July 25, 2011

2x4 Motivation...

We ate with the Vakalahi Family yesterday.  They have 2 missionaries out they are both in Ohio, the next state over, and are in the same mission, their mom won't write them.  i think it's a cultural thing, she seems to think that once they are out of the house they aren't her's anymore, Buut are the Lords and she doesn't need to talk to them or encourage them.  no letters, packages, nothing.  They are to focus on their mission.  She's a nice lady but don't tick her off or you get a 2x4 to the head!   Litterally her wooden spoon is a 2x4.   She does love her kids it's just she knows the blessings of complete service.  She spoils us though, that is how i know she loves her kids.  If her kids were to come home early from a mission, they don't come home....  They wouldn't have a home to come home to...  Kind of intense, but i appreciate her unyeilding values. 

So thank you for your love and care and for the support prayers, packages, letters, and all the love from home, they help me, 2x4's don't.

 

We are so excited, we have a baptism coming up this saturday!  It really has been a miracle!  He was once anti-mormon, and has had his heart softened and has instantly given up smoking, and has accepted all of the commandments that we have committed him to live.  He's amazing!  He truly has been prepared, and is going to make a great member.  Our only concern is that his wife may not be making the progress that he is, but we know that she wants to, but may not have the willpower to make it on her own. 

Other miracle:
We were out visiting members, there are always so many members that we don't know or get to meet, so we usually plan to go and meet members, often times we run into active members and now get to put a name with a face.  We went and knocked on a door of a member, they have 5 kids, 14 to 4, and are such a nice family, the mom is way active, but the dad isn't.  We knocked and the dad answered and said instantly come in we have a job for you to do. 
It turns out the just moments before our knock they (husband and wife) were talking about what to do for their sick daughter, she has a stomach issue, the doctors can't seem to figure out and it is preventing her from eating or drinking anything, and hasn't for the last couple of days.  The family asked if we could give her a blessing.  They were talking about seeking help from someone in the ward to come and perform the ordinance, because the husband isn't able to, and what a testimony to me that was.  Each night we plan, and are supposed to plan by the spirit, the spirit will teach you all things which ye should do, so we try and plan activities based upon the impressions of our mind and our heart.  That night was a testimony that we are following the spirit.  Not all the time do I feel that way, because people aren't home, or we find a lot of rejection, but that night, we were in the right place at the right time, and prepared to perform the right ordinance for that family.  we were able to teach them more about why we use oil, and the blessing that having the Priesthood in their home is.  Truly a miracle. 

The mission is going too fast!  I am loving this area, still trying to figure out where people are, it's a big city, and has tons of streets, something i'm not used to, but it's coming.  I have a wonderful companion, Elder Eames really is great!   He is thinking always of others, and is a wonderful example of leadership in the mission.  He just hit his 18 month mark, we are almost mirrored in time.  We laugh alot, but work hard, and are obedient!  what more can i ask for?

Something i'm starting, or want to start is to keep a little notebook with me, something small enough that can go into my pocket, and write down all the miracles that happen in the mission.  I've said it before but all you hear in homecoming talks are the miracles of missions, and it's something that i'm recognizing even more.  Miracles happen almost constantly, in your lives too, so keep track of them, value them for the tender mercies that they are!

We are in need of people to teach!  We are spending more time finding people, and are seeking more people to teach from Members.  It's a wonderful blessing to go to members and have them say, that their neighbors are good friends of theirs and have been asking questions, it has happened several times here and i realize that being at home that needs to be a bigger part of my life after my misison.  We fasted for people to find this week, what a blessing i know that will be.  We are excited to go out this week and witness even more miracles from our loving Father in Heaven. 

Well Thanks for your love and support, keep track of the miracles in your life, and renew your covenants! 

Love Elder Rees

July 18, 2011

Letter from a convert...

