Español here I come!

Dear Family,

So I was going to start off this letter telling you all about the three Thanksgiving dinners that we have been invited to this week and are going to attend but...

I got a call from my mission president last night.

It went kind of like this:

"Hello Sister Reed, how are you?"

"I'm great! How are you?"

"I'm doing great! Sister Reed, I would like to extend a calling to serve in the Spanish program of the New Jersey Morristown Mission temporarily."

WHAT.

That's right. He's switching me to Spanish for a while, and maybe permanently.

I have been trained for six weeks as an English missionary and now I will be finishing my training as a Spanish missionary. This means that;

-I will have an extra hour each day to study Spanish

-I am going to be follow-up trained by a different trainer

-I need a Spanish set of scriptures (Thank goodness my dad had the foresight to have me buy a Spanish Preach My Gospel)

-I will be leaving Paterson.

I am so excited that I get to serve as a Spanish missionary! It's going to be a new adventure and different from what I'm used to. But I will admit I am very sad that I am leaving Paterson! I love Paterson SO much.

Things I love about Paterson: the people, the area, the experiences I have had, the members, the crazy situations I have sometimes found myself in, and of course my awesome trainer, Sister Clark!

I find mission lingo funny. My trainer is my "mom" and since I will have a follow-up trainer I now am going to get a step-mom. Step-moms (or step-dads for the Elders) almost never happen in our mission, especially getting switched to Spanish, so everyone is super shocked. I am just excited. What a great adventure!

I will be heading to transfer conference tomorrow to see where I am going. I have an idea of where I am headed and who my new trainer is going to be but I'll let you know for sure next week.

So much for the breaking news! Here are some of the highlights from this last week:

~Eating spicy African spaghetti with Betty in our car

~Getting brownies from my family and bringing them to all of our investigators and recent converts (they loved them of course since they are the best brownies EVER)

~Teaching and Albanian less-active family and having NO idea what was going on. Spanish did not help at all. It was exciting.

~Finding a new investigator who has already read the ENTIRE Book of Mormon (mind-boggling. We were blown away when he told us).

~Seeing two of our less-actives at church! Tomasita and Edward have been having really hard times medically and it was amazing that she was able to attend. We were SOOO happy!

~Being invited to a Thanksgiving dinner by our investigators Sinthia and Jose! I will not be able to go but I will definitely be there in spirit

~Eating falafel and shwarma and going to the farmer's market last p-day (I told you we would do it and WE DID IT)

~Deep cleaning our apartment. This was a serious adventure because we aren't the cleanest...

~IT SNOWED. And then it turned to ice. Also it got really cold. Like really cold. When they said it was cold in New Jersey they weren't kidding. Don't worry I can handle it. Sister Clark not so much ;)

We had an amazing week! We found seven new investigators and we had a LOT of member participation. Members are SO important in missionary work. They make all the difference.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true! I am so happy to be the Savior's missionary. There is no happiness like the happiness you feel when you commit yourself fully and completely to helping other people and serving the Lord!

Also, my address will soon be different, so if anyone is planning on sending me a letter, hold off til next week! By then I'll know my new address.

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

Sister Reed

The Weeks Seem Like Days!

Dear Family,

The weeks are flying by! Ok, the first two weeks did not fly by. They were slow but good weeks. The past weeks have been good and fast! Everyone who has ever been on a mission I'm sure will have heard this saying, and that is that the days seem like weeks and the weeks seem like days, and it is SO TRUE. I can't believe we have almost finished a transfer. My first transfer ever! Aaaaaaahhh, so cute.

