Monday, January 31, 2011

• ERIN IS GETTING MARRIED????!!!!‏

Sent: Mon 1/31/11 12:31 PM

Mom, i was just thinking, send me some Matt Costa music! The song called "Sunshine", it is really good i like it a lot!

Well, wow. My mind is officially blown. ERIN IS GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????? WHA!!!!!!!?????? I won´t get to see any one in the family get married probably. Every will be married when I am home :(. But seriously, this time is must be a joke. And Erin didn´t send me an email but Shauna´s is having a kid? Is that what i understand????!!!!!

Yeah, holy cow, thats all I have to say. WOWOWOWOWOW.

Ok on another not, Kelli that is awesome you have desires to be awesome at lacrosse. One thing to think about that was a little hard for me. Just score goals, don´t think about it, corners, nothing. Just score goals. Go get the ball and make something happen. You´ll make mistakes and then you´ll fix them from doing. But go run a lot, do wall ball, be confident and go to town on the goalie! I recommend shooting the ball at her to get her scared of you first so she´ll flinch the rest of the game. Hahaha just kidding, that is not polite to do to a girl. Work hard and be good!

What I havfe learned a lot about this week is finding people. Again. It always has to do with faith. It says so many times in the Finding Chapter about ¨"having faith that the lord is preparing people for you" and really it is true. There is all of the work but what it comes down to is Faith, and doing everything you can do. EVERYTHING. It is incredible the difference between our success at the beginning of a week/day and the end of the week/day. For example, when we leave the house, we are all excited a new day or new week. We are bold, we try really hard to get in houses and get addresses. Where as at the end that kind of dies down and you get used to not getting in houses or getting directions. Two days ago was a mini miracle. We stopped by the church to open it for Hermano Paillan and he couldn´t come with us. (It was 9:20). Everything had fallen. We had burned all of our plans. We didn´t know what to do. Suddenly Hermano Luis Vargas out of nowhere comes on his bike. He didn´t really want to come with us but i told him " Hermano, can we just knock one door, just one door, and if they don´t let us in you can go. But we are going to get in" I told Elder Galovich that, and we got that in our heads. We knocked, talked, we had to ask like 4 times, and testify a bunch. BUT we got in. We had a little lesson, found a new, got a lesson with a member, all just like that.

Faith without works is dead. :)

Ok and here is my testimony for the Book of Mormon:

"The Book of Mormon is true. I have read it, prayed about it, and strived to live the principles within in my life. Time after time after time after time I put my faith in the words of this Book and I never regret it. It simply is... I just love it! It is right every time! I have seen it far too many times in my life that I cannot and I will not doube anything in this book. This Book, The Lord, they made far more of a man than I could have ever been. Ever. This Book understands me, my soul, my feelings. No one man could´ve possibly written this Book without inspiration from God. It is pure evidence that yes God lives, Jesus Christ lives, and yes they do love us, yes Joseph Smith was a prophet. Aside from all of that is what I have felt. I know by the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. I know it. I feel it. I still feel it. I see the results of it in my life. For all of those who have not read it, read it. Just read it. Well don´t just read, think about the message within. Ponder on it. Pray about it. Pay attention to what you are reading. I promise you, you will receive an answer that it is true from the Holy Ghost as I have that Jesus IS the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet and that God still loves us and speaks when he wants to speak. Man cannot put limits on God. Especially one seeking the best for his children. Just read it. I cannot even describe how I feel about it. It´s true! That´s all there is! It´s true, it´s true, it is true. Now read it! Go!"

Hahaha funny story the other day. Abba was playing on the bus. "Take a chance on me" ahaha it just relates to missionary work so well. If you change your mind! Take a chance on me! Hahahaha

We played ping pong as a zone today. I destroyed everyone in around the world. It was pretty fun! Everyone has welts i just have one hahaha.

Oh ya one thing that would be great, is if you could all tell me things I am really good at. My talents. I need to discover my talents according to a talk, and learn to use them to my advantage in missionary work. But be honest. I dont want you to tell me im good at everything. What you honestly thing I have talent at that i could use. Magnify. Like 5 things. I LOVE THANK YOU!

Oh ya, if you could send me a guitar tab for "The Rising" or piano sheet music that´d be cool. The spirit of god song. You know? Or tan bien if you could send me sheet music for "Grateful" its a really good song on the Paul Cardall song dealio.

