Day 185-9/29/06 Sixth Month Mark

Before I get to the events of the day which turned out to be pretty good, let me pause for a moment to recognize this momentous milestone. Six months on my mission. Where'd all the time go? I'll tell ya where it went. It went into these 380-something pages of my journal.

Turn with me if you will back to Day 0. Oh, wait. You can't. I never wrote a Day 0. How about March 28, 2006. A Tuesday. The day before I left on my mission.

Tuesdays are the day that new movies are released. Two movies were released the day before I left on my mission that I had been waiting a long time for. This was the first time these movies had ever been available in dvd format. I had to see them before I left on my mission. The two movies were, "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" and "Snoopy Come Home." I loved watching these movies as a little kid. It had been a while since I had last seen them. It meant a lot to me to be able to watch these movies with my family the night before I left on "my greatest adventure."

I love the songs in both movies. The songs in both movies are written by Richard and Robert Sherman. Their names should be familiar to any Disney fan. Or at least the songs they have written. They wrote all of the songs for Mary Poppins. In "Snoopy, Come Home," two songs remind me of missionary work. When Snoopy and his bird-buddy, Woodstock set out on their own, there's a song about their friendship and getting along.

Me and you
A two-man crew
Side by side we're unified
We will never be divided
Win or lose
We go in 2's
We're the best of buddies
Me and you!

We've got good vibes
Our friendship jives
In our close united status
Who could ever separate us?
And what's more
We're in raport (the t is silent)
We're the best of buddies
Me and You.

Harmony is where it's at
And where it's at for you
Is where it's at for me
Share and share alike
It's what it's all about
And what it's all about is unaimity!

Me and You
A two man crew
Even if the goings gruesome
We can make it as a twosome
Lose or Win
Sink or Swim We're the best of buddies, Buddy
We're the best of buddies
We're the best of buddies
Me and You

Pretty good song. The other song I like, reflects my current attitude of missionary work. In the movie, Snoopy and Woodstock have been out on their own for a while and are just starting to get the hang of things.

Now we're groovin'
Gettin' it together
Making it all come right
Yep, really movin'
Gettin' it together
The feelings outta sight!

On our way now
Gonna make it happen
All our systems are go
A-OK now
Ramblin' and rappin'
Shakin' the status quo

Doin' our thing
Chasing the sun
We won't stop til the doin' is done
Maybe we'll fly
Maybe we'll fall
All we know is that we're having a ball!

WoW! I'm a quarter of the way through my mission. So far, I've been having a ball. Time is really flying by now. I'm trying to focus on the work. Live in the moment. That kind of thing. Oh, Boy! General Conference is tomorrow! I can't wait! It's going to be so great. But first...the events of the day. continued....

Day 184- 9/28/07

We had a busy day, today. We were able to teach C. C is a really nice lady. She is from Malaysia. She has three children, two boys who were at school and her little girl who is three. C had heard about our church and had some questions. We explained the importance of living prophets. We gave C a copy of the Book of Mormon. We have another appt. to teach her next Friday. And when I say we I mean the Herndon missionaries. We get our transfer calls next Wednesday, so there is a good chance that I may be gone by Thursday. Well, if I do leave, the new missionary that comes in will be able to look forward to a teaching appt. for next Friday.

At lunch we got a call from Sister N. "Sorry, Elders," she said. "J won't be able to meet with you today." Apparently J thought it was such a lovely day, that he decided to go to Williamsburg with some friends.(sigh) I can't say I'm not disappointed. I am. But J has been pretty good about keeping appts. and going to church. We'll see him later, I'm sure.

I told my companion that now we did not have an appt. to take Bro. C on tonight. My companion thought for a minute and said, "Maybe we do." I knew that look on Elder KP's face. The wheels were turning. "Follow me," he said. We went downstairs and talked to our good buddy W who lives in the apt. just below us. So, great! Now we have an appt for 7:30 tonight.

While we were downstairs with W, CW pulled up to take us to our appt. with J. We said goodbye to W and headed over to J's house. We made it just in time. He wasn't home. Maybe J took N out to get baby supplies. Hopefully we can see J soon to remind him about General Conference.

CW took us by A's house, hoping that he was home. He wasn't. Looks like we're have a bit of bad luck today.

Happy Thing for Day 184- We did get to teach W. It was a good lesson.

Wow. Tomorrow. A momentous event. My sixth month mark. One quarter of my mission.

Goodnight.

Day 183-9/27/06 TempleBot

Happy Thing for Day 183-I did it! He's finished! My top secret art project is done! My second completed sculpture since starting my mission!

On (Day 17) I completed my first sculpture since starting my mission. It was based on Simon Dewey's painting, "Peace Be Still." I'm glad that I was able to get it finished while still at the MTC. It was cool to be able to leave something behind.

On (Day 75) I mentioned an idea that I'd gotten for a sculpture that I could make about the dangers of losing yourself in the world. Or, the dangers of focusing on the world. I still haven't made that sculpture yet. I have put it on the back burner for now. I'll get to it later...after my mission when I have more time. For now, though, just the idea of it suffices me.

But, it's true. I completed my second sculpture just this morning. I worked on it last p-day. I got a lot done, but I figured I'd wait until today when I finished it to have the grand unveiling.

My idea came from my love of Transformers. I love the way you can turn Transformers into other things. I was looking at the D.C. Temple one day. The idea of combining the two...Hmmm...what if...what if there was a Transformer that looked like the Washington D.C. Temple.

I want to stress that I have too much respect for the Holy House of the Lord to poke fun at a temple. This sculpture came about because I love the design of the temple in D.C. I think of the temple as a "protector." Temples are a safe haven. A place to leave the worries of the world behind us. Transformers are these big machines that are supposed to protect the people, too. As I looked at the temple, I could imagine it coming to life and saving the world from the forces of evil.

Today we had our zone activity. Our zone leaders, Elder H and Elder B came and picked us up. The Reston Elders got a ride as well. I was able to show them my sculpture. "Wow!" said Elder H. "Is that supposed to be the temple?" "Well, yes and no," I said. "Well, ya know, that's how the earth will be cleansed before the Second Coming," Elder H said. "What?" I asked. Elder H joked, "All of the temples around the world will turn into giant robots and cleanse the earth with fire from their giant flame-throwers." (haha)

We got to the zone activity and had a good time. I played a little bit of volleyball. Fun, fun, fun. Good p-day, but (sigh) over too quickly.

