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