Dec. 26, 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oct 17, 2011

Dear Everyone!!!

My week here has been pretty good. We've been really busy this week. Our most progressing investigator, Veronica, quit smoking this week. She was struggling with it for the first few days. We had her meet us at the church last night with some of the elders in our ward who are preparing to serve missions in the next few weeks. They gave her one of the most beautiful priesthood blessings I've ever heard. The spirit was so strong. And Veronica is ready to be baptized. I'm excited to be apart of her story for the next few weeks.

We also set a baptismal date with Sella. I don't remember if I told you about her last week. She's from San Diego and a couple of weeks ago, when we went to meet her, one of the first things she says to us is that she wanted to be baptized. So this week when we met with her, we set the date for November 13th. She's really prepared as well, and I love getting to teach her. Plus, she has an ADORABLE 18 month old daughter named Zaray. She's SO cute!

We also started teaching a new investigator this week. Her name is Sarah. She's the best friend of one of the Young Women in our ward. Teaching her has been interesting because she comes to her friend's house (the member of our ward) to hear the lessons. But the family is big, so we're trying not to make it too uncomfortable for her. We've decided just yesterday that we're going to invite her and her friend over to the church for lunch a couple of days a week, during their lunch break at school. The high school is right across the street from the church. So the setting will be much smaller, and we'll be able to form a trusting bond that will allow us to ask good questions that can help us help her to feel the spirit without a 6 year old running around. :)

Other than that, things will be pretty normal this week. Just same old same old. :)

I hope that you'll all have a great week!

Love, Sister Reid

Oct 10, 2011

Hi. I was going to start with: How the heck are ya? But then I remembered that the only people who ever write me back are my faithfully devoted parents (dirty looks for the rest of you!!!). So instead. Hello.

This week was a really fun week for me. We had the unique opportunity to have a temporary sister with us for this last week. Some of the Temple Square missionaries get to spend a few months of thier mission out in "the field." That usually happens during the winter because tourism is much slower there, then. So our mission got two of the Temple Square sisters on Monday last week. Sister Harris came to stay with us for the week until transfer, which are today. I'll tell you more about that in a second. So Sister Harris. She's way cool, and I like her a lot! She's way fun, and I'm sad taht our companionship only lasted a week. :(

But the work has been really good while she's been here. So that's cool. We taught Veronica another couple of times, and that was way fun. She's totally prepared for the gospel. And we're still on for her baptism for the 30th. We also picked up a new investigator named Sella. She's 28 and has an adorable 2 year old. She moved her this last week from San Diego. We got a text message from the missionaries there, and when we went to see Sella, she came outside and before she'd really told us who she was, she said, "I'm going to get baptized into your church." !!! It's way cool. She came to church yesterday. It was a great week.

Now. For transfers. :)

Nothing changed with me and Williams. Sister Harris, who is the Temple Square sister that has been with us for the last week is staying in the area, with the other sister's companionship. So she'll still be around, plus Sister Tubbs, the other Senior sister in the zone will be her comp and we're good friends. The best news is that there is another sister's area in opening up in the zone just north of ours, which means that we'll do exchanges with them and see them almost all the time. And the sisters that are opening the area are Sisters Christensen and Hurtado. Yay!!! Which means that we'll see them all the time!!! So really, this next six weeks is going to go really fast, and then I'll get transferred in November for my last six weeks! It's going to be a good transfer, I can tell. :)

That about wraps things up for me. :)

Love, Sister Reid

Oct 3, 2011

Hiya!

The week here has been pretty great as they go. Of course, how could it not have been great? We had General Conference! That was definately the second coolest part of my week. The first coolest was that we got to meet with a new family and start teaching them this week. The mom and dad, Samuel and Michelle are recently coming back to church, but they have two kids that were not baptized. Angel is 9 and Precious is 8. They're super cute, and we got to teach them the first lesson this week. We set the baptismal date, and Samuel had his interview with the Bishop so that he can be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood in order to baptize his daughters. Pretty cool. The family is awesome and I'm looking forward to getting to help them be baptized on October 23rd.