AND A GOSPEL PRINCIPLES BOOK IN ENGLISH!!!!! AGGGH!!!!! PLEASE!!!!!

And also that book of mormon manual i bought a while ago. Maybe if you can the teachings of joseph smith president book.

Ok im finally good on those. Well I gotta go now.

I just want you all to know. I love. I pray for you. Your heavenly father loves you. And when I get back, I will make you all go back to church ( because i love you) hahahaha!!!!!! But seriously I love you all I am having such a good time. Read the book of mormon!!!!! READ IT EVERY DAY!!!! JUST DOOOOO IT!!!!!
SHARE THE GOSPEL!!!! BE THAT AWESOME MEMBER I LOVE WHO ALWAYS LEAVES WITH MISSIONARIES!!!!! EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY FOR LIFE!!!!

Think to yourself. Am just i active? Or am i active in the gospel? (Building the kingdom.)

Un abrazo.

Elder Reeder

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Building the church in Fresia!!!!!

1/24/11

This is a little frusturating. This Chilean kid in front of me is blasting Lincoln Park on his computer... It is bugging me a little bit as i am reading your happy emails about home! :) Haha but whatever, it makes a little harder to concentrate.

Ok what President Lovell told me was that he understood my feelings and said but hold on, now take a step back and try to see the people as your heavenly father sees them. Now feel how he feels about them. Now read Moses 7 when Enoch is talking with God about the people. I read it. It changed my mind. It will change yours. People are our brothers and sisters. Not just people. I dont know lately I feel more connected to people, more concerned I guess??

Honestly the more I learn, and feel, and think about things it gets harder to explain them I guess would be the right way to explain things hahaha!!!

And all of you on the TAPE!!!!!!!!!! Hahaha i swear the majoritiy of what i heard was work hard and keep pushing on and stuff. I just want everyone to know, I LOVE BEING HERE!!!!!!! I WOULD NOT BE ANYWHERE else in the world right now doing anything else. I LOVE THIS WORK. I llooooooovE IT!!!!!! Seriously i could do this the rest of my life. Give me a wife and I´m good for the rest of my life doing missionary work haha!

Yes.... so this week. Mother, I am happy to hear of all the things you write about, and kelli, and dad. It makes me so full of joy hearing about all the things you are doing. and.... it just so happens i got your package and it ROCKS HAHAHAHA!!!!! WOW!!!! really i am just so spoiled by you guys its incredible. I love my family haha. So yes i got everything. I really like Grammy and Grandads music and claire de lune and the mormon tabernacle choir mens cd. Yeah that CD is awesome. I listen to it and wow it just gets me feeling really good. With the calendar and music and everything its very spiritual in the house now. I feel good.

Alright so lately we have been doing a lot of work as the branch presidency. Im not sure what happened but we just sort of hit ourselves in the face because we havent focused enough on that duty. A LOT of people were going inactive/are or menos activos. But normally we have around 17 total in church. This past week we had 32!!!!!! wow!!!!! You have no idea how happy i was. I want that every week. The meeting went really good and smooth and was very spiritual. We have finally designated teachers to teach every week so we dont have to and things are starting to move along like a normal branch hahaha! Right now were trying to find more service for the members to do. The biggest problem here with members is charity. All of the inactives read the ensign and the scriptures, but they just feel really uncomfortable in church becasue there is a group or something. So were going to fix that. We are going to do a lot of service with branch. A LOT.

Because clearly if they wont pray for charity, and try to get it, all that is left to do is service. So we are going to give the branch this big vision of helping each other endure to the end. We want it to be united. And people who come want to come again. A lot of members just think, oh she wont come to church dont even bother going over there, shes just offended and a big baby. That is not how you should think. Think of Cain and Abel. I was studying the other day about Brotherhood in the TG and in genesis 4 i believe? he says am i my brothers keeper?? think about yourself. are you asking yourself this same question. Because yes, yes you are your brothers keeper. The 1st commandment is love god. The 2nd is love your neighbor. All hang on those 2 things. It doesnt matter what they said to you, what they did, who they are. You are your brothers keeper. AND YOU HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN TO HELP THEM FEEL LOVE AND A DESIRE TO RETURN TO THE CHURCH AND MAKE IT TO THE END TOGETHER WITH YOU. Yes, you are accountable for your neighbor. Your family. They have their agency but you can make them bread, leave a little note by the house telling them you care about them. You need to do all you can to help them make it to the end.

