life is good here! it snowed this morning but melted as it hit the ground, so it's not like the weather out there.
Sure love you all!
Love,
Elder Rees
Sunday, November 18, 2012
November 12, 2012
Hey everyone, so yep, it's official, I'll be spending my last 3 months training a new missionary! Prayers answered! I really do love the idea, i think it's going to force me to stay diligent and obedient, and not trunky. Well, i'm not yet sure where i'll be moving off to, but I'll let you all know next week. If you really did want to send any letters soon, you could mail them to the mission office and they can forward them off to where i'm going to be. or just wait a week.
life is good here! it snowed this morning but melted as it hit the ground, so it's not like the weather out there.
Sure love you all!
Love,
life is good here! it snowed this morning but melted as it hit the ground, so it's not like the weather out there.
Sure love you all!
Love,
October 22, 2012
Here's whats up. We are just starting week 4 out of 6 in this transfer cycle, which means we have transfers in the middle of November, just the week before thanksgiving. I'm very much anticipating a change in my assignment. I have been a zone leader for about 9 months and have just 2 remaining transfers after this one. That means I am a very big candidate to train a new missionary. We have several needs to swap out zone leaders because some of us are going home, and we need to absorb that blow sooner rather than later. I would love to return to being a trainer, and working a family ward again! I really do look forward to transfer calls to see what happens. But if I stay as a ZL, I'd like that too!
I'm still with Elder Wilson, He's interesting. He's very different from me, and a few times this transfer we've had to really push past some rough spots. Little things sort of got magnified, and we had to talk it out. That is for sure a skill I'll cherish when returning home. Pushing away the spirit of contention and really humbling ourselves, and talking about how we are really feeling. We have such different personalities and strengths, that we've decided on ways to best help our area, and each other. It was amazing to sit there and put up on a white board all the things that each other is best at, and devise out our roles together. We really do get along very well, but it's kind of a clash of the titans. But we really have been managing it very well i think.
As far as the area, we have so many progressing investigators! I love it! We have a woman in the Williamsport branch that is getting baptized Nov 3... She's amazing, but is doing this alone. A few days ago we gave her the heads up that things would be getting more difficult as her baptism got closer, and we were right, Satan is using her husband to really put negative pressure on their relationship. She felt that they were growing closer together, it's clear that the spirit is more in her life and she's feeling more love towards her husband, but he's pushing the church away, and is feeling more of the spirit of contention. She's really going to need that branch and the sisters there for support. She cried all through our stake conference this week, which was all about eternal families and preparing for the temple, and the joy that comes from living this gospel together. She couldn't hold them back. My heart aches for her and the trials before her baptism.
We have several other investigators that have baptismal dates, but are still awaiting, or having a hard time recognizing, spiritual confirmations. I so wish that we could have access to an I PAD and Mormon.org because we could show them all so many movies that really help the scriptures come to life, and bring the spirit. But it's so cool to see their conversion really happen!
We are starting to have all the leaves fall off... It's been amazing here to see all the leaves change colors and stay bright for a few weeks. The weather is turning colder, and we are now wearing our suit jackets most days, but the afternoons are very pleasant here. We will not have snow for a few more months, and I hope we just get rain until I leave... HA like that will happen. Well I think that's all the cool updates I can think of. I love you all and am sending my love from Indiana!
I'm still with Elder Wilson, He's interesting. He's very different from me, and a few times this transfer we've had to really push past some rough spots. Little things sort of got magnified, and we had to talk it out. That is for sure a skill I'll cherish when returning home. Pushing away the spirit of contention and really humbling ourselves, and talking about how we are really feeling. We have such different personalities and strengths, that we've decided on ways to best help our area, and each other. It was amazing to sit there and put up on a white board all the things that each other is best at, and devise out our roles together. We really do get along very well, but it's kind of a clash of the titans. But we really have been managing it very well i think.
As far as the area, we have so many progressing investigators! I love it! We have a woman in the Williamsport branch that is getting baptized Nov 3... She's amazing, but is doing this alone. A few days ago we gave her the heads up that things would be getting more difficult as her baptism got closer, and we were right, Satan is using her husband to really put negative pressure on their relationship. She felt that they were growing closer together, it's clear that the spirit is more in her life and she's feeling more love towards her husband, but he's pushing the church away, and is feeling more of the spirit of contention. She's really going to need that branch and the sisters there for support. She cried all through our stake conference this week, which was all about eternal families and preparing for the temple, and the joy that comes from living this gospel together. She couldn't hold them back. My heart aches for her and the trials before her baptism.
We have several other investigators that have baptismal dates, but are still awaiting, or having a hard time recognizing, spiritual confirmations. I so wish that we could have access to an I PAD and Mormon.org because we could show them all so many movies that really help the scriptures come to life, and bring the spirit. But it's so cool to see their conversion really happen!
We are starting to have all the leaves fall off... It's been amazing here to see all the leaves change colors and stay bright for a few weeks. The weather is turning colder, and we are now wearing our suit jackets most days, but the afternoons are very pleasant here. We will not have snow for a few more months, and I hope we just get rain until I leave... HA like that will happen. Well I think that's all the cool updates I can think of. I love you all and am sending my love from Indiana!
Saturday, October 27, 2012
October 15, 2012
Here's whats up. We are just starting week 4 out of 6 in this transfer cycle, which means we have transfers in the middle of November, just the week before thanksgiving. I'm very much anticipating a change in my assignment. I have been a zone leader for about 9 months and have just 2 remaining transfers after this one. That means I am a very big candidate to train a new missionary. We have several needs to swap out zone leaders because some of us are going home, and we need to absorb that blow sooner rather than later. I would love to return to being a trainer, and working a family ward again! I really do look forward to transfer calls to see what happens. But if I stay as a ZL, I'd like that too!
I'm still with Elder Wilson, He's interesting. He's very different from me, and a few times this transfer we've had to really push past some rough spots. Little things sort of got magnified, and we had to talk it out. That is for sure a skill I'll cherish when returning home. Pushing away the spirit of contention and really humbling ourselves, and talking about how we are really feeling. We have such different personalities and strengths, that we've decided on ways to best help our area, and each other. It was amazing to sit there and put up on a white board all the things that each other is best at, and devise out our roles together. We really do get along very well, but it's kind of a clash of the titans. But we really have been managing it very well i think.
As far as the area, we have so many progressing investigators! I love it! We have a woman in the Williamsport branch that is getting baptized Nov 3... She's amazing, but is doing this alone. A few days ago we gave her the heads up that things would be getting more difficult as her baptism got closer, and we were right, Satan is using her husband to really put negative pressure on their relationship. She felt that they were growing closer together, it's clear that the spirit is more in her life and she's feeling more love towards her husband, but he's pushing the church away, and is feeling more of the spirit of contention. She's really going to need that branch and the sisters there for support. She cried all through our stake conference this week, which was all about eternal families and preparing for the temple, and the joy that comes from living this gospel together. She couldn't hold them back. My heart aches for her and the trials before her baptism.
We have several other investigators that have baptismal dates, but are still awaiting, or having a hard time recognizing, spiritual confirmations. I so wish that we could have access to an I PAD and Mormon.org because we could show them all so many movies that really help the scriptures come to life, and bring the spirit. But it's so cool to see their conversion really happen!
We are starting to have all the leaves fall off... It's been amazing here to see all the leaves change colors and stay bright for a few weeks. The weather is turning colder, and we are now wearing our suit jackets most days, but the afternoons are very pleasant here. We will not have snow for a few more months, and I hope we just get rain until I leave... HA like that will happen. Well I think that's all the cool updates I can think of. I love you all and am sending my love from Indiana!