We also met with Veronica a couple of times this week as well. She's so ready for the gospel and she just eats up everything we teach. She's reading the Book of Mormon from the beginning, and we never even asked her to! She's so cool. She'll be baptized on October 30th, and Sister Williams and I are both really excited about that. :)

We have also been asked, by President Weston, to host a third companion for a week -- until transfers (that's right, the transfer is already almost over! So fast!!!). Our mission is getting two temple square sisters from Salt Lake City. That mission sends the sisters out to other missions in the united states so that they can experience what it's like to proselyte. They stay for 4 1/2 months. One of them will be staying with us this week until next tuesday when she'll be assigned to her real trainer. So until then, it's like I've got another mini-missionary. :) Sister Williams and I are excited to meet her today.

Conference was pretty awesome. I found it interesting that there were a few themes, as usual. They really focused on families (which made all the elders a little uncomfortable lol) and also on attending the temple... Something I'm looking forward to doing VERY regularly once I return from my mission. There were several talks about overcoming adversity that I especially liked. I just love conference.

Anyways. That's basically it for the week. I'm excited to tell you more about Angel and Veronica's progress next week. I hope that you all have a great week and that it's awesome!

Love, Sister Reid

Sept 26, 2011

hello everybody!

I'm glad to talk to you today. Things this week were pretty good. We picked up a new investigator through teaching a less active. The new investigator's name is Veronica and she's pretty prepared. She doesn't know much about the Bible at all, but she has a firm testimony in prayer and in God. We taught her about the Book of Mormon and also about the Restoration this week. Both of the lessons were incredibly spiritual. And at the end of the first one, we committed Veronica to be baptized on October 30th, and she said yes! So that's exciting.

We also have a few new opportunities coming up in the future to pick up some investigators. A family just moved into our ward who are starting be active again after several years. They have two kids over the age of eight that were never baptized, so we'll start teaching them this week or next, probably. Also, one of my favorite families in the ward has a bunch of teenagers. One of them brought her friend to church this week, and introduced us. The friend, Sarah, has been attending seminary for a few days, and really liked church yesterday... so hopefully things will turn out. :)

that's pretty much it from here. I don't have much else to say except that I'm super excited for General Conference. The spirit is always so strong at those meetings, and I'm looking forward to hearing what the Prophet and other general authorities have to teach us about life and our goals.

Sept 19, 2011

Hello everybody.

Our week here was slow but good. I say slow, but then I realize that we taught over twenty lessons this week. It's just been a lot of teaching our recent converts, and trying to get appointments with our investigators. We're struggling right now with most of them. They have a hard time wanting to make us a priority, which is sad. I have to remember every day that there is life outside of missionary work, and people have families, and school, and jobs, and doctors' appointments, and about a thousand other things that satan uses to keep them from meeting us. It's been tough, but we're working through it.

Most of our really great lessons have been in teaching our recent converts the new member lessons. My favorite was being able to teach Jack Norene (the 89 year old) about how he can have the priesthood and be sealed to his family in a year. I also really liked being able to teach Jan and Leonard about home and visiting teaching.

Our newest investigator, Vicki, didn't come to church yesterday. She wasn't feeling good. She's battling some pretty crazy addictions to pain meds, and trying to quit. I think she was embarrased about it and didn't want to be in a crowd. So we went over yesterday after church to check on her. We set up two seperate appointments for later this week, one of which will include a tour of the church, so she won't feel so disconnected. Hopefully it will help her to want to come next week.

I'm sorry to say that that's just about it. I wish I had more for you this week. We were kind of lacking in the "miracles" department this week. I know that slow weeks are always percursors to the best weeks. It just means that there's some pretty amazing things coming our way. :)

I hope that you all have a fantastic week.

Love, Sister Reid

Sept 13, 2011

Dear everyone!

Our week here was pretty good. We taught quite a lot and that was nice. Although we are experiencing some difficulties with most of our current investigators in terms of them keeping their commitments. It's hard to figure out how to help them when they don't seem to want to help themselves. It's something that I've struggled with for my whole mission... But the awesome investigators make up for the harder ones every time. We picked up two new investigators this week, which was good. We met the first, Vicky, as a result of tracting... which we've been doing a lot of lately because I have a new missionary and we also had a mini missionary with us this last week. I wanted both of them to really experience tracting... so we did several hours of it this week. It was hard, and we only met Vicky... She invited us right in and we got to know her a bit. She struggles with some major health issues. So we taught her about the priesthood and then offered her a blessing. She readily accepted and we have a return appointment with her tomorrow afternoon with some of the guys from our ward to accompany us. :)

We also met Alicia. She's the girlfriend of a less active. Things will be slow moving with her, but I'm confident that we'll be able to help her overcome some of the negative experiences that she's had with the LDS church. Especially as we help her boyfriend, Jamie, get ready to attend the temple. It should be pretty cool.

