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!

Week 36: BLIZZARD IN COLORADO ***

Well this week was craziness! There was a HUGE blizzard. I've never seen so much snow in my life, its crazy. It snowed like 17 inches and just like was out of control. Holy cow it was awesome. We got to shovel snow a TON and we got to just be out in the snow and it was so great. I love the snow. sort of. except when everything gets wet, which is always haha but nah, it definitely makes missionary work interesting. we also were on exchanges when the blizzard happened so we were on an extra long 2 day exchange since there was no way for us to get back together to exchange back haha it was so fun.
Easter was awesome! I ate a ton of candy and pie #gettingfat and we got to eat with an awesome family. There were like 35 people over at their house plus us so it was crazy awesome. we had a ton of fun. I'm grateful for sweet people who take care of us missionaries out here! I also am grateful for sweet family who sends me lots of candy :)
We had an awesome lesson with one of our investigators, Desaree, this week! We stopped by yesterday on easter and we just had an amazing lesson that you could really feel the Spirit. All the things we were saying were just so much led by the Spirit, it was the coolest thing. I love it when the Spirit is so strong and it was such a blessing to be able to spend easter night talking about the very Jesus we are spending the day celebrating and with someone I care for so much.
If y'all didn't watch general women's conference, you definitely should! I loved it so much! My favorite part I think was just the encouragement to really be our Heavenly Father's hands as we serve others. That we have the ability to be His hands and His servants. And as we really do that, really follow what He wants us to do, we will be surrounded by His love and just be happy! and who wouldn't want that?
I hope y'all have a warm and safe week! I love you all!
sister tracy

1. blizzard.
2. laying in the snow
3. when the snow bank so high you can sit on it
4. 2 day exchanges in the blizzard

 

Week 35: BEST WEEK EVER

Well this was the BEST WEEK EVER PEOPLE. I can't even begin to explain  how much it was the best! Like for real. Well first of all, we had zone p day on Monday and we did an easter egg hunt and it was awesome. and then we had zone conference on Thursday and it was the BEST. I learned so much and really felt the Spirit. And then we picked back up one of our investigators that dropped us last week and that was awesome! #miracleshappen
And then me and Sister Fa'amausili just had so much fun this week! We did so much finding and just knocked so many doors and we just had the funnest time ever.
It snowed a bunch this week, randomly which was fun I guess. It keeps getting really warm and then snowing all the sudden but what else would you expect from Colorado?
the real best part:
One of my investigators, Diane, got baptized and I got permission to go back! It was so great to see her and to see the baptism! I got to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and that was awesome! She is so amazing and I love her so much! I am so grateful for amazing people like her. I really felt the Spirit so strongly!
This week I've been thinking a lot about grace.
I found a quote that I love: "grace is the power by which healing occurs." that's so true that no matter what we're going through, it'll all be okay because Jesus Christ's grace is sufficient. He loves us and wants us to be happy so He will help us to do that!
Hope y'all have a great week! Love you!
sister tracy
ps I have lots of pictures this week.

1. happy easter!
2. matching shirts (almost #compunity)
3. posterity picture!! my baby is training so now I have a granddaughter!
4. our zone at zone conference

Week 34: biking for DAYS

Well well well this week was definitely interesting but it was really good! I don't have too much to say this week...sorry
It started out with a random snow storm on Monday and we were just like what?
And then lets see, we started biking a lot and man we've just been biking for days. biking in a skirt is interesting but the worst part is the hills out here.  but hey its like the funnest thing ever and the weather has been PRIME.
We taught primary this week and that was so fun. I love little children so much. Also my mission is having me do a lot of stuff that I wouldn't normally do. Like we taught part of relief society and me and my companion sang a song for them that we didn't even practice really or anything and that was fun haha it was kinda rough but everyone said it was good so that's awesome. its nice to do stuff that I wouldn't normally do.
We had MLCs for all the zone leaders and stls and that was awesome. I really got a lot out of it and it was nice to see all my homies.
anyways, for real, I don't have too much to say. this week was pretty slow but we're working hard.
I'm really coming to realize that God just really wants us to do His will and as we do that, He promises to bless us and take care of us. I was studying about that this week and about how the Lord's way in the end is easier. It's easier to do our part and to just rely on Him because He knows what He's doing. Once we do what He wants, we'll be blessed and happy!
anyways,
hope y'all have a great week!
love you!
sister tracy

Week 33: when you move to the country

Well i'm in the country now, in the middle of no where which is awesome. Its so different than downtown, its crazy! but I really love it here! The ward i'm in is AMAZING. The members are so supportive and its just been so much fun!
Well this week, we got to visit lots of people downtown to say goodbye so that was sad but good to see them all. I'll miss it so much but I'm excited to be in my new area!
There's so much open space and its so quiet and its like the complete opposite but its so great!
We've been running like every morning and its just the best feeling ever to be running in all this open space! I love it so much.
We found 3 new investigators this week which was awesome. me and my new companion, sister faamaulsili have been working real hard and its been so great!
One of the investigators we found is so amazing. We were trying to visit a less active who wasn't interested and we start to walk away but then I got this feeling that we needed to turn back and go the other way and knock on this open door down the street. so we went and knocked on the door and she let us right in. and we had an amazing lesson and the Spirit was so strong. She told us that she saw us walking outside and she told herself that if we knocked on her door, she would let us in. what kind of an amazing miracle is that?? So she is so awesome and it was such a testimony to me that God prepares people to hear our message and that He will lead us to them.
I just know God is so aware of each and every one of us and that He truly will never leave us alone!
have a great week!
much love, sister tracy

one time me and my new companion basically wore the same outfits