WEEK 12 -- PACKAGES, 50 YEARS OF THE CHURCH IN BOLIVIA!

Week 12  goes like this: 

Teaching, Celebration for 50 years of the Church in Bolivia

And Packages!

Thursday, November 20th, we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Church in Bolivia.  The Missionaries sang 4 songs: Llamados a Servir (Called to Serve), Soy un hijo de Dios (I Am A Child of God), Amad a otros (As I Have Loved You), and Te Damos Señor nuestras gracias ( We Thank Thee O God For A Prophet).

We sang, and then we left. The missionaries didn´t watch the Celebration. But I am serving as a missionary during this historic time. So how neat is that.

I got my first package from home. CANDY from Los Estados, and New tie, and a Bolivia Santa Cruz Mission Pin.  Living the Bolivian Dream.

Taught a lot of lessons. But that is normal.  Twenty lessons this week, and planning on more the next.

Scriptures for the week: 

Isaiah 12 and 2 Nephi 22

And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee:  though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

Behold, God is my salvation:  I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song:  he also is become my salvation.

Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things:  this is known in all the earth.

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion:  for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.

These two chapters are the exact same.  Jacob is quoting Isaiah about what he says. I like the most in verse 2 where it says God is our salvation.  All is important, and if we acknowledge God in our lives, we will change for the good.

Question: What would you do if the Savior lived in your house? What would you do differently? What would you do the same? How would you feel?

Have a Good Week

Hasta Luego

Elder Tracy

WEEK TEN -- BOLIVA, BOLIVIA, BOLIVIA!

I messed up my counting. This is really Week 10.

This week was rewarding. We had Conferences with my Mission President, President Willard.  I watched a Bolivian midget punch a horse in the jaw, and we celebrated the rescue and baptism of the Familia Alpire.

So every transfer, The Zones (Groups of Missionaries that serve together) in Santa Cruz have a conference with President Willard. We went to the Cañoto and had meetings and ate some food.  Afterwards we went and worked.  That is when I saw a Bolivian midget punch a horse in the jaw.  The horse got a little too close to this midget woman, and she just destroyed this horse. Because the horse had chains on its feet, it couldn´t do anything or get away. 

Thursday, we went to a restaurant with the Familia Alpire to celebrate their rescue and upcoming baptisms. I will be sending pictures later.

Familia Alpire

Saturday, we baptized the two hijos (children) of this family.  I think I am starting to understand how Heavenly Father feels when we do what is right.  I felt so happy and good that day. Sunday, Grandpa Alpire, who is the Stake Patriarch in Beni, confirmed both of them. That day was a really good day.

Familia Alpire 

Scripture for the Week: 
Book Of Mormon
Omni 1:26

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption.  Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth, ye will be saved.

My work as a  Missionary is centered around this scripture.  I read it a couple of days ago and I felt it was perfect to share. As we take the name of Christ on ourselves and we live the way he lived, we begin to cultivate those qualities that we would like to have.  This week, I´m going to try and work on my Charity for other people.  Because I need to love unconditionally like Christ did.

And I challenge you to pick a quality you need to work on and really try to obtain that attribute. Email Me!

Elder Tracy

11/17/2014 -- WEEK ELEVEN -- TRUNKY

WEEK ELEVEN

This week wasn´t the very best week. It was hard to find and to teach.  We had to drop some investigators because they weren´t keeping their commitments.

My sister, Hermana Emily Tracy, finished her mission in Santa Rosa, California last Tuesday.  I haven´t seen her for over 1 1/2 years, and I´m not going to see her until July of 2016.  So in total, I won´t see her for 3 years. That made this week harder.  But I know that I´m supposed to be here and I know everything is going to be okay.

This week in Bolivia: I saw my First Drag Queen, Ate Cow Heart, and My Companion and I got Sick!

Yesterday we were on our way to Lunch in the Micro (which is like the City bus, but grosser) and I looked out the window, and I thought I saw a Woman in revealing clothes.  It turns out that it was a Dude. I was pleasantly suprised. I learned that there are weird people everywhere!

