Syracuse Transfer #5

Hello,

I am in my new area now with my new companion. It was really hard to leave Glenville. It felt like I was leaving my family behind and going on my mission to Syracuse. It was sad to leave the members and my recent converts, but I guess this is where faith needed to come to play. It was hard to adjust but as soon as we started meeting with the people and the members I started to feel more comfortable. I was so surprised to see how many people we were teaching and we have 6 people with a baptism date. Its amazing to see how different areas are. Syracuse is split up between the elders and us. We have the east side of Syracuse which includes Syracuse University. Students have started to come into town and I think this will be a great finding tool for us. Both the Elders and us cover the ward and the singles branch. Its been kind of confusing to me that I have two wards to cover, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. Its been way fun and it reminds me of my awesome Institute back home in Fort Collins. I know this will be a great area. My companion is from Arizona and she has been out for 6 weeks. We get along great and I think this transfer will be a great one. I have really high hopes for this area and I think we will be teaching quit a bit. Syracuse is a big city so there are lots of people out and about. Its way fun!

I don't have to much time and not too much to write about. This week has felt long because of the transfers, but I'm all settled in now. I've started to get to know the area and the people. I'm very excited for this place!

I love you all!

Sister stacey

Last Goodbyes in Glenville; Last goodbye with Melanie and Mellon family

"I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord.."

Hello Everyone,

I can't believe how much can happen in just one week. This week was full of many interesting things. Tuesday morning I woke up with a really sore throat and it kept getting worse and worse. Luckily there are some nurses in the ward.. I found out I had Strep Throat. So I had Strep and it was basically awful. We had to stay inside one day and it was so boring! I was able to get some Anti biotics. We picked up two new investigators on thursday. The first week of the transfer we were trying to find this one guy. We knocked on his door and asked if it was him and it wasn't. So we started talking to this man and he told us we could come back. Then this week we went back again to see if he still wanted to meet. His wife was also there this time and seemed very excited to have us come over. We went in and taught them the first lesson and they were excited to learn. At the end of the lesson she said each time before we came to the door her husband had asked God for direction in his life and each time he asked that question we had knocked on the door. It was a great confirmation to us that we had been following the Spirit. So were excited to continue to teach them!

So Michele's baptism was this weekend! I was feeling so sick and I was a little stressed because we had to put on this baptism on Saturday. I feel so blessed to have the priesthood in my life. I was able to get a blessing and when saturday came I was feeling well enough to prepare for the baptism. I am so grateful for the priesthood in my life and worthy men who are always prepared to give a blessing! The baptism went so well! So many people came to the baptism we almost didn't have room for everyone. It was a great turn out! After Michele was baptized she was talking to Sister Waddignton (the members she is close with) she said she never wanted to come out of the water. She loved the feeling she had and never wanted to come out. It was so cute! It was great to be there!

So the second to last saturday of the transfer we get "transfer calls" I particulary do not like these.. it makes me nervous all day. We waited eagerly for the call telling us if we would stay or go. I had done the math and I knew it would come down to Syracuse or Ogdensburg. Sister Swick served in Ogdensburg and the way she talked about it sounded like it was pretty much in the middle of no where.. Lets say Sister Zwick would have been happy if I went to Ogdensburg. Finally the phone rang and the Elder said "Sister Stacey you will be going to SYRACUSE West serving with Sister Gifford!" YAY!!! haha I'm really excited about Syracuse and it has been a place I have wanted to serve in! I knew that I would be leaving this area and I feel really good about going to Syracuse. My new companion will be Sister Gifford. She has only been on her mission for 6 weeks. So I will be second transfer training her. I'm excited about this and I think that my mission president is preparing me for training! haha So the next day was Sunday and I knew it would be my last in Glenville. I had planned to sing in church, but because of my good luck I got strep throat that week. My throat was really sore still and my ears were plugged. It was not good, but I wanted to sing badly because I knew it was my last sunday. I was sitting next to Melanie and I was really nervous that I would cough in the middle of the song. She wrote me a little note telling me to have faith in the Lord. That I shouldn't worry and he would let me sing well. It amazes me how much Melanie has grown and has the Spirit with her. It almost made me cry to see how much her testimony has grown. The way she was able to comfort me. I went up to the pulpit coughing and the music started to play and the second I opened my mouth my throat cleared up and I was able to sing the whole song. The power of faith can really work miracles. I was happy I was able to do it and it went well! It was sad saying goodbye to everyone. The members here have been so great to me! I have also been having a bad toothace this week. So just my luck there is a dentist in the ward. He fixed up my tooth which was way nice of him. It was funny though because we had a dinner appointment right after and half my mouth was numb. Very interesting week I had.. haha

