Go Cougars!!

There was a conference with both the Montevideo and Montevideo West Missions so Elder Lacey got to meet up with the other BYU Football players, one from his mission and 2 from the other mission.
Elder Lacey, Elder Powell, Elder Pulsipher and Elder El-Bakri

June 16, 2014

Dear Dad,

I still remember getting home at some ridiculous hour in the night to our house in Farmington. I also remember not helping to much with the luggage! Sorry! haha I was always so tired but now I realize that you must have been 20 times more tired because you were the one who stayed awake and drove us home. I am glad that you guys got home safe from your trips though.

HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

It is weird because here they celebrate fathers day on a different date...(so that is why I almost forgot) :) 

You are the best dad ever. I don't know anyone who works harder for their family. Thanks for raising us kids! I know it was hard but I hope it "vale la pena" 

That is sad to hear about Myron Taylor and Esta Tanner. I hope their families are doing well.

Yesterday one of the members in our ward came up to me and told me that he thinks he is going to go to Salt Lake City next week so he thought it would be cool to meet up with you guys! He is the Elders Quorum President and he speaks english. So I am going to give him your email and your cell phone number so he can get a hold of you. He might bring you a fathers day present from Uruguay too ;) 

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear Family,

My family is the best. I love you guys! I am still laughing about "you have had 54 years to prepare that talk" haha! 

(A note of explanation: Mike and I (Diana) were in Meadville, PA for a couple of weeks with Jeff and Amy and their kids. Yesterday in church, after the sacrament, the councilor in the Bishopric passed a note down to Mike and I asking us to speak on the topic of "How Fathers have influenced us and to give advice for youth/parents" We would be speaking after the Elder in their ward spoke. Afterwards I was telling my dad, Grandpa Larsen, about it, He said, "Well, you had plenty of time to prepare." I said, "What do you mean, we had 10 minutes!" He replied, "How old are you?" I said, "54" He said, "Well, you've had 54 years to prepare for that talk." haha I guess he is right.)

I wish I could hear all of the funny things that all of the niños are saying. You guys should try to catch some of it on film! 

President Robbins talk was amazing! He talked a lot about the spirit and I learned a ton. The funny thing is that with Pres. Robbins and Pres. Gonzales they both "winged" their talks. They just go up there and follow the spirit. We are always allowed to ask questions and everything and they answer everything super easily. They are so directed by the spirit that they don't need to write a talk out...but like grandpa Larsen said They have had 60 or 70 years to prepare for their talks haha! Obviously they go in with an idea of what they are going to say but after that it is all the spirit. It was awesome!

Well dangit.... I am out of time :( Everything went really well this week. We didn't have time to do much because of all of the conferences and with the World Cup ruining everything but everything is good. I love the mission, I love the gospel and I love my family. Keep doing work!

Love

Elder Lacey

PS congrats to Logan! that is sweet!!!!! I am pumped for him.

7 Recent Converts

June 9, 2014

Dear Family,

I didn't know that I had met President Gonzales before! That's pretty neat. And that is awesome that Amy got to meet Pres. and Sis. Newsome! They are so awesome, what a coincidence! I love getting to see all of the pictures you send. I wish I could have been there with you guys to walk on water with the ducks. haha! The problem is that even with all of those fish the Lacey family still wouldn't be able to catch one. 

Send my felicitaciones to the FHS track team! That is LEGIT. The key there is that they got rid of all of the Lacey Boys. Who would have thought that after all these years we were holding FHS back haha! But let me know where Logan is going on his mission.

So, I just barely understood the letter that you guys put inside of the package with my socks. It hit me when I was sweeping the floor and I couldn't stop laughing. I had no idea why you wrapped my socks around a toilet paper roll. I thought it was to get them nice and fresh or something. I didn't realize that you actually sent me "special travel toilet paper" hahahaha! You guys are the best. Also, thank you for the toothbrush. Uruguayan toothbrushes are horrible, they die in like 2 weeks! 

