Jan 27

Hey!

So first of all sorry about last week! I typed a letter and somehow it got deleted so I'll try to send you all the most interesting things from the last two weeks :)

So with the cop pulling me over, I didn't get a ticket! He just let me go! He just handed me my license back and that was it!! I was VERY BLESSED!

Alrighty, so this area is a lot different than my last! We have A LOT of people in this ward, but we hardly know anyone! So these last couple of weeks, we've tried to meet people and get to know our members and less-actives! THERE ARE SO MANY LESS-ACTIVES!!! But everyone is super nice! We aren't really teaching anyone, so we went through the former investigators and have done some tracting to find some people to teach.

Last week was pretty cool as we went tracting! We knocked on this door and it was a young man. He was very curious about what we believed since he saw the Book of Mormon play. It amazes me how many times I've been able to teach people because they've seen this play, or because they've watched Sister Wives and Breaking the Faith!! These things are supposed to be negative against our church, but it seems to be having an opposite effect :) Anyways we taught him the Restoration and about the Book of Mormon and then the Mom offered us to stay for dinner! It was kind of cool! It was my first time being offered to have dinner while tracting. :) People are real nice!

Last week we stopped by this 99 year old women! It's a little bit sad, she is almost completely deaf, so we had to yell in her ear and use my white board to communicate with her! She says that their are people upstairs who put something in her head and do experiments on her.... She was pretty funny!! You'd never believe who she used to date though....... President Hinckley!!!! Haha, she said she was his 2nd pick :) She told me she doesn't have any idea why she is still alive. She said she's been praying for 6 years to be taken :( After we read some scriptures together and she bore her testimony, I told her I think she's here to bless others like myself! Her spirit is very strong and I know she will be blessed!!!

We had ward conference last week and you'd never guess what the topic was... Member Missionary Work.. Shocker huh?! :) I LOVE how much of a focus this work is!!!! We talked about what would need to happen for the Detroit area to have another stake opened. They said we would need 200 more melchizedek priesthoold holders. If you divide that by the 4 stakes we have, that's 50 per stake. In our stake we have 5 wards, so divide 50 by 5 and each ward would only need 10 melchizedek priesthood holders. So that's our goal for the year!!! That's not difficult!!! I know we can do that, especially with faith!!! It was so cool to me to see how much our ward can really do! The enthusiasm all the members have for missionary work is AWESOME! As we go to members, they tell us all of the friends and family they are already talking to about the gospel! I LOVE hearing their stories of inviting others, whether the people accept or not! Have you had any neat stories of inviting people? Less-actives or non-members? I'd love to hear your stories too :)

So last Monday we went to Detroit for the Yearly International Auto Show! It was SOOOO Fun!!! I admit I don't know much about cars, but I still loved seeing some pretty cool looking cars!! I think my favorite part, was that ALL of the cars haven't been sold yet and haven't hit the roads, so I felt special getting to sit in them and see all of the improvements! Afterwards the member who took us, Roz, showed us around the city and we had Lunch at Lafayette Coney Island. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but it's SUPER famous! It's right next door to the American Coney Island and they have had a huge rivalry going on. A couple years ago I think it was someone from food network who came and ended the competition. Haha It was fun!! I Really Love Detroit!!!! There is nowhere else like it! :)

This week I met a women from Brazil and I totally thought of you Mitchell :) Anyways she was really nice, but pretty comfortable with where she is at! However we also met a former investigator from India! We read her record and for some reason the missionaries met her once but then never went back. I think she was forgotten... :( Anyways we felt strongly we should go meet her. We knocked on the door and she was SOOO happy to see us! She said she had been praying so strongly for an answer about which direction to head with some things in her life, and when we came she KNEW it was a sign from God! The Crazy thing was that the first time the missionaries stopped by, she said she was praying about the same thing!! She wants to learn more and wants to come to our church!!! I KNOW God answers our prayers!!! And I'm so grateful we listened to our prompting when we recieved it to go and meet her!!!!

Well I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! Hope you had a good week! And have a great upcoming week!!!! :)

Love, Sister Tracy!

Rochester Hills

Hey! So we had our transfers today and I am now serving in Rochester Hills. 

If you'd like my address, just send an email and my sister will respond with the new address! :) 

We get to send emails after we are transferred. So after unpacking I came straight to the library to email you! So I haven't seen much of the area yet, but I'm pretty sure it's very similar to North Shores, maybe a little richer. I'm excited!!

