October 1st
well everything is going good here. i have alot i want
to tell you so ill try to type fast. well my new area is norfolk VA and its a
bike area. its really ghetto and there is a naval base here so alot of navy
people in the area. the is a lot of potential in this ward to baptize and me
and elder zimmerman are gonna have good success here. this last week we obtained a
bunch of new investigators and a bunch of referrels (11 in the past 2 days).
yeah its crazy in chesterfield i think i got 3-4 referrels in 12 weeks. we dont
have anyone set for baptism yet but we will soon enough. the ward is pretty big
we have about 130-140 active coming every week. the ward just
split actually last week and before the split they had like 300 or something coming every
week. i live with another companionship and they cover the norfolk 2nd ward while me
and elder zimmerman cover the 1st ward. the ward is good except that out of all
those people we have a hard time finding exchanges to go out with us.
the weather has been pretty bad its rained hard for like 4 of the 7 days that i
have been here. and we ahd to ride in it everytime and yes we got soaked
everytime. we even tract in it. its funny because when its raining we will
knock on someones door and they will think we are crazy for being out in the rain,
but thats what missionaries do right haha whatever it takes to bring people into
the gospel. lets see what else we have quite a few solid investigators and like i said
before we obtained a bunch of new ones this week. so we are being blessed a
ton. i am raelly liking being on bike tracting and street contacting is alot better
and funner on bike. and its fun being in the ghetto haha. sometimes we get
referrals for people in downtown norfolk and its pretty dirty down there if you
know what i mean. but dont worry the lord protects missionaries. anyway thats
about it i dont really have any cool stories. i guess i do have one. yesterday
we were riding back home from trying to contact this investigator and we passed
this intersection and we got like 20 yards passed it or something and something
told me to go back. so i kinda ignored it at first but then i remembered in the
zone meeting we had that morning the person that spoke to us said to follow any
little prompting you get no matter what. so i turned around and went back and i
saw some black ladies with their kids talking or wahtever and so i rode over
and started talking to them. well long story short i talked with this one lady
for like 15 mins and got a return appointment so that was cool. the appointment is
for tommorrow so i dont know if anything will come out of it yet but well see.
October 15
sorry i didnt get to write you last week it was a crazy week. we went and
played football in VA beach with a bunch of other missionaries it was pretty
fun. well my area is pretty sweet. its way ghetto and there are a lot of black
people haha. they are really nice and there are a lot that are receptive to the
gospel. but they are really fluffy meaning they will listen but they wont keep
their commitments like read or pray or come to church or keep their
appointments
which is really frustrating sometimes. man dad i was in the projects like on
saturday and its amazing to see where our tax dollars go. some of these people
just spend all their welfare money on
lottery tickets alcohol drugs cigarettes
its crazy. its sad to see a little kid and knowing that he has to be raised in
that kind of atmosphere. but yeah some areas are pretty bad, when i say bad i
mean poor. but yeah we get a lot of media referrals for down town and stuff so
we go there alot. our most solid investigator is actually a hispanic lady that
we tracted into last thursday. it was a pretty cool experience. we had a little
bit of time before our ward correlation meeting so we rode around and picked
this random street to tract on. well we tract for awhile and its about time for
us to go and we say we'll do a couple more houses then leave. so we knock
on
this house and this lady named gladis answers. she seemed happy to see us right
when she opened the door and she came out and started talking to her. we found
out a little about her and she says that she used to go to our church while she
was in panama in
the navy 10 years ago. so she knew just a little bit about the
church already. what was really amazing was that she said she has been going
thru some really rough times (divorce foreclosure) and she had been praying
that
day for some help. well i guess the lord sent some missionaries haha. we
offered
to teach her more and she gladly accepted and then i offered to help her move
and she got really emotional because she said that is exactly what she needed
help with. cool huh. the lord answered her prayers. and i was able to be a part
of it. we got 3 other guys to come with us and we helped her move. its amazing
how the lord works. gladis is awesome she reads what we give her and she came
to
church this week so that was awesome. we also had another investigator come to
church. his name is david block. he is an awesome guy. he is not a member but
his wife is and they love the missionaries. we taught him a lesson on
prayer on
monday and taught him how to pray. so those are our two main people right now.
we have another guy that knows the church is true but he cant get over his
alcohol problem it stinks. were helping him out the best we can.
the weather is actually really nice right now today it was like 77 degrees
October 22
the work here is doing good. its starting to get colder and its
not too fun especially on bike. but thats missionary work. we set gladys for
baptism this week it was sweet. we went in planning to teach the plan of
salvation but we ended up just reading 3 nephi 11 with her which is the chapter
where jesus comes to america and teaches the people how to baptize. so after
we
read that we talked about baptism for a little bit then set a date. it wasnt
that hard because she is eager to get baptized. her date was for the nov 8 but
we had to move it back because she didnt come to church this week, she got
sick.
