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.

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

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

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

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

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.

Photos

Boliviana Familia

Frank's baptism

At the top of a castle here in Lleida