Tuesday, March 27, 2012

"..take upon you the name of christ, all you that have entered into the covenant.." Mosiah 5:8

Hello,

 This weekend was totally awesome because Erin got baptized! It was probably the one of the best baptisms of my whole mission. So many people came including her whole family. Before she got baptized they were nervous about the decision she was making. After the baptism you could tell they were so happy for her. Her dad even came up to her afterwards and said in a joking way he wishes he could have been the one to dunk her. I think they were all going to think when they came that it was going to be a really weird baptism but they were all surprised to see how normal everyone was. haha She even bore her testimony at the end and it was so sweet. It was just a beautiful baptism. Erin is so amazing and I"m so grateful to have been apart of it. Earlier this week we did see Erin and we were trying to decide on what to teach her. We thought of the talk given by Utcdorf at the last Relief Society conference about the forget me not's. We read it and then went to the Relief Society birthday party activity and thats what it was on. I think the spirit had a hand in that. When she came she prepared for the lesson. She is just amazing! After her baptism I just want to find more people as prepared as she was. I think we are going to focus really hard right now with working with the members. Member referrals are the way to go and that is how people stay active and become future Relief Society presidents. Erin will be a relief society president some day. It was just a great weekend! I'm very excited for General Conference! Counting down the days! Hope you all enjoy conference!

 Love you from the cuse,

 Sister Stacey




Tuesday, March 20, 2012

"counsel with the Lord in all they doings, and he will direct thee for good.." Alma 37:37

 Hello,

This week has been good and I’m very happy that I’m still here in Syracuse. On Monday we got a text from Erin saying that her family freaked out when she told them she was going to be baptized and that we would have to cancel it. We were freaking out..what?! So we met with her the next day, I can’t even tell you how many prayers we said. That morning when I was studying I was trying to focus on what I could possible say. We prayed before we saw her and the lesson went so well. Everything we said was exactly what she needed to hear. She thought if she obviously was this upset about not getting baptized she must really know this is what she needs to do. The Spirit was definitely there and if it wasn’t I’m not sure she would still be getting baptized this week. So were back on schedule and she is going to be baptized this week and we are trying to hurry and get in all the lessons before then. Haha

So one of our other most progressing investigator Sandy has bed bugs so we’re not going there anymore. There is no way that I want to get bed bugs again. So we don’t go there anymore, which is such a bummer. What is with bed bugs and why do they follow me EVERYWHERE?!!! Its very annoying and now we are trying to find. Good thing the weather has been amazing here so lots more people our out and about.

I love staying in an area for a long time because I get to see my recent converts get the priesthood and go to the temple. Andrew will be getting the priesthood next week. Dwight also went to the temple again this Saturday and he was so excited to go again. What could get better then that. I am the luckiest missionary in the world. I feel like things are going so well with my recent converts and with Erin who is getting baptized this week. I’m so grateful for being able to stay another transfer so I could be part of all this.

This week has been so great! Hope you all have a fantastic week!






Monday, March 12, 2012

Staying in the Cuse for Transfer #10!!!!!

Hello,

So this week was painfully long because I was waiting all week to see if I was staying or leaving. We always get the calls the Saturday before the transfer. So all day Saturday I couldn't focus. The elders were telling us what was going to happen he said.."sister stacey you will be getting transferred to......Syracuse!" I was like NOT FUNNY! It freaked me out for a bit. So me and Sister Horne will be together again going on our 3rd transfer together and it will be my 6th transfer here. I love it here so I'm so happy that I'm here! I'm most excited about staying because now I'm going to be able to be here for Erin's baptism. She is absolutely amazing and so prepared for the gospel. Her baptism will be in a couple weeks. She is amazing and she reads soooo much its crazy! Earlier this week when we didn't know if I was leaving or not we told her I might leave and her face was so sad. She was going to cry thinking that I might leave. So all our prayers in our lessons this week were for me to stay. So when I found out she was the first person I text and I said "I'm staying, prayer works!" haah We were all pretty excited! So a bunch of members also thought I was going to leave so they all wanted me to come over for lunch or dinner. This older women we eat lunch with had me over this week and on Sunday she came up to me and was like what happened are you staying our going? I was like "I'm staying!" and she was like "Oh great I squeezed you in this week for nothing!' haha and we both started laughing. I was like well I guess were good for this month then! It was pretty funny, but everyone was excited that I was staying!

