February 28,2018

​​​​Hi mom :)

I feel like every week I email you saying how happy I am but I just cannot get over how happy I am everyday...  i kinda feel like crying all the time cause I'm so happy and I just don't know what to do with myself lol I feel like Alma when he says that his joy was as exceeding his pain (except i didn't have exceeding pain before... but you know what I mean)

My companion is probably the number one reason why I am so happy... who knew someone from Hong Kong would be my best friend??? I had no idea. But she is amazing and just has the biggest most understanding heart... so I got lots to learn from her haha. I am focusing on how I can be more Christlike in everything I do. And its hard but worth it! My companion taught a training in our District Meeting this week and it was about charity and I always thought charity was like volunteering and like baking cookies for someone but then as we were really studying it we came across what it says about charity in the bible dictionary it says that charity is "the highest, noblest, strongest kind of love"!!!! wow i know i was shocked too so now I am working on having that charity towards everyone because I know there is someone that will cross my path that needs it. and I know the same thing applies to everyone, so i encourage you to focus on how you can be more charitable!! 

we took a family on a tour this week and there was a little boy, and we were talking about what things we can sacrifice for others to help them be happy and he talked in the most detail about how he let his brother borrow his blue-eyed robot (not the red-eyed... he really stressed that) and he kept going on and on then he started tearing up at the end, and we couldn't really understand what he was saying but it was soooo sweet watching this boy talk about something that obviously meant a lot to him for his brother and just express what it meant to him :) sooo cuuuteee 

also it finally snowed!!!!!!!! its actually winter now!! (kinda....) but wow it feels like home! feels so good! i was so happy!! but my companion i think is dying ahahah she goes to sleep wearing her winter jacket... apparently it doesn't get cold in Hong Kong​

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Oh ya we got to join a wedding this week and our sparklers were about to burn out so the lady taking the pic was super shaky ahaahah but were in the wedding pics and everything! blessed! ​

February 14, 2018

February 14, 2018

Hi mom:)

sorry I haven’t written a group email in while but things are going so good!!!i love my companion so much! she’s honestly training me more than I’m training her ahahah she’s amazing though... she’s has this weird power to make anyone and everyone cry.... no joke every lesson we have or tour we take everyone ends up crying... mostly me. but nonetheless tears are shed

 I feel like I am learning sooo much though. seriously every day i feel like there is something that the Lord is trying to teach me. Sometimes (most of the time) its patience, with myself, my investigators, all the other sisters.... no matter what though I am learning! But one thing I have really been learning this past week is that we need to love the people around us. 

 I was reading a talk called "A Brother Offended" By Neal A. Maxwell (everyone go read it) and it really helped me realize how much we need to strengthen the people that we know and love that are around us! Our families, our friends, everyone in some way or another needs to feel God's love in their lives at some point. In the talk it mentions how that love needs to be genuine, it cant be some check mark on a list, but it needs to be from our hearts and from a place where we sincerely want to help, so anyone and everyone reading this..... find someone who needs to feel loved, pray to know how you can specifically help them and love them and then go and do what you feel is right!!! and then email me what happens because I know that miracles will happen and I wanna hear:)

 Miracles have been happening here on the square this past week!!!!! We are meeting SO many amazing people who have such a huge desire to learn. Its so crazy! also I met the ambassador of Pakistan this week??? who knew he would come here to temple square??? he was super nice though ahah when we met him he said "welcome to temple square" and we were like uhmmmm shouldnt it be us saying that??? but thats okay because he was so sweet aahah

 anyways i love being a missionary its the best thing:) I love you tons and tons!!!!!

 Sister Piepgrass 

 

here is my companion and I :) we were pretending to be investigators for another companionship so we got to not wear our tags for the tour and it felt weird ​

 

January 23, 2018

HI MOM! 

