Happy 6 Months without Seth

Que pato, quack quack?

How is everyone doing? I certainly hope that everything was just awesome for yall this week! Things have been moving for us here in la gran ciudad de Chicago. And this week was certainly interesting.

PERO to start, we had new missionary training this week and that was fantastic. I love new missionary training. You and your trainer are supposed to go your first two transfers, or three months. But since I've been training since I finished being trained, then I've had the awesome chance to attend four transfers in a row and it has been fantastic. This time we talked a bunch about how the Lord has strengthened and helped his servants in times past. Enoch, Moses, Abraham, Ether, Alma all showed and were painfully aware of their weaknesses and often doubted themselves. But every time, the Lord God came back and gave them the ability to overcome what has befallen them. It was super cool because that applies to me because I have MANY weaknesses and I'm beginning to see what the Lord is able to do with a simple white kid from Texas.

We also have been working super hard with our intestigator Camila to get her ready for baptism. We have been working a heck ton to teach her everything she needs. Her family is awesome though. They were less active in the church but they love the elders and they always have fed the elders and are just homies. But they started coming back to church and they are super strong in the gospel right now I love to see how far they have come. We also have been visiting this other less active family and they came to church this week for the first time in forever! It was awesome to see them and the ward was super welcoming to them again and it made my heart happy!

But like the title of this email reads, I hit 6 months in the mission last Friday. That means that you all have gone 6 months without seeing, hearing or being in the awkward presence of me. That's two thirds of a pregnancy we are talking about here. But this also means that I am already a quarter way done with this mission. And that is scary. We always say that we are out for 2 years, and when you start, you can enjoy the fact that youre new and you have a long way to go. But as time moves on, things change. You have to start being responsible and actually the one attending to the needs of those you teach and visit. You become a servant of Christ. You are the one helping them learn. And grow. And love God. It's super easy to get caught up in all the time you have left on your mission. But, once it is past, it's gone. I will never be able to relive the 6 months I've already spent here. And I would give everything to make this next 6 months the best yet.

I love you all so much. I love this Gospel. I love the Lord. I love my mission and I love Chicago. I love and know that what I teach is true. The church is true and the book is blue.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
New Missionary Training with mi hijo
We found an alien in the parking lot so naturally, things happened.
We also decided tk watch a DVD one night that we had in out apartment and this was our little set up because we lit

Blessings and curses

Hola todos como estais vosotros en el día de hoy? Espero que todo os vaya excelente y sin frío ni nieve tampoco.

Well this week was interesting. Very interesting. To start. I got a super bad head cold on Friday I think and I perished this weekend. I got hit Saturday morning and we went out and did some work but I was so out of it it was a struggle. Just my head was super fuzzy.  I literally was thinking of just about everything but yet nothing at the same time. It was a very interesting experience. And that carried right on into Sunday where I perished again. We went to ward council where we had a great time and the people of the ward actually kinda helped us this time so it was good! We then got into sacrament meeting and I was dying through that whole process. Needless to say, we ended up going home after that so I could sleep. We then came back to church a little after it had ended because we had a lesson with an investigator and some of the homie moms in the ward were standing there and they asked us why we were back and why we had left. After filling them in that I was not feeling well, they immediately jumped in to concerned mom mode. They asked me what was wrong and they then told me that I looked like I had a fever (I didn't know you could tell just by looking but I trusted the mom instincts) we had had a lesson with one of the ladies there and her family later. but she said that she thinks it would be better if I just went home and rested. And that she would bring us some food in like an hour. #homie4life but today I'm definitely doing better. I am not dying yet so that's good.

We are teaching this nine year old girl Camila so she can get baptized because her family is all members and she feels like she got skipped. But we have been talking to her mom and her and they both really want her to be baptized. So, we started teaching her this week. We started on Wednesday we had invited her to pray that night. On Thursday, the ward has mutual and the missionaries have a meeting with the ward mission leader and so we were all there. But as we were standing there, Camila comes running up to us and is just super excited. And we are like what's up Camila? And she's like I did what you guys told me to do! We asked what that was. She said that she had been praying the night before, and that as she was, she began to cry and she said she just felt super happy. And Elder Osorio and I were just kinda like my goodness this is awesome! We congratulated her and and we talked a little about it and thanked her for sharing with us. It was just a testimony builder to me to see that God answers all prayers. No matter how young or old, simple or eloquent, always.

