Dec. 6, 2010

So hello everyone! I hope your week went well for all of you. Ours was great. We started the New Member Lessons with San and Henry. There's a girl named Melissa Larson from one of the other wards in our stake who just got home from her mission to Thailand last week. She came with us to the lesson and has been a wonderful help in making sure that San really understands the gospel. It will be really great for San to have the lessons in Thai, so that we can be sure that she really does understand the principles and such. We're excited. Plus, Melissa is great. I love her already. :) And it's really fun to sit and listen to them converse in Thai. I'm starting to pick up a few words, which is fun. :)

Many of the appointments with potential investigators that we had scheduled for this last week didn't actually happen. But we've been fasting as a zone and we're seeing the results. We were able to meet with a woman named Jamie, her daughter named Courteney, and Courtney's friend Sasha. All three are really interested in the things we had to teach about having a prophet, the priesthood, and the Book of Mormon. So we picked them up as new investigators and we're excited to continue teaching them. Although we probably won't get to meet with them, or many of our other potentials and investigators, much until after Christmas. Just about everyone is difficult to pin down to an appointment right now because of the holidays. Sis. Silva said that this is normal, and that the same thing happened to her last year. It's cool though. It means that we'll have more time to find new investigators, so that in January, we'll have a nice big teaching pool to work with. :)

The lesson with Jamie was pretty much the only really exciting thing that happened this week missionary wise. Sis Silva, Sis. Christensen, and I are all getting along great. We're making the best of the holidays and having a blast. :) I'm grateful to them and to you and to all of our families for making this Christmas a good one. We have "Santa Run" tomorrow. Basically, President and Sister Pendleton dress up like Mr. and Mrs. Claus and hand out the packages you sent us for christmas. Then we have a spiritual devotional about the birth of the Savior, and then we get to watch a G Rated movie. I've heard that it's Toy Story 3 this year.... They watched Up last year. Then, after lunch, it's back to work. We'll take our packages home and place them under our 2 foot tree to wait until Christmas. :) I'm excited. It will be tons of fun.

I guess that's pretty much it for me for this week. I hope you are all enjoying this holiday season and that you're trying your best not to miss me too much ( **wink, wink**). I love you all and I'm so grateful for all your support and prayers, just like always. You make it possible for me to be here.

Love, Sister Reid

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Sorry it's a little late, but I can only email on Mondays, after all. :) I hope that everyone had a wonderful day and that everyone is back home safe and sound.

Our week was kind of slow because of the holiday. We haven't really been able to meet with most of our investigators because they were all busy. We did a lot of tracting and street contacting though, and it yeilded good results. We have 7 new potential investigators that we're meeting with this week. I'm a big fan of running numbers, and I figured out that, statistically, one of these 7 will get baptized! I promise I'm not focusing on numbers, I just like to know how we're doing as a mission, and I recognize that every single number represents a person who needs to have the gospel in their lives. I LOVE IT!!!

But I'm sure you're all wondering what I did for thanksgiving, so I'll tell you. :)

We started the morning by taking pictures in our area... pictures we haven't had time to take until now. So we went to a really pretty park in our area--with tons of fall leaves--and took pictures for several hours. It was a lot of fun. Then we went to our first of several Thanksgiving dinners. Jean, our investigator from Trinadad had us over first, and we got to taste everything she made. The turkey was really good - it was smoked. Then we were off to our next "appointment" at Gemma's (pronounced Hemma) who is from Mexico. They also had their own spin on thanksgiving dinner, including an amazing cranberry salsa that was so good but so spicy it numbed my tongue. Then we went to Hieu's house for our final dinner of the day. Everything was really good all day long. but my favorite may be that we listened to Chinese Opera at Hieu's during dinner. lol. I found it especially interesting that we had three dinners, and none of the hostesses were American. :)

On Saturday night, our dinner appointment was also Thanksgiving Dinner because the Gibson family had postponed their dinner from Thursday. Their oldest son gave his missionary farewell talk yesterday, so they had thanksgiving the night before so all the family from out of town would be there. It was more traditional and more like what I'm used to for thanksgiving dinner. I really loved all four dinners though.

That's pretty much it for me. Like I said, it was a slow week, but we have a lot of stuff lined up for this week. I'm looking forward to being able to tell you all about it.

I love you all tons, and I'm so grateful for all of your support. Especially as the holidays roll around this year. I know that I can count on all of your thoughts and prayers to help me in my work and to keep me focused. Although... I definately won't say no to any Christmas packages you can send my way... lol... :)

Love, Sister Reid

Nov. 22, 2010

Hello everyone! I hope all of you had as awesome a week as I've had! It's been wonderful!!!

We started out with the Half Mission Tour on Tuesday. Elder and Sister Malm (from the 2nd quorom of the seventy) came and gave us some wonderful training on how to be better missionaries, better finders, and better teachers. I had to give my 4 minute talk, which was nerve wracking, but it went pretty well I thought. They had me write it out, and read it, so that it would be as close to four minutes as it could. I can send you a copy, mom, if you want it. It basically sums up the success we've been having with all the Buddhist investigators we've been teaching. It went really well. I got a lot of compliments. And a special handshake from Elder Malm, and a hug from sister Malm. It was a wonderful day.

