Snow In Big Bear 12/17/2012

Dear Everyone:

Hello!  How was the week?  We had a great week up here!  It snowed!!  We were so excited.  We first shoveled ourselves to our car, and then drove over to people's houses to then shovel them out too.  In our skirts and flats, no less!  It was fun. 

Well last week we had our final lessons with Kevin.  I love teaching people who just really want to learn and do whatever it takes to be closer to Jesus Christ.  He was really sick on Friday and Saturday, so the bishop and ward mission leader suggested that we postpone it until he was feeling better.  So we asked him about it and his answer was (we asked him the day before)  'Even if you have to bring me in on a stretcher, I AM getting baptized tomorrow night'.  Good answer.  He was so excited.  The water heater wasn't working, so he got baptized in liquid snow.  BUT he said he also felt like he was just walking on cloud nine and didn't care at all that it was freezing.  It was so fun to teach him and I'm excited to go through all the lessons with him again.  He's going to be Santa Claus at the ward Christmas party on Friday.  Perfect man for it.  He's 6'5" or something and we had to call the Polynesian ward to find a jumpsuit big enough for him haha. The only thing he's lacking is a white beard.  Other than that, he looks just like Santa. 

We had lots of appointments set up for last week, but almost everyone cancelled because they were all sick.  It seems like everyone is sick right now.  So we're really hoping that this week we're able to find some new investigators.  There are a few people that we've been trying to see, so hopefully this week is the week!  It's hard to find people with spare time the week before Christmas.  We've been trying to share a quick Christmas message with people.  I love how the meaning of Christmas has changed for me.  I understand so much more about Jesus Christ and just how much He's done for us.  I love that we have a whole month basically to enjoy the spirit of Christmas.  If we pause for a minute and ponder the birth of the Savior in our hearts, just as Mary did, we will experience the true joy of the season.  I read this awesome book by Emily Freeman called 'A Christ Centered Christmas' about the nativity.  She goes through every figure of the nativity and talks about what we can learn from them and then at the end of every chapter there are spiritual things to do that will help pull our minds and hearts closer to Jesus Christ. 

I wish I had more to talk about from last week.  It was kind of slow with all the illness and snow.  We were able to do a bit of service, though, so that was fun.  We are going to do all we can this week to teach lots of people and stay busy.  It's a hard week, the week before Christmas, but as long as we're doing all we can to best represent Jesus Christ in this area, then we will have a great week no matter what. 

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Someone KNEW I was coming to the mountains!

Our sweaters for the zone ugly christmas sweater party we're going to be having.

Kevin's baptism.  He looks like Santa Claus!  And the guy on the left is our ward mission leader.  He's so awesome!

Me and Sister Davis.

Love, Sister Stacey

Best Transfer Ever! 12/10/2012

Dear Family,

Hello!  Oh man this is going to be the best transfer ever!  I am emailing you from a small library in Big Bear City.  So many reasons why it is so awesome to be here.  First, there are a lot of cool people to work with up here.  Of course.  So many unique personalities.  It's fun.  Second, I am with Sister Davis, and she is awesome.  Third, we made mission history.  Before her and Sister Fairbourn were transferred here, sisters hadn't been up here in about 15 years.  And they've NEVER been left here during the winter.  So naturally everyone assumed that I would not be transferred here.  And now I am!  This is the most wanted area of the mission.  All the elders were bummed that we were coming here.  :D  We're going to have a white Christmas!  It's so fun to be in this little ski town.  No snow yet, but they say it will snow this weekend.  I love being in the mountains.  The altitude has been a little bit of an adjustment because I got very used to being down the hill.   Now we're at 6000+ feet.  Some people are at 8000 feet.  So it's a little different.  I was hoping they would still have a truck here, but they took that away and gave us a jeep.  As long as it has four wheel drive I'm happy!  I love it here and I hope I'm here next transfer as well.  We'll see. 

Here are a couple of the people I've met so far.  First, there's Kevin Manor.  He's getting baptized this weekend.  He's friends with a woman in the ward and when he started coming to church and seeing what Latter-day Saints are like, he knew that this was Christ's true church.  When people get that witness, they will do everything the Savior asks of them.  He's quit smoking and drinking coffee and he is so excited that he's found a church where the members actually live what they're taught.  He's a really neat man.  I'm happy I've been able to be here for a little bit of it.  OH YEAH we also live right by Big Bear Lake and we were going to go fishing with him today, but he had to work.  So I guess we'll go next week. 

We also went to do service for a recent convert up here named Ed Stanik.  We helped him dig a well and bury a cat at some property he owns near Onyx summit.  WAY different service than what I've done every where else.  I'm definitely not in Fontana anymore.  Soon we'll be able to help people shovel snow and whatnot.  I'm pretty excited. 

We got a referral for a girl named Natasha who we called and she sounds very nice.  We accidentally called her twin first, and her twin sounded really excited for her to be able to meet with us.  So hopefully we'll be able to see her soon.  She is busy this week and doesn't know what her schedule is for next week, so we weren't able to set an appointment with her yet. 

So my birthday was spent up here and I could not have picked a better place in the mission to be.  We were able to teach some great lessons that day.  We went over to a member's house to have a little dinner.  Her husband is not a member.  Before when missionaries would come, he totally ignored them and would go to a different room.  But since sisters have been here, he's started opening up a lot.  He sat and talked with us for a while and he's a really nice guy!  I didn't think too much about it until after we left and Sister Davis told me about how he was at first.  We're not currently teaching him the lessons because he doesn't want them, but the fact that he's opened up so much to the idea of missionaries being in his home is wonderful.  He even invited us over for Christmas.  So maybe he's one of the reasons that sisters are still here.  Some people need elders, some people need sisters.  Maybe he's just needed sisters.  We'll see.  We also have a few other we hope to be able to start teaching this week.  There's Blake, a kid living in the ward mission leader's home, Andy Griffith, who is friends with the ward mission leader (our ward mission leader is AWESOME), and James, a guy who randomly called Sister Fairbourn and Sister Davis saying that he really wants to change his life and come closer to Christ. 

