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Dear everyone,
It was wonderful to get to talk to all of the family yesterday. I'm super
excited to see you next week. Can you believe that? 18 months is up. Just like
that. Weird.
So for those of you not on the phone call, I'll give you a brief update of
the week. Stormy, our 15 year old investigator who was supposed to be baptized
on Saturday, spent most of this last week with her Grandma. While she was
there, the grandma, and uncles and aunts did a pretty good job of persuading her
not to get baptized, so she called us on Tuesday and told us that she wasn't
comfortable, and that she didn't really want to meet with us anymore. It was
really frustrating. I was pretty upset for a while. The agency of some people
really drives me crazy! Some day it'll come around to them. And I know that
Stormy will eventually get baptized. The other news we have is good. Our other
investigator, Brother Hamner, the one with the language issue, (I hope I told
you about that...) told us this last week that, after 40 years of investigating
the church, he's willing to be baptized. He won't set a date, but he asked us
to meet with him every day. he seems to be in a rush. Which I'm hoping means
that he's secretly planning on getting baptized on Saturday. that would be
pretty cool. If not, he'll be baptized soon after he I leave. He's progressing
soooo fast. It's amazing.
That pretty much sums it up for the news this week. This is my last real
P-day, so this is it, I guess.
The last 18 months have been amazing. And wonderful. And hard. And
incredible. And life changing. There's no way to really describe what I'm
feeling about this finally being over. I've learned so much about the
importance of the gospel, and the plan of salvation, and the Savior's role in
that Plan. I especially have an understanding of the Savior's role in my life.
I understand the Atonement as it applies to me. Not just as it applies to my
sins, but also as it applies to my life: the joy and sorrow as well as the sins
and forgiveness. It's something I don't think I could have learned as well or
as fast if I hadn't done this. My mission was a chance for me to share the
gospel, yes. But also a chance for me to know my savior in a way I never could
have if I hadn't come. And I know that most people go on their missions when
they're younger. But if I'd gone when I was 21, I wouldn't have been ready for
this. I have no regrets about why I'm here, when I came, or what I've done
here. I've worked hard. Taught hard. Cried hard. Prayed hard. And I've
learned who I am. I know that I still have much to learn. And a lot to
experience. Lots of good stuff and lots of hard stuff still. But, because of
my experiences on my mission, I know that I can make it through anything,
because I already have, and the Savior will be there with me through all of it,
because He already has.
I KNOW the gospel is true.
~Sister Reid
Monday, December 26, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Dec. 19, 2011
Hello everyone.
This week was great, and also not great. :)
We started out the week by visiting a ton of less actives in our ward.
We're trying to meet as many of them as we can, especially the families that
have non members in them. Tuesday we got A LOT of rejection. And it was
tough. It's always tough when people say no. But it's especially hard when you
get rejected by people who were once active members of the church. And when
they're rude, it just makes it that much harder. So Tuesday was a sad day for
us. And then Tuesday night I got a wammy of a head cold that kind of just came
on so fast. So Wednesday we stayed home and I slept for most of the day. It
was way nice, and it helped speed my recovery, I'm sure, because I was almost
completely better by friday. So Thursday and Friday we went out to work and had
a few great lessons with Stormy, Denise, and Rick. All of them are progressing
really well. Stormy is still moving towards getting baptized on the 31st, which
is awesome. We're planning on having Denise be ready for baptism in early
February, and Rick should be ready some time after that. He's dragging his
feet. He knows he needs to be baptized, and he knows it will happen, he's just
having a rough time committing to it. So we're continuing to work with him, and
he should be all set soon. :)
Saturday was the best day of my mission, maybe. I got to attend the temple
with Hieu Ngynn. She was one of my converts in Antelope, my first area. It was
like the perfect book end for my mission. I got to see Hieu making eternal
covenants that will help her enter the celestial kingdom. It was awesome. I
hope that I get to do it again - many more times. It'll be of course after I go
home, but I'll just have to deal with that, I guess. Lots of road trips to
northern cali! I'll be looking for navigators, if anyone wants to sign up?
:)
So this is the second to last email that I'll send from my mission... I
don't have time today to tell you everything that I want to, but next week, look
for something epic. :)
I sure love you all. I'm so grateful for every prayer, thought, letter,
and package I've received. You're all the best! I can't wait to talk to you in
person again! It's going to be so great!
Love, Sister Reid
This week was great, and also not great. :)
We started out the week by visiting a ton of less actives in our ward.
