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

I'm melting!

I will do a quick email today because the librarian at this library is crazy and we could be thrown off the computer at any moment.

Well it is hot and I am constantly sweating and it is no bueno. Thank goodness that Heavenly Father had pity on my soul and gave me two winters instead of two summers.

We got a new president this week, had transfers, and went to Ellis Island, so it was hard to get the 20 lessons goal that we have for every week, but we did it and I am super proud of us.

I bought a harmonica necklace and I am planning on playing it all pday long.

Our investigator John, who we found two weeks ago, went to church, read the reading, and we have already met with him five times. He is super cool! He's from Ecuador but mostly grew up here (hence the English name). He says he used to be cool but feels that there is a hole in his life, and is trying to fill it. It's really cool to be able to teach someone who is genuinely looking.

Sounds like everyone is having a blast at home! Glad to hear it :) Love you all! Choose the right and remember what you stand for!

Love

Sister Reed

Goodbye President Jeppson!

This week is sad because President Jeppson is leaving! I can't handle it. I love that man and it's going to be weird to be on a mission without him.

However, this does mean that we are getting a new mission president! His name is President Taggart! The only association I have with this name is the name of one of my high school math teachers hehehe. But I'm sure he will be awesome :)

Weeeelllll this week we finished off the transfer which means I've been out in the field for 6 transfers. It's been a good transfer and I'm pretty excited for the next one too. I haven't been transferred and so Sister Stevens and I are staying and we have BIG PLANS! So far our plans are to have crepes every thursday. We've done it for two weeks and it's been a big success so far :)

This week we went to this house of a guy named Diego that the elders contacted in a different area. We met "Diego" (who later revealed his name to be John! Mentiroso!). He wasn't who were were looking for because the guy we were looking for was old and this one was our age. Then we had a great conversation:

Us: "Well you are not the Diego we were looking for but hey can we give you a card anyway?"

Diego (John): "Sure...so is there like a class I can take about this or something?"

Us: "What? Yes! There is! Let us come to your house!"

Thus began the life of Juan our New Investigator!

So now we are teaching Juan from Ecuador and it is going great! He is really cool and I am excited about it.

Other than that our week was pretty tough. We struggled to find anyone until the end of the week. Lots of rejection :( But it happens and we just keep moving forward.

Just want to send a quick congrats on: Janeen getting married! So happy!!

Love you!! 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