Dear Family and Friends
Well it's transfers this week! It has literally been the craziest week my entire mission! SO MANY MIRACLES!!!! We sent a goal for 40 lessons and we hit 39, a week ago we had zero on a baptismal date and by tonight we will have 4, we had 6 new people at church, and I am going to be a District Leader in Winter Garden North!!! It's crazy that I'm barely out of training and I'll be a district leader! I feel a little inadequate. However, I know that whatever God asks us to do He will sustain us and support us! I don't have to be and won't be alone! And when it comes down it If I give of my all, taking heed to the Lord's counsel I can rest assured that my Father in Heaven is proud of me! Anyway, I am sad to go but glad to grow! I'm excited for this opportunity!
Alright, so there have been countless miracles this week and I can't share them all but I'll share one crazy experience and then two just awesome miracles! The first happened as we drove out to a lesson with
one of our less actives! He is coming back strong! We taught him an amazing lesson concerning how he and his wife could be sealed in the temple and the steps they need to take to get there! The spirit was incredibly strong! As we testify of the simple truths of this restored gospel the spirit will back you up and touch their hearts! It was amazing! Anyway this family lives way out in the country and we had to use a map to get out there! It was crazy dark and we had to swim through the swarms of misquotes to get to the car! We get inside and start backing up and something starts crawling over my companion! We turn up the brightness on our iPads and find at least 25 of the biggest cockroaches I have ever seen crawling over the windows, seat belts, sealing, and floor! We had a 30 min drive back to our place inside this car of roaches and we could only defend ourselves with our restoration pamphlets! Haha I have never felt so uncomfortable ever! Hahah but we survived it was just so nasty! Hahah oh how I love the mission!!!!
Another miracle that has happened this week is with Amanda, many weeks back I was able to give her a blessing, I had cried during the blessing and for that reason she began to ask questions about the church! The sister missionaries began to teach her! She has been gaining interest and the sister invited her to pray about a baptismal date on Friday night! They promised her that if she asked in faith she would receive an answer! She prayed and she as the scriptures promised received an answer! She is no going to be baptized on Christmas! First of all, I will never be ashamed of crying ever again! Hahah and secondly it's another amazing reminder that if we ask we shall receive! God is so eager to bless us and help us with every righteous desire that we have! Why are we not asking him for help?
One of the most rewarding miracles we have seen is with Sarah! When I first met Sarah she was an atheist and now is is going to be BAPTIZED!!!!!! She prayed sincerely about a date and she wants to be baptized on December 31! It is amazing how many prayers have been answered! I know that God hears and answers our prayers! He truly loves and cares about us all! He is our Father and wants us the best for us! He hasn't forsaken us and his arms are outstretched to aid us! We have been able to see Sarah quite often this week and have had great lessons with her concerning obedience and how she can prepare for baptism! I LOVE being a missionary! Hopefully president let's me come up for the baptism! Well, that is just a small portion of the miracles we have seen! If we set goals and pray and then act in faith, God will work wonders among us!
Your amazed miracle witnessing missionary,
Elder Tracy
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Week 14 | Oct. 17, 2016
Hey everyone!
This has been a long and crazy but wonderful week! It was a little hard to get back into the swing of things after 5 days of doing no proselyting, but we have been able to do a lot of planning, goal setting, and praying and are finally back into the swing of things! The hurricane has both made the work here easier and harder! We have received more referrals than we ever have before, but unfortunately we had to take our investigators off date! The hurricane has really messed up some schedules! We have a goal this week to go from none on date to having 5 with a baptismal date! We are testing our faith a little but I know if we give all that we have and pray with all that we have, our father in heaven will help us reach our goals. So, fun fact, we met the Governor of Florida last Monday! We got a call from our Bishop telling us to go to the airport so we could all get a picture with the governor! Well, we went early and nobody there knew what we were talking about! Well, we just stood there by these huge army trucks where they were handing out food and water to residents! While we stood waiting this guy came up to us and we had a full conversation with him and as he turned to leave he said something about being governor and we felt pretty dumb! He left before anyone else got there so now we always joke about how we met the governor! Anyway that was pretty cool! Hahah
We had interviews with President Clark this week and it was really inspiring! He talked about faith and quoted 2 Nephi 27:23
"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."
