Monday, August 31, 2015

Week 6: general authorities and a baptism #blessed

HELLO TO EVERYONE! I can't believe everyone has basically started school again! That's CRAZY. It's hard to believe that there is actually a regular life going on outside of this haha but I hope everyone is doing so super amazing in school! Keep at it.

Well this week was great! We definitely had some struggles and some really hard times but we also saw so many miracles and I really felt my testimony strengthened so much. Well for one, we had a general authority come to our mission!!! His name is Elder Zwick and he's a member of the 70. Go read his talk, "The Lord thy God Will Hold thy Hand" because it is the best. Anyways, he was literally the best and I learned so so much and he really strengthened my testimony and gave me a new resolve to work harder and be better. This quote was the best from his 5 year old grandkid: "if you stay close to Jesus, Jesus will stay close to you." it's like boom yeah that's right. Everyone remember that. And Elder Zwick talked about establishing a sure foundation, one built on Christ (helaman 5:12-SCRIPTURE MASTERY) and that we can't get complacent, we have to keep moving forward and getting better and trying to get better! How awesome is that??
In other news, I went on exchanges in a spanish area and that was interesting hahah those 2 years of spanish in high school paid off because I could at least understand what they were saying but in no way could I actually speak a word of it so I just sat there like a white girl all day hahha it was hilarious but a really great learning experience and its cool because I could still feel the Spirit really strongly even though I had no idea what was going on haha I feel for all you missionaries speaking another language
Also, WE HAD ANOTHER BAPTISM! #BLESSED His name is John and he's literally the cutest old man. I love him so much. It was such a spiritual baptism and he's just the best. I know he'll be such a great addition to this ward and the church! And our recent convert Felicia who was baptized 3 weeks ago gave a killer talk at the baptism and I was just like #crying basically because I was so happy for how much the gospel has blessed her life, even in the past 3 weeks!! enjoy the awkward picture of us since we can't actually stand close to him because you know, rules and all.
Also, Felicia our recent convert cut our hair, so enjoy a picture of me and hermana king post hair cut looking presh as per usual.
Y'all, God knows your name! He knows what you're going through and everything you need help with and He will be there for you! That's something I for sure learned this week so just remember that and remember to have a 24 hour smile! Love you all!

Sister Tracy
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Allison references a talk by W. Craig Zwick.  If you would like to read it, it can be found here:   https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2003/10/the-lord-thy-god-will-hold-thy-hand?lang=eng




Monday, August 24, 2015

Week 5: can't stop laughing or teaching

Hello everyone!! I hope you guys are doing well and that school and everything is going great!!!

Happy monday!! this week has been the greatest! I know I always say that, but this was definitely the best week of my mission thus far!! I had so many good times, saw so many miracles, and learned so so much. I've never worked harder or had more faith. I'm a totally different missionary this week than I was a week ago and its so much for the better!

A couple highlights!
1. We got to go to the temple! We go once a month and we got to go this week! It was the greatest and I could really feel the Spirit and I feel like I had so much more of a different and more meaningful and spiritual experience this time! It truly is the house of the Lord and it brings me so much strength.
2. We got to do service at a food bank! It was really really fun and I loved it! Service is the best.
3. We got 2 new investigators this week!! It was really amazing! Hermana King made me talk at one of the doors and then she let us in and we taught the whole restoration and we're going back next week! It was such a miracle!
4. I went on 3 exchanges this week! I feel like I'm never home haha I'm always in other peoples areas but its okay because I get the chance to learn so much from other people and how they teach and to get to know other people and their areas! I've been so blessed this week!
5. Our investigator, John passed his baptismal interview so he's going to be baptized this saturday!!! We're so excited for him and he is such a great example to me. that's the picture where we're doing the peace sign but it's actually an number 2 for baptism number 2!
6. We worked so so hard this week. We planned really effectively and we worked so hard and prayed so much for chances to teach this week! And it paid off! As we put our faith in God and really gave it our all, our teaching almost doubled and we saw so much success! And it was all thanks to Heavenly Father providing us with those opportunities. It was so amazing! Obedience and giving your all to God really really pays off. It was so great and God is so great!