On Friday we had to go to Trainer/Trainee, which is a full day-long training that all new missionaries and their trainers have to go to. I felt like I had just gone as a greenie myself, seriously. It was fun to have some training from President and Sister Pendleton on how to teach better together. It's definately something that we've needed to work on, since there are three of us, and not just two...

Then, the big day on Saturday! We had three baptisms! Hieu and her two kids, Ava and Harold. It was a wonderful baptism. The Spirit was awesome, and the room was PACKED! We had to set up more chairs so everyone could fit. I'm REALLY looking forward to the next time, and maybe we'll have to move into the chapel! That will be cool. Luckily, I didn't have to really do anything this time, because I got sick on Friday, and wasn't feeling well at all on Saturday or Sunday. Now I'm really battling with the Flu virus and wishing that I could have a refund on my flu shot... lol... But don't worry mom, the ward here is taking really good care of me. The bishop actually told us not to come to our usual early morning meetings on Sunday so I could get some more sleep.

Ironically, we weren't able to because we got a call from the missionaries in one of the other wards that meets in our building at 9:00 AM. It turns out one of our new investigators, that we just met this week, had showed up early to church, having got the times mixed up. So we scrambled to get there, and attended the 9:00AM ward with him. His name is Joel. He's an older widower, and he's really been prepared to meet with us. He's actively looking for the truth. Funnily enough, he heard about our church by listenting to a Christian Radio Station. They were bashing pretty hard on Mormons, and Joel wanted to find out the truth, so he looked for a church, and found us that way. We've started teaching him this week, and we're really looking forward to getting to know him better.

We've also been able to do a little tracting this week, which is the first time in almost 3 months because we've been so busy. We've met a few potential investigators, and we're looking forward to all the new possibilities we're seeing here. It's been a wonderful couple of months, and we're not letting ourselves slow down! We've had some great referrals from the members in the last couple weeks, and we're excited to start teaching those families too.

I guess that's really just about it for now. We have been invited to spend thanksgiving with Hieu and her family, so we're really looking forward to that. :) I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know that I love you and I'm certainly grateful for all your prayers, love, and support. I know that I couldn't be out here without all of you behind me. It's a wonderful experience I'm having, and it's wonderful that you're supporting me in everything. Please be safe in all your travels. Mom, when you see everyone this weekend, please give them all hugs from me and tell them I miss them, and that I'm sorry to not be there.

Love, Sister Reid

Nov. 15, 2010

Hello everyone!!!

Can you believe that I've been gone 5 months tomorrow? Not me. I feel both like I've been here forever and that I just got here. It's definately hard to explain how that happens. I was talking to a member of the ward here last night, and she couldn't believe that I'd only been here 5 months. She said that it felt like I'd always been in the ward. I joked with her that I remembered when her kids were born and when they graduated from high school. But seriously, it almost feels like that!

It's been a crazy busy week. We had two baptisms, taught 15 lessons to actual investigators (this doesn't count all the dinner appointments, less actives, and tracting lessons that we taught) and picked up our new companion. Her name is Sister Christensen... maybe I'll start there. :)

On Tuesday we met Sis. Christensen at the mission office. She was late because the plane was delayed... I guess it's snowing in Utah... Here's where I brag a bit and say that it's still in the 70s most days around here. lol. Anyway. Sis. Christensen is really cool. She's happy and excited to be here and really motivated to learn as much as she can as fast as she can. She's doing great. We get along great too. Needless to say that I'm very relieved that Sis. Christensen is is a hard worker. It means we won't have to overcome anything other than a learning curve. It's definately been an adjustment, though, with three sisters instead of two. Everything takes longer (like shopping, and cooking, and getting ready to leave the apartment) but otherwise, I think we're making the adjustment pretty well. :)

Sis. Christensen's first full day was a little intense, and I feel kind of bad about it, but we had people to teach, so teaching we did. :) We taught lessons at 9:00, 11:00, 1:00. 2:00, 3:00, 4:30, 5:30, and 7:00. It was crazy, and we were all exhausted when we got home that night. Thursday and Friday weren't as busy, but we still had a lot to do. We had to finish getting Henry and Joseph ready to be baptized on Saturday. They both had their interviews and passed with flying colors, although Henry gave us a bit of a scare, because he was in with Elder Hadley (the District Leader) for almost an hour. But he came out smiling and gave us a big thumbs up. :)

Saturday was really the big day for us. Joseph's baptism was at 5:00pm. It went great. His mom was excited and the spirit was definately there. Joseph is doing great at church and making tons of friends in his primary class. Henry's baptism was at 7:00. We didn't have time to leave and get dinner, so the Relief Society brought sandwiches and set up a table in the gym for anyone who was staying for both baptisms. I thought that was pretty cool. Henry made it and we took a ton of pictures with him in white, along with him and Brother McArthur, whom Henry asked to baptise him. If you don't remember, Brother McArthur was the Inactive that we were teaching and his wife is Napa. Brother McArthur is now active, and was ordained to be a Priest so he could baptize Napa. Napa and San (Henry's wife) are really close now, so Henry asked if Bro McArthur would perform the ordinance. Also, Brett Taylor, one of the Priests in the Young Men, was asked by the bishop to be in the font with Henry and Bro McArthur, to help Henry into and out of the font, and also into and out of the water. It was REALLY cool to see the three of them standing there in white. Henry asked me to give the talk on Baptism, and I have to admit... I was more nervous than I thought I would be. But gave it I did, and I guess it went well, because I had a lot of compliments afterwards. Then Henry and Bro McArthur and Brett all got in the water. We had previously filled the font a little higher than normal, So Henry wouldn't have to bend over so far to get fully immersed. They had Henry kneel down in the font, with Bro McArthur kneeling next to him, and Brett kneeling in front of Henry. Then Bro McArthur said the prayer. Then they paused for a second to let Henry plug his nose and then they bent him forward. It was not how they regularly do it, but he went all the way under. :) After they brought him back up, they said, "Are you ready?" meaning, are you ready to stand up, and Henry said, "You want me go again?" It was pretty funny. When he came out of the dressing room, in a white shirt and tie, he held his hands up in the air, like, "Yay! I did it!" and everyone laughed. He's such a nice guy. A wonderful addition to the Antelope 4th ward. I love him so much, and I'm so grateful that I was able to be a part of his conversion.