Lately i have felt much concern for the welfare of the people here in Fresia. Somethings isn´t working, and something needs to change. We can have more than 30 in the church. We can change Fresia and we are. It is making me soooooo happy.ç

One thing that has been on my mind lately a lot, is we have one problem. Problems with apostasy from 1 guy in the branch. It is really hard to deal with. He just causes a lot of problems, i love him, but members are always coming up to me and telling me "what is the definition of apostasy" and according to the books, it is.... but partially. And honestly it is very stressful. Elder Galovich and him had an interview upstairs, a lot of shouting, i could hear almost every thing in the little chapel. It difficult. He scares investigators away sometimes, not a good vibe. We are really trying to work with him.

So dad if you have any advice on what should happen please tell me! Because these spanish manuals aren´t so clear sometimes hahaha.... But really. Just from experience.

I love you all! The Church IS true! Follow the spirit, and be worthy of it!

READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!!!

Elder Reeder.

(i decided to pick all of the silly photos hahaha, and LOOK I ATE AN APPLE!!!)ç
mom get COOL snowboard photos from facebook!!!! there are a billion!!! me in the railjam!!! or that one on the desktop at home of me going HUUUUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! you know!!!! thanks for trying love you!!!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Hello Everybody!

1/17/11
Well...... Conni was baptized and confirmed! Yeah! It was pretty cool. She was pretty nervous, but her friends reassured her. It was cool we were waiting downstairs and I turned on Praise To The Man on the music player. It was powerful. Wow. I went and stood in front of the font and I just felt... Proud? Of Joseph Smith, of the Savior, a lot of things that I cant explain. Just how great it is to be here.

Questions to answer. No i did not give a shirt in the mail! Yes there was an earthquake it was a little freaky i failed to mension that in my other letters haha. I have not received that package yet. I bought running shoes today, Pumas! Theyre good. :) . I´m going to buy some chilean style shorts/capris with christmas money grandparents! Hahaha. Well and scott thanks for the photos but there are way coolers ones right?!

Kelli that is awesome about lax. Keep working hard, conditioning isn´t fun. The ACT does not mean your life. But you can study for it and get cheaper school!

Well family I honestly dont know what to tell you today... I feel different. I can´t explain it. I talked to an inactive Elder from 15 or 16 years ago in a McDonalds here. It was really weird, he spoke english. But I´ve just been doing a lot of thinking lately. It was just so different with him you know? I could just talk with him. I really felt for him. It was different. I realize now with Chileans it should be the same. They are people. I am trying to be more like Jesus. I am changing. I can´t explain it, it makes my head hurt. But i apologize for the last email i wrote, it didnt come out how I wanted to. I talked to President Lovell, and he changed my point of view on things.

But I am really excited for this week. We have found a whole bunch of former investigators where they had interviews didnt pass, and the Elders changed and lost contact. So i am excited. :)

Remember our ultimate goal in this life is to try become like the savior.

In the words of President Lovell "The challenge is becoming more like Him. Such that His thoughts become our thoughts. His way becomes our way."

Think about that. ;)


Elder Reeder

Monday, January 10, 2011

Count your blessings??!!

Mon 1/10/11 10:42 AM
well first off. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!! i love love love love love love your emails and your letters. i am sooooo blessed. I dont know what i did this week to deserve this but i am very very happy!!!!! :) haha! i will just work even harder now that i have seen the effects hahahaha! but seriously thank you everyone. james it is ok you wrote me on my email hahahaa i just cant write back. i can write a letter though. it takes like 2 weeks. i will send you one! kenna i got your letter! THAT IS SOOOOOO AWESOME!!!!!!!! YEAH GOOD WORK!!!!!! i am super glad you did that! there should be a letter coming pretty soon hahaha but i will respond more in detail to what you just wrote me.

everyone i am sorry but i will answer all your questions next week so i can get in the pattern of everything with answering printing question the next week? cachai?

wow... i am very distracted right now. i dont know why but this email place is playing all sorts of new american music. one repulic-all my secrets..well thats what it saids! that is ironic! hahaha yeah you will get it later. ok probably not. ok obviously iam distracted right now. and it played hey soul sister a minute before. AHHHHH!!!!!!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOCUS ELDER REEDER!!!!!!!!!! im sorry but it all brings back memories!!!! but really it makes a big difference consecrating your life and staying in touch with the spirit. the topic of conversation. the music you listen too. i have SEEN as my comp and i talk about something else wordly the next person we talk to or knock a door is not as powerful as it couldv been? you understand me? it is very very very important. very very very very.... difficult? haha but seriously yes it is hard! try to make it a habit. well i guess i cant say those are all of my rules and whatnot but they still apply to you in the world over there!!!

