Holiday Season! :)

Hello There! 

So how bad has the weather been there? I've heard there have been some bad storms! How much snow have you gotten? Make sure to drive safe!! It has only snowed maybe once or twice here but barely will stick and not for very long. It is cold but not too much colder than what it is like there at home. Don't worry...I'm staying warm! :)

I love the Christmas season!!! I sure hope you all remember the true meaning of Christmas this year!!! We have everything because of our Savior! I was able to attend a play called "One Night in Bethlehem" this week! Many members from around the area dressed up and sang Christmas hymns and acted out the shepherds, wise men, inn keeper, Mary and Joseph, and the angels. It was so neat! You walk from room to room led by a woman with a lamp as the narrator and they all tell the story of Christ on the night he was born. At one point I even forgot I was in a church, because of how well it was decorated! The spirit was very strong! I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the many gifts he has given me! Remember always Jesus Christ and never be too busy to learn of him and become more like him! :) 

This week we got our new elders in our District. Elder Nording, Elder McCombs, and an Elder Burnett. Every one from our district is from a different state. I'm used to having at least one or two missionaries from Utah, but I guess missionaries from other states are ok too. :)

This week we stopped by a referral we had received from mormon.org. When the woman answered the door, she told us we had the wrong name, but then said "It's such a coincidence that you came, I've actually been thinking a lot about joining a church and would love to learn about what you believe." I know that Heavenly Father led us there! I don't know how we had received this referral but, I know we needed to be at that house to meet that woman. Sometimes I get so nervous about the work I'm doing, whether I am being the best missionary that the area needs. There really is no need to though, The Lord's work will not fail, so as long as we are out working, the Lord will find a way for those who are ready to hear his message! I'm just grateful that I have been able to be an instrument in his hands! 

Here is another experience I had this week. We only had about 30 minutes until our next meeting, so we decided to tract a few homes. It was cold and no one was answering their doors. I then started thinking about whether I was having Faith that someone would answer their door. I said "This next door will have someone who is waiting for us!" When we knocked on the door a lady answered and told us to come in. We then were able to teach her of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Afterwards, Sis. Fisher and I just thought that was so neat!! The second we changed our attitudes and truly had faith that we would find, we did! 

I've truly learned the importance of having Faith everyday! As I've been reading of Christ this month, one of the commonalities of the miracles that He preforms is the faith that is exercised in order to be healed. One of my favorite stories is the woman with the blood disease who has such great faith that she knew if she could just touch the hem of Christ's garment, she would be healed! Everyone in someway needs to be healed. Whether it be physical, emotional, psychological, or spiritual. The key is Faith! We may not be healed in the way we think we should, but we will always be healed in one way or another! 

I love you all so much! 

 Have a great week,  

Love, Sister Tracy :)

North Shores Is Never Getting Rid of Me :)

Dear Family!! 

Yep, this week starts a new transfer and Sister Fisher and I are both staying in North Shores. This will be my 4th transfer in this area, which will be at least 6 months! It will be nice to be with the families I've grown to love for Christmas and even better than that I will be at Na.....'s Baptism!! I'm so excited! Less than two weeks now! 

I had a pretty great Thanksgiving as well!! Sister Fisher and I had a few appointments, so we stayed busy all day! We had 3 dinners, so we were both pretty full, but we wore our stretchy skirts so we had lots of room :) We also were able to talk to and teach a few of the friends and family at the dinners we went to, so we were very thankful and excited about that! I also helped a less-active family decorate their Christmas Tree! We had lots of fun and I'm pretty excited for Christmas!! 

So I finished the Book of Mormon this week!! Our Less-active is only in Ether but she is reading it and loving it! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon! I know that the Book of Mormon is true! That it can help us in our lives! I know that everyone who truly reads the Book of Mormon, ponders it in their hearts, and then prays with a sincere heart and desire to our Heavenly Father, WILL KNOW that it is true as well!!

One thing that has been on my mind a lot lately, is those I have passed by and not shared my testimony with! Some advice that I was given when I first came, was to never have regrets! I started reading the 4 gospels for the Christmas season and I love the spirit I feel when I read Christ's life and ministry! Some of my favorite advice he gives is in Matthew Chapter 5, he tells us to not light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick! We spend so much time trying to find light in our lives and build on the light we find through our scripture study, personal prayer, and church attendance, that we need to then use our light! In Relief Society someone shared how we can't give someone else a hug if our arms are folded. We have to reach out to others and give them our light by opening our mouths and sharing our testimonies! I know when we do this our light will grow and we are helping those we love! Plus we won't have regrets!!

