December 10, 2014

Dear Family,

Soooo, the travel plans are as follows: I leave the MTC at 6 am on Monday, Dec. 15, and then our flight out of Salt Lake leaves at 11:15ish to Atlanta. Then we have a layover in Atlanta from like 4;50 to 7:40 and then we board our like 12 hour flight to Buenos Aires, which is supposed to land at 8 am the next morning! All on Delta. So it's gonna be a long day of travel, and I'm not really sure yet what's gonna happened after that, but I think we'll take a bus/car/plane or something to Mendoza from there. So, yay! I'm beyond excited to get to Argentina. I'm nervous too, but mostly just excited and anxious to get to work! I already spent a whole month of my mission!!!! 

How's Christmas in the Pypers house this year? It looks so awesome! Ferb is up to mischief as usual and everyone sounds as busy as ever! It'll be back down to just two kids in the house soon enough, huh? That's good that Andy made some cash, because life is expensive. I'm glad I don't have to worry about stuff like that for a while. So, mom, I got all of the happy mail! The cute little Santa hat, the candy cane of kisses, the pez! My Chilean teacher had never seen pez before so I shared some with him haha. He was entertained. Also, thank you so much for the sweet little necklace charms, I love them! I can't believe how thoughtful that was, thank you! And sounds like I have a barrage of packages on the way, so thank you for being so accommodating and loving and supporting me from afar!

I've been a little sick with a bit of a cough and sore throat, but it got a little better today, so I'm hoping that it will be gone before we have to travel. Other than that, I've had a really great last week so far! My spanish is improving, I feel the spirit mas y mas, and so much great counsel from devotionals and our teachers. Tomorrow we have in-field orientation all day long, I think they just show us how to street contact and make goals and stuff like that, so that should be interesting. This past Sunday we had mission conference which was cool, all the MTC presidency spoke, and then yesterday, Craig W. Zwick and his wife came and spoke and I really enjoyed their words. Also, the little phenom Lexi Walker (12 year old prodigy angel singer, look her up), came and performed O Holy Night, I am a child of god, and I know that my redeemer lives. She was fantastic. Elder Zwick talked about staying safe on your mission by following counsel of priesthood leaders, listening to the spirit, and obeying the commandments. It's really cool that since I've been here, I've had several general authorities and 2 apostles promise me that if I was obedient, that I would be safe and would have the Spirit with me. Good stuff. 

Andy, I ran into Alec Anderson in the cafeteria haha. Apparently, he works here as a teacher, and he said to say hi! I guess you'll probably see him soon, when you come out here!

That is so weird that you're retiring Dad. You've been in the Air Force literally my whole life!!!! I've never known anything else haha. But I know that you will continue to have greatness and success in all of these new endeavors and challenges! Keep me updated! Also, I'm super excited that you might live in UT when I get back!

Mom, thanks so much for taking care of me even from miles away! A couple more things: 1. could you make sure I have about 300 in my checking account before I leave on Monday morning? 2. I don't know, i think that's it actually haha

Alrighty, now for the good stuff. I realized the other day that the MTC is filled with patterns.You learn patterns of righteousness in all things: in how to study, how to teach, patterns of obedience and blessings, how to seek the spirit, how the spirit speaks to you and through you, patterns of how to act and think. Just like here in the MTC, the gospel of Jesus Christ is filled with patterns of righteousness that we can seek out through study and experimenting upon the word. These patterns make up our eternal progression. Also, I studied Moroni 7:32-48 about charity, and wrote down all the aspects of charity and then rewrote them in my own words. Then I picked two of those characteristics to work on this week, and let me tell you, it really helped in putting off my natural instinct to think about me and turn outwards and think about others. It was neat. Try it sometime this week, maybe for family night! 

My district is singing "Brightly Beams our Father's Mercy" in sacrament meeting this week as our going away song! I will miss everyone in my district, especially my companions. I have been so blessed with easy-going, diligent, smart, funny, Christ-like companions. I know we're gonna be friends for eternity! 

I'm trying to think of some more things to tell you....my companion, Hna. Zaugg and I had fun yesterday narrating the four-square game in the gym from above on the track, in British accents. We laugh a lot here at the MTC. I also love all of my teachers, they are so patient and helpful to all of us! I hope I get a chance to teach here when I get back.

