Família!!!!

Setubal, Portugal - February, 2015

P-Day hike - February 16, 2015

Setubal, Portugal

Minha Família!! 

Hey guys!!! Awe I miss you all!! Can you believe I am already at 6 months in Portugal? It is so weird. I am at that point now where I can communicate with people and understand what they are saying, but I feel like I should be way better at the language. 

Can I just say that I am so grateful for commandments and the rules of the mission. I know that when we are obedient we will have the spirit with us. It was pretty cool, Sister Swain and I taught an English class this last week and only Jacinto came. Well, we ended up teaching him in the hallway and we had a door opened to another church class so that way we weren't alone with him. It was good.  

This letter will be short because it's been kind of crazy this week. Lets just say that we switched areas with the elders...

Since we are in the Elders area now, we had a lesson on Saturday with an investigator of theirs. Well, Mario is from Holland and Isabel is from Portugal and they both don't really believe in God and they both only speak English to us. Anyway,s the lesson we had with them was so cool. I think Sister Swain loved to be able to understand everything. :) I just loved teaching people who didn't believe in God. I just could feel how much God really does love them and that he misses them. It is really hard to explain. 

Oh, the young men's president was talking to me and he told me that he and his wife had talked about me and my obedience to the rules.  They said they were really impressed. Anyways, I am not perfect by any means but it was cool to hear that someone noticed how important obedience is to me.

I love this gospel so much. I am so thankful for prayer and for our loving Heavenly Father. I know that he lives and that he loves us more than we can comprehend. His plan for us is perfect because, if followed, we can RETURN to live with Him again. On my mission I have learned to really grow in my relationship with Him. Prayer for us as members of the church should be more than something to just check off. It should be a personal conversation with him as our Father. And I am so thankful for you mom and dad. It is so cool to think that I can not even remember the first time I said a prayer because I started so young.  I am so thankful for the way we were raised. 

I know this church is true. And for anyone who has any doubts about God or about anything, ask our loving Father in Heaven. I love you all so much!!!!

Sister Lacey 

What a week!

Ola minha família!!

Hey guys I cant believe it has already been another week! This week has been a little crazy but still good. I will be quick today because we are going to go on a hike with some members. It is supposed to be the highest point in Portugal. I am pretty excited.

On Wednesday we had interviews with President. He is so amazing we had an awesome talk. He is just such an inspired man.  Sometimes I'm kind of hard on myself but he just said how much the Lord trusts me and how much he (President) trusts me and that I am doing an amazing job. It was so nice to hear. I read a quote, I think it is from Elder Bruce R. McConkie, but he said the Lord doesn't expect immediate perfection but he expects immediate progression. That helped me a lot too.  

So honestly this week was kind of a blur. I am not going to lie, it was a little rough. ALL of our appointments fell through. I just felt really bad for Sister Swain. On Friday night it rained really hard and then literally no one wanted to talk to us. So, we started singing hymns as we were walking in the street and we contacted anyone we saw. It was pretty funny... This one guy we contacted looked at us like we were crazy and said, you both know it is raining right? And we laughed and he said, "You guys need to go to your house now, you will get sick." And I said actually, "sir we need to work." Haha. Its pretty funny; in Portuguese they have a command form or in other words you switch the ending of a word if you are commanding someone to do something. For example vai is you are going and vá is GO). Anyways he was using command form. Haha

So one funny story. We were walking and trying to find people to teach and we decided we needed to say another prayer. It was probably one of the most honest prayers I have said. I just love praying. I said in the prayer that we were a little down but we are happy because we are growing and we are blessed to be serving in Portugal. Anyways, after the first man we saw we stopped him. And I started testifying that I know the gospel was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith. And he just looked at me and said,"What did you say?" Well, when I said restored, he thought I said castrated. HAHAHA So he heard "Deus Castrou o evangelho dele.." (God castrated his gospel) Haha, In my defense, it was raining and really windy! And I know how to say restored :-). Anyways, we all laughed so hard and it broke the ice a bit. He said he is wants to come to church and learn more. 

I love you guys so much! I am seriously so happy! I was, like I said, feeling a little down because of the work right now and I ended up getting a letter from Sister Fox. Well, it was perfect for me! In the letter she talked about trials and how they truly are for our benefit because they make us stronger. And how can we expect to become like our savior who suffered for all things if we cant handle our trials. I also liked that she shared a quote that said when we end this life we don't want to hear "Well your done" but we want to hear "Well done thou good and faithful servant." I want to feel that I have given my all to the Lord for these next 11 months. I know I will not be perfect but I don't want to finish a day or finish my mission with a little left, I want to give it my all. I love you all so much!!! 

