I Haven't Fallen Asleep Once in Sacrament

Hey guys!

Well you finally got it all cleaned out (Still talking about the bonus room that is now clean with occupants)! We talked about it basically my whole life! I am surprised you got it done so fast!(It didn't feel fast!)

I haven't fallen asleep once in sacrament since I have been on my mission!(Someone fell asleep in our sacrament meeting this week.) It is not too easy either because my ward starts at 8!! It is terrible! We always get up at 6 30 but we usually can avoid people until like 10 or 11! 

This week was good! It was filled with good news! One of the divorces that need to happen will be finalized here pretty soon and that will be two baptisms! They have been investigators for 10 years and we are going over the lessons again! Turns out they forgot a lot of it so good thing we checked! 

We stopped by their house yesterday and she told me that her brother had lost his wife on Friday and we asked if he could come over so we could talk to him and he did. 

He is catholic and he said he felt guilty for some of things he has done and things he said and didn't say to wife while she was alive! 

We started sharing the plan of salvation and everything went great and he wanted us to come back to explain the rest! I really felt like he will be baptized. 

As for the moving in! (Gretchen and Kevin are staying with us for a couple weeks while they get their house ready to move into) Sad I missed it! I had to think really hard about who Matt Banning was but I figured it out! (Matt Banning was the assistant principal at Hunter's school for a year) Is he in there ward or something? That is cool! He knew me when I was like 11 or 12. That is a while ago! Did dad talk to him?

Just so you know Dad doesn't say all the details like you, Mom, so he has told me none of the stuff you tell me! I expect Duke to remember me! He didn't recognize Abby for a few days until she was home all day on the couch and then he remembered there was a girl that used to do that a year and a half ago! 

As for this family. We have another appointment with them tomorrow! We will see how that goes! We will be giving them all a Book of Mormon which will be 6 in total! They are super nice people! 

Also, my district leader got transferred today because he is going to be a secretary in the mission office! So we don't have a district leader! The zone leaders are going to be our district leaders for 2 weeks until President calls a new one! 

Anyways, that was my week! Hope everything goes well over there! Love you all! 

Con Amor,

Elder Reese

There Was No Toilet Paper

Hey guys!

Sounds like you have had a blast!! (We are still cleaning out the bonus room) The bonus room needed to be cleaned out. Did you guys know that the term we use for that room is like only in our family? No one else says bonus room! It is a storage room for everyone else. I have no idea how we started calling it that but yea! 

Duke seems to be doing better! (Duke is learning to listen to Bill since Hunter left) He is a good dog. There are tons of dogs here. They all just run wild in the streets and eat garbage. 

There is a new Elder here from Ecuador and he is being trained by Elder Sarnowski. He is white. Anyways, Elder Sarnowski told me that his companion is deathly afraid of dogs. He always offers to pay a taxi to avoid a street with dogs on it. He is also afraid of cows and horses. Elder Sarnowski started to make up stories about the horses and cows and now his companion hides behind Elder Sarnowski every time they are by one of the three animals! 

This week we went to Popayan for a zone conference. That means 12 hours in a bus. 6 there and 6 back. Two Elders got sick this time and Elder Castro couldn't hold it and took a dump (I'm not sure this is proper missionary terminology, so please excuse him)in the bus bathroom and it stunk up the WHOLE bus. The problem was that he didn't check to see if there was toilet paper. There wasn't. 

The poor guy sat there for 1 hour and a half on the toilet until we stopped to buy some paper.

I also learned something that I thought I knew differently. My companion has told me that he has a back problem and has permission to rest every three hours. I believed him. 

At the conference I was talking the Presidents wife. Turns out that problem doesn't exist. I told her not to talk with him and that we would take care of it together. 

We got back to Pasto Friday at 1 in the morning. We slept in an hour longer because we were given permission! Then from that point on and the last three days we have not gone back to the house or taken any kind of rest and my companion has almost died. He goes to bed as soon as we get home. 

He asked me why we don't take breaks anymore. I told him that WE never did and that we did it for his back. Then I told him that I am not upset that he lied to me I just am gonna work and he has no choice now! 

