Dear Family,
Well, trio life is going great. Trios are basically just a party every day :) Harder to make decisions and teach lessons sometimes, but there's also a lot more talking, and possibly a pillow for here soon, so I'm cool with it :)
There's been this random former investigator named Brian who's been showing up to church these past few weeks, and we finally taught him yesterday and now he's on baptismal date! We're definitely going to make sure he is prepared and committed to it, but it was really cool to see how excited he was! And after a long and rather frustrating week of lots of things not working out (thanks weather/flu) it was a really cool tender mercy :) Miracles still do happen!
Another miracle of the week:
We went to the chapel to teach an investigator (who brought a friend and that was cool!) and there were a bunch of youth there playing soccer. I saw one of them and it was weird because he looked REALLY familiar. And then he came up to me and was like, "Remember me? You began teaching me a year ago."
Besides the fact that it was embarrassing that I forgot what he looked like it was SO COOL because he was one of a family my trainer and I taught last winter in Bayonne!

At the time it didn't really seem like they were going to get baptized. But Calvin and his brother told me that the last lesson we had with them opened up to the gospel and when the elders came to teach them they were much more ready!
A couple months later, they all got baptized and they are all super strong members of the church!
It was SO cool. I can't even describe it. The only way I can think of to describe it is through the following series of smiley faces: :) :D :D :) :) :D :) :) :D :D :D
It's true my friends--no effort is wasted! You never know :)
Love you all! Have an amazing week and remember to choose the right and remember what you stand for!!
Love, Hermana Reed

Trio power

Dear Family,
The highlight of this week was for SURE Byron's baptism. On Sunday we had freezing rain and snow but all the members battled through the elements to get to church. Once we got there THEN they decided to cancel church. But we were all there anyway so we went ahead and had sacrament meeting.
Byron was SO NERVOUS for his baptism. But after sacrament we had the baptism and despite the fact that we put everything together pretty last minute (that's what you get when Sister Reed plans your baptism) everything worked out super well!
Except for the fact that they filled the font with boiling hot water. Hey we told Byron he was going to be baptized water AND fire lol

Byron's baptism :) He was baptized by his best friend Hermano Cayetano.

After his baptism, Byron cried. We visited him yesterday and you could see the glow on his face. It is so cool to see how happy he was! He is so awesome!!!
Also we had transfers and we're in a trio!! My last trio was for a week, so I don't have any experience but better late than never :) And now my two companions are Colombian and Samoan which is super chevere.
Remember to choose the right and know what you stand for. Love you all :)
Hermana Reed

Best picture EVER

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

The power of sticky notes

Dear Family and Friends,
Well, there was nothing too out of the ordinary this week EXCEPT THAT IT WAS AWESOME.
I know you are all probably sick of hearing that but whatever :P
We had lots of "it's New Years so let's set goals" kind of lessons and it was really convenient because basically what we do is help other people set goals for themselves. And it was amazing!!! It's like YES LET'S SET SOME GOALS:
Examples:
Found a less active who we'd never met as she got home from work. We had like 5 minutes because it was almost 9 but we decided to have a really quick lesson with her while we had the chance. We asked what she wanted her goals to be and she said, "Well...this year I want to go back to church and get sealed with my husband in the temple. But I need you to help me."
o.O
Great! Ask the missionaries, we can help you!
In another lesson we had, we sat down with a member and asked her what her goals were. She told us that she didn't want to set goals because only God knew what was coming for her and she was just going to see how life treated her. We said that that was true, God did know what we wanted to give her. However, she could know what it was. Then we explained what revelation was--how it was God speaking to us. It's that simple. We told her that if she sought revelation from God He would tell her what her goals would be through her thoughts and feelings and then asked her to seek revelation to know what her New Years goals should be.
That was one of the lessons where you speak and you are surprised by what you say and learn as much as the person you are teaching. It felt so great :)  #D&C50:22
Other highlights:
~Contacted a guy who worships yoga and it was awesome!
~Went on exchange to BAYONNE!!! I'M GOING HOOOMMEEEE. It was a really strange experience because I served in Bayonne a YEAR ago. ew.
~Hermana So'oto lead the area and she DID AMAZING. I am so happy. And it was even on New Years.
~Fasted successfully! Didn't complain once! (normally I just die on fast Sundays)
Happy New Year! Good luck setting your goals! I think Moroni 10:32 is a pretty good goal ;)
Love you! Choose the right and know what you stand for!!
Love,
Hna Reed
P.S. We had a lot of miracles from sticky notes, so that's the reason for the title. Or actually I just wanted to be really random :)