God Im askin you to come change me into the Man i wanna be

This week was legit. So other than the fact that we are baptizing nations out here... hahahahahahahhahah jk @bananas4me -> Hannah Smock Baptizes more people each week than we teach hahah. But its been great. I love it here in Clarksville. The people here are... interesting... but really kind! I love it. 

So we contine to see miricals throughout the weeks here in Clarksville. It has been great being able to work this hard and see results. We will be having the 2nd baptism on the transfer on Saturday which is awesome. This will be my second baptism from tracting. 

We found A the second week we were here and he is so repentant. He is super excited to be baptized on Saturday. He didnt recieve an answer until we read through the interview questions with him. We got to the second question which is "Do you believe the Church and gospel of Jesus Christ have been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith?" and he said yes. We stopped and said "A you do realize what you just said right? You just said that you believe it to be true."

 He then went on and said that he guess he does and as the lesson went on he told us that he keeps looking back and continues to realize that he was getting his answer but just didnt recognize it. He was getting so frustrated that he wasn't recieving his answer. We were starting to get frustrated that he wasnt recieving it either. He was doing everything right. We had taught him all of the essential commantments and he was living them. He was reading the Book of Mormon, praying honestly and fervently. HE WANTED TO KNOW! He just didn't recognize he was recieving his answer all along. 

Welp i love my mission. The hermanas brought us by some extra food that a member gave them and we started talkin about how awesome missions are and how much they change you. It was super cool cuz we all started telling mission stories and i looked back and thought... oh no. Ive now lived in Tennessee longer than i lived in Hawaii... This is going by quick. I cant wait to keep working hard to bring souls closer to Jesus Christ.

Oh I also came to the conclusion that the people who live next door to us listen to KNBR 680 every morning. I can hear it actually right now. Now im on the other side of the county. That's pretty cool.

Love Yall

Reese

You can never fall too hard so fast so far that you can't get back

I am finding some SUPER legit christian music. Its so great because it all has a super good beat and is very meaningful at the same time. This song here is "Who you are" By Unspoken. I have a super great playlist that we can listen to while cruzin round town in our 2017 chevy Malibu with wifi in it. Or during lunch when we dont have the car.... and we are walking... in the 10 degree weather with the humidity that cuts you so deep that the spirit within me wants to leave because its too cold. Oh did I mention a -2 degree windchill? No? Okay well there ya go. 

So this week was BOMB. We found a TON of investigators. We set a high goal of being able to finding 7 new people to teach. We crushed that goal. We met our goal of 6 member present lessons. Oh man i cant tell you how amazing i feel right now. We also had a baptism last night.... so that was cool. We also set another date with Courtney's friend Mercaydes (Mercedes) on Friday. But we have to give her to the YSA sisters............ But we will definitely attend that baptism. STOKED. 

I had an amazing experience that i don't want to go too much into detail on but during a lesson this week, i had the opportunity to share my testimony. This experience will always be very near and dear to my heart. I very powerfully shared my testimony on something that i cant even remember. I was following the spirit. I am very grateful to be able to testify that i know without a doubt God lives and loves us. My testimony brought me to tears. I haven't cried while sharing my testimony in a long time. (Not including when i called home. THAT DOESN'T COUNT! Haha 

Today while i gave a talk on baptism i realized that i had shared my testimony so many times in the past few days. It was awesome. I am loving my mission yall. I cant tell you how much this has changed my life. Thank you for being an example to me. I am grateful for all of you. If you recieve this email, you played some part in my life to shape me to who i am today. I love you all and i miss you all very much but this, here in Clarksville Tennessee, is where i need to be right now. The Lord had prepared people here. I can see many more people entering into the waters of baptism in the near future. 

Love yall

Reese

1: roller skating Last pday! 

2: Zone Confrence with ya boi @therealprezstone #thelegend #gamechanger #schedulechange??? To be continued...;)

3: Snow? What is that? WOAH it's outside. 

4: Its cold outside.... and it didnt get up to 22 that day

5: Me-Courtney-Jody-Elder Taylor--> #theotherlegend

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

Hey yall! 

