Sept. 13, 2010

I'm so jealous that you're all in Denver!!! That sounds like so much fun! I hope you all had a great time. Give everyone hugs from me! Also, if anyone wants my emails, you're welcome to forward them along. Or, as long as Jared is still posting them, they can go to my blog and read them there: www.nickireidsreads.blogspot.com :)

So this week. How can even begin to talk about it? It was crazy! Miracles happened this week! On tuesday, after I emailed you, we had an appointment with a potential investigator, who had previously met with the missionaries, but then moved. We tracted into her about 3 months ago, and finally got an appointment that she didn't cancel. Her name is Dusti, and she has a 10 year old son named Tristan. She's a single mom. And we taught her about the book of mormon, and she was really skeptical. She kept deferring to Tristan. I think that if she decides to move forward with us and keep commitments, it will be because Dusti does. It's a really interesting situation. But it went pretty well, and we have another appointment with them on Friday. I just think that things are going to move really slow with them for awhile.

We also met with the Bill and Zola Crowder. I don't remember how much I've shared about them... So I'll just summarize here by saying that they're retired, and she's so ready for baptism it's amazing. But her husband, Bill, is close minded and hard hearted. He's super nice and way friendly, and he loves having us in his home to talk about spiritual things, but he refuses to keep any commitments. It's hard to know how to teach them. Zola has read the Book of Mormon several times and agrees with everything we say... But she won't come to church or be baptized until Bill does, which is how it should be, really, but at the same time, I just want to shake her and say, don't let him hold you back!!! Anyway, I love them, and I love teaching them. I just pray that the Lord will help me and my companion know what we need to do and say to help Bill understand the gospel.

On Wednesday, Sister Silva woke up with a killer flu bug. She had a fever and everything. She was just miserable, which was really unfortunate. We had to cancel most of the whole day, and stay in. Not because she couldn't work, which she really wanted to, but because she was contagious, and we didn't want to get our investigators and members sick that we were spending time with that day. So spent most of the day at home. Except... we had a really important lesson scheduled with San, who I told you about last week. She's the older buddhist lady who has a testimony of prayer, and a husband who is not really supportive, but he's very sick. Anyway, our appointment was at 9:00 AM at the park. I called the other sister missionaries in our area, and we did an exchange so Sis. Silva could stay home, while I went to the appointment with Sister Lytle. On the way over the appointment, I was telling Sis. Lytle about San, and I felt very impressed to commit San to be baptized. Which is really crazy. She doesn't practically anything about Christianity, let alone baptism! But I told Sis. Lytle that we were going to do it, if the spirit directed. So we got to the park, and we taught about the Godhead (she was very surprised to find out that God and Jesus Christ are not the same person) and about the spirit, and how we can recieve our own revelation. She offered the opening prayer, and I know that she has been practicing, because her prayers are so simple, but so full of purpose and faith. We talked about Jesus Christ a little bit, and we taught her about baptism, and following Jesus' example, and then... I said, "San, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the priesthood authority of God?" and she said YES!!! And then we talked about what that meant, you know... the remission of sins, membership in the church, and the commitments that she had to make and keep. We talked about how she needed to continue to read her Book of Mormon, Pray. And then I said that she would need to tell her husband about this decision, because she couldn't lie to him about this, and I told her that she needed to start coming to church. She said she would do all of that. Then I said, "We'll be holding a baptismal service on the October 9th. Will you prepare yourself to be baptized on that day?" and she said... "what time?" !!!! I love it!!! And the best part is! She came to church too, just like she said she would! She lives just three doors down from the Bishop, so she's spent some time at their house since she committed to be baptized, and they're doing a great job fellowshipping her. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it!!!

But that's not it for the week! We are also teaching a young man in our ward, who's mom is active, but because of divorce, he spends weekends with his dad, who is not a member. So he doesn't come to church. He's nine, and was never baptized. But he told his mom a few weeks ago that he wants to be baptized. So on Thursday, when we ment with him and his mom, we told him we'd be happy to help him get ready, but he has to come to church 3 weeks in a row, and then, after he's baptized, if he can't come to church because of his dad, he still has to participate in all the activities during the week. We set a tentative baptismal date for October 16th (the week after San) and we're praying that Joe (that's the kids' name) and his dad can come to church.

But wait, there's more!!!

