Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Office week 3 - White christmas
This past week was the best week ever. For christmas eve, us office elders and the ayudantes went to the Hinckleys and we did a nativity scene with them and another family in our ward who´s from the US. Presidente Hinckley told the story as us missionaries and the little kids of the family acted out the scenes. It was super fun. Then after we all went to our piso and watched Mr. Krugers christmas and slept over with all the office elders. Then in the morning we made some french toast and went to church and then i talked to the fam!! It was a great first christmas here in the mission field.
So this whole year we´ve been working towards our goal of 450 baptisms and this last sunday was the last sunday of the year. Sunday night we did all the numbers with President and we had............................................................. 448 baptisms!!! Just 2 off!! But there are 3 other people in the mission who have dates to be baptized and confirmed before the end of the year so we can still hit 450!!!!! The Lord has blessed us so much during this whole year and is still blessing us with miracles. I know revelation is real and President Hinckley set this goal according to the Lord´s will. Last year we only baptized 340 and the most that´s ever baptized was 403 in this mission. And this next year we´re going to baptize EVEN MORE!!
We saw so many blessings this past week and had 2 miracle baptisms this last saturday. This is the story of Sebastián...
2 and a half weeks ago, the sunday before i got here to the office, Sebastián walked in to church with his wife Piedades, who is a member. Sebastián is from Spain and his wife is from Bolivia. The missionaries here in this ward had never met him but he came to church and said that he wanted to change his life and be baptized by his friend José Luis who is a member in our ward. He has been taught all of the lessons before but never progressed to baptism. He and his wife had plans to move back to Bolivia before the end of this year so he wanted to get baptized before he left. We started teaching him and found out that he never learned how to read and he smoked... so we knew it would be a huge miracle for him to be prepared to be baptized before he left to Bolivia. After the first couple of visits he had almost completely given up smoking and his wife would read to him in between visits from the book of mormon and the pamphlets. This last week he gave up smoking completely and said he would never smoke again and he would be ready for his baptism on the 24th. He was baptized this last saturday and confirmed on sunday by his friend José Luis. The very next day, monday, he left with his wife to Bolivia. It was a miracle to see him progress so fast and change his life to be baptized within 13 days. He was so prepared and had the true desires to receive the blessings of the gospel. They both promised us that they would keep going to church every week when they got down there to Bolivia and now they are progressing together to go to the temple in a year. I love this gospel and there really isnt any greater happiness than to see someone come into the gospel and start a new life in Christ.
Our other investigator who got baptized was another miracle but i dont have time to write about it. But just really quick her name is Cindy from the Philippines and she´s 15 years old. She lives here with her sister and her parents are still in the Philippines. She had a date to be baptized about 4 years ago but her parents didnt let her. Elder Krasnoselsky and Call found her in the area book and we got her parents permission to baptize her. We were praying and praying before she called her parents so that she would get permission. Her parents said "we want you to think deeply about this before you make a decision and make sure you are doing the right thing." When we asked her what her decision was about baptism she said "why not?" Heavenly Father heard our prayers and softened the hearts of her parents so that she could be baptized.
I love you familia. Im so grateful for your prayers and your fasting for me and for our investigators. Ive had so many experiences and blessings because of your prayers. So keep praying for me and happy new year!! 2012.... wow this is going way too fast. Is anyone going to the rose parade? and who´s playing in the championship?? Yeah im still kinda interested in sports.
Elder Reeves
So this whole year we´ve been working towards our goal of 450 baptisms and this last sunday was the last sunday of the year. Sunday night we did all the numbers with President and we had............................................................. 448 baptisms!!! Just 2 off!! But there are 3 other people in the mission who have dates to be baptized and confirmed before the end of the year so we can still hit 450!!!!! The Lord has blessed us so much during this whole year and is still blessing us with miracles. I know revelation is real and President Hinckley set this goal according to the Lord´s will. Last year we only baptized 340 and the most that´s ever baptized was 403 in this mission. And this next year we´re going to baptize EVEN MORE!!
We saw so many blessings this past week and had 2 miracle baptisms this last saturday. This is the story of Sebastián...
2 and a half weeks ago, the sunday before i got here to the office, Sebastián walked in to church with his wife Piedades, who is a member. Sebastián is from Spain and his wife is from Bolivia. The missionaries here in this ward had never met him but he came to church and said that he wanted to change his life and be baptized by his friend José Luis who is a member in our ward. He has been taught all of the lessons before but never progressed to baptism. He and his wife had plans to move back to Bolivia before the end of this year so he wanted to get baptized before he left. We started teaching him and found out that he never learned how to read and he smoked... so we knew it would be a huge miracle for him to be prepared to be baptized before he left to Bolivia. After the first couple of visits he had almost completely given up smoking and his wife would read to him in between visits from the book of mormon and the pamphlets. This last week he gave up smoking completely and said he would never smoke again and he would be ready for his baptism on the 24th. He was baptized this last saturday and confirmed on sunday by his friend José Luis. The very next day, monday, he left with his wife to Bolivia. It was a miracle to see him progress so fast and change his life to be baptized within 13 days. He was so prepared and had the true desires to receive the blessings of the gospel. They both promised us that they would keep going to church every week when they got down there to Bolivia and now they are progressing together to go to the temple in a year. I love this gospel and there really isnt any greater happiness than to see someone come into the gospel and start a new life in Christ.
Our other investigator who got baptized was another miracle but i dont have time to write about it. But just really quick her name is Cindy from the Philippines and she´s 15 years old. She lives here with her sister and her parents are still in the Philippines. She had a date to be baptized about 4 years ago but her parents didnt let her. Elder Krasnoselsky and Call found her in the area book and we got her parents permission to baptize her. We were praying and praying before she called her parents so that she would get permission. Her parents said "we want you to think deeply about this before you make a decision and make sure you are doing the right thing." When we asked her what her decision was about baptism she said "why not?" Heavenly Father heard our prayers and softened the hearts of her parents so that she could be baptized.
I love you familia. Im so grateful for your prayers and your fasting for me and for our investigators. Ive had so many experiences and blessings because of your prayers. So keep praying for me and happy new year!! 2012.... wow this is going way too fast. Is anyone going to the rose parade? and who´s playing in the championship?? Yeah im still kinda interested in sports.
Elder Reeves
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Fotos Navidad
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| Shot of Barcelona |
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| The Three Wise Men |
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| Christmas Eve at the Hinckley's (reenacting the nativity story) |
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| Christmas Day with Archie |
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
Just wanted to send out a quick christmas card while my companions are talking to their families. I love you all and it was so much fun talking to you!! Im sorry i didnt see anyone else in the family but dont worry im doing the best ever. Enjoy!
Elder Reeves
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Oficina week 2 - A quick one
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!
Wow its weird that im going to be talking to you guys in a couple of days... it almost feels like you dont exist haha but im SO excited!! Yeah mom i´ll be calling around 2 or 2:30 my time so it will be 8/8:30 new york time. i´ll call one of the skype accounts so just wait for the call. About the package mom, it got to Lleida and is sitting there in the post office. Elder Bajaña is going to send it to me and it will hopefully be here soon.
Sorry i have like no time to write at all but everything is going great here in the office. My job is actually pretty fun because theres a bunch of different stuff to do so i get to leave the office a lot and get some fresh air while everyone else in the office is just sitting at their desks going crazy. We´re in the last week of our goal to baptize 450 people before christmas and we´re so close!! We´re at 427 baptisms right now and we´re praying for miracles. So keep praying for our investigators and for the goal we have. We´re hoping to see at least one baptism this week with this 15 year old philipino girl but it will take a miracle. Oh by the way our area is PACKED with people from the phillipines and there a lot of people in our ward from there. Most of them speak english too so they love being with us missionaries. Its super fun. I´ll have to send you some pictures later. I love you all and i will talk to you on sunday!!! Adeu
Elder Reeves
Wow its weird that im going to be talking to you guys in a couple of days... it almost feels like you dont exist haha but im SO excited!! Yeah mom i´ll be calling around 2 or 2:30 my time so it will be 8/8:30 new york time. i´ll call one of the skype accounts so just wait for the call. About the package mom, it got to Lleida and is sitting there in the post office. Elder Bajaña is going to send it to me and it will hopefully be here soon.
Sorry i have like no time to write at all but everything is going great here in the office. My job is actually pretty fun because theres a bunch of different stuff to do so i get to leave the office a lot and get some fresh air while everyone else in the office is just sitting at their desks going crazy. We´re in the last week of our goal to baptize 450 people before christmas and we´re so close!! We´re at 427 baptisms right now and we´re praying for miracles. So keep praying for our investigators and for the goal we have. We´re hoping to see at least one baptism this week with this 15 year old philipino girl but it will take a miracle. Oh by the way our area is PACKED with people from the phillipines and there a lot of people in our ward from there. Most of them speak english too so they love being with us missionaries. Its super fun. I´ll have to send you some pictures later. I love you all and i will talk to you on sunday!!! Adeu
Elder Reeves
Friday, December 16, 2011
Oficina week 1 - Mas noticias
Family I finally have preparation day!! Its been a week and a half since my last one and now im in the office! We usually have preparation day on wednesdays in the office but this week is on thursday because it was transfer week. I got here to Barcelona on tuesday morning and got thrown right into the work here in the office. There is SO much stuff to do and ive been probably the most tired ive ever been in the mission. Im in a trio right now with Elder Call, who is the finaciero who´s going to be leaving, and Elder Krasnoselsky, the Registrador. Elder Call is from Alabama and Elder Krasnoselsky is from Argentina!! So im going to be with another native! But he speaks perfect english and loves speaking it so i try to speak to him in spanish but he just answers back in english haha but he´s such a good Elder. Its tons of fun. The other Elders in the office are Elder Tyler, who came in with me on tuesday and has been getting taught by Elder Bronson, who is over the Distribution stuff, and then there´s Elder Hastings who is the secretary of President. So onto the new news..................
Elder Call has been teaching me how to do all the finance stuff and he´ll be leaving in a couple weeks once he teaches everything there is to know. I was learning a bunch and getting the hang of things these last two days and it hasnt been too much fun haha but somebody has to do it. There´s tons of money we work with and all the bills we have to pay for the pisos and for utilities. Elder Tyler was getting taught by Elder Bronson about the distribution stuff these last 2 days but then... this morning we were on our way to the office and Elder Bronson called me and asked me if i had heard the news. I was like "what news?". Then he said "President walked in this morning to the office and said, "I hope everyone hasnt gotten too comfortable yet because i woke up during the night last night and i felt like we have to make some changes."" So pretty much everything i learned in the last 2 days doesnt matter because im getting changed to be over the distribution!! pretty crazy because i totally wasnt expecting it. But i am SO happy that i dont have to do the financial stuff haha it really is so boring. So i feel pretty bad for Elder Tyler but President has a purpose in it. So starting tomorrow im going to start working with Elder Bronson and he´s going to be teaching me about everything over distribution. I think it just consists of buying stuff for pisos and replacing furniture and giving out the supplies for all the missionaries. Im super excited to do it. Plus we get to like drive to ikea and buy a bunch of stuff which will be fun. Elder Krasnoselsky will still be my companion but we´re just switching the callings.
This past week has been nuts but we still see miracles every day. We work in the office all day until 6 in the afternoon and then we proselyte till 10. There´s so many good investigators that we´re teaching here. We have a couple of fechas set for the 24 of this month and we´re still working with them. The investigators in Lleida have been getting attacked by satan and when i left, every single investigator had some kind of doubt or problem in their life. But Elena still has a date for the 24th. We still dont know whats going to be happening with La Seu and Andorra but hopefully i´ll still be going up there every week with another companion.
Alright i´ll talk to you next wednesday. Mom and dad, as far as the christmas call i´ll probably be able to call in the morning for you guys in new york. Our ward here ends at 1, which is 7 in the morning in new york i think. Im not sure exactly what time i´ll be able to call but probably around 8 or 9 in the morning, new york time. i should know better next week so i´ll let you know. Loves
Elder Reeves
Elder Call has been teaching me how to do all the finance stuff and he´ll be leaving in a couple weeks once he teaches everything there is to know. I was learning a bunch and getting the hang of things these last two days and it hasnt been too much fun haha but somebody has to do it. There´s tons of money we work with and all the bills we have to pay for the pisos and for utilities. Elder Tyler was getting taught by Elder Bronson about the distribution stuff these last 2 days but then... this morning we were on our way to the office and Elder Bronson called me and asked me if i had heard the news. I was like "what news?". Then he said "President walked in this morning to the office and said, "I hope everyone hasnt gotten too comfortable yet because i woke up during the night last night and i felt like we have to make some changes."" So pretty much everything i learned in the last 2 days doesnt matter because im getting changed to be over the distribution!! pretty crazy because i totally wasnt expecting it. But i am SO happy that i dont have to do the financial stuff haha it really is so boring. So i feel pretty bad for Elder Tyler but President has a purpose in it. So starting tomorrow im going to start working with Elder Bronson and he´s going to be teaching me about everything over distribution. I think it just consists of buying stuff for pisos and replacing furniture and giving out the supplies for all the missionaries. Im super excited to do it. Plus we get to like drive to ikea and buy a bunch of stuff which will be fun. Elder Krasnoselsky will still be my companion but we´re just switching the callings.
This past week has been nuts but we still see miracles every day. We work in the office all day until 6 in the afternoon and then we proselyte till 10. There´s so many good investigators that we´re teaching here. We have a couple of fechas set for the 24 of this month and we´re still working with them. The investigators in Lleida have been getting attacked by satan and when i left, every single investigator had some kind of doubt or problem in their life. But Elena still has a date for the 24th. We still dont know whats going to be happening with La Seu and Andorra but hopefully i´ll still be going up there every week with another companion.
