"..Behold, here are the waters of Mormon and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people..." Mosiah 18:8

Hello,
This week was a great week. We have always had a baptism date with one of our investigators Dwight, but we kept moving it back. He came to Stake Conference which was good and he later told us that he broke down and started crying. He said that was very unusual for him. We explained to him that it was the Spirit. Dwight has had some awesome experiences with the Spirit. We met with him on Monday with our ward mission leader and the lesson was amazing! It was perfect and just what Dwight needed to hear. My ward mission leader is seriously amazing and his testimony is so powerful. He was a convert and dealt with some of the same struggles as Dwight did. Basically he asked Dwight do you believe this Book is True and he said yes. Do you believe that Joseph Smith is a prophet and he said how else would he be able to translate the gold plates so yes! He wants to be baptized, so Monday night we decided he would get baptized Saturday. So we planned the baptism in 4 days and called everyone who had taught with us and planned the whole baptism. It was crazy, but everything worked out. The baptism was Saturday night and it was so great! He was so happy he showed up early. He looked so happy and he was so surprised that so many people came to support him. He didn't realize how many people cared about him and wanted to be there for him at his baptism. He doesn't have any family or friends here so we have become his new "ward" family! He was so happy and everyone who was part of teaching him was able to participate in some way. Dwight is such a humble man and I'm so happy that we were able to teach him. He got up at the end of the baptism and said a couple words. He said "I thank the sister missionaries and I wouldn't have made it this far without them. They are great missionaries!" It was the sweetest thing! I'm so happy that I'm here on a mission and I was able to help Dwight along his path to return to his Heavenly Father.
On Friday we were able to help one of our investigators paint her Kitchen and it was really fun. It was great because we were able to talk and she really opened up to us about what she wants from us as missionaries and how knowing about Jesus Christ can benefit her life. It was a great opportunity to be with her. We had a lesson and after the lesson her son wanted to be apart of the prayer and he came over and sat with us. It was so cool! The hardest part is getting investigators to church... JUST COME!! haha So we are working on that with most of our investigators!
Its been a great week and I don't have too much time! I hope everyone will have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm so thankful for this opportunity to be here in New York and bring people closer to Jesus Christ. I'm so Thankful for a family that Loves me and supports me in my decisions. I'm thankful for wonderful friends who write me (hint! haha) and are always there to support me! I'm so thankful for the Book of Mormon that I know I can be with my family forever and it can help get through anything. I'm so thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and knows what's best for me. I'm so Thankful for the spirit that guides me along and helps me through. I'm so thankful to be on earth at this time! There is so much more that I could write down, but I'm truly thankful for everything! I love you all and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving day!
Love,
Sister Stacey

Transfer #7...Half Way!!! ahh!!!

Hello,
I don't have very much time so I can't write too much. This week was kind of a slow week which is normal for missionary work. I did hit my half way mark this week on the 9th which was really weird. It feels like yesterday when I was driving to my first area. Time is really weird as a missionary some days feel like a week long and some weeks feel like a day long. I have so much more to improve on and still have 9 months to make it the best. Also on Saturday a year ago I opened my mission papers. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. I remember being nervous and excited at the same time. I'm so happy that I'm here in New York and I know this is where I'm suppose to be.
This week we had Stake Conference and our mission president and his wife spoke and it was fun to hear from them. We taught a lesson afterwards with one of our investigators. He has been out of town so we haven't been able to see him for a couple weeks. When we saw him he said that he still hasn't read and if he isn't that motivated to read then he must not be interested to learn more. We had planned to teach something else, but the spirit took over the lesson and we went a different direction and it went so great. We talked about prayer and I happened to mention a story that was told at stake conference about a man who lost his job and was looking for work. Our investigator opened up and said that he was looking for a job and he had a reason to pray. We gave him some scriptures to read that would help him, but he really seemed like he was going to do his reading! It was such a great lesson and I'm just glad that the Spirit was there. It was a great lesson and I'm so grateful for the Spirit guiding that lesson!
On Friday we got a call that a train by our apartment had fallen off the track and one of the carts was filled with propane. So we were evacuated from our apartment for awhile. They shut down the highway and we couldn't get anywhere. It also happened to be on the same night of the football game. It was pretty crazy, but we ended up making it back to our apartment. The propane didn't spill so we got to go back to our place for the night. It was a crazy day!
I'm so happy that i'm here in New York serving the Lord! I'm happy that me and Sister Gifford are here in Syracuse for another transfer!

