Holy Cow!!! It is already the last day of June! Agh!!! Where has all the time gone!?! It's weird to think that in about a year I will be home. TIme just needs to slow down a little bit.
Well things are going so great here in Clovis. This week has been a crazy one full of changes and exciting adventures.
Adventure #1: I got to help make wedding flower arrangements with one of our investigators. She is making the arrangements for a wedding that is on the 4th of July. I loved it!!!!! I think it is something that I'd love to do as a side job when I get home! I really enjoyed it.
Adventure #2: I completely chopped off my hair this week!!! I know, crazy right!?! I officially have short hair. Ha Ha I will have to send you a picture.
Adventure #3: We officially have a new mission president. President Robison is on a plane as we speak. Our new presidents name is President Augustin. I got to talk to him on the phone last night and he sounds like a really great guy!!
Adventure #4: Clovis had a "Mircoburst" the other day. A microburst is like a mini tornado. There wasn't too much damage. It got one farm pretty bad, and knocked out a power line for a while but no one got hurt.
Well I'm sure I could come up with lots more adventures, but that's all I've got for now. Like I said this week has been a crazy one. One thing that we have been experiencing here in Clovis is hearing tons of stories about how crazy the world is. There is one lady that we were teaching who was telling us about a horrible experience that happened to that niece. Her niece lives in Mexico. She was walking home from work with five of her other friends, when the soldiers (who were fighting in the drug wars) kidnapped them. They were all raped and killed. Her niece's life was spared, because she had a history of seizures. She went into a seizure and they thought she was dead, so they didn't kill her. They then threw all the bodies on the side of a deserted road. Eventually her nieces' seizure stopped and she was able to sneak home. They now have to keep her hidden now so that the soldiers don't see her alive. We have heard stories like this all week long, but the sad thing is that they are everywhere, not just in other countries. It really has weighed down on our hearts. It's sad to see what the world is coming to. Although the world is getting worse and worse it's good to find a comfort in knowing that our Heavenly Father never leaves us. He is constantly by our side, pushing us to move forward in the face of adversity. We just need to have the faith that things are going to work together for our good. I'm so thankful for the gospel in my life. It really does give me the guidance and support that I need in my life. Life would be miserable without it. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the gospel!!!
Thank you for all of your prayers. I know that they really do help! I love all of you and hope that life is going great. Remember to keep saying your prayers! :)
Love ya Always,
Sister Tracy
Jun 30, 2011
Jun 23, 2011
June 23, 2011 - Letter
Hey!!! So this week has been pretty busy!!!! We have been teaching a lot of lessons, and trying to get new investigators. So far we are up to four new investigators and they are all really awesome people!!! Missionary work here is just going great!!!!
So I don't know if you all know what a Ham Radio is, but if you have one there is a thing they are doing this weekend from 12pm Sat-12pm sun. People from all over the world get on their radios and try to talk to each other. Whoever gets the most signals wins the contest. So anyway my companion and I are going to see our investigator is really into the Ham Radio stuff on Saturday around noon. If you have a radio you should listen in and see if you can here us! :) Our code is KA5B (3AlphaNM)
So let's see....crazy story for the week. Well, yesterday we were riding on our bikes. I was on the sidewalk (cause I thought it would be safer then the busy road) when I looked up and saw another lady on her bike, heading my way. I was nervous cause I didn't think that she was going to scoot over. well we had just almost cleared each other, when she accidentally bumped me, I hit a pole and flipped my bike. Okay, keep in mind, we are on one of the busiest roads in Clovis and I'm wearing a skirt! So pretty much I flashed all of Clovis. And then to top in off I got pretty scraped up! I have a pretty nice looking gash in my knee. And the back of my calf looks like a shark got to it. Ugh! Ha Ha I look pretty frazzled and it's been rough trying to walk around, cause it hurts pretty bad. But I'll tell you what! It's going to make a nice battle wound to take home. :) Ha Ha
Well I just absolutely love it here! The mission is the best choice that I could have ever made! Every day we get to experience something new that helps us grow. There are moments when we will go to teach someone, and will have their lesson all planned out. And then when you start talking, you realized that you are sharing a whole new message, and a whole different subject. But then they start to cry and you know, you KNOW, that it was just what Heavenly Father needed them to hear. Our Heavenly Father really does work in mysterious ways. Many times he is trying to speak to us, but we are just to blind to see it. Being on a mission had really helped me to open my mind to accepting the will of our Heavenly Father. Just being able to sit back and relax as the hard times role in, knowing that God sure does know what he's doing, is a rare possession. I know without a doubt that he has bigger things in store for me then I ever could have imagined! i just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. I know everything works out for our benefit in the end. We just have to have the faith to know that he really is always there for us. Once we have that faith we can see how blessed we really are.
