San Carlos

September 30, 2013

Dear Family,

I'm in San Carlos! It is so awesome! There are actually grocery stores here! Back in Aeroparque we only have little almacens that are basically a house filled with random stuff, but here we have legit stores. So maybe I can actually cook some real things now. But the problem with being in a nicer area is that the people are less receptive to the gospel. We have already met a ton of Atheists. It is sad to think that there are people out there who don't believe in anything! Usually they have gone through a really hard time, for example one of their kids died and so they stop believing in God. But when bad things like that happen that is when we should come closer to God. We can just see the sadness in these peoples eyes and the only way that they can get true happiness is through el Evangelio... but their hearts are already hardened to God and it is really hard to help them. But we have been finding a lot of good people here too. It is just harder to find them. 

Our house is really nice! Well, compared to our last one. It is just Elder Ve’e and I in our house and it is really clean, so I'm happy. Also, we live right across the street from the church so that is really convenient. 

Our area hasn't been doing so hot lately. When I got here we had 2 investigators that were kind of iffy and an 8 year old girl that we just baptized this last Saturday. I'll send a picture of her.  But Elder Ve'e and I are working really hard to get this ward going strong. These past few days we have found some really good people that are prepared to hear our message! We will see if they go the distance. But we are both really pumped to be working together..... The only problem is that Elder Ve'e is a sinner...yep....He is a Utah Ute fan. haha! But we get along alright still :)

Well, it sounds like everyone is doing really well! That is awesome that Luke wants to go to school even when he is sick! haha But I bet that Statistics is pretty tough, Mom! Remember to do your homework. I'm glad that my football teams did well this week! Send my love to everybody up there in the States! Everything is great down here! Elder Ve'e and I are PUMPED. 

(This part is from some handwritten letters we received this week from Daniel)

Just remember that this gospel is the most important thing in this life! I seriously wish that I had more time to study but I only get 1 measly hour a day!  I just want you all to have as much peace and happiness that you can possibly have and I know the only way to obtain true happiness is through the Gospel. I see so many sad people down here and I just want to force feed them the Gospel because I know exactly what they need! If they followed the teachings of Jesus Christ they would have so much joy they wouldn't know what to do with it!  Entonces, study the scriptures a ton.  Study Preach my Gospel too.  I especially love the attributes of Jesus Christ section.  It is legit!

I love everybody! 

Elder Lacey

Faith

September 24, 2013

Dear Family,

Merry Changes!!! I guess usually during changes P day is changed to Tuesday so that is why I didn't email you guys yesterday. I know my next companion! Its Elder Ve'e! That was the last thing that I thought would happen because Elder Ve'e was one of our house mates last changes so we are really good friends. I am really excited to work with him. He only has 2 more changes than me so we are both pretty young but we are both football players so we are going to get to work. My new area is San Carlos in Maldonando. Changes are tomorrow so I'm going to say goodbye to all the members today.

It is crazy that Elder Walker is going home! I gave him all of your info so he better email you or call you. Elder Walker has taught me so much and I am so grateful for him. On the last work day of his mission we did work! We are leaving the 2 other missionaries that are coming into this area with 4 people that have baptismal dates plus Elena who is going to get baptized as soon as she gets married. It is sad that I won't get to work with all of our investigators here anymore but it is time for me to go find some people over in San Carlos. 

But I have been studying a lot about the atonement too! I love the Talk by Elder Bednar on the Atonement. I don't know the date he gave it but it is in one of the Liahonas. He talks a lot about the enabling power of the atonement which is an interesting topic.

So my Faith diagram:

I don't think I can draw it on here but I will just write it out.