I'm serving in a trio with Sister Price and Sister Sherrow. Sister Price was in the MTC with me and I'm excited to serve with her! And Sister Sherrow has been out for about 10 months. We are all from Utah, Sister Price is from Provo and Sister Sherrow is from somewhere by the 4 corners :) Sister Price and I are both new to the area and Sister Sherrow has been here for 6 weeks, she seems to like the area and says our Bishop is Awesome! 

Our apartment seems nice so far! My companions say all my stuff smells like drugs... It's nice to live in a good smelling apartment!!!

Sister Fisher and Sister Williams are both serving together now in North Shores, so that is interesting, both of my companions together! 

Well I love you all!! Have a good week!!

Love, Sister Tracy

Adios North Shores

Dear Family,

So I am being transferred. I'm all packed and have been saying my goodbyes yesterday and today. I'm REALLY going to miss this area! I LOVE sooooo many people here! It's been SUPER hard to say goodbye but I'm excited to see what God has in store for me now! I'll let you know where I'm going!

This week was COLD!!! Monday and Tuesday we were not allowed to leave the apartment unless we had a solid, we must go to appointment. So we made a million calls, trying to find a solid, must go to appointment :) I only saw it get to -11* but with the wind chill, it was supposed to be -45*. That's pretty COLD!!!!! But it hasn't been too bad, I have lots of clothes, and scarves and I'm staying warm!!! But it's been a sort of difficult week, not too many lessons. This week is warmer so hopefully we'll be able to go out and teach!! :)

So Na... is the best missionary ever!! Her husband is slowly but surely progressing! He offers to say the prayer for every meal! He even offers prayers while they are out to eat! That is a big improvement from when I first met him and he told me the only thing he'll ever pray to is his Bud Light. Sister W... has set up her whole coffee table with all of her church books and pamphlets, with her scriptures wide open, so he will be able to just pick it up and read it as he walks by! :) She is Awesome! I think we could all learn a lot from her!

This week I had to repent! It was Sunday Morning and my mind was way somewhere else, since I had just found out I was getting transferred, when all of a sudden I see cop lights behind me.... Yep, I got pulled over by a cop for speeding.. See what happens when I get transferred! So the cop comes over and says "Where were you headed to so fast?" and I just put my face in my hands and say "church." Anyways he checks my license and registration, and comes back and hands it to me and he says "God will forgive you for being a little late to church, You know that!" It was a very good lesson for me to learn from a cop! God will forgive! He is very merciful! And I do know that! I felt so guilty that I was speeding on the way to church!!! I couldn't help but just be embarrassed! It's important that we stand for what we believe in! We hear a lot of people tell us they like us because we don't just talk the talk, but we walk the walk. We have been put on a higher standard of how we need to act! People are always watching! And we need to show them what we believe! 

Well I love you all! I'm never speeding again! And you should not either! Talk to you later!  

Love, Sister Tracy :)

Winter Wonderland!

Hey Everybody!!

Sounds like New Years Eve was pretty fun! Wish I could have been there for the magic show!!! I love the New Year! It's a great time to start new and fresh!! (3 Nephi 12:47) I hope you have all set goals and are praying to be motivated to accomplish them! I know the Lord will truly help us accomplish our goals when they are according to thy will and when we pray for his help!

So remember when I told you all that it wasn't that much colder..... well I lied..... IT is Really Cold!! This weekend especially it has been snowing nonstop! It's really pretty but not the most ideal to work in. Our mission has sent us several texts of warnings. Church was even cancelled for everyone yesterday!! Right now I think it is 6* but with the wind chill it feels like -11*, tomorrow the high is 0*. We are only allowed to be outside for 10-15 minutes before having to go inside and warm up. It makes it a little difficult to find new investigators, but maybe if people see us crying in the cold, they'll let us in to teach them!! :)