I love all of you so much! My prayers are with you!.
Love Always,
Sister Tracy
So I don't know if you all know what a Ham Radio is, but if you have one there is a thing they are doing this weekend from 12pm Sat-12pm sun. People from all over the world get on their radios and try to talk to each other. Whoever gets the most signals wins the contest. So anyway my companion and I are going to see our investigator is really into the Ham Radio stuff on Saturday around noon. If you have a radio you should listen in and see if you can here us! :) Our code is KA5B (3AlphaNM)
So let's see....crazy story for the week. Well, yesterday we were riding on our bikes. I was on the sidewalk (cause I thought it would be safer then the busy road) when I looked up and saw another lady on her bike, heading my way. I was nervous cause I didn't think that she was going to scoot over. well we had just almost cleared each other, when she accidentally bumped me, I hit a pole and flipped my bike. Okay, keep in mind, we are on one of the busiest roads in Clovis and I'm wearing a skirt! So pretty much I flashed all of Clovis. And then to top in off I got pretty scraped up! I have a pretty nice looking gash in my knee. And the back of my calf looks like a shark got to it. Ugh! Ha Ha I look pretty frazzled and it's been rough trying to walk around, cause it hurts pretty bad. But I'll tell you what! It's going to make a nice battle wound to take home. :) Ha Ha
Well I just absolutely love it here! The mission is the best choice that I could have ever made! Every day we get to experience something new that helps us grow. There are moments when we will go to teach someone, and will have their lesson all planned out. And then when you start talking, you realized that you are sharing a whole new message, and a whole different subject. But then they start to cry and you know, you KNOW, that it was just what Heavenly Father needed them to hear. Our Heavenly Father really does work in mysterious ways. Many times he is trying to speak to us, but we are just to blind to see it. Being on a mission had really helped me to open my mind to accepting the will of our Heavenly Father. Just being able to sit back and relax as the hard times role in, knowing that God sure does know what he's doing, is a rare possession. I know without a doubt that he has bigger things in store for me then I ever could have imagined! i just need to sit back and enjoy the ride. I know everything works out for our benefit in the end. We just have to have the faith to know that he really is always there for us. Once we have that faith we can see how blessed we really are.
I love all of you so much! My prayers are with you!.
Love Always,
Sister Tracy
Jun 16, 2011
June 16, 2011 Letter
So I absolutely love it here in Clovis, New Mexico! The people here are so amazing. They are all just so nice. Plus a lot of the people we are teaching remind me of people from home. There is a lady named Kim Schiller and she is just like Karen Hudson! I love her a lot. Also we are teaching a lady named Tracy Gaurdipee, and she is just like Cassie Swensons mom. I love her too!!! Pretty much to sum it up, I just love everyone here!!!
This week we set a date with a girl named Morgan Edwards. The Edwards are a less-active, part-member family. My companion Sis. Peavler has been trying to get a hold of this family for months and has had no success. Well the other day we pulled up and the dad was sitting outside. He was so excited to see us! He said that he had been thinking a lot about the church lately and that he wanted his family to start coming back. Then his 9 year old daughter came up and said, "I want to get baptized, when is the soonest we could do it?" It was so cool! They whole family is just awesome. We are going to see them everyday next week to help the daughter get baptized. We are also going to help their 14 year-old son, get the priesthood and the mom get her patriarchal blessing. They also really want to work towards going to the temple together! I'm so excited to see them progress. What else is crazy is that my friend David Glover served his mission here a few years ago and taught them when the mom was just baptized. Small world!
This week we kind of had a crazy experience. It was just a regular night, and we both jumped into bed. Around 12:30 am Sister Peavler woke me up and told me that our Carbon Monoxide Detector was going off like crazy. First off, I didn't even hear it so I'm thankful that she woke up. But of coarse we were kind of scared cause things like that don't always happen. So both of us are half asleep trying to figure out what is wrong with our detector. We couldn't figure out how CO2 would be getting into our apartment. So we just assumed that it would be going off cause our batteries were dead. After messing around with it for a 15 ish minutes we decided that we were going to pack our bags and go find somewhere else to stay for the night. We packed our bags and then decided that we would keep trying to fix the alarm. I know it sounds like we are a bunch of really dumb girls, but neither of us wanted to leave our apartment in the middle of the night. Ha Ha. Our apartment is a little broken and not all of our outlets work and so we tried plugging it in every socket. Sometimes it would beep, other times it wouldn't. We didn't have a bad feeling or anything so we decided that we would just pray so that we would know what we should do. I said the prayer, and obviously didn't think it through all the way, because I prayed that Heavenly Father wouldn't let us fall asleep if we shouldn't. So after the prayer neither of us felt bad about the situation so we just jumped back into bed. Well neither of us slept all night because we were so paranoid. We couldn't decide if we were tired cause it was the crack of dawn, or if it was the CO2. Then we couldn't figure out if we weren't tired because Heavenly Father didn't want us to sleep or if it was because we were paranoid and had just walked around the house for the last hour. Well needless to say we are still alive. Then next day we ran out and got new batteries, and since then we haven't had any problems. It's nice to know that God is watching out for us.