We're trying to meet as many of them as we can, especially the families that
have non members in them. Tuesday we got A LOT of rejection. And it was
tough. It's always tough when people say no. But it's especially hard when you
get rejected by people who were once active members of the church. And when
they're rude, it just makes it that much harder. So Tuesday was a sad day for
us. And then Tuesday night I got a wammy of a head cold that kind of just came
on so fast. So Wednesday we stayed home and I slept for most of the day. It
was way nice, and it helped speed my recovery, I'm sure, because I was almost
completely better by friday. So Thursday and Friday we went out to work and had
a few great lessons with Stormy, Denise, and Rick. All of them are progressing
really well. Stormy is still moving towards getting baptized on the 31st, which
is awesome. We're planning on having Denise be ready for baptism in early
February, and Rick should be ready some time after that. He's dragging his
feet. He knows he needs to be baptized, and he knows it will happen, he's just
having a rough time committing to it. So we're continuing to work with him, and
he should be all set soon. :)
Saturday was the best day of my mission, maybe. I got to attend the temple
with Hieu Ngynn. She was one of my converts in Antelope, my first area. It was
like the perfect book end for my mission. I got to see Hieu making eternal
covenants that will help her enter the celestial kingdom. It was awesome. I
hope that I get to do it again - many more times. It'll be of course after I go
home, but I'll just have to deal with that, I guess. Lots of road trips to
northern cali! I'll be looking for navigators, if anyone wants to sign up?
:)
So this is the second to last email that I'll send from my mission... I
don't have time today to tell you everything that I want to, but next week, look
for something epic. :)
I sure love you all. I'm so grateful for every prayer, thought, letter,
and package I've received. You're all the best! I can't wait to talk to you in
person again! It's going to be so great!
Love, Sister Reid
Dec. 12, 2011
Hiya! I hope you all had a fantastic week! Because I sure did. We did a
lot of work this week, although not much to show for it. We spent most of the
week trying to get to know more of the ward. We did a lot of service, which,
around here, means that the elders split a lot of wood. Everyone has
woodburning stoves and that's how they heat their houses. Most people won't let
Sister Tubbs and I near an axe... So we rake the leaves instead. Which there a
A LOT of them. With oak and cherry and pine trees EVERYWHERE, there's a lot of
raking to do. So we spent many hours this week doing that. It was a good
thing, though, because almost everyone we raked leaves for came to church. So
it was a succesful way to spend our time. We'll probably be doing much of the
same for the next several weeks... until it snows, that is. :)
We had a great success story with our youngest investigator, Stormy. I
don't remember how much I told you about her. Her entire family was baptized a
few months ago, except her, because she wasn't living with them at the time.
She's fifteen. We met with the family to get to know them, and the mom asked us
to spend some time with Stormy now that she's moved back home. She thought that
Stormy might bond better with us than with the Elders. So we did two weeks ago,
and picked her up as an investigator. We've met with her several times this
last week and on Tuesday, when we taught her the Plan of Salvation, we also
committed her to be baptized on December 31st, and she said yes! So one more
time, I get to participate in a baptism! Yay!
One other really interesting thing happened this week. I got a call from
President Weston on Friday night, informing me that one of my first converts,
Hieu Ngyn (pronounced Hew Winn), is going through the temple to recieve her
endowments. And she wants me to come. President asked me a few questions about
what we have planned that day, and then gave me permission to go. So this
saturday, I get to go to the temple to be there when one of my converts goes
through the temple. YAY!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! It'll be a
super special occasion that I'll never forget, and I'm looking forward to being
able to tell you all about it next week.
That's pretty much it for this week. Just gearing up for christmas. We
have one week left of real work, and then it's the week of christmas, which is
pretty hard to work in, if I remember right from last year. Plus, next week, we
have Santa Run, and then Christmas Eve, and then the week after that is New
Year's Eve and then New Year's and then I'm coming home. We're super close!!!
So crazy!
Anyways, I've got to go! I love you all. I can't wait to talk to you next
week! YIKES!!!
