June 25, 2012

Hey,

  I am glad everything is doing well for you guys. I am sorry the house is having problems. How is that old house anyway!! I fixed a leak in the attic last year. I guess it started to leak again! Did you take any pictures of the bear reunion? I bet that was really fun!!! I miss playing volleyball with the cousins. Sounds like it was way fun! I bet it was fun to play around on the fiddles and the bass, sounds super fun!  What kind of dog do John and Karlee have? I remember the last bear reunion, Karlee slept next to me, that was really weird! haha. I miss them. Bridget took her goats up there to milk. I don't think I have ever had goats milk or ice cream. I bet it was really good! James was trash talking, haha sounds like James! I am glad you beat him. I know that I will beat you in ping pong with my left hand, mom! That is funny that you would hit the ball on both tables! Man, Brittany and Wes have a lot of kids, do you think they are going to have a boy or girl? I know John and Karlee are going to have a kid before I get home, I know this because I had a dream about it, weird! I am glad Brooke and Nich came to the family reunion. I won't see Brooke and Nich for 3 years!! crazy. Why do you have to build an iron septic tank cover for Brooke and Nich? Man you are really busy with everything. I feel bad for Mayley, I bet that hurts to have a broken leg! Man, you guys haven't got any rain yet, we are getting pounded with rain in Eagle Point. I will fast and pray for you guys to get some rain.

  So Sunday we had an investigator show up for church with her boyfriend! That was really cool. We have been trying for 4 weeks to get them to come. They said they really like church and they will try it out again! Then we had a less active guy come to church with us. He said he would come to church if we walked with him. It was a fun walk, that guy is so funny! Transfers are tomorrow and I am staying here in Eagle Point and I am going to kill off my comp since he goes home in Aug! So that means I will probably stay here for 6 months or more! I love this area. Last night I went up and saw Carrie Mikelson and she remembers James and they love James. There are so many people that loved James!! It's awesome. Then we were tracking out in Shady Cove and we got chased by this pit bull. It was really scary! After church we ate dinner at the Reed family's house. I had Salmon fish for the first time and it was really good. I like fish now! It's crazy how you change on your mission. I love pretty much any kind of food! Well, all our investigators are dropping us! We are trying our hardest to find new investigators but it's not working out for us. But I guess we are not trying hard enough!

  Well, I am glad the family is doing well and I sure do miss everyone! I miss all the cousin and tell grandma and grandpa hi! Oh, I got a letter from Vanessa and she is going on a mission. I am so excited for her. I wish I was there to help you guys fix the house! Well, can't wait to hear back from you next Monday! 

Love your son,Elder Reed

P.S. That is exciting, I am going to have to catch up meeting all the new grandkids. Tell Brittany congrats! and Brooke and Karlee!

June 18, 2012

Dear Mom and Dad,

  Well, I am glad you had fun at girls camp! That is dumb that you had to pay someone to ride a horse, haha. Oh well, I am sure it was fun! Did mom ride a horse too?:0 You sure did alot of baptism in Snowflake. Our baptism went really good and when she got confirmed she just started to cry. It was awesome as she said she felt the holy ghost come into her! That was sweet that the spirit was so strong! Transfers are next Tuesday and I hope I stay here in Eagle Point. I think I will because my comp goes home in Aug and they are putting an older couple in White City so I won't be covering 2 wards again. I love this area. A lady named Sis Marshall loves James! She didn't connect we were brothers until I told her my brother served here. In Eagle Point ward their was this lady I have never seen before and I went up and started to talk to her and she said she was from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She asked where my dad served on his mission and I told her. She said that she had an Elder Reed from Mesa, Az serve in Argentina about 40 years ago and taught her. I told her that it might have been one of my cousins. Pretty cool!
  Oh and guess what, I got my letter from Vanessa! She is going on a mission!!! thank goodness;) I was so excited when I read that. After I was done I went to my room and prayed and thanked Heavenly Father for answering my prayers! I wrote Vanessa and told her about the bee story. That is funny that you told the bee story at girls camp and the girls cried, or did you just cry, dad? That is an awesome story about the girl that rode her bike 75 miles to go to the Temple. She is a freaken saint!
  I hope you are staying busy in your blacksmithing. How is your dodge running? Do you drive the Prius or the Dodge more? Has anyone driven the 77?  Poor Mayley, I feel bad for her. I bet she would like the wheel chair though. Tell her that I love her and hope she feels better. I can't believe Caleb, Carson and Briley got braces. They are all grown up!!! Thats crazy, do you think they will have them off by the time I get home? Well, tell the family that I love them and I miss them. I hope you have a great rest of the week. Take lots of pictures of the Bear reunion, I would like to see them! Dad, I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day.

