Christmas in Chuy

Christmas in Chuy, Uruguay

Mom sent a Christmas cookie mix

Baptism

This Christmas stocking has gone to every Elder in our family since Uncle Doug. That's 10 missionaries!!               North Carolina, Ireland, Canary Islands, Brazil, Brazil, Brazil, Texas, California, Mexico and now Uruguay.
The Moyle Park ward in Alpine sent the big poster in the background with letters from the Primary children

See what Santa gives good boys.

Elder Cowboy

Elder Lacey's Christmas Tree

House companions. Daniel's Companion, Elder Rae, is in the center

Elder Lacey's District in Chuy

December 30, 2013

Dear Family,

Long time no see! It was so good to talk to you guys on Christmas! You all are looking really good. It is sad that I am not able to talk to everybody but I hope that you were able to tell everyone that I love them. 

Anyway, not much has happened since we last talked. Andrea wasn't able to get baptized this week but she will get baptized soon.

I have been learning so much about Leadership and everything! I am loving it!

Yesterday, Elder Rae and I got caught outside in the rain without umbrellas! We got soaked but we actually had a good time. It was better then being soaking wet from sweat! 

Elder Rae is learning like a boss! He is doing so good! He always wants to help everyone and he is willing to work so I am excited for him. I am always blessed with such good comps.

I am going to end so I can send you all a ton of pictures but I love all of you so much. I am so grateful for this mission and everything that I have been able to see here. I understand why the mission is the best 2 years (so far).

Merry New Years!

Love 

Elder Lacey

PS Luke- You are looking like a Beast! Keep shooting baskets and doing your pushups and sit-ups.....and then go play some Age of Empires for me!

Tell Sam to send me that picture that he is supposed to send me!

10 Baptismal Dates

December 23, 2013

Dear Family,

Is it Christmas soon? I can't believe it! First off because it is super hot outside and second because time is going by so quickly! I can't wait to be able to talk to you guys on Christmas. I am going to call you guys at 6 o'clock our time and we get a whole hour to talk. I also got a whole boatload of packages this past Friday! Thank you so much for sending all of those. The only problem is that there were some thieves that stole some of the candy out of my package. They were really thoughtful though and left a note with some candy wrappers in a ZIPLOC bag. They must have gone through a lot of effort to find a ziploc bag so that they could leave me a note. Haha! I actually laughed pretty hard when I saw that. I have to admit that you did get me for a split second!  I opened a couple of the presents and then I left 2 so that I can open them up on Christmas. But I am wearing my canteen tie right now. I love it! No more dehydration! And Honey Farley sent me a package that is awesome! She is da best. Thank her a ton for me.

These past couple of days have been the busiest days of my mission. I have to make sure that everything is running smoothly in my district and there is barely enough time to make sure our area is organized. Usually the companion of the district leader can help a lot by doing the area book and planning things out and calling members and investigators but I haven't had time to teach Elder Rae all of that stuff yet so I when we get home from proselyting I am running around like a chicken with its legs cut off....(I thought maybe Doug would have liked that analogy) So basically it has been a lot of work, but God is definitely blessing us. Elder Rae is learning everything super quickly and in the past couple of days we have found a ton of new investigators. We now have 10 people with a baptismal date. It just shows that it doesn't matter how long you have been on the mission, Elder Rae has a ton of faith and that is what has been helping find so many people. Sometimes I think that the brand new missionaries have some of the best faith on the mission because they don't know what to do so they rely on the Lord. When missionaries get more experienced they tend to rely on their own knowledge. So, I am trying to always listen to the Spirit instead of doing what I think is best. But anyway, we are really excited for our investigators. We have a 34 year old woman and her 10 year old son that are going to get baptized this weekend. She is the best! She has accepted everything with ease. She has a boyfriend and before we even taught about the Law of Chastity she chose to live it! Right now she seems like one of the strongest members in our ward and she has only come to church twice! It is really cool to see how much her life is changing for the better.

My Mom is a Genius! Dang Mom! You are killin it up there at BYU. I know how hard it is to get a high score on your finals. You must have been studying really hard. 