OKAY PEOPLE THE FUNNIEST THING EVER HAPPENED THIS WEEK.
So we went to a member's house for dinner and after dinner we shared a message about missionary work because hello, we're missionaries. So then I was like what does missionary work mean to you? and he was like well you know it means to me that you share the gospel with everyone! And that I also believe that like in the book of Mark, it says the gospel should be preached to every creature. So he proceeds to tell us that a squirrel came onto the front porch so he started preaching the gospel to it and then it jumped into his hands and he let it come live with him. And he read the Book of Mormon to it and it would listen. And then it lived with him for 6 months. He told us he would show us pictures next time, so I'm really looking forward to that. It took everything for me not to bust out laughing in the middle of the lesson. But I mean, hey, we should strive to be good missionaries I suppose! It was just very amusing.

okay so some spiritual thoughts so you can be enriched by these lovely emails.
I was reading about charity this week! Go read 1 Corinthians 13. It's so good. this quote from true to the faith is so great: "In your relationships with others, look to the Savior as your example. Strive to love as He loves, with unfailing tender compassion, patience, and mercy." Charity is the pure love of Christ and it never faileth. so my challenge for you guys this week is to try to develop more charity! Allow the pure love of Christ to influence your life and others' lives!

love you all!!

Sister Tracy






Monday, August 17, 2015

Week 4: how is time flying so fast??

Hello everyone! I hope y'all are doing super amazing!

I feel like I just emailed you guys yesterday but apparently it was a week ago...time seriously flies here!! I'll hit my month mark this coming week!! How does that happen?? I can't believe how fast time goes.
So this week was super great! I mean we definitely had a lot of hard moments but we also had some pretty amazing things happen. Being on a mission is seriously the happiest thing in the world and I love it so much!!

Tuesday was Hermana King's birthday so we got to go eat at applebees with some other sisters and it was so so fun! I made her a cake and we partied...sort of haha there's not much partying on the mission but who am I kidding, the work itself is a party enough haha I love Hermana King so much! She's seriously the greatest.
Also Colorado has the most beautiful sunsets and skies and lightning storms and it is seriously the greatest. And I saw a whole field full of prairie dogs and it was the coolest thing ever! This place is beautiful!!
We had a trainer/trainee meeting on saturday with the mission president and it was super good but it was nice because I got to see all the people I was in the MTC with!! So that's the picture of the girl, Sister Dennis, with brown hair that's not my companion haha
And then we also went on exchanges on saturday! So I got to go with the sweetest girl, Sister Netherton, the blonde girl in the picture. So it was cool to teach with another missionary and to be in her area to switch things up! Everyone here is just the sweetest and I love them all!!

So our investigators are doing super well!
One named John came to church again and he's getting ready to be baptized on the 29th! So he's the cutest old man and I love teaching him! He really has a good testimony and loves talking about the gospel and I just love him!
Another is named Julie and she is so sweet! She has a 6 year old boy and a less active husband. But they finally came to church this week!!!! And I was so so happy because I think they could really feel the Spirit. She's set to be baptized in September and I am just so happy for her and her family. You can really tell that the gospel is making a huge difference in their family and I just love seeing that difference.
We're also teaching a sweet lady named Mabel and you can tell she's finally starting to get it and I know she's feeling the Spirit so I really hope she continues to progress. I just love all of them so much! We also get to teach a lot of less actives and I really love going and visiting them and helping them feel the Spirit again and hopefully helping them to have that desire to come back to church.

Okay people, I just wanted to point out that this week, I've seen time and time again how aware God is of each and every one of us! He knows what we're going through and what we need and He is always there for us. Just remember that.
Also, this week, we learned how important obedience is. We were put in a situation where we could have been super disobedient but we chose not to be even though it was super awk but I'm so glad we were obedient. We could definitely see the blessings from it. I learned the importance of making the decision beforehand to be obedient so that way when you're put in a situation where you could do the wrong thing, you don't have to debate what you're going to do. You just do the right thing. So that's my challenge this week! Decide now to do what's right and you'll be so blessed!!

