Hola, Familia!

So, we’re super excited to see Diego (he’s Hna. Martinez’ grandson, in case you’ve forgotten… they live with their mom in Madison, but she works on the weekend and thus has her mom watch them) get baptized. Just imagine an adorable 9-year-old Hispanic boy saying, “I need more knowledge… like about the scriptures and stuff.” He’s been saying that for months now, and it’s been such a blessing to see the light in his eyes as he realizes that he DOES have a testimony and knows enough. Last night as we taught about testimony, we shared Alma 7:8 and talked about how even a prophet of God doesn’t know everything… But he had a strong testimony (“this much I do know”), and that was what was most important. It was a beautiful lesson!

Each of us wrote down what we know to be true and then read what we’d written. We focused the end of the lesson just on Diego and asked him how he feels about all this. He said, “I feel joyful… but sometimes nervous.” As we dug a little deeper, we were then able to teach about opposition and help him understand that the bad feelings don’t come from God.

And I was so proud of Hna. Kamp as she asked the inspired question of “When do you want to be baptized?” She’s talking more and more, and I’ve loved seeing her slowly but surely gain more confidence. I’m grateful to be able to spend a second transfer with her. But long story short, Diego said that he wants to be baptized on June 1st!

Before I forget, here’s a late shout-out to Becca Butterfield and Xanning Tyler–FELIZ CUMPLEANOS! (May 20th)

As mentioned in last week’s email, we were able to sing the National Anthem at the Nashville Sounds baseball game on Monday. During the game, we were able to meet an awesome couple that Hna. Birch and McCalvy are teaching: Jenny and Pedro. I asked whereabouts they lived, and Pedro starting saying, “In the green trailer with the tree in front.” We’ll just say we were laughing our heads off because he was totally expecting me to know where that was ha ha. Hispanics have such awesome senses of humor, and I love it.

Hno. Rodrigo, his wife Stephanie, Christian, and los ninos were also at the game! SO GOOD to see them!! Oh, how I love them. Abinadi kept shoving his program in my face as I tried to take a photo (see attached) ha ha. They brought the Madison and Cumberland elders, so it was good to see Elder Knighton one last time. And Elder Shoun, Boyack, and Stringham. They all left this week. Crazy!

On Tuesday we met Robin, Johnny’s wife; he’s the one I told you about a couple of weeks ago… we met him at the gas station. Anyway, she was nice to us but clearly stated, “I’m not interested. I just don’t mess with that stuff anymore.” It was so sad! Hopefully one day very soon she’ll open her heart back up to believing in the Savior.

Later that day, we also met Jennifer and Maria. Maria’s 18 and is the oldest of eight kids. Her family seems to be super Catholic, but they do something awesome every Friday together–they have family Bible study together and pray! They basically have FHE. We were hoping to join then, but Maria wasn’t home when we passed by our for our appt. on Friday.

At the end of the night, Hno. Mario called us just to talk. It’s good that he can confide in us and really trusts in our advice, etc… but Hna. Kamp and I are working really hard right now to help the less active members have better relationships with the members. The same thing has kind of happened with Hno. Villarce, too–he usually calls us before calling an hermano or someone de la rama. But with that said, we had a wonderful conversation with Mario! He’s totally on the up and up. He hasn’t been doing anything bad, but he hasn’t necesarily been doing all the right that he knows he should be doing. He’s been reading Leales a la Fe and la Liahona a lot, but the actual study of the scriptures has slipped away a bit; we committed him to start again this week.

Wednesday made for another incredible district meeting. It went over like an hour, but that’s okay ha ha. At the end, we had about 15 minutes of solo time to go somewhere in the church building to just pray. I went into the chapel and was overcome with such peace. It was wonderful! I know the Lord is pleased in the work I’m doing.

On our way back from Antioch, we stopped by Amada’s for an English class. She ended up spilling her entire life story, much of which centered around the unfortunate circumstances with her “esposo” (they’re not married). We gave her a Book of Mormon in both Spanish and English (it was English class, remember ) and testified of how it can help her to be happy. We’ve made plans to teach her English every Wednesday at 1:30!

Following our visit to Amada, we stopped by the miracle trailers (the ones we found at the very edge of our area the other week) and found Nereida and her daughter Sherlyn. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon and are going to stop by this Wednesday. They are a BEAUTIFUL family! Never before in the mission have I found so many families. It’s awesome, because that’s obviously what the gospel’s all about–the family.

We of course ended Wednesday with futbol with los hermanos. Thanks for the shoes! I’d forgotten what it feels like to play soccer in soccer shoes ha ha.

After an appointment with Jennifer fell through on Thursday, we decided to go talk to an older black man who was out on his porch smoking a cigarette. He introduced himself as Ike, and he told us that he’s had three strokes. Immediately, he began to tell us how he knows that God’s keeping him here for a reason. We introduced him to the Book of Mormon and helped him understand how it can help him to keep on keepin’ on. We marked the introduction and 3 Nefi 11, I believe… as we were driving off, the Book of Mormon was open in his hands, and his eyes were fixed on its pages. It was a beautiful moment! I love experiences like that; they truly remind me how I’m hear to talk to EVERYONE, not just my Hispanic brothers and sisters.

We finished Thursday night by having an English class with Hno. Villarce.

On Friday, we planned for week #2 of the transfer. Already? Wow! Hna. Burgos didn’t have time to cook, so she took us out to dinner at Bellacino’s. Have I ever told you how hilarious that family is? I sure love them!

We had an appointment scheduled for 7 pm with Martin, and what happened at his doorstep made me so mad. Okay, I don’t get mad… but it made me super sad! Martin is in his 40′s and has two little boys; he’s always so willing to talk to us but says he doesn’t have much time for God. No, that’s not the sad part. Each time we’ve passed by, his mom has been sitting behind him in the living room just listening. And it might be important to know that she’s super Catholic.

Anyway, as we passed by on Friday, she answered the door and immediately handed us the Book of Mormon and said, “Here’s your Bible” and began to walk away. I asked her if there there was anything we could do for her, because I didn’t want her getting away without us bearing testimony of that sacred book. But she just said, “What? NO!” and shut the door. She probably thinks she got the best of us that day, but it was yet another experience in which I was able to know of the strength of my testimony. It didn’t make me doubt of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Rather, it made me so sad to see her treating us as if we had some disease just because of a nametag that bears the LORD’S name. I sure hope she has the opportunity to accept the gospel in this life. And for now, we have plans to go see Martin in a week or two again… after all, we never talked to HIM!

Later that night, we went with the English elders to visit Kwasi. They’re going to begin teaching him now. Oh, and he kept telling me that “my friend who’s in Ghana” (Ryan Francom) isn’t coming home; he said that by now, he’s fallen in love with the place and will never want to go home. Don’t let Terry know! The things he’s described about Ghana make it sounds like such a dreamy place. I would love to go there some day.

Cesar took us to lunch again this Saturday. And as promised, he told us of all his issues right now… the things that are supposedly keeping him from coming to church. Turns out he got a girl pregnant and knows that it was wrong. So many times we meet people who don’t want to go to church or even pray because they know they’re sinning. That’s the exact moment in which we NEED to let the Lord heal us; and we do that by following His commandments… o sea, going to church, praying, etc. We spent well over an hour in Palmas Verdes (delicious Mexican restaurant here in Hermitage! I got a shrimp quesadilla), and I hope he’ll be coming to church soon. He reads a chapter from the Book of Mormon every day! Yeah, church is going to be key in helping everything “click” for him–he’s such a good guy.

