"His words shall not fail you, He promised"

I honestly have no idea what to write about this week. We did so much and it went by so fast, that it's all a blurr. Which is honestly GREAT because it means we were busy!! We had zone conference this week, which is always fun. Anything different from the normal routine is always a nice change. Thursday was our in-person one and was such a great day, mainly because we left our apartment at 11 am and didn't come home till 8:30 pm, lol. That afternoon we helped out with a "faith walk" for a youth conference. Let me tell you, that did NOT make me miss youth conference. It did make me wish I had a bit of a better attitude about it at the time though, haha. Those kids just weren't matching our hype about being prayerful. But it's crazy how I could seriously feel God's love for them, even though I had no clue who they were. Remember that time 3 months ago when I accidentally ate peanuts??? Well that was in Los Lunas when I was on exchanges. So Thursday night we got fed by the family who accidentally gave me them... yikes. Luckily I don't think they remembered, but this time I made sure to let them know that was a no go for me. Friday afternoon was our weekly date with Trinity and Betty Jo. Hopefully y'all aren't sick of them yet, haha. So I was trying to mop and they both just kept walking all over the place. I had a bucket all ready with hot water and bleach, and then Trinity comes over and pours like a gallon of all-purpose cleaner in. Well on top of that, after a few minutes I look up to see her filling a spray bottle with cleaning solution. She starts spraying that stuff all over the place like a mad woman! In all the corners and tough spots, ooo-ing and ahh-ing over how much cleaner everything looked, so proud of her creativity. Trinity loves to get our validation, so I just kept hearing "Look, Lacey -- What do you think, Lacey? -- You think I've found the perfect solution, Lacey?!" I've learned to just smile and nod. They also had us pull mounds of weeds and I swear my eyelids were sweating, it was so hot. Also, exciting stuff!! We had 3 of our friends come to church on Sunday!! We were so freaking pumped. The whole time we've been here, we've tried so hard to invite everyone, but people just weren't coming. Well, then Sunday we walked into the chapel from a meeting and there were our cute friends Sandra and Andrew, smiling bright, 30 minutes early! Legit they were the first people to show up. Even better, two of our cutest new young couples in the ward BOTH sat with them. Then our awesome friend, Duane, came too! He is a legend. He has long grey hair, 3 piercings in each ear, and carries the coolest walking stick he made himself. He's like 75% blind and is always baking. I love that guy. We got attacked by mosquitoes last night. It was hilarious watching Hermana Babcock swatting them away as she tried to back me out. I just sat laughing at her. But I got it too - gotta love those bug bites on my face that look like ginormous zits. Freaking bugs. My spiritual thought for the week is kinda long, so I hope you will bear with me. As I read this quote from Elder Jeffrey Holland I'm about to share with you, I felt prompted to include it in my weekly letter. So hopefully that means someone out there needs to hear it! As for a little background, Elder Holland is referring to when Hyrum and Joseph Smith were in Liberty Jail, where they found peace in reading from the Book of Mormon, even though they knew they were about to die ...

"Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be “houseless, friendless and homeless” and that their children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will die and other legions live declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know the Book of Mormon and the Church which espouses it to be true. Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour of death these two men would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which, if not the very word of God, would brand them as imposters and charlatans until the end of time? They would not do that! They were willing to die rather than deny the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon." This hit me. The more I read the Book of Mormon, the more my testimony of its truthfulness grows. When I read this, it made perfect sense to me. Seriously, why would Joseph Smith die for a book he just made up! I can tell you I wouldn't die for anything I've ever written. It's because that book is the truest book. But the only way you can know that is if you read it. This week we were talking to the sister of one of our ward members, Shay, and she was telling us about how her time in the church has been a journey. She's struggled a lot, but finally has come to the realization that she just wants to be able to focus on Christ. She decided last year to read the Book of Mormon for the first time, and has grown so much because of it. This really showed me that its never too late to pick up the Book of Mormon and just read it. If you are struggling, just go back to the basics. Shay told us that's exactly what she has had to do, and just focus on what she does know to be true, rather than what she doesn't understand or agree with. I really admired her for her faith. Shay's experience reminds me of the song Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus, by Lauren Daigle, which is where our song lyric for this week comes from.

"His words shall not fail you, He promised

Believe Him and all will be well

Then go to a world that is dying

His perfect salvation to tell

Oh turn your eyes upon Jesus

Look full in His wonderful face

Oh, and the things of Earth will grow strangely dim

In the light of His glory and grace." Anyway, kind of a random, all over the place letter this week, sorry about that. But remember the great things the Lord has done for you! I just finished 1 Nephi in the Book of Mormon and that is his constant reminder for us -- remember the great things. We can't forget those spiritual defining moments, reminding us that we are loved and the Savior, Jesus Christ, is looking out for us. Don't forget that Jesus loves you, Sister Wallace 1. Cool wall in downtown ABQ today (Monday) 2. Another cool wall 3. A frog the elders brought to us the other night 4. My home is so pretty