Finishing My Mission in Big Bear 1/14/2013

Dear Family,

Hello!  I'm sure you're all wondering what happened with transfers, so here's the news:

I'm still in Big Bear.

Sister Davis is still my companion. 

I am pretty excited about this.  I'm glad I'm finishing my mission here and that I'm still with an awesome companion.  I'm glad I don't have to wonder any more about where I could potentially end up or who I'm going to work with.  Also, that leads me to my next item of interest.  Since I know I won't be going anywhere after this except home, here is my address up here so that we can all communicate oh so much faster.

Sister Stacey

P.O. Box #84

Big Bear City, CA 92314

So that's the big news.  Which all the rest of my news isn't really all that exciting, unfortunately. 

Tuesday we had an awesome zone conference and set some pretty good zone goals.  We really wanted to help with them.  But Sister Davis was still sick, and I was getting more sick.  I decided to call the mission nurse and tell her what was going on.  I had no body pains, no headache, no nausea, no sore throat, no runny nose, no ear ache, but oh man my tonsils were in a LOT of pain (and they were starting to get some weird white spots).  I didn't get too much sleep for about three nights in a row because I would wake up every time I swallowed.  So we ended up calling a doctor who actually works in Orem, Dad.  Dr. Peterson.  He works on 800 north I think?  I think it's over near where Dr. Morgan is.  And he prescribed something for me that helped. :)  Two days later I felt all better.  During that time I also developed a cough, which still lingers, but I feel much much better. 

So with Sister Davis still getting over being sick, and me being sick, we didn't get out as much as we would have liked.  Saturday was the first day we were feeling really good, so we worked really hard that day.  We taught Kevin one of the recent convert lessons.  He is so awesome.  He's such a good example of how when you've received a witness from the Holy Ghost that the gospel is true, you will do all you can to change and become the person God wants you to be.  He has so much faith and is so excited about the church.  He is in so much awe of how the organization of the church takes care of everything.  He's getting the priesthood soon, so he's pretty excited.  As we were leaving his place, we noticed that the park near his house (I say park, but it's just a small snowy spot by the lake) was swarming with people.  We recognized that as an awesome opportunity to go talk to lots of people, even though none of them are from here.  The population of Big Bear practically triples over the weekend with people wanting to come and be around snow for a couple days.  I wanted to get on a soap box and started teaching about the gospel like they do in the Restoration movie.  We didn't, but we still talked to lots of people.  It's interesting how intimidating things like that, and somewhat fruitless, you feel super energized after. I love tracting because I'm showing the Lord that I have enough faith to find on my own and that He'll bless us, and He does.  I've only ever really met a small handful of people who were genuinely interested in the gospel from tracting, but in the meantime the Lord blessed us to receive a referral or they came about in other ways.  That's how it is with life sometimes.  We are doing something that we know we should do, even if we don't see the immediate benefit from it, but the Lord blesses us in other ways that are so great. 

So the ward council up here has a goal to read Preach My Gospel by the end of April.  They also had that goal last year and didn't do it.  We decided to help them out and create a schedule to be able to read all of it in that amount of time and thought of a way to institute a good way to follow up.  It was just to read one chapter a week and then if we learned anything or had an experience that related to what we read, then we'd share it in ward council.  Things like that usually motivate people and get them excited to do more.  Preach My Gospel is such an amazing book!  I'm going to be studying from it my whole life.  But they all got kind of angry at it and said that there's no way everyone is going to read it by the end of April.  We thought that was weird because it was their goal in the first place. Our ward mission leader was sad because he thought it was a good idea.  It was a weird ward council.  Oh well. :)

Last night we got to bed a little later than we had hoped.  I was in our study putting a couple things away and a mouse ran under our dresser.  It was a cute little mouse, but it was a cute little mouse that was actually gross.  Also that it was inside, a place where it doesn't belong.  We set up a barricade around the dresser and got a box to trap it under.  Then we got a stick to get it out from under the dresser.  It was FAST.  We tried a couple times and did not succeed.  Then upon another attempt, it started hiding under a flap on one of the boxes in our barricade.  That gave it enough time to figure out an escape plan.  It noticed, I'm sure, that one end of the skateboard we were using, rounded down and wasn't as high.  It sprinted and leaped a mighty leap and completely cleared the skateboard (a mere inch from my hand) and disappeared somewhere in the room.  We know it's still in there.  We have an idea of how we're going to catch it.  BUT we didn't have time to do it this morning.  We COULD buy mousetraps, but we want to try this first.  So gross.  Still gives me the heeby jeebies to think about it.  I don't like mice in the house, it turns out. 