Well fam, that's bout it. I love you all! I hope you have such a great week! Yo se que mi redentor, aun que Jesucristo el hijo de Dios vive! I'll write you from Argentina next week!

P.S. I sent mom an email, but I have an opportunity to call home from Atlanta during my layover. If everyone is home, I'd love to! If not, that's fine too, because I'll skype you in a couple weeks too! Let me know in like an hour!

Love and hugs from the MTC,

Hermana Pyper

December 3, 2014

Happy thanksgiving! Looks like y'all had a nice little quiet family weekend! The MTC was pretty awesome on thanksgiving. Elder Bednar came thursday morning and hosted an international question and answer session with all the international MTCs. They passed out cell phones and had everyone text in their questions, and it was a really cool experience. Elder Bednar is an amazing man and a true apostle of Christ. He talked about representative agency, which is agency that represents Christ when you make covenants with God to take upon you Christ's name. He also talked about consecrating your whole heart, mind, might, and soul to your mission. As the MTC choir, we sang "Come Thou Fount" and it was SO AWESOME! The power of the spirit there was so so strong. Afterwards, we had Thanksgiving lunch, classic stuff, turkey, beans, potatoes, pumpkin pie. Stuffed full. Then we had a really cool service project were we made little dry casseroles for a hungry kids program. We broke some kind of record and it was really nice to just lose myself in service. So then we had like a thanksgiving program and then sack dinner haha but it was nice because we ate with our zone and had a little box that we wrote thankful thoughts in and then read them. Then we had a surprise and got to watch Meet the Mormons! That was really special! Then we walked out and the Christmas lights were turned on and everything looked so beautiful! I'll send a pic. The rest of the week was pretty normal, but then Sheri Dew came to Relief Society and spoke. Let me tell you, she is amazing. She is so powerful, and direct, and she gave a really cool explanation of how women and the priesthood work together. She also talked about receiving revelation and she asked a cool question, "Am I willing to engage in a spiritual wrestle?" She described a spiritual wrestle as understanding doctrine well enough and receiving revelation to wrestle the adversary / questions to the ground. Really cool experience. Then guess who came on Sunday night devotional?? VOCAL POINT. They were so good. They started out with the 12 days of Christmas (Straight no Chaser style) and then sang a bunch of hymns. They sang a really beautiful version of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and they bore their testimonies in between songs. 

Then, yesterday, Elder David F. Evans came to speak and he shared like a mormon message clip thingy called Share the Gift. I encourage y'all to watch it, it's really touching. He talked then about how he discovered the Gift (Christ) and then embraced it and shared it. So, I encourage you family to discover the gift more fully this Christmas. Mom and Dad sounds like y'all are doing just that with reading the Book of Mormon. That's awesome! I recently just started over and have been reading it again, and already I have learned so much through this missionary lens over my life. The more you discover the gift, the more you embrace it, and the more you want to share it. And the more you share it, the more you discover for yourself! It'sa cycle, isn't that cool? Everything in the gospel is a circle, one eternal round.

So I still the love the MTC, but I am getting a little stir-crazy. I can't wait to get to Argentina! Although, I do need you guys to send me a couple more things before I leave: passport holder, some more proactiv+, a usb with tons and tons of music pleassseee! Haha, and whatever else you think I need. I got the sleeping bag, and the little boxes of candy, and the christmas box with cocoas and then cute wreath and DARLING STOCKINGS! So cute! Thank you so much mom and dad! And thank you for the letter Beks! I sent everyone one back. 

I have not seen Matt King yet, but if I do I'll say hi! Haha. Andy, screen protector is in the black cloth bin on the left side of my little white storage thingy in my room (the one with the mirror over it), or it could be in one of those black and white flowery boxes. I'm not sure. And I don't know about the iCloud password, I'll email you my guesses in a sec.

So anyways, I love feeling the spirit. I love giving all my time to the Lord. I feel blessed every day for this opportunity to serve and have the spirit work through me. I know the Lord is blessing y'all too. How is life in the real world? It is really nice to have so much time to spiritually fortify myself. I have six weeks to learn how to put on the armor of God more securely and then when I get to the field, I will have a couple hours a day to put it on. One of my teachers said something cool/scary. She said going to proselyte is like going into the great and spacious building and inviting people to come and partake of the tree of life. So, let's put on the armor of GOD! YAY!