That's pretty much it for the awesome missionary stories this week. We did have a pretty cool opportunity yesterday (the reason this email is 24 hours late) as we met for half mission tour. Elder Kearon, of the First Quorom of the Seventy, met with us for the entire day. He's a way nice guy. We all got in line at the start of the meeting to meet with him individually and shake hands for a second or two. When I got up to the front of the line, Elder Kearon shook my hand, and before I could say anything, he said, "Sister Reid, I hear you're an amazing trainer." ... ... ... Let me just say, that I was/am very flattered that he knows who I am... And also a little amazed and chagrined that President Weston even said anything about me to him. It was pretty cool. All through the meeting as we were being trained, Elder Kearon kept calling me by name, when he simply called everyone else, Sister, or Elder... It's weird that a General Authority knows my name...

It was a wonderful meeting, otherwise. I needed a bit of a boost in my motivation to serve and to be the best that I can. One elder asked Elder Kearon how he best grows closer to what the Lord wants him to be. Elder Kearon said that he's found that his greatest growth always comes as a result of a calling that he's not nearly qualified for. It made me think about my experiences as a missionary. I feel very confident as a missionary, but as a trainer, I've had to stretch and grow. And as a "professional trainer" I've had to stretch beyond anything I've ever been capable of. It's amazing how I was just feeling a few days ago about being a trainer agian... about how I don't want to do it anymore, and about how hard it is, and that I didn't feel like I was up to it. Then Elder Kearon says that the Lord calls us to positions that we can't possibly do by ourselves so that we can grow into what he wants. It was an eye opening epiphany for me... I am a trainer not because I'm good at it now, but because that's what the Lord wants me to become. It's just taken me four different greenies to get it down, while most missionaries can do it in one... hahahaha. Seriously, though. I know that I'm stretching here. Stretching farther than I ever would have wanted or asked for, but also into this person that the Lord has shaped. And I'm better for it. And I'll continue to be better.

Anyway. That's about it for today. Sorry it's short. I'll look forward to hearing from each of you next week. On monday. :)

Love, Sister Reid

Sept 5, 2011

Hello dear friends and family.

I was going to start today's email with a ton of trivial information, knowing that you're all hanging on bated breath to know what my new comp is like. So I was thinking about sharing some of the Church statistics:

Stakes - 2,896

Missions - 340

Districts - 614

Wards and Branches - 28,660

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

Total membership - 14,131,467

New children of record - 120,528

Converts baptized - 272,814

MISSIONARIES

Full-time Missionaries - 52,225

Church-service Missionaries - 20,813

TEMPLES

Temples dedicated - 4 (Vancouver British Columbia, Gila Valley Arizona, Cebu City Philippines, and Kyiv Ukraine)

Temples rededicated - 1 (Laie Hawaii)

Temples in operation - 134

but I decided, instead to just get straight to it... Soooo....

Her name is Sister Williams. She's from Albuquerque, NM. I already compared notes with her about Abq, and we don't know any of the same people. In fact, she lives on the complete opposite side of town from where we lived. Anyway. She's got four older sisters, who are all at least twenty years older. She was adopted as an infant. She's African American (how many sisters get to say they served with a black sister? Not many!) She's a graduate from BYU in, drum roll..... English Lit... crazy, huh? So we have a couple things in common. She's super cute, and has a rockin' testimony of the gospel. She was raised in the church. She's a very shy person, but she's intent on overcoming her usually quietness so that she can share the gospel. She wants to be the best that she can. I'm excited to be serving with her, and for the miracles that we'll be seeing together. She's pretty cool!

