Wow the little nieces and nephews have changed so much. Sorry I wasn´t able to talk for long with all of you. I would have loved to talk longer but i guess that´s the curse of huge families huh? Mom and dad, hope things are nice and hot in Mexico. Oh by the way, ask uncle Robert if he knows a couple named Angel y Maite Lizarralde. They were some of the first converts in Bilbao back in 77 and Angel is now the stake patriarch. They´re so good!! They said they met an Elder Reeves back in the day.
The miracle that I want to share was the incredible experience that we had today in concilio with President and Hna Pace, the ayudantes and the Zone Leaders. Because it´s the end of the year (we ended up with 484 in the year of 2012!!! Didn´t break 500 and didn´t reach our goal but really we feel so blessed for the year that we´ve had and the souls that we´ve helped come into the fold of God.) we were talking about this next year and what was going to happen: what was our goal for the year, how we were going to get there, what we need to focus on, etc. As we talked about the goal for the year of 2013, we went around the room, every zone leader giving their comment and their feeling to what the goal should be. 750 was talked about A LOT and we really were leaning towards it. I also felt good about it and thought of the vision that Pres has for the mission of 1000 baptisms. I talked about how it would be good for us to be able to catch the rhythm this year and hit 750 and set us up for next year to hit the 1000. Then, the turn came to Elder Archibald to talk. He´s the new ayudante that replaced me that has more faith than any other missionary that I´ve ever met. He´s incredible. He sat there for a second and then with tears in his eyes said, "President, when you announced your vision of 1000 baptisms in this last conference, I knew we could reach it. And I know that THIS year we can hit 1,000 baptisms." There was silence in the room for a little bit and the Spirit was so strong. After Elder Archibald, other missionaries began to talk about their personal experiences and the excitement they had when Pres Pace announced his 1000 vision. It became very real to us that the Lord wanted us to set the goal for 1000 baptisms. It was something that everyone could feel and it made me really know that we are in a hastening, that the Lord NEEDS His work to go forth and that He is preparing people with His angels all over. I´m so grateful for the faith of President Pace and for the faith of Elder Archibald. I had lost my focus on the vision thinking that this year we could work hard and then next year accomplish the goal... But why wait??? If Heavenly Father needs His children saved and entering into his path right now, there´s no time to waste. I know that we´re going to reach 1000 baptisms at the end of this year of 2013 and I thank my Heavenly Father for giving me the opportunity to participate in this second harvest of souls here in Spain. We are going to see miracles.
We talked about some things that we can focus on this year to be able to accomplish this goal and some more revelation that President Pace received was that the whole mission needs to do the 12 week program for new missionaries again in every companionship. There are about 15 visa waiters in other missions right now and with the change of the age of missionaries there´s going to be an explosion of new missionaries in our mission and every single missionary is going to need to train. We´re going to become even more dedicated preach my gospel missionaries and be able to help more people receive testimonies of the restored gospel and want to be baptized.
Seriously, I cant tell you how excited I am for this new goal. It´s going to take a lot of faith and a lot of hard work. We´re litterally going to have to become missionaries that we´ve never been before and do things that have never been done before. But nothing is too hard for the Lord.
Family I love you all. It was soooo good to see all of you and talk for a little bit. I know Heavenly Father has so much in store for me, Elder Prieto and for the wonderful people of Bilbao. Pray for us. Pray for our goal. And pray for the people that God is preparing so that they may be able to recognize the spirit and have the desires to change and dedicate their lives to God and His gospel.
Agur (i think that´s how you spell goodbye in Euskera. Sounds like "ahguhr"),
Elder Reeves
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Barelona week 25 - Elizabeth´s miracle of a conversion
Fam,
Dont have a lot to say because we´ll be talking tomorrow. I´ve got some surprise news for you all... You´ll find out tommorrow!!