Alright i´ll talk to you next wednesday. Mom and dad, as far as the christmas call i´ll probably be able to call in the morning for you guys in new york. Our ward here ends at 1, which is 7 in the morning in new york i think. Im not sure exactly what time i´ll be able to call but probably around 8 or 9 in the morning, new york time. i should know better next week so i´ll let you know. Loves
Elder Reeves
Monday, December 5, 2011
Lleida week 17 - Noticias
First off i would also just like to give my thanks for Emily and for the life she lived. I feel of her help and her work that she is doing on the other side of the veil. She has always been such an example to me and always will be. I cant wait for that day when we can all be with her again. I´m so grateful for the plan that God has for all of us and that we are a family sealed for all eternity.
What is this storm that happened?? 102 m/h winds?! Thats crazy! I know Heavenly Father is always watching over and protecting my family while im away. It´s so weird because i dont feel scared for you haha sorry if that sounds a little harsh fam but i just know i can trust in Heavenly Father and make my will His will. I know He is always watching over you all.
Alright so i have some noticias for all of you..... first of all, this week there´s a lot of Christmas conferences and meetings for the mission that President has to go to SO...................... we got transfer calls today instead of next week!! Actually it was all on our emails and so i know whats happening next week. AND............... im getting transfered out of Lleida! AND..................... im going to the OFFICE! Yeah i know, the LAST thing i thought would happen to me. Im going to be ayudante at 6 months! Haha no im just kidding im going to either be over the finances or over the distribution. President isnt sure yet. But crazy huh?? Im going to be in Barcelona in the office every day for the next 6 months at least! I think we have to be in the office until 5 every day and then we can go out and proselite for the rest of the night. And im not sure who my companion is yet but i´ll let you know next week. Its definitely going to be a trial for me not being able to proselite all day all the time but i know President Hinckley is called of God and receives revelation for this mission. Im going to learn a lot and im excited to work closer with President and Hermana Hinckley. Elder Bajaña is staying here in Lleida and is going to be Zone Leader again! The Zone Leaders of this zone have always been in Zaragoza but the zone conferences have always been here in Lleida because its the Lleida zone. So President changed it so everything is a lot easier for the conferences and intercambios. His companion will be Elder Jimenez who ive never met but he seems like an amazing missionary. Elder Rasmussen is going to Alcoy which is in the Valencia zone and Elder Kane is staying here and is going to get the Elder who´s coming from Alcoy. So, BIG changes in the Lleida zone. Alright onto my story for this week.
This miracle story starts 3 weeks ago when our recent convert Maria brought her friend Elena to church. We had a good lesson with her right after church and we set another visit with her for that next tuesday. We went to the visit that tuesday and Elena didnt show up. Maria told us that she said she´s been in her church for too long and she doesnt want anything else from another church. We were pretty let down because we thought she would be a miracle baptism. Then this last saturday we went to visit Maria and.... Elena was there! She told us that things in her life are not going so good and she´s looking for the happiness and peace that she doesnt have. She started crying and the thought came to my head to give her a blessing. We taught her about the power of the priesthood and we gave her a blessing. It was amazing to feel the power of the Holy Ghost work through me and feel my mouth get filled with the words to say. During the blessing she stopped crying and was SO calm and quiet. We set a fecha with her right after the blessing. She came to church yesterday with Maria and told us that during the blessing she knew that she had to get baptized in the church.
Fam, the power of the priesthood is real and miracles still happen today. I have felt it work through me and i know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ with God´s authority and power. I love this work and the experiences that i have every day. I love you all and will talk to you next week.... in BARCELONA!! The good thing is i´ll get all my letters and packages right on time haha
Elder Reeves
What is this storm that happened?? 102 m/h winds?! Thats crazy! I know Heavenly Father is always watching over and protecting my family while im away. It´s so weird because i dont feel scared for you haha sorry if that sounds a little harsh fam but i just know i can trust in Heavenly Father and make my will His will. I know He is always watching over you all.
Alright so i have some noticias for all of you..... first of all, this week there´s a lot of Christmas conferences and meetings for the mission that President has to go to SO...................... we got transfer calls today instead of next week!! Actually it was all on our emails and so i know whats happening next week. AND............... im getting transfered out of Lleida! AND..................... im going to the OFFICE! Yeah i know, the LAST thing i thought would happen to me. Im going to be ayudante at 6 months! Haha no im just kidding im going to either be over the finances or over the distribution. President isnt sure yet. But crazy huh?? Im going to be in Barcelona in the office every day for the next 6 months at least! I think we have to be in the office until 5 every day and then we can go out and proselite for the rest of the night. And im not sure who my companion is yet but i´ll let you know next week. Its definitely going to be a trial for me not being able to proselite all day all the time but i know President Hinckley is called of God and receives revelation for this mission. Im going to learn a lot and im excited to work closer with President and Hermana Hinckley. Elder Bajaña is staying here in Lleida and is going to be Zone Leader again! The Zone Leaders of this zone have always been in Zaragoza but the zone conferences have always been here in Lleida because its the Lleida zone. So President changed it so everything is a lot easier for the conferences and intercambios. His companion will be Elder Jimenez who ive never met but he seems like an amazing missionary. Elder Rasmussen is going to Alcoy which is in the Valencia zone and Elder Kane is staying here and is going to get the Elder who´s coming from Alcoy. So, BIG changes in the Lleida zone. Alright onto my story for this week.
This miracle story starts 3 weeks ago when our recent convert Maria brought her friend Elena to church. We had a good lesson with her right after church and we set another visit with her for that next tuesday. We went to the visit that tuesday and Elena didnt show up. Maria told us that she said she´s been in her church for too long and she doesnt want anything else from another church. We were pretty let down because we thought she would be a miracle baptism. Then this last saturday we went to visit Maria and.... Elena was there! She told us that things in her life are not going so good and she´s looking for the happiness and peace that she doesnt have. She started crying and the thought came to my head to give her a blessing. We taught her about the power of the priesthood and we gave her a blessing. It was amazing to feel the power of the Holy Ghost work through me and feel my mouth get filled with the words to say. During the blessing she stopped crying and was SO calm and quiet. We set a fecha with her right after the blessing. She came to church yesterday with Maria and told us that during the blessing she knew that she had to get baptized in the church.
Fam, the power of the priesthood is real and miracles still happen today. I have felt it work through me and i know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ with God´s authority and power. I love this work and the experiences that i have every day. I love you all and will talk to you next week.... in BARCELONA!! The good thing is i´ll get all my letters and packages right on time haha
Elder Reeves
Monday, November 28, 2011
Lleida week 16 - Jorge
Holy what happened to the nieces and nephews?? Everyone is HUGE!! Thanks Laurie and Sully for the pic. I loved it. Im super jealous that i couldnt be there to be with the family and play with my little brothers and sisters. It really feels like theyre all my brothers and sisters because ive grown up with them. I love you all Audrey, Madeline, Bradley, Braedon, Tyler, Lindsey, Andrew, Ashley, Sadie, Megan, James, Nathan, Sam, Aidan, Mandy, Shelby, Brenny, Natty, Caiden, Kenna, Tanner, Claira, Cambria, Kate, Conner, Lyla, and Max!!! Wow my head hurts. That was really hard. Sorry if i spelled names wrong. I tried my best.
So everything here in Lleida is the best except... its getting FREEZING. I bought a scarf today and we pretty much are wearing our gloves and jackets over our suits 24/7 now. Everything in La Seu is good too. Its actually warmer up there than it is here which is super weird because La Seu is in the mountains right under France. Oh and Valerie i was the closest ive ever been to you in a whole year! Thats right, me and Elder Rasmussen went up to Andorra to visit some less actives up there. It was crazy beautiful. Ive been blessed with so many experiences during my mission and im just barely starting. Sadly Melvi in La Seu wasnt able to go to church yesterday or the week before so we have to set another fecha with her. But we know she´s felt the Spirit and knows that these things are real. She just has to read and pray which she still hasnt done. We´re still praying and working hard with her.
Alright on to our miracle man Jorge....
Elder Bajaña and i fasted last week were expecting to see a baptism this last weekend but it didnt end up happening. But we knew our prayers and fasting hadnt been in vane. Saturday night when Elder Rasmussen and i got back from La Seu, Elder Bajaña and Elder Kane were in another visit so Elder Ras and i went to one of his visits. This investigator brought a friend who wanted to meet us. We taught the about the book of mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He loved it and told us that he´s been changing his life and doesnt want to do anything bad anymore and he´s been looking for a church to find different friends and to have a family in a church. We promised him that he found what he was looking for and he asked us where the church was so he could come the next day. We set a fecha with him for the 10th. He came to church and loved it. He asked me during church what he needs to do to become a missionary like us. The problem is he´s 36 but i told him that he can be a missionary as a member and help his family and friends. He´s super excited to share the gospel with everyone and we´ve only had 2 lessons with him. The lesson we had with him last night went for 2 and a half hours and he told us that he is more than 90% sure that he´s going to go to church every sunday and he hadnt even read or prayed about the Book of Mormon yet. His name is Jorge and he´s from Peru. Prayer and fasting is real. Sometimes God doesnt answer in the time and way we expect but He always does.
Fam this gospel is real. Im so glad all of you got to go to the temple together and do sessions. Keep going to the temple for me because i miss it like crazy. The temple is our piece of heaven on earth. It truly is the house of the Lord. Only there can we receive all the blessings of the gospel. If you keep going to the temple regularly, you will never stray off the path. Love you all
Elder Reeves
So everything here in Lleida is the best except... its getting FREEZING. I bought a scarf today and we pretty much are wearing our gloves and jackets over our suits 24/7 now. Everything in La Seu is good too. Its actually warmer up there than it is here which is super weird because La Seu is in the mountains right under France. Oh and Valerie i was the closest ive ever been to you in a whole year! Thats right, me and Elder Rasmussen went up to Andorra to visit some less actives up there. It was crazy beautiful. Ive been blessed with so many experiences during my mission and im just barely starting. Sadly Melvi in La Seu wasnt able to go to church yesterday or the week before so we have to set another fecha with her. But we know she´s felt the Spirit and knows that these things are real. She just has to read and pray which she still hasnt done. We´re still praying and working hard with her.
Alright on to our miracle man Jorge....
Elder Bajaña and i fasted last week were expecting to see a baptism this last weekend but it didnt end up happening. But we knew our prayers and fasting hadnt been in vane. Saturday night when Elder Rasmussen and i got back from La Seu, Elder Bajaña and Elder Kane were in another visit so Elder Ras and i went to one of his visits. This investigator brought a friend who wanted to meet us. We taught the about the book of mormon and the prophet Joseph Smith. He loved it and told us that he´s been changing his life and doesnt want to do anything bad anymore and he´s been looking for a church to find different friends and to have a family in a church. We promised him that he found what he was looking for and he asked us where the church was so he could come the next day. We set a fecha with him for the 10th. He came to church and loved it. He asked me during church what he needs to do to become a missionary like us. The problem is he´s 36 but i told him that he can be a missionary as a member and help his family and friends. He´s super excited to share the gospel with everyone and we´ve only had 2 lessons with him. The lesson we had with him last night went for 2 and a half hours and he told us that he is more than 90% sure that he´s going to go to church every sunday and he hadnt even read or prayed about the Book of Mormon yet. His name is Jorge and he´s from Peru. Prayer and fasting is real. Sometimes God doesnt answer in the time and way we expect but He always does.
Fam this gospel is real. Im so glad all of you got to go to the temple together and do sessions. Keep going to the temple for me because i miss it like crazy. The temple is our piece of heaven on earth. It truly is the house of the Lord. Only there can we receive all the blessings of the gospel. If you keep going to the temple regularly, you will never stray off the path. Love you all
Elder Reeves
Monday, November 21, 2011
Lleida week 15 - Miracles in La Seu
Feliz thanksgiving mi familia!
Honestly i dont even remember what day thanksgiving is on but maybe we´ll cook up some pig or something here in Lleida. That sounds super fun that everyone´s going up to the house in Bountiful to celebrate. Just know me and Valerie will be sleeping when all of you are eating haha i hope you eat tons and gain the weight that i cant gain on the mission. Who´s all going to be there? Is there going to be a turkey bowl? Sorry that i cant be there to win the game for all of you. I´ll be there in 2 years! It´s actually really scary that i´ll only have one thanksgiving left in the mission after this one... alright im not going to think about it because everythings going way too fast.
A miracle happened this last week in La Seu. Elder Rasmussen and i went and visited this investigator named Melvi from Bolivia. Her daughter, Yhanaina is 11 and always goes to the church activities during the week and sometimes to church on sunday. We had a visit with Melvi and Yhanaina on Saturday and we taught them the restoration. After watching the Restoration movie, Melvi opened up and started to tell us how she believes way strongly in prayers being answered through dreams. She said there´s been a lot of times when she dreams something and then it happens soon after. One time she dreamed about 2 young men who came from a church. She didnt know who they were but she could recognize their faces. A little while later, Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada went to La Seu and met her at an activity in the chapel. She didnt say anything to them at the time but when she was telling Elder Rasmussen and I this story she said that Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada were the 2 young men from her dream. We told her that that wasnt a coincidence and that sometimes God really does prepare people through dreams. The Spirit was SO strong and she felt it. We invited her to be baptized on the 10th of December and she wasnt sure, but then Elder Rasmussen asked her what would be holding her back from being baptized. She said that she cant get baptized unless she´s been taught everything! We laughed and told her that that´s what we do as missionaries and that she can be ready for the 10th. Melvi and Yhanaina are preparing to receive the blessings of the gospel. God prepares people. We just need to find them. And usually God just puts them in our path just to make it easier for us.