Love you all,
Sister Stacey

Pictures:
Fall is coming to an end..but this is what Fall looks like in New York!

"...whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled..if he endureth to the end..him will I hold guiltless before my Father....

"...whoso repenteth and is baptized in my name shall be filled..if he endureth to the end..him will I hold guiltless before my Father..when I shall stand to judge the world.." 3 Nephi 27:16

Hello,
This was another great week and it was extra special because Edwin got baptized! Edwin's baptism went so well and he was seriously so excited. When we saw him at the baptism his smile would not leave his face. He kept saying "I'm psyched out!" It was so cute. The baptism went really well and his wife who is a baptist minister came. He was so happy to have her there! After the baptism he said he felt clean. Sister Gifford asked him what he was going to do now and he said "I'm going to follow the Lord!' He is just awesome! The next day was fast Sunday and he got up and bore his testimony. It was powerful. I even saw him give the Bishop his first tithing. Its amazing to see the faith of these new converts. During sacrament meeting yesterday the 1st counselor in the bishopric got up and said that in the Syracuse ward they have had 18 baptisms this year and its the most they have had since 2002. This area is a blessed area! Edwin is so happy and I'm so glad that I could be apart of the process of him being baptized!
On Saturday we called one of our investigators to invite her to the baptism, but she said she couldn't walk because of her knee. She was in a lot of pain so we offered to let the Elders give her a blessing. She said that would be ok. So we went over with the Elders and a member and the member asked her which person she wanted to anoint and which one she want to have give the blessing. She turned to us and said "I want my lovely sisters to do it!" haha We had to explain to her why we couldnt' do it. She was very grateful for the blessing though. I'm so grateful for the priesthood. Every time these 19 year old missionaries give a blessing it just amazes me. You know its really by the power of God these Elders know what to say and do. I love the priesthood!
So this week has been really stressful because we knew that the call would come this week and tell us if we were staying or going. We call them transfer calls. Well the phone call came and we found out that we are both staying here in Syracuse! Sister Gifford and Sister Stacey going on three transfers together in the Cuse! We are both really excited about that! I'm excited because that means I will also probably be here in Syracuse till February! We got two new sisters this transfer. One of them was Sister Love who was the sister in the car accident with Sister Bentley. She is seriously my hero and is such a great example to me. She was only gone for one transfer recovering, but she is back. The best part is that she went to Glenville my last area. So I'm excited and she will love it here. She is amazing that she still wants to come back and serve. She is truly amazing! We also found out that a new Sister area opened and that is Lake Placid which is in the North Country and that is where the Olympics were. So I really would love to go there sometime in the future. It was a pretty exciting transfer call!
We had dinner with this single older women this week and neither of us knew who she was. We went to her house and we were eating and she told us that she has been less active for over 30 years and wants to come back. She asked us if we could come to her house once a week and she will feed us if we would re-teach her all the lessons again. I think my jaw dropped a little bit.. haha I was like..um.. YES!!! haha It was so cool and were excited to get her back to church!
It was such a great week! I'm so happy that I get to be here in Syracuse for another transfer! I love it here and I love being a missionary! I love being able to be apart of these people's lives and be with them as they progress closer to Jesus Chirst!

Love you all,
Sister Stacey

pic 1: Edwin's Baptism. Edwin is the one next to me
pic 2: Edwin Baptism
Pic 3: District Meeting!
pic 4: District meeting
pic 5: Distirct meeting goofy

Happy Halloween!