OHHHH BOYYYYYY. This week was amazing. SO! We set two baptismal dates with people. I cant remember if i had mentioned them earlier but anyway.... C  (baptism date-- January 8th 2017) is 20 years old, super awesome, 3 year game warden, girlfriend to a returning member to the church (who is a stud as well) and owns a super cute puppy named Duke (who is actually missing at the moment); and Ase (pronounces A-shay)--(baptism date-- January 28th 2017) a very... large and in charge, not looking like he is actually 50 years old, former "savage" (his words) black guy who is from the island south of Jamaica. I cant remember what it is. But he is super cool. We tracted into him. Anyway moving on.

This week was crazy let me tell you. I saw so many things that added to my testimony that the Lord will provide. We had set a goal to find 7 new investigators this week, have 1 person with a baptisimal date, 2 investigators at sacrament meeting and 3 member present lessons. Now this isn't standard of excellence goals but we are working to achieve them. We worked super hard and we were able to one-up our goal of 1 person with a date. We were skeptical but we had 5 investigators at church. We head reached our 3 member present lessons, but we were short on our goal for new investigators. Right before sunday school started a member in the ward walked up to us with a guy who looked a little lost. He is dating a girl in the ward and wants to learn more about what she believes. So we taught him and were able to mark him down as a new investigator. AWESOME! One more to our goal of 7. Sunday went on, we ate dinner and then went out for the rest of the evening. Getting to 8:30 we still were out contacting people, looking for homes who had lights on and we were able to find a super nice family! We were able to achieve our goal! 

Now I know that this isn't about numbers, but i am now realizing that with enough faith and enough effort, we will be able to achieve our goals. In any circumstance. I was so happy too be able to see that Elder Taylor and I had the faith to find someone who is interested in the Gospel. 

SO basically a BOMB week. I have learned that if you set your goals, whether they be with missionary work, work, education (GPA), ect... that if you first go into these goals, talking with God first, asking him for guidance and direction; then work your butt off then you will see results. They may not turn out the way you imagined them, but you will be happy. You will achieve your goals. I know this to be true. I saw it this week. I saw it as we knocked on this door at 8:45 last night. 

Scripture of the week!! 

Proverbs 3:5-6-- Trust the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths

Love yall,

Reese

We out ere tractin ayoooo foshooooo

As a popular music artist once said... "Truuuuuu...."

Wishin you a hairy Christmas and a HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY new year

Christmas was actually a lot better than i was expecting this year. I was anticipation on being sad that i wasn't with family but being in a BOMB district we had a great time with each other. Christmas morning we got up at 6:30 as usual and then opened presents together. (The Spanish Elders live right across the hallway so we went over there.) Then thanks to my wonderful mother, we made French toast and eggs and bacon and some other things for breakfast! It was amazing. We then went to church had an awesome sacrament meeting, then went home and cleaned up breakfast, called home to family, had dinner and then went out with a bunch of missionaries to go caroling.

There were about 10 of us missionaries who went out. It was so much fun singing to members and investigators! We sang and there was one person who cried because no one had ever come caroling at her house before. It was amazing.

This week was yet another good week in terms of finding and teaching people. We found this one guy names Ase-- pronounced A-sé and he seems like a pretty solid investigator. He wants to read the Book of Mormon but couldn't read the little one we gave him, so we gave him a HUGE copy. He is a great guy. His home smells a little funny. Not in a bad way. Just a, burning of incense that is WAY too strong. But he is pretty cool and i am excited to see if he is actually interested in learning more. 

This week was a lot of tracting, and finding people to teach. But we did take some prettty funny pictures. But before I post those, I want to share my testimony that i know that the church is true. I know that i am not alone in this work. Good is there helping me every step of the way. I just need to reach out to him and let him help me and carry me. Its a lot harder than i expected, giving up everything but as i do so, i find happiness.

Love yall

Reese

Feasting

Christmas Morning!!!

"Look good Play good Elder"

The caroling krew 

Lookie here, a wild Hamilton in its natural environment. Look out. He may look like he is sleeping but he is ready to pounce at any MOMENT!!

