try #2

due to a rather unfortunate internet disconnection at the family history center yesterday, I wasn't ever able to send out the e-mail I had writted. aqui esta.

Mi querida familia, 

I've realized the past couple weeks that I already have less than a year left of my mission. I can't believe it! The time is going by so fast. 

We had a couple really great lessons with some investigators this week. We were able to have 3 investigators attend services during stake conference, which was great. They had a meeting right before the general session for recent converts, returning less actives, and investigators. We had 2 investigators there and when it first started, I was a little nervous to see how the meeting would go. It ended up being really really good. They had some temple missionaries teach for a little bit and I think it was right on with what the 2 of them (our investigators) needed to hear. I had felt that maybe we should focus on the temple with them, so I think it reinforced some of that. We also had an investigator come to the general session too, it was his first time ever coming to church, so it was kind of weird trying to explain to him why this meeting was different from how we had explained the normal services. The meeting was really great and despite the really distracting family sitting in the rowright in front of us, he told us he really liked it (...prayer works!).

This man is really interesting. He is open and receptive to us, and the principles we teach, but focuses alot on and has alot of questions about deeper doctrinal questions, that don't usually relate very well to what we're trying to teach. He's open to us turning the conversation back to our message, but it takes some time. He and his daughter really love talking religion and soak up everything we give them. We gave his daughter an Ensign that had a couple articles about Joseph Smith for her to read and he told us that she's been studying from that.  He has been progressing though and keeps every commitment, and reads alot from the Book of Mormon, both he and his daughter.

Something I've been realizing this week is the importance of both being bold and "aggressive", but also being gentle and loving as well. Sometimes I think I focus more on getting people to do something because I want them to do it, for stats, or whatever, in stead of focusing on the why we commit them to do it. So, I'm trying to remind myself why we actually commit people to do something and focus on how I can help them to accomplish them so that they can see and feel the blessings of the Gospel, and especially the Atonement, in their individual lives.  

Hope you're all doing well.

Miss and love you,

-Hna. LaPierre

Lovin Southern California

Buenos Dias,

I'm back to loving Southern California, it's been 70s and 80s all week. Perfect weather. I love it, it doesn't feel like January at all. 

As far as the work goes, we've been focusing more on referrals, and contacting and following up on referrals than we have with going to former, etc. in order to find new investigators this week. It's made the work alot easier and more fun. We had been visiting and revisiting the same people for a long time, and it had made things drag alot. Having referrals is great because it's helped us to keep on moving, and keeps the work changing. If they aren't there after so many times, then we move on to other referrals, which helps the work flow more and us to be more efficient. 

We were able to pick up 4 new investigators this week and picked up a couple more the week earlier from referrals, and through other ways as well (talking to a neighbor of an investigator, etc.). We began teaching a former investigator, who called us up last Sunday and told us that he had been involved in some "bad things" and had been hanging around with the wrong group of people. He expressed to us his strong desire to change and recognized that he needs God in his life. We had a really nice lesson with him this week and we all felt the Spirit testify of the atoning power of Christ and His Gospel. Our other new investigators are also doing well. One woman, we just met and had a lesson with her, she only speaks English, so we'll teach her enough to pass her off to the English elders soon. We also met Roberto and his daughter Susan, who are religious as well, and open to learning. He has alot of questions, especially about the "Rapture" (as far as I understand, it's pretty much similar to our belief about the resurrection, hopefully I'm not agreeing to false doctrine though).As far as his questions, he's kind of intimidating. In our last lesson, he was talking about the rapture and all of these random Bible scriptures that talk about the Rapture, etc. and kept talking.We barely got a word in! He's really interesting to listen to though, but it wasn't really going anywhere as far as our message. Finally, we talked about the Book of Mormon, and how that's our purpose and message. There's alot of things that we can talk about and beliefs we can compare and discuss, but in all reality, it's not really our purpose there. We invite people to read the Book of Mormon, because that's where the answers are. If anyone wants to learn about our beliefs, the best place to go is the Book of Mormon. As soon as the conversation shifted to the simple truths, the spirit was strong in the room and they were listening really intently. It was amazing. They are both really sweet. 

There are so many interesting, random people we've talked to this week. While we were contacting referrals, we met this one man, who used to race cars and his apartment was FULL of pictures, and certificates, and awards and his old license plates. He reminded me of Doc Hudson on Cars. We also met this man from Australia who came over to the U.S. a while ago, he used to be a drunk, but through his wife's example, started going to church to change his life around (not interested in our church unfortunately, but it was still super interesting to listen and talk to). He's kind of a closet cat person, he was talking for almost half an hour about each one of his cats and how they got them. I never thought you could talk about any animal for that amount of time, but I've been lucky to meet several people on my mission who can. 

We have a less active that we're working with that keeps asking us about the Avenging Angel. I have no idea what that is, something about in the early church history, it was an angel that killed people that prosecuted the church.  He says he saw it on a video and swears that it's true. I have no idea what to tell him other than that it's probably not true and that alot of people like to skew our beliefs to confuse people. He's so interesting. He's another talker and I don't think he really likes to be taught, he likes being the teacher. So alot of our lesson ends up being him talking and then us trying to steer the lesson a certain way, it not working out so well, and then him continuing to talk, and eventually, somehow he kind of comes to some conclusion himself. Last week we learned that he loves the Book of Mormon and believes it's the word of God, but doesn't believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet, so that's given us something to try to work with with him. He and Roberto are teaching me to be more patient, I think because it is so hard for me to listen to people when I feel like it's going off topic and when they won't let me control the conversation. I just want them to get back on track and so I start to tune out on what they're saying. I get really frustrated really fast with that, so maybe it's good for me to be teaching them. 

Anyways hope you're doing well. I'm still alive and kickin', so things are good. 

Miss you and love you,

Hermana LaPierre

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