After p-day we went on exchanges with Brother D. We went to try to see Sister T B. Now Sister B is what my companion calls a D.O.F.O.E (prounounced dough-foe). "What's a dofoe?" I asked. My companion answered, "Dropped Off the Face Of the Earth." It's true. T has been impossible to get a hold of. I don't know what the problem is.

After T, we went and visited Sister D. neighbor, W. We taught W on (Day 130). Since that time, we've stopped by now and then to see how she's doing. W is so nice and humble, but works so much. Double shifts. Every time we would set up an appointment to meet with her, she would have to cancel. Tonight when we stopped by, though, she was home. She told us that she was sorry that we had not been able to meet but that she was off on Sunday if we wanted to come by. We've got an appointment to meet this Sunday before General Conference.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but W is Muslim. That came as a shock to me half-way through the first lesson. When someone is Muslim, you don't really want to start with the First Vision. First, there has to be that faith in Jesus Christ. At least that is what I thought at the time.

I am now starting to get a small idea of the great power the Book of Mormon has in the conversion process. Quoting from the introduction to the Book of Mormon: "The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on earth...and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by it's precepts, than by any other book;...It puts forth the doctrines of the gospel, outlines the Plan of Salvation, and tells men what they must do to gain peace in this life and eternal salvation in the life to come;...the Book of Mormon serves as an additional witness that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God and that all who come unto him and obey the laws and ordinances of His gospel may be saved."

We plan on going to W's at 10:30 on Sunday to teach. We were able to talk to a friend of her's that was visiting. She told us she was a Christian and would love to hear a message about Christ. Hopefully, we'll be able to teach them both this Sunday.

Day 182- 9/26/06 One lesson and Nobody's Home

This morning we had service at the Senior Center. We told the people at the front desk that we wouldn't be in on Saturday because of our churches General Conference. We headed up to the computer room.

I was able to help a man named JW. Real nice guy. He's 68. His profession was Substitute Teacher. When it was time for him to go, he told me thanks so much for my help. "Here, let me give you some figs." I haven't heard that phrase before on my mission or ever for that matter. He reached into a paper bag and pulled out 10 figs. "I hope you enjoy them," he said. "I want you to know that these figs are as fresh as figs can get. I picked them off my fig tree not 2 hours ago. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pay my mother a visit." My first thought when he said that was, "where, at the cemetary?" but I didn't say that. "My mother is 95 years old," he said. "She's getting on in years, but she still manages to get around in her house. I go and pay her a visit a couple of times a week." Wow! 95 years old. That's pretty impressive.

As we were leaving the Senior Center, I saw a flower pot that someone had made in the art room. It had some pretty flowers in it. The pot itself was painted all manner of bright colors. There was an inscription on it that said: "In memory of A H. We will miss your gentle humor. From: the guys at table 5." (sigh) I miss A. I hope you're doing well on the other side of the veil. Ah, another good day of service at the senior center.

Happy Thing for Day 182- We taught S today! We had a nice lesson in Sister H's home. We taught S the rest of the 3rd lesson on repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End (E.T.T.E.) When we talked about baptism, S mentioned how her husband was raised in the Pentacostal church. When their children were born, her mother in law insisted that they be baptized into the Pentacostal church that she attended in California. The whole family flew out to CA twice, once for each birth so that their two children could be baptized as infants.

"Now I love my mother-in-law," S said. "That might sound strange, but most people don't like their mother-in-law. Mine is just the nicest woman, especially when compared wiht the kind of parenting I had growing up. I love my mother-in-law."

S continued, "But when D was baptized as an infant, I leaned over to my husband and whispered, 'this doesn't count because baptism isn't supposed to be done on babies'. I feel a person has to personally accept Christ as their Savior and know what they are doing before they can be baptized. I remember that my mil was a little upset when my husband was baptized as an adult. She said it was pointless since he already got baptized as a baby. She didn't attend his baptism. Since then, D (S's son) was baptized." "By immersion," I asked. "Yeah, by immersion. Before he could be baptized, he had to take a 6-week course that met once a week after church. Then he had to take a written test to make sure that he understood what it meant to be baptized. He got 100% S (S's daughter) wants to be baptized. We're thinking of enrolling her in that class soon."

"It's kind of the same with us," I said. "We don't have a written exam or anything, but we don't baptize willy-nilly. When a child turns eight years old, they are interviewed by their bishop. He'll ask them to tell him what they know about baptism and things like that."

My companion shared a scripture that he liked about baptism. Romans 6:4 "Therefore ye are buried with him by baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we all should walk in the newness of life."

Baptism comes from burying yourself. "We are buried with him." Not sprinkled. Could you imagine a Catholic funeral? I can see it all now. "Well, to be baptized is to be buried in Christ." We believe in baptism by sprinkling, so we've reasoned that you do not have to go all the way underground to be properly buried. Just sprinkle some dirt on the top of the casket and call it good."

We also read Moroni 8 to S and talked about how she was right! Infant baptisms are wrong. We committed her to read from the Book of Mormon. Anything! Any of the chapters that we have given her to read. In the middle. At the beginning. It's just important to read, to acquire that knowledge. Take what she's learned to her Heavenly Father and ask Him if what she has read is from Him.

In scrutinizing my performance as a missionary, I could have done better with that lesson. Something happens to me when I teach S that doesn't happen when I teach other investigators. I didn't teach in unity with my companion like I should have. I didn't pause as often as I should have. Now, don't get me wrong. It was still a good lesson, and the Spirit was definitely felt, but I still have a ways to go in becoming an effective missionary.

What can I say about S. She's still as nice and respectful as she ever was. We'll continue to work with her.

We have a long day of appointments ahead. That is a good thing.

We have a 4:00 pm appt. with A. While heading to meet A, we saw A who lives in her building. We made an appt. with him to meet at 8:00pm this evening. When we got to #1A's house, she wasn't there. (sigh) Well, at least we were able to see A#2 and make an appt. with him.

