Week#81...The REALEST Christmas ever. I am Santa Clause.

Transfers was today and I am staying here!

We had a christmas morning basketball tournament :) I am averaging 40 pp7am game :) its fun

 This week, I started writing in my journal in Chinese again. and also been hitting the gym extra hard. 

This week we have been doing some work on the 2016 mission plan! It is a work in progress but we are excited about some of the changes that are going to be happening in the mission this upcoming year! 

We went on exchanges to JB this week! Well, I did by myself :) It wasn't supposed to happen that way though. 

My two companions (I was supposed to be in a trio for the day) got black chopped out of immigration. So they were sent back to Singapore, while I was let through to JB. Luckily, one other elder made it through so I went with him for the day.  (There were more that didn't make it through but we got it worked out now :)) 

Anyways it was super fun to go around in my old area for a day. Got to see and call some of my old investigators etc. to repentance in a loving way which is always fun :) When you have that kind of relationship with them you  can do that! 

Got to skype the family which was awesome. I love all of you guys. Hopefully you can live up to those Chinese names I gave you with some pride :) 

We found 112 potential investigators this week. That is people who we shared a gospel principle with on the street and got their contact info. We talked to a lot of people. 

Christmas was the best. We had a bunch of extra candy in the apartment and so Elder Spurrier and I took some and put them in little baggies and put them in a couple big cardboard boxes and went around giving it away on Christmas day like Santa Clause whether people accepted the gospel or not we still gave them a present. 

It was a great feeling giving away stuff. Probably my favorite Christmas of all time. We also got to each lunch with all of my recent converts from the Phillipino ward which was a special moment :) (see picture below) 

I will end with a spiritual experience that was cool! We were going around with our presents and then we ran into a women. We gave her a Christmas present (some candy) and then we talked about Jesus Christ for a minute and invited her to pray. She said a really spiritual prayer and then after concluding, got a little emotional and said that we were an answer to her prayer. She had felt prompted to walk around the mall 3 times before she went home. Because of that she ran into us. She hadn't gotten a Christmas gift that year (well until we gave her one) and she was looking to find the right path to follow Jesus Christ. The only two things we had intentions of helping her with :) 

God works in mysterious ways, but he most definitely works. So get to work and be a tool in his hands and see miracles! They are just waiting to happen :) Have the courage to be that tool! And I promise you happiness on no end! 

Love you all! 

Merry Christmas! 

Elder Pierce 

Week #80...Can you stop a car or moto on the highway for the gospel? :) GoBoldorGoHome :)

Where to start! 

Don't have much time so bullet points!

-Writing in my journal again every night in Chinese is helping my chinese.

-Almost broke my companions ankle last week playing basketball but he is all good :) 

-Office Days are the worst (every tuesday)

-Elder Lundahl-Wolford is coming back to the mission on New Years Day!!!!! :)

-15 Elders and sisters went home- so there was big departing dinner

-Went to Kota Kinabalu - took us 5 hours to walk 10 minutes to the bus stop b/c we talked to so many people. We actually never made it to the bus stop :) 

- Next to Sibu Jaya - Whitewashed the area (meaning it was both I and my companion's first day in the area, it just happened to work out that the day he transferred there was the day we went on exchanges with him). 

-Invited a man to be baptized in the first 30 seconds of talking to him - he accepted and is now investigating the church :)

-Stopped a few cars and motos going on the highway with this week. BOLDNESS. :) We just waved them down. Then we would help them learn how to and then actually pray for most of them the first times in their lives. 

-Then to Kuching. Had a Christmas Devotional. Told everyone in a training to start talking to more people. They don't talk to hardly anyone. No wonder they have a hard time finding people to teach :)

You don't have to stop cars on the highway to talk to you but at least talk to the guy next to you on the bus. C'mon :) 

-Also had the chance to see Penny in Kuching! That was cool! Invited her back to church and she came for an hour and a half that next day! MIRACLE! She used to be such a solid convert! 

-Then to singapore where we had an amazing Sunday. We taught 11 lessons and had to go on member splits most of the day. We also found 6 new investigators that day! It was awesome. It is the only day we were in our area this week but we still Made it happen! :) 

love you all, 

Miracles are everywhere! The field is so white it is kind of scary! Just open your eyes! 

