Contact Elder Reese

Email: hreese@myldsmail.net

Mail Letters and Packages To:

Elder Hunter Reese
Colombia Cali Mission
Avenida 2, Oeste # 10-130, Edif Tempo
Oficina 201, Barrio Santa Rita
Cali Valle del Cauca
Colombia 760045


Tuesday, February 27, 2018

I Like Meat and I Like Cake

Hey family and friends!
This week was interesting! I will be telling the stories with my voice recorder afterwards so that way you get the idea a little better. 
This week we had the opportunity to visit this family had we had visited a while ago. The C family. 
I loved them since the moment I met them. They always laugh with us and are very interested to learn. We didn’t ever go back because a couple times they weren’t home when we came by and they live further away than most investigators.  I loved teaching them and I will let you guys know what happened! 
Also, we got to do an FHE with this Venezuelan family. The wife is a member but her husband (well they aren’t married but you get the point) is not. They have an adorable little boy named Liam. They are also VERY difficult to understand sometimes. They don’t pronounce their S{s and I don’t really know how to explain what else they do. 
He cooked us these meat cakes that are very popular in Venezuela. They were super delicious! I like cake and I like meat so he just put them together. He considers himself a member of the Church but knows he can't be baptized until he gets married and he has to take care of some legal things. I taught them black magic as well and they were very frustrated! 
I also went to immigration this week (go figure right) and saw these two people with US passports but they were speaking Spanish. I didn’t pay much attention but then they guy asked me in English if I was in line and I said yes and started to talk. 
He asked me where I was from and I said Idaho and he said he had just put in to go hunting there for next season (needless to say we were off to a good start) I asked him where he was from and he said Los Angeles California. That made me happier to know that he loves to hunt and is not afraid to load up his truck in front of his neighbors who happen to be part of a certain political party and have contrary opinions on killing animals and using guns. 
For those of you that read this and happen to feel the same way I still love you and have nothing against you! 
Anyways, I will finish that story with my soothing voice. 
It sounds like you guys had a fun week! I want to see the bathrooms. Have fun cleaning my room. I tell all the missionaries I really hope you guys get a move on so I don't have to help you move all your stuff! 

Have fun in DC this week Dad. Just remember your in the capital of our country! What a treat! 

It is okay that you couldnt get the videos this week! I just thought maybe you forgot! I can wait. Transfers will be on the 11th of March which means I still have some time to prepare! 

I dont miss shopping. I actually had to go today to buy a camera. I bought a Canon. It is 16 megapixels and works fine. The guy told me it was 180.000 pesos which is almost 60 dollars. I looked very unsure because I wanted him to knock it down. He then threw in a data transfer cable and a battery charger with a free 18gb memory and then I talked him down to 140.000 pesos for all of it. That was a 45 dollar camera with all the hookups. Pretty sure he stole it though. Either way we all won at the end of the day money, camera, and learning where not to leave your camera. 

That is it for now! Love you guys! Be safe! 

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Saturday, February 24, 2018

Goodnight, Sweet Dreams Babies

Hey guys!
Well it doesn't sound like the Reese home is better off without me. I remember when we put in the tile in our kitchen and I got to help. I am pretty sure that is where I learned to use a power drill because there are all these X´s on the floor and you have to put a screw in each one. 

I also remember I went in the kitchen barefoot and caught my foot on a screw and it ripped a huge chunk of skin off my foot. 

Sounds like Dad is getting a good calling (Bill is teaching High Priests once a month now). I have a very strong testimony about Preach my Gospel. If you ever want to learn how to teach someone there are SO many tips in there. 

More than anything it just asking people questions to keep them interested and then you slowly lead the questions to the point of your lesson. 

I had no idea that Dad baptized Todd. That is super cool. Sometimes as a missionary all you can do is hand someone a Book of Mormon and tell them that you know for a fact the things in that book can and will help them if they are willing to do what it says. I can promise that it is true and I hate to see so many people that don't want it. 

Duke seems to be doing better just looks like a dork. Everyone already made fun of him for having funny ears and now he is just like the Erkle of the dog world. 
 
We still have some baptismal dates but we haven't been able to visit two of them so far this week. I hope that tonight or tomorrow we will be able to. 

Yea I am getting a little higher up there in time! (Hunter has been out almost a year!) I don't know what the heck happened but here we are. 

I will come home and then leave to go figure out how to be independent in the real world and after I have that down I will come back! (I told him I was afraid he was going to come home from his mission, leave my house and never come back :))

Bishop and Sister Black send me an email about 3 times a month with a little scriptural thought and I always respond with my thoughts. He was the Bishop of my youth. I remember having my baptismal interview with him actually. Then those embarrassing tithing interviews where he would always ask me that if I made money would I pay tithing on it. 

Sister Whitesides insisted that we go out to lunch for Valentines day and they took us to this place called the Gringo. It was like a wing and burger place. I loved it! 

They got a bunch of appetizers and when I wasn't eating Sister Whitesides leaned over to me and said that I had to try something on the table. So I tried the onion rings because I was not about to eat a cheesy stuffed JalapeƱo. It wasn't so bad but I needed more sauce. 