Alrighty well, before I leave, I just want to say that I know that Jesus is the Christ. I know that he is the savior of the world and has born each of our burdens. I know that when you embrace the gift of His Atonement and His life, we will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and we will be filled with the desire to share this gift that has come to mean so much to us. It means so much to me, more than I could possibly express, and I cannot wait to share it with the wonderful people of Argentina. 

So, watch the message. http://www.mormon.org/christmas. I love you all so much! 

Love, 

Hermana Pyper

November 26, 2014

Today is hump day of my MTC stay! I am officially halfway done. I love the MTC but I can see how missionaries get a little stir crazy here because I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy too. I don't mind the schedule and everything, and I'm still learning a ton, but I am getting tired of living in the same square mile all day every day. I am so excited for this Christmas package!! I loved the tree lighting ceremony. Every one looks great! And Sugie is so cute. I laughed so hard at the story about the dead rat, it just means that she loves you Mom! haha. That aquarium trip sounded awesome! I'm really jealous of all the hermanas in my district because they're all going to the south of Argentina, close to Antarctica, which means PENGUINS! But, Mendoza is the best so I'm pumped. I'm glad to hear that everyone is well and plugging along. Get better Ellie! I've had a sore throat for the past few days, but I hope it doesn't turn into anything worse. I would totally say hi to Devin, but I haven't seen him since he got here, and I think that he might have already left. I'm glad to hear that the ward is doing well. I kind of don't have a concept of time anymore. All the days are the same, except Sundays and Wednesdays are a little bit different.

 We didn't get to go to the temple this morning because it's closed due to thanksgiving, but that's alright because we have a really awesome day tomorrow. We have a general authority devotional in the morning, in which I (and the rest of the MTC choir ;) are singing "Come Thou Fount". It sounds really awesome with like 500 voices, but I will always like Dad's version the best! Then we have like a huge Thanksgiving lunch and a service project and sack dinner in the classroom and then we get to watch a movie!! Probably like The restoration or something haha. I did get to watch The Testaments on Sunday, it was awesome. Oh my goodness, guess who came to speak at the devotional last night....ELDER OAKS! It was so cool. We sang "Nearer my God to thee" in the choir and our choir director told us the context behind the lyrics. It's about the story of Jacob, and how he travels into the desert and sleeps on a rock and then has the dream about the ladder and basically receives his endowment from angels in his dream. I think it's in Genesis 28. Anyways, really cool story and message about how we become closer to God through our trials and hard times. So yeah, Elder Oaks was awesome! He spoke about our purpose as missionaries and how to lose yourself in service (Matthew 16:24-27?). It was super sweet and the Spirit was strong. A couple things from his talk: 1. We must serve because we love God and His Children. In order to serve with all of our heart and mind, we must be free from selfish ambition. 2. A quote by Mother Teresa, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." 3. He gave this really great analogy about being an instrument in the hands of God, comparing a missionary to a pen. He said he wants the pen to be able to perform his work, his way, on his timetable. He doesn't want the pen to say, "I'm too tired" or "i can't write, it's my p-day" haha, we need to be filled with what's necessary to fulfill our purpose (ink for the pen and Testimony of the gospel for missionaries).

Anyways, another fun thing, my companions and I are performing in sacrament meeting on Sunday, "Where can i turn for peace?". It's gonna be good. Also, I played four-square in gym yesterday, and then the elders in my district gave me the nickname of "The Plumber", because I apparently "flush people out" hahaha I don't know, they're all crazy elders. 

So a couple of experiences I've had with my investigators. One day, we were preparing to teach Pablo a lesson, and I was having a hard time focusing or feeling the spirit while we were preparing. So my comp asked me to say the prayer before we knocked on the door, and I burst into tears during the prayer. I know that the spirit prompted her to ask me so that we could resolve everything in order to have the spirit. So I just talked it out and we refocused and had another prayer, and then we went in and I could already feel the huge difference having the Spirit made. We were about to go into that lesson without the spirit and we would not have been able to teach effectively. Thankfully, Heavenly Father knew how to direct us to refocus and reinvite the Spirit. I'm so glad we did because the lesson was so awesome. We taught the message of the restoration, just really simply and then we asked Pablo to say a prayer with us, kneeling, and ask Heavenly Father if our message was true. It was so beautiful to see a child of God reconciling with their Father in Heaven, coming humbly in prayer, seeking truth. We also had another cool lesson with Julio. We only had like 20 minutes, so we taught him the Plan of Salvation really simply and asked him to read 2 Nephi 2. Then after we were done, we asked him to have a kneeling prayer with us and ask if our message was true. We also asked him to pause for about 30 seconds after the prayer and pay attention to his feelings and thoughts. So awesome. After that we asked him how he felt and he said he felt really good and peaceful, and then we asked him if he wanted to be baptized and have the feeling always! And he said yes! So basically, I love missionary work. 

