GOOOOD MORNING VIETNAM

Hey everyone! 

This week was wild so get yourselves ready. So to start, on Monday night I had to finish packing and between packing and procrastinating I finally finished a little late and then the next morning the Zone Leaders came and picked me and Elder Osorio up at like 6 am and we went to go wait at the church until others arrived. Eventually the transfer van came down and we were on our way up to Willmette. Crazy times.

But I also received probably one of the coolest kids ever as my companion. Elder Wright. He is a homie and together we are going to blow Chicago 4th out the water. He came out the transfer after me so we are still a little young but we are gonna do some great stuff. We both speak pretty good Spanish so we are on our way. The area that I entered is AMAZING. I won't lie, I spent some 8 months on the south side and I loved it with all my heart, but the North Side is pretty cool too. This place is fun. The members of the ward here are amazing and we have gotten so much food and so many referrals it's amazing. Everything is awesome. Except for the fact that church is like a 5 mile bike ride and apparently the wind here decided to blow at gale force speeds but other than that it's amazing!

We have some way solid investigators and less actives here than we are working with. We will get two baptized here soon and then we are starting to reactivate another less active guy whose family still lives back in Mexico. Way homies out here. 

So as I find myself in this foreign and unique land, much different than my own, I also find myself in a land war. Not with communists, but with the Hermanas or the other set of missionaries in the ward. (Essentially the same thing) It's a story for another time but it's been super fun to see so much go down. It's unique. 

But General Conference is this Weekend! I'm super excited! We also have a temple trip this Thursday and I'm so excited! For those not aware, General Conference is a time where we can hear from the living Prophet and Apostles of God and other general church leaders as they address us about topics they deem fit. We can really find the answers to the questions or doubts or problems or difficulties we may have. I invite all of you to think of a question about God and then watch some of the Conference. See lds.org for a ton more info!

As always,

 

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS

Elder Wright and I after a very long bike ride to a members house for lunch. 

This is my homie Alejandro who gave us food the other day. 

We also stopped by this members and they were old and they gave us so much food we had to use 2 bags tk carry it all home. 

OUR INVESTIGATORS HAVE THE SMALLEST PUPPIES AND IT'S AMAZING

¡Seré Un Abuelo!

Hello my dearest friends and family and everyone else who happens to read this!

This week was pretty awesome if I may say so myself. We had a lot of fun things happen.

To start, this week is transfers so we got our calls to see where we were going. Granted as I have been here in this area for some 6 months, I figured it was about time to leave. And lo and behold, Elder Tracy has been called to the north and I will be serving in Chicago 4th! I am going to be companions with Elder Wright, who came into the mission a transfer after I did, but he has been there for a while. I'm super excited for this change in things! Also Elder Osorio will be training this transfer so my greenie will be training. I'm so proud of him *tear* he will be an awesome trainer. And so my son will have a son so I'm going to be a grandpa!

So a couple of funny things happened to me. So we had a baptism and that was wonderful and all. We had been teaching the 8 year old son of a family coming back into activity in the church! And he got baptized and his old brother was the one who baptized him and it was a super beautiful experience. But we forgot to have his brother unplug the font so it could drain, and so the font was full when it was all said and done. And we had a stick to undo the plug, but it ended up not working at all. So Elder Osorio and I looked at each other and I said I would take the L and get in the font and un plug the drain. So I did that. I got a little wet. There will be a photo attached. Also we had talked tk one of the ward missionaries because he said he wanted to come with us to a cita and we said okay. So we called him tk confirm and at first we was confused who it was and we said we were the missionaries and he got really excited and started talking to us as of we were his grandkids he hadn't seen in like 5 years. It was so funny and it made my heart so happy.

So there was a scripture that became real to me this week. James 2 :26 says  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. We had made some goals for this week, an we were certain that we were gonna make them reality and needless to say, we were able to achieve them and it was an awesome experience for me to see that God is real and is very involved in our lives and will help us when we ask and then do everything we can. But that it is only through our faith and then our diligent efforts to achieve them, that is when we receive the Divine Intervention that we sought. God is real. I know he is and that he lives. It's comforting to know that God loves us so much that he would give us the opportunity to repent and always try again in life! There's always hope. I'd love to hear from you all anytime! Shoot my an email here at seth.tracy@myldsmail.net if yall want

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Here is me being drenched by the font haha
We found this super awesome view of Downtown on this bridge in our area so we stopped and took pictures.
And when I saw my photo, I thought about how different I looked from then I came in so I compared side by side and here's the difference.

