December 25, 2018 - Christmas Day & Phone Call

1:38pm, PST -  Dear friends and family, today is a wonderful day as we celebrate the Birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We were blessed today to hear from Sister Pierce in Brazil. We had exactly 30 minutes to listen & speak to her. That was the fastest 30 minutes we have ever experienced, Lol ☺️

 We started out the phone call with a prayer in Portuguese.  The spirit was strong as she bore her testimony & gratitude to be serving her Heavenly Father in Brasil.  It’s hard to imagine it has been five weeks since she has left.  She wanted everyone to know how grateful she is for all of your love and support.  She said thank you for your emails & Christmas cards she has received. Due to the limited time she has each week to read  her emails and reply, she apologizes that she is not able to reply to everyone & has asked us to post her weekly emails so everyone can read how she is doing.

She is looking forward to be Proselyting in her mission area “Ribeirao Preto” in January. She will only be at the CTM for approximate 1 more week.  She will update us as she finds out more details & information.  We ended the phone call with a challenge she has for each of us: Study “preach my gospel”, read from the Book of Mormon & pray for an opportunity to share the gospel.

With love from Brasil,

Sister Pierce ❤️

Mailing Address to send cards or letters:

                                                         Sister Emma Elizabeth Pierce

                                                         Brazil Ribeirao Preto Mission

                                                         Rua Sao Sebastiao, 1003

                                                         Centro                                     

                                                         14015-040 Ribeirao Preto - SP

                                                         Brazil    

Email: emma.pierce@myldsmail.net 

Re: Week 4 Christmas call is coming!

From: Emma Pierce <emma.pierce@myldsmail.net>
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2018 5:28:52 AM
To: piercetd1@msn.com
Subject: Re: Week 4 Christmas call is coming!

Dear Family!

Can you believe I've been out for 4 weeks going on my 5th! Hope you are are doing well. I hope everyone else has been doing the challenges, I haven't heard any reports. 

As usual, the week was good. The weeks have their ups and downs. I feel like I should catch you up on some things. Like I've told you before, being on a mission is the hardest thing I have ever done up until this point in my life. 

I have only been in the MTC (CTM is Brasil) but what a difference everything has been. 

I am very grateful for the opportunity I have had to travel and experience different cultures. 

With that being said, it amazes me how mature (most of the time) these 18 and 19 years men are. 

But don't let their maturity keep you from thinking they don't so stupid stuff. A few week ago, one of the companionship's a trio, hurt themselves. Elder Webb fell down the stairs, he tried skipping a few steps so he wouldn't be late, he hurt his ankle, the other one Elder Dunn, did a push up, clapped behind his back, and landed wrong on his wrist. So those two Elders just got their temp cast off Friday. 

I have learned some more things about myself while I've been here. I am a lot picker eater than I thought. For breakfast, we have ham and cheese paninis. For lunch and dinner we have RICE, BEANS and CHICKEN. Its good, but I am getting tired of it. 17 months to go. But most of the time I don't know what we are eating. I'm pretty sure they fed us cornbread again and called it pancakes, and if you want you can pour really watery syrup on it. With that being said, when I get home in 17 months, I want grandma Sally to make me a pancake with HER syrup.

On the 8th I got to exercise my talent. President Milder (CTM pres) had a dinner for all the branch presidency, I was asked to play "Were you There" while an Elder and Sister sang, Here is the recording. Click on the link to play:

"Were you There"

This past Sunday for a devotional I played, and will be probably be for the next few weeks. Something I took away from that devotion ( given by a  stake pres and wife near by) is the capability to serve a mission. 

I may not be the most prepared spiritually, physically, emotionally or whatever, but now I am here, In BRASIL, serving the Lord. Learning a new language. I thought someone shared a few weeks ago is The reason we are learning the language is so we can love the people. How true has this been. The Brazilians are some very generous people. 

Learning the language ties in with a Christ-like attribute Patience. Patience not only with others, but patience with myself. It will be a process, but I know that I can over time, learn Portuguese. 

Saturday I had the chance to go proselyting for the first time. It was super awesome, scary, and I was super tired after the 90 min we were out there. But we successfully got 3 contacts.