We had a meeting with W, but he could not meet with us after all. W is a nice guy, but has surrounded himself with friends who like to smoke and drink and have parties at his house without his permission. He would come home to find people he didn't know and messes throughout his house. W is so nice and kind-hearted that he has a hard time saying no. He says that he still wants to talk with us, but it will have to be another day.

We checked in on C, another potential investigator. Her son answered the door and told us his mom was sleeping. So, alright, we'll try back later. We had some other people to check on. No one was home. Isn't that always the way. (sigh)

At 8:00 we went to A's apartment for our appointment. We knocked. No one answered. Now what?! We decided to check on W#2 since he lived in the same building. His son answered the door. "Hi T, is W around?" I asked. "No," said T. He went back to Kenya. He left last Friday."

So, it's official. W is gone. This is one of those times when you just have to hope that somewhere down the line, W will want to act upon those things that we've shared with him and continue to find out more about the church where he lives. Well, W, I will remember you. We will always have those fun stories like the time W went to the French airport (Day 36).

I'm pretty tired now. I think I will head to bed. First, though, I'm gonna have a fig. Mmm...Yummy. Yahoo! Tomorrow is p-day. It's our zone activity. We'll go play basketball and volley ball at the Oakton Stake Center. It should be fun. (Well, the basketball won't be too fun for me, but I'll play some volleyball)

Good night.

Right now, I'm dead tired. I'm going to bed.

Day 181-9/25/06-Busy, Busy Day

Today we talked with J. Not to teach, but to set up a time to teach him. N said that she would be there as well. Excellent!

Editor’s Note: I’m sure it gets confusing reading initials instead of names. Is this J or J? To clarify as much as possible without compromising investigators privacy, Elder Pierce and his companion Elder Pierce (Elders Pierce of Elder Pierce squared as they are sometimes known) are teaching J and N and J O’N and Brother N. Clear as mud? Right?

Back to Elder Pierce:

N is such a good member missionary. I also found out the answer to a question that has been puzzling me. Just where is J’s wife? I mean, I assumed that he was married. I asked him where his wife was. Mrs. A apparently works at a hospital and spends most of her time away from home. In all my time that I’ve been here in Herndon, I’ve never met J’s wife. It’s starting to feel like the t.v. show Frasier with Niles Crane and his wife, Maris.

My companion and I got into a bit of a dispute this afternoon. Right after lunch we went tracting. My comp had a street that he saw on a map last night that he wanted to tract, so we went there first. When we got there, my companion noticed that there was a Pentecostal church building right across the street from the place he’d wanted to tract.

“I’m pretty sure it says something about this in the new white handbook,” he said. (The white handbook is the Missionary Rules Handbook) He got out his handbook and began to thumb through it. “Where is it?” he said after a while of searching. I pulled out my new white handbook and began to search with him. We were looking for a ruling on proselyting near other churches. Finally, after searching for a while, I said, “A-ha! Found it! It’s right here under Local Laws and Customs. It says to “respect the culture, customs traditions, religious beliefs and practices, and sacred sites in the area where you serve. Do not proselyte at or near the houses of worship of other faiths.”

“Let’s go somewhere else to tract,” said my companion. “What’s wrong with those houses across the street? That’s where you planned for us to tract.” “Yeah, but that’s before I knew that they were across the street from a church.” (Anyone who knows Elder Pierce knows that he is always up for a lively discussion about…anything, basically. He and Elder Pierce discussed the merits of following the letter of the law and spirit of the law and tracting the houses across the street from the church. In the end, right won and they moved on down to another neighborhood)

The first house we came to, a woman came to the front door with a baby. “Hey guys,” she said with some exasperation in her voice. “I am really busy right now. I’m trying to put my son to bed. “Could you come back in an hour?” “Sure thing,” I said naively. We tracted the rest of the houses on the street for an hour. No one was interested. When the hour was up, we went back to the first house and knocked again. No one answered. Ohhh, very sneaky.

Tonight we had dinner with Brother and Sister H and their children. We had Papa John’s pizza for dinner. In Northern Virginia in the fall, Monday is Redskins Day at Papa John’s. If the Redskins win, you get your choice of extra toppings free! Well, apparently the Redskins won yesterday because the H’s pizza had lots of toppings which is fine with me. The more toppings, the better. During dinner, we talked about my blog. Sister H has been following along with my mission. She had some questions for me about the mission car that our area got after Elder D broke his arm. “Why did you name your car?” she asked.

“I got the idea from Elder S,” I said. In Elder S’s area they have a van as their mode of transportation. When I went on exchanges with Elder S, he told me that their van had a name. “This is Vanessa,” he said. Vanessa the Van. So I named my Mazda 3, Maddie. It was named after Maddie Hayes from the t.v. series “Moonlighting”. I thought a car this beautiful should have a beautiful name to go with it. So now you know the rest…of the story.

“Wait a minute,” my companion said. “You drove the red Mazda 3?!” “Yeah, for three weeks,” I said. “Why?” “That was the car I had in my first area,” he said. “During Halloween last year we went to the Trunk-or –Treat in my area at the time. My companion got some of those rubber monster hands, climbed into the trunk and covered up with a blanket. When the kids came by for candy, his big monster hand would reach out and give them some candy. It was a lot of fun. I can’t believe that you drove the same car I had a year ago. What a coincidence. One car. Two Pierces.” Sister H asked my comp. if he had named the car, too. No, he said. We didn’t give it a name. Good missionary memories.

When we got home from dinner there was a message on our machine. It was from Sister H. (Another Sister H, not the one from dinner) I called her back. She said that S would not be able to meet with us tomorrow. She said that S had to pick up her kids from school at the same time as our appointment. Sister H wondered if we could come a little earlier. That was fine with us. I called S to see if an earlier time would work for her. She said yes and that she could not wait.

“I have a favor to ask of you,” said S. “What is it, S?” I asked. “Will you pray for me? I’m still sore after my surgery. Will you do that for me, please? Keep me in your prayers? “Of course, S,” I said. “Thank you,” she said, with a bit of emotion in her voice. “That means so much to me. I asked you, Elder Pierce, because you’ve shown me that you know the power of prayer. You’re one of the few people I know that I can ask to pray for me.” (sigh) Always good to talk to S.

