Either Way, Someone Is Getting Baptized

Hey guys,

So this week was good. I have a lot of stuff going on here. 

So I have been pushing real hard these last few weeks and now we have a good pool of investigators and it makes me so happy to know that I am leaving this place in good hands. 

So this weekend Monica and Martin are probably going to be baptized. Well I know that Monica will but Martin is waiting to see if a friend is coming to baptize him. So either way someone is getting baptized this week! 

One of the best feelings as a missionary is looking at your agenda and seeing appointments that just make you excited. Like knowing that you are teaching people that are being converted to the gospel and will know what you say is true. Being in the house of people like that is so fulfilling. 

I will get my temple recommend renewed this week! It will only be for 90 days but that is just fine! 

Also, next Monday I will have like 5 minutes to write just to confirm everything with you guys! Nothing more.

Today we ate at Rodizios and I won. I was there the longest. The server was a little annoyed that I got every second of my ¨All you can eat¨ 

I will make a final recording for you guys this week and send it to you next Monday in my 5 minutes as a last hoorah so stay tuned.

I gotta go though because I have a FHE so I gotta cut my time a little short! I love you all and I appreciate the support! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

I Down It While I Hold My Breath!

Hey guys,

So this week was pretty great! 

Martin and his wife accepted a baptismal date for the 9th of February and they attended church!! The bishop was totally on top of things and scheduled a FHE in their house for Wednesday! So all is going to plan with them. 

Marias kids are supposed to get baptized this Saturday so we will see how that goes. 

We went to the trampoline park as a zone today and I started a game of tag and Elder Castro fell like 30 times and it was funny to watch. 

This lady Elbia we have been teaching literally ALWAYS gives us juice and it is terrible! She gave us this Guayaba juice with milk last time. I just have to down it while I hold my breath. 

I cant believe I am gonna miss the Superbowl by 1 week. Finishing with sacrifice I guess. 

A couple of ex companions/missionary friends have told me they want to go to my homecoming talk so keep that in mind! I dont know which or all that but just for future notice. 

Next week I am going to buy the jerseys. If there is anything specific someone wants then let me know by next week! 

This crazy lady stopped us today while we were playing soccer in the church and she wanted to go into the church. I told her we didnt have keys to the gate in the front and that she would have to around back. She responded ¨I thought the Mormons were nicer than that.¨ Immediately I did not like this woman. In the end she accepted the fact that she had to around back. 

When we walked into the chapel I told her that is where we took the sacrament and she shushed me. SHE shushed ME. Then she stole my water bottle out of my hand and started drinking out of it. 

Then she got mad because I couldn't go all the way to the other side of Cali to go to her house. Later I made like a dumb joke because that is what kept me sane. She told me I was saying dumb things. I told her that she probably says a joke or two as well. Then she karate chopped me multiple times in like a playful manner. Keep in mind this lady is well over 80 years old! 

We just kind of left her at a bus stop. She was crazy!! 

Anyways, that is about it! Love you guys! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

I Found a Rodizios!

Hey guys,

So as you saw the pictures we had to baptisms this week! They are 2 kids that I have known since I got here to Floresta. It was really rewarding to finally see them take that step. 

We are continuing to teach Martin and Monica. They have a daughter in the mission so they are really curious as to why she just left haha 

Martin is a BIG guy. I honestly don't know how we are going to baptize him. Or where we are going to find his baptismal clothes. 

We also had zone conference this week. President usually only puts us in charge of lunch but this time we were in charge of lunch and dessert and everything in between which was kind of crazy because we have a lot of things going on in our area and it hurts me every time I have some executive thing to do. 

We ordered 22 Domino s pizzas and 130 Subway cookies. I literally didn't have a confirmation on anything until the day before so that was a little scary. In the end everything worked out. 

The best part is always ordering a little extra because it is for us! 

Also, this week we had a family home evening with Martin and Monica and their house was FULL of people. We had to leave pretty early because in the ¨Short Message¨ every member wanted to bear a testimony. Happens literally every time. 

