December 1, 2014

Hello fam! 

Well this week passed by super fast, and I feel like I have nothing new to say... haha but this week was a good one.

On Tuesday we had a training with a few zones to review some fundamentals and to do a lot of practices. We were at the stake center all day! But it was super good and pumped me up. Plus I saw hermana Price! Hooray! I will attach a pic!

We found some new less active members in our area. There are tons of less active members that we keep discovering. Most of them are really sweet and give us lots of food to eat, we just need to get them to church. 

We also had some fun contacting some references this week! Something I have learned is to be persistent! haha I am not too pushy but when I know that this message can bless their lives on earth and for eternity well I am going to try to give it to them. I have learned that we have no reason to be afraid of anybody, they are our brothers and sisters! And once you start singing a hymn in their doorway, the spirit will always touch their hearts. 

This Sunday was the primary program and I played the piano for them! Our ward has tons of kids. Probably 60 or 70. They were all so cute and all the little boys had yellow bow ties and all the girls had yellow bows in their hair. The spirit was so strong with all their voices. 

Well we are going to work hard this week! A lot of our progressing investigators didnt come to church this week :( but we had some other people come to church for the first time and we really have a lot of work to do! I love being a missionary! It really is the best thing ever!

Thank you for all the emails and the love and support! I love you all tons!

Hermana Fleischer

Pic with some sisters and the stake center and then me and a cat we found outside someones house.

Perseverancia!

Hola familia!!!!

Well this week was my HALFWAY MARK! Too crazy. I cant believe how much I have learned and grown and all the people I have grown to love as well.

I have been in this area. Caucel, for 6 months now!! I'm thinking they are going to kick me out in a couple weeks haha. But I love it lots. The members are really great and they are willing to help us as well. 

Our recent converts, the familia hernandez come with us sometimes to visit people. Gilberto came with us this week and shared such a sincere testimony that brought the spirit so much, how can I not know that all of this is true?? When we live the gospel and share it with others, we can develop stronger faith in our Savior and feel His love and Atonement more in our lives. 

Birthday party

There are lots and lots of inactives and less actives in our area but we are reactivating some and they are coming to church and participating in the work! Hooray! Some people just need a little bit of love, someone to care about them, and to feel the spirit again. When I first got to Caucel I met a less active named Frida, who has a tough family situation and has faced a lot of problems in their life but she has changed SO MUCH! Inside and out. She finally has a smile on her face, and she entered the temple again for the first time in over ten years. 

I love her tons and I see a bright future for her. 

At the Zoo

I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7.

I would invite you all to read it. I know that life will be full of challenges, disappointments, weaknesses, mistakes. But I also know that we are here for a beautiful reason and we have a loving Heavenly Father and Savior to lift us through everything and turn every stumbling block into a stepping stone.

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Hermana Fleischer

More pics from my birthday and we went to the zoo last monday! :)

veinte años

Hello fam bam!!!!

Well this week had its up and downs like always, but the most important thing is that we press forward, humble ourselves and always pray to our loving Heavenly Father, and learn from every day! :)

Well I am 20 years old! hooray! It was a pretty good day I will say. Hna Garcia (mission presidents wife) called me in the morning and sang happy birthday. Then we went to church. Hooray! I love church. And I hope I go my whole life long. Then we went to go eat lunch and the members we ate lunch with bought some cake for me, hooray!!!

After lunch we had to go to the stake center for a training, but we didn't really have to go visit someone for a lesson or else we would be late, so for the 20 or so minutes that we had we contacted a bunch of people in the street and talked a little bit about the restoration and invited them to come to church. Chispas!!! Fue bien dificil. We learned why lots of missionaries don't knock on doors anymore, its really not that effective. Its SO important to work with the members to find people or else they just see 2 foreignerers that are interrupting their cochinita.

After our stake meeting we went to visit some members, Familia Caballero, who invited us over and when we got there they started singing and then they we ate panuchos and they gave me cake and smashed my face in it hahaha which is what every one does for bdays.

Today we were grocery shopping, because on mondays are p days and we buy our food for the week, a couple men came up to us and asked us if we were missionaries, and then asked us where they could buy Rosarios (those catholic necklaces) because their uncle died. We explained that we were missionaries for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we taught a little bit about the plan of Salvation right there in the vegetable section and then we made an appointment to visit them again. 

