Day 193 continued...Thigpin Manor

We went tracting today for an hour. My TTH (total tracting time) is at 57. I've gotta say something about Dahlgren. It sure isn't like Herndon. In Herndon, you could go down a street and visit all of the houses on that street. In Dahlgren, there aren't any streets with houses on them. I'm in the country. There are acreages. Dahlgren is very woodsy. I thought Herndon had a lot of trees. Herndon was nothing. TREES! Trees everywhere!

We went tracting in the rich part of Dahlgren. These were the huge multi-story mansions built on acres and acres. The hour that we spent tracting was spent mostly walking from house to house. Most of the people were not very nice. One lady said that if we stepped foot in her yard, she would sic her dogs on us. After a little while it became apparent to me that we would not be talking to many people today.

Happy Thing for Day 193: We did get to talk to one man today. It was the last house that we were tracting. It was also the largest and most expensive house of them all. I felt really intimidated going up to the door. An elderly black man came to the door. He was the man of the house. He introduced himself as Quinlan Thigpin. He was very humble and invited us in to teach him. We shared the first lesson with him. He was interested in the message and we were able to leave him with a Book of Mormon. He said he would read it. Later, I told a member about meeting Mr. Thigpin. "Oh, Quinlin," they said. "Yeah, he won the state lottery a few years ago. He moved into that nice neighborhood." I'm just happy I was able to teach a man named Quinlan Thigpin on my mission.

Day 193 A Visit to a Christian Bookstore 10/07/06

Today Elder C drove to do service. We helped move boxes and unload clothes at a Good-Will type place. It was good, hard work.

A brief pause while I talk about the surroundings here in Dahlgren. This area is so different than my first area. It is cold, wet and rainy. If I were to paint a picture of it, all I would need is brown for dirt roads, dark green for the trees and grey for the color of the sky. It's not raining hard. Just a drizzle, but I've heard that the forecast for the week is more of the same.

After our service was completed, we headed home for lunch. On the way home, my companion pulled into a Christian bookstore called "Blessed 2 C U". There was a sign in the front window that said, "Come check out our new coffee bar and have a cup of coffee." (Oh, brother)

As we walked toward the store my companion said that he just needed to run in really quick to buy a scripture highlighter. He told me not to read the books because they sold a lot of anti-Mormon books. When I stepped inside, I had a weird feeling. There were crosses everywhere. There were all manner of sculptures of winged angels, and a ton of Christian books and videos. They had the "Left Behind" series for sale there, as well as "Left Behind for kids". Some interesting, interesting stuff.

I noticed a bookshelf of "How-to" books for Christians. Were these books on how to raise a more loving family? No. Were they books on how to create a Christ centered home? No. Were they books on how to develop and/or strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ? No. No, these were books on how to witness to Mormon missionaries. And it wasn't just our church. Boy, I'll tell ya...It's never a good day when a book that someone wrote about your church is shelved next to a book about Satanism.

They had books on how to talk to your Jewish friends, your Muslim friends, and your Atheist friends about Christ. Now that is all well and good, but then you have books next to them about Jehovah's Witnesses, Satanic cults and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The subtitle for "our" book said: "Mormons claim to be Christians but this book shows why they are not."

Pardon my language, but who do these Useful Idiots think they are trying to kid? To quote President Hugh B. Brown's eloquence in his wonderful talk, "The Profile of a Prophet", "I can not understand...why Christians who claim to believe in Jesus Christ would persecute and put to death a man who's sole purpose was to prove the truth of the things that they themselves were declaring, namely that Jesus was the Christ. I could understand them persecuting Joseph and the rest of us, if he had said, "I am Christ" or "There is no Christ" or "Someone else is Christ". Then, maybe, Christians would be justified in persecuting him or disputing with him at least. But he did not say that. Joseph declared, "I saw Him and talked with Him. He is the Son of God. Why persecute me for that?"

Something I saw at the book store that was selling were pictures of Jesus Christ as painted by L.D.S. artists. I saw this whole set of greeting cards with pictures of the Savior on them by artists like Del Parsons, Simon Dewey and Greg Olsen. I mentioned in my journal that Greg Olsen had come and spoken to us at the MTC. I laughed to myself thinking, how ironic. Somebody could come in here and buy a book on why Mormons are not Christians and a beautiful painting of Jesus Christ as painted by the lds artist, Greg Olsen. Too funny!

I stopped laughing when I really looked at the box of greeting cards, trying to find the signature of Greg Olsen, Simon Dewey or any of the other artists featured. The cards were not signed. There was no mention anywhere on the cards or on the box of who painted these paintings. But I knew. I also knew that this was done without permission. Upon closer examination, I saw that who ever had produced these greeting cards had scanned the pictures, but cropped out the artist's name. Matthew 21:13 "My house is a house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves."

