Temple Again!

HEY EVERYONE

This week was awesome we got a lot of cool things done. And we also got to send a lot of time with our recent converts!

To start, WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE AND DO BAPTISMS FOR THE DEAD WITH GERMAN AND LORENA. It was so cool! We got to go with the other elders because thier recent converts went to the temple too! So we all got to go! It was a super holy and righteous experience for all of us! German got to baptise everyone and it was super awesome! I got to work in the confirmation room with bishop and Elder Yount, my buddy. We also got to to go Wendy's with everyone and it was awesome because it was free!

This week we also got to go to this noche international and it was a massive cultural celebration! There was people from a lot of countries and there was a talent show! Some of our investogstors we are working with, Manuel and Josefina! They seemed to like it. It was a really good opportunity to also meet the other people's investigators! It was super nice.

We got this Bible and Book of Mormon referral the other day and so we decided to call him and he didn't answer. So we decided to randomly stop by and this white dude opens the door and Elder Fry is like is Mario here? The dudes name was Angel and he said Mario hahaha but he was like yes actually, that's me. And we were shook but we talked to him in Spanish because he's from Puerto Rico and he's a history teacher and he is super interested in why God didn't send his work to the new world in the Bible and he researched and he came up with the Book of Mormon! We have been teaching him a little about it all and he's super Cool!

Also the other day we got a referral from some elders in the city of this part member family who literally live in the bottom corner of our area. It's like a 20 minute drive around the airport and it's in the middle of nowhere. But we call her up and the Hermana said we could come by that day. So we go down there and we meet her and her husband and they were super nice but he's not very nice. But randomly their nonmember granddaughters pull up and we started teaching them! And y run they came to church and it was super cool! It was awesome to meet them and start teaching them!

We have been working super hard and we have been super happy while doing this work! Elder Fry and I are homies and we will be for life hopefully. The work is true and things are moving forward!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
The temple with German and Lorena and then the other elders
I made some blueberry pancakes
WENDY'S!

Second Summer

HEY Everyone!

This was another awesome week here with Elder Fry in Arlington Heights! I honestly don't remember too much of what happened it was a blur this week haha

But we had a baptism this week! We got to help Allison get baptized! She comes from a less active part member family and she's 8 years old, super smart and super sweet! She gave her testimony after she was baptised and it was the sweetest few sentences I've ever heard! She said that God makes her heart happy and how now she can have him in her heart forever! So cute.

We also went on exchanges this week! I got to go with my HOMIE Elder English to his area in Bloomingdale and we had a great time! I got to meet Hermana Teresa who is the homiest lady ever and Bernabe their recent convert! We also got to meet their super cool new Ward Mission Leader and it was really cool! We talked to this man named Alfredo and he was not happy to see us and we lowkey got pretty heated in our conversation. I even invited him to be baptized and he just said no. Upon asking him why he just said no. It was really fun! We also got to randomly see the Assistants! It was a very long day but we had a blast! Good times.

We also got to visit this one family that randomly started to come church again and they are super cool! They have a son who served with my sister Allison's trainer in Denver! It was super cool! Because we are already tight then we sent them to our families and it was awesome! We also got to set up a tent!

I am honestly loving being a District Leader! I get to serve other people and help others come closer to Christ by learning to teach the same tk other people! I've also had a lot to pray about and for here recently and it's been really a great experience! I've learned to receive revelation and it has been coming more and more easily and it's been very spiritual and uplifting to be able to truly become inspired over something so trivial as a District Meeting. It's been a really humbling and great experience. Furthermore, we are starting this thing called a 40 Day Fast and we give up the little things that we know we are doing wrong and see how much of a difference it makes! I'm super excited to see how much I can grow in these next 39 days!

Things here are awesome! I love you all and I love the Gospel and I hope you all have a great week! Let me know how you're doing at seth.tracy@myldsmail.net

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
We enptied our vacuum and Elder Fry is like it's a baby! And so we had a baby
A dog peed on my foot haha
We took an older Hermano with us and he can't see well so to read the scriptures he uses his "chalupa"
The Baptism!
The Homies picture send tk the family!
Our investigator José gave us toothpaste and brushes and it was awesome!