I think that's just about it for this last week. Hieu and Ava and Harold are all getting baptized on Saturday, and that will be really cool. We have half mission conference tomorrow, and Elder Mulm (I think that's how you spell it) for the 2nd quorum of the Sevent is coming. I've been asked to give a talk about the success that we're having... yikes... but otherwise, I'm looking forward to this week. We're all also looking forward to finding the next group of prepared people who are ready to hear the gospel and to make the changes in their lives that will help them be happier.

I just want to let you all know that I'm so happy to be here. This work is not easy, and it's hard to give up everything I have to be here, but it's totally worth it. It's the best thing I've ever done with my life. I wouldn't change what I'm doing for anything. And I know that the work that I'm doing here in the Roseville California Mission is meant for me to do. I know that the gospel is true, and that it changes lives. I know that with a perfect knowledge because I've seen it now. I've seen what it's done for me, and what it's done for the people I teach. I want to thank each and everyone of you who reads my letters for all the support and love that you give. Especially Mom, Dad, Jaymi, Stephen, Daniel, Cat, Kayti, and Cale. You're all the best. I love you tons.

Love, Sister Reid

Nov. 8, 2010

Hello family!!! This one has to be short, I'm afraid. We're busy trying to get everything ready for our new sister that's coming in tomorrow. That's right. We got the official call this morning. Sister Silva and I are staying here (That's a total of 6 months together, if anyone is counting!) and we're getting a third sister, and she's fresh from the MTC. I'm looking forward to it. And I'll be sure to tell you all about her next week. As for now, the only thing we know about her is that she's from Utah. We don't even know her name.

This week was great, as far as missionary lessons go. We didn't commit anyone else to be baptized. But we're doing good work getting Hieu and her kids, Joseph, and Henry ready for baptism. So we've been teaching A LOT.

This saturday we have Henry and Joseph's baptisms. So you can bet I'll have some good stories to report next week. It'll be a long one... so sorry this one is short!!!

I love all of you, and I hope you don't feel too gipped that I didn't give you much to fill your tanks for this week, so here's a good scripture I've discovered since I've been on my mission... go and study it, and think about it in terms of teaching people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 2 Nephi 31.

Thanks for everything you do and the support and prayers. I know I couldn't be here without you.

Love, Sister Reid

Nov 1, 2010

Hello everyone!

Can you believe that it's November already! Not me! October farely flew by!!! And what a fabulous month for missionary work here in Antelope California. We saw two baptisms here, and 6 more people accept the challenge to prepare themselves for baptism. 5 of which will be baptized in November! But I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

This last week we met with Hieu and her two kids a few more times. The ward is embracing them, and they're already practically members. It's wonderful. They'll be baptized on the 20th. Also, Joe, the nine year old we've been teaching will also be baptized on the 13th. He's really excited and looking forward to becoming a full member of the church.

This week we saw a crazy amount of miracles happen on Wednesday and Thursday. We had an appointment to meet with Don, and less active who just moved into the ward about 3 months ago. He ran into some of the office senior missionaries at the grocery store a few weeks ago and asked what ward he was in, since he had just moved here and hadn't been to church in 20 years. He said he was ready to come back, and could they please send the missionaries in his ward to his house... so to his house we went. It was a wonderfully spirit filled lesson. He bore his testimony and made it clear that he is ready to come back to church, which was AWESOME! The best part was that his landlady, from whom he rents a room, was also there, and sat in on the lesson. She felt the spirit and asked a few questions, and when we taught her, she asked, "so what do I need to do to become a member of your church?" "Well, Eileen, let us tell you..." lol. So we commited her to be baptized and she said yes! We haven't set a date yet, because she's not fully committed yet, but within the next couple weeks, we should have some great news!

We were pretty excited about that lesson, so we called the mission president's wife, because she always loves to hear those kinds of stories. We told her what happened, she told her husband, and then President Pendleton got on the phone. He asked how big our apartment was, and when we told him there's tons of room (because we actually live in a one bedroom house, with two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room) he said that he was going to keep Sister Silva and I here in Antelope for another transfer and call us both to be Trainers. So we're going to be in a Threesom, training. He specifically said that we're training because there are so many good things happening in Antelope, and he wants the new sister to see what we're doing right. The new transfer starts next Monday, so Sister Silva and I are getting the ward and our investigators ready for the three of us. :)

The next morning, we had a lesson with San. We were going to start the New Member Lessons with her (which means that we teach the same missionary lessons over agian, but with a little more detail this time. Also, this time we only teach the first lesson. After that, the ward missionaries take over and teach the rest of them...) So we went over there to teach San, and Henry, San's husband came in and sat down with us. He had previously been pretty unsupportive of San's decision to be baptized, to the extent that for a long time, we had to meet with her at other members houses, or at the park... but he came in and sat down, and chatted with us for a few minutes. Then, out of the blue he asked, "when is my baptism scheduled?" So we ended up teaching Henry about the church instead, and committed him to be baptized, and he said yes, and we scheduled his baptism for the 13th!

