Lezica (Laceyica) is the best town in the world.

Susana's Baptism

February 23, 2015

Dear Family,

Another good ol' week in the best town in the world. Lezica (Laceyica) is the best. The members here are awesome and the work is good. The only problem is that we are running out of time to do all the things that we need to do! haha I guess that is a good problem to have so I am not complaining. This past week we had the best Correlation that I have ever had in my mission. We have 6 ward missionaries (which is 6 more then I have ever had) and 5 of them showed up to Correlation with the ward mission leader. And let me tell you, all of the excitement is contagious. On Sunday we had the best ward council that I have ever had as well. The members are really focused and want to help us a ton. We have had a ton of members ask to leave with us just to proselyte. I have fallen in love with this place. 

Susana got baptized! It was such a good experience and really spiritual. It was good to see how far she had come. When we were teaching her she would always say that she felt like a big bowl of green jello on a hamster wheel. Haha! She didn't feel at peace. When I talked to her on Friday she said that she felt like a big red balloon flying in the sky...that is her way of saying that she is finally at peace. It was also good to see all of my buddies like Elder Morris and all of the members. I forgot to bring my camera so I will send you pictures next week but it sounds like you already saw some through Emiliano. Emiliano is awesome! He is going to be such a good missionary. Tell him that I love him!

A spanish class sounds good! I have always wanted to learn spanish! But other than that I have no idea what my plans are going to be this summer. I guess just study and work out all day and read the scriptures. I guess I might have to go look for a job! But the good thing is that I don't have to worry about that for 3 months :)

I think I will be able to figure everything out with My Family Search. I will probably do Michael Martin Lacey. I will try and get the phone number of Travis' mom because I think his parents are in charge of it all as far as the apartment goes.

Tim and Nicole Lawson are the parents of Elder Awesome errr.... I mean Elder Lawson.

Oh! I promised a member that I would write you about an investigator that we have. Sandra is the mom and her son Santiago got baptized and her daughter Sofia wants to get baptized really bad. A little over a month ago they all got caught in a bad house fire. Sandra got badly burnt but is recovering well. The kids are fine. Sandra before was open to the missionaries but she didn't want to receive the charlas. After this whole experience things have changed and she is more open to us. We still haven't talked to her very much but she went to church this Sunday. She has also gone through some really horrible things as well. Her 2 oldest children are addicted to drugs and so that haunts her a lot. But she has seen a lot of miracles lately and she is really being prepared by the Lord. We are working really closely with the familia Barreiro. The Dad is the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency and he suggested that we write our moms about what is happening and that maybe you could write a note to Sandra. I think that would be a great idea! So if you want you can send me an email and I can print it out and give it to her. If Dad could translate it that would be good or if not Hermana Carmen Barreiro Speaks English. I think that would help Sandra out a ton.

It is amazing to look back and see how far I have come. I love testifying of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The other day I finished Jesus the Christ. Over these past 2 years I have defended his name and tried my best to be a representative of him. He truly is our Redeemer. Through him all mankind can change and obtain Eternal Life. I love the Mission.

Love!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

I love everything you said. I do feel like I have grown to love the people here even more than when I started. I am working differently as a missionary and I feel like that is why I am loving it so much in Lezica. We are super nice to everyone and we look for opportunities to show our love to everybody. Emiliano will be leaving to Peru for his mission in May. He is going to be a solid missionary. I wish that I could have learned all of the things that I know now before my mission haha! I thought that the last 50 Meters was supposed to be the hardest??? I am loving it! 

I love you dad!

Elder Lacey

Miracles are Raining Down

Elder Rae, Elder Lacey and Elder Lawson
(Daniel's trainees)

Elder Morris and Elder Lacey
(Companions in Las Piedras)

Guy off the Street 

February 16, 2015

Dear Family,

What a week! My new comp. is Elder Lawson from Provo, Utah! He is a really good guy and we are already working super well together. Lezica is sweeeeeet! We got here in a white wash so we didn't know anything about the area. We first met with the Bishop (who is awesome) and he gave us three families to visit. We went to the first family and it was a miracle. The daughter is going on a mission in June but the mom is inactive and the Dad isn't a member. We already have had a Noche de Hogar with them and it was super spiritual so we are hoping for some good things with that. The members here are awesome! We have met with many of them and they are all super excited to work with us. We have already received 5 really good references from members. When we got here we didn't have any investigators but on Sunday we found a huge family that wants to get baptized really bad. The miracles are just raining down. We have both been feeling the spirit a ton and so we are really happy. I love the mission. Sometimes when I bare my testimony I get a little choked up because I know that I don't have much more time to be a representative of Jesus Christ and bare witness as a missionary of the truthfulness of this message. Why does time have to go by so fast!

More good news, I forgot to tell you about Susana from Las Piedras. We had been working with her for a long time and it was really cool because at the beginning she was almost atheist but we were able to see her progression and now she is getting baptized this Saturday I think i will be able to go because it is super close so I will get to see my good ol' buddy Elder Morris :)

As a mission we are going to go to the temple but they want us to bring a name from our family to do endowments. We are going to have some time on P day but Do you maybe have a name for me or what should I do?

I am so pumped! I think I finally learned how to be a missionary! haha! I love the gospel so much. You should try and get in contact with Elder Lawson’s parents if you can. He is a stud!