This week we are going to have another zone conference with President Cook and then the next day we are going to have a conference with Elder Robbins (he is the new president in the 70) We have been having a ton of conferences lately which is kind of rough because we lose a lot of work time, but at the same time it is the best thing ever because we always learn so much. So I am really looking forward to this week. Other than that everything is normal. One thing that we have been focusing a lot on is family night. It is amazing how much family night helps the members, the investigators and everyone else. So make sure you are having your family nights every single day. (But if you don't want to have them every single day you can do it every Monday) :)

I really liked what you shared about "stand still". Sometimes it is easy to get stressed out about everything in the mission but it is good to realize that as long as we do everything that God asks everything will turn out alright. We need to give it our all and then stand still and watch the hand of God.

I know that this is the work of God and that no matter what happens this work will still keep moving forward. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to "apresurar la obra" del Señor (D y C 88:73) (“hasten the work of God”) Pres. Monson said that this scripture is being fulfilled now. Right now is the time to hasten the work. It is so awesome to be a part of the Lord’s plan in these latter days. Now let’s go baptize the world! 

Love

Elder Lacey

Dear Dad

I like how you are using the "phrase baptize the world" because that has been my phrase since the CCM.(MTC) But it is true. The Lord wants us to baptize the world! He wants every person who is ready to be baptized, men, women, children, grandparents, everyone. So that is what we are trying to do. We are also increasing the focus on retention.  Elder Bastidas and I are really happy because yesterday we had 7 recent converts in church and we are looking to increase that number. We only have 60 people in church and so having 7 recent converts there is pretty cool.

Un Abrazo 

Elder Lacey

President Gonzales

Elder Lacey with Pres. Gonzales

Elder Lacey with some delicious liver!

Lucas and Juan

Antonella's Baptism

June 3, 2014

Dear Family,

Peehhhhhhh!!! (Thats Uruguayan for wow) What a packed week! Wednesday Elder Bastidas and I left at 3:30 am to Montevideo for a meeting with all of the zone leaders and Presidente Gonzales. We were lucky enough to be able to stay there for a conference that he had with half of the mission and so we stayed the night in the hostel by the temple. The next day we traveled to Maldonado for the conference with the other half of the mission. So we weren't in our area for 2 whole days but it was definitely worth it. I think I took a whole book of notes on what he taught us. It was a huge blessing to be able to hear so much from someone who has A LOT of contact with the 12 apostles and the first presidency. I don't have time to share everything he taught us but I will say that everything he taught us not only applies to the mission but to real life....in fact, you could say that the mission is real life haha! I learned a ton about leadership and about how to work with investigators but the coolest part was when he bore his testimony in his the last conference. He really is called to be a special witness of Jesus Christ,

On Saturday we had the baptism of Antonella! It was really spiritual and a lot of her family came. Me and Elder Pike sang "Mas Cerca Dios de Ti" and I was able to bare my testimony. I LOVE BAPTISMS! The mom of Antonella said that she felt the spirit really strong and she is really grateful for everything that has happened with her family and the church. She still is a little bit iffy about receiving the charlas and all but she is definitely progressing. Here in a little bit she won't be able to resist anymore. Lucas and Juan are continuing to blow my mind. They both shared their testimonies at the baptism and they pray like little angels. Antonella also shared her testimony after her baptism and it was really amazing to hear what she was feeling. Her mom told us that she has changed a ton. She basically bore her testimony to us that the gospel blesses families. I am so grateful for the opportunity to help these people feel the spirit in their house and to help them come to know that families can be together forever.

We received cambios (changes) last night! I am staying here with Elder Bastidas! But Elder Pike is leaving :( ..... but he is a zone leader now :) Changes are always fun. But I am really happy that I am staying. We learned a lot from Presidnet Gonzales about working with members and retention and we have some pretty good plans here in our area. Plus we still have some unfinished business with the family of Juan and Lucas!

Did you guys buy a RV or something? Because you are traveling all over the place! Say hi to all of the family up there! That is so awesome that Kayla got baptized! Thank you for sending those pictures! I also received 1 package this week...... that you sent April 11! haha I don't know why it took so long but thank you so much! I needed those socks haha and the beef jerky is DIVINE.