My time here in Glenville has come to an end. The last couple of days I have been saying my goodbyes and it has not been easy. These people here in Glenville have become my family. I didn't think it would be this hard and honestly didn't think I would get this attach to people on my mission. I still feel like I have so much to do here in Glenville and could honestly serve my whole mission here, but I know the Lord has other plans in store for me. I just need to have trust in him that I'm needed in Syracuse. The friendships I have made here will last forever. Last night I had planned to see the Sullivans last. I would say that was probably the hardest goodbye, but it was great to see the love that I had for them. They have really helped me grow these past 6 months. I will miss them and I WILL BE BACK! Glenville will always have a special place in my heart. It is where I started my mission. I feel like I'm leaving my family again to go on a mission to Syracuse. haha I know its my time to go, but I have loved my time here. I will never forget the memories I have made here. I will never forget the people I have taught and how they have helped change my life. It will be very hard to say goodbye to Melanie today. She has become one my best firends. Everytime we went to teach her she always taught me something. I am so happy I was able to help her on her path to eternal life. I love being a missionary and I know change is apart of it. Change is hard, but I'm also starting to see that change is good! I love being a missionary, I'm excited for my new area and new people. I feel so blessed to be here in New York!

I love you all,

Sister Stacey

Pic 1: Me, Michele, and Sister Belnap at the baptism

Pic 2: Michele and I at her Baptism

Pic 3: Last District Meeting! Best District EVER!

pic 4: District Meeting!

pic 5: The Maughan Family!

Pic 6: the sullivans!

pic 7: My favorite Less actives!

pic 8: My fav LA. She loves harleys.. haha

"Behold, he changed their hearts; yea, he awakened them out of a deep sleep, and they awoke unto God.."

Hello,

So depending on what happens this Saturday at transfer calls this might be my last full week in Glenville New York. I try not to think about it. I have been trying to mentally prepare myself..but I'm pretty sure it will be a hard move. I just need to have trust in the Lord and the Mission President that where I go next is where I need to be. Even if it is here in Glenville for another transfer! :) So if your totally awesome and you want to write me in the next couple weeks. You should probably send it to the mission office address. That way if I do get transferred I won't lose the letters!

Sister Jennifer Michelle Stacey

New York Utica Mission

PO Box 149

Whitesboro, NY 13492-0149

So this week has been so great! We weren't able to meet with Michele that often, but it was good because she was at Youth Conference. They all went to Palmyra and spent the night and went to the temple and all the sites. I believe she had a great time and is really fitting well into the ward! The baptism is official and set for this Saturday the 13th! I'm very excited and I hope everything works out well! We had to meet her grandparents this week and they were very accepting of her choice to be baptized. It was so great! Once we got their signature it was official and she could get baptized! She is so excited and I feel so blessed to be apart of it!

I finally had my first lesson wtih Araina. Me and Sister Despain tracted into her and I missed the first lesson because I was gone for exchanges. She is Jehovah's witness so its been interesting. The lesson went well and we brought a member with us that helped a lot! I have gained a huge testimony of getting members to lessons. It really helps the investigators progress faster and feel comfortable when they come to church. The lesson went well and we taught her about the plan of salvation. She had many questions, but seemed interested. She said she had tried to pray about the Book of Mormon, but felt silly. At least she is trying and that shows great progress. I'm really excited to teach her again! This also shows that even though tracting isn't my favorite...you can really find people who are searching.

So something fun and interesting going on in my area lately... If you know me well, you would know that I LOVE LOVE movies. Well there is a movie being filmed in my area as of right now. It has been the talk of the town! The big actor Ryan Gosslin is in it and there filming a movie that is called "The place beyond the pines" (which means Schenectady) Some of the youth in the ward signed up to be extras in the movie. (so jealous!) So the day they will be filming in our area...hmm... we might just maybe go tracting in the neighborhoods surrounding it. haha Just Kidding.. but I'm pretty excited about that. It will be cool to see the movie and see the area where I served for 6 months!

Well not too much more has happened this week. It just might be my last week here which makes me sad. I'm going to live it up and try my best to work this area until I leave!