We visited Hna. Ortega that afternoon, and it was a bit sad–because she’s been working and hasn’t been able to go to church, no one had invited her to the Mother’s Day activity. She said, “I have feelings, too.” With all the less active/inactive members, we’ve been asking if they’ve been visited by their home/visiting teachers. The answer is a resounding NO… for one reason or another, they just haven’t been getting visited. We’re going to do what we can to make sure these precious members are being visited, including my dear Mario.

Our last visit of the evening on Saturday was to Hna. Zavala (formerly Hna. Aguilar… they’re officially divorced now, I believe). She’s soooo wonderful, but she’ll never commit to going to church. We did invite her to start reading the Book of Mormon again every day. I know doing so will help her come back to church. She NEEDS it right now to keep going in the right direction as a single mom of two young boys.

Sunday was stake conference, broadcasted from the Green Hills building in Nashville. It was wonderful! Claudio, who always says that he can’t promise us anything, came! In fact, he called us about a week ago to tell us he’d be coming. It was beautiful. They had headsets for translation, but there was quite a bit of static; he didn’t really like using them. But as soon as Sister McKee got to the pulpit and said, “Are you happy?”, he quickly put them right back on. I know that both her talk and President McKee’s talk really touched him! We’re excited to hopefully teach him this week–he works late every day, so we’ve only been able to pass by like twice in our seven weeks together. But after the meeting, la familia Chacon and Hno. Ambriz totally wrapped their arms around Claudio. Yet another beautiful member moment… I love them!

I think that’s about it for this novel of an email. Does anyone ever make it to the end of these? Oh, cool story actually… Sister Vandenburg who just arrived in the mission (she’s serving English) said she’d been reading my blog before coming out! Her friend, who’s a friend of Hna. Dodge, had told her about it. Crazy. But cool.

So anyway, thanks again for all your love and support. Each and every one of you is so special to me. The Church is true, true, true… not a doubt in my mind!! The Savior lives and loves me and you with a PERFECT love. Let’s try a little harder this week to emulate that same kind of love.

Hasta la proxima!

Con MUCHO amor,

Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

So it was wonderful talking to y’all last night. I sure love each and every one of you. And Scott, I’m glad to hear that all went well with your farewell. I can’t wait for you to start your mission… it truly is the best two years. Well, I’m not sure about those last 6 months, because I’ll never experience them. But you get the point!

You know that we’ve been using futbol as a means of getting investigators and less actives more involved with the members, but the title of this email is referring to baseball… yep, we’re singing again this year at the Sounds game! Angie McKee asked us after church yesterday, so it was kind of late notice. But this morning, we texted like 25 people and hope to have some of them (members and friends, alike) there tonight! There’s a group of about 30 of us missionaries that will be singing the National Anthem.

As for this past week’s happenings…

On Monday, we found one of the places that both Hna. Kamp and I both knew was missing. As mentioned in previous weeks, we’ve felt several times that we just weren’t where we were supposed to be; as if there was unexplored territory someplace else. After not being able to find Luis, who we found in our area book, we ran into a trailer park full of Hispanics at the very edge of our area. That very night we talked to Guillermo and Enrique (many of their family members are members of the Church, in Mexico and UT), Silvia, and Irma. Irma had left her house to chase her dog down, so it was the perfect opportunity to start talking to her. And I’m sure glad we did! She claimed to have talked to the elders a few years ago, who told her that Mormon men are allowed to have lots of wives. We assured her that is definitely not true. Sometimes people get us confused with the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but she was like 100% stuck on it being an LDS missionary. At any rate, we had an awesome conversation with her and gave her a part to read in the Book of Mormon. She said she’d love to have us back over after the crazyness of the school year’s end with her kids dies down.

Tuesday was another good day, and we met Jorge and Rosia, who again have family members who are members of the Church. If my sibling changed religions, I’d definitely want to know why and really talk to him or her about it. But with both Jorge and Guillermo and Enrique that we’d met the day before, all of them seemed really content where they’re at. We did give Jorge and Rosia a Book of Mormon though, which the invitation to read it so they can learn of what their family holds dear to them. Before leaving, we got quite the talent show from their adorable kids–singing, dancing, you name it. And the boy’s attempts to sing Old MacDonald were hilarious! I wish I could explain how funny it was. Jorge also asked thought I asked what the baby contains (his wife is pregnant), when I’d asked him what the BIBLE contains… bebe, Biblia… ? ha ha. That added to a few more laughs. They’re good people though, and I know that by reading the Book of Mormon with an open heart, they’ll feel the Spirit and want more.

Wednesday’s district meeting was focused on what it means to be a successful missionary. It was just what I needed that day! Time goes by SO quickly here that it’s easy to think, “Have I done all that the Lord has called and expected me to do?” After that district meeting, I can confidently say YES! Yes, I have. Sure I haven’t baptized the nations, but I have seen success in so many other ways. And for that I am grateful. I know the Lord is pleased with the service I have and will continue to render, and that’s really all that matters.

We also met Jhon and Oscar on Wednesday. And afterward as we walked to see la familia Maranon, a little boy (4 years old?) chased us with a squirt gun saying, “I’m going to shower you!” His mom came out of their house all embarrassed. But don’t worry, she quickly went back inside and he continued to squirt us. It was so funny ha ha.

The night was ended with an awesome game of futbol en la capilla. There were four non-members there!

Thursday was yet another wonderful day. We taught Maria, Jhon and Oscar (first lesson with them, and we ended up teaching the Word of Wisdom due to questions they had… turns out Jhon owns a company like Starbucks in Colombia, so he says that’s going to be a problem), Claudio, and Hno. Villarce. Hno. Villarce has been so off and on with his church attendance ever since being baptized nearly a year-and-a-half ago. But right now, he’s doing well. In fact, he calls us a few times a week to tell us about the awesome scriptures he’s found, hymns, etc. It makes me happy to see him happy! He gets so giddy about the gospel.

As always, we weekly planned on Friday. And you’d better believe it… we planned for a new transfer! Already? Yep. Crazy! But don’t worry–we planned inside this week, so my legs aren’t fried again ha ha.

Following planning, we went to the church for a Mother’s Day dinner that the hermanos had planned. They did such a good job! We ate papusas and had a delicious tres leches cake for dessert. Hna. Reyes brought her friends Josefina (they work together) and her three kids, and it was wonderful to get to know her a bit. The funny thing is that Hna. Spencer and I had knocked Josefina’s door when I was here before, and Josefina wasn’t all that interested; in fact, she just stopped answering the door. But I tell you what… MEMBERS ARE EVERYTHING! She now has the desire to go to church, etc. And it’s all because a MEMBER, not a pair of muchachas (and to add to that, Gringas!), invited her. Hna. Olga also invited Josefina over to her house to have a Noche De Hogar with both their families, so we’ll see what happens next.

Oh, and Mario came to the dinner too! Sad thing is that when we talked to him the next day, the first thing he said was, “Thanks for inviting me, Hermanas! If you two hadn’t, who would’ve invited me?” We discussed that in branch council, and the hermanos are going to make a better effort at making sure all those who weren’t in church are called/visited so they know of the announcements, etc. that they missed. It’s sad, because all the members that were baptized within the past three years or so are inactive. Not sure why that’s happened, but it has. And now Hna. Kamp and I are really working to make sure these less active members and our new friends have excellent relationships with several members.