I'm still with Elder Wilson, He's interesting. He's very different from me, and a few times this transfer we've had to really push past some rough spots. Little things sort of got magnified, and we had to talk it out. That is for sure a skill I'll cherish when returning home. Pushing away the spirit of contention and really humbling ourselves, and talking about how we are really feeling. We have such different personalities and strengths, that we've decided on ways to best help our area, and each other. It was amazing to sit there and put up on a white board all the things that each other is best at, and devise out our roles together. We really do get along very well, but it's kind of a clash of the titans. But we really have been managing it very well i think.
As far as the area, we have so many progressing investigators! I love it! We have a woman in the Williamsport branch that is getting baptized Nov 3... She's amazing, but is doing this alone. A few days ago we gave her the heads up that things would be getting more difficult as her baptism got closer, and we were right, Satan is using her husband to really put negative pressure on their relationship. She felt that they were growing closer together, it's clear that the spirit is more in her life and she's feeling more love towards her husband, but he's pushing the church away, and is feeling more of the spirit of contention. She's really going to need that branch and the sisters there for support. She cried all through our stake conference this week, which was all about eternal families and preparing for the temple, and the joy that comes from living this gospel together. She couldn't hold them back. My heart aches for her and the trials before her baptism.
We have several other investigators that have baptismal dates, but are still awaiting, or having a hard time recognizing, spiritual confirmations. I so wish that we could have access to an I PAD and Mormon.org because we could show them all so many movies that really help the scriptures come to life, and bring the spirit. But it's so cool to see their conversion really happen!
We are starting to have all the leaves fall off... It's been amazing here to see all the leaves change colors and stay bright for a few weeks. The weather is turning colder, and we are now wearing our suit jackets most days, but the afternoons are very pleasant here. We will not have snow for a few more months, and I hope we just get rain until I leave... HA like that will happen. Well I think that's all the cool updates I can think of. I love you all and am sending my love from Indiana!
Monday, October 8, 2012
October 8, 2012
It's new..... ELDER WILSON!
Well I'm still in Lafayette, serving on Purdue Campus! It's been very fun so far, and the 3 months I've been here have really flown by. A few updates on the area, we have had 2 baptisms in my time here, and we are now setting up for 3 more. We have 1 that is very ready, and is just waiting on a confirmation about President Monson. 2 others that are waiting for more spiritual witnesses about the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. It's so neat to watch the spirit work with these wonderful people. I have really come to love them all! Elder Wilson and I were able to prepare a wonderful Zone Training meeting. It's a 3 hour meeting that we are in charge of and it's just for our zone. We unveiled a new "vision" for our zone, or a theme that will guide our next few months worth of work: "Why do I love them?" In all the things that we do, ask yourself that same question. Why do I love those kids in the back seat that are yelling and crying? Why do I love those kids in my school class that disrupt everything? Why do I love my Husband/Wife? It's put so much into perspective for me. I have been asking this question multiple times a day, as we study and plan, and teach. It's easy to find compliments, and begin to feel that genuine charity towards others. I encourage all to come up with, or apply this vision to their lives. It's been amazing!
Not much else... conference rocked! I hope we get new younger missionaries here! I'd be excited to see how they do!
Keep the faith!
Well I'm still in Lafayette, serving on Purdue Campus! It's been very fun so far, and the 3 months I've been here have really flown by. A few updates on the area, we have had 2 baptisms in my time here, and we are now setting up for 3 more. We have 1 that is very ready, and is just waiting on a confirmation about President Monson. 2 others that are waiting for more spiritual witnesses about the Book of Mormon, and Joseph Smith. It's so neat to watch the spirit work with these wonderful people. I have really come to love them all! Elder Wilson and I were able to prepare a wonderful Zone Training meeting. It's a 3 hour meeting that we are in charge of and it's just for our zone. We unveiled a new "vision" for our zone, or a theme that will guide our next few months worth of work: "Why do I love them?" In all the things that we do, ask yourself that same question. Why do I love those kids in the back seat that are yelling and crying? Why do I love those kids in my school class that disrupt everything? Why do I love my Husband/Wife? It's put so much into perspective for me. I have been asking this question multiple times a day, as we study and plan, and teach. It's easy to find compliments, and begin to feel that genuine charity towards others. I encourage all to come up with, or apply this vision to their lives. It's been amazing!
Not much else... conference rocked! I hope we get new younger missionaries here! I'd be excited to see how they do!
Keep the faith!
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
September 24, 2012
Well another week has gone by, and we are one week closer to the end of the year. What a year it's been!
Well, It's been a miracle of a week for us here. We informed you last week about the investigator at the Williamsport branch, and I'm happy to say he's now a member. We talked with him more as the week progressed, and this weekend seemed to work best for him, and his family, as well as for the branch. It was amazing. I have to admit the timeline is a little scary, and yet so miraculous.
Sept 1: Met Ken at the Williamsport branch building. We arrived 15 min early to meet another member for an lesson, and they pulled in right before us.
Sept 8: Dropped in on Ken and his family and had a small dinner and discussed a couple of questions he had.
Sept 15: Taught a 4 hour lesson! He had so many questions and the spirit was so strong. We all knew we would be there until he was satisfied.
Sept 20: Had a brief lesson/review of the restoration, and had one of the assistants perform the baptismal interview.
Sept 21: He was baptized.
Literally 6 days since our first official appointment to the day of his baptism! He was very well prepared. I have to mention that he came pre-taught. He's dating a member and she gave him a gospel principles book (read the whole thing before our first meeting), a preach my gospel which he spent time studying daily, and had read over chapter 3, or the lessons we teach multiple times, and he had a triple combination that went along well with his bible. Ken spent many nights studying till the early hours of the morning. He was so thirsty for this gospel, and answers to know if it was true for himself. I have drawn a little bit of a connection between our personal desires, and the answers in which we seek, how much do we want them?
I was blessed to be able to perform his baptism, and what an honor that was! I will always remember this awesome day, and miraculous story.
We had another very powerful but less impressive story to share today. We woke up Sunday morning, and were out the door early to get to meetings, which we weren't going to be able to stay at for the full time. Elder Beach had a recent convert in town for a wedding and they decided to stay an extra night and come to church here in the Lafayette area. We went over to that other ward before they started so that they could say hi. We made it back to church at about 9am, when we got a call from other missionaries in Logansport area. They had a members mother who was in the hospital and needed a blessing. We knew that there were other missionaries closer but for the sake of it being Sunday morning and everyone getting ready for church we decided it would be easiest if we would go. So off we go. We arrive at the hospital about 9:30, which is the same time our sacrament meeting started, so we just skipped that, and met up with the home teacher of the member, so we could all go in together. We stood around talking for a few minutes before we were allowed to go in, he's actually from Lovell WY, kind of cool. Anyway we go in, and talk to this lady, she had a stroke i believe, and right away a smile came to her face. It was so precious. She looked up at us from her bed and commented on our handsome looks, she was kind of a flirt, but that could have been the medication, but as we took her hand in ours for a few moments before we administered to her she seemed to have a connection when i placed her hand in mine. She just stared at me, smiling. We gave her a blessing, and afterwards reached out again for my hand and said she needed my hand, and that there was something about me she liked... I walked away from her room, marveling at the workings of God. I had never felt more impressed that we truly were on the Lords errand at that time, than at any other time in my life. It was neat to be His hands, and voice, and bring the Spirit to her room.
Very good week indeed!
Here are a few pictures from the baptism of Ken! So happy I was a part of it! Just 4 months remaining... :( But I'm also excited to be done and be home soon.
