March 7, 2011

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a good week! Mine was pretty
good, actually. I've been battling with a head cold, and wishing for
the second time in six months that I could have refund on my flu shot.
:)

Other than that, we've been working like normal. A couple weeks ago,
I requested that we be allowed a few more miles for our car. We had
been allotted 1300/month, which was about 35 miles a day. Which, if
we go anywhere other than Colusa, we use about 60/day.... So I
requested a few more, and we were granted a trial of 1500 miles, plus,
if it's not enough at the end of the month, they'll take us up to 1600
or even 1700! Which means that we've been able to do a lot more work
in some of the other towns and cities in the county! And we're seeing
success because of it. Just last night, we had dinner in Arbuckle,
which isn't even an incorporated city, just a small town of a
popluation around 400 or so... Anyway, we ate dinner with some of the
members there, and then we went to visit some of the less actives that
live there. We met with a 16 year old, Caitlyn, who hasn't been
active for a few years because of a falling out with some of the young
women in the branch... who have all moved away now. She was excited
to hear about that, and to hear that one of her good friends, Aaron,
was just baptized a couple weeks ago. She didn't even know about it.
So she's excited to come back to church, and her family, although not
interested in taking the lessons, are all very supportive. I like
them, and I'm excited to spend some more time with them in
fellowshipping them.

After that we went over to see a Potential Investigator that lives
just down the street from Caitlyn. His name is Tillman, and we
stopped by earlier in the week. He was busy at the time but asked if
we could come back. So we went back last night. We had a really
great lesson about church and why it's necessary. He's married with 5
kids. He and his wife moved to Arbuckle about 5 years ago, and really
wanted to find a new church. They went to the community church, but
it didn't feel right, and they've never gone back, or tried any other
churches. Tillman was excited to hear what we had to teach about
Christ and the Book of Mormon. He was really excited that we're a
family oriented church, and the fact that our Sunday service lasts 3
hours didn't even faze him. He want's to come, and we're excited to
see him this coming sunday at church. We'll stop by his house this
coming week, if we're able to get to Arbuckle again, just to reinforce
the things we've taught him, and to see if we can have some face time
with the rest of the family. :)

In other news this week, our other investigators are progressing
nicely. We've been able to really gain the trust of one in
particular: Leslie. We were able to teach her about the Plan of
Salvation, and she said it really fit with everything she believes.
She confided that she's not happy with the Catholic belief system, and
that it doesn't meet all of her needs. But she really likes the
symbolism and ceremony of the Catholic Church. We talked about some
of our ceremonies and symbols and compared them with the Catholics.
She was impressed about the similarities. She's slowly progressing,
but I think she's starting to envision herself as part of our church.
We're going to commit her to coming to church in the next couple of
weeks, so she can check it out herself.

Speaking of commiting. We picked up a new investigator a couple weeks
ago, and we were able to teach her the first lesson on Friday. It
went really well. Her name is Diana, and she's the daughter of one of
our less actives. She's in her 40s, with 2 children, and she recently
moved home to get out of a bad situation... anyway, she ate up
everything we had to teach her, and she's so prepared! We commited
her to baptism, and she said, "whoa, let's not jump the gun, here" so
we said, "when you know that it's true, will you be baptized" and she
said, "yes, When I know." So it's not a full commitment yet, but
she's willing to read the book of Mormon, and pray about it. She
couldn't come to church this week, but she'll be here this next
sunday. So we should have good things happening on Sunday. :)

Also, speaking of Sundays... I've been given a new calling by the
Branch President. I'm the branch's new Primary Pianist.... Yikes...
When he extended the calling, I kept thinking about how it was a curse
and not a blessing that mom and dad made me take piano lessons, lol.
It's going to be a new challenge, added onto the rest of the things
that I'm working on here in Colusa, but I'm up for it. Hopefully the
Lord will bless me with the talent to play better, so I won't have to
spend so much time practicing and not proselyting.

That's pretty much it for the news here. I want you all to know that
I love what I'm doing, and I know that there's no better way I could
be spending my time. This 18 months of missionary work are the
hardest and most difficult thing I've done. But already I can see
that I'm being refined. That my impurities are being burned out, and
that I'm becoming what the Lord wants of me. At the end of my mission
I truly will not be the same Sister Reid that started this. And I'm
excited to meet her!

I love all of you, and I hope that your coming weeks will be awesome!
Keep working hard and praying for those missionary experiences! I
know that the Lord will bless you with them. So be prepared (have an
extra Book of Mormon with you at all times!!!) and keep your eyes
open. The Lord will put someone in your path with a hunger to read
it! I PROMISE!!!

Love Sister Reid