Friday, I ate some Churrasco (Bolivian Roasted Meat, but they call it BBQ).  I also got to throw my own cow heart on the fire pit. It was funny, because I held a heart in my hand, lol.

Yesterday, Elder Gutierrez and I got chilled because we sleep with a fan running. Well, we are both really sick right now.  So, What can you do? 

And the Church is exactly the same down here in Bolivia. I love it!!  There are the people who can´t control their children, screaming kids and babies, people playing on their phones, and people leave right after Sacrament Meeting.

Scripture for this week: 
Alma 29:1-2

O, that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

Yea, I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.

This is the mindset that all missionaries should have and how I feel right now.  I just want to help everybody.  But it is hard for me when people don't want help.  But if you prepare now, we can all be ´´Trumps´´ of God.

¡Que tenga una buena semana!

Elder Tracy

NOVEMBER 3, 2014 -- WEEK NINE IN BOLIVIA

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

This week wasn't as super exciting as before. We just did a lot of walking, talking, teaching, preaching, and working like missionaries do.

Last P- Day (Preparation Day), we played some volleyball games.  And I talked to more Gringos.

This is Last P-day with my Friend Elder Jarvis. We were in the trunk area of a taxi.

Every two or three days, we go to visit a sick member of the church.  His name is Fabio Suarez.  He has been sick with Embolia, which is a virus that causes Paralysis. When we first visited him in my first cambio (exchange), Fabio could barely move.  But know that with help He can now walk. It is a blessing from God.

We rescued the Familia Alpire. ¡They are now Miembros Activos!  And Hermano Alex shared his testimony yesterday. He said he was grateful for all the Elders, the Ward, and what his new family have done for him. ¡ESTOY TAN ANIMAAAAAAAAADO! (I'm so animated/happy.)

Oh!  And yesterday we were working.   A Woman asked us to buy beer for her. We didn't but we said we had something better than Beer. Then we gave her a Word of Wisdom Pamphlet.  We are funny. JAJAJAJAJAJAJAAJAJJAJAJAJA (Ha Ha Ha)

TWENTY lessions this week.  People have been lying to us a lot for the past couple of days, and I don´t like it. But what can you do.

Scripture for the Week: 

3 Nephi 5:13

Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

I would like to thank my older brother, Lonnie, for showing me this scripture.  It is our job as missionaries and members to be real disciples of Christ.  But the question is:  "What are we doing to prepare to meet God?"  I would like to get some answers to this question from all of you.

 Please email me back at jonathan.tracy@myldsmail.net

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Tracy

A little additional fun information from Jon's Email home today:

This is my Scripture case. Its made of Alligator, Ostrich, Iguana and Cow.  Its pretty cool. (It was made by a local guy that Jon's talked about in a previous post.) 

It does say Mission of Miracles. That's the ´´Official´´ Name of the Mission, Because they Have The North Mission, and Mission of Miracles.

We walked everywhere this week. We walk everywhere everyday.  But tomorrow we are going to have a Mission Conference in the Canoto Stake Center. That is the Stake in the First Ring of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Here´s a picture of the Chapel.

                                Canoto Stake Center

I asked Jonathan to describe his typical day.

My Normal day...

There really isn't any normal day in this Mission mom.
But my Usual Schedule is this.  We wake up, and then we pray as Companionship.  After that, Personal Prayers. Then we get ready for the day.  At 8, we pray and have personal study.  At 9 we have Companionship study and Plan for the Day. At 10, we study Idioma, or Language. 11, 1st 12v weeks.

And from then on, we go to our Pensionista, and then we go to work. We usually have 7 or 8 appointments everyday.  But they fall through a lot.

Connor has almost got more converts that I do.
I have Hermana Hortencia Choque, and the Family Alpire. We rescued the Alpires, and they are a  family of 5.

So I say I have 6 converts.

I asked Jonathan to tell me about where he is emailing me from and how much does it cost to use the computer and the Internet.

I´m in a Internet cafe and to use the computer for an hour and a half  it costs me 4 bolivianos, or 50 cents  . 

