Organizing Your Life

Hey guys,

I have been wondering if Connor was in the mission or not! (This is a friend Hunter had in high school) I am glad he has plans! I am actually pretty used to hot weather believe it or not because here it is either hot or raining. 

I heard from Natalee (Hunter's sister). I sent the boys (Hunter's nephews) a quick email last week and she said everything is going great. The boys are starting up their sports so we will see how that goes. 

I am sad you guys couldnt go to the reuinion. I hope that they had fun anyways! 

We watched a talk on Sunday from Elder Godoy about how you are supposed to organize your life as a member of the church. 

First, is your family. Always. Keeping a good relationship in your family is the most important thing we need to do. Always finding time for them. 

Second your job. It is important that you provide for your family and yourself and keep your relationship with your job at a strong level. 

Third, your calling. Isnt that a little strange? President Hinkley said that it is third important thing. If you think about it, how are you going to be able to uphold your calling if your family and your job are crashing down around you? You just cant do it. 

Fourth, yourself. You need to find time for yourself as well. Excercise and scripture study etc. 

These are all things that we have to figure out how to balance. So dont let your job replace your family or your calling replace your job. Find a balance. 

Elijah was a very cocky prophet. I say that in the sense that he taunted people with the power of God because he had so much faith. He was so sure that God would back him up that he never doubted it. He trash talked the priests in that story until they started dancing around the altar cutting themselves and then he killed them later. What a guy. 

I have not gotten my package yet. We asked the place here in Cali if they had it and they said that the people that send us the notice that is here in Cali is a different company where the package always goes when it first enters the country. Do you have the tracking number? I might call them or something to figure it out. 

My ankle is totally fine now. I will try and get you pictures of it next week because it was very ugly. Cool story huh? 

I am excited to see the plans for the house! If you a copy you should scan it to me! 

I remember going to Aunt Elizabeths house. It is beautiful there. I wish I could go! I am glad Ty is finally graduating. I hope you guys have fun at Silverwood! 

We have interviews tomorrow and then on Thursday we have zone conference and we have to do a presentation to our zone. Today me and my companion planned a zone activity and we had lots of fun. We had pancakes at President Trochez house. (He is basically a missionary) His wife died 4 years ago and he was stake president, bishop, mission counselor, etc and he always goes on splits with us. 

Then we played games at the chapel. 

I got to do splits with Elder Carrion this week as well which was fun because he was my old companion and we have some good memories together. He goes home at the end of this transfer.  

President Trochez went with us and it was great. Elder Carrion didnt say much but he said enough. President Trochez told me that he liked the way I taught because he could feel the spirit. That made me really happy. He is my favorite person ever. 

Me and my companion get along great. We make fun of eachother in a different way everytime we contact someone and keep going until they let us in. 

Anyways, Grandma told me in her letter to give her and Grandpa a shoutout in my email. So Hi Grandma and Grandpa! I have a lot of letters for you! I will try to send them home with an Elder that is going home this transfer who is from Meridian! I miss you guys a bunch and love you so much! Hope you missed me at the property this week! Be safe and know you are always in my prayers! 

I love you all! Be safe! 

Con amor, 

Elder Reese 

Just So You Know Mom...

Hey guys,

Well here I am! In the field!!! WOOHOOO!! 

Elder Saboya and me are in Villa Colombia which is here in Cali. Elder Saboya is from Lima and he is 25. He is a convert of about 6 years. The only member in his family and an awesome guy! 

Just so you know Mom if you don't recieve an email that means nobody did. I always write you guys first. 

I wish I could have been there to help with Grandmas house. (We are finishing a laundry room for Hunter's Grandma) I miss doing some work like that from time to time. 

The last time I went to Silverwood was when we went there for state my junior year and it was the halloween themed Silverwood. I hope you guys have fun! (We are headed there in a couple weeks with Brittany and Ty)

I will be happy to come home to a half finished house or the same house however you have it. It might be better to come home while it is being worked on so Dad doesnt have to do everything (in terms of heavy lifting) by himself because then he gets grumpy. 

This email will be short but there is a reason that I have kept a secret for 2 weeks. when I hurt my ankle I hurt it pretty bad and they gave me a cast and they just took it off today and everything is better and I am back to normal. Problem solved! The appointment was later in the day so we got back late but I have a recording! 