Tonight M McC picked us up and went on exchanges with us. We went and checked up on K F. He invited us in. We were able to teach him a bit about the Book of Mormon as well as how the Book of Mormon can help us to strengthen our family.

The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ and the Word of God. The Book of Mormon speaks of the family. It begins with family (Lehi and his children. It ends with family (Mormon and his son, Moroni) Our Father in Heaven brought forth the Book of Mormon at this time when Satan is trying harder than ever to tear families apart. The Book of Mormon was given to us from God to strengthen the family. It testifies of Jesus Christ and his Atonement. It is continuous revelation. (pause) Satan hasn’t stopped trying to tempt people. He hasn’t stopped trying to find new ways to tear apart the family. I mean, look at Internet pornography!!!... Well…don’t look at it…what I mean is that Internet pornography is a perfect example of what Satan is able to do now in this day and age. Why would we think that God would cease to give us continuous direction and guidance when the adversary’s influence in this world is becoming more refined and omnipresent?

K’s still a little skittish, but very inviting. We’ll continue to work with him.

Happy Thing for Day 181-When we got home tonight, there was a message on our machine. It was from W. W is our downstairs neighbor in our apt. complex. We see him from time to time, coming and going. We always exchange a “hi, how are you?” One time, we were able to give him a pass along card with our number on it. Well, tonight, he called us. He said that he wanted to talk with us. I love self-referrals. W said that he had some stuff going on in his life and wanted a spiritual perspective on it. W is a young heavy-set black man. He wears glasses and seems to be of mild temperament. I guess he’s in his late 20’s. Real nice guy. We have plans to meet with him tomorrow.

Wow! Tomorrow should be real good! We’ll go teach S at 1:30. The SP with go with us to teach A at 4:00. At 7:00, we’ll go with Brother S to visit our neighbor W. Busy, busy day tomorrow. We also plan on trying to get in touch with A. Remind him about general conference coming up. Now that this whole ugly jail mess is behind him, he can start focusing on getting his life back on the right track. And what better way than joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Well, I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Day 180-9/24/06-What If All Sin Smelled?

Today Elder P and I spoke in sacrament meeting. So did CW. I gave my talk from Day 178 and how we should “garnish our thoughts with virtue. One of my favorite mental images from that talk is when I discuss “backsliding toward the Natural Man” and contrasting that with being in the trenches. In the trenches, you are just sitting there waiting for the enemy to come. Without an air force to protect you in the sky, you leave yourself liable to a bombardment from enemy planes. The talks were wonderful. Makes me wish we’d had an investigator at church. No one was there today, not even J O’N. I asked Brother N if he knew where J was. He wasn’t sure, but said that he was still planning to go with us to teach J after church.

Brother W was at church today. After sacrament meeting, he came with us to Brother M’s Gospel Principles class. It was great!

Happy Thing for Day 180- Brother M’s class. The lesson that he gave today was called, appropriately enough, “Are You Happy?” The lesson was wonderful, if not a little non-linear.

Brother M told us that he had a pretty bad day yesterday. He was lectured by another member (not in our ward) that he should settle down and get married. He said it in a joking manner like, “I know how it is with you guys; you don’t feel ready to handle the commitment of eternal marriage. You’re not getting any younger, though, so why not step up to the plate? Find an eternal companion. You need to grow up.” It hurt Brother M’s feelings. Not that he got depressed in front of us or anything. He stated it matter-of-factly. “I’m going to be 39 soon,” said Bro. M. When he said it, I had a hard time believing it. He does not look 39. In all honesty, he looks like a 25 year old who has been off his mission for a few years. As it turns out, Brother M served a mission in France over 18 years ago. He looks so young. He could give Elder Bednar a run for his money in the “you look younger than you really are” category. Because there is no way that Elder Bednar looks like he’s in his 50’s. No way.

Brother M continued. “I’m gonna be 39 soon and I’m still single. Where’d all the time go after my mission? Ten years ago I wanted to learn how to play the piano. Here it is, 2006, and I still don’t know how to play. Some people might look at me and say I’m not happy.

Brother M pulled out a glass and a pitcher of water. He filled the glass half way. “I’m sure I don’t have to explain the glass half full/half empty bit to you guys. You can focus on the positive or the negative. When that guy chewed me out for being single, I felt like junk, but then I had a great evening hanging out with my friends. I chose to focus on the great evening I had instead of the lousy day that I’d had.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today. I don’t want to tell you to look at the glass “half full”. I want to ask, “What do we need to do to fill that glass?” Plato said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” “I’m making it my goal to examine my life and do what it takes to fill up my glass because when your glass is completely full, you have a fullness of joy.”

I pulled out my notepad and began to take notes.

Here’s how it goes: Things happen. I write them down in my handy-dandy note book. From there, it’s put into my journal where I expound upon it (3rd Nephi-26:3 “And he did expound all things…”). For example, a couple of lines in my notebook could become a couple of pages in my journal. After it’s written down, I’m able to copy the pages at church and mail them home to my family. My mom takes the journal pages and types them onto a blog. Simple isn’t it?

Brother M saw me taking notes. Elder Pierce, you hold on to those journals. When you are a General Authority, you’re gonna publish them and I’m gonna pay $19.95 to read it. I’m gonna go, “Hey! Here’s where he’s talking about me!”

In Bro. M’s lesson, he brought up a concept that I thought was pretty funny. “What if all sin smelled?” he asked us. “If someone’s been smoking, you know it. You can smell it. What if each sin had its own unique stench? You’re at a party and this guy starts saying rude things about a woman you both know. All of a sudden, he starts giving off this terrible odor.” “Yuck!”, people will say. “Where’s that awful smell coming from?” “That way, when you go to the bishop for a temple recommend, he wouldn’t have to ask you any questions. He’d just give you a big sniff. Okay, you smell clean. Here’s your temple recommend.”

