Jan. 10, 2011

Hello everyone!!! How the heck are you all? I hope things are great. I was grateful to hear that things went okay with you mom, even though you didn't actually have the surgery. Please, on the 13th, will you call, or have dad call the mission office to let me know that you got out okay and that you're doing fine. :)

Our week started out really slowly. We had a lot of potential appointments that didn't happen for one reason or another. We thought we were in for another week of the same since the first part of december. Which has not been fun. So we decided to fast on Tuesday. We fasted for a couple things, first and foremost that we might begin again to see success in this area. But also for our own personal reasons too. :) We ended our fast on Tuesday night. On Thursday we were able to meet with a less active in our ward and encourage her to come to church. The lesson went really well. We also had dinner with a family in our ward that I had not really met before. They were awesome, and they had a referral for us. They'll have us over for dinner again in a couple weeks, with the referral as well. We're really looking forward to it. It was AWESOME.

Of Friday, we had planned to meet with Alisha (who was supposed to be baptized on the 22nd of this month), but she wasn't home. We called her later and she told us that she had had to call 911 and have an ambulance take her brother, Robert, to the hospital. It really won't be long now, before Robert passes on. Alisha is pretty upset about it, understandably. So we offered her a priesthood blessing. We've done that before, and she's always said no. This time, she said yes. So we went over there with our district leader and his companion that night. We were able to teach Alisha about some of the responsabilities of the priesthood. Then she recieved the blessing. It was great. The spirit was so strong, and afterwards, Alisha was so much more relaxed and open. She even said that she felt better. She didn't end up coming to church. She spends most of her time at the hospital with Robert now. She's even sent her 9 year old son to be with his dad so he doesn't have to be around to watch his uncle deteriorate. The doctors are mostly just making Robert comfortable now. Alisha won't be able to be baptized on the 22nd, as of now, because she still needs to start attending church. I'm sure that she'll be able to recognize the truth of the principle of church attendance when her mind is clearer and she's more able to focus on something other than her brother's passing. We're praying for her and her family constantly.

So on friday, things picked up quite a bit... then on Saturday, we had exchanges. I stayed here and Sister Christensen went to a different area. Sister Carlson came to be with me. We spent most of the whole day tracting. It wasn't very successful, honestly, and I was a little disheartened. Although we did set up one appointment for this coming week with a new potential investigator.

Sunday is where all the magic happened! We've been working with -- or trying to work with -- and investigator family named the Gonzaleses. The mom, Kim, is a less active member who was baptized when she was eight but hasn't really been to church since. She has seven kids (5 of whom are actually her her sisters kids - which she has legal gaurdianship over). They were referred to us by a member of the church who works with Kim (we didn't have her records in the ward at that time). We met with them a couple times, and she even brought her whole family to the ward christmas party. She had seemed really interested and we were really excited, but then she never came to church. Well, we went to visit her on Tuesday night (the day we fasted) and she said, yes, I'm still interested and I'm planning on coming to church this sunday. I really want this for me and my kids. Well. This Sunday she actually made it to church, with 6 of the 7 kids. Her husband didn't come, but I'm sure that he'll come around eventually. The kids LOVED primary. The oldest is 12, and he loved priesthood, and wouldn't leave his classroom at the end of the day till he made sure that the teacher found him a Book of Mormon of his very own. He was very excited to show us the part they'd been studying in class in 1 Nephi 8. It was really cool. All the kids are very well behaved and all of them already know a ton of kids in the primary from school. It was so cool. The ward just loved the heck out of them too. It was awesome! And it helped me remember how much fun Sundays are when you have investigators at church!

After that we had a lesson with Chris and his daugther Maleah. I don't remember if I told you about them or not. We've been having a hard time getting to meet with them again because of the holidays. He's been attending church in Folsom with his girlfriend who is a member. When we started teaching him, he already had a testimony of the Book of Mormon and of Joseph Smith, but he didn't want to rush getting baptized because he wanted to make sure that he was doing it for the right reasons. Well. In the 3 or so weeks its been since we met with him he's had a lot of time to think. He was talking with his son's wrestling coach who is a member, and the coach must of said some things that really touched Chris. He called us on Wednesday night and said, "I'm ready to take the next step." So last night, when we met with him, we were able to set a baptismal date for him and his daughter Maleah for January 22nd. So Alisha won't be able to get baptized that day, but Chris and Maleah should! YAY!!!!

Things are happeneing again here. It's a wonderful time to be in the Antelope 4th ward!!! I love it! And I'm so glad that I have the chance to be here to be a part of it. Thanks for all your love and support, and you prayers. I couldn't be here without them for sure! I love and miss you and I'm looking forward to hearing all about your lives in the letters that you will send!!! So send me letters!!! (not that I'm griping or whining, but I haven't had any letters in the mail, except from my friend Cat, in almost two weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) So write me please!!! I crave knowledge about how you are all doing and the events of your lives that I'm missing!!!

Love, Sister Reid