I know the Lord puts people in our paths for a reason!

I love being a missionary, it really is the best thing ever. I know the church is true and it gives us so much hope and light when it seems like there are only dark clouds.

Thank you for the birthday package and notes! I love you all and I cant wait to see your beautiful faces in just a month in a computer screen. haha.

Have a wonderful day and week!

Con mucho amor y besos y abrazos,

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

Ps, pictures are loading insanely slow so I will send a bunch next week :)

Nohoch Semana

us and Samuel, who just got baptized. He is already set on going on a mission and came with us to visit some people!

 Hello my dearest family!!!!

Well, this week was a great one!

Last week I got my hair cut... about 4 months ago my companion cut it, and it turned out, well, horrible. And so we went to a salon that a member has and she cut it so it looked nice and normal!!! Hooray!

On Tuesday we had to go the immigration offices in Merida for my companion (all the foreign missionaries go to get their visas worked out at the beginning of their mission) and we kind of got lost on the bus routes but we made it safely and on time! We talk buses pretty often and for some reason I love taking the bus. When we left the immigration office I had to use the bathroom and the only one near was in some random Christian church so I snuck in their and used it and hoped nobody saw me haha.

Although I miss the mountains, the skies in Merida have my heart

The members in our ward our so wonderful!!!!! They always give us lots offood or fruit or random things and I just love them tons and also want you to know that I am being taken care of very well down here :) They are very loving and there are a lot of families in Barrio Caucel that I love tons! I will be sad to leave them. 

On Friday we had a talent night that we had organized for our ward! Actually a ton of people came! Members and non members. We sang Be Still my Soul in English (it actually doesn't exist in the Spanish Hymn Book) and other people danced and did skits and it was pretty fun.

Since Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Mexico, a lot of people already have their Christmas decorations up. Hooray!

Today we got together with Hna Martinez (mi mama!!!!) and her compie

We found 2 families this week that are super awesome and they came to church! Hooray! We had lots of people that came to church this week and a lot of less actives too. A lot of people just need a little bit of love in their life to change! We have an investigator names Dieter! He is a young man that is way awesome and he told us an experience where he was going to read the chapter we left him and he didn't understand it at all. SO then he said a prayer and afterwards he understood everything he read and applied it to himself! I know that the spirit will guide us always always! Heavenly Father wants to guide us to the truth, and sometimes he just requires a little bit of faith from us.

I know the gospel is true!!!! And it is not weight, but wings! Being a missionary is the best thing to do and the best place to be with the best people in the world!!!!

Love you tons and hope you are doing well!

Hermana Fleischer

November, 30, 2014

Hello fam bam! 

Well this week nothing too exciting happened, but we are doing great in Caucel! There are a lot of people here that live really difficult situations, but I have faith that the gospel can help each one of them! 

The weather is finally cooling down which is great! I actually wore a scarf one day.

We went to go visit a muchacha we are teaching and we asked her about how her family is doing and she was a little sad and said that her mom had a lot of health problems and that basically any day she could have a heart attack or a stroke, so we sang Families Can be Together Forever and she started crying and I felt the spirit really strong in the moment testify to us that it was true! We have the hope of an eternal life with our families and our Heavenly Father! When we pass through difficult things in this short earth life, we need to always remember our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ who can lift us through all of these worries and burdens. They may not take them away, but they will make us stronger. And when we endure it well, we will rest in eternal peace :)

Today we ate frijol con puerco, yum! Tradition for the Yucatecos to eat it one Monday. 

I love you tons! Have a wonderful week! I will send pictures next week. 

Come what may and love it :)

Hermana Fleischer

PS: my birthday is soon, letters are more than welcome!

Bautismo!

Rainy days in Caucel, the streets fill up

Buenas tardes mi familia!

This week was cambios!!!! But I am still in Caucel with Hermana Cockerham so nothing changed. I have been here for almost 6 months! 

Samuel, Gilberto, and Ismael were baptized!!!!!

Here is what happened this week.