That is really sad about Sister Tanner. She was always really nice to everyone and she always had a bright smile on her face whenever I saw her. The good thing is that that smile will not vanish. There is another life after this one. Send my thanks to Sister Tanner for everything she has done. She is a great lady I will always be grateful for her example.

I am excited to keep the work moving down here in Uruguay and I am so grateful for everything that you all do for me!

Love

Elder Lacey

Letter in the Mail

(Today is a transfer day for Elder Lacey so we won't get an email until tomorrow. I got this letter in the mail just before we left for Pennsylvania on Friday so I thought I would post it.)

Buen Dia!!

How are you guys doing?  I hope the trip to Tahiti went well. By the time this gets to you school will probably be out? I bet Luke is pretty excited.  What are you guys going to do for summer?  Go have a BBQ and play some board games for me, Alright?

I miss you guys a ton but the mission is going really well.  I am even learning to cook a little bit! In Aeroparque it was really hard to cook because there were only little "almacens" and I had no idea what to eat. haha But in San Carlos, Chuy and here in 33 there are supermarkets.  They are kind of expensive but if you need special ingredients you can find them.  I am really glad that I started my mission in Aeroparque because it set my expectations pretty low as far as food and house conditions haha? But I now realize that Elder Walker did a really good job of training me there. He never complained or said anything bad about Aeroparque so I didn't know that there were better places. I had a blast there! I have loved every single one of my areas and companions!

Recently I have realized that I have been blessed with an ability since I have been on my mission.  I have been able to make everything simple.  To me the Gospel is so basic and logical.  I have been able to tie all of the different gospel topics into one word: FELICIDAD (happiness)  All of the commandments we have, all of the things we do, the scriptures, the prophets, the earth, temples, our families...We have all of these things because God loves us and he wants us to be happy.  That is why he sent Jesus Christ.
                                                       John 3:16
I am so glad that God has given me this knowledge so that I can share it with others. Sometimes we as missionaries like to make things too complicated with deep doctrine, but to me what I like to teach to investigators and to missionaries is this:
                                                       GOD LOVES US
If we are obedient to His words we will have eternal life. If we really truly have faith in Jesus Christ then we will obey. I am so grateful that I was raised in such a good home. Thank you Mom and Dad!  You were the ones that taught me this. Keep teaching Luke!  Read, pray, pay attention in church and have FHE.

I love you guys!

Elder Lacey

One Year on the Mission

Elder Lacey companions with Elder Bastidas

May 26, 2014

Dear Family,

I am officially one year old now! It is crazy how fast time has gone by. I have learned so many things and have met so many people. It is funny to think that one year ago I didn't know Spanish, I had never read all the way through Preach My Gospel, and I thought that eating 3 meals a day was normal haha! I am so glad that I am out here doing work for the Lord. The mission really is the best 2 years. 

Thanks for all of the pics! It is awesome to see how much all of the kids are growing up. Say hi to everyone for me! I also received 2 letters from you this week! It gives me such a boost to hear about all that is happening and to hear your testimonies. Thanks for updating the blog and what not. I hope everyone enjoys reading it. I apologize for my lack of creative writing skillz.

President Cook is awesome! He is always directed by the spirit and he connects with all of the missionaries really well. He always cares about every single one of us and he has put some good goals to help us. His wife is really funny too, just like Pres. Cook. They both have a great sense of humor.  She studied health or something like that in college and so she is always teaching us about things that we can do so that we can be physically ready for the challenges of the mission. I feel like I am eating a lot healthier now. But our mission is doing really well and all of the missionaries are excited to work. 

Elder Bastidas and I had an awesome week this week and the zone did as well. Antonella is going to get baptized the 31! we are so excited for her and the ward is really pumped too. I can feel a change in the ward here. Last night we had a noche de hogar (FHE) in the house of our Ward Mission Leader and there were 25 people there including Juan Lucas, Antonella and Beatriz. It was a really good experience and I feel like our ward is progressing pretty well. Our Ward Mission Leader is a boss!! (meaning awesome) and I really feel like Lucas and Juan are giving a lot of energy to everyone. I think we had 9 young men in church yesterday which is almost unheard of down here. It is getting me pumped just thinking about all of the possibilities that are opening up. 