The work is going well here in Clovis! There is a lot of potential here and I'm excited to see what happens in the near future! I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and your letters! It means a lot! Hope all is going well!
Love Always Sister Tracy
This week we set a date with a girl named Morgan Edwards. The Edwards are a less-active, part-member family. My companion Sis. Peavler has been trying to get a hold of this family for months and has had no success. Well the other day we pulled up and the dad was sitting outside. He was so excited to see us! He said that he had been thinking a lot about the church lately and that he wanted his family to start coming back. Then his 9 year old daughter came up and said, "I want to get baptized, when is the soonest we could do it?" It was so cool! They whole family is just awesome. We are going to see them everyday next week to help the daughter get baptized. We are also going to help their 14 year-old son, get the priesthood and the mom get her patriarchal blessing. They also really want to work towards going to the temple together! I'm so excited to see them progress. What else is crazy is that my friend David Glover served his mission here a few years ago and taught them when the mom was just baptized. Small world!
This week we kind of had a crazy experience. It was just a regular night, and we both jumped into bed. Around 12:30 am Sister Peavler woke me up and told me that our Carbon Monoxide Detector was going off like crazy. First off, I didn't even hear it so I'm thankful that she woke up. But of coarse we were kind of scared cause things like that don't always happen. So both of us are half asleep trying to figure out what is wrong with our detector. We couldn't figure out how CO2 would be getting into our apartment. So we just assumed that it would be going off cause our batteries were dead. After messing around with it for a 15 ish minutes we decided that we were going to pack our bags and go find somewhere else to stay for the night. We packed our bags and then decided that we would keep trying to fix the alarm. I know it sounds like we are a bunch of really dumb girls, but neither of us wanted to leave our apartment in the middle of the night. Ha Ha. Our apartment is a little broken and not all of our outlets work and so we tried plugging it in every socket. Sometimes it would beep, other times it wouldn't. We didn't have a bad feeling or anything so we decided that we would just pray so that we would know what we should do. I said the prayer, and obviously didn't think it through all the way, because I prayed that Heavenly Father wouldn't let us fall asleep if we shouldn't. So after the prayer neither of us felt bad about the situation so we just jumped back into bed. Well neither of us slept all night because we were so paranoid. We couldn't decide if we were tired cause it was the crack of dawn, or if it was the CO2. Then we couldn't figure out if we weren't tired because Heavenly Father didn't want us to sleep or if it was because we were paranoid and had just walked around the house for the last hour. Well needless to say we are still alive. Then next day we ran out and got new batteries, and since then we haven't had any problems. It's nice to know that God is watching out for us.
The work is going well here in Clovis! There is a lot of potential here and I'm excited to see what happens in the near future! I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and your letters! It means a lot! Hope all is going well!
Love Always Sister Tracy
Jun 9, 2011
June 9, 2011 Letter
Well things are going good here in Clovis. We have just been staying really busy. I'm still trying to remember all of the people here. It's hard to remember everyone, and where they live, and all their stories. But I'm getting there. This week we were able to drive down to Roswell for interviews with President Robison. It was really sad, because this is the last meeting that we will have with him. He is being released at the end of this month. It will be weird getting a new mission president. Our new presidents name is President Augustin. He is from Utah, and from what I've heard, he is really great! There are lots of big changes coming soon here, but it will be good!
I absolutely love it out here! I learn something new everyday. Today for example I was reading in Alma. He is talking to each of his sons and trying to teach them. It is amazing to me what a great example he is of how to be a parent. I've noticed that he talks differently to each of his children. They each are different and so therefore, they each need to be taught and loved differently. It's amazing how the Book of Mormon can teach you about everything in life! Not just about Jesus Christ, but about how to live and raise your family. The Book of Mormon really does answer so many questions! In fact, it can answer all questions! I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! It's great!
