Vi voglio bene!

Hey guys!

I'm so happy that everyone is doing well! I'm sorry about the news with Cola... I'm so sorry! This is probably not the time to joke but I promise the first thing in my mind wasn't a horse burger! R.I.P. Cola!

This has been an interesting week to say the least! I am positive and happy still, but unfortunately we have lost a quite a bit of investigators because we've started cracking down on our missionary purpose and not spending as much time with those that don't have interest in the Gospel and just want to be friends. I feel it's important to still have a friendship with them of course in order to positively influence their lives, but we have the elect to find and baptize! On a good note thought our investigator Giuseppe finally came to a church event: the family home evening we do on Tuesday nights! He loved it because he likes to be a part of little groups so it was one step closer to him FINALLY coming to church!

With our teaching pool now nearly empty, we are hitting the streets and doing a lot of finding and trying new methods to really bring in new investigators. We haven't seen that much success, but that's okay! They are out there waiting! And we are out there finding!

On a happier note I think I've already mentioned it but the sisters have a fantastic investigator and it looks like she is getting baptized at the end of the month. We've made a great friendship with her also and she wants me to baptize her so I'm really excited about that! She has basically only been taught the Restoration (as far as the step to step lessons we must teach) and she already feels ready! She comes to my intermediate English class and she came up to me after and said that she was having some fears and concerns about this date because it was so close. I told her that the sisters had prayed hard for this date, but the most important thing is how she her self feels. I told her boldly that if she went home and continually prayed that night, she would receive her answer if the date is right or not. The next lesson they had she said that she wanted to be baptized on that date! 

It was a neat experience and it goes to show that the Spirit is the real teacher. A lot of people think that missionaries are the one's that are to blame for the miracles that happen in the conversion experience. Not true! We are the lucky little instruments that do the 'inviting' so that these wonderful people can act on their own and see how intimate and personal their relationship with Heavenly Father really is! Would you acknowledge the hammer, or the skilled carpenter that crafted a beautiful chair?

 I have been going a little crazy for this scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 58:

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is ^compelled in all things, the same is a^bslothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

 27 Verily I say, men should be ^aanxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

 28 For the power is in them, wherein they are ^aagents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their ^breward.

It makes me think of the parable of the talents and how the indolent servant who received one talent didn't go out and multiply that which his Master had given him. Whenever I talk about talents with a group of people they focus on the trivial things we consider to be talents: being musically inclined, some kind of skill, athletic ability, etc. Many are quick to say, "Gosh, I don't have any talents" not realizing that these things can be found, but maybe we should look at something that is the basis to all of these talents, and like I've said a million times before, the central message to Christ's ministry, and even His very existence: love. 

We have all been given the capacity to love, to be loved, and to learn how to love. I think this is a talent!!! We need to occupy our time in developing this talent, and it is a beautiful thing to be so diverse as human beings so that we can share our different methods of showing our love for another. Even with speaking about these trivial talents that some consider to be the most important we can conclude that the basis is always love. To become a pianist one must love to play the piano, to become a teacher one must love influencing someones life for the better, and to become a disciple of God one must love others and think of creative new ideas to serve his/her fellow man.

It makes me think of the beautiful story of the Christmas truce in 1914 during the First World War. German, English and French soldiers began singing carols in their own languages and met in the area between trenches nicknamed "no-man's land" to celebrate the birth of our Savior. They ate, shared pictures of their loved ones back home, played soccer and made bonding friendships with the men that just hours before were trying to kill. God's love can penetrate even the ugliest of circumstances such as war. 

Love has no limits.

We must be anxiously engaged in a good cause to develop this capacity. We have our free agency. Let's use it!

I love you all so much! Thank you for everything you do for me! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week! It's weird being in the 'countdown' phase as now I officially have less than five months in the mission! Crazy! Vi voglio tanto tanto bene!

Vi abbraccio profondamente!

Anziano Clay Lacey

Nuovo Simpatizzante da America!

Hey guys!

I'm glad everyone is doing good! ...except for the fact that Heather broke her leg! I'm so sorry! Get better soon!!!

Things have been going pretty good here! We had a good week and we found an awesome new investigator! He is a 16 year old American kid from North Carolina here on an exchange student program. I think I told you all a little bit about how we met him but I'll retell the whole story:

We had to get the residence permit for Anziano Smit a few weeks ago, and while we were at the government office called the Questura we noticed a tall young man walk in and we knew he wasn't Italian, so we waited to hear him speak with the person he came with in order to learn where he was from. It turns out we went into the same place to finalize the process and we heard him say to himself: "this is soooo boring.." We laughed and asked him were he was from and he said America so we had a good conversation. He was really interested as to why we are here and it turns out he has had a lot of questions about the church. We gave him our number and invited him to come to church and English course to help out if he wanted.