7/12/2011
Hi Elder Rees I hope this finds you doing well. I am getting better I got sick with something called pleusey dont know if that is the correct spelling or not, but anyway it makes it rough to breathe at times. I am getting baptized this Sunday after church I didnt know if they would let you come or not I would be honored if they would cuz I really wanted one of the orginals to baptize me. I had my interview today and we talked bout everything that you both taught me I learned so much from you both and I miss you coming but I am so happy that you are able to carry on with your mission of bringing people closer to the Lord. I bet you will be happy to be back home with your family I cant imagine how you must feel without them I know you have a mission to do and tht takes your time but still. Well I will end this for now and make sure you get it later I will write more. May the Lord Bless you in everyway possible You will always be in my prayers Sister Jessica Mounce


7/17/2011
Well I did it. I was bapitized it was incredible. I cant describe the feeling that I have in my heart. I wish that u could have been there. I will always be thankful for ur teachings nd your guidance that u gave. Life will be better and I know it. To be a member of this church is such a feeling of completeness really it is. Elder Savas bapitized me He was cool when I got to know him. The Elders r now workin with Tyanna and she is studying the gospel. She will be bapitized on July 31. Then they have to work on the boys LOL they are beening a little tougher I just hope that they will find their way I dont want to push them but I want them to make the right decision too. So they told me that u check ur emails on Mondays So I hope this finds u doin well and I hope ur mission is continuing with great blessing. You do good work and I know in my hear that you will be greatly blessed for it. The wedding is in October and we r beenin married in the Southern Indiana Ward in the church we decided. Thats were we both want to be Well I am sure I could go on and on but u only have so much time I will write some more this week. I am sure I will have more to say May the Lord keep you safe and give you the guidance that you may need. You r doin a great job I do miss u but I understand the job must go on. God Bless   Sister Mounce


This is a letter from a lady that I've emailed about a few times ago.  Her name is Sister Mounce and she's amazing.  She sent me these emails, and what a boost they are.  They have really helped me understand that the work goes on no matter where we are, and little efforts of our own, go on for eternity.  The little things that we do daily, saying hi to a passing stranger, inviting non members to a church function, feeding the Elders/Sister, are little things that make Huge differences in the lives of those around us!  I'm so excited to have been apart of this Sisters' life, and to have been blessed with such a wonderful friendship that will last for a long time after the mission! 

Life here is Great, we have a baptism coming up on the 30th of July.  A Part Member family, so we are getting the wife re-activated, and the Dad is getting baptised.  He is soaking it up.  He quit smoking before we taught him the Word of Wisdom, is committed to paying tithing, which is a difficult thing for him right now, and is excited to learn as much as he can!  He's changing his friends, giving up a past life, all because he has been prepared by the Lord!   We are now finding out that we need more people to teach, we are spending time studying how to be more effective "finders" and really rely on the spirit and the Lord to find those that will receive us.  It's a struggle because 8/10 times we get, "I'm Catholic" which means nothing to 6/8 of them!  It's a tradition and people don't realize our message as the truth, which makes me think i need to be more bold with them and really lay down the message clearly at their doorsteps. 

I'm starting to realize also that there are so many miracles of being a missionary, and it's only now that I understand better what every return missionary says, "it was the hardest thing I've ever done."  Daily it feels like there is something, some part of me that says I want to give up, but then we talk to someone, or I get a letter from a convert, and it changes to, "I need to be doing more!"   You at home only hear the good stories, you don't ever get to hear of the disappointment when people don't come to church, or when you spend 3 hours tracting homes, and not one person is ready to hear the message of the Gospel.  I am loving the work, I love days when we are busy, even if we face rejection at every door, we are busy, and are striving to include the Lord in all we do.  My prayers are changing, and are changing me.  I'm realizing that the Glory Stories that most missionaries share in homecoming talks are all around me, and I have to open my eyes to what the Lord is blessing me with daily. 

I love you all, and am loving my time here on the mission, and am learning so many things that will help me down the road of life. 

More to come later, I'll be sending some pictures home soon... 