Anyway, that's basically what the last week has been like.  It's COLD up here but that's okay.  I still love it.  I love the people up here.  It's kind of weird being in a vacation ward.  They say the number of attendance doubles during the summer and winter.  The ski slopes don't have too much snow on them, but it got cold enough last week so they could shoot some snow on the hills.  It's cool.  They've got a pipe system that takes water from the lake and turns it into snow.  So when it melts in the summer it just melts right back into the lake. 

I hope you all have a great week!  Love you all!

Love, Sister Stacey

Transfer Time 12/03/2012

Dear Family,

Hello everyone!  How's the week going?  It's only Monday, I know, but something cool may have happened!  Our last week was fantastic because it rained every day.  It's been in the 70s every day, which is pretty nice.  But also...don't make fun of me, but I've been COLD!  Utah is going to be a shock to my system!  I've very much acclimated to SoCal. 

So we got transfer calls yesterday and we are both leaving. :(  I really like this area and we have so many people to work with here.  So I'm sad to be leaving.  AND we JUST got a brand new car.  I was very excited to be driving in a car that elders have not yet chonched.  But oh well.  I broke it in at least.  It's been hard saying bye to people, especially the people I was able to start teaching and stay around long enough to see them baptized.  My hope is that I get to go to Big Bear with Sister Davis.  But I don't know if they're taking sisters out of there or not yet.  Either way, I'm pretty sure I'll be with Sister Davis.  We'll see what happens though.  I am excited to see what happens tomorrow!  Wherever it is, it will probably be my last area.  Which is weird.

Well I did a first ever this last weekend.  Upland had their annual Creche festival and as usual invited the missionaries to sing songs.  One of the sisters called me a couple weeks before to see if I wanted to sing a duet with her.  O.O  I said I would.  So intimidating!  I've never done that in front of people.  But it ended up being okay.  Don't know that I would do it again, but I faced my fears.  It was a pretty song called Christ Child, Christ Child.  Look it up. 

We wanted to see Miguel last week, but when we called his house, his mother said that he moved.  But we're not sure if she's saying that because he really did move, or if she's saying that because she doesn't like us.  (she's catholic)  So he's MIA at the moment.  Hopefully the missionaries that come here after us will be able to locate him.  I don't like both of us leaving when we were working with so many people.  I just hope that none of them get lost in the transition.  Especially Veronica.  She took the news not so well.  Hopefully she'll learn soon that all missionaries carry the same message and can help her feel the same spirit. It's not just us. 

As you may recall, we were supposed to have a couple baptisms this last weekend.  Neither of them ended up happening.  Turns out Esai was not entirely interested in the church, and the situation ended up being better for elders.  And Lupe and Manny are still not married.  They won't be able to be until around May, so she'll get baptized next year.  It's sad that that's how that ended up working out for both of those. 

And now it's December.  Wow this year went by crazy fast.  At times I wish it would have gone faster, but a lot of the time I wish it would slow down.  I love being a missionary.  My black hole year is almost over. (an entire year from January to December spent on a mission)  That's just weird.  I think of where I am now compared to where I was a year ago.  I have learned so much!  And I still have so much to learn!  In a way I wish sisters also had the option of serving for two years.  18 months is just not enough time to accomplish everything you set out to do!

It's really neat to see all the work that Sister Mills and I were able to accomplish during our 18 weeks together.  She is a very hard worker and helped this area blossom so much.  I hope she has the same effect in her next area. 

Well my birthday is on Wednesday (thanks for all the happy birthday wishes! )  and I'm a little dismayed it will be spent with strangers.  But that's okay because people instantly love sister missionaries anyway, so I'll feel lots of love that night I am sure.  I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Stacey

Four Thanksgiving Dinners 11/26/2012

Dear Family,

Hello everyone!  How was Thanksgiving?  We had four dinners that day.  I tried to eat as little as possible while still being polite, but got way too full at every one's dinners.  They were all just so good!  And....ididntgetanypicturessorrymom.

BUT it was a great week.  We had a lesson with a man we tracted into a few weeks ago named Miguel.  We've been trying to meet up with him for a very long time.  We read through the doctrine of Christ with him and halfway through he asked if it would be okay for him to be baptized if he was already baptized into another church.  We were so surprised!  But also way excited!  He is going to be baptized on December 22.  He was really excited.  He's had some problems in his growing up years but now he's completely turned his life around and wants to get closer to God, but wants to do it the right way.  He's so awesome!  He realized a couple weeks ago (before we'd even taught him a lesson) that he knows he needs to go to church on Sundays so he quit his job.  He wasn't able to be there this Sunday because he had to take his dad back to Mexico.  At his lesson, we brought a girl in the ward who has been undecided about if she wants to go on a mission when she turns 19.  She had so much fun and now she's really thinking she wants to go!  It was fun to help her out as well.

We also taught Angela.  Finally.  She's been having a lot of doubts lately.  There have been a lot of things happen to her in the past and she's having a really hard time dealing with them right now.  She started smoking again, which is too bad, but she can still overcome that.  She hasn't read in a while, but she read after we saw her last night and read again this morning and she said she's feeling a little better.  I think there are three things that really help us to feel the spirit and to stay in tune.  Those things are reading the scriptures, saying our prayers, and being obedient to all the commandments of God.  That's something that I've noticed.  If people start to struggle spiritually, they're not doing at least one of those three things as well as they ought to.  Especially with being obedient, if they're not going to church.  I've realized that our spirits are like muscles and if we don't keep exercising them by church, prayer, and reading, they're going to become weaker.  So we talked to her about getting back into those good habits and how doing those things will help her through all the hard times that lay ahead.  She's a strong person and I think she'll be able to overcome all of her doubts and worries.