Check out the videos on this website they are amazing! 

discover.mormon.org

love,

Elder Pierce 

Week #79....Awkwardness is Awesome!

I don't have much time, but here is this week: 

We hit every major city in East Malaysia this week! I am dog tired right now but it was a heck of a week!

First to Kuching for exchanges. 

Then to Sibu, Miri and then to Kota Kinabalu all for the Mini Christmas Zone Conference. 

7 flights this week :) crazy

-trained at the zone conference on teaching when you find (helping people you talk to on the street feel the spirit) 

-stayed in a hotel for the first time in a long time

-flight was delayed and got home at 2am on Sunday morning. 

-almost missed a flight. 

Working out everynight still to keep the grind going :) along with the mornings. 

Working my chinese hard as well :)

an experience to end: 

we were on exchanges and I suggested to my companion to sit down with someone for lunch! He said no it was too awkward, but i encouraged him. We sat down with this lady, who allowed us to sit with them . then she turned to me and said, " I was hoping and praying that you would sit down with me because I wanted to ask you what the difference is between all the different christian churches?" 

My heart dropped. The spirit had totally led us to sit with her. 

We taught her the whole first lesson and now she is meeting with missionaries there :) 

The spirit is real. If we put our best effort out, God will guide us to the elect in missionary work but also the same principle applies for off the mission! 

love you all! 

Have a merry Christmas! 

Elder Pierce 

Week #78....A Week of Real Life

Here goes: 

Monday- 

7am wake up 

8am report with West Malaysia and Singapore. 

11am Make a weekly email for the mission.

P-DAY - Christmas Gift Shopping :)

6:30pm Taught our Recent Convert Abby

Tuesday- Office Day. The worst. Don't even want to talk about it. Sitting in the office working is the worst. I want to be out ministering. 

Wednesday - 

Morning- MLC preparation

3pm to 9pm - MLC (all zone leaders and sister training leaders) 

Thursday - 9am Fly to Ipoh, West Malaysia

Mini Zone Conference and Training for Christmas with Ipoh Zone - 1pm-9pm

Friday - 8 am train to Kuala Lumpur

1 pm to 6 pm Christmas Kuala Lumpur Zone Conference

9 pm fly to Penang Island

Saturday - Exchange in Penang with the Zone Leaders

Sunday - 5 am flight home to Singapore for church

11am - lessons with Recent Converts (Michelle and Jenny) 

12-3pm Church

3-5pm Teaching Referrals and Potential Investigators. 

7pm Member Referral Appointment/Dinner

8:30 Report with our district leader :) 

That was our schedule this week in a nutshell :) 

Basketball is great. I love playing Elder Spurrier 1 on 1. Its good practice he isn't too bad. 

Hit the gym hard this week as well which felt good. 

Also hit chinese hard. I use it a ton even though I don't teach in it. I talk in it all the time because there are chinese people everywhere. Literally everywhere. 

Christmas.Mormon.Org

Look up that site and watch the video below called "A World with out a Savior" Super good. 

This week I will share one experience. We were on exchanges and we stopped this chinese family on our bikes on the street. We talked for a little while and he shared about how he had almost lost his life in a car accident (he was on crutches) and how he felt like God had saved him from death. 

He wanted to thank God but didn't know how. So we taught him. :) and he prayed right there on the street for the first time in a long time and he got kind of emotional and it was sweet. He was so grateful that God had saved him from death so he could take care of his sweet wife and 2 year old daughter. It was one of the sweetest moments that I have seen. 

I love that we can talk to God through prayer. And I love even more that He listens. 

So talk to him if you aren't and listen to what he says back. It will change your life I promise :) 

Love you all, 

Elder Pierce 

Week #77....The week of my life.

This week was insane. Probably the craziest of my mission. 

First we went to Miri on exchanges. I got to see some of my old investigators and recent converts and stuff which was really either heartbreaking or invigorating to see how they are doing/progressing in the gospel :) 

Then to Bintulu. And then to Kuala Lumpur. It was a lot of flying this week again. That is the most I have done yet. When we got back to Singapore the mission president's wife, Sister Simmons came on exchanges with us. That was fun to take her around with us for a few hours. 