Things are wonderful here in Lleida too. We´re still working hard and we know God will bless us with miracles this last part of the month. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and fasting. Prayer and fasting works. I love you all and hope thanksgiving has a lot of giving of thanks. Eat some turduken for me Nyall.
Elder Reeves
Honestly i dont even remember what day thanksgiving is on but maybe we´ll cook up some pig or something here in Lleida. That sounds super fun that everyone´s going up to the house in Bountiful to celebrate. Just know me and Valerie will be sleeping when all of you are eating haha i hope you eat tons and gain the weight that i cant gain on the mission. Who´s all going to be there? Is there going to be a turkey bowl? Sorry that i cant be there to win the game for all of you. I´ll be there in 2 years! It´s actually really scary that i´ll only have one thanksgiving left in the mission after this one... alright im not going to think about it because everythings going way too fast.
A miracle happened this last week in La Seu. Elder Rasmussen and i went and visited this investigator named Melvi from Bolivia. Her daughter, Yhanaina is 11 and always goes to the church activities during the week and sometimes to church on sunday. We had a visit with Melvi and Yhanaina on Saturday and we taught them the restoration. After watching the Restoration movie, Melvi opened up and started to tell us how she believes way strongly in prayers being answered through dreams. She said there´s been a lot of times when she dreams something and then it happens soon after. One time she dreamed about 2 young men who came from a church. She didnt know who they were but she could recognize their faces. A little while later, Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada went to La Seu and met her at an activity in the chapel. She didnt say anything to them at the time but when she was telling Elder Rasmussen and I this story she said that Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada were the 2 young men from her dream. We told her that that wasnt a coincidence and that sometimes God really does prepare people through dreams. The Spirit was SO strong and she felt it. We invited her to be baptized on the 10th of December and she wasnt sure, but then Elder Rasmussen asked her what would be holding her back from being baptized. She said that she cant get baptized unless she´s been taught everything! We laughed and told her that that´s what we do as missionaries and that she can be ready for the 10th. Melvi and Yhanaina are preparing to receive the blessings of the gospel. God prepares people. We just need to find them. And usually God just puts them in our path just to make it easier for us.
Things are wonderful here in Lleida too. We´re still working hard and we know God will bless us with miracles this last part of the month. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and fasting. Prayer and fasting works. I love you all and hope thanksgiving has a lot of giving of thanks. Eat some turduken for me Nyall.
Elder Reeves
Some pics
More photos with picture captions in Elder Reeves' words
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Us elders with an investigator named Junior
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Me and Elder Ras at a church activity with the little kids in La Seu (the oragami is taught by our investigator Ramon)
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Me in La Seu (Elder Ras and i ran to this forest sat morning that reminded me of nicaragua with all the trees and bushes)
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| Me and Elder Bajaña |
Monday, November 14, 2011
Lleida week 14 - Lleida to LA SEU??
My fam
This week has been a crazy week so i´ll just jump right into it...
We´ve been seeing some success this week but a lot of stuff is falling through. Investigators have been disappearing and theyre not coming to church and really not progressing at all. Miracle man Carlos who had the dream and everything hasnt been able to meet with us since that experience, Steven from Tanzania has been working like crazy, Kelly is losing faith somehow, and some other problems. But despite all of these things, somehow im still the happiest ive ever been in my life. Somehow the Lord blesses me with strength and happiness i need every day to keep going. Because the work of the Lord never stops... it will always move forward. I know these blessings are coming from all of your guy´s prayers and fasts and love and support. Elder Bajaña and i are working hard and we´re sure we´re going to see a lot of miracles soon.
So a couple weeks ago President called and asked Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada to go up to Andorra (the tiniest country i think there is in the whole entire world, right in between spain and france) and see how the missionary work is going up there. There were missionaries there almost 3 years ago but they were taken out for some reason so there hasnt been anything going on up there for a while. Elder Pericle and Estrada went there and there´s tons of investigators that the members have been inviting to come to church and to learn more about the church. So President said that it might be possible that us Elders here in Lleida would be going up there to see what we could do with the work (because we´re the closest in the mission to Andorra). On tuesday this week the ayudantes called us and told us that they had been praying with Pres. about what to do about it and they had come to the conclusion that........ Elder Rasmussen and i go up there every week for a day and work with the investigators. I dont know why i was chosen to go up there with Elder Rasmussen because obviously Elder Bajaña has been out in the mission a ton longer than i have and he speaks fluent spanish. But for some reason Pres chose me and Elder Rasmussen. For reasons i dont understand the Lord just keeps blessing me so much in this work. So we took the bus up to La Seu which is a city right outside Andorra still in Spain. It was a 2 and a half bus ride and probably the prettiest drive ive ever seen. I took a billion pictures. We were picked up by the counselor in the branch presidency there in La Seu named Hno. Raul. He took us to meet the branch President, Edgar and then we went and visited an investigator named Ramón.
Ramón and his family is amazing. They have 2 kids together, a boy thats 9 i think and a girl thats like 4. They have been investigators for a couple of years and they always go to church each week and they are already sharing the gospel with their friends. All they need is to get baptized. But the problem is... they´re not married. Hno. Raul told us they both were married before and got separated but didnt divorce legally, so now theyre living together and they dont want to get divorced from their last spouses. So this next week we want to talk to them about marriage and how the gospel blesses the family and what they need to do to get married. We slept over at Hno. Raul´s house and then went around the city the next day to get familiar with everything and to get some maps and bus schedules for Andorra. We ended up not going to Andorra but we´ll probably go this week. The experiences i have every day is almost too much. Maybe everyone should stop praying for me so i dont get blessed so much.
Another quick story... We went to go visit Frank on tuesday and we were going over the plan of salvation with him again. When we started talking about Jesus Christ he shared his story about how he decided to put Christ in his life. He came from Africa on a small boat about 6 meters across with 57 other people. He said they were on the boat for about 24 hours when somehow the boat started to sink. It was filling up with water and everyone was crying and praying for help when out of nowhere another boat showed up on its way to Malaga. They all waved and yelled for it to stop and pick them up and luckily it saw them and rescued them. Everyone was saved but were shipped back to Africa... everyone except for one person. Frank. He said he knew that God had saved him that day and had guided him to Spain and that there was a reason for him to be in Spain. We testified to him that God truly had put him in Spain so he could meet us missionaries and receive the gospel. He said he knew that was why he had come to Spain and that he had found the true church of Jesus Christ. Frank never ceases to amaze me.
So thats my crazy life here in Spain. Wow this was a long letter. I love you fam like crazy. Thanks so much for your fasting and prayers. Its obviously working.
Elder Reeves
This week has been a crazy week so i´ll just jump right into it...
We´ve been seeing some success this week but a lot of stuff is falling through. Investigators have been disappearing and theyre not coming to church and really not progressing at all. Miracle man Carlos who had the dream and everything hasnt been able to meet with us since that experience, Steven from Tanzania has been working like crazy, Kelly is losing faith somehow, and some other problems. But despite all of these things, somehow im still the happiest ive ever been in my life. Somehow the Lord blesses me with strength and happiness i need every day to keep going. Because the work of the Lord never stops... it will always move forward. I know these blessings are coming from all of your guy´s prayers and fasts and love and support. Elder Bajaña and i are working hard and we´re sure we´re going to see a lot of miracles soon.
So a couple weeks ago President called and asked Elder Pericle and Elder Estrada to go up to Andorra (the tiniest country i think there is in the whole entire world, right in between spain and france) and see how the missionary work is going up there. There were missionaries there almost 3 years ago but they were taken out for some reason so there hasnt been anything going on up there for a while. Elder Pericle and Estrada went there and there´s tons of investigators that the members have been inviting to come to church and to learn more about the church. So President said that it might be possible that us Elders here in Lleida would be going up there to see what we could do with the work (because we´re the closest in the mission to Andorra). On tuesday this week the ayudantes called us and told us that they had been praying with Pres. about what to do about it and they had come to the conclusion that........ Elder Rasmussen and i go up there every week for a day and work with the investigators. I dont know why i was chosen to go up there with Elder Rasmussen because obviously Elder Bajaña has been out in the mission a ton longer than i have and he speaks fluent spanish. But for some reason Pres chose me and Elder Rasmussen. For reasons i dont understand the Lord just keeps blessing me so much in this work. So we took the bus up to La Seu which is a city right outside Andorra still in Spain. It was a 2 and a half bus ride and probably the prettiest drive ive ever seen. I took a billion pictures. We were picked up by the counselor in the branch presidency there in La Seu named Hno. Raul. He took us to meet the branch President, Edgar and then we went and visited an investigator named Ramón.
Ramón and his family is amazing. They have 2 kids together, a boy thats 9 i think and a girl thats like 4. They have been investigators for a couple of years and they always go to church each week and they are already sharing the gospel with their friends. All they need is to get baptized. But the problem is... they´re not married. Hno. Raul told us they both were married before and got separated but didnt divorce legally, so now theyre living together and they dont want to get divorced from their last spouses. So this next week we want to talk to them about marriage and how the gospel blesses the family and what they need to do to get married. We slept over at Hno. Raul´s house and then went around the city the next day to get familiar with everything and to get some maps and bus schedules for Andorra. We ended up not going to Andorra but we´ll probably go this week. The experiences i have every day is almost too much. Maybe everyone should stop praying for me so i dont get blessed so much.
Another quick story... We went to go visit Frank on tuesday and we were going over the plan of salvation with him again. When we started talking about Jesus Christ he shared his story about how he decided to put Christ in his life. He came from Africa on a small boat about 6 meters across with 57 other people. He said they were on the boat for about 24 hours when somehow the boat started to sink. It was filling up with water and everyone was crying and praying for help when out of nowhere another boat showed up on its way to Malaga. They all waved and yelled for it to stop and pick them up and luckily it saw them and rescued them. Everyone was saved but were shipped back to Africa... everyone except for one person. Frank. He said he knew that God had saved him that day and had guided him to Spain and that there was a reason for him to be in Spain. We testified to him that God truly had put him in Spain so he could meet us missionaries and receive the gospel. He said he knew that was why he had come to Spain and that he had found the true church of Jesus Christ. Frank never ceases to amaze me.
So thats my crazy life here in Spain. Wow this was a long letter. I love you fam like crazy. Thanks so much for your fasting and prayers. Its obviously working.
Elder Reeves
Monday, November 7, 2011
Lleida week 13 - Another praying Nigerian brotha
Mom and dad it sounds like you loved España!! Its the best huh? I still dont really believe that im actually living here in Spain. Thats so neat that you had so many experiences with the Taylors. I cant wait for the chances that i´ll have to come back in 20 years and see all my converts. Where did Greg and Brittany go while they were here? I still havent been able to activate the credit card but dont worry about it because i really dont have anything to buy now because of the package you sent me.
It´s getting COLD here in Lleida! At least for me because i havent been in the cold winters of Utah for a while. I actually think its only in the 60´s right now which is pretty weak haha but it feels cold. And it will for sure get a lot colder. Last week it rained almost every day and i was sick so my spirits werent to lively during the first week with Elder Bajaña. I think i know have what eric has.... every time i start to eat i lose my appetite and can only eat like half a plate haha i dont know whats happening to me but dont worry im getting better. Elder Bajaña is a great companion! He´s pretty good at speaking english so he can still talk to all of our Africans but outside of our visits with them, everything is in spanish! He is from Ecuador but his family moved to Madrid about 11 years ago. He has 2 younger sisters and 1 younger brother and both his parents were converts in Ecuador. He´s helping me a ton with my spanish but right now i feel like im back to week one in the mission field with my spanish because he´s a native speaker haha but its coming slowly.
We have an investigator named Kelly from Nigeria and he has been taught by the missionaries before but has never agreed to baptism because he doesnt believe that a person can be baptized again. When Elder Pericle and I would visit him he would always tell us that he cant get baptized again and that he never will. But he still loved being taught and he always wanted us to come over so he could learn more. This week we had a visit with him and he was telling us how confused he is in his life right now. We told him that this gospel will help him solve all of his problems and we started talking about baptism again. We told him that the only way he can know if he needs to get baptized or not is through prayer and receiving an answer from God. We invited him to kneel down with us right then and say a pray to find out what he needs to do and we asked him specifically to ask about the Book of Mormon. He prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon was true. After the prayer we asked him how he felt and if he got an answer. He said, "that is a personal thing between me and God." We told him that we were God´s servants sent from Him and that we knew he had received an answer. We invited him to be baptized and he didnt accept a date but he said he needed to think about it. Before, Kelly wouldnt even talk about getting baptized again but now he is pondering and praying about it. God always answers our prayers. It´s the exact same way Frank got his answer.
Something that i forgot to write about last week is that President Hinckley asked all of us missionaries to ask our families to fast and pray with us so that we can reach our goal of baptisms as a mission this year. We have the goal of 450 and we´re right on track. It will be the most this mission has ever baptized. Love you all
Élder Reeves
It´s getting COLD here in Lleida! At least for me because i havent been in the cold winters of Utah for a while. I actually think its only in the 60´s right now which is pretty weak haha but it feels cold. And it will for sure get a lot colder. Last week it rained almost every day and i was sick so my spirits werent to lively during the first week with Elder Bajaña. I think i know have what eric has.... every time i start to eat i lose my appetite and can only eat like half a plate haha i dont know whats happening to me but dont worry im getting better. Elder Bajaña is a great companion! He´s pretty good at speaking english so he can still talk to all of our Africans but outside of our visits with them, everything is in spanish! He is from Ecuador but his family moved to Madrid about 11 years ago. He has 2 younger sisters and 1 younger brother and both his parents were converts in Ecuador. He´s helping me a ton with my spanish but right now i feel like im back to week one in the mission field with my spanish because he´s a native speaker haha but its coming slowly.
