Bilbao week 27 - I rode the last rollercoaster in Bilbao

Family,

Alright im just going to jump into this whirlwind of a story and let all of you know the biggest miracles that have happened in my mission so far... This is going to be going all over the place because there are so many little details so just hold onto your seats for a little bit.
It all started this last Sunday (16th) when i was praying right before going to bed and i was thinking about what God was wanting me to do in the last full week of my mission. I really wasn´t even thinking too much about baptisms but just what God expected of me the last week and then a thought came into my head "Teresa".
Quick side note: Teresa is the mom of Zulema (17 years old) that should have been baptized with her son Gabriel (12 years old) when Zulema got baptized last month. They didn´t get baptized because the ex husband was against the idea and said that if they got baptized he would never visit them again and he would stop help paying for rent and for food. We were pretty bummed about it but felt good that they could be baptized in the future. They´ve been coming to church for the last weeks but we´ve had terrible communication with them and had only visited them maybe 2 times within 3 weeks and they were the worst visits ever because the family has been going through some really hard times.
Alright now back to Sunday the 16th. So after that thought came to my mind i knew we had to go visit Teresa and her family. The next morning the 17th i looked at our agenda and we had visits all in the afternoon after preparation day and there werent any open hours to visit Teresa. As we went through the day, we called the people we had set up visits with and one of them cancelled on us. When they cancelled, i looked at Elder Pearson and said, "we have to visit Teresa". We called them and she answered excited to talk to us and said that we could come over that night. Elder Pearson and i talked for a litte bit about what we wanted to share with them and we decided that we were just going to focus the whole lesson on baptism. We got there to there house and they were happy to see us and be together. Teresa told us that the weekend before (friday andsaturday the 14th and 15th) she had gone with her kids to a couple of church activities that the members had invited her to. This was a huge miracle because on saturday it was a stake activity and everyone was going to Vitoria but she didnt have the money to go. She had called her ex husband and explained to him that she wanted to go, so he put some more money in her bank account just so she could go with Zulema. Big change of heart from the dad who before didnt want anything to do with the church. As we then taught about baptism, Teresa expressed her desire to be baptized but that she was afraid, this time not because of the ex husband, but because she was afraid to not be able to keep the commandments after baptism. We talked about how nobody is perfect even after baptism and we promised her that God would help her. We left the house with a visit set for the next day and the invitation for her and Gabriel to pray about baptism and what God wanted them to do.
Tuesday the 18th. We called the Bishop and asked him to come to the visit and he was happy to come. We told the Bishop about Teresa´s desire to be baptized and that we were going to try to set a date for them. After singing and praying to start the lesson, we immediately asked them how they felt when the prayed about baptism. Both of them said that they felt like it was what God wanted them to do but Teresa was still afraid of messing up after baptism. The bishop just took control and told her that it was okay, we just try to do our best but that she needed the blessings of baptism in her life right now. It was a powerful testimony and the spirit was strong. We then invited them to be baptized for that weekend the 22nd. Teresa said, "THIS weekend??" pause..... "vale!" (okay) We were so excited and were amazed at the changes that had taken place and that God had guided us to them and to help them be baptized that weekend.
Wednesday the 19th. Everything was good and everyone was happy. We stopped by Teresa´s house in the morning and had planned to teach about the word of wisdom and tithing because we felt like those were 2 things that were the hardest for her. When we got there, we felt like we needed to make sure everything was alright with Gabriel getting baptized without the permission of his father. Instead of going over the word of wisdom and tithing we just talked about how it would be good for Gabriel to call his dad and ask for permission or at least let him know that he was getting baptized. We had to leave really fast because we were going to do an exchange with the Vitoria Elders and we had to catch a bus. So we left her without going over the commandments but told her to read over the interview questions with Gabriel so that they would be ready. We were just praying that everything would be alright for the interview.
Thursday the 20th. We had to travel the whole day because Elder Pearson and i had to get back together after the exchange and we had some other baptismal interviews that we had to do in the Zone, one in Vitoria and the other in Logroño. We got back to Bilbao at about 7:30 but we still didnt have time to visit Teresa because we had to set up the chapel for the Zone conference that we were going to have the next day. So we just called Teresa to make sure that everything was alright and it seemed like it was so we told her, "ok we´ll see you tomorrow for the interview!"
Friday the 21st. We went with our district leader Elder Thimmig and his comp Elder Frederich to go do the interview for Teresa and Gabriel. Teresa started and everything sounded like it was going well in the other room. But as Elder Thimmig got to the tithing question, she wasnt willing to pay it. She had thought that it was okay to not pay tithing until you had enough to pay it. She was worried about her econimic situation and that she wouldnt be able to pay for the house and for food and take care of her 2 kids. She came out of the interview furious finding out that she couldnt be baptized the next day. We sat down with her and talked about tithing and she wouldnt have it. She said that God understood her situation and that she didnt need to pay it until she got a better job. She didnt even stay in the room for the last prayer she was so mad that she just walked out of the room. We finished with a prayer with Zulema and Gabriel and were devestated.
Saturday the 22nd. We didnt even think about calling Teresa because we knew that she needed her space and we didnt want her to feel like she was being pressured. We had invited her to another activity that we were having that night in the church but of course she didnt show up and neither did Zulema or Gabriel. I thought i was never going to see her again.
Sunday the 23rd. Teresa and Gabriel didnt show up to church. Normal. Zulema miraculously showed up like 20 minutes late. She didnt talk to us though. We shook her hand and she just went to her classes. But, here´s where the miracles started happening again. Some members found out about what happened and they decided that they were going to call Teresa and invite her to another activity of collecting old clothes for the poor that was going to happen that night at 6 in the church. We had no idea that the members had called her and invited her. We went to the activity because we had a lot of left clothes in our piso that we were going to donate. Right before going out to the activity, Elder Pearson brought up the idea that we should fast just for Teresa and Gabriel. We started the fast and then headed out to the church. When we got there, there was Teresa helping out with all the clothes. We were shocked. We went up to her and started talking to her. She seemed a little happier but we could tell that she was still upset about not being baptized so we didnt bring it up. After the activity, Bishop decided to drive some women of the ward home to their separate houses. Teresa went with them as well. Of course our Bishop being the amazing man that he is, talked to Teresa while in the car and explained to her the need of her paying her tithing and being baptized (we had no idea this was all happening by the way). At about 8:00 the bishop called us and said, "Elders, i need you to call your district leader and tell him that we need a baptismal interview for a baptism that we´ll be having on tuesday at 8:00. Im here with Teresa and she´s accepted to pay tithing." I was speechless and didnt know what to say to the Bishop. I just kind of laughed and said are you kidding me? He said that he was serious and that she and Gabriel needed to be interviewed again so that they could be baptized before i left this wednesday to Barcelona.
Today. We had the baptismal interviews this morning and they´re all ready to go to be baptized tomorrow at 8:00. It all happened because the members and the Bishop stepped in and took over. Biggest miracles that i´ve seen in my mission.

Love you family. Dad, mom, Jon and Leah, i´ll see you soon.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 26 - Fasting and Prayer

Buenos días familia,

We have been contacting a lot and finding through our own efforts for the last couple of weeks and this week things just started falling into place. But i think it´s all coming together right now because of the prayers that we´ve been doing in the morning at 10:00 and because of fasting. We started to pray as a mission at 10:00 every morning to pray for 1000 new investigators in this month of June. And Elder Pearson loves fasting. There´s been times when we´ve gotten to visits after eating at mediodía and the investigator will offer us food and drinks and i´ll say, "yeah i´d love some!" Then i turn to my companion and he says "no thanks, im ok." and i realize that he´s fasting again. Well i decided that it´s not fair for my companion that he´s fasting and im not supporting him in those fasts so these last 2 weeks we´ve done a couple of fasts together and miracles have started to happen. We´ve found a new family and other people who are prepared and willing to listen to the gospel. It´s incredible.
I´m pretty sad because the new family that we had found a couple of weeks ago, Melina and her daughters Yoselin, Candi, and Ainoah, have been really hard to get in contact with. Ever since the dad Victor arrived, they started working a lot and it´s been impossible to visit them. They were going to come to an activity this last friday in the church but ended up not showing up. It´s that fine line that we have to play to try to be persistant but not overbearing. I´m praying a lot that this week we´ll be able to get things going again.
One of the new investigators that we found this week is Shiva from Nepal! (it´s crazy how many different people we teach from different countries) He was a contact on the street and has been brought up Hindu. He´s been here in Spain for the last 5 years and speaks really good spanish. For the last couple of months he started going to an Evangelical church and looking for God. Since there arent very many Hindus here, he´s started being more open and looking for answers. We taught him for the first time yesterday and he´s so good, so humble and just willing to learn. He understands a little bit about Jesus Christ but not much, so it was a little hard and different teaching him. He doesnt understand exactly what baptism is but he knows that if he gets baptized that he´s telling God that he wants to follow him. So we set a fecha and told him that we´re going to help him to find out if God is really there and how he can follow God in his life. He accepted and is excited to learn. We have a couple of visits set up for this week so we´ll see how it goes.
Love you all. Happy fathers day to all the fathers in the family. Dad, i´ve written you a personal email.
Elder Reeves