We are all looking for happiness in this life. In order for us as missionaries to bring others happiness we need to help them be baptized, we have to help the active members continue to grow in the gospel, and we have to rescue those members who have gone inactive. How do we do this? To me the best way and maybe the only way that we can do all of this is through miracles. Well how do we participate in miracles? (Ether 12:12 and there are a bunch of other scriptures about Faith=Miracles.) But it is through our Faith that we can see miracles. So how can we build our Faith? I believe 2 things make up our Faith: 1) Action  2) Belief. So if we obey all of the mandamientos de Dios and we have hope we are going to fulfill our missionary purpose and in turn have happiness in our own lives. You can change it a little bit for non missionaries but that is my little spiel. 

Oh Elder Walker lives in Washington but he might be going to BYU in January.

I hope everything goes well with Sam’s wedding! I hope all my buddies are doing well too. 

So did I tell you guys that I love tomatoes now? I munch those things down now! Its a miracle. I must have some strong faith haha un chiste.

Anyway, I miss you guys. Give everyone a hug for me. Hopefully I didn't forget to tell you guys something. It just seems like a ton has been going on! But I am loving the mission. I can't believe that I have been out for 4 months! (or something like that). I feel so blessed. Goodluck in your next game Luke! I hope school is going well! 

I love everybody!

Elder Lacey

Alexandro got baptized

Dear Family,

What a spiritual week! But the funny thing is that I don't know why it was a super spiritual week because it’s been pretty normal around here but Elder Walker and I have been feeling really good. This past Friday Alexandro got baptized! He is such a boss! He is going to be a really strong member of the church. But Elder Walker and I spent a ton of time trying to get the font filled with warm water and we had everything worked out but for some reason when we went back to the church there was no more water that would come out! The whole church was out of water. So Alexandro got baptized in water that only went up to his knees! They had to do it about 5 times but we finally worked it out.

So I received 3 letters the other day. One from Grandpa Steinagel, one from Honey Farley, and one from Amy! Thank them for sending those! It took about 3 weeks to get here so I think it is getting faster :)

I am glad to hear that Luke is involved in so much. I hope that school is going well for him. Send my congratulations to Jaclyn! And convince Brandon to go on a mission! 

All of the quotes made me laugh! I was such a crazy little boy. Thank you so much for raising me up right. I want to see those shoes that I wore out when I was 2! Speaking of running, Last night was the toughest run of the mission! We have to be in the house at 8 on Sundays and we left one of our charlas at 7:54! and we were almost a mile away...and it was raining pretty hard and I had my big boots on and my backpack. But we made it haha! I was pretty dead after that one. But it is worth it to be obedient.

It has been raining for 3 days straight now. I want to see the sun! The weather is crazy. Before it started raining it was really hot! But recently it has been super cold. and you get soaked because it rains horizontally down here because of the wind. But I love it :)

I am fine with the rain but what I don't like is what comes with it. When it rains no one in Uruguay does anything! It is so hard to contact people when it rains but we have been trying our best so we still get some work done. They have a ton of fry bread down here though! They call them torta fritas and whenever it rains they make them. They are pretty good but I am going to get fat!

It is crazy to think that in one week Elder Walker is going home and I will have a new comp! Time is flying by. But I will tell Elder Walker to contact you guys when he gets home. The good thing is that when he leaves it is

like Chritmas for me because I get all of the stuff that he leaves behind haha!

Well, I was going to tell you guys a little bit about Faith but I will have to save it for next time because I have to go! But I have a good little diagram that I made that helps me connect Faith with everything.

But thanks for everything. I pray for you guys everyday. I hope everything is going well! I love you all so much.

Love, 

Elder Lacey

P.S. 1) Beat Utah

       2) how are Dom, Court and Tyler Hough doing?

Alexandro is in the middle

Elder Lacey get's soaked from the rain but thankfully he has good boots so his feet stay dry and he has a good coat that keeps his upper body dry.

Believe in God

September 9, 2013

Dear Family,

Man! I am loving the letters today! First I got to hear about how BYU KILLED it. And then you tell me that FHS is doing work AND THEN you tell me that Aztec got mercy ruled. Sounds like a good weak for football!