Yesterday we had a Stake Priesthood Conference and it was sweeeeet. I keep learning so much about how the church works and it is a testimony builder to see how perfect the organization of the church is. Sometimes I want to be a normal member so that I can help in other ways! haha Sometimes the members don't realize how much they can help in the missionary work and in helping other members. The stake president talked about the 3 keys in the church: preaching the gospel to non-members, members, and those who are dead. In stake conferences the 3 keys are usually together: Mission President, Stake President, and Temple President. I was thinking about you guys and it is interesting that you may not have such a big opportunity to share the gospel with others who aren't members because you live in Utah now but you have a huge opportunity to help perfect the saints and do temple work. We all have some work to do.

Thank you for sharing what you are learning about prayer. I have been looking for ways to improve my prayers because as missionaries we are praying constantly but sometimes we pray so much that it can get a little repetitive which I want to avoid. So thank you for that.

I love everybody! See you guys in a year!

Love

Elder Lacey

(I forget to post letters from Elder Lacey to Mike but here is the one from this week)

Dear Dad,

It is interesting what you were talking about in your email because I gave the gospel principels class on Sunday and it was on work and responsibilty. God and Jesus are still working for us......That means that we are going to be working for ever! haha So we talked about how we can learn to love our work no matter what we are doing. I have come to learn that happiness is more of an attitude then anything else. If we have a good attitude towards our work then we will progress and be happy. Here in the misison I have met people who are well off and are happy, I have met people who are well off and are not happy and I have met people who don't do anything and they are NEVER happy! It is interesting to think about.

When I get back from the mission I want to do everything I can to develop my talents to keep helping the work of the Lord. I agree completly with you that it is perfectly fine to want to have success in sports, school and work but we need to have our eyes on the final prize. La vida eterna baby! 

Thanks for your love and for your wisdom!

Love 

Elder Lacey

Baptism of Lucas and Juan

Elder Lacey and Elder Bastidas baptism of Juan and Lucas

May 12, 2014

Dear Mom,

I was going to tell you Happy Mothers Day but I never got the chance since we got cut off too soon! Sooooo....HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! :) You are the best mom ever. Thank you so much for devoting so much time to raising all of us. I am so blessed to have you and Dad as parents. 

That is so awesome that you were able to share a book of mormon on the boat! You are always looking for ways to share this light with others. Maybe Dad can just baptize her right there in the ocean! haha I hope that you get a chance to help out with that lady's daughter. 

It was really good to talk to you yesterday even though it was only for 20 minutes. You both always inspire me to do my best and to remember about the important things in life. That is really cool that you were able to talk to Elder Vorwaller and hear all of his crazy stories haha It is awesome that you have been able to talk to a ton of my comps. I was also able to see the family of Elder Pike. His mom told me that you guys have been emailing back and forth. They seem like a really good family. Elder Pike is super good at singing so I have been trying to learn a little bit. We actually don't sound to bad! haha It is funny because Elder Pike looks a lot like Sean Farley!

The mission is going really well. I forgot to tell you that on Saturday that Elder Bastidas and I had 7 baptisimal interviews to do so we were pretty busy. Our zone is working hard and we are happy. But there are 2 things that I need help with. 1) In Chuy I ate Granola for days because it is pretty cheap and super good but I got addicted! How do you make homeade granola? We have a lot of oatmeal here and we can get honey but could you email me the recipe please? :) 2) The inserts to one of the pairs of my shoes are pretty destroyed but I remember that MR. Mac said that they can send more inserts pretty easy. They are the shoes that arn't the Eccos. I can't remember what they are called. It isn't super urgent but here in a few months I will need some new ones. Thanks! 

Anyway, I hope you guys have fun on the cruise! make sure to take lots of pìctures. I am so happy that I am here in Uruguay and I am so happy that I am doing the Lords work!