Thanks for the packages! I also got a letter from Amy and from Grandpa Steinagel so thank them for me! Thank Honey Farley for the package as well. Thanks for all that you guys are doing. I am so excited to be out here on the mission helping others come to Christ. Its da Best! I luv it! Now..... go away! Read some scrips!-Nacho Libre

Love,

Elder Lacey

PS Talk to you guys on Wednesday! :)

Dear Dad,

Man, this week has been crazy. I never realized how much work the district leaders do. And I also respect my trainer a lot more. But I am so glad that I have a really good companion, Elder Rae likes to work hard and he learns really quick. He wants to help me with my District Leader responsibilities so I am really grateful for that. In about a week after he learns about all of the basics I think everything will be a lot easier. But I have actually enjoyed being really busy! I think I will lose some of this fat that I have gained because I don't have the chance to eat at nights now haha! So that is a blessing. But I have also felt that I have been able to help out my district a lot so I feel good about the work that I get to do.

That is so awesome that you and Luke are waking up and shooting hoops. I wish I could be there with you guys to show you how its done! haha! Anyway, I will talk with you guys on Wednesday! Have a Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Lacey

Changes!

December 19, 2013

Dear Family,

Well my space bar doesn't work very well so we will see how this goes.

Anyway, the past 3 days have been crazy. We got the change call on Monday night and then we were supposed to have P day on Tuesday but some things changed so I get to e mail right now. So for changes Elder Ochoa is leaving and I am staying.... I am training and I am also the District Leader......That is why these past 3 days have been a bit crazy. I had to take a bus early on Tuesday so that I could get to Montevideo to go through some training and meet my new companion. It was weird because I had to take the bus by myself, so that was kind of weird haha! 

My new comp is Elder Rae. He is such a good guy! He is from Seattle Washington. We have kind of been through a lot of hard stuff in the past couple days but he is taking it like a champ. We had the Christmas conference on Wednesday and that was awesome because we ate like a couple of kings. I also got to see all of the friends that I have made on the mission because every single missionary was there. So it was really good to catch up with everybody. But the bad thing was that because we had this Christmas conference the bus didn't leave until 6 o'clock which means we didn't get home until 3 a.m. in Chuy. And then we woke up at 6:30. So basically my companion is a Boss!! (that means he is awesome!) I am really excited to work with him. I am also really excited to be able to serve him and everybody in my district. I am really looking forward to this change. I am a little bit sad that Elder Ochoa left and that Elder Tolman finished his mission.  They both helped me a ton!

But sorry that I wasn't able to email on Tuesday. Hopefully you guys weren't to worried. 

It is crazy that you are almost done with all of your classes!I wish you luck with your finals. I also wish BYU luck in Basketball... it sounds like they need it.

I have no idea how the Skype thing is working. We will find out soon and I will tell you on Monday. But I do know that we can Skype whenever is best for you guys.

It has been blazin hot down here. Sometimes we come home and our shirts are completely drenched because it is so humid. But it actually isn't too bad... I'm getting a nice tan. Especially right where my watch is haha! I will have to send you  a picture of my tan line. I will try to send some of our weather up your way.

So I don't know where those packages are. There is a really good possibility that I get them tomorrow in the morning. it is kind of hard when you are in Chuy to get everything. 

But I agree with everything you say about the family. It is so obvious to see down here just how important the family really is. It is interesting that one of the very first things that we teach is that the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. Now that is a true statement if I have ever seen one. I am so glad that I was raised in a home where the gospel was taught because now I can testify to these people that I have seen how much this message helps the family live in happiness.

I am so glad to hear that Luke is doing so well. I love hearing that he wears his future missionary badge every Sunday! I can't wait to come home and see him when he is 6 feet tall! haha Is he in 5th grade right now????

I love you guys! I will email you more on Monday. I am really excited for this opportunity that I have to serve my fellow elders and tambien my fellow 

Urugua(sh)ans. I love my family so much! I hope everyone has a holly jolly Christmas. Drink some eggnog for me.

Love,

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

How did you know that I was talking about Rugby? Haha!

I am still so excited for the Scorps. Did they do any big festivities or anything?

Sorry that I didn't get to email you last week. I ran out of time super fast for some reason. But I hoped you liked the letter! There should be a couple more on the way.