so this week we have the cambios. or in english changes. conni is going to be baptized this friday now so lots of people can come. she is soooo awesome!!! elder reeder! born in fresia one of the hard hearted places of chile. raised by elder urias the hardest thing ever. paired up with his brother elder galovic (elder urias trained him) to overcome fresia!!!! haha that is my legacy so far hahahaha no i dont have a legacy but i am so glad things are starting to progress. lately we have been talking about patience a lot. im trying to have more. with fresia. with elder galovich. but wow its like all of the work here is going up up up up!!!! we have 7 people with date for baptisms now but we really have to work hard with them so they get to church.

ok things i need to write before i run out of time. mother i would like hallelujah on the piano. the one from shrek i think? and the song! it is disney! 2. if you can send me measuring cups from the us that would be soooooo awesome! because they dont have them here. i have things to cook but i have just well guessed lately. its stressful! 3. i have really really bad allergies here. i wear my glasses all the time because my eyes do not like whatever is in fresia and i sneeze a lot. so zyrtec or allegra would be aweomse! 4. haha umm it would be very cool if you sent me photos via internet or a cool photo book of me doing all of my cool things hahaha. elders dont believe about anything hahaha so like of snowboarding, playing lax at usu or sv, skateing, wakeboarding. but mostely snowboarding!! ;p

ok in response to everything from last week! (this isnt working so well so far..) kelli good scripture study. the key! if you dont understand it read it like 50 times and pray and read and again and pray. i used to just blaze through the scriptures but now i realize it is good to read 1 or 2 chapters. well 4 in one book and ponder and pray. haha search ponder and pray. but pondering on scriptures opens the door for revelation. and when that BOOM HITS YOU IN THE FACE your head might hurt with how wonderful the knowledge is. haha i had a headache the otherday i had that happen. but WOW was it awesome. about baptism. a lot of elders, people in general are afraid of baptism. because they want their investigators to be ready and this and this and they need to be strong. i will now direct you. 1st 2 nephi 31: 18 or 19?? around there. talks about how it wouldv been better had theyv not known me. so yes you want people to be ready. but we are not here to baby the people. the gospel is a double edged sword. it divides. it separates. you have to pick a side. we are here to draw a line in the sand like the alamo. we are here to present the information and teach very very simply they UNDERSTAND. help them get a TESTIMONY that it is true through prayer. if they have a testimony and they understand they need to be baptized. whether they choose to live the gospel after ( we try to help them) is up to them. we are seperating. there is a law in heaven of mercy and justice. we are dividing. we want everyone to come back to god everyone. but some people they know its true, they understand, they are just lazy. and thats where i will talk about the atonement. as you come to understand the atonement, you will understand people need to be baptized. it wasnt fair for jesus christ so suffer for EVERYONES sins if they are not baptized and able to take advantage of the atonement. just.... wow i cant even expalin. dont condemnt this letter!!!!! my point is if people know about the gospel, understand, and dont act on it. they dont deserve the celestial kingdom. jesus christ did not deserve the atonement. we are here to divide and try to save and help as many people as possible. that is how we want it. but there is a point. some people just are lazy. and it is really. sad.

wow i just failed explaining that. hmmm i wish i had my study journal. well point is the church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is very very clear. i love you all!!!! i was going to put up photos but i have no time!!!! no time!!!! i am sorry!!!!

YOU WILL ALL BE BLESSED FOR MY obedience!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Reeder

Monday, January 3, 2011

haha most dangerous new years of my life!

Mon 1/03/11 7:23 AM
Hello family and friends!!