September 17, 2012
Hey family and friends, Well another week has gone by. We are here emailing and I can't believe how fast time is going. Well I have some wonderful news. We got dropped by one of our top investigators. OH wait, that's bad news, and is another story for another day. UGH. OK, but really here is the best news ever. Here is the story from the top.
Each Saturday we go out to a small Town in Williamsport In, there is a small branch out there and we help support them. Well we were supposed to be meeting a member at the church building at 3:15 one Saturday to have his help with a teaching appointment, so we finished with one of our other appointments and travel to the church and get there around 3 pm. Just in front of us a green van, in side of that green van is a family from the Plainfield ward, (west side Indy). Their daughter is dating a nonmember that lives inside of the boundaries of the Williamsport branch. They pulled into the church to simply see where the building was, and to see if they could make contact with the missionaries that covered the Williamsport area, and there we were. Super cool right!? Well we talked with him for a few moments, and he wanted to meet with us, and we set up an appointment to teach him another day. that day was the 15th. We actually decided to try by him the week before and we were able to have a small conversation about what it is he's discovered so far. He had been given a quad to read and study from, a gospel principles book, and a copy of preach my gospel all of which he has read, or has been studying from. We we surprised at his knowledge already of the gospel. It helped that his girlfriend was endowed, and is a very strong member from a strong family. OK, so up to this point we have really only talked with him 2 times. Well the 15th gets here and we travel out, and have a member from the branch with us, and we sit down and ended up teaching him for 4 hours, and covered most of the gospel topics that he had questions about. The spirit was very strong, and we ended our discussion with a great conversation about the process of baptism.
So Today, we get a call from him this morning and he says he has a few questions, he'd been studying for the past few days, and wanted to confirm a few of the ideas he's been thinking about. Well, since we had already been dropped once, we were a bit nervous to potentially have another investigator drop us... I handed the phone to my companion and allowed him to talk to him about some of his questions. The phone call lasted about 10 minutes and while he was talking on the phone I was talking with the Sisters that live below us, (they were outside getting their laundry, and we were just getting done with ours too). Well Elder Beach gets done with the phone call and comes over to talk to us, and shares with us what happened. Well, his studies over the last few days lead him to scriptures in the books of the bible, that teach about the apostasy and the Restoration of Gods gospel to come forth in the latter day. The spirit had taught him that all the things that we talked about were true, and that he wanted to be baptized! Remember, we have only met with him really 1 time! Thursday we are going out to visit with him, and to set a baptismal date, and tie up any loose ends. His 4 kids would eventually join him, two of them are now old enough to be baptized, but we feel we'll baptize them on a later date.
It's Miracle Monday everyone! The Lord does all the work with conversion, we are simply a tool to dispense the evidence.
Well this story really does make me happy, and it strengthens my faith that when people really do look, with an open heart, and real intent, with faith in Christ, they too will receive a convincing conviction about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the gospel.
We are going to continue to work hard! So excited for all the work here!
love you all!
Each Saturday we go out to a small Town in Williamsport In, there is a small branch out there and we help support them. Well we were supposed to be meeting a member at the church building at 3:15 one Saturday to have his help with a teaching appointment, so we finished with one of our other appointments and travel to the church and get there around 3 pm. Just in front of us a green van, in side of that green van is a family from the Plainfield ward, (west side Indy). Their daughter is dating a nonmember that lives inside of the boundaries of the Williamsport branch. They pulled into the church to simply see where the building was, and to see if they could make contact with the missionaries that covered the Williamsport area, and there we were. Super cool right!? Well we talked with him for a few moments, and he wanted to meet with us, and we set up an appointment to teach him another day. that day was the 15th. We actually decided to try by him the week before and we were able to have a small conversation about what it is he's discovered so far. He had been given a quad to read and study from, a gospel principles book, and a copy of preach my gospel all of which he has read, or has been studying from. We we surprised at his knowledge already of the gospel. It helped that his girlfriend was endowed, and is a very strong member from a strong family. OK, so up to this point we have really only talked with him 2 times. Well the 15th gets here and we travel out, and have a member from the branch with us, and we sit down and ended up teaching him for 4 hours, and covered most of the gospel topics that he had questions about. The spirit was very strong, and we ended our discussion with a great conversation about the process of baptism.
So Today, we get a call from him this morning and he says he has a few questions, he'd been studying for the past few days, and wanted to confirm a few of the ideas he's been thinking about. Well, since we had already been dropped once, we were a bit nervous to potentially have another investigator drop us... I handed the phone to my companion and allowed him to talk to him about some of his questions. The phone call lasted about 10 minutes and while he was talking on the phone I was talking with the Sisters that live below us, (they were outside getting their laundry, and we were just getting done with ours too). Well Elder Beach gets done with the phone call and comes over to talk to us, and shares with us what happened. Well, his studies over the last few days lead him to scriptures in the books of the bible, that teach about the apostasy and the Restoration of Gods gospel to come forth in the latter day. The spirit had taught him that all the things that we talked about were true, and that he wanted to be baptized! Remember, we have only met with him really 1 time! Thursday we are going out to visit with him, and to set a baptismal date, and tie up any loose ends. His 4 kids would eventually join him, two of them are now old enough to be baptized, but we feel we'll baptize them on a later date.
It's Miracle Monday everyone! The Lord does all the work with conversion, we are simply a tool to dispense the evidence.
Well this story really does make me happy, and it strengthens my faith that when people really do look, with an open heart, and real intent, with faith in Christ, they too will receive a convincing conviction about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the gospel.
We are going to continue to work hard! So excited for all the work here!
love you all!
September 10, 2012
Well, It's been a long few weeks with crazy P Day schedules. I have to say that I've really slacked on putting some of the happenings here at Purdue on to paper, electronic paper.
It never ceases to amaze me. I've sat pondering this letter, and analyzing the last few weeks. I have to say that I was built up for about 1 month with my new companion, and then BOOM! God reminds me that He is God, and that this is His work. I have had to really rely on the power of prayer and scripture study, 2 things I've been reminded of by my companion and my mission president as things that will help us overcome ANY trial. I realize that it's a matter of diligence. God see's that we are diligently striving to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as we do so, he sees a need to turn up the weight upon us a little bit. He increases the tension just enough to really stretch and pull us. I have to say that hurts sometimes. But looking back I'm always impressed at what it is I've overcome, and how it was accomplished, through the enabling power of the Atonement. The thing I really hate about trials, is that you seem to be making such great headway and overcoming the weaknesses that are placed before us, and here comes the adversary, making things even harder. I feel at times my progress stopping, but I know that isn't true as long as I'm still facing the right direction, and that's towards Christ and the promise of Eternal life.
Well, for those of you that aren't counting... (sorry to say i kind of am right now, i hope to lose count again) I have only 5 months left. It's a scary thought. I have to admit that I think that it's going to go very fast. In fact I'm sure it will. I now only have 3.5 transfers left. I have to say that makes it seem even shorter. It doesn't help to have people all over campus asking us how much time we have left. They are used to having Zone leaders that have little time left. We have such a wonderful ward here on campus. There are several people who are here for masters and PHD programs. They are some smart cookies! They make me interested in doing things that they are doing. One member of our ward went for the summer on an internship at NASA... another at Microsoft, 2 of the hardest internships to get but they did, and enjoyed them. We have about 100 people at church each Sunday. We meet in a little institute building right off of campus. It's very nice for us, we always have students close to the church, and we use them often in our teaching appointments. We get great support from them, and they are always opening their mouths to share the gospel with the new people in their programs. We get a good amount of referrals, and there always seems to be non-members at church with friends. All we need to do is capitalize and help them see the need to investigate, and invite the spirit.