But Chuy is the best. You can buy all sorts of American stuff and then you  can cross over to Brazil and get a bunch of food for really cheap. I am loving this no tax stuff. Maybe anarchy is the way to go. (chiste)

I'm glad my spanish was alright. I will have to rely on my spanish even more now that I am training. I forgot how much spanish you don't know when you first get into the mission. But my comp is a hard worker so I think he will learn fast. We will also be able to learn the language together. I am still waiting for a Latino comp! haha

Good luck to BYU in the Bowl Game! Hey, I heard that some young guy won the Heisman from Florida State. Thats crazy! How did Johny Manziel do this year?

Well I love you Dad. I am excited to be able to talk to you on Christmas. Maybe we will ahve to speak a little bit of voz to each other haha

Love,

Elder Lacey

I LOVE THE WORLD

December 9, 2013

Dear Family,

STATE CHAMPS! I am the happiest little camper right now. I could just imagine how awesome that game must have been! I am so pumped for all of my boys down there!!! 5th ward comin in BIG! It takes a ton of work to go through a whole football season so it must be even more rewarding for those guys. Next time you see any of the guys on the team tackle them for me! Congratulate all of them. I wish I could hug everybody!! I just don't know what to say. I think I am going to go buy myself some ice cream and then cry in it because I am so happy. I still have dreams of dang football. That is so cool that they get to end their season with such a cool experience! 

Anyway, that is some really good news. Some other good news is that Cleberson got baptized without any problem. It was a really cool experience to hear his wife bare her testimony about how long she has been praying for this and how now she and her family can be an eternal family when they get sealed in the temple. She was also really appreciative for us. It was a really good experience. I will send you a picture of them. I am just so glad that we could be in the right place at the right time to help this husband and father make the choice to follow Jesus Christ. I have learned a lot about the role of the family in the Plan of Salvation since I have been here. The place that we can have the most joy is with our family in a gospel centered home. I am so thankful for the family that I have!

I got Sam and Annie’s wedding invitation and the BYU medical thing. Thanks! We didn't get to watch the Christmas conference though :( 

I am diggin my mission though. Our area is really taking off now. We have a few more people that have baptismal dates and we keep finding new investigators so we are really excited. I love my Savior!

I am going to try and send some pics now so I will talk to you next week. I am looking forward to talking with you guys on Christmas too! I will keep in touch with you about that.

Love,

Elder Lacey

(this is Daniel's email response to the Farley's email about winning State)

I LOVE THE WORLD!

I am so happy for you guys! Tackle Brian for me. He is the man.com. When I get back I want to watch the video of the whole game. I am so pumped right now. I just don't even know what to say......You guys should go on a parade through Aztec haha! 

STATE CHAMPS! :,)

Baptism of Cleberson with Elder Lacey and Elder Ochoa. What a wonderful family!

This is how Daniel and his companion had to fill the baptismal font....heat water on the stove and siphon it from a tube to the font.  It took 8 hours. Do we appreciate the conveniences we have?

Elder Lacey finally got his Halloween Candy by mid November. Packages take 6 to 8 weeks to get to him.

Baptism of Nikolas with Elder Lacey and Elder Ochoa.  Daniel looks like a giant!

Another Miracle

December 2, 2013

Dear Family,

First off... STATE CHAMPIONSHIP BABY!!!!

If you can't tell, I am PUMPED. I bleed green 4 Life.

This week has been awesome! Things are finally starting to come together. We are getting some good investigators that I think are going to go the distance. The biggest miracle that we saw this week was with Cleverson. He is the husband of a member in our ward but he is not a member. His wife and family have been trying to convert him for a very long time now but they haven't had any success. Recently we asked if we could go and have lunch with them. We have never had lunch with them because they live pretty far away in Brazil. (Cleverson is a Brazilian and all he speaks is Portuguese so it is a little hard to understand him sometimes) But we went and ate with them and then we shared a scripture. The next time that we saw his wife she told us that after we left Cleverson talked with her and told her that he wanted to get baptized! So we went over there and had a really good Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with them and he agreed to get baptized this Saturday! He has already received all of the lessons a couple of times and he went to church for 3 straight years so he is totally prepared. He used to drink wine but he quit and now his only problem is coffee which he is going to quit as well. So this Saturday we are going to have a baptism. It makes me so happy to see the joy that this family has! This family has been praying and hoping for years and years and if all goes well they will be able to get sealed in the temple in a year! I am so happy for them.

