Retention

Elder Lacey with other Elders in Las Piedras

December 30, 2014

Dear Family,

Changes strike again! I'm staying here but my good friend Elder Havens is leaving. The good thing is that Elder Morris is going to be my comp. We were in the CCM together and have been in the same zone a lot in the mission so I am looking forward to it. He is a really good missionary. It is amazing how fast time goes by. I feel like it was yesterday when I came here to be comps with Elder Havens. I will miss him but he is planning on going to school in Utah so we will be able to stay in contact pretty easy. Some other news is that Elder Leavitt is the new assistant! He is a really good guy. I know that you were going to eat lunch with his grandma again so that is cool.

I love talking to you guys on Skype. I always leave with a lot of desire to go out and preach the gospel. I love my family! Thank you for all of the pictures that you sent. You all have sweet jackets! 

I am excited for this next change because we have a ton of investigators. Elder Havens and I didn't baptize together but we sure set ourselves up. We have some really good investigators but like always they have some problems to overcome first. But I am sick of not baptizing so Elder Morris and I are going to go have some fun out there in the Uruguayan sun. 

The missionary work is changing a lot down here though. We used to be super focused on baptisms as a mission but the retention was kind of stinky. But starting this year in the area of South America they are changing some things up. We are going to start working a lot more with less actives and recent converts. Don't get me wrong, we are still going to baptize but we are going to find those prepared people through the members. I am really excited for this change though. I think it will work really well. 

Well, I only have 3 changes left. Changes go by way to fast. I love the mission and I am going to go out with a bang. There are too many people in this earth that don't know about the plan. So I'm going to go tell them about this plan. 

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

PS I used those Nerf guns in a demonstration in a zone Conference haha! Thank you! 

Dear Dad,

I loved Skyping with you guys. We have the best family in the world. You all look really good as well. I like your new bike shirt that you got. Even at your age you still do your own stunts!

The other 2 elders that we were with left right after you guys saw them on Skype and we actually didn't have to wait for them to Skype because we got there right when they finished so it wasn't too bad. 

It was crazy to hear about the BYU football game. One of my friends is on his mission in Florida and I guess the entire mission got to go or something like that. Did you see a big group of missionaries on TV?? haha So are there any suspensions? 

I am digging this schedule that you have set up for me. I have been working out decently but I am losing weight because it is so hot and we play a lot of soccer. I feel pretty healthy though.

I love you Dad! The Gospel is true!

Elder Lacey

Ward Family in Las Piedras

Elder Lacey with companions in Las Piedras

December 22, 2014

Dear Family,

¡Christmas! I'm so excited that I am sweating! Or maybe that is just the heat from the sun and all of the fireworks going off haha! It does not even feel like Christmas but it is a good time to be a missionary. There are so many people that are in need of help during this time of year. It makes for a lot of humble hearts for the spirit to touch. We have found some more really good investigators but at the same time some have fallen. The Silvera Family fell :( Their Dad suddenly freaked out and said that he didn't want us coming over anymore. We will see what happens though because Lucia already received her answer that the Book of Mormon is true. I am sure that something will get worked out eventually. But a lot of our investigators are doing super well. We had a ward activity for Christmas on Saturday and some friends of members came so we are going to start working with them. I will send you a picture of the ward activity. 

Elder Lacey's ward in Las Piedras

I think I will call you guys at around 4 Uruguayan time this Thursday. I am pumped to see the whole crew!

I cannot believe that Dwayne received the Priesthood! That is awesome! I bet he has changed a lot. I am really happy for him.

That is also so crazy that Tyler Cahoon is already home! And Sean will be home in a month! Time is going by way too fast. Speaking of talks I gave another talk in church yesterday. haha! The bishop sent us a message an hour before church and asked us if we could talk. It is weird because I actually enjoy giving talks now. 

I got the other package today! Those Eccos are swwwweeeeet. In fact I am wearing them right now. I also enjoy those protein bars a ton. We have been lifting a lot lately because Elder Ellet moved into our house and he has a bunch of weights. So I'm gettin BIG...hopefully. Elder Havens is super awesome. I will try to send a picture of us together.

Elder Lacey with his companion Elder Havens
 (I think Elder Havens is on the right)

I am so grateful for a family that is centered in the Gospel. I love the mission and I know that I am where I am supposed to be. There is nothing better then watching people come unto Christ and change their lives. I know that Christ lives.

Love , 

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

You are completely right. I love that I don't have to worry about anything other then missionary work right now. Being a missionary during Christmas is the best. It is interesting that you talked about people being depressed during Christmas because yesterday we found a new investigator that was really sad because she doesn't really get along with her family and her daughter is on drugs so we were able to help her out and now she is really interested in the church. At the start of the conversation she only accepted to listen to us because she has a friend in the States that told her a while ago that the church has changed her life (the life of her friend). The friend told her that whenever she sees the missionaries she should talk to them. So she did! It is amazing how saying something so simple can have such a huge effect on someone.