(Sigh) So that whole experience was a little discouraging. I guess to some Christian bookstores, it does not matter. Anything to make a profit. "Woe unto you, ...hypocrites." Luke 11:44

Day 192 Brother, Can You Spare a Book of Mormon? 10/06/06

Today was cold and rainy, but it was Friday, so we stayed inside where it was nice and warm and had our weekly planning session. Wow! I got here just in time. We have a baptism coming up on Monday. The young girl's name is C. She is 15. She's had all of the lessons and is really excited to get baptized. Actually, she is not 15, she's 14, but she'll turn 15 on Monday. She's getting baptized on her birthday.

We went to C's house today so that her mom could sign some permission papers for C to get baptized. Her family is kind of indifferent with her decision to join the church, but they went ahead and signed and gave their permission. I hope that C is able to get the support she needs from the members around here because she is not getting it at home. Fortunately, one of C friends is a member of the church. C found out about our church from her friends and wanted to talk to the missionaries. I wasn't there for any of the teaching, but am excited to be there for the baptism.

We went on exchanges with Brother T. We went to check up on a potential investigator and ended up being able to give a first lesson. His name is L. His wife's name is G and they have a son, R, age 7. Real nice family.

We talked with L about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. L said that sometimes he felt just like Joseph Smith. He'd seen all of these different Christian churches, each with their own beliefs and was confused as to why there were so many different denominations.

"Could I have a copy of the Book of Mormon to read?," he asked. "Sure!," I said. "It's our free gift to you! I've got one right here in my bag...hmmm....let's see...not in that pocket...Gee, maybe I don't have on with me right now. (pause) What about you, Elder?" I said to my companion. "Uhh...", my companion said, after rifling through his bag. "I don't have one either."

What bad missionaries we were! Just as we were about to hang our heads in shame, Brother T spotted us one. "I've got an extra copy that you can read," he said. (Whew!) Thanks Brother T. We owe you one. L is excited to read the Book of Mormon. We'll stop in sometime next week to see how he's doing. L smokes, though, so we're going to have to work with him on that. If our bodies are temples, and they are, then smoking should not be a part of that for spiritual and physical reasons. I'm dead tired. See ya' in the morning.

Day 191- Transfer Meetings 10/05/06

Aargh! I have too much stuff! It’s not even funny. I’m so stressed out. Well, things could be worse. Brother C gave Elder P and me a ride to transfer meetings. Oh, what a wonderful reunion! I was able to talk with Elder T. Elder F. and Elder P., from the MTC! It’s always good to see them. Elder F. told me that he had been swapping stories with Elder S. “We talk about you all the time, Elder Pierce,” he said.

I also saw Elder B (my trainer)! I was able to tell him about S and how she’s doing. Elder D. was there as well. His arm’s all better now. He did a back flip for me for old time’s sake. Elder D asked me how Sister B. was doing. I was able to show him my “Elmo Elder Pierce” doll. He loved it. I told him that Sister B. was doing fine. “I’m back in a bike area,” said Elder D. “I named my bike S because she was the last person we saw before I fell and broke my arm.” I’ll be sure to tell S that in my letter to her. I’m sure she’d love to know that there’s a bike named after her. I miss S. I miss the Herndon ward. I’m not worried, though. I’m sure my new area will be just as good.

We went to the Olive Garden for lunch today. It was pretty good. My companion, Elder C (I’ll talk more about him later) and I as well as other elders from my new zone. I got the “all you can eat” soup, salad and breadsticks for $5.99. Not a bad price, especially for a fancy restaurant like The Olive Garden. The food was good and they have the best bread sticks.

Okay, we’re back at our apartment. It’s very different from Herndon. The whole area is different for that matter. I’m serving in the Fredricksburg zone. I’m in the Dahlgren area (pronounced Doll-grin). It’s a car area. I’m still the junior companion, so I don’t have to drive. I’ll leave that new chore up to my new companion.

Dahlgren is a lot bigger than Herndon. I feel a little overwhelmed right now.

Happy Thing for Day 191-I'm putting the whole ordeal of packing and unpacking behind me. It’s done. Now I can rest. I’m going to bed.

Day 190 Part 3 Saying Goodbye...

When we left Sister B's house, it was dark outside. It was around 8:00pm. Just enough time to stop at S's house, tell her I'm being transferred and tell her goodbye. S doesn't live too far from Sister B, so we made it in about 5 minutes.

I knocked. S's daughter came to the door. "Elder Pierce!" she said. "I'll go tell mom that you are here."

S came to the door. "Oh, Elder Pierce. I'm so happy to see you! You didn't get transferred!" "Actually, S, I did get transferred. This is my last night in Herndon and then I'm off to a new area."

S got very quiet. She looked like she might cry. I was about to do the same. Fighting back tears, S asked,"So, you're leaving us?" "Yes," I nodded.

S said, "Elder Pierce, maybe you can help me reconsile something. Yesterday, when you all came over to help me stack wood, you told me that you might get transfered. As you know, I've been on a spiritual journey. You've been with me from the beginning. I've learned so much from you."

