"Following Christ to Victory"

A little early morning workout :-)

Possibly my favorite picture of Sister Lacey!

Hey y'all! 

Okay, so first things first! I am so sorry that the past few emails have been pretty bad! I will promise to do better! I am excited to tell y'all about this week! There is nothing like being a missionary! This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but it is also the most rewarding!

So I know we are all aware of this but missionary work differs,depending on where you serve (even different areas in a mission differ). I told this to my family when I Skyped them on Mother's Day but Rigby is my "deciding" area (I'll explain) and I'm so excited I get to stay here for at least another 6 weeks! I feel like Rigby has been the "refiners fire" for me, and for that I am so grateful! I now have a stronger testimony and love for the Savior's Atonement and I am learning how to "lose myself" in the Lord's work, as well as turning to the Lord and putting everything in His hands! That is why I feel Rigby is my "deciding area"! I have had to learn to put a lot of things on the alter of sacrifice so I can become the missionary/person God intended me to become. It's not easy but I have faith that it is completely worth it! I know that God has more work for Sister Hurst and I to do here this transfer and that is why we are staying! I am excited to see God work miracles in Rigby and I pray that I will be a humble servant to be an instrument in God's hands.

So on to the week! So kinda a funny story/ a tender mercy! So last Sunday we stayed at home all day because Sister Hurst had the stomach bug. Anyways, I didn't really eat that much food that day because she wasn't eating and I was being lazy. Well last Monday she was doing better but we still didn't eat that much food because it's preparation day and we just usually don't eat very much on Mondays. Anyways, we start proselyting at 6 and had a few appointments. We went to one but then other canceled and so we decided to try a few houses but nothing was working out. And at this point we were both running on fumes from lack of food! We decided to pray and ask God where to go and the whole time my comp was praying, all I could think was, "I need food" and I started thinking about all the members we could try and go see haha! Instead of doing that though, a referral came to mind so we went there. It wasn't a good time for her so we decided to try her neighbor's house. We knocked on the door and it was a member and they invited us inside. Within like 1 minute of us being in the house... they offered us FOOD!! I know that sounds funny but it was such a tender mercy! And on top of that, one of their daughters just came home from her mission a few months ago and she gave us advice for the mission that I needed so much!! She told us that the only person we need to try and become is the Savior! We need to stop comparing ourselves to others and just be like Christ! It was also a tender mercy because she reminds me a lot of Morgan so it felt like I was getting sister advice! Anyways, that was the first miracle of the week!

Another miracle we were able to witness was with one of the people we are teaching. So we haven't been able to meet with her in a long time because she went on vacation but we were finally able to meet with her! She is from Alabama and man I love people from the South! She has lived here for a long time now but she's still southern! We were able to teach her the Plan of Salvation and afterwords we invited her to pray and ask God if this was His plan for us. She responded and told us that she didn't need to.  We asked her if she already thought it was God's plan and she said, "well sure! I don't see why it would be". It was such a miracle! We hope to be able to start teaching her granddaughter soon as well!

So this is another funny/ miracle story. So there is this one song that I think a missionary made and it's amazing quotes from the general authority put to music about missionary work. Well we were listening to this song and it had this quote in it, "When the Lord said, “Lengthen your stride, quicken your pace, heighten your reach, widen your vision, and stretch your capacity,” he was in reality saying “expect a miracle,” for these are the stuff from which miracles are made." Sister Hurst and I just loved that quote so we then went on a search for what tall it was in. It was from General Conference in April of 1979, given by Hartman Rector, Jr. My goodness, that was such an amazing talk! I would like you all to read it this week! It's titled "Following Christ to Victory". In it he gives 5 steps of how to see success in Missionary work and in life!

Alright, one last miracle for the week! So I am not one known to have "inspired dreams" but I think I had one this week! I had a dream that we invited a lady to be baptized but when I woke up I couldn't remember who it was haha! All I could remember was that her name started with a "S". Well this week we were able to role-play with some of the elders in our district and they were teaching us the "Gospel of Jesus Christ". We decided to act like our person we are teaching from Alabama and her granddaughter. So elders started teaching us and man I love role-plays! I love learning from other missionaries and these elders were doing very well! Anyways, they get to the end of the lesson and they invited us to be baptized and it hit us! I dreamed about inviting our investigator from Alabama to be baptized! Her name starts with an "S" as well! It was amazing! I love how carefully God puts things into place!

I am sorry this was a long one but this was a very good week! I want you all to know that I love the Savior so much! And it is such a privilege to be on the Lord's side and following Him to victory! I hope y'all have a wonderful week! I love you all so much!

Love,

Sister Lacey 

P.S. I realized yesterday how much bolder I have become as a person . We ran into this guy who doesn't like the church very much and it has been awhile since that has happened. Anyways, he wasn't being very nice so we knew that we needed to bare our testimonies and get out. So I said, "well I just want to bare you my testimony..." then this guy cuts me off and starts saying how he's heard it before and all that. So I just flat out asked him, "Why are you being so mean?" And he said, "I'm not being mean." And I said, "yes you are, you keep cutting me off". Then this guy just keeps talking over us so we just leave and tell him to have a great day and that we hope he finds the truth someday... sooo I known I could have handled that situation a lot better but I have realized that I don't "fear man" as much, so that's good right? Haha