Bye Bye Kearny!

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it's that time again! Transfers are here and I'm OUT!

Sister Stevens got called to train! That means that Sister Stevens is a MOM! I am SO thrilled she gets to train so soon! Only three months back on the mission and she's teaching somebody else the ropes. She's going to be awesome.

Once she got the call we knew I would be leaving so I have been in the process of long, painful goodbyes. It is just so hard to say goodbye! I really don't like it. It's nice to know that you have been loved but it's hard to tell them that you won't see them for a long time. 

Sunday was hard because everyone was like, "You're leaving?! Wait come to my house!!!" And so we had way more appointments that we normally would. But I got to see Nicolas, my recent convert, and a few other people so that was nice to see them one last time.

Highlight of the week: John is on track to get confirmed! He is de-antied and his doubts are almost gone!!!! So thanks for everyone who sent prayers his way. Prayer and fasting WORKS!!!

Also I seem to have gotten called to be a Sister Training Leader. That was weird. I thought you had to train to be a sister training leader but apparently that is not the case! So basically this means that I will be going on exchanges twice a week for months! WEIRD! I am excited about it! Although a little nervous.

There are three places I could go: Elizabeth (sketch), Short Hills (not sketch), and Bayonne (PREVIOUS AREA! WAT!).  So we'll see! 

Love you all! Thanks for the love and support and the prayers! Remember to choose the right and know what you stand for!!!!

Love,

Hermana Reed

Toughie

This week was a tough one. We had one of our investigators go completely anti-mormon. It just hurts. But we just keep swimming (figuratively, not literally :) and praying, and reading, and everything will work out.
Highlights of the week:
~ Getting Tino and his whole family to church! Even his wife, who before wouldn't even listen to us. And his three children, one of whom is three months old. It was a miracle :)
~ Another investigator, Antonio, told us this week he is excited to be baptized! He's not even on date yet this is so great :)
~ I gave a talk...again. Seriously this is the THIRD talk I have given in this ward. But on the bright side I got to talk about the Atonement and how it relates to missionary work (one of my favorite topics) and so it was a really spiritual experience preparing it and giving it.
~ Had dinner with our zone at the mission home. Sunday dinners are the bomb . com
We are heading up on the last week of the transfer! Aaaah where has the time gone! Week 6 is the worst cause all you can think of is whether you are going to be transferred or not!
I love you all! Missionary work has the hardest times and the happiest times and in the end it's all worth it. I love you all! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!
Love,
Sister Reed

John's Baptism

Weeeeeeeeellllllllllllll John got baptized! Pictures next week because we didn't take any yet :/ Anyway it was a good baptism and we are excited for John! Next step gift of the Holy Ghost.
We got fed three meals on Wednesday and four meals on Friday. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father has a sense of humor :)
This week I had my first interview with our new mission president, President Taggart. He is great! Very different from President Jeppson, but just as good!
The weather is beautiful and the Gospel is true! I love you all and hope you are having an amazing summer! Choose the right and know what you stand for!
Love,
Sister Reed

Things I love about missionary work

Dear Family,

 

John didn't get baptized because he went to Palmayra with the stake  and didn't get back til 4am. And so he slept through church. I find it ironic that a church activity stopped him from getting baptized, but hey, what can you do. However he is getting baptized next week so that's nice! We're excited for that. He's teaching us gangsta talk. I now regularly say things like, "Imma write it to you," and "imma eat lunch." Serving in New Jersey is definitely making my secret desire to be a ganster worse :)

 

Argentina lost. My life is ruined.

 

To console myself I wrote this list:

 

Things I love (mostly ;) about missionary work:

 

1. Carefully timing dinner and lunch appointments so that I never have to feed myself :)

 

2. That feeling when my carefully laid meal plans fail and I end up having three eating appointments in a row...and looking at the third dinner and wondering how I am possibly going to eat it. This is where the miracles start :)

 

3. Talking to the craziest people (I'm not sure if it's just New Jersey or if there are crazy people everywhere).

 

4. Learning the strangest things about everyone I talk to just because I am a missionary.

 

5. Having a companion there constantly that HAS to listen to all my stories

 

6. That sinking feeling when I've been in someone's house for 45 minutes and the person looks at me and says,

"Sisters, I have to tell you this story that happened when..."