This week, I got a ton of potential investigators - 135 people.. which means: we shared a gospel principle with them and then got their phone number to try and set a return appointment with them. 

When we talk to all these people one of the main things we try to do is to pray with them right there on the street. And then if we feel so inclined to ask them to pray right there and teach them how. All right there on the side of the street. 

Of course sometimes they say no but about 10 people this week we were able to get to pray for the first time in their lives to pray right there on the side of the street. Those were all miracles in my eyes. Those people were prepared by God and all of them were some of the most spiritual contacts I have ever had. 

What would you do if someone asked you to pray with them on the side of the road? :) 

On exchanges it seems that we just run the zone leaders into the ground. I think some missionaries just don't know how to work hard. But in 24 hours we are able to give them all they can handle. It is crazy but it has changed people. Exchanges are the best.

Then on Sunday we went to a place called lucky plaza where there are a million Filipinos. What is hard right now as an assistant is that we have to be gone in Malaysia all week and so we come back on Saturday and have one day a week to try and make our proselyting area a model for the entire mission. That can be stressful. But we are making it work. But it is definitely a challenge. 

In lucky plaza we found so many new people to teach and it was great. I felt like I was in the Philippines. Crazy. 

We also asked every single member for referrals on Sunday and got 20 Member referrals. If the missionaries ask for your friends and they are good missionaries then give if you can :) this is eternal life we offer remember? :) 

There is a lot to do everyday but this week I had to prioritize a lot. 

I realized that the most important thing is family. I love my family. 

This may help: https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2005/10/what-matters-most-is-what-lasts-longest?lang=eng

Do something nice for your loved ones this week :) you won't regret it. 

Oh, how I love being a missionary. Oh, that I had a voice of an angel and could cry repentance unto the world. The pain and joy of being a missionary is the most real of any pain or joy I have experienced. It is real. 

love you all, 

Elder Pierce 

Pictures:

1. With a member that is a boss! 

2. Relief Society in our ward! 

3. Miri with some former investigators! 

4. East Malaysia

Week #76...Expecting Success. Do you expect it?

This week. In a nutshell. We do a lot of reporting so I will try and keep this nice a concise and interesting. 

-Shout out to my boys at MIT as they have a couple important games this upcoming week :) excited for them! Keeping you all in my prayers this week!

-Been able to play some good basketball 1 on 1 and 2 on 2 with my new companion. It is nice to have a little competition finally :) 

I asked someone in first contact (meaning within the first 20 seconds of talking to the guy) to be baptized. It was bold but oh well :) I followed the spirit and even though he rejected it was ok because my companion also had the same prompting..I know God has a plan for him though it may seem strange. It has been a bold week. 

My companion Elder Spurrier has a ton of energy and it has been great. We have been getting out there and really finding all of the filipinos and trying to do everything we can possibly do to raise the vision of mission. People do only what they think they can do. Fact. 

You can do anything you think you can. 

"It is all in the head." -Jeff Pierce 

Thanks Dad, I guess it took me longer than I thought to realize that. I used to laugh at you because you said it so much. Sawyer, Jackson, don't laugh when he says that because it is so true. You believe it can happen, you make it happen and it will happen :) I promise you that. 

Life is mental. 

Everyone I talk to that looks Chinese I say: ni jin tian hao ma? which means how is your day? 

But sometimes they are not chinese and this week, this lady got super mad because she didn't speak chinese..and I assumed she did. She yelled at us but its ok we just noticed the guy standing next to her who was looking at us funny. We ignored her and talked to him and boom he was super interested. 

That is how you face rejection. You don't. 

They ask: What do you do when you are in a tough missionary area? 

I respond: I don't know, I have never been in one. 

I have felt the spirit different this week. It is going to be an exciting transfer. I love you all. 

Matthew 6:31-33

Love,

Elder Pierce  

One of these pictures is the passing of the binder from one assistant to another. Sorry in case that was confusing. Elder Perritt went to Ipoh. Elder Spurrier came in from Kota Kinabalu.