A week

Why Hello everyone! Hope yall had an awesome week!

My week was interesting I guess, we started out strong with ZONE CONFERENCE. Which is my favorite ever. WE learned a bunch about how we can listen to the spirit better and be better goal setters and plan makers. It was really good because it was a bunch of things I needed to hear. We then also had some fun stories from President Bingham life told to us and then he related it back to our missionary work and it was really eye opening to a few things for me. It was a super good zone conference.

Then the week just kind of turned from there. We didn't have a super good week after that. We had days where we had a super full day lined up and then everything would cancel and we would be left with nothing but door knocking and stop bys. And we weren't able to have a lot of the usual success from that either. It was just a weird week. But we had a really powerful experience that humbled me a lot. On one of the days where everything had fallen through, we called one homie family to see if we could come by and share something with them. And they said yes! So we were pumped. And we get there and they were all kinda acting weird. And about half the family isn't there. We kinda get talking and the dad starts into the story of how apparently they all got into this pretty big fight and how the mom and three of the kids left the house in anger. So then as we are talking about this, the mom suddenly comes in to the home with her mother and she starts taking out like all of her belongings and packing them and taking them out to the car. And we are like oh no what is happening. The grandma and the dad start disagreeing in the kitchen and then one of the kids gets called in and then Elder Osorio and I are just left in the living room watching the mom come in and go out with her stuff. So after a minute we decide to leave and call it there. But it was a really humbling experience for me. Even though our day was not super good, there is ALWAYS someone with a worse day. I walked away from that house definitely a changed man.

I have recently been studying a lot about the importance of having the Spirit of the Lord with us throughout our lives. And obviously there are benefits of having it as a missionary, but even as a normal person there are so many benefits that are awesome. I know that the best way to find peace and happiness is through the Companionship of the spirit and also through Jesus christ. I know that we can find peace in christ and even when we think we are having the worst day or things are just terrible, someone else understands, because he has been there before.

Sorry this weeks email was a little bleak and such but I love yall and I hope you have the best week you can! Make it a good one for me!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Elder Osorio and I waiting at the train stop under these magical heating lamps. It's awesome.
Here I am waiting for the bus. Super interesting pictures this week j know but

A Weekly By Numbers

Hello my friends and family!

This was an interesting week to say the least. We had a bunch of fun things happen.First off last, we got to go on exchanges! I love exchanges! They are so much fun because it's an awesome experience to learn and grow and see new ways of doing things. So Elder Morse, my district leader, came over to my area in the east side of our ward and it's the greatest. But Elder Morse is awesome and he taught me so many things about missionary work and it was awesome.

I also love our ward so much! When I first got here, I was a little bummed to find out that it wasn't really the same thing I was used to. It was still a ward and everything, but it was just different. But as I've gotten better at Spanish, I've been able to really come to know and love these people and they are the greatest. The Bishop and his counselors and the rest of the leadership in the Ward is so nice and loving. Chicago 2nd Ward will always have a very special place in my heart.

So when we were on Exchanges, we found ourselves near the house of one of our investigators, and he went in and talked tk him and he was super happy to see us, and he invited us over for the next day for some comidita! So we were pumped and so we come back the next day and we get there and it turns out it was like a birthday party for his niece I think and there may or may not have been alcohol and some sketch people. Needless to say, we bounced the second no one was looking at us so we were probably there for a good three minutes. Haha good times

But we saw a bunch of interesting things this week. So I decided to do it by numbers!
-One crazy conversation overheard about a guy loving books so much
-Two pigeons getting it on
-Three drug deals witnessed
-Four Appointments canceled
-Two nights of exchanges
-2 awesome graffiti (see attached photos)
-1 chicken (see another)
-1 hole in the ground caused by a missionary (Thanks Elder Branchinni)
-Countless Tax Dollars used to fix it (Thanks Elder Branchinni)
-One happy missionary!

I love yall so much and I'm so glad yall took the time to read this email! I hope yall have a great week! I know the Church is true and that God still speaks to us today! We just have to be ready, worthy, and receptive to hear it!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Some of that grafitti
That chicken
Them tax dollars though
The hole though