We had dinner with the Hernandez's on Thanksgiving.  They won't be getting married any time soon, unfortunately.  They COULD, but there are a lot of reasons why they are going to wait.  Until April-ish.  :(  That's so far away!  We're going to keep working with them, though and see if we can help them to move that up a little sooner.

Anyway, not much else to report on for this week.  We have transfers coming up this weekend.  I'm sure things will be changing up a little bit, so I'll let you know all about that on next Monday. 

Love you all!  Hope you enjoy being in cooler weather while it's still 80s-90s here!  Happy almost December!

-Sister Stacey

Baptisms and First Lessons 11/19/2012

Dear Family,

Hello everyone!  I'm sure you all noticed that I did not email last week.  There is an explanation.  You see, libraries were closed on Monday and plus also it was sisters exchanges again.  There was no time!  And we were man busy the rest of the week. :(  So now you get an update on two weeks.  Lots of stuff happened, but I shall not bore you with all of it.  Just the good parts.

And I also forgot my planner, which my life revolves around if I want to remember anything, so you may not get as much as I thought.

People who will hopefully be getting baptized:

Lupe:  We found out last week that there is something that may or may not prevent her from being baptized on the first, which made her way sad!  She started crying and we talked to Manny about it for a while.  We'll find out on Wednesday whether or not she will be able to be baptized on Dec. 1.  She is so prepared and really wants this.  She knows it's important for her to be ready for this and she understands that it is a commitment we make with the Lord.  She is definitely ready.  We're praying so hard that she'll be able to be baptized on the first!

Owens children:  We've got their last couple of lessons this week!  They'll be getting baptized on Saturday.  They learn way fast and they seem to have had fun.  We've been trying to get the family a little more involved, since this is something that could definitely benefit all of them, but they are usually busy doing something else every time we go to have a lesson.  We told them tonight's would be more of a family home evening, so hopefully they'll all be there.

Veronica:  I don't remember if I mentioned that we set a baptism date with her, mostly because I don't remember what week that happened.  Either way we set a date with her!   She was so excited we asked her and she started crying a little.  And now we can't get in touch with her.  We had an appointment set up with her last week, but she called us an hour before and left a message saying that she needed to reschedule because she was having a hard day.  And then she wasn't at church yesterday either. :(  We're persistent though, and we won't get up!  We'll get in touch with her one of these days. 

Esai:  Okay I know you don't know about him.  After we were done emailing last week, as we were leaving the library he stopped us to ask a question because he thought we worked there.  Then when he found out that we were missionaries he got really excited and said that he talked with a couple elders once and liked the things they talked about.  So we shared the restoration with him and he really felt the spirit!  We set up a time to go and teach him more and invited him in that first lesson to be baptized.  He really wants to!  Or I guess I should say wanted to.  Oh man.  Last week we taught him the restoration more thoroughly and he didn't like the quorum of the 12 or the first presidency because they look like republicans (what?)  So we told him to watch the prophet on lds.org and stuff.  He enjoyed it, but is still unsure about there being a prophet on the earth today.  Yesterday at church he came to give us back the Book of Mormon we gave him, but we told him to keep it.  And he kept looking in the sacrament meeting room like he wanted to go in, so we invited him to stay.  He stayed for all three hours.  And really felt the spirit again.  He still wants to learn and we think he believes it's true. We're not sure what the real concern is.  Hopefully we'll find out soon.  It's been an adventure.

We also had lots of first lessons with people and got a few new investigators, so we're excited to see what happens with them over the next couple weeks.  I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving!  This month has gone by crazy fast.  It's been so good though!  We've been working way hard and finding lots of people.  Missionary work can be so much fun.  Especially as you just lose yourself in the work.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great week!  Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving! 

-Sister Stacey

Highlights 11/05/2012

Dear Family,

Hello, everyone!  I'm glad to hear that my east coast family is all safe and didn't experience any damages.  But while you've been having crazy weather, it is still hot here.  Which is okay I suppose.  It's A LITTLE cooler. 

This week was crazy!  Highlights:

-We had a lesson with a girl named Wisdom who set a baptism date for the 24th!  It was our first time meeting with her, and she seems very excited about it!  Problem:  she moves.  A lot.  In fact she may or may not have just moved to Chino.  She doesn't really have a place of her own, so she lives with various friends.  We were explaining to her that she's going to have to be taught by missionaries wherever she is at, and she seemed a little sad about that.  We're still confused about the whole situation, but hopefully we'll get it sorted out soon.

-Halloween was fun!  We went tracting earlier in the day and met a few people who seem really interested!  We'll go see a few of them this week.  We did set up a return appointment with one of them for later in the week which has almost never happened for me.  So we were excited!  Except for when we got there, all he wanted to do was bash. -_-  He asked us what we wanted to talk to him about, and literally after 8 words, he interrupted and started telling us we were wrong.  And then wouldn't stop talking for the next 75 minutes.  I don't love it when that happens.  When he paused I just briefly shared my testimony of the Book of Mormon and how I came to know it was true and that started him off again.  But we FINALLY got out of there.  I am sad for those people.  I don't like how the spirit just completely leaves during those conversations because they drive it away.  But I also knew that I would have the spirit back once we left his house.  I'm thankful for my testimony.  I'm thankful that I know what it feels like to feel the spirit.  I liked in conference when someone said that a witness from the Holy Ghost is more powerful than even seeing a heavenly being.  It made me think of Laman and Lemuel.  They saw an angel, and still weren't converted.  Having a witness from the Spirit that something is true is something I just can't deny.  Hopefully he'll understand what that feels like one day.  He prayed for us to stop being 'gullible'.  We may not know everything, but we know our message is true. 