Love, Sister Reid
lot of work this week, although not much to show for it. We spent most of the
week trying to get to know more of the ward. We did a lot of service, which,
around here, means that the elders split a lot of wood. Everyone has
woodburning stoves and that's how they heat their houses. Most people won't let
Sister Tubbs and I near an axe... So we rake the leaves instead. Which there a
A LOT of them. With oak and cherry and pine trees EVERYWHERE, there's a lot of
raking to do. So we spent many hours this week doing that. It was a good
thing, though, because almost everyone we raked leaves for came to church. So
it was a succesful way to spend our time. We'll probably be doing much of the
same for the next several weeks... until it snows, that is. :)
We had a great success story with our youngest investigator, Stormy. I
don't remember how much I told you about her. Her entire family was baptized a
few months ago, except her, because she wasn't living with them at the time.
She's fifteen. We met with the family to get to know them, and the mom asked us
to spend some time with Stormy now that she's moved back home. She thought that
Stormy might bond better with us than with the Elders. So we did two weeks ago,
and picked her up as an investigator. We've met with her several times this
last week and on Tuesday, when we taught her the Plan of Salvation, we also
committed her to be baptized on December 31st, and she said yes! So one more
time, I get to participate in a baptism! Yay!
One other really interesting thing happened this week. I got a call from
President Weston on Friday night, informing me that one of my first converts,
Hieu Ngyn (pronounced Hew Winn), is going through the temple to recieve her
endowments. And she wants me to come. President asked me a few questions about
what we have planned that day, and then gave me permission to go. So this
saturday, I get to go to the temple to be there when one of my converts goes
through the temple. YAY!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! It'll be a
super special occasion that I'll never forget, and I'm looking forward to being
able to tell you all about it next week.
That's pretty much it for this week. Just gearing up for christmas. We
have one week left of real work, and then it's the week of christmas, which is
pretty hard to work in, if I remember right from last year. Plus, next week, we
have Santa Run, and then Christmas Eve, and then the week after that is New
Year's Eve and then New Year's and then I'm coming home. We're super close!!!
So crazy!
Anyways, I've got to go! I love you all. I can't wait to talk to you next
week! YIKES!!!
Love, Sister Reid
Dec 5, 2011
Hello everybody! I hope you had a splendid week. Mine was pretty good. Not
much to complain about really. We had a few canceled appointments, and some
setbacks with a few of our investigators, but we also had some pretty good
success too. We were able to pick up three new investigators this last weekend,
which was way fun. It started on Friday with some service. The elders have
been doing service for a woman named Denise for months. We finally asked her on
friday how she met the church and what she knew about it. She opened up and
told us how much she loves the church and how much she likes what we teach. She
said that she'd even attended sacrament meeting a few times. So we asked her if
she'd ever met with missionaries before. When she said no, we asked her if
she'd like to meet with us and she got really excited about that. So we have an
appointment with her on Wednesday. We're really excited to see where this one
goes. :)
We also met with a part member recent convert family. The whole family
were all baptized a few months ago except the 15 year old daughter, Stormy. She
wasn't living with the family at the time. So we invited her to take the
lessons and she is really prepared and ready. She came to church yesterday and
really liked it. So things should progress pretty quickly with Stormy.
We also picked up an older man named Rick. His wife is an active member,
and Rick attends church with her fairly regularly. He knows that he needs to be
baptized, he just has been ready to make the commitment yet. But when he called
us and asked us for an appointment, we got pretty excited. At the actual
lesson, we talked a lot about faith and prayer. Rick had a pretty major stroke
about a year ago, so communicating with him is kind of hard. About 25% of the
words that he says, mostly nouns and verbs, are complete gibberish. But it
makes the lessons interesting. :)
That's pretty much it for the news of this week. Except that on Friday, in
the mail, I received my trunky papers... It's a packet of information about
going home, which is why it's called trunky papers, because they make you
trunky. There's lots of questions about goals and what your plans are after the
mission, that you're supposed to fill out and bring with you to your final
interview with the president. And it included my plane ticket. Yikes. My
mission is almost over! So crazy!
Anyway. That's about it for me. I can't wait till next week so I can hear
from all of you! Love you!!
~Sister Reid
much to complain about really. We had a few canceled appointments, and some
setbacks with a few of our investigators, but we also had some pretty good
success too. We were able to pick up three new investigators this last weekend,
which was way fun. It started on Friday with some service. The elders have
been doing service for a woman named Denise for months. We finally asked her on
friday how she met the church and what she knew about it. She opened up and
told us how much she loves the church and how much she likes what we teach. She
said that she'd even attended sacrament meeting a few times. So we asked her if
she'd ever met with missionaries before. When she said no, we asked her if
she'd like to meet with us and she got really excited about that. So we have an
appointment with her on Wednesday. We're really excited to see where this one
goes. :)
We also met with a part member recent convert family. The whole family
were all baptized a few months ago except the 15 year old daughter, Stormy. She
wasn't living with the family at the time. So we invited her to take the
lessons and she is really prepared and ready. She came to church yesterday and
really liked it. So things should progress pretty quickly with Stormy.
