first and foremost CONGRATULATIONS TO MY NEW BABY GIRL SAVY GRAY WHO ENTERED INTO THE WORLD THIS WEEK!!! Can't wait to see her & hold her when she's 8 months old :) Great work Danica, I'm so proud of you ya lil' mama of 2. Okay so I told my companion my idea for the subject line and I thought it was so funny but she didn't but surprise it has 2 MEANINGS AKA I THINK ITS A PUN BUT IM NOT REALLY SURE I FORGET ENGLISH GRAMMAR. So yes it got to 70 degrees this week and I was literally dying. I don't know how I'm going to ever go home because I'm used to wearing 3 layers of tights and being wet all the time and then the sun comes out and I am just confused and so is my body. but also, this week we had a visit from a member of the 70! (do you see the pun now? Don't worry I wasn't sweating meeting Elder Dube thanks for the concern). he is from zimbabwe and taught me how to say sister in Shona : Sisi. Cool life facts :) But before I talk about that here's the miracles of the week: last week I sent a picture of Rosa, the one moving to Mexico in like two weeks. So we had a lesson with her this week and she was doubting and hadn't read the book of mormon and was struggling knowing what to do so we invited her to pray right there on the spot to know if this really is the church of jesus christ and if she needs to get baptized. So she prayed and was silent for about 5 minutes and then she says I still don't know. All I saw was Jesus Christ and then a person standing in a font/pool things dressed in white waiting. What does that mean? I WANTED TO EXPLODE I WAS LIKE WOAH WHAT YOU JUST HAD A VISION. Rosa that is how we get baptized!!!!! She was like really?!? because she's never seen a baptism. YES ROSA. Lamanite descendants... they're amazing. Also this week we had another festival of finding but it was like so hot and i've been exhausted ever since because the sun has DRAINED my energy. Bring back the clouds and rain please. Elder Edward Dube came and did a mission tour. Normally the missions get one mission tour a year, but for those of you paying attention this is the second mission tour we've had in 6 months, Elder Gay came last November. So we are so incredibly blessed. It started on Friday he came and we did a north half of the mission zone conference and i was so spiritually enlightened!! One of the things that stood out most is everything he taught us he had a scripture reference for. Everything! The scriptures are the key and nothing brings the spirit stronger. He taught us about when he first got his call to be a general authority he felt incredibly unworthy, but in a big meeting Elder Perry looked at him and said "Elder Dube you look out of place. YOU BELONG HERE." Then we read in Exodus about Moses and how before he was called as a prophet what was he? he was a shephard. A SHEPHARD. He didn't feel ready. he didn't have the qualifactions. But God doesn't look at our resumes, he looks at our potential. And once we see it, we too will marvel. Another thing I loved was his engouragement to have everything we do point to Christ. This is not the church of Joseph Smith. This is not the church that doesn't drink cofee. This is the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church who's members are changing and repenting every day to change the natural man to become a saint and every time we repent we come closer and closer to being like JESUS CHRIST. gah I loved it so much. Then on sunday we had a special MLC with Elder Dube and he talked to us about Christ like leadership and what was his biggest focus? POINT THEM TO CHRIST. We are no greater than anybody else as leaders or even as members of the church. We are all humble servants of the Lord on the pathway to being more like Christ and if we want to help people and want to help them in a long lasting way, the only way to do so is to point them to Christ. We won't be here forever, but Christ will and as we connect them, them meaning everyone around us, to Christ that is the only way they can find lasting change and lasting happiness. One of the greatest teaching techniques he used was every few minutes he would turn to us all and ask "so what are you learning?" and wait until somebody answered. It made me reflect so much and everytime he asked the spirit told me what I was learning! His parting words to us were "missionaries. I beg of you, run with this work". I know this really is God's work, His hand is in everything, every minute every detail it is His. We are Christ's servants and He doesn't need hermana Reed, no he just needs someone to do his will. I love this gospel, this gospel of change and joy, and I'm so grateful to be out here sweating and working and talking to everyone about the joy of change they can recieve. hermana Reed IV PICTURES
1 your local libraries panda headphones aka tender mercies of the Lord 2/3 proof that Washington has flowers and not just trees 4 my bff Sister Mclellan 5 THE Sister Dube! 6 trio life for 2 days didn't last long enough :) ps I got that dress at DI for $4 mom I'm officially converted