Here´s some pics of the last concilio

Bilbao week 25 - Opening our mouths

Jon and Leah moving to London eh?? Sounds awesome. You´ll have to visit my good friend Sam Middleton. We lived together for 3 transfers here on the mission. He´s been home for almost a year now. He´s been fighting a lot of the anti mormon stuff that´s been going on there because of the Book of Mormon plays on broadway. I dont know if its still blowing up right now but a couple of months ago he said it was pretty bad.
Well the sun has finally come out in Bilbao!! We were wearing our winter coats until about a week ago. The temperature is finally going up and Bilbao is greener than ever.
A lot of miracles have been happening in the last couple of days just from opening our mouths to people. First off, Freddy got baptized. Freddy is a huge miracle man that we contacted in the street about a month and a half ago. He was there with his wife and his two little kids. They lived in the sisters area so we passed their info to them and they started teaching them. Now the dad, Freddy just got baptized this last weekend. It always feels good to know that even though its not one of your personal baptisms, that you were able to help another child of God enter into his pathway. They are from Argentina. The mom and the kids moved to Mallorca to work for a month but they´ll be coming back soon and the mom hopefully will be baptized when they get back. Another miracle was a mom that we passed while we were crossing a street who was pushing a stroller and walking with her older daughter at her side. We were already at the other side of the street when of course my companion followed the spirit and said, we have to go talk to that family. We went back across the street and talked to them. The daughter, Alejandra, who´s 17 years old was baptized when she was 9 back in Bolivia but stopped going to church because they moved here to spain. She was baptized with her grandma and 2 of her cousins. Her mom, Marisol, never was baptized. We got their info and set up a day to visit them for another day. Yesterday we went to their house and visited them. Marisol was really excited and loved having us over. Alejandra remembered a little bit about what the missionaries had taught her but not a lot. We taught them a lot about how we can become eternal families through the restored church of Jesus Christ. Marisol didnt except a fecha right then but she said that she wants to be baptized. The dad was working at the time but we´re hoping to be able to meet with him soon and get him going as well. We´ve been finding other prepared people as well just from opening our mouths and talking to the whole world.
Melina and her family were´nt able to come to church this last sunday so they dont have the fecha to be baptized anymore. We´ve been trying to visit them but it´s been a little hard because the dad Victor just got back from Bolivia and they´ve been pretty busy with that and work. We´re hoping that we´ll be able to pass by for a little bit tonight and meet Victor and get them back on date to be baptized. Keep praying for them.
Teresa, Zulema, and Gabriel are going through some hard times as well so keep them in your prayers. Thanks for all of your support and your love. Love you all
Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 24 - Being taught by trials

Kaixo mi familia,

Theres a nice mix of Vasco with some Español for you all. Kaixo means hello. I only know like 5 words in Vasco. It´s a crazy language!! They only speak it in the lost little towns around Bilbao. Every once in a while you´ll hear someone in the metro or in the street speaking it.
This last week our district leader in district meeting taught us about trials of our faith and how sometimes we should pray for trials so that we can learn whatever God wants us to learn and to become His children that He wants us to be. Well right after we did that, the week became one of those trials. Haha everything we had set up, all the new people we were finding and talking to, etc, everything fell through. It was awesome. But i loved it because i knew that the Lord was just giving us another chance to grow and to become stronger. We did still have miracles happen during the week though. One of them is a new family that we´ve found. A couple of weeks ago we found an old teaching record in the area book that was back from 2005. It was a small Bolivian family (the parents and 2 little daughters) that had been taught only twice. For a couple of weeks we were trying to set up visits with them but it just wasnt working out so we ended up passing by their house one day. When we got there, only the oldest 14 year old daughter Yoselin (who in the teaching record used to be 7 years old) was there at home. She let us into the building and we went up and taught her a quick lesson through the door because we didnt have another man with us to go in. We set up another time to come by hoping that we would be able to get in contact with her mom and teach the whole family together. When we called the mom a couple of days later, she said, "My daughter Yoselin said that you stopped by and she´s been reading the pamphlet that you gave her and she´s been praying every day! I´ve never seen her like this!! We'd love to have you over!" It was 2 sundays ago that we had this first visit with the whole family and they all accepted the invitation to be baptized. This last week we taught them a couple of times and they came to church for the first time this sunday. They´re progressing so well. The mom´s name is Melina, their old daughter Yoselin, the next 12 year old daughter Candy, and the youngest 7 year old daughter named Ainoah. Another miracle is that the dad, Victor, is in Bolivia right now but he gets back this week. So we´re hoping and praying that he gets here ready to accept the gospel and can be baptized with his family. I know it´s not a coincidence that i´m staying another 2 weeks in the mission. When i found out that i was going to extend, i felt strongly that there was another family that i had to find for those last couple of weeks. Well, i think we´ve found them. Pray for them and for the dad that they all can be baptized this month.
So yesterday we just had the last concilio that i´m ever going to go to as a zone leader. We´ll probably be going to the next concilio in July when you´re here mom, dad, jon and leah. It was a really great meeting though. President had us 3 zone leaders that are going home (me, Elder Kane, and Elder Tirado) get up and bear our testimonies and to share what we´ve learned while we´ve been on the mission. I was doing good and got about half way through my testimony and then i started talking about how each missionary just needs to fall in love with the mission in every way. Then it just hit me and the tears came flying out. haha im not a big cryer but sometimes it hits me hard. But i realized how much i truly love the mission and the people here in Spain. I really cant put in words how much i´ve learned on the mission. I´m going to miss it. But i´ve still got this whole month left so im going to go out fighting.
Love you familia. Thanks for your examples and your love.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 23 - Teaching while we serve

Kelons mom got baptized!!??? Oh man that really just almost made me cry reading about the baptism. That makes me so happy for him and his family. Me and Kelon are good friends and i always regret not hanging out with him more before the mission. But i´m sure we´ll have plenty more chances. Tell him i love him and i´m praying for him. Seems like yesterday we were in the MTC together.
Happy birthday to all those who have had birthdays or who are going to have them!! Sorry im the worst with remembering dates. Hopefully i´ll be better after the mission.
Yeah it was sad to hear about Sister Monson. They announced it in church a week ago and i had no idea that she wasnt doing well. I remember always seeing her in a wheel chair but i didnt know. I´m sure it was hard for President Monson but i bet he still feels very close to her. Its always comforting to think when im going through hard times on the mission that Emily is there on the other side working with me.
Thanks dad for your email about the temple and about the restored priesthood keys and authority restored to the earth. One of my favorite things to testify about as a missionary is that we literally have been given this power and authority from God and we are authorized to work in His name. Its something that no other churches can testify about. President Pace taught me that we should never be afraid or shy to say that we are representatives of Jesus Christ.
This last week we did an intercambio with the elders from Vitoria. I was with Elder Miller. We had a great intercambio and had fun working hard. Just at the end of the second day, on wednesday night, we got out of our visit a little early at about 9:30. We were about 10 minutes from piso so we had 20 minutes left to use in our area. Elder Miller asked me, "well what should we do for these last 20 minutes?" The thought came to me that we needed to pass by a contact again that we were going to visit earlier that day but then wasnt home when we passed by. I wasnt sure if that was the best way to use our time but i felt like there could be something that comes out of it. So we started walking towards the street where this contact lived. As we turned the corner and started heading up the street, we saw a couple walking with their 2 kids. As i looked at the dad, i immediately recognized that Elder Pearson and I had contacted this same family about 2 months ago! When we met them 2 months ago, we had set up a visit to meet with them but the dad, Alvaro, (he later told us) had lost his phone and we weren´t able to get in contact with them. As Elder Miller and I talked to them, they told us that they were making preparations so move pisos and live in a new home up the street. We asked if we could help them and set up to meet with them Saturday morning and help them move. We called the Elders quorum president and he came to help saturday morning with a small truck. As we helped with the move, we put a Book of Mormon on the dashboard right on the passengers side where Alvaro was going to sit. As we were driving to the new house, he picked it up and starting looking through it. We were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and a little bit about the restoration. He told us that about 10 years ago, he went to our church and the missionaries taught him a couple of times but then he stopped going and started getting into bad things. We were able to testify of the Book of Mormon and "teach" as we did service. It was great. We´re going to help them again this saturday with some more stuff and once we finish with all the move Alvaro told us, "i want you to come and teach our family." It was a huge miracle that we were able to find them again and i know it wasn´t a coincidence that the spirit had prompted us to go back to that street.