We also picked up an older man named Rick. His wife is an active member,
and Rick attends church with her fairly regularly. He knows that he needs to be
baptized, he just has been ready to make the commitment yet. But when he called
us and asked us for an appointment, we got pretty excited. At the actual
lesson, we talked a lot about faith and prayer. Rick had a pretty major stroke
about a year ago, so communicating with him is kind of hard. About 25% of the
words that he says, mostly nouns and verbs, are complete gibberish. But it
makes the lessons interesting. :)
That's pretty much it for the news of this week. Except that on Friday, in
the mail, I received my trunky papers... It's a packet of information about
going home, which is why it's called trunky papers, because they make you
trunky. There's lots of questions about goals and what your plans are after the
mission, that you're supposed to fill out and bring with you to your final
interview with the president. And it included my plane ticket. Yikes. My
mission is almost over! So crazy!
Anyway. That's about it for me. I can't wait till next week so I can hear
from all of you! Love you!!
~Sister Reid
Nov 28, 2011
Happy Thanksgiving! Okay, so I'm a little late. But I hope that you all
had a great weekend. Mine was pretty awesome. My new companion, Sister Tubbs,
and I moved up to Paradise on Tuesday afternoon. We met all the other sisters
that were transfering up to the north just before we left. It was really cool
because all of my ex-comps that are still in the mission were there. It was way
fun to see them all before we moved up to Paradise.
Originally, we were supposed to be living in the same apartment as the
Elders had been, but the missionaries realized that the house where they lived
was owned and shared by a single man. So on Monday night they did a lot of
scrambling. The district leader and his companion moved out of their house and
into the place where we were supposed to be. We took over the district leader's
place for a week and a half, until our new apartment is ready. So we've been
staying with a wonderful couple named the Reeves. The house is beautiful, just
like all of Paradise. And the room where we stay has two queen size beds. It's
pretty awesome. We love it a lot, and we'll be sad to move on Thursday. We'll
be moving in with a member of the stake presidency and his wife. We haven't met
them yet, because they live in a different ward, but it's not far from our ward
boundaries, so it should be cool. We heard that they're really excited to have
us living with them.
Now, as for the area itself. It's a beautiful little town, population
about 22,000. It's way up in the mountains, so there's lots of hills and curves
in the streets. The area is COVERED in TALLLLL pine trees. It honestly feels
like a really huge campground, except that instead of tents, it's million dollar
homes. And also lots of RV parks. :) There's no wallmart, but there is a
McDonalds and a Taco Bell. So we're not too far outside of civilazation. The
members are really cool, although they're mostly older. We do have a few
younger families in the ward. I think the Primary has 15 or so kids. We cover
about 1/3rd of Paradise and 1/2 of an even smaller town further north called
Magalia. Our district is part of the Chico zone, which is the big city about 30
minutes west of us. I feel like I'm back in Colusa, kind of. A small town in
the middle of nowhere, but this time, there are other missonaries around, so
things are better here. Plus the members are excited to do missionary work.
:)
It was tough to do much work over the holiday weekend becuase so many
people were out of town, or they were here with tons of extra family around.
But we've met three of the investigators so far. One family, the Leroys, are
really ready. The mom is a reactivating member, and the dad, Chad, is the one
we're teaching. They have 3 kids, Riley who is nine, Malachi who is six, and
Lorelei who is 3. They're a way sweet family. Chad has been meeting with
missionaries for a few months now. He was really skeptical about having
sisters, but he warmed up to us right away. He's really close to committing to
being baptized, and when he does, so will his son Riley. The other investigator
we met is named Amanda. We didn't really get a chance to talk to her much, but
she's excited to be taught by sisters. The notes that elders left us said that
she was pretty close to committing too. So we're excited for all of that.
Most of this last week has been filled with trying to get everything
settled. But we did manage to visit a few of the members and set up some
appointments for the coming week. We have some excellent prospects of picking
up some new investigators who are part member families, and we have a lot of
people to visit that ward council has asked us to see this week. So it's going
to be great. I'm way excited to be here.