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

Lezica Norte

February 10, 2015

Dear Family,

Yep, changes again! I can't believe how fast this change went by. I got called to train in Lesica, Norte which is in Montevideo! I will also be a District Leader there. I am sad because Elder Morris is the best but I am also excited for what is up ahead. I am in the same situation that Elder Walker was in when he trained me. that is weird to think about. We will be doing a white wash so the first week is going to be crazy but I am looking forward to meeting all of the members and working with them. Elder Morris and I grew really close over these past 6 weeks and we have seen miracles. I have learned a lot from him too. We are going to be pretty close to each other though so we will keep in contact. I am so grateful for all of the comps that I have had.

Sad news with Antonella. Her ex boyfriend was building her a quick little house out of wood that was going to work out well for her and she was going to get baptized this week but...... She got in a fight with her ex-boyfriend and decided that she didn't want to receive anything from him. She moved to Pando to live with her sister. It is sad because we couldn't work with her anymore but the good thing is that she is really set on being baptized so she is going to go to the church in Pando. Hopefully I will be able to go to the baptism. 

There is some more good news though. We are working with the Silvera Family again. They were the ones where the Dad didn't want us to pass by anymore but we recently made friends with him and we were able to have a Noche de Hogar (Family Home Evening) with all of them! A member family came over and we watched a short video and talked about it and the dad of the family was participating and everything! We also made some brownies to share with everyone :)  Hopefully Elder Morris and his comp will be able to help them all to become converted. 

It will be sad to leave Las Piedras but every single change that I have had has helped me grow. I am looking forward to it. I like the example that you shared of the crayons. I think that is how life goes sometimes. We think that we have lost something when really God is just helping us to progress and grow. 

I am so glad that you had an awesome Birthday party! I enjoyed seeing all of the pics. Luke Is Huge! Is he taller then you mom? He must be eating his veggies :)

I have a couple of questions regarding college. Am I going to take classes this summer? haha And what did you guys have planned for housing? My buddy Travis Bloomfield has an apartment that is on campus and pretty cheap but nice. I would like to stay with him and one of my football buddies that is in Chile right now. Did I already send you the link to the web page of the apartments? I also sent an email to Coach Holliday and he said to contact him when I get home and he will let me know what to do. Also, thank you for sending those packages. I am sure I will get them soon. I love power bars and jerky!!!!

I am always so grateful for the counsel that you give me. I always try to apply the things that you send me in my life because I know that I will be blessed if I listen to the counsel of my parents. You guys are spiritual giants.

The other day I was thinking about all of the things that I have learned in my mission. As a leader I have learned a lot of tips and skills and what not. For example, how to make contacts in the street, how to make a good zone plan, how to react in certain situations etc etc. There are a lot of things that you can learn as a missionary but I realized that what makes a great missionary great is his testimony in Jesus Christ. If you truly have a strong testimony in Jesus Christ you will do what he wants you to do. If you go through your mission and you learn how to be a missionary but you have not strengthened your testimony then you didn't really learn how to be a missionary. 

I know that Christ lives.

Love,

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

1/8 of the mission = 3 months

1/8 of a 400M race = 50 M

Elder Lacey runs 50 M in around 5 Seconds

3 months=50 M= 5 seconds = BAPTISM

Hopefully you can follow my math but 1/8 of a mission equals baptism. These last 2 changes are going to be awesome haha!

I can't believe that time has gone by so fast. You nailed it on the head with me training. It will be a good experience.

I am planning to get back into shape as quick as possible. I will probably go lift in the morning and then in the afternoon go run and play catch etc. everyday. I feel pretty good and I feel like I could put on good weight pretty easily and get faster at the same time. I hear that the people in my new house like to work out so we will get big together.

Thank you for everything Dad!

Love

Elder Lacey

The Temple is the Best!

Elder Ve'e, Fabian, and Elder Lacey

Members from San Carlos

Elder Lacey in Las Piedras

February 2, 2015

Dear Family,

We went to the Temple this week! Fabian from San Carlos went to receive his endowment and he got sealed with his wife so Elder Ve'e and I got to go and see it all. We taught Fabian and he got baptized 2 weeks after we left but we stayed in contact. I also got to see a lot of the members from San Carlos which was really cool. They all said that I am a lot skinnier now haha! I will send you the pictures that we took together.

The temple is the best! I learn so much every time I go and I always leave with desires to do the very best that I can. I am going to go every day when I get home!

The work is going well here in Las Piedras. It has been hard because so far we haven't baptized anyone even though we feel like we are working better than we have ever worked before. We have found a lot of people and we feel like we have taught them well and that we have felt the spirit but then they use their agency to make dumb choices. The good thing is that we are helping a lot of less actives and recent converts come back to church which is a big thing that we are trying to do better in this mission. Also there are some more potential houses for Antonella so we will see what happens. (She has to move out from her boyfriend so she can get baptized)

Even though we are always doing something and we are always really busy and sometimes stressed I love the peace that the Gospel brings. I love taking the sacrament and feeling that spirit that comes after renewing your covenants. The Gospel is true.

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

Take care of mom for me on her Birthday!

It is crazy to think about time and how fast it flies. We cannot forget who we are for even a second because that second can turn into an eternity. Elder Morris and I have been able to work really well together. Even though we are both from the same group and we go home together, a lot of missionaries get "Trunky" but so far we haven't been hit with any trunkiness and have been able to keep ourselves focused.

I love you dad!

Elder Lacey