One more thing, I know this is getting long, but this week was just super awesome. On Friday was probably the busiest day of my life. And also the most food I have ever eaten. We started off by bussing over to the Hermanas (sister missionaries) area so give a blessing to an investigator at 11. Getting home at 1230, we received a call that there was a member from another ward in the hospital who needed a blessing too and we were the closest elders so we agreed and said we would get there. At 1, we walked to a member lunch appointment and then by 2 we walked over to a bus stop, took a bus and a train to the hospital, and then we arrived at this hotel room at about 245, gave a blessing and some words of encouragement, and then peaced out. Same route home. Arriving in our general area at 4, we went to another member eating appiontment where we also taught Camila. We then headed out and caught a bus at about 540 heading north to another investigator at 6. We taught him. Super good lesson. At 645, we headed out and walked to this restaurant and met some more members to eat there. At that point I was just eating the food to finish it. Shoving it down haha but super busy day. I came home, showered and crashed it was rough. But busy days are the most rewarding definitely.

Well, wow sorry this was kinda long ish. I hope that yall didn't lose interest haha but twas just an interesting week. I hope yall are doing well and that everything just goes fantastic this week. Love you all so super much!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS

Elder Osorio and I rode the tandem bike in the snow as a tradition. 

I found this super fire section in the book of mormon and so I added some notes to it 

Elder Osorio fell asleep while we were having a conversation. 

Pro speary anio eh Fleece y dog

MIS QUIRIDOS! TODOS DE VOSOTROS SOIS MIS FAVORITOS

Well this week was super duper cold. My goodness. This was the first time in MY 18 YEARS OF LIFE THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN A NEGATIVE NUMBER IN THE WEATHER App. It's kinda fun though to have it be super cold. A lot of interesting things happen. For instance, sometimes the sidewalks are super slippery and you can watch you companion almost slip and fall a couple times a day and then when you think it's funny, almost slip and have those same 18 years flash before your eyes before catching yourself and being okay to slip another day. It's a good time. We also did some service on Saturday and that was shoveling snow! We just went around and shoveled snow for some people who needed it done! And I have never shoveled snow before so it was a new experience but it was super fun!

This week was also awesome because we got to go over to the Lopez Household and they are the most homie family ever. The dad is away driving trucks for a job right now, so we try to stop by once or twice a week just to see how they are doing and how we can help. This week we talked about the Priesthood with them and it was a super cool experience because the two older boys (17 & 13) had just received the offices of Priest and Deacon and it was super cool to talk about that with them and their mom. She also expressed interest in studying the scriptures more! This is all super good news because as of two months ago, they were super less active in the church and now they come every week! It's awesome how God works.

It was made known to me that maybe I should talk about some of our investigators we have currently. We have 3 solid investigators at the moment. One is Luis and he has a super honest desire to repent and learn more about that. He is so on date for Feb 3rd so we will see where that takes us. Another is Camila and she is 9 and is a member of the Lopez family. We are starting teaching her so she can get ready for baptism on the 20th of January. We also have Roberto who is a solid guy who just wants to learn how to increase his faith in God. We actually have a meeting with him tonight so we will see what happens there too!

One more quick thing, I don't think I've mentioned this before, but this transfer, I am district leader for my district! That means I am responsible for two other sets of missionaries in my area and I report their successes and experiences to the Zone Leaders. I hope that all of you had a a great Christmas Season and New Years too! This year is my white out year, which means that I will spend all of 2018 in Chicago. A whole year dedicated to God. I'm super pumped to see where I'll be in a year from now!

Thank you for making it this far! ¡Espero que tengan una semana fantástica y que todo les vaya bien en este año nuevo que tenemos!

Como siempre,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
-This is how I stay warm. I feel like I am wearing a space suit with two pairs of gloves, a beanie, a scarf, my winter jacket, a sweater, a long sleeve shirt, and long Johns. It's awesome.
-These are the two dogs of the Pule Family and they love me and I love them and this was the best photo I could get with them and the excitement
-We found this giant icicle and so naturally, a little bit of my inner Harry Potter came out and also a unicorn.

Fleece Navi dog!

Feliz Navidad, mis mejores amigos y familiares! Como estais? Espero que vuestra navidad fuera perfecto.

Well, our Christmas season and this week was awesome. We had some good times and experiences as we went about doing our thing. But an awesome experience we had though was while we were doing some street contacting, we stopped this lady who liked like a nice person. We stopped her and we began talking to her and soon she told us about how she's kinda  had a hard life recently, and then Elder Osorio began to testify. He started telling her about how God is always here and always aware of our suffering and pains. But that was why God sent Jesus Christ to help us with these problems. As he was doing this, this woman began to cry and it was super touching for me. So we made a lady cry this week. But good cry.