I love my Companion, We get along Great!  This letter is also going to my mission president so i have to make sure he knows that "I hate my companion" I'll use some reverse psychology on him and see if he keeps us together!  It would be amazing! 

Well Love you all,
Thanks for all you do, the letters, emails, and packages are all great, and keep me going! 

Mishawaka

July 11, 2011

Good Morning Family and Friends! 

This week has been amazing.  It's hard for me to believe that I'm already a couple of weeks into this transfer.  It feels like I just moved here to Mishawaka 2 days ago.

Here is my new address

318 Lincolnway East Apt 2
Mishawaka In 46544
We live in an old mansion that has been turned into several apartments, it's small but it fits our needs and is really fun! 

The ward here is great, they are really advanced in the area of missionary work.  There are people here from all over the country working on their "Residency" for medical school, and they are a big help with getting us referrals.  We get to teach a ton of lessons, and also spend a ton of time finding, or knocking doors.  We are having so much fun as a companionship, we quote movies all the time, and for me that is a big deal.  We get to be ourselves around each other, and are trying to serve each other daily to help build a lasting friendship. 

We have set a baptismal date this week with an investigator named Joe, and it's been amazing.  We knew he was close to baptism, and we prayed to know if a day in August was right for him, and we didn't really feel anything and as we changed and prayed for the 30th of July, we KNEW it was what is right for him.  He's overcoming the Word of Wisdom, and he's doing great so far with it and we are trying to keep him motivated and to help surround him with support.  Got to love working with Part member families! 

I have really come to rely more fully upon the Lord these last few weeks.  I was feeling very out of place here, and needed something to change within me.  Prayer has played a huge part of this.  I was totally open with God, and my feelings, and he understands, and has really lifted me up, and my attitude and mood have really improved.  I was worried about how effective I have been as a missionary and really understand now that part of being a missionary is to get to work.  That is what we do.  WORK!  Getting out and doing my best is what the Lord asks, He'll fill in the rest and use the spirit to work people closer to repenting and baptism. 

It's been so great to be able to study the Christlike attributes in Chapter 6 of preach my gospel, and to really gain strength from them!  Section 121 of Doctrine and covenants has really helped to.  Blessings of heaven are Predicated upon the Virtues of the Gospel, which as you read in the end of the Section, you see that they are the Christlike attributes that we will eventually get better with.  They really have helped me, and I'm really understanding that the help I get through the spirit is the help from God. 

He changes lives, but those lives have to be willing to accept Him, and to follow Him.  There are so many people here that are being prepared by the spirit, and it's amazing to feel how the Lord has lifted me up, and will do the same for those we are teaching, and finding. 

Well i hope all is going well for you in ________, but for me here in Mishawaka, it's great!  Love the work, and my companion, and the ward! 

If you haven't had the missionaries over recently have them over for dinner, or even better prepare a friend to hear the message of the gospel, and have them taught in your home!

Well Pray hard! 

Love Elder Rees

July 4th...kind of

July 5, 2011

Hey everyone! 

Happy 4th of July, even though today is the 5th.  We are emailing at such a weird time and I won't be able to chat with any of you!  This week was transfers and it was such a wonderful time.  I love being around other missionaries, and being able to see them grow so much in such short amounts of time. 

I have had a few rough days.  For some reason the transfer took it's toll on me.  I had friend here in the mission go home.... He came out with us, and it was hard to hear that he had a few things to take care of at home.  I know he understands the importance of the Atonement, and will be back out here soon! 

It is hard to go from an area where you know everyone, and know the streets, and have relationships with investigators, to an area that is 10 times as big population wise, and you know no one!  It's humbling, and depressing, and frustrating.  My prayers really have expressed those same feelings, and it's been good just to get to work. 

I'm with Elder Eames, he's from Manan ID,  Near Rexburg, and he's an amazing missionary.  He's district leader, so I'm still Jr Companion, but I'm realizing there is so much more to learn, and I'm really glad to have more time to get to know how to be a better missionary.

