Monday, September 19, 2011

Three Months!

          Yes, it's official.  I have been a missionary for 3 Months.  Is that crazy to anyone but me?  I feel like it was just yesterday that I was leaving, and at the same time I feel like it was a hundred years ago.  It's kind of a weird situation that I don't know how to describe.
          We had a really great week.  We are starting to see tons of success.  We had 10 investigators in church this week.  We have a baptism this week and 7 other people with ¨fechas¨.  We will see how that all turns out.  I´m praying they will do their part to make it possible.
          This week we had an awesome experience with a family we are teaching.  The parents' names are Santo y Flor.  Santo was telling us how back in May he was praying one day so hard that he would know what the Lord wanted him to do.  That day, the missionaries knocked on his door, and they have been teaching him ever since.  He has a such a strong testimony, but he has to work on Sundays so he can't go to church very often.  We have been praying that there would be a way so that he could go to church.  We read to him from First Nephi where it talks about the Lord not giving a commandment to man without providing a way.  Well, the Lord provided a way.  Last week Santo got a new boss, and he can now go to church.  He and his wife will be getting married this Saturday, and then they will be baptized on the 8th (because of General Conference).  He will be such a strong priesthood holder, which is what the Church needs in this country.
          Lots of our investigators have been having crazy events in their lives; job loss, deaths, other major events.  I know that the Lord is testing/humbling/preparing them.  It is hard to see them so devastated, but to every challenge, the Gospel has a solution.  Everything we feel, our Savior has felt.  Everything.  Alma Chapter 7, verses 11 and 12 are some of my favorites.  The Lord felt every single thing we have felt.  Not just the pains and sickness, but the everyday things of life.  He can help us.  He will help us.  When we have a hard day, when we have challenges, when things are downright hard, even when things are the very best, we still need Him.  He will help us through everything.  He has promised that to us.
          One sentence I keep finding over and over again in the Book of Mormon is, if you keep my commandments, you will prosper in the land, and if you don't....well, you know the rest.  All the Lord asks us to do is keep His commandants; and if we do, He promises blessings greater than we can imagine.  All of the commandments help us in the first place, plus we get blessings.  It's the best deal I´ve ever heard of.  I pray that we will all do our part, so that the Lord can do His.  That's my kind of spiritual thought for the week.
          Our ward is awesome.  We have so much member support.  We have been working really hard to get the support of the ward, and we now have it.  The whole bishopric is going to a few visits with us this week, and missionary work is on the minds of the members with the increased success we have had.  Challenge for ya´all.  Read Preach My Gospel.  It's amazing for everyone.  Every single person.  There are things everyone can apply.  I have learned so much from that book, and I testify that it is inspired.  This week we found an inactive member that we are working with.  She is so awesome!  She always cooks us food and invites us over, she just won't really open up as to why she left the Church.  I´ll give you an update on that next week.  We have a noche de hogar tonight with the Bishop´s family and Michael and his family.  I am super excited for it.
          The work is good.  The amoeba is still gone.  And yeah, I´m doing good!  Thanks for the support, as always!  I´m praying for you all everyday!  The Church is true.  The Book of Mormon is the most amazing book ever.  I don't know if the new Ensign is the same as the Liahona--only about the Book of Mormon; but if it is, I hope you all read it!  I have read it 3 times now and keep learning awesome things!

Love you all,

Elder Reeder

P. S.  
 
I will have to take more pictures of the apartment later, I don't really have one right now, so that will have to wait till next week!  The Pepto Bismal was for the amoeba before we knew it was an amoeba.  The fridge is the safe haven from the ants, so if we want something to not be covered in ants, it goes in the fridge!  Basically just Kola Real-aka the best drink in the world.  Snacks here are weird, we don't eat many snacks, just biscochitos!  They are like little cupcake things that we buy at the colmados for like 5 pesos!  They are super yummy.  
 
Water--these water truck things drive around and we have them fill up a five gallon water bottle thing we have, because obviously tap water isn't safe.  It's not Hyde Park water, but it quenches the thirst!  
 
Music is kinda a touchy subject right now.  I had to send in my iPod to the office, because........well, as soon as we got to the field, us newbies found out that music--all shapes and sizes--has been banned in this mission for about 3 years.   So......we don't have music.  Super frustrating, right?  That's the kinda stuff you gotta tell missionaries before they spend money on that stuff!  So for right now....I couldn't listen to it.  Word on the street is we might get music back at the start of next year, but we will see I guess!  That's been a really hard thing for me that I haven't told you about.  ha ha.  No music!!!!  AHHHHHH!  
 
Thanks for sending those things, thanks so much!  IT really means a lot, and yes, the mission office address is the only place to send anything!  Including mail!  All other addresses are useless (another bit of information that would have been nice).  Could you tell people that they can only send stuff that way?  You can't send mail to my house--because there isn't a mail system like that--and we don't have an address!  ha ha  Just something funny about the DR.  


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