On tuesday it was raining all day long!!! We got so wet but it was ok. We walked around a lot because the people we were going to visit werent home but we did find some people to visit. One of the families we are teaching has a dad who is inactive and his wife and 2 daughters that arent members. Well turns out he lived in Salt Lake for a super long time so thats kind of fun. Everytime we visit them they give us food and on tuesday we went to see them and he made us "Hotel Utah" hot dogs haha. 

The elders, and Sandra and leo who they baptized, and then the hernandez brothers and us

Another day was rainy and we went to visit a girl and her little 5 year old sister came out and saw that we were super wet and ran and got some blankets and put them around us and made sure we were all covered with blanket and gave us a hug and said "I share my things". I adore the people here.

Friday was the baptism of the Familia Hernandez!!!! HOoraay! It was really special. The elders in our ward also baptized a mom and her son that day so we had it all together. We sang "Nearer My God to Thee" with the elders and it sounded pretty good. The Young Mens president in our ward baptized the Hernandez brothers, and it was really special because he helped us out a lot by taking them to the activities and visiting them and being so welcoming to them and they were like his little sons. He has only been a member for about 6 months or so and it was the first time he had baptized someone! It was just all a good day.

Their mom, Elvia will be baptized in a couple weeks. She has so much faith and she is an awesome mom. 

On Sunday they were interviewed for the priesthood and got temple recommends! Samuel, the oldest brother, already made plans to go on a mission, and they are just such a special family! They have a lot of faith and I love them tons.

Sunday night we ate dinner with a couple that we are teaching that invited us over and we ate tons of potato salad with crackers, which is a very common thing down here.

a couple young men from our ward who are leaving on missions this week!!! Abisai, the one on the right always came with us to teach people. He was like our best friend haha.

I have way too many blessings. I LOVE being here in Merida and sharing the gospel with the people here. I have felt a lot of love from these Yucatecos and from my Heavenly Father. 

I hope you all have the most wonderful week!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

Ocho Meses!!!

Mi familia bonita!!!! Ya cumpli ocho meses en la mision! No puedo creer que el tiempo pasa tan rapido.

Happy 8 months!

Also on Saturday was Hna Cockerhams birthday! Its kind of hard to do surprises when you are always with someone, but I made her a chocolate banana smoothie for breakfast and stuck a nice note in her scriptures while she was in the shower. And we bought bolis (delicious things like a popsicle ice cream dream). 

This week during the sacrament, I felt the spirit so strong! And it should be like that every week. I have learned how important and sacred the sacrament is and can be a very special part of our week. I will challenge you all to prepare yourself this sunday to feel the love the Savior has for each and every one of you! And read 3 nephi 20: 8 - 9. 

I also love how the spirit can direct us. Many times this has happened to me, and it happened again this week. We were just walking down the street and we didn't have an appointment but we were going to go visit someone and we passed a house on the corner and I said, lets go here! We had talked to someone we met on the street about a month or 2 ago, and I thought that they lived there. Well, when we asked if Carlos was home, we figured out it was the wrong house, but the family accepted us in their home and we talked with them and we felt the spirit so strong.

I know for our Heavenly Father there are no accidents! The spirit will come to us in the most subtle ways, and we can be the answers to other peoples prayers. 

The familia hernandez will be baptized this week!!!!! Well, the sons are, Ismael, Gilberto, and Samuel. We found out the parents are married so they will be baptized a little bit later. WE are super pumped. They are beyond ready and they make me so happy. I am so so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet them and be a small part of their lives and watch them progress.

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!

Familias Eternas

Hello fam bam!

This week had some good moments. 

Yesterday an area 70 came , Elder Mendoza, and talked to a lot of us about the importance of working with the members. He spoke really directly and it was good. The leaders of the church always speak very inspired and I know that they are being led by our Heavenly Father! 

My mom, and 2 daughters

At the conference I saw all of my companions I have had! haha. The first thing I saw when I walked into the Stake Center was Hermana Price waving her arms and jumping up and down saying Mi Mama!!!!!!!! And ran and gave me a hug and I was way happy to see her.

