Joy and Focus

 

It was pretty hot by the beach, so Elder Lacey looks like a vampire

Hola!! Que tal?  This week has been so great! I started my 40 day fast of not talking in English and it's helped a lot! I'll admit I haven't been perfect with it and sometimes English slips but I really feel like my Spanish is improving! 

Last Pday all the Elders in my zone went to a place where we could see the sea and it was so pretty (super hot but really pretty haha)

I absolutely love teaching!  I may not be the best at it with my Spanish but I love it so much!  It is such an incredible experience to share the Gospel with people and truly see it bless their lives!

Something I've been thinking about a lot this week is focus.  When I focus and truly listen and put my attention on someone speaking to me in Spanish I can understand most of it.  But if I let my mind wonder even for a little bit I miss everything.  I think life is a lot like that.  A quote I absolutely love from President Nelson is "When the focus of our lives is on Jesus Christ and His gospel, we can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives."

I testify that this is true! Walking up hills in 90% humidity weather might not sound super fun and joyful  but I realized if we're focused on Jesus Christ we can find joy in all things!  The last thing my great grandmother said to me is "Greg, enjoy your life."  I've been thinking about that a lot this week so my invitation to all of you this week is to choose to enjoy your life by focusing on Jesus Christ!  I promise it will change your life!

Los amo!

Èlder Lacey

Un Poco De Calor

Zone Members

 

Zone with President

Hola Todos! Sorry for not writing yesterday we had a Zone Conference so my P-day was moved to today for this week.  Speaking of Zone Conference, it was so awesome!!  Our zone is pretty tiny so they combined it with the Cost Zone so I saw a lot of people from my first area like Elder Sulivan!  It was nice to see him because this is his last transfer. 

In Zone Conference I absolutely loved something my mission president said.  He said the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to show that Jesus is The Christ.  I LOVED this so much.  Often we say the Book of Mormon is evidence that Joseph Smith is a prophet which is true but, more importantly with the Bible and Book Of Mormon we know Christ's Doctrine, Character, and that he is our Brother, Savior, Redeemer, and the Son of God.  I'm so grateful to be here and have my relationship with our Savior grow!

This week there was also a Stake Devocional this week for all the return missionaries in the stake.  The Stake president wanted all of our Zone to come and we sang a song in English and Spanish and it was super cool!  It is so amazing to know that Gospel is worldwide and in so many different languages!  My zone is so much fun and later today we are going to a cool place to look at the ocean so look at for pictures of that next week

Elder Pano is so amazing!  We have such great times and he teaches so amazing!  Whenever he teaches he makes it so personal for them and the Spirit is always so strong.  I want to teach like that but it's a little hard to do that with mas o menos spanish so tomorrow I'm

starting a 40 day fast from english  It will definitely be a little hard but I know it will help!  Another thing Elder Pano and I do is every night we talk about the miracles we saw that day.  It is absolutely so amazing to think and ponder about all the time the Lord was with you that day!  I invite all of you to do this!  Talk about it with someone or write down the miracles you saw that day and I promise your relation with God will grow!

Ps I forgot I didn't mention the title "Un Poco De Color '' It's just because it is super hot and I die going up hills but it is worth it and I love it!

Love Elder Lacey!!

Amor

 

Elder Pano and Elder Lacey

View of the coast from up on a hill

HOLA EVERYONE 

Amor=Love and wow I loved this week so much!  I love my new area, my companion, and especially the people! My new area is in a city called Salina Cruz.  It's right on the coast and it's awesome! I took a five hour bus ride to get here and the views were so beautiful!

Salina Cruz is so beautiful but its also the hottest place in the mission  It is SUPER humid but I LOVE IT!  Luckily we came in right after the hottest month ended and now the rainy season started so it feels a lot nicer! We are over one ward which has 1000 members but only about 150 were active before the pandemic and now because of Covid a lot less are active.  We are also over a branch so our area is super big and we have a lot of work to do! This is a good thing though because Elder Pano and I are super excited to go and work hard and we have been! I come home pretty exhausted every day and I love it so much!!  It feels so good to share this gospel that I love!  

