Shocking Story!

August 26, 2014

Dear Family,

Changes! .............I´m staying with Elder Contreras! We are both really excited. We have so many investigators that are right there ready to get baptized. But every single one of them has some big last obstacle to get over. There are 4 of our investigators that would get baptized if they were just married! I hope that we can get everything figured out so that they can get married and baptized before I leave. Here in Uruguay it is such a hassle to get people married. If everything works out perfect the fastest that someone can get married is 3 weeks. Our strongest investigator right now is Alexandra. She is 26 years old and a daughter of a really strong recent convert. We have had some really spiritual charlas with her and she believes in everything....The only problem is that she is not married....and her boyfriend is still not divorced with his ex wife. I don't know exactly how long everything will take to get him divorced and then get them married but we are doing everything we can to help them out. They are so awesome! Another one of our really strong investigators was Tito. He loved everything and felt so good but his girlfriend is really against the church and we think she has been telling him a bunch of nonsense because now he is scared of us. He thinks we are from the FBI. I guess a while back he went to prison and so he is really scared about it all. We haven't seen him in a week :(  But there are a ton more that we are working with so we are looking forward to some good things this change.

This last Sunday we had a multi-stake conference. We received a satellite broadcast for all of Uruguay and Paraguay. Elder Bednar spoke and it was legit! He addressed the specific problems of Uruguay and Paraguay. He said that the leaders here were worried about the members who aren't fully converted to the Gospel, those that aren't doing their visits or paying their tithing. His whole talk was about repentance. I loved it. The only way we can become fully converted is through repenting and changing our will to the will of God's. I have been able to see why pride is the root of all sins. I talk to many people that say that God is always with them, that God lives with them and that they don't need a church or the bible. They say that God is with them but they do nothing to demonstrate their love for him. It happens with members, non-members, in-actives, recent converts, and even missionaries. They think that all is well, and that nothing more is needed of them. They are already baptized or they have already served a year in their mission. We can never be complacent and think that "All is well in Zion". In order to progress everyday we need to apply the doctrine of repentance in our lives. Elder Bednar said that repenting is not just a change of behavior. To repent you not only need to change what you do but you need to change your heart. Repentance is such a key factor in God's plan.

It is crazy that you guys are going to have a brutal winter because we had such a wimpy one haha! Last winter I wore my big huge coat almost everyday. This winter I think I used it 4 times. I have another smaller jacket that I used everyday. It really wan't cold at all. In fact this past week we were burning up! I already got a sun burn haha! 

In the mission I have learned quite a few activities to share during FHE or to help teach families about the Gospel but it is always good to have a few more under the belt. Do you guys have any easy activities to use to help teach gospel principals or I guess you could call them object lessons? Thanks!

So, funny story. I straight got shocked this morning! I was taking a shower and our lights went out and when I went to turn off the water I got shocked pretty good haha! It was like a movie. Both of my arms shook a ton. It reminded me of when I was using that TENS machine to do muscle stimulation therapy on my leg and that one night I turned it up to much and the muscles in my leg suddenly grabbed real hard and my leg shot straight out haha!....I probably shouldn't tell you that story but I am fine. I just won't take a shower when we don't have lights anymore. :)

Well I am ready to start a new change! Lets get this work rollin!

Love

Elder Lacey

LUKE!

You are a monster out there on the field! Keep up the good work! I will have to see that video when I get home. I love all of the pictures that I get. You are huge out there! Go tackle some guys for me alright! I will be down here tackling guys into the baptismal font haha! 

Love!

Elder Lacey

More Jovenes Baptisms

Santiago's Baptism

August 18, 2014

Dear Family,

Yesterday Santiago got baptized! He is 12 years old and his mother is less active. He has a bunch of family that lives in another ward that are active and he has gone to church many times but he never got baptized. He is super awesome. His Dad isn't a member and he came to the baptism. His uncle was the one who baptized him. It was a really good experience. Elder Contreras and I sang a version of "Come thou fount" one verse in english and one verse in spanish. It was a really good experience.