That's pretty much it for me. I can't wait to hear from all of you next
week. :)
Love, Sister Reid
had a great weekend. Mine was pretty awesome. My new companion, Sister Tubbs,
and I moved up to Paradise on Tuesday afternoon. We met all the other sisters
that were transfering up to the north just before we left. It was really cool
because all of my ex-comps that are still in the mission were there. It was way
fun to see them all before we moved up to Paradise.
Originally, we were supposed to be living in the same apartment as the
Elders had been, but the missionaries realized that the house where they lived
was owned and shared by a single man. So on Monday night they did a lot of
scrambling. The district leader and his companion moved out of their house and
into the place where we were supposed to be. We took over the district leader's
place for a week and a half, until our new apartment is ready. So we've been
staying with a wonderful couple named the Reeves. The house is beautiful, just
like all of Paradise. And the room where we stay has two queen size beds. It's
pretty awesome. We love it a lot, and we'll be sad to move on Thursday. We'll
be moving in with a member of the stake presidency and his wife. We haven't met
them yet, because they live in a different ward, but it's not far from our ward
boundaries, so it should be cool. We heard that they're really excited to have
us living with them.
Now, as for the area itself. It's a beautiful little town, population
about 22,000. It's way up in the mountains, so there's lots of hills and curves
in the streets. The area is COVERED in TALLLLL pine trees. It honestly feels
like a really huge campground, except that instead of tents, it's million dollar
homes. And also lots of RV parks. :) There's no wallmart, but there is a
McDonalds and a Taco Bell. So we're not too far outside of civilazation. The
members are really cool, although they're mostly older. We do have a few
younger families in the ward. I think the Primary has 15 or so kids. We cover
about 1/3rd of Paradise and 1/2 of an even smaller town further north called
Magalia. Our district is part of the Chico zone, which is the big city about 30
minutes west of us. I feel like I'm back in Colusa, kind of. A small town in
the middle of nowhere, but this time, there are other missonaries around, so
things are better here. Plus the members are excited to do missionary work.
:)
It was tough to do much work over the holiday weekend becuase so many
people were out of town, or they were here with tons of extra family around.
But we've met three of the investigators so far. One family, the Leroys, are
really ready. The mom is a reactivating member, and the dad, Chad, is the one
we're teaching. They have 3 kids, Riley who is nine, Malachi who is six, and
Lorelei who is 3. They're a way sweet family. Chad has been meeting with
missionaries for a few months now. He was really skeptical about having
sisters, but he warmed up to us right away. He's really close to committing to
being baptized, and when he does, so will his son Riley. The other investigator
we met is named Amanda. We didn't really get a chance to talk to her much, but
she's excited to be taught by sisters. The notes that elders left us said that
she was pretty close to committing too. So we're excited for all of that.
Most of this last week has been filled with trying to get everything
settled. But we did manage to visit a few of the members and set up some
appointments for the coming week. We have some excellent prospects of picking
up some new investigators who are part member families, and we have a lot of
people to visit that ward council has asked us to see this week. So it's going
to be great. I'm way excited to be here.
That's pretty much it for me. I can't wait to hear from all of you next
week. :)
Love, Sister Reid
Nov 21, 2011
So... not a lot to report, which is good because I don't have much time.
The work this week was as usual, so I'll just give the exciting news.
Transfer calls came in on Saturday night. I'l moving out of Yuba City.
I'll be moving up to a small town called Paradise. That's right. I'll finish
my mission, and have christmas, in Paradise. Pretty cool. There are several
things about the move that I'm excited about. First, I'm shotgunning it. Which
is WAY fun. And my new companion is Sister Tubbs. She's been out a year and
she's been here in Yuba for the last 3 months. We get along REALLY well. It
really is going to be the best last 6 weeks ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, ALL of
my friends who are sisters missionaries are also moving up to the northern area
of the mission. Every single ex-companion will be here, which means that when
we have Christmas with the other missionaries (the 22nd) than I'll be there with
ALL of my sisters! I'm so excited. I feel like the Lord has finally pulled
through and is blessing/rewarding me for the tough stuff I've had to deal with.
I'm soooo excited!!!
Really there aren't any more words to describe how happy this makes me.