Love,

Sister Stacey

Pic 1: We have a fun Air Museum in our area. Planes fly out of here to take supplies to Antarctica, which is cool. Its not opened on Mondays, but the man who is in charge of it came on his day off and gave us a tour! There were so many awesome planes! I thought of my grandpa and my dad.. they would have loved it! So this is me and Sister Belnap in front of one

Pic 2: Yes that is me inside the plan and yes I'm wearing a skirt! So something cool about this plane is that it was the actual plan in the Movie Top Gun. It was used on the set. So I thought that was really exciting!

Pic 3: I love cats! This cat has been my favorite so far! She would let me hold her the whole time I was over at these people house. It was amazing!

Exhanges in Vermont!

Hello Everyone,

This week was another good week here in Glenville. I went on my first real exchange where I was able to be the one that goes to another area. My first two transfers I had bed bugs so we weren't aloud to exchange with other sisters. I guess they didn't want bed bugs or something. haha The closes sisters to Glenville are the sisters in Benninghton Vermont. So it was fun to be able to go to another state for exchange. I worked with Sister Cox who was actually trained by my trainer Sister Swick. Vermont is so beautiful and the town of Bennighhton is so cute. It's a big tourist site in the summers, so lots of people were there. It was cool to meet other people and get to know another area. It did also make me miss Glenville and when I returned I was happy. It was a great exchange and I was excited to see a new area and work with someone new. It was fun!

Some exciting news is that Melanie was able to go to the temple last week. I am so proud of her for setting her goals to get there. She was able to be baptized for her grandmother. She said it was a great experience! She also has been studying preach my gospel a lot preparing to serve a mission next summer! Its very exciting to see how she has grown since I first met her!

Michele is doing great and we are still planning on the baptism for August 13th. We also were able to pick up three pretty solid new investigators. One was a girl that me and Sister Despain tracted into. She is actually a Jehovah's Witness, but was pretty open to us coming back. I was on exchange, but sister Belnap met with her and she was excited to learn about the Plan of Salvation. So we're excited about that. We also picked up two new investigators from the help of some members. Sister Zwick and I first met them at the passover meal we went to. We have been trying to meet with them since. We had dinner with them and we were able to teach the message of the restoration. We also were able to answer a lot of questions they had. It was very exciting! We set up a return appointment and committed them to come to church on the 14th. We are very excited and the work seems to be doing so great here in Glenville. Something that also was cool that I was able to do was talk about my experience in Jerusalem. I was able to bear my testimony on that experience and how it strengthened my relationship with my savior. After I bore my testimony one of the investigators turned to us and said "Oh I thought you didn't believe in Christ." So it was cool to share my experience with them and confirm to them that we do in fact believe in Jesus Christ. It was a great experience. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss Jerusalem and the experiences I had there. It has helped my testimony grow as I have been on my mission. Using the Bible and the book of Mormon to help bring people closer to Christ. It was a great week! I am so happy to be here in Glenville!

Love,

Sister Stacey

Pictures

Vermont was beautiful, but they also had really random things there. They have painted moose all over Bennighton it was kind of funny. It was a great exchange with Sister Cox

"...come unto me and be baptized in my name...that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day." 3 Nephi 27:20

Hello,

This week has been amazing!! I would first like to start my email off with the most exciting news....drum roll.. we set a date wtih Michele and she is going to be baptized August 13th!!!! I first met Michele the first transfer I was here. She is 14 years old and she is best friends with a youth in the ward. Me and Sister Zwick were trying to meet with her, but I don't think Michele was ready at that point. She went to Salt Lake City and girls camp and I believe through those experiences her desire to be baptized grew. She wanted to meet with us. We set her with a date on the third lesson. I was really nervous to set her with a date. Her legal guardians are her grandparents and we didn't know what they would think. After I set her with a date and asked if she would want to be baptized she had a big smile on her face with a reply of YES! Then we asked her what her grandparents would think and she said that she had already asked them and they approved. It was such a spiritual experience and she knew she wanted to be baptized. Everything is working out perfect for her baptism! I'm so excited that I will be able to be here for it, just in case I get transfered next transfer. I'm so happy for her and now we have about 2 weeks to get in all the lessons before her baptism! We will be busy! I"m very excited!