Everybody says missionary work is worth it when you love the people, and this week I am beginning to glimpse what they are talking about. There's a bond you get no other way when you serve someone and do anything you can for them. I really do love my investigators and the members of our branch. Here are some examples:

    Betty! Betty is a 19-year-old member from Ghana and she is awesome! She is practically our third companion :) When we ask her to come out to see someone with us she will always go if she's not working. I LOVE Betty. She has been through some hard times and she has some incredible knowledge and testimony as a result in it. She is always laughing and smiling and she is blunt and I just love her. She is trying to get into BYU so this is my plan:
   

      1. Help her get into BYU

      2. Become roommates with her after I get off my mission.

      3. Have a party every day!

   Sinthia and Jose: These are two investigators of ours that we have been working with ever since we came to Paterson (aka every since I was born :) and they are really, really nice. These past two Fridays we have gone to our house and they have given us hot cocoa, cookies, brownies, and this amazing Nicaraguan drink that I don't know the name of (and I am going to get the recipe of so help me). The 6-year-old daughter is hilarious. She has all the sass of a 16-year-old and when she prays she thanks Heavenly Father that the Mormons came to visit them. SO CUTE!

    Laura: Funny story. The other day we get a call from a less-active member, Laura. This is how it went:

me: Hello?

Laura: Hi. Do you guys know cursive?

me: cursive?

Laura: yes.

me;...uh....yes...

Laura: can you write cursive very pretty?

me: I don't know
 [frantically look at Sister Clark because I don't know how to respond]

Laura: I want to learn cursive. Maybe I should print off those learn cursive sheets online

me: yeah, that seems like a great idea

Laura: how about we get together and learn cursive and you two can talk about the scriptures. 

me: ok...
Laura: ok see you later bye.

o.0

Apparently we are Laura's new BFFs. She calls us to ask us to help her with her cursive.

Which is fine, because she's awesome. Cursive it is!

People are awesome. The more I talk to them the more true it is. The best feeling in the world: meeting someone, loving them, serving them, and seeing them progress in the gospel. There is nothing more fulfilling them that! You can see them get happier!

Highlight of the Week; meeting an African Fashion Designer! Although it made me slightly self-conscious of my put-together-in-30-seconds outfit that day...

Goal for this P-day: go to Middle Eastern restaurant and eat falafel and shwarma. SO excited. 

I love you all! The gospel is true! Choose the right and know what you stand for!

Sister Reed

Miracles!

Dear Family!!!

This week has been a week of MIRACLES. Seriously. 

The biggest miracle: Bianca.

Bianca is a person we met after three weeks of searching for her. She met the missionaries before and they got her contact info so they could meet with her. We finally found her. We had a lesson with her. She agreed to be baptized. She went to all of church and the baptism afterwards.

You have no idea how amazing this is.

Bianca is AWESOME. She is so ready for this gospel! It never happens this fast unless the person is ready! She is so ready! We become best friends with our investigators and she is definitely my best friend! So exciting! And she's Jamaican! I love Jamaicans :)

It has been a good week full of ups and downs. Missionary work is hard but the good times are SO GOOD (example: Bianca).

Another miracle: The other day we were visiting less-actives in the ward and as we were walking down the road to her house we saw a guy look back at us, turn away, and then look again. Finally he turned around and asked somewhat desperately for three dollars to get home. Now, this is Paterson. Who knows what he actually needed three dollars for?? But we did anyway, and I started talking to him. He is AWESOME. He said that he felt that he had to turn back to talk to us. He has been searching for religion and he says that he admired us for actually practicing what we preach. He was super nice and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he gave us his phone number and told us to call if we ever needed anything!

NOBODY EVER SAYS THAT.

Jason = amazing.

We referred him to the missionaries in his area and we are looking forward to see what happens. Seriously, when you meet genuinely nice people on the street like that it lights up your day in a way nothing else does. Heavenly Father wanted us to talk to Jason. That's why we have to follow him the promptings we receive! If we do, he will make more of our lives than we ever could on our own!

We had our first snow of the winter this morning. AAAH! So exciting! Apparently it snows a LOT here. This is very good. I will let you know the details on a future date.

On P-day this week we went BOWLING. Weird. We wore jeans and shirts and it was kinda strange. I've only been out for a month and I'm like WHAT IS GOING ON. It's only going to get worse, I'm sure. That'll be fun ;) Anyway, I bowled the best I have EVER bowled, three strikes in a row (this is apparently called a Turkey. I'll just say I did that  intentionally in honor of Thanksgiving).

