Well family. 

Looks like its the last week of 2011. Last week for me to email you for the rest of the YEAR!!! WHOA!!! That it pretty crazy. But its part of life. And don't forget to make some good New Years Resolutions!

Elder Pierce, Abraham and Elder Blake

I don't have to much to report on for this last week. I know it was Christmas and everything. But things just went so good its almost to difficult to put it all into words. I will give you a rough summary of how my Christmas went. Saturday was Abraham's baptism. It was just an amazing experience. HE was so ready to accept the gospel and have it be a part of his life. And President Killpack and his family was there. Then on Saturday evening, we spent the night with our Bishop and his family. We were there for Dinner, which was steak and fondue (spelling?) it was delicious. Then we decorated cookies and then delivered them to families in the ward as we were caroling to them. It was such a great experience.

The next morning was Christmas breakfast time. We ended up waking up at 515 or so to open up presents, then sped on over to The Kriser house for breakfast and opening presents at 630. It was a lot of fun and we actually even ended up taking a nap over there which was unintentional but much needed. From there we went home and i got to call my wonderful family and so did Elder Blake. That was just great. Then 330 rolled around and it was time for church. In which Elder Blake and I were a part of the Christmas program.

After church we hitch-hiked for a ride into Sahaurita for dinner at the Ross house. Tons of fun as well. We had a sweet turkey dinner with mashed potatoes and got to spend the Christmas evening with them. Very nice people. They have a young son that has red hair just like mine was and i told him that he better get ready for the compliments the rest of his life ha ha. Because it happens. Trust me. Then Monday, we had a mission wide conference. Where every missionary got together for a Christmas brunch and socializing  with a spiritual meeting afterwards. There was also a tie exchange (the tie I got was super ugly).

IT was a very good way to spend my 2nd Christmas on my mission and the last till I come home. I'm super excited to see you all very soon. But hopefully not to soon.

Brother & Sister Kriser with Elder Pierce..
A special Thank you to this family for being so Wonderful

My new years resolution is to Finish my mission strong, All I have is 3 months, I better make them count. Whats your New Years Resolution???

Thug Love,

Elder Pierce

Merry Christmas From Elder Pierce

Boy, don't you just love Christmas!

Hello family,
Hope everything is going well for you because it sure is for me. This will be the last email you get from me before the glorious day occurs...CHRISTMAS!!!!

Boy, don't you just love Christmas?!?! i think i love everything about it. The lights, the decorations, the goodies, the Christmas spirit, Christ, the goodies. Oh how wonderful.

Christmas is looking good for us. We have had several invites over to members houses and plus i get to call my wonderful family. How cool!

But on Christmas eve is where the Real Christmas spirit shines through. Abraham is getting baptized! At 10 in the morning we will be holding his baptismal service. He truly has changed so much. It has just been an honor to get to know him. It truly has helped me to see the miracle of the Atonement change someones life. The other day, we were talking to him and he got a little emotional as he expressed he feelings towards us, letting us know that we are his best friends and telling us how the knowledge of the restored gospel has changed his life. He is an amazing individual that I have grown to care deeply about. And because of his willingness to learn and understand, there has also been an added degree of wanting to share the gospel. We are now teaching his aunt and mom more about the gospel. Its a little more difficult to teach his mom because she doesn't speak much English, but we are getting by haha.

We also had our Christmas party this last Friday, that was so much fun. We ended up having 4 investigators show up. So that was really cool. They all loved it. It was kind of an odd party though when it comes down to the actually party part, but it turned out good. It was just different, that's all. I'm just glad Santa had time to show up, especially in this busy kind of season.

But honestly, that is all i really have to report on for this last week. It was a very good overall week though. Things went great.

I look forward to calling home in like 6 days! whoo hoo!!

Enjoy this Christmas season before its to late and passed, if you don't then you will have to wait a whole year to try again!

