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