Saturday was our first opportunity to return to the trailers that we’d found on Monday, and we experienced yet another miracle… with Jasmine. It was the first door we knocked. She let us in, and we began getting to know her. She has three kids and just recently moved back to Nashville (she was here before and then had moved to Mexico for 7 years). Since we were talking a lot about the family as we introduced the Book of Mormon, Hna. Kamp and I both began to flip to 2 Nefi 25:26. That’s when the Spirit told me, “No, 2 Nefi 31!” So we read verses 10-12 of 2 Nefi 31 and talked a lot about the doctrine of Christ. As we extended the invitation to be baptized, she agreed. We were almost caught off guard to not hear, “I’m Catholic… I’ve already been baptized.” But it was another tender mercy to SEE that yes, the Lord is preparing people to hear and ACCEPT the gospel. Jasmine is such a special lady! She’s excited to prepare herself for baptism, and we assured her that’s the exact reason why we’re here–to help her.

We ate dinner with la familia Reyes for Madeline’s 12th birthday. We saw los Reyes de Madison, and it was fun to talk to them a bit. I won’t name names, but they said they’re going to set me up with an elder they know that’s ending his mission this Tuesday ha ha. They’re hilarious. The members truly are our family… it reminded me of you guys.

Following dinner, we headed to Mario’s apartments for an appt. with Maria and Gabriel. They didn’t answer, so we called Mario to see if we could come visit him earlier. He had to shower, so we thought we’d go knock a door in the meantime. On the way to knock, we saw three muchachos in the parking lot, gathered around a car talking. We started talking to them and found out that they just arrived here to work construction. Their names are David, Alberto, and Francisco. It was like dejavu! Last year, Hna. Mackie, Birch, and I met three guys (Alejandro, Cesar, and Eduardo) about our age with like the same story, and each of them had the same personalities. The first thing out of David’s mouth this past Saturday night is that he’s looking for a wife. We clearly explained our purpose. And we actually had a super good conversation with them. They had a lot of questions that have caused them to just feel confused and not so content in life… we bore solid testimony that the restored gospel allows us to feel content, knowing that we’re in the only right path back to our Heavenly Father. We don’t have to talk about the beliefs of other religions and speculate as to who’s right. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, we KNOW that the truth was restored. We gave them a Book of Mormon a set a return appt. As we were shaking their hands to say goodbye, David leaned in for a kiss on the cheek… didn’t see that coming! Had I seen it coming, I probably would have avoided it somehow. And I felt SO bad after. Dirty, I guess you could say. Ah! Oh, the awkward experiences on the mission. Ha ha.

Yesterday, as we all know, was Mother’s Day. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY again, Mama! I guess in Mexico they call the future moms “mamasitas.” And actually, Mother’s Day in Mexico (and other Latin countries?) is always May 10th. So we got to celebrate it twice here!

Hna. Kamp and I spoke in sacrament meeting. She was super nervous beforehand, because she’s always struggled a lot with Spanish. But she did so well! I was so proud of her. I talked about how as missionaries (members and full-time missionaries alike), we need to develop Christlike attributes… and I focused on one that Mom has taught me over the years: diligence. I focused on (1) diligence in receiving our next ordinance (baptism, the Priesthood, Endowment, sealing) and (2) diligence in our efforts to help with “the rescue” (brining all our inactive and less-active hermanos back). I think it went well.

And while I was at the pulpit concluding with my testimony, I realized that Scotty was at the pulpit in Centerville as well. What a special day, that I’ll never forget. I’m excited to read your talk, Bud!!

Following church, we got to experience Sundays at the Alduendas. Mama and Papa Alduenda have 10 living children, all of whom live nearby. And yesterday for Mother’s Day, they were ALL at the house for dinner. As we walked in, we heard someone yelling… nope, our mistake. She was just praying! All the daughters asked if we had been scared off and apologized. In their house, if they don’t agree with someone, they just talk louder to make sure they’re heard over the person ha ha. It was hilarious. I think I laughed more than I talked. Such good people!

Well, that’s about it for the week. As I mentioned yesterday, Hna. Kamp and I will be together for another transfer here in Buena Vista. Couldn’t be happier. And if all goes as planned, I’ll be ending my mission with Hna. Birch… here! Vamos a ver. First things first, right? The mission has really taught me to be happy with what I have, recognize the little miracles, and live in the present. As President McKee once said, the present is where the Spirit lives. Love that!

Have a wonderful week… love you all so much!! Thanks for keeping me in your daily prayers. I do the same.

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

So the weird dreams have continued! And just last night, I dreamed that my first time seeing y’all after returning home was in Costco. No, not at the airport. And we weren’t even like meeting at Costco… just happened to see each other there ha ha. When we finally saw each other in the store, none of you were even excited to see me. It was like a nightmare.

Todavia me falta MUCHO tiempo… but I do hope that doesn’t happen ha ha.

Anyway, it was another great week, full of cool experiences. We’re seeing miracles; although small at times, they’re constant. In fact, we’ve seen some big miracles with English contacts that we’ve made on our way to appointments, etc.

One of those contacts is Todd, who was our server at Cracker Barrel last Saturday. Our dinner appointment had fallen through, so we decided to treat ourselves to Cracker Barrel. After finishing with dinner, we left a mormon.org card with a nice little note and the invitation to check out mormon.org. Well, on Monday night, we get a text from Todd, telling us that he’d had a super rough day, and he was so grateful for the simple note we’d written. Currently, we’re in the process of getting him involved with the YSA’s. He says he wants to go to church and also study the scriptures. Well, what do you know?… institute on Wendesday night is about how to more effectively study the scriptures! We’re praying he’ll have the opportunity to go. One of the YSA sisters said that about 70% of their investigators that go to institute end up getting baptized; she said the teacher is phenomenol.

On Monday, as I mentioned in last week’s email, we played volleyball with our district at the Haywood Lane building. I should probably say that we laughed more than actually played, which made things super fun. Hna. Birch is doing so well! Obviously times are still tough, but we were laughing our heads off for a solid two hours that day. Angie McKee (President’s 17-year-old daughter) gave us a ride home and took us to Subway; we then took her to DQ for a little dessert… claro. If I haven’t told you before, I just have to say that she’s SO great! I think they could send her on a mission right now. So mature and just such a good friend.

John Martinez and Leslie Chacon helped us Tuesday at noon. We didn’t have a set appointment, but they said they were fine with knocking. (Leslie’s home from BYU-I for the summer; John will go there in the fall and then leave on his mission; oh, and they’re dating!) That we did. And John came in a full-on suit… it was beautiful. Not a single person opened their door, but we did talk to an American lady named Mary. She’s a Southern Baptist through and through, and she “respectfully declined” our pass-along card in the end. Is there harm in taking a card? She was very nice though. Oh, and she mentioned that she’d been saved. I’ve heard that a lot lately, and the next time I hear it, I’m going to inquire–”What does it mean to have been saved? What did you do to be saved?,” etc. There are so many good people here that profess to have faith in Chirst and love Him SO much, but they unfortunately miss the fact that faith requires works; it’s an action.

That night, we ate dinner with la Familia Sanchez and their daugther and son-in-law, the Schmidts. The Sanchez’ are an older retired couple that travel around living with their three children here in TN, in Panama, and in Venezuela. They themselves are from Venezuela. Such a lovely couple… so nice! Before eating, they asked us all about where each of us is from, what we studied before the mission, etc. I loved getting to know them, because I hadn’t ever gotten a chance to talk to them all that much before!