Well I hope you all know how much I love you! I miss you and you are all in my prayers! I hope everything is going well back home! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love always,
Sister Tracy
I absolutely love it out here! I learn something new everyday. Today for example I was reading in Alma. He is talking to each of his sons and trying to teach them. It is amazing to me what a great example he is of how to be a parent. I've noticed that he talks differently to each of his children. They each are different and so therefore, they each need to be taught and loved differently. It's amazing how the Book of Mormon can teach you about everything in life! Not just about Jesus Christ, but about how to live and raise your family. The Book of Mormon really does answer so many questions! In fact, it can answer all questions! I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON! It's great!
Well I hope you all know how much I love you! I miss you and you are all in my prayers! I hope everything is going well back home! Hope to hear from you all soon!
Love always,
Sister Tracy
Jun 3, 2011
June 2, 2011 Letter
Wow!!! So we've had some crazy changes since I talked to you last week!!! I am officially no longer in Roswell, New Mexico. We had transfers on Tuesday and I got moved to Clovis, New Mexico. It's a pretty big area. We cover three cities in New Mexico and two in Texas. It's a huge ward, but over half are inactive so they can't split the ward. So far I like it here a lot. It's a lot more humid then it was in Roswell, but not too bad. I haven't really met tons of people yet, but from what I've heard they are all really great! My new companions name is Samantha Peavler. She is from Provo, UT. She is really cute and funny! I'll have to send some pictures. I'm sure we will have lots of fun and even more success here!!! One thing that is crazy about Clovis is that the members feed us like crazy!! Ha Ha Yesterday we had TWO dinner appointments. We also have a dinner appointment every night for the next two weeks. We also have lunches scheduled. And a few nights where we have two dinners! Ha Ha Ha It's so crazy!! But if it gets us in to teach, I guess I'll be willing to gain a pound or two. Ha Ha So something else about Clovis is that it is the number one baptizing area in the whole mission, which is pretty sweet. I'm so excited to get to know the area better.
Well Here is my new address:
2100 Mitchell #30
Clovis, New Mexico 88101
Well I don't really have anything else to share about the new area, other then I love it! Ha It's only been two days, but I can tell it will be a good transfer. Well I love ya a lot lot! Hope everything is going well! Talk to you all soon.
Love Always,
Sister Tracy
Well Here is my new address:
2100 Mitchell #30
Clovis, New Mexico 88101
Well I don't really have anything else to share about the new area, other then I love it! Ha It's only been two days, but I can tell it will be a good transfer. Well I love ya a lot lot! Hope everything is going well! Talk to you all soon.
Love Always,
Sister Tracy
May 30, 2011
May 26, 2011 Letter
Well I don't have tons of exciting news to share with you this week. It has definitely been a long one! Each month we are allotted a certain amount of miles. Well this month we look a trip to Lubbock, which used up a lot of our miles. Well we had used up all of our miles last Friday. So needless to say we have been on our bikes all day, everyday. It's pretty hot, but it's okay. I actually really like to bike. Some times it can get tricky in a skirt, but we usually do okay. It also helps keep us in shape.
Well this is the last week of the transfer. It's crazy how fast time is flying by. I only get to serve for 13 transfers so I only have like 9 left! It's really stressing me out. Both of my companions right now go home next transfer and so they are stressed out like crazy! Neither of them want to go home, and I think their anxiety is starting to wear off on me. I still have over a year, but I can tell that I don't think I will ever be ready to leave. Well...needless to say, this could be my last week here in Roswell. I'll let you know next Thursday where I am.
This weekend we are hoping to have a baptism with Mimi Reyes. She had to go out of town unexpectedly and so she hasn't been interviewed yet. We haven't even been able to get a hold of her. Right now our fingers are just crossed hoping that it can go through this weekend so that we can all still be here to watch it happen.
Well the work has been going good so far! I just love it tons. Thanks for all the letters and packages. I miss you tons and can't wait to hear back from you! Hope all is going well!!!
Love Always
Sister Tracy
Well this is the last week of the transfer. It's crazy how fast time is flying by. I only get to serve for 13 transfers so I only have like 9 left! It's really stressing me out. Both of my companions right now go home next transfer and so they are stressed out like crazy! Neither of them want to go home, and I think their anxiety is starting to wear off on me. I still have over a year, but I can tell that I don't think I will ever be ready to leave. Well...needless to say, this could be my last week here in Roswell. I'll let you know next Thursday where I am.