Keep being good! I love you all!!

Sister Tracy
Celebrating Hermana King's birthday
Sister Dennis, friend from the MTC
Going on splits with Sister Netherton 
Sister Tracy and Hermama King

Friday, August 14, 2015

Week 3: too many miracles #blessed


Hello to everyone! I hope you guys are seriously all doing amazing because you all are the best.

So this week has been AMAZING. Seriously so many miracles this week. First full week in the field and it has gone really really well! I haven't even freaked out or cried or anything haha I cried in the MTC but I'm happy to say that I haven't cried the whole time I've been out here hahaha mostly probably because of my super awesome companion Hermana King. She seriously takes such good care of me and helps me so much and we get along really well and have a lot of fun together.

Denver is so so pretty! I love the mountains and just everything about it! I'm really enjoying my time here! It's so amazing how much I've been blessed this week and this work really just does bring so so much happiness. It's such a blessing to be able to give my whole life to this work and to really see how much God blesses me and those around me.

So some highlights from this week:

1. We committed an investigator to baptism on September 12th!! Her name is Julie and she is seriously the sweetest. Her husband is a less active member and she's never been a member and she's so receptive and you can tell she really feels the Spirit. So we'll keep teaching her and hope all goes well there! We also have another older man named John on baptismal date for August 29th so I really hope all goes through there too!! This work is so great

2. We had a baptism on Saturday! It was for this amazing girl named Felicia. She has 2 little kids and she's seriously so great. We only got to teach her the last couple lessons this week but you can see how much she has changed and what a difference the gospel has made in her life and I love her so much! It's such a beautiful thing to see that change and happiness in her life that comes from the gospel

3. We have like 800+ people on our ward roster and only 120 members so there is A TON of work to do haha so we've had some amazing times this week visiting less actives. There were a couple that we would just randomly pick to go visit and they would be like so grateful and talking about how much they needed us that day and each time, it was just such a testimony to me how much God prepares people and how we can be an answer to someone's prayer

4. Since my companion is a Sister Training Leader, she had a bunch of meetings on Friday so we went on exchanges and I went with a girl who came out the same time as me so they sent off 2 greenies on their own haha I was nervous but we actually got to teach a ton of lessons and every time I opened my mouth, it was always filled. That is such an amazing feeling and I love it and I'm so grateful for the Spirit

5. Okay this will be the last one so this isn't too long haha sorry...me and my companion realized we were wearing almost the exact same skirt on sunday and she looked at the shirt I was wearing and was like I have a shirt just like that! So she put it on and then we were matching and it was super cute haha all the members at church thought it was just so presh and lets be real, it was. But then we went tracting and after that, it didn't seem like such a good idea haha I felt like all the people whose doors we knocked on were like what the heck is with these weirdo matching mormons? haha we didn't have that much success that day but that's okay haha it was hilarious so we took a picture on our digital camera self timer hahhahaah so cool


okay one last thought to be sort of spiritual. so this cute 3 year old boy from one of the members dinner appointments, as we were leaving he yelled to us: "BE SAFE! BE GOOD!" and for some reason it really struck me! That's what I want to leave with y'all today! As you do your best to be good, God will truly bless you so much and your life will be so much happier! So that's my challenge this week: be safe and be good!

I LOVE YOU ALL

Sister Tracy



Week 2.5: in the RAD

HELLO FROM COLORADO!

SO WE'RE HERE NOW HOLY COW. It's way better than I thought it would be haha I was nervous but it's actually really good and I really love it already! I get to email today since my companion didn't get to yesterday and we'll normally have 2 hours a week!! That is amazing haha

So I'm in North Denver with my companion Hermana King. She is from Sacramento, California and she is a spanish missionary but she's english right now so she can be a sister training leader! She is so so sweet and I love her already! We live in an apartment and it's been super good! She is both a trainer to me and a sister training leader aka she's over all the sisters in 2 zones. This is the first time they've called a sister to both train and be an STL so it's kind of all a work in progress to work it out. Basically I just have to sit in a bunch of meetings with her but that's okay. They all say now that I'm basically being trained to be an STL myself like ASAP so we'll see if that actually happens haha whatever but it's good.