Does anyone have any requests for Purdue gear? It really is the only real school in Indiana.... no matter what I.U. tells you, or Ball State, or Butler, they are all 2nd rate. (knowing my luck I'll get transferred to one of them).
We have a baptism coming up on the 29th... her name is is Yingzi, the 'Y' is silent, kind of, so it sounds more like IngZi.... she's sweet! We've been teaching her for a long time, and it's been cool to see her faith in God grow, and her testimony of the church blossom! Very fun to teach those without a Christian background, they are so susceptible to the spirit.
Oh, The pictures.... I'm including a tie burning picture... 18 months... WOW!~ and here is one of our zone... a few of the missionaries were moving so their faces look all blurry, but this is just the Lafayette Zone. And then a picture of Elder Beach, he got some smarties for his birthday, and he pretended to have some fake teeth. It made me think of Denis the Menace, Mr. Wilson has some Chiclets as teeth... we laughed over this picture.
Life is good! Doing fine, don't need anything...
Talk to you all later!
It never ceases to amaze me. I've sat pondering this letter, and analyzing the last few weeks. I have to say that I was built up for about 1 month with my new companion, and then BOOM! God reminds me that He is God, and that this is His work. I have had to really rely on the power of prayer and scripture study, 2 things I've been reminded of by my companion and my mission president as things that will help us overcome ANY trial. I realize that it's a matter of diligence. God see's that we are diligently striving to live the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as we do so, he sees a need to turn up the weight upon us a little bit. He increases the tension just enough to really stretch and pull us. I have to say that hurts sometimes. But looking back I'm always impressed at what it is I've overcome, and how it was accomplished, through the enabling power of the Atonement. The thing I really hate about trials, is that you seem to be making such great headway and overcoming the weaknesses that are placed before us, and here comes the adversary, making things even harder. I feel at times my progress stopping, but I know that isn't true as long as I'm still facing the right direction, and that's towards Christ and the promise of Eternal life.
Well, for those of you that aren't counting... (sorry to say i kind of am right now, i hope to lose count again) I have only 5 months left. It's a scary thought. I have to admit that I think that it's going to go very fast. In fact I'm sure it will. I now only have 3.5 transfers left. I have to say that makes it seem even shorter. It doesn't help to have people all over campus asking us how much time we have left. They are used to having Zone leaders that have little time left. We have such a wonderful ward here on campus. There are several people who are here for masters and PHD programs. They are some smart cookies! They make me interested in doing things that they are doing. One member of our ward went for the summer on an internship at NASA... another at Microsoft, 2 of the hardest internships to get but they did, and enjoyed them. We have about 100 people at church each Sunday. We meet in a little institute building right off of campus. It's very nice for us, we always have students close to the church, and we use them often in our teaching appointments. We get great support from them, and they are always opening their mouths to share the gospel with the new people in their programs. We get a good amount of referrals, and there always seems to be non-members at church with friends. All we need to do is capitalize and help them see the need to investigate, and invite the spirit.
Does anyone have any requests for Purdue gear? It really is the only real school in Indiana.... no matter what I.U. tells you, or Ball State, or Butler, they are all 2nd rate. (knowing my luck I'll get transferred to one of them).
We have a baptism coming up on the 29th... her name is is Yingzi, the 'Y' is silent, kind of, so it sounds more like IngZi.... she's sweet! We've been teaching her for a long time, and it's been cool to see her faith in God grow, and her testimony of the church blossom! Very fun to teach those without a Christian background, they are so susceptible to the spirit.
Oh, The pictures.... I'm including a tie burning picture... 18 months... WOW!~ and here is one of our zone... a few of the missionaries were moving so their faces look all blurry, but this is just the Lafayette Zone. And then a picture of Elder Beach, he got some smarties for his birthday, and he pretended to have some fake teeth. It made me think of Denis the Menace, Mr. Wilson has some Chiclets as teeth... we laughed over this picture.
Life is good! Doing fine, don't need anything...
Talk to you all later!
Monday, August 13, 2012
August 13, 2012
This one is going to be short! Sorry we are super busy!
hmm... We had miracles happen this week. Elder Golden took time this week to shake each of our hands, and with the amount of discernment he has, he knew the quality of our mission. He then looked at our numbers, as far as baptisms, and said that he was puzzled. He noticed our obedience, and character, and said that our baptisms should be double or triple where they are at now. He talked to us about exercising our faith more in this work, and relying on the Lord for the things that will help the work press on. We applied the principles that he taught us and saw the hand of the Lord work. We had 1 new investigator so far this last week. We had a goal to have 4 by Sunday, and Saturday night at the end of our day we were at 1.... Sunday afternoon we had an appointment set so we were confident that we would get 1 more. We were so blessed to show up to church and have a lot of new faces. We have a lot of new members showing up, for different programs here at Purdue. School starts in a week so there are tons of people moving in. We had a member approach us, introduce himself, and inform us that he had a friend coming and he'd like to introduce us to him. 1st miracle! We now have another person provided by the hand of the Lord and we will be teaching him soon. 2nd miracle: one of our investigators shows up at church with another friend! Same story, we will be meeting with them later this week and hopefully helping them discover for themselves the truthfulness of this Gospel. Preach my Gospel says we have to have 1 lesson and set a return appointment in order to make some one a "new investigator" we weren't able to do that on Sunday, but nevertheless we were able to have 2 more people that are ready and willing to listen to us. The Lord does provide and helps us in every way. It makes me think that we all need to be more active in the gospel. How often do we exercise our faith? Do we allow God to show us His power? He is all powerful, and we need to rely more on this power in our lives. Put yourself out there.... show God your faith by your personal righteousness, and allow him to perform a miracle in your life... Be active in the Gospel!
hmm... We had miracles happen this week. Elder Golden took time this week to shake each of our hands, and with the amount of discernment he has, he knew the quality of our mission. He then looked at our numbers, as far as baptisms, and said that he was puzzled. He noticed our obedience, and character, and said that our baptisms should be double or triple where they are at now. He talked to us about exercising our faith more in this work, and relying on the Lord for the things that will help the work press on. We applied the principles that he taught us and saw the hand of the Lord work. We had 1 new investigator so far this last week. We had a goal to have 4 by Sunday, and Saturday night at the end of our day we were at 1.... Sunday afternoon we had an appointment set so we were confident that we would get 1 more. We were so blessed to show up to church and have a lot of new faces. We have a lot of new members showing up, for different programs here at Purdue. School starts in a week so there are tons of people moving in. We had a member approach us, introduce himself, and inform us that he had a friend coming and he'd like to introduce us to him. 1st miracle! We now have another person provided by the hand of the Lord and we will be teaching him soon. 2nd miracle: one of our investigators shows up at church with another friend! Same story, we will be meeting with them later this week and hopefully helping them discover for themselves the truthfulness of this Gospel. Preach my Gospel says we have to have 1 lesson and set a return appointment in order to make some one a "new investigator" we weren't able to do that on Sunday, but nevertheless we were able to have 2 more people that are ready and willing to listen to us. The Lord does provide and helps us in every way. It makes me think that we all need to be more active in the gospel. How often do we exercise our faith? Do we allow God to show us His power? He is all powerful, and we need to rely more on this power in our lives. Put yourself out there.... show God your faith by your personal righteousness, and allow him to perform a miracle in your life... Be active in the Gospel!
August 6, 2012
This week has been a wonderful week.