As for the things that have happened already this week... I don't really have much to report, because we've been attending a lot of training meetings this last week. The church has rolled out a new training program that is a lot different from what trainers used to do (which was pretty much whatever they wanted). Now we have a structured study program with goals and applications that we're supposed to complete each week of the new missionary's first twelve weeks. It's pretty cool, but since no one has done it before, we've had to have a lot of training on it. Which means that we haven't done much proselyting yet. We've done some... a little tracting, and some lessons that we already had scheduled, but nothing miraculous. Probably the coolest thing was getting to see 3 confirmations in sacrament meeting yesterday. I was so proud of those new converts! I love them, and I'm so happy that I got be a part of their teaching experience.

Coming up this week, we have some exciting appointments with a few new potential investigators, and some good less active lessons. So it'll be our first real full week of work together as a companionship. I'm excited to see what the week will bring. I hope and pray that it will bring good miracles. :) Both for me and my comp, as well as for all of you!

As a side note... Next week, on Monday (my traditional email day) we are having a mission conference. Elder Kearon of the 1st Quorom of the Seventy will be meeting with us for most of the day. So we won't be having a regular P-day next week. President Weston will change our P-day to a different day next week. I don't know which one, yet, but just so you know, when you don't get an email on monday next week, it isn't because I didn't write, but because I couldn't. :) I love you all. I hope you have a great week!

Love, Sister Reid

Aug 29, 2011

Hello everyone!!! I sure hope you had a great week! Ours was pretty awesome. I'll try to fit it all in. :)

Most of the week was pretty normal---as normal as missionary work gets. hahaha. Just lots of teaching and knocking on doors. Like normal. :)

The weekend was very long, though. It started on Saturday morning. I had the opportunity to go back to Antelope for a baptism. Not someone I knew when I was there. I mostly went so that I could see sister Barfuss and Sister Christensen agian. It's been a very long time since I saw either one of them. It was a wonderful day. We got there about 11:00 and left after lunch at about 3:30. It was soooo great to see them. I'd forgotten how close I was with each of them. And it was also kind of bittersweet because I had to leave again. But I got to see them again yesterday because they came to Yuba city to see Jan and Leonard get baptized. But I'll get to that in a second. First, let me tell you about Saturday night.

I was running around, making tons of phone calls trying to get everything finalized for the baptisms for yesterday. I randomly got a call from Elder Osborn, one of the assistants who told me that transfers were done, and then he told me that I would be training and my current companion, Sister Hurtado was being transferred to Auburn. The rest of the transfer calls were made that same night. None of companionships that I suggested were what really happened.... I guess that's why President is the President and not me. :) I really like that the calls went out early. I hope it's something that President does from now on. Sooo... yeah.... training again...

Anyway.

Sunday was very busy for us. We had church, like normal, and then right after church, we had a couple of appointments, before ward council. Ward council got finished at 4:00 and then we booked it over to the stake center to get things ready and set up for Jan and Leonard's baptism. It was well attended by the Colusa branch, and I was very happy to see Jan and Leonard go through with it. We've been teaching them since March, and they've had a lot to overcome. It was wonderful. And one of the best parts was that Sister Barfuss got to come. Jan and Leonard are the first investigators that she was involved in finding that have gotten baptized. It was just a really great service. Then, we had some cookies and socialized for a few minutes. After that everyone from Colusa went home and people from the Feather River ward showed up for Leslie's baptism. It was really great to rewind and start over. It wasn't quite well attended, but Leslie hasn't been to church much yet. The spirit was still super strong. I love baptisms!

So last night we got home and were super exhausted. No rest for the weary though. Sister Hurtado had to start packing. Today we have tons of people to visit so she can say goodbye, and tomorrow is transfers. I'll be off to Antelope again for Meet Your Trainer... the 5th time I've been to that meeting. Geez.

I love you all. I can't wait to see you all in a few months. Keep your prayers coming. I'm going to need them this week, with a new greenie and all.... :)

Love, Sister Reid

Aug 22, 2011

Hiya everyone. I have one very awesome story to tell you, and then that's pretty much it for this week.

