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

Throat Spiders and Laundry Detergent

Hey Everybody!

This was a super good week! We had a lot of great and funny things happen this week! To start!

Last Monday, we went downtown! It was awesome! O'hare airport is in the bottom of our area, so we hopped on the train leaving there and we went down to the chrome store, let the west elders buy a backback or two, then we went downtown and we got to see a lot of cool stuff! For example, we got to see my boys Elder Osorio, Moser, Tibbitts, Wilding just to name a few. I was the tour guide on the day because I've been there before ahah but we went to the Clark Street Church Building which is the most beautiful church building I've ever seen. We went to the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Ave and we also got free chocolate from a chocolate store! It was a great day! I'll attach a bunch of pictures because it was awesome.

We were able to put Miguel on date for the 24th of November!! He's super awesome and we are so excited for him! We are trying to get in with his wife and kids so that they can also be blessed by the gospel! They will be awesome! But we are going to meet with him tonight so thats super cool,

We had Zone Conference this week and it was super good! We talked a lot about how we can get better and also how we can be come better teachers and how we can help people unserdtant our message better. It was good to see the whole zone together it made us feel even more unified and work even harder. It was a great day.

On Friday evening, we were walking out of an appointment and apparently my mouth was open. And as I step out the door, all the sudden there was something in the back of my throat! So I start hacking up a lung and my left kidney trying to get this thing out and all in the mean time this man Elder Fry is just dying laughing. I get it out and there was a dadgum SPIDER in my throat and it had bitten my throat because it hurt like a goat in a pepper patch. So we hop in the car (and the family we just visited were watching out the window to see if I was OK) and I call the mission nurse and I explain the story and her husband, after I said I had swallowed a spiderbut got it out, yelled "Well it sounds like you didn't swallow it after all" and he also told me to keep my mouth closed as I leave appointments. All in all, I purchased some medicine and I crashed and I woke up the next morning a little groggy but all together, fine. Everything's fine. I'm fine.

But the weather here is awesome! It's been a little rainy but it's been in the 50s and 60s the whole time this week and it's been GLORIOUS because I like fall weather! We are officially in sweater weather and it's awesome because it's not deathly hot and humid here anymore! The work is progressing, Elder Fry and I are homies and are scheming to build a go-cart after the mission, things are good and I'm happy.

Hope you all have a great week and that's everything goes well for you! The church is true and the book is very blue!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
My boy Elder Tibbitts
The Clark building
The squad (Elder Fry, Yount, Tracy and Lytle)
The Chicago Sign
The cutest dog ever in my life I've seen. Her name is luna
A member hooked us up with some laundry detergent and we've been smelling fresh since.