We have an investigator named Kelly from Nigeria and he has been taught by the missionaries before but has never agreed to baptism because he doesnt believe that a person can be baptized again. When Elder Pericle and I would visit him he would always tell us that he cant get baptized again and that he never will. But he still loved being taught and he always wanted us to come over so he could learn more. This week we had a visit with him and he was telling us how confused he is in his life right now. We told him that this gospel will help him solve all of his problems and we started talking about baptism again. We told him that the only way he can know if he needs to get baptized or not is through prayer and receiving an answer from God. We invited him to kneel down with us right then and say a pray to find out what he needs to do and we asked him specifically to ask about the Book of Mormon. He prayed and asked if the Book of Mormon was true. After the prayer we asked him how he felt and if he got an answer. He said, "that is a personal thing between me and God." We told him that we were God´s servants sent from Him and that we knew he had received an answer. We invited him to be baptized and he didnt accept a date but he said he needed to think about it. Before, Kelly wouldnt even talk about getting baptized again but now he is pondering and praying about it. God always answers our prayers. It´s the exact same way Frank got his answer.
Something that i forgot to write about last week is that President Hinckley asked all of us missionaries to ask our families to fast and pray with us so that we can reach our goal of baptisms as a mission this year. We have the goal of 450 and we´re right on track. It will be the most this mission has ever baptized. Love you all
Élder Reeves
Monday, October 31, 2011
Lleida Week 12 - New Companion
My fam
Mom and dad it sounds like youre loving it here in the promised land!! Thats so neat about the people youve been able to visit with Pres and Sis Taylor. How long are you staying here? Greg and Brittany are here right now?? what the... where have you gone? what have you seen?? Thanks SOOOOOOO MUCH for the package. It was everything that i needed! Especially the candy bars... that was probably the most important part of the package. All the nieces and nephews are looking good!! Theyre getting huge! Happy birthday to Aidan and Shelby and Eric! Sorry for everyone else who ive missed. Its hard to remember like 60 birthdays from our family. Alright so on to whats happening in the mission life...
Today is transfers and im staying here in Lleida!! Elder Pericle left me this morning and he´s on his way to go to be zone leader on the ISLANDS! Crazy huh? He´s going to be on La Palma Mayor and usually when youre called to the islands youre for sure there for at least 6 months. Im so excited for him but im going to miss him like crazy. But i have a new companion coming and we´re going to pick him up in like 10 min! His name is Elder Bajaña!! Yes he´s a NATIVE!!! Just what i wanted! He´s from Ecuador and only has like 3 transfers left in the mission. He can understand pretty much everything in english but doesnt speak it too much which makes me happy because im going to be learning a ton of spanish. Ive definitely been so blessed on the mission and i cant wait to work with Elder Bajaña. The Lord has been helping me progress a ton in the language and now im just going to progress more. He has actually been in my zone for the past 2 transfers but he´s been in Tarragona which is a different district so ive only been with him like 3 times. Im super excited.
This sunday we had stake conference and Danny who was baptized on September 17th got the Melchezidek priesthood! He is progressing so fast and he´s so strong in the church. He´s still not sure about a mission but we´re trying to help him have the desires to go. It´s so amazing to see someone progress in the church and receive the blessings of the gospel. All of our recent converts are doing so good. Danny got the priesthood and Maria and Frank both came with us to stake conference too. We´re still trying to visit them once a week and help them stay on the straight and narrow.
We had a fecha with a guy from Tanzania (yeah Jess and Reid i knew you would be excited) named Steven set for the 12th but he wasnt able to come to Barcelona for stake conference so we have to set it again for a later date. He is such a humble and good man and has a ton of desires to learn more. While we taught him the first lesson this past week and we were telling him the story about Joseph Smith he looked at us wide eyed, sitting at the edge of his couch and asked, "is it REALLY true??" We testified to him of its truthfulness and he just loved it. He is married to a lady from here and they have 2 kids: a son that´s 8 and a daughter that´s 7.
We had a fecha with a guy from Tanzania (yeah Jess and Reid i knew you would be excited) named Steven set for the 12th but he wasnt able to come to Barcelona for stake conference so we have to set it again for a later date. He is such a humble and good man and has a ton of desires to learn more. While we taught him the first lesson this past week and we were telling him the story about Joseph Smith he looked at us wide eyed, sitting at the edge of his couch and asked, "is it REALLY true??" We testified to him of its truthfulness and he just loved it. He is married to a lady from here and they have 2 kids: a son that´s 8 and a daughter that´s 7.
Alright i have to go pick up my new companion! Love you all so much and keep praying for me and my companion and all our investigators! We need them.
Elder Reeves
Monday, October 24, 2011
Lleida week 11 - Carlos Miracle
Hola a todos,
Wow it seems like everyone is just coming to Spain!! I cant wait for you all to see how amazing Spain is. Its pretty much the greatest place on earth. When do you come Greg and Brittany?? Mom and dad where did President Taylor serve in when he was here? And what cities are you going to go see? It definitely feels weird that you are on a plane right now on your way here. But when you land... WELCOME TO THE PROMISED LAND! Oh and i heard that Christian Taylor is going to play ball for BYU? Is that true? And i cant believe that Evan Finlay is already done with his mission... crazy! Alright i have a pretty amazing miracle experience to share with you all:
We were going to meet with Dayo, our ancient investigator who before didnt even want to talk to us but we always saw him and he finally decided to call us and ask to meet with us on saturday. We went to go meet him at the university and we sat down and talked to him for about 5 minutes but he still didnt want anything and he just ended up leaving. Elder Pericle and i just kind of sat there on the bench we were on for a min thinking about what had just happened and what we were going to do. Then this guy walked passed us and we said hello to him and he said hi back and kept walking. But then he stopped and walked back to us and said, "sorry to bother you but do you two represent a church?" We said yes and asked him to sit down with us and we´d love to talk to him about the church. We got talking and we found out his name is Carlos from Brazil and he said he´s been looking for a church that has clear and simple doctrines of Jesus Christ. We promised him that he had found the church he had been looking for and that we have the true church of Jesus Christ. I felt like i needed to ask him about his family so i asked him if his family lives here in Lleida with him. He said he has 2 daughters who live in Portugal and the other in a pueblo called Mandressa. Then he shared with us how his first daughter had died at 3 months old and he has spent many nights not being able to sleep worrying about where she is. We talked about the plan of salvation with him and promised him he can be with his daughter again. After that, he shared how he had had a dream one time where he went to some plaza, he wasnt sure which one, and he sat down on a bench with people from a church and talked about the church of Jesus Christ. He told us that he felt like saturday was going to be the day, but he didnt know when or where. Then as he passed us he told us that he felt something telling him to go back and talk to us. We talked to him about the Spirit and how it leads and guides us to truth. Miracle after miracle. We gave him a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. We werent able to meet with him yesterday but we´re going to try to see him tomorrow. I know the Spirit and angels prepare people to receive the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. And im sure Emily had a part in this experience. There are no coincidences. I know without a doubt this is the work of the Lord and this is His church. He always blesses us with more blessings than we ever deserve. I am honored to be His servant and to have Christ´s name over my heart every day. I love the gospel.
Next week is tranfers... i know, crazy. Elder Pericle is most likely gone because he´s been here for so long and im probably staying. I´ll let you know what happens. We have preparation day on tuesdays during transfer week so i´ll write on tuesday.
Loves.
Elder Reeves
Wow it seems like everyone is just coming to Spain!! I cant wait for you all to see how amazing Spain is. Its pretty much the greatest place on earth. When do you come Greg and Brittany?? Mom and dad where did President Taylor serve in when he was here? And what cities are you going to go see? It definitely feels weird that you are on a plane right now on your way here. But when you land... WELCOME TO THE PROMISED LAND! Oh and i heard that Christian Taylor is going to play ball for BYU? Is that true? And i cant believe that Evan Finlay is already done with his mission... crazy! Alright i have a pretty amazing miracle experience to share with you all:
We were going to meet with Dayo, our ancient investigator who before didnt even want to talk to us but we always saw him and he finally decided to call us and ask to meet with us on saturday. We went to go meet him at the university and we sat down and talked to him for about 5 minutes but he still didnt want anything and he just ended up leaving. Elder Pericle and i just kind of sat there on the bench we were on for a min thinking about what had just happened and what we were going to do. Then this guy walked passed us and we said hello to him and he said hi back and kept walking. But then he stopped and walked back to us and said, "sorry to bother you but do you two represent a church?" We said yes and asked him to sit down with us and we´d love to talk to him about the church. We got talking and we found out his name is Carlos from Brazil and he said he´s been looking for a church that has clear and simple doctrines of Jesus Christ. We promised him that he had found the church he had been looking for and that we have the true church of Jesus Christ. I felt like i needed to ask him about his family so i asked him if his family lives here in Lleida with him. He said he has 2 daughters who live in Portugal and the other in a pueblo called Mandressa. Then he shared with us how his first daughter had died at 3 months old and he has spent many nights not being able to sleep worrying about where she is. We talked about the plan of salvation with him and promised him he can be with his daughter again. After that, he shared how he had had a dream one time where he went to some plaza, he wasnt sure which one, and he sat down on a bench with people from a church and talked about the church of Jesus Christ. He told us that he felt like saturday was going to be the day, but he didnt know when or where. Then as he passed us he told us that he felt something telling him to go back and talk to us. We talked to him about the Spirit and how it leads and guides us to truth. Miracle after miracle. We gave him a pamphlet and a Book of Mormon. We werent able to meet with him yesterday but we´re going to try to see him tomorrow. I know the Spirit and angels prepare people to receive the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. And im sure Emily had a part in this experience. There are no coincidences. I know without a doubt this is the work of the Lord and this is His church. He always blesses us with more blessings than we ever deserve. I am honored to be His servant and to have Christ´s name over my heart every day. I love the gospel.
Next week is tranfers... i know, crazy. Elder Pericle is most likely gone because he´s been here for so long and im probably staying. I´ll let you know what happens. We have preparation day on tuesdays during transfer week so i´ll write on tuesday.
Loves.
Elder Reeves
Monday, October 17, 2011
Lleida week 10 - Frank's Priesthood
Mi querido familia!!!
Where is Allyson and Jaclyn?? Do they live? Haha just kidding but seriosly you two havent written me back and i want to know whats going on in the Bible lands! Dad any news on the bank card? If not dont worry about it i can survive without another pair of shorts or i could just buy it with my debit card. It´s crazy that you and mom will be here in the promised land in just a couple weeks! I cant even imagine what that would be like seeing you two... i feel like ive been on my mission for my whole life. So it would be best to stay away from me so i dont freak out if i we crossed paths. But i really am so excited to have you guys see a little bit about what i live every day and travel around Spain. Im pretty sure you would be totally fine if you went to Barcelona because im an hour and a half away from Barcelona on Ave, which is a train that goes like 300 km/h... im not sure how much that is in miles/hour but its pretty stinking fast. Everyone seems to be asking about the weather here in Spain so heres the breakdown... it definitely doesnt get as cold here as it does back in utah, at least here in Lleida it doesnt. Up north by the mountains yeah it for sure snows during the winter. I havent experienced being in the dead of winter so im not exactly sure but my companion tells me that it gets super cold and you have to wear a scarf and gloves and like 3 suits and a couple shirts. Haha not that bad but yeah a scarf and coat over a suit definitley. I´ll let you know how it goes. Its just getting cold enough right now for us to start wearing our suits 24/7. The trees here kind of attempt to change colors but they dont really do that well. But yeah the leaves are starting to fall so its kind of fun to have a change. Alright enough of the spanish weather man.
Yesterday, Frank called us as we were walking to church and he said, "My brothers i am in a taxi right now on my way to church so i can arrive on time! But i do not know the street of the church and i do not know what my taxi driver is saying."(in his great Nigerian accent) Haha poor Frank doesnt understand a word of spanish. So he gave the phone to the driver and Elder Pericle told him how to get there. Frank showed up to church with his white shirt, tie and a vest. He didnt even have his Christ necklaces on which he ALWAYS wears. He even almost wore them during his baptism. He was so excited because he was going to get the priesthood. Hermano Jonni in the bishopric announced him during sacrament that he was going to get the priesthood and everyone sustained him and then Elder Pericle gave him the priesthood in english during the third hour. It was great. I know this work isnt just about baptizing people and then just going to find more people to baptize. Its about getting people on the straight and narrow and making sure that they stay on for their whole lives. This church is true. God hears our prayers. There´s nothing He wants more than for His children to return back home to Him. I love being a part of the work of the Lord. Every day changes my life and helps me realize even more how true this work is. Love you all. Until next week! Adeu (Adios in Catalan)
Elder Reeves
Monday, October 10, 2011
Lleida week 9 - Maria
My fam bam,
Sorry Souer Reeves i just made a group for the whole family so everyone will get my emails. But mom or somebody if you could keep sending these emails to my Elders around the world that would be wonderful (Elders Marsden, moss, child, and seamons).
Jon+Leah=Austrailia??? what the when did this happen?? Thats way exciting. You´ll definitely be the first family members i visit after the mission. Haha which will seriously seem like tomorrow with how fast the mission is going... i hit my 4 month mark a couple days ago and its only going faster every single day.
We had the baptism with Maria this weekend! It was so good and she asked me to baptized her. It was definitely humbling but i was so glad to do it. I messed up on the words the first time but then got it right the second time. Here is the story...