It was a good reminder for me to have faith! If we don't have faith miracles can't happen in our lives! So the next day we decided to give it a try! We stopped by the home of a less active who has never answered the door or our calls! We said a prayer expressing our great desire to see a miracle! We got out and for the first time ever she answered the door! She came out and and opened her heart to us and expressed how she has been waiting for a moment to start making a change in her life! I know that this would have never happened if we didn't have the faith and we didn't ask God for help! Always, always, always rely on our Father in Heaven! I am just starting to understand the power of faith! Faith precedes miracles! Ahhh I love this gospel!
We have had many experiences this week that have really strengthened my faith! On Wednesday night we had a few hours free up and we wanted to see some less actives in our area that we haven't met yet! We knocked on door, after door, after door and there was no answer! We prayed asking our Father in Heaven to lead us to who he needed us to go see! After two and a half hours of trying to follow the spirit with no one home we decide to try one last door... we knocked and no one was home! As we were about to leave to our next appointment the neighbor drove up into his driveway! We got out and had a great conversation with him! He wasn't interested... yet! But I know that it is exactly who we needed to see! When we surrender our will to our Father in Heaven amazing things come of it!
So many experiences like this have happened every single day this week! It is kind of blowing my mind! I prayed for experiences that would help me strengthen my faith and I have had too many experiences to count! Ask and ye shall Receive! I can testify of the power of Faith! The power that comes as we ACT in righteousness! Our father in heaven loves us and cares about us and our concerns and desires! Ask in faith and your prayers will be answered! Well sorry if my letter has been all over the place! We had another district Pday today so I have been writing this email throughout the entire day! We carved pumpkins, went bowling, and played some basketball! I LOVE my Mission! I LOVE serving our Father in Heaven! I love him and I love you all! Remember to stay strong in the Faith!
Your Faith seeking missionary,
Elder Tracy
Week 13 | October 10, 2016
Hello family and friends!
I am alive and survived my first hurricane! It's has sure been the craziest adventure of my entire life! The past week has been a whirlwind of events that all came so quickly! Early Wednesday we got word that we were going to be evacuated! We spent Wednesday helping our investigators strap things down, drill up their metal shutters, and prepare them all for the hurricane! We also had to go buy a few supplies and there is only one Walmart! Just imagine Black Friday but worse! The shelves were empty and people had sorta lost their minds and the hurricane hadn't even hit yet! All proselyting efforts were canceled and we had to all be in at 8:00! We prepared our apartment and packed our food and clothes into the car! We woke up early Thursday and drove inland about an hour to Deltona! We loaded our supplies and watched as the sky grew darker and darker! From that point on we didn't see the outside world till Saturday afternoon! There are three companionships living in the complex we evacuated to and then three other companionships had evacuated there so there were 12 elders that came to our apartment and we played board games and other big group games! There was this really old reel tape projector! We watched a film and then added our audio to it! It was hilarious! The whole day was so surreal and I've never felt more unproductive in my entire life! Power went out Friday morning so I basically just read my scriptures until I fell asleep! My companion played chess for hours with another elder! Well after the hurricane had passed we got the word to go back and assess the damage at our place and report back! Driving home we saw unbelievable amounts of derbies and damage! Our apartment had little damage and nobody has power!
Saturday afternoon we drove back and forth and all over the area assessing where help was needed and collecting information and addresses! We then sent all that into the stake president who complied the information and added it to a data base! The rest of the night we helped members from the stake unload a semi truck and a moving truck full of supplies from the church! I finally understand now why the church is always the first on ground zero and the efforts that go into the church humanitarian efforts! That took the entire night! It was encouraging to see how selfless members of the church are! There was this 70 year old man who spent 14 hours sawing up trees and hauling them away! It was a very humbling experience for me! The stake center was full of chain saws, generators, water, tarps, nails, shovels, helmets, and basically anything you'd need! There were 800-1000 volunteers from the church coming in Sunday morning to collect supplies and then disperse it through the stake and start clean up! Well, we cleaned up the church and we were heading out and we got an emergency call from the zone leaders saying another huge truck was coming in and no one would be there to receive it! We called in all the missionaries from the zone and spent from 9:30-11:00pm unloading the truck! We didn't get to bed until midnight! We were all physically exhausted!
