Ya se me acaba el año blanco

Hey Everyone!

It's been a good week out here in Arlington Heights with my boy Elder Anderson! We have been working crazy hard. It's been a blast. Really I only have to talk about a couple of days this week considering we last spoke on Wednesday due to the the change in days!

But this week was a we e we were able tk find a bunch of people to teach and we were also able to visit some people this week and weekend and it was awesome! We found this one family last week, la Familia Soliz and they are homies. We also have been working ING with this one guy named José and he is a legend. He is super solid actually! We are also still working with Mary! She is a awesome person! She came to church this week which always awesome! (she showed up about 40 minutes late, but she came!) She son Angel is wild haha he is like 4 and he never sits still for more than about 1.2 seconds! He is hilarious honestly!

We also had an interesting lesson with our friend Nahu. He is a good guy, but he got into researching the Book of Mormon on the internet and he found a bunch of anti-mormon (I know we aren't supposed to say that anymore haha) literature and he tried to make it a big deal to us and try and tear our beliefs down, telling us that we've been lied to the whole time and that we need to study better. But Elder Anderson, being the savage he is, looks him straight in the eye and says "I have been a missionary, talking with people like you for more than a year. Do you really think you're the first person to tell me these things? I know what I know and nothing can change that" Nahu didn't seem to get who we was talking to, Two seasoned spiritual war veterans, and it was a lost battle for him at that point. He's a legend haha

But as the title says, my white out year is ending. 2018 was a full year that I dedicated to the service of my God. It will have officially ended tonight. It has caused me to reflect a lot on who I am, where I've come from and how much further I can go! I've gone from kinda speaking Spanish, to being able to really talk with anyone. I've gone from knowing the basic doctrine of the restored Chruch of Jesus Christ to truly knowing where it all come from in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I've gone from a lost missionary training another in the city, to a far more competent and hard working Zone Leader. Truly this is the purpose of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: to change and become more of the person that my Heavenly Father desires me to be. I've gone from believing to knowing. I've gone from 18 to 19. Change is the essence of Repentance. It's all true. The Book of Mormon, Priesthood Power and Authority, Miracles, The Atonement of Jesus Christ, all of it. 100% true. I couldn't ever deny this, nor will I. I feel as though my life's desire currently is best described as in the Book Of Mormon in 2 Nephi 26:33. Look it up at https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/2-ne/26?lang=eng and if you want to know it's true like I do, do what this verse says in Moroni 10, verses 4 and 5: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/moro/10?lang=eng

If you have questions let me know on Messenger

Love you all and I hope you all have a fantastic start of 2019! See you all soon!

As always
Elder Tracy

Photos
Obispos house with the other elders
A awesome truck we found
A good Sunday selfie haha
We found this lit house

Last Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE

It is little late, but here we are wishing you all merry christmas! We were told to work on Monday and Tuesday because people were going to be home so we decided to work really hard those two days to see what could happen on Christmas! It was way fun! we spend the day with members eating, with people we are teaching, and we spend the most of the day just knocking doors to try and spread the cheer! (turns out a lot of people are not having the idea of a Christmas Message on Christmas about Jesus which is why we celebrate Christmas. Weird right?)

But this week was kind of legendary. We did a lot of awesome tujgs this week and last too! For example, we were able to put one of the homies on date for this next month and she is a legend! Her name is Mary and she is the coolest. She is a sweet lady with a little kid and she is coming to church and she has some awesome members as friends!

This Sunday we went sang villancicos to the people we are teaching and some members who don't come to church a lot. We went and sang to Mary, Dennis and Gloria, The Rivas Family and several more! They are the homies. We went with the Najera Famoly to go and sing and it was way fun!

We also had an awesome lesson with Dennis and Gloria yesterday. They were kinda avoiding us this week it seemed, but we were able to get in with them again and they were way happy to see us and they said that we're super in. The Spirit was super strong and it was a way good lesson.

Things have been good. I've been recently been thinking a lot about the birth of Christ and I'm so grateful for him. It's thanks to him that we can have happiness in life and how we can overcome difficulties. Without him, we would always be drifting further and further away from happiness and God. But we can be grateful for this gift we have received.

As always

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Some pictures
And one of obispo throwing away some stuff a person we are teaching he shouldn't have had

workin'

Howdy yall!