-We also are teaching a family that has two children who aren't baptized yet.  Nosa and Tyler.  They're good kids and it's been fun teaching them.  They also have a baptism date on the 24th.  Yesterday their dad asked what he needed to do to become and elder, and also when the temple prep classes will start up so they can go to the temple.  YEY!  It's awesome when people decide to devote themselves more to the Lord.

-We also set a baptism date with Lupe Hernandez.  She will be baptized on Dec. 1.  We were very excited about that.  She is so sweet and she was able to get sundays off! 

-We had a lesson with a woman named Veronica who lost her daughter about three years ago and was filled with so much sadness all this time.  She asked people questions all the time about what was happening with her daughter and whether she would see her again, and everyone gave her different answers and none of them seemed right to her.  We taught her the plan of salvation, and she said for the first time in a long time, she felt happy.  She felt so much peace and said she knew what we were saying was true.  It's so wonderful to see people feel the spirit and experience the peace and joy that comes with that.

-And besides all that, we have so many people we met last week who set appointments with us for this week that seem very excited to learn.  Can't wait to let you know about them. 

Well I hope you all have a great week!  I love you all!

-Sister Stacey

Nicer Apartment 10/29/2012

Dear Family,

How's things?  It sounds like it's pretty interesting weather for Michelle and Richard.  I haven't heard too much about the storm except for the occasional mention of it and from reading mom's and Michelle's emails.  You and your families will be in my prayers and I hope you all stay safe and protected. :)

Last week we had a fun time moving apartments.  It's a nicer apartment, mostly due to the lack of mold (our last apartment was covered in it.  At least my bathroom was) But we're all moved in now and I'll try to get pictures next week.

We had a lesson with Manny and his wife last week as well.  I THINK she understands english, but he was translating everything anyway.  We asked if she would like the spanish elders to come instead, but she wants to go to church where her kids would be going to church, and they'll go to the english ward.  We taught her the doctrine of Christ.  She believes in Him, but doesn't know too much about Him.  We started talking about the spirit and how she was feeling during the lesson.  She was definitely feeling the spirit and so we invited her to be baptized and she said yes!  But is unsure of a date :(.  She works every Sunday, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens with that and whatnot.  But she definitely wants to be baptized.  When we started talking about enduring to the end, she said she would never fall away.  I hope she's able to come to church and pick a date soon!

We also visited a less active woman in the ward.  She has four kids, the two oldest is a girl who is 20 and a boy who is 18.  They both are at BYU right now and when the age changed for missions, they both decided to go.  She is so proud of their decisions and it's really gotten her thinking.  We had a great conversation with her and helped her to know how much Heavenly Father loves her even though she thinks she's not a good person.  She hasn't been to church in YEARS but she came this last sunday. :)  It was so good to see her.

We got SEVEN media referrals last week, which was cool.  We had to give about half of them to the spanish elders, but that's okay.  They need people to teach too.  We just got another one about 20 minutes ago, too.  They have been pouring in lately!  We also got a referral from our bishop last night for a less active/part member family who has two children who aren't baptized and they decided it's time for them to be baptized, so we'll be having a lesson with them this week.  It's so fun to teach people who want to learn.  If that makes sense.

The ward's primary program was yesterday and it was fun to see Chris excited and participating.  The Carrillo family is still doing great. 

Well I hope all of you have a great week!  Happy Halloween!

-Sister Stacey

Ups and Downs As Usual 10/22/2012

Dear Family,

Hello!  How was every one's week?  Ours had its ups and downs as usual. 

First, I'll talk about Cheli, because I think I mentioned her last week.  She did come to the relief society activity that we had.  It was about being healthy and taking care of ourselves.  It was good.  For people who are members of the church.  Somehow the topic started getting into some deeper doctrine that really confused her.  She walked out of it feeling uplifted, though, and was excited to have a lesson with us.  The next morning she told us she was going to call and set up an appointment, but didn't and instead went on a hike, where she started thinking about Revelation 22:18-19 (classic) and told us she was very unsure of the Book of Mormon and didn't want to learn anymore.  :(  We were very sad.  She wants to go on a hike with us, though, so we will do that sometime and hopefully be able to talk to her more about the Book of Mormon.  Hopefully she'll be able to open up to it one day.  She's one of those people that you know are super prepared but for some reason have that one thing that is holding them back that's going to be really hard to overcome.  We won't give up on her.

We also had an appointment set up for us by some elders who were tracting in our area.  It was a woman named Crystal and she is married and has five children.  She seemed excited and open, according to the elders.   We never actually got to meet with her.  We got to her house and her husband opened the door and told us we were not welcome there.  We explained that Crystal wanted us to meet with her and he was like, 'I'm sure she does, but I don't.  So...no.'  Lame!  We talked to him a little bit and I think his heart softened just a little because he took one of our cards and said he'd look at mormon.orgbecause 'maybe it was time for some intervention in his life.'  But I still don't think he wants us over there.  Maybe sometime we'll be driving by and Crystal will just be outside and we'll be able to talk to her.

The last thing is that there was another day this week that was at least 100 degrees. 

But then there were also cooler days, and today is a cool day, and it's finally starting to feel like autumn.  Now that October is practically over. 

And for the ups, CHRIS GOT BAPTIZED!! :D  His parents were so happy.  That family is changing, definitely.  Brother Carrillo especially.  And he just got a job with the post office, so he'll be able to have every Sunday off, which is awesome!  I love baptisms.  The spirit is always so strong.  Chris is such a good kid.  I'm so thankful I got to be a part of helping him and his family come closer to the Lord.  We're not done, though!  We're still working with them to hopefully help them get to the temple and be sealed!