So first off. Wow!!! I still cant believe that shauna got married! The pictures blow my mind everyone is looking good and happy though! i dont have a ton of time wev been running around pto. varas to find a ciber to type they are like all full and traffic is crazy but we found one!

and wow coach coaching utah state!!!!!!! MY DREAM COME TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOW UTAH STATE WILL WIN EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!! but really i am serious. discipline and fundamentals is what they need. i am excited to hear what happens. PLEASE keep me updated on what happens i want to know scores games wins etc hahaha seriously i want to play lax maybe when i get back if he coaches!!! i wasnt planning on that!

so here is my plan. i will print everything you have all written me today and answer it next week. and etc and etc so i dont have to read and type all in the same time which takes time. sooooo be patient for next week cause ihave like no time!!!

cool cool we are going to have a baptism this week!!!!!!!!!! my first yesssssss!!!! this sunday. we will do the confirmation the next sunday but we trust her. im so excited wow, its all because a member just talked to her friend to take a missionary lesson. and thus it is on and on and on and BAPTISM! i am very excited. her name is conni.

ya my new years was very..... fun haha and dangerous i guess? well a lot of people drink in chile. and on new years hahaha wow. like 90 percent of the people in the street were drunk. like elderes vengan or in english come here. and theyd want money or walk with us or follow us or want help with their lives. haha one guy got off the bus for pto monnt which is far away, the last bus for their, and followed us, but we had to talk to him for like 30 min about how he cant but he carried our stuff up the hill i dont know why haha and tried to give us money.

to celebrate new years i froze candy and then ate my reeses sticks to celebrate hahaha. we had a little dinner at hermano pallans house. haha it was good. i just went to bed at 11 but at 12 this crazy horn went off for like 10 min really really loud and i almost died haha wow i just put my pillows over my ears. the next day there was almost nobody in the street. and everyone who was was either still drunk or hungover and angry grumpy. also very dangerous hahaha but i LOVE IT.

wow i almost feel like i havent talked to you in a year! haha i havent!

today we are going to some lake that is really cool. i got a member to print stretches for me. they are really helping it is amzing the power of stretching in the morning and nights!!! isometric stretching is super cool. yeah i learned a lot from information and i feel better, my body. but really ican almost touch my toes now. i will just make avideo or something. splits are supposedly pretty easy to get with isometric stretching haha kick the face!

i am learning a lot more how to converse with people rather than spitting out words in spanish at people hoping they understand. we had an activity where we taught in english. it was really weird. but a lot better. we actually just talked.... really powerful the first vision etc in english. i need to remeber that spanish is the language of the hearts of the people of chile. so it was a good activity. now i think more, then talk, listen. it is a lot better. i am applying WHY and how these things relate to peoples lives and why they are imporatnt.

sooo but like i said i will print everything you wrote me and answer it next week!!! i will try to write a better email too and bring my study journal and share cool things!!! i have learned a LOT of cool things. it is rediculous. i think i dont have a very strong testimony about that.... and then i study it. then boom. power and authority teaching.

LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Elder Reeder

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Elder Reeder Greetings from CHILE!

12/27/10
To everyone I havent seen or written. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The other day was great talking to everyone on the phone! I dont have a whole lot to say right now i guess?? Hahaha well things are going really good. This week has been pretty hectic with christmas and everything. We had a white elephant party and Elder Galovich and I brought our presents and one of them was a sheep head and legs fresh from the meat place. Hahahaha oh wow. It was good. Our zone leader went out of control hahahaha cause he got it and he is this big muscly guy and he totally turned into a girl like oh my gosh what is that its a health violation get it away from me!!!!! Oh my heck ya soooo funny!

Ashley i got your letter and yes i will write you! i usually have some time on pdays to write somebody.. sometimes they are pretty boring if i dont occupy my time but then others i have like none. it just so happens today that i have time!

Thanks everyone for the quotes and stuff!!! I REALLY LIKE THEM!!! AUNTS UNCLES BIShops AND FRIENDS GRANDMA GRANDPA. Yes everyone, you know who you are!

Bishop bennion i will send you a letter thanks for everything you really helped me get here! I will send it to my mom and shell deliver it to you if i cant find your address.


Well anyways this week like i said has been hectic. we werent aloud to go outside a ton on christmas eve and day because of drunks and it really dangerous here so we had to make up for our contacts during the week. we contact 20 people a day everyday normally but we had to do 40 for 2 days. so yes it has been kind of stressful :p but everyone needs to hear the gospel. but you all back home can at least talk to one person about the gospel every day.... just 1! everyday! MAKE IT HAPPEN! maybe you will get rejected or something but it doesnt matter, they just dont know what they want cause they dont know what it is. you get me?

this week i have rekindled my love for the book of mormon. i have had love affair for the new testament lately (reading mostly) but now im back in the habit of mucho of the book of mormon and a little of new testament. but ACTS IS SOOOOO COOL. Peter is one my favorites. He is real. LIke he was really not smart, or talented, just a normal guy, and jesus took him and made him great. And now he does a lot of miracles and great things.