Then we had a zone conference which is a little different because I am in the office. We watch the AP´s prepare everything so we literally know the whole presentation before we get there. 

Granted, President and Sister Whitesides always have good new stuff to say to us. 

Last night me and Elder Eldredge were walking down the street and we always say ¨Buenas.¨ which is like saying hi.  As we were walking we said it to this lady and she looked at us and said ¨Goodnight, sweet dreams babies.¨ but she sounded like a man. She looked and sounded just like the Ugly Stepsister in Shrek. The one that works at the bar. It was frightening. 

Anyways, I will share anything else in my voice recording! Love you guys! 

Con amor,
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Monday, February 12, 2018

I Accepted Juice That Was Made From Water Kept In a Gasoline Can

Hey guys,
                This week has been great! We had consejo which is when all the leaders in the mission get trained about what we need to do better.

The secretaries always give presentations and it is by far the best part because we always pimp out our presentations. The AP's give one too, but they choose not to be fun.

We got reference from the Zone Leaders this week. Her name is A and she attended church in their ward like 4 times and then she moved.

They didn’t have her address so we had to call them and ask. They didn’t quite know it either so they guided us while we were on the phone.

When we got to the house it ended up being two young girls and one of them, A, was pregnant and is about to have her baby at any moment.

The other is her friend, J, who I am pretty sure was only listening because we are two gringos that showed up at her door.

It was a super good first lesson though. She had attended church but never had time before then to listen to the missionaries.

We have started teaching this Mom and her daughter and they turned out to be Hindu. I don’t quite know how that works but we are teaching them anyways.

I am scared to go to their house because they are vegetarians and the mom is a Yoga instructor. That screams terrible taste in food.

They believe in God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost. They have different names she said but we all know that is not true.

When we were talking about the Plan of Salvation they explained that they believe in reincarnation.

They believe that when we die, we will be judged according to our works here on the Earth. The big difference is that they think we have unlimited chances to live this life correctly. They think that until we follow God and his commandments we will be given an endless amount of lives. Wouldn’t that be nice to never have to do what is right?

I nicely explained that Jesus Christ died for us and that they were in agreement with that. They said yes. I then asked them how many lives he lived here on Earth. They responded one.

I then asked them if they thought God would create a plan where everyone got unlimited opportunities to live this life except for His only begotten son Jesus Christ. They didn’t want to respond to that one very much.

If you want someone to learn something new that goes against their own beliefs you don’t teach it to them. You make them teach themselves through questions like that. If you can lead someone to answer the logical questions that are involved with the Gospel of Jesus Christ it is impossible to deny. 

Also, yesterday between us 4 we put three baptismal dates for this upcoming month. 

Two of them are a couple that don't live together that have a little 11 month old baby together and the other is an amazing woman that lost two of her children to gang violence within a year of each other. 

I just really hope we can make all these good things happen that are starting to happen in our area. 

I have started to get better at my job in the office which allows me to do it faster than before which allows to get out to our area sooner everyday. 

Anyways, that was basically my week in a nutshell. I will let you guys know more in detail in my voice recording because it is easier. 

As for my blanket I love it so much that it is all sprawled out on my bed and I use it when I sleep. Sister Whitesides saw it when she came to the house the other day and she loved it. 

It sounds like Duke is all better apart from the lack of hair. 

Yes Grandpa did call me and it was very unexpected. He called me during transfers which was a very busy time. When I saw the international number on my cell phone I thought that one of the missionaries I had sent home the day before had a problem or didnt make it home or something but when I answered it some latina lady answered it in English with an accent asking for Hunter. 

I almost said no but then I remembered that that was actually my name so I said yes and she said okay your Grandpa is here on the line. Then I talked to Grandpa and he just made small talk and we talked a little bit and he asked how long I think it would take to get from Cartagena to Cali.

This week I accepted juice that was made from water that is kept in a gasoline can. (I'm not sure what that has to do with anything!)

Anyways, love you all tons have a great week! 

Con amor,
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Saturday, February 3, 2018

I Was Like Dead

Hey guys!
So this week was absolutely exhausting. 

This week was transfer week and of course I didn't get transferred. For the whole mission, transfers mean that it is one day every 6 weeks in the mission and sometimes you go and sometimes you stay. For the office crew it is a little different. 

Monday is the day when every one does the traveling and the day that the missionaries going home do a training and spend the day with President and Sister Whitesides. It pretty much means that we have to babysit them for a day. 

The next morning (Tuesday) all the missionaries that finished go home and the new missionaries get here. Also if there are any missionaries that live in the mission boundaries that are from district I do all their travel stuff as well. 

The Tuesday morning started at 1:15am. I had to take two missionaries to the airport. I got them through to their planes and then had to be back to the house to be ready to leave by 5am. We got home at 4am and slept on the couch for like 30 minutes and then had to take a sister and an Elder to the airport. 