We also set up an appointment with a part member family in the ward.  The husband is a member and his wife has been expressing interest in going to church and being baptized.  YEY!  She understands English, but mostly only speaks Spanish, so it will be interesting.  We also are going to start teaching a recent converts daughter.  He joined the church a year ago.  She's 11 and he said that she's ready to take the lessons and join.  We just have to wait for her mom (they're divorced) to give the okay.  Hopefully that will happen soon! 

We also had a good lesson with Danny where we learned a lot of his concerns.  Concerns that he didn't even know he had.  For a while he's been saying that he hasn't really felt anything, but then when we met with him and he was thinking about it, he said maybe he has been feeling something, but he's scared to really figure that out because he's not ready to be committed yet.  It scares him.  It was really good for him to admit that, though.  At the end of the conversation, he said he really just needs to come to church sometime and see what it's like.  Agreed!  We thought he would be there yesterday, but he wasn't. 

Anyway, we had transfer calls yesterday morning, and we are both staying here for another transfer!  I'm excited about that because there is a lot of good things happening here. 

I mentioned also that Elder Grow did a mission tour here.  He talked to us about doing finding through less actives and that if we did that and focused on them, then he promised us that we would have more people to baptize.  That was pretty cool.  And weird.  My whole mission we've been discouraged from visiting too many less-active members, and now that's a major focus.  I'm excited for it. 

Well that's about all from me for this week!  Hope everyone enjoys whatever it is you will be doing!  Love you all!

-Sister Stacey

Some Highlights 10/15/2012

Dear Family,

SORRY this letter is going to man short because I only have ten minutes.  Busy pday.  Just got away from me.  Anyway, here are some of the highlights of last week and some of the things coming up this week:

-Mission tour with C. Scott Grow.  It was so good.  I'll talk about that more next week.

-We tracted into a woman named Cheli and we went over and taught her again last night and she seems to be super excited to learn about the gospel!  We believe all the same things she does.  We invited her to the relief society activity we'll be having this week, so hopefully she will be there.

-The Fontana Stake had a luau which was SO FUN.  I will try and get a couple pictures of that in next weeks email.  

-It FINALLY rained.  But now it's hot again.

-Hopefully Chris Carrillo will be baptized this Saturday (the 20th).  :D

Sorry this has to be so short!  I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I'm grand.  I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love, Sister Stacey

MOM-Thanks for your story.  I haven't gotten your letter yet, but hopefully in a couple days I will.  Fontana mail is SLOW.  DAD-I love you!  Hope you have a great week at work!   Bye!  Love you both!

Some Highlights 10/15/2012

Dear Family,

SORRY this letter is going to man short because I only have ten minutes.  Busy pday.  Just got away from me.  Anyway, here are some of the highlights of last week and some of the things coming up this week:

-Mission tour with C. Scott Grow.  It was so good.  I'll talk about that more next week.

-We tracted into a woman named Cheli and we went over and taught her again last night and she seems to be super excited to learn about the gospel!  We believe all the same things she does.  We invited her to the relief society activity we'll be having this week, so hopefully she will be there.

-The Fontana Stake had a luau which was SO FUN.  I will try and get a couple pictures of that in next weeks email.  

-It FINALLY rained.  But now it's hot again.

-Hopefully Chris Carrillo will be baptized this Saturday (the 20th).  :D

Sorry this has to be so short!  I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I'm grand.  I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love, Sister Stacey

MOM-Thanks for your story.  I haven't gotten your letter yet, but hopefully in a couple days I will.  Fontana mail is SLOW.  DAD-I love you!  Hope you have a great week at work!   Bye!  Love you both!

Conference Was So Awesome! 10/09/2012

Dear Family,

Happy Columbus Day (yesterday), everyone!  I'm not sure if any of you were aware because the only people who celebrate it are libraries, the post office, and banks.  Which only makes me sad on a mission.  So now you get to have my email, a day later, but no less grand.

Conference was so awesome this weekend!  I have loved listening to conference as a missionary.  I have listened more closely and learned so much more because I want to be aware of things I could share with investigators.  I loved Elder Nelson's talk.  Everyone in the world needs to hear that!  But there were so many amazing talks.  I love conference. 

This week was pretty good.  We didn't have too many lessons, but the ones we did have were good. 

We saw the Carrillos yesterday.  They're doing so good!  Brother Carrillo came to both sessions of conference on Saturday.  He felt the spirit so strongly.  When we saw the family for a lesson, we asked Chris why he wants to be baptized.  He said it was because he gets picked on at school, so he wants to feel like there is always someone standing there with him who's on his side and was his friend.  That was a touching answer.  What a gift it is to have the Holy Ghost as our friend and guide.  They're on track for his baptism which will be happening next week on the 20th.  All of his family will be there, including his inactive brothers.  Yey!  The spirit is so strong at baptisms, so hopefully they can feel that spirit again and be reminded of things that are important. 

We also taught TJ.  Not sure if I mentioned him last week or not.  He really wants to do things the right way.  We taught him a couple lessons and invited him to be baptized.  He wants to, but can't set a date right now because he is out of town for an unknown amount of time.  But hopefully he'll come back soon so we can do that.

We also met a girl named Nicole from tracting who we'll be seeing tonight.  She's 13 and seemed to be excited to learn about the church.  And today we went tracting and met a woman named Cheli who started talking about her beliefs and said that she's never found it in a church anywhere, and everything she said were things that we believe.  So we told her that, and she told us that she did actually meet with missionaries about 5 years ago.  They only had one lesson with her, but then after that she wasn't sure about the Book of Mormon.  So we talked to her more about that and she's open to listening again.  We'll be seeing her next week. 

Anyway, it was a good week.  We met lots of people.  Some of them more interested than others.  Typical.  But I love meeting all of them anyway. 

