Monday, April 23, 2012

ON MY WAY UP NORTH TO THE ADIRONDACKS!


HELLO,
     So we got transfer calls on Saturday and I was stressed all day wondering where I was going to go. I saw my mission president earlier this week and he asked me where I wanted to go and I said quietly..um.."lake placid" He said that he wanted me to experience a branch and that he was thinking about me going to Bennington Vermont as well. So all week I was trying to guess if I was going to Vermont or Lake Placid. One morning I went to get dressed and my dresser drawer was loose so I pulled it out to fix it and I saw a t-shirt shoved in the back corner. I pulled it out and sure enough on the shirt it said Lake Placid! I screamed "I'm going to Lake Placid its totally a sign!" haha Sure enough we get transfer calls and I found out I'm going to LAKE PLACID! I'm so excited because this is where I wanted to go. I really wanted to experience a branch. I'm so excited to be back in nature. The Adironacks is I think the largest national forest in the United states. Also Lake Placid is where the Olympics were. So I'm way excited! My new companion will be a sister that served in an area that's close to mine so I already know her. Things are good.
  Sunday was really hard saying goodbye to people. I've been here so long I've forgotten how to say goodbye and how to pack. I haven't moved in so long its so weird and I'm sure it won't hit me until my first night in lake placid and I'm no longer in Syracuse. This place has truly become my home and the people have become my family. Its going to be most hard to say goodbye to the Sampsons and the Statons tomorrow night..tears might be shed. I tell everyone see ya later because I know that I will be back. We said goodbye to one of my favorite investigators Ryla and we were praying and she added in at the end of the prayer saying "Please help sister stacey in her next area and when she has a hard day let her remember that her effort was not wasted here with me." It was so cute and made me feel so good about leaving. This is the longest I have lived in one area with out moving since I graduated high school. This will be a really hard move, but I know the Lord is with me. Change is hard, but its always good in the long run. If I never experienced change then I would have never come to Syracuse and met all these amazing people! I have loved my time here and the people will be missed!
    I hope you all had a great week as well. Next time you hear from me I will be up north!

Love from the cuse,
                       Sister Stacey


PICTURES:
First 2:  Saying goodbyes to my favorite people
Second 2: District meeting
Last: Saying goodbyes















Tuesday, April 17, 2012

"...wherefore all children are alike unto me; wherefore, I love little children with a perfect love; and they are all alike and partakers of salvation." Moroni 8:17

 Hello,

 This week was a great week. The last couple months Edwin hadn't been coming to church and wouldn't let us come see him. We called and told him that I was leaving soon and he let us stop by. He was so happy to see us and it was so good to see him! He said he still reads the Book of Mormon everyday and had been out of town helping his wife at her home. He is going to try coming back to church this week. It was so great to see him before I left and to know that he is still going strong. His testimony is so powerful its amazing to see him grow!

 Erin went to the temple this weekend. She said she got really nervous before she went in and the second she got in and started doing baptisms the nervous feelings went away and she felt the spirit. Its so much fun to see her go to the temple and it makes all the hard days we have worth it. It makes it so worth it to see her go to the temple and help others. I love being a missionary! What could get any better than that!

 So we have been going to the Stanton each week to teach brother Stantons little sister. We have fallen in love with their family and look forward to going to their home each week. They have 2 of the cutest kids in Syracuse and they love when we come over. (maybe because we always bring treats..haha) So the primary was doing this dinner night at the church where each kid from the primary had to invite someone they admired or appreciated in their lives. So when Sister Stanton was explaining to her little 4 year old who he had to bring she started to list off names of people that have been close to him. Then she said out of no where he was like "I want the missionaries to come!" She hadn't even listed us. So Saturday night we went to this dinner with all the primary kids and when we walked in he was so excited for us to be there. He yelled "MISSIONARIES!" It was so much fun and we love him. It's fun to see that he knows who we are and that we have made that big of an impression on him. This is probably my last full week here in Syracuse and its going to be so hard to leave. I'm not sure if I'm going to survive the goodbyes.. so I'm just going to have to say "see ya later" I will be back, I know it. I just love the people here and they have been so good to me. I find out saturday where I will be going.

