The recovery of it allll

Hey everyone!

This week was an awesome week out here in Naperville! Since I wasn't sick to death this week,  I was actually able to get work done this week which was fantastic for us and our area and yeah!

But really this week was pretty good. we were able to find some awesome people and get som emore people to teach. we were able to find an older woman named Garnett and she's a legend. We are starting to find some good things here in this area.

I got to go on exchanges with my man Elder Moser and it was awesome. We were in Joliet for the day and I got to speak Spanish and it was my life. I had the best time ever. we taught a lot of people AND we got some awesome Mexican food.

I'm currently downtown with all the homies from back in the day. Elder Fry, Elder yount, Elder moser, Elder jimenez, Elder Osorio, Elder Garcia all the homies.

As always,

Elder Tracy

Dead.

Hey Everyone!

This week was very exciting! On Monday, I got the OK from the mission nurse to go to Urgent Care because I was super fevered and kinda dying and we went and I was an adult for the first time and filled out my own paperwork, went to the pharmacy by myself like the adult I am. it was crazy. But I got the Flu. Influenza type A to be exact! So I got some medicine at the  local CVS and I crashed for the day.

And then the next one.

And the one after.

And the next three days after that too.

I slept for 15 - 16 hours of sleep a day. I read a lot in the Scriptures. I started going off on the Doctrine and Covenants about all the Doctrine it clarifies and I really enjoyed that. I read a lot in The Book of Mormon (because it's more of the word of God). It's been fun to read in the scriptures. Not fun to be sick. On Tuesday I sneezed for like 30 minutes straight. We had district council on Wednesday. But I skyped into that because I was dying. We did some weekly planning. It was productive the time inside for the most part.

On Saturday we tried to do some work and I thought I was going to pass out and throw up on someone's porch. I wasn't doing too hot. So we can back home and I slept for another 3 hours. We stopped by some people that night.

Sunday was our day. We went to church and we got some good work knocked out after that! We knocked a bunch of dooors, talked to some awesome people, we stopped by some family in the ward that have been needing some TLC and then we got an awesome dinner from the Ballard Family, had to make a pit stop at the church because I was about to explode. We got some good stuff done.

But I think honestly the thing I learned from this experience is patience on my part with the Lord and his  blessings. Often, we want something and we know that God knows that we want something, but He knows better than us, so he will hold out on us until we are either ready for what He has for us, or until we change our minds and realize what He wants and how much better that thing is. I wanted to get better, but Heavenly Father wanted something else for all those days. It didn't help that Im reading James E Talmage's classic Jesus the Christ right now and I was reading about all the miracles Jesus performed and it wasn't happening for me. There's a plan. I'm not worried. Revelation has not ceased. The Heavens are still open and that's really all that matters. the Church is true and lead by the First Presidency and the Quorom of the Twelve apostles. What a time to be alive.

As always,

Elder Tracy

Photos
Not much happened this week. Here's me being sick.
Here's the First Presidency and the 12. They are Prophets, Seers and Revelators.

Hot and Cold

Hey Everyone!

This was yet another great week out here in Naperville. A very very chilly one but a good one none the less.

We finally got to meet with Christy this week! So Christy has been going through some hard times recently and her "second mother" is a member of the church in another stake and she asks if Christy wants a blessing and we give her the blessing last week and it was aweomse. We then were able to follow the spirit (because Elder Lewis is a legend and follows the Spirit) and stop by on Tuesday and got in contact with her and we were able to teach her the Restoration of the Gospel and she loved it and is super excited to read the Book of Mormon! We are way way excited and we are going to be teaching her again tomorrow with her other member friends who live down the street. Heavenly Father has been preparing this woman for yeahs to receive the gospel. And now it's finally time!

We also were able to go on Exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week! It was awesome. I love being district leader. But I went on exchanges with Elder Olschewski (I know right? pronounced ole-chef-ski) And holy smokes he's a legend. we had a really great time on Friday. We forgot to take a picture but we will get one soon! We were able to do a lot of door knocking and we finished strond with an awesome impromptu lesson and pizza from a member. It was an awesome time. Would recommend.

It was also a pretty cold week for us out here in Naperville. It was in the teens essentially the whole week and it was aweomse. We got really chilly several times this week and we had a lot of fun being chilly. But it also has been a little detramental for my health... I think I got the flu. and bad haha I got the Flu shot this year but apparently it's been too long and I got got. I am in a high fever state and it's been really fun still. So hot and cold haha it's been fun. but yesterday and today have been awesome.

But things here are going really well. I am loving the work and the people are aweomse (even when they are mean to us) really I think this is the purpose in some regards of a mission: to teach us the attributes of Christ and they have 2 years to develop them and apply them so that when the situation presents it self in the future, we are ready to love those in need of love and help those in need of help. The Church is true and the Book of Mormon is devinately more of the word of God and helps us draw closer to God more than any other book.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
I found my street!
I got a package from my mom and it's a mug! from the greatest place on earth

we beat the pro

Hey Everyone!