 

7. Babysitting our investigators/less-actives at church.

 

8. Having no worries about backing into anyone because my companion is in charge of it

 

9. Sprinting up 6 flights of stairs to be home at 9

 

Missionary work is the best. Super weird at times and hard at others, but I love it for what it is. I love you all! Thanks for all your support! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!

 

Love,
Sister Reed

Happy 4th of July!

Dear Family,

This has been a very exciting week! I will tell you all about it.

 

4th of July was awesome--definitely the best holiday I've had on the mission so far. Sister Stevens had these 4th of July fans we gave to everybody and we made a red, white and blue 4th of July cake and wore 4th of July clothes. All of our members were like,"So are you happy about your country's independence day today?" They didn't seem to care too much about it but I guess I wouldn't really care either if I were from a way cooler Latin American country :)

 

We were also allowed to be out until 11! Friends this is crazy. After we taught (and were fed three times in a row :/) we went at 9 to see the fireworks and on Bunny Hill. This is a bit strange becuase there's a Bunny Hill in Brighton, where my family owns a cabin, and it's for the pansy people who don't know how to ski. Anyway we got to watch the firewords eat our 4th of July cake with Jonatan, Nicolas (our recent converts), Ron (a member) and John (our investigator). It was really fun and we were going to stay out til 11 but somehow we ended up getting home by 10:30. I guess I just get tired at 10:30 no matter what these days. That's what 9 months on the mission does to you :)

 

The miracle of this month has definitely been John, the investigator I mentioned a few weeks ago. We met him on the 17th of August, about three weeks ago, and he is ready to be baptized this next week! He is seriously so cool. He's one of those cool guys from high school that wears their pants super low and drinks and smokes but now we have see the gospel refine him! After the first week at church he went out and got church clothes and has been reading every day, and has been looking forward to the day he can get baptized. He's even going to the YSA Hill Cumorah trip this Saturday, the day before his baptism. He is serioualy just mind-boggling. Can't wait to send some pics next week !

 

We got locked out of our apartment yesterday. It was bound to happen because I'm in charge of the keys and I do things like that. Anyway we thought we would have to call the fire department to climb through our balcony (we live on the third floor) but luckily we found random mission people who had keys.

 

Highlight of the week: Spotting my first fireflies! I'm in the city but I found 'em anyway! They remind me of living in Honduras :)

 

Love you all! Hope all of your wildest dreams are coming true! Choose the right and know what you stand for!

 

Love,

Sister Reed

Look at us gooooooo

I couldn't keep up with Sister Stevens this week. She kept saying things like, "Great!  We got 20 lessons! Can we get 22?" and "Yaaaay! We got 10 contacts! Can we get 15?" As a result, I spent most of my week running after her, both physically and mentally. This girl is not afraid to raise her expectations :) It's pretty inspiring.
We had a great week. We had an All-Mission Conference on Friday and got rained out. When it rains it pours in Jersey. But we were still able to eat cake and watch skits and take lots of pictures, so it's all good. President and Sister Jeppson are leaving us soon so they told us all their story. I have a lot of respect for them. I'm going to be like them when I grow up :)

Highlights of the week:
~Eating Sopa de Pata de Gallina. In other words, chicken foot soup. Apparently you eat the meat off the foot. I'm not going to elaborate. It's painful to think about.
~Running into all sorts of people I haven't seen in weeks! Hahaha WE FOUND YOU!!!
~Getting 9 lessons on Wednesday! And being delightfully exhausted afterwards (that's the nice missionary way to put it).
~Meeting the grandma of our recent convert, Jonatan, who just came from Argentina. She has got to be the funniest and coolest old lady I've ever met. I've decided we are best friends.
~Being sassed at dinner by said grandma and her son at dinner. I had no idea a 70 year-old lady could pull out that kind of sarcasm. It was awesome.
Love you all! Choose the right and know what you stand for!
Love,
Sister Reed

