Hey family and friends,
Well here it is... First email session as a 26 year old... man those two numbers really do look very weird next to each other. I have been having a hard time lately thinking of anything miraculous to share... There are so many small miracles that we see each day so it's really hard for me to think of cool things to share that are beginning to seem so ordinary to me.
A few things:
We have been helping an investigator family move. They are a slightly older couple, who have taken in a homeless man a few years ago. They are very nice and have had a desire to follow Christ more fully, and being charitable to someone in need has helped them grow. They are not to the extreme of some people but I may categorize them as "Hoarders." They have had their friend living with them for a few years and he doesn't work, and is the worst of the three about holding on to junk. The ward came and helped move them a few days ago, and they weren't even close to being ready. We also had a mishap with some money going missing... The money was never really missing it was misplaced in all the JUNK around and the ward members that came to help got blamed.... even though they didn't take it they apologized and tried to grin and bear the bad comments that were flying at them from this guy.... Well we went back a few more times through out the week and helped load up box after box after box.... We worked way hard and it was very rewarding to see their hearts being softened by the service we were providing.
On the other hand we have another lady that is simply using us for the service we are rendering. She is also taking the time to listen to us and halfway keeping her commitments that we leave. For instance: We left her to watch the Restoration DVD... She had recently broken her toe... Or claims she did... HA! She called us the other day and cancelled our appointment, and then quickly asked when we were coming to do service. I wasn't going to just be used so I asked if we could work out our next teaching appointment and then we would look at service. She got a bit defensive and said that "Mormons are supposed to help!" I felt my blood pressure rise slightly and then I said that we would schedule time to come and help some more... and that we'd love to continue to teach her as well. She didn't want to reschedule our next appointment because she wasn't able to watch the video, she didn't have time..... SHE'S DISABLED!!! SITS AT HOME ALL DAY!!! SHE DOES NOTHING ALL DAY BUT SIT IN THE FILTH OF HER DOGS! UGH I mean really you don't have time to SIT DOWN!? People and their lame excuses. I've begun to learn that these are the people that God won't have any patience with and he'll @#!*% them to the Terrestrial Kingdom! It's so true though... People who aren't willing to unplug their ears, or commit will be spit out!
Sometimes being a missionary is so frustrating! and yet I'm most always happy about it! :)
Well other than that.... my birthday was great! We got to eat with another sweet family, The Jensen's, they fed us these Thai tuna wraps! Good stuff! and then had chocolate lava cakes for desert. It was great I got a call from President and Sister Collins, they are some of my favorite people and such a shining example of gospel living, and how a marriage should work! I also got a call from the Jensen family of Crawfordsville! What a pleasant surprise! I almost teared up because it made me think that if you all could call and sing it would have sounded just the same. Those Jensen's sure are like family to me already!
So far, I've gotten a package from Grandma Gwen: an UBER awesome sweet fantastic B E A Utiful tie! Mom sent a bunch of Randomness... Cheetos and Breath mints... :) and some really nice slippers :) A good friend sent me a card with some Swedish Fish! For all the emails thank you! it was good to have such a full inbox this afternoon!
I love you all,
Love Elder Rees
Monday, March 26, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
March 19, 2012
Well I'm Fast approaching the down hill side of my 20's.... I'm moving out of the mid 20's to the Mid to Late 20's... Mom I hope this makes you feel old! HAHAHA. Well Life here in Cumberland is great! We are finding more and more people who are ready to hear the gospel. I love the fact that there is always some one that the Lord is working with.
Well this week we were able to go on exchange and it was very fun. I got to stay in our area with an Elder from our district. He's in his 2nd transfer and it's so fun to see how much this Elder is going to grow over the next 2 years. He's way quirky! He tells lame jokes, and is an all around innocent little flower from Payson Utah. We had fun and were able to tract in to a lady who was very interested in our message and hadn't really heard anything about Mormons other than Mitt Romney and the Osmond's. It really surprises me that people have been affected in such a good way by them. In some regards they aren't the best examples of gospel living but they are helping to peak peoples interest.
We really do get to talk to a lot of different people on the mission and there is a no real way over email to describe some of these conversations. They are so funny, and me and my companion get to laugh about them for days after we find some ghetto woman who thinks the world is racist, and loves to wear her Mink and Chinchilla's! I'm guessing those are fur coats or something fur to wear, but she was so hilarious.
We also found out that in my last area that another woman we taught is getting baptized this weekend. My companion now found her with my last companion, while on exchanges. This woman has been through so much in her life, and had to have 1st Presidency approval. Those approvals are required when some serious things get brought up, and she was no exception. She spent 20 years in jail for a murder she was simply taking a fall for. All the details of the murder came to light 20 years later and she was pardoned! Way neat story but not too much detail can be gone through on here. She's getting baptized Saturday and we are very excited to go there for that!
Not too much else is going on... I'm striving hard to work out, and to lose some weight. It's a slow process... You wish that after just one work out you'd see a -10 on the scales... Boy wouldn't that be nice. But I'm feeling stronger, and am going to be making this a habit so that I can do it over time, and it lasts a lot longer.