There Must Needs Be an Opposition in All Things

Hey Everyone!

It's Elder Tracy here and you're tuning in for yet another report on a great week in Arlington Heights ft. Elder Fry! But this week was awesome we had a lot of cool things happen! To start off the week, last Monday was our ward party! And we went to this park in Roselle and we ate a bunch of food and we played soccer and basketball and it was super fun! Our recent converts German and Lorena
came too and they got to spend time with all the members! It was awesome!

But this week we got in with some super homie members who fed us a bunch of food and they also spoke English!! It's weird here in the Burbs a lot more people only speak Spanish and so weve been speaking it a bunch more and it's awesome! But it was really fun to be able to have like regular conversations with people in English again it's something small but the lord works in small and simple ways right? So it's something I've come to love, looking for the small blessings in live because if you're always looking for the big oenz, you'll never see them! We also got to hpbthrow a su prize birthday party for Obispo this week and he is an awesome Biship he is always super down to come out and help us teach and he's super nice to us and it makes me happy! But he got cake in his face because that's just how Mexicans roll if you know what I mean.

We also had a really cool week with some of the people we are teaching! One of them is Daisy! We were able to out her on date for baptism for the 13th of October! We are super excited for her! We also brought the primary president to a quick meeting with Daisy (because daisy has like 4 kids under the age of 9) and she was super excited to come to chruch with us. But after Tuesday we lost contact with her and it was really sad! And then she didn't come to chruch either! We also have found some awesome people here recently and they show so much promise and then they just kind of dissapate into thin air. It's sometimes a little frustrating. But if I've learned anything, it'd that there certainly is an Opposition in All things. Our mission president said that we had an awesome month for baptisms and we've seen a bunch of success, but now thigns are going to struggle here for a little. In 2 Nephi chapter 2 in the book of mormon, we learn about this principle in depth. We can't truly know how happy we are of have been unless we also have times of trouble to accompany it. The stark difference between the two help us appreciate one more than the other. I'm super glad for these trials I have right now with the people we are teaching, it's keeps me humble and I have to remember that I have to trust in the Lord and stuff works out! And it will all work out I believe. So I have no worries here but neither should yall! I'm happy and safe (well I try to be) and it's awesome!

I love you all and I hope that everything goes well for you all each and every day! I hope this week keeps yall feeling blessed every day!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
A Golden Missionary Spanish Même is found for yall
We stumbled upon this giant nexican party the other day and it was intense and the music was literally deafening
Here is the party we had with obispo and it was pretty much the best thing ever

Weddings, Baptisms and Comfirmations, Oh my!

Hey Yall! This was a pretty stressful and equally awesome week! Also Happy Labor Day!

So some of our Investigators have been trying to get baptized here for a long time and they were waiting on some paper work so they could get married and they were waiting for ever! But they went on last Monday to see about it all and they were good to go! So they called us and our bishop and we all got ready and on Tuesday, we drove up to their house with bishop in tow and they got married! It was a nice little ceremony and they were so happy to finally be married it was a nice time and then we got to eat! Mexicans still know how to party without all the  cerveza! It was a really great time!

On Wednesday, we had district meeting and then we went to the church and we started getting everything ready for German and Lorena to get baptized! We filled the font, set up the room, called everyone we could, made the programs and everything and so by the time 7 o clock came around it was wild! We invited every missionary we could so they could bring some people they were teaching a lot were able to bring people and a lot of the ward members came out to support Germain y Lorena and it was awesome! It was by far the most beautiful and the sweetest baptism I've ever been to. Back story: Germans parents are members of the the church and they have been waiting for Germans heart to be softened toward the church and after some 20 years it finally was and he accepted the gospel and Lorena, his wife has been wanting this for months. And ti was awesome because Germans parents were here from Mexico and left on Thursday, so right before they left, German and Lorena were able to be baptized by his Father! It was also Germans Birthday! Greatest gift ever. They bore thier testimonies after they were baptized and it was just so good to hear this. They are so sincere and desirous to keep going forward and be sealed in the temple a year from now to be one eternal family!