A really good couple of days. :)

The work here is really moving. For a long time, we didn't have anything happening, and no investigators coming to church, but now we have 5 or 6 at church on a regular basis, and we have 5 baptisms scheduled for November, and we had two in October, and we have one on the backburner for December, hopefully. Plus, Lewis's work schedule (remember Lewis, the guy who lives with his girlfriend that we taught when I first got here?) changes in December, so he'll be able to come to church agian, and then we'll be able to move forward with him as well. Things are really going well for us here, and I'm so grateful for the opportunity that Sis. Silva and I have to stay here for another 6 weeks, and to continue working with all of these people. It's going to be a great holiday season!

I love you all and I'm grateful for all your support!

Love, Sister Reid

Oct 25, 2010

Hello again to everyone! Sometimes I feel like I was just here at the library, and I just emailed you. It feels like last monday was only yesterday! All the missionaries say that the first six months of your mission supposedly drags on, and then things start to speed up. If this is dragging, I hate to see what happens when I have only four months to go, instead of just finishing four months.

I'm glad to hear that Grandma Kathy is doing okay. Next time you talk to her, tell her that she and Grandpa are in my prayers.

Also, say hi to Jean, and Kayti, and Cale for me. :) And as a side note... Pres. Rawson: Could you send me Dana and Krista's addresses?

This week week was really good here. We had another baptism on Saturday... It's official. Napa McArthur is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints!!! YAY!!! It was such a wonderful day. And very busy. We had to weekly plan on Saturday Morning because we were too busy on Friday to do it. Then we went and filled the font, set up chairs, and nervously paced until 4:00 when the McArthurs arrived. We took pictures, and almost 70 people from the ward came to witness Napa's Baptism. It was really special. The spirit was so strong there. One of the coolest things, I thought, was that her sister, Ida, came, and she was very visible affected by the spirit that was there. I'm excited for the things that will come from that experience. I remember the first time that we brought Napa to the chapel, for a chapel tour (back when we were trying to convince her that church attendance wasn't going to be a hard thing). We ended the tour in the chapel, and sang a hymn from the hymn book. It was the first time Napa had heard any of the LDS hymns. Well. I can't play that many of them, so I picked a short one, since only Sis Silva and Sis Molina would be singing, really. I played "Love One Another." Since then, we've sung it once or twice in church, and every time, Napa points it out. And I always just grin and say, yep, that's the first song you heard. Well... She picked it to be the closing song at her baptism, and I was leading the music... As I looked at her while we sang, I saw that she couldn't even sing because she was crying so hard. It was amazing to see that something that I thought was a simple thing, like picking a shorter hymn at a chapel tour, could really effect her. She'll remember and love that song for the rest of her life. And I'll remember and love that song for the rest of my life too. We're learning as missionaries that when we love our investigators, we grow when they grow. And it's really true. Because of San and Napa, I'm a different person than I was 4 months ago. And I know that I have so much more growth and learning to do. I'm excited!

Speaking of more growth, Hieu and her kids, Eva and Harold, accepted the baptismal commitment this week. They'll be baptized on November 20th! They're already more active than a lot of the members in our ward. lol! They come to mutual, scouts, church, and all the ward and stake activities. They also came to San and Napa's baptisms, and they're very excited for their own day. Harold remarked in our last lesson that he wanted to be baptized when San was. He didn't want to wait. :)

We had a ward halloween trunk-or-treat on Saturday night after the baptism which was also a great success. We went, because that's what we had for dinner (chile and cornbread) and also because most of our investigators, and now our Recent Converts went too. It was great, and lots of fun. I'm glad that our ward did it, and that the investigators could see how much fun we have together.

That's pretty much all the big news for this week. Now that we're winding down with San and Napa, we've finally got some room in our schedules to find more people to teach. We're looking forward to the challenge that Bishop issued yesterday in PEC. He said that we, both as missionaries and as a ward, shouldn't let this success just be a little blip in the year... but we should continue to keep it building. We're looking forward to the challenge, and we're praying that the Spirit will lead us to more and more people who are ready to hear the gospel. :)

I know that I'm lead in everything I do and say. I can feel it. And I know that your prayers help me every day. I'm grateful for all of your support, both my immediate family, and everyone else that reads these letters. You're all amazing, and I couldn't be here without all of you. So thanks.

Love, Sister Reid

PS. More pictures from this week's baptism. Have a great week!!!

Oct. 18, 2010

So this week I hit my four month mark on my mission! It's crazy how fast it happens. The last couple weeks especially have flown by, which is crazy.

First let me say that we didn't get to go to Apple Hill today... Which is sad. We found out that it's about a half hour outside the Mission border, and our District and Zone leaders said we couldn't go. It was very disappointing to both us and the Less Active Family that was going to take us. Hopefully, this doesn't damage the relationship we've built with them. :) But I know that we have rules for a reason, so we didn't go.