We met with Pupe on Friday. We've been struggling with what to teach her, because we didn't know how to help her come closer to Jesus Christ and Heavenly father without making her feel like she was betraying her Thai culture. We started out our lesson this week with talking about personal revelation, and the nature of God, hoping to find some kind of common ground between Mormonism and Buddhism. We asked her a ton of questions about her religion that helped her to see that, A) she's not getting anything out of worshipping Buddha--he doesn't answer her prayers, and B) she's not Buddhist because she has a testimony of Buddha, she's Buddhist because her family and culture are buddhist... That was a revelation to us too, because we thought this whole time that she had a firm belief in the way of Buddha, and she really doesn't. Then, in the course of this conversation, as she realized she only goes to the Buddhist temple because it's tradition for her, she asked if she could be baptized into our church, but still attend the Buddhist temple, out of respect for her culture, but not because she worships Buddha.

Pause here, for just a second, and realize how crazy that is!!! She just asked to be baptized! And Sis. Silva and I thought it would be years before that would happen! We talked to our Bishop and Ward Mission Leader, and Zone leaders, just to be sure, and they all think that, as long as Pupe recognizes that she has a testimony of the Gospel, and worships God, not Buddha, then it shouldn't be a problem if she attends the Buddhist temple with her family, and lights incense out of respect for her culture and her family... It would be like those Catholic converts who still go to Christmas and Easter mass with their families who are not members.

Anyway, after she mentioned this, she also talked about the differences between when she prays to Buddha, and feels calm and peaceful, because she's forcing it, and when she prays to God and feels the Holy Ghost comfort her. She said that a relationship with God is more personal and real than it is with Buddha, and she wants that in her life. It was amazing! So we didn't set a date with her right then, because we had to check with the leaders about the culture thing, but since they said yes, we're going to try for the 23rd of October! So, in October, we could have a baptism every single saturday! It's so crazy!!! Miracles are happening this week!

We thought our area would never progress! Our investigators were all stalled, and we thought we were stuck. But, all of a sudden, things just started to happen! I'm so glad for the things I'm witnessing, and the changes I see that the Holy Ghost makes in the hearts of the people we teach. It even gives me hope and faith that Bill Crowder will someday change too. :-)

I love my mission. I love my investigators. I love my companion. I love seeing miracles happen here every day, both big and small, and I love that I had the chance to do this! I love the Gospel, and I'm so grateful that it's so perfect and so universal! Thank you for helping me be here, and for all your love and support. Be good, and everyone keep writing me! I crave your mail! I promise to write back!

Love, Sister Reid

P.S. Jared and Daniel--- if you want that tie to be in pictures of my batisms, you'd better send it to me quick... I have only 3 weeks before my first baptism!!!

Sept. 7, 2010

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all doing very well! I got your package this week, and me and all the other missionaries in the zone are very grateful for all the cookies and candy. :) So thanks a ton!!! Also, mom, I'm sending you a nice long letter today, so you should get that friday or saturday. I'm glad to hear that things worked out for dad's ipod. :) and that everyone is doing well.

Our week was a combination of awesome and slow... if that's possible.. lol...

We started out with two canceled appointments on Monday (which turned out to be good, because we were able to make contact with some of our other potential investigators to make appointments for this week), and most of the rest of the week went the same way. But last monday, we were able to do a little sight seeing. We went to a bridge in Auburn, which is about 40 minutes north of where I am. Anyway, this bridge is about 1/4 mile long, and 800 feet in the air. It's been in a lot of movies. We got to go underneath the bridge and climb up the rafters and steel beams so that we could look, down at 800 feet of nothing. It was really fun! Don't worry though, we were safe and careful... I've attached some pictures... I didn't go out there, because I couldn't climb up the wall... But next time we go, i'm totally bringing a step ladder!

We met with Pupe this week, and it went really well. At first it was going badly, though. Her kids were all over the place and very distracting, and the spirit was not having an easy time making things work... but she took a few minutes out and put the kids down for a nap, and things calmed down. We started by talking about alma 18, and the nature of God. Then it evolved into a lesson on studying the scriptures. Pupe recognized that two months ago, she was excited to read the Book of Mormon, and that she got away from it for a little while, and now she has a hard time getting back into it. So we talked about the Holy Ghost - that when she has the desire to learn more, she's being prompted by the Holy Ghost, and when she doesn't, she's being prompted by Satan. It went really well. We went over some study helps from this month's ensign with her, and then gave her a whole list of scriptures to study about the Holy Ghost. We also gave her a small notebook that we found at the dollar store for her to write down her feelings and questions when she reads. I know that this will help her progress towards making more serious commitments, like praying everyday, and attending church, and someday, being baptized. :)

