Stacie's email October 5, 2015

Dear family,

I'm grateful for the guidance the Lord always gives us, whether it's in the form of scriptures, prayer, dreams, thoughts, feelings, church leaders, family members, or random strangers... God does communicate with us. I'm also grateful for opportunities I have on my mission to be an answered prayer for someone else. 

This week we were introduced to the Acosta family. They just arrived from Mexico with literally nothing but the clothes on their backs. They have small children and came to America desperate for a place to stay and food to eat. It was amazing for me to see the action from the members in providing shelter, food, clothes, hygiene supplies, and even toys for the baby. Hermana Child and I had the privilege this week of stopping by their house often to provide some spiritual encouragement and hope. It would be hard for me to describe the look in her eyes as I saw the Book of Mormon coming alive to her. We shared with her a verse, and she asked, "Can we read more?" So we read....a lot! She just kept going, kept turning the pages one after the other, and she just couldn't get enough! We had to stop her when it was time for us to go, but it was just so amazing to see someone hunger and thirst for the Gospel the way that she did. What a blessing it was to witness her being changed by the word of God right in front of my eyes! Oh and they stayed for all 4 sessions of conference with a 2 year old....that kind of dedication was really impressive too! 

On Thursday, my Mission President's wife came with us to a few appointments. She's learning Spanish too, so it was fun to take her to see some of our investigators and hear her bear her powerful testimony in broken Spanish. Her enthusiasm for missionary work was really impressive and encouraging to both me and my companion. She also came and helped us do some weekly planning. We are so grateful for the constructive counsel that we received from her. We feel a better sense of how to make goals and be more goal-oriented in the work. 

On top of that, we were able to do a bit of family history work! What a wonderful week! 

I hope you were all able to listen to and enjoy the new counsel we received from our church leaders this weekend! Let's put some of the things we learned into practice this week! 

Love, Hermana Townley