I sincerely don’t know if I have ever been so happy in my whole life, and its kinda weird because I’m, constantly tired or studying or something.... but idk I’m just SO happy doing it!!!! 

these past 2 (or is it 3?) weeks have been crazy fun. lots is happening!!! one of the biggest things is that we got a new mission president!! He is SO nice. we all love him so much already. One of the first things he told us was "don’t marry a slug, marry someone cool" so I can already tell im gunna learn lots form him ahah 

also this week is transfers!!! ah!!! and I’m gunna be a mom!!! (aka I’m training!!!) I’m mostly excited... only a lil bit scared but that’s only because Ill be training in the Beehive House which just requires you to know A LOT of facts about the church and prophets and Brigham Young! But im excited for the challenge mostly though I think it’ll be super fun!!! Also we moved apartments today ( im moving into a big one thank heavens) and i realized how hard moving is.... and i literally have only a lil bit of stuff but man its hard!!! growing 

this past two weeks I feel like I have changed so much for some reason... not too sure why. But my faith is growing more than I ever thought possible. I have felt time and time again that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me, and I know that He is aware of all the little things that I am going through. Im grateful for the love and support He gives all of us as we go through our trials. Prayer is on of the most influential things we can start our day with! As we pray and ask the Lord for strength, He will help us!! I know that because I have felt it more than I ever have here.

In my studying I came across a scripture that I love so much!!! 

1 Samuel 16:7 "For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for a man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" 

How good is that?! The Lord sees us for who we really are, and because He knows us perfectly, He wants us to pray and talk with Him. He doesn't judge or criticize, He simply listens, then helps, comforts and strengthens:)

i love this church and i love the Book of Mormon

i hope you have a good week........ don’t miss me too much:) 

oh and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH 

sister piepgrass 

this is a cute lil pic of my cute lil companion making me some delish thai food (gunna miss it so much:( but this was some sticky rice!!!!)

 

January 9, 2018

HIIIII

this week was i think my favourite of the mission so far! a lot happened!! first, on Wednesday we had Zone Conference which is seriously the most amazing day ever! My mission president and his wife are seriously the most amazing people ever!!! He taught us how we need to be "rock solid, true blue, through and through" disciples of Christ. And seriously I felt like a whole new missionary walking out of the meeting!! President taught us how to really help people see how life changing the Book of Mormon can be, if they let it. I LOVE the Book of Mormon so much. I LOVE teaching people it, I love handing it out to people that I meet on the square in their languages (SO MANY!) and I love hearing how people learn from it differently. Its the best

so after zone conf my companion and I were walking back to the square from our home and we saw this guy who looked pretty scary and we followed him.... (maybe not a good idea but it seemed safe in the moment lol) and we followed him into the North Visitors Center up to the statue of Christ and then we go and sit next to him and talk to him and turns out he did go through something extremely hard that day and as we started talking to him we learned that he used to be a drug addict and dealer and his life was not going in a good direction and then one day missionaries came to his door and he knew from the moment he shook their hands that the church was true! He then started telling us how the church has changed his life and THEN we realized he is literally the smartest human ever... he started explaining the Book of Mormon and the Bible and how to intertwine and I was so amazed Seriously I learned so much from him. And at the end he kept saying " you missionaries are truly super-heroes.... who else literally saves lives like you guys do?" aw man he was the BEST. and his name was steve..... meant to be am i right dad??? steves are the BESTok BUT exactly after we had the best morning with president and the best chat with Steve.... we go to our next assignment and start talking to this anti who was very Christian and he talked to us for an hour and a half.... it was the hardest talk ive ever had with a person and man he had some harrrrd questions... and he stayed until temple square closed. and then at the end he asked if he could come back and ask us more questions and we were like ya sure!!!! (not actually thinking that he would literally come back) WELL he did. yesterday we heard that there was a guy looking for us and wanted to talk to us and so we came upstairs and saw that it was him and we were like ahhhhhhhhh hey what’s up!!??? we were pretty scared but also confident so it was okay but lets just say we talked with him again for an hour and a half and the convo ended with me and my comp crying ahahha BUT i have never been so grateful for a person, because he strengthened my testimony SO MUCH. i have never had to defend the Book of Mormon and testify what it has done for me personally so much in my whole life. So although he may not have accepted it now, I know one day he will and I am so excited for him!!!! hidden blessings!!!! also im grateful for my companion because she is the most amazing missionary ah 

 

I am SO grateful for this church. I am sososo grateful for the Book of Mormon and the power it truly does have to change our lives!!! This week I learned that more than I ever have in my whole life. a sister in my zone said"I stand with Jesus Christ, I stand with Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, because they stand by me" -Sister Merling I love that she said that so much. And I could not agree more! I feel the strengthening power it has in my life everyday when I study it. Everyday I learn more about the Savior and His loving grace for us and I grow a deeper desire to help others feel that as well because I know that no matter what you are going through, that feeling can change everything! I have seen it in myself and my companion and my investigators! 

then the next day I saw uncle Bart and Aunt Alonna and it just made me so happy!!!! it was honestly just what I needed!!! So fun seeing fam :) 

also today we went to china town and yes I spent WAY too much on rice crackers but how can you not. it was a whole new world in there and my companion was just going to town finding thai things and teaching what things to use to make pad thai and i felt like a whole new person walking out of there ah i kinda had a glimpse of what amy is going to be living in for the next year and a half ahahha ugh shes awesome but ya while we were there we took some pics with some pandas...... also the other pic is me and sister Pazos :) she’s my bff and she’s from Puebla Mexico and yes we have already arranged my trip to visit her...... so far after my mission i am going to Thailand, Mexico, 

 

ok luv ya!!!!!!!!!!