Recently I have born my testimony a lot on the Plan of Salvacion. It is awesome to tie everything into this plan. Everything that we do here on this Earth is to help us prepare to live with God and our family. That is why we get baptized, go to church, read our scriptures and obey all of the commandments. I love it when people accept His plan and choose to be baptized. 

I love what you said about doctrine and application though. That is why I love teaching the Plan of Salvacion so much because it helps you realize why everything is important. 

I also like what you said about our to-do list. Sometimes we lose perspective on what really is important. When we say "I can't" to something it really just means that something else is more important. If we say I can't go to church because I have work we are saying that work is more important to us than church. We always need to have the right perspective on what really is important in this life.

So everyone gets to Skype here in Uruguay! I just don't know the details of where and how. But I am looking forward to it! I can't believe that it is already December. I was jealous that you guys all got to go to Cali! I received all of the pictures so don't worry.

But I love all of you so much. I always pray for everyone up there! Keep up the good work in everything.

Love,

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

FHS IS IN THE CHAMPIONSHIP! That is the coolest thing that I have ever heard! I wish I could be up there to see it but there are some better things to do down here. You are going to go watch the game right? 

I really like that line that you emailed me. How can we emulate the Savior if we don´t even know who He is? we can´t! I am totally going to use that in our street contacts because everyone down here believes in God and Jesus Christ but they don't see a need for a church. We go to church to learn more about how we can become more like Jesus Christ.

Who did you sell our home too? That house was the best! But what you said is true. A home isn't just wood and nails. 

Thanks Dad for all that you do. I am so grateful for this family that I have. You are an inspiration for me and I try to share this message because I want to help people to have a family like mine. Keep doing what you are doing and make sure FHS wins this week! 

Love!

Elder Lacey

Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

November 25, 2013

Dear Family,

Congratulations Sam and Annie! I am so happy for them. I sent them a letter last week but since I am in Chuy it takes a little bit longer to get to the States. Hopefully they will get it soon though. I am excited for the future for them.

Rock on Mom! You are killin your studies! You better slow down or they might want you to become a doctor or something. I am really happy that you are doing so well though. I have a testimony that when we put God first in our lives he will help with the rest. He can even help us in things like our school work or are relations with our family. That is a thing that a lot of people don't understand down here. One of the biggest commandments that is broken is the Sabbath Day. There are very few people that live this commandment and you can see how much they are blessed for living it. There is a Brazilian man that has been a member for about 5 years or so. Anyway, he shared with us that he had work on Sunday but when he got baptized he quit his job so that he wouldn't work on Sunday. He didn't have work for 3 months but he finally found a really good job and he knows that God has blessed him immensely in his life because of his decision to keep the Sabbath day holy. He is now the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric.

This week was another tough week! We are working really hard to find these people here but so far we are still struggling to find some really firm investigators. In the past 2 weeks we have found 31 new investigators but it has been so hard to get a 2nd charla with them. Satan lame. We had a family that was super excited to get baptized and to baptize all of there children that were of age but when we passed by to teach them the 2nd lesson they said that they didn't want anymore. We were so confused because just 2 days before they were really happy about it all. Anyways, we are going to keep working and praying to find those people that are ready to hear our message.

It is tough to know if young women are really interested in the message or if they are just "snakes". It helps when you work with the members to teach them. That way you can kind of see if they are interested in the message or not. You always have to keep your distance from snakes!

That is sweet that you are all going to Cali. Sometimes I feel like I am in Hawaii down here. It gets pretty hot and humid and there are parts with a lot of vegetation... so I think I will just stay down here instead of going on vacation to California. Tell everybody hi for me! Maybe I will cook up some panchos for Thanksgiving and have a feast! 

Hey, I have been out for 6 months! That is crazy. I have seen so many things here in Uruguay it is crazy. I have so many awesome experiences and I am excited for the time that I still have left to do some work. Just this week we have had some interesting experiences. we have an investigator who believes TO MUCH in Joseph Smith! He says that we need to be disciples of Joseph Smith. He doesn't want to be baptized though... it doesn't make sense. We are working with him. And this other guy completely believes that we are spies from America.  Then there are mini horses everywhere! Chuy is an awesome place. There is a little bit of everything here. We talked to a guy yesterday who speaks 4 languages including English so we taught him in English. It was hard! haha

Anyway, I am having a blast. I hope you guys are having a blast too. Life is good. Give hugs to everybody and eat a lot of food for me!