Our cute little Familia Hernandez is progressing SO well. The three teenage boys went to seminary everyday this week and they love it tons. They are so prepared and them and their mom have so much desire to follow Jesus Christ. We went to go teach them about the Sabbath Day and it was kind of a funny lesson and they had lots of questions about what type of movies they could watch and where they could go, and we laugh a lot with them and I know they want to keep the commandments and be good. At the end of the lesson they offered us a drink and I have learned to be cautious and ask what people give us, because when it looks like apple juice, a lot of the times it is tea! The bad tea. So then we ended up teaching them the word of wisdom that day as well haha.

Things are going well in Caucel and I feel the Spirit every day. I love being a missionary!

God be with you til we meet again!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

October 6, 2014: more pics

A little girl from a family we are teaching gave me this note, it translates to:

Hermana Fleischer, I like your English classes so here is a poem for you

Your heart is sweet, your hair is a waterful, your blue eyes are like golden pearls.

October 6, 2014

What a wonderful week!!!!!

I loved General Conference!!!! We watched in English and it was so great. Passed by super fast. We watched it in our church and in between the sessions some members brought some food so we kind of chilled in the church all day. I think one of my favorites was President Uchtdorfs about revelation and prayer and also Jorge Klebingat about spiritual confidence. So great.

We are teaching the most precious family I have ever met and they will be baptized at the end of the month! La familia Hernandez. They have 3 teenage sons and they are so nice and spiritual and I just want to give all of them a hug, but I cant. 

Here in the mission, the goal is to have a baptism every week per companionship. Its a high goal but I know we can do it!!!! Sometimes being a missionary is a little overwhelming, there are a lot of goals and lots of people to visit and things to accomplish and sometimes it seems impossible, but like Nephi said, I will go and do! The Lord never gives us something we cant accomplish. NEVER! We are pumped to work hard this week.

Love you lots!

I would love to hear about your missionary experiences, and if you havent had one, I would invite you to pray for one. :)

Hermana Fleischer

September 29, 2014

Buenas Tardes mi familia maravillosa!

This week was a great week. We worked super hard and visited lots of people. We have a few great families that we are teaching that all want to get baptized.. the trick is getting them to church! That seems to be the trial. One of the families we are teaching we went to go pass by for them Sunday morning and they were all eating breakfast in their jammies and watching a movie and they said they would come to church next sunday and we were really bummed. But we went to visit them afterward and helped them realize how important going to church was and I think it helped and we will get them there this week!

This week is conference! Hooray! On Saturday we have to go to our stake center which is about a 40 minute bus ride away but on Sunday they will have it in our chapel which is only about a 20 minute bus ride away. 

Hermana Cockerham is still doing great, she is improving Spanish little by little. 

This week rained a ton! Which is nice sometimes because it cools down, but I dont sometimes we are wet all day and its not the best but its alright. The only thing is when it rains, the shower is really cold!!!!! But you get used to it really fast. Just stick one toe in at a time and its fine. 

I love being a missionary! Its the best ever. I love going to church and the little kids run up to us and give us hugs. I love teaching with the spirit and helping people feel the Atonement of Jesus Christ in their lives. Being here is one of the best, if not the best, decision I have made in my life.

Thank you for being a wonderful supportive family! I love ya tons! 

Have a wonderful day!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

September 22, 2014

This week I received another daughter! Or, I got a new missionary as my companion. Hermana Cockerham! She is from Texas. She has a lot to learn, but she is super determined to work hard and learn which is great. She has a super good attitude and even though we faced some rejection this week, she said its the happiest she has ever been.

I do miss Hermana Price a lot, but you will all meet her one day because she is from Utah and we already planned a lot of things and vacations to do together :)

This week started out really slow because we didnt really get working until wednesday and the rest of the week we didnt really find a lot of people.. it was kind of a weird week. But we have a good week planned ahead of us with lots of appointments!

We found a cute little family on Sunday! One of the boys that sells bread on a little tricycle is our friend because we always buy bread from him and so we got his direction and went to go visit his family this week. It was pouring rain when we went over their and so they gave us some food to eat and a rain jacket to borrow because my companion didnt have one yet and we taught them a lesson and they loved it. Both the parents and their 3 sons work every single day but sunday. Hooray for the Sabbath Day! Their name is the Familia Hernandez. I hope they can progress :)

I taught Sunday school this week and played the piano in sacrament meeting! Fun fun.