It's your boy Elder Tracy and you're all tuned in for another exciting week in the great Chicagoland with the Tales of Elder Tracy and Anderson!

But this week was wild busy. We worked super hard all the time and we saw some miracles. For Example, we were able to get in with that awesome couple Dennis and Gloria and they are so awesome! They accepted a Baptismal Date for the next couple of weeks! We just need to get them to church! We also had some awesome experiences with them and we taught them a super powerful lesson!

This week Obispo Belmont called us and asked if we could visit a "friend of his" to help him with some addiction problems. So we said sure and we went and it turned out to be the father and husband of this one family in the ward who is not a member of the church but wants to keep make a change in his lafe after hitting almost rock bottom. We taught him Tuesdat, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday this week and he is progressing a lot! Pray for Armando please!

We got to go on exchanges with the Assistants to the President this week and it was way fun! I went to Woodridge with Elder Anderson (The AP) and Elder Tu'vou (The AP) went to Arlington Heights with Elder Anderson (my companion) we had a really good time talking to a bunch of white people who were not having it but it was legendary haha we had a blast! We ending up driving around a lot that day but it was a blast all in all! 

This week one of our friends here who won't get baptised for anything, Alfredo, took us to this buffet called Hibachi Grill and I despise this place but Elder Anderson wanted to go, so we went. When you eat there, the food will and also ways does wreck you. I had learned my lesson the past couple of times there so I knew what to avoid, but Elder Anderson didn't know and he got destroyed this week. DESTROYED 

We were out knocking Sasturday night and we felt prompted to go stop by this one random lady we had met last week and we went by and she was home and we taught her a little bit about the restoration right thereon her door step and she was feeling it. She cried during the First Vision of Joseph Smith. We invited her to church and lo and behold, she came and stayed for all three hours!! It was way cool! She is certainly a miracle. She said that she really liked it all and she has serious desires to come back and we asked her when we could come by again and she told us any time we wanted to! She is so solid and she wants us to teach her family too! Please please please pray for Mari this week everyone. she need it. 

Things are going awesome this week. Things are picking up. We are convinced that the level to which you are consecrated, you show your love to the Lord. So we are workin so hard to show our love to the Savoir!

I Love you all so much and thanks to all of you who have already sent me Christmas wishes! You're the best!

As always

Elder Tracy

DECEMBER ALREADY?!?

Hey Everyone!!

This was an awesome week! We had a lot of awesome things happen! Also time is flying out here bros but here we are!

To start, Elder Anderson and I have been working super hard to make things happen this week and it was amazing! For example we got to meet with my boy Nahu and he's always so busy but he was able to squeeze in some time for us (Because he is in college and is working a full time job so he's a busy guy) but he is the man that we met in the library about two weeks ago. But we were able to put him on date for the 5th of January! We are super duper excited for him!

I think on Tuesday we had probably one of my favorite days! We got to meet with Nahu that day and we also worked super super hard that day! and the Lord looked down on us with mercy and we literally saw two miracles! It was the greatest! As we knocked the last building in an apartment complex, we were reaching the last floor, we knock the second to last door, and the door opens, and it's a white guy and we start in and all the sudden he says no English man, so we switch to Spanish and turns out he is from Puerto Rico and he is super interested in the church and his wife too! They are named Dennis and Gloria if you all would like to pray for them! They are so cool and we were able to meet with the, twice this week! After that, we went to this one family in our ward and they have a Polish Roommate and she is really nice and she made us food because we are always going to the Gutierrez house on tuesday! and because she made us food we asker her if we could share a video with her too! She said yes, and using the power of technology and the awesome reach of the church, we had a Polish version the "Because of Him" Video and it was a beautiful moment for all of us. None of us understand Polish but we could also feel the power of the Spirit testifying to her about it all! It was a very tierno experience.

We also had Zone Conference this week! President Bingham is awesome. He is so inspired and it was a very nice training he gave. he asked us to study the characters in the Bible and the Book of Mormon regarding the Birth of Jesus and also what the Prophets from these books had to say about it. It was a very interesting experience all in all. I learned a lot and I definitely had a growth in love for the Savior and His Birth. Elder Anderson and I, siendo the Zone Leaders we are, we got to give our first Zone Conference training in Spanish! It was super fun! It didn't go as planned, but it was still awesome!