Love,

Elder Lacey

PS I keep trying to send pictures.  I have some awesome pictures for you but these computers are lame :(

I know that what I am doing is the will of God

November 18, 2013

Dear Family,

It sounds like it has been a really crazy week for you guys. I can't believe that there were 3 deaths in a short time period. It seemed like Todd was in pretty good health when I met him. That is really sad for all of those families, but like you said we are so very grateful that we have the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation. I love teaching the Plan of Salvation because it addresses so many topics that blow people’s minds. So many people don't have any idea why we are here on this earth or where we are going....(Nobody here even thinks about where we came from). But it really is a huge blessing that we know that everything works out in the end IF we perseverar hasta el fin. 

Sounds like Luke had a pretty sweet B-day! Its good to see how much he is growing! I wish I could have been there to give him his birthday spankings. I guess Sam or Mikey will have to fill in for me. haha  I wish I could have gone on your space mission with you! Make sure you take care of R2D2 and Chewbaca for me ;)

Sam's wedding is this week! I am so excited for them! I hope everything goes well with that. I was trying to write a letter for the wedding but I didn't get it off in time but I will send it as soon as I can. It is kind of hard out here in Chuy because we are so far away from everybody. But give hugs to everyone for me at the wedding! Make sure to welcome Annie in to the family for me as well! She has Elder Lacey's approval. Make sure Sam takes good care of her. I am bummed that I can't be there but I will be there in spìrit. :)

Is this week Thanksgiving? That is crazy! Tell the brothers to go play some Turkey Bowl for me.

This week was crazy for us down here tambien. Elder Ochoa and I really did work this whole week. It is funny because in every area that I have been we pretty much ¨wipe slate¨. We just start over everything. When I got here to Chuy we had that one baptism but after that there was nobody. We had a lot of names to pass by for but we quickly realized that none of them were interested. So, this whole week we were out finding new investigators. We walked a ton! But we are starting to see the fruits of our efforts. We don't have a lot of firm investigators but we are getting there. We did the same thing when I was in San Carlos and we had to do that in Aeroparque as well. But to answer your question, yes, I am sleeping really well. haha That is the good thing about walking around all day. You are super tired afterwards. But I am really excited for the future here. Elder Ochoa is a good teacher and we have been working really hard to find these people who are ready to hear our message.

This past Saturday I had a really cool experience. We were looking desperately everywhere for new investigators and we were having some pretty good success. But we had a charla with a Menos Activo family at 7. At 7:30 the other missionaries had a baptism so we weren't planning on spending a ton of time with this family. We got to this family’s house and we were talking with the mom when suddenly out of the blue her daughter came up to the house with her 2 friends. It really surprised me that her 2 friends came in and sat down and wanted to listen to us. So we ended up having a really good lesson with them! One of the friends was atheist and the other one didn't have a religion. But after we finished teaching them about the restoration I invited them to come to the baptism and they agreed! We were a little late but we all got there before the service started. Everything went really well and I noticed that the atheist girl was actually really interested in it all. After the guy was baptized the other elders didn't have anything planned to do while everyone waited for them to get dressed so I went up and directed a hymn. During the hymn I felt impressed to bare my testimony. So after we finished singing I bore it. There were a few non members there and the menos activo family was there and so I really wanted them to feel the spirit and know that this baptism that we saw was an important step in this life. I felt the spirit really strong and needless to say I ended up crying a good bit. I know that everyone there felt the spirit. I am excited to see if these 2 girls who are about 20 will continue to investigate our church and if this menos activo family will start coming again. We have a charla with them all in a few days so we will see how it goes.

I have always wondered why I cry so much when I bare my testimony but I think I finally learned why. It is not a curse but a blessing. Through my tears I feel like the spirit can testify to these people. They can really see that I know without a doubt that this message is true. I was so grateful for this experience that I had. I know that what I am doing is the will of God.

I am loving Chuy! We don't eat a ton but we are eating more healthy so I am excited about it. We eat a lot of beans and rice haha And I am learning a little bit of Portuguese!