Highlight of the week: Bianca for sure :)

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

Sister Reed

1 month old!

Dear family and friends,

 

 November 2nd marked my one-month anniversery of going on my mission! I am now one month old in mission time! I am completely a NEWBORN compared to everyone else here on the mission (except for the other newborn missionaries). But I can proudly say I have survived one month of the mission, and I feel older and wiser because of it :)

 

Happy Halloween! It was a good one for my companion and I. We had to be in at 6 on Halloween so we dressed up and carved a pumpkin and had a party. MOVIE NIGHT! Don't get many of those on the mission. Gotta love the Testaments.

 

I've noticed from the past few weeks that each week kind of has a theme. My second week we met a lot of Jamaicans, so we had a Jamaican theme. This week is...

 

ITALIANS.

 

Oh yes, my friends.

 

Of the ones I've met I've noticed the following:

 

 -  I can barely make out a word they are saying

 - They say "beautiful girls" a lot. Also one of them tried to marry me on the spot.

 - They say "you know what I mean" at the end of EVERY sentence. This is frustrating because I can't understand them so I really do NOT know what them mean!!!

 

So we're teaching an Italian guy now! The one who didn't propose. I guess he wasn't really interested in the gospel...

 

We also had taught a man who was rolling joints as we talked to him. Literally. And he says that he has a very close relationship with God. Sure, sketchy joint-rolling man, sure. We believe you.

 

Gotta love Paterson :)

 

I seriously LOVE meeting all these people. It's one of the things I love about being a missionary. And the more I talk to people and teach them the more I KNOW that this is the true Gospel of Jesus Christ! I love the the Gospel and I love sharing it with people!

 

This week we had an investigator accept a baptismal invite! We are SOOO happy because he was READY! I love seeing people progress and grow, especially when you become so close with them.

 

WEATHER UPDATE: COLD. Yesterday night somebody must've flipped a switch in heaven or something because one moment it was BEAUTIFUL AND FALL and the next it was FREEZING. I therefore busted out my tights, boots, gloves, scarves, my heavy winter jacket and of course my hot chocolate. BRING IT ON! I got this covered :) I also hear it snowed in Utah. That's exciting. I like snow :)

 

Highlight of the week: receiveing a wand from a fellow sister missionary and being informed that I am now a "faith wizard." Don't exactly understand what that means but I AM EXCITED ABOUT IT! The wand chooses the wizard, Harry.

 

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

 

Sister Reed

Hello All!

First of all, I'm super excited to have a niece! Sooo great! It will be super exciting to see her when I get back! I'm glad everything went well with the birth.

This week has been better than last week! First of all, we figured out where in the world we were. Next, we figured out who everyone was, Finally, we realized that we can talk to EVERYBODY! And, as a result of that, we have talked to a lot of crazy people. Here are my favorites:

Peter: Crazy missionary man. I think the person who referred us to him was doing it as some kind of joke ;) He has preached the word of God his whole life and he CALLED US TO REPENTANCE. Seriously, we could not get one word in. I tried to say something like, "Well, let's just agree to disagree." He was NOT having that. Anyway, we finally just said that we hoped he would have a nice day and left.

Julian: So we're trying to teach another investigator about the Restoration, and lo and behold, his drunk Pentecostal brother is there! Now I don't mind talking to people of different religions, but it's a bit annoying when they're so drunk they're swaying on their feet. I tried to talk to him...didn't really work. And at the end he tried to hug me.

AAAAH!!! I'M NOT ALLOWED TO HUG MEN!!!

I literally just SHOVED him away. I don't think he even knew what was going on. Good times with drunk people :)

Empire: MY FAVORITE PERSON I'VE MET THIS WEEK! We started out our conversation with him telling us that he is the son of the prince of Ethiopia. We later learned he is from Jamaica.

o_O

Don't know how that works.

He also informed us that:

- We are on the same spiritual "rims" with him.

- With his spiritual rims he can see what is going on across the street in the house without being there.