This week has been really busy. We were gearing up and preparing San for her baptism on Saturday, which went so well!!! We met with her almost every single day this week, finishing up the lessons, and helping her prep for her interview, which she had on Thursday and passed with FLYING colors! She was so excited! The Baptism on Saturday night was a whole other kind of experience. I'm not sure I know even how to talk about it. San's husband came, which is pretty incredible. Afterwards he said that it was a nice experience, and not what he was expecting at all, since he was raised catholic. Bishop Summers performed the baptism (wearing my tie - YAY!), and right after San came out of the water, she was glowing, and so happy. She said she felt light, like she could fly away. Napa and Bro McArthur offered the opening and closing prayers, and they REALLY brought the spirit. I just think it's incredible that Napa, who has never prayed in public before in her life, and who isn't even a member till the 23rd, gave a touching, sincere, heartfelt plea for the spirit to be present, and she gave thanks for the gospel in all our lives. Well. It was over for me right at that moment. I was pretty much teary eyed for the rest of the service. lol. Then, yesterday, she was confirmed a member, and that was amazing too! The whole ward has really come out in support of her and her decisions to join the church. We're having a chili cookoff on Saturday, after Napa's baptism, and San, Napa, and Hieu (who I'll talk about in just a second) all signed up to bring stuff. It's so cool!!!

Hieu also came to San's baptism. She was the first one there, along with her kids. It was a pretty cool thing for her to come to I think. Afterwards, I asked how they liked it, and Hieu wanted to know if they're all like that. Then she said, "At my baptism, I'm going to have everyone who comes sign the program, so I remember who came." Can you believe that! We've only met with her twice! Her kids, ages 11 and 12, both also really liked the baptism. Eva, the 12 year old daughter, said that she got kind of emotional. lol... All three of them came to church. It was amazing to see how the ward really embraced them. The young women pres. Sis Bourgeouss, came and took Eva to Sunday School, and then didn't even need to introduce her to anyone because it turns out that most of her friends from school are mormons! Sis. Sobieralski, the primary pres, took Harold to Sunday School, and hooked him up with a few of his friends from school too. Hieu really loved Relief Society (and I thought it was especially awesome that the lesson was on Baptism... :) And she really liked hanging around afterwards for a little while, meeting everyone, and hearing how much Eva and Harold enjoyed themselves. She's already planning on bringing the kids to mutual on Wednesday night, and participating in both the ward trunk-or-treat, and the stake youth activity -- both on Saturday night, after Napa's baptism, which she's also planning on attending. It's so great!

We had exchanges again this week. This time I went to a different ward and Sis. Wallentine came her to be with Sis. Silva. It went okay for me, but I really missed the lessons that Sisters Silva and Wallentine were teaching in my absence. Apparently, the investigators and ward members who went to the lessons missed me too. I guess the lessons didn't go so well, and that's sad, but It's nice to hear that I'm making an impact in this area, and that people miss me when I'm not around. I especially love that almost everyone in the ward recognizes Sister Silva and I as an awesome team, who work hard. They trust us, which is amazing. And we're seeing miracles because of it! The work here is progressing. We'll have two baptisms in October (Joe's Mom decided to push his baptism a couple weeks) and so we'll have at least one in November. We're hoping to set a date for Hieu and her kids for the end of November as well. So we'll have 4 more. That's six in the six months I will have been here, where this ward hasn't seen that many converts in 3 years. Miracles really happen when people catch the vision of what missionary work can be.

I love it here! I love my mission, I've decided I REALLY love seeing my favorite people be baptized! It's so special!

Anyway. I've got to go. I've rambled on long enough. I've attached some pictures from the baptism, and Jared and Daniel you should pay special attention to the tie that Bishop Summers is wearing!

The one of Napa and San in the focus of the picture also has Hieu in the background. :)

Oct. 11, 2010

Hiya! I hope everyone is doing really well! I love to hear from mom, of course, so I know that the immediate family is doing good. But, in being honest, I haven't heard from Daniel and Cat, yet, or from Jaymi and Steven, in a while. Also, I got one letter from Jared while I was at the MTC (which you didn't finish or sign... you sent it with the rest of the letters from the branch, so I didn't even know whose letter it was for a long time, and I had to rely on the spirit of revelation to figure it out. lol). On the flip side, I did get the white tie this week. Again, my companion, and everyone at the mission office, got a big kick out of the fact that there was a package for me from my family, with no letter. I just laughed. I asked Bro McArthur to wear it when he performs Napa's baptism, and he said yes, and then got all choked up when I told him how Daniel and Jared had both used the same tie for their whole mission. I just love that guy.

Speaking of... Bro McArthur was ordained to be a Priest yesterday. I am so proud of him I can hardly come up with the words. To see the change in him and his family is one of the strongest testimony builders I can even imagine for how the Spirit changes people. He's reading the Book of Mormon for the first time in his life, and he and Napa have started a family scripture study program with Keith (age 3) and Tyler (age 6). It's the best. For everyone who is in the Derby Singles Branch, you'll understand when I say: "Finger thing!!!"