Like i like all of the book of mormon people, but in comparison i really like peter cause he is more human i feel haha. Like Nephi was soooo strong and obedient to start. And Moroni etc... But I really like all the book of mormon people too! Alma the younger, sons of mosiah. But lately Peter has just stood out more to me because him and the apostles are like little kids to start and become strong. More like me i would say.

Anyways... i dont have much to say this week! When i get to my new sector, if i go, i will keep you more updated on investigators. Thats my goal. Right now i am just swamped, where as starting anew will be easier to recount and keep track of things and whatnot. You know?!

Shauna i love the photos of you in your dress and what not!!! I miss my blue tie hahaha!!!! Mom im wondering if your gonna send me some type of dvdmusic player portable thing?? im really excited to hear from everyone on that tape!!! maybe you could go with scott and james to some of my other college friends on an expedition for messages!!! they know people i know i think. like i dont know....Scott does i would think! Greg and the crew. Tyler tolson. Erins friends upstairs.... im not sure. THANK YOU!!!

i guess to leave you all with something this week would be read the conference talks! i really like the pride one i am trying to work on that cause that is problem #1 for every missionary. same goes for everyone in the church. dont be prideful. be like jesus. think the best of everyone. everyone in the chruch is like a part of a body and everyone serves their purpose like in the new test. same with the mission field. doesnt matter if i am a big leader or a worker who works a lot everyone serves there purpose.

be more grateful for the things you have. where you live. you cant begin to understand how blessed you are where you live. you really just have to come here. be grateful. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS WHEN YOU FEEL BAD FOR YOURSELF!

oh and mom if you could send me my talk thing i gave on prayer a while back thatd be cool. its on the comp somewhere i believe. but i am trying to make my prayers better. "too often its like a telephone call, we dial place our order and hang up" something like that. but i encourage you all to take more time in your prayer. slow things down. take a moment to talk to your father, talk with him, not the same things every time, converse, feel, think, he is there and he listens. If you put thought into your prayers, talk and feel, and talk more i promise more prayers answered and a closer relationship with him. make it real. get to know him. ask him questions. talk to him about everything. you should tell him all of your little secrets that you would put in your diary or journal even before you put them in there! dont be shy cause he knows. but you have to ask. i have a hard time wording this hahaha. But really take more time, dont rush your prayers. Be grateful, be sorry, then ask. Just talk to him. Read a Childs Prayer Lyrics. They are my favorite i love that song.

Yes, So i believe that is all this week.

Thank you for the quotes and stuff! I aprecciate the support!!

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!

Elder Reeder

The Revelation of Elder Reeder ABOUT CHURCH!!!!

12/20/10
Yes, I thought that subject would get your attention!

Ok but wow that duplicate ¨Colin¨ kind of freaked me out when i saw it. Hahaha I´m not gonna lie it looks kind of real! Really freaky... I may have to come home or something... YOU CANT REPLACE ME!!!!!!!!!!!! But its ok... I dont stand like that all hunched over and creepy and pale like. I have good posture! Eastern swag lax style! And the majority of people reading this do not understand that hahahaha.... yes.

Well i´m not going to lie i was very happy to see Scott y James sweet faces hahaha. That was really weird to see scotts nixon wathc for the first time in a long time hahaaha and james you died your hair!!! or this photo is just whack haha.

Ummm i still can´t get over that photo hahaha wow. I can just imagine walking around the corner and WHAM!!!! Elder REEDER IN YOUR FACE!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA. Yes. With a santa claus hat hahaha wow. Well i dont have toooo much time. I am going to trick with rueben in like 15 minutes... well hopefully they are actually there haha last time they were´nt being there but it will be good.