We also met with San, our new investigator. She's buddhist also, but much older. Or rather, she used to be buddhist. She converted to Christianity six years ago, but she's not active in any church, mostly because her husband, an american, disapproves of organized religion. They've only been married 4 or 5 years, and from the way she talks about him, it's a marriage of convenience rather than anything else... She's a caregiver, and he is very sick with Diabetes. He needed someone to take care of him and she needed somewhere to live. San speaks broken english, so our lessons do have to be really simple, but in spite of that, or maybe because of it, the spirit is really strong in our lessons. We have to teach at the park, because she doesn't want to tell her husband about us yet. But I know that the more she reads of the Book of Mormon (which we gave her in Thai) the more she'll have a desire to share what she learns with her husband. We teach her once a week right now, and so far we've only talked about the book of mormon, and what she can gain from it. This week, we plan to teach her about Joseph Smith, and the Restoration. I pray that everything will go well. :)

Sunday was also pretty awesome. The sacrament meeting was really good. The members, without any prompting from us, almost all bore their testimonies about missionary work, -- how it's effected their lives in one way or another. I don't know if I mentioned it yet, but our ward is on the verge of something big... I can feel it. :) The attitudes of the members towards missionary work is all changing, and I love it!

Well, that's about it for this week. I hope you are all doing really well and that life is good! I laughed at the story about the voo-doo ferret, and i love that Cale is trying to treat Cindi like a ferret. It makes me happy. :-)

I love and miss you all and thanks for all your prayers and thoughts. Keep 'em comin'!

Love, Sister Reid

Aug. 30, 2010

Hello family! How's life? I love hearing how everyone is, and I'm very grateful for all your letters and emails. To answer your questions, mom, the stuff that we bought for dad's ipod is all still on his computer. If he's deleted any music or conference talks since I put them on before I left, then they won't be there anymore, and he'll have to get them again, otherwise all the applications, like the games and scriptures are all still on his computer, and as soon as he gets the iPod back, and syncs it to the computer, he'll be able to access them all again. Does that answer your question?

This week was crazy busy. The church has changed the focus for the way we teach. I missed the new training at the MTC by about 6 months. But they've started implimenting it here in the mission already, so we'll be ready and already doing it when the missionaries are coming out of the MTC. All the "older" sisters and Zone and District leaders went to a four day training to learn all about it. Then they'll be teaching us for the next six months how to impliment those things. So Sister Silva was gone during the day all week, and I was on exchanges with other junior sisters until the evening when Sis. Silva became available again. We covered multiple areas during the day, which is maybe why I'm so tired. We taught way more lessons because of it. Especially in the evening, because we had been scheduling as many lessons as we could for later in the day when Sis. Silva and I could teach them. And the new training is REALLY making a difference. We're learning how to teach by asking questions, so the investigators really teach themselves. And instead of just teaching the lessons from preach my gospel, we show our investigators how to receive their own revelations on the things we teach. And that's become the focus of everything we do and say with our investigators.

We really noticed the difference with our investigator, Pupe. We haven't been able to teach her for a long time because of her sisters's wedding, but that's over now, so we met with her twice. The first time it went badly. Mostly because it was me and another sister that Pupe is not familiar with. This other sister was trying to be good, but she got a little pushy with Pupe and asked rather pointedly why she wasn't coming to church. Pupe got a little offended, and wanted to know when Sis. Silva was coming back, and when we came back, could we not talk about religion ever agian. She basically wanted to drop us, which really scared me. But we got a return appointment, and made sure that Sis. Silva would be able to come. We asked her to read Alma 32 and I said that we would talk about faith next time, since she's having a hard time developing faith in something other than Buddha. Later in the week, when we went back, we decided to try the new program. So instead of teaching a lesson from Preach My Gospel, we talked about Ch 32 in Alma, and asked her some really good questions. She said that vs 16 really spoke to her, and she felt like she was being yelled at by god. It was AWESOME!!! Here's the verse:

16 Therefore, blessed are they who ^ahumble themselves without being ^bcompelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without ^cstubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.

