Monday, October 26, 2015
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
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
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..
Watch that^^^ it is amazing..
Love,
Elder Pierce
Monday, October 12, 2015
-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.
Behold thy mother. Let us all appreciate our moms more :)
love you all
Elder Pierce
Sunday, October 11, 2015
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
Thursday, October 1, 2015
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
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