This week we also found this one man named Mario on Friday and he said we could come back on Saturday and we go back and this man was slammed drunk with all his buddies and they invited us in and we had probably my favorite lesson ever hahaha they were so gone but we had a funny time just talking to them all! Really it was my first time around people drinking and it was funny hahah but definitely something I don't want to do. (Thanks Word of Wisdom)

On Sunday Nights we have e meeting with the District Leaders and so we usually just Facebook Messenger Video Chat with them all, but this time we didn't have wifi and we don't have the miles this month to go back to the church, so we decided to try and snag the wifi from the McDonald's down the street right before and so we circled this McDonald's for like 10 minutes just trying to get a wifi connection strong enough to make a video call so we could talk to these people hahah but we weren't able to... so we made a conference call on the phones and it was a wild one haha but just think about it yall: we would have made a meeting outside a McDonald's in the freezing cold on Videochat using the free wifi hahah we laughed about that for a good minute haha

We have just been working hard and been loving the work at the same time! The Church is True and the Book of Mormon is more of the Word of God and that as we read the words contained there then we can find more happiness! Also try to Light the World this Christmas Season! www.lighttheworld.org or in Spanish www.iluminaelmundo.org

As Always ,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
We took a Spanish Zone Selife in Zone Conference (Minus Elder Peterson and Vargas (rip))
Elder Anderson had some Sunday boots now and they are amazing haha
ZONE CONFERENCE FT THE BINGHAMS
MLC we got to see the new Mission Home and then we took a picture there with everyone!
We made some dank tacos with the food we found in our fridge
we found a lit sign out knocking in some apartments

Twas a good week my friends

Hey Everyone!

This was a great week! We had some good things happen! First off I got Elder Anderson on Tuesday! It was a bit of a drive and then a delay due to some sister missionaries high centering their car on a median on transfer day. But at last, Elder Anderson arrived and it was a joyous reunion. It was good to see my brother again. Very good times. we went to work immediately and it was super fun! Although it was a little weird to be with someone other than Elder Fry! We were together forever and its fun to be with someone else!

This was kinda a standard week. We worked a lot and it was kinda discouraging at times, but all in all it was a very good week! We knocked a lot of doors to try and make up for some lost ground. while knocking on one particularly cold and wintry night, Elder Anderson knocked a door and while he was talking to this woman to start things were normal. But about 10 second into the contact he tried to casually lean against the banister on their stairs and this man ATE IT. His feet slipped out from under him and he was gone! it was the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. But it was great. The woman was not having it at all but it was really funny!

This week we also got to go to MLC which is Mission Leadership Council! So we had to drive to Naperville again! Its like a 50 mile round trip so needless to say, we had a major set back with that. But MLC was awesome! We heard a lot of awesome things from the Assistants to the President, The Sister Missionary Leaders, and President and Sister Bingham! It was a really spiritual meeting and we learned a lot and talked about a lot of things that we can work on to improve in the mission. It was a great day and I got to see some of my old buddies form the mission like Elder Garcia, Elder Butler, Elder Osorio and many more! We also got to go and see the new mission Home because the Binghams moved! It was a way neat experience to see the new home! It is in a very very nice area!

This was a good week overall. nothing too crazy. weve been working hard, praying hard, studying hard, sleeping super hard and really just trying to give it all weve got. Sorry this is kinda a short one this week! There was a lot that happenedbut this is all I can remember! I do just want you all to know that I love you and I pray for you all reguraly! Love you all and hope you have a great week!

As Always,

Elder Tracy

Photos
Me and Elder Anderson and obispo and Selvin and Elder Moser and Elder artis

Snow, Día de Turkey and Promotions

Hey Everyone!

This was an awesome week! We had a lot of fun! Especially because this was the last week of the transfer! And considering that we've been together for three transfers (4.5 months) we figured it was time for a change! But we didn't let that deter us from the work!

I was finally able to find the part o needed to fix my bike. It just took five different stores and several weeks. I finally just going to ACE Hardware and they hooked me up.