"Last night," said S, "I said a prayer and asked God if this was right. If the Mormon church was what the Lord wanted for me. I asked God to give me a sign. I knew, Elder Pierce, if you stayed here after this transfer that this was what God wants for my family. You've been able to guide me through and answer my questions. I can't understand why God would put you in my path only to take you away when I still have so far to go. I'm just not sure. Elder Pierce, why? Why do you have to go. I'm not sure yet if there is a true church, but if there is, and it's the Mormon church, why would God send you away when you still have so much to share with me?"

S and I both had tears in our eyes. My companion was just standing off to the side watching us. I said to S, "I don't know why, except I know that our Heavenly Father thinks it's time for me to go." "But what about my prayer?" S said, almost pleadingly. "I asked God, if this is the right way, please don't let Elder Pierce leave me."

"Well, S, it's like you were telling me about the sea turtles. You help to guide them. You make sure they go the right way. But there comes a time when it's up to the sea turtles to continue on their own. Maybe that's what Heavenly Father is telling me, S and maybe that's what He's telling you. You are ready to make it on your own. Your testimony is there. I'm so thankful for the chance I've had to share my love of the Gospel with you." "You've meant so much to me and my family. We'll never forget the impact you have made on our lives."

"Since I have been learning about your church," said S, "there are some things I have struggled with. One of them was the Pre-existence. I could never get my mind around that concept before...but now...," S said, choking back tears,"something about it makes sense. Elder Pierce, I feel like I knew you before I came here. I feel like we were good friends before we came to this earth."

"S," I said, "Can I share something with you?" I then shared with S "The Testimony of a Missionary." (I had it in my backpack at the time because of packing.)

A Missionary's Testimony

The following event took place in a ward in Salt Lake City in 1974. It occurred during a sacrament meeting and was told to me by Regional Representative of the Twelve who was in the meeting. A young man, just before leaving on his mission stood in sacrament meeting and bore in essence the following testimony:

Brothers and sisters, as you know, the past two weeks I’ve been waiting for a mission call. During the time I was waiting I had a dream. I knew it was not an ordinary dream. I dreamed I was in the pre-existence and awaiting my call to come to earth. I was filled with the same anticipation and excitement that I had before I received my mission call. In my dream I was talking to a friend, and I felt a special closeness to him, even though I’ve never met him in this life. As we talked a messenger came and gave me a letter. I knew it was my call to go to earth. In great excitement my friend and I opened the letter. I gave it to him and asked him to read it aloud. It said:

“You’ve been called to earth in a special time and to a special land. You will be born to the true church and you will have the priesthood of God in your home. You will be born into a land of plenty, in a land of freedom. You will go to earth in the United States of America.”

My friend and I rejoiced as we read my call, and while we were rejoicing the messenger returned. This time he had a letter for my friend. We knew it was his call to earth. My friend gave me the letter to read out loud. His letter said:

“You’ve been called to go to earth in circumstances of poverty and strife. You will not be raised in the true church. Many hardships will attend your life. Your land will be fraught with political and social difficulties – which will hinder the work of the Lord. You will be born in Costa Rica.”

We wept, my friend and I, as we read his call. And my friend looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, “When we are down on earth, you in your choice land and me in Costa Rica, my friend, please come and find me.”

Then this young missionary, with tears in his eyes, said, “Brothers and Sisters, I have received my mission call. I am going to Costa Rica.”

There is a sequel to the story. About a year after the sacrament meeting, the bishop received a letter from the missionary in Costa Rica. The letter had one sheet of paper in it and on that sheet written in capital letters were four words: I FOUND MY FRIEND

"I found MY friend," S said quietly. "Elder Pierce, I want to show you something." S went upstairs and came back down with a painted ceramic sea turtle. "I don't keep this one down with the others in my collection. It's special to me. I keep it on my nightstand." S handed it to me. "Wow!, I said. "Did you paint this?" "Yeah," said S. "Three years ago when we went on our family vacation to Cancun to help the sea turtles find the water, I bought this little ceramic turtle and painted it to remind me of my trip. It's nowhere near as nice as the one you made me, but I want you to have it. "Oh S, I think it's wonderful." A lump formed in my throat. I looked down at the sea turtle and back up at S. "I can keep this?" I asked, my voice overcome with emotion. S nodded. "Think of my family when you look at this, okay?" "I will," I said, tears streaming down my face. "Thank you. This means so much to me." "Well, you mean so much to me," said S. "Please write sometime." "I will," I said. "That's a promise."

I LOVE BEING ON A MISSION!

Day 190 continued...Tickle Me Elder Pierce

Thanks for the kinds words, Elder Pierce2. Oh man, I'm beat. I've spent my whole p-day packing up my things. It's so stressful. You have NO idea.

I have my two big suitcases, both of which are full to the brim. One has all of my clothes. The other one has my big, blue comforter along with my blender and my air popcorn popper-you know-the essentials.

In addition to that I have one carry-on bag, my rolling suitcase and my backpack full of stuff. The good news is that I'm all packed now. Well, except for a few odds and ends... but I'll worry about that later. Right now we're going to go have dinner with Sister B and her family.