Love Elder Reed

June 11, 2012

Hey Mom,

  So my weekend went really good. We had a baptism last Saturday and it went really good. The spirit was so strong. I got to confirm her. That was cool. Then we had a guy named Luke speak in church and he leaves Tuesday for his mission. He is a really cool guy. It's amazing how the Lord will change people. This guy used to be a crack head and now he is a missionary, pretty cool. That's crazy I put in my papers a year ago. It doesn't seem that long ago! Dj got baptized last year, that is crazy. Well, I wish I could have been there for James blessing his baby! I bet that was exciting. So I went to the Temple on Saturday morning. I haven't been to the Temple since I was in the MTC. I like the Temple. The Medford Temple is really small though. I am trying to keep up with my journal but I looked in it and I didn't write in it for a whole month!! crazy. So later today I will be going on exchanges with our DL which will be very fun. That is exciting you and dad are going to girls camp. Is girls camp kinda like boys camp? I remember at boys camp we just played horseshoes all day. So yesterday I was thinking about the memories I had at the MTC and I ran into a missionary and his dad owns the bahama bucks in Queen Creek. But I heard that it got closed down, that is sad. Well, we have another baptism this Sunday, I am excited for that! Well, me and my comp and Luke, the guy that is leaving on his mission, we had a gallon challenge and I got it on video of us puking, haha. It was gross. Well, there is not anything else that happened last week. Are you going to tell me what Vanessa said to you on the phone!! She hasn't wrote me yet. I am in Alma 45, I have been slacking on my reading and you caught up to me so I am going to start reading a lot now, haha. Well, I love you so much and I hope you have a wonderful weekend and great rest of the week. I love you so much and I miss you. I love you Mom.
   Dad, I hope you have a great Father's day!!! I love you Dad, you have taught me a lot. I always look up to you and I know you will have a Great Father's Day.

Love, your son,
Elder Reed

Jun 4, 2012

Hey Mom,

  Time is flying by. It's crazy. I wonder where the time goes? haha I can't believe it's June already!! It's awesome when your having fun times goes by quickly! I hate Satan and how he tempts people and me! But as long as the Lord is there we will be good. So did you get those pictures Sis Woods sent? That project took forever but it was sure fun!! Ya, I bore my testimony about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, then I told the ward that I love them! It is so easy now to get up and talk up there in front of people. Just after that talk I gave a couple of weeks ago its a lot easier now. We have a baptism this week on the 9th. I can teach, well I am not perfect though!! Vanessa has not written me yet, I am still waiting:) What did she tell you? I want to know:) Is she going on a mission? That is awesome John and Karlee live in QC. I hope they are doing good. I love you so much. Have a great week.

Love Elder Reed

Hey Dad,
 
  I am glad you liked scout camp. That is funny that the boys caught some rabbits and squirrel that is neat. Did you tell them you put the rabbits in the box? Did the boys like Stetson? You are a good story teller, haha. Ammon was such an awesome missionary! Ya, I am glad you liked those pictures of the service project, that was the hardest work I have done in a long time! It was sure fun! So we are having a baptism this Saturday and her name is Kireston Kay and she is 14! So that is exciting! Then we have another one on the 16th. I love being out here. I can finally see myself grow! It's so cool. I love bearing my testimony to the ward. Bro Woods is the ward mission leader! I am so glad I can bring people into the gospel. It is nice serving on a mission. I am so thankful for the Lord blessing you guys! Oh, we have been riding bikes a lot! Last night we had to speak in a fireside about journals and planners. It was really cool. Bro Cleggs is in the young mens and he told some stories about his mission and how he found out the Book of Mormon was true. I started to cry. I hate how I cry about everything now! But that is okay, the Lord humbled me! Well, I hope everything is going good. While I am writing you right now these people got some help with the computer and they said they need to find data on the computer because they need a flight from Phoenix Az to here in White City. Pretty darn crazy! oh, can you tell Bridget to make some candy, Root beer candy and can you tell her to send them to Luke Holden, 2005 N 900 E, Provo, UT 84604? Well, I love you so much. Have a great week as time is flying by. I love you Dad.

Love Elder Reed

Wood cutting service project

Here are some pictures of your missionary sons helping to cut wood for the Eagle Point Ward.  

