Week 31 (6-24-19)  Farewell to Mission President & Photos !!!

This is the last email from President and Sister Scholtz, I will miss them terribly but I am excited for President and Sister Dos Santos. This past week was good, really not this past week, but all my weeks are good.  People ask if I have bad weeks or bad days, But I don't. I have bad moments or moments when I am frustrated but when I think about how happy the gospel make me, my attitude changes. Also The Gospel is a happy gospel so if we want to make people happy we need to make people happy. So share you testimony with a smile. 

This past week was had a baptism, Wagner. He is a Colonel  or something of the sort and it was amazing!!! This past week I had 7 months in the mission. Cara it passes by so quickly. I think that's all. I really love the members in our ward. They are incredible, and do so much help us. Saturday morning we helped cleaned the church so that was cool.. 
Starting this week I will have a great opportunity to help a brother in our ward who teaches English to go to his house when we teaches and have his students talk with an American, so I am pretty excited about that. 
Love you all thanks or your love and support. 

Sorry I don't know why I cant send pictures. The computers are so finicky. I hope I can send them next Monday. 

Sister Pierce

Letter from Mission President in Portuguese:

Presidente Scholz

Irmãs e Anciões, 

Com um coração cheio de emoções, estou escrevendo nosso último email para voces. 

Nao temos palavrias suficientes para descrever como essa experiencia tem afeitado nossa vida. 

Somos gratos por cada um de voces e amamos muito voces. 

Desejamos e oremos que Deus vai continuar a abença e guiar suas vidas. 

Nunca esqueçam a importancia a sejam obedientes em todas as coisas. 

Sejam dignos a influenciares do Espirito em suas vidas e como bençãos que Deus quer derramar sobre os voces. 

Respeitam, aceitam e amam Pres e Sister Santos. Façam seu melhor para apoiar eles. 

Voces sao otimos. Voce é uma grande pessoa que esta agui ágora, nessa epoca do mundo, para ajudar os filhos de Deus a encontrar a verdade.

Lembram as coisas pequenas e simples que precisam ser feitas. 

Ficam firmes no Evangelho. 

Nao saiam do Caminho. 

Mantenham um aperto firme na barra de ferro. 

Queremos receber noticias de voces. 

Lembram, como Irmã Scholz fala, voces são parte da nossa familia agora e para sempre. 

Faça seu melhor. 

Toma uma desciçao a um pouco mais duro. 

Seja um pouco mais obediente. 

Exercer um pouco mais a sua fe. 

Confiamos em voces. 

Um grando abraço aos todos voces. 

Amamos voces, 

Pres e Sister Scholz 

S.O., EA e BC (x2) 

Seja tudo em 

Se nada muda, nada muda! 

Foco, Força e Fe

Translation of the letter from her mission president:

Sisters and Elders,

With a heart full of emotions, I'm writing our last email to you.

We do not have enough words to describe how this experience has shaped our lives.

We are grateful for each one of you and we love you very much.

We hope and pray that God will continue in the absence and guide their lives.

Never forget the importance of being obedient in all things.

Be worthy to influence the Spirit in your lives and as blessings that God wants to pour on the voices.

Respect, accept and love Pres and Sister Santos. Do your best to support them.

You're great. You are a great person who is now at this time of the world to help the children of God find the truth.

They remind you of the small, simple things that need to be done.

Stand firm in the Gospel.

Do not leave the Path.

Keep a firm grip on the iron bar.

We want to hear from you.

Remember, as Sister Scholz says, you are a part of our family now and forever.

Do your best.

Take a step down a little harder.

Be a little more obedient.

Exercise a little more faith.

We trust you.

A big hug to all of you.

We love you,

Pres and Sister Scholz

S.O., EA and BC (x2)

Be all in

If nothing changes, nothing changes!

Focus strength and faith

Week 30 (6-17-19)  Happy Fathers Day !!!

Hey Family!

Sounds like it was a great busy week for you all. Sorry I couldn’t call home yesterday, I think it’s a holiday only celebrated in the US. But I thought about you a lot and hoped you had a great Father’s Day. I figured mom would make your favorite cake, I would say save me a piece, but I would rather have a fresh cake when I get home.

Sounds like the BBQ was nice, also excited for a BBQ when I get home, which is almost less than a year away. CRAZY I know! HAHA Caroline is talking now? I figured Bev would be the one talking the ears off lol. Do you have any photos from yesterday? Sounds like it’s nice and hot there, thankfully in my new area it’s not super-hot.

 I am still with Sister Gnoatto, and sadly she goes home in just a short 5 weeks.... she gets home 1 day before my birthday, July 22nd, which will be the first day of the next transfer. AGGGG time passes so fast!

Things are much better than expected this past week. After cleaning our apartment on our hands and knees for about 6 hours, it was so different. I will tell you why in an experience I had. 

This past Monday we arrived in our new house, which used to be an elder’s apartment. Excited for this new opportunity, when we set our bags in our apartment, it was just gross. Almost as if they hadn’t cleaned in well a long time. We are kind furious, so we talked with our Zone Leaders, and wanted them to rededicate our house because something didn’t feel right. We figured we had two options about our new living situation: clean it well or buy some matches. We figured the second option wasn’t the best, so we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more. And it was in the moment I was washing the dishes, because I cleaned the kitchen, that stopped for a moment and had this feeling overcome me, not quite sure what it was, I stopped and talked to Sister Gnoatto. She was cleaning the bathroom, I said to her "Do you notice something different?" She thought, I thought, and she responded "Yeah" But wasn’t quite sure what it was. Then this thought came to our minds, that it was the Spirit reentering our house. It was the strangest but most amazing feeling, very distinct!

After this we thought that we didn’t need our house to be rededicated again. 