Happy Thing for Day 190-The Whole Evening! starting with dinner. We had dinner with Sister B. It was wonderful. Sister B always fixes the best food. I told Sister B that I was getting transferred tomorrow. She was sad to hear that. She is not a big crybaby (like me), but I knew how much we were going to miss each other.

"Well," she said, "before you leave, let me give you a going-away present." "A present! For me?, I thought. I also thought (just for a moment) where am I going to pack it, but that quickly faded. I was so happy that Sister B would think enough of me to get me a present.

"First, look at this," she said. "It's a clue as to what your present is." She showed me a copy of a page from my journal that I gave her a while back. It was of Day 108. That was one of the first days that I spent with my companion, Elder Pierce. This was the day that I introduced him to Sister B. We talked about him working at Toys R Us. I made a joke about a "Tickle Me" Elmo/Elder Pierce doll. Sister B asked me what I thought my surprise was. "You got me a "Tickle Me Elmo?" I asked. "No," said Sister B. No way! Those new 10th Anniversary dolls are like $40." "No, here's what I got you," she said. She put a colorful bag on the table. I picked up the bag and opened it. I pulled out the present inside. "It's your very own Tickle Me Elder Pierce!" she said. "Where did you get this?" I asked in amazement. "I made it," she said. "No way," I said. "You didn't make this!" "Well, she said, I got some of the parts from the Teddy Bear Workshop." I was still in shock. It was an Elmo doll in a dress shirt and dress pants, nice black shoes. He had a name tag that said "Future Missionary-Raise the Bar." In his right hand he held a little black Book of Mormon. He also had a back-pack. "I made that back-pack myself," said Sister B. "It's one of a kind." "You're one of a kind, Sister B."

Sister B told me that this was an older model. It was marked way down. She got it at Wal-Mart. My companion asked Sister B if this Elmo talked. "Well," she said, "that's the problem. They had all shapes and sizes. This was the only one that would fit the clothes. And to answer your quesiton, this one does talk and sing."

My companion squeezed Elmo's left hand. Elmo sang: "Yea! Elmo uses the Potty!" "Yeah," said Sister B, that's the Potty-Training Elmo doll." Oh, this is so funny! I have an Elmo doll that's dressed up like a missionary, and when you squeeze his hand, he talks to you about how proud he is that he is using the potty. Now, bathroom humor is NOT one of my favorite forms of comedy. It's probably one of my least, but coming from Sister B, this works. I think this is funny! I have a missionary-in-training. Potty training, that is.

I told Sister B how MUCH I appreciated her gift and that I would always treasure it. "You're welcome, Elder Pierce," she said.

She had a gift for my companion, too. It was an envelope with some writing on the outside that said, "Press Here." The envelop started to laugh like Elmo. "Okay, now you can open it," she said. It was a gift card from Target. "It's a limited edition Tickle Me Elmo gift card. It laughs when you press the button. I would have tried to make you a doll, too, but I could not find another one small enough to fit the clothes. If you can find one that's about the size of your companion's, I'll make you one, too."

Sister B has been so nice to the missionaries. I'll treasure my Potty-Training Tickle Me Elder Pierce doll always. I just wish I had time to make Sister B something before I go. I'll have to settle for writing a thank-you note. For now. I've done so many fun things with Sister B and she has helped me so much. I can remember the new bike light she got me on Day 137 and the breakfast for dinner that we had with her and her family (Day 145), not forgetting the Elmo cake that we had for dessert tonight. That was fun. Good times. I will miss Sister B.

Day 190 P-day "P" stands for Pack Your Bags 10/04/06

10/04 Good buddy! Elder Pierce2 is on the phone now. I've just been informed by him that he's staying and I'm going...to Fredricksburg. My companion tells me that's further south than he's ever been. My new companions name is Elder C. I'll meet him tomorrow at transfer meetings. My current companion will stay in Herndon. He's going to be senior companion to Elder P.

Okay, I'm going to be leaving. I want to write more in here, but I've got to pack. FAST. The time is quickly ticking away. Since we will be parting soon, I'm going to go ahead and let my companion write the "things of his soul." (2 Nephi 4:15)

Words from Elder K. Pierce:

Hola LP,

I hope you and your "good buddy" (journal) have a wonderful time down in Fredricksburg. Especially have fun in the "armpit of the mission" (don't worry, they don't send all the "bad" missionaries down there- j/k) You'll have a great time where ever you go. You'll find great people to share the message of the Restoration with. Just remember all of the fun we were able to have here in "El Hernando." Oh, yeah, remember the Holy Roly as well. You could never forget that one even if I wasn't here to remind you. You will learn more than you can ever imagine in your second area of your mission. You will also be able to learn how a branch functions as well. I haven't learned that one yet. Anyway, the gospel is true. The Book is blue. At least mine is. Have a wonderful mission. Sincerely, Elder K.P. (Elder Pierce Squared)

Day 189-Firewood and Sea Turtles 10/03/06

I finished my third sculpture since being on my mission. It is a sculpture for S. It is a sea turtle. It's at the water's edge, looking off into the distance. To the side of the turtle is a little sand castle. It's actually a little D.C. temple. It looks pretty neat. It was fun to make. It only took me a little while. I worked on it last night before bed and finished it this morning during breakfast.