Today we had another zone activity. Our zone is legit! We played handball and ate a lot of food and played some ping pong. Our church here is massive! 

The Pictures of Luke are awesome! He is massive out there! Good work Luke! That is also really exciting that he is going to a charter school. I am really excited for him.

It is interesting that Dad won't be working with the jovenes (young men) as much because we barely decided that we are going to work with the jovenes in our ward more. Our ward has a bunch of old people and it used to have a lot of jovenes but they all stopped coming. We can notice that it has a huge effect on the ward. The jovenes give so much more energy to a ward! My comp is the 1st councilor in the Young Mens and the Young Men’s president is a recent convert so we have talked with him and we are going to rescue all of the young men! I got really excited when we were making plans together. it reminded me of all the meetings that I used to go to back in Farmington. We would go over to the Farley’s house once a month, eat a bunch of ice cream and then plan for mutual and stuff like that. Hopefully we can get the young men going here in Melo like we did in 33. 

Oh! I got a package from the Farleys! They are the best. I'm livin’ the life right now with some peanut butter and beef jerky and candy....I'm happy!

I can't believe that next week we will be writing you guys on Tuesday again because its changes! I feel like I barely got here. Elder Contreras and I are still fighting the battle. We have so many people that are right there! They all have problems to overcome but they are all so close! We will see what happens this week.

I love you guys!

Dear Dad,

I don`t know why it is so hard for some people to pronounce Lacey. It is fine when they say lasy but some don't even get that far haha! But there are a few people that know enough english to call me out on my last name. It is always a good time ha....ha...ha :)

That is so sweet that you are a high councilor! You will be able to do some amazing things. Are you building that house just to sell it? Or is it going to be my house for when I when I go to college? Haha jk 

Learning by faith is something new that I have learned very recently and I love it. We have to put forth our effort in order to really learn through the spirit. 

How did Luke do in his football game? Turn him into a beast out there.

I love you Dad!

Elder Lacey 

"This is what you call a Zone!!"

"This is what you call a Zone!!"

August 11, 2014

Dear Family,

You sneaky dogs! Who told you that you could could go to Bear Lake without me! haha! It looks like you guys had a blast. Tell John to stop making my brothers look bad by doing all of those backflips! haha! I love our family. we always have some really good times together.

It is crazy how big all of the kids are getting. By the time I get home they will all be taller then me! Today I was on a bus with Elder Pyper who is one of my good friends in the mission. If you remember we lived in the same house in Aeroparque. This is his last change in the mission which blows my mind! I got to hear his valiente testimony which is the last testimony you give in your last zone conference and it was great. In the manual misional it says that your time as a missionary is short so you need to use every second of it wisely. The first time that I read that I didn't believe it. 2 years is a really long time! But now I know that it is true. We have got to give it our all every week, every day, every second, every whistle (or maybe that is football haha) But I am just glad to still have time left in the mission. I have never felt such a strong desire to find people to baptize. Before I definitely had a strong desire but this past week it almost hurt how much we wanted to find people. We had a multi zone conference with Pres. Cook this past week and it is amazing how much I learned. In the past 4 months I have learned so many things that have changed my mission. I feel like I am really starting to get the grasp of teaching.... the secret is to not teach. Let the spirit teach by helping the investigator act on their faith. 

This past Sunday we had 9 investigators in church. The crazy thing is that our 2 strongest investigators weren't able to come this week. We still haven't had a baptism here in Melo yet but there are a lot of people that are close. A lot of the people that went to church are people that don't have baptismal dates. There were 2 who aren't married and then a few who we can never find them to have a charla with them!!! But we are feeling really good about our area. I finally feel like I know exactly what I am doing. It is funny because in a couple months I will look back and say "What the heck was I doing? I didn't know a thing!" haha!

Anyway, the weather here is super weird. It has been hot lately. This winter has been a lot warmer then last winter that is for sure. And I think we are almost into spring. Vamos a ver. Uruguayan weather is unpredictable.