Love you all family. The church is true

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 22 - Elder Teixeira

Buenos días mi familia,

Just want to say thanks to everyone for letting me be focused and not have to worry about anything at home for these last couple of weeks. It really helps a lot. Yesterday at church, Kevin who just got baptized was there passing the sacrament! Man i was so happy. We gave him a new tie on saturdayand taught him how to tie it. He was so excited. Teresa and Gabriel didnt come to church yesterday which kind of scared us. We called Teresa and she said that everything was ok she was just not having a good day. So we´re praying hard for them so that they can be baptized soon.
Yes mom and dad the conference with Elder and Sister Teixeira was a mission wide thing. It was their mission tour for this year which was super weird because this was my 3rd mission tour that i´ve seen since i´ve been on the mission. Most missionaries only have 2 on their missions. But i would have to say that this conference was my favorite. Everything that was said i felt like was directed completely towards me. Elder Teixeira first talked about one of his companions Elder McCoy when he became a zone leader. He said that Elder McCoy was in his last transfer and was the most obedient and hard working missionary he had ever meet. Elder Teixeira said that it didnt matter what they were doing, Elder McCoy always had his foot out the door at exactly 10:00 and talked to everyone in his sight. He worked so hard that when it was the day for him to start packing his bags and go to the mission home, Elder Teixeira wasnt sure how to stop him because he was just going non stop talking to everyone and preaching the gospel. Finally Elder Teixeira looked at him and said, "Elder McCoy, I´m sorry to say this but dont you think it´s time for us to go back home and pack your bags?" Elder McCoy looked at him and then looked at his watch and said, "yeah, I guess youre right. Lets go home." On the bus back to their piso, he was just in complete silence realizing that it was time. Elder McCoy went home having worked his guts out and giving it everything he had. It made me really reflect on my mission and what I´m doing in these last weeks. I realized that there are a lot of moments when I´m not going my absolute hardest and when i need to repent and dedicate myself even more. I thought a lot about Elder Pearson and if i was being the same example for him as Elder McCoy was for Elder Teixeira. Elder Teixeira said something that really hit me hard. It´s a quote that I now have up on my wall next to where i study to motivate me every day. He said, "Elder McCoy had such an impact on me that i knew exactly what kind of missionary i wanted to be. I told myself, 'The LEAST you can do is FINISH like Elder McCoy.'" I´m going to do everything i can each day to be able to say at the end that "I finished like Elder McCoy".
Alright, enough of that trunky talk. But thought you all would like that story. Elder Teixeira then talked a lot about getting referrals from everybody. From members, less actives, recent converts, and investigators. He gave us a really effective way to ask for referrals which is just simply telling the people you are visiting that you want to pray for some of their family members or friends and you ask them for the names of those people who are passing through hard times. Then after you pray, to INVOLVE the member, investigator, or whoever it is, to meet and teach those people who you prayed for. It was so good. Elder Pearson and I have been trying it and we´ve been getting a lot of referrals. Most of them have been for other missions but some of them have been for our area. Elder Teixeira promised that if we did this, withing a transfer our areas would completely turn around. It was perfect because I have exactly 6 weeks to see this work its magic.
Sister Teixeira was soooo good too!! She had me come up and do an example of how we need to continuously give our investigators and converts "spiritual" water. She had me cup my hands together, stand over a basket of flowers and try to hold all the water in my hands as she poured it in. As hard as i tried, the water kept leaking out. I dont know maybe i just have really weak hands. It was pretty funny though because she said, "Dont let the water fall through! I would hate to have to tell your mother that you weren´t successful the next time i see her!" (they say hi by the way, mom and dad). Then they took a picture with Elder Pearson and I after the conference. They´ll probably be sending it to your email dad, if they havent already.
Anyways. Everythings good up here in beautiful Bilbao. It still rains almost every day and it feels like we´re still in winter. Hopefully by the time you all get here it will be good summer weather. Bilbao is impossible to predict. Love you all so much. Stay strong always in the gospel. Especially in the little things. The blessings are always there waiting for us.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 21 - Baptism of Zulema, Sofia and Kevin

Mom and dad it was great to talk to you yesterday. A little different this time from the other times but it was still really fun. Sorry i wasnt able to talk to the rest of you but we´ll be seeing each other soon.
We had a great baptism this last weekend. I just wanted to write some of the story about Zulema, Sofia and Kevin. About 2 months ago, we saw a guy in the street that seemed like he was kind of lost. We went up to him and started talking to him. His name was Oscar and he gave us his info really easily and said we could pass by his house another day. It almost seemed like one of those contacts who just quickly gives you fake info so that we just go away but it turned out to be the right address and the right number! We went to teach him a couple of days later and met his family, Noemi his wife, and his kids Sofia (15 years old) and Kevin (13 years old). Sofia and Kevin were really shy and didnt say much in the lessons but Noemi LOVED everything we taught. After the first couple of lessons they finally agreed to set a date for baptism. Noemi was the most excited and was reading every day in the Book of Mormon. Sofia and Kevin were reading because Noemi was telling them to read but they still werent very excited about everything. While teaching them, we met their cousins Zulema (17 years old) and Gabriel (12 years old) and their aunt Teresa (Oscar´s sister). We started teaching their family as well and all of them started progressing. Zulema caught on really quick and loved coming to church and reading in the Book of Mormon. As we kept teaching these 2 families, we found out some pretty sad news. 1. Oscar and Noemi werent married and cant get baptized until they do get married. Noemi was heart broken when we told her that she couldnt get baptized. Oscar wasnt too excited about the idea about getting married and just kept pushing it to the side. And 2. Teresa worked every weekend and couldnt come to church. But then, miracles started happening. Teresa gave up her work and came to church with her kids. Sofia and Kevin still werent excited about baptism and we found out that they hadn´t been praying at all. We kept inviting them to pray to know if they should be baptized but they still werent doing it. So we decided to invite their whole family to have family prayers every day, in hopes that Sofia and Kevin would soon catch on and start praying. About a week later, Kevin was ready and excited to be baptized. Teresa, Zulema and Gabriel were also excited and wanting to be baptized. This last sunday (the 5th) we announced their baptism for this saturday (11th) of all 5 of them: Teresa, Zulema, Gabriel, Sofia and Kevin. After hearing the announcement in church, Sofia was NOT happy because she still wasnt feeling prepared for baptism. We told her that she didnt need to be baptized but all we were inviting her to do was to pray and ask God if she should be baptized on that weekend. The next day, she prayed. She felt and knew that she needed to be baptized. Elder Pearson and I felt so blessed and knew that God was answering all of our prayers and the prayers of our investigators. We went throughout the week making preparations for the baptisms and then went to Teresa´s house on Friday to have the interviews of all 5 of them. As we got to her house, everyone was happy and smiling as we were getting ready to do the interviews. Then out of nowhere, the unthinkable happened. Teresa said, "Gabriel and i wont be getting baptized this weekend. Im so sorry" The whole room went silent and Elder Pearson and I didnt know what to say. At first we thought she was joking because she loves to make jokes but then by the look on her face we realized she was being completely serious. We asked her what had happened and what was stopping her from being baptized the next day. She kind of avoided our questions and wasnt answering or telling us why they werent getting baptized. We testified to them of all the miracles that they had seen and the spirit that they had felt. We invited them at least to have the baptismal interview and to see how they felt. Teresa refused to have her interview and Gabriel said ok. But after his interview he still said that he didnt feel ready. Zulema, Sofia and Kevin passed their interviews and were all ready to go. After inviting Teresa and Gabriel to pray about what God wants them to do, we left the house a little confused and a little bit discouraged. We called Teresa again that night to talk to her more in private to see what was going on and she opened up a little bit more to us. She said that she had talked to her husband (who shes separated from) who lives in Barcelona and told him that she and the kids were going to be baptized. The husband was furious and said that if they got baptized that he would never talk to them or see them again. So Teresa made the decision that they werent going to get baptized but still allowed Zulema to make the step.
So it wasnt the baptism that we were hoping for this last weekend but it was still an incredible service. There were a lot of members there, especially the young men and women of the ward. They all sang a special musical number and the Spirit was super strong during the service. Zulema asked Elder Pearson to baptize her and Sofia and Kevin asked me to baptize them. It was a happy day. We're still going to be working with Teresa and Gabriel to see if we can get the permission of the father and we're still praying that Oscar has a change of heart and that him and Noemi can get married soon. I love these 2 families and i know satan is trying hard to stop them from being in Gods pathway but God is making miracles happen.
Love you all fam

Elder Reeves

No coffee??