CW picked us up and we went to help S stack wood. It was a good amount of wood, but between the four of us, we got it done in a little over a half an hour. S said she didn't know how to thank us. She said it would have taken her hours to do by herself.

I was able to give S her sea turtle. "This is for me," she said surprised. "Elder Pierce, you can sculpt, draw, is there anything you can't do?" "Yeah," I thought to myself, "I can't get you to read the Book of Mormon."

"Now I can put this sea turtle with my collection," S said. "Your what!?!" I said.
"Oh, have I not shown you before?" S said. "I assumed that's why you made this sea turtle for me." (I made S the sea turtle because I compared her and other investigators to sea turtles in my journal on Day 120) S took us to a shelf in her house that had several sea turtles on it. Ceramic, wooden, all kinds of sea turtles.

"Yeah," S said. Every spring my family and I go on vacation and help baby sea turtles get to the water." ("Are you serious?" I thought to myself. "You've got to be kidding me!") "Really," I asked S amazed. "Yeah," S answered. "We go to the beach in the evening and watch the baby sea turtles come out of their shells and scurry across the beach. We can't really help them get to the water. They have to do it on their own. All we can do is to make sure their path is clear. Scare away any predators and things like that. In the end, it's up to the turtles. Some of them don't make it. We can't be watching every turtle every minute. All we can do is give our best effort to help as many turtles as we can and trust God to help those turtles makes it so the cycle can begin again." (Sounds like the Plan of Salvation to me)

"Because life is not a picnic for sea turtles once they make it to the ocean," S said. There are still predators in the ocean. But enough turtles survive to start another generation. It's really amazing! (You have no idea, S)

I still can't believe it. I go over this whole sea turtle thing with S (Day 120). My family likes the sea turtle comparison and sends me a sea turtle hand puppet (Day 155). I talk about the sea turtle tie my family sent as well as the sea turtle puppet to Elder C (Day 167) plus many other references in my journal, and now THIS! To find out that S goes and helps baby sea turtles make it to the ocean, AND has a small collection of sea turtle sculptures in her house...it's staggering. Oh, the irony! I love it! This is my Happy Thing for Day 189-S and her sea turtles. I told S that I will most likely get transferred tomorrow. I told her that we'd stop by for a visit.

We went on exchanges tonight. First we stopped by A's apartment. He was a no show. (sigh) Once again that roller coaster's going up and down, up and down...

Our meeting with S#2. went better, though. We were able to review the first lesson and watched the video of the Restoration with her. I asked her about reading the Book of Mormon. She said she'd give it a try. She plans to take the book with her to Maryland. She'll have lots of time on her hands, so hopefully she'll be able to make the time to find out for herself the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. AAAAAAH!!! TOMORROW IS TRANSFER CALLS!!!AAAAAH!!!

Day 188 continued Mosiah 2:17

Talked with A today. He wasn't able to watch conference. He went to visit family. We have a meeting set to teach him tomorrow at 7:00pm

We also met P's sister S (Day 173). We talked with her. She's going up to Maryland for a couple of weeks. Her husband is going in for surgery. She hadn't read from the Book of Mormon yet. She's leaving on Thursday. I asked if we could come by for a visit before she left. She said that would be fine. We'll meet with her tomorrow at 8:00pm. We plan on talking about the Restoration with her one more time. We taught a pretty good lesson before, but we didn't get to talk about Joseph Smith as well as we could have. We'll review with her what we taught before and watch the Restoration video with her.

We got home and I gave S a call. She was so glad that I called. She needed our help. She got a very big delivery of firewood and could really use our help in stacking it. I told her we'd be happy to help. "You sure you don't mind?" she asked. I shared with her one of my favorite scriptures, Mosiah 2:17. "And, behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God." S liked that verse.

We are going over to help S stack wood early in the morning. CW will be our exchange. We'll go help her out around 10:00am. Should be lots of fun.

Back To Your Regularly Scheduled Journal Entries...Day 188 10/02/06

Today we went by J's house for our 2 o'clock appointment. He was home!

Happy Thing for Day 188: Our lesson with J. We asked him if he was able to watch any of conference. He said that he had watched some with n. "Very good sermons," he said.

J is a deep thinker. He asked us some questions: "Why do we believe in God?" (J does believe in God. He just wanted to hear what position our church took on the subject) My companion read in Alma where Korihor is going around preaching that there is no God and no Christ. Alma confronts him and Korihor says to Alma in Alma 30:43, "It thou wilt show me a sign, that I may be convinced that there is a God, yea, show unto me that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth of thy words." "J, will you read the next verse", my companion asked. "But Alma said unto him: Thou hast had signs enough; will yet tempt your God? Will ye say, show unto me a sign when you have the testimony of all these brethren and also all the holy prophets? The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all the things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea and also the plants which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator." "Very good," J said.

