Hello! 2/27/2012

Dear Family,

 

Hello!  How's things?  They're still pretty good up here.  Nothing too new happened up here this last week.  We had our appointment fall through with Ilene, which wasn't really surprising, since that's basically been our relationship the whole time I've been serving here.  But she did text us this morning to reschedule, which is a first for her.  So that's good.  We did text her back to see what time would be best, to which she hasn't responded yet. 

The day we picked for Jose to be baptized ended up having a conflict.  Bro. Pye, the guy that Jose wants to baptize him, has some major work meeting and can't make it.  So we moved it up a week.  We've been busy trying to teach him all the lessons and help him understand as much as possible.  It's been so cool to watch him learn and grow in the gospel.  He is so ready!  He is so excited to be baptized and have a fresh start in the Lord's church!

We had a lesson with Scott, which didn't actually end up going the way we thought.  Scott works with the stake president, the stake president's son, the stake president's son-in-law, and Bro. Pye.  And these are all really amazing men who have such strong testimonies.  We taught him at Bro Clowards (stake president's son in law) and Bro Pye was there too.  The spirit was so strong in that lesson.  Probably the most spiritual lesson I've experienced thus far.  The spirit prompted us to invite him to be baptized once he comes to know the truth, and all he said was 'I'm still just kind of soaking it all in.'  Which is okay.  We weren't entirely certain what his response would be.  But he still wants to listen and he is still very open.  He hasn't been to any church in a long time, and he went to a baptist one yesterday, which all his friends in the ward think is probably good.  He'll recognize that there is a different spirit there and maybe he'll come to ours next week.  But we'll see.  He is a really good man and they all believe he will be baptized one day.

Church has been a bit of a challenge lately.  Carmela has the hardest time accepting Adam and Eve and goes off about how Even shouldn't have had the fruit and how if SHE was told not to eat something that she wouldn't have done it etc.  And lately EVERY SINGLE Sunday School lesson has involved Adam and Eve.  Even relief society.  So the teacher starts getting frustrated because Carmela won't let it drop, and we're frustrated because we've taught her about Adam and Eve so many times now and she just is unable to understand.  Again, she's a little older and we're not entirely sure she is of sound mind.  But there are those moments where you know she knows she's feeling the spirit and she has said she wants to be baptized but can't because she won't get her ears wet...we're not really sure what to do with her.  For now, though, we're going to continue teaching her.

Anyway, that's about all that happened this last week!   Love you all, and have a wonderful week!

 

-Sister Stacey

SO MUCH HAPPENED 2/20/2012

HEY EVERYONE!

How's everything going?  How's the weather?

This week was really good!  The following events are true.

-MONDAY-Pday.  Nothing happened.

-TUESDAY-we had a lesson with Mike Salter.  We talked all about the Book of Mormon and told him he really needs to read it if he wants to find out if it is true.  He said he would.  He was really hesitant to agree to read it.  He actually did read it once last week, but it was the awful parts of Helaman so he thinks that's what the whole book is about.  NO not at all.  But then we invited him to church and he said yes and that he was excited to go.  BUT he called us on Saturday and said that he wasn't going to go anymore and that he isn't going to read...but he still wants to meet with us.  I don't even know what we're going to talk about if he isn't willing to learn about anything we have to share. But after this appointment, we planned to try a couple potential investigators.  One of them wasn't home so we decided to tract the whole street she lived on.  We saw a man outside who kept looking at us either like he wanted us to come talk to him or he wanted us to leave him alone.  Since we're missionaries we don't really care-we just talk to everyone anyway. haha  We talked to him (his name is Jose) and he said he had just moved to his house a week ago and that he was looking for a church to attend and was actually looking into ours.  We invited him to church and he said he would be there.  He was there which was SO EXCITING.  He enjoyed it.  We didn't share too much with him on Tuesday because we had to be at an appointment soon, so he was really confused during sacrament meeting when it was all about the book of mormon.  He was like, what is this book and why have I never heard of it?  We talked to him for a long time after church and he is really excited to read the Book of Mormon now and he said he'll be at church next sunday too.  He has a very violent background, and during a particularly tough time, he picked up the bible and changed his ways.  Now he says he is just hungry for knowledge about God.  He has a very sincere heart and we're so excited to meet with him again this week.  So YEY we found another person while tracting!