The recording will explain the rest! I love you guys! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese 

Hunter's New Area

Hunter didn't have time to send an email this week, but he sent a recording that he didn't get sent last week.  Bill was able to chat with him this week; he is in his first area in Palmira and he likes his companion, Elder Leon, who is from Peru.  They were able to make 40 contacts in 4 days and he was excited about that.  He hasn't gotten his birthday box yet, but he thinks he will get it this week.  He is feeling better but he rolled his ankle today "winning" at soccer.  It is so swelled up that his shoe is tight, but he is okay with that; he won and that's all that matters!  That is all the information he gave us.  His recording will be uploaded as soon as I can remember how to do it.

Thanks for all your support and prayers for Hunter!  He should be home in February!  Not like I'm counting or anything, though.

I Will Be Writing on Mondays Now

Hey so spread the word that I will be writing on Monday instead of Saturday! President sent me out into the field for a week because there are some problems with some missionaries and he needs someone out there to just put them to work! Woohoo!!!!

I will be talking to you guys on Monday! Love you!

Be Home Early

Hey guys,

This week we got out to proselyte more than the last couple of weeks. It was really nice.

On Sunday we had an Elder that was leaving on his mission stay with us but he went out and taught with Elder Whiting and me and Elder Chacon went out together and we had fun. We only had 1 hour but it was fun.

When we went to go get the Elder from his hotel before his setting apart we told his mom that we were going to come and get him. When we got there his mother came up to the front window and started getting a little upset with Elder Whiting because he didn’t tell her that we were coming in taxi and she thought we had an office car. I quickly came to his defense because he felt bad and didn’t know what to say.  She was not very happy with me but that is just how it was.

They had their own car but his bag was pretty big. My main goal was to stay on schedule so as soon as the next taxi came by I called it and we put the bag in and got in the car and then they were going to follow us.

We got to the office and so did they. They had brought their brother because he could drive and no one else could. The problem was he was low on some sort of vitamin or I don’t really know so I went with them to Subway, also the brother was a terrible driver.

They offered to buy me some Subway like 5 times but I politely declined. They were a little more on the privileged side of life.

Then he got set apart and they left and we took him proselyting. He was not expecting to go proselyting.

At the airport the next morning his parents got there late so I gave him the choice to check his backs without his bag lock or risk doing it late. He chose to check his bags. When his dad arrived he was so mad that we put his bag through without a lock and asked me why I made him do it. I nicely explained that I gave him the choice and he made the decision. I just slowly lost respect for his parents over time.

After we sent him through we were walking through the airport with his parents and he dad said that I had made a good impression on him. I didn’t understand how but woohoo I guess!

Then we had to take a sister to the airport on Tuesday and I swear she was like 4 ft tall. She was a very nice person though. There was a problem with all the flights though so we had to wait an hour. We had to eat lunch so she came with us. It was kind of weird. I was giving the order and it was just strange to ask her what she wanted and basically just order food with a young woman.

Wednesday we had a meeting with our Ward Mission Leader who is basically inactive. He is so loving though. The meeting was just him telling us to be home early and not contact people in dangerous areas where 3 of our baptismal dates already live. Oops.

Thursday we left right after lunch to proselyte and had 2 visits. They were both pretty good. One of them is a 7^th day Adventist that cant get over the fact that the Sabbath day is Sunday. If he could accept that he would progress so fast!

The other is this couple that we met. They live together and he just got back from the army and he is 24 and she is 17. OOOOPPSSS. That is kinda strange.

Then we went back to the office real quick. We waited for this guy to come but he never showed. Then we visited Edna the one from Ecuador and you can hear that story on my recording.

Then we taught Amanda again and she has kidney stones. I bought her bread and a bottle of water and Pepsi for the rest of us because she wouldn’t tell me what she needed. Her and her daughter said they would go to church on Sunday.

Friday we taught this guy Gustavo and his wife. They are catholic but only because they were born to catholic parents. They never go to church or anything like that but they are very nice.

Then we taught this girl Lisseth and she is very nice and I think could progress very well. We had to teach her at her door  because there was no man in the house.

Then we contacted and went home.

Today for Pday I cut my hair but he did a terrible job. The Whitesides took us out to lunch to a restaurant of my choosing. I chose a restaurant called Mister Wings. It was really good.