The 4th....  Drunks, Explosives, and no one was home...   It was a great day! 

It was also very recently my 5 month mark!  One more and I'm burning a tie!  I have it picked out already!  It's amazing how time flies here and just how much i have learned.  I'm figuring out that there are many lessons I'm learning at the Lords pace, and am frustrated I'm not perfect yet...  But that is the ultimate goal, and will take some practice and some time. 

We are on exchange today, and so i don't have my companion here to tell me what our address is....   I'm hoping to get it from him soon, but I'm not sure I'll get it before we have to leave for an appointment.  Such is the life of a missionary. 

A little about my area...  I'm now in the South Bend Zone, and our area covers a little bit of South Bend.  It's funny because South Bend is as far north as you can go in Indiana.  We are in a big area, tons of people, and our ward is huge too!  It is great to have members around.  We get fed most nights, and get to have members go out with us about 3 times a week.  There are a ton of people here working on their Residencies, Working at St. Joes hospital here in Mishawaka, and a ton of people becoming doctors.  We have a lady in the ward do our laundry, that is weird to me, but kinda fun, it leaves more time for our 'P' day for us. We have a big district, 4 companionships of elders, and we get together most p days and play basketball.  I'm really surprised that I win most of the games...  Not bragging my skills, simply pointing out the lack of others...  :)   Great spiritual Giants, but are mostly short in stature.  The area that we live in is more of the down town part of the city, and it's filled with little shops.  We live in an old Victorian style mansion, that has been split into 12 apartments.  Ours is small, but good enough...  I can sit on the toilet, and put my head in the sink at the same time.  Super small bathroom, but we make it work. 

Well life here is good, struggles at times, but those make us closer to our goal of perfection.

I was reading in Ether, where the brother of Jared and all the people leave for the promised land in the vessels.  A few things.  No matter what storms rage their vessels were tight... How tight is our spiritual vessel, or testimony?  Do we let water sink in when we have trials?   It's also unique to think that without all of the tempests, and storms, they wouldn't have been pushed to the promise land...  that last insight was from my companion. 
Well food for thought.  Feast upon the Scriptures! 

I love seeing so many emails in my inbox, even the little short ones. 

Sorry you'll have to wait till next week to get my address.... I failed... and didn't get it before time ran out...

Love you all,

Love Elder Rees

Spiritual Thoughts...

June 27, 2011

Hey well I'm going to write down a few spiritual things today...

1st off:  I've been struggling the last few weeks with my thoughts, and realizing I wasn't "feeling" it as well as other missionaries.  We had a very spiritual district meeting last week, where we took our name tags off, and just looked at them, contemplated what it meant to us to be a missionary, and what it would be like to not be able to put the tag back on.  It was emotional for some, and for me it simply felt empty, didn't really feel like it would be a loss.  However, after some very earnest prayers, I'm glad to have my testimony strengthened everyday by our Lord.  As I pray to fully understand what the promptings of the spirit are, and when they come, I'm began to "feel" this week that being a missionary is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I don't want to waste it.   My thoughts about the Value of my misison have really changed. 

Here are a few things that have led me to really value my time here more. 

Jessi:  Jessi is a lady we got as a referral, and she's been amazing since day one.  She has been converted to live this gospel far before we started meeting with her, and she has takend all the steps necessary for baptism. We've set a date with her, but she has had some trouble getting to church, and that makes us have to push her day back a little bit more. Satan works on those that are trying to do what is right.  She has 3 kids, and the middle one went off this week, enough that it was either press charges and send him to jail, or admit him to an institution and get him medicated.  Jessi had to let her other 2 kids go for a little while, and it's been killing her.  She's a wonderful parent, we see bad ones all the time, and she is doing what any parent would do, and is striving to keep her kids happy and healthy, but this is just another trial.  She has so much faith.  We shared that she needs to be reading more in her scriptures, and then offered and explained what a Priesthood blessing is, and she accepted.  It was the blessing that is a little miracle of God.  We sat there talking about scriptures and modern day prophets, and I Knew that she needed to understand and experience what a blessing is.  I Knew we couldn't leave that house without giving her some council from her Father in Heaven.  I hope that over time she'll come to a full understanding about what a Priesthood blessing is, and then she'll really value that day.  I felt the spirit so strongly pressing me to voice up,  and offer her a blessing. 

