Miracles!!!! Miracles for Days!!

Elder Contreras and Elder Lacey workin' on the farm

Veronica's Baptism

Elder Lacey with the youth in Melo

September 29, 2014

Dear Family,

Miracles!!! Miracles for days. Yesterday Veronica got baptized. She is so awesome and has such a strong testimony. None of her family came to support her which was sad but she is such a great mom because she knows that this is going to help her family more then anything even if they don't know it. Also, Anabel is going to get baptized tomorrow! We lost contact with her for a week and we were passing by her small little house everyday but we could never find her. One day one of our charlas fell through and we were standing on the corner looking at our planners to see where we should go next when I had the impression that we should call Anabel. She answered and said that we could come over. We went over to her house and we could tell that things were bad. She was not happy at all. we started talking with her and she started to cry. She said that things had been really hard for her and that she had gone through some really tough experiences. She doesn't have a job, she has 3 hijas, and they live in a 1 room apartment. She said that she had doubts if God even existed. we were able to follow the spirit and calm her down. We both shared our testimonies and left her with a passage in the Book of Mormon, Nephis prayer. The next day we passed by and she had a big smile on her face. She had read the passage a couple times and she said that it was exactly what she needed. She knows that the Book of Mormon is true and God exists. She went to church and loved it. She is going to participate in the activities that the relief society has and she is going to get baptizedtomorrow. She has already accepted to pay her tithing even though she is really poor. The Mission is the best.

The other day in a District meeting we shared our testimonies and while I was sitting their I realized that I only have 8 months left I was really sad. I never thought I would get to the point when I would be sad that I didn't have much time left but I can't belive it. There is not much time left and I don't want it to end. It is amazing that next week we have chamges already. I hope that I don't leave Melo! haha I know I say that with every area that I have but its true.

I am so pumped for General Conference! I am going to drag 50 investigatores there so they can listen to the prophet! I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting on The importance of General Conference. i had a 20 minute talk prepared but I was only able to give like a 3 minute talk because everyone went over but I got a good study out of it. Save some cinnamon rolls for me! :) 

This week we also have Concilio and Zone Conference so it is going to be a packed week. 

I love you guys!

Dear Dad,

Sorry. I kind of ran out of time today. But I love what you shared with me! I am going to yoke myself to the Lord this week.

The goals that I have in the mission are:

1 Find another family

2 Give everything I have to the Lord

3 Get ripped doing it haha

I love you Dad

Elder Lacey

I Love the Mission!!

September 22, 2014

Dear Family,

I am still laughing at the thought of Ali running around the football field with Will scoring goals. I bet she has been dominating those little kids haha!

(Just a note to explain: Will (age 3 ) won’t play soccer unless Ali holds his hand and runs up and down the field with him. We keep teasing Ali that she needs to score some goals!! I told this to Daniel so he is commenting on it.)

It is good to hear that everyone is doing well. I can't believe that Sarah and John live near that beach that we went to. I am going to visit them for sure. Everyone needs to find a way to move closer to you guys like Sam did. Good move Sam! 

That is an awesome missionary experience. It is so interesting how things like that work out.

We had a similar miracle occur this week. On Friday we had a packed day. I remember looking at my agenda and wondering how we were going to get to all of our charlas on time because it was a completely packed day. So it turns out that almost all of our charlas fell through and these were really firm charlas we had. It was ridiculous how the charlas fell through and by 8 o'clock at night we didn't have a single thing to do. We decided to go pass by this woman named Ana that we had contacted in the street the other day even though she lived super far away. We were both kind of frustrated on the way over to her house. We had worked so hard and were looking forward to having these charlas with all of our investigators but a bunch of random stuff got in their way. When we got to the house of Ana it turned out that she doesn't even live there!............. But an incomplete family does! We found the family Legisano there and they are awesome! The 25 year old son is less active but he has a really strong testimony and his mom and his sister almost got baptized 4 years ago but they lived in a small branch at the time and there were some problems with the members or something like that. They also live with Maxi their cousin who is 17. His mom died about a year ago. At the end of the day we looked back and realized that in order for us to have found them, all of our charlas had to fall through. And then on top of that we received a false direction from some random lady named Ana that took us right to the Legisano’s house. We were amazed!

But Melo loves to play with my emotions. I have never seen so many miracles but I have also never seen so many disappointments. Manavel (I guess it is really Anabel) was going to come to church with her daughters and one of their daughters friends. We had a Noche de Hogar (FHE) in the house of a member with them and they were so pumped to come to church and get baptized. The member went to go walk with them to church and none of them wanted to come and we haven't been able to get in contact with them since. Also Leonardo was going to get baptized this Sunday but he has a few problems with the commandments. However, Veronica received a testimony of the Book of Mormon and wants to get baptized. We haven't been able to get in contact with Nancy and her family in a couple days. But a less active member showed up to church with her 9 year old daughter that wants to get baptized.