That was pretty much my week. I have some pictures to send and a recording so that is good! I have not gotten my package yet but that is okay the longer I don’t have it the longer it will last me technically!

Love you all! Be safe!

Elder Reese

She Always Makes Fun of Me for Not Eating Vegetables

Hey guys!

So this week has been interesting. It has gone by very quickly but we have not been able to leave and proselyte as much as I would like but Elder Whiting is doing great as he is learning.

This week on Monday we had a super long office meeting and I was just looking around and listening to everything and I realized how much had changed since when I had arrived to the office. It helped me realize that the office was no longer the place for me. It doesn’t effect anyone else because they know nothing different.

I also got to go proselyte with Elder Ayala who is a missionary President set apart on Sunday and he stayed with us overnight and we got to go teach this great lesson to a new investigator. Her name is Diana and she is super interested in the Book of Mormon. Elder Ayala did a great job I was very proud of him.

Then on Tuesday we taught Diana the recent convert and her kids but it was a terrible lesson because she is watching this little girl and she is the worst little girl to have in a lesson. We just kind of hurried through the points because the spirit was not there and scheduled an appointment for another day.

That is when we went and contacted higher up in our area and found the Torres family. The husband was not home but the mom and the three daughters were. She had already received all of the lessons in Ecuador from sister missionaries and she said that the sisters helped her and her husband get married in order to get baptized but they had transfers and the sisters never came back and her and her family were never baptized.

She asked if we had a Book of Mormon to give to her because she left hers in Ecuador. We gladly gave her one and we should visit them on Saturday and see how it goes. I am very excited to see what they have to say.

Wednesday we had a zone conference and it was good but President got very serious because the number of baptisms got really low and he asked us if he thought God was pleased with that. Then he told us that he knew he was not because we are not in Europe or Asia this is South America. We should be baptizing a lot more people.

Then on Thursday we went out to breakfast for President Whitesides birthday but it was a surprise that Hermana Whitesides set up. It was really fun because President always shares these great stories and I can usually get him to say some funny stuff and encourage him to keep going.

We also bought him an oscar trophy with a plaque on it that says ¨Mejor Presidente de Misión – Presidente Whitesides¨ which as you can guess says Best mission President. He thought that was really funny and Sister Whitesides loved it.

That day we also had to make an emergency run to the airport because this sister was going to Bogotá and her mom was freaking out and had never been to an airport before and we were supposed to help them anyways but they never answered their phone so I wasn’t gonna go. But then they called. So we hurried there. It took away a lot of time.

Then for my birthday the lady that cleans our house and cooks us lunch (Sister Hermencia) is like our other mom. She is like 55 years old but I always make her laugh and she always makes fun of me for not eating vegetables but she cooked me a special breakfast with just sausage and potatoes. It was fantastic.

Then Elder Sarnowski gave me one of his favorite ties which is really nice of him and I love the tie.

For lunch she made me French fries and fried chicken stuffed with ham and cheese which is one of my favorite meals she makes. Then they put on like classic Colombian music for the whole meal which was weird but it didn’t matter.

I remember my birthday last year I got a cake from like 4 people. I was so full the entire day. We had a family home evening with a member family and they gave me cake and soda and Liliana as well gave me cake. This year it wasn’t cake but it was a special breakfast and lunch and surrounded by some of my favorite people.

Last night we got to the Collazos family's house and Clara was working on a wedding dress forrr....HERSELF!! They are getting married!! On the 19th of August which means I wont be here to see their marriage or their baptism but I am so happy for them! It makes me so happy to see them progress.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! I love you all so much even though I dont know who some of you are! I am part of the old crew now! 

President and Sister Whitesides were in a zone conference on my birthday all day so we didn't do anything but it is okay they are super busy and I am not entitled to anything. 

The best part of my Birthday was getting two unexpected letters from Lisseth Bravo, the girl I baptized in Pasto. The APs brought them back just in time for my birthday. She is doing great and finishing up her last year of college. Also, her younger brother is getting baptized on the 30th of this month. 

She also said that her mom still talks about the version of I Stand All Amazed that I played and that we sang as a district at her baptism. Her mom is not a member but she is a very nice person and Lisseth knows she was impacted at least a little bit by all of her family being converted. 

I bought new soccer shoes today because my old ones were starting to rip and because Elder Chacon needed new ones so I gave him my old ones before they got totally ruined. 