But i just wanted to share the whole story of Elizabeth and the huge miracle that she was. Elder Cerqueira and I had just gone through a series of finding a lot of prepared people, setting fechas, and then falling through. We were a little discouraged and didn´t really understand why things turned out that way, but we kept working hard and trying to fulfill our responsibilities as ayudantes and as servants of the Lord. A little while later, the Hermanas in Barrio 1 came to us and said, "Elders we have an investigator that showed up to church and she lives in your area. She told us she wants to be baptized!" We met her and had a visit with her a couple of days later. We were super excited but a little afraid because she was in a difficult situation. She´s 21 years old with a 3 year old daughter that was taken away from her and her boyfriend because they couldn´t provide for her. She had just broken up with her boyfriend but was still living in the same room as him. She wasn´t working and couldn´t move out of the piso because it´s the only support she had and she couldn´t afford living outside of the piso because her ex boyfriend and his family helped pay for rent. The government told her that she needed to stay in a stable place to be able to get her daughter back. We had set a baptismal date for the 15th of December but knew it would be a little hard to keep her progressing because of her situation and because we were going to be travelling a lot for Zone Conferences. As we were out of her area, we tried to call her and follow up as much as we could with her reading and her prayers. Members also helped her and invited her over to their house and everything. During those weeks her ex boyfriend moved out of the room, she slowly was stopping smoking, and was always reading and praying. When we got back from Zone Conferences on the 13th, she called us and asked, "am i still getting baptized on the 15th?" Because we still had to teach her a lot, we reset the fecha for the 22nd. We taught her the rest of the lessons and she stopped smoking. She accepted and committed to keep all the commandments. The members continued to grow to reach out and love her. This last Saturday she asked me to baptized her. Elder Cerqueira confirmed her yesterday. Such a huge miracle and blessing. I know this is the Lord´s work and that His angels are preparing and helping people to accept the gospel and be baptized. And eventually go to the temple one day. I love missionary work.
See you all tomorrow! Love you
Elder Reeves
Dont have a lot to say because we´ll be talking tomorrow. I´ve got some surprise news for you all... You´ll find out tommorrow!!
But i just wanted to share the whole story of Elizabeth and the huge miracle that she was. Elder Cerqueira and I had just gone through a series of finding a lot of prepared people, setting fechas, and then falling through. We were a little discouraged and didn´t really understand why things turned out that way, but we kept working hard and trying to fulfill our responsibilities as ayudantes and as servants of the Lord. A little while later, the Hermanas in Barrio 1 came to us and said, "Elders we have an investigator that showed up to church and she lives in your area. She told us she wants to be baptized!" We met her and had a visit with her a couple of days later. We were super excited but a little afraid because she was in a difficult situation. She´s 21 years old with a 3 year old daughter that was taken away from her and her boyfriend because they couldn´t provide for her. She had just broken up with her boyfriend but was still living in the same room as him. She wasn´t working and couldn´t move out of the piso because it´s the only support she had and she couldn´t afford living outside of the piso because her ex boyfriend and his family helped pay for rent. The government told her that she needed to stay in a stable place to be able to get her daughter back. We had set a baptismal date for the 15th of December but knew it would be a little hard to keep her progressing because of her situation and because we were going to be travelling a lot for Zone Conferences. As we were out of her area, we tried to call her and follow up as much as we could with her reading and her prayers. Members also helped her and invited her over to their house and everything. During those weeks her ex boyfriend moved out of the room, she slowly was stopping smoking, and was always reading and praying. When we got back from Zone Conferences on the 13th, she called us and asked, "am i still getting baptized on the 15th?" Because we still had to teach her a lot, we reset the fecha for the 22nd. We taught her the rest of the lessons and she stopped smoking. She accepted and committed to keep all the commandments. The members continued to grow to reach out and love her. This last Saturday she asked me to baptized her. Elder Cerqueira confirmed her yesterday. Such a huge miracle and blessing. I know this is the Lord´s work and that His angels are preparing and helping people to accept the gospel and be baptized. And eventually go to the temple one day. I love missionary work.
See you all tomorrow! Love you
Elder Reeves
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Barcelona week 24 - Elizabeth and the Book of Mormon
FAMILIA,
Well for everyone i wont be able to see on Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope you have a wonderful time together and that you remember the real purpose of celebrating Christmas. Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. Let us all give Him gifts this next year by giving Him our hearts and dedicating ourselves even more to Him. I love Jesus Christ and i love his gospel.
Allyson, sorry in the last email i just kind of freaked out and didn´t say CONGRATULATIONS!!! I really am excited for you. Even though i wont be there I wish you the best and hope that everything goes super well with the wedding. Tell Tim welcome to the fam.