Then N came in with baby J. She sat down and joined us. "I loved it," she said. I cried when it was over. I did not want it to end."

J said that he had been reading a bit out of 3rd Nephi. I love it when investigators read from the Book of Mormon. It's so important in the conversion process. When you read scripture you feel the Spirit.

J had some questions regarding the Trinity. N has been working with him in trying to explain that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are two separate beings. One in PURPOSE, but not the same person. J read some of 3rd Nephi 11. Thees are the verses where we read about the Saviors visit to the American continent and instructs them how to baptize. What got J hung up on was 3rd Nephi 11:27. "For, behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one; and I am the Father and the Father in me and the Father and I are one." 3rd Nephi 11:36 "...for the Father, and I and the Holy Ghost are one."

"It's very confusing for me," said J, "because I am trying to understand whether or not there is a Trinity."

I shared with J 3rd Nephi 27:27 "...what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you even as I am." At the time I didn't know why I felt prompted to share that scripture with Joseph. It didn't really have anything to do with the Trinity.

J then read aloud the next verse. (3rd Nephi 27:28) "And now I go unto the Father. And verily I say unto you, whatsoever things ye shall ask the Father in my name shall be given unto you."

"This verse explains it!" J said. "To get to the Father, you have to go through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the mediator. Whatever things ye ask the Father in my name...in my name. They are not the same person. There is no Trinity."

J likes our meetings together. "It opens up my mind," he said. J is progressing nicely. Now we just need to get him to come to church.

Heigh ho! Heigh ho! Six more months to go!

It was a good, but way too short lunch. We took some pictures, hugged goodbye and parted ways. Us, to D.C. and the elders off to a thrift store to look for (ugly-in my humble opinion-the uglier and old the better- polyester) ties to add to their collection.

Wow! We saw Elder Pierce. It was such a good time, but in a way it feels like cheating, like we should have waited. He will be home in sixth months. Six months! I can't believe it. I thought the first year would never pass and now it's almost time for his mission to be over. I worried about seeing him. Would it make him sad. Would it make him trunky? Would Laura (just turned 8 and got baptized two weeks before our trip) be sad and realize how much she missed her big brother? But it was a good thing. Lane #2 son is going on his mission in 2-3 months. If we had not made this trip, the boys would not have seen each other for four years.

When Elder Pierce first left on his mission, I was talking with a friend who is not a member of our church about him being gone for two years. "Do you get to visit every weekend?" "No" "You can call him, can't you?" she said. "No", I replied. "We do get to talk twice at year on Mother's Day and Christmas". "Is that it?!" she said. "Yes", I said rather sheepishly. "Well, I would never be able to do that," she said. For a new missionary mom the more I said it, the more crazy it did seem. But now, as an (older)and wiser missionary mom I can totally see the wisdom in the policy.

If missionaries were allowed to call home often or for families to call them, who would stay on a mission? It would be too hard. There would not be any separation and the missionary would have a really hard time losing himself in missionary work. These elders are committed to what they do. They have a strong testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel. They are committed to giving two years of their lives away from friends and family to serve the Lord.

Lunch with Elder Pierce

Next, we headed to Elder Pierce's area. He is in the Woodbridge area of his mission now. We got a hotel about 3-4 miles away. Larry mapped out the address on Map Quest and so we were set for the next day.

I delayed getting Laura's dress shoes at home thinking it would be "so special" to get them at the Potomac Mills Mall. Elder Pierce had metioned that this was a great place with lots of shops to choose from. Early on Wednesday the 5th, we checked out of our hotel and headed to Target first to get some bottle water. Yikes! City water is yucky. We are used to well water. Anyway, while at Target I decided to look around for shoes for Laura and for Luke and Leiden who forgot to pack dress shoes. Uggh! Luke found some really nice shoes right off the bat. Leiden did not find anything and it was slim pickings for Laura. I felt right then that I should have grabbed some shoes at the Target in OKC where the selection was plentiful instead of taking a chance on the supply here. Oh, well...there was still the Mall.

We checked out, put our two cases of water in an already really cramped SUV and headed for the mall. I took Leiden and Laura in. Larry had to go back to Target and exchange a device that is supposed to play ipod songs over the car radio. We do not have one of those in our car at home, but this fancy car has an adapter to plug in an ipod. But he got the wrong one and left us to shop for shoes.

We did not have much luck at Pennys. We went to Marshalls and found the CUTEST pair of burgandy leather shoes that would match her dress perfectly. She tried them on and said they fit. Yeah. Next, to find Leiden some shoes. This guy would wear the same clothes (and has) everyday unless I made him change. He is 13. Enough said. He was reluctant to get new shoes. We finally found some at Famous Footware. White slip-on tennis shoes. Cute. Not dressy which I would have preferred, but not dirty white like his other tennis shoes. Compromise is good, right?

