Unexpected Surprises!

A picture of the Zone -everyone with their companion behind them.

6/15/2015

This week went by well. It's starting to get cold here, around 30 some degrees in the early morning. Sometimes I think Elder Alencar is joking shivering in the street... but he's not joking, haha. He says that he can't support the cold very well but that he is liking the experience. We'll see how he feels about the cold in a few weeks. He promptly denied my proposition to run around in a field of frost one morning. Funny thing down here, frost is the ultimate sign of cold because it doesn't really snow anywhere in Brasil. Most all Brasilians have never seen frost and many people don't understand that the frost doesn't "fall" but forms on the ground, haha. When I tell them about how I had to scrape the frost off the car early every morning to leave for seminary they just look at me with big eyes O.O 

Anyway this week I had two surprises, one way cooler than the other. So I'll start off with the less cool but funny story. We taught a lesson to an investigator with the bishop's wife one night. The lesson went well but the investigator wasn't too interested in actually going to church but in just receiving visits. OK  that's normal but after the lesson was over bishop came to pick his wife up and give us a ride to our next appointment. As he pulled up he drove over the sewer "lid" (? it's the concrete slab over the storm drain) and here in Brasil things are a bit... less sturdy you could say and the concrete slab was shifted so that it wasn't square over the hole. Since it was dark the lid moved without us noticing. In a line Sister Claudia (bishop's wife) stepped on the lid to get to the car, then Elder Alencar went in the same path no incident, but when I stepped on the concrete slab the next thing I knew I was in the sewer, haha. The concrete had flipped and I was in the hole up to my mid chest but surprisingly, I didn't hurt myself at all just a bump or two on my knees. 

Suprise number 2 is much better. I was on an exchange with our Zone Leader Elder Edwards when we got a call from his companion and Elder Alencar back in my area. They had gone to visit a couple that we are teaching named Leandro and Fernanda. Leandro and Fernanda are super special and we received another witness that the Lord really is preparing people to receive the restored gospel. We already knew that Leandro had quit smoking for over a year and drinking for more than 5 of his own accord which is a huge step. But when I heard Elder Edwards repeat to me (he was on the phone at the time) "huh!? they are married??" (pretty much no one is married here in Brasil so that's a huge time process while people are preparing to be baptized) I dropped what I was holding in my hands and my mouth dropped. Then he said "you marked their baptism for the 4th of July and they accepted?!!" At this point I fell to my knees (this actually happened before the sewer incident) in the middle of the street (street in a manner to say in public we were actually on a sidewalk) and began to give thanks on high (thankfully it was night and no one was around, haha). So that was a super awesome unexpected surprise! Many prayers will be needed so that everything can come together for Leandro and Fernanda to be baptized on the 4th but I know that it is possible and that the Lord truly prepares those we teach :) 

Love you all and I hope y'all have a good week

Elder Pierce

                 exchanges tradition: xis! 

                 (Brasilian cheeseburger)

lunch last p-day

One More Last Try

                                                            Loving Life in Livramento
6/8/2015
Another week gone by. Elder Alencar is doing very well. He came very prepared for the mission spiritually and went out with the missionaries a lot at home so he is even practiced at teaching. I feel totally normal with him here, I don't have to drag him around or explain the obvious etc. When I asked him how he felt he said that it still hasn't hit him that he's a missionary yet, haha. 

Taking pictures on the border.

We have been working really hard to find new investigators which cam mean some long hours with little results. But it was an awesome testimony builder for us on Wednesday when literally we were just about to throw in the towel for the day having searched and searched and nothing happening and we decided to knock (well clap really) one more door and the lady stuck her head out the window and was like "nope". Unsatisfied with no the whole day and various appointments falling through I knew that we had to have at least one yes. So I decided to give it one more last try and knocked on the next door that I saw had lights on. The guy stepped out and we did the normal introductions and he was like "umm yea, you can come in" Elder Alencar and I looked at each other with an expression of "really?!" We taught him and his wife the restoration, they liked it a lot, we felt the spirit, and we marked another visit. The whole day of no was worth it for that one yes :) We went to bed extra happy that night. 

This week President Parrela came to the city to do a round of interviews with the zone. It'

s always good to have interviews with him because he is in his what he calls "with sugar mode" (not his without sugar mode haha). As I talked with him about a situation that Elder Alencar and I went through this week he told me "Elder Pierce you now have a certainty beyond faith that God exists." President Parrela really has a way with words :)

Love you all!! and have a good week

Elder Pierce

                                             "Missionary Life" Cartoons by Elder Pierce

 *Riley takes pics of little hand written notes to his brothers and sends them by email and he often includes a little cartoon drawing that each brother might enjoy.  We thought you may enjoy them too. :)

My Son!