December 19, 2017

hi mom :)

this week was good! transfers are insane i found out even though im still with my trainer its still so crazy! we all go to our zone leaders room and they read out who our new companions going to be and what assignment we have and where we will be moving to! I have West Gate this transfer which means im on the square and I get to sit at this lil cute warm booth at the west gate and i control the square lol sounds intense but really i just make sure that there are sisters at every assignment and desk and if there isnt then i have to find covers! it can get kinda stressful but i love it its fun:)

it was a little bit of a rougher week this week.... but also i realized that when i have rough days that my prayers are being answered in ways that i totally dont expect and im beyond grateful for that! it was also a really humbling week! i was reading a talk and in it a question was asked that hit me so hard. it said " What would Jesus Christ do with my opportunities?" and it made realize that I am literally representing Him, and everything I do, say, and think has to reflect that! I listened to "If the Savior Stood Beside Me" after and I was so happy and honoured to be a missionary and that has helped me all throughout this week! I was thinking... if I were to go home today... already I would be a completely different person because my love for Jesus Christ has grown soo much! seriously so much more than I ever thought it would. I am just sooo grateful this week

M Russel Ballard (ahhhh!!!) asked to speak to us this week in our sacrament meeting and it was sooo good!!! he was talking about how we should never complain (lol me) but he related it to the pioneers, and the the atonement, then he said "sisters.... you have no idea what hard is!" ahahah all of us were like ya true and now everytime I think I’m tired or have a headache I realize that it is nothing compared to what our Savior when through, or what the pioneers had to do to come here! man this week was good 

also one day I was studying in the new testament... which is my new favourite thing but i was reading in my fav book- Romans- and I was getting a lot of people this week asking where good scriptures were that explained how much God loves us. and when I came across Romans 8:35-39 I was sooo touched by how comforting this scripture is. 

 

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerorsthrough him that loved us.

38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

seriously I love this scripture so much!!! it says that literally nothing can separate us from how much God loves us. After studying this I was given so many opportunities to share it this week, and I realized thats because so many people dont realize or understand how much God really does love them. no matter what! I meet so many people here that are antis and are so against what we believe, but I love talking to them because no matter what, whenever I share a scripture I always feel the spirit, and although they cant feel it, I know that these things are true and I just pray that one day they will accept it as well 

its weird thinking its christmas next week... it doesnt really feel like it though cause it still hasnt snowed (????!!!) but praying it will soon!!!! last year apparently it snowed on Christmas eve which is the cutest thing ive ever heard so im hoping it does that

big shoutout to Elder Karrens mom- Melissa!!!!!! thank u for the homeade cookies!!!!! my heart is full!!! (mostly cause I ate so many of ur cookies but also cause im so happy) so thank you i luv ya! :) 

have a good Christmas mom and fam and friends :) I miss you and I love you so much 

Sister Piepgrass:)

December 12, 2017

Hey mom:)

this week was pretty crazy!! we went on our first service project and it was SO FUN! we went to a nursing home to sing and write cards.. they requested us haha so cute.. and so we went and as we were singing I was talking with this man named Charles who is now one of my best friends ahha hes so sweet!! he lived in france for 6 years so i told him about gramma and grampa and he got really happy :) he has had seriously the hardest life and his wife passed away 2 years ago and we spent probably 2 hours with him telling me his favourite memories of him and his wife :) how cute :) ill send a pic of me and charles!!! 

also this week was very eventful because for some reason I talked to every single anti that came on temple square ahahha it was pretty scary but also funny so its okay, one of them was full on yelling at me and mom you know that when i get scared i start laughing... well ya i could barely hold it back it was so bad ahahaha still i always love talking to antis because we literally have an answer to every single one of their questions and its funny seeing them get mad so ya it was a good week :) 