I am sooooo excited for christmast!!!! Ok so here is the plan. you have the number from the last email??? so you will call me in here at 12 oclock there. Like the 12 oclock i used to wake up at 12. here it will be... well actually im not sure what the time is... either 3 or 4 hours from here to there. so either do it at 11 or 12 whatever ends up equaling 3 here. this will all happen on christmas day.... so after presents or around the time you all wake up hahahaha. but MAKE SURE YOU GET THE TIME RIGHT!!!!!! 3 oclock in chile. 11 or 12 in the states im not sure! check the time change!!!

hahaha kelli i cant believe you got in a wreck!!! (just kidding i can!) but i hope your ok! it does not mean you are a bad driver. just do better next time ;).

dad mom i love the emails. i dont have much time to respond but i do love them!!

so much to say wow!!!

ok so we should have a baptism this week i am not sure if it will happen though cause they have to be married before sunday. hahaha but that would be the ultimate christmas present! her name is marlen and her boyfriend is a member rodolfo. they are awesome! also we have another investigator who is GOLDEN wow hahaha. she is a friend of our housekeepers daughter. named Conni. she is really really good. there are a lot of people with dates, but we gotta get them to church!!!
speaking of church. So we had our last zone meeting with Pres. Lovell about church. How to get people to church. The importance. It was really good. So his commitment was for us to apply these things to our teaching etc. apply it. Be wise. So i´ve been studying, pondering, praying, A LOT about church. For like 2 or 3 days it was all pretty shallow. Just a bunch of knowledge. Not so much understanding. I wanted a stronger testimony of church, a deeper root, so i when i teach people it is actually powerful.

While sitting in church listening to the talk of Hermano Pallan it just hit me. He was giving a talk on the atonement. And wow i had the most profound realization, i just got thinking and thinking and here is what i wrote in my journal. The SACRAMENT IS VERY VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!

¨we need to think of jesus christ everyday, not just christmas. In everything we do. He suffered the pains and sins of everyone. If I dont find people, sheep, to bring back to the fold, to partake of his atonement, his sacrifice, then he suffered for nothing. And i cant allow that to happen. That should be what drives me in th work. I am the servant of "certain man". Like the in the parable of the dinner. Everyone needs to know, everyone must partake of his sùpper, his sons atonement. This is apart of my purpose. Invite people to come to Christ. To partake of his atonement THROUGH baptism. WE are very blessed to taste of the sweetness of Jesus Christs atonement every week. To receive the spirit for every week."

ok this next thing will be really really hard to explain.

The sacrament is very very very important. We should live from sacrament to sacrament. Week for week. That week, until the next sacrament is OUR LIFE. Every week we strive to learn from the week before to have less sins to be better and be a better person. We try to fix our mistakes and not do them again. But wow i cant explain this. Every Sunday, we are all perfectly clean after we take the sacrament. We are all the same. So with that in mind, what will be the difference between one member receiving the celestial kingdom and the other receiving the terrestial. Think about it. Ponder about it. What happens in between the Sundays. The week. The little things are what make the difference. All in one week. Little little little things is the difference between the celestial kingdom and terrestial. What happened in one day may be the difference. Goodness this is really hard to explain.

I´ll use an example.

So if you only get the shower on Sunday every week. So you shower on sunday, then you have to go through all week without showering. You can give yourself little spongebaths at the end of the days to try get cleaner but there is no way that you can clean yourself completely. So the difference between entering into the super clean white house and not are little things that make you dirty. Little things. Little little things. Within the span of one week. Your shower is the sacrament. Your are clean. Spongebaths are repentance. But we have to keep ourselves clean. Little things like arguing, being mad, not being charitable, the things we could have done are the difference. EVERY WEEK IS OUR LAST WEEK. SUNDAY IS WHEN WE ARE JUDGED, WE HAVE TO PREPARE FOR THAT.

But the lord will just come randomly, any day. You have 7 days like abillion times. But within one set of 7 days, you will be judged mostly. I have no idea how to explain this. But if you do not go to church. Then you dont shower. Then you are really really dirty. That is bad. You will not be ready. You will not have the spirit to guide you to stay clean and be happy.

We learn, we improve, we become more Christ LIke and more ready for heaven.

Learn from you mistakes every week, strive to be better the next one. It is your second chance it may be your last.

Matt 6:34, 3 Nefi 13:34. Dont worry about tomorrow. Sufficient is the evil today.

HOPE YOU UNDERSTOOD!!

Elder Reeder :)

oh by golly grab the holly here comes christmas family!!!!!!!!!!!

12/13/10

i was just thinking of that song so i changed the subject to it....