And tell Connor that People in Bolivia are Addicted to Warcraft 3 and League of Legends, and Dota.  They Have different Servers for Different Countries.  But I thought it was funny.  And most people go to the Internet Cafe to play. If you have Internet at your house here, You are pretty well off.

Hey.  I have to go.  Love you mom.  Talk to you in a week!

OCTOBER 27, 2014 -- BAD GUYS, RESCATADOS AND WHAT NOT

Elder Jonathan Tracy and his "Cat Friend" -- CHUCHI

October 27, 2014 -- Week Seven In Bolivia!

So this week was crazy. So much stuff happened, I don´t even know where to start. Let's begin with my encounter with the Robbers.

Elder Gutierrez and I were walking just like any other night when we see these two guys waiting by a wall.  When a stranger walked by, the two guys pointed and jumped him.  They had machetes.  And I´m pretty sure they stabbed him.   So Elder Gutierrez and I did what any other person would do.  We ran faster than I have ever ran before in my life.  And believe me, you run fast when there are people with machetes chasing you!!!  We´re all good, and we didn´t get hurt or robbed.

In the realm of teaching, we are currently rescuing a family.  They have one more Sunday until they are rescued. Next Saturday, Hermano Alex Alpire is going to baptize his 10 and 8 year old sons.  Then the next week, they´re going to go to the LDS Temple in Cochabamba, Bolivia to be endowed, and sealed for eternity.   I have literally helped bring a family together forever.  I´m beyond happy!!

Scripture of the Week: 

1 Corinthians 10:13 --  

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man:  but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Whenever I use this scripture in a lesson, (and I use it almost every week), I think of Dad when we would drive to church and I quote my Dad.  He would say:  ´´Who wants to memorize scriptures?!?!?!?!?!?´´ And then for the whole 30 minute car ride we would repeat this scripture and many others over and over.

When I use this scripture in my teaching, I add the word ´´Challenge´´ after temptation.  Because God knows our limits, and He won't challenge us above that which we can accomplish.  And when we do accomplish it, we usually grow in that process.

Scripture Case Made From Aligator Skin -- Jon is having one made with the Nauvoo Sunstone as the centerpiece.

Have a good week everyone!!!!!

Love, Elder Jonathan Tracy



From Jon's Mom -- Snippets from today's email.

MOM:  Hey Jon, I see that it is supposed to rain and be cooler this week in Bolivia.

JON:  It rains, it is colder in the morning, but when the Sun comes out, we cook MOM!  LOL.

JON:  This my Cat friend who lives with us. Her name is ChuChi. She´s the dueñas cat. The dueña is the Land Lady. We rent her house, and she keeps the cats with us. 

MOM:  Tell me more about this experience with the robbers?

JON: I was chased by robbers with Machetes.  We ran like hell Mom.  I'm not getting stabbed. lol

MOM:  What are you going to do today on your Preparation Day?

JON:  We´re going to go play ´´Wally´´ which is Volleyball with a few new rules. 

MOM:  What else is going on?

JON:  3 minutes Mom. Love you!  Tell Dad I miss him everyday.  And tell him I think about you both everyday!

JON:  Bye Mom. Talk to you in November. Love you.

OCTOBER 20, 2014: BOWLING, ESTABAMOS BUSCANDO, AND ALGO MAS

This week in Bolivia:

I went Bowling, Celebrated my Trainers 20th Birthday, and walked a lot.

Elder Tracy Shaving

Last preparation day we went bowling in the first ring of Santa Cruz.  It was called Cosmic Bowling.  I got beat by the Latinos that have never bowled before in their lives. How neat is that!

Bowling with Elder Tracy and Elder Jarvis

Then on Tuesday, we had a meeting for all the Nuevos (Newbies) and their Trainers.  The bowling was a Multi-zone Activity. So I saw all the Gringos in my group.  It was a great reunion.  After my training is complete, I might get to be a trainer.  My companion tells me everyday, "Usted va a entrenar un Latino."  Translation -- You will train a Latino.