WEDNESDAY-We wer able to see a few less active members who we haven't seen in a little while, so that was good.

THURSDAY-Nothing too out of the ordinary happened today.  Just a regular day of missionary work.

FRIDAY-Same as yesterday.  Sort of.  We had a lesson with Carmela about the Doctrine of Christ and she would not stop talking, which was difficult. It took us three hours just to read one chapter of the Book of Mormon!  She keeps going off on tangents and it's impossible to bring her back, no matter how hard we try.  I'm not sure what we're going to do in the future. 

SATURDAY-This was a tough day to stay focused because we were distracted about getting transfer calls in the evening.  So here is the news-I am still in Spring Valley Lake.  STILL.  I have been here forever.  I was hoping to get transferred, actually.  Not that I don't love this area, because I do.  I'm just really ready for change and to work with new faces.  But I'm still excited to be here in this area because we have some exciting things going on.  But after this transfer, I'll have been here for seven and a half months, and I'll be ready to move on and meet new people.  It's going to be hard, though, because I love the people here. 

SUNDAY-I already told a bit about Sunday, about how Jose was there but Mike was not.  One of our less actives was there as well, which made us very happy. 

ANYWAY it was a good week to be a missionary.  We were pretty busy and we've been working really hard. 

I hope all of you have a great week!  LOVE YOU!

-Sister Stacey

Sis. Stacey 2/13/2012

HEY EVERYONE!

How's everything going?  How's the weather?

This week was really good!  The following events are true.

-MONDAY-Pday.  Nothing happened.

-TUESDAY-we had a lesson with Mike Salter.  We talked all about the Book of Mormon and told him he really needs to read it if he wants to find out if it is true.  He said he would.  He was really hesitant to agree to read it.  He actually did read it once last week, but it was the awful parts of Helaman so he thinks that's what the whole book is about.  NO not at all.  But then we invited him to church and he said yes and that he was excited to go.  BUT he called us on Saturday and said that he wasn't going to go anymore and that he isn't going to read...but he still wants to meet with us.  I don't even know what we're going to talk about if he isn't willing to learn about anything we have to share. But after this appointment, we planned to try a couple potential investigators.  One of them wasn't home so we decided to tract the whole street she lived on.  We saw a man outside who kept looking at us either like he wanted us to come talk to him or he wanted us to leave him alone.  Since we're missionaries we don't really care-we just talk to everyone anyway. haha  We talked to him (his name is Jose) and he said he had just moved to his house a week ago and that he was looking for a church to attend and was actually looking into ours.  We invited him to church and he said he would be there.  He was there which was SO EXCITING.  He enjoyed it.  We didn't share too much with him on Tuesday because we had to be at an appointment soon, so he was really confused during sacrament meeting when it was all about the book of mormon.  He was like, what is this book and why have I never heard of it?  We talked to him for a long time after church and he is really excited to read the Book of Mormon now and he said he'll be at church next sunday too.  He has a very violent background, and during a particularly tough time, he picked up the bible and changed his ways.  Now he says he is just hungry for knowledge about God.  He has a very sincere heart and we're so excited to meet with him again this week.  So YEY we found another person while tracting!

WEDNESDAY-We wer able to see a few less active members who we haven't seen in a little while, so that was good.

THURSDAY-Nothing too out of the ordinary happened today.  Just a regular day of missionary work.

FRIDAY-Same as yesterday.  Sort of.  We had a lesson with Carmela about the Doctrine of Christ and she would not stop talking, which was difficult. It took us three hours just to read one chapter of the Book of Mormon!  She keeps going off on tangents and it's impossible to bring her back, no matter how hard we try.  I'm not sure what we're going to do in the future. 

