Happy Halloween :)

What are everyone's plans for Halloween? I love Holidays! So apparently we aren't allowed to go trick or treating though, so that was a shock! We have to be in by 6pm, just because it's not super productive to be out and it could possibly be dangerous. I know the missionaries that serve in the actual inner city Detroit have to be in all day Wednesday and Thursday. But I'm a lot safer, so no need to worry :)

Any pictures of Conner as Peter Pan? Did you wear tights?!?! :) Hope you don't even need to dress up to be a Ninja cause you already are one!! Kimball you'll be an awesome Robin Hood too! Oh and wait to go Hope for winning a soccer game, I bet Mitchell didn't think she would say it, did he?! :)

So like I sent in my last email, I have a new companion :) Her name is Sister Fisher and she is from Canada, she's from British Columbia, near Vancouver. I really like her, we have fun together so far! So Monday Sis. Williams said goodbye to everyone, including Nancie, which was SUPER hard! I am not looking forward to the day I have to say goodbye to her :( Tuesday was transfers! I love getting to see everyone again...especially Sister Graham!

So this week we had a couple things happen which slowed the work a little bit... #1 Our phone stopped working, so we had to go to a sprint store to see what was going on.. I don't know how missionaries did anything without phones, We save soooo much time by having phones! #2 When I was backing out of a chopped up parking spot, I took off the right side of our bumper :( Sister Fisher came over and was like "You just took off the whole front of the car," I thought she was joking, so I was just laughing, and apparently she was telling the truth. I would be the one who hurts the car my first week of driving! Anyways we drove around trying to find someone who could help us put it back in and one of our Less-Active's sons was able to. So I'm pretty sure Sister Fisher is probably telling her family right now she has a CRAZY companion who breaks everything she touches :) Just Kidding, everything's good now, just some random stuff :)

So Highlight of the week.... We had a general authority come to our mission! Elder Carlson and his wife are really sweet people! So you got the pictures? No we didn't get to go to the temple, but the stake center is right next to the temple, so I get to see it every time we have meetings!! Anyways our meeting was focused on what we can do to become more Consecrated missionaries! It was really great to be instructed from Elder Carlson! I know that he is called of God, and his wife is pretty great as well! We discussed how being consecrated is a process and not just one step! It involves us not just doing good but to GIVE our HEARTS! We all had to prepare a 2 minute talk and then he chose a couple to speak. One sister straight up told us she didn't prepare one because she didn't think she would be called. It made me start to think about being called upon. We need to ALWAYS be prepared because we never know when the Lord will call upon us! I know that I have been called of God to be a missionary here in Detroit, Michigan! And every single thing I have learned before I came out here has prepared me for this calling! So if we looked at our callings kind of like be called on to give a talk, if we KNOW we are going to be called on WE WILL PREPARE! Well, we are all called on everyday to help build the kingdom of God! It may be a specific ward calling, it may be an act of service, or it may be sharing the gospel, but we all have been called! So as I'm thinking about this, President Gerber then says they are going to call a few missionaries up to bare their testimonies, and guess who gets called?! Yep, I do! It's funny how as a missionary I bare my testimony EVERY DAY! But when it comes to baring my testimony in front of All the missionaries, and President and Sister Gerber, and then on top of that a General Authority, the sweat starts to come! It was a great experience for me though and I had been feeling the spirit very strong, so I was glad I could share my feelings with everyone! In the talk I had prepared I had thought about sharing Omni 1:26. In this verse we are asked to offer our whole souls as an offering to the Lord. I had started thinking of what I have sacrificed to be on a mission, and there are things I have given up but really EVERYTHING that we have is really the Lord's! Everything except our will and our heart and that is what we are to offer to him! We can go and do what we are told to do but to really consecrate ourselves we have offer our whole souls! We have to offer our hearts and our will! We discussed Matthew 25, and the parable of the sheeps and goats. But we mainly focused on what the King had told the righteous. He shares how much charity was given and the righteous respond with questions of when they had showed this charity. Their nature had truly been changed that they hadn't even noticed their actions, it was just a part of who they were! I know as we try to change our hearts and our will and our nature, that the Lord will be pleased with us! Elder Oaks tells us we need to ACT and THINK as to become converted! Sometimes I feel like I'm slowly progressing but it's great to know that as long as we try better each week, the Lord is proud of us!

I Love you all so much! Thank you for your letters and prayers! They always make me smile! :) Stay safe and have a fun Halloween!

Love, Sister Samantha Tracy :)

Picking Apples :)