Wednesday was another day in which we made a cool English contact. Hna. Kamp thought she’d seen Hispanics outside a house when we were driving one day, so we went and knocked it. Definitely not Hispanic! But Matthew, the 20-year-old who answered, surely needed our message that day. He answered without a shirt; and without giving too many details, we’ll just say he’s hairy and has a big belly. So nice though! He told us how he doesn’t know what to study in school right now. I felt prompted to ask if he prays much, and to that he replied, “No.” I explained how in deciding what to study in college, I prayed so much. That caught his attention. We taught him how to pray and testified of the importance and power of this divine gift. The English elders will be following up with him this week.

Oh, and of course Wednesday night ended with futbol… we played inside the gym, which was sweet! Super fast play. I was in heaven. And I may or may not have scored like four goals ha ha. The hermanos want me to go play against the Providencia Ward this Saturday. Vamos a ver. If we have investigators with us and a ride to get there, we might just go!

This past week, we held district meeting on Thursday, because part of our district was cleaning the temple on Wednesday. This particular district meeting was SO good! President McKee has asked that we focus the entire month of May on asking inspired questions, and that’s exactly what we real played at the end of district meeting. And then applying those principles in all our contacts and lessons right after was so neat. The work changes when we ask inspired questions. They cause our friends to think and really search their souls for what they FEEL, not just a sharp “well, this is what I think because it’s what my parents taught me to believe” kind of answer.

One such lesson after district meeting was with Hna. Alba, an inactive member of the branch. We shared Proverbs 29:18 and talked about the importance of having a vision for ourselves in our own lives. We talked about goals and then each of us (including her 4-year-old Caroline) got down on the floor and searched through Liahona magazines for pictures to represent our goals. This is an exercise Hna. Alba had done in her therapy a year ago, and it came to my mind as we were planning a lesson for her. Boy, was it inspired! She opened up a lot more than she has before. And know that we have a sense of her spiritual goals, we now have a greater vision of how we can help her.

Following that lesson, we passed by Isaac and Miriam to give them a plate of brownies and check up on their reading, etc. Isaac got another job in the evenings, so he’s never home anymore. Long story short, Miriam was super stand-offish when she answered the door. She wouldn’t take our brownies! And then she tried giving us back the Book of Mormon; she said there was probably someone else that would actually read it. That’s when Hna. Kamp whipped out an inspired question and the mood totally changed. She asked, “Miriam, to you, who is Jesus Christ?” We testified of the power of the BofM and the blessings she can receive for her little ones by reading it and living what it teaches. She agreed to read when she has time. It was kind of a bummer since they seemed so wonderful, but we’re still going to try to schedule an appt. with Isaac. They are a beautiful family!

After dinner, we met Angelica and her four kids. They live in a house that we’ve knocked probably a total of ten times (we tried back in the day with Hna. Mackie and Birch, and then Hna. Kamp had tried with Hna. Jordan, too)… they had NEVER answered, but we saw them outside and decided to take advantage of the beautiful opportunity. They go to el Sagrado Corazon (the Catholic church that the majority of the religious Hispanics here go to) and don’t think they’re really looking for more, but with inspired questions once again, we were able to help them feel of the blessings they can receive. We gave Angelica and her daughter Aylin a Book of Mormon each, and they committed to reading 2 Nefi 31 before we pass by (tonight at 6… in like 45 minutes!).

Following the visit with Angelica and her kids, I saw that we needed gas and thus stopped at the gas station on the corner of where we were at. A rather loud man held the door open as we went into the store to get the receipt, and he asked where we were from. Long story short, we had a 30-minute lesson with Johnny oustide the gas station. He’s looking for truth. And more than anything, he wants the Lord in his life; but his wife doesn’t believe one bit in Him. They have a 1-year-old daughter, and Johnny so badly wants his daughter to grow up in the ways of the Lord. He said he’d actually talked with the elders before, but his wife didn’t want a thing to do with them. We told him we’ll pass by and see if she’s more responsive to us. Ojala que si!!

On Friday, we had YET another awesome English contact! We were going to knock a door in Green Leaf apartments and said hi to a group of people on our way to one of the apartments. One of the guys had a sweet accent, so I asked where he was from. GHANA! (Ryan Francom is SO lucky to be amongst the people of Ghana… our friend Kwasi is so wonderful!) He was raised Catholic and says he’ll always be Catholic, but he wants to learn more about all religions. He brought out seats for us and we talked about the Book of Mormon. He’s excited to have us back to learn more. We’ll have to hand him off to the English elders at some point, but asi es. His neighbor Dorothy was actually in on the conversation with us that night, and she was going crazy as she talked about how unfair the deather of her fiancee was. Kwasi, NOT us, then began to bear pure testimony of the power of the Atonement. As I listened to him talk, I felt the Spirit and just know that he’ll be an incredible Priesthood leader one day.

Saturday was another good day, and we started it off by lunch with Cesar, one of our friends (we’re trying to get away from the term “investigator” here in the mission). He took us to a delicious Japanese buffet. We were able to talk about the Book of Mormon with him as we ate, because he says he reads a chapter every day. But for some reason, which he says he’ll tell us about when we have more time one day, he says he’s not ready to attend Church. I’ll keep you posted on Cesar!

Following lunch, we visited Hna. Aguilar and were able to talk about the power of forgiveness. We read from 3 Nefi 9 (can’t remember the verse right now!) about the Savior’s invitation to let Him heal us. Just this past week, her husband moved out and now has a restriction order. She’s now with her two boys, Said (9) and Mateo (3). Please pray for her! She’s been inactive for quite some time, and it’s during times like this that she needs the gospel the most. But time and time again, we hear from people that they’ll return once they resolve their problems. Same thing with praying… when they’re ready. But really, it’s when we feel most uncomfortable that we need the Lord the most, as tough as it may be to reach Him. He’s ALWAYS waiting for us.

Well, that’s that. Mario wasn’t able to come to church on Sunday because he had to work, but he’s going to ask for all Sundays free so he can come to church every week. It’s been SUCH a blessing to see him return. He still has a ways to go, but progress is being made! Please continue to pray for him as well. I told him hi from you all, and he says hi back… he especially wanted to say thanks again for the Bible and triple combination.

I hope you all have a fabulous week! Thanks for all your love and support. Happy birthday to Mom and Scott!! And Scott, good luck with your farewell talk on Sunday; I’ll be praying for you. CAN’T WAIT TO TALK TO YOU ALL ON SUNDAY.

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

No, I’m not describing me in the title of the email ha ha. I just have like no time to write… short and sweet. We’re going to play volleyball with Hna. Birch and McCalvy and others in the Providencia chapel in like 20 minutes, and I’m on an express computer anyway.

It was a wonderful week! As always. It was very different from any other that I’ve had on the mission though. Even though we plan by the Spirit every night, it seemed as if when we finally got to executing our plans the following day, they never felt right. EVERY single day! We’ve recommitted ourselves to re-purifying ourselves… and this week is sure to be an incredible one for finding, etc. A lot of the times, we struggle the most before the greatest miracles and blessings come, so I’m hoping that’s the case.

On Tuesday, we had a lesson with a beautiful family that we had found on Sunday. Their names are Isaac and Miriam, and they have two sons–Karim (2) and Said (1). They were raised Catholic but have since stopped going to church, reading the Bible, etc. They are SO open, and Isaac even offered such a humble first prayer at the end of the lesson. Before the lesson, my head was hurting and I just wasn’t feeling the Spirit super strongly (o sea, not really in the “teaching groove,” for lack of a better explanation). But during the lesson, the Spirit worked through both me and Hna. Kamp. It was so strong! And we truly taught THEM instead of just teaching a lesson. They understand the Restoration and committed to reading the Book of Mormon. I’m excited to see their progression!