It has poured tons of rain the last couple of days! Today we had to go to like 5 different computer places because none of them had internet because the power went out for a little bit.

I think I forgot to mention that a couple weeks ago the Area President of Mexico, Elder Benjamin De Hoyos, came and spoke to us! He talked a lot about working together with the members and also personal revelation. I played the piano for that meeting too and also shared a spiritual thought in Spanish! (Every meeting they have a spiritual thought in Spanish and one in English).

I love being a missionary, and there are only a few tough days amidst all the great ones!

Que tengan bonita semana!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

September 15- Part II

 A horse, when we took this picture the guy who was selling stuff on the cart and owned the horse came up to us and said "Subete!" (Get on) and he wanted to take a picture of us haha but thought it wouldnt be a good idea in skirts

 Another one of our favorite families, La Familia Jauregui!!! The muchacho in the tie just got his mission call! He is serving in the middle of Mexico and leaves next month. They are pretty much our best friends here, I love them so much.

Hermana Price and I in our last taxi ride together this morning. We rarely take taxis because they are expensive, but it is almost impossible to take 2 huge suitcases on a bus.

September 15, 2014

Hello Fam Bam!

Our English Class sign we made 

CAMBIOS!!!! Hna Price left to another area, but not too far away, and I am staying in Caucel and I am going to TRAIN! We were a bit sad to leave eachother but I am really pumped to train again!!! I loved training Hermana Price and it really pushed myself to be my best and I found strength beyond my own (hymn #220)

Adriana, a recent convert who has a wonderful growing testimony :)

This week a lot of people accepted baptsimal dates! But only a couple investigadors came to church. But our area is growing a lot and the members are helping us out more and I have a grand vision for these next few months.

Liliana is still so happy! She came to the ward activity this week and is reading the book of mormon and just way pumped. We also gave her a challenge to give a Mormon.Org card to one of her friends and invite them to church, and the next time we saw her she told her she did it! 

My favorite part about finding and teaching people, is the lesson after their baptism, they have so much light!!!!! Its something that you can see and feel and you know that the Holy Ghost is with them and that the church is true!

We went to go visit one of our investigators this week, Malakias, and when we got there he said that he wanted to give us back the book of mormon and thanked us for our time and that he was scared to make changes in his life like give up drinking coffee and other things, we told him to keep the book of mormon and to read it and we left kind of sad. We were walking to another part and I felt so strongly that we needed to go back. So we returned and he was suprised but we asked if we could just share a special message with him and he said it was ok. 

We taught him the restoration and felt the spirit really strong and his heart opened up to us and he said he was very grateful that we came back and said we could keep coming back. Yay!

I didnt want to give up on him and Heavenly Father didnt want us to either.

Tomorrow I will meet my new companion! Hooray! Please pray for her that she will adjust well to the missionary life, that I will have patience and love, and that we can help a lot of people recieve the gospel :)

Les amo y espero que esten muy bien :)

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

September 8, 2014

Hello my wonderful family!!!!!!

This week had a lot of highlights.

Liliana's Baptism

So special!!!! She was so excited! Everything went really well and Hna Price and I sang a the primary song about baptism (i like to look for rainbows) half in Spanish and half in English. When she was baptized and the member that baptized her said the baptism prayer, I felt the spirit so strong and so special and I knew that the presence of the priesthood was there! The spirit testified to me in this moment that the Priesthood has been restored and that she had made a promise with Heavenly Father!

English Class

This week Hna Price started teaching English classes in the church, Every friday at 7 pm! It was lots of fun and there was a little family that came that weren't members and a another family and a few other members. 

No light

We came home from the baptism to find that our house didn't have electricity. We were wondering what happened and we went outside to look at something and asked our neighbor if he had power and he said they started a new payment method and they probably shut it off because we hadn't paid!

That night we ate a little dinner and planned for the next day with some lanterns we made out of our flashlights and cups haha. We didn't have power for our fans so we opened all the windows and it wasn't that bad. 

We called the guy we rent the house from and the next day he figured it out for us.

Forever Families!!!!!

On Saturday we had some appointments fall through and some references weren't home so we were kind of just walking wondering what to do and we saw a woman walking down the street so we decided to go talk to her. She let us into her house and we taught a little lesson about the trinity, the Atonement, and baptism to her and her 2 daughters. The spirit was so strong and they accepted a baptismal date and came to church with us the next day! They are a really special family.

