Week #3

So this week has been another great one. We learn so much everyday here. It's awesome. 

So on Tuesday due to the huge mission president conference going on, we had 6 apostles at our Tuesday night devotional. It was really really cool. You don't really see that many all together at once unless for conference. Anyways there was Elder Oaks, Elder Christopherson, Elder Ballard, Elder Nelson, Elder Anderson, and Elder Bednar. It was quite an awesome experience. I was in the choir and we sung to them "Praise to the man." It was awesome to sing for 6 apostles. Probably a once in a lifetime experience. Elder Christopherson was the speaker. He talked about the worth of souls. It was great. 

Some quick things that I garnered from his talk. "We must pray earnestly for the charity of Jesus Christ with all the energy of heart." I really like this because sometimes we think we can do it on our own. Sometimes we think that if we just work harder and do more that we will get where we want to go and be the person we want to be. But doing it that way might drive you crazy. You need to work hard and then also be able to bring our Savior's grace into the picture. Through his grace and power we can overcome things that we wouldn't be able to otherwise through hard work and harder work. We need him. And that's why we are here. To learn to rely on him when it becomes too much for us to take on, on our own. 

On the mission one thing I have learned is that it is easy to slack. It is easy to just kind of go through the motions. But I learned to think about it in different terms. We are on the Lord's time and so we should be working as hard as we can for him. We need to do everything we can to become a great tool in his hand to work great blessings in others lives. 

One of the hardest things on a mission is always being with your companion. Even though I love my companion and he really is awesome. There are still little things that rub us both the wrong way. It really has helped me understand that you better be sure you like someone before you marry them because you are gonna have to deal with some things that you just don't like. People will always have differences. 

This Sunday was great. I played the piano for the musical number for the departing district to Taiwan. They sang "God Be With You Till' We Meet Again" and I accompanied. It was great. I have been trying to implement my piano more here. I have tried out for a couple things but we will see how it works out. 

On Sunday night my companion was asked to give the opening prayer at the devotional. He was pretty scared because it is broadcast to all the MTC's and he has only been in the church for 9 months so he hasn't really prayed much. He was baptized at age 8 but then he stopped coming to church until about 9 months ago. He read the scriptures prayed about it and got an answer that it was true and so here he is, my companion, Elder Lundahl-Wolford. Great guy. Anyways he gave a great prayer and so me and him got to sit on the stand which was pretty cool. The speaker that night was Stephen Allen. He is the managing director of the missionary department. My favorite thing from his talk was "Everyday we choose to have either a bad, OK, good or great day."

I really believe that is true. Everyday we wake up we can choose to bless someone else's life or hurt someone else. It is all in the mind. Like Dad always says. 

The language is coming along slowly but surely. We are starting our third practice investigator tomorrow. My companion is struggling with the language but he is coming along. He just isn't used to the classroom studying setting. He is used to the farm and the tractor and his horse.

To whoever reads this, I want you to know that I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior and I believe that this gospel has been restored on the earth today. And I know that Jesus Christ's gospel will bless you if you humble yourself and draw closer to God's ever out-stretched hand. I love you all.

-Elder Pierce