We Helped Cut Talons off 2000 Chickens Feet

Hey guys! 

I met Alfredo through his brother who is a member from Venezuela. He is a really good guy! He has had a pretty wordly past but he has slowly gotten over those things. This Sunday he came to church all by himself without his brother and that was a big step. 

My camera is currently locked up in the chapel but I will try and send pictures really quick tonight because this week we helped Alfredo cut the talons off of like 2000 chicken feet. Why? Because they eat those here and put them in soup. He was really grateful for the help though. 

Good news from today is that we had a visit from Elder Falabella who is our President of our area and also we had Brother and Sister Homes and Durant who are part of the young men and Sunday School presidensy. 

Brother Homes had this awesome class about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how simple it really is if we just focus on what we need to. He told us that the fuel to keep living the Gospel (Faith, Repentence, Baptism, The Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End.) Is the Word. 

Which means any way that we are able to recieve the word of God. 1. The scriptures 2. Through Prayer 3. Through the spoken work (Going to church). 

He said that if you can find a rythym in life with those things then the Gospel will be a lot easier to live. 

Brother Durant talked about how simple it really needs to be to share the Gospel with others. That there are a lot of things we do only because it is routine. He showed us some ideas and techniches about how to contact. 

We also had an activity this week in the chapel because we loaned our chapel to the goverment for an activity they wanted to do and so we decided to contact all the people we could. 

It was a very cool experience. The only problem was that it was an all day thing and most of the missionaries got tired. A lot of them were a little scared to stop people from leaving to invite them to come participate. So I just started grabbing random missionaries and forced them to contact with me. 

In the end of the day all went well and we got a lot of references for all of Cali. 

The highlight of this week was receiving these pictures of two of my conerts in Prado, my first area. 

They went to the temple to get endowed this week and it was probably one of the most fullfilling moments in my entire mission. 

Anyways, thanks for everything! I love you guys! 

Con amor, 

Elder Reese 

PS If you havent sent my package I would love some more gel!!! My good gel. If you could send 2 that would be great

I Am Super Proud of Grandma Reese!

Hey guys,

Sounds like everyone had a good week. I hope Summer sticks with Volleyball. She could do great. 

I am super proud of Grandma Reese r and I knew that my prayers got all the way over there even though I am here. She once told me my prayers counted as double (Oh Grandma) haha

Out of all of the memories I have from home the ones that I cherish the most are memories from Copper Basin or from other family activities. I am super pumped! 

Ricky (One of Hunter's best friends) will be a great Dad even though he will have some growing up to do in the process. I am super happy for him! Ashlyn is a great girl as well so no worries there.

I cant believe Tyson is getting married. That is so strange. It has been 11 months. I have no plans on beating him on that one. 

The travel arrangers on Salt Lake won't let you know until 3 months before I come home so you should get it (I have been watching for Hunter's flight information when he comes home) in about 6 weeks.

As for me this week, every area in my zone has a baptismal date! WOOHOOO! Including us! For November 10th. His name is Alfredo and he is one of my best friends. I have really enjoyed teaching him. I have seen his desires slowly grow as we have taught him. He is from Venezuela and a super good guy. 

We also had a speacial broadcast with President Nelson and Elder Stevenson. It was super good! He said that 3/4 of the convert baptisms a year come from the Americas. He said that we should be so grateful for the call to serve in this part if the world. 

Today 2 of my missionaries got taken out of my zone and it was sad. Now Elder Hodges is a district leader and that means we will be able to do splits which will be epic. 

Anyways, the recording I made is not working so that will be for next week! Love you guys! 

Elder Reese 

There Is a New Gringo In My Zone

Hey guys! 

Well it was really nice for dad to buy me a new truck it is actually something I never expected....Mom you can keep your car. Anyone who has seen The other guys with Will Farrel and Mark Walhberg know the quote about your car. 

Dad please send me a picture from inside my truck so I know what it looks like!

So this week we had transfers and Elder Saboya is gone and I am here in Floresta as the only zone leader with my companion who goes home this transfer

Elder Hodges is training and he is doing a great job. He is a very obedient missionary. There is also a new gringo in my zone who is not talkative AT ALL. I am running out of gameplays. 

Alfredo finally came to church so we have a progressing baptismal date for next month. WOOHOO!! We had like 4 unexpected people come to church this week.

I took the zone to the zoo today which means I planned the trip. President Whitesides says that everyone has to participate or we can't go so I had to sacrifice and go for the THIRD TIME. I took a total of one picture. The coolest part was this ex missionary from Utah came with his wife and President Trochez came and it was fun to talk with them. His name is Taylor Armstrong and he offered me a job in San Diego installing solar panels. Nice guy. 