:)
I was struggling a lot with how hard things have been for me in my
companionships and with the work lately. I was really praying that with
transfers, that at least once in my mission, I wouldn't have to work so hard at
teaching my companion, and that we could really just fly fast and hard together,
without all the learning curve stuff. And prayers were answered. The lord has
been aware of my struggles and worries. He's been watching out for me. And
it's going to be the best transfer of my mission. YAY!!!
Love you, and I'll tell you all about my new area next week!
Love, Sister Reid
The work this week was as usual, so I'll just give the exciting news.
Transfer calls came in on Saturday night. I'l moving out of Yuba City.
I'll be moving up to a small town called Paradise. That's right. I'll finish
my mission, and have christmas, in Paradise. Pretty cool. There are several
things about the move that I'm excited about. First, I'm shotgunning it. Which
is WAY fun. And my new companion is Sister Tubbs. She's been out a year and
she's been here in Yuba for the last 3 months. We get along REALLY well. It
really is going to be the best last 6 weeks ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also, ALL of
my friends who are sisters missionaries are also moving up to the northern area
of the mission. Every single ex-companion will be here, which means that when
we have Christmas with the other missionaries (the 22nd) than I'll be there with
ALL of my sisters! I'm so excited. I feel like the Lord has finally pulled
through and is blessing/rewarding me for the tough stuff I've had to deal with.
I'm soooo excited!!!
Really there aren't any more words to describe how happy this makes me.
:)
I was struggling a lot with how hard things have been for me in my
companionships and with the work lately. I was really praying that with
transfers, that at least once in my mission, I wouldn't have to work so hard at
teaching my companion, and that we could really just fly fast and hard together,
without all the learning curve stuff. And prayers were answered. The lord has
been aware of my struggles and worries. He's been watching out for me. And
it's going to be the best transfer of my mission. YAY!!!
Love you, and I'll tell you all about my new area next week!
Love, Sister Reid
Nov 14, 2011
an you believe that it's mid november? Not me. Time is a paradox on the
mission. It moves so fast that I can hardly breath, but at the same time, it
crawls so slowly that sometimes I feel like I live in the same moment for
lifetimes. It's weird. One of the other elders told me yesterday exactly how
many days I have left. It's not many. That reminder, coupled with the chance
that I had to give my departing testimony at zone conference this last week has
pushed me into this weird phase of my mission. I'm still here, and working
hard, and staying focused. But at the same time, I'm also starting to look
forward to the future. Something I haven't thought of for a very long time.
It's a weird feeling. I'm sure that this doesn't make any sense, but there just
aren't words to talk about it, I guess. Sorry. :)
So I'll just tell you about my week instead. It was a tough one, as far as
the work goes. We had some setbacks with a few of our investigators which are
kind of hard to deal with, especially since they are the ones that are the
closest to baptism. I'll start with Sella. She was supposed to be baptized
yesterday... but at the suggestion of President Alston (a member of the mission
presidency who interviewed her), Sella's baptism has been postponed till at
least the 27th. :( Sella was pretty upset about it. So are we, really, but
President Alston knows best, so we'll work towards the new date with her. She's
still filled with the desire to be baptized, but it's been a long weekend,
trying to deal with the fallout of postponing the date. We're hoping that she
takes this not as a setback, but as a chance to show her continued commitment to
the gospel.
If that wasn't enough to kill a weekend, then hearing that our next best
investigator, who was supposed to be baptized on the 4th of December, wasn't
able to get her parent's permission to be baptized. Her name is Sarah. She's
16, and she's very committed to the church. She loves what we teach, and even
gives up two of her lunch periods at school every week in order to meet with
us. The problem is that she and her mom don't get along at all. So her mom
wasn't willing to sign her permission to get baptized. And she's not willing to
meet with us so that she can understand what her daughter is learning. It's
sad. So we'll keep working with Sarah, and helping her to remain committed to
the things that she's learning, but she probably won't be baptized for a couple
of years. :(
Not to worry, though. In exchange for the bad news, we did pick up two new
investigators this week. The first is a guy named Kyle. The elders in a
different ward have actually been teaching him for a couple of months. But Kyle
lives in our ward. They finally decided to let us know about him, especially
since he'll be getting baptized on Saturday. We're scrambling to build a
relationship with him and the ward so that he'll be comfortable here. But the
elders haven't made it easy by teaching him for so long. So we're working hard
there. The other investigator, Judy, we've only met with once. Time will tell
with her. :)
The only other thing I have to report is that I gave my final testimony in
zone conference this week. It was hard. It's something that you think about
for your entire mission, and then the moment arrives and you have no idea what
to say. I talked about how my mission was less about teaching investigators,
and more about teaching missionaries. I shared some of my favorite teaching
experiences, and about how, before my mission, I knew the church was true. But
I didn't understand how the atonement could be a part of me. Because of my
mission, I KNOW that the atonement is more than just how we're forgiven of our
sins. It's also how we know the Savior, and how He knows us.