I cant believe i'll be calling home again this week. It seems like i just talked to all of you a month ago. Sorry that not a lot of you will be able to be there but it makes it easier for me anyways. Its a little hard to talk to 20 different people within 40 minutes. But happy mothers day to all my sisters and sisters in law!! Where would we all be without our mothers? Definitely not on the earth because there would be no one to give birth. Love you all. Thanks for your examples and your love.The miracle we saw this week was more of the faith we saw from Teresa, the mom that's going to be baptized this week. We had taught them about the word of wisdom about a week and a half ago and they accepted it and said they were going to live it. Teresa told us that it would be hard for her to give up coffee but that she was willing to do it. This last week when we followed up on how giving up coffee was going, she said that she went one day without drinking it but then fell back into the temptation. She said that she had 2 bottles in her kitchen and that every time she saw it she just had the temptation to drink it. So we said "Thats alright. We'll take it out with us when we leave and throw it all away for you!" She kind of laughed thinking that we were joking at first but then realized that we were being serious. We told her that if she really wants to give it up that she has to get away from the temptation and that if she threw it out right then, then God would help her overcome it. She agreed and let us take the coffee with us as we left the visit and we went straight to the trash bin in the street and threw it out. The following visit we asked again how she was doing with not drinking coffee and she told us that after we left she found another bottle full of coffee but took it straight out and threw it out herself. Man, this woman is incredible. It seems like every time she makes a decision, Satan tries to tempt her some more to not be able to keep God's commandments but she always overcomes the temptation. I love her so much. Be praying for her and for her family so that all goes well with their baptism this weekend. We're going to go visit her tonight with the Bishop which will be really good for them.
Right now we have Teresa and her two kids Zulema and Gabriel who are preparing for this week, then we have Sofia and Kevin, their cousins who are also preparing for this week. Sofia is looking pretty iffy about being baptized this week but the rest are doing well. We're going to be working and praying hard to make sure all goes well this week. The week of a baptism is always the most stressful. Haha but i love it. It will be a great weekend.
So I had a little surprise from a visitor this last saturday. Elder Pearson and I were studying Saturday morning and our timbre rang (the doorbell from down below on the street). Elder Pearson got up to answer it and the guy said, "Hola, tengo un paquete para 'Elder'. Pero tienes que bajar y ayudarme con el paquete." We thought it was pretty normal because they always send us boxes of Books of mormon for our zone through the mail. We went downstairs and when we looked outside, there was no one in sight. I went out and looked to the right and there was......... Elder PERICLE!!!! My trainer!! Haha it was a huge surprise and his dad was there standing behing him filming the whole thing. They stayed here in Bilbao for the weekend just to visit Elder Pericles recent converts and some other members. It was so crazy. They came to church and i was able to catch up a little bit with Elder Pericle (well i guess he's Nick now). I'll send some pics. Love you all fam. Talk to you next week

Elder Reeves

PS the last picture is in front of the famous museum called the Guggenheim. You can see the famous bridge in the background too. (it was really bright that day)

Bilbao week 19 - Teresa's faith

Dear familia

So transfers are today......... and............. me and Elder Pearson are staying together!!!!! We're super excited because we're seeing miracles every day and i feel like God is just giving me the chance to focus everything for these last weeks and not stop. Not sure what's going to happen during the 2 extended weeks that i have but we'll see.
This week we saw a huge miracle with one of the families that we're working with: Teresa, Zulema and Gabriel. The kids have been progressing in these last couple of weeks and had a fecha to be baptized this last weekend but because they didnt feel prepared enough we had to push it back. The mom Teresa hasn't been able to progress very much because she was only working on weekends taking care of an old lady and was never able to come to church. Then this last monday we went to visit them and we asked her how her work was going. She said that she had had some problems the day before and the daughter of the lady that she works for called her and was complaining for what had happened (not sure exactly what it was). She threatened Teresa that she was going to lose her job if she didn´t do better. Then out of nowhere Teresa told her, "ok fine! Find someone else to work for your mother"! As Teresa told us this story she started to laugh and said that she doesnt know where that came from or why she said it to the daughter of this lady but she said it and the lady told her that she'd call her in a couple of days to let her know what was going to happen with the job. Teresa then said that she normally would be really worried because she might be losing her job (especially with the econimic problems that Spain is having right now) but that she felt totally at peace in that moment. She said that she felt like God was telling her that she needed to leave her job, to be with her kids on the weekends go to church with them. Elder Pearson and i just sat there in shock listening to this story and were amazed at her faith and her desire to go to church and keep God's commandments. We testified to her and promised her that as she does all that she can to come to church on Sundays that God will provide and take care of her family. Then the next visit we had with them on Wednesday, she said that the daughter of the lady she takes care of called her back and gave her the option of keeping the job and still working on the weekends. But Teresa told her no and that she would have to find somebody else. This last sunday, Teresa came to church with her kids for the first time and loved it! She felt the Spirit so strongly and started crying while she was in church. The 3 of them are now preparing to be baptized on the 11th. Miracle after miracle with this family. They've been so prepared by God and are progressing towards becoming an eternal family one day.
Miracles happen fam. God knows us and loves us. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 18 - 2 young men with a blue book

Hello family,

Well things are still moving a long here in Bilbao. Moving a long just a little too fast. Elder Pearson and I are seeing miracles every day and just loving being missionaries. A miracle about a week ago was when we saw a man running through the beautiful streets of Bilbao with nothing but a speedo and a País Vasco flag tied around his head. He looked like he had been running for days straight he was sweating so bad. Haha oh man you gotta love the Vasco pride here. Alright on to the real miracle. Just thought that some of you would enjoy that.
Yesterday Elder Prieto gave me a call (he said he had permission to do so haha) and he told me about what happened after the Hospitalet Stake conference yesterday in a recent convert meeting where they invited all of the recent converts of the stake to meet with the 70 that was there and with Pte and Hna Pace. He said that the visiting general authority gave some time to the converts to share their conversions stories. There was a lady that stood up in front of Elder Prieto and started telling her story and how she had come to know the church. She talked about how everything in her life was going bad and that she was in a really tough situation with a couple of her friends... i cant remember the details but she was having a hard time in her life. Then one day as she entered into the metro she saw two young men dressed in suits and white shirts and ties. One of them was holding a blue book in his hand and she wanted to go up to them and ask them what that blue book was. As she looked at them and thought about going up to talk to them, she got scared and didnt know how to just go up to them and ask them. Then before she knew it, one of the young men sat down at her side and the other one sat across from her. They started talking to her about prophets and about this blue book, the Book of Mormon. They gave her the book and told her that other missionaries would get in contact with her to teach her more. Later on, the other missionaries got in contact with her and taught her the gospel. She was baptized 3 weeks later. She said that the first two missionaries that talked to her in the metro was an American and a Mexican. As Elder Prieto listened to this story he realized that he was that Mexican missionary and that I was that American. He told me that when he realized that he just wanted to shout, "that was me and my companion!" After the meeting, Elder Prieto went up to her and shook her hand and asked, "do you remember me?" She then burst into tears and just sat there crying. She thanked Elder Prieto and asked where i was so that she could thank me as well. She talked about how her life had been changed and how she was able to overcome her problems and turn things around. I dont remember her name but i remember seeing her and knowing that we had to talk to her. We contacted her when we were in Barcelona for the zone leader counsel in February i think it was. I know the Spirit is real. That is a truth that has become more real to me in my mission more than anything else. That and that God loves His children. He knows and loves them and He provides the way for them to come back into His fold. This is His work and we can become instruments in His hands.

Noemi and her kids are doing well. The kids, Sofia and Kevin had the date to be baptized this weekend but they want to wait a little bit longer. As well as their cousins, Zuleima and Gabriel. So we're going to give them a little more time to prepare but we're positive that they'll be getting baptized here in May. They're such an incredible family. We just fall in love with them more every visit.