Com amor, Sister Lacey 

Treinamento aka Training :D

Sister Lacey and Sister Swain

The last week with the Brazilian Elders

Sister Ventura, Tiago, (a recent convert) and Sister Lacey

Ola minha família!!

Ola tudo bem? This week was seriously so fun! A little crazy, but awesome. So Sister Thornley and I had a lot of fun working together until Thursday. It was a little weird working in two areas, but it was so fun. One funny story. We were walking on this street that is really Portuguese. It has these cool antique houses right next to cobble stone sidewalks. Well anyways, I was just contemplating life I guess and then out of no where I see this hand right in front of my face! I scream and jumped and then I turned around to see this sweet little old lady with a very surprised look on her face. Haha The poor thing was just watering her flowers when this crazy American screamed out of no where. Haha Sister Thornley just said Bom dia (Good day) to the lady and then we started crying we were laughing so hard. Ya I know I have issues. :)

So, Thursday, we left and got on a train to Lisboa. And when we got to the mission office, there were 15 elders training and then 6 sisters. And guess who was the youngest sister training in the mission field? Yep me! I was so scared because every one's Portuguese was so good. Haha But it was all good. So we had a two hour training with President and the Assistants and it was so good! I felt so much love and President said how much he trusts each one of us and how much love he has for us and then he said now just imagine how much love and confidence your father in heaven has for you. The training was so good. Well after President and Sister Fluckiger went to go to the airport and we all waited in the office for them. It was pretty funny to watch how anxious we all were. A bunch of missionaries who are never used just standing around... We ended up helping the office Elders some. Haha I am going to be so weird when I get home. 

So Sister Swain is from Arizona. She is awesome!! When all of the greenies came in we had another training with them and it brought back a lot of memories from my first day in Portugal. One cool thing that I didn't tell you all last week was that all of the visas did not come for all of the new missionaries coming to Portugal and so as a mission we prayed and fasted so that the visas would come in time and they did!  If all of the missionaries wouldn't have come, we would have had to close 7 areas in the mission. It was seriously such a blessing. And Sister Fluckiger just cried and told the new missionaries "we all prayed you here". 

Sister Swain is doing awesome. I love her. The ward is doing great! I just love this ward and they seemed pretty excited to see that I stayed. It made me happy.

I love you all so much! I am so thankful for prayer and for our Loving Heavenly Father! I know this church is true! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Com Amor, Sister Lacey

Fifth Transfer in Portugal!!

Sister Lacey and Sister McCall (They were in the MTC together)

Last day with the Brazilian Elders

Sisters Thornley, McCall, and Lacey

Ola minha família!!

Hey everyone. Can you believe I am on my fifth transfer in Portugal already? I can't haha. So I am staying here in Setúbal and I am going to train! So last night the Zone leaders called and said that Sister Ventura was getting transferred and they told me my companions name Sister Swin and then they said (when I asked where do I need to pick her up?) they said well, she won't get to Portugal until Thursday. Haha Your going to train!  Anyways I am really excited. :)

This week was seriously so great! I just love it here. So on New Years Eve I was on a division (with a different sister) and we were in my area, but then we ended up going to the sister training leader's area. So that was the first unplanned thing. Well, then we ended up contacting people and no one was wanting to talk to us. Then, on this one street, this one man did not want anything to do with us and then we turned to talk to this other man and his dog didn't like us... and then came Jocemare. Well, we talked to him and he said that he is praying for guidance. We got his contact info and then continued on. Well last week I found out that the sisters have been visiting him a lot. Well, I ended up being on another division and got to teach him! And he shared how long he has been looking for the truth. And then I shared with him that story and how our Heavenly Father literally placed him in our path. I cried when I told him how many things had to happen for us to stop him that night and now he is scheduled to be baptized. He was just so prepared and I know the Lord is in charge of this work. 

Another cool story. A recent convert invited us over to her house and she had a friend over. You have got to love recent converts! They are such good missionaries. Well, her friend lost her husband 8 years ago and said that she stopped praying and talking with her Father in Heaven after that. We shared the plan of salvation with her and I just cried as I shared that I know that our Savior knows exactly how she feels and he loves us and wants to help us. The spirit was so strong!

I am so thankful to be a member of Christ's Church. I know that if we follow the commandments they will bring peace and happiness into our lives. This is Christ's church. I have no doubt that he lives. I feel his love daily. I love you all so much!!!

Com Amor, Sister Lacey