I'll be home for Christmas if only in my dreams

So this week was probably the best week on the mission thus far. I absolutely love Clarksville. I love my new companion. I love the Ward. This week we found 7 new people to teach where I haven't found 7 new investigators to teach in the past 2 transfers. It has been a fantastic week! 

On Tuesday so this is a funny story. We went down to transfers and I met my comp elder Taylor. He is from Logan Utah. Same Stake as elder Coburn. He is super fun. Super hard working missionary. He has been on his mission for one less transfer than me. But anyway, We loaded all of our stuff into the car and headed out up to Clarksville. About an hour and 15 drive without traffic. So we get to Clarksville and we think... hmm I wonder where the apartment is. So we just drive to the church cuz I know where that is and we call and text some people but then we get a phone call from our vehicle coordinator who then tells us that we need to come back down to Nashville to get 2 more elders because we forgot them. I'm not exactly sure how we're were supposed fit 4 missionaries and all of their stuff in a, oh did I mention 2017 Chevy Malibu with wifi in it and all these nifty things like lane assist, yaadda yadda yadda... NO WAY! We barely got the two of our stuff packed in there. So we drive back down and shove all their stuff in the brand new 2017 Chevy Malibu with wifi in it and head on our way back to Clarksville.

So our goal for the past week or so was to meet as many people as possible. Ward members, the Ward mission leader, bishop, less actives, investigators and then random people on the street. We worked our butts off this week. There was one day when elder Taylor turned on the light and told me that it was 6:35. I was like... no way the alarm didn't go off yet. He told me it did. I slept right through it. I NEVER sleep through an alarm. I never have. I always hear the quietest alarm. But because we worked so hard the day before I just kept on sleeping.

Some really strange weather patterns have been happening. So on Thursday it was 23 degrees at the highest. Friday was about the same but then on Saturday it got up to 75. Then snowed that night. Yesterday it was a high of 22. Hmm that's confusing. See pics later. 

Anyway there is too much that happened this week to tell but I know that God has a plan for all of us. I know because I need to know that right now with all the stress that is on me right now. I know that God ALWAYS provides a way for us to do the things which he commands us to do. Hmm that sounds familiar. I also know that god knows us personally and that he is always there for us. 

Love y'all. I can't wait to talk to my family this week on Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!! 

Reese. 

Pretty cool. Literally. Super cold outside. 

Shout out to Elder Taylor's

Ohhhh boyyyyy. This was not expected.  So transfer calls came this week. I'll give y'all a little time to think about where I'm going. But I'll give the hint. I'm not staying in Murray. 

This week was SO CRAZY!!!! So much stuff happened. I won't get into too many details but we had a general authority come and visit us on Thursday and that is what I'm going to talk mostly about in this weeks letter. 

Elder Kliebengat, a good buddy of my Padre, came and learned us up some knowledge. It was the best meeting I have been in on my mission if not my whole life. He basically told us that we need to do better but showed  love, care and concern with it all. It wasn't just "Man you guys are terrible missionaries." It was very blunt, but he told us and promised us that if we worked hard, were obedient, and shared the gospel with everyone we come into contact with them we will be blessed. One of the very blunt things he said was "The things you do on your mission reflect the depth of your conversion. If you are truly converted to the gospel you will be rushing out of the door to go preach. You will never miss your alarm at 6:30. Unless you're sick than that's okay. Get better so that you can continue to preach." This hit me super hard. Sometimes I am scared to go talk to people about the gospel. When we go out to eat or are in Walmart, I shouldn't be afraid of what I'm doing. I need to proclaim the gospel because I know how important it is. 

Another thing he said is "Knowledge is power." So true. Y'all know that already. The more we know. The more we can use it to help ourselves and others. 

Well I had a request from a certain someone to share my testimony. So here we go. 

I know, without a doubt that God lives. I know that he loves us. I know that he has a plan for each and every one of us and sometimes that plan isn't where we want to go. We might not want to take a certain route but we need to succumb to his will. We need to be humble. A wise man once said "Always stay humble and kind." This has been my goal on my mission. Working hard to stay humble. As I have done this I have see the blessings of God pour down on me. A "shower of heavenly blessings" (Dieter F. Uchtdorf) if you will. I know that Jesus Christ suffered for each and every one of us. I know that through him and because of him we will be saved IF and only when we do our part by repenting of our sins; coming closer to Christ; applying his teachings onto our life's. I know that Christ, our older and perfect brother, loves us. 