Cindy: Cindy has been to church more frequently lately, and is striving ever closer to baptism, and will be baptized within the next 2 months.  She has worked hard on her testimony, and has gained the strength she needs to endure the temptations of satan.   She missed this week at church, mainly because we were over at her house ripping up the old carpet in her house.   She's renting this house, and knew that it would need to be replaced one day before she moved out so they said better do it now.  She has 2 dogs that were never really potty trained, and i must say once again, our God is a god of Miracles!  Only gagged 1 time, and the smell of dog pee was overpowering.  We knew it was bad because we have been teaching her for about 4 months and have always had a bad smell when we entered her house.  The Pad was still wet, the carpet was still wet, and i must say it was a tougher thing for my companion to do than for me.  I knew how embarrassed Cindy was to have let it get this bad, and making a gag sound, or a comment about it would have only hurt her feelings, but i'm glad to say that we got the job done, and she spent the rest of the night, till 3 am, pulling staples up out of the hardwood floors that were underneath the carpet.  Her back was a little sore the next day, and didn't sleep much and really couldn't make it to church this sunday.  Which we didn't want her to feel bad about, or give up on coming to church.  No one is perfect, and all we have to do is pick our selves back up, and keep pushing on. 

That is the lesson that I learned again this week, I  say again, because I feel i've had to learn that lesson countless times already in preparation for my mission. 

I have really begun to understand what it is going to take to keep the spirit in my misison, and that is going to be the hardest part about being a missionary.  Giving talks in church, and talking with people on the street, or presenting lessons is the easy part, it's carrying with you the Spirit of God, that can touch the hearts and minds of those people around you that makes the difference.  I have been lifted up this week,  and have had such a wonderful last week in the Logansport area.

Trasnfers are this week, and we got called this morning and i'll be leaving the area, and will find out wednesday where i'm going to be.  Mom, i'll give my info to my last companion, and have our last ward mission leader give you a call sometime wednesday evening, at least you'll know what town i'm in. 

Here are a few pictures, I'm doing these pictures with all of my companions name tags, and here is just a little something to remember Elder Savas by.

Fun with Fireflies

June 20, 2011

Here are a few videos and picturs of Fireflies!  They are super cool!  


Here is one of them in the dark! 

Here is one in the light! 



Just so you can see what they look like in person, here is a few pictures.  

They are always on the move so it's hard to actually get them to hold still long enough to take a picture, but you'll see their light butts, that is what flashes neon green or yellow in the dark.  They simply hover over the grass, and you'll see just a flash of them.  We spent a few minutes catching them the other night, and were able to wrangle in about 10 in a matter of minutes.  They are very easy to catch, and are fun to play with! 

More to come later! 

on a more spiritual note...  
 

I hope you all like the pictures and the videos!  They are pretty cool little bugs! 

This week has been a rough one...  We only taught 5 lessons, and that makes for unhappy missionaries.  Not unhappy, just wish we could teach more.  We have a lady who has so many questions!  I mean we don't even get a chance to answer her first question when she has 4 others lined up!  She wants to know about the dinasours....  where they came from, and why we aren't all inbred retards becasue Adam and Eve's kids were married?!  And who is God's God?!   Too many lame or super deep questions that we don't have answers to.  We came out of that appointment very frustrated, and were fighting over it.  Dumb stuff, but we often let our pride rule us. 

We received a Referral this week from a lady in Arizona.  The lady here in Indiana went out to Arizona to be with her dying father, and was able to learn a lot about the gospel from his nurse...  So we got to go and talk with the nurse, in order to get the information for the lady here in Indiana, and she's amazing!  She's active in her faith, but is open to listen to what God has to share with her!  It's going to be fun to have an open person to teach!