Wednesday’s district meeting was SO wonderful! Elder Bell (our district leader) had such a heaven-sent conversation with an ex-missionary (Chris Morgan) a couple Sundays ago about a few things that had changed Elder Morgan’s mission. The first year, he saw 3 baptisms; in the second year he saw 21. And he said it really had to do with helping the humble Hispanic people understand and FEEL God’s love. Sure it’s important to understand the Restoration, the authority, etc. But those are tough things for these people to grasp when they’re so strongly rooted in their Catholic ways or what not. We’ve begun to focus more on helping our friends understand God’s love for them personally, and it’s so neat to see them light up. In fact, as we were with Isaac and Miriam, we testified of the great love that He has for them and their little family; Isaac just lit up (Shar, like the humble face! I LOVE causing the humble face ha ha)!

To end our night, we played futbol with the hermanos. Mario came, which was awesome! He’s re-activating, and it makes me SO happy to see. All the hermanos had been talking about how I play, and there was quite the talk going… I sure hope I played well enough to match the talk! ha ha. [My running shoes gave me huge blisters though, so that's why I'm asking you to send my indoor soccer shoes. Gracias!]

We were searching for a service opportunity on Thursday but couldn’t find anything for some odd reason. I saw on Facebook that Hna. Carolina had just written me back saying that she’s home Mondays and Thursdays, so we called her up. She said she was super busy preparing for her wedding–PERFECT opportunity to serve! We helped her tie bows to go around some bottles of sparkling cider. It was good to get to know her. She just turned 21, and her esposo (they’re now officially married!) and her 1-year-old Zay just moved into the branch. Her husband isn’t a member yet and is super shy; we’re going to hopefully get him out to activities, etc. He’ll come to church but doesn’t like being separated from his wife. In fact, one week he went to Relief Society with her instead of Priesthood!

That night, we had dinner with Hna. Moreno. For dessert, we had the usual–fruit. But we ate it Mexican style, which I’ve just grown to love… chili powder, salt, and lime on top. And yes, I’m 100% serious… LOVE it! We had an orange, apple, and carrots. Yesterday with la familia Burgos, we had watermelon. Can’t wait to teach you the awesome Hispanic ways, fam!

Friday night, Mario took us to ice cream, and it was so delcious… Hispanic food is always better than American food. It’s just a fact. I had a scoop of strawberry, pecan, and mango. And then we each got a paleta; you’d better believe that I got one that was spicy!

On Saturday, we finally found the Aguilars at home (a family that’s been less-active for quite some time). We talked mostly to their 9-year-old son and his neighbor friends at first, and I just love one answer that Said (their son) gave–”Jesus is my hero.” He said it perfectly!

Yesterday we had a lesson with Diego and the rest of the Martinez grandkids/kids. We put papers out leading up to the gate (2 Nephi 31:17) and taught the doctrine of Christ. Diego is going to pray about baptism this week. It was so neat to hear his 13-year-old brother Andy testify of the importance of following your heart in such a decision. Andy was baptized back in January and has such a strong testimony.

The Lord is blessing is in this area, and I am so excited to see what’s in store this week. Know that I love each and every one of you SO much! Have an incredible week!!

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

Como estan? So each day I’m finding a new reason for why I’m back here in Buena Vista. The details of this email will hopefully help you see why, too. It was a wonderful week for oh, so many reasons!

On Monday, Blanca and three of her girls (Laura, Lupita, Jenny) came to the Barba’s for Noche de Hogar. They seemed to really enjoy it, but as Hna. Barba invited them to church and what not, they kind of just blankly stared and quietly said, “oh, gracias.” I knew that the next time we saw them, we needed to do a really good “how to begin teaching” to find out more of their expectations and what they’re truly looking for. As I like to say, the “how to begin teaching” is the DTR of missionary work–we define the relationship from the very get-go!

Anyway, in that next visit (Thursday), we asked Blanca how she’d felt during our visits, etc. She said, “I feel really good, but we’re not going to change.” Turns out their Catholic traditions are way more deeply rooted than we thought. Hno. Alduenda, who had grown up Catholic, was thankfully there and able to bear such solid testimony of how he came to know the truth and the beautiful changes he’s seen in his own family’s life. We watched the Restoration video to bring in the Spirit and remind them of our unique message, and they committed to reading the Book of Mormon. I have complete trust in the power of that Book–as they read, they will feel of it’s power. I know they’re going to feel something different and want it. For now, we’re giving them a bit of space and time, with plans to check up every now and again.

Tuesday was a rainy day. And as hard as we try to be happy and super excited about knocking doors in the rain, it’s still hard; rainy days here are just gloomy ha ha. BUT, a lady outside the library sure brought a smile to our faces… I had dropped the cover to my umbrella. Having not noticed, she pointed to it and said that I’d dropped something. She then asked if we were Mormons here on our missions. To that, you know what we excitedly replied. Anyway, we talked for only a couple minutes or so, and then as we walked with her in the parking lot, she said, “You know, here in Tennessee, English is a second language and dental work is a luxury!” ha ha. Did that just bring a smile to your face, too? It’s all too true. And I’m sure Heather Green and others who’ve been here can relate.

We visited Lariza (an inactive young adult that I just love), Sofia, Rafael, Hno. Mario, and Vicky on Wednesday. Each of those visits was just wonderful. Sofia told us how her son Alex (9 yrs old) had really really wanted to go with the “girls from the Church” to the Noche de Hogar at the Reyes’ last Sunday, but he’d opened the door of the house and hurriedly ran back inside to his mom… “Dad… he’s drinking again!” There was such hurt in Sofia’s eyes as she related the story. Her husband is an alcoholic. She’s been able to feel of the blessings that the restored gospel brings to our lives though, so she’s trying her faith. She and her son Alex are reading the Book of Mormon together. And last time we were with her (Friday), we committed her to praying to know the truth for herself. Hna. Olga Alduenda was with us and bore such a beautiful testimony, filling in all the “gaps” that Sofia hadn’t previously understood or learned about the Restoration. She talks a TON, and we’ve been struggling to actually get a word in when we go by. But Thursday was a miracle lesson–it was beautiful. I’ll keep you posted on Sofia’s progress… she’s another one of those “really special people” that I’ve met out here. Some people just already have so much light about them; I know that she’s been prepared.

During our last visit with Sofia, she also told us more about dreams she’s had throughout her life. She always has dreams of things before they happen. For example, she’s dreamed about the death of certain loved ones… and sure enough, not too long later, they died. She also sees una “sombra” following her husband. And the other day, she reached into the cupboard to feel something sharp–they knives were facing up instead of down, and her husband hadn’t moved them (the kids can’t reach, either). Her son’s always saying that there’s something behind the fridge. Yeah, a bit scary! Hna. Olga told her we could get an hermano to come bless their house and even give her and her husband blessings if they’d like. Never before have I heard so many crazy stories. Hispanics are SO receptive to dreams, etc. And on that note, I’ve been having crazy dreams lately! Either it means I’m becoming one with the people or I just need more sleep ha ha.

On Thursday we had interviews with President–they were wonderful! He thanked me for being one of those low-maintenance, high-producing missionaries that doesn’t bring drama with her. I’ll take that as a compliment. I can’t believe that I just had my last interview with President! (Well, beside the final final exit interview.) Time seems to be flying faster than it ever has before… I think I have like 3 1/2 months left in this blessed place. And I tell everyone, “Oh, just under a year left.”