Love

Elder Lacey

(When we talked with Daniel on Mother's Day, he related a story about the baptism he had that day.  Juan and Lucas ages 13 and 11 were baptized and many of their non-member family came to the baptism. Daniel was so emotional telling the story he could hardly get it out, but anyway Lucas and Juan bore testimonies after their baptisms that as Daniel put it, "out of the mouths of babes" came powerful witnesses of the reality of the Savior. Daniel said that especially Lucas, the 11 year old, gave a testimony that sounded like and adult. He said they will probably baptize many more because of the great influence of these young men.)

May 19, 2014

Dear Mom,

Sounds like you guys had a blast in Tahiti! The pictures look awesome! Maybe we will have to make a return trip in about a year and a week ;) That is to bad that you stepped on that sea urchin, but I guess you need to feel the pain to know the good or something like that. 

Anyway, that is really cool that you guys got to meet so many Mormons out in Tahiti and that you got to see so many cool things. To bad that I am having a  better time! :) Things are going great down here. Some of the family of Lucas and Juan came to their confirmation and so we are hoping for some good things to come from that. The Stake President is really good friends with a lot of their family and the Stake President’s son is now good friends with Juan and Lucas. All of the members are really excited about them too. If we could convert the rest of their family it would help all of 33 a ton! So please pray for all of them. 

Yesterday we had a noche de hogar (Family Home Evening) with one of the aunts of Juan and Lucas (Antonella) in the house of our Ward Mission Leader. There were a lot of people there and we watched Hallando Fe en Cristo (Finding Faith in Christ) Like always there were some small technical problems with the DVD but the spirit was really strong and everyone loved it. We had to leave right after the movie and run to our house so we could get home at 8 because it was Sunday so we didn't get the chance to read a scripture or bare our testimonies after. I was super disappointed because I felt the spirit really strongly and I just wanted to drop the testimony on our investigators but I know that the Lord will bless us for being obedient to his commandments. But I invite you guys to watch that movie because it is awesome. My testimony of Jesus Christ grows every time I watch it.

So what are you guys going to do this summer? It is so weird because I feel like it is about time for Thanksgiving down here haha! It is getting a bit nippy.

I love the Mission

Hugs for everyone!       

Love

Elder Lacey

Juan and Lucas

May 5, 2014

Dear Family,

Another good week here in Uruguay. We have been working really hard and we are seeing some really good things here in the zone.  Elder Bastidas and I  have been working with 2 jovenes (young boys) that are legit! Juan is 13 and Lucas is 11 about to turn 12. Juan reminds me of Luke a ton! They are both so excited to get baptized and they both want to go on missions. I taught Juan how to throw a football the other day and now he wants to play football haha! We are also working with the rest of their family but Juan and Lucas are going to get baptized this Sunday. The other day Lucas asked us if we could have the charlas in the house of a member who doesn't go to church so that way they could help someone else come to church! They just keep blowing our minds with how prepared they are. Yesterday they showed up to church with a shirt and tie and we didn't even tell them about that! They are a really good example to their family and I don't doubt that soon the others will get baptized too. It is really cool to see such young kids make such good decisions. I bet Luke would be really good friends with them.

I am pumped for the 11th! I think right now I had Skyped planned for 6 p.m. our time. Does that work for you guys? I can't believe that you guys are going to be in Tahiti! haha Are just you and Dad going? Have fun!

The mission is going really well. President Cook is doing some really cool things and I feel like all the missionaries are working really hard. It is such an awesome experience to work with all of these missionaries that are all so pumped up. The other day we had a zone conference where we talked a lot about metas (goals). I loved the quote that you sent me because I tied it together with what we taught about metas. We have goals to help us reach our potential and when we set goals with the spirit, with the Lord's help we can reach those goals. But sometimes we fall. We don't accomplish everything that we wanted to achieve. But that is why the gospel is so awesome! We have the opportunity to start over! We can make new goals, have a new mindset and keep moving forward through the help of Jesus Christ. We can accomplish everything through the atonement of Jesus Christ and one day we can be perfect. 

I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well! Tell Sarah Happy B-day for me! I sent her a letter but it will probably get there in like 2 weeks. And Sam's B-day letter will probably be late too......oops! But buy him some ice cream and he'll get over it :) 

See you on Sunday!

Love

Elder Lacey