Wow I cannot tell you how much I love hearing from all of you! It really makes me sooooo happy :). Today i pulled out my patriarchal blessing and the thing kelli made for me with the temple on it and it made me really happy. Sometimes i forget of all the people at home i know and love and that i am actually from america hahaha. But really i love everything you do for me. Thank you thank you thank you for everything!!! I just looked at pictures of my district day i havent looked at for a while and WOW i have no idea what the deal is but it just makes me SOOOOOOOOO HAPPPPPPYYY to look at them in photos we have hahahaha. Like just overwhelming happiness to the point of just looking at the picture and laughing like a crazy person! I dont know how to describe it but hahaha yeah. I feel very good with all of the support i have and i am very thankful and i pray for all of you everyday!

Mother and father, that makes me sad that Brother Salmond wont send the emails to me :( but i am studying the BOM and New Test a lot reading, thinking, etc i thought it be nice to have like profound truths of Bro. Salmond to look for but its okay haha!! I understand! That is super cool you saw Kenna at the LDV thing tell her hi for me! Im excited for you to receive the package that you have sent me. It will be super good haha! I am excited. So shauna and james sang a duet?? or maybe you mean erin hahaha...... I am confused. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU GRAMMY AND GRANDAD AND GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!!!!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE SUPPORT!!!!! And with Rueben. Yes accept him! He is the or well was an investigator but i found out hes been baptized so he is just inactive. But he is really cool. Just doesnt go to church. At that age so i understand but i am working with him haha. For christmas we get to call you guys whoohoo!!! The number is well first you need the chilean internation number.... but the phone number 065441584 that is the number of the mammita. i believe you need to call her. you will call me on sunday evening well ya sunday is chrismas. We will tell you the time like the day before but plan to be home around 3-9ish in the afternoon. Or just be at home for chrismast!!!! oh and bring scott maybe?? hahaha you dont have to but i see him as part of the family hahahaha

About max...... Wow. I really really really hope he will be ok. What lead up to the crash?? So if i understand he is in the hospital and has brain trauma and is in a coma because he got hit by a car...... Im not sure if i should write it right now or send a letter?? Hmmm... well i will have to decide now. I will write him a letter and something short right now. MAX!!!!! Please be ok! You are my favorite person ever!!! I am going to work extra hard and pray extra hard so you will be blessed. Ok? So dont you worry about a thing because i trust the lord and you are going to recover! Im all the way in Chile but i still think about your influence you had on me in my life and how awesome you are!! So dont get discouraged! Try to the see the good! Love ya!

Kelli, i love your letters!!! Its awesome to see how your progressing!!! Your teeth look great!!!! YAH! Hahaha i am glad you look up to me so much but dont follow my example if i do something stupid! Follow the spirit. If you feel something is bad dont do it. If you feel its right do it. Follow the spirit, pray for the spirit, follow it, then you will be happy! And maybe get a planner so you can get things done that you need to get done. My newest thing i love from the mission! I will conquer the world with the new no longer procrastinating Colin Reeder!! HAHAHAHA I WILL ACCOMPLISH EVERYTHING I WANT!!!! Haha ya. But maybe just start with a to do list and work from there. Love ya!

Hahaha shauna durfy hahaha wow that is nuts!!! I will call you the Durfsters or something hahaha i love my family. They rock!!!

Ok now the spiritual doctrine stuff!!

Yes. What i have learned this week. I have realized that I am not here to do my will. The Lords will. I have been called by a prophet of god to share what I know and that is where my authority comes from. Its like Jesus in the New Testament. He always says something along the lines of i am not here to do my will but the will of my father. I realize it is the same with me. Everytime someone rejects me, slams a door in my face, laughs at me etc.. It is all rejecting the lord. But the lord always extends his hand. Like the Missionaries always inviting people to hear NO MATTER WHAT! It bums me out how confused people are in chile. The catholic church and evangelic churches really confuse the people. They are all so lost in this doctrine that is actually really simple just tried to be interpreted super deep. People almost start crying when i talk to them but then they remember THEY ARE CATHOLIC etc. and tell me that. I know they feel the spirit but they choose to reject it.

I have been studying in Preach my Gospel Ch. 1. My purpose. It is the best chapter in the book. In the MTC they ALWAYS talked about your purpose. But not until i have read it have i finally got why. It is the best chapter. It gets me pumped every time i read it. I love it!!! I have been called by God to share HIS gospel in HIS work. Im going to do it regardless what you tell me in the street! All of these things with charity.

Bueno well that is all the time i have for now familia! Read the scriptures!!!! The Book of mormon!!! I am in Alma! Where are your?! Thank you for the quotes! Im excited to talk and stuff i will find out when!

Love, Elder Reeder.