Later that night was when we visited Blanca and her family and heard the “we’re not going to change” line. We also found out quite the details as well regarding their family… Blanca is 36, and her husband Amador (note the meaning of his name ha ha) is 62. He has a total of 22 kids–this is his fourth marriage. Oh, and he was a coyote at the border. He was sharing border stories oh, so proudly. Oh how I love this culture!

After visiting a woman named Ruth on Friday, we saw an adorable older couple sitting on their porch across the street, and I happend to recognize them as Alberto and Conchita… they used to live with Hna. Moreno of the branch. Conchita had a stroke or something similar that’s left her without the ability to speak or do much of anything. We had a good conversation with her husband and then sang a hymn before leaving. It was good to see them again! I’m really just learning to love everyone and really appreciate the life story of all, regardless of who they are. O sea, the mission is teaching me to truly see everyone as a child of God–MY brother or MY sister. I love it!

We ate dinner with la familia Salazar (Hna. Moreno’s daughter, but they attend the Mt. Juliet English Ward) on Friday, and she made us quite the Mexican meal, complete with delcious Milanesas, pico de gallo, frijoles y arroz. Oh, y tortillas… but that’s a given, right? Their 19-year-old son Elder had received his mission call in the mail that day, so it was fun being able to see him get it from the mailbox (he didn’t know it had come)… we later found out that he’ll be serving in Naocan (sp?) Argentina.

Saturday we experienced a miracle beyond all miracles, and it’s certainly one reason why I’m here. We’ve been hesitant to go visit Silvia since she just wasn’t progressing at all, but after our plans had fallen through, we both felt that we needed to go see her. The thought wouldn’t leave my head. So we went, planning to just check up on whether she’d read the conference talk we’d left her (Elder Scott’s most recent talk that talked a lot about receving revelation through dreams… Silvia’s another person that’s super receptive to dreams). As she opened the door and let us in, it seemed a bit awkward. Not sure why, but we started to make a bit of small talk. We then got talking about the conference talk, and she told us how she’d indeed had another dream, pointing her in the direction of baptism. She still has a goal to be baptized this year but’s still going to her old church–not really the way to receive an answer as to which church to be baptized in, right? Sometimes she confuses me. But long story short, she’d been trying to go to her church this particular night with her three-year-old Albeito, but he was sick and crying, etc. She was frustrated so just prayed that God would send her a sign. Not too long after, we showed up! And she recognized that as a direct answer to prayer. The Spirit was SO strong throughout our visit!! Hna. Kamp said she felt a different connection with Silvia that night that had been missing the two transfers previous.

Anyway, the opposition from the adversary during that visit was also very real, and I’m grateful that Silvia herself was able to recognize it. No one had called her or stopped by all day, but right after we got there, like two people came to the door, she received three or four phone calls, and then Manuela showed up and stayed. That ALWAYS happens with her!

While the Spirit was so very strong, Silvia said, “I feel like I need to do more.” And with that said, we asked her WHAT she could to do try her faith and SHOW the Lord that she’s serious about receiving an answer about where it is that He’d have her be baptized. The first thing she said was church… “I need to go back to your church and give it a chance; see you at 11 a.m. tomorrow, I guess.” WOW! Unfortunately, she didn’t come. BUT, there’s potential once again with our dear Silvia. And I can’t wait to see her daughter Adela again! She wasn’t there on Saturday. I’ll keep you posted on them, too.

After that awesome miracle, we had a wonderful lesson with Mario. First, I must recount a cute story though… he had called us just before we went to Silvia’s and asked how to order the ice cream we bought the other week for him. We were too late when we called back though; he recounted how the lady couldn’t understand a thing he said, so she had to come outside (at Sonic) so that he could point to the strawberry shake ha ha. We later invited him to English classes.

One of the many miracles with Mario is that he’s now made several comments about how he’s trying to come back. And he’s certainly doing his part! He came to church yesterday. Also, he’s been having chest pains lately and won’t find out what’s wrong until Wednesday, so please keep him in your prayers.

Well, that’s about it. I love the mission. I love where I’m at, and I know it’s EXACTLY where the Lord needs me. Hna. Kamp and I are having so much fun, and I just love serving with her. Thanks for all your continued love and support–it means more than you’ll ever know. Que tengan una buena semana!!

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

We had such a wonderful week in Madison! Nothing new with that, but I’d like to think that this past week was ESPECIALLY wonderful. On Friday, we played soccer with a lot of the hermanos from the branch (Hispanics LOVE their futbol, as you probably know); we had invited several investigators and less-active members, and four less-active members showed up! Que milagro. It was super fun to play soccer again.

But you’re still probably wondering about the title of this email… that’s right, I’m going home. No, not to Utah! TO BUENA VISTA!! Yeah, I was super surprised to get the transfer call and hear that I’m going to be returning to Buena Vista tomorrow. Hna. Jordan and Hna. Kamp (they’re there right now) said mis ninas (the Reyes girls) are super super excited, so that makes me feel good to know I’ll have a warm welcome back. If nothing else, I’m going back to help re-activate my dear Mario. I feel so blessed to have that opportunity! I’ll be serving with Hna. Kamp there; she’s from Syracuse, UT and has been out for two transfers. She actually was in the same ward as Hna. Birch. Small world!

Speaking of Hna. Birch, she came back on Tuesday, and it was quite an emotional welcome home. Hna. Harper and I drove Hna. McCalvy back to Providencia and waited there until Sister McKee and her daughter Aubrey brought Hna. Birch to the apartment. It hurts me to see her so hurt and always in tears, but I know the Lord will strengthen her. I just love her so much! And I ask that you continue to pray for her and her family.

This week Sister McKee asked me to design a poster for the “I Believe in Christ” musical devotional that’s touring throughout the mission. We’ll just say that I now have a firm testimony of the Microsoft Word project in Visual Media… I’ve been designing in Open Office! ha ha. Oh, how I long for Adobe InDesign. At any rate, it’s been fun to use my love for graphic design to help further the work.

On Monday, it was Christian’s birthday (he’s Stephanie Rodriguez’s brother that’s currently not active in the Church), and we celebrated at Stephanie and Rodrigo’s. They whipped out some Spanish birthday song that I’ve never heard, and then of course Christian was coaxed into biting the corner of the cake. Of course he ended up with frosting in the face (Hispanic tradition) ha ha. So many good memories at that house!

We finally were able to see Monserrat again! She’s so wonderful. She really wants to go to church, but Sunday is the only day that her and husband have to spend together as a couple. She doesn’t want him finding other things to do while she’s at church, so she’s trying to work through that right now. She recognizes the power of example though; and I know that she’s seen and can FEEL of how the gospel blesses families. In our visit this past week, she gave us carrot water to drink and it was SO delicious! Hispanics make the simplest things that are so good. They’re always making drinks from vegetables or fruits (cucumber, strawberry, orange, melon, etc.), a little sugar, and water.

On Thursday we were going to go see a Latin heritage assembly that Casandra (a member of the branch) was in, but they wouldn’t let us in–it was like a prison in there! Sure glad Viewmont wasn’t like that. We ended up going to breakfast at the Cracker Barrel with Sister Abernathy, wife of the Madison Stake president, instead. What a fun time! She shared mission stories from when she served Spanish-speaking in San Diego, and it was so fun to get a glimpse of the things that I’ll remember 30 years later.

