Week 43: Prayers are always answered!

Well this week was insanely amazing!! I can't even begin to tell you how awesome it was!
First of all, we had zone p day which was super fun! We had a BBQ and played lots of games so that was great. We went on lots of exchanges with the other sisters this week which was fun!
We had 2 zone meetings that we had to give trainings at. My trainings were on #behappy and #befriends which was super fun. It was a great topic for me because I LOVE being happy :)
We had 2 of our investigators come to church finally which was such a blessing. I've been praying and fasting for this for a while now and its amazing that God always answers our prayers no matter what. But He sure does have His timing.
We were asked to cut a lady's hair in our ward haha we've never cut hair before but here we were just like sure why not. So before we went in, I said a prayer to bless us with capabilities beyond our own so we don't ruin this poor lady's hair haha and it turned out good! We were pretty pleased with it and God sure does answer prayers, even the ones that are kinda different haha
Okay you people ready for the greatest story ever?
Let me preface this by saying that I would say I am over my fear of dogs. I love dogs now. So a couple weeks ago we got a referral and tried to contact the people but there was a fence all around their house and the gate was closed. So while we're standing there, trying to decide what to do, these HUGE killer dogs come up and start trying to kill us through the fence. Like they were terrifying. So Sister Kastner, being Sister Kastner, carries dog treats in her bag. So we were like okay lets do a test. If we throw the dog treat and the dogs stop trying to kill us and they go eat the dog treat, they are nice. So we throw the dog treat and they completely ignore it and continue to try to kill us. So we were like okay they are really mean.
Fast forward to this week. We decide to try to go contact them again. So the gate is open! And we're like, this is a miracle! We start walking up the super long like 1/4 mile long driveway and we get halfway up and these killer dogs come out of no where and start coming at us. Oh man it was instinct for us to just start sprinting for our lives. I've probably never run so fast in my life. So the dogs get super close to us but we finally get away. And we're like what the heck, we need to contact this person. So we say a prayer to be like Daniel in the lion's den and to be protected haha so we start walking back up this driveway, all confident and then the dogs come at us and we just look at each other like oh dang we're going to die. We just keep walking and then the lady comes out of the house and grabs the dogs and we're saved! So then we talk to her and she's interested!!!! it was the craziest thing ever hahaha God sure does take care of us.
But that's about it from a week in the life of Sister Tracy!
Be happy and remember that God always answers prayers!
Love you all!
Sister Tracy

Week 42: happy mothers/Skype day

First of all, I am so grateful for a wonderful mother of mine who is LITERALLY the best mom in the entire world. I love her so much. How did I get so blessed to be raised by such an amazing woman who loves so much? #blessed Happy mothers day.
This week was wonderful. We went on exchanges and that was so fun! We found this new amazing lady named Stacy who we street contacted into and she let us into her home and we taught her the restoration and when we told her we have a living prophet on the earth today she just FREAKED and was so excited! It was the cutest thing ever. She is so awesome.
We got to go to the temple this week which was such a blessing. It truly is the house of the Lord and I love the peace I feel there.
I really learned the importance of talking to everyone this week! There was this couple we started approaching and you oculd just tell that thye didn't want to talk to us but I did it anyway and this guy just shut me down and was like, not interested but then I asked him if he knew anyone else who needed a message of Jesus Christ in their lives? And then he actually gave us a referral to this guy! So we went and met him and he is just GOLDEN. He has such a sincere desire to know the truth and we were able to pick him up as a new investigator which was awesome. Asking everyone for referrals is true.
Cute story: So there's the most ADORABLE recent convert named David that we love with all our hearts. He has such a desire to be a good person, to lift others up, but most of all, he wants to share the gospel and be a missionary! He's always telling our bishop that he wants a missionary tag so he can be official haha so we got him a "missionary in training" and "future missionary" tag this week and he was SO happy. It was the cutest thing ever. He had the best reaction and he proudly wore both of them to church on Sunday and showed everyone. It made my heart so happy.
We had MLCs this week with all the mission leadership and me and Sister Kastner wore matching outfits. Everyone thought we were so precious, which lets be real, we were :)
And of course, I GOT TO SKYPE MY FAMILY. It was seriously the best thing ever. I love them so much and am grateful for the chance I got to talk with my sweet family.
This week I had experience after experience of God answering my prayers. I just want you to know that God truly does know us by name and hears and answers our prayers. Never forget that.
I love you all!
Sister Tracy

PS: funny story:
we were street contacting and I start talking to these people and I'm like "you have the cutest little girl!" and then the mom just looks at me and is like "this is a boy." and then things just got really awkward hahah it was a great moment in my life.
and also look at LITTLE SEBASTIAN!!! aka his real name is Brownie and we work with him every week :)