Maria is from Ecuador and was born Catholic but heard about the church through the missionaries when she was a little kid and even went to church at one time but nothing came out of it. She moved to Spain sometime when she was older and met the missionaries again here in Spain but then moved to France. She lived in France for a while and met the missionaries again.... I think the Lord was really trying to make her get the point. Then she moved back to Spain to here in Lleida. One day after Zone Conference here in Lleida, the Zaragoza missionaries went to the train station to go back to Zaragoza and the Hermanas, Hermana Fuentes and Strickland, got in the elevator and... there was Maria in the elevator. They started talking to her and told her that some missionaries could stop by her piso and talk to her. About a week later I think it was, Elder Pericle and I went to go see her and we just had a short lesson to get to know her and to talk a little about our message. She already knew about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith and told us that she was really looking for the complete truth. The next visit i was on intercambios with Elder Estrada and we taught her about the Restoration. When we shared the story of Joseph Smith she started to tear up and the Spirit was SO strong. We started to invite her to be baptized and we said, "Seguirá el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizada por...." and before we could even finish the sentence she said yes! We set the date for October 8 and she was so excited. We kept visiting her at least 3 times a week and she couldnt get enough of the lessons or the Book of Mormon. She would take like 5 pages of notes for every reading assignment we gave her and we really didnt even teach her when we went over because she had already studied everything. She easily made changes in her life and even got hate texts from her friends but she wouldnt stop moving forward in the gospel. Our first visit with her was on September 8 and on October 8 she got baptized. She already loves the ward and is making tons of friends. That´s the most important part of the conversion... making sure that the ward takes in the new convert and keeps them going strong... and Maria is definitely getting the support from everyone. Maria is INCREDIBLE.
Sounds like things are great back home but im sure things are better here in the mission field. Haha love you all
Elder Reeves
Sorry Souer Reeves i just made a group for the whole family so everyone will get my emails. But mom or somebody if you could keep sending these emails to my Elders around the world that would be wonderful (Elders Marsden, moss, child, and seamons).
Jon+Leah=Austrailia??? what the when did this happen?? Thats way exciting. You´ll definitely be the first family members i visit after the mission. Haha which will seriously seem like tomorrow with how fast the mission is going... i hit my 4 month mark a couple days ago and its only going faster every single day.
We had the baptism with Maria this weekend! It was so good and she asked me to baptized her. It was definitely humbling but i was so glad to do it. I messed up on the words the first time but then got it right the second time. Here is the story...
Maria is from Ecuador and was born Catholic but heard about the church through the missionaries when she was a little kid and even went to church at one time but nothing came out of it. She moved to Spain sometime when she was older and met the missionaries again here in Spain but then moved to France. She lived in France for a while and met the missionaries again.... I think the Lord was really trying to make her get the point. Then she moved back to Spain to here in Lleida. One day after Zone Conference here in Lleida, the Zaragoza missionaries went to the train station to go back to Zaragoza and the Hermanas, Hermana Fuentes and Strickland, got in the elevator and... there was Maria in the elevator. They started talking to her and told her that some missionaries could stop by her piso and talk to her. About a week later I think it was, Elder Pericle and I went to go see her and we just had a short lesson to get to know her and to talk a little about our message. She already knew about the Book of Mormon and about Joseph Smith and told us that she was really looking for the complete truth. The next visit i was on intercambios with Elder Estrada and we taught her about the Restoration. When we shared the story of Joseph Smith she started to tear up and the Spirit was SO strong. We started to invite her to be baptized and we said, "Seguirá el ejemplo de Jesucristo al ser bautizada por...." and before we could even finish the sentence she said yes! We set the date for October 8 and she was so excited. We kept visiting her at least 3 times a week and she couldnt get enough of the lessons or the Book of Mormon. She would take like 5 pages of notes for every reading assignment we gave her and we really didnt even teach her when we went over because she had already studied everything. She easily made changes in her life and even got hate texts from her friends but she wouldnt stop moving forward in the gospel. Our first visit with her was on September 8 and on October 8 she got baptized. She already loves the ward and is making tons of friends. That´s the most important part of the conversion... making sure that the ward takes in the new convert and keeps them going strong... and Maria is definitely getting the support from everyone. Maria is INCREDIBLE.
Sounds like things are great back home but im sure things are better here in the mission field. Haha love you all
Elder Reeves
Monday, October 3, 2011
Lleida week 8 - CONFERENCE
Sorry Ally-cone i dont have time this week to add everyone into my
contacts and send it to everyone in the fam... so could this get sent
to everyone again? I´ll try to make a group of our family next week.
I asked Elder Pericle if he knew you and it hit him like a train.
Haha it was pretty funny when he made the connection. But yeah he
remembers now that he met you at BYU in the leadership thing? Somehow
he knows you. Pretty crazy small world in the church!!
I was so pleased to hear the cougs pulled out a win against the
aggies! How´s their record this year? are they pretty trashy like
last year?
General Conference. Thats about all i need to say in this letter.
Another temple in PROVO i cant wait! All of it was SOOOO good. But
pretty ridiculous too... We were only able to watch saturday morning,
priesthood, and sunday morning sessions because of the time difference
here and the satellite at our church was going crazy and the
connection kept going out while we were watching. It was pretty
frustrating having a ton of our investigators show up and then have
the tv be going in and out of the sessions. I just kept praying and
praying that the investigators would still feel the Spirit and hear
the words of God. Everyone that came still loved it by the end and
felt the Spirit. Every single question I had was answered
specifically, even though we didnt see like even half of the whole
conference. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father hears my prayers
and that we have inspired leaders of the church who are called of God
and receive revelation from Him. But yeah so i wasnt able to hear
Elder Waddell´s talk in priesthood because the connection went out
during his talk. We´re going to try to get a copy of the whole
conference from our Bishop though and watch it on a preparation day.
Holy mom 26 loafs of banana bread!! and 80 baked potatoes?! Martha
Stewart herself. That has to be some kind of record. Im glad there
was a good turnout and that the Trupp´s were able to be there and for
conference too. And yes i have the bank card that you sent me in the
mail. Only problem is i dont know what to do with it... do you want
me to call the international number on the card and activate it or is
it already activated?
Anyways Maria is doing so good right now. She ALWAYS reads the
chapters we leave her and not only that she writes down like 5 pages
of notes for each chapter. Whenever we go to visit her we ask her to
read to us what she learned from the scriptures and she understands
everything perfectly. We pretty much dont even teach her because she
just teaches us what she learned. It´s amazing. She has come to
church 2 times and is going strong for her baptism this weekend.
Everything is still the best here in Lleida. Its just "wonderful" as
our African brothas would say. Me and Elder Pericle are doing great
and we´re starting to see a lot of success with families. That´s
something we´re going for this transfer is to get families in the
waters. Love you tons
Elder Reeves
My ELDERESSSS
CONFERENCE. It blew my mind. Tell me what answers you received. I
know im pretty ready to have at least 15 daughters. A quote that
pretty much punched me to the face was from President Eyring I think
in the priesthood session. He said something like "Dont think about
how unqualified you are, think about what, with the Lord´s help, you
can become." I love conference. And me and my comp promised
ourselves that we would never EVER take a session of conference for
granted. Because it was pretty narly here in Spain with the afternoon
sessions of conference starting at 10 at night. So we missed a ton of
it. Another thing i wanted to talk about is from something that my
Pres taught us in our last zone conf. He said make sure your
investigators understand the importance of enduring to the endOWMENT.
It works in spanish too... perseverar hasta el fINVESTIDURA. Thats
what its all about my elderes. Point our investigators to the temple.
Love you all like i love my african brothas.
contacts and send it to everyone in the fam... so could this get sent
to everyone again? I´ll try to make a group of our family next week.
I asked Elder Pericle if he knew you and it hit him like a train.
Haha it was pretty funny when he made the connection. But yeah he
remembers now that he met you at BYU in the leadership thing? Somehow
he knows you. Pretty crazy small world in the church!!
I was so pleased to hear the cougs pulled out a win against the
aggies! How´s their record this year? are they pretty trashy like
last year?
General Conference. Thats about all i need to say in this letter.
Another temple in PROVO i cant wait! All of it was SOOOO good. But
pretty ridiculous too... We were only able to watch saturday morning,
priesthood, and sunday morning sessions because of the time difference
here and the satellite at our church was going crazy and the
connection kept going out while we were watching. It was pretty
frustrating having a ton of our investigators show up and then have
the tv be going in and out of the sessions. I just kept praying and
praying that the investigators would still feel the Spirit and hear
the words of God. Everyone that came still loved it by the end and
felt the Spirit. Every single question I had was answered
specifically, even though we didnt see like even half of the whole
conference. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father hears my prayers
and that we have inspired leaders of the church who are called of God
and receive revelation from Him. But yeah so i wasnt able to hear
Elder Waddell´s talk in priesthood because the connection went out
during his talk. We´re going to try to get a copy of the whole
conference from our Bishop though and watch it on a preparation day.
Holy mom 26 loafs of banana bread!! and 80 baked potatoes?! Martha
Stewart herself. That has to be some kind of record. Im glad there
was a good turnout and that the Trupp´s were able to be there and for
conference too. And yes i have the bank card that you sent me in the
mail. Only problem is i dont know what to do with it... do you want
me to call the international number on the card and activate it or is
it already activated?
Anyways Maria is doing so good right now. She ALWAYS reads the
chapters we leave her and not only that she writes down like 5 pages
of notes for each chapter. Whenever we go to visit her we ask her to
read to us what she learned from the scriptures and she understands
everything perfectly. We pretty much dont even teach her because she
just teaches us what she learned. It´s amazing. She has come to
church 2 times and is going strong for her baptism this weekend.
Everything is still the best here in Lleida. Its just "wonderful" as
our African brothas would say. Me and Elder Pericle are doing great
and we´re starting to see a lot of success with families. That´s
something we´re going for this transfer is to get families in the
waters. Love you tons
Elder Reeves
My ELDERESSSS
CONFERENCE. It blew my mind. Tell me what answers you received. I
know im pretty ready to have at least 15 daughters. A quote that
pretty much punched me to the face was from President Eyring I think
in the priesthood session. He said something like "Dont think about
how unqualified you are, think about what, with the Lord´s help, you
can become." I love conference. And me and my comp promised
ourselves that we would never EVER take a session of conference for
granted. Because it was pretty narly here in Spain with the afternoon
sessions of conference starting at 10 at night. So we missed a ton of
it. Another thing i wanted to talk about is from something that my
Pres taught us in our last zone conf. He said make sure your
investigators understand the importance of enduring to the endOWMENT.
It works in spanish too... perseverar hasta el fINVESTIDURA. Thats
what its all about my elderes. Point our investigators to the temple.
Love you all like i love my african brothas.
Monday, September 26, 2011
Lleida week 7 - story of Frank
Mi familia!
Thats good that the basement is all dried out. Just so you know mom
and dad, you better still be living in that house when i get back
because i love that house. And tell your missionaries they can just
record the game and watch it later because honestly who cares about a
game when you can spend time with Pres and Sis Reeves at the reunion!
Haha oh man i cant wait for general conference this next weekend. And
we should have it in english which is all the better. I love spanish
but i would much rather not suffer trying to stay awake by translating
everything in my head... sad it might be a while until i get passed
the translating stage.
This past weekend has been the best. We had Frank´s baptism and
confirmation and another kid named Jeisson who the other elders have
been teaching got baptized too. It was a pretty amazing story what
happened to Jeisson too but i dont have time to write about it so i´ll
write about it later. But pretty much he was supposed to get baptized
on the 17th and he was interviewed and all ready to go but then
decided he wasnt ready. We visited him this last friday and he had no
plans to get baptized but we had such a good visit with him and the
spirit was so strong that he decided to get baptized the very next
morning with Frank. It was incredible. Now im going to tell the
whole story of Frank because he´s the best.
Elder Pericle and I met Frank more than a month ago just from a
contact on the street. We saw him and started to talk to him and we
got his information but for some reason we weren´t able to set up a
visit. We didnt see him for a couple of weeks and honestly we pretty
much forgot about him. But then one day we were walking to one of our
visits and we saw him with one of his friends. We talked to him again
and he told us he had never been baptized in any church before and
said he would love for us to come by and teach him because he needed
to be baptized. We had our first visit with him about 3 weeks ago and
in the first visit he agreed to be baptized and to read and pray. The
next visit we had with him he had read, i think it was 3 Nephi 11, and
he said he liked it but he still wasnt sure about the Book of Mormon.
We found out that he had been being taught by the Jehova´s Witnesses
and he wasnt sure what to believe. We invited him to pray
specifically about the Book of Mormon that night and he would receive
an answer. I think the next day was sunday and we went to go pick him
up at his barber shop so we could meet with him and walk to church.
We got there to his barber shop and he wasnt there. So we called him
and he told us that he was going to his other church that day. We
were pretty bummed about it but we just told him we would come by on
monday. The next day we went and saw him and he said he hadnt
received an answer... so he really wasnt progressing at all. In that
visit, we asked him to kneel down with us right then and to ask God if
this truly is His church and that the Book of Mormon is true. He
prayed and gave the most amazing prayer ever! He seriously poured out
his whole soul to know if it was true. After the prayer we asked him
how he felt and he said he felt so happy and at peace and he knew he
had gotten his answer. After that momento clave every other visit was
so easy and he accepted everything. Almost every single day since
then until his baptism we´ve stopped by and had a visit with him. He
always read what we left him to read and he always prayed every
morning and night. He loved the second lesson and especially about
the spirit world. He asked us, "do our spirits go back to God after
we die?" we read with him in Alma 40 and it was like a billion pound
weight was lifted off his shoulders. He said, "good! The Jehova´s
Witnesses were trying to teach me that they dont. They were trying to
deceive me!" It was great. Every commitment and commandment we
taught him about he kept. He always said "I will do what God asks. I
trust in Him." He was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. He
cant wait to see General Conference. I love Frank. It was so neat to
see him change his whole life from being a big smoker and drinker to
all the sudden a complete follower of Christ. The Gospel is
everything. Everyone needs to hear the good news and change their
lives to receive salvation and return to live with God again.