Planner Covers from Faraway Lands

Another good week in Kearny, New Jersey!
Highlights of the week:
~ Drinking mate with one of our Uruguayan members. It was a welcome return to the Paraguayan lifestyle :) She said next time we come over we are going to drink it again. Yaaaaay MATE NIGHTS EVERY WEEK FOREVER!!!
~ One day it was pouring rain, so we took off our shoes when we got into a less-active's house. When she saw our bare feet she made us wear socks and when it was time to leave she insisted we wear her socks with our flats, which we did and it was the best thing ever. Don't know why I've never before though to wear men's socks with my flats.
~ Teaching a lesson to an investigator outside his steps in the pouring rain in the dark. Couldn't hear a word by by golly WE'RE GOING TO PREACH THE GOSPEL.
~ Getting locked in our garage every day (our garage door opener is very broken)
~ Sister Heule left :( Our trio is gone! It was a glorious two weeks while it lasted.
~ Cleaning our apartment!! I love being clean...
~Getting sent planner covers from my friend Rachel Houldridge in Paraguay! It was a really late birthday present. I LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!!
It was a week of ups and downs. While on my mission I think often of Elder Holland's conference talk about discipleship. There are good parts of discipleship—encouragement, progress, happiness—and then there's the hard part—the pain at someone's fall, the tears, the calling to repentance. I've realized that the mission isn't easy because discipleship isn't easy. It never will be. But it will be worth it. Never have I put so much of myself into such a worthy cause: to be a missionary of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I am so happy that Heavenly Father made me come out here in the first place :)
I love you all! I love what I do. I know this is the Church of Jesus Christ. Remember to choose the right and know what you stand for!!!
Love,
Sister Reed
P.S. My niece and nephews are the cutest children on earth! Just wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that :)

This Week was Hit and Miss :)

I've decided to do this letter in the format Neil sent one of his letters to me in: Hit/Miss!

Hit: Tino went to church!
Hit: He just barely had back surgery, but he determinedly sat through the whole thing!
Hit: He listened and soaked in the testimony meeting and even started crying during one man's testimony.
Hit: At the end of the sacrament meeting he was like, "Is that all?"
Miss: Church was shortened to sacrament meeting because it was Mother's Day. Don't ask me why because it doesn't make sense to me either.

Miss: Our other investigator Nicolas didn't go to church
Hit: He has been reading the Book of Mormon
Hit: When we asked if there was anything we could do for him, he asked us to call and be his friend! I was like, "YES, I WILL BE YOUR FRIEND!!!!!"

Hit: We had transfers!
Hit: Sister Stevens is staying :)
Miss: Sister Heule is leaving :(

Hit: The weather is warm!
Miss: It's windy and that's a problem when you are wearing a skirt! Pencil skirts here I come!

Hit: We had a Mother's Day party!
Miss: We had to sing :/ AGAIN

Hit: Sister Stevens and Heule called their families!!
Miss: I didn't!
Hit: I will call them one dayyyy

That was our lovely week! I love people. They are just great. It's amazing to see people come to the Gospel and find the things they sometimes didn't know they were looking for. The Church is true! I know it!

Love you all! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!

Sister Reed

New Comp!

This week was exciting because even though we still have a week left of the transfer we got a NEW COMP! She is a missionary who went home and is now returning to the mission. Her name is Sister Stevens and she is a very awesome missionary.
So we are now a trio, and it is way more fun than I thought it would be. It seems to be that trios would be hard —three people have to decide instead of two—and it is a bit more challenging that way. But I have really enjoyed the entire three days I have had as a trio :) Unfortunately, my companion contracted a deadly cold/strep throat on Thursday so we had a weekend indoors. We were fortunate enough not to get it, but I did feel a little bad we had so much inside time. But we are looking forward to a week of work this upcoming week.
The members don't know what to do with us. Quote from Hermano Medina, our ward mission leader: "There are three of you now? What a punishment!" The members love us—they just don't know it yet :) WE'LL GET THEM EVENTUALLY.
We found some really cool new investigators last week. One of them is a man named Angel who is struggling a lot right now financially and maritally. We taught him a really good door lesson, since he didn't want us to come inside because of his roommates. When we gave him a Book of Mormon, he was really willing to read it! It's exactly the right approach to reading the Book of Mormon; with prayer and reading it every day. I could't believe he understood almost immediately how to read it! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.
We also moved someone in pouring rain this week—in jeans. WEIRD.
Love you all! Have a happy Mother's Day!! Choose the right and know what you stand for!
Love,
Sister Reed
P.S. The pictures are next to "The Wall" in downtown Newark.