SATURDAY-This was a tough day to stay focused because we were distracted about getting transfer calls in the evening.  So here is the news-I am still in Spring Valley Lake.  STILL.  I have been here forever.  I was hoping to get transferred, actually.  Not that I don't love this area, because I do.  I'm just really ready for change and to work with new faces.  But I'm still excited to be here in this area because we have some exciting things going on.  But after this transfer, I'll have been here for seven and a half months, and I'll be ready to move on and meet new people.  It's going to be hard, though, because I love the people here. 

SUNDAY-I already told a bit about Sunday, about how Jose was there but Mike was not.  One of our less actives was there as well, which made us very happy. 

ANYWAY it was a good week to be a missionary.  We were pretty busy and we've been working really hard. 

I hope all of you have a great week!  LOVE YOU!

-Sister Stacey

February 6, 2012

HEY EVERYONE!

   How's things?  I hope that everyone is doing ok!  I don't have much time today, which is okay because not too much happened this week anyway.  We had a great lesson on Tuesday with Mike Salter again.  He actually read through our pamphlets and things and had questions for us.  He was really concerned about Joseph Smith and was getting pretty upset that he thinks that we like worship him or something.  We did our best to explain the role of a prophet, which upset him again and said that there is not a 'THE' prophet.  We tried to explain to him about the priesthood, which of course he had problems with that too.  And somehow it got brought back to Joseph Smith, which upset him all over again.  He was like, I don't want to talk about him, and we were like, that's okay because we weren't even going to bring him up today.  It's true!  We were just going to talk about the doctrine of Christ.  He laughed and then we read 2 Nephi 31 with him and he was so happy to know that we believe the same things that he does.  Even though he is concerned about Joseph Smith and propehts and the priesthood, he's willing to listen and learn, which is the first step.  We'll be seeing him again tomorrow.  I'll let you know how that goes next week.  We also had a couple lessons with less active members which were good. 

   On Wednesday we had interviews with President Godwin.  I love our mission president.  He is such a good example for all of us and I know he loves all of us.  After interviews we had dinner at Red Robin because someone gave us money.  Then in the middle of the night, Sister Hicken got sick with the stomach flu.  So that was no fun for either of us.  I stayed up all night trying to help her.  She was out all of Thursday and Friday and most of Saturday.  So that's why it was a rather uneventful week.  But I tried to make the best of my time by studying, cleaning, exercising, and calling the people we are working with.  She's still not 100% but I hope she gets there soon.  I'm glad I didn't get that sick.  When I got the stomach flu it was literally 24 hours.  I started feeling ill at 9pm on Wednesday, and felt completely better by 9pm on Thursday. 

   We have full schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday so we're excited.  This may be our last week together since transfers are next Tuesday and I may be transferred since I've been here for so long.  We'll see though.  I'll let all of you know next week. 

   Anyway, that's all from me for today!  Hope all of you have a great week!  Don't freeze in Utah!  It's about 65 degrees usually here. 

   BYE!

 

   -Sister Stacey

Great Week 1/30/2012

Dear Everyone

   Hello!  It's been a very exhausting week up here in the desert.  First of all, it was sisters exchanges.  It's always fun but a little tiring.  It wears you out to learn how to adapt to different companions and then have to return to your own.  But it was good.  We taught Adriana finally.  We haven't been able to see her for a month.  Since it's been so long to since we've seen her, it was hard to kind of get her refocused.  We're not sure specifically what her road block is.  She keeps saying she just can't accept the fact that Heavenly Father will only stay in the Celestial Kingdom and not go down to see His children in the others.  We talked about how sometimes we don't understand the way God works.  Our comprehension is so limited.  We're just trying to help her to have faith enough in what Christ taught to be baptized and to have peace that she is on the right path. 