Good luck with schoolwork Mom and Luke. Just remember one of my favorite phrases from Coach Jackson.....Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig!!!!!! Keep working hard and keep praying. :)

I love everyone so much. My family is the best. I feel so bad that I don't have enough time to talk to everyone. I have been meaning to send some emails to everyone but this hour goes by soooo fast. Send my love to everybody. I keep everyone in my prayers every night.

I love this work i love this gospel I LOVE EVERYTHING :)

Love,

Elder Lacey

Brazil/Uruguay

November 11, 2013

Dear Fam,

Right now I am about a block away from Brazil! I have already contacted a few people that speak to us in Portuguese. It sounds way cool. I think I am going to learn it a little bit here. Even though they are speaking in Portuguese it doesn't really effect us to much. I understand most of what they are saying. I don't know if they are just throwing in a lot of Spanish words or if Portuguese is just that similar. I know that we definitely have the gift of tongues to help us in these contacts though. That is for sure. But my very first lunch that I had here was with a member who lives in Brazil. All we do is cross the street and we are in another country! I really like it here though. It is really trainquilo and the food is super cheap! And they have these places called freeshops. I guess they sell a bunch of American stuff there so I might get to buy some peanut butter today! 

It was super sad to leave San Carlos last week but I know that Chuy is where I am supposed to be now. We said goodbye to all of our investigators in San Carlos and they were all really sad that we were leaving. Hopefully they will seguir adelante in the faith. 

So I just got a huge pile of letters this past week! I got 2 from Sarah, 1 from Ali, 1 from Mikey, 2 from Mom, 1 from Grandpa Steinagel and 1 from the ward news letter. And I also got that package for Halloween! I gave the other half of the package to Elder Ochoa so we are both very grateful for your kindness. You are the best! :) Out here I get all of the letters in one big pile so some of them are from a while ago and some of them are more recent. Thank everyone for sending letters to me! It was really nice to read them all this morning. I felt rejuvenated after reading all of them. I wish I could go out and work today but its dang P-day! And we have a zone conference tomorrow so we have to take a bus at 6 tonight to get all the way out to 33. I will just have to keep all of this animo inside me for a day I guess....Dang P day.

So I told you that Elder Ochoa was a latino. I was wrong. He is from Thatcher, Arizona! haha He is a really cool guy and he is also our District Leader. We are staying in a four elder house and we all get along super well. I have been really blessed with the companions that I get and also the other elders around me. I have been able to learn a lot from everyone that I have worked with. Elder Ochoa was baptized 2 years ago and he has been on a mission for about a year now and he already teaches super well so I am excited to work with him. 

We had a baptism this last Saturday! His name is Nicolas and he is 20 years old. I will try to send pictures but I think this computer is being dumb :( I have so many good pictures to send you guys! But the baptism went really well! I am really excited for this guy. The only problem was that the water heater was broken and this guy had to get baptized in warm water because he has a bullet wound or something like that so he has some complications with his injury. So.... we had to be the water heater. All of Saturday we were in the kitchen heating up water. We got a pretty good system going! We syphoned water through a hose all the way to the baptismal font. The other end of the hose was in a huge pot with hot water. All we had to do was keep pouring hot water from other pots into the big pot. It took us about 8 hours but we finally got it full... I don't think I am going to heat up water for the rest of my life! haha But it all worked out really well. 

That is so sad about Braquel! I hope her hip gets better. That is also really sad about the hurricane. We just barely heard about it Yesterday. It sounds really crazy!

But it sounds like everyone else is doing really well. I am so thankful for all of the support that I have from my loving family. I really do have the best family in the whole World! I am so grateful that I have this chance to serve the people of Uruguay. I am ready to go out and work my hardest to help these people learn about Gods love and maybe I will learn a little Portuguese on the way! I love the mission! I wish I had more time to write about more stuff but I don't have much time and I want to try and send pictures. 

I love you guys so much! Send a fist bump to the Farmington Football team. I am so pumped for them! This is the year that we are going to take state! Good luck with everything and let me know how everyone is doing!

Love 

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

Sorry I don't have much time! But it is interesting how much I have increased in the language. I can understand everything you write almost without thinking. I am writing in English just to save a little time though :) I am so pumped for FHS! But Sounds like things are interesting at BYU. They need me.

Elder Veé and I joked that the reason they are taking us out of San Carlos is because they were wondering why they had 2 football players in one of the safest places in Uruguay haha

That is really cool that you are reading Harry Potter with Luke. I still remember all of those nights that you stayed up reading with me. You are the best Dad ever!

