Leadership Training Meeting 7/15/2013

This has been a great week in Sandpoint.  The weather is so nice outside, sunny and not too hot.  People are outside and we as well have been out talking with everybody.  This last week, we had a leadership training meeting in which we discussed a really interesting topic.  It was about the Godhead, and the importance of teaching people the nature of God.  Despite the fact that all three of the first lessons begin in some way or another by stating "God is our loving Heavenly Father."  we tend to skip over it, or at least just brush past it and start talking about something else.  As president Mullen had said it, that is the core doctrine of all doctrines.  Everything stems from the fact that God is the Father of our spirits and His work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.  When people understand the gospel in that context, and understand our relationship with God, they are so much more motivated to live the gospel and receive true conversion.  When we had that training, I thought back to all the investigators that I had taught throughout my mission up to that point, and it is so true.  The people that progressed the most were the ones that understood the nature of the Godhead.  Something else they talked about that I thought was interesting, was something that was talked about by a general authority to the new mission presidents.  He said essentially that one of the great ways for Satan to stop progression was to distort the nature of the Godhead, so when the world fell into apostacy, that was one of the first doctrines to be corrupted.  Anyway, I'm rambling=) but it really was a great meeting.

    We are trying to make daily contact with Christina and her family, and she is doing well. Christina is one of those people who is seeking to be converted.  Quite a bit of what we teach is helping her to recognize the influence of God in her life, and the more she understands, the more she wants to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.

     The church tour we had with Dan didn't go through=( He remembered and even cancelled other appointments so he could make it (we had stopped by the day before to confirm with him)  but he had lost track of time and when noon hit, he was doing another activity.  We will meet up with him later this week.

     Unfortunately, we have had to drop a number of investigators because they really are not progressing.  That is one of the hardest things to do as a missionary.  Because of that, we have spent so much time tracting and finding through other efforts. There are some great people that we have made contact with and we need to just follow up with them.  The ward here is great.  The members here are always looking for people that we can teach and they are great examples to their friends.  I feel truly blessed to be in this area around so many great people.

     Thats about it from my end.  Love you all and hope you have a wonderful week=)

Teaching 7/09/2013

     Good morning! So I was not able to email yesterday because we had interviews with president Mullen.  It was great being with president and sister Mullen and to receive guidance from them.  They are so diligent and hard working in their calling.  Because of that though, our p-day was changed to  today, sorry I forgot to tell you last week.  It has been a great week.  4th of July week was a little slower because everybody was out of town.  Sandpoint is a great destination point for people to visit except if you live there, then everybody leaves for the week.  It was a beautiful Independence day, and it was spent mostly street contacting downtown Sandpoint.

      We had a lot of meetings last week as well, which only added to the inability to teach some of our investigators.  The highlight of the week has definitely been teaching Christina.  We are teaching some of the most prepared people I have ever met during my time as a missionary, and Christina is one of them.  We helped her build a fence last week, and afterwards gave her the word of wisdom pamphlet and gave the rundown.  At first, she was super leery about it and told us she didn't think she could do it.  We invited her to pray and ask Heavenly Father for help.  The next few meetings we had with her are a perfect example of someone who has pure motives, and has real intent.  Within the last week she went from not thinking she would be able to quit smoking, to believing that she could, but it would take months, to our lesson yesterday.  Yesterday we invited her to have a goal to quit within two weeks, and she told us, "Well, I was thinking I could be done by this Friday."  She has felt the atonement in her life and she is going to keep going in the direction that will enable her to receive the peace the gospel brings.  She is so excited about it too.  Since we began teaching her 3 weeks ago, her countenance has changed so much, and you can see a great light of hope in here eye.

     We started teaching a guy named Dan who is way awesome.  He was taught be missionaries about 3 years ago, but moved to North Dakota for work.  He is back now, and wants God more in his life for his family.  When we stopped by he was thrilled to have us back and teach him.  His desires are pure and he really just wants to do whats right.  We taught him the Restoration and invited him to be baptized in August, which he readily accepted and wants his whole family to be involved.  We will meet with his whole family later this week.