I have been truly blessed to see a baptism in every area in which I've served, and this one is no exception. I was so happy to be around for Sui's baptism. He's an amazing young kid from China/Taiwan. His family is Christian, and he is so in tune with the spirit. He has such worthy goals, and desires. He wants to honor his family, and keep the commandments of God. He strives to be a good man, and wants to be a good father and husband one day. His family name is riding on him, and he's very anxious to do what is right. He noticed a few differences in the culture of being a member and from china. The Chinese drink Tea often, but we had a long talk about following the higher laws of God, and still being a good citizen of the land in which he lives. He's going to do wonders, and be such a help for the Gospel in that part of the world.
As for me, I've been a little under the weather this weekend. Zone leader council was great! I truly gained a lot from looking at the survey that was taken and the results of the mission. I could easily see that my perception, as well as the perception of other missionaries of themselves is often incorrect. We seem to be our worst critics. It was very good to council with each other during the ride home and talk about the specific needs of our zone. Very revelatory. Upon arriving home I felt a fever coming on, and sure enough after we ended our appointments I checked and had a temperature of 100.3, which it was good to be able to go to bed and sleep it off. I awoke the next morning feeling fine, and we attended our baptism. The spirit was great there, and we had 2 other investigators come. They too felt the spirit, and were excited and are looking forward to their dates in September. That afternoon my headache, and fever returned, and I spent that afternoon resting, after consulting with Elder Beach and Sister Collins. Sunday was no different, the fever was back, and I ended up resting a lot of that day too, after church. I was glad that we still were able to work on our upcoming trainings and complete out weekly planning during our down time, it was hard as a missionary to not be able to go go go! Our bodies do need to be taken care of though.
Well not much else on my end. Things are still going great! I'm very excited for school to start back up here, and we have a huge influx of students to contact. There are several that left last semester with a baptismal date and we are already beginning to contact them, and to be prepared for their arrival.
I guess, upcoming this week we have Zone conference, and it's going to be cool, we have Elder Golden of the 70 in town. He's been in our mission about 2 years ago, and we are excited to hear from him. The church has also started a new meeting for us Zone leaders. We now get to conduct a monthly meeting where we get to train on our last Zone Leader Council, and the trainings that we received there. It's a new thing that the whole church is doing. Before this we would only be able to train while on exchanges with other areas, and it took us too long to get information and training to each area. So the church has listened as the mission presidents press this issue. I'm very excited to be able to participate in these. It's cool to see that when people ask questions revelation occurs, or in this case, more meetings.
Love you all! I hop all is well,
I have been truly blessed to see a baptism in every area in which I've served, and this one is no exception. I was so happy to be around for Sui's baptism. He's an amazing young kid from China/Taiwan. His family is Christian, and he is so in tune with the spirit. He has such worthy goals, and desires. He wants to honor his family, and keep the commandments of God. He strives to be a good man, and wants to be a good father and husband one day. His family name is riding on him, and he's very anxious to do what is right. He noticed a few differences in the culture of being a member and from china. The Chinese drink Tea often, but we had a long talk about following the higher laws of God, and still being a good citizen of the land in which he lives. He's going to do wonders, and be such a help for the Gospel in that part of the world.
As for me, I've been a little under the weather this weekend. Zone leader council was great! I truly gained a lot from looking at the survey that was taken and the results of the mission. I could easily see that my perception, as well as the perception of other missionaries of themselves is often incorrect. We seem to be our worst critics. It was very good to council with each other during the ride home and talk about the specific needs of our zone. Very revelatory. Upon arriving home I felt a fever coming on, and sure enough after we ended our appointments I checked and had a temperature of 100.3, which it was good to be able to go to bed and sleep it off. I awoke the next morning feeling fine, and we attended our baptism. The spirit was great there, and we had 2 other investigators come. They too felt the spirit, and were excited and are looking forward to their dates in September. That afternoon my headache, and fever returned, and I spent that afternoon resting, after consulting with Elder Beach and Sister Collins. Sunday was no different, the fever was back, and I ended up resting a lot of that day too, after church. I was glad that we still were able to work on our upcoming trainings and complete out weekly planning during our down time, it was hard as a missionary to not be able to go go go! Our bodies do need to be taken care of though.
Well not much else on my end. Things are still going great! I'm very excited for school to start back up here, and we have a huge influx of students to contact. There are several that left last semester with a baptismal date and we are already beginning to contact them, and to be prepared for their arrival.
I guess, upcoming this week we have Zone conference, and it's going to be cool, we have Elder Golden of the 70 in town. He's been in our mission about 2 years ago, and we are excited to hear from him. The church has also started a new meeting for us Zone leaders. We now get to conduct a monthly meeting where we get to train on our last Zone Leader Council, and the trainings that we received there. It's a new thing that the whole church is doing. Before this we would only be able to train while on exchanges with other areas, and it took us too long to get information and training to each area. So the church has listened as the mission presidents press this issue. I'm very excited to be able to participate in these. It's cool to see that when people ask questions revelation occurs, or in this case, more meetings.
Love you all! I hop all is well,
August 1, 2012
CHINESE FOOD!
Not the lame Americanized Chinese food that I love to eat at buffets, and members never seem to stop taking us out to them... but anyway. REAL Chinese food, made by a Japanese woman.... HA! oh this is getting complicated...
OK, we have a Chinese couple living in our stake boundaries, they are married, but are attending our singles ward... It's so perfect because they are able to help all the Chinese investigators that we have learn the message in their own language. Most of our investigators speak very good English, but there are some cultural limits, that Jack and Miki are helping with.
So we have some pictures for you!
The first one is of our WONDERFUL dinner that they made for us! Chicken, Chinese Bread, Fried wonton things... and a bean and Zucchini mixture... and sliced tomatoes. All of it was super good, and eating it with chop sticks was no big deal. They all seemed to laugh when we first started, but we both got pretty good by the end of our meal. One bean at a time... those were the hardest to get.
Here we have to Americans! Ha! It's pretty funny because we had this conversation that all you ever see Asian people doing in pictures is giving the peace sign, so we've decided that from now on we are going to embrace our inner Chinese person, and flash the peace sign too! We think we are pretty funny, and culturally accepted this way.
And finally there are some of the people that we ate with.... From Left to Right... Miki, she's Japanese, but was a Chinese major in college and speaks if fluently, and is married to Jack, who isn't in this picture, and he's chinese. Next is Linyuan... He's an investigator, and is getting baptized the 22nd of Sept! He's awesome! Super prepared and feels the spirit anytime he enters the church or members homes... All we had to do was mention that it was God answering him, and those good feelings are things to seek after. Next is Sui, we call him Dylan, and he's getting baptized on Saturday! I love this kid! he's so solid, and wants to be a good man! This is helping him a ton. Last is Like, (Lee KAH) She's a convert of a year or so, and is teaching our Chinese Gospel Principles class. She had her parents here from China, and they were at dinner too, but not in the picture... Very nice wonderful people. I wish the church was allowed in mainland china because the people there are very nice, well, at least the ones we are meeting here are, but they are very hungry for the gospel, like I'm hungry for their food!
Well, All is well at Purdue... We soon will have more students here than we know what to do with! It's going to be great! Not much else... thanks for all the letters, and love you send this way! Love you all!
Not the lame Americanized Chinese food that I love to eat at buffets, and members never seem to stop taking us out to them... but anyway. REAL Chinese food, made by a Japanese woman.... HA! oh this is getting complicated...
OK, we have a Chinese couple living in our stake boundaries, they are married, but are attending our singles ward... It's so perfect because they are able to help all the Chinese investigators that we have learn the message in their own language. Most of our investigators speak very good English, but there are some cultural limits, that Jack and Miki are helping with.
So we have some pictures for you!