This week was just full of excitment! We also had Zone Conference this week which is always amazing! My mission president Bulloch is so full of wisdom its amazing! The topic was on Pride and Declaring Repentance. I'm not sure if any of you have read the Beware of Pride talk by Ezra Taft Benson, but it is amazing! I recommend everyone to read that talk. One of my favorite scriptures we read during zone conference was a scripture that Presidnet shared with us in D&C 88:107 and it says "and then shall the angels be crowned wtih the glory of his might and the saints shall be filled with his glory and receive their inhertiance and be made equal with him." I love tihs scripture because it shows us that God is not prideful. He wants us to be equal with him, he does not want to be above us he wants to be equal with him. This shows how much he loves us. He loves us so much he wants us to be just like him. This is such a powerful scripture! Zone conference was great also because I was able to see Elder Hamiliton an Elder that was in my MTC district. It was cool to see how he has grown. In the MTC our district always talked about how we were going to be the one to baptize Jimmer's mom. Well guess where he was transfered to..Glens Falls. (Jimmers hometown) I was very jealous..(o wait that is prideful).. jk haha It was good to see him though! It was like seeing my family again! It was a great Zone Conference I always learn so much!

This week has been SO hot! Walking into a sticky hot oven! haha I'm not use to this humitidy.. I don't like this humid stuff that much. haha We had to ride our bikes on Friday which was one of the hottest days of the week. Luckily we have great members.. one of our less activites came and picked us up and drove us to an area we would work in for the day! It was AWESOME!

So aparantley there is a new Joseph Smith movie coming out. Its all about Joseph Smith getting the plates and there are going to be 2 more movies. Its done by members of the church and they came to a theartre here in Schenectady. The actors were at the movie and I guess they havent' made it out west yet. It looks like a good movie we haven't seen it. Something cool though is the girl that plays Emma was my roommate in the MTC. So when it comes out west you should all see it and tell me how it was.

Well I love you all! I love being a missionary! I love being here in Glenville! Its been a great week!

Love,

Sister Stacey

Pictures from Zone Conference!

The first picture is me and a Less Active girl in the ward that just had her cute baby that I can't hold :(

The Second picture is me and The Mission Presidents wife. She is the best!

The Third Picture is me and all the Sisters at Zone Conference!

One Year Older and Wiser Too!!!!!

Hello,
I would first like to start my email off by saying THANK YOU THANK YOU all for the wonderful Birthday Wishes!!! I had a great birthday as a missionary! Luckily I have awesome members in my ward. Sister Sullivan was the best and made my favorite food and cake! It was so great to spend my Birthday dinner with their family. They are basically my second family here in New York. Also it was great that my birthday landed on a Sunday. Sundays are my favorite day of the week because we get to go to church and be with all the members. Also I guess the bishopric thought it would be fun to let me speak on my Birthday. I gave a talk on prayer and how it can help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father. I was really nervous at first, but it went well. It was a great day! So thank you!
This week has been amazing because it has been full of LOTS of referrals and new investigators. This is the first week into the transfer and having to take over the area is not an easy thing. My prayers lately have been focused a lot on finding new people to teach. Well this week my prayers were answered. We picked up a new investigator and her name is Michele. She has been going to church activities and church with members in our ward for years. She went to girls camp for the first time and loved it and went to her friends and asked if she could meet with us. We went over to their house and had a lesson with her and the members. It went so well and basically if she wanted to be baptized tomorrow she probably could! She was amazing! We hope to meet with her twice a week and get her progressing towards baptism. This just shows how important members are when they get involved with missionary work. When members get involved in missionary work it just helps us full time missionaries help those people progress faster. When members find people the investigators are always way more promising! So I'm really excited about Michele and I hope that we can set her with a date this week!
We picked up a new investigator from some less actives we meet with each week. We're not sure how interested he is, but it was great to see these less actives share what they believe. I think this has helped them get more back into the church. It was great! I have a special love for less actives and right now three of the less actives we meet with have been coming to church every week for the past month. I'm so excited about that! Its been a great thing to see them come and get involved!
We have also received a lot of referrals and we are hoping we can find some more solid investigators out of those referrals. So we will be busy busy this week! I'm excited about that!
Zone conference is tomorrow and I'm very excited! We have Zone Conference every three months so it feels like forever since we last had one. I'm excited to learn and those meetings always refresh me in a way to get back out there and keep trying. It pumps me up and they always remind me of how to constantly be trying. Also this week in District meeting they handed out portable DVD' players so we can study the preach my gospel DVDs. Crazy! Missionaries are being upgraded!
Theresa was going to come to church yesterday, but she slept in and didn't' have enough time to get all her kids to church. We would have went and helped her, but I had to be early to church because I was speaking. She said they even bought new dresses for the girls for church. Next week they will come for sure. Its been great to meet with her and she really enjoys learning about the gospel. I also made a primary CD for the two girls and they love to listen to those songs. We taught them the song popcorn popping and every time we go over there we have to sing it with the actions at least 10 times. haha So things are going good there!
Things really picked up this week and we were busy going from appointment to appointment. Its was a huge blessing for me because this area is basically on my shoulders until sister Belnap can get to know the area better.
Sister Belnap and I are getting along great and we are going to rock this transfer!! I can just feel it! hahaha
Thanks again for all the birthday wishes! I love you all!
I'm happy to be here in Glenville again! I never want to leave it! :)
Love you,
Sister Stacey