Today we played soccer with another zone and it was pretty fun. We won when we played zone on zone but then we split up and we started losing pretty bad. But that is okay. Mission soccer is a lot different than home competitive club soccer. 

Then we went and ate some wings at a mall. I also found where I am eating next week for my last pday...it is called...Rodizios Brazilian grill!!! THAT'S RIGHT! I found one. I will be enjoying the meal and will also be very sad haha but I will make the most of it. 

Anyways, everything just kind of blurs together right now but I am trying to just push forward! I love you guys and I pray for you everyday! Talk next week! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

I Took The Cake!

Hey guys,

I just got at copy of my Itinerary and it looks like you and my church leaders received a copy as well so no more complianing!

As a missionary when you have an inventory with your companion you use the hamburger method. Top bun, what goes in the middle, and the bottom bun. 

Top bun is a compliment. Something they did good. That way they don't start off with negative feelings, only positive. Then you give constructive criticism and let them know you are on their side and maybe what we can do different, and once again finish with another compliment so that the final feelings are also good. That way they here more positive than negative and feel that way as well!! 

Do I have to go to the Branch? I do not want to go to church at 12. That sucks.

I would be happy for all of my grandparents to be there! I am going to shoot Grandpa Luckey an email so he doesn't have an excuse if he doesn't come.

This week we were able to talk with Martin and his wife so that was great! It has been a little more rainy here this week which I love! That means it is not so hot. 

Today we went bowling as a zone and I took the cake with a whopping' 129 points! I was getting way better when we started the next game but the time went out! 

Also, we tried out the trampoline place too. It was pretty cool. I learned that Latinos don't have as much background experience with trampolines. 

Anyways, that was pretty much it for this week! Love you guys have a great week! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

Two Dorky Chauffeurs

Hey guys,

So I didn't write yesterday because MYLDSMAIL was down for a long time and I couldn't log in so President told us to write today. 

This week was pretty great! 

We met Elbia who we contacted in a park and visited her and it turns out she really needed some help. 

Her son was killed by 3 guys that liked his gym bag so instead of asking they just stabbed him 13 times and took it. He was the father of a little girl. 

She told us that ever since she was little she had just thought that reincarnation was what happened after death. Then we explained that that was not the plan. 

My favorite part of teaching is knowing that they got it. And she did. As she listened to me testify I could see her eyes tear up and I know the spirit told her that it was true. She got it. Now she knows she will see him again but she didn't come to church!! WHYYYYYY? I don't know. 

Also, a couple weeks back this guy contacted us outside a super market (Martin) and told us he had a daughter in the mission and he wanted us to visit him. 

I don't know if I wrote his info down or he gave it wrong but we could not find him! I was so frustrated! I felt bad too. He literally had a daughter counting on us doing the exact same thing and we couldn't do it. So what was my other miracle of the week? 

Waiting for church to start (late of course) I see big man Martin walk in followed by his wife, 3 kids and his mother in law. I could not believe it! I was so excited! Then I remembered that it was very likely he thought that I just never tried to contact him. Sure enough he blamed me.  I agreed to disagree. 

This week we will have the first lesson with him and I am so excited! 

I met the 2 new missionaries we have here in our zone. One is from Otavalo which is this place in Ecuador that has some traditions with clothes and also never cutting your hair. So he HAD a ponytail until HE CUT IT ALL OFF YESTERDAY!!! I was so disappointed! 

The other one is from Guatemala and he is super cool. He is a big guy with a big heart. 

Any news on a soccer team? Also, just take my clothes out of storage and I will go through anything else and take it out if I want it. I just need clothes. 

I took out more money because I gave 50000 pesos to a kid in our ward going to Africa because he is pretty poor. 

PLEASE PUT ME BACK ON THE INSURANCE. I know you will be too stubborn to let me drive because of some so called law about having insurance and I don't feel like going back to junior high with 2 dorky chauffeurs called mom and dad! Or a bike because I know that is what you were thinking of responding! 