Well I'm going to have a good birthday. I made sure that the meal calendar we pass around had my birthday listed on it so I had sisters in the ward fighting over that day... I'm going to have several birthday cakes, and tons of treats! Which isn't good for my workout plan but that's OK.
Well i love you all... the weather here is perfect! 75ish and small breeze! Kind of humid but not too bad yet!
Love you all
Love Elder Rees
Well this week we were able to go on exchange and it was very fun. I got to stay in our area with an Elder from our district. He's in his 2nd transfer and it's so fun to see how much this Elder is going to grow over the next 2 years. He's way quirky! He tells lame jokes, and is an all around innocent little flower from Payson Utah. We had fun and were able to tract in to a lady who was very interested in our message and hadn't really heard anything about Mormons other than Mitt Romney and the Osmond's. It really surprises me that people have been affected in such a good way by them. In some regards they aren't the best examples of gospel living but they are helping to peak peoples interest.
We really do get to talk to a lot of different people on the mission and there is a no real way over email to describe some of these conversations. They are so funny, and me and my companion get to laugh about them for days after we find some ghetto woman who thinks the world is racist, and loves to wear her Mink and Chinchilla's! I'm guessing those are fur coats or something fur to wear, but she was so hilarious.
We also found out that in my last area that another woman we taught is getting baptized this weekend. My companion now found her with my last companion, while on exchanges. This woman has been through so much in her life, and had to have 1st Presidency approval. Those approvals are required when some serious things get brought up, and she was no exception. She spent 20 years in jail for a murder she was simply taking a fall for. All the details of the murder came to light 20 years later and she was pardoned! Way neat story but not too much detail can be gone through on here. She's getting baptized Saturday and we are very excited to go there for that!
Not too much else is going on... I'm striving hard to work out, and to lose some weight. It's a slow process... You wish that after just one work out you'd see a -10 on the scales... Boy wouldn't that be nice. But I'm feeling stronger, and am going to be making this a habit so that I can do it over time, and it lasts a lot longer.
Well I'm going to have a good birthday. I made sure that the meal calendar we pass around had my birthday listed on it so I had sisters in the ward fighting over that day... I'm going to have several birthday cakes, and tons of treats! Which isn't good for my workout plan but that's OK.
Well i love you all... the weather here is perfect! 75ish and small breeze! Kind of humid but not too bad yet!
Love you all
Love Elder Rees
March 12, 2012
Well Family and Friends,
I'm now Serving in CUMBERLAND! I wonder how it got it's name.... "and we attempted to walk in this land, but it was cumbered" I suppose that will be my best guess as to how.
OK, Zone Leader life... hmmmm... BUSY! I thought I was a busy and hard working missionary till I was placed with a Rockstar missionary named: Elder White!
Elder White is from Murray UT, he's a big giant ball of random. He's an athlete that reads comic books, and makes some seriously silly voices, isn't shy, and is a stellar missionary! I got transferred in and we had a baptism already!
Her name is Sister Dick, she's amazing! She obviously had been learning for some time and has a powerful testimony. She's in the army and knows how to work hard. Her story is powerful. The week before baptism satan comes at new converts full force, and this was no difference.... Her mother passed away 1 week ago. She had been sick and had wanted to be let go, or to have all the life support removed from her. So they did, and she passed.... Sister Dick was so strong and told her mother about her baptism before she died, and asked if she should postpone it for a while, and her mother shook her head and told her it was important for her to be baptized. Her mother wasn't a member but I feel that she was closer to the spirit and knew the importance of her decision and how it would help her after her passing.
We are super busy! We are finding and teaching like crazy! We found a family of 5 kids, wife and husband! They are so prepared to hear this gospel. They have questions that we can answer, and have desires that fit in line with the culture of the church as well... For instance... In our first lesson he was talking about how they are going to start having Saturday nights be there "family night" so they can learn and grow together... Hmmmmmm Sure sounds familiar!
I love being a missionary! I can't believe that my journey has brought me to a leadership calling like this, but I'm so humbled to be here, and to serve with other Zone Leaders that I've looked up to for so long. I want to serve all the missionaries in our zone the right way, and we have such a wonderful mission president that teaches us the principles of righteous leadership! I love how he's preparing us for parenthood, and for life after the mission. Anyone can live by the rules, but God teaches principles and gives us the agency to follow them. I love the principles because they set you free, and really help you progress. I know that being in this assignment will push me, and will help me grow! I hope I can lead by example and help others.
Well other than that... Not much else..
Love you all!
Love Elder Rees
New Address
3960 N Carroll Rd Apt A
Indianapolis Indiana 46235
I'm now Serving in CUMBERLAND! I wonder how it got it's name.... "and we attempted to walk in this land, but it was cumbered" I suppose that will be my best guess as to how.
OK, Zone Leader life... hmmmm... BUSY! I thought I was a busy and hard working missionary till I was placed with a Rockstar missionary named: Elder White!