We had a lot of good things happen! We started this thing called "Inspired Tracting" where we pray and ask God where we need to go to find the people in need of the Gospel. We tried it twice this week and it was awesome! We found some really cool people. We found this one man named Adrian! We were knocking down in Rosemont and he was walking down the other side of the street and we decided to go talk to him. He was a little wary of us at first but it was super cold and he let us sit in his car and talk for a few minutes. He's been having a rough go of things here recently but we convinced him to listen to us and he did! He's way cool! We also are teaching that man we found in the Library last week! He is named Nahu! It's super cool too! We were knocking doors on Saturday Morning and we knocked this one door and a woman answers and we say that we are sharing a message about Jesus Christ and she let's us right in! We taught her the restoration right then and there and she had some really good questions for us but we answered them and she seemed excited to read from thr book of mormon!

We also had THANKSGIVING this week! It was super fun! We went and knocked in a apparently very white neighborhood haha but it was really fun! We also got to go to dinner with the Marquez Family (German and Lorena who are our recent converts) and with the Rodriguez Family! (Hermano is the 1st Councilor in the Bishopric) it was a super fun day filled with cold weather, a lot of food and a lot of laughter! I'm become somewhat of  a legend in the Rodriguez's eyes because they know me as the thumbs up Elder. When things get a little awkward or something I just throw up a thumbs up haha and Hermano loves it haha we literally just took a picture doing a thumbs up. It was awesome.

We went on exchanged this week too! The Zone Leaders exchanged with us and I got to go with my boy Elder English again! We were here in Arlington Heights again! And it was a shaft day haha. We had about 6 lessons planned and all of them canceled except one haha so we knocked so many doors and a lot of people were mean to us hahah and others lied to us! It was a way fun day though de todos modos. We brought Obispo with us and he brought Selvin for some of the citas and we just a blast driving around town with them.

It also snowed so hard last night. We got about 6 inches of snow overnight. It was wild. It started at about 5 o'clock last night and I was driving yesterday. After about 2 hours it was coming down. So I had Elder Fry drive because he is from Utah and he knows how to drive in the snow. But it's been coming down all morning. We went outside to go put money on the laundry card and there were trees that had fallen, snowplows on the roads and a bitter wind. Im literally shook. I have no idea what this is. Snow is wild.

We received transfer calls last night. We figured that this was the end. And it was. Elder Fry is going to Midway! That's where I started my mission on the south side! He's so lucky and really excited! But I'm staying here! I'm getting Elder Anderson! We've been friends here on the mission for a while and we are rooming together in college after the mission! And get this! We are going to be ZONE LEADERS! I'M GOIJG PLACES PEOPLE. I'M ON MY WAY UP. I'm so excited to see what happens! We are going to have a blast and we are going to get some good work done.

I just want to say, Thanks for you all reading this far! But also Tha KS for all your thoughts and prayers and notes this Thanksgiving season. I'm grateful for so many things. But to be brief, I'm thankful for my God, my Family and my Faith. My Friends, my parents and my sisters. Yall rock. Hope it was a great week for you too.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Last District Photo
Elder Fry and I
Elder English and Obispo
A Dove. A living Dove.
Snow has begun.
The homies. The Padillas.

Fire and Ice

Hello hello hello everyone!

It's me Elder Tracy! So this was a super fun week! We decided to make some fun goals! We decided this week that we were literally going to talk with every single person we could about the gospel. We found a lot of success this way.

But funny story! On Tuesday morning, I was feeling still really sick and I was a little grouchy. And we live right next to the laundry room and there was this really loud annoying noise coming from it. I told Elder Fry likewise and he was like it's fine don't worry. And it kept bothering me! So I finally open the door and there was smoke billowing out of the laundry room! Elder Fry jumps up heroically and goes over to the washer because it was jumping and smoking and he opens it, and was surprised to find: couch coushins. One in each washer. So we stop the washers and are asking ourselves "what kind of idiot would put couch coushins in a washer?" So we walk over to the office and we tell them what's up, and the lady at the front desk turns around and yells "Mike, a washer is on fire" and this guy just comes like busting out the back room and is on his way. The fire department comes and everything. And after about 10 minutes the guy who'd put his coushins in the washer comes to get them calmly, gets chewed out and goes on with his life. Good day. We became heros in our own eyes.