I have never been so happy in my life. I love the mission!

Talk to you soon!

Love

Elder Lacey

I am so grateful for a family that is centered in the Gospel. I love the mission and I know that I am where I am supposed to be. There is nothing better then watching people come unto Christ and change their lives. I know that Christ lives.

Love

Elder Lacey

El e la Dadiva

Making Asado

"P" Day Candy Bar

December 15, 2014

Dear Family,

You guys are always so busy doing awesome things. We have the best family ever. Thanks for sending all of those pictures. I also got the book of testimonies that you sent and all the other stuff. Thank you so much. I loved reading all of your testimonies. They definitely gave me strength to keep giving it my all. It is now one of my treasured possessions that I have. 

I thought you guys knew Elder Craig Christensen but I wasn't sure. I loved the conference that we had with him. I felt the spirit really strongly. 

It is interesting that you talked about the sacrament in your email because as a mission we are focusing a lot more on church attendance. Pres. Cook has been talking a lot about it and so I loved the quote that you sent me. As I read what you were saying about the importance of the sacrament meeting it hit me that the atonement of Christ is so important that we HAVE to remember it every week through the sacrament. We only celebrate Christmas once a year, but every week we have the opportunity to receive the biggest gift we have ever received. If we don't go to church every Sunday then we are showing that we don't care too much about this gift that God has given us. The problem is that many people  don't know how to use this gift so that is why they don't care too much. I can just imagine a cave man receiving a microwave as a present... He has no clue what to do with a microwave. Our job is to help everyone understand first, what the atonement is and second, how to use the atonement in our lives. 

This week was stake conference here in Las Piedras. Elder Havens and I spoke in the Priesthood session of the conference.  There was a good attendance at the main session but only one of our investigators showed up. His name is Deyvid and he is progressing super well. At the beginning he questioned if God existed and now he is at the point where he knows God lives and he knows the Book of Mormon is true. He committed to live the word of wisdom yesterday. He is super smart so sometimes it is hard to teach him because he goes off talking about the stars and stuff haha The cool thing is that the Gospel connects to just about anything so he really likes it all. He has a 17 year old daughter that we are teaching as well. She didn't believe in God either but now she believes and she has a really good understanding of the atonement. We also are teaching Antonella who is awesome! The first 2 charlas that we had with her she didn't understand a thing but now she is reading and she is memorizing everything. She didn't go to church because she had family problems but she really wants to get baptized. The only problem is that she lives with her boyfriend. Dang Uruguay. The Silvera Family is doing well. (They are Lucia and Diego) The only problem is that the mom started to work on Sundays but she will only work for 3 more weeks so hopefully they will be able to get baptized here pretty soon. Juan Carlos moved :( so we lost contact with him. But we have some good things happening here in Las Piedras.These people are my mission! I love all of them and they are all progressing so well. I love missionary work.

As far as Skype goes. I am not sure what we are going to do. I will let you know next P day at what time we will call. It honestly doesn't feel like Christmas at all haha! Because all of the children in the street are  always lighting off fireworks and such. It is definitely a different atmosphere but I am glad for what the church has done with Èl e la Dàdiva. It definitely helps us to remember what this time of season is all about. Christ Lives.

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

We will have to go golfing when I get back so I can show you who is the real boss here. Haha! I am glad that you were able to put a good game together to beat Andrew. Maybe if you keep beating him every time you will humble him enough to get him baptized!  

I love that talk that Pres. Uchtdorf gave! I am still waiting to get it in the Liahona. I think it comes out in January or something here. Pres. Cook taught us a little bit  about that a little while ago. Many times we look at the faults of others but what we really need to do is look at what we can do better. If we do that then we will be more humble and more open to correction which will lead to progression.

I hope you had a Happy Birthday!

Love

Elder Lacey

He is the Gift

December 9, 2014

Dear Family,

Las Piedras is the best! I am loving the mission and Elder Havens and I are finding a ton of miracles. We are working with a couple of different families that are really awesome. Some of them need to get married though so we will see how that works out. Also, the other day we found a guy in the street that Elder Havens had met a year and a half ago! I guess he really wanted to get baptized and everything but he wasn't married and Elder Havens ended up losing contact with him. His name is Juan Carlos. He recently broke up with his girlfriend so he won't need to get married now. He is awesome though! I also really like the ward here. The other day we put on an activity for the mission work and it turned out really well. We made french toast and watched Èl es la Dàdiva. Have you guys seen that yet. In english it is, “He is the Gift.” It is amazing what the church is doing to get this message out. We are showing the video to all of our investigators and ward members and it is having a really positive effect on all of them.