San is getting baptized this saturday. It's going to be amazing! She and Napa hang out all the time, and San is also starting to get to know other members of the ward. She sat with the Goldthorpes yesterday at church, and even brought her 30 year old daughter too. I know that the daughter, whose name I can't pronounce yet, but who told me I could call her Terry, was surprised to see that her Mom has so many friends at church. San has been lonely for a long time, I think, and Terry was worried about, I'm sure. So it did Terry good to see that San's testimony isn't just the crazy talk of a lonely lady, but that it is also worth something good. I know that San's prayers for Terry will help Terry to investigate the church someday.

So, Friday was the best day this week (outside of maybe Sunday, because of Bro. McArthur). We started out by leaving the house early so that we could teach English to Alicia. She's a mexican grandmother of one of our member's neighbors. We're teaching her English as a way to get into the home to talk with her son in law, who has reservations about the church. Once they're resolved, we'll be able to start teaching the whole family. So for now, we're teaching English as a way to gain trust. Anyway. It's going really well, and it's a lot of fun. I love Alicia... she's hilarious, and very serious about learning English, which I give her props for, because there are many people who live here in the United States who never bothered with learning English.

Then we went to Napa's house. We had another lesson with Napa and San together. Since they're both so close to baptism, we've been teaching them together, so that we have more time to find other new investigators. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Napa had invited her sister, Ida to come to the lesson. We had prepared to teach the Law of Chastity, which both San and Napa needed to hear and commit to in order for them to be baptized. So we looked at each other, checked with the Spirit, and then proceeded to teach it, even though Ida had never heard anything, really about the church. That part of the lesson went well, especially since we had another ward member there, Sis. Goldthorpe (who, by the way, is my mission mom, here in Antelope. I love the Goldthorpe Family. So mom, don't worry, I'm being well taken care of :-)... After we wrapped up that lesson, Ida started asking questions about what we believe, the history of the church, and the Book of Mormon. We answered a few of her questions, and Napa answered the rest. It was AWESOME!!! Ida asked why Napa could even consider joining the church because there were so many restrictions, and Napa, like an old pro, answered by telling Ida that, now that she knows what's right and wrong, every time she does something wrong, she feels guilty, and wants to repent. She wants to attend church because the spirit instills in her that desire. She loves having the spirit with her, and KNOWS the difference between when she has it and when she doesn't. And she said that she never wants to not have it. After that stirring testimony, Ida looked at us, and asked if we could start teaching her too. *** BIG GRIN!!! ***

After that lesson, we were flying high on the spirit, but had to rush off to another lesson. This time with Heiu. We met Heiu at a member's home (Sis. Smedley - the Relief Society President, and another one of my favorite ward members). The lesson went really well, and we taught about the Godhead (because she has no foundational knowledge about God) and the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Endure the End). The best part is that we committed her to be baptized, and she said YES!!! We didn't have time to set a date, but she said she'd come to church this week (which she wasn't able to, but this next week for sure), and that we'll get to meet her kids, and hopefully start teaching them as a family. It'll be so great!!!

That's pretty much it for this week, really. Next week's email will be a little later in the day because one of our ward members is taking us to Apple Hill, which is a collection of Apple Orchards about an hour from here. It's going to be really fun, and I'll take and send lots of pictures... but we won't be home till later in the afternoon, so I probably won't be able to email until 5:00 or so.

I love you all a ton, and I look forward to all your emails and snail mails. Keep 'em coming!

Love, Sister Reid

Oct. 4, 2010

Hello everyone!!! I hope everyone is doing well. :) Life here in the mission is AWESOME!!! Things are really picking up here, just like I knew they would. We're having THREE baptisms this month, the 16th (San), the 23rd (Pupe/Napa) and the 30th (Joe). So Jared and Daniel, I'm not kidding, if you want that white tie to be in my pictures, and I do, then you'd better send pretty quickly!

The week went really well, and you'll never guess, but we've started teaching another Buddhist! it's crazy! Everyone in the ward leadership just starts laughing whenever we tell them. But it's good. I believe that the Lord prepared us to know how to teach them by first giving us Napa, and then San, because we learned a lot about how to teach someone who has no knowledge of Jesus Christ. So now we're teaching a Vietnamese woman named Hieu (pronounced Hue). She came to the US when she was five, and speaks better english than most americans. We taught her about prophets the first time, because of General Conference, and we showed her where to go to watch it online. She was very excited, and we showed her where to watch old sessions of conference, and she saved the website, and then started the first session of the April Conference before we even left. We meet with her again tomorrow, and I hope she had a chance to watch some of conference this weekend, because it was AMAZING!!!

We taught Napa and San agian together. And it went about like last time. We taught about the principles of the gospel: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, and Enduring the the End. We would teach for a few moments, then check for understanding, and have Napa translate, as needed. It was a good review for Napa, and we noticed agian that she would speak in Thai for sooo much longer than we spoke in English -- answering San's questions without even stopping to ask us what the answers were. We went over the baptismal interview questions as well, for both of them, and they are both excited. Napa was still not committing to a date, but said that she would tell us Friday, which she did, and she's getting baptized on the 23rd! Finally! The best part is that her husband, who has not been active for years, and who, until recently has been disruptive in the lessons, has made a total 180 change. He's met with the Bishop and is doing what the Bishop asked so that he can be ordained to a Priest so that he can baptize Napa. He even asked us yesterday where he needs to go get Baptismal Pants and a white tie so he can baptize Napa. And he's started memorizing the prayer he needs to say. It's amazing to watch the change in this family!