She said that she felt like a little child, and that God was telling her to be less stubborn and just listen to us. I know we made huge strides with her. :) The cool thing is that this verse is not why we assigned her the chapter... I didn't even know it was there! We wanted her to read about the experiment of faith, but I know that she got what she needed out of the chapter. :)

We talked about prayer, and how that helps us to recieve our own answers. We asked if she believes in god, and she said yes, but not that he is the creator. We also asked if she has ever prayed to know if Buddhism is right, and she said that she hasn't because she's afraid that He'll tell her that it's not right. Which means that somewhere inside she has doubts about her religion. We backed off about that at this point though, and read the creation from genesis, and asked her to pray about that. We told her that gaining a testimony about this would help her understand how she recieves revelation, since it's different for all of us, and that once she understands how that works for her, she'll better be able to read and understand the Book of Mormon, and anything else we talk about. We assigned her chapter 18 of Alma for tomorrow, since it's the story of King Lamoni being taught about God and the creation.

We also met with Alisha twice this week. Her brother just moved in with her. He's a Pentacostal Minister, and we thought we'd have a real struggle teaching her while he was there. Especially when he invited himself to join the lesson. But he turned out to be a really good asset. He was very warm and open about everything, and asked some really good questions about the restoration. We ran out of time to really get into it, and we're looking forward to this week, when we can talk about the apostasy and restoration some more and really teach about modern day revelation and prophets. It's going to be great!

I simply can't explain how the work here is exploding right now! When I first got here two months ago, we had two investigators, one of whom was lukewarm at best. Now we have six, all of whom are progressing (albeit, at their own pace... lol) and we have 4 or 5 people that we're meeting with this week that, if they continue to progress will become new investigators. Things are really just taking off! I love it! And our whole stake is starting to catch the vision. The work has been stalled here for quite awhile, but the stake presidency is getting the bishops excited, which is really galvanizing the area! I just know that we'll see some huge success really soon from this. It's going to be great. But of course, we could always use more prayers! So keep 'em coming.

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all your thoughts and prayers. The one thing I could ask from you is that you continue to pray and especially pray for your own missionary experiences. One of the things I've learned since I've been out here is that you WILL have them, if you pray for them, and as long as you're taking advantage of those opportunities, the Lord will continue to bless you with them. So open your mouth, when the chance comes along, and if you don't get the chance, then give your phone number to the missionaries, and ask if they'd take you along when they have a lesson. I know that it will bless you with the spirit of the work.

That's about all I have for this week. So I guess I'll just sign off here.

I love ya!

Love, Sister Reid

Aug. 23, 2010

Hello everyone! how's life going for all of you? Life here is really going great! We've had a tough week again, but with some changes that recently took place in the ward, I know that the coming weeks will be so great!

This week started off with us teaching a young man named Danny, who'se had a tough time lately. He has a 3 year old son, and the mom, his girlfriend, just left them. So he's had to quit his job to take of his son. We met him because his parents are less actives in our ward. And they said we should talk to him, so we did! And he's so ready for the things we have to teach him. I know that if we had come into his life earlier, he wouldn't have been ready. He needed some humbling experiences so he'd be ready for the gospel in his life. Anyway, we taught him about the Book of Mormon, and how he can know for himself that it's true. The spirit was felt so strong there, and I know that he will read and pray. We set up another appointment for Friday, but he had to cancel. The good news is that he called us first, and let us know he wouldn't be able to make it, and then asked us when we could come back later this week. So I know that he's interested and wanting to talk to us, otherwise, he simply would have just blown us off, which seems to happen so much... :)

We also started teaching a woman named Alisha. I'm not sure if I told you about her before, but in case not, she's an older African American single mom, who has a great testimony about keeping the sabbath day holy. We met her because we offered to help her carry her laundry upstairs to her apartment, and we were able to teach her something about the gospel, and then we set up an appointment, which she missed. So at first we thought she wasn't interested. But we caught her home again earlier this week, and asked if we come help her in some way. She mentioned that she needed some help doing heavy lifting, so we went on Saturday ready to help. We helped her with some other chores, and then we sat down and talked about the gospel. We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and committed her to read and pray about it. She talked about how she's been very religious her whole life, but nothing ever seemed to fit, especially once her mother died (about 15 years ago). She said she's been praying for which church to join, but the only answer she ever seemed to get was to wait, and then she told God she would wait, and promised that when he sent someone to invite her to church, she would take that as a sign... Well... That us!!! We taught her about the Book of Mormon, and she was so into it! The spirit was so strong, and I know that it witnessed to her the truth of the things we have to teach her. She's seriously reading the Book, and we have an appointment with her on Tuesday to teach her the Restoration. YAY!!!