Elder Ochoa is awesome. I kind of wanted a Latino just so that I could learn the language but it will be all good. I am trying to learn as much as I can so that I can be completely fluent without even thinking. I feel like I am still progressing.

Anyway, I love you so much!

Elder Lacey

Elder Lacey is now in Chuy!

November 5, 2013

Dear Family,

We just received the change call last night! I'm not going to lie, we have been pretty sad for the last 12 hours. Elder Ve'e and I are both leaving! We couldn't believe it. We love it so much here! Elder Ve'e and I are really close and our area here is the best. In the next 3 weeks we have 6 people who are going to be baptized. It is really sad because we love these people that we are teaching and we wanted to see them finally reach their baptism. Today we have to run around and say goodbye to them all. We also recently got a Ward Mission Leader and we have established a good relationship with the members here. So it has been a rough half of a day but I know that it will all work out in the end. The changes are never wrong and this is what is best for the mission. Mom, I loved the last paragraph that you wrote me.  That is exactly what I needed to hear.

So I am going to Chuy! My next companion is Elder Ochoa. He is a Latino so I am finally going to learn how to speak Spanish haha! I don't know much about him though. Elder Ve'e is going to Maldonado. He is going to finish training Elder Smart from Salt Lake City.

This past week Elder Ve'e and I did wurk! This was our best week so far. We found this 19 year old named Horacio who is golden. He already wants to go on a mission and we just met him 3 days ago. He is going to get baptized the 30th. We found out that the Sisters are coming into our area so that makes things a little tough because most of our investigators are men and some of them like Eduardo are single men. I am interested to see how it will all play out. 

I need to stop being so negative! haha! I just wasn't expecting this. I know that this is the plan that the Lord has for the Mission so everything is going to be all good.  

I loved getting all of those pictures! I am so happy that Olivia had such a good baptism. I wish I could have been there to see it! Give her a high five for me. It looks like you guys had a pretty fun Halloween! Elder Ve'e and I forgot about Halloween! There were a few kids that dressed up and went trick or treating but really not many. I loved Luke’s George Washington costume! He looked legit. All of the pictures of everyone else made me laugh! Mikey and Sam’s faces were classic. 

I am glad that Luke got his letter for his Birthday in time! I am trying to send one for Sam and Annie’s wedding but things are a bit crazy here right now. I will try to send it next week. That is really sad to hear about Uncle Klar though. He was a great man.

But I am really excited to be able to go work over in Chuy. It is going to be sad to say goodbye to elder Ve'e but we will probably be companions again haha! It is going to be sad to say goodbye to San Carlos too. I have only been here for 6 weeks but I love it here. It feels like home. I can't wait to e-mail you in a week and tell you guys that Chuy is my new home! Oh and Chuy is half in Brazil! Looks like I will have to learn some Portguese! haha!

Send my love to everybody! I miss all my brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews and grandmas and grandpas up there and everyone else too! Keep looking for opportunities to share the gospel. It doesn't always have to be with a non member. Share the gospel with those less active members too! 

Anyway, I love you guys so much!

Abrazos and Bezos,

Elder Lacey

We Can Have the Spirit with us Always!

October 28, 2013

Dear Fam,

That was one of the best e-mails that I have ever received! FHS shut out Aztec! haha hehe! Send all the players a basket of chocolate for me or something. I have been waiting for this day for half of my life. I am so pumped for all of my boys. I bet Coach Bradley was really happy too. Send my congratulations to all of them. And BYU beat Boise State! That is a big win.

I am also really happy for Sam and Annie! I will have to send a letter to them.

But the weather down here is pretty weird. It will get really hot and then 5 minutes later the wind will pick up and it will be cold. It is hard to know what to bring with you for the day. But I love that there is a lot more sun! It makes it a lot easier to contact people in the street at night.

San Carlos is awesome though. We have been getting a ton of food lately! We still have left overs in our fridge! That never happens. haha The members are really excited to work with us and we actually just found out that we are getting a Ward Mission Leader! He is a really good guy and he is ready to work with us to help build this ward. I can't believe that changes are in one week though! Hopefully I get to stay here longer because we are starting to get things rollin here.