In fact, they invited us over for the Sunday Sessions of conference. So we showed up bright and early to make breakfast. I made belgium waffles and egg hash (thanks mom, it was a total hit!) and they made us lunch (thai style fried pork and rice). Being there for their first conference was incredible. As talks came on that applied to one or the other or both of them, they would call each other's attention to it. Bro McArthur especially liked the talk on the Holy Ghost and Napa really liked the talk about Prayer. It went so good and I was so happy to be there. It was a great experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Speaking of conference, I wanted to tell you that my favorite talk was Elder Holland's on gratitude, and if I could, I would plagarize his words here, and say the same thing to all of you who have helped me get here. You really are the best people in my life, and I know that I couldn't be here with all of your love, support, and prayers. Not to mention all the headaches each of you had over me before during and after I decided to serve a mission, and even up till I got my call. You really have helped me be here, I know it's all because of you. So thank you. All of you. But especially Mom and Dad. I love you guys.

Love, Sister Reid

PS. I found "14 Fundamentals of following a prophet" which was quoted twice in conference. You can find it here: http://speeches.byu.edu/?act=browse&speaker=Benson%2C+Ezra+Taft&topic=prophet&type=&year=&x=9&y=7 and in case you need to hear it agian, to think of me saying it, here's Elder Holland's Talk: http://lds.org/conference/sessions/display/0,5239,23-1-1298,00.html

Sept. 27, 2010

Hello everyone!

It's been a great week here, and I'm happy to hear that you've all had a great week too.

First thing's first! We got transfer calls today, as this is the first day of my third transfer, and.... drum roll please.... Sister Silva and I are staying here in Antelope for another six weeks together. Which is so good. We get along great, despite not having ANYTHING in common, and we teach well together. We are also seeing a lot of success in the last month, and in the next month or so to come, so it's good that we're both staying here to keep the stability of our investigators going. So, things are good. :)

We had a lot of great lessons this week too. We met with Pupe again, which, it turns out, her real name is Rungnapa (Napa for short) and Pupe is only her childhood nickname, kind of like "Sweetie" or "Pumpkin." So that will take some time to get used to, I think... lol. Anyway, her husband, Brother McArthur came too. We taught about the Law of Tithing, because this sunday's lesson in Gospel Principles was Tithing, and we wanted to prepare her for it. It was a pretty rocky start, with Bro McArthur talking about how he didn't have the money to pay tithing, but we focused on Napa, and on the blessings that she and her family could expect if they started paying an honest tithe. We especially showed Napa how her faith would grow (which is something she really wants) if she pays tithing. Brother McArthur kept saying how he didn't think they could do it, and then Napa turned to her husband and said, "if you don't pay your tithing, Eddie, how is your faith going to grow?" -- Yeah... Napa, who is not a member, is teaching her husband, who is a member, about faith!!! --- It was a great lesson. We found out yesterday that after we left, Napa and Eddie had a serious talk about their faith. He was asking her about her testimony, and how she got it. She told him to read the Book of Mormon, and Pray, and Pay Tithing. So when we saw them at Church yesterday, the first thing Bro McArthur said to me was, "I've been reading the Book of Mormon all weekend!" It's been so amazing to see the change in their family over the last several months.

Also, Bro, McArthur had an interview with the Bishop yesterday after church, and when we had dinner with the Bishop last night he said, without divulging any details, that Brother McArthur is a totally different person than he was 6 months ago, and that he'll be ready to be ordained to the office of Priest so that he can baptize Napa by the 16th! YAY!!!

Also, Napa came to our appointment with San this week. We taught her the Plan of Salvation, with Napa's interpretive help. We were so amazed at the fellowship that these two women have for each other. The Thai culture says that family is very important, and usually, the grandmother of the family lives with one of her children. Napa's mother lives in Germany, and can't afford to immigrate. And San's only daughter lives in LA, and San can't live there because her husband is here. So these two women have adopted each other, and it's so great. The lesson started out with us suggesting that San move her baptism date by one week, since we have a ton to teach her, and there's an understanding barrier... She agreed, since her daughter will be out of town on the 9th. So my first baptism with be on the 16th! ... Anyway, we then let Napa and San just visit for a bit in Thai... It was pretty cool. And they started telling each other their testimonies. It was cool that we could tell by the spirit what they were talking about, even though we couldn't understand the words they were saying. :) Then we taught the Plan of Salvation to San. We would start out by talking for one or two minutes about a part of the plan, and then Napa would translate what San didn't understand. The cool part was that Napa always talked way longer than we did, and San asked questions, and Napa wouldn't even translate, she'd just answer them. It was the coolest thing to watch our two investigators, whom we love dearly, teach each other the gospel. It was an amazing experience! I just know that they're going to adopt each other as family. In fact, they sat together at church yesterday, without us prompting them at all. It was AMAZING!

I love being a missionary! If for nothing else, than for this lesson. For the rest of my mission (which I know can get even better) this lesson with San and Napa will make everything worth it!

Anyway, time is short for me today, because one of the other sisters in our zone goes home tonight, so we are in a threesome until the new sister comes tomorrow. Which means that I've got to be going. I love you all, and I miss you all, and I hope to hear from you as often as possible. =) Thanks for all your love, support, and prayers. They really help!

