What in the world happened to the Stacy family? I litterally almost cant recognize any of them. Especially Aidan. Haha he´s huge!! Loved the pictures though. Thanks for sending them.
It was super funny because when we got on for emails, Elder Littlefield opened up his email from his parents and said, "oh look, my parents met President and Hermana Pace! Here´s a picture from them." (Elder Littlefield´s dad is the Manager of prefield services for the missionary department and has his main office in the MTC) I looked at the picture and thought, "i wonder if mom and dad met them" Then I opened up the email from mom and there was pretty much the same exact picture of President and Hermana Pace. Haha i´m sure you´ve met Elder Littlefield´s parents, mom and dad. Or at least seen them. Elder Littlefield and I were actually assigned to take President Pace out on splits with us his first night out in the field on friday... haha we´ll see how that goes!
If i´ve never told you why my lucky number is number 13, here´s another reason why..... This last week we really focused on getting people to church and asking for the members help in inviting and bringing friends to church. We focused on 3 strong member families and got a lot of referrals from them. They said that they would do everything they could to bring their friends to church. Luckily, one of the families, Los Luque, have a son who is leaving on his mission this week and was going to be giving his testimony in sacrament meeting, which gave a lot of investigators more reason to come. Saturday night, there was a birthday party for another girl in the ward, Carmen. We knew that a lot of members, including the Luques, and their friends would be at the party. We stopped by and shared a message with everyone and reinvited all of the investigators to come to church the next day. We were a little afraid because Saturday was the día de Sant Juan and everyone was going to stay up late at parties, which would make it harder for them to come to church in the morning. Elder Littlefield and I kept praying for a miracle and that these people could come to church. The next day, only one investigator family of 4 was there as sacrament started, or at least I thought there was. Then Elder Littlefield turned to me and said, "I think there are 7-8 investigators here right now". As I looked around and harder to where the members we had visited were sitting, and found there were 4 more investigators sitting with different members. We were up to 8. About 10 minutes later, in walked another investigator family of 5 that Los Luque had invited. 13 people in church. It was the biggest miracle I´ve ever seen in church. After sacrament, we met all of them and are working with the members to set up visits and teach these incredible children of God.
Well we gotta go right now to our last "concilio" as zone leaders with President Hinckley right now. It will be an amazing meeting. I´ll let you know how it goes. Love you all
Elder Reeves
Monday, June 25, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Hospitalet week 3 - Bitter to sweet
Buenos días de Hospitalet a todos
Girlcation huh? Nice! The girls are finally catching onto the trend. Don´t party too crazy. Haha. Sorry I havent read any of the other emails yet (I print them out and read them when I have more time) so if i dont answer anyone´s questions it´s not my fault.
This week was a little harder especially because of not having anyone come to church. It really showed that a lot of our investigators are not progressing as they should be and that we have to let some of them go for a little bit. It´s been super crazy because we´re starting to see around the mission right now that Satan is attacking hard. We only had 2 baptisms in the whole mission this last weekend... probably the lowest EVER. That was the bitter part. President sent us a text on Friday and asked everyone to start a fast on saturday and fast for our investigators, members, and areas so that we can fight against the work of Satan and see the success that God wants us to have. Yesterday we finished our fast and continued praying throughout the day as we passed by other people/members. As we were walking in the street, we found 2 new families who want to hear more and in a visit with a member we found another couple. 3 new families that the Lord has prepared. We have plans to visit them again this next week and share them the wonderful news of the restored gospel. I know that through fasting and prayer, along with diligently looking and finding, the Lord puts prepared people in our path.
I kinda lost track of really how everything in this work is the Lord´s, not mine. Every good thing and every blessing that we see is not because of my skills or my knowledge as a missionary. It´s because the Lord loves us and wants us to have success. I know Satan starts attacking like crazy when he knows something good is about to happen (Joseph Smith right before the first vision) and as we keep praying with all our hearts pleading for the Lord to release us from the grasps of Satan, we will see the miracles. That´s the sweet part.
Fam if you ever have doubts or are feeling the grasps of Satan come down on you, pray with all your might. Know that he doesn´t want us to have the blessings of the gospel and he´ll do anything in his power to stop us. Keep praying, keep fighting. It´s all worth it in the end. This is the Lord´s work. Love you all
Elder Reeves
Girlcation huh? Nice! The girls are finally catching onto the trend. Don´t party too crazy. Haha. Sorry I havent read any of the other emails yet (I print them out and read them when I have more time) so if i dont answer anyone´s questions it´s not my fault.
