Sunday, December 8, 2013

December 2, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

  I had a great Thanksgiving and I ate alot. I went to play football in the morning and then we went to the beach with the sister missionaries and made a sand castle. We had an investigator that came with us. Then we went to the Johnson's and had a really nice turkey dinner and they gave us a lot of the left overs. We are still eating them and we had a really good pie.  We then invited an investigator to play soccer friday morning which was good. I am glad he showed up! The ward is doing a good job on fellowshipping him. We then had a district meeting and we had a testimony meeting and we had to bear our testimonies about our family and the Savior. I was the second to the last and made everyone cry in my district. It was a really good meeting. I had to teach the gospel principles class and was scared at first and it was a pretty good lesson. I took up way to much time and we had a lot more to discuss but we ran out of time. There were a lot of deep questions I didn't know how to answer but it was pretty good. Well, thats about all that went on this week. I am glad you new ward went good. I am excited to see our new ward. That is funny what you said in your testimony about the Sheppard's taking care of the Lamb's. That is one way to break the ice. You should invite Mark to the open house, that would be good and also invite him over for a family night:) I am glad Brooke's house is going good. Sorry this is so short. I have to get going. I love you so much. Thanks for all you do. Love you lots and have a good week.

Elder Reed

November 25, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

   That is a super sad story and Sara losing her horse and dog. But I am glad she got her horse back. I wish they could find my quad, haha. It's probably the same people that stole my quad!! You just need to put cameras up than we can catch the people that steal stuff off your property!!
Well, that is crazy the ward split. I am going to miss Bishop Evans, he was a good Bishop. So Sammy is not in our ward anymore? I hope Brooke and Nich move in there house soon. I will keep them in my prayers. That is pretty scary about Jayton and that is crazy David is going to have another baby.

I am going to play in the turkey bowl with the members and the elders and sisters.We found two new investigators and we invited them to play in the turkey bowl!! So that will be exciting. I just hope I don't get hurt myself:/ Then I am going to the second counselors house to have Thanksgiving so that will be sweet. I will try and take some pictures!! The investigators are coming along just great. We have one progressing and we found three others. The Florence ward is really awesome!! The members are so good to us. I don't want to leave this area. I wouldn't mind staying here for the rest of my mission!!  I think my mission is going to get iPads soon! That will make the work easier.

I hope you have a good and happy Thanksgiving. I will be there next year.  I love you and tell the family hi for me!!! I love you guys and I am sorry everyone likes to steal from our house:/ Well, much love and I hope you have a good week!!

Love Elder Reed

Monday, November 25, 2013

Nov 18, 2013

Hey Mom,

   So you guys had a really busy week!! Wounds like a lot of fun to work on Brooke's house. You will have to send me pictures of it. Hey, do you drive my blazer at all!! Well, this week was really busy for me. On Monday we had Elder Foster come and talk to us. That was cool than we had to move our p day to Wednesday because Tuesday was packed and was a good day. Right now every Tuesday we quilt and it is really fun. The old ladies are really funny. We then had our p day on Wednesday and we built a sand castle which was really fun to see the ocean destroy it. Friday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders and we set a baptism date with one of our investigators for Dec 7th. So I am really excited for him. He has a few problems to over come but I know with prayer we can overcome anything. So pray for him to stop smoking. We want to set another date with Kate. She is a single lady and has two young kids. She told us she wants to get baptized but her ex-husband doesn't want their kids to come to our church. We have been praying for her ex-husband to soften his heart so she can come to church. Well, that's who we are teaching and we are working with a lot of less actives. So hopefully we can get them to come back. Nothing else is coming to my head other than we taught priesthood about how we need to give service more. It says "if we haven't helped anyone out today, we have failed!" That really hit me and got me thinking that I always need to help people even if its getting them to smile. Well, I love you and I will pray for Jayton. I hope everything will go good. Tell the family hi and that I love them.