So...time to meet Elder Pierce.

We drove to his aparment. We piled out of the car and walked the long flight up to his door. Knock. Knock. Knock. The door opened and there he was. After 18 months of not seeing my son, there he was. So many emotions. He invited us in and we met his room mates. It was a treat to get to see where he lived. then it was time to head to lunch. It was p-day and we just had a limited amount of time together before we would have to part ways.

The Elders voted on Macaroni Grill for lunch. Sounded good to me and off we went. It is so funny to see my son who would NEVER eat pasta in any form before his mission order pasta with aparagus. He would never eat asparagus either. So, some things have changed since he's been gone.

Washington D.C. Temple

We got to D.C. on September 4th, 2007. The Young Living convention was from Sept. 6-8th. We were going to have lunch with Elder Pierce on the 5th, so I wanted to get there early to make sure we knew where we were going.

We flew into Baltimore/Washington Airport. Next thing was to get a rental car. Larry checked prices and found us a nice minivan to use while on our trip. Six people times luggage and backpacks some how all fit fairly comfortably in our "new" minivan...until...we realized that the air conditioner was just not going to work. The blower worked fine. The car was running while we were loadig it. We kept waiting for cool air to come out, but it never did. So we did a u-turn back to the rental place. They checked it out and decided that they did not know why a brand new mini van was not blowing cold air. They graciously offered us an upgrade to a bigger car.

That sounds good, doesn't it? NOT. This car was bigger. It was an SUV. But somehow our luggage did not fit as well. We crammed what we could in the back of the SUV and then stuck more luggage in the back seat along with Leiden who thought it was fun to ride back with all of the luggage. Thank goodness. Cramped, but cool we took off to see what we could see.

The first thing we saw was the Washington D.C. Temple. It is really a beautiful place. The temple seemed translucent and the grounds were beautifully kept. We stopped by the Visitor's Center where I know that Elder Pierce has taken many an investigator. We even had a sweet sister missionary take our picture at the same spot where Elder Pierce had been photographed with one of his investigators while in Herndon.

Fast Forward to September 2007

Hello family and friends. For those of you who enjoy reading Elder Pierce's blog, you know that I have not been staying current on posting his daily journal entries. I am sorry. I commit to do my best to post more often.

There are so many good entries to come. Elder Pierce is such an amazing writer, even if I, his mother, do say so.

For now, to appease the faithful, I would like to post a few pictures that were taken just last week when our family made a trip out to Washington D.C. As some of you know, I use essential oils. As luck would have it, my Young Living Essential Oils convention was held in Washington D.C. this year. I emailed Elder Pierce last year when the location was announce to see if maybe, possibly it would be okay to see him while I was in D.C. He asked his mission president who allowed us to meet for lunch one day. Hip! Hip! Hooray!

So, on Wednesday, September 5th our family got to have lunch with Elder Pierce, his companion and their roommates at Macaroni Grill in the Woodbridge area.

Day 187-Sunday General Conference-10/01/06

We called CW early this morning. We needed him to go on exchanges with us to teach W. Later Elder P (KP) thought that he had better call W to see if she could meet. She said she was sorry but that she could not meet today. She had to work. My companion tells W that we'll meet with her sometime later in the week. They say good bye and hang up. Less than 2 seconds later, the phone rings. It was CW. "Good," I thought. "Now you can tell him that he does not have to come because she can't see us today." But it was too late. CW was waiting for us downstairs. We hung our heads in shame and went and told C that we were sorry for dragging him out of bed this morning. He said that it was no problem and that it was good training for when he was a missionary.

We called Brother C and asked him to help A to conference. We'd have been more than happy to do it, but we were asked by Elder W to watch conference with the other missionaries at the stake center. It kind of fell to Brother C to help A get to conference.

We were waiting for Elder C and B to come pick us up and take us to conference, when who should we see but our good neighbor, W. We were able to remind him about conference. He said that he would be able to watch some of it.

Elders B & C came to take us to conference. It was great! We stayed at the stake center for both sessions. In between, we had lunch. The different wards got together and had a nice, big meal. It was great. What can I say about General Conference? It's the best. I've loved all of the sessions. I've loved all of the talks. I can only remember a small bit of what was talked about. I did have some favorite talks that stood out.

One of my favorite talks was given by Elder L. Tom Perry. His was truly a great talk about the Plan of Salvation, the Apostasy and the Restoration. Elder Perry was very, very bold. Excellent, excellent talk! He taught so much in such a short time. It was amazing. I plan on reviewing this and the other conference talks to see what I can learn from them. One other talk that I enjoyed was Elder Russell M. Nelson's talk on the Great Apostasy and the Restoration of the Gospel. I'll have to wait for the November 2006 Ensign to come out to read the talks. I can't wait for General Conference in April!

Happy Thing for Day 187-GENERAL CONFERENCE

Elder C dropped us off at our place around 6:40pm. There was a message on our machine from S. I called her back and asked her if she was able to watch any of Conference. She said that she hadn't. She had been called to work at the horse ranch. She apologized and said that she had meant to watch it.