On Sunday we got to participate in their Comfirmations and the reception of the Holy Ghost and it was really great. They were both really moved to tears and it was a very sacred experience, one I won't forget. Soon after that they got up to bear their testimonies and they did a beautiful job there. Bishop pulled them aside after that meeting and called Lorena to be the new young woman's president for the ward! So she even has a calling now and she was so very excited about that! It's been a great week for them! One of change and getting closer to God! It's awesome.

But other then all this goodness, this week was really hard. We struggled to find people willing to listen to our message and also to keep commitments. But that's just how it happens. We were able to find one Woman named Josefina and she's pretty cool. But Ether 12:6 am I right? But it's all good there's this week so it will be awesome! Also this week is transfer week! And Elder Fry and I are getting another 6 weeks together here in Arlington Heights 3! Super pumped!

But it's been an overall great week! Really glad to be here! I hope to hear from y ou all soon, I love you all and hope you have a great week!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
The baptism!
It's rained really hard so yeah
Selfie in the sun
The Wedding!

The Gospel is Sweet

Hey Yall! This was yet another fantastic week here in the great city of Chicago (even though I'm still in the burbs it's awesome)

But to start, we have been working on this new fangled idea of Daily Contacting which means that we try to pass by the people we are teaching at least every day and if not as often as possible. And it's been awesome! We have been working really hard and talking tk everyone! There's this one trailer park that we are teaching some people in and we like tripped the amount of people we are teaching in there! We went from like 4 people to almost 10 in three days! And we were only there just talking to people who are out and about! We also found some youth who are pretty interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and how it can help them feel peace in their lives! It's awesome!

This week we also got to go on exchanged again! Elder English came over here again with me in Arlington Heights and we had a blast! We had an awesome district meeting and then we came home and ended up having a phenomenal Companionship Study and we went and talked to everyone and it was super fun! One of the people we are teaching, Edgar, he has this giant knife he left me hold and we actually really excited to show me haha great guy. But Elder English is an awesome Zone Leader and he taught me a lot of great things!

So talking again about finding people, we went to go find one of our friends we are teaching out here and he was talking to his neighbors and we felt a little awkward just going up and talking tk them all but why not? We get talking and they eventually ask us why we are here and we describe our purpose and that we share messages about Jesus Christ with others. And they seemed a little hesitant but they agreed to let us come back in like 20 minutes. So we went and then came back and we sat down and they had so many questions for us. It was fun! We shared the Book of mormon and the parents were not having that idea, but thier daughters were instantly defending the book and what it is. We showed them the additional commentary of Christ's Baptism in 2 Nephi 31 and also in Matthew 3. Then the dad pulls out his bible and tries to shut us down, but then I ask to see his bible and I just kept pulling out scripture, after scripture on this guy, saying the otherwise. And eventually he seemed pretty convinced that we knew what we were talking about and they told us to come back tonight so we are gonna go back and see what happens! (I really like using the scriptures and I also love reading them all)

Thanks you all for reading this far, (if you have and you still read my emails yall are the homies) I hope you enjoined it a little! This week here is the last week fo the transfer and so next week I'll be telling you all where I'll be headed off to next! I think I'll stay but who knows? But I love you all and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and all that He does for us! He lives!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
We ate this really hot salsa and we survived (ft. German and Maya)
The big knife
Elder English and I after exchanges
Elder Fry and I in the car!
The gospel is Sweet!!!

Biking and blessings

Hello one and all!

This week was good! We had a lot of great things happen to us!

To start, we were over IN Des Plaines and we decided to stop by this one member randomly and see how he was doing. It turns out that's he was this less active guy wanting to come back to chruch! His mname is Wilbur and he's from El Salvador! And we get talking with him and his brother in law for a while and we had some really good conversations about life and about the gospel and ti was a great time! We also told them that we learned how to make papusas (which are from el Salvador) and they didn't believe us so we told them we'd make some for them and bring them on Thursday. So ion Thursday, we made some papusas and man, they were bad hahahahah it was really fun though! So we brought them to these papusas and they ate them gladly so that was good. So we are working on them haha

We also were walking yesterday through this trailer park and there was about a billion families having food and like parties outside and so we were walking past one and they called us over to eat (I love Mexicans) and we ate some good tacos and we had some good talking with some of the people there! We shared a video about Jesus Christ and they all really liked it!