Another good week!

Another good week! This week was crazy busy and full of laughs and tears. There were the really good times and the really bad times :) There always are, but eventually I always am happy.
The highlight of the week was for sure a visit from one of the Apostles, Elder L. Tom Perry! He came to visit our mission on Monday of last week and addressed us and answered some of our questions. He talked about the importance of depending on God in all things. That's what he does! Well, if he does it then I'm going to do it too.

Betty and Hermana Reed

Other highlights:
~Explaining the Plan of Salvation to Enyer, our 17 year-old investigator from the Dominican Republic. I could not keep a straight face in that lesson. That kid makes me laugh too much.
~Asking a guy how his day was and how long he had been in the US. These two simple questions launched him into a 45 minute explanation of his entire life story and all the politics of his country and his home country. Also his first name is Washington which is great.
~Teaching the Restoration 3 times in the home of another Dominican lady. First we explained it to her, then to her granddaughter, then her son as each of them walked in. I hope it sunk in! But seriously that lesson was crazy. It was one of those moments where you walk out of someone's house and are like, "Oh...that was exhausting." In a good way :)
~Hermana Heule falling on ice cream and then on me while playing volleyball in a skirt.
~Getting candy from a sweet man named Edmund who is in the English ward for the third sunday in a row!!! YES!

Betty and Sister Heule

It was a good week. There were always a few days where we had some really hard lessons. One of our less actives is struggling a lot with her family. We have visited her a lot to try to help her through it. She's trying to get into nursing school so I relate to her a lot because of my mom :) Which helps.
The church is true! I know that more every day. I love you all and I hope you are choosing the right and knowing what you stand for!!
Love,
Sister Reed
P.S. The pictures are from service!

2nd Talk in Spanish!!

Hello again from Kearny! It has been a good week! Good times and bad times as always, but I like to focus on the good times :)

We found three new investigators this week! One of them is this crazy old Dominican lady named Elva who, when we talked to her on the street, hugged us and then ran away. We saw her yesterday and she basically agrees with everything we said, which is good. However, I am not positive on how much she was actually listening to...though if she already knows that Thomas S. Monson is a living prophet, then that would be really great :)

We also have a new investigator who, when we walked inside, had A Marvelous Work and A Wonder sitting on her desk. This book is written by an apostle (Bruce R. McConkie) and is about the Book of Mormon. I saw it and couldn't decide if she is a secret member that we never knew about or if she just likes to read books on LDS doctrine. Turns out to be the latter :) She's really cool! I like her.

I also gave my second talk in Spanish! The Bishop called on Saturday night and asked me to give it. So I wrote it very fast on Sunday morning. I know for a fact that I definitely had divine help doing it. I opened my mouth and the Spirit filled it with the right words. I talked about how much the wards in Mexico and Honduras helped my family when we were in foreign countries and didn't understand the language. And I did it all in Spanish that was way beyond my normal Spanish! Definitely had a little gift of tongues there. The ward members liked it a lot and I hoped it helps them reach out to the people that are struggling in our ward as well!!

We also had a ward talent show this week! Sister Heule and I sang and played the ukelele. My ukelele skills are not exactly that impressive but everyone liked it anyway :)

This next week is transfers. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting transferred! Yaaay!!!

Highlight of the week: Doing push-ups in church. It was an object lesson :)

Love you all! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!

Sister Reed