Well, I love you lots!!! Have a great week!!  

Love, Sister Tracy

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Alrighty, so this week was Awesome, just like every week! :) I was able to go on exchanges this week with my Sister Training Leader. I went to Brighton, which is opposite from the side of the mission where I serve. It was fun! Their area is very different from mine. I have lots of less-actives we can visit, potential investigators, former investigators, investigators, members, and so on. They have hardly anyone they can visit. So from the moment we left the apartment to when we went back we just went tracting all day. I actually really like tracting, but only doing that with no appointments all day, every day, would be difficult. We met some nice people though and maybe they will want to learn more some day :) 

One of the houses we knocked on had this nice lady who started talking to us. My Sister Training Leader asked if she had heard of Joseph Smith and the lady immediately said, "Yes, and I've prayed about him and know he is not a prophet!" We were both a little shocked! I had never heard someone say that! For a little bit it bothered me that she says she received an answer that he is not true, but it just strengthened my testimony! I want you all to know that I have prayed about it and I KNOW that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God! I don't know if that lady really prayed and really received that answer, but I do know that everyone we have invited to pray to know if Joseph Smith is a prophet of God has received the same answer I have. Joseph Smith is real and he is a prophet of God! If you all don't know for yourselves, I promise you, if you pray to Heavenly Father, who knows ALL! You will receive a witness of this truth for yourself!

 On Saturday we were able to attend a baptism for a sister that Sister Fisher found and taught. It was really neat! The woman was SO excited! I was talking to her sister, who is not a member, and said "She looks So Happy!" and the sister said, "She is!" She told me how she had never seen her sister like this and I know it's because she has the gospel, the truth, and hope! What a great example she is to her sister and her family!! 

So something Sister Fisher and I were VERY excited about was a referral we received! On Mormon.org people can go on and request missionary visits. We get a lot of these requests and almost always these requests don't really come from the person themselves. They usually come from just some person that knew them once, and enters in their information. Well anyways we got a referral requesting missionary visits and when we called the lady, she was so excited we called!! She is very interested in our church and is so excited to learn more!! We'll see where it goes, but we were just SO excited that it was real! Haha the joy we can get as missionaries!! :) 

A highlight of my week probably had to be a couple of the children in our ward! The first was when we went to dinner at a part-members home last week. We were talking with the mom, who is a member and she has two young boys that were running around. To help them calm down, we put our name tags on the two boys. They calmed down and stood super tall, with their chests out, and their tags on. It was super cute! Then on Sunday one of the boys had gotten a suit for his birthday and says "Do I look like a missionary now?" It made Sis. Fisher and I smile, these two boys look up to missionaries so much! They get to see these examples and they want to be just like them! It's a neat feeling to see such young children looking up to you like that! Then while talking to another member in our ward, she told us a story of her 4 year old daughter, who's in a pre-school class. They were talking about Thanksgiving in her class and what they will be doing. Most of the kids said things like, we eat turkey and stuffing and my dad will drink a beer and then I get apple juice. Well it's this little girls turn and she says my family gets together for dinner and then the missionaries come over! The teacher was very impressed that a 4 year old knew the word missionaries and used it correctly. The mom was then able to share who the missionaries were and had an opportunity to share the gospel. I think it's awesome that this young girl was so excited to share her feelings on missionaries and I guess I just didn't realize the impact we have on young children! It makes me very aware of my actions and what kind of example I am setting for those that see me. Hopefully it's a good example! 

For this Thanksgiving, we will get to go to a few members homes and some less-actives. I'm thinking I will need to wear a stretchy skirt on Thursday! I'm very excited about one of the less-actives, we had a challenge to finish the Book of Mormon before Thanksgiving. She had never read it before and is learning so much as she reads! I'm excited to see if she has finished and to see how her testimony has grown! I Love the Book of Mormon! I only have about 8 pages left, so I will definitely finish before Thanksgiving :) But I have felt the spirit very strongly as I have read this book! I know that it is true and I know when we read with a sincere prayer in our heart, searching for answers, we will feel the peace that the book brings! I am so grateful for this time to look at what I am blessed with! I am so grateful for being raised with Christ in my life! I am grateful for my Savior and his Atonement! I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon! I am grateful for the Prophet Joseph Smith and the early saints! I am grateful for temples where we can perform sacred ordinances and feel peace! I am grateful for Heavenly Father's plan for us! I am grateful to be on a mission and the opportunities I have to share my testimony! I am grateful for all of you and the family I was blessed with! Remember to give thanks in everything!! D&C 98:1

Love you all so much!! Have a great week!  

