1 Year!

This week was crazy because Hermana Jarman's sister LIZA came to visit us! It was SOOOO fun because we got to tell her all about being a missionary. And something I realized while we were explaining missionary life to her: I really like being a missionary :)
My year mark is coming up this week. Aaah! I can't believe I've actually been doing this for a year. It doesn't seem real. Six more months doesn't seem like much.
A tradition that I am apparently supposed to do to celebrate my year mark is to burn a skirt. While this is very appealing to me--I am getting tired of some of my skirts--I don't think I have so many extra skirts that I would actually burn one. So I will probably settle for a sock or something.
This week we taught our investigators Maria, Leslie, and Orbelina who just barely got here from Guatemala. It was really fun to teach them the Restoration with Liza and feel the Spirit as we taught it. Something I realized the other day Sister Jarman and I had never taught the Restoration together! We've never had investigators to teach it to before! So that was a first for us and I'm glad we finally got to do it!
I also found the first Paraguayan I have ever seen outside of Paraguay! I knew they existed, I just had never met one, and yesterday we found one! And he was even interested! Yaaaaaaaaaaay.
Well I love you all very much and I hope you are all choosing the right and knowing what you stand for. If you need any extra prayers let me know! I'm getting really good at praying :)
Love,
Sister Reed

Sick Week :/

This week my comp was sick which means that we spent 5/7 days inside! Sick days are not exactly the funnest but we made it through!!!
Despite that we managed to:
~Do service in a Methodist church! We painted a lot!

Painting!

~Help people learn Spanish and English!
~Get Jaime to go to church AGAIN!
~Get some member referrals! (IT'S BEEN SO LONG!!!)
~Eat ice cream at Rita's the best italian ice/custard store ever.

More attractive pictures!

~Watched Ephraim's Rescue and 17 Miracles at least three times each WITH director's commentary

~Were fed hamburgers by a Chilean

~Were fed empanadas by an Argentinian

Something kinda cool that we will be doing is we are going to spend a day a week in Plainfield, one of the neighboring areas, to give it a boost! I am really excited because it's way sketchy over there!!!

Highlight of the week: Shannon got transferred to Emmett!!!

I am excited for this next week because Sister Jarman's sister Liza is coming to visit! She is going to the Paraguay Asuncion mission and she got special permission to come to the mission so she could see Sister Jarman before she leaves! It's going to be super great! She'll also get to go to every missionary meeting under heaven (Zone Conference, Weekly Planning, MLC, etc).

I love you all! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!!

Love,

Hermana Roja

Vino el Otoño!

Dear Family and Friends

Happy Transfers! Today is the first day of the new transfer! Another 6 weeks come and gone. Days sometimes crawl by but the weeks are faster than lightning. 

I don't have my planner so I'm going by memory....let's see if I can remember anything :/

This week we had TWO ward parties. I think it's a great idea. Why have one ward party when you can have two? These parties involved throwing pies in peoples faces, smashing balloons, and eating ridiculous amounts of food. And we even had someone we're teaching come! Her name is Gloria from Colombia. She's not an investigator but we are teaching her English. She seemed to really like the party :)

This week I got bit by something nasty and I literally could see the poison spread! They say that we're in a nice neighborhood but I'm not sure I believe them because nothing like this happened to me in Newark!! Not to worry my antibodies took care of it quick.

We also blitzed Plainfield, aka all the missionaries in the Zone spent a few hours pounding pavement in the sketchiest part of the zone to give them a little help. It's the missionary way to have fun :) 

Highlight of the week: Our recent convert Jaime who HASN'T BEEN TO CHURCH FOR THREE MONTHS came yesterday!!!!!! 

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

Love,
Sister Reed

Happy September!

Dear Family,

Can you believe how fast August has gone by? I literally blinked and it was gone. September entered with scorching 90 degree weather--la venganza del verano (summer's vengeance). This week it has been a beautiful 70 degrees and I am looking forward to fall weather! I love fall!

This week I had a goal to break all social norms! I know that it's a weird goal but it was also necessary. As I missionary I feel that we are completely out of the whole normal social scene. Example:

 "Why are those people sprinting down the street like crazy people? Why are they asking me important details of my life? Oh they're missionaries? Ok that's cool."

It's a strange phenomenon I know. For example if you see a set of missionaries and they DON'T talk to you then that's weird. People just expect us to do crazy things :)

I have had a killer cough for like two weeks! It makes proselyting a little miserable but on the plus side I am getting ripped abs!

Something I learned this week was the whole idea that the best solution to being sad because of your trials is helping someone else whose trials are even worse.

This week as I moped about how annoying it was to that I was sick, we went to visit our recent converts. One of them told us how he was stuck working 12 hours a day for the rest of his life because he had to support children who weren't his own, and that he had little hope of marriage or a family of his own, and had no one to love him.  The other told us how he has been searching for work, has huge debts, suffers from depression and feels like God abandoned him.

Helping people with serious problems was the best way for me to see that life isn't really as bad as I think it might be. God really is blessing us, but usually we can only see the negative side of what is happening.

As I sat with someone who was at the brink of turning down the wrong path and plead with him to have faith, my priorities seemed to fall into line again. God is most important! More important than work, or school, or friends. In times of trials we can't fall away from God. We must go to Him. God gives us trials and He will help us through them. We can't forget Him, and if we have to suffer and fight for what we know is right then it will be worth it!

I know that it is always worth it to believe in God and follow Him. I've seen how the gospel changes people. I know this Church is true! I love you all! Remember to choose the right and know what you stand for!

Love,

Sister Reed

Que dijo un jaguar al otro jaguar? Jaguar you? Jajajajajaja

Dear Family and Friends,

This week I read a consecration talk and then I reconsecrated. It feels so much better to be a missionary when you know you are doing what God wants!!

Last week I didn't feel like I gave it everything every day. I would say I was giving 70% effort. And I could feel the difference. So this week I told myself I was going to give 100% just like I used to and I now know even more than before that giving it your all is the only way to do it. I can't even describe the difference but it is so worth it!!!

We've been doing a lot of service lately. On Wednesday we handed out school supplies with a service organization here in Summit and that was a lot of fun. I got to speak Spanish with some of the parents! All the children of course speak English better than they speak Spanish. So sad :*(

We went on two exchanges and I stayed in my area for one of them! That's the only time I have been able to stay--all the other exchanges I have left. So I have learned the Morristown area of New Jersey really well! Trees trees and more trees!

A few weeks back we met a woman named Alexandra and after talking to her for a while we prayed with her and we left feeling great because she was just so happy! Yesterday we were walking by her house and went to see if she was there and she said, "I was just talking about you!!!" It was really cool how just being kind to someone affects them so much :) We have been focusing on trying to help people more, rather than the old, "Hello we are missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints and we have a message about..." No bueno. And you can tell when you do it right because when you walk away you feel good and they feel good :) (See John 4 for an example of Christ-like contacting)

Highlight of the week: Not going on exchange with a pair of sisters who had bed bugs! Whoo dodged that bullet :) We will see them on Friday so hopefully they are bed bug free by then!

Better Highlight of the Week: Hearing Sister Jensen's story about marrying and baptizing a family in a day. That was soooo inspiring to read!!!

Love you all!!! The Gospel is true! Choose the right and know what you stand for!

Sister Reed