Week #75....Even in McDonalds :)

Not a ton of time so this will be to the point :) 

-TRANSFERS! I got a new companion! His name is Elder Spurrier! He is also from Olympus High School! And a baller! I am going to miss Elder Perritt though. He has taught me a ton. Elder Spurrier was my previous zone leader in Miri so I am excited to serve with him! He speaks Malay and I speak Chinese so now we will be able to speak to almost anyone around here :) it is going to be great! He is also a go hard so it will be a fun time together :) 

This morning was crazy trying to get transfers all set up but anyways.. 

Last monday with the team in mind starting the season this week I had a stellar workout in at the church here. It is way nice to have the basketball court there every morning. 

Shoutout to the team against Harvard a few days ago! Miss you guys! My prayers are with you! 

This week we flew to Kota Kinabalu and then down the Sibu to do exchanges with the zone leaders there. It was great. 

In KK I was able to help teach a basketball class. I started a successful one in Miri and because of that a few other areas have started them but they haven't really been successful so I gave them some tips :) we will see how it goes. President Simmons is great. He loves thinking outside the box and basketball class is one of those things he approved us doing. :) gotta go with what you are good at right? 

This sunday we were asked 5 min before a baptismal service to do a musical number. So we through together an idea we had had before.."O' Holy Night"  see the attatched.. 

the piano is a little repetitive sorry. I literally just through it together. 

Bobby. On exchanges we talked to this random guy. He was chinese and we prayed with him. and then we invited him for the first time in his life to pray.. right there in the middle of mcdonalds. And it was the most spiritual moment of the week by far. 

I know that God is real and hears our prayers no matter how we say it or where we say it. Even in McDonalds :) 

Love you all, 

Elder Pierce 

Week #74...The Beautiful Island of Penang. :)

This week we flew to Penang. It is a little island off the coast of West Malaysia. We fly through KL (Kuala Lumpur) to get there. On the island of Penang we went on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders there. I was with an elder from Wyoming. 

Then on Friday we flew back through KL down to JB (Johor Bahru) my old area! To go on exchanges with the Zone Leaders there as well! I was on exchanges with an Elder from Utah who is actually the great-grandson of President Boyd K. Packer. 

Both exchanges were great. 

Next week we are flying to KK (Kota Kinabalu) at the top of East Malaysia and then to Sibu, also in East Malaysia just a little ways south of KK. 

We fly a lot. But we are able to still do lots of missionary work in the airports and on the airplanes. We have been eating a lot of peanuts as well. :) 

This upcoming week is transfers and so we have been doing some preparation for that. 

Miracles. Elder Geilman and I were on our way to an appointment this week on exchanges and we were talking to everyone of course. And we had miracle after miracle. It was as if God knew that we were going to be talking to everyone that we saw and so he just put everyone that needed to be talked to in our path. We met people that had met missionaries 30 years ago and had been looking for them since, we met people who had Book of Mormon's and were confused reading it and who better to help than us! And so much more. God's hand was there that day for sure. 

Also this guy I met and passed to Chinese sisters in Singapore is on date to be baptized in December! He was doing pullups in the park and I went over and did a few with him and now he is going to be baptized way cool! 

God's hand in the work is real. I feel him guiding me to talk to certain people everyday. It is great to be a tool in his hands. That is what missionary work is all about. :) Doing what the Father and Son would do. 

Love you all,

Elder Pierce

P.S. Workouts have been serious this week! I am coming back strong! 

P.P.S. Shout out to my boys on their first game against Harvard this week! My prayers are with you guys! 

Week #73...Beauty of Person.

Don't have much time I will keep this one short. :) 

This week was zone conference. It was insane. So much to do. All of west malaysia came in the beginning of the week and then East malaysia later in the week. So basically there are two zone conferences. 

We do the conducting for the meetings and basically along with all the back-stage work. Also we gave a training for helping retain recent converts which went well. We have new visions not to have baptisms but rather to have progressing recent converts! It is easy to get those mixed in your head as a missionary. 

Then on Friday we were on exchanges in Filipino ward with the Miri/Bintulu Zone leaders. That was great. I got to be back with Elder South my previous companion for a day. 

Also this week, because we say to hi people (no one else in singapore does that) we got asked if we were drunk or high? That was a first :) 

On Sunday we had Jenny's baptism! She was so awesome! We found her just by opening our mouths on the way to an appointment on the Subway about 2 months ago! Cool to see her progression! Then Elder Perritt and I did an awesome rendition of "I Know That My Redeemer Lives." Check it out at the bottom. 