He didn't come for a few weeks and then we randomly saw him at a city event we felt that we should go to. He told us that he had lost the pass along card that we gave him that one day, and he had passed by the church with no one being there. We got his number this time and we set an appointment to meet with him because he is really interested in the church. We met with him and we had a great lesson talking about the restoration, and he was mostly excited to read the Book of Mormon. We met with him a second time and he's already reading and praying and we invited him to be baptized when he knows these things are true. Who knows, maybe he'll be baptized and then go back to America and then come back to Italy and serve a mission here!

We changed the tide of things here in Siracusa. For every new arriving missionary our ward mission leader does some kind of practical joke. It turns out that Anziano Fiala served with another elder who showed him a video of the prank pulled on him therefore Anziano Fiala had already suspected this kind of welcoming. We decided that it would be better if we got him instead of him getting us. We organized a great joke with other members, and it turned out beautifully! We basically made him think he was about to be mugged while walking on the street... I won't go into details because it might sound worse than it was written, but it was all good and we all had a great laugh!

Finally all of the Italian holidays ended on Sunday so we've been doing a lot of finding work to help fill our teaching pool. We are also working with many less-actives and trying to help families get back to church. Things are going great though and me and Anziano Fiala are excited to be together because we feel we have a lot of potential as two older missionaries serving together towards the end of the mission to really see some miracles happen!

Keep praying for us so that we can be lead to those who are ready and for those who are ready to be lead to us! It has been a while since Siracusa has seen a baptism, but that shouldn't bring us down, as a matter of fact it should get us more vivacious and excited! On a positive note it looks like the sisters might have a baptism! She is this young twenty-three year old young woman who is just awesome and her baptismal date will be for this month if all goes to plan. She has even been talking about me baptising her so that would be a great honor if that is what she'd like!

I love you all so much! Have a great week and let me know if there is anything I can do for you all. I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather (take care of that leg!!!), and I love you Greg. VI voglio tanto tanto bene!

Un abbraccio grande grande!

Anziano Clay Lacey

Grandi Feste a Siracusa!

Anziano Lacey as Harry Potter?

Hey guys!

This has been a very great past few weeks with celebrating the holidays for the last time in Italy. We have had some very great experiences and I have learned so much! I also now realize what it would be like to be a citizen in a war torn city because New Years Eve was insane! It sounded like bombs were falling all over the place and fireworks from all over the city were everywhere! Our members had a party in church and we really wanted to go but we have a mission rule to be in the house that night by 6:00. It wasn't the most fun thing to do, but we had some great language studies together and we ended up staying up late and witnessed the chaos outside from our balcony...

I am having so much fun with Anziano Fiala! He is a great missionary and a great friend. We are getting along great and I know we are going to do great work together! Now pretty much all of the holidays are over (because it's Italy there's always another one around the corner) so we can continue with working hard and getting things moving ahead.

It was so nice talking to you all on Christmas! You all look so happy, healthy, and I couldn't be more glad to see you all like that! I still can't believe it's only 5 1/2 more months until I'll see you again! 

There is a family that has a t-shirt shop near us and we worked with them a bit to try to begin teaching them and now we have an appointment for next Sunday! We tried to get them to come to church on Sunday, they said that they would, but they didn't end up coming unfortunately. We'll keep hoping and praying because they are a beautiful family and they need the gospel in their lives.

Ida, our new investigator, is doing great and is beginning to read the Book of Mormon. She loves church so much and we are going to push this week to set a baptismal date if we feel like it's the right thing. 

The day after Christmas was another holiday in Italy (the day President lets us watch Disney movies, we say How to Train Your Dragon) so we went to a city close to Ragusa called Monterosso where they did a live nativity scene, and they closed part of this beautiful city in the mountains and turned it into a history/cultural fest to make it look like Sicily back in the 1800's. It was a lot of fun and beautiful to see how people lived during those times. We also ate a ton of great Sicilian food!

Speaking of eating... I don't think I've ever eaten so much in my whole life than I have in the past two weeks!!! We have had so many invites and I absolutely love Sicilian food! I feel like the luckiest missionary ever when it comes to food situations... here in Italy they don't complain whether or not it will taste good but rather if the food comes out pretty or ugly! It's hilarious! 

That's the sum up of the week! I feel like time is so short now on p-days and I have less time to write so I apologize if this seems very short! I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg! Have a great week and BUON ANNO!!! Vi voglio bene dal cuore!

con affetto, 

Anziano Clay Lacey

Over 7,000 views!