Love, Elder Pierce

Elder Howard Takes the Cake

Hello family, Its very good to have a chance to email you today. Though today is a very gloomy day where we will not get the chance to play any sports (sad face). It is raining very hard today and we were going to 1. have a horse-shoe tournament today and 2. play football. and to make things worse 3. the gym is occupied today. SO we don't get to do anything. Which is very unfortunate.

Well this week was just an amazing week. I would have to say that Saturday was among my top 3 favorite days of my mission. It was just incredible. President Killpack gave Elder Howard and I permission to drive to the Gila Valley and see Tommy and Adrianna Gates go through the temple and be Sealed for Time and all Eternity. What an amazing experience this was. I woke up on Sunday just feeling spiritually exhausted because of how great the day was. My jaw and cheek bones hurt from smiling and laughing to much. And i got to go with my favorite companion as well. (sorry other companions, elder Howard takes the cake). It was just such a blast. And being able to hug Adrianna in the temple was just overwhelming. Her and Tommy were both so appreciative to Elder Howard and I. Adrianna whispered in my ear and told me how thankful she was to "her boys" for helping her and Tommy start this great journey. It was hard trying to not get all emotional. But i am just so thankful to my Heavenly Father for giving me the chance to even meet them let alone see them in the Temple. Adrianna i know you read these and i just want to say how much i love you and your family. Thank you for being so awesome.

Elder Howard and i reminisced as we were driving home and to remember the story of how we met Adrianna and Tommy. How she didn't want anything to do with us. But Oh how the Lord knows his children. Because she did want this, but she just didn't know it at the time. And look where she is now, Following Christ with full purpose of Heart, nothing wavering. He is who is faithful to the commandments of God shall be blessed and prosper in the land.

Besides that just incredible experience, this week was very cool in general. We were able to meet with Cindy again, and have a very nice lesson with her. She is a great lady who is just going through so much in her life right now. And maybe that is the reason for her seeking out the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not sure. But what i do know is that it will help. And Cindy knows it to. As we were meeting with her, she looked at us as we were talking and she paused. Understanding what we were saying but we clearly could tell that she had something to say. She looked at us and exclaimed again how grateful she was for the church and for us, but that she was going through a lot and proceeded to say "man, i picked a rough couple of weeks to be a Mormon!" Which sometimes can be such a real problem. Everyone faces hard times in their life but especially when learning more about the gospel. The gospel is here to help people with life and the crazy commotion in which we all face. Jesus Christ is very real and with his help all things are possible.

Especially in the craziness of the season we are currently in, we can get caught up in "what should i get this person?" or "what should i wear to this party?" (all valid questions), but the purpose of this season is to remember our Savior and what he sacrificed so we even had the ability to wonder what we should wear to so and so's party. He is the reason for the season. I love you all and i hope your joy is full as we embrace some Happy Holidays.

Elder Pierce

Officially December

Wow, officially December. So far December has started off excellent. Well besides it being really cold around here. We woke up to go and play volleyball this morning and there was ice all over the car and it was just so cold. I was not liking it all. But as far as missionary work goes and having awesome miracles happen in our life, things are going wonderful.

We had stake conference on Sunday and it was so cool. Me and 2 other missionaries sang in the stake choir which was a cool experience. There was so much people in that building, I was kind of nervous but everything went great. We had 2 investigators come to the stake conference as well and they loved it. The temple president and his wife from the mesa temple spoke and so did president and sister Killpack. It was a spiritual powerhouse of a conference. I loved it. It was really cool as well because president Killpack spoke about missionary work and then he asked all of the missionaries that were present and serving in the sahuarita stake to stand up. It looked like an army stood up! it was so cool. We have the most missionaries in the sahaurita stake then any other stake in the mission. 2 zones. It was so cool to see us all stand up and unified in the same purpose. Which is to invite others to come unto Christ through faith in Him, repentance, Baptism, receiving the gift of The Holy Ghost, and to endure to the end.