So here's a video of my comps and I playing you smell like, I taught them! haha

Love y'all and have a delicious thanksgiving!!! 

Love,

Hermana Rach

November 19, 2014

Dear Family,

YAY! I'm so excited that you got the job Dad! I knew you would of course, but I was still praying! So do you know any of the details of the job/where you're moving? That's so exciting!!! Our zone is getting a new district today! I think they have two hermanas and four elders or something. I feel like I've been here FOREVER even though it's only been two weeks haha. Probably because I'm effectively using all 24 hours of my day everyday for the first time in my life haha. I see Jesse Carter like everyday haha and I also saw Wyatt Lemmons, he looks a lot different than I remember (then again it's been 13 years) so I didn't recognize him at first. I also saw Devin Lee for like 2 seconds but then I lost him in the crowd and didn't get to say hi. I'll find him again I'm sure. Mom, I got both of your packages, THANK YOU SO MUCH! The cookies were delicious and my companions and I say thank you for the ultra cute socks! And I like to play with that Hairy harry drawing  thing to destress at the end of the day haha. We have so much extra food in our room though because all of our families have sent us cookies and cinnamon rolls and snacks and things haha, so we have a shelf entirely devoted to food. 

So we have three teachers assigned to our district and PLOT TWIST, one of them was our investigator for the first week and then the next day he showed up as our teacher hahaha. I knew that was going to happen but I didn't realize that it was Antonio, whom we just committed to baptism! And Hermano Figueroa (one of our other teachers), his first name is Ignacio....which means our whole district could not stop laughing at the fact that people actually call him Nacho!!

Yesterday's devotional was awesome! Sis. Linda K Burton, the general relief society president came and spoke along with her husband. Brother Burton talked a lot about becoming a missionary and growing into the mantle of responsibility that is placed upon us as we are set apart. Sister Burton talked about the Atonement and how we can use it with ourselves and with our investigators and the others we bring unto Christ. I really liked it. OH, and on thanksgiving, the choir is singing Mack Wilberg's Come Thou Fount. SO. Excited. 

Andy, we have this hermana come help us with learning and stuff and apparently she served with you, Hermana Savage? And there's an elder in my zone, Elder Sam Johnson, who is the cousin of Brett Schill! So that's cool, I bet I could make a connection with every here at MTC. I like to talk to the Korean speaking missionaries because there's always confused as to why an Hermana is saying hi to them in Korean haha. 

My Spanish is coming along and so is my teaching. Also, I feel like I've known my companions forever, we're all so close. I can already tell we're gonna be best friends for eternity. Same with all the hermanas in my district. Sometimes, we have too much fun laughing but I think we're getting the hang of the balance between staying focused but still being able to laugh at ourselves. 

So how is everyone? How's Sugar? How's school? Any big plans for thanksgiving? I think there's an apostle coming to speak on thanksgiving but I can't confirm the rumors. 

I just want to end with my testimony. I know that Jesus Christ is my savior. I know that he suffered the pains, sins, afflictions, and sorrow of all of the children of God so that we could live with Heavenly Father again. I know that the Atonement is both infinite and intimate and it can help you in more ways than you could possibly imagine. I love being able to rely on the Lord in everything, I know that I am doing His work. I cannot wait to be able to experience the joy of seeing one of my fellow brothers and sisters realize the joy and happiness of the plan of salvation of the gospel. Use the Atonement. Use it to first obtain a remission of your sins, and then retain a remission of your sins, through helping others come unto Christ. Missionary work is the best! I love you guys! Thank you for supporting me and being such a wonderful family!

Love and hugs from Provo,

Hermana Pyper

Nov. 12, 2014

It's P-DAY!!

