There must be something in the water

Good Morning yall! I'm sending this off early because I dont know when ill have wifi today. we are going down to Clarksville for Pday and then on exchanges up in Hopkinsville! Should be fun!

Wowza... what an interesting week. So basically.... this week was great! A finally got baptized on Friday!!!! It was awesome!!! She has been so excited to get baptized for a long time now. President Dennis, came up and interviewed her, said that her son could get blessed as a baby that Sunday!!! So she asked me to preform that blessing... but it didn't happen yesterday. It will be done after conference. 

Let's see... Elder Fast is finally getting better. He hasn't thrown up all week. My birthday was boring. Elder Fast ate some mushrooms that he is allergic to on Monday night and was sick all tuesday. So we had to stay in. We tried to find members to come watch him while i went out with some other people but no one was available that day. I thought I would get really anxious/depressed/annoyed becasue i was in the apartment for 4 days pretty much but PRAYER WORKS! I asked God to help me get through it. He did. I actually learned a lot from us not being able to go out. 

Yesterday I gave a talk in sacrament meeting. I was super worried about how I was going to present it, but when I gave the talk everything came out the best way that i wanted it to. I referenced a talk from the October 2004 General Conference Titled "Press On" And it says this. Sorry im not going to translate it to Portuguese or Spanish or whatever language you may be speaking. 

"No one is immune from Satan’s influence and temptations. Do not be so proud to think that you are beyond the adversary’s influence. Be watchful that you do not fall prey to his deceptions. Stay close to the Lord through daily scripture study and daily prayer. We cannot afford to sit back and take our salvation for granted. We must be anxiously engaged our whole lives. These words of President Brigham Young motivate and remind us that we can never give up the fight to endure: “The men and women, who desire to obtain seats in the celestial kingdom, will find that they must battle every day [for this sacred goal].”"

SO. I have the question. Are you battling? Are you fighting each day for that seat? Will you earn it? 

I love my mission. Every minute of it. 

Love yall 

Reese

My Family is the best family! Thank you so much!!!

So. Many. Post-it. Notes. Time for a clean up

Im nOt CrAzy im just a LitTle UnWell

Oh my goodness... So Elder Fast (My new companion) has been sick for the past couple days and its Sunday evening. He has been throwing up since Friday morning... Soooo... we called the mission nurse the next day and she told us to stay inside.... WELL we didn't. Ashley and Will GOT MARRIED!!!!!!!! They are our two most progressing investigators. Ashley will be getting baptized on Friday! I am so excited for her! Will has the desire to be baptized, but he still smokes and hasn't been to church yet... but he wants to be baptized. So excited.

So we then stayed inside and elder fast continued to be sick through the day. We decided that we needed to go to church even though he still wasn't feeling well. He leaned over to me during sacrament meeting... and then got sick again. Ironically the mission nurse called us just before sacrament and left a voicemail.So we texted her and told her we were at church... she then said that we should be at home!! So... we stayed at church, mostly because we were teaching during the second hour and didn't want to have to throw that on our Branch Mission leader last minute... but needless to say... I WOULD MUCH RATHER BE TRACTING THAN BEING IN THIS APARTMENT!!!!!!!

I feel SO USELESS!!! But its okay. I've had some pretty BOMB studies while I've been in here. Locked in with only P-Day in sight. SO, that is why I have one of my favorite songs as the subject of this weeks email. Cuz I've gone a little nUtz...

But on a serious note, this week was awesome. I sure miss Elder Mathews a lot. He and I got really close in the 6 weeks we were together. So proud... So proud.

We were able to set 2 baptismal dates this week! One of them is the girlfriend of a member, and the other is a former investigator. I am so excited! Hopefully that we can teach and help them come closer to God. 

Oh man as I have studied today, I have learned that this church is the only true church! There is no other. It is a very BOLD statement, yes, but I know and believe it with my whole heart and soul. I want everyone to understand why it is so important to be baptized by someone holding the authority of God. The Bible testifies of "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" (Ephesians 4:5) There is only one way. The Bible also testifies that people will wander away from God. Not.. might, but there will be a falling away. Once again the Bible says, "Behold the days come... that I will send a famine in the land... and they shall wander... to and fro to seek the word of the Lord and shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12) The Authority left the earth, but i know that BECAUSE GOD LOVES US SO MUCH, He promises us that he will show us the way. He gave us a prophet, Joseph Smith, who wondered which church was true. Who wanted to know why there were many churches. So he decided to take up the challenge extended in James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God." He went into that grove of trees, knelt down and received that answer. He says "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me... When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" 

I know that this church is true. No doubt. I love my mission. It has changed me more than anything has. I can see it. I looked into the mirror the other night and saw who God has turned me into. I cant wait to look into MY mirror at home in a year and 6 weeks to see how much more God has changed me.

In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Love yall

Reese

This is our super sketchy bench press

Will and Ashleys wedding

We cover 2 areas. Its, how a famous President once said "HUUUGGGEEEE"

Elder Mathews and Sis. Gray were able to skype into the wedding the other day! #MoFordliveson 

No We Ain't Never Getttin Older

THIS WEEK WAS AWESOME!!!!! Mostly just because of yesterday's, because....