We had a baptism last night. Jack Norene, age 89, got baptized. It was VERY well attended by multiple wards from the stake. Sister Norene has been an active member here in the city for 70 years - back when there was only one ward here. Now there's an entire stake, and everyone knows her and the family. We had to move the whole program into the chapel because the primary room (where the font is) was too small for everyone that came. It was a pretty great experience and I'm so grateful that I got to be part of the event that will eventually bring this family together forever. :)

We also had Zone conference this week. It was the first real conference for President Weston, and it was really good. We focused a lot on how to have more effective companionship study and how we can qualify for the spirit as we seek to find those for whom we are looking. The best part of the whole conference, though, was probably afterwards when he met with some of the missionaries in specific breakout groups. First he met with the trainers and trainees for just a few minutes. He made sure that we're all doing okay and then told us about a new program that the church is rolling out for trainers and trainees. It will be pretty cool, and we'll initiate it next week, with transfers. After that, he met with all the sisters who were there. President Pendleton ran the sisters in the mission like a seperate mission from the elders. Which was fine, but it meant that we were pretty isolated from them. So President Weston told us (the six of us that were there) that he wants to integrate us more fully, and asked for our suggestions on how to do that. We asked for more leadership training and for more opportunities to be involved in our districts and zone meetings. He was very grateful for the suggestions. I'm excited for the changes over the next couple of months that this will bring.

After that he asked to meet with me alone for a few minutes. Then he asked for my input for transfers. He asked about my opinions on some specific companionships and for suggestions on who might serve best with who. It was kind of wierd to be that involved. And I feel very honored that he trusts my judgement enough to be asking. He also asked me if I'd be willing to train again. It's very hard to train this much. I've done it three times now, and it's tough to teach, pretty much alone, for two or three months, while your junior comp gets the hang of things. I've been trying to ask President for an opportunity to work with a sister that's been out awhile so that I could really work. But at the same time, I don't want to miss out on another opportunity to meet the next sister Barfuss - my last companion that I love soooooo much. So that's what I told him. I don't want to miss any opportunities. I'll do whatever I'm asked.

Yesterday was probably the most stressed I've been in a couple of weeks. We had to speak in sacrament meeting up in Colusa, and I felt very impressed to kind of lay the law down about home and visiting teaching. It was a hard talk to prepare and give. I don't like making people feel guilty, but it's what the Lord wanted me to teach, so I did. After that we had to go see Jan and Leonard, who are supposed to be getting baptized in a week. The called a few days ago and said that they were maybe not so interested. So we went over to their house and spent about an hour trying to pull that back together. It was kind of tense, but we reminded them that they know that this is true, no matter what other people say, or whatever goes on in their lives. So they are back on for this next weekend. Then we had to book it back to Yuba City for jack's baptism. It was a stressful day, full of wonderfully hard miracles. But it ended well and I'm glad it's over.

That's pretty much it for this week. Transfers are next week, so by the time I write next week, I'll know what's happening to me and Sister Hurtado, and pretty much all the other sisters in the mission... hahaha. This sunday, we have three baptisms scheduled. So it'll be another busy week. I'm looking forward to it though, and to all the wonderful things I'll be able to tell you next week.

love, Sister reid

Aug 15, 2011

Hiya everyone! I sure hope you've had a great week. Ours was not bad, as they go. :) We had a mini missionary with us for most of the week. It was lots of fun to take her with us on all of our appointments and to show her every phase of missionary work. She's going to be a great missionary someday (if she doesn't get married first... hahahaha).

We met a new investigator this week named leslie. She's investigated the church before, and really liked it, but couldn't join because of her disapproving husband. They're divorced now, and when we knocked on her door this week, she invited us right in. We taught her about the book of mormon and how doing things to grow her faith, like reading, praying and coming to church, will help her get a closer relationship with God. She ate it up. We set a tentative baptismal date for the 18th of Sept. She didn't fully accept it because she wanted to know for sure that it's true. She came to church yesterday for the first time. After Relief Society, she asked to speak with us privately. I was worried that the lesson (which was the law of chastity) had turned her off of the church. But instead, she said that this church is her church. She feels like she belongs here. She said she didn't want to wait till September, so, since we already have a baptism scheduled on the 28th, we said, sure! She's super excited and she wants to meet with us twice a week now, which is different from the once-every-other-week schedule she had originally asked for. It's cool to see her change so quickly! I don't think I've ever seen it happen this fast before. :)