This week was a little harder especially because of not having anyone come to church. It really showed that a lot of our investigators are not progressing as they should be and that we have to let some of them go for a little bit. It´s been super crazy because we´re starting to see around the mission right now that Satan is attacking hard. We only had 2 baptisms in the whole mission this last weekend... probably the lowest EVER. That was the bitter part. President sent us a text on Friday and asked everyone to start a fast on saturday and fast for our investigators, members, and areas so that we can fight against the work of Satan and see the success that God wants us to have. Yesterday we finished our fast and continued praying throughout the day as we passed by other people/members. As we were walking in the street, we found 2 new families who want to hear more and in a visit with a member we found another couple. 3 new families that the Lord has prepared. We have plans to visit them again this next week and share them the wonderful news of the restored gospel. I know that through fasting and prayer, along with diligently looking and finding, the Lord puts prepared people in our path.
I kinda lost track of really how everything in this work is the Lord´s, not mine. Every good thing and every blessing that we see is not because of my skills or my knowledge as a missionary. It´s because the Lord loves us and wants us to have success. I know Satan starts attacking like crazy when he knows something good is about to happen (Joseph Smith right before the first vision) and as we keep praying with all our hearts pleading for the Lord to release us from the grasps of Satan, we will see the miracles. That´s the sweet part.
Fam if you ever have doubts or are feeling the grasps of Satan come down on you, pray with all your might. Know that he doesn´t want us to have the blessings of the gospel and he´ll do anything in his power to stop us. Keep praying, keep fighting. It´s all worth it in the end. This is the Lord´s work. Love you all
Elder Reeves
Monday, June 11, 2012
Hospitalet week 2 - Rebellious Nerea
Bon día mi familia!
I feel like i just wrote... oh wait, I did! I´m finally having a normal preparation day today. I finished training Elder Watkins this last Friday so now I can just stay in my area. FINALLY! Elder Salcedo also just left to Utah this morning. He´s going to be in the MTC probably for 9 weeks (poor man) and then he´ll be serving in the Ogden mission. So if you ever meet an Elder Salcedo mom and dad, that´s my adopted hijo.
I´m learning a lot being zone leader. Our zone is the best zone in the whole mission. Our missionaries are working super hard and are seeing a lot of miracles. There is this couple that just got baptized in the Cornellá ward with which i had that oportunity to do their interview for baptism. They´re from Colombia and were way way way religious in some church in Colombia. But then when they moved here to Spain they couldn´t find their church. Their uncle is a Bishop up in Bilbao and he sent the reference to the Elders in Cornellá. They started teaching them and they just ate everything up. When i did their interviews they were both telling me how much they just want to go out and do missionary work and spread the gospel. They´re incredible. We´re right on the path of hitting our goal of baptizing 14 this month finishing this last weekend with 7 in total. The Lord is preparing people all over. It´s a little hard though because 7 of our 10 companionships in our zone has a new companion and almost every time there´s a new companion, the investigator pool starts over. So once we get over that hump, people will be getting baptized left and right.
We´ve been teaching this girl named Nerea that is the girlfriend of a member in our ward. She´s española, 17 years old and comes from a deep Catholic background like all spanish people. She´s been taught before by other missionaries but she´s never been able to progress much because her mom is against any other religion besides catholisism and because of that she´s never been able to set a baptismal date. She´s almost always at the house of her boyfriend Jairo (from Bolivia) and she´s learned everything about the gospel because the whole family are members. She´s told us tons of times that she wants to get baptized but her mom wont let her. Her mom told her that when she´s 18 she´ll be able to make her own decision. Well... her birthday is June 27th. She´s so ready and has so many desires to get baptized. The miracle was that yesterday she came to church! We asked her how she was able to get permission from her mom and she said, "I didnt! I just told her that I was going over to Jairo´s and then I wanted to come to church so I did!" Haha pretty bold, but it was a miracle for us and she loved being there. Once she turns 18 she´ll be baptized as soon as she can.
Love you all. Happy birthday to those who´ve had one or who are about to have one!
Elder Reeves
I feel like i just wrote... oh wait, I did! I´m finally having a normal preparation day today. I finished training Elder Watkins this last Friday so now I can just stay in my area. FINALLY! Elder Salcedo also just left to Utah this morning. He´s going to be in the MTC probably for 9 weeks (poor man) and then he´ll be serving in the Ogden mission. So if you ever meet an Elder Salcedo mom and dad, that´s my adopted hijo.