Love you all. The church is true.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 17 - Sarah's conversion

Buenos dias familia,

Hows it going?? Im glad to hear the news about Brittany and Greg and also the news that theres going to be a temple built in space! Haha Ally, not sure where that one came from. How are the scars doing Brett?

So 3 weeks ago on Sunday we got to church and found a recent convert Christopher with a friend that he had brought - Sarah. Shes from Nigeria and is 21 years old. We met with her and Christopher immediately after church and had a lesson 0 and talked about baptism. She told us that she had never been baptized before in any church. We invited her right then and she accepted the date for the 13th. We gave her a conversion plan and set up some more visits for that week and gave her the Book of Mormon. Later that week we met with her and she had read what we gave her to read and had written down all the questions that she had. We answered her questions and taught her about the restoration. She accepted everything and was excited to keep learning. The next visit we had with her, she had read the first couple of chapters in the BOM and was eating everything up. As we kept teaching her, she got more and more excited for her baptism. She kept reading every day in the BOM and praying. Because of that she gained a testimony of the restoration really quick and just loved everything about the gospel. She came to general conference this last week and loved it. There were a couple of doubts that she had with some of the commandments but we invited her to pray and to ask God. Thats what she did and she received her answers. Sarah is so humble and so willing to accept everything that God asks of her. Seeing Sarah progress so easily and so quickly made me think of the scripture in Mosiah 3:19 that when we become as a little child, we are willing to submit ourselves to the will of the Father. And thats all that matters. She asked the Bishop to baptize her and it was a great baptism this last Saturday.

Bilbao is such a special place. The ward and the members are the best. Last night we met with the bishop in his house and he just never ceases to amaze me with how much love he has for everyone in the ward and for all of the investigators and recent converts. Mom and dad youll definitely get the chance to meet him. He and his wife are incredible people. Reinel and Zuleima Gonzalez from Colombia. They had two handicapped children that only lived for a couple of years and both of them passed away from their sicknesses. Their testimony about the plan of salvation and about the restored church is amazing.

Noemi and her family are all doing well. The only problem is that Noemi and Oscar arent married... so the kids have dates to be baptized but we're going to have to work more with the parents. Pray for a miracle! I love the people here and i love the mission more every day. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 16 - General Conference weekend

Dear fam,
Wow i loved General Conference!! Still havent heard the sunday afternoon session because here in Spain it starts at 10 at night and ends at midnight so were never able to watch it. It scares me to know that this was my last conference in my mission. For the last 3 conferences in my mission, i´ve always just been looking for answers for the next 6 months of my mission... I went into this conference with a little different look on things but i can still testify that all my questions were answered. The miracle of conference is that that ALWAYS happens. Not just the questions that i have are answered but even the questions i didnt realize i had were answered. After every general conference my testimony is built that our leaders are called of God. That we truly have a living Prophet and 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ. I love it. It helps me have the peace and hope of a bright future because i know I'll always have Gods guidance and his direction through his living servants. I know that just as it was taught about in conference that true peace and happiness in this life comes through Jesus Christ and living his gospel. I love being able to be a servant and missionary of God to help others find this peace and happiness and come to their Savior Jesus Christ.
I was trying to think of same main themes that stood out to me in conference and the one that stood out to me the most is this: True peace in this ever changing world is found as we are obedient to the commandments and stand in the light of Christ. Mom you asked me what some of my favorite talks were and i really dont know what to say. Honestly i loved all of the talks but I really loved the talk by Pres. Uchtdorf about coming to the light of Christ and Pres. Monson's about Obedience. Elder Pearson and i felt that sometimes we dont emphasize enough about the pure truth and doctrine of obedience in our teachings to investigators. Obedience is everything. Its how we continue living by faith and showing our love to God. Ive gained a strong testimony about that in the mission that we only receive blessings when were obedient to Gods commandments.
I didnt see Carole M. Stephens talk? Mom does that mean your not talking in this next conference?
So a little bit about whats going on here in Bilbao right now. We'll be having a baptism this weekend of this Nigerian 22 year old girl named Sara! She was a referral from a recent convert Christopher who was baptized about 2 months ago. Shes never been baptized in any church before and she´s gained a huge testimony about baptism and the Book of Mormon in the last couple of weeks. She´s so excited to get baptized. What Pres Uchtdorf and Elder Dickson said about Nigerians and the African people is so true. Some of the most humble and God fearing people ive met in my whole mission and the faith that they have is incredible. I love them.
We're also working with a new family that we found from contacting the dad in the street. The dad, Oscar, is Bolivian (tons of Bolivians here in Bilbao, dad. I dont think theres anyone left in Bolivia anymore... theyre all here) and the mom, Noemi, is from Argentina. They have 2 kids, Sofia, 15 years old, and Kevin, 13 years old. They all came to church last week and came to conference yesterday except for the dad Oscar. Were going to have to work more with him. We're also starting to teach the sister of Oscar, Teresa and her 2 kids, Zuleima, 17 years old, and Gabriel, 12 years old. Theyre incredible families!! We invited them all to be baptized in the last visit and they all said yes but we werent able to set the date. Were sure that now that they came to conference were going to set the date in the next visit. The members have just been eating them up at church and they love it there. So be praying for all of these amazing people so that they can make the step of baptism and enter into the path of God!!
Thats so great that you got to meet the Pearsons mom and dad. Elder Pearson teaches me more and more every day. Hes got so much faith and helps me raise my vision even more. Our zone is going to be turning around and be seeing a lot of miracles in the next 2 months. I love each day being in the mission and it really helps when you have a companion that's even more committed than you are.
Well fam, life is good! It's good to be a child of God and feel of His love every day as we stay close to Him. Love you all.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 15 - Easter sunday

Hey fam,
A miracle that we saw this last week was that the Lord really has been blessing us with opportunities to invite someone to be baptized every day. We were blessed with finding new investigators and we were able to invite someone in a real visit every day this last week to be baptized. It´s been incredible how while we´ve been focusing all of our efforts on the baptismal invitation every day, I feel like i´ve been growing closer to my Savior. That is really why we are here as missionaries. To invite all to come unto Christ and follow him through baptism. I´ve always known that that´s what we´re here to do but it´s taken me a while to really understand it.
Eva, our fecha for the 20, is doing good except she just left to visit her family in Portugal for this week and maybe next week. We got her address and info in Portugal and sent the reference to the Portugal mission so that the missionaries there can help her get to general conference and also baptize her family there. We´re still able to call her so we can do some follow up while she´s not here, but we´re praying that everything goes well in Portugal and that she keeps continuing to read and pray so that she can be prepared to be baptized on her date.
This last Sunday we were able to celebrate Christ´s life that he gave for us and took up again. The only way we can use the power of his suffering and atonement in our lives is through living the Gospel. I am eternally grateful for that act of love and for preparing the way for all of God´s children to be able to return to live with Him again. I love being able to help my brothers and sisters have the opportunity to walk in that pathway and find the happiness and hope that we have. Just like dad testified, i know that Christ came to the earth. That he is our Savior and redeemer. It is through him that we find true joy and happiness. He lives and he and our Heavenly Father speak to us through their servants the prophets and apostles. Im so excited for this general conference to be spiritually fed and to find more answers and revelation directly from God.
Keep going strong fam. Sorry if these emails are gettin kind of boring but that´s all i got to write. haha love you all.

Elder Reeves

the first picture is the only one i have with Elder Pearson. He´s on my right side.
The second is the baptism of Luz Marina. Most incredible lady ever.