in our mission an investigator has to come at least 4 times before she can get
baptized. so lets see what else the area gets kinda frustrating sometimes
because we will set up a bunch of appointments but then more than 75% of them
cancel or the people just wont be there. some people just have no sense of
commitment. we are teaching a couple part member families. one is really solid,
his name is david block. he is so cool. he has been taught pretty much all the
lessons and he comes to church every week so we are not to sure what his hold
up
is at getting baptized. we think its because right now he knows that the church
is good but i dont think he knows if the church is true or
not. but he will
soon
enough. we taught him how to pray last time and promised that if he would ask
god would tell him.
well being on bike is pretty sweet because it really feels like you are
actually a missionary. i cant believe this transfer is more than half over. in
2
weeks we get tranfer calls again. missions are awesome, im learning a ton and i
have only been out like 4 months any wya i got to go
October 29
well everything is going good here. gladys is still doing awesome.(shes the one
we have set for baptism) we taught her yesterday on faith, repentence and
baptism. she told us that she was really scared to be baptized because she
didnt
know what to expect and she thought if she got baptized and messed up after
that
she would go to hell. but we cleared that up and we told her the whole process
of baptism and then she told us that she wasnt so scared anymore. the ward and
relief society is doing a good
job fellowshipping her so thats good. she came
to
all three hours this week and she loved it. so she is pretty solid but i know
that satan is gonna be working really hard on her for the next few weeks before
her baptism so were gonna have to work even harder. i dont see anything that
would keep her from being baptized though she is really eager to be baptized.
the only thing is that she watches those televangelists sometimes and listens
to
them so we're gonna have to tell her that those guys are all an abomination
haha. but yeah shes solid. bro block is doing good. we havnt taught him in
awhile because he has been out of town and when he came back he has been sick.
but on saturday we were able to see him and give him a bleesing so that was
cool.
lets see what else. the weather is getting pretty cold and its been really
windy lately which really stinks when you are riding your bike against it. on
saturday it
rained pretty much all day and me and my suit got drenched haha. i
guess thats missionary work.
November 5
it is kinda cold here. it hasnt got too bad yet. it really stinks
when it rains then it really gets cold and on a bike it just makes you
miserable. thats great to hear that your fantasy teams are doing well. i wish i
could have a fantasy team on my mission haha.
anyway the work here is doing good. we had transfer calls last night and we
found out that im staying in norfolk for another transfer and elder zimmerman
is
being transferred to a
place called petersberg. im getting a new comp named
elder leonard who i hear is great. we are still teaching gladys and she is
doing
great. its people like gladys that make missionary work totally worth it. im
glad i am not getting transferred because ill get to teach gladys the whole way
and see her be baptized. we taught her the word of wisdom and tithing the other
day and it went well, she had no problems with it. the only thing she had was
that she drinks a cup of coffee a day but she said she will quit no problem. we
are teaching her tonight again. her baptism is scheduled for the 22 of nov
right
now. so she is doing great.
we are also teaching bro block still and we have an appointment with him on
sunday and we are hoping to set him for baptism, so pray that that goes well.
we
have some other people in the works so this next transfer will be pretty sweet
i
think.
to answer your question on
tracting, no we dont tract alot. and thats because
we are on bike so pretty much we are constantly tracting because we are always
talking to people in the streets. its been a long time since we have actually
picked a street on the map. usually we have a referral that we go and visit and
then we tract around it. we still get quite a few referrals so its sweet. alot
of them are ghetto black people that are fluffy but oh well. anyway thats about
it. nothing too new. im loving the mission. norfolk is great. my butt kinda
hurts from biking like 20-30 miles a day but at least my legs are getting
bigger
and stronger. but okay i gotta go
November 19
well
this past week i went up to richmond to go on a long exchange
with the APs. it
was pretty cool. i got to play basketball with a bunch of other missionaries in
the mornings while i was up there. we were there from like wed night-sat
morning
and i played ball everymorning. it was so fun. anyway they are trying to get
every companionship out with the APs so we can learn from them and stuff. they
are way hardworkers and always talking to people. even when they come to stop
lights they roll down the window and try to talk to the person next to them
about the gospel. and they take like 5 mins lunches so they can go out and
work.
they are way good missionaries and i learned a lot from them
gladys is doing good she didnt come to church this past week because she had to
work all night so we are gonna have to push the baptism back another week. so
it
will be in december now so that kinda stinks but she is still ready to be
baptized and its cool the ill still be here and that she
has asked me to
perform
the baptism.
our other progressing investigator is bro block. he is the part member couple.
hes not a member and his wife is. he is awesome. he loves the missionaries and
before every lesson he always feeds us. last week he killed a deer and cooked
up
some venison for us. that was the first time i had deer meat and it was dang
good. but yea he is coming along really well. i think the only thing that is
keeping him from being baptized is his pride. i think it would be hard for
anyone to surrender and accept the were the only true church on the planet. but
he knows its true, its just a matter of time.
we also are teaching another guy that i might have told you about before. his
name is steve pake. he is such a cool guy and he has a testimony of the gospel
and the book of mormon but he just cant give up his wine. so were trying to
help
him with that.