As far as Skype goes, I think that we´ll be calling around 8:00 PM our time which would be 1:00 PM your time? is that right? or maybe 12:00 PM.... I cant remember the time difference. But it will be on the 25th. Could someone send me there account info with the password and i could just get on that account and call from it? That would be the easiest i think. If not then i´ll find a different one.The miracle that i want to write about is about Elizabeth. She´s not in the best situation because she´s still in the same piso with her ex boyfriend and other people but because they have a 3 year old daughter that is in a care center for little children, she has to stay in a stable place so that the government can give her her daughter back. If she moved out of the piso she wouldn´t be able to pay for rent because she isn´t working. Pretty complicated but she plans on getting her daughter back and then being able to move out. The miracle is that despite all these problems in her life, she´s been able to stop smoking, live the law of chastity and make all the necessary changes to be able to be baptized. She tells us that every time she has the desire to smoke, she just feels bad and she doesnt want to smoke anymore. Elder Cerqueira and I feel like it´s because of the power of the Book of Mormon. She´s now at the end of 2 Nephi and loves reading. She feels more calm and happier every time she reads it. It´s her way of getting her mind off of her problems. It´s incredible to see the power of the Book of Mormon work in her life. She´s going to be having her baptism interview tonight and her baptism is this weekend. She´s had some more problems come up during this week because satan knows the blessings she´s going to receive but we´re praying that she´ll be able to overcome them and make this step so important in her life.
Pray for Elizabeth.
Love you all like crazy. See you soon!
Elder Reeves
Well for everyone i wont be able to see on Christmas, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! Hope you have a wonderful time together and that you remember the real purpose of celebrating Christmas. Christ is our Savior and our Redeemer. Let us all give Him gifts this next year by giving Him our hearts and dedicating ourselves even more to Him. I love Jesus Christ and i love his gospel.
Allyson, sorry in the last email i just kind of freaked out and didn´t say CONGRATULATIONS!!! I really am excited for you. Even though i wont be there I wish you the best and hope that everything goes super well with the wedding. Tell Tim welcome to the fam.
As far as Skype goes, I think that we´ll be calling around 8:00 PM our time which would be 1:00 PM your time? is that right? or maybe 12:00 PM.... I cant remember the time difference. But it will be on the 25th. Could someone send me there account info with the password and i could just get on that account and call from it? That would be the easiest i think. If not then i´ll find a different one.The miracle that i want to write about is about Elizabeth. She´s not in the best situation because she´s still in the same piso with her ex boyfriend and other people but because they have a 3 year old daughter that is in a care center for little children, she has to stay in a stable place so that the government can give her her daughter back. If she moved out of the piso she wouldn´t be able to pay for rent because she isn´t working. Pretty complicated but she plans on getting her daughter back and then being able to move out. The miracle is that despite all these problems in her life, she´s been able to stop smoking, live the law of chastity and make all the necessary changes to be able to be baptized. She tells us that every time she has the desire to smoke, she just feels bad and she doesnt want to smoke anymore. Elder Cerqueira and I feel like it´s because of the power of the Book of Mormon. She´s now at the end of 2 Nephi and loves reading. She feels more calm and happier every time she reads it. It´s her way of getting her mind off of her problems. It´s incredible to see the power of the Book of Mormon work in her life. She´s going to be having her baptism interview tonight and her baptism is this weekend. She´s had some more problems come up during this week because satan knows the blessings she´s going to receive but we´re praying that she´ll be able to overcome them and make this step so important in her life.
Pray for Elizabeth.
Love you all like crazy. See you soon!
Elder Reeves
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Barcelona week 23 - My time in Barcelona continues
Hey fam,
Yes, Carrie and fam i got your little package. Thanks so much!!! Loved it. I gave Elder Cerqueira some of the fruit leather and he wasn´t too fond of it haha those portuguese dont know what´s good for them. Mom and dad, I talked to President Pace and I gave him your letter about me extending and it´s official! I´m extending for 2 more weeks!!! I´m super excited. It´s not very much time but i know the Lord is preparing something for those extra weeks.
Allyson.... WHAT!?? You´ll have to save some wedding cake for me. It´s weird having one of my closest sisters get married and move on in life. So many people are getting married right now, it´s freaking me out. Family, Friends, returned missionaries...Well today we just finished transfer meetings and sent out the new transfers. The miracle this week is that I´m staying as Ayudante! My 5th transfer! and 4th with Elder Cerqueira!! Haha I seriously am so grateful for the chance to stay and learn more from President and Sister Pace. I know there´s still something the Lord needs me to do in my area and for the mission. I´ve been praying hard that Heavenly Father will help me become even more the missionary that He needs me to be. Every day I find so many ways I can improve and I try to repent and become more consecrated. I love it. Dont have too much more time to write but i´ll give you a brief update on the area. A couple of our investigators haven´t been able to progress too much because we´ve been gone but we still have Elizabeth, the one who is living with her ex boyfriend. We taught her about the law of chastity and the importance of living it, before and after baptism. The next day we called her and she said that she had read the pamphlet and she understands how important it is. She still wants to be baptized on the 22nd. She really has been being prepared and taken care of by angels. We´ve been out of our area, but the other missionaries on the other side haven´t. We´re praying that everything goes through and that she´ll be baptized without problems.