Later that night, we took a trip to Springfield (about 30, 40 minutes from Madison) with Hna. Ramon and her daughter Salemi. We’d scheduled an appointment with Hna. Castro, a less-active member, but she wasn’t there when we got there. Luckily her kids came home just as we were leaving the porch so we were able to give them the muffins we made. The three kids came to all of General Conference with la familia Reyes! It was awesome. Now just to get Hna. Castro back to church.

Saturday we ate breakfast with the Rose family, and that’s when we got half the transfer news. Elder Jensen had received word that his Visa came, and Elder Longfellow found out that Madison and Cumberland would be combining to just become the Madison area… HUGE! That meant we’d be leaving, but we had no idea where to; long story short, we found out at like 10 o’clock at night! Elder Knighton and Monson will be coming here to join Elder Longfellow. It’s super cool, because Elder Knighton trained Elder Monson, and this is Elder Knighton’s last transfer. I already know that they’re going to do GOOD things for Madison!

Oh, and that’s not the end of transfers… we received a message this morning saying that the mission is receiving 9 more Visa waiters (going to Argentina) on Thursday, so many of the elders will be changing yet again. Until the Visa waiters go to Argentina, Madison and Cumberland will remain separate areas.

Anyway, this email seems to be a bit all over the place. Sorry.

Yesterday we had Ricardo at General Conference, and he even stayed after the first session to join the branch potluck. That may not sound like a big deal, but he’s the shyest person I’ve ever met, and that was HUGE! As you already know, he’s been coming to church on and off since December and usually leaves right after so he doesn’t have to talk to anyone. It’s been incredible to see how learning of the restored gospel and reading consistently from the Book of Mormon has slowly but surely added to his confidence. I’m so sad to be leaving him, but I know Elder Knighton and his companion will do wonderful things. Can’t wait to see Ricardo enter into the waters of baptism very soon!

In fact, last night Ricardo sent us several texts asking if there’s anything we could do to stay. He thanked us “de todo corazon” for all that we’ve taught him; he says he’s the person he is now because of what we’ve taught him. I assured him that we haven’t done all that much. Instead, the Spirit has guided him, and he’s now on the right path. Oh, he’s such a special person!

Well, I think that’s about all I’m going to write for now… I meant to bring my journal so I could share my favorites from Conference, but I forgot it. Just remember, we can be active in the Church but not in the gospel. Think about that! We must make them one in the same. I LOVED that message. I prepared with two very specific questions before Conference and received some very specific answers. Oh, how I love personal revelation. The Lord loves us so much!

Have a WONDERFUL week!! Love you all. A LOT. Next time I write home, I’ll be back in Hermitage. And maybe I’ll have received news of a new niece. Oh man.

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

Yep, that’s right! Hna. Birch is coming back tomorrow. It’s super exciting news for all of us; the only sad part is that Hna. McCalvy will be returning to Providencia to be with Hna. Birch again. I have loved serving this short while with Hna. McCalvy! She only has just about three months in the field, but she’s incredible. I’ve learned a lot from her.

We had a wonderful week here in Madison… as always. Our numbers still aren’t where I feel they should be; in fact, that’s something I feel like we’ve struggled with all four transfers I’ve been here. BUT, I am reminded daily of why I’m here, which certainly isn’t the numbers. After eating dinner with a dear member family on Saturday, the wife began telling us, in tears, that her 22-year-old daughter had run away, and she has no idea where she’s living. We were able to assure her that we’d pray for them all and do whatever we could to help them out. Simple yet super meaningful experiences like this happen every day here, and for that I am SO grateful. It is so easy to see the Lord’s hands in this work… His work.

One night we were knocking to find a former investigator who had moved, and we scheduled three return appointments in a matter of like 15 minutes. It was awesome! We didn’t find the investigator, but we found who the Lord obviously wanted us to find. In fact, that was the night we found a man named Carlos who didn’t have a whole lot of faith. We had starting talking about God, and I testified how He love us so much and is in the details of our lives. Carlos quickly responded with, “I don’t believe that.” We talked a bit more and scheduled a return appointment; we were so excited to teach him about the nature of God and His Son, Jesus Christ… but he wasn’t there when we passed by again.

On Monday, Monserrat came to FHE con la familia Ramon. She seemed to really enjoy it! Hna. Ramon gave a lesson on the doctrine of Christ, using an awesome object lesson to show how when we’re baptized, we receive a remission of our sins. Unfortunately, everytime we tried to schedule an appointment during the week, it didn’t work out for either her or us. We’re looking forward to seeing her this week and follow up on that doctrine of Christ lesson… and extend the invitation to be baptized.

Tuesday was our usual Bishop’s Storehouse/cannery experience. Without knowing beforehand that they were going to show up, I was able to help Jose and Jesus (two of the elders’ investigators) with translation so they could order some stuff at the cannery. Experiences like that are so rewarding, yet I also realize that my vocabulary has a long way to go! I learned la palabra “lata” that day. Oh, how I’m SO excited to study and use this beautiful language every day for the rest of my life! And after all that, Jose and Jesus came to English classes that night. It was beautiful, because it’s been a LONG time since they’ve been to classes, church, FHE, or anything!

As I’ve mentioned before, there are soooo many inactive members in the Madison Branch. We’ve been focusing lately on helping Hno. Hilario and Freddy return. Freddy came to church last week, and he also came to the soccer activity we had on Friday. This coming Thursday, we’ll be having an FHE sort of lesson/activity with Hilario and his son/daughter-in-law who are also inactive. Both of them are such special people. It makes me see them so happy to remember the testimonies they once had. And as they begin to study the Book of Mormon and do the little things again, the Spirit truly is truly beginning to work on them. I’ll keep you posted!

On Friday, like our entire companionship study was spent trying to plan a lesson for Angela that we’d have a couple hours later. Nothing was coming to us! And we ended comp study without a solid plan, which left me a little frustrated internally ha ha. Long story short, Angela called us like an hour later to say she would have to cancel. The Lord is THE perfect planner! Not to say we can go throughout life without preparation and the Lord will protect us or what not… but He truly knows what each and every one of our investigators needs. Little things like that happen every day. They say hindsight is 20/20, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve just felt before a lesson that it wasn’t going to happen; sure enough, we knock and the person isn’t there.

Later that night, we played soccer with some of the hermanos in the branch. And as mentioned above, FREDDY CAME! He had a blast, and he’s planning to come to this Friday’s soccer night as well. We’re hoping to get lots more inactives/investigators to this next one. There ended up being a conflict in building scheduling this past week, so we played outside in the dark field (there was like one street lamp ha ha) until we got rained out. As we ran into the church to get out of the rain, we found that Sister Abernathy (she’s the Madison Stake President’s wife) needed help setting up refreshments for a concert that was going one. She later told us that she’d been praying for someone to come help her; God sent rain, and there we were! I love experiencias asi.

Yesterday we ate dinner with Presidente Rodriguez y su esposa, and we had quite the discussion about some deep doctrine and differences between the doctrines of other churches. Come to find out, he’s been letting the Jehovah’s Witnesses missionaries come over every week, and they have no idea he’s LDS, let alone the BRANCH PRESIDENT! Oh, Presidente. He told us he lets them explain their doctrine and he just acts ignorant. Kind of funny but kind of sad, looking at it from a missionary perspective. The worst is when someone drags things out by not being honest with us about their lack of interest.

