Hola!

 

Elder Lacey and Elder Whiting

Watching General Conference

Hey what's up?  I hope you are all doing well!  This is week was pretty crazy so let's get started.

We had transfers on Tuesday so Elder Cortés left and I had to wait in a place called Hualtuco with other missionaries until my new companion got here.  His name is Elder Whiting and he is super cool and from Utah!  Not to mention he's giant and like 6'6 so now no drunk people want to mess with us 

All of the members make the joke and are like wait Elder Lacey you used to be the tall one, what happened? HAHAHA

We are in our branch choir and it was a pretty cool miracle because we needed a pianist but no one know how to play the piano but Elder Whiting is amazing at the piano and he was an answer to a lot of prayers to the people in the choir so that was awesome!

I enjoy being in the choir a lot, I don't sing well but I am improving my jokes in Spanish so now they think I'm hilarious so that's fun

We also moved houses this week so that took up a large portion of the week!  But we are all moved in now and I love our new house!  

I started another 40 day English fast yesterday so that'll be fun!

GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!

I love General Conference!    This is no doubt in my mind that those men are prophets and apostles of Jesus Christ!  It was also super awesome to hear Elder Ochoa speak because I met him a few weeks ago! I loved the theme of progression and momentum!  Through covenants, daily repentance, and a diligent study of the scriptures will help us stay on the covenant path!  President Nelson also said if we don't nourish 

Also something I liked in my personal study is the scripture that wickedness never was happiness.  Which is so true and  something else that I have learned is that we can't be truly obediente without being joyful about it as well!  So always remember to follow the Lord and love to do it!

Grateful!

 

Holaaaa yall como están?

I hope you all had a great week!  

This week we went back to the city of Oaxaca for a conference with Elder Ochoa!  He is a General Authority and in the General Young Men's presidency a few years ago!  The conference was so so amazing!  It was such a special experience to learn from someone who is a special representative of Christ!  The Spirit was so strong!

Also when we went to Oaxaca and I got to see ELDER PANO!!!!!!!!!!! Also there were a ton of missionaries there so there was a lot going on and me and another Elder had the same suitcase and there ended up being a huge confusion because and he took my suitcase and left so it was almost a huge mess but everything worked out in the end hahah.

This week I was thinking a lot about the Prophet Joseph Smith.  I'm starting to read the book Saints in Spanish to practice mi español and I absolutely love learning more about the life of Joseph Smith.  He was an imperfect like every one of us but he was called of God to restore his Church.  I am so incredibly grateful for the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ because it is full of tender mercies and life changing promises.  Being here in the mission and seeing how the gospel truly changes people's lives it is obvious to me that it is real.

Because we are studying the Old Testament this year I think it is so special that many of the promises the Lord gave to these people and their descendants thousands of years ago apply to us!  That is so incredibly special!  The Lord always keeps his promises when we do our part.  I am so incredibly grateful for all of these things and as well for temples!  I think it is one of the biggest blessings we have that we may be sealed to our family for time and all eternity!  I know the temple is the house of the Lord and there is peace there.  I am so excited to back to the temple after my mission with all of my family and feel the joy and love that is there with them!

I love this gospel!

Dios Existe

 

Mazunte

Mazunte

Hello everyone!  I hope you all had an amazing week!  

This week there were no iguana attacks but we did see the same iguana from last time climb up a palm tree so that was cool, but now I'm kinda scared that an iguana is gonna drop from a tree and attack me which would be quite a fright.

This week I went back to the center of Oaxaca to renew my greencard because I have a year in Oaxaca!  But I had to take like a 12 hour bus ride but it's not that bad and feels fast.  Going to Oaxaca was fun because I got to see Elder Oswald, Moa and Hermana Funke because we all got here together!  We also went to the grounds of the temple to look at it and I absolutely love it so much!  I know the temple is the house of the Lord!

I absolutely love testifying when we teach people because the Spirit is so evident.  It is very interesting to teach people when they have a lot of doubts.  It is obvious that the adversary uses little things to try and distract us from the love and joy the gospel brings.  For example this morning we went with our branch president to see the sunrise from a super cool lookout point over the ocean.  We were waiting for the sun to come out but we didn't see it because from our perspective there was a rock in the water directly in front of where the sun was coming up.  In order to see the sun we had to change our position.  I think the gospel is very similar.  The beautiful gospel is there, but sometimes we let the adversary put tiny rocks in our way to block our view.  I invite all of you to put yourself in a position and do the things you need to do to be in the warmth and light the gospel brings.

I just thought of that analogy as I was writing this and I'm pretty proud of myself I'm not gonna lie   but the sunrise this morning was ABSOLUTELY gorgeous!  Seeing all of the ocean and the sun it was evident to me that there is a Supreme Creator!  How special is that!?

Love Elder Lacey

Iguana Attack!!

 

More dinosaur than iguana

Hi!  I'm just going to start off with explaining the title because it was crazy.  So yesterday we were in the chapel because Church had just finished and a kid walks up to us and was like elderes want to see the iguana?  So obviously we responded with "si" because who doesn't want to see an iguana.  Ok so he shows us this room and the door is shut but we see through the window that there is a giant iguana in the corner of the room.  We don't know how it got in but let me tell ya this thing was more dinosaur than iguana.  It was the biggest iguana I've seen in the wild and looked liked it wanted to eat all of us.  