Also fun thing happened this week, it was Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, we went and did service as a zone and it was super fun we got to pack food for those in need. It was super fun to help people out and see what we can do for them. We then came outside and it was Snowing it was awesome the 8 elders we had together we had a snowball fight in the parking lot and it was awesome. And then we were super late to church and that was a little awkward but it was super good. And then we ate some super good food with some members throughout the day and we had tacos de Lengua and it was interesting. We had to cut the tongue ourselves it was kinda nasty. And on Christmas itself we did a bunch of stop bys and it was super good. We knocked on this super less actives door and he let us in and we had a really good conversation with him and his son it was a blessing from God. We have been trying to meet him for a long time and we have stopped by a lot and it was the first time. #quebendicion

But I think the icing on the cake was getting to talk to talk to my family for about 40 minutes. It was easily the fastest 40 minutes of my life. But it was really wonderful to talk to them and see how they are doing and how they the best people ever. I love them. Also, the greatest thing about this time is the opportunity we have to remember Jesus Christ and how wonderful he is and all that he has done for us. I love Jesus Christ and I am so happy to be a representative of him and of his church. I love the gospel and I love my lord and savior.

As always,

Elder Tracy

Here is me cutting some lengua 

We made some snow angels

Snow

I forgot to mention that we went to the temple and it was a super great time and I love the temple so much. 

We might have broken a commandment

De cierto, de cierto os digo, que aconteció que esta semana era super bien

But really this week was awesome. I loved it so much it was glorious haha. But so many wonderful things happened. First off, Elder Osorio and I are staying together another transfer! We didn't get a transfer call last night os that means we are chilling for another 7 weeks in Chi 2 super pumped. Another awesome thing was that this week, we got a lot of good work done. We found so many people with really good potential and I'm super excited to see where this takes us! But we found a bunch of really cool people who have a bunch of potential. Also, Elder Osorio have been working super well together this week. During planning, and companionship study, we are just doing well and I'm feeling the spirit so much more and stronger and it's awesome. I love it.

One of our homies in the ward Armando, he took the elders out to burger King and he had these coupons that got us so much good food and it was amazing. We each eat like three burgers and we had food to spare! It was awesome. We took a picture and Elder Morse looked really funny in it and so we then took a photo to make fun of it and it was probably one of the greatest things ever. Later in the week we were riding through this town square of a place and they had a bunch of Christmas lights up. And it was super cool so we stopped and got some wonderful photos of them hahaha Also my boy Elder English got in a bike incident and he may or may not be low-key dying haha but these last couple of days he has been a little out of it and it's super funny to see what he is saying from time to time.

 By now you may be wondering what the subject line means. Well you see, our investigator, Betty, invited us over on the 12th on Tuesday. She told us that her family was gonna be there and that she would give us food. So we said OK. We get there and we sit down and talk with some of her friends for a minute or so and then everyone else comes into the room. And we are just like oh no somethings gonna happen. And then they turn to this giant photo of the virgin Guadalupe and then they started praying in Spanish as the catholics do. And then 45 minutes later, they ended and Elder Osorio and I,  being the little mormon boys we are, were super confused. So we ate some dank tamales and then we spilt.  So that's the story of how we low key worshiped idols and thus broke one of the ten commandments.

Also, I just found out recently that my grandpa, who has been suffering with ALS, or Lou Gherigs Disease, for a considerable amount of time, finally passed away this weekend. This isn't coming as a suprise to us, but it's something hard regardless. But I have taken comfort and solace in the fact that he really is in a better place. He was able to leave his disease ridden body and move one step closer to the perfected body he will inherit in the next life. I know I'll see my grandpa again. I know ill be able to talk to him again. I know he is happier than he could have ever been in this life. The plan of salvation is important and it has never played a bigger part in my life than right now. I am so glad that I have always had this knowledge of life after death. I love all of you. I hope that this letter finds you well, and if you've made it this far in my email, that yall are happy. Have a good week. Remember the reason for the season.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Here we are at burger King with Armando
The after photo of Elder Morses beauty
Here we are at Betty's house where she gave us these Buñelos which is like a funnel cake that is as thin as a piece of paper. It's a giant frosted flake haha

I found this giant ice blob on the side of a house and it was super cool to me so here you are. 

Here are some Christmas lights we found

It's Cold, yall.

Hello my friends and family and all the rest of you who receive these emails!

I sincerely hope that you have had a good week and that everything has been good for you out and about in the real world and stuff.

Well things here are been pretty good. This week was actually super eventful! Which is a good change and a good thing for a missionary. We had zone conference this week and I was blown away by President Bingham. That man is a wizard with the scriptures. He knows them better than himself. It's amazing to be in the presence of that man. But he showed us this slideshow of all the baptisms we had through the past month. It was amazing and after the show ended, he asked if we had counted them, and we responded obviously not we wanted to see how happy these people were for making this change in their lives. He said that if we were counting, then we would have gotten 23. Our goal for that past month was 22 and the all time record we had had as a mission in the past years was 21. So we blew that record out of the water and I think that it's awesome that we were able to do so much of the Lords work in one month.