Anyway, I think that’s about it for the week! We’re off to explore the Grand Ole Opry in some AWESOME weather. Should be fun! We’ll receive news of transfers this Saturday, so I’ll be sure to let you know what’s happening on Monday. None of us have any idea. And in President’s email to all of us missionaries today, he said to not worry about or focus on transfers… oops!

Sure love you all SO much!! Que tengan una semana llena de exito, felicidad, y ganas de escribirme.

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey

Hola, Familia!

So on Monday, I ate menudo for my first time in the mission. I’d been wanting to try it just to say I’d try it, but I had a feeling I was going to like it. And yep, I surely didn’t like it. The flavor was good, but the texture was awful. If you’re wondering what menudo is, we’ll just say that it’s the lining of a cow’s stomach. Or at least I think that’s what it is! (See the attached photo.)

Tuesday was our cannery day as usual, and it was SO packed! In fact, only two of the couples there were members. There were like four nonmember families! We had a good time helping them finish up their orders. And once again, Hna. Harper and I canned our favorite–milk. It’s a bit messy. Also on Tuesday, we had six lessons… AWESOME day! With our pinkeye and other sick days (I swear Madison is cursed with sicky germs!), I’ve been longing for a good “trabajar hasta que se baje la falda” kind of day. Tuesday was just that!

Hno. Lux was the only person that showed up for English classes, and I just have to tell you something funny. He asked why I always say “Jesus” in English. I was SO confused, and when he explained a little more that I kept saying it while we played soccer last week, we realized he had heard me say “geez” (sp?). Apparently I say “Oh, geez!’ a lot when I mess up or something ha ha. I’d better be a bit more careful.

That night just before 10:30, we received a voicemail from the assistants but didn’t notice it until the morning. When we listened to it in the morning, Elder Tondevold told us that we’d be getting a new companion, but it was confidential. We of course immediately called them. In my mind, I was convinced that Hna. Birch was coming back, and she’d be coming to Madison with us. Turns out that Hna. McCalvy (Hna. Birch was training her) who’d been serving with Angie McKee (President’s 16-year-old daughter) and then a Russian visa waiter after Hna. Brich went home was going to be our new companion… and we’d be picking her up that night. So long story short, we’re now a threesome. And she is INCREDIBLE! She’s a terrific missionary, and I am so excited to serve these next two weeks (we have transfers again in two weeks) with her and Hna. Harper. Hna. McCalvy is from Alaska… youngest of four… loves sports… and she just have the sweetest personality.

We had a lesson with Angela on Wednesday, and she was SO excited to tell us of a miracle she’d experienced on Sunday. It goes like this… As she was getting ready for church on Sunday morning and trying to help her extremely uncooperative kids to do the same, she began to pray for the Lord’s help to be able to make it to church on time. Her husband had gone to work, and she felt super alone in trying to get the two boys bathed, dressed, etc. Something on the radio (which had just been music before) then caught her attention; a woman said something to the effect of, “Keep taking your kids to church, even though they don’t want to go–one day they’ll love it.” It was an almost immediate answer to her sincere prayer. And she recognized that! In fact, she was so overwhelmed with gratitude that she made sure to share her testimony of the reality of answered prayers in Sunday school and Relief Society that day. Oh, she’s wonderful! We talked on Wednesday about the prophets and how we can prepare ourselves for General Conference with very specific questions, etc. She committed to do just that. Hopefully next time we can set a firm baptismal date with her… she made a comment about how it truly is becoming more and more of what she wants. O sea, she’s caring less of what her husband thinks (in a good way, when we’re talking about the permission to be baptized).

On Thursday, we had a miracle lesson with Monserrat. This was our third time seeing her, and it started off just like the other two times–her crazy 3-year-old was going wild! With all he was doing, I couldn’t help but think that there was no way we’d be able to teach the Restoration as planned. I prayed so hard that the Lord would help us out, and that he certainly did. Hna. Ramon had come with us and brought her 7-year-old daughter and her friend. Between them three, they were able to keep Jared (Moserrat’s son) occupied and quiet. As we showed the Restoration video, the Spirit was so so strong!! And afterward, Hna. Ramon bore a beautiful testimony. Monserrat told us that she identifies with Joseph Smith and feels that we were sent to help her find the correct path. She’s still reading the Book of Mormon slowly but surely, and she’s coming to FHE tonight at la familia Ramon’s! Miracle, miracle. She and Hna. Ramon are like best friends now. THAT is why members come with us. THAT is why it’s so important to have the Spirit in lessons.

And speaking of the Spirit, we talked a lot about in during zone conference on Friday. As a zone (and every other zone in the mission, too), we’re starting a 40-day fast from all things that can potentially drive the Spirit out of our lives. Each of us has prayed and come up with our own individual lists of things that we need to fast from. I can’t wait to see the blessings flow! They already are so evident.

It’s tradition to have the missionaries who will soon be departing bear their testimonies at zone conference, and there were like seven during this one. I’m feeling so old! I will be bearing mine in the next conference. TODAY is my 14-month mark. OH MIS QUESITOS!

After zone conference at the Haywood Lane building in Nashville, we went back to Madison for our branch’s Relief Society birthday activity. It was wonderful!

Saturday morning, we went running at 6 a.m. as usual. It’s getting super warm, so we’re taking advantage of being able to finally exercise outside! As we approached the entrance to the park, we noticed a homeless man lying down. A bit hesitant to go by him, we decided to go the other way so that when we passed him, we could actually see his face first (his back was to us). As we finished our run and headed home, he’d woken up and was calling to a woman walking her dog, “Hey, can you help me get up?” He didn’t notice us, so he hadn’t asked us. The woman was a bit nervous, so we waited around a bit and the Spirit just told us we need to help him. As we got close, we could see that he was super wet, shaking, and basically skin and bones. He told us that his name was James, and he was homeless. He kept repeating that he was weak and felt like he was going to pass out. He then wanted us to help him sit up, lay back down, sit up, etc… I think he was just so out of it because he was so food-deprived (or maybe a little drunk? who knows!)…

To make a long story short, we talked with him for a bit and then told him we’d be back with some warm food. We brought him oatmeal, an egg, toast, and hot chocolate. He said he didn’t want to eat right then, so we ended up leaving the food with him. We also left a Book of Mormon and pass along card in his little medicine bag that he’d been carrying with him. We didn’t see him at the park this morning, so I sure hope he’s okay.

As we were standing by him talking to him that day, I didn’t have much to say to him–I was so caught up in thought. And I remember distinctly thinking, “This is my brother. James is my brother, and the Lord expects me to help him.” I’m so grateful we were able to follow the Spirit and help in the little way that we could that day. The mission has been full of countless experiences asi!

That night, we had two awesome lessons with two of our wonderful inactive members–Hno. Hilario and Freddy. Hno. Hilario had to work yesterday and said he’ll come to church next week (he said it in a way that I really believed him this time), and FREDDY CAME TO CHURCH! Yay!

Last night, we had a Noche de Hogar como rama. We watched “The Other Side of Heaven” and then had a couple testimonies from returned missionaries. It was so great! We even had a good turnout this time.

Well, I think that’s about it for this week. I’m not sure if I’ve ever said it before, but I LOVE THE MISSION! That’s the first time you’ve heard that from me, right? Oh, how I’ve fallen even more in love with the gospel and the incredible opportunity to share it every day. I’ve fallen in love with the people… and I’m just never coming home ha ha. Okay, well know that I love you all SO MUCH!! Que tengan una semana maravillosa!

Con MUCHO amor,
Hna. Stacey