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!!!