OH YEAH this part is important I would still love stories of service from people.  My talk is on the 21st, so I would need them by next Monday.  PLEASE HELP!!

Have a great week!  Love you all!

-Sister Stacey

Oh, It's Only 95 Degrees Today! 10/01/2012

Dear Family,

Hello!  It's October!  That's so weird!  Time is going so fast.  AND it's still.  STILL in the hundreds.  Doesn't Fontana know that it should be cooling down now??  Oh well.  Missionary work still happens.  :)

So last week we had sisters exchanges as I mentioned.  I got to go to the Tongan ward back up in the desert.  That was so fun!  Sister Kaufusi goes home this transfer, so I was glad to be with her this last time.  It would be way fun to serve in a Tongan ward. 

Anyway, while I was up there, Sister Mills stayed here with Sister Dodge.  Sister Dodge served in this area for seven and a half months, so there were some people she wanted to see.  Glad she did because they were able to find a couple new people to teach!  One is a less active member named Cindy and her husband is not a member.  We'll be meeting with her tomorrow, and I'm excited to meet her.  They also went to see how a girl named Ivette was doing.  Sister Dodge had only taught her a couple times before she got really busy. Ivette is 16, but is very interested in learning more.  She really wants to make sure she knows she's doing things the right way.  We read 2 Nephi 31 with her and she really liked it.  We did invite her to be baptized, but she said she wants to know if it's right for her first.  I love it when people say that because that's exactly what they need to do!  Find out for themselves!  We talked a lot about how we need to be sincere and that if we are, God will answer our prayers and help us to learn the truth. 

We also taught a man named Freddy.  He was raised baptist, and I think he is still an active baptist, not really sure.  He has a very open mind though.  He said you have to have an open mind to know what God is trying to tell you.  We also invited him to be baptized, but he said he was already baptized.  We taught him the Doctrine of Christ (again, 2 Nephi 31) and said that next time we would talk about the restoration of God's authority.  Hopefully he'll understand that and know that this is Christ's church. 

We saw the Carrillos again.  We were able to set up another baptism date for Chris.  Oct. 20.  I think this time it is going to really work.  Brother Carrillo said he would make sure to get work off that night.  They also said that the other times missionaries came to teach Chris, they felt like for some reason it wasn't the right time for him, but since we've started teaching him, they know it's time, and they are ready to come back to church and be fully active.  Chris' baptism is going to be really special, I think.  He has 3 older brothers.  They're really nice, but they're inactive.  So Chris thought he could be baptized and not go to church.  We've been talking to him a lot about Nephi and that even though he was the younger, he was a great example for all of his older brothers.  So we told him to be like Nephi and he seemed pretty excited about that.  And now that they're coming to church more regularly (four out of five weeks!  Yey!)  I think he's starting to enjoy it more.  But his older brothers want to be at his baptism and so hopefully they'll be touched by the spirit of what Chris is doing and want to go back to church.  I really love this family.  They are so special.

Anwyay, those are the highlights from this week.  We had lots of lessons!  I love being able to teach people about the gospel. 

I hope you all have a great week and are enjoying the cooler temperatures that I don't remember ever experiencing.  haha  Hopefully this heat will only last a couple more weeks.  I never thought I would be saying 'Oh, it's only 95 degrees today!  It feels so good outside!' 

Love you all!  BYE!

-Sister Stacey

First Day of Autumn? - Not in Fontana 9/24/2012

Dear Family,

Shorterish email today because we hare having sisters exchanges.  And the activity is starting soonish.  So I will write as much as I can in this short amount of time that I have, which is about 20 minutesish.  Okay.

Well on Monday, when we were SUPPOSED to meet with the Carrillo family (Chris's family) their car broke down and they were stuck somewhere that wasn't at the appointment.  So we didn't teach them.  And had a very hard time getting in touch with them the rest of the week.  And they had mentioned that Bro. Carrillo, who was the one that would be baptizing Chris that he might be working the night of the baptism, so they weren't sure if they were going to be able to do it or not.  And then we didn't hear back from them.  We did all we could, and finally on Friday we saw Chris long enough to realize that the baptism wasn't going to be happening last weekend.  :(  BUT that's okay because we saw them again last night and they have been having some really awesome testimony building experiences lately and they definitely still want Chris to be baptized and they asked us not to give up on them.  We won't!  For sure!  But they finally paid a full tithe last week, and they had tremendous blessings poured down on them.  The next day, they made the amount that they had paid, and Bro. Carrillo got a new job.  So cool!  The Lord really does pour out blessings on those who pay their full tithing.  They will always have what they need.  They're a great family and are still trying to be completely active in the church.  They're just having a few bumps in the road along the way.  Sister Mills is staying in the area tonight so they'll set a new baptism date for Chris.  So I'll let you know when that happens. 

We also saw the Kagles.  First was Danny.  We FINALLY taught him the Restoration.  He actually got a lot from it, and was a lot less skeptical about things than I thought.  He found out we actually agree about many things in regards to religion.  I think his biggest hold up is gaining a testimony that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and from that also that Joseph Smith was His prophet and he truly restored Christ's church.  That witness that the Book of Mormon is true is SO IMPORTANT! I hope he is able to feel something while he reads soon.  He's opening up to the idea that there is only one church that Christ set up and is the head of all the time.  So we'll see what happens.  We also saw his mom, Sister Kagle.  She is doing so good!  She's been reading more and praying more and being more proactive about getting a Sunday off now and then so that she can go to church.  And she's learning a lot.  We read a talk with her about the grace of Christ.  It's by Brad Wilcox called His Grace is Sufficient.  Everyone should read this talk!  It's so good.  