You guys are the best! Take care of your hamstring mom! That is the worst! Take some Ibuprofen :)

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

HAHAHA! Coach Mendenhall thinks he can trick me but me and my comp are already waking up at 6 to work out! So take that. I'm already ready! haha

(Note: Coach Mendenall has changed football practice at BYU to be at 6:00 am)

That scripture is awesome though. I have been learning a lot about that actually. One thing that we need to have to discern the needs of others is charity. If we really love the people then we will be able to have the spirit to see what they need. I love a quote that mom told me awhile back. Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care....or something like that. But it is so true.

Dang Sarah....She brought a tear to my eye about her prayer. But only one tear haha She is so sweet.

I don't know if I am just going crazy but my favorite thing for breakfast right now is 2 eggs mixed with peas and corn and ham with a bowl of cold oatmeal with milk and cinnamon and a banana....haha I love it.

You guys inspire me. I am so grateful to be here on the mission. Even though I am far away from you all I feel close to you in the spirit.

Love 

Elder Lacey

a carpinchu....or something like that

This week and last week

(Sorry I forgot to post his letter from last week so you get two this week)

July 28, 2014

Dear Family,

Just another wonderful day in the neighborhood! Wood Badge sounds like a blast. I hope you guys weren’t to uncomfortable in that trailer! 

Interestingly enough, the other day we were talking with a less active 15 year old girl the other day and she was talking about how before the church always had a bunch of activities that were awesome and how she wanted to go to the activities. Then she said she had an awesome idea! When she was younger she went to this other church that had a small program of scouts and she was wondering why our church didn't do scouts! It was funny to me because up there in the USA the church basically runs the scout program but here the church doesn't work much with it...Anyway, count your blessings because there are kids down here that would love to go do a wood badge camp out thing but they don't have the opportunity. So keep on keepin on!

I really like what you shared about the difference between leadership and management. Here in Melo we have some new District Leaders and so sometimes it is a little bit frustrating when everything doesn't go right. Our District Leaders are awesome but it is hard to know how to do everything when you are a new district leader. But I am going to apply what you taught me in my work with the District Leaders. I get along really well with all of them and we all work well together but I will change my attitude a little bit. I am going to help them learn and grow so that they can potentially take my spot in the future. Guiding people instead of telling them what to do. I like it.

We had a killer week here in the zone. Last week the missionaries weren't working super well and so we put some plans and we absolutely exploded this week. We didn't have any baptisms but that is because we weren't working well in the past couple weeks. This week a lot of missionaries were able to find a lot of really good people. I did an intercambio with Elder Oliveira in his area. He is from Sao Paulo Brazil and we found 3 people who are really prepared! He also taught me a little bit of Portuguese so watch out Mikey! Anyway, Elder Contreras and I are really happy because the missionaries here are applying all of the plans and stuff really well. 

The family that we found last week are having a few problems so they didn't come to church this week which is dumb because when you have problems the first place that you should go is the church. But we will see what happens with them. Julia is the mom and she is really awesome. She wants to help her family a ton. The Dad is cool and we thought everything was going well, we even played soccer with him at the church for an activity. But one day he just decided that he doesn't want anything to do with us. We still haven't been able to talk to him about it. We recently have found some other really good people though so we are looking forward to this upcoming month.

I gave a talk in church yesterday and I obviously talked about the obra misional, but I talked a lot about service too. The best service that we can give someone is spiritual service. We definitely need to give fisical service but if we really love someone we will try to help them spiritually. I talked a little bit about what we can do if we have family members or friends who are not members or who are less active. Everything that we do should be out of love. If they don't feel our love for them as we invite them to come to church or an activity then we did it wrong. If these people know that we love them and that we want what is best for them then they will open up their hearts to our testimonies and they will be able to feel the spirit. It all starts with a prayer and it should end with a hug. and if you are in Uruguay a beso.