Our other baptism that we have scheduled for the same night is actually a couple of investigators from Colusa. It's funny that the work and the investigators really started progressing after we left there. Weird. So we've been teaching this couple, Jan and Leonard, since April. And about 8 weeks ago, after teaching them the final lessons, for the 3rd time, I handed Leonard (who'se been the one holding them back) a calendar and said, "you choose the date. When do you believe that you'll be ready?" And he chose August 28th. Even then, we haven't been sure that they'll be ready. Except that when we taught them this week, they were excited and making plans and getting ready. It was so cool. So we scheduled the building. We'll have Jan and Leonard and the Colusa branch come for their baptism at 5:30. We'll have dinner in between (a nice little potluck, I hope... ) and then Leslie and the Feather River ward at 7:30. It will be pretty cool. :)

We also have a baptism this sunday. It's for Jack, our 89 year old investigator. He's pretty excited (from what I can tell.. hahaha) and so is his whole family, and basically all of the mormon community in Yuba, who've known the family since they got married. It's going to be pretty packed. I'm glad I was able to be a part of this. :)

In non-baptism related news, we were asked to speak in the Spanish Branch here. We did it yesterday, and it's the first time I've ever had someone translate for me. It was pretty interesting. My talk was 6 minutes long if I read it myself, but when I actually gave it, it was 25 minutes. It took forever to get translated. I hope I don't have to do that again for awhile. :)

That's pretty much it for me for this week. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks for us, while we prepare for these baptisms and gear up for transfers... which is coming on the 30th. So not next week, but the week after. :) I'm hoping for a bit of a change. I've been in this stake for 5 transfers now. No other missionaries have been here as long as me... Oh well... what happens happens. :)

I love you all, and I can't wait to hear from you!

Love, Sister Reid

August 8, 2011

Well hello everyone!

We've had kind of a slow week here. I think that it seems to always happen after we have a baptism. There's always a bit of a let down. Not much... just a little one. Last week we taught 30 lessons, and this week we taught 19... which is still 4 lessons over the mission standard... :) Just not as awesome as it could have been.

There's really not that much to report in terms of specifics. We weren't able to meet with our investigators who have baptismal dates for various reasons. That's something we'll change this week. We did manage to have a pretty awesome experience with a new family we just started teaching this week. The mom, Christy, is a less active. She was baptized and extremely active when she was 13. She loved the church. She fell away when she was harshly judged by members of her ward as a result of some mistakes she made when she was 16. Now she's 25 and married and they have a yours, mine, and ours family. 6 kids. It's pretty roudy, but it reminds me of home... the oldest is 16 and the youngest is 2... just like my family, practically... :) Anyway. We found her when we were tracting a couple months ago. We've been trying to get in to teach them, but they've been forgetting our appointments. This last week, both of their dogs died from Parvo - a pretty nasty, very contagious disease. The kids were asking what happens to the dogs after they die, and Christy didn't know how to answer them, so she asked us to come in last night and teach them about the plan of salvation. It was a pretty great experience. The kids don't know much about religion, so when we asked them how Jesus Christ helps them in their lives and they didn't even know who he is, we set up a return appointment right then for next week. Christy really enjoyed us being there, so we'll be going every sunday night for awhile. She's excited that the kids will have some knowledge about God. It's cool. We'll continue to work with them, and help her to find forgiveness so she can come back to church.

That's pretty much it... We have a mini missionary with us this week. Her name is Sister Yang. She's from a Hmong family, and for those of you who don't know, that's a very small minority of asian people from the Mongolia area. She was born in the United States, but her parents weren't. She's a convert of almost two years. It's going to be a fun week, showing her around and teaching her about missionary work. :)

I love you all!

Love, Sister Reid

August 1, 2011

Wow. Can you believe that it's August already. It seems to me that time is flying faster than it ever has before.

It's been a really busy week for us. It started out really slow, though. On tuesday night, we'd only had 3 lessons actually take place. A bunch of people were no shows. So that was kind of sad. But after that, things really picked up, and by friday night, we had taught 20 lessons. So we looked at our plans, and decided to go for broke. By last night, we set a new personal record of teaching 30 lessons in one week. It was awesome. Maybe the coolest thing that happened out of all of that was that the other elders in our district have caught on, and decided that they're going to try to beat us this week. So there's an out an out contest, and for the first time in two transfers, I feel like our district might be trying to be unified. It's nice.

