Dear Family:

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

love,

laree/ hna. lapierre

Hello familia,

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

love you!

Hello Family!!

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

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

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

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

love you all, Hermana LaPierre

September 9

Hello family!

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

have a great day! love you all

 

Hermana LaPierre

Good morning family!

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

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

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

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

Hermana LaPierre

August

Hola!

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

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

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

Love you all,
Hermana LaPierre

August 15

Hello Family!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, 

Hermana LaPierre

August 5

Dear family,

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

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

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

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

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

Love you, 

Hermana LaPierre

July 29

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

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

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

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

Love,

Laree

Hermana LaPierre

July 23

Hello Family!!!

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

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

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

Everything has been great! love you all!

Love, Hermana Laree LaPierre

July 15 Letter

Hello Family!!

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

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

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

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

the church is true!!

Love you all!

Hermana LaPierre

Quick Note

Hello family!!

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

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

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

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

hna. Lapierre

Last Weeks Letter

Hello Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

I love you lots, and miss you all too.

Have a great week!

Love,
Hermana LaPierre

Hello family!!

This week has been really great. 

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

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

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

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

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

Have a wonderful week!

Love you all, 

Hermana LaPierre

Maria

June 10, 2013

Hello Family!!

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

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

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

This week is great! love you!
Hermana LaPierre

Querida Familia, 

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

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

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

 

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

love and miss you, 

Hermana LaPierre

May 28

Hello family,

 

This week has been super crazy. There's alot going on here in Pomona. Most Sundays are kind of crazy just because you're trying to get investigators at church, and then you try to set up a million things while you're at church since all of the members are there. Well, this Sunday was probably the craziest I've had so far. We have an investigator, named Maria who has a baptismal date in a couple weeks, so it was super important that she was at church this week. Well, we called her Saturday night to confirm her ride and she said everything was ok but turns out her ride was out of town. Well, long story short, about 5 minutes before sacrament meeting starts we're still calling to find her a ride to get her to church. (I swear people see our number and just ignore the call!) Finally, we found one for her! While we're waiting for her to get there, we're also waiting for another investigator who told us he would be bringing 3 of our other investigators that live close by. 15 minutes into sacrament meeting and they still aren't there. they live closeby so we decided to drive over and see what happened. we get to his gate and see this pug hanging out by the door. pugs are supposedly pretty nice, so I open the gate and start walking up the door. Well....pugs are NOT nice! about half way up the door that dog came charging at me and was literally about to bite me! we turn around and Hermana Quezada is yelling at Hermana Crawley to open the gate. Hermana Crawley can't open the gate. and the dog is literally lunging at us trying to bite us. Finally the gate opens and we shut the door in his face. I will not own a dog after my mission. We stopped by our investigators that live next door and they have visitors so they can't come to church.

 

We get back to church about 30 minutes after sacrament meeting started and there is Maria sitting in the pew with the members! I was so happy. Anyways, the rest of church was crazy too, we taught primary, which was fun but looots of energy, and then everyone wanted to talk to us and set things up. AH!! It was really great. I was especially super happy to see Maria there. We've been working on getting her there for a long time. She loves it there and so do her kids. Her daughter was singing along in primary more than half the kids there! She totally acts like she's already a member. It's so awesome. I'm excited for her baptism.

 

It's been a great week, we've been finding lots of people and seen lots of miracles. It's been amazing. I love it.

 

Have a wonderful week! sorry this letter is a little scattered.

 

Love, Laree

Hermana LaPierre

 

Missionary Writings

HOLA familia!!

Como estan? This week has been great! My new companions are awesome, they have tons of life and energy and they want to be here!! Which I love, we're going to be doing tons of work here this month. We're also going to have a baptism this month. Just wait.

So....my new companions. Hermana Quezada is from Springville UT. She's super cute, half Mexican....I'm jealous. Doesn't speak spanish though, but she's really driven to learn it, so that's been really good. She's got a ton of energy, which is really good. Hermana Crawley is so cute. She's probably the sweetest girl I've ever met. She's too nice. She's waiting for her visa to go to Buenos Aires Norte! She's so full of faith and tons of love, so she's awesome. She had to go home after the MTC for a medical issue and so while she was home, somehow she found my mission blog. It was kind of weird to have her know so much about my mission. She was asking me about my investigators by name and then would ask me about funny experiences she had read about. She's so sweet.