This week was an awesome week! We definately saw some miracles!

So to start, we kinda had a lot of things fall through with people last week and we decided that enough was enough and we were going to find some awesome people. Turns out it was a a struggle and we actually ended up knocking doors most o the week. Like 4+ hours a day mainly just to stay busy and keep spreading the Gospel. We didn't really see too much success from it all, but we were showing the Lord our Dilligence and expecting miracles to happen .

And they did.

We got a text on Thursday morning from a member of the church across Chicago telling us that we need to giver her friend who lives in our area a blessing on Saturday. We agreed because blessings are important. And we go over there and we meet Christy. She is the SWEETEST LADY I HAVE EVER MET. HOLY COW.  We were just talking with her for maybe 5 minutes, gave the blessing and then we were on out way. But she was just smiling with tears in her eyes when she saw us and we explained what was going to happen. The member and her husband were also there and he kinda messed up the blessing part (because he didn't know how to do it) but all well that ends well. Christy was so appreciative and she said that she wanted us to come back and answer her questions about the Church and God in general. So that was a miracle.

Sunday rolls around and we were only really expecting one person to show up to church, Bernice. (who is also a super sweet older woman who is super nice and always so excited to see us) and we are standing in the foyer waiting for people to show up to church and in walks these two families from out of the blue. we walk up and they say " oh hi we are friends of the Holts (a family in the ward) and they invited us to church today and so we are visiting. MY LANTA  I was pumped. We talked with them a lot and they have a lot of good questions and other thing so we are going to be following up with them too. So that was another miracle.

We stumbled upon this random neighborhood that is just tucked away in the corner of our area in the middle of a forest preserve. We decided to knoc a few of the streets on Sunday after church before dinner. That place hasn't been touched by missionaries for years. The people are way nice and we talked to maybe like 20 people and like 4 of them told us to come back soon! We found a literal gold mine. And its a huge place. And there's a street there named Seth St. (I will get a picture for evidence soon worry not little flock) We met Matt and John (the Romanian guy who is a legend) and Lilas and it was amazing. We are going to go there all the time now haha So that was another miracle.

We get to eat dinner with this one family on Sunday, The Barlow family and we had planned to invite them to invite a friend to church in the the little message we share at the end. And we sit down to dinner and Sister Barlow is describing dinner and everything and then she says "Oh and by the way, I was going to invite a family to church next week" and we just sat there dumbfounded. Man the Spirit of the Lord is an amazing thing. we committed them to inviting that friend to church! Miracles are all around us here in Naperville.

Sorry this one was a marathon to get through but it has just been the time of my life out here seeing some miracles and getting some good things done. It's aweomse. I ove the Gospel. I love the Book of Mormon and the Bible. I love the fact that we have a living Prophet, called of God to lead us and guide us and direct God's people once more upon the earth. It's comforting to me to know that all these things are true and for that reason, we share these things with everyone.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
we found a giant pig.
we found a stone puppy. too cute not to take a picture.
JOLIET DISTRICT 2.0

Temple and Transfer

Hey everyone!

This was a good week! I guess. we got to see some cool stuff and talk with some amazing people!

So to start with the legendary people! We met this guy knocking who opened the door and yells "yall are back! last time yall ran away scared" and we met our friend andrew. He was a legend. We probably talked to him for like 30 minutes. we talked about everything from symbolism to satanic powers to the problems of the world to the prophet Mohammed from islam. It was a good contact. It was fun. We also knocked this one door and the lady told us to hold on and so were we're waiting there for like 5 minutes and then we decided to leave a note and leave and as we were writing the note, these two guys start walking up to us with a little kid and are like what yall doing? And so we explained the situation (well Eder Lewis did and it didn't go too well) and so they walked the kid to the garage and apparently we scared the living daylights out of this kid as he was walking home from school and so we were really sad that we upset him haha but it was a good time.

We also got to go to the temple this week and and it was aweomse. Our Ward Mission Leader took us up to the temple and it was aweomse haha this man literally never stops talking and its legendary. We got a spiritual boost to finish out this transfer strong and make some miracles happen! It is gping to be awesome! (we took pictures but I forgot my camera at home so I can't send the pictures yet!)

But we also got news about transfers! I'll be  staying here with Elder Lewis for another 6 weeks! It Wil be good! we have a lot of awesome things happening in the area and Elder Lewis is getting fired up about missionary work again and that make things a lot easier.

this was a pretty boring week honest other than the temple. Things are good. Love you all!

As always

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
The final district pictures haha rip hermana Cutler
We didn't have a dinner at Valentines day so we made our own haha

Finding

Hey everyone!

This was another awesome week out here in Naperville 3rd Ward! Here we go!