As part of our classes with our teachers, they act like investigators and we teach them lessons in our companionship's.  All of our lessons, I HAVE to write down, because I can't improvise yet. So this past week during our lesson, we had to change what we were going to talk about. Sister Turpin is able to improvise, so I remained quite for the most part. Towards the end out our lesson, our investigator, Mario, turned to me and asked `Sister Pierce, what do you think I should do?` I thought for a minute, turned to my companion, turned back to Mario, closed my book and bore a very simple, maybe 2 or 3 sentence testimony about Christ. There was not a dry eye in that room, and the gift of tongues is real.

That is what helps me when I wonder why I am here. He will pick up us when we are weak, and will help us bring things to our remembrance. I was reading a card you sent me and it said  "never miss an opportunity to bear your testimony".  Something funny I heard about testimonies is "My Testimony grows every time I bear it, because I water it". LOL 

This past week, I was sick with a terrible cold, something everyone gets while they are here, I didn't have a voice, it was terrible. I need little socks for my shoes, I have blisters, no fun. Next week, if you didn't know, is Christmas. I will be calling home on Christmas Day, I ONLY HAVE 30 MINUTES TO DIAL, TALK AND HANG UP SO BE READY!! 

Oh also whats better than having one new roommate going to the same mission as you?? TWO roommates!! Please share this with Chad and others: "DUI"  Direction under the Influence (of the Spirit) 

With love from Brasil, 

Sister Pierce

December 11, 2018 @ 5:16am (Week 3, Santa's comming!)

Hi Mom!

How are you?  I am doing my best to study Portuguese but let me tell you it is sure hard. I pray for all of you multiple times a day, but know that you will be watched over and protected while I am here serving the Lord. 

Sister Turpin (pronounced "Turpan"  a long A) She is serving in the Sao Paulo Interlagos mission

Yes! I know Elder Sorenson, he is so awesome, I think he leaves next week for the field. His good friends with  the one I met in the airport Elder Meyers, also from the Hermiston area. I occasionally share my american candy, but have not yet dug into my peanut butter. I am saving that for the field. I did get all my shoes LOL. 

It sounds like I will call in the evening time. I will have them call dads phone. 

I did have to end up getting my shot, but its alright. Since Sunday I have been sick, but no worries, everyone gets it usually in the second or third week. 

Are you doing my challenges I am sending you? I am proud of you for finishing  up to the BOM. I know you will be blessed. For your Challenge this week,  watch the Christmas Devotion if you haven't already!

With love from Brasil, 

Sister Pierce

December 4, 2018 @ 4:16am


Hi Dad, Thanks for everything you do for me, I'm not sure I tell you that enough. I also really appreciate you setting up that email list for family and friends.  I'm so grateful for everyone's love and support at home. Its so true when people say  that a mission is the hardest thing you'll ever do! Learning a language is especially difficult. But man, I man so grateful for my time so far in the CTM.

Also ask mom to please contact  Peter Jensen and tell him I'm serving my mission in Brazil. Because I'm pretty sure he served his mission here. Additionally, thank her for the nativity set, me and my roommates Love it all so much!! I sure do love you with all my heart, but don't miss you ;)

I know that I'm doing the Lords work, even if it feels like it going to kill me at times! But once I complete my mission, I sure feel like I can doing anything!

Challenge this week:

If you haven't already start the LIGHT THE WORLD challenge, it will bless your life.  

Also please add that email address that you sent me. Going to the temple last week, was unlike anything I've felt. I hadn't felt the spirit so strongly since the first time I went. and especially being in a session with only missionaries_HOLY MOLY!!!  IT was awesome. we went to the Sao Paulo Temple. it was so big and beautiful! 

Well I have a few more emails to send before I'm out of time. please take care of my piano and Granby. I miss those more than you can imagine :-)

I sort of feel like I'm in a time warp and can’t keep my days straight. Something neat, my roommates are leaving Sunday to serve their mission in the Japan Nagoya Mission. I’m sure going to miss them. They have been a huge  help in learning Portuguese. My roommates name is Sister Florence Turpin.

Sorry  mom, my email is all over the place,Love you-but don't miss you, ;) (I miss my piano, my beautiful grand piano that had a rich sound to it and Granby more) Sorry if any of my words are misspelled. This keyboard is a little different. 