Love, Sister Tracy

Trust Yourself and Do It!!!

Hello Family!!

Looks like winter is here! Is it still snowing in Utah? It snowed just a little this last week, but then it got warm. There's been lots of storms lately, someone told me there were tornado warnings, but who knows?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!! I got the package with the coats and boots! THANK YOU!! I felt so special with the package :) Sister fisher says thank you for the Halloween candy you sent her! You are all just awesome!

Dad, Thank you for your letter! I love you lots!!! Glad you had fun on your trip!!

WOW! Crazy thing in the Phillipines! I'm glad the missionaries are safe! I will keep the mission in my prayers! Sis. Fisher has some friends there and told me a lot of crazy things have happened there! I know that the people will be blessed for their work and faith! 

So this week we had a good meeting with President Gerber. We talked about different skills we can have to help us serve better. We are using the pictures from the pamphlets to teach, which is a new way I hadn't thought of. It's pretty cool.  

So the highlight of this week, was probably last night! A couple in our ward had taken our challenge of asking a friend to hear the discussion, they prayed about it and asked many people and finally one accepted! So we had dinner with them last night and a lady he went to school with. She was raised in Albania and then her family moved here to Detroit. She was not able to practice any kind of religion. If someone was found with a Bible it was burned and they were severely punished, maybe even killed. It is a crazy place! So it was very different to start teaching someone who hadn't grown up believing in God or in Jesus Christ. I realized I was greatly blessed with being raised in a wonderful country allowing us to practice religion! I've been lucky enough to have that peace always with me, knowing Heavenly Father loves me!! She was telling me that all of her friends that have religion in her life are able to cope with their trials so much better. She remembers the friends she has met who were members of our church. She told me they are just great wholesome families. She said the men are just great fathers and husbands and everyone seems so happy. She wants that in her life! We taught about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and we gave her some material to study. Even if she does not continue to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ, I am so grateful that she has had great examples around her, showing what the gospel brings! We never know who is watching us so we need to CONSTANTLY be trying to be like our Savior. We never know who we will affect in the future.

This week Sister Fisher and I taught about obedience in Gospel Principles (which I just bought this book, so hopefully I will get it soon, so we don't have to borrow one every time we teach). I shared the story of Jet getting hit by the car. And how we have consequences of our disobedience as well as our obedience. This week I was able to see a small example of disobedience. We had an investigator drink a little bit of tea and they felt sooooo guilty!!!! They knew what the commandment was and just straight up disobeyed. At first I was shocked at how guilty they felt over just a sip of tea, but after we taught how obedience is how we show our love for our Heavenly Father, I could understand their guilt. We should not feel good after we disobey, even if we don't understand the reason behind the commandments. So before you decide to give a little lie or treat others badly, we should remember Obedience is how we show our love! Joseph Smith says this great quote "So I make this my rule, when the Lord commands it, Do it!" I think we could be a lot better and not questioning the things we do, but just Do It!

Last thing as I was reading in Ether, I was reading of my favorite example, The Brother of Jared, I just LOVE him!! I think I've shared this with you before, but repetition is good :) In the first few chapters there is a great example of how the Lord answers our prayers. Sometimes the Lord is with us every step of the way, telling us what we need to do, like in Ether 2: 6. The Lord helps the brother of Jared build barges by "directing him continually". Even when their was no air in the barges, the brother of Jared asked how they were going to breathe. And the Lord told him what he needed to do. But when the brother of Jared asked how they could have light, the Lord said (Ether 2: 23) "What will ye that I should do that ye may have light in your vessels?" The brother of Jared then came up with a way to for them to have light by making 16 stones, and then asked for the Lord's help in touching the stones and letting them shine. Most times we want the Lord to just help us do everything and tell us how and what to do. I know as I serve, everyday I just want the people who are ready to accept the gospel to have a giant strobe light above their heads. Wouldn't that be awesome?!! But we see how it is not always that easy. The Lord trusts us and wants us to be able to just go and do, and not if but when we need the Lord's help, he will help us! As a missionary I have been set apart and have the power to be able to find and teach! As members of the church, Heavenly Father trusts us and we need to now just trust ourselves. Heavenly Father won't let us mess up too bad :)

I love you all lots!

Have a great week! 

Love, Sister Tracy :)

Already November!!!

Dear Family,

Good to hear Halloween was FUN!! Kimball and Hope, you both look AWESOME!! And Conner, your pumpkin is pretty sweet too :) My Halloween consisted of driving in the rain for like 9 hours and McDonalds and Preach my Gospel studying! After missionaries have been out for a year, they have a one year temple trip with all of the missionaries they came out with. So Sister Williams went to that on Halloween and we took her companion, so we drove for an hour and a half in traffic to get her, drove back, got yelled at by a less-active to tell us to stop coming back, and then drove back and dropped off her companion, and then drove back home. So I'm getting very good at Driving :) Haha but it was fun!