But like I'd said, we decided to talk tk everyone we can. We literally will be walking and we see a guy all the way down the street, vamonos, we're gonna go talk to him. We actually met a nuch of cool people. We also met a lot of people who don't speak English, which is good because we speak Spanish. But it was the wrong language still. We weren't trained in Hindi. So maybe next time. We met this one really cool guy named Nahu at the library. He's like 26 or something is currently studying the Bible when he's not working! And that way cool because that's what we do too! We will be in contact with him soon!

But it's been chilly here! Like it doesn't get above like 35 usually. Cloudy. Windy. It's been awesome! We've been getting destroyed by the cold! And I, being the little Texan boy I am, am still not remotely excited for winter. It's been snowing of and on here and it's super fun I guess!

We had an activity this week! We were working with the Elders Quorom and the Family History department in the church! We had a blast! We made little stations to talk about our ancestors and activities about them it something! So Elder Fry and I decided to talk about GOLF because that was my grandpa's jam! We hit up dollar tree and goodwill and we made this awesome mini golf course in the gym for like $14 in total. We had a blast! We didn't have the turnout we had hoped, but those who showed up were the homies and it was a good time! Everyone really liked it! From math, to picaditas, to golf, to sewing everything was there!

I also made a goal to study the scriptures in almost every spare moment I have at the apartment. Wow it's made a difference in my life. I've been diving into the New Testament recently in English ans Spanish and it's been fantastic. My favorite thing I've read yet is in Revelation (Apocalipsis for you Spanish speakers out there) It's really fun to see how much the Book of Mormon and the Bible share in both doctrinal depth and personal value. God lives!

It was a good week my friends! Hope you have a great one too! Go make a difference in someone's life!

As always

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
The Fire Dept
The Snow ft Elder Tracy
MINI GOLF FT OBISPO DE SION

Murphy's Hope

Hello to those of you faithful people who are still reading this message!

Wow this was a week for the record books let me tell you. So many things went wrong haha but it was awesome.

But to start on a postive note! We had Zone Conference! It was awesome! President Bingham started out with something that I've been thinking a lot about recently: The Prophet Joseph Smith. Wow. Just wow. Let me tell you all. Wow. If you all haven't read the new book frok the church called "Saints" you're missing out. He went in on Joseph Smith and he addressed a lot of really fascinating stories about how Joseph Smith was really prepared to be a prophet and all the other things he was able to restore and bring back to light that had been lost over the years. It's amazing. From eternal families to priesthood power, and from exaltation to the origin of man, Joseph Smith brought it all back. We also talked about how the restoration of the chruch has really only just begun. President Nelson recently said "If you think the church is fully restored, you are just seeing the beginning. You’re just seeing the beginning. Just wait until next year, and then the next. Eat your vitamins, get your rest. It’s going to be exciting!” IM EXCITED

But then things kinda took a turn.

The past week of so I've been having this terrible cough and on Wednesday night it peaked and my voice was gone. Thursday, Friday, and most of Saturday were a wash for me. I couldn't talk, I couldn't participate in lessons with out it hurting. I was struggling. As most of you know, I love to talk. And I couldn't. It was really bringing me down. To make matters worse, one of our super solid people, Carina, dropped us. She knew the book of mormon was true. She'd prayed. She knew this was the truth. But she's gone. Another person we had on date dropped off the face of the earth and we had to take him off date because he wasn't progressing or talking to us. All our lessons on Friday and Saturday fell through and we were out side both days knocking doors. Those were also the coldest days of the week. I was not having a good time.

But I was feeling down on myself at one point but I remembered a poem that my sister, Allison, gave me at the start of my mission. It tells of a missionary complaining a lot and feeling down on himself because of all the difficulties he's having. But Jesus responds to him and says "No matter what we go through, when we feel we can't take more, Just stop and think of Jesus Christ, He's been there before." I was so down on my self that I couldn't see past it! After that, I decided to turn my trail of tears and sickness and pain and sadness into a trail of hope and peace and health and happiness! And it works!

I was able to look back and see how blessed I truly was this week. We had an awesome lesson with my favorite old man Pedro, we somehow got three people to chruch and we still found three new people and one has great potential! All in all it was a grest week! It even snowed for the first time this season!  There's always hope! (HOPE OF ISRAEL RISE IN MIGHT) I'm so glad I've decided to leave all of you behind for these two years. I've grown more and more into the man God wants me to be! Let me know is you have any questions!