I´m learning a lot being zone leader. Our zone is the best zone in the whole mission. Our missionaries are working super hard and are seeing a lot of miracles. There is this couple that just got baptized in the Cornellá ward with which i had that oportunity to do their interview for baptism. They´re from Colombia and were way way way religious in some church in Colombia. But then when they moved here to Spain they couldn´t find their church. Their uncle is a Bishop up in Bilbao and he sent the reference to the Elders in Cornellá. They started teaching them and they just ate everything up. When i did their interviews they were both telling me how much they just want to go out and do missionary work and spread the gospel. They´re incredible. We´re right on the path of hitting our goal of baptizing 14 this month finishing this last weekend with 7 in total. The Lord is preparing people all over. It´s a little hard though because 7 of our 10 companionships in our zone has a new companion and almost every time there´s a new companion, the investigator pool starts over. So once we get over that hump, people will be getting baptized left and right.
We´ve been teaching this girl named Nerea that is the girlfriend of a member in our ward. She´s española, 17 years old and comes from a deep Catholic background like all spanish people. She´s been taught before by other missionaries but she´s never been able to progress much because her mom is against any other religion besides catholisism and because of that she´s never been able to set a baptismal date. She´s almost always at the house of her boyfriend Jairo (from Bolivia) and she´s learned everything about the gospel because the whole family are members. She´s told us tons of times that she wants to get baptized but her mom wont let her. Her mom told her that when she´s 18 she´ll be able to make her own decision. Well... her birthday is June 27th. She´s so ready and has so many desires to get baptized. The miracle was that yesterday she came to church! We asked her how she was able to get permission from her mom and she said, "I didnt! I just told her that I was going over to Jairo´s and then I wanted to come to church so I did!" Haha pretty bold, but it was a miracle for us and she loved being there. Once she turns 18 she´ll be baptized as soon as she can.
Love you all. Happy birthday to those who´ve had one or who are about to have one!
Elder Reeves
Friday, June 8, 2012
Hospitalet week 1 - No time
It´s been pretty crazy going back and forth from my area to here in the office so I haven´t had a preparation day in the last couple of weeks but I´ve finally found some time to write! My preparation days are on Monday now but since the office has them on Wednesdays i haven´t been able to have them because i just go back to my area and work on Wednesday.
The miracle I wanted to share actually comes from this last Sunday. I had heard a lot about the members and how incredible the ward is from Elder Middleton but in this last sacrament meeting I really saw the truth of it. As you know it was fast Sunday and I had wanted to get up to introduce myself to the ward and to share my testimony. Bishop Gilier, who was directing the meeting, finished baring his testimony, turned the time over to the members and as soon as he sat down, IMMEDIATELY about 15 members stood up and started making their way to the front!! As I sat there for a second thinking how crazy it was that so many members were getting up at the same time, I realized that if I didn´t get up right then I would have no time to bare my testimony! So I jumped up and got up to the front as fast as I could. I ended up being able to bare my testimony and I told the members how impressed I was by them and by their testimonies. I really have never even seen that happen on the mission so far - I dont even think back home I ever saw that. I truly have seen how the excitement and the help of the members makes this work of the Lord run. I know we will see SO much success in this ward. Baptisms EVERY WEEK!! That´s our goal and we´re going to be working with these members so that we´ll be able to see that goal be put into place. I love the Hospitalet ward and I love you fam. And yes we had the baptism of Daniela this last saturday. She´s 10 years old, from Honduras. Her brother who got baptized like a month ago baptized her. Huge miracle. Bon día
Elder Reeves
The miracle I wanted to share actually comes from this last Sunday. I had heard a lot about the members and how incredible the ward is from Elder Middleton but in this last sacrament meeting I really saw the truth of it. As you know it was fast Sunday and I had wanted to get up to introduce myself to the ward and to share my testimony. Bishop Gilier, who was directing the meeting, finished baring his testimony, turned the time over to the members and as soon as he sat down, IMMEDIATELY about 15 members stood up and started making their way to the front!! As I sat there for a second thinking how crazy it was that so many members were getting up at the same time, I realized that if I didn´t get up right then I would have no time to bare my testimony! So I jumped up and got up to the front as fast as I could. I ended up being able to bare my testimony and I told the members how impressed I was by them and by their testimonies. I really have never even seen that happen on the mission so far - I dont even think back home I ever saw that. I truly have seen how the excitement and the help of the members makes this work of the Lord run. I know we will see SO much success in this ward. Baptisms EVERY WEEK!! That´s our goal and we´re going to be working with these members so that we´ll be able to see that goal be put into place. I love the Hospitalet ward and I love you fam. And yes we had the baptism of Daniela this last saturday. She´s 10 years old, from Honduras. Her brother who got baptized like a month ago baptized her. Huge miracle. Bon día
Elder Reeves
 |
| Daniela's Baptism |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)