Anyways, thank you everyone for all your birthday wishes I appreciate it! Be safe! 

Con amor, 

Elder Reeses 

Everything Is Going Great!

Hey guys!

I have pictures to send this week but no recording I will try and do that next week!

This week was good! On Monday my companion turned 20 so the Mission President and his wife took us all out to eat to celebrate. The only problem is that every Monday at 11 we have office meeting and it usually finishes around 1 because that is when we have lunch waiting for us at home.

The difference on Monday and sometimes on other Mondays, was that there was no lunch waiting for us because they were going to take us out. Every time that we do that President just keeps going and going because there is nothing stopping him and we just keep bringing up new topics and what not and by the end we have all just decided to not bring up anything else until the next week.

We went to this restaurant called the Gringo. It is like an American restaurant that has burgers and lots of other American things. It is also the place where I tried onion rings and liked them. I put them on my burger this time. I still don’t like Jalepeño poppers though.

Elder Whiting is doing really good! He is learning a lot the only thing that is a little hard is that when he does things in his own way which isn’t wrong but just slower than the way I used to do it. I just tell him he can do it however it makes more sense to him. But deep down it slowly kills me sometimes but I know he is doing nothing wrong.

On Wednesday we had a cool experience. Elder Sarnowski got this phone call from a random guy that had found his number on the internet and he said he was right outside our office but we weren’t there. He said he wanted a blessing and that he was from Venezuela. We hurried back to the office and he was just sitting down waiting for us.

As we walked up the stairs he was very tired and walked very slowly. He spoke English as well. He was a member of the church and had all the information to give to us. We then gave him a blessing and after the blessing he started telling us a few things about his journey. He had left his house 17 days prior and walked from the border all the way to Cali. That is a very long walk.

He then told us he had not eaten in 2 full days and that he left an 8 month old son at home and his wife.

He had a friend that was going to help him but his friend left without telling him so he had no way to get home and was stuck with no job and no money.

We took him back to the house and gave him some lunch but he was so ashamed he couldn’t look us in the eyes. He really didn’t want to make us give him anything. He dished up his own plate and took a normal serving of everything. Every now and again he would stop and tell us he was very ashamed to be there.

He said that for 17 years the missionaries had come to his house to eat and now he was eating at their house. He continued to talk a little bit more and then he said ¨I have never…I have never felt so much fear of dying than today. I couldn’t stop thinking about my family and never seeing them again because I just had no way out.¨  And he started to cry.

He literally thought that his life was going to end until he looked us up somehow on the internet and got ahold of us and we called our bishop to meet with him at 6 and we sent him on his way.

He got to the meeting at 6 and now has a place to stay and is going to move forward from there.

It just got me to think about how we complain about every little thing in life. We really do. And here he was genuinely trying to not eat our food that lands on our plate everday at 1 after having walked 17 days and 2 days without eating. Just think about that the next time doesn’t go your way.

The C family is progressing really well. They know they want to get baptized but they aren’t married and they are trying to figure out a date and I am pretty sure it will be after I leave. That is kind of upsetting but at the same time not a huge deal to me. As long as they do it I will be happy!

GREAT NEWS!! Do you guys remember Amanda Guzman? The first lady I was able to baptize in the mission? I received news that she will be going to the temple to receive her endowments in a couple weeks. It was probably one of the happiest moments of my mission to receive that news. That is the goal with literally everyone and she is going.

We got the chance to teach another Venezuelan as well that already read 1^st and 2^nd Nephi. Towards the end of the lesson we asked him if he would pray to God to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He responded ¨I don’t really need to. I already know it is true.¨

That was so cool to hear. It is soooo much fun to teach someone that actually does the things we invite them to do. Because they really do start to gain a testimony and God does answer their prayers.

As for you Dad happy Fathers Day! I know it is tomorrow and I hope you get to enjoy it! Thank you for all the years of patcience and the support you have given me in all my decisions with sports, choir, scouts, church callings, and everything else that I have done. Sorry there is no skype call I didn’t make the rules! I hope you have a great day know that I love you and that you are always in my prayers!

Also, dont feel bad that my package wont arrive on time. I am happy regardless! 

Everything is going great! Transfers are on the 16th of July! I love you guys be safe! 

Con amor,

Elder Reese