                                                            My new "son", Elder Alencar!
6/1/2015

Here's the birth story: After saying our goodbyes Elder Lailson Silva got on the bus at 6:00 am and I stayed with some of the other elders. We went back to their apartment and had our morning studies I ate a small lunch (a sandwich) which was all we had time to do until my bus left at 12:30 pm. 

Byebye Elder Lailson Silva

In the middle of the way we stopped by another city and picked up a sister missionary who was also going to pick up her new daughter. We were the only missionaries on the bus so we talked (across the isle) for the rest of the way to Santa Maria about 6:45 'ish. It was a bit weird, haha because we got to the bus station and we were the only ones there and so we called a taxi together (me in the front and her in the back) and went to the hotel where we were to sleep for the night. And by this time I was starving! not having eaten a proper meal the entire day and so driven by hunger we went straight to the restaurant in front of the hotel that the mission pays for everyone to eat at. Again a bit awkward because we were the only ones there... haha missionary problems. But in short time other trainers came and it all worked out. 

Meeting up with old friends Elder Rios and Gama

I got to room with Elder Rios and Elder Gama who are both from my group and I spent time living with both of them in the same house in past areas, super cool to see them again passing the night (before 10:30) swapping stories and such. Then Wednesday morning with a "wonderful" rain falling we had the long awaited presentation of our new companions. The other singing elder, Elder Wassom, also is training so we got to sing a blasting duet to awe the greenies, haha. After a mini meeting with Pres Parrela for just us trainers we reunited with the new group (10 missionaries the biggest group in a while) Pres Parrela called me up first to meet my new companion. Pres always does a "gh"about the trainer so he talked about my singing and mentioned about my work in São Pedro which he informed me has continued to grow. Then he has us, the trainers, explain a bit about the area so I talked about getting to go to Uruguay on P-day and everything "chubby" (haha ask Noah). And finally drum roll... Presidente called out "Elder Pierce your new companion will be Elder Alencar!" wooo yea! Meu amado filho (my beloved son) haha Elder Alencar is 19 from Juazeiro do Sul, Seará (north east of Brasil) and he has 3 years as a member of the church. After everyone got their companions we had to run and eat lunch and call a taxi to get to the bus station for our bus back to Livramento which left at 12:30. We almost didn't make it because of the rain and the lazy taxi drivers not answering phone calls but we ran to the bus just as it was about to leave and success! The first week of the training has been well and I'll let you know more about it next week! Elder Alencar is dying of the cold here in the south and is a bit traumatized from some contacts that we did with rude people but it all makes part of the experience, haha. He came very well prepared spiritually and we will do a great work here!

Love you all and have a great week!!!

Elder Pierce

This is the border to Uruguay so I'm about to leave my mission, haha. 

I got the package from home in Santa Maria.

I'm Expecting!

                                                                  Last Sunday together
                                                                  with Elder Lailson Silva
5/25/2015

I'm gonna have a son! Transfers came out this week and I will train a new missionary! Yea! that's pretty exciting. When you are the trainer you are called the dad and your trainee is your son, haha. It was very funny to see the reactions of some people when they ask "whose the new missionary coming?" and I say "my son" or when I tell people that I'm pregnant, hahaha. 

Elder Lailson Silva will go to Cruz Alta, he's a bit sad to be leaving but he's excited to be able to meet another area. It really was a great experience to serve with him and he will sure be missed. Tuesday I go back to Santa Maria to sleep there the night. Then Wednesday morning we get our new companions, get some training from Pres. Parrela and then head back here to Livramento. (12 hours of bus ride in 2 days ugghh)

Sorry for the short email the computer froze various times and I'm out of time Love you all!!

Elder Pierce (papai (dad) hehehe)

                                                             More exchanges:

The Spirit Rocks!

Me during district meeting giving my treinamento about planning
(my comp was a ninja photographer, haha)

5/18/2015

I had a pretty good week. I participated in 2 exchanges, one that I did with Elder Banks from DC in my District and one that was done with me with Elder Edwards from Michigan one of our Zone Leaders. Haha it just kind of worked out that all the Americans did the exchanges together. This week I have another exchange with the other companionship and I'll be with Elder Chuman from Santos, SP who arrived in the mission field with me one year and 3 months ago (wow). And besides having to run around from one area to the other in my area, Elder Lailson Silva and I were even able to find 7 new investigators who we were really needing so that was great. 

Noite Familiar (family home evening) 

I wanted to share with y'all two experiences that we had with the spirit this week. First off, we had a lesson with Thais and Júlio one night, I think it was Friday. They and their family (seen in the picture of the noite familiar just missing one other daughter) have been really liking our visits and how they have felt at church. They often express how they like we aren't "fanatics" and that they are surprised to find themselves in the situation where they are choosing to go to church and follow Gods plan for them of their free will haha. But a little hold up is that they have no background of saying daily prayers or prayers in general for that matter so they have real troubles remembering to pray and ask God if our message is true. As we were talking about that and trying to help them see the importance of prayer and thinking of how they could remember or feel more comfortable praying the spirit came into the room really strong. It doesn't happen too often when I feel that literally the words that I say aren't my own but I myself was surprised as I testified that as we pray we are literally talking with God our Heavenly Father and he will in a very real way answer our prayers. And every day after that Thais has said her prayers at night and is very excited to know how she will receive her answer. (She is trying to help out Júlio who comes home very tired and has the habit of just falling asleep haha).