As always (and faithful as heck)

Elder Tracy

Ps. Yall should read "Premortality, a Glorious Reality" October 1985 General Conference By Neil A Maxwell. 🔥

PHOTOS
PEDROOOO
The Dominguez Family (the G. O. A. T.)
The snow of death

Good times are upon us

Hey Everyone!

This week was a good week! We had a good time doing the lords work!

To start, it was Halloween this week! We had district council and it was awesome! Elder Fry is an awesome district leader! I'm so proud of him. But we stsrted knocking some doors at about 3:30 because we thought that everyone would trick or treat at like 6. WRONG. VERY WRONG. We were suprized when we pulled up that there were a bunch of kids out and about! Apparently here everyone trick or treats at like 3 o clock! It was wild. We weren't able tk do MUCB knocking but we called obispo to see if we could come and talk abiut the ward with him for a second and he offered to take us to Wendy's! It was a win win win!

We are starting to work with the members a lot right now. We called one family to see if we could come by and visit them and they said yes so we go over a few days later and we are talking with them and havijg a nice dinner when all the sudden, their neighbor knocks on the door and starts to eat with us and then she started asking a bunch of questions about the church and we ended up leaving her with a Book of Mormon and she was reading ti before we had even left the house! We also have a return appointment for Tuesday!

This Sunday we had a Regional conference in the church and we heard from a lot of people including Elder Holland, and Sister Bingham of the Relief Society President! It was a really good one we heard a lot of good things from them about ministering and how we can be better! We also learned about the Gathering of Israel. And what role we all play in that! It is really eye opening! We also had a family we've been teaching come to the conference! They made a lot of friends and they really liked it so hopefully they come again!

Also the members here think that Elder Fry and I are kinda the bees knees we had so many people come up to us at church and try to get us to eat with them and visit them and it was really awesome! We are going to start some good member missionary work here it seems to be working really well! Networking works!

This was a great week! Elder Fry is awesome and we are having a blast!

As always

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
This is all we got this week we forgot to take pictures

Parties and Mostaches

Hey Everyone!

This week was an awesome week! We had a lot of things happen it was kind of a wild week. We've been so tired everyday because we've been working as hard as we can and just been grinding it out! It's been awesome!

To start, we get a call from this kinda crazy lady named Sandra in our ward and she says that she has someone for us to teach. (she probably does this once a week now a days) (she like only knows how to talk about Jesus and the Gospel so it's a good thing for her and us) and so we bring obispo with us and meet this 20 year old lady named Carina and she is the best!! We taught her the restoration and she was feeling it! She agreed to baptism then and there! We have a lesson with her tonight! She wants another set of scriptures like ours too!! We are super duper excited for her to keep learning abiut the Gospel.

This week was also kinda rough because we had two dinner appointments on the same day, two days in a row. We weren't planning to eat at all of them, they just had food prepared for us! So we ate really well this week, but we hadn't planned on jt at all. It was a wild little few days. As a consequence, Elder Fry and I have been taking it easy in food here recently haha

We got a new Elders quorum president in the ward here and this man is literally firing on every single cylinder. He is so intensely focused on fulfilling his calling hes a straight wizard. We had a meeting with him, the other elders in the ward and also the bishop and we talked for about an hour and a half on how to improve the ward. We also got tamales from his wife and they were amazing. Like I ate 6 of these bad boys. I was destroyed for the rest of the night but it was worth every bite and pound gained.

We also had an awesome ward Halloween party and we were able to get this less active part member family there that we've been working with for a while and it was nice! The Hermana said that it was good to be back at church again and the niño she brought with her bf is super interested in coming to church to keep having the friends he made there! We are excited for them too! But the party was awesome! We got candy, had a great time talking with the members and their friends and we even dressed up! (kinda)

Things here in Arlington Heights are awesome! I'm slowly learning more about the culture and language and it's been awesome! I'm also learning more and more of the Bible and The Book of Mormon and it's been helping me find the answers to the questions I have in life. I would highly recommend it to all who desire to learn as I have.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
1. A buddy of mine from Midway came up to see us!
2.Our costumes
3. The Soto Familia
4. The Ward party!