Sunday was very unusual! We met at the church in our helping hands Tshirts took the sacrament in the dark! And spent the rest of the day cutting up trees and cleaning up fallen debris! It was so amazing being able to serve and watch people who would have been closed off to the gospel open up and grow a love for the church! I love this gospel! God has a plan for all of us! He is hastening His work! God loves His children and has protected and watched over me and the other missionaries here! We will be doing a ton of service the next week or so! Just know I love you are so much! Thank you for your concerns and prayers! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! I love being a missionary and I love serving! I love you!
Your hurricane surfing missionary,
Elder Tracy
I am alive and survived my first hurricane! It's has sure been the craziest adventure of my entire life! The past week has been a whirlwind of events that all came so quickly! Early Wednesday we got word that we were going to be evacuated! We spent Wednesday helping our investigators strap things down, drill up their metal shutters, and prepare them all for the hurricane! We also had to go buy a few supplies and there is only one Walmart! Just imagine Black Friday but worse! The shelves were empty and people had sorta lost their minds and the hurricane hadn't even hit yet! All proselyting efforts were canceled and we had to all be in at 8:00! We prepared our apartment and packed our food and clothes into the car! We woke up early Thursday and drove inland about an hour to Deltona! We loaded our supplies and watched as the sky grew darker and darker! From that point on we didn't see the outside world till Saturday afternoon! There are three companionships living in the complex we evacuated to and then three other companionships had evacuated there so there were 12 elders that came to our apartment and we played board games and other big group games! There was this really old reel tape projector! We watched a film and then added our audio to it! It was hilarious! The whole day was so surreal and I've never felt more unproductive in my entire life! Power went out Friday morning so I basically just read my scriptures until I fell asleep! My companion played chess for hours with another elder! Well after the hurricane had passed we got the word to go back and assess the damage at our place and report back! Driving home we saw unbelievable amounts of derbies and damage! Our apartment had little damage and nobody has power!
Saturday afternoon we drove back and forth and all over the area assessing where help was needed and collecting information and addresses! We then sent all that into the stake president who complied the information and added it to a data base! The rest of the night we helped members from the stake unload a semi truck and a moving truck full of supplies from the church! I finally understand now why the church is always the first on ground zero and the efforts that go into the church humanitarian efforts! That took the entire night! It was encouraging to see how selfless members of the church are! There was this 70 year old man who spent 14 hours sawing up trees and hauling them away! It was a very humbling experience for me! The stake center was full of chain saws, generators, water, tarps, nails, shovels, helmets, and basically anything you'd need! There were 800-1000 volunteers from the church coming in Sunday morning to collect supplies and then disperse it through the stake and start clean up! Well, we cleaned up the church and we were heading out and we got an emergency call from the zone leaders saying another huge truck was coming in and no one would be there to receive it! We called in all the missionaries from the zone and spent from 9:30-11:00pm unloading the truck! We didn't get to bed until midnight! We were all physically exhausted!
Sunday was very unusual! We met at the church in our helping hands Tshirts took the sacrament in the dark! And spent the rest of the day cutting up trees and cleaning up fallen debris! It was so amazing being able to serve and watch people who would have been closed off to the gospel open up and grow a love for the church! I love this gospel! God has a plan for all of us! He is hastening His work! God loves His children and has protected and watched over me and the other missionaries here! We will be doing a ton of service the next week or so! Just know I love you are so much! Thank you for your concerns and prayers! The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church! I love being a missionary and I love serving! I love you!
Your hurricane surfing missionary,
Elder Tracy
Hurricane | Oct. 6, 2016
Florida is preparing for large tropical storm. This email was in response to our parents asking if Elder Tracy was okay, being evacuated, and prepared.
I am doing great! I'm prepared, have a ton of water, and food! We are
moving farther inland! And president is keeping a watchful eye on the
storm! I can't email until Monday which may be delayed by the storm!
Just know God will protect me! You don't need to worry about me! But
please keep everyone here in your prayers! Love you all!
Much love and faith,
Elder Tracy
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