After church was over, we stayed for meetings. We talked a bit about our investigators. Brother G. was one of the members present at the meetings. He brought up the time when he went on exchanges with us to go teach S. Sister H said that for S to progress in the gospel, she’s going to have to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon. She’s got to start reading on her own. Without her doing that, she’s just spinning her wheels. We can go there and teach but if S can’t pick up the Book of Mormon, read it and pray about it, she won’t progress except maybe at a snail’s pace.

S is standing at the edge of a pool. She wants to figure out why people are so happy swimming around, but she doesn’t want to get wet. For S to find out why the people in the pool are so happy she has to immerse herself; she has to swim for herself. The quickest way to do that is by reading the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is a springboard to testimony and personal revelation. (Elder Pierce drew a picture of a pool with a diving board. On the ladder is a sign saying “Read”. As you read (climb the ladder) and reach the top of the diving board (Book of Mormon) you have a choice. Jump or climb back down.)

We didn’t get to teach J O’N today. After we got home from church there was a message on our machine from Brother N. He said that J’s mom had dislocated her hip and he was visiting her in the hospital. That’s why he wasn’t at church today said Brother N. J does want to meet with us later in the week. So, alright; we can do that.

We saw DO at church. He didn’t come to our ward. He came to the meeting after ours. He said he forgot what time church started. We told him it would be good to stay and have sacrament with the Reston ward. We went back and visited with Brother O after church. We asked him how he liked church. He said it was pretty good. We watched a video with him. He enjoyed that.

Later we went tracting for an hour. Not much came of it. My t.t.h. is now at 55.

Tonight as we were heading home, we met a nice young woman named A. She lives in the same apt. complex as A. She’s talked with the missionaries from our church before, but had lost contact. We have it all set up to go see her on Tuesday. Well, I’m about done for the night. (“I’m tired. I’m gonna go take a nap. Wake me if there’s a fire.”-Max Bialastock, Mel Brooks “The Producers” 1968-the Original version. One of the best films ever made. Pure genius)

Day 179-9/23/06- A Moving Experience

We tracted for one hour today bringing my t.t.h. (total tracting hours) to 54. Pretty uneventful. Lots of doors slammed in our faces. Well, not so much slammed, as forcefully closed. After tracting, we checked on KF. We talked with him earlier. We wanted to see if we could come back and teach him sometime. We knocked, but no one was home. Oh, well…we’ll try to catch him later.

We talked with Brother W. today. It was pretty great. We talked about the Spirit World, repentance and things like that. When it was time for us to go teach J, we opened Bro. W’s door to leave and saw that the stairway had been boarded up. At closer examination, we discovered that it was a kitchen table laying on it’s side.

As it turns out, Bro. W had some new neighbors move into the apartment just to the left of his. “Do you need any help?” I asked. They said yes. Elder P and I went along with Bro. W and helped move tables and chairs into their new apartment. “Thanks, guys,” the husband said. It was a young married couple. He told us that he was Catholic and his wife was Methodist. “But, yeah, the gospel’s great,” he said. “Jesus Rocks!”

We gave him a card for a free Book of Mormon and wrote our number on it. We told him if he ever needed any help to give us a call. Now on to our teaching appt. with J.

Happy Thing for Day 179-Going to teach J. We apologized for being late. We were only about 10 minutes late. That’s not bad. You never know as missionaries when you might be called on to give service and while you want to help people, it sometimes throws your schedule off.

N was at our lesson. She’s such a wonderful person to have there when teaching a lesson. N is still new to the church. She would sometimes ask us questions on things that she wasn’t sure about. It was a wonderful teaching appt for J and N. J would ask a question and I wouldn’t know how to answer it. Then N would ask a question on the same topic, but one that I could answer. Answering N’s question seemed to satisfy J. It was one of our better lessons with him. We invited him to church tomorrow. He said he’d have to check his schedule. We’ll continue to work with him.

Well…the Elders in Reston had a baptism today. Her name is E. She was able to get baptized today. I’d have been happy to go and support her, but we didn’t have an investigator to go with us. It’d have been nice to take A, but he’s in jail. Just for the weekend; we plan to go by and see him on Tuesday when he gets out. I am happy for E, though. She and her family will have a wonderful time as members of the church.

Tonight we met with Brother C. as part of our weekly meeting with the ward mission leader. We talked about our different investigators. We told him about the lesson we had with J and N. Brother C asked us how our talks were coming. I told him that they were going pretty good. I plan to talk about the importance of teaching by the Spirit. I’ll talk about different things we can do to stay worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost. Most of my talk will come from what I wrote yesterday (Day 178) I’d kind of planned on giving it as my sacrament talk when I wrote it. Control your thoughts. Control your actions.

Meeting with Bro. C was fun as always. We plan on going to teach J O’N at the N’s tomorrow after church. Yea!

Day 178 continued...The Four C's and the Five Points

Continuing on with my interview with President and Sister W...

Sister W shared with me a scripture. "This is the one that Elder T shared with me," she said. It was Mormon 9:31. "Condemn me not because of mine imperfections, neither my father, because of his imperfections, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been." Good ol' Moroni. He's always so humble. I sure enjoyed being able to talk with Sister W. Now on to President W.

President W shared with me the 4 C's of sharing scriptures with people.
First is Context Give good setup for the scripture you want to share.
Second is Content Share the scripture. Explain any hard words or words people might not be familiar with; i.e. upbraideth means that God's not gonna get mad at your for asking. We missionaries have to explain that one a lot.
Third is Conclusion Bear sincere testimony as to why the scripture you have just shared is important. Tell the people that you teach that you hope they will be able to feel the important meaning within the scripture.
Fourth is Commit Leave people with a commitment based on the scripture you just shared with them, i.e. "Will you do what Alma asks in Alma 32? Will you experiment on the Book of Mormon? Read it, plant the seen in your heart and see if it's a good seed. Will you do that?" Context, Content, Conclusion, Commit. Okay!

We also had a lesson by our zone leaders, Elder H and Elder B. They asked me what Five Points of Unity were. "Well," I said. "You want five points about unity. Unity has five letters, so I'll give 5 points.