Elder English and I went on exchanges in the Cicero area of our ward and it was awesome. Let me just say my goodness it was the greatest 24 hours of my life. We are such good friends and I low key hope that we get to be companions someday in the future. Some of our highlights include having the best companionship study ever, playing basketball with a bunch of 13 year old niños, and hitting up Walmart for some milk and McDonald's for dinner. It was the greatest time ever. We also had to bike over Satans Bridge 6 times. It was the worst. But it was a jam.

It's also been super heckin cold. It snowed the other day. SNOW IN THE SKY SNOW ON THE GROUND. I WAS NOT LISTO FOR THIS. But it was awesome I haven't seen snow for a fat minute and it was glorious. We also bought bus passes and let me tell you, bussing is the greatest. You stand on the sidewalk by some random pole and then this giant rectangular thing stops in front of you. You then enter the rectangle and it takes you places. You then exit the rectangle and then you are where you want to be. It was awesome. But it's cold so standing on the sidewalk is hardest part.

Funny story. Elder English, my homie, was trying to do this thing called a fixie slide where you lock your back tire and then you slide. But it was a little snowy then and this man eat it and it was the funniest thing I had ever seen. He was on his bike and then he was laying on the ground face down. It was awesome haha

But yeas everyone who has made it this far, I'm proud of you. I appreciate you. I hope you have a wonderful week and that you all try to #lighttheworld this season!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
I found this cool view of downtown one day
Elder English and I chilling in a meeting
Here's some snow!
Our district took pictures and here's just a little hint

The Light at the End

Buenos días mis amigos y familiares! Como han estado?

Well, I am Elder Tracy and I like to speak Spanish (but it's low key hard sometimes but it's awesome I love it.)

Anyway, I'm sure yall are wondering about how my week went and I'm here to tell ya how it went. Well it started out wonderful actually. We had a really good lesson with a former investigator named Roberto and it was awesome. He told us a lot about his life and how he wanted to increase his faith in Christ. Elder Osorio and I told him that we can help him with that haha We also had new missionary training on Thursday which was awesome. We went to the new Clark Street Building in Downtown and it was amazing. I highly recommend yall look this building up on Google it is impressive to behold. But President Bingham told us a lot of awesome things and we had a bunch of awesome insights. But one thing the trainers were told (I'm a trainer incase yall didn't know) was that God put us here to train. He trusts us with our new missionaries to do the best we can. And that was super comforting to me.

But the rest of this week was not the greatest. We had three investigator lessons cancel at the last minute and several of the Less Active Families we had made appointments with either canceled or simply weren't home. So we didn't have much success there. And since it's getting colder, fewer people are outside and so we have been doing some door knocking. A lot of it actually. And we knocked doors and very few people even opened their door. Let alone were interested in what we had to say. But despite all these hard times we are having, there is always hope. A hope for a better day and a better week. In the Book of Mormon, there's a scripture that talks about how we should handle hard times. In Alma, Chapter 34, verse 41, we read, But that ye have patience, and bear with those afflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions. How wonderful is that? How peaceful is that? We will receive rest from our afflictions and hard times one day. But we must first have that hope, and that faith, that everything will be better. But it's important to remember what the Prophet Moroni tells us in Ether 12, wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. We can receive that rest and that peace that we seek, and the success too, but only after the trial of our faith. We must first act on the faith we have. Then, and only then, will we receive what we seek. I know that while we had one rough week, that the next week will be better and I will find what success I'm looking for. I have the faith and the hope of such things. I want to leave yall with my short testimony of what I know. While I may be young and I don't know everything, but I do know one thing: I know that what I have to share with the people here is true. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and came through a called, living Prophet named Joseph Smith. I also know that Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. That by him and through him, we may be saved and find the peace and abilities we need. I also know that our families can be together forever, that regardless of what happens to me or my family, I know that I will be able to live with them after this life and always be happy.

Sorry this email wasn't super entertaining to read but I just want to express how happy I truly am. I love being here, teaching the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to all those who will listen. I love it. I am happy and I'm glad I made this choice to come here. I love all of you and I thank you for your prayers and your Christmas cards and wishes! Yall are homies!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
So this week I got a hair cut from my boy Elder English and he hooked me up. I think it looks great so there's a before and after and a also got one with my boy Elder Inglés
Since it's Christmas, we left sad without a tree so I made a tree is thing out of cardboard to help with the Christmas spirit.
I also found this bad boy at our church building. I'll just leave it there...
Elder Seth Tracy
800 Waukegan Rd Ste 203
Glenview,  IL 60025