I saw the O's again!!!!!! We had Stake conference in Hopkinsville and A (mom note - A Is the girl from the first family Reese baptized) was giving a talk!!!! Oh man. It was such an awesome experience to be able to see her conversion from her perspective. As missionaries we see people but we cannot see what is going on behind doors when we leave. A was able to share what was going on after Elder Jessop and I left their home. Oh!! she has been accepted into BYU-I and will be attending later this year!!!!!!!!!! I am stoked for her. Also. I want to ask y'all to keep her dad in your prayers. With him being in the army, he can get deployed. Later this month he will leave for 9 months for deployment in Kuwait. So please pray for him and his safety while he is out there. Seeing them just increased my love for them so much. I failed to get a picture with them but it's okay. I love the O's. 

Also, during Stake conference president stone was giving his talk right after A gave hers. President caught my ear as he proceeded to read a letter that a "certain" missionary wrote him back in June. He said and I quote "A missionary serving here in the Hopkinsville Stake wrote this to me, quote...

'This week I had one of the first miracles of my mission. On Saturday morning, during comp Study, we wanted to practice tracting approaches. What the goal was, was to work on different approaches for us to do when we knock on a door. When tracting, we Kinda get into a set of certain words that we use all the time. My goal was to use different words. So, when I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say during this practice, I couldn't think of anything! I eventually pulled out a scripture that I had looked at the day before. Alma 34:32 tells us what the purpose of this life is. It says 

"For behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."

This tells us simply what our goal in life should be. But no matter what, this is the purpose of our life. Later that day we were out knock on doors. Elder Jessop knocked on the first door. No one answered that door. My turn was up. I went up to the door wanting to use what I had studied earlier that day in Alma. I knocked on the door, a lady opened and I introduced who we were. I then proceeded to ask her what she thought the purpose of this life was. She responded saying that she had been wondering that for the past little while. I then proceeded to read that scripture to her. She loved it! She wanted to hear more and learn more about what we had to say. We then talked to her and taught her the first lesson. We will be going back there on Saturday. I cannot believe that the exact thing that I had studied that morning was the exact thing that this lady needed to hear""" end of quote

PRESIDENT STONE QUOTED ME IN STAKE CONFERENCE!!!!! Oh my goodness I was stoked. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. But it wasn't over yet. He then continued on and told about how prepared A

was from his understanding by reading more of my emails to him. I didn't realize how important that letter was going to be in 8 months. Wow. This Stake conference was crazy. I love it here. I can't tell you how much I love serving SPECIFICALLY in the Hopkinsville Stake.  There were other experiences shared by members of wards that I've served in that I was a part of. I can't even express to you my happiness right now. As some people would say... I can't even. 

Welp. Hopefully that made sense. If not. Sorry

Oh so elder Mathews is leaving me. Leaving me in the middle of hicktown. And guess where he is going. Yep. Clarksville..... I'm so mad. And Sis. Gray, another member of the district is going to Clarksville as well... So yeah. Oh and I'm the only one in my district who is staying... Yay. I love it. But it's okay. I swear I'll live. Super stressed right now but it's all good. That's what blessings are for. 

I love yall so much. 

Super hero's--Sis. McFarland, Sis. Gray, Elder Mathews, yours truly

  He is the son of an investigator--(basically a member) 

They say don't look back... Oops. No ragrets.

 Zone conference 

Cleanest car in the zone!!!! What whattttttttt!!!! #malibugatti

Naw Naw honey I'm good I could have another but I probably should not

This week's song is in reference to when we tract. 

What shall I say about this week. It really feels like the weeks are flying by. Derek has been out over a year! It feels like yesterday when we talked for the last time! I miss you chicken! The weeks are starting for fly by. Especially because this was such a busy week. But to be honest I really don't remember too much of what we did. 

Let's see on Tuesday we were on exchanges so that was pretty fun. I learned a whole lot about some missionaries in the surrounding areas. There is one missionary who is in the district who has autism. He is so fun. I love the kid. He will have a very hard mission but his trainer right now is perfect for him. I suggested to President that they stay together one more transfer. 

I'm sorry to say but this week was really a blur. We had a fireside last night that was for members to bring their friends/non members. So we had the whole evening set up. We were expecting about 20 people but we had about 50!! With about 7 non members! We say that it was a total success. We were so happy when our Chapel stared to fill up. Elder Mathews and I sang "I need thee every hour." We did alright... We were rushing to find the page so I couldn't find my note when we started but all is well. I found it a note later and we sang pretty well. 

This week looks to be like another busy one. We have a few people that we want to put on date. So hopefully we can get that done! 

To be perfectly honest the work here in this area is very slow. We don't find too many people to teach. So when we found 4 new investigators this past week we were stoked. We have been working so hard to find more people. I know that God loves us and as we (as missionaries) look for his people who are prepared, we will find them if we are prepared ourselves. I love this gospel. I am learning so many new things. It  helps my love for the Gospel of Jesus Christ increase. I know that missionary work is HARD! I have a testimony of it. But it is the best thing I have ever done.

Love y'alls 

Reese 

                                               1/2 price sonic shakes. So we had to get the biggest one. 

I don't always make cookies. But when I do. I prefer homemade. --Stay hungry my friends.