Anyway. That's about all that I have to say for this week. I can't wait
till next week when I can tell you all about the next/last step of my
mission!
Love, Me
mission. It moves so fast that I can hardly breath, but at the same time, it
crawls so slowly that sometimes I feel like I live in the same moment for
lifetimes. It's weird. One of the other elders told me yesterday exactly how
many days I have left. It's not many. That reminder, coupled with the chance
that I had to give my departing testimony at zone conference this last week has
pushed me into this weird phase of my mission. I'm still here, and working
hard, and staying focused. But at the same time, I'm also starting to look
forward to the future. Something I haven't thought of for a very long time.
It's a weird feeling. I'm sure that this doesn't make any sense, but there just
aren't words to talk about it, I guess. Sorry. :)
So I'll just tell you about my week instead. It was a tough one, as far as
the work goes. We had some setbacks with a few of our investigators which are
kind of hard to deal with, especially since they are the ones that are the
closest to baptism. I'll start with Sella. She was supposed to be baptized
yesterday... but at the suggestion of President Alston (a member of the mission
presidency who interviewed her), Sella's baptism has been postponed till at
least the 27th. :( Sella was pretty upset about it. So are we, really, but
President Alston knows best, so we'll work towards the new date with her. She's
still filled with the desire to be baptized, but it's been a long weekend,
trying to deal with the fallout of postponing the date. We're hoping that she
takes this not as a setback, but as a chance to show her continued commitment to
the gospel.
If that wasn't enough to kill a weekend, then hearing that our next best
investigator, who was supposed to be baptized on the 4th of December, wasn't
able to get her parent's permission to be baptized. Her name is Sarah. She's
16, and she's very committed to the church. She loves what we teach, and even
gives up two of her lunch periods at school every week in order to meet with
us. The problem is that she and her mom don't get along at all. So her mom
wasn't willing to sign her permission to get baptized. And she's not willing to
meet with us so that she can understand what her daughter is learning. It's
sad. So we'll keep working with Sarah, and helping her to remain committed to
the things that she's learning, but she probably won't be baptized for a couple
of years. :(
Not to worry, though. In exchange for the bad news, we did pick up two new
investigators this week. The first is a guy named Kyle. The elders in a
different ward have actually been teaching him for a couple of months. But Kyle
lives in our ward. They finally decided to let us know about him, especially
since he'll be getting baptized on Saturday. We're scrambling to build a
relationship with him and the ward so that he'll be comfortable here. But the
elders haven't made it easy by teaching him for so long. So we're working hard
there. The other investigator, Judy, we've only met with once. Time will tell
with her. :)
The only other thing I have to report is that I gave my final testimony in
zone conference this week. It was hard. It's something that you think about
for your entire mission, and then the moment arrives and you have no idea what
to say. I talked about how my mission was less about teaching investigators,
and more about teaching missionaries. I shared some of my favorite teaching
experiences, and about how, before my mission, I knew the church was true. But
I didn't understand how the atonement could be a part of me. Because of my
mission, I KNOW that the atonement is more than just how we're forgiven of our
sins. It's also how we know the Savior, and how He knows us.
Anyway. That's about all that I have to say for this week. I can't wait
till next week when I can tell you all about the next/last step of my
mission!
Love, Me
Oct. 24, 2011
Yello everyone! Our week here was pretty awesome. We had lots of canceled
appointments, but we're not letting that get us down. :)
We started out the week with exchanges. I spent Tuesday with Sister
Tubbs. She's the other senior companion in our zone. She's awesome, and I love
teaching with her. She reminds me of how cool it can be when both missionaries
have the confidence to teach together. Something I've missed out on for most of
my mission owing to the fact that I've served mostly with brand new missionaries
who don't have the confidence to speak up. So it was really fun. On Wednesday,
we met with our newest investigator, Sella. It was an interesting lesson
because when we got there, Sella informed us (by signing and writing notes to
us) that she'd taken a week long vow of silence. I was never able to figure out
what the purpose of it was. She's very genuine in her quest for the truth, and
she absolutely knows that this is the right church. We'll see when we meet her
this week what it was all about. She's still on for getting baptized in
November, so we're working towards that. :)
Veronica is officially smoke-free. She's been free of smoking for 10 days
now. She's loving church and so is her sister, Sophia, who is a less active
member. Teaching the two of them has been lots of fun. And I'm so excited for
her to get baptized on Sunday. Her baptismal interview is Thursday night. So
keep your fingers crossed!