With Love,

Sister Pierce

November 27, 2018 (Travel & First Week)

On Tue, Nov 27, 2018 at 11:04 AM Emma Pierce <emma.pierce@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Olá!  (Hello)

Man its so good to hear from you!  I would like to start off with a quote... Obedience brings blessing, exact obedience brings miracles, and strict obedience brings constant companionship of the Holy Ghost!! Oh how do I wish I would have listened to you mom! You were right, I should have studied Portuguese before I came out, and it would have made this week SO much better. There is a big difference in the two people in my district who studied the language before they came out, and those (ME and the rest of my district) who didn't. At home I thought I did not have the time to study, but looking back now, I had SO much time to study, compared to now. Our schedule is so busy, we don't even have time to breath! LOL 

I have been on 3 treks, traveled half way around the world by myself at 14, been away for 3 summers in different states, with lots of traveling in between, and I can testify that what those other missionaries said is true. This IS the hardest thing I have EVER done. Portuguese is hard, sharing a room with 3 girls, having a companion 24/7 is hard! You go to the bathroom together, you eat together, you do laundry together, you go to class together, you pray together, you get dressed together- am i making my point?! But aside from having someone beside you ALL THE TIME, the food is weird, Ill explain in a second. 

Many people might ask, whats the MTC like?  Well, in Brasil, its called the CTM Cetro De Treinamento Missionário Brasil. Imagine being at Temple all the time, with people who actually want to be here, not attached to their phones, eating school cafeteria food, when most of the time you don't actually know what they are feeding you, and there is rice and beans in pretty much every meal. (I'm pretty sure they feed us cornbread this morning and  called it pancakes, with served with the most wateriest syrup I have every tasted) With as much beans as I eat, I'm surprised I don't fart more often LOL. 

It has been a very long, and trying week, and honestly, I've had thought about just coming home, and being in my comfortable home, where I know what people are saying. Tomorrow (P-DAY), and every Wednesday morning, everybody in the CTM gets to go the Temple. It switches every week between two Temples, but I don't know how to spell them, so stay tuned. Additionally, every Tuesday at 10:25am Brasil time, is when I get to write home, so if you happen to be awake at 4:30 in the morning, or you can just wait and have this nice surprise when you wake up. I sleep pretty well in the evening time, except for when they shoot fireworks off, which is frequently, its super odd but Sáo Paulo is just like that is what I've been told. Please don't forget to send my driving record, preferably to my mission home office, not the CTM. And if people want write letters here make sure that they write my name on it, with the CTM Does that make sense? CTM C/o Emma Pierce. Dad probably gets it. 

Anywho! PLEASE  check with my Doctors office and see what HEP A/B vaccines i have, if I don't have like HEP B (i think it is) they are going to give it to my next Wednesday, and I DON'T WANT A SHOT!!! And unfortunately i can not send pictures while I'm in the CTM, because we cant inset anything into the computers. As far as mailing the letter home, it will probably will have to wait until Im in the field. Ill have to tell you more next week about my crazy traveling experience and almost missing my planes, because of delayed flights and rescheduling. But atlas, I made it, and there were some missionaries who were on the flight with me, there are in my District 47A- ING. But there are all 18, exp one who is 19, and those are who was in my picture. 

Before I'm out of time, I had a thought in preparation to me emailing, as much as I want to hear about home, I also want to leave with a challenge and some Portuguese challenge: On page 120 in Preach My Gospel, I would like you, read the section titled "Patience" and answer these questions: Why is patience so important? How are patience and Faith related?  Along with a few scriptures of your choice. I've learned patience with these elders!!

Portugese:

A medida que compartilhamos o evangelho, nos somos abençoabos com alegria. 

As we share the gospel, we are filled with joy. I'm sorry I didn't have time to respond to anyone else. Please feel free to share this with others. 

Com Amor, 

Sister Pierce

November 21, 2018 - Arrival at Brazil MTC 

Bem Dia!

I finally arrived safely in the MTC! It was quite the experience getting here with no cell phone, but people were generous enough to let me use theirs. Everything is great here and I'm pretty excited to be here! I have my name badge, so now its official!!!! :) My companion is Sister Turpin, and she is from France, I've only known her for about an hour but I love her already!! Brazil is pretty different from America, and much poorer than i'm used to. Thankfully Tonga helped me prepare for that a little bit. Tell mom to check the Facebook page with a picture of the President of the MTC.( Centro De Treinamento missionário-Brazil.) I will email again on Tuesday. 

Until then!

Much Love- Sister Pierce