U-Understand the needs of those you teach.
N-Never forget to use your scriptures.
I-Include your Investigators. Ask them questions.
T-Take turns testifying with your companion.
Y?-Because we love them.

U.N.I.T.Y. That spells Unity! Hip-hip Hurray! Hip-hip Hurray!

Day 178-9/22/06-Interviews-Control Your Thoughts. Control Your Actions.

Happy Thing for Day 178-Going to Interviews with President and Sister W. It's a lot of fun. Sister W and I talked about different things. She wanted to know how my personal studies had been going. We talked about our favorite scriptures or any new scriptures that we had found recently through our studies.

Sister W shared with me Mosiah 7:33. "But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will according to his own will and pleasure deliver you out of bondage." When she read this to me, the line that really stuck out was "serve him with all diligence of mind." Your thoughts become your actions.

This is a topic I've wanted to cover in here for a while. Control your thoughts. Control your actions. On Day 38 I went to my first Zone Conference. The president of the mission at the time, President B. gave a talk about how we should try to be one. He mentioned the German army in WWII and how they'd work in unity by having the planes come in first and weaken the defenses of the opposing army thereby allowing the tanks to mow through the remainder of the other sides' defenses with little trouble at all. I'll mention unity later, but what I want to focus on now is the airplanes.

At the height of WWII, Walt Disney made a film entitled, "Victory Through Air Power". In it, the case was made that the safest and easiest way to win the war would be (as the title states) through air power. The Russian-born pilot, Alexander P. De Seversky is our host through the film as he guides us through the role that aircraft had played over the years both in and out of war times.

The film shows how France was conquered by the Germans in WWII. The French people were not prepared for the enemy aircraft. As a defense against aggressors, France had constructed this massive line of trenches and underground bunkers. The idea was to hold the enemy at bay, get them stuck in the trenches, and thereby reduce their offenses to a standstill. It had worked before in previous wars and France was sure that they would be able to stop the enemy right in their tracks.

France had not counted on Hitler's use of war planes to clear a path for his ground troops. The planes came by, flying over the trenches and made quick work of the French Resistance.

The Frenches trenches (Say that 5 times fast-Frenches trenches,Frenches trenches, Frenches trenches...)stood as a grim monument to the futility of trying to fight a war only on the surface of the earth. It was now clear that you would need your own air force to truly be safe from the invading army. Mr. DeSeversky points out in the film that it's not enough to secure your borders. If you want to truly protect yourself from invaders, you must be in control of your skies as well.

In the film, the example is given of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain and the role that it played in WWII in keeping Britain from falling under Nazi rule. The airplanes acted as a shield that covered the country, thus protecting it from the constant barrage from the enemy. That isn't to say that the planes were a perfect protection. Many cities were destroyed; But it would have been hundreds of times worse without that defense in the sky.

And so it is with us. If we want to be truly protected against the cunning of the devil, even Satan, that old serpent, it isn't enough to simply watch what we say and do. We must watch our thoughts most carefully. As King Benjamin warned the people in Mosiah 4:30, "But this much I can tell you, that if you do not watch yourselves and your thoughts and your words and your deeds...ye must perish. And now, O man, remember and perish not."

Your brain is like a huge battlefield. There is a constant war being fought in your mind over your thoughts. Satan, the Great Deceiver, wants us to sin. He knows full well that our thoughts turn into our actions. We are often bombarded by thoughts that try to get us to break our Heavenly Father's commandments. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." Proverbs 23:7 The question is, how hard are we fighting to drive those thoughts from our mind? Jealous thoughts, prideful thoughts, backsliding toward the Natural Man...Do we have that spiritual air force? Or are we sitting around in the trenches of our mind?

Nephi's brother, Jacob speaks to us in 2 Nephi 9:39 saying, "Oh my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually minded is life eternal."

Now, how can we have that spiritual Air Force protecting us and keeping us safe from the enticings of the devil? It's been mentioned in several of the scriptures I've quoted. Remember. All through the scriptures we are told of things we should remember. "And now my son, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. Helaman 5:12 (this is the same scripture Elder P wrote in my journal on Day 42) "Oh, remember my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth to keep the commandments of God." Alma 37:35

When we remember the teachings of the Prophets of God, we won't be able to dwell on the depressing and negative thoughts that Satan would have us think on. President Ezra Taft Bensen said, "Let your mind be filled with the goal of being like the Lord, and you will crowd out depressing thoughts as you anxiously seek to know him and do his will."

We can build up our spiritual air force to combat the destructive powers of the adversary by studying and pondering the scriptures in our hearts. I always like to have a hymn in reserve. It helps me focus my thoughts on the Savior. "I need thee every hour, stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power, when thou art nigh. I need thee, oh I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Every hour I need thee. Oh bless me now my Savior, I come to thee." Jesus Christ has told us, "Look unto me in every thought. Doubt not. Fear not. D&C 6:36

In closing, I'd like to call everyone to remembrance about why it is so important. Why our thoughts must be kept safe from the temptings of the adversary. We learn in Alma 12:14 that "our thoughts will condemn us..." Alma tells his son Helaman in Alma 37:36-37 to "cry unto God for all thy support; yea let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest, let it be in the Lord; yea, let all of thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever. Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good. Yea, when thou liest down at night, lie down unto the Lord that He may watch over your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning, let your heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."

In D&C 121:45 it says that we should "let virtue garnish our thoughts unceasingly". What does it mean to garnish? In the dictionary it says that garnish is to add and accompaniment to food or drink to enhance it's flavor or appearance. I like that. When our thoughts are garnished in virtue, they are enhanced. We will be more receptive to receive spiritual promptings and blessings that way. I hope that all of us may continue to garnish our thoughts with virtue; that we will continue to keep the commandments and endure to the end so that we may receive eternal life, "which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." D&C 14:7 I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

But anyway! Back to the interview with Sister W...continued in the next post...

Day 177-9/21/06- Trying to Set Appointments

We saw C today. She is starting a new job, so she is going to be very busy. Too busy. She said that maybe next week we could meet with her, but she's not sure.

We saw S today. It's her son's 12th birthday. They are having a party on Saturday. I invited S to church. We told her that we would be speaking in sacrament meeting.

