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
Monday, June 24, 2013
Monday, June 17, 2013
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
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
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
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
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
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
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
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
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