We also bought a map since we didn’t have a map of our area and are slowly finding our way around this city. 

We are very excited for a baptism this Saturday and will tell you more about it next week.

I spoke yesterday in church, and truly not trying to be prideful it went super well, and I only prepared a little bit the night before and then a little Sunday morning. I honestly don’t know how it could have went so well other the fact that it was because I was blessed with the Gift of Tongues.   I spoke on a GC talk this past April about Answers to Prayers and recognizing the spirit. I encourage all of you to read this talk as it is AMAZING!! He tells the story of his son who served a mission in France and had a coat that didn’t fit, and the other about the lady he know who is blind but is very successful. Truly an AMAZING talk. Please read it this week. 

This past week we found a waffle shop and tried it out. it was not to bad... 

I want to try and call your guys this week, so I don’t think I’ll respond to other family’s emails. 

Congrats to Uncle Tony and Aunt Sarah buying a new house. Hope Grandma Sally and Sis have a nice time on their trip, Hope grandma Paulette did well on her test, I prayed for her every single day to do well and remember the things. 

Keep doing the small things, reading and praying daily and going to church, pray for the other missionaries, and look for opportunities to serve others. 

Oh, also my box made it to Brasil, and I paid for it so hopefully should get it next week.

  

Love you lots and hope you have an amazing week! 

Sister Emma Pierce 

Week 29  (6/10/19)  Transferred to New Area !!

Hey Family, 

It sounds like you've had a busy week! Congrats to all those who graduated, now you can prepare for a mission lol!! I am glad you received my message from Sister Dara last Saturday. The little boy Kevin we have been teaching did not get baptized Saturday night because his grandma was super ill, close to death actually, but it sounds like things are better now. I hope he can still get baptized next Saturday. Unfortunately, I won't be there because I got transferred to ARARAQUARA!! Wooo Hooo!!!

We took over the area from the Elders. We have a few minor issues like not having a map of our ward boundaries, and yuck!! our apartment smells like the Elders have been here for a long time, and you have to be super careful how you sit on the bed because if not, you will fall right down to the floor!!! Ahhhhh!! Things will be alright, just keep on praying for us.

The good news is that we might have a baptism this Saturday, which is Awesome!!! Sorry I can't think of anymore that happened this week. Sorry I am not able to email photos this week, not sure what the problem is. 

Please remember to read and pray everyday. I love you and kiss my baby from me " the furry one" I love you lots, have a great week.

Love, 

Sister Pierce

Ps. Here are a couple of videos from Emma she made last month. We were not able to upload until now.  Also here are some pictures from Sister Dara from her last ward, below is her message and translation.

Message from Sister Dara:

olá irmãos, hoje tivemos conferência na estava , e almoçamos juntas , foi muito bom , a conferência disse muito sobre a missão e ao longo dia podemos falar como somos gratas de ter o evangelho em nossas vidas hoje Sister Pierce provou um leite que fazemos em pó e ela gostou muito, vou mandar fotos de agora a pouco ❤

Translation:

 Hello brothers, today we had a conference on the was, and we had lunch together, it was very good, the conference said a lot about the mission and on the long day we can talk about how grateful we are to have the gospel in our lives today Sister Pierce tasted a milk we make in powder and she really liked it, I'll send photos from now on.

Week 28  (6/3/19) Email & Photos 😊

Hey Family and friends, 

I wanted to actually send an email to you all because I  have been awful at sending  emails. I think it's because I never really know what to say. But I think it starts with a Thank You for all you that read this. Maybe you don't pray for me by name but for the missionaries in general, and it's because you, the members in branches and wards that really help the missionaries. Continue to help and pray for the missionaries please. We need your help. 

The work is moving forward here in my city, Americo Brasilience. We have a little boy, Kevin, who is 9 years old and he has a date for baptism for Saturday.  That is last day of the transfer. I hope and pray that it will happen because his mom wants to wait until she can participate again in Church. That wouldn't be until October! But whatever happens it's the will of the Lord, discouraging but His will. 

Yesterday we had Stake Conference, and it was amazing! President and Sister Scholz spoke as well as other people. They are leaving soon after serving for 3 years. The talks were really centered around missionary work and a lot about members. President Scholz said: "When we talk to missionaries who are leaving we ask lots of  questions like: What was your favorite area and why?" He said:" Answers are different, but a lot of them say it's because of the members." You are all incredible, and I LOVE the members in our branch. 

Our Stake is pretty large probably has about a 2 hour radius, if that makes sense. My area has 3 different neighborhoods, all accessible by foot, and some hills, which SUCK! But I think it's because the Lord is punishing me for not exercising better in the mornings LOL!  It's pretty green here, and I think it's because of the rain. It rained this morning. I love the rain but I was cold.... 

This transfer only has 5 weeks and we are already into our 5th week. I really hope that I stay here with Sister Gnoatto. Anything else you want to know about my area? 

Oh something that's kinda cool, they have lots and lots of fields full of sugar canes. They burn the fields I think to get rid of the bugs and snakes but somehow the sugar canes don't burn. This past week they were burning and phew the air smelt awful, but oh well. 

Sounds like the new Brazilian restaurant was tasty. (It was amazing!)  I am excited to eat there when I return and talk to them in Portuguese LOL. Continue to stay firm in your diets and really look for this week at least one miracle, and go to the Temple this week too.

Tell Sis (Makayla Sanders-her cousin) congrats from me. I wish I could be there(Graduation) but she's in my thoughts. 

Love you all. Have a great week! 

With love from Brasil, 

Sister Pierce 

Week 27 (5-27-19)  Pictures Only

Sister Pierce wanted us to express her love and appreciation for everyone. She was having problems with the computer again today and was only able to call us for a few minutes. She did have time email pictures. She will try to email next week.

With Love from Brazil,

Sister Pierce