Have a great week!

 Love from the cuse,

 Sister Stacey

Picture 1 and 2: Primary Dinner with Sye so fun!
Picture 3: Last visit with Edwin











Monday, April 9, 2012

"He is not here, but is Risen"

HAPPY EASTER! Hope you all had a great Easter, I love Easter! I don't know if you have seen the new video on lds.org but its amazing! We showed people that all week preparing for Easter and it's just well done. So you should all go see it! I always think about the time when I was in Jerusalem at the Garden tomb. I love the words that are written on the door "he is not here, but is risen" I love those words because it brings such hope. I love Easter because we can focus on his resurrection and remember how much he has truly done for us. He is alive and we will one day become perfect like him. I'm so grateful for my Savior and all he has done for me. I love being able to share that beautiful message with others!

This week was full of lots of finding, but we did find someone. A recent convert wants us to start teaching his daughter who is about our age. We had a great lesson and she is excited to learn and come to church. so that was way exciting! We are hoping that Samantha will get baptized. She wants to be baptized but everyone wants to make sure she knows that it's a commitment. So were waiting to here about that. We had Easter with the Sampsons which was so much fun! Things are going well and we hope to keep finding people!

 Love from the cuse,
 Sister Stacey

 Most likely I will be leaving Syracuse on the 25th so make sure you send letters to:

PO Box 149
Whitesboro NY
13492-0149

Picture 1: The Sampsons girls and us at Easter dinner!
Picture 2-4: Erin (our Recent Convert) lives on a farm. They have baby bunnies so we spent the morning at her farm with the animals. It was way fun and just in time for Easter!









Monday, April 2, 2012

"Are you a mormon?" "No." "Well you should be!" (L Tom Perry talk)

Hello,

CONFERENCE WAS AMAZING! I just love conference so much and it's so sad that it was my last one as a missionary. I don't know how to explain it, but its just different as a missionary. This week I'm just going to write some of my favorites from conference.

It seemed like there were a lot of talks about raising a family. I don't have a family of my own so I tried to relate the talks as much to me as possible. So whenever they would talk about raising kids I would act as if my investigators were my kids. haha A great example of this was Larry Y Wilson's talk about unrighteous dominion. I can't force my investigators to do the right things. I have to show them the way and let them make their own choices as hard as it can be at times. So I thought that was cool. Donal Hallstorm did a great talk about how its possible to be active in the church, but not in the gospel. I think we can all easily fall into this trap and we should be careful to be active in the gospel.

In Dallin H. Oaks talk he mentioned sacrifice which was amazing. I felt pretty good that I had already made the sacrifice to come on a mission. I laughed so hard at the part when someone ask him how they get the young people to go on a mission and the Prophet said "well we just ask them" That was funny! Sacrifices truly do bring forth blessings and I have seen that on my mission. I sacrificed a lot to come, but the blessings that have come.. I would never change it for the world.

There were a lot of great talks on forgiveness which is great for everyone to hear. I laughed a lot when he said "STOP IT" Wow is it really that easy?! I guess it is! I thought that was funny because we don't realize how easy it is to really just forgive and forget. What a great talk.

The Prophet gave an amazing talk on the plan of salvation and I think this is a great tool to give to our friends who have asked us.. "where were we before we came to earth?, What is the purpose of life." I encourage everyone to give this to someone who has once asked them those questions. Such a great talk! Maybe i should just give that talk to our investigators instead of me teaching the Plan of Salvation. haha

The last thing that I loved was the talk by David F. Evans. He told a great story about two friends and one was preparing to go on a mission. All the work his friends had done for one person and at the end he was asked if it was all worth it. I think in the church when we are trying to work with Less actives to come back to church or inviting friends to church activities we should remember this talk. Its worth it, its worth them living with their family and heavenly father forever. I think this gave me encouragement to never give up with people and its always worth the effort even if we dont' see the immediate result right now. I loved that!

I'm so grateful for modern day prophets and apostles to give us guidance on the earth today. We are so lucky! I hope you all had a great weekend! I know I did!

Love from the cuse,

Sister Stacey

Pic: Lizzie and I at FHE. She is awesome!