Parley P. Pratt said the following about the Holy Ghost. I have been ponderizing this this week:

“[His influence] quickens all the intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges, expands and purifies all the natural passions and affections; and adapts them, by the gift of wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires, develops, cultivates and matures all the fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred feelings and affections of our nature. It inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness, gentleness and charity. It develops beauty of person, form and features. It tends to health, vigor, animation and social feeling. It invigorates all the faculties of the physical and intellectual man. It strengthens, and gives tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were, marrow to the bone, joy to the heart, light to the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the whole being” 

Take some time, to take advantage and recognize the gift(s) of the spirit more in your own life and others. I promise it will make you more happy. You will know you are on the right path. :) 

Love you all,

Elder Pierce 

Week #72.....The Best Antidote I Know For Worry is Work.

This week on "The Mission" 

-Worked out like a maniac this week. Staying in Singapore helped so that I could get some consistency on it. (Basketball, Shooting, Ball Handling, Weights and Running) Morning and Night! 

-Played "Come Thou Fount" arrangement at a baptism for the Singapore Zone Leaders. 

-Talked to every single person we saw. 

-Stressing out for zone conference this upcoming week. Preparing trainings etc. 

---This means that all of West Malaysia comes into Singapore today for two days and then East Malaysia on Thursday. It is going to get wild :) 

-Worked on the mission slideshow for zone conference. It is cool collecting and putting together all the pictures from all parts of the mission. 

-Praying with people in the contact. Then we ask them to pray. Right there on the street. It is bold but it really changes the spirit of the contact from a business exchange to a spiritual experience. What would you say if someone asked you to pray on the street? 

-Found this place called "Stuff'd" in Singapore. Like Chipotle. Oh how dear it was to taste chipotle once again :) 

-10 appointments fell through this weekend. It was a little rough. BUT jenny, our investigator passed her interview with President Simmons last night. She called us last night right after. She was balling with happiness. Repentance is real. Straight up, real. 

"The best antidote I know for worry is work. The best medicine for despair is service. The best cure for weariness is the challenge of helping someone who is even more tired." -President Hinckley

If you get tired, or despaired or anything along those lines this week, go find someone that is in a worse state than yourself and help them. It will help you. I promise. I have learned it the hard way. 

Love you all,

Elder Pierce 

Week #71... Never was my Joy so Sweet. Never was my Pain so Real.

Another week in the realest game on earth. 

Gotta love it. 

Never was my joy so sweet. Never was my pain so deep. Never was an experience so different, such an out-of life experience. So is the missionary experience.

Your whole perspective on life changes. All you care about it helping people come closer to Jesus Christ. You eat, breathe and sleep it. Your investigators make or break your entire day instead of a test score or a date with a girlfriend. 

Things take on new meaning. The scriptures. Alma 26 becomes the actual thing that is happening to you, not just some ancient missionaries experience. You can actually feel what Ammon felt. 

And sometimes you can't even realize it. You don't realize how your perspective is changed. But when you take a step back and realize what is going on you can see how much you have changed. 

Flying every week to and from places has done that for me. This week we flew to Kuala Lumpur and then to Kuching. We had exchanges in both places. And because when you fly it is a slight debrief back into the real world that is when I can slightly remember the old me. And it is so different. Just the perspective. Vision can change everything. 

And even though it has all changed so much, I am still able to get great workouts in everyday. Elder Perritt loves to rebound so the number of shots I have been able to get up everyday has increased dramatically. I don't understand why he likes it but I am not complaining :) 

100, 100, 100. Pushups, pullups and situps has become a once a week routine. Under 15 minutes is casual now. 

In KL we did some farming service at this orphanage. I was on exchanges with a Tongan from Oregon. He is a beast. 

Then in Kuching I was in a Malay speaking area with a native companion Zone Leader and we went around in this Kampung (little village) that is built on this swamp and you walk on these bridges everywhere. The entire village is on stilts. It is amazing. And I ate some pig heart. It is a delicacy in one of the malaysian tribes called E-Ban. 

