ wants coming into his ward, then going out and finding them. They also talked about teaching as simply and clearly as we can to help investigators understand the principles of the Gospel. One of my favorite lines from the conference was Sister Becerra saying "missionaries teach what they are, not what they know". I feel like doing that makes us more natural and normal missionaries as well.

Lots of exciting things are happening in the Church right now. It's cool to see it all effecting missionary work. 

Love you all, miss you too. Hope everything is going really well. 

Love, 

Hermana Laree LaPierre