Sunday was a great day. I thought I was going to be leaving so I arranged to sing in church. Me and a member I'm really close with sang a duet in church on Sunday and it was so much fun. We sang the Olive Tree and it went really well. The member Sami has such a good voice and the both of us sounded really well together. It was way fun! I'm glad I was able to do it and bring some musical numbers into the ward.

We also started teaching this boy on campus. This member met him in her class. We went on campus and taught him and it went really well. At the end of the lesson I was telling him a little bit about the plan of salvation and I said "Well next time we meet we are going to talk about where we were before we came to earth and what happens to us after we die.." and the boy said "well what happens to us after we die?" and I said "well I guess your just going to have to come next time and find out!" haha It was so funny, but you best believe he is going to come and find out!

Things have been going really well. I"m so happy I'm here again in the cuse! That will have made it 9 months here! crazy!

Lovin Life!

Love from the Cuse,
Sister Stacey

Pictures:

 Pic 1: District Pics


Pic 2: District Pics


Pic 3: District Pics being funny

Pic 4: Syracuse University, it's so beautiful!


Pic 5: The people I volunteer with at the United Methodist church

Pic 6: The Dippolds awesome members!




Tuesday, March 6, 2012

"I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded...save he shall prepare a way.." 1 Nephi 3:7


Hello,
A year ago this week I landed in New York. A year ago I met my mission president and was introduced to my awesome trainer. I remember being scared out of my mind. Also wondering what I got myself into. (haha) I was in Glenville meeting all the awesome members! I do miss it there. It’s weird how fast time has gone. I’m so glad that I’m still here and going strong. I love the gospel and I love sharing it with others!
Yesterday fast and testimony meeting was very emotional. It might be my last one so I had to get up and share my testimony. Lost of people got up afterwards and it was just a great testimony meeting. Standing up their looking over everyone I realized how much I love the Syracuse ward and I'm really going to miss them all.
This week was fun. We had exchanges this week and it was my turn to go to Fayetteville. It was fun to meet other people. We had dinner with a couple from Vietnam and our dinner was very interesting. I tried to use chop sticks, but that was a failure. They had this huge home and it was like a museum of artwork from many different countries. At dinner I convinced them to go visit Jerusalem. Haha They said they were scared to go so I cleared some things up. It was fun, I love talking about Israel! We met with this older woman who is from Scotland and had the cutest Scottish accent. Exchanges were fun, but I’ve been in the Ghetto for so long it was really weird to be around big houses and normal neighborhoods. I missed Syracuse and was glad to come back to the ghetto and come back to Sister Horne. Always a good learning experience though.

Erin is doing so great! We had a lesson with her this week and committed her to baptism. She started to get teary eyed and she knew that this was what she needed to be doing. She said since she had been reading the Book of Mormon she has felt closer to her family even though they haven’t been reading it. She has been reading like crazy and I know she has felt the comfort of the Spirit as she has been reading. She is doing so great and she will for sure be baptized next transfer. It would be so awesome if I could be here for it!

We met with this Less Active sister this week and she has been to church for a month now. It’s so fun to see how much happier she has been since she has been coming to church and reading the scriptures. It’s just a great example of how the gospel truly does bring happiness. We taught the word of wisdom and were going to help her quit smoking which she really wants. So keep her in your prayers. We start next week!

This might be my last full week here in Syracuse and I’m not sure if I’m ready to leave yet. We get the calls on Saturday if I’m staying or going. I really hope that I can stay, me and Sister Horne get along great and we have been doing really well in this area. I love it here and I hope to stay!

Love from the Cuse,
Sister Stacey

Picture: Me and Sister Duncan on Exchanges in Fayetteville