Happy Thing for Day 177-We have it set up to teach S in the H's home on Tuesday! It should be a great lesson. It seems like it's been such a long time since we taught S. We plan on continuing the 3rd lesson by talking about repentence and the need for baptism. We'll get there S. It'll just take time.

We went by to try to see A tonight. He wasn't home. (sigh) We'll have to try to catch him next week. Tomorrow's our interview with President W. Yea!

Day 176 continued-9/20/06-Becoming a "Real" Boy

Saw A today. He was getting ready to go out someplace with D and another person I had not met yet. A. had an unlit cigarette in his mouth when we walked up. He quickly took it out. D. had a lit cigarette and was smoking, while the other man that I had not met had a cigarette in one hand and a beer in the other. We still had not addressed A's smoking. We talked about meeting with A tomorrow evening. He said he won't be able to come to church on Sunday. Even though his case was thrown out, he still has to spend some time in jail. Four days in jail and then he can put this behind him.

I'm deeply concerned that A is making the same choices and hanging out with the same people that he was before he went to jail back in June. Did you ever get the feeling that you are a Jiminey Cricket surrounded by Pleasure Island? I love Walt Disney's Pinocchio. The animation is wonderful, but I have always loved the story of Pinocchio. I mean, it shows our beliefs. We are all here with imperfect bodies. We came here so that we might choose good over evil. We're given a conscience to help us. Our goal is to return to our Father and become as He is. We can all become "real boys" in that sense.

Of course, it's only through Jesus Christ that any of this is possible, but Pinocchio is an example of our potential and what we need to do to achieve it.

In thinking about A and his situation, I'm reminded of something I read during my scripture studies a few days ago. A has told us that he wants to do the right thing, but he continues making wrong choices. I 2 Nephi 4:15-35(bits and pieces anyway)Nephi writes the things of his soul. "For my soul delighteth in the scriptures and my heart pondereth them,...Behold my soul delighteth in the things of the Lord;...Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart sorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of my iniquities. I am encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins which do easily beset me...why should my heart weep and my soul linger in the valley of sorrow...? And why should I yield to sin because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations that the evil one has placed in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul?...Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul...Rejoice, O my heart, and cry unto the Lord and say: Oh Lord, I will praise thee forever; yea, my soul will rejoice in thee, my God, and the rock of my salvation. O Lord, wilt thou redeem my soul? Wilt thou deliver me out the hands of mine enemies? Wilt thou make me that I may shake at the appearance of sin? Oh Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever...Yea, I know that God will give liberally to him that asketh. Yea, my God will give me, if I ask not amiss; therefore I will life up my voice unto thee; yea, I will cry unto thee, my God, the rock of my righteousness. Behold, my voice shall forever ascend up unto thee, my rock and mine everlasting God. Amen"

We will continue to work with A, but in the end, it's up to him. It's his choice.

It was very cold out tonight. I was thankful when it was time to come back home and plan out tomorrow. Our apartment was nice and warm.
Happy Thing for Day 176- A warm home to sleep in. Well, I'm tired. Pretty good P-day, but (sigh) over too soon...see you tomorrow!

Day 176-Odd Missionary Memories

Today was a very blustery day. And no wonder! It's Winds-day after all, and another enjoyable p-day for me.

I wrote letters and sent more journal pages home. I can't help but feel a little uneasy at the prospect of the up-coming transfer calls in a couple of weeks. All signs point to yes that I'll be leaving Herndon for another area. I haven't had to move before on my mission and I'm not looking forward to it.

Today for dinner we went to the hamburger diner called Fuddruckers. Brother M. went with us. Brother M went to wash his hands. A man called my companion and me over to his table. He was a pretty big man with slightly greasy hair. He wore a plaid dark yellow shirt. His appearance was over all dissheveled. He looked like Mr. Incredible at his most seediest. Very Intense Persona. (VIP)

"You're Mormon missionaries, right?" he asked us. I answered that yes we were. "Well, I've got some questions for you. What is the number of the Holy Spirit? There was a brief pause. Again he asked, "What's the number of the Holy Spirit?" I thought to myself, "What's this guy talking about?" I answered, "I believe it's unlisted." (Rimshot) He was not amused. Didn't even crack a smile. "The Spirit has a number." "What is it?" "It's 50," he said. "The number is 50. He then explained to us how the number was 50. It had something to do with how many days after some event in the Bible did something happen. I really couldn't keep up. (Truly you have a dizzying intellect. Wait til I get going.- The Princess Bride)

"What's the shape of the Urim and Thummim?" he asked us. "Uhhh...I said. "You don't know? he said. "You should know this. It's a triangle. The shape is a triangle.

As it turned out, the man asking us all these questions is a member of the church. I'm Ross Hunter, he said. He's a high priest and lives in West Virginia. He is a relative of Howard W. Hunter. He just wanted to show off his trivial spiritual knowledge with us, I guess. Interesting missionary memories-if not a little odd. (I don't know about what he said. I will have to study for myself)

Day 175-Obeying a Prompting

Today we had meetings where as normal, they would have been yesterday. Since we had exchanges yesterday, I was still with Elder W. We would exchange back at our meeting.

While we were waiting for Elder C. to pick us up, Elder W, who had been sitting, reflecting on his mission said,"You know, Elder P. I am really going to miss this." "Being on a mission?" I asked him. "Yeah, but it's not just that. I'm gonna miss all of the rules." "The rules?" I asked. "Yeah." he said. "I know that might seem like a strange thing to say, but I have come to know that these rules are here so that we can receive the blessings that come from obedience."

At meetings today we got a lesson from Elder H. The subject was on the gifts of the Spirit. Elder H told us a story that happened to him before his mission. He went on a double date with some of his friends back home. They went hiking in the woods. At the top of a large hill was a steep slope. Elder H. started down first. (He wasn't called Elder at the time) It was a very steep slope. To make sure he didn't lose his balance and fall, he sat down and scooted down the hill.