Love you all like crazy. I´m praying for you all the time. Thanks for your support and your emails. The church is true
Elder Reeves
Yes, Carrie and fam i got your little package. Thanks so much!!! Loved it. I gave Elder Cerqueira some of the fruit leather and he wasn´t too fond of it haha those portuguese dont know what´s good for them. Mom and dad, I talked to President Pace and I gave him your letter about me extending and it´s official! I´m extending for 2 more weeks!!! I´m super excited. It´s not very much time but i know the Lord is preparing something for those extra weeks.
Allyson.... WHAT!?? You´ll have to save some wedding cake for me. It´s weird having one of my closest sisters get married and move on in life. So many people are getting married right now, it´s freaking me out. Family, Friends, returned missionaries...Well today we just finished transfer meetings and sent out the new transfers. The miracle this week is that I´m staying as Ayudante! My 5th transfer! and 4th with Elder Cerqueira!! Haha I seriously am so grateful for the chance to stay and learn more from President and Sister Pace. I know there´s still something the Lord needs me to do in my area and for the mission. I´ve been praying hard that Heavenly Father will help me become even more the missionary that He needs me to be. Every day I find so many ways I can improve and I try to repent and become more consecrated. I love it. Dont have too much more time to write but i´ll give you a brief update on the area. A couple of our investigators haven´t been able to progress too much because we´ve been gone but we still have Elizabeth, the one who is living with her ex boyfriend. We taught her about the law of chastity and the importance of living it, before and after baptism. The next day we called her and she said that she had read the pamphlet and she understands how important it is. She still wants to be baptized on the 22nd. She really has been being prepared and taken care of by angels. We´ve been out of our area, but the other missionaries on the other side haven´t. We´re praying that everything goes through and that she´ll be baptized without problems.
Love you all like crazy. I´m praying for you all the time. Thanks for your support and your emails. The church is true
Elder Reeves
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Barcelona week 22 - The plan of salvation is real
Hello fam,
I got the package!! Thanks so much mom and dad for sending that. It was way too complicated but it worked out in the end. I was almost positive they had already sent it back to the states. I´ll wait to open everything for christmas. As for my release date mom.... not the biggest fan of thinking about it but yeah i´ll be finishing up the 12th of june. I can talk to Pres Pace tonight as we drive up to Lleida to see what he thinks. As for me, I would love to be able to have you and dad see my mission and visit some people. It wouldnt have to be a long trip but i would love to do so. I had also thought that maybe it would be possible to have me come back on the 12th and then come back 2 weeks later with you and dad when youre done with your things for relief society? It´s something that a lot of missionaries have done to come back and visit with their families. But i´d also love extending for 2 weeks as well. What ever works the best will be fine.
Well this week and next week and the week after that are probably the busiest weeks that i´ve had so far as ayudante. This week we started Zone conferences and have already taught at Valencia, Barcelona and Hospitalet. Im getting this email sent off really quick before we head up to Lleida tonight. It´s our zone conference for the month of december mixed with our Christmas conference. it´s SUPER good. So we´ll be in Lleida for tomorrow, then on Saturday, i´m going up to Bilbao to be with the Zone leaders up there while E. Cerqueira stays in Lleida with the zone leaders and then he´ll come up Sunday night to Bilbao and we´ll have the zone conference in Bilbao on Monday. Monday night we drive back to Barc and Tuesday and Wednesday we have transfer meetings, which will basically take up both those days. Then Wednesday night we fly to Palma to finish off in the Islands on Thursday next week. Finally we´ll get home on thursday night and have the weekend to be in our area a little bit, but then it starts up again on monday and tuesday when we spend the whole day doing things for the missionaries going home and the news coming in. This is my 4th transfer as ayudante so we´ll see what happens. I´m pretty positive i´m staying for another. President seems like he wants me to be here until the new year. Which is totally fine, I know the Lord still has things for me to do in this area.