We sent them off at around 5:45 and I was waiting for a sister that was leaving on a mission that I had met the day before when she got set apart. She is from Palmira which is the zone I started the mission in. 

She got there and she only had one bag and I had told them that they were allowed two bags that both could weigh 23 kilos each. While we were waiting in line I asked them how much it weighed and they said they didn't know but that it shouldn't be that much. I asked if I could try lifting it and I almost threw out my back. It definitely didn't weigh 23 kilos (50 lbs.) 

When we weighed it, it weighed 35 kilos (almost 80 lbs.) and they definitely couldn't pay the overweight fee so we started unpacking things to take out. I even took all the things out of my bag so that she could take it but there was still no way. I got a prompting to call Elder Wright who was bringing the rest of the missionaries to the airport. 

As I called they were picking up the sisters. I told him to ask Sister Hernandez if they had an extra luggage bag. They happened to have one. 

We waited for the group and when they got there I ran through the airport to get the bag and we rushed her through the line. 

We said good bye to her and to all the other missionaries and ate some breakfast. 

This was about 8:10am. 

The new missionaries got there at about 9. I took them to the notary and we did some stuff there. 

I didn't start to feel super tired until about 5pm. I was like dead. My presentation made no sense because I couldn't speak either one of the languages I thought I knew. 

I still had to do a format for them to go to immigration the next day and was at the office until 9pm doing that. It was terrible. 

We got everything done on Wednesday and it all worked out but boy was I tired.

Yesterday I had to take a missionary to the airport that I had just barely received last transfer. It was a sad day. 

Anyways, other than that the week has gone by pretty quick.

My companion and me were crawling into bed and he asked me ¨Elder Reese how does nothing ever bother you?¨ 

I had no idea how to respond. I remember when I was little it drove me nuts to watch someone laugh at me or make fun of me about anything. 

I think that one day I just realized how much easier life was when I just laughed at things and pretended like they don't really bother me until they really don't. 

I just told him that he needed to just find his own way to vent things. His own way to brush things off until they are forgotten about. 

I love you guys and I will send a voice recording to go along with this email for more details!! 

Con amor,

Hey guys!
So this week was absolutely exhausting. 

This week was transfer week and of course I didn't get transferred. For the whole mission, transfers mean that it is one day every 6 weeks in the mission and sometimes you go and sometimes you stay. For the office crew it is a little different. 

Monday is the day when every one does the traveling and the day that the missionaries going home do a training and spend the day with President and Sister Whitesides. It pretty much means that we have to babysit them for a day. 

The next morning (Tuesday) all the missionaries that finished go home and the new missionaries get here. Also if there are any missionaries that live in the mission boundaries that are from district I do all their travel stuff as well. 

The Tuesday morning started at 1:15am. I had to take two missionaries to the airport. I got them through to their planes and then had to be back to the house to be ready to leave by 5am. We got home at 4am and slept on the couch for like 30 minutes and then had to take a sister and an Elder to the airport. 

We sent them off at around 5:45 and I was waiting for a sister that was leaving on a mission that I had met the day before when she got set apart. She is from Palmira which is the zone I started the mission in. 

She got there and she only had one bag and I had told them that they were allowed two bags that both could weigh 23 kilos each. While we were waiting in line I asked them how much it weighed and they said they didn't know but that it shouldn't be that much. I asked if I could try lifting it and I almost threw out my back. It definitely didn't weigh 23 kilos (50 lbs.) 

When we weighed it, it weighed 35 kilos (almost 80 lbs.) and they definitely couldn't pay the overweight fee so we started unpacking things to take out. I even took all the things out of my bag so that she could take it but there was still no way. I got a prompting to call Elder Wright who was bringing the rest of the missionaries to the airport. 

As I called they were picking up the sisters. I told him to ask Sister Hernandez if they had an extra luggage bag. They happened to have one. 

We waited for the group and when they got there I ran through the airport to get the bag and we rushed her through the line. 

We said good bye to her and to all the other missionaries and ate some breakfast. 

This was about 8:10am. 

The new missionaries got there at about 9. I took them to the notary and we did some stuff there. 

I didn't start to feel super tired until about 5pm. I was like dead. My presentation made no sense because I couldn't speak either one of the languages I thought I knew. 

I still had to do a format for them to go to immigration the next day and was at the office until 9pm doing that. It was terrible. 

We got everything done on Wednesday and it all worked out but boy was I tired.

Yesterday I had to take a missionary to the airport that I had just barely received last transfer. It was a sad day. 

Anyways, other than that the week has gone by pretty quick.

My companion and me were crawling into bed and he asked me ¨Elder Reese how does nothing ever bother you?¨ 

I had no idea how to respond. I remember when I was little it drove me nuts to watch someone laugh at me or make fun of me about anything. 

I think that one day I just realized how much easier life was when I just laughed at things and pretended like they don't really bother me until they really don't. 

I just told him that he needed to just find his own way to vent things. His own way to brush things off until they are forgotten about. 

I love you guys and I will send a voice recording to go along with this email for more details!! 

Con amor,
 
Elder Reese