The Bolivia family is doing good but they still havent come to church
and we still can only see them like once a week so its a slow work.
But José, the father, is from Cochabamba, dad. And the mom, Doli, is
from Santa Cruz. When do you both come to Spain again?? Next month?
Alright love you fam.
Elder Reeves
Mom can you also send this to Elder Child (i think its
adam.child@myldsmail.net) and Elder Seamons?
(keller.seamons@myldsmail.net)
My Elderes around the world.
Elder Marsden youre so right about the field being white already to
harvest. Why waste our time with those who arent ready when we can
just be focusing on people who want to just swan dive into the faunt
and get baptized? That´s something im figuring out more and more
every single day. Elder Mossito talk to me baby. Elder Child and
Elder Seamons....... WHATS GOING ON IN NEW MEXICO AND PERU??? Im in
Spain in a city called Lleida and im loving every second of it. The
vineyard is going good. Write me back through your fam emails. I
love you boys like crazy. Hasta luego mis hermanos.
Thats good that the basement is all dried out. Just so you know mom
and dad, you better still be living in that house when i get back
because i love that house. And tell your missionaries they can just
record the game and watch it later because honestly who cares about a
game when you can spend time with Pres and Sis Reeves at the reunion!
Haha oh man i cant wait for general conference this next weekend. And
we should have it in english which is all the better. I love spanish
but i would much rather not suffer trying to stay awake by translating
everything in my head... sad it might be a while until i get passed
the translating stage.
This past weekend has been the best. We had Frank´s baptism and
confirmation and another kid named Jeisson who the other elders have
been teaching got baptized too. It was a pretty amazing story what
happened to Jeisson too but i dont have time to write about it so i´ll
write about it later. But pretty much he was supposed to get baptized
on the 17th and he was interviewed and all ready to go but then
decided he wasnt ready. We visited him this last friday and he had no
plans to get baptized but we had such a good visit with him and the
spirit was so strong that he decided to get baptized the very next
morning with Frank. It was incredible. Now im going to tell the
whole story of Frank because he´s the best.
Elder Pericle and I met Frank more than a month ago just from a
contact on the street. We saw him and started to talk to him and we
got his information but for some reason we weren´t able to set up a
visit. We didnt see him for a couple of weeks and honestly we pretty
much forgot about him. But then one day we were walking to one of our
visits and we saw him with one of his friends. We talked to him again
and he told us he had never been baptized in any church before and
said he would love for us to come by and teach him because he needed
to be baptized. We had our first visit with him about 3 weeks ago and
in the first visit he agreed to be baptized and to read and pray. The
next visit we had with him he had read, i think it was 3 Nephi 11, and
he said he liked it but he still wasnt sure about the Book of Mormon.
We found out that he had been being taught by the Jehova´s Witnesses
and he wasnt sure what to believe. We invited him to pray
specifically about the Book of Mormon that night and he would receive
an answer. I think the next day was sunday and we went to go pick him
up at his barber shop so we could meet with him and walk to church.
We got there to his barber shop and he wasnt there. So we called him
and he told us that he was going to his other church that day. We
were pretty bummed about it but we just told him we would come by on
monday. The next day we went and saw him and he said he hadnt
received an answer... so he really wasnt progressing at all. In that
visit, we asked him to kneel down with us right then and to ask God if
this truly is His church and that the Book of Mormon is true. He
prayed and gave the most amazing prayer ever! He seriously poured out
his whole soul to know if it was true. After the prayer we asked him
how he felt and he said he felt so happy and at peace and he knew he
had gotten his answer. After that momento clave every other visit was
so easy and he accepted everything. Almost every single day since
then until his baptism we´ve stopped by and had a visit with him. He
always read what we left him to read and he always prayed every
morning and night. He loved the second lesson and especially about
the spirit world. He asked us, "do our spirits go back to God after
we die?" we read with him in Alma 40 and it was like a billion pound
weight was lifted off his shoulders. He said, "good! The Jehova´s
Witnesses were trying to teach me that they dont. They were trying to
deceive me!" It was great. Every commitment and commandment we
taught him about he kept. He always said "I will do what God asks. I
trust in Him." He was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. He
cant wait to see General Conference. I love Frank. It was so neat to
see him change his whole life from being a big smoker and drinker to
all the sudden a complete follower of Christ. The Gospel is
everything. Everyone needs to hear the good news and change their
lives to receive salvation and return to live with God again.
The Bolivia family is doing good but they still havent come to church
and we still can only see them like once a week so its a slow work.
But José, the father, is from Cochabamba, dad. And the mom, Doli, is
from Santa Cruz. When do you both come to Spain again?? Next month?
Alright love you fam.
Elder Reeves
Mom can you also send this to Elder Child (i think its
adam.child@myldsmail.net) and Elder Seamons?
(keller.seamons@myldsmail.net)
My Elderes around the world.
Elder Marsden youre so right about the field being white already to
harvest. Why waste our time with those who arent ready when we can
just be focusing on people who want to just swan dive into the faunt
and get baptized? That´s something im figuring out more and more
every single day. Elder Mossito talk to me baby. Elder Child and
Elder Seamons....... WHATS GOING ON IN NEW MEXICO AND PERU??? Im in
Spain in a city called Lleida and im loving every second of it. The
vineyard is going good. Write me back through your fam emails. I
love you boys like crazy. Hasta luego mis hermanos.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Lleida week 6 - traslados
TRANSFER WEEK! Dont worry fam im staying here in Lleida with Elder
Pericle. We have preparation day on tuesday during transfer week so
thats why i didnt write yesterday. But Elder Tirado left us this
morning to go to Santander which is the farthest corner northwest that
you can get in our mission. Elder Rasmussen is staying here and he´s
going to be training again and guess who it will be... ELDER KANE!!
My companion from provo! Crazy huh? He´s been serving in Los Angeles
for the past transfer but he finally got his visa. I cant wait to see
him! Its going to be a party. He doesnt get here till next tuesday
though because he´s off track of the transfer. So we´ll be in a trio
until he gets here next week.
Alright a little miracle story... 2 sundays ago, Elder Pericle and I
were walking to a visit and we passed a Bolivian couple who had 2
daughters with them (yes dad you would be proud). We said hi and they
said hi back and the mom smiled at us. We kept walking for a second
and then Elder Pericle immediately turned around and said we need to
talk to them. We went back and introduced ourselves and told them
that families can be together forever. They said they´d love to talk
to us and they set a time to meet with us without us even asking for a
visit. We visited them last monday and yesterday. They are some of
the most prepared people to hear the Gospel. José is the dad, Doli
the mom, and Salene (15) and Chenia (11) are the daughters. Its hard
though because theyre busy every day so we can only see them like once
a week and they havent come to church yet and we havnet been able to
set a baptismal date. But we know that we were guided by the Spirit
to go back and talk to them and theyll eventually get in the waters of
baptism.
On tuesday we had zone conference with Pres and Sis Hinckley.
Actually Sis Hinckley wasnt there because she was in Barcelona with
some sisters who are sick. But it was so good. Pres Hinckley shared
a quote from Elder Bednar who was talking about how they decide where
missionaries go to serve their missions. He said something like this,
"we dont think of the next 2 years the missionary is going to have...
we think of the next 30." It just blew my mind how much revelation
they get to decide where we are going to serve. They really do see a
glimpse of our futures and thats how they decide. Anyways, after zone
conference Elder Pericle went up to Zaragoza with one of our Zone
leaders Elder Rhead and Elder Estrada, our other zone leader, stayed
here with me for intercambios for a couple of days. I was pretty
scared because i was going to be in charge of the next 2 days on the
intercambio with Elder Estrada. By the way, Elder Estrada´s little
brother lived right underneath our apartment at BYU and we became way
good friends with him. So its been neat to get to know Elder Estrada.
We went to visit this one lady who Elder Pericle and i received her
as a referral from some other missionaries who met her on the street.
Her name is Maria from Ecuador and is about in her 50´s. She isnt
married but we´re pretty sure she has been married before because she
always talks about her kids. We taught her the restoration and when
we shared the story of Joseph Smith she started to cry. She committed
to be baptized on Oct 8th and is way excited. She said she´s always
been searching for the full truth of the Gospel and now she is finding
it. It was pretty amazing.
Frank is doing amazing. Every prayer he says is like he´s talking
face to face with Heavenly Father. He has completely stopped smoking
and drinking and is keeping the ley de castidad. He is just having a
hard time understanding that he still needs to keep the law of
chastity after baptism too. But we´ve taught him everything and he´s
going to have his interview tomorrow to get baptized this weekend!
Danny was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. The service was
so good. He loved it and is going strong. We´re going to try to keep
meeting with him but it´s going to be hard though because he´s
starting school and he wont have a ton of time. But he is going to
keep coming to church every sunday and he´ll receive the preisthood
next sunday.
Sorry we´re locked out of our apartment right now because we forgot
the keys... so i dont have my thing to put on pictures. so next week
i´ll send more. Love my family. Keep praying for me and for our
investigators. We all need the help
Elder Reeves
My boyyyyyys out in the field.
Elder Mossito, where are you?? i havent heard from you forever.
Elder Marsden, keep working hard my brotha. Shelby sent me pictures
of our powell trip... oh man they are classic!! good times. Les amo
mis hermanos. Mandenme mas cartas electronicas. Me encanta a oír sus
experiencas en el campo misional. Chao
Pericle. We have preparation day on tuesday during transfer week so
thats why i didnt write yesterday. But Elder Tirado left us this
morning to go to Santander which is the farthest corner northwest that
you can get in our mission. Elder Rasmussen is staying here and he´s
going to be training again and guess who it will be... ELDER KANE!!
My companion from provo! Crazy huh? He´s been serving in Los Angeles
for the past transfer but he finally got his visa. I cant wait to see
him! Its going to be a party. He doesnt get here till next tuesday
though because he´s off track of the transfer. So we´ll be in a trio
until he gets here next week.
Alright a little miracle story... 2 sundays ago, Elder Pericle and I
were walking to a visit and we passed a Bolivian couple who had 2
daughters with them (yes dad you would be proud). We said hi and they
said hi back and the mom smiled at us. We kept walking for a second
and then Elder Pericle immediately turned around and said we need to
talk to them. We went back and introduced ourselves and told them
that families can be together forever. They said they´d love to talk
to us and they set a time to meet with us without us even asking for a
visit. We visited them last monday and yesterday. They are some of
the most prepared people to hear the Gospel. José is the dad, Doli
the mom, and Salene (15) and Chenia (11) are the daughters. Its hard
though because theyre busy every day so we can only see them like once
a week and they havent come to church yet and we havnet been able to
set a baptismal date. But we know that we were guided by the Spirit
to go back and talk to them and theyll eventually get in the waters of
baptism.
On tuesday we had zone conference with Pres and Sis Hinckley.
Actually Sis Hinckley wasnt there because she was in Barcelona with
some sisters who are sick. But it was so good. Pres Hinckley shared
a quote from Elder Bednar who was talking about how they decide where
missionaries go to serve their missions. He said something like this,
"we dont think of the next 2 years the missionary is going to have...
we think of the next 30." It just blew my mind how much revelation
they get to decide where we are going to serve. They really do see a
glimpse of our futures and thats how they decide. Anyways, after zone
conference Elder Pericle went up to Zaragoza with one of our Zone
leaders Elder Rhead and Elder Estrada, our other zone leader, stayed
here with me for intercambios for a couple of days. I was pretty
scared because i was going to be in charge of the next 2 days on the
intercambio with Elder Estrada. By the way, Elder Estrada´s little
brother lived right underneath our apartment at BYU and we became way
good friends with him. So its been neat to get to know Elder Estrada.
We went to visit this one lady who Elder Pericle and i received her
as a referral from some other missionaries who met her on the street.
Her name is Maria from Ecuador and is about in her 50´s. She isnt
married but we´re pretty sure she has been married before because she
always talks about her kids. We taught her the restoration and when
we shared the story of Joseph Smith she started to cry. She committed
to be baptized on Oct 8th and is way excited. She said she´s always
been searching for the full truth of the Gospel and now she is finding
it. It was pretty amazing.
Frank is doing amazing. Every prayer he says is like he´s talking
face to face with Heavenly Father. He has completely stopped smoking
and drinking and is keeping the ley de castidad. He is just having a
hard time understanding that he still needs to keep the law of
chastity after baptism too. But we´ve taught him everything and he´s
going to have his interview tomorrow to get baptized this weekend!
Danny was baptized and confirmed this last weekend. The service was
so good. He loved it and is going strong. We´re going to try to keep
meeting with him but it´s going to be hard though because he´s
starting school and he wont have a ton of time. But he is going to
keep coming to church every sunday and he´ll receive the preisthood
next sunday.
Sorry we´re locked out of our apartment right now because we forgot
the keys... so i dont have my thing to put on pictures. so next week
i´ll send more. Love my family. Keep praying for me and for our
investigators. We all need the help
Elder Reeves
My boyyyyyys out in the field.
Elder Mossito, where are you?? i havent heard from you forever.
Elder Marsden, keep working hard my brotha. Shelby sent me pictures
of our powell trip... oh man they are classic!! good times. Les amo
mis hermanos. Mandenme mas cartas electronicas. Me encanta a oír sus
experiencas en el campo misional. Chao
Monday, September 12, 2011
Lleida week 5 - Prayerful Frank
Hola todos,
Mom and dad how does it feel to have that homecoming done?? im sure
you two did amazing like always. Did you have it recorded or typed up
or something? Because i would love to hear it. if not its totally
fine. And thanks for sending that card. Sorry i forgot to email you
the address last week but im glad you sent it to the office because
that will be easiest. That was such a good story about finding your
passports. Heavenly Father always hears our prayers and never forgets
to answer them. But theyre always in His time and His way. He
definitely has been hearing our prayers here in Lleida. We´ve had 5
people at church for the last 3 weeks in a row and we´re seeing tons
of miracles each day. Its insane.