Bilbao week 14 - District meeting invitation

Hey familia,
Wow my new companion Elder Pearson is incredible. He´s such an obedient missionary and is so reliant on the Spirit that he is just a powerful missionary. He´s actually the nephew of President and Hna Pace haha his mom is the younger sister of Hna Pace so it´s pretty fun. I´m not sure if you know his parents mom and dad? His dad is in the Area Presidency in New Zealand. So yeah, you can get a pretty good sense of what kind of missionary he his. He´s bringing me back my old missionary spirit that i used to have earlier on in my mission. I´m loving it.
I´m so sorry to hear about Nick Sterling. He was a great kid. I didn´t know him too well but i had hung out with him a couple of times. I hope his family takes this trial as a time to grow closer to God and closer as a family. It´s such a blessing to have the gospel in our lives and know the plan he has for us.
In our district meeting this last week, Elder Thimmig, our new district leader, invited all of us to invite at least one person a day to be baptized. The first day, we invited a contact to be baptized but were´nt able to get his info. The next day, friday, we invited a man in a visit to be baptized who was a reference from a recent convert. He said yes, but he didn´t accept a date. Then on saturday, as we were praying and testifying right before going out to proselyte in the morning, we had the strong impression that there was somebody that day that was ready to accept the baptismal invitation and that we would set a fecha. As we went throughout the day, we only had one visit with Luz Marina, our recent convert, and nothing else. We went passing by old investigators and contacting people but we werent finding the right opportunity to invite someone to be baptized. The day was coming to an end and we were going to have one more visit with a less active lady, so i decided that we would have to invite another contact on the way home to be baptized after the visit. As we entered in to the less active´s home, out of nowhere there was another lady there who had just barely moved in with the MA. We met her and got her to agree to listen to our message. We did a lesson 0 and invited her to be baptized. She said yes and accepted the date to be baptized on the 20th of april!! We had to set the fecha for a little later because she´s going to be going back to Portugal for semana santa to be with her family in a week. Her name is Eva from Africa, but when she was little she moved to Portugal with her family. She speaks Portuguese, Spanish, English, and i think some other language. She is so humble and so willing to learn more about the restored gospel. She came to church yesterday with her little 3 year old daughter and loved it. It was a big testimony to me that God knows what our goals are and if we have the faith and our focused on helping people come to Him through baptism, He places people in our path.
Well dont have more to say except that time is going by way too quick. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 13 - New comp

Hello fam!!

Such good news to hear everythings going well with Brett and fam. You continue in my prayers. Everything here in Bilbao is amazing as always and today is actually TRANSFERS!! Good news... im staying!!! Elder Prieto left this morning to go to Martorell, a small city about an hour away from Barç. He´s going to be district leader down there in the Hospitalet zone! He´ll do great. My new companion is Elder Pearson!! He´s been out for about 10 months i think and is actually the nephew of Pte. and Hna Pace! Haha crazy huh? But he´s such a good missionary so i´m really excited to work with him. He´s been serving in Zaragoza as district leader so i´ll be training him how to be zone leader. He´ll be getting in tonight at 10. I´ll let you know a little bit more about him next week after i get to know him.
2 weeks ago we lost the fecha that we had set with Dora, Wber(16) and Mikel(11) (the wife and kids of a less active, also named Wber, that we´ve been teaching for the last couple of months) for this last weekend because they had said that they didn´t feel prepared and they wanted more time to learn more before baptism. The baptism of Luz Marina was going to be that weekend, the 9th, so we promised them that if they came to the baptism they would receive their answer that they need to be baptized. They got there a little late to the baptism but all 3 showed up! They were able to see Luz Marina get baptized and then bare her strong testimony of how she knew the church was true. Then after the baptism, Dora went up to her to congratulate her and she told her that she was also wanting to prepare for baptism. Luz Marina told her that it was the most happy moment of her life and that Dora and her family shouldn´t wait to be baptized. It was perfect. We had a Noche de Hogar with them and another family that sunday but for some reason it didn´t feel right to ask them about baptism right then. But last thursday we went to visit them again. They had read all of their reading assignments and kept all of their commitments. After talking about their reading, we asked them about the baptism of Luz Marina and how they felt seeing it. Dora said that when she saw how happy Luz Marina was, she had the same desire to be baptized. She said she felt like she was ready to be baptized and that she wanted to make the step. Just as we were about to invite her again to be baptized she said, "I dont want to be baptized until Wber and Mikel are ready to be baptized too. But Wber doesn´t feel prepared yet." We spent the next couple of minutes talking to Wber about how he can prepare better for baptism. In the end we weren´t able to set another date but the miracle was that Dora has now felt that need and truly wants to be baptized to follow Jesus Christ and change her life. We´re working with Wber so that he feels that answer that he needs to be baptized so that all 3 of them can enter into the pathway of God. The dad, Wber, is still pretty hard hearted and doesnt want to come back but we´re hoping that having all of them join the fold of God that they´ll all start progressing as a family. I love the spirit that is felt in baptisms and we´ve been able to see that it helps so much for other investigators to feel that they are prepared to make that same step.

Mom and dad, those plans sound good. I really have no preference as to how long we´re in each city or where we go just as long as we get to see the people that i want to see. Thanks for everything. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 12 - Luz Marina´s baptism

Hola mi familia,
Wow those are some nice battle scares, Brett. Hope everything has turned out well and that the recovery´s going good. Still praying for you and the fam every day. Thanks for your example and your always positive attitude.
The baptism of Luz Marina was incredible. I wanna share the whole story of her conversion. About a year ago, her daughter Angelica and her husband Alex were baptized with their son Daniel by Elder Pericle and Elder Johnson. They also started teaching Luz Marina at that time but she was pretty hard hearted and loved to argue about doctrines because she´s been a jehovas witness her whole life. So she didnt progress for a while. Then in November the missionaries started teaching her again. This time she was a little bit more open and she started to read in the Book of Mormon and come to know for herself. Elder Prieto and Elder Olson worked with her towards a baptismal date and she progressed well. She had the baptismal interview the week of her baptism and passed it easily. But then the day before her baptism (ihad forgotten about this part) she got sick and had to go to the hospital. Elder Prieto and Elder Olson tried to visit her and help her but she said it would be better that they didn´t come by. Then the week after that, her mom got really sick back in Colombia and was dying. So obviously Luz Marina had to go back to her country to be with her mom before she died. Being with her mom while she died i think was what really made her realize that there´s more to life and that God truly has a plan for us. She was gone for two months and then came back to Bilbao in February. We invited her to come to our baptism of Susana and John and she came! She loved it and we were able to meet with her right after the baptism. We talked to her about baptism and asked her if she wanted to keep preparing. She was pretty closed off to the idea but said she wanted to keep coming to church and keep investigating so we just left it at that. She came to church that sunday and we met with her the following saturday. We taught her the plan of salvation and focused a lot on the importance of baptism. As she felt the spirit and she came to realize that her mom still lives and that she can be with her again, she felt that need to be baptized. We set the fecha for the 9th of march. She kept coming to church, she read in the scriptures, in Jesus the Christ, and in the Liahona of the last general conference. As she continued to read and pray she gained a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that we have living prophets and apostles today. She came to know that this is the church of Jesus Christ, the only true church over the face of the earth. On saturday she was baptized and yesterday was confirmed. After her confirmation she said that she had never felt the Spirit so strongly before in her life. It was the happiest ive ever seen someone be after being baptized. She was so ready and so willing to do God´s will and enter into His pathway. It was a great baptism.
Dont have very much more time fam so gotta get going. Miracles happen.
Love you, Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 11 - Paola receives her answer

Familia,

I´m also praying and fasting for you Brett and for the whole family. Hope everything goes well this week. Keep me updated.
Well everything here in Bilbao is great as always. It was snowing a week ago and yesterday it got up to about 25 degrees celcius (not sure how much that is in farenheit but it felt great.) Here comes the springtime! Yesterday was also a huge miracle with our investigator Paola. She´s the friend of our recent convert Yara (youngest sister of the 3). We have been teaching Paola for about a month and a half now and before she had a date to be baptized. But because she wasn´t sure about it and we hadnt been focusing really on her needs instead of just teaching the lessons, she got scared off. We lost contact with her for about 2 weeks and then 2 sundays ago, she showed up to church with Yara. She loved church and we were super happy because it was the first time she came. We tried to visit her last week but it didnt work out. Then yesterday we called her before church and she said, "yes im coming! I´ll be there at 10" She came and loved it again. We met with her right after church for about 10 minutes and just talked about how she´s felt coming to church. She asked us, "what does it mean when i feel happy but at the same time i want to cry but i just feel so peaceful?" Seriously, it was a question almost too goot do be true. Just like Luz Marina that i talked about in the last email. We talked about the Spirit and how it teaches us the truth of all things. We then asked her, "so do you believe this is the church of Jesus Christ?" She said yes and that she had now received her answer. We set a date for her again for the 16th. Just another testimony to me that this is the Lord´s work. He is preparing the way so that all of His children get the chance to accept the gospel. We are in the "hastening" and the second harvest. Love it.
Luz Marina wasn´t able to go to church yesterday because she got sick but we´ve been fasting and praying with her so that everything goes well this week and that the baptism will be an incredible service. They announced the baptism yesterday in church and the whole ward is excited for her. Especially Alex and Angelica, her daughter and son in law.
The church is true. The Lord´s work continues pressing forward. Love life. Aguuuuuur

