I hit 9 months!

Hump Day!

Hello Y'all!!

I hope that all of y'all had a great week!! Ours was good!! We had a lot of learning experiences that were not too easy but that is one reason we are on missions right? To learn from hard experiences!

So lately it has been a little rough because most of our Potential Investigators the past few weeks have been canceling our lessons. It is always frustrating but I know there is a reason for all things! All we have to do is endure to the end I know that we will be blessed! 

So last Tuesday we had service in the morning with chopping wood. I think I am getting pretty good at it! I'll send you some pics and a video. That night though we were able to meet with one of our progressing investigators who wants to be baptized! He is so amazing! He was stressing a bit because he thought he would have to take a test in order to be baptized so he was trying to cram all the information in that he could haha. We told him that he doesn't need to take a test and that it was our job to make sure that he knows everything that he needs to to be baptized. I think that put him at ease and now he is doing better!

On Wednesday I hit my 9 month mark! So crazy! Two elders in my district actually came out with me, so we were in the MTC together and we all took 9 month pics together! Y'all are in for a treat haha! Later that day, the Primary President in one of our wards asked us to teach a couple 8 year old boys about baptism before they get baptized. It was a cool experience! One of the boy's family is less-active so it was good to be able to teach his parents as well! We are hopefully going to go see them soon and see if we can help them come back to church!

One amazing miracle that happened to us this week was due to the promptings of the Holy Ghost! (Then again that's were all of them come from haha) We stopped randomly at this one house and it was a member so we went inside and talked with her for a little and then asked her for referrals. She gave us this one family and then we left. I can't remember why but we were not planning on visiting that referral that night but on our way home the Spirit told us to stop at this one house so we did. We talked for a little and they told us that we could come back! The next day we wanted to go look up that referral and guess what?! The house that the Spirit told us to knock on was that referral! I thought that was so cool!!! I love how the Spirit works! I will keep you posted on them! 

On Friday I was able to go to a meeting and I realized that I have a lot of stuff to work on as a missionary haha! Good thing I have little over 9 months to figure things out! I am grateful though that our Savior does not expect us to be perfect! He just wants us to try our best and that is all that He asks for! 

On Saturday we had a really awesome lessons with a man that we are teaching. We had a lesson with him earlier in the week and we were a little concerned for him. He seemed to be losing interest and seemed like he maybe would not want to meet anymore. We invited him to read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes everyday and then come to church with us. He basically said no to church but said that he would read the Book of Mormon. We came back to visit him on Saturday night and had an amazing lesson! He said that he did not feel a difference from reading the Book of Mormon but we sure saw the difference! He was willing to come to church and we could tell that his testimony of the Book of Mormon was growing! The next day he came to church and  he stayed for all 3 hours which he has not done before! I am so grateful that I am able to serve in this area at this time to meet these amazing people! 

So lately in my personal study I have been trying to make more of an effort to study the life of Jesus Christ and how He treated people and loved people! It has truly been a blessing! He loves us so much! I am reading the New Testament, Jesus the Christ, and watching the Bible Videos made by the church and I am learning so much! I am so grateful for how forgiving He is and how much He wants us to succeed! I invite all of you to do the same! Study the life of our Savior and we will know how we need to treat our brothers and sisters!

I love all of you so much and I am so grateful for the time I have to be a missionary! I know that this is the Saviors church and I am so grateful I get to share that with others everyday! I love y'all! Be safe and have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lacey

"I will be what I Believe"

Hello Everyone!!

First off, I am so sorry that I have not written a weekly email the past few weeks. The past few P-days have been busy! 

Anyways, the past few weeks have had their share of ups and downs but we just have to trust in God and know that He is there for us every step of the way and is ALWAYS helping us! That is something that I have learned, God will never leave us alone! Especially when we need Him the most!

So last week, as a district, we were able to go to the Rexburg temple as a district and it was amazing! The spirit in the temple is like no other place on earth! Heavenly Father actually gave me a tender mercy while I was in the temple. I was in the temple and I was missing my dad. There was this lady that was in the temple and  she saw my last name and asked if I was a college student and I told her I was a missionary. She said that she new people from Southern California and I said that's where I was from. She then asked me if my dad was Marc!! I was like "YES!!" She said that she was the Stake young women's President in Covina when my dad got baptized when he was 16!!! It was such a tender mercy to meet someone who knows my dad! 

We had an amazing lesson with one of our investigators who wants to be baptized. We have not been able to meet with him for a few weeks but then we were able to this week and it was amazing! He is so excited about the gospel and learning more! He asks so many great questions and goes and buys new study materials all of the time! It is so cool to witness people who are so excited about learning more about Jesus Christ's church!

Last night we had a lesson with 2 young boys about the Plan of Salvation and they were engaged and learned so quickly. Lately, we have been encouraged to work with youth more so we have been going into the Young Men's, Young Women's and Primary a lot and I love it! I understand why in the scriptures it talks about us becoming like little children! They have such strong faith! So to explain my title of this email... I was having a rough weekend of the adversary just telling me that I wasn't a good missionary and I was just being too hard on myself. On Sunday, it was just amazing the love that I felt when I came to church. All of the members were so kind and asking us how we are doing and then we walked by the Primary room and they were singing, "I will be what I believe!" and it was another tender mercy from Heavenly Father! I love that song! If you have not heard it, you should go look it up! I love those little moments when you know that God is there for you not matter what!

We had another really amazing lesson with another one of our investigators and he said that he thinks that his wife sent sister missionaries to this area because he can't say no to sisters :) he is progressing well and I love him! 

I love how easily it is to love people when you truly get to know them and serve them! We were able to do a lot of service this week and I love it! It helps remind me that we are sent here to be the Lord's representatives and we need to do the things that He would do! I love all of you and hope that you all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Lacey