We haven't gotten a chance to teach a lesson yet because of meetings but we have our first lesson tonight and a baptism already on saturday! I'm in a car mission so that's good for now haha I love my mission president and his wife - they are for real the sweetest! And now it's all just kind of a work in progress. I still have no idea what's going on ever and I even speak the language haha but it's getting better and I'm really loving being out here. I loved the MTC but there's more out there besides that haha also people don't stare at us as much as I thought they would being missionaries haha random thought of the day

I always have all this stuff to tell you and then I sit down to email and I have no idea what to say hahah but things are going well and I know this is where I need to be! Don't worry about me haha things are good. Keep smiling and looking for Christ in your every day life - I promise He's there!

I love you all so much! Keep being rad.

Sister Tracy

Friday, August 7, 2015

MTC Photos

We finally received some photos from Sister Tracy!

Pointing to her mission on the MTC map
Sister Tracy and her roommate
Sister Tracy and her MTC companion Sister Flaherty
Sister Tracy and her MTC roommates at the Provo temple
Sister Tracy and one of her good friends, Sister James
She was very excited to see Sister James at the MTC
Sister Tracy and her MTC district
Sister Tracy and the "bike statue"
Sister Tracy and her "sweet sweet roommates. the three of us
minus my companion [on the left] are in my mission"
Here is Sister Tracy with the mission president's wife, Sister Mendenhall, when she arrived in Denver.

Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Week 2: What an amazing week!

Note:  Allison left for Denver on Monday, August 3.  She called from the SLC airport, which was a nice surprise!  She sounded well and is ready to get to work!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone!
So allegedly by the kids in my district, they said the branch president said we could send a quick email home since we will miss our p day this week. So hopefully that's right but if not, whatever haah so I'll keep it brief and tell you more next week. 

So this week at the MTC has been absolutely AMAZING! It flew by and I've just been so so happy!! Like it's not like everything is suddenly easy and all the hard times are over but it's like I've realized its all worth it and that this is no doubt where I need to be.

A couple of highlights from this week:

So I got to sing in the MTC choir for devotional this week and it was amazing! The Spirit was so strong! Also the camera zoomed right in on me and my companion and I felt like I was in the mormon tabernacle choir and I felt pretty sweet hahha and also with my companion, we ended up singing a hymn to bring the Spirit into one our investigator lessons and it definitely did haha I've never sang so much in my life than in the last week but hey, it's been fun

We had in field orientation this week and it was basically just a whole day of meetings and at the end of the day, I just didn't feel as happy as I normally would and I realized that it was because I hadn't really gotten the chance to teach anyone or help anyone that day since it was just meetings. I realized I'm happiest when I'm helping and teaching people and bringing them closer to Christ so I'm so stoked to go do that this week in Colorado.

Okay so we got to teach two real live investigators this week who come to the MTC because they're interested in learning more. One of them was a sweet mom who wanted to learn more about why we do family history and we got to teach her about that and how families are forever and it was a pretty cool experience. 
The other investigator was this amazing lady named Leah. She has been coming to the MTC for 2 years and she is really struggling and has had a lot of hard times in life. She is known for being very defensive and hard to get to open up. So the beginning of the week was frustrating for me, but we really got her to open up throughout the week and to learn to love her and by the end of the week, she finally felt like she trusted us and loved us. And our teachers were very surprised by how well it was going. And throughout the week, she wouldn't let us pray but then we finally started to understand her and she was like you guys are the first ones to understand me in 2 years and now I want to come to God basically. So one of the last nights after an amazing lesson that had all 3 of us in tears, we asked her if we could pray and not only did she say yes but she said she would say it! It was the most beautiful prayer and the Spirit was so strong. So I really came to love her so much and want her to come closer to Christ for sure. It's too bad we can't continue to teach her, but it's enough for me that she is beginning to see God's love for her!

Off to Denver this week! I'm super stoked and I'm sorry I don't have time to reply to everyone's emails but I will next week and I'll send pictures next week!

Love you all!

Be happy and know God loves you!

Sister Tracy