Elder White is from Murray UT, he's a big giant ball of random. He's an athlete that reads comic books, and makes some seriously silly voices, isn't shy, and is a stellar missionary! I got transferred in and we had a baptism already!
Her name is Sister Dick, she's amazing! She obviously had been learning for some time and has a powerful testimony. She's in the army and knows how to work hard. Her story is powerful. The week before baptism satan comes at new converts full force, and this was no difference.... Her mother passed away 1 week ago. She had been sick and had wanted to be let go, or to have all the life support removed from her. So they did, and she passed.... Sister Dick was so strong and told her mother about her baptism before she died, and asked if she should postpone it for a while, and her mother shook her head and told her it was important for her to be baptized. Her mother wasn't a member but I feel that she was closer to the spirit and knew the importance of her decision and how it would help her after her passing.
We are super busy! We are finding and teaching like crazy! We found a family of 5 kids, wife and husband! They are so prepared to hear this gospel. They have questions that we can answer, and have desires that fit in line with the culture of the church as well... For instance... In our first lesson he was talking about how they are going to start having Saturday nights be there "family night" so they can learn and grow together... Hmmmmmm Sure sounds familiar!
I love being a missionary! I can't believe that my journey has brought me to a leadership calling like this, but I'm so humbled to be here, and to serve with other Zone Leaders that I've looked up to for so long. I want to serve all the missionaries in our zone the right way, and we have such a wonderful mission president that teaches us the principles of righteous leadership! I love how he's preparing us for parenthood, and for life after the mission. Anyone can live by the rules, but God teaches principles and gives us the agency to follow them. I love the principles because they set you free, and really help you progress. I know that being in this assignment will push me, and will help me grow! I hope I can lead by example and help others.
Well other than that... Not much else..
Love you all!
Love Elder Rees
New Address
3960 N Carroll Rd Apt A
Indianapolis Indiana 46235
Sunday, March 11, 2012
March 5, 2012
Hey everyone!
Well life is moving in Super Fast Forward motion! I'm sure that any one who has served a mission knows what I'm talking about. It seems that every transfer is the fastest one yet, and this one was no exception.
Transfer calls happened today, and I'm going to be leaving Beech Grove.... I'm kind of sad about the move. I was only here for about 6 weeks, and was so blessed to be apart of Mona's baptism! I got to perform her baptism on 3-3-2012, which was also her 60th birthday! Happy Physical and Spiritual birthday! She bore her testimony the next day in church after her confirmation and I can't even tell you how firm her foundation and faith are! She is going to go to the temple, and I am going to be there! Well, once she has been a member for a year.... I'm including a few pictures.
Life here has flown by! I can't believe it's been 6 weeks already.
Oh, about transfers... I'm no longer going to be a District Leader.... I'm going to be a Zone Leader starting on Wednesday. I'm so nervous! I remember my whole mission I've looked up to Zone Leaders, and their areas of service, and I can't believe that I'm going to be one of those for other missionaries. It is Super intimidating and very overwhelming. I get a little pit in my stomach anytime I think of the words Zone, and Leader in the same sentence.
Well not much else... I'll keep you posted on my new address and details about where I'm at... I love you all, and wish the best.... We did have a tornado warning the other day... Southern Indiana got hit pretty hard a few towns were leveled but they weren't in our mission... We did have some quarter sized hail though... that usually means that a tornado was very close... rain first, hail second... BLACK skies... = tornado...
Love you all!
Love Elder Rees
Well life is moving in Super Fast Forward motion! I'm sure that any one who has served a mission knows what I'm talking about. It seems that every transfer is the fastest one yet, and this one was no exception.
Transfer calls happened today, and I'm going to be leaving Beech Grove.... I'm kind of sad about the move. I was only here for about 6 weeks, and was so blessed to be apart of Mona's baptism! I got to perform her baptism on 3-3-2012, which was also her 60th birthday! Happy Physical and Spiritual birthday! She bore her testimony the next day in church after her confirmation and I can't even tell you how firm her foundation and faith are! She is going to go to the temple, and I am going to be there! Well, once she has been a member for a year.... I'm including a few pictures.
Life here has flown by! I can't believe it's been 6 weeks already.
Oh, about transfers... I'm no longer going to be a District Leader.... I'm going to be a Zone Leader starting on Wednesday. I'm so nervous! I remember my whole mission I've looked up to Zone Leaders, and their areas of service, and I can't believe that I'm going to be one of those for other missionaries. It is Super intimidating and very overwhelming. I get a little pit in my stomach anytime I think of the words Zone, and Leader in the same sentence.
Well not much else... I'll keep you posted on my new address and details about where I'm at... I love you all, and wish the best.... We did have a tornado warning the other day... Southern Indiana got hit pretty hard a few towns were leveled but they weren't in our mission... We did have some quarter sized hail though... that usually means that a tornado was very close... rain first, hail second... BLACK skies... = tornado...
Love you all!
Love Elder Rees
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