The first one is of our WONDERFUL dinner that they made for us! Chicken, Chinese Bread, Fried wonton things... and a bean and Zucchini mixture... and sliced tomatoes. All of it was super good, and eating it with chop sticks was no big deal. They all seemed to laugh when we first started, but we both got pretty good by the end of our meal. One bean at a time... those were the hardest to get.
Here we have to Americans! Ha! It's pretty funny because we had this conversation that all you ever see Asian people doing in pictures is giving the peace sign, so we've decided that from now on we are going to embrace our inner Chinese person, and flash the peace sign too! We think we are pretty funny, and culturally accepted this way.
And finally there are some of the people that we ate with.... From Left to Right... Miki, she's Japanese, but was a Chinese major in college and speaks if fluently, and is married to Jack, who isn't in this picture, and he's chinese. Next is Linyuan... He's an investigator, and is getting baptized the 22nd of Sept! He's awesome! Super prepared and feels the spirit anytime he enters the church or members homes... All we had to do was mention that it was God answering him, and those good feelings are things to seek after. Next is Sui, we call him Dylan, and he's getting baptized on Saturday! I love this kid! he's so solid, and wants to be a good man! This is helping him a ton. Last is Like, (Lee KAH) She's a convert of a year or so, and is teaching our Chinese Gospel Principles class. She had her parents here from China, and they were at dinner too, but not in the picture... Very nice wonderful people. I wish the church was allowed in mainland china because the people there are very nice, well, at least the ones we are meeting here are, but they are very hungry for the gospel, like I'm hungry for their food!
Well, All is well at Purdue... We soon will have more students here than we know what to do with! It's going to be great! Not much else... thanks for all the letters, and love you send this way! Love you all!
July 23, 2012
Well Friends and family,
It's official. I'll forever be a Purdue man! None of this "I U" stuff. Well this is a picture of my new companion and I, Elder Beach. He's from Florida, I think I've said that, but his family is now living in Oregon, in the mountains. Not kidding, they don't have an address... Or plumbing. We have discussed a possible trip to the woods after our return home, and living life a bit more per-historic. He's great, and is helping me get so much accomplished. OK, we have a baptism coming up! His name is Dylan, not really he has a Chinese name, but he goes by Dylan here. He's great! Super excited about the gospel, and is soaking it all up! I have no doubts that one day he'll help the church in china grow! That's happening on the 4th of Aug. Super excited.
We are still teaching tons of Chinese students. They are so hungry for the gospel. It's amazing to watch the gospel light up their life. Truth is eternal, and the soul can recognize it.
Hmmmm... We've been running almost every day since our transfer has started. It's been hard to watch myself over the last few transfers add a little weight back on. I started the mission at 240, and made it down to 227 in a few areas... and then over the last 3 transfers I went back to 240... But I'm happy to say that the scale today said 234... Running and eating right has been the help. We go across the street and run on the cart paths of the golf course in the morning. It's good, I am almost starting to look forward to it in the mornings. I have had a suit that is just too small, and it's going to be my coming home suit... I have to fit into it. I have just 6 more months left, and those 6 months I'm going to have to be dedicated.
Something else cool... We too, like out west, have been in one of the worst droughts since like 1985, and before that in the 40's, so it's a for real thing. Some farmers have even plowed under their crops calling them a total loss. You have to figure that the farmland out here is used for feed for other animals all over the country, and if feed goes up, the cost of all food is going to go up. We as a state/mission, all fasted this last week, and are glad to say that today's forecast calls for Rain! It's so cool to know that we have a loving heavenly Father that listens to our pleas. I can't help but see the similarity when prophets in the Book of Mormon pray, and plead that if it be His will, that they will smite the people with famine, or they become smitten because of iniquity, and the prayers of the righteous can call down blessings from heaven. I have loved seeing those similarities to today's world.
Well not much else. We have a busy week full of teaching, exchanges in Kokomo, and Logansport (i'm excited to see a few past converts!) and overall, just the busy busy work of the Lord.
It's official. I'll forever be a Purdue man! None of this "I U" stuff. Well this is a picture of my new companion and I, Elder Beach. He's from Florida, I think I've said that, but his family is now living in Oregon, in the mountains. Not kidding, they don't have an address... Or plumbing. We have discussed a possible trip to the woods after our return home, and living life a bit more per-historic. He's great, and is helping me get so much accomplished. OK, we have a baptism coming up! His name is Dylan, not really he has a Chinese name, but he goes by Dylan here. He's great! Super excited about the gospel, and is soaking it all up! I have no doubts that one day he'll help the church in china grow! That's happening on the 4th of Aug. Super excited.
We are still teaching tons of Chinese students. They are so hungry for the gospel. It's amazing to watch the gospel light up their life. Truth is eternal, and the soul can recognize it.
Hmmmm... We've been running almost every day since our transfer has started. It's been hard to watch myself over the last few transfers add a little weight back on. I started the mission at 240, and made it down to 227 in a few areas... and then over the last 3 transfers I went back to 240... But I'm happy to say that the scale today said 234... Running and eating right has been the help. We go across the street and run on the cart paths of the golf course in the morning. It's good, I am almost starting to look forward to it in the mornings. I have had a suit that is just too small, and it's going to be my coming home suit... I have to fit into it. I have just 6 more months left, and those 6 months I'm going to have to be dedicated.
Something else cool... We too, like out west, have been in one of the worst droughts since like 1985, and before that in the 40's, so it's a for real thing. Some farmers have even plowed under their crops calling them a total loss. You have to figure that the farmland out here is used for feed for other animals all over the country, and if feed goes up, the cost of all food is going to go up. We as a state/mission, all fasted this last week, and are glad to say that today's forecast calls for Rain! It's so cool to know that we have a loving heavenly Father that listens to our pleas. I can't help but see the similarity when prophets in the Book of Mormon pray, and plead that if it be His will, that they will smite the people with famine, or they become smitten because of iniquity, and the prayers of the righteous can call down blessings from heaven. I have loved seeing those similarities to today's world.
Well not much else. We have a busy week full of teaching, exchanges in Kokomo, and Logansport (i'm excited to see a few past converts!) and overall, just the busy busy work of the Lord.
July 16, 2012
Well I'm sure you are all wondering just where in the world Elder Rees ended up...
OH MAN! I'm so excited about this one! You have no IDEA! I pretty much flipped out, and held back tears!
OK, Enough suspense. I'm now serving as a senior zone leader, in........................ West Lafayette Indiana, at PURDUE UNIVERSITY! I am so stoked to be here! It has been such a busy blur since getting here on Wednesday. I have been blessed to have a new companion, his name is Elder Beach. He's from Florida, and Oregon. So Crazy though. Here is why this is so cool. I spent 6 weeks living in the apartment just below where i live now... Lafayette 2nd ward was where I started my mission, so I feel like i'm home. Then I went to Logansport, and spent 3 months there, and was blessed to spend another 5 months in Crawfordsville, all of which are in this zone. I know this zone so well, and am so looking forward to going on exchanges in these areas and visiting old faces, and helping to find new ones. It's like a real home coming, for sure!
Cool things happening: 1. we have 7 people with a date here! WOW! I have loved seeing how the people here are so prepared to accept this gospel, and are following Christ into the waters of baptism. It's pretty cool, we are teaching so many Chinese students here at Purdue, and they are so prepared to find out who God is, and how to follow Him. There is a little line in Preach my Gospel, that says that the Lord will send you to people or that He'll send people to you... We are not allowed in the main lands of china and so we are blessed to have so many people here that are accepting of His gospel, and are preparing that nation to one day receive the fullness of the truth. I feel in a way that I'm taking the gospel to china even though i'm not setting foot on its soil.
