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