So this week we did a HECK ton of finding because it was in the 20s and it was wayyyy warmer that it has been so we actually were able to talk to a ton of people and we found some people to teach! We found a man by the name of Tom Jones (apparently he's a singer, I didn't know haha) but he's a legend. we are going to be doing a lot of good work with him! We also found this Indian family and they are amazingly awesome. The mom is a REAL LIFE FASHION DESIGNER Hahaha it was a great lesson

We also got to do exchanges this week and I got to go to Joliet 2 Spanish Branch again with my boy Elder Smith and it was awesome. We talked to a bunch of mexicans, got caught in a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR and it is really cold so we were super confused why there was rain in FLIPPING WINTER but it's fine I'm fine. we also got to eat some DANK TACOS DORRADOS and holy smokes I was in heaven. There was frijoles, crema, lechuga, queso fresco and all the other good stuff. My gosh I was in heaven. It was the greatest ever.

We did alot of door knocking this week really. That's about all that happened that was intersting. We got the cops called on us for knocking doors at like 5 PM. it was kinda hilarious haha we were talking to this one dude and then all the sudden, I see a cop car out of the corner of my eye and I'm thinking YES A COP, BRING IT ON SATAN YOU CAN'T GET ME. The cop pulls up and the dude flees the scene and the lady gets out and she starts questioning us on this man's driveway and she wasn't having it haha but we are protected under the US Constitution so she couldn't do anything about it! She did run our drivers lisneces because apparently we were being "shady individuals" haha it was a great experience. Then like 20 minutes we found a super solid kid who was interested in learning more about the gospel so it all was worth it! (SATAN STILL CAN'T GET US)

But we really we had a great week. we saw some great miracles with people coming to church out of the blue. Truly this is God's work and nothing can stop it. There is a lot of potential out here so we gotta keep it up! But this is where I'm supposed to be. Also, idk if I told you al, but ya boy Elder Tracy extended his mission! That's right poeple, I'll be coming home (well to Illinois) August 7th instead of June 26th! I get to serve God even LONGER way pumped.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
We biked like 12 miles to Walmart last Monday because I convinced Elder Lewis it wasn't that far haha
I climbed a snowmound on a chilly one
Shout out to Elder Anderson. A dirt nasty HONDA FIT

i froze

Hey Everyone!

This week was literally one for the record books. Holy SMOKES. It was a chilly one this week! But several awesome things happened!

So first off, to answer all yalls questions, I AM FINE. The cold wasn't even that bad. Your nostrals freeze while you bree the and if you out for more than like 30 seconds, your eyes will start to freeze shut. It was AWESOME. Fortuately, the coldest day, we had Zone Conference and so that made things a lot better because we were in the Church for like 7 hours instead of outside for 7 hours! It was an amazing Zone Conference too! We talked about a lot of really awesome things about the Holy Ghost and really who he is! It was a wild learning experience!

This week was also awesome because of STEVE. HOLY smokes he's a legend. We taught him three times this week because he wants to keep learning! He is SOOOO Hungry for the gospel and it's amazing to see. We had taught him the restoration last week and this week we taught him so much more and PUT HIM ON DATE. IT was amazing. He has the coolest Fellowshippers and they are all awesome. We are way excited to be teaching him! But on the sad note, his family is going through some rough times and he's actually getting kicked out his house this week. So CAN YOU KEEP STEVE IN YOUR PRAYERS SO HE CAN FIND A PLACE TO LIVE.

We also are trying to work a ton with less actives especially in the cold because we aren't trying to perish out here. We started working with this one family the Monte Calvos and my goodness. It was the funnest lesson I've ever been to. There was so much happening and holy crap it was hilarious. Roasts, insults, love, cats (named voldemort) and gospel all went flying for about an hour. It was amazing.

Funny story: (well at least to me) we knocked this one street and straight up every single person who opened the door was the most anti people ever. They were trying to tear us down and we just stood there and testified like the Alma and Amuleks we are and they just grumbled under their breath and closed the door all offended! to which we always yell back, "hope you have a great day!" and they, being upset and trying to flee because they are sad at us just say "mmmm you too" and I think it's the greatest thing ever hahahaha like every time it's amazing hahah

And this week we honestly saw the hand God. We had set some pretty loft goals for this area and we were able to go out there and make it happen! God was definately with us because we could not have done that on our own. Definately could not have done that nonesense. We had some miracles show up at church and we also got back into contact with Jailen our solid investigators who  decided to go on the fritz and he's solid as ever. Holy cow this paragraph does not do it justice what we saw this week. it was amazing. I'm definately a stronger man and much closer to God now a days so things are going pretty well.

this is the true work. This is the only true truth. I am beyond faith. There are so many things that confirm the divinity of the work of God in which I am involved. You all can know too.

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
ZONE CONFERENCE
we knocked this one guys door and he turned out to be a former and he wasn't having the idea of us and so he says hold on and I though we were gonna get some anti propaganda and I was way excited because it's dumb haha but he comes back with these ANCHIENT tapes of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and it was hilarious
IT WAS COLD UP IN HERE PEOPLE