Elder Reevers

Bilbao week 10 - Luz Marina and the Plan of Salvation

Alright now i saw the pictures better. Thanks mom for sending those again. They look good!! Sorry Greg and Brittany i forgot to congratulate you last week. FELICIDADES!!! Seriously im so happy for both of you. Finally one of the brothers supports Mike in having kids haha. Hope everything goes well with the pregnancy. Im praying for both of you.
We had an incredible miracle with Luz Marina so im just going to jump into it. Luz Marina is from Colombia. Shes the mom of a recent convert Angelica (Elder Pericle and Elder Johnson baptized her last year with her husband Alex and their 8 year old son Daniel). Luz Marina was going to be baptized in November but ended up having to go back to Colombia the day before her baptism for an emergency to see her dying mother. She just got back from Colombia about 2 weeks ago after being with her mother when she died. We had a short with her 2 sundays ago after church and talked to her a little bit about Gods plan and to see if she wanted to keep preparing for baptism. She told us that she wasn´t sure but that she would keep coming to church and let us know if she wanted to start preparing for baptism again. We didn´t want to keep pressuring her, so we just left it at that. Then this last saturday, we had a visit with her, Angelica and Alex. Elder Prieto and I had planned to teach her the whole plan of salvation and focus a lot on the importance of baptism and becoming eternal families. When we started teaching about life after death and the spirit world, she stopped us and asked me, "Elder Reeves, I was talking to my mother the day before she died. As i talked to her, an overwhelming feeling of peace and calm came over me and I knew everything was going to be alright. Where did those feelings come from?" As she asked me that inspired question, I thought back to my experience when Emily passed away. I was able to testify to her that those feelings come from the Holy Ghost and that in times of need, it acts as the Comforter and gives us that peace and that hope that everything will be alright. I testified to her that her mom lives, that Emily lives, and that we will one day be able to be eternal families if we just follow the path that God has made for us. We then taught her about how after baptism we receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and we can have that constant companionship for the rest of our lives. Then out of nowhere she said, "I want to be baptized." WOW. It spirit was so strong and powerful. We set the date for the 9th of march. One of the biggest miracles Ive seen on my mission so far. I love the Spirit and I love the plan of salvation. I know God has a plan for each and every one of us. If the whole reason why I had to go through the trial of losing Emily was just to be able to testify to Luz Marina about the plan of salvation, it was worth it. My understanding and my testimony of Gods plan started that day in December of 2005. Its a testimony that can never be lost and will forever grow stronger.
The other family that we contacted that came to church called us the other day and said that they talked to their family in Madrid and they told them that everything about the church is wrong so now they dont want us to come over... huge bummer but pray for them so that they will be ready in the future. Everything else in life is great. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 9 - New families

Wow so many things are happening at home!! Mostly happy things, but i´m so sorry to hear what happened with Mckenna and Tanner. They will for sure be in my prayers. Keep me updated on how theyre doing. Dad congratulations again with your new calling. So amazing. AND ALLYSON AND TIM!!!! FELICIDADES!! The pictures turned out a little small and upsidedown but i still enjoyed them.
It´s weird because there´s some new missionaries coming into the mission and when they meet me they say, "hey i heard your mom talk in the MTC! She´s an incredible lady!" Good work mom. Thanks for all that you do. I pray for you a lot with how much you have to teach and talk. Love you.
We saw a lot of miracles this last week. The first one is that both Susansa and John got baptized!! The baptismal service was one of the best i´ve seen. We were able to do it with another family that was baptizing their 8 year old son, so almost the whole chaple was filled with people to see the baptism. A lot of non members were there. John ended up only being 8 years old as well but it was still an incredible experience to see this family come together and participate in this ordinance of the gospel. On sunday they weren´t able to come to church because their little daughter got sick and they live in a pueblo an hour away from the chapel. So they´ll be confirmed this sunday. Another miracle we saw was a family that we saw in the street this last saturday. As soon as we saw them, it was almost as if we didn´t have to follow the Spirit because we knew that we needed to talk to them and it was just so natural. It was a family of 5. The mom Marcia, the dad José, 12 year old son David, 10 year old son (dont remember his name) and their little daughter probably like 3 years old. We talked to them for about 3 minutes and testified of the restored church. We got their info and invited them to come to church the following day. They said yes! But we still werent convinced because there are so many people who tell us they´re coming to church and then they end up not coming, so we asked them if we could call them the following morning to make sure that they were still coming. They agreed and then left. The next morning at about 8:45 we called and Marcia answered and said, "I´m just waking up the kids and getting them ready! We´ll be there at 10." We were kinda shocked, first because it was the right phone number, and second because she said she was getting ready to come with the whole family!! But we still had little faith. When we got to church at 10, they werent there. We waited for a little bit but they still didn´t show up. We went out about 10 minutes later to call them and see if they were coming. We called and Marcia said "we just leaving piso! We´ll be there soon." The whole family arrived about 15 minutes later. It was such a huge miracle. They stayed for sacrament and the 2nd hour but then had to leave. We had a visit set with them yesterday but the parents ended up not being able to meet with us yesterday so were going to visit them later on this week. I know that there are prepared families who are searching for the gospel. We just need to open our mouths and preach the word.

Love you all family. You´re in my prayers.
Elder Reeves

Baptism of Yessica, Yexenia and Yara

Here´s some pics of the baptism! They´re the best!!

Bilbao week 8 - John out of nowhere

Congrats Krist on the wedding!! Hope everything goes great for you two. Now just one more wedding this week! Sorry i cant be there Ally and Tim. Enjoy the cake for me and send me lots of pics. What temple is it again? Salt Lake?
That´s crazy that you met President and Hna Hinckley mom! They´re incredible people. I learned a lot from them. I really have been blessed to have the best mission presidents anyone could have. Except for the missionaries that served in Riverside with mom and dad.
So we went to teach our investigator Susana this last Saturday who has been preparing to be baptized for this weekend the 16th. We had to teach her a couple of more commandments and everything went well, accepted everything like always. Pedro, the husband, is less-active and we knew that their oldest son, John, had never been baptized. We had planned to ask them about John after we taught the commandments and if he would like to be baptized with Susana this weekend because it would be so special for them if they could get baptized together. Before we could even ask, Pedro asks us, "my son can be baptized too, right?" We said yes and asked how old he was just to make sure that he was 8 years old and then Pedro says, "he´s 9 years old"!! We had no idea that he was 9. The whole time we´ve been teaching Susana we were thinking that he was 8 and so we hadn´t been focusing too much on him during the lessons. So now Susana wants John to be baptized with her this weekend! We´re going to teach them a couple more times this week before the baptism just to make sure John has learned everything. I know it´s not really important that he gets baptized now that he´s 9 instead of 8 (he really should have been baptized when he was 8) but it just made me gain a stronger testimony that really the Lord knows the goals that we set as missionaries and he wants us to accomplish those goals. He provides the way so that we can help His children enter into His pathway and start their progression towards eternal life. Pedro and Susana will be able to start their preparation for the temple and hopefully in a year be able to be sealed for all eternity as a family. I love the gospel. I know that God´s plan is for us to be together forever and I´m so grateful for that plan.
Miracles are happening everywhere here in Bilbao. Seriously i´ve never been happier as a missionary. I know this is the Lord´s work and I know he guides it. His Spirit is real and it can be a true guide in our lives if we are worthy of it and truly listen to its promptings. Love you all. Have a great week.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 6 - Giovanni makes the step

Hey family, dont have time because i wrote way too long to president.
So the miracle this week is something that actually didn´t happen in our area.... it happened back in Barrio 3 of Barcelona. Giovanni got BAPTIZED!!! I seriously was so excited when the ayudantes told be that he was preparing for baptism this last weekend. I dont know if you remember but he was the husband of the less active woman, Marianela, that Elder Keeler and I contacted in the metro back in August i think it was. He was truly a miracle and was so prepared since the very beginning. I´m not sure what Elder Cerqueira and Elder Archibald did but they helped him see that necessity to be baptized and he did it. It doesn´t matter that I wasn´t there for the baptism or that I wasn´t able to see him make that step in his life. What makes me happy is that he´s entered into the pathway of God. He is progressing in God´s plan of salvation. For me that´s the most incredible happiness that anyone can ever find. Like Alma the younger said his joy comes from seeing his brethren truly repent and come unto their Savior. I love it. And i love Giovanni.
Anyways love you all and hope you all have a great week. Thanks for your emails and prayers.