Hey Dad,

  This week was hectic for us. We went all over Oregon, haha but that is okay. We went down to Roseburg, Oregon to have a zone conference than later that week on Friday we went down to North Bend to have a district meeting. Then we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, so it has been crazy. We did set a soft baptism due with a gator for Dec 7th. He has some things to over come but that's okay. Good luck with that santa and finding a belt for him. Hey dad, I was thinking, can you build something for my landlord. He is a member and we have been doing a lot for him. He has been through a lot and I was thinking it would be nice to build him something. So just a little about him, About 10 years ago he was building a road in Oregon and he was the boss over 15 people. He told the workers to go get some lunch and he was still working. As he was walking back to his truck a big grader tractor slipped into gear and crushed him between the truck and the grader. He got smashed from his hips down and when his crew came back they found him underneath the tractor and they rushed him to the hospital. They fixed him up and said he almost died and he would never be able to walk again. Now we help him around the house. When I first got into Florence his wife went on a 4 month vacation without him to New York. So he was all alone. I really feel bad for him so that is why I was wondering if you could build something for him. Well, that is exciting the Metcalf's came over. I bet they had fun. I really like that family!! I am really glad that Sammy likes the church. I think she is going to serve a mission. You can tell her I said that too. Can you tell James happy birthday for me and ask him if he received my letter that I sent him. Well, I am glad you are doing good and I am going to share that testimony builder with everyone out here. Well, I sure do love you and hope you have a great rest of the week. Oh, do you know it's Vanessa's birthday tomorrow?? I am sending her a box for her bday today so it probably won't get there till Friday. Well, I love you and have a great week.

Elder Reed

Nov 13, 2013

Hey Mom and Dad,

  I am glad everything is going good there!! My week has been good as we found two new gators. One of them said she wants to be baptized but she had a divorce and the guy says she can't bring their kids to the mormon church. So pray for his heart to be softened. We still are doing a lot of service. This ward is awesome and they are so nice:) It is getting colder and wetter but today it is sunny out. It is really weird weather!!! My new comp is awesome. He is kind of immature but that's okay. He is really a good teacher!! We have been working hard and getting a lot of work done. I think I have a cyst in my wrist as there is a big ball thing growing in my wrist. Other than that nothing else has been going on. Well, I am taking my pday today because Monday we went to Roseburg and had a 70 talk to us. It was Elder Foster and he gave a good lesson. I think that is awesome about your Navaho friend bringing a tippee and talking about a testimony. I am going to use that with the people out here in Oregon. Well, I sure do love you. Sorry I can't think today either.

Love you and have a good week.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Nov 4, 2013

Hey Mom,

  Ya, Elder Jones is home and I got a new comp. His name is Elder Fakatuo and he is from St George, Utah. He is pretty cool. So far he has been out 6 months and is not trunky. I am staying in Florence:) My mission is going by really quickly, each week is flying by. It's so crazy. That is awesome you got to do temple work with David. I bet that was fun. So it's funny you talk about life after death because it seems like me and my comp last week talked about the spirit world to everyone, haha. Kinda crazy. I also heard about that saratov movie and I told a member about it.n
  So nothing is going on out here yet just a lot of service work but here in a week or to things will start to pick up and we can actually do missionary work now:) I can't tell if I gained weight at all but I did eat that 5 pound burrito. It was intense and for 5 days straight I had mexican food . I was always on the toilet. Its starting to rain here. Oh, and are district got split up so we have 3 districts in our zone now. So it's really big.
  Well, I love you and have a good week and good luck this weekend at the chuck wagon cook off.
Don'ts get hot:) as I am freezing up here.

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Ready to eat a 5 pound burrito

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Elder Jones working on it

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The first couple of bites taste pretty good

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Elder Jones finishes

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Elder Reed made it.
Now for the 5 day tummy ache:)