I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church on the earth today. I know that if we study the Book or Mormon we can and will come closer to God. 

Well that's about all for the week. Here you go with where I'm going!!! 

"Elder Maxfield you will be Whitewashing Clarksville 1st Ward with Elder Taylor."

OHHH BOY!!! SO STOKED TO GO BACK TO CLARKSVILLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway. Peace out y'all. Until next time form the good 'ol CV.

Love y'all 

Reese 

Paducah Zone! My arm still hurts from dodgeball last week.

Elder Kliebengat and me

Elder Max-i-field and Elder Burn Burn

I wonder what God wants for Christmas

I've been so happy the past few weeks now that I can play Christmas music!!! I've downloaded soooo much from Scotty Mcreary, Darius Rucker--> Subject line<--, Tim McGraw, Josh Groban, Michael Bublé, and all other classic Christmas music. Yesterday being fast Sunday I really wanted to get up to share my testimony about this special Christmas season, but something told me not to. While I was playing with this idea not to share my testimony during sacrament meeting I listened to SO many great testimonies shared by others. It was really amazing to see 2 recent converts in the Ward get up there and share their conversion story, and for me just to listen today. I know that my testimony was increased by listening to theirs. It was also amazing because there was a steady line of people going up the whole time. No pauses, no awkwardness when no one stands up to talk, it was just fantastic. Now with a ward of about 75 people, that is super impressive. 

So I just have a few things I want to say about this week because not too much happened. First of all it's starting to get a bit chilly outside. I know it can't really compare to my friends serving in Sweden (@noelleyoung) or even Utah (@kaylinyoung) but it's getting cold! I'm really enjoying it. Waking up and just peaking my head outside for feel that 

crisp humid cold air is really great. Something that is really funny about it is that it really does chill you to the bone. Even after a few seconds. And it's only like 40 degrees F. outside. It's awesome. 

Anyway this week was a good one. We were able to visit so many single sisters in the Ward which was so much fun. They are mostly older and love to talk. 

I'm not sure if y'all go to Gospel Principles but this last week was on the Final Judgement. Elder Coburn was asked to give the lesson. So he gave a GREAT lesson! 

Other than that this week was a pretty good one. I'm not to sure how or why it was.... but it was. It was super fast. It's kinda funny. I look forward to P-Day as like a mile marker. It's like I close my eyes on Monday nights and then alll of a sudden, I wake up and it's Pday again. It's great. Today we are driving up to Paducah to play Pakistani with the whole zone. I'm pretty darn excited. I can still throw pretty darn fast but there is one elder who can throw probably 10-15 mph faster than me. He is a Spanish Elder. Elder Berryhill. He is a legend in the mission. Dad you know how there are those missionaries that you want to be exactly like? Ya we have a lot of those in this mission. One of the APs right now, Elder Ty Hinds, is an absolute BEAST. He won state in track for the 100m dash, and is going to play football for Weber state after his mission. He is also a STUD of a missionary. Well of course he is cuz he is an AP... but yeah. There are some pretty awesome missionaries in this mission. 

We are expecting snow this week!!!! I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!! Also Elder Kliebengat is coming on Thursday! I'm super excited about that as well.

We have been doing so much service for people for the #lighttheworld project! It's been so great going to some elderly people in the Ward who need some help taking leaves or doing other things around the house that need to be done. It is such a blessing for me to be able to help them. 

Transfer calls are on Saturday! So we will find out what is goin on then. I'll report to y'all then:) 

I love y'all! Hope you have a great week. Make sure to find ways to #lighttheworld

Love,

Reese

 Thanks mom! (mom note - I told him to go get a small table top tree. That one does not seem to be sitting on a table)

                When you are a man, you sometimes like to spread shaving cream, all over your face... just for fun. 

Throw back Monday #HILYFE ( mom note again - this is one of his favorite pictures form Christmas last year in Hawaii of Christopher and Kaitlyn)