Other than that all is well and I hope you all have a good week! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

There Was A Donkey That Looked Like Bugs Bunny

Hey guys, 

So this week was pretty great. Mom is gonna be mad because we had the Christmas conference and I didn't take a single picture. I didn't take my camera out of my bag. Others took pics though! 

Regarding what I want to do when I get home - I would be happy to help you finish the upstairs and also just kind of see my options. I don't want to do that for too long but I have no plans to get home running to college because I can't, haha. I would actually appreciate it if you guys could reach out to some old soccer friends for me and see if there will be any indoor teams I can join.

I am totally fine with the white Hyundai. It has a hitch on it which makes it more useful to me. And it is AWD. 

We have 3 investigators who will be getting baptized before the end of the month. They are doing great. Also at the moment we are contacting 20 people or more during the day everyday right now as a goal and I really like it because it opens up a lot of options. Obviously not everyone will make it to the end but some will. 

The Christmas conference was good because we got to watch Coco!! The Disney movie. It was a great movie! I realize that you guys have all seen it and moved on but I dont get to watch movies like you do so it was special! 

We did a Jeopardy separated by zone and there were 5 zones in total. Who`s zone won? Thats right MINE! I was so happy about that! My zone is like a little family. We were the only zone that sat together at lunch and I didn't even tell everyone to. I sat down at a table and everyone sat down there and we just had a great lunch. I love em all. 

This week we also had a Christmas dinner in our ward and Elder Saavedra and I helped the ward out a lot and it is pretty cool. I have really connected with the members in this ward and I hope president leaves me here for my last transfer. The bishop and his family are really good at giving the example which is great. 

In the ward Christmas dinner we watched the primary do the nativity and there was a donkey that looked like bugs bunny and a lamb that looked like a cloud it was pretty funny haha but it was good. The best part though was when they opened the curtains and a full on mariachi was on stage! Then they offered their hats for pictures and I stood up pretty quick because everyone else was embarrassed. The only problem is that after my brave act of going first I put the hat on the wrong way 3 times so I still ended up looking kinda dumb, hahaha.

Also, I didnt get my package. What is the tracking number? 

Anyways, that is all for this week! Love you! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

PS Mom did you get pictures this Sunday sent to your Facebook? From Omaira Millan?

 

Me Rambling English Words Under My Breath

Hey guys, 

So this week was great!! The FHE's started and my ward is doing great! My Bishop is really good at what he does. 

You know you can tell someone is called of God if you just pay attention. He is a convert of about 16 years. He did not serve a mission but that has not slowed him down. One of the most interesting things I have seen in the mission is what the Gospel requires. It is not time, it is dedication. You can be a baptized member from 8 to 100 and that will not get you a spot with God. You have to ACT. And God always chooses his servants that have the ability to act. 

I met an English teacher this week in a FHE and he did NOT speak English. It was SOOO uncomfortable because he kept talking to me in English and I couldn't understand him so I didn't know how to respond him but the son of the member family was his student so I didn't want them to know he didn't speak very good English. The result? Me mumbling random English words under my breath that would require the gift of tongues to translate. It was fun. 

We had interviews as well and they went well. President thanked me for all the work I had done with my companion (who is a great missionary) and with the zone. He said all the new missionaries said that I was always good to them. It was an interview like all the rest. At the end he said that he was just going to pretend like this wasn't one of the last ones haha. 

This week was also Candle Day here in Colombia which I will try and send pictures of (No pictures yet). It is a strange holiday, but oh well.

Probably the coolest part of my week was the temple dedication in Barranquilla here in Colombia. Elder Oaks did the dedication but there are always talks before. One thing that Elder Oaks said while they were putting mortar on the corner stone was when he invited 2 kids from the crowd to participate saying ¨This temple will be here for this rising generation to use it up until the coming of the Lord.¨ I am going to let you translate that how you see fit but I know what I think.

Anyways, thank you for everything! I love you all! Have a great week and let me know about the Skype call! 

Con amor, 

Elder Reese 

PS I haven't gotten my package yet!