Monday, October 28, 2013

October 28, 2013

Hey Mom,

  The work is going okay. I wish it was going better. It was a hard week because me and my comp were out to our area. Because he is going home he went down to the Medford Temple Tuesday and Wednesday so we couldn't really teach anyone. It was a long week. We did get to teach this guy named Ashlee. He is pretty cool. He knows the Bible really well and had a question why do we go to church Sunday instead of Saturday. We explained it to him but be didn't get it so we are going to bring our bishop with us and he is going to help us explain it today at 6. oh, we kinda found a new investigator and his name is Levi Hamble. I think that is his last name. We went to a ward party and he was there with his 9 year old that got baptized 6 months ago. We started to talk to them and out of no where he said "you should come over to dinner at my house this week and we can talk more and hang out. So hopefully that goes good.
  So pretty much all we do is service which is good so people can see us help out the community. So the types of service we do is, we are building a house for the poor which is really good because all the people that build on the house are all old people. We try to teach them but it's not so successful, but we will keep trying. Oh, we dug this 4 foot trench that was 30 yards long . It was the easiest trench I dug in my whole life as it was all fine fine sand. All of the service we do is for non members and there is of course members give us service. I love bearing my testimony about the Savior and His atonement. Last night we went over to my Bishop's mom's house. Her husband died last year and she remarried a non member and we got to know them. I shared this message that I have about a light house and tied that in about the Savior and His atonement. Then my comp shared about a yoke and what a yoke is used for and also tied that into the atonement. It was really spiritual and the Bishop's wife started to cry. It was amazing.
  Well, the weather is amazing up here but kind of weird. One day it is cloudy and misty then the next day it is sunny and feels amazing out. Well, I wish I went down to Tombstone with you guys. Oh, speaking of Tombstone that guy Levi went to high school there. Kinda weird, I never heard of anyone going to school there. That is good dad built horseshoe key rings. That is funny what that kid said in the primary program. I am glad you sold all those puppies what a blessing. I did read that letter from Vanessa and I am glad she is doing good. I did write her and we have been writing back and forth. That is good about Justin Kelly. I hope his marriage goes through. I bet the Alston family sang really good as they always do. Oh, so the last thing I want to tell you is what happened last night. So we came to the church to pick some stuff up. We came out to our car and my comp had his keys in the box we put in the car. I thought we were leaving so I closed the trunk and was going to get in and he was like "crap the keys are in the trunk." So me and my comp called a member to bring some wire coat hangers so we could try to break in. We started to and we got really close and when we pushed down to unlock it we heard it click but we pushed down on the wrong side and we locked it. It was getting really late and we couldn't get it open. It was really frustrating so we called it a night and in the morning we called a locksmith and it took him 5 minutes to get in. I was so mad it took him that quickly and we spent all night trying and we couldn't open it. Well, I love you mom and dad and I hope to hear from you next week.

Love Elder Reed

October 21, 2013

Hey Mom,

  So this week has flown by. We are not really teaching any new investigators but we are doing a lot of service. That's all we do here in Florence which is okay because the service we do here is with non members. Last Monday we went to the sea lion cave but we only saw two sea lions because it was such a nice day there weren't to many in the cave. We did find a new investigator. His name is Ashlee, kinda weird that he has a girl name, but we taught him the beginning of the B.O.M. Then his family showed up from Eugene so we had to cut it short. But he did have some questions on why we have church on Sunday instead of Saturday. So that will be exciting to teach him that. We are also teaching a lot of less active families. I am hoping to find two solid families to teach the gospel to. What did the ward mission leader talk to you about? Well, I am glad the family is doing well and that's exciting for Hannah to serve a mission. Tell her good luck from me. That would be cool to go through the Gilbert Temple when I get home!!! We will have to go as a family. I did receive the key rings, thank you for sending them. Is Karlee looking way fat? How is Weston with his gymnastics. Can you send me some pictures of my blazer for me:) Well, I can't really think what else is going on. Oh, I might buy a GPS but I am not sure yet. Elder Brewer is in my district right now. He is training an Elder Despain from Gilbert! That is crazy how big the ward is getting. I hope it goes well down in Tombstone. I hope you have a great week. Well, I love you and I hope you have an enjoyable week.

Love, Elder Reed

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

October 14, 2013

Hey Mom,

   That's awesome that they put my plaque back up. That's awesome that Sammy" friend is interested:) I hope she gets baptized, that would be good. That is good that Sammy loves the gospel, she should go on a mission:) You should tell her that.I think you should give Sara a Book of Mormon as well as inviting Mark to church and giving him a Book of Mormon. We are stressing to the members out here to find a family by Christmas to share the gospel with:) You and Dad should do the same. That's funny about Brittany's kids and all there leg casts. haha Well, I don't have much time on here but we had a baptism on Saturday. There was a good turn out. We are trying to find some new investigators. I hope I get to baptize two more people here in Florence. The conference talks were awesome this time. We are teaching a little more. Last night we had some members invite their neighbors to dinner. We were able to share on message about prater and the atonement. They seemed pretty interested. It was really cool to teach that family. That sounds exciting to start up the missionary FHE again.I hope it's successful.  
  So a funny thing happened last Tuesday. We live in the middle of know where and we left our garbage on the porch. In the middle of the night a bear came up on the porch and took our garbage and ripped it open. There was trash all over the yard. It was pretty crazy. That bear comes every night. Oh, we are doing a ton of service. We do more service projects than we teach but that's okay because we are still doing missionary stuff by helping people.
  Last Monday I got to teach seminary. It's hard to teach when no one talks. I felt bad now that when I was getting taught in seminary that I didn't participate knowing how hard it was to teach.
  There is nothing really going on now. I love you and sorry it's so short. I will write you a longer one next week.