Hello,
This week was another great week. Last Monday night we had Family Night with the singles branch. The missionaries are in charge the 4th Monday of every month. We thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins. So we had some fun carving pumpkins and getting to know some of the members in the singles branch. It was a lot of fun!
This week Edwin had his interview and passed so we are planning on having his baptism this Saturday. We are pretty excited. Edwin went to the Pageant in Palmyra and the missionaries talked to him there and then that's how we started teaching him. He is such a great example to me in his efforts to do all the right things. He finished the Book of Mormon and we gave him Doctrine and Covenants and he has already started reading that. He asked us if we had anymore reading material about the church, that he wants to read everything. haha We started laughing and then explained to him about a church library. He was excited to learn about that. So he happens to be married to a baptist minister..yes! So we were telling him about the adversary and how he should watch out for anti stuff. He said that his wife's friend will drill him with Anti and that he will pull out scriptures from the Book of Mormon. haha He said don't worry about that.. he pointed to his heart and told us that there is no way anyone can change the feelings he has. No one can change his testimony. Its amazing to see how much he has grown and changed. Its amazing how powerful the atonement can be.
This week at District meeting we learned a lot about family history and how we can use this as a tool to find more people. I haven't really thought about this, but I'm excited to start to use it. I didn't think us missionaries needed to worry about it because we won't get to go to the temple, but after that amazing talk by Elder Bednar on the Spirit of Elijah I can see now how it applies so much to missionary work!
One of our investigators who is single branch age came to church yesterday. Before church we had a lesson with her on the Plan of Salvation. Then during sacrament the talks referred back to the lesson we just had. It was so perfect! I'm so thankful for the spirit because I for sure did not plan that! She really enjoyed it and she is excited to come next week. Out of all the people I have met with she has been the most prepared by the Spirit for this restored gospel. Its been an amazing experience teaching her! Its awesome!
We had our ward Halloween party on Saturday and it turned out great! We had two of our investigators come. They loved the idea of trunk or treat. Lots of people came and it was a great turn out. Me and Sister Gifford sort of dressed up as much as we could as missionaries. It was a lot of fun and I think the kids loved it!
It was a great week! I don't have too much time so I didn't have much to write. I hope everyone has a Happy Halloween!
Love you,
Sister Stacey

pic 1: Pumpkin Carving with the Singles Branch

pic2: Our awesome Pumpkin! My only Halloween as a missionary.. I had to carve a church pumpkin!

pic 3: Our awesome Trunk! Yay!

Pic 4: Me and our investigator. Her dad is Less active

pic 5: The Elders and Us at the trunk or treat!

pic 6: I had to take a picture with me and the Angry Bird only because I thought of my family. We love angry birds!

"....The Holy Spirit of God did come down from heaven and did enter into their hearts..they were filled as if with fire.." Helaman 5:45