It sounds like Luke is doing really well in everything. That is really good to hear. I hope everyone else is doing well too. What is this that I hear about Doug going to China to teach English? that is sweet. Wish him luck!

Ask Mikey if he drank a lot of Guarana in Brazil. That stuff is dang good! I drink a ton of it haha We also ate fish wada (i have no idea how to spell it but that is how it sounds) and they said its a meal from Brazil. It was beans and rice with meat but it had some Flava!

I am so glad to be out here on the mission. Sometimes it is really hard but it is so satisfying to help these people come closer to God. As missionaries, it is so easy to see the hand of God in every little thing. I am so glad that I can be out here and feel the spirit so strongly. One thing that I have learned out here on the mission is that we can literally have the spirit with us at all times! I heard that a million times before the mission but it never really sunk in. We can always have the companionship of the Holy Ghost as long as we are following EVERY commandment that God has given us. I am just grateful for this opportunity that I have to serve these people.

Send my love to everybody! I hope everything is going well with school and everything.

Love! 

Elder Lacey

God Answers Prayers!!

October 21, 2013

Dear Family,

I don't understand! I have already been in San Carlos for a month. Time flies when you are doin work!

San Carlos feels like home now. Elder Ve'e and I are getting the members really excited about the missionary work, so the members are helping us a ton. The first week that Elder V'e and I were together we had only 3 of all of our lessons with a member present. This past week we had 12 members in on discussions with our investigators! I really think that this ward is going to experience a huge growth in membership in the coming year. Right now we are usually around 57 people in church. But we have been working with a lot of less active members that are going to start coming back to church. And then we have some really promising investigators that we are really excited about.

We found the familia Alvarez about a week ago. The parents are members but they quit coming to church like 15 years ago and they have only lived here in San Carlos for 2 years so nobody knows them here. But they have 3 daughters who are 15, 10 and 5. The 2 older daughters came to church yesterday and they really loved it! We had a charla with the whole family last night and it seems like the whole family is excited to come to church. The Mom really wants to start coming back to church and the Dad really wants to study more before he comes back but he is really sincere and he will end up coming back for sure. But their family is awesome.

We witnessed a miracle yesterday. We have not been able to have contact with Eduardo since Wednesday. We have gone by his house and called him but we could never find him. Anyway, he has only come to church once and it was when we had General Conference and so it was later in the afternoon. He has a sleeping problem so he loves to sleep in until 2 on Sundays. Basically we thought he wasn't coming to church for sure because he won't even commit to coming anymore. Elder Ve'e and I were sitting there in Sacrament meeting and boom goes the dynamite! Eduardo came strolling in! I was in shock for a little bit. I was so happy that he finally came! But that’s not all of it. We went and talked to him afterwards and he said that something touched his heart this morning telling him that he should go to church so he came. That was so powerful to me because on Saturday night I prayed specifically that Eduardo would feel something that would help him come to church. Elder Ve'e said that he had also prayed for the same thing. So basically.... God answers prayers! When Elder Ve'e and I got home we knelt down and thanked God for everything that is happening in this area. We are so pumped to be working with all of these people here! 

So I got a letter from Ali and Amy and Grandpa Steinagel! Thank them for sending those.  I think my district leader has 2 more letters for me but I haven't been able to get them :(  I will be able to read them next Monday. But thanks for sending me packages. I am excited for Christmas already! haha 

Ya LUKE! I'm glad you are learning to play defense unlike me. I was never very good at defense. Keep up the good work!

Elder Ve'e and I got the chance to teach the lesson yesterday in church about the Obra Misional out of the Lorenzo Snow book. We ended up only having 10 minutes to teach but it went really well and I think the members are more excited to work with us now. But I do love that quote from that book.... It's better in English haha

Goodluck with school and everything. Don't worry about me, I am having a blast! ¡Saludos a todos!

Love!

Elder Lacey



Dear Dad,

Even without a Ward Mission Leader we are still getting a lot done here with the members. The members are really steppin up big for us.

I am really glad that BYU didn't lose again. They need to pick up their game. Sounds like they are missing a QB who is listed as a running back who plays wide reciever! haha

Tell Brian Farley to do everything that is in his power to take down those Tigers!

But I have to go. I love you Dad! I am so thankful that I have 2 parents that are always there to guide me and help me! You guys have always been there for me.

Love,

Elder Lacey