Also, on that note, we didn't find any more bed bugs THANK GOODNESS.  And besides all that, a lot of people were not home or were too busy to meet with us. :(  We did finally meet up with a woman who had her records removed from the church a few years back, and now wants to be baptized and be a part of the church again, so that was exciting.  It will be on Feb. 2.  She has a daughter who isn't a member, and will maybe start sitting in on the lessons (Bishop wanted us to teach her the missionary lessons before she gets rebaptized.)  She is really sweet and initially had her records removed because her circumstances were not letting her go to church for many years and she felt bad.  But now she realizes that she misses all of that and is very excited to be able to go back to the temple.  :)

Well, I hope that you all have a fantastic week!  Ours will be!  Love you all!

Love, Sister Stacey

Nice Winter in Big Bear 1/07/2013

Dear Family,

Hello!  It's a nice winter morning up here in Big Bear! We got five inches of snow last night, which was fun to wake up to!  I used to laugh when people who weren't around snow very often would get so excited.  But after being in summer for 15 months straight and finally have some snow, it's pretty exciting!  I enjoy seasons.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot to report on for this week. I am glad weeks like this last one don't come along too often. They're not fun. Not only was Sister Davis pretty sick most of the week, but when we WERE out, no one was home or they didn't have time, or they were also sick. It's going around I guess. I got sick on Saturday and I hope it doesn't bother me too much this week.  My ears were feeling weird yesterday at church and I was worried about getting an ear infection.  I guess people get them up here all the time.  But I'm feeling a bit better today, so hopefully it was just some weird weekend cold thing.

Andy got out of the hospital yesterday, so hopefully we'll see him soon. I guess they didn't actually operate on his brain. There was just something up there to drain some fluid that kept collecting around his brain. So that was good. He slipped and fell on some ice. He hit his head when he fell and his brain shifted a little bit and he lost the use of the left half of his body temporarily.  He was unable to stand back up, so he had to call for help.  He's usually more careful on the ice, but he had been drinking that night so he wasn't as stable on his feet. He said he never wants to drink again, which made us very happy because that was definitely something that was holding him back! 

There's another man we've been trying to start teaching named James. When we talk to him he sounds so sincere and excited to start learning. He really wants to go to church and everything. But when it comes to making a commitment, he won't follow through. He is so sincere in his desire, so we can't figure out why he won't do the things he's said he would do.  When we saw him last week and invited him to church he said that he would definitely be there.  We asked him if he wanted us to find him a ride to church, but he said that he wanted to walk there.  (he lives about three miles from the church)  He said it's not so bad if he walks 'as the crow flies'.  So we figured if he has to trudge through snow and people's property, he probably wouldn't be there.  And he wasn't.  We should try just sending someone over there on Sunday morning to pick him up and see what happens.  We really want him to come to church!

And Blake, our other investigator, is still having a hard time matching his schedule up to the person he wants to help us teach him. But in seminary he was talking about how he wants to go on a mission. That was really cool! We hope we can continue teaching him again soon!

Ed Stanik, a recent convert, invited us to go see The Hobbit with him.  But obviously we couldn't go.  So sad. 

The last bit of news is that we found a bed bug in our house.  I knew it was a bed bug, because Jenn sent me a picture of one a while ago, and I recognized the creature instantly.  They're gross!  We tore our house apart looking for more, but didn't find any.  We must have taken him home from someone else's house.  I REALLY hope we don't find any more.  It just doesn't sound like too much fun trying to get rid of them. 

Also, I learned how to widdle.  And today we're going to a silver smith's shop.  He did all the silver work on the Three Amigos and silver work in other movies.  We're going to see if he'll make something cheap for us, because that sounds pretty cool. 

Well, I suppose that is all for this week!  Love you all!  Have a great week!