Week 41: snow storms and dirt roads

Well this week was wonderful!!! It snowed a TON again, for like 3 days straight. That's always fun. Just when you think its spring and its 70 degrees, it suddenly starts snowing and is 20 degrees. #Colorado seriously the weather is crazy here.
We moved houses this week into a new member's home and that was fun! The members we live with are the SWEETEST and the absolute best. We live even further in the country and we live on this crazy dirt road and can I just say that snow and dirt roads do not combine well together. Its crazy but so fun haha our car just gets disgusting every day haha its hilarious.
We picked up a ton of new investigators this week, including some part member families which was awesome. I love part member families, they have such a special place in my heart. So we'll see how that goes.
the snow storm this week was so fun. I'm getting more used to the snow, although I sincerely hope this is the last snow storm before summer.
Also it was Sister Kastner's birthday this week and that was so fun! I love her so much, she is so amazing!!!
Cool experience this week:
One of our appointments cancelled on us so we just started walking down the street and then we ran into this sweet lady we found street contacting the other day. We weren't sure how interested she was but we ran into her and started talking with her. She was getting ready to go and so we just shared a scripture with her really fast as she was leaving. It was 2 Nephi 32:3:
"Angels‍ speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast‍ upon the words‍ of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell‍ you all things what ye should do."
and when we read it, she said that she got goosebumps and not because of the cold! because it was like 28 degrees haha but then we're just talking and she starts crying and is just like I'm so grateful I ran into you and I'd love to talk to you again! so we'll see her again this week! It was so amazing to know that everything truly does happen for a reason and God has His timing and it truly is perfect. #blessed
I was reading a talk this week by Stephen E Robinson about the Atonement and this part I love:
"To have faith in Jesus Christ and his identity is only half the process. To have faith in his ability, in his power to cleanse and to save, that is the other half. We must not only believe in Christ, we must believe Christ when he says, 'I can cleanse you and make you celestial.'"
What a beautiful reminder that Christ truly is everything.
I sure do love y'all! Have a great week!
sister tracy

Week 40: OH OH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE

YO I HIT MY HALFWAY MARK THIS WEEK. WHAT IS LIFE. my adorable mother sent me a package with things cut in half and I almost died laughing haha she is the best. I can't believe I just hit my 9 month mark. Time is flying way too fast. its crazy.
So this week was AMAZING. I love love love my new companion, Sister Kastner. We have so much in common and we love being companions! We had a class together at byu and have tons of mutual friends so its CRAZY. I love her!!! She is so amazing and I'm learning so much from her!
This week was awesome. we did a ton of biking because the weather was prime and it was awesome! we got 6 new investigators which was a miracle and we got a new investigator and committed her to baptism which was soo exciting!! Things have just been great.
we also got to go drop one of our sisters off at the temple who was going home and so we got to go to the temple which was awesome but we didn't get to go inside :( but we got to take some pictures which was fun!
funny story of the week:
so Sister Kastner's first night. We live in the country in the middle of no where. so we're going to sleep and suddenly we hear this scratching on our window. and we're like oh crap. we're dead. there's a murderer outside our window. oh my gosh. so we're just like WHAT DO WE DO. and I'm like I don't want to look through the blinds because I don't want to see a face there, that would be terrifying. so finally sister kastner works up the courage to peek through the blinds and we look out and see a DEER has its face pressed against the glass. I felt like I was at the zoo. we just stood there for like 5 minutes and had a stare down with the deer. it was so funny haahhaha good times.
but that's about it from here. I was reading a talk this week and it was talking about the best way we can be an example is to make others want to have the goodness that we do. I love that that we can really be an example as we just strive to make goodness look good and fun. #cantlose
have a great week, be good, and be happy!
love you all!
sister tracy