I have in the last 8 weeks definitely learned the principle of Matthew 16:24-29. When you lose your life you save it. Whenever we go on exchanges I find myself in total service to the other missionary. In his area, helping his people and him. Nothing is for me. And those days are my best. Those are my happiest days. And I glean nothing from it. But I really feel like I have found myself on those days. And I have found my God. 

I love exchanges. I love my mission. I love my Savior. I know he is my Savior because I have felt him everyday out here. And I want you all to know that I know that this church has truths that have been restored on earth through a prophet. It is scary because it is real. It will change your life, just let it..

Look outside of yourself this week a little..it'll help I promise..

https://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/reflections

Watch that^^^ it is amazing..

Love,

Elder Pierce 

Week #70....A Mission in a Transfer.

-TRANSFER FLIGHTS - we booked an innumerable amount of flights this week. The Lord's work can be quite expensive sometimes :) 

-We send out transfers on an email with a big sheet telling showing where the missionaries are in the mission and so it is quite dramatic for the missionaries, but this time we knew a long time beforehand that we were both staying so that was nice not having to stress about it. 

-On Tuesday after reporting with President Simmons we went to the departing dinner at President's house for the 4 missionaries leaving. That was super cool to see them and hear their dying testimonies. Really cool atmosphere. It was my first one. There is usually one each transfer when missionaries who have finished their missions go home. 

-Then on Wednesday, we picked up 8 NEW missionaries from the airport. 5 from the Provo MTC and 3 natives from the Manila MTC. We take their pictures with the mission president and then hand them each a Book of Mormon to pass out on the way to the stake center via the MRT (Subway). It throws them right into the work. I remember I was quite scared when it was my first day in the field and now I get to lead them to the stake center. It is quite a turnaround and it is a lot of fun :) 

Dad, you apparently met some of these new missionaries in the airport is that right? crazy. they told me about how they met you! Fate! haha You sent them off from Provo and I picked them up in Singapore. Good team work if I have ever seen it :) 

It is cool we get to experience a full mission in a transfer. We get to experience a new missionary welcome and then missionary departures. Every, transfer. It is really cool. 

Then once they get to the stake center we train them for a few hours amid their jet lag and then train their trainers that night as well. It is a fun night. It is so much fun working with missionaries right out of the MTC. They have such open minds, I love it :) 

Then in the morning they find out who their companions are in this big dramatic slideshow with music playing in the background. It is pretty cool :) 

Later in the week on Friday we flew up to Bintulu with President and Sister Simmons to do a training with the new missionaries who are 6 weeks in the field.

Then this weekend was conference and we had some awesome lessons with our Filipinos! Conference and Filipinos are two of my favorite things so life can't get much better than that! We have a few baptisms coming up at the end of the month so that is exciting! Our investigators are so sincere! 

If you haven't watched conference! DO IT! it was amazing. WOW. 

Every single talk was amazing. Literally every single one. Please watch it if you haven't already. 

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/10/behold-thy-mother?lang=eng

Behold thy mother. Let us all appreciate our moms more :) 

love you all

Elder Pierce 

Week #69 ......The Realest Game On Earth.

Today was Transfers! So that made things interesting! This whole morning was spent on it, the sheets, flights, paperworks etc. and it is still going. We had a few meetings about it this week. President Simmons is the best.  

But in case you were wondering, Elder Perritt and I are staying here! Good news! Even though we already knew that for a while.. 

This week we had a baptism! Yesterday actually ! (see picture!) Abby! She is so awesome and typed out a 5 page paper for her testimony. The longest one ever but it actually kept everyone's attention the entire time! She has quite the story/testimony. 

We also performed a musical number there! It was Gracie's song with Elder Perritt saying the Joseph Smith History on voice-over. It was super powerful. Elder Perritt has a voice exactly like the temple voice-over. So good. 

The rest of the week we were in Singapore. It was a little hard because all the Filipinos work everyday. Except Sunday's but we were able to track down a few less-actives. 

Also this week we did a lot of preparation for Mission Leadership Council. It was super good. Focused on talking to everyone. The Zone-Leaders really are amazing. At the end we had a testimony meeting where everyone bore their testimony with one sentence (very short powerful statements). It was super powerful. The spirit was so strong. 

On Monday, I got a great workout in for basketball. Elder Perritt loves rebounding, (I can't figure out why..) and so I give him massages in exchanges for him rebounding for me.. haha i guess it works.."also can" as they would say in singapore.. 

