Dearest Family,
How are you guys?! I hope that everything is going good. As for me, things are going really good! We had a really good week, one of the best of the mission for me! I wanted to start out with something that happened last Tuesday. Tuesday we were leaving the Distribution Center (which is on the temple grounds), heading out to Azua when we saw something really interesting. The temple was closed for cleaning, and they had scaffolding and everything up to clean the Angel Moroni, it was quite a sight. But what really impacted me, was when I saw a couple of men down by the temple with all of the chairs from the celestial room, you know those big comfy ones that couldn't possibly get dirty? Well one was hand sanding down all the wood, another was there with a paintbrush painting the white, and another with an even finer brush painting the gold accents. It was amazing to see the concentration and careful work that each of these men was doing. It also made me think about the things that are found within the temple--they are always perfect. If there is a problem, it is fixed right away. Even if something isn't visually damaged, proper maintenance work is done. I think it is really a lot like us. To enter the temple we need to be 100% ready. If there is a problem...we have to fix it to be worthy to be in the house of the Lord. If we need to "sand down our paint and put on a new coat", we need to do it! The temple is to help us improve, but we always need to be worthy to enter such a sacred place.
Cool experience #2. On Saturday a woman that Elder Chinchilla and I taught in our last Branch was baptized! It was awesome to have been able to participate in that, and to see her be baptized! The missionaries that are there asked us to go help them fill up the font, because the pump in their chapel burned up. So we took our buckets and headed over to fill up a font with buckets. When we got there, we decided to try and do some redneck engineering so that we could fill it up a little more efficiently than with buckets! Well a roll of duct tape and a few plastic bags later, we were ready to try it out. It was then that we decided to say a prayer asking our Father in Heaven to somehow allow our garden hose to accept the pressure of a huge water line. We then opened the valve and poof....somehow it stayed together! Some call it luck, others know it was a blessing from the Lord! Anyways, the font filled up just fine, and we took advantage of the time to clean the chapel.
We have quite a few investigators that are really progressing now! Marcial and Elena (Familia Guzman) continue progressing. His only doubt is that he was baptized in another church and doesn't think he needs another baptism, but we are helping him understand the importance of being baptized by someone who has authority. We are also teaching Cristobalina, an older woman whose husband was a member and died about 4 months ago. She says she feels a "power" when she reads the book of Mormon and is really excited about how she feels!
I got called out to give a talk yesterday. I'm getting pretty good at preparing talks on the spot, but keep that on the down low so that they don't think they can do that when I get home. Remember, the church is true! With the Lord we can do anything!
Hmmm, I think that's about it for now!!
I love you guys! I hope that you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Reeder
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Elder Riley Ted Reeder
La Iglesia De Jesucristo De Los Santos De Los Últimos Días
La Misión Santo Domingo Oeste, República Dominicana
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