Frank from Nigeria is doing so good. We see him almost every day and
this week we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of
Wisdom, and the Law of Chastity. He struggles with the Law of
Chastity but has completely stopped smoking. He came to church
yesterday and loved it. He said he felt welcomed and everyone was
friendly to him. We had a miracle with him this past week on
Wednesday. We went to go teach him and we aksed him if he had prayed
to know if this was the true church and that the Book of Mormon is the
word of God. He said he hadnt so we invited him to pray right then
during the lesson to ask. We kneeled down and he began to pray. The
whole time he was praying, I was just praying and praying that he
would feel the Spirit and get an answer. He literally poured out his
whole soul asking for an answer. I definitely felt the Spirit and I
was hoping he would. He finished the prayer and we were just kind of
silent for a little bit and then we asked him how he felt and he said
that he felt a ton of peace and happiness. We told him that this was
the Spirit testifying to him that the church is true and that he needs
to get baptized. He said he knew it was the Spirit and is progressing
more and more each day towards his baptism on the 24th. I love Frank.
We will be having a baptism this weekend with Danny! He is from
Colombia and has been being taught for almost a year. He has had like
5 different dates to get baptized but now he finally is doing it. He
is way excited and ready. Also on saturday we get transfer calls... i
dont know how i´ve already been here in the field for a whole
transfer. We´re pretty sure that Elder Pericle and i will stay
together just because of the new training program but you never know.
So i´ll let you know next week. Chao!
Love, Elder Reeves
Mom and dad how does it feel to have that homecoming done?? im sure
you two did amazing like always. Did you have it recorded or typed up
or something? Because i would love to hear it. if not its totally
fine. And thanks for sending that card. Sorry i forgot to email you
the address last week but im glad you sent it to the office because
that will be easiest. That was such a good story about finding your
passports. Heavenly Father always hears our prayers and never forgets
to answer them. But theyre always in His time and His way. He
definitely has been hearing our prayers here in Lleida. We´ve had 5
people at church for the last 3 weeks in a row and we´re seeing tons
of miracles each day. Its insane.
Frank from Nigeria is doing so good. We see him almost every day and
this week we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of
Wisdom, and the Law of Chastity. He struggles with the Law of
Chastity but has completely stopped smoking. He came to church
yesterday and loved it. He said he felt welcomed and everyone was
friendly to him. We had a miracle with him this past week on
Wednesday. We went to go teach him and we aksed him if he had prayed
to know if this was the true church and that the Book of Mormon is the
word of God. He said he hadnt so we invited him to pray right then
during the lesson to ask. We kneeled down and he began to pray. The
whole time he was praying, I was just praying and praying that he
would feel the Spirit and get an answer. He literally poured out his
whole soul asking for an answer. I definitely felt the Spirit and I
was hoping he would. He finished the prayer and we were just kind of
silent for a little bit and then we asked him how he felt and he said
that he felt a ton of peace and happiness. We told him that this was
the Spirit testifying to him that the church is true and that he needs
to get baptized. He said he knew it was the Spirit and is progressing
more and more each day towards his baptism on the 24th. I love Frank.
We will be having a baptism this weekend with Danny! He is from
Colombia and has been being taught for almost a year. He has had like
5 different dates to get baptized but now he finally is doing it. He
is way excited and ready. Also on saturday we get transfer calls... i
dont know how i´ve already been here in the field for a whole
transfer. We´re pretty sure that Elder Pericle and i will stay
together just because of the new training program but you never know.
So i´ll let you know next week. Chao!
Love, Elder Reeves
Más fotos
Dialogue by Elder Reeves
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| Us at the church with a member's grandson |
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| Frank and his friend Nicholas at church yesterday |
Monday, September 5, 2011
Lleida Week 4 - The cast outs
This week has been incredible. Elder Pericle and i have been working
ourselves to death and we´ve been blessed with tons of visits and new
investigators this past week.
On friday, we were walking on the street to one of our visits and this
gitano (gypsy) family who we´ve met before drove up and wanted to meet
with us again on saturday. The mother (Sara) is the sweetest lady
ever and her son (Gabriel) is amazing, but the dad is a complete drunk
and smoker. He is CONSTANTLY drunk and oustide smoking. It´s so sad
because the mom and the son are so nice and good. But anways we went
to go visit them on saturday and everything was going good. The dad
was drunk like always but he was treating us nicely and was respecting
us. We started teaching the 2nd lesson and the dad stayed for about 5
minutes and then he had to go out for a smoke. Then about 5 min
later, the dad walked back in with his brother and they told us to
leave. The brother didnt like us at all and said that everyone in the
gitano neighborhood knew that their family was meeting with the
mormons so he didnt want us there. Luckily we had a member with us
who was backing us up and helping us out and we said we were sorry but
we were almost done with the lesson so they let us finish. The Spirit
was completely gone and the dad was being dumb saying that he was the
boss of the family and that we need to talk to him if we ever wanted
to come back and visit, even though 10 min earlier he was all happy
and excited to see us. So we left and we dont know what´s going to
happen... but Sara and Gabriel totally want to learn more and could be
so ready for baptism.
We lost track of Dayo in the beginning of this last week and we didnt
know how to get ahold of him because he doesn´t have a phone or a
home. Elders Tirado and Rasmussen found him one day but he didnt want
to talk to him. Then we saw him in the street and he was acting
really weird and didn´t want to talk to us either. We told him that
we still wanted to meet with him and that we would meet him on
saturday at the university. At first he didn´t show up and we were
afraid he wouldn´t come, but we were praying that he would... and then
we saw him. We met with him and asked him what was happening and he
told us that everything he has was stolen: his clothes, money, and
even his Book of Mormon. His faith is really being tried right now.
We invited him to come to church yesterday and told him if he didnt
show up that we would meet him at the university again at 4 yesterday.
He didnt show up to church but he came to the university. He says he
still has desires to be baptized but he´s just going through some
really hard times in his life right now. We promised him blessings as
he continues to have faith and is baptized. We´ve set up more visits
this week and we need to teach him the 3rd and 4th lessons and he
needs to come to church twice still.
Yesterday Elder Pericle and I went to teach one of our new
investigators, Pilar, the first lesson and as we were beginning to
teach her, another guy walked in named Chaz. We invited him to stay
and listen so he said he would. As we continued to teach, we invited
both Pilar and Chaz to be baptized and they both said yes. Chaz
shared with us how he hadn´t been to church in a while but he decided
to go yesterday to the Catholic church. He said, "I know it´s not a
coincidence that I met you 2 elders today. I´ve been waiting to find
the correct way of baptism." It´s amazing to see how when people
begin to put their faith in God and have the desires to change that
Heavenly Father puts us in their path or puts them in ours.
Family i grow to love the mission more and more every day. Yeah its
hard and we sweat bucketfulls every day, but i love it. Love you.
Elder Reeves
ourselves to death and we´ve been blessed with tons of visits and new
investigators this past week.
On friday, we were walking on the street to one of our visits and this
gitano (gypsy) family who we´ve met before drove up and wanted to meet
with us again on saturday. The mother (Sara) is the sweetest lady
ever and her son (Gabriel) is amazing, but the dad is a complete drunk
and smoker. He is CONSTANTLY drunk and oustide smoking. It´s so sad
because the mom and the son are so nice and good. But anways we went
to go visit them on saturday and everything was going good. The dad
was drunk like always but he was treating us nicely and was respecting
us. We started teaching the 2nd lesson and the dad stayed for about 5
minutes and then he had to go out for a smoke. Then about 5 min
later, the dad walked back in with his brother and they told us to
leave. The brother didnt like us at all and said that everyone in the
gitano neighborhood knew that their family was meeting with the
mormons so he didnt want us there. Luckily we had a member with us
who was backing us up and helping us out and we said we were sorry but
we were almost done with the lesson so they let us finish. The Spirit
was completely gone and the dad was being dumb saying that he was the
boss of the family and that we need to talk to him if we ever wanted
to come back and visit, even though 10 min earlier he was all happy
and excited to see us. So we left and we dont know what´s going to
happen... but Sara and Gabriel totally want to learn more and could be
so ready for baptism.
We lost track of Dayo in the beginning of this last week and we didnt
know how to get ahold of him because he doesn´t have a phone or a
home. Elders Tirado and Rasmussen found him one day but he didnt want
to talk to him. Then we saw him in the street and he was acting
really weird and didn´t want to talk to us either. We told him that
we still wanted to meet with him and that we would meet him on
saturday at the university. At first he didn´t show up and we were
afraid he wouldn´t come, but we were praying that he would... and then
we saw him. We met with him and asked him what was happening and he
told us that everything he has was stolen: his clothes, money, and
even his Book of Mormon. His faith is really being tried right now.
We invited him to come to church yesterday and told him if he didnt
show up that we would meet him at the university again at 4 yesterday.
He didnt show up to church but he came to the university. He says he
still has desires to be baptized but he´s just going through some
really hard times in his life right now. We promised him blessings as
he continues to have faith and is baptized. We´ve set up more visits
this week and we need to teach him the 3rd and 4th lessons and he
needs to come to church twice still.
Yesterday Elder Pericle and I went to teach one of our new
investigators, Pilar, the first lesson and as we were beginning to
teach her, another guy walked in named Chaz. We invited him to stay
and listen so he said he would. As we continued to teach, we invited
both Pilar and Chaz to be baptized and they both said yes. Chaz
shared with us how he hadn´t been to church in a while but he decided
to go yesterday to the Catholic church. He said, "I know it´s not a
coincidence that I met you 2 elders today. I´ve been waiting to find
the correct way of baptism." It´s amazing to see how when people
begin to put their faith in God and have the desires to change that
Heavenly Father puts us in their path or puts them in ours.
Family i grow to love the mission more and more every day. Yeah its
hard and we sweat bucketfulls every day, but i love it. Love you.
Elder Reeves
Monday, August 29, 2011
Lleida Week 3 Chino Man
A new nephew!! Andrew is a good name. Congrats Julie and Brett! And
Val i love hearing your stories and your successes in France. The
work is amazing.
This week has been a crazy week filled with miracles and hard times.
So on saturday Elder Pericle and i were walking back from a visit we
had with one of our investigators and we saw this chinese guy standing
on the sidewalk with buckets and a bag full of vegetables. We started
talking to him and asked if we could help him take his vegetables to
his piso. He barely spoke any spanish and had a crazy chino accent
mixed in with the spanish so it was way hard to understand him. After
like 10 miles (or it seemed like it because the buckets were so heavy)
we got to his piso and we went inside with him. When we got inside
there was another chino and we hoped that maybe he knew more spanish
and we could talk to him... NOPE! He was even worse than the other
one haha but we found out his name was Jhung Hai or however you spell
it. Anways we tried to tell them that we were missionaries and we
pulled out a pass along card. Jhung Hai figured out what we were
talking about and he quickly ran out of the room and came running back
with a chinese Bible. He pointed to it and then to himself and said,
"Yo... Jesus... por dos años" We realized that they were christians!
We wrote down the address of the church and when it starts and invited
them to come. We didnt think anything would come out of it but then
the next day on sunday, guess who showed up to church.... Jhung Hai
with his wife!! Haha it was amazing. We sat with them and they didnt
understand anything but they could see that we were so happy that they
were there. We´re not exactly sure what we´re going to do now with
them... but we´re going to get a Book of Mormon in chinese and give it
to them.
Speaking about church, we havent been having very much success with
getting investigators to church lately and this last sunday we really
wanted to have a lot of people to show up. Saturday night we
specifically prayed that we would have 5 investigators show up to
church the next day. We got to church and there was only one
investigator there already, Andrés, who comes to church every sunday.
Then right before sacrament meeting started another investigator,
Adriana, walked in with a member. Sacrament meeting started and we
were afraid we would only have the 2 investigators there. But then,
Danny, another investigator walked in and right after him, was Jhung
Hai and his wife that we had met the day before. We had exactly 5
investigators at church. Heavenly Father always hears and answers our
prayers.
This week we met a man in the street who is homeless and has no job,
named Dayo. He is from Nigeria and is about 30 years old. He has no
family here and he barely speaks any spanish. We set up a visit with
him on thursday at the University but didnt really think anything
would come out of it. We got to the University and there he was
sitting on a bench. We talked to him about the restoration and told
him that he can know for himself if these things are true. We asked
him that when he knows these things to be true if he would be baptized
and he said yes! Friday and saturday we met with him again and taught
him more. His date to be baptized was September 10th but he didnt
show up to church yesterday for some reason so we have to push it back
to September 17th. He doesnt have a phone or a house so we´re trying
to find him again but we know the Lord will guide us to find him. He
is definitely an elegido.
Our baptismal date with Mami was on 10th also but she left this
weekend again to go to Barcelona. She had the same excuse last
weekend and we dont know why she goes there but we have to push her
date back to the 17th. We tried to get with her every day this week
and have a visit but she fired us 4 times and we were only able to
meet with her once. We´re working hard with her and trying to help
her progress but we´re afraid that she´s going to keep cancelling our
visits. We´ll see what happens this week.
Love you fam. I´ll talk to you all next week!
Elder Reeves
Val i love hearing your stories and your successes in France. The
work is amazing.
This week has been a crazy week filled with miracles and hard times.