As far as our investigators go... Rhonda and Linda (i don't remember if I told you about them, but we've been teaching them for about a month) decided this week that, after praying (maybe) that the church wasn't true, so they've dropped us. Which makes me sad. Especially since they aleady believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet. But they were given some antimormon literature about a week ago and things haven't been the same since. Oh well. We testified like crazy, and they know that we know that it's true. Maybe the next set of missionaries can affect them. We've also been meeting with a part member family quite a lot, and the one who is not a member, Mark, has been really interested. In order for him to accept the truth, he'll have to make some pretty major changes in his life. But he said that he's willing to do it. The hardest for him will be living the word of wisdom and keeping the law of chastity. But we've talked a lot about the blessing he'll recieve for doing it, and he wants them. So he committed to being baptized on the 28th of august. We'll work hard with him. Hopefully he'll make it for that day. We also picked up a new family. We've only taught them once so far, but it was really great. After our first lesson with them the wife told us that she felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders and that she was more at ease and peaceful and happy than she'd felt in a long time. I'm excited for the coming weeks and beginning to really teach them. It's a mom and dad, his teenage son, and their six and one year old. It'll be fun to tell you about them as we continue to teach them. :)

My companion and I also had a really great breakthrough this week. I've noticed for the last several weeks that she's been trying less and less to participate. She speaks only when spoken to and doesn't teach unless I make her. We had a really long conversation about it, and we found out together that she has thought that her call to speak english was a mistake, because she wrote on her application that she learned English in High School (which is the same as most of us Americans learning Spanish in high school -- practically useless). So she's been thinking this whole time that she wasn't supposed to be here. We talked for a long time about the inspiration of the calls, and then we talked about the gift of tongues. She was having doubts that she could learn English at all, so she wasn't trying. It was hard to get her to admit it, but once she did, there's been a shift in her attitude. Now she has faith to know that she can learn english if she tries, and that the Lord will help her. She's more actively involved now. Things have been so much better the last few days. It's like I'm not so alone in the work anymore. I wish we could have had that discussion two months ago. :)

We had a wonderful baptism for Juanita Roberts this week. It was amazing. Nearly the entire branch showed up. I was so proud of them. And they took care of the whole thing. We didn't have to do much at all. It was wonderful. And I got to see them all again. It was like going to the best family reunion I've ever been too. The mission president came, and I'm a little embarrased. He probably thinks that I never did any work in Colusa, just hung out with the members all the time... hahahaha.

Anyways, I love all of you. I can't wait to hear from you. So please email!!!

Love, Sister Reid

July 25, 2011

Hiya family!

I sure hope you had a good week! Mine was both amazing, and really not. hahaha.

Before my mission, a good friend of mine told me that missions are amazing, and that you experience the highest highs of your life, but also the highest lows of your life. Sometimes in the same day. That has been true for me this week!

I won't tell you much about the lows. Just that we're experiencing some major struggles with some of our investigators, recent converts, and less actives It's tough to know how to deal with them. I pray every day for more guidance by the Spirit to know how we can help them. Last night, for example, we met with a cute, young, less active couple in our ward. Both the husband and the wife are returned missionaries. We talked pretty seriously about their experiences since they've not been active, and, just as it says in the Book of Mormon, they've forgotten everything. They have no light of the gospel in their lives. The testimonies that drove them while they were on their missions, and the joy in the service that I KNOW they must have felt, are gone. Just gone. They have no desire to come back. And it broke my heart. I absolutely refuse to be them after my mission. I'm sure that the Lord placed them here for me so I can learn from their example. I promise to Him, to myself, and to all of you, that I will NEVER be inactive!

Despite all the lows, or maybe because of them, we're seeing some great miracles too. Juanita, our investigator from Colusa is still rocking it! She'll be baptized on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to that, not just because of the baptism itself, which will be amazing - it always is - but also because most of the branch is planning on attending. So I'll get to see all my friends again. It'll be great. :)

We also picked up another new investigator this week, who will be a lot like Juanita. We didn't have to work for him at all. His name is Jack and he's 89 years old. He's been married to an active member for 64 years, and supported several of his kids through missions and educations at BYU, but never wanted to get baptized till this week. So we set the date for August 21st, and we'll teach him till then.