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WASN'T THAT 8 WAY SKYPE CALL SO FUN?! So crazy to think that next time I call home I'll be like within weeks of being in your actual presence. Time is flying way to fast, but it was so great to see all of my fam. Thank you to the fam with kids that have taught them to still remember me :) Wow so I don't know how much I should tell that hasn't already been told. This week we went to the baptism of Maddie, the amazing girl we met less than a transfer ago and was baptized this weekend! For those who didn't hear the story, Maddie we found knocking doors and she's 18 and she told me she was going to go to school in Idaho so I proceeded to count all of my idaho facts that my best friend Joelle helped me learn and told her all about Shauna the world famous cow which definitely caught her interest and eventually we taught her restoration and committed her to be baptized and yesterday she was BAPTIZED! She is amazing and I've never been so grateuful I went to Idaho and saw that cow. Other miracles, we're teaching a lady named Rosa who is moving to Mexico in like two weeks but she definitely knows the church is true and wants to be baptized so we're working on teaching her all the lessons but she'll be baptized in Mexico, she said she knows where the church is, which means we get to send an awesome referral and skype session with the mexico elders! Referrals are so great. The church is so true. petra is doing awesome. We had a lesson with her this week and she was like "hermanas, don't worry, I'm stronger than Satan" and we were like what Petra and she was like "sometimes Vicente starts kissing me but then i get this really hot feeling and it hurts so i just move to the other room" and we were like WHAT PETRA YOURE SO STRONG and she says Vicente always invites her to drink beer and she just says "no vicente i dont drink anymore". LIterally this is the woman we haven't taught in two weeks since she missed her baptisimal date and then she says "I want to be baptized July 29. It's my birthday. Get it. Because " gah i can't say it in Inglish its not as funny she said "porque voy a nacer" hahahahahahah SHES SO FUNNY AND SO AMAZING I LOVE THE MISSION :) Wow, I could list off lilke a million other miracles like the fact that we're teaching a lil girl named Kamay who's sisters all are members but they all have sickle cell and her parents are bipolar and theres some agression in the house but we went by and everything was crazy and we sat in the corner with her of the door frame and we just sang I am a child of God together as everyone was screaming around us and she just stared me in the eyes and sang to me and I could've cried the spirit was so strong as children just know that they are children of a loving heavenly Father it changes everything. I loved talking to my family, but what I loved even more is that I get to see the hand of the Lord every day and see people recognize how much God loves them every day. Thank you for all the sacrifices you make so that I can be here and I can serve our Lord and Savior. I love this work and I love Jesus Christ. Oh and by the way hermana short and i are here for another 6 weeks! COUNT YA BLESSINGS ALL OF FEDERAL WAY IS GETTING BAPTIZED :) hermana Reed 1 y 2 MADDIE GOT BAPTIZED BY IMMERSION
3 this is rosa my love of my life 4 district pics 5 your toughest hermanas on the block 6 the one time there was sun, Happy Mothers day hermana souza! 7 HERMANA HUHEM LEFT ME AND I CRIED LAST MLC TOGETHER It's been a bumpy ride. The mission is so much the greatest experience of my life because it has come with so much heart ache and so much joy. Joy in the Savior and Heartache because of my love for these people and for the Savior. there truly is nothing like it. This week was full of exchanges, blitzes, zone conferences, and sick days so the work was slightly slow, not to mention the fact that none of our investigators wanted to meet with us, but that's okay! Agency is a thing we can't control but we can control the number of times we annoy them with voicemails!! :) no shame, it gets us in doors sometimes. Petra was doing so good, we had a lesson with her on Monday where we read in Mosiah 21 where the people had to postpone their baptisms because Ammon didn't feel worthy of it, but that they waited on the spirit of the Lord. We talked about how sometimes the timing isn't right, but it doesn't mean the decision isn't right. Then Maribel, petras daughter, straight up says to Vicente "you know she's waiting so you two can get baptized together". Vicente just sits and smiles. Well at least he knows! The rest of the week we couldn't find Petra home and she woudn't talk to us much.. with broke some hearts but it's okay because she knows this is true and Satan sometimes is the worst but it's going to be okay and this week we will work even harder to find her and help her progress towards that beautfil day. We were able to be in contact more with Maricella, Maribel's cousin who we've been teaching and we had this INCREDIBLE LESSON about the power of prayer and the book of mormon and she has so many great questions and then she said she hasnt prayed about it and we asked her why and she said she just can't. After some major direction from the spirit and some inspired questions she told us she can't pray because she already knows the answer. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and she knows she has to act and change a lot of things, but she knows it's true!! She was crying and I was crying and it was so amazing the spirit was so strong. The power of that book. She's got a long road ahead of her, i.e. spouse in Mexico she hasn't seen in 9 years (who does that?) but we will be with her every step of the way! maybe her and Petra can have a double divorce double wedding party. Can't wait. Other major events, I had to translate stake conference this weekend... SO ROUGH. Some advice for anyone ever speaking in stake conference: PLEASE TALK SLOWER AND PLEASE DONT TELL STORIES ABOUT YOUR COLLEGE FLY FISHING DAYS. IT'S JUST TOO ROUGH. The church is true and I am so grateful I have the blessed opportunity to watch people's lives be changed as they repent and as they read the book of momon. I've been studying patience lately and I've realized every time they say patience in the book of mormon it talks about their patience in long suffering and affliction. Sometimes, things get really rough and nobdoy meets with you all week and your investigators drop you, but it is only then that the lord can make you an instrument in his hands. estoy agradecida que Dios me puede usar en sus manos para la salvacion de las almas de los hombres. Can't wait to see your faces this week!!!!!! FELIZ DIA DE LAS MADRES MI MAMA :) Hermana Reed ps we won the gold plates again #blessed I cant even express the feels from this week. So this saturday was supposed to be like celestial saturday ya know Petra's baptism day, but what a crazy week of plot twists we have had. So on Wednesday she had her interview with President Layman, one of the counselors of the mission presidency who served in Chile, and he was amazed by Petra's faith. At the end of the interview he asked her is there any reason she shouldn't be baptized and she replied "No puedo esperar mas". OKAY WOW PETRA. She is amazing, all this week we knew the adversary was going to be out to get her, which it was. She has been living with her boyfriend Vicente who was somewhat interested but not really ready to make big commitments like Petra. The elders were actually teaching him at one point, and somehow they got in their heads that law of chastity really meant just living in seperate rooms in the same house. Hm, that caused some problems. So Vicente didn't know he actually had to move out til' like Wednesday. here's the Vicente story: He has a wife in mexico that he isnt able to divorce because her dad is psycho and would take his whole estate if he tried to divorce and then Vicente wouldnt have any inheritance for his kids back in mexico. So marriage wasn't an option for him and petra. Then me and Hermana Short went to a bunch of mexican tiendas around here because they have a lot of people that try to rent cuartos which is all Vicente can really afford. WE found a bunch, but all way expensive too. Then we found out Vicente is the only one with income that could pay rent for Petra's apartment. So basically he couldnt leave or else Petra wouldnt have a place either and they both dont have any friends or family that could take them in right now. Insert heart break. We were with both petra and Vicente friday night really late (repented later about that) and were trying all we could to find a way that she could still get baptized but also keep this incredibly sacred law of God. The spirit was telling me, for probably longer than I realized, that she wasn't going to be able to be baptized this weekend. This drama wasn't the way she should start her membership in the church. We told Petra we would have to wait a while to find a more permanent solution for them both and she just cried. It was probably the most painful thing I've had to go through on my mission and Hermana Short and I just came home and cried. It just hurts me to see people who are so ready and know the truth and know they need to be baptized by someone who holds the proper authority of God and then the circumstances are just out of their control. Saturdaywaking up was really hard and we were emotionally unstable and couldn't get ahold of Petra so even more sad. I remember just praying and I dont know a good word in English but just rogand y suplicando a Dios for something to help us out that day. Someone to serve. And let me tell you, God answers prayers. WE had to stop by our branch president's house in the morning and he was working on his yard and we asked if we could help so we gloriously got to help pick weeds for about and hour to which he gave us some pasole and told us "you answered my prayers, there was no way I was going to get this all done today". Then one of our less actives called us and said she's been working on cleaning her backyard all morning and could use some help, so we were able to transfer bricks and clean up her whole place for a few hours to which she told us that she was increibly grateful, and then came to church the next day. It was such a tender mercy, and even though it was just us serving people, it was what I needed to get my spirtual food that day. I know God listens to our prayers. All day on Friday I was praying and fasting for Petra to have God send his armies of Angels to help her, and the whole night I felt like the angels were the ones doing everything they could to stop the baptism. I know that they really did, because that was not the day she was supposed to be baptized. I dont know why. I don't know if its for her to help strengthen her faith and testimony or if its so that soon Vicente can also come unto Christ or if its because someday there is someone who needs to see her be baptized that couldn't be here this week or I really dont know, But I know God has a plan and He loves His children. This is His church. And His work. And I'm so grateful that for 9 months I've been apart of it. So that was long, but basically the week. In lighter news, a bird we named Timmy had babies in our ceiling this week. I guess shes a Tamara. I love you all! Hermana Reed |
Hermana Fallyn ReedMissionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Federal Way, Washington Mission. July 2016 - January 2018. Archives
January 2018
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