   After the exchanges were over, we spent a lot of our week moving in to our new home.  The kitchen was funnly stocked so that was good.  We have a front loading washer and dryer-much better than the unbalanced washer and dryer we had at our old house.  There was one horribly uncomfortable couch and one bed.  That was it.  We spent a lot of time moving more beds and desks into the house, which was definitely a process.  Sister Hicken and I chose to take the master bedroom which is HUGE.  We have remote controls for our lights and ceiling fan.  The one bed that was already in the house was in our room.  It was kind of gross so we started to move it out of the room.  Our zone leaders were helping us with this and one of them discovered that the bed was plugged into the wall, so naturally we had to find out why.  We discovered a remote control for it and it turns out it's very similar to a hospital bed.  The head and feet move up and down, and it also has a massager.  Sister Hicken took it (which is fine with me).  We're now completely moved into our house and we love it there.  I hope I don't have to move in two weeks (when the next transfer date is). 

   We got another new investigator this week.  Her name is Carmela.  She is old and has some health problems.  She was almost baptized before but wasn't because she doesn't want to get her ears wet... We invited her to be baptized again and she says she wants to but won't commit to a date until she is feeling 100%.  We felt that she needed to be taught the Plan of Salvation, which was great, but she went off on tangents like every other word.  It was a very long lesson.  But also good because I think we helped her to overcome some of her fears.  We're seeing her again this week and see how she's doing with health things.  She honestly seems fine.  So I hope '100%' is not too far around the corner.

   Other than that, we weren't able to do much teaching last week.  We have a lot of plans this week that we're excited about.  We're still teaching Mike Salter, the security guard.  He doesn't live in our area so we sent the other missionaries who are in his area over to his house and he called and told us to tell them to stop.  I thought he didn't want to meet with us at all, but Sister Hicken kept talking to him and he said he wants to keep being taught from 'our word' (the Book of Mormon)  So that was exciting.  We called president and explained the situation, which he is fine with.  If Mike ever decides to be baptized though, he needs to be taught from the other missionaries. 

   OH YEAH and Rebeca moved to Arizona.  That was disappointing.  But her mom and dad really want her to work and go to school, which is understandable, and she wasn't doing that up here.  They made sure that they're close to a church so she can go.  Even though they're not members, they're way supportive which is great.  Once she's moved in she's going to give us her address so we can send missionaries her way.  I'm a little sad I won't be able to see her get baptized, but oh well.  All that matters is that she DOES get baptized. 

   ANYWAY, that's all.   I hope everyone is well and has a great week!  BYE!

This is our truck.  I wish I had gotten more pictures of it before we had to give it away.
That made me sad.  I loved it.

This picture is just for fun.

I wish I didn't look so sleepy.   We've been moving.

Use this one for the cardboard cutout for Matt's wedding.

-Sister Stacey

January 23, 2012

HEY EVERYONE!

I know you just heard from me on Wednesday, so it would seem that not too much has happened, but a lot HAS happened.  So the following is the events of the last four days.

Wednesday-We had that appointment with Mike and Samantha Wallace.  It was LOOOOONG.  We get there and talk to them a little and get to know them a little bit, then we ask about their religious background.  Samantha is the one who really wants us there because she wants to work on coming back to church.  We also want to teach Mike, but there are many many questions that he has about some deeper doctrine that we just don't have an answer for.  We tried to answer them while we were there, but we really just didn't know.  It became 9pm and we were like, we need to go, but he kept talking.  It started approaching 9:30 and we were like, okay we REALLY need to go.  As we were driving back home and talking about the appointment, we decided we shouldn't have spent time trying to answer his questions.  What is really important is what the Savior spent His time teaching:  having faith in Him, repenting of our sins, being baptized in His name and with His authority, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and to endure all things and keep strong until the end.  We should have spent time talking more about the Book of Mormon, because if the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith really was a prophet, that we still have prophets on the earth today and that this is truly the Lord's church restored back to the earth, and most importantly that the Savior is the head of this church and that he lives.  Then all those deeper things don't matter, because you'd have peace that you're on the right path doing the right things.  We are going to tell him that when we see him again, and then teach the doctrine of Christ.  I love being a missionary and helping people.  I hope he lets us help him.

Thursday...actually not too much happened this day.  We had a nice busy day.  Lot's of appointments.  We got a new investigator named Lourdes who's catholic and told us she's very comfortable that way.  She is so so so nice and LOVES general conference and BYU TV and loves the missionaries...she's basically already a member.  We're not sure if she's going to accept our message or not, but we're going to do our best and follow the Spirit.  If she doesn't accept it in this life, perhaps she will in the next. 