Angela is still doing well in the gospel.  A little less will in the body.  She's had some health problems and health scares come up recently, so hopefully she'll be able to get those figured out and taken care of soon.

By the way, we're giving talks in this ward (again) on the 21st of October.  The topic is service, so I would like people to send me stories about service.  Or people who are good examples of service.  Or whatever. 

It's still incredibly hot here.  I hope everyone enjoyed Saturday when it officially became Autumn.  I'll let you know when Fontana's first day of Autumn is.

Have a great week, everyone!  Love you all!

-Sister Stacey

It Is HOT! 9/17/2012

Dear Family,

Hello!  I'm glad to hear there are parts of the world that are not so hot and are actually beginning to cool down.  My calendar said that the first day of Autumn is Sept 22, and I think it may be referring to the whole world BESIDES San Bernardino county.  It is HOT.  It's still in the hundreds all the time.  It's still up in the high 80s low 90s at night.  I'm ready for cooler weather.  This has been non-stop for weeks now. 

Well this week we'll have another baptism!  Chris and his family finally came to sacrament meeting three times, so he can get baptized.  But that's not really the exciting part of it all.  Since we've been teaching the Carrillo's in a member's home, they've really truly changed.  They are more excited about coming to church and doing everything they can to be there every sunday.  They've been paying their tithing.  You can see more light in their lives.  And Chris, even though he is nine, is very excited to be baptized and I think he's gotten more excited about the gospel.  So I don't think they'll stop coming even after the baptism.  It's made such a difference in their lives trying to teach all of them and teaching them in a members home.  It's been really cool to see. 

We also had a lesson with Dan and Anna.  We taught them the Restoration and I think they liked it a lot.  It was a very spirit filled lesson.  Dan was not raised in any religion, although he does believe in God.  He wants to do what's right and to find the right fit for him.  I think he really felt the spirit during the lesson and is willing to listen and to follow Jesus Christ.  We asked him if he wanted to be baptized, but he said he'd like to learn a little more first.  They are trying hard to find a job, without much success I think.  Because of that they've been really busy.  They didn't come to church yesterday :( and now we're having a hard time getting ahold of them.  But that's okay.  We've still got their phone number and we know where they live.  Missionaries are really good stalkers. :) haha  But seriously, they're a really great couple and I think they're very open to the spirit and the message. 

We also had a lesson with an older woman named Jackie.  She lost her husband a few years ago, and she loved him a lot.  We watched Together Forever with her and she was very touched by the message.  She would like to be sealed with her husband for eternity and is interested in learning from us how she can do that.  She's 87 and was baptized a baptist, and I don't think she understands that she can get baptized again.  She said that she wishes she would have joined the mormon faith years ago, but can't now.  I don't really understand that, but we'll teach her and help her to understand that she can and she can have the work done for her husband as well.  She said she felt more hope listening to that message than she's felt in a long time. We're excited to be able to meet with her again. 

Angela has been having a hard time lately.  Lots of bad news and health problems have been coming up recently.  She said she hasn't been reading as much and you could tell that she was starting to feel hopeless and not feel the spirit as much.  So we told her to read it every day and that it would help her.  She's gotten back into the habit and been a lot happier.  Reading the scriptures really does bring peace and joy, because you feel the spirit.  I've come to truly love studying the scriptures and look forward to learning all that I can from them throughout my whole life. 

We had a car swap.  We had to give away our Carolla and switch it for a Malibu.  I'm SO THANKFUL to have a car, but I do wish we could have our car back.  Malibus are problem children.

Anyway, those are the main events of last week.  We're way excited for Chris's baptism this saturday.  I hope all of you have a great week!  Enjoy not being super hot!  Study your scriptures whenever you can!

Love, Sister Stacey

Start of Transfer 10 Sept. 10, 2012

Dear Family,

But first, Dear Matt,

Mom informed me that you know whether or not you are going to be the father of a boy or girl.  She also said she thought you would email and tell us today.  And I have recieved no email informing me of such news.  I am dismayed that I will have to wait yet another week in anticipation of the news.  Even though I already know it's a girl. Please respond quickly.  That is all. :)

Okay, now to my week.  We had a pretty good week here.  It was the last week of the transfer, which usually seems to drag, but this one went by fairly quickly.  I already mentioned last week about going to the temple on Wednesday, so I won't talk about that again.  I actually guess there is not much to update on, since it's only been a few days since I last wrote.  We've been trying to get in touch with a lot of potential investigators this last weekend.  Some of them are near impossible to get ahold of.  Others we've been sad to hear that they are not interested anymore.  Some of them say call back tomorrow.  We ask members at every dinner if they know of anyone that we could teach, and a lot of them lately have been talking to people that seem interested in learning more, but they don't get the person's information.  So we've been trying really hard, without much success, of looking for more people to teach.  Nevertheless, Heavenly Father blessed us.  A couple by the name of Dan and Anna showed up at one of the spanish wards yesterday.  Anna speaks spanish, but Dan only speaks english, so they wanted to go to an english church.  The elders pointed them in our direction, and they actually came!  They showed up at the end of sunday school and then stayed for priesthood/relief society meetings.  Anna enjoyed it a lot. We weren't able to talk to Dan after, but they gave us their address and phone number and would like us to come visit them.  It's interesting how Heavenly Father works, sometimes.  We're working hard to find people and not having much success from those efforts, but we're trying.  Heavenly Father blesses us in other ways.  I don't think we've started teaching anyone from our own finding efforts this transfer, actually.  So it's a great blessing that Heavenly Father has led these people who are prepared to us. 

We had a lesson with Sister Kagle again.  It was really good.  We talked to her about the temple and about making it a goal to get there.  She's been reading more and praying more and she's really started feeling the spirit more in her life.  She still works every sunday, unfortunately, but she's looking for a way to be able to get at least one of them off. 