week 39: never been more grateful for L.L. bean snow boots

Well seriously, I've never been more grateful in my life for L.L. bean snow boots. It snowed for like 36 hours straight, like a ton. and we got like 2 feet of snow with like 4-5 foot snow drifts. it was CRAZY. but it was fun! we got to go out and shovel lots of snow and tract in the snow and it was super fun! it was the craziest. but once again, I'm so grateful for snow boots. SHOUTOUT to my Grandmother for getting them for me for Christmas. I'm so thankful at times like this.
We did a photo scavenger hunt with our sisters this week for p day and that was really fun! And we did a TON of biking. because it was in the 70s and then the next day it was a blizzard. #crazycolorado but before it snowed we did.
So coolest experience ever this week.
So we picked up these amazing investigators, Richard and Diane last week! and so we went and taught them lesson 2: the plan of salvation with their neighbor who is a member and holy cow it was the most spiritual lesson ever. And it was amazing. And then we're at the end of the lesson and the whole lesson, I was praying to know if we should invite them to be baptized. So sister Fa'amausili closed the lesson and at that moment, I knew there was no doubt in my mind that I needed to invite them to be baptized so I just blurted it out and invited them to be baptized and they both said yes! And so they'll be baptized on May 14th! We were SO happy! And then they came to stake conference on sunday, which was awesome!
speaking of stake conference, we got a new stake presidency because our current stake president got called to the quorum of the 70 at general conference! so we had 3 members of the 70 at our stake conference and the stake presidency got reorganized! and the bishop of our ward is in the stake presidency now so now we're getting a new bishop! big changes but it's awesome! so it was an AMAZING stake conference.
It was such a great week for me and Sister Fa'amausili.
Well transfers are this week and I'm staying but sister Fa is leaving :( but I'm getting an awesome new companion and we'll continue to be STLs together! So it will be an awesome transfer!
I started reading the Old Testament this week and I love it so much!
in geneis 18:14 it says, "Is anything too hard for the Lord? and that struck me so hard. That is so true! nothing is too hard for the Lord, just do His will and it will all work out!!!
Hope you have a great week and stay warm! love you all!
sister tracy

Week 38: laughing for days #whatelseisnew

Well this week was AMAZING. I can't even begin to explain how awesome it was!!
First of all, we picked up 4 new investigators which was such a miracle!
One of them is a former investigator who doesn't have a belief in God but she wants to know that He is there. I've never taught someone who doesn't believe in God but I'm excited for the chance to do it and to show her and help her feel the love Heavenly Father has for her.
We tracted into the other 3 new investigators. We tracted so much this week and it was seriously so fun!! I loved it! We picked up this amazing couple and they have so much potential! It was awesome. they let us right in and let us teach them the restoration so it was awesome!
We had zone meeting this week and we gave trainings in 2 zones which is always fun! I gave a training on patience, which is definitely something that I can work on so it was probably inspired that I was asked to give a training on that. Actually it definitely was inspired haha
We started teaching a guy named Todd a couple weeks ago and taught him the first couple lessons and he came to church with us which was awesome but we had to pass him off to different missionaries. But he got baptized yesterday which was awesome and he invited us to come and give talks at his baptism! It was the greatest! He was so happy and so prepared. I love baptisms. You can just see the happiness on his face. God is so great.
Oh also we went on 2 exchanges this week which was fun! We did service at one of them where we got to paint old ladies' nails and serve them ice cream and it was sooo fun!
So some funny stories from this week:
1. we knock on this door when we were tracting. we hear a little boy inside say: "i'll get it! it's probably my friends!" and he opens the door and he sees us, his eyes get wide and then he hides inside the house haha it was the funniest thing ever #whycan'twebefriends?
2. we knock on another guy's door and he's like hey I've seen the book of Mormon play! and we were like hey, the book is way better than the play. do you want to read it? and he was like, nah, i'm not a reader. and so I flip open the book of Mormon where they have pictures at the front and i'm like "but hey, there are pictures in it!" and you could tell he was just stumped and he was just like ummm no thanks and closes the door. but it was so funny and I laughed for days.

one last thought:
"the distance between you and heaven is the distance between your knees and the ground." #boom. that's so great. God is so great and He always wants to hear from us and help us so pray on!
love you all, have a great week!
sister tracy

Week 37: how is life going so fast?

I feel like time is just flying! It's so crazy. I love being a missionary. Every day, I realize more and more how blessed I am to be out here serving the Lord. Its such a unique and life changing opportunity that I will forever be grateful for. Thank you so much for all of you who have helped me to get here and supported me through these last almost 9 months! I sure do love you all!

This week was AMAZING. I love those moments that are just like, wow, I just answered someone's prayer. We went and saw this cute older lady in our ward on Monday and she had been telling everyone that we were going to go see her Monday, which of course we had no idea and never told her we were coming so when we show up, she is just SO happy and it was the cutest.
We had a conference this week with all the sisters in the mission and that was so fun! We talked about small and simple things that bring great things to pass. Me and sister fa were in a fashion show ;) and then we gave a training on having faith in trails. and last of all, we did a special musical number and I got to play the VIOLIN. I borrowed one from a member and I've never been happier. so great.
So general conference this week. If you didn't watch it, go check it out on lds.org because is was probably the greatest thing that has ever happened. The Spirit was just so strong when we watched it all and I could truly just feel God's love for each and every one of His children. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Holland who really just emphasized that we need God in our life and He loves us so much. The first great commandment is to love God with all our heart, might, mind, and strength and the first great TRUTH of the gospel is that God loves US with all His heart, might, mind, and strength. That just hit me so hard. Remember how much God truly loves us!
I sure do love y'all! Be good and have a great week!