My family is famous now! I wish I could have broken a world record! It sounds like it should be a huge video though. I remember that StudioC was starting when I was there at BYU but it wasn't super big. I'm glad that it is a lot bigger now. The pictures that you sent me are sweet. I don't know if we will be able to watch the Christmas devotional though. I am not sure if they broadcast it in spanish.

I feel like I have been learning so much recently. I finally feel like I am learning the gospel and what it really means to live it. When you are really living the gospel you see how different things are. You no longer look for excuses but look for ways to become more like Christ. It is amazing to see the difference between a new missionary and a missionary that is about to go home. The missionaries that are coming in now were sophomores in High school when I was a Senior! They are all really new and they have never been away from their home for more then a week but they are all so willing to give it their best. And after 2 years they will have completely changed from being timid teenagers to being strong representatives of Jesus Christ. The mission is the best. 

Recently we have started working with the members a ton and now all of the members are pumped to do some missionary work. 

I invite you guys to go and share, “He is the Gift” with everyone you know if you haven't already done it. It is awesome because you can do it through Facebook super easy or even email it! Do it! :)

I love all of you!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

I feel like I have finally learned how to sing on the mission as well. Our zone has to sing for the Mission Christmas Conference so we will see how it turns out. 

I really like what you said about having a plan to communicate and to testify. I love making plans and it is something that I have learned to do here on the mission. I am going to make some plans now to better communicate this message to the whole world! Or maybe just Las Piedras for now. The mission has really helped me develop better social skills.

I love you Dad!

Elder Lacey

Diego

Elder Lacey on P-day

 (I don't know why Uruguayos don't smile. They are actually really happy people) haha
Elder Leavitt and Elder Lacey at baptism of Lucas in Melo

Elder Leavitt and Elder Lacey

Elder Lacey with his Christmas Packages.
Wow! that was fast. Maybe it's because he lives in Montevideo now.

Elder Lacey and Elder Leavitt in Brazil

December 1, 2014

Dear Family,

I received my christmas packages! I got 3 from Mom and then 1 from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. Thank you guys so much! The problem is that I could not wait until Christmas to open the electric dog whistle. That is the best thing ever made! It was crazy that you guys sent that because a week ago I found out that electric dog whistles existed and I thought it would be sweet to have one. It has already helped us a ton. I don't even have to take it out of the pocket in my bag to use it. I just press it and the dogs go paralyzed! They can't do a thing. It makes it really nice when we are trying to talk to someone but we can't here them over the barking dogs. Thank you! 

This week there were elections in Uruguay. It is weird because everyone is obligated to vote and you have to vote in your home town if you didn't do some paperwork. Plus there is only one day to do it and it is Sunday...This Sunday it was raining. It is hard enough to get people in church when it is raining but when there are elections it is almost impossible. But we had a miracle. We are working with the familia Silvera and they are awesome. They were all going to come to church but the day before they found out that family members were coming to stay in their house because of elections so they couldn't go. There 9 year old son is Diego and he decided that he wanted to come anyway. A 13 year old member lives next to them so we planned that he would go by and walk with Diego. On Sunday we went to go pass by for an investigator but she ended up not being able to come. On the way to the church we saw 9 year old Diego outside of the members house with an umbrella clapping (that is how we ring doorbells here) We went over and talked to him and he was like- Hey! I want to go to church but no one passed by for me. He is awesome! We were super surprised that he was so pumped to go to church. He ended up getting to participate in the primary program and he loved it. The good thing is that Diego is usually not interested much in religion even though the rest of his family is so we are using that to help the rest of the family get converted.

This zone is awesome. we are all really athletic so we play a lot of sports. I don't know of many touristic places but I will look into that because it is always fun to do something like that as a zone. We are kind of in the city still though so I don't know if there is much. We have 6 hermanas in our zone and 21 elders.

Thank you guys so much for all of your support! I will be sure to eat healthy. I can't believe you sent me another pair of shoes! haha! I should be good for the rest of my mission. I will just use them for conferences or something. Thank you!

I know this is the work of the Lord.

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear LacePops,

I know Christian Stewart! I was there with him in the off season. that is crazy that he finished off the season for BYU. I would love some more Articles. 

That has always been a big question for a lot of missionaries. Does God know where all of us are going to end up? and is this time on Earth just a time to prove ourselves to ourselves? I liked what you said. If we are obedient we don't need to fear about anything.

You know that my favorite color is green.....haha But I am fine with my truck.

Love you dad!

Elder Lacey