Love you, Elder Reed

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Oct 7, 2013

Hey Mom,

  It sounded like you had a good weekend!! My weekend went pretty good. All the people that we invited couldn't make it. That was disappointing but all the talks were really good. I liked how they stressed about members doing missionary work!!! Which is good because we can't do it alone. We all need to work together! That was my favorite one. The one on tithing was a very good one too as well as the one about if we get offended to not quit the church and to hold on. That's crazy about what happened to Brooke and Wes and their cars both breaking down. but I'm glad everything went okay. My 2nd week is okay but the weeks are going by super quickly!! It feels like I just got here yesterday. We haven't found any new investigators yet but we will.
  It's very cold here when the storm is here but the last two days the weather has been pretty good and the sun has been out but now it's cloudy and stormy. No, I haven't got my bike fixed yet but I will take it in. Every time I am pushing up a hill the chain slips and I can't ride it. Weird. I am not going to take it to anyone right now because we just got a car !!! You don't have to send the levi blanket up because the Stonelake's in our ward just gave me and my comp quilts which is a life saver. They are like our grandparents in the ward. That's weird about not receiving the key rings as I got Brooke's letter. I live upstairs above the garage. My address is 4872 Rhododendron Loop, Florence, Oregon 97439. I am the 2nd house on the left side of Rhododendron.

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon,
Love you

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Sept 30, 2013

Hey Mom,

  It's been really hard for me to get back into the routine but once I do it will be great. Ya, it was nice of my bishop to send you a picture! It's really cold up here and REALLY windy and its rainy too but other than that it's really nice. So here in Florence we are splitting the ward with the sister missionaries. It's kind of a pain because we have to ride bikes on the weekends! I am trying to get my lds mail account hooked up but I will email on here until I know how to hook it up. That's awesome you didn't have to drive to El Paso for Devin's baptism. I bet you girls had a fun time together. I am excited to watch conference this weekend. So when I first got to Florence we were visiting potential investigators and the very first one was an investigator/less active and we got to know them and we invited them to watch conference and they said okay. So I am watching conference with that family.  I think it was Wednesday me and Elder Jones were biking to the church because of a baptism we needed to go to. Our house is an hour away from the church and we wanted to take a short cut through the golf course. So we got down on the field and we saw the church through the trees . We began to cut through the thick trees and once we got down to the bottom we crossed a little creek and were going through some bushes. We hit a big pond and there was no way through or around and the church was a rock throw away. So I stood on this tree next to the pond to see if we could go around. I fell back into the pond I was mad at my comp because he didn't catch me but it was really funny after the fact. So we hiked back out with our bikes. I was talking to Elder Jones and I said, "What did we learn from this?" He said, "Always stay on the right path." Sometimes we think it's okay to take a short cut or leave the path but it's always good to stay on the path. Other than that nothing has been going on and yes my comps name is Elder Jones and he is from Utah and he is trunky and looks like the older cowboy Jones that I had in Eagle Point. I don't know why President Young sticks me with trunky elders. Well my address is 4872 Rhododendron Drive, Florence, Oregon 97439. I am looking forward to hearing from you guys next week. I love you guys and tell the family that I love them too.

Love, Elder Reed
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Sept 25, 2013

The New and Improved Elder Reed


Bishop Evans and Elder Reed


James, John and Jared


Dillan Keith, Jake Farnsworth, Elder Reed, Steven Scott, Chad Porter
were all at Jared's setting apart and to say good-bye 

  
Jared and Brian at the airport


 Brittany & Colton with Jared