Training 2 hermanas at the same time has been a different experience. It's fun though. They're pretty easy to train so far, so I can't really complain. It's just a different way of doing things and working with them, but I'm learning as I go and the Spirit is helping me out. I'm pretty confident that things will be really good this month.

We had dinner with a member this week and when we got there, she told us she had a surprise for us. I was so convinced that it was that she was dating someone in the ward or that she was engaged or something like that. the whole time I was totally expecting something like that. After dinner, she went and grabbed something.You could tell she was so excited to show us. She came back and handed us her temple recommend! You could tell she was so proud. She was so excited. As she showed us she got so emotional and her eyes were so full of tears and all she could say was "I'm so happy". I will never forget her face, how excited she was, smiling and crying, after having been through so so much for so long to finally have a temple recommend. That was such a powerful experience for me to see how much it meant to her to have a recommend. It made me realize how much it really means, how important it really is. She said she just felt so different already and she hadn't even gone through yet! THIS is why I am here!! I'm here to help people get there! I love her so much. I will never not be worthy to be there. After what it takes so many people to get there, seeing how much they treasure it, how can you not do everything you can to make sure you always have a recommend? I will never forget that.

This week has been great. I LOVE MISSIONARY WORK!!!

I love you all. Hope everything is good.

love,

Hermana LaPierre

May 12 Letter

Well...I hope you're all doing well since we last talked yesterday. It was a pleasure to see all of you...very sorry none of you got to see me for very long. (why didn't anyone tell me my video was off earlier?!) Anyways, things are going well.

I don't remember if I told you yesterday, but I dropped off my companion this morning. She'll be going to Pasadena in English work. And.... I'm going to train! (I guess there's really not much of a surprise about that anymore). But, this time, I'm training 2 sisters. One that's here for good and another that's a visa waiter. They come tomorrow. I'm excited. It should mix things up as far as training goes. So that'll be interesting.

There's been a completely new standard for the work now. President just got back from a mission president conference and was talking to Elder Perry who told him that we need to be baptizing at least once a month. So that's what we're going to do. It's going to stretch me, but it's going to happen. That's the standard now for everyone in the mission, doesn't matter what culture we work with. I'm excited. It'll make us change how we work, and work harder for the Spirit. Bring it on!

I love you all. It was so good to see you!!

Love,

Hermana LaPierre

May 6 Letter

Hello Family!!

How are you all doing? 

 

We still aren't sure about skyping/ calling this Sunday. I'm not sure who in the ward has a skype for us to use, so we'll have to find someone first. I may just be calling. Either way, I'll probably call or have my companion call first so you'll know. 

Things are going great this week. We contacted a homeless man that was a referral. He's super interesting. From New York. He has a million stories. He was married to an LDS woman once so he's fairly familiar with the Church. 

We also had a really awesome day yesterday! We've been working with this family since we got to Pomona and after 2 weeks, things started to feel weird with them and they started missing appointments and it was just weird, We haven't had a full sit down lesson with them for a long time. Well, they (the woman and her boyfriend's daughters) came yesterday to church!!! It was so great! We got to talk to her during the second hour (we grabbed her before she went to sunday school and talked to her in the empty chapel). Her son is a member and just got sealed to his wife in LA on Saturday. She got to go and wait in the visitors center while they got sealed and it sounds like it was amazing for her! We got to talk to her about how someday after she gets baptized, she'll be able to go in there. She's so excited. She really wants to get baptized. I'm so excited for her and so glad things are back on track with her. 

Something I've learned about faith this week is how faith is really trusting in who Heavenly Father is. We learn about His attributes by reading the scriptures and reading about how He works with His children. When we learn who He is then we can trust that He will help us. He is constant, He does the same yesterday today and forever. If that's true, then we know that He will give us answers to our prayers. He's done that countless times in the scriptures and in the past, so why can't He do it today?!  He's performed hundreds of miracles, so why not now? He loves each of us like we were His only child. He wants the very best for us. If we really believe and trust that, how can we doubt that He'll answer our pleas and perform miracles today? He wants us to succeed. He wants to see us back. We just have to show Him that we trust that, by doing our part by moving forward with complete confidence and not looking back.

I can't wait for the day when I get to see Him again. I want to do everything I can here. I want to be able to tell Him that I did everything I could. I can't wait to kneel before Him and tell Him that I tried as hard as I could. I hope that when that day comes, He'll stand with His arms out and say "Thank-you for trying". 

I know that my Redeemer lives. He lives! 

I love you, 

Hermana LaPierre