Somehow I crashed my bike again

Hey Everyone,

This was a good week again! Not a whole lot happen this week let's see if I can remember what happened.

We had inveterview with President Bingham this week and it was a good interview. He was talking and then all the sudden, he says, you know Elder you've been out a while now, you're an old timer now! And it's true though! I come home in June! June 26th to be exact. It's crazy. But it's crazy how fast times gone by. I mean I've already finished 15 months!

We stopped by some less active people the other day and there were some kids outside playing soccer and because Elder Fry is awesome he was like hey can we play too? So we ended up playing with them for like 15 minutes! It was super fun. It turns out they were the kids and cousins of the lessactive family we were looking for!

We get a random call from our bishop and he says "Elderes, vengan a la casa, tengo pan para ustedes" so we were like sweet OK he lives like 2 minutes from our house so we decided to ride bikes over because it was a nice day and we get there and this man had bought the whole store out like dang there was so much bread. So we told him we'd be back and so we got the car and picked it all up! There was so much! See attached pictures. But that day riding bikes I managed to escape fine.

But Sunday I was not so fortunate haha we, as missionaries, have a certain number of miles to use in the car every month. For example, this month we were allotted 1100 for our massive area. And we've already used like 850 and we wanted to save some. We decided to ride bikes yesterday because it was in the 50s and sunny so why not? We ride to the chruch successfully and it was so fun! It was 5 miles and we did it in 25 minutes and it takes us 20 minutes to ride the car. Church was good. Afterward, we had a couple of appointments to attend to so we were just going to ride to those and then back home. Saving us some 15 or so miles. But we got about 5 minutes into the ride and we pull out onto this smaller road and I adjust my light so I can turn it on, and I was putting back om my glove whilst riding with no hands (because I'm cool like that) and then I hear this little pop and then my seat is no longer supporting me! So I like slip off my bike (and out of my straps somehow) and hit my hands and knees hard, slide, and I kinda keel over into my side a little bit. My bike is a little ways down the road and I'm overall OK. Upon further inspection, the small bolt that held my seat to tegher and on the bike, snapped due to the cold weather and my fatness, thus causing me to fall. I scraped my hand up, destroyed my pants, and scraped my knee  but other than that, I was super blessed that nothing worse happened to me! We called a member and he said he'd come and pick us up because we were like 7 miles from home haha we ended not making it to those citas which was good because they weren't even home (we called to apologize and they weren't even home) so we get home, I clean up and we go back out to stop by some people (in the car) and it was a good day over all.

I am fine all in all. I just need to purchase a new bike seat bolt and all will be fine! I was very blessed though to be have not had something worse happen to me. It was an answer, I'm sure, to some of your prayers. Thank you all for all you do! I hope you have a good week and that everything works out!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Obispo and Bread x2
We WENT TO SONIC AND IT WAS AWESOME
Soccer with the boys
PreCrash selfie
Post crash pictures

3 Transfers and Cool Weather!

Hey Everyone!

So this was a pretty legit week if I do say so myself. There was a lot of things that happened but I can't remember a whole lot. It's been really nice weather but also super cold for this Texas boy. We've been chilli in the 40s and 50s this week and it's been cold!

We got to go to the temple as I said last week. It was awesome! It was really good to go back to the temple again because it's always a place of great peace and comfort for me. I would highly recommend it to all. Elder Fry and I and Elder Yount and Bridge all carpooled down to the temple we had a great time together.

We also met this hilarious guy named Chema. We were out knocking doors and we decided to start at the far end because of some interesting curcumstances at the near end. And we felt to do so anyway. As we knocked on the second door, this kinda sketchy dude opens the door. He steps out into the light and we actually get tk look at him. Full beard, long hair, crazy look in his eye you get the idea. But as we get talking this dude a homie. He speaks English, Spanish and French and a little Russian. He works as a lab technician burning things for a living. He is the classic Mellenial young guy. We explain the Book of Mormon and he was super interested in it. We would tell him about it and he would stop us and say "so lemme see if I understand what you're saying" and he would tell us back what we'd said and it would be in the greatest story telling skills I've ever heard. I legit had to hold back laughing. For example "so this guy mormon is like yo son, champ  we gotta write this stuff down we got some good stuff like other people gotta know about this." way good guy

We had a lot of time to find this week. We found a guy named Miguel who, as we explained the Book of Mormon, his eyes got wider and wider and we were gonna give him the book but I decided to read a verse with him and he was sad thay I didn't give it to him right then. But we gave it to him after and he was super excited about it. We will see what happens!