I talked with S for a bit. She asked me the BIG question. The one for all the marbles. "Why do I need to be a Mormon?", S asked. I have stated before and will say again, S's questions are never mean-spirited or inquisitional. She's asking because she really wants to know. I tell her that she can find the answers to her questions by reading the Book of Mormon; she's still hesitant. Before S can progress, she must gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Ya' know, it really kills me when someone who is a Christian is willing to read the Da Vinci Code or the Left Behind series, but they won't read the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is here as a testimony to people that Jesus Christ is our Savior;that he lives and that His church has been restored by Him through a living prophet.

Books like The Da Vinci Code and Left Behind are fiction. FICTION! Their goal is for people to buy the books and for the authors to make money. Nothing wrong with Capitalism. People can buy what they want, but we give copies of the Book of Mormon away for FREE!

My point is that the Book of Mormon is unique from any other book both in purpose and presentation. Maybe the Book of Mormon should be more of a challenge to get people to read. Because the blessings that come from reading it are so great. I really have a hard time understanding why people are so willing to pay money for the latest "Christian Craze" whether it be Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ (which S told me that she had seen and loved) or The Da Vinci Code. Anything main-stream that has to do with Christ, most Christians will follow after to try to get a "new perspective" on the Savior of the World.

Maybe it's right here. The Book of Mormon is not main-stream. It's more like a little stream. D & C 132:22-25 "For straight is the gate, and narrow the way that leadeth unto the exaltation and continuation of the lives, and few there be that find it, because ye receive me not in the world; neither do ye know me. But if ye receive me in the world, then ye shall know me and shall receive your exaltation; that where I am, ye shall be also. This is eternal life-to know the only wise and true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. I am He. Receive ye, therefore my law. Broad is the gate, and wide is the way that leadeth to the deaths; and many there are that go in thereat, because they receive me not, neither do they abide in my law."

To quote from President Hinckley's talk in the April 2006 Conference: "There comes to mind the words of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken," which concludes with these lines: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference."

(Elder Pierce did a drawing of sea turtles in a marsh with two paths converging. Most of the turtles follow one path while just a few strike out in the other direction)

Once again I continue with the theme of sea-turtles. I really enjoyed General Conference. We weren't able to talk to A today. I'm not sure if he watched or not.

Day 186-General Conference-09/30/06

It was a little rainy this morning. Perfect weather for staying inside, starting a nice warm fire, curling up under a big blanket and watching General Conference on tv...(as if)

Brother M came and picked us up before the first session and we went to get A. He wasn't ready. A told us that he wouldn't be able to make this session. He had to help his mom out with something, but he would go to the 4:00pm session.

After we left A's place I said to Brother M and my companion that maybe it was best that A couldn't make this one. When we were talking with Brother C earlier, he said that it might be best if A didn't try to come to every session since they are two hours long. They are all wonderful, but for A, at this point, if he tried to attend all of the sessions of General Conference, he might get burned out. Oh well...

Happy Thing for Day 186-Watching General Conference with Brother M. We went to his house. He had nice pillows for us to sit on and plenty of snacks. Then Conference started.

Jarom 1:2 "...wherefore, it must needs be that I write a little; but I shall not write the things of my prophesying, mor of my revelations. For what could I write more than my fathers have written? For have not they revealed the plan of salvation? I say unto you, Yea; and this sufficeth me."

In that same vein, I took some notes during conference, but really what more could be written than what the prophets have written? Therefore, I'll only write a few things from the conference talks. Yea and this sufficeth me. I do recommend, though that you go and read the talks from the October 2006 General Conference. They've been pretty good so far.

I really enjoyed the first session of General Conference. I learned that over 1/2 of the members of the church are first generation. They are the first members of their family to join the church. That's pretty neat. It just shows the power of missionary work.

After the first session was over, we had a couple of hours before the next session. So...my companion and I went to work. We walked over to J's. He's only about a 10 minute walk away. When we got there N answered the door. We asked her how she enjoyed conference. She said that the loved it. She really enjoyed the talk that was addressed to first generation church members. Nancy said that she wasn't raised in the church, but now that she has joined and become a member, she can raise her son in the restored gospel. J wasn't there. N said that he had to run some errands but that he would be back for the next session. (for more on N's testimony see day 96)

At 3:55pm we went to pick up A to take him to the afternoon session. We knocked. His mom came to the door. We asked if A was ready. She told us he was not here right now. He had gone to a payphone to make a phone call.

Since A had been in prison, he wasn't able to work. As a result, some bills were not paid like the phone bill. I don't know who he called or why he left when he did, but as a result he did not attend the afternoon session either. We did not have time to wait around. We were late getting back as it was.

I enjoyed all of conference today. Tonight before the Priesthood session, Brother M took us out to eat. The priesthood session was very good and a lot of fun. I love General Conference. It's the best. I can't wait until tomorrow.