- Because my companion is born in January, they are brother and sister (Empire was also born in January) and they have the power of the MIND, which means that he and Sister Clark can see the future and can plan effectively.  Useful for missionary work ;)

-Since I am born in February, I have the power of the EYES. This means that I can see the future and that I can sleep well.

Yes. I said that correctly. I have the power of SLEEPING.

Seriously. This guy knows me so well. It's amazing. We really ARE on the same spiritual rims.

-Also Empire doesn't eat meat so that he can be in tune with the earth and the Creator.

Isn't he GREAT?!?! THIS is why I love talking to people! You never know what you're going to get!

Another highlight of the week: we taught a lesson to a drug dealer WHILE he was dealing drugs. Only in Paterson :) Who knows? Maybe he really WAS interested in the Gospel. I'm not judging.

Also, apparently we always look lost here. Twice this week we've been praying in our car before we go into an appointment and we look up and there's random black guys there and the first thing they ask is "ARE YOU LOST???"

Nope. Just praying. Thanks for you concern, though. WANNA HEAR A GOSPEL MESSAGE?

Also, I'm pretty sure if I stay in Paterson much longer I'm going to start talking like a black person, which will sound REALLY weird coming out of my mouth. I'll just chalk it up to  embracing the culture :)

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "I feel like I'm in 20 countries at once!!!" -Sister Clark, describing Paterson in 9 words.

Overall, it's been a good week. Not to say it hasn't had its disappointing times. Saturday was hard. Lots of appointments falling through. There are definitely good times and bad times on the mission. But the best times are when you talk to people and try to serve them the best you can. I love the Gospel! It's the best! I love what it does for people! I hope to make a difference in somebody's life while I am here.

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

Sister Reed

First letter from the mission field

Happy Monday!

I can't believe I've only been in the mission field for 6 days. It feels like I've been gone forever, yet at the same time I feel like time has FLOWN by. That's the mission for you. Time gets kinda weird out here.

I've been assigned my first area and my first companion! My companion is from Kaysville, Utah and her name is Sister Clark. She is, believe it or not, taller than me! Like 6 feet! The two of us definitely stand out! Which is great because then people notice us and that gives us an opportunity to talk to them.

My area is called Paterson, which is another way of saying ALL PEOPLE OF THE WORLD UNITE IN NEW JERSEY! Basically we have people from EVERYWHERE! Lots of Latin Americans, Asians, and Blacks. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have an awesome gangster/Jersey accent by the time I leave this area. It's going to be GREAT. I love it! I LOVE meeting all the different people and talking in English and Spanish. I love hearing their life stories. It is so fun :) The more I'm here the more I love it here.

My companion and I were doubled into this area, which means that they created a new area and then sent two new missionaries into it, one of whom is a greenie. This basically means we know nothing about the area. IT'S GREAT!

Investigators? Don't know 'em.

Members? Still got to go to church.

Mission boundaries? Do we even have a map? 

Finding people? Don't have a GPS..

Basically, we started at ground ZERO and we worked up from there. Which is super fun since it was my first day and all...

Now, after 6 days of hard work, we know most of the members, have gotten to know almost all of our investigators, have found some new investigators, have learned the area, and have borrowed a GPS from one of the Elders in the area. And we have been pounding the pavement all along the way.

WE GOT THIS.

I'm new and I can tell in some things. I don't know how to report numbers or do meetings or anything. But one thing that comes naturally to me is missionary work. I LOVE talking to people, I LOVE getting to know the members, I LOVE teaching lessons. The lessons are still the hardest. That takes experience. Talking to people, however, is just fun. Especially since people in Jersey love to TALK. Oh my goodness. They will talk all day if you let them. It's pretty nice because then I learn about them and relate the gospel to their lives. I also love them the more I talk to them. You just never know what people are going through until you talk them. That is something I have learned again and again since I've been out here.

A few branches in the area are having an International Night this Saturday. It's New Jersey so it's going to be
LEGIT. I'm so excited. We're going to try to get as many of our investigators to come as possible.

If you want to send me mail or a package, my address is:

Sister Annie Reed

149 Dundee Ave
Paterson, NJ 07503

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

Sister Reed