But we got transfer calls yesterday and Elder Fry and I are staying here in Arlington Heights 3rd for a 3rd transfer! And he will now be the district leader! I'm so excited to be able to help Elder Fry through his first little bit as District Leader! I am really excited to be here for another transfer with Elder Fry! We've become pretty good buddies and I can always speak my mind with him haha but it's going to be an awesome 6 weeks!

This week I really felt God's love for me and my family and I know God is real, love us and wants the best for us! The church is true and the book of mormon is real!

As always,

Elder Tracy

Photos
The Zone at the Temple (it was really bright)
The Zone after the last district council
We found a great license plate

GENERAL CONFERENCE and TEMPLE

Hey Everyone!

Sorry this is a day ish late! There's a reason behind that and it's because we are going to the temple today! WOOOHOOOO I'm so excited because the temple si the best place on earth.

But this week was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. To start  we've been having a super great success rate with putting people on date for baptism. It's been super fun! For example we are teaching these two sisters who have a lot of young kids and so we brought our recent converts German and Lorena and they instantly because best friends with Yessica and Alejandra (the sisters) it's awesome! By the time we left phone numbers were exchanged, compliments were given and a budding friendship had formed! They even committed to come and watch General Conference with is this weekend! However, plan changed with Yessica, the older sister because she suddenly got called into work and wasn't able to come. We were super sad it it's fine we're fine.

But this week we also went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders! I went with Elder Wright to Bloomingdale and Elder English came with my companion, Elder Fry, here in Arlington Heights. It. was. awesome. Elder Wright is the coolest dude ever. He's going home from his mission in like a week so he is super funny about it all. We played intense jenga, visited some homies (and one super crazy one) and we also got to have a super lit district meeting. Things are looking up here haha

So on Saturday we get a text from a member in the other elders' area telling us to come and get some donuts and so we said OK because we are fat haha so we go expecting like maybe like 2 donuts for each of us or something. This man opens the door and he has three dozen donuts for us to take. We accepted and shared with the other elders but it was intense.

So this weekend was General Conference. For those of you who are unfamiliar with such a  phrase, please allow my to explain to you what this means. In the Bible, we can read of Prophets, such as Noah, Abraham, Isaiah etc. These worthy men were chosen, or called, by God to receive His word and instructions for the people through a process called revelation. This allowed God to speak to his people through these phophets. We all believe that God is the same yesterday, today and forever and thus accordingly, we believe that God has chosen, or called, a new prophet to lead and guide us today so that we can receive God's instructions for us today. So this weekend we had to opportunity to hear our Prophet, Russell M Nelson, and the Lords 12 apostles speak to us! (See Ephesians 4:10-12) They discussed many things but my favorite was a line which said "No one was Preordained to fail, everyone can receive eternal life" which struck me. We can all meet God's lofty expectations for us. We must be obedient and hearken unto the council of the Lord and his Servants because it's the same.

To end on a funny note, these last couple of weeks we have been fighting with squirrels. We have a sliding glass door in our apartment and we leave it open a lot whilst at home because it's nice weather here. This one squirrel has eaten through the screen door and will come into our apartment if we aren't careful. It's the worst haha but it's super funny. We have like 5 videos of this specific squirrel getting into our house. While watching general conference apparently some small children left a door open at the church and a squirrel got into the building haha so we all spend like 15 minutes trying to get this thing out of the church eventually we did it but it was intense. We have a curse or somethings it's super funny.

To end I know this is the truth I'm out here spreading. I'm convinced that the Lord needs me here right now. Even though there are countless people who reject us even daily, it doesn't matter to me. I'm here doing what I'm supposed to and I'm helping those who actually need it. This work is currently my life and my love. This is the truth.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Post exchange selfie
Some random ladies gave us some tamales because we spoke spanish
All them donuts
The evil squirrel in the church