Love, Sister Reid

Sept. 20, 2010

Hello mom and everyone! How's life? In answer to your last email, mom, I would love to write Grandma Reid, but I unfortunately don't have her address. Please, if you could, give it to me next week... or, in case you forget, you could respond with just the address right now, and write you letter later, and then I'll be sure to have it by next week.

Well, it sounds like the family is in full swing. And I'm glad. It'll keep you all too busy to miss me too much. lol. Tell everyone I love them, and I miss them.

This week for me was awesome! Remember last week how we got one Batismal Date, and two other tentatives? Well this week we now have two Baptismal Dates, and only one tentative. **big grin** But I digress. I'll start from the beginning.

On Tuesday, we had an appointment with Pupe and her family. We brought our Ward Mission Leader with us, so Pupe can start meeting members of the ward, and so he could come to a real lesson, and see what it's like. We taught about the first part of the life of Christ, leading up to his baptism, since Pupe has no background with Christianity, it seemed like a good thing to do. We started talking about his baptism, and it just seemed natural to recommit her. We told her how all of our leadership said that it was okay that she could be baptized and still practice Buddhism as a part of her culture. She just has to understand the distinction between paying respect to Buddhism, and worshipping as a Buddhist, which I believe that she does. She was very excited. But also very hestitant. She really wants to be baptized, and she understands what a big step it is, but she didn't want to set a date. When we pushed her a little bit about it, she suggested next spring... and we were like... why so far? She wants to have her mother there, which I think is really cool, but her mother lives in Germany, and she wouldn't be able to come until then. We tried to help Pupe understand how important Baptism is, and how, once you know that it's right, you really shouldn't wait. She promised to pray about the date, and that we'll be able to set one this coming week for Oct. 23rd. The best part is that her husband, who was ordained as a deacon, but hasn't been active until the last year or so, is talking about doing what it takes to get ready to perform her baptism. We're super excited about it. I can just imagine her wearing white, and I get so excited! And plus, I'm imagining what the whole McArthur family looks like in White, being sealed in the temple. I promised myself already that, when that happens, I'm totally going to be there. And I hope that it happens within the year! The even besterest part is that the whole family came to church yesterday. and it was the best! They were so happy. The two little kids, ages 6 and 3, were so happy that their mom was there, and Bro McArthur was so proud to show his wife around. It was great!!

Wednesday was crazy busy for us. We taught Jean, a neighbor of some of the members in our ward. They call her "grandma" jean, and she loves them. We tracted into her, and have begun teaching her about the gospel, and answering her questions about mormons. We taught her the plan of salvation because her brother just passed away unexpectedly last week. It went really well, and she was very receptive. Although, she is a very active Catholic, so it will take some time to teach her, and for the spirit to work with her. I'm confident that, if it doesn't happen while I'm here, at least I'm sure that she will get baptized sometime. She's so great, and practically adopted by her neighbors already. In fact, Sis. Bourgess, one of the neighbors, invited Jean to church this sunday because she was speaking, and Jean came! By the way, if anyone's counting... that's two investigators so far in sacrament meeting...

Then we had an appointment after Jean to teach San. We started with the Restoration, but we got stalled on what a prophet is, and why we need one, because there's a pretty intense language barrier. We had the lesson at the Bishop's home, and it went really well. San still has a desire to be baptized, even though she doesn't understand why, which i think is incredible. The crazy thing is, Pupe, when we were talking to about San, offered to come to our next lesson with San and help interpret the things we teach so San can understand! Isn't that crazy! Our investigators are teaching and fellowshipping each other! I love it! Oh... and also... San came to church too... so that's THREE!

On Thursday, we went to Seminary, and taught the Junior class about Missionary Work, and how Seminary helped prepare us for our missions. It was really cool. We also met with Joe, our nine year old investigator. His mom was not super thrilled last week about talking to her Ex so Joe could come to church. But while we were there, she called him and asked if she could drop him off later on Sunday, for at least the next several weeks, so Joe could come to church. And the ex was like, sure, no problem. It was really cool. And Joe is really learning the things we're teaching him. He's remembering the stuff we've talked about before, and keeping his commitments, like reading from the scriptures with his mom. He was even able to tell us about the story we asked him to read (Ammon and the Arms), and he really liked it. So we set the date for Oct 30th, and it's awesome! And, oh, yeah... he was at church too.. so that's FOUR!!! Four investigators at sacrament meeting this week! That's amazing, considering we didn't have any for a long time!!!

On Saturday, we were on exchanges with some other sisters in the area. I was with Sis. Wallentine. Who's really cool. I think that if we ever served together, it would be a lot of fun. We met some fantastic Potential Investigators, and even one that I really liked, whose name is Jasmine. She's 19 and pretty religious. We talked for probably 30 minutes, and Sis. Wallentine commited her to be baptized and she said yes!!! It was pretty cool. We'll start teaching her this week, and who knows... maybe even have another baptism in October!

That's pretty much all the exciting stuff for the week. I just loved church this sunday. It felt so much better since we had investigators there, than it has other sundays when we haven't it. The difference is amazing. And the ward sees that we're working hard and getting results, so they want to help to. It's changing everything around in the ward and I'm so excited.

I love you all so much, and I hope you're having great weeks. Give each other hugs and pretend that they're from me. lol.

Love, Sister Reid