Thankful To Be Serving 12/17/2012

  Good morning=)  I don't have a whole lot of time today because I am at a library that limits our time.  Things are great here however and I am very excited for this upcoming week.  

Marcus and Melissa are both still doing awesome.  They came to church again yesterday and really enjoyed it.  Like I said they are doing wonderful and are keeping all their commitments, and are excited to be baptized on January 5th.  

Forests grandson, Jacob, was sick this week, so we weren't able to have a lesson with him, but we did give him a blessing and he is doing much better.  He made it to church as well yesterday and seems to be making some good friends in the ward, which is good, because the youth here are awesome and friendly.  

We got a super depressing text yesterday from a part member family that missionaries have been working with for almost three years now.  Their text essentially said that they appreciated all we were doing but they attended a different church yesterday and they enjoyed it, so they plan on going there instead.  What makes things worse is that this is a church that actively teaches anti Mormon classes=(.  Their building is right across the street from one of ours in Moses Lake and since I've been here, they have left anti pamphlets on the windshields of peoples cars in the parking lot at least twice.  

We have good stuff planned for this week though.  We have a church tour tomorrow with a teenager we met in a sober house, while visiting a less active member.  She was visiting her boyfriend and we caught her right before she was leaving and she was interested in what we had to say, so she decided to come on a church tour.  She doesn't actually live in our ward boundaries though, so if she continues her interest, we'll have to pass her off to another set.  

Like I said before, Christmas is a great time to be a missionary.  People are friendly and the spirit of Christ is present so much more in peoples lives.  I am thankful to be serving right now and I'm thankful for the knowledge I have of our Savior and of the Restored Gospel.  I love you all and hope you have a great Christmas.

Elder Stacey

Grateful For the Knowledge of Jesus Christ 12/10/2012

  Hello everybody hows it going?  This week has been another great week for us.  It sounds like Utah's weather is changing and it's the same in Moses Lake.  For about 2 weeks, we were sitting at about 50 degrees in the daytime, but it has gotten a lot colder these last few nights.  We'll see if it stays cold this time.  

First of all, an awkward experience we had this week.  We were tracting this week and knocked on a door, a lady answered and after we asked how she was doing, mentioned to us that she was not doing well because she just decided she was getting a divorce.  She was not interested in talking at the time, and it was a little awkward for us.  The very next door we knock on, a lady answers and we ask how she is doing, to which she replied that she was not doing well because she just got off the phone and found out her sister had cancer.  She had to make some calls and wasn't really interested in talking to us either, and once again, a little awkward for us.  

This last week we were able to take Forests grandson, Jacob on a church tour and it was an incredible tour.  He is 17 and like I said, hasn't grown up too much with religion in general.  As we went through the tour, you could feel the spirit very strongly, and as we sat down to talk to him a little more, you could tell he was feeling it too.  He told us that everything we were telling him made sense and began trying to explain his emotions, but couldn't quite find words for it.  He wants to be baptized and when we teach him this week, we are going to work on setting a date with him.  

Marcus and Melissa are doing awesome.  Last week we taught them the Word of Wisdom and they are both committed to quit smoking.  We were able to talk to them about their experience at church last Sunday, and they both said that they were very comfortable and felt very welcomed.  Marcus came to church again yesterday and loved it. Melissa was sick, so we gave her a blessing after church.  

It's kind of interesting that when I get into a new situation with an investigator or someone else, it seems to be a repeated situation for the day or week, if that makes sense.  Here's an example.  I haven't had to deal with this situation my whole mission, but three days in a row last week, we were teaching people who have a problem accepting Jesus Christ as a savior.  He can be a prophet and an inspired man, but definitely not a messiah.  It has been a little difficult for me to teach those people with a mentality like that.  I just don't get it.  I don't know how someone could read any writing on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and come to that conclusion.  I completely agree with C.S. Lewis when he said that it is a foolish notion to think of Jesus as a great moral teacher and not to be what he said he was, namely, the son of God.  Anyway, I don't know if that made sense, but it has really made me grateful to have the knowledge I do about Jesus Christ, and especially for this Christmas season and what it means.  I love the Christmas season.  I really think it brings out the best in many people and it is just a great time to be a missionary.  I hope you all are having a great Christmas season and a great Christmas.  Love you all.  

Grateful to be a Missionary 12/03/2012

Hello how are all you guys doing?  I have loved reading about Thanksgiving and it sounded like a great time.

     We started teaching some awesome people last week.  All missionary work done from recent converts as well.  The first three came from Josh.  Brittney is a niece of the Dales and has been living with them for about 8 months.  She was a member of the church, but her records were removed a few years ago.  When she first moved in with the Dales, she was not super interested in the church, but would attend to be polite.  Josh himself was not a member of the church when she moved in, so I personally think a big part of her interest came in seeing the change that came into Josh's life and the lives of the whole family after he was baptized.  One night, while we were doing the new member lessons with Josh, we invited Brittney to officially take the lessons with us and she accept.  Her concern mostly stems in the Book of Mormon, and her desire to read it.  As we taught we were able to testify about the Book of Mormon and the great impact it has had in our lives, and she has committed to read a chapter from it.  

     Marc and Melissa are a family we began teaching last week as well.  Marc works for Josh and after Josh was baptized he started asking questions about the church.  Like I said we started teaching them and took them on a church tour last week and the spirit was so strong there.  I have such a strong testimony of church tours.  Every church tour I have ever been on, the nonmember has said that they felt "something", especially in the chapel.  So anyway we took them on a church tour and invited them to be baptized on January the 5th and they accepted!  They have told us multiple times that they just want to feel God in their lives and be able to do good for other people.  They have such pure desires and I respect them so much.  

     Forest invited his grandson on a church tour and we will be going on a church tour tomorrow with Forest and his grandson.  I feel that this is another instance of someones interest being peaked because someone they were close to has changed in so many positive ways after living the Restored Gospel.  So we will have more to share on that next week, but now I have to talk about Forest and Josh for a moment.  These are two men who are truly converted to the Lord.  After they both made the commitment to follow Jesus Christ and live the Gospel, they haven't settled for anything less.  They know the commandments, and they keep them, and they don't justify doing anything else.  I respect them so much and I know they are going to do great things.  The different people of all different walks of life who are able to change as they embrace the gospel is a testimony enough to me of the truthfulness of the Gospel.  I have said this before, but I have seen the Gospel change people in so many great ways.  

I am so grateful to be a missionary right now and have cherished the experiences that I've had.  I am once again excited to be here for another transfer and work here in Moses Lake.   Love you.