Monday, March 14, 2011

March 14, 2011


familia!!!

Seth, happy birthday. Matthew happy late late birthday. happy birthday grandma and grandpa! also mom i need dallas elders address. i have a card for his birthday but i dont know where is in santiago.p im sorry there are no exclamtion marks but the keyboard went nuts and doesnt want to put them or any other things. kind of weird.

so just pretend i am just being really happy and excited about all of these things because i am! oh i found it it is on letter 7 now. weird. but yes mom ipod! if somehow you can put the installsetup for itunes on there thatd be great. just click and drag it to the harddrive of the ipod. the actual harddrive. then i can install whenever im on any computer cause like none have it and im not allowed to download it. but yeah.

so what i have learned. well what i have found out is awesome! pure revelation! lately we are working really hard trying to find new people to teach. we dont have many. so i was praying to know how i can find more people, do what the lord wants. and... i got my answer. i need to invite more people to follow jesus christ and be baptized. if you think about it, why would the lord give us HIS children if we are not teaching them how they can actually return to live with him. it makes a lot of sense. he wont give me his children to teach if i dont teach them how to return to live with him, or baptism. now we are inviting a lot more people, we are seeing big changes. it is incredible. i am working on explaining so people understand they really do NEED to be baptized. so clear they want to be baptized. it is basically what iv learned this week.

i feel really grateful to have learned so many things early and quick in the mission. it is mostly because i make a lot of mistakes because i am not afraid to try things, which leads to me learning quicker! a lot of elders shy away from teaching much, doing other things, but not me! i look a little crazy sometimes but you learn faster! you could just say im a elder with a lot of faith because i am all about DO. lets just do it and see what happens. if its not bad, sounds good then do it... faith without works is dead. we are here in this life to make mistakes and learn. if you never try, you never make mistakes, if you never make mistakes you never learn, if you never learn you never progress. thus the more you try and fail, the better you get at fixing things. so basically i am grateful for that ability i have to just do things from the lord. I see a few elders asking me questions, looking to me for advice and it makes my heart sick. they all say how they are bad elders and they should know more for their time etc..... but really what they need to understand is that is soooooo incorrect. we are all the same. we are all instruments in the lords hands. and you saying that you are a bad elder is basically saying the lord is bad. it is insulting the lord. its basically saying the lord cant do anything. we are all equal. the lord is all powerful. you saying one is better than the other isnt logical. maybe one more obedient to do what the lord wants but we all have the same potential, what the lord wants.

Soooo..... to do what the lord wants and be an instrument, you have to follow the spirit. to follow the spirit you have to be obedient with all the rules. then everything else comes. be patient, have hope, faith, dont doubt, listen to the council of your leaders. apply what you learn and happy day!!!! easy!!!!

i am beginning to have a deep love for the mission now. I am super happy!!! i love every day i get to teach more and more. i am becoming more loving!! my life rocks oh my heck!!!!!! I LOVE YOU ALL!!! I AM GOING TO WORK!!! I LOVE WORKING!!!!!

ELder Reeder.

Puerto Montt!!!

Mar 7, 2011

THis is one my better letters, i will try to start doing good again. :)

Hello Family! (and friends..) Things are going great here in Pichi Pelluco! We are right in the heart of the city. From this big mall and over just so you know, although we don´t head over there too often cause there are too many tourists and contacts are sort of useless in a way since some are from Germany and don´t understand us...

But yes this week was good! We are improving! We are following the spirit better! Good stuff!

Funny story. So haha we were going to this kids house named Manuel and my comp talked to a guy outside thinking it was him ( i knew it wasn´t) and he let us in like that. We talked with him, he was a little drunk but more there than not. hahha oh wow, I can´t tell you how many times hahaha wow just there are so many drunks in Chile. It is really sad, this guy cried almost the whole time, he cried all over Elder Metcalf haha! On his shoulder. At first I felt really bad, but after like 20 minutes of this and grabbing our hands and shoulders for strength while talking to him I just ended up smiling cause this guy wanted to change so bad. I just had to smile and tell him its ok. Elder Metcalf got a lot of snot on his shoulder and a wet hug etc... hahaha!!! But he had talked with missionaries before, his name is Miguel. It was super funny haha!