     It has been such a blessing to serve in Sandpoint.  There are the greatest people here.  Humble people and the Lord has definitely prepared the hearts of many to hear the gospel.  I love you all and hope you have a great week=)

Some Mission Pics

Moses Lake

Sandpoint

So Much Awesome Success 7/01/2013

     We have had a great week in Sandpoint. We have had so much awesome success finding people and inviting them to be baptized. Just as one example, on Monday, while we were in the stake center, a lady came into the church wanting to get some information. We invited her on a church tour right there and invited her to be baptized. She definitely felt the spirit as we went on the tour, and kept telling us she wanted to bring this up to her whole family. 

      The area is doing great. The bishop is fired up for missionary work in response to the broadcast on Sunday. Many of the members are getting excited as well. One focus that Elder Williams and I have had since we came into the area is to gain the trust of the members. Our way of doing that is by being diligent on our own efforts, and making sure that members know our purpose when visiting them.

     Christina is on date for July 20.  She is definitely having a hard time accepting forgiveness in her life.  She still feels super guilty about the things she has done.  We are trying to meet with her as often as possible because she tells us how much better she feels when she is learning about Christ.

     We found a new person to teach this week, named Heather.  She had come to church for a couple weeks with one of her member friends, and had taken lessons years ago.  We talked to her member friend about inviting her on a church tour.  She did and Heather accepted.  She doesn't have a huge understanding of the gospel, but knows that it is something she needs in her life, and wants to keep learning more for herself, and for her family.

     Sandpoint is a great place to be a missionary.  I love the people here.  It is going to be a transfer full of miracles.  I love you all.  Have a great week full of miracles too=)

Sandpoint is Beautiful 6/24/2013

    Good morning all.  First off, I must say that it is so beautiful here in Sandpoint.  Sandpoint is actually in the same zone as Libby, so there is pretty similar landscape there.  I was able to even go to Libby near the end of the week for a district meeting.  It was way neat to be back in an old area.  Thats the first time I've been able to do that.  To answer a couple questions mom and dad, yes I was able to go to the broadcast live, and it was so amazing.  It's great to be out and see the changes that are happening within the mission field.  Also mom, I have one more transfer after this one.  Of course your never certain with transfer calls, it is pretty likely I will go home from here because Elder Williams and I swept into the area, and he goes home this transfer.  The likely-hood of an area being swept twice is not super great.  

     Our first week here has been full of miracles.  We have spent quite a bit of time getting to know members on the ward roster, and the current teaching pool.  The members here are awesome and have a great spirit of missionary work.  The first Sunday of our being here, members brought at least 2 non-member families with them that missionaries aren't teaching. Yet.  These members have such strong testimonies and it is going to be great working with them.

     One person we were able to meet with this week was Heidi.  She is one of the most prepared people I have ever taught as a missionary.  She loves learning about the gospel, and she is not one to just sit around waiting for an answer to her prayers about things.  She is active in her life, doing the things she needs to to build her testimony.  We have daily contact with her to see how she's doing and she is always able to talk about something she learned that day about the gospel.  She is preparing to be baptized on August 3, and can't wait.

     We were given a referral from the sisters in the Sandpoint ward of a woman named Christina.  We don't know how they came into contact with her, but she has a real sincere desire to learn about the church as well.  She grew up Catholic, and stopped attending there a while back, and now attends a non-denominational christian church in town.  She has had a real hard past and wants a better life for her and her children, which is what drew her to investigating the church.  We have had, between the sisters and us, some real spiritual lessons with her.  She was originally not going to go to church this Sunday, and instead attend her usual church, but Sunday morning, as she was driving to church, she felt that she needed to act on what she's been learning and came to the Sunnyside ward instead.  That decision alone showed us how sincere she actually is about learning.

     Thats about it from me this week.  This week really was an awesome week and I am thrilled to be spending time up here to invite people to come to Christ.  Love you all.

   p.s.  Mom, I haven't had a card reader and I never remember to get one.  I will get a card reader so I can send some pictures next week.  I really do feel bad that I never send you pictures.