We also cover a little branch that doesn't have missionaries. It's the Williamsport branch. They are great. We have about 7 investigators there and most of them have baptismal dates too! We are planning in august to just spend 1 day baptizing... not kidding, we really are... at least 3 are on the books for one day. It was very special, but as we prayed with some new investigators there, I had the great feeling of the spirit once again come to my heart and testify that this is the truth. I have been overwhelmed to say the least with this new area, and the amount of work going on, and this was exactly what my spirit needed. As I enter the last 6 months of the mission in a few weeks, It's been interesting to review where I've come from, and what I still would like to accomplish... One thing I feel I'm getting closer to checking off, is the Language of the spirit. I have had such wonderful confirmations the last few days I'm really beginning to recognize it in the work.. It's been miraculous!
I hope all continues to go well there! We are super busy, but I'm loving being busy! It's getting my heart back into the work, and preparing me for a great last 6 months. My how time flies!
Sure do love you all, and think of you often, but not that often, ;)
New address:
2330 Northwestern Ave #6,
West Lafayette In 47906
OH MAN! I'm so excited about this one! You have no IDEA! I pretty much flipped out, and held back tears!
OK, Enough suspense. I'm now serving as a senior zone leader, in........................ West Lafayette Indiana, at PURDUE UNIVERSITY! I am so stoked to be here! It has been such a busy blur since getting here on Wednesday. I have been blessed to have a new companion, his name is Elder Beach. He's from Florida, and Oregon. So Crazy though. Here is why this is so cool. I spent 6 weeks living in the apartment just below where i live now... Lafayette 2nd ward was where I started my mission, so I feel like i'm home. Then I went to Logansport, and spent 3 months there, and was blessed to spend another 5 months in Crawfordsville, all of which are in this zone. I know this zone so well, and am so looking forward to going on exchanges in these areas and visiting old faces, and helping to find new ones. It's like a real home coming, for sure!
Cool things happening: 1. we have 7 people with a date here! WOW! I have loved seeing how the people here are so prepared to accept this gospel, and are following Christ into the waters of baptism. It's pretty cool, we are teaching so many Chinese students here at Purdue, and they are so prepared to find out who God is, and how to follow Him. There is a little line in Preach my Gospel, that says that the Lord will send you to people or that He'll send people to you... We are not allowed in the main lands of china and so we are blessed to have so many people here that are accepting of His gospel, and are preparing that nation to one day receive the fullness of the truth. I feel in a way that I'm taking the gospel to china even though i'm not setting foot on its soil.
We also cover a little branch that doesn't have missionaries. It's the Williamsport branch. They are great. We have about 7 investigators there and most of them have baptismal dates too! We are planning in august to just spend 1 day baptizing... not kidding, we really are... at least 3 are on the books for one day. It was very special, but as we prayed with some new investigators there, I had the great feeling of the spirit once again come to my heart and testify that this is the truth. I have been overwhelmed to say the least with this new area, and the amount of work going on, and this was exactly what my spirit needed. As I enter the last 6 months of the mission in a few weeks, It's been interesting to review where I've come from, and what I still would like to accomplish... One thing I feel I'm getting closer to checking off, is the Language of the spirit. I have had such wonderful confirmations the last few days I'm really beginning to recognize it in the work.. It's been miraculous!
I hope all continues to go well there! We are super busy, but I'm loving being busy! It's getting my heart back into the work, and preparing me for a great last 6 months. My how time flies!
Sure do love you all, and think of you often, but not that often, ;)
New address:
2330 Northwestern Ave #6,
West Lafayette In 47906
July 9, 2012
This week: A cool story: we met with a member family and their sons girlfriend. She had been around their family for a few months now, and came to church once, but only recently did she start expressing a little bit of interest in the Gospel. We were able to go and teach her a 1st lesson and then committed her to baptism! SO cool. It was neat to feel the spirit like that, and helping to point it out to the investigator was very cool too.
Well, I can't say much else. I'm including a few pictures of the death of Elder Horikami... He's doing a replication of Abinadi and King Noah, that's me.
The other Picture is our district Picture...... From Front to back: Zapata (DL), Minnick, Quirk, Trozera, Anderson, Smith (glasses), Rees, Horikami. I sure do love being around other missionaries, and it's a great joy to be able to go on exchanges with them, and help to train them how to be better! So much fun! \
Well We best be off, We have to take my companion to the mission home, and then off to play some sports with the remaining members of our zone!
Monday, June 25, 2012
OK, so you'll see a few of the pictures here! This is of the downtown area. We are just on the other side of the Zoo, there is a little walkway that cuts from the church, (across the street from the zoo) over to downtown. This was the weekend we did that service project as a Zone for PBS Kids in the Park.
There is another of a Lucas Oil Stadium... They may have a hard time selling all of their seats this year... :*(
The other one... HA! Oh man! OK, so when a missionary dies, they have "death" pictures... How fitting that in the Pearl of Great Price there is this Facsimile, of when the Servant of Pharaoh was trying to slay Abraham... We reenacted it. Makes me laugh... that was Elder Jones Dying by the way... Funny stuff the day we did this picture there was an actual funeral going on at the church, and he went and got another picture by the Hearse! :) Funny stuff.
There is another of a Lucas Oil Stadium... They may have a hard time selling all of their seats this year... :*(
The other one... HA! Oh man! OK, so when a missionary dies, they have "death" pictures... How fitting that in the Pearl of Great Price there is this Facsimile, of when the Servant of Pharaoh was trying to slay Abraham... We reenacted it. Makes me laugh... that was Elder Jones Dying by the way... Funny stuff the day we did this picture there was an actual funeral going on at the church, and he went and got another picture by the Hearse! :) Funny stuff.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
June 18, 2012
Hey family!
here is a few pictures to start with. My new companion Elder Horikami! He's a big guy, and is very loving and I am going to miss him when he goes home in 3 weeks. His family is from Caldwell ID, but his family moved about 1 year ago to Jasper ID... I think it's over by Jackson WY. His dad is a pastry chef over there for a ski resort. I think I have an in for some awesome wedding cake in the future... Yep so he's 6'7'' and does a pretty good impression of the Giant from "The Princess Bride." He caught me off guard one night, and he said a quote from it, and I about spewed the water I was drinking right out of my mouth.
Life this week... Hmmm.. Monday we were on exchange with another companionship up in Indy 2nd ward. They share our church building with us. We had a great time up there, and I spent the day with a great Elder. He's truly striving to follow the spirit as he plans, and listens for the very subtle promptings of the spirit. It was amazing to see how proper planning and study pay off. We happened upon a guy who said something like, "Yeah, I downloaded the Book of Mormon on my Ipad the other day, and with that musical being out, and stuff, who knows, I've been having a real crisis of my faith lately, and have just been wondering what it's been all about." So needless to say we were pretty excited to have been listening to the little promptings. They made a big difference in our day.
We also were able to meet with one of our newer investigators. They were good. It still seems like we just happened upon them, and they aren't too sure about acting on our message just yet. I like using the ward roster to find people to teach, and baptize, and even for God to inspire a name to put us in the right area so we can meet the right people on the street... I've seen them all work in my mission. I have wondered if these new people will plant the seed of faith and test out our message... I know the blessings that await them, and it's hard to describe the feelings they are going to look forward to.
