Answers in the Temple

Hello parents and apparently a couple others that read this too!

This week was fantastic! The new missionaries got here and we have only Nortes in our room! One of them is from Blackfoot! They are pretty cool. I refuse to speak any English to them at night because we need to be like Latinos. This week we were doing a mock investigator with our teacher and me and my companion were teaching on the Book of Mormon. He had questions and it was going alright. He is always very tired and doesn't pay attention a lot. Elder Kelley was talking and I got this impression to just start talking. I bore my testimony about the Book of Mormon and what it means to me. I told him that I know that without a doubt when I get worried or homesick or I need something that I can open that Book and feel complete peace. I said other things I don´t even remember but me and Jairo, the investigator, were both crying because even though the appointment was fake the spirit was real. 

In class again, this one with another Elder, he had to teach me the law of chastity and before this I had taught him and he gave me a little bit of a hard time so I made a plan. Keep in mind all of this is in Spanish every lesson and every class has no English in it. Anyways, he starts talking and I seemed like a really good investigator and understood how you weren´t supposed to do certain things before marriage and I stated because you don´t want kids before your ready right? He agreed and I said that will be no problem with me and he got really excited. He asked me another question and I replied with ¨no yo tango mi novio, juan¨ for you gringos that means no I have my boyfriend Juan. He barley contained his composure. As he started stumbling with his words I simply stated that it is okay because we can´t have kids. That's when he lost it. I thought it was so funny and so did our teacher. 

The temple today was amazing and I got some answers I really needed. Dad, I remember once you told me you regret never going on a mission. I know for a fact that you weren't supposed to. You were supposed to baptize one of the best converts in the church and that's mom. Thought that me and Abby have and will bless people through our missions because of that. I tell people all the time you didn't serve a mission but are a better man than most could hope to be. And mom I tell everyone about how you are one of my best friends and how you run funny! 

Anyways, I have not received any letters from Grandma so I will talk to president but the rule is send everything to the mission office which you wrote down mom. 3 months is the average time for packages so send Christmas in October! If any people have questions about the gospel I challenge each and everyone of the people that read this to be a missionary. You don't need a name tag to teach this gospel. I love you all so much. Stay strong! 

 

Con Amor, 

Elder Reese

 

P.S. For a good laugh read 2 kings chapter 2 verses 23 and 24. Next time you get made fun of for being bald keep that in mind Dad,

The Dirty Dozen

Hey parents, 

My fever went away the next day but unfortunately I have been spending the most time on the toilet. My rear exhaust is like raw. Can I say that as a missionary? Oh well too late. This week was amazing and my Spanish is one of the best out of the nortes. I would say there are only 2 that are equal or better than me. I am here for 3 more weeks so a total of six. Which means this morning all the other Nortes and all the Latinos left which just left us 12. Presidnet Hansen calls us the dirty dozen and we love it. Which means today was an amazing day. We got to go to one of the most sacred places in Colombia. I cant remember what its called but it is this old Catholic church on top of the mountains in Bogota. It was the most beautiful places I have been in my life. I will try and send pictures but this camera isn't cooperating. We went to an American burger joint called El Corral and it was so good. Speaking of which I payed with card and I need you to check and see if there's a huge fee for using it here. The meal should have been about 20 dollars. So in three weeks I will head to Cali with Elder Fryman and Elder Lawrence. I am allowed to call you in the airport but it might be like 2 am your time. If you would like me to wait and just email you I will but if you want me to call just let me know what phone you would like me to call. I bought some ties and a WHOLE BUNCH OF SNACKS. They will be my saving grace. When we were getting ready to leave this morning our drivers only spoke Spanish so President Hansen assigned me and Elder Miskemmens to different cars because he claimed our Spanish was the best. that made me feel really good but I don't want to let anyone down. I understood and translated all day which was fun! Oh and I am the new district leader over our district. It's nothing special you just make sure no ones being stupid. Which is funny because out of our whole district guess who would be the most likely candidate for something like that would be? I won't answer that but you know. Everyone has told me Cali is beautiful and it is really hot. We also went proselyting on Saturday. They bused us all to a random place in Bogota and let us go for a couple hours. Me and Elder Skinner were very successful. We handed out all our Books of Mormon and got four contacts. Antonio, Anderson, Steven, and Daniel. We just walked right up to them and started talking it was a little nerve racking but I wasn't about to go home empty handed. We got the most out of all the Nortes. We were pretty proud. We will get our new room mates tonight and I learned that our whole room will be Nortes which is unheard of. I need to ask president if there is a reason for that. Anyways things are great here I wouldn't change any of this for the world. A lot of times I feel like the biggest sacrifice is being made by you guys because this is awesome. Oh funny story. Elder Skinner was buying his snacks and he accidentally got into the own baggage line or whatever its called. (I'm not sure what that is) So he ended up buying this huge bag from the store. The lady said some stuff he didn't understand so he said yes. She scanned a card and said thank you. Elder Skinner is a new donor to the hungry children fund. How charitable. I almost peed my pants because he realized what had just happened and knew we all watched it happen. I love and miss you all. I will always pray for you every chance I get! 