So on saturday Elder Pericle and i were walking back from a visit we
had with one of our investigators and we saw this chinese guy standing
on the sidewalk with buckets and a bag full of vegetables. We started
talking to him and asked if we could help him take his vegetables to
his piso. He barely spoke any spanish and had a crazy chino accent
mixed in with the spanish so it was way hard to understand him. After
like 10 miles (or it seemed like it because the buckets were so heavy)
we got to his piso and we went inside with him. When we got inside
there was another chino and we hoped that maybe he knew more spanish
and we could talk to him... NOPE! He was even worse than the other
one haha but we found out his name was Jhung Hai or however you spell
it. Anways we tried to tell them that we were missionaries and we
pulled out a pass along card. Jhung Hai figured out what we were
talking about and he quickly ran out of the room and came running back
with a chinese Bible. He pointed to it and then to himself and said,
"Yo... Jesus... por dos años" We realized that they were christians!
We wrote down the address of the church and when it starts and invited
them to come. We didnt think anything would come out of it but then
the next day on sunday, guess who showed up to church.... Jhung Hai
with his wife!! Haha it was amazing. We sat with them and they didnt
understand anything but they could see that we were so happy that they
were there. We´re not exactly sure what we´re going to do now with
them... but we´re going to get a Book of Mormon in chinese and give it
to them.
Speaking about church, we havent been having very much success with
getting investigators to church lately and this last sunday we really
wanted to have a lot of people to show up. Saturday night we
specifically prayed that we would have 5 investigators show up to
church the next day. We got to church and there was only one
investigator there already, Andrés, who comes to church every sunday.
Then right before sacrament meeting started another investigator,
Adriana, walked in with a member. Sacrament meeting started and we
were afraid we would only have the 2 investigators there. But then,
Danny, another investigator walked in and right after him, was Jhung
Hai and his wife that we had met the day before. We had exactly 5
investigators at church. Heavenly Father always hears and answers our
prayers.
This week we met a man in the street who is homeless and has no job,
named Dayo. He is from Nigeria and is about 30 years old. He has no
family here and he barely speaks any spanish. We set up a visit with
him on thursday at the University but didnt really think anything
would come out of it. We got to the University and there he was
sitting on a bench. We talked to him about the restoration and told
him that he can know for himself if these things are true. We asked
him that when he knows these things to be true if he would be baptized
and he said yes! Friday and saturday we met with him again and taught
him more. His date to be baptized was September 10th but he didnt
show up to church yesterday for some reason so we have to push it back
to September 17th. He doesnt have a phone or a house so we´re trying
to find him again but we know the Lord will guide us to find him. He
is definitely an elegido.
Our baptismal date with Mami was on 10th also but she left this
weekend again to go to Barcelona. She had the same excuse last
weekend and we dont know why she goes there but we have to push her
date back to the 17th. We tried to get with her every day this week
and have a visit but she fired us 4 times and we were only able to
meet with her once. We´re working hard with her and trying to help
her progress but we´re afraid that she´s going to keep cancelling our
visits. We´ll see what happens this week.
Love you fam. I´ll talk to you all next week!
Elder Reeves
Monday, August 22, 2011
Lleida Week 2
Familia!!
Alright to start off i need to apologize to mom for not wishing happy
birthday last week... i totally remembered your birthday last week and
i was going to write you happy birthday but then i forgot. So HAPPY
BIRTHDAY MADRE!!! and happy birthday to all the nieces and nephews and
anyone else! im sorry birthdays are probably the last things i
remember.
Anyways this week has been a great week. I cant believe how fast time
is going again. it started to slow down when i first got here to
Lleida but now its flying by again. something thats hard here in
Lleida is that everyone we teach says they will come to church but
then they never do. And nobody can progress towards baptism unless
they come to church. We´re trying to help people realize the
importance of going to church but its hard for them to understand. Oh
a funny story i just remembered about church yesterday... so Elder
Pericle was teaching our class with the investigadors about the
priesthood and i started to bare my testimony at the end of the
lesson. There´s 2 words in spanish that i get confused sometimes
"olivdar" (to forget) and "odiar" (to hate). I was going to say,
"sometimes i forget the power that we have as priesthood holders"...
but it ended up coming out "sometimes i hate the power that we have as
priesthood holders" hahaha it was hilarious. Luckily there was only
us four missionaries in there with one of our investigadors and
Luciano who just got baptized. gotta love making mistakes when youre
learning spanish... but thats how you learn.
A miracle we had this week was on wednesday we were going to go see
Andrés (12 year old kid, amazing and always comes to church) who has
been ready to be baptized for a while now (Elder Pericle has been
trying to get him baptized since May) but his mom has been being weird
and wont allow it even though she´s a member herself. We decided to
fast for him that day and ask for a miracle to happen so he could be
baptized. That day was SO hot and EVERYONE we visited was offering us
food and water. We rufused all the offers and kept fasting. The
visit with Andrés was our last visit of the day and we brought the
bishop with us. We had a great lesson with him about the importance
of baptism but his mom at first didnt agree. But we continued to
teach and the mom slowly started to change and now she is totally for
having Andrés to be baptized! We know that Heavenly Father heard our
prayers and blessed us with this miracle through our fasting and
faith. His date to be baptized is September 17.
We got a new baptismal date this week with a lady named Mami (mommy).
She´s from Gineau Ecuatorial and is about 50 years old with no job.
She was a referral from the Elders in Hospitalet and we met her on
wednesday i think. She always has good questions to ask while we´re
teaching and she´s willing to change. We taught her the first lesson
and committed her to be baptized on September 10! We were going to
set it for September 3 but she was leaving on a trip to Barcelona
yesterday so she couldn´t go to church yesterday. We´re meeting with
her again tonight. She is an amazing lady! I´ll attach a picture
with her.
I love you fam. I pray for you all every day and i definitely need
your prayers too. Thank you for all your support and your prayers.
Elder Reeves
Alright to start off i need to apologize to mom for not wishing happy
birthday last week... i totally remembered your birthday last week and
i was going to write you happy birthday but then i forgot. So HAPPY
BIRTHDAY MADRE!!! and happy birthday to all the nieces and nephews and
anyone else! im sorry birthdays are probably the last things i
remember.
Anyways this week has been a great week. I cant believe how fast time
is going again. it started to slow down when i first got here to
Lleida but now its flying by again. something thats hard here in
Lleida is that everyone we teach says they will come to church but
then they never do. And nobody can progress towards baptism unless
they come to church. We´re trying to help people realize the
importance of going to church but its hard for them to understand. Oh
a funny story i just remembered about church yesterday... so Elder
Pericle was teaching our class with the investigadors about the
priesthood and i started to bare my testimony at the end of the
lesson. There´s 2 words in spanish that i get confused sometimes
"olivdar" (to forget) and "odiar" (to hate). I was going to say,
"sometimes i forget the power that we have as priesthood holders"...
but it ended up coming out "sometimes i hate the power that we have as
priesthood holders" hahaha it was hilarious. Luckily there was only
us four missionaries in there with one of our investigadors and
Luciano who just got baptized. gotta love making mistakes when youre
learning spanish... but thats how you learn.
A miracle we had this week was on wednesday we were going to go see
Andrés (12 year old kid, amazing and always comes to church) who has
been ready to be baptized for a while now (Elder Pericle has been
trying to get him baptized since May) but his mom has been being weird
and wont allow it even though she´s a member herself. We decided to
fast for him that day and ask for a miracle to happen so he could be
baptized. That day was SO hot and EVERYONE we visited was offering us
food and water. We rufused all the offers and kept fasting. The
visit with Andrés was our last visit of the day and we brought the
bishop with us. We had a great lesson with him about the importance
of baptism but his mom at first didnt agree. But we continued to
teach and the mom slowly started to change and now she is totally for
having Andrés to be baptized! We know that Heavenly Father heard our
prayers and blessed us with this miracle through our fasting and
faith. His date to be baptized is September 17.
We got a new baptismal date this week with a lady named Mami (mommy).
She´s from Gineau Ecuatorial and is about 50 years old with no job.
She was a referral from the Elders in Hospitalet and we met her on
wednesday i think. She always has good questions to ask while we´re
teaching and she´s willing to change. We taught her the first lesson
and committed her to be baptized on September 10! We were going to
set it for September 3 but she was leaving on a trip to Barcelona
yesterday so she couldn´t go to church yesterday. We´re meeting with
her again tonight. She is an amazing lady! I´ll attach a picture
with her.
I love you fam. I pray for you all every day and i definitely need
your prayers too. Thank you for all your support and your prayers.
Elder Reeves
Monday, August 15, 2011
Lleida Week 1
Familia!! I love Lleida! Elder Pericle and i have been working hard
here in the city. A little more about Lleida: i thought it was north
of barcelona but it´s actually almost directly west from Barcelona.
it´s in the Hospitalet stake (1 of the 2 stakes in Barcelona) and isnt
a very big city but it´s still pretty good sized. it´s not very green
or mountainous here but it´s definitely hilly in some parts. right
now we dont have the city split between us 2 companionships so we have
both just been working around the whole city. But President called us
and told us that we have to split the city sadly... so probably on
thursday it will be split.
Mom, Elder Pericle has been out for a little over a year haha i was
saying that he´s been in Lleida for 2 transfers. They have this whole
new program that all the missions around the world are starting with
all the trainers and the trainees. We have steps and goals that we
have to accomplish every week that goes for 12 weeks. Its called "the
first 12 weeks". Pretty much by the end of the 2 transfers with your
trainer, you should be ready to become a trainer if youre called
upon... its kinda putting a lot of pressure on the trainee but the
program is really good and will help a ton for the new missionaries.
it´s weird though because my group that just got to the mission field
is the first one to start this program so we´re just getting used to
it.
Yesterday at church was quite the experience... i met all the people
in the ward and i had to get up during sacrament meeting and introduce
myself to the ward. i love all the members here in the ward, they´re
all really strong and good members but i had no idea what people we´re
saying to me most of the time haha. the spanish is still coming but
im getting better each day. and also Elder Rassmussen and Elder
Tirado had a baptism on saturday with this guy from Romania named
Luciano. He is an amazing convert and it was a great baptism.
One miracle experience that we had this week:
Yesterday all of our visits were falling through and no one was home
that we wanted to visit. Elder Pericle and I were pretty disappointed
but he had a feeling to go visit this family from Dominican Republic.
We walked over to their piso and they let us in. Not only were the
husband and wife there (Eusevio and Janet) but they had 5 other adult
friends there in their living room. We taught all of them the first
lesson and the Spirit was so strong. 3 of the adults werent very
receptive to the message but 2 of them (Francisco and Ana) were very
receptive and both took Book of Mormons. We have another visit set up
to visit both of them and teach them more. It was an amazing
experience for me to teach 7 adults all at once but we could
definitely tell who was ready to here the Gospel and who wasnt.
If you cant tell, im trying to keep the rules and not use any slang in
this email. It´s something that President and Sister Hinckley stress
a ton that all the missionaries are trying to keep. We cant say
anything that´s even remotely close to being slang (cool, awesome,
ect.) its probably the hardest thing ive ever tried to do in my life.
Well we have a visita soon so i have to get going but here´s some
pictures of when i first arrived to barcelona and there´s a picture of
me and Elder Pericle with one of our investigadors Donato from Africa.
Adios mi familia!
Elder Reeves
here in the city. A little more about Lleida: i thought it was north
of barcelona but it´s actually almost directly west from Barcelona.
it´s in the Hospitalet stake (1 of the 2 stakes in Barcelona) and isnt
a very big city but it´s still pretty good sized. it´s not very green
or mountainous here but it´s definitely hilly in some parts. right
now we dont have the city split between us 2 companionships so we have
both just been working around the whole city. But President called us
and told us that we have to split the city sadly... so probably on
thursday it will be split.
Mom, Elder Pericle has been out for a little over a year haha i was
saying that he´s been in Lleida for 2 transfers. They have this whole
new program that all the missions around the world are starting with
all the trainers and the trainees. We have steps and goals that we
have to accomplish every week that goes for 12 weeks. Its called "the
first 12 weeks". Pretty much by the end of the 2 transfers with your
trainer, you should be ready to become a trainer if youre called
upon... its kinda putting a lot of pressure on the trainee but the
program is really good and will help a ton for the new missionaries.
it´s weird though because my group that just got to the mission field
is the first one to start this program so we´re just getting used to
it.
Yesterday at church was quite the experience... i met all the people
in the ward and i had to get up during sacrament meeting and introduce
myself to the ward. i love all the members here in the ward, they´re
all really strong and good members but i had no idea what people we´re
saying to me most of the time haha. the spanish is still coming but
im getting better each day. and also Elder Rassmussen and Elder
Tirado had a baptism on saturday with this guy from Romania named
Luciano. He is an amazing convert and it was a great baptism.
One miracle experience that we had this week:
Yesterday all of our visits were falling through and no one was home
that we wanted to visit. Elder Pericle and I were pretty disappointed
but he had a feeling to go visit this family from Dominican Republic.
We walked over to their piso and they let us in. Not only were the
husband and wife there (Eusevio and Janet) but they had 5 other adult
friends there in their living room. We taught all of them the first
lesson and the Spirit was so strong. 3 of the adults werent very
receptive to the message but 2 of them (Francisco and Ana) were very
receptive and both took Book of Mormons. We have another visit set up
to visit both of them and teach them more. It was an amazing
experience for me to teach 7 adults all at once but we could
definitely tell who was ready to here the Gospel and who wasnt.
If you cant tell, im trying to keep the rules and not use any slang in
this email. It´s something that President and Sister Hinckley stress
a ton that all the missionaries are trying to keep. We cant say
anything that´s even remotely close to being slang (cool, awesome,
ect.) its probably the hardest thing ive ever tried to do in my life.
Well we have a visita soon so i have to get going but here´s some
pictures of when i first arrived to barcelona and there´s a picture of
me and Elder Pericle with one of our investigadors Donato from Africa.
Adios mi familia!
Elder Reeves
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