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