Love, Sister Stacey

White Christmas in Big Bear 1/02/2013

Dear Family,

Hello!  How was everyone's Christmas?  It was pretty awesome up here!  So glad we got to have a white Christmas!  Big Bear is still great.  Heavenly Father has done a great job with nature.  It's beautiful in the mountains. 

Anyway, I know there is a lot to talk about from the last two weeks, but sometimes when you sit down to actually write about it, it all just slips from your mind.  So I'll do my best. 

Actually I'll just write about the main events.  So on the 21st we had a mission party.  It was way fun.  We all gathered together and had dinner and then we had a talent show.  There are lots of missionaries who play the guitar it turns out.  Then we all sang some Christmas songs, during which Santa (Pres. Godwin) showed up.  It reminded me an awful lot of the Rowley family Christmas parties.  Those were good times.  Yes, I even was forced to sit on Santa's lap.  I have a picture, but I'm not sure I'll be able to have the time to send it upon this day. 

On Christmas Eve we had dinner at our ward mission leader's house.  He's so awesome!  He had Andy there as well and we were able to teach him a second lesson.  We taught him the restoration.  He like it so much.  In addition to Bro. Nielson, his wife was also there, as were his parents.  They're all converts to the church, so at the end, they ended up being the ones to invite him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon because that's how they all got their answers.  The spirit was really strong during this lesson.  It went so well.  At the end I invited him to be baptized, to which he said he needs to check out his ex-wife's church before he can make that commitment.  BUT then on Thursday Bro. Nielson called us and said that Andy called him and asked what he needs to do to join the church, to which Bro. Nielson said finish taking the lessons and be baptized.  Andy didn't say no, so we were hoping to meet with him soon to talk to him more about that.  I say 'were' because a couple days ago, Andy slipped on some ice and got a concussion.  Shortly after taking him to the hospital, he was life-flighted down the mountain to a hospital in Riverside, where he had brain surgery!  I hope he gets well soon.  That didn't sound to good to us.  Please keep him in your prayers. 

Christmas day was fun!  We had district meeting in the morning, and then went over to the McCutcheons to have a Christmas lunch feast.  We spent a lot of the day there, because that's where we skyped from.  After that we went over to another woman's house in the ward and had a dinner there.  And there's a family from Anaheim who own a home up here, so they were here over Christmas and they really wanted to have us over, so we also went over there.  It was a good day. 

The next day snowed a ton. :)

Today we got to go to the temple with all the sisters in the mission.  I love that we get to do things like that.  Some missionaries never get to go to the temple during their mission.  But we usually go about every other transfer.  I'll probably even get to go twice next transfer, if I stay in the Apple Valley zone.  I love the feeling in the temple.  It is the most peaceful place on the earth.  And it was neat to be able to go with all the sisters.  There were about 24 of us there.  It was packed!  I always feel the spirit so strongly while I am there.  I am excited for when I can go whenever I have the time. 

Well, I guess those are all the major things that have happened.  So I'll just tell you about something cool, that I don't think I've mentioned yet.  We have another investigator named Blake.  He's the kid living with Bro. Nielson.  He's been coming to church every Sunday, and I think he really likes what he's been learning.  We haven't been able to meet with him again yet because he's busy and so is Matt (Bro. Nielson's son that he's really good friends with).  He wants Matt to help teach him, but their schedules don't always match up.  So that's one of the holdups.  But Bro. Nielson asked Blake 'So if Matt baptizes you, who are you going to baptize?'  and he said he would baptize another one of his friends.  That was cool, because we haven't even talked to him about baptism yet.  Bro. Nielson is so awesome at sharing the gospel with others and helping us with the work.  Hopefully we can meet with him soon!

Here's another cool thing.  This one doesn't have to do with the work, but it does have to do with Big Bear.  I hope I haven't told you about this yet, either.  We were helping a member do some service in Onyx and he took us to some one's property who trains lions.  And tigers.  And bears.  And panthers.  And wolves.   He trains them for movies.  His lions were on Gladiator.  We want to help feed them sometime. :)  We got to see them and it was pretty awesome. 

Well, that's about it for this week.  I hope all is well with everyone wherever you're at!  Love ya!