Hello,
This week was another great week. On Tuesday I had a great experience that I will always remember. A member in the ward is good friends with a professor at a local community college. Each semester she has missionaries come in so that her students can ask questions. Its an Anthropology class and they did a section on mormons. So six of us missionaries went into a class room. We walked in and they had all these chairs set up in the front of the room. I felt like we were on exhibit.. It was the coolest experience to be able to answer there questions and show them that were just normal people like they are. I thought they were going to ask deep doctrine questions because thats what I'm use to as a missionary, but they just wanted to know about us and why we chose to be a missionary. We were all able to introduce ourselves and tell them where we are from and what we did before our missions. At the end of introductions a girl in the class raised her hand and said "I noticed that each of you said something about how happy your are..why are you all so happy?" A big smile went on my face because I know that I was happy because I have the restored gospel in my life. My companion did a great job at answer her question. The member that came with us told us that if we didn't know how to answer a question to just look at him and he would take over. Well of course the questions came up about polygamy and homo-sexuality and all of our heads turned to the member.. It was funny! They were all so amazed that we had taken this time out of our lives to come share this message. They seriously could not believe that we only talked to our families twice a year on the phone. I for sure cracked some jokes and brought some humor in answering some questions. It was so important to me that they saw that we are normal and we can have fun as well. I'm so happy that I had that experience and the chance to show them that. The spirit was definitely there and all of them took Book of Mormons afterwards. Not sure if anything will come of it, but we did plant some seeds. Now they know that mormons dont' have multiple wives..that's good enough for me. haha
We got a referral from Mormon.org from a girl named Melissa. We called her and she was really exicted to meet with us. We met with her on Thursday and she is basically amazing! She has cousins and an Uncle who are members living in Utah. She said she has really liked the way they lived and could tell a difference in their home. They gave her a book of mormon and the link to General Conference. She was basically describing the spirit when she telling us about when she watched General Conference. She said that when she goes to the Catholic Church she just feels like something is missing. She can't wait to come to church and read the book of mormon. These lessons are not normal and I usually don't like putting the title of "Golden" but she was pretty close to that. Sadly she is moving next month to Texas to join the Air Force. So we will teach her as much as we can before she goes and maybe she can connect with the missionaries there. I love that about the church. You can go to church anywhere you go in the world! Its amazing!
We had a great lesson with our investigators who are form China. Those lesson are seriously so awesome. They take a bit longer because we have to explain about Christ and Heavenly Father. Its really a great experience. Imagine what you would tell someone who doesn't know anything about Jesus Christ. What would you say? Where would you start? Its a very hard thing to do because there is to much. So we have to take a step back and start wtih square one..Christ and heavenly father. At the end of the lesson we asked one of themto say the prayer.. she paused and said "Does God speak Chinese?" We all started laughing.. it was fun!
We got an investigator to the singles branch which is the first time since I've been here. That was exciting and I think he enjoyed it. We had a lesson afterwards with some members and we taught the Plan of Salvation. Everytime I teach that it just confirms to me that this church is so true. God loves us so much that he created this great plan for us. We also taught this young mother yesterady. She was so spiritual and I could tell she is searching. She has two cute little kids and they reminded me of my cute niece and nephew. I want them to have the restored gospel. I can't wait for her to come to church next week. We have 18 investigators now and its really hard to manage them all. We have been super busy which is great! Teaching lots and thats what I love most!
Things here in the cuse are great! I love missionary work!
Love you all,
Sister Stacey

"Behold a Royal Army"

Hello,

This week was another great week! We started the week off with a great p-day, we went to the Zoo which was so much fun! My companion woke up Tuesday with this really bad tooth ache and it wouldn't go away. We happened to be at an investigators home that night and she was telling us that about how great her dentist was. We woke up the next morning and he hadnt' gone away so we called the investigator and she took us to her dentist. It turns out that my companion has to get a root canal. It was really nice for investigator to help us out, but kind of sad that we feel closer to her then some members in our ward. I felt so bad because my companion was in so much pain and her face was really swollen. It was hard for us to teach because I could tell she was in so much pain. This week was Zone Conference and we had the privilege to hear from Elder Paul Pieper from the seventy. We met in Liverpool and we were just a small group and it was so great to have one on one time with him. He came down off the pulpit and pulled a chalkboard down and said "we have 3 hours ask me your questions" So for 3 hours we asked questions and he gave some great advice. He use to be a mission president so he knew most of the things we go through and how to answer them. One of the questions that was asked was how do we love those that are hard to love. He gave some great advice. He talked about how Christ developed love one way was through his ministry and the second was the atonement. When the Father left Christ alone to suffer for all of our sins the one thing that kept him strong was his love for all of us. The only thing he had to hold on during that time was his love for all of us. He said that he likes to picture each one of us standing in front of him at that time as he took upon each of our sins and afflictions and knew us personal and what we went through. It was a great way to picture how much the Lord really does love us and has been through what we have been through. We love others by being humble and serving others. It was a great lesson that anyone could learn not only applying to missionary work. It was so great to be able to ask him questions and hear from him. He also compared us missionaries to the song Behold a Royal Army. The leader is our mission president and we are the faithful army doing the Lords work. It was cool to picture. It was a great opportunity to get advice and be with our fellow missionaries. It was a great weekend! Earlier in the week we got a referral from mormon.org so we thought we would go contact that referrall on Sunday. We went to this guys house and he was home and seemed excited that we were there. As we started the lesson he started asking all these questions and we could tell he had done a lot of research. He had studied mormon.org awhile before he agreed to have us come over. He said he was looking for a structured conservative religion. We were very excited to teach him and the lesson went so well. He is excited to come to church the next Sunday. We gave him a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read and he told us that he will just read the whole thing by our next visit. My mouth kind of opened a little..."really?! (that never happens) He seems really sincere to want to learn and we are excited to finally get someone to the singles branch. I love teaching people my age, I can just relate to them so much better. I'm excited and I hope that he will come to church next week! Edwin is getting closer to baptism and everytime we visit him we are able to hear his sweet testimony. We watched the 20 minute restoration dvd. Afterwards he was telling us that he was excited to actually visualize what we had been teaching him. He loved the part when he saw jospeh smith get the plates and when he was sharing it with others. He felt good in his heart is what he said. He is almost done reading the book of mormon. Its always great to hear his testimony and see how he has cahnged! I love being here in Syracuse new york! I love being a missionary! I know this gospel is true! I love you all!