The work has been a little slow this week. It seems like EVERYONE is sick here! I'm thinking something must be in the water here or in the air... And I'm seeing when it's cold not many people open their doors, and people are not as friendly. I don't know why though! I LOVE THE FALL AND WINTER! I love November and having Thanksgiving! We have so much to be grateful for! And I love Christmas! It makes everyone remember and think about Christ! I hope you are all remembering our Savior and what he has done for us! I've been reading in 3 Nephi when Christ comes to the people in the Americas. My favorite line he says is Come unto me! He wants EVERY SINGLE one of his children to come unto him! He loves us all and wants us to receive the best joy we can possibly have!

We studied a lot about the spirit this week. As a missionary it is impossible to teach without the spirit! I have seen a few times where there might be tension between my companion and I, and we are not able to teach with the spirit until we resolve our conflicts. I know that what I say in lessons is not nearly as important as the spirit that I bring when testifying. In our District Meeting this week we went through questions we get asked often like "Why do I have to get baptized again?" Or "Why do I have to repent if Jesus already died for me?" or even "If Jesus drank wine, why can't I?" and probably the most asked question "Why do you believe in Polygamy?"  I could go on and on about the questions we get asked and some of them are very easy to answer, like "No, we don't believe in polygamy." But others can be more difficult. What I have learned though, is that as missionaries we have to just tell them what is most important. We have to TESTIFY with the SPIRIT! And one of the best ways is to use the Book of Mormon! I know that what the introduction says about praying to ask for ourselves is the ONLY way we can know for ourselves if these things are true. On Sunday one of our members brought their nephew to church for the first time. He had asked for a bible so we gave him one. When I asked if he wanted a Book of Mormon he immediately said he doesn't believe it is true because only the bible can give him answers. I simply testified that I KNEW that the Book of Mormon was true because I have read it and I have prayed and asked Heavenly Father to know if it is true and I know that it is! I told him if he ever wants to know for himself too, we always are willing to give him a free copy. He replied with I'll read my bible to know if the Book of Mormon was true. I could have started arguing saying "No you can't read the bible to know if the Book of Mormon is true, that's like eating pie to see if you like cake?? It just doesn't make sense." But instead I just told him the Book of Mormon has blessed my life and brought me SO MUCH HAPPINESS :) There was a lot of tension and there were a lot of members that saw me get rejected but I felt good because I know the happiness that the Book of Mormon has brought me and I shared my testimony with him. That is all we can do and then it is up to them. So we should always do our part, Testify to everyone we see! So they KNOW that we KNOW these things are true! And the spirit will touch their hearts :)

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Thank you for your support and for reading these letters! I hope I don't sound to crazy :) I really do hope you learn something from what I write and that you are all trying to become more like our Savior everyday! Stay safe and warm :)

Love, Sister Samantha Tracy

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 :)

PICTURES!!! :)

Sometimes when we get home at the end of the night, this is what we do!

We were so excited we got the bike rack on by ourselves :)

We Love our bikes!

 

Cider Mill pictures....

Cedar Mills.... 

Picking Raspberries at the Cider Mill, YUMMY :)

St. Clair Lake, I loved being close to water :)

And this is just a cool snail I carried around with me, because I was so fascinated by it!!

The night we went to "I'm a Mormon" devotional and I saw Sister Graham :)

This is Sis. Williams and I in our morning study at the dock we love :)

Sis. Preiss....we went to the park for lunch and it was lots of fun!

Doing service for our member, we pulled these out of the ground, but they thought I was really strong and made me take a picture :)

And yep I'm a sinner ;)

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We should build a tree house!!!

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Sister Sorenson, Me, and Sister Frost on exchanges!

My District and...

one of the cakes we made!

Sister Williams and I with Nancie and her awesome shirt :)

Sister Williams one year mark

Us with Sister Lamers, our recent convert, the night we went to I'm a Mormon devotional and I saw Sister Graham :)

Our cute Senior Couple from Idaho the Croffs, who went home :( We'll miss them a lot!

We went to Bloomfield last Monday to visit the Mayo's and we spent some time with the Bloomfield Sisters who I just LOVE! Me, Sister Merrill and Sister Lundgren, and Sister Williams :) 

Brother and Sister Mayo, two of my favorite people

Clothing DRIVE!!!!!

Davis Family in the ward