At the bottom of the slope was about a 3 foot drop onto a narrow path. The path curved around the hill and at the edge of this narrow path was a deep drop. Elder H. said, "I made it down to the bottom of the hill safely. I looked over the edge of the narrow path and saw a long drop. I looked behind me up the slope and saw my friends coming down the hill.' The two girls were scooting slowly down like Elder H had done. Then he saw his friend, Cliff. Cliff had tried to come down the steep slope by walking. Before he got too far, Cliff lost control. He was running down the slope, picking up speed, because of the steep incline of the hill.

Cliff looked panicked as he neared the bottom of the hill. He jumped and landed on his feet right beside Elder H. Cliff's feet were hanging over the edge of the narrow path. It looked like Cliff might fall...over the cliff. He began to flail his arms about like a windmill, hoping to regain his balance. Elder H was right beside him and was about to reach out and grab him, but was restrained by the spirit. Elder H felt prompted that if he tried to grab his friend, Cliff would fall over the edge. So Elder H stayed his hand and his friend did not fall.

Later Elder H told Cliff that he didn't know what he'd have done if Cliff would have fallen. "I guess I'd have to tell your parents." "Yeah," said Cliff. "I know just what my dad would have said." "What's that?" said Elder H. Cliff answered, "He would've asked you to climb down that deep drop and get my shoes 'cause they cost a pretty penny." They had a good laugh about that. Elder H said how thankful he was that he had listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. It must have taken real faith to listen and obey and trust that all would be well.

Happy Thing for Day 175- A clean apartment! (Inspections were yesterday) I'm tired! Good Night.

Day 174- Apartment Inspections and Exchanges

Today the mission presidents wife came by for an apartment inspection. We received a passing grade. We were told that the fridge and the bathtub could have been better, but overall, not bad. Not bad at all.

After inspection, we went on exchanges. Elder KP went with Elder P and Elder W came with me. The nice thing about exchanges is that while you are tracting from door to door, you get to talk and learn about your companion. Elder W. is going home next month. He will have completed his two year mission. I also found out that Elder B, my first companion, my trainer, will be finished with his mission in two months. It's so hard to believe that my trainer is going home.

Back to Elder W. I told Elder W. about my blog. "Elder W.," I said. "Many people are going to read this journal. This is your time. You are on exchanges with me. Is there anything profound that you want to say?" Elder W. said, "Before we seek judgement, we should seek understanding." Not bad. Not bad at all. Good quote.

Elder W. told me about his girl back home. They dated before his mission. They had such a good time that they thought they would wait and see how they felt about each other when he got back.

Another interesting thing about Elder W is that he has a tuft of white hair behind his right ear. It's not very big, but it is unusual. I asked him about it. He said it's some kind of birthmark in his family.

After we finished tracting for the day, Elder W said, "Ya know, Elder P, the NW tip of your area borders on the SE tip of my first area; the area that I was trained in nearly two years ago." Elder W told me that when he was in his first area he had his picture taken by a fence that marked the end of the area where he was serving. So, upon his request, we went to the NW tip of our area, his last area, and I took a picture of him standing on the other side of the fence that bordered his first area. Funny missionary memories.

We saw S at a stop sign. There were no cars behind her, so we had time to stop and talk for a minute about things. S said it was good to see us, but that she had to take the kids to soccer practice. I told S that we'd come by later in the week. She said that would be fine. After S pulled away, Elder W asked me if she was a church member. "Nope", I said. "That was an investigator." "Excellent", said Elder W.

On the way home today we stopped and talked with JA. I've talked about J before. He's from Ghana and he talks very fast. We talked for a little while but J said that he did not have time for a lesson because he was taking a friend and her new baby out shopping. After we left J, I said, "J sure is a fast talker, isn't he?"
Elder W said, "Yeah. When he first started talking I thought, 'what language is this guy speaking?' But then I saw that you could understand what he was saying and were talking to him, so I trained my ears, and sure enough, he was speaking English. Very fast English.

Happy Thing for Day 174: Spending an evening with the M family. After we got home from J's, Brother M came by to pick us up and took us to his house for dinner. Brother M. is the kind member who gave Elder B and me a ride home after our unfortunate flat tire back on Day 60.

We ate dinner with Brother and Sister M and their children. Brother M's sister and her family were there, too, so it was a big group. RW, Brother M's brother in law is something else. He goes to church every week with his family, magnifies his calling as the 11 year old scout leader and has Family Home Evenings with his family.

But Elder W did not know something about Sister W's husband and neither do the people reading this journal entry, so you can all find out together.

"You're not a member?!" said Elder W in disbelief. That's right. RW has never been baptized. I guess he is just not ready. He does most of what an active member would do. He just has not been baptized.

We stayed for FHE with the Ms and the Ws. Brother M taught a very nice lesson about prayer. He asked Elder W and me to tell the story of Joseph Smith's first vision. We did and it was very good. A real spirit was felt. I'm not sure if that should count as a lesson taught to an investigator with a member present, because IS RW investigating the church at this point? He's married to a member...he goes to church every week...he has a calling! I don't know. It's all very confusing...

I loved going to the M's for dinner tonight, as well as being able to be a part of their FHE. I did get a little homesick at the end, though. For a closing song, RW's son picked "Five Little Ducks". Now that song has special meaning to my mom, because she has 5 kids. I'm the oldest of five. I got a little teary-eyed when we were singing "five little ducks went out one day; over the hill and far away. Mother Duck said, "quack, quack, quack, quack, but only four little ducks came back." (sigh)

Sorry that it's been so long...

This is Elder Pierce's mother. I wanted to apologize for not posting in a while. The truth is that I had the wind knocked out of my sails. My son had a companion who chose not to be a part of this blog. This was a difficult companion for my son. I had a hard time knowing what to write and what to leave out, so I jsut stopped posting altogether. This is supposed to be "a day in the life of a missionary". The ups and the downs. I did not want to censure any journal entries, but I need to for the privacy of a certain elder who will remain nameless. I have had to edit some journal entries. Instead of posting Elder Pierce's daily writings, I will be skipping around and posting the "best bits" as they say.

It is hard to believe that he has been on his mission over a year. He is up to Day 430-something. Hard to believe. I have a lot of catching up to do.

Elder Pierce has had some amazing experiences. He has also had some really tough days. Such is life on a mission. Such is life for us all.