Anziano Lacey's blog went over 7,000 views last week!  Thank you for following him and supporting him during his mission in Italy.

Hey guys!

I'm glad everyone is doing well. I am so excited for the Skype call here in a few days! It will be so great to see you all and to talk to you all! I can't wait!

We have had a great week so far and we are working our way towards Christmas! I am so excited! We have a surprising amount of invites but we want to spend most of the time with non-members and those in particular who do not have a family or someone to spend Christmas with. We'll talk more about when we'll do the call, but it will be Christmas Eve for sure.

This week has been somewhat peculiar in Siracusa because since Thursday and ending today there has been the 'Festa di Santa Lucia': St. Lucy is the patron saint here in Siracusa so there has been a lot of festivities, processions, concerts, etc. It was neat though because nearly everyone (or it seemed like everyone) in Siracusa all gathered at the city center where they carried a gigantic beautiful silver statue of this saint through the city from the cathedral to another church that shares her name. 

We said goodbye to Stefania on Friday and she is really excited to be going to America. She wants to stop by in Apple Valley and say 'hey' to you guys when she goes from L.A. to Vegas! I was jealous that she might hug you guys before I do!!! We had a really nice last visit with her and I'm thankful for the friendship that we have made and that will continue. After our visit with her we were invited to a presentation of a book relating to the problems and history of Tibet. 

Our investigator Giuseppe is doing well and making a lot of progress! We have almost got him to church... But it is really hard for him! Pazienza! 

On Sunday we had a miracle happen! A lady named Ida from English course showed up to church! We had invited her awhile ago and then she had never came, but then she randomly showed up and it went very well! She loved church so much and was very interested in everything. Sunday night at five o'clock we were waiting in church for an appointment with a contact that wasn't coming, and then all of a sudden Ida showed up, asking questions about the Book of Mormon I gave her in church a few hours before! We had a great lesson with her (she even brought 2 friends) and I actually just heard from her and we'll have a lesson with her tomorrow! Things look very positive with her and I'm very excited!

Yesterday was a bit sad because we went to the funeral of a less active'.s wife who passed away. He was very happy to see us there, and it makes me feel content that we have already been seeing him often so we have a great friendship that will be nurtured especially during this difficult time for him. He is 87 years old so this loss will be very tough on him but he seems to handling it well.

We sung carols at a convalescent home with the youth and it was a great experience. I made it a goal to speak to and salute every resident in that home and I'm glad I did because I talked to some very beautiful people. One man that will celebrate his 100th birthday tomorrow! One lady that reminded me of an Italian version of Grandma Lacey said that I reminded her of one of her sons and she began crying and clung unto my hand. It was such a beautiful little moment and I'm so glad for little acts of service we have and to do things that the Savior would do.

We have a few other appointments and I have to go! We are really busy but I'll get back to you soon and let you know for the Skype call! I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg! Have a great week! I'll talk to you on Monday!!!

Con affetto, 

Anziano Clay Lacey

Another great week

Hey guys!

This has been another great week and things are going great! We had our zone conference yesterday and it went very well. I'm the oldest zone leader now in Sicily so I felt very under pressure but it turned out well and we had a great time. 

On Wednesday night us and the missionaries from Catania got together here in Siracusa and saw the ballet, The Nutcracker, for the first time! It was done by a famous Russian group so it was way good and I really enjoyed it. President always jokes about how missionaries have a 'missionary entertainment deficiency disorder' so I was glad he approved it for us! We also get to watch two Disney or Disney-like movies for Christmas. Any suggestions?

Our investigators are doing well. Stefania has been coming to church regularly and reading from the Book of Mormon daily. Unfortunately she is leaving this week on Sunday and she's probably going to live in America and find work there. I'm happy for her and for this new opportunity in her life but I'll miss her! She will be living in California and she said that on her way to Vegas she might stop by and say hey to you guys!

We have been working a lot with less-actives and one is starting to come back to church! Another came to church on Sunday and we had a nice visit with her and her family on Monday night. Two of her children aren't baptized yet so we are hoping that we can begin to work with them and help this family out! We have already received three invites for Christmas so we might have a fun and busy day! 

We were invited to go to an activity at a Catholic church for a program for youth uniting the world. It was a project for young adults from 17-30 and we had the opportunity to speak at it and get to know a lot of youth around Sicily and even have a lot that will go to various English courses that missionaries do throughout the island. It was a great experience!

I'll just make a small mention: I hit 18 months in the mission on Saturday I just realized... crazy!!!