E and B have been having a rough time. B's son is rebelling in a big way and she doesnt know what to do and there was this HUGE storm in Aguajira (which is where Esther is from) and her house was 100% destroyed. It no longer exists. The worst part is she doesn't know. They don't know how to tell her. I feel terrible. It is so hard to watch people you care about as a missionary suffer and not be able to do certain things to help them. The gospel will always be the strongest tool but sometimes it requires more. 

Anyways, this week I will make a recording for everyone. I love you guys! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

I Couldn't Be Prouder!

Hey guys,

Conference was really powerful this session. I don't know if you could guys could tell, but the 2 hour change is to serperate the weak from the strong. The idea is to use that ¨extra¨ hour in your home strengthening your family. If you don't, your family will not be strong enough to take what is coming. Please don't take it as a chance to breath and relax. It is the exact opposite. 

The messages have gotten more and more direct because there is no time to speak softly anymore. I really loved it. You can tell that there is power behind everyone of them that spoke. 

It sounds like this week was not a good week for any football fans in Idaho or Utah. What a shame. 

As for transfers.....I stayed here in Floresta!!! WOOHOO!! That is what I wanted. The surprise was that Elder Saboya was transferred and my new companion is an Elder that will be finishing this transfer, but they sent him as a normal junior companion and I am the only zone leader in the companionship and in the zone. President talked to me in the terminal explaining that it is a special case and that I will receive more instructions about it later. Either way I am happy! 

There will be three new missionaries arriving to my zone as well which means there are three trainers as well! Elder Hodges will be training a new missionary and I couldnt be prouder. I love that guy. Elder Hernandez and Elder Warr as well will be training. 

I went to the office to go say goodbye to Elder Eldredge today because he goes home tomorrow and he was one of my best companions. 

When we finally had to say goodbye he hugged me and told me that he had learned more from me than from anyone else in the mission. It made me feel really good. I teared up but I didn't cry because I know everything will be alright. 

I will make a long recording this next week for everyone! 

I will be happy with whatever the family decides to do but I refuse to go on a trip if not everyone that goes will be happy about the decision. (We are planning a family trip when he gets back) There will be no complaning or arguing. That is my only request. Feel free to tell that to everyone so that they plan the trip in that way! If not well you can go without me! 

Anyways, I love you guys! Be safe! Have a good week. 

COn amor,

Elder Reese 

We Had A Baptism!

Hey guys,

This week we had a baptism!!! WOOHOOO!!!! Esther Herrera got baptized! I will try and attach pictures!! 

We were running frantic to get her ready because Monday she couldn't and Tuesday she couldn't and she had to have her baptismal interview on Friday! So we were doing our best to teach but without just hurrying through the lessons. 

This week we visited a member that is going on a month long work trip to this place in Colombia where there are no missionaries. It is just farmland. So he asked for pamphlets to be able to share the gospel while he is gone. He is a really good member. So we took him pamphlets and I gave him a tie and my companion gave him an oil thingy for blessings. It was a good experience! 

We had splits this week and I went to another area with a missionary that is finishing this transfer. He is from Lima Peru. It was fun because he is a cool dude. The downside was we had 1 appointment the whole day that was confirmed. We contacted the entire day! 

Then it started to rain. So it was just a great day. We made the most of it though. There was this crazy guy we contacted that just told stories about all the times people have tried to rob him and he has just repremanded them in the name if Jesus of Nazareth and they always run away. 

Its always funny when someone opens the door and all you do is say hi and then they just shake their head and say no and shut the door. Like aren't you just a little bit curious about what we do and who we are? 

On Saturday night this crazy drunk dude started telling us about his current problems. His girlfriend dumped him and his other girlfriend dumped him and then later his boyfriend dumped him. Bummer huh? 

He then told us about this great Idea he had. To just kill himself. Then he said he had an even better idea. Kill everyone in his house and THEN himself. We tried our best to counsel him but he wasn't very coherent. 

I also gave a baptismal interview this week to a 9 year old girl named Lauren. Her parents went inactive for a little while and she was 7 and now shes 9 and the missionaries need to baptized her. 

She was obviously nervous. So for 10 minutes I asked about her and showed her a picture of my family and my dog and we laughed and she was all better. She passed her interview and she got baptized on Saturday with Esther. She is a good little girl. 

Anyways, trnasfers are next week so we will see what happens. There are going to be some crazy changes I think. We will have to see how it goes. 

I love you guys! Thanks for everything! 

Con amor, 

Elder Reese