Elder Stacey

Transfer to Sandpoint, Idaho 6/17/2013

     Hey family, hope all is well with you all.  This has been an eventful weekend for us.  We got transfer calls this weekend.  I swear, the longer your out the more these things just sneak up on you.  It did not feel like 6 weeks passed by.  I am transferring out of Spokane, and heading up to Sandpoint Idaho.  I love serving in the city so much, so at first I was a little bummed to be leaving to a more boonie area, but there are not many places more beautiful than the Sandpoint Zone.  For those who don't know, Sandpoint is a tourist town on the panhandle of Idaho, about 40 minutes north of Coeur d'Alene.  It is also located right next to lake Pend Oreille, which is such a deep lake that they have done submarine testing there.  I'm also way excited with who I'm serving with, Elder Williams.  I served around him for 5 transfers in Moses Lake and he is a great missionary.

     Anyway, with the week, we had a good one.  We met with Heather and her family this week.  We taught the Restoration because it was something they hadn't been taught in a while.  They received it well and had great questions to ask about it.  They are going out of town for the rest of the month, however, and we can't meet with them until after they come back.  Walker is still excited to be baptized in July

     Kristin isn't on date anymore because she hasn't been coming to church.  Her mom really doesn't seem to be open with letting members give her a ride, and something almost always comes up on Sunday which prevents her from driving herself.  We really want them to see the blessings that come from attending church. 

     This week, we were told to go visit a member named Amy Whiting.  We only knew that she lived on a certain area of a street, so we started tracting it out.  The first house we knocked on, a lady answered whose name was Amy White, and she fit the same age range, so we thought she was the one we were looking for, and that we were just given the wrong last name.  Well as the conversation progressed, we learned that she was not the Amy we were looking for.  To be honest, it was one of the more awkward conversations that I have had as a missionary as we were talking to the wrong person.  But we still talked to her about the church and found out that she had met with missionaries years ago and that she even attended church.  She invited us back and missionaries are going to be visiting with her later this week.  We came back another day to that street trying to find the other Amy again, and it turns out they are next door neighbors.

     I am super excited for this upcoming week, going to Sandpoint, and teaching the people there.  There has been a special spot in my heart for every area I have served in and I know this place will be no different.  I just go where I'm called and I love it.  I love you all and hope you have a great week=)

I Love Studying the Gospel 6/10/2013

Good morning everybody.  Hope you had a good week.  We had a good week.  It was a very spiritually uplifting week with ZLC, and zone training meeting.  This last week, Elder Cisternas and I were asked to pray together and find out what the needs were of missionaries in the zone, and create a training outline to help meet those needs.  It was great to be able to think of specific needs of those in the zone, and what we can do to help and serve them.  I feel the training went great.  

     Things in Five Mile Prairie have been slower this week.  Almost all of our appointments cancelled, and those that we have planned as backups have not been home.  Heather is really not progressing anymore.  Walker is on-date for July 13th still, but we are trying to move it up if at all possible, because he really wants to be baptized.  Kristin is progressing as well.  We have a lesson scheduled with her at the bishops house this week, which will be great.  As always, we are still working hard trying to find new people to teach.  We are doing everything we can to get the busy ward involved in our efforts, and are seeing success from that.  

    Today, I just wanted to share a great spiritual experience that I had.  I have really been focusing study on the gospel principles, which has been a huge blessing to me.  I love studying the gospel.  The more I know about the gospel, the more I love to share it with others.  In my studies, I have really gravitated to the principle of sacrifice, and the sacrifice that Christ made for us.  I was reading Mosiah 15:5-6, and I thought about all that he went through in his life, and about how hard it must have been for him.  The Atonement was definitely not an easy thing.  So much so that he asked the father to take the cup away if there was any possible other way, which made Mosiah 15:7 a lot more meaningful and personal to me.  Christ loved the Father enough to sacrifice his own will and submit to the will of the Father, and that act alone means everything to us (Mosiah 15:19).  It really made me think back to when I would complain whenever I had to do a difficult thing, thinking that somehow, it wasn't fair.  How different could those situations be had I put Gods will before mine and accepted it cheerfully.  I understand now that we need to have the attitude of "thy will, not mine be done" in everything we do.  I have been asked to do a lot of things as a missionary that have put me outside of my comfort zone, but as I just do them and put the Fathers will first, I have been blessed so much with the assurance that I am doing the right thing.  I just love the scriptures, and the insights they bring to us.  I love our Savior and his example.  I love serving a mission and helping others receive the good news of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

     I love you all, and pray for you often.  I hope you have a great day and a great week=)