Best week ever!!!

Dear family,
This week was one of the best ever. I am not even joking.
This is our progressing investigator, Byron:

Byron has been waiting to get baptized. He needed permission because of a few things and last week he was cleared for baptism!!! We are so happy! Sister So'oto and I literally jumped for joy when we found out.

The next day we saw Byron and we told him that he could be baptized. I will never forget the look of astonished joy on his face. He wasn't expecting it :) Then we invited him to be baptized on the 18th of January. He thought about it for a minute and then said yes! He has been waiting a long time to be baptized and he deserves it!

Our joy can be summarized in the following sentence (a direct quote from Sister So-oto):

"I have never been so happy--and I've been engaged twice!"

This is the happiest I have ever been, especially since Byron had to wait so long for it. D&C 18:15 is so true: "If you labor all your days crying repentance and bring save it be ONE should unto me, how great shall be your joy in the kingdom of my Father!"

The scriptures say it best :)

So other than the best day of my life, we also had:

~El dia de los tres reyes: Three kings day. We celebrated this with the Cayetanos, a Mexican recent convert family in our area, and with Byron.

This is the Cayetanos daughter, Isabel. She is literally my favorite.

~Had the COLDEST DAY OF MY ENTIRE MISSION. It was FREEZING. Probably in the negatives with wind chill and there was a LOT of wind. We didn't have any appointments and we just started knocking on doors. This one lady opened the door and we literally just looked at her pleadingly. And she was like, "Quieren entrar? (do you you want to come in)" and we were like "YES PLEASE LET US IN." And then that whole family turned into new investigators! Miracles!!!

~Found two less-actives, Miriam and Armando, who have been sneaky lately. And Armando was nice this time! He's a computer programmer so he's a little weird (no offense to computer programmers) but he's cool and we're going to teach him tomorrow.

~Hermana So'oto's first zone conference :)

My favorite quote of the week:

At FHE we had with one of our investigators:

Hna So'oto: "I spy something brown."

Sedney: "The table."

Johnathan: "That painting."

Hna So'oto: "Everyone but Sister Reed."

My companion and I think that a member in our ward looks like Samuel Jackson. Tell me what you think.

Love you all!! Remember to choose the right and know what you stand for! The Church is true!

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

New Year in New Jersey

Good morning!

Had a great Christmas out here in the field. It's nice to have a Christmas where you are mostly focusing on sharing the message of Christmas. I really love Christmas. I was worried that I wouldn't like it on my mission but I actually did.

Also we had two Christmas dinners. Now that doesn't sound like a lot but actually IT IS. Yes I'm sure all who have been missionaries have done worse but I honestly felt like it would have been a blessing to throw up. Then later that night we ran home after eating these two Christmas dinners because we parked super far away and had to get home on time.

NOT GOOD.

Never do that.

But it's fine that is what the mission is ALL ABOUT :)

Highlights from the week:

Talking to the fam! It was great to see all of you (although I didn't figure out how to get skype to work til the last five minutes...I'm definitely losing my touch with computers these days)

Getting great packages!

   -My favorite gift: missionary journal from my sister Alison! I honestly never thought I would want one of those because that's a nerdy missionary thing but now that I'm a missionary I LOVE it. It has room for my companion and areas and everything else could ever dream about in it! Love it.

   -Getting the most candy I have ever received in my entire life

   -Got a present with Justin Beiber wrapping paper. Thanks Alison :)

Committing an investigator to baptism! About that... AWKWARD STORY OF THE WEEK:

Walked into an investigators house to find that he is in the shower. This made us VERY uncomfortable so we decided it was time to leave but she (meaning his roommate Rosalina) WOULDN'T LET US. So we just sat there on our investigator Luis's couch waiting for him to get out of the shower. SO. AWKWARD. So finally he gets out and we start our lesson with him and we have the most spiritual lesson EVER. He read the Book of Mormon, was prepared and asked questions and we could tell that he was ready! So we committed him to baptism. And this isn't just a "maybe I'll get baptized thing." This is a pull-out-your-phone-and-write-down-the-date-and-time-of-your-baptism-on-your-calendar thing. Overall, one of the most awkward/spiritual lessons I have ever had.

One of my favorite things about this area is the viejitos (old people) that live here. We work with an 89-year-old man named Jose. None of his family are members and he really wants them to be! He is the cutest grandpa man you will ever see. We call him Hermano Uva because in Spanish one of the meanings of "uva" is "cool" and he says it all the time. We're like best friends with him now.

Another adorable viejita is Hermana Santina, who is the sweetest and nicest old lady I have ever met (except for my own grandma of course :). She let us teach two investigators in her house and says that we are "angelitas" (especially my companion because she has blonde curly hair. kinda looks like a halo I guess). 

Nelson, our other investigator who is set for a baptismal date is on board still! I seriously love that man. We walk into his house and he says, "Enough chit-chat, tell me about the GOSPEL." Which is great, because that's our best subject. He really wants to learn! I love it when people want to learn.

That was basically my week. I hope that everybody had a good Christmas. It is my favorite time of year. And not just because I get so much candy. I love you all!

Haz lo justo (choose the right) and know what you stand for!

Hermana 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