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!!!