                                    They may look like they were just watching but I think is was a

camera man trying to make them look bad.  Enjoy. 

 Sister Woods

It is used
for emergency during cold weather. 

I thank Sis Woods for sending these pictures

and told her she lived in a beautiful place

                                                        She replied "We agree,  Our area is beautiful.  

Your son bore a sincere testimony today in church.  

The young missionaries are such great examples to us all.   

Thank you for sharing your amazing son with us.  

Sis Woods

Jared picking up the cut wood to stack

As with all ward parties there has to be food

Elder Fripstrup and Elder Reed

Elder Fripstrup, Bro Woods, Elder Reed

It must be tough for an Arizona boy to watch as 

everyone else is swimming:)

Relaxing after a long day

Looks like they cut a bit of wood

May 26, 2012

Hey Mom and Dad,

   So my talk went really good. You won't believe this but I talked 25 mins!!!  I was so shocked and my comp only got to talk for 10 mins. He was glad I talked for so long!! Thanks for praying for me, I talked for a long time and I could of talked for longer but I didn't want to take up all the time.  I think I have your talent for talking to people and I won't stop talking! haha. Once I started speaking I was not scared anymore! I almost cried but I held it in. I hate that I cry all the time now. But I did cry in the other sacrament meeting, my heart was full of the spirit, but don't tell mom I cried, haha. Did Bridget and Sam's talks go good, I bet they did! Well, I am glad that I am growing in the gospel and I can't shut up when I start talking!!haha I shared a personal story when I crashed my three wheeler into that pole and how dad gave a priesthood blessing, that was pretty good. Then I talked about Moses how he had faith and Noah, Daniel, Lot, and I shared that faith story that I shared at my farewell then another story.. I also shared the scripture Malachi 3:10 and how we need to be obedient to his commandments and we will get blessings.
  That is awesome that Vanessa texted mom and they talked and I hope she writes me a letter. That would be sweet. I am so excited to get a letter from her. I wonder if she got my letters that I sent her a while ago? I will let you know when I get them. Last week was a good week for letters. I got a letter from mom, Karlee, James and Larissa, and Savanna, so it was a good week for me. That is sweet that Stetson is going up with you to scout camp. I hope the boys aren't stupid around him. If they hurt him I will beat them up when I get home, but haha you can use stetson. I would assume that you would want to use Belle but Stetson is a good horse. So Briana sent me some pictures of the Reed Rodeo and the grass looks like it is trying to come up and you put a fence in the front yard? How is Babe, is she getting bit? I wish when I cleaned up horse poop I could get a sarsaparilla like Bridget's kids. I bet they love going to the rocking r. Is Sam blacksmithing? I am glad no bees attack you when you do the ghost rider. I know that the adversary didn't want me to go on my mission. I am glad that the guardian angel protected me and I know that the adversary still tries to work on me. I want to beat him up. I am doing really good out here in this area. So our teaching is going good and we are teaching a ton of lessons.  We are going to have 2 baptisms in June so that will be good.  Last week I got a letter from a missionary in Cottage Grove and he said that Darrel that I taught is getting baptized, that is so cool. Well, my comp is doing all right and he is very obedient. Almost to an extreme. We are teaching an older lady named Tammy and she is getting baptized on June 16th and we have a 14 year old girl that wants to get baptized on June 9th. We are teaching Heather and she is kind of interested but keeps blowing us off. We will start teaching this girl Taylor when she is done with softball. There are a lot more but I can't remember their names. I will let you know though. John 3 is really good and that is so true how when we partake of the sacrament we are partaking of the bread of life and the water that we will never thirst. I never thought about it that way before!! Well, thanks for your prayers and tell Danny Boy I said hi and I am doing good and I am going to baptize hime when I get home.
   That is super crazy Dillan Keith is almost home from his mission. It seems like he just left on one!! Brighton Solomon is home, holy cow. I bet he changed a lot too. So I bet John and Karlee are super excited to move into there house! Does their house look pretty good or do they have to do some work to it? 
  Well, I love you so so much and hope it doesn't get to hot down there. I will pray for you and hope you guys get some rain. I really need to stop praying for rain up here as we are getting a lot of rain. It is weird, I pray for rain and the next day it rains and when I don't pray for rain the sun comes out and I just prayed for rain again and now its cloudy and looks like its going to rain. Well, I love you mom and dad and have a great rest of the week and I am looking forward to hearing back from you.

Love, Elder Reed