Friday-Friday was also a nice busy day.  We visited Cynthia again and set up an appointment for this week and she still seemed interested, so that was really exciting!  We finally got to count her as a new investigator, so all together this last week we got three new investigators!  YEY!

Saturday-was Sister Hicken's birthday.  We had a few appointments.  One of them was with Mike Salter, that security guard, and he still seems a little interested.  He doesn't live in our area, so we sent the referral to the missionaries there.  Hopefully they'll be able to teach him.  He was so funny.  He is so confused that we're called 'sisters' but we're not dressed like nuns. That night we had dinner with one of our favorite people in the ward, Brother Pye.  He took us to a restaurant called Mama Carpinos and ate some way good pizza.  I missed pizza.  Sister Rimington was allergic to tomatoes, so we never got things like that.

Sunday was stake conference.  They broadcasted it from Salt Lake to 88 stakes here in southern California.  I don't remember everyone who spoke, but I do remember Barbara Thompson and Elder Perry.  It was so nice. 

And then it was today, which is sisters exchange, again.  This time I'm with Sister Adney and I can't wait to tell about the adventures we'll have.  Other highlights of the week include:  1. We're moving to a new house.  The nicest house in the mission.  :)  We'll be doing that on Thursday, after exchanges are over.  2.  We have to give up our truck.  We're sad.  We liked that problematic little guy.  Oh well.  They're giving us a brand new toyota carolla.  That will be fun.  WAAAAAY better than a Chevy Malibu.  If anyone has been thinking of purchasing one, don't.  The mission bought a few a while ago, and now they're all gone because they kept breaking down. 

So that was our week.  It was nice and busy and it just flew by.  I can't believe it's already halfway through this transfer. 

I love you all.  Have a great week!

 

-Sister Stacey

News From Sister Stacey January 18, 2012

HEY EVERYONE!

A lot happened this week, and I probably won't remember if I just start typing it up, so I'm going to present the events of my week in bullet form.