So even though the snow can be hard to work in, there are some benefits of the snow! When it's cold everybody just locks themselves inside and won't come out! But when it snows, they all go out to shovel their driveways and sidewalks! What perfect opportunity we then have to Serve!! Usually people just say "No thanks" and then ignore us. But this week instead of asking a lady if I could help her I said "Let me help you with that, where's your other shovel?" And I ran to the back of her trailer to get her other snow shovel. It provides great service and an opportunity for us to share our message :) We also get people's attention, because we are not dressed as the typical person would be in a snow storm. We've had several people stop and ask us why we are all dressed up and walking around, and it provides more opportunities to share! I met this really kind lady this week! She was commenting on our dress and then we started talking about why were out in the snow! Because our message is so important!! She was religious and told us the story of the time she came to know Jesus! She told us she was just driving and it just hit her. Then she was at work and someone came up to her and told her she was glowing. He asked if she had met someone (a man)... She told him she had, she said, "He has long brown hair, wears a white robe, and sandals". She then said "His name is Jesus". When we are trying our best to be like our Savior Jesus Christ, people will notice a difference in us, we will glow!! She then told me she has a deaf friend who might want to hear our message!!! How cool would it be if I could sign to him!!! We're going to try stopping by this week! :)

That's about it for this week! Sister Fisher has been sick with the flu! And we were told we had to stay inside... ALL DAY... I was able to study a lot, which was good! She seems to be feeling better so hopefully we can go out and work!!!!!

Also, I wanted to ask the kids, Do you know what rainbow looms are? They are really popular here! All of the kids make them and wear them as bracelets! Hope and Kimball might really like them?! Let me know if you've heard of them. 

Congratulations to Kraig and Jill!!! That is sooo exciting!!! Let me know when they are due and whether they are having a boy or a girl :)

Love you lots!!!

Happy New Years!!! :)

Hello Again Family! 

It was so fun to talk to you on Christmas! Sorry it didn't work towards the end, but I'm grateful I was able to see all of your beautiful faces for a while! You all look really good, not too different, I don't know what I was expecting, but it was fun to see you! 

The rest of my Christmas was awesome! We went over to a families home from our ward. They are just recently married, and he is a recent convert. We had dinner and then they gave us stockings and pajamas, I got mickey mouse footie pajamas! It was so sweet of them! We talked about how far they have both come in their lives, and how much the gospel has meant to them! I've thought about the last year that I have had. 

There has been a lot of great things happen for me! I've finished my first year of college, received a mission call to the most amazing place I could have ever asked for, started my mission, seen miracles, grown closer to my savior, and received my endowment! I've thought of how the gospel has helped me through this year and I think it might be safe to say, it's been the best year of my life! And it's all because I've tried everyday to build my relationship with my Heavenly Father and my brother, savior, and redeemer, Jesus Christ! I know the reason my life has been blessed is because of my efforts in learning of the gospel and trying to be like Christ! I want you all to think of your last year and reflect on how the Gospel has blessed you this year, because I know it has! :)

Happy New Years!!! What are you all doing for New Years Eve?! I don't know why I just realized this, but I won't be able to count down for the new year..... I think I'll be more interested in sleep anyways though! :) 

This week Sister Fisher and I have really focused on being enthusiastic about the work! We weren't super depressed or sad, but sometimes when you've been tracting for awhile and no one will even talk to you, it's difficult to be enthusiastic. So we pumped ourselves up and had the funnest time ever knocking doors and talking to people on the street! It was so cool to see that when we were happy and beaming with confidence, we talked to SO many more people and saw miracles after miracles!! The Lord sends prepared people to prepared missionaries! The Lord is not going to send some boring, not confident missionaries to his children that are ready to be taught! Each missionary (this includes you all) is unique and has different talents! We need to love our differences, enjoy every minute, and be confident in our message! When we do this, we will see that more opportunities will arise for us to share the gospel!

I'm Glad you had fun in San Francisco! And that was very sweet of you for giving that woman a ride! That was very kind service!! The Lord is always giving us opportunities to serve and then it is up to us to take advantage of those opportunities! I think it is interesting how often times we will pray for an attribute like love, patience, charity, humility, diligence, ect. and when the Lord gives us opportunities to build the very attributes we are trying to build, we ignore them! We need to be aware of those opportunities and then Thank Heavenly Father for giving them to us! 

Make this next year a year of opportunities! Opportunities to mess up, to learn, to grow, to achieve, to teach, to love, to become like our Savior! Pray for opportunities and you will receive them. Look for opportunities and you will recognized them. Take advantage of opportunities and you will be blessed by them!

I Love you all so much! Have fun this week! :) 

Love, Sister Samantha Tracy

Merry Christmas!