So a group of us were looking at the iguana through the window and a brother walks up and he was like they don't do anything you just got to go grab it.  But I've seen jurassic park and know you shouldn't mess with dinosaurs so I wasn't gonna do it.   Anyway, this hermano walks in the room to try and grab the iguana but the iguana freaks out and starts running for the door that is now open.  Let me tell you when that thing runs it straight up looks like it wants to kill you because it extends all its spikes and it waves all its claws.  So naturally seeing the dinosaur charge in our direction the entire group that was standing at the door screamed and ran away.  Elder Cortés and I ran into a different room to find a safe haven BUT the iguana went into that room WITH US. When Elder Cortés and I saw that we just looked at each other and screamed  we got on chairs to try and escape its deadly grasp and finally we got out of the room with our lives.  If you have seen the movie "she's the man" mine and Elder Cortés reaction were pretty similar to the spider scene in that movie just for some context 

After that an older sister from the ward walks in the room and just picks it up LIKE IT WAS NOTHING.  So that was awe inspiring to say the least.  So we all got to take pictures with the iguana so that was fun.  In one of the pictures you can see the absolute fear in my eyes from the traumatic experience I had a few moments before.

We went on exchanges this week and a lady that we were twins so that was funny.

We have to find a new place to live because we're getting kicked out of this place so I hope we aren't homeless 

I'm now a profile Facebook missionary so I can post stuff on my profile and search for people to teach on Facebook so I'm excited for that!

A really cool scripture that I found in Alma 41:11.  Here Alma is talking about how the natural man goes against God and his nature "they are without God in the world, and they have gone contrary to the nature of God; therefore, they are in a state contrary to the nature of happiness."  

I thought it was interesting that it said they are contrary the nature of God and contrary to the nature of happiness.  For me this means that the nature of God is happiness!  I love that so much!  It is so special that we have a Heavenly Father who is happy!  If you are having a hard day or week remember that and ask him to teach you how to be happy as he is, and he will do so!  I love him and our Savior Jesus Christ so much!

Crazy Week

 

Snake eating an Iguana 

A stick and a rock for protection from the dogs :-0

HOLA

Ok this week was full of crazy stuff and I feel like I'll forget a lot but I'll try my best to put down the key points 

-We went to this small town to visit someone we are teaching.  We got there and she lives on a mountain and we were trying to find a way up the mountain.  We got lost and ended up finding an abandoned elementary school.  We were walking and then a kid appears out of nowhere and scares the heck out of us  but this kid was super cool and helped us out to find the path.  But right before he gave us two big sticks and said be careful there are a lot of dogs.  And Elder Cortés doesn't like dogs so he didn't want to go but I made us go anyway   The dogs didn't bother us but there were a few kids crawling on the mountain barefoot which was strange hahaha.  ALSO WE WENT TO THIS PLACE A FEW DAYS LATER and we saw a big snake eating an iguana so that was fun.  So this place is pretty interesting to say the least. Also it's called El Vigía, or the Watcher 

-Elder Cortés and I walked a TON this week so that was fun.  But we realized once we're reakly tired we get kinda loopy and we start laughing at everything and when we get home we laugh until our stomachs hurt so thats fun

- With all the crazy stuff going on in the world all the members are joking around with me and saying that I should get ready because they're going to take back California because we robbed it from them HAHAH  so that's been fun but I think some of them are low-key serious 

- I learned that being a missionary in English is hard.  Yesterday we talked to a guy who grew up in the states and when we walked by he was like, "What's up Utah?"  And I told him I was from California and then he asked me why I wasn't more tan then  but explaining missionary stuff is SO hard in English but the guy was super cool and has some crazy stories.

-A lot of crazy stories with drunk guys so I don't even know where to start with that one.

-Also we don't know how or why but a bunch of big flies entered out house yesterday and in the past 12 hours I have killed 20 flies and the war between us is pretty intense.  But we think we have finished them off.

Something so amazing I have seen this week is how much God wants to support us in absolutely everything!  We just have to let him do so!  Sometimes the work as a missionary is crazy, we walk in the heat and humidity in ties and long pants and we talk to everyone and it's crazy but I love it so much because I know it's the work of the Lord because I couldn't do it alone.  He will help us grow and improve little by little every day and is so happy on our growth even we are hard on ourselves.  I am so grateful for this knowledge!

Love Elder Lacey

Pochutla!

 

Luchador

Iguana!

Elder Cortés and Elder Lacey melting

Hola todos!  

I've arrived in my new area!  It's in a city called Pochutla and it's on the coast!  And let me tell ya it is very hot and humid hahaha.  The city took some getting used to at first but there is a ton of work and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all of God's children!  

My new companion isn't new at all!  Elder Cortés and I were transferred together!  So that's been a lot of fun!

Something very interesting about Pochutla is that 15 minutes away there is the only nudist beach in all of Mexico.  So there are a ton of European hippies here who go over there haha.

Also Chicken fights are very popular here.  We have seen a bunch of people training their roosters.  So that's interesting 

Whenever I get to a new area the members always ask me about my hair and never believe me that it's natural and they think I dye it

Something I've been thinking about a lot this week is how grateful I am for the Spirit!  It is such an incredible blessing to be able to have God's guidance in our lives.  All we have to do is live worthily of his presence!  Please always strive to have the Spirit with you!

*ALSO please pray that our sweet friend is baptized this week!  Thank you!  

Love you all!