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

That video is so powerful! We have used it a lot and when used in the right setting it is guaranteed that at least 1 person will shed tears. The most powerful thing for me is when it shows the baby and says that he lived and then it shows the graves and it says he died. When i watched that I was really able to understand that Jesus was born and lived a human life! It just blows my mind that A God would come down and be born and suffer for all of our pains. And then he resurrected. I love that video.

Teach Luke the ways of Football!

Y ahora.... Vaya y Bañarse :)

LOVE

Elder Lacey

August 4, 2014

Dear Family,

Thanks for the activities! I just barely sent you an email asking for them but you already read my mind. We want to have a really good zone conference tomorrow so we are thinking of doing some sort of activity to build unity. We will see how it turns out!

This week was awesome. We had Concilio (Mission Conference) on Friday.....We woke up at 12:45 at night to get on the bus so we could get there by 9 a.m. haha! It's even better than when I was in 33! But Concilio was really spiritual. It is so awesome to be with so many strong missionaries and President Cook and is wife. It is always pretty long but we receive a lot of instruction and revelation when we are there. I have been learning a lot about learning by faith. There is a talk by Elder Bednar given to the CES (or something like that) that is called Seek Learning by Faith. We all focus on teaching by the spirit but something that is even more important is learning by the spirit. It really opened my eyes. It doesn't matter if someone is completely full of the spirit if they are teaching someone who is completely closed off to the spirit. As missionaries we need to help investigators become their own fishers instead of giving them fish. If the investigators learn how to LEARN BY FAITH then our job is easy. We are not the teachers, the spirit is the teacher. There are a lot of missionaries that like to teach like they are giving a talk. They just kind of run through the lesson. They teach really well and they teach all of the points but they miss the purpose. Our purpose is to help people feel the spirit so that they will have the desire to change and be baptized. Their hearts are opened when they are invited to do something, such as read in the scriptures or pray, and then they exercise their agency and do it. It is a principal that applies to everyone. To learn we have to exercise our agency and actually do something. We cannot sit back and just hope to learn by the spirit. We have to exert ourselves spiritually, mentally, and physically and then we will have open hearts to receive the spirit. I invite you guys to read that talk because it is just dandy.

Melo is such an interesting place. We have found so many people that are super prepared but for some reason or another they fall through....but we keep finding more people! For example, we were hoping for about 3 solid investigadores to come to church yesterday. We worked a ton to help them come. We even went out and looked from them on Sunday morning. None of them came! We were praying and fasting to have people in church and we had really tried our best so we were a little bit disappointed walking back to church alone but we never lost our Fe (faith). Well, the day before, on Saturday we had a Capilla Abierta (Open House at church) and a member brought one of his neighbors. Turns out that his neighbor loved it so he showed up to church! Then a less active family that we are working with all came to church and the girlfriend of one of the sons came with them and now she is interested. And then to top it all off 3 jovenes (young boys) that play soccer at the church showed up! It was a testimony builder because Elder Contreras and I had given our all to at least have 4 investigadores in the church and the people that we thought were the most firm fell through but then we ended up with 5 at church! We felt like we had just won a football game haha! Hopefully we will be able to help these 5 progress to their baptisms. 

Have fun at Bear Lake! And tell Mikey and Ali to stop having to much fun haha! 

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

I love those scriptures. I think it talks a little bit about those scriptures in the talk that I mentioned in my email to the family. Something interesting is that when we talk with the power of the holy ghost it carries it unto but not necessarily into the hearts of others. It is an interesting topic that Elder Bednar brings up in his talk. but it is definitely true that we need to be a worthy instrument so that the Holy Ghost can be carried to the hearts of others so that they can accept it or not.

Tiene que Bañarse. No hay otra. Pero por favor cuídese. Está bravo el piso. 

You're crazy! haha You probably have bones made of steel. I can see you rolling down the mountain at high speeds just laughing your head off. No pain no gain I guess. :)

Love,

Elder Lacey