Also yesterday was stake conference and so we were driving down to Schaumburg and as we are driving we pull alongside our mission president! And so we waved to him and his family and then we smoked him off the line and we kinda ran a sketchy yellow light in front of him. But he caught up to us and gave us a thumbs up so it was all good hahaha we also got interviewed by him before conference and I was worried the whole time that he was gonna call me out on it but he didn't so I dodged a bullet. But Elder S. GIFFORD NIELSON OF THE 7P CAME TO VISIT US HERE IN ILLINOIS. Hes from Houston and so afterward I went to say hi and that I'm from Houston! It was awesome!

Also this week for District meeting was awesome! We had a really good discussion about how everything is going and we also played a game! It's called "Read a bunch of Scripture References and see what they Have In Common" it was a game of my creation and it went well. It was about contention and how we can avoid It as missionaries: between our companions, other missionaries, our leaders, whatever it may be. It was good especially because we've been fighting it for a while now... But things are all better now! I'm loving being District Leader!

BUT the other day we decided to ride bikes around our local area to try and save miles (because as missionaries we are only allotted a certain amount of miles) and it was AWESOME it was great to be back in my bike I was just smiling the whole time! I was just pumped I like even jumped at one time! It was just words can describe it haha!

But things here are awesome! We have things really going for us! I love yall and we will be in contact here soon!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
District Meeting with the Homies
Elder English and I haha
Zone Conference from last week! Try to find me!
We forgot to take pictures biking so we grabbed one today!
I found a street named after me!
Papusa making!!!

PABLO AND PAPUSAS

Hello Everyone! How are you all doing?

This was a good week for us! We saw a lot of success and some miracles tk go along with it!

So to start, we had Zone Conference this week! And since this is my first car area, we have to clean out our cars, and make sure they are vacuumed and clean! So we kinda forgot about it until the last minute and very hurriedly and effectively cleaned out our car and we found this 3 dollar car wash on the way to the church so we got blessed and out car looked good! But Zone Conference was intense! We learned a lot of things. We learned about how we can just be better missionaries and also what we can do to be better! President Bingham is a straight Wizard I'm telling you all: we are sitting there and he just says, do you want to know what's been holdijg you all back? We all said yes, and he said that he had been pondering it for some time and we went to the Lord in prayer and he told him exactly what we needed. And then President layer out this list of things and it was intense because it like really revelation directly from God for our specific group! It was wild!

We were out one night at about 8 o clock and we had had a rougher day, a bunch of appointments had fallen through so we were kinda upset, but it was later and darker so we decided to go to do some stop bys of some people in our area. We talked to some guys but no one was really having it. We decided tk hit one more house and we ring the doorbell and no one answers, so we decide to call the number of this guy in there from months ago. And we we call him, the door opens and this dude leaves and his phone is ringing! So we are like hey are you Pablo? It was Pablo! So we get talking with him and he's had a rough life but we have been telling him about how we can find peace in Christ and stuff and it's been an amazing experience trying to teach him! It's been wild honestly.

But we also have this one couple who are trying to get ready for baptism here soon! German and Lorena are awesome! They feed us every Wednesday and Saturday and they are so ready, they just need to be officially married in order for everything to work out and they can keep going in their eternal progression! We are really excited!

This Sunday we went to this members house and they taught us how to make papusas!!! It's this food from El Salvador and it's the best and it's pretty easy to make. But it was really fun and we are now super tight with this family! The Padilla Familia are the homies. I'll attach pictures.

Sorry this week wasn't super interesting for a weekly letter! We also don't have very many pictures this week, so sorry! But it's been awesome! If you all have any questions for me abitu anything at all, let me know at seth.tracy@myldsmail.net and we can talk!

As always,

Elder Tracy

PHOTOS
Elder Fry and I forgot to take pictures this week so we took a selfie to make up for it
The Papusas! Sorry I look so weird in one I didn't know he was taking pictures haha