Our huge ward

Our ward, Caucel, is a huge ward, and basically all young families, so yesterday there were 4 baby blessings!!!!! haha. Also the confirmation of Liliana, and there was just 5 minutes left for the bishopric to share their testimonies about 1 minute each. 

I love being a missionary and I have never felt so good in my life! I also love my companion and I hope neither of us get transferred :( I will let you know next week what will become of me!

I love you all tons, and start saving up for a few trips back to visit all the family I am making in Mexico!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

September 1, 2014

Hello my wonderful family!!!

This week we worked really hard and we are really excited because this Friday Liliana will be baptized!! She is so ready and so excited. On Sunday she came to church and she came up to us and said she had brought 10 pesos to pay tithing and asked us to help her fill out the envelope!! She is really great.

This week I taught Sunday school and it was fun. We have a Gospel Principles class for investigators and recent converts and after sacrament meeting I went to go ask one of the members if the teacher had come, and he said No, but will you give the class? So I did and it was good.

This week had some really hot days! We left to go visit someone at 10 am and it was already 100 degrees! But we also had some super rainy days.

The thing about the rain here, whenenver it rains, it pretty much cancels any activity that we have planned, such as a Family Night, and only a couple people came, but it was still ok.

This Sunday we got a ride home with the Family Martinez in their huge truck... and so did half the ward haha We fit about 20 people in that thing. They are a really special family to us and sometimes we eat cactus with them :)

The other elders in our ward had a baptism and I played the piano and it was great. I love playing the piano for different things because I miss playing it whenever I want. 

Well this was a great week! I dont want to leave this area, I have really grown to love it and all the people. I know that the Lord will need me in other places but I will always have a little Caucel in my heart. In 2 weeks there are cambios so well see what happens!

Pics next week! :)

Have the most wonderful week!

Hermana Stacie Fleischer

Another Great Week in the Yucatan: August 25, 2014

Buenas!

Another great week in Yucatan!

This Sunday Hna Price and I gave talks! It was Hna Prices first talk and she was a little nervous for the Spanish but she did great!!! I spoke about the importance of members in missionary work. I think I like giving talks.

Our little investigator Liliana is progressing so well! At church we asked her if she wanted to be baptized a week earlier than we planned and she was pretty excited. Her grandma will also be baptized soon too.

We have another investigator German who is getting married this week and will be baptized soon as well!

This week we were walking down the street and a lady selling ice cream started talking to us in English and turns out she was from the U.S. but moved down here because her husband, who is mexican, got deported. We had a lesson with her in English and we are going to get her a book of mormon in English as well. It is funny how we cross paths with people in other parts of the world. 

Something I do love about Caucel is there are lots of people with little bicycle carts that ride around the streets in the afternoon and honk a little bike horn and sell bread and muffins. We get pretty hungry after walking around all day and we like to buy lots of bread.

Today I reunited with my mother(trainer) Hna. Martinez! There were special transfers and she is now in Merida!!! Every monday 2 zones meet together for our district meeting and we do practices together, and Hna Martinez is in the other zone. We were pretty happy to see eachother. Some people we taught together were baptized after I left, and I was super happy to hear about all the progress going on down in Campeche!!!

Fun fact, did you know you can sing Oh my Father, and Joseph Smiths First Prayer to the tune of Come thou Fount of Every Blessing?? 

Its really pretty.

Other fun fact, one of our investigators who we are teaching is named Enrique. We didnt know his last names (they use 2 here, the dads last name and the moms last name, so I would be Stacie Heather Fleischer Mickelson) because we kept forgetting to ask but yesterday we asked him and his last names are Reyes Leon, which means Lion Kings!!!!!! hahaha we thought it was pretty cool.

I have never realized how powerful the message of the Restoration really is. There are a lot of people who are very confused about why there are so many churches and beliefs, we have the truth that is so valuable and I am so pumped to be sharing it with lots of people.

Hope you all have the most wonderful week!

If you see a missionary this week, give them a cookie or some juice or something!

Con mucho amor,
Hermana Stacie Fleischer