As you can see it was a roller coaster of a week. But we are really feeling good about the future. we have faith that everything will work out and that as long as we give it our all everything will be dandy. 

It is so amazing the difference that you can see in the people that really want to make the sacrifice and come unto Christ. Veronica is amazing! I can't remember if I have already told you about her but she basically memorized 3 Ne 11. She knew it better then the members! The only doubt that she has is that she wants her whole family to accept the gospel and come to church with her but for now her family isn't super willing to come to church. I know that as she keeps on the path her family will join with her one day. I love the mission!!

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad,

¡Hoy es el Día! 

Tiene razon. Ya hace calor acá. Uruguay es medio raro. hace frío o hace calor. no hay intermedio. Pero por suerte a mi me gusta el calor.

Recently I have been learning a lot about the life of Jesus Christ. I am trying to finish the book, "Jesus the Christ" and I have been able to watch a lot of the Bible videos that the Church came out with. I love thinking about how Jesus taught. it is awesome because Preach my Gospel helps us learn how to teach like him. I cannot wait to learn even more from General Conference!

I love you Dad!

Elder Lacey

GO COUGS

This Week was Full of Miracles

Elder Lacey and Elder Contreras with a family in Melo

Elder Ve'e, Elder Lacey, and Elder Pyper

Elder Lacey at the Montevideo Uruguay Temple

September 15, 2014

Dear Family,

What a week eh?! This week was full of miracles! To start it off do you guys remember Julia and Ruben? They went to church the first week that I got here but then Ruben said that he didn't want us coming back anymore. Recently we started working with their 17 year old son and on Tuesday we had a charla with him. We went over to their house and they were all their waiting for us! We had a charla with all of them and then afterwards Ruben asked forgiveness from us! He said that he was sorry for not wanting us to come over anymore. He said that he was wrong and that he thinks that maybe our message is what he really needs in his life. It was crazy! The only problem is that they are not married so we will see how it all works out. Also this week we have found a lot of other families. We found this really poor lady that has 3 daughters and lives alone in a tiny house. On Saturday we wanted to pass by to invite her to church but when we passed by she wasn't there. At about 8:00 at night we had a little bit of time and so we walked over by her house. We stopped at the corner and hesitated a little bit because it was really dark and there were a lot of teenagers outside of the place where she lives. It was a little bit sketchy and we had already passed by once that day so we weren't going to go in but out of no where a kid ran out to us and said Hey! Manavel and her daughters are home you guys should go see them! haha We didn't even know the kid but we went in and we were able to commit her to come to church and she came! Also a lady named Veronica came to church. She is about 40 and she has 2 kids and has been married with her husband for about 22 years. She is super awesome! It is amazing because she has been catholic her whole life and she was even married in the Catholic church. We are working with 2 other families that we thought were coming to church for sure but they didn't :( But things are going well.

Thanks for sending me those pictures I love seeing what you guys are up too. Today I have a better computer so I will send you some pictures. It is perfectly fine if other people want to write me some emails! Sometimes I might not be able to write back but normally I have enough time.

I am so grateful for all of you guys. I have the best family ever! 

Love

Elder Lacey

Fire in my Soul

September 8, 2014

Dear Family,

So I don't know how much time I will have to write you because my computer keeps crashing and it is pretty slow but we will see what happens haha!

That is so awesome that you guys were able to go to the temple open house. The temple is the best thing ever. I was really pumped when I heard that we were going to have the chance to go this past week. It is amazing how strong the spirit is in the temple. There is no doubt that the temple is the House of God. Every time that I have gone to the temple on my mission I have left with fire in my soul to go baptize the world. Elder Contreras and I just wanted to get back to our area and work our tails off but unfortunately we had to take a 6 hour bus ride haha! But we still have that fire in our souls and we are seeing miracles. There are still some people that decide not to get baptized but there are still a lot of people that are coming through and so here in the next couple of weeks they should be entering into the waters of baptism. It is difficult sometimes because I just want everyone to know what I have felt and seen but sometimes no matter how well you explain or promise blessings the people don't understand how important it all is. It is a miracle when someone pays attention to the spirit and really make all of the changes that they need to in their life to come closer to God. There are some recent converts here that are super strong. Also, Lucas, Juan and Antonella in 33 are super firm in the church! Lucas and Juan pass the sacrament every sunday and Antonella is going to institute and all of that good stuff. They are the best. Now I just need to find another family here in Melo! :)

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well and thank you for all of your prayers for us. I just got a letter today with all of your notes to me that you wrote in Bear Lake and a drawing from Luke. you guys are the best. I have the best family in the WORLD! 

Love,

Elder Lacey

PS I have tried to send pictures for the past couple of weeks but these computers are killing me. Thanks for all of the pictures that you have sent me! :)