Family!!! 

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!! How have all your parties and funness been going?! I hope it's been awesome and I also hope you are remember Christ everyday! Remember why we really have Christmas! 

This week was really great! We found a few new investigators and we'll be teaching them more after Christmas :) We were able to attend the ward Relief Society Christmas Dinner and the Ward Christmas Breakfast! It was a lot of fun! I am in a great ward!!! We also recieved some referrals from our members! They are really awesome!! They are fantastic missionaries and during this season it seems a lot easier to be able to share what we know about Christ! 

Well I'm keeping this one short, since I'll talk to you so soon! I LOVE YOU ALL!! Have a fantastic Christmas Eve! And Christmas Morning!! Please serve someone everyday for me! There's no better gift to give to our Savior than to give and serve to others!

"Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. It is peace because we have found peace in the Savior’s teachings. It is the time we realize most deeply that the more love is expended, the more there is of it for others." - Thomas S. Monson

Love you!!! 

Sister Tracy 

BAPTISM!!!

Dear Family,

First of all, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!!!! I love you both so much and am so lucky to have you as my parents!!!

Second of all, I got the missionary nativity from you this week!!! It is so CUTE! Thank you so much! The sister missionaries were totally jealous, and I know I have the best family :) It is on our desk, by a little Christmas tree! I also got the Christmas card, it looks like it turned out pretty good! What are your plans like for Christmas?

Congratulations to Brandon and Alicia!!! Send me a picture :) 

This last week was AWESOME!! Highlight of the week was NAT.... got Baptized!!!!! It seriously was the coolest day of my life! The morning of the baptism, it snowed like crazy! We got several calls asking if we were going to cancel the baptism, and you could probably guess my response.."No way, Jose!!!" Then when we got to the church we couldn't find the size of jumpsuit Nat needed... There was another baptism at 2 that we didn't know about and we realized we wouldn't have time to empty the font and then refill it, so it was going to be cold water. And to top it all off, the water was green... we couldn't figure out why it was green, but it was.. With all of this going on I couldn't help but just smile! I had seen Nat go through so much to get to this day and I knew that Satan was going to try to stop her, but I also knew that nothing would stop her!! :) She walked in the church (with her husband by her side!) and she was smiling from ear to ear! I told her that the world was turning white just for her special day :) And when she saw the water, she said "Look, it's as close to a river as I could get!) It was so cool, and we all were just so HAPPY! :) Then she was confirmed on Sunday and the spirit was so strong! As the bishop stood and asked all those to welcome her to the church by raising their hands, everybody was getting teary-eyed! She was truly touched. In relief society she stood up and very loudly said "I'm a Mormon!" :) She is so proud to be a mormon and lets her light shine for all to see! It makes me so excited to find more of our brothers and sister who are ready to join this Wonderful church!

I got to go to the temple this week! I LOVE the Temple!! It was a great time to learn and to feel the spirit in the house of the Lord! Please go to the temple lots for me! I don't get to go as often as I wish, so take advantage of the opportunities you have to go :) And I saw Sis. Graham!!! We sat by each other in the session and I LOVE her soo much! Except every time I see her, I have to be reverent, which is sometimes hard, haha. But we celebrated after we went out!

We also had a fantastic lesson with a friend of one of our members. They just went through the temple and were sealed, and have a very strong spirit with them! He invited a close coworker to his home to hear our message. She came and told us how she was recently in an accident, where she was almost killed. She feels she was saved for a certain purpose. We taught her and by the end of the lesson she was in tears and the members had tears in their eyes as well. She told us how "this was the best Christmas present she could have asked for" The spirit was so strong and we will be meeting her again, to share more!! :) It was great to be able to teach someone so ready. But even better than that was seeing the members have such a great experience! The feeling of helping someone feel the spirit is Remarkable. I want all of you to have those experiences! Always be inviting friends and neighbors to hear a message that has blessed your life! You will see how as you share the gospel, your testimony will grow and you will be happier! :)

I Love you all so much!! I'm excited to talk to you soon :) We can skype or I can call you! Would you prefer skype? What time is best for you? daytime or morning is probably best for us, just let me know before next Monday and then I will write around what time I will call. :)

Oh and we have our Christmas party on Christmas eve, so I will get packages then!

Talk to you later 

Love, 

Sister Tracy :)