The haze here has been really bad (and everywhere in Malaysia as well from the Indonesia fires). But workouts continue no matter what :) 

Being a missionary, is like being in another world. You get to see life from a new perspective. You get to forget money, work, and girls and really get to think about life from the other side. From the side of trying to pull people into the happiness and love that you know the gospel can bring. 

Sometimes as a missionary you don't even realize that you are seeing life this way. But it is so different. And everytime I hit that realization of what I am doing and where I am, I become so grateful. This is the greatest. Ever. Every single moment spent in this perspective is so unique. All you have to do is look at the world how Jesus Christ would. Look at the people passing by, and know they are your brother or sister and they need what you have. And then you have to go help them realize that they need that and why they need it, and how to use it and on top of that we need to do it with love. That is challenge of Missionary Work. And it is so unique from the other challenges of life and I love it more than anything. 

Every single person has different problems and concerns and back stories. It is our job to find parts of their concerns and be able to connect it to the gospel. And when you do and they can Feel it. That is when it all becomes worth it. 

It is the Realest game on earth. Life itself sometimes isn't even real. But this is. And I love it so much, no matter how hard it can get sometimes. I love the Real.

Elder Pierce

Week #68.... Are you a person or just a number?

I don't have much time but here is the week real short:

-threatened to eat Balut: half formed duck in an egg. You eat the beak and everything. Crazy Filipinos. 

-Went on exchanges in Miri, Bintulu and Singapore this week. Good to be back in the old area. That was cool. Miri is the best. 

-In Bintulu we did a killer leg workout and so my legs are done. 

-Mae got confirmed this week! And Abby passed her interview this Sunday so she will be baptized this upcoming week! Her whole family is totally against it so it is a big step for her! She has a ton of courage wow! 

-Last week for the baptism, I forgot to mention, our musical number "Be Still My Soul" really touched our new investigator. She is muslim (you can teach muslims in Singapore if you are careful) and she told us after that during that song is when she started questioning her religion. Pretty cool for a one day 20 minute preparation huh? 

This week I have been thinking a lot about goals/numbers versus people. 

Then I thought about God. He has a goal of every child to come back to him. That goal has number on it. (but it is a big number) But he cares and loves each one individually and perfectly. That is goal setting at its perfection folks. Take notes :) 

Love you all,  

Elder Pierce 

Week #67....The Filipino Feast....

-Had a solid 2 hour+ basketball workout this last monday. Oh so good :) legs are done from it though...

-Ate the most food ever at this member house nicknamed Khatib Kingdom. It was a Filipino tradition to eat with their hands at this particular meal and so they just dump it on the table and eat. 

More Filipino culture: -you can't eat the last piece of something. Very disrespectful.

I love the Filipino's. They are the most happy people I think I have ever met. Wow. It is slightly unbelievable. It reminds me of Mom and Karen and how they laugh all the time together. BUT, EVERY FILIPINO is like that. All the time, with anyone else, especially other Filipinos. I love this area. 

Then this week we headed up to Sibu (East Malaysia) and then to the island of Penang (off the coast of the northern part of West Malaysia) for exchanges with the Zone Leaders. These are two of the last places I have not been in the mission so it was nice to see a couple new places. 

Then this weekend we came back and had a baptism in our area! Sister Mae! She is so awesome! She was investigating when I got here! We have a few other baptisms coming up in a couple weeks as well! Filipinos are so receptive to the gospel. 

-Side-note: I still am able to supply the Chinese sisters wit ha steady stream of referrals since i get to use Chinese still quite a bit in Singapore especially but even in other areas throughout the mission.. 

Many times on my mission people have questioned me about Joseph Smith, his history and such. I have always had to go back to my experience reading the Book of Mormon. When I took 7 days and read the whole thing in alignment with Moroni's promise. And the spirit I felt. I can't deny that. That book is convincing evidence of Joseph Smith is a prophet. I bear witness. Please read it, ponder it and pray about it with a sincere heart. 

I love you all,

Till Next week...

Elder Pierce 

P.S. Thanks to the Boston University Ward for sending me few letters, you guys are awesome and I miss you all! 

Week #66....Who do you fear?