We had a lunch invite after church and this member brought one of her friends and we had a great afternoon with him, and after our spiritual thought he said he might be interested to take the lessons. He is a very nice man from Argentina and he's already come to church a few times and to the family home evenings in church. That night we all went together to see the First Presidency Christmas devotional and he really enjoyed it. 

Like I said, the conference went well. It was obviously Christmas themed, and every missionary in Italy got the same tie. It is really nice and I'll send the group picture of all of our zone wearing it when I get it! My training was on finding work and we had a great time demonstrating different finding techniques but most of all using this Christmas season as an advantage to try and find new investigators and to profit out of these many visits we'll have with members to try to get referrals. The things that stressed me out the most was getting things prepared for lunch to feed 40 people, and in the end it all worked out except the fact that I didn't tell anyone to bring a knife to cut the honey baked ham, so you can imagine the funny scene of us sawing away at a giant ham with plastic forks! Other than that it turned out perfectly though.

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers and support with everything. I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg! I can't wait to give you a call here soon! Have a great week and stay safe! Love you!!!

Anziano Clay Lacey

A Roma di nuovo!

Hey guys! I'm glad everyone is doing good! Thank you for the encouraging words and the prayers throughout the week. I love you all so much!

This has been a bit of a crazy week because of traveling to Rome, zone leader conference, and traveling back. I had one of the craziest travel opportunities taking every form of transportation except bicycle and horseback. We left for Catania on Wednesday and ate lunch there with the other missionaries, then we took the bus again up to Messina where there was a lot of wind and a storm so the small boat we took across the Messina straight was rocked across the sea like crazy! When we finally got across we landed in Villa San Giovanni and then took a train to Reggio Calabria where we ate a pizza with the Anziani there and then finally got some sleep at their place. We woke up early, got a ride from a member to the airport and flew all the way to Rome. It was very, very cold and rainy, but I love flying so much and enjoyed every minute of it. 

When in Rome we waited for the other Sicilian Z.L.'s but there was a problem with Anziano Nelson from Sardegna who needed to bring some luggage for a different missionary. The machine that unloads the plane broke apparently so we had to wait an extra hour at the airport. They told us to take the train from the airport to the city center instead of being picked up in the van because the gate to the mission home was broken and couldn't open, so the vehicles inside were impossible to take out except by complete annihilation of the gate (you should see the size of the mission van... it's called a 'furgone' in Italian). 

The airport is only about an hour by car from the mission home (Rome is gigantic), and the little train would only be about a fifteen minute ride. Usually, at the end of the month (and we were in the latter days) missionaries are generally out of money. The train tickets would have cost £70 for all of us! It was ridiculous so we called the assistants and we worked it out to get a ride from other missionaries with cars. Because of the weather, everyone was late to the mission home, but although all the problems we faced and the stress of travel, we were all happy to enjoy each others company and we ate a delicious lunch prepared by Sister Kelly.

The conference was great and we had some great discussions regarding the work and things we need to do to improve the zones. President leaves a little bit of time at the end to ask questions about anything we want (it is titled 'trunk talk') that usually involves deep doctrine and marriage, and other after mission subjects. The funniest one I heard was a missionary who asked if there was something different we needed to do for the 21st of this month. President was very confused and asked, "Is that that Mayan calender thing?" The way he said it was hilarious and you have to know Pres and his sense of humor! It was a much needed conference and we found out that there will be a general authority that will visit our mission in January! I can't wait to find out who it will be!

Our zone conference will be next week on Tuesday so we have a lot to do to get prepared. 

We returned to Siracusa doing the exact same trip we made before that took up nearly the whole day. The best part about traveling though was meeting and talking to people. I find such great pleasure in talking and meeting new people as we go around. One of the ladies I talked to while going to Catania became a new investigator on Monday! She, Gabriella, was very interested in the Church and she is really searching the truth as she goes and researches other churches. Her faith in Christ has grown exponentially throughout the past couple of years because of the help and comfort she's received while her twelve year old son was found to have a brain tumor. Now everything is well, but hearing her recount her experiences and love of God as she was in tears was very touching. She said she looks forward to coming to church!

I'm out of time but that's basically the sum up of the week! Things are going great and I can't wait to soak up yet another Christmas in Italy. I know it will be a fantastic experience! I love you all so much! I love you Dad, I love you Mom, I love you Morgan, I love you Brooke, I love you Heather, and I love you Greg. Have a great week and stay safe and strong! Che Dio vi benedica! Vi voglio tanto bene. Un abbraccio forte!

Anziano Clay Lacey