Con Amor,

Elder Reese

102 Degrees!

Hey guys, 

This week was much faster and it was good. The latinos rarely let me and Elder Skinner on the same team because we are the two best. The food is mostly normal meats like beef chicken and sometimes pork. (I asked him what kind of food he is eating) Oh btw I am typing this all bundled up because i got sick after the temple today. A temperature of 102 degrees. woohoo. On the bright side its the first time I've shivered in Colombia. On the way to the temple (by the way the traffic and drivers are insane!) (Can you believe an 18 year old boy is saying that!) Anyways on the freeway we were hit by a couple on a motorcycle because motorcycles are allowed to squeeze between lanes. The crashed  (motorcycle?) and the driver got sucked under the bus and our bus driver stopped right as the tires would have surely crushed him to death. Pretty cool huh? Anyways my Spanish is coming along great and I'm super happy. We are doing mock lessons with investigators that are our teachers and it's hard but even though it's fake sometimes I can feel the spirit strongly anyways. The temple is amazing here and I got some awesome answers in the celestial room today. I prayed about a question for days and it turned out God answered the one that wasn't coming out of my mouth but the one in my heart that I was to scared to ask. I shouldn't have been scared! It was amazing! I'm gonna share photos wit h you through google drive so be ready for it! (I hope that works! I'm not sure if I know how to access them or if he knows how to get them to me!) I love you guys so much I'm doing fine and they are taking great care of me! Hermana Hansen the presidents wife, gave me Gatorade and crackers so I'm good! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese

Cow's Toe Jam

Hey guys!! its been a crazy week!! So much fun but so hard!! The weather is either super warm and sunny or pretty warm and rainy! The showers are cold in the MTC. So odds are in the mission field they will be!! (He is used to long HOT showers!) My MTC president when he talked to me he said that he has always been a picky eater and he doesn't eat a lot of the food either! Then he had me try something. it was weird, but it wasn't bad. It ended up being the gelatin inside of a cows foot. Woohoo. These computers are programmed for Spanish, so all my errors I would have to go and change so sorry, deal with it!! 

I had an experience the second night that was a little overwhelming. I was getting ready for bed and this overwhelming dark feeling come over me and I felt like I just needed to come home. It was the most intense disgusting feeling I have ever felt. As soon as I could, I knelt down and prayed and it got worse as my prayer was going. As it ended the feeling disappeared. It hasn't come back since. I know for a fact that was Satan trying to stop me from doing something amazing. I kicked his butt though, so its all good. The whole group of nortes (Elders?) are amazing. We are all so close already its amazing. Me and my companion Elder Kelley really get along. Elder Skinner is the only other soccer player that's white and we are the best players and they all hate it. We always win. The food really isn't that bad and we have rice and meat everyday so its not bad. Elder Fryman from Kentucky arrived two days late because his plane broke down and he has the accent and all. He is an amazing guy. He is 23 and he went to UK for three and a half years before this. He took calc 1 2 3 and 4 and physics 1 2 and 3 and a lot of other mechanical classes I don't know. But he is amazing and he's going to Cali!! Anyways things aren't easy at all but I can tell you this, everything is not easy but the feelings you feel in this environment are non comparable! I can tell you already I will either come home in two years or not by my own choice.