Also another experience. We burned all of our plans, not even one lesson and it was the end of the day with a member and we still hadn´t taught. So we just looked around, and I remembered something, something good about one house (a rich one) i remember a nice guy hanging out around by it like he lived there. So I pointed there and said lets go. We went, some dogs tried to kill us by comp insisted and I glad he did. I was definitely prompted. A girl came outside, just said, yeah come in! And we were like SWEET! But so we went in, turns out her dad fell when he was trunk on their stairs/driveway and has mental problems now and doesn´t have the capacity to learn new things. So he is just deteriorating. But first thing we asked after the prayer was why did you let us in. And she just broke down crying, and she is mad a god, but wants to forgive him and lots of other stuff.

Coincidences like this, they don´t just happen. Things, they don´t just happen. Everything, every thought that influences you, every action you take, it is all influenced by our Heavenly Father. He loves each and every one of you. Yes the Holy Ghost is real. It is available in these times as well as in times of old (1 Nephi 11) and it is the greatest gift you can have in your life. If you follow it, it will lead you to the happiest, most sucessful life you could possibly have, and as well a right hand at the throne of God in the end. Eternal Life.

For those of you who are looking, searching, confused, you have your answer. Read the Book of Mormon, pray about it, sincerely pray about it to know if its true. If it´s true it means everything. " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" "Knock and it shall be opened". The door doesn´t open itself. You have to knock, then you will receive your answer. I feel very strongly about following the spirit now. It is the greatest thing you can do in your life, do what God would have you do. When you pray you are aligning your will with his will, he has blessins already ready for you. He will make your life far more than you ever can. Regardless of money, regardless of status, he will make you more. He will make you a good person, like Jesus Christ, and you will have your family and be happy. All if you follow the spirit. But you can´t follow the spirit if you don´t renew your covenants at sacrament, or if you don´t obey the commandments. And you need the spirit. So repent, change your life, and be happy. Follow the spirit. You have the choice. Every man is free to choose eternal life or eternal misery. If you think how is it possible? just read the Book of Mormon, ask God, you´ll get your answer. And trusting in that answer, that is Faith.

I don´t know. To me it is all very clear and very logical. Not to mention the spirituality. The gospel makes sense, even more important is what I have felt. I am so grateful to have this knowledge. Just to understand what I do now will keep me on the straight and narrow path forever, and will help me know what i need to do to be happy with my family.

That is priceless. Everyone debating, just go. You will NOT regret it if you go. If you don´t go, I guarantee you will, and you will regret it the rest of your life. The haves and have nots can usually be traced back to the dids and did nots. Take a chance, have a little faith, and take that last step. Trust the Lord. (Proverbs)

Love you all! Here is the lowdown on Puerto montt beneath! I will start giving you my letters to the president! I got a sweet briefcase thing today! Random but sweet! THe CHURCH IS TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Hola Presidente!

I learned a lot this week. Things are starting pick up here in Puerto Montt, we are really excited. Our first week together was a little slow, but we managed to find 10 new invesigators this past week. So now we have people to teach haha, the Lord is really blessing us it is great.

I´ve learned this week from studying chapter 4 about the spirit a LOT. But what I have realized is that it is best not to stress about things like following the spirit. Like thinking, we need to follow the spirit and have a heart attack stressing about it. Rather I´ve learned we have much better days when we relax, know we are obedient, try to recognize the spirit by having a prayer in the heart thinking ¨lord am i paying attention, now show we where you want to go¨ has been much more effective. I believe that stress shouldn´t exist you actually have faith and hope. Yes it will exist but that a whole bunch. I have really had some great experiences with following the spirit this week. It is a real testimony builder.

My comp and I are working things out. He has some problems and I have some problems also. I find myself not wanting to make him mad and just agreeing with what he wants to do, but what I´ve learned from him is that we need to work it out. Make a compromise. With Elder Galovich, we both just didn´t really mind, he didn´t mind if i took over, and we´d just pick a side. But now I realize in order to have the spirit we both need to be happy. No contention. So in doing this I´ve learned some things and I hope he is learning things as well. I´m trying to work on being more social and expressing my emotions, and explaining my reasoning for things. A lot of times I think things about in my head to where it makes a lot of sense and I find a solution and i just blah tell it. It usually comes out really blunt or bold even though I don´t notice it. So now I am trying to explain first with charity so they understand.