Otherwise, most of the rest of our appointments canceled this week too. But, since there were two missionaries that just came home form their missions in our ward, it seems that the whole ward has been galvanized. The Bishop especially has recommitted and is more motivated to doing more work!! We also got a new ward mission leader, so things are going to be great.

The Church has just re-designed the focus of the Preach My Gospel Curriculum. So they're having to do a whole of training of us missionaries, so that when the greenies come out of the MTC in November, we're already doing what they've been taught. I don't really know what the changes are yet. Our mission is having a huge 4 day training conference this week to teach all the mission leaders what the changes are, so they can teach us. All Zone Leaders, District Leaders, and Trainers are going, which means that my companion is going. So I get to be in a threesome this week with two other sisters whose companions are also going. It's going to be an interesting week, since we're still supposed to cover all three areas.... But it'll be fun, and I'm looking forward to all the things that Sister Silva will have to teach me, and the inspiration and motivation that will come from it! Yay!

That's about it this week. I hope you're all doing well, and I look forward to every email and snail mail that I get. Thanks for all your prayers and support. So... keep up the good work, and do more work!

Love, Sister Reid

Aug. 16, 2010

So today is my 2 month Birth Day!!! I've been a missionary for exactly 2 months today! YAY!!! And I love it. About a month ago, I don't think I would have been able to say that, really. I mean, I love the gospel, and I liked what I was doing, but I wasn't in love with it. But that's changed. And not because of any one thing. I dunno. It's just hard to explain. I'm sure that anyone reading this who's been a missionary knows exactly what I mean, though. The Spirit is with me all the time, directing my actions, and leading me to meet people who have been prepared for me. It's all part of a big wonderful plan, and i LOVE it!!!

So enough of that, lol. My week this week was actually a lot like two weeks ago, all but one of our scheduled lessons (of which there were 14) canceled, or were no-shows. But for some reason I can't explain, it wasn't has awful as that week. We stayed really busy, and talked to a ton of people, and got a bunch of mini-lessons taught. We picked up a pretty large handful of potential investigators, and I know that we'll be able to teach them, if not this week, then next week. And if not this transfer, then next transfer. Perhaps the Lord just needs a little more time to prepare them. I dunno... my perspective seems to have changed. It's so great!

Today is transfer P-day. Sister Silva and I are staying put and together, but we're the only sisters in the whole zone who aren't changing! It's crazy! And we get a new sister tomorrow from the MTC. It's kind of fun to not be the new kid anymore. :) I'm gonna like it. Also, one of the elders in our zone is leaving tomorrow, to go back to Australia -- but not before he tours the mission with his parents. They're actually going to take us to the temple on Wednesday, so that's exciting!! Elder Byrom (that's his name) and I have actually become pretty good friends, and he's taught me a lot about teaching, and overcoming doctrinal concerns. It's amazing how much the older missionaries know and can teach about the gospel and how to teach it. It's great. And I'm really gonna miss the discussions we've been having.

So, since we didn't have any real lessons this week, I can't give you any updates on our investigators. We've been teaching some less actives though, and having pretty good success in "guilting" them back to church. *wink wink* And the members in the ward are noticing it. Several of them have comented to us about the good work we're doing, and it makes me all bright and shiny inside. :)

One of our members sponsored us for a booth at a community flea market on Saturday. We had to get up at 5:00am to be there ontime, which was not pleasant, and it was really cold all morning. But we were there, talking to people all day. It was great. There was us and 2 other companionships from the stake there, and we had a ton of success. It was so fun. We talked to over 300 people and taught almost 20 lessons about the plan of salvation. We picked up 3 new potentail investigators and met several less actives that we'd been trying to meet. So it was a very productive way to spend a Saturday morning. I've attached a ton of pictures, including some from the night before when the other sisters and us were "borrowing" a table and chairs from the chapel, and trying to fit it in our itty bitty car. It was tricky, but we managed. :)

That's about it for this week. I love you all and I'm so happy for all the news and letters I get, so thanks a bunch. Your prayers and support REALLY mean a lot to me, and they definately help. So keep them coming!!!

Love, Sister Reid