Sister Stacey

Picture 1-5 ZOO!!!!

Picture 6 Zone Conference!!!

"And now my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold we will hide away our swords, yeah even we will bury them deep in the earth.." Alma

"And now my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold we will hide away our swords, yeah even we will bury them deep in the earth.." Alma 24: 16


Hello,
Another great week here in Syracuse New York. The weather here is very random, last week it was freezing cold and now its been in the high 70's. We better take advantage of the nice weather before the winter comes. We picked up four new investigators this week, and had some great lessons with our other investigators. The reason for my opening scripture was for our lesson with Dwight. He has been trying to quit coffee so we decided to read this chapter with him and relate it to coffee. It was fun and there were a lot of laughs. There is a part in the chapter where they bury the swords. We were going to bury his coffee pot, but he didn't want to do that. So we took it with us after the lesson. When we saw him at church on Sunday we asked how he was doing, he said "well I haven't had any coffee this morning!" So we hope that he can stay off coffee so he can get baptized next month! YAY!
So a couple weeks ago we were having a lesson with Dwight and his friend Li called and was worried because someone had broken into her place. He thought we could help so we went with him to see his friend. We got her number and told her if she needed anything to call us. We thought afterwards that it was a waste of our time and we probably shouldn't have gone. Well this week I was calling some potentials on the phone. We had another potential also named Li and I thought I was calling her, but it was actually Li (Dwights friends). I set up an appointment and I was all excited and when I looked at the address I realized I had called the wrong Li. I felt dumb, but then I realized this would be a opportunity to teach someone new. So this Saturday we went to her house and her roommate was there as well. They both are from China going to Grad school here at Syracuse University. They both wanted to learn more about the church, I was so excited! So we started teaching the first lesson, but it went completely different. Neither of them had any knowledge of God or Jesus Christ. So as we were teaching the first lesson we were able to go into depth and explain who Jesus Christ was and what he did. He was so cool! I have been wanting to teach people from China so badly. So I'm really excited! Its kind of cool that they haven't been drilled with this back knowledge of the gospel. They are fresh and new at Christianity. We gave them a preview on the Plan of Salvation and they can't wait to meet again. I'm really excited about them!
Saturday was full of lots of service, it was great. That morning we were able to help the Elders investigator garden and pull some weeds. Then later that afternoon we helped our investigator. She was having a birthday party for her son and they were all going to camp out in the backyard. She was so stressed so we went over to help set up the tents. I'm sure it looked so funny with two sister missionaries in skirts setting up tents. I wish I had a picture of that! Its a good thing I love camping and I know how to set up a tent. It was fun! All day we had been in and out of lessons and doing service the last lesson of the night was with a recent convert. Sister Gifford and I were seriously so tired and I'm not sure how we stayed awake, but we did it. I slept really well that night!
I'm really excited about some of these new investigators we picked up. The week goes by so fast and it all blends together so I always forget what has happened to write about on Mondays. I love being here in Syracuse! Its great to be on a mission! I feel so blessed to be able to have this experience!
I love you all,
Sister Stacey


Picture: We are putting together a Halloween party! I'm excited about it!

Pic 2: Some pictures of Syracuse and fall is coming!

Pic 3: Pictures of Syracuse

Pic 4: Our garden Service project! It was fun!

pic 5: Service!