It takes a little bit more time, but I know that it is for the better and I just need to be patient with working things out between us. I´m working on loving people, saying hi in the morning to the other Elders rather than going straight to exercises, shower, and studies. I like studying so I like to start early but I lack social communication and the other Elders told me that I need to be more like Christ and less like a pharisee. So I am working on it. I really love everyone and I don´t feel like that, I am just not one for being able to express my feelings. So I am trying to change it!

I love being here in Puerto Montt right now. I received an answer to my fasts in Church. Revelation again. I thank the Lord. I am excited to put it into practice and we´ll see how things go! We are improving every week and the Lord will help us meet the standard if we do all we can!

Thanks,

Elder Reeder

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Hello familia!!!!!

Feb 28, 2011

So big news. I got transferred... to PUERTO MONTT!!!!!! It is soooooo beautiful here! Definitely a big change. From a really tiny town in the forest and fields to THE HUGE GIANT TOURIST CITY. We are in in Pichipelluco (pee-chee-peyuco). Pretty sweet. We are actually reopening the sector so we don´t have any investigators, well we do now, but wedidn´t. So really we are just starting from scratch. We have an old area book from the past but not much. It is really good. I am with Elder Metcalf. He is from texas. Oh yeah! This is the sector Elder Day was in! He was comps with Elder Metcalf! All of the members and investigators know him hahah! I think he was on the other side though. Before it was all one really big sector. Now it is divided into 2 to manage better. We are on the side where there was like nobody, so we are walking around a lot. It really is a big change. It is really really pretty here in puerto montt. Everything is a lot faster, but i really like it. It is refreshing.

I have really learned how to love people more. Our investigators are progressing really fast because of it! The new zone is sweet but they are lacking excitement like we had in pto. varas (leading the mission) but is it totally ok because we are going to do a lot of good work here with the two of us!

To answer your questions Mom. All the winter stuff is marked down.... if you could send me a scarf that is not really bulky (thin!skinny!) but will keep me warm like one with really soft material for my face neck that´d be sweet! Some gloves that are warm but i will still be able to write effectively directions with them on. (i already have terrible handwriting xp). If you could send me 3 garment t shirts of the normal cotton ones that´d be great.

i´m not sick anymore, but i have a lot of flem. i eat pasta everynight. when it comes to food thats cheap my mind doesn´t expand much beyond pasta hahaha.

got the dvd player. works great!!!!!! oh and i guess we are aloud to use ipods here actually! as long as the music conforms with the rules in the white book is it ok! so if you could send me my IPOD! it is in the bottom of erin´s desk i think.... i put it in the bottom right drawer. haha i hid it so noone could use it. i think its there! find it! send it! i will delete all the crappy music. pretty much everything but there is also a lot of stuff i dont have here.

i haven´t gotten a usu bag nor a book. i didn´t get the church books yet.

you can just say yes to everyone on facebook mom. i dont mind! i will just delete everyone who is a bad influence when i get home!

ok cool stuff! so i love puerto montt already. the ward here is awesome. everything is organized, put together. the members are all really really nice and we have lots of members to come with us to appointments. they are really really great about taking care of investigators at chruch. with sitting by them, taking them to classes, befriending them. plus we can go and bring them to church because we don´t need to prepare everything and be their early. thus... more in church.... and more progressing towards baptism. one andrea absolutely loved it. i am so blessed to be here. i love it! walking is tough, but we are being smart and still teaching a lot for how few we have. we got along really well, and we are living with four elders here. elder amalla, elder williams. elder williams is brand spanking new hahaha! its great. i remember when i first got here, its fun haha.

well as far as things go to share. always remember your blessings. your prioritys. 1. god. 2. family. 3. fellow men. 4. yourself. pray to your heavenly father every day. outloud when you can by yourself. it really does make a big difference. love one another. remember it doesn´t matter how much you know about the gospel, you need to apply it. charity means absolutely nothing if your heart is not in the right place when you are doing things. 1 cor 13. you need to convert yourself everyday, change your heart, your mind, you. to become more like christ. i know that jesus christ is our savior. he is our brother. he is my best friend. i am sick of hearing people saying we worship joseph smith. i know christ lives. this is his work and through him, through his atonement can we return to live with our heavenly father.

and everyone else needs to know. share the gospel! its REAL easy! learn how and do it!

if you could help me out. right all of your fears etc about sharing gospel. that way i can understand a little more how i can help members here to talk to their friends!

Elder Reeder