We went to the temple today and it was amazing. The temple here is so beautiful. The nights are the hardest because your mind is not distracted by a never ending barrade of words you don't understand. I am in a bit of a hurry but I will try to send you pictures after I respond to everyone! (He didn't get a chance to send pictures this week) Just know that I know this is exactly what I am supposed to be doing. I know this is God's work. When he asked in the pre-mortal life who would help bring to pass his work and his glory I raised my hand and its still raised. I love you guys so much please stay safe!! I pray for you every night morning and meal. 

Con Amor,

ELDER REESE

He Made It!

Hunter left for the MTC in Bogota, Colombia on February 28, 2017, at 6:20 a.m. We left our house at 4:00 a.m. Mom, Dad, Brittany, Ty, Abby, Taylor, Hunter, Tanner, Irish, Karinya and her Grandmother were all at the airport to send him off.  He met another elder (Elder Larson) who was on his way to the MTC in Lima, Peru for three weeks and then on to serve in Bolivia.

We had all of our kids and grandkids together the weekend before he left. Grandma and Grandpa Reese and Grandma and Grandpa Light were here as well and we had a great time.

Elder Reese made it to the MTC at about 1:00 a.m with 11 other elders he met in Atlanta, GA. We received an email from a brother who sat beside Hunter on the flight from Salt Lake City to Atlanta whose son is serving a mission in Japan.  It was positive and he had some great things to say about Hunter. It made my day! Here it is:

“Hi Reeses-
I had the pleasure of sitting next to your missionary on his way to Colombia today.  You must be very happy for him.  My youngest is serving in Japan right now and another from our ward in Colombia.  The emails I have gotten from our ward’s Colombia missionary for the last 6 months have shown an instant love of Colombia and of the Colombian people., and I am sure your son’s experience will be the same.

I want to share an observation from our flight to Atlanta.  I sat to Elder Reese’s right and to his left was a non-Mormon Hispanic man.  Elder Reese spent much of the flight getting to know this gentleman, sharing stories about his family and life and his upcoming mission.  They spoke in a mix of English and Spanish (each knew a little of the other’s language).  What impressed me was that Elder Reese has not yet entered the MTC but felt the innate urge to jump right in and fearlessly engage with a stranger.  I have seen this from Elders on their way from the MTC to the mission field, but never from an Elder on his way to the MTC.  He obviously has what it takes to be a good missionary.

Mom—I gave him stern advice to make sure he writes you weekly, and to let you know if there will be any gaps in his emails.  Dad— As we parted in Atlanta, I urged him to work hard and be obedient.

Best wishes to you and your son for the next 2 years.”

Here is Hunter’s first email and he sounds so great!

“Hola madre y padre!!

This is awesome!! Elder Larrssen had a different flight to Atlanta than I did so we didn’t see each other after SLC. I did meet an elder in SLC named Elder Hansen who was on his way to Bogota too! He is a great guy. We walked the whole Atlanta airport together. On the flight to Atlanta I sat with Brother Goodwin who is the man who emailed you. He was an amazing guy! He helped (me) think about things and what not. But I also sat next to a man named Juan. He spoke very good Spanish and decent English. He heard that I would be learning Spanish and immediatly jumped in to talk to me. He was not a member and had no idea what I was about to go do. But he asked me what my purpose was and I opened my Preach My Gospel and told him a couple of things. He just said that is good and what not, but it made me feel great to share something with someone so soon and I used a bit of Spanish too. In Atlanta we met up with 11 different missionaries including me who were all traveling to Bogota. Flying to Bogota I sat by another guy I talked with and he was a devoted catholic but was more than happy to laugh and talk with me about my mission anyways. When we landed in Bogota one of the elders going through the first checkpoint was the only one that got one of those important papers taken and it was so funny because we could only make jokes. Then Elder Skinner couldn’t find his bags at baggage claim. The first one was right in front of him and the second one he kept pointing at a bag saying that his looked very similar to it. The example bag was his bag. Gotta love Elder Skinner. Anyways we got to the MTC at like 1 am and me and Elder Kelley got paired up. But in our room is  Elder Espnoso from Venezuela. He his the funniest guy ever. He speaks a little English and wanted to learn more so we talked until like 4 am. Anyways I have to go now. I will email on Tuesdays in the MTC. Let Abby know I’ll reply to her as soon as I can! This is just so you know I’m alive. Have no worries this is where I am supposed to be.

Con Amor,

Elder Reese