That is so weird that you guys had such a big storm! I bet there was a lot of mud for the niños to play in though! This past Saturday we had a big rain storm too. We had to walk out to Bella Vista which is like a 30 minute walk but we have to walk through the campo. We had to cross 2 rivers! haha good thing my boots are completely waterproof. My socks didn't even get wet at all except for above the boot! It was pretty muddy.

We had this big zone conference thing again last Friday. Elder Ceballos of the 70 came and talked to us. It was Awesome!! Elder Walker and I got pumped so the next day we had one of our best days ever!!!

There was a problem about the conference though because I wasn't able to drink any water during the conference and so I got pretty sick! We got on the bus to go home but I had to get off. I had to lay on the concrete for a little while and then I finally threw up! My first vomiting of the mission! But I was super blessed because I got off the bus really close to the mission home and it just so happened that Sister Pugmire (She’s the mission nurse) was driving really close to us so she picked us up and took us to the mission home where I could get some water and some IB's (Ibuprofen) and then we got back on the bus to go home and work. While I was on the ground in pain, my comp was thoughtful enough to take a picture so I think I'll send that to you cause it makes me laugh! haha

But this week is not a bye week for us! Alexandro is getting baptized this Friday. Yep, Friday the 13th. But Alexandro is a BOSS. He is learning so much and is reading the LDM (Libro de Mormon) a ton. We are really excited for him. 

But time is flying by! I can't believe I'm almost done with my 2nd change. Everything is going smoothly though. I am still trying to learn everything that I can. I have finally learned that the best way to do anything is to follow what the Lord says. I really like Mosiah 4:9

“Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.”

I love you guys! Good luck with all of the mud. Good luck with school Luke, and you too mom! High fives all around.

Love,

Elder Lacey

3 Baptisms coming up

September 2, 2013

Dear Family,

I'm glad to hear that all is going well! I hope you like college Mom! Just remember to do your homework and not stay up too late. Is Luke still enjoying school? I wrote letters to everyone last Pday but I forgot to give them to the zone leaders so I sent them today. So look for them in the mail in like a month! I sent 2 envelopes full of letters to your address in Alpine. 

This past Thursday I met President Newsome and his wife. We were able to talk for a good amount of time. They are awesome! They were really glad that they met you guys. They said that we have a pretty chill family...or something like that. But it was good to finally meet them. They have testimonies that just punch you in the chest! Powerful. 

This week was pretty ordinary. We have 3 pretty strong investigators and then a ton of "flojos" which are weak investigators. Alexandro is getting baptized the 14 of this month. We talked to him in the street like a week or 2 ago and it turns out that his wife is an inactive member who wants to come back to the church! So he has been GOLD. Elena is still trying to get married but she has had some crazy spiritual experiences so she absolutely knows that this church is true. Our other guy is Sebastian who is the boyfriend of another inactive member and I think he will get baptized the 28th.

This last Wednesday was crazy though! We had a charla set up with all 3 of our strong investigators in one night! The problem is that they live 45 minutes away from each other so we were running like crazy! But Aeroparque doesn't like it when you run through the streets at night and you are a missionary. Every single dog in the whole area was barking at us and a lot of them tried to attack us. The good thing is that the same dog that bit me last time came at us and it was going to bite me again but I kicked it right in the ribs! HA! Dog-1 Elder Lacey-1. I don't think it is going to bite me again. Later that night we ran by a group of 5 teenagers and they started throwing good sized rocks at us! We were a little bit frustrated with this but we just kept running. Ain't nobody got time for dat! We have people to baptize. We were lucky that we didn't get hit though.

But everything is going super well! Elder Walker is teaching me how to be a senior comp because we have no idea who will be my next comp so I am learning a ton. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes on. There is a lot to remember but I am trying to write it all down. I wish I had more time to study! Personal study always goes by ridiculously fast! 

So when is Sam’s wedding? I hope everything goes well with that. I love everybody! I love this Gospel! I love football! I love food! 

Hugs and Besos,

Elder Lacey