A couple things I've noticed as a trend in my mission... First, that I work with a lot of old people. Maybe my experiences at the Seville with grandma Reid prepped me for this... ? I love them. And I find that I can understand them. And I love hearing about their lives and their experiences. :) Also, I've noticed, especially the last two months or so, that the harder I struggle with personal trials and the harder my mission seems to be, the more "golden" investigators we get. It's like the Lord is balancing things out. I got transfered away from my favorite companion, to shotgun train someone who can't speak English, and we pick up Juanita (who's getting baptized on Sunday!). And then I find out that I'm staying here, and some things are about to get harder, and we pick up Jack - the 89 year old. These investigators are people I never had to work a second for. No knocking on doors, no asking for referrals. They just came to us...... It's nice. Not that I'm asking for any more hard stuff... it's just nice. :)

Anyway. That's about it for this week. I love all of you. I'm looking forward to hearing from you. Especially those of you from whom I haven't heard in awhile. This means you, Kayti, Daniel, Jared, and Jaymi! I understand it's hard to write... but you can Email me! As for the rest of you, I found out you can email too. I can't email you back, but I can print your emails, and the write you back. So next week, I expect LOTS of email!!!

Love, Sister Reid

July 18, 2011

Hiya everyone!

I hope that your week was great! Ours was much better than it's been. We actually had some of our investigators come to church, which was nice. A few of them have started progressing and it's been fun to see them realize that we're doing more than just coming to their homes for "bible study" but that we want to help them achieve a level of happiness and satisfaction they've maybe never had before. It's nice to be back in this situation, which I haven't really been in since my first area.

As far as specifics goes, we've got a few exciting prospects. The first being that one of our investigators, Juanita, from Colusa, is getting baptized on the 31st. I don't remember if I've talked about her at all. But she's totally golden. She started coming to church the week after we left Colusa. And she hasn't missed a week since. We've been going up once a week to teach her the lessons, and she's excited to get baptized. YAY!!! We also finally got Jan and Leonard, also from Colusa, to commit to baptism. I handed Leonard a calendar and asked him when he believed that he'd be ready to get baptized, and he picked August 28th. It was really cool! So we'll continue to go to Colusa once a week to teach them as well. :)

We had our first Interview with President Weston this week, as well. And it was AMAZING. he's a great guy. And he's going to do great things for the mission. I already love him so much. Our interview was almost 20 minutes long. And it was much better than any of the interviews I ever had with President Pendleton. I love him too, but President Weston is great. He told me all about how much he knows about me. Without ever having met me before. From what other missionaries have said about me and from what he's observed in my interactions with other missionaries. He said he NEVER says that any missionary is the best, except for his trainer from his mission. And then he said that I'm the best. He said that only the best missionaries are trainers, and that's why I'm training. At the start of the interview he said he couldn't tell me if I'd be training again. By the end of the interview he said that I would definately be training again. He said that my ability to "lift where I stand" will lift the entire mission for years to come. He said that my level of success is unprecedented in our mission and that I've been that successful because of my ability to listen to and qualify for the spirit. It was nice to hear. Don't worry, though. I'm not letting it get to my head. I'm excited to get to spend more time working for and with President Weston. He's going to be great!

Transfer calls came this morning, and Sister Hurtado and I are staying together one more transfer. President Weston did say that he knows how hard it is to work in a companionship where there's a language barrier... He served his mission in Tokyo, Japan... He knows how much Sister Hurtado and I are struggling. He knows what this is like. He knows that it can be a little lonely. And he promised that it wouldn't be forever. We'll have one more transfer together. And then he said he'd give me a strong companion. He says he knows the joy of working two by two, instead of all by yourself with a shadow, and he wants me to have that again before I go home.

That's pretty much it for the week. I'm looking forward to the start of a new transfer, and the opportunities that will be there for us. Lots of growth and lots of success.

I love all of you and I can't wait to hear from you over the next couple weeks!

Love Sister Reid