• We had an appointment with Cynthia (new investigator) this last week.  We just went and got to know her a little bit and introduced her to the Book of Mormon.  Usually during appointments you can somewhat tell whether or not someone is interested, even if it's just a little bit, or if they're not interested.  She was so impossible to read.  We're not sure if she was genuinely interested or just being polite.  She seemed to really accept the Book of Mormon and understand it's background, but she wouldn't set up a return appointment with us. We're going to try and see her again tomorrow and see what happens.     
• We met Mike while we were checking into one of the gated communities in our area.  He was the security guard who was signing us in.  We gave him a Finding Faith in Christ pass-along card and he was so excited to talk to us about the Savior.  He's been going through some things lately that's brought him closer to the Savior.  We went back the next day to talk to him a little bit more and didn't get very far into the conversation because he had to get back to work.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and a couple pamphlets and he is going to meet with us again this weekend.  He seems a little intimidating sometimes with some of his questions, but we'll answer them the best we can.  He seems to be really excited to hear our message, though.  We're excited to see what happens when we meet with him again.
• Here is the highlight of the week-we totalled our Malibu.  It's okay, mom.  We weren't in a traffic accident or anything.  Here's the story.  We have exactly one dirt road in our area.  One.  Sister Hicken is the senior companion, and therefore is the driver.  She remembered how fun it was one time when another sister in the mission was driving really fast on the dirt roads in her area, and decided to do that on our dirt road in our beat up Chevy Malibu.  She hit one of the bumps really hard and I was like, we should probably slow down.  Well it smelled like burning after that.  But we kept driving.  We were trying to find a potential investigator who lived on this dirt road.  We found out we'd driven too far, so we turned around and found the house and knocked on their door and found out that the guy who we were looking for had just moved. BUT don't worry they seemed a little interested so that was a blessing.  We talked to them for a little while and then got back in our car.  Started up without a problem, but the burning smell was still there.  Then the car ding-ed at us and she was like, the engine light is on, so I looked and it was actually the oil light.  Then I looked at where we had been driving.  A stream of oil showed exactly where we had been driving.  Not just a drip here and there, a stream.  There was a puddle of oil where we had been parked.  The car really shouldn't have even started up again, and it shouldn't have even kept driving, but it did.  Thank goodness.  It was kind of a creepy road that I know I would never feel comfortable tracting.  It was kind of in nowhere.  AND it was starting to get dark.  We made it back to the paved road and waited at the stop light for a minute.  When it turned green, Sister Hicken said the car did not want to go.  The engine was rattling really bad, and there was a strange braking belt kind of sound. But we were able to keep going.  She was flooring the gas at this point and we were only going 20 mph.  I turned on the emergency lights and told her to pull over into the first well lit parking lot we came across.  As soon as we turned into the parking lot, the car died.  Heavenly Father was like, okay I got you to a safe place, but now you get to take care of the rest of it.  I got out and pushed the car into a parking stall (NO ONE EVEN CAME AND OFFERED TO HELP ME) and then we called our zone leaders and the woman in charge of the vehicles.  While we were stranded there and giving the tow truck our information, someone from our ward happened to be there and they were able to give us a ride to our dinner appointment.  Yes, I know I should have told her to slow down sooner.  Yes, I know we really should not have kept driving.  But I'm thankful that Heavenly Father was looking out for us, because that road was not a good place to be stranded on.  I'm pretty sure angels were pushing our car.  But NOW we have a truck.  Not because we need it, but because it was the spare vehicle the mission had.  They were about to get rid of it, and for a good reason.  It is falling apart.  It's the truck that when the elders find out we have it they're like, 'Oh.  THAT truck.'  But we like it.  It's got character.  When you push the brake, the right blinker comes on.  We took it through the car wash, and the headlight popped off.  You nudge the back a little bit and the whole frame shakes.  I'm glad I didn't try popping down the tailgate, because one of the elders said that it kept falling off when he had it.  We want to keep it. 
• We had zone conference yesterday, which was really good.  We talked a lot about finding people to teach, and it made me more excited to go tracting and stuff like that.  We have good leaders in our mission.  My zone leaders said a lot of things that I really needed to hear that motivated me to try harder.  And our mission president is awesome.  I really like those meetings.
• But really, you're all probably wondering why I didn't email on Monday, and here's why.  Besides the fact that it was a holiday.  We got to go to the temple today.  YEY!  I love temple trips.  It's so nice to be able to walk inside and stop worrying about the outside.  Time stands still in the temple.  There is so much peace inside.   I can't wait to be able to go more often.  Afterward we went to Cafe Rio, which made me miss Cafe Paesan. 
• Anwyay, that's mostly it for the last week.  We saw quite a few less active members.  Ilene, unfortunately, cancelled on us and rescheduled, then cancelled that appointment and rescheduled, then cancelled again, but without rescheduling.  That gets so frustrating.  She is sick fairly often, but not so sick that she can't just sit and listen.  Next time, we're just going to be like, 'oh well can we come and watch a movie with you and just relax?'  and then watch the Restoration DVD with her.  HA that will show her. We have our first appointment with Samantha Wallace and her family.  If you remember back at the end of October I talked about the ward tract.  She was the less active member they found.  So that's way exciting.  Things certainly are picking up.  :)

That is it for the bullets.  Hope everyone is staying warm.  It's been a little chilly here.  And by chilly I think I actually just mean like 60 degrees, so really it's not bad.  But I got used to the warm.  So to me, it has felt chilly.  Also, I can't believe it's already more than half way through January.  Where does the time go?  It really makes me want to work hard.  Anyway, that's it from me for this week.  Love you all!

-Sister Stacey

 

PS MOM I shall try to get you a picture soon.  I can't believe you and dad are almost empty nesters.  I am so so excited to see pictures of the wedding.  I also really need to write Felicia a letter.  I feel so left out of the family.  I'm the only one who's never ever talked to her! :)  I need to get on that. Anyway, I love you!  Hope you and dad have a great week!