A lot of this week was getting to know the members because our entire district is new to Salina Cruz so none of us knew anything Haha.  We get lost quite a bit,   Oaxacas houses don't really have numbers so address are just kinda the general area so it takes some effort to find houses Haha.  Also our area is SUPER hilly and I'm pretty sure all the members live on the tops of the hills🤣 but it's worth it because the members are so awesome! At 9 Saturday night the bishop called us and asked us to give 12 minute talks the next day at church, I was working on my talk until they called on me up to speak and then half of it didn't save, so I had to wing part of it but luckily it went really well!

My new companion is Elder Pano and he is so incredible!!  He is super spiritual and funny! It has been so fun with him and I am learning so much from him! Today he taught me the best way to wash clothes by hand so now all my shirts will be super white

This email was a bit all over the place because so much happened this week but it was truly so incredible.  Every transfer we are supposed to work on a specific Christlike attribute and for this transfer I chose love and charity.  This was the perfect place to do it because the love I feel for this place and the people is indescribable! The hand of the Lord is manifest every day here and I am so incredibly grateful to be a part of it. I know this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that this is His work and His glory.  He is out here with us every day.

Ant Catching Season

 

Gadiel's Baptism

Top of the mountain 

Gadiel's baptism

Hi There! I hope you are all doing so so wonderful!

Okay Okay I know you might be sick of me talking about bugs but that is currently my life so let me explain.  As I've said crazy things happen here in Oaxaca when it starts raining more. Last week I talked about the helpless little dung beetles but they have stopped being as abundant which is nice because the amount I have to flip over because I feel bad for them is less overwhelming  BUT those giant flying agressive ants I mentioned last week have arrived as of yesterday morning.I had never seen one that was alive, just the cooked one I ate but now they are everywhere. 

Chicatanas

OK so these ants are called chicatanas and let me tell ya the rumors are true. They are definitely giant and definitely fly(Although not that well) BUT luckily they are not agressive and don't bite so that's quite nice of them.  But Oaxaca gets very excited when the chicatanas come. You know how when it snows sometimes your parents will wake you up and say "Look it's snowing!" And then the kids will get all excited and go play in the snow? That's kinda what it was like yesterday but instead it was "Look the giant flying ants are here!" When we left our house everyone was out with their kids collecting chicatanas. Everyone was so excited and it was so fun haha. We even helped some people collect them They collect them because they're pretty rare and only come out of the burrows in the rainy season. They use them in salsas too and apparently a bag of them sells for quite a bit so maybe my future career could be collecting chicatanas haha.  Oaxaca is so cool and I love it and the people here so much!!

Gadiel's baptism!

Gadiel's baptism was Saturday and it was so incredible! The spirit was so incredibly strong.  I love that family so much and some of them have become more interested in the gospel thanks to the baptism!! The Savior's love is apparent every day here in the mission and I'm so grateful to be here and experience it.

Spanish

The language is getting a lot better! I went on exchanges this week and we were with this family and one of the kids said a joke and I laughed and the mom was very impressed I understood hahaha. I know laugh with a bunch of people and we joke and it is such a blessing because I love laughing!

In Minor News

I'm being transferred! I had a feeling I was so it wasn't really a shock but it's still pretty crazy! Elder Torres is going as well so there will be two new elders here in Casa Blanca. I'm excited to see new places but I will definitely miss the people here a ton. We were calling people yesterday and telling them and it was sad because I love them all so much.  But I know I'll see many of them again! 

We did some service this week and let me tell you I was dying.  A lady lives at the top of the mountain in our area, her house is legit the highest one. It's a struggle to walk there  But I carried these two 10 foot wooden planks up the mountain for her and it was exhausting but actually so fun and I love serving so much!

The mission is the absolute best! I'm so blessed to be here and feel our Savior's love everyday.  I know it's true with all my heart!