The other experience was on Sunday the Bishop finally had me sing a special musical number in sacrament meeting (demorou (took long enough)). So I sang "I know that my redeemer lives" (Eu se i que vive meu senhor) and this time felt different. Because I've sang this song in Portuguese enough now I pretty much have it memorized which gave me the opportunity to really express through the music how I feel about the lyrics. I have decided that one of my favorite things to do in the world is share my testimony through singing. As I saw the tears well up in about half the congregation I knew that each of us are given gifts and talents so that we can edify the kingdom of God. So that was probably the most spiritual time that I sang in a sacrament meeting until now. Cool stuff :)

Love you all! until next week

Elder Pierce

My first exchange as a District Leader with Elder Banks from DC

Happy :)

                                                         Birthday Lunch- Churrasco, yummm!
5/11/2015
Well I can only describe how I felt after the family Skype session as happy. I can tell that the family will be very different when I come home, deeper voices and a good bit taller but I think its exciting to see the before and after results. I pretty much said everything that I had to say yesterday... so I'm thinking about what I'm going to write now... 

Umm, just a recap for other folks, I'm liking a lot getting to be District Leader working on my treinamentos (training lessons) and helping the other elders out, even if I feel like they teach me more than I teach them sometimes, haha. It's super cool to be here on the border and I'll have to brush up on some Spanish to talk with the missionaries in the other mission (Uruguay Montevideo West I think) who we get to see on p'day. 

I sent pictures from my birthday lunch last week, the churrasco was super good.

 And look at my car that I got as a present, haha (we woke up one morning and bam! a bumble-bee style Camaro was outside our window so we had to take pictures)

I also have the opportunity to cook a bit here, so obviously we had to take pictures. Our chicken and pasta with rice wasnt too bad for a first try. 

This week I will be doing my first exchanges as District leader and another exchange with the Zone leaders so I hope we can actually get some work done in the midst of all the switching but it should be fun. So yea sorry for the short email but that's pretty much it, have a great week and ending up the school year and stuff!

Love your missionary 

Elder Pierce

It's my Birthday!!!

                                            BRAZIL                                                               URUGUAY
                                                       (Me in two countries at the same time!!!!)
5/4/2015

I'm 21 now!

My last birthday here in Brasil! 21 years old, that sounds older than I feel. It's weird to think that I spent the entire time that I was 20 in Brasil and feels very distant that I will turn 22 back in the US. All the elders of our zone will go to a buffet restaurant with churrasco to celebrate for my birthday lunch so that will be fun, pictures to come next week.

I'll probably buy some gaúcho stuff later today (which is super cheap here on the frontier!) but I got myself a little present earlier, drum roll... new Ecco shoes! Some of you might question how did I get a hold of new Eccos in a country that doesn't even have them. So my last week in São Pedro I went on an exchange and spent the day in Urlandia. In casual conversation my shoe size came up and the other elder said that he had a pair of shoes for sale. I thought yea whatever but I asked anyway what brand they were and he said "Eccos" so my ears perked up and I asked him to show me the shoes. The story is that the elder that baptized him (3 or 4 years ago) sent him a package with a bunch of stuff including this pair of shoes. He realized that the shoes were actually too small for him so he only used them 2 or 3 times. And they fit me just great so I worked a deal for the equivalent of less than $30 (US) which I felt was a pretty sweet early birthday deal :) 

                                                              A birthday present- new Eccos!

                                                                       Joy!
I'm liking a lot serving here on the border. It's super cool to find people who speak Spanish everywhere, and if they speak slowly I can even understand the general of what they are saying. I remembered about my passion for Marvel movies when a member told us he was going to the midnight premiere of the Avengers 2, sacrifices of the mission!! but it'll all be good, haha. I'm super excited to skype for Mothers Day and I'll see you all (family) soon!!! Be thinking about questions to ask and Ill think about the answers. I'm excited also to give my first treinamento (training thing) and lead my first District meeting as district leader tomorrow. I will talk about the process of repentance in the preparation for baptism. 

Elders Lailson Silva and Pierce

YEA love you all! eat some cake for me! 

the 1 year older and a little bit wiser too - Elder Pierce

At the border with Elders Lailson Silva and Chuman

                                                                    Brazil seal thing

                                                                      Uruguay seal thing

                                                   some plaque that explains something

                                                                           Our Zone