There will be another baptism this weekend of a boy named Anakin.  His record got lost and could not be recreated, so technically that makes it a convert baptism.  All the ordinances have to be performed over again, so we've been teaching him and his family.  They're a really cute family and it's been fun getting to know them better. 

Anyway, I think that's about all the new stuff for this week.  This is the start of transfer 10 for me.  I can hardly believe that I've been out for 10 transfers.  Time just flies.  Actually, since today is the 10th that means I've now been out for 13 months. 

OH YEAH they did not add another set of missionaries to this ward yet, so we're still covering both sides.  That made us happy, because there are people we're teaching on the east side and the west side that we love and didn't want to say goodbye to yet. 

I hope you all have a great week!  I hope to hear from you soon, Matt!  Love you all!

-Sister Stacey

I Love the Temple 9/05/2012

Dear Family,

 

Hello everyone!  Well I just got back from the temple.  I love the temple.  The spirit is so strong there and the stress of any situation disappears during the time you are in the temple.  I am excited to be able to attend more often one day. 

 

This week was awesome!  We got a new investigator named Ruby.  She's baptist and was baptized three times.  She is super open to our message and learning, so we invited her to be baptized.  Her response was 'I would love to, but I've already been baptized three times and I feel like the Lord understands my reasons for being baptized and accepts it'.  Hmmm.  We're teaching her about the resoration next and we think the thing to focus on is definitely the resoration of the priesthood.  I think if she understands that, she'll want to be baptized again.  She studies the bible a lot and had a question about Melchizedek for years that no one was able to answer until we came.  We'll see what happens when we teach her again.

 

Saturday was so awesome!  Angela's baptism was so great.  The spirit was present and so strong.  Angela really understands this decision she's made and humbly and willingly followed the example of Jesus Christ.  Her mom and dad were there as well as her grandma, all non-members.  They were so supportive of her decision and were so thankful for how we were able to help Angela (I don't really feel like we did very much, but oh well :) )  Angela had a hard life and had been a heavy smoker for 26 years.  She put her faith in the Lord and overcame her weaknesses.  She truly has a new light in her life and it's so good to see how excited she is about the gospel.  I remember how heavy her countenance looked when we first met her, and now she shines so brightly.  It was a wonderful batpism. :)

 

Chris (the nine year old) is still doing great.  His family FINALLY came to church this last week.  We had the lesson over at their house this week instead of the member's house and it was good to just talk to them and see where they're at.  They really want to start coming back to church and have been trying so hard to work things out in their lives so that they can attend every sunday.  There is a definite change in this family since we first started meeting with them.  Chris is getting excited for his baptism.  We had to move it towards the end of the month, but that's okay. 

 

Anyway, things are great here.  We're still keeping very busy.  Some of our investigators have been going through a slump lately, which is unfortunate.  Not as open as they were before.  We're trying really hard to find out their concerns and help them overcome them.  Also, we've been getting lots of referrals lately, but every single one has had wrong information, or not all the information.  Either a wrong phone number, or they live in an apartment and left out what number they live in, or the address doesn't exist...good times. 

 

Transfer calls are happening this Saturday.  It will be interesting to see if they split the ward again.  We're having a lot of missionaries coming out soon, so eventually they will.  I have mixed feelings about it.  It would be nice to be able to focus on one side of the area, but at the same time, I don't want to lose anyone that we've been teaching.  So I'll let you know what happens with that. 

 

Have a great week, everyone!  Summer is almost over! (I'm WAY ready for cooler temperatures)

 

-Sister Stacey

Highlights August 29, 2012

Hello, family! 

How was everyone's week this week?  Sounds like a lot of things are changing or coming up soon.  Good times, good times.  Well, it is Wednesday.  Long unnecessary story short, we were not able to write on Monday, so we're writing today.  Also, next week being that it is a holiday, will also not come with an email on Monday.  But we get to go to the temple next week which would make our pday on Wednesday so you'll get to hear from me anyway. :)  Just FYI.

Well here are some of the highlights from the last week and a half.

-As I mentioned last week, we're WAY low on miles which is okay.  We've just been doing a little more walking to and from the library and talking to anyone that comes in our path.  We have met a lot of very interesting people.  Some of them were lost members, which was cool to point them in the right direction again.  Some of them were interested, but hispanic so we gave the referrals to the spanish missionaries.  We met one family who MAY be interested.  A few homeless people-some very still there in the head and some not.  One guy named Anthony passed us on his bike while we were talking to someone and asked for directions to a store and then he left.  Then a mile up the road we saw him again and he came over to us and asked what church we're from and then said he wants to go there because we seem as committed to following Christ as he is.  So hopefully we'll see him there this Sunday.  It has actually been a very good use of time to walk to the library and we're going to continue to do that even though our miles will be reset. 

-Angela is on track for being baptized!  She is so excited and her family is very excited for her even though they're not members. But her example has been making so many people around her ask questions and want to make changes in their own lives.  She's so awesome!  And she just loves talking about the gospel with everyone.  She's being such a good missionary!  We're so excited for her to be baptized this weekend.

-We had a really good zone conference on Thursday about inviting people to be baptized no later than the second lesson, then they challenged us to double our baptism dates by the beginning of next week.  We've been working really hard to do that!  A lot of our appointments have started falling through all the sudden.  Surprise surprise.  I think someone out there does not want us to invite people to be baptized.  The few we have been able to talk to that about surprised me by how open they were at the idea.  They made it clear they weren't ready right then, but they want to be one day.  And they were more willing to do the things it will take for them to progress to that point.  So it's been very intimidating, but a very good experience. 

There are so many great things happening in this area.  The Lord is blessing us so much. 

Anyway, that's it from me for this week.  Hope all of you have a great week!  Enjoy the holiday!

-Sister Stacey