Our branch just got smaller...  They officially made new boundaries, and that took out our most solid young family...  We had 8 in our primary, and with their family leaving we'll have 4.  UGH!!!   But "we are all enlisted till the conflict is over" and most of our people are now realizing that people aren't just going to walk in off the streets.  We need to get our branch members more involved!  But for most what we are asking is kind of a big sacrafice.  I mean to come out with us, some people have to drive 20 minutes, and then spend 2 hours with us, and then drive home.  It makes it hard to get the support we need, but we are working with what we have. 

Transfers are next week.  I'm thinking I'm going to be transferred so if you are planning a package, hold off for a few weeks.  In 1 week we'll find out if i'm leaving or not, and i'll make sure you all get my address in 2 weeks from today if so. 

Well as far as anything else goes we are just hanging out the rest of the day, our "p"days are pretty lame here.  I wish we were closer to other missionaries so we could play basketball or something.  We don't get to have too much fun on days like this.  We are going to get rain all week, which won't do anything but make the corn grow faster!  There are corn fields all over and it's going to be good to be able to eat corn on the cob here.  I hear it's pretty dang good! 

Well i love you all, i've got to run and write a letter to my mission president! 

Love Elder Rees

Bat and Birds

Ok, so this week has "Flown" by...  little aviation humor there..  :)  It's been fun to get all of your emails this week because you've all expressed the same thing, that it's flown by!  And ironically enough this week we have had a few encounters worth sharing... 

First off, Birds.... 

This is a quick picture of what happens to baby birds that can't yet fly, and end up on our porch....   Now don't get too upset, we didn't actually harm the little guy, and he was soon let out free to become a product of the food chain. 

So that is all for the Birds story....

Bats! 

Ok so we have seen a few bats around at dusk, but nothing to this extent!  Ready for this! 

BAT MOBILE!!! 

I don't know how authentic this is, or who even owns this, but we were driving home from an appointment, and saw this on the side of the road and stopped to take a few pictures!  It's sweet!  It has parachutes, and from what i can tell it even shoots flames out the back end!  It was really cool to see so here are the few pictures I took, and my companion had one that I'll add too!

The work here is still going strong, we are still waiting till the end of the month till we get our baptism, but for our whole zone, our monthly baptism goal is 2, and it's the 2 companionship's of elders in our district that are going to help achieve that! 

Something else that is kind of exciting....

This last week we had President interviews, and they are always fun.  This is my second one to go to, and it was great!  We have been hearing about changes coming in the mission, in regards to the way new missionaries are trained, and we are getting 18 new elders this upcoming transfer on the 29th of this month, and in August, we are getting a few more, it will be fun to be a part of the training process.  Yep, I'm implying that I "might" be a trainer.  As i sat in with President Collins he shared that he'd be "Relying on my leadership in August" and as I took that I'll more than likely become a trainer to a new missionary.  It's nerve wracking and exciting all at the same time!  I'm excited because we are going to have some extra time to study in the morning, and really focus and help each other learn how to be a better missionary, and work even better in companionship's, but nervous to know that he'll always remember his trainer, and the kind of missionary he was...  It's making me strive to be better today so that when I have that opportunity I'll not waste it. 

I don't yet feel ready for that responsibility, but I'm sure that it's coming, and I can only prepare as best I can.  It's been fun because my prayers have changed, my study habits have changed, and I'm really excited to be apart of the new training program, that may still be in place when nephews or nieces go out on their missions. 

I love you all, and am very glad that I get such wonderful love and support from home!  Your prayers, and letters, packages (thanks grandma for the Bread, and Cookies), wedding announcements (seriously you'd be surprised at how many i'm getting of those)  and your thoughts!  They are helping and i'm really happy to be here and to really focus on my own testimony, and the companionship of the spirit! 

Love Elder Rees

Happy Flying!