Friday was another exchange... This time I was able to stay in our area and work. It was SO HOT! I felt so drained after just a few hours of being in the heat. We haven't had rain for about 2 weeks, and there is none in or forecast, people are beginning to get nervous here. I think it's a good humbling experience! Anyway, I was able to spend the day with one of our district leaders, and he is doing great! He's 25, and it was fun to work with him. Both he and I like to have fun, but understand our efforts here are for the Lord, and we do take that calling very seriously, even if we keep a smile on our face while we do it. I think it's meant to happen that way. He's a newer district leader, and I shared with him the importance of his assignment. He's the one that can get all of the things that we talk about in Zone Leader council, and the things we pass along into the elders of the district. He can receive inspiration and revelation about the needs and concerns of the missionaries he's over. He is striving everyday to love them, and to serve them! It's neat to watch the growth that happens in missionaries so fast when they are put into a situation that demands it.
Saturday... ok up to this point our week was pretty good, yet Saturday..... 5 teaching appointments scheduled... this is where almost all of our numbers for the week were going to be coming from, and all 5 cancelled! I seriously thought about quitting and going inside at like 5 that night and just pouting. We stayed out, and were able to stop by an investigator of ours and it resulted in us being able to give them a bit of service! It was good to work a little bit. He was digging out a circle in the grass for a new pool. Just a little cheap above ground ones, but in this heat those things are pretty popular. We talked about different gospel topics as we worked. He offered us a Tea... HA! that sparked a huge line of questions and as he drank his tea, he said it didn't taste as good now that he knew a little about the word of wisdom. It was fun to watch the spirit work in that situation. He offered to pay us for our work, and we said the only payment we'll accept is for him to come to church... he didn't. We invited so many people this week, it was a commitment in almost all of our lessons, and we didn't have anyone show! Rough... yet I was able to sit in Sacrament meeting and just absorb the peace that was there... I didn't want to leave. There are times as a missionary that aren't fun, they are stressful, and depressing at times, and when you go from all of that frustration and allow it to be placed at the "altar" of God, and let him take care of it, the peace that was there was so awesome to feel. It didn't matter if we had a poorly prepared lesson in gospel principles or priesthood, it mattered that I felt the love of my Father(s) in Heaven, and the warmth the Spirit brings. That is what it's about!
Well I'm hopeful that through our planning this next week will be greatly improved!
Love you all!
--
Love,
Elder Rees
June 11, 2012
PBS!!!
OK, Well here is this weeks post...
We have had a pretty good week, we have worked hard, and are glad to have been able to find a few more people to teach! We hope that they will progress well, and if we stay in tune with the spirit we should have no problem with that!
Elder Horikami and I are getting along very well. We have a lot in common, and are able to talk with each other. It has also been fun to spend more time out tracting! We have had some pretty hot weather, but overall not unbearable. The humidity is what makes it really bad, and the weather hear has been pretty dry. We have found some wonderful people that are allowing us to come back. It's kind of a law of tracting.... if you want to find families, tract where families are! We have found some really great people and hope to make more of them investigators as well. It's always a weird interaction... I still haven't figured out how people have us knock on their door and invite us to come back...? I truly know that the spirit is apart of this work!
PBS KIDS!
Well part 2 of our week is we got to go and do a service activity at Military Park downtown. PBS puts on a free event for families every year, and each year the missionaries in the Indy North and Indy West stakes get to participate! It was pretty crazy! This park was set up with a ton of booths from other vendor giving out free things for kids, and helping families out... We as the missionaries got to participate in the "meet and greets." There were a few characters from the different PBS shows and kids got to come up and take a picture, and hug and kick and scream and cry, as their parents encouraged them to stand still... We got to cover the "Clifford" tent, and it was pretty cool, most of the kids seemed to warm right up to the big red dog, but a couple went kicking and screaming for their picture. We were really there to help support the people in the suits. They NEED a break after 30 minutes, so we had to be the ones to cut off the line of people and allow our characters time to go and cool off! It was like 87 degrees this weekend so when they stepped out of their suits they were dripping wet with sweat! A few years ago it was 95 degrees and "Clifford" said he'd lost 7 pounds that day! While drinking water near constantly from his Camel-back! It was fun to interact a little bit in a different way with the public of Indiana, their kids were crazy for some of those characters!
HMMM.... Not much else... We are finally starting to see some real efforts by members in our ward to make the ward more friendly! It was good to see them at church on Sunday as they mingled, and greeted people at the doors! It's something that is going to help change the culture of the ward, and help the people really fellowship the new members, or investigators in to a ward family. The people are willing we just have to ask them to participate!
Well the weather today is pretty overcast, warm and HUMID! It's almost as if you can feel the air... anyone that's spent time out in the Midwest or the south can tell what I'm talking about! Super uncomfortable. Well I'd better run! It has been great to chat with you all, and thanks for the letters and prayers they are helping!
Love you tons
Love Elder Rees
June 4, 2012
Ok, Well Sorry this has been a long time coming, I didn't take the opportunity to send an email last week. We had Memorial day and then when we went and emailed on Tuesday, it was super busy, so we didn't have as much time as I'd like. But I'll try and make up for it this week.
New Events:
I killed my first companion! Sam Jones is now officially back home in the sunny weather of Arizona, and has already been out with the missionaries in AZ. That means that I'm now a proud owner of a new companion. His name is Elder Horikami... I'll have to take a picture and send it to you all. He's awesome. I will be his last companion on his mission. He only has 5 weeks left, and we will send him home to Idaho. He's very spiritual, and is a great example. He's officially 6'7'' he's HUGE! I walk the streets and feel so much safer. He's very quiet, in a way, he's a quiet giant. To better explain his name, he's been adopted by his step dad, who is half Hawaiian, and half Japanese, hence the Japanese name.
So I'm still serving in the Cumberland ward, and things are starting to progress a bit more. We have had some time to work with the ward leaders and have been trying to implement a program that will help them focus on the ward families that will begin to progress back into activity, and help us fellowship new members or investigators that will bring more strength to the ward. The ward has a reputation for not being very friendly, but this Sunday there was a very good spirit in the ward, and it felt very different. We had several visitors, and several new members that just moved in, and the ward in my opinion, made some great efforts in welcoming. As far as teaching, we are always trying to find more people to teach. We have encouraged members each time we are with them to ask more people that they know to investigate the church, and keep an open ear (spiritual too) to the promptings of the spirit that will direct them to those that are ready. It's been cool because we have had a few members this week say that they are working on a referral for us, or that they have someone that they want us to meet. Those are so cool, and we do our best to take the best care of them.
I'm excited to still be serving in Cumberland. Each missionary seems to have an idea of what he'd like to accomplish in a ward, and there is still work here for me. I have seen a change start to take place among the ward members. Some are really becoming aware of the role that the church and themselves have in the work of God. I have a wonderful vision about this work now. It's awesome to think of it on a large scale. God lives, and he directs this work, the work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. He's accomplished the immortality via our Savior, and the Eternal life is being accomplished from the work that we do in the temples, and the work we do with our friends and neighbors who have not yet made the necessary covenants for salvation or exaltation. We are his hands! We are his voice! We have to be the ones to open our mouths!
He's developed such a wonderful organization that works seamlessly! Moroni 6:4-6! Going to church is how we rely upon the merits of Christ! It's how we become cleansed, and eventually perfected! IT'S SO SIMPLE! Yet our imperfect human minds forget it so often.
The scriptures have become such a wonderful guide to our life, and are full of so much revelation and answers for our everyday questions of the soul. We should all be anxiously engaged in the study and sharing of the words of God and Christ!
Well family and friends, I love you all, and hope that you all have a wonderful week! I'll be sure to send another email next week! With a few pictures of my companion and our area... I'll do better at taking my camera with us so that you all can see what I see.
--
Love,
Elder Rees
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