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
Monday, November 28, 2011
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
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