Since then we have found an amazing family to teach that I love to death and that are super ready to keep going. They only have 2 lessons but I cant wait to teach them more! They have the cutest little  baby as well! 

We met a dude that is part of a Christian church that doesn't believe Christ was perfect. So that is something. 

Anyways, sounds like everything is going good over there! Please tell Grandma Reese I am getting her letters because I got another one and she said that no one has told her that I have gotten any! Love you all! 

Con Amor,

Elder Reese

God Does Have A Sense of Humor

Hey guys!

My companions name is Elder Acosta! Or Stinky Feet as some have been calling him.  (I told Hunter I couldn't remember his new companion's name)

My week was good! We found some new investigators and one of the old ones made some progress in her divorce! As soon as she is divorced she will get married again and we will baptize her and her husband! 

My companion used an example this week that I wasn't a huge fan of! It wasn't bad it was just a little awkward! 

We were teaching the Plan of Salvation and I had just explained that Adam and Eve were like children in the garden and that they needed to fall for our sake. 

My companion thought that it would be a good idea to share a little more so he asked her to imagine that I was Adam and that she was Eve. Then asked her how we would make children together. 

She then turned bright red and gave us the right answer anyways. I later told him that maybe we shouldn't use us in the example if he is going to use it!!! 

Yes I used to only eat potato pearls and without gravy. (We are cleaning out our storage room and found some potato pearls and I told Hunter they reminded me of him) That was all I would eat! They are better with gravy! 

You know I always suggested that we clean out the bonus room and that I should live in there and you all just laughed at me and now you get to do it without my help and your sick!! God does have a sense of humor sometimes!! 

I would love Grandpa Luckey's email! 

You wanted a little list of things to put in that Christmas package! 

An alpha smart would be great! 

A Triple combination in English! 

Some good cologne! Get opinions from outside sources first....(Who has better taste than his mom!?!)

I will add to that the next week but just buy what you would get me for Christmas! 

I hope all is well! Good job for sharing your testimony! As missionaries we do every fast Sunday! It is good practice! 

Love you all! 

Con Amor,

Elder Reese

I Happened To Be Present For All Of Conference...

Hey guys!

I happened to be present for all of conference so I did happen to hear that Elder Hales died . 

Conference was super great but before I get to that I will talk about my week! 

My new companion from Peru got here on Monday and we have had no problems other than the fact that everyday he just wears these steal toed work boots to proselyte and at night I want to die. The big problem is that he wears THE SAME SOCKS EVERYDAY. 

Luckily and through revelation Elder Carrion left this pet spray when he left and when my companion goes upstairs or something I drench his shoes in it. Also the room.

He is also very smart but he has a very low tolerance for people that say something wrong and he knows what is right. He has four out of six years in college down of biochemical engineering. 

As for other sad news. Elder Acosta came from my old zone and informed me that Arley Martinez my old ward mission leader from a previous are and also the husband of Luceny who we almost baptized was shot in the head and killed 3 weeks ago over his motorcycle.

He fought back and they shot him in front of his 11 year old daughter and his wife.

Obviously this is terrible but faith in Christ, like explained in conference, isn't always faith that he will save us here on earth. Saving means that he can take whoever he wants to live with him once again. Faith in Christ signifies faith in his perfect plan as well. 

As for my package just more treats and some cool ties that aren't super fat!! Also, some more cool tie tacks would be cool! I have started a trend here! I put them on my back pack and everyone started doing it! I want more! I will make a list this week for more things! 

As for your lesson mom. If you would like something interesting to speak about just read the miracles of Christ and his attributes. Also, a good story is with Ammon and how all he did was serve King Lamoni. He wanted to just live there and King Lamoni offered Ammon one of his daughters and he declined and asked to be his servant instead. He continued to serve very faithfully up until the conversion of King Lamoni and his wife. 

You could use the talk of Elder Eyring this conference as well to help support that story. I believe it was the Sunday session. 

Anyways, just a suggestion! Love you all!!! 

Con Amor,

Elder Reese