Hola! How is everyone? That's so awesome to hear that your interview went well! Of course you flew your sim like a boss, because you're the best pilot ever! So, I am in a trio. My companions are Hermana Zaugg and Hermana Ming. Hna. Zaugg's dad is a psychiatrist in the air force so we've both moved around a lot. Right now her family is in Anchorage. Hna. Ming is a cali girl from the OC, haha, she's so awesome, they both are. They are both very spiritual, hilarious, musical and awesome. I'm so blessed to have awesome companions because it would be much harder without good companions. I already miss mom's cookin haha. The food isn't bad, it is pretty similar to the Cannon Center, they even had BYU mint brownies today!! So the very first day we got here, we went into this workshop with all the new missionaries who came in that day and learned how to teach. They had an investigator come in and have a companionship start off getting to know them and then they would turn the time over to us and they passed a mic around and let like 50 missionaries teach haha. It was kinda crazy because so many different ways and thoughts of how to teach but it was really helpful in understand how to understand your investigator and how to listen to them first and understand where they're coming from before teaching them. My third day we had our first lesson with a "real" investigator, Antonio, which went alright haha. It was completely in Spanish so that was difficult but I'm really glad that we had it because being in a real setting was really helpful. 

Dad you were totally right. It's pretty exhausting being so spiritually fulfilled all day every day (toda dia cada dia?) We've had two devotionals, a full day of Sunday meetings, 5 lessons, several workshops, and lots and lots of the spirit! Sunday was nice because we had a little bit more of a rest even though we were still busy. I've been sleeping like a baby because I'm so tired by 10:30 haha. Getting up is not too bad so far, so we'll see how that continues haha.

So let's see, there are 7 hermanas in my district, we're all going to Argentina, but only me and Hna. Zaugg are going to Mendoza. The rest are going to Comodoro Rivadavia. The three elders in my district, 2 going to Mexico and 1 going to Guatemala. My district is awesome. Especially the hermanas, we're all really close. They are all so wonderful and hilarous and joyful. 

Something I learned this week that is muy importante. Patience. I got really frustrated like the second day because I still couldn't speak Spanish perfectly and my teacher, Hermano Arce (really awesome teacher) was like, "Hermana, it's okay. It's only the second day! You'll get it. And that's not even the most important thing to learn here, testifying with the spirit is the most important thing" So I'm grateful for my teacher who is very helpful and Heavenly Father, who knows exactly what I need to hear when I need to hear it. 

Bonnie L Oscaron (YW General Pres) came to speak to our relief society on sunday and she related some of the lessons her family learned while on their various missions. That was really fun to hear all about their missionary experiences and learn some things like, "Trust in the Lord" and "Be Yourself". Cool stuff. Ooo and we went to choir practice on Sunday and got to perform in the MTC Choir at the tuesday devotional. We sang Dr. Wilberg's arrangement of "Praise to the Man". It was so powerful and awe-inspiring to hear 500+ missionaries testifying of Joseph smith all at the same time. Dean M Davies, second counselor in the presiding bishopric, spoke to us at the devotional. It was really cool. He talked about patterns of righteousness in the scriptures and how serving a mission will be a blessing your whole life if you give the Lord everything. I was thinking about that in the temple today as well. I really want to consecrate all of myself to serving the Lord for 18 months and I'm so excited to help others come unto Christ!

BTW, I just barely ran into jesse Carter, he just got here! And I ran into a couple of my friends from BYU, my korean pianist friend and another friend that I had jazz class with. I'll try to send a pic.

Anyways, I love you guys! Thanks so much for being so supportive and teaching me the gospel and helping me get out on a mission! I love you and miss you! Portense bien! Luke 18:27-"The things that are not possible with men are possible with God"

Love,

Hermana Pyper <3 

Here are some pix from Rachel:

Pix from the first days

Hermana Pyper and dad, as she enters the MTC, Nov. 5.  

A picture of all the sisters in her district sent by the branch president.  They are all going to Argentina!

Introducing Hermana Pyper!!

Hermana Rachel Pyper is going to be serving in the Argentina Mendoza Mission.  Her mailing address in the MTC is

Sister Rachel Pyper

DEC16 ARG-MEN

2007 N 900 E Unit 98

Provo, UT  84602