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 5 - the Franco Vargas sisters' baptism.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!!! How many is that now? Is the grey hair coming in? Thank mom and dad for reminding me that it´s your birthday... haha i´m sorry for everyone else if i´ve forgotten your birthdays. I think the only ones i remember are mom and dads, the twins and eric´s. It´s pretty pathetic.
Thanks for seding the email mom from Sister Clayton. It was really fun to talk to him. He told me that he had family in the Mueller Park area but I dont think he mentioned any names. The world is REALLY small in the church. That´s sweet that you got to go listen to Keller´s homecoming! You´ll have to give him a hug for me.
Anyways. Good news! Yessica, Yexenia and Yara all got baptized and confirmed!!! It was such an incredible moment to see 3 sisters enter into the path of God. It all came from a simple contact that Elder Prieto made as we walked in the door of a building to go visit a recent convert. Another man had walked into the building right before us and walked into the house of Yessica, Yexenia and Yara. As we walked in, we saw Yexenia with the door open and instead of going up the stairs to go visit the recent convert, Elder Prieto turned and walked straight up to Yexenia. We started talking to her and then Yessica came to the door and we met her. We set up a visit with both of them for the next day and gave them the restoration pamphlet. The next day i was on an intercambio in Burgos and Elder Prieto went to visit them with Elder Watkins. The sisters had read the whole pamphlet and loved it. They taught the restoration and set a fecha with the 3 of them. We kept visiting them, they kept reading in the Book of Mormon, praying and coming to church and really progressed super well. Our only worry was the word of wisdom because Yexenia loved coffee. We taught it and she didn´t understand why she had to give it up and she told us, "I dont think i can stop. I NEED to drink it" She said it without realizing that she really was addicted to it. We talked to her about how Heavenly Father wants us to be free from those addictions and she said, "wow, now i understand why i need to stop". So she stopped drinking that day. They started living all of the commandments and really felt and saw changes in their own lives. Their baptism was incredible. Yexenia asked me to baptize her and Elder Prieto baptized Yessica and Yara. It was a perfect day.
We´re trying to meet with their mom, Sol, so that she can start learning about the restored gospel but its hard because she´s still working a ton. She wasn´t even able to come to their baptism which was sad. But I know she´ll be able to be baptized one day and they will all be able to become an eternal family. An eternal BOLIVIAN family, dad. it´s too bad that they´re from Santa Cruz and not too big fans of Cochabamba. I´ll have to send you pictures another time because it´s not working here where i´m doing internet. Sorry
Life is good family. Remember that the greatest happiness comes from growing closer to our Savior and our Heavenly Father and making our will their´s. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 4 - Marriages left and right??

Val and Evan, just adding onto my list of people getting married and engaged while I´ve been gone! But seriously i´m super excited for both of you. Welcome to the fam Evan!! It´s good to know that i´ve got awesome in-laws. That includes you too, Tim. Hopefully i´ll be able to be at your wedding at least Valerie?? Haha if not it´s all good. I´ve been to quite a few in our family
Things are going well here in país vasco. We actually have some sun today! Probably the second time i´ve seen sun in the last week. Yesica and Yesenia came to church yesterday and are progressing well. We´re praying for them so that everything turns out good and that the baptisms go through. I wanna share the miracle of when we set a fecha with Susana. Susana is from Ecuador and is the wife of a less active named Pedro. He was baptized about 6 years ago i think and hasn´t been to active for the last couple of years. But he has a strong testimony of the gospel. We went to visit them on Saturday and we taught them the restoration. It wasn´t the most spiritual lesson because they have 3 little kids that were running around the whole time and going crazy. But as Susana listened you could tell that the Spirit was touching her heart. We invited her to be baptized and she said yes without hesitation. We set up her conversion plan and set the date for the 16th of february. At the end of the lesson we invited her to say the closing prayer. As she prayed, she thanked Heavenly Father for the chance that He is giving her to prepare for baptism and just started crying. She cried in silence for about a minute. We all stayed there kneeling as the Spirit testified to all in the room. It was so incredible. We invited both of them to church and she said she was coming for sure but Pedro wasn´t too sure. Yesterday, both of them showed up to church with the help of another member. They´re doing great. Tons of miracles are happening here in Bilbao. I love it. I love the people.

Well family im out again. Love you all. Try to not have any more weddings while im gone haha

Agur,
Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 3 - Singin in the rain with the 3 Y´s

Dearest fam,

Holy SNOW!! wow i cant even remember what that much snow is like. I´m just glad i´m not the one in the picture of dad snow blowing it all. Haha sorry dad that must have been miserable. but i guess you´ve done it enough times to know what it´s like.
By the way mom and dad, not sure if you know but my personal visa card just expired. I dont know what you have to do with the account or anything but just so you know it´s expired. I dont think you have to worry about sending me another card, i took out some money from the account before it expired and it should last me.
Well here in Bilbao we haven´t been seeing any snow but..... it RAINS like crazy here. Seriously it rains at least once a day. I had no idea it was this crazy. I´ve gone my whole mission without an umbrella and then getting here i need it every day. Luckily there was a saint hermana from our ward that gave Elder Prieto and I these small umbrellas that fit in our breif cases so we´re able to pull them out whenever it´s necessary. I guess that´s what you get when you live somewhere so green and beautiful. I think i finally understand what it must be like for Elder Marsden there in the rainy state of Washington. It´s great fun. it´s even raining right now as i type.
The miracle that we saw this last week happened yesterday. Yesica, Yesenia, and Yara all came to church!! We had planned to call them yesterday morning to remind them and then to go pick them up at their piso at 9:30. We called them and woke them up and everything was going perfect. Then as we walked out our piso to go pick them up, Yesica called us and said that their mom and just called them and told them that she wanted them to go somewhere with her for her work. We talked a little bit more about how important it is for them to keep God´s commandments and keep preparing themselves for their baptism. Their was a little bit of silence and then we asked if they could call their mom and explain to her the importance of them coming to church and Yesica said yes. We told her that we were still coming to pick them up and that we would be there in about 20 minutes. The whole way there I was just praying that everything would turn out alright and that the mom would be fine with them coming to church. When we rang their timbre of their house, Yesenia opened up the door and all 3 of them were ready to go! They all came and loved church. It was a huge miracle. They´re progressing so well for their baptism and their mom is fine with them getting baptized. We´ve only been able to talk to her once but she loves us. She told us that we could come over whenever we want and teach her daughters. The only problem is that she works so much that we never see her. We´re hoping that in the future we get the chance to teach her and help her be baptized as well.

Life is good family. Being a servant of Jesus Christ is the best. I love the ward. I love Bilbao. I love my comp. Love you all

Elder Reeves

Bilbao week 2 - Refined 2013 goal

Dear family,

So the day after sending my last email, President Pace sent us out an email to all the Zone Leaders and told us that he had a pretty sleepless night. He was praying a lot about the new goal of 1000 that we had just set. In the end he received the revelation that the Lord was pleased with the goal we had set but that we needed to focus more on a weekly basis than a yearly basis. So... the new goal for 2013 is 20 BAPTISMS per WEEK as a mission. As we baptize 20 a week, we will finish the year with 1000 baptisms. We still have the vision but we´re going to focus on hitting weekly goals and adding up to our vision of 1000. We had our zone training this last wednesday and everyone´s super excited about the new goal.
Well I´m falling more and more in love with Bilbao. We´re seeing a ton of miracles. This last week we walked into a building to go visit a recent convert and as we walked through the main door, there was another man that was walking into his piso. Elder Prieto said he had always wanted to knock that same door so we went up and starting talking to the girl that had opened the door for the man. Within a minute her sister came to the door. We presented ourselves really quickly and then set up a visit for the following day. The next day while I was on an intercambio in Burgos, Elder Prieto and Elder Watkins went and taught this Bolivian family (yes dad, they´re from Bolivia). The father works outside of Bilbao and only comes back every 2 months or so and the mom wasn´t able to be there for the visit. By the end of the visit, Yesica (19), Yesenia (18), and Yara (12) all had fechas for the 26th of this month. Yesenia and Yara came to church yesterday but Yesica wasn´t able to. We taught them yesterday after church and they´re progressing SUPER well. Yesenia asked us what she needs to do to become a missionary! Man, they were such a huge miracle. Tonight we´re going with them to a family home evening in the house of another member. Miracles!!
Alright, dont have much time to write but I´m doing great. Today for preparation day we went and saw some beautiful mountains here in the north. It´s crazy beautiful here. Love it.

Agur, Elder Reeves