These are pictures of when I went to Saratoga a couple weeks ago and some from my Birthday!!!

Saratoga;
Its know for their natural spring water. Some taste better than others
They have all these painted horses all over town
We went to a horse museum and I thought of my sister Catherine
My Birthday

My parents sent the best b-day package so thanks
Dinner at the Sullivan's! They are the best!

Transfers..New Companion!

Hello,

So I'm starting my fourth transfer here in Glenville this week and I'm very excited! I'm happy to still be here in Glenville and I'm in denial of ever leaving it. Sister Despain went home this week and it was sad to say goodbye. My new companion is Sister Belnap she is from Farr West Utah. She does NOT go home in six weeks which I am very thankful for! haha She just came from Syracuse so she will do great on the days we go to Schnectady. It's always a change and adjustment when getting a new companion, but it has been going well. These next couple of weeks will be lots of explaining and teaching sister Belnap about the area.

We have had a struggle lately at finding solid people. So far our most promising investigator is Thresea. We went to see her on Saturday and she had been trying to get her house ready for a showing (she is trying to sell it). The kids had destroyed it, so me and sister Belnap dropped our bags and helped her clean for a couple hours. She was very thankful for it and plus I think it will help us get her to church the next day. We watched the Joseph Smith movie with her and she really enjoyed it and she always has questions. We asked if she would come to church with the kids the next day and she agreed. I offered to come help her get the kids ready in the morning. So sunday morning we drove over to the house and no one would answer the door. Everyone was asleep. So we called the house and Thresea answered and let us in. We had 45 minutes to get everyone ready. While Thresea got ready we helped the kids get ready. We got them all in the car and were 10 minutes late. We barely made it in time for the sacrament. It was so great to have them there and I think she really enjoyed it. Her oldest was nervous to go to class alone so she had to sit in class with him, but she weas able to come to Relief Society. I think the kids loved it and she was saying how she would like to come next Sunday as well. Its stressful getting investigators to church, but we did it and they were happy!

We have been doing really well with less actives. I have a special place in my heart for less activites and I love meeting with them. We have been meeting with a woman, Sister Duval, and she has a son who is 16 years old. They started coming back to church and he got the priesthood on Sunday. She was very proud of her son and it was great to see her at church. She wants to go to the temple so we are going to start teaching her about the temple and get her there! It was so great!

So the Mia Maids in our ward here for their mutal night activity went to New York city to stand outside the today show. Only in New York can you do AMAZING awesome activities like that! I thought that was hilarious that it was a normal activity for them to do! I loved it!

The ward members here are actually starting to pick up on this whole missionary thing. We might have a couple potential investigators this week because of members. So we hope we can find some more investigators that way! I will have to keep you updated with that.

This week will be the first offical week of a new transfer. I'm focusing on making new goals and hoping we can get another baptism! I'm so happy I'm here in Glenville again, it really has become my home! I love it here!

Pictures! (I will send the Saratoga Pictures next week)

Pic 1) These kids sang gospel music to me it was awesome!

pic 2) New York has a lot of beautiful big rivers! I love it!

pic3 ) There is a famous cookie called the halfmoon cookie and I serve in Halfmoon city!

pic 4) A cool bridge!

pic 5) 4th of July!

pic 6) My favorite family! The Herrera Family! Cutest kids ever!

pic 7) I found a license plate with North Carolina and took a pic next to it because thats where my Dad served his mission!