The other highlight of this last week was that I got to do exchanges with
the one of the other sisters in the zone just north of ours. I spent all day
saturday with Sister Hurtado. It was so much fun! She's changed and grown so
much in the 8 short weeks since we served together. Her language skills have
really just skyrocketed. We were able to grow closer as friends in 24 hours
than we did in 12 weeks together. Amazing how much communication plays a part
in our relationships with people. :)
This coming week is going to be awesome. We have a packed week scheduled.
With Veronica getting baptized on Sunday, we're busily prepping for that. Also,
we have a ton of lessons scheduled, and two exchanges. Plus, the ward's big
halloween activity is going to be this Saturday night, and we're looking forward
to meeting all the non-members that the members have promised to bring. It's
going to be a good week.
I want all of you to know that I love what I'm doing. The people here are
amazing and I love being so close to the spirit that it directs my every word,
sometimes. It's amazing. Being told what to do and say by the Lord is an
incredible feeling, and I know that I couldn't have gotten this far, in terms of
my relationship with Heavenly Father, without having served a mission. Maybe by
the time I was 80 I could have done it, but this is much faster. :) It's made
it worth it, even though missionary life is really hard.
I love all of you. I'm writing lots of letters this week, so if you've
written me in the last 3 months, you'll be getting a response this week, I
promise. Sorry it's taken so long... I've made a commitment and a goal to
never get behind in my correspondence again.
Love, Sister Reid
appointments, but we're not letting that get us down. :)
We started out the week with exchanges. I spent Tuesday with Sister
Tubbs. She's the other senior companion in our zone. She's awesome, and I love
teaching with her. She reminds me of how cool it can be when both missionaries
have the confidence to teach together. Something I've missed out on for most of
my mission owing to the fact that I've served mostly with brand new missionaries
who don't have the confidence to speak up. So it was really fun. On Wednesday,
we met with our newest investigator, Sella. It was an interesting lesson
because when we got there, Sella informed us (by signing and writing notes to
us) that she'd taken a week long vow of silence. I was never able to figure out
what the purpose of it was. She's very genuine in her quest for the truth, and
she absolutely knows that this is the right church. We'll see when we meet her
this week what it was all about. She's still on for getting baptized in
November, so we're working towards that. :)
Veronica is officially smoke-free. She's been free of smoking for 10 days
now. She's loving church and so is her sister, Sophia, who is a less active
member. Teaching the two of them has been lots of fun. And I'm so excited for
her to get baptized on Sunday. Her baptismal interview is Thursday night. So
keep your fingers crossed!
The other highlight of this last week was that I got to do exchanges with
the one of the other sisters in the zone just north of ours. I spent all day
saturday with Sister Hurtado. It was so much fun! She's changed and grown so
much in the 8 short weeks since we served together. Her language skills have
really just skyrocketed. We were able to grow closer as friends in 24 hours
than we did in 12 weeks together. Amazing how much communication plays a part
in our relationships with people. :)
This coming week is going to be awesome. We have a packed week scheduled.
With Veronica getting baptized on Sunday, we're busily prepping for that. Also,
we have a ton of lessons scheduled, and two exchanges. Plus, the ward's big
halloween activity is going to be this Saturday night, and we're looking forward
to meeting all the non-members that the members have promised to bring. It's
going to be a good week.
I want all of you to know that I love what I'm doing. The people here are
amazing and I love being so close to the spirit that it directs my every word,
sometimes. It's amazing. Being told what to do and say by the Lord is an
incredible feeling, and I know that I couldn't have gotten this far, in terms of
my relationship with Heavenly Father, without having served a mission. Maybe by
the time I was 80 I could have done it, but this is much faster. :) It's made
it worth it, even though missionary life is really hard.
I love all of you. I'm writing lots of letters this week, so if you've
written me in the last 3 months, you'll be getting a response this week, I
promise. Sorry it's taken so long... I've made a commitment and a goal to
never get behind in my correspondence again.
Love, Sister Reid
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