The same Tuesday it was Elder Gutierrez´s birthday.  We had cake and all the good stuff, but the cake had strawberries. Gringos can't eat the strawberries here because they are dangerous.

Elder Guiterrez's birthday party.

This week was hard.  Elder Gutierrez got sick on Friday, and we couldn´t leave the house.  And we lost a lot of our investigators.  

This week is a new week and I´m going to ´´shake hell´´ as Emily says it.

Scriptures with Elder Tracy

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

This is my Favorite Scripture of all time.   I chose it to be on my Mission Plaque which hangs on the wall in the foyer in our Chapel in Lee's Summit, Missouri.

We can´t accomplish anything by ourselves.  We can´t receive salvation, have an eternal family and enjoy the blessings of eternity by ourselves.  When we trust in God, he will provide. Cuando Confiamos en Nuestro Salvador, Hablaremos ´´ Si Señor, te seguiremos´´.   

!Que tenga una buena semana¡

Elder Tracy

Some questions that I (Dana, Jon's Mom) asked him.

      How are you?  What are you going to do today on your preparation day?

I'm doing good!  Its so hot, Mom.  It is 36 degrees Celsius, which is roughly 97 degrees.  Normal P-day stuff, going to the Bolivian equivalent of Wal-Mart, Hyper-maxi.

How do you get there?

Sometimes we walk.  Sometimes we use a bus.  It depends.

How is everything going?

Hey. I´m about 1/8th done with my Mission. The time is going so fast. I´ll be home before you know it.  Hey. Theres a member who lives in my Mission that can make real leather scripture cases. I´m thinking about getting one. They cost 180 bolivianos, or about 20 bucks. But they are made with Real Alligator leather, you can ask for Cheetah fur.   I am probably going to be in my area for another four months.

10/13/14 -- WEEK SIX IN BOLIVIA: MACHETES, MONKEYS, AND DOODADS

OCTOBER 13, 2014

WEEK SIX IN BOLIVIA:  

MACHETES, MONKEYS and DOODADS

Jonathan in his apartment in Santa Cruz, Bolivia -- 10/12/14

This week was interesting to say the least. We had two days of service where I used a machete to cut grass.  I felt like a pirate,  lol.   Then Elder Gutierrez and I jumped and grabbed coconuts from a tree and used our machetes to cut them open and drank the juice inside of it.  Pretty "chevre" (cool) if I do say so myself!

First Counselor in Bishopric's Pet Monkey

The second day, we went to our First Counselor in the Bishopric's house.  He has a pet monkey.  Needless to say, multiple pictures were taken. 

The First Monkey Jonathan has fed.

I gave the monkey a cup of pop to drink.  Probably the coolest thing I have done in my life so far.

We taught over 22 lessons this week, and we walked A LOT this week.  

For all you Elders and Hermanas with Cars.......Luuuuuuuuuuucccccckkkkkkyyyy. I´m getting big muscles. Exercise everyday will do that to ya.  

Right now, Elder Gutierrez and I are teaching a man named Israel Calderon. I believe he is one of those prepared by ´´the Lord of the Vineyard."  Right now, he has a baptismal date, and a Libro de Mormon.  How exciting!

Yesterday was Elections for the new Bolivian President.  The encumbent, Evo, has been President for over 16 years, and he is a Socialist.  He won the Election last night.  There is a chance he could go full Communist.  So we are going to have to wait and see.  During the Elections, the Gringos (ME, Elder Fruehan & Beals) could not leave the house until 6 pm.  So Elder Fruehan, Elder Beals and I partied in the house for a while.  How neat!

Jonathan's Companion -- Elder Guiterrez

Scripture for the Week: 
Helaman 10: 4-5

You can change Nephi´s name for your name when reading this scripture. 

"Blessed art thou, Nephi (Jonathan) for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people.  And thou has not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

We can be as strong as Nephi and Lehi.  When we center our lives in the Gospel, we can and will be blessed.  Even be blessed forever.

Elder Jonathan Tracy

Message from Hermana Emily Tracy which Jonathan is carrying with him daily.

Jeremiah 29:13 

And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with ALL your heart!