This weekend we are hoping to have a baptism with Mimi Reyes. She had to go out of town unexpectedly and so she hasn't been interviewed yet. We haven't even been able to get a hold of her. Right now our fingers are just crossed hoping that it can go through this weekend so that we can all still be here to watch it happen.
Well the work has been going good so far! I just love it tons. Thanks for all the letters and packages. I miss you tons and can't wait to hear back from you! Hope all is going well!!!
Love Always
Sister Tracy
May 19, 2011
May 19, 2011 Letter
Holy Cow!!!! I can't believe it's already the end of may. The year is half way over already!
So not tons of things have happened this week. Just small little moments. But all at the same time, each small moment is really just a miracle in our eyes. One big thing that we saw this week was in an appointment with Daniel Mediola. We have been teaching him for about two and a half weeks, and he is just AWESOME!!! Since we met him a few weeks ago he has already read to Jacob! We can barely get our investigators to read the introduction, let alone half of the book of Mormon. But he has just been cruising along. He has also been praying a lot. He hasn't gotten a for sure answer but he knows that something about it is really just pushing him to keep pursuing it. Anyway, this week was going to be an intense one for us, because we were going to be teaching him the word of wisdom. We were nervous because his house always smells really smoky. Well both of my companions were determined that he was the smoker, but I just wasn't so sure. All week I have been praying that Daniel didn't smoke, and then yesterday when we taught him, turns out he doesn't!!! When he told us that he had quit years ago, you could just see how happy all three of us were!! He also quit drinking all alcohol ten years ago. The only thing he would have a problem with is coffee, and he says he doesn't even like it very much. He just drinks it cuz it's there. It's amazing how the lord with prepare his children long before they ever receive the gospel their lives.
This week I was also talking with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Rose, at District Meeting. We started talking about Lavell Edwards. We were talking about how he was a really well known coach because of his ability to win. Something that he said has really hit me hard. "We don't win games on Saturday. We win games Monday through Friday." --Lavell Edwards
How true is this quote!?! I think a lot of times we just focus on the "big day." Whether it be in sports, or a wedding day, or just some other even in our lives. But what we forget about is those other days that lead up to it. We HAVE to be preparing ourselves on the rest of those days in order to be ready for the day that really counts. Lavell Edswards told them, without the proper practice and training throughout the week, they would never be ready on Saturday to win the game. I hope that we can all remember how important those little days are. Remember to read your scriptures and to constantly pray. Because when those winds come to blow us over, we have to be prepared in order to not fall over.
I love you all so much! I'm so thankful for all of the support and love you have shown me. I hope everything is going well back home!
Love Always,
So not tons of things have happened this week. Just small little moments. But all at the same time, each small moment is really just a miracle in our eyes. One big thing that we saw this week was in an appointment with Daniel Mediola. We have been teaching him for about two and a half weeks, and he is just AWESOME!!! Since we met him a few weeks ago he has already read to Jacob! We can barely get our investigators to read the introduction, let alone half of the book of Mormon. But he has just been cruising along. He has also been praying a lot. He hasn't gotten a for sure answer but he knows that something about it is really just pushing him to keep pursuing it. Anyway, this week was going to be an intense one for us, because we were going to be teaching him the word of wisdom. We were nervous because his house always smells really smoky. Well both of my companions were determined that he was the smoker, but I just wasn't so sure. All week I have been praying that Daniel didn't smoke, and then yesterday when we taught him, turns out he doesn't!!! When he told us that he had quit years ago, you could just see how happy all three of us were!! He also quit drinking all alcohol ten years ago. The only thing he would have a problem with is coffee, and he says he doesn't even like it very much. He just drinks it cuz it's there. It's amazing how the lord with prepare his children long before they ever receive the gospel their lives.
This week I was also talking with one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Rose, at District Meeting. We started talking about Lavell Edwards. We were talking about how he was a really well known coach because of his ability to win. Something that he said has really hit me hard. "We don't win games on Saturday. We win games Monday through Friday." --Lavell Edwards
How true is this quote!?! I think a lot of times we just focus on the "big day." Whether it be in sports, or a wedding day, or just some other even in our lives. But what we forget about is those other days that lead up to it. We HAVE to be preparing ourselves on the rest of those days in order to be ready for the day that really counts. Lavell Edswards told them, without the proper practice and training throughout the week, they would never be ready on Saturday to win the game. I hope that we can all remember how important those little days are. Remember to read your scriptures and to constantly pray. Because when those winds come to blow us over, we have to be prepared in order to not fall over.
I love you all so much! I'm so thankful for all of the support and love you have shown me. I hope everything is going well back home!
Love Always,
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