well i have to go sorry i didnt
write too much. the work is great. we just need
to get somebody in that font haha. its coming. okay well ill talk to you next
week
November 26
anyway thanksgiving is gonna be pretty fun here. we get the day off and we gotDecember 3
invited to two places to eat. one at 3:00 and one at 6:00. the one at three is
gonna be a traditional turkey and all that good stuff. but the one at 6:00
we're eating some steaks. so im gonna be pretty full by the end of the day
haha. also, in the morning we have a turkey bowl so thats gonna be awesome. its
probably gonna be cold but as long as it doesnt rain ill be fine. so let me tell you a little about my week. it went really well. the last two
days we have taught like 8 lessons its been nuts. the last two days we actually
had 14 apointments scheduled but alot of them cancelled or werent home. we have
this one new investigator that is way solid. her name is athena. she is a
single black lady with a month old baby. she is way nice. she actually called
in
a requested a missionary visit. aparently she has a boyfriend in utah taking
lessons from the missionaries and he is really thinking about joining the
church
so he told her to look into it because it would be the best
thing for her baby
girl. so thats what shes doing and its going really well. she said she has been
praying and feeling good. we have taught her the rstoration and half of the
plan
of salvation. next time i think we want to try and set her for baptism.
another good new investigator we got is alaina. she is a recent converts
daughter. the recent convert is named charlie brown and hes is awesome. he used
to be a minister for a bunch of people but then he was taught and baptized
about
2 months ago. and he has a really strong testimony. as a matter of fact once he
gets the Mel prietshood he will be our ward mission leader because right now we
dont have one. anyway his daughter has shown some interest so we are teaching
her. she has a problem with joseph smith, she thinks we focus more on him than
on jesus christ and god. so we are trying to work thru that. but her boyfriend
is a member, used to be less active for a
long time but now is coming back.
okay
dad well i gotta go but the work is going really good here. i love norfolk i
hope i stay another transfer here. we ahve a ton of potential. at the end of
this transfer i think we could have like 5 or more people set for baptism. but
we'll see. gladys is still on fire and she is set for the 13 of december
now. i hated having to push it back again but its okay she'll get baptized.
okay i gotta go love you
how is everything going. yeah thanks giving was awesome. we got the day off and
we had two places where we ate dinner. one was at 3 and one was at 6. yeah we
ate quite a bit haha it was good. unfortunately i didnt get to watch football
like you but maybe in 2 yrs ill be able to. we had the traditional turkey dinner
at the huntsingers house at 3 and then at 6 we had steaks with this guy named
bro
miles. the turkey bowl was awesome. i was quarterback the whole time and it
was a lot of fun. i threw alot of picks but i threw alot of touchdowns and i
intercepted like a ton too. my comp and and the other two missionaries wanted to
leave after like only an hour and i was like man i only get to play football
once a year so i convinced them to stay for 2 hours. it was sweet. thats cool
that youre doing good in some of your fantasy teams. ya know in the church
league usually we always have the bast teams and we always lose in the first
round of the playoffs. so maybe this year now that you have a team that doesnt
score that much you might be able to take it. hopefully your not going up
against arron brooks in the first round or michael vick haha remember the other
years.
anyway norfolk is awesome i love it here. i hope i get to stay at least one
more transfer here. we were able to set another one of our investigators
for
baptism last night. her name is athena. i dont know if i told you much about her
or not. she is a self referral, single mom of a one yr old baby. her boyfriend
is in draper utah right now taking the lessons from the missionaries. so when
she went up there to visit him he told her that the lds church is the best place
to raise her little girl, so she looked into it and called us. and now she is
set for january 7. isnt that sweet. transfers are on the 18 of december and we
find out where we go on the 16th. so hopefully i can stay one more to see athena
get baptized. gladys is still doing great. she is scheduled to be baptized on
the 13 of december and she has come 4 times to church now so nothing is holding
her back from being baptized.
another one of our solid investigators is bro block. he is coming around
slowly. he comes to churc pretty much every week and he can get baptized pretty
much anytime. i guess he
is just waiting on that spiritual witness to come.he is
progressing really well. thispast sunday was the first time he came to all three
meetings so that was good. he loves meeting with us and him and his wife feed us
lunch everytime its awesome. so hopefully we can set him before i leave. and
another solid one we have is a girl named alaina. sheh is the daughter of one of
our recent converts charlie brown. she comes to shurch alot too. she stays for
the first two then leaves because she doesnt like how the men and the women
split up. she also haas somewhat of a problem with joseph smith. she thinks we
put too much emphasis on him and not enough on christ. but shes doing good. so
those are our main investgators who i think can be set with a baptism date by
the end of this transfer.
we ahve a bunch of other investigators but they dont keep there commitments. we
are teaching this one guy named sidney brewer who is a
media referral. he has
told us that he knows the book of mormon is true and we taught him and he seemed
pretty solid but he has started asking us for money for his son who is being
held in europe or something. so we dont know if he is meeting with us for money
or because he wants to know if the church is true.
but anyway norfolk is awesome. me and elder leonard are doing great. i cant
believe its already almost christmas. and i have almost been out 6 months crazy
huh. alright well i dont really know what else to say so im done.
-ELDER PIERCE (letters to dad)
No comments:
Post a Comment