Also just wanted to add my testimony about Emily now that we´ve past the 7 year mark. It´s been an incredible experience being with the Lopez family in my ward during these last couple of weeks. I´m not sure if anyone remembers, but i wrote about 2 months ago about a member named Nuria who had cancer? Anyways, she passed away on December 1st. Her husband, Enrique, is completely active and the 1st counselor in the bishopric. They have 2 daughters Miriam, 21 i think, and Marta, 15. Both daughters are inactive. Well Miriam has been super interested in coming back to church this last month of her mother´s life. We started visiting them regularly every week and teaching them basically as if Miriam was an investigator. She´s been coming to church for like the last 5 weeks and we were able to visit them 2 days before Nuria passed away. At the funeral on December 2nd, as i talked to Miriam, i told her about how it was a special day for me as well because it was the day Emily had passed away. I bore her my testimony that the plan of salvation is real and that her mom and Emily are alive and happy. She asked us if we could come back to teach her more about the plan of salvation. We went on tuesday and taught her and her boyfriend about the Spirit world and about the 3 kingdoms. As I testified of life after death, I knew - just as sure as I know that I, myself, am alive - that Emily and Nuria are alive. That they are with our loved ones, James, grandparents, others, and that they continue in their eternal progression towards eternal life in the celestial kingdom. I have no doubt of the truthfulness of the gospel. I have felt Emily´s presence and her help in the work. Everything has been prepared and made possible because our Savior, Jesus Christ came to the world and overcame the world. We are made free through Him. Free from physical and spiritual death. I love the gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I love Emily. I love my family.
Elder Reeves
I got the package!! Thanks so much mom and dad for sending that. It was way too complicated but it worked out in the end. I was almost positive they had already sent it back to the states. I´ll wait to open everything for christmas. As for my release date mom.... not the biggest fan of thinking about it but yeah i´ll be finishing up the 12th of june. I can talk to Pres Pace tonight as we drive up to Lleida to see what he thinks. As for me, I would love to be able to have you and dad see my mission and visit some people. It wouldnt have to be a long trip but i would love to do so. I had also thought that maybe it would be possible to have me come back on the 12th and then come back 2 weeks later with you and dad when youre done with your things for relief society? It´s something that a lot of missionaries have done to come back and visit with their families. But i´d also love extending for 2 weeks as well. What ever works the best will be fine.
Well this week and next week and the week after that are probably the busiest weeks that i´ve had so far as ayudante. This week we started Zone conferences and have already taught at Valencia, Barcelona and Hospitalet. Im getting this email sent off really quick before we head up to Lleida tonight. It´s our zone conference for the month of december mixed with our Christmas conference. it´s SUPER good. So we´ll be in Lleida for tomorrow, then on Saturday, i´m going up to Bilbao to be with the Zone leaders up there while E. Cerqueira stays in Lleida with the zone leaders and then he´ll come up Sunday night to Bilbao and we´ll have the zone conference in Bilbao on Monday. Monday night we drive back to Barc and Tuesday and Wednesday we have transfer meetings, which will basically take up both those days. Then Wednesday night we fly to Palma to finish off in the Islands on Thursday next week. Finally we´ll get home on thursday night and have the weekend to be in our area a little bit, but then it starts up again on monday and tuesday when we spend the whole day doing things for the missionaries going home and the news coming in. This is my 4th transfer as ayudante so we´ll see what happens. I´m pretty positive i´m staying for another. President seems like he wants me to be here until the new year. Which is totally fine, I know the Lord still has things for me to do in this area.
Also just wanted to add my testimony about Emily now that we´ve past the 7 year mark. It´s been an incredible experience being with the Lopez family in my ward during these last couple of weeks. I´m not sure if anyone remembers, but i wrote about 2 months ago about a member named Nuria who had cancer? Anyways, she passed away on December 1st. Her husband, Enrique, is completely active and the 1st counselor in the bishopric. They have 2 daughters Miriam, 21 i think, and Marta, 15. Both daughters are inactive. Well Miriam has been super interested in coming back to church this last month of her mother´s life. We started visiting them regularly every week and teaching them basically as if Miriam was an investigator. She´s been coming to church for like the last 5 weeks and we were able to visit them 2 days before Nuria passed away. At the funeral on December 2nd, as i talked to Miriam, i told her about how it was a special day for me as well because it was the day Emily had passed away. I bore her my testimony that the plan of salvation is real and that her mom and Emily are alive and happy. She asked us if we could come back to teach her more about the plan of salvation. We went on tuesday and taught her and her boyfriend about the Spirit world and about the 3 kingdoms. As I testified of life after death, I knew - just as sure as I know that I, myself, am alive - that Emily and Nuria are alive. That they are with our loved ones, James, grandparents, others, and that they continue in their eternal progression towards eternal life in the celestial kingdom. I have no doubt of the truthfulness of the gospel. I have felt Emily´s presence and her help in the work. Everything has been prepared and made possible because our Savior, Jesus Christ came to the world and overcame the world. We are made free through Him. Free from physical and spiritual death. I love the gospel. I love Jesus Christ. I love Emily. I love my family.
Elder Reeves
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