Talking to all the antis really made me have to answer with what I actually knew to be true. Because they can definitely tell when someone says something that they really know and understand for themselves... so this one lady was yelling at me and asking me all these question about Heavenly Father and how its impossible that He could love all of us.. and the whole time I just wanted her to know that He does love her, and I could tell she was really missing that from her life! And it reminded me why I was on a mission, and why I wanted to share the gospel so much! So I am actually really grateful that I got to talk to those people this week because it was such a good reminder 

on a different note lol today for pday we went to the most amazing mexican food place and it was soooo good. ah so blessed ahah 

anyways im so happy and grateful to be a missionary its so amazing seeing the difference that the gospel can bring into someones life! 

this scripture is what I feel!!! My soul is so happy sharing with people how much the Lord really does love all of us :)

5 And also my soul delighteth in the covenants of the Lord which he hath made to our fathers; yea, my soul delighteth in his grace, and in his justice, and power, and mercy in the great and eternal plan of deliverance from death.

I miss you all and I love you so much and I pray for you everyday!! 

ps yes that is me and sister young in matching christmas outfits and if anyone wants one of our christmas cards hit me up 

Sister Piepgrass 

December 5, 2017

Hi mom:)

sorry I didn't email last week I had no time at all!!! but it has been busy busy here on temple square and it is so fun!!! thousands of people come here and it is crazy! i'm living the dream rn!! 

first of all, shoutout to my (second?) cousin Nicole!!! Thank you for the chips!! I ate them for breakfast lunch and dinner:) 

last week we got to go to a members house for dinner and it was sooo yummy. I didn't realize how much a missed actual food! (all I eat is potatoes, and oatmeal and chicken) (i'm bad at budgeting... learned from last month though so lets hope I get better) but thanksgiving was so fun! It was weird eating with a family for the first time! made me miss home a lil but its okay now! Ill send a pic of us and the family we got to eat with! :) also they made me gluten free dairy free food and i wanted to cry i was so happy!! 

Anyways the lights are on now so sooo many people come to temple square! Its seriously so crazy. But I love it more than anything!!! Everyone is so happy when they walk through the gates and you can see it!! One of my favourite parts of Christmas time is that as a zone we get to sing on the square 3 times every week and so many people come and watch!!! Elder Rasband and David Archuleta came but I didn't have my glasses on so I didn't actually know they were watching us until they were walking away and people we waving ahahah dang it next time next time

every single day I get happier and happier I seriously am so lucky to be serving here on temple square! I love it sooo much. I love it mostly because we get to teach and share with people the Restoration so many times every single day. And I honestly never really understood how important the Restoration and the First Vision were until I came here. But it is my favourite part of my day whenever I get to recite the first vision for someone. And just seeing the look in their eyes when the spirit confirms that it is true and that it really happened. Nothing beats it!!!! seriously I love Joseph Smith so much! And I never truly understood what He had to do with me... and what he could mean to me personally, but now I realize that EVERYTHING that we have and everything that I am teaching people and the reason why I am here is because of Him! He was so strong and brave and faithful and I try to be more like him everyday. I love when he says in the Joseph Smith History chapter 1 verse 25 "I had seen a vision. I knew it and I knew God knew it, and I could not deny it."  That is so powerful! And I know that it is true! what a guy 

oooh ahhaha funny story from this week.... this creepy guy that comes every single day came and talked to my comp and I and was just telling us about how hes single and just wants to marry a nice Mormon girl (hes probably 50) and comes everyday and hits on every sister ahah and so he was talking to us and telling us of this dream that he had of a girl and how the next day he saw a girl here on temple square that looked just like her and then he asked us "is that a sign from God that I should marry her?" and we tried to tell him as politely as we could that she  is a young missionary so we wouldn't think that would be appropriate.. but that there was a girl out there for him somewhere and that we would pray for him and then he started crying and thanking us! AND THEN he hugged us!!! hahahah it was so weird and we both were so awkward and ah ya hes weird and we still see him everyday which makes it even weirder gotta love it though:) 

it's been such a good week though! I love it so much and I'm learning lots:) 

I LOVE YA TONS AND TONS 

Sister Piepgrass 

Me and Sister Young found a remix cd of childrens hymns and it is the